Ripple Effects of God’s Grace and Truth

In this season finale episode, Ross O’Hair and Ben Brezina explore how one letter from the Apostle Paul has changed countless lives, sparked historic reformations, and continues to shape our personal faith journeys today. They discuss the power of understanding our co-crucifixion with Christ, the freedom in knowing there is no condemnation for believers, and the ripple effect of Romans throughout history—from Augustine’s dramatic turning point to Martin Luther’s Reformation insights. Whether you’re well-versed in Romans or just dipping your toes into its deep truths, join Ross and Ben as they highlight the timeless influence of this remarkable epistle—and encourage you to live transformed in the light of God’s love.

Key Verses:

Romans 8:1 – "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Romans 12:2 – "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Quotes:

"The truths in Romans are not just information; they are transformation. When we truly believe them, they change our entire outlook on life."

“We never know how God is going to take what we do or what we say and use it to encourage somebody who will encourage somebody, who will encourage somebody.”

“We can’t ever hear the truth enough. Even if we know it and we’ve heard it a million times, that millionth and first time is just as impactful.” 

Key Points:

1. The Book of Romans lays out the foundation of the Christian faith, emphasizing justification by faith and life in the Spirit.
2. Understanding our co-crucifixion and resurrection with Christ transforms our identity and daily walk with God.
3. Romans has profoundly impacted church history, shaping movements like the Protestant Reformation and inspiring figures like Augustine, Martin Luther, and Charles Wesley.

Outline:

1. Introduction (00:04)
2. The Ongoing Riches in the Book of Romans (01:05)
3. Reviewing Key Themes of Salvation and Transformation (01:27)
4. Justification by Faith Versus Works (02:36)
5. Embracing Our New Identity in Christ (03:04)
6. Historical Impact of Romans on Believers (05:03)
7. Personal Testimonies and Transformation (12:18)
8. Gateway Passages: Romans 8:1 and Romans 12:2 (14:32)
9. Truth as Spiritual Nourishment (16:06)
10. The Ripple Effect of Living Out the Gospel (18:52)
11. Final Encouragement and Season Wrap-Up (21:51)

Theme Music:

Here Forever by Adigold (all rights and licensing from Envato elements)

Hosted by: Ross O'Hair Participating Staff: Ben Brezina Edited by: Ross O’Hair and Ben Brezina

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In need of individual counseling? Visit our website to schedule an online or (00:04):
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The book of Romans is so deep and rich, and has so many truths buried in its chapters
that one read through is not enough.
That one sit down or podcast will only scratch the surface.
But God is inviting us into a deeper relationship with him through the truths
found in this book. On this final episode of the Book of Romans,

(00:25):
I'm sitting down with Ben Brezina as we have a conversation about the impact of this book,
not only in the history of the world, but in our personal lives.
Paul encourages us to be transformed by these truths and share God's life and love in the
world. And so we're excited to have you join us today.

(00:49):
Ben, how are you today?

Ben Brezina: Hey. Good. Ross. It's good to be here. (00:50):
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Ross O'Hair: Good to have you back in our final episode. (00:52):
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Ben Brezina: Yes. (00:54):
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Ross O'Hair: It's exciting. (00:54):
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Ben Brezina: Hard to believe it's already here. (00:55):
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Ross O'Hair: I know, yeah. It's been a lot of great time and study... (00:56):
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Ben Brezina: yes. (00:59):
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Ross O'Hair: into this book of Romans. (00:59):
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So, you know, I said in the intro a little bit that there's just so much truth in this
book.

Ben Brezina: So much. (01:05):
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Ross O'Hair: Yeah. And, you know, our podcast here was not designed to go into all the things. (01:05):
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That would be impossible. We talked about that in the intro episode, that it would be
like hours and hours and weeks and years of podcasts to be able to do that.
But, you know, we did cover quite a few key themes and ideas and truths in our podcast
over the time, and maybe you can kind of go over what some of those were and what stood
out to you as far as those go.

Ben Brezina: Yeah. You know, there's so many essential topics for the Christian faith in Romans. (01:27):
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In fact, it defines who we are, how we got to be saved,
what salvation looks like, how it comes to us,
and then how to live out of the Spirit and even what it looks like in relationship to
each other. Because the Romans were struggling,
the Gentiles and Jewish Christians were struggling there.

(01:49):
And that message - all those messages still ring so true.
I mean, we talked early on about how we're all in need of a savior.
You know, all of sin. And Paul says, "the gospel is the power of God unto
salvation." I mean, just that - it seems strange to the world,
or maybe even foolish to the world, that this man who came and died on the cross

(02:12):
and was raised again, that somehow he can save everybody.
But Paul says that's the truth.
I mean, he had a radical encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus,
and it powerfully transformed his life.
He went from killing Christians to spreading the gospel more than any one man had done at
that time. So, just so powerful.

(02:33):
And then the idea of justification by faith.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah. (02:36):
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Ben Brezina: Not by works. It seems so ingrained in our society that whatever we put out is what we (02:37):
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get.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah, exactly. (02:43):
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Ben Brezina: And we attach that to the idea of God and His acceptance, (02:44):
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his righteousness. And Paul really puts that to rest and says it's impossible.
You know, there's nothing we can do to earn the righteousness of God.
We're. We've all sinned and fallen short.
So it's really only by grace, through faith and meditating on that there's
so much richness.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah, it's so true. And what really stood out to me, (03:04):
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you know, as you're talking, I think of this idea of,
like our co-crucifixion and resurrection with Jesus.
And that sounds so like spiritual.
But when we truly understand what's happened to us and our new identity and how we've been
- our old self was crucified, and we are a new creation.
It's truly life changing impacting in our lives.

(03:25):
And Paul does such a great job of laying that out for us.
And obviously, that's the gospel.
That's the new covenant of what what we're experiencing now,
here and now. But just being able to understand that on a deeper level truly does
change someone's way that they view themselves,
way that they view their lives.
And I just think about how that then translates into how we walk in that -

(03:49):
walk in the Spirit. And just personally, but in community too.
And Paul talks about all those things in in depth,
you know, especially in the chapters. We went over that again;
there's so much richness there, but it's the truth that truly does change you
radically from the inside out.

Ben Brezina: Yeah, it really calls out for us to meditate on it. (04:05):
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You know, I need to sit and think about, hey,
I've been joined to Christ.
And what does that mean? What does it mean that I have his Spirit living inside of me?
And if I really know that and believe it, and I'm aware of it on a daily basis,
it's going to change my interaction with everybody.
It's going to change how I view life, what I spend my time on.

(04:28):
I mean everything. This idea that I'm not just here and God's up in heaven,
he we're together, united with him.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah. (04:35):
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Ben Brezina: That begs for meditation right there. (04:36):
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Ross O'Hair: Yeah. (04:38):
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Ben Brezina: And the more we meditate and believe it, the more we're transformed by it now. (04:39):
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Ross O'Hair: So, you know, as we talk about these themes and these truths, (04:43):
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it's not just here and now and through this podcast or reading it on our own that impacts
us. This book has been impacting people since it was written.
I mean, the church has been has been transformed in a lot of ways by this book,
and I don't want to overstate it. But, you know, like obviously by the gospel.

Ben Brezina: Yes. (05:03):
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Ross O'Hair: But Romans really states it so clearly. (05:03):
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Maybe we can go into that a little bit.

Ben Brezina: Yeah. There's so many people that have been impacted by the book of Romans. (05:07):
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I think specifically of Augustine.
And, you know, he was really struggling with a lot of sexual sin,
just the desires of the flesh.
They were pulling strong. This was before he became a Christian. He was thinking about
giving himself to God, but he was just wrestling back and forth,

(05:30):
whether or not he was going to go in that direction.
And he read Romans 13:13-14 that talks about walking properly,
not indulging those. And something - the Spirit just caused something to click
inside of him. And he gave his life to Jesus.
He was baptized and he became one of the most prolific,
most encouraging writers that are out there.

(05:53):
And still he's having an impact today.
And it was, you know, God used the book of Romans.
The that one...

Ross O'Hair: Yeah. (05:59):
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Ben Brezina: phrase or the couple phrases written by Paul to have an impact in his life. (05:59):
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And then he, God used people him to impact other people.
And so that's the way that Christianity works,
I think. And God used Paul and in Martin Luther's life,
I mean, we all know about the Protestant Reformation.
Well, he was studying the book of Romans and realized salvation by faith and where works

(06:23):
played a part. And that's where he started getting these ideas about his theses and the
problems that he was seeing.
And he posted that. So God used Paul in that aspect.
And then, you know, Charles Wesley was reading Augustine and Martin Luther and,
you know, he was impacted.
His life was dramatically impacted by them talking about the book of Romans.

Ross O'Hair: Exactly. (06:46):
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Ben Brezina: So and here we are still today talking about the book of Romans. (06:47):
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I can go on. There's many other people that have been impacted by Romans and what I'd
like to highlight about that, or what I think about when I hear that,
is we never know how God is going to take what we do or what we say,
and use it to encourage somebody who will encourage somebody,

(07:09):
who will encourage somebody. That's how God works in the Spirit.
And Paul, I think he was just writing to encourage the Roman believers.
He was planning on going there.
He wanted to go there and then keep going to Spain,
and he wanted them to help him out.
But God knew the whole picture.
He knew that 2000 years later, we'd still need the encouragement that's

(07:31):
found in Romans.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah, yeah. It's incredible. It's like God's playing the long game, (07:32):
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right? He had this book written.
He inspired Paul to write this book to the Romans,
and it impacted someone in history who impacted more people.
And you see this ripple effect through history.

Ben Brezina: Yeah. (07:45):
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Ross O'Hair: And obviously other books, other verses, you know, (07:45):
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the whole scripture as a whole has impacted the church and people through history.
But it is impressive to see how the book of Romans,
because of the way it's laid out, because of the impactful wording and
phrasing, it really connects to us here in the modern times very clearly.
And it addresses a lot of the problems and issues we face within the church or just

(08:09):
within communities or anything like that, that it's so impactful and I love it.
God's playing the long game because he sees that and he's like,
well, I know this is going to impact there and it's going to impact there. And he just
sees that beforehand. And it's amazing to see that ripple effect in action.

Ben Brezina: And there are so many truths and promises that we still need. (08:23):
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And we claim as believers, the idea that nothing is going to separate us
from the love of God in Christ.
Yeah, the idea that there's no condemnation for those that are in Christ,
and that God's going to cause all things to work together for the good of those who love
him and are called according to his purposes.

(08:44):
All these truths are just continuing to impact us as we learn them,
and then we believe them, and then we place our faith in Jesus,
and then he shines through.
He glorifies himself in our life, which impacts another person,
which impacts somebody 100 years from now.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah. I mean, just think about what it is we're talking about co -crucifixion with (09:02):
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Christ. How we're one with Christ.
How were the righteousness, you know, like there's just so much that
we've talked about. And it's incredible because if you were to just be dropped down
into this time in history and think about it and read Romans and not know anything about
all that stuff, it's crazy to think about how God is using Paul's words to teach us as

(09:27):
believers what is actually true about us, right?
Because, I mean.

Ben Brezina: And what he's done for us. (09:31):
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Ross O'Hair: Right? Because this this learning process, we have to go through individually where (09:32):
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we're like, okay. Yeah, okay.
Jesus. Yes, I believe you're real. And I want to be saved. Well, now it's this process of
like Romans 12 says, transforming and renewing of our mind to truly understand what
that means. And the way God goes about doing that is just crazy.
It's radical because he's working in us and using other people.

(09:54):
And, you know, again, like you've talked about all these people
throughout history and it's incredible to see God's design in that,
how he has truly used the truth and navigated it through history.

Ben Brezina: And it's unique for each of us. (10:06):
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Yeah, the journeys that we're on, the path God works in different ways.
I was reading a biography on John Newton recently,
the guy that wrote amazing Grace, and he was a heathen.
I mean a rascal, rebellious, blasphemer, atheist for part of his life.
Womanizer. I mean, he would - a slave trader.

(10:28):
I mean, he really was pursuing the lust of the flesh and just living for himself to the
expense of others. And then God started putting books in his life and different
people that had written different things.
And slowly it wasn't a dramatic...

Ross O'Hair: Right. (10:45):
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Ben Brezina: all of a sudden, he's not cursing anymore. (10:45):
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It was a slow process of renewal after he gave his life to Jesus and God used George
Whitfield in his life in a dramatic way.
And he's just one example of how God works.
But God works through us and through other people to us.
But it's His Spirit that's working underneath it all.

(11:07):
And that's what Paul is talking about in Romans 8.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah, and I love that you bring up that example, (11:09):
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because Paul had this radical conversion where Jesus appears to him and,
and someone might be like, well, that's not my experience.
Well, yeah. You know, we're talking about someone who's
transformation happened over a long period of time in subtle ways,
and most people can probably relate to that much more.
And so on that note, it's like, I'm curious sitting here like,

(11:32):
how has the book of Romans and even our study here in this podcast impacted you?
Like, what stood out to you this time?

Ben Brezina: You know, the book of Romans has had a big impact in my life, (11:39):
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dating all the way back to college.
I remember the first time I went through a study with the Book of Romans.
It was a guy named Bob Warren who was a former professional basketball player.
And then he became a farmer and a teacher and just a down to earth guy who who just was

(11:59):
tremendously impacted himself by the message in the book of Romans.
And so he started teaching.
He started a teaching ministry.
And I got a hold of some of his teaching tapes on Romans,
and it was like my eyes had been opened.
I grew up thinking that the Christian life was basically doing good things for God.

Ross O'Hair: Right. (12:18):
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Ben Brezina: You know, and that I that God didn't really like me that much. (12:18):
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I was trying hard, but it wasn't - there was no life in it.
And so through the book of Romans, it really opened my eyes to what Christianity
is, that it's life in the Spirit, that I've been transformed,
that I'm a new creation, and that I've been resurrected with Christ
and given His Spirit. And I'm fully loved.

(12:39):
And that really started my journey.
It started my journey into ministry, really that understanding.
God started doing a work, and it took me away from the business world
into full time ministry and that's...
So this message is a message that I've continued to meditate on and think about.
And every time I think about it, and read the book of Romans or study it,

(13:04):
there's something that pops out. This last four months here of the season,
I've been going through a time of serious back pain,
and I think I mentioned that.
But, you know, the passages on suffering and how God's love,
nothing's going to separate us, you know, it's not going to be back pain.
A lot of times we encounter things in life that don't go the way we want it or are

(13:26):
painful or hard, and we can jump to the conclusion that God's not good.
If God was good and he loved me, then this wouldn't happen in my life.
And and these passages in, in Romans 8 and Romans 5 that talk about
suffering, they stood out to me because I was in it.
I wasn't in persecution as the people in Rome were.

(13:46):
But suffering and hardship is still along the same lines,
and what are we going to believe in the middle of that?
So God spoke to me about that this time around.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah, I have seen that impact in your life of just (13:56):
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how you've really lived that out.
Obviously you've had back surgery too within that time.

Ben Brezina: Yes. (14:05):
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Ross O'Hair: To help relieve that pain. (14:05):
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But yeah, there was weeks and months on end where you were in pain, laid up, and I didn't
see you that way, but I knew you were experiencing that.

Ben Brezina: Yes. (14:13):
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Ross O'Hair: And then just the faithfulness and the the sticking true to the message of the truth of (14:14):
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what you learned in Romans really stood out that to.
You know, for me personally, two verses popped out and they're very famous
verses. They're verses that everybody knows. But Romans 8:1 was one that I've been
meditating on. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ."

Ben Brezina: Yeah. (14:32):
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Ross O'Hair: And then Romans 12:2, "do not be conformed to this world, (14:33):
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but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." And those two really stood out because
I kind of viewed them as like doorways, because really there's two clear messages.
I feel like, that Paul's getting across in the book of Romans, and the first is
obviously there's no condemnation.
Paul starts out the out the book of Romans, how we're all condemned,
but that if you jump to if you just jumped directly to Romans 8,

(14:56):
you'd be like, hey, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
And those three like those words at the end, "in Christ" it's transforming because as
believers, we are in Christ, and that means there's no condemnation.
We are not condemned. We, our sins are not held against us in the court
of God's eternal, you know, righteousness.
Those sins are not held against us.

(15:17):
And that's such an amazing and impactful truth in my life,
as I think about that.
Because I just, I think the church and the world are so overwhelmed with this idea of
being condemned. Right?
I mean, even as believers, if we don't understand this,
we condemn ourselves. The world condemns us.
Satan and his enemies are accusing us all the time,

(15:38):
trying to condemn us. And it's such an amazing truth to think about how we are not
condemned.

Ben Brezina: Yeah. (15:43):
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Ross O'Hair: And and obviously it's something that we all know and we've heard a million times, (15:43):
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but I think the truth has a way of sometimes being familiar to us in a way that it's like,
hey, okay, yeah, yeah, I know that.
But when we really sit and think about what that means for us is that there's nothing
like you said that separates us from the love of God. There's no sin. There's nothing like

(16:03):
that that can separate us because we're not condemned anymore.

Ben Brezina: Yeah. (16:06):
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Ross O'Hair: And that's where the second door comes in with Romans 12 is we're going to be (16:07):
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transformed in our day to day lives by the renewing of our mind.
So God's saying, hey, as a person, you are fully righteous.
2 Corinthians 5 says, "we are the righteousness of God in Christ
Jesus." And I love how in both verses there it says "In Christ" or "in him," because

(16:27):
that's where we are, our location, who we are is secure in Christ.

Ben Brezina: Yeah. (16:32):
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Ross O'Hair: And so our identity is secure. (16:32):
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There's nothing we can do to mess that up. We are not condemned. We are his righteousness.
We are fully righteous people.
And then that leads to Romans 12:2 where it's like,
okay, so what about the way we act?
What about the way we live?
What about listening to the Spirit or walking by the flesh?
How does that change? And that's where I love that verse.
It's another doorway we walk through when we start to really understand who we are.

(16:56):
The next doorway is, okay, well, how do I live from that?
And it's when I truly begin to transform my mind and study and meditate on these truths.
Then I'm transformed. Then my life is changed and my day to day experience,
and to even extrapolate that further. It then goes to connect to what you said about the
impact it can have in people's lives and throughout history.
And, you know, like as you begin to understand who you are and then you begin to

(17:20):
renew your mind and be transformed, you then begin to change and it impacts those
around you that then hopefully they're changed and they begin to impact others
around them.

Ben Brezina: Yeah. (17:28):
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Ross O'Hair: And Paul's just really laying this out in a simple way and we can complicate it. (17:29):
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But it really is these two doorways of like we are new and we can we can be renewed and
transformed by the renewing of our mind. And when we do,
the impact that God has through our lives can be great.
And I love that. I mean, it's just it's inspiring.
It's freeing. And it's truly something that's just as I continue to meditate on this just

(17:53):
blows my mind.

Ben Brezina: Yeah. And this is the process that Jesus knew about. (17:54):
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And he intended. I mean, I think about Jesus.
He died and he was resurrected.
Then he ascended.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah, (18:03):
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Ben Brezina: Right? But he sent his Spirit to live in his followers. (18:04):
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Paul being one of them.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah. (18:09):
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Ben Brezina: And then on down to us. (18:09):
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And this is the same process that's happened for the last 2000 years since he's left.
And this is how the world has changed.
The world's impacted, the gospel is spread, and the history of the
world has been transformed literally by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But it's been through his followers, the Spirit living.

(18:30):
And then when we understand those two doors, those two pathways,
then we become accessible.
We surrender to the Spirit inside of us.
He lives his life through us, and we share his love and light and truth.
You know the truths that are in this book here,
we share those with other people and they're transformed in the process continues,

(18:51):
as you said.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah. Yeah, it's it's absolutely amazing. (18:52):
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So if we were to wrap this up, where would we leave the listeners?

Ben Brezina: Yeah. You know, my heart in doing this season has been to encourage us in the truth. (18:58):
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There's so many passages.
Even Paul himself says stuff like, "and we know that God causes all things to
work together." "And we know that our old self was crucified." He knew that they had

(19:18):
already known some of that truth, but he wanted to reinforce it.
He wanted to bring it to their attention, to highlight it.
And the same for us as we know it about ourselves.
Yeah, maybe you've heard something that you've never heard before,
but maybe it's something that you've heard before that you just need to be reminded
about. We all need to be reminded who we are,
who we have living inside of us, and how to submit to his life in us,

(19:41):
to let it be expressed to other people in community,
with other Christians and also the world who needs him.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah. Yeah. You know, it has been such an encouragement to me. (19:48):
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I get this front row seat again, like I say a lot,
to listen to all the different you guys teach and all the things you guys have learned from
this. And it's really encouraging to me because as I hear these truths again,
I joke sometimes in the counseling room with my counselees that God has me doing this job

(20:08):
because I need to be reminded the most of what's true.
Like, I need to hear it over and over and over. And you're right.
We can't ever hear the truth enough.
I mean, even if we know it and we've heard it a million times that millionth and first time
is just as impactful and just as important as all the rest.

Ben Brezina: Yeah, it's food for our spirit. (20:23):
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You know, I ate breakfast this morning, and as I ate a healthy breakfast,
like, it gave me energy.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah. (20:30):
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Ben Brezina: And it's the same with meditating on truth. (20:30):
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It's an internal spiritual energy.
As we set our mind, it shapes our thinking.
It shapes our emotions and how we feel.
It shapes our outlook.
It shapes what we do today and how we do it.
So it really is just like food for our inner man.

Ross O'Hair: Yeah. And and honestly, that's why I think where I want to leave you (20:48):
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guys as you're listening is we want to encourage you to dive into that,
to meditate, to just, you know, sometimes it can feel like a burden
and sometimes it feels like a responsibility. But it is neither of those.
It's an invitation. It's really God sitting there saying,
hey, you know, this truth and this stuff is going to transform your life.

(21:09):
And when you want to listen to it and when you want to meditate on it,
we'll be right. It'll be right here for you.
And again, God is a gracious, loving father who wants what's best for us.
And I think, through this podcast, that's just something that's reiterated
again, is he's continuing to invite all of us into the depth of his love and what he's done
to us, how he's transformed us.

(21:30):
He wants to show us more and more who we are.
And that's my hope for everybody listening is that,
and not even just through this podcast, but as you just deepen your relationship with
God, that you begin to see more and more clearly every day how much he loves you,
how much he accepts you, how proud of you he is,
how he doesn't hold your sins against you.
That when he looks at you, he sees the righteousness of Christ.

Ben Brezina: Amen. (21:51):
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Ross O'Hair: Yeah. I hope that's what people take away from this. So. Ben, thank you so much for all (21:52):
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your input and help in this podcast.
I really appreciate it.

Ben Brezina: You bet, you bet. Thank you Ross. (21:58):
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Ross O'Hair: Yep. And hey, we are going to continue. (22:00):
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We're going to have a next season where we're working on it right now. So we're going to be
putting that out hopefully sooner rather than later. But guys thank you so much for
listening to this season.
It has been a blast. We appreciate all of you with your feedback,
your leaving reviews and everything like that really helps us and we're just really
appreciative. And thanks so much for listening to the Living Jesus podcast,

(22:21):
and we'll see you next season.