288. Works or Grace?

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Last week we discussed how some people will often talk about grace, only to end up adding their own lists of various shoulds, musts and ought to's that Christians need to live by. This week we continue with the same line of thinking, discussing the mixture of works and grace that is taught in many Christian churches and other settings.

Is our life in Christ a mixture of grace AND our own works? Are we to carry over some Old Covenant principles and other works-based principles into this life of grace? Is a Christian who appears to have "better" works and a "better" lifestyle really better than someone who appears to be living a lifestyle that doesn't seem as righteous?

Here's this week's GIG-Bite, a quick sample of this week's program.

287. Grace... But

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Many Christians seem to talk the talk of the sufficiency of grace, only to quickly negate their own words with conditional phrases such as "but...", and they come up with lists of various shoulds, musts and ought to's that Christians need to live by, which essentially nullifies their talk of the sufficiency of grace. On the one hand, they speak of the free gift of salvation, telling people that there's nothing they can do to earn it... only to turn around and present them with a list of rules and obligations that they need to live by after they've believed in Christ.

So are you in with "Grace But Ministries" --- as Kap calls it :) --- or are you depending upon the sufficiency of grace by which you are who you are and by which you live the life that you live?

Here's this week's GIG-Bite, a quick sample of this week's program.

286. Does Christ Enable Us to Keep the Law?

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The Bible says that God is at work in us (Phil 2:13) and that He is faithful to complete the work that He began in us (Phil 1:6). Does the work that He is doing in us involve the keeping of His laws? A common teaching in the church is that even though keeping God's laws won't save us, we're still meant to keep them after we've been saved. It's said by some that the power of Christ in us will enable us to keep the law. So is that true? Are we meant to keep the law? Does the life of Christ in us enable us to keep it? What, if anything, does the Christian life have to do with keeping God's law?

Here's this week's GIG-Bite, a quick sample of this week's program.

285. Lay Down Our Lives for God?

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A common teaching throughout the church is that we are called to "lay down our lives for God." But is that what God has called us to do? If it's true that "I no longer live" (see Galatians 2:19-21), then is laying down our lives even something we can do? The Bible does talk about a life being laid down. But is there perhaps a bit of confusion about whose life it was that was laid down?

Here's this week's GIG-Bite, a quick sample of this week's program.

284. Are We to Live by "Good Christian Morals"?

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Are we to live by "good Christian morals"? Are we to live by a certain standard of right vs. wrong or good vs. evil? Is there a code of ethics that Christians are to live by?

If the original problem was that Adam ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (or "right and wrong") instead of the Tree of Life (Jesus), isn't it the Tree of Life that we want to now live from, rather than the knowledge of good and evil?

Here's this week's GIG-Bite, a quick sample of this week's program.

283. Rededicate Ourselves to God?

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There is something that perhaps seems admirable about people dedicating themselves to God, and then rededicating themselves when they feel they've fallen short. But is this really something that God wants from us?  Is it up to us to be dedicated to God? Is it about our performance for Him?  Does God want our selves to dedicate and rededicate our selves to Him over and over again? Or is it our-selves who have made it about our-selves, and our performance for God, when really He has something entirely different in mind?

While it's great to be dedicated to God, this week we discuss some of these questions and try to shed a little bit of light on how the focus perhaps ought to be more on God's sufficient work in us, rather than our attempts at dedicating and rededicating ourselves to Him.

Here's this week's GIG-Bite, a quick sample of this week's program.

282. Does the Spirit Convict Us of Sin?

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Something that you will commonly hear people in the church say is that the Holy Spirit "convicted" them of a sin they committed, or that they felt convicted by the Holy Spirit because they weren't living up to some standard that they felt they should have been keeping. This week we ask the question, "Does the Holy Spirit convict Christians of sin?" Is that what He does? Does the Holy Spirit go around "convicting" Christians when they sin or fall short? As we talk about this, we think you'll find that we share some really good news that not only debunks this idea of the Holy Spirit convicting Christians of sin, but that shows how He actually works to "convict" (convince) Christians of something far more wonderful! Find out what that is on this week's edition of Growing in Grace.

Here's this week's GIG-Bite, a quick sample of this week's program.