Are you crazy…trusting God?

Steve Brown:
Are you crazy…trusting God? Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
That was author and seminary professor Steve Brown, and this is Key Life. We’re all about radical grace because of what Jesus has done, God’s not mad at you. Keep listening, and that message will set you free to live a life of joy and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hey Jerry.

Jerry Parries: Hey.

Steve Brown:
Listen, I can’t believe you came back.

Jerry Parries: Listen, I enjoy sitting here talking to you.

Steve Brown:
And we enjoy, I love it too. That’s Jerry Parries and we’re taking a week and we’re taking the time to look at some of the lies that we all believe on occasion. We wouldn’t be so bold about it, but sometimes, sometimes we do. And when we do, we suffer for it.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
And so, Jerry is here to help. Jerry, by the way, is a pastor and his church is.

Jerry Parries: Christian Family Worship Center House of Grace in Orlando, Florida. Actually, our church is in Kissimmee. But, it’s

Steve Brown:
And if you’re looking for a good church, that’s a good place to go.

Jerry Parries: We would love to have you.

Steve Brown:
Okay. Back to these, back to these lies that we’re talking about.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
Yesterday we talked about the church and the lies that are said about the church, that it’s not effective, that you don’t need that, that you can be a Christian by yourself. In fact, give us that Tony Evans quote when, can you remember what it was?

Jerry Parries: Yeah, yeah. Tony Evans said that

I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. And that is absolutely right, salvation is through faith alone, in Christ alone. But you don’t have to go home to be married, but stay away long enough and your relationship will be affected.

Steve Brown:
That was so good. Well okay, we’ve got another lie. God will not be faithful.

Jerry Parries: Oh.

Steve Brown:
He won’t keep his promises to you.

Jerry Parries: My God. That’s the enemy’s, when God promises you something, and it doesn’t come to pass right away. The enemy goes to working in you.

Steve Brown:
Oh yeah.

Jerry Parries: Telling you that, God isn’t going to do this, God is not going to make this happen.

Steve Brown:
Were you crazy for trusting?

Jerry Parries: Yeah. You know, my grandmother used to say there’s an old song, that the church folks used to sing.

He may not come when you want him, but he’s always on time.

Steve Brown:
Ah good. Agree with that.

Jerry Parries: And that’s the thing about God is that when God promises you something, you can believe it, Hebrews 10:23 said.

Let us hold tight without wavering.

That’s the key Steve, is that we’ve got to.

Hold tight to what God says without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

Steve Brown:
Oh man. You know Jerry, I’m an old, old guy. I’ve been around a long time, and I, there are things, some things that I, that I waiver on, some things I wonder about. I have a lot of questions, but the one thing that I know is that the older I get, the more faithful I see that he has been at every point in my life.

Jerry Parries: I’m a witness man, that is the truth because God, God tells you something, but he doesn’t show you how he’s going to do it. And we as humans, we want to know how, we want to know where, we want to know the time, we want to know all of that information. God just gives you that I’m going to give you this promise, but you’ve got to trust that what I said I’m going to do. And it’s all through the Bible, when God told Abraham that he was going to make him this huge nation, Abraham said, this promise is too big, but God kept it.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, he did.

Jerry Parries: When Isaac had to take his son and Abraham had to take Isaac and place him on the altar, and God knew that, Abraham knew that the promise was going to come through Isaac, but he trusted God and God came through. You know, when the children of Israel was in slavery and God said he was going to set them free and he took them in front of the Red Sea. They said, Lord, this is not what you promised me, but God came through. And so it is in your own personal lives when you’re standing in front of the Red Seas of your life and God has promised that you were going to get to the other side, but you can’t see how he’s going to do it. You need to stand firm and trust him because as God came through for them, he’s going to come through for you. And don’t let the enemy tell you that God is not going to do it. God promised it, he is faithful to his promise, he’s going to save your family, he’s going to save your children, he’s going to fix your marriage, he’s going to come through on those things when you’re believing, God will come through.

Steve Brown:
So lean on him hard.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
Even when that’s all you’ve got. People have said that, people do say.

Jesus is all I need, but you never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you’ve got. And when Jesus is all you’ve got. You discover that Jesus really is all you need.

Because of what you just was saying.

Jerry Parries: Absolutely. And sometimes, and I want to talk to somebody who’s listening to us, Steve. Sometimes the Lord allows some people and things to come out of your life, so that he is the only person that you can depend on.

Steve Brown:
That’s true, isn’t it?

Jerry Parries: That is true. And I’m experiencing that even in my life now, that God is removing things out of my life. And now I am totally depending on God because when God finishes doing what he’s doing, no one’s going to be able to get the credit but him.

Steve Brown:
That’s so true. You know, there is a bird, and if I knew anything about birds, I’d tell you the type, who if a baby bird refuses to come out of the nest, he takes the nest away. And you know, the other babies have flown, there’s one that’s saying, I’m not going anywhere, this is a good gig, my food is brought to me, it’s soft. And I, and then all of a sudden he looks down and his mother is pulling a straw out of the nest and then another, and another, and you can see that bird saying, mom, what are you doing?

Jerry Parries: Right, right. I see where you’re going.

Steve Brown:
And when there’s nothing but air that bird flaps her wings and flies and says, hey mom, look at me., I’m flying. And God does that too, doesn’t he?

Jerry Parries: Oh man, does he. God does that because it’s a part of our growth. We like comfortable. We like to be comfortable. We like things to be the way they are, but growth and there’s a story, I’ll share this one, of a young man who saw a caterpillar struggling, he was a kid. And he went and he cut the caterpillar out of the co cocoon. And the caterpillar died. He ran in the house and he told his granddad, said, I just killed the caterpillar, I was trying to help him, I was trying to help him fly. And the grandfather says, listen son, he says the caterpillar struggles to come out of the cocoon because it gives him the strength to fly. When you cut him out, you stopped him from the struggle to fly. And sometimes when we are going through our troubles and our trials and our problems, God has given us the strength to fly in the next level of our lives.

Steve Brown:
That’s so good. And it brings up another lie, that God won’t answer our prayers.

Jerry Parries: That is absolutely a lie from the pits of hell because God answers our prayers, but sometimes he doesn’t answer them the way we want.

Steve Brown:
That’s true.

Jerry Parries: There’s three answers to prayer. Yes, no, and wait.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Jerry Parries: And no is an answer. Sometimes we pray for God to do something and God says, that’s not my will. And so, you have to be able to accept no, like you accept yes. And so, when God answers our prayers, if he is not answering it the way we want him to answer, didn’t mean he didn’t answer.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. He always

Jerry Parries: He always answers

Steve Brown:
always hears and always answers.

Jerry Parries: He always hears and always answers. And so, the enemy will have you think that God is not trustworthy, God is not answering your prayer. And here’s something that the Holy Spirit spoke to me one time I prayed and said, God, I, you’re not listening to me. And the Holy Spirit said to me, I hear every word that you’re saying, I hear everything that you think, I hear every thought that you make. And then he says, now if you would start cussing, the first thing the devil will tell you is listen, God heard everything you just said. Now, how is it that the God will hear me cuss, but God won’t hear me pray. That’s a trick of the devil. That’s a lie from the enemy. God hears you. He’s concerned about you, and every time, the Bible says, my ears are open to the righteous, and you’re righteous, not because of you, you’re righteous because of the blood of Jesus Christ that has been placed over your life through grace. So, the grace of God is what made you righteous. So, every time you open up your mouth, God hears you. God is there for you and God will answer your prayer. Don’t you worry about it. Tell the devil he’s a liar. God answers prayer.

Steve Brown:
That’s a good lie to deal with, in fact, we’ve done that. We’ll do it tomorrow with some more lies on Key Life, but right now you remember what Dr. Parries is teaching and how important that is to remember that God knows every word you speak. And by the way, does God want you to be miserable?

Jerry Parries: Oh no. Not at all. God wants you to be, I tell my church all the time, God wants you to be joyful, happy, and the favor of God is over your life, in every area of your life.

Steve Brown:
Oh man.

Jerry Parries: Trust it and believe it.

Steve Brown:
We need to hear that because sometimes as Christians, we get to the point where we think, I’m not going to trust God. Everything I like, he’ll take away. Everything that I value, he’ll destroy. That’s not God.

Jerry Parries: Not at all.

Steve Brown:
That’s a child abuser.

Jerry Parries: That’s correct. That’s the enemy.

Steve Brown:
Hey, you think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
What a good word. Thank you Steve Brown and pastor and author Jerry Parries. All this week, we’re taking a brief step away from what we’ve been doing to look at lies the enemy tells us. Yesterday, we explored the lie that we don’t need the church. Today, another whopper from Satan that God won’t be faithful. Ah, this is the good stuff. We’ll continue from here tomorrow. Hope you’ll join us. Well, it happened now months ago, but we’re still talking about it. Our first ever live recording of Steve Brown Etc. It’s a special event we did last year and it was a blast. In fact, we put that entire episode on CD and if it’s okay with you, we’ll send it to you, for free. Claim your copy right now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. And if you’d like to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Just ask for your free copy of the Laughter and Lament episode of Steve Brown Etc. Last thing, have you considered partnering in the work of Key Life through you giving? Giving is actually pretty easy. You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or join the growing number of folks who give safely and securely by text. How do you do that? Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950. That’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.