Wayne Jacobsen > Quotes

“There is no one that God does not love with all that he is. His love reaches beyond every sin and failure, hoping that at some moment they will come to know just how loved they are.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me

“We make a fatal mistake when we try to force Scripture to offer redemption to those who want to go to heaven but who don't want a relationship with the living God. By trying to offer some minimal standard of conduct that will allow them to qualify for salvation while continuing to to pursue their own agendas, we distort the gospel and destroy its power, and we concoct legalistic games to give them a false sense of security.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection

“The church thrives where people are focused on Jesus, not where they are focused on church.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore: An Unexpected Journey

“If I were you," he said with a wink and a smile as his eyes swept over those who's started the discussion, "I would waste far less time ragging on religion and find out just how much Jesus wants to be your friend without any strings attached. He will care for you and if given a chance will become more real to you than your best friend, and you will cherish him more than anything else you desire. He will give you a purpose and a fullness of life that will carry you through every stress and pain and will change you from the inside to show you what true freedom and joy really are.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore: An Unexpected Journey

“It is not the fear of losing God’s favor that takes us to the depth of fellowship with him and transforms our lives with his holiness. It is our certainty of knowing his unrelenting love for us, even in the midst of our weakness and failure, that leads us to the fullness of his life.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me!: Learning to Live in the Father's Affection

“The key to living a productive Christian life is not waking up every day trying to be loved by God, but waking up in the awareness that you are already his beloved”
― Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection

“You can’t earn points with someone who is no longer keeping score. Jesus already filled up your card with maximum points. You don’t have to earn what he has already freely given; you simply get to receive it.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Live Loved Free Full

“When Jesus became sin for us he entered into the full shame, darkness and bondage of that sin. It is likely at the moment on the cross when God's wrath was consuming the sin he had become, that he couldn't even see the Father with whom he had shared fellowship through all eternity. Sin blinded him and he felt as if God had forsaken him. But that is the difference between the perception of sin and the reality of God. We too feel abandoned by God at some of our darkest moments. It doesn't mean he's left us, only that we can't see him through the darkness. The resounding truth, however, is that God is always there, never turning his face against those who are his.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection

“The purpose of grace is to grant us access into his presence every day. Grace qualifies us for the relationship we could never earn on our merits.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection

“For he has already borne in himself what we could never have borne and survived. He endured such hostility against himself because he was committed to our freedom from the power of sin. When I consider just how unfair it might have been for God to have created that tree in Eden that caused so much grief and pain, I only have to look at the cross. Why could he put the tree there? Because he had already determined that he would pay the greatest price for the stumbling block it would be for Adam and Eve. Even in giving us the freedom to trust him or trust ourselves, God already knew that he would suffer the most for that choice. Somehow to him, the glory of fellowship with his created ones outweighs any price he had to pay to experience it. By enduring to the end, sin was fully conquered in him. Its spell over humanity was broken and no longer does anyone have to be consumed by sin itself, nor God's wrath against it. The antidote had not only worked in him, by doing so it had produced in his blood a fountain of life as well. Transfused into any person who desires it, his blood can cleanse us of sin and reunite us with God himself--fulfilling the dream that he had when he first decided to create man and woman and place them in the center of his creation.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection

“We acknowledge his place by actually following the Lamb as best we perceive him. That’s not a decision you can make once for the rest of your life. It is a continuous challenge in a hundred decisions made day after day as you learn how different his desires are from your own. The new creation is not some sort of spiritual Disneyland where your every dream comes true. It’s where Jesus’ every word and desire comes to pass.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More

“would the church of Jesus Christ look like if it were made up of people who were learning to live in the same reality Jesus did, with an eye on his Father and a compassionate heart for people around him? How”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More

“Religion survives by telling us we need to fall in line or some horrible fate will befall us.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore: An Unexpected Journey

“consensus, I envision people putting their best ideas on the table and crafting a different option that both sides can embrace.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, A Language of Healing for a Polarized Nation: Creating safe environments for conversations about race, politics, sexuality, and religion

“had it easy. Because he didn’t have to run a ministry or manage a congregation, he was free to engage people exactly as he found them. He didn’t have to make them do anything for him; thus, he was free to love them and they were free to respond to that love or reject it. He didn’t need their tithes to pay his salary, their attendance to validate his ego, or their time to fill out his program.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More

“No, the cross was not primarily about exacting punishment; it was about prevailing over sin's power. In the Son, God didn't just punish sin, but he served up the antidote that Christ was able to endure until sin itself was destroyed. Now, all who embrace him can live in the effects of the andidote, prevailing over sin through a growing relationship to the Creator of all.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection

“If you share my frustration with the disparity between the church as Scripture talks about her and what we see reflected in our religious institutions, you’re not alone. You’re standing in a long line that includes the likes of Francis of Assisi, John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and nameless others who dared to ask the difficult questions and struggled with the uncomfortable answers.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More

“Polarity damages people. The current atmosphere is saturated with disdain for one another. It’s time for a new approach that celebrates our common humanity.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, A Language of Healing for a Polarized Nation: Creating safe environments for conversations about race, politics, sexuality, and religion

“The freedom to be honest and the freedom to struggle are key to a real friendship," John said.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore: An Unexpected Journey

“Jesus is building this church by quietly bringing together a family so rich and vast that she doesn’t need the religious conventions we’ve used to contain her.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More

“is simply the way people share life together when Jesus is their growing preoccupation and they are learning to listen and follow him. If people”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More

“As with a symphony, it is important to be able to contribute your part while simultaneously listening to and blending in with others.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, A Language of Healing for a Polarized Nation: Creating safe environments for conversations about race, politics, sexuality, and religion

“No, the cross was not primarily about exacting punishment; it was about prevailing over sin's power. In the Son of God didn't just punish sin, but he served up the antidote that Christ was able to endure until sin itself was destroyed. Now, all who embrace him can live in the effects of the andidote, prevailing over sin through a growing relationship to the Creator of all.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection

“God sees something redemptive even in letting us fail. He seems less concerned about our mistakes than how we respond to them. Do our mistakes lead us away from trusting in our own strength or wisdom and toward seeking what it means to put our trust in him?”
― Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me!: Learning to Live in the Father's Affection

“purpose was not to make us worthy of God’s love, but to set us free to see that we already have it. And”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More

“love—not imposed order—is the nature of his church. That’s why his church is a family: a Father inviting us to take our place in his home; an older brother, Jesus, who empathizes with our struggles and offers us grace in time of need; a Spirit who empowers us; and brothers and sisters who can live alongside us with love and honor. The church reflects the best of what a family can be. It is”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More

“God of the universe loves you more than anyone on this planet ever has or ever will.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More

“church Jesus is building will defy all human attempts to replicate it because it is the fruit of a life well loved. It is”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More

“God never wanted our indentured servitude but to share his life with his grateful children.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Live Loved Free Full

“think Jesus taught us that we have a Father who loves us more than we know, and if we could sort that out we would know how to treat each other.”
― Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church: What If There Really Is Something More