Growing in Grace

1. Moses. Charlton Heston. The Ten Commandments. 603 other commandments. Mount Sinai. The Passover lamb. Many sacrifices. Works. Hearing and doing. Sins temporarily covered. Reminded of sins.

2. Jesus. The Lamb of God. Grace. The gift of salvation and righteousness. Faith. One sacrifice. Easter. The Resurrection. The Holy Spirit. Eternal forgiveness. Sins taken away. Sins remembered no more.

The above is a nutshell version relating some headlines to two very different covenants. How is it that the church culture has embraced combining various portions of these covenants that were never meant to be mingled? Perhaps it's because the Bible is often considered "one book," or wrongly assuming the New was meant to be some type of addendum to the Old. Let's take a look at how badly the target has been missed with such a mixture of law and grace. God's grace (apart from law) is the recipe for us to reign in life and teaches us to deny ungodliness ... not advocating for an old or revamped law that was fulfilled and abolished by Jesus.

"For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."

--Available on Amazon - "Clash of The Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713ZSKY7

When we discover a revelation of God's grace, Christians who have been inundated with doctrines of doing in order to maintain right standing with God will be confronted with something that may challenge their past mindset.

Under a legalistic, self-righteous, mixed-covenant church culture, it was more about 'doing things' in order to please God; to receive blessings, to keep from being punished, or to be noticed by others (all in the name of having a good testimony). We were programmed to think it was up to us and our obedience to remain tethered into fellowship with God. Many came from a mindset where failing to do 'enough of the stuff' might risk how God will react to them. The motivation was based more upon avoiding God becoming angry with them or withholding blessings.

While living in the unchangeable grace and perfect love of God at all times, what is our motivation compared to the above? Now that we know blessings and forgiveness are secure and complete in Christ by the gift of His grace, what is the motivation for loving and helping others and doing good things? In short, we'll find it in knowing and believing in God's perfect love and who we *already* are in Him.

--Available on Amazon - "Clash of The Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713ZSKY7

God's grace teaches us so much over time when compared to religious routines and traditions of "doing" that have often missed the core message of the gospel of God's love. We're continuing with the second part of a letter we received from a newer listener to the podcast who is beginning to see the message of grace and recognizing the contrasts with much of what they may have been taught in the corporate church system. They ask about how to overcome past regrets for things said and done ... the feeling of exhaustion from church-related activities ... and wrestling with whether they and their young family should attend church regularly.

--Available on Amazon - "Clash of The Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713ZSKY7

Over the past couple of decades, we've received correspondence from people from around the world. We've been blessed by so many emails and comments. We've also heard stories from some who shared very difficult things they have experienced from church denominations and religious tradition ... and some of those were quite sad.

We recently received a nice letter from a new listener who discovered our podcast and shared some of his experiences while just beginning to have the eyes of his understanding opened to the message of the gospel of grace. Chances are very good that much of what he is sharing will sound very familiar to you if you have progressed into the good news of the gift of righteousness. For some, it will bring reminders from your distant past ... or more recently for some. We felt it is probably an accurate representation of what many Christians go through when being set free from ideologies that are so burdensome within the mixed covenant culture quite dominant in corporate Christianity. We're going to do something different on this program and share the letter and some thoughts for those eagerly seeking answers to what may seem like "newfound faith."

--Available on Amazon - "Clash of The Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713ZSKY7

This is the final installment from our previous request ... asking listeners to share something that completely changed for them as they slipped from the roots of religious legalism into the grace of the gospel.

This week includes the topics of:

- The fear of participating in communion "in an unworthy manner" because of certain sins that religion declares will cause a separation with God or result in a negative effect on our fellowship with Him.
- The fear of bloodline curses or various curses from a lack of obedience in behavior.
- Church members putting a guilt trip on those who do not attend regularly or deem them to be in error when they leave or attend a different church building.

--Available on Amazon - "Clash of The Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713ZSKY7