God's Man

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 book, Man of God. But first, here's the message, God's Man. You think of all the incredible personalities that punctuate the pages of Scripture. Men like Moses, men like Joshua, men like Joseph, men like David, the disciples and followers of Christ, Paul. But there is a man of whom Jesus said, this is the greatest man born of woman.

Now that's quite a bold statement, isn't it? The greatest man born of woman who ever walked upon the earth. Who is that man? Well, he must have been a prophet. Well, he himself said, I'm not a prophet. And Jesus said, he was greater than the prophets.

Who could be a greater man than the prophets? This particular man didn't perform any miracles. He didn't part the Red Sea with his staff. Nor did he pray that the rains would not fall and then pray and the rains descended. He didn't raise the dead as a great old man. The New Testament prophet raised the dead.

He never wrote a New Testament book. And yet Jesus said, this man, if you want to see a man, if you want to see a man's man and if you want to see God's man, take a look at my friend, John the Baptist. Beginning in verse 6 of John chapter 1. There was a man sent from the light and his name was John.

Not John the disciple, but this is John the Baptist or John the baptizer. This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light.

In other words, he was a burning and shining light. And then once again look in chapter 1 at verse 19 and following. This is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? He confessed and did not deny but confessed, I am not the Christ.

And they asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you a prophet? And he answered, no. Then they said to him, who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us.

What do you say about yourself? And he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make way or make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said. Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees and they asked him saying, why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet? And John answered them saying, I baptize with water. But there stands one among you whom you do not know.

It is he who coming after me is preferred before me whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. These things were done in Betharabara beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. A man sent from God whose name was John.

Remember about John the Baptist when we meet him in the initial stages of John's gospel. He was getting an incredible amount of press. He was a well-known celebrity, if you will, at his times. People were rushing out to the desert into the wilderness just to hear him speak. He had an audience before Herod upon an occasion. He was the king of the nation.

The religious scribes and Pharisees were all up in the air about this man. He was a man but yet he was like no other man because Jesus said he was the greatest man born of woman in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 11. What made this man so significant? Why was this man the greatest man who ever lived? It was because he was the direct forerunner of the Lord Jesus. It is his connection and nearness to Jesus Christ. His fellowship and relationship with Jesus Christ that made him the greatest man who ever lived. Something about John the Baptist, he was prophesied in the Old Testament. He was a powerful man. He was a man upon whom the Spirit of God rested. And yet he was born to speak just one sentence, really.

And that sentence is this. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Had John baptized thousands? Had he preached like no man had ever preached before him? Had he been the greatest man who ever lived and yet failed to speak this one sentence? His ministry, his life would have been an abject failure. But he was God's man because he was a Jesus man. And he introduced Christ to the world. And when he exploded on the scene in human history he influenced thousands and invited them into the kingdom of God to know Jesus Christ. He preached a message of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

He came at a strategic time. For 400 years there had been no voice in Israel, no prophetic voice. And moral and spiritual darkness had settled upon the people. There was religion, but they needed a revival. They needed Jesus Christ. And so John the baptizer was sent from God to introduce Jesus to the world. Now isn't that our assignment in life, men and women, to introduce the world to Jesus Christ?

Not before his first coming, but at the end of this age, at the outset of the return of Jesus Christ. John the baptizer came to introduce Christ to the world the first time. And it is our responsibility to introduce men, women, boys and girls to faith in Jesus Christ before Christ comes again. Now there's so much to learn from John's life, from his witness and ministry.

Because just as he came at a strategic time, we are living in this strategic time. Think for a moment about the intensity of this man's ministry. This man's spotlight removes self from the scene and points others to Christ.

And that's what John the baptizer did. He was willing for his great life to be eclipsed by the greater life of Christ. And he was willing to say, I'm not the light, but Jesus Christ.

He is the light. Jesus Christ came from his heart. The scripture says in Matthew 11, verse 10, that he will send his messenger, John, before God's face. His messenger sent before his face. Literally in the face of God. You know, there's a difference between being sent for God and being sent from God. And John the Baptist came from the very heart and the very face of God. He had been so close to God. Living in his presence, experiencing his power, that he was ignited with spiritual power and passion and the intensity and the passion of his life is burning and shining for Jesus Christ. Now let me ask you, are you man, woman, are you shining for Jesus Christ?

Are you a burning and shining light for him? The Bible talks about three kinds of temperatures, spiritual temperatures. It talks about people who are cold.

In other words, cut off from spiritual life. They're at court spiritually because there is no life in Christ, spiritually cold and cut off from God. Then the Bible speaks of those who are lukewarm. And these are folks who are cool and casual about their faith. Jesus talked about the lukewarm in Revelation chapter 3.

They're not hot, they're not cold, they're just lukewarm. They have a casual interest in the things of God. And when they get to church, rather than worshiping from a burning heart and a shining light for Christ, they're already looking at their watches.

Casual, cool, they live in the land of moderation and mediocrity. Jesus said of these, I'll vomit you out of my mouth, I'll spew you out of my mouth because you are making me sick. But then the Bible talks about those who are hot, who are hot-hearted, like those disciples who walked with Jesus along the road to Emmaus and said, did not our hearts burn within us as we walked with him in the way? Hot-hearted believers. What is your spiritual temperature this morning? Cold, cut off from God, cut off from Christ, spiritually lukewarm and rapid and half-interested?

Or are you a burning and shining light for Jesus Christ? We need men today of integrity, of righteousness, of devotion to Christ. Hot-hearted men whose one passion and priority of life is to shine as an example and a testimony and representative of Jesus Christ. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, God's Man. Model gentleness, lead with humility, and speak the truth in love. We want to help you identify the traits of a real man of God by sending you Dr. Jack Graham's insightful book, Man of God.

Our thanks for your gift today. In it, Dr. Graham gives you biblical insights to what a true man of God looks like to his spouse, his family, and the world. To request your copy of Man of God, call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800. 795-4627. You can also text PowerPoint to 59789. And don't forget to visit jackgram.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 jackgram.org. Now let's get back to today's message, God's Man. They came to him and said, are you Elijah? Are you Moses or one of the prophets?

Are you Messiah? And he said, no, I'm just a voice. I'm just a voice of someone crying in the wilderness.

And the word that John and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gives us, therefore crying means howling. It describes the intensity of this man's voice as he spoke. Now, of course, John was a very unusual man. He lived in the desert. He separated himself from the world.

He subsisted on a very unusual diet and wore unique clothing. And he had his own crowd, his own church, if you will. But when Jesus Christ came on the scene and when it was time to introduce Christ, he said, I am not a prophet. I am not the Messiah. I am simply sent to bear witness of the light, the one who is coming, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

Now, look at these shoes. Not only do we see the intensity of this man, John the Baptist, and the intensity that is needed in our own lives, men and women, but we see the humility of his life. Though bold and crying in the wilderness, he stepped aside in order that Christ might be given the preeminence. He said, prepare ye the way of the Lord.

Prepare to meet your God. Why such urgency? Why such intensity? Because the time was short. The kingdom had arrived. Sometimes we ask, well, why do we get so excited about bringing people to Christ? Because the time is now and the time is short. Today is the day of salvation. And we, like John the Baptist, are simply to be heralds, voices, crying in the wilderness, standing in the gap, and pleading with people to come to him. It's a tough task.

No one said it would be easy. Some of you are thinking, what am I going to do with my life? Well, I think I'll go to college. I think I'll get married. I think I'll settle down, get a job, have a few children, make some money, live to be an old man, an old woman, and then die.

But I really don't know what I'm going to do with my life. Let me remind you, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and really anyone, but certainly if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not your own. You do not belong to you. You are bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ. And your life has been given to you that you might give it back to him and glorify him and honor him and serve him and witness of his power and of his grace in your life. Daniel the prophet was called in to speak to him. And Belshazzar was a wicked man and defied the God of heaven. And so judgment was coming. And Daniel pronouncing that judgment upon this king said to him, God who holds your breath in his hand is coming in judgment against you.

Now think about that. God who holds your breath in his hand. Every breath we take, every day we live belongs to him. In him we live and move and have our being. How dare you live your life apart from the God who holds your very breath in his hands. And if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, how dare you be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. How dare you say I don't have a purpose, I don't have a meaning, I don't have a reason for being when God has called you to be a burning and shining light for Jesus Christ. Gentlemen, men, make it your passion, your purpose, your priority in life to give yourself unreservedly, unconditionally to Jesus Christ.

That's what John did. Say I will be the man. I will be a man of God. His humility to surrender to Christ and to set aside. His intensity and passion for the things of God. John the Baptist teaches me something else.

He teaches me something about his authority. You know his authority was simply a voice crying in the wilderness. And what was his message? It was to repent for the kingdom of God was at hand. Now John the Baptist was not Mr. John the Baptist.

When the leaders of his time came out he said things like, hey you bunch of snakes. And when the people came out he preached a message of repentance. Now that's a missing word in the contemporary church, repentance. Maybe we think the message of repentance should be delivered at the jails or the prisons or at a skid row mission. Or maybe we think the message of repentance is for the crooks and the drug addicts and the prostitutes. But let me remind you when John came preaching a message of repentance he delivered it to a religious crowd.

People who knew all the rules and lived on the list. But as Jesus would later say, their hearts were full, their lives were full of the bones of dead men. And so he came with a message of repentance. Jesus said unless you repent you shall all likewise perish.

Now what does that mean? Well you may have heard that the word repentance means to change directions and it does. But to define it more fully repentance means a change of heart resulting in a change of direction in your life. And it means by His power and the grace of God in your life that you will begin to live in obedience to Him. John the Baptist came with that message of power and authority. And you know when you look at John the Baptist's life, you look at his courage, you look at his compassion, you look at the convictions and you admire him and you wonder what makes this man tick?

How can he be that kind of man and how can I be that kind of man? How can I be that kind of friend to Christ and follower of Christ? Let me mention just three aspects of John's life that I believe will encourage you to be a man or a woman of God. Number one, in Luke's Gospel chapter one and verse 15 we're told that John was great in the eyes of God. Look at, just listen to Luke's Gospel chapter one verse 15. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink and he will also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. Great in the eyes of God.

I ask you could there be anything more important, more significant, said of you or me than that? And we shouldn't care what the polls say or what people say. John the Baptist didn't. John the Baptist did not care what people thought about him. His only concern is what do people think about Jesus Christ? And he lived his life in the sight of the Lord and was empty of himself of his own personal ambitions in order that he might be great in the sight of God. You follow Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever. You keep your eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of the faith and you make it your one ambition to please him like John the Baptist.

You will discover greatness in the sight of God. Secondly, about John the Baptist, not only his devotion to God but his personal discipline in his life. It is said of him, again in John 1.15, that he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink for he will be full of the Holy Spirit. For some of you men, you're going to allow some things in your life to keep you from achieving what God wants you to achieve before your wife, your children, your church, your community because you are unwilling to discipline yourself in some of the areas of your life. John disciplined himself in this area. He totally abstained from alcohol and wine and strong drink because as a discipline and a devotion of his own heart, he was committed to something better, something greater, something higher.

That was the fullness of the Spirit of God in his life. Can I tell you something? I despise alcohol. You say, why do you despise alcohol? Because I've seen the ravages and the destruction of homes and families and lives and boys and girls and teenagers and often on the cuff of those who claim to know Christ and only get a beer at the 19th hole or do it a little bit socially because after all they say, I'm free in Christ.

I'm liberated. But it's this very area of your life in particular for some of you that the lack of discipline in your own life in this particular area is going to destroy your personal testimony and witness for Jesus Christ. John the Baptist was willing to put aside anything and everything in his life as we should as well in order that we might be at our very best.

Why do we need to live on substitutes when we have the Holy Spirit? John the Baptist did that. John was strong in his convictions. Jesus said, what did you expect to see when you go out to see this man? A reed shaking in the wind? A man in fine clothes?

No. John the Baptist swung hard and he hit hard. He was a burning bold witness for Christ. And then finally, his determination, his one determination to point people to Jesus Christ, to be a witness for him. He said something that I believe should be the motto of every believer's life.

He must increase and I must decrease. And because he was willing to move aside and say to the world, behold the Lamb of God, behold Jesus Christ who takes away the sin of the world. He was, according to Jesus Christ, the greatest man.

Born of woman. And our purpose and our priority in life is to magnify Jesus Christ. When you make that your purpose, you will rock your world. You can shake your neighborhood, your city, your community for Christ. But our world doesn't need less manly men. We need more men of God, men who love Jesus, make loving husbands and fathers and lead as servants. We'd like to help you uncover what God says about true masculinity by sending you Dr. Graham's book, Man of God.

You'll gain biblical insight into how you or the men in your life can live with purpose and passion, putting Christ first and living radically for him. Man of God is our thanks for your gift to help proclaim God's word through PowerPoint. So request your copy when you call today. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text 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?

Well, Scott, it's obvious that this world is full of darkness and it is ultimately headed for a strict and severe judgment and separation from God. I'm reminded of a story of an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. They were facing submarines and they needed to find those submarines. And so they sent up five of the finest pilots in five of the best planes in the arsenal. Those five pilots went and of course they surveyed in that mission of espionage and they were locating those submarines. But as those pilots were up in the air, the word came in that it was very important that the aircraft carrier go to total darkness.

The subs were moving in. And so the word came, turn out the lights. We must have total darkness. Every light on that ship went out. And there in the total darkness, those planes endeavored to come home as they radioed into the aircraft carrier. We're coming home.

Mission is accomplished. Turn on the lights so we can land. And the radio operator said, it's a total blackout. We have orders that it is to be total darkness. In just a moment, as those planes were circling, trying to find their landing spot, trying to find space on the aircraft to land, they said, just turn on some lights, just turn on any lights so that we can land. Once again, the radio operator said, I'm sorry, but I have my orders. No lights.

Absolutely none. So once again, an urgent message came. Would you turn on a little light so that we can see the land? The radio operator answered back, I'm so sorry, but it is to be total blackout. And five of America's finest pilots and their crews went down in the blackness of the night and into the depths of the ocean that night because there was no light.

I think that's a picture, a parable of our world today. There's darkness everywhere. And men and women are looking for the light, just some light, just a little light so that they can find home, so that they can land today. Make a commitment to be that light, to share the love of Jesus and his grace and his power to save, to bring home people around you who are walking and living in darkness.

And they do not know Jesus Christ. You can bring people to the light by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift to PowerPoint, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book, Man of God, as our thanks. Call 1-800-795-4627.

That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789. On the next PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how being a follower of Jesus is the first step to being a father who leads well. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.