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Living in the Great Exchange
Episode #730
11/29/2020
With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
This the continuation of a series of podcasts started in Episode #728
The exchanged life is like a man working in his garden wearing gloves. I am the glove and Christ is the life in the glove. It is His life and identity in me.
John:
This book…I literally…It’s not…I have scripture all over it. I have quotes all over it.
Martha:
Yes.
John:
I have…I mean it is, it is jam packed with scriptural…
Martha:
Yes.
John:
…basis for this. Ok, but more than that it literally is a, a gleaning from my life. It’s literally I’m exposing my life. I’m, I’m literally cracking it open and I’m, I’m…
Martha:
And you’re giving all.
John:
Yeah, I do. I, I…
Martha:
You really do give…
John:
I’ve exposed because I feel like, you know, the Lord’s…This is, this is the Lord’s story in me and I feel like it’s not mine. I don’t own it and so I, I was able to give it because it’s not mine.
Martha:
Um hmm.
John:
And I said, “This is what You’ve done.” These are stories of His life coming and impacting me and going through me. And, you know, it’s not like…I don’t know. I give examples of how, how does this, what does this look like.
Martha:
Um hmm. What does it mean.
John:
What does it mean, what does it look like, how does it function.
Martha:
Um hmm. Yes.
John:
How, how does this look in real life because we’ve had people come to us and they’ve said, “I am so frustrated. I know this is the answer but I cannot do it.”
Martha:
Um.
John:
And I’m like going, “Well, I’ve got a book for you. Just wait a little bit longer.” But, you know, it, it…I, I reveal…I, I mean I get real naked in this thing. I mean it’s real naked; things I wouldn’t tell anybody.
Martha:
It’s very sacrificial, John.
John:
Um.
Martha:
It’s very interesting the intimacy of the Lord in giving you these revelations of His indwelling and how it works out in life is a mystery, too.
John:
Um hmm.
Martha:
You say it in the manuscript…
John:
Yeah.
Martha:
…that it’s a mystery.
John:
Now when you read it, tell me how, how, what, how did it impact you as you were going through it? I know that when we were, I was, I was finishing it up and, and I was basically handing you off sections and saying, you know, “I’ve done this. I’ve gone through it.” I was doing the final run-through, the final edit just tweaking it, making sure, you know, everything’s nice. And so I was handing it off to you and you were reading it. And so, you know, you got through, you got through the first section and a half two sections and you were like going, “Oh, this has been wonderful.” I’m like…
Martha:
And then I, then I started crying.
John:
And you cried. But I said, “No, no, no. You’re just at the introduction.” I just told you what it is. I haven’t told you…I…You, you haven’t gone anywhere because I haven’t told you where this is taking you, I haven’t told you the Reward of all this. I haven’t told you the, the expression. I, I, I…You’re just…I just literally explained it so that I could take you through the path.” So I was like saying, “Ok, well, here’s the journey we’re going on and, and, and this is, this is what we’ll see” and then I took, took you on the journey. But you had just gotten the, the brief intro on the side of the road and you thought it was over. I’m like, “No, no, no. There’s this much more.” And it was like this huge stack. I said, “This, this is all coming behind it.” So tell me how it was impacting you.
Martha:
Oh, I cried through the manuscript because it, it was…I don’t…There was many, many things that caused me to be so emotional about it. One was the clarity of…There’s only so much you can do to put into words—the exchange life.
John:
Right, right.
Martha:
But you do it so beautifully and so humanly shall I say.
John:
Um hmm.
Martha:
It’s, it’s…
John:
Tangible.
Martha:
…tangible, touchable.
John:
Um hmm.
Martha:
But in the, in the other side of it that it’s utterly holy because it is the story of Christ revealing Himself in one person…
John:
Right.
Martha:
…who tells the story so that others might have the same mystery living within and enjoying… And it is the riches and glory, the riches of the glory of Christ within.
John:
Whew.
Martha:
It’s, it is the, the…God can’t give us anymore than to give us Christ on the cross, Christ resurrected, Christ indwelling.
John:
Wow.
Martha:
We have full access to Jesus Christ and God doesn’t want anybody to miss it. He wants us all to experience knowing Him from within.
So I’m going to be bold to say, “Please pray for the final steps of this publication.”
John:
Yeah, we’re…I mean we’re at the very end and literally I’m…Once you write this forward, I’m passing it off to get formatted and then send it off to the printers. So I mean we’re, we’re there.
Martha:
Um hmm.
John:
I mean this is as close as, as we’ve ever been.
Martha:
Um hmm.
John:
And I’m real excited because, you know, this, this is a, this is years in the making. This is years in the making and there’s been warfare against it. There’s been the Lord’s own timing element…
Martha:
Um hmm.
John:
…to it. There’s been…
Martha:
And those who have been willing to read the manuscript and, and watch for grammar, etc. everybody’s cried in it. It’s just poignant.
John:
It really is.
Martha:
It’s amazing. And it’s incredible.
John:
I hope it has the huge power that, that…
Martha:
That it had on us?
John:
Well, yeah, yeah.
Martha:
And that…But I think that’s simply going to be natural for those who really want the Spirit.
John:
Um.
Martha:
It was the Spirit in us.
John:
Well, He’s all over it. I’m not pointing to myself. I’m not, I’m not saying, “Look, look at all that He did for me.” It, it, it literally every single section it’s always pointing to Him, pointing to Him, pointing to Him.
Martha:
We proclaim Him!
John:
It, it done. It is, it is…
Martha:
When you had that revelation and that indwelling presence of Christ that’s the only subject to anything. We proclaim Him.
So I’m, I’m grateful that He would entrust us to live this and then tell it, John. That’s, that’s a big trust. But it’s a trust that He could do it in spite of us.
John:
You know, Paul says in I Corinthians 11:1 he says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” And Paul, Paul had the exchanged life better than anyone. He was the first and he really, I mean he had that revelation. And, and he was able to communicate that message. And…
Martha:
He was the first steward.
John:
He was the steward of the mystery…
Martha:
He was the steward of the mystery.
John:
…and was able to talk about the, the being the steward of, of the mystery. And he told the Corinthians, he said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” He basically was saying, “I’m living an example…
Martha:
Um hmm.
John:
…of how to do this.”
Martha:
Um hmm.
And living His life. “Watch me.”
John:
“I’m living His life watch me.”
Martha:
On that ground you can say that.
John:
Yes, exactly! That’s it.
Martha:
It’s not…You’re asking, “Live in Christ as I live in Christ.”
John:
Right, exactly. And I feel like that that’s what I’m doing; not like I’m Paul. But that I feel like that’s what I’m, I’ve done in here.
Martha:
Yes.
John:
I say, “This is the example of Christ’s life…
Martha:
Um hmm.
John:
…now follow, follow that, that life example.
Martha:
I can’t think of an aspect that you’ve left out.
But I wanted to read this little-this will spoil the pleasure of reading it for yourself but I love this because it’s, the Lord gave me this example early on.
You said, “I ask for a simple picture of this, a simply earthly picture for an extremely heavenly thing. How can you capture the mystery of God in a common object lesson? Not easily for sure. But here’s what God gave me. The exchanged life is like a man working in his garden wearing gloves. I am the glove and Christ is the life in the glove. It is His life and identity in me. God’s not burdening His children with responsibility to perform His dictated task. God does not send us to work alone in His garden for Him. We go into His garden and He works through us.”
Not that is brilliant and understandable.
John:
It is.
Martha:
I love that.
John:
And that’s what the entire book does. It literally, it, it, it’s just me. I mean I’m simple. I’m a simple guy. And, and I just make it very, very bottom-line simple.
Martha:
Um hmm. Yes you do. That’s how you view life, how you live by that simplicity.
So I look forward to all that Christ is going to do with this book where we proclaim Him.
Living in the Great Exchange – Episode #730 – Shulamite Podcast
In John’s upcoming book, The Great Exchange, he tells the story so others might experience the mystery of the gospel and enjoy the riches and glory of Christ within.
