Is "Grace" PRACTICAL? (Fallen + Free 2025 • LIVE)
The misfit trio takes us on a wild ride through grace and its perceived impracticality, tackling misconceptions with humor and wit. They explore how common fears, like losing control or being judged, often hold people back from embracing grace. Through playful anecdotes and lively discussions, they dismantle the idea that grace is just a feel-good concept that doesn’t translate into real-life change. Instead, they argue that grace is the very foundation of transformation—a liberating force that invites us to live authentically and love deeply. The episode is packed with puns, laughs, and poignant moments that encourage listeners to reflect on their own relationships with grace, urging everyone to embrace the messy, beautiful journey of life under the banner of unconditional love.
Takeaways:
- Grace isn’t just a nice idea; it’s the wild card that transforms how we live!
- When we mess up, love and forgiveness can actually change our hearts for the better.
- The law shows us how much we need grace, not how to earn God’s love, folks!
- It’s all about asking the right questions; the gospel is the answer to life’s biggest puzzles!
- Practicing unconditional love is the secret sauce to real transformation, not just following rules!
- Grace is like the ultimate superhero; it swoops in to save us when we least expect it!
Chapters:
Transcript
You're listening to the misfit preachers, talian Chavigian, Jean LaRue and Byron Yan from ProdigalPodcast.com we're plagiarizing Jesus one podcast at a time.
Speaker A:Now here are the misfits.
Speaker B:Lie number two.
Speaker C:What was lie number two?
Speaker B:Lie number two.
Speaker C:Sorry.
Speaker C:Wow, your people picked up your shaming.
Speaker A:We're doing good, guys.
Speaker A:Just go, keep going.
Speaker B:We're doing my number two.
Speaker B:Grace is not practical.
Speaker B:It's not practical.
Speaker C:John, if there's one, one thing that I've heard more than anything, it's probably this one that it just doesn't seem to work.
Speaker C:You know, Steve Brown, who will be here, said, if you want to make people mad, preach the law, but if you want to make them really mad, preach grace.
Speaker C:And the whole feeling is that it just doesn't work.
Speaker C:You know, Tim Keller was famous for saying, if your fear is that when you remove all fear that people will do whatever they want, then the only thing making people do anything is fear.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:It's exactly right.
Speaker C:And that's the fear is that if I take the leash off, what's going to happen?
Speaker C:But it's hard to make that intellectual leap.
Speaker C:And so maybe an illustration I was mentioning to you earlier, this would be like somebody saying, you know, coming into your office and saying, pastor, I'm really struggling with road rage and speeding.
Speaker C:I mean, that's my struggle.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker B:Raising hands.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:Thank you from the crowd.
Speaker C:But it doesn't seem like just believe the gospel that grace somehow fixes this.
Speaker C:It feels like what I need to do is put a post it note right next to the speedometer that says, you know, the man of God walks in the ways of God.
Speaker C:Maybe I get a governor on the engine of the car so I can't go over 75 or what, 70, whatever.
Speaker C:And then that's how I fix it.
Speaker C:Grace doesn't work for that.
Speaker C:And this is what I would say to that.
Speaker C:I would say, well, why are you speeding?
Speaker C:Well, because I've got to get to work on time.
Speaker C:Why do you have to get work on time?
Speaker C:Well, if I don't get to work on time, I won't be able to keep my job.
Speaker C:Well, what happens if you lose your job?
Speaker C:Well, then I'll lose my money and I'll lose my lifestyle.
Speaker C:Well, what happens if you lose your money in your lifestyle?
Speaker C:Well, the conversation I had with my wife's father before we got married was that I promised to take care of her and provide all those things.
Speaker C:And he said, you better not ever fail in that promise, he said, so if I do those things, then that's going to happen, he said.
Speaker C:And it sounded just like the voice of my Father who said I couldn't do anything right.
Speaker C:And I'd say, are you ready for Jesus yet?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Are you.
Speaker C:Are you ready for a verdict that has nothing to do with you speeding or not speeding?
Speaker C:Because, see, the question all of us are asking is, will you love me anyway?
Speaker C:Will you love me in spite of me?
Speaker C:And only grace answers that.
Speaker C:But we just.
Speaker C:We just don't know the question we're asking when we say, can I do this?
Speaker C:Can I Don't do this?
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:It tortures.
Speaker B:What is it you said to me?
Speaker B:You quoted.
Speaker B:I'm going to try to quote you the quote.
Speaker B:The answer is the gospel.
Speaker B:The real issue is which question are we asking?
Speaker C:Fred Harrell, pastor out in San Francisco, said to me one time when I was very young and fresh out of seminary, he said, he said, what you've got to understand about ministry is this.
Speaker C:The answer to everyone's question is the gospel.
Speaker C:Ministry is figuring out what question they're asking.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's good.
Speaker B:Gold.
Speaker C:Gold.
Speaker A:And the.
Speaker A:Does grace work?
Speaker A:The one illustration I use all the time is if I come home one day and I've had a bad day, and my bad day has nothing to do with my wife Stacy, but when I get home, I take it out on her.
Speaker A:I'm being short and snippy with her, you know, just kind of just being a jerk.
Speaker A:And if she walks up to me and puts her hands on.
Speaker A:On my face with a smile and says, honey, clearly you've had a hard day.
Speaker A:I just want you to know that I'm glad you're home and I love you, is that going to make me want to continue being a jerk or is that going to stop me dead in my tracks?
Speaker A:I mean, is it not the kindness of the Lord that leads to repentance?
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:So when I hear that.
Speaker B:Did you just quote a Bible version?
Speaker A:I did.
Speaker A:I only know three, and that's one of them.
Speaker A:But I mean, the, the.
Speaker A:The absurdity of the objection that grace doesn't work is, Is proven when you start examining how you yourself are reached.
Speaker A:When you screw up and you feel guilty and you feel ashamed and the person that you hurt is someone that you love and that person forgives you and doesn't hold your sin against you, that softens you.
Speaker A:I mean, it draws you in.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:So I'm thinking, ok, why in the world if it, if that's the way it works horizontally and we know that's the way it works horizontally, why do we think that it doesn't work this way vertically?
Speaker A:Like what makes us think that every day I walk in from having a bad day and I'm taking it out on God in one way, shape or form.
Speaker A:Maybe not directly, but I'm just being an ass to everybody around me in a sense that's taking it out on God and every.
Speaker A:The gospel is God putting his hands on my face and saying, I'm sorry you've had a bad day, I'm glad you're home, I love you no matter what.
Speaker A:And that's the kind of thing that changes.
Speaker A:All of us could give testimony to the fact that when we have been loved at our worst, those have been some life defining moments.
Speaker A:Life defining moments, heart changing moments in our lives.
Speaker A:So again, I think the objection that it doesn't work, it's not practical, is absurd.
Speaker C:Well think, I mean back to the speeding illustration, right?
Speaker C:Just take the, take the scenario one step further and imagine the father in law or the father putting his hands on his face and saying, listen, you've been slaving away for 20 years, you need to know this.
Speaker C:What time you get here, doesn't matter, we love you.
Speaker C:You're in.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Now does that fix him or a governor on the engine?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker C:Because as, as you said to me earlier, Byron said you put a governor on my car.
Speaker C:What did you say you do?
Speaker B:I can't repeat it.
Speaker C:He's like all it makes the law, it makes you want to go fast.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Just how do I get past this?
Speaker C:It does, it exposes I found the.
Speaker B:Governor, my dad put on my car and therefore I lost my car.
Speaker B:Thinking of I'm going to go the opposite direction and say the most quote, unquote practical, transformative thing that you can do in the lives of people you're ministering to is offer an unconditional message of grace.
Speaker B:It's it that is a false dilemma.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And there's no need to really even address it.
Speaker B:And here's an analogy of why I think it's the most transformative while not being the goal.
Speaker B:We need to be clear, right?
Speaker B:Let's say that you're in the ocean here and you get pulled under by a riptide and you try as hard as you possibly can to get out and you've lost all strength and eventually you just surrender, right?
Speaker B:You go under and as you're going under, succumbing to this reality, a hand reaches in and saves you and drags you to shore.
Speaker B:When you get to shore, you're not going to congratulate yourself for almost drowning and being rescued.
Speaker B:Your ego is going to have died Somewhere between the water, the shoreline, and in that moment where you have been rescued unconditionally, there is going to be this euphoric gratitude, thanksgiving, joy, love, and above all, humility.
Speaker B:And as far as I can assess from the Bible, if sanctification means anything, it's that stuff, it's humility.
Speaker B:Grace is an ego crushing reality because it does not allow you to claim anything in you, outside of you, that you do to gain the love of God.
Speaker B:Grace is also, when you hear it constantly, a constant near death experience that creates in you gratitude, thankfulness, joy, love and humility.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:The message of grace on repeat is, I would argue, the most transformative thing that we can offer to ourselves and other people.
Speaker A:No question.
Speaker B:Because, and here's why I would say it, if somebody says, all right, you can only preach one thing for the rest of your life, you can choose one message.
Speaker B:Clearly you've already done this, thank God, Wanting to build hope, faith, trust, joy, victory over the sin that crush all of those things.
Speaker B:It would be this message.
Speaker B:That's why I say it's a false dilemma in the world of logic, because it's the exact opposite.
Speaker A:It's the exact opposite.
Speaker B:And I can quote the Bible.
Speaker A:You're not quoting it, you're reading it.
Speaker A:Byron.
Speaker A:Those are two very different things.
Speaker C:If you love the Lord, you would not have to open.
Speaker A:I quoted it.
Speaker A:You're reading it.
Speaker C:Shame.
Speaker B:Shut up.
Speaker B:So the apostle Paul, Galatians, 3, Philippians, Corinthians, all these churches he's had to face and iron out, all these wrinkles of all these broken people, all this mess in the cafeteria.
Speaker B:He finally gets to the book of Ephesians and there's really no more battles to fight.
Speaker B:And he's writing to a region and Paul relaxes for a minute and he writes about what he's thinking about all the time.
Speaker B:You know where it starts in Ephesians, chapter one.
Speaker B:And then he gets to a prayer in Ephesians, chapter three.
Speaker B:And he's praying for people.
Speaker B:And he could have prayed for try harder, do more, perform.
Speaker B:But this is his prayer that he offers them.
Speaker B:For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.
Speaker B:And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Speaker C:Mike.
Speaker B:Is very practical.
Speaker A:Extremely.
Speaker C:Love it.
Speaker C:The one last thing I'll say is this.
Speaker C:There was a guy that spent a lot of time with me when I was in the cage phase.
Speaker C:And I hate.
Speaker C:I mean, I graduated.
Speaker C:I was top Pharisee in my class.
Speaker C:I grew up Roman Catholic.
Speaker C:It was just like, this is a comfortable sweater.
Speaker C:Like, oh, we have to do things.
Speaker C:Oh, I'm in.
Speaker C:Like, give me the list.
Speaker C:I'll do them.
Speaker C:And I was meeting with this guy, his name is Jeff Salison.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And I was fighting.
Speaker C:I mean, just pulling at the bit every second I could do it.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And because he was.
Speaker C:He wouldn't keep the Sabbath.
Speaker C:And I was telling him that he was breaking the Sabbath and all the ways that he was breaking it and not keeping it holy.
Speaker C:And, I mean, I was wearing him out.
Speaker C:And then he's like, well, did you.
Speaker C:Did you go to the grocery store?
Speaker C:I was like, works of necessity and mercy.
Speaker C:I mean, I could quickly.
Speaker C:I mean, I could bark back really, really quickly.
Speaker C:And then he said this to me.
Speaker C:He said, why don't you stop screwing around with the Sabbath and do something God actually wants you to do?
Speaker C:And I said, okay, I'll bite.
Speaker C:He said, love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your strength.
Speaker C:Love your neighbor as yourself 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and do that for your enemies as well.
Speaker C:And I said, jeff, I can't do that.
Speaker C:And he said, are you ready for Jesus yet?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And I had to despair of me to get to grace.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that's.
Speaker A:That's the.
Speaker A:That is the role of the law.
Speaker A:The role of the law is to expose our dire need for grace.
Speaker A:So when Jesus tells the rich young ruler who thinks he's kept the law his entire life, Jesus walks him through the commandments.
Speaker A:It's interesting.
Speaker A:He begins.
Speaker A:The rich young ruler begins with a question.
Speaker A:Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
Speaker A:And Jesus gives him, sort of does, a little summary of the ten commandments.
Speaker A:And the rich young ruler is like, that's child's play.
Speaker A:I've been doing that my whole life.
Speaker A:Give me something else.
Speaker A:Is that it?
Speaker A:And Jesus then says, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor.
Speaker A:And it says he walked away sad.
Speaker A:And what's interesting about that is there's nothing in the Ten Commandments that says, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor.
Speaker A:Nothing.
Speaker A:So what was Jesus actually getting at?
Speaker A:And his whole point was to show this rich young ruler that not God, but his riches and the comforts that came with his riches were his God.
Speaker A:So this guy thinks he's doing all the Ten Commandments and Jesus is saying, you haven't even gotten out of Commandment 1, buddy.
Speaker A:Commandment 1.
Speaker A:And in that passage, which is so rich, it's just such a good reminder of the role of the law, which is to expose us.
Speaker A:The law exposes us, the Gospel exonerates us.
Speaker A:That's the split.
Speaker A:And so, you know, the whole idea that we can do enough, be enough, accomplish enough to impress God enough so that God will like us more than he currently does is an affront to the Gospel.
Speaker C:Amen.
Speaker A:And a pride swallowing.
Speaker B:Yeah, ego.
Speaker C:Well said.
Speaker C:Well said.
Speaker B:Excellent.
Speaker A:You've been listening to the misfit preachers.
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