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Jim Graff is a respected pastor, leader, and author who loves helping people fulfill their unique
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Understanding Revival and Personal Victory 0:01 Revival, it's a term uttered often whether in the recounting of a powerful historical event or in the whispering of a solemn prayer for the future. But as often as we speak of revival, do we really understand what it is?0:12 Revival is not simply divine intervention. It's a divine response, God's response to our obedience to his word. That's what Jim Graff's new book, Character Counts, Experiencing a Cultural Comeback is0:24 all about. In it, we discover how godliness protects us and allows us to experience fulfilled purpose. If we'll engage in this war for our future, we'll0:38 character counts. We believe that as you apply the principles found in its pages, you'll be on your way to experiencing personal revival that leads to a broader cultural comeback. So give today at a0:50 significant life dot com. And together, let's experience our long awaited revival as we build character that counts.1:02 Thank you for being with us. You know, Tamara, it's such a joy to help people experience God the same way that we've experienced God and and enjoyed how good he's been to us. And today's message is gonna talk1:13 about the fact God has determined outcomes for victory planned for our lives. He has certain blessings prepared that we can step into if we learn to trust1:23 him. Right. And today we're so blessed by the riches of God's word and and we're gonna help today. We're gonna help see how important it is that we do more than celebrate big events in the Bible. God calls us to1:34 celebrate the great privilege of having him at work in our lives. And you know, that's clear in the Bible. We'll see that's the case in our life too. We've seen it, you know, in our 35 years of pastoring. People come,1:45 for instance to an Easter service and they get excited when we talk about Jesus' victory over death and the grave. And we should because that's good. But we'll see today that the disciple, Mark, made it a point to1:56 describe how determined Jesus was for us to experience the victory God planned for us as well. And our world doesn't change until we do that.2:05 That's really for sure that Jesus doesn't just want us to celebrate his victory, he wants us to celebrate the victories that he longs to bring into our lives. And I remember as a young Christian walking out of an Easter2:16 service and I was so grateful for the empty tomb, but until I learned to deal with the emptiness in my own heart, and until I let God learn God do something about that. You know, I always lived with the longing that I2:27 didn't know how to have fulfilled. And I'm so glad today that I've learned what it means to have God's power at work in my life. It's really the greatest joy of my life and the second greatest joy is2:39 really helping others to do the same. So enjoy the message today. We're so glad you're with us.The Masterpiece of God's Work in Our Lives 3:04 I really enjoy looking at beautiful pieces of art. My missionary, travels have given me the opportunity to see artwork that's not just beautiful, but it's legendary.3:16 A lot of us have seen the print, for instance, of of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. And this is the painting of it. It's on a Dominican monastery in Italy. And when I first looked at3:28 that painting, I thought, man, it is so beautiful. And then I learned 2 facts that really surprised me. Number 1, did you know it took him 3 years to paint that picture? And, of course, some of it's3:40 because it's so big. It's 15 feet tall by 30 feet wide, and so that would take you, you know, a good amount of time. But the second thing I learned is that he literally got a person3:52 to pose for every single 1 of the people that he painted as a disciple. So he had to look for people. He had, you know, to check a lot of people out. He had to recruit them, and then4:04 they posed, and literally, he painted each 1 of their faces. So you could you imagine if you grew up in that town, you said, man, I can't believe he made uncle Luigi into John. And how did uncle Dominic4:16 become Judas? I mean, I can't believe he's gonna be in that wall forever. But listen, folks. It takes time sometimes for masterpieces to be created. And here's another interesting4:28 fact about that painting, and that is it it said that the first person that he painted was Jesus. And he looked for somebody who was so kind, so pure, who looked like sin had never hardly4:40 affected their life, and he painted the face of Jesus. Then the last person that he painted was Judas. And for Judas, he went into a prison, and he looked for somebody whose face was so hardened4:53 that this person looked like they could betray their very best friend. And it said that whenever he got done painting Judas and they were taking him back to prison, that Judas said to da Vinci, hey, don't you5:04 recognize me? And da Vinci said, no, I don't recognize you. Why? He said, well, 3 years ago, you painted me as Jesus, and now today, you're painting me as Judas. And I don't know5:16 about that, but can I tell you what I do know? I can tell you that I know that I've seen sin ruin a lot of great plans that God had for people's lives. And I've seen sin5:28 ruin the best version of people that God wanted to bring out of them. But the good news is I've also seen that there's a power that can restore. There's a power that can5:39 redeem. There's a power that can make beautiful and it's the power of Jesus Christ. Paul spoke about this in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 when he said, we are God's masterpiece.5:52 And he said, he's created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things that God planned for us long ago. You know, I can still remember the first time I heard that scripture read, the first time I heard6:04 that scripture taught on. I was in a Sunday night vespers service in the college that I attended. And I remember walking back to the athletic dorm at the university where I stayed, and I thought, you know6:16 what, Lord? If you see beauty that you wanna bring out of my life that I can't see and I could never bring out of my life, I wanna do whatever is necessary, Lord, so that you can do what you're dreaming about doing6:28 with my life. And I can tell you 45 years later that, you know, I'm not everything I wish I was as a person, but I do have the joy of seeing beauty that God brought out in my6:39 life that I couldn't see, I could have never developed without a relationship with Jesus Christ. And that's what Mark's gospel is gonna talk to us about today. It's interesting when youCelebrating Jesus' Victory and Our Own 6:51 read Mark's gospel that really it's in 3 sections when he talks about the resurrection. And in the first 8 verses, he talks about the event. He talks about Jesus winning the victory over death, hell, and7:03 the grave. But then in the next part, in the next 6 verses, he talks about how even though Jesus won the victory, his followers were still dealing with the same things they dealt with in their life.7:15 And we see the determination of Jesus, the tenacity of Jesus, the compassion of Jesus. And and we see that Jesus wasn't content for people he loved not to live in victory.7:27 And I love how God inspired the 4 gospels because in the 4 gospels, we get such a different view of the beauty and majesty of Jesus based on the personalities of7:39 the author. For instance, whenever Matthew wrote his gospel, you know, Matthew's kind of in the face of the religious crowd. He starts it out with the genealogy and he says, you know what? You can7:51 think whatever you wanna think about Jesus, but he fulfilled 300 pre predicted, events in his life and he's the Messiah God promised us long ago, and we8:03 need to deal with that fact. And then he's the only 1 that talks about how there was this great earthquake whenever Jesus breathed his last breath. And whenever that earthquake8:14 happened, this curtain that symbolized that man needs forgiven of sin to experience God right, that curtain was torn from top to bottom whenever Jesus died. And this8:26 is if Matthew is saying to us, man, this has to shake us up, man. You're not saved just because you know about God. But how many of you know when you know Jesus, he's gonna save your life because he has so much life on8:38 the inside of him. Right? And then we come to Luke's gospel. It documents the story of Jesus, and he8:50 says to us that I'm gonna give you infallible proof about Jesus you could never deny. But he also goes into such great detail. So when I read Luke's gospel, I'm just9:02 astonished at how merciful Jesus was, that he was sympathetic to people whether they were the worst person who made all kinds of poor choices, or whether they were a person who had a lot of things done9:14 to them and they really needed help. He was so wise. When I read the gospel of Luke, I think, you know, whatever I'm still working on, Jesus has enough wisdom. If I'll honor it, he's gonna work things9:26 out. Whenever I read about how Jesus prayed so much and had such an incredible supernatural anointing on his life, when I read Luke's gospel, I want to be a person of prayer.9:38 And then we come to John's gospel and it's easy for me to see that John was the little brother of James and also he was the youngest of the disciples because the brother needed help. There's just no other9:50 way to say this when he says of himself, I'm the disciple Jesus loved. Tell me if you know somebody should smack somebody for saying that. Right? Because he loves all of us. And then it gets10:02 even worse when he describes the resurrection account and how the women told he and Peter that Jesus' body wasn't in the grave. He said, Peter and I took off running for the tomb, and I want you to know I outran10:14 Peter. Now how many of you know when when that guy got to heaven I bet he got a noogie whenever he got to heaven. If if you don't know what a noogie is, it's when your older brother takes his knuckles and he applies10:25 pressure on your head because he's saying there's something stupid in there and somebody has to do something about it. But then we come to Mark's gospel, which we're gonna talk about today. And here's what10:37 scholars have written about Mark's gospel, that the 3 most obvious characteristics of Mark's gospel are compactness and vividness and orderliness. In other words, in the10:49 gospel of Mark, we have the shortest of the 4 gospels. We also have very vivid description of the things that happened. And you can feel the emotion of Mark, not just the facts of11:01 what happened, but what Mark was feeling as all these events were happening wherever Jesus went. And then it's orderly. It calls us to something very important. And I'm only gonna be able to preach on 2 out of 311:12 things this morning because I don't want your brisket to burn. Okay? But but basically, Mark talked about 3, and he said, first of all, he said the church needs to celebrate the victory that Jesus gave us in a11:24 big way, and I'm gonna talk about that event. Number 2, he said, you need to celebrate victory in your life. You need to celebrate the beauty that God wants to bring forth in your11:36 life, and he shows us the reason why it's kept from us even though God wants it for us so bad. And then he says it's the people who experience Jesus who now have the11:48 power to express Jesus to a world that needs him so bad. But when we read this today, I reference that because I want you to feel the kind of feeling that Jesus has in12:00 his heart for the things that have happened to you. I want you to feel the kind of feeling he has in his heart for what he wants to do in your life because that's really what the gospel of Mark is all about.12:12 And here are the questions that Mark wants us to ask ourselves. Number 1, am I only celebrating Jesus' victory over sin, death, and hell today? Because how many of you know, if that's all you celebrate, man, that's12:23 awesome. Because how many of you are glad to sworn there's some people you love and they're not alive anymore, but, you know, they're not in your past, they're in your future because Jesus said, because I live, you're12:35 gonna live too, and you're gonna spend an eternity with me. Amen? Jesus' victory over death and the grave and hell should be celebrated great in the church. But here's12:47 the second question we're gonna focus on, and that is, am I celebrating my victory over those things that I have because of the lordship of Jesus Christ in my life? Because let's face it, most12:59 Easter productions don't do a good job of this. Most Easter productions, basically, Jesus pops out of the tomb and we all start clapping for Jesus because he overcame death, hell, and the13:10 grave. And if you're a modern day evangelical everybody starts singing, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive and unforgiven, heaven's gates are open wide. If you're a traditional13:22 evangelical you may have sung, Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Or if you were Catholic like me, we sang, Christ13:34 our Lord is risen today. Hallelujah. Right? And we celebrated this great victory that Jesus accomplished. But Mark writes about that victory, but he13:46 writes about more. So let's go through the story. First of all, in verse 1, it says, when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, brought spices so that they may go to13:58 anoint Jesus' body. So the first thing we learn is that the original Spice Girls came from the bible. Right? And it says very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way14:10 to the tomb, and they asked each other who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb. Now this stone weighed 4000 pounds, y'all. So 2 women as spirited as I'm sure these 214:21 women were, were not going to move the tomb from the front of Jesus' grave. And the Bible says when they looked up and they saw the stone had been rolled away, they entered the tomb and they saw a young man14:33 dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. And the angel said, don't be alarmed. You're looking for Jesus the Nazarene. He's been crucified, but he's risen. He's14:45 not here. Look at the place where they laid him. Now that's the first victory that we celebrate on Easter, but then John goes into the second victory that we celebrate, and he teaches us14:57 3 things. Number 1, he teaches us that if we're gonna have victory in our life, powders need to turn into people who start celebrating what God promised to do in our life. The15:09 next verse says that Jesus rose early on that first day, resurrection day, and he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven 7 demons. I don't know what those demons were.15:21 Maybe they were anxiety. Maybe they were bitterness. Maybe they were depression. Maybe she'd been abused as a little girl, and she had a lot of issues that she was dealing with in her heart. But I know15:33 that Mark is making it clear to us that Mary had these issues she wasn't getting past in spite of the fact that God was a God who clearly demonstrated himself as a God15:45 who fulfilled promises. And Mark goes on to say in the next verse, he said that after Mary had Jesus appear to her, that she went back to the other people.15:57 And the bible says they were all weeping as well, and they didn't believe what happened. And it just tells us that even though we are celebrating the first victory, which is Jesus' death on the cross,16:09 it's so easy for us at times to say, what's going on in my heart is bigger than what happened on the cross. What's going on in my heart is still bigger than what happened in the tomb that day.16:21 And Jesus would say, no. It's not bigger. I need you to get over the pouting so I can bring forth what I promised you that I would do in your life. Amen? John's account gives us the most16:32 detailed description. He says in verse 11 of John 20 that Mary stood outside the tomb crying. And as she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, and she saw 2 angels in white seated where Jesus'16:44 body had been, 1 at the head and the other at the foot. And the angels asked her, woman, why are you crying? And listen to what she said. She said, they've taken my lord away, and I don't know where they put16:56 him. And at this, she turned and she saw Jesus standing there, but she didn't realize it was Jesus. Now I want you to mark that phrase because we're gonna hear it again later in this message that Jesus,17:08 for some reason, chose to appear in a form that they didn't totally recognize whenever he came to them. And then notice whenever she looked around, the Bible says she saw Jesus.17:20 And notice Jesus asked her the very same question that the angel asked her. Jesus said, woman, why are you crying? What are you looking for? Do you know what Jesus was17:32 saying? He was saying, listen. What are you looking for in the resurrection? Because if you're pouting, there's something I want you to see that's gonna change everything about your life. And that is I want you to see17:44 that there's a God who loves you. There's a God who has power over the power of sin. There's a God who fulfills everything that he promised. He said so well in Romans chapter17:55 8 when Paul said, what can separate me from the love of God? Trouble that I don't know how to take on, hardship I've been through I don't know how to handle. Listen, I've learned a great reality and that is18:07 I can be more than a conqueror through Christ who loved me. Can you say amen? Jesus rose from the dead, and he can help me rise up above it. But you notice that first, God wanted to help the18:18 powders say, there's something about the resurrection I need to embrace that's going to cause God to fulfill his promises in my life. And then there was a second group of people that Jesus appeared to.18:30 It's in verse 12. And it says after appearing to Mary Magdalene, Jesus appeared in a different form to 2 of them while they were walking in the country. And this is talking about a man18:42 named Cleopas, who is also called Alphaeus and also called Clopas at times in the Bible. And he was a very dedicated, very mature disciple of Jesus, but he'd gotten highly18:55 discouraged. If you wanna know how powerful he was as a person, 1 of his children was 1 of the 12, his son James. Not James the the brother of John the apostle, but the 1 called19:06 James the Less in scripture was the son of Cleopas. Also, his wife, Mary, was so dedicated and devoted to Jesus that when he was hanging on the cross and being crucified,19:19 she boldly stood there, and she poured out her love on Jesus because they knew who he was. But sometimes even dedicated, mature Christians get discouraged. And I19:30 want you to notice what Jesus did. It said best in Luke's gospel, which is very, very descriptive. It says, now that same day, 2 of them were going to a village called Emmaus. It was 7 miles19:42 northwest of Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about everything that happened. And as they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but again,19:54 they were kept from recognizing him. Now why were they kept from recognizing him? I believe it's because, listen, you can always find God, but you're gonna have to seek him. He's not gonna force himself on20:06 you. He's a gentleman. Sometimes people say, well, pastor, God just isn't speaking to me. And you know what I do just because I'm a bit ornery as a pastor? I take my Bible and I do this, and I say, he's speaking to you20:17 right now. These words right here, they will heal you and they'll deliver you from all of your destruction. Can somebody give me a good amen? And here's the reality. If you will read God, you'll have no trouble hearing20:28 God in your life. But let me tell you, the devil is deceptive, and you've gotta watch whenever the talking and the pillow talk starts happening because he's very good at knowing your emotion, and he's20:40 very good at knowing how to get you off track in life. And so Jesus came in to these discouraged disciples who needed a course correction. And verse 1720:52 says that Jesus asked them, what are you discussing together as you walk along? And they stood fill still with their faces downcast. Can I tell you something I wish I learned earlier than I did, and that21:04 is there's only 1 emotion that I should allow in my heart, and it's the emotion of joy? Because any other emotion tells me the devil's playing with my heart. He's trying to tell me I can't get past this21:16 difficulty. He's trying to tell me what he's doing is bigger than what God's doing in my life. But when I get into joy, I realize there's a God who not only fulfilled his promise in that empty21:27 tomb years ago. How many of you are glad we have a God who won't let us have an empty life, who have let us have an abundant life because of who Jesus is. Amen? And Jesus says, why are you downcast? And21:39 they say, well, didn't you hear about Jesus of Nazareth? He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed. And the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. But we hope21:51 that he was the 1 who was going to redeem Israel. And what's more, it's the third day since all this took place. And some of the women amazed us. They were at the tomb early this morning, but they didn't find his body.22:03 They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb, and they found it was just as the women had said, but they didn't see22:15 Jesus. Now do you see how crazy discouragement is? Basically, they said, Jesus did everything he promised us he would do. We're sitting here discouraged, and they went to the tomb22:26 and the angels told us he's alive. The women said he's not there, but we're still living here in our discouragement. Hey, can I tell you something? Before discouragement lifts off your life,22:38 lifts off your family, before God bursts a new beginning and a legacy of blessing you never wanna miss, because listen, the most beautiful work of art I've never seen isn't hanging in22:50 a museum somewhere. The most beautiful works of art I've ever seen are in front of me this morning. It's kids whose dad walked away and they said, Jesus is gonna lift me up above that.23:02 It's 2 dysfunctional people who came together in marriage. They said, Jesus is gonna lift us up above that. It's people who were fighting addictions and they fell down, but they didn't give up. But they let the mercy and23:13 the grace of God heal them whenever people looked at him and said, there's no way. And that's what this is about. Jesus wants to birth victory in our lives. How determined he23:25 was, not just to rise from the dead, but to find Mary who let the demonic power back in her heart, and she was so depressed and so discouraged, to find these 2 mature23:37 disciples who somehow got confused and they needed a course correction. You know, a number of people have sent me messages this week about how in our nation, you know, powerful people are23:49 making a big deal how out of how this is to be like the transgender day of visibility. And, they they're not talking about Easter. They're talking about, you know, that. And they say,24:00 pastor, what do you think about that? Can I tell you what I think? I think that the America that I was raised in is very different than the America I'm pastoring in right now. And we live in a very confused24:12 society. And you know what God wants from His church? He told us in Micah six:eight, He said, I've told you, O man, what's good and what the Lord requires of you. I want you to do justice. I want24:24 you to stand up for what's right because what's right is what causes people to have a great life. Can you say amen? But I don't want you just to do justice. I want you to love mercy. I want you to love people even more24:36 than you love truth. And I want you to walk humbly with your God. Hey. I got news for you. The devil's messing, but God's gonna start blessing. There's gonna be a revival come to this country24:48 as the body of Christ does our part. Can you say amen? And then there's a third group of people that Jesus appeared to, and it was the 11. Sadly, Judas had died at this time. He had committed suicide.25:00 But verse 14 says, later, Jesus appeared to the 11 as they were eating, and he rebuked them. Everybody say he rebuked them. He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal25:12 to believe those who'd seen him after he was risen. In other words, Jesus was saying, ma'am, what do I have to do to get you all to believe? And I love the fact that he loved them so much, he just kept25:24 coming back to them. But can I tell you something? If you're here today and you have any unbelief about who Jesus Christ is, you don't have any valid reason to have any unbelief in your heart for who25:36 Jesus is. If you study the 300 predictive prophecies made about him, if you look at the miracles the holy spirit did to accreditate the life of Jesus, there's no doubt that25:48 Jesus Christ was the son of God. Some of us may have stubbornness in our heart. The stubbornness might come because of what happened to us, because of even what happened to us in the church. And I just wanna say to you26:00 that hopefully, you have family members and hopefully, you're in a church like faith family where our motto is, we're not here to see through you. We wanna see you through. How many of you know when you know God has26:10 great things in people's lives, you don't wanna give up on the great thing. You wanna see the beauty and the masterpiece be brought forth. Can you say amen? That's what Jesus calls us to, and that's why he kept coming to26:22 the powder, kept coming to the 1 who needed the course correction, kept coming to the people who were stubborn, and they had unbelief in their heart, and he helped them. And somehow,26:33 Jesus changed the world through them. Hey, can I tell you what my greatest joy is at Faith Family Church? I'm not looking at perfect people this morning, but I'm looking at passionate people this morning who26:45 love Jesus with all of your heart. And how many of you know because of that, you can know that your blessing will not be because you were perfect, it's because you just kept saying yes to the 1 who is26:57 perfect, and he brought blessing into your life. Amen? I close with this scripture. It's in first John 5 4, and this is what it says. For everyone born of God27:09 overcomes the world. Say that with me. For everyone. Now look at your neighbor and say, so what's your excuse? Would you go ahead and do that? If everyone born of God can overcome the27:20 world, then what's my excuse? And then listen to how John closes. He says, this is the victory. Everybody say, this is the victory. This is the victory that's overcome the world,27:32 even our faith. If you have faith, God has more than enough power to overcome what the enemy's up to. He has more than enough power to bring blessing and a27:44 beautiful legacy into your life and into your family's life.27:53 Revival, as often as we speak of it do we really know what it means. Revival is not just divine intervention, it's a divine response. God's response to our obedience to his word. That's what Jim Graff's new book,28:05 Character Counts, Experiencing a Cultural Comeback is all about. In it, we discover how godliness leads to revival. Today, for your gift of any amount, we'll send you a copy of Character Counts. Give today at28:17 a significant life dot com, and together, let's experience the revival we've prayed for. The preceding program is made possible through the generous support of friends and partners of A Significant28:29 Life.In this video 0:00 Understanding Revival and Personal Victory2:45 The Masterpiece of God's Work in Our Lives6:45 Celebrating Jesus' Victory and Our Own
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