Oh, God, give us leaders.

Steve Brown:
Oh, God, give us leaders. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life, with our host, author and seminary professor, Steve Brown. He’s nobody’s guru. He’s just one beggar telling other beggars where he found bread. If you’re hungry for God, the real God behind all the lies, you’ve come to the right place.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re studying the book of Acts and I read you the verses in the first chapter, verses six through 11. And I want to say one more thing about that. And then we’re going to talk about Biblical leadership. Look, if you will, at the eighth verse of the first chapter of Acts And this is what Jesus says.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Now in two or three weeks, maybe a little bit longer and maybe a little bit shorter, we’re gonna look at Pentecost. We’re going to see the reality of that happening. I’m going to offend everybody. I’m going to offend the charismatic brothers and sisters who are listening, and I’m going to offend the non charismatic brothers and sisters who are listening to this broadcast. And we’re going to see something so astounding that it will blow you way. It’s the fundamental promise that Jesus gave in his final instructions. Whatever I tell you to do, do it, even if you’re not qualified, because I’m going to send power and power will enable you to do what I told you to do. We’re going to talk about that more as we go along, especially as we look at the Biblical doctrine of leadership. And so let’s move on with the text. And I’m going to start at the 12th verse of the first chapter and read down to the end of that chapter.

Then after all that took place, then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew and Philip and Thomas Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas the son of James. All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and he said, “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before. And by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to those who arrested him. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man bought a field with the rule board of his wickedness, and falling a headlong he burst open in the middle

This is not, this is kind of gory.

burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called and their language, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “‘Let his habitation become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘his office shall another take.’ So one of the men. Who have accompanied us during this time the time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us–one of these men must become with us, a witness to the resurrection.” And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surname Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “Lord, who knowest the hearts of old men, show which one of these two thou has chosen to take the place in the ministry of the apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.

Oh my. So as soon as Jesus had gone to sit at the right hand of God, the Father almighty. That just means authority, not just place. That means that he’s the King. And he’s the King of the Kingdom right now, and nobody elected him and that would continue. But when Jesus had ascended, the first thing the disciples did was get together, there were about a hundred and some of them, and they prayed together and they fasted and they looked at Judas and thought, oh my. And then they did what Scripture told them to do, and that is to settle the problem of leadership. I, for a good many years in my life was a teacher, of swimming. I was a lifeguard when I was growing up, started as a pool boy. And then when I got old enough and got my senior lifesaving patch, I became a lifeguard in the city pool. And then later I became an instructor and a head of a waterfront at a large camp. And that’s the only sport I’m good at. And I swim 50 laps every day just to make sure the old guy can still get out of bed. But I was a teacher of people on swimming and diving. And I remember one young man, his name was Billy. And I was trying to teach him how to dive. And I said, Billy, put your hands in front of you and remember to keep your head right. And, you’re gonna, you’re gonna learn how to dive. And so he went in, made a belly flop, a belly flop, I’m doing the best I can. And he came out and he said, Mr. Brown, did I hold my legs together? And I said, Billy, it’s not your legs, it’s your head. Get your head right, then your legs will take care of themselves. And then he would try it again. He’d go into the pool and make a mess out of it. He’d come out, said how did I do that time? Did I keep my hands in the right place? And I said, Billy, it’s not your hands, it’s your head. If your head goes in right, the rest of your body will go in right. And it’s kind of a good illustration about the church and about a nation and about the world. You know the problem in our nation, it’s the leadership. It really is. We’ve got to have leaders who aren’t cowered by those who follow and who get angry, leaders who we won’t bend or break or compromise, leaders who are connected to God. And know that God has called them to lead. That’s true in a country. That’s also true in the church and it’s more important in the church than it is any other place. You know, there’s an old parable about Jesus standing on a hill and sending his disciples into the marketplace. And, he wanted them to make a difference in the marketplace and they went and he waited and waited and waited. And then he went to the marketplace to decide and find out what was happening. And the problem was he couldn’t tell his disciples from the con men. He couldn’t tell his disciples from the sellers of trinkets. He couldn’t tell his disciples from the people who needed to know about him. I fear sometimes we’re like that. I fear sometimes I’m like that. We need a revival and if we have a revival, we’ll have leaders. And the leaders will lead us out of this morass. The Scripture recognizes the importance of leadership. I just read to you why that’s true. It was important that somebody take the place of the original twelve to stand and to lead and to speak and to make a difference in the world. The world is bereft of, of leaders who will lead and people who will follow. And once we get that right, a child could make the difference if that child is anointed. And so what we’re going to do over the next few days, this week and into next week, is spend some time in the Bible talking about leadership. And what these guys discovered and expected in the leadership they decided on with Mathias. It’s a, it’s a good study and it’s an important study, because God is right now calling men and women to lead, to speak up and not to shilly shally. Could be, you’re one of those. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Steve Brown there, teaching us about leadership and continuing to guide us through this first chapter of Acts, today exploring verses 12 through 26. We will continue our tour tomorrow. Sure hope you’ll join us then. So, if I say Steve loves the church, that’s probably not shocking to anyone, but consider the implications of that statement. Steve loves Rick McKinley, Gabe Lyons, Shane Claiborne, Tony Campolo. Steve loves Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Steve loves Joel Olsteen. Steve even loves Jim Wallace. Steve loves the charismatics, the Presbyterians, the Catholics, the Episcopalians and why? Because they are us. And once we get this, it can literally change the world. Steve spoke about the subject and the sermon called Church “R” Us. And you can get that full message on CD right now by calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] and ask for the CD. If you’d like to mail your request, send it to

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