The kingdom is eternal and so are you.

Steve Brown:
The kingdom is eternal and so are you. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
God’s grace changes everything. How we love, work, live, lead, marry, parent, evangelize, purchase and worship. This is Key Life with practical Bible teaching to get you home with radical freedom, infectious joy and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you have your Bible open it to the third chapter of Galatians. We’re talking about a kingdom mentality, Paul has written.

But now that faith has come,

And you could put paranthetically, everything else has changed.

we’re no longer under a custodian of the law, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There’s neither Jew nor Greek there’s neither slave nor free, there’s neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Now we’ve been looking at what it means to have a kingdom mentality, to be a citizen of the kingdom. The kingdom is moral, it’s incarnational, it’s international, it’s cross-cultural and the equal. It’s also relational, and we were talking about that yesterday, Galatians 3:28.

For you or all one in Christ Jesus.

We really are, and that’s a hard place to be. I was telling you as we ended the broadcast yesterday, that my mentor, Fred Smith demonstrated that for me, he would often say, you have blank checks on me. That’s what it means when we’re related. And you’re my brother. And he was there at every point in my life. And I was there when he died, and participated in the funeral to say goodbye to my friend. Did you know that Fred did a DVD, a film, a video for me a week before he died and I’ve never looked at it. I’ve still got it. And it’s been years now. I just can’t bring myself to look at it, at his funeral, he showed up, he did a video to be played at his funeral and he said, seeing as how there’s so many people here, it would be a shame for me not to say something. But I was there, and I loved him and he demonstrated to me. One time, he was in, going through a very busy time and a friend of his, who was his brother in Christ in Memphis. Fred lived in Texas. Fred knew that this friend was going to ask him to come and speak for his organization. And Fred said, I know what you’re going to ask, I’m going to ask you not to ask it, because if you ask it, I’ll have to do it and I’m too busy to do it right now. And his friend said, alright, alright. But that was Fred. You got blank checks on me and you can, you can write those checks whenever you want. There was one exception to that, which doesn’t make the point here, but it’s a good point. Fred absolutely hated public prayer in restaurants. He, it just irritated me. He said it was wearing your religion on your sleeve, and it was very self-righteous. And, so every time we were with a group of people at a meal, I always asked Fred to pray and I could see it in his eyes. I thought he was gonna kill me. I’d said, Fred, would you lead us in a grace? And, and he would do it, but it was grudgingly. And one time after a lunch we’d had with a group of men, he said Brown, I’ve told you that you have blank checks on me. But you’ve just about used them up. You do that one more time and there are no more blank checks, okay? But that’s what it is, for us. It’s the blank checks we give to each other. It doesn’t mean that we agree with ever everybody. It doesn’t mean that we always get along, that we never argue or debate. That’s what families do. These worship wars that we’re going through in the church is such an abomination. It’s blasphemous, it really is, not only that, it’s a big time sin, if what Jesus said was right. And I have it on good authority that everything Jesus said was right. I mean, every time we get into this fight about the kind of music that we use, I don’t care which side you’re on. You know, we violate something that is so important within the body of Christ, that I can’t believe it. If you’re in a family, you don’t always listen to the music you like. That kind of rotates, it means that I’ve got to put up with your dumb music so that you’ll put up with mine when we’d turn on the radio and play my music. If pagans can understand that, Christians can understand that. And so worship wars become something that violates the very essence of the kingdom mentality. Listen, I’m yours and you’re mine. And, everybody who belongs to Jesus, belongs to everybody who belongs to Jesus. And so the kingdom mentality is always relational. People always say, I’m a Christian, but I ain’t going to church. And I want to say you don’t have any convictions? You’ve never read the Bible? You don’t understand? Now I’m not saying you can’t be a Christian, unless you go to church. There’s only one way to be a Christian. And that is Jesus and recognition and accepting that he died on a cross for you. But if that doesn’t normally draw you to other Christians, you’ve missed something very important. That’s a part of the kingdom mentality. And then before we finish this series and maybe, well probably next week, I don’t know if I’ll get to it today. We’re going to go to the next text, and it’s going to be fun. Cause we’re just going to brag on the father. That’s going to be a good time, when we do that. But finally, you ought to note that the kingdom is not only moral, incarnational, international, cross- cultural and equal and relational. It also is eternal, Galatians 3:29.

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, according to promise.

Now what Paul is doing, is he’s going all the way back and to show the beginnings and the roots of the kingdom, but in doing the same thing and he does it in Galatians, in a lot of places, he looks to the future and he says, this is forever. This is never going to stop. This will be victorious. This is what the world was created for. That’s what Paul says in the third chapter of I Corinthians. He, he says that this thing, that the whole of the world was created for the terrible, meet the people of God, and you’re a part of it. I’ll tell you, we live in strange times, don’t we? Now I’m old enough, to have lived in this country and to a visited Canada when Christians were respected and looked up to, leaders, Christian leaders were admired and preachers had their sermons on the front page of the local newspapers. And now that’s not true. I have a friend whose husband is a lawyer and he decided to go to seminary and his wife said, honey, are you crazy? You’re going to leave the most hated the second most hated profession in America. And you’re going to join the most hated, you’re going to become a pastor. Are you crazy? Well, that reflects what’s happened, but don’t let it get to you. Don’t let it get to you because this thing, nobody can destroy. Nobody can stop. It is the kingdom of God. And in the end, we will reign, Paul says in this text. When Alexander the Great deposed the King of Seton, he caused a new King to be appointed and he searched the kingdom, and found the least qualified person he could find, an old man who had a reputation for honesty. And, he was the last man in the empire you would expect to be King. And when Alexander found this old man, he was weeding his garden. And the words Alexander spoke to him on that occasion were words that could be very well-spoken by King Jesus, to the citizens of the kingdom. You must now change your tatters for the dress we have brought, said, Alexander, put off the mean and contemptible habit in which you have grown old, assume the garments of the Prince. Oh my, that’s to you. That’s to me, we’re citizens of the kingdom and that’s not a little thing. That’s a big deal. And we oughta walk with that knowledge. And sing the songs of the kingdom. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Steve. We will continue our exploration of the book of Galatians on Monday, but first, tomorrow, it’s time again for Friday Q & A. That’s when Steve and our friend Pete Alwinson will answer the tricky questions you’ve sent in. I took a little look just now. And here’s one question on tap for tomorrow. How do you differentiate between coincidence, quote unquote, and an answered prayer from God? Tune in tomorrow, and you will find out the answer to that question. So I’m curious, are you a planner a header, or are you a puter offer? Listen, there is no judgment for me either way, but just in case you’re our team puter offer, just want to give you a heads up that time is running out to get your copy of the 2020 edition of Key Life Magazine. It’s loaded with great thought provoking and encouraging content, so why not grab your free copy while you still can, by calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also email [email protected] and ask for the magazine. If you would like to mail your request, send it to

Key Life Network
P.O. Box 5000
Maitland, Florida 32794

If you’re in Canada, send your request to

Key Life Canada
P.O. Box 28060
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6J8

Just ask for your free copy of the 2020 edition of Key Life Magazine. One last thing, if you’re able, would you please give to Key Life? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope, or if you prefer just text Key Life to 28950. And less time than it takes to write a check to be all set up. 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.