Become New with John Ortberg

Why did Frodo need Gollum?
Coming to you from Hobbiton, New Zealand, John Ortberg explores one of the deepest themes running through J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings:
Mercy.
Bilbo could have killed Gollum. Frodo could have killed him. Sam could have killed him.
But pity stayed their hands.
And when Frodo finally reaches Mount Doom, something surprising happens: he fails. His own willpower isn't enough to destroy the ring.
Yet the mercy extended to Gollum earlier in the story follows Frodo all the way to the end.
“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.”
Maybe we need mercy because none of us can save ourselves.
And maybe there's a Gollum somewhere in your day who needs mercy too.
#LordOfTheRings #Tolkien #JohnOrtberg #Hobbiton #Psalm23 #Mercy #Gollum

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Alta by RØRE - MB01IWZVJASGKHF

00:00 John Ortberg in New Zealand
 00:25 Welcome to Hobbiton!
 00:44 A Special Edition From the Shire
 01:12 Gollum, Frodo & the One Ring
 01:48 Why Bilbo Didn't Kill Gollum
 02:18 “What a Pity”
 02:43 Gandalf's Warning About Judgment
 03:10 Gollum Still Has a Role to Play
 03:36 Two Kinds of Pity
 03:55 Mercy in The Lord of the Rings
 04:19 Frodo Begins to Pity Gollum
 04:39 What the Ring Does to a Person
 05:08 Gollum Was Once Sméagol
 05:38 What Gollum Represents
 06:07 Frodo Reaches Mount Doom
 06:31 Frodo Fails
 06:58 Why Gollum Had to Survive
 07:34 Mercy Followed Frodo
 08:00 This Isn't a Story About Willpower
 08:17 We Can't Save Ourselves
 08:46 There Will Be a Gollum in Your Life
 09:18 “This Is a Being Like Me”
 09:40 Let Mercy Follow You
 10:06 From Hobbiton to All You Little Hobbits 😂

Your life was made to be a Psalm.
As this journey through the Psalms draws toward its close, John Ortberg reflects on where the Psalter has been leading us all along.
Psalm 1 begins by asking what kind of life we will live. The Psalms then carry us through fear, anger, grief, confession, hope, and joy. But the final five Psalms end in an explosion of one thing:
Praise.
In Psalm 148, everything is invited into the song: people, animals, mountains, stars, sun, moon, even the creatures of the sea.
And so are you.
Maybe a life with God isn't about escaping the messiness of being human. Maybe it's about learning to bring all of it before God until our lives themselves become a song.
Hallelujah.
#Psalm148 #JohnOrtberg #Psalms #Praise #Hallelujah #SpiritualFormation
STEPS SEMINAR, October 17th - REGISTER HERE:
https://www.oceanhills.org/event/steps-workshop-with-john-ortberg
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Alta by RØRE - MB01IWZVJASGKHF

00:00 Coming to the End of the Psalms
 00:30 What's Coming Next at Become New
 00:59 The STEPS Seminar
 01:19 What the Psalms Have Taught Me
 01:56 From Wisdom to Praise
 02:20 Psalm 148
 02:41 All Creation Is Invited to Praise
 03:14 You Couldn't Get More Inclusive
 03:43 Make Every Breath Worth Celebrating
 04:10 Duets on the Psalms
 04:16 Two Very Different Worship Services
 04:58 Which One Would the Psalmist Prefer?
 05:28 Two Revolutionary Ideas From Genesis
 05:57 Every Human Being Bears God's Image
 06:19 Why Democracy Needs Both Equality and Humility
 06:43 Nature Isn't God
 07:11 Nature Was Made to Worship
 07:36 We Sang Before We Spoke
 08:00 What We've Lost About Music
 08:24 Music Was Made to Be Shared
 08:44 The Loneliest Whale on Earth
 09:10 Even the Lonely Whale Is Heard
 09:59 The One Word for Today
 10:24 We Were Made to Sing
 10:48 Your Life Was Made to Be a Psalm
 11:12 What Hallelujah Really Means
 11:37 What John Is Grateful For
 11:53 And So Were You
 12:11 Hallelujah!

What can a therapist teach us about prayer?
John Ortberg sits down with his longtime friend and therapist Dr. Rick to explore the Psalms as a kind of “divine therapy with God.”
The Psalms are messy. Angry. Afraid. Contradictory. Unfiltered.
And according to Rick, that's exactly where healing begins: ruthless honesty inside a relationship where we know we're accepted.
So what would happen if we approached God that way?
Can we tell Him what we actually think and feel, not merely what we believe we're supposed to say?
Can God become our fully disclosing friend?
Maybe the path toward becoming who God made us to be begins by bringing Him who we actually are.
In this episode: prayer • therapy • Psalms • emotional honesty • healing • friendship with God
#JohnOrtberg #Prayer #Therapy #Psalms #SpiritualFormation #MentalHealth

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Music Credits:
Vikersund by RØRE - MB01V0UASAACPKE
Alta by RØRE - MB01IWZVJASGKHF

00:00 Salvation, Healing & the Psalms
 00:27 The Psalms as Divine Therapy
 00:48 What Can Therapy Teach Us About Prayer?
 01:13 The Psalms Are Messy
 01:36 How Raw Are Our Actual Thoughts?
 01:56 Psalm 88: Darkness and Despair
 02:19 Psalm 83: Angry, Contradictory Prayers
 02:39 Psalm 89: From Anguish to Praise
 03:24 What Therapy Is Trying to Do
 03:58 Your Ideal Life vs. Your Actual Life
 04:35 The Me I Want to Be
 04:54 Ruthless Honesty
 05:18 “I Don't Talk Like This Anywhere Else”
 05:51 The Psalms as an Emotional Handbook
 06:18 Do You Actually Understand Yourself?
 07:03 Why We Resist the Truth About Ourselves
 07:20 We Need Feedback
 07:49 Getting Under Our Defenses
 08:06 Rick Blackmon, Sneaky Psychologist 😂
 08:31 Pain Drives Personal Growth
 09:22 What Is a Therapeutic Alliance?
 09:48 Why the Relationship Matters
 10:21 No Secrets. Tell the Truth.
 10:52 Acceptance Creates the Place for Change
 11:35 Why Rick Reads the Psalms
 11:56 Do You Have a Therapeutic Alliance With God?
 12:22 Do You Feel Safe With God?
 13:04 The Power of a Fully Disclosing Friend
 13:35 Can God Be That Friend?
 14:04 Why Honesty Feels Risky
 14:30 “I Feel a Little More Whole”
 14:57 A Healing Relationship With God

Suffering can do one of two things: break us or break us open.
Beginning with Frederick Buechner's unforgettable image, John Ortberg explores Psalm 110 and one of the deepest ways Christians have read the Psalms: seeing the story of Jesus in their suffering, longing, and hope.
Drawing from C.S. Lewis, Plato, and the mysterious biblical figure Melchizedek, John looks at how Jesus brings together two ancient hopes: the victorious king and the suffering servant.
Jesus doesn't overcome suffering by avoiding it.
He enters it.
And because the story ends in resurrection, suffering doesn't have to get the final word.
The difference between being broken and broken open is hope.
In this episode: Psalm 110 • suffering • hope • Jesus • C.S. Lewis • Melchizedek • resurrection
#Psalm110 #JohnOrtberg #Suffering #Hope #Jesus #CSLewis #Psalms
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Alta by RØRE - MB01IWZVJASGKHF

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Alta by RØRE - MB01IWZVJASGKHF

00:00 Broken or Broken Open?
 00:10 What Will Suffering Do to You?
 00:37 The Danger of Armoring Yourself
 00:54 Seeing Jesus in the Psalms
 01:20 Is Biblical Prophecy a Crystal Ball?
 01:55 How the New Testament Reads the Old
 02:15 C.S. Lewis and “Second Meanings”
 02:41 Plato's Remarkable Picture of a Righteous Man
 03:32 Written Hundreds of Years Before Jesus
 04:02 The Great Story Behind the Story
 04:28 The Most Quoted Psalm in the New Testament
 04:50 The Difference Is Hope
 05:06 “The LORD Says to My Lord”
 05:27 Who Is David Talking About?
 06:10 Our Longing for a Good King
 06:30 What If God Himself Comes?
 06:54 The Mystery of Melchizedek
 07:16 A Priest Before Israel Had Priests
 07:39 God Is Bigger Than Our Tribe
 08:13 God Is Way Bigger Than That
 08:34 A Priest Who Is Also a King
 08:59 Israel Expected a King Who Would Crush Enemies
 09:18 The Other Story: The Suffering Servant
 09:41 Jesus Brings the Two Together
 09:50 The King Who Gets Crushed
 10:13 Suffering Doesn't Get the Last Word
 10:35 The Heavens Are Broken Open

Are you actually experiencing joy, or are you mostly experiencing relief when problems finally go away?
In Psalm 68, John Ortberg explores the biblical idea of exultation: deep, expressive joy that can exist even when life isn't going perfectly.
Drawing from C.S. Lewis and Dallas Willard, John looks at why we can spend our lives clearing one hurdle after another and mistaking the resulting relief for genuine joy.
Lewis called the Psalmists' delight an “appetite for God.”
So how's your appetite?
Maybe we've filled ourselves with so much achievement, entertainment, information, and distraction that there's little room left for something better.
Today, try getting hungry again.
In this episode: Psalm 68 • joy • relief • C.S. Lewis • Dallas Willard • fasting • appetite for God
#Psalm68 #JohnOrtberg #Joy #CSLewis #DallasWillard #SpiritualFormation
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Music Credits:
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Alta by RØRE - MB01IWZVJASGKHF

🙌 New episodes every weekday.
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Become New is here to help you grow spiritually one day at a time.
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GET A TEXT REMINDER FOR NEW VIDEOS: text NEW to 51504
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Music Credits:
Vikersund by RØRE - MB01V0UASAACPKE
Alta by RØRE - MB01IWZVJASGKHF

00:00 Do You Exult Enough?
 00:10 What's Your Exultation Quotient?
 00:35 What Does “Exult” Mean?
 01:02 Exultation in Psalm 68
 01:25 God's Not Worried About How Things Are Going
 01:49 Paul and Psalm 68
 02:12 God Daily Bears Our Burdens
 02:35 There He Is!
 02:57 Let the Celebration Begin
 03:18 David Danced Before God
 03:43 Why We Exult at Baseball Games
 04:10 Where Did Our Sacred Joy Go?
 04:34 What's Your Exultation Threshold?
 04:54 C.S. Lewis on Delight in God
 05:32 Do You Have an Appetite for God?
 05:57 Their Fingers Itch for the Harp
 06:19 Rowdy Worship
 06:48 Our Terrible Concern With Good Taste 😂
 06:57 What Spoils Your Appetite?
 07:22 Filling Up on the Cheap Stuff
 07:39 Why Spend Money on What Isn't Bread?
 08:04 We Have So Much to Fill Ourselves With
 08:23 The Problem With Achievement
 08:45 Clear the Bar. Move the Bar. Repeat.
 09:08 Are You Mistaking Relief for Joy?
 09:38 What Real Joy Feels Like
 10:01 How's Your Appetite for God?
 10:24 Try a Little Fast
 10:47 Fast From Self-Promotion
 11:16 Is Another Day Enough to Celebrate?
 11:42 What's Your Threshold for Joy?
 11:54 It's Your Day for Exultation