Become New with John Ortberg

How do you tell someone they’re wrong… without condemning them? John Ortberg explores one of the most important distinctions in communication: the difference between tone and heart. Tone can be soothing or jarring. But the heart must always be love. Looking at Matthew 23, where Jesus confronts religious leaders with blistering language, John asks: Was Jesus condemning them? Or was something deeper...

John Ortberg tackles a tension many of us feel but rarely name: If there is no condemnation, what do we do with real evil, injustice, and wrongdoing? John walks us through Scripture, the prophets, and Jesus’ own words to show why “no condemnation” does not mean indifference to sin—and why accountability still matters deeply to God. Drawing on insights from Abraham Joshua Heschel, John explores how...

Today, John Ortberg tackles one of our most stubborn spiritual habits: blame. Tracing its origins back to Genesis, John shows how blame enters the human story the moment shame appears—and how quickly we learn to deflect responsibility onto others. From Adam and Eve to modern relationships, blame becomes our go-to strategy for avoiding pain. Along the way, John draws from Scripture, Paradise Lost,...

Download the free NO CONDEMNATION COMMITMENT: https://bit.ly/NC-commitment On the first day of Lent, John Ortberg invites us into a brave and deeply personal journey: giving up condemnation...and learning how shame actually works. This episode goes straight to the source. John traces condemnation back to its root system in shame, beginning in Genesis and moving through psychology, philosophy, trau...

Download the free NO CONDEMNATION COMMITMENT: https://bit.ly/NC-commitment Today’s episode opens with an elderly dog, detours through neuroscience and Genesis, and ends by quietly dismantling your default response to annoying people. Classic John Ortberg. As Lent approaches, John invites us into a radical spiritual experiment: giving up condemnation. Not just blaming others, but the inner posture...

Download the free NO CONDEMNATION COMMITMENT: https://bit.ly/NC-commitment What if the most spiritual thing you could do today… is not have the last word? In this episode, John Ortberg tells a powerful story about his friend Dallas Willard and introduces a simple but life-changing practice: letting go of condemnation by releasing our need to be right. As Lent approaches, John invites us into somet...

Enjoy this free download: https://bit.ly/Shine-StudyGuide A 12-week study guide on Genesis 1-3 with John Ortberg.  We’ve made it simple: curated episodes, journal questions, memory verses, and practical next steps. Everything you need to get started with a friend or group!   Just download, print and go! John opens this study on Philippians with a deceptively simple question: How are you going to g...

Enjoy this free download: https://bit.ly/GetOutMore-StudyGuide A 12-week study guide on Genesis 1-3 with John Ortberg.  We’ve made it simple: curated episodes, journal questions, memory verses, and practical next steps. Everything you need to get started with a friend or group!   Just download, print and go! In this episode, John opens a new series with a refreshingly honest question: is technolog...

Enjoy this free download: https://bit.ly/Untroubled-StudyGuide A 12-week study guide on Genesis 1-3 with John Ortberg.  We’ve made it simple: curated episodes, journal questions, memory verses, and practical next steps. Everything you need to get started with a friend or group!   Just download, print and go! Jesus says something almost unbelievable: “Do not let your heart be troubled.” And he says...

Enjoy this free download: https://bit.ly/Insurmountable-StudyGuide A 12-week study guide on Genesis 1-3 with John Ortberg.  We’ve made it simple: curated episodes, journal questions, memory verses, and practical next steps. Everything you need to get started with a friend or group!   Just download, print and go! John Ortberg walks us into Matthew 5, where Jesus announces that the blessed life (lif...

Enjoy this free download: https://bit.ly/Genesis-Study-Guide A 12-week study guide on Genesis 1-3 with John Ortberg.  We’ve made it simple: curated episodes, journal questions, memory verses, and practical next steps. Everything you need to get started with a friend or group!   Just download, print and go! In this episode, John invites us to slow down and breathe in a simple truth: God is the God...

Good news: You don’t have to live for your critics anymore. John Ortberg looks ahead to Lent and invites us into a bold, freeing experiment: giving up condemnation altogether; the kind we receive, the kind we rehearse in our own heads, and the kind we quietly pass along to others. Drawing from the apostle Paul, John explores the reality that we all live with three critics: - Other people - Ourselv...

There is now no condemnation. Which is especially good news for our closest relationships. In this conversation, John Ortberg is joined by longtime friend and clinical psychologist Rick Blackmon to explore how condemnation quietly shows up in marriages, families, and friendships—and what actually helps break its grip. Drawing from relationship research, clinical practice, and lived experience, the...

John Ortberg asks a surprisingly practical question:What should I be looking for in people (especially the ones I disagree with) if I want to stop the cycle of condemnation? Along the way, John draws from: - Arthur Brooks on how contempt corrodes our culture (and inboxes) - Social psychology’s painfully accurate idea of motivational attribution asymmetry - A dramatic moment in the Gospels where re...

Good news: There is now no condemnation. Awkward news: Christians still manage to find ways to do it anyway. In this episode, John Ortberg sits down with his wife (and favorite guest) Nancy Ortberg. Along the way, they explore:  - Why condemnation doesn’t just live in our words… but in our eyebrows, tone, and jawline.  - How Jesus consistently gathered the people everyone else had already dismisse...

Why are Christians so mean to each other? Jesus said, “Do not judge.” So why does judgment feel so common, especially inside the church? In this episode of No Condemnation, John Ortberg explores one of the most uncomfortable and honest questions facing followers of Jesus today. Drawing from the life of William Tyndale, the insights of Dallas Willard, and the words of Jesus himself, John uncovers h...

There’s no condemnation for me. But if I’m honest… there’s still plenty of condemnation in me. So today we’re looking at one of the strangest, most uncomfortable, and most liberating stories in the Bible—a deeply messed-up family story involving betrayal, hypocrisy, sex, judgment, and a shocking reversal that exposes how condemnation actually gets broken. It’s the story of Judah and Tamar. It’s aw...

The world feels like it’s falling apart and it’s tempting to think condemnation is the only honest response. But what if God sees the world very differently? In this episode, we step back and look at the big picture: not just what’s broken, but what God is actively doing to heal it. Drawing on insights echoed by Dallas Willard, Robert Putnam, and a striking story from positive psychology, we explo...

What do you do when life crushes you?  When failure is public, shame feels loud, and condemnation (external or internal) won’t let up? In this episode, we explore an unexpected truth: God often does His deepest work through difficulty, humiliation, and exposure . Drawing on the craft of a master violin maker, the wisdom of the Psalms, and reflections echoed by Dallas Willard , we consider how the...

Comparison is the quiet engine behind condemnation. In this episode, we explore why sizing ourselves up against others feels so natural and why it so often turns us anxious, resentful, and judgmental. Drawing on insights from René Girard, social psychology, and Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, we uncover how comparative desire fuels rivalry, outrage, and “us vs. them” thinking...

We all have a them. The people we quietly feel superior to. The ones we distance ourselves from. The ones we’re pretty sure God should work on… preferably far away from us. In this episode, John Ortberg takes an honest look at how a condemning mind works and why Jesus’ story of the Pharisee and the tax collector still exposes us today. Drawing on insights from Dallas Willard and Kenneth E. Bailey,...

We’re surprisingly confident judges for people who barely know the math. In this episode, John Ortberg explores why condemnation feels so natural, why it’s usually way off, and how Jesus exposes the absurdity of our moral scorekeeping. Using a strange but unforgettable math exercise (and an even stranger plumbing illustration), we discover why we’re uniquely qualified to judge exactly one person…...

Condemnation doesn’t just come from what others say about us — it also comes from the stories we tell ourselves. In this episode of Become New, John Ortberg explores how easily we slip into self-condemnation, why shame has so much power over our thoughts, and how Jesus offers a radically different way of seeing ourselves. Drawing from Scripture, neuroscience, and everyday experience, John shows ho...

We live in a culture of condemnation. Online. In politics. In families. And, if we’re honest, in our own hearts. In this episode, John Ortberg explores why judgment comes so easily, what actually fuels it, and the one question condemning people almost never ask. Through a powerful story made famous by Stephen Covey, we see how quickly our perceptions can shift and how grace begins not with changin...

We live in a culture of condemnation: cancel culture, self-judgment, outrage, and quiet shame. Most of us are swimming in it without even realizing it. But the good news of Jesus points to a radically different reality: “There is now no condemnation.” In this episode, John Ortberg explores why condemnation feels so normal, how it shapes both our inner lives and our public conversations, and what i...