The Cross: Self-Denial in an Age of Self-Fulfillment | Practicing the Way Vision Series E11 (Re-release)

John Mark Comer Teachings

Practicing the Way

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it mean to follow Jesus in a culture obsessed with self-fulfillment? John Mark explores Jesus’ words in Luke 9, where He calls His disciples to “take up your cross and follow me.” Contrasting the way of self-denial at the heart of apprenticeship to Jesus with the modern pursuit of personal satisfaction, John Mark encourages us to embrace the cruciform life that leads to our deepest satisfaction in God.

Key Scripture Passages: Luke 9v18-24; Galatians 5v16-24; Luke 9v57-62; Luke 14v25-33; Luke 18v18-23; Matthew 13v44

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the John Malcolm and Teachings podcast. My name is Yinka Dawson and I'm your host.
0:09.7	Each week we feature teachings by John Mark or other voices in the formation space and it's great to have you with us.
0:16.6	As we approach the end of this series, John Mark steps back and asks the question,
0:21.9	what does it look like to be formed in the midst of the modern digital culture we find ourselves a part of?
0:27.9	He looks at Jesus' teaching in Luke 9, take up your cross and follow me.
0:33.0	Exploring how the self-denying way of Jesus clashes with our culture as self-reformant.
0:38.3	Here's John Mark.
0:43.3	We are coming up on the end of our fall-long vision series on practicing the way of Jesus.
0:49.3	Going forward in the new year, the plan is to reorient our entire church around this idea of
0:55.7	apprenticeship to Jesus of Nazareth. We said that to apprentice under Jesus is to order
1:01.4	your life around three goals. And this language is fast becoming familiar. Say it out loud with me.
1:06.7	One is to be with Jesus. Two, become like Jesus.
1:11.7	And three, do what he did.
1:13.9	That's our summary of what exactly it means to be an apprentice of Jesus.
1:18.6	As you can see, following Jesus is a whole life endeavor.
1:21.6	It's not a hobby or a side project or a fad.
1:25.2	You wake up in the morning.
1:26.6	And whether you're a pastor or a student or a banker
1:29.2	or an architect or a barista, that is the reason you get out of bed. But the question, of course,
1:35.3	is how exactly does this work in the Western, secular, urban digital world that we call home,
1:41.0	where most of us are over-busy and so many people are stressed out and our culture
1:45.5	as a whole is a mile wide and an inch deep. And that's the nerve that I kind of want to touch on
	...

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