Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #72： Dying to Self and Alive in Christ

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Real Christianity. Today we are talking about dying to self and being alive in Christ. 0.88

00:00:06.060 So yeah, we're going to be continuing in our four-part series on Dale's new book, Real Christianity,

00:00:11.840 How to Be Bold for Christ in a Culture of Darkness.

00:00:15.020 And if you missed last week's episode, we are basically going to be covering all eight chapters of Dale's book

00:00:21.020 in two chapters per episode format.

00:00:24.880 and I wanted to actually read a few reviews that I saw on Goodreads and Amazon just to let you guys

00:00:32.960 hear what other people are saying about the book this one is from Amanda Thomas and it says get

00:00:39.620 this book it will change your life by changing your heart it's a must-have no matter where you

00:00:44.460 are or what you have been through what you have done or where you find yourself in life it does

00:00:49.560 not matter you need what is written here everyone does I'm going to get a copy for everyone I know

00:00:54.400 this year for christmas it's really that good that's awesome um alicia says uh this book is

00:01:00.840 five inches wide seven inches tall and 10 feet deep a must read richard davis says this book

00:01:07.900 is like a splash of warm water to your face you still get the shock of being wet without the sting

00:01:12.720 of cold words it's direct it's bold but most of all it's accurate to the scriptures

00:01:17.820 that's a really awesome compliment and i would say not just because i'm your wife but also

00:01:24.120 because I'm a Christian that I would actually agree with all these comments as well I think

00:01:28.420 that the book is short and it's super powerful and it's definitely worth adding to your library

00:01:35.460 so in the last episode we covered chapters one and two and today we're going to be tackling

00:01:43.020 episodes chapters three and four chapter three is titled dedication and death and we're going to

00:01:51.460 discuss the idea of an altar in scripture um so dale this title can seem a bit intense uh can you

00:01:57.820 tell us both what you mean and where you got this idea of dying and dedicating yourself to god

00:02:03.640 yeah so um excited to just chat about it and thank you guys for so many of you i've already

00:02:09.120 purchased a copy of the book we've sold several hundred copies at this point yeah and i've

00:02:14.700 actually seen quite a few people say that they read the entire thing the day they got it because

00:02:18.640 it is a short book and then i also see other people like are saying that like i know i can

00:02:24.080 read it all but i want to savor it i'm only allowing myself to read a chapter at a time or

00:02:28.660 yeah there's some really good reflection questions at the end so um anyways yeah if you're watching

00:02:33.080 the video here you can see the book if you haven't seen it yet you can also go to my instagram account

00:02:36.900 and see and they can also buy a study guide that can go with it yeah the study guide we actually

00:02:40.800 have the study guide right here so if you're watching the video again you can see it but

00:02:43.600 there's a little study guide it's a it's like a 40 to 60 page study guide so it's a it's a little

00:02:47.960 it's a little beast and um people are buying that too you can go if you just go to shop

00:02:53.100 dot relearn church dot org uh you can get the book and then add the study guide you can also

00:02:58.120 i think this the study guide is actually available on amazon as well and so it's available there you

00:03:02.640 can do that but to answer your question um pull my notes over here uh this is probably one of my

00:03:08.940 favorite chapters in the book it might even be my favorite chapter in the book um but i'm the guy

00:03:13.360 that you know i i lean towards the intense stuff right so uh dedication and death um you know

00:03:19.580 what what i basically argue in this chapter is that there's two types of altar calls there's

00:03:25.660 the altar call in the bible and then there's the altar altar call experience that we've seen

00:03:28.720 with the kind of uh gently strummed guitar the smoke machines the piano in the background

00:03:33.940 and the pastor that says hey with everybody's heads bowed and eyes closed uh why don't you

00:03:38.940 raise your hand if you want to accept Jesus. That is a very different experience than the altar call

00:03:43.800 that you see in Luke chapter 14, which I'm not going to read necessarily today, but you can go

00:03:48.700 check that out. This idea, they're so radically different. You know, just the idea of like

00:03:57.120 everybody's heads bowed and eyes closed, raise your hand for Jesus. Your profession of faith is a

00:04:02.700 public thing, like baptism. It's like a public thing. You don't want to hide it. It's not intended

00:04:09.140 to be hidden. And I know we're all about making people comfortable. And that's just, that's not

00:04:14.440 what Jesus did in that chapter. You know what? I'm going to read it because I'm going to read that.

00:04:19.240 I don't have it in my notes, but I'm just going to read it. I'm going to look it up in my Bible

00:04:22.000 and you guys are just going to wait along here. It's Luke chapter 14. And this is why I have a

00:04:29.360 bible on the desk because i can do this you're going off script i'm going off script yeah

00:04:33.540 and um you're going to the correct script scripture scripture sure scripture okay so

00:04:42.180 it's luke chapter 14 verses 26 through 33 uh this is jesus's altar call okay this is if he was a

00:04:50.480 pastor pastoring at a church this is how he would do it um it says now great multitudes went with

00:04:57.540 him, and he turned and said to them, I'm quoting now Jesus, if anyone comes to me and does not hate

00:05:04.900 his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, his own life also, he cannot be

00:05:11.880 my disciple. Now, stop for a second. The word hate there means love less in the Greek. That's how I've

00:05:18.700 interpreted it, at least. Most people interpret it that way. He's not going to tell you to go hate

00:05:23.320 somebody, especially your wife. So it's loving less. It means the prioritization needs to be

00:05:29.160 Christ ahead of all. Verse 27, and whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be

00:05:35.600 my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down and first count the cost,

00:05:41.360 whether he has enough to finish it, lest after he had laid the foundation is not able to finish it

00:05:46.520 and all who see it begin to mock him.

00:05:49.560 So one, he's pretty much saying,

00:05:52.740 what kind of person doesn't count the cost involved

00:05:56.060 of making a huge decision like following Jesus?

00:05:59.540 Like, he's not trying to pull the wool over anybody's eyes.

00:06:03.900 He's being incredibly clear, incredibly direct

00:06:07.320 of the massive amount of consequences that are required

00:06:10.520 or that occur in someone's life when they become a Christian.

00:06:14.440 And we're going to talk about what those consequences are, right?

00:06:17.340 It's dying to yourself.

00:06:19.420 It's dying to your flesh.

00:06:22.440 Anyways, it goes on to give another example.

00:06:24.860 You guys can read this up.

00:06:26.200 It's 26 through 33.

00:06:27.780 But he ends with verse 33.

00:06:29.880 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.

00:06:36.680 A lot of people turned away when Jesus said that.

00:06:40.460 But some people stayed.

00:06:42.460 But a lot of people turned away.

00:06:43.680 And I think that, you know, instead of trying to sell people into Christianity,

00:06:48.200 Jesus was trying to be very raw and real and upfront about exactly the cost involved in following Christ,

00:06:53.400 which is very different than what we do today.

00:06:56.480 Anyways, so we have to remember that an altar in Scripture is not a friendly place to our flesh.

00:07:04.040 It's actually a place that's covered in blood.

00:07:06.940 If you look at the Old Testament, you think of an altar.

00:07:08.760 What do you think of?

00:07:10.140 Stack of rocks.

00:07:11.060 Stack of rocks.

00:07:11.720 And it's where you go and you kill a lamb or a goat to make sacrifice and atonement for your sins according to Levitical law, right?

00:07:19.440 In the New Testament, an altar is a wooden cross.

00:07:23.340 Jesus dies on this cross and his blood is spilt from this cross, right?

00:07:28.300 Today, you know, we really, I think, lost this idea of what it means to come to the altar, an altar call.

00:07:34.860 And so instead of kind of dying and repenting, we're made comfortable to remain how we are, remain who we are.

00:07:45.200 And it's just not the narrative that Jesus presents.

00:07:49.720 And so I want to talk about this idea of dedication and death.

00:07:51.820 And this is what I talk about in this chapter.

00:07:53.780 And it's not a rare theme.

00:07:56.880 Like you think, oh, Dale, are you going to build a whole systematic theology of like a few scriptures?

00:08:00.960 No.

00:08:01.740 This is like, I only have enough time for a few of them,

00:08:05.220 but there's like 30 or 40 that I could have found.

00:08:07.480 But it's really everywhere.

00:08:10.000 And these passages display this idea of dedication and death,

00:08:13.960 or dedication and death, or death and dedication.

00:08:17.420 I'll wrap it up with these scriptures here.

00:08:20.080 It's Romans 12, 1.

00:08:21.260 It says,

00:08:23.020 I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,

00:08:26.480 to present your bodies, dedication, as a living sacrifice,

00:08:31.220 Death, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

00:08:34.640 Galatians 5, 24.

00:08:36.620 And those who belong to Christ Jesus, dedication, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, death.

00:08:44.320 Matthew 16, 25, a famous line of Jesus,

00:08:46.660 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life, death, for my sake, dedication, will find it.

00:08:55.380 Colossians 3, 3, for you have died, death, and your life is hidden with Christ in God, dedication.

00:09:04.300 Galatians 2, 20, I have been crucified with Christ, death.

00:09:08.540 It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

00:09:11.660 And the life which I live now in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, dedication, who loved me and gave himself for me.

00:09:18.680 So this theme is everywhere.

00:09:21.120 And this concept of picking up your cross is really this idea of death.

00:09:26.740 And Jesus talks about that, picking up your cross.

00:09:28.840 And I'm going to ask the question to Veronica, what does a cross do?

00:09:32.900 It kills you. 0.96

00:09:33.680 It kills your flesh, right? 0.79

00:09:34.780 It kills your flesh, yeah.

00:09:35.300 Yeah, and that's what it's designed to do.

00:09:37.300 And Jesus tells us to pick that thing up daily.

00:09:40.060 But it's actually the first part of a two-part process.

00:09:44.420 And so death, I would say, is kind of related to the idea of repentance.

00:09:49.380 Like it's dying to yourself, it's repenting of your sin, it's turning away from your way and turning towards Christ.

00:09:55.280 While dedication is more related to belief, like believing in Christ, devoting yourself to Christ.

00:10:02.860 And so I'm going to draw a little parallel here.

00:10:04.880 And so Jesus and John the Baptist would even often say, repent and believe, repent and believe.

00:10:08.780 You see that throughout the New Testament.

00:10:10.300 And again, this follows this pattern of like, die and dedicate, you know, repent and believe.

00:10:17.160 You know, turn from your sin and turn to Christ.

00:10:20.680 But Jesus adds another element to this discussion of death and dedication.

00:10:26.420 And we'll talk about that in a bit.

00:10:29.000 But we can't just discipline ourselves to, like, change our behavior and just religiously dedicate ourselves to his preferred demeanor.

00:10:40.220 That's not what I'm talking about there.

00:10:42.900 This death and dedication isn't really just like a religious behavior modification.

00:10:47.840 That's not what I'm talking about.

00:10:49.180 I know that some people can hear that from me.

00:10:52.420 You know, I've been called the legalist before.

00:10:54.780 Oh, Dale, you're just talking about rule following.

00:10:57.840 But that's not what I'm talking about.

00:11:00.220 What Jesus is talking about, he talks about death and dedication, is supernatural rebirth.

00:11:05.320 He's talking about regeneration.

00:11:07.400 he's talking about the holy spirit entering into you changing you from the inside out yeah it has

00:11:13.660 to be the holy spirit because if you're doing it is a behavior modification and or discipline

00:11:17.700 thing you know 21 days makes a habit or however you know whatever the number of days is it's not

00:11:23.060 going to last because it's not a holy spirit transformation no it's going to fade away it's

00:11:27.880 going to fade away exactly and so this is why sanctification is to be driven by the holy spirit

00:11:32.840 not by you um however we cooperate in that we're going to talk about that later in this episode

00:11:38.800 but the solution jesus's solution to this because you know prior to the holy spirit come in and

00:11:44.180 this idea that we're going to talk about in a second like you go wow like well do i just try

00:11:48.980 harder is that what you want me to just try harder well no he actually says that we need to be born

00:11:54.200 again and um if you listen to my episode on self-love you heard the concept that um well

00:12:02.440 we all need to be born again because none of us were born right and therefore we all need to be

00:12:06.420 born again and so that's why anybody who even has sin that they've dealt with as a child um or they

00:12:12.180 say i was born this way i go well yeah i was born a sinner too that's why we all need to be born again

00:12:17.440 and um and you know this idea uh i want to talk about born again see if you guys understand this

00:12:24.920 from a biblical perspective and i'm going to use john chapter 3 verse 3 as my example is jesus

00:12:30.140 is answering Nicodemus, and he says, Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly, I say to you,

00:12:37.160 unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And so one thing I'm going to say

00:12:43.980 is that if you can't see the kingdom of God, you won't be able to find the kingdom of God.

00:12:50.920 So that's just one thing right there, is that you won't have eyes to see or ears to hear. And so I

00:12:56.820 think he's saying here is that most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, you need to

00:13:01.420 be born again in order to even see. And so I think a lot of you guys that are Christians listening to 0.54

00:13:07.460 the show, I've recognized there was a moment in your life that you just go, wow, like I have new

00:13:11.500 eyes. I have new ears. I have like a new sense of like morality or conviction in my heart. And so

00:13:19.080 this is Nicodemus asking an obvious question about the claims of Jesus's ministry. What is Jesus

00:13:23.440 always claiming the kingdom of God is at hand. It's near, right? And so he's asking him, like,

00:13:30.440 how do I see the kingdom of God? Like, this kingdom of God you're talking about, what do you do to get

00:13:34.720 there? And then Jesus answers him, most assuredly I said to you, unless you're born again, he cannot

00:13:38.680 see the kingdom of God. And of course, Nicodemus is like, well, how the heck do I climb back into

00:13:42.700 my mom's womb, right? He's asking the pretty obvious question. And, you know, this is a big

00:13:50.700 statement for a Jew and I want to I want to explain this so that you guys have the two

00:13:55.840 Jesus's words are applicable to the non-Jews in this moment because it's for Christianity as a

00:14:00.660 whole universal but it's also the context we got to look at that this is also a Pharisee asking

00:14:08.500 Jesus about this and so there's some Jewish context that I want to show you real quick

00:14:13.260 And so this idea of being born again is kind of a big deal because Jews really thought highly of their ancestry, their birth line.

00:14:27.400 They were of the seed or line of Abraham, and Abraham's seed was sufficient according to their doctrine, right?

00:14:36.140 They were living in the promise of the seed that the whole nation would be blessed through his seed.

00:14:44.140 And so this is why Jesus said in Matthew 3, 9, it says,

00:14:48.400 And do not presume to say to yourselves that we have Abraham as our father.

00:14:52.160 For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

00:14:56.800 And so he's saying like, hey, the seed of Abraham is not sufficient for the kingdom of God. 0.74

00:15:02.780 um and so your your birth uh even a birth in the seat of promise if you were a hebrew at that time

00:15:10.700 um is not sufficient you need to realize that your current state is is useless he's basically

00:15:16.480 saying you're depraved and dead he's telling this to nicodemus and he actually says later in john 0.99

00:15:21.580 i'm about to lay the axe head at the roots of the entire jewish religion that's what jesus came to 0.98

00:15:27.020 do um when he talks about this idea that like the temple's gonna be torn down and then i'm

00:15:32.540 basically going to raise it up in three days. Like these are huge statements to understand the

00:15:38.460 context, what's going on. Um, what, what Jesus is really leading into is that you need to be

00:15:44.300 renewed. You need to have the law of God stamped on your heart. You need to be regenerated. You

00:15:48.280 need to be born of water and of the spirit. You need to be spiritually die through repentance.

00:15:52.340 You need to get baptized, be born again. Um, and this is how you're going to have eyes to see and

00:15:57.440 ears to hear the kingdom of God, Nicodemus. And this is why first Peter chapter two, verse three

00:16:02.960 says, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through

00:16:09.680 the living and abiding word of God. And who's the word of God? Jesus, right? Jesus is the word made

00:16:15.220 flesh, John chapter one. And so, you know, this is some fun theology stuff, but the idea is

00:16:20.700 dedication and death is a really important process. And I want to ask you guys a really

00:16:25.060 serious question have you died i see a lot of christians kind of walking around like half

00:16:32.580 limping still alive you know um are you kind of partially dead um have you have you truly said

00:16:40.980 father your will be done not mine your will be done not mine and and are you seeking his kingdom

00:16:47.800 or your kingdom and you can't serve two masters you know this is an idea this is a really important

00:16:55.900 question to ask yourself where are you at are you are you still seeking your own or are you

00:17:01.060 seeking him yeah so as del mentioned uh the altar represents the moment of justification

00:17:07.680 through christ but it does not represent the lifelong sanctification through relationship

00:17:12.860 yeah so there's like that two-part side right there right like you can believe when you're a

00:17:17.140 little kid be justified but that sanctification process is takes time yeah and it's lifelong

00:17:23.960 like i just mentioned um so the next chapter is titled abide or depart and we're gonna look and

00:17:30.380 see what jesus claims is the central ingredient to being a in a loving relationship with him

00:17:35.600 um so a lot of people want to strengthen the relationship uh but we often go about that

00:17:42.440 uh, in the wrong way or just in one of many right ways, I guess you could say. Um, for example,

00:17:49.880 some people go to the mountains and sit in nature, hoping to get closer with God by doing that. Um,

00:17:56.340 some people pray because they get to talk to God. Um, some people, uh, read the word because they

00:18:02.740 get to hear from God. Um, oh, you know, some people like to worship, um, and sing because

00:18:09.400 they want to feel close to God um but if relationship is built on love what does Jesus

00:18:14.800 tell us about how to love him yeah I mean this is a it's so backwards because we we've manufactured 0.98

00:18:22.180 a Christian culture that if you ask anybody in a crowd like how do you get close to Jesus 0.99

00:18:31.540 like those are probably all the answers that you just said you know everyone had would have

00:18:37.180 their own opinion on how they get closer to jesus i pray i i read the word you know i listen to

00:18:45.120 podcasts or listen to sermons or you know whatever um and and so i want to talk about yeah what does

00:18:52.140 it mean to love jesus according to his preferred way of love and what it means to really abide in

00:19:01.020 his word and so uh john 14 15 says some words that jesus repeatedly says throughout the new

00:19:08.740 testament he says if you love me you'll keep my commandments and and this is a pretty

00:19:15.660 large theme of the gospels jesus saying this he actually says it like several times in one

00:19:23.860 chapter of john that's like back to back he says like four or five different ways in one chapter

00:19:29.020 And so the greatest way to show your affection to God is by keeping his commandments.

00:19:36.400 That's what Jesus says.

00:19:38.680 It's actually Jesus' preferred way for us to display love and devotion to him.

00:19:43.800 That's his preferred way.

00:19:45.580 It's not the only way, but it's his preferred way.

00:19:49.580 And I want to point out first that you can't keep a commandment that you're unaware of.

00:19:55.360 um and i think many of us disobey god in ignorance like we just don't even realize

00:20:03.100 that that's like a sinful thing um and again guys i'm not talking about keeping his commandments

00:20:09.360 keeps us saved jesus keeps us saved okay i'm talking about relational love here so get just

00:20:15.640 get that through your head for a second because i know i could just hear the comments flowing in

00:20:19.480 right now oh my gosh you're talking about a workspace religion it's not what i'm talking

00:20:22.900 about um and so we do have the holy spirit now that the old testament didn't have in terms of

00:20:31.380 coming and living in us dwelling with us convicting us of sin righteousness and judgment and that's

00:20:36.540 john 16 8 and he's john uh 14 26 also says that the holy spirit will teach us all things

00:20:43.580 but the holy spirit doesn't overtake us he doesn't make us robotic like he doesn't overtake our life

00:20:51.080 Like we don't just autopilot, you know what, the Holy Spirit's going to come in.

00:20:55.180 We don't have this robotic experience.

00:20:56.860 We cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

00:20:59.880 This is why scripture teaches us that we can actually grieve the Holy Spirit.

00:21:03.900 Ephesians 4, 29 through 30 says,

00:21:06.120 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good and necessary for edification,

00:21:12.000 that it may impart grace to the hearers.

00:21:14.640 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption.

00:21:19.240 Okay, there's God's sovereignty, and then there's man's responsibility.

00:21:24.360 And they cooperate with each other.

00:21:25.960 There's God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.

00:21:27.760 And again, this is one of those themes that's throughout Scripture that I could list 30 verses for.

00:21:31.580 I don't have them right now, but there is a lot of this in the book.

00:21:36.680 And so God plays a part by convicting, and you play a part by choosing to do the right thing, according to Scripture, keeping his commands.

00:21:48.320 you know, following and being holy as he is holy

00:21:50.760 is what it says in 1 or 2 Peter, I don't remember.

00:21:54.140 But part of man's responsibility

00:21:55.520 is to make yourself familiar with God's commands to you.

00:22:02.780 And this is clear in Scripture, 2 Timothy 2.15,

00:22:05.540 be diligent to present yourself to prove to God,

00:22:07.980 a worker who does not need to be ashamed,

00:22:09.580 rightly dividing the word of truth.

00:22:11.640 What is the first and greatest commandment?

00:22:13.640 You got it?

00:22:15.400 Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, mine.

00:22:18.320 With all your heart, soul, and mind?

00:22:19.820 Yes, there you go.

00:22:20.600 And so we're called to love the Lord with all your being.

00:22:28.200 And one of them is your mind.

00:22:29.800 How do you love God with your mind?

00:22:31.040 Well, you know his word, his precepts, his commandments, his expectations for us.

00:22:39.100 And I think King David authored it nicely.

00:22:43.220 He said, Psalm 119.11, it says,

00:22:47.300 thy word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee like it's just this posture of

00:22:54.140 like I just want to know your words so that I don't accidentally sin against you because I love

00:22:59.000 you and I want to honor you yeah like it's knowing God's preferences I think even in our marriage we

00:23:05.980 ask each other often like how do I you know how can I please you how can I behave differently

00:23:11.360 what can I do around the house what can we do today right I was rearranging the homeschool

00:23:17.060 room and you walked in and i could immediately tell that you didn't like it and in my flesh i

00:23:23.640 wanted to get like frustrated and be like just let me do it and then you walk you walked away

00:23:29.140 and you're just because you're just gonna let me do my thing and then i was like no this is dale's

00:23:33.680 house too and he doesn't like it and so i want us both to like it so we'll figure something else out

00:23:39.980 yeah and i thought that was a good statement that you said oh i want you to like it too

00:23:44.180 and that was a good statement and yeah you we want to to meet each other's preferences and

00:23:50.540 know each other's preferences and so we we seek to understand those things that we don't accidentally

00:23:55.120 hurt each other yeah and that's not a situation where either of us would have been hurt but

00:24:00.280 just the desire to please you yeah because yeah you have to see that room every day just as much

00:24:06.640 as i do yeah no that's a good point anyway and so very small example it is but it's a good example

00:24:12.920 And guys, do you know the New Testament commands God's expectation for us that you might not transgress against him?

00:24:25.160 Again, I'm not preaching self-righteousness.

00:24:28.080 That's not what I'm talking about.

00:24:29.620 There's no amount of righteous law-keeping that's going to keep you saved.

00:24:33.840 Jesus keeps us saved.

00:24:35.680 I'm talking about personal holiness.

00:24:37.560 I'm talking about ordering your life according to the New Testament commands of Scripture.

00:24:42.920 to live as a set-apart people, to honor God, to glorify God, to stand out in a way that loves

00:24:50.440 people, that fulfills the Great Commission, that preaches the gospel, that supports and upholds

00:24:56.540 truth, that makes people believe that Jesus is the Christ. Like, these are parts of the Christian

00:25:01.700 life. And we're called to be obedient. I mean, period. We're called to be obedient. We're not,

00:25:09.900 what does it say uh just because you're covered by grace should we continue sinning no certainly

00:25:17.780 not as what paul says no we should not just because grace abounds like doesn't mean that

00:25:23.520 we get to go and doesn't give you a free pass no we're called to be obedient um and so you know

00:25:30.920 this is what jesus is saying if you love me you'll keep my commandments now um obedience is not the

00:25:36.620 only way to love God, but I would say it is the best and first way to love God. And so when you

00:25:44.880 go, man, I just want to love the Lord. Like the first thing in your head shouldn't be, well, I'm

00:25:50.440 going to go and like pray with the Lord. Um, or I'm going to go and like worship the Lord. These

00:25:55.160 aren't bad things. These are great things, important things, critical things. But Jesus didn't say,

00:26:02.120 if you love me, you'll pray to me. Or if you love me, you'll go worship me. If you love me,

00:26:07.000 you'll go read the word. I think that there's something deep about a willingness to be obedient

00:26:13.800 that kind of is worshipful, that is honoring, that implies you know the word. Like obedience

00:26:21.420 is the fulfillment of those things because you go, oh Lord, you know, hide your word in my heart

00:26:28.340 so that I might not sin against thee.

00:26:30.520 I want to be obedient.

00:26:31.600 I want to follow your ways and your will.

00:26:34.480 And so I'm going to give you an example

00:26:35.580 for my own children.

00:26:37.040 And I think, babe, you'll align with this.

00:26:40.860 I often say, you know,

00:26:42.340 if you love me, you'll listen to me.

00:26:44.000 Like that's the same idea.

00:26:45.400 If you look at your kids.

00:26:46.020 If you love me, you'll obey me.

00:26:46.760 Yeah, if you love me, you'll obey me.

00:26:47.860 If you love me, you'll listen to me.

00:26:48.760 I said it to my daughter.

00:26:50.900 When they don't listen to me,

00:26:53.200 it makes me feel dishonored.

00:26:57.120 I feel like they're not pursuing my will as their parent, but their will.

00:27:03.800 And that's exactly what's happening.

00:27:05.520 It's not my will be done in their life.

00:27:07.040 It's their will be done in their life.

00:27:09.560 And I don't feel like they care about me in those moments.

00:27:13.280 I don't feel like they trust that my ways are wiser than their ways.

00:27:18.520 And these are real emotions that I have when they are disobedient.

00:27:22.440 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.

00:27:24.100 There you go. 0.97

00:27:25.320 And, you know, I think these ideas are rebellious in their hearts

00:27:31.440 when they don't want to follow what dad says.

00:27:34.420 And so 1 Corinthians 6, 19 through 20, I say this all the time.

00:27:38.020 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,

00:27:40.800 whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

00:27:44.320 For you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

00:27:49.120 Okay, so like first, you're just not even, you're not even yours.

00:27:52.660 Like, you're not even allowed to make decisions on your own.

00:27:55.720 I actually just put this on my Instagram stories today.

00:27:58.360 Like, if you think of yourself as a servant of God,

00:28:01.960 like, you were previously slaves to sin,

00:28:06.440 now you're a slave to Christ, is what the scriptures teach.

00:28:09.600 So you're owned by God.

00:28:12.660 Like, if you were a literal slave of Jesus Christ,

00:28:17.180 you would ask permission to do everything.

00:28:20.140 you would go oh like lord can i go do this can i lord should i should i sell this house should i

00:28:28.720 buy and should we move our family over here should i take this new job should i um what what should i

00:28:35.520 be doing today lord what is my priority god what do you want me to do with my children here in this

00:28:40.700 capacity how should i order my finances lord there's this posture that you go i just want to

00:28:46.500 seek his will his will and and get his through through prayer through understanding through the

00:28:54.480 word and through obedience and so god's looking for a yielded heart and a diligent seeker of him

00:29:02.220 and that's what this chapter really concludes with and he loves children that i would say

00:29:08.020 who are so concerned and even like disturbed at the idea of ignorantly or accidentally

00:29:15.760 disobeying him it reminds me of the scripture in first peter three where it goes you know is um

00:29:21.000 as sarah obeyed abraham calling him lord you know sarah's obeying her husband calling him lord as if

00:29:27.720 he were god himself yeah um as of you know a fear of displeasing him yes exactly healthy fear yeah

00:29:37.280 healthy fear of displeasing him exactly it's that you just go i just don't want to displease you

00:29:41.580 Lord? Do you have that heart posture? Do you want to know the word of God so well that you can

00:29:48.580 not accidentally or ignorantly do something that's sinful? And, you know, what he's looking

00:29:58.160 for is sons and daughters who pray regularly, who worship regularly, who read the word regularly,

00:30:05.120 but also who discipline themselves to keep his commandments and not because it saves us but

00:30:13.120 because of the overwhelming gratitude that we have of his saving work for our sake and so

00:30:21.640 that's my take on that on that chapter um any thoughts bravo so it's it's a fun it's a fun

00:30:31.120 book and um you know these next couple episodes are just diving into some of those concepts i'd

00:30:36.580 love for you guys to get a chance to go through the whole thing it's also an audiobook i had

00:30:40.540 several people tag me and the i think audiobooks are becoming even more they've been pretty popular

00:30:46.940 i mean with people commuting and driving all the time and flying and everyone wants something to

00:30:51.560 listen to while they're busy and i read it out whatever it is i read it in like an hour and eight

00:30:57.440 minutes yeah the audio book is dale reading it it's not somebody else yeah which i i'm so mad

00:31:03.060 save from success my other book i didn't read it it's the only book that i've written that i hadn't

00:31:07.900 read i was sick or something like that and it's always so weird when i listen to it i'm like who

00:31:12.780 is this person i've listened to it though that's he's probably not you he's probably a better

00:31:17.000 reader than me anyways so guys you guys can pick this up at shop.relearnchurch.org or on amazon

00:31:23.060 um you can see the book here on the video if you guys subscribe to our youtube channel

00:31:26.840 um that's a thing and you guys can also follow us on instagram if you guys don't do that

00:31:31.200 veronica's funny like if you guys follow her on instagram stories she's like a

00:31:35.440 legit professional story person and and she's you're better at stories than me

00:31:41.040 you're funny so um i don't know you post some pretty funny memes the memes the one i'm literally

00:31:46.280 like trying to hold back in a laugh right now because i was thinking about the gorilla one

00:31:49.760 that you posted of the dads it's just like what girl has always looked like they're about to meet

00:31:55.500 their daughter's boyfriend for the first time or something all the like serious faces i'm sorry

00:32:01.000 this is totally off topic but it was just no it's good popped in my head randomly like 30 seconds

00:32:05.920 before we got into this conversation oh there's so yeah the the christian meme space like i follow

00:32:11.420 all the theology accounts so there it's like there's the christian memes that i think a lot

00:32:15.180 of christians follow but then i follow all the theology accounts that are like higher thinking

00:32:19.320 theology memes

00:32:20.660 and some of them are hilarious

00:32:23.240 they're funny

00:32:24.720 okay so you guys know that we've been

00:32:27.760 doing some real Christianity resources

00:32:29.800 at the end of the show

00:32:31.020 told you guys about a handful of publishers

00:32:33.340 that we appreciate that create content

00:32:35.520 that's like a step above

00:32:37.420 the

00:32:38.500 common stuff that's coming out

00:32:41.220 yeah you generally won't find the stuff at like Barnes & Noble

00:32:43.500 yeah exactly

00:32:44.640 and they're just

00:32:47.460 deeper thinking writers

00:32:49.760 Anyway, so we're talking about Lexham Press.

00:32:52.260 We've been working with them for a couple weeks now.

00:32:54.560 They're actually the creators of Logos Bible software,

00:32:57.660 which I've been using now to create sermons.

00:33:00.540 And I really like it.

00:33:02.660 Just let you guys know.

00:33:03.980 I have to use it for school.

00:33:05.820 And so, yeah, Logos, if you've heard of it,

00:33:08.920 it's just like, it's awesome software

00:33:11.320 if you want to study the Word of God.

00:33:13.060 And I'm not even promoting that today.

00:33:15.400 um and there's a uh a few books that i want to show you guys here so one is called christianity

00:33:23.260 considered subtitle is a guide for skeptics and seekers and this is by john frame and he's kind

00:33:29.040 of like a philosophy major but also i think he's the president uh our chair of systematic theology

00:33:34.340 and philosophy um uh at a theological seminary in orlando and um he's got a lot of really great

00:33:43.720 content very apologetics uh type author and i just appreciate his stuff i would say like kind of in

00:33:49.580 that ravi zacharias kind of space in terms of high thinking um arguing philosophy of christianity

00:33:55.420 and he has another one called we are all philosophers a christian introduction to the

00:33:59.320 seven fundamental questions and so these are just good little resources and i think i showed you

00:34:04.940 guys these maybe one of these last week there's a they're doing a series called the christian

00:34:10.200 Essentials series, and they're doing it on a handful of topics. The first two are the Apostles

00:34:17.080 Creed and the Lord's Prayer, and you guys can see these here. They're little five by seven books

00:34:20.500 of the same size as my book, actually. Look at that. So they're five by seven hardback books,

00:34:25.120 which I like that size, and they're very short, and they're really good, like pocket books,

00:34:30.820 high-thinking books. They're really classy. You almost want them on your shelf, and so it just

00:34:36.740 breaks down the apostles creed it breaks down the lord's prayer um and so i just wanted to talk

00:34:43.740 about them and recommend them i've actually used these a handful of times already in my study time

00:34:47.620 and you can check them out if you go to lexampress.com forward slash real christianity

00:34:55.100 and everything's there it's like 30 off it's going to be cheaper than you'd get it at amazon

00:34:59.600 on again that's lexham and that's l-e-x-h-a-m lexhampress.com forward slash real christianity

00:35:06.680 check them out okay until next time until next time all right we'll see you guys and talk about

00:35:15.040 the next couple chapters of the book thanks for joining us guys take care

Dale Partridge - November 20, 2019

Real Christianity #72： Dying to Self and Alive in Christ

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