Download/Play MP3 (14 Min, 6.4MB)
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In much of the church world today, what we seem to have is a mixture - a hybrid - of the Old Covenant and the actual New Covenant. But are we meant to mix the two Covenants? Hebrews says that God has made the first covenant "obsolete" and that it is "vanishing away." And so questions come up such as, "If the Old Covenant is a valid part of the Bible, why then don't we keep it?" "Why is it said to be obsolete?"
The answer is quite simple: The Cross of Jesus Christ changed everything. Everything changed at the Cross. This week we discuss some more of the differences between the Old and the New, and some of the changes that took place due to the Cross.
For example, one of the differences: The Old Covenant had many priests, who offered sacrifices continually, but they were prevented by death from continuing and nothing they did could ever make us perfect or take away our sins. The New Covenant came about came about through One Person, one sacrifice for all, through a Priest who lives forever and therefore has an "unchangeable priesthood," and through this one sacrifice our sins have been taken away and we have been "perfected forever" and "saved to the uttermost."
The Old had to be taken out of the way; It had to be made obsolete. By the very nature of each covenant, it's impossible to mix them.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
242. A New Covenant Was Needed
Download/Play MP3 (14 Min, 6.4MB)
(Click to Play, Right-Click to Download, or use Player below)
Coming up in future weeks we're going to be talking about a seemingly basic question, "What is the Gospel?" But before we get into that, and as kind of a set-up for it, we're going to spend a couple of weeks talking about some of the differences between Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In the Old Testament, Jeremiah (and other OT prophets and authors) looks ahead to the coming of a new covenant, which came in as a result of what happened on the Cross. In the New Testament, the book of Hebrews (and other NT books and authors) looks back to the Cross and speaks of this New Covenant, which it calls "a better covenant, established on better promises."
We'll talk about how both Jeremiah and Hebrews establish the fact that there was a problem with the Old Covenant. In short, the problem was that the people couldn't (and didn't) keep it! So a new covenant was needed that wasn't based at all upon mankind keeping it and that wasn't based upon anyone's behavior or law-keeping.
(Click to Play, Right-Click to Download, or use Player below)
Coming up in future weeks we're going to be talking about a seemingly basic question, "What is the Gospel?" But before we get into that, and as kind of a set-up for it, we're going to spend a couple of weeks talking about some of the differences between Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In the Old Testament, Jeremiah (and other OT prophets and authors) looks ahead to the coming of a new covenant, which came in as a result of what happened on the Cross. In the New Testament, the book of Hebrews (and other NT books and authors) looks back to the Cross and speaks of this New Covenant, which it calls "a better covenant, established on better promises."
We'll talk about how both Jeremiah and Hebrews establish the fact that there was a problem with the Old Covenant. In short, the problem was that the people couldn't (and didn't) keep it! So a new covenant was needed that wasn't based at all upon mankind keeping it and that wasn't based upon anyone's behavior or law-keeping.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Display a Growing in Grace Banner on your Site!
Mike and Joel are very thankful for all the wonderful support from friends and listeners of the Growing in Grace podcast. People are finding out about the program all the time, and many lives are being touched weekly through the message of God's unconditional love and grace. This is due in large part to people like YOU who are spreading the word! Thanks so much for telling others about the program.
Here's one more way to get the word out. If you have a blog or other site on the web, feel free to add a Growing in Grace Banner to your site. It's very easy - simply choose from the banners below, and then copy and paste the HTML code that's below the banner onto your web page.
(172 x 242 pixels)
(239 x 144 pixels)
(200 x 120 pixels)
(100 x 100 pixels)
Here's one more way to get the word out. If you have a blog or other site on the web, feel free to add a Growing in Grace Banner to your site. It's very easy - simply choose from the banners below, and then copy and paste the HTML code that's below the banner onto your web page.
(172 x 242 pixels)
(239 x 144 pixels)
(200 x 120 pixels)
(100 x 100 pixels)
Sunday, May 16, 2010
241. Grace Giving
Download/Play MP3 (14 Min, 6.4MB)
(Click to Play, Right-Click to Download, or use Player below)
"So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." (2 Cor 9:7-8 NKJV)
This week we talk about what it is to give grace-fully. It's not about giving to get something back from God. Rather, God provides for us sufficiently, by His grace - not by anything we've done to earn it - and enables us to give to others. It may be money and it may have absolutely nothing to do with money, but as God provides for us we are able to be generous to others, and we're able to do it cheerfully, not grudgingly!
(Click to Play, Right-Click to Download, or use Player below)
"So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." (2 Cor 9:7-8 NKJV)
This week we talk about what it is to give grace-fully. It's not about giving to get something back from God. Rather, God provides for us sufficiently, by His grace - not by anything we've done to earn it - and enables us to give to others. It may be money and it may have absolutely nothing to do with money, but as God provides for us we are able to be generous to others, and we're able to do it cheerfully, not grudgingly!
Sunday, May 09, 2010
240. Sowing and Reaping is All About Benefiting Others
Download/Play MP3 (14 Min, 6.4MB)
(Click to Play, Right-Click to Download, or use Player below)
"Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously."
Those are Paul's words to the church in 2 Corinthians 9. This verse has often been interpreted in a rather self-centered way, as if to say that if you sow generously or sparingly then you yourself will reap generous or sparing benefits from your sowing. But is that what Paul is talking about? Paul is talking to the Corinthians about their ministry/service to other people. Rather than this being about God blessing the Corinthians according to how much or little they give, isn't Paul saying that the blessings are actually what takes place in the lives of the people who are receiving what they're giving? Does God bless us because we've blessed others, or does He bless us so that we can bless others?
(Click to Play, Right-Click to Download, or use Player below)
"Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously."
Those are Paul's words to the church in 2 Corinthians 9. This verse has often been interpreted in a rather self-centered way, as if to say that if you sow generously or sparingly then you yourself will reap generous or sparing benefits from your sowing. But is that what Paul is talking about? Paul is talking to the Corinthians about their ministry/service to other people. Rather than this being about God blessing the Corinthians according to how much or little they give, isn't Paul saying that the blessings are actually what takes place in the lives of the people who are receiving what they're giving? Does God bless us because we've blessed others, or does He bless us so that we can bless others?
Sunday, May 02, 2010
239. Give Out of Love, Not Out of Rules
Download/Play MP3 (14 Min, 6.4MB)
(Click to Play, Right-Click to Download, or use Player below)
There is definitely a lot of manipulative, arm-twisting, scripture-twisting teaching out there in regards to the subject of "giving." We've all seen it, and we're wary of it, and for many of us it causes our defenses to go up whenever the subject is mentioned. That's quite understandable.
Hopefully what we share this week will cause some of those defenses to go down, as we begin to talk about what giving can look like when it's done from a heart of love and relationship, rather than from a set of rules or guilt or compulsion.
(Click to Play, Right-Click to Download, or use Player below)
There is definitely a lot of manipulative, arm-twisting, scripture-twisting teaching out there in regards to the subject of "giving." We've all seen it, and we're wary of it, and for many of us it causes our defenses to go up whenever the subject is mentioned. That's quite understandable.
Hopefully what we share this week will cause some of those defenses to go down, as we begin to talk about what giving can look like when it's done from a heart of love and relationship, rather than from a set of rules or guilt or compulsion.
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