Giving Your Faith Away

Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint 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, Giving Your Faith Away. Today's message is about spiritual engagement. And really what we're talking about is life in the Spirit. And if we are living life in the Spirit, the outliving of His indwelling in us, then certainly it is the plan and the purpose of God's Spirit in us to use each one of us to share the faith, to invite others to know Christ, to introduce our family, our friends and people that we may never meet.

our family, our friends and people that we may never meet through various ways and means, to the good news of Jesus Christ. We're gonna meet a man who went to a desert place and a distant place to share his faith. He was on mission to share the gospel and to get out of his own comfort zone and to get into the caring zone of personal faith.

Look in verse 26 of Acts chapter eight. His name is Philip. Philip was one of the deacons of the church, a layman unleashed, sharing faith in Christ.

And remember this, it wasn't just the apostles sharing their faith, but all the believers were at this mission of inviting others to know Christ. And so Philip, like Stephen before him, one of the deacons of the church, is out there doing what God has called him to do. First in Samaria, he crossed some racial barriers and some religious barriers to go to Samaria. And there in Samaria, God sent a great revival among the people there and God greatly used this man, Philip, as a catalyst for that revival. But then something very unusual happened to Philip. Verse 26 says, now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is a desert place. And he rose and went and there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all of her treasure. In other words, this was a very important figure in the government of the Ethiopians. And he had come to Jerusalem to worship, being a God-fearer, someone who had converted to the Jewish faith. He had sought God in Jerusalem and had made this trek from Ethiopia across the desert to Jerusalem.

And yet this man, filled with religion, was going home empty, knowing that he needed something else, something more in his life. So verse 28 says, and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the spirit said to Philip, in some way, intuitively, and yet intently, the spirit of God spoke to Philip and prompted him to go talk to this man. So Philip ran to him.

I love that, don't you? He ran to the chariot and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? He met him at the point of his need. He found this man fully prepared to receive what God was about to give. And the gentleman said in verse 31, how can I unless someone guides me?

And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this, and this comes right out of Isaiah 53, verses seven and eight. Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before his shearer is silent.

So he opened not his mouth. He's talking about the Lord. He's reading about the Messiah who would come and sacrifice. And in his humiliation, justice was denied him.

Who could describe this generation? For his life is taken away from the earth. And so this very religious man, this leader in his own country, he is wondering, what does all of this mean? What did the Prince of Prophets, Isaiah, mean when he spoke of this one who would die like a lamb sent to a slaughter? And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this? About himself or about someone else? And then I love verse 35.

Then I love verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth. He didn't simply influence him with his life. That's good.

That's a great start. But it takes more than that to bring others to Christ, doesn't it? He opened his mouth. He spoke. And beginning with the scripture, that scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. That in simple form is the way every one of us can witness. If we are externally engaged, externally focused, it was an extreme thing for God to say to Philip, I want you to leave this comfortable place and go to an unknown place. Just follow my promptings.

Go after my leading. And I will show you and prepare for you something that I have specifically called you to do. The Spirit of God often moves us to take risks. To get off of Easy Street and walk the narrow road. To take off our shoes and get our feet dirty for the cause of Christ. Even in a desert place.

Even in a dirty place. And that's what Philip reminds us of today. How we can be used of God if we will simply, now listen, be open and obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Now if you're looking for the gist of this message, you just heard it. How God can use us if we will be open and obedient and, let me add one word, other old word, opportunistic to the voice and the vision of the Holy Spirit in our lives. How do we do that? Let's start by being open to the work of the Holy Spirit. God spoke, Philip listened. He was attentive and responsive to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

You say, well what is that, Pastor? Well the Bible says, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God. And therefore we are to be filled with the Spirit, which means controlled by the Spirit, in order that we could be used by the Spirit. It's impossible to be used of the Spirit if God is not filling my life.

And of course when we speak of our witness, we're talking about, we're talking about the collaborative and the cooperative ministry of the Spirit through us. When we work in our human energy, we get what we can do. But when we work in the power of God, we get what God can do. And when we share Christ, it is our availability, but it is His ability.

It is our personalities, but His power. It is our witness, but it is His work through that witness. And the Holy Spirit, therefore, when we are filled, enables us to do things that we couldn't do ordinarily.

And that includes our witness. To be filled with the Spirit is to ask God to take control and take command of your life. Ephesians 5 18 says, do not be drunk with wine where it is an excess, but be filled with the Spirit. In other words, be intoxicated with the Spirit of God. And when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you will therefore live listening to the Spirit. Then God will give you the openness to see all around you opportunities that you would have missed a thousand times had you not been walking in the Spirit. I wanna tell you, if you're filled with the Spirit, you will see more witness opportunities than you can possibly fulfill.

It's when we're walking in self-promotion or self-centeredness that we miss all the opportunities that are around us. But listen to the Spirit. These are the promptings of the Spirit. He guides us, He places us in strategic places. He leads us to people that need to hear our witness. And everyone can witness to someone every day.

Maybe this would be a good time for a question. When was the last time you witnessed to anyone? Now, I'm not here to put you on a guilt trip.

But I'm here to encourage you to get on the greatest adventure of life. And that is being open to the work of the Holy Spirit sensitized by God in you to people all around you. Because remember, this is the passion of Christ. The Spirit of God is Christ in us.

And if Christ went about doing good each day, and that's what the Scripture tells us, if Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost, if Jesus said, as the Father sent me into the world, so do I send you. If this is the mission of Christ, then it is the mission of His church, and it is the mission of every Christian, amen? And so what I need to do is to get out of my personal zone and to get into the God zone in my life.

That's the filling of the Spirit. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, Giving Your Faith Away. 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.

You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789. And don't forget to visit JackGraham.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 JackGraham.org. Now let's get back to today's message, Giving Your Faith Away. The first thing that needs to happen if we are going to give away our faith is that we need to be open to the leadership, to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Secondly, we need not only to be open, but we need to be obedient. Remember, being comes before doing, so be open, number one, and then be obedient.

Remember, the Great Commission is not a suggestion. It's a commandment. And so if I'm going to be an obedient Christian, then I need to live every day with this unquestioning obedience. The moment I stop obeying God is the moment that I give up spiritual power. The moment I say no to a prompting of the Holy Spirit is when I'm cut off from that divine sense of power. And total obedience is what God expects and what God requires. We don't always know why God tells us to do something, do we?

Abraham didn't understand why God told him to leave Ur of the Chaldees and to go out not knowing where he was headed into the unknown zone. Philip could have questioned God leading him to the desert. Lord, here we are in Samaria. God's using me in a great way. But now, Lord, you want me to go somewhere in the south in the desert on this road, this forsaken road to the desert?

You want me to go out there? But there's no sense that Philip even argued with God on this. He just immediately responded. And God led Philip to just one man. Interestingly enough, we're told in Christian tradition and history that God later used this man, this Ethiopian, who came to faith in Christ because of Philip's witness that God used this Ethiopian eunuch to take the gospel of Christ to all of North Africa. You see, you never know what could happen if you just simply obey God and talk to the person right in front of you about Jesus.

We're told in the scriptures that we must never quench the Spirit. The Spirit of God was spreading through the church. Now, remember, Jesus had told them to go into Jerusalem first and then to Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth. And interestingly enough, when the opposition rolled in in Jerusalem and persecution began, remember, Stephen, who died as the first Christian martyr, the persecution was hot and heavy.

So as a result, the fire now was spreading. God, in one sense, forced the church through their discomfort, through their pain, through the struggles of persecution, forced them out of Jerusalem and to Judea, Samaria, that's where Philip was, and then ultimately out into the desert and onto the world. It may be that the Spirit of God is using some crisis in your life to move you out of your comfortable zone and to get you out sharing Christ. Did you know that if you're going through a hard time right now, if you as a follower of Christ are struggling in some area, maybe you've got a physical issue, maybe there's a problem in your life that you can't explain, God wants to use that situation in your life, even the darkness, for you to shine the light of Christ. Because what people want to know, does your faith work in the tough times? What people want to know, the people you go to school with, the people you work with, the people in your neighborhood, they want to know when you're struggling and when you're hurting and when you've got a problem, does your faith make a difference in your life? Does Jesus really change things?

Or are we just like everybody else, falling apart at the first crisis? No, these Christians were moved by the Spirit of God because they were obedient to his work. The scripture says that Philip, verse 35, opened his mouth, began at the scripture, and he preached Jesus to him. Being obedient includes knowing the scripture, and that's another message, another time, but it's important for Philip and for all of us when we are given these moments that we are able, to some degree, to articulate what we believe. And so it is vital that you know the basics of your faith.

I mean, if someone walked up to you right now and said, tell me how I could go to heaven, could you tell them? You ought to be able to tell them the basic facts of the gospel and of Christ. He began with the scripture and preached Jesus.

Ultimately, that's what it's all about, isn't it? It's talking about Jesus. It's telling people about Jesus. And there are many ways that we do that. We can't all do it the same way, but I tell you this, if we're led by the Spirit, we all will find our way of doing it. It may be through ministries of mercy and helping hurting people that you are given an open door to share your faith. It may be through a ministry of the church. This is why we ask people, urge people to get involved in the ministry of the church, because every ministry of the church, if you're working with children or if you're working with students or if you're working in a class or if you're working as an usher or you're working in the parking lot, whatever you're doing, these are opportunities to share, to show your witness for Christ. And these will open doors for you to articulate your faith. It is the business of the Holy Spirit to introduce people to faith in Christ. Christians today either neglect the Spirit or abuse the Spirit of God by grieving the Spirit or quenching the Spirit, rather than allowing the Spirit of God to use us. Philip opened the Word and he preached unto him Jesus.

That's what I want to do. This is what I'm loving life, is when I'm opening the Word and preaching Jesus, when I'm opening the Scriptures and sharing Jesus. For me, life doesn't get any better than that. It's all about sharing Jesus. And the Holy Spirit will soften and prepare the person that you're talking to. You see, every person has needs, two basic needs. They need to be forgiven and they need to be fulfilled.

And Christ forgives us of all of our sins and fulfills and fills our lives. I'm not talking about just the down and out. Too many of us think that the gospel is for the down and out. Well, the gospel is for the down and out. But this man, this Ethiopian, he was an up and out. And he needed Jesus. He had the same need. He had all this religious experience, but he was empty and unforgiven and needed to know of the love of Christ. And so just as the Spirit of God is working on me to prepare me to go and to be open to the work of the Spirit of my life and obedient to the will of the Spirit in my life, then he is working on somebody who is in my life that day that I could simply share a witness with them.

And that's what I wanna challenge you to do. When you talk to people each day, what do you talk to them about? Well, we talk about the family. We talk about the news. We talk politics. We talk about the weather.

All surface stuff. We talk about our favorite sports team. We get pumped about that. We talk about our business.

We talk about the next deal. I love the story of Pete Maravich, the great basketball player who came to Christ. He said, if I have the opportunity to introduce the subject of the conversation with the people I meet, the subject is always Jesus. Last night I was with a group of people called the Roaring Lambs, a great banquet. Gary Kinder is the leader of this group, a wonderful Christian layman, and the purpose of Roaring Lambs came from a book written by a gentleman named Bob Reiner, now in heaven. Some of you remember Bob, but he wrote a book called The Roaring Lambs. You say, that's an unusual title, Roaring Lambs.

What's that about? Well, Jesus was the lamb that roared, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And Jesus roared when he died and when he came back from the grave, and he's the roaring lamb, the bold lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And those who follow the roaring lamb should also be roaring lambs, and that's the theme of Reiner's book. That's the purpose of this particular organization and the genuine purpose, men and women, is to get people like you in the laity to go to the marketplace with Jesus. The greatest mission field in the world is the marketplace, and God has placed you in that place. And God has given you a job and an assignment in that job, and you ought to be a faithful worker and a good worker, you ought to do everything you can to be successful in your business for the purpose of beginning right there and talking about Jesus. That Ethiopian came to Christ, he was baptized, he went on his way, and Philip was translated just like that to another assignment for the Lord.

That's the way to live. That's the way God calls laymen and people like me who get to preach, to live every day, sharing Jesus. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, Giving Your Faith Away. 3.2 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. That's PowerPoint to 59789. And don't forget to visit JackGraham.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 JackGraham.org. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? The first key to giving your faith away every day is to be open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. God is at work in the lives of men and women and children all around you. He is drawing people to Himself. He is preparing people to hear the story of Jesus.

And He wants to use you to tell that story. So if you are open to the Holy Spirit and sensitive to His gentle promptings in your life, you will walk into divine opportunities every day and you will be able to share your faith effectively. The second key to giving your faith away is to be obedient. Once you have felt the Lord's prompting to make that phone call or to write that note or to visit that person, that's the time to act. Don't be slow to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in your life. Be sure to obey the Lord right away. Often the Lord will prompt you at a specific moment at a specific time to deliver a timely word to a person who desperately needs to hear from God.

And guess what? You get to be the delivery boy. You get to be the person to carry the message in. You don't need to delay because you might miss the moment that God has designed. So it is vital that you learn to obey immediately when you feel that the Lord is speaking to you about speaking to others. The third important key in giving away your faith is to be observant. Sometimes it is possible to see that God is at work in someone's life and that they are becoming more and more open to talking about Christ. So what we need to do is to pay attention to what is happening in the lives of people around us and then to take every opportunity to speak into life situations where you know that people are ready, responsive, and are open to hearing about Jesus. The Lord is constantly giving us opportunities to share our faith.

He really is. The challenge is before us every day. The call comes every day to be more open to the Holy Spirit, more obedient to His promptings, and more observant to the opportunities that are all around us.

God bless you as you share your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is today's Power Point. Remember when you give a gift to Power Point 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 Power Point to 59789. And join Dr. Graham next time when he brings a message about how the Holy Spirit can lead you exactly where you need to go. That's next time on Power Point with Jack Graham. Power Point with Jack Graham is sponsored by Power Point Ministries.