Why the Change Is an Exchange

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Wake-Up Call

Episode: Why the Change Is an Exchange
Host: John David Walt (with guest David Walt)
Date: March 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

This Holy Week episode of The Wake-Up Call centers on the transformative meaning of change in the Christian journey, drawing from Galatians 2:20. Host John David Walt reflects on the idea that true change in Christ is not about self-improvement but about a profound exchange of identity — our old selves for new life in Jesus. The episode also features hymn singing with his father, David Walt, underscoring the theme of drawing closer to the cross during Holy Week.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Entering Holy Week: The Journey to the Cross

• JD Walt welcomes listeners into Holy Week, emphasizing that though it is a solemn journey toward the cross, Christians do so with the certainty of resurrection victory.
  • "[Jesus] put death in the grave. He swallowed up death. In victory he rose from the dead. And so we enter into the full solemnity of Holy Week with the certain knowledge that we come out victorious." (01:17)

2. Scripture Focus: Galatians 2:20

• The central text—Galatians 2:20—is introduced as both a “manifesto” and the “core gospel truth.”
  • "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." (03:35)

3. From "Good to Great" to a New Life in Christ

• JD Walt shares a personal story about spiritual conversations with “Maxie,” who challenged him to rethink what true change means—not just incremental growth, but a total exchange.
  • At first, JD thought of faith in terms of self-improvement ("good to great”), but Maxie's question—“Do I really want to change?”—provokes a deeper self-examination.
• The transformative power of Christian change is described:
  • "There is capital C change and then there are the small C changes. The capital C change is Galatians 2:20 in 10 words: 'and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.'" (06:40)
  • "The 'me' in 'but Christ lives in me' is the real me. It is the plan, a vision of me God had in mind when he imaged me in his image in the first place." (08:03)

4. What Does "Exchange" Mean?

• JD Walt reframes change as an exchange: trading brokenness for wholeness, sinfulness for righteousness, emptiness for fullness, self for Christ.
  • “The change that is actually the exchange. Our broken selves for your whole life, our sinfulness for your righteousness, our emptiness for your fullness. What we mean to say is, we want you, Jesus.” (09:52)
• He echoes Dallas Willard, highlighting Christian transformation as "becoming the person that Jesus would be if he were me." (11:43)

5. Reflection Questions for Listeners

• Three challenging prompts are offered for journaling and deeper reflection:
  • Do you want this change?
  • What in you resists really wanting this change?
  • What do you imagine you would be like on the other side of this change?
  • "Spend a little longer journaling today... just start rolling [Galatians 2:20] over in your mind, in your heart and your soul." (10:30)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On identity in Christ:
  “You don’t lose your...essence of your personhood. You don’t lose your personality. You gain power. You gain beauty. You gain love. You gain a life that becomes unquenchable.” (12:10) — JD Walt

• On the week's spiritual focus:
  “That’s where we are this week. If we look up on the map where it says, ‘you are here’...all the way down at the very bottom, the cross. You are here. And we’re just making camp. So go ahead and build a fire.” (18:08)

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Musical Worship (Hymn Singing)

• JD and his father, David Walt, join in singing two classic hymns:

  • "Beneath the Cross of Jesus" (14:42)
  • "Were You There?" (15:19)

• The significance of these hymns is discussed, especially the line:

  • “And from my stricken heart with tears / two wonders I confess: the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.” (17:43)
  • “That’s the truth, isn’t it?...That’s the word that fits us all. Well, from A to Z.” (18:00)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Holy Week Introduction: 00:04–02:00
• Scripture Reading (Galatians 2:20): 03:35
• Defining “Exchange” vs. “Change”: 05:40–09:00
• Personal Reflection/Maxie’s Question: 05:10–07:00
• Journal Prompts: 10:22–11:00
• Dallas Willard Reference: 11:43
• Worship Singing Begins: 12:41
• "Beneath the Cross of Jesus": 14:42–15:19
• "Were You There?" (Verses 1 & 2): 15:19–17:10
• Reflection on Hymn Lyrics: 17:40–18:10
• Closing Thoughts (“You are here. Build a fire.”): 18:08–18:46

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Final Reflections

Throughout the episode, JD Walt invites listeners to go beyond self-improvement and embrace a deeper spiritual transformation—a divine exchange at the foot of the cross. Holy Week becomes not just a season of remembrance but of grappling with what it means to truly live “not I, but Christ in me.” Listeners are encouraged to linger in this reflection, engage with powerful hymns, and prepare their hearts for the movement from the cross to resurrection.

“You just gotta get low... around the cross.” (18:46)

Transcript

[A]

Well, good morning, Sower nation. Welcome to Holy week. It is March 30th, Monday in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm John David Walt and this is your wake up call. A couple of quick reminders. I'd love for you to have our unpuzzled journal, workbook, whole thing if you get that order going. I think we're still doing the buy one, sew one, give it to a friend. This is the moment to invite new people to join us. We're going to be launching that series next Monday, a week from today. So you can see the notes in the email in the show notes. Now, my dad's with me today. We're going to sing our way to the cross. Isn't that something? Sing our way to the cross. You know, we know what happens on the other side of Holy Week or we wouldn't even be walking this way together. We know that Jesus put death in the grave. He swallowed up death. In victory he rose from the dead. And so we enter into the full solemnity of Holy Week with the certain knowledge that we come out victorious. Up from the grave he arose with the mighty triumph over his foes. Can't wait to sing it. If you're watching this on YouTube, you see we've made some. David has been in the seed sweeper has been back in the in the seed studio. And you see we've got the credible piece of art just over my right shoulder of Darkness. It's entitled Darkness Tries to Comprehend Light. It's Jesus. It's a carving. Looks like a painting. It's not even a painting. It's a carving. All right, let's dive in. Consecration. Wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you and we're praying. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today's entry is entitled why the Change is an Exchange. And our text is Galatians 2:20. Hear now the word of the Lord. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The word of the Lord. You know, that's one to put in your journal. That's one to get out of the Bible and write it in as many Places as you can write it. That, my friends, is a manifesto. It is the truth. It is not a sentiment. It is not a nice thought. It is the core gospel truth. We'll dive in here. Now consider this Do I really want to change? Transformational question number two. For the longest time I looked at the Christian faith and life as a kind of good to great program. I was a pretty good person with a lot of potential. I had some bad habits and a few flaws, but I had a good resume and presented well. That's why when Maxie asked me transformational question number two, my immediate response was to talk about all the ways I knew I needed to change to go from good to great. You remember what happened with transformational question 1? Am I growing? I launched into recounting all the spiritual activities in my rule of life. Maxie stopped me mid sentence and said, I didn't ask you about your spiritual activities list or your rule of life. I asked you to ask yourself if you were growing this time. After about five minutes of my self righteous disclosure about all the changes I needed to make, he interrupted me again. John David, I didn't ask if you felt you needed to change or even what changes you felt you needed to make. I asked you to ask yourself, do I? I really want to change. And then he tracked out the cortex of transformational question number two. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And that's when it hit me. There is capital C change and then there are the small C changes. The capital C change is galatians 2, 2010 words and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. It calls to mind those 10 ancient words we remembered on Transfiguration Mountain. The bush was on fire. It did not burn up. 10 words. And then I started pulling all the threads the me in but Christ lives in me is the real me. It is the plan, a vision of me God had in mind when he imaged me in his image in the first place. It is the unbelievable, inconceivable, unrepeatable miracle of God version of me. It is the why not be completely changed into fire version of me. It is the beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord and being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to the next version of me. It's the metamorpho version of me. This is the change. Now Let me ask you to ask yourself the second transformational question I am asking myself, do I really want to change? And let's pray. Our Father, thank you for your son Jesus and Lord Jesus. We want this change. I want this change. We really want it. The change that is actually the exchange. Our broken selves for your whole life, our sinfulness for your righteousness, our emptiness for your fullness. What we mean to say is, we want you, Jesus. I that old I no longer lives, but Christ lives in me. That's the new life. Yeah, Jesus, take the old self, bring the new life, which is your life, in me, praying in your name. Amen. The journal prompts, so what? Let me just say, do you want it? Do you want it? Do you want that change? Second question is, what in you resists really wanting the change? And what do you imagine you would be like on the other side of this change? These are. These are deep ones. Guys, we're coming down to it, and I want you to grapple this week. Will you grapple? That's what the cross invites us to. To grapple with it. Spend a little longer journaling today. Spend a little longer. I just want you to take that text, Galatians 2:20, and just start rolling it over in your mind, in your heart and your soul. I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. That's amazing. I mean, that's what. That's. It's becoming. I think that's Dallas Willard becoming the person that Jesus would be if he were me. Because he wants to come in. And you know what? That's the person God imagines. That's all that reality is resident in Jesus, in you. You don't lose your. Your essence of your personhood. You don't lose your personality. You gain power. You gain beauty. You gain love. You gain a life that becomes unquenchable. Anyway, I think we're ready to sing today. We got some good songs to sing this week. We're going to sing our way to the cross. Let's go. All right, everybody, you're in luck. We have a great worship leader today.

[B]

Praise the Lord.

[A]

Who's ready to sing?

[C]

David?

[A]

Walt, he's ready to sing. I'm ready to sing, too. You know what? You're ready to sing. We're in Holy Week, dad. You know what Holy Week is?

[B]

Holy Week is a. It's once a year, 52 weeks a year, and we give it all to one week. Holy Week.

[A]

That's the week where we go all the way to the cross.

[B]

All the way to the cross. When we think of Jesus 24 hours a day.

[A]

That's good.

[B]

Think of his death on the cross. And who for? For you and I and us.

[A]

Amen. I think you should start doing the whole wake up call, not just the singing. Well, we're going to sing this week. We're going to. I kind of like the way we did those medleys last week. And we're going to pull two songs together for the next couple of days at least. We're going to pull. Tell them the two songs Beneath the

[B]

cross of Jesus and were you there?

[A]

And now there's a great serendipity here to singing these two songs because what's the number of the first one?

[B]

248.

[A]

Now the number of the second one?

[B]

249.

[A]

They're on opposite facing pages. So maybe they were meant to be a medley. But what we're going to do here is we're going to sing verse one of beneath the cross of Jesus and then we're going to sing verses one and two of were you there? And this is going to get us in the groove for the week we're living in. Beneath the cross of Jesus and were you there?

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Okay. You ready?

[C]

Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand the shadow of a mighty rock Within a weary land A home within the wilderness A rest upon the way from the burning of the noontide heat and the burden of the day Were you there when they crucified my were you there when they crucified my Lord? O. Sometimes it causes me to tremble Tremble, tremble Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

[A]

Verse 2.

[C]

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?

[A]

O.

[C]

Sometimes it causes me to tremble, Tremble, tremble Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?

[A]

Go ahead and sing verse two of upon the cross.

[C]

Upon the cross of Jesus My eye at times can see the very dying form of one who suffered there for

[A]

me

[C]

and from my stricken heart with tears to wonders I confess the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.

[A]

That's good, you know.

[C]

2.

[A]

That's so brilliant, he says. And from my stricken heart with tears Two wonders I confess. What are they?

[B]

The wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.

[A]

That's the truth, isn't it?

[B]

That's the word that fits us all.

[A]

That fits us all.

[B]

Well, from A to Z.

[A]

That's where we are this week. If we look up on the map where it says, you are here. You remember my V that I draw all the way down at the very bottom, the cross. You are here. And we're just making camp. So go ahead and build a fire.

[B]

Amen.

[A]

And plan to get I want to say get comfortable, but you can't get comfortable around the cross. You just got to get low.

[B]

You're going to be fidgeting.

[A]

You got to get low. So listen, thanks for joining us today on the Wake Up Call and this week especially. And. Yeah, I will. I'm for the Awakening. Good evening. I'm J.D. walt.

[B]

And I'm David Walt.

[A]

And we will see you. I got my seeds. You get yours. We'll see you on the field.