God’s gifts are bigger than you think.

Steve Brown:
God’s gifts are bigger than you think. 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 were listening yesterday, we talked about, how the cripple, that it wasn’t an accident that the cripple was at the gate of the temple. We’re looking at Acts 3 and that’s where the cripple was healed and started dancing and leaping. And people were amazed and Peter never passing up an opportunity to preach a sermon, preached one of the best sermons in the history of Christendom in a space of about four minutes. And, it’s an amazing, and it’s a wonderful story. And yesterday we talked, and let me say it a little bit more about it. There’s still the smell of Jesus about the church and Christians. When Paul said this.

I’m crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ in me.

He wasn’t giving us a command to be crucified. He was stating a fact that is true about every believer who is listening to me right now. You can’t help it, Christians are always talking about, you know, I want to be better and better, quit worrying about it, you’re going to be better, because of Christ who is living in you. And that’s a fact. You can’t help it. It doesn’t, and you say, well, I’m not very good. Of course you’re not good. That’s not what your witness is. You say, well, I don’t know very, of course you don’t know enough, nobody knows enough, but you got to show, you know why you got to show, it’s because you smell like Jesus, and you can’t help it, because he is living in you. And he’s creating in you a vessel that he can use. Somebody has said, in fact, I think it was Martin Luther that said, God, didn’t look for people that he loves. He created them. And that’s what he’s doing in you right now. And that’s what he’s doing and me right now. So, you’ve got to show, so quit worrying about getting better. God’s gonna take care of that for you, and he will show you that he’s doing it when you need to know it. Just go on about your business and make sure you don’t become a recluse and stay away from unbelievers. Make sure that you show up in places, cause you smell like Jesus. And that’s true of the temple. The people knew, and the cripple knew that if you’re hurting, if you’re in trouble, the best place to be is at the door of the church. You may not like the church. You may not like the music or the preacher or what’s going on in the church or the way they create guilt. But nevertheless, the door of the church is where you want to be, if you can’t walk. And it’s so important that we have what we advertise, that would be love. That would be forgiveness. That would be compassion. That would be kindness. The smell of Jesus about the church is still there and it’s still among Christians and you can’t do anything about it. It just is. And it’s interesting when you’re reading this, that the cripple was not at the local hospital. He was not on the side street, somewhere, yelling at people about his need. He was at the temple of God and they still come to the temple of God, because we’re all cripples and we’re all there for the same reason, we need healing. And then I want you to notice, that what God had for the cripple, was better than what the cripple wanted for himself. He wanted money. And Peter said this in the sixth verse, but Peter said.

I have no silver or gold, but I give you what I have in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk.

You know, there isn’t room in the book of Acts to tell all the details, but I know what happened, the cripple looked at Peter, shook his head and said, what have you been smoking? There’s something wrong with you, man. Can’t you, have you not noticed that I can’t get up and walk? Are you crazy? And then Peter, and Peter’s pretty big. Peter reaches down and grabs him by the arm and jerks him up. And that is in the text. And then all of a sudden, he doesn’t fall and he doesn’t know why he doesn’t fall. And then his legs get strong and then his muscles get healed and all of a sudden he’s walking and then he’s leaping and then he’s jumping and he can’t believe it. And Peter gave him something bigger than he expected. God is always doing that, by the way, greater than anything we can think.

That which has been created for God’s people is greater than the mind can conceive.

The Scripture says, you know, all the time, when people become Christians, we think we’re going to have to live with some really harsh and difficult and bad and down and sad days. And there’s some of that. I don’t want to kid you about it, but I want you to know that, you know that the man who wrote My Utmost for His Highest, when he became a Christian, wrote a poem and the poem said.

Hush, I hear the sound of weeping. I must live my life in tears.

No you don’t, what are you crazy? Listen, you can dance. You can laugh. You can be healed. You can be free. You can celebrate. And we don’t do enough celebrating in the church and we ought to, because God’s gifts are greater than we can possibly perceive.

Eye have not seen, ear has not heard and mind of man has not conceived.

You think about that. Amen.
Well, it’s Wednesday and sometimes on Wednesdays, I take some time to answer one or two questions. And of course, Pete Alwinson will be in on Friday and together, we spend time answering questions, devote the whole broadcast to it. From the response we get from you guys, that’s a kind of a popular thing that we do. By the way, we love your questions. And the only dumb question, is the one you don’t ask. So feel free, you can, at any time, any time you want to, 24 7, pick up the phone, dial 1-800-KEY-LIFE and follow the instructions. You can record your question. And sometimes we put that on the air. That’s 1-800-KEY-LIFE. 24 7 it’s open, or you can send your question to

Key Life Network

P.O. Box 5000

Maitland, Florida 32794

Or if you live in Canada, it’s

Key Life Canada
P.O. Box 28060
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6J8

Or you can e-mail your question to [email protected]. And all of those places are places, and you knew I was going to say this, where if the Spirit should move, you could help us financially. About 10% of the people who benefit by this ministry and it’s expensive, we give a lot of stuff away, are able to help us financially. And if you could be a part of that, it means you would be a champion for your brothers and sisters in Christ. We’re not for profit, you can charge it on your credit card or include something in your e-mail, and I will rise up and call you blessed. And if you can’t, we understand, every once in a while stop and say a prayer for this ministry. And that will be appreciated too. Alright, let’s go to one or two of these questions. This is an e-mail, what about visions, can we still have them? You know what bothers me sometimes about those of us who are Bible teachers. We sometimes tell God what he can or can’t do. We always get the question, is it possible for somebody to speak in tongues? Well, if God decides to do it, man, he doesn’t check with us. We don’t get a vote. He does what he pleases, and he does it right well. Now I don’t think, and I’m going to offend everybody when I answer this question, the way I’m going to answer it. Yes. God sometimes gives visions. It’s rare. And it’s certainly not as often as some people will tell you, they have visions. I saw a healing evangelist on television the other day, who had his hand on somebody he was praying for and he had his eyes turned up to the ceiling and he was saying, yes Lord, are you sure Lord? Yes Lord, I’ll do that, I promise. And I wanted to say, I don’t believe I’d do that. And I don’t believe I’d do that in a thunder storm, cause that’s pretty dangerous stuff. So some people say, I got a vision, every other day I have a vision. I’m going to tell you what God told me that you should know. And I don’t think God works that way, mostly. I think when he thinks it’s the right time and the right place, there are people who have visions, but those visions need to be checked out with a Scripture, if there’s a contradiction that didn’t come from God and it needs to be checked out with the people of God, your brothers and sisters in Christ, because if you’re the only one, it probably didn’t come from God. But for those of you who are fond of telling God what he should or should not do, I don’t believe I’d go there. You know, you can answer it, does God heal today? Do miracles exist today? Do people speak in tongues today? Does God change things today, the way he did in the New Testament? And I want to say, are you crazy? God does, as he wants to do, he is sovereign. This is his show. And he does whatever he decides to do. And whatever he decides to do is proper and right. And he should be praised for it. Now, that was more than you expected, but it was adequate. Does God give visions today? Yes, he does whatever he wants, but be careful, because presumption can be a really bad sin. I gotta go. I’m out of time. But before I go, let me say. Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.