473. If Not Under the Commands, How Are We Guided?

The scriptures declare that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Paul stated we are dead to the Mosaic law. So a question that is often asked is "What do we use as a moral compass or how are we guided if we don't have those rules to live by?" The New Covenant has provided us with an entirely different ministry than what the law brought to Israel. As believers in Christ, what is it we're under that Paul contrasted with the former covenant of commands that have been removed? Join us for another good news conversation on this week's Growing in Grace podcast.


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472. God Has Dedicated Himself to You

We often put the focus of the Christian life on our dedication and commitment to God. Under the Old Covenant, the lives of the Jewish people revolved around this sincere effort to establish right standing with Him. The results were utter failure and they were constantly reminded of their faults and inability to escape a guilty conscious. The Christian life isn't supposed to be about our dedication and re-dedication based upon our moral efforts. The New Covenant revealed God's dedication to us through the blood of Jesus Christ.


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"What You Say" by Allan Scott

Just over a year ago, I interviewed Allan Scott on my Growing in Grace Together podcast.  Check that interview out here.  Well, today I'm very eager to share his brand new song with everyone!  Allan Scott's music is very grace-based, and this song beautifully reminds us of how God sees us.  In Christ, God has made us holy and righteous.  His grace is bigger than our sin, and it's bigger than anything we've ever done or anywhere we've ever been!  It's wonderful when music and lyrics can mix in such a way so as to reinforce these wonderful truths of God and who we are in Him.  This song does just that.

The song is available online as of today:
Amazon 
Google Play
iTunes


Connect with Allan:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

-Joel

471. Stop Trying to Be Like Jesus

In Christ, we have a brand new identity. We're no longer "sinners saved by grace," but we're saints who are fully dependent upon God's grace. We've been made new. We're sanctified, holy, righteous, blameless and complete in Him. And while each of these things is true of every single believer, God has also made each of us as unique individuals.

So this week we talk about how we're not trying to be like each other - and we're also not trying to be like Jesus! Rather, while we are in union with Him, we live our daily lives as the unique individuals He has made us to be. Along with this, we talk about two common words that are often used in the church to describe believers, and yet aren't mentioned in the epistles of Paul, Peter, James and John: "disciples" and "followers" of Jesus. Hmmm!


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470. A New You

Many believers, who in reality have been made brand new in Jesus Christ, still carry some of the old ideas about themselves that were true of them before they came to know Christ. The Old Covenant scriptures say that the heart is "deceitful and desperately wicked," and so believers continue to believe that that is true of them, even in Christ. What they don't realize is that in Christ we've been given a NEW heart, and our new heart is not wicked or deceitful - it's holy, righteous and sanctified! Many believers also refer to themselves as merely a "sinner saved by grace," not realizing that in Christ their identity is no longer "sinner," but "saint"! In Christ, we've been made new, and it's very liberating when we begin to understand these core things about our true identity in Christ.


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469. Prodigal Part 3: Gentiles Welcome in the House

Continuing with our look at the Prodigal/Lost Son parable, we find some interesting things that Jesus shared in the chapters leading up to this. He gave examples of how Israel would turn down the invitation to come to the heavenly dinner table in the house of God. This would lead to the Lord extending a welcome to those who had been far away in all other directions (Gentiles). Even the older Jewish son declined to join the celebration when the younger Gentile son had become a part of the family. God demonstrated His love by pursuing us when we were lost and without hope.


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