Simply By Grace Podcast

He was destined to be a prince of his tribe, but grace got a hold of his heart. Now he is spreading that message all over the world. Meet Asare, of the Ashanti tribe in Ghana, West Africa. His grace story will challenge and amaze you.

In this podcast Charlie focuses on John 4:1-30 where he meets a woman at the well.  She's getting water and Jesus offers her "living water."  Water where she would never need to return to get more and would satisfy her forever.  This clearly peaked the woman's curiosity. Jesus stressed the freeness of this water that only He could offer her. It likely made her wonder; who is this man and what is this living water and what's the catch? 

Have you ever considered what it takes to be a pastor? In a recent topical sermon Charlie challenges us to gain a new perspective on pastors and how we should treat them. It really has to do with expectations. Should your expectation be that he cure every illness or make you wealthy?  Should it be that he raises people from the dead?

So what do you expect from your pastor? What should you expect and not expect? In part of his preparation, Charlie sent out emails to a number of his pastoral friends and this reflects advice from them.

We hope you enjoy this podcast and gain a new perspective about pastors.

Grace Stories is a periodic podcast series where people will tell their stories about how God's love and grace changed their lives. We hope you enjoy these personal interviews and are encouraged by God's love for the lost. Make sure to share these with friends and family!

This first episode focuses on the story of Wayne Brown; a teeth bustin', bull ridin', drug dealing thug who meets God's forgiveness. And how do you land a plane with no gas but full of drugs?

You won't want to miss this first episode!

Some people say that a person's death can tell you a lot about their life. Sometimes that life is reflected on a tombstone. Some tombstones have a humorous statement like "well, I knew this was coming", still others just have some dates with a dash between them. Is your life just a dash? Are you focused on the proper things and just what are those proper things? Are they eternal or are they temporal? 

In this podcast Charlie addresses some of those questions and walks us through Psalm 90.  

Stay tune next week for a new monthly series!

This is our final episode of Simply by Grace - The Book! In this last episode Charlie reads through Chapter 13 - Sharing the Gift, where he focuses on how to share the gospel clearly. 

Charlie follows his discussion with Greg Stier. Greg is totally committed to sharing the gospel, especially with youth. He has a podcast: The Greg Stier Youth Ministry Podcast. His new book Unlikely Fighter tells how a family of street thugs found Jesus Christ and changed their lives. His website is Dare2Share.org.

Stay tuned for the next series!

What is freedom worth to you? Many have given their lives for it. Many long for it, still others who have it, abuse it.  Many don't understand it, and few treasure it. But what about spiritual freedom? What does that mean as a believer? Freedom from what? Should it be treasured or feared?

Believers are often taught to fear grace as part of the Christian walk. When people speak about grace there always seems to be a caviat; "better be careful with grace...that can lead to license."  Grace is ultimately risky, as with ANY freedom. Too many live fearfully thinking God is displeased with them and they fall into the trap of trying to do good to make-up for the bad. Grace sets us free though, it's the antedote to slavery and a doorway to freedom in Christ!  We are free to be all that God made us to be and free to love.

You don't want to miss this episode as Charlie speaks with Ed Underwood, an Army vet, Theologian, and former pastor of Church of the Open Door.  This was the church made famous by J. Vernon McGee who was also a former pastor in southern California.  Ed started a ministry called Recentered, a grace-based ministry geared towards training leaders within the church.  Recentered Group was born in 2016 with Ed as the Executive Officer and Lead Counselor. Since then, he has helped numerous pastors and church leadership teams to recenter their ministries.

In this podcast Charlie reads through Chapter 11 - A New Commitment.  As we enjoy a new life in Christ, we can also enjoy a new purpose. Jesus challenged believers to be disciples. The great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 focuses on making disciples.  Jesus called unbelievers to salvation and called believers to discipleship. One follows the other, one is free the one that follows is hard work. One is directed to unbelievers, the other believers.  Keeping them distinct is key to growing in Christ; so, find out more about what discipleship is but maybe more importantly what it is not.

So, find out more as Charlie follows his discussion with an interview with Cody Wallace. Cody is pastor of Southwest Community Church in Miami, he has a book available called Break the Mold a ministry called Transformed365

In this podcast Charlie reads through Chapter 10 - A New Life.  Grace has given us the free gift of salvation, so now what do we do with it?  Enjoy it! Many Christians understand how grace plays a role in our salvation. However, many don't understand how it's also central to our sanctification, or our Christian walk and growth. The Christian life is a life of faith, and we walk with Christ. This walk is part of the sanctification process through which we need grace. 

So, find out more as Charlie follows his discussion with an interview with Jeremy Vance, who is a senior pastor at Faith Church in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and currently president of the Free Grace Alliance. 

Charlie reads through his book Simply By Grace with a special guest interview and discussion time at the end of the podcast.  

In this podcast Charlie reads through Chapter 9 - A New Accountability. When a person believes in Christ for salvation, who do they have to answer to and what should their motivation be to serve Christ? How do rewards fit into this? Should they be motivated by works or by grace or by rewards? 

Contrary to common belief, grace doesn't teach license; some people think an emphasis on Grace will produce a Christian who will live however they want. These people motivate a believer from the negative, often making them believe if they don't do good works, salvation must not have been bestowed upon the believer. 

But this misunderstands grace. Grace teaches us to be responsible for the grace we have received. Charlie addresses this and focuses on the positive and negative motivations to serve.  

At the end he speaks with Dr. Roger Fankhauser on the motivations for serving and how to deal with sin in your life and in the lives of others. He is a former pastor and author of several books on topics of grace and serving God.