Wayne’s back from the upper Midwest and shares some of his experiences with Brad and the joy of helping people who are just emerging from guilt and pressure of performance-based religion to contemplate the reality of grace and relationship. They tackle some listener email as well, discussing how Paul’s teaching of sowing and reaping fits into their understanding of God’s unfolding grace as he transforms our lives in the ups and downs of this present age.
Sounds like Brad has been watching the Olympics which opens up a discussion about the difference between achievement in the world and spiritual growth. We also get some of the most incredible email from people who are on the God journey and seeing God do some amazing things in their life. A dip into the mail bag offer Brad and Wayne the opportunity to go revisit some of their recent discussions about keeping rules or being transformed by love, holiness, and encouraging those who are in the midst of very dark and painful days on the journey.
The increasing sales figures of THE SHACK has continues to frustrate those who regard the book as a dangerous heresy. Recent attacks from a variety of sources allows Brad and Wayne to talk about the generosity of truth. You don’t need to protect it, or defend it, just let it come freely from your life to touch others as God might desire. Wayne reads a letter by German theologian Karl Barth, written in the early 1960s, gives some excellent insight into handling critics with grace and wisdom. You can read the full text of Barth’s letter here.
Responding to a series of listener emails and comments, Wayne and Brad discuss knowing God for who he is and living in the moment with him as a loved child in the earth, rather than trying to define our purpose or destiny and fulfilling it by our own strength or ingenuity. Maybe it’s only when we give up the illusion of controlling our own lives and fulfilling our own desires that we can live in the danger of trusting him.
Did Jesus give people a license to sin? Wayne returns from his BridgeBuilding work in Utah and that sends he and Brad into a discussion about freedom and liberty and how God relates to us in the face of our sin. Many people think that the Gospel is summed up in trying to get others to follow God’s rules. But to do so out of performance will only produce the opposite of what he wants most. As Paul describes in Galatians 5, living in freedom is the only way for us to relate to God that will transform us from the inside out.
Email from listeners set the course on this podcast. First up is a discussion about God’s nature and whether Scripture seeking God has a lion side and a lamb side. Then they tackle a question about worship and whether or not it is self-seeking from God’s side. Finally, they discuss problems with extended family members understanding those who no longer find themselves in traditional congregations. One of those uncovers a particularly dark side of religious manipulation and how it can tear a family apart. What do we do then?
Back from the Christian retailing show in Florida, Brad and Wayne ruminate on their experiences and end up in a discussion about how we perceive God’s generosity. Religion teaches us that we serve a miserly God who must be impressed and cajoled into giving up his goodies. But Jesus and Paul talked about a God of immense generosity. Why the difference? Wayne also shows Brad a picture a listener sent from Australia sent to Wayne. (Click on the photo at left to see a full-size rendering.)
Brad and Wayne catch up on a lot of listener emails and gives them a chance to hear from people at various stages of this journey, from the pain of being disillusioned to the joy of recognizing God’s love and life flowing through them in a fresh way. At each point Brad and Wayne offer their encouragement as to how to stay focused on God and let him take them through to greater freedom and joy.
A letter in response to Brad and Wayne’s recent podcast entitled Unsanctified Mercy, they get into a discussion about God’s judgment and discipline and whether those are unmerciful acts, or further extensions of his mercy. Many people mistake mercy for simply being nice or enabling people’s willfulness, but does God see it that way?
Our last podcast about Revival Fever brought a firestorm of emails. Some liked it, others hated it. Brad and Wayne read the letters, and launch into a discussion about how to love others who may not see the things the way you do. They also talk about having conversations through those kind of conflicts that help us all grow, rather than cutting off communication as we simply defend our own positions.
It was Brownsville and Toronto. Today its Redding or Lakeland. A listener wants to know what Brad and Wayne think about the so-called revivals that break out from time to time. That leads them to a further discussion about understanding the fullness of the Holy Spirit, how the reality of his presence was hijacked by the Charismatic renewal. They even tackle a question about the reality of the Devil and what place he has in the life of a believer.
Brad and Wayne are freshly back from the Book Exposition of America where an encounter got them thinking again and how the religious mindset sounds so arrogant and condescending to the world’s ears. The wrestle with a term others are using called unsanctified mercy, which is extending mercy to people who don’t deserve it. Well, isn’t that the point—for all of us? Their discussion takes them through Matthew 9 and 10 and how Jesus viewed others in the world and how he called us to live among them in a way that opens their heart to our message of hpe and life!
Letters from a number of God Journey listeners invite Brad and Wayne into a discussion about how religion, rather than setting us free from our self-focused lives, can give us an excuse to serve our selves convinced that we are doing God a favor. The need to please ourselves is the core motivation that Father’s love swallows up in our lives, so that we can live free in his life and grace.
Two angry pastors have dominated the political debate for the past month. Their antics launch Brad and Wayne into a discussion about anger and how it is often exacerbated by religious thinking. They talk about the struggle with anger in their own lives, and how Jesus displaces it with a growing security in his affection and care for our lives.
New coffee Mugs and t-shirt Conversation Starters are available on the website. We’ve added “Sacred Cow Tipping Team” and “Free Range Believers” to our other selections. Check them out on our Conversation Starters page and keep the conversation going…
Darin Hufford, the author of The God’s Honest Truth joins Wayne and Brad in a discussion about the character of God and whether or not we can ever comprehend just how good he is. In his book Darin’s takes the statement “God is love” and holds it against God’s description of love in I Corinthians 13. In doing so it becomes painfully clear that the God religion teaches us about is exactly the opposite of the God Paul wanted us to know. You’ll enjoy Darin’s heart and humor. You can find out more about Darin and his book at the Free Believers Network website.
Brad and Wayne are back from their second trip to New York with an inbox full of some wonderful and insightful emails from their podcast two weeks ago about “Who is This God?” In the interest of expanding the conversation, they take some time to interact with those emails, adding the insights others have gleaned and commenting further about the gracious way the God of the Ages has chosen to reveal himself to people like us.
Listener reaction to the podcast Wayne and Brad did two weeks ago with Paul, opens up a new discussion about a hunger for real relationships among brothers and sisters. They talk about how our insecurities and self-focused preoccupation can subvert the very relationships God wants to give us, and how only his healing can change that. They also discuss how relationships grow from the simple risk to spend time with a stranger and the friendships that can grow from loving who God puts before you each day without expectation. They end up discussing the difference between relationships that grow organically in life and how attempts we make to organize that often result in someone just building another pen to contain God’s people.
A recent Chuck Colson Breakpoint Commentary takes on The Shack for an alleged low view of Scripture and for diminishing the glory of God. As Wayne and Brad respond to his premise, and other listener email, they find themselves probing the question, “Who Is This God?” Is he the angry judge waiting for the opportunity to destroy those who won’t do things his way, or is he reaching out with love and compassion for those who are lost in sin? How you view God will decisively affect not only how you live with him and but also what you pass on to others of his life and nature.
Paul Young, author of The Shack was in town to join Brad and Wayne at a presentation at Fuller Theological Seminary. So they added Paul to their podcast for a conversation about living in the joy of Father’s working. They talk about how important it is that each of us know we matter to God and that what he does in us each day matters, about the joy of relationship that comes out of others-focused lives and the fruit that such collaboration means, about true submission and how we can discover those connections God is bringing to our own lives.
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