525. The Curse of Seeking Self Improvement

It's one of the biggest deceptions known to mankind - the attempt to achieve a higher level of personal improvement through our works and efforts. Adam and Eve were distracted by the glossy appearance of its fruit and the rest of the world followed suit. Israel demonstrated the futility of trying to establish their own righteousness through the works of the law by pursuing a level of improvement that would make them acceptable to God. It falls short every time and fortunately, it is something Jesus redeemed us from.



   

424. The Nature of Grace: Christ Is Our Life

Much has been said about accepting Jesus Christ into our lives, yet the gospel declares that He has accepted you into His life. Our past life does not exist before God because that person died at the cross with Christ. The pure nature of grace that brought salvation apart from works is often frowned upon by those who can't pull away from the magnet of self-righteousness. Why? They stumble over the idea that grace is sovereign. Grace has no fulfilled conditions on man's part to wait for and it can and often does place the worst deservers in the highest favors.

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Download The Nature of Grace: Christ Is Our Life
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This week's GIG Bite - A bite-sized chunk of this week's program.

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423. The Nature of Grace: Grace Does it All

God has blessed us beyond measure with His grace, and He Himself has made us worthy and accepted by Him. When it comes to living in this grace, rather than asking God to "bless our efforts," we trust instead that God does it all (it's His work that He does in us) and He willingly and gladly invites us to come along with Him and take part in what He's doing! Knowing that God's grace is completely underserved by us, and that we can't do anything to make ourselves worthy of it, really does bring about a sense of restful humility.

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This week's GIG Bite - A bite-sized chunk of this week's program.

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400. Good News Reminders

Sometimes we just need to pause and reflect on what Christ has done and what it means for us. Our days are often filled with bad news and it can even carry over into Bible teaching that we're exposed to. It's good to be reminded that God isn't angry with you, that He doesn't hold sin against you, that you are fully accepted by Him through Jesus Christ and that there is no reason to hide or to be afraid. God prepared Jesus with a body for a sacrifice that would be the last but certainly not the least.

And by the way, we've hit another milestone here on Growing in Grace! This is our 400th podcast!!! To celebrate, we've compiled three bonus podcasts that we'll be sharing on the next three Wednesdays. All of the weekly "GIGBites" that are posted with each podcast, to give listeners a tiny taste of the content of the podcast, contain grace and encouragement in and of themselves. The upcoming bonus podcasts will each be 15 to 16 minute mixes of all the GIGBites from the past 100 Growing in Grace podcasts!  Look for the first bonus podcast this Wednesday.

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This week's GIG Bite - A tasty sample of this week's program!

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383. You Have Been Pre-Approved

We meet many believers who are unsure of what God thinks of them. They seek ways to gain God's approval through their actions but can never seem to find the peace they are looking for. Through Christ, God has placed value and worth upon us. He isn't just "in" your life, He IS your life. How did this occur and how is it God has already approved of you? We invite you to eavesdrop on our conversation.

You Have Been Pre-Approved (14 Min, 9.6 MB)
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"Watch" this episode on YouTube.

This week's GIGBite (A quick audio sample of this week's program.)

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218. Accepted in the Beloved

Download/Play MP3 (6.4MB)
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God has made us accepted in the Beloved. God Himself has done this! It's not through anything we've done. It's not through our striving to reach out to God, but it's about recognizing that in Christ He has reached out to all of mankind and pursued us with great passion!