1763 results for tag: Greg Albrecht

Religion is a Destructive Cover Up – Part 1

Good news and bad news.  North Americans are becoming more aware of their spiritual needs.  The bad news is that religion is thriving.  Greg talks about how religion can be a destructive coverup in this first program in a 2 program series. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0378.mp3

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 18, 2024 - Quote for the Day:   “Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979-1990, was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century. While she was in office Mrs. Thatcher visited a home for seniors, the kind of place referred to as an ‘old folk’s home.’  As she made the rounds shaking hands, she came to an older lady who seemed to be suffering from dementia. She gave no indication that she had any idea that she was shaking hands with the Prime Minister. Mrs. Thatcher asked the woman, ‘Do you know who I am?’ The dear lady replied, ‘No dear, but if you really want to ...

The New Deal, Part 2 – Why We Desperately Need the New Covenant

Greg explores the vast chasm between the old covenant and the new covenant and why we desperately need the new covenant.  In Jesus, God came to change everything -- giving us a new and much better deal.  Don't miss this program! https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0361.mp3

The New Deal, Part 1 – God’s New Covenant

Within Christianity there is much confusion about the old and new covenants -- about what they are and about how a Christian relates to those covenants.  Hear Greg today as he talks about the new covenant in the first of a two program series called - The New Deal. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0360.mp3

Is God Disappointed With You? – by Greg Albrecht

There is no doubt the "disappointed God" must be included in the Top Ten Misunderstandings of God. Here's the heavenly picture this erroneous stereotype creates: the "disappointed God" sits, slumped forward on his heavenly throne, head in hands, peering down, sighing and frowning, disillusioned and frustrated with you and me. This misconception of God presents God as dismayed and despondent because of our seemingly never-ending failures. The "disappointed God" wonders whether you and I will ever learn. Of course, dissatisfaction exists in our relationship with God, but the frustration is on our part, not that of God's. The disenchantment we feel ...

Can War Ever Be “Just”? – Part 3 – Greg Albrecht

In Part One we provided an overview of Christ-centered teaching about violence and war [click here to read part 1], in Part Two we summarized two views – 1) Just War and 2) War is Always Wrong – It Is Never Just [click here to read part 2], and now we continue with: Part Three:  Can War Ever Be “Just”? Two Wars in 2024 Part of your question specifically concerns the Israeli-Hamas war. You asked about the pro-Palestinian protestors and their demands that war be fair and equal.  If we believe war is never “just” then both parties in this war, like all other wars, are wrong. No further discussion needed. By the ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 15, 2024 - Quote for the Day:   “In The Return of the Prodigal Rembrandt paints the older brother with folded hands, frowning on the homecoming, even as his father generously grants a free and total pardon to the returning, younger son. The older brother cannot accept his father’s failure to demand penance and retribution from his wayward younger brother. The older brother is scandalized by the extravagant way in which his father lavishly extends grace. But the father makes no demands that the returning son ‘give something up’ in payment for his poor choices and bad behavior. In Jesus’ parable the primary things that are ...

Needed: Fathers Who are More than Just “Nice Guys”

In Christ, fathers can be gracious without being weak, courageous but not insipid, and strong without being overbearing. As we honor earthly fathers let’s consider what God can do in and through them. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR070.mp3

The Grace of God Is Immoral? – by Greg Albrecht

A familiar captivity is frequently more desirable than an unfamiliar freedom. – C.S. Lewis When many who are comfortable with their cherished religious practices and ceremonies hear about CWR (Christianity WITHOUT the religion) and how we as a ministry champion “religion-less” Christianity, they often accuse Christianity WITHOUT the religion and “religion-less” Christianity as being nothing less than permissiveness and immorality.  It’s a serious accusation – one the organized religion of Jesus’ day used to condemn him. As you know, the religious leadership of Jesus’ day insisted that Jesus was spending too much time ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 13, 2024 - Quote for the Day:  “So, for the first readers of the book of Revelation as for us today, this book encourages us to trust God with our lives as we await 1) the end of all earthly powers that destroy humanity and 2) entrance into the everlasting joy of the kingdom of God. Revelation is written to Christians who live in an often brutal world. Whether that world is the first century or the twenty-first century, whether we as Christians find ourselves facing persecution or insurmountable obstacles, Revelation offers hope by reminding us that the battle belongs to the Lord. At the end of Revelation’s 22 chapters, a ...

Our Father

Fatherhood has fallen on hard times. This Father’s Day we need the viewpoint of God as self-imparting Father wholly devoted to those to whom he gives life. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR018.mp3

Fatherhood

Fathers just barely came out on top in a survey of 6-year-olds who were asked which they'd miss most:  their favorite TV program or their father.  In this age of a typical child-man media father that answer is tragic.  But that's not the kind of Father God is. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0224.mp3

Spitting Into the Wind – by Greg Albrecht

Call me the "Quester." I've been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done on this earth. And let me tell you, there's not much to write home about. God hasn't made it easy for us. I've seen it all and it's nothing but smoke— smoke, and spitting into the wind. Life's a corkscrew that can't be straightened, a minus that won't add up. I said to myself, "I know more and I'm wiser than anyone before me in Jerusalem. I've stockpiled wisdom and knowledge." What I've finally concluded is that so-called wisdom and knowledge are mindless and witless—nothing but spitting into the wind. Much ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 11, 2024 - Quote for the Day: “It’s true that there are people who are spiritually blind – doing time in religious prisons – and for some reason unknown to you or me or anyone else for that matter, God has not made a way for them to come to know him as he has for others. Why hasn’t he? We don’t know. We do know that God is no respecter of persons. He doesn’t play favorites. That doesn’t mean everyone will accept his invitation. It may be that he gives different kinds of invitations to different people. We don’t know all the details. We do know that he loves the whole world. He offers, perhaps in ways beyond our ...

Taking the Easy Way Out

Jesus tells us to travel the narrow road of life and avoid the broad road that leads to destruction. Is it only the "eat, drink and be merry" folks on that broad road leading to destruction? Could religious legalists also be on it? https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0328.mp3

Why Cults are Successful — Part 4

The heretical basis for almost all cults is their legalism and religionism, their works-based approach to salvation with an emphasis on keeping the rules.  These are critical and major perversions of the biblical teaching that Jesus equals salvation - period. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0335.mp3

Can War Ever Be “Just”? – Part 2 – Greg Albrecht

In Part One we provided an overview of Christ-centered teaching about violence and war [click here to read part 1] and now we continue with: Part Two: Can War Ever Be “Just”? “Just” War The issue of what Christians thought and how they responded to warfare changed dramatically when the Roman Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313, legalizing Christianity within the empire, an empire that glamorized, lionized and economically depended on warfare, as a means of gaining and preserving its power. At this point it seems Constantine conveniently decided that warriors of a Christian nation are fighting not only for ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 8, 2024 - Quote for the Day:  “In the name of Christ, religious counterfeits require that we give a bribe or tip to the headwaiter to get into the dining area. Performance-based religion gives preferences to who and what you know, how much you have and what you have accomplished. But Jesus offers everyone a seat in the most exclusive dining room in the universe, in the heavenly realms, based upon God’s grace. Our seat at the Lord’s Table is not based upon money, fame, or deeds. We are seated at the Lord’s Table because of who he is, not because of who we are. And, by the way, the Bible says nothing about any particular group of ...

Why Cults are Successful — Part 3

Cults, new age groups and religion in general - as distinct from NT Christianity - thrive in the spiritual wilderness of our society where the gospel of Jesus Christ has been devalued by our culture. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0334.mp3

What is God’s Plan for Your Life? by Greg Albrecht

You may have been in a discussion with someone about dilemmas they face or decisions they must make when they concluded with a comment that went something like this: “Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait to see what God’s will is.” Recently, a little four-year-old boy, who was a cousin of a friend of ours, opened the front door of his house and walked into the front yard only to be gunned down by a drive-by shooter. Should it make a difference (and it doesn’t), the little boy was baptized and regularly attended a brick-and-mortar church. What was God’s plan for his life? I have several friends and family members who have died ...