Transcript

0:00
This episode is about celebrating Easter with God. And the topic this week is how to improve our intimate relationship with God. Welcome to the Christian point was Zack and Linda. Hi, I’m super excited about this episode. And this is going to be really important podcast that helps us improve our relationship with God. We’re going to be talking about holiness. And today I’m with my husband, Zack McConnell. And we’re here in Texas, and it’s one of my favorite times of the year with my double bearded irises blooming. And my Vinca vine and the creek is sporting purple flowers. It’s just gorgeous. So we’ll be right back for this great episode of the Christian point.

0:41
Welcome to the Christian point podcast, where we are all about growing your relationship with God. As lifelong Christian believers, your hosts Zack and Linden McConnell explore topics that affect your world. Together, they are relearning and redirecting our path as we walk through struggles hangups, sins and purpose. The Christian point is a lively discussion that will help equip you with tools provide focus and encouragement from a biblical perspective. Always remember, Christ is the point. Now here are your hosts, Zach and Linda. Welcome to

1:17
the Christian point. Thank you so much for listening today. And we look at God’s word, and we take today’s hot topics, and we’re going to be talking about a topic, really, that a lot of people have a lot of confusion about. And we’re going to be talking about holiness, and our intimacy with God leading up to Easter. And I know this is something super close to your heart. And it really is. And I hope nobody turns off the podcast right now just after hearing the word holiness. Because it is a word that frightens a lot of people, and rightfully so

1:52
I grappled with this, Linda, you and I were raised as Christians. So we were never really exposed to some of the extremes that are out there, like some of the holiness teachings that were going on with different churches. And you know, I found Jesus growing up, and I started reading my Bible in elementary school, and I’m seeing holiness that’s all over the place. You can’t avoid this subject. It’s like this. We’re trying to say, I’m going to become the United States. But I don’t want anything to do with apple pie in baseball, holiness is just part of being a Christian. Right? So this is what we should define what holiness is.

2:27
Exactly, yes, I’d love for you to go ahead and do that before we jump into it.

2:31
Okay. So in my perspective, I found out that holiness is not about us trying to be good. It’s about living with the revelation that we’re gods, we are bought with a price and everything about us is consecrated to him. So Easter is a great time to think about holiness, and Jesus being crucified on the cross for our sins.

2:52
I love that that’s beautiful. It’s a beautiful view of what holiness truly is. And this is the perfect season of Easter and Jesus’s ultimate resurrection. Oh, wow, he paid the price for our sins, and we are God’s people.

3:09
And you know, Linda, when you talk about Holy, yes, you can’t separate one word that goes along with it. And that is intimacy with God. Can you imagine? I mean, let’s just put it this way. The New Testament speaks about two different types of holiness. It talks about positional holiness. And if you look at Ephesians, one, four, it’s very clear. It says, even before God made the world, God loved us. And He chose us in Christ to be holy, without fault in his eyes. So before we were even made, the decision was made by God, that I’m his. And he made the decision to declare us as holy, that’s our positional holiness in Christ. So the moment we receive Jesus the day I was born again and baptized, positionally, I was as holy as I was ever gonna be, okay. Now, I think that it’s really important to emphasize, because again, people might be saying, Zack, you’re talking about works here. But none of us can earn our way to heaven through works. We’re talking about positional holiness in Christ. That’s what God gave you because he makes you holy. But there’s also another manifestation of holiness, which is sanctification in sanctification. This is where we get to work in I like to call it behavioral holiness. And the New Testament talks about this. I want to compare it like when you and I got married, you know, 36 years ago, in fact, it’ll be 37 on May 4, and yes, people know may the force be with you. I get it. Exactly. You know, when you walk down that aisle in you became Mrs. Zack McConnell, his wife, and I became Linda stalls husband. I’m not more your husband today than I was 36 years ago, right, positionally. I’m not gonna be More of your husband and 30 more six years from now, right? It’s still the same position. But you know, I had a behavior before I got married to you. I flirted with girls, I got girls phone numbers I dated

5:11
Yes, as girls. Don’t forget your past girlfriends, we do remember they

5:15
don’t. And in your, in fact, you’re the best elephants on the planet. No, I’m just joking with him about memory. But after marriage, I stopped flirting with girls, I stopped asking for girls phone numbers, that would be inappropriate. So because I wanted a behavior now that matched the position I was in, right? If you look at what Peter says in First Peter 114, through 15, he says you must live as God’s obedient children don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better than but now, so you must be holy and everything you do. Now he’s talking about our behavior. So just as God who chose you is holy. So now we’re talking about our behavior. So really, it’s almost what he’s saying there. Because I tried to take everything, you know, complicated and try to make it simple. God is holy. So he’s asking us to be holy in what we do, right? So if I look at the motivation for being holy, why would I want that? Because Hebrews 12 Four says, Without holiness, no one sees the Lord. Now let’s talk about the chase after holiness. You wouldn’t have to chase after being my wife, right? Because you already are my wife, positionally. But you would have to chase or pursue a wife’s behavior. So in Hebrews 12, four, it’s saying, for you to see God, you’re going to have to have behavioral holiness, which we can’t do without the grace of God, I tried living a holy life Lin and I failed. I tried not tried and failed, right, until I learned about God’s power and grace. And that gives us the ability to do what we wouldn’t or couldn’t do in our own lives. Now, a lot of people look at that. And they say, okay, without holiness, no man’s going to see the Lord, every one’s going to behold him when he returned. It says, Even the people that crucified Him are going to behold Him. He says, Even the demons are going to behold him now. So the way I like to illustrate this as I’ve been an American citizen for 61 years, right, so I’ve been under 13, presidents, their decisions have affected my life, they are my leader, but I’ve never seen one of them. I’ve never been in the presence of a president of the United States. You’ve seen them, but you haven’t been with them. Right? So I see in Hebrews 1214, talking about the president, presence of God. So there are Christians that are under his jurisdiction, his decisions affect their life, but they’re not in his presence. And when you understand that, it motivates you to pursue holiness, so you can be in His presence.

8:06
Absolutely. And I want you to bring some clarity on that. Because the Bible is very clear in Psalms 100, verse four, that we can enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. So we have this relationship relational, where we can come into the presence of God and pray and find mercy and help in our time of need. So we’re not saying that people can’t get that what we’re saying is, are you talking about a different type of presence of God? Or you’re not talking about his omnipresence? Are you talking about His manifest presence? Right?

8:41
Well, the omnipresence as David said, is, Where can I go from your presence? You’re there. That’s what David was saying to God, the manifest presence is where he resides Veals himself to our senses, our mind, our emotions, and we actually tangibly since him, right, that’s a real part of Christianity. Jesus said, I will manifest myself to you. And he’s actually talking about living in a way that would glorify Him. I mean, let me just bring back to the husband and wife example, again, my main motivation, and factor for pursuing holiness is your husband. And you know, you’re a remarkable woman lined up. And that means if I’m pursuing the behavior of a godly husband, it’s going to take it a lot easier for you to open your heart to me and share your secrets and your intimate secrets with me. So I never want to lose that ability. When you look at me when our heads are touching the pillow, and you say something to me that you wouldn’t say to anybody else. So if I look at the way we handle the grace of God, in the western in the modern church, it’s like saying, Jesus, I’m technically married to you. I’m technically one with you. And I’m born again. I’m saved. Right? But yet, if we flirt with the world, Is he really going to share his intimate Secrets of our hearts. So just like as if it looked to you and said, Hey, I’ve got a marriage license, and it says, I’m married to you, you’re not going to share your intimate secrets with me if I’m being unfaithful, right. And so as Christians, what do we desire more than anything else? Jesus said, I stand at the door, and I’m knocking. And he’s standing at the door and knocking at your heart, but he’s talking to a church. Let’s say somebody really important that we wanted to see came knocking at our door, let’s just say Divinsky. Okay, basketball fan, the man right? Came to knock at our door, right in dirt says, I want to spend time and I want to have a meal with Zach and Linda. Okay. And yet, we’ve got so much noise going on in our house, Linda, he’s knocking on our door, he’s knocking at her door, and all of a sudden he’s like, okay, and he walks away, because your attention, right? So I think Jesus is saying, if you have that noise in the world going on in your heart, and you have all this flirtation with the world going on, and he’s knocking, you’re going to miss these opportunities. Because he said, I’m going to come in and dine with you. And I think he’s going to say, I’m going to serve be the richest food in the universe, which is the manna from heaven, the revelation, the knowledge, the wisdom, the insights, the understanding of abilities, and how we can reach our neighbors, by our examples of holiness from God,

11:25
wow, I really love that. And I also thinking about Hebrews 1228. Right here, it says, Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. So the kingdom of God in us cannot be shaken. And you know, it’s a solid foundation. It says, Let us have grace. So even though it can’t be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Wow. So we have reverence and godly fear. And I love how it’s not about being afraid of God, it’s about being scared to be away from him. So it’s not that we are scared of God, like, Oh, he’s gonna be mad at me. And he’s gonna be looking for a reason to judge me. But we draw near trembling at his word. And I think that we’ve gotten a little flirtatious and familiar with the Word of God. And we live in a day where there’s never been more amazing communication. And yet, there’s a lot of confusion about what holiness means, and how and this means that we live in a way that people see that you are no longer your own. You are God’s people. And people see we belong to him. Right, right.

12:49
You know, when you’re married, you know, you have this look that says, Guys, I’m in love. And I have children don’t even talk to me. And I know I’ve got that look to. And one of the first things I usually do if I started talking to a woman, as I say, oh, yeah, my wife told me about this shirt, or my wife pick this out for me. But what I’m saying Linda, is you and I have this aura around us, as a married man and a married woman. And I’m a happy when I’m a happily married man. And when you’re a happily married woman, will, when we carry this aura around, I happily belong to Jesus. It just says to the world, there’s something about you that’s different in set apart from the world.

13:30
Exactly. And can we also say that we’re not talking about being perfect? That’s right, because part of actually being an example of Jesus is when we make mistakes and apologize. And you know, I’ve had to do a lot of apologizing in my life. And yet the other day, there was a lady who was being really snarky to me. And I decided I just wasn’t in the mood to be nice back. And my first two interactions with her, Well, I was pretty impatient. And I was like, You know what, I can’t do this. I can’t answer her back in turn, because I’m not my own. I’ve got to answer her back in a way that would be correct. Yes. And I have to apologize to her. And it’s embarrassing when you have to apologize. But when you understand you’re not your own, you apologize, because you don’t have the right to misrepresent being a Christian. And a lot of Christians are really misrepresenting what it looks like to be a Christian. And the world has backtest in a corner and said, Don’t tell us we have to be holy, that’s judging us. Don’t tell us don’t do that. Well, I’m sorry. But there is a big difference between holy and warning people and judging people and alienating them. And what you’re doing is you’re saying there’s way more there’s an intimate relationship with God for you. And if you will actually press in and say, God, I want to be holy. I want to live in such a way that my life honors You, because I want to intimate relationship with you. And I don’t want anything to stand between us. I don’t want any breach. I know that I am saved, I know I’m going to heaven. I know that Jesus is my Lord, that I want to bring other people with me. And I want to live in the fullness of a Christian life. But for many, we are the only Jesus that they are ever going to see. And that is really wow. And if you remember, Jesus said, I sanctify Myself for the sake of the world, for their sake, you know, when we live in a life that glorifies Him. And part of that is being quick to apologize to someone if we’ve done wrong, because we’re not perfect people. No, we’re not. And Jesus was perfectly perfect. He never had to apologize.

15:51
Now we can witness and others can see this person that really does have a relationship with God. And so holiness, interestingly enough, is the only description of the Church that Jesus is coming back for. So obviously, this is going to become very important subject to the church, not only to talk about now, but to live into it. Because I do believe the church is going to represent him well in these coming days. Right. And that’s why I think right now, you need to feel this stirring in your heart as we talk about this. Because you should long for holiness, right? Your inward person is in the presence of God. So there’s many people they say, No, God doesn’t talk to me. We’ll ask him if there’s something that you’re doing that needs to be removed. If you’re having conversations in the world. And he’s actually trying to enter your heart, asking him to knock on your door, and you’re too busy talking about other things. And he’s trying to get a word in edgewise. So stop practicing holiness today. And let God enter your heart so you can receive holiness, in your heart, your mind in in your world.

17:01
Absolutely. Well, we’ve had a great discussion today about improving your relationship with God through holiness. And we’re called to walk in holiness and to be an example and bring others to Christ. And we hope you experience Good Friday with your church. And Sunday. Oh, he is risen, India’s risen, and we hope you attend your local church Easter service, and we hope you participate in honoring our Lord and Savior this Easter. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the show. So Zack, I’m going to be enjoying getting to thank everyone for joining us and I hope this message really spoke to you guys. We’d love to hear from you. Please write a review, subscribe or share this podcast through Apple podcasts, Google podcasts or go to the Christian point.com. Thanks so much for listening to the Christian point with Zach and Linda, and let us know your thoughts by leaving a review. And be sure to subscribe and share these episodes. We’d love for you to check out our website, the Christian point.com You can make a donation there you can help spread the message. And we encourage you to leave your testimony and give us a review. And we would love to pray over you just let us know God’s blessings and peace be with you. And remember, until next time, Christ is the point.

18:19
Thanks for listening to the Christian point. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, or visit us on the web at Deep Christian point.com. If you enjoyed the show, please share it with your friends on social media. Until next time, always remember Christ is the point

Transcribed by https://otter.ai