Everybody who belongs to Jesus needs everybody who belongs to Jesus.

Steve Brown:
Everybody who belongs to Jesus needs everybody who belongs to Jesus. 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 have your Bible, open it to the 21st chapter of Acts and we’re looking at the apostle Paul and his journey to Jerusalem. And we have seen that it has been prophesied that Paul was going to go to jail. And he wasn’t going to go to jail for a parking ticket. There was a good possibility that he was going to lose his life. Now, in fact, that eventually happened and kind of in the way that was prophesied, but as we end Acts, we find out he’s in trouble. He ends up going to Rome, but he, later on, we know from other records, he got out of that. He made one more missionary journey. He came back and he died in that city. And so, this is not a wonderful future Paul has to look forward to, and we’re asking what did he do with that? When you’re in bad trouble and you’re scared, what do you do? Well, the first thing Paul did is that you get with other Christians, everybody who belongs to Jesus, and I’ve said it a lot, belongs to everybody who belongs to Jesus. But there’s more to it than that. Everybody who belongs to Jesus needs everybody who belongs to Jesus. I ended yesterday, if you were listening, talking about John Calvin and how my view of Calvin changed when I read a book called The Heritage of John Calvin. It’s a compilation of the wit and wisdom of a number of reformed scholars about the life and theology of John Calvin. And whereas before I had read Calvin’s Institutes, I knew him to be an amazing scholar with a grasp of theology you have, I didn’t see him as very human. I didn’t see him as having needs. I didn’t see him as somebody who could be gentle and loving and kind and who needed others to be gentle and loving and kind with him too. Among some other things in that book, there’s a letter of a close friend.

We may cheer each other with that blessed hope to which your letter calls us, that in heaven above we shall dwell forever where we shall rejoice and love in the continuance of our friendship.

He wrote to Zwingli’s successor.

We ought be rather, dear Bullinger, to correspond about at this time than the preserving and confirming by every possible means in our power, brotherly kindness among ourselves.

And so, Paul was afraid, who wouldn’t be? He was looking, and by the way, Jesus was afraid too. When you look at the last days of Jesus, you begin to see his humanness. He was tempted at every point as we are, the writer of Hebrews says. And he was afraid too, and he did exactly what Paul did. He sought out friends to be with him. Now, nevermind they went to sleep in Jesus’ case, but Jesus sought them out and wanted them to be with him in the midst of his fear. And Paul did exactly the same thing. When my father died a number of years ago, I was speaking for a group of small churches in the mountains of Tennessee, and they were absolutely wonderful and I had a great time with them. I preached in a different church, each night I taught and then I got the message that my father was dying and I fell apart. Let me tell you what happened when I was there, I didn’t know those people. I had never been with them before. At the end of the week, I was going to leave and move on to my schedule. It wasn’t somebody I would ever encounter again. But you know what happened? Those people gathered around me and prayed for me and held up my arms when I cried and ministered to me deeply and profoundly. I didn’t learn the lesson well then, but I learned it later of how much I need you and how much you need me. Somebody in one of the prayer groups that I was a part of said this, I couldn’t have stood all of this if it hadn’t been for you guys who stood with me, Galatians 6:2.

Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

You can’t bear somebody’s burdens until you share somebody’s burdens. And the sharing of burdens is what the church is all about. I’m scared. Are you scared? I’m afraid I’m going to lose my job cause of my convictions. Would you pray for me? I am lonely and I need a friend desperately. Would you be my friend? I am going through some hard stuff in my life. And I don’t know if I can do this by myself. Would you pray for me and stand with me? Everybody who belongs to Jesus needs everybody who belongs to Jesus. When the apostle Paul was scared, he demonstrated that truth. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Everybody who belongs to Jesus needs everybody who belongs to Jesus. I just love that phrase from Steve, and it could not be more true, and we’ll bring you even more truth from here in Acts 21 tomorrow. Don’t miss it. I used to think I was a Christian, but now I’m not so sure anymore. Well, questions about assurance of salvation. We get those a lot here at Key Life. Steve addressed these issues in a sermon called, I’m Still Here and You are Too. I want you to take a listen to part of that sermon and then I’ll be back to tell you about a special free offer. Here’s Steve.

Steve Brown:
We get thousands of letters and e-mails and phone calls at Key Life every month, and a great number of those are questions. In fact, a part of our ministry is to, as best as we can, answer the questions that are asked by a great number of people. In the top 10 list of questions, maybe even the most asked question, we find this. Steve, I used to think I was a Christian, but I’m not so sure anymore. Can you help me? Steve, I’ve blown it bad, I don’t think I’ve ever even known Jesus, Steve, when I was a kid, I walked down the aisle and I gave myself to Jesus, but I don’t think I knew what I was doing. Can you help me? Yes I can cause that’s what I do. Can we talk? Sometimes I can’t stand myself. Sometimes you would think with the things that I say and do and think that I never met Jesus. Sometimes I get so angry, I’ve said, when I was a pastor that there wasn’t anything wrong with the church I couldn’t fix with a few funerals, and I, and people laughed and I meant that. What do you do when you look at your life and you think, oh my. So, perseverance is a good thing, but I can’t lean on that all the time. There are others who suggest that you go to the time in your life where Jesus found you and you mark it and you say, on that day, I gave everything I knew of myself to everything I knew of him. Now, I wasn’t very mature, I didn’t know what I was doing, it wasn’t great, but I ran to him and he said he wouldn’t kick me out. And he doesn’t lie. It’s good. You say, well, I don’t remember a day, well make it today. Just say, Jesus, I’m coming to you, man. Heard this old white guy say that you wouldn’t kick me out. So, I’m here and then every time you doubt it, call up the day and that’s good. But sometimes I can’t even remember the day. And sometimes I think it may have been my adrenaline glands. Maybe I was just having a bad day and maybe it’s not real. Maybe I don’t belong to him. And so, after all of these years of people teaching what I just taught you, I’m here to reveal to you the truth. You know how you know you belong to him because you ask whether you belong to him. Philippians 2:13 says.

That God is working in the believer to will.

Now, I’m not good, but a will to be good. I’m working hard at this thing and I don’t get there sometimes, but I have a desire. I’m a sinner, I really am. Friends tell me they always hear preachers say that, I’m the only one they believe, I really am. And the reason I tell you that so that when you find out that I am, you won’t be shocked and lose your faith. I’ll tell you something, inside, you never met a man who wants to love God more than I do, who wants to walk as close to him as I do, who wants to be obedient to him as much as I do. So, when people write those letters and say, Steve, I don’t know if I’m a Christian, I write back and say, yeah, you are or you wouldn’t have asked. Where do you think the asking came from? So, if you ever wonder about assurance, that’s a good assurance that you belong to him.

Matthew Porter:
Wow, that is powerful. Listen, if you’re struggling with these kinds of questions about assurance of salvation or maybe you know somebody who is, please let us send you this CD for free. You can get that by calling 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 free CD or to mail your request go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Just ask for your free copy of the CD called, I’m Still Here and You are Too. Finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you support that work through your giving? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or simply pick up the phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter. Text that to 28950. And as always, if you can’t give, we get it. But if you would, please do pray for us. Okay? Needed and appreciated. 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.