Disc 1: At Home In God
Looking at Jesus’ final words to his disciples in the upper room, we can discover exactly how Jesus wanted us to live out our days in him.
Looking at Jesus’ final words to his disciples in the upper room, we can discover exactly how Jesus wanted us to live out our days in him.
A fresh look at a parable we’ve mislabled, for this is less about two sons than it is about an incredible Father, who loves his two children with a love that almost defies our ability to comprehend it. Listen and see what Father holds in his heart for you and how you can experience his love in all its glory and fullness.
What does it mean to love God as he wants to be loved? Just what is this relationship with him meant to be like and how can you grow in it every day for the rest of your life? Find out how Jesus personified all that was in God’s heart concerning you and the relationship he desires with you.
This is an mp3 download (5.5 MB for 4:48) of a reading from the new Audio Book version of He Loves Me! Click here to download the first part of Chapter 17.
Trying to Earn Points With Someone Who Is No Longer Keeping Score (5 minutes) Read More »
This conversation covers so much of my own journey and writings, my participation in the publication of The Shack, and some of the current challenges in my own life. The organizers of the event, Lives Transforming, video taped the event and have made it available on their website. We are considering making this into a CD so small groups can use it to stimulate their own discussions about their spiritual journey and how these books have touched their lives. We’ll have more on that down the road.
A Conversation with Wayne About THE SHACK (Video – April 2009) Read More »
Wayne and Sara share from their 35 years of marriage and how they’ve found a way to grow closer together through the twists and turns of life and each other’s journey. (Recorded at the Christian Life Center in New London, PA. The audio has some flaws in it, which are in the original master. We apologize for the problems, but knew many people wanted to hear us share this part of our journey.)
This teaching is connected with The Journey part of our website which is designed to help give people sort out what Jesus is doing in them at this season of their lives to draw them closer to himself and transform them more in his image.
Father’s Process of Transformation (49 minutes) Read More »
I am often asked by people what can they do to live loved. I am becoming increasingly convinced that learning to live loved is not a doctrine to learn or a discipline to follow, but a reality Jesus wants us to relax into. I’m convinced that’s what he was sharing in the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 6 and Luke 12. I shared about this in June 2009 at a Because of Jesus convention in Tulsa, Oklahoma and think it can help you if you’re wonder what you must do to live loved.
This video presentation was recorded in the Fall of 2005 at a more traditional congregation that asked Wayne to speak on relationships. Though it is not Wayne’s favorite venue, it is the content that undergirds almost everything written and said on this website. Without discovering the depth of our Father’s affection for us and how to live in it, nothing else here makes much sense. You can also order a DVD of this presentation from our Audio Collections page.
We are unveiling the first video in our Engage series on this blog. Eventually these will move to their own page on our new website, but that has been delayed briefly.
Engage is my attempt to equip and encourage people to explore their own relationship with God. Unfortunately, many people who want to know God default to religious ways of trying to connect with him, but get discouraged when those attempts don’t work. I realize that a video series is not the ideal way to do this and that it would be far better to have the love and conversation of an older brother or sister near them who is enjoying the journey and willing to help others do so as well without loading them down with a bunch of religious rules and rituals. But for those who don’t know anyone like that it was on my heart to offer these short video encouragements to help others on a relational journey of knowing God. My hope is that it would also provide an example for others who want to help people on this journey but haven’t known how to do it.
Over the last twenty years I’ve taken note of the kinds of counsel that have helped people find greater freedom and reality in their own relationship with God. These are some of the things people can do and talk about as they encourage others to see how God is taking shape in them. You can use these videos for group discussion or share them with others. They are copyrighted so others will not abuse them for profit, but you have our permission to distribute them freely as you desire. Like The Jesus Lens, these videos will be available free of charge and with our prayers that many will find them helpful as they relax into a relationship with God.
We affectionately refer to this as the anti-discipleship approach because so many have the idea that discipleship is teaching people how to build a relationship with God, which usually involves a heavy dose of doctrine and religious activities. In truth, discipleship isn’t about you building a relationship with Jesus; it’s about Jesus building one with you and you coming to recognize how he is doing that. He wants to draw you into his Father’s heart and teach you the Father’s ways.
What that means is the videos are just a catalyst for your own time learning to enter into an engagement with the Abba Father. We’ll post new videos every couple of weeks to give you plenty of time between them to explore how God wants to engage you in your own heart and day. As you focus on him, let him make himself known to you and show you how to participate in an ongoing conversation with him in the realities of your own life. As best you can, relax in the process. It does take time for him to disconnect the frenzied input of the world around you, and the performance-based approach of religion, and free you to relax into his reality in a way you can recognize and enjoy.
I am hoping Engage fosters a conversation as well that will incorporate your questions and insights into this process. Please feel free to use the comment section on this blog, and the comment section of the web page when we get it set up, to ask questions you’re encountering on this journey. And if you have a question you think will also interest others, and can record it on a video camera, please send us the recording and we’ll see about using it on future videos. I’m hoping at least the first time through this will be a bit like a class where we can discover together what will most help people who want to engage God and his life.
Here’s the first one. If these are helpful I will continue with future videos every two weeks or so. The only way this works is if they encourage you to spend some time exploring your own connection to God and learn to find your way into the conversation God wants to have with you.
If the video does not show above in your browser, you can view the video here.
I am also including the audio version in the podcast feature of this Lifestream blog. You can access it below or you can also subscribe to audio postings on this blog via iTunes.
World Premiere: Engage: Letting God Build a Relationship With You Read More »