Do everything right, but don’t forget the miracles.

Steve Brown:
Do everything right, but don’t forget the miracles. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
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. If you’ve been with us the last two or three weeks. We’ve landed the plane in the 15th chapter of Acts. And before we take off to another place in Acts, I wanted to spend this time with you looking at a church meeting. And as we look at that church meeting, we look at church government and some of the important things that ought to be taking place in your church and in my church. We’ve seen things like a Biblical standard, strong leadership, submission in a Biblical sense of what submission is all about. The importance of love. Well, we’ve talked about a lot of of them. And frankly, if you do all the things that I taught you about this, things will go okay. You can probably make the organization happen okay. But there is something else that needs to be said, and I’m gonna say it here. I have two more points and then we’re gonna move to a gigantic fight that took between two leaders in the church, Paul and Barnabas. And we’re going to look at that and see what happened as a result of that. But, I don’t want you to forget the miracles. The church is an organization. And some of the things we’ve been talking about here in this teaching on Acts 15, has to do with organization. And some of these things you can use in your business, in your ladies’ meeting, men’s meeting and in what you do in terms of how you conduct your family, your business, your relationships with neighbors going on and on. It’s mostly practical and wise. And that should not be a surprise to us because it comes from Scripture. But there’s something else that you must never forget. And it’s this, the church is not just an organization. It is a supernatural manifestation of God’s Spirit in time and space. As you read through the book of Acts and that happens here too, I mean, the way they resolved this, should not have happened. I mean, the guys on one side of the issue were really ticked and angry. And the people on the other side of the issue were really ticked and angry at those who were ticked and angry. And I’ve been a pastor for a long time and I’ll tell you that’s not a good situation to deal with, but it was resolved in love, in power, in wisdom. Why is that? Because God’s Spirit came and a miracle took place. I’m a Presbyterian and we’re into theology. Most of the time, Biblical theology, we’re not into raising your hands or dancing or anointing and praying for people to be healed. We figure God is sovereign. If he decides that he’s going to heal you, that’s his business. You do what he tells you to do. When Carey, the first missionary decided to go on the mission field, one of the Calvinists in that meeting said to him, sit down young man. If God should decide to save the heathens, he will do it without you. That’s an attitude, sometimes. It would never be expressed in the negative way, I just expressed it. But it happens in the church, sometimes. We get so into doctrine and doing it right and taking the vote and counting the money and balancing the budget and doing what churches are supposed to do, that we forget about God. I one time said in the church that I served. And I got a committee visiting me the next day, but I said, I think that what we oughta do is that for a year we ought to eliminate every program, every organization, every ministry of this church, just to see if Jesus is still here here. This is supernatural. Let me tell you something. God still heals the sick. God still moves in a supernatural way among his people. God still does things that are amazing and surprising. God still comes to his people and shows them things that are unbelievable because this thing is supernatural. And if we forget that, we forget something really important. Let me say one other thing. And then we are finished, at least with this part of the 15th chapter of Acts. Note, the universal connection of the people of God. Where did Paul and Barnabas come from? They came from Antioch. What were they doing in Jerusalem? Because they were connected to Jerusalem. Where did they go after Jerusalem? Into all the world. Why was that? Because what we are a part of is not a little thing, it is universal and everybody black and white, Asian, people who eat different things than we eat, who sing songs different than the ones we sing. Everybody who belongs to Jesus, belongs to everybody who belongs to Jesus. And that was established in the 15th chapter of Acts, by reaching out to Gentiles. You reach out to people who are different too. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Don’t forget the miracle. What a good word. Thank you Steve. We’ll continue our exploration of Acts 15 tomorrow. So, make sure you join us for that. I want you to picture someone, the man he’s wise, he’s funny, kind of handsome. Now, who is it that you have in your mind? No, not me, you silly goose. I’m talking about author Brant Hansen. Brant is a radio host and the author of The Men We Need: God’s Purpose for the Manly Man, the Avid Indoorsman, or Any Man Willing to Show Up. Take a listen to part of our conversation with Brant on Steve Brown Etc., then I’ll be back to tell you about a special free offer.

Steve Brown:
First, a simple question, you didn’t already have enough enemies? What possessed you to write a book about, for men on how to be a manly man.

Brant Hansen: Okay. Two things, number one, I’m not a manly man. Like, I can’t fix anything. I can’t, the last time I was on a motorcycle, I’m not making this up, I hit a parked truck. I actually collided with a parked truck. And that’s the last time I’m ever getting on one. Like, I’m not man enough to handle this stuff. Not lying, I took my son Justice, when he was younger, I showed him how to change the oil. And I, what I did is I said, I’m going to show you how to change the oil. And we drove to Jiffy Lube, and I showed him how to talk to the salesman. Like, they’re going to bring out the little air filter, tell him you don’t want one, like, nope. I’m not the guy to write a man book typically, but my producer is a brilliant woman of Sherry Lynn. She’s been working with me for a while. She said, you know what? I was raised with certain kinds of guys and I was raised without a good dad. But as soon as I was in your house, I noticed how your daughter and wife relate to you. And it’s very interesting. They clearly feel totally secure. And she’s the one that encouraged me to actually write this book, knowing that I’m not, guys, I play the accordion. Like, I have that’s not, like I’m not bragging, it’s actually a threat, but I do play the accordion. I play the flute. So, I’m not the typical guy to write this book, but that’s kind of the neat thing. So, it’s that thing, plus the fact, as you know, there’s been a ton of deconstruction of masculinity, and I think a lot of that is good. It can be a very healthy thing to go, Hey, we don’t need toxic stuff. We’re tired of this narcissistic, domineering idea. Like, I get it. So, what I want to do though, is turn to the deconstructors and go, okay, so what is the distinct vision for masculinity? That’s a coherent idea. That’s actually beautiful. Can you articulate that? And the response is generally, no. So, I’m actually taking a shot at it and I could be wrong. But what I’m doing is I’m saying, we need a vision. Guys actually need a vision for what masculinity actually is, not the usual trappings. You don’t have to climb rocks. You don’t have to hunt elk with your bare hands or whatever, like, but what is it? And so, I’m saying, I think it’s the job that Adam was given that Eve wasn’t. Like, he was given the job of keeper of the garden. And that’s a job that means, like you’re cultivating and you’re creating space for others to thrive, like vulnerable species, that wouldn’t thrive in the wild. In a garden, they do, they bloom, they become beautiful. And you’re creating this secure area, you protect and keep, and it allows the vulnerable to flourish. And I’m like, that’s my sphere of influence is my garden, even though I’m a flute playing guy that can’t fix anything. I actually can be a keeper of the garden. And anybody can, any guy can. And I think that’s distinctly masculine and then what’s more, I think women call it out of us. They spot this and whenever we are effectively, what I’m describing here, they find it like really attractive. And I, I say this not as an inducement for guys to get the book, although I’m certainly okay with that. But actually to tell them women intuitively understand what we’re for. So, they respond to it and I can give you lots of examples of that, but I’ve already done a soliloquy for a while, but women recognize it. They’re attracted to it. They call it out of this. And it’s this keeper of the garden thing, I’m convinced.

Matthew Porter:
We put that entire conversation on a CD and lucky you, we would be happy to send you a copy, for free. Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. If you’d like to mail your request, send it to

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