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You’re a lot more dangerous than you think you are.

You’re a lot more dangerous than you think you are.

MAY 20, 2024

/ Programs / Key Life / You’re a lot more dangerous than you think you are.

Steve Brown:
You’re a lot more dangerous than you think you are. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life exists to communicate that the deepest message of Jesus in the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers. Because life’s hard for everyone, grace is for all of us. Our host is seminary professor and author, Steve Brown.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hope you guys had a great week-end, and I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. You know, I’ve started kind of a mini-trend across the church. In places I go, almost every time somebody comes up to me and says, My pastor’s sermon was better than your pastor’s sermon this past week, and that kind of makes me feel good. If you’re in a church, say something good to your pastor, he’s in a hard place or she’s in a hard place. It’s not easy today to be a clergyman or a clergywoman. At any rate, I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. And if you’re just joining us, we’re studying the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, pneumatology. And we’re looking at various aspects of that particular thing. If you were listening last week and the week before, we were talking about the doctrine in general, and I spent some time talking about the sign gifts of tongues and healing and prophecy. And I offended everybody because I’m not totally in the camp of either one of those particular views. They’ve all stopped. They’re all going full blown. I don’t think either of those things are true, so now that I’ve offended people, let’s look at the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and power. Before we do that, Let’s pray and then we’ll study. Father, we come into your presence, so aware of the high and holy privilege that you have given us to be here. Father, that somebody like us, finite, weak, sinful, afraid, lonely, messing up, can come into the throne room of the King of the Universe is amazing. And Father, we’re reminded of that gift that you have given us, and it is only by your invitation and the blood of Christ. Father, you know everybody who’s listening to this broadcast, there are hard places and soft places, there are tears and laughter, and you’re the God of all of it, and we worship you. And then Father, as always, we pray for the one who teaches on this broadcast, forgive him his sins, because there are many. We would see Jesus and him only and we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. All right, let me give you some Scripture as we start talking about the Holy Spirit and power. Actually, I think Christians are a lot more dangerous than they think they are. We live in a culture that has intimidated us into silence and so we hide in the church and we hide with other Christians. And we just keep quiet about the one who is the central focus of our life. We don’t have to do that. There’s great power in our words. There’s great power in our life. There’s great power in our witness. But let me give you some Scripture and then we’ll talk about it. This is Ephesians 1:13 through 19.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in all my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope in which He has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us.

One of the interesting things about the first chapter of Ephesians is that in the Greek, there’s hardly a single period. Now, scholars will give you reason for that, but I’m going to tell you the real reason. Paul got so excited about what he was talking about, that he forgot to put a period there. I’ve done that before. And I know, so listen to me, and not the scholars. Then II Timothy 1:7.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and self-control.

Then let me give you one more text, and we’ll talk a little bit about that. And it’s in Acts 19:1 through 10.

And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the island country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on all of them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

Now, we’ve already talked about that.

And they were about twelve men in all. And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. And continued for two years that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

That’s a great text. I like it. I’m not going to talk about the speaking in tongues part because I have frankly covered that quite adequately. A number of years ago, as you know, I wrote this book, Follow the Wind. And it was hard to write, I’ve I told you this too, because the job description of the Holy Spirit is to point to the first and second persons of the Spirit. Let me give you some truths that should make every Christian a little bit arrogant, certainly have more power. You are special and acceptable just the way you are. I thought you ought to know. You’re forgiven no matter where you’ve been, who you’ve hurt, what you’ve done, yes, even that sin, and I thought you ought to know. God likes you a lot, and he will never be angry at you. You should know that too. You are, no matter where you are right now, going to get better, and you can’t stop it. God has a place for you in his economy, and desires to use you in some very surprising ways, in the lives of a lot of people. Not only that, you’re going to live forever. That’s already settled, and I just thought you ought to know. Now, do you wonder how I know all of that? Listen to me, and I’m going to tell you. Because the Holy Spirit told me and because the Holy Spirit keeps reminding me over and over again and telling me to remind you. Now, we’re going to talk about it a little bit more tomorrow because I want to pursue it a little bit more. But there’s an Arabian axiom. You know what it says? Listen up.

Those who don’t know and think they know are fools, shun them. Those who don’t know and know they don’t know are students, teach them. Those who know, but don’t know they know, are asleep, wake them up. Those who know they know, and know they know, are wise, then follow them.

And I was, as I was reading that Arabian axiom, you know, I thought that’d be a good thing to apply to this Acts 19 text. And they said the Holy Spirit, what in the world is that? We’ve never even heard of the Holy Spirit. In other words, they were those who didn’t know, and didn’t even know that they didn’t know. And so, Paul did what the axiom says, he taught them, and the difference it made was unbelievable. It does, you know. Once you understand the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, it changes everything. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Steve. That was Steve Brown resuming our exploration of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Today we ventured into Ephesians 1, II Timothy 1:7, and Acts 19. Still so much more to discover and we will do that very thing again tomorrow. Hope you’ll join us. Well, the latest edition of Key Life magazine is here, and we couldn’t be more excited. It’s bigger and better than ever, with a newly redesigned format that’s easier to read. Yes, that’s a good one. Best of all, it’s packed with encouraging and thought provoking articles from Steve, Chad West, Alex Early, and Kendra Fletcher. Plus, a whole lot of other fun stuff. So, claim your free copy right now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for the magazine, or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of Key Life magazine. And finally, if you find value in the work of Key Life, would you support that work through your giving? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or simply pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950. That’s Key Life, one word or two, doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950, then follow the instructions. And hey, if you can’t give right now, or maybe you’re not called to, no worries, but please do pray for us, would you? Always appreciated. 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.

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