“Friends in low places.”

Steve Brown: Friends in low places. Let's talk about it on Key Life.
Guest (Male): 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: If you were listening yesterday, I was talking about how institutions become institutionalism. In fact, I spent almost the whole broadcast on it. But it's important, because if we're not careful, we begin to morph into something we were never intended to be. The church is the bride of Christ. The church is made up of people who aren't qualified to be a part of the church. The church is a place for ragamuffins. And if we ever pretend we're anything more than that, then we're going to make a horrible mistake. I take you back to the verse I gave you when we started studying this particular lie. I'm not good enough and I don't know enough. Paul said, Second Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." I recently read that a friend will forgive you if you kill somebody, but a true friend will help you bury the body. Where do you find true friends? Garth Brooks' song, "Friends in Low Places," is great with an unspoken truth that is built into that song. The only place where you can have true friends is in low places. You have to pretend and constantly adjust your required mask of goodness and competence when you go anywhere else. I've written and said all of this on this broadcast to suggest that if you're a Christian, listen up, you're qualified. Jesus qualified you on the cross. It has nothing to do with what you know and how gifted or good you are. In fact, just the opposite. Paul wrote, "Again, My grace." This is God speaking to Paul. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." We don't really believe that, but it's time we did. I've often told seminary students that they should go into the pulpit with the attitude of, "Get out of my way. The King of Kings has commissioned me. What I will tell you is desperately important, and by God, you will listen." Students wince. They say, "I can't say that." And I say, "Okay, say it to yourself and repent after you say it, but only after you preach the sermon." I get it if you feel more comfortable sitting on the sidelines of life and ministry. Sometimes, frankly, I feel that way, too. But if you would like to be involved and don't believe you can, hopefully, what I've said and what follows will disabuse you of that belief. My late friend, Alan Emery, he was chairman of the Billy Graham Association, and he lived near where I lived in the Boston area. And he had a weekly Bible study of young people, and they came by piles and piles and piles. And he would teach them. And I would sit in the back of that big living room, and he lived in a mansion, in the back of that big living room and just delight in what was happening in the lives of those young people. Alan Emery, by the way, and as an aside, could have said, "I'm not a teenager. I can't be a teenager, and I can't do this." But he didn't. He just loved them. And he loved them big. The title of a book he wrote later on, which I love, the title is "A Turtle on a Fence Post." The book's point is that when you see a turtle on a fence post, you know he didn't get there by himself. I use some quotes from that book on a broadcast once. This is true. I'm not making it up. And a listener sent me a dead turtle. I guess he had killed it and nailed it to a gate post he had made. I suppose it was a thoughtful gesture. But there was no way I was going to keep a dead turtle in my study. But the youth pastor, and his name was Kent Keller, and I love him, and God is using him in gigantic ways. The youth pastor saw it and asked what it was. And I told him, and he said, "Way cool." So I gave it to him, and as far as I know, he still has that dead turtle that he keeps in his office. But don't miss the point. It's a good point. You know what God loves to do? Surprise pagans. You know what God loves to do? Take a normal Christian man or woman, send them to intellectuals and have the intellectuals impressed and blown away with what is being told to them. You know enough. You're good enough. And anybody who tells you different is not speaking from God's word. I am. So make sure you listen. You think about that. Amen.
Guest (Male): Thank you, Steve, and thank you for listening. Tomorrow, Steve will continue our "God's Not Mad at You" teaching series, exploring this statement: "I don't know much, but I know Jesus." Be sure to join us for that. Well, I feel like I don't have to make the case that we live in dark days. Good is called evil, and vice versa. A political season marked by anger, division, and despair. So what are believers to do? Where do we get the energy and perseverance to love? Well, Steve spoke about this in a message called "We Will Be Restored." Take a listen to part of that sermon, then I'll be back to tell you about a special free offer. Here's Steve.
Steve Brown: I don't know if you read, but the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth is closing. That's sad. When I was growing up, every year we went to the circus, and I, and everybody else I knew, dreamed of running away with the circus. Years later, I became a pastor, and it's the same thing. And years later, because I had some friends that I loved a lot, she was a trapeze artist in a traveling circus, and he managed all of the animals in the circus. She was a Christian, and he wasn't, and I talked to him a long time as they traveled all over the country telling him about Jesus and God's grace. And finally, he, like a child, came running. And that meant that they were going to get married, and they asked if I would perform the ceremony when the circus got close to where my church was. And oh man, what an opportunity. I said, "Of course." The next day I got a call from a member of the band, a guy who wanted to know the color of the bridesmaid's dresses so his would match. And I thought, "This is going to be different." And I remember standing in the center and they had a processional and a recessional on an elephant. Those are big mothers. And when you're standing in the center ring of a circus and an elephant's coming at you, you're praying, "Lord, I didn't sign on for this. This isn't what I meant." But they were married, and they were happy. I learned a lot that day. And one of the main things I learned is what happens when the lights are turned down and the music stops. You know those women who are so beautiful with the dresses that sparkle? And you know the men who are so young and handsome in the circus? When the lights are turned down and the music stops, the women aren't beautiful, they're just tired. And the men aren't handsome. They're living in despair, trying to earn enough to keep body and soul together. The greatest show on earth is not the greatest show on earth. There's a sense in which we, in which we're kind of in a circus, aren't we? The band plays, the music is loud, the women are beautiful, the guys are hot, and the promises proceed over and over again. But then somebody turns the lights down, and we're not refreshed. The promises don't deliver. We've heard the crying in the night. We've seen the abuse and the emptiness and the despair and the sin and the darkness. It would overwhelm a Christian if it weren't for First John, the third chapter. "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God."
Guest (Male): This is a powerful and timely word, and I know it will encourage you. Can we send you that sermon on CD for free? If so, call us right now at 1-800-KEYLIFE. That's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at keylife.org 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 CD called "We Will Be Restored." By the way, if you value the work of Key Life, would you join us in that work through your financial support? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope, or you could give safely and securely by text. Just pick up your phone and text KEYLIFE to 28950. That's KEYLIFE, one word or two, it doesn't matter. Text that to 28950. 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.