Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

638. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 9): What the Church Hasn’t Told You About the Law & Commandments

February 11, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

While scores of Christians throughout the centuries have been told to embrace the law which came through Moses, the Apostle Paul and other New Testament writers received a revelation that is quite different from that approach. While church teaching tells us some of the law has ended, while other parts are still in effect, the law itself declares nothing can be added or deleted. Approval was never given to alter it. While those who claim believers should strive harder to keep the commands, their hypocrisy is exposed by eliminating large, inconvenient chunks... and nobody can seem to agree on exactly what should remain on the list. Our program this week will provide vital information on the ministry of the Mosaic law, and why God replaced it with something far better.

637. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 8): The Law in A Nutshell – More Sin, Death and Condemnation

February 4, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Frequently we’ll find church doctrines and teachings encouraging believers to cling to a law of works, found within the commandments of the Old Covenant. The problem with this? New Covenant writings reveal why the law was given to Israel (and not to us who are Gentiles). Those commands within the law caused sin to increase (not decrease). It was a ministry that killed and condemned. The law demanded perfection but was powerless to provide the ability to attain it. It once had glory, but came to an end, where the glory faded, and now has no glory at all. Why? Because of the surpassing glory ministry of the Spirit of God, which replaced the requirements written on ink and on stone. We are now in the life of Christ, we’re empowered by the Spirit of Grace where new life flows and the fruit of the Spirit is produced, apart from the works of the law.

636. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 7): A Promise of Faith Contrasted With A Covenant of Works

January 28, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

The promise of a covenant bringing righteousness by faith or belief as it was given to Abraham, would eventually bring what we often refer to as the New Covenant, which was ushered in through Jesus Christ. Several hundred years after God made this covenant with Abraham, another covenant would be established with the people of Israel, and would include the law which came through Moses. This law would bring a curse requiring that all of it be kept perfectly, causing God to find fault with the people in that covenant. Fortunately, that covenant of law would not nullify the covenant of promise made 430 years earlier. The promise of faith would end up kicking the law of works to “kingdom come” (because the law is not of faith). This week in our series, we’re transitioning from Abraham to Moses and the Law.

635. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 6): Abraham Did Not Waver at God’s Promise

January 21, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

In this sixth part of the series, we wrap up our brief look at Abraham and the significance of his part in God’s redemptive picture, which is a picture described throughout Scripture. Interestingly, in spite of what appears to be a fleshly effort by having a child through his servant Hagar, the Bible declares Abraham was not weak in faith, and did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith. Righteousness was credited to him because of belief, just as it is to us today, apart from law or works.

634. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 5): Abraham and the Child of Promise

January 14, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Hundreds of years before God gave the law to Moses, there was Abraham. Through him God brought forth a promise, where he would become the father of many nations that would occur through a child promised to him and Sarah. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. It was by faith the promise arrived, not works. The Apostle Paul explains how Abraham’s two sons represent the two covenants—both the Old and the New. The son born from Hagar (the bondwoman) was born according to the flesh, whereas the son from Sarah (the freewoman) through promise. One gave birth to bondage, symbolic of Mount Sinai, and the other gave birth to freedom, which would include justification for Gentiles through faith.

633. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 4): We Can Learn from Adam’s Mistake

January 7, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Part 4 of our series includes some final thoughts about Adam and the fall that took place in the beginning. We often still struggle with the same thing as Adam, but the good news is we’ve been provided with a solution since the cross. We can avoid the tree that forced humankind to live for centuries by The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God always wanted His creation to live by His life, which we can do now that we’ve been placed in Christ. Next week we’ll talk about Abraham and how he made faith possible for a multitude of generations to come.

In this episode we briefly reminisced about our past days in Christian radio, and some of the grace-based songs we used to play. We specifically mentioned these two songs that we both really like.

632. Adam’s Temptation to Be More Like God

December 31, 2017 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

This week we get rolling with our series of summarizing the Scripture with the purpose of helping us to shrink the Bible into one big picture, so to speak, in order to connect some dots and how the Word is primarily a picture of Jesus Christ. Adam’s temptation revolved around the desire to be wise and more like God. The serpent challenged him on the basis of identity, much like the devil did with Jesus in the wilderness. One chose not to believe God and failed (Adam). The other chose to believe the truth and overcame (Jesus). We are challenged in a similar way today when it comes to our identity in Christ.

632. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 3): Adam’s Temptation to Be More Like God

December 31, 2017 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

631. The Changing Culture and the Timeless Message of Christmas

December 24, 2017 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

This week’s spontaneous conversation between Mike and Joel takes a look at the message of Christ’s birth and what it meant for the world, and for believers in Christ. Merry Christmas from the entire staff at the Growing in Grace podcast.

630. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 2)

December 17, 2017 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

We continue to lay the foundation for our series, as we look at some key parts of the Bible that led from Adam to Jesus, and then to the New Covenant. Is everything written specifically to us today or was it simply given as a reference point to help us see the redemptive plan God had for man all along? What motivated Adam to make the wrong choice? Why did God give Moses the law, and why did the Israelites agree to the (old) covenant? Are the Psalms and Prophets telling us how to seek comfort in our lives, or were they more about pointing Israel to the Messiah, who had not yet appeared? What was is it about the Old Testament that had convinced some of the Jews that Jesus was that Messiah? What was the purpose of Jesus’ ministry and when did the New Covenant begin? We’ll be covering some of this and more in future programs, after this week’s second half of our introduction.

629. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 1)

December 10, 2017 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

This will be the first program in a series where we will focus on key points in the Scripture with the goal of helping us to see the bigger picture when it comes to the Bible. Our primary stops on the route will include Adam, Abraham, Moses and the law, the Psalms and the Prophets, and also Jesus and the New Covenant. The idea is to step back from the many trees (verses) that are often taken out of context in order to gain a better view of the forest and help summarize the Biblical map. Ultimately, our hope with this series is to gain an improved understanding of the gospel and God’s Word as a whole.