Once and for all...

We cannot close the door
That isn't why He fought
the war of this place
Everyone can be free

Once and for all...

Well He gave His life
He bled and died
The sacrifice for all
Who will take His name?

Once and for all...

Open wide the door
There's room for more
Tell all the world
That a heart can soar
When you call upon His holy name

Once and for all...
There is freedom
Once and for all...
There is healing
Love sealed it
Once and for all...

Be Who You Are / The Wind Blows Where it Wishes - Part 2

Part 2 of my talk about being who you are and going freely where the wind (Spirit) blows. In the sharing of my personal story of how this has played out in my life, some of the details of how this introverted person got into radio and podcasting (and other forms of public communication) may or may not be interesting to you, but hopefully as you see the ways that things developed in my life that I NEVER would've dreamed of or planned, it will encourage you to keep on riding the wind trustfully and joyfully.

Be Who You Are / The Wind Blows Where it Wishes - Part 1

An encouragement for you to be who you are, not someone else, and to go freely wherever the wind (Spirit) blows.

GIG 238 - So Jesus Mentioned the Tithe...

Some people who teach that tithing is a Christian principle have said things such as, "Jesus mentioned the tithe, so that means that tithing is for Christians." Well, it's true that Jesus mentioned the tithe. But when He did, who was He talking to? What was He saying? What was His overall point? If we look at His words in the larger context of what He was saying and doing, can we truly glean from it that He was making a case for Christian tithing?  Or did it have nothing at all to do with that? We discuss this on Growing in Grace this week.

With all this talk the past few weeks about "tithing," we're leading up to something else, but we first wanted to lay a foundation of what "giving" for the Christian is not, and why it's not. We'll begin talking more about true "grace giving" as this series progresses!

gigcast.graceroots.org

101 Lies Taught in Church Every Sunday

Sometimes people ask me if I know of a place where all of Steve McVey's "101 Lies Taught in Church Every Sunday" videos that he recorded a couple of years ago are listed in order.  I'm like, "how the heck should I know!  Why you asking me, ask Steve!"  hehe :)  Well anyway, I have indeed come across a site that lists them.  A Facebook friend of mine, Glenn Earls, has a website called Grace Realized, and he has listed these videos in groups of 15.

Here's a link to the first page.

BTW, on Facebook the other day, Steve said he sent "52 Lies Heard In Church Every Week" to the publisher, and the book is scheduled to release January 1!

We're Not Gonna Take It!!

Time for my (at least) yearly posting of this video!!!  I first posted the video three years ago, and I've had lots of fun corrupting people with it, especially my 'big sis' Aida, ever since then!  hehehe ;)  Here's my blog post from last year that links to some of the fun we've had with the song.  :)

Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It!

GIG 237 - Why Hebrews 7 is Not About Tithing

Because Hebrews 7 mentions tithing (Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek), many people these days use this passage to make a case that tithing is a Christian principle. But that's not what this passage is about at all. That's not how the Hebrews saw this passage.

This week we take a look at what is really being said in Hebrews 7, especially in light of the entire book of Hebrews. A major theme in the book as a whole, that Kap and Joel have talked about many times, is the superiority of Christ and the New Covenant over the Levite priesthood and the Old Covenant. Hebrews 7 is a part of that larger theme. The writer uses the example of Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek, by no means to make a case for Christian tithing, but rather as part of his case about how Christ supersedes everything!

If you see things differently or are on the fence with this one (or if you simply want to be encouraged in the wonderful truth of the superiority of Christ!) we invite you to spend a few minutes with us as we talk this out.

gigcast.graceroots.org

Radically Better Pics 2

More pics from the Radically Better Conference last weekend in Atlanta.

The conference was so good, I pretty much stayed in this pose throughout most of it!

John, Me, Doug Meeker

Mike Quarles, Paul Anderson-Walsh, Me, Steve McVey

Paul, Me

Radically Better Pics 1

No, the pics aren't radically better than any other pics. The pics are from the Radically Better Conference last weekend in Atlanta! Steve McVey and Paul Anderson-Walsh taught some pretty heretical stuff! LOL =D

As expected, it was very wonderful to reconnect with some people and meet people face to face for the first time as well. Here's the first set of four pics. Four more to come.

Dave Geisler, Me

Me, John, Matt, Phillip Owen Morris, Lori & Craige Peterson

(can't remember name of man in front)

Me, Matt, Donna & John, Phillip, Gary

Me, Ted Angell, Phillip, Jeff Budkoski

Video of Radically Better comments

This past weekend I attended the Radically Better conference with Steve McVey and Paul Anderson-Walsh in Atlanta. I'll post some photos soon. The entire conference was such a wonderful, even surreal experience! I was able to reconnect with people who I've known for some time now, and also meet several other people face to face for the first time, who I've known only online. And the message from Steve and Paul was quite liberating, as you might expect, and quite outside the box of normal Christian thinking. Even outside the box of a lot of what I've learned within the exchanged life/grace community. But all good. :)

At the conference, Paul asked me if I would walk around with his video camera and grab some comments from people about the conference. This was pretty cool, because I got to meet new people this way and it was wonderful to hear what people were getting out of the conference. Some of our 'blogging family' are in this video... Matthew, Gary and John... and they also turned the camera on me even though I highly protested! Haha!

Do enjoy the comments in this video, but if nothing else watch the first part about thinking outside the box. Good stuff.

Accept that God accepts you!

This was an impromptu video that I recorded last night. I had no idea what I was going to say when I began recording. It was not pre-planned in any way! No script; Just my heart.

Response to comments on "Repentance Doesn't Mean Changing Your Behavior"

Following my previous post, Repentance Doesn't Mean Changing Your Behavior, there were a lot of great comments on my Facebook version of the post, including a few that I wanted to respond to. As I was writing my response, it began turning out longer than the original post was! And so I decided to simply make it into a blog post itself. This was not written "as a blog post," so please understand that I didn't attempt 'good form' in the writing. :)  And rather than addressing each comment one by one, this is simply one response to all, that includes the various things that I wanted to respond to.
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"Joel, you do a great job of reinforcing that God's love and acceptance is unconditional." There is an implied "but" here. :) And to be truthful, that's like saying, "Jesus, you do a great job at eating with tax collectors, harlots and sinners and letting them know they go into the kingdom of God before the Pharisees and Sadducees, BUT you're so bad at telling them to clean up their acts!" Ok, so I'm sort of exaggerating, but my point is that indeed, till my dying breath I will be doing all I can to let people know about the unconditional love and grace of God.

I think many Christians give lip service to "God is love," but it's my 'observation' that many, many of them do not truly believe it. They say, "thank you God, for your grace," but then they live as if He were angry or disappointed with them, which means His grace and unconditional love really isn't all that great! And so my point here is that "repent," in and of itself, has nothing to do with a change of behavior. "Repent and believe the good news" means just that. Change your mind from not believing the good news of God's good will toward man, and believe it!

Now, I fully agree that a change of mind will lead to a change of behavior, but not because a person now feels obligated to live right because they've changed their mind. Rather, it's because people naturally live out whatever they believe. "Change your behavior or burn" is not what the gospel is. If that's what the gospel was, then the gospel would be nothing more than people's self-efforts to change their behavior. If "repentance" means "change your behavior," then we're all screwed, are we not? And that's not good news!

And think about this / answer this: If people can't be saved or receive the Spirit without changed behavior or "obedience" to God's commands, then how much changed behavior or 'obedience' is good enough? Perfection? A little less than perfection? A scale that has at least a little more "good behavior" than "bad behavior?" What is the standard, what is the line, IF it's about our obedience/changed behavior?

And so let me just throw this in to the mix: If we're to make it a matter of our good behavior and obedience, I do believe the "standard" is perfection. And so the ones who make it about their good behavior and obedience are the ones who will fall drastically short any and all times! You brood of vipers! Just you TRY to bear fruits worthy of repentance!! See how far you get before you fall flat on your face!!

Anyway, here's my foundational reason for making a big deal out of all of this. To many in the church, "the gospel" or "life in Christ" is all about behavior. But that's not really what the gospel is about. God's unconditional love and grace is what the gospel is all about. His gift of righteousness is what it's all about. And His life that He FREELY gives us is what it's all about. A fruit of all of this is a life that will surely look different when lived out, but that's not because of our great efforts to change our behavior. It's because God Himself is at work in us "to will and to do according to His good pleasure."

Changed behavior is not the point of our life in Christ. Again, that's truly a fruit of it, but the reality of what it's really all about is missed by so many who go right into "true repentance will lead to behavior change." That statement may be correct, but by jumping right into behavior change, we MISS the gospel!!! We miss the fact that life in Christ is about the life of Christ, and us being in an eternal union with Father, Son and Spirit. We miss that it's a love-relationship that isn't based whatsoever on our behavior. We miss the sweetness of truly believing the good news, and living in it day in and day out.

And so people are darned right that I'm good at reinforcing that God's love and acceptance is unconditional! :) It's my aim; it's my goal. And it has been for years! I don't have to worry about FRUIT when I'm telling people to focus on the VINE that has the very life from which the fruit comes. If people see "the vine" and "the vinedresser" as demanding and harsh, as did the "wicked and lazy servant" in the parable of the talents, who thought the master was "a hard man," then we'll never truly even stand a chance at bearing true love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If WE'RE trying to produce this stuff for God (trying hard to be "obedient" and "change our behavior"), then we miss the whole life of Christ and the goodness of God and His gospel.

(BTW, if you want to see the Facebook version of this post, and any comments there, it's here).

Repentance Doesn't Mean Changing Your Behavior

The day Jesus was born, you may recall hearing about an angel who told the shepherds, "Do not be afraid... I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you... a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."  And then as the narration continues, a whole host of angels suddenly appeared, "praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!'"

What the angels were doing was proclaiming some exceptionally good news!  Then one day, approximately thirty years later, John the Baptist proclaimed the good news as well.  He saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"  So what we've got here is a Savior who came to take away the sin of the world.  It's really good news all around, isn't it!

Not too long after this, Jesus came "preaching the gospel (good news) of the kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the good news.'"

This is where the meaning of the word "repent" is critical.  In Greek it's the verb "metanoéō" (and the noun form of the word, repentance, is metánoia) and it means "to think differently or afterwards; to reconsider," or "a change of mind."  That's all the word means.  We have mistakenly read into the word to make it mean a change of behavior.  But what Jesus is asking of people is simply this: Reconsider what you've always believed about God, and instead simply believe the good news!  If you've thought of God as being against you, or being angry with you or out to strike you with a lightning bolt whenever you mess up, then repent of that thinking and instead believe that He is for you, He isn't angry with you and He's come to cure the world of the sin disease, rather than punish us.

"Repent" doesn't mean to be "sorry for your sin."  It doesn't mean to "stop sinning and turn around and do what is right."  Is it a good thing to stop doing things that "are not helpful" and that "don't edify?" (1 Cor 6:12, 10:23).  Of course!  But that's not what repentance is.  Again, repentance means that we stop thinking wrongly about God as being angry with us and out to get us, and instead believe the good news that He took away your sin!  He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life!

If you think God is on your case about anything you've done, or the life you've lived, stop it!  Take a look at the love God showed all of mankind on the Cross.  "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  There's no greater love.  Change your thinking.  Repent and believe the good news!

GIG 236 - Tithing - Not a Model for New Covenant Giving

Continuing on in our "tithing/giving" series this week with a look at a pretty big supply of Old Covenant passages that have to do with tithing. Last week we talked about the "go-to passage" that is brought up by Christians who teach tithing - Malachi 3 - and this week we look a bit more into that, including a brief look at what the "storehouse" is and isn't. Is today's "church" the New Covenant version of the Old Covenant storehouse? Is today's "pastor" the New Covenant version of the Old Covenant priests? Did tithing and the storehouse have anything to do with income?

We then talk about the multitude of passages that have to do with the Old Covenant laws on tithing, as Malachi 3 was simply the Lord's rebuke of Israel for not staying with the system that He had set in place for specific purposes under that covenant. The system of tithing was set up as one part of a much larger system/covenant that has nothing to do with Christianity! We in the church today have mistakenly "Christianized" this old system. Next week we'll talk about Hebrews 7, as well as what Jesus was talking about when He briefly mentioned the tithe.

gigcast.graceroots.org

GIG 235 - Is Tithing for Christians?

Giving and tithing. How (and if) does this fit into the Christian life? This week we begin a brand new series in which we'll look at this. When it comes to living in God's grace, questions come up such as, "Is tithing for Christians?" and "What does grace-giving look like?" We'll start out by looking at what the Old Testament says about tithing. Who tithed? What was the purpose of the tithes? Does any of it fit into New Covenant living?

Specifically this week we'll look at a common "go-to passage" that is brought up when the church today talks about tithing - Malachi 3. What does this passage say, and who was it directed at? Does this passage have anything to do with Christian living and giving? Also, we'll look briefly at Abraham's one-time tithe to Melchizedek, which we'll also cover in greater detail later.

gigcast.graceroots.org

GIG 234 - Crucified and Risen with Christ

We left off last week saying that we'd begin talking this week about tithing and giving as it relates to our life in God's grace, but with this being "Passion Week" or "Easter Week" (or whatever you want or don't want to call it), we decided on a whim to record one program about the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Many of us know the whole story - we know the events that took place during the final week of Jesus' earthly life. But these were not simply historical events. These are happenings that we can personally identify with, since we were crucified with Christ and then we were risen again with Him!

gigcast.graceroots.org