Top 20 Quotes from Bart Tarman
This is part of a series of posts on 20 quotes. Click here to see others.
I spent last week in Colorado with a group of guys connected with Carl Medearis. Some were pastors and some were business leaders but all wanted to talk more about Jesus. Carl is an author and has a way of connecting people to Jesus. He models how to engage Muslims through a conversation in community rather than opposition. During this gathering we had the opportunity to hear from a pastor named Bart Tarman who they affectionately refer to as “Yoda.”
Below you’ll see my 20 favorite ideas shared throughout our time together from ideas Bart shared. Normally I save my ’20 quotes’ posts for conferences, but this week brought a ton for me to think about so I decided to include it. This list is my best attempt at capturing some of the incredible insights I received from this week in hopes it can be a blessing to you as well. These are in order of our conversations, not in rank.
- Dying is hard work. But following Christ is a journey of dying.
- When Jesus says “I am the Way,” He is describing a journey, not a destination.
- We believe IN Jesus, but what if we believed LIKE Jesus? What did Jesus believe?
- The God of Jesus is the dad you always wish you had.
- Jesus’ view of God as Daddy (Abba) was one of the most unique things He taught.
- Do you believe you’re loved as you are, not as you should be?
- Trusting God is the currency of the Kingdom.
- Right now in the presence of God there is nothing missing.
- There’s no getting into love without humility.
- If your beliefs about God collide with reality, then change your beliefs.
- Humility ultimately produces empathy for others.
- Jesus was a friend of sinners, not just repentant sinners.
- God is perfect but He isn’t a perfectionist.
- True humility allows us to be a safe place for others.
- You have to let your illusions about Jesus die in order to truly follow Him.
- The model of community is the Trinity and it predates creation.
- Protestants tend to focus on Paul and Catholics tend to focus on Mary. But if you talked with Paul or Mary they would have talked to you about Jesus.
- If you bump into God you are going to feel welcome.
- If there’s something about Jesus that isn’t good news then it isn’t Jesus. It’s an idol.
- When God thinks about you, He’s not thinking about the ‘you’ that you tend to think about.