As long as the Holy Spirit is on the plane, you don’t have to worry.

Steve Brown:
As long as the Holy Spirit is on the plane, you don’t have to worry. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life, here to let Christians know that God isn’t mad at them. Keep listening and you’ll hear that because of what Jesus has done, you’re welcomed home into the family of God because of his radical grace, free from the penalties of sin and never alone in your suffering.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you were listening yesterday, I was talking about Henry Kissinger and how he was afraid of flying. That always amazed me. But you know something? Whenever Richard Nixon was on the airplane, Henry Kissinger was not afraid. Now, he should have been. But let me tell you something, God is at the very center with his Spirit in the church of Christ, making us what we ought to be in order to witness to the world. Mother Church will sometimes be sick. She will sometimes be wounded. She will do some really dumb, silly, and sinful things. She will even sometimes have the look of death about her. But she will never die. And that’s because the Holy Spirit is at the center of the church, and not only that, the Holy Spirit is lifting the church up as how God deals with people he loves. In fact, one of the best arguments for the existence of God Is the fact of the church. Now, I’m not talking about the spiritual church, the church that every Christian is, I’m talking about the institutional church, the one you should have gone to on Sunday. I’m talking about the church with all of its programs, with all of its work, and all that it does. The Holy Spirit is at the center of that, given the way the church has been persecuted in times of trial, mismanaged in times of calm. There is no rational explanation for the existence of the church. Nietzsche said, God is dead. And God said, Nietzsche is dead. Similarly, there is a long line of tyrants who have tried to destroy the church, all of them are either dead or soon will be. With all of its pain, its glory, its failure, its sin, and its sickness, the church is eternal. When Jesus returns, the church will still be trucking. This is Ephesians 5:25 through 27.

Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with a washing of the water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

And she is. And you know why? Because of what the Holy Spirit has taught us. And what has the Holy Spirit taught us? That we are forgiven. That we bear the clothing of the righteousness of Christ. There’s a wonderful verse in I Corinthians 3:16, Paul writes.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Now, just in case you’ve used that to get your husband or wife or kid to eat better food and to stop smoking or to get exercise, you should know that you have used that verse inappropriately. If you’re into making others feel guilty, you may want to use I Corinthians 6:19 for that purpose. Let me show you something interesting about that verse I Corinthians 3:16. When Paul uses the word you, it isn’t singular, it’s plural. In other words, he was not referring to you, an individual, he was referring to a bunch. For those of us who are from the South, he was saying that y’all are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Or for those of you who are true Southerners, you know that when you refer to a lot of folks, you properly say, all y’all. And so, Paul was saying, all y’all are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now, let me show you something else. When Paul used the word temple, he had a variety of Greek words from which to choose, all of which could have referred to the temple or a part of it. Do you know what word he used? He used a particular word that refers to the sacred sanctuary itself, the holy place, the Holy of Holies. And so, he is saying, don’t you know that all y’all are at the very center of what the Holy Spirit has created. You are the holy of holies. That’s important because the Holy of Holies. It was a place where God himself resided. It was the place where only the high priest could enter. Only once a year on the Day of Atonement, and that only after an elaborate series of ritual cleansing. Not only that, I’m told that when the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, he did it with a rope tied around him so they could pull him out if something happened. You say, why are you saying all this? Because we’re talking about the church, about the Holy Spirit’s job description of teaching us to love one another. And God loves the church. All y’all. And everybody who belongs to Jesus, belongs to everybody who belongs to Jesus. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Y’all, that was Steve Brown continuing in our series on the Holy Spirit. As Steve just said, everybody who belongs to Jesus belongs to everybody who belongs to Jesus. And we’ll explore that idea further tomorrow. Hope you’ll join us. Well, Father’s Day is nearly here and whether that relationship was good or bad for you, each of us was fathered by God himself. Steve spoke about this in a special sermon called The Best Father You Ever Had. Take a listen to part of that talk, then I’ll be back to tell you about a special free offer. Here’s Steve.

Steve Brown:
I realize, duh, I’m not God. I mean, he knows what he’s doing. I hardly ever do know what he’s doing and question him often on it. He does it right. I sometimes don’t even know what right is. I can’t, I can’t father the way God fathers, cause I’m not God. Some of you wear those WWJD bracelets. What Would Jesus Do? That comes from a book that was written in 1886 by a guy by the name of Sheldon, and it was called In His Steps. And if you’ve read that book, and it’s a great little book, these people decide that in everything they do and say, they’re going to ask, what would Jesus do? And some amazing things happened in that particular book. Now, that was the fictional side of the theological side of what is called the social gospel. Men like Walter Ralston Bush, along with Sheldon and many others. And it was a great idea, said that what we have to do is to apply a little ecclesiastical elbow grease, a little personal elbow grease, and then we can see major changes happening in our world, and in our nation, and in ourselves. Now, there’s something to that, but the last time I looked, it wasn’t fixed. The hungry are still hungry, the day is far spent, and we’re still empty. People sin about as much as they did. Politicians are just as dishonest as they were. Our culture isn’t more compassionate and kind and authentic. So, maybe it doesn’t work. And you know why it doesn’t work? Because you’re not Jesus, that’s why. Now, it’s good to ask what would Jesus do? I’ve been trying to be like him all my life with varying degrees of success. Sometimes I am, and sometimes I’m not, but I know that I’m not Jesus. And so, when I say, what would Jesus do? I might know what that is, but I don’t know how in the world I’m going to be able to pull it off. And so, that’s the reason, it’s very difficult for me to teach on parenting. I’m not the greatest parent in the world. I made so many mistakes and still do as a grandparent. It’s really, really hard to do that. When Ray asked me to do this thing on parenting, I felt like Moses when God told him about circumcision, you want me to do what? And I wouldn’t do this for anybody but Ray and Jesus. But there’s another reason why this is hard for me. You know what it is? I’m not dead yet. I have a wonderful wife, but I’m a hard guy to live with. It’s got to be really hard for her. She, you know, we’ve been married so many years, I don’t even remember what it’s like not to be. She’s so much a part of me, but let me tell you something. She may just come in next week and say, I’ve had it, enough is enough. I’m out of here. And I don’t want to be teaching on marriage when that happens. And I’ve got wonderful kids. They, they really are. They’re secure. They walk with Christ. They’re loving. They love me and their mother. I mean, it’s so cool. But they’ve seen the bad side of their daddy too. It may be that they’re getting tired of the phoniness and they say, I’ve had it up to my ears with religion. I’m going to be an atheist or a Buddhist. Now, I don’t think it’s going to happen, but it could happen. And I’ve got plenty of time to screw it up. So, I’m not dead yet. If I knew when I was going to die, you ought to come hear me teach the last week on marriage and on parenting. It would be profound. Now, let me tell you something. Everything I just said about me is true of you, too.

Matthew Porter:
If you’re a dad, if you know a dad, if you had a dad, this sermon is for you. So, call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE and we’ll send you that whole sermon on CD for free. Again, that number is 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 CD called The Best Father You Ever Had. And finally, if you value the work of Key Life, you can join us in that work through your financial support. Giving is easy, simply charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or gift safely and securely through text, just pick up your phone right now and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. 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.