Putting On Christ: Becoming More Like Him - Pastors Geri & Ashley

In this episode, we dive into what it truly means to “put on Christ” and let go of the old self. We explore the biblical call to transformation, why our old patterns cling so tightly, and how seeking Jesus—not striving harder—is the only way real change happens. Through Scripture, honest conversation, and practical encouragement, we unpack how pursuing Jesus reshapes our identity from the inside out. If you’re longing to grow, to shed what no longer reflects who God is making you to be, and to walk in the new life Christ offers, this episode will meet you right where you are.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Welcome back to Say That Again podcast. This is Ashley here.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

And this is Hetty.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

This is episode four already. Can you believe it?

SPEAKER_00 0:15

No, I can't. Here we are again.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Here we are again. The last couple episodes were so good from you and Dina and Josh. Shout out to them. Um, and we're so excited to just be bringing more young adults in on this and get insight from our pastor and so many other things. But on today's episode, you get me and Hetty.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Absolutely. We're we're excited. Hopefully, we're not boring.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

No, never, never that. So we are gonna go straight in to the message from this past YA night that was titled, What Are You Wearing?

SPEAKER_00 0:59

What are you wearing?

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Very odd question.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Yeah. I mean, we at least in your family, people, you know, your mom or your dad would say, What are you wearing?

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

So that was kind of my whole thought process behind that.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Yeah, my mom's like totally against my fashion. If it were her, like she would have me wearing like full-on like UPC dresses, like those long dresses, flowy flowers. What about you?

SPEAKER_00 1:30

What my mom would want me to wear?

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Yeah. Probably tuxes.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

No, not a tux. I mean.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Or your suits.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

She wouldn't want me to wear hats all the time.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Yeah, I'm with her, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Yeah. We miss her. I think. I think we've all heard that before. What are you wearing?

SPEAKER_02 1:50

What are you wearing?

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Absolutely. And it it's really um the whole message was learning how to wear your identity and not wear the false identity that the world or the enemy tries to put on you. Or the old self, the old nature.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

I think a lot of Christians sometimes they struggle with this battle going from the old self to the new self, like the before Jesus and then the after Jesus. You know. It's it's always a battle within a lot. A lot of people struggle with this, and I think people just need to get reminded and also become aware of who they are. I think a lot of people, yes, it's good to know to to have the revelation of Jesus, but a lot of people miss on on having the revelation of who they are in Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Right. Yeah. That's so true. I definitely I think sometimes we forget that there is a sanctification process in our walk with the Lord. And so not that we're immediately gonna look like Christ the next day, but it's a lifestyle of looking like him and walking in obedience to him and his ways and removing those things of the world, removing those previous mindsets and the way you previously thought before you were in Christ. So that leads me to one of your quotes from this message, and you said, We worry more about being in style, but forget to be in Christ. Say that again.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

But say that again.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

I wanted to ask you specifically, because I think this is something that um well, this was a thought that popped into my head. But what what would it really look like? And I know you got into this in your message, but what does it look like to be in Christ in a world that glorifies image every day?

SPEAKER_00 3:57

I think to put on Christ, it's it's a sense of spiritual clothing, it's wearing an identity, it's living from another reality. And that's good. What that means breaking it down more is that you're wearing his righteousness. You know, if you're listening to this podcast on Good Friday, which is when this is coming out, um, Jesus took our sin and gave us his righteousness. I that's something that blows my mind every time I think about it. That he was on the cross as us and the father was seeing our sin on him, and so that now when the father sees us, he sees his righteousness on us. That's so powerful, and a lot of people don't realize the power behind that, but that's something that you have to put on when it you know, putting on Christ means to put on his righteousness, not your righteousness. Okay, very clear, not your righteousness, not your good deeds, not your uh skills, your abilities, or everything you do right.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

No, it's not that because we will always fail in our you know, humanity. This is why Jesus came, right, and went to the cross. But putting on his righteousness, because only he is perfect, he was a perfect Lamb of God, he was the Son of God who came to earth, and then on top of that, it's like you wear his holiness. We're not holy on our own, we're holy because he gave us the Holy Spirit. We're holy because he was holy. Now we're putting on Christ, and then wearing his authority when we wear it's not in our name that we cast out demons or that we heal the sick, it's in whose name? In his name. So that's part of putting on Christ is that we're we get to carry his name. Every time I'm praying, or when I'm going to places, I always just picture myself like I have this banner over me that says Jesus. Or when I'm praying, or when I feel like I'm going through spiritual warfare or something like that. I just I know it's so weird, but I spic I just picture my forehead and it just says Jesus. Like it's not me, you know. Like you're not coming at me, you're not poking at me because I'm gonna put on Christ, so you're actually coming against my savior in a sense, you know? So just a few more things that you put on his authority, you were his nature, you were the identity that he's given to you, you were his victory, and you were sonship. That's what it means to put on Christ is to be aware of all these things, that this is what Christ has given to you through his suffering on the cross and being resurrected, that he gave you his righteousness, he gave you the Holy Spirit, he gave you an inheritance in him, but still many or many get tricked by the enemy, or many many just battle with their own selves and they go back to the old self.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

Right. Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Say that again. That was so good. I think for especially the younger generation, the young adults, um, it's easy to go back to that old self because we all have former lives on social media. And so if you just got saved, like you let's say you just gave your life to Christ or you're walking that path, when it's easy to look at those old photos and be like, man, this is once who I was. But I challenge you to look at those old pictures of yourself and then look at the you now in the mirror. Like you will look different, your eyes will look different, your countenance is different. You are just a different person in Christ. And just like Hetty said, now this is as a daughter and a son in Christ, now we don't have to take that yoke of heaviness, that burden that we used to carry in our own way, in our own flesh. I remember before I got saved, I used to literally think that I had to be strong and I had to have it all together, and I had to, you know, make sure that I was perfect. And even sometimes now, as a mother, as a wife, um, as a leader, I sometimes still fall into that mindset of like, I need to be all of these things when Jesus is was already all of those things. And he decided, hey, in your humanity, in your flesh, I'm gonna place my spirit. You are now gonna be the living place of my glory. Like, I'm not gonna just be on the outer courts anymore or in the inner courts, but you are now the temple where my Holy Spirit resides. And just stepping into that authority, just like you said, we have that Jesus banner on our forehead. Like we carry him wherever we go. And it's not just when we're feeling good, but it's when we're in our low moments, we have him with us all the time. So your weakness doesn't make you exempt from his presence, doesn't make you exempt from his glory. Your past doesn't make you exempt. You know, you are now a new creation in Christ. The word says that we are hidden in Christ in heavenly places, seated at the right hand of the Father. And being hidden means that it's it's really not about us.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Yeah, that's the concept of being hidden in Christ is that again, when the father sees you, he's not looking at you or your sin, but he's seeing the righteousness of Christ.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

So good.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

That's why Jesus says, Look, you hide behind me. But when you pray in my name, the father's gonna look at me. And he's gonna grant you what you're asking for because you're praying in my name. So good. Because he sees me, the perfect one, the one that has all authority and grace and his son. You know what I mean? Yeah, and it's not that God doesn't see us at all, but that's that's the protocol that's they're invisible, right? That's the protocol that that God left or how the Father ordained it.

SPEAKER_03 10:26

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

You know, putting on Christ is not that you don't have a personality no more, your dreams or you know, your dream versus God's dream is a whole different topic, but it's when God looks at you, now you're covered in his righteousness and the righteousness of his son, and he sees forgiven, he sees cleanse, he sees called, he sees royalty, he sees loved, and he sees these things. And the problem is that we see other things. We look in the mirror and we see you know the past self, and we're comparing ourselves to our old life. We see shame, we see guilt, we see the trauma, we see the pain, we see everything that we went through, the fears, the brokenness, and it's like that's who we are, you know, that's uh what we see, and it's like this is who I am. But God's like, no. Yeah, like why are you acting like that? Like you're a you're a whole new creation. Yeah, you know what I mean? It's like you you're when and then when you approach God with that mentality off of that identity, and you approach God, God is like, wait, who is this? I don't know you. And it's not that he doesn't know you, but he's looking at you like, hey, I want you to approach me as a son that I or the daughter that I have called you to be, and I called you from those pits, I called you from that place of pain, I called you from that testimony, you know what I mean? Like I called you from that area, so when you come to me, I want you to come to me like in that identity, and that's why going back to our other podcasts, you know, when we pray from this place of sonship, instead of being a beggar, heaven moves on our prayers.

SPEAKER_03 12:20

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

When we pray from faith, from confidence, knowing that we're a child of God, heaven moves. But when we pray from this place of feeling condemned or feeling guilty, yes, praying from this mentality of the old self, it's always just shameful. It's always like, God, if you really love me, like I don't know, like you know, it's okay if you don't even show up anymore. It's like, no, that's not how it is. And I I don't think God respects those kind of prayers. I mean, in a certain degree, he like he he he does come in those moments of desperation, but I think it's and I'm going like on a kingdom mindset on this verse that I talked about on the the parable of you know, this wedding feast in Matthew 22, 11, when the king invited everybody and he gave everybody clothing to wear. Yes, but there's this one guy that didn't want to put on the clothing, and that's how it is. It's like the king came and said, Okay, what are you doing in here? Like, you're supposed to be wearing these royal garments, you're not wearing them, like get this guy out of here, and that's how it is when we're approaching God, we're approaching God, everybody else has their royal garments that the king paid for. Yeah, so we're covered in these everybody's covered in this nice, luxurious, beautiful clothing, and then you have this one person wearing the old clothing that that he had from the streets, and it's like, wait, why are you approaching the king of kings? Dirty with the old clothes that's smelly and stinky, these old rags.

SPEAKER_03 14:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

That's the picture that I get in prayer when we're approaching God as the old self, as or when we're struggling, you know, going back and forth. God is like, wait, no, what are you doing in here like this?

SPEAKER_03 14:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Like go get cleaned up.

SPEAKER_03 14:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

You know, go put on these royal garments.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

That's good.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Go shake this off. You know what I mean? Like, I like I won't have a like I want to talk to my children, like, come on, for real, let's really do this. Like, go get this go take a shower.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

No, seriously. I mean, Jesus, when Jesus died, that veil tore. So that distance between us is now gone. That that layer of disgust. You know what I mean? That layer of you know, uh shame, of guilt, of condemnation, of all of these things. It makes me think of Galatians um five where it says, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. In other words, there is slavery. So Paul is literally saying here to stand in the freedom that Christ paid for us, and don't entangle yourself up in this clothing of slavery again. Don't put on that old bondage. That another version says a harness of bondage, which blows my mind. A harness, meaning it's like something strapped to us, it's something we are putting on.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Absolutely. Wow, it and then the whole standing aspect, it almost to me, it's like a a figure of speech is of like, you really gotta fight to keep this freedom on.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Because there are moments where you're gonna have to get up from the floor and stand, shake off, clean off the dust, and it's like, hey, this is who I am in Christ. I think one of the biggest battles that I've been seeing with a lot of Christians is this is that they once felt that they were called, they once felt that God had called them to something amazing, or they they once had a purpose, and now they're finding themselves disappointed or hopeless, and it's like they don't know what to do with themselves, and it's all going back to this thing where it's like, you know what, I don't even know if I'm called, and it even goes back to like I don't even know if God loves me. And I think this is one of the greatest attacks on not just young people, but just on people in general, and I think God really wants to remind people of who they are. God's like, I haven't changed my mind on you. No, like what wait, what are we talking about? Wow, God's like, I'm still over here when you're like very aware of who you were, when you were very aware of who your purpose and your calling, like I'm over here, yeah. You know what I mean? The enemy convinced you to step out of that lane, and now you've gone somewhere else.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

Literally, the next part of that passage is you ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? Literally, like, what happened from you going down this path? And it goes on to say the way to overcome this is to walk in the spirit.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Is to so you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh because when you're so consumed with looking at yourself and me, me, me, me, you can't see him. Yeah, and so there's just so much in this.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Well, yesterday when I was praying, you heard me pray. I feel God or just this very, very new thing for me, but it's like God renew our expectations.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

And I think this is a a good angle to attack this place of where people lose hope and people are disappointing with God. It's like, wait, it's not God, right? God is not the problem in the sense, you know, if God didn't show up for your prayers, is it's not like God couldn't do it. It's just like, what if your prayers were not aligned with God's will? What if your expectations were wrong?

SPEAKER_03 18:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

It's like you, especially in the American church culture. Now I think we're we're really trying to expose that. But before, it's a very toxic culture where it's like you come to Jesus and He's gonna give you everything that you need. You know, he's gonna give you the dreams that you have in your heart as you were a kid and they're gonna be fulfilled. But that's not the reality of the gospel. No, the gospel is that he died for you and that you receive him by faith, but now you live for him, despite your rich or poor, your dreams come true or not, you're living for Jesus. You die to yourself, you die to yourself, right? You die to those dreams, and if God resurrects those dreams in the season for you that you can glorify him, good. If he doesn't, we still do the same thing. We're going after Jesus. And I've had to I've had to do this for myself, but I had to renew my expectations and say, you know what? I miss God. I was thinking very selfishly. It's like I wanted God and I wanted the money, I wanted the houses, I wanted the cars, the cars. I want I wanted all the good things, yeah, no bad things, no bad things, you know what I mean? Of course, and it's like and did it, they didn't happen. They didn't happen. Don't get me wrong. God gave me I'm your dream. Yeah, God gave me everything that I needed, and I like I truly wanted, like outs outside of family. I'm thinking about like material things, how we could get so consumed and driven. Yeah, and it's like, or I want the dream job and it doesn't come. Um I thought I was gonna, and it even boils down for me. It's like I thought I was gonna do this for God. Like I thought God had called me to do this. Ooh, that's a hard one, and that was really one of the hardest ones. And I'll just be honest, uh, many years ago, I felt I thought I heard God very clearly, you're gonna go to Africa. And I was so excited. I made plans.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

I thought it was that you were gonna be a rapper.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

No, no. Um, you just threw me off.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Sorry, you thought you were gonna go to Africa.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Just be on the lookout for my new single that's gonna be dropping soon, y'all. Um, anyways, I literally thought I was gonna go to I went to this like camp. Oh not camp, but like a conference thing. And they were preaching about missions, and this guy came from Africa, and literally in the altar, I I heard God's voice, or I thought I did. I don't know. I literally heard like you're gonna go to Africa, and I prepared my whole like okay, I started raise money and people didn't really give me anything, but still I was like, okay, I'm preparing myself. Like, I'm already creating the plan to leave, and I wasn't gonna go for two weeks. My whole mind says, like, I'm gonna go be there for at least a few months to a year or even more, at least two years, because I truly wanna like if God is calling me, I'm not playing. And every door just closed. The contact that I had to go just ghosted me. Every other person wasn't really like continuing the conversation with me, and I just I didn't really know anybody else, and I just felt like so disappointed, and then I started to get mad at God like God, I thought you called me to this. Like, this was for you, not for even me, right? That's how I was thinking, and God never really like talked about it with me, and then later on, he kind of just like, well. Are you sure that was me, or was that like your own internal voice?

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Dang.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Maybe you wanted to escape from America from all these things that you're going through. And you just wanted to go out there. Or what what I actually felt was like, God tell me, it's like, yes, I told you you were gonna go to Africa. I didn't tell you when.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

And I was like, wait, you're right.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

I was like, he didn't tell me when. I just remember feeling and hearing in my you know, in the spirit, like you know, you're gonna go to Africa. And I I put I put my timeline on him, I set the expectations on him. And God's over here, like, what are you talking about?

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

So I'm saying all that to say is that maybe you're listening and you've set the right expectations on a word that God has given you. It's not that God didn't speak to you, right? It's that maybe you took matters into your own hands after that, and you set your own timeline, you set your own expectation. And I just feel very, very heavy in this season. Is that renew your expectations? Yeah, go back to the gospel. That's good, go back to what Jesus said, you know, keep it very simple, carry the cross, deny yourself, and just follow Jesus. Yes, be a disciple, yes, evangelize, talk to your family and friends, restore relationships, right?

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Be a good employee, and what's meant to happen, God will make it happen. Like, if God gave you a vision or a dream, I remember God gave me so many visions when I first got saved. I saw so many crazy things, and some of the things I've seen come to pass, and some that I haven't that I'm still holding on to, does that mean I'm mad at God or I don't think that the vision was true or what God showed me? No, but it's in his hands. And if I make if we make Jesus our goal, like meaning his face, intimacy, becoming more like him, you know, just embodying his presence so much that the fruits of the spirit just pour out the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, these attributes of Christ, or where our goal is to look like Christ, that is like so that is the most fulfilling thing we can receive because guess what? Wherever we go, people are gonna start to come to him, like because we reflect his glory, we reflect his light. That is kingdom work, that is what we're called to do. Like, if God wants to give you a kingdom business, that's amazing. He's gonna make that happen. If he wants you to speak to nations, you're gonna speak to nations, he's gonna make that happen. If you're called to reach a zillion people through an online ministry, God's gonna make that happen to where you reach a zillion people on that ministry. Like, don't put matters into your own hands, yeah. Because when they're in our hands, we fumble the play.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

And and when they're in our hands, I think God allows it to die.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Oh say that again.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

I don't want to because I've experienced that way too much. God will allow your dreams or your wants or why distorted ways of seeing the will of God for your life. Why? Because if it's a God thing, if it's God, it's gonna be through him, not through you. Because if it's through us, then we're gonna boast. We're gonna want to take the credit.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

We're gonna tell people, look at us, look at what I did. And when it's God, when God breaks us to a point and he humbles us, and it's almost like he takes that away and he lets us go through this season, we're kind of like, Well, I don't, you know, I'm here. And then God then randomly just puts that thing back in your heart. You're like, God, I don't want to go through this.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

It's like He's like, but now's the time.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Yeah, and it's like I'm kind of done with this. Like, you know what? Like, and then you even say, only if you only if you do this, because I'm over this, like I'm done with this. It's it's that kind of mentality where it's like only it's only by you because I cannot do this. I messed it up, like you saw. It's only through you, and when you have that kind of surrender, that's where God really starts to blow his wind and really bless that thing, that uh ministry, that dream, that goal, that career, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Amen. That surrender.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

So if you're in the season where you feel like God or something died, hey, you know, this is like the story of Jesus. He resurrected in the third day. You gotta wait three days.

unknown 26:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

I'm not saying three days is gonna be done, but I'm saying in the sense of there's a time of waiting. It has to die. It has to die because our ambitions, our selfishness is tied to that. Or impurities. And maybe maybe you know, you a lot of people come to a place where they have pure motives, and or it's a you know, like they're not struggling with these things, and God just blesses it right off the bat. Yeah, but God loves us so much that he doesn't want us to be affected, or he's not gonna let these things keep us away from him. Yeah, that's why he tries so hard to protect us.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

I'll never forget going through a season of surrendering, just everything. I mean, it's a lifestyle really now, but when it was when I was first walking through what true surrender looked like, and I remember hearing the Holy Spirit tell me, I move at the speed of your surrender. So, how fast you're willing to lay something down at my feet is how quickly I can pick it up and turn it around for your good. Like word for word, that's what I heard, and it's always stuck with me years later, about surrender is because there's something so supernatural in surrender. We think surrender is just okay, here you go, God, but then we're keeping an eye on it, or we're checking on that thing, or we're making sure that you know we have some sort of authority over it. It's like, no, it's giving it all up to him and just trusting that it's just gonna work itself out because he loves us.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

So we're trying to micromanage God. Oh, you in these bars today, so like imagine trying to micromanage the uncreated creator of this universe.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

But yo, that's so crazy because that's what we look at.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

That's what we literally try to do. We're just kind of like, yes, God, I trust you, but then you're just looking at him like, all right, so when are you gonna do it? How's it going? You know, I'm just checking in. Like, what's the update?

SPEAKER_02 28:56

You think he laughs at us?

SPEAKER_00 28:58

Absolutely. I mean, I think so. Like, I think he created humor and laughter. I mean, look at us. Clowns. Yeah, I think he doesn't laugh. I don't know. I do, I do think he laughs at me sometimes. Oh, I I think he laughs at me too, but I think he also laughs with us.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Amen. And it's um it's okay to laugh, you guys.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Yeah, but I love the whole thing of surrender, um, and the reality of letting it die, but God is gonna resurrect it at the right time. That's why you have this concept in churches where people prophesy or preach, you know, God's gonna resurrect that dream, and you know, like don't give up because it's it's a real reality. It so is because God will have you, it's like Abraham. Yeah, you know, when God told him, Hey, you know, come take Isaac, give up your son. God was really testing what was in his heart. Wow, and then God was like, Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on. He was trying to see what was in his heart. This is what he does when God pulls back some of the things, especially his children, right? So if you're a child, if you're a son or a daughter of God and you you're you've probably gone through this or you've gone through this, he's pulling this back from you because he wants to see what's in your heart. Like, are you gonna idolise this thing? Are you gonna idolyze you know the fame that comes with it or the recognition or whatever it is, right? Like, is are your mode of spirit or are they selfish? Are they narcissistic tendencies? And it's it's really it's such a a powerful thing for God to do to his children. It is like it's such a it's it's such a big help. Like nobody loves to go. I hate going through, obviously. But after I was like, God, thank you, you exposed some things in my heart.

SPEAKER_03 31:01

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

Like, dang, like I would have, I would have gone poisoned and I could have probably chose the wrong things.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

But you protected me. And then years later, now I could testify old dreams, old things that I thought were done with, God brought them out in a different light, you know. Like I thought I was gonna write books ten years ago, but my heart was in the wrong place. I was arrogant, thought I knew it all, and I just forgot about it. I got hurt in different ways, and I hurt people in different ways, and then years later, God just resurrects that in me. Wow, yeah, you know, and it's like in a different mindset because I remember the mindset that I had before. So that's what God does.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

Amen. I'm so grateful for it. I think obviously Jesus walked in flesh, so he knows the natural desire for self and the way pride can easily creep in in the way. Um, because you know, we like to hear we're doing a good job, you know. Who doesn't? Who doesn't want to hear? Hey, that was great, that was, you know, so good. One thing that I've learned though is the things that I do for the Lord, that thank you, or that that was so good, that's under him. And so just having that mindset of like, you used me, Lord, and thank you, but this thanks is yours. Like this, these things are yours, Jesus. And so just a reminder for anybody who just is going through that where you feel like, or maybe you you don't feel like you are even being thanked, or what you're doing is looked over, um, and you're desiring that things, or you're desiring to be seen. Just know that the Lord sees you. Know that He is He's watching everything you do. And not only that, but He's looking at your heart, He's looking at your motives, and He's testing. And we we want to be tested by God. We want to be purified and refined by Him because we want to look like Him. We want to be standing at the end saying, Hey, we stood firm. We didn't turn against, you know, we didn't turn against you, Jesus. We stayed on this narrow path, we stayed on the path that is hard, and maybe we won't be seen, and all of these other things, and that shouldn't even matter. But we've made you the goal, we've made you our prize, and everything else is not important, just you, Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

Amen. Because that's really the whole point of this whole walk is to be changed into his image, yes, to be more like him in every aspect, internally and externally, internally by the fruit of the spirit, and externally by the gifts of the spirit. We want to reflect Jesus in the best way possible, and that's why God allows these moments of like these processes, right? Where we go through these moments, and it's like, God, where are you at? What's going on? And he does it because he loves us. And he exposes things in us because he wants to deliver us and help us. Like it's it's just so beautiful. Like his discipline and his love for his children. And yeah, I think ultimately just kind of going back to this, is there's so much power when you put on Christ. Because Christ is the most powerful because he he's fully God, he was also fully human. So he showed us the way to really embrace his godliness. You know what I mean? So it's like God has given us a cheat code for life. It's like come after me. Like you were saying, make make my face, make my presence your goal. You know, get hungry after the word, eat the bread of life. Yes, you know, get thirsty for righteousness, his righteousness. And then when you do these things, we're gonna become more like him, and we're gonna be able to not only put on Christ, but we're gonna be so hidden in Christ, we're gonna have we're gonna be so full of Christ that it's no longer like this battle within ourselves, like, oh, you know, I'm being the old self now. No, if you get so full of Christ and you do that consistently, you're not gonna be going back and forth, back and forth, like you know, like ping pong. But now you're gonna come to a place where not only are you wearing Christ, but literally the Spirit of God has it's not let me say like this it's not that you have the Holy Spirit in you, but the Holy Spirit has taken over you.

SPEAKER_03 35:56

Ew.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

That's the place that we want to be, and that's it's possible in Christ.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

Yes, when we see him, we lose sight of everything else, and just one look at his face, and I I want to encourage young adults that are listening to this, there is access to him, there are greater depths in the spirit and your in your intimacy with the Lord than you can even honestly imagine. Um, I've had so many amazing, and I'm so grateful. I'm so so grateful for the encounters that I've had with Jesus in my prayer time. But those encounters aren't just for those moments. They're they're to be stewarded, they're to be guarded, they're to be protected, they're to be um just to hold with reverence and awe because they're I go back to those moments and I'm like, thank you, Jesus, because I got a glimpse of you. And when I see you, everything else, my desire and my taste for the world, my taste for comfort, my taste for a TV show, my taste for all these other things dies. And I just want more and more and more of him.

unknown 37:15

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

That's so beautiful. Just makes me want to go pray right now and just be in his presence.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

I think the biggest thing that we can take away from all of this is just spend spend just spend time with him. Yeah, and the more you spend time with him, the more you're gonna reflect him, his nature, taking on the glory like Moses did when he went up to Mount Sinai and he beheld God's glory. And then he came down from the mountain, and his face was shining, and the Israelites were like, yo, don't even look at us. Right. Like you, you know, because his face was just glowing in the glory of God, and that's what happens, is that when you spend time with him, you are naturally putting on Christ, and not just Christ, but you are carrying his glory, not your glory, his glory, so that when you come out of your prayer time and you're in your workplace or wherever you go, that's where people come up, and it's like, hey, there's just something about you.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

You know, it's like they they can sense this glory on you.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

Oh, I love that that scripture says um how they couldn't gaze at his face because of the glory. And it Paul goes on to talk about will not the ministry of the spirit have even more glory? Like, and it goes on to say permanent glory. And we wouldn't have to be like Moses hiding his face from the Israelites, but we we now come unveiled, like there's unobstructed access to the Father. Now we don't have to hide. And I think what's what what what's happening now, and what's happened for centuries and decades, is the enemy has tried to veil our eyes and blind us and deceive us and dim our light and and limit us from the father. But I believe that God is removing the limitations, he's removing the deceptions, he's he's unveiling these these um mindsets and patterns, and he's taking off that just like when Jesus died, that veil tore, you know, he's removing that veil. So what are we wearing? We're wearing him. We're not wearing those cloaks of shame, those cloaks of you know, those veils of hiddenness and of of um deceptions and and blindness, but now we can see. Now we can see because he longs to fill us, you know, and that's that's what he's doing. We are just clay jars that he fills with himself and molds every day, and it's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Yeah, in that in that um chapter, the Satan who is the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. Yeah, it's like yes, it's talking about like unbelievers, but also in the sense of Satan loves to come and blind us from our royalty, from our from his righteousness, meaning that we have this identity in Christ, and the devil tries to blind us, and he's always redirecting us to the old self, to the one that was supposed to be dead in the grave, you know, when we were baptized. Yeah, it's like he keeps taking us back to that. But I believe with you, God is unveiling many people that have been disappointed in the last few years and seasons that can't see past their shame or their guilt or you know, the hopelessness. We just pray right now that God would just open up your eyes. Thank you. That He would just remove the blinders from your eyes. Yes, where the enemy just showed so much hopelessness, discouragement, lies, shame, and guilt. And maybe you even did some things. Lord, we just thank you for your light right now, for your love. I thank you for every listener, and we just remind them that they are loved, that they are called, that they have a purpose, that as long as they have breath in their lungs, that it is not over for them. So, Lord, I just thank you for your Holy Spirit right now, that it will just remove the blinders, that it will just remove just anything over the eyes that is redirecting us to the old self, to this old nature, and that you would just open up our eyes to this identity that we have in you, Jesus, as sons and daughters in Christ, that you will just allow us to view ourselves in the lens of your righteousness, Jesus, and your holiness, and your authority, your power, and your spirit, and your truth, and your knowledge right now in Jesus' mighty name. Every lie be canceled. And Lord, that you would just activate this reality of the truth of the word of God right now over us, and just every mental fogginess and every cloud of darkness and discouragement, it just goes right now in Jesus' mighty name. And we just speak light, we speak peace, we speak joy, and Lord, I just thank you that you have crowned us with salvation, you have crowned us with righteousness, with your righteousness again, not our righteousness, your righteousness. And we just thank you, Father, in Jesus' mighty name.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Wow, what an episode.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

I'm gonna have to go back and listen to this one and take some notes. But tune into our next episode. Um, we'll be doing a part two of Hetty's message, which you do not want to miss because there were some things I wanted to ask you about Peter.

SPEAKER_00 43:23

Oh, yeah, we gotta gate.

SPEAKER_02 43:25

And about the gates.

SPEAKER_00 43:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:27

So we're gonna get into that in the next episode. So stay tuned. Go ahead and submit any questions that you have, and we can't wait to um hear your responses and answer any questions that you have. Y'all have a blessed day. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

Absolutely. Bye.