Episodes
Thursday Mar 31, 2016
COA #12 - Be a Doer of the Word Not a Hearer Only
Thursday Mar 31, 2016
Thursday Mar 31, 2016
As the church expanded and the hub of its missionary outreach shifted north to the cosmopolitan Antioch, one church leader remained in Jerusalem. That man was James, the Lord's brother.
Wednesday Mar 30, 2016
Command #16 - Listen
Wednesday Mar 30, 2016
Wednesday Mar 30, 2016
It is now time to consider the third most frequently given group of Commands that Jesus gave behind Watchfulness and Courage which were considered earlier. That is a group of related exhortations that might be summed up as: Listen with understanding and discerning insight. These we will consider as four related commands: Listen, Listen carefully, Be clear-minded, thoughtful, mentally diligent, and, Apply yourself to think, learn, understand.
Tuesday Mar 29, 2016
COA #11 - Obey the Lord's Commands
Tuesday Mar 29, 2016
Tuesday Mar 29, 2016
The companion volume to this, The Commands, opened with the command from Jesus: Obey my commands. This same exhortation is urged by the apostles in a hundred different ways.
Monday Mar 28, 2016
Command #15 - Repent
Monday Mar 28, 2016
Monday Mar 28, 2016
The Gospel does not come to us one-dimensionally. The teachings of Jesus, while epitomizing simplicity itself, are also intriguingly complex. The intertwining mix of "spiritual" and "temporal" commands is constantly in play. The moment we get too spiritual, Jesus hits us with the parable of the Good Samaritan, urging us simply to be good and take care of people. Not a word in the story about getting the man saved or taking him to church...just Go and do the same. Yet the moment we begin thinking that kindness toward our fellow man is enough, there is Jesus telling Nicodemus he must be "born again."
Friday Mar 25, 2016
Command #14 - Be Patient, Enduring, Persevering
Friday Mar 25, 2016
Friday Mar 25, 2016
When Paul enumerates the characteristics of love in 1 Corinthians 13, the familiarity of his words obscures what an astonishing attribute he begins with: Love is patient.
Thursday Mar 24, 2016
COA #10 - Serve God and Live For His Glory
Thursday Mar 24, 2016
Thursday Mar 24, 2016
In emphasizing the practicality of the New Testament, we occasionally encounter a command where the "do" is more difficult to lay hold of than Do as you would be done by. Such is the command before us today.
Wednesday Mar 23, 2016
Command #13 - Commit No Sexual Sins
Wednesday Mar 23, 2016
Wednesday Mar 23, 2016
Surely the Command against sexual sin is one of the most straightforward in the Gospels.
Tuesday Mar 22, 2016
COA #9 - Set Your Mind and Heart on High Things
Tuesday Mar 22, 2016
Tuesday Mar 22, 2016
We have spoken about growing in righteousness and the corresponding training that goes with it. One of the foundational components of such "fitness training" is so simple it takes no extra time at all.
Monday Mar 21, 2016
Command #12 - Guard Against Ambition
Monday Mar 21, 2016
Monday Mar 21, 2016
We all face personally unique challenges to purity of motive, outlook, attitude, and behavior. For some, sexual purity is life's most difficult arena of temptation. Others are scarcely lured by sexual sin. But deep inside, every one of us has something the enemy will try to use--subtly, invisibly, persuasively, seductively, below the radar of our awareness--to turn our eyes off the bull's eye of the Commands.
Friday Mar 18, 2016
Command #11 - Be Pure
Friday Mar 18, 2016
Friday Mar 18, 2016
Many Christians long for the heavenly day when they will meet Jesus and his Father face to face, when they will actually see them. Perhaps the Lord's words in the Beatitudes, however, were not intended as a promise of future intimacy, but a recognition of present vision.