Key Life Network

Steve Brown: Jesus says, if you go, I'll go with you. Let's talk on Key Life.

Matthew: 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. If you've been with us for a while, we're looking at the themes of a book that I wrote a good while ago and just came out this month or recently. And the title of the book, and I have to check because there were so many different suggestions, but we came up finally with God's not mad at you, confronting the lies of guilt and shame and fear and regret. And if you've been listening the last week or so, we've been talking about the lies that neutralize us. And we'll get back to that, but first it's our practice.

And by the way, I hope you had a great weekend and I hope your pastor's sermon was as good as mine. As I was saying, let's pray and then we'll study. Father, we come into your presence as always amazed that we're here. You are great and we're small. You're infinite and we're finite. You're everything and we're nothing. You're eternal and we tarry but just a little while. But with all of that being true, it's amazing that you spend time listening to the sound of our tears as they strike the ground. Thank you. Thank you for your kindness and gentleness.

And we worship you because you are sovereign, eternal, infinite, immutable, and good all the time. Father, as always, we pray for the one who teaches on this broadcast. Forgive him his sins cuz they are many. We would see Jesus and him only. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. The lie we're dealing with is one that all of us have believed every once in a while. And some of you guys live there all the time. This is the lie. You're not good enough and you don't know enough. So go sit in a corner and just stay there and let the real people and the real Christians do the work of Jesus.

That's a lie. Comes from the pit of hell. And we've looked at 2 Corinthians 4:7, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. If you were listening last week and we spent most in in sometimes you just don't bother. But if you were listening, we talked a lot about that particular lie. There's a passage of scripture in the first part of Philippians 3 where Paul talks about resurrection power and being in Christ. And then he says this. This is the 12th verse of the third chapter.

Not that we have already obtained this or are already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. When you move, Jesus moves with you. And he does the heavy living lifting. It's the microphone. Of course, you're not good enough. I am. I'm ordained. And if you believe that, you believe anything. None of us are good enough. You know, I've been doing this stuff this religion thing most of my life. I've read all the books. I've taught in seminary. I've written some of the books. I've taught and lectured in places you wouldn't believe.

And the more I do this, the less I know and the less sure I am. Now I'm sure of the eternal verities of the faith, but some of the details get fuzzy. So I don't know enough either. But just to remember the power of Christ. When you move, Jesus moves with you. And he does the heavy lifting. Are you and most of you are familiar with altar calls, invitations? That's when people are invited to come forward in the church. For those of you who are uninitiated, where people are invited to come forward in the church or meeting to receive Christ.

Now I'm not against altar calls, but they're dangerous cuz well, for a number of reasons. And you know, from my own perspective because the preacher's ego sometimes gets involved. I know because I've been there and done that. If if nobody comes forward after you give an invitation to receive Christ, what does that say about the preacher or the sermon he just preached? So it's very easy to slip in manipulation. And one of the ways is that happens sometimes is when the preacher says and I haven't done this before. You know, I'd tell you if I had, but I've seen it done a number of times.

The preacher says, turn to the person next to you and say, if you go, I'll go with you. At that point, Jesus generally leaves the building. But that's exactly what Jesus says to those of us, and it 's all of us who are unqualified. If you go, love, speak a word about me, reach out to those who are looking for me, speak truth to power, bind up broken hearts, identify with sinners like you. If you go, I'll go with you. I have a friend in heaven now who had Alzheimer's. When my friend was first diagnosed this diagnosed, he it scared him to death.

And by the way, we had my friend on our talk show not too long before he died. And it was one of the most listened to talk shows we've ever done. We had to edit it because he had Alzheimer's and sometimes he would drift. But we got a good program out of it and it blew people away and it blew me away. He had written a book and the title was I'm forgetting about me or I'm forgetting who I am or something like that. Anyway, he said he was scared to death. And he told Jesus he was scared when he found out he had Alzheimer's.

And Jesus said, when you walk into the mist, I'll walk with you. And by the way, the title of that book just came to me. It was I'm beginning to miss me. Listen, that's the MO of Jesus. When you walk, when you go, I'll go with you. He always goes with us to the hard and scary places. And sometimes to the places where we don't want to go. After it was revealed to Moses that he was not allowed to go into the promised land where he had led God's people, he addressed the people saying to them, be strong and courageous.

Do not fear or be in dread of them for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. That's Deuteronomy 31:6. That's exactly what Jesus says to Christians whose guilt and shame and regrets sometimes are the cause of inaction and fear. And then there's one other thing, and we'll talk more about it tomorrow. And then we'll be finished with this lie. Let me suggest you do a little self-talk. I think that at least in part was what Paul meant when he said, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Paul sometimes was worried that he had done the wrong thing, gone to the wrong place. He was human just like you. And I think when he said in Philippians to the church at Philippi, I can do all things through him who strengthens me, he was saying exactly the same thing to himself. It was self-talk. He was saying to himself, I am strong in Christ. I can do this in Christ. I can be faithful in Christ. I can be good and obedient in Christ. And when I can't, I'm forgiven and he loves me anyway. And no less than he did when I was faithful.

Hey, you think about that. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thanks, Steve. That was Steve Brown. And today we resumed our exploration of the biblical basis of Steve's new book, God's Not Mad at You. It What's that? Oh, uh it's available now at keylife.org/notmadbook or on Amazon. Thanks for asking. Tomorrow we'll talk about self-talk. Do join us for that. Well, you've heard us talking about Steve's new book for some time now. And now that it's out, uh we're celebrating with a brand new free booklet. The booklet features excerpts from God's Not Mad at You and will give you a deeper understanding of the sanctification process and why it takes so long.

We're ready to send it to you for free, so call us right now at 1-800-KEYLIFE. That's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at keylife.org to order that booklet or go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the US and Canada. Again, just ask for the free booklet called God's Not Mad at You. And one last thing. If you believe in the work of Key Life, would you give today to help us continue that work? Giving is easy. Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can give safely and securely by text.

Just text KEYLIFE to 28950. And if you can't give right now or maybe you're not called to, that's okay. But if you think about it, would you please pray for us? Thanks. 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.