GRINDIT podcast

Can we fully know and understand what grace is and what grace brings us. I’ve heard it said grace is God’s Redemption At Christ’s Expense as well as, grace is God’s unmerited favor. What does that mean? How do we explain what grace is? I’m not sure we can fully but we try our best in this podcast. Paul starts out chapter one with grace and he ends it with grace. There’s a lot of things sandwiched...

After discussing Jesus’ return with the church at Thessalonia, Paul offers some final thoughts for them, encouraging them to stick it out with Jesus and follow the Spirit’s leading. In these thoughts, he gives another “This is God’s will for you...” He tells them to be thankful in ALL circumstances...could you imagine being persecuted, seeing your loved ones die for following Jesus, and then a man...

After discussing Jesus’ return with the church at Thessalonica, Paul offers some final thoughts for them, encouraging them to stick it out with Jesus and follow the Spirit’s leading. In these thoughts, he gives another “This is God’s will for you...” He tells them to be thankful in ALL circumstances...could you imagine being persecuted, seeing your loved ones die for following Jesus, and then a ma...

There has been person after person trying to predict when Jesus is coming back. They have sold books, made videos, movies, tv programs, etc talking about Jesus’ return. We talk about it in this podcast because Paul talks about it to the church in Thessalonica. He does so because he wants them to be encourage by it. They had lost loved ones to persecution and they thought they would never see them...

Sex sells and it’s everywhere. The enemy has taken something God designed between a husband and wife to enjoy, to procreate, and has twisted into something evil, sinful, that separates us from a Holy God. Even people who claim to follow Jesus have been duped by his deceitful scheme and, like a spider web, they have become entangled and wrapped up so tight they can’t escape. But they can if they ar...

Paul says God’s will for us is to live holy lives and stay away from all sexual sin. The podcast was so long for this part, we made it into two podcasts because we talk in depth about what it means to be holy and how we are made holy by our faith in Jesus. We are to be different from the world around us, we have been called out and filled with the Holy Spirit! God lives inside of us, changing us f...

A question every follower of Jesus asks is, “What is God’s will for my life?” Well, you don’t have to wonder what God’s will for you is any longer because Paul reveals it in chapter 4! He says, “God’s will is for you to be holy...” Wow! Just be holy and you are doing God’s will but what does that mean? We talk about it in today’s podcast as well as the next two. It was a long discussion so we spli...

Paul tells the church at Thessalonica, “And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.” The motivating factor for serving Jesus is and should always be “love.” Jesus told his disciples the people would know we belong to him because the love we have for one another. Paul says his love overflows for the church at Thessalonica...

Paul sends Timothy back to Thessalonica to check on them. He wanted to know if their faith was still strong or if the tempter had gotten the best of them and they had quit following Jesus. By the way, Timothy, a fairly new convert to Jesus, would be going alone. Is there any fear in Timothy? If so, he didn’t let him stop him from doing what Paul asked! He went to Thessalonica, he met with the beli...

Could you imagine being a church that was being persecuted, you’re seeing your loved ones tortured, even killed for following Jesus, and the man who brought the gospel to you writes a letter of encouragement and during his letter, he says this, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and...

One thing the early church had as a part of its DNA was persecution. Jesus told his disciples they would face it, he faced it, and after Acts 2, they faced it. Jesus even warned Paul he would be persecuted as he travels around taking the gospel to the Gentiles...and he was the very one who led the charge when it comes to persecution! He was there at the stoning of Stephen and he says he gave his a...

When we look at what Paul says about the church at Thessalonica, it puts the American church to shame. This church was facing severe persecution yet they worked hard and did loving deeds. The Greek word for “deeds” is kopos and it means they toiled and labored, even against opposition, to the point of exhaustion. They made such an impact for the kingdom that Paul said everywhere they go, people ar...

The church at Thessalonica started in Acts 17. Paul and Silas made their way there after getting run out of Philippi. Luke says Paul reasoned with the Jews at the synagogue for three Sabbaths while most historians say Paul stayed there for about three months. He was run out of Thessalonica as well and went to Berea. However, that three month period made a huge impact there! The men and women who c...

This is a concept I have heard all of my life and it has been completely out of context. What does Paul mean when he says, “You reap what you sow?” Is he saying like these ministries today, “If you sow money into my ministry and make me rich, you will receive a big ole blessing from God later.”? 100% no! That is not what he is saying at all! He is telling the church at Galatia to quit being concei...

Every child dreams of becoming someone, something great, especially boys. We have a drive to hunt and conquer, to rescue the damsel in distress! We set out on a quest to become a hero, to win that battle! We set goals, we discipline ourselves and work hard to conquer them. Unfortunately, too many times we get so caught up in the quest and forget about the people around us. In fact, far too often,...

We were asked to speak at Authentic Church during the Joel series. This is part 2 of a 2 part sermon.

We were asked to speak at Authentic Church during the Joel series. This is part 1 of a 2 part sermon.

While talking about freedom and that freedom coming from Jesus, Paul issues a warning to the church at Galatia, “Don’t use your freedom to gratify the flesh and its desires. He then posts a list of sins that gratify the flesh and in that list he says, “Those who do these and things similar, will not inherit the kingdom of God.” In the next breath, he lists the fruit of the Spirit and he says, “You...

Paul says to the church at Galatia, “Christ has set you free” and “You have been called to live in freedom.” Over ten times in this letter, Paul uses some form of the word “freedom”. What does Paul mean by “freedom”? If we only have true freedom in Jesus, then what about those who are outside of Christ? They are in bondage, but so are those who are trying to follow the law or work their way to sal...

Paul tells the church at Galatia, “Yall were running the race with all you had, exerting all the effort you could, but something happened and it has hindered your running.” What happened? Circumcision. It’s hard to run when you’ve had a knife cut into private part! That is a lot of pain and it takes a little while to heal up! Paul uses two words in the Greek to explain what he means by “hinder” bu...

Paul says to the church at Galatia, “So Christ has truly set us free.” What did Jesus set us free from? What put us in bondage to begin with? And the answer to that question is found in Paul’s letter to them, “The Law,” and in particular, they have listened to false teachers and have been convinced they, as Gentiles, need to be circumcised and follow the law. Paul makes it clear, if they follow th...

Paul calls the church at Galatia his “Dear Children” and then he says he feels as if he is going through labor pains over them again. Why would he say this? A man can’t have labor pains because a man cannot have children. What did Jesus say to Nicodemus in John 3? “Unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Paul has labored, his life threatened everywhere he went as he travels...

Paul tells the church at Galatia, who is made up of Gentiles, “Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist.” Think back to early in the Old Testament when God came to Abraham and said “Leave Ur and go to a land I will show you.” Abraham was in a pagan land where people didn’t worship Yahweh...they worshipped gods that didn’t exist! Where did they learn of...

We hear people say, “Salvation is free” or “Salvation is a free gift from God and all you have to do is receive it.” That is true in a way but our salvation wasn’t free...it cost Jesus everything. He willingly gave his life as a ransom, a payment, for our sin so that we could go free. Paul says he was born under the law, which made him subject to it, but he chose not to sin, yet he became sin when...

Paul is explaining to the church at Galatia that they cannot have a relationship with God through following the law because the law puts them in bondage. He says, “As a child, we are under the elements of this world” meaning we grow up hearing the alphabet. The letters of the alphabet make certain sounds and that’s the way it is. You cannot change the alphabet or the sounds. You are in bondage to...