227. God is Good

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Even with all the "bad" that goes on in the world, we make the case this week of what we believe to be true - that God is only good!

226. Responsible or Response-Able?

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Sometimes the question comes up, "Do we have 'responsibilities' as Christians?" Are we responsible to live the Christian life? Does God do His part, and now it's up to us to be responsible to do our part?

This week we explore the idea that rather than God requiring us to be responsible to live a certain way, He instead has placed His very life in us and makes us response-able (that is, able to respond) to His working in and through us.

225. Freed From Sin

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Romans 6 talks about the "body of sin" being done away with and it says that "he who has died had been freed from sin." What does that mean? What does it mean that we're no longer bound by sin? The good news is that our sin has been taken away and no longer separates us from God! We'll talk about this and more on this week's edition of Growing in Grace.

224. Not Judging One Another By Our Performance

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This week Kap and Joel share some thoughts on Paul's words in 2 Cor 5:16, "From now on, we regard no one according to the flesh." People tend to focus on what we do and don't do - our performance and outward appearances - and to judge one another according to that, rather than focusing on what Christ has already done. We are to no longer regard ourselves and others according to our own efforts and performance. Rather, in Christ, our sin has been taken away and what counts is not our performance and abilities, but rather "what counts is a new creation" (Gal 6:15 NIV).

223. What About Those Who Continue in a Sinful Lifestyle?

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As we talked about last week, it's by One Man's obedience - the obedience of Jesus - that we have been made righteous. Jesus' obedience has been imputed to us, and He is not just "in" our life - He is our life.  The righteousness that we stand in, and even our faith, has been given to us as a gift.  Righteousness is "the state of him who is as He ought to be," "approved by God."

And so the question arises, if all of this has been given to us freely as a gift, what about those who continue in a lifestyle of sin?  Do they remain saved?  Do they remain righteous?  Obviously we all have to deal with the natural consequences of our sins, but do they stand between us and God, and do they negate the free gift of righteousness?

Everybody sins, but is there some "standard" by which we are to judge whether one person is still "ok" in front of God and someone else isn't?  If so, what is that standard?  Where do we draw the line?  Hmmm.

222. Made Righteous By One Man's Obedience

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Romans 5:19 says that it was through one man's disobedience (Adam) that people were made sinners, and that it's through One Man's obedience (Jesus) that many are made righteous. We were sinners, not because we ever sinned (not because of our actions), but because we inherited Adam's nature when we were born. And we have been made righteous, not because we ever did anything righteous (not because of our actions), but all because of the obedience of One Man --- Jesus!

221. Special Guest Steve McVey - Part 3

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We're very appreciative of Steve McVey of Grace Walk Ministries for joining us for a few Growing in Grace programs. This week is the third of three programs with Steve. Some of the topics discussed include the phrase "license to sin," as well as God not only being loving, but Himself being love.  We ask Steve about the purpose and value of the Old Testament in the life of a Christian, and about the upcoming Radically Better conferences in 2010.  As many people may know, Steve has posted a series of videos on YouTube called "101 Lies Taught in Church Every Sunday."  We ask Steve if any of this will turn into a book, and Steve also talks about the huge response that he's received regarding those videos - both positive and negative.

It's been very enjoyable spending time with Steve McVey, and we hope to do it again in the future!

Grace Walk Website
Grace Walk Internet Radio
Steve's Blog

220. Special Guest Steve McVey - Part 2

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This week it's Part 2 of our interview with Steve McVey of Grace Walk Ministries. Steve answers Mike and Joel's questions about whether grace will cause a person to sin and run away from God or cause a person to grow in intimacy with Him, how a guilty conscience is detrimental to the life of a Christian, and how (and whether or not) to interact with people who are of different mindsets about the message of grace. Among other things, we also ask Steve about the growing "grace revolution" that is happening all over the world.

Grace Walk Website
Grace Walk Internet Radio
Steve's Blog

219. Special Guest Steve McVey - Part 1

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The Growing in Grace podcast began almost five years ago on Grace Walk Internet Radio, and this week and the next two weeks we welcome special guest Steve McVey of Grace Walk Ministries.  Steve's ministry has impacted many, many people over the years, including both Mike and Joel since the mid 90's, and it's truly a pleasure to be able to spend some time with Steve talking about the wonderful grace of God!

Also check out:
Grace Walk Website
Grace Walk Internet Radio
Steve's Blog

218. Accepted in the Beloved

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God has made us accepted in the Beloved. God Himself has done this! It's not through anything we've done. It's not through our striving to reach out to God, but it's about recognizing that in Christ He has reached out to all of mankind and pursued us with great passion!

Special treat coming up for Growing in Grace listeners! To round out the month of December, Steve McVey of Grace Walk Ministries will be joining Mike and Joel as a guest on the next three programs!

Growing in Grace Together - Jim Robbins - The Good and Noble Heart - Part 2

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Part 2 of Joel's interview with Jim Robbins, author of the book Recover Your Good Heart.  Among other things, this week Jim talks about the desires of our hearts, and how God is a God of desire and how desire is a good thing and is integral in every part of our lives.  Using some personal stories, Joel and Jim talk about how our relationships with God and with each other should be motivated by desire, and not by duty or robotic obedience.

Also discussed is the question of what to do with the desires that we have that don't line up with who we are in Christ.  Are those really "our" desires?  Do those desires come from the new heart?  And Jim ends up talking about the question of whether or not a person should stay in a fellowship/local assembly in which the true message of grace and the new heart is not being taught.  A very thought provoking conversation that will help us to recognize and live from the new good and noble heart that God has given us!

Find out more about Jim's ministry - The Good and Noble Heart - which includes a blog, a Ning community and a Facebook community.

217. God's Acceptance of Mankind / Sins Taken Away

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We're taking a look this week at God's acceptance of us apart from our behavior - the unconditional love and grace of God for all of mankind. It's His love that sent Jesus to the cross, and it's the cross that showed His great love for all. When Adam fell, God didn't change - Adam changed. God didn't hide from Adam - Adam hid from God. In His passionate love, God pursued Adam and made the way for all of mankind to be saved. The issue isn't whether or not God loves and accepts people. The sins of all of mankind were dealt with at the cross. They have not only been covered - they have been taken away.The issue is whether or not people have believed and have received the gift of life that God freely offers.

Growing in Grace Together 5 - Andrew Farley - The Naked Gospel - Part 3

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Part 3 of 3 of Joel's conversation with Andrew Farley, author of The Naked Gospel. This discussion includes the good news of the once-for-all forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  All our sins have been forgiven - past, present and future!  The New Testament speaks of our forgiveness in the past tense!  And so what do we do when we sin?  Do we need to ask for forgiveness?  How did everything change with Christ having taken away our sin (not just covering it), and with us already having been washed, and made clean and spotless?  Andrew provides some great biblical insight on all of this and much more.

Growing in Grace Together 4 - Jim Robbins - The Good and Noble Heart - Part 1

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Joel had the pleasure of sitting down with his good friend Jim Robbins, author of the book Recover Your Good Heart, for a two-part interview. Jim talks about his ministry - The Good and Noble Heart - which includes a blog, a Ning community and a Facebook community as well.  These days, people are truly connecting and finding authentic, meaningful relationship through sources such as these online communities.

Joel asks Jim to define and describe what he means by the "heart," and about the difference between what is said in the Bible about a heart that is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" and a heart that is "good and noble."

Listen in for some great conversation about why Christians tend to walk around in guilt and shame, and why there seems to be such a focus in the church on behavior management and sin management - and how living with a New Covenant mentality rather than an Old Covenant mentality, as well as a proper view of the new heart, will overcome all of that.

The conversation was only getting started - stay tuned for Part 2 next Monday!

216. How Jesus the Man Did the Things He Did

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During His time as a man upon the earth, Jesus said and did a lot of things. How did He do them? Did He speak great words and perform great works because He was God? He Himself said, "I can do nothing of Myself." So if He did nothing of Himself, how did He do the things He did? The scriptures reveal that He didn't do the things because He was God, but because God was with Him.  Jesus had an abiding relationship with the Father, and the Father did His works through Jesus.  In the same way, we can do nothing of ourselves, but Christ who abides in us does His works in and through us!

Growing in Grace Together 3 - Andrew Farley - The Naked Gospel - Part 2

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This week Joel continues his conversation with Andrew Farley, author of The Naked Gospel. Sometimes the words of Jesus are difficult to understand, especially when compared to the New Covenant concepts given by the Apostle Paul. Andrew talks about putting the cross at the center of our understanding of the words of Jesus.  As Mike and Joel have talked about several times, even recently, on the Growing in Grace podcast, often Jesus was raising the standard of the law, saying things such as, "be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect," "cut out your eye if it causes you to sin," "your righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees," etc.

And so in this week's discussion of The Naked Gospel, Andrew talks about how we can either water down Jesus' words and take them to mean that He was simply trying to get us to "do our best" at the things He said, or we can take His words literally and understand the larger point, that the law was pointing out our faults, and through Jesus' very own words we find that we can't do what He was saying to do - therefore setting us up to receive the gospel freely, and not by what we do or don't do.

All of this, then, leads up to chucking aside our own efforts and instead we find a new and living way.  It's not "Moses 2.0," as Andrew calls it (an upgraded version of Moses, or the Law), but rather a life in which Moses is gone and we're actually inhabited by the Spirit of Jesus Christ Himself.  A life in which we're in union with Him - united with Him in His death, in His burial and in His resurrection.  We're not copying or imitating Christ.  We're not trying to be like Him.  Rather we're living from His very life that indwells us.

You'll be greatly encouraged this week as Andrew once again clearly describes the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, and the difference between the old way and the new and living way.

215. Change the Way You Think About How You Relate to God

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Picking up on what we talked about last week, about the true meaning of repentance, and building on it a little this week. Stop thinking you relate to God through your behavior, and start believing that you relate to Him through the good news!

Also: In case you haven't heard, Joel has started a new "Growing in Grace" feature called "Growing in Grace Together." All the programs will be posted here! Check out the first two programs that have already been posted, featuring John Lynch (coauthor of Bo's Cafe) and Andrew Farley (author of The Naked Gospel).

Growing in Grace Together 2 - Andrew Farley - The Naked Gospel - Part 1

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This week Joel begins a three-part chat with Andrew Farley, author of the book The Naked Gospel (thenakedgospel.com). Andrew talks about the overall theme of the book, "Jesus Plus Nothing," and gets into such topics as:

-Whether or not the Christian has any more relationship with the law (including but not limited to the "Ten Commandments")
-The Old and New Covenants
-The fact that we're dead to sin
-Jesus' words in which He elevated the standards of the law, and what this means to us on this side of the cross
-How we are now motivated, not by law, but by the new heart and spirit that God has given us
-Much more!

If you're a regular listener to Growing in Grace, you'll notice that Andrew's heart and mind is that same as ours on all of these things!  Listen in as Andrew presents the straightforward truth of The Naked Gospel.

214. Repentance Means to Change Your Thinking

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The word "repent" has traditionally been taught as a word that means "change your behavior." "Repentance" is taught as a necessary part of being saved. But if repentance means that we have to change our behavior in order to be saved or in order to keep ourselves saved, then doesn't that mean that it's our own works/effort that saves us?

What does it really mean to repent? We'll get into that this week on Growing in Grace.

Growing in Grace Together 1 - John Lynch, Coauthor of Bo's Cafe

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This week we're happy to present a new feature here on Growing in Grace, in addition to our regular weekly podcast. "Growing in Grace Together" will feature informal conversations with various people, simply chatting with them about their own grace journeys.

For this inaugural edition, Joel speaks with special guest John Lynch, coauthor of the new novel Bo's Café (boscafe.com), a book he wrote along with Bruce McNicol and Bill Thrall.  In short, Bo's Café is a book that will help people who are struggling with a performance-based life, and with various issues in life that never seem to get resolved. Even after hearing all the "right" things preached and knowing all the "right" things to do, we find that our lives are still mucky and falling apart, and we live with guilt and shame - and yet we make ourselves appear nice and shiny to others as we wear masks and as we hide our guilt and shame well, presenting ourselves to others as the person we wish we would be, rather than being real and genuine with others about how things really are on the inside.

As John shares, we need to find a place where "the worst about me could be known and I'd discover that I'd be loved more and not less in the telling of it, and just that alone would start breaking my shame that would allow me to enjoy this health."  Listen in as John talks about the various characters in Bo's Café, and how they come to find that Christ-in-them is enough, as He works in and through them - not with quick fixes to their problems, and not through well-laid-out and well-lived-out rules and principles, but rather as they learn to be vulnerable with one another and as they learn to trust in God's grace to work powerfully and dynamically in them through the safe - and often messy - place of genuine relationships.

213. Faith, Works and Dead Works

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"Faith without works is dead," says James. We talked about that a little bit last week, and we'll talk about it a little more this week. We'll dig into the idea of how faith and works work together, so to speak, and we'll show how we believe this phrase from James does not mean that we do works in order to "prove" our faith or in order to make our faith genuine. We'll also talk a bit about how "works without faith are dead works!" (See how we cleverly moved the words around a bit). ;)  Anyone, even people without faith, can do good works.  People can be good imitators, and their imitations can appear very close to the real thing, and yet just as an imitation is not the real thing, in the same way people can do works that appear really, really good, but are nevertheless dead works.

212. Justified By Faith AND Works?

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James, James, James... Why'd you have to do it? Why'd you have to say it?  Why'd you have to go and say it the way you said it? Why'd you have to say things like, "You see then, that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only" (James 2:24) and "Wasn't our father Abraham justified by works...?" (James 2:21). Didn't Paul say, "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God" (Rom 4:2) and didn't Paul repeatedly say that we are justified by faith apart from works? (Rom 3:28, Gal 2:16, Gal 3:24). And James, what's up with that "faith without works is dead" statement?

Were you having a bad day when you wrote that letter?  Did you simply disagree with Paul?  Was Martin Luther on track with his comments about your letter being a "right strawy epistle?"  Is there another way to look at your epistle?  Do Kap and Joel have anything to say about this?

Hmm... Let's see if they do!

211. God Is At Work In You

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So often we seem to make the Christian life about our work that we do for God. But as we discuss this week, it's not about the work that we do for God, but rather about His work that He does in and through us! HE has begun a good work in us and HE is faithful to complete it!

210. Work Out Your Own Salvation?

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We're going to spend a little bit of time talking about confusing or misunderstood "works" passages in the Bible. This week we talk about the Apostle Paul's words that he writes to the Philippians - "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Those words, when taken alone at face value, might cause a type of fear and trembling that was never intended, as it might seem to be saying that our salvation is somehow dependent upon our works! So what did Paul mean with those words? As usual, a look at Paul's surrounding words - as well as other things Paul said in his other letters - helps us to get a better grip on what this is really all about.

209. Jesus' Harsh Words to Self-Righteous Hypocrites

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Did Jesus approach everyone in the same way? During the past few weeks we've hopefully been successful at throwing that idea into the shredder! Jesus spoke differently to different people, and didn't always approach and respond to them in the same way - and it always depended upon all kinds of varying factors. It never was black and white.

So what about Jesus' interaction with self-righteous people and hypocrites (essentially one in the same)? It seems as if these people bugged Jesus the most, and He often had more than a mouthful to say to them. This week we look at one such example of His interaction with them in Matthew 23, as He speaks openly and harshly to and about the self-righteous, hypocritical scribes and Pharisees.

208. Jesus' Response To "What Shall I Do To Inherit Eternal Life?"

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Just as with the "certain lawyer" who approached Jesus (Luke 10:25-37, as we discussed recently), the "rich young ruler" also approached Jesus with the question, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (see Mark 10:17-27, Luke 18:18-27)

Jesus' response to the man was similar, bringing up five or six of the Ten Commandments. And so, is that true? Do the commandments have anything to do with inheriting eternal life? After all, that was how Jesus responded to this man's question about inheriting eternal life! Mike and Joel talk this through in this week's Growing in Grace podcast.

As we continue looking at how the words of Jesus don't always apply to believers, we realize many questions may arise, including the question, "What about the Bible passage that says, 'ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work?'" We take some time out at the beginning of the podcast to address that.

207. It's All About the Unconditional Love of the Father

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Continuing from last week with our look at parables in which we often seem to misidentify the characters, or at least in which we seem to put the spotlight on the wrong characters, this week we take a look at the story that is commonly called "The Parable of the Prodigal Son." Certainly the prodigal son isn't a character who we simply glance over, and most of us can easily identify with him in one way or another, but is he really meant to be the main focus of the parable? We'll share a couple of real-life stories as we discuss how we think the focus was always meant to be on the great love of the father.

206. Identifying Ourselves Correctly in the Parables

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The words of Jesus - surprisingly to many people - are not always what they seem at face value, as we've discussed over the past few weeks here on Growing in Grace. Often we begin with a preconceived premise in our determination of what Jesus is trying to communicate, but if we start with the wrong premise then we're going to end up going down the wrong path, leading to the wrong conclusions. With this in mind, this week we take a look at how various characters in the parables that Jesus told are often misunderstood because we often start with the wrong premise of the meaning of each parable.

Often the parable of the Good Samaritan is read and taught in such a way as to make us (Christians) out to be people who should strive to be the Good Samaritan in the story. The parables of the Pearl of Great Price and of the Treasure Hidden in a Field are presented as stories that show Jesus as a precious pearl and treasure that we are to purchase after we sell all we have. Are these things really what these parables are communicating? We'll take into consideration the people Jesus was talking with in each situation and what questions He was responding to, and also take into account the surrounding context and other New Covenant truth to help us sort out who some of characters in the parables really represent.

Hint: We often try to make ourselves the heroes and/or the centerpieces of the parables. But perhaps these parables really show us how Jesus is the hero and centerpiece!

205. Sermon on the Mount - Jesus' Words To You? (Part 2)

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We're taking some time to look at some of the 'hard sayings' of Jesus, as recorded in the four books that open the New Testament as we know it, known as "The Gospels." Specifically, this week we're continuing on with our look at "The Sermon on the Mount." What was Jesus really saying? To whom did His words apply? Was this a "Christian" teaching? Was Jesus giving a new list of rules to live by? Why do some of His words seem so harsh and legalistic?

We'll move on next week to various other words that Jesus spoke to others that seem hard, looking at them in the context of the New Covenant in which we now live.

204. Sermon on the Mount - Jesus' Words To You? (Part 1)

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Jesus said it, so we're to follow it - right? Not so fast! Over the next few weeks Kap and the Breezeman will be taking a look at various words of Jesus that seem like hard sayings. And they're hard for a reason! This week we begin with the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Check out some of the things Jesus said:

-You will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.
-Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment
-Whoever says, "You fool!" will be in danger of hell fire!
-Whoever looks at someone with lust has committed adultery in his heart
-If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out
-If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off

And so on! Read the whole thing for yourself. Is this a word from Jesus that is to be applied in daily Christian living? Who was He talking to? What was His purpose? What covenant was being represented here? We'll take some time this week and next week to go through what we believe is the true meaning and purpose of the Sermon on the Mount.

Hopefully, if this passage has caused you any fear, worry or anxiety, this will take a load off!

203. I Give My Life To God?

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We've all heard expressions like "I gave my life to God" and "God, I give my life to you." But is it really true that we give our lives to God? Do we really think that we are the ones who offer our lives to Him? Or is it the other way around? The good news of the exchanged life is not that we had something to offer God for Him to use but that we had nothing to offer Him, and instead He gave His life to us and came to live in us! We didn't give our lives to God. Rather, we died - we were crucified with Christ - and the lives we live are no longer our lives but are His life in us.

Many people are trying to do their best to offer their "all" to God. They're trying to "do" in order to become something. But in Christ we've already become something (complete in Him, new creations, etc), and the lives we live are not a matter of performing for God or offering our "best" to Him, but rather resting in Him and having Him live His life through us!

202. Identity - How Did I Become Who I Am?

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The Bible has a lot to say about the new life that Christians have. Various passages talk about our new identity in Christ. How did we gain this new identity? How did we become who we are? Was it by works? Or was it simply by birth? Are we trying to become something through our behavior, or are we already who we are on the basis of having inherited a new nature and identity, apart from anything we've ever done or will ever do? We'll discuss these questions and more this week on Growing in Grace.

201. Dead People Don't Keep Laws And Don't Break Laws

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Continuing on with our conversation that we were having before our 3 special highlight editions of Growing in Grace, Kap talks about an actual person who no longer breaks the laws of the land to illustrate how we as Christians no longer break God's laws!

Also this week: The Christian life is, of course, not about keeping or breaking God's laws, so how in the world do we live our lives in Christ? Might it have something to do with grace?! Can too much grace be preached? We'll talk about all this and more on this week's Growing in Grace podcast.

200. Special Celebration Edition - Highlights Part 3

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Thanks for helping us celebrate our landmark 200th podcast! Here's the third and final highlights program.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

200. Special Celebration Edition - Highlights Part 2

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The festivities continue this week as we celebrate our 200th Growing in Grace Podcast with some more highlights from past programs!

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

200. Special Celebration Edition - Highlights Part 1

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We're celebrating our 200th Growing in Grace Podcast with a look back on highlights from the past programs that have led up to this memorable occasion! It's been a lot of fun to have you sit in with us on our casual conversations as we discover together what true freedom is all about. We'll continue with our celebrating for the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned for more highlights to come, and of course we're looking forward to many more great chats in the future!

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

199. If Not Law and Rules Then What is the Source of Living the Christian Life?

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For the past several weeks we've been getting pretty heavy into discussions about God's Law. We've discussed the purpose of the Law, and how it is the ministry of death and condemnation, and how being under the Law is bondage. We then talked about how Jesus came to FREE us from the Law! For those not familiar with all these things that the New Covenant scriptures say about the Law, this may leave some scratching their heads and asking questions such as, "If the Christian life is not about keeping God's law and it's not about following rules, then what is the motivation and the source of living the Christian life?

If we say that Jesus came to deliver us from the Law, and all we talk about is God's love and grace, won't that cause people to want to go out and sin and live reckless lives? Is that what grace does? (Do we really have the gall to make grace out to be so cheap and powerless and insufficient?) The Law, which is good and holy and perfect, had one main problem. It could certainly lay down its demands of perfection - but yet it had absolutely no power to help anyone live right! Grace, on the other hand, is the ever-sufficient power of living the Christian life. To take it even further, it's not that grace enables the flesh to live a better life, but through God's grace we have died to the Law in order that we may have true life - the very life of Christ in us! Therein lies the power and the motivation and the source of the entire Christian life!

Special Note: Next week marks our 200th Growing in Grace program! To celebrate, we'll spend two or three weeks running highlights of our past programs. This should be a lot of fun as we look back on some of our conversations that have hopefully been a source of grace, freedom and life. Thanks so much for listening and for all your encouraging words!

198. Freedom Comes Not Through Law But Through Faith

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Christians, declare your independence from the Law! Many Christians, it seems, have not realized that Christ set them free from God's Law. But since it's the truth, we might as well know and understand it so we can live a life of independence from the Law and of true freedom in Christ!

There are over 600 Laws in the Bible. So which Laws are we talking about here? As everyone knows, there are two covenants - the Old and the New. In the Old, we see that there are laws that are broken into three categories: sacrificial laws, dietary laws... AND what is known as "moral laws," or The Ten Commandments. Most Christians have no problem with the understanding that we don't live by the old sacrificial and dietary laws. But as we check out Paul's words in Galatians this week, we find out what he has to say about the latter set of laws, which many Christian seem to think are there for us to live by. If you see things that way, you may be surprised at what the Bible actually says about that!

In short, let's just say that walking by Law means that we are in bondage! To walk according to God's promise - to walk according to freedom - means to walk by faith, not law. We are children of faith and of the promise, not children of the flesh and bondage!

Next week: If our lives in Christ are not to be by Law, then what is the motivation and source of good works and righteous living?

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197. Law: Bondage, Jesus: Freedom

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Continuing on from last week's program in which we talked about being delivered from the Law, this week we talk a little bit more about the ministry of the Law, which is bondage, and the "better hope" that we have in Jesus, which is freedom!

The Apostle Paul uses very strong language when talking about the Law. Sometimes we glance over these things, but we've got to look at the reality of the Law's purpose and ministry so we can have a clearer understanding of the ministry of Jesus! Did you know that Paul refers to the Law as "the law of sin and death," "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation?" He brings up the Old Testament characters of Hagar and Sarah, saying they are symbols of the two covenants - one that gives birth to bondage and the other that brings freedom. Are we of the child that was born according to the flesh, or of the child that was born according to the promise!

196. Delivered From The Law

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This week we talk about our relationship with the Law. The Law is good, holy and perfect. Is it "good" to remain in a relationship with the good, holy and perfect Law? This "marriage partner" points out all our faults and demands perfection... but yet is powerless to provide it! The end result is nothing but guilt and condemnation. And so somehow we needed to be delivered from this bad relationship. Using Paul's illustration from Romans 7 and his words from Galatians 2, Mike and Joel discuss what needed to happen in order for us to be "delivered from the law."

Guest on 'The Good and Noble Heart' podcast

This afternoon Jim Robbins had Joel as a guest on his podcast, The Good and Noble Heart. Jim and Joel had a really great discussion, talking about several things including:

-The new Grace Roots community on ning.com
-People being alone in their grace walk
-The worldwide body of Christ being able to connect with and encourage one another in God's love and grace through the internet
-How community is not just about one person's agenda, but rather everyone has things to bring to the table
-What it looks like when people aren't walking according to God's grace and their new good heart
-Several other things revolving around being established in grace and growing in grace

Just as Joel had found in studying Jim's Recover Your Good Heart study guide with other people, Jim asked really great questions that provided for a really great discussion on this podcast. You can download the podcast and/or listen directly by clicking on the widget below.

195. The Purpose of the Law

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Last week we asked the question, "Don't we need to commit ourselves to the laws of God?" This week we begin exploring that question by going back and talking briefly about what the gospel is (in short, we talk about God's righteousness that is given to us as a gift, apart from the Law) and we move on from there.

Was the Law given to help us live right and overcome sin? The Bible says that we've been set free from sin and that sin does not have dominion over us! Why? Does God's Law have anything to do with this? What is the Law's purpose? We'll talk about this and more on this week's episode of Growing in Grace.

194. What Place Does the Law Have in the Life of the Christian?

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As we talked about last week, a recent Barna study showed that a majority of Christians believe that spiritual maturity is about keeping the rules. Many people think that God gave the Law to teach people how to live righteously and according to His "standards." It may be surprising - or even shocking - to some Christians that the Bible actually says that the Law was added so that sin might increase. It also says that sin's strength is the Law!

So what place does God's Law have in the life of the Christian? Listen in as Kap and the Breezeman begin a series of podcasts on the true purposes of the Law and of the true source and motivation of the living out of the Christian life. We hope you'll be greatly encouraged and freed from the chains of legalism!

193. It's Not About Keeping the Rules

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A recent Barna survey found that "most Christians equate spiritual maturity with following the rules." But if you've listened to this program for any amount of time, you know that we don't believe that the Christian life is about following the rules, and this week we talk about how to not let "Christian rules" rule your life.

We find it quite amazing that Christians continue clinging to laws, rules and commandments, when that's what God has set us free from! So we take some time to discuss how the Christian life isn't about doing things for God but rather about us being in Him, and Him in us. It's not about doing. It's about being. We take a look at how many people are actually being "compliant" by trying to follow God's laws - which anyone can do, whether filled with God's life or not. The key word there is "trying," and so we also discuss the difference between "trying" and simply "trusting."

You're invited to join the Grace Roots online community!

Visit Grace Roots

Hi everyone... Just wanted to let you know about the Grace Roots community - a brand new online community that is centered around connecting with one another and encouraging one another as our hearts become established in grace and as we live and grow in grace! Among the many wonderful features of the site, you can share blog posts, take part in discussions, post photos, videos and music, form 'groups' that are based upon various topics and interests, and so on and so on. You can share about your life, your favorite quotes, your favorite books, websites and other 'ministries,' and share the work that the Lord is doing in and through you.

192. Us Living For God or God Living Through Us?

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Life truly is God's gift to us! But is it really also true, as a common slogan goes, that "what we do with it is our gift to Him?" God created the universe, and everything in it - easily! Do we really have something of value to offer Him? Can we pay Him back in any way for the gift of Life He's given us?

This week we take a look at the difference between us living our life "for God," and God living His life through us. Rather than trusting in our own strength, we realize that we have died and now have a new life --- Christ lives in us. It's not us doing great stuff for God, it's Him expressing His very life through us. With this in mind, what does it mean to present ourselves as living sacrifices? We discuss this and more on this week's episode!

191. God Doesn't Need Us To Serve Him

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Do we have a duty to serve God? Is God looking to us and our strengths and capabilities to serve Him? Is there something about us that our self-sufficient, self-sustaining God needs?

As if!

But the good news is that even though God doesn't need us or our capabilities, He wants us. He desires us, not our service. Although service is a part of our lives of love, God didn't save us for the purpose of making a bunch of servants. He saved us so we could know Him! Many have somehow gotten the idea - and live with the premise - that God's primary interest in us is what we can do for Him. Join us as we spend a little bit of time with this idea that God doesn't need us to serve Him (see Acts 17:25, NASB) but rather has saved us for an eternal intimate relationship with Him.

190. Our Message To the World: God is Not Counting People's Sins Against Them

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This week we take a peek into the deeply rich passage of 2 Corinthians 5. Not only does it talk about us being New Creations in Christ (not simply "changed" or "improved," but made completely new), but it talks about the ministry that we have to the world as believers. Is our ministry to point out people's sins? Is our ministry to protest all the sinful behavior of the world?

What about the message in 2 Cor. 5 that "God was in Christ reconciling (exchanging sin for righteousness) the world to Himself, not counting people's sins against them?" The very same passage goes on to say that God has committed to us that ministry - the message of reconciliation. The message of reconciliation is our ministry to the world - that God was in Christ exchanging our sin for His righteousness!

189. Already Forgiven of All Sins

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Isn't it great to be forgiven! This week we touch on one of the very basic truths in our lives in Christ: We have already been forgiven of ALL sins! The Bible makes it clear that we've already been forgiven of all trespasses - past, present and future - and we have no need to keep on going back to God and confessing sins and/or asking Him to forgive us time and time again.

It's a wonderful and marvelous thing that God has done for us. "He has made you alive together with Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross" (Col 2:13-14). There is no condemnation whatsoever. Your sins have been taken away, forgiven completely and forever. Why wallow around in guilt when your sins have been forgiven and taken away!