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GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

697. Is it “Biblical”? (Part 1)

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The first part of this week’s program wraps up what we’ve been discussing… with a reminder about the legalistic minded who quote certain passages which they think implies our eternal life and inheritance is based upon what we do and how we behave. We’re not dismissing the importance of behavior, but our inheritance is not based on that. The second half of the program starts a new conversation about the “biblical” catch phrase we often find in Christianity. We’re often trying to define and determine what is “biblical” and what is not. Another saying that is commonly heard is whether they are a “Bible believing church.” Just what does it mean when we determine whether something is deemed to be biblical while another version of belief is not? We’ll be laying down some thoughts that may cause people to reconsider how they define what is biblical.



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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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642. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 13): The Law, the Prophets & the Psalms Are Fulfilled

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The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” Paul wasn’t referring to the four books known as the gospels, but the passages from the law which came through Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. The Old Testament is filled with many hundreds of references to Jesus Christ, subtly pointing the Jewish people to a coming Messiah who would provide an eternal deliverance for the world. Jesus revealed to His disciples what all of the old Scriptures meant, as they referenced Him and His mission.

Luke 24:44: “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’”

Jesus Christ fulfilled the Scriptures, including the law, on our behalf.



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641. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 12): The Psalms: They’re More About Jesus

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It can change the way we see everything. Reading Old Testament passages from a New Covenant perspective, through the eyes of grace. There were those who recognized Jesus as the Messiah because of what they knew to look for in the Mosaic law, the Psalms, and the Prophets. After Jesus was resurrected, He opened the minds of the disciples to understand the (Old Testament) Scriptures, by revealing what they said about Him. “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). Christians often see verses out of context when they are seeking a special Word from God within the Psalms for application in their personal life situation. While this can certainly occur, in reality, quite often it may be written from the perspective of someone who was trapped under the curse of the law, or looking forward to something better (Christ). We don’t live under that heavy requirement of those commands, but now abide in Christ. Instead of relying on some of these passages to figure out where we are supposed to go, we can look back and begin to see them as a road map that brought us to where we already are… in Jesus. That’s where we find wisdom, peace and comfort - while being led by the Spirit.



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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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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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632. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 3): 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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630. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 2)

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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.



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629. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 1)

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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.



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