Grace Makes People Free

There are many reasons why people preach and teach the gospel of God's grace and peace, and why people want to evangelize the church with the message of God's grace and peace. One of the big reasons is this: It makes people free. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, and yet many believers are bound up and are far from free in Christ.

Next month marks the 10th anniversary of the weekly Growing in Grace podcast that I do with Mike Kapler. The reason we've continued to do it each week is because it continues to help people find and stay in the freedom of Christ. Over the years we've received many emails and comments from people, sometimes simply asking questions about grace and other times pouring out their hearts and souls to us. In this video I share a couple of these emails, as they go to show the bondage that people have found themselves trapped in through what they've been taught in the church, and then the freedom that they've found through hearing the good news of God's grace and peace!



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Roots go deep

This past Thursday, January 7, marked 18 years that I've been consciously engaged in a walk with the Lord.  I say "consciously engaged," meaning that prior to that, I believe I was saved (I've been a believer as far back as I can remember in life), but it wasn't until that day that a very noticeable, undeniable change took place in my life that forever redirected my path in life.  I've already told the story on this blog, and perhaps I made it a bit long, but you can check it out here if you want.  Suffice it to say that I believe the Lord has always been 'at work' in my life, even when I had no clue and when I was not giving Him the time of day, so to speak.  And it's always been His doing, not mine.  I didn't consciously go chasing after Him that day.  Even though I told my friend on that strange and wonderful day that perhaps I was looking for Jesus, it was more that He was coming after me!

In fact, a passage that I clung to in those early days, back in 1992, was Philippians 1:6 - "He who has begun a good work in you will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  With all that had suddenly changed in my life, I knew that it wasn't "me" who was making it happen.  I knew it was the Lord's work.

And yet --- I spent the first three years essentially making it about my work for Him.  And I've spent the past fifteen years overcoming the mess that was made during those three years!!  You see, as I said, I had the underlying confidence that all that was happening in my life was the Lord's faithful work in me, but even so, my understanding was "leavened" with a faulty view that it was up to me to "do my best" to keep myself in line.  I not only had to try to keep myself from sinning, but I had a laundry list of activities that I was to keep up - Bible reading, praying (for long periods of time), listening to teachers on the radio, going to church, being involved in various ministry activities, "witnessing," getting people to come to church, etc, etc, the list goes on and on.  All of that stuff was preached to me and taught to me, and I taught the same stuff to others.

Grace, to me, was not really much more than having a feeling that God would forgive me if I sinned.  I did also have a general feeling that God's grace would enable me to do all those things that (I thought) He wanted me to do.  However, no matter how much I did, and how much I "asked God for forgiveness," I always felt my sin was too great and I never felt I was doing enough.  Of course there were many "convicting" sermons that got me all pumped up, making me feel as if I was finally going to leave church on Sunday morning and go out into the world and live the "Christian life" in victory!  That is, doing all the stuff I was "supposed" to be doing, and refraining from all the stuff I wasn't supposed to be doing.  But by the time Monday morning came around, I felt like a complete failure.

Well, I got rooted in that mindset, and those roots go deep.  It was only three years, but it has taken A LOT of unlearning during the past fifteen years to overcome all of that stuff, and I still feel sometimes as if that old mindset keeps me down in various ways.  Don't get me wrong - I've learned a lot and I've been freed up in so many ways.  I live with an internal joy and peace and sense of freedom that I really can't even comprehend or fully express.  And I'll never, ever, go back to that legalistic lifestyle.  But yet even after fifteen years I can tell you that some of those roots are very stubbornly and deeply rooted, and hard to dig out!

I say all of this not to promote a "victim mentality," but rather to promote the importance of being rooted and established in God's unconditional love and grace!  Each of us has had varying levels of legalism in our lives. For whatever reasons, God has allowed us to go through it.  And now that our blinders have come off and we've seen the true freedom and grace and unconditional love of our Lord, we "strive" (hehehe) to remain free!  We've entered the land of rest and freedom and we never want to go back to the land of religious legalism and burdens.  It is good that the heart be established in grace.

So let's encourage one another often.  Let's help one another to be rooted, grounded and established in God's unconditional love and grace.  Let's help one another to be free.  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!

GIG 200 - Special Celebration Edition - Highlights Part 1

We're celebrating our 200th Growing in Grace Podcast with a look back on highlights from the past programs that have led up to this memorable occasion! It's been a lot of fun to have you sit in with us on our casual conversations as we discover together what true freedom is all about. We'll continue with our celebrating for the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned for more highlights to come, and of course we're looking forward to many more great chats in the future!

gigcast.graceroots.org

GIG 198 - Freedom Comes Not Through Law But Through Faith

Christians, declare your independence from the Law! Many Christians, it seems, have not realized that Christ set them free from God's Law. But since it's the truth, we might as well know and understand it so we can live a life of independence from the Law and of true freedom in Christ!

There are over 600 Laws in the Bible. So which Laws are we talking about here? As everyone knows, there are two covenants - the Old and the New. In the Old, we see that there are laws that are broken into three categories: sacrificial laws, dietary laws... AND what is known as "moral laws," or The Ten Commandments. Most Christians have no problem with the understanding that we don't live by the old sacrificial and dietary laws. But as we check out Paul's words in Galatians this week, we find out what he has to say about the latter set of laws, which many Christian seem to think are there for us to live by. If you see things that way, you may be surprised at what the Bible actually says about that!

In short, let's just say that walking by Law means that we are in bondage! To walk according to God's promise - to walk according to freedom - means to walk by faith, not law. We are children of faith and of the promise, not children of the flesh and bondage!

Next week: If our lives in Christ are not to be by Law, then what is the motivation and source of good works and righteous living?

gigcast.graceroots.org

GIG 197 - Law: Bondage, Jesus: Freedom

Continuing on from last week's program in which we talked about being delivered from the Law, this week we talk a little bit more about the ministry of the Law, which is bondage, and the "better hope" that we have in Jesus, which is freedom!

The Apostle Paul uses very strong language when talking about the Law. Sometimes we glance over these things, but we've got to look at the reality of the Law's purpose and ministry so we can have a clearer understanding of the ministry of Jesus! Did you know that Paul refers to the Law as "the law of sin and death," "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation?" He brings up the Old Testament characters of Hagar and Sarah, saying they are symbols of the two covenants - one that gives birth to bondage and the other that brings freedom. Are we of the child that was born according to the flesh, or of the child that was born according to the promise!

gigcast.graceroots.org

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

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!

gigcast.graceroots.org

Don't Look Back

The change from bondage to freedom?
Fear to love?
Religion to relationship?
Legalism to grace?
Churchianity to true life in Christ?
___________ to __________?

Boston - Don't Look Back
(Longer version with higher quality audio below)


Don't look back
A new day is breaking
It's been too long since I felt this way
I don't mind where I get taken
The road is calling
Today is the day

I can see
It took so long just to realize
I'm much too strong
Not to compromise
Now I see what I am is holding me down
I'll turn it around
Oh yes I will

I finally see the dawn arriving
I see beyond the road I'm driving

It's a bright horizon and I'm awaking
Oh I see myself in a brand new way
The sun is shining
The clouds are breaking
Cause I can't lose now.
There's no game to play

I can tell
There's no more time left to criticize
I've seen what I could not recognize
Everything in my life was leading me on
But I can be strong

I finally see the dawn arriving
I see beyond the road I'm driving
Far away and left behind



All of this reminds me of Aida's blog, Forgetting the Former Things.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." (Isaiah 43:18-19)

Go Go's - Head Over Heels

Follow up to yesterday's Trust Your Divine Dance Partner post, which featured the great advice given to Belinda Carlisle earlier this week on Dancing With the Stars. Here she is with her band the Go Go's, singing the song Head Over Heels. These days this song speaks to me about the busyness, craziness and deceit of religion - and its ultimate failure - and the finding of freedom in our rest in Christ and in the new heart we've been given.

Oh yeah, and it's just a fun song!

Go Go's - Head Over Heels


Been running so long
I've nearly lost all track of time
In every direction
I couldn't see the warning signs
I must be losin' it
Cuz my mind plays tricks on me
It looked so easy
But you know looks sometimes deceive

Been running so fast
Right from the starting line
No more connections
I don't need any more advice
One hand's just reaching out
And one's just hangin' on
It seems my weaknesses
Just keep going strong

Chorus:
Head over heels
Where should I go
Can't stop myself
Outta control
Head over heels
No time to think
Looks like the whole world's out of sync


Been running so hard
When what I need is to unwind
The voice of reason
Is one I left so far behind
I waited so long
So long to play this part
And just remembered
That I'd forgotten about my heart

What was against us and contrary to us has been wiped out and made obsolete!

This post, and the post to follow, are not posts that are meant to turn your head a little. They're not simply "double-take" posts. These are absolute all-out in-your-face posts! I might even make some enemies with these posts, and I'm willing to take that risk. But my ultimate hope is that the words in these posts will be used to set people free.

For too long the Church of Jesus Christ has been involved in an atrocious, yet all too widely accepted, form of Christianity that continues to include within it various forms of the very thing that Christ came to set us free from! Actually, this has been going on for 2,000 years. Certain early Christians, such as the people in the churches of Galatia, were so involved in this atrocity that the Apostle Paul, in a strong rebuke, called them foolish and he asked them who had bewitched them that they would turn back to such things!

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," Paul said (Galatians 5:1), but yet there are still many Christians living today who are in bondage to the very thing that Christ set us free from! It should not be this way! So what is this terrible, heinous form of slavery that Christians are involved in, through the preaching and teaching of it, and through the daily yoking of themselves together with it?

The LAW. God's Law. God's holy Law. I'll be specific: The Ten Commandments (and any and all other of God's 600+ laws and ordinances in the Bible). This is what Christians, to their detriment, are misguidedly teaching and preaching as the way of the Christian life. The paradox here is that God's good, holy law... is not good for us! It was against us and contrary to us (Colossians 2:14). It was bondage to us (Galatians 4:24). See, God's good and holy Law has this itsy bitsy little shortcoming when it comes to sinful man: It can make no one perfect or holy or good! (See Hebrews 7:18-19 and Romans 8:3). So what God did through Christ was not to enable us to live according to the standards of His Law, but rather He took the Law out of the way by nailing it to the cross with Christ! (See again Colossians 2:14). And so with the Law nailed to the cross and our sin taken away, we were freed from our bondage and made close to God by His grace. We now live, not by God's Law, but by the Life of Christ that has come to indwell us.

So why the obsession with the Law in Christianity??? Do we not get that it was against us and that we had to die to it in order to belong to Christ? (Galatians 2:19-20, Romans 7:4). Jesus
said He didn't come to destroy the Law. He came to fullfil it. And guess what? At the cross, all was fulfilled!!! When Jesus died, God's Last Will and Testament (the New Covenant) was executed. When all was fullfilled, and the New Covenant came to be, God made the first covenant "obsolete" (Hebrews 8:13)! We can't miss the fact that Jesus, "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12). Jesus sat down, signifying that the work was complete and sufficient and finished forever!!! What the Law could never have done, Christ did once and for all.

Thank GOD that what was against us and contrary to us (God's Law) has been wiped out and nailed to the cross and made obsolete! Because of this, we are truly FREE!

A change in covenants: From bad news to good news!

I'm going to speak in general here, but under the Old Covenant, prophets would be sent out now and then to point out how the people were failing to follow God's commandments, and to proclaim the judgment that was awaiting them if they didn't repent of their evil deeds and start doing right.

There is no such bad-news prophet 'office' in the New Covenant! We got a taste of the change when the angels appeared to the shepherds with a brand new message, all focused around the Savior of the world, and no longer focused on what had condemned the world (the law).

Luke 2:13-14
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
"Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

A stark change from the message of "change your ways or suffer the consequences!"

The law had done its job - death and condemnation. However, "when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Gal 4:4-5).

No longer is the message, "change your ways so that you won't be punished." That's bad news! The reason it's bad news is because there is none righteous, no not one. There is no one who can ever change their ways in a way that satisfies God! The new message, the message of the gospel (good news) is this: "Having been justified [made righteous] by faith [not by turning from bad behavior to good behavior], we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Rom 5:1-2).

The Old Covenant gave birth to bondage! There is nothing about the Old Covenant that is good for us. Nothing! Cast out the bondwoman (the Old Covenant) and her son (the bondage that comes from the Old Covenant)! We are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" (Gal 5:1).

Feelings of Guilt and Condemnation are Not from God

Latest Growing in Grace program is ready for downloading/listening. A continuation of the chat from last week. If you're feeling guilty and condemned for your sins, it's not from God! In Christ He has taken away your sin completely - which removes all guilt and condemnation. "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (see Romans 8:1). The law made people guilty before God (Romans 3:19), but those in Christ "have been set free from sin" (Romans 6:22) and have been "made free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2). The only thing that has made this possible is the Blood of Jesus. We can't add anything to what Christ has already done! His sacrifice was a one time sacrifice, sufficient for all of our sins - past, present and future!

gigcast.graceroots.org

"The Unforgiven" (repost)

I first posted this about a year and a half ago, which is before I got to know a lot of you. Some comments about freedom and prison walls on another post from today reminded me of this song, so I just thought I'd repost a shorted version of this post.
____________________

About 3 or 4 years ago, I was listening to "The Black Album" (by Metallica). I was brought to tears, not only by the music, but by the lyrics of one particular song. I had never really paid much attention to what the lyrics of any of their songs actually meant, but this one really captured me on this day. I cried for what my life might have been, if not for people having told me about God's grace, and helping me out of the bondage of religion and its many effects. I cried for people who are still trapped in deadly religion.

I understand if you don't care for the music, so perhaps the lyrics will get the point across. But there is something about the "mood" of the music that adds to the emotion and the intensity of the subject matter, so I invite you to watch it if you want to. Don't worry, you won't have to brace yourself too much. It's one of Metallica's "slower" songs. :)

Metallica - The Unforgiven


New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

With time the child draws in
This whipping boy done wrong
Deprived of all his thoughts
The young man struggles on and on he's known
A vow unto his own
That never from this day
His will they'll take away

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never be
Never see
Won't see what might have been

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never free
Never me
So I dub thee unforgiven

They dedicate their lives
To running all of his
He tries to please them all
This bitter man he is
Throughout his life the same
He's battled constantly
This fight he cannot win
A tired man they see no longer cares
The old man then prepares
To die regretfully
That old man here is me...

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never be
Never see
Wont see what might have been

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never free
Never me
So I dub thee unforgiven

You labeled me
I'll label you
So I dub thee unforgiven

The Who - I'm Free

I heard this song on the radio the other day. I've always wondered exactly what the lyrics said, and what was the story behind the song, so I looked it up (see below).



From songfacts.com:

This was part of The Who's Rock Opera Tommy. Tommy is free because his mother smashed the mirror that he was kind of trapped in. He always gazed at his reflection and this was the only thing he could really see. Now Tommy wants his disciples to follow him ("How can we follow?") and says he's their Messiah.

Lyrics:

I'M FREE-I'm free,
And freedom tastes of reality,
I'm free-I'm free,
And I'm waiting for you to follow me.

If I told you what it takes
to reach the highest high,
You'd laugh and say "nothing's that simple"
But you've been told many times before
Messiah's pointed to the door
And no one had the guts to leave the temple!

I'm free-I'm free
And freedom tastes of reality

I'm free-I'm free
And I'm waiting for you to follow me.

Chorus:
How can we follow?
How can we follow?

Hmm... Someone finds freedom and wants to share it with everybody! But perhaps others are still stuck on what was keeping them in captivity? So... what to do?

Keep on preachin' freedom, brothers and sisters! And keep on living it out unabashedly and unashamedly!

Do our "scripts" really work? (There's got to be more to life)

Came across this from Kent at Faithfully Dangerous. Kent quotes from theologian Walter Brueggemann, who is a friend of my dad's from college and seminary (50+ years ago) and is also my brother's godfather. I've only met Brueggemann once, and was too young at the time to appreciate any of his wisdom. ;) However, nowadays I've had some neat revelations as I've read bits and pieces of his work.

In the quote from the above linked-to blog post, Brueggemann says:

"Everybody has a script. People live their lives by a script that is sometimes explicit but often implicit. That script may be one of the great meta-narratives created by Karl Marx or Adam Smith or it may be an unrecognized tribal mantra like, 'My dad always said...' The practice of the script evokes a self, yields a sense of purpose and provides security..."

"...The dominant script of both selves and communities in our society, for both liberals and conservatives, is the script of therapeutic, technological, consumerist militarism that permeates every dimension of our common life" (emphasis mine).

(To see what Brueggemann means by "therapeutic," "technological," "consumerist" and "militarism," please see the entire post. It'll be well worth your time).

Isn't it true that we all essentially have a 'script' that we live by? In various ways, in our minds and hearts, we've all "written" the script as to how we live our lives moment by moment. I want to take a look at one of the angles from which many people seem to write their scripts. I think for many of us (human beings in general, unfortunately including Christians), our script generally involves how to make ourselves happy --- doesn't it? We live a certain way, trying to do all we can to make sure that we're always comfortable and happy. We want the "new and improved" version of a product. We want a huge TV screen so we can watch all our fantasies (TV characters, plots, sports teams, etc.) in larger than life high def. (Don't we even live vicariously through all these things?).

We desire to be wealthy, thinking we'll finally find fulfillment and happiness if we just have all the stuff we 'need.' (In fact, aren't most of us in the western world already wealthy, but since we can't have all we want we consider ourselves poor?). We even think perfect health will finally bring about the end of our pursuit of the best life possible. We try to keep up with the Jones'. We're always wanting more; we're always looking for the next temporary high to satisfy us.* We want our church and friends and family members to be all that we want them to be so that we don't have to be too uncomfortable. We even try to make God out to be what we want Him to be, whether that's on the legalistic, controlling end of the spectrum or on the spectrum that makes Him a God who simply wants us to be comfortable and cozy all the time.

Everybody's script is tweaked a little differently, but the point is, don't we all have our own scripts? And the bigger question... do our scripts really work?

What if we were to let go of our scripts - the way we think things should be, and the way we live to make things to be the way we think they should be - and instead follow Jesus' words to "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." What if life weren't about the pursuit of happiness, but rather, through some other means - a Person - we found true Life and Freedom?

Wouldn't we find true freedom? Real, genuine, God-supplied Life and Freedom?

I don't mean to imply that releasing ourselves from our "scripts" is an overnight process - not by any means! We've worked so hard to write them! ;) But slowly and by God's grace, can we get to know this Person and find Life in Him, and in Him alone? In fact, we already do have Life in Him. We are complete in Him. As we go through the process of being released from our scripts can we also at the same time allow Him to release the person who He's truly created us to be, out into the wild, free, dangerous, abundant life that He's created for us to live? (Not always "comfortable," not always "happy," but always fulfilling and free and filled with love).


*I thought this video went along with this post somewhat.
Stacie Orrico - More To Life

T.G.I.F. (Thank God I'm Free)

Just thought I'd share this video that's done by one of my MyCCM peeps, Steven S. Billings.

I Want To Break Free

A few weeks ago Meeting Of One posted this video in relation to the question of whether to O.R.E.C. or not to O.R.E.C. (Organized Religious Entertainment Centre). (I'm sure people who read this blog "get" it). ;) Going along with the fun, I posted this video.

Well, I know there are some who are still pondering the question, and there are those who have other things in their lives they perhaps are 'struggling' to break free from. Some of it may be quite serious. Spiritual abuse, religion, legalism, lies, bad relationships, a job, a coworker, a church, a church member, you name it. NOT to minimize any of the seriousness of any of those issues, but here's a lighthearted look at the struggle people may be going through, from the boys who call themselves Queen. I don't know about you, but I think this is quite hilarious. :) The actresses... um, actors... play their parts well! The rest of the stuff is, what... art?

I Want To Break Free

Spiritual Bondage

What do you think of when you think of "spiritual bondage?" At one time in my life, I thought of spiritual bondage as all the sins that I was in "bondage" to. I thought of spiritual bondage as all the bad things I needed to overcome in order to maintain my right standing with God.

But if we look at what the Bible says about spiritual bondage, we get a completely different picture! While I was at work today, I randomly selected another message from my old pastor to listen to on my mp3 player, and again it was from 1995. I was amazed at how well this message really goes along perfectly with my post from the other day, "In order to be free, there's a certain thing you need to get out of your life...", along with the comments on that post.

This message gets into what bondage really is, as compared to true freedom in Christ. Again, we tend to think of bondage as "sin" and freedom as "living right." Of course, there are a lot of sinful things that we can be in bondage to. And it certainly wouldn't hurt if everybody would "live right." But again that's not what the Bible is talking about when it talks about bondage and freedom!

In Galatians 4, Paul says, "For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar — for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children — but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all."

What exactly came from Mount Sinai and gave birth to bondage? The Ten Commandments - that's what came from Mount Sinai and gave birth to bondage! The same Ten Commandments that Christians today think means freedom for them! But in fact, Paul not only called them bondage, but he also called them the ministry of death ("written and engraved on stones") and the ministry of condemnation (see 2 Cor 3:7-11).

True freedom comes when we STOP judging ourselves and condemning ourselves based upon rules and laws and how well we're performing in our Christian lives, and begin simply trusting in the truth that we are accepted in the Beloved by God's grace and nothing else!

Again I invite you to download and listen to this encouraging message. If you've got an sort of a religious mindset - I mean, even the tiniest inkling you may have that leans towards trying to live by law or judging yourself or others according to performance - then hold on tight and get ready for your foundation to be completely shaken and upheaved! And if you're searching for true freedom in Christ - really wanting to get out of religious bondage and have a wonderful, free relationship with Christ, based upon God's grace and upon His favor that is upon you due to nothing other than the finished work of Christ - then get ready to have your foundation in Christ strengthened and secured.

The gospel of change?

My grace roots teeth were cut in large part through the help of my former pastor, "Pastor Mark," in the last half of the 1990's. Pastor Mark had formerly been a Word of Faith pastor at a church called Life Christian Center here in Waterloo, Iowa, but went through his own grace revolution and began to preach what I believe is "the" gospel. It's known in the Bible as "the gospel of grace," "the gospel of Jesus Christ" and "the gospel of peace," among other terms. But no matter the term, it's one gospel. Romans 1:16-17 reveals that the gospel is a revelation of God's righteousness (not our own righteousness), and of course it's given to us as a gift (Romans 5:17), not by us performing in any way to earn it.

Mark preached for about an hour every week, digging deep into the glorious gospel, expounding upon the scriptures like I've never seen anyone do, before or since. My knowledge and understanding of who God is and who I am in Him really grew during the period of my life that I was able to hear him preach. In short, it all started sometime in 1995 when my friend Mike (who was the P.D. at the radio station I worked at back then, and with whom I record Growing in Grace) began sharing sermon tapes with me. I was blown away, and I began to experience freedom in the Lord like never before. Then in 1996, about 5 or 6 months after my wife and I were married, we left our church and began attending Life Christian Center, until the end of 1999 when we stopped meeting as a church (for various reasons), and the Lord sent us out to share the wonderful gospel of freedom in other places.

Well, I was listening to one of the old sermon tapes this morning, and I just had to share it! It's from 1995 and it's entitled "The Gospel to the Poor," based upon Jesus' reading of Isaiah's prophecy of Him, in Luke 4. Before getting into that, Mark spends a great deal of time talking about what the gospel isn't. Apparently in the Word of Faith church, various phrases had been coined, such as "the gospel of healing" and "the gospel of prosperity." Now, it's not that God doesn't heal, and it's not that a person can't be prosperous financially, but Mark makes the point that those things aren't the gospel.

But what really struck me back then, in 1995, and what has stuck with me all these years and is highlighted in this sermon, is how the church today has created its own "gospel of change." To many people, the gospel essentially means "I've changed the way I live." Our testimonies are nothing more than, "I used to do bad things, now I do good things." "I used to smoke dope; now I'm clean as a whistle." Again, it's not that changed behavior is bad! Those testimonies come from the wonderful work of God in the lives of people, and are well worth sharing. But... that's not the gospel! Those things may be a fruit - or a result - of the transformation that happens in a person's life because of the gospel, but as Mark often said, "the gospel isn't a gospel of change; it's a gospel of exchange." The gospel at its core means an exchange of our sin for Christ's righteousness (see for example 2 Corinthians 5:21), and of our life for Christ's life (see Galatians 2:20). That's good news!

I think many of you will enjoy Mark's sarcasm, humor, zeal and insight as he talks about all this and more. (He also talks about how many in the church have become separatists, worrying that we'll be contaminated by "sinners." He talks about how it's very easy for him to understand why people don't like church, or the church system. And if you've ever heard me share the story about my pastor who visited another church in which the pastor of that church pointed out the bartender in his congregation, that's in this sermon. It's an awesome story!). You can download the teaching here. If you can't listen to it now, why not download it for a later time.



It's 47 minutes long, and unfortunately it ends abruptly because the final part of the hour-long sermon was cut off, but you get a heavy dose of gospel freedom in those 47 minutes! (For some reason it was recorded onto the first side of a 90-minute tape, and the other side of the tape has something completely different on it). It's a 16MB download. Let me know if you have any troubles downloading/listening to it.

If interested, I've previously linked to a short snippet of another message from Mark here.

In order to be free, there's a certain thing you need to get out of your life...

Gal 4:21-5:1
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar — for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children — but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written:

"Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband."

Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage!

I don't 'really care' about my bad reputation...

I'm taking somewhat of a risk posting the song below. I think most of you "get" me and you understand why I would share something like this, but I know that for some I'm crossing an unnecessary line. And that's all right - I'll take my chances! (I'll say right off the bat, if you're one who doesn't care for certain 'bad' words (one of the tamer 'bad' words is repeated throughout the song - the "D" word), or certain 'bad' attitudes represented in film/video, then you're one of the people I'm taking my chances with and you might not care to read further or watch the video!

As I first give a little background, I'll start off by saying that I've met so many people - in person and online - who have dealt with, in one way or another, the nasty effects of legalism and who are wanting to break free in their hearts from those who have oppressed them and who have been the cause of spiritual abuse in their lives. For me personally, ever since I began to become free in the wonderful grace of God, one thing that has tended to hamper my own growth in freedom is the fear of losing my "reputation" among my super-religious peers.

You know who I'm talking about. Those who follow all the rules. Those who are in church every time the doors are open. Those who dress right. Those who listen to the right music. Those who follow through on their duty to tithe to their local church. Those who don't drink, smoke or chew, or go with girls who do. Those who have all their spiritual i's dotted and t's crossed. Those who do all they can do to protect their godly reputations and who frown on anything that appears even a tiny bit out of line.

Now here's the thing. I love Jesus. I love Him more and more as a result of growing in His love for me. I'm FREE in Him, and my freedom allows me to just be myself and watch Him work His works in me as we have a relationship together, instead of following some divine "do" and "do not do" list. But can you believe this - some people actually frown on all of this, and consider it a flagrant disregard for the things of Christ! Hmmm!

And so at times I've (unnecessarily) carried with me a bit of concern about what they think of me. Sometimes I've (unnecessarily) worried about my reputation among my more-religious brothers and sisters. And it's been too much of an unnecessary burden for me. Now if you know me, you know I'm not bitter or angry about any of this. I've just seen how it's hurt me in the past and I've seen how it's hurt others. But I've become increasingly free of it all and I've also seen many other people breaking free! And so when I see or hear something that seems to represent an example of all of this, I tend to like to share it!

"Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts is a song from the 80's that I heard recently (a few weeks ago) after having not heard it for many years. Then this morning on the radio I heard a rerun of one of Casey Kasem's old Top 40 countdowns in which he played Joan Jett's "I Love Rock N' Roll." Casey mentioned that before hitting it big with that song, Joan and her band had been turned down by twenty three record labels while trying get a record deal.

I then remembered that the "Bad Reputation" video had kind of an "In your face / So there!" theme to it, with somewhat comical scenes showing the various record label executives rejecting the band and their music. But then it goes on to show the Billboard chart with "I Love Rock N' Roll" in the Number 1 position, and gee golly, the record execs suddenly liking the band!

The video and the lyrics (some of the lyrics, not all of them) got me to thinking about the whole "reputation" thing in the church. How often are people looked down upon and rejected when their act doesn't seem good enough for everyone else. It's only when (if) they start to put on a good performance that they get showered with all kinds of attention and accolades. And then they have to keep working hard to maintain their good reputation. If they should slip, even to a degree... Ooooh I shudder to think about it.

Of course the reputation thing is nothing new. The Apostle Paul certainly dealt with it. He came up against those who would "desire to make a good showing in the flesh" (keep up the 'good reputation' of the church) by making Christians keep the Law, just so that they wouldn't be persecuted by the Jews (see Galatians 6:11-15). Paul also had to deal with a similar problem with Peter. When the law-keeping Jewish Christians would come by, Peter would withdraw and separate himself from the Gentile believers (with whom he would normally have no problem having fellowship with), fearing his own reputation among the religious people. Paul "withstood him to his face" about this hypocrisy.

And so, on to my main purpose in bringing all this up: We who are free in Christ, and who have gotten off of the performance treadmill and who have embraced Jesus the Person and chucked aside Christianity the Religion, have no real reason to be concerned about our reputation among our legalistic brothers and sisters in Christ! We are free and we can't let fear of religious people stop us from enjoying our freedom!

The attitude represented in the song "Bad Reputation" doesn't necessarily represent my own personal attitude, and perhaps my way of expressing the thoughts would be a little more toned down than the lyrics of the song. But yet as I've continued to toss around the idea of sharing this video, I just can't deny that once again I've come across a song that was never, ever intended as anything close a 'spiritual freedom' song but yet has spoken volumes to me in that regard!

Second warning on the "D" word... here are some of the lyrics, followed by the video:

I don't give a damn about my reputation
Never said I wanted to improve my station
And I'm only doin' good
When I'm havin' fun
And I don't have to please no one
And I don't give a damn
About my bad reputation

Oh no, not me
Oh no, not me

I don't give a damn
About my reputation
I've never been afraid of any deviation
And I don't really care
If ya think I'm strange
I ain't gonna change
And I'm never gonna care
About my bad reputation

Oh no, not me
Oh no, not me