Radical Grace/the Lutheran Difference

Christians these days don't have much to say about the Ascension of Jesus Christ. I tend to think this is because they don't know what to do with the concept, since what we read in Luke's Gospel has Jesus literally flying up into the sky, right? But what if it means something else? The early Church knew what to think about the ascension of Jesus Christ... Music today: Tico Tico - Paco de Lucía, Into the Mirage - John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucia Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

In the last few weeks or so there's been a lot of discussion about what some people call "Sanctification". The debate has formed around two seemingly opposing viewpoints. Without belaboring these two viewpoints again, let's just suffice it to say that we really do think there's an obedience to the law that is of utmost importance. In this edition of Radical Grace Radio, you'll find advice on how to obey the law like you've never obeyed it before.   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

How badly has the Church in our time mishandled the proclamation of the Gospel? Here's how badly. After decades and decades of preaching the Gospel through evangelistic programs that purport to tell people where they would be "if you died tonight", people still have serious doubts about whether they were saved or not. They still walk the isle and pray the pray repeatedly, recommitting their lives to Jesus in attempts to quell doubts in their minds. We're going to spend a lot of time in the future showing just how easy it is to mishandle the subject by, you guessed it, confusion of Law and Gospel.   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

This edition of Radical Grace Radio is an encore from July of 2010.  Radical Grace Radio will return with a new edition next week. In this edition of Radical Grace Radio, Pastor Gary takes on a tour of the parable of the 10 virgins.  Pastor took the month of June off from teaching Bible study because he wanted to take some time to go over the scriptures himself and see if there was something he was missing...  and we think he found it.  You may not think so at first, but this is a law and gospel moment in the making.   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

To be assured that you are saved, you have to have assurance that your assurance is sure. There's only one way to achieve that assurance and that is by the long rabbit hole of works mixed with spirituality. If you want assurance that your assurance is sure, you have work hard for God and be as sincere as Jesus. Because that's what Jesus would do.   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

How did we miss releasing this episode? I'll tell you why. In the flurry of releasing Lent related material, this one slipped through. So take a walk backwards through time with us to two weeks ago.   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

And now, the last two of the series of lenten dramatic readings.  The first is "2 covenants of the Kingdom", read by Pastor Bruce Rudolph, while the second is "1 atoning sacrifice". 8 Souls in All 7 Years of Famine 6 Day until Sabbath 5 Smooth Stones 4 Large Jars 3 Day and Nights in the Fish 2 Covenants of the Kingdom 1 Atoning Sacrifice   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

It's Holy Week, which Means it's Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. But there's an argument made around certain parts that the beginning of Holy Week, Palm Sunday, should instead be called "the Sunday of the Passion", which I think is a stupid thing to do. My argument is simple. Is you have the Sunday before be all about the passion, people will begin to think Jesus was in the tomb a whole week.   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

In this Countdown to Redemption edition of Radical Grace Radio, we present the next two readings of the lenten series written by Pastor Gary Held.  This time we're bundling up two in one, and you can expect the last two for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday in the next couple of days. The list so far is 8 Souls in all 7 Years of Famine 6 Days until Sabbath 5 Smooth Stones 4 Large Jars 3 Days and Nights in the Fish ? ?   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

Another in the series "Countdown to Redemption", this reading is titled "5 Smooth Stones".  Written by Pastor Gary Held for our Wednesday Lenten services, this one tells of the story and feelings of one of King David's more obscure sons. The readings so far are titled... 8 Souls In All 7 Years of Famine 6 Days until Sabbath   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

Lenten Readings for this season, this one based on the Story of Deborah in the Book of Judges, part of a series written by Pastor Gary Held for Lenten services. The readings so far are titled... 8 Souls In All 7 Years of Famine 6 Days until Sabbath   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

On the way back to Jerusalem after the triumphal Entry, Jesus encounters a fig tree that has no fruit on it, and he promptly curses it. Therefore, Jesus must hate fig trees. No wait, Jesus is teaching you how to curse fig trees, yeah that's it. No, wait, Jesus is teaching you about having faith and speaking to fig trees and mountains so you can overcome these obstacles. There has been so much bad teaching on this one incident that whole versions of Christianity have grown up around the strange interpretations of this incident. But what if, just what if... Jesus was talking about cursing Israel? What if Jesus had gone to the tree that is Israel, found no fruit on it, and per the covenant made with Israel Jesus calls down the condemnation upon the nation for neglecting the message they were to spread?   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

Pastor Gary contends that in Jesus' day, the biggest headache the average Israelite had didn't come from the Roman occupation, but rather the Temple itself. If you lived during that time in Judea, you likely owed money to the temple, one way or another and the religious leaders of the time weren't interested in "forgiving debts". First up on the show however is Bill Marello of Child Services updating us on the current plight of children in the Foster car system in Central Florida.   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

The second Lenten service featured a monolog written by Pastor Gary, and is written from the point of view of an accountant who delivers a report to governor over Egypt and second to Pharaoh, Joseph. Pastor Gary loves the Joseph narrative (as I do) and for more than a little while we got excited about this one. If we drone on too long in the first part of this show, sorry about that...   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

Due to some of our listeners asking about Pastor Gary's Lenten "Dramatic Monologs", we decided to take some time to release one or two of these in the show. The first one from Ash Wednesday was called "8 souls in all", and is one of a countdown to Good Friday. We hope you enjoy it.   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

It's Ash Wednesday, and it's the beginning of the Season of Lent. So what better topic to talk about than Pope Benedict XVI Abdicating the Holy See? Upon hearing this, I thought to myself how much of a shame that was because of all the good things this pope had to say about Martin Luther... So we speculate, "what would have happened if this pope had vacated Martin Luther's Excommunication?" We did also talk about Lent, and repentance, and doing good works.   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

Warning:  This program is too hot to handle.  The contents of this program have been know to shake up legalists, crush pietists, burn the innards of sinners and salve the consciences of the faithful.We also talk about the hottest, most evil chili ever...  DANGER!  If you're satisfied with your Christianity, DO NOT LISTEN!!!    Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

Have we crossed over to the darkside?  In this episode of Radical Grace Radio, Joel Osteen get's front and center stage to make his case before he gets slapped by Nikolaos of Myra. We also talk about Supernatural Debt Relief.  Yup, darksided... Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

So Pastor Gary wants to be in a "back to basics" mode, and we wound up talking about the Faithfulness of God.  Did you know, for instance, that God faithfully shows up everywhere He's promised He'll be?  If that's so, then where has He promised to be?Also, huge water jars, the impossibility of having grape juice in the ancient world, and servants who'll do anything Jesus' mom tells them to do.   Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com    

Historic Jesus.  By that we mean the Christ as we find him in scripture.  Problem is because so many people read their Bibles for moral principles and tips to have your best life now, too many people miss the Jesus that matters.  Also it's about time to get back to basics again.  The mind of Christ first up, which we've talked about before and are about to hammer on again.    Visit Matthew Pancake's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matthew.pancake Visit Pastor Gary Held's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/garyheld Visit our Website www.RadicalGraceRadio.com