Waking Up to Grace

What can the letters of Paul teach us about communicating truth, growing in discernment, and gathering together as the church?

Lenny and Melissa step back before beginning Romans to explore the world in which Paul’s letters were written. They look at ancient communication, rhetoric and persuasive argumentation, why Paul could describe himself as unskilled in speaking while still communicating the gospel with conviction, and why learning to explain what we believe can deepen our own understanding.

The conversation also turns toward the early church and what its gatherings reveal about participation, encouragement, leadership, and the life of the body of Christ.

Read the companion Bible study and join the conversation:
https://wakinguptograce.com/033-pauls-letters-and-early-church-practices-romans/

Is the Law of Moses written on the hearts of Christians under the New Covenant?

Jeremiah 31:33 says the Lord would put His law within His people and write it on their hearts. Ezekiel 36 speaks of a new heart, a new spirit, and the Spirit of God within them. But do these promises mean Christians now have the Mosaic Law written internally and are expected to maintain holiness through obedience to it?

In this episode, we follow these New Covenant promises through Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, Galatians 3, Romans 2, and the words of Jesus. We look at the purpose of the Law, why Gentiles were never under the Mosaic covenant, and why bringing the Law back as a Christian rule of life undermines the freedom Christ accomplished.

The New Covenant did not move the old system from tablets of stone onto Christian hearts. Christ fulfilled the Law. We are made new, given His Spirit, and brought into a life shaped by faith in Christ and the love He has placed within us.

Read the companion study and continue the conversation:
https://wakinguptograce.com/032-is-the-law-written-on-our-hearts/

What does it mean to bear fruit as a Christian?

Jesus said that a branch cannot bear fruit by itself. It bears fruit by abiding in the vine. Yet the Christian life is often taught as though fruit comes from greater discipline, stronger effort, better behavior, or a more successful religious routine.

In this episode, we look at bearing fruit in the Bible and follow the connection between abiding in Christ, the fruit of the Spirit, grace, love, and the finished work of Jesus. We also consider the difference between fruit that comes from Christ and the fruit produced by self-effort, law, and the flesh.

Fruit does not create life. Fruit comes from life. We do not produce Christ’s life through religious effort. We bear His fruit as we abide in His love, forgiveness, truth, and grace.

Read the companion study and continue the conversation:
https://wakinguptograce.com/031-you-will-know-them-by-their-fruit-2/

What did Jesus mean when He said, “You will know them by their fruits”?

Matthew 7:15–20 is often used as a general test of Christian behavior, but Jesus begins the warning with a specific subject: false prophets. Understanding the fruit requires understanding the prophet.

In this study, we compare Jesus’ words with Deuteronomy 18 and the biblical standard for prophecy. A prophet spoke as the mouthpiece of God. What the Lord gave him to speak had to be true. That gives us the setting for Jesus’ warning that a good tree cannot produce bad fruit and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.

From there we follow the question into fulfilled prophecy, Christ’s prediction of Jerusalem’s destruction, the timing statements surrounding His coming, and the fulfillment that took place in AD 70. Jesus did not merely warn Israel about false prophets. His own prophetic words proved true.

We also look at Matthew 7:21–23 and why “I never knew you” belongs in the same first-century setting rather than being turned into a threat against Christians who fail to perform well enough.

Before we apply a passage to ourselves, we need to know who was speaking, who was being addressed, and what was actually being discussed. That is especially important when Jesus tells us we will know false prophets by their fruit.

Read the companion study and continue the conversation:
https://wakinguptograce.com/030-you-will-know-them-by-their-fruit-1/

What do Scripture’s words spirit, soul, body, and flesh actually mean?

In this episode, we clear away some of the ideas we have inherited about the soul and spirit and look at how Scripture uses these terms. Paul’s teaching helps us see the Spirit of God, the mind of Christ, and the difference between walking by the Spirit and setting our minds on the flesh.

We also look at why “the flesh” should not simply be translated as a sinful nature, what it means that our old self was crucified with Christ, and how our new life in Him changes the way we understand who we are.

Then we turn to the biblical language of the soul and immortality. Rather than beginning with later philosophical ideas about an immortal soul, we follow Scripture’s contrast between mortality and immortality, death and eternal life, and the life that is found in Christ.

Read the companion study and continue the conversation:
https://wakinguptograce.com/029-the-spirit-and-the-flesh/

What does it mean to get closer to God when you are already united with Christ?

Christians can genuinely feel far away from the Lord. Our attention can drift, we can turn back toward self-reliance, and we can begin living according to what Scripture calls the flesh rather than depending on the Spirit. But none of those things mean that Christ has moved away from us or that our union with Him has been broken.

In this episode, we look at why feeling far from God is different from actually being far from Him. We trace the problem of unbelief from Adam and Eve, consider what it means to be united with Christ, and examine why His faithfulness—not ours—is the foundation of our security. We also look at walking by the Spirit, the danger of returning to a works-based way of living, and how God’s sovereignty works alongside the real choices we make in daily life.

Getting closer to God is not about earning your way back into His presence. For the Christian, He is already near. The question is whether we will live from that truth.

Read the companion study and continue the conversation:
https://wakinguptograce.com/028-getting-closer-to-god/

Church fellowship is often treated as something we do by going to a church building, attending a service, or gathering with other Christians. But Scripture gives us a much deeper picture.

In this episode, we look at fellowship through 1 Corinthians, 1 John, Hebrews, and other New Testament passages. Paul warned the Corinthians about gathering around personalities instead of Christ. John described fellowship as something believers share with the Father, the Son, and one another. That makes fellowship much more than being in the same room.

We will look at the difference between gathering and fellowship, why Christian fellowship is rooted in our shared life in Christ, and how church gatherings can lose their purpose when the focus shifts from Christ to personalities, performance, programs, or religious obligation.

We will also consider Hebrews 10 and the common claim that Christians are commanded to attend an institutional church. Gathering with believers is valuable, but gathering itself is not fellowship. True fellowship comes from Christ and can be shared wherever His people encourage one another in truth, grace, and love.

Read the companion study and continue the conversation:
https://wakinguptograce.com/027-bring-fellowship-to-your-christian-gathering/

What does it actually mean to cast your cares on the Lord?

Peter does not tell us that believers will never experience anxiety. He tells us what to do with it when it comes: humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and cast our anxieties on Him because He cares for us.

Through the story of Scott facing serious illness with humor and dependence on Christ, we look at the difference between carrying uncertainty ourselves and trusting the One who already knows the end of the story.

We also explore how anxiety can expose our dependence on self-effort, why pride makes it difficult to let go, what Jesus showed us about depending on the Father, and how renewing our minds teaches us to live from what is already ours in Christ.

The answer is not to beat ourselves up for being anxious. It is to stop gripping the leash, let go of what we cannot control, and depend on the Lord who cares for us.

Read the companion study and continue the conversation:
https://wakinguptograce.com/026-cast-your-anxiety-on-christ/

What do the end times actually mean in Scripture? Christians are constantly being told that current events prove the end is near, but understanding prophecy begins with knowing what time the New Testament writers themselves were living in.

In this episode, we look at the transition from the old covenant age into the fully established New Covenant. Hebrews describes the old covenant order as growing old and ready to vanish away, while Jesus placed Jerusalem’s destruction, the coming of the Son of Man, redemption, and the passing of heaven and earth within the generation standing before Him.

We will walk through Hebrews, Matthew, Isaiah, and especially Luke 21 to examine the Temple, AD 70, prophetic language about heaven and earth, signs in the sun, moon, and stars, Christ coming on the clouds, the resurrection, and the meaning of “this generation.”

The question is not simply whether the Bible talks about the end times. The question is whether we understand which end Scripture was talking about.

Read the companion study and continue the conversation:
https://wakinguptograce.com/025-end-times-are-here-again/

The Lord’s Prayer is often presented as Jesus’ model for how Christians should pray today. But what happens when we read Matthew 6 in its actual covenant setting?

In this episode, Lenny walks through Matthew 6:5-15 and the surrounding Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was speaking to Jewish people living under the Law before the cross and resurrection. That setting matters, especially when Jesus says that those who do not forgive others will not be forgiven by the Father.

We compare that conditional forgiveness with New Covenant instruction to forgive others as God has already forgiven us in Christ. The contrast helps explain what Jesus was doing in the Sermon on the Mount, why the Law exposed the need for a Savior, and why the Lord’s Prayer was not given as New Covenant prayer instruction for believers living after the finished work of Christ.

Read the companion study and continue the conversation:
https://wakinguptograce.com/024-dont-sleepwalk-through-christian-life/