Episodes
Thursday Nov 30, 2017
Command #31 - Be Righteous
Thursday Nov 30, 2017
Thursday Nov 30, 2017
The Commands of Jesus seem to come in two broad categories: Those that are straightforward and relatively simple to obey...and those that are impossible to obey.
Tuesday Nov 28, 2017
Thirty - The Divine Risk
Tuesday Nov 28, 2017
Tuesday Nov 28, 2017
Here is the crux of attempting to grasp the enormity of what Jesus did. All real wills can go in either direction. They don't have to make the right choice. There is no coercion. That is the definition of free will. It is truly free to choose.
Thursday Nov 23, 2017
Command #30 - Believe That You Will Receive What You Pray For
Thursday Nov 23, 2017
Thursday Nov 23, 2017
There are fewer more perplexing, misunderstood, misappropriated Commands in the Gospel than this. How many disappointments have been based on grandiose prayers for healing, for financial provision, for restored relationships, and for thousands of other good and worthy things... that have not happened? We have all experienced the ache, frustration, and confusion of unanswered prayer.
Tuesday Nov 21, 2017
Twenty-nine - A Progressively Revealed Sonship
Tuesday Nov 21, 2017
Tuesday Nov 21, 2017
Jesus was a man, not an angel. He possessed a will that was his own. He possessed the capacity of choice that was human. And He won His Sonship, and our salvation, by exercising that choice.
Thursday Nov 16, 2017
Command #29 - Don't Be Anxious
Thursday Nov 16, 2017
Thursday Nov 16, 2017
It is sometimes difficult to know how to live in the practical reality of Jesus' admonition in the latter half of Matthew 6: Consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. They neither sow nor reap, yet your heavenly father cares for them. So don't worry about what you shall eat or drink. We are all familiar with his words. But do they not often sound just a little too idealistic?
Tuesday Nov 14, 2017
Twenty-eight - What Really Happened at Bethlehem?
Tuesday Nov 14, 2017
Tuesday Nov 14, 2017
Theologians have devised all sorts of contorted ways to explain the incarnation that make little sense to anyone but themselves. But I see only two possible ways to account for the astounding fact that God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ.
Thursday Nov 09, 2017
Command #28 - Believe in Me
Thursday Nov 09, 2017
Thursday Nov 09, 2017
Jesus does not stop with commanding belief in general, not even belief in God. He zeroes in with yet more precision and specificity by also commanding belief in him. This further dismisses the notion that Christianity may be equated with being a kind person and trying to do good in the world. Those are good things. But they are not Christianity.
Tuesday Nov 07, 2017
Twenty-seven - Angel or Man?
Tuesday Nov 07, 2017
Tuesday Nov 07, 2017
From what we know, angels are celestial beings different from humans in many respects.
Thursday Nov 02, 2017
Command #27 - Believe in God
Thursday Nov 02, 2017
Thursday Nov 02, 2017
We find ourselves looking at a series of Commands subject to widely varied interpretation as we attempt to navigate the conundrum between the temporal and spiritual components of the Christian life - Love God, Love man... Give to the poor, Believe.