657. When Church Teaching Misses the Gospel Target

We are not against the church. But it’s unfortunate that much of what has been heard and taught through various denominations and organizations has led people down the wrong path. Sometimes they are taught a mixture of law and grace which will lead to more sinning and more guilt instead of less. We have heard from people around the world through our podcast ministry, and in some cases they needed to seek professional counseling for various kinds of depression and fear which resulted in having medication prescribed to treat their condition… and it was related to their church experiences or Bible teaching that brought them to this place. The gospel is meant to bring a blessed assurance, and God’s unconditional love and grace has been given to us in abundance to bring peace of mind and to equip us for every good work. Our intention at Growing in Grace is to teach and remind people of how God has freely given us all things that are good.



   

602. God's Love: Jesus Became Sin; We Became Righteous

Experiencing God’s peace and joy will be connected to gaining the understanding that His love for you has no strings attached. People often go through life wondering where they are positioned with God or they live in fear that God is angry with them. They have been smothered with teaching which proclaims faith, hope and love are based upon working at attaining a higher level of morality, an area where they are constantly falling short. God loves you because He loves you! He demonstrated this unconditional love through Jesus Christ dying for us, when all humans were still identified as sinners. He took our place by becoming sin, so we could receive His righteousness through belief, apart from works.



   

600. Looking Back - How We Crossed the Grace Bridge

On the celebration of the 600th Growing in Grace weekly podcast, Mike & Joel reflect back on how they transferred from various forms of religious legalism found in much of Christianity, to the grace of God and unconditional love found in Jesus Christ. This is their story, but it’s not their song… It’s just blessed assurance.



   

558. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 15): The New Way: No Condemnation

Although Jesus often ministered despair and hopelessness by elevating the Mosaic law, there were times when He would provide samples of the approaching New Covenant. Even though the "New" would not be in effect until after His death, we see examples of the gospel being served, such as the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. The purpose of the old commandments was to minister condemnation and death. This woman received a taste of unconditional love mixed with mercy and grace, while her accusers walked away speechless.



   

508. The Love Motivation

As we proclaim a message of God's unconditional love and free grace apart from the works of the law and commandments, those bound by legalistic teaching will ask us whether behavior matters. It's hard for them to grasp wanting to do what is right and good apart from rules and regulations. In the same way that God has shown forgiveness and love to us in this New Covenant, as new creations in Christ, we are now empowered to do the same. It's because we're branches, engrafted into the tree of life, bearing his fruit apart from law.



   

402. The Ultimate Demonstration of Unconditional Love

One of the greatest things God has given to the world is love. Sadly most of us have understood very little about the depth of this love that has no boundaries and no conditions. Often our perspective of God's love is viewed through the eyes of our earthly experience. The love we've experienced between people in this life is not equal to the love demonstrated by Jesus Christ. God is love and He desires us to know more of Him and this love that surpasses knowledge.

BTW, we've now posted two bonus podcasts to celebrate the occasion of our 400th podcast! Here is "GIGBite Bonus Podcast 1" and here is GIGBite Bonus Podcast 2.  Look for the third and final bonus podcast this coming Wednesday.

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

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217. God's Acceptance of Mankind / Sins Taken Away

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We're taking a look this week at God's acceptance of us apart from our behavior - the unconditional love and grace of God for all of mankind. It's His love that sent Jesus to the cross, and it's the cross that showed His great love for all. When Adam fell, God didn't change - Adam changed. God didn't hide from Adam - Adam hid from God. In His passionate love, God pursued Adam and made the way for all of mankind to be saved. The issue isn't whether or not God loves and accepts people. The sins of all of mankind were dealt with at the cross. They have not only been covered - they have been taken away.The issue is whether or not people have believed and have received the gift of life that God freely offers.

207. It's All About the Unconditional Love of the Father

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Continuing from last week with our look at parables in which we often seem to misidentify the characters, or at least in which we seem to put the spotlight on the wrong characters, this week we take a look at the story that is commonly called "The Parable of the Prodigal Son." Certainly the prodigal son isn't a character who we simply glance over, and most of us can easily identify with him in one way or another, but is he really meant to be the main focus of the parable? We'll share a couple of real-life stories as we discuss how we think the focus was always meant to be on the great love of the father.

183. Focus on God's High View and Acceptance of You

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It's common for people to read the Bible and interpret what they read in a self-focused way, putting the responsibility on themselves to find God, to accept God, to come back to God, to perform for God, etc, when in reality God is the one who has reached out to us and performed all the work necessary for us to have a free, loving, intimate relationship with Him.

Kap and Joel talk about how we need to rid ourselves of an Old Covenant mentality and look at the Bible in light of God's high view of us as His treasured children, and His unconditional acceptance of us and love for us. He has placed us in Christ and He has made us alive together with Him. He has made peace with us. He has accepted us!

Despite the prodigal son's low view of himself, the father ran to him and accepted him with open arms, and paid no attention to what the son thought he might be able to do to gain a small measure of acceptance from his father. He threw a party for him!

We can forget any notion of "our part" in any of the salvation plan and in any part of the living out of this life in Christ. God has not left it up to us to make any of this happen! As if!!! He has simply asked us to believe. Through faith, we are branches on a vine, and we have no life in and of ourselves, but yet being connected to the vine we are privileged by God's grace to partake in the fullness of life in the Vine!

181. Nothing Can Separate Us From God, Who IS Love

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The New Testament writers point out that nothing can separate us from God's love and that God is love. So... what can separate us from God Himself? Nothing! God's love is unconditional - it has no conditions. He loves us. Period. He showed it to us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us - the ungodly. Somehow some people have gotten the idea that now that we're Christians, the things we do or don't do will keep us from God. But nothing can separate us from God! Nothing can separate us from His love! His perfect love should cast aside all fears and worries that we'll ever have our fellowship with Him broken. Through His love and by the finished work of Christ - and by nothing we've done or not done - we remain in perfect, unbroken fellowship with God.