Teaching | Self-Denial in an Age of Self-Fulfillment | Fighting the World, the Flesh, and the Devil E06
Practicing the Way with John Mark Comer
Practicing the Way
4.9 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2022
⏱️ 50 minutes
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Summary
"When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We live in a culture that focuses on self-gratification, but Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. In this episode, John Mark talks about how denying the self and our disordered desires leads to our deepest joy, peace, and happiness.
Key Scripture Passages: Matthew 16v21-27; Galatians 2v20; Galatians 5v24-25; Colossians 3v1-5
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the John Mark Comer Teaching's Podcast by Practicing the Way. |
| 0:05.0 | This teaching was first given at Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon |
| 0:10.0 | as a part of the Fighting the World, the Flesh and the Devil series. |
| 0:14.0 | Before Gandhi, |
| 0:22.0 | before Dr. King, before Madiba, there was Jesus of Nazareth. |
| 0:28.8 | Over two millennia ago, he said, |
| 0:31.6 | Turn the other cheek love your enemy those who live by the sword will |
| 0:37.2 | what die by the sword so the irony of calling a practice based on the life and teachings of Jesus fighting anything is not lost on me |
| 0:49.2 | But calling Jesus a pacifist is at best misleading. |
| 0:54.7 | He was a warrior as all of the Old Testament prophecies predicted he would be. |
| 1:00.0 | But the way that he defeated the enemy, which in Jesus' mind was not the Roman Empire, |
| 1:06.1 | nor was it the Pharisees on the right or the Sadducees on the left. |
| 1:10.6 | The enemy in his mind was the trifecta of the world, the flesh, and the devil. |
| 1:16.0 | And the way that he defeated this axis of evil was not with a sword or a spear and an army had his back, but was with a cross. |
| 1:27.5 | So it comes as no surprise that he called his apprentices to follow his example. Take a look at Matthew chapter 16, verse 21. |
| 1:36.0 | From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his apprentices |
| 1:39.8 | that he must go, notice that word, must go, I have to, to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, |
| 1:48.6 | the chief priests and the teachers of the Torah, and that he must be killed, and on the third day be raised to life. |
| 1:57.0 | Now Peter took him aside and gave him a little talking to, right? |
| 2:00.0 | He began to review Kim, never he said, said Lord this shall never happen to you |
| 2:05.2 | So the gut reaction to in all of us to the idea of the cross |
| 2:10.8 | Jesus turned and he said to Peter, get behind me Satan. |
... |
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