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GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

687. Confusing the Teachings of Jesus With New Covenant Christianity

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When you mix peanut butter with chocolate, you might end up with a delicious peanut butter cup. If you take (portions) of the Mosaic law from the Old Covenant God made with Israel and mingle it with the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, you’ll end up with confusion and uncertainty. One of the primary ingredients that has led to this problem within the Christian religion is making the false assumption that the New Covenant began with the birth of Jesus. It pulls people into a misleading belief system that Jesus was usually communicating a new Christian teaching meant to be applied to our lives today. Certainly there were moments when He did look forward to the New Covenant, but His primary purpose while walking the earth as a man was to minister to Israel - those who were under the curse of the law - and to ultimately redeem them from it. Don’t fall into the trap of concluding that much of what Jesus taught was always meant for you personally. If that were true, we’d discover inconsistency with some of the writings from the apostles after the cross… not because they contradicted Jesus, but because two different covenants need to be kept in the proper context.



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686. Danger: Elevating the “Good Book” Above the Person of Jesus

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Have you ever wondered how people have been spiritually nourished and sustained when they never had exposure to what we call The Holy Bible? It’s easy to forget in our modern-day western civilization, but Bibles haven’t been collecting dust on living room tables for most centuries since the time of the cross.

If you’ve been listening to the Growing in Grace podcast for any length of time, you know we cherish the information and revelation found within the pages of the Scriptures. But even as believers in Christ, our understanding of them is far from perfect, it can be easy for us to misinterpret various things or begin to filter our limited understanding through doctrines of men and denominational dogma. Unfortunately, at times, we may be doing the same thing some of the Jews did before the cross - elevating the written pages above the Person to whom the writings bear witness. Those Jews knew the Scriptures and thought they would find life within those writings… but they did not have His Word in them because they refused to come to Jesus - the only One who could give life.

Jesus put it this way when speaking to them: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40 ESV).

Jesus did not say, “I and the Bible are one.” He is supreme compared to scrolls and predominant over publishers. Jesus is the living Word that has been around before there was a beginning. Be thankful for the Scriptures, because they bear witness of the Son… but ultimately, life comes from one source - not the pages, but the Person - Jesus Christ. He stated that it would be the Spirit of truth who would abide in us and now be our guide. He is the one we should all agree to rally around and trust in together - not our flimsy theology.



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685. Is Everything in the Bible Written to Us Directly?

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Everything within God’s written Word is there for a reason. Sometimes this can cause Christians to assume that everything within each passage is somehow meant to be applied directly to our lives. God must have some sort of secret meaning or hidden message that we need to tap into in order for us to gain wisdom for our current situation or for the next step in our lives. Millions of sermons continue to be built upon this premise. Often, we’re trying to figure out how to make “verses” relevant for us today, but there are times when that isn’t why it was written. Our conversation this week revolves around the importance of context within the Scriptures. Not only the context of the passage, but the context of the two primary covenants upon which the entire Bible is based upon.



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EXTRA: On this week's podcast Kap mentioned a public speaking appearance of his from last year. Here is his 40 minute message on YouTube.


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“The Real You” series – Week 7: You Are Peaceful!

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You may not feel like it, look like it or sound like it, but the truth about you is that you are a peaceful person…in Christ. Being someone who is filled with peace is part of your identity. I know, I know, you’re thinking, “No way, Sandra. You don’t know me. I feel like I’m […]

“The Real You” series – Week 7: You Are Peaceful!

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You may not feel like it, look like it or sound like it, but the truth about you is that you are a peaceful person…in Christ. Being someone who is filled with peace is part of your identity. I know, I know, you’re thinking, “No way, Sandra. You don’t know me. I feel like I’m […]

“The Real You” series – Week 6: You Are The Light Of The World!

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Why are there so many Christians who aren’t shining very brightly when Jesus told us we are the light of the world? I believe this video sheds some light on why this is happening and it has everything to do with us knowing our true identity in Christ. Are we believing that we have to […]

“The Real You” series – Week 6: You Are The Light Of The World!

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Why are there so many Christians who aren’t shining very brightly when Jesus told us we are the light of the world? I believe this video sheds some light on why this is happening and it has everything to do with us knowing our true identity in Christ. Are we believing that we have to […]

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

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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.



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Established in Righteousness

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Matthew 6:33 has been my favorite Bible verse for as long as I can remember; the only problem was, I was reading it wrong for most of my life. Here it is: But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (NASB) I interpreted the verse like […]

The post Established in Righteousness appeared first on Sandra McCollom.

Lies Religion Taught Me & The Truth That Set Me Free

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As a Believer, have you ever been told you’re going to be judged by God someday – that when you get to Heaven He’s going to display, on a big video screen, your life and all the things you’ve ever done wrong? Friends, I invite you to join in on an online Bible study that […]

The post Lies Religion Taught Me & The Truth That Set Me Free appeared first on Sandra McCollom.

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

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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.



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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

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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.



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