41.2K
Downloads
1324
Episodes
Dedicated to the legacy of bold thinking Christianity through the writings of George MacDonald and Michael Phillips.
Episodes
Jun 11, 2015
Jun 11, 2015
5 min
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.
Jun 9, 2015
Jun 9, 2015
6 min
Surely the Command against sexual sin is one of the most straightforward in the Gospels.
Jun 6, 2015
Jun 6, 2015
6 min
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.
Jun 4, 2015
Jun 4, 2015
5 min
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.
Jun 2, 2015
Jun 2, 2015
6 min
What more practical and revealing window exists into the human soul than fear? At root we are weak and timid creatures, full of many fears. Fear of death probably tops the list. It is a universal fear shared by our entire race. And individually we each harbor multitudes of our own private fears. All these Jesus sweeps away, saying, "Believe in me and you need fear nothing!"
May 30, 2015
May 30, 2015
5 min
Another group of the most frequently given but often overlooked Commands of Jesus might be summarized in many ways--bravery, stout heartedness, courage, valor, fearlessness, boldness. They are here gathered together as two, which we consider as Take heart, take courage, and simply Do not be afraid.
May 28, 2015
May 28, 2015
5 min
The Command to watchfulness has deep but often overlooked consequences. Counterfeits creep in to distract us when we let our spiritual guards down. The moment attentiveness wanes, our eyes drift off the bulls eye of God's purpose. We observe this pattern with the twelve. Every time they became distracted by peripheral concerns, Jesus brought them back to foundational priorities with one or another variation of, "You lost your focus...now pay attention."
May 26, 2015
May 26, 2015
6 min
A serious examination of the Gospels reveals three surprising combinations of injunctions emerging as the most frequently given commands of Jesus. One would assume, from their prevalence, that these three groups would form the bedrock of Christian teaching, that we would hear them from the pulpits of our churches week after week, that they would form the basis of most dialog and discussion between Christians. If Jesus emphasized them most, would it not be logical to assume that we would too?
May 23, 2015
May 23, 2015
6 min
It may be that the injunction toward prayer is the single Command of Jesus we most readily witness throughout the earth. Christians pray, Jews pray, Muslims pray. Even many who profess no religion yet claim to pray. It is an astonishing fact to contemplate that more than half of mankind probably prays regularly in some fashion. It is surely no exaggeration to say that prayer is being lifted to the heavens every second round the clock. Mankind is a praying species. The earth is a praying world.
May 21, 2015
May 21, 2015
5 min
Jesus makes two of the most shocking statements of his ministry on the night before his death. They are recounted only by the Gospelist John. Though Matthew was also there that evening, it clearly took not only an eyewitness, but one like John with particular insight into the Lord's heart, to capture the powerful essence of this pivotal message that Jesus wanted to leave with his disciples on his last night with them.