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Growing in Grace is a weekly program featuring informal conversation to help with growth in understanding the gospel, and to live in the freedom that comes through Jesus Christ.
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The UnSunday Show asks honest questions about the origin and validity of institutional church rules, traditions, and practices. These religious rules and practices lead us away from the simplicity of the gospel and into an exhausting performance-based experience that is designed to perpetuate itself by placing ever increasing demands on its people and are of no value in Christ. If you're exhausted from trying to keep all the religious rules that have been placed on you, listen in to these co ...
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Join co-hosts Mike and Susan Adams as they share their journey out of religious obligation and into the freedom that is ours apart from religion in the New Covenant gospel of grace.
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1011. The Lying, The Which and The Wardrobe (The Phony Ministry of Pick and Choose)
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The mixed covenant message found within the majority of church buildings is one of great inconsistency and perhaps even hypocrisy. Traditions of men and false assumptions about the Bible have resulted in discounting the abundance of grace that came through Jesus Christ ... and advocating for an impossible law of obsolete rules and regulations—while…
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The video version of this episode is on my YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/H89bdlfkwHg In this episode I share a quote from Michael C. Kapler's book, Clash of the Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee. This is an excellent book that I recommend without hesitation. You can find it on Amazon at https://bit.ly/3Rump8V I…
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1010. The Old Way: Be a Doer; The Better Way: Believe in Jesus
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When trapped within a religious maze, it gets confusing when the focus becomes about you and your dedication to God through your works and actions. Those from the "holy hierarchy" will be spouting grace and God's love one minute but in the next breath, they'll tell you to behave in a certain way to ensure you're right with God, justified, sanctifie…
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1009. Accepted Freely as Righteous Children vs Working Righteousness (Growing in Grace)
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Paul offered some gems in the opening segment in his letter to the Ephesians, explaining that as adopted children, God *made us* accepted in the beloved and brought redemption through the blood of Jesus, according to the *riches* of His grace.And let's not forget this reminder in Titus chapter 3: "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savio…
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1008. Was Rahab Justified by Works and Not by Faith Only?
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There was a significant lack of knowledge in the early years of the church. The cross and resurrection changed everything, resulting in the elimination of a covenant that had been in place for centuries. Consider if a Jewish person who believed in Jesus after the cross ... but still also believed the law of Moses was still to be applied for all Jew…
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1007. "Hey Jesus, What Shall I 'Do' to Inherit Eternal Life?"
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A lawyer was intending to challenge Jesus publicly to test Him with a bit of a trick question: "What Shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Keeping in mind that the Mosaic law was still being applied to Jewish people who were under it before the cross, Jesus referred him to that law for the answer to his question. In short, Jesus said in order to fin…
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Grace Alone: The Freedom of Bringing Nothing to the Table (105)
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The gospel isn’t a group project. If grace is free, why do we try so hard to add to it? In this episode, I talk about how bringing nothing to the table isn’t a burden but is ultimate freedom. Grace apart from works is a death sentence for institutional religion that can't be tolerated there. Let's talk about grace! Other Places You’ll Find Me The G…
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1006. Choose Life (It's Found in Jesus, Not Works and Law)
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The law that came to the Jewish people through Moses was considered to be a word that they believed was able to save their souls and result in attaining righteousness. The only requirement was for them to do it—all of it. After the cross, even Jews who came to believe in Jesus lacked an understanding about a new and better covenant ... as they cont…
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Sweating for Jesus? Why Sanctification Isn’t About Working Harder (104)
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Holiness Isn’t a Hustle. Many believers feel trapped in a cycle of performance, thinking sanctification is about sweating for Jesus. Too often, we’re taught that sanctification, or holiness, is about working harder, doing more, and proving ourselves to God. But what if it isn’t about striving to do more but about resting in what's already been done…
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It is difficult to give to others what we do not have ... or do not understand that we have within our possession. This is true when it comes to the love of God. Even many believers in Christ have doubts about God's love for them. The Bible defines or identifies God as One who *is* love. The world is filled with people who want to know what love is…
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Come Untangled: Breaking Free from Religious Control (024)
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Has religion tied you down instead of setting you free? In this episode, we share some of our own experiences in escaping the religious mindset so prevalent in many institutional churches. We talk about the dangers of rigid leadership, legalism, and religious tradition—how they obscure our view of the gospel of grace and the freedom we have in Jesu…
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Breaking the Pulpit Barrier: Freeing the Body of Christ (103)
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"The moment the church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her." -Charles Spurgeon The pulpit is in the way. Pulpits have a long history of being an obstacle that is in the way of the Body of Christ functioning as God intends for it to function. When the Body of Christ is gathered together are we limited to the voice of one person beh…
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1004. Justified and Saved Apart From Works - Now What?
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Many of us were indoctrinated with "popular and mainstream" church sermons which included many things straight out of the Bible ... but the Kool-Aid we were drinking left us thirsting for more. Works-based ideologies and concepts that suggest our eternity is going to be secured based upon what we do after coming to faith and getting saved will leav…
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"I don't want to read my Bible anymore. Is there something wrong with me? I need to fix this!" This is a common theme that happens when we leave the institutional box church. Many times, any desire to read the Bible disappears and we start to think there's something wrong with us that needs fixed. We tend to think that losing a desire to have a reg…
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1003. Heirs Identified by Faith, Not Doers Seeking Recompense
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Hollow religion tends to focus more on our actions—good or bad—instead of the work of Jesus and the blood He shed. Even the most passionate of grace people may end up sliding down a slippery slope of diet legalism if they take their eyes off of the prize ... while contradicting themselves about the gospel and the New Covenant, established and guara…
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The Lie of a Deceitful and Desperately Wicked Heart (101)
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Let's talk about Jeremiah 17:9 and his statement that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Is it true? Are our hearts deceitful and wicked and not to be trusted or is there more to that description that needs clarification? Let's talk. Other Places You’ll Find Me The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com Ti…
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1002. Are Good Works the Evidence of Faith?
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Maybe you've seen it in church buildings where it is declared one is saved by grace through faith, not by works ... and then comes the "but." It's what we call the dreaded and confusing 'Grace-But Ministries.' One of the "buts" is that the faith that saves requires good works as proof or evidence that faith is alive and not dead. They will tout tha…
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Although we may not fully understand the specifics of what is ahead of us when it comes to heaven and eternity in general, sometimes it's interesting to wonder out loud and talk about it. However, at times, we might discuss such things almost in the form of a fairy tale, myth, or fable. It's understandable because we're living in our current realit…
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Why We Lose Friends When We Leave The Institutional Church (023)
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In this episode of The Grace Cafe podcast we start out by talking about why we lose friends when we leave the institutional church. Then our conversation turns to an analogy from C.S Lewis' book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Spiderman and Institutional religion's preoccupation with sin. Yes, we're that spiritual! Enjoy! ______________________…
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Welcome to episode 100 of The UnSunday Show! I was so focused in this episode on what I wanted to say that I forgot to mention this is episode 100. Triple digits! Yay!!! This is the final episode on the subject of pastors, elders, and shepherds. In this episode I talked about how the word pastors, which only appears in Ephesians 4:11, was a result …
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1000. 20 Years Later and 1000 Podcasts of Growing in Grace
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When we started back in the year 2005, it wasn't exactly the long-term plan to have our 20th anniversary land on our 1000th podcast. In fact, when someone invited us to participate in a new launch of an "Internet Radio" channel, we had no idea if we would do a few programs or if it would go a while longer. But here we are. We just couldn't stop yap…
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999. Knowing "About" Him Vs. Knowing Him (and the Power of His Resurrection)
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The Apostle Paul could have competed with anyone in the boasting department when considering his background as a Jewish person who was born under the law. He was dedicated to it—even to the point of persecuting and executing Jews who believed in Jesus.But he counted it all as loss and rubbish after gaining Christ, not having his own righteousness t…
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This episode is a continuation of last week's as we turn our attention to the topic of elders in the body of Christ. Elders, overseers, shepherds, bishops, and pastors. How are these terms used in the New Covenant scriptures and are they related in some way? Let's sort these out in this episode. Other Places You’ll Find Me The Grace Cafe Podcast: h…
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998. Paul's Impressive "Boasting" Resume (But He Trashed It)
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Paul told the Philippians that if anyone had reason to have confidence in the flesh based on commitment and dedication through various experiences and working diligently ... it would be him. But in spite of Paul's ability to boast—if he had chosen to do so—he counted it all as rubbish so that he may gain Christ. To gain Christ would be to attain ri…
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Do institutional church pastors have a special calling to be pastors? Let's take an honest look at this in light of the New Testament scriptures. Other Places You’ll Find Me The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@unsunday.mike Instagram https://www.instagram.com/unsundayshow YouTube https://www.youtu…
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Anyone can read the pages of the Bible repeatedly and still miss many themes and chunks of valuable information. One of these subjects which is found threaded throughout, especially in the New Testament, is the matter of two groups of people—those who are Jewish and those who are not ... referred to as Gentiles. Although Jesus came to minister prim…
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996. Changes After the Cross: Believing Jews Struggle With the Gentile Welcome Mat
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As we read the pages of the Bible, it can be a very difficult thing to put ourselves in the shoes of the people living during the time of Jesus and those first decades after the cross. But becoming more aware of the historical aspects of that time as it relates to the gospel message may help us to understand some of the writings better. Otherwise, …
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995. The Gift of Salvation - You Are the Work of God
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In the second chapter of Ephesians, Paul is explaining how salvation arrives for all people (Jew and Gentile) by grace through faith as a gift ... and not of works by which people can boast. As one who has been created in Christ as *His* workmanship—created not to do good works but *for* good works that we should walk in, we come to a place of humi…
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New Year 2025 - Revisiting Podcast 880: The Gospel of Grace - There Must Be a Catch!
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Mike and Joel are off this week - but not wanting to leave you podcastless this week, we're bringing back a previous episode. We'll be back in the new year with more new Growing in Grace episodes, including our upcoming celebration of 20 years and our 1,000th episode!Is the gospel of grace *really* as good as we’re making it out to be? Someone aske…
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994. Christmas: It's Not Just About the Birth
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The Christmas holiday season brings a variety of things in our culture that people will celebrate. Some of it has much to do with the birth of Jesus, while for others, perhaps not so much and yet is still a joyous time for them.On this program we try to take a look at Christmas with a wider lens to see the bigger picture of what came together as it…
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In this episode of The Grace Cafe, we talk about grace in the midst of suffering in the context of Mike's cancer and his ongoing treatments. In the institutional box church, where one-size-fits-all is the assumed norm, our performance is often a barometer of our spiritual condition. An upward trajectory is assumed. But suffering and not being able …
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