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Personal Journey through Discipleship · Deep Dive into Joy

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This is Deep Dive into Joy, and I'm your host,
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Gina Richter. Hey, Joe listeners. It's your host,
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Gina Richter. Welcome back to Deep Dive into
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Joy, the podcast where we talk about testimonies,
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God's Word, health and wellness, and how God
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shows up in our everyday lives. I hope you join
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us and enjoy today's episode. Today, Bobby and
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I are sitting down and sharing our own journeys
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when it comes to how we disciple others and impactful
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stories of how we have been discipled. Before
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we get into it, I want to share today's sponsors
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your skin deserves the best. Okay, guys, I am
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writing solo again this week. I hope to have
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Bobby on next week, but we were gonna sit down
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and share our own journeys when it came to how
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to disciple others and just some impactful stories
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that we had. ourselves about being discipled
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but you know I just thought that would be a good
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idea just kind of show how we are discipling
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others in this stage of our lives and I thought
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leading by example would be a good idea to share
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so others can see that we're putting our words
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into action. So it took me a minute to really
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sit in this because I think that I mean, discipleship
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can look different in so many ways. It's not
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just one way or the highway. But personally for
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me, I think back to my teen days, and I know
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that I've referenced this in past episodes, but
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we would attend youth group every Sunday and
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Wednesday night. And youth group for me was such
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a highlight in my life and kind of like a rescue
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for me. It was an escape. I didn't grow up in
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a perfect childhood home or have just the perfect
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home setting. So getting away those nights was
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healing for me. And youth group, I feel in any
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circumstance is just amazing for teens, especially
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these days. So I just bless all the youth group
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pastors out there. You guys deserve more praise
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than what you get. But my youth group pastors
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had shaped my teen years in so many ways I actually
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had one of them on if you go back to the past
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episode it was with Susan Spade and we had talked
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a little bit about it so you can go back and
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listen to that but That's where I learned how
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to even use my Bible and read God's Word it's
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where we learn to memorize scripture and create
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true meaningful friendships and and we had so
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much fun. It was what set my heart on fire for
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God. At least, well, I know memorizing scripture,
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like that was one of our biggest things that
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would give us cards and we would have to memorize
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a verse every week and I don't know, I just thought
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that was really cool and I had so much fun doing
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that. But at 12, I gave my life over to the Lord
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and I was baptized at that time in the river
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that was by our church. But I wasn't raised in
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the church from the beginning. I don't even think
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we started attending until maybe I was 12. So
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when I started learning how much our Heavenly
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Father loved us, what heaven was, and I could
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share His Word with others, It just it gave me
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so much confidence to start sharing his word
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like even with my family members and my friends.
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I remember you know, I was so excited to Go back
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You know, we would spend a lot of time at my
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grandma's house and I was excited to like go
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tell my grandma about the Lord and try to get
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her saved and then I talked to my other Graham
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and you know, try to get some other family members
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on board. It doesn't always go the way you think
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it does, but our job is to plant the seeds and
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God will do the rest. So I remember, you know,
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at that age, I didn't know really what planting
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the seeds meant. I just wanted my family to come
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to heaven with me. So that was something that,
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you know, I just, I was on fire for the Lord
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at that moment. Now my earthly father was never,
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around and didn't really have a great relationship
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with my stepfather. So learning that I had a
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Heavenly Father who loved me so much, and I just
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really wanted that for others. And I think that's
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where my discipleship journey started, like I
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said, just within my own family. And like I said,
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it doesn't always go the way you plan, like especially
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when it comes to family, and it really hurts
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because you're just you're filled with the Holy
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Spirit and you want them to be filled too and
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you know that that can't happen until they really
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go through salvation and accept the Lord into
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their heart and you know I just I didn't get
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that out of some family members so it just really
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hurts but I don't stop praying for them because
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I know that through my prayers that God's doing
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something way bigger through those prayers than
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I could ever imagine and I hope that they do
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get saved one day. But I do remember sharing
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the gospel with my grandma who meant so much
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to me and I miss her so, so much. But I do remember
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getting her saved and then I went on and got
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one of my best friends saved. who had you know
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she had a lot of questions and I just remember
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sharing Jesus with her and getting her saved
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as well but um it just gave me a lot of confidence
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to you know when I got into my marriage to you
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know my husband knew that I was in faith and
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even through our marriage like I didn't really
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I mean I guess I wasn't really following the
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Lord as closely as I am now um So we really didn't
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walk in faith at the beginning of our marriage.
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And it's really cool to look back and see how
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God had His hand in everything and just how He
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has grown my family now. Like, I never imagined
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my husband would step into church with me and
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to just have my kids by my side and my husband
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there with me on Sundays, it's really cool to
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see. how the Lord has grown us and just how he's
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worked in our lives. So yeah, and then it just
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gave me more confidence to even be able to talk
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to like his family about things. And then praying
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over my family and kids daily is something that
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I do. And just staying in the Bible every day,
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even if it's one verse and it's two minutes.
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I think it's really important to be reading your
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Bible every day. So thinking back on all of that,
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it just reminded me that discipleship doesn't
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have to be fancy. You don't have to know it all.
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Now granted, like I said, I would encourage you
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to be in God's word daily so that you are leading
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people with discernment, but you can literally
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lead anyone. is going to equip you wherever you
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are and whomever you're discipling. You know,
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Jesus had 12 disciples. They were far from perfect.
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He literally picked them off the street. One
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of them was a tax collector. One was a warrior.
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One was definitely a doubter. You had one that,
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you know, a couple that were fishermen and the
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one who actually came to betray Jesus. They weren't
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polished spiritual superheroes. They were ordinary
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people learning obedience in real time. They
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didn't have it all figured out, but they said
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yes. Just like in the last episode, I said, you
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just have to start with a yes. And Discipleship
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starts with obedience before understanding. So
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even the disciples ask questions, lots of them.
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We have in Matthew 13 36, it explains the parable
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to us. A disciple admits, I don't know, but I
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want to learn. They failed when they relied on
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themselves. And in John 15 five, apart from me,
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you can do nothing. True discipleship is daily
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dependence not spiritual independence So the
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disciples they were willing to be corrected and
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Jesus rebuked them and stayed Matthew 16 23 It's
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kind of like, you know get behind me Satan a
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disciple doesn't walk away when correction comes
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they left comfort careers and security in their
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walk with Jesus. They literally left all of that
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behind to follow him. And in Luke 5 11, I see
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here that discipleship costs something, but it
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gives everything. They even learn to love the
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unlovely. And in John 13 35, By this everyone
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will know you are my disciples So love wasn't
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optional. It was the evidence They were fearful
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before the cross bold after the resurrection
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Disciples aren't fearless. They are spirit field
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He said he was leaving but he would leave someone
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to help us and that was the Holy Spirit The disciples
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didn't walk alone. Disciples grow together, not
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in isolation. And you can see Acts 2 -42 for
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that reference. They were sent, not just saved.
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And in Matthew 28 -19, go and make disciples.
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How more clear can God's Word be to us? A disciple
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eventually becomes a discipler. Prosecution didn't
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stop them either, it refined them, and disciples
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stay faithful even when it's hard. I think back
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to the 12 disciples, and if you don't know who
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they are, we had Peter, Andrew, James, John,
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Philip, Bartholomew, which was Nathaniel, Matthew,
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Thomas, James, Jude, Simon, and Judas Iscariot.
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Just I don't know. I just think back and how
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amazing it would be to actually be have Jesus
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in person and You know any question that you
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had just being able to sit down and talk with
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him and Have him right there with you I know
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We're filled with the Holy Spirit and we still
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talk to him in prayer daily, but just to have
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him face to face and And the way that the disciples
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had Him, you know, right at their hand, I just
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think that's really cool to think back on. But
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these disciples, they walked with Jesus, they
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ate with Him, they watched Him heal, teach, pray,
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and love. Jesus taught crowds, but explained
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things privately to His disciples. This is why
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staying in His Word and letting Him speak to
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you is so important. They witnessed miracles.
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They were sent out. They doubted, argued, denied
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Him, and ran away. So they even had Jesus in
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person right in front of them, you know, walking
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with Him at their hands. And, you know, they
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still weren't perfect. They still doubted, argued,
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denied. Yet Jesus restored them. Failure doesn't
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disqualify you. We have God's grace. And John
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21 says, do you love me? Then feed my sheep,
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which simply means if you love Jesus, go make
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more disciples, go make heaven crowded. That's
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why I did this podcast. My main. The focus was
17:54
to make heaven crowded and to let people know
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they're not alone. After the resurrection, they
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received the Holy Spirit. They preached the gospel,
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they planted the early church, they suffered
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for their faith, and they made more disciples.
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This is where we join the family. We start with
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a yes, and we go make heaven crowded. That's
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our purpose on this earth. If you're questioning
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why you are here, maybe it's to lead that one
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person to Jesus. What wonderful words it will
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be to hear when we enter heaven is someone saying
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to us, I'm here because you weren't afraid to
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tell me about Jesus. Now I know this was a short
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episode. I hope. You all found this helpful and
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educational for your walk with Christ and how
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to grow deeper with him. If you can please share
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the podcast on your socials with a friend or
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family. I greatly appreciate it. You can also
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leave a review on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
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It greatly helps me and you can hit the follow
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button on any platform. And this is going to
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update you when a new episode is released. I
19:12
drop every Thursday at nine a .m. Eastern Standard
19:15
Time. If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast,
19:18
please reach out to me. Don't be afraid, you
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guys. I would love to have you on. It's literally
19:22
just me and you sitting in my room, my basement
19:26
and talking to each other. And we're meant to
19:31
share our testimonies with each other and with
19:34
the world because God puts us through these trials
19:37
and tribulations so that we can share with others
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and be a comfort to them as they walk through
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the same things as we do. So please do not be
19:45
afraid to come on. I know it can be really hard
19:49
to go back into your past or to share a trial
19:52
that you're going through right now. Believe
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me, I get it. I really do. I was terrified to
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sit in front of this mic and start this podcast,
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but It's not so much that I care what people
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think about me. I think I'm just harder on myself.
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So I really think Jesus is calling you to really
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step out right now and to share your journey
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so others can know that they're not alone and
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that we can make heaven crowded you guys. So
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please reach out to me. You can do that on socials
20:28
at Gina dot Rickner or you're welcome to email
20:30
me at GM Rickner at iCloud dot com. I just want
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to thank you guys for listening, for supporting
20:37
me, and for being here today. As always, go out
20:40
and find the joy. Bye friends.