Connect

Welcome to this edition of Power Point with Jack Graham. A little later in the program we'll tell you how you can get a copy of Dr. Graham's evangelism bundle. But first, here's the message.

Connect. Take your Bibles and turn to Acts, the second chapter. The second chapter of the book of Acts in your New Testament. For the past seven or eight years, I along with members of our Graham family have chosen one word that becomes our word for the year. It is just a word that represents the focus of life in that year. The over reaching theme, focus, intent, motivation of my life for one year. And I've had various words like stronger and kindness and abide was one year. And each word, and I would encourage you to do the same. But one word can, is so simple really, it can just be that one thing.

I write it down, I put it in my journal, I put it in places that I can see it just to remind me of that focus for the year. And so all my goals and all my resolutions, the things I want to do, the things I want to change and so on, comes under the heading of that one word. Again, it's a great process in your life. So my word is connect. And I put it in the form of really a verb because it is my intent to connect with God. I want my faith to grow deeper and stronger. I want my relationship with God like the Apostle Paul who was a strong believer and yet he kept pushing.

He said, I press on to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. I want to know Him more and more, he said, and that's my desire. I want to know the Lord more and more in my life. Connect with Him at a higher and deeper level.

I want to connect with my family and friends. God has given me a wonderful family and friends and we don't take these for granted. And so related to my connections in life, I want to make sure that I'm taking care of those relationships. Relationships, this is life and the rest is details, it's said.

And it's true, so family and friends, I want to make sure that I'm taking care of my relationships in life. Connect as never before. Making sure that we as a company of family and friends are moving forward. And then, not only to connect with family and friends but connect with others outside of my current friendships or relationships. I want to grow these and in particular, I want to grow my witness with those who do not know Christ. I want to invite people into my life who don't know the Lord and over this past year, I can look back and I see how God added into my life. So many wonderful new people and friends that encourage me and I trust I encourage them but I want to see that in a more intentional level in my life. So, connecting with others and I have a plan as to how I'm going to do that.

I'm not going to just think about it. God's given me some ways that I can do that specifically and then I want finally to connect the connected. One of the things that I can do in a place of leadership is to make sure that other people are getting connected with other people. And as a pastor, as a shepherd, you know, this is one of my ambitions, if you will, is to use the connections that God has given me to connect others with the gospel and with the kingdom of God and with God's church.

So that's my word, connect. And we see this regarding the church in Acts chapter 2. And we're going to look at this scripture because it is a classic example of who we are, what we're to do as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. A bit of background here, chapter 2 of Acts contains the day of Pentecost, the experience when the promise of Jesus was fulfilled, the Holy Spirit came in, the people went out, and the entire world was turned upside down ultimately. On the day of Pentecost, when the apostles were infused and filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to witness of Christ and the resurrection and preach that message of salvation that Peter delivered. Once a coward, now courageously, boldly, filled with the Spirit, he's standing before all, even the enemies of Christ and the gospel, and he's proclaiming Christ and as a result, revival came, the first revival, it was the birth of the church. The birthday of the church is Acts chapter 2, as 3,000 people on that very first day were born again into the family of God. And they all stood up and they said, I got saved.

I hope you can say that. So what happened is described in verse 41, what happened then and then what happened next and what should happen now. The New Testament church was a great church and was described as great on numerous occasions.

It's actually the word mega, great. And the church was great and throughout the centuries has been great. But we need to be praying, God, make your church great again because we have a great responsibility in front of us.

So how does that happen? Well, we don't go forward until we go back. So verse 41 says, so those who received the word were baptized and there was added that day, connected that day, about 3,000 souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, that's connection, breaking of bread, connect, and prayers, connect. And all came upon every soul, that's connection. And many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles or through the apostles. And all who believed were together, connected, and had all things in common, connect.

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing them the proceeds to all, that's connect, to all and all who had need. And day by day, attending the temple, connecting together and breaking bread in the homes, they received their food with glad and gracious hearts. Praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added, the Lord connected to their number day by day, day after day, those who were being saved. Those who were saved, I, God, saved. There was such an explosion of evangelism in the city of Jerusalem in those early days of the church that ultimately upwards to 100,000 people came to personal faith in Jesus Christ.

Maybe more. And not only salvation, but then steadfast discipleship that moved them forward in the faith. And what you have here is the embryonic version of the church, the beginning of the church.

And if we're going to go forward, as I said, we need to go back and with all the ideas that people could concoct or conceive about how are we going to grow, how are we going to reach people, just go back to the first century in order to see how we reach 21st century people for Christ. There, in this connection, three things. One, we are connected in membership, through membership.

I'm going to just get to that this morning. I had three points, I only have one. But just say also that they continue, we continue in maturity, growing in our faith, and then we connect through mission, on mission for the gospel of Christ.

But let's just look at that first one. Connect through membership, a committed membership. That's what was happening here. The church was made up of people. And they counted, each one, because each one counted. 3,000 people came to profess faith in their Christ. Somehow they were added up, they were added in, and this became the beginning of the membership of the church. We count numbers because people count. And we have a membership because we believe it's vitally important and it's New Testament Christianity to make sure people are enfolded and embraced and included in the church that people are in and all in. But before we're all in, before we're connected, several things need to happen.

Here's the evidence. One, these early believers were converted. Notice again, back up in verse 41. So those who received the Word were baptized and there was added that day 3,000 souls. They did four things. They received the Word, which means they believed on Jesus.

What Word? The Word of God. The testimony of Jesus. And at the core, at the center of this church is the proclamation of the Word of God, the Gospel of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And while through the years of the church, even here, we see strategies change and programs change and methodologies change, and yet one thing remains the same and must remain the same as long as this church exists.

That is our message and our mission never, ever, ever changes. It is the mission of Jesus Christ and it is the message of the Gospel. And that's how people come to faith in Jesus Christ. When they hear the Gospel, they gladly receive the Word. They were convicted of their sins and they were converted to Jesus Christ. They openly confess Christ in baptism and they were added to the church. So these four things, receive the Word, repent of your sins. When they were convicted, stabbed to the heart of their sin in deed of salvation, they said, what must we do? Peter said, repent and be baptized because of the remission of sin. So receive His Spirit, repent of your sin, receive the Word and respond with baptism to the public declaration and demonstration of your faith in Christ.

You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message Connect. You have a God-given calling to take the Gospel to the world. That's why we've put together a special bundle of resources to help you grow in your love of the Gospel and share it with others. This evangelism bundle includes three of Pastor Jack Graham's books, The Hope of Easter, Life Book and God's Promises for Doubt-Filled Days. This evangelism bundle is our thanks for your gift today.

And thanks to a generous matching grant, your gift today will be doubled. So call now to request your evangelism bundle when you give. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627.

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Now let's get back to today's message, Connect. Secondly, a committed people. So they continued, verse 42, steadfastly in the Apostle's teaching or doctrine, the teaching of the Bible. Fellowship, breaking of bread, which was most likely the Lord's Supper, but it could have meant communal meals where they shared meals together.

So much of the fellowship of God's people, even Jesus and His disciples together was around a table. And in prayers. You see, conversion is just the beginning. And when you are saved, then that process of growing in your faith, the doctrinal term is sanctification.

You're becoming more and more like Christ. That happens as we are discipled. Again, small groups and one-on-one Bible study. The teaching of God's Word from the pulpit, from the pastors and the leaders. One problem that we're facing as churches across America in particular is that even regular, committed church attenders are attending church services less often.

And with less involvement and time. And Carrie Newhoff wrote an article, he called it 10 reasons even committed church attenders are attending church less often. And I'm going to mention very quickly eight of the ten that he mentioned because I believe they apply to us. Here are the reasons why I'm not talking about people who rarely come. But regular members and attenders are attending less. Numbers say something like two, maybe three times a month max. It used to be, back in the day, 20 years ago, some of us can remember when you came to church three times a week, minimal.

Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Now if we get people to church services three times a month, we think we're doing well. So, why is that? Well here are some reasons. Number one, greater affluence. Just to put it crassly, we've got more money, we've got more options. The greater affluence that we have, I've seen it through the years. In tough times it seems that people show up at church more faithfully. When times are rolling, then people find other things to do.

They're here and there. So greater affluence and that may lead to the others that I'm going to mention. Secondly, higher focus on kids activities. Because we have more money and more options, one of those options is children's sports and children's activities. The third reason, we've got more time to travel and more money to travel. And so, we've got lake houses and we've got beach fronts and we take vacations more often. You know, when I grew up, I know I sound like a dinosaur now, but when I grew up, I mean if we left the county line, we were having a big day, alright? And we barely took vacations. Maybe your family did, we didn't.

We couldn't afford to do it. But now we take all kinds of vacations and we've got spring break and then when did fall break happen? Now we have fall break and we have Thanksgiving break and Christmas break and New Year's break and spring break and summer break and we're on break and we're on vacation and we're in and out and out and in.

More travel. It's a way of life for blended and single parent families. This is a cultural shift because not every child is with the same parent every weekend. And so children can be with a parent who goes to church on one weekend and a parent that does not go to church or in a blended family and again, it creates some dysfunction in that family spiritually when they're not together as a family in church.

It makes it more difficult. You have single parents, single moms, single dads and you know, we salute you as a single mom and a single dad. You have such a difficult assignment to be both parents to a child and many of you are working overtime. You're a single mom. You're doing two jobs. You can't even get to church because you're trying to take care of your family. That's a fact.

Blended families and broken families has created distinct disadvantages for churches in these days. Online options is another one. We appreciate so much. I'm looking right into the camera right now at our online group and you're watching and I pray you're worshipping and you're in the Word with us. But it's not the same as being here. Some of you can't get here, of course.

You live in other places. It's good when we're away from home. You can tune in at any time, Prestonwood Live and we have several thousand people each week who are with us online and that's a brand new thing that's really increasing in the last two or three years in particular and we're embracing that as a church and we're going to go after that.

But having said that, the online option is not the same as being here. We live in the most connected generation in terms of technology than ever before and yet we're being told the studies are coming in. People are more isolated, more alienated than ever before.

We need one another. That's the church. But online options are affecting churches today.

I mean think about it. Maybe you had a late Saturday night. You come in and it's a cold wintry morning on Sunday morning and your alarm rings and you're getting ready to thinking about going to church and you say, it would sure be nice just to get a cup of coffee and watch Jack preach online. Here's one, the cultural disappearance of guilt. Now, this is not a recommended reason for coming to church, guilt. But the fact is, people don't feel guilty about missing church these days. You know, some of us, if we grew up and we didn't make church for a week or two in a row, you know, I felt guilty about that.

Again, not a great motivation. It should not be our guilt but the goodness of God that brings us together. But the fact is, it's just different. People, you know, they don't think about being guilty. They miss church. I don't care.

It doesn't matter. Never feel guilty about it. Never feel con-, maybe the biblical word is convicted about it. Just not convicted about my need for God's church and God's people. And then, self-directed spirituality. I don't think that's on the screen but I would say that there are a lot of people that just consume religious information online and otherwise they don't think they need the church to get it.

But number eight is a failure to see a direct benefit. We live in a selfish, selfie generation. And the question is, you know, why would I do that? Why would I spend two or three hours in a church service or in a Bible study? What's the point?

What's the need? Many people today in an increasingly unchurched, de-churched culture just no longer see the need for church but remember, I'm not talking about the unchurched or the de-churched. I'm talking about so many regular attenders who just say, well, you know, it's not that important whether I'm there or not. I'm not getting that much out of it.

So out. The early Christians and Christians who are committed to the call of Christ upon their lives, they're not looking for a fast food service church. They're looking for a church where together we can grow and go with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Committed.

Very quickly, this membership was convicted. Verse 43 says, then fear came on every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. When you see the hand of God moving, you're motivated to be present.

You know God could do something that you've never seen before. And in the fear of the Lord, that, that means we are all struck in the majesty of His presence. It used to be a compliment to say someone is a God-fearing man or a God-fearing woman.

We don't hear those terms today. And yet, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God means that we are in awe of His presence, His holiness, His righteousness, His greatness. They were in awe of the Almighty. And in the fear of God, they were convicted together. They were convicted, they were committed, they were converted and yes, they were connected.

Connected. Verse 44, they believed and they were together and they had all things in common. He spoke of the breaking of bread and fellowship. That's the word, the New Testament word in the language of the New Testament, it's a uniquely Christian word, koinonia.

You hear the word coin or coins in there, koinonia? Paul actually used this word to describe the stewardship of the people in Corinth in the distribution and the partnership they had in the ministry of the church, fellowship in giving. So on our giving, it is our growing together, our giving together, our sharing together and yes, our loving together.

What did Jesus say? You shall know they're Christians by their love. By this shall all people know that you are mine, that you love one another.

There is a love here that is inexplicable, unexplainable. We are together not because we join this church like we join a club or an organization. This is not an organization to join, it is a family to share.

We believe together, belong together, we're bonded together, we're blessed together, we're a family. This is our church home, it's our fellowship, it's our family and fellowship is in serving. You say, well I don't have much fellowship. Start serving with a group of people that are also serving with you. Go on a mission partnership with a group.

Go across town on an endeavor to reach lost people in another community. Get together with Christians and, and work together in some way. So fellowship is not just, you know, having a party after church. You can have fellowship in that, we like to party. And there's plenty of places around here for hospitality, that's why we created them. But real fellowship, real koinonia is that sharing of life and love and labor together.

This is what they did. And don't wait to be, to be befriended but to be a friend and to reach out to people around you. Engage in the fellowship of God's people.

You'll be much more likely to be a faithful member and a tender and participator if you're engaged at that level. The benefit is the blessing of God upon your life. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and his message, Connect. Three point two billion people in our world still have no access to the good news of Jesus. And we must do whatever it takes to reach the lost with the hope of Christ.

That's why we're excited to tell you about a matching grant that will double whatever you give today to help reach more people through PowerPoint. Your support will help broadcast the gospel into some of the most spiritually dark corners of the earth. We'll say thanks for your gift by sending you three of Pastor Graham's books to help you share the gospel right where you are.

This evangelism bundle includes the Hope of Easter, Life Book, and God's promises for doubt filled days. So call now to have your gift doubled by the match and request your evangelism bundle. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627.

You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789. And don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online, or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional. Our website again is Jack Graham.org. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? There's so many reasons why churches are not effective at our times. I don't want to be critical of church or of churches.

I think we ought to believe in the church and trust Christ and follow Him in the ministry of a local New Testament church. But frankly, you need to find a church that is preaching Christ, exalting Christ, and preaching God's Word. Too many churches either don't preach Christ or they're in some kind of maintenance mode.

They move from mission to just trying to maintain what they have. And before you know it, the church which was once a mighty power of the church, the church which was once a mighty powerful movement for Christ and a mission for the glory of God is just plodding along, drifting along, just trying to get by, pay the budget, and just keep the doors open. That's not the church as Christ intended. If you're a pastor listening to me today, or if you're a lay leader in your church, I want to challenge you to take a serious, heartfelt look at your church.

Is it passionate? Is it fulfilling its purpose? Is it fulfilling the purpose of Christ? Are you caught up in the politics of just trying to keep the church going?

Or are you pursuing the mission of Christ and reaching your community and world for Him? I do pray that God will use you and your church for His glory. Again, there are so many good churches, truly great churches, and the size of the church doesn't matter. It's the heart and the mission of the church that truly matters. We need to pray for revival in all of our churches today, that we will build up a body of believers who are a force for evangelism, dedicated to reaching our world for Christ. Take time today again to read Acts chapter 2, verses 42 to 47.

That's the church as God intended, and then pray over what you need to do to make your church a powerhouse and a lighthouse for Christ. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a gift to PowerPoint, your gift will be doubled by a matching grant. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how you can succeed in your life and in your witness for Christ. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.