Kyle Idleman on The Missing Messiah and the Jesus We've Redefined

Kyle Idleman, Senior Pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, has watched a generation fall in love with Jesus without ever submitting to Him. The Missing Messiah, co-authored with Mark E. Moore, starts with a Michael Jordan illustration that says it all: millions feel connected to Jesus the way fans feel connected to a logo, through cultural association and name recognition, without ever being close enough that following Him actually costs them something.

Discipleship, the Jesus we have domesticated, and what it means to follow a King: Kyle unpacks why the word Christ is not a last name but the New Testament equivalent of Messiah, why belief without following is not the faith of the Gospels, and what it looks like when someone treats Jesus like a drawer in the dresser of life rather than the dresser everything else fits into. He also shares what he is seeing in the spiritual awakening happening on college campuses right now, why awakening without alignment will miss the moment, and what questions every believer should be asking themselves about their bank statements, their politics, and the last time following Jesus actually cost them something.

Highlights

• Why Christ is not Jesus's last name but a title meaning Messiah and King, and why that changes everything
• The Michael Jordan illustration and how cultural association with Jesus is not the same as knowing Him
• Why a man leaving Kyle's church because it "interfered with his life" was actually the point
• The Netflix faith problem, how we have built a Jesus who matches our preferences and filters out anything that doesn't
• Why the dresser illustration matters, Jesus is not a drawer in the dresser of life, He is the dresser itself
• How making Jesus in our own image is not a Western problem but a human one that goes back to the Crusades and beyond
• What questions Kyle challenges believers to ask themselves when they stop and honestly examine their lives
• Why spiritual awakening without spiritual alignment will miss the greatest opportunity of a generation

Resources / Links / CTA

• 🌐 Kyle Idleman website: https://www.kyleidleman.com
• 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kyleidleman
• 📖 Book: The Missing Messiah
• 🌐 Southeast Christian Church: https://www.se.church/watch
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