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Grow up…but do it slowly.

Grow up…but do it slowly.

JANUARY 13, 2021

/ Programs / Key Life / Grow up…but do it slowly.

Steve Brown:
Grow up…but do it slowly. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life is a radio program for struggling believers, sick of phony religion and pious cliches. Our host and teacher is seminary professor Steve Brown. He teaches that radical freedom leads to infectious joy and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you have your, well, we just finished that. We’d been talking all last week and most of this week about a list of things where the apostle Paul is talking about, why Christians praise and worship. We were bragging on the father and we looked at a lot of neat stuff, but let me say one more thing before we move to another text in this book of Galatians. What this does is praise and worship, but it also puts legs on it too. You know, I’m better than I was. And you know why? Because, I’ve been loved in the ways we’ve been talking about for days, what the apostle Paul was saying in the fourth chapter of Galatians. Somebody said a cowboy said once, I work for Jim here and I like Jim a lot, but Jim has hired me to work his ranch. And that’s what I’m going to do for Jim. I’m not just going to sit around and sing songs about him and tell him how wonderful he is, I’m going to work the ranch. Well, that sounds like a legalistic, get moving and do the right thing. And that’s not what it is. That’s not what Paul was talking about, in fact he was talking about just the opposite, but something kicks in that is amazing, when you begin to praise and worship, you also begin to change. Things start happening in your life. And sometimes God even shows you that they’re happening, so you won’t get discouraged. Forgiveness, when you didn’t expect it would be there. Forgiveness of somebody who did something really bad to you, love in places where it wouldn’t have been before. Obedience, because, not because you have to, but because you want to. Now it doesn’t happen overnight, but listen, it happens. It’s called sanctification and it works its way out in life. That’s the way it happens. Somebody told me one time, a story, I wish I could remember the source about a football player in high school, and actually he wasn’t that good. And he was kinda mediocre and he played, he was put in the game occasionally, but most of the time, they were either so far ahead or so far behind that it didn’t matter, so the coach let him play. The interesting thing about this young man is that his father was blind. One day, the young man went to the coach and said, coach, I got to play today. You, you got to put me in the game. And the coach was not an unkind man. And, he was building boys, not a football team. So he let the young man play. And everybody surprise that young man became a star, played the game of his life. He was fast and he was efficient. And the young man was the significant factor in the game. After the game, the coach said to the young man that was fantastic. You were great. What happened? Young man said, coach, my blind father died this morning and today was the first time he’s been able to watch me play. Oh my, that does happen, doesn’t it? We’ve got a father who watches us play and we play better because he’s our father. Abba, our Father. Well, I, you know, I want to spend more time in this text, but we got to move on or we’ll be here still looking at Galatians four, 1 through 11, when Jesus returns. So, let’s move on to the next text. Now, let me introduce it to you, because it’s kind of important. Paul is recognizing that the Galatians are not only disobedient, not only are they going back into the prison, a dark prison from which they had come, not only had they done that. they had bought into false teaching that told them that this grace thing is okay, but don’t let it go to your head. Don’t take advantage of it, don’t, there’s some things that you need to do. And they put them in a discipleship class. It was a class that taught them how to smile like a Christian and walk like a Christian and talk like a Christian and what to say and what to do and how to say it and how to do it. And Paul shook his head. They don’t understand, they don’t get it. They are children. And they were in fact that, children. A number of years ago, I was in a small group, and somebody during the prayer time had requested prayer for a brand new Christian, who had come to know Christ in the church and then was moving to another city. And she said, I’m so worried about him. I’m so worried that this isn’t gonna happen. And one of the ladies in the prayer group, and by the way, she was the daughter of the then editor of Christianity Today. And she said, you know something, I found out that Jesus has special care in his heart for new Christians, for baby Christians. Well, this passage and we’re going to get into it tomorrow. But this passage, is a passage where Paul is kind of like a father. He looks at the people in the Galatian church and you know, they’re acting like children, they’re going back to where they shouldn’t be. And what he says is profound. So, we’re gonna talk about the care and feeding of children, but Jesus is into this too, cause he has a special place in his heart for new Christians. You can think about that. Amen. Well, it’s Wednesday. And as you know, sometimes if there’s a little time at the end of some of these broadcasts, I take some time to answer one or two questions. And Pete, of course will be in on Friday and as always we’ll spend the entire broadcast answering questions. And by the way, you’ve heard me say it a thousand times, and I really mean it. We love to get your questions. We love to go through the Bible and find answers to the questions that you have for us and for you. We take you and your question seriously. You can call 1-800-KEY-LIFE, 24 seven, record your question. And sometimes we put your very voice on the air. That’s 1-800-KEY-LIFE, and that’s 24 seven. Or you can send your question to

Key Life Network
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In Canada, it’s

Key Life Canada
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Or if you want to email me, you can email [email protected]. And by the way, those are places where should the spirit move and you want to help us financially, you could do that. Now. I know that a lot of you can’t do that or are not called to do that. And I understand that, but if you are be as generous as you can, and we promise we’ll be as faithful with your gift as you were in giving it and we’ll use it to reach out to a bunch of other people, who can’t afford to help us financially. And if you, if you can’t help us financially, as I said, I understand and do say a prayer for this ministry. Alright, let’s look at one or two questions. This first question, I marked one. I don’t know, oh here it is. This is an email, I’m doing the best I can. Okay? Just don’t be so critical. How can someone move from belief in a higher power to saving faith in Jesus Christ? Now, I suspect that the person who asked that question is not trying to be hypercritical, but they’re referencing AA, where Jesus is never mentioned. And you know, a lot of Christians or a number of Christians are very critical of AA, because you can’t get sober unless Jesus helps. Now that there’s truth to that, but sometimes Jesus does his incognito. Sometimes Jesus is there, even if they don’t mention his name and I suspect he is in a lot of those AA meetings. When I was a young pastor, there was a doctor in the church that I served in Miami who headed up the first residential alcoholic rehabilitation center in a hospital in America. And she would always ask me to come and speak for the graduation when they had the graduation of these people that had been sober. You know, there were a group of former alcoholics or recovering alcoholics who were pilots, in the airline industry and they formed a small group. You know what they called it, the Worly Birds, but I’m sorry, I digress. But all of the people that were in the rehabilitation center became a part of AA. And I began to see the amazing, powerful work of people getting sober through that organization. And, how do you get from there to Jesus? You pray, you speak a word when you got a chance and you remember that Jesus cares more about their salvation than you do. And he’ll work with you to see that happen, but don’t be too critical of AA. I’m the adult son of an alcoholic, and I know. And my father, just before he died was on his way to AA and I was so very thankful for that the organization. Well I’m out of time. I guess I could answer a yes and no question. Or I could sing a hymn. But I like you too much to do that for you. So I guess I’ll just say. Key Life is a listener supported production Key Life Network.

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