Just give up on the church. It’s not working.

Steve Brown:
Just give up on the church. It’s not working. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life exists to communicate that the deepest message of Jesus and the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers because life’s hard for everyone, grace is for all of us. Our host is seminary professor and author, Steve Brown.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. I’ve got a surprise for you this week. And it is not really a surprise cause you’ve gotten to know him a bit. He’s one of the voices of Key Life and my beloved friend, Dr. Jerry Parries. And he, I love going to his church and listening to him preach and we’ve done conferences together. And when, I didn’t think, when I asked him to be a part of Key Life and to be a regular voice of Key Life, I didn’t think he’d say yes. He didn’t even hesitate. And I thought, he’s been drinking. That’s a joke, don’t send me letters. But at any rate, Jerry Parries is a delight and God uses him in an amazing way. And we became friends years ago at lunch. It was just a casual lunch. We got to talking grace and grace became something that bound us together.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
And a lot more than that, but grace has been, the message of Grace has been so good. And so, Jerry is a voice of Key Life. And so, you’re going to be hearing more from him. And, Jerry, what are we going to talk about this week?

Jerry Parries: Wow. I’m really, first of all, I’m excited to be here and when you asked me to be the voice, one of the voices of Key Life, the Lord spoke to me when I was coming to meet you and say whatever he says, do. So, if you’d have told me, if you told me I was cleaning the bathrooms, I would’ve been cleaning the bathrooms, this week. But hey, I’m really glad. Today, or this week, we’re going to be talking about five lies that the enemy tells you. And if you listen to those lies, you are going to live a miserable life. But there are five things that the enemy tells the believer, five things that he keeps trying to get us to get off of course of what God has said. So, that’s what we are trying

Steve Brown:
We all believe these occasionally, don’t we?

Jerry Parries: Yes we do. Yes we do.

Steve Brown:
And when we do, we don’t understand why we’re so miserable. And you’re going to tell them why they feel miserable, when they believe these lies.

Jerry Parries: Absolutely. It is the trick of the enemy. You know, there’s a Scripture in the Bible, I Corinthians, II Corinthians I think it is, where Paul was talking about that the way that the enemy deceived Eve. I’m afraid that some of us are going to be tricked in the same way. And the way

Steve Brown:
Oh yeah.

Jerry Parries: And the way that the enemy deceived Eve was very simple to get her not to believe what God said about.

Steve Brown:
Oh man, that’s good. And we’re going to be talking about that all week.

Jerry Parries: Yeah.

Steve Brown:
And you don’t want to miss a single program. By the way, tell me the name of your church.

Jerry Parries: The name of my church is Christian Family Worship Center House of Grace. And you look at us online CFWCorlando.com is the website.

Steve Brown:
And if you live somewhere in the Orlando area in Central Florida. It’s in Melbourne, right? No, not Melbourne. It’s in

Jerry Parries: Kissimmee

Steve Brown:
Kissimmee

Jerry Parries: Yeah, it’s in Kissimmee. So, it is just an absolute place of grace and a place of healing.

Steve Brown:
It really is.

Jerry Parries: And that’s what

Steve Brown:
And I love going there. I, when, whenever I go to your church, I feel better when I leave. Some churches I go to, I’m ready to jump off a bridge and I’m not even sure I’m saved. So, we’ll mention that again as we go through the week. And if you live in Central Florida, you might want to check it out.

Jerry Parries: Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Alright. Don’t believe the lie. Let’s look at a lie.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
How about the church, God’s house is not effective. Go do something else.

Jerry Parries: Wow. That is one of the lies that the enemy has told over the centuries, but now even more in this time of social media.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Jerry Parries: You don’t need to go to church. You don’t, you can know God without going to church and be a part of what God is doing without being a part of the house of the Lord. And, I like what Pastor Tony Evans says, he says.

I hear people say, “I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian,” and that’s absolutely right. Salvation is through faith alone and in Christ alone. But you don’t have to go home to be married, but stay away long enough and your relationship will be affected.

Steve Brown:
Oh, that’s so good.

Jerry Parries: Isn’t that good?

Steve Brown:
And I love Tony. He’s right on about that.

Jerry Parries: He’s right on to that. You don’t have to go to church to be saved. But if you stay away from the church long enough, you are going, it’s going to affect your relationship with the Lord, you know, I, go ahead.

Steve Brown:
You know, I believe that for a long time. I didn’t, I didn’t think I needed people. I didn’t think I needed the church. And one of the significant changes in my life was the, I used to say I’d rather spend time with Pagans than with Christians. And I repent of that, that was wrong. And I miss so much for so long because of that. You started to say something about that. Keep talking.

Jerry Parries: Yeah. Well, the Bible, in Psalms the 20th, Psalms 20th, it says.

The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble, and that God, the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble, and by the name of God of Jacob. He said, he will send you help from the sanctuary.

The help that we get is from our encouragement from our brothers and sisters. And there are times that Steve, that I have gone to church and I’ve been dealing with different things in my life. And the minister and the pastor, God gives him the right word at the right time to help me get through that week in what I’m going through.

Steve Brown:
I’ve seen that so often.

Jerry Parries: And had I missed that time of being in the house of the Lord, I would’ve missed the answer to what it is that God was trying to give me. Church is a place where you are provided the tools to help you navigate through the life situation.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Jerry Parries: And it is so important to be in that house so that you can hear what God is saying through the man of God or the woman of God during that time of your life when you.

Steve Brown:
And you are not saying that the church is perfect.

Jerry Parries: Oh absolutely.

Steve Brown:
I think when we all joined the church, we announced to the world that we were sinners badly in need of God’s grace.

Jerry Parries: Absolutely, in fact, I heard a pastor say, if you want to join a perfect church, the minute you join it is no longer perfect.

Steve Brown:
And that’s very true. And so it’s a, you know, I think we’ve seen that lie. It’s not just the preacher or the pastor, it’s not just the message, there’s a supernatural reality that is there that we missed during the pandemic.

Jerry Parries: Yes. Yes, it is. And there’s something that happens in the place, God’s house. God says, my house shall be called the House of Prayer. God resides there. He’s there, he’s in the midst of that place. And you know Steve, there are times that I’ve walked in the church and somebody has smiled at me and it lifted my spirit.

Steve Brown:
I know.

Jerry Parries: Somebody has hugged me right at the right time, and it changed my attitude., You know. It is the place where we do the Lord’s Supper. You know, where we commune with each other, it’s the place where God tells us to come and fellowship and encourage one another. And so, the enemy will have you think that it’s not effective. But let me tell you what Jesus said about the church. He told Peter, he says.

Upon this rock, I’ll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And he’s saying that the gates of hell mean that no matter how it appears, the church will always win.

Steve Brown:
Oh, that’s true. And you know, it doesn’t feel that way today, does it?

Jerry Parries: It doesn’t, no.

Steve Brown:
You know, if you watch television and you are involved in the social media, it’s pretty dark.

Jerry Parries: Yeah. And they paint the church as a place, that is not a good place. And that’s a trick of the enemy because he wants to keep us from coming together and uniting together as the body of Christ, so that we can change lives. And I want to encourage you, that if you are not going to church, if you have decided that you don’t want to be in a church, that’s a trick of the enemy, that’s a lie that we’re talking about today. Don’t allow the enemy to deceive you to say that God’s church is not working. It is working. And it is doing wonderful.

Steve Brown:
It really is. And it, and in the end, victorious.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
In the end, get out of the way.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
This is God’s business, Rotary Club’s going die.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
Kiwanis Club’s going to die.

Jerry Parries: Yes sir.

Steve Brown:
Your social organization is going to die.

Jerry Parries: Yes sir.

Steve Brown:
Your university is going to die. You, every club you’re a part of is going to die, but the church, she’ll be bloodied, she’ll struggle and limp sometimes, but the church will stand because the church is the Bride of Christ,

Jerry Parries: that is correct

Steve Brown:
as God’s woman.

Jerry Parries: That is correct.

Steve Brown:
I have a friend who said that he was, he was a professor at a place where I was teaching and his name’s Mike Glodo, and he said he was complaining to the Lord about the church. He’d been hurt in some ways. And he was angry and he just poured it out and Jesus said, Michael, be careful, that’s my wife.

Jerry Parries: Yes sir.

Steve Brown:
And it really is, and it’s supernatural, and it can make a difference in your life. Hey, you think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve and Jerry. That second voice belongs to our friend Jerry Parries. He’ll be with us all this week discussing lies the enemy tells us, listen to those lies and be miserable, reject those lies and experience the grace and freedom God intended for us. Should be good, hope you’ll join us again tomorrow. Hey, speaking of miserable, you may be facing something miserable in your life right now, stress, pain, worry. Maybe it’s an issue you’re dealing with or someone close to you. Regardless, believe it or not, Jesus identifies with you, and we know this is true because in John 11, Jesus weeps for the loss of Lazarus. But why did he weep? Well, Steve spoke about that and a powerful sermon called When Tears Are All That’s Left. If you’re going through it right now, could, could we just send you the sermon on CD, for free. Just call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. And if you’d like to mail your request, just go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Just ask for your free CD called When Tears Are All That’s Left. And finally, have you ever considered partnering in the work of Key Life through your giving? Giving is easy. You can 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, two words. It doesn’t matter. Just text that 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.