“For God’s sake, tell people the truth.”

Steve Brown: For God's sake, tell people the truth. Let's talk on Key Life.
Matthew: That was Steve Brown. He doesn't want to be your guru, and he's not trying to be your mama. He just opens the Bible and gives you the simple truth that will make you free. Steve's a lifelong broadcaster, author, seminary professor, and our teacher on Key Life.
Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. If you were listening yesterday, I was introducing the subject of fear. And we're dealing with some of the lies that Christians believe and what the Bible really says about those lies. The lie is be afraid, be very afraid. And the text is John 14:1 and a pile of others we're going to get to. Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. And that's John 14:1. And I started down a side road. I do that a lot. And started talking about some practical ways that you might want to deal with fear. And I'm an expert in fear, so you I'm old too. And listen, if you want to know the truth, don't ask somebody who's young. They don't know. Ask somebody who's old, who's old like me cuz we don't give a rip and we'll tell you the truth. And also, if you're going to be talking about fear, find somebody who struggles with fear. Don't go to somebody who has a double portion of courage. They can't help you, but I can cuz I struggle with fear. And then I was saying by way of side road, let me give you some ways you can deal with fear. You can pretend that what you fear doesn't exist. Um there are people that do that all the time. Uh what is the old science of the mind guy that went to hell with a Presbyterian and a Baptist? And the Baptist said, you know, if I'd listened to my pastor, he gave a plan of salvation every Sunday. And I should have gone forward and given my life to Christ. Presbyterian said my pastor taught biblical doctrine. And I knew about justification. If I'd just applied it to me, I wouldn't be here. And the science of the mind guy had his head in his hands. And he was saying it's not hot. And it's not here and I'm not here. It's not hot and I'm not here. When I was a young pastor, I often made the mistake of withholding information from the people I loved and served. When couples were headed for divorce, I didn't point out how their actions would end in divorce court. When there was tragedy, I tried to spin it in a positive direction. When I encountered people who were involved in self-destructive actions, I tried to ignore it. When people were dying, I didn't tell them even if the doctors who were often worse than I was asked me to be the one to tell them. Of course, I was young didn't understand how unconscionable my actions were. But then I've done unconscionable things when I was old too. So the youth excuse doesn't wash. But in this particular case, I repented early and determined that while lies die in the light, truth shines and heals. I remember telling a teenager that his father committed suicide and holding him when he cried. I remember that day they I found out about his father and I I went to the school, a junior high school and told the principal I need to see Billy. And he's in class and I told the principal what happened. So the principal went and got Billy and I said, Billy, come with me and we'll sit in my car and I'm going to take you home. And then I said to him, Billy, what I'm going to what I 'm going to tell you is really hard. And I told him what happened with his father. And he wept and I held him while he cried. I remember telling my long time barber whom I love what the doctor told me about his terminal condition. Tom, I said to him as I held his hand, you're going to die soon. Now I want to tell you something more important than what I just said. And I told Tom who was proud. He was a sinner and bragged about it often telling me he was too sinful for Jesus. I told him the truth about Jesus and his love for sinners. And Tom came running to Jesus. I remember telling the woman maybe one of the most self-righteous people I'd ever met who said she was suffering for Jesus in her marriage, that she wasn't suffering for Jesus, but was arrogant and self-righteous. That by the way saved her marriage. Her husband thanked me and eventually he became a Christian. I could go on and on and on. Sometimes we try to avoid our fear by pretending what we fear doesn't exist. We could, I suppose, deal with a particular fear by being more afraid of something even more fearsome. As I'm working on this book and on this broadcast, I'm really concerned about the reaction of those who read it. And I fear that. You know, when my first book came out, and that was 100 years ago, I got some of the most I up to that point I'd gotten some criticism, but nothing like that. I got unbelievable angry mail about that book. I 'm just glad there was no email in those days or I would have been inundated. And and so whenever I work on a new book, I think of the people it's going to irritate. And I fear that. But let me tell you something. I want to speak truth more than I fear that. Fearing God is appropriate. Again, if you've never stood before God and been afraid, then you're probably worshiping an idol. So I fear what you'll think about me when this book has come out. And but I fear God I love more than I do you. That's not necessarily because I'm so spiritual, faithful, and courageous, even though some faithfulness may be involved. It's because God scares me more than you do. My fear of him is all kind of fear. He's not angry at me. And we're going to talk a lot about that. But a real fear as I stand before the God to whom I owe everything. So I stand in awe and in fear of God who loves me. And because of that, you don't scare me nearly as much as he does. In the Garden of Eden, God looked for Adam and found him. And Adam said, and this is Genesis 3:10, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid. I don't want to go there. I really can deal with fear by fearing something far worse. Probably not a good way to deal with fear, but it sometimes works. I'm often a guest preacher in churches. A friend says he invites me to preach in their church because I can say things he can't. He says when you preach and they get angry, you get to leave. When I say things that makes people angry, I can't run. I have to stay and deal with their anger. I've told my friend he should take a risk and might be surprised at what happens. If you're going to say something controversial but biblical, preface it when you say it with I don't like what I'm going to say anymore than you do. Some of you are going to get angry. But God scares me more than you do. And he said it and I didn't. I told him that God's people really do recognize truth more than he thinks. Another way to deal with fear is to face it and defeat it. So many Christian leaders, me too on occasion, say we're in a battle we can win. If we have enough faith, have prayed and repented enough, and we're walking in obedience, we don't have anything to fear. And we can be victorious. Maybe you can do that. But that's a problem for me. Uh and it makes it almost impossible. We're often lacking in faith and don't walk in obedience. Not only that, but we sometimes forget to pray. That's when the monsters in the closet come out to get us. And I'll tell you some more tomorrow when we continue talking about the ways we deal with fear. And eventually we're going to get to the biblical way that counters the lie. The Bible says fear not. The Bible says that you can trust him. The Bible says be glad. You think about that. Amen.
Matthew: Thank you, Steve. That was Steve Brown continuing in our teaching series based on his new book God's Not Mad at You, now available on Amazon and at keylife.org/notmadbook. Tomorrow we'll explore the idea that you're a lot worse than you think you are. That sounds like fun. Hope you'll join us for that. Do you ever feel like you're stuck on a spiritual treadmill trying to convince God that you're a good person? If so, we have a special booklet we want to get into your hands called God's Not Mad at You. Take it from Steve's new book of the same name. This booklet exposes the subtle kickers that ruin our joy. Get your free copy right now by calling us at 1 800 Key Life. That's 1 800 539 5433. You can also email Steve at keylife.org to ask for that booklet or go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the US and Canada. Again, just ask for the absolutely free booklet called God's Not Mad at You. Hey, one last thing before you go. Would you consider giving to Key Life to help continue the work of this ministry? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope or you can give safely and securely by text. Just take out your phone and text Key Life to 28950 then follow the instructions. And please know that no matter how you give, big or small, one time or ongoing, every gift matters and every gift really helps. Thanks. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and 4C in Canada and Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.