Highlights - Episode 53

Fulfill Your Purpose!

Finding God in the Psalms

First - Start with Humility

Second - Connect with the Coach

To understand anthropology begin with theology. Discovering the purpose of life begins and ends with God.

When God made us in his image, it means we were created to speak and act on his behalf…on behalf of the King, as if we were him. It’s our job description! It’s to be ambassadors of the King of kings in every area of life. To bear his seal. To live like God would live if he were us.

Every true Christian practices being God. (Cyprian)

God doesn’t assign value to things based on their size. We may be small by cosmic standards, but we are…most important - far more important than we think!

Jesus was finally doing the job that you and I were originally created to do. Where the first Adam failed, he (the second Adam) succeeded. He said, “If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the father.” That should have been our tag line. In Jesus, we see the kind of person we could have been.

If you are an apprentice of Jesus, your end goal is to grow and mature into the kind of person who can say and do all the things Jesus said and did…it’s about turning your body into a temple, a place of overlap between heaven and earth…an advanced sign of what, one day, Jesus will do for the entire cosmos, when heaven and earth are at long last reunited as one… Let your body become God’s home.One day we will be creatures so radiant with the presence of God, pulsating with such love, power, wisdom, joy and life, that, if we were to see ourselves now as we will be then, we’d be tempted to worship! ( Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer)

Third - Follow His Example - He’s a Player Coach

No Roman legions would be necessary to bring about God’s kingdom…only the devotion and service of the humble who follow Jesus…The kingdom of God was launched into the world not from a palace but from a stable…not from a throne but from a cross. He’s the player coach who is the servant king…And it’s our calling…our privilege to follow his example.

Those who will change and ultimately rule the world are not the stars, but the servants.

Servanthood is intrinsic to the heart of God. No one will be comfortable in his presence who has not begun to learn the beauty and joy of servanthood.

Bibleproject.com - “Babbling Babies Rule the World” (Video and Podcast)
Heart of a Friend - “Why Am I a Christian?” (Episode 7), “A Clue to the Meaning of the Universe” (Episode 22)

Highlights - Episode 52 | Antidote to Fear

The answer for our fears is not a what, but a who.

First: Remember, God is BIGGER than our problem.

Second: Pursue your friendship with God BEFORE you face a crisis.

Third: Pray earnestly.

Fourth: Take Action.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Fifth: Say “no” to fear.
Fear knocked, faith answered and no one was there.

Sixth: Never face your fears alone.

Highlights

Live No Lies, by John Mark Comer

Deceptive ideas play to disordered desires that are normalized in a sinful society.

The Devil The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. Disinformation is at the root of almost every single problem we face in our society and our souls Soak your mind and imagination in Jesus’ truths before you are assaulted with the devil’s lies.
The Flesh Every time you think or do something it becomes easier to think or do that same thing again, and the more you repeat this process the harder it is to break the self-perpetuating cycle. Cells that fire together, wire together. At first we make our own decisions, but then our decisions make us…The lies we believe, lead to behaviors we can’t leave. What Scripture reading is to our fight with the Devil, fasting is to our fight with the flesh. For confession to yield…freedom, it must drag our sins into the light…Just the act
The World The world - a system of ideas, values, morals, practices, and social norms that are integrated into the main stream and eventually institutionalized in a culture corrupted by sin…The distorted becomes normative…If you can make it trend, you can make it true. Every follower of Jesus in every culture has to constantly ask the question, in what ways have I been assimilated into the host culture? Where have I drifted from my identity as a Christ-follower? A growing number of people are more loyal to the ideology of their political party than they are to Jesus and his teachings. We can't follow Jesus alone. And by following Jesus together, we are able to discern Jesus’ truth from the devil’s lies, help one another override our flesh…, and form a robust community of deep relationships that functions as a counterculture to the world. In doing so, we’re able to resist the gravitational pull of all three enemies of the soul. To say “yes” to Jesus invitation is to say no to 1000 other things. As the monks used to say, "every choice is a renunciation." It's 1000 tiny deaths that all lead up to one massive life. It’s… the freedom of yielding to love. It's saying to Jesus, “whatever, wherever, whenever, I am yours.

Other books by John Mark Comer: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, (2019) Practicing the Way, (2024)

Three Comer Interviews: https://careynieuwhof.com/mypodcast/ #’s 316, 440 and 626

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-carey-nieuwhof-leadership-podcast/ id912753163?i=1000507476227

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-carey-nieuwhof-leadership-podcast/ id912753163?i=1000534517644

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-carey-nieuwhof-leadership-podcast/ id912753163?i=1000642615384

Restoring the Foundations: https://restoringthefoundations.org/