Let’s get down and party!

Steve Brown:
Let’s get down and party!, on this edition of Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
It’s for freedom that Christ set us free. And Key Life is here to bring you Biblical teaching that encourages you to never give into slavery again. Our teacher on Key Life is Steve Brown. He’s an author, broadcaster, and seminary professor who’s sick of phony religion.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hi Jerry.

Jerry Parries: Hey sir.

Steve Brown:
Hey man. This had been a great week, we really have. Jerry and I have been sitting down, Jerry’s one of the voices of Key Life and my beloved friend, and we’re, this is Pentecost week. This Sunday is Pentecost, which marks the time when the church picked up her skirts and began to run into the world, empowered by the Holy Spirit. And we spent time this week looking at the Biblical history of that, where it comes from and what happens with it. We’ve talked about the difference. Jerry is Pentecostal and charismatic, and I’m Presbyterian, and how much we need each other. And that was kind of cool. We talked about the Holy Spirit still being active in the believer convicting of sin and does exactly the same thing with the world. And today, we’re going to get down and party as we think about Pentecost. Talk to us about celebration. Jerry.

Jerry Parries: Oh man. Celebration man is a time that when Pentecost come it just reminds you of the fresh move of God in your life. And each time that you think of Pentecost, you should just think about the fresh move of the Holy Spirit into your life. One of the ways that I now and I’m speaking of me personally, celebrate this moment. Hebrews teaches us in the Old Testament, Hebrews in the 10th chapter says, the first verse says.

The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the things to come.

And so, that Pentecost of the festivals was the old shadow. But then when the Holy Spirit came, then it brought in a new celebration. And we do that every first Sunday at our church, what we call communion, where we eat the body of our Lord Jesus Christ and the blood. And so, we celebrate Pentecost every first of the month, celebrating the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Steve Brown:
And you taught us on Monday that the original Pentecost was a celebration too.

Jerry Parries: Yes, absolutely.

Steve Brown:
The harvest came in and the party began.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
And the party for the new covenant is even better.

Jerry Parries: Yes sir.

Steve Brown:
And more filled. You think sometimes we’re, we forget it. We get so serious with our faith. One time, the first, one of the first churches that I served, a man left the church. And I went to visit him to find out why. And he said, because you tell jokes and this is about God, and God is serious, and I’m not gonna be a part of a church where you have jokes. And why do you do that? he said. And I said, cause they’re funny. And he said, which he didn’t appreciate, but by then it was a lost cause. And I decided I was going to get a bottle of champagne and celebrate his absence. Some people bring revival to the, do you know what I think, and you can comment on this, and I’ve seen this a thousand times. I’m an old guy. One of the, a lot of things you can fake and Jesus isn’t really there. You can fake the words, you can fake the ritual, you can fake the hymns, you can fake all, but free laughter you can’t fake. And when Jesus is present, when there’s laughter, and when the laughter, the free laughter, not cynicism. When the free laughter stops, Jesus has left the building. And so, the church ought to be a place of celebration.

Jerry Parries: Absolutely. Jesus says.

I’ve come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.

The abundant life is laughter, fun, enjoying yourself. You know, people forget that God created all of the earth, all of the beautiful places for us to enjoy. And we get so stuck on religion and get so stuck in the rules and trying to do what they did in the Old Testament exactly as they did it. We just, you know, relax, let down your hair and enjoy yourself. And that’s the reason why Steve, that as you remember what the Holy Spirit has done for you, it brings joy to you. It brings laughter to you, it brings fun to you. And I’m having the time of my life enjoying Jesus, traveling all over the world and you know, just enjoying the good things that God has made for us.

Steve Brown:
Oh, yeah, so good. Do you know, do you know what the early church called the Holy Spirit, the Happy Spirit. You know, you don’t hear that taught very much. It really was, there is something in us that creates a joy.

I’ve said these things to you,

Jesus said.

that you may have my joy and that your joy may be full.

Jerry Parries: Yeah. I talked about something. This is, this might be, I hope no one gets upset at me at this story of the Bible. Jesus is at the party of the wedding feast. And they run out of wine. That means, now listen, that means if they ran out of wine, they had been drinking a whole lot of wine. They ran out of wine and of course you know the story. Jesus turns water into wine. And they come to Jesus and they say, in other words, he says, keep the party going. Keep the celebration going.

Steve Brown:
That’s the first miracle he performs in the Scripture too.

Jerry Parries: Actually. Yeah. And so, they drink this wine and they say, oh my God, you saved the best wine for last. And you know, they drunk all that up. And when they finished drinking all that up, I think they went out pretty happy.

Steve Brown:
And the interesting thing is, going back to the subject of this week, is that in that second chapter of Acts, when the Holy Spirit comes, and it was a rush of a mighty wind, the tongues came on each of the disciples. The people who were there, Luke says in Luke 2, that they said that these people are drunk.

Jerry Parries: Yeah, exactly.

Steve Brown:
They’ve had too much wine.

Jerry Parries: Yeah. Cause they were laughing and falling all louder, just having a wonderful time.

Steve Brown:
And Peter said, you’ve got it wrong. That’s not what’s happened. And then he preaches one of the best sermons you’ll find in Scripture. And 3000 people came to know Christ.

Jerry Parries: He said.

Let the whole house of Israel know that this Jesus whom you have crucified, God has made him both Lord and Christ.

Then they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brothering, what shall we do to get some of this stuff you all got? Peter says, just repent that you crucified Jesus. Repent. Be baptized and you shall receive the gift that we’ve been talking about all week long. The gift of the Holy Spirit. And that thing will change your life.

Steve Brown:
And it still does.

Jerry Parries: Yes it does. Yes it does.

Steve Brown:
Well, we’re going to have to land this plane. We’ve got two or three more minutes. And we started this week talking about Pentecost and the importance of it to believers. Do you think sometimes we don’t talk about this enough, about what is available to believers, what is a part of our heritage, the gift that God has given because we feel it’ll get out of control or something.

Jerry Parries: Yeah. I just, Steve, one of the things that God does, has done from the beginning of time, and I really don’t have time to tell it like I would like to, but God always told the children of Israel, be reminded of what I’ve done, be reminded. When you look at the book of, think it’s in Acts or not Acts, in Exodus. When the Bible says when you leave Genesis coming in Exodus, it says there is a group, there was a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph. And because he didn’t know Joseph, the children of Israel went into bondage. He didn’t know Joseph because they stopped talking about him. And when you stop talking about the Holy Spirit and the things that God has done for you, it will put your generation under you in bondage. You’ve got to remind them of the goodness of God. You’ve got to talk about the celebrations of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost, different things that God has done so that it can cause your children to know him and be free and live a life of freedom in Christ.

Steve Brown:
And so, that’s kind of what we’ve done this week, is that we’ve only reminded people about what the Scripture says the Holy Spirit does. And speaking of which, the Scripture says, that’s a part of what the Holy Spirit does. Jesus said, he will remind you of all that I’ve spoken to you. And so, the Holy Spirit convicts us, the Holy Spirit gives us joy, the Holy Spirit lets us know, and we haven’t spent hardly any time on the guidance of the Holy Spirit that’s there too. But the Holy Spirit is God’s great reminder.

Jerry Parries: Yes. Yes. His comforter, his lead as you said, it is there to comfort you and to hold you and to love you and to remind you that he is coming back for his bride and you are one of them.

Steve Brown:
Oh, that is so good. And so, at Pentecost, don’t just go to church and sing the old hymns and say the old prayers. Remember this day. And when you do remember, that will be the Holy Spirit. And you’ll think of what Jerry and I have taught you this week. And what we have learned ourselves as we teach cause the teachers learn more than the students. And we need to be reminded just like everybody else. The Holy Spirit, the power of God moving in the church and maybe in our time, another awakening of monumental importance. Well, that’s everything we know about the Holy Spirit. Jerry, thanks for being with us this week.

Jerry Parries: Thank you. And celebrate. Go out and celebrate.

Steve Brown:
And you think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve Brown and Jerry Parries. What a fantastic week of teaching on the Holy Spirit as we move towards Pentecost Sunday in three days. Remember, if you missed any episodes this week or if you’d just like to listen again or maybe share with a friend, you could find all of our programs at Keylife.org. Super easy to find and share and do join us again tomorrow when our friend Pete Alwinson drops by for Friday Q&A. Well, we’ve been talking all this week about the Holy Spirit. I think it’s fair to say the least understood person of the Trinity, and that’s why I think you’ll be interested to hear a conversation we had recently with author Michael Reeves on Steve Brown Etc. Michael really brings a perspective to understanding the Trinity that I think you’ll find refreshing. We put that show on a CD that we would be happy to send to you for free. Interested? Then call us right now 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. Just ask for your free copy of the CD featuring Michael Reeves. And one last thing, would you partner in the work of Key Life through your giving? It’s easy. You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or now you can give safely and securely by text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter. 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.