Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. God is our Father, and we are born into the family of God. We become, according to Ephesians chapter 2, the household of faith, the family of God. On today's PowerPoint, Dr.
Graham brings a message about the importance of being a part of the family of God.
Now here's Doctor Graham with his message. The Family of God. Take your Bibles and turn to the second chapter of Acts. Acts chapter. Two.
The Bible says That unless the Lord builds the house, They labor who in vain, in vain. Who built it? That's true for the church house and it's true for your house. I've always said that every person ought to have Three homes. You ought to know that you have a heavenly home.
That you're going to heaven. That you have a place reserved for you in heaven, as Jesus promised. You need to know that you have a heavenly home. You need to have a family home. And God puts the solitary in families, the scripture says, and even if you're a family of one with.
friends around you, you can be a family together, but So often he, of course, puts husbands and wives together, and families, and children, and grandchildren, and generations, and he gives us our families. And then everybody ought to have a church home. A heavenly home, a family home. and a church home. Because if we're going to have great families, Then we need to know.
that our faith is firmly founded On the Lord Jesus Christ and His church. If you're going to choose a church, if you're going to be in a church. What kind of church would you choose? for yourself and your family. I would dare say the most important decision outside of your own personal family and relationship.
The most important decision you can make in life. has to do with your church. Family. What church would you call home? What is your home's Spiritual home.
That's the church. We say here at Prestonwood, we are a church. To call home. Because we want everybody to know that, above all, the church is a family, a spiritual. Family.
It's not. A business It's not a political movement. It's not an audience. Or a crowd. It's not an entertainment center.
It's not a building.
Now we like beautiful church buildings or any kind of building which houses the church. And I've preached in all kinds of church facilities and buildings from the smallest to this magnificent place. But you don't have to have a building. To worship, of course, and you don't have to have a building. to have a church.
You can have a church without a building. The church is not the church. This magnificent building is wonderful, and it's a testimony. To the goodness of God and the faithfulness of God and the sacrifice of God's people. Who partnered with the Lord in building this magnificent facility, but It's not the church.
Sometimes I come in here. When it's empty and pray Or just look around. And I can tell you, this room is not the church. Until you're here. Until Christ is here.
In the presence. of his people. Jesus said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. All of the forces of hell cannot stop the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is an ironclad.
Promise. from Jesus himself. 100%. 1,000%. Jesus said, Satan will never defeat my church.
Because he said, I'm building it. We're not building it, we're just his partners in it. He's building his church. You know, I don't want to get in competition with Jesus building his church because he does a lot better job, obviously, than any of us. Can.
What we have done Is prayed and preached and witnessed and served and sacrificed and given. Do whatever it has done, whatever it takes in order. to support the work of our church. But it's all for him and it's all about him. Never about us.
And there is a model. for the church, for all generations here in Acts chapter 2. The church was born in a prayer meeting in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. Jesus gave his followers a great commandment to love God with all their hearts, minds, soul, and strength. To love their neighbors as themselves, and He gave us a great commission to go into all the world and make disciples.
He said in Acts 1:8, after you receive the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. And that promise is fulfilled. Because Jesus gave it. Jesus told those disciples then, 120 of them, the apostles, along with friends and followers of Jesus, 120 of them, gathered in an upper room on the day of Pentecost, and they waited and they prayed in unity. And the Holy Spirit came upon them.
And the church was born. Birth that day. Filled with his presence and power. The prayers went up. The Spirit came down and the church went out and turned the world upside down.
It became the family of God. On the heels of that experience, Simon Peter. Once the man who Denied the Lord.
Now declares the Lord with confidence and boldness full of the Holy Spirit. He preaches a powerful message recorded for us in part in Acts chapter 2. At the close of that message that is just full of Jesus, it's all about the cross and the resurrection. He preaches the good news, this gospel of Christ. And at the end, he gives an invitation.
He invites people to respond and to receive Christ into their lives. And on that day, When the invitation was given to all the people who had gathered from nations around the world for this Jewish festival, on that day, 3,000 souls were saved. 3,000 people were born again. In one day, the church went from 125 to 3,125. Just like that.
When God moved. They were born again. They were baptized. Not only by the Spirit, but in water. And they became.
A family. God's forever family.
Now, the church is described in the Bible in different ways. The church is described as the bride of Christ. That's a beautiful metaphor. The bride of Christ, Christ loves the church and gave himself for it, his bride. The church is described in the Bible as a body.
Like a human body functioning with all of its various parts. And in this body of Christ, Christ is the head, and we are members of this body doing the work of Christ, the body of Christ. on earth. But the focus that we have in this message is the brotherhood. Peter tells us later in 1 Peter chapter 2 that we are to honor the brotherhood.
The brotherhood is talking about the church. And of course you could add in not only the brotherhood, but the sisterhood, because we are brothers and sisters in Christ. God is our father, Jesus our elder brother, and we are born into the family of God. We become, according to Ephesians chapter 2, the household of faith, the family of God. And the early church actually often met in homes with families.
and friends and neighbors. Verse 46 of chapter 2 tells us that. And then Because they were a family and because they were meeting together, the family of God. was pure. and powerful Not perfect.
Not perfect. but pure and powerful and persuasive Full of praise and joy and adoration to God, and the New Testament church in its infancy, in its beautiful. Birth and its beautiful body of Christ. This church changed the world. They were uncompromising.
They were un Unstoppable. Why? Because Jesus said, no force of hell will ever stop you when you build it my way, when you let me build the church. And so what is that like? Acts chapter 2, verse 42.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship. to the breaking of bread and prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believe were together. Key phrase.
all who believed were together and had all things in common. and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together, that is in public places, and breaking bread in their homes, they receive their food with glad and generous hearts. Praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. What is the church?
What is the family of God? How did they do this? How did they turn the world upside down? How did a small band of believers? Change everything.
and the power of Christ.
Well They did it number one by exalting Christ. Exalting When you read the message that Simon Peter gave, I mentioned it is full of Jesus and the gospel. The original church. Worship Jesus and witness of his power to save over and over again. It was and it is always and forever about Jesus.
This is his church. He is Lord of life, Lord of all. And this means you and I become members of the family of God. when we confess Him as our Lord and Savior. The way to the father and the father's family.
is through Christ and Christ. Alone. There's no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. But the name of Jesus. In Acts chapter 2, verse 38, at the close of Peter's message, I mentioned He says, they said, what should we do?
They were all convicted of their sin and their need of the Savior. And he said, repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins. Sins and the forgiveness of your sins. And so they repented and they believed and received the Holy Spirit and they were. born again.
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: the family of God. This summer, America turns 250 years old, and Dr. Graham wants to mark it with you. That's why we're releasing a 21-day devotional series called One Nation Under God. Beginning June 14th, Dr.
Graham will trace the faith at the heart of America's story all the way through the 4th of July. Walk with us through the faith that built our nation, the scripture that shaped her founders, and the God who is still sovereign over her future. To sign up, text FREDOM to 59-789. It's absolutely free to join, so text FREDOM-59-789. Every gift given to PowerPoint Ministries before June 30th will be doubled through a $200,000 matching grant.
This is a crucial moment as we close out the financial year. Because your support helps ensure that the truth of Jesus continues reaching people who are searching for something real they can trust. And as our thanks for your gift, we'll send you the Jesus Discoveries by Dr. Jeremiah Johnston, a resource designed to strengthen your confidence in the truth of the gospel. To give your gift and request your copy, text June to 59789.
That's June to 59789.
Now, let's get back to today's message: the family of God.
So, to be a member of the church, to be in the family of God. You're not born into the family of God. My natural birth. We are born again. As we become his child, his children.
Now this may be and seem obvious. But you can't overstate. this truth. That the family of God Is only entered through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you know Jesus in your life?
This is what it means to be. a member of God's family. As many as received him, John 1:12, to them gave he the right to be called the children of God.
So, what is the evidence? You say, well, I don't know. Maybe yes, maybe no, I'm not certain. These things are written in God's word that you may know that you have eternal life. You need to know this, and you need to know it today.
This may be your last day on earth. Say you're trying to scare me? I would if I could. This may be the last sermon you ever hear preached. This may be the last sermon I preach.
It is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment. Do you know that you are saved? Are you convicted of your sin? Do you need a Savior? The church became the church, and then what happened?
They were equipping and edifying Christians. That's the second thing I want you to. to see. Because what happened here, as you see it in verse 1, is here's the sign that you're saved. Are you ready for this?
Here's the mark of a believer, the birth mark of a believer in Christ. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. and the fellowship and to the breaking of bread in prayers. They continued. Conversion leads to continuance.
When you know Christ, you will continue in your faith. 1 John chapter 2, verse 17. John was speaking about some people that were in the church and left. And he said, they went out from us because they were not of us. For had they been of us, they would have no doubt.
continued with us.
So, when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, it's not just a decision you make and forget about it. Yes, you begin a relationship with Christ, but then you believe and then you belong. The believers, you see, We're gathering and growing. In their faith. They devoted themselves to to these things.
In fact, Jesus talked about this. In John chapter 8. John chapter 8, verses 30 and 31. And as he was saying these things, many believed in him. And so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, If you abide in my word, Then you are truly my disciples.
So, what is the church's responsibility? It is to equip Christians to grow in their faith by teaching the Apostles' Doctrine. What is that? That's the Bible. They didn't have a Bible.
They had the apostles' doctrine. The echoes of Jesus' words was in their hearts, and the Spirit of God enabled them to deliver the New Testament. Later on, the New Testament would be written. Many of these, of course, would have known the Old Testament as well. And the Bible is all about Jesus.
It's the Jesus book. And so they were teaching the Bible. They were instructing and indoctrinating according to God's word. This is what we do. We preach Christ and we teach the Bible in all kinds of ways and groups.
And it is all-encompassing for children and students. And so the church is a family. Get your family, moms, and dads in the church. In addition to what you're doing with them personally in your home, thank God for Christian homes where the Bible is taught, where the scripture is. Shared, but get your children in church.
Because do you know what's going to happen if you treat church as optional? When church becomes optional to you, it will become unnecessary to your children. If church is optional or peripheral. to you. Guess what's going to happen to your children and grandchildren?
They will saturate church. With their absence most likely.
So families. We've been doing all this talk about the family and having a great marriage, and it's been good and how to be a parent, but this is so foundational. If you miss this, The rest of it has no real impact. Where there is No preaching in teaching of the Bible. There's no Jesus.
And where there's no Jesus, there's no church.
So there is the equipping or the edifying, the building up of the saints, Christians, continuing. And then There is experiencing community. What does the church do? We exalt Christ. We declare Christ.
embrace Christ, we Edify Christians and then we Experience community. See that word fellowship there? Fellowship means communion, it means partnership. It means of like mind. We share Like mind, like faith, like heart.
as a church. We love one another. We're unified. People want to know. What is the secret of Prestonwood?
I would say one of the primary Reasons that God blesses this church is the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. And we're living in a day of isolation and depression, and loneliness is a major problem. You know, loneliness is not just a mental health issue, but it's a physical health issue. I was reading an article just this week that loneliness is causing premature death equal to obesity and smoking. That it causes heart disease and dementia.
And strokes. Loneliness.
Well, God has given us the answer to loneliness. And it's the fellowship of God's people. It's the forever friends. that we have in church. People will be with you through everything.
They continue steadfastly in this fellowship. Everyone needs a church family. We need to be together. When we're together, God can do great things. Can you imagine?
The impact we could make on the world if we could get together as God's church and stay together. They prayed together. The first church was devoted to intensive prayer, focused prayer in the name of Jesus, sincere and steadfast communion with God. And when you pray, When you pray, you get what God can do. When we work without prayer, we get what we can do.
But when we work with prayer, we get what God and God alone can do. I'm calling us to prayer. I want to encourage you to get together in prayer groups and your small groups, and so let's be praying people. And I want to encourage you to pray. God does the supernatural.
Great awe came upon everyone in that era. Great awe, the wonders that God was performing. And we've seen God do things that only He could do. When God's people pray and they stick together and they get into God's word, then God begins to do things that only He can do. Things that cannot be explained.
Supernatural things. We've seen God do that here. We have seen the God of might and miracles work among us. Restoring broken lives and homes, breaking the chains and power of addiction. Setting people free from the power of sin.
Moving people from darkness to light. We've seen God put together. Marriages, the miracle of a marriage restored. We've seen God bring prodigal children home. Over and over again, we've seen God do these things.
Because he is a God. Who can do things that we cannot do apart from him? And when we trust him. He transforms the world.
Well, I'm rounding third and heading home.
So I'll wrap this message up, but I want to close with one final thing, and that is engaging culture. Notice when we read about the church that the people looked upon them with favor. people in the community. They were Experiencing community and communion with God, and as a result, People without God wanted to know what's going on here. People were amazed.
Because it was the power of God. It was obvious. to the community. Because love was in action. And the power of Jesus was moving.
And as a result, The Lord added daily, verse 47. Every day people were coming to Christ. Later, in this same book of Acts, it tells us they. The church multiplied. They moved from addition to multiplication.
It just kept growing exponentially. And We clearly need To call one another to repentance. And seek God's grace because judgment begins at the house of the Lord. We surely need to get right with God in the church in our era and our generation. It's sad when entire congregations may lose their testimony in the community, and the name of Jesus is dishonored.
But Jesus said, My church All the forces of hell will not stop it. We are to pursue holiness and godliness and Christ-likeness in our lives. And here's the thing about the church, the family. It's a forever family. We're never going to be apart because one day we're going to heaven, home to heaven.
One day Jesus is coming to take his church with him into heaven. And there will be no more sin and no more sorrows and no more pain and no more scandals and no more shame because we will share his glory and forever his presence. This is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: the family of God. When you support PowerPoint ministries, you help share God's Word with people around the world through programs just like this one.
And as a thank you for your gift this month, we'll send you the Jesus Discoveries by Dr. Jeremiah Johnston as our thanks. This powerful resource walks through real historical evidence that points directly to Jesus, helping strengthen your faith and giving you confidence in the truth of God's Word. And right now, every gift given before June 30th will be doubled through a $200,000 matching grant. To give your gift and request your copy, text June to 59789.
That's June to 59789.
This summer, America turns 250 years old, and Dr. Graham wants to mark it with you. That's why we're releasing a 21-day devotional series called One Nation Under God. Beginning June 14th, Dr. Graham will trace the faith at the heart of America's story all the way through the 4th of July.
Walk with us through the faith that built our nation, the scripture that shaped her founders, and the God who is still sovereign over her future. To sign up, text FREEDOM to 59-789. It's absolutely free to join, so text FREEDOM-59-789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?
Now we know there are many different denominations, groups of churches, and kinds of churches in our world today. And so it's important that when you look for a church, that you find a church that is exalting Christ, built upon the Word of God, and is reaching the community and the world with the message of Jesus Christ. The central truth for any church of which we should be a part is the redeeming, saving power of Jesus Christ. and we should never blink on that issue. He came, He lived, He died, He rose again, He reigns on high and when you trust Him, receiving His grace and His love, He will save you.
Now, if you've never trusted him as your Lord and your Savior, I want to encourage you to do it right now. This is God's purpose for your life.
So pray with me, Jesus. I know. That I need you. that I have sinned against you and broken your commandments. But thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.
I believe you rose again. And I trust you today as my Lord and my Savior. I turn from my sin. And I receive you, Jesus, as my Savior, my God, my Master. and my friend.
Now if you prayed those words or words like them Let me encourage you, having received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, to find a Bible-believing, Christ-centered church in your community and become aggressively, actively involved in taking the message of Christ to others. As you begin looking for that church so that you can grow in your faith, remember the three marks of a Spirit-filled church. Unified in Christ, magnifying the Savior, and spreading the good news of Jesus Christ to a world which desperately needs Him. And that is today's PowerPoint. And join us again next time as Dr.
Graham brings a message about what it will take to bring America back to God. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
