Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

729. Red Letters + Golden Rule = Spiritual Blues

November 17, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Most of us have been taught that Jesus ushered in a New Covenant at His birth and began to teach new guidelines and rules for believers and future Christians to follow. Having this mindset will cause us to begin filtering all of the Scripture through this faulty assumption, causing our lenses to see a fake gospel which isn’t really the good news at all. Even the so-called golden rule was not a new guideline for Christians, but it was an old statute from the law—a ministry that could only supply the Jewish people with death and condemnation. Jesus was on a mission to free people from such a bondage.

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728. Religious Requirements – or Grace (Choose One)

November 10, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

When we consider the Bible as one book (instead of many books), we begin to jumble things together within the two primary covenants that were never meant to be mixed. When we see God’s commandments with conditions attached throughout much of the Old Testament, and when we assume Jesus was always speaking instruction to us who would become future believers, it can easily result in us filtering new covenant writings from the apostles through a particular mindset that leads us away from grace and back to a foundation of works.

This week’s program will help to differentiate between requirements which demanded perfect results … compared to exhortations delivered by grace. The former would seek to establish identity by trying to work at becoming something we haven’t achieved. The latter starts at the finish line, as we realize we have been made new and are already declared the righteousness of God.

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727. “This Is Love: Not That We Loved God, but That He Loved Us”

November 3, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Following up on last week’s program about the New Covenant command to believe in Jesus and love one another … Under the law, it was considered one of the greatest commandments to put forth all of one’s strength and effort to love God and each other. The entire law revolved around this and yet nobody had ever done it before the cross.

In this New Covenant Jesus has established, what is so different about our love for God and for each other compared to the old way? John admitted nobody had ever really loved God … the gospel is not built upon a foundation of our love for God - once again it was about what God has done by giving us His Son and demonstrating His love for us - and the results are the difference between light and darkness.

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726. New Covenant Commands from Jesus

October 27, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Commandments given under the law to Israel through Moses didn’t squelch sin, but caused it to increase. That’s clue number one that Christ came to put an end to that system in order to redeem people from that law. This would occur by Jesus becoming the replacement for that failed covenant which was based upon works, not faith.

So what about the commandments of Jesus that He shared with His disciples as He looked forward to the new and better covenant which would manifest after His death and resurrection? Just exactly what are those commands? Are there any conditions attached? Are they performance based with no room for failure? The eyewitness known as the Apostle John explains it for us.

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725. Where Do I Stand if I’m Not Keeping the Commandments Perfectly?

October 20, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Ever since the cross and resurrection, church-ianity has pushed a counterfeit gospel known as law-keeping, which believers become hooked on and frequently have a difficult time breaking free from. The Bible tells us the commandments contained within the law from the Old Covenant were not based upon faith. Faith came when Christ arrived. Trying to live by the command caused sin to increase. Living in the Spirit allows us to bear His fruit instead of our own rotten tomatoes.

We don’t serve in the old way of a written code but by the new way of the Spirit. The old way will leave you wondering where you stand with God in any given minute. You will never be at peace while trying to live up to a standard that required perfect behavior … and take notice that legalistic Christianity only will only require you keep a very small portion of what the law demanded. The rest gets hypocritically tossed aside. The remedy for breaking free from the slavery of the addiction of works is God’s grace.

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724. Why Did Peter Cling to Law After it Ended with Jesus?

October 13, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Religious legalists will argue that Peter adhered to rules from the law of Moses for years after the resurrection of Jesus. They make the false assumption that because God moved through him in such miraculous ways—such as shadow healing—Peter must have had a perfect understanding of the gospel. But like the rest of us limited humans, Peter was “growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Through a vision, God began to show Peter the change of law that occurred within a New Covenant which is based upon faith instead of a law of works … and he began to repent (have a change of mind). Later in the book of Acts, he would even argue the case before former Pharisees that Gentiles who were being saved and never had the law, should not be burdened with the futile attempt of trying to keep what they and their fathers were unable bear.

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723. Did Paul Claim He Was Blameless by Keeping the Mosaic Law?

October 6, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

During a recent podcast series about the dangers of mixing law and grace, someone challenged us with a comment that the Apostle Paul stated “he had never committed an offense against the Torah” (law). This is a great example of how context gets lost and contradictions begin to fly—when we zero-in on a single verse from the Bible.

Anyone can make Scripture apply to their own preconceived doctrinal assumptions. We address Paul’s statement about having been found righteous and blameless under the law as he seemingly bragged about his record. He’s actually saying the opposite in this passage (and many others).

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722. True or False: God’s Grace Encourages Sinful Behavior

September 29, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

We recently received a correspondence that included a comment: “You can’t keep all of the Law, so don’t even try to keep any of it? Ok. How’s that adultery working out for ya??”

This was submitted from Program #711: The Dangers of Mixing Law and Grace (Part 1).

We take a few minutes to address this mindset which is rooted in a commonly misunderstood theory from the world of lifeless religion. Paul declared we are not under law, but under grace. Just because this is our reality in the New Covenant doesn’t mean God unleashed the dogs so they could run out into traffic. Grace does for us what the law could not … teaching us to deny ungodliness apart from fleshy, self-righteous effort.

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721. The Greatest Commandments in the Law (But Nobody Has Ever Done Them)

September 22, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Religious teaching will tell us to work at keeping the law of commandments, but it’s only a small portion that we hear about while most of it is ignored—which causes hypocrisy to loom very large. And when a commandment from the Old Covenant is broken, modern-day legalists will disobey the Law’s requirement to execute punishment—sometimes including death for what we consider to be minor offenses.

Even the greatest commandments from the law (according to Jesus) caused people to fall short of the perfect requirement … because nobody has ever loved God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. Nobody has loved God by being diligently obedient to the command, but now we’re able to do so—and to love one another—not due to our effort of obedience, but because we have come to know and believe in God’s love for us. (1 John 4:10-16). It’s a different way—and a better covenant.

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720. God Doesn’t Change – But the Covenant Did

September 15, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

When Christians proclaim we as believers in Christ should try to live by the law as it was given to Moses, they advertise their ignorance on what the law says. It required perfection and everyone has fallen short of that. The requirement is still perfection, but it’s not found in what we do—it’s by what Jesus did. We are perfect, having been placed in Him.

Those who tout modern-day law keeping from the Old Covenant must also execute the punishments when one fails. For example, one who did not honor their father and mother and spoke evil of them was worthy of death. The good news is that God doesn’t change … but the covenant did … and the new one is better.

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719. Tear Down This Wall!

September 8, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

In Ephesians Chapter 2, Paul talked about a dividing wall which brought a separation from Christ. It kept us from the covenants of promise while leaving us without hope and without God in the world. What was this wall of separation? Many might be surprised to find out that Paul revealed it was the law of commandments contained in ordinances.

Jesus broke down this barrier and it resulted in us who were far off being brought near by His blood. It ended with both Jew and Gentile being brought together into one new man (Christ). For centuries, the religious business has attempted to rebuild this wall which Jesus leveled… leaving people in a place of covenant confusion and uncertainty.

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718. The Holy Spirit in You

September 1, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Following up on last week’s program about feeling the need to ask God’s Spirit to show up or inviting God’s presence into our midst …

This practice misses the understanding that He never leaves as He continuously abides in us. This is different than the Old Covenant. Under the New Covenant, the Spirit may manifest with special gifts as He wills through an anointing that already abides in us.

But there is nothing we can do to create an atmosphere that is more inviting in order to get God to respond with an RSVP to our invitation—because it’s not about what we do … He has chosen to be with us and in us by grace.