Key Life Network

Guest (Male): Don't do anything. Just show up. I'll explain on Key Life. If you're sick of guilt and manipulation and if you're looking for an honest and thoughtful presentation of biblical truth, you've come to the right place. This is Key Life with the founder of Key Life Network, Steve Brown. Keep listening for teaching that will make you free.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. We've been talking about how God defines us. And I've been suggesting over and over again, don't let your neighbor do it. Don't let somebody who doesn't like you define you. Don't let your preacher do it. Don't even let your spouse do it. Make sure that you go to the source of your creation.

Only the one who creates can define and set a value, and that's where we are as believers. The rest, a bunch of lies. If you were listening yesterday, we talked about and I gave you a lot of scripture about who we are. Not commands about who we're going to try to be, but who we are. You are the light of the world.

Don't try to be the light of the world. You already are. You are crucified with Christ. Galatians 2:20. And Christ lives in you. That's not a commandment, that's a fact of who you are. And so if that's true, don't do anything, just show up.

Somebody has said that most of the world is controlled by people who showed up for the meetings. There's some truth to that. That happens in church meetings when about 8% of the congregation shows up and they vote. It happens in political meetings. It happens in voting. It happens everywhere.

And what Christians are called to do, and this is what Jesus meant when he said, "Go into the whole world." What does that mean? That means don't stay home. It means show up. It means have friends who are pagans. It means go to places where normal people hang out and you don't have to do anything. All you've got to do is to show.

You say you're kidding. How about, how about my telling them that God loves them? Don't tell them until they ask. Just show and be who you are because you smell like Jesus and you can't help it.

Years ago, my late friend Tony Campolo and I did a network television show called Hashing It Out. We did it in New York. If I owned hell and New York, I would live in hell and rent out New York. Actually, I kind of liked it. Every month I'd go up and we would tape those programs.

And I missed Tony a lot. And the reason we did that is because we disagreed about everything, except Jesus and the truth of the Bible. Politically, we're on different sides. Sociologically, we're on different sides. I used to kid Tony and say a sociologist is like a like a medicine man who looks at the entails of Christians of chickens to to decide on what's going to happen in the future.

And he would laugh and say something even worse to me, but we loved each other. That program, as I said, was called Hashing It Out. It was set in a diner in New York.

I was Tony's right-wing reactionary friend and he was my left-wing commie friend. We did that show because we wanted to demonstrate to people how two brothers who love Jesus could love each other and still disagree. When that show aired around the country, the comment Tony and I both heard from more people than you can imagine was this, "You guys really love each other." We did.

A couple of days before Tony died, he called me. It was a strange call. "I just called," he said, "to say I loved you." I told him I loved him too and then a couple of days later Tony went to heaven. I'm not sure, but I think his call was a goodbye call and he knew he was going to die.

At any rate, before we did that television show, we were interviewed by the director who, as I remember it, was an unbeliever and maybe even an atheist. When she interviewed me, the director looked at me up and down and said, "Steve, you're ugly. But your face has character."

Let me tell you something. I've lived off that comment ever since. Sometimes I look in the mirror in the morning and I say, "Brown, you're ugly. You may not be that good-looking, but you have a face that has character."

Now listen, that isn't dissimilar to what Jesus said to me. You may not be obedient sometimes and you rightly feel guilty. Fear me and everybody else has reasons to be ashamed and are responsible for a lot of your regrets, but you are mine. That changes everything.

It means we are cherished and valued by the one who created and called us. God is the only one who has the right to do that. If that's what what is true, what should we do? Reboot. That's what you should do. And try to reboot with a software that says you're something else. You think about that. Amen.

Guest (Male): Don't do anything, just show up. Sounds good to me. Thanks, Steve. If you're just joining us, we're going through a new series based on Steve's latest book called God's Not Mad at You. And as you listen, if you have any thoughts or ideas or feedback, we really do welcome that. And I'll tell you in a moment just how you can contact us.

Well, in case you didn't know, we also have a talk radio show. It's called Steve Brown, etc. And recently on that show, we spoke with best-selling author Max Lucado about his latest book called Tame Your Thoughts. Take a listen to part of that conversation, then I'll be back to tell you about a special free offer.

Max Lucado: How do I fix my thoughts?

Guest (Male): Well, the big promise of scripture is that we can choose not to be conformed to the world, but that we really can be transformed.

Max Lucado: And how can we be transformed?

Guest (Male): By the renewal of the mind. Paul's teaching in Romans 12. And so this idea that God can renew our mind has really gained traction among neuroscientists, that the brain is not like a chunk of concrete, but it's more like putty. I'm not a psychotherapist and I know there are neuroscientists who are far smarter than I am on this. But I have used three tools that I unpack in this book.

Number one, practice picky thinking. Number two, identify the UFOs. And then the third one, uproot and replant. These are ideas that I've just used in conversations, counseling sessions, hallway chit-chats. I just think they work. They work for me and they've worked for others. So I captured them in a book and I put them to use on some of the most common toxic thought patterns that people have, hoping that it would help people who really battle with different thoughts. And I think that's all of us.

Step one in learning to manage our thoughts. Practice picky thinking. We might think everybody knows you don't have to think every thought that comes in your head, but not everybody knows that. And we forget that we truly can take every thought captive. And the challenge in learning to manage our thoughts and that is just because you have a thought, you don't have to think it. Just had a conversation less than an hour ago with a dear friend who told me she's doing her very best to stop beating herself up over a particular failure.

Max Lucado: I said, you know, the fancy term for that is picky thinking. You're choosing to stand guard. You're not going to beat yourself up anymore. You're going to make an intentional decision.

Guest (Male): UFO is just a little acronym that I've used over the years that says an untruth leads to a false narrative that leads to an overreaction, right?

Max Lucado: Don't be so angry.

Guest (Male): Or control your lusts. Or get your act together. And I didn't realize there was an untruth that the devil had brought into their lives somewhere prior to that. So now I like to help people say, there's somewhere there's a lie in there. And that untruth is leading to a false narrative and that narrative is what we say say to ourselves or the way we see ourselves. And that results in the overreaction.

And so then the third tool is uproot and replant. We get deliberate. We become intentional. We say, I'm going to uproot. I'm going to pull these thoughts up. And and we say, I'm not going to think that anymore. I'm just going to by the power of the Holy Spirit. He's given me the helmet of salvation. I'm going to trust that he's guarding my head. I'm going to uproot that thought. But we're going to do more than we have to replant. We pull out that thought that says I was a failure and we replant it with Romans 8:1 for example. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And in all of our cases, we have something that needs to be uprooted. And equipping ourselves with a single scripture. It's just a masterstroke. It's such a key. If we can just find that one scripture, and we can, find that one or two or three scriptures that help us deal with whatever that toxic thought pattern is. So we uproot the thought that's causing the damage and we replant with God's word and allow that to become the dominating thought. So those are the three tools.

Guest (Male): We love talking with Max and you're going to love listening to him. Get that full conversation on CD for free by calling us right now at 1-800-Key-Life. That's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at keylife.org to order that CD or go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the US and Canada. Again, just ask for the CD featuring Max Lucado.

Before you go, if you've been blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving is easy, just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. And of course, you can now give safely and securely by text. Just take out your phone and text Key Life to 28950. That's Key Life, one word or two, it doesn't matter. Text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the states and FORCE in Canada and Key Life is a listener-supported production of Key Life Network.