Key Life Network

Steve Brown: Christians are like weeds. They're everywhere and you can't get rid of them. Let's talk on Key Life.

Matthew Porter: Key Life exists to communicate that the deepest message of Jesus in the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers. Because life's hard for everyone, grace is for all of us. Our host is seminary professor and author Steve Brown.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. Hope you guys had a great weekend and I hope that your pastor's sermon was as good as my pastor's sermon. If you are just joining us, you're coming in at the very end of a very long study in the book of Philippians. I'm going to land the plane this week and then next week we're going to talk about some of the basic We're going to go back to first things, the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. And we're going to spend a few weeks talking about what is really, really important. But this week uh if the creek don't rise, we're going we're going to finish with the book of Philippians.

Before we turn to that task, let's pray and then we'll study. Father, we come into your presence surprised as always that we're here. We're not good enough. We don't know enough. We're not faithful enough. We're not obedient enough. And by all rights, you should kick us out, but you never have and you never will. And we are so thankful that we are sinners and we have a great savior. Father, you know everybody who's listening to this broadcast, every circumstance, every tear, every good thing and every bad thing because you are sovereign. And all of that has passed through the nail-scarred hands of your son.

We praise you for him and we praise you for your sovereignty. And we worship you because of who you are and your love for us. Father, as always, we pray for the one who teaches on this broadcast. Forgive him his sins, for they are many. We would see Jesus and him only. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, these are the last three verses in Philippians. It's Philippians 4:21 through 23 where Paul says this. Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to the household of Caesar.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. And if you have the King James version of scripture, that whole letter ends with the one word, amen. And amen is missing from all of the modern manuscripts. And you know why? Because it's not there. And if you want to know why there is an amen in the King James version, I'm going to tell you. Now, the scholars will give you different reasons, but I'm going to tell you the truth because I know whoever was doing the copying had written every word of the book of Philippians.

And just as I feel after we've studied it for all these weeks, he couldn't help himself. He sat back in his chair and he said, amen. But it's not in the modern translations and I thought I would point that out. If you were listening last week, we went down a side road or two. We talked about what it really means to be a saint. Paul repeats that Philippians 4:21 through 22 Greet all the saints. The brothers who are with me send question All the saints send you greetings. And the first thing we think is there must been a lot of really wonderful good people in Philippi.

No. And that's not what saint means. Saint means set apart. To sanctify is to set apart. That's what a saint is. And if you're a Christian, if you belong to Jesus, you are a saint. And so if you want to write me letters or emails or texts, please address it to Saint Steve. And then there's another side observation you ought to know and notice the penetration power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at that 22nd verse. All the saints send you greetings, especially Here it comes. Those who belong to Caesar's household. How about that?

The Christians were beginning to move into the places of power. They were beginning to infect the whole nation of Rome. They were beginning to make a difference everywhere they went. I have a friend I love, by the way, who's And he's a Baptist, but he says that Baptists are everywhere. They're like weeds and you can't get rid of them. Well, that's true of Christians, too. Christians are everywhere and you can't get rid of them. Somebody was telling me the other day that he was on a an airplane and he's sitting next to this guy and the guy said to him, what do you do?

And he said, well, I'm an accountant, but more than that, I'm a Christian. And then he said, have you ever heard of the four spiritual laws? And the old guy heard of them. The last three flights I've been on, people are talk What's with you guys? Do you ride airplanes and share your faith with everybody you see? He was making a good point. We are everywhere and you can't get rid of us. I love noticing and I do the places where one doesn't expect Christians. Matthew Porter who is on our staff here He's a vice president and he does a lot of work for us and for Key Life.

Matthew has a background in drama and he's a film director and has has won awards for his films. He spent 3 months in Hollywood being mentored by Christians in Hollywood. And you say there are no Christians in Hollywood. Are you crazy? Yes, there are and there are a lot of them. I spent some time in New York with some people on the networks there teaching the Bible. And they were Christians. And you say there aren't any Christians there? Yes, there are. They're everywhere. I can't tell you how often I've spoken at the chapels for professional football teams, for the golf tour, for professional baseball and basketball teams.

And you say there aren't any Christians there? Yeah, they are. Christians are everywhere and you can't get rid of them. There are numerous Bible studies going on among the House and Senate members in Washington. And you say there aren't any Christians there? Obviously, they're all over the place. So it's a good thing to remember when you begin to see the permeation of the gospel in every place, in every time. All right, as I said, this week we're going to land the plane. Let me show you something that's really important. This is how Paul begins Philippians.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The last how he ends it The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Same thing in Colossians. He begins Colossians. Grace and peace to you from God our Father. And he ends Colossians by writing, grace be with you all. In 1 Thessalonians, he begins with this. Grace and peace be to you. And in 1 Thessalonians, the end, he says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And then he does it again in 2 Thessalonians. He opens it with grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he ends that letter 2 Thessalonians 3:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Now, I could go on and on, but do you get something going on here? Do you see something that's central that you dare not miss? Let me tell you what it is. It's grace. That's what Key Life is about. That's the anchor of what this ministry is about. Because we believe that is the essence of the Christian faith. And it's this. If you belong to Jesus, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've gone, no matter who you've hurt, no matter what you've smoked or what you've drunk you're his.

And he'll never let you go. And he'll always love you. And he will never ever be angry with you. So the rest of the week going to talk about grace. But now, remember it's you. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter: Thank you, Steve Brown, today and for the next three days we're taking a close look at the last three verses of Philippians. That would be chapter 4 verses 21 through 23. You don't want to miss any of this. So be sure to join us again tomorrow. Well, Steve just spoke about grace. We kind of do that a lot here. But grace doesn't mean you'll never have any questions. And sometimes they're big questions like does God exist? Am I really forgiven and free? If all of this is true, why don't I feel different? Well, Steve wrote about these things in a special mini book called Faith and Doubt when Belief is Hard.

And we would love to send you that mini book for free. Just call us at 1 800 Key Life. That's 1 800 539 5433. You can also email Steve at keylife.org to ask for that mini book or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for the absolutely free mini book called Faith and Doubt. And finally, if you're blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope or you can just text Key Life to 28950 then follow the instructions.

And as always, if you can't give right now or, you know, maybe you're not called to do that, no guilt, okay? But if you think about it, please do pray for us, would you? Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and 4C in Canada. And Key Life is a listener-supported production of Key Life Network.