Practicing the Way with John Mark Comer

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 the key to greatness in Jesus' Kingdom. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 18v1-9 Resources for this teaching: This podcast and its episodes are paid for...

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 our own fears, the call to find a mountain and listen to Jesus is greater than ever. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 16v28-17v13 This podcast and its episodes are pa...

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, digital instant gratification, and postmodern propaganda, this call sounds bizarre. But in yielding control to God in trusting love, we enter the Kingdom. Key Scripture Passage: Matth...

" 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 Scripture Passage: Matthew 16v13-20 This podcast and its episodes are paid for by The Circle, our community of monthly givers. Thank you all so much! If you’d like to...

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 anxiety. We have faith and release control. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 14v22-36 This podcast and its episodes are paid for by The Circle, our community of monthl...

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 11v1-15 Resources from this teaching: This podcast and its episodes are paid for by The Circle, our community of monthly givers. Special thanks for this episode goes to Jenna fr...

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 when we don’t put his teachings into practice. John Mark argues that, in the “information” age, where things go in one ear and out the other, we need to be diligent to do what Jesus taught. Key S...

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 who to believe. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 7v15-23 This podcast and its episodes are paid for by The Circle, our community of monthly givers. Special thanks...

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 radical and powerful. He concludes by challenging us to actually try living by this rule and doing to others what we would have them do to us. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 7v12 This podcast and its...

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 bondage of seeking the approval (or disapproval) of others by doing good works in secret in order to be rewarded not by others, but by our Father in Heaven. Key Scr...

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, and encourages us to lean into our questions about this teaching with honestly before God and our communities. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 5v43-4...

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 encourages us to continue to follow and learn from Jesus and not let our conclusions become a source of disunity in the Body of Christ. Key Scripture...

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 one another as brothers and sisters in our we see and interact with one another. He concluded by challenging us to repent for the ways that we have dishonored...

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 way forward: reaching out in love and a spirit of reconciliation. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 5v21-26 This podcast and its episodes are paid for by The Circ...

"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 also sees Himself as the climax of the biblical narrative. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 5v17-20 Resources from this teaching: This podcast an...

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 Jesus is not telling us virtues to aim for, but offering blessing to the downtrodden of the world in the midst of their pain. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 5v1-10 This podcast a...

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 our own lives. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 1v18-2v23 This podcast and its episodes are paid for by The Circle, our community of monthly givers....

"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 Scripture Passages: Matthew 1v1-17, Matthew 13v51-52 This podcast and its episodes are paid for by The Circle, our community of monthly giver...

“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 the Gospel. He argues that the call of Jesus isn't just to preach the good news, but it's also to become 'good news people.' Key Scripture Passage: 1 Peter 2v11-12 Resources for this...

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 19v1-10; Luke 7v33-50 Resources for this practice: https://practicingthewayarchives.org/practices/preaching-the-gospel A Meal with Jesus, Tim Chester This podcast and its ep...

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 some thoughts on how we can examine our own views of the Gospel with our communities. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 19v16-30 Resources for this practices: https://practicingthewayar...

“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 they hope in, and through the Scriptures, unpacks how Jesus preached the Gospel and what it means to rethink and turn towards Jesus. Resources for this practice: https://p...

"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 of Jesus’s promise of life to the full. Key Scripture Passage: 1 Timothy 6v2-19 Resources for this practice: https://practicingthewayarchives.org/pract...

“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 about the power of the tongue and our words. Through it, he encourages us to simplify what we say in order to ultimately bring more blessing into the world.  Key...

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 for this practice. He reminds us that, as followers of Jesus, we are called to make Him the center of our lives, in the various ways that plays out for each of us. Key Scripture Pass...