Christlikeness/Santification

In this episode, we discuss what it means to sanctify as we walk in faith growing into the fullness of Christ until we are sanctified with Him and bringing us closer into our relationships with Him. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

All right, welcome back to another episode of Body in Christ Podcast. Today we're gonna kind of go over where where we left off. We went over what it means to truly believe in God, went over our testimony, but like, where do we start on this walk with God? Like, what's what's the goal? What does it mean to bear your cross daily? And like, why me? Like, how do I know this is for me? And the truth is, God wanted a relationship with you from the start. The Lord wanted to be with you from the beginning before the earth was created. In Ephesians 1:4, it says, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, he chose to give us life in him from the start. And God's weakness and his love for us, Jesus laid down his life so we may live with him in eternity. And the question is since God died for us, like do we choose to live with him in that same sense? And I kind of want to get started with John 3 5, then where Nicodemus is talking to Jesus on a rooftop somewhere, and Jesus says, Truly, truly I say to you, unless you are born of water and spirit, then you cannot enter the kingdom of God. And like, what does this mean truly? Like, what does it mean to be reborn? And I'm just gonna kind of go over these points, just get started and like build a basis of what we're gonna be talking about. But Matthew 6, 33, but seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. And then Jesus also talks about childlike faith. Unless you act like this child, you will not enter the kingdom of God. And excuse me. And why are all these things important? Like what do they mean? What does it be m mean to be born of water and spirit to enter the kingdom of God? And the truth is we when we give our life to Christ, we are a new creation, we are a new being, and we are like him in nature. We inherit his divine nature and his life. But it is our goal in this walk with him to walk towards sanctification, his Christ-likeness, and then in the end, when we meet up with him again, he will absolve us fully in him. And what do you have to add on? Like, what does it mean to be righteous in Jesus Christ?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Yeah, absolutely. Very well said. Great introduction to kind of give a great broad overview of realistically kind of diving into the details of this topic. And what I always find very fascinating about that John chapter three passage is Nicodemus, as you're kind of reading that passage, as you kind of like follow the conversation back and forth between Nicodemus and Jesus. Now, Nicodemus is a Pharisee, he's a religious leader of the time 2,000 years ago, who studies literally scripture, scripture that prophesies Jesus' coming and everything he's going to do in advance, like 300 prophecies that he fulfills. Nicodemus is so intrigued. He has questions for Jesus. And as Jesus is explaining some of these things, like my brother here is explaining the born again of water and spirit. Nicodemus still has questions. So I just want to encourage you right now as a listener, like if you're going through this walk, if you're reading the Bible, if you're kind of like going through day-to-day life trying to do this walk with Jesus and you have questions, that usually means you're in a good spot. Because this is a never like ending, like you're never gonna know it all. You we always are called to go back to the father because we're gonna have questions. The second we kind of stop asking questions, think we kind of have it all figured out, is usually when we're kind of stalled or in a kind of like a stalemate. So the fact that don't get discouraged if you have questions. I just want to really point that out right now. Do not get discouraged if you have questions. It usually means you're in a good place because you're seeking the father's will and his understanding, right? And what I kind of want to dive into again, my brother has stated a very clear point. Like when we believe, right, we are a new creation. We are a new creation, not of the flesh, but of the Holy Spirit. We have engaged to us. And I just want to kind of go over a verse here real quick of some of the depth of what that means. And if you got the Bible with you right now, kind of take it, take a moment to kind of flip to Romans 8 here. And Romans 8, I'm kind of just gonna read some scripture here of the heirs with Christ passage, which is a really powerful title within itself, like heirs with Christ. Let that sink in for a moment. Heirs with Christ when you believe in him, right? And I just kind of want to summarize, you know, 8, 12 right now, where it kind of says, so then, brothers, we are debtors, of course, to our sin, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. We're not in debt to the flesh to live according to the flesh, right? For if you live according to the flesh, you'll die, because wages of sin is death, right? That's been said a couple times in scripture. But for those, I'm kind of skipping forward a little bit, for those who are led by the spirit of God are sons and daughters of God. Like those who are led by the Spirit, the Spirit that we are gifted for free from God, are called sons, and then unanimous with daughters of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery, which is like slavery to sin, to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, because God is now our father. And I just really want to kind of break that down. That is so powerful, like in this context, right? Because if you go back to the Hebrew adoption laws, because again, we are now adopted by God as our father, and we are his sons and daughters of God. In the old Hebrew like laws, like when this was written, if there was an orphan that did not have a home, that did not have a family, that did not have like a place to kind of always go back to, to be rooted in, right? If a family would adopt that child, their inheritance rights were so firm and so rooted in the Hebrew tradition that nothing could shake it, nothing could override it, nothing could shake it, nothing could counterfeit it, nothing. So if you were adopted in the Hebrew tradition, everything that that family had, you would inherit, even if it was even by blood, you would inherit it. And that is what this scripture is saying about you. When you believe in Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, you inherit everything that comes with him, and everything that comes with him is all good. Like I just want to really just have a sit on that. Like, that is how important you are to him. And I just kind of want to tie that right into uh my brother's next point here. Um, you also had something in Romans, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Yeah, and like a couple of points to piggyback off what you just said. I mean, we are now justified through Jesus Christ. Like, like I said, we inherit his life and we are righteous through how he lived, not from anything we do. But but Paul says like a couple things. One, about judging the people outside of the church, they do not have the Holy Spirit within them, so they are not of us in a sense. But through our Christ-likeness and how we develop in Christ, they will see the difference in us. But on the flip side, in Romans 6, it says, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin? That grace may be abound? By no means. How many sorry, how can we who died to sin still live in it? And that's what separates us, but we cannot do it on our own accord. Obviously, that's what made us fall in the first place, but by the grace of God, the free gift of grace given to us, and to pray that He takes those things away because we are now dead in them. We have the power to overcome sin as long as we use God to guide us. I mean, that goes with anger, that goes with addiction, that goes with anything that's that's suffocating you in this life and steering you away toward from God. Because we are called to live up to the standard, which is Christ. It's an impossible standard. So we need the Holy Spirit to guide us on that path. And like, what does it mean to like truly be born again? And now that we are born again in Christ, we are called to be holy, to be the salt and the light of the world, like I just said, to guide people on that path through the change in us through Christ. But the only way we can accomplish that again is by the grace. Because yeah, I mean, the the truth is we were all dead in this world, dead to ourselves. I could only speak for myself, but I had no purpose. I thought I did, you know, I thought I had goals, I thought, but I mean, at the end of the day, it was just an empty tomb that I was walking towards. And like I just knew there was more to life. And and that's what I mean by we are not of this world anymore. We are different. Not because we are better, because in the end, we are all sinners, whether we're in the church or not, but we now have God in us, and he is what makes us good, he is what makes us righteous. Not by me, not by my works, but only by Jesus Christ who lives within me. And now that he is with me, he grows within me, he grows within my spirit. But this is kind of what Paul talks about in his letters, but I'll get into that in a little bit. But this is I mean, what all actually all Paul's letters kind of get into, where he says, Christ is all and in all. We are the temple of God, we are his holy sanctuary. I mean, you wouldn't go into the church and graffiti it, so why do we do that to our own bodies? We we end up binding up God who lives within us and suppressing him when we have the power to let him grow in the fullness of us. And that's again how we're measured. That's how we are judged by the fullness of Christ we let grow in us, is how we shall be judged. And if we died with Christ, then we may also live with Christ. And if we live with Christ, then we shall be resurrected with Christ. And then what's that verse again, Jesse? Yep, Romans 6.8 and again now Romans 6.8. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. I mean, amen to that.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Amen. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Um, do you have anything to add on to that point?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yeah, yeah, love this talking point because once uh once this is kind of like gathered and like honestly read and applied and understood, it is some powerful stuff. And what I really like to kind of look back on here as I read this for the first time or two, is again one of Paul's writings right in Romans. It's again in chapter three. If we can grab your Bible, kind of go there and kind of read along with it. I'm gonna kind of summarize it, but it's the passage of the righteousness of God through faith. And it's Romans 3, 21 through 31. And basically, as I'm kind of summarizing it, it's saying that God shows his righteousness, right, by completing the law through love. Yes, the law like bear witness about God through like the prophets and like the believers, but it ultimately also shows you that like if you try to do this, as my brother's been saying, without the Holy Spirit, without God, try to do this on your own, it ain't gonna work. Like it also shows in there, too, we all fall short of the glory of God. Like every single person, verse 23 here, we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. However, through the righteousness of God and through his grace, which is a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, we are saved. We are redeemed, we are pulled out of that sinful nature, out of that fleshly desire to walk in the Holy Spirit. And that righteousness of God through faith, because he loves us so much, is now imputed and accredited to us for free via the Holy Spirit. And again, just like my brother was saying, to walk in the ways of the Lord, for his ways are better, they lead to life. And as we're kind of you know reading through this passage and kind of summarizing it, I know one of my first questions is like, Well, what is righteousness? And like, what is unrighteousness? Yeah, so like I'm not really sure if uh that's kind of like some questions that are kind of sparking right now as you're listening, but like that was one question I had. Like, hey, I'll admit it. I I definitely was there. Kind of was like, What's righteousness? And like, what what is like am I doing something that's unrighteous? You know, it's very natural to have those kind of questions, and I'm gonna kind of break it down from my own personal experiences. Our unrighteousness is doing things like outside the will of God, right? And knowing what the will of God is is just getting to know him through the scripture. I know we've said that a few times in this uh podcast, but it's just very important to kind of implement that. And then righteousness is honestly taking a step back, slowing down, kind of living day by day, kind of letting go, right? Like we don't have to control everything. God is sovereign. And just like being led by the Holy Spirit, that again, through this passage, is a free gift of grace, so that we don't have to continue living in the ways that led us to the turmoil, right? And that kind of like is one distinction that really kind of um opened my eyes to it and helped me kind of sanctify with that righteousness that he's imputing to all of our accounts just by believing in him. And the more we think on that, the more we will believe that, truly believe that about yourself. Like I want you to take a second, truly believe that you are righteous through Christ by faith in him, that you don't need to go back to those flushed desires. It is not who you are anymore. You're born again, you're a new creation. Yep, that ain't you. All those temptations that you're faced with, nope, you are righteous through Christ. You speak that about yourself, and I'm telling you it will help. I'm telling you it will help.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Yeah, I mean, great points. And I think it's important that us as believers need to start kind of seeing ourselves as Christ sees us. We are sanctified as we sanctify because to Jesus Christ, he only sees us as perfect in his eyes, as as we are absolved when we meet him, like in the end or the beginning, whatever you want to call it. But I mean, that's how we need to see ourselves as perfect. No matter how far we become like go on that path, we are perfect to him. But that's also how we should start seeing others as Jesus sees them, perfect, whether they haven't even started their walk with Christ, or they're going through hard times, regardless, or if they hurt you, and that's one of the ways, the most common ways I use the gift of God's grace is God, like I have a problem with this person, I'm angry at this person. Give me grace to change my heart so I could see that person as you see them because you love that person. So help me feel that love for them. And that changes kind of everything. But on this walk with Jesus Christ, I mean, we are growing into something that's not from this world, I guess to say, something holier. And this is kind of what Paul says in Galatians 4.19 my little children for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. And like those birth pains is that person growing into the fullness of Christ. I mean, because we are only righteous, like you said, through Christ. I mean, through Adam's disobedience, we inherited death, but by Christ's obedience, we again inherited life through him. And that we need to always remember that it's only through him that we are saved. But by his righteousness and his grace, we per we start performing good works, but only with him. Because anything outside of his will is not good at the end of the day. So you can do produce any good works without him. So can you make it to heaven if you're good? Well, if you weren't ever doing it with him, then it's not good.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Amen to that. Amen. Yeah, and I just kind of want to double back on everything we've kind of been summarizing about this righteousness topic, right? Like we're kind of diving into like the righteousness with sanctification because it truly helps break chains and break bondage and uproot bad seeds, really kind of applying this to your life. Because listen, this is what God is saying about you. Like, upon believing, this is what God is saying about you. This is why He did it for you. This is how this can be applicable to your life. And I just kind of want to go to 2 Corinthians real quick. I got two verses I really want to share that again, really helped me grow with him on this walk. And it's 2 Corinthians 5.21. And it's it's very straightforward, and I just I just love it. And it's for our sake, he made him to be sin. This is talking about Jesus on the cross, right? Jesus was a perfectly unblemished, no sin, no curses. But on the cross, for our sake, he did not have to do this, but he still chose to do it anyway out of love. This is how much he loves you right now. For our sake, he made him to be sin. He bore every sin, every curse that you did in the past, that you do in the future, that you did right now, he bore it all. He bore it all for you. He knew no sin. He didn't even know sin, but he still bore it for you. Listen, I know how heavy our burdens are for our own sin. He bore every single one. He took it all on for you, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That's why he did it. So he could live in you, he could dwell in you, you could sanctify with him, he could partnership with you. Again, heirs with Christ, right? And I love how this kind of ties into then 2 Corinthians 6 14. And it's I'll kind of dive into the whole passage, I'll kind of like spill a little bit into chapter 7, but it's like the end of chapter 6, beginning of chapter 7. I'm just gonna kind of go over some points, gonna kind of summarize it. So, since, again, upon believing in him, you have the imputed of God, this righteousness, right? It has been accredited to your account. So, what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Like what fellowship does light have with darkness? Right? Like, what agreement has the temple of God? God is dwelling in you, right? Upon believing, the Holy Spirit's in you. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. What agreement does the temple of God have with idols? You know, and hey, we all go through it, we've all been at a certain point in our life where, hey, I've been there myself. I I definitely got caught with idols, but I'm telling you right now, some of these scriptures really helped me overcome them. Like I am so serious. Reading the word, the word of God, of what he believes about me, what he believes about you, this is what breaks those chains. And truly believing this. And he says later in this passage, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I'll be their God, and they shall be my people. He's claiming you as his people. Like, how beautiful is that? And I just kind of love the beginning of chapter seven. Then so, since we have these promises, like again, promises from God, and God does not break promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of the body, the spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. And that fear of God is like, Lord, I'm so sorry for thinking my ways were better. Please forgive me, purify me, sanctify with me, forgive me, help. Me. Help me be more like you. I cannot do this alone. That's like that fear of God where you fear not doing it with him because his ways are so much better than our ways.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

It's kind of like that fear of God there. And and I mean, that's what lawlessness is. Lawlessness is doing things without kind of thinking, doing things because out of pride. Like, oh, I don't care what anybody thinks. I'm just gonna do whatever I want, you know, no remorse, no accountability, you know. Like, but that's that's not how God tells us to live. He tells us to live like you would do what you would do to others, what you would want them to do to you. Like, just out of love, right? Love others as you love yourself, right? And love God with all your heart, strength, mind, and soul. Like that's the first commandment, the second one. Love others the way you know, God loves them. I mean, just beautiful there. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Yeah, and like on the other end of that, a lot of us are just afraid of giving up our life and are afraid of kind of this walk which is because we are afraid we're gonna give up too much. I mean, but I mean, it it's a choice. God gave us a choice for a reason. Do you choose him or do you choose what you're afraid of giving up? I mean, people are afraid of their habits, people are afraid of their lifestyle, people are afraid that God's gonna lead them to something they don't want to do. You know, so whether it's like going out and drinking on the weekends and going out and gossiping and going out and doing all these things, I mean, yeah, you're afraid to give up those things, but then at the same time, you're afraid to give up anxiety, depression, sadness, and all these things that the that sin is connected to. Because that's what's in your life controlling you, controlling controlling those feelings, that pain within you, that sadness. And if you go to God with those things, He will take those things from you and replace them with something else. God only wants goodness for us. And the reason why Jesus died on that cross again is to have a relationship with with you, so there will be greatness within your life, because nobody could even comprehend or imagine the the goodness that God has for their lives and people that love him. And I mean, Matthew 16, 25 says, For whoever will save his life shall lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it. And that means if you're afraid to give up what you already don't have, the life you think you have to search for Jesus, you're going to lose your life anyway. But if you find him, you'll find who you truly are. Something you can't even comprehend. The greatness that he wants to do with you in this life, your calling for this life, your purpose. But if you don't seek him, you'll never find it.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Anything to add on to that? No, that's absolutely amazing. Absolutely amazing. And I think this is gonna tie on to a great kind of ending segment here where I'm gonna kind of uh share some real life examples of how a lot of these verses we just talked about here really helped me in my walk and kind of sanctify. Like so back when I got saved on January 20th uh of last year, and I just I died to my fleshy idols. I got my eyes opened to the truth, and truth set me free. Now, of course, I've battled with those temptations. I mean, the devil, the adversary, he wants to dim our light, he wants us to go back to who we once were. He does not want that, you know, righteousness to be applied to who we are. Like he's afraid of who are who you are to become in Christ. Like, I'm just gonna 100% say that right now. And I've battled with like memories of times ahead with it. I've battled with, you know, just temptations of like just to go one more time, go one more time. Or like, that wasn't that bad. You know, you can do it. Like, God will just forgive you after anyway. Like, I've battled with it. And honestly, applying a lot of these scriptures, like saying out loud, like, no, I am a new creation in Christ. I will not go back to the flesh. No, I am bought and paid for, and I'm a child of God. I inherit the kingdom. The kingdom is within me. I don't want nothing to do with my old self, you know. Like, I choose God, not my ways, your ways, Father. Like just saying some of these out loud, like some of these verses, like go back to some of these verses. If you're facing temptation, like in trials, I'm telling you, go back to some of these verses, say them out loud, and and watch the enemy flee. Like it truly, like the word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword, and that the enemy has to listen and he will flee. But how often do we not do that and just struggle? Like, we're not gonna win if we try to fight it on our own. We're just not gonna win. But when we give it to God, guaranteed victory.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Cross already won. And I don't know if you have any examples that where some of these verses really helped you.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

I mean, yeah, and I kind of go back to like what it says in Jeremiah, like before I formed you in the womb, I knew you the potter and the clay kind of thing. But like, as I'm growing in this walk, and we're not sanctified yet. I mean, we have a long way to go, but we grow every single day with Christ. We grow every single day among each other and helping each other grow in this walk. But like things like drinking, things like anger, things like unforgiveness, all things I needed God's grace to help me grow into. And I mean, it's it's kind of funny. I don't know if I went over this before, but it's like my spirit knew before my flesh could catch up to it. You know, like I'm like, oh, God's gonna give me to stop drinking, God's gonna get, and everyone's like, Well, you're still drinking. I'm like, watch. Like, God's gonna get rid of it. God's gonna get rid of it. That goes away. The anger. Like, same thing. I just kept saying it in my heart, saying it out loud because the mouth professes what the heart feels. So, like, as I know that's gonna happen, it's coming out. I'm praying to God constantly over it, and he's just wiping these things out of my life. I mean, some things take longer than others, some things take more time with him than others, but he wants to like squash it out. So sometimes you need that time, you need that secret place, you need you know, that prayer to overcome those things. But he wants a process, so not only will you overcome it, but you'll grow stronger from it, and then it won't become a problem in the future. So he wants to just eliminate it to make you stronger and maybe to even help others with the same problem.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Yes, yes, absolutely. There's one more testimony in a sense I actually kind of want to share that. Using these verses actually really helped. So, as you kind of learned in some of my testimony on part one, part two, like I got led by the Lord to quit my job. Straight up quit my job. I loved my job, loved the people I worked with. Honestly, I paid good. I had a really good schedule. Personally, felt like it was my calling at the time, but it was my feeling of the calling, not what the Lord called me to do. There's a that's the difference, like the lawlessness to the righteous, right? And I'm telling you, as you grow with this walk with Jesus, like you'll definitely feel led to be where the Lord wants you to be. You know, it's it's coming, it's it's happening right now. And I got led to to frame houses, something I never had any thought I'd ever do, had no resume for it, was a white-collar, you know, desk worker most of my life, you know, crunching numbers, you know, that customer service, you know, aspect. And now I'm all of a sudden out in elements building houses, like just in a flip of a switch. Now, believe me, I can relate to anybody who's listening who's like going through like, hey, God's calling me to do something I really don't want to do. Like, I'm just kind of like kind of resistant a little bit, you know. I'm kind of like, ah, do I really have to do it? I I can relate to you. I can relate to you. I'm telling you, just take that leap, just do it, because doing what you want to do, but the Lord not really being there is far worse than doing what you don't want to do, but the Lord being there with you. I mean, you can't, you can't match anything like that. It's it's beyond what you could even imagine. I'm telling you, things are gonna happen in that course of events where you're gonna like, wow, God is here. Like, I'm telling you, it's gonna happen. And I had temptation where it's like, oh, you could totally go back to your old job. You don't gotta be here. Like, it's cold. Like, how are you gonna afford, you know, like the for the family, the financials, and like, you know, everything like that, the bills, you know, because it was a pay cut to leave, to do something really physical, like activity that I wasn't really used to. I mean, the temptations were wild in the first few months. But I just kept sitting on a lot of these verses, like, no, this is where God wants me. Like, I am a son of God. I will obey, like I will, I will be led in the spirit. Like we talked about that. I will be led by the Holy Spirit that was given to me for free. I will be led. You know, I will die to what I want. And honestly, I'm telling you right now, God can provide. It don't matter, you know, what taxes are what, it doesn't matter what the gas prices are, it doesn't matter how much things cost, inflation, it does not matter. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, when you put faith in him for your financials and control over the money and everything like that, he will provide. He will provide, he will provide, he will provide. I'm telling you right now, whatever you're going through with the struggles, especially financially, because I know it's top of mind in the world we live in. I'm telling you, let go. Let go of control. Stop trying to figure it out all on your own. Just give it to him and watch him work miracles in your life. Hey, there's gonna be struggle though. There's gonna be times of trial temptation, there's gonna be times where like you gotta suffer a little bit, but it's worth it. Just endure. Just endure. And I want to speak to everyone right now. So we kind of spoke a lot about you know what we've kind of been through in some scripture that applied in the sanctification process upon believing, right? But I'm kind of speaking right now to maybe the person's kind of on the fence, maybe kind of started listening to this podcast out of a recommendation or just randomly found it, and you're like not really sure if you want to believe or not, or not really like really kind of new to this. I just want to share one verse with you. Romans 5, and it's six through nine. For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. And in our flesh we are weak. If we fall to sin, right? For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even die. Again, very likely that someone would die for someone who's worth dying for, right? Which, let's be honest, even then, we're a little like, I don't know. But God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, while we didn't even deserve it, while we weren't even thinking of him, he died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath than of God by the end of our life judgment, right? He still died for you when you weren't even thinking about him, and he would do it again. Even if you're on the fence, even if you're just kind of curious, even if you're not believer yet, I'm telling you right now, this still applies for you because this can be your reality. You can be free from it. Whatever's holding you down, feeling like it's bondage if you can't get away. You can be free, you can be righteous in Christ, just surrender to him as Lord and Savior, and that righteousness will be accredited to you, and you will be free, you will truly feel free in Christ. I just kind of want to again share that right there because it's a very powerful message right there.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

Yeah, I mean, great stuff. And I I mean, another thing looking back on our walk and people's walk around us, not only did God help us overcome those things, but like your job, for example, or this body that we're in, if we never started, if we never went for Christ and seeked him and found the truth, how many people might have not heard that word to our knowledge? How many seeds were planted? How many healings have we seen? We've seen cancer be healed, we've seen trauma be healed, we we've seen people feel like they were alive for the first time in their life. I mean, and it's nothing we did, but it was Christ through us and through the others around us that we saw this happen.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

So much forgiveness, too.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Oh, forgiveness, yeah. I mean, generational problems.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

And I mean, like this is for everybody, like whoever accepts it. And what what if you had somebody in your family that needed help that you care about? And Jesus wants to help them through you. Jesus wants you to heal them, whether it's physically, mentally, or uh help you mend relationships, or help you go out and and heal the sick, feed the poor, help many people in this life, and all you had to do was seek him. I mean, what's crazier to uh to think that Jesus could forgive sins or that he could cure a cripple? Pick up your mat and walk. What if he's telling you to walk? But you never pick up your duties to seek him. Um, do you have anything to add on that point?

SPEAKER_00 36:03

That's amazing. Yeah, and I mean just just through actions can plant so much seed too. Just just actions being led by the Holy Spirit is so powerful. And it it and just spreading the word, being bold. I mean, I just wanna I just want to say anybody, tell anybody that's kind of like struggling, like, you got it. You got it because Christ has it for you. Just lean on him. That's that's all he's asking you to do, is just give up control, lean on him. You got this. Whatever you're going through, you got this. Like all things work through the good of his glory for those who love him. Like, you just endure. Just endure. You got this. Keep working on that sanctification, speak the scripture over you. This is what God's telling you right now. That you are righteous through Christ. That world has no hold on you anymore.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Yeah, I mean, and if you feel like you're drowning in this life, just reach for him and he will pull you out of that water. I don't have anything else to add if you want to lead us out in prayer.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

Yeah, Father, thank you so much for gathering us here today. For where you say two or three are gathered in my name, I am there. And I just want to say to all those who are listening and to us ourselves is Lord, just keep being there for us, keep guiding us in the Holy Spirit. Thank you so much for dying on that cross for us, giving us the grace so that we can be called out of our old lives. And you're just so good, Father. And we all love you so much in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

All right, thank you for listening and take care of