God and the gifts of the Spirit.

Steve Brown:
God and the gifts of the Spirit. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you’re sick of guilt and manipulation, and if you’re looking for an honest and thoughtful presentation of Biblical truth, you’ve come to the right place. This is Key Life with the founder of Key Life Network, Steve Brown. Keep listening for teaching that will make you free.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re looking in our study in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit at the Holy Spirit’s connection to power. And if you’re going to talk about the Holy Spirit’s connection to power, and we are the rest of this week and next week and probably the week after. If we’re going to talk about it, we’ve got to look at a question that always comes up, Is God still working in our time? Now, there are those, and I mentioned this yesterday, who believe that the supernatural gifts of the Spirit have come to an end. And I understand why they say that, they say that God has given us his word, he’s given us his church, he’s given us his work and the supernatural things like tongues and prophecy and interpretation and healing those were for a particular time at a particular place and to give emphasis to the truth that was being told. And that sounds good, and it sounds religious, it’s just not true. And as I said yesterday, if God had stopped doing things in the world, he would have told us that the Bible and the work was enough, so deal with it, but he never did that. In fact, it’s dangerous in the Bible to tell God what he can and can’t do. I believe that one of the most important things in our time is the Charismatic and Pentecostal and I’m not Charismatic, nor am I Pentecostal. I’m Presbyterian, and we don’t dance, and we don’t speak in tongues, okay? And we don’t laugh very much, either. So, but I think it was significant. I mean, for years, until the Azusa Street Revival. For years, very little had been written and said and taught about the Holy Spirit. And God said, as it were, I’m tired of that. I’m going to whack you guys upside the head. And he did and poured out his Spirit in some of the most amazing things that have ever happened. And God did miracles. He really did. People were healed. They really were. Lives were changed. They really were changed as God poured out his Spirit in a new way to the church. And one of the most significant awakenings to take place in the last hundred years in the church has been the Charismatic and Pentecostal awakening. In fact, it’s been called by some church historians as the third force in Christianity. There’s Protestantism, there’s Catholicism, and there’s Charismatics. There was a famous preacher, television preacher who said the three C’s that have destroyed the church are Catholics and Charismatics and I forget the third Calvinist. I saw him say it, man, and I winced and I thought, I don’t believe I’d have said that. I mean, you know, maybe God disagrees with you and if he disagrees with you, that kind of teaching will get you in trouble. And it did, by the way, without giving any details, but the truth is, the third force in Christianity is, some historians have said, the modern day Charismatic and Pentecostal movement. Did you know that when I was a pastor, and we don’t do this in Presbyterian churches, after praying about it a long time, I really sensed that God was asking us to have healing services, and that’s what we did. Every month on a Wednesday night, we had regular Wednesday evening services. Every night, on a Wednesday night, we had healing services. The elders anointed people with oil, placed their hands on them, and prayed for them, and God did absolutely amazing things in those days. And before we began to have those healing services, it became quite apparent to me that the congregation needed some teaching and I did too. And so, I did a study of the Holy Spirit and a study of the supernatural work of God in the lives of believers. And for four Wednesday nights before we ever had any healing services, I spent that time teaching. In fact, I had to say, I know what I’ve taught you, but God has allowed me to see something very, very important. And I showed them what the Scripture said about God, about his care, about his understanding, about his intervention in our lives, and the way he does that sometimes in a very supernatural way. And as I said, when we began those healing services, it was, in fact, it was so amazing that I didn’t even tell the congregation about what had happened. Because I didn’t want us focused on miracles instead of the miracle giver, which was God himself. But we saw people who had been pained for years, healed. We saw one man with cancer absolutely cleared up and it blew the doctors away. We saw marriages brought together. We saw one person who was going to have surgery the next day. And asked the doctors to check one more time before she went into the surgery, and the issue was gone. It went on and on. And I think that was because God liked those people, but because he liked me too. He was teaching me an important lesson. Don’t ever limit God or the power of the Holy Spirit. When we get that, we’re going to be dangerous. You think about that. Amen.

Well, it’s Wednesday, and sometimes when I have time on a Wednesday, I take some time to answer one or two questions. As you know, Pete will be in on Friday, and we’ll spend the entire broadcast answering your questions. And as I always say, and always mean, we love your questions, and we take them and you seriously. You can ask a question anytime you want to, 24 7, by calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE and following instructions. And sometimes we put your voice on the air. That’s 1-800-KEY-LIFE or you can send your question to

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All right, let’s turn to a question or two. This is an e-mail. And this question is, What about the salvation of those who have never had a chance to hear the gospel? For example, people in a remote village. Well, let me, let me preface what I’m going to say in answer to that with something that it’s important. God is good. God is just. God is loving. And he does everything the right and just and good way. And that includes the gospel and the people who hear it. Peterson wrote a book, Eternity in Their Hearts, a few years ago. A great book that showed how when missionaries get to third world countries where nobody has ever heard of Jesus or the gospel, they are always surprised to find out how Jesus has been there before the missionaries got there. The smell of Jesus is heard in the teaching, in the language, in the realities that are already believed by those who were there. For instance, and I may have told you, I grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, in the mountains. And that’s close to the Cherokee Indian Reservation. And I spent a lot of time there. And I was always amazed how Cherokee theology, before they ever heard the gospel, paralleled the gospel of Jesus Christ. For instance, the Cherokees had a doctrine of the Trinity, and they didn’t even know what the Trinity was. They believed that there was one God. They believed that that God was loving, and kind, and merciful. They believed in forgiveness. It was amazing. And when they heard the gospel for the first time, they said what a lady said in another country. I knew there was a God like that, I just didn’t know his name. So, what God is doing isn’t just limited to people who know his name and know what he’s doing. He may be moving in ways that you and I don’t even know. English evangelicals say that everybody has an opportunity to face the reality of the living God, even if they’ve never heard about Jesus. And if somebody in another country doesn’t know about Jesus, but looks at his idol and says, That’s nothing, I want to know the God who created the hand, my hand, that created this idol. And English evangelicals say that if that decision is made properly on the basis of what is revealed, there will be an opportunity, sometime, someplace, to make the second decision that has to do with Jesus. I don’t have all the answers to these kinds of questions, but I do know God, and I know his ways are right and good and kind and just and, well, for now, that’s enough to know. Hey, I’ve got to go. But first, Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.