Father of the Inklings

From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips. 

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus urges obedience to his Commands in many ways and with a great variety of words, phrases, metaphors, and parables.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

What is the "fruit" we are to bear as the Lord's disciples? How will our lives "glorify" God the Father?  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

The debate is long standing in Christendom about what exactly "sanctification" is and how it comes about.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

It was not until after much reflection that it slowly dawned on me what an intriguing and perhaps prophetic word this is from the mouth of Jesus.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

The image Jesus is alluding to here is familiar from many sermon illustrations. The farmer guiding his single plow behind donkey or horse or ox desires to plough a precisely straight furrow from one end of the field to the other.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to...

Count the cost and Don't look back are in a sense two ways to say the same thing.   From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

At first glance, this may seem but a restating of the command we considered previous to the last. Are we splitting hairs to differentiate between the two?  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips. 

It will be unpopular, in this time when obedience to the marital commands of Scripture has grown so lax within Christendom, to read this command from the mouth of Jesus as strictly forbidding divorce.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and ot...

The profound example of the Apostle John's life is as powerful as the words he recorded of Jesus' farewell conversation and charge to his disciples in the upper room.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

Here we encounter another of Jesus' well-known Commands. The parallel with snakes, however, is troublesome because we usually associate snakes with evil.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

The ongoing debate between how "literal" one is to take the accounts and Commands of the Bible is filled with pomposity, self-righteousness, and thorough inconsistency on all sides.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michae...

Back in the Jesus Movement days of the 1970s, putting out fleeces before the Lord, according to the example of Gideon in Judges 6, was a popular method of determining God's will.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael P...

We have already spoken of those few Commands too specific and unclear of meaning to be grouped with others. Near the top of the list are surely, Have salt in yourselves and, Don't cast your pearls before swine.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Comma...

The proverb "practice what you preach" is so common in everyday parlance that most probably do not realize that it was Jesus who coined the phrase.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

The Great Commission of Jesus in Matthew 28 is surely one of the most well-known, important, and yet misunderstood and misapplied passages in the Bible.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

It is a sobering truth to realize that in God's eyes causing another to sin may be more serious than sinning ourselves.  From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

The command to "turn the other cheek," which we considered earlier as Let people injure you without retaliating, is actually a two-part command.   From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

All the Commands are subject to misunderstanding, overemphasis, and underemphasis. The Commands of Jesus can be taken so out of context and misapplied, that they can even become false gods and idols that blind vision from the true nature of the Commands.   From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the In...

As we have noted before, many of Jesus' specific words must be broadened to incorporate the fullness of what he intended as Commands of obedience upon his followers.   From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

This may appear on the surface to be identical with the first command: Obey my Commands. From Jesus' conversation with the man we call the "rich young ruler," however, the inference can be made that Jesus is specifically speaking of the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20.   From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Fat...

Jesus often couched his teachings in the form of metaphors and parables for the curious purpose, if we are to take him at his word, of preventing those who are not in earnest about obeying him from understanding him.   From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase Th...

Giving, for many Christians, is founded on legalistic obligation based on the Old Testament tithe. It is doubtful, however, that a strong case can be made in the New Testament for the perpetuation of the tithe as commonly taught.   From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  t...

Probably the most feared sin in the world, "the Great Sin," is what we commonly refer to as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.   From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by Michael Phillips.

Paul's famous statement in Ephesians (4:26) "Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger," is often used to excuse anger, so long as we don't let it go on too long.   From The Commands by Michael Phillips. Read by Michael Kimball. More information on this and similar writings may be found at  Father of the Inklings . Visit  Amazon  to purchase The Commands and other books by...