Thursday, May 11, 2017

Clash of the Covenants - new book from Mike

The brand new book, Clash of the Covenants - Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee, from Growing in Grace co-host Mike Kapler is now available for Kindle on Amazon!  Remember, you don't need a Kindle in order to read.  Download the Kindle app on your computer, tablet or smartphone. 

GOD IS NOT YOUR PAROLE OFFICER, HE BROKE YOU OUT OF PRISON!

Have you been robbed by religion? Have you ever wondered where you really stood with God? For everyone trapped in a mindset of wondering whether God is angry or disappointed with them due to a lack of performance or dedication, help is on the way. In fact, it already arrived more than a couple thousand years ago.

Christian churches are filled with people who have been hearing Bible teaching built upon a foundation of mixing together two very different covenants that are not alike. Frequently embraced in most Christian circles, the practice of combining the old and new covenants has resulted in a diluted version of the gospel. This religious formula has caused many to avoid the institutional church altogether, often puts them in a state of confusion, and leaves them hungering and thirsting for a new identity of righteousness, unaware it has already been provided.

The current reality of unconditional love, peace, freedom, forgiveness, and everything else that is good, has been gifted to us by God's grace through the finished work of Jesus Christ. This is the message most people have been longing to experience, but it may require a complete change of mind from a lifetime of traditional church doctrines that have left many drowning in guilt and feeling as though they are in a state of bondage. God has provided a way of escape from the burdensome religious business—it is through a New Covenant where it is impossible for us to fail, because Jesus is the mediator and guarantee of this better covenant, and it has been established on better promises.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks Mike just saw this and downloaded the book.Im up to chapter 3 and im soaking this in.I really appreciate you doing this.You and Joel are just flat out great guys thanks alot.

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    1. Keith,

      I hope the book will help you on your journey, thanks for taking time to let me know you're enjoying it so far. Let me know what you think when you're done because I feel like it picks up some steam in chapter 4 and beyond. Reviews on Amazon are always appreciated! :-)

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    2. Kap just finished chapter 4 and it is a real eye opener, ive listened to your podcast quite a while.. i think over 520 of them and im learning and getting more things cleared up,it helps to read it and think it through in context with the bible.Im really enjoying this and will write a review when i finish the book.This is excellent up to this point so just wanted to let you know.

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  2. I am confused as to what what the role of Jesus is as my Advocate with the Father when I sin.

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    1. Hi Mick,

      When it comes to the issue of the forgivenes sof sins, Jesus' role was that He was the one perfect offering for sins, and through His offering, forgiveness came one time, and it's a forgiveness that is for all sins for all time.

      Hebrews 7 through 10 has a lot to say about this, and I'll just share a tiny bit from Chapter 10, where the writer says that in the animal sacrifices that were offered over and over again (under the Old Covenant), there was only a reminder of sin, because the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins (vs 3). And so God did not desire those sacrifices (vs. 5, 8), but instead Jesus' offered His own body (vs. 5, 10), which was God's will (vs. 7, 9-10). He writes that "by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (vs 10)

      So with Jesus' blood being shed once for all, God does not keep forgiving us over and over again, but rather we've been forgiven of all sins for all time. Hebrews 8:12 is a reminder of God's promise that with this new covenant that was established through Jesus' blood, God would remember our sins no more.
      Hebrews 9:22 says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness, so if that one sacrifice was not enough, and we needed to be forgiven over and over again, Jesus would have to keep on coming back and shedding His blood over and over again.

      The bottom line is that the one sacrifice for sins worked. It worked perfectly. We don't need to keep going back to God for forgiveness. I believe all of the above is what John was talking about in 1 John 2:1-2 when he said that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He Himself is the propitiation for all the sins of the world, and it all happened through what is described in Hebrews 7-10.

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