The Commands of Christ Podcast

Do we recognize the things that subtly creep in and distract us from being able to love God with a whole heart? Fear and worry will eat up our focus and attention and crowd out our love for the Lord. Competition with the world - trying to love the Lord and love the world at the same time will cause our love for God to grow cold. And even just busyness (even if it’s good things) so often distracts...

Have you ever realized that from the beginning to the end of the Bible, the primary way that loving God is defined is by keeping His commandments? This makes all the sense in the world when we see that the word keep means “to treasure” and “to guard.” What are you treasuring in your heart? Because “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). This is the foundational bedr...

What would you say if a husband professed deep love for his wife, then followed up his declaration with, “But my life is just so busy, I only have 5 minutes a day I can spend with her”? You would call that man a liar. The greatest revealer of what we love is how we spend our time. Join Nate and Gabe as they dig deeper into this foundational command. This is the foundational bedrock of the Christia...

If we were to be honest, most of us would admit that we view God’s laws and commandments as a rigid checklist of do’s and don'ts. But have you ever considered that all the commands have their foundation in love? It is life changing when we realize that all the commands are actually an expression of love - God’s love to us and our love to God and others. This is the foundational bedrock of the Chri...

What feeling does the word command evoke in you? Do you view commands as something hard, frustrating, and grievous? For many of us, God’s commands can make us feel frustrated and burdened because we view them as something we must do in our own effort. But did you know obedience to God’s commands is supposed to be a joy and even a liberty? In today’s guest episode with Caleb Reed, your view of God...

Have you ever considered that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (thus fulfilling the Old Testament prophecy) because Joseph and Mary were “rendering to Caesar the things that were Caesar’s”? They literally traveled to Bethlehem to pay taxes! Albeit under the rule of the corrupt Roman government, God’s divine orchestration was taking place. This episode will encourage you as Nate and Gabe share Biblical...

What is the difference between an owner and a steward? If you own something, it means you have absolute control over it. However if you are a steward it means that a thing is owned by somebody else and you just manage it in a way that honors their heart and wishes. In this powerful episode, Nate and Gabe bring up key aspects of how we view money and possessions. Where is your focus when it comes t...

The “double command” in this command is eye-opening! Jesus didn’t just command us to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's”; He also commanded us to “render to God the things that are God’s.” Truly everything we have is from the Lord and is to be used for the Lord.  If we gain a vision for “rendering to God the things that are God’s”, it will have a profound impact on every aspect of our...

The atmosphere would have been tense. People would have been waiting with baited breath to hear Jesus’ answer. “Should we pay the tax to Caesar?”, was both a politically and religiously charged question. And it was asked intentionally to trap Jesus. Would He openly come out against Rome? Would He openly speak against His people, the Jews? Listen as Gabe and Nate share how Jesus cut right to their...

How do we help people without enabling them? How do we help without hurting? These are tricky questions and often we find ourselves being either cynical to people or gullible. While there is not a “formula” to this, there is a key: we need to stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit. God's heart is for the poor, and He wants us to have an ear that is turned toward the needs of people. But at the same tim...

Where is your focus? Is it on yourself, your dreams, and your goals? If we’re not recognizing the needs of those around us, it’s usually because we’re focused on ourselves. We miss out on participating with God and how He wants to touch others when our attention is consumed with ourselves. We need to ask God to cleanse us from a fleshly self-focus so we can be available to meet the needs of those...

Do you ever find yourself having an attitude of superiority toward those who you perceive to be “less than” you? In order to approach those in need around us with the right attitude we need to realize that we were (and still are) “the poor.” We need to see that God Himself “brought in the poor” - that He saw our need and had compassion on us. When we see ourselves as needy and dependent on the Lor...

There is a tendency in all of us to exalt ourselves - to seek the recognition and attention of other people. As we dig into the context of this new command, we will see that Jesus cuts right to the heart and exposes this pride in all of us. God’s desire is that we would humble ourselves before Him, that we would be willing to take the “low place” before people, and that we would be content to live...

A real evidence of faith is persistent prayer. But why do we find it so hard to continue in prayer without giving up? The answer comes down to our focus - are we focused on our fears and doubts or are we focused on God and His Word? Join Nate and Gabe as they share how the heart that is intentionally gazing on the Faithful One, is the one who will be able to persevere in prayer until they see brea...

God tells us to ask Him for things in prayer! But why do we ask sometimes and not see anything happen? Often we ask but then give up too soon because things don’t happen on our timeline. But all too often our asking is motivated by our selfish desires. The key to getting what we ask for is learning to ask and pray with a heart that is in alignment with and submission to the will of God. Faith is n...

If we want to grow in faith, it is imperative that we ask ourselves - what competes with faith in our lives? What hinders us from being able to walk in faith? If faith comes by listening to the Word of God, then the reverse is true as well. Our faith is decreased when we listen to things that are contrary to the Word of God. Unbelief and doubt come into our lives when we give our ear to other thin...

Augustine said: “Faith is to believe what you do not see. The reward for this faith is to see what you believe.” When Jesus commanded us to Ask in Faith , He also gave us an invitation - an invitation to draw near to the Faithful One and allow Him to persuade and convince us of His power and His ability to perform that for which we pray. Join us as we open up this new command to Ask in Faith . You...

Did you know that the cumulative weight of something as small as a cell-phone carried for 100 miles would add up to 70,000 pounds? This puts a whole new perspective on “setting aside every weight” in order to run the race set before us! We are thrilled to have ultramarathoner Arlen Glick join us on this delightful episode. Sharing inspiring stories from his faith and his running experiences, Arlen...

You won’t want to miss this episode as Nate and Gabe dig into practical aspects of how we become “a house of prayer.” As we allow the Word of God to renew our minds and change our hearts, our “temples” are cleansed. As we give ourselves wholly to the Lord and allow Him to deal with anything that would hinder us, we will begin to live and operate as houses of prayer! God’s heart is that every belie...

Why did Jesus come in and so abruptly cleanse the temple? The purpose of the temple was to be a place of fellowship and communion with God. Jesus came in and cleansed out the things that were in competition with that! He eliminated the competition for the purpose of communion with God. He desires to cleanse out the competition in our individual lives as well. He wants to rid us of the things that...

What is a house of prayer? It is a place of fellowship, communication and intimacy with God. God desired that His physical temple be a place of communion with Himself, a place where He could fellowship with man. However God’s desire from the beginning has not just been to dwell with man, but also to dwell in man! He desires that we as believers be a place of communication, fellowship and intimacy...

Have you ever considered what it means to be a house of prayer? In this episode, Nate and Gabe share beautiful parallels between God’s temple in Jerusalem and His temple within the heart and life of every believer. God’s heart for every believer is that they become a temple in which He dwells - where communion between God and man takes place! God’s heart is that every believer becomes the place wh...

Have you ever considered what an incredible servant Jesus Christ was? Not only did He humble Himself to take on humanity, but He went beyond that and “took upon Him the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7). In this episode, Nate and Gabe exhort us to behold Jesus’ servanthood. As we deeply ponder this aspect of our Lord, may our hearts be moved to give ourselves to Him in service.  As we dig into the Co...

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to serve with a motivation to be accepted or recognized by other people? This is something we need to watch out for and ask God to purify us from. The core motivation of one serving the Lord is that we do everything for the glory of God. The greatest joy of the servant ought to be pleasing the master.  As we dig into the Command of Christ to “Be a Servant”, it...

Man finds his ultimate fulfillment in life when he lives out his created purpose. We see from the beginning of creation that man was created for the Lord. We were created to serve the Lord. When we live for self and are self-serving, it leads to bondage and emptiness. We were created to live for something bigger than ourselves - better said, we were created to live for Someone bigger than ourselve...