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Steve Brown: The church will get sick, but it won’t die. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew: That was Steve Brown. He’s an author, seminary professor, and our teacher on Key Life, a program all about God’s radical grace. We’re committed to bringing you Bible teaching that’s honest, straightforward, and street smart. Keep listening to hear truth that’ll make you free.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. We’re talking about the future this week and then we’re going to end this series this week, I’m assuming if everything goes well. We have seen, if you’ve been with us as we’ve talked about the future, that you know the future if you’re a Christian. You know the future of the world.

But we saw secondly, and I’m going to talk more about it today, that you know the future of the family of God, that would be the church. "Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or think, to him be glory in the church" — there it is — "and in Christ Jesus" — here it comes — "to all generations forever and ever, Amen."

That’s Ephesians 3:20. And if you want to know what’s going to happen to the church, read that. It’ll be sick. It’ll limp. People are always coming to me and telling me how they’ve been hurt by the church, and I want to say, "You don’t know nothing." I could tell you stories that would curl your eyelashes. But I don’t generally say that.

But there’s a lot wrong with the church. Augustine said the church is a prostitute, but the church is my mother. And I would add to Augustine, the church is also his wife. She belongs to him as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Paul said, "You husbands ought to be the same way about your wives."

A man once told me that he would not become a Christian and support the church because he didn’t want to be a part of a dying institution. He didn’t know what he was talking about. But he was in pretty good company. Caesar, Nero, Julian, Hitler, Nietzsche, Stalin, and a host of others have proclaimed the death of the Church of Christ.

One thing that is quite apparent: they’re all dead, and the church isn’t. The church is alive, not because it’s made up of such good and wise men and women, not because the members of the church are so discerning, not because God picked the best people to be in the church. The church is alive and will continue to live because it is Christ’s church and he won’t let it die.

I had a German shepherd one time. I’ve had a number of German shepherds. The one we have now weighs 120 pounds and her name is Annie, and she is sweet to everybody unless you try to do something bad or rob my house, and then she turns mean. But the shepherd that we loved maybe more than all the others was named Barnabas, son of encouragement.

Now Barnabas is in doggy heaven now, and if you don’t believe in doggy heaven, keep your spurious theological views to yourself. Barnabas one time bit the veterinarian, and it was not one of my happier memories. The vet had to give him two shots, and Barnabas took that shot like a man, surprisingly well. He didn’t whine and he didn’t move and he didn’t flinch.

But as the vet went back to the table to prepare the second shot, Barnabas watched him out of the corner of his eye. And as the vet came back with the needle prepared, my dog seemed to be saying, "Buddy, I can take one of those, but you can only do that once. You’re not going to do that to me again." And so as the vet’s hand moved toward Barnabas, he turned and without warning bit his hand. I mean, I winced. I thought, "I’m going to be sued."

And then I realized Barnabas was like Jesus. We hung him on the cross the first time. We drove nails through his hands and feet. We persecuted him. We killed him off. But Jesus says, "Only once. You’re never going to do that to me again because when I come back, I’m coming with my angels and I’m coming for my church."

And so, that’s his promise, and we can hang on to it. This is what 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 says: "For we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with those words."

You want to be a part of a winning side? You want to be a part of an institution that’s on the right side of history? You want to join an organization that will outlive everybody you know? It’s the church. The church’s future is secure and you can hang your hat on it.

And then connected with the church’s future, the Christian is sure of his or her own future. This is what Jesus said in John 14:1-3, and you know it. "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will take you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

The apostle Paul adds his witness: "So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. What is sown in dishonor is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body." That’s 1 Corinthians 15:42-44.

I have a friend who’s a Christian who often makes those traffic reports for Boston radio stations. He gets in a helicopter every morning during the morning show and he looks out over the streets of Boston and he tells people how the traffic pattern’s working, and if there’s a jam, how to get around and what streets to take. And he does that every day. And I said to him, "Joe, you know every time you go up in that helicopter, the odds of you crashing raise a little bit more. And one of the days you’re going to die in one of those things."

And he said, "I’m a Christian. If I go down, I go up." Well, I still wouldn’t have gotten in the helicopter, but that’s a good statement: "If I go down, I go up." Jesus said, "Because I live, you will live also." Moody knew what he was talking about. He said, "Someday you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like unto his body."

"I was born in the flesh in 1837, I was born in the spirit in 1856, and I will live forever." And then Moody added this: "That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the spirit will live forever." You think about that. Amen.

Matthew: Thanks, Steve. If you’re just joining us, we’re at the tail end of a teaching series called Welcome to the Family. It’s a back-to-the-basics kind of thing about the basics of the faith. More to discover tomorrow, do join us. Won’t be the same without you.

Well, you may have heard that this month marks the 40th anniversary of Key Life’s first broadcast, way back in 1986. And to celebrate that milestone, we replayed that very first episode right here on Key Life. And in case you missed it, well, good news. We’d like to send you that entire first Key Life broadcast on CD for free. This is definitely a limited time offer, so right now, while you’re thinking about it, call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433.

You can also email Steve at steve@keylife.org to ask for that CD, or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the US and Canada. Again, just ask for the free CD featuring the first Key Life broadcast.

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