Am I Really Saved?

Summary

Stay True with Madison Prewett Troutt
Episode Title: Am I Really Saved?
Release Date: February 24, 2025

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Introduction to the Episode’s Topic

In this profound episode of "Stay True", host Madison Prewett Troutt delves deep into one of Christianity's most pressing questions: "Am I Really Saved?" Together with her co-host Grant, Madison explores the essence of salvation, the transformative journey of faith, and how believers can confidently know their eternal destiny.

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Personal Announcements

Before embarking on the theological discussions, Madison shares joyful personal news with her listeners:

• Madison ([02:19]): "I am still pregnant as we're recording this episode, but by the time it comes out, she will be."
• The duo announces that this will be their last episode for three weeks as Madison goes on maternity leave, encouraging listeners to revisit past episodes or await new content eagerly.

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Understanding Salvation

The conversation swiftly transitions into defining and understanding salvation:

• Madison ([06:31]): "How do I know if I'm really a Christian? How do I know if I'm saved?"
• Grant ([07:23]): "Satan's cool with both extremes—fearful doubt or false confidence. He wants to keep you in one of two extremes."

They emphasize that salvation isn't merely a one-time confession but an ongoing relationship and transformation.

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Biblical Insights and Scriptures

Madison and Grant draw extensively from the Bible to elucidate their points:

1. Romans 10:9-10

   • Madison ([12:52]): "Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead."

2. The Prodigal Son (Luke 15)

   • They dissect the parable, highlighting the importance of a genuine relationship with God over mere adherence to religious duties.

3. Mark 1:15

   • Grant ([13:48]): "Repent and believe. Let go of the old and embrace the new Savior."

4. John 14:6

   • Madison ([18:30]): "Jesus says, 'I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

5. 2 Corinthians 5:21

   • Madison ([24:14]): "Jesus became sin for us so that we might take on His righteousness."

6. Galatians 5:25

   • Grant ([35:26]): "The fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control."

7. James 5:16

   • Madison ([56:23]): "When you confess to your brothers and sisters in Christ, and they pray for you, you experience healing and freedom."

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Differentiating Belief and Transformation

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to distinguishing between superficial belief and true transformation:

• Grant ([16:31]): "Action always follows belief. Saying 'I believe' without transformation is akin to demonic belief."

• Madison ([36:04]): "It's not about who you were in your flesh, but who Christ is in you."

They discuss the 0-10 Assurance Question, a tool to gauge one's confidence in salvation:

• Grant ([46:50]): "It's either a 10 or a 0. There's no middle ground because Jesus didn't die for just part of your sins."

• Madison ([49:06]): "You can confidently say, 'I am going to heaven if I die today,' based on Jesus' finished work on the cross."

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The 0-10 Assurance Question

Madison and Grant introduce and explore the 0-10 Question to assess one's assurance of salvation:

1. Question: On a scale of 0 to 10, how sure are you that you would go to heaven if you died today?
2. Insights:
   • Most listeners might find themselves rating between 5-8, indicating uncertainty.
   • True assurance comes from fully trusting Jesus' complete sacrifice, not fluctuating self-assessments.

• Grant ([46:50]): "It's not arrogant to say you're a 10; it's acknowledging the grace freely given."

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Practical Steps for Confirming Salvation

The episode doesn't stop at theory; it provides actionable steps for believers to confirm and deepen their faith:

1. Community and Accountability

   • Madison ([56:23]): "Getting involved with a community group and local church provides accountability and encouragement."
   • Grant ([57:05]): "Christianity is meant to be lived in community, not solitude."

2. Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer and Worship

   • Madison ([59:06]): "Prayer started awkward for me but became an intimate relationship with God."
   • Grant ([58:53]): "Using Scripture as a sword to fight temptation strengthens spiritual growth."

3. Abiding in Christ

   • Madison ([36:58]): "John 15 teaches us to abide in Him to bear lasting fruit."
   • Grant ([37:00]): "Bearing good fruit is a sign of living under Christ's lordship."

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Community and Accountability

Emphasizing the importance of fellowship:

• Madison ([56:23]): "Confessing sins within a community leads to healing and accountability."
• Grant ([57:05]): "Being part of a community ensures you're not navigating your faith journey alone."

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Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer and Worship

Deep dives into cultivating a vibrant spiritual life:

• Prayer: Starting as an awkward practice, it evolves into a continuous, intimate conversation with God.

  • Madison ([59:13]): "Prayer became like speaking with a friend, not a distant deity."

• Worship: Moving beyond routine to heartfelt gratitude and adoration.

  • Madison ([62:24]): "Prayer and worship are essential for staying connected and fruitful in faith."

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Conclusion and Salvation Prayer

The episode culminates in a heartfelt salvation prayer, inviting listeners to make a personal commitment:

• Grant ([62:27]): "If you're ready, close your eyes and pray this prayer to receive Jesus."

Salvation Prayer:

"Dear God, I know that I am a sinner, and I know that I've done some things and I've messed up. But what I do know is that you sent your son to be the Savior, and your son went to the cross and he paid for my sins, and he did not stay in the grave. But three days later, he rose from that grave and defeated my sin. And, Lord, your word says that if I believe in that with my heart and I confess it with my mouth, I will be transformed. Lord, I don't want this to be another prayer that I pray. I want this to be the start of a new life in Christ. So, Lord, I receive your Holy Spirit, and I ask that your Holy Spirit begin to produce the fruit in me to confirm that I know that I am a follower of Jesus Christ, Lord. I know it's not going to be perfect, but I know that it's a continual process of following you. God, would you give me the strength to make this decision? In the powerful name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen."
Madison ([64:23]): "Amen."

Listeners who pray this prayer are warmly welcomed into the faith community, celebrating their decision to follow Christ.

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Final Thoughts

Madison and Grant wrap up the episode by reaffirming the importance of understanding and embracing salvation fully. They encourage continuous growth, community involvement, and maintaining a vibrant relationship with Jesus. As they announce their temporary departure for maternity leave, they leave listeners with an invitation to stay true to their faith and look forward to future episodes.

• Madison ([64:25]): "Welcome to the family. We're rejoicing with you and we love you guys so much."

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Notable Quotes:

• Grant ([00:05]): "Even the demons believe. Everyone's cool with God until you say the word Jesus."
• Madison ([13:06]): "It's both an inward transformation and an outward confession and following."
• Grant ([35:26]): "The Spirit produces joy in you. It's not you producing it in yourself."
• Madison ([37:05]): "We can't do it apart from Him. Abiding in Him leads to lasting fruit."
• Grant ([46:50]): "You can't be arrogant in something that was just freely given to you."

This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for believers seeking assurance in their salvation, blending personal testimonies with deep theological insights to inspire and educate.

Transcript

[A]

How do I know if I'm saved? How can I actually tell that I'm going to go to heaven when I die one day?

[B]

It's very easy to say I believe. But guess what? Even the demons believe. Everyone's cool with God. Everyone's cool with God until you say the word Jesus. Then people get tight. He's either a liar because he claimed to be the son of God, he's a lunatic because he's claiming that me and God are one, or he's Lord.

[A]

What is salvation and what did Jesus do for us? How can you know if you're really saved? Like, how can you know one 100% that you are going to heaven?

[B]

Are you sinning with zero conviction? Are you sinning and you're content with it? Are you sinning and you're honestly pretty happy in it?

[A]

He didn't just take away all the bad. He gave us all the good. What's up, guys? Welcome back to another episode of Stay True podcast. I'm your host, Madison Pruitt Trout, here with Grant.

[B]

Yes. Yes.

[A]

The Grant.

[B]

It's good to be back.

[A]

The one and only.

[B]

Oh, Grant. Yes.

[A]

Should I?

[B]

I like that.

[A]

Start singing.

[B]

Yeah, keep going.

[A]

Oh, just everything vanished from my mind. I am still pregnant as we're recording this episode, but by the time it.

[B]

Comes out, oh, my goodness.

[A]

She will be.

[B]

Tell. Tell him her name.

[A]

Oh, we haven't told anyone yet.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

But at this point, I guess y'all.

[B]

Will know her name.

[A]

Y'all will know her name.

[B]

And it's a great name.

[A]

It's a great name.

[B]

It's so good.

[A]

We're so excited. But I also don't want to, like, say it just in case we have some crazy last minute. We're in the hospital. No, we change our mind. I don't think it's gonna happen.

[B]

We would switch our mind.

[A]

Now I'm stressing him out. No, I don't think it's gonna happen. I'm just saying if we, like, put it on the podcast and then we change, then it's like, totally.

[B]

Y'all will see her name.

[A]

You'll see it, guys. Don't worry. But this is also going to be the last episode. They're gonna have to wait three more weeks because your girl's gonna be on maternity leave, which you need.

[B]

Y'all should be so proud of her for doing that, because this is not easy.

[A]

Think about it. Pray for us for baby girl, and whenever we come back, she'll be here. We can tell the whole birth story.

[B]

Can't wait.

[A]

We can get you guys into the last, like, month of parenting.

[B]

I wonder. I wonder how we're gonna do. I know, like, when they watch this, we'll have been doing it for a month. How are we gonna do.

[A]

And we're gonna be honest, because there are things I've learned about pregnancy that people were not as honest with me about.

[B]

Like what?

[A]

I don't know, like, tailbone pain and indigestion. There's just things.

[B]

You know, pain has been so weird for you.

[A]

It's been so bad. I don't. I don't know. We did our little stay true pop up event in Nashville, and it was like the worst it had ever been. And I was, like, limping around. I could barely walk. And I had all these amazing you guys out there in Nashville coming to this event, and I was, like, limping around wasn't cute. But anyways, pregnancy, it's been good. Honestly though. It has. It's been good. I'm very thankful. I have had a lot of friends who. It's been a lot harder and just. They've been, like, super sick every single day. So we're. We're grateful, but I just can't wait to see what she's gonna look like.

[B]

I'm pumped.

[A]

I can't wait for her to be here.

[B]

So this is the most wild part where you're, like, so crazy. What is our child gonna look like? What is she gonna talk? I mean, talk like, but, well, cry. Yeah. Like, what's she gonna sound like? And like, does she have hair? Does she not have hair? Like, what is she gonna be like?

[A]

Like me. Like us.

[B]

When can you actually tell? What, who they look like?

[A]

I don't know. Sometimes you can tell really early on.

[B]

Like a couple months. Right.

[A]

Or like a month sooner. Like, right at the beginning.

[B]

Wow. In the beginning.

[A]

In the beginning. I don't know about, like, straight out the womb. Because they kind of look a little.

[B]

No, like a little alien.

[A]

Yeah, their heads get, like. Because through, you know, really small opening, so their heads get a little alien.

[B]

Do you remember our friend telling us about.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

No one warned him about the cone head. And so he's, like, looking down, waiting for his child to come out, and it's, like, full.

[A]

My child has a cone.

[B]

He's waiting for them to be like, hey, it's deformed. Like, deformity. And they're like, this is so normal.

[A]

This is every child, when they come out of the womb, crazy. And we were like, that's really good to know. So, yeah, I don't know that. We'll know right at the beginning. Can't wait. Can't wait to find out. With a head full of dark hair and I was like six pounds, I think six ounces. You, I don't remember, were like eight pounds.

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

And I don't know about your hair.

[B]

I don't either.

[A]

You were blonde. He was really blonde.

[B]

Like white blonde. Like bleach. Blonde hair when he was little. Yeah. Crazy.

[A]

It's so wild to me, which, I mean, your hair is lighter, but it's brown.

[B]

So wild.

[A]

Anyways, what are we talking about? I just. I love you guys and I can't believe that we're not going to be posting anything for a few weeks. So go back and listen to old ones if you need to or just wait expectantly. And as you're waiting, be prayerful for us, be praying for us, and know we'll be praying for you guys. Yeah, but we actually had a topic that we were going to talk about today, and Grant shot it down because he was like, that's not it. That's not right. So we switched it and feel right. And we pray.

[B]

Didn't feel right.

[A]

He said, let's take it to God and pray.

[B]

So we pray. And I'm like, expect it. I'm like, lord, give us the same thing. And so I'm like, okay, God, whatever you want us to talk about, drop it. And we say amen. She's like, I've got it. And I was like, me too. And she's like, you go first. And I was like, mountains.

[A]

She's like, like, in Colorado. What? Like, are we skiing?

[B]

I was like, mountaintop moments. And I was like, wait, what about yours? And hers was way better, so we're gonna go with yours.

[A]

But I think what he was alluding to, we're actually going to talk about in this episode, too. So you weren't far off. You were off, sweetie. You were. So we're going to be talking all about, how do I know if I'm really a Christian? How do I know if I'm saved? How do I know if I' really following Jesus? What sets me apart from the rest of the world? How can I actually tell that I'm going to go to heaven when I die one day? I mean, these are questions that I think a lot of us have asked. And I think these are also questions that we don't ask enough.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Because it says in scripture that we should, like, shouldn't we? Like, what does it Say we should, like, tremble with our salvation. What does it say?

[B]

Yeah, work it out with fear and trembling.

[A]

That's what it is. I'm like, not tremble. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

[B]

Totally.

[A]

Sorry. I need you to. I can't remember.

[B]

I think people. There's some people that don't ask this question enough, and then there's other people that ask this question too much.

[A]

Too much. So, like, getting saved every church.

[B]

Yeah, it's like, the 10th time was good. Like, you're. You are in sealed. But I do think this is important because we want you guys to be extremely clear. This is what the word of God says. This is how I can know that I'm saved. And. And some people would say, can you really be 100%? You can. You can be 100% sure that you are saved. And we want to bring that clarity to you today because people either walk in fear or they walk in pride. And I think Satan's cool with both.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

He's like, as long as you're not walking confidently in who you are as a son or a daughter of the king, I want to keep you in one of two extremes. Questioning your salvation or being a little bit too American, confident in it, and you're actually not saved.

[A]

That's really good. I'm glad you brought that up, because I was just reading the story of the prodigal son, and it's. I think it's Luke 15, Luke 15 or Luke 16. And I was reading about that story, encourage you guys to go and read it. It's so good. But you have these two different brothers that are represented in this father. So there's three main people in the story. And this brother asked his dad for his inheritance early, which is, like, such a slap in the face. He's like, give me my inheritance. That's not something you typically ask for until, like, your dad passes away and he's asking for it early. He goes. He, like, takes the wealth, squanders it all in selfish and sinful living, lives a reckless life. And he finds himself at a rock bottom moment eating with pigs out of, like, the trough. And he's like, I. My. The servants of my dad were treated better than what I'm doing right now. Like, I'm eating with pigs. And the servants of my dad, you know, had food and took care of. Like, they were taken care of. And so he was like, I'm gonna go and ask and beg my dad to take me back in as a servant because I'm unworthy to be his son anymore. So you have this. This guy, right? This one son in one category. Then you have another son who's been like the perfect son, you know, his whole life. He probably did everything right and had all the quote unquote, good deeds. The reckless son comes back and as he's far off, it says that the dad, filled with compassion, starts running towards him, throws his arm around him and begins to just, like, rejoice that he's back home. Like, my lost son has been found. You've come back home. And the son goes on, you know, he's prepared. His whole speech is like, you know, I squandered your wealth. Like, I don't deserve to be your son. Please just take me in as a. As a servant. And the dad's, like, not even listening. He's so overjoyed that his son has returned home. He's like, telling his other servants, he's like, go and get, like, the best of the best. Like, let's prepare a feast, Give him the robe, give him sandals, give him a ring. Like, he's. He's returned. Like, we gotta throw a celebration and he's come home. And so anyways, there's this beautiful moment in this embrace. The party goes on. The. The celebration is happening that this lost son has returned home. And the older brother is angry because he's like, I've been with you this whole time. I've done everything you've asked me to do. I've worked hard for you. I've done all these good deeds. I've been the perfect son. And you've never once thrown me a celebration like this. And the father looks at him and he's like, son, everything I have is yours. Everything I have that belongs to me is yours. You have it. You've had it all along. But your. Your brother, he was lost and now he's found. We're rejoicing and we're glad because he's come home. And I walk away from that story. And I. That was really a long thing to go off of what you were just saying. But it's so powerful to what you're saying, because I walk away from that. Taking away that they're even in that story. And in today, there are often those two categories of. I look at that and I'm like, both sons to me seemed lost. Both sons to me seemed like they didn't really. Yeah, they missed the mark. One was, you know, in just addicted to sin and was selfishly living and living this rebellious life. But then the other son thought it was all up to him. He thought he deserved, you know, blessing and inheritance and whatever because of his own efforts and morals and what he was doing. And I think that's what happens so often. I think we often fall into one of those categories, this, like, lawlessness, where we fall away from what, you know, we are called to live as believers and we get addicted to sin and we live this rebellious, reckless life. And there's also another category of lawfulness where we make it all about ourselves. And it's like, what I can do and how I can earn God's salvation. And God, I've been so good. So, like, where's my blessing? Where's my paycheck? Where's my upgrade? Where's my husband? You know? And it's like, we think it's all based on our own efforts and that that's how we're going to get ourselves to heaven. And so I love that you. You kind of pointed that out and painted that picture at the very beginning of this conversation, because that's probably where a lot of people listening may find themselves.

[B]

Yeah, they just. Both sons didn't enjoy the father. They didn't have a relationship with the father. So one wanted to leave him and do all of these things. The other one just wanted his things from him. And so the whole point is, it's about a relationship. It's not about a religion. It's not about some do's and don'ts. And when you talk about the prodigal son story, I feel like both you and I are represented in that story truly as a younger and older brother. And both can miss it if you're not careful. Both can want things from God or just to be away from God, and you miss the whole point of Christianity.

[A]

So to be clear, Grant was the one eating with the pigs in the truck. Yeah, he was the reckless.

[B]

I was, man, I was. And some of you guys are.

[A]

Praise God for your redemptive story.

[B]

Totally. Totally. For sure. So here's my question. What makes someone a Christian? Let's just start there. Like, how do you know if someone can claim the title Christian?

[A]

So it talks about it very clearly in Romans, how you know, you are saved, that you confess with your mouth. And you, you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. I was like, that's Romans 10, 9, 10. You guys, I'm telling you, pregnancy brain. I just have to confirm and make sure. Don't want to misquote Scripture. But yes, you confess with your mouth and you believe in your heart. And so it is both an outward confession and an inward transformation. Yeah, it is both a. Hey, with my life and with my mouth, you will know that I believe and follow Jesus. And in my heart, I have been inwardly transformed by the blood and grace of Jesus Christ. And so everything about me on the inside completely changes. And so it is both an inward transformation and an outward confession and following.

[B]

It's great. I've been studying Mark lately, and Jesus had a mission statement that he came. And so Jesus in Mark 1 came, and this is his first moment on the scene. And he says, the kingdom of God is at hand. And what that means is the new kingdom, God's kingdom with a king who's Jesus, is at hand. He said two things. He said, repent and believe. I think we're really good at believing. I think we're. We struggle when it comes to repenting. And there's two parts to that where you have to turn away from the old life, from the old trust, from the old way that you used to do things and entrust yourself to something new. So it's one phrase, repent and believe with two different actions. So when Jesus said, there's a new kingdom here, I'm the king. What do I have to do to be a part of that kingdom? He said, repent and believe. Believe in what? Believe in him, Believe in Jesus. And so someone explained it to me like this. I thought it was so helpful. The idea of repenting and believing can be. Let's say you were in the water and you were drowning, yet you had this wooden plank you were holding onto, and you're holding onto it for your life. And all of a sudden, from the distance comes a lifeboat, and there's a lifeboat coming to save you. So how do you repent and believe? This is the action. You have to let go of that wooden plank and you turn from it. And as you turn from it to the lifeboat, you now entrust your new. Your life to this lifeboat for safety and for salvation. So that's the idea. Is that what you were once clinging to as life and security and satisfaction, you let go of and you turn in repentance and you entrust yourself to this new Savior. And that's what happened in my life where Jesus met me and I was trusting myself to everything the world said would bring me joy and satisfaction. And Jesus said, will you trust me? And as I trusted in him, I had to repent from the old way. I couldn't cling to that piece of wood and say, I trust you with the lifeboat. I had to let go fully, or else I never would have fully gotten in the boat. There's some people right now that they know the lifeboat's there. They believe he's there. Yet you're not ready to let go of the piece of wood, and you're stuck in the middle. And Jesus says, there's no room for me. If you're going to be stuck in the middle, you've got to choose. He says, you are either all in or all out. The lukewarm in his mouth. And the book of Revelation says, I'll spit you out of my mouth.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

There's so many people. And I lived that life for about a year where I was like, I love this life, but. But I. I do believe in you, Jesus.

[A]

Like, one foot in, one foot out.

[B]

And he just says, your. Your. Your action will follow your belief. So action always follows belief. People say what they think, they do what they believe. So it's very easy to say, I believe. But guess what? Even the demons believe.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

So when you read the Book of Mark, you need to see how many times the demons cry out, that's the Son of God. Oh, my gosh. That's the Son of God. So if what you're banking your salvation off of is saying, cognitively, in my head, I know Jesus is the Son of God, and I've said it in church, actually, all of Satan's followers have done the same thing as you.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

So what they haven't done is they haven't. I don't know, in the whole angelic realm, if there's repentance, but in your case is you haven't submitted to him as your Lord. You may have confessed him as savior, but when it says believe with him in your heart, that means a total transformation of what you now trust in. And so that's kind of what comes to mind immediately off the bat.

[A]

That's for me. Good.

[B]

The light. I feel like the light's changing in here. It's getting a little darker, like we're about to. We're about to dive into this. The sun just went away.

[A]

Tone has been set.

[B]

I mean, we are in this, like.

[A]

We do moment really deep, really fast, and I'm here for it. And so are y'all. Because y'all are the true crew.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And y'all are here for the truth, and it's the truth that sets us free. And I think there's a lot of confusing messages out there. Of how you get saved and on. If all religions are the same and always are the same and all of these things. And so we want to be very, very clear here that Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one will come to the F except through me. John 14:6. Jesus says I am the only way. As in I am an exclusive way. As in there is no other way, the way, the only way. And he is the way that leads to life.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And life cannot be found here on this earth or in eternity apart from him. And so we do want to be clear that as we're talking about being saved, getting to heaven, we believe here on Stay true that it is only through Jesus. It is only by Jesus and it is only for Jesus. It's all by him, through him, because.

[B]

Because of him and for him, everyone's cool with God.

[A]

Everyone's.

[B]

Until you say the word Jesus, then people get tight. So any post game interview, just want to thank my God who got me here. Everyone's cool in their bio with God, I trust. What do you do with Jesus? Yeah, you have to deal with the person that reset the calendar, that every other religion includes Jesus, but every other religion said he was just a good person. And when you study in what C.S. lewis has said is when you read about Jesus, the last thing he, the last thing he can be is a good person. He's either a liar because he claimed to be the son of God, he's a lunatic because he's claiming that me and God are one, or he's Lord, but the last thing that he is is a good teacher, a good person. Because if he's not Lord, he's insane. Eat my blood. Eat my flesh. Drink my blood. Can't even say it, like so crazy. Can't even say it out loud. But that Jesus was not someone that you could go, oh, he's pretty good. Yeah, like that's the last thing he can be.

[A]

As in just that, like, he's not just a good teacher. He's not just a prophet.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Just a good man. It's like, no, he's.

[B]

He's either Lord or he's not.

[A]

He's either Lord or he's like, nothing. Let's give a really short. Not get into it too, too much, but let's give a very short. I just touched on John 14:6, but when we're talking about, you know, how do you know if you're saved first? Like, what is salvation and what did Jesus do for us?

[B]

Totally.

[A]

Because what sets apart Christianity from Every other religion.

[B]

Yeah. So every other religion says that you need to climb up the mountain to get to God. So every other religion holds to. You need to be 51% good, 49 bad. Hopefully you can climb your way up. And at the end of the end, God says you can come in. What Christianity says is that all have fallen short of God's glory. You could never climb up the mountain. So Christianity is the only religion where our God came down the mountain. Matthew 8:1. Jesus came down the mountain. He said you could never climb up. So I'll come down to you in human form. Now, everyone right now listening to Maddie and I would agree. Have you ever sinned before? Yeah, me too. But the Bible says that when you sin, it separates you from God. So now there's this gap, and it's the gap everyone feels at a young age. Why am I not happy? Okay, I know it's going to fill that some goals. I'm going to make some. I'm going to be a millionaire by 30. I'm going to be a doctor. I'm going to go to the NBA. Not bad. But we believe that that's going to fix whatever is in our heart that's aching. So that's why you see people that have everything, they go, oh, wait, I thought that was going to fix this. You can't fix it because you were created to know God. And so what Jesus did is he came down and said, I will pay the price for your sin because it has to be paid for. So when Jesus came down, he said, I've got a free gift for you. This free gift is not for the elite. It's not for a certain group. This free gift is for everyone that will receive it. The Bible says he offers himself as the sacrifice for your sins. So what can you do with a free gift? If I was to say, maddie, I want you to have this Bible, you could do two things with this Bible.

[A]

I can accept it.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Or I can reject it.

[B]

That's good. She can receive it, or she can reject it. She can say, thank you. I take that. Or no thank you. But what she can't do is wait, wait, Grant, let me. Here's $20 for it. I'm not asking. I'm giving it to you. So what you can do with the free gift of Jesus Christ is either say, thank you. I re. I receive it, or no thank you. I want to earn it on my own. That's the only people that go to hell.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Is they reject the free gift of Jesus Christ. It's the only people that go to heaven is they receive the free gift of Jesus Christ. So everyone says, well, don't all religions kind of lead to the same place? That is the opposite of what every religion says. When you start to look at the Quran, when you look at the Hindu, I forget what the book is called. When you look at the Bible, it's all exclusive. And so what the Bible says, what you quoted is Jesus saying, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. What it says in First John 2, no one who denies the Son, Jesus has the Father, God. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. So you must go through this person, Jesus Christ, to be saved. Now, who was Jesus and what did he do? We've kind of talked a little bit about that. But Jesus is the son of God that came down and said, you can't pay for your sin. I'm gonna pay for your sin. He rose from the dead three days later, defeating your sin. Therefore, anyone that puts their hope and their trust in him will be saved. Will be saved. That's it. And what Jesus says is, I want you to repent and believe. I want you to leave the old and I want you to walk with the new and walk in the new. And that's the basis of how we're saved. A lot of people know that. There's not a lot of people that know that. And if you're just listening, I'm pointing to my head and my heart when I say that. You can know it like the demons know it, but do you know it with your heart? As if I submit to you and follow you at all costs.

[A]

Like, for a lot of us, there's a gap between our head and our hearts.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Yeah. And in Second Corinthians 5:21, we were just talking about this recently. It talks about how he talking about Jesus became sin. Having known no sin, he was not a sinner. So Jesus became sin our sin. He took on our sin even though he was sinless, so that in him we might take on his righteousness. So not only did he take on our sin even though he didn't sin himself and paid the price for our sin, and then three days later rise from the grave. He also, in exchange for our sin, gave us his righteousness. So he didn't just take away all the bad, he gave us all the good. That's the best part of the Gospel. It's like it doesn't just stop at, hey, I'm gonna take away, you know, the. The Bad stuff. It's like, I'm actually also gonna give you this abundance of blessing that you don't deserve because of my mercy. It's not. It has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with me. And it's radical. It's, it's. It's this love that we can't understand. And that's what I'm so grateful for is like, not only did he completely save me from wrath and hell and. And just this life of being addicted to sin and living in this pit of just hopelessness. Not only did he save me from that, he brought me into his light and he gave me new life. And he put me on this like, he clothed me in righteousness.

[B]

It's the prodigal son.

[A]

It's the prodigal son.

[B]

It's not. You were telling me this the other night. It's not that he just ran to him and forgave him. It's that he put the robe around him and the ring on his finger and through the party for him. That's the grace of our God.

[A]

Yeah. It doesn't just stop at I forgive you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It continues on and I love you so much. So here's all that I have for you. Like now we get to be one with Christ. We get to be made one with Christ, which is just crazy. And not only does that transform our life here on this earth, it guarantees us a beautiful eternal pleasure of a life forever. Like, we get to experience eternal pleasures at his right hand in his presence forever. Psalm 16:11 tells us, and that is what is wild about the Gospel. It is this love that doesn't make sense. It's this love that we don't deserve. It's a love that we can't even fully comprehend because we so often as human beings are on such metrics based rewards based performance based systems in our minds. It's like, when you love me, when you do good to me, I'll do good to you back. I'll love you back, you know, and our love can is usually conditional, you know, it very much has to do with the other person's actions. But it tells us in Romans 5, 8 that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And so it had nothing to do with us. It had everything to do with Him. And so we are saved by grace through faith. It has nothing to do with what we can or can't do. If you've had the worst reputation, the worst story, the worst upbringing, if you've lived the most perfect life and You've given to all these charities and you've helped all of these people. Neither of those are going to be what does or doesn't get you into heaven. It is by his grace alone. And so we want to be really clear about that when it comes to the Gospel.

[B]

Jesus was eating with these sinners and tax collectors in Mark, and all the Pharisees, the religious leaders were like, why? Why do you eat and drink with those people? Why are you? Why are you? And Jesus said something that just is the core of his message. He said, it is not the healthy that I came to save. He said, it's those who are sick that are in need of a physician. Now, I think when the Pharisees heard this, they were probably like, yeah, that's actually. That's good, Teacher. That's good. You know, you. You meet with them, you be with them. What Jesus was saying is, I can only help those that know that they're sick. I can't help someone that doesn't think that they're sick. Yeah, the physician can't help someone that doesn't admit I need a doctor.

[A]

So true.

[B]

So who Jesus cannot work with? The baseline of salvation is the person that doesn't think they need a savior, the person that thinks they can be good enough on their own. The starting line of salvation is Matthew 5, verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there shall be the kingdom of God. Blessed are those that say, I don't have anything on my own. I need you. So if you're not there, then you are not at the starting line of salvation. And God is okay with working in your journey to be patient with you, but what he's asking of you is a desperation of your heart, saying, I need something greater than myself, a surrendered.

[A]

Heart that says, you are Lord and I am not, and I need you, I trust in you. And when we use a lot of these, you know, Christian lingo words like repentance and things like that, it there, it's actually very simple. Like, repent just means to turn from something and turn to something. So you're turning from your sin and you're turning to God. You're turning from a life of sin to a life of righteousness. We are all a slave to something. We are all mastered by something. So we are either mastered by our sin. We. We are either slaves to sin or we're slaves to righteousness. And so as sons and daughters, as Christians, as believers, and this is what I think we're going to kind of jump into next is talking about, like, how, how can you tell if you're a Christian is, is you choose to walk in the way of righteousness. Like you choose to be a slave to righteousness. And so either your spirit man is leading your life or your flesh man is leading your life. And when your flesh man leads your life, it leads you to a life of sin, of and of death, and of separation from God. But when your spirit man leads your life, it leads us closer to him and helps us walk in the will of God.

[B]

That's good. So I think people are hearing this going, okay, I understand that I'm saved simply by putting my faith in Jesus Christ, that he paid for my sins and that he rose from the grave. And if I put my trust in him, I'm saved. The question is, okay, but how do you like quantify that? Like, do I have enough, do I believe enough? And there's the people that are wrestling with, I've heard that, I think I believe that. How do I know? Let's talk a little bit about what are some authentic, like, what's the authentic walk of a real believer? What does that look like?

[A]

Matthew 10:38, 39. Jesus is talking to, I believe, his disciples. And he's saying, if you want to follow me, if you want to be a disciple of mine, you must deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me. That's what it, that's what marks a true believer. That's what marks a true Christian is you deny yourself. You deny your lustful passions, your sinful pleasures, your desires, your own wants and needs. You deny yourself self denial. In a culture that preaches self love, the Bible says to follow Jesus is to deny self.

[B]

Right? Right.

[A]

You deny yourself, you pick up your cross. In the same way that Jesus took up his cross and headed towards Calvary, we must pick up our cross and I'll let you speak into what that looks like and what that means for, for us today. And then we follow him. Like faith has footsteps. You must move forward, you must follow him. You must. Your life, Christian, just means little Christ. Our life should look like Jesus. And if it doesn't, I would question, are you a Christian? And so it is really important for us to understand those three things. I think a lot of times when we, you know, hear, I wanna, you were saying this earlier, like we have this moment, we have this goosebumps moment. It's like, I believe God, I believe Jesus, you are good, you saved me. But then we never follow it up with the whole submission piece, with the self denial piece, with the crucifying of the flesh piece with the actual following him piece, which is what it looks like to be a Christian. And so it's not just about a one moment of confession of saying, jesus, you are Lord, but it's a continued living out. It's a continued self denial. It's a continued following in the ways of Jesus.

[B]

It's great, man. That's great. So to take all the Christian language out of it, when I got saved, basically what happened is I had to remove the old Lord of my life, which was myself, which was my flesh, which was my desires. Lust, man, like all of it controlled my life. And so when I believed in my heart, it's not like all of those things just went away. It's not like all of those desires just got completely disappeared in my life. I had to be like, okay, now that I say that I follow this person, Jesus, where does he go when he says follow me? In the Bible, he doesn't mean just for this one day. He means indefinitely. So you're at my heels. Where I walk, you walk. And that's a process. And the biblical word for that is sanctification, which is the washing away of the old you becoming more like Jesus. So how do you know if you're a Christian? You have a new master, you have a new Lord. You don't do what you feel like doing. The Bible says for those who are in Christ Jesus, they've crucified their passions and desires. So this whole. But I feel like I just really want to. That doesn't matter anymore. You have a new master and he's a good master, so you submit it to Jesus Christ. So now as I go through my day, it's not what does Grant feel like doing, it's Jesus. What would you have me do? Where would you have me go? How would you have me react to this? How do I talk now? What music do I listen to? All of that begins to change because I have a new Lord. So how do I know if I'm a believer? I'm not doing what Grant wants to do anymore. But Christ is now my authority and I follow where Jesus wants me to go. That's how I tell. The Bible also says on the moment you believe his Holy Spirit enters you. Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. He says, I'm going to give you my spirit to lead you and guide you. Now there's the fruit of the spirit. The Bible says, here are the indicators to know you're being led by my spirit. The fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:25 is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control. If those things are in your life and are increasing, you can know, I'm a believer. So when people say, man, I'm just not a patient person. Like, I just really. Is the Spirit not in you? Like, self control is a fruit of the Spirit, and so to say I'm just not a patient person or I'm just not very kind. What you're saying is the Spirit just doesn't really work in me. Like, it doesn't. I know it works for that person, but, like, my personality, it just doesn't really work. Work.

[A]

That's such a good point.

[B]

You know, like, those things are things that are increasing. You're not perfect at them, but they're increasing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So, man, I'm not just like a naturally joyful person. Well, a lot of people aren't. But the Holy Spirit produces joy in you. So it's not you producing it in yourself, it's the Spirit now changing you. So there are ways that you can look at your life and go, okay, I say I believe in Jesus. What is different about my life than the person that says, I don't believe in Jesus. And if there's not this clear gap in, oh, he's my Lord, then you gotta question, do I actually believe what I say?

[A]

I believe that's so true because I used to say that all the time. I used to be like, I'm just not a very gentle or patient person. Like, lord, sorry, I think this is your fault. You made me this way. And the reality is, is when you die to yourself and his Son, Spirit enters into you, it's not about who you were in your flesh, it's about who Christ is in you. And Christ is gentle and Christ is patient, and Christ is loving, and Christ is joyful, and Christ is others focused. And so you begin to die to those things that maybe once marked you. And sure, it may. Like, some things may come a little more natural and some things may be a little more needing to be sanctified. You know, like, I would say I've continued to grow in those things. Would you. Would you agree? Like, I mean, I'm still growing in them, but I would say from when you've met me to now, like, I am way more of a gentle.

[B]

For sure, for sure.

[A]

And I process. I've known Jesus like most of my life. And so it's a continued. There's no arrival.

[B]

So part of my testimony that you know was really, like, wrestling through. I don't think my life looks any different than the person that that doesn't say they believe in Jesus. And so I was reading the Bible one time, and I opened it to Matthew 7, and I remember Jesus saying, you shall know a tree by its fruit. You shall know a good tree by its good fruit and a bad tree by its bad fruit. And there was something. For whatever reason, when I read this, I looked at my life and I saw it very clearly. And I was like, my tree is not producing good fruit. I claim to be a good tree. Nothing about my life looks like I'm following Jesus. And that was honestly a really good place to be because I saw it clearly. And some of us just need to lay our life out and go, what is my tree bearing? What type of fruit is my life bearing? And Jesus is so patient, he's so kind. God is not in a rush. But if you're hearing this under my voice right now, I want you to look at your life and go, am I saying I'm a good tree while bearing bad fruit? Jesus says, if you're gonna follow me, your fruit will be the product of living a life under my lordship. And that fruit is good fruit. That fruit is not burdensome. Jesus says, my commandments are not burdensome. They give life. This is not something that is a cost. In its sense, it is, but the reward so far outweighs any cost of surrendering to. To.

[A]

Jesus in John 15 talks about, like, we can't do it apart from Him. So if you're listening to this and you're like, man, I just don't feel like I am. I don't have what it takes. You know, like, what if I don't have what it takes to. To be fruitful or to bear good fruit or to be this joyful or patient or kind person all the time, I don't either. Neither does Grant, neither does anyone in this whole entire world. The only way that we have what it takes to bear good fruit is that we stay abiding in Him. And so John 15 talks about, like, we must abide in Him. And when we abide in him, we will bear much fruit, good fruit, and fruit that will last. And so how do you abide in Him? We're going to talk in a little bit practically about. We'll kind of end this podcast with just some practical things that you can do that we can do of. Of how we continue abiding. And because once we've been saved, now it's like this continual sanctification, you know, spiritual disciplines continuing to die to self continuous abiding. And so if you're in that place or you want to be in that place, we're going to get practical in a little bit about what that looks like for you and how you can maybe walk out some of these spiritual disciplines and things that will be helpful for you to continue to, to bear some good fruit. I would love to though for a second to touch on how. How can you know if you're really saved? Like, how can you know 100% that you are going to heaven totally?

[B]

The verse in First John 5, verses 11 through 13, it says, this is the testimony that you may have life in the Son of God. Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Now what John just said in First John is there's a way to fully know that you have eternal life. How do I know if you believe in the Son of God? Now you're going, how do I know if I believe? Here's how you know. Has the desires of your heart changed or have they stayed the same, all while saying, yeah, I believe in Jesus. Because here's what can't happen. You can't say you believe in the Son of God and your life stay in sin. You can't stay where you were. So how do I know? Well, well, well, have you confessed with your mouth and believed in your heart and has the desires of your heart now gone after the things of Jesus Christ? That's how you can know if you're going. Well, grant I'm not like the best Christian. I'm still kind of cussing. I'm smoking. Hey, it took me two and a half years to get out of smoking weed, to get out of drinking, to get out of pornography like it's a journey. So I'm not asking you to question your salvation if you're still sinning, but are you sinning with zero conviction? Are you sinning and you're content with it? Are you sinning and you're honestly pretty happy in it? If that's the case, I really want you to take a moment and go, jesus, do I know you? But if you're sinning and you're going, God, help me, please help me, and you're grabbing another friend and you're going, I don't want to live like this anymore. That's a sign to me. That your desires are going after the things of God. That he's not saying, figure it out right now, but he's saying, follow me. And that's a process. And Maddie and I are here with you to walk with you because we've been in the process. We still sin. You never get out of the process. But our heart is after the things of God. That's the indicator. And he says, you'll begin to bear fruit. And in that fruit, you're gonna begin to get more and more like Jesus. And he says, apart from me, you can do nothing. Yeah, apart from me, you can't do anything. So you're tethered to Jesus. You become more and more dependent on time with Jesus. It used to be a discipline. Now it's a delight. And it's okay if it starts off as a discipline. If your time with Jesus is like, man, when I read the Bible, it feels like a history textbook. And I don't even know what they're talking about. That's okay. The more you read it, the more that discipline develops into a delight. So my old way of thinking was, man, I know I gotta read this. Now it's. I have to read this. This is my daily bread. Same with memorizing verses. Same with not sinning. It used to be such a discipline. Now it's, I want to do that. And here's the deal with Maddie. I don't not cheat on Maddie because it's the right thing to do. Like, I don't. I don't. I don't not cheat on Maddie because I'm like, I know that's wrong, and I know the right thing to do would be to stay faithful to Maddie. I don't cheat on Maddie because I love Maddie, and she's the one for me, and she's the only woman that I see. The same as with God. Yeah, People think, oh, you just are a Christian now. You got to obey God and all these rules. And no, really, it's. I want to obey because my heart is completely changed.

[A]

I'm so in love with him. There's no other. Like, when you. The more and more you follow Jesus, the more and more in love with him you become. It really is. It's so crazy. And I can't even put it into words, really. It's really something you have to experience for yourself and encounter yourself. But I know, speaking from my personal experience, that's the same way I try to explain it with, like, a spouse. Because we can really understand that when we're having a conversation with someone. But it's like when I walked down the aisle to Grant, I wasn't thinking about all of these things that I was having to give up or all these things that were about to change. And I was in this, like, grumpy attitude of, like, I guess I got to get married. I guess I got to marry this man. It's like I was walking down the aisle with tears, with joy, with chills, with excitement, with so much love in my heart because I was about to be united with this man for the rest of my life. And as excited as I was about that, nothing compares to the love of Jesus. And so it's like, in the same way with my relationship with the Lord, I'm not looking at it as, like, there's all these things now that I can't do, and he's just a fun sucker. And now there's, you know, these rules in this religion and this. It's like, no, I get to give him all of me because he's so good and he's all I want. Like, he's become my everything. Everything else I now consider a loss because he is the gain. Like, he is the most important thing in my whole life. And it talks about throughout scripture, like how we cannot share loves with God. You cannot love God and love money. You cannot love God and love the world. And so you have to choose. Like, there is a Lord of your heart, there is a king of your heart, and his love is all consuming or it's nothing like it. You really can't. That's why lukewarm. You can't be lukewarm because it's either it consumes your whole life and your whole heart, or it doesn't, you know? And so to be one foot in, one foot out, it's like Jesus is like, I, I never knew you. We never had a relationship because you didn't give me all of you in the same way. If I said yes to Grant and said I do to Grant, and I, you know, I had a wedding ring on, but nothing about my life looked like I was married. Like, I continued living my life like I was single. He's like, I don't have a relationship with you. We don't have a relationship with each other. And so it takes that being going all in, that all consuming love. And. And it's the best thing ever. It really is the best thing ever. Okay, so it's great. We're talking about how you can know, you can know for sure that you can get into heaven, because that sounds Kind of like a cocky thing to say for sure, right? Like, if I'm like, oh, no, I. If I died today, I 100 know I'm going to heaven. If someone said that, I think we kind of instantly have this thought, like, how do you know? Are you sure? You know? Like, you know, what if you. What if you sinned right before you died? Like, you know, like, are you sure about that? And so get me into that. Like, is it. Is it cocky? Is it arrogant to say, if I died Today, I know 100% that I'm going to heaven?

[B]

No, because you can't be arrogant in something that was just freely given to you.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

So you can't take this arrogant approach of something you didn't even earn. So it's honestly this humble response of, I know I'm getting in because of what he did. And so the question that you might have heard is the 0 to 10 question. And I was asked at one time, and it really stuck with me. And they said, hey, Grant, 0 to 10. On a scale of 0 to 10, let's say 10 being absolutely certain, 1 or 0 being not at all. If you were to die today, how sure are you that you would go to heaven? And I'm going, man, like, seven. I threw seven out there. And he. He said, okay, seven. The second question is, if you. If you died and you stood before God, and God's right here, and you're right here at the other side of the gates, and God said, grant, why should I let you in? What would you say? And immediately I just started working through. Well, I started going to church again, and I stopped cussing and threw out my weed pen. Man, the weed pen's gone. My friends, dude, they're like. They were over. I. I'm not. And I just started listing off all of this. And he asked me a question that shook me. He said, do you think Jesus Only died for 70 your sins? And I said, no. He said, there's only two answers to this question. You're either a 10 or you're a 0. But there's no 1 through 9. Because Jesus didn't die for a part of your sins. And the Bible is so clear that you can be a 10 if you believe that Jesus Christ paid the price for your sins and rose from the dead and says, I invite you to believe in me for that. So he asked me again as he walked me through Ephesians 2, 8, 9. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing. It's the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no man may boast. That's what he says. It's all about grace. So when I received that free gift, he asked me that question again. He said, all right, you're at the gates, Grant. And God says, grant, why should I let you in? What's your only response? The only response is, you shouldn't. But I believe that Jesus Christ paid my way in. That's the only way we get to heaven. So how do you know if you're a 10? If you've put your faith in the resurrect, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that's your ticket in. That's your ticket in.

[A]

Yeah, I love that 1 through 10 question. And that's something that we've even taken on all of these Unite events that we've been going to. So Pastor Jonathan Paluda, who was just recently on the podcast, but he. That's a question he asks every single time when we go. Go to these Unite events. And it's so crazy seeing the responses of. So, I mean, there's like 10,000 college students in one room, and thousands of college students will raise their hand at answering, yeah, I feel like I'm a. I'm a five, I'm a six, I'm a seven. And very, very, very, very few answer zero, one, or nine or ten. It's like, almost everyone's in this, like, middle eight. Like, I'm safe in the middle. Like, I don't know, like.

[B]

Like, eights pushing it. You're like, I've had a good week, you know, like, I've been good.

[A]

That good. And I think a lot of us respond that way. It's. And it's fully based on, like, did I have a good week? Like, did I honor God?

[B]

I remember that. Yeah.

[A]

And I would have probably answered the same way. I probably would have said an 8. Like, yeah, I love God. I was raised in a Christian family. I've done pretty good, you know, but you can confidently say I'm a 10. Not because of the good works that you've done, but because of the work he did for you on the cross, the finished work of Jesus Christ. You can confidently say, I am going to heaven if I die today. And you can have that assurance. And I love the way that you put it, Grant, like that. It's not a cockiness. It's not an arrogance. It actually is a humility. It's a sign of, like, you've received in fullness the free gift that he's given you and that is it. That's the only way that we should be looking at it. So I'm so glad we did this episode and that God laid it on my heart because it really, it's honestly even been, like, encouraging to, to me and a good reminder to me we should be reminding ourselves of these truths.

[B]

You never graduate from the gospel. Like, like, we can't get away from that fact.

[A]

Reminding yourself and sharing it with other people.

[B]

Amen, man. And that's when I feel most alive. Like, you're going to see this is once he introduces you to the kingdom. Now you're like, I feel most alive telling other people about this person. And it's not because I'm obligated to or I have to. It's because now that's why I exist. When Jesus said, follow me, I'm gonna make you fishers of men. So they used to be fishermen. Now he's like, you're gonna go catch men now? And that's when I feel so alive. It's a good indicator too, where I'm at with the Lord on, am I sharing my faith? Like, part of how you can evaluate do I really believe this? Is. Do I tell people about this? Because you tell people about what's important to you.

[A]

So good. I think it only makes sense to end this podcast with talking about really some, like, practical steps of. For those of you who are like, okay, I feel confident in my salvation, or maybe through this, you're like, man, I need to give my life to Jesus. Wherever you're at in this camp, I'd love to specifically speak to what happens after, you know, you receive Jesus and make Jesus your Lord of your life. And what does that daily walk look like? How can you walk with him daily? How can you make sure that you're continuing to have that fear and trembling with your salvation to make sure that you are bearing good fruit? And so what does that abiding look like? It's such a Christian lingo for like, how do you just walk with Jesus? Like, how do you just continue to be in relationship with Jesus?

[B]

I feel like it might be helpful to talk about the four soils really quick because these are the four different types of hearts Jesus says can receive the gospel. And so the first ones, he says, when I, when I cast the seed or the gospel, the word of God, there's times when the birds or they said Satan will come in and take the cedar away. And that's when the heart doesn't receive the gospel at all. There's another type of soil that says when they receive the seed or the word of God, the gospel, immediately it receives it with joy, and then it sprouts up. But because it has no depth, when trial or tribulation comes, it withers away and dies. And then the other type of soil is the seeds fall on it, and they begin to grow up, that receives it. And then it says, thorns come and begin to choke it out. And that's the deceitfulness of the riches of life. The last soil is soil. Soil that receives the seed with joy produces crops, and they grow thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold. So that's a good way to kind of lay out and go, all right, there's some soil. There are hearts that receive the word of God with joy, and they're immediately all in and on fire. But the moment persecution or trial or tribulation comes, they're like, not worth it. I'm out. And maybe that's been you, or maybe that's someone, you know, where they finally went through something. Then they're like, it's not worth it. And then other soils can receive it and riches and popularity, and I don't want to lose my friends, and I can't give that up. That begins to choke in and actually choke. All the fruit that you're going to bear doesn't mean you're not saved, that that soil just bears no fruit. And the last soil that we all want to be is to receive it and bear all the fruit that we can.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So how do we bear fruit? Maddie, you go first. Like, what are some ways I'm flipping this to you?

[A]

Okay.

[B]

What are ways that we. Now, after you're saved, you walk with Jesus and begin to bear fruit.

[A]

Yeah. So for me, I feel like the first. And you'll want to touch on this because this is, like, a huge part of your story that I feel like you're very passionate about. But for me, one of the very first things that changed my life was getting involved with a community group and with a local church. And so once I had this all in moment and decided, okay, Lord, I'm tired of having the one foot in, one foot out. Like, I grew up in a Christian home, but for a long time, it was based on my own deeds and morals. And then I saw that actually I wasn't that great, I kept sinning and I kept falling short. And so I felt like I was in this weird tension place for a while while, until I said, lord, I want to make you the Lord of my life. When I did that. It was really hard for the next, like five or six months when I was in a season of extreme loneliness and didn't have anybody to walk with me. And so, you know, I was reading the word, I was praying, but it was just, it was tough. Like, I was like, lord, I, I'm struggling. And it wasn't until I got in a community group through my church and started getting involved at my church when I was in college that honestly, my life like fully changed because that was where I began to confess sin that had held me hostage for so long. That was when I began to have accountability for people to hold me accountable so that I wouldn't continue to stumble and fall into sin again and again and again. And it also was where I had people encourage me in my faith. Like, I had people around me to remind me of, this is why you're running the race that you're running and hears the truth when you're questioning it or you're hit with lies. And so community has been so important. The local church has been so important. Mentorship has been so important. So just like the people of God, I would say making sure that you're surrounded by not just people like, oh, you're not made to go through life alone. Not just people like minded people, iron sharpening iron, people who are following Jesus and who can help you follow Jesus more like that should be how you're filtering that community.

[B]

I do think those soils that didn't last probably tried to do it alone. And when you have people around you, like you read the book of Acts and it says they believed, they repented, they were baptized, and then you know what it says, they all gathered and they all listened to the apostles teaching and they all did life together and they all prayed together. There is no Jesus and me mentality. There's no solitude. Christianity. It's all meant to be in community. Because you're gonna go through those trials where you're like, God, are you even here? And your friend's gonna be right there going, he's right here with you. You do not leave. But when you try and walk it alone, that's what changed my life too, is I finally bought into, I need other believers around me. It's so key.

[A]

Yeah, because for so long, I think you did, you battled it by yourself for a while. And it wasn't like when he was talking about that two and a half year journey. I mean, it wasn't that long. Once you started actually inviting your friends into it, it was like sin got cut out like addiction started breaking, things started changing. And that's what happens because it talks about in James 5:16. I share this verse all the time. But when you confess to your brothers and sisters in Christ and they pray for you, that's where you experience healing. That's where you experience freedom. And so we need those people that we're confessing to. We need those people that are praying for us, and we need those people that are gonna hold us accountable. So I think community is a huge one. What's another one you would say?

[B]

Just, just, this is the word of life, this is the bread of life. I mean, Jesus says, we don't live by food, we don't live by these other things. We live by every word of God, and this will change your life. What helped me defeat sin? The power of Jesus, but having the sword to fight my battles. So when that sin temptation came and I was fighting sexual addiction, and all of a sudden I could memorize proverbs. 5, 3, 4. Her lips drip honey and she's enticing with her voice. But in the end, she leads to death. She's bitter as a double edged sword. I know where this leads me. I know it's tempting for a moment. I know where this is going to lead me. When I had that verse and I defeated it one night, I was like, oh, my goodness. Like, this works. This is our defense. This is our word. If you're not in this, your spiritual growth will continually stay stagnant. If all you're getting is the podcast or the sermon and you're not in it yourself, you will stay at that immature level of, yes, you're saved, but you're not bearing fruit, you're not growing.

[A]

Yeah, so true. And then the last thing, honestly, I would say is just prayer and worship. Like, I like to put those two together.

[B]

How do we pray? Like, how would you start off? Because you don't start off an hour in the prayer closet.

[A]

No.

[B]

Early on. What's an encouragement?

[A]

Really awkward at first.

[B]

How do you. How does someone take the first step of building a life of prayer?

[A]

Yeah, and we've done podcasts where we have dove into some of these topics. Way heavier. And so we would encourage you guys to like, go and listen to the podcast on community. Go and listen to the podcast where we really dive into prayer and fasting. Because obviously this is the end of the podcast. And so we're just talking quickly about a few things that have helped us walk with Jesus. But for me, my prayer life, I mean, it started off really Awkward. I didn't know how to pray. I was good at journaling. Like, I was like, I'll just journal to you, God. And so it started there. And, hey.

[B]

Which can be prayer.

[A]

That can be prayer. You can start there. And just with the posture of, like, this is me talking with God. But then I would say, as I continued to fall more and more love. In love with Jesus, as I continued to read his Word, I wanted it to feel like an actual relationship. Like, I didn't want it to feel like he was this distant God. I wanted it to feel like we were in the room sitting on a couch next to. Like, we were having a conversation. I was speaking and talking and sharing my heart and asking for things and pleading for him, you know, with him for things. But also I was listening. Like, I was listening to what he was speaking to me. And so, yeah, I mean, it started out probably a little awkward. Like, you know, you feel like you're talking to the wall and you're. You're. No. You know, you're like, are you even listening? Can you hear me? And you're just kind of riddling off, like, a few random thoughts that you have. But then the more and more you do it, the more comfortable you become with it, the more power you see in it, that prayer is powerful and effective. That you see that it also is intimate, that it's relational, that it pulls you to the heart of the Father, and that it brings heaven to earth. Like, it's this partnership with bringing the supernatural into the natural. It's just. It's powerful. It's. But it's also so beautiful, and it's so intimate. And once you taste that and see that and that, it's so good, you want more of it and you want to go to new levels with it. And so for me, it started out very surface level, very chill. But then it's like, the more and more I did it, I had. My church was going through 21 days of prayer and fasting, and for 21 days, I would pray for an hour straight early in the morning. Like, I'm talking 5, 6am in the morning. And that seemed crazy to me at first. But by the end of 21 Days of Prayer and fasting, it wasn't long enough. I was like, I need another hour. I'm not. I haven't. Like, wait, God, we. And he's like, you have all day. Keep talking to me. I'm like, oh, yeah. And that's the beautiful thing about prayer, is in the word it talks about. Pray Continuously. It doesn't have to even just be this one hour long time in the morning. It's all throughout your day. It's a constant relationship and conversation and then just in worship, I mean, just for me, worship is like. It's just adoration. It's. It's thanking God. It's gratitude. Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done. Thank you, Jesus, for who you are. Thank you, Jesus, for your faithfulness. Faithfulness. All my life you've been so faithful and just taking time to. To be grateful and to be thankful and to praise him like, you're so worthy of my praise. You're so worthy of my life and my affection and, you know, kind of starting, at least for me, I. I start my day that way and then try to. To stay in that mindset.

[B]

That's great. I love it. I love it.

[A]

Anything else you gotta add?

[B]

I think we just end with a moment.

[A]

Yeah. End with a moment.

[B]

Yeah, let's end. I want everyone to have a chance to receive the gospel. And so maybe this is just something that you have a friend or a sibling or, or somebody on your mind and you say, hey, skip this entire podcast. Just go to the last minute and a half. This is what I want you to hear, that we are not people that figured something out and now life is better. We are people that received the good news of Jesus Christ and now we are alive. We went from dead to alive. And so if you would just close your eyes, I just want to lead us through a moment for you to be a 10. You can know that. You know that. You know that when you die, you're going to be with God in heaven. So I just want you to close your eyes and I want us to pray this prayer together. If you're ready, if you believe this. Dear God, I know that I am a sinner, and I know that I've done some things and I've messed up. But what I do know is that you sent your son to be the Savior, and your son went to the cross and he paid for my sins, and he did not stay in the grave. But three days later, he rose from that grave and defeated my sin. And, Lord, your word says that if I believe in that with my heart and I confess it with my mouth, I will be transformed. Lord, I don't want this to be another prayer that I pray. I want this to be the start of a new life in Christ. So, Lord, I receive your Holy Spirit, and I ask that your Holy Spirit begin to produce the fruit in me to confirm that. I know that. I know that. I know that I am a follower of Jesus Christ, Lord. I know it's not going to be perfect, but I know that it's a continual process of following you. God, would you give me the strength to make this decision? In the powerful name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

[A]

Amen.

[B]

That's it.

[A]

Congrats to those who prayed this because it's the best day of your life and welcome to the family. Welcome to the family. We're rejoicing with you and we love you guys so, so much. Thank you for coming on the pod. This was a really great episode and I want to hear how this has encouraged you guys. Reminder that we will not be posting a podcast for the next three weeks because we're going to be with our little baby girl.

[B]

Oh, man.

[A]

And just loving her and praying this salvation prayer over her because we she needed. She need to be saved. One to ten.

[B]

Where you at?

[A]

Where you at? Oh, we love you guys so much. And as always, be sure to stay, you stay true. We love.