4:13 Podcast: Can I Bury My Ordinary? With Justin Kendrick [Episode 167]

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, 4:13ers, get out your spiritual shovel, because today our guest, Justin Kendrick, is inviting us into an entirely different way of life where you are going to dig a deep hole, put the ordinary you inside it, cover it with dirt and bury your ordinary. You're about to get seven spiritual habits that, when you practice them, will gently nudge you outside your comfort zone and into an extraordinary life. So are you ready? Here we go.

K.C. Wright: Welcome to the 4:13 Podcast, where practical encouragement and Biblical wisdom set you up to live the "I Can" life, because you can truly do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Now, your host, Jennifer Rothschild.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, hey, there. We are so glad to be back with you another week. Thanks for hanging with us here on the 4:13. If you're new, I'm Jennifer, and that was K.C. Wright --

K.C. Wright: Hey, hey.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- and we are just here to help you be and do more than you even feel capable of as you live this "I Can" life of Philippians 4:13. And never forget that the two most important words in that verse are not "I can." They are "through Christ." It is his power in you. And it's going to be a good day today.

K.C. Wright: It sure is. And I would give anything right now if this was scratch and sniff podcast time. Remember scratch and sniff stickers?

Jennifer Rothschild: Yes. I loved it.

K.C. Wright: Does anyone remember those?

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, I loved it.

K.C. Wright: I wish you could scratch and sniff your podcast app right now so you could smell what I'm smelling in the podcast studio. It is like, I don't know, I'm standing in a field of lilacs?

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, my gosh. Okay, I'll tell you what this is. All right. So it goes back to my friend Lori.

K.C. Wright: Okay.

Jennifer Rothschild: So Lori came to visit me this past summer, and she brings me a bottle of laundry soap --

K.C. Wright: Ooo.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- yeah -- like as a hostess gift, right? And she says, "Now, this stuff is expensive." She listens. She's from Mississippi. Hi, Lori. Anyway, she said, "But you're going to love it. It smells like it has a little patchouli in it," which is one of my favorite fragrances, and she goes, "and it fits you. It's called 'Diva.'"

K.C. Wright: Okay.

Jennifer Rothschild: But, K.C., I, like, put some in my laundry. It is expensive, so I use it very sparingly. Oh, but it just smells so good, and it stays.

K.C. Wright: It really does, yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay, now, here's what's funny. So then she came to see me, like, Labor Day weekend, I think. I can't remember what it was. Sometime early fall. And I said, "I got a gift for you." "What?" I said, "It's from my favorite place." I love Buff City soaps. And I said, "I got you some laundry soap." "Of course you did," she said. So I give it to her. This one is a powder, and it smells so good. And I said, "And it fits you." And she's smiling, like waiting. I said, "You know what it's called? 'Narcissist.'" She's really not a narcissist, nor am I a Diva --

K.C. Wright: No.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- but I think it's very funny that now we both smell like divas and narcissists. And it's awesome. But it does smell good, doesn't it?

K.C. Wright: Oh, my goodness, yes. I wish you all were here with us, honestly. We always do want you. Well, in our heart, you are with us right now.

Jennifer Rothschild: You are with us.

K.C. Wright: Yeah, yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: You are with us. Anyway. I will have a link to those on the show notes in case you're interested and have a few extra dollars, because, I'm just saying, they're not cheap. But they're a fun treat. But I will tell you about today. It's going to be really good. We are talking with Justin, and he's talking about bearing your ordinary. And what I really liked about this conversation that we're about to have is that Justin says that it is not just about adopting these habits -- because he's going to share seven spiritual habits with us. And it's not just about adopting these habits, it's burying the old ways of unintentional spiritual growth. And I think that's interesting, because sometimes -- I've found for me, K.C., you can't start a new habit until you stop an old one. It's almost like when you stop the old one, then you make place for the new one to begin. So I love the fact that Justin talks about just being willing to bury your ordinary and take some risks that could change everything. So I think we need to get to this conversation.

K.C. Wright: Let's do it. Justin Kendrick is the lead pastor of Vox Church, which he founded in 2011 with a small group of friends on the doorstep of Yale University. Now, since then, Vox has grown to multiple locations across New England. And the dream of Vox Church is to see the least churched region of the United States of America become the most spiritually vibrant place on earth.

Jennifer Rothschild: Mm-hmm. Love it.

K.C. Wright: I can agree with that, Justin. Justin and his wife live outside New Haven, Connecticut, with their four children.

Jennifer Rothschild: All right, Justin, let's start with your title. What does it mean to bury your ordinary?

Justin Kendrick: Yeah. Thanks so much for having me on. I am honored to be with you today. I think that a lot of times, as followers of Jesus, we find ourselves in a position where we get stuck in ordinary routines. And especially in this area of spiritual growth, I think a lot of times people are doing the routine. Maybe you try to read your Bible for a couple of minutes in the morning, maybe you pray, you know, kind of some routine prayers every single week. There's nothing wrong with routines, but a lot of times those routines are not producing the vibrant spiritual life that we see in the Bible. And so in this book, I talk about what does it mean to actually move beyond that, and even in many ways abandon that old framework for what it means to follow Jesus and embrace something that looks a little bit more like the New Testament.

Jennifer Rothschild: Ooo, I like it. Because, you're right, routines are good, but it can become like that old Dunkin' Donut commercial, you know, "Got to make the donuts." Got to read the Bible. And I like that you're busting up that framework. I'm curious. So if we're really living as true disciples, what would our lives really look like, you know, on a practical level? Because we're doing those things. But you're saying there's something bigger than just the duty of it?

Justin Kendrick: A hundred percent. So I think it starts with answering the question of what does it mean to be a disciple, right? What does it mean to grow spiritually? So discipleship generally is seen as the pursuit of Jesus in my life, to be a follower of Jesus, right? Okay, so I'm a follower of Jesus. What does that mean? Does it mean that I do certain things, does it mean that I give money or go to church? What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? And I love what Jonathan Edwards said, one of the great theologians in American history, he said that you can boil down spiritual maturity to the growth of agape love in your life. So agape love, this God type of love, this self-sacrificing love, the degree of agape love that you've internalized and then you live with really is the bar or the parameter of real maturity, right? And so if I'm growing in Christ, it doesn't mean that I know a hundred Bible verses, it means that I'm loving like Christ love. And so how do I then grow in agape love? Because it's a little ambiguous, right. Jennifer?

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, yeah.

Justin Kendrick: Like, you can't really just like, Well, God make me more loving. I mean, that's wonderful. But what can we do? Well, what I talk about in this book is that habits, new habits, can actually expand our hearts and teach us to grow in love. And so -- like we said, habits and traditions, they're not bad things, but they just often need to be rethought and maybe reintroduced into our lives in a really intentional way. And so in the book I outline seven specific habits that help our hearts grow in love, which then causes us to grow in Christ.

Jennifer Rothschild: I like that you're almost refueling and retooling these habits --

Justin Kendrick: That's the idea.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- that may be part of people's lives already. And I want to go through these habits. But before we do, I -- you know, I don't want to risk giving listeners another guilt-laden To Do list, right?

Justin Kendrick: A hundred percent.

Jennifer Rothschild: So let's talk about grace, how grace plays into these habits.

Justin Kendrick: Yeah. So it's actually the center of all the habits, right? And so one of the things that immediately human beings jump into is this idea that I'm going to perform for God and then he's going to like me more, right?

Jennifer Rothschild: Yep.

Justin Kendrick: He's going to bless me, he's going to help me, he's going to be like my little genie that -- you know, I get to make requests now because I've paid my dues or whatever. And so -- you know, let me give some more money or anything else. Well, the entire truth outlined from Genesis to Revelation of the Gospel is actually absolutely counterintuitive to the human psyche when it comes to interacting with God, right? The Bible constantly forces us towards what it calls the stumbling stone of grace. We have a tendency to trip over it. And it's this truth that God does not accept you based upon your performance, he accepts you based upon Christ's performance. And so grace is to freely receive what I can't earn. And so I can't obey in order to be accepted; I must fully and freely receive the acceptance of Jesus, and this actually teaches my heart to obey. So every one of these things can't be seen as a law that gets me closer to God; it has to be seen as a grace that teaches my heart to receive his love.

Jennifer Rothschild: Their responses. Their responses. Okay. I'm grateful you clarified that. Because there's a lot of us who love Jesus, and if you give me a To Do list --

Justin Kendrick: I'm going to go crush it.

Jennifer Rothschild: Exactly.

Justin Kendrick: And then when I can't --

Jennifer Rothschild: And then we end up defeated.

Justin Kendrick: Yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yes.

Justin Kendrick: And then when I can't, I'm going to feel like God doesn't love me.

Jennifer Rothschild: Exactly. I'm one of his losers that he's just trying to tolerate. Yeah.

Justin Kendrick: That's right.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay. I appreciate that foundation, because that lets us go through these habits well. Okay? So let's go through the seven habits. And I have understood from your book, you've seen these really produce incredible spiritual growth. So let's start with the habit of relationship, which you define as spending time alone with God regularly. And I mention it first, but I'm curious if these come in any kind of hierarchy order. Is this one the first one you should develop?

Justin Kendrick: A hundred percent. So I like to look at this book in two different frames. One is for my own personal journey with God and growing in my relationship with God. But then second is in a discipleship journey with my brother, with my friends, with people in my life. And so if I'm going to sit down with a guy who maybe just opened his life to Jesus and he says, "What does it mean to follow Jesus?" I'm going to start with the habit of relationship, because the habit of relationship does set the stage for habit two, which sets the stage for habit three.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay.

Justin Kendrick: And so these first three habits, I call them centering habits. And what they do is they teach us to center our lives around God. And so the habit of relationship is about spending time alone with God, but specifically the habit -and again, our minds will quickly run to works, so I spend the first couple chapters of the Bible -- or --

Jennifer Rothschild: Of the book, yeah.

Justin Kendrick: -- of the book -- excuse me -- talking about how the Bible really forces us towards grace and away from works, because that is our natural tendency. But the specific habit of relationship is to spend the first hour of my day alone with God. And that's why I said "Bury Your Ordinary." Because I think a lot of Christians, they definitely embrace this idea of a quiet time or spending time in prayer. I think a lot of Christians have internalized that truth. Oftentimes it's ten minutes or five minutes or on my drive to work or in between classes if I'm a student. And so the habit of relationship just basically says, hey, in any relationship in your life, quality time is the key. You can't grow in relationship without investing time. And so it is with God. If you're going to begin to really understand his love, it's going to mean that you're going to have to receive his love daily through time with him.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay. So somebody just heard that and they thought, An hour? Justin, you don't know my schedule.

Justin Kendrick: That's right.

Jennifer Rothschild: So get practical. When would they do that hour and what would that hour consist of?

Justin Kendrick: Absolutely. That's so good. So in the book I really unpack, okay, an hour with God feels really intimidating to a lot of us. You know, what does that look like? And again, every one of these seven habits is going to force us to bury our ordinary. And so the way I look at it is what in my life takes precedent over relationship with God. Does my exercise? Does my job? Does my family? Does my sleep? Does my breakfast? You know, if I decide -- and I know this is uncomfortable, right? If I decide that God is the center of my life and the priority of my life, then I should then create a routine that resembles that commitment, right? And so what I always tell people -- this always is exciting -- is if you make God more important than sleep and more important than food, you'll never miss your time in the morning. And again, it's not a law. I don't earn brownie points with God by spending an hour. I'm actually teaching my heart to receive his love in that hour. And so I talk about what do you do with an hour with God? And, of course, I do encourage people, if you've never devoted time alone with God, you know, maybe start with 15 minutes. That's a great starting point. And then after a month, go to 30 minutes; and then after another month, try 45; and you'll build up to an hour. Because I know in my own journey with Jesus, you know, about five minutes was my cap for a long time, you know. I was like, I can't spend that much time focused. And so in that hour with God, in the book I really outline what do I do? And there are two major components. They're spending time in the Scripture and spending time in prayer. And I give some really practical handles for how do I spend time in Scripture, how do I spend time in prayer that's helpful for my spiritual growth.

Jennifer Rothschild: I appreciate that you're that practical. Because when we start something new, we need a guide. And that sounds -- that's just a very practical guide. All right, let's go to your second habit, radiance. Okay? Sharing your faith just as part of your life, a normal way of life. And that's pretty scary to some people.

Justin Kendrick: Sure is.

Jennifer Rothschild: So kind of unpack that. What does that habit look like?

Justin Kendrick: Yeah, absolutely. So the habit is to engage in a spiritual conversation with someone far from God every week. That's the goal. And so -- I mean, Jennifer, just imagine with me if every Christian spent the first hour of their day alone with God and engaged in a spiritual conversation about Jesus every week with someone far from God. Those two habits -- we've only gotten into two of the seven. But those two habits alone would absolutely revolutionize the church in America and the world.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yes. Yes.

Justin Kendrick: And so that's why this book again is called "Bury Your Ordinary." Because if we just flirt with these habits, there's going to be incredible transformation. And so this idea of radiance really gets into what does it mean to share my faith and how do I get rid of some of the broken concepts that we've picked up through the years about sharing our faith, the salesmanship, kind of the drill sergeant attitude. I really dispel some of those things and get into this truth that it's really about sharing your life and about sharing your story of grace. And as you become more and more comfortable doing that, God will use your story of grace to make profound impact in the lives of other people.

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, yeah. And as you're developing your relationship with him, it just becomes a natural outgrowth. It's probably hard to stay quiet about it --

Justin Kendrick: Big time.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- because you're just living it.

Justin Kendrick: Although, the truth is the vast majority of Christians have never led a single person to faith in Jesus. And the truth is we're missing out on one of the greatest joys that God has made available in this life, to see someone transfer from death to life into eternity with God by a step of faith. And so 99% of Christians are never tasting that joy, and that's tragic.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, because there is nothing like it. And I've even heard friends of mine, who are moms, talking about a friend or a mom who was in a delivery room, and to see that baby being born and just --

Justin Kendrick: Yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- marks their life forever. There's no difference.

Justin Kendrick: I know.

Jennifer Rothschild: When you get to be a part of someone's spiritual birth and transformation --

Justin Kendrick: It's that same -- yeah, it really is.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, it's humbling. It's a beautiful humility that comes from it. All right, let's go to another habit. Receptivity. Receiving is what you mean there.

Justin Kendrick: Yeah, yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: I probably mispronounced it, I just realized.

Justin Kendrick: No, that's okay. Yeah, this idea of being receptive.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah. To the Holy Spirit's voice, right?

Justin Kendrick: Exactly. Yep. So the third habit --

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay. What does that mean?

Justin Kendrick: Yeah, absolutely. So again, these habits one, two, and three are all about centering my life, right? So I talk about the first three as centering habits, the second two as guardrail habits, and then the last two as what I call long-haul habits, how do I live this over the long haul.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay.

Justin Kendrick: But this idea of being receptive is all about learning to follow the daily promptings of the Holy Spirit. I think for a lot of Christians, our Christian life is not dynamic. We believe in the Bible, but we don't actually believe in the God of the Bible. And so as you look at the Scriptures, what you find is that God is in a vibrant, dynamic relationship with his children. And so in the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is prompting and guiding and leading. And he's never leading outside of the truth of Scripture by any means. We don't believe in new revelation. We believe that the Scripture is closed, the canon is closed. But we also believe in a God who is active in our lives. And so this habit of relationship teaches me to hear his voice and learn his voice; this habit of radiance teaches me to share and be his voice in the world; and then this habit of receptivity teaches me to stay attentive and develop an ear to hear his voice.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay. Good stuff. All right, let's go to the next one. Positive righteousness, is that the next one?

Justin Kendrick: It is. It is. So these next two are -- just imagine you're walking with a friend or a neighbor in their spiritual growth -- right? -- and they've asked you, Hey, can you help me grow in Jesus? And you sit down and you start the first meeting over a cup of coffee and you talk to them about time with God. Hey, I want to challenge you to spend 15 minutes alone every day with God. Would you do it first thing in the morning for the next week and then we'll talk about how it was. And then they ask you, Well, what would I do? Well, let me walk you through what you do. And it's all there in the book. And then from there, after they've really got some traction, you say, Hey, let's talk about sharing about Jesus with some other people in your life, and then let's talk about hearing the Holy Spirit. Well, now you've built some trust with that person and so it's time in the discipleship journey to get into the habit of righteousness. And the habit of righteousness is really living from a place of purity. And so I talk specifically about sexual purity, because sexual purity and the misuse of money seem to be the two most devastating things in the lives of so many Christians. And so habit five -- or habit four talks about this idea of living righteous, and then habit five talks about how I handle my resources, my money, and how do I develop healthy habits in both of those areas to really keep my train on the tracks and not run off the rails.

Jennifer Rothschild: Super practical because, you're right, that those are the things that derail. And they seem to be also the two most prevalent temptations --

Justin Kendrick: Yeah, for sure.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- as we walk through this world. All right. So let's go to this next one -- which is in short supply. I think -- the habit of rhythm.

Justin Kendrick: Yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: That's practicing Sabbath kind of thing, right?

Justin Kendrick: A hundred percent, yeah. So I think that if you take the majority of Christians -- remember, we're burying ordinary here. If you take the majority of Christians and you say, Hey, do you murder anyone? They would say no. Okay. Do you lie? No, I don't lie. Do you steal? No. Well, do you covet? No, I don't covet. Do you take God's name in vain? No. Well, do you honor the Sabbath and keep it Holy?

Jennifer Rothschild: Crickets.

Justin Kendrick: Right, right. For some reason, we believe in the nine commandments, but we edited out that one commandment about Sabbath, right? And so we say, That's Old Testament. Jesus is the Sabbath. Jesus never tells us to stop this life of rhythm. And so a lot of times in our spirituality, especially in our Americanized spirituality, we think that go, go, go is the only gear. And the problem is when you live that way, you burn bright and then you burn out, and you're no longer a witness for Christ because your life is ruined through a lack of rhythm. And so, you know, I learned this one the hard way. I think a lot of Christians have had to learn this one the hard way. Some of us still haven't learned it. But the habit of rhythm is to celebrate grace by practicing a weekly Sabbath. And that's a 24-hour period, at one chunk in my week, to pause, pray, and play. And so what does that look like?

Jennifer Rothschild: Pause, pray, and play. Okay.

Justin Kendrick: That's it. And it's, again, really practical. Give you a bunch of insights about how to do that. And that's really tough for some people. It means not answering text messages, it means not engaging in email. It means really pulling back and allowing that space in your heart as a declaration to your dependence on God for strength.

Jennifer Rothschild: So, Justin, what you just described, no text messages, emails, et cetera, give us a picture of what your Sabbath looks like, pause, pray, and play.

Justin Kendrick: A hundred percent. So in this season in my life, my wife and I have four kids and a Golden Retriever. So if I was a single guy, it would look a little different. So sometimes my Sabbath is full of soccer games and everything else. But generally my Sabbath starts on Friday nights, and as a family we'll have dinner. And I'll often light a candle just as a way to symbolize the beginning of my 24-hour period. And so Fridays, 5:00 p.m., we have a family night. We relax, we have fun together as a family. And then Saturdays we sleep in. We talk about the Bible together. We get up, talk about Jesus, talk about the Bible, sometimes have a worship time together. And then we've got activities on a Saturday. Sometimes we'll go and play a game or we'll go to a soccer game. That's the play part, right?

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

Justin Kendrick: And then generally by about dinnertime on Saturday, that season kind of -- that 24-hour period closes and then I move into Sunday prep. And, of course, Sundays is a really busy day for me as a pastor.

Jennifer Rothschild: For you, yeah.

Justin Kendrick: But that 24-hour period is sacred. And if I'm going to take a speaking event or if I'm going to take some ministry responsibility on a Saturday, I'll switch it. I'll move it from Thursday to Friday. So there is some flexibility. It's not a law, it's a grace. But making sure that every week I have a 24-hour period where I stop keeps the soul healthy and it keeps you dependent upon the strength of God.

Jennifer Rothschild: I think that's my favorite part of it, it keeps you dependent.

Justin Kendrick: It does.

Jennifer Rothschild: Because when we don't Sabbath, we're living this unsaid reality of I think the world depends on me and my activity and my input --

Justin Kendrick: That's exactly right.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- and we're afraid to stop because the world might collapse. And it doesn't.

Justin Kendrick: Yeah, I'm keeping it all spinning on its axis, right?

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

Justin Kendrick: It's all a myth.

Jennifer Rothschild: The other thing I loved that you said, Justin, is that you include pause, pray, and play. And sometimes we think of Sabbath, it just needs to be a pious, don't work, rest, pray, only read the Bible. But playing is very deeply spiritually invigorating to us.

Justin Kendrick: You know, Christians should be the most fun people on Earth, right? 1 Timothy 1:11 describes God as the happy God. He is the happy God. So if he's happy, why are his followers so often miserable, right? And so we have the joy of the grace of God available to us. We should actually smile a little more. We shouldn't take ourselves so seriously. We can take God seriously and take ourselves not too seriously at the same time. And so I think fun and play is a critically missing element in the life of so many Christians, and that's tragic because it's not the heart of God.

Jennifer Rothschild: No, it's not. And just think about it with your kids. You love to see them play together --

Justin Kendrick: A hundred percent.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- and laugh and enjoy. So does our Father God. All right, Justin, this last one could be intimidating, the habit of replication. Explain and unintimidate this for us, please.

Justin Kendrick: Absolutely. Well, again, we get into the ordinary, right? The ordinary Christian never disciples anyone. And I hate to say that, but I've cleared too many rooms just by asking, All right, you know, how many of you can think of five people who you have just led in discipleship and really grown up in their faith? And, you know, the hands just don't go up. And so again, a lot of Christians are missing out on the joy of the process of discipleship. And so you look at it and you go, oh, my goodness, I don't know what to do with the person. Well, the good news is by the time you get to that habit in the book, you already have the roadmap. So the habit of replication is to help grow these habits in the life of another person. And so it begins again with relationship, then radiance, receptivity, righteousness, resources, rhythm. You're actually just walking them through the same process that you've gone through in this intentional habitual development of your love for God. And you never arrive. Of course, every time you walk with somebody else through it, you realize that you're not really doing it as much as God's called you to, and so it stretches and pushes you too. So it's not about arriving, it's not about one perfect person making little molds of themselves. It's about brothers and sisters growing up into the image of Jesus together. And so replication gets really clear when I have a roadmap, and that's kind of what this whole book is about.

Jennifer Rothschild: Everything you have said, I have this quiet, "Thank you, Lord" going on in my mind as I hear it, because it's accessible, it's practical, and it really truly is grace driven toward loving Jesus more, not toward performance. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate that framework. I really do, Justin. It's showing in every answer you've given. So here's my last question.

Justin Kendrick: Yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: I think I read that these habits really can only be practiced and understood in the context of agape love, like you mentioned.

Justin Kendrick: Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: So kind of give us a final thought of what you mean by that.

Justin Kendrick: Yeah. I think that there is something in all of us -- right? -- that is deeply in pursuit of acceptance and approval. And so whenever we talk about spiritual disciplines or even discipleship -- of course, that word "disciple" comes from this word "discipline," right? Whenever we talk about spiritual disciplines, there's something in all of our hearts that just runs to this idea of, like, then God will love me. And the truth of agape love is this self-sacrificing love that has already eternally proved itself on the cross. That when Jesus Christ died for my sins, it was his declaration that "I love you." I don't have to question it. I don't have to second guess it or doubt it. And you might say, Well, how do I know that he loves me? Well, if you've opened your heart to Christ, it's evidence of the doctrine of regeneration, which means that God opened your eyes so that you could open your heart. And so that means he chose you. He chose you in accordance with His love. He didn't choose you because you are worthy or because you are valuable in the sense that you would add value to Him, he chose you because he chose you. That's actually what the Scripture teaches in Deuteronomy, that God chooses his people because he chooses his people. And so in the mystery of God's love, he chose you so that you could choose him, and in doing so proved that the cross was for you. And so if the cross was for me -- because I've chosen Christ, which was enabled by His choosing me -- then I can be sure of his love. And now I don't work for acceptance, I work from acceptance, and my motive changes from obligation to gratitude, and that's the power of the Gospel, the power of love.

Jennifer Rothschild: I just loved that last bit there, that our work is not for acceptance, but from the acceptance we already have. Some of you need to remember that. It's not for acceptance that we do these things, it is from the acceptance we already have in Christ that we do these things. I just love that. That is the power of Christ in us right there. And, K.C., I know you are busy taking notes when you were listening. So why don't you -- I think you got them there. Won't you review those habits with us.

K.C. Wright: Yeah. This was one of my favorite podcasts. I think I say that every week. But a transcript will be on the show notes, by the way, at 413podcast.com/167. But here's those habits that I wrote down. Okay? The habit of relationship, which is spending time alone with God regularly. Okay? The habit of radiance, sharing your faith as a way of life. I just really love that.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, yeah.

K.C. Wright: The habit of being just receptive. This one is learning the voice of the Holy Spirit. The fourth one is the habit of righteousness. This one deals with purity and living free from moral brokenness. Fifth was the habit of resources. This one is about your money and your generosity. Next was the habit of rhythm, the ongoing practice of Sabbath rest. Even Jesus took naps. Hallelujah. All right? And then the last one, number seven, was the habit of replication, leading others in a process of discipleship.

Jennifer Rothschild: Good job, K.C., Good job. And good stuff y'all. I mean, such good stuff. I'm really glad you repeated them for us, K.C. We needed that.

K.C. Wright: Mm-hmm. Well, you can get this book, by the way, for yourself, as always, at 413podcast.com/167. Or better yet, how would you like to win one? Just simply go to Jennifer's Insta profile. I love going to Jennifer's Instagram, by the way, almost daily, because there's always a Scripture and a word straight to my heart from heaven. But you can go there right now to win a copy of this great book. She's simply @jennrothschild on Instagram.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah. All right, our people. I do hope you win the book. But even more, I hope you take to heart what you heard today. Bury your ordinary and start living the life that you were created to, because you can. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength? I can.

K.C. Wright: I can.

Jennifer and K.C.: And you can.

Jennifer Rothschild: Good stuff.

K.C. Wright: Good stuff.

Jennifer Rothschild: Good stuff. Okay, so I'm going to give, you before you leave, just a little bit of my diva.

K.C. Wright: Okay.

Jennifer Rothschild: Because I think if I'm a diva, you should be a diva, everybody should be a diva.

K.C. Wright: But you have reframed -- like, when you say "diva," you think of -- you know, I've worked in the entertainment industry for a while, so I have met some real divas. But you have reframed "diva" for me because you're a stylish, Jesus-loving diva. So I think we need to reframe that.

Jennifer Rothschild: All right. I can go with that.

K.C. Wright: Yeah. Because you always look like a rock star. I always laugh at how you carry the world inside your boots.

Jennifer Rothschild: All divas should carry the world inside their boots.

K.C. Wright: She's got no purse. But everything she owns, including the kitchen sink.

Jennifer Rothschild: Right. That's why summers are hard with flip flops. I got nowhere for my stuff.