Jesus himself is the New Covenant. The New Covenant isn't something he brought with him, tucked neatly under his arm. He is the New Covenant. Let's take five and talk about how to have a Jesus-lite theology of the New Covenant where Jesus gets occasional, honorable mention but the real emphasis is on human performance and supposed progress.

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow

My guest for this episode is Emily Shepherd. Emily and her family spent several years in a high-control Reformed church environment before making the decision to leave. This is her story, so I'll let her tell it. If you're in a similar situation I hope this encourages and helps you.

Emily's Podcast: REST - Recovering From Religious Trauma
- Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rest-recovering-from-spiritual-trauma/id1724810445
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7wyRTCJT4igPSV4pVZdd8u?si=b23fee9124074be7

The video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/DpBKNasyTQA

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow

This episode is from a YouTube livestream I did on Sunday, April 19th. It was an open Q&A on a variety of topics all centered around the New Covenant gospel of grace, the Law of Moses, the Old Covenant, church, and performance-based Christianity. 

Grab your favorite beverage and listen in. I think you'll be encouraged. Here's the link to the video version if you would rather watch it:

https://www.youtube.com/live/o00ob-DONi8?si=MLK_noC0sjlsO-tw

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow

I think this is the story of most of us who've discovered the grace of God after spending years in religion and institutional church settings. It's my story in one sentence. So let's talk about it.

This episode is also a video I recorded in my car. You can watch it here:

https://youtu.be/HxTrAPVj2DQ

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow

In John 1:17 we're told this:

"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

I've lost count of how many times I've heard someone who doesn't understand grace say this verse is a call to temper or tone down grace with truth. To keep grace balanced. That grace needs to be tamed and kept in check and the way to do that is by imposing truth on it and by truth, they mean some sort of law or religious rules. Grace scares us when we don't understand it and the response is to take a verse like this out of context and attempt to make it say what it was never intended to say. So let's take five and talk about it.

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow

Amber Stephens joined me in this YouTube livestream as we talk about doing from the freedom and overflow of grace, not from religious obligation and guilt. Links mentioned in this video:

• The video version of this episode: https://www.youtube.com/live/65_2In7KYyk?si=9IpMpaVkLhQXLhpA
• Amber's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mayhemandgrace
• Amber's Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/breathin.godsgrace/
• My YouTube Retirement Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MikesRetirementCorner
• Breaking Point with Amber Stephens: This is a podcast we did on The Grace Cafe podcast with Amber as our guest where she shared her story with us. https://youtu.be/NSuweAk6-ng?si=EVYApJ2SQstpIgeC

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow

In Matthew 15 Jesus is talking to the scribes and Pharisees when he says this:

"You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’" Matthew 15:7–9

This is a description of performance-based religion. It replaces what matters with what doesn't matter. It replaces what's true (justification by faith) with what's not true (justification by faith plus works). It's a manipulation of the truth of the gospel into a non-gospel. Let's take five and talk about it.

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow

One of the things I get pushback on from time to time is the idea that Paul was incorrect in saying that the Law was abolished and in fact, he was contradicting Jesus' words in Matthew 5 when Jesus said he didn't come to abolish the Law. I think this stems from a misunderstanding of the movement from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant in redemptive history. 

There are also those who just can't accept that the Law of Moses could ever be done away with. So let's take a look at Ephesians chapters 2 and 3, as well as 2 Corinthians 3 in this video.

This episode is available in video format at https://youtu.be/UIh9KKvw6dc

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow

I used to think the Holy Spirit was convicting me of my sins. When I would leave a church service feeling bad about myself, I assigned that bad feeling to the Holy Spirit. The worse I felt after a Sunday sermon, the better I thought the sermon was because I thought the Holy Spirit was convicting me of my sin. 

But is that how the Holy Spirit treats a believer? Does he treat us like guilty convicts? Let's take a closer look in this episode of Take Five.

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow

What qualifies as a false gospel? According to Paul, any mixture of law and grace. Mixing law and grace isn't neutral. It's toxic. It's deadly. Righteousness and the forgiveness of sins is by faith from first to last. It doesn't rely on me to add anything. In fact, adding my own works or contributions to grace, nullifies grace and I'm left without hope. Let's look at a few verses in Galatians.

Link to the video version: https://youtu.be/HrBnyEWVJrA

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow