John Mark Comer Teachings

By Practicing the Way

Religion & Spirituality Christianity

What's John Mark Comer Teachings about?

The teachings of Jesus lead us to a better, fuller life. This was true in the ancient world where Jesus first taught, and it’s still true today. But what does it mean to actually practice the way of Jesus in today’s complex, secular world? In this podcast by Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer responds to that important question through his teachings at Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon. Join us as John Mark provides practical insight on how you can be with Jesus, become like Him and do what He did wherever you are today.
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Talking with God | Prayer E2

11.24.2023

There comes a moment in our prayer lives when we want to pray our own words to God. John Mark shows us how the ancient practices of gratitude, lament, petition, and intercession help us find words to place our lives ...

John Mark Comer Teachings episodes:

11.24.2023 Talking with God \| Prayer E2 There comes a moment in our prayer lives when we want to pray our own words to God. John Mark shows us how the ancient practices of gratitude, lament, petition, and intercession help us find words to place our lives ...
11.17.2023 Talking to God \| Prayer E1 How do we pray in a world full of smartphones? John Mark dives into Luke 11 and how Jesus taught his disciples to pray, showing how this prayer orients us to the character of God and how other pre-written prayers ...
11.10.2023 Church is Formation Do you ever feel stuck? John Mark speaks to the difference between our role and God's role in our formation journey, inviting us to embrace God's leading by letting go of attachments. He argues that surrender to God's work is ...
11.03.2023 The Three Levels of Faith What do you do when everything falls apart? John Mark talks about overcoming fear in our lives, laying out a three-part journey of growing in faith, where we find deep peace and trust that transcends our circumstances. Key Scripture Passage: ...
10.27.2023 Future Church for the Future World \| Future Church E8 What gives you hope for the future? John Mark contrasts the negative news cycle of our age with the good news of Jesus: that he's overcome death and is returning that we might walk in his resurrection. Key Scripture Passage: ...
10.20.2023 A Community of Contribution in a Culture of Careerism \| Future Church E7 How would you work differently if you believed your work was essential to your apprenticeship to Jesus? John Mark argues that a subtle religion emerging in our culture is 'work-ism,' where work becomes the primary system of meaning and identity ...
10.13.2023 A Community of Peacemakers in a Culture of Political Polarization \| Future Church E6 What if the way forward in our political moment isn’t sweeping reform, but a meal around the table? As much of the world becomes more divided than ever, John Mark challenges us to become peacemakers by demonstrating God's love through ...
10.06.2023 A Community of Peace in a Culture of Outrage and Fear \| Future Church E5 "If there's anything left of my annoying voice in your memory banks in 20 years, I would hope that you would hear me as a brother in your ear just saying, 'follow Jesus to the quiet and pray.'" All around ...
09.29.2023 A Community of Holiness in a Culture of Moral Relativism \| Future Church E4 How do we love others in the moral decay of the modern West? John Mark argues that the world needs a community of holiness as the counter-culture to the mainstream. John Mark explores the concept of holiness, a theology of ...
09.22.2023 A Community of Orthodoxy in a Culture of Ideological Idolatry \| Future Church E3 In a culture of deconstruction and ideology, how do we stay faithful to Jesus and His teachings? Through the practice of Scripture, John Mark challenges us to deepen our trust in God and the teachings of our rabbi, Jesus. Key ...
09.15.2023 A Community of Tight-knit Loving Relationships in a Culture of Individualism and Tribalism \| Future Church E2 How do we cultivate deep community? John Mark explores how the practice of community fits into our cultural moment of the loneliness of tribalism and individualism. He challenges us to press into community, even in pain, wounding, and trauma, since ...
09.08.2023 It's Time to Dream Again \| Future Church E1 "This could be our finest moment. This could be the moment not of our death but of our rebirth." John Mark challenges us to dream again about what the Church can and should be in our cultural moment. He invites ...
09.01.2023 Gethsemane Prayer \| Gospel of Matthew How do we deal with emotional pain? John Mark explores Jesus's prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and discusses how His model can help us process through our own moments of pain, turmoil, and disappointment. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 26v36-46 ...
08.25.2023 The Way of Mercy, Integrity, and Humility \| Gospel of Matthew How do we keep from becoming "pharisees"? In a time when deconstruction is the cultural tide we swim in and disillusionment with pastors is widespread and well-earned, how do we model the way of Jesus? John Mark looks at Jesus's ...
08.18.2023 Love is the Measure \| Gospel of Matthew What is life about? John Mark teaches on Jesus's teaching on the two greatest commandments in the Old Testament: to love God and to love our neighbor. He challenges us to examine how we can arrange our lives in such ...
08.11.2023 The Marriage Myth (ft. Tammy Comer) \| Gospel of Matthew Is marriage a contract, or a covenant? Is the love that lasts a lifetime a fiery passion of desire, or something else? Is divorce a necessary evil to “be true to yourself,” or a rupture of a deep union? Jesus’ ...
08.04.2023 If Your Brother or Sister Sins \| Gospel of Matthew What do we do when other followers of Jesus fall into sin and wander away? John Mark explores Jesus’ teaching on dealing with sin in the church. Even though it's one of the most abused teachings of Jesus, John Mark ...
07.28.2023 Unless You Change and Become Like Little Children \| Gospel of Matthew Jesus’ call for his apprentices to become like children is one of his most misunderstood teachings. John Mark explores the cultural background to Jesus’ words and argues that living like a child -- dependent, humble, and servant-hearted -- is the ...
07.21.2023 On Listening \| Gospel of Matthew At the fulcrum point in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus goes up on a high mountain where he is transfigured before his apprentices. Over their fear, the apprentices hear a voice from heaven saying, “listen to him!” Thousands of years later, in ...
07.14.2023 Take Up Your Cross \| Gospel of Matthew What if control is actually an illusion? What if yielding is actually the path to freedom and joy? John Mark explores Jesus' call to deny your self and take up your cross and follow Him. In a culture of hedonism, ...
07.07.2023 Who Do You Say I Am? \| Gospel of Matthew "How you answer the question, 'who do you say I am,' will define you." John Mark explores Simon Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ. He shows us that in seeing Jesus rightly, we move from fear to faith. Key ...
06.30.2023 Jesus on Becoming a Non-Anxious Presence \| Gospel of Matthew In this well known, but often missed-out-on story of Jesus walking on the water, we notice the writer Matthew’s key insights from Jesus’ life and teaching about becoming a “non-anxious presence” in a world caught in a vicious cycle of ...
06.23.2023 We’re All Thomas Now \| Gospel of Matthew Jesus warns and encourages his disciples about what will come as they live into his Kingdom mission. What would it look like to live as a disciple, free of all fear, fully alive to his power? Key Scripture Passage: Matthew ...
06.16.2023 A Haunting Way to End a Sermon \| Gospel of Matthew What do we do the Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount? Jesus ends his manifesto of life in the kingdom of the heavens, not with a pep talk or feel-good story, but with a warning about what happens ...
06.09.2023 Here Comes the Wolf Pack \| Gospel of Matthew With so many voices claiming to be the truth, how do we discern what is from God and what isn't? John Mark examine's Jesus's warning to beware false prophets in the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus's three "tests" for ...
06.02.2023 The Golden Rule \| Gospel of Matthew We all know the Golden Rule, but do we actually live by it? John Mark teaches on how this summary of the teachings of the Bible was familiar during the time of Jesus, but how Jesus makes it even more ...
05.26.2023 The Tyranny of Living for the Approval of Others \| Gospel of Matthew Are you tired of trying to earn other's approval? John Mark looks at the first of Jesus's teachings of practicing righteousness before others to be noticed by them in Matthew chapter six. He encourages us to break free from the ...
05.19.2023 Jesus on His Most Radical Idea: Enemy Love \| Gospel of Matthew Is it practical to love our enemy? John Mark exegetes from Jesus's final teaching in Matthew chapter five on enemy love. He challenges us to take this teaching seriously by showing historical and personal examples of Jesus's way bearing fruit, ...
05.12.2023 Jesus on Breaking the Chain of Violence \| Gospel of Matthew Is following Jesus really incompatible with violence? John Mark looks into Jesus's teaching about returning evil not with more evil but with good. He wraps up by acknowledging how many of us are resistant to Jesus's ideas on nonviolence, but ...
05.05.2023 Jesus on Objectification and Oppression \| Gospel of Matthew When Jesus recounts the Laws from the Torah, he doesn’t simply address the behavior, he gets to the heart of sin. John Mark explores Jesus's commandments surrounding lust and divorce and highlights how God's heart is for us to honor ...
04.28.2023 Jesus on Anger \| Gospel of Matthew Is anger wrong? John Mark looks at Jesus's teaching on anger in the Sermon on the Mount, and argues that Jesus is teaching us to guard against nursing a grudge, harboring resentment, and partnering with contempt. Instead, Jesus offers a ...
04.21.2023 What Does Jesus Think About the Bible? \| Gospel of Matthew "The Bible is how the authority of Jesus is mediated to His apprentices." John Mark examines Jesus's teachings on the Scriptures in Matthew chapter five. He argues that Jesus not only views the Bible as trustworthy, authoritative, and good, but ...
04.14.2023 Who is Actually Blessed? \| Gospel of Matthew Most people think of the Beatitudes as virtues, but what if that's not at all what Jesus was saying? John Mark looks at some of the ancient context around Jesus's opening of the Sermon on the Mount and argues that ...
04.07.2023 Origin Story \| Gospel of Matthew What can Jesus's origin story tell us about Him? John Mark explores Matthew's story of Jesus's conception and His calling to "save their people from their sins." He invites us to recognize where we need saving, healing, and rescue in ...
03.31.2023 A Genealogy, Really? \| Gospel of Matthew "This genealogy isn't just a genealogy. It's an invitation to join the story of Jesus." John Mark explores the genealogy of Jesus found in Matthew and uncovers for us the hidden treasures of meaning found in this often-overlooked section. Key ...
03.24.2023 Live in a Way That Begs the Question \| Preaching the Gospel E4 “What if there is a rich gift waiting for us in this new cultural moment of rising hostility?” John Mark discusses what it meant in the early church to be a witness and how that applies to how we share ...
03.17.2023 Practice Hospitality \| Preaching the Gospel E3 How do we preach the Gospel in our cultural moment? John Mark examines Jesus’s practice of hospitality and how this practice can help us share the good news about Jesus with the lost and the least. Key Scripture Passages: Luke ...
03.10.2023 The Four American Gospels \| Preaching the Gospel E2 What does it even mean to be saved? John Mark looks at four common articulations of the Gospel, and unpacks what’s good about each of them, and how they might fall short of the Gospel Jesus preached. He concludes with ...
03.03.2023 What is the Gospel? \| Preaching the Gospel E1 “A lot of us are emotionally allergic to preaching the Gospel of Jesus.” In our post-modern culture, sharing the good news of Jesus can feel insensitive or unkind. John Mark shows us that everyone is believing a “gospel” of what ...
02.24.2023 Simplicity of Stuff \| Simplicity E4 "The more we have, the more we want." John Mark examines how our never-ending desire can lead to lives of discontentment and dissatisfaction, but how the practices of desiring less and generosity can help us practice simplicity and lay hold ...
02.17.2023 Simplicity of Speech \| Simplicity E3 “The mouth is the main thoroughfare of evil in human life.” – Dallas Willard Simplicity of speech is a disciplined attempt to bring our speech into alignment with Jesus' heart. John Mark dives into what the New Testament’s author say ...
02.10.2023 Simplicity of Heart \| Simplicity E2 Simplicity is about choosing a deep life over a simple one, a life of focus rather than a life of distraction. John Mark talks about how we need to simplify around something, and how our heart and values are essential ...
02.03.2023 The Propaganda of More \| Simplicity E1 Most of us don’t really believe that less money, stuff, or activities is actually the way to a better life. But Jesus’s teachings tell us that life doesn’t consist of our possessions. John Mark introduces the practice of simplicity, also ...
01.27.2023 The Bible as Spiritual Authority \| Scripture E3 Why should I so what the Bible says? Authority is a negative word in our individualistic culture, making the idea of Scriptural authority feel scary for some of us. John Mark challenges us to approach the Bible as Jesus did: ...
01.20.2023 The Bible as an Alternative Story \| Scripture E2 Why do authoritarian governments often ban the Bible? John Mark talks about the how the library of Scripture is an alternative story: one that points to Jesus as the center of reality. He challenges us to let this story shape ...
01.13.2023 Can We Trust the Bible? \| Scripture E1 How did Jesus view the Scriptures? In contrast to how many people view the Bible today, either as an ordinary human text or as “golden tablets” from Heaven, John Mark explores how Jesus thought, taught, and talked about the Scriptures. ...
01.06.2023 Joy: Part 2 \| Unhurrying with a Rule of Life E7 If the Bible tells us to "rejoice always", how do we do it? John Mark walks through how to experience more joy. Since we can’t “will” ourselves to joy, he offers us practices based in the Scriptures that allow us ...
12.30.2022 Joy: Part 1 \| Unhurrying with a Rule of Life E6 How do we experience more joy in our everyday lives? John Mark talks about how the common human desire to be happy isn’t the problem, but that we’re searching for joy in the wrong places. He encourages us to examine ...
12.23.2022 The Power of Margin in a World Without Limits \| Unhurrying with a Rule of Life E5 Do you have margin in your life? In the digital age, it’s easy to operate outside our emotional and spiritual limit and undermine our formation into people of love. John Mark reminds us of the importance of margin in our ...
12.16.2022 The Power of Quiet in a World of Noise \| Unhurrying with a Rule of Life E4 What if the greatest threat to faith today is not hedonism, but distraction? John Mark discusses the importance of making time for silence and solitude in our rule of life, and the benefits of quiet in our spiritual walk: helping ...

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