Graduation Day

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 book, Heaven. But first here's the message, Graduation Day. The ultimate prize. The rich rewards that God has prepared for those who love our Lord and long to see Him. Did you know that your life hereafter in Heaven is vitally connected to your life here and now? How you live today will determine how you will spend eternity.

Now notice I didn't say how you live today will determine whether or not you go to Heaven. We are saved by grace through faith. And we've come to Christ and His cross and we've made a decision to follow Christ. And therefore we know that we're on our way to Heaven. Not because of anything that we have done but because of what Christ has done. But having said that, while forgiveness settles the issue of our destiny, our works, our deeds, our actions, our lives determine how we will spend eternity. And along with the rest of the New Testament, in fact all of the Word of God talks to us about rewards and wages that will be paid for those who have faithfully served Christ. And so our goal in life should be to so live and to so give ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ that we will hear the words, Well Done.

The Bible tells us that we are to number our days, that we are to apply our hearts to wisdom. That's what Paul is doing. In 2 Timothy chapter 4 beginning at verse 6 he says, Paul is looking forward to his future with Christ. Knowing that he expects to hear the acclaim. When you stand before God will you be acclaimed or will you be ashamed?

The Scripture says little children abide in him that when he will appear you may have confidence and not be ashamed at his appearing. I want to be confident in that moment standing before the Lord. The old apostle pictures himself as a spiritual athlete ready to finally pursue the finish line and to claim his victory.

The apostle Paul must have loved the sports arena. He talks so much about sporting events and he does that here as he's considering his own life and his own graduation day when he says, I will depart and be with Christ. So he takes a clear and sober evaluation, a serious evaluation of his life. He's looking back and he said, I have fought the good fight. Here he refers to a boxer in the arena.

And he portrays himself as someone who is landing every punch with every ounce and every inch of his being. Of course in life it is a battle. We battle against tests and temptations in life and against the principalities of the world of darkness.

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, the rulers of the dark places. Paul well knew the arena and he was fighting for the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was a disciplined fighter and a dedicated fighter. Paul's greatest fear was that somehow in life that he would be on the sidelines spiritually in service for Christ. He ran just a little bit scared knowing that it was possible to default and to be disqualified. And that was his greatest fear that somehow he would no longer be in the battle for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he disciplined himself and devoted himself and he did it.

He had the scars to prove it. Paul was testifying of his life one day and he said, I have been in the deep. I have been stoned. I have been thrown overboard. I have been beaten with rods. I have been cast into prison. And he had on his body the scars to prove it. He said, I bear on my body the stigmata, the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. How many of us can say, I am fighting the good fight of faith.

I am in the battle. Too many Christians today are interested in comfort and convenience rather than fighting this good fight of faith, battling for the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean we look for every reason on earth, not even to get to church. He said, if you're going to follow me, take up your cross and follow after me.

Too many people think they're doing God a favor just by showing up at church. But he has called us to win for him. Back in the Old Testament in the book of Numbers, as the children of Israel were advancing, advancing into the promised land, the tribes of Reuben and Gad came to Moses and said, look, we found a place outside the promised land that we really like.

It's convenient. There's room for our livestock. We don't want to cross over Jordan. We don't want to get on the other side. We certainly don't want to get in those battles with those giants over there that we've heard about.

So if it's okay, we'll just stay here on this side of Jordan and stay out of the battle. And Moses preached him a little sermon. He said, you know, this has happened before. When we came up to the promised land and we sent spies into the land and there were giants there and the people said they're like grasshoppers. We are like grasshoppers to these giants and only Joshua and Caleb said that we can take the land. Said this happened before and you know what happened?

It became the world's longest funeral procession. For 40 years they died out in the desert because they did not have the courage to conquer their Canaan that God had already given them. So Moses preached them that sermon.

And he said, okay, if you want to stay over here, that's fine. But be sure your sin will find you out. Now that verse will preach in a lot of different ways. Be sure your sin will find you out. Because sin and the consequences of sin will track you down. God will track you down, find you out. It is the sin of watching while your brothers are warring for God.

It is the sin of enjoying all the blessings of the promise without being in the battle for the Lord Jesus Christ. God said, be sure your sin will find you out. Paul said, I have fought the good fight. Then he said, I have run the race. From a fighter he turns into a runner.

He says, I have finished the course. Paul's course began on the Damascus road when he came face to face with the risen Christ. This rabid Jewish rabbi on his way to persecute, kill more Christians. He is confronted with the risen Christ, blinded in the light of his glory. First question he asked, Lord, who are you?

And every person needs to ask and answer that question, Lord, who are you? And he discovered the person of Christ, the one he had been persecuting was the very one he needed most in his life and he responded to Christ. And then he asked another question, Lord, what will you have me to do? And once you settle the question of who is Jesus, then you need to settle the question of Lord, what will you have me to do?

And that's what happened to the apostle Paul. Jesus became the Lord of his life and so he was on the way and every believer has been given a course. That's God's will, God's plan, God's purpose for your life. And a lane to run in, not competing with one another, but rather to run the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12 says, therefore also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Let us lay aside every weight. In other words, anything that would slow us down, keep us pursuing, that would keep us from pursuing expeditiously the will of God for our lives. He said, laying aside the sin which so easily besets us, that is those things, those sins that would stop us dead in our tracks and put us on the sideline. He said, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He set his purpose for life and he ran with all of his might. Get a game plan for your life. Get God's goals, God's mission for your life and pursue it daily. And it is a lifetime pursuit. Paul, who I believe is the greatest Christian who ever lived in Philippians say, I haven't arrived yet. I haven't attained this yet. But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, I press on to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus.

Jesus Christ. Press on in the race that God has given you. And don't you ever quit.

Don't you ever give up. I'm looking at some older adults here. You're maybe in those retirement years and you're thinking, well, it's time for me to step aside and let these young ones take over.

No. There's no retirement in the Christian life and in service for the Lord. If you're a Christian and older veteran believer, you ought to be more full of the Spirit, more full of joy, more full of life. You ought to be setting the pace and setting the example and taking the message forward until the Lord takes you home. You ought to be at the forefront of witnessing and giving and serving.

I mean, be like the Apostle Paul. He wasn't limping into heaven. He was leaping into heaven. He was excited about life and couldn't wait to live for Jesus.

He was never going back but always going forward. Let's celebrate with Jack Graham and today's message, Graduation Day. Even in life's heaviest moments, the promise of heaven holds out an encouraging hope for you today. And when you understand what your future with God will be like, the burdens of the present fill lighter. That's what Pastor Graham's book, Heaven, is all about. And it's why we want to get a copy into your hands today.

Heaven is our thanks for your gift to help share the truth of the gospel to more people around the world. This is the last week of this offer so call today. Call 1-800-795-4627.

That's 1-800-795-4627. Now let's get back to today's message, Graduation Day. Paul said, I have guarded the gospel. He said, I have kept the faith. He's not talking about his personal faith there, though he kept his personal faith and never walked away from his faith. But he's talking about the faith once delivered unto the saints. The faith to which we are to earnestly contend that we are to guard the gospel of Christ. The Word of God is under attack in this generation. And we are to stand for truth and righteousness. What is needed in this generation are courageous people with conviction that know God, that know their Bibles and know that they're on their way in the life that Christ has planned them. The Word of God, the gospel of God. I mean, you say that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no man comes unto the Father except by Him and you have a fight on your hands.

So are you going to melt under the pressure of this culture? Are you going to cave in and compromise your convictions? Or are you going to say with the apostle Paul, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

For it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and to everyone who believes. Guard the gospel. And every generation, listen to me, every generation has the responsibility of making sure that we proclaim the gospel, that we protect the gospel and that we pass the gospel along to succeeding generations. If you have ever run in a relay race, I'm told the most important moment in the relay race is the transfer zone. Every runner leans in and hands the baton to the succeeding runner. And races are won and lost or lost at that moment in the transfer zone. It is our responsibility in our own generation, my generation to make sure that we are handing the baton of truth to a succeeding generation.

That we put it intact into their hands so that they may run the race. There's a race that I must run. There's a victory to be won. And then Paul turns the corner, having looked back for just a moment, saying that I am fighting this fight and I am keeping this faith and guarding this gospel and I am running this race.

He then realizes it's this sobering realization that he is on his way out. Verse 6, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering. One of the great verses that I memorized as a young man was Romans 12, 1. I am a living sacrifice. He said, present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God. Paul was a living sacrifice and now he's about to be poured out completely as a libation, a living sacrifice unto the Lord.

Poured out completely. The time of my departure is come. Paul viewed his death as a departure.

Paul said, the time of my departure is at hand. And departure here, the word the Holy Spirit chose to give us here is a tremendous word. For one, it is a word describing the release of a prisoner. Set free from jail, from bondage to live a new life.

Free. And when we die in this departure, we will be like prisoners set free into the presence of God. No longer in bondage to the power of sin and death.

It was also used by farmers to describe the unyoking of an oxen. At the end of the day when that beast of burden had done a full day's work in the sun, they would unload the yoke from the oxen and let the beast of burden rest. When our time of departure comes, we will lay down our battles and our burdens. And we will rest the rest that our God gives us in his presence forever.

We will be alive forevermore. When an army would march off to battle, they would strike up their tents and then when the battle was done, the battle was won, they would take down their tents and march home in victory. Paul said, when we're poured out, it will be a departure. We will strike these earthly tents and march home to the refrains of victory in Jesus. This is called a sailor's word. When they would unmoar the ship to pull up the anchor and set sail and move out an uncharted course to distant horizons. When we depart, we'll let go of the anchors that hold us back and the limitations of our small little world in life and sail into the distance and the glorious possibilities of eternity with Christ.

The word departure was also a philosophical word. Have you ever had a problem, a perplexity in your brain? You just couldn't get your brain around it.

You couldn't figure it out. Maybe some great question that you can't answer, some great problem and you can't figure it out. But then comes that moment when you, you know, it's the eureka moment.

That's why the philosophers used this word. It was a eureka of discovery. The aha moment. When we get to heaven, when we depart and we are known even as we are known, the aha, the eureka moment, everything that didn't make sense will perfectly make sense. The nod in our brain will be unraveled and we will see everything so clearly in the pure light of His presence. Yes, the time of our departure, Paul said, is at hand. You may have many years to live, but compared to eternity, it's just a brief while and then we'll be with Him. Just realize that it does pay to serve Jesus. There is this henceforth, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, this sure expectation that we will be with Christ. William Borden was an aristocratic young man, a wealthy, well-known family, and after graduation, he determined that God was calling him to the mission field.

Everyone was against it. His father, his mother, his parents, his family, his friends said things to young William like, why would you do this? Why would you throw your life away?

You have so much talent, so much ability. You can make money, you can change America, you can be a great man in this country. Why would you go to a mission field, for goodness sake? Notwithstanding, William Borden said, God has called me and I'm going. He got on a ship and set sail for his mission destination and on the ship, tragically, unexpectedly, he died before he even arrived on the mission field.

People back home were saying, I told you so. He should have never gone. He should have never set foot on that ship. A wasted life, so young, now gone. When his things returned home, they found his diary, the journal that young William Borden was keeping. One of the final entries in that diary were these words regarding his call and his commitment to Christ. He wrote, no retreat, no reserve, no regrets. No retreat, no reserve, no regrets.

I want to live like that, don't you? Never retreating from your faith in Christ, never reserving in your commitment to Christ, never regretting a life wasted, but that you would live for the glory of Jesus every day. No retreat, no reserve, no regrets. Therefore, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge will give to all who long for his appearing, who love his appearing, who look forward to that day, graduation day, when we hear the words, well done. Well done, good and faithful servant.

You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, Graduation Day. No matter what struggles you're facing today, you have hope in the promises awaiting you in heaven. And God calls you to share that hope with others today. That's why we want to encourage and inspire you today by sending you Pastor Graham's book, Heaven. This exciting book takes you straight to scripture to help you see all that awaits you in the life to come and how it impacts your life today.

You'll find hope for today and courage to share that hope with others. So don't wait to request your copy. Heaven is our special thanks for your gift to help boldly proclaim God's word through PowerPoint. This is the last week of this offer, so call today. 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? When you stand before God one day, will you be acclaimed or will you be ashamed? Will you hear the words well done, good and faithful servant or something else? Because the fact is how you live today definitely determines the kind of impact you will have on eternity. Now, I didn't say how you live today determines where you will spend eternity, but how you will spend eternity. Yes, Jesus, along with the rest of the New Testament and the word of God talks about the rewards and the wages that will be paid for those who have faithfully served him.

That's why it's so important to live with eternity and focus. Think about the great apostle Paul. He was one of the most effective and steadfast believers who ever walked on the face of the earth. And yet even Paul feared that he would do something that would somehow sideline him as a servant of Christ. Paul ran just a little bit scared, knowing that it was possible to be disqualified from the race.

He said, I buffet my body. I bring my body into subjection lest I, having preached to others, would myself become a castaway. So the question is, if Paul, a spiritual giant of a man, feared that he would no longer be in the battle for Jesus, shouldn't you and I also make sure that we stay in the battle by disciplining ourselves and devoting ourselves to service every single day and making sure that we live for Jesus in the power of his Holy Spirit? I don't know about you, but I don't want to stand before God one day and admit that I was more interested in my own comfort and convenience than fighting the good fight of faith. So today, here's my encouragement to you.

This is the PowerPoint. Even if you've sidelined yourself in the Christian race, get back up and get going again. Turn from your sin.

Trust in Christ. Get back in the race. It's not too late to begin again. It's never too late for a new beginning. And if you admit that you aren't training every day for the race, then get back into the spiritual disciplines of your life of prayer and Bible study and worship attendance and involvement in ministry of your church.

It's never too late. And it doesn't matter what you've done or how long you've been a spectator Christian, you can get out of the stands and get on the field and make a difference for Christ. Get a game plan for your life. God's game plan.

Get big, godly, gigantic goals. God's mission for your life. And then pursue these daily and never, ever quit.

Don't give up until the day you hear those words. Well done, good and faithful servant. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift to PowerPoint, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book Heaven as our thanks. 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 what it really means to have true success. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.