When they grow up, don’t complain…cheer.

Steve Brown:
When they grow up, don’t complain…cheer. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Welcome to Key Life. I’m Matthew, executive producer for the program, and our host is author and seminary professor Steve Brown. The church has suffered under do more, try harder religion for too long, and Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captives free.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matt. We’re looking at, in our study in Philippians, at Philippians 2:12 through 13. And if you were listening yesterday, and you never listen to me, we saw something that was really important, and it’s this. Leadership is defined by what happens when the leader is gone. Paul, and I’m not going to read that text to you again, but in the 12th verse, the first part, he says something that is really important when you think about it.

Therefore, my dear friends,

and he loved them a lot.

as you have always obeyed,

He means him, as he follows Christ, and he means Christ.

not only in my presence but now much more in my absence.

We talked yesterday about how important it is for parents to train their children for independence and growth and maturity. And to never wince when they reach it, but to become a cheerleader for our kids when they become adults, because if they mature, if they can make it on their own, if they become sound citizens, if they are strong Christians, we did well. Or colloquially, we done good. A woman told me not too long ago her husband had become a Christian and he was growing like wildfire and I was watching and she said to me, I used to think that it would be the most wonderful thing in the world if my husband became a Christian. And not only that, I prayed that God would make him the Christian leader of our household. Now, it’s happened. And frankly, Steve, I don’t like it a bit. Don’t know what’s happened. He knows more of the Father than I do. He understands more of the Bible than I do. He is leading in a godly way, and I want to lead. I thought, that sounds like a parent whose kid all of a sudden turned 21. That’s a good thing. It’s not a bad thing. My late mentor, Fred Smith, and I miss him a lot. I see his daughter occasionally at the Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center, where I teach sometimes, and she’s a delight, and she maintains an incredible ministry that is built around her late father. And if you want to know something about it, people say I make up Fred Smith so I can say wild things and he never existed. Actually, he really was the wisest man I’ve ever known. And if you want to check out some of that wisdom, go to breakfastwithfred.com that’s breakfastwithfred.com at any rate, one of the things that Fred said that I thought about a lot, he said when you build a building, you have to have scaffolding. It’s important for safety. It’s important for a building because you can’t build it without scaffolding. And then he would say, only an idiot leaves the scaffolding up after the building is finished. And then he would teach on parenting, he would teach on discipling, he would teach on the important things that ought to be happening in the church. That people don’t stay immature, that they grow and they stand for Christ. Let me give you a great verse, it’s II Timothy 2:2, listen to it.

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

That’s it. That’s what we need to do. I mean, if everybody stays immature in the church, the church will be immature and useless. So, this is what I’m saying. The test of real parenting is not how well you manage your children, but how well they manage when you’re not there. The test of Christian leadership is not how well people follow you, but how well they lead. The test of a great pastor, if you’re a pastor, is not the people’s love for their pastor, but their love for God. So true, and it’s something to remember as we study the Book of Philippians. Okay, I’m going to talk to you about the process of salvation. And the first thing you’re going to say is, wait, what do you mean process of salvation? There’s no process of salvation, it’s like being pregnant. You’re not partially pregnant or a little bit pregnant, you’re either pregnant or you’re not pregnant. And if you’re a Christian, you’re either a Christian or you’re a not Christian. It’s a one time thing and it happens. Well, I suspect I could quibble over some of that and we’ll talk about it tomorrow. But there is a sense in which you would be right. But there’s a lot more to be said about it. You are saved, but you are also being saved as you move into maturity. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Steve. That was Steve Brown. And if you’re just joining us, we’ve been taking a leisurely tour through Paul’s letter to the Philippians and this week taking a close look at chapter 2: verses 12 and 13. More from this book tomorrow, do hope you’ll join us. So, was last year’s Steve Brown Etc. Christmas show, A Christmas Tree, because it was lit. I don’t know. I don’t know. I heard that’s what the kids are saying these days, from sharing favorite stories to eating cookies and even welcoming a surprise guest, it was not a silent night. Steve even read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Always amazing. Check out a part of that episode, then I’ll be back to tell you about a special free offer.

Steve Brown:
It’s been really interesting this year at the church that I attend, during Advent season, Christmas season, we have a very contemporary worship. And all of the Christmas music didn’t sound like Christmas music to me, but being kind and quiet and civil, I didn’t say anything. My wife was cussing and spitting and I think they heard her do that. And so, this year it’s been Christmas carols and Christmas music. And you know, all kidding aside, that does play a big part in what we feel at Christmas and even the memories that we have of Christmas. Cathy.

Cathy Wyatt:
Seven years ago, I got to sing at Carnegie Hall with Keith and Kristen Getty and a couple hundred other people as well as all their musicians and everything for their sing an Irish Christmas tour that they do every year. And that was a pretty remarkable thing. I did it a couple of times when they were here, when the tour came through in Orlando and participated in, and it was wonderful. You know, the Bob Carr Theater and Carnegie Hall, there was a bit of a difference.

Jinx: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Know somebody.

Steve Brown:
By the way, I played the piano at Carnegie. Well, actually I didn’t, but I started to, I was a speaker for American thing they did for the firemen and the policemen. And when I walked out to speak, there was a big piano there. There had been a number of Christian musicians and I thought I’m going to reach over and just hit a note and tell everybody I played at Carnegie Hall, but it was such a somber, serious moment. It was an encourage America thing. I decided not to do it. And now that I look back, that was a very wise move.

George Bingham: Well, and you didn’t mention that that was after following 9/11, it was honoring.

Steve Brown:
It was right after 9/11.

George Bingham: The first responders.

Steve Brown:
That’s true. It was a moving, moving time. It really was.

Cathy Wyatt:
Speaking of Carnegie Hall, if you want to watch something really, really fun, sometime when you’re sitting around, go to YouTube, the Gaither Home videos are there, and just type in Buddy Greene at Carnegie Hall, our good friend, Buddy Greene, who is just a master musician on of all things, many things, but especially the harmonica, and he played the William Tell Overture on the harmonica at Carnegie Hall, and it was really amazing.

Steve Brown:
I love it when he does that.

Matthew Porter:
When you say Buddy Greene, every time Mary Do You Know comes on, I straight up name drop Buddy Greene. Hey, you know, I’ve met the guy who wrote the melody. And the kids are approaching the age of like, Yeah, Daddy, I got it. I remember you said the same thing last year.

Jinx: I’ll say it again. I am man.

Steve Brown:
There’s some songs, like Mary, Did You Know? that there’s a supernatural thing.

Cathy Wyatt:
There is, absolutely.

Steve Brown:
It gets legs and then people all over start, Amazing Grace is one of those songs, but Mary, Did You Know? is probably one of the most sung Christmas songs, every Christmas.

Cathy Wyatt:
And you know, Mark Lowry, when he wrote the words to that, he gave those words, that poem to a number of people before he gave it to Buddy. And it wasn’t until Buddy that it was like, boom, it just happened.

Steve Brown:
I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that Mark had done that. Beautiful song and a beautiful thought. I’m working on a sermon for next Sunday at a church here in Florida and I’ve been thinking about that particular song. What kind of spirit did Mary have and did she know?

Matthew Porter:
Listen, you’ve got to check out that episode for yourself. So, call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE and we’ll send you that show on CD for free. Again, that number is 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. And Canada. Again, just ask for the free Steve Brown Etc. Christmas show CD. And finally, if you’ve been blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving is easy. Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text, simply text Key Life to 28950 and then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.