February 24, 2025 • 28 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
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 doctor Graham's book, A Hope
and a Future. But first here's the message. Let it go.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Take your Bibles and turn with us to Romans. The
twelfth chapter for the Scripture says in verse fourteen, Bless
those who persecute you.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Bless and do not curse.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Repay not one evil for evil, but give thought to
do what is honorable in the sight of all, if possible,
so far as it depends on you, Live peaceably with
(01:03):
awe but love.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.
For it is written vengeance is mine. I will repay,
says the Lord to the contrary.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
If your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty,
give him something to drink, for by doing so you
will keep burning coals on his head. And then the
bottom line. The key to everything in this passage is
verse twenty one. Do not be overcome by evil, but
(01:46):
overcome evil with good. As we have said from the
old adage in the past, better to light a candle
than to curse the darkness. I want to speak to
you about how to overcome evil with good, and that
means to.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Let it go.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
What you have here in the twelfth chapter of Romans
are like proverbs, one after another.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
They just keep coming.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Paul counseling us as to how we are to live
the Christian life. It is a life of love under
the lordship of Christ, and under the command of the
lordship of Christ. Is the call to love, to love
authentically and sincerely and devotedly, to love, and to give
(02:40):
our lives away in service to our Lord Jesus Christ.
So this is one of the most essential truths that
we find in all of the Bible and in the
teachings of Jesus, and it regards forgiveness.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Romans, chapter twelve. These verses that we just read.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Are an echo of what our Lord said and dis
sermon on the Mount. He said love your neighbor. You
have heard it said that you are to love your
neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
What do you do.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
When you're mistreated, mocked, hurt, wounded, betrayed, left damaged, broken
by others? What is the response? How do we forgive
those who hate us and may even hurt us?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
How can we those who harass us? Christians are under.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Persecution worldwide and even here in our country. If you
stand for the truth of God's word, you will find
yourself facing fire and fly. The Bible says all who
live godly in Jesus Christ will suffer persecution. And it
may not be, of course, physical persecution, but other kinds
of pressing and persecution, and problems and pain that come
(04:11):
as a direct result of our faith in Christ, or
due to the circumstances in life. And if you live
faithfully and fully as a follower of Jesus, you will
find yourself in the target zone. And Satan himself may
choose to attack you, and others to attack you as well.
(04:32):
And Paul is saying exactly what Jesus will say. Rather
than hate back, we are to love back. Rather than
to pay back. We are to give back what people
do not deserve, and that is forgiveness. Now this goes
against every natural human inclination in us. This is supernatural.
(04:56):
This is not natural. If something's falling on you, you
automatically put up.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Your hands to protect yourself.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
If someone strikes you, you automatically may throw up your
fists to fight back.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
This is our humanity.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
But we are called to something high, er, something better, and.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
That is to love and to show that love in.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Certain ways, not with revenge and retaliation, which is our
default position in our flesh, to get even to strike back,
to settle the score, to even hate. So many people
are filled with rage and anger. We've got all kinds
(05:41):
of rage today going on. We've got road rage, and
office rage, and twitter rage and sports or rage and
all kinds of rage. And those who are so angry,
and we're facing this kind of anger. And sometimes when
we face this kind of anger, we want to go
(06:03):
all Old Testament on them.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
You know, an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Jesus said, you've heard it that way, but I say
to you, turned the other cheek to the.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
One who strikes you and harms you.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
And Paul, who himself was first a persecutor, persecuting Christians
for their faith in Jesus, but then transformed and changed.
Then he became the oppressor, became the oppressed, the persecuted,
became the persecuted.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
And Paul knew what it.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Was to be beaten, and to be stoned and left
for dead, to be shipwrecked on the way to preach Jesus,
to be in prison and to be in pain, and
to be in suffering, and to suffer injustice of all kinds.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
And yet he writes, under the authority of the Scripture,
the words of God.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
He says, don't retaliate, don't seek revenge, but rather return
blessing for cursing. That's the first thing, to return blessing
for cursing. Look again at verse fourteen. Bless those who
persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. To bless someone.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Is to speak well of them.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
If you say God bless you, hopefully you mean may
God's favor be with you. God bless you. But he says,
bless and do not curse. And literally it's assigned here
to a word which means ongoing action. Keep on blessing
(07:51):
your enemies. This passage includes both believers and unbelievers, those
inside the church and those outside the church, to bless.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
And to treat as friends.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
That's what Jesus did at the cross when his enemies
were literally nailing him to a cross, and his blood
is pouring out, dying for the sins of the world,
your sins and mind.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
He kept saying, over.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And over, Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they do. The first words out of his mouth
on the cross, Father, forgive them, for they do not
know what they do. Blessing rather than cursing. The contrast
to that, when we get triggered by something or of someone,
(08:45):
our response so often, rather than to bless is to
bless them out to curse them, and the idea a blessing,
do not curse. In this passage, cursing does not have
to do necessarily with profanity or cussing, but it means
(09:05):
to call down judgment, to ask God to damn them,
to ask God to send them to hell.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Can you imagine to call.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Down a curse from God, a judgment of God to
send someone to hell.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
People say that kind of thing all the time, go
to Hell.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
There is a total contradiction between an unforgiving Christian and
a Christian. It's a contradiction in terms We don't tell
them off. We tell them of God's love at the
(09:54):
root of this blessing and cursing. If we are cursing
and unforgiving, it is selfish and self centered.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
To hold on to hate, to strike back.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
When someone hits us, to hold to carry grudges, to
settle and scores, and to seethe within with anger.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Anger sees.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Seething within is bitterness, and bitterness always, always dear people,
always leads to brokenness. This is why so many people
are depressed and anxious.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
And lonely, and.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Filled with hostility and taking pills just to get through
the day. Holding on to hurts, holding on to hate emotionally,
physically and certainly spiritually.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
It is devastating.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I can tell you as a pastor, I've seen it
again and again and again over the years. Peoples whose
lives and families are destroyed because of unconfessed anger and
unforgiveness in their lives. So many are filled with resentment,
(11:19):
and therefore they are unrepentant, because to be unforgiving is
sin against God. So much pain could be a lead
if only we would be obedient to the command of
the Bible to forgive as we have been forgiven.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message
let it Go. Sometimes answers to life's problems seem distant
and hope seems out of reach, but that's exactly where
God's promises meet us. We want to help you rest
in God's promises even in life's darkest moments by sending
you doctor Jack Graham's book, A Hope and a Future.
(11:59):
It's our way of saying thanks for your gift of
ten dollars or more to help proclaim the good news
around the world through PowerPoint. Call now to request your
copy of A Hope and a Future. Call one eight
hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. That's one
eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. You
(12:19):
can also text the word hope to five nine seven
eight nine. Don't let stress rob you of peace. It
is possible to break the destructive grip of stress on
your life and enjoy the peace and abundance God desires
for you. That's what doctor Graham helps you do in
his booklet Breaking Free from Stress. We'll send you a
digital download of Breaking Free from Stress when you sign
(12:41):
up for email updates from PowerPoint Today. Just go to
PowerPoint dot org, slash stress and sign up today. Now
let's get back to today's message, let it go.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Paul specifically gives us several ways that we are to
return blessing for cursing, and that is one.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
To rejoice with those who rejoice. To celebrate.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Your family, your friends, your church, your co workers. You
say how we ought to rejoice when a child is born,
when a wedding.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Takes place, Jesus did.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
He went to the wedding party at Cana of Galilee,
and he was the life of the party, entering into
the joy and the happiness of the celebration of that.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Couple so long ago.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
When someone gets a promotion, when someone graduates, sometimes it's
hard to rejoice when the promotion you work so hard
to get is given to someone else. Can you rejoice
with them? Or an achievement, a success, a win in
people's lives. May God help us to rejoice with those
(14:04):
who rejoice. What if you chose to bless people by
celebrating people every day in your life.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
It's true of the Church.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
People go where they are celebrated, not where they are tolerated.
But then it says, weep with those who weep and
that means that we are empathetic and sensitive to the
hurts that are all around us. Because the opposite of
(14:39):
love is not always hate. Sometimes the opposite of love
is simply apathy and indifference. And so as Christians, as
believers and followers of Jesus and the one of who
we say a moment ago, the son of Suffering, who
wept over Jerusalem, who wept at the grave of his
(15:00):
friend Lazarus, of the God who stores up our tears
in a bottle. Because we have been so forgiven and
so grace by God, we enter into the pain, and
the suffering of others is compassion. How can we not
(15:20):
feel compassion when we see the images of Ukraine and
Eastern Europe on our television sets or on our screens.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
There's a thing.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Psychologists call psychic numbing. So often in our generation, because
we're so connected, we see almost everything, we just shut
it down and turn it off. I can't look at that,
But sometimes we need to look the man who picked
up the broken man in Jesus parable of the Good Samaritan.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
It says he saw him, and he had compassion on him,
and then he acted in love.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
We must not be so desensitized to the pain around us,
that we ignore it and are indifferent to it.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Weep for those who weep, and.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Especially those who are lost. Weep for the lost Jesus did.
He looked over the city of Jerusalem, and he wept.
He said, I would have drawn you to myself, as
you would not, And he wept openly, and copious tears
flowed down his face. He wept over the lostness of
his people. We ought to weep over a neighbor lost
(16:43):
without Jesus and on the way to Hell. And weep
for nations without the Gospel, and pray and.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Go and serve.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
We're to comfort the hurting, because, after all, the old
Maxim says, people don't care how much we know until
they know how much we care. And the caring, compassionate
ministries of the church gives us an advantage access to
share the Gospel with people. And I would say one
(17:17):
more thing about weeping with those who weep. Sometimes we
are hesitant to know how to comfort someone. We think
I don't have words to say. Well, most of the time,
hurting people don't need words.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
They just need you.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
To hug them, to hold them, to say I love you,
I'm praying for you. How can I serve you? Don't
think you have to run in with a sermon. You
might find that strange coming from a preacher. It's not
typically appropriate to run in with a lot of words
(17:56):
and sermons, but to go in with compassion and concern and.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Help.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
This is the essential Gospel lived out in love. And
I not only want to give this message, I want
to live.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
This message.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
And may God remove all the hurt and anger and
bitterness that is in our lives.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
And such is what he says.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
We've said, return blessing for cursing, and rejoice with those
who rejoice, weep with those who weep. And then the
last point that I want to make from this passage today,
there's so much here, so little time to say it,
but refuse to retaliate.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Thus the title let it go.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Let it be, because the scripture says in verse seventeen,
repay no one.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Evil for evil, but give thought to do.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
What is honorable, that is respectful in the sight of
all who is all, in the sight of God, in
the sight of the Church, in the sight of all people.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Do what is honorable and respectful. Let it go.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Let God be God for the scripture goes on to
say that vengeance is mind.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Says the Lord.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Don't live in a pay back mode or even a
pushback mo, but in a give back love BACKMO.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
That's what is supernatural.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And God's love is poured out in our hearts by
the Holy Spirit. Romans five five and Paul is saying, here,
let God fight your battles. Stop the fighting, don't return
fire with fire, don't pour gasoline on the fire. Not vengeance,
(20:13):
but let the wrath of God take care of those
who oppose him. God will take care of it. It's
not my job or your job to judge. It is
our job to love, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is God's job to judge. And if you have
(20:33):
been betrayed and cheated and heart and harmed, and most
people have in some way, I have and you have,
it's time to turn loose and.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
To let go.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Some of you have been carrying things from your past,
even from childhood. And the anger that is still in you,
and the rage that is seething in you, and the
bitterness that is in you.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
It's like baggage.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
When I travel, I like to travel as light as possible,
and in the journey of life. Don't walk around carrying
burdens and fighting battles.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
That don't belong to you.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
And rather than always wanting to fight back and to
settle the score to get even.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Let God be God. Let God take it over.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Forgiveness is giving up my right to hurt you for
hurting me. It's forgiveness. It's the forgiveness of God that
we have received, and therefore, how can we be unforgiving
to others?
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Listen to these words by Neil Anderson.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Forgiveness is agreeing to live with the consequences of another
person's sin. You're going to live with those consequences whether
you want to or not. Your only choice is whether
you will do so in bitterness and unforgiveness or in
the freedom of forgiveness.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
What about you?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Will you live in the bitterness and therefore the brokenness
of the pain of the past, or will you live
in the freedom of forgiveness by letting God fight your battles,
Let God settle the scores.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Because it says, give God space to do this, Give
God time to do this. You say, Jack, you don't
know what you're talking about. Exactly. I do know what
I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
When my father was brutally murdered in nineteen seventy. I
had to deal with this passage and this issue in
my life, to forgive or not to forgive, to hate
or to love, whether or not I would let God
be God and fight the battles, or I would try
to take control, whether or not I would live in
(23:02):
the freedom that God has provided, or I would spend
the rest of my days miserable because I couldn't get
over it, I couldn't get through it. There have been
other times when all of us, like me, you have
dealt with betrayal and brutal things that have happened to
you in your life. But I'm here to tell you,
(23:26):
if you let God take over, you'll trust God to
do what only God can do. He'll bring justice to
your situation. He'll bring light to the darkness because the
promise is true. In Verse twenty one is really a
command with a promise. Don't be overcome with evil. Overcome
(23:50):
evil with good, always good, God's good. Trust him with
that desire to do it, decide to do it, and
then do it.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
By letting it go, letting God fight your battle.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
You are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the
message let it Go. God's word is the source for
timeless truths that answer the big questions people are seeking.
But so many people around the world have never heard
God's word proclaimed. That's why the support of friends like
you is so important, because together we can carry the
unchanging truth of God's Word across the globe through the TV,
(24:38):
radio and online outreach of PowerPoint. We'll say thanks for
your gift of ten dollars or more to share God's
truth with more people by sending you a copy of
doctor Jack Graham's book, A Hope and a Future. So
call now to request your copy. When you give call
one eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven.
That's one eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven.
(25:01):
You can also text the word hope to five nine
seven eight nine, and don't forget to visit Jack Graham
dot org where you can shop our eastoor, give a
gift online, or sign up for doctor Graham's free daily
email devotional. Our website again is Jack Graham dot org.
And also be sure to sign up for doctor Graham's
podcast Bible in a Year pastor What is Your PowerPoint
(25:25):
for Today?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
One of the best parts of my job is hearing
from listeners just like you. Just imagine how encouraging it
is to hear a flood of stories of God moving
powerfully in countless lives. Well, you don't have to imagine.
You can read about the way God is moving in
the lives of viewers and listeners like you when you
go to Jack Graham dot org and click on the
(25:49):
prayers tab. We've shared stories from your brothers and sisters
all over the world, from right here in the Dallas
Fort Worth Metroplex, Texas, to listeners broad in Montreal, London
and beyond. And we'd love to hear from you as well.
But we need your help to keep these stories coming in.
This ministry wouldn't exist without the generosity of friends like you.
(26:14):
And one of the ways you can make the biggest
impact is by becoming a PowerPoint Partner with your first
gift today. PowerPoint Partners are monthly donors whose faithful support
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the gospel worldwide with increasing impact. Today, PowerPoint is broadcasting
(26:35):
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that's why I am inviting you to be a part
(26:57):
of today.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Thank you, and I.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Can wait to see all God does through your faithful support.
Thank you so much for inspiring stories of change lives
every day. Your gift today helps us continue sharing the
Gospel till the whole world hears.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a
gift of ten dollars or more to PowerPoint, we'll send
you doctor Graham's book A Hope and a Future as
a thanks for your support today. Call one eight hundred
seven ninety five four six two seven. That's one eight
hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. You can
also text the word hope to five nine seven eight
(27:37):
nine and join us again next time as doctor Graham
brings a message about the role of government in your
life and how God has called you to submit to authority.
That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with
Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministry.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Say
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 doctor Graham's book, A Hope
and a Future. But first here's the message. Let it go.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Take your Bibles and turn with us to Romans. The
twelfth chapter for the Scripture says in verse fourteen, Bless
those who persecute you.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Bless and do not curse.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Repay not one evil for evil, but give thought to
do what is honorable in the sight of all, if possible,
so far as it depends on you, Live peaceably with
(01:03):
awe but love.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.
For it is written vengeance is mine. I will repay,
says the Lord to the contrary.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
If your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty,
give him something to drink, for by doing so you
will keep burning coals on his head. And then the
bottom line. The key to everything in this passage is
verse twenty one. Do not be overcome by evil, but
(01:46):
overcome evil with good. As we have said from the
old adage in the past, better to light a candle
than to curse the darkness. I want to speak to
you about how to overcome evil with good, and that
means to.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Let it go.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
What you have here in the twelfth chapter of Romans
are like proverbs, one after another.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
They just keep coming.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Paul counseling us as to how we are to live
the Christian life. It is a life of love under
the lordship of Christ, and under the command of the
lordship of Christ. Is the call to love, to love
authentically and sincerely and devotedly, to love, and to give
(02:40):
our lives away in service to our Lord Jesus Christ.
So this is one of the most essential truths that
we find in all of the Bible and in the
teachings of Jesus, and it regards forgiveness.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Romans, chapter twelve. These verses that we just read.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Are an echo of what our Lord said and dis
sermon on the Mount. He said love your neighbor. You
have heard it said that you are to love your
neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
What do you do.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
When you're mistreated, mocked, hurt, wounded, betrayed, left damaged, broken
by others? What is the response? How do we forgive
those who hate us and may even hurt us?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
How can we those who harass us? Christians are under.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Persecution worldwide and even here in our country. If you
stand for the truth of God's word, you will find
yourself facing fire and fly. The Bible says all who
live godly in Jesus Christ will suffer persecution. And it
may not be, of course, physical persecution, but other kinds
of pressing and persecution, and problems and pain that come
(04:11):
as a direct result of our faith in Christ, or
due to the circumstances in life. And if you live
faithfully and fully as a follower of Jesus, you will
find yourself in the target zone. And Satan himself may
choose to attack you, and others to attack you as well.
(04:32):
And Paul is saying exactly what Jesus will say. Rather
than hate back, we are to love back. Rather than
to pay back. We are to give back what people
do not deserve, and that is forgiveness. Now this goes
against every natural human inclination in us. This is supernatural.
(04:56):
This is not natural. If something's falling on you, you
automatically put up.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Your hands to protect yourself.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
If someone strikes you, you automatically may throw up your
fists to fight back.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
This is our humanity.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
But we are called to something high, er, something better, and.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
That is to love and to show that love in.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Certain ways, not with revenge and retaliation, which is our
default position in our flesh, to get even to strike back,
to settle the score, to even hate. So many people
are filled with rage and anger. We've got all kinds
(05:41):
of rage today going on. We've got road rage, and
office rage, and twitter rage and sports or rage and
all kinds of rage. And those who are so angry,
and we're facing this kind of anger. And sometimes when
we face this kind of anger, we want to go
(06:03):
all Old Testament on them.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
You know, an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Jesus said, you've heard it that way, but I say
to you, turned the other cheek to the.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
One who strikes you and harms you.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
And Paul, who himself was first a persecutor, persecuting Christians
for their faith in Jesus, but then transformed and changed.
Then he became the oppressor, became the oppressed, the persecuted,
became the persecuted.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
And Paul knew what it.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Was to be beaten, and to be stoned and left
for dead, to be shipwrecked on the way to preach Jesus,
to be in prison and to be in pain, and
to be in suffering, and to suffer injustice of all kinds.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
And yet he writes, under the authority of the Scripture,
the words of God.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
He says, don't retaliate, don't seek revenge, but rather return
blessing for cursing. That's the first thing, to return blessing
for cursing. Look again at verse fourteen. Bless those who
persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. To bless someone.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Is to speak well of them.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
If you say God bless you, hopefully you mean may
God's favor be with you. God bless you. But he says,
bless and do not curse. And literally it's assigned here
to a word which means ongoing action. Keep on blessing
(07:51):
your enemies. This passage includes both believers and unbelievers, those
inside the church and those outside the church, to bless.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
And to treat as friends.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
That's what Jesus did at the cross when his enemies
were literally nailing him to a cross, and his blood
is pouring out, dying for the sins of the world,
your sins and mind.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
He kept saying, over.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And over, Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they do. The first words out of his mouth
on the cross, Father, forgive them, for they do not
know what they do. Blessing rather than cursing. The contrast
to that, when we get triggered by something or of someone,
(08:45):
our response so often, rather than to bless is to
bless them out to curse them, and the idea a blessing,
do not curse. In this passage, cursing does not have
to do necessarily with profanity or cussing, but it means
(09:05):
to call down judgment, to ask God to damn them,
to ask God to send them to hell.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Can you imagine to call.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Down a curse from God, a judgment of God to
send someone to hell.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
People say that kind of thing all the time, go
to Hell.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
There is a total contradiction between an unforgiving Christian and
a Christian. It's a contradiction in terms We don't tell
them off. We tell them of God's love at the
(09:54):
root of this blessing and cursing. If we are cursing
and unforgiving, it is selfish and self centered.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
To hold on to hate, to strike back.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
When someone hits us, to hold to carry grudges, to
settle and scores, and to seethe within with anger.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Anger sees.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Seething within is bitterness, and bitterness always, always dear people,
always leads to brokenness. This is why so many people
are depressed and anxious.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
And lonely, and.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Filled with hostility and taking pills just to get through
the day. Holding on to hurts, holding on to hate emotionally,
physically and certainly spiritually.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
It is devastating.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I can tell you as a pastor, I've seen it
again and again and again over the years. Peoples whose
lives and families are destroyed because of unconfessed anger and
unforgiveness in their lives. So many are filled with resentment,
(11:19):
and therefore they are unrepentant, because to be unforgiving is
sin against God. So much pain could be a lead
if only we would be obedient to the command of
the Bible to forgive as we have been forgiven.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message
let it Go. Sometimes answers to life's problems seem distant
and hope seems out of reach, but that's exactly where
God's promises meet us. We want to help you rest
in God's promises even in life's darkest moments by sending
you doctor Jack Graham's book, A Hope and a Future.
(11:59):
It's our way of saying thanks for your gift of
ten dollars or more to help proclaim the good news
around the world through PowerPoint. Call now to request your
copy of A Hope and a Future. Call one eight
hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. That's one
eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. You
(12:19):
can also text the word hope to five nine seven
eight nine. Don't let stress rob you of peace. It
is possible to break the destructive grip of stress on
your life and enjoy the peace and abundance God desires
for you. That's what doctor Graham helps you do in
his booklet Breaking Free from Stress. We'll send you a
digital download of Breaking Free from Stress when you sign
(12:41):
up for email updates from PowerPoint Today. Just go to
PowerPoint dot org, slash stress and sign up today. Now
let's get back to today's message, let it go.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Paul specifically gives us several ways that we are to
return blessing for cursing, and that is one.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
To rejoice with those who rejoice. To celebrate.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Your family, your friends, your church, your co workers. You
say how we ought to rejoice when a child is born,
when a wedding.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Takes place, Jesus did.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
He went to the wedding party at Cana of Galilee,
and he was the life of the party, entering into
the joy and the happiness of the celebration of that.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Couple so long ago.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
When someone gets a promotion, when someone graduates, sometimes it's
hard to rejoice when the promotion you work so hard
to get is given to someone else. Can you rejoice
with them? Or an achievement, a success, a win in
people's lives. May God help us to rejoice with those
(14:04):
who rejoice. What if you chose to bless people by
celebrating people every day in your life.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
It's true of the Church.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
People go where they are celebrated, not where they are tolerated.
But then it says, weep with those who weep and
that means that we are empathetic and sensitive to the
hurts that are all around us. Because the opposite of
(14:39):
love is not always hate. Sometimes the opposite of love
is simply apathy and indifference. And so as Christians, as
believers and followers of Jesus and the one of who
we say a moment ago, the son of Suffering, who
wept over Jerusalem, who wept at the grave of his
(15:00):
friend Lazarus, of the God who stores up our tears
in a bottle. Because we have been so forgiven and
so grace by God, we enter into the pain, and
the suffering of others is compassion. How can we not
(15:20):
feel compassion when we see the images of Ukraine and
Eastern Europe on our television sets or on our screens.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
There's a thing.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Psychologists call psychic numbing. So often in our generation, because
we're so connected, we see almost everything, we just shut
it down and turn it off. I can't look at that,
But sometimes we need to look the man who picked
up the broken man in Jesus parable of the Good Samaritan.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
It says he saw him, and he had compassion on him,
and then he acted in love.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
We must not be so desensitized to the pain around us,
that we ignore it and are indifferent to it.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Weep for those who weep, and.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Especially those who are lost. Weep for the lost Jesus did.
He looked over the city of Jerusalem, and he wept.
He said, I would have drawn you to myself, as
you would not, And he wept openly, and copious tears
flowed down his face. He wept over the lostness of
his people. We ought to weep over a neighbor lost
(16:43):
without Jesus and on the way to Hell. And weep
for nations without the Gospel, and pray and.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Go and serve.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
We're to comfort the hurting, because, after all, the old
Maxim says, people don't care how much we know until
they know how much we care. And the caring, compassionate
ministries of the church gives us an advantage access to
share the Gospel with people. And I would say one
(17:17):
more thing about weeping with those who weep. Sometimes we
are hesitant to know how to comfort someone. We think
I don't have words to say. Well, most of the time,
hurting people don't need words.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
They just need you.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
To hug them, to hold them, to say I love you,
I'm praying for you. How can I serve you? Don't
think you have to run in with a sermon. You
might find that strange coming from a preacher. It's not
typically appropriate to run in with a lot of words
(17:56):
and sermons, but to go in with compassion and concern and.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Help.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
This is the essential Gospel lived out in love. And
I not only want to give this message, I want
to live.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
This message.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
And may God remove all the hurt and anger and
bitterness that is in our lives.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
And such is what he says.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
We've said, return blessing for cursing, and rejoice with those
who rejoice, weep with those who weep. And then the
last point that I want to make from this passage today,
there's so much here, so little time to say it,
but refuse to retaliate.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Thus the title let it go.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Let it be, because the scripture says in verse seventeen,
repay no one.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Evil for evil, but give thought to do.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
What is honorable, that is respectful in the sight of
all who is all, in the sight of God, in
the sight of the Church, in the sight of all people.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Do what is honorable and respectful. Let it go.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Let God be God for the scripture goes on to
say that vengeance is mind.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Says the Lord.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Don't live in a pay back mode or even a
pushback mo, but in a give back love BACKMO.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
That's what is supernatural.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And God's love is poured out in our hearts by
the Holy Spirit. Romans five five and Paul is saying, here,
let God fight your battles. Stop the fighting, don't return
fire with fire, don't pour gasoline on the fire. Not vengeance,
(20:13):
but let the wrath of God take care of those
who oppose him. God will take care of it. It's
not my job or your job to judge. It is
our job to love, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is God's job to judge. And if you have
(20:33):
been betrayed and cheated and heart and harmed, and most
people have in some way, I have and you have,
it's time to turn loose and.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
To let go.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Some of you have been carrying things from your past,
even from childhood. And the anger that is still in you,
and the rage that is seething in you, and the
bitterness that is in you.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
It's like baggage.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
When I travel, I like to travel as light as possible,
and in the journey of life. Don't walk around carrying
burdens and fighting battles.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
That don't belong to you.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
And rather than always wanting to fight back and to
settle the score to get even.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Let God be God. Let God take it over.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Forgiveness is giving up my right to hurt you for
hurting me. It's forgiveness. It's the forgiveness of God that
we have received, and therefore, how can we be unforgiving
to others?
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Listen to these words by Neil Anderson.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Forgiveness is agreeing to live with the consequences of another
person's sin. You're going to live with those consequences whether
you want to or not. Your only choice is whether
you will do so in bitterness and unforgiveness or in
the freedom of forgiveness.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
What about you?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Will you live in the bitterness and therefore the brokenness
of the pain of the past, or will you live
in the freedom of forgiveness by letting God fight your battles,
Let God settle the scores.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Because it says, give God space to do this, Give
God time to do this. You say, Jack, you don't
know what you're talking about. Exactly. I do know what
I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
When my father was brutally murdered in nineteen seventy. I
had to deal with this passage and this issue in
my life, to forgive or not to forgive, to hate
or to love, whether or not I would let God
be God and fight the battles, or I would try
to take control, whether or not I would live in
(23:02):
the freedom that God has provided, or I would spend
the rest of my days miserable because I couldn't get
over it, I couldn't get through it. There have been
other times when all of us, like me, you have
dealt with betrayal and brutal things that have happened to
you in your life. But I'm here to tell you,
(23:26):
if you let God take over, you'll trust God to
do what only God can do. He'll bring justice to
your situation. He'll bring light to the darkness because the
promise is true. In Verse twenty one is really a
command with a promise. Don't be overcome with evil. Overcome
(23:50):
evil with good, always good, God's good. Trust him with
that desire to do it, decide to do it, and
then do it.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
By letting it go, letting God fight your battle.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
You are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the
message let it Go. God's word is the source for
timeless truths that answer the big questions people are seeking.
But so many people around the world have never heard
God's word proclaimed. That's why the support of friends like
you is so important, because together we can carry the
unchanging truth of God's Word across the globe through the TV,
(24:38):
radio and online outreach of PowerPoint. We'll say thanks for
your gift of ten dollars or more to share God's
truth with more people by sending you a copy of
doctor Jack Graham's book, A Hope and a Future. So
call now to request your copy. When you give call
one eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven.
That's one eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven.
(25:01):
You can also text the word hope to five nine
seven eight nine, and don't forget to visit Jack Graham
dot org where you can shop our eastoor, give a
gift online, or sign up for doctor Graham's free daily
email devotional. Our website again is Jack Graham dot org.
And also be sure to sign up for doctor Graham's
podcast Bible in a Year pastor What is Your PowerPoint
(25:25):
for Today?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
One of the best parts of my job is hearing
from listeners just like you. Just imagine how encouraging it
is to hear a flood of stories of God moving
powerfully in countless lives. Well, you don't have to imagine.
You can read about the way God is moving in
the lives of viewers and listeners like you when you
go to Jack Graham dot org and click on the
(25:49):
prayers tab. We've shared stories from your brothers and sisters
all over the world, from right here in the Dallas
Fort Worth Metroplex, Texas, to listeners broad in Montreal, London
and beyond. And we'd love to hear from you as well.
But we need your help to keep these stories coming in.
This ministry wouldn't exist without the generosity of friends like you.
(26:14):
And one of the ways you can make the biggest
impact is by becoming a PowerPoint Partner with your first
gift today. PowerPoint Partners are monthly donors whose faithful support
has enabled us to pursue our core mission of preaching
the gospel worldwide with increasing impact. Today, PowerPoint is broadcasting
(26:35):
truth on TV in one hundred and thirteen countries. We're
sharing God's love on the radio and over eight hundred
cities and over five thousand people visit our website to
watch messages full of biblical truth every week. None of
that would be possible without our amazing PowerPoint partners, and
that's why I am inviting you to be a part
(26:57):
of today.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Thank you, and I.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Can wait to see all God does through your faithful support.
Thank you so much for inspiring stories of change lives
every day. Your gift today helps us continue sharing the
Gospel till the whole world hears.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a
gift of ten dollars or more to PowerPoint, we'll send
you doctor Graham's book A Hope and a Future as
a thanks for your support today. Call one eight hundred
seven ninety five four six two seven. That's one eight
hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. You can
also text the word hope to five nine seven eight
(27:37):
nine and join us again next time as doctor Graham
brings a message about the role of government in your
life and how God has called you to submit to authority.
That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with
Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministry.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
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