Finding Our Way

Finding Our Way

by James and Larry

Christianity Spirituality

Season 2

Understanding God And Genocide EP95

From the transcript... Myself, in particular, I feel like my theology and beliefs—not just biblical, but beliefs in life in general—I’ve always been in a flux, you know, because I’m experiencing life and hopefully I’m learning better. Yeah, that’s… but that’s always been the way. I think sometimes we think when we’re children going to school and we’re learning, there’s an illusion that when I get to be an adult, learning’s over. But then you realize, no, it’s not. It’s really just the beginning. And you’re learning how to be a good father as you raise your kids. That’s why you’re such a good grandfather—because you’ve already got one round under your belt, your children. But you’re learning all kinds of things. I guess this is kind of what I was thinking about when I was saying that. But when we get down to the church house, it’s cut and dried. It’s rigid. This is it. Yeah, we figured it out. This is it. Shut up and believe it. Don’t question it.

God Is Absolutely Good EP94

From the transcript... See that vintage cap I got? That thing had to be made in the ’80s. Zach got two big old bags of caps that this guy from Cotton Valley had collected over the years. That was one of them. I don’t like the way this cap wears. Yeah? But that’s not the reason I’m wearing it. You’re just rubbing it in—2019 national champions. You’re just rubbing it in. It gets kind of flat on your head. Well, it’s this curvature of the bill. I just don’t like it much. I’m gonna try that one later, but it clashes with this shirt. Yeah. Which might be good—just to clash. I don’t know. That might be a good way. I don’t say I want to view myself that way, but—an individual that clashes with the norm. Because people don’t know how to respond when you just love them. Well, the One who did that perfectly—they just killed Him. Yeah… saying I might want to reconsider my choice to clash. Well, no. Just don’t get shocked when it happens, I guess, is my point. Oh, I won’t. I’m learning, though, to not let it bother me—the response. Because that’s not why I’m doing it. I’m not doing it for a good response. I think we all want to be loved.

Awakening To Our Inclusion EP93

From the transcript... Here’s your text with all timestamps and markers removed: Is the spiritual union another union? A union in addition to our carnal union with Christ? Or is it a sharing in the one and only union between God and man brought out in Jesus Christ? This is a very important question, for if the spiritual union is an additional union, then our salvation depends not only on the finished work of Christ but upon something else as well, which has later to be added on to it before it is real for us. That was, in fact, the idea taught by Roman Catholics, for example, in their doctrine of baptismal regeneration and ex opere operato sacramental incorporation into Christ. But it is the same idea that is taught also by Protestants in their doctrine of a union with Christ which is effected by faith or by conversion, through which alone what Christ has done for us becomes real for us. Both these forms of the same error lead to a doctrine of man's cooperation in his own salvation, and so involve a doctrine of conditional grace.

Exposing Eternal Mercy EP92

From the transcript... In Ephesians 1 and 7, since we're now joined to Christ, we've been given the treasures of redemption by His blood—the total cancellation of our sins—all because of the cascading riches of His grace. Okay, the total cancellation of sins. Sounds like John the Baptist: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Well, you know John preached that, but do we really believe that? No. “Oh, you’ve got to do something.” Well, even then, they don’t even believe when they do something, James. Okay, you may have to edit this out. No. I have pastored churches for almost 40 years. And for 40 years, I have continually had to counsel people about the forgiveness of sins. I have preached the total, complete forgiveness of sins through Christ and His shed blood—the finished work of the cross—that you are forgiven. And I’m telling you, James, even the people who would declare themselves as saved, born again, believers, baptized, active, faithful in church, tithers, Bible readers, and prayers do not experience the freedom from the guilt of their sins like they should.

Exposing Papa's Heart EP91

From the transcript... Yeah, I was taught that He chose those whom He foreknew. He knew who was going to believe—that was His foreknowledge. Therefore, He chose those. I’m just telling you what I was taught. I’ve heard that before. Yeah, that’s an Arminian view of it. Yeah, it was a twisted Arminian view. But that’s so skewed. Well, I’m just saying—the whole conversation was that it’s because of His grace, but you’ve got to choose it. Yeah, I had to choose it. If you choose it, He foreknows you’re going to. The more Calvinist view was that He just made an arbitrary choice. Yeah—out of the masses, He picked. Out of His love, He picked these. So He had this arbitrary—I call it an arbitrary—choice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And those were the only two ways to look at it. Yeah. And then you realize that, no, He’s chosen all of us in Christ. You know, when I’m coming to it with the thought of who’s in and who’s out, I’m not looking at it right—because that’s not what He did. He chose us all in Him. Now, this goes back to what you were teasing me about earlier. You’ve got to understand—He’s writing to a local church, and He’s only talking to those who have been chosen. So He’s not talking about everybody.

Exposing Religious Lies EP90

From the transcript... It’s like—we read through all these translations. We started with the New King James, of course, and I was raised on the old King James. That language, and the discussions I heard about these verses, shaped a whole lot of my original belief system. But as time has gone on, and I’ve studied and followed the Lord, I began to change what I was originally taught or believed about those things. By the time we get to the Passion Translation, it encompasses more of what I now think about those verses that I used to read in the King James. How I think about them now is much closer to what I’m reading in the Passion Translation than what I used to believe. And I say that because I want to promote another brother’s book here. That’s not the cover, I know—but James is in the process of writing a second book called The Gospel I Grew Up On. It’s still in its editing stages; this is just an early copy to work through and edit. The idea behind the book—and a little behind the conversations that we have, even in Finding Our Way—is that we’ve realized we have had a similar, shared journey of following the Lord. How we used to think about the Bible, the gospel, Jesus, and salvation has changed, grown, and gotten better and better over our lifetime.

Drinking From More Translations EP89

From the transcript... I got William Barclay. I like William Barclay. Barclay’s good. Barclay’s good. Let me read it. I wasn’t going to, but—well, no, no, no, I got it. There was a reason I brought it. You’ve got to hear what he says. Ephesians 1 (William Barclay Translation) This is a letter from Paul, who became an apostle of Jesus Christ because God willed it so. To God’s consecrated people in Ephesus, the loyal Christians in the Lord Jesus Christ: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for He, in the heavenly places, has blessed us with every spiritual blessing because our life is bound up with the life of Christ. It was through this connection with Christ that, before the creation of the world, God chose us to be His own consecrated people and to live lives faultless in His sight. In His love, He had already destined us for adoption into His own family through the work of Jesus Christ. For this was the purpose of His will. All this He did that men might praise that glorious grace of His which He gave us in His Beloved—and through no merits of our own. It is in and through Christ and the sacrifice of His life that we have been liberated—a liberation which means the forgiveness of sins. It all happened because of the wealth of His grace. This grace He gave us in superabundance to equip us with all wisdom and insight. He revealed to us the secret of His will and of the purpose which long ago He had in Christ. This purpose is finally to bring to their conclusion all the events in history and to make of all things—things in heaven and things on earth—one perfect whole in Christ. And we too have received a share in Him, for this was our destiny, in the intention of that God who works out everything as the purpose of His will directs. The purpose of all this was that we Jews, who were the first to set our hopes on Christ, should cause His glory to be praised. And it is through Him that you Gentiles too have heard the message of the truth—the good news of your salvation. It is in Him that you took your decision to believe and received the promised Holy Spirit, who marks you out as His— that Holy Spirit who is the first installment and the pledge of all that one day you will possess. That’s a good one. The final end of all this is the liberation of God’s own people, so that His glory may be praised.

Drinking From Various Translations EP88

From the transcript... We got a beautiful day. It’s nice and shady right here. So I want to read it out of the New King James. Are you going to read more than one translation? Yeah. But you’re going to start with the New King James? Yeah. Okay. You want me to read one? Because that’s what everybody’s used to. Read them first 11 verses. In the New King James? That’s what that is. Oh, I thought you were going to read me to sleep. I get to read you to sleep? Yeah. You want me to start at the top? Yeah. Verse 1 through 11. Okay. Ephesians 1:1–14 (NKJV) Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Hoping For A King EP87

From the transcript... I can remember when I was eight years old. I can remember going back—I don’t know if you remember Whisperer Pines Church—go back behind the baptististry, behind the choir loft back there, Sunday school. Step in that little hallway, that first room to the right. Sitting in a chair there beside my mama, and Brother Leon was on his knees, squatting before me, talking to me about the Lord. I was wanting to get saved. Eight years old. Yeah, he was talking about whenever your eyes were open, there were some glimpses of Him back then because of what I was hearing in church. Even though it was what I would call not a pure gospel grace message, it was a gospel message that I grew up on. Even in that, He was working—trying to open my eyes, shining the light. Then when I was 16—I know I’ve talked about this before—but when I was 16, my brother, I was there at Whisperer Pines. He preached a message on hell. Man, I didn’t want to go to hell. I went down and talked to Brother Winters, the pastor. I said, “Man, I didn’t want to go to hell.” Anyway, I got up out of the altar, talking to him, saying, “I’m not saved. I know I’m not.” He said, “Why?” I said, “Well, the Bible says you’ve got to have faith to be saved. I don’t have faith.” But I didn’t want to go to hell. Lo and behold, here I am—37 years later.

Crushing Rebellious Hearts EP86

In this episode Larry and James talk about the victory of Jesus in history. From the transcript... But the Lord orchestrated the events of getting this book to print. The title of it is Before Time, Our Origin in Christ. My good friend Andrew Maui helped me put this together and got me started down that road. And the Lord just, boom, put it out there. even try it wasn't even anything i was it was on my radar it's just the lord decided he wanted to do it so he did you can get it at amazon .com just search the title and my name james alderman or you can come to our website findingourway .co probably the best deal is coming to the website because i think shipping's $4 .99 for $9 .99 for the book but if you buy two you get one free or if you buy more than five i'll ship them to you for free so you can get to get you can get the deal there plus you get to communicate with me I want to read you just the first sentence on the back cover of the book.

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