Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. God does big things in our lives, things beyond our imagination, and God is not limited by your resources or your education or your ethnicity or your background. God is not limited by any of this. On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how to experience real forgiveness.
Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message: the gift of forgiveness.
Now there are three kinds of people. There are those who are lost without God, far from God, and in the biblical portrait, living in Egypt, like the Israelites before them, before us, living enslaved in Egypt under the domination and the power of Pharaoh. Who is a picture of Satan himself?
So there are some of you who are you are enslaved in Egypt. And our prayer is that before this day is done, these moments are finished, that you will come out of Egypt and come into life and the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ, because Christ died for you. He loves you. And so he sent his love in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So come out of Egypt, come out of bondage, and into the freedom through faith in Jesus Christ. And then there's another kind of person in this room today. You have come out of Egypt, but you are still in the wilderness.
Now the children of Israel came out of Egypt, and there was great miracles that accompanied them, according to the scripture. And there were the miracles of the plagues that God sent upon Egypt. There was the miracle of the Passover moment. There was the miracle, of course, of the Red Sea when the Red Sea was parted. And there were many miracles in the desert, the wilderness.
And they needed those miracles because how would they exist in the desert between two and three million Israelites? How could they live in the desert without apparent food or water? How would you get through the desert to the other side? And there were wonderful miracles, but ultimately, just giving you a a Snapchat of what has happened in the life of Israel in past. And Israel is a miracle nation.
The very fact that Israel exists, then and now, is a miracle. And so the Israelites experienced miracles. They were led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They were fed by a supernatural bread that appeared upon the ground in the desert day after day. It was called manna.
God sustained them and provided water and protected them. It's an incredible story because God takes care of His own. God provides for all of us who follow Him, but there was a problem. These children of Israel in the desert—they stayed there way too long. Rather than believing God and trusting Him for the promise, they hesitated, and as a result of their unbelief, they wandered and waited in the wilderness for an entire generation to die off.
There was punishment; they were, in effect, put in the penalty box. For a generation until a new generation was then ready to cross over into Jordan, and that's what we've been learning so far in the Book of Joshua, Chapter One, Chapter Two. Moses has died and was buried on a mountain, and now Joshua has been called and commanded to take the children of Israel. Forward. Why?
Because they've been in the desert way too long. And the second kind of person in this room that I'm talking to today is that person who is saved. You know Christ. You have come out of Egypt. You are truly a child of God.
But you're a desert disciple, a wilderness wanderer. You've not stepped into the promise that God has given you—the fullness of His blessing, which is the Promised Land. You see, God gave them this this wonderful promise of a of a life in a land that was flowing with milk and honey. Moses gave them this promise through God Himself, and this land is is a picture, if you will, of victorious Christian living. Canaan is the championship.
The land of Canaan.
Some have called it Glory Land, the glory land of God, the God's provision and promise to His children. And we are to live in this abundant life. We are to live in victory in Jesus Christ. But unfortunately, too many of us are not living in that victory. We're in Christ, but we're not in Canaan.
That is, we're not living in the fullness and the freshness and the fullness of the blessing of life. We're not living in the glory land. Moses said to the children of Israel that the same God who brought you out of Egypt will bring you into the land of promise. And so I showed up here this morning to say that to you. That the same God who saved you and brought you out of Egypt, out of bondage, as a believer and follower of Jesus, will now bring you not only out, but bring you in to the miracle-working power of God in your life.
I believe in a God of might and miracles. That's why I'm calling this message the God of Wonders. Because the scripture we're about to read tells us that prepare yourself, because the God of wonders, or that the God of Israel, God Almighty, will do wonders among you. I believe in miracles, and the reason that I believe in miracles is because I believe in God. I feel sorry for the person who doesn't believe in God because life is lived by chance and circumstance.
There are no moments, there are no miracles that God ordains in their lives. I believe in wonders. I believe the God of wonders lives today, and that God still moves in the hearts of His people, in the life of His church. God. Is still at work.
God does the impossible.
So the children of Israel, after all those years of living in the desert, someone called it the longest funeral procession in history, as one by one a generation died out, was buried in the desert. Oh, what regrets they must have had. I was reading a study of people who were interviewed. They were people in their octogenarian years. That means they were old, and in their eighties and nineties.
And they asked them about their regrets. What regrets do you have as you look back over your life? And there were typical answers, but by far the first answer, according to The scholars who did the study was people looked back and they said, "I wish I had been more true to myself. I wish I had been more true to who I really was." Not exactly sure what that meant for everyone who answered it that way, but I looked at that and I thought, "Well, no, actually, the greatest regret would be to look back on your life and think, 'I wish.'" I had been more true to God. I wish I had been more faithful to my Lord.
So that entire generation of wilderness wanderers died out, like so many today, never experiencing the fullness of the promise, never experiencing the glory, and the opportunity to be a champion for Christ. And to hold up a trophy at the end of the day, and then to lay it at his feet, and to say, "Thank you, Lord, for a life that you have given me—a life of abundance." So there is a third kind of person in this room today, and that is the victorious Christian. Don't you want to be a Christ-filled, Spirit-led, victorious Christian? And to live your life without regrets, not without mistakes—we all make them. Not without sin, we sin.
But a life that is in forward motion, and I believe today is a defining moment for many of us who are watching today, who are worshiping in this room today. This could be your defining moment. This could be your miracle when you cross over. From the desert and win the victory that is yours in Christ. Because remember, we learned it's already there for you.
Just go and take it. You are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, "The Gift of Forgiveness." Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion? It's a study of God's Word that will help you grow in your faith. Encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life.
To sign up, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine, and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine. Every day, people around the world are hearing the truth of Jesus Christ through PowerPoints, broadcast, podcast, television ministry, and digital outreach. Often during some of the most difficult moments of their lives, and friends like you help make that ministry possible.
That's why this month we want to say thank you for your gift of ten dollars or more, by sending you Dr. Jack Graham's book Destiny. In this encouraging resource, Dr. Graham walks through the life of Joseph to show how God is always working, even through painful and confusing circumstances, to accomplish His greater purpose. To give your gift and request your copy, text OCT O C T to five nine seven eight nine.
That's OCT O C T, as in October, to five nine seven eight nine.
Now let's get back to today's message: the gift of forgiveness. Verse one of Joshua three. Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Shiloh, and they came to the Jordan. He and all the people of Israel and lodged there before they passed over. At the end of three days, the officers went through the camp, and commanded the people: As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out.
From your place and follow it. In other words, go forward, following the ark. And yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits in length. That's about three thousand yards, a half a mile. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.
As we go forward. We've not passed this way before. The thing about the future is, is the future, and while people like to try to predict it, it is unpredictable in so many ways, and and that can be frightening.
So, what should we do? Verse five: Joshua said to the people, "Consecrate." Yourself, or sanctify yourselves, or dedicate yourself, for the Lord will do wonders among you. Thus, the God of wonders. And Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people." So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. And then the Lord said to Joshua, "Today." I will begin to exalt you in the sight of Israel, that they may know that I was with Moses.
So, will I be with you? All right. Let me set the stage here. Israel, all two to three million of them, are on the brink of the blessing. They're right on the edge of the promised land.
Before them is all this promise, all this glory land, all this promised land. And life, but there was a problem, and it was the Jordan River. And it stretches all the way from the top of Mount Hermon, and all the way through Israel. It stretches throughout Israel, and really, in some places today, it sort of looks like a big ditch with muddy water. And yet, it is a powerful river that.
Has great biblical significance, as I said. Jesus was baptized there, and some Bible scholars believe that it was perhaps right at this very place where Israel crossed over, in the middle of it, where the Ark of the Covenant led them through. That Jesus could have and would have been baptized. I don't know, but here is this river, and in effect, this river seemed uncrossable because. The scripture notes in this same passage that it was the harvest season and the river was at flood tide.
So it wasn't a small mouth of a river or a small ditch. It was rather a raging river at this time, as much as a thousand feet wide.
So the children of Israel are looking at this river and saying, "How are we going to get across this river? What's the plan? What's the plan?" And God said to them, Joshua commanded them, sanctify yourself before the Lord this day. Charles Spurgeon, the great British preacher, said this: If the flood gathers and the Jordan overflows its banks, still the divine watchword, forward, shall speed us on. God help you to go forward and into Him, and unto Him be praised for ever and ever.
Amen. No matter how high the floods, no matter how deep the waters, this is the time to believe God and to expect a miracle from the hand of God.
Some of you are looking at rivers today, raging rivers, uncrossable rivers. There's an old song we used to sing: "God, did He?" Rivers that you think are uncrossable, God, any mountains that you can't tunnel through. Our God specializes in things impossible, and He will make a way for you. But God wants you to cross over today and to believe Him for a miracle in your life. How are we going to do that?
Number one, prepare your heart. Check your heart. That's what God is saying to us, as He said to Israel so long ago, as Joshua proclaimed: "Dedicate yourself to the Lord. Consecrate yourself before the Lord." Some of us cannot experience a miracle in our lives because we're cutting Him off with uncleanness. And ungodliness and unholiness.
When God has called us to consecration and dedication and separation, the word sanctifies, as in the King James, or consecrate or dedicate in other passages, it it simply means that we are to be cleansed before the Lord. Body, soul, and spirit, sanctify yourselves. Body, soul, and spirit. For this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for all of us. You see, the children of Israel needed to get the smell of the desert, the stench of the desert, the dirt, the sands of the desert off of them.
And symbolically, they were to cleanse themselves and sanctify themselves, not just externally but internally. To prepare their hearts for what God was going to do in the big crossover, and this is what God is calling us to do today. God is calling us as a nation to repent of our sins and to renew our faith, in order that we might see the hand of God move, and oh, how we need God. In our nation today, if we're going to move forward as a nation, we're told that Joshua got up early in the morning to receive this message. It was a holy habit for Joshua.
We see him doing it again in chapter three, verse twelve, and again getting up early in chapter seven, verse sixteen, and our heavenly. Joshua, Jesus Himself, often got up early to pray and to seek God.
So, preaching point here: if you want to see God bring you through in your life and bring you forward in your life, day to day, day after day, get up early because the morning is the rudder of the day. Joshua and the children of Israel were facing a challenge that they could not. Overcome in their own strength. Have you ever noticed how how often in life God brings us into situations in our lives that we are helpless to do anything about them unless God comes through? God brings us to situations like that, and every day is a challenge.
And so that's why I love to get up early in the morning. I wasn't always an early riser, but I've learned over the years that this is a habit worth repeating. Before you see the face of anyone else, see the face of God. Prayer and open God's word. Before they could go, they needed to wait.
Isaiah forty thirty one, a favorite of mine. They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, run and not be weary, and walk and not faint. And so, what I want to challenge you to do at the outset of your crossover is to dedicate, consecrate, yield your life, confess your sin, ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse you. And to prepare you for the miracle that God wants to do in your life, you look at your situation and you do say, "Impossible!
I don't see a way. I don't see a way through." But God, I believe there is a way. If I could somehow learn to trust you, God will get you through and onto the other side of that sickness. You say, "I pray for a child. God will provide in His own way and in His own time." You look at that prodigal child of yours, and you're wondering if they're ever going to come back to the Lord.
And God says, "Keep trusting me. Keep believing for the miracle." Yes, God will get you through. God will get you through, and on to the other side of that addiction, that habit in your life. God will move in ways you don't understand when you believe God to do great things in your life. I mean, it doesn't honor God just to believe for little things.
I believe in praying for little things. I do, but what bold things are you praying? What big things are you asking God to do in your life? Because when we pray big and bold, believing prayers, God does big things in our lives—things beyond our imagination. Is the natural?
It appears to be impossible, but our God is a God of wonders. He's a supernatural God, and God is not limited by your resources, or your education, or your environment, or your ethnicity, or your background. God is not limited by any of this. I've learned to ask God to supersize His blessings. You know, when you go to some of these restaurants, they say, "Shall I supersize that for you?" And when I'm praying these days, I'm asking God to supersize it.
God, give more, more love, more power, more anointing, more blessing. God made you on purpose and for a purpose. He has a plan for your life. And your destiny is distinct before God, Ephesians two and verse ten. For you are His workmanship, created in Jesus Christ unto good work.
You are God's divine poem, God's divine plan, His work in your life. Psalm one thirty nine verse sixteen. The psalmist said, "All my days were written in your book." You're not a byproduct of chance. Or circumstance, your life is a divine plan of God, and in order for you to receive what God has already promised to give you, if you will take it, is to first start with laying your life out before the Lord and saying, "Lord, my life is yours." It's a dedication. When you stand at an altar of marriage, man and wife, husband and wife, it it is a moment when a miracle takes place.
It's it's the miracle of marriage when one plus one equals one, because the two should become one, and that miracle of marriage takes place. That couple's life is a dedication. This is why I truly encourage. If you're going to get married, stand before God, and if you will, stand in God's church at an altar of dedication, and say, "We dedicate our home and our family and our marriage to You, Lord. I dedicate my income and my finances to You, Lord.
I give it all to You, and when you do this, God will reveal His purpose in your life, and you will serve God in your generation." But it begins with a consecration and a dedication of your life to Him. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, "The Gift of Forgiveness." We want to tell you about an encouraging resource available this month from PowerPoint Ministries. It's Dr. Jack Graham's book, Destiny. Have you ever wondered if God really has a purpose for your life?
Or question what he might be doing through the seasons of disappointment, waiting, or uncertainty. In Destiny, Dr. Graham explores the life of Joseph to reveal how God's sovereign hand is always at work, even when we can't see it. This powerful resource will help you trust God's plan, find peace in a difficult season, and move forward with confidence and hope. And when you give a gift of ten dollars or more to help share the biblical truth around the world through PowerPoint, we'll send you Destiny as our thanks.
To give your gift and request your copy, text OCT O C T to five nine seven eight nine. That's OCT O C T as in October to five nine seven eight nine. Let me remind you that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion. It's a study of God's word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life.
To sign up, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? I want you to know how grateful I am for you.
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That's thousands of people who are finding the encouragement and hope they need, whether they're turning to Christ for the first time or learning how to make His name known among their families and friends. And I hope you've been encouraged by something you've heard from PowerPoint recently. No matter how long you've been listening, my prayer is that God speaks into your life every time you tune in, or flip on the TV, or connect online, because He is always working to reach people with His love and truth. And that's why I'm asking for your special help today. Your support is vital to keep these biblical messages coming your way and going out strong to tell more people about the love of Jesus.
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Just text OCT to five nine seven eight nine. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how Joseph is a picture of Jesus. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
