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March 14, 2024 · 30 min · Jim Graff
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Jim Graff is a respected pastor, leader, and author who loves helping people fulfill their unique
potential while finding their significance in Jesus Christ.
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0:00 Are you searching for a life that means something? Most of us wrestle with our significance. Pastor Jim Graff understands, and in his book, A Significant Life, he shares extensive insight and0:12 inspiration that can help us change the course of our life and live in the purposes God placed in our heart. Drawing on biblical models such as David, Esther, and even Jesus himself, Pastor0:23 Jim gives us practical ways to step into our full potential. A Significant Life will help you understand your own worth as given and anointed by God. You'll learn to embrace the ways God has created0:35 you, experience transformation in your own life, and help others in your relational circles to do the same. A Significant Life is a must read. For your gift of any amount, we would love to0:47 send you your own copy of A Significant Life. Contact us today. Visit asignificantlife dot com. That's asignificantlife dot0:57 com. I'm so glad you joined us on A Significant Life. Our hearts to help believers everywhere nurture our best life through experiencing God's1:09 nurture well in our hearts. This Sunday begins holy week, which is certainly a highlight of my years of pastor. And I think it's because there's so many of us, myself included at 1 time,1:21 who reflect on who Jesus is at this time of year, and we need to realize more the purpose of his coming. We need to understand what drove him to do everything he did and to endure all1:32 that he did during the passion week. So today, we'll start by discussing why that's important, and then we'll look at Jesus' life through the eyes of a powerful, very well known person1:45 who Jesus helped understand the purpose of his coming.2:07 Most of us grow up, you know, learning bits and pieces about Jesus. And for me, my life of faith was really a whole lot like my life in art class that I learned a little bit, but the2:18 truth is it didn't make a real difference in my everyday life. Maybe for you it was algebra, I don't know, but I do know that whenever I married Tamara, she's a lot more artistic than I am.2:31 And so when I started coming home to colors and the candles and my life started feeling better and it started smelling better, I saw the value of art really really quick.2:42 And you know, for some of us, God's kind of the same way, that God is all around us and we see that God is adding to the value of many people's lives, but we wonder how it really happens and what we2:54 have to do for God to to be more precious and for his work to be more powerful in our lives. We're kinda like a guy I heard about who was in his chemistry class and he looked and he saw a dude who3:06 stole some pure sodium, and he stuck it in his pocket and he was leaving thinking that the chemistry teacher didn't see him, but he looked back and he saw the chemistry teacher following him down3:18 the hall. So he took the corner, ditched it in a wastebasket, and that's when this other guy had a water bottle, and he hadn't taken all the water out of it, but he threw it away. And3:30 whenever water combined with sodium, a 14 foot high fire went off in the ceiling. And and, you know, in the school that day, he was thinking, man, why didn't I pay3:42 more attention in chemistry class? I had no idea that this could happen. And I think for a lot of people on the streets of Jerusalem, when Jesus rose from the dead, there is a feeling, man, this3:53 is powerful, but really, why did this happen, and how did this happen, and really, what effect does it have on my everyday life? The apostle Peter talked about this in first Peter 34:05 when he said, but in your hearts, I want you to revere Christ as Lord and always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you for the reason, for the hope that you4:17 have. In other words, Peter was saying that God wants us to not just know about Jesus, but to revere him in our heart. And not even just to revere him, but to revere him4:29 because of the fact that when he's Lord, he makes such a huge difference in our life. You know, that Greek word that's translated revere is a word that literally means to consecrate our hearts.4:41 So what the apostle Peter would say is that Christianity becomes powerful when Christ isn't just celebrated in a heart, but whenever a heart gets consecrated to the ability that4:53 Jesus has. And I know for me at 17 years old, I remember thinking about it. I was raised in a traditional Catholic church, and I wondered if I wanted my adolescent life of5:05 faith to really turn into a mature adult kind of faith or not. And there were reasons kind of for it, you know, I appreciated the morality that I was raised with. I know that it5:17 protected the life that I lived as a kid. I know that there were things that my parents taught me about a godly lifestyle that caused things to go well for me in life. And then I knew that my faith was really5:29 the foundation of my family, and I was appreciative for what faith meant to my family life. But there's another side of me that said, you know, I could do that though without Jesus. And I'm really5:40 not sure if I believe that some Jewish guy died and somehow he was God. And I remember at 17 struggling with whether my adolescent faith was worth even turning5:52 into a mature adult kind of faith. And it didn't help that at the time, you know, where I was when I was raised, I I was taught that, you know, good people go to heaven6:03 and there are good people in all kinds of religions, and that's partially true. There are really good people in all kinds of religions, but think about it. If there was another way to heaven6:15 outside of Jesus, what if God subjected his son to the cruel cross of Calvary that Jesus endured years ago? And this morning, what I want to6:27 talk about is the fact that there was a cultural shift that was starting to happen in our country when ever I was a teenager, and that shift was something that sociologists call pluralism.6:39 Pluralism is a theory that there are more than 1 or more than even 2 kinds of ultimate reality. So in religious pluralism, what it means is that maybe the best way to live is just to6:51 kind of take, you know, the best out of all kinds of faith and piece it together and figure out how to live my best life by piecing together the different kinds of faith. And certainly,7:03 there's an upside to us being pluralistic and being open to the opinions of others. Our collective wisdom begins to grow when we're that way. And even in church, I believe in7:15 pluralism to some degree. I remember as a kid that my dad and my uncles went in and bought a hunting camp, and it was surrounded by Amish people. And so when I was young, I saw that to7:27 them, faith meant that you shouldn't use electricity, faith meant that you should ride in a horse and buggy instead of riding in a car. And I remember when I was a Christian, first time I read my7:38 bible, I thought I wanna see if that's in the bible or not. But today, we're gonna talk about the fact that there's not just an upside, but there's a downside to pluralism. And Jesus talked about it7:50 in a number of places and here's the downside, and that is if somebody really knows more than all of us and if somebody is more valuable than every single 1 of us, then if we8:02 just do the things that we think, we're gonna miss out on what would have happened if we honored somebody whose love went beyond our love and whose wisdom was greater than the wisdom that we live with.8:14 The disciples had to learn this. We can see it in John chapter 14 whenever Jesus had told them that he was gonna be handed over to the Romans by the religious leaders, and the Romans were going to8:26 crucify him. And obviously, their hearts got really really sad when Jesus said, don't let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. My father's house has many rooms. If it8:38 weren't so, I would have told you that. And I'm going to prepare a place for you, and you know the place where I'm going, and you know the way to it. Right? And if I would have been with the disciples when8:50 Jesus said that, I would have said, well, Lord, honestly, I'm not totally sure that I know the way. I kind of think that the way is that if I'm a good person, I'm gonna go to heaven because I know there9:02 are lot of bad people in the world and I'm not as bad as a lot of the bad people. So I'm hoping that maybe somehow, know, on the scale of life of goodness and badness, my goodness is good9:14 enough that I'll go to heaven. And and listen, don't feel bad if that's where your belief is because even Thomas, 1 of the 12, said back to the Lord, Lord, I don't know where9:25 you're going, so how can I know the way? And Jesus answered and he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no 1 comes to the father except through me. And Jesus9:37 made it very very clear that that that the life of pluralism is a life that sometimes it doesn't value who Jesus is. It doesn't experience what Peter talked about where9:49 because of our reverence and our consecration to him, we have all these reasons to praise him for what he's done in our lives. And this is a real common challenge in America.10:01 The Barnett Group is 1 of the most respected research firms in our country, and they ask Americans a question. They ask them, what do you believe about Jesus? And then they published 510:12 popular beliefs. Number 1 is that the vast majority of Americans believe that Jesus really was a real person. And that's good because after all, if the events of our10:24 world calendar are now dated by his appearance on earth, how many of you believe there's a pretty good chance that he actually was a person? But the second 1 is where our challenge really comes in our10:36 society, I believe, and that is that you know that younger generations are increasingly less likely to believe that Jesus is God. And the question becomes, why are they less10:47 likely to believe in God? And the third question is really a question that brings us a lot of insight when it says this, this belief that Americans are divided10:59 on whether Jesus really was sinless. Did you know that 52 percent of Americans believe that Jesus committed sin while he was in his earthly body? And and theologically, there's11:11 trouble with that because if Jesus sinned, he couldn't have paid the price for our sin, and he couldn't be the savior that guarantees that you and I are on our way to heaven. Now, the fourth11:23 belief is something that won't shock many of us, and that is most Americans say they've made a commitment to Jesus. In fact, about 6 and 10 have made the commitment. But but number 511:35 says that people are conflicted between Jesus and good works is the way to heaven. And it's because if we believe what everybody tells us, we might miss out11:47 on what Jesus knows we really need to know if we're gonna enjoy the life of blessing that God wants us to enjoy. Listen to this scripture where Jesus talked about the dangers of11:58 religious pluralism in Matthew 7 13. He said, I want you to enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and sadly many enter that12:10 way. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few people are going to find it. So the real benefit of revering Christ in our hearts is we learn12:22 that life always goes better when we trust our lives to the 1 who loves us infinitely and who knows abundantly more than we do about how to live our best life.12:34 Can you say amen? And today, we're gonna start by talking about a man who's central to the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Most of us know him. His name is Pontius Pilate,12:46 and we're introduced to his story in John chapter 18 beginning in verse 28 when it says, the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the place of the Roman governor who was Pilate.12:58 Now, I'm gonna give you just a touch of general history so you can come along with the point that we're making today because many of you like me might be stepping your foot into church for the first time like I did at13:10 17. But but Caiaphas was the high priest of Israel, and he was 1 of 71 Jewish males who served on the highest most powerful13:21 political and religious council in Israel called the Sanhedrin. And Caiaphas and those people wanted Jesus crucified, and the major reason was that Jesus was so13:33 popular because his messages were so powerful, and when he prayed, God was doing incredible miracles, and Jesus wouldn't serve the interests of this religious13:44 council. In fact, he called this council to serve the interests of God. And they got so upset with him that they brought him before the Romans, wanting the Romans to take his13:56 life. And the Bible tells a story when it says, so Pilate came out and he asked them, what charges are you bringing against this man? And they said, if he weren't a criminal, we wouldn't have handed him over to14:07 you. And then Pilate said, take him yourself and judge him by your own laws. And when you read the 4 gospels, it's very obvious that Pilate saw this whole trial of Jesus14:19 as very bogus, very unprofessional. 3 times in Luke's gospel in chapter 23 verse 4 14 and 22, Pilate looks at them and he14:31 says, I find no basis basis for the charges that you're bringing against this guy. Finally, he said to them, I see nothing in him that that gives you the grounds to14:43 put him to death. And Pilate was was somebody who struggled with with with having Jesus crucified. And many scholars have written about how bogus the trial was. Just think14:55 about it. Jesus wasn't even permitted to have a defense attorney. He wasn't allowed to call any witnesses to the trial. And then whenever Caiaphas brought his false witnesses and they began to15:07 accuse him like an angry mob, Jesus was given no opportunity whatsoever to cross examine the the witnesses that Pilate brought that day. And so Pilate understood15:19 this was bogus and and he said to them again, judge him by your own law. And notice what they said, they said, we have no right to execute anyone, which is why they took Jesus15:30 before Pilate because the though this Sanhedrin had incredible power within Israel from a civil perspective, they didn't have the power to execute capital punishment.15:42 And then the story really gets interesting because the Bible says that, of course, this took place to fulfill what Jesus said about the kind of death that he was going to die. And then Pilate went15:54 back inside the palace, he summoned Jesus, and he asked him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus asked, is this your idea or did other people talk to you about me?16:06 Basically, what Jesus was saying was this, listen, have you thought very deeply about who I am and why, you know, I have the following I have? Why all the miracles have been done at my16:18 hands? And I think that Pilate didn't think deeply for probably the same reasons a lot of us don't think deeply. That number 1, thinking deeply could have affected the loyalties that he had.16:30 I know for some of us to really serve Jesus wholeheartedly, we're gonna have people who don't like that, people who get angry about that. And for Pilate to really serve Jesus, he had to consider the16:42 loyalties of Rome. The second reason is he was just so busy. I mean, can you can see Pilate saying, man, can you get me some wine? I I don't know if I wanna deal with the stress of all this. And16:54 then he had a beautiful wife. I'm sure he wanted to get home to his beautiful wife. And so there were things that began to crowd out of Pilate's hearts, the reverence, the consecration in terms of learning17:06 who Jesus was, so that he would then have reasons in his heart to have praise for who Jesus is. You know what I see in the Bible when I read it folks? We're not just called to have a17:17 shallow praise for God, we're called to have a shouting praise for God when we come to the house of God. We're to be shouting for how the sins that plagued our life and childhood17:29 no longer plague our life because of who Jesus is. We're to have a shouting praise for how he's been good to us because we've consecrated our life. And I remember when I17:41 was a kid, there was a bumper sticker that said, you know, God's my copilot. I thought that was a cool bumper sticker. And then my pastor kind of enlightened me. He said, if God's your co pilot, you need to switch seats17:53 and let God take control. Amen? And we need to have shouting praise for how God's taken us places. We could never go as people, but the truth is until we really look at the loves18:05 of our life and ask ourselves, am I given my hard time to know the love of God? Until we look at the busyness of our schedule to get to know him, you know, we we don't experience that18:17 love. I know last Sunday night, had everybody to the house because it was our new son-in-law Jake's birthday. And so we had Andrea and Jake, and in case you haven't18:29 been to church in 5 and a half weeks, or met Tamara in the grocery store, or met her in a restaurant or seen her when she got a pedicure. If you haven't seen her anywhere, I want you to know we have a baby18:40 granddaughter. Okay? It's our first baby granddaughter. And of course, I have a picture for you. I want you to turn to the screen. This is Ava James Cabella. Isn't she beautiful?18:52 I mean, to me, she's the model of perfection. Now, I know she's going to sin as she grows up and her parents are gonna have to discipline her. Well, I spoil her. Can you say19:03 amen? Because that's the only calling I see of a grandparent in the scripture. But anyway, while we were at this party, you know, Ava kinda brought out the kid and my other kids and all 3 in town were at the19:15 party, and I think it was Andrea who first said, mom, do you remember when we used to ride in the suburban together? And I would tell you, I love whenever it's just me and you. And19:27 then the other 2 said, man, I said that too. And they realized all 3 of them had said that. And then I told them, well listen, when y'all were young and this church was growing, there were times I'd go home and I'd19:39 look in the mirror and I'd say, love when it's just me and you. I mean, this is absolutely incredible because listen, this world can get so busy if we're not careful. We don't realize19:51 the reason that we should have great reverence in our heart for God. Amen? And Pilate had to battle this when Jesus asked him, is this your idea or did other people talk to you about me? Listen20:03 to Pilate's response. He said, am I a Jew? Listen, your own people and chief priest handed you over to me. What is it that you've done? And I can just hear in Pilate's heart the confusion that,20:15 listen, if if you were really all that, I mean, would would these people that supposedly believe the same things you believe be such hypocrites and act the way that they do if what you20:27 believed was really true? And then the story goes on and Jesus tries to straighten him out. He says, no, listen, my kingdom's not of this world. If it were, my servants would be fighting to prevent my20:38 arrest by the Jewish leaders, but my kingdom's from another place. Jesus wanted Pilate to know that, listen, life in this world, the Bible said, it's just like a breath compared to what our life's20:50 gonna be like whenever we spend time in eternity. And then, Pilate looked and he said, so you are a king. And Jesus answered, you say I'm a king, and in fact, the reason I21:02 was born and came in the world is to testify to the truth. And everyone on the side of truth listens to me. And the Bible says, Pilate retorted. I always kind of see him21:14 snorting when I read that word. I don't know. But he retorted, what is truth? And that's where a pluralistic world leaves us. Right? What is truth? What what really matters? Can God's21:26 truth be trusted? Will it really take me somewhere I could never go on my own if I began to trust God's truth? And I wanna encourage you today that it absolutely will. Like21:38 like Peter said, consecrating our hearts to God and just coming to him the way we are like I did as a 17 year old and saying, God, I don't know much about it, but I wanna learn who Jesus21:49 is, and I wanna learn how to let God love me, and I wanna let God begin to lead me into a family, and into a life, and into blessings I could never experience without Jesus. Listen, when we22:01 come to God and we we we we approach him and respect him because we know nobody else in the world knows what God knows. And this morning, I just wanna close by answering this22:13 question and that is, why should we believe that Jesus Christ is really God? And there's 2 reasons. Number 1, because Jesus claimed to be the Jewish Messiah.22:25 He claimed it many times throughout scripture, but 1 of the most intriguing interesting ones is my favorite. And it's in Luke chapter 4 when he went to his own hometown, and the people were excited to hear him preach22:36 because the homeboy was coming back, and they heard that he was the most powerful preacher. When he prayed, more miracles happened than any other preacher, and they couldn't wait to hear him preach. And22:48 back in those days, they would take scrolls out, and they would open the scroll and preach from the passage they wanted to share from. And Jesus chose Isaiah 61.23:00 And everyone in the temple knew that was the the chapter that talked about the Messiah who was going to come. And so when Jesus read it, he rolled up the scroll. The Bible says he gave it23:12 back to the attendant and he sat down, and the eyes of everyone were fastened on him, couldn't wait to hear this great message he was gonna preach. And the Bible says that he began by saying to them,23:24 today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. In other words, he said to the people of his hometown, I didn't come to preach about God to you, I came to tell you that I am23:36 the Messiah. I am God. I'm the 1 who God promised to send so that your sins could be forgiven. And it's interesting when this happened, this crowd who adored him became23:48 angry. They rushed the stage. The Bible said they drove him to the edge of a cliff and wanted to kill him, and he miraculously escaped. But here's the question, is Jesus24:00 really God? And if that's a serious question in your heart, I'd encourage you to go to the 60 prophecies that God gave the Jewish people with over 300 specific24:12 details that they could recognize. So when the Messiah came, they would know this really was the 1 person that God promised to send into the world to save us all. You know, God gave them24:23 prophecies like the 1 in Micah 5 2. 700 years before Jesus came, God told us he'd be born in Bethlehem. In Isaiah 7 14, he told us he would be born of a24:35 virgin, a woman who'd never been with a man. In Zechariah, it told us that he would be betrayed by his betrayer for the price of 30 pieces of silver, which is the exact price24:47 of course that Judas paid whenever the pharisees and and the religious leaders asked him to betray Jesus. You know, there's a man named Peter Stoner who was the chairman of the mathematic and24:59 astronomy department at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California, and he became intrigued with Jesus. So he decided that he was going to study whether he25:10 really was the Messiah or not. Afterwards, he became a believer and he wrote about it in a book published in 19 52 called Science Speaks. But what he determined was the25:22 mathematical odds of Jesus fulfilling just 8 of those prophecies that were made about him were 1 in 100 with all those zeros.25:34 Now, you wonder what that adds up to, that's 1 in 100 quadrillion. And to illustrate it for people, he said, it would be as if you took 10025:46 quadrillion silver dollars. How many of you like to have 100 quadrillion silver dollars? But he said, pretend that you took them and you spread them across the state of Texas 2 feet deep, and then you25:58 had the ability to mark 1 and somehow stir them all up, and then you dropped a blind man inadvertently somewhere into the state of Texas and you had him pick up just 1 silver26:09 dollar. He said, that's the same chance that Jesus could have fulfilled just 8 of those prophecies. Come on somebody. That's why I don't just have shallow praise. That's why I have26:21 shouting praise. I know that Jesus was the Messiah. And not only it wasn't, is Jesus the Messiah, but also Jesus clearly said that26:33 he was God. And again, he he said this many places in the Bible, but 1 really challenges us I think in a great way. When he said in John 8 23, he26:45 said, now remember, you're from below. He's saying we're all a bunch of earthlings. He said, but I'm from above. He said, you're of this world, but I'm not of this world. And then he said, I'm telling26:57 you this so you don't die in your sins. If you don't believe that I am he, you indeed are going to die in your sins. Now, let me ask a very clear question. How27:08 many of you would rather live an abundant life on earth and having sin when in your life? If that's you, come on. Give God some shout and praise this morning. Amen? Let me ask you another question.27:21 How many of you would rather spend an eternity in heaven than an eternity in the other place? Come on somebody. That's why the Bible says the name of Jesus should be praised above every name.27:37 I sure hope you enjoyed today's Palm Sunday message as we reflected on the why of Jesus. Almost 2000 years ago, people lined the streets shouting Hosanna27:49 as Jesus rode that young donkey into Jerusalem. But why did they shout Hosanna? Well, it's because Hosanna means to save. And many understood Jesus' presence on earth28:01 was the fulfillment of what God promised through the prophets throughout the centuries. Salvation from sin, the gift of eternal life have all been gifted to us through God's son.28:13 But sadly, many admire the person of Jesus without accepting his purpose in their heart like they should. Like Pilate, who looked at Jesus and admired him, but did28:25 he accept him? And scripture today helped us to avoid that error. Right? And accept with gratefulness the abundant life and the eternal life that Jesus Christ gave his life to28:37 bring to all of us. So let's remember this time of year. It's 1 thing to know who Jesus is, and it's another to receive the why for his coming in our heart. God longs to reward your28:48 life with blessing where sins rob you. And he wants you to enjoy his goodness on earth, and then for all eternity. So let me encourage you today. It's a great time of the29:00 year to let God bring you a new start. And don't forget our step into significance weekly email can equip you to do just that. God wants you to understand his truth and to let it serve as29:12 a road map into a life that God richly blesses.29:18 Pastor Jim Graff's A Significant Life Ministry is now reaching millions around the globe, carrying God's message of hope to those in need as well as those of us struggling through life in these uncertain times. Learn29:29 more about Pastor Jim Graff's ministry at asignificantlife dot com and receive encouragement with his free weekly Step Into Significance devotional. Watch impact testimonies, catch up on shows you may have missed, and29:40 read about how his family ministers together worldwide. We appreciate you joining us with your prayers and financial support. Join our tribe today at asignificantlyfe dot com.
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