716. Watch Out for the Bait and Switch

It sounded great when you first heard the advertisement from Church Inc … salvation offered free by grace as a gift. But later they’ll say you missed the fine print and that believing in Jesus will now cost you everything (cha-ching!). The religious business lured you with a free product promotion which is now apparently out of stock as they suggest that it’s up to you to achieve a certain standard in order to maintain right standing with God.

The truth is that the gospel has no fine print, because it’s not based upon the letter (works), but it revolves around who we’ve already become by the blood of Jesus Christ and His finished work. We produce nothing … we simply bear the fruit of the Spirit who lives with us.



   
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664. Successful Christian Living: What Must I Do to Achieve it?

Churches are known for pushing an agenda containing a variety of principles and moral standards for the members to work at trying to live up to in order to attain a higher level of dedication and perhaps even a greater degree of blessing and acceptance from God. It sounds right and it will preach good on Sundays. But this has led many parishioners or former church-goers to a place of frustration and guilt… even unworthiness, as they struggle to live up to the standard they have been taught by others who haven’t been able to live up to the standard they teach themselves. A question should be asked… what specifically do we need to do in order to achieve the status of successfully “living the Christian life?” Rest assured, the list provided by religion will change and evolve, and usually without the specifics. Our program this week encourages believers in Christ to stop chasing the imaginary carrot that religion will dangle in front of them but will never bring the satisfaction they are seeking.



   

194. What Place Does the Law Have in the Life of the Christian?

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As we talked about last week, a recent Barna study showed that a majority of Christians believe that spiritual maturity is about keeping the rules. Many people think that God gave the Law to teach people how to live righteously and according to His "standards." It may be surprising - or even shocking - to some Christians that the Bible actually says that the Law was added so that sin might increase. It also says that sin's strength is the Law!

So what place does God's Law have in the life of the Christian? Listen in as Kap and the Breezeman begin a series of podcasts on the true purposes of the Law and of the true source and motivation of the living out of the Christian life. We hope you'll be greatly encouraged and freed from the chains of legalism!