If it’s in front of you, do something.

Steve Brown:
If it’s in front of you, do something. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
That was Steve Brown. And this is Key Life. We’re dedicated to the teaching, that the only people who get any better, are those who know that if they don’t get any better, God will still love them, anyway. Steve is an author, seminary professor and our teacher on Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re looking at, in our study in Galatians, and I think next week we’re going to land this plane. I think next week, we’re going to bring to a conclusion, the study of Galatians. I kinda hate to see that, I love this book and I love spending time in it. And there isn’t a time that I’ve taught this book, that I didn’t learn new stuff, and I’ve taught it more times than you can believe. But anyway, we’re looking at Galatians 5:25 through the first 10 verses of the sixth chapter of Galatians. And we’re talking about a troubled church and Paul is giving some general principles. Now he doesn’t organize it that way. Jesus left that up to me, by the Holy Spirit as I study these texts, but I am drawing, extrapolating, if you will, from this text, some principles that work for the church. And if you were listening, you know that we’ve looked at the principle of reliance, of reflection, of realism, of recognition and of return, but note also the principle of responsibility, Galatians 6:10.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Now, please note that this is not a call to do goodism, do goodism is one of the people that go around, it’s do goodism is like the boy scout who helps the lady who’s struggling get across the street, and she kicks him and said, I didn’t want to cross the street. Do goodism goes around trying to be everybody’s mother, and trying to fix every problem. And this isn’t what Paul was saying. He’s saying that if it’s in front of you, that means you ought to do something. If you see a problem and you see it, and if nobody else sees it, go fix it. We have a guy in our church that nobody even knows. If there’s stuff that’s broken, all of a sudden, as if by a miracle, it works. And everybody looks around and say, Whoa, that shows a powerful prayer life. I want to say, no it doesn’t. It shows Sam. I mean, he came in here last night and he fixed what was broken, that’s Galatians 6:10. That’s what it’s all about, but it goes deeper than just fixing a toilet. It goes beyond hanging a sign. It goes into the heart of your brothers and sisters in Christ. You are not responsible for every problem there is, Jeremy who’s the producer of this broadcast and I were talking about the idea of gifts, and he was raised in a family where he pretty much had to do a lot of stuff that everybody else should have been doing. So he, you know, he stepped in, he fixed things for his siblings, he did, so he got to be a guy that could deal with hard places. And he said, but that’s not my gift. I may, I did it pretty well. But when I get in the church, that’s maybe not my gift, because I kind of look around and say, I can fix that and I can fix that and I can fix it so that, when I’m only called to fix the one thing that I see, that is in front of my nose. So, when you see your brother, who’s very emotional and about to lose it, go up and say, Hey bro, I’m not your mother, if you want to talk, I’m here. And I want to walk with you, with whatever’s hurting. You’ll be amazed. When somebody is facing horrible time, a diagnosis from a doctor that is not very good. We’re dealing with that with one of our staff members in the church where I attend, and somebody, she’s not telling everybody. I mean, everybody doesn’t know, but I knew because by accident I found out, and I sent her an e-mail and said, we don’t know each other very well, but I want you to know. I think you’re amazing. And I know that you’re going to be amazing during this hard time. And please know that the God who’s always been faithful to you will be faithful to you now. I’m praying for you and I’ll be praying daily for you. What was I doing? I was doing Galatians 6:10. Whatever your hand finds to do, and by the way, that’s from Ecclesiastes, and it’s my life verse.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

God gave me that verse and I have made that the central verse of my life. I am not a man who has goals. I know that’s wrong. And I’ve been told by everybody that it’s wrong, you got to plan stuff. You gotta, you gotta plan stuff and if you plan it some good things will happen. Well, I just don’t do that. I, I was a good poker player back in the days and when I was a pagan and now I play the ministry kind of like I played poker. When the cards are dealt and I know what the cards are, I do my best to play the game that I’ve been given in that particular incident. And that’s a good place to be by the way. It really is. And that’s Galatians 6:10, as God deals you the cards, if it’s in front, of you do something. You’re not responsible for the world. When the locusts attack a crop in a third world country, that’s not yours. The church is filled. An old pastor told me one time when you speak to 10 people, seven of them will have a broken heart, but I don’t know which seven. I have no idea, but if I know one, then that’s my responsibility.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially those who are of the household of faith.

In other words, there is a demeanor that the Holy Spirit creates in a Christian. And that means that we mow the lawns of the widow next door, even if she’s a Buddhist. And we, but it also means that our particular attention, because it’s where God has called us, is to the people of God. And whenever you see a place to serve and make a difference, make sure that you understand Galatians 6:10, it’s yours. When I see it, it’s mine. And so, those are the principles by which the church ought to live, reliance reflection, realism, recognition, responsibility. Now, I know the church, man. If you like a sausage or the law or the church, you shouldn’t watch any of those being made, because it’s sometimes a hard place. So, we’re not going to live by all of that peripherally, someday we will, but not now, but realize those principles and in so far as you can, by God’s grace, make them operative principles in your life and in the church. However, we will grow, we will improve and we will change. Somebody said, if you aim for the moon, I love this. If you aim for the moon, at least you will hit the barn. If you aim for the barn, you’ll probably blow your silly foot off. So, listen to the principles and apply them. Now, there’s one more text in Galatians. And I don’t have time to even read it to you, but it’s really important. It’s the concluding remarks. And one of the things you ought to do when you’re studying Scripture. And I do this, when I read magazine articles, I get a bunch of magazines and I try to stay in touch, and on top of things. I read the first paragraph and the last paragraph. And if I need to know more than that, then I go back and I read the entire article. Now, I’m not suggesting that you do that with Scripture. Don’t read the first paragraph and the last paragraph and say, I got it, cause you don’t have it. You’ve got to go back and study all of it. But nevertheless, the final paragraph is often very, very important and what we’re going to do next week, is we’re going to look at the final paragraph in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. And, he says, I’m writing this with my own hand. In other words, see the letters that I’m writing and he’s saying, this is important. I couldn’t trust it to other people. I couldn’t tell somebody to tell you something, I did it myself, because listen up, this is going to be really important. And so next week, we’re going to be looking at liberty and the Cross, the cost of freedom and the final Benediction on the part of Paul, as he reached out to the wonderful people, in Galatia. I’ve got 30 seconds and I’m finished. I mean, I don’t have time to start a new text, I guess I could sing for you, but then we would lose our entire audience. I could dream up something and keep talking until something came to mind. In fact, that’s exactly what I’m doing. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
And thank you Steve. We will resume our exploration of Galatians next week. Actually, not just resume, but wrap it up. So make sure you join us for that. And of course, tomorrow being Friday. Well, it must be time again for Friday Q&A. Always a good time with Steve and Pete, don’t miss it. Well, as I think we prove each week on Friday Q&A, great answers come from great questions, but some questions are really great, as in big, questions like, does God exist? Am I really forgiven and free? If all of this is true, why don’t I feel different? Well, Steve is no stranger to questions and doubts. In fact, he wrote about these things in a mini-book called Faith and Doubt: When Belief is Hard. In it, he explores the reasons behind our doubts and explains how we can rest in faith. May we send you this mini-book for free? Let us know at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] and ask for that mini-book. If you’d like to mail your request, send it to

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