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Fully Sanctified to God · Deep Dive into Joy

• 0:23
  This is Deep Dive into Joy, and I'm your host,
• 0:27
  Gina Rickner. Hey, Joy listeners, it's your host,
• 0:30
  Gina Rickner. Welcome back to Deep Dive into
• 0:33
  Joy, the podcast where we talk about our testimonies,
• 0:37
  our everyday life, health and wellness, and how
• 0:40
  God shows up in the midst of our pain. I want
• 0:43
  you all to know that you are not alone. Before
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  your order. I'll list the link in the show notes
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  so it's easier for you to find. So if you have
• 2:56
  been with us through this season, it's not just
• 3:00
  the end of a teaching series. We have hit our
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  last episode. So this is episode 10. This is
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  ascending. We have talked about sanctification
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  being set apart, refined, surrendered, shaped,
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  and transformed, but sanctification was never
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  meant to stay theatrical. So holiness is not
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  something that we study. It's something that
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  we use and we walk it out. And on today's episode,
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  this one's, you know, it's going to be about
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  truth. God finishes what he starts. So I want
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  to welcome Bobby back to the podcast on our last
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  episode of the season. It's been an absolute
• 3:44
  pleasure to have her on with me. And I never
• 3:48
  want, you know, these to come to an end. I love
• 3:50
  them so much. I love having my guests on and
• 3:52
  talking to them and just having their perspective
• 3:55
  on things, giving us the truth of God. So I hope
• 3:59
  to have her back on the near future. But right
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  now, let's just welcome back Bobby Johnson to
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  the podcast. Abby, I want to welcome you back
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  to the last episode of the season. Good to be
• 4:11
  here. Thanks for having me. This was fun. It's
• 4:14
  been an absolute pleasure to have you with me
• 4:16
  and I really don't want to see them come to an
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  end, but here we are. Me either. And I'll tell
• 4:21
  you, like I said, it has just been, it's been
• 4:24
  good to dive into the different topics and stuff
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  and do this with you. So thank you again. So
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  we're going to dive right into this one and So
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  like we said in the past episodes, God is the
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  one who sanctifies. So let's return to the verse
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  that has quietly carried us this season, and
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  that was 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 through 24. Make
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  God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through
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  and through. The one who calls you is faithful
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  and he will do it. So make sure you read that
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  again. He will do it. Your sanctification does
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  not depend on your discipline alone. It rests
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  on God's faithfulness. You may feel unfinished
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  and consistent or weary, but God is not intimidated
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  by your process. So from striving to abiding,
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  you stop striving to be holy and you start abiding
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  in Christ. Jesus says, remain in me. and I also
• 5:29
  remain in you." That comes from John at 15 -4.
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  So holiness is the fruit of closeness, not effort.
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  When you abide, conviction becomes clarity, obedience
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  becomes love, repentance becomes a relief, holiness
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  becomes natural, not forced. So a sanctified
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  life is not a tense one, it's a rooted one. So
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  be rooted in Christ. He is the vine, and we are
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  the branches, and we definitely need pruning.
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  Bobby, what do you have to add for us? Well,
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  I know we've talked a lot on a couple different
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  episodes about this whole idea of pruning and
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  all the things that we go through, but it made
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  me think of, and again, I'm always throwing out
• 6:13
  these book things because I'm such a book nerd,
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  but, and I think I mentioned this in the last
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  episode, John Comer, who's a pastor, and he's
• 6:21
  the author of many books, but one in particular
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  that I'm referencing here is called Practicing
• 6:27
  the Way. He sets a starting line here in this
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  topic where he says Jesus not only gave his disciples
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  a promise, but he gave them a practice. Comer
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  says that Jesus basically gave a quote -unquote
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  tutorial on how to be with him. He calls it Jesus'
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  model of spiritual formation. Jesus is the vine,
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  and we as his apprentices are the branches. But
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  then he said, remain or abide in me, like you
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  mentioned. And the Greek word there, and I'm
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  probably gonna butcher it. I think it's meno
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  or me -no. Either way, that's the root word that
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  he's using there. It actually means make your
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  home in. or dwell. In this teaching, Jesus actually
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  uses this term in this whole teaching here 10
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  times. His point, basically Comer says, is this,
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  that make your home in my presence by the Spirit
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  and never leave. That's what he wants from us.
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  Again, Comer makes another great point. Jesus
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  isn't asking us to do something we're not already
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  doing because we could, you know, our listeners
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  could be hearing this and be like, even through
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  this series, like, yeah, but there's always these
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  yeah, but you know, because we all do that. He
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  isn't asking us to do something we're not already
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  doing. All of us are already abiding in something.
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  Right. So it's not really about. Are we abiding?
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  I mean, the reality is we are in the day to day
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  abiding in something, but instead Comer notes
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  that what the question should be, what are we
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  abiding in? And Jesus says, you need to abide
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  in me. And when we're rooted in or dwelling within
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  the spirit, as the word says, our lives will
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  bear the fruit of that spirit. And as we've said
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  before, that fruit is an outcome. it's not the
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  it's not the goal it's not what we're striving
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  as you're saying striving to do it ends up becoming
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  the outcome of dwelling in him i thought that
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  was cool and and again that book giving a shout
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  out for it it's a good read so i have a book
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  to share with you after this maybe i'll do a
• 9:10
  podcast episode on it but there you go there's
• 9:13
  there's a podcast idea in different book reviews
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  that's pretty neat so what changes when you live
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  sanctified a fully sanctified life looks different
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  so here's what changes you stop asking am i enough
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  and how many times have we all have asked that
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  because you know who you belong to and if you
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  didn't know and first corinthians 6 19 through
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  20 it tells us you are not your own You are bought
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  with a price. So another change is that you still
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  feel deeply, but you don't react impulsively.
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  And you don't crave what once controlled you.
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  That's sanctification at work. So this doesn't
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  mean we're never going to struggle, grieve, wrestle,
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  or fail. Paul himself, not that I have already
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  obtained all this, but I press on. That comes
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  from Philippians 312. It doesn't remove your
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  humanity, it redeems it. And grace doesn't disappear
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  as you mature, it deepens. So we're sanctified
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  for purpose and this is crucial. God doesn't
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  sanctify people so they can isolate themselves.
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  He sanctifies people so they can love well. And
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  in John 17, Jesus prayed, as you sent me into
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  the world, I have sent them into the world. You
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  are set apart. A sanctified life reflects Christ
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  in ordinary spaces, carries peace into chaos,
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  and it speaks truth without arrogance, and loves
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  without compromise. This is daily posture. Daily
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  surrender sounds heavy until you realize surrender
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  is what keeps you free. You don't lose yourself
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  in God, you find yourself. So what do you have
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  for this part, Bobby? Excuse me. Well, I love
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  the prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17 and you
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  reference John 17 18 and I would just say back
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  up one verse When you go back to that one verse
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  before in 17 17 He says he prays make them holy
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  by your truth Teach them your word, which is
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  truth. So in that and as he continues in that
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  prayer Jesus asked his father to sanctify his
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  disciples. He didn't ask them to sanctify themselves.
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  He didn't say, hey, get it together, right? He
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  didn't give them a list of to do's or whatever.
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  He prayed in that to ask the father to sanctify
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  them. So you point out like things that I don't
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  even notice. Like I love that you added that
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  to it because there's just some things that like
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  speaks to people more, you know what I mean?
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  But see, that goes back to your point of like,
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  God does it. The Holy Spirit does the work in
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  sanctification. I mean, believers participate
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  in the life of Jesus, right? Because we're called,
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  and I reference Comer's work of practicing the
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  way, and in that he likens us to apprentices,
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  which I've mentioned, I know, a couple times
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  through the season. And that's really what we
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  are as believers is, is we're apprentices. We
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  are learning the way of Jesus to live in this
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  world. We're never going to be him. We're never
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  going to reach the point where we are an exact
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  model of the model for us. I wish. Well, in glory.
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  But believers do participate in the life of Jesus,
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  which goes back then To John 15 1 through 11
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  what you also reference about him being the vine
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  and we are the branches So we're all we're all
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  We're linked were to be linked connected to him
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  So and I love that prayer in in John 17. Yeah
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  So if you remember anything from this season,
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  I want you to remember this sanctification is
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  God's love at working you Let's repeat it again.
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  You're not behind, not disqualified. You're not
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  almost totally. You're being made whole. Bobby,
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  is there anything that you want to close out
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  this season with? You have the floor. It's all
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  yours. That could be dangerous now. I'm just
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  so glad that this was... large focus of this
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  season and that I could be a part of that because
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  it's an exciting thing to learn about and walk
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  through and and and tear apart to understand
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  and I think in our modern American culture today
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  holiness this whole concept of holiness first
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  of all is very counterculture but it appears
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  to people in general, I would say, and I actually
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  read this in one of my textbooks, to be gray
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  and boring. But in reality, it is to be a vibrant,
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  beautiful, fruitful life. It is to be something
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  that as we live it, it draws people, we not only
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  draw closer to Christ, But it's to draw other
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  people right and to show that in our times with
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  the fruit of the spirit Exactly. Yeah, absolutely
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  Which then goes back to relationship right and
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  all of that But in generally I think in the church
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  today the challenge becomes Teaching others about
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  sanctification and I know early on in the season
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  we touched on that Because I think you yourself
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  had even said like we don't We don't necessarily
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  hear about it, although I think to the challenge
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  from the front, the challenge from the pulpit,
• 15:26
  is how do we preach about that? difficult for
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  you to figure out how to do it. Yeah, and I don't
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  have an extensive experience in that. You know,
• 15:44
  I've only given a message a couple times and
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  I'm still learning. I still haven't even finished
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  my homiletics class, so it's like flying the
• 15:53
  plane while you're building it, you know what
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  I mean? So definitely lots to learn on my end,
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  but I did just, I don't have this in my notes
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  even, but as I'm talking, one of the things,
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  one of the, we didn't have to read this book,
• 16:10
  but it was referenced and I had an assignment
• 16:13
  on it like the gist of it and it's a book from
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  like the 1970s called Between Two Worlds and
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  John Stott, I believe is the author of it, but
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  it's on preaching and the whole idea is that
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  a pastor's job from the pulpit is to make a connection
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  between two worlds the world we live in and the
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  kingdom of heaven and and making a connection
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  between what the word says and To make a connection
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  for people's lives. I mean Jesus ultimately is
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  the bridge. We know that that's you know, but
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  but to aid in making that connection so people
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  can see and so when you talk about The topic
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  of sanctification—I mean just that word—a lot
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  of people, even within the Church, people don't
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  have a solid understanding. I would say I didn't
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  have a—for years didn't have a solid understanding
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  of what that meant. In fact, I had a very skewed
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  understanding of what that meant. But you know,
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  I mean, so within the church, you know, there
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  becomes this challenge of teaching others about
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  sanctification so that they can see that a holy
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  life, holiness, that being set apart from, because
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  that's what it means, is really vibrant and beautiful.
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  And honestly, it's contagious, you know, in terms
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  of... relationship with others but we do tend
• 18:09
  to focus on the other thing is we tend to focus
• 18:12
  on evangelism and that's really good right we
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  and what I mean by that is you know we're reaching
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  out to others for to a lost world with the message
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  of hope the good news of Jesus Christ we absolutely
• 18:28
  need to do that we're called to do that but we
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  can't ignore discipleship and the intent of growing
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  in Christ. And again, this has been a point that
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  you've brought up numerous times through the
• 18:44
  season. That's what I think led you to, the way
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  I understood it, led you to doing this as a topic,
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  right? And Dallas Willard said that the most
• 18:58
  successful work of outreach would be the work
• 19:02
  of in -reach. that turns people wherever they
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  are into the lights of a darkened world. Because
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  it's one thing to bring people to Christ and
• 19:16
  share that message of hope and get them to salvation,
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  or at least, I mean, it's not our job to do that,
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  the Holy Spirit does that, but to present the
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  message, to evangelize, right? But what happens
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  after that? Actually, Comer made a really cool
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  point in his book, Practicing the Way, about
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  going back to the vine and the branches. And
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  he said, and I thought about it, actually, I
• 19:44
  was just driving here. Again, I didn't have it
• 19:46
  in my notes, but as I was driving. That's the
• 19:47
  Holy Spirit. It was so good because he said,
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  in order for a vine to thrive, you need a trellis.
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  You need a support, right? And I thought about
• 20:04
  that on the way over, and I thought, I should
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  have made a couple notes about that, but now
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  it's something I'm thinking about. Thank you,
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  thank you, Lord. But that discipleship, that
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  relationship with other people and walking the
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  way with them, that's a trellis. That's like
• 20:27
  a way for us to. That's a support, and it's all
• 20:31
  the things that we've talked about, the spiritual
• 20:33
  disciplines, the time in prayer, the time in
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  God's word, fasting, meditation on his word,
• 20:41
  being in community, worshiping, all of those
• 20:43
  things, those become, I guess, I'll say, if that
• 20:50
  makes sense, like a trellis for that vine and
• 20:54
  its branches so that it can produce fruit. So
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  I thought that was kind of cool, that analogy
• 20:57
  that he made. Um, and I think, you know, again,
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  you know, we can't forget about that piece. You
• 21:06
  can't just drop off, you know, um, we want to
• 21:12
  come and, and we, as, as believers, it should
• 21:17
  be our heart's desire to wrap around those people.
• 21:21
  And that's not easy. It's just because that gets
• 21:26
  messy, right? And we don't like messy. We like
• 21:33
  nice, neat, you know, check off the boxes and
• 21:39
  we just do this. I mean, that's just the way
• 21:41
  I think. And again, that's a broad statement
• 21:46
  to make for the church today, and maybe pretty
• 21:49
  bold of me to say that, but. I feel like we have
• 21:53
  to be bold sometimes. Yeah, and I mean, I can
• 21:56
  say, I mean, just for my own self, like been
• 21:59
  there, you know? It is a lot easier, just do
• 22:03
  your thing, you know? And just do your thing.
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  But if we do it in isolation, we're not, it's
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  just, we need to be a light on a hill. And I
• 22:20
  liked what Dallas Willard said there about doing
• 22:23
  the in -reach. Outreach is great, and we should
• 22:28
  be doing that, but we can't forget about that
• 22:32
  discipleship piece and the support that people
• 22:35
  need to grow. Christ and to help each other along
• 22:41
  because we do learn from each other and So yeah,
• 22:47
  so that's that's the last thing I Would just
• 22:50
  share I Mean, that's ultimately that's what we're
• 22:54
  called to do. Yeah so hopefully through this
• 22:57
  season people have heard things that we've said
• 23:00
  and and related to the struggles and and aren't
• 23:07
  you know Not not even just not willing to give
• 23:10
  up but to get started. Yeah to say that yes Yeah,
• 23:16
  yeah that And that starts with surrender But
• 23:22
  that's that's a letting go and a very difficult
• 23:26
  thing to do. Yeah Well, I really hate to see
• 23:31
  this come to an end Bobby, this time that we've
• 23:35
  had together, I loved it so much. I've learned
• 23:37
  so much from you. I've learned a lot, too. And
• 23:40
  I've just it's just a blessing to be a part of
• 23:43
  it and and the preparation and diving into things
• 23:47
  and learning. I mean, just and it's just been
• 23:51
  great. So thank you so much. So I just want to
• 23:56
  thank my listeners for tuning in this season
• 23:58
  and spending time with Bobby and I and. Your
• 24:02
  support your shares reviews downloads. They all
• 24:04
  matter to me. You know, I love looking back and
• 24:08
  just going in and reading stuff and how people
• 24:11
  are liking the podcast and it's just really cool
• 24:14
  to see what God's doing and that his works are
• 24:18
  being glorified and I Don't know. I'm just so
• 24:21
  thankful for this podcast, but I'd love to have
• 24:24
  you on Next season if you are interested in sharing
• 24:27
  your testimony or story, you can reach out to
• 24:30
  me on socials That's Gina .Rickner or you can
• 24:34
  email me. It's GMRickner at iCloud .com. But
• 24:38
  this has been a rewarding season for me, and
• 24:41
  I hope you guys are growing in your walk with
• 24:43
  Christ as you listen to these episodes. Please
• 24:46
  continue to share for me on your socials or just
• 24:50
  with the people that surround you. And like I
• 24:53
  said, you can leave comments, reviews on Spotify
• 24:57
  and Apple podcasts. you can hit the download
• 24:59
  button it's on top usually wherever you listen
• 25:03
  and that's just going to update you when new
• 25:04
  episodes are released we will be back to normal
• 25:08
  episodes next season to sharing our testimonies
• 25:12
  again so until next time i go out and find the
• 25:16
  joy bye friends