E5 | Who Is Jesus? (Part 3) | Eternal Life, First Love & Intimacy

Welcome to Episode 5 of the LightUK Podcast. This is the final part of our Who Is Jesus? series.

In this episode, we explore some of the deepest truths about Jesus — not only as Saviour, but as the Author of Eternal Life, our First Love, and our closest Friend.

We talk about:

• What eternal life really means
• Living in resurrection power now
• The assurance of salvation
• The love of God that cannot be broken
• Spiritual warfare and the lies of the enemy
• How Jesus walks with us through suffering
• What intimacy with God looks like
• Personal encounters with God
• Why there is always more in Him

If you’ve ever questioned God’s love, struggled through difficult seasons, or wondered whether God really wants closeness with you — this episode is for you.

Book mentioned: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Captivating-John-Eldredge/dp/0785289097/ref=sr_1_1?crid=21CMVC0DANZ8P&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.-2xsoJSUZKPMKymAKphXLS21s_9XPYl2ED5X4jw3VDY852tbwo5MdbIEjm2wyd1qhsyIpPQaFV3wcy1xmwXRNALB7bohbLkuu4CLXyyBmIpinGtNFsB2Q4Q7i0WZTIFsQToJZySvSyuu8l1qBC_zfEpz6NoevPzFco1Uua75b5B7n9fetrDBgg-sOq5ewp7An-8jEAuYnZZUojaKWHrZZOCe60Qb8XD6UmEF59tp5uY.XctJ4625ad5sPxd_2emEt8k_qN4925xCNcJLflfqqRs&dib_tag=se&keywords=captivating+john&qid=1782318506&s=books&sprefix=captiviting+john+%2Cstripbooks%2C327&sr=1-1

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome everybody. My name is Josh.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

And my name is Sarah Pontier, and this is the Light UK Podcast. Welcome back, guys, to our another episode of Who is Jesus? We are so excited about this series, darling. How was it for you the last time, the last two episodes that we've done and the last few recordings?

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Yeah, welcome guys. Welcome to another episode. And yeah, I think it's um I really enjoyed it to be honest. Um I think it's great. I think we're learning to work together, but I think it's also we just love talking about Jesus, don't we? We have so much fun when we're talking about Jesus. He's everything into everything.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

So, guys, we're gonna continue talking about who is Jesus. And um, we've had many, many I am statements, haven't we? We've talked about who Jesus said he was, what the Bible says he was, and uh Josh, before we start, would you please pray for us? Yeah, stop. Let's just quickly pray.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Father, we just invite you in. Will you come and speak through us? Will you come and touch our hearts and every heart that is listening and help us to know you and to know you more in our relationship with you in Jesus' name, amen.

Jesus: Author of Eternal Life

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Amen. So we're gonna talk about um, babe, how Jesus is the author of eternal life. This is big, this is huge. Um, many people um, you know, maybe they feel like eternal life is after when you die. They don't re we don't we don't realize that we can have eternal life now. So Hebrews 5 9 um says, and he completed experience, making him perfectly equipped. He became the author and the source of eternal salvation to all those who heed and obey him. Obviously, that heeding we know is the gospel. We know that Jesus came to give us eternal life. John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 1 John 11 25 says, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. Isn't that incredible? What'd you think about that, babe? The resurrection and the life.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Yeah, I mean, we've touched on this a bit in the last couple of episodes and stuff, but he's the bread of our life, as we spoke about in the the the previous episode. He's you know, he's our food, isn't it? We spoke about him being the manner of our life, and so yeah, it's just that uh reassuring us that in a sense he is our life, he has to be our life.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Um and it's and it's wonderful because you know, I know that obviously we're all gonna in this world it in this world that our natural lives will end, you know. But he's saying, in spite of that, he's a resurrection and the life, meaning that we can we're gonna have eternal life with Jesus. It means that we, when you're when you're born again, you have the life of God in you, you have the resurrection power and life in you, and that means that we don't have to do life alone. Because the life of God of uh uh the life of God, what am I trying to say? The life of God is superior to the normal life, meaning we can with God and the life that He's given us, we can go through things maybe that that's why you know people can look at you and say, Wow Josh, you're going through such a hard time. How come you're so calm? Or how come you can't you're you're you know you're not anxious, it's because you've got the life of God in you, you've got the Holy Spirit working in you. Um and Colossians 3, 3 to 4 says, You died and your life is hidden with Christ. When Christ, who is your life, appears, you will also appear with him in glory. It's wonderful, it's wonderful because we know, darling, that when we become born again, when Christ died, we died with him. And that's uh Dr. Ebodimina calls that identification where you identify with what he did to claim what what you have, and we're able to now say Christ is our life, and don't you feel like this gives people the assurance of their salvation?

SPEAKER_01 4:17

I think it you know it is, it's you know, people often can think the gospel is in the sense it's of course it's forgiveness for sins and it's eternal life, and you know, absolutely, one day we will go and be with Jesus, yeah, we will go to heaven and we'll see him in all his glory. But actually, as you say, in it says, I think the part that I'm picking up from you is when Christ, who is your life, you know, there's a there's a life that God has for us while we're on this earth, yeah. You know, the the victory that he had over sin, he overcame death, he overcame sin, and we get to share that victory. We do, we get to live in that victory and that freedom and all that God has accomplished from when he rose from the dead. Yeah, we get to share in that, yeah, and that's the life that I think so many people miss. There's so much to that, and there's so many depths to that, and as you say, there's like it's almost like an onion into the amount of you peel it and peel it and you keep getting more and more layers, and that's almost like the the gospel, isn't it? There's so many different layers to it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Yeah, and I think it's wonderful, and I think you know, we want to encourage if you have given your heart to Jesus and you've surrendered your life to him, you know, you have more than your sins forgiven, you have eternal life. We're trying to say that in Jesus there's eternal life, not just life after we die, where we're gonna live with him gloriously. In fact, I'm gonna be preaching soon, honey, on um the feast of the tabernacle. And in that, we talked about how in the olden days in the Israelites the the the the God lived in a physical tabernacle, his presence was in a physical tabernacle, and then it then we talk about how God then became flesh through Jesus and how we're looking forward to the life that we're gonna have with him when he comes and takes us home. What a glorious day that will be.

Christ Our First Love

SPEAKER_01 6:13

I mean, come on, I can't, and my wife told me off for saying this a little bit, but what a glorious day it will be to go and be with Jesus. My goodness, I can't wait to see him in his glory with his holes in his hands. Holes in his hands. He says you'll see his holes in his hands and his holes in his feet as a sign of what um you know what he did to us. Um and this takes us on to our next point. I'm gonna be Christ is our first love, yeah, and he loves us. In John 15, verse 13, it says, Greater love has no one than this than someone lay down his life for his friends. And that is the gospel, that's what Jesus did, isn't it? He came and it's the greatest gift that any well, it's the greatest gift that God the world has ever seen. He gave this to humanity, even when we didn't want him or we rejected him, yeah. He laid down his life so that we can know him, yeah, that we can have eternal life with him, so that we can live the life that he wants for us.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, and he loves us, you know. He I think a lot sometimes a lot of people, maybe in in the religion, when we think about religion, we think God, God just had pity on us. You know, he he he had to just save us puny, horrible. No. Uh one of the one of the statements that the Holy Spirit gave me is Jesus didn't want eternity without me. Isn't that and he doesn't want eternity without you? And so out of love, Joshua loved me, so he proposed to me and he married me. Jesus loves you, and he the Bible, you know, actually in Jeremiah it says how I have loved you with an everlasting love and I have drawn you with loving kindness. He's always loved you, he will always love you, but he can't force himself on us, can he? No, and so he loves us, he's our first love. Love comes from God, doesn't it, darling? Yeah, maybe we should talk more about that. How God is our first love.

Struggles with God’s Love

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

I mean, I mean, for example, with me and you, we love each other, but obviously we know that God's love flows through our marriage, and that's what helps us, number one, to continue loving each other, but number two, because we we know the love of God, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Yeah, well, God it says God is love, doesn't it? It says He is love, and as Sarah just said, He gives us the capacity to love. And in a sense, if you want to be the wife that God's called you to be, or the husband that he's called you to be, or the friend, or whatever it is, the mother, the father, the colleague if you want to love and be that person, then that has to stem from our relationship with Jesus. We can't love the way that God wants us to without God, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

So, so what about those people that you know um we meet people, lovely people that we love who tell us, you know, well, this has happened to me, I don't feel like God loves me, or I haven't seen my life change, so God does uh doesn't love me. What would you say to people like that? Because you know, even we sometimes can be tempted to feel like that, but what helps us to get through those doubts about God's love?

SPEAKER_01 9:24

I think yes, life can be certainly challenging, you know. We can go through different trials, sometimes we can go through waiting periods, you know, where we're waiting for God to answer our prayers, or we're praying for something and it doesn't seem to be happening, or yeah, we can face challenges with it could be sickness, illness, losing loved ones, you know. Life is not always easy, and we're not going to pretend it is, you know, there are many different challenges and trials, but what I would say is I think it's going back to the gospel and uh looking at the cross, isn't it? Go looking at the cross, you know, we live in a sinful world, yeah, and we know that there's lots of pain and there's lots of suffering as well as lots of joy and happiness, but at the same time, we have to remind ourselves of the cross because that ultimately that's the greatest gift. And this life is temporary, isn't it? It is this life, everything's gonna fade away in this life. All the money we acquire, all the materialistic possessions, you know, our our health and our bodies is all gonna fade away. But yet the one thing that will remain is our relationship with Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

And that's what Romans, Romans is amazing. Romans eight thirty-five says that. Do you want to read it or shall I read it?

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Yeah, no, I'll read it. Yeah, it's a great uh great passage. It says Romans 8 verse 35, it says, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger of sword? As it is written, For your sake we shall face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Now, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, for I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What do you think of that, darling?

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Do you

Personal Testimony: Anxiety & Scripture

SPEAKER_00 11:35

know as you're reading it, this scripture, um, my husband knows that before we met in 2019, I went through a very hard time, a very, very difficult time. And actually, darling, God showed me the scripture to get me through it because the enemy will lie to us. The enemy will lie to people with depression or with anxiety or just even people that don't have that. You're not loved, you don't matter, you're not significant. Um, the you know, that and I remember God used this scripture and said, Sarah, what can separate me from your love? Like, think about it. I am God, what can separate me from your love, you know? And I remember meditating on the scripture, you know, because of the some of the challenges I was going through with when I was very anxious and the enemy was lying to me and feeding me lies, and the only thing that could that was true was the word of God because everything else was kind of like um crumbling, and just knowing that nothing can separate me from God's love made me realize that there's nothing that the enemy can throw at me that I cannot overcome. And I think one of the practical ways of bringing this scripture to life is in real time saying nothing can separate me from the love of God, and the fact that it says we are more than conquerors, that's beautiful. So for me, it means a lot because it reminds me that God has my back, and so he's actually asking us, Are you gonna trust in my love? Are you gonna trust that nothing can come against me?

SPEAKER_01 12:57

And I think that's brilliant, um, what you're saying, but you know, we also have to remember that yes, we will face challenges and trials on this earth, but also the devil is a very very present person, well, figure, isn't he? He and we have to remember that the devil cannot stand humanity because we are God's prized possessions. Every single one of us, it says we were created in the image of God, and so we know the devil got thrown out of heaven, and so he he can't stand us, he wants to attack everything that's closest to God, everything that's precious to God, and so he wants to come and make us take our eyes off God and that he uses suffering or he uses challenges and pain, and he wants people to think, Well, God's forgot about me, or you know, God doesn't love me. And you know, often these are lies from the devil where he comes and he whispers in your ear saying, Oh, look, where's God now? Where's God now in the midst of that challenge? Where's God now? Why isn't he helping you? You know, why isn't it why where is he? And you know, the devil comes with his little lies, and they're often so subtle that sometimes we don't even recognise them as the lies of the enemy, you know, and and that's where it's so important that we have to learn what's God's voice and what's from God and what's not from God. Yeah, and we also have to learn what's our flesh, you know, and what's what that you know, we have to learn and recognize. And that's why it's so important that we learn to take thoughts captive, isn't it? Yeah, because when we dwell on those thoughts, when we dwell on what's not from God, or we listen to those lies, it can, you know, it can almost take get a hold of us, can't it? It can take and it and the devil wants to steal our peace. He wants to steal our peace.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

He wants

Overcoming Through Christ

SPEAKER_00 14:43

to steal our joy, he wants us to, he wants us to believe his lies, darling, to hurt the heart of God. Yes. If a Christian is leaving is living a mediocre, defeated life, then you know, God doesn't, that's not what Jesus died for.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

No He wants to steal our union with Christ. And when He steals our union, he wants the way that He does that is through the challenges. But it says, look, shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger of sword. What that's saying that that's not saying that when we come to Christ we're not going to face challenges. This is where some people get it wrong. They think, oh, well, if I give my life to Jesus, everything will be okay, and you know, life will be great. Yes, God will, you know, sometimes bless us and he protects us and in different ways. And you know, God's with us. He's a good father, he's a good father, but that doesn't mean that we won't face different challenges. That means won't mean that we won't face He is still with us and He walks through us in those challenges. He holds our hands. I love it. Yeah, he holds our hands through the challenges and he's with us on the good days and the bad days.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

He's with us,

Honest Gospel: Trials Still Come

SPEAKER_00 15:56

and I think that's why it's so important. I think a lot of people, you know, darling, I'm gonna I'm just gonna riff a little bit on um maybe like I I think a lot of people, maybe we we as evangelists or as people that want people to know God, you know, we can be tempted to dress up the gospel. As in like to bring people, you know, or there's a temptation, maybe we don't do it, but there's a temptation to dress up the gospel in a sense that God's gonna do everything for you, every the world is great, you know. He wants and then we forget to tell people that they'll still have challenges because Jesus said, in this world, you will have tribulation. Cheer up, I have overcome the world. Jesus never said we won't have challenges, and so that gospel that tells you that all your challenges are gonna be gone, it's just not true. However, he is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Oh, come on, and he's with us in those challenges. That's why in um in Psalms he talks about how even though I walk through the deepest valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. Why? Because you're with me. And so just to encourage somebody out there, maybe you're disappointed that you feel like God didn't come through, or there's something that you wanted and it didn't quite happen. Number one, God cares about that. He cares about your heart, he cares about how you're feeling. Number two, take it to God and talk to him about it. He God is not intimidated by our feelings, is he, darling? Oh, it's nothing we cannot tell him. And then number three, trust God and know that at the right time and in the right way things will align. But he loves you and he's with you. And nothing, do not let do not let anything separate you from the love of God, as Romans 8 says, right? Yeah, and it's just wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Yeah, no, it's it's great.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

And and before you go on, darling, there's something I wanted to mention about um, it says here, um, I feel like I want to talk to people, maybe there's somebody out there, and the enemy is convincing you to take your life. And I just want to encourage you not to do that, that that's not what God created you for. God created you to live, you know. Um, in fact, the devil in fact, Jesus has defeated death, sin, and the grave, right? And he gave you a life to breathe, to live, you know. And so I just want to encourage you that yes, God loves you, but I just to encourage you not to take your life. You are valuable, you are important, and there's more that God has for you than what the enemy is telling you is is is that is all that you've got. So yeah, I just wanted to encourage someone with that.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Wow, yeah, God, yeah, and this is where you know, again, we've spoken about the lies of the enemy. They're lies of the enemy. God wants to steal. I mean, the devil wants to steal the life that God has for you. Yeah, He wants to destroy your life, He wants to make you feel alone and abandoned, yeah. And doubt life, and He wants to, as we've said, He wants to steal your peace, He wants to steal your joy. And so just even just going off what Sarah said, turn to Jesus, you know, ask him to help you, you know, but seek him.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Darling, what about I think I wanted to ask you our final point, and I think we're gonna spend some time here, is God or the Father is our intimate friend, Jesus is our intimate friend. What does that mean to you as a Christian, not as a preacher, but as a Christian who was born again, who became born again?

God as Intimate Friend (Introduction)

SPEAKER_01 19:20

I think for me, when I think about God being an intimate friend to us, is he loves to be a part of every aspect of our life. And so with that is he loves to speak to us. He loves he's a present God, he's not a God who we just you know meet with occasionally or talk to occasionally, but he's a God who loves to speak to us while we're at work, and I remember, you know, even to like to summarize this point, there's been times when I've been maybe at work and I've been struggling to do something or whatever, and maybe sometimes I start getting stressed or I've started thinking crikey, like how do I sort this out? Yeah. But then God comes and then I'll pray to God and I'll say, Father, how do I, you know, what how do I fix this problem? And it's amazing that often, very quickly, within a minute or two, it sorts itself out, you know what I mean? And it's something so amazing, and that shows you the intimacy that God loves to be a part of the details, He loves to help us in our jobs, He loves to help us with every aspect, yeah. And and so that's one part for me that I think really I just love the simplicity of that.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

No, I think that's great, and I think for me it's God is our intimate friend. Do you know? I think I just just the beauty and the humility of that for God to be friends to human and the fact that that's his desire, it's what he wants. And and and man, like I remember when uh in my earlier walk, God is so faithful. Just imagine, like, God walks with us through everything we've ever been through. Yeah, everything we've ever been through. He doesn't leave us, he doesn't forsake us, he goes through everything with us. I I mean I haven't had friends like that.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Well, no, and that's that's that's the beautiful thing about our our relationship with God is you know, you're amazing, don't get me wrong. And you know, I'm sure you would say, I hope you'd say that I'm amazing as well. But the reality is we're human, aren't we? We get things wrong, yeah, we make mistakes, we don't always do what we say we're gonna do, or we don't act the way that we should. But yet the reality is Jesus is perfect. He cannot lie, isn't he? He cannot lie, and so humble and that's the beautiful thing about it. Friends can let each other down. Husband and wife can let each other down, family can let each other down, but yet God never let us down. He's faithful, and he'll be faithful to other. Very end.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

To the very end. And I think what I love most about God being our intimate friend is that he understands that okay, me and you could have like a disagreement. He understands where you're coming from, he understands where I'm coming from, and yet he's able to bring his righteousness in a situation. Do you get what I mean? He's not biased towards one person or the other. As of course, if I'm wrong, he'll tell me I'm wrong. I'm not saying that God does correct us. You know, we we both know that. He doesn't condemn us, but he corrects us. But I love how he he cares about how we feel, and he helps us to walk in his righteousness to find the right way. And so for me, God being my intimate friend is that he has helped me, he has walked with me when I have felt alone, when no one could, no one because sometimes there are things that are so deep only God can know.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

Yes. And so I would want to ask you a question. If you had to describe one aspect of your relationship with Jesus and on when you think about obviously him as an intimate friend, maybe one thing specifically, yeah. What maybe would that what maybe what example could you give us?

SPEAKER_00 23:11

Oh,

Intimacy with God: Personal Encounters

SPEAKER_00 23:12

we're now moving into deep, deep things. Um, the word that came to me, people okay. Now people I people might push back on what I'm gonna say, but I'll say what Stacey Eldritch says, he's a romancer, and now I'll explain that as a woman. Please don't the Bible does not say God is a romancer, but I would say things in my earlier walks with the Lord. I remember one day I was walking and um I love the sky and I love sunsets and sunrise. And um I asked the Lord, Lord, why don't you my why don't you paint the colour uh the sky a brightish orangey colour? Because I I would wake up in the morning to go to work and I would always like want to observe the sun's sunrise. And I rem and I might even put this in the show notes and show it in the video. The Lord I I was leaving my house and the sky was bright orange. It was just beautiful. So for me, he he in my earlier walks, one of the one of the ways I would know him that okay, he would maybe maybe the word is he'll move my heart. He did things that were just for me. Yeah, and I think God wants to do things that are just for you, but are you are you asking him to and are you aware of what he's doing for you? And there are many, many other other ones I I would love to give you. And one day Dalemino would do a proper like intimacy podcast on here where we'll go into different levels of intimacy, different depths. Another another occasion was I was walking and I was going for a tough time and I was walking to the train station, and honestly, I was in the driest area ever. Um, and for some reason at this station there was this long white rose just in the middle, just out of nowhere, it was just there, and I knew that I was the Lord saying to me, I know you, I'm I'm paying attention to you because I love flowers, I've got you. And so for me, the Lord moving my heart in that way, um the intimacy people will understand what I mean by that. I I don't want people to come at me and say, Where does it say that God is a romancer? I understand it's not in the butt, it's not, you know, it's just another is how I it's how his heart moves my heart and how he yeah.

God’s Sense of Humour

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Well, what you're saying, there's there's different sides, different sides to God in a sense. God deals with people differently. Yeah, you know, God knows exactly what Sarah needs, God knows exactly what I need. And you know, even when when I another aspect of God that I sometimes think about as relationship, uh God has a sense of humour. You know, God has a sense of humour. He does. And you know, that's what we've got to remember. Every personality is very different. You know, some people some people um will cry before the Lord and they will just cry. My wife is quite a bit of a cry. I hope she doesn't mind me to say that. Often she sometimes starts crying when she's just in church or when she's just spending time with the Lord. For me, I don't really cry much, I'll be honest. Um unless the Lord really gets a hold of me sometimes. But for even going anyway, going back to the um the aspect of God, the aspect of God, and he has a sense of humour. Just to give you an example of that, I remember there was a time when I was this was near the start of my relationship with God, and I was learning to hear the voice of God. And I remember once I prayed and I said, Lord, what time is it? And he said, and I got the voice, a hurt uh thought in my head, like it's 1158. And then I remember like I was almost a bit shocked that I'd got God that I'd got an answer. So I almost I questioned it and I said, God, what time is it? He said, 1158, and I was shocked that you know God was speaking to me. And so, and then I heard the the the voice said to me, like, well, look at the time then. So I looked at the time and it was 1159, and then I heard the voice of God say, It was 1158, but because you doubted me and kept doubting me, now it's 1159, and I just remember that's the sense of humor. Like, God loves to play with us, and I can and you know, in other in other episodes when we go more in depth about the intimacy of God and stuff, I will give you other examples, but God loves to have to laugh, you know. Laughter is from God, yeah. Joy is from God. You know, there's many scriptures where it says the joy of the Lord is our strength.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Well,

Beauty, Creation & Encountering God

SPEAKER_00 27:24

and also even I was even defending my stance with saying God is a romancer, but when you look at when you look at the planet and when you look at flowers and you look at the sky and you look at beauty, how can you not say that God is not trying to get humanity's attention? Do you know what I mean? Um, and and and he's so he's so you know, I want to use so many words, but he's so wonderful like that. And so that that is just something that we're that I think people have to you have to experience it yourself. And I think I want to recommend uh a book that I think really for me confirmed my relationship with the Lord and inspired me to move deeper is Captivating by John and Stelse Eldridge. It's an incredible book that just makes you realise oh my, there's so much more that I can receive from the Lord than what I'm getting right now. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Yeah, yeah. No, and so I think we'll do more episodes on that. You know, we'll we're obviously we're gonna go a lot, we'll go deeper into this and and that. But I would encourage you that this as we've said before, there's so much more to God, yeah, there's so many different layers to him, you know, there's new sides of his face that you've not seen or that we've not seen, you know. And so I want to encourage us and even ourselves, go deeper in God, yeah, you know, say, God, show me your glory, show me who you are. I remember the other day I was spending time with the Lord in my room, and I was saying, God, show me your glory, show me your glory, and I ended up having an amazing encounter with the Lord. He really did show me his glory. And, you know, as you know, when we're hungry for God, when we want him, you know, when we seek him, yeah, he loves to reveal himself to us, he loves to, in a sense, woo us and show us, that's the word show himself to us, and whether that's through having a a laugh, make having a laugh and a joke with us, filling us with joy, or whether that's throwing us a sunset, showing us a sunset, or whether that's just showing us some beautiful flowers. Let's be honest, we were made to enjoy creation, we were made to joy enjoy nature, yeah. You know, the Garden of Eden was well, flowers and trees and and you know it says But why do we struggle?

SPEAKER_00 29:44

So, Darley,

Why People Struggle with Intimacy

SPEAKER_00 29:45

I this is good. I think we need to go a bit deeper. So, why do people struggle with when we say things like this? Why do you think some people struggle with this kind of intimacy?

SPEAKER_01 29:56

I think because sometimes it's not spoken about enough. No, I think sometimes it's not spoken about enough. You don't necessarily always hear it being spoken about in churches. No, I think sometimes we you know we can get caught up in going to church or you know, going to conferences, or and or listen even listening to preachers, or even evangelizing or serving the Lord in different ways, but yet we can miss our into the intimacy with God. You know, the reality is everything that we do has to flow from a place of intimacy with God. Our first love, that is the first commandment, isn't it? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, and your soul. Yeah, and so that has to, that is our number one priority and in in our lives is to protect our relationship with God.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Yeah, absolutely. And it's like, I think what I've also realized that sometimes human beings, we want to decide how to have a relationship with God. Whereas actually, if we just allow him to have a relationship with us, and I think that's why we have men of God that are that or women and men of God that are like phenomenon, right, right, right? As in like the the standout, think of people like Catherine Coleman or um people that yeah, people that have had major encounters with God. Guys, you know, of course they're special, and of course that's a calling on their life, but also I actually I'm starting to believe that it's because okay, Eric Gilmore, you know, he's a man of God that loves Jesus. I'm starting to think that perhaps it's not so much that these people are special as like God has choosing them for these miraculous things as to how much they are willing to believe that God wants to encounter them and touch them.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Yeah,

Closing Thoughts & Invitation

SPEAKER_01 31:41

yeah, no God.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

And um, we won't continue, we'll stop it there. Yeah, but um, we love you guys, and we hope that you've enjoyed this last kind of like uh end to our series. We'll definitely go deeper into all of those that we've talked about. We just wanted to share a little bit about who is Jesus. And if this has inspired you, maybe you've received Jesus as your Lord and Savior when you've been listening to this pod this this series. Write to us and uh we'll send more resources to you. Maybe recommend a church close to you. We know friends in London, don't we? Friends in Birmingham, different friends that you we can put you in touch with that will um point you in the right direction. So, yeah, that is uh that is it from us. So maybe George, you can pray for us and then we we go.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Yeah, well, Father, we just thank you for uh these podcasts, and we just pray that you'll take us all deeper in our relationship with you. Yeah, that you will show us new sides of your glory, new sides of your face. Yes, God. And so, yeah, we just thank you for all that you're you've done and all that you're doing in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, bless you guys. Take care, thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Bye.