Dwell Differently
If you were our friend, and if we could look you in the eyes and see your struggles and know you fully, and if we could only give you ONE thing—we'd give you God’s Word. There is more power and love and truth in one verse than in a thousand other words. So, let us help you memorize God's words in a simple, easy way. We hope you'll love listening in while we chat about what our verse means, why it matters, and how it intersects with our daily lives.
Dwell Differently
Real Life Change // Zach Windahl
"I said, 'God, I'm going to give two years to this. I'm going to dive into the Word. I'm going to study it as deeply as I can. And I need you to show up...' My whole life changed. I no longer thought the way I used to. I no longer had the same desires. I spoke differently."
—Zach Windahl
Today's Episode: Listen in as Natalie chats with Zach Windahl about the responsibility, the privilege, and the joy of representing Jesus in all of our lives. Zach shares about his own radical two year journey that changed everything about how he lives his life. He challenges and encourages us with both the weight of our actions and the beautiful simplicity of living for Jesus. You won't want to miss this episode!
This month's memory verse: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” — Colossians 3:17
Today's guest: Zach Windahl is an author and content creator focused on helping his audience grow in their faith. He is the founder and former CEO of The Brand Sunday. Marrying his passion for entrepreneurship and making faith simple has landed Zach in a unique place in the Christian landscape, where he reaches hundreds of thousands of followers on social media every day. He wrote his latest book, The Bible, Simplified, to help others be less overwhelmed by the Bible and more confident in their faith.
Want to dive deeper into this month's verse? Join Natalie in the her monthly Bible Study.
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Links from today's show:
- Want more from Zach? Find him at zachwindahl.com and @zachwindahl.
- Check out this 4 step Bible study: The EASY Bible Study Method from Coffee and Bible Time.
- See the Bible as one big story with The One Story Bible, by Greg Gilbert (get it for 30% off!).
- Mark your calendars for Dwell's BIGGEST SALE OF THE YEAR - 8/18-8/29.
Follow Natalie & Vera at DwellDifferently.com and @dwelldifferenly.
Hey, welcome back to the Dwell Differently show. I'm Natalie Abbott. Guys, we are talking about what it looks like in word and in deed to live out our faith. It is just an enormous challenge. kind of concept for us that we get to reflect Jesus in our lives. And our memory verse this month is from Colossians 3, 17. It says, and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the Father through him. It's such an awesome verse. And I am so excited because today I'm talking with my friend Zach. And this is my first time getting to meet with you, Zach. Welcome.
SPEAKER_01:Come on. It's a huge deal. I'm so happy to be here. This is amazing. I love everything that you guys are doing. So let's get into this verse. This is great.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I was excited because Zach's got a new book coming out. What's it called again?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's called The Bible Simplified.
SPEAKER_00:The Bible Simplified. So this book that he has coming out, like whenever somebody writes a book, they always have like, you know, they're reaching out saying, hey, would you interview me and whatever. And a lot of times people will ask and I'll be like, hey, but actually... We would love to talk a little bit about your book, but really what we want to talk about is this verse. And a lot of times people are like, oh, yeah, just kidding.
SPEAKER_01:For real? That actually
SPEAKER_00:happens? For real. Well, I mean, if you think about it, like it's a little bit more prep time than like something that you just already like did all the research and all of the like brain dump into an entire book. You're like, I'm so excited. I want to tell everybody about it. But then it's like, oh, but actually, we're going to talk about this other thing.
SPEAKER_01:You know, I don't even want to talk about the book. Let's just let's do verse only.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. OK, but actually, though, the thing that I love about what you do is I feel like you are trying to make Christianity, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:just. Somebody that people are attracted to, that he is winsome, that's attractive. And not that it's just merely attractional, but let's remove the barriers, I think, that we sometimes have. Let's simplify things and make it easy for people. So I actually love, love, love what you're doing. And I do think that there's a lot in this verse that would lead us to live lives that say, hey, no, actually Jesus is pretty simple.
SPEAKER_01:For sure. 100%.
SPEAKER_00:If we're living out this verse, if all of our words, if all of our deeds are reflective of who Jesus is, it's actually pretty simple.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. It's a lifestyle. Once you learn how to understand the Bible, you can know how to live it out in your day to day. And that's what we get with this verse and so many others. It's like, Yeah, whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Like, that's huge. That gives us so much to base our talk off of and inspire people to live.
SPEAKER_00:So, I
SPEAKER_01:love
SPEAKER_00:it. So, before we dive into, like, the application of this, like, we're going to live this out. We're going to, in word and deed, we're going to reflect Jesus. Yeah. What in the world is that little, I mean, it almost sounds medieval, that little phrase that's like, in the name of the Lord Jesus, it feels like, you know, I've come to you in the name of the King. And it's like, you know, like I just imagine like one of those like medieval heralds who has like a horn and a big scroll and you know what I mean? Like, can you break that down for us in modern terms? Like, what does it mean? Because we don't say that really in our modern, it's like not a thing necessarily. Yeah. So how can we understand what it means to do things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we really need to look at kind of what was going on in Colossae at the time. It was way different than anything that we experienced today. For them, they all worshipped a bunch of different gods, as most of the cities in the area did. And to worship a god, if you were worshipping them properly, then they would bless you and they would take care of your city. But if they weren't worshipped properly, then famine would come in, disease would come in. And so now you have Paul coming to the city and saying, hey, life is actually different than you expect it to be. You are worshiping these gods one way, but I'm here to tell you that there's one true God and this is how you worship him instead. And so think of how crazy that would have sounded for them because now if anything bad did happen in the city, they would know who to blame. They would say, oh, it's because of the Christians that this is happening. But Paul's saying, no, this is a whole lifestyle change. You are supposed to live your life through the name of Jesus and do everything in his name. And so, yeah, what did it mean back then to do something in the name of Jesus? It meant that you were representing their identity and their authority and coming to other people in the name of Christ. And so as a Christian, we're saying, okay, we represent Jesus in all that we do, which is a major deal. Like if you live out your life saying that you represent Jesus, all the good things that you do and all the bad things that you do can be really twisted from the people around us. And so it puts an authority on top of us saying, okay, man, we really need to change the way that we live our lives if we believe that we're a representation of Christ in everything. And so I think when we read this, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, that we need to actually realize, okay, do we... Do we want that responsibility? Because it's a major one. And I don't think a lot of Christians realize the weight that comes with it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I mean, but don't you think that's like experientially so true when somebody says, well, you know, it's not that I wouldn't believe in Jesus. It's that I don't like Christians. Yeah, for sure. Like I'm a pastor's wife and there are times when I will apologize for hurt that people have experienced from the church or from people who say that they're Christians, that they have a lot of trauma. And it's like, man, I would love to help you undo sort of the trauma that you've experienced and hopefully give you a different picture of what a Christian can look like.
SPEAKER_01:But also, I'm going to push back on that slightly because I think it's goofy that we say that we focus on what somebody else does and blame God for it. We're saying that like, oh, this person didn't treat me right. So now I'm not going to love the God of the universe, even though I grew up in church and have spent time with him and understand him. Maybe you didn't truly know him and encounter him in the first place. Because if somebody comes to me and they have a problem with my wife, I'm not going to leave my wife because of something that somebody else says. That
SPEAKER_00:is a really great example.
SPEAKER_01:It's the same thing. What are we talking about? Oh, somebody hurt my feelings at a church. Great. Well, then find a different church. Spend time in the Word. Pull yourself out for a little while and dig deeper. It happened to me for years. I fell away from my faith because of other Christians. And I allowed other Christians to really impact my relationship with God. And it should never be that way. But I get it. So I understand. But now coming out of it on the other side, looking back at it is like, oh, my mindset was just in the wrong place. I was focusing on other people. I was looking out instead of up. And I allowed people to impact me negatively, but I chose to dig into the word and learn more about Jesus and what that means for our life and grow in that relationship. And that's what benefited me the most through it. And I wouldn't have that any other way because now I'm able to relate with people that have gone through similar things. But I also think a lot of people need more of a kick in the pants to be like, okay, this is like, life is actually different and I should be growing closer to God and it's on me. It's my responsibility to grow closer to God and not somebody else, not somebody that's a leader at a church.
SPEAKER_00:I do love that. You know, I do think that's funny because I'm always telling my kids when they get in fights with each other, like, you are responsible for you though.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, like,
SPEAKER_01:Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:You took part in this in some way and you're responsible for your own actions. What about you? Like maybe, yeah, your sibling hurt you, but also like you're responsible for you. Like what are you going to do with that hurt?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00:You know?
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Interestingly enough, my next question for you is like, so this context of the bigger passage in Colossians, You have this imagery that is being used between life and death, right? And the old self and the new self, and it's this dramatic transformation. And then this little verse is kind of like the culmination verse. But before we talk about that, I would love to hear, I mean, already you've talked just a little bit about this kind of walking away season that you had. Yeah. Can you tell me more about your personal story of the death to life, the old self, the new self? How have you experienced that, that you can say, hey, I actually do want to represent Jesus. I actually find this to be the highest calling in my life.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, 100%. I love that imagery of taking off something, taking off your old self to dying to your old self and putting on your new self, being born again. And I did go through that phase where I was struggling with other Christians that I was surrounded by. And I said, God, I'm going to give two years to this. I'm going to dive into the word. I'm going to study it as deep as I can. And I was like, I need you to show up. And I moved out to Australia, actually, to join this Bible study program where we studied for 12 hours a day, six days a week, super intensive. And being out there in the first two days of just spending time fully dedicated to worshiping God and learning more about him, my whole life changed. And I no longer thought the way that I used to. I no longer had the same desires. I spoke different. I listened to different music. I hung around different people. And that's that like, okay, this is a new life. Things are different now for me. It doesn't mean that the old self doesn't creep in sometimes. I think it's an every single day we need to die to our old self. And we need to wake up and say, okay, I'm putting off my shame. I'm putting off my anger and I'm putting on compassion and peace. And I'm putting on the lifestyle that Jesus shows us to live, but it is every single day. Okay, I'm dead to that. I'm going from glory to glory now. My life is continually changing from here on out every single day. And I think that only happens by spending more time in the word and spending time in prayer and getting to know him more and more instead of just going to church on a Sunday, for instance.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think it's interesting that we sort of compartmentalize our faith sometimes. Like, I love that you have this like radical, like, okay, I'm taking two years off of life and I'm going to figure it out. And maybe not even two years off of life, but two years on, right? Like two years of like, I am hardcore, going to dive in. This is so important that it's life or death. Like this is the trajectory. Where is my life going? Like, I mean, can you talk about the trajectory of your life if you hadn't done that maybe? Versus, you know, where you find yourself now. Can you even imagine?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I can't even imagine because at the moment that I made that change, I had just lost my job. I had just gotten broken up with. I had no money. I was like 27 and I was not where I wanted to be in life. And I was like, wow, this is awful. Like, I don't know where this could go from here. Like, it couldn't have gotten much worse for me at 27. Obviously, now looking back at it, it's like, ah, I could have pulled
SPEAKER_00:through. Right. But in the
SPEAKER_01:moment, it's like life or death to you when you're in your mid-20s. And so where would I have been? Who knows? I think I would have been angry and bitter. And I think I would have been chasing after just personal desires and personal success, whatever that looked like. But I think I always had a strong root of where my morals were. And I always believed Christian beliefs, I guess, deep down. And I always knew and trusted that God was good. But I also thought that a lot of it relied on me and all my success relied on me. And so that was kind of how I really approached life and lived it out. And I mean, yes, since then, just seeing, okay... Now I want to help other people go through a similar process that I've gone through. And through that, I've seen God open door after door and continually be transforming my life to be more like his and falling deeper in love with scripture and becoming more loving to the people around me and more kind and living out the fruit of the spirit in the day to day. And I know it's just the Holy Spirit working in my life that allows that to take place. And I know it's possible forever. listening as long as we dig in and say, okay, this is where I wanna be. This is where Jesus is taking me and I'm along for the ride.
SPEAKER_00:You know, it's funny because I think for some reason, and I don't know what it is about us as humans, but it's like, if I read this passage in Colossians and it's like, you know, put off anger, put off malice, put off greed, like, like stop doing these things. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? And then it's like, but be humble, be kind, be, you know, in every action, all of your speech, like live this way. And it's like, that's so oftentimes like that. Isn't that what we want our lives to look
SPEAKER_01:like? Of course. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And yet we read these things and we either convince ourselves of one of two things, I think. We either convince ourselves that like, oh, we're doing pretty good. Yeah. You know, I haven't murdered anybody this week. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or we look at that list and we're like, that is just so out of reach. Yeah. Like who even does that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. You know? Sure.
SPEAKER_00:And I just wonder like how... You talked a little bit about the Holy Spirit, but can you, can you like nail that down a little bit for us? Like, how do we actually do this? Because I mean, I remember, so here's the crazy thing. When I was not a Christian, somebody gave me a Bible and I started reading it and I remember thinking like, I wish I could be like this, but the truth is like, this is so impossible. Like, I remember just thinking, gosh, this is, this is like the best thing. worst book I've ever read because it's like, it's like, here's this unattainable perfection that you would love for your life to look like. And yet again, it's unattainable. So there you have it. So like, how do we go from this death to life or this like inability to even live this way to this, like, like obviously we're being called to live this way. So the expectation is that we can like somehow.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. Yeah. 100%. Yeah, I mean, that's the Holy Spirit working in you. Paul says that the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and self-control. And so those are all things that are the fruit of our lives as we grow closer to him. So if we look back a year from right now, our lives should be more joyful, loving, kind, peaceful, if the Holy Spirit is truly moving within us. And how do we get closer to him? I love back then... To follow a rabbi meant that you would leave everything behind and you would eat with your rabbi, you would drink with your rabbi, you would walk with them, you would sit under their teaching, you would sleep by them. Your entire life was dedicated to life with your rabbi. And for us, our rabbi is Jesus. And I don't think that that's very common for a lot of people to think, okay, this is what discipleship is, to truly sit under the rabbi and live fully dedicated to learning about him and transforming our lives to be a reflection of him. And I think if we switch our mentality of discipleship is mentorship to discipleship is something that we are under him, Jesus as our rabbi, I think it would make us a lot more encouraged to dig deeper with him and realize that it's a full life transformation, that our desires should be his and we want to become a reflection of him in all that we do. So I love just that. different imagery there. And by doing so, by spending more time with him, I think that's where the fruit really comes out of us. And it says they'll know us by our fruit and our love for others. And as believers, we should be producing good fruit. And if we're producing, if we're saying that we're believers and we're producing bad fruit, there's an issue there. And I think you need to figure out what the root of that is. Because Our fruit should be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. And that happens by going from glory to glory, being transformed to be closer to Jesus through the Holy Spirit in our lives.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it reminds me a little bit of what Jesus says about, I'm the vine and you are the branches, whoever abides in me. Yeah. And whoever abides in my word, he says.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, like this concept of an I in him, whoever abides in me, an I in him, like the Holy Spirit is in us, and yet we are in his word. And it's this like, it's almost like one of those like really bizarre Matryoshka dolls, you know? It's just like multiple stacking dolls where you're like, Jesus is in me. I am in his word. He is in me. I am in him. He's in the Father, but I'm in him. So am I in the Father? I think I am, you know?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, literally.
SPEAKER_00:But I mean, it's just like
SPEAKER_01:to
SPEAKER_00:understand our, like if you think about it in all of those ways, it's like we are so interconnected with Jesus. And I love that rabbi picture of like sleeping next to him, being in his presence, eating with him. And yet, you know, when Jesus leaves the earth, he says, I'm going away and it's going to be better for you.
SPEAKER_01:It's
SPEAKER_00:better if I send the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01:Totally, right? Like, okay, if that's true, then it should impact our lives in some way.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. I mean, like the Holy Spirit, God himself indwelling us is better than us being like one of the 12 disciples hanging out with Jesus. And I think sometimes we have like the reverse in our minds of like, oh, wouldn't it be awesome if Jesus were just right here with me? And it's like, no, he's not just right here with you. He's like right here. In you.
SPEAKER_01:Way bigger of a deal.
SPEAKER_00:Way bigger of a
SPEAKER_01:deal. You no longer need to go to the temple to worship him and to sit in his presence. Now the Holy Spirit, his presence is inside of you and everywhere you go is like you're bringing the temple there. You're bringing God to that area. You're bringing heaven to earth in every single area you go because the Holy Spirit is inside of you. That's a major deal. People would travel from all over the world just to go and be in his presence. And now we can sit in his presence in Minnesota and Alabama and Missouri and California and China. Like everywhere else, you can sit in his presence now today because of the Holy Spirit. That's a way bigger deal than anything we could have ever imagined.
SPEAKER_00:When was the last time you saw someone fall in love with God's work for the first time? These days, it's easy to scroll through our phones and harder to slow down with scripture, especially for new believers. That's why the easy Bible study method from Coffee and Bible Time is such a gift. Guys, I love the ladies over there at Coffee and Bible Time, and they've developed a simple four-step framework to help women open their Bible and actually understand with clarity, joy, and purpose. So whether you're walking alongside someone who's new to the faith, or you're just looking for a fresh way to engage God's word for yourself, this is a tool worth using. Spiritual growth doesn't just happen. It takes showing up and slowing down and even inviting others to do the same. The EZ Method helps make this possible. You can grab a copy of the EZ Bible Study Method from Moody Publishers. There's a link in our show notes. And don't just read it alone. Open your Bible, invite a friend, and let the word of God do what it does best, transform your life. I want to tell you about a new Bible that's out from Crossway. It's called the One Story Bible, and it shows how the entire Bible is one story about God's plan to redeem the world through Jesus. It has conversational commentary from Pastor Greg Gilbert woven throughout the entire ESV text. This Bible helps readers, whether new or seasoned, see how every part of Scripture fits together and points to Jesus. I wonder if there's a person in your life who needs a Bible like this. We'll be right back. How does that become mundane to us? Do you know what I mean? Like, and I think we all go through these like fluctuations of like, I'm feeling it. It's awesome. And then we go through these valleys where we're like, I think the Lord is punishing me. Like, what did I, you know, where did you go, Lord? But can you talk to that a little bit, like maybe from your own life experience of like, you know, like we know that this is true. I mean, I think if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you can say, yeah, the Holy Spirit dwells in me. And yet there are times when we say it with gusto because we're like, yes. And then there are times when we're like, I am saying that, but I'm doubting the words that I'm saying out loud.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think it comes down to building proper habits and having our lives dedicated to scripture and prayer and worship. Because if we aren't growing towards something and growing closer to something, we're drifting apart. And that's the same for marriages, relationships, and our relationship with God. If we aren't growing closer to him, we're automatically drifting apart from him. So we need to learn to crave him. And so maybe that's That means that you need to switch up your typical routine. If you've read the Bible the same way for the last 20 years and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard these stories, but I'm reading it just because I need to read it, switch it up. read it in three months, read it in 30 days, like spend more time in prayer, change your prayer time from just talking to now spending time listening and journaling what you hear him say to you, like switch it up in some way. And then I think another huge thing like we see in this verse is gratitude. Gratitude is the most important thing for our mindset and for our lifestyle. If we learn how to be grateful to God for everything, it'll impact the way we view all of life. The Jewish way of looking at gratitude is that you thank God a hundred times a day for all the blessings that he's given you. Not in like a spiritual blessing thing, but like, thank you for this water, Lord. Thank you for ears to hear this podcast. Thank you for feet to stand on as I walk to make myself a sandwich later. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And I think if we learn to shift our heart to be from a place of gratitude and seeing God everywhere, it's going to change our interactions with him because now we're inviting him into our mundane and his presence is going to fill every single room we enter, the car that we drive, wherever we are, his presence is going to be with us because we're always thinking about him and he's on the top of our minds. And so I think gratitude is not in like a thank you universe for all these things, but thank you God for all of these blessings. Literally believing, deep down believing that every single blessing, everything that happens in our life happens because of him. And by doing so, oh my goodness, then every single day you're experiencing him instead of just on Sunday. And even like going to church just on Sunday is such a funny thing. I read this article about this study that was done where if you just go to church on Sunday, not much happens in your life. If you read the Bible twice a week, not much happens in your life. If you read the Bible three times a week, not much happens in your life. But if you read the Bible four times a week, you wouldn't believe the change of people, like less anxiety, less depression, more joy. The list goes on and on about all of the benefits of daily spending time in God's word, in his presence, and trying to find a way how to bring him into our day-to-day mundane things. In the West, we have a very Gnostic mindset often, even though it's a bad thing, I think, where it's like, okay, physical stuff is bad and spiritual stuff is good. But for Paul and Jesus and the Hebrew mindset, it was that all of life is actually spiritual. So if I'm an author, it's a spiritual job. If I'm sending emails, I can do it in a spiritual way that honors God. If I'm cooking dinner for my wife, I can do it in a way that honors God and invites him into it. And I think by By learning to shift that mindset to see things, okay, all of this can be used for God. All of my words, all of my deeds, everything, my job, my relationships, if I can use them to glorify God and to bring him into my situation, then I think your life is just gonna be filled with so much more hope and joy and love and you're gonna experience him more than just being stuck in the mundane of the day-to-day.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Isn't that funny though? Because it's like what has actually shifted is nothing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Like your physical reality hasn't changed. The house you live in, the job that you have, the relationship, none of that is shifted.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Mindset.
SPEAKER_00:At all. It's all about like that, like inviting Jesus into, like I love that idea of inviting Jesus into your mundane.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. It's like, how cool is it to fold the laundry with the Lord? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And how... tedious is it to not
SPEAKER_01:yeah 100%
SPEAKER_00:and it sounds so goofy doing the exact same thing
SPEAKER_01:doing the exact same
SPEAKER_00:thing right and yet somehow you're like lord thank you for this pair of socks or you know I mean like
SPEAKER_01:I guarantee people that hear that are going to be like, that is so lame. I'm not going to do that. But I promise you, if you do, literally as you're doing laundry, like, thank you, Lord, for these clothes. Thank you for a washing machine in my home so I didn't have to leave today and I can spend more time in your presence. Things like that, as goofy and as like, woo-woo spiritual as it may sound, it's so applicable and it will completely change your heart posture and who you become as a person, I think.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, 100% because it's like the things that would be interruptions become opportunities.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:I love that. The things that are difficult, again, they're opportunities. It's like opportunities for the Lord to be a part of this thing that I'm doing right now instead of me just on my own ho-hum doing my thing and go to church on Sunday.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_00:You know?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Well, I want to get to this concept of word and deed that we're talking about in this verse because I think that that sometimes, just like what you were talking about with like the way that we, like the Gnostic idea that we have in Western culture, we have this, at least in Western Christianity, a lot of times a separation of word and deed historically in the church where it's like, oh, well, that's one of those churches that does a lot of things. Or that's one of those churches that preaches the word really well. And I think that we as humans, just as individuals, I think we have a tendency to be like, well, I really know a lot. So I feel comfortable sharing my faith with people. But I don't know that I feel comfortable serving in a soup kitchen. You know, or whatever. And not that it has to be those two kind of extreme versions of word and speech of like, and talking about Jesus and being Jesus's hands.
SPEAKER_01:But
SPEAKER_00:in all, again, in all of those mundane things, how do we love him? Is it possible even to separate those two?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think they go hand in hand all the time. My father-in-law says, your most valuable asset is your word. And I think by being true to your word and actually living it out. So when you say something, actually doing it, it invites trust into the relationship. And if people trust you, they're going to listen to you. And so, yeah, maybe you are a person that loves to just share the word, but your lifestyle or your actions may not be a reflection of it. Or maybe you just serve people and give, but you never share the word. I think both are... there needs to be a shift there. I think there needs to be a change because our lives need to be both. Jesus would preach and he would act. He would perform miracles. The early church would perform miracles and then they would preach the gospel. And so for us today, it's like, yeah, wow, Lord, you use me in some way physically and then open up the door for me to share my faith from there. I think for non-believers, especially like our testimony and what God has done in our lives, is the greatest way to share our faith. So just sharing how God has moved in your life, not being super pushy, but loving in your actions and saying, hey, this is why I'm doing what I'm doing. This is how my life has changed. And I think that alone is gonna be so attractive to people that it's gonna draw them in more and more to wanna have what you already have.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and I think going back to kind of where we started about, making our faith something that is winsome and simple to people. Like if we're living this way, isn't that just naturally going to like draw people in and be like, well, that person is just different. You know that. I mean, like I can think of people that, like I find out later, I'm like, oh, I figured you were a Christian.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for sure. A hundred
SPEAKER_00:percent. You know, where it's like, I don't know when I first meet you, like that, that's what you, like how, who you are or whatever. But like, it, it sometimes is just like, you can't hide it. Like you can't hide the fact that you're a Christian. I could tell right away, you know, like I wish that people would say that about me. And it's not just because I find out like I'm married to a pastor, but like, you know, like, What is it about the presence of you coming into a coffee shop or doing your groceries, shopping, or whatever it is that brings, like, bringing Jesus with you?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, in your word and in your speech, like, or in your actions, like, what are we communicating? And not to be... I don't want people feeling bad out there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, of course not.
SPEAKER_00:Right? Like, I don't even know. Like, and some people probably like this, this crazy people right now talking about these things. But, but, and I, you know, I think that there, there have been like these, these examples of people who are like, you know, handing out tracks at every restaurant they go to and stuff like that. And I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna bash on that. I know some really genuinely sweet people who do that. And I'm like, and that's, that's you, dog. For
SPEAKER_01:sure.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. But what is it that we can do, you know, and maybe this is just like a question to leave hanging in the air. It's like, what is one way that I can live this verse out? Yeah. As me, Natalie Abbott, or you, Zach, like, what, you know, how do we, how do we apply this, you know, in a way that's genuine to us?
SPEAKER_01:I think a lot of people don't understand what the gospel of Jesus is. So gospel isn't a Christian word. It didn't come from the Bible. Julius Caesar had a gospel. Alexander the Great had a gospel. It was a way of talking about what life was gonna be like under a change of leadership. So now that the Romans are in charge, The gospel message was, this is what life is going to be like for you under Roman rule. So now you have Jesus coming in and saying, okay, this is what life under my kingdom is. What life with me as king is like. People are going to be healed. People are going to be forgiven. There's going to be peace. There's going to be wholeness. Sins are going to be wiped clean. There's going to be repentance from you. And so for us looking, okay, That's what the gospel is. That's what we're signing up for. Life under his kingdom is actually so much better. I think if we understand how much better life is under his kingdom, it'll change the way that we live our lives and realize that, man, he's using us to spread the kingdom all over the world. That's a huge deal. Like right now, we're supposed to be praying. for heaven to come to earth and everything that we do that's in obedience to him, we're bringing the gospel one inch closer to what it's going to eventually be. That's a major deal. Fearing God and obeying his commands is literally what we should live our entire lives based around because it's what's going to bring the kingdom out into the world. And he wants to partner with us. And how incredible is that? That God, the creator of the universe, wants to partner with you and I to help bring his kingdom here because we believe that it's better than what the world is telling us the kingdom is supposed to be. Incredible. So praise God for that.
SPEAKER_00:No, it is literally unbelievable. There are times when I'm just in awe if I really think about it. I get to represent God in the world, in my speech and in my actions. It's kind of like whether I like it or not. Going back to that idea of these quote-unquote bad Christians and church hurt and whatever, it's like whether you like it or not,
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:If you say you are a Christian, you are like Christ is in the name Christian. Like you are representing Jesus. For
SPEAKER_01:sure. Absolutely. That's a big deal.
SPEAKER_00:It's a big deal. It's a big deal. It is. And it's like, is it going to be okay? But again, it's like the Lord has equipped us.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:He himself in us.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Y'all got this. Yeah. Y'all got this. All right. Well, Zach, Honestly, I would love to keep talking because this has just been so good for my soul. Come on. But I just want to leave just with our listeners in mind. You've been listening to us kind of gush a little bit, get real pumped up. But what about the person who's listening to this who's at that space where they're like, I don't know. I don't know. Either I don't know that I even... can believe this or
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_00:or if this could be true for me yeah or if they're just like this is all new anyway what would you say kind of to close out for for that person who's listening to this and and like what does it really mean to to yeah for Jesus and and and how do I how do I actually do that
SPEAKER_01:Totally, I think you need to look at the Bible and zoom out from it and see it from a big picture perspective and see it from a historical perspective and how this is your ancestors now and this is where we're heading in the world and this is what you're signing up for. But so often for us, it can be like, hey, just read your Bible. But that doesn't do a lot of good most of the time if you don't know the context of things. So I think zoom out, learn it from a big picture And by doing so, you're going to see, okay, this is what it means to be a Christian and to represent Jesus in all that I do. And yeah, I am signing up for it because I believe it's the right way. I believe it's where the world is heading. And I believe that by doing so, he's going to use me to help bring the kingdom to my neighborhood and to my relationships. And we get to work together. How fun is that? You get to wake up every morning and say, Holy Spirit, use me today. In whatever way that means, use me today. And I think your life will turn into an adventure and you're joining into a pretty crazy ride.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like that's a very accurate description. It is a crazy ride. It's a crazy ride. Um, it's the best ride. It's the best ride. You know, it's funny. I was talking with, um, some gals on my team today. We were talking about, um, having kids and I was like, it's the best and the worst. Like it's the best because there's all these things. And then it's the worst because it's like, these are, these are the hearts, like, like nothing really worthwhile. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:isn't also going to be really hard at times. So it is a crazy ride. Like there's going to be, Jesus says, you know, pick up your cross and follow me.
SPEAKER_00:So they're like, it's not all going to be rainbows and puppy dogs, but you're always going to be with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:He's there. He's there. All right. Well, Zach, thank you so much. Guys who are listening, we have all the things in the show notes about Zach. If you want to read through the Bible and do it in a simple way, He's got you. So we're going to have that link in there and all of his stuff. Zach, thank you so much for joining me today and for being willing to talk about this verse. And if you guys want more, you just have to look it up because if you want more about his book, he didn't talk about it on this podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Exactly. We're here for the Bible.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Amen. Oh, thank you so
SPEAKER_01:much. This was an honor. Incredible. Really appreciate
SPEAKER_00:it. Me too. Thanks. Okay, don't hit fast forward because you're going to want to hear this. And I am just barely containing my excitement. We have our warehouse sale, which is our biggest sale of the year. This August, the 18th through the 29th, we do it once a year and we sell all kinds of stuff. We open up the vaults and we have old verses. We have key tags, tattoos, and verse cards that you can buy separately, which we never sell. We have massively discounted verse kits for gifts that you can stock up on for retreats, your Bible study, your church, bingo. We'll be right back.
