Tim and Laurie Thornton's Podcast

Laurie and I led a breakout at Resound Conference this year and we’re pleased to offer the audio and guided meditation (a written prayer exercise) from that teaching for you here. In order to get the most from this, we suggest—especially during the interactive part—that you not engage it passively but that you actually print the guided meditation or write each of the scriptures and questions/prompts in your journal so you can fill it out with a pencil or pen. This is very important. You’ll need to set aside an hour for both the teaching and the exercise, but you may want to put on your own non-distrating music and take a little more time to pray through it. There is some good prophetic encouragement from Laurie on this recording after the exercise so if you fly solo on that part, you may want to also listen to the end.

SOURCED FROM HEAVEN

Discover where authority and power come from in the kingdom and how they increase. Even though we all know the exhausting pressures of performance, comparison, and self­-promotion, it’s possible to be free from the need to prove our authority, strive for a place, and wish we had someone else’s position. You will leave this session with tools in hand that will help you exit the power struggle and receive godly empowerment that will make you a treasured ally in your friendships, church life, mission, and marriage.

Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ – John 7:37-38

[Originally this was posted with a broken link–fixed now. Sorry for the error and resulting repost.]

This 12-minute audio clip is the second of three podcasts comprising the second session (I did not manage to record the first) of some teaching I did on worship alongside Aaron Strumpel last month at Timberline Lodge, a bible school in Winter Park, CO.

On Worship-Part 2

This ten-minute audio clip is the third of three podcasts comprising the second session (I did not manage to record the first) of some teaching I did on worship alongside Aaron Strumpel last month at Timberline Lodge, a bible school in Winter Park, CO.

On Worship-Part 3

The Christian practice of generosity is about giving from the heart (not under compulsion) for the glory of God (not for recognition) and it has amazing results for the giver, the church, and the world.

In this podcast you get to listen to an informal recording of our living room church gathering where we talk about how in the New Testament we see the Christians practicing generosity.

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

– The Apostle Paul

There are lots of ways to honor God with our giving. Whether we give to the poor, to our local church overseers, to the relief of suffering saints, to mission teams that establish new church families worldwide, or to other special ministries, here are some of the effects we can expect to see and enjoy.

7 Beautiful Results of Giving:

1. We engage an appropriate act of worship in response to and toward God, which is joyful even in times of poverty and affliction. (2 Cor 8:5, 2 Cor 9:7)

2. We remind ourselves where our provision comes from. (2 Cor 9:10-11)

3. Our offering is remembered by God and can bring breakthrough in our lives, as well as for our families and nations (Acts 10:1-5)

4. We cultivate prosperity and position ourselves for reward. (2 Cor 9:6-8, Proverbs 11:25, Proverbs 3:9-10)

5. We knit the household of faith together as our gifts results in thanksgiving, prayer, and deepened connection both globally and locally. (2 Cor 9:12-15, 1 Tim 5:17)

6. We partner in the work of the gospel as it advances. (Phil 1:3-6, 2 Cor 11:9, Romans 15:22-25)

7. We contribute to an atmosphere of favor for those who need the truth to be able to hear it. (Acts 2:47, 1 Tim 3:15)

This teaching comes after Representative Rulership which helps giving become easier by exploring the concept of stewardship and understanding God is the giver of all good things!

Our surprise keynote from Resound Conference 2013. Jesus is our inheritance, and has inheritance for us. An inheritance gained too quickly will not be blessed in the end, so seek the Father and he will release your inheritance at the proper time.

If you’d like to skip the entertaining introductory portion straight to the teaching, move the slider to -1:20:10.

Technical note: It seems that a noise gate was applied to the audio to help the live sound, please excuse us for the resulting sensation that the talk is over every time we take a breath.

Tim: Your destiny is this. This is what God said when He created you. He said, “Let us make man in our image and our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth.” This is like a menu of surf and turf. It says, “God blessed them and said to them ‘be fruitful and increase in number.’”

How do you be fruitful? Be intimate.

How do you want to be fruitful for the Lord in your life? How can you do that? Be intimate.

Someone said, “There are lovers and there are workers, and lovers get more done than workers do.”

If you want to be fruitful, be intimate.

He said, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.” If I asked all of you in this room what your favorite memory is, I bet each one of you would have something about intimacy in it. Something about feeling so close to someone, whether it’s a lover, a parent, a grandparent, and usually it takes place in a special spot. Maybe it’s in the mountains, maybe it’s down at the lake–it’s a special place that feels like a little Eden. A lot of you are thinking about this place right now, it feels good, doesn’t it? It’s ok to go there for a second. If I asked you all what the dreams are of your heart, it would often be to go make a place like that. Why?

It’s imprinted in you to be intimate and to be fruitful, to enjoy the love and the relationship with God and with the people that he gave you. And then to establish that, to take it further. To take that overflowing love and establish places where other people can enjoy it in the earth. That’s what we were created for. Intimacy and then inheritance. And intimacy releases inheritance.

Now, you can be saved and still not live from your love relationship with the Trinity. It’s possible to do that. It’s possible to go and try to get the inheritance first and not worry so much about the intimacy, and that was the lie that our forefathers were tricked with in the Garden, that’s what we bought into–that we could have inheritance without intimacy. We’re in the Garden and the snake comes and he says, “You know, you’re so great, you have so much potential. God doesn’t want you to be like him. You can get this without Him. You can be like Him without Him.” That’s the lie.

When people started building the Tower of Babel, the Lord came and He said, “Oh no, they’re going to be able to accomplish anything. They’re building up this tower of their own kingdom and their own greatness—“

Laurie: They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into Heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name.”

Tim: That’s pretty independent thinking. I can be great without Him, watch what I can do, watch what I can build for myself, I can show that I’m alright. I can be righteous on my own. It’s all a matter of trying to get inheritance without intimacy. Why did God strike it down and scatter the people? Do you think He felt threatened by the Tower? Do you think He felt threatened by their greatness? No, that’s the trick of the thing. It’s not our greatness that He’s against, but He knows that when we build something great apart from Him, we are building the size of the wall between us and our lover. And in His mercy, He has to scatter it and break it down, because He is a jealous lover, and He will not yield His glory to idols. In His mercy, He destroys the unworthy things that we hope in the most. Because it is love, because He wants us to move in the way of the Kingdom, which is that intimacy releases inheritance.

Turn your bibles to Luke 15. And while we’re going there, realize how all over the Bible this is. “Be appalled, oh Heavens, be utterly desolate. For my people have committed two sins. They’ve carved out for themselves broken cisterns that can’t hold water. They’ve forsaken the spring.” These are the two things that make Heaven appalled and desolate, because the Lord created the earth, and created you, His sons and daughters, to be fruitful, to be intimate, and to establish the Kingdom. And when we try to establish without intimacy, it makes Heaven–the most amazing, wonderful place you can imagine–appalled and desolate.

Laurie: I mean think of it. Even before the first documented sin, right? When they confirmed their doubt and mistrust by eating a fruit that w...