Spend time with Jesus, but don’t leave until you’ve been loved.

Steve Brown:
Spend time with Jesus, but don’t leave until you’ve been loved. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Welcome to Key Life. I’m Matthew, executive producer for the program, and our host is author and seminary professor Steve Brown. The church has suffered under do more, try harder religion for too long. And Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captives free.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you’re just joining us, we’re talking about the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit involved in the calling of every Christian to reach out to the world, to not be silent, to point to Jesus, to do it in a variety of winsome, authentic, and genuine ways. And if you were listening yesterday, I showed you that the first thing Jesus said that you ought to do in this evangelism is to be still. He said after his resurrection, when his disciples were gathered, go back to Jerusalem and do nothing. Wait, wait until the Holy Spirit comes. And when the Holy Spirit comes, you’ll be my witnesses all over the world and every place you go. I hear from unbelievers often that Christians are mean. And if you’re a Calvinist and Reformed, and I am, I hear that more than most of you do, because some of us really are mean. And I don’t understand that. I really don’t. You know, the Reformed faith, of which I’m a part, is simply a statement that God is sovereign. He’s sovereign over everything, and he’s good all the time, and you can trust him in everything that he does. And, you know, that ought to make you giddy. It ought to make you want to dance. I mean, it means you don’t have to be God anymore. It means you’re forgiven, and you’re acceptable, and that you’re loved, and you always will be loved, and that you’ll get home before the dark. That ought to make you winsome and fun. And the kind of person that everybody invites to their parties because you’re the best thing going on in the party. And yet, with many Christians, they’re so sour and so judgmental and so condemning, you just think, have you been smoking something or drinking from the wrong bottle? What’s wrong with you? You ought to be so winsome about this, that people will be asking questions. And you should have answers for them. But that’s not true a lot of the time, and I’ve questioned why that’s not true. And I think I’ve got an answer. I think the problem is that those Christians hung out with Jesus and they heard him talk about witnessing and those Christians left before they got loved. And if you leave before you’ve been loved, you turn mean. If you leave before you’ve been loved, the things you share won’t be true. If you leave before you’ve been loved, your witness will fall on dead ears. And so, we are called to be still, Jesus says. To wait for the promised Holy Spirit. To be loved, and once we’ve been loved, and the power of the Holy Spirit reminds us how much we’re loved when we go out and share it changes the world. As you know, I was a seminary professor for a lot of years, occasionally still do it. And I tell students that when working on a sermon, they ought to write it for themselves. And when it gets so exciting that you can’t stand it, climb into the pulpit and tell people about it. I got that from a friend of mine, John Hagia, he’s one of the finest and most effective fundraisers in the history of the church. And when I was going through a building program, I called my friend John and I said, John, How do you do this? I don’t know how to raise funds. He said, I get in my office, I shut the door and I tell my secretary, don’t let anybody bother me and I sit down and I think about the project for which I’m going to be raising money. And I think about it some more, and I think about it some more, and when I get so excited about it that I can’t stand it, then I leave my office, and I go out, and I start telling people about the project. It’s the same way with us. And so, Jesus very wisely said, be still, don’t leave till you’ve been loved. Don’t leave until the Holy Spirit comes and you sense his power in your life. Sometimes that happens in an hour. Sometimes it’s a week. Sometimes it’s months. But just remember that Jesus was doing fine before you came along, that nothing you do, say or don’t do or say is going to affect his plans. He does as he pleases and he does it right well. And he’s got some plans for you. But don’t go until you’re still. That’s why prayer and the time with Jesus is so important for Christians. Because that’s when he comes. I’m a man of prayer. And when I say that, I sound so pious I hate to even say it, but I really am. I get up really early in the morning. And you know what gets me up? Well, I’ve got ot be honest, coffee gets me up. Ha ha ha. But while I’m being honest, let me say that Jesus gets me up. And it makes the difference for the rest of the day. When he comes, when I say you still there, you still love me. And Jesus says in Hebrew, you bet. I can conquer the world. You think about that. Amen.

It’s Wednesday, and sometimes on Wednesday when I have a little bit of time, I spend some time answering one or two questions. Pete, as always, will be in on Friday, and we’ll spend the entire broadcast answering questions. By the way, we do love to get your questions here at Key Life. You can ask a question whenever you want to. And we’ll do our best to get the right answer to you. Just pick up the phone and dial 1-800-KEY-LIFE and follow the instructions and we’ll record your question and sometimes your voice will be put on the air. That’s 1-800-KEY-LIFE. Or you can send your questions to

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or you can e-mail your question to [email protected] and if you can help us financially, please do. I promise that we’ll squeeze every dime for the glory of God. If you can’t, we understand, say a prayer for this ministry and we will appreciate that too.

All right, let’s turn to one or two of these questions. This is an e-mail. How am I supposed to feel when I sin? I can’t take my sin lightly, and I know you’re not suggesting that at all. But how do I find the balance of living in this sinful body, and being happy about the condition of my spirit? Well, I don’t think there is a lot of teaching that I have to give. I think what you’re feeling and the gist of your question suggests that you are right on. You’re taking your sins seriously, I take mine seriously too, but I don’t obsess on it. And the reason I don’t obsess on it is because guilt is something pagans ought to believe, unbelievers ought to have, not something that Christians should have. Let me tell you something, guilt, legitimate guilt for sins we’ve committed is a gift of God. And it’s a gift because it sends us to Jesus every time. And there, we are forgiven, we are loved, and we are sent out to tell others. The late Richard Dortch was on my television program one time. He was involved with Jim Baker and that mess when that whole thing in North Carolina came down. And Jim Baker was sent to prison and Richard Dortch was his sidekick. And he was a good man, a faithful man, but he was convicted along with Jim Baker and sent to jail. I interviewed him on my television program. It was syndicated at the time, out of Tampa. And I liked him a lot. But one of the interesting things that happened during that interview is that Richard, at the beginning of the interview, turned to the cameras, and he said, I am so very sorry for what I did. And I thought that was cool. I mean we ought to be sorry for what we do. When we blow it, we ought to ask people’s forgiveness. And we ought to always ask for God’s forgiveness. And about 10 minutes into the program, he did it again. He turned to the cameras and he said, I’m so sorry. And then five minutes later, he did it again. And when he did it the third time, I said, Richard, shut up. Okay? You’re forgiven. We forgive you and God forgives you. I don’t want to hear any more about it. God loves you. And it is as if it never happened. My advice to him was good advice, and it would be the same advice I’d give to the person who asked the question. I think you’ve got it. I think you’re aware of your sin, and you’re certainly not flippant about it, because it violates what God has said. But don’t obsess on it. You’re forgiven. You really are forgiven, and guilt is a gift that is given to Christians for one reason. And that is to send us to Jesus. Okay, if you’ve got it, live it. And I’ve got to go. But first, Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.