For Christians, there aren’t any walls.

Steve Brown:
For Christians, there aren’t any walls. I’ll explain on this edition, of 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:
If you were listening yesterday, we talked about evangelism and the call of every believer to share his or her faith with everybody they know. Now, that doesn’t mean that you carry a black Bible and beat people over the head with it. It just means that you don’t duck when God gives you opportunities. And God, believe it or not, for every Christian listening to the sound of my voice, God gives you multiple opportunities. You don’t have to go through a long, extended explanation of the gospel, the Roman road, the spiritual laws. All of those have their place. But most of our witnessing is a lot more laid back than that. It simply means not ducking. It simply means letting people know who you are. It simply means not being intimidated into silence. In our culture, in the States, and you guys too in Canada, there is a hatred that is being directed at believers in ways I haven’t seen before in my lifetime. And I’m really old. And I notice that a lot of Christians are reluctant to tell people that they are Christians. A lot of Christians are reluctant to even say what church they attend. A lot of Christians have been intimidated into silence. For God’s sake, cut it out. That’s your calling, that’s who you are, that’s how we define ourselves. If you were listening yesterday, I gave you a verse, but I didn’t give you all of the text. The verse was from Acts 1:4 through 5 and pointed out the relationship of the Holy Spirit in preparation of them, and preparation of us, when we share our faith in Christ. This is what Jesus said and this is after the resurrection.

And being assembled together with them he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you have heard from me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Now, let me give you the rest of that text in the 8th verse. But, and that means then, when the Holy Spirit comes, when you’ve been baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit’s power has become real in your life.

“But you shall receive that power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

That means when you play golf. That means when you play bridge. That means when you’re eating in a restaurant. That means when you’re teaching in a classroom. That means everywhere. There are no walls for Christians. That’s our business, to point to Him. That’s what the King has told us to do. And believe it or not, life’s highest joy is to do what the King says to do. The ways the Holy Spirit directs us to share the fire are surprising. And if you were listening, I said don’t get fanatical on this. We have more people, I told Jeremy and I told you yesterday how his band is, our producer is Jeremy. How his band is getting some really good PR in newspapers. And they make sure that in the articles, they tell people they met at church. That is a powerful witness. That’s what we’re called to do. It just means not being silent about who you are. But under the power of the Holy Spirit, and it’s a part of our study in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. You’ve got to ask, alright, so it isn’t a big deal, I mean we don’t have to carry a black Bible and go after people and tell them they’re going to hell if they don’t repent, that hurts. In fact, in those newspaper articles, if Jeremy’s band had said more than we met at church. That was enough, if they had said more, it would have hurt them and their witness. Okay, what do we do? Well, the first thing we’re to do in sharing the fire is nothing. That’s right, nothing. Please note that the first commandment Jesus gave his disciples just before his ascension, was, do nothing. He said, sit. He said, wait. Luke says that Jesus told his followers to wait for the promise of the Father, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. So, before you share your faith in Christ, you have to sit by the fire. Let me read you something that, and I miss Billy Graham a lot. What a gift he was throughout his entire life, he and Ruth, and all of the team. And they were friends of mine, and I sometimes in the quiet say, Lord, you were so kind to give us those guys. Billy Graham wrote this.

The world today is again in desperate need of a spiritual awakening. It is the only hope for the survival of the human race. There certainly are many instances of Christians who have been touched by God, and are in turn touching the lives of others for Christ. But for every instance of that, there are many more Christians who are living defeated, joyless lives. These people have no sense of victory over sin or effectiveness in witnessing. They have little impact on those around them for the sake of the gospel. It does no good to try to start a fire with the dead ashes of a dead faith.

The late Sam Shoemaker, the Anglican evangelist, pastor, and author said.

That the Christian faith will either be a raging fire or a dull habit. For many of us, it is no more than a dull habit.

We, don’t get me wrong, we still go to church. We still give intellectual assent to the verities of the Christian faith. We still say our prayers regularly. We still sing the hymns, but we’re like the railroad worker whose job description was to tap on the wheels of the trains coming through the train yard. Someone asked him why he did it. He said, I don’t know, but I never miss one. Why do you go to church? I don’t know, but I never miss a service. Why do you sing the hymns? I don’t know, but I never miss one. Why do you say the prayers? I don’t know, but I keep praying. Michael Green, in his classic work on evangelism in the early church says.

That the early church engaged in telling others about Christ, not because they gave intellectual assent to a set of propositions, but because they had been with Christ.

Let me quote Michael.

Christianity burst on the world with all of the suddenness of good news. Good news proclaimed with great enthusiasm and courage by its advocates, and backed up by their own witness and experience. It was the fruit of their conviction that God had transformed the apparent defeat of Good Friday into the supreme victory of Easter Day. It was no ordinary good news that rocked Palestine around the year A.D. 30. It was no mere message about a carpenter teacher who had been executed under the Roman government. It was nothing less than the joyful announcement of the long awaited missionic salvation when God had come to the rescue of the world in need.

I’m convinced that most Christians ought to share the fire first, because they don’t have any fire to share. And second, Christians will never get the fire by trying to fake it. And so, Jesus was quite wise when he told his disciples that they, don’t do anything, just be still. The world is going to be fine without your witness, even though you’re called to be that witness. But sit there until Jesus comes. And when he’s inside you, go out and get involved, you smell like Jesus. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
There are no walls for Christians. What an empowering reminder. Thank you Steve. We’re continuing to explore the power and work of the Holy Spirit in evangelism. And once again, our text today was Acts 1:4 through 8. More to discover tomorrow, make sure you join us. Well, bad things happen to people, not just, you know, people, us, you and me. Marriage problems, physical pain, financial struggle, grief, depression, spiritual doubt. And yet our creative and loving God can use those very things we just mentioned. Steve spoke about that subject in a classic sermon from the 1980s called, aptly enough, When Bad Things Happen. If you’re going through it right now, or maybe you know someone who is, I think it’s going to bless you. So, get your copy of that Sermon on CD for free 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. To mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of the CD called When Bad Things Happen. Finally, if you value the work of Key Life, you can join us in that work through your prayer and your financial support. 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 through text. Just pick up your phone right now and text Key Life 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.