Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

675. The Lamb of God Who Takes Away the Sins of the World

October 28, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Continuing on our journey on the subject of forgiveness of sins from God, some questions we discuss this week… when does forgiveness occur? Is it something God extends to each individual on a one by one basis, or is it a gift that has been offered and made available to everyone in the world? We know Jesus was identified as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. As it relates to the finished work of Christ and the power of His blood that was shed once for all, were sins taken away at that time over 2,000 years ago? Or is a new act of forgiveness from God still required? In other words, is it possible God has closed the book on forgiveness after the cross of Christ, and all that is left now is for people to receive it by believing the work of Christ was and is sufficient? If sin is no longer an issue of separation between God and people, is unbelief the only thing that will keep people from experiencing the life of God through salvation and righteousness? These are some of the questions we are asking in our discussion as we consider the magnitude of the cross.

674. Forgiveness Complete, Offerings Stopped

October 21, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Good news: The blood of Jesus Christ did not cover your sins (don’t panic). Why is this good news? Because something better happened. Instead of covering them, His blood took them completely away. They were removed once and for all by one sacrifice. Contrast this with the many sacrifices of the blood of animals with ceremonies offered under the first covenant. Those sacrifices were offered daily and provided an atonement (covering), but they could never take sins away. Forgiveness was temporary for the Jewish people under the Law. In the kingdom where we grace radicals abide, we talk much about forgiveness of sins that have occurred whether they be past, present or future. As we challenge our traditional mindsets on this subject, the question we begin to ask is… when did this occur and is it synonymous with salvation where we find life in Christ? To be continued…

673. “Do I Still Need God to Forgive Me Each Day?”

October 14, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

The subject of forgiveness has been a common guest on our program over the years. Even believers in Jesus Christ will often struggle with whether they are truly forgiven or wonder where they stand with God. In their minds they may ponder whether they are they forgiven only up until this moment - until another sinful thought or action occurs. Have they confessed everything? Of course they haven’t confessed all of their sins - and we should ask if that activity even brings a renewed forgiveness from God.

When contrasting the Old Covenant to the New, we find quite a contrast as the book of Hebrews explains the true power of the blood of Jesus that was shed just one time. The Jewish people were unable to rest in God’s forgiveness. Why? Because they had to keep seeking a renewed forgiveness on a daily basis. It’s likely we haven’t fully understood what occurred on that cross when Jesus died and uttered the words, “It is finished.” The good news is far better than we think, and it’s why we live in something called a better covenant, established upon better promises.

672. The Spirit of the Living God (Not the Spirit of the Law)

October 7, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Legalists from the Christian religion who promote and teach a combination of the Old and New Covenant will use ambiguous language which is often misleading and leaves the hearers in the state of confusion. The double talk tries to convince people they need to do something in order to become more like God, become more righteous, more holy, more sanctified and the list goes on. It begins to take the spotlight off of the finished work of Jesus Christ and put the focus on us as we try to maintain forgiveness and fellowship with God by following some sort of “Judeo Christian” mixture based upon a sandy foundation of law and grace. As believers begin hearing “Moses” out of context, they become blinded to a greater knowledge of the truth, while missing out on many blessings God has already provided. One example is where they use the fabricated phrase “the spirit of the law” when the Scripture clearly defines the passage as the Spirit of the living God.

671. Theological Gibberish: “The Spirit of the Law”

September 30, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

When mixed covenant teaching attempts to suggest Christians should follow the Mosaic Law from the Old Covenant, a concept or phrase has been known to be used to build their case as they refer to “the spirit of the law.” They will complicate the simple gospel by convincing people of the differences between what they call the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. As is typically the case, people will be begin to believe the phrase actually appears in Scripture (it doesn’t). Bible “verses” get used out of context from various passages and the message of the good news becomes confusing as the waters get muddied with misleading theories which lack clarity, while leading people into a type of spiritual bondage. If you find yourself traveling on the road of lifeless religion, watch for the warning signs: “Dead End Ahead.”

EXTRAS: On this week's podcast we mentioned Kap's 'preaching' at Heartland Vineyard Church. Here is his 40 minute message on YouTube.

We also mentioned Ralph Harris and his new book "Life According to Perfect," as well as Joel's past interviews of Ralph. Check out the book here, as well as Part 1 and Part 2 of the interview.

670. The Letter of the Law Vs. the Spirit of Life

September 23, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

When believers fall into the trap of getting focused on improving behavior, it often leads them back into a place of bondage rather than the freedom Jesus came to give us. Your behavior will never reach the perfect standard God required under the law of commandments given to Israel. Trying to follow those rules and statutes only caused sin to increase. The letter of the law killed, but we now live in a New Covenant of the Spirit, which gives life. The power of grace found within the Spirit of God who lives in us is a very different ministry than what Israel went through under a system of works which did not lead to righteousness within their hearts. On this week’s program, our encouragement is to abandon the attempt to mix Old Covenant commands with New Covenant grace … because in spite of what the religious world has been teaching, they are not compatible.

669. Paul’s Testimony: I Stopped Trying to Keep the Law of Commandments

September 16, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

The title of this week’s program is an obvious paraphrase, but it isn’t far off from what Paul explained when it came to being freed and delivered from the Mosaic Law with its burdensome commandments. He found out that what he thought would give life had actually proven to bring death and despair, while causing sin to increase. Today many believers will get up in front of the church and talk about how they used to do bad things and now they work on doing good things. To be clear, pursuing sin will never be a profitable venture - less sin is a good thing. But this was not Paul’s testimony. He didn’t boast about how he used to murder and then stopped after he was saved. He emphasized that we’ve been made a new creation, and the value of getting to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection. God’s life in us, has caused us to pass from death into life in a New Covenant that isn’t based upon our ability to a meet certain standard of rules and regulations. Instead, we live by the righteousness of faith with the power of Jesus Christ abiding in us.

668. What Can Separate You from God?

September 9, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

As a believer in Jesus Christ, it’s possible you’ve heard a list of things that can separate you from God. At the very least, you’ve been told that fellowship with God can be broken, hindered or put on hold based upon certain behavior malfunctions on your part. In some corners of Christianity, it becomes a rather long list of things you should work at avoiding, along with another list you should put effort into doing. If you have “fallen out of fellowship” with God, religion might have you reaching for a rededication prayer while seeking a renewed forgiveness from God, as if Jesus had just returned to perform another sacrifice.

For those with a spiritual separation anxiety, we have edited the list of things that can cause some type of a separation between you and God (see below):

Nothing.

667. Why We Have No Relationship to the Law Which Came Through Moses

September 2, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

The Christian Church World has been duped into thinking the Law which was ushered in through Moses to the Jewish people under the Old Covenant was also meant for us to live under today (at least some of it). It is one of the greatest misunderstandings about God’s written Word, and it has kept many believers in a type of spiritual bondage that Jesus came to deliver people from experiencing. The inability to grasp this is because so many have made the assumption that certain commands and statutes from that first covenant were carried over into the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. Mixing portions of the 613 laws within the Law goes against the very Law itself. God declared nothing shall be taken away from the Law and nothing shall be added to it. But that is exactly what the church world has done. Either it had to completely come to an end and be replaced with something better or it ALL needs to remain intact. God redeemed Israel from that Law and provided all of us with a better Way.

666. The Return of Jesus Christ (Program #666)

August 26, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

There are few Bible subjects people will get more passionate about than eschatology or the study of end times. There is also no greater topic by which people are often divided with a wide range of opinions and interpretations... literally thousands of different viewpoints, and most are quite persuaded their version of events is the correct one. People have broken fellowship with one another over arguments, debates and disagreements regarding the return of Christ or the end of the world as we know it. Here on program number 666, Mike and Joel address the subject for the first time. The goal isn’t to persuade you to believe a certain way about end times prophecy or the return of Jesus (which may not happen in our lifetime), but to challenge believers to focus more on His first coming and what was accomplished for the world during that event.

665. The Gospel Is the Gift of God’s Righteousness

August 19, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Something commonly found in our Christian vocabulary is the word gospel. But just exactly how is it defined from a scriptural perspective? Ask a room full of believers what the gospel is, and it’s likely you’ll receive many different answers. So even something as commonplace as “the gospel” is often described in many different ways. This isn’t necessarily always a bad thing, but often our personal perspectives about what we think the gospel is will sometimes contradict what other believers think. Can’t we agree on something that should be so simple? In order to drill through all of the traditional fluff, we take a look at a foundational passage from the Apostle Paul as he reveals the primary meaning of the gospel, and how it differs from the “bad news” that was in place before Jesus came along.

664. Successful Christian Living: What Must I Do to Achieve it?

August 12, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Churches are known for pushing an agenda containing a variety of principles and moral standards for the members to work at trying to live up to in order to attain a higher level of dedication and perhaps even a greater degree of blessing and acceptance from God. It sounds right and it will preach good on Sundays. But this has led many parishioners or former church-goers to a place of frustration and guilt… even unworthiness, as they struggle to live up to the standard they have been taught by others who haven’t been able to live up to the standard they teach themselves. A question should be asked… what specifically do we need to do in order to achieve the status of successfully “living the Christian life?” Rest assured, the list provided by religion will change and evolve, and usually without the specifics. Our program this week encourages believers in Christ to stop chasing the imaginary carrot that religion will dangle in front of them but will never bring the satisfaction they are seeking.