Jason Clark's Blog, page 13

CATHY LITTLE & MELINDA WILSON / FACE TO FACE

Cathy Little& Melinda Wilson Face To Face

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Face-to-face encounter, the Emanuel Approach to heart healing, the Celtic way of evangelism, mirror neurons, discipleship, transformation, belonging and becoming, renewing our minds, discovering the connection of all things, establishing identity, meditation and changing neural pathways; in this conversation, Melinda and Cathy talked about how to actually experience deep heart connection with God and each other.

For more on Cathy Little, Melinda Wilson & Face To Face Ministries
Website: facetofaceministries.org
Streams Of Healing: Amazon Link

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Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com

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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

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YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… ROD WILLIAMS / UNION WITH DISTINCTION

by A Family Story | February 2, 2022 | Faith, Interview, Life, Prayer, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

Union, a Triune God, mutual indwelling others-centered love (perichoresis) approaching scripture to discover Jesus, and communion are some of the themes Rod Williams dives into. What if “all” means “all” and God isn’t distant? There is no distance, no separation in God and this conversation is a beautiful invitation to awaken to that discovery and our union with Him.

Read More BRITTNEY SERPELL / IMPERFECT PARENTING

by A Family Story | June 29, 2023 | Faith, Intimacy, Marriage, Parenting, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Four, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

The true goal of parenting—safe, loving, heart-to-heart connection with our kids—in this podcast, Brittney Serpell shares about growing mature in our own identity as parents, modeling repenting and humility, finding courage to fight for family, recognizing fear, control, and punishment in our parenting, trading perfectionism for trust and always pursuing heart-to-heart connection as we guide our kids on their own learning journey to becoming healthy, confident, emotionally intelligent, and strong in character.

Read More WINN COLLIER / WE BELONG TO ONE ANOTHER

by A Family Story | August 4, 2022 | Faith, Interview, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three | 0 Comments

The thread through all Winn Collier’s work is delight in the God who exists as the blazing center of everything that is good, beautiful, and true; and you feel that in this conversation. In this podcast, Winn and Jason talk about God’s hope and heart for all creation to know we belong to one another. The guys dive into wholeness, cruciform love, and what it means to be fully human.

Then Winn talks about his friendship with Eugene Peterson, writer of The Message Translation. Winn shares about the biography he recently released on Eugene’s incredible life, A Burning In My Bones, and on their shared heart for pastors and the church!

Read More THE DE/RECONSTRUCTING PARENT WITH SARAH TURNER & KAREN CLARK

by A Family Story | April 21, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, Intimacy, Leadership, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

Sarah Turner and Karen Clark take the hosting reins to share their de/reconstructing faith journey and how, primarily through parenting, they began to rethink who God is and their approach to scripture, church, and ministry.

From Harry Potter and the college years to church life – the good, the bad, and the ugly, they talk about how parenting for connection and living an honest relationship with a loving God, is the most transformative thing we can do in our lives, our kids lives, and in ministry.

Read More LEAVING (& FINDING) JESUS WITH DEREK TURNER & JASON CLARK

by A Family Story | July 14, 2021 | Interview, Intimacy, Life, Popular, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

God’s sovereignty revealed by Jesus through cruciform, self-giving love, the nature of trust, intimacy, and union, and the transforming truth that there is no shadow of turning with God, in this podcast the guys explore Jason’s upcoming book, Leaving (& Finding) Jesus. This conversation juxtaposes an inclusive, reconciling, self-giving, unconditional view of God’s love against an excluding, hierarchal, punishment-focused, conditional view of God’s love.

Read More THE PROBLEM WITH RETRIBUTION WITH JASON CLARK

by A Family Story | February 22, 2023 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Hell, Intimacy, Leaving and Finding Jesus, Miracles, Podcast, Popular, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Four, Sin, The Fathers Love, Writing | 0 Comments

This podcast announces and features Jason’s new book, Leaving and Finding Jesus, in audio format. Retribution is the title of chapter seven and is presented in its entirety. In this chapter and podcast, Jason juxtaposes retribution with reconciliation and recognizes that a punishment lens on the nature of God is one of the reasons the church is navigating broken trust. It’s also why we currently find ourselves in a Deconstruction Movement.

God is as Jesus revealed Him, and on a cross Jesus forgave. God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself.

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Published on August 30, 2023 13:20

MIKE ZENKER / UNDERSTANDING FORGIVENESS

Mike Zenker Understanding Forgivness

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“Forgiveness is an event and a process… Forgiveness came to me…” Christ, within you the hope of glory, the journey of union, discovering our identity, speaking to light within people, no us and them, no hierarchy in love, embracing mystery and asking questions, hope, forgiveness, authentic restoration, and the eternal nature of reconciliation, in this podcast the guys talk about their rethinking journey in the context of pastoring, and Mike shares his powerful story of healing and the journey of forgiveness and a hope that won’t disappoint.

For more on Mike Zenker
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/MichaelZenker
Link to Forgiveness Series referred to in the recording: Healing Life’s Hurts
Link to the hotdog meatloaf taco Mike really wants to make: Taco Link
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mikez.zenker

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Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY BUY NOW!

YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… LLOYD CLARK / I AM ENOUGH

by A Family Story | January 20, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Intimacy, Leadership, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 8 Comments

With humor and authenticity, Lloyd talks about the finished work of the Cross, how Jesus fixed the problem of separation, and our invitation to awaken to our union.

Read More HAROLD & LINDA EBERLE / THE NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION

by A Family Story | March 10, 2021 | Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, Sin, The Fathers Love | 4 Comments

Harold and Linda Eberle share about the catalytic love of God that is transforming our western understanding of the church. They speak on victorious mindsets, kingdom thinking, the myth of separation, reconciliation through the death of Jesus, and salvation through his life; plus old elephants! This is a power packed interview full of profound insight.

Read More JOHN CROWDER / TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY

by A Family Story | May 25, 2022 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Hell, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, Sin, The Fathers Love | 3 Comments

John Crowder pulls from the different streams of the church to talk about Christilogical Trinitarian theology, grace, union, contemplative practice, intimacy, and mystical Christianity. John and Jason dive into the Cross, Western atonement theories, and the religious industry built upon separation; how Jesus is healing the human race. John describes a relationship with a person, Christ. He invites us to embrace mystery so we might discover that God looks like Jesus.

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Published on August 23, 2023 10:43

An Eye For An Eye

Eye For An Eye

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye…”

An eye for an eye is a phrase you can find throughout Scripture. It’s a phrase often used to define justice today, but there are two ways to interpret it. We, in the West, tend to interpret the phrase punitively—through the lens of a God who punishes.

It goes like this: If I take your eye, my eye will be taken from me as punishment. Unfortunately, as the adage goes, this makes the whole world blind.

This interpretation is not justice—it’s revenge. There is no eternal life in it, just more blindness, violence, cruelty, punishment, and concrete dead ends down the road of lack.

In this interpretation, no opportunity exists for repentance, transformation, restoration, or reconciliation for the person who took the eye. Nor does it help the one whose eye has been taken. There is no opportunity to forgive or experience true healing and wholeness.

But this statement can be interpreted another way. Many Jewish and early church fathers understood an eye for an eye as restorative. It goes like this: If I take your eye, I become your eye. Essentially, I endeavor to restore what I took from you. This is the nature of reconciliation.

In this interpretation, there is both consequence and opportunity to repent and be transformed—to be restored to the community and to be reconciled to our true selves. In this interpretation of justice, there is an opportunity for forgiveness, healing, and wholeness.

Jesus described this brand of justice in Matthew 5: “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also…you have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” 2

Jesus corrected their interpretation of Scripture, even going so far as to provide Himself as the hermeneutic—“You have heard the law that says…but I say.” Then Jesus displayed this brand of justice on a cross—the justice that saves the world.

Jesus’ death and resurrection were the foundation of everything He said and did. “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they do,” was His starting line. God, reconciling all humanity to Himself, not counting our sins against us, was the beginning and end—the greater love authority from which Jesus lived, moved, and had His being. All was said and done from and toward one end—reconciliation and restoration.

Reconciliation and restoration are God’s plans for justice.

Salvation for everyone.

1 Matthew 5:38a
2 Matthew 5:38-39 & 43-44 NAS

This article is excerpted from my book, Leaving and Finding Jesus
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Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… A Wide Open Love…

by Jason Clark | November 6, 2009 | Articles, Faith, Intimacy, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks.

Read More Encountering Humanity on 5th and 2nd

by Aimee Perry | October 21, 2020 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Popular, The Fathers Love | 9 Comments

Masks, no masks, a black woman, a middle-aged white woman, a red neck, an old white man, and a black man met up yesterday on the corner of 5th and 2nd to work together for the good of humanity!

Read More How to Fit a Camel Through a Needle

by Jason Clark | March 20, 2019 | Articles, Crisis of Identity, Faith, Miracles, Prone To Love | 4 Comments

This was a miracle as big as blind eyes opening, as cancer leaving. Jesus said this kind of miracle would be akin to a camel crawling through the eye of a needle…

Read More A Message From My Heavenly Father

by Jason Clark | May 31, 2014 | Articles, Faith, Life, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

I loved you yesterday; I love you today, tomorrow and for all eternity. I find you to be amazing, I find you to be stunning, I am mesmerized by you.

Read More How to Read the Bible (Part 1)

by Jason Clark | December 4, 2019 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Popular, The Fathers Love | 11 Comments

Jesus is my lens, my true narrative. His perfect love is my conviction. His goodness is my faith. Every question I have, every relationship or circumstance, every scripture, including the tension Job represents, is measured against the measureless revelation of Jesus.

Read More He Loves Me Best / S&U Message

by Jason Clark | January 2, 2012 | Art, Books, Crisis of Identity, Faith, Intimacy, The Fathers Love, Untamed | 2 Comments

The title of my message was “He loves me best!” I hope to post it here in the coming days, but for a quick synopsis, check out this film that was shot last year to help promote my book Surrendered & Untamed.

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Published on August 16, 2023 19:31

RANDALL WORLEY / WHEN THE CHURCH WAS YOUNG

Randall Worley When The CHurch Was Young

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Theology and methodology, communal learning, asking questions and discussing false narratives, theodicy, rethinking atonement theories, the stages of faith – simplicity, complexity, perplexity, harmony (Brian McLaren), deconstruction, liturgy, the lectionary, spiral dynamics, and first-tier thinking, the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and letting God tell our story; in this podcast, Randall and the guys talk about a theology of love as revealed through the incarnation.

For more on Randall Worley
Website: www.randallworley.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/randall.worley.9
Instagram: www.instagram.com/therandallworley

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Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

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Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY BUY NOW!

YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… JARED NEUSCH / A CHRISTOCENTRIC HERMENEUTIC & A NON-VIOLENT GOD

by A Family Story | July 19, 2023 | Faith, Intimacy, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Four, The Fathers Love | 1 Comment

The doctrine of inerrancy, a Christocentric hermeneutic, the multiple genres of literature within the bible, Jesus as perfect theology, intimacy, trust, and the goodness of God, overcoming evil, loving our enemies, a non-violent God, forgiveness, the American Church’s’ obsession with retribution, Christocentric pacifism, our interconnected-ness, justice; in this conversation, Jared Neusch and the guys dive into a Christ-Centered approach to life, faith, and Scripture.

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Published on August 16, 2023 16:16

LAKHI & GIOVANNA DADLANI / HOPE 4 LIFE

Lakhi & Giovanna Dadlani Hope 4 Life

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“Nothing is wasted… God meets you where you are and gives you what you need at the moment you need it.” Emotional maturity, connection, inner healing, transparency, vulnerability, transformed lives, and above all, hope; in this podcast, Lakhi and Giovanna Dadlani share their 30-year journey to emotional and spiritual wholeness, true identity, and our Father’s love. Their personal well-being journey ultimately culminates in the beautiful Hope4Life community in Miami.

For more on the Dadlani’s and Hope4Life
Hope4Life: www.hope4lifemiami.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Hope4LifeMiami
Instagram: www.instagram.com/hope4lifemiami
YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel

Please rate, review, share, and subscribe!
Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY BUY NOW!

YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… SCOTT CROWDER / LEARNING TO BE PRESENT

by A Family Story | April 13, 2022 | Dreaming, Faith, Friends, Leadership, Music, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three | 2 Comments

Scott Crowder is a pastor, singer-songwriter, and one of Jason’s closest friends. The guys dive into their love for the church, about learning how to be present with God, ourselves, each other, and our community. Scott talks about creating church cultures that practice the fruits of the Spirit, learning to lead ourselves and others in seasons of joy and sorrow, that “success” isn’t about numbers, cool fads, or being ‘front runners,’ it’s discovered in community.

Read More THOMAS JAY OORD & KEITH GILES / DECONSTRUCTING HELL

by A Family Story | March 1, 2023 | Faith, Intimacy, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Four, Sin, The Fathers Love, Writing | 1 Comment

Perhaps no modern church dogma has been more destructive to the mission of Jesus, created more atheists, or generated more religious trauma than that of eternal conscious torment (ECT).

In this podcast, the guys talk with Thomas Jay Oord and Keith Giles about their collaboration on Chad Bahl’s book, Deconstructing Hell. The book brings together experts in their fields to take the reader on a historical, philosophical, and theological journey to deconstruct this harmful doctrine, and the podcast highlights Oord and Gile’s contribution.

The guys dive into the “logic of love” and offer compelling pathways to reconstruct a biblical perspective on the nature of God and our understanding of hell.

Read More THERE IS NO “US OR THEM” AT THE CROSS

by A Family Story | September 15, 2022 | Faith, Interview, Leadership, Life, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three | 3 Comments

This podcast highlights Jason’s book, Leaving and finding Jesus, where he writes about his deconstructing faith journey. The book is Jason’s Emmaus Road discovery of a love that is reconciling all creation; a journey where he’s awakening to a burning heart while leaving every Jesus who won’t lay His life down for His friends.

Read More THE PROBLEM WITH RETRIBUTION WITH JASON CLARK

by A Family Story | February 22, 2023 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Hell, Intimacy, Leaving and Finding Jesus, Miracles, Podcast, Popular, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Four, Sin, The Fathers Love, Writing | 0 Comments

This podcast announces and features Jason’s new book, Leaving and Finding Jesus, in audio format. Retribution is the title of chapter seven and is presented in its entirety. In this chapter and podcast, Jason juxtaposes retribution with reconciliation and recognizes that a punishment lens on the nature of God is one of the reasons the church is navigating broken trust. It’s also why we currently find ourselves in a Deconstruction Movement.

God is as Jesus revealed Him, and on a cross Jesus forgave. God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself.

Read More KATHRYN LYNN CIENIEWICZ / LOVE IS THE LONG GAME

by A Family Story | February 24, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

Salvation, hell, justice, equality, the bible, and the unconditional transformative always good Love of God; in this insightful interview, Kathryn talks about her spiritual deconstruction and the journey of rethinking God. She brilliantly addresses the sin of certainty, newfound feminism, and a Love that casts out all fear.

The post LAKHI & GIOVANNA DADLANI / HOPE 4 LIFE appeared first on A Family Story.

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Published on August 09, 2023 13:52

CATHERINE TOON / MARKED BY LOVE

Catherine Toon Marked By Love

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“Love is not only a powerful emotion, but a person.” Experiential knowing, discovering our identity, helping people encounter love, connection, union, intimacy with God, the value of our humanity, the mystery of maleness and femaleness represented in the Godhead; in this conversation, Catherine and the guys explore the perfection of God’s love both male and female and invite the listener to know Gods personal love for themselves.

For more on Catherine Toon
Website: www.catherinetoon.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CatherineToonMD
Instagram: www.instagram.com/catherinetoon

Please rate, review, share, and subscribe!
Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY BUY NOW!

YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… BRUXY CAVEY / LOVING GOD BY LOVING OUR NEIGHBOR

by A Family Story | May 7, 2021 | Interview, Intimacy, Life, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

Bruxy Cavey, author, and pastor of The Meeting House, dives into relational faith, loving God through loving our neighbor, repenting with a hopeful future focus, how doubt is connected to our faith, how we are not people of the book (bible) we are people of the person (Jesus), and three perspectives on hell concluding with the fact that the New Testament church never leveraged hell to get people to make a decision to for Jesus.

Read More SCOT MCKNIGHT / A CHURCH CALLED TOV

by A Family Story | January 19, 2022 | Faith, Interview, Life, Popular, Prayer, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

Co-Author of A Church Called TOV, Scot McKnight talks about his new book written in response to the abuses of power, sexual abuse, and spiritual abuse within the leadership of Willow Creek, Harvest, and sadly churches of all shapes and sizes.

We talked about TOV (which means goodness) and how when we practice empathy, compassion, extending grace, putting people first, telling the truth, promoting justice, and serving others, TOV emerges in the culture and we all become more Christlike.

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Published on August 02, 2023 13:36

A Trinitarian Salesman

The pitch…This bliss!This Trinitarian dance!This entwinement with love!This holy union and oneness!

No longer orphaned or abandoned, but abiding in this garden of intimacy and rest… every promise fulfilled!

Whole, well, and at peace with springs of living water bubbling up from within! Limitless and abounding!

My very own special unique place of bliss…

I am a salesman. That’s how I made my living. And when I am sold, it’s generally easy to convince somebody to trust what I believe to be true. It’s easy to sell somebody something I know they need, want, and can’t afford to live without; especially when I have the confidence that it delivers.

I know how sales work; it’s generally a heart connection built around trust.

And I’m an easy mark for somebody who is contagious in what they believe to be true about the product they are representing.

As a young salesman, I bought into my share of scams, but with age and experience, I became a cynic. Trust is a steeper climb at my age. I can usually read a scam intuitively. I now generally distrust salesmen. And I generally distrust preachers. I’ve experienced my share of shysters.

Try selling something to a culture steeped in distrust. A few years back, I lived in the cultural melting pot of DC for a year or so, and I knew instinctively, when I walked into their space and was face to face, the amount of distrust and skepticism I would be faced with in order to walk away with an order in my hand. But I was quite comfortable with my product, capable of reading the room, and I also had enough experience to know where the starting price needed to be in order for it to be a win, win.

Life is Tricky and complicated. And selling somebody who knows me from the inside out, like my wife, or my family, shouldn’t be, but can still be a tall order. Sometimes I want to scoop up everybody I know and transport them into this blissful union. But I have learned that this union isn’t something I have the ability to sell. It is such a precious place that is unique to every person in my sphere of influence. But everyone, including my family, needs room to come into their own unique place of intimacy with the Abba of Jesus. I can’t coerce, push, manipulate, or force anyone to drink. As a father, I am learning that I have to take my hands off. That’s what a good father does. His job is not as a salesman but as a cheerleader.

Having discovered this place of bliss, I want to take everyone I know with me.

But that is a false premise. My story is mine alone, and my unique place of wonder and transformation wasn’t designed for you. You wouldn’t be happy in my abiding place…

There’s a big difference between heartburn and a burning heart. On the road to Emmaus, those two fellas used the phrase, “Did not our hearts burn within us.”

Being sold a religious bill of goods will give you heartburn. Because your heart knows what only your heart can know, and instinctively, we all can read a scam.

When Jesus said, I am going to prepare a place for you, so that where I am there, you may be also. He wasn’t talking about a corporate y’all. This was an individually peculiar place designed, especially for you, a place with your name and identity on it. Not a Church, a mansion, or a place somewhere in the future. He prepared a peculiar place next to his heart. And when you enter that place next to his heart, that’s when you feel the sensation of a burning heart.

It’s a place only you can enter. No other person on the planet can go there except you. It’s a unique and special place where you alone experience the bliss, of knowing, as you have always been known, the place of a burning heart. And the place from which you can be, as you have always been. From his perspective, of course! And it’s a safe place. The only place on this planet uniquely your own. You can’t buy it. It’s not something you can be sold. But it’s real, authentic, and full of glory!

Have I sold you yet?

Love you, Lloyd

Lloyd Clark is an entrepreneur, a former pastor, and a writer. He is passionate about being loved by our Heavenly Father and revealing that same love to everyone he meets. He and his wife, Mary have five children and seven grandchildren and live in North Carolina.

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by Jason Clark | June 28, 2018 | Articles, Faith, Parenting, Prayer | 6 Comments

I believe God is always saying one thing: “I love you.” And He always follows up with a question, “do you believe me?” What would our lives look like if we could answer this one question that God is always asking?

Read More Time Travel and The Omnipresent Nature of Love

by Jason Clark | April 27, 2021 | Articles, Faith, Intimacy | 2 Comments

What if today, while I write, I am also in the “cloud of witnesses” cheering on myself, my family, my friends, and the sons and daughters of God as we awaken to love? What if, while you read this, you are also seated in Christ at the right hand of my Father? (See Heb 12:1 & Eph 2:6) What if we have been invited to live from the measureless omnipresent love of God that dwells within us? What if every prayer, every promise, every dream, every hope has its beginning and end in the measureless, retroactive, proactive, reconciling, omnipresent love of God?

MARK BATTERSON & JOEL CLARK / I CHANGED THE WORLD

Mark Batterson & Joel Clark I Changed The World

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“Jesus is the dictionary in which we look up the meaning of words” – Eugene Peterson.

A God with smile lines, loving our enemies, recognizing miracles, proactive love, finding God in the midst of story, living a better story, awakening to a better gospel, the power of please, sorry, thanks, the breath of God, hindsight bias, imaginative meditation, and fantastical storytelling, in this podcast, Mark Batterson, Joel Clark, and the guys talk about the love of God discovered in storytelling and share about their new book series, I Changed The World. This bible story adventure series is aimed at tweens ages 9-12. The first title, David, is available now.

For more on I Changed The World
Website: www.ichangedtheworldbooks.com
Amazon: link

Mark Batterson: www.markbatterson.com
Joel Clark: www.afamilystoryfilms.com

Please rate, review, share, and subscribe!
Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

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David lives at a time unlike any other in the history of Israel. The High Prophet Samuel has chosen Saul, the first king to lead the twelve tribes. Yet the fledgling nation faces enemies on every side, and skirmishes from warring countries are a daily ordeal.

As King Saul builds his army, Israel’s most menacing threat looms. The Philistine warriors, the most powerful and largest neighboring enemy, are marching toward Israel to destroy them.

What’s worse, they are led by a legendary and brutal giant, Goliath. In the face of the impossible, what can a shepherd boy from Bethlehem hope to do? Will David leave the war to King Saul and his army, or could it be possible that David could change the course of history?

Click Here For Info On Book Series Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

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YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… DANIEL GROTHE / THE POWER OF PLACE

by A Family Story | March 15, 2022 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Interview, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

Daniel Grothe and the guys discuss his new book, The Power of Place, which speaks the sense of loneliness that many feel in today’s age of hypermobility and noncommittal wandering, reminding us of the ancient vow of stability and teaching us how we can lead a richer life of friendship, community, and purpose.

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Justin Stumvoll is a speaker, teacher, and life consultant who knows the kindness of God and loves to create space for individuals to find healing so they can be their most authentic selves Just dives into Love being the key to helping folks walk through the gritty, vulnerable and real approach to transformation. This was a fast-paced conversation where the guy’s traded stories about the reconciling nature of God; they talked about punishment, self-judgment, reconciliation, justice, sin, grace, freedom from addiction, and more. This podcast is bursting with the kindness of God that transforms the world.

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Harold and Linda Eberle share about the catalytic love of God that is transforming our western understanding of the church. They speak on victorious mindsets, kingdom thinking, the myth of separation, reconciliation through the death of Jesus, and salvation through his life; plus old elephants! This is a power packed interview full of profound insight.

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by A Family Story | May 19, 2021 | Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Life, Popular, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two | 2 Comments

“The bible, minus love, equals false teaching, false living, and fosters an anger in the soul of man.” Brian Simmons, author of The Passion Translation, talks about approaching scripture with a love theology, the oppressive impact of hyper literalism, women in ministry, equality, union, Jesus’ humanity inside the Trinity, the finished work of the cross, and the passionate, powerful, transforming love of God.

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Published on July 27, 2023 20:36

Jesus, The Objective Definition Of The Word Good

“Jason, I think it’s really important that we all agree on the definition of the word ‘good.’ You might think something is good while someone else might think that very same thing is bad.”

I nodded in agreement with the fella.

He was right; for the entirety of my life, much of the church has seemed pretty confused about the definition of a lot of words—the word ‘good’ chief among them. Looking back through history, it appears to be a confusion nearly as old as time—especially when describing the nature of God.

But I recognized by the tension and tone of the fella’s voice, and by how quickly he stood when the pastor asked if “anyone had any thoughts or questions,” that he was unnerved and possibly offended.

It was a Wednesday night at a local church where I had just finished speaking on the always good, never leaving, reconciling love of God. I had told a story about a fan in the Philippines that oscillated; one moment, it was my reward, the next, my punishment.

And I’d shared that Greater Love isn’t like that fan. He isn’t fickle. He is never our punishment and always our reward. Greater Love has never turned away. He never oscillates.

Over the years, I’ve discovered the more I share on the never-oscillating, non-punishing, always-good love of God, the more I am challenged on the definition of the word ‘good.’

My early responses were simply a confused, “Good means good.” But I’ve learned, when it comes to the nature of God, while we all read from the same Bible, we’re not all searching through the same lens.

So, it’s understandable we might wrestle with our definitions.

When you grow up in the disparity of a loving God who oscillates, a kind God with a hateful streak—when God’s goodness is often presented through the cruel and punishing lens of hell trains, you’re forced to do mental gymnastics around the definition of a lot of words. And many Christian backs have been broken trying to acrobat our way around the word good.

I opened my iPad and went to the dictionary definition I had put there years earlier for just such occasions.

“Good: morally excellent; virtuous, righteous, of high quality, worth, benefit. Good could be used in a sentence as follows: What good will that do? We shall work for the common good. To do good. To be a power for good.”

Then, I told a story about the street taco I had in Mexico City.

In short, it wasn’t good.

And when I say, “It wasn’t good,” I am not referring to its flavor. I’m not writing subjectively. Rather, I’m talking about the following 24 hours I spent hugging a toilet while lying on a tiled public bathroom floor in an old church just outside Mexico City.

While the taco tasted good, as it turned out, it wasn’t good. And this delineation is both important and easy to grasp.

Words mean something. Good has a definition that is wildly different from the definition of the word bad.

That taco was the opposite of good, the antonym, bad—that’s the word. And not just bad; it was cruel and punishing! But I digress.

When I use the word good to describe God, I am not communicating subjectively. I’m not making “a god to my own liking,” as offended brothers and sisters have occasionally suggested. My subjective thoughts don’t get a say in how Jesus defined the word, and Jesus is the revelation of what good means.

Jesus is the sovereign definition of “morally excellent, virtuous, righteous, of high quality, worth, and benefit.”

And Jesus fully revealed goodness as Greater Love when He laid His life down for you and me. God’s goodness is self-giving, other-centered love. It is “patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others; it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs, and does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.” 1

Always!

And it’s a sovereign always.

So, dear church, let’s get on the same page. God’s love is always good, as Jesus defined it.

I agreed with the fella. The whole world is desperate to know and experience the objective definition of the word good. More to the point of this book, the whole world needs the Church to foundationally define the word good on the Greatef Love Cornerstone—Christ crucified and risen! This goodness is the certainty upon which we can build our faith.

When it comes to the nature of God, we, the Church, must stop manipulating the word good to fit our cruel theologies and punishing interpretations of God and Scripture. The goodness of God is not a subjective ‘flavor of the day,’ nor does it bend the knee to our experience, understanding, or hermeneutic. God is love, and His goodness doesn’t oscillate; it is not cruel nor fickle like the wind. It does not punish and has never left or forsaken us.

The goodness of God is revealed in a Son who lays down His life, a Holy Spirit who always reconciles, and in a faithful Father who never leaves. Greater Love has never once looked away.

1 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

This article is excerpted from my book, Leaving and Finding Jesus
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Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… Meet the Father

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I would like to suggest that our questions, longing, insecurity, and identity are forever answered, settled, satisfied, and secured in our revelation of God as Father.

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Truth can be read about and discussed but to own revelation requires some form of experience. “God loves you,” is simply a statement of fact. But the statement doesn’t hold any power until His love is engaged.

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Published on July 19, 2023 19:27

JARED NEUSCH / A CHRISTOCENTRIC HERMENEUTIC & A NON-VIOLENT GOD

Jared Neusch A Christocentric Hermeneutic & A Non-Violent God

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The doctrine of inerrancy, a Christocentric hermeneutic, the multiple genres of literature within the bible, Jesus as perfect theology, intimacy, trust, and the goodness of God, overcoming evil, loving our enemies, a non-violent God, forgiveness, the American Church’s’ obsession with retribution, Christocentric pacifism, our interconnected-ness, justice; in this conversation, Jared Neusch and the guys dive into a Christ-Centered approach to life, faith, and Scripture.

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Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace
www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY BUY NOW!

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Published on July 19, 2023 18:45