If you’re yawning, it’s not the Holy Spirit.

Steve Brown:
If you’re yawning, it’s not the Holy Spirit. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
The deepest message of Jesus and the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers. That’s what Key Life is all about. So, if you’re hungry for the hopeful truth that God isn’t mad at you, keep listening. Steve Brown is a professor and our teacher on Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re talking about the Holy Spirit and power. And I spent a couple of days offending everybody, I didn’t mean to do that. But some people believe that God is on vacation in Bermuda somewhere, and we don’t believe he still acts on behalf of his people. And as a result of our lack of faith or even belief that God intervenes, we don’t see him intervene very often. So, those who say that God has stopped are wrong. Those who say that God always intervenes are wrong too. But with that being said, when I was working on my book on the Holy Spirit, the title of that book was Follow the Wind. And we’re going to be dipping into some of the teaching in that particular book as it relates to the Bible later on. But when I was working on that book, I was at the same time doing a late television program on the Christian network. It was called the Late Steve Brown. And when people saw the name of it, they thought I died. And some people were glad. But it was called the Late Steve Brown because it was late on a Sunday night when it was broadcast on this network. And the people at the network had a hotel that I could stay in when I was on the other coast of Florida. But most of the time I’d rather be in my bed than being in a hotel. And so, at one o’clock or two o’clock in the morning I would be driving that long drive from Tampa to Orlando and trying my best to stay awake. And somebody had given me a series of teachings on the Holy Spirit given by my hero, Dr. J.I. Packer. He’s at home now in heaven and he adds a great attraction to it. He really is one of my heroes. And I loved him, and I loved his teaching. But frankly, it wasn’t the kind of teaching that will keep you awake at night. It just won’t. We used to go to conferences, and I’d bring people from my church when Dr. Packer was teaching. And they would often say to me, Steve, he’s way over my head. I would say, no he’s not, he’s just boring. And you, that’s the reason you’re not getting it, you’re going to sleep. Well, Dr. Packer was brilliant, and he was so brilliant that sometimes he didn’t realize you’ve got to sometimes shout or dance or tell stories, cause he didn’t just do that. He went to the theology, the Biblical theology of the matter, and he gave you the truth. But it was kind of, so at any rate, somebody had given me this series of tapes on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit that Dr. Packer had given. And they were very helpful when I wrote my book on the Holy Spirit. But they were not helpful when I listened to them driving from Tampa to Orlando. In fact, I kept running off the side of the road. And somebody had given me a tape of the revival or awakening that was happening in Toronto at the airport. In fact, when I was in Canada one time, this had been years ago, the agent who looked at my passport said, You’re here and you’re religious? And I said, Yes. And he said, Are you going to all that religious thing happening at the airport? And I said, No, I’m going somewhere else. And he said, That’s become the greatest tourist attraction in Toronto right now. So, somebody taped one of the sessions, and I had a board member at Key Life Canada, still is, who had gone and sat in the back when that revival was going on. And he said to me, and he’s very straight, he said, Steve, I sensed that God was present, that God was doing something. And if somebody didn’t sense that, they’re insensitive to the movement of God’s Spirit. So, there was a lot of shouting on this tape. There was a lot of laughter on this tape. There was a lot of joy on this tape, a lot of speaking in tongues on this tape, but most important for my existential situation at the time, I going to sleep on that long drive, it was perfect for me because it kept me awake. You say, Steve, why are you telling us all of this? I’m telling you all of this because when the Holy Spirit is present, it’s not boring. When the Holy Spirit is present, it won’t cause you to yawn. When the Holy Spirit is present, things begin to happen that are amazing, and unbelievable, and even counter intuitive. As you know, I taught at a seminary for a lot of years, and I loved it. And I love the students. But the problem with the seminary, and it’s by necessity, and it’s probably a good thing, is that the seminary is about the mind. It’s about what you study so you can be prepared to be an effective servant of Christ in the church. And that’s a good thing, but it doesn’t give much room for the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t give a lot of room for laughter. It doesn’t give a lot of room for seeing. Let me give you a quote. It’s from Annie Dillard. She’s one of my favorite writers. She had an award winning book called Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. And let me give you a quote from that, she said.

The higher Christian churches, where if anywhere, I belong, come at God with an unwarranted air of professionalism, with authority and pomp, as though they knew what they were doing, as though people in themselves were an appropriate set of creatures to have dealings with God. I often think of the set pieces of the liturgy as certain words with which people have successfully addressed God without getting killed.

And then she says this.

In the high churches, they saunter through the liturgy like mohawks among a strand of scaffolding who have long since forgotten their danger. If God were to blast such a service to bits, the congregation would be genuinely shocked,

and here it comes

but in the low churches, you expect it any minute. And this is the beginning of wisdom.

Is that good or what? Have we learned to expect that the Holy Spirit is going to do things in the services we attend? Have we learned to expect that the Holy Spirit cares enough to take our prayers for healing, for change, for movement, to take those things seriously and to do something about it. Have we lost our surprise as we have become so comfortable in our always done it this way ways of doing things. And so, I told you about the healing services we had. I was genuinely surprised that God had acted. And so, we’re going to be spending next week and probably the week after talking about the genuine power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believers. You have far more power than you think you have. And let me give you some Scripture. And then we’ll land this plane, Ephesians 1:13 through 19.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the Lord God, Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a Spirit of wisdom, revelation and knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness

Here he comes.

of his power toward us who believe.

Hey, bottom line, you are a lot more powerful than you think you are. When you find out, and I’m going to teach you, when you find out how true that is, you’re going to be dangerous. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
And that brings us to the end of this week’s study of the Holy Spirit here on Key Life. Thanks for coming along for the ride with us. And remember that if you missed any episodes, or maybe you just want to share it with a friend, you can always stream our content for free at keylife.org and do join us tomorrow for Friday Q& A, when Steve and Pete address this timely question. I have same sex attraction. What do I do with it? Well, Steve has preached a lot of sermons in his decades of ministry, but there’s one that, I don’t know, just sounds like it could be the title of a great country song. When Believing is Hard and Pretending Doesn’t Work. If you or someone you know is going through it right now, I think the sermon is going to speak to you big time. Get it on CD for free right now 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. Or 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 Believing is Hard and Pretending Doesn’t Work. And finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you support that work through your giving? You could charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two, doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950 then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. Both of those organizations assure financial accountability. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.