Bill Vanderbush

When you try to establish your own righteousness, you are still living in the old administration. You are still treating the law as a path rather than a signpost. You are still saying, “If I just try harder, pray longer, perform better, God will finally be pleased.” But the Christic Covenant announces that the performance has already been rendered perfectly, once for all, by Another.

The Holy Spirit is taking us through a rehabilitation by healing broken and dysfunctional views of God. We must return again and again to the face of Jesus. Every doctrine, every system, every inherited picture of God must be held up to the light of the One who is the exact representation of the Father’s nature. If it cannot survive that light, it must be refined or released.

This is not a Psalm about God’s controlling surveillance. It is a Psalm about God’s intimate, relentless, affectionate knowing. It is the song of a person who has discovered that the One who formed him in the dark is the same One who walks with him in the light. The fact that God knows you is not a threat, it's the safest place in the universe.

Matthew tells us that from this point on, Jesus taught the crowds only in parables. He is not hiding truth from the hungry. He is protecting it from the hard hearted, and at the same time giving it in a form that only the humble can receive. Parables are not riddles for the clever. They are doors for the teachable. Which one are you?

The prophets of Baal show us what worship looks like when you believe god is distant. The New Covenant shows us what worship looks like when you know the living God has made His home within you. We do not harm ourselves to get His attention. His blood has already been shed for us. We do not scream to wake Him. He lives in us as the hope of glory.

Global movements built on consistent desperation were flowing from the headship of a person who was in compromise. And that profound compromise was masked as prophetic zeal and then projected shame onto an entire generation. And what was proclaimed as spiritual hunger suddenly became a cry of guilt disguised as spiritual depth. And that culture taught hundreds of thousands of young people that perpetual desperation equals health and surrender before God. And it was wrong.

Your salvation is not primarily in believing a set of propositions about what Jesus did on the cross. Your salvation is Christ Himself. The entire sweep of His life, death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Spirit is the objective reality into which you have been brought into by sheer grace.

The eternal Son descended so we could ascend in Him. The Bread once broken now lives unbroken in us. This is the revolution of grace, the forgotten heart of the Gospel restored. This is Christic Covenant grace where we are not striving for bread, but feasting on the Bread who has already given Himself. The life He imparts is not earned but received. It is His resurrection life flowing into ours.

The story of Genesis opens with God and a dark, formless void. Yet the apostolic witness declares, “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” The eternal Son, through whom all things were made, is the uncreated Radiance with no shadow of turning. So how do we hold these two realities in the same heart without breaking? In this podcast we'll explore this tension and reveal the mystery that makes it all beautiful.

Don’t rush to conclusions about what you think I’m about to say, and don’t barricade yourself behind some doctrine you brought into this podcast like a fortress. Wander some meadows with me, of a theology that dares to believe God is for us and not against us. A theology, a theophany, and a theosis that insists the story cannot end in tragedy because the Author is Love, and Love does not script a bad ending.

You don't need to fear blurry lights in the sky. You don't need to fear disclosure or cover-up or deep-state secrets or alien invasions. The worst they can do is kill the body, and even that has been swallowed up in victory. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in you. The same love that reconciles the kosmos is the love that holds you this very moment.

The God who is a consuming fire is the same God who is Love. The wrath that abides on the disobedient is the same Love that abides on the believer, only experienced differently according to the disposition of the soul. The energies that judge are the energies that heal. The God who is impassible in essence is the God who weeps in Christ, who bleeds in Christ, who rises in Christ, and who now fills all things with His presence through the Spirit.

We've all seen waves of revival come and go. So why is does world is still seem so dark? What we need is not another spiritual high, but deep, lasting transformation by the living Jesus. In the New (Christic) Covenant, everything flows from relationship, not rule-keeping. The Holy Spirit doesn't just visit. He indwells. He doesn't command from a distance. He empowers from within. Holiness is no longer a heavy burden but the natural fruit of intimacy with Jesus.

A heart posture of mockery, cynicism, or hardened unbelief may cause the Lord to say, in effect, “Leave the room.” Not out of rejection, but because resurrection power flows where faith is present. Faith creates intimacy, mockery creates distance. Jesus is gentle and compassionate, but He is also holy and sovereign. When faith is required for a miracle, He creates an atmosphere where unbelief cannot remain.

Do not be pressed into the world’s mold. Instead, be metamorphosed by aligning your thinking with the Truth of the Word who is Christ. This produces discernment to “prove” God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will.

The revelation of holiness as identity and holiness as experience cuts to the very heart of the Gospel’s scandalous beauty and danger. It is not merely a theological nuance. It is the difference between freedom and subtle bondage, between resting in the grace of sonship and striving from thoughts that still whisper, “You are not yet enough.”

Holy Week is not a call to reenact or earn, but to behold and abide. In the Christic Covenant, every event shouts, "It is finished." You are not striving toward union; you are united with Christ. His entry, cleansing, supper, agony, death, burial, and rising are yours. Go forward in new life from this reality. "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).

When you accepted Jesus (assuming you did) when you said “yes” and gave your life to Christ, was it in response to an invitation born out of love for God and gratitude for what Christ did for you on the cross? Or was it driven primarily by a fear of hell? That’s a big question. Because I preach such a strong message of grace, I often get labeled as someone who doesn’t believe in hell. When people ask me, “Do you believe in hell?” my answer is simple: “Yes, I do.” But then I like to turn the question back to them: “Tell me, what is hell?” What usually follows is a flood of ideas (many of them dramatic, terrifying, or even grotesque) but far too often, those ideas aren’t grounded in the Bible at all. And that’s a problem we need to address.. This replay from the old Reckless Grace Podcast is by request from listeners who asked that it be reposted. Over time I expect to release every old episode of the Reckless Grace Podcast so they will all be available to you.

King David was a poet and a prophet as well as a warrior king. So many of the words of the Psalms were prophecies pointing to what could only be fulfilled in Christ. In this podcast, Bill Vanderbush explores Psalm 103 and a parallel of the words of King David to the five aspects of the finished work of the cross.

The Kingdom is Christ Himself, the very life of God revealed in self-giving love (John 1:14; Philippians 2:5–11). It is not built or controlled by human ambition (John 18:36 “My kingdom is not of this world”), but received as a gift (Luke 12:32 “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”). It transform the heart first, then flows outward into relationships, communities, and into all creation.

Discerning the Times - Live at Bethel Austin by Bill Vanderbush

God's face imparts blessing (Numbers), calls us to focus deeply (Psalms/Mark), is modeled in Jesus Christ (Luke), and is unveiled through the Holy Spirit's outpouring (Ezekiel/Acts). Life and identity flow from beholding Him. Psalm 27 is a roadmap from fear to fearless intimacy. Fear God alone, seek His face continually, and wait in confident hope.

Jesus Christ wasn't limited like you and me, or at least like we feel. While he was in a body, he was filling all things, sustaining everything, and while living as a man, he was sustaining and upholding all things. This is the wonder of the incarnation, the unlimited one entered limitation without ceasing to be unlimited.

The modern church faces a critical moment regarding prophetic ministry. In many charismatic and Spirit-filled circles, the gift of prophecy (as described in 1 Corinthians 14:3) has been marred by misuse, exaggeration, and outright fabrication. High-profile controversies, failed predictions, and cases of moral failure tied to those claiming prophetic authority have shaken trust. People rightly question what they've seen when they hear words don't come to pass, personal agendas masquerading as divine revelation, and a lack of accountability. The solution isn't to abandon prophecy but to restore prophetic integrity where we learn how to test words and prophets alike. We need to return to God's Word as the unchanging standard, where true prophecy aligns with Scripture, builds up the church, glorifies Christ, and comes under humble accountability.

News flash. Not every prophetic word that claims to be from God actually is. The Bible is full of warnings because false prophecy has always been a danger. Jesus Himself warned us about this repeatedly, and the apostles echoed it. So today, we're going to lean into Scripture to equip you to learn to discern.

Are you ministering to the Lord or just about him? Have you moved beyond religious activity to a place of personal intimacy with God? I would say that children raised in godly homes still need their own Samuel moment, a personal call and a personal response. Faith has to be personal between you and God.

Faith is not just believing "in" Jesus as an object of our conviction. Faith is participating in "His" faith, the unshakeable confidence of the Son toward the Father. This is the subjective reality, where Christ's own faithfulness becomes ours, not as something we manufacture, but as a gift of union.

Dead faith agrees but stays unchanged. Living faith transforms. As you truly believe, the Holy Spirit renews your mind (Romans 12:2). Old habits fall away and the new creation emerges (2 Corinthians 5:17). But the transformation doesn't stop (2 Corinthians 3:18). Even in our most glorious seasons, there's greater glory ahead! Beholding Jesus changes us progressively to be more like Him each day.

Learn the art of harvesting sweet vintage wine from the bitter grapes of isolation. Jesus’ solitude was never escape. It was communion. In his humanity, he recieved the replenishing touch of the Father’s love and the anointing of the Spirit. He returned to the fellowship he had known from eternity, now lived out in human flesh. And because we are now in Him, adopted into His Sonship, baptized into His life, His solitude becomes the pattern for ours. In this podcast you will learn how our alone times can become doorways into the same embrace.

The incarnation didn’t end at the manger. Every single step Jesus took on this earth was redemptive. Every temptation He faced in the wilderness, every tear He shed at Lazarus’ tomb, every time He reached out and touched a leper, He was living the perfect human life we never could. Where Adam rebelled, Jesus obeyed. Where we hid, He revealed. Where we said no to the Father, He said yes all the way to the cross. He learned obedience through suffering, not because He needed to grow, but because He was carrying us in Himself, rewriting our story with His own blood, sweat, grace, and love.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men, is not just a slogan to be confined to December. It is the most radical display of angelic intervention documented in Scripture. Apart from Christ Himself it is the single greatest announcement of God‘s intention and heart as a Father over humanity through Jesus. In Short, it is the gospel.

Every one of us has been given three powerful servants. You can ignore them but you can't get rid of them entirely. They were never meant to be our masters. They were meant to minister to you and serve you. Yet in many Christian lives they have staged a rebellion and now sit on the throne that belongs to Christ alone. In this podcast you'll learn three key areas of life that we all must learn to govern well.

God spends all of history chasing us with the balloon of grace and the styrofoam baseball bat of a vindicating judgment. If you really grab ahold of the grace of God, you'll discover that he really ruins all of our religious trauma with joy. And so he refuses to let our fear define him anywhere else than in our own twisted imaginations.

David’s life, worship, and tabernacle all point to Jesus—the greater David who brings the Ark (God’s presence) into human hearts through His cross, opening Zion’s eternal glory to all who trust Him.

The greatest mystery of the gospel isn’t just that Jesus died for you. It’s that He lives in you. You’re not running after a God who's avoiding you. He’s made His home in you. Paul’s not pointing to a distant heaven. He’s revealing that heaven’s reality is already inside you because of the cross. This is why Paul’s so important today. He shows us that union with God isn’t a future hope. Iit’s your now reality.

The incarnation is the time and place in all of eternity where God and man meet, and find union in Christ. Jesus reveals God as Father, and unveils the truth of not only who God is, but the truth of who we are as his sons and daughters. So the revelation of God as Father unveils our identity. If you don't see God as Father, you'll never truly know your identity. So now, when we come to God, do we come in the law-based ideology of approaching God, in the style of the Levitical priesthood of the Old Covenant? I think a lot of people do, but the invitation is for us to know God through the mediation of our great high priest, who is Jesus Christ, according to a completely different order than the Old Covenant.

In the Christic Covenant God's relationship with humanity shifts from law-based performance to grace-based intimacy. This covenant emphasizes that our identity and worth are not earned but freely given through faith in Jesus Christ. We are not striving to be noticed or accepted by God. Instead, we live in reconciled rest in the reality that God already sees us fully, knows us intimately, loves us unconditionally, and has chosen us purposefully. This study explores these four aspects through the Scriptures and shows how being seen, known, loved, and chosen flow from God's grace, not our merit.

In Christ, we're not distant admirers but intimate participants. "In Him we live and move and have our being." Our faithlessness doesn't sever this bond because He cannot deny Himself, and if you're in Christ, you're part of that unbreakable Self. This is grace unbound. It transforms doubt into assurance, brokenness into wholeness. No matter the chaos around or within, His faithfulness sustains, His presence envelops, and His grace redeems.

Don't settle for a wonderless faith. The new covenant invites you into complete, perpetual awe, gazing at a father who is wildly for you. So dive in, rest deep, and watch wonders unfold from His finished work.

Meditate on this word, vicarious. It's a living proxy, a stand-in whose actions ripple eternally. Adam embodied humanity vicariously, not by vote or consent, but by divine design. His choice resulted in a "free gift" of sin imputed to us all, unasked, unearned (Romans 5:12-19). Did anyone poll you? Invite you to inherit Adam's sin? No. yet here we stand, heirs to the fall. But oh, the counterpoint! Jesus Christ, our true Vicar, steps into the chaos as humanity's Champion. In Him, the Trinity's redemptive council unfolds. The Father sends the Son (John 3:16), the Son lays down His life (Philippians 2:8), the Spirit seals the victory (Ephesians 1:13-14).

There are a lot of people who know Jesus as Savior and Lord, and perhaps know the concept of God and Father, but the practice that they have put on display is something other than the likeness of the image. The image that they have may be a concept that was given to them by a man-made religious system that does really what I'm doing here today, and that is to tell you about who God is. Lessons about God can only inform us, but revelations by His Holy Spirit transform us and change us from the inside out. The Bible doesn't say be conformed to the world, it says don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. There's a transformation, a metamorphosis that God wants to take us into, and it happens when our thought processes change.

Jesus Christ came to confront our perspectives with truth, not through a thundering voice from the heavens but as God in the flesh, living among us. He didn’t rely solely on miracles to validate His message; often, He told those He healed to keep silent about it. Why? Because He valued communication through words, inviting people into discourse. As John 1 declares, He is the Word made flesh, stepping into our story to confront us with the truth of Himself. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6, NASB). Not a way, but the only way to the Father. When we anchor our lives in Him, we find wisdom that confounds, challenging us to either hold fast to what we believe or embrace a new and living way.

A throwback to the Reckless Grace Podcast from 2017-18. "It was a dark and stormy night. No, really, really it was. It was the year 1990. There was a blackout on the island of Oahu, and Traci and I had just come from a church service where something had happened that we still laugh about to this day. During the worship service that morning, a woman stood to her feet and began speaking with the words that universally signaled to Christians that God is talking, so you'd better pay attention. In a commanding tone, and in King James English, she began, Thus saith the Lord. And then she proceeded to admonish and exhort the church with words that suggested that God had been keeping us under surveillance, and he had seen enough to warrant a verbal intervention, and now it was time to drop the hammer."

In typology, the way Old Testament figures shadow New Covenant realities, Mordecai isn’t just a historical guy figure. He’s a picture of deeper truths. Some see him as a type of Christ, others as the Holy Spirit, or even the mature believer. I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to see all three, woven together, because the New Covenant is Trinitarian. Father plans, Son accomplishes, Spirit applies.

Spiritual codependency isn’t some quirky personality glitch. It's a soul-sucking vampire that drains the joy right out of your faith in Jesus. But Jesus revealed that God is a good Father who is neither abusive, insecure, moody, or schizophrenic. To break a negative mindset about God and to rest in the finished work of the Cross is to flop down at the party table and heave a sigh of relief, trusting that Jesus is more than enough to sustain, save, carry, and hold you, me, and the whole wobbly universe together.

It doesn't matter if you know or think you're included, if you don't know what you're included in. If you think you're just included in a club, a business, a timeshare, a brand, an ideology, or a particular branch of Christianity, then you're missing the point. This is about being bled into union with Christ. It's not about you making God your father. It's about coming to an understanding of what he has done on the cross and surrendering to allow his love and his father's heart redefine your whole identity.

The apostles adopted this term for themselves as followers of Christ. They weren't forced or controlled. They chose it because Jesus had redeemed them and reconciled them by His faith and grace. Being a bondservant of Christ means alignment with the heart of God. Your will aligns with His, your life is free from the slavemaster of sin, and your devotion is driven by gratitude and love.

Redeeming the Harlot and the Prophet by Bill Vanderbush

The cross didn't just happen because of sin. It happened to fully cover all freewill offerings, peace offerings, thank offerings, gifts, and fulfillment of vows we will ever need to offer. It encompasses all our worship and efforts, serving as the singular moment that once and for all addresses every sense of obligation to please God.

Chata’ (sin in Hebrew) primarily means “to miss the mark,” but in contexts like Proverbs 19:2, Hosea 4:7, and Proverbs 8:36, it carries undertones of losing one’s way, glory, or soul, which can be interpreted as losing identity or forgetting who we are as God’s image-bearers. In a New Covenant perspective, chata’ reflects a failure to live in the truth of our union with Christ, but His redemptive work restores our identity, ensuring we are no longer defined by our sin but by the grace of Jesus Christ.