If you don’t plan for something to happen, nothing will.

Steve Brown:
If you don’t plan for something to happen, nothing will. 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. We’re looking at 13th chapter of Acts. We’re talking about Christians with brass. And if you were listening yesterday, it was important that I say something before I said something, that I do something at the beginning about the fruit of the Spirit because I’m going to be talking about Christian boldness. And if there’s a book in the Bible that illustrates it any more than the book of Acts, I don’t know what it is. Christians are called to be bold. We’re not always called to be nice. Sometimes we’re called to speak truth to power. Sometimes we’re called to be a minority that stands up for what is right and good and beautiful and godly. And I wrote a book on that and I’m not trying to sell them, maybe I am. It’s called No More Mr. Nice Guy. And it’s not what you think. So, I felt it important yesterday to spend a little bit of time, to point out that Paul and Barnabas were sent out and led by the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit leads you, the Holy Spirit gives gifts. And you find those gifts in the book of Galatians, they’re called the fruit of the Spirit. And that ought to be relevant, not only to what we’re talking about now. But also relevant to what we talked about the last two weeks, about how do you know when God leads, that’s Galatians 5:22.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy,

People of God laugh a lot.

peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Now, having said that, which was important, we’re going to look at Christians with brass. And I would suggest that having brass and being bold and being strong does not preclude four things. And the first is, a rational strategy. Look at Acts 13:5 through 7.

When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came up on a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet.

And then you know what happened? He went blind because he stood in the way of what had been planned as a presentation of the gospel and planned by Paul and Barnabas. Notice where they went. They went to the Jews before they went to Goyam, before they went to the Gentiles. Why did they do that? Because that was a part of the plan. You start with the anchor of God’s people, and then you begin to move out from that. If you don’t plan something, nothing’s gonna happen. And I want you to know by way of confession, I don’t live this. I hardly have ever had a strategy or care about a legacy or set out a goal and go to the goal. One of my life’s verses is from Ecclesiastes, whatever your hand finds to do, just do it. And do it with all your might. But I recognize the importance of planning and setting things out. And I have surrounded myself, with people at Key Life, who are planners, who are goal setters, who are practical and gifted and bright who sit around and, you know, what was that first spiritual law? God loves you and has a plan for your life. Well, the staff at Key Life love me, and they have a plan for my life. And they meet every morning, every Monday morning and they have a planning session for two or three hours. And the stuff that comes out of that is incredible. Sometime, I’ll take the time to tell you about some of the things that have happened. And it happened because there is a strategy because there is planning. And what happened here, when the magician got in the way, they didn’t think the magician was ugly and his mother dressed him funny. They weren’t strong and with brass because the magician was kind of a, an irritating individual. They confronted with brass the magician because the magician was interfering with a strategy that God has given him. We make a mistake sometimes, when we are bold. And in our boldness it’s because our ego has been hurt or because our plans have been thwarted, but if you’re going to be bold, a Christian with brass, make sure that you’re doing it for the right reason, that you’re doing it because there’s a strategy going on here. And there’s a plan going on here. And may God have mercy on anybody who gets in the way. And that’s what happened. The magician was a good friend of the proconsul. He didn’t like Paul and Barnabas and what they were saying. And John Mark was helping. He just didn’t like it. So, he began to say bad things about them. And that’s when Paul. Well, he put a malediction on him. We have benedictions and those are blessings. They’re also maledictions. And so, Paul confronted the magician and the magician went blind, not forever, but for a good while. And the proconsul was astonished at the teaching and the actions, I might say, of Paul and Barnabas. And so, find out the direction that God is calling you, the plan that he’s put together, what he wants you to do and be faithful to it. And when things and people get in the way, speak truth, say I’m going to do this anyway, because being bold does not preclude planning. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
And that was Steve Brown, continuing to teach us from Acts 13 about the importance of being bold. More good stuff from Acts tomorrow, do be sure to join us. So, when you’re trying to sell somebody on something, there’s a time and place for being clever, there is, but there’s just something refreshing about a pitch that’s just plain and clear and says what it is. Well, Steve gave a sermon that’s in that latter category, it’s called When Believing is Hard and Pretending Doesn’t Work. Yeah, there it is. Take a listen to part of that message. Then I’ll be back to tell you about a special free offer. Here’s Steve.

Steve Brown:
Some of you have never doubted in your life, and you’re quite proud of that. You’re a covenant child, your mother told you it was true and your mother would never lie. So, you have never doubted. Now denial is a nice place to live, but let me tell you something. When the doctor says you’ve got cancer, when your daughter’s pregnant and there’s no husband, when your life is falling apart and people know about your sin, call me. And we’ll talk about faith, but I suspect that the great majority of people really do believe. It’s very difficult and you’ve struggled with it. And you’ve come to this position. You really do believe, some of you may be pastors, some of you missionaries, some of you staff members at a para church organization. And you really believe it and you’ve given your life to it. But at night, just before you go to sleep in the dark, you think, I hope this is true, because if it’s not, I’ve really screwed up my life. And then you go to sleep. I want to talk to you, this morning. And I got some really neat stuff to show you. Now, in just a moment we’re going to get down, but first I want to go down a couple of side roads. Side road number one, you know those people who never doubt, the leaders who stand before you and talk about their purity and their goodness and their obedience and their faith. You know those people. They are lying to you. And it’s very important that you remember, now they don’t mean to hurt you. They’re trying to help. They’re trying to bring you to a position of maturity and then they will tell you the truth. But listen to me, they are lying to you. This is what we believe, is really big and it’s really hard to believe. And everybody I know has doubts. And it’s very important that you remember what I just taught you, or you’ll get discouraged. Then I’ve got a second side road that’s not totally unconnected to the first side road. And it is this, never, ever for God’s sake, dumb down your faith to fit your doubts. Never, ever dumb down your faith to fit your doubts. Look at the 33rd verse.

The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we’re going to stone you, but blasphemy, because you being a man, make yourself God.”

Whoa. He did. And that is a big, big thing. I’ve done that. As some of you know, I’m a graduate of a very liberal, left wing graduate school in Boston. A graduate school of theology. And I went there cause I didn’t believe anything and they didn’t either. Gradually, I began to make my faith fit my doubt. I didn’t believe in the Virgin birth. Intellectuals know that virgins don’t have babies. I didn’t believe in the Resurrection because intellectuals know that corpses don’t get out of graves. Okay. I didn’t believe the Bible as authority. It was an important book, but certainly not inerrant book, because people who were intellectuals simply knew that no book could be inerrant. And then the doctor told me, my daughter was really, really sick and I reached for my faith and there was none.

Matthew Porter:
This is such a powerful message. And I know it’s going to bless you. That’s why I want you to call us right now to get this sermon on CD, for free. Call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also request the CD by e-mailing [email protected]. If you’re mailing us, send a request to

Key Life Network
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Just ask for the free CD called When Believing is Hard and Pretending Doesn’t Work. Oh Hey, before you go, would you partner in the work of Key Life through your giving? You could charge a gift on your credit card. You can include a gift in your envelope. Or join the growing number of folks who simply text Key Life to 28950. That’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter. Text that the 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we already listener supported production of Key Life Network.