The amazing and wonderful gift of friendship.

Steve Brown:
The amazing and wonderful gift of friendship. Let’s talk, 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. We’re moving on. We spent a couple of weeks on the subject of faithfulness. Now, I want to talk to you about the amazing and wonderful gift of friendship. And we’re going to be looking at Philippians 2:19 through 30. This is what Paul says.

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope therefore, to send him as soon as I can see how things go with him, and I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon. But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger whom you sent to take care of my needs, for he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me the sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore, I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me at the time.

You know, when I read that text, I thought I’m going to move on to something that’s a little bit more meaty. I thought to myself, you know, those are good words, and I ought to comment on them some, but then we’ll move on to another text where the doctrine is clearer and the teaching should be given more often. And then the more I read this text, the more I realized the joy that Paul is feeling and expressing for his friends. My late mentor, Fred Smith, told me one time that the greatest thing he did in his life was introducing friends to friends. In fact, one time, he called 25 of his closest friends to meet with him at a hotel in Texas. We met over a week-end, and it was a delightful week-end, and I didn’t know a single one of the people who were there. And none of them knew who I was. In fact, we didn’t know each other, but we knew Fred. And we knew that we were friends of Fred, and because we were friends of Fred, we would be friends with one another. And that’s exactly what happened. Over the years, we called ourselves the 25. And one time every month, we sent a book, or an article, or an illustration, or a story, or a saying to each other. And I used to tell my students in preaching classes, get a bunch of friends and do that. You’ll get more illustrations than you can possibly believe or use. That’s what happened with us every month. I got 25 notes from my new friends who told me a story, or gave me a quote, or referenced a book, or an article. And that was a delight. And it came from Fred. And I miss Fred for a lot of reasons, but that’s one of the reasons cause he created a bunch of friends of mine, that I didn’t know before I knew Fred. By the way, if you wonder, you can go to BreakfastWithFred.com if you’d like to find out some things about him. He was the wisest man I’ve ever known. I went to Dallas to speak at his funeral. And that was a really, really sad time. And just before I spoke, I looked up at these big screens in this big church and there was Fred, grinning at everybody. Shortly before he died, he recorded a video for his funeral. And in that video, he shared the gospel. And then he said, You people have been my friends, and that is the greatest gift that God has ever given me, friendship. And as you read this particular chapter, I used to say that when I got to heaven, I was not going to spend a lot of time with Paul. I mean, I want to hear him teach and stuff, but I’m going to spend time with Peter because he is so normal and kind of like me, he messes up. But I’ve changed my mind, I read a passage like this, and the gentleness and the love that the apostle Paul talks about in this passage, about his friends, and it is a gift. Friends, make them, rejoice in them, and thank God for them. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
The gift of friendship, what a great subject to explore. Thanks Steve. We’ve been on a journey through Philippians and today we’ve moved forward to a new passage, chapter 2: verses 19 through 30. More tomorrow, do join us. Well, if you’re listening to my voice, I don’t think I need to introduce you to the Voices of Key Life because, well, you hear them right here on a regular basis. Pete Alwinson, Matt Heard, Justin Holcomb, Jerry Parries, but listen, not long ago, we did something really cool. All four of these great Bible teachers joined Steve in the studio for the first time ever on Steve Brown Etc. Take a listen to a part of that episode, then I’ll be back to tell you about a special free offer.

Steve Brown:
A number of years ago, our agent came to me and said, Steve, you’re going to die. And I said, I know that. Then he said, or drool. And I said, I know that too. Well, what’s going to happen when you die or drool? And our agent said, we’re going to call that D D Day. And I said, I don’t know, I guess we’ll close this thing down and be glad we didn’t lose too many. And he said, you know something, I’ve never seen a ministry that was personality driven survive the death of the personality. Am I the personality, I ask? He said, of course you are in some circles. And then he said, but I have seen that ministries that have a message can continue. So, you ought to get some people around you and you ought to agree on the message and then have a bunch of people proclaim the message. The message is that if you belong to Jesus, Jesus is not angry at you, and he never will be. We took it to the board, this happened five or six years ago. We agreed on it unanimously. And the result is, well, the result is what’s going on, on this broadcast right now. All of these guys.

Matt Heard:
You couldn’t find the guys, so the result is us.

Steve Brown:
No, I couldn’t. I looked everywhere. And then I finally went to the bottom of the barrel, and I chose these guys that are sitting around. And you note already the respect that I get from them, which is not very good. And we’re not going to have any trouble with these guys talking. Sometimes when we have guests on Etc. they’re like deer in the headlights. They look at you and don’t know what to say. And occasionally I’ve had to say, Look, if you don’t talk, we don’t have a show. So, you can’t say yes and no, you’ve got to speak up. I didn’t say that to these guys. In fact, I’m going to have trouble getting them to be quiet at the break times, but it’s going to be so good, really good stuff. And we’re going to talk about the church. Well, you’re a bishop. What do you think?

Justin Holcomb:
I’m actually very hopeful because God made a promise.

That faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

And when there are faithful people proclaiming the gospel, that’s the way that God changes lives and he will honor the preaching and teaching of his word. Doesn’t mean it’s always going to be numerically strong or a vibrant organization, but that’s what just gives me the most hope. And we have the oldest demographic of churches. And so, instead of complaining that our churches are filled with older people, I just told all the clergy, let’s just shepherd them and see what happens. And so, we’re having renewal of faith and revival of discipleship. But there’ve been a few stories in the past few months of people who have been in church for decades, hearing the gospel proclaimed and going to their minister and saying

Steve Brown:
Oh man.

Justin Holcomb:
Hey, I just realized Jesus loves me, God loves me in Christ. This is a game changer. And so, there were so many things happening like that, where I was like, can we just do a story on this? Can we tell people about this? And there’s another place where they have five young adults scheduled for October baptism. I mean, it’s just, so that’s starting because it’s God’s word, it’s his good news and people respond to good news.

Steve Brown:
The church I attend has had a hundred percent growth in the last year. We’ve gone to three services, we’re talking about four, don’t know what to do with all these people. So, I’m hopeful too.

Matthew Porter:
There was stories, there was laughs, there was a great discussion about why all five of these men are hopeful for the future of the church. We would love to send you that entire episode on CD for free. Sound good? 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. To mail your request go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of the CD featuring the Voices of Key Life. And finally if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.