4:13 Podcast: Can I Be Transformed by God’s Word? With Dan Jacobsen [Episode 367]

Dan Jacobsen: One of the "I Cans" because of Christ is that I can change. And what a beautiful reminder for many of us who are stuck in patterns and habits in our lives that we struggle to get out of various temptations that we wrestle with or different reactions that we wish we could maybe tweak here or there and be more gifts of the fruit of the -- fruit of the Spirit that will bear their fruit in us, and over time, we go, ah, I wish I was more like Jesus than I am.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yes.

Dan Jacobsen: And so my grandfather said, hey, Romans 12 says that we are renewed and transformed by the renewal of our mind. This is a promise that God bears out in the lives of his children. And so he took the idea of metamorphosis, of how God takes a caterpillar and turns them into a butterfly, and says that's the picture of the Christian walk.

Jennifer Rothschild: Wouldn't you like to not only understand God's Word, but also live it out in the power of the Holy Spirit, no less? And don't you want to be transformed by God's living and active Word? Me too. Well, today we have author Dan Jacobsen with us, and he's going to unpack how this is actually possible.

But there is something really cool I need to tell you about this. Years ago Dan found an unpublished manuscript. It was tucked away in a dusty manila folder, and it belonged to his grandfather, renowned author Warren Wiersbe. Dan was able to complete the unfinished work, and the result is a beautiful devotional book, plus this inspiring conversation. You're gonna love this, so let's go.

KC Wright: I love this. Welcome to the 4:13 Podcast, where practical encouragement and biblical wisdom set you up to live the "I Can" life, because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

Now welcome your host, Jennifer Rothschild.

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, hey, our people. Pardon me if the microphone is noisy. One of my hairs just fell out, stuck in the foam, and is sticking me in the nose.

KC Wright: Oh, my goodness.

Jennifer Rothschild: That is stressful. Hold on. Okay. But this is a podcast with two friends. And I said zero stress, so that's why we had to handle the hair in the microphone.

Okay. Y'all, I'm Jennifer, and my goal is to help you be and do more than you feel capable of as you're living the "I Can" life. That was my buddy, my Seeing Eye Guy, KC Wright. We're just super glad you're here.

KC Wright: Yes.

Jennifer Rothschild: It really is a place of zero stress. Two friends, one topic.

I love the topic we're about to discuss today, because it's all about God's Word. I love all the time talking about it. But I will tell you, this is a generational thing. I asked you, KC, if you knew Warren Wiersbe. You are ten years younger than me. You did not know Warren Wiersbe.

KC Wright: I didn't, no.

Jennifer Rothschild: Chances are if you know who Warren Wiersbe is, my people, we're about the same age, or you may be a spell older. But, yeah, he was a great author, Bible teacher back in the day. And I remember as a girl following him. My dad read his commentaries.

KC Wright: Wow.

Jennifer Rothschild: So anyway, this is gonna be a conversation with his grandson, who found an unfinished manuscript.

KC Wright: Whoa.

Jennifer Rothschild: Now, as a writer, that's like gems right there. Can you imagine finding an unfinished manuscript and being able to have the privilege to work on it? That's what you're about to hear.

But before you hear that, we want you to hear something that you wrote. Yes. You 4:13ers, you are your own little special brand of writers. And you've been writing some reviews, and KC and I love them. And we decided we're gonna share the love instead of just reading them to ourselves. We're gonna read them to you so that you know we love them and we love you.

KC Wright: Tammy left us a podcast review. And the title, "Always Uplifting." "Jennifer and her co-host KC are always uplifting, pleasant, happy, and they give something to giggle about. It's one of the brightest spots of my week. More importantly, the podcast always provides excellent information and resources to strengthen my walk with Jesus. Still every day something to learn, and refreshing and encouraging. Thank you so much."

Jennifer Rothschild: Wow, Tammy, thank you so much. We love that.

KC Wright: And David Smith. His title is "Amazing." And David says, "I listen to the podcast every week. I love Jennifer's down-to-earth approach. And KC, the Seeing Eye Guy, is also the same way. As a teacher, tired Thursday is a real thing."

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, yeah.

KC Wright: You know what? That is a real thing for me. And I'm not a teacher. But I'm just saying that there's something about a Thursday. You gotta punch through and get some caffeine, right? "But as a teacher, tired Thursday is a real thing, but this podcast gives me the boost to make it through the rest of the week."

Jennifer Rothschild: You got this, David.

KC Wright: And then precious Nancy. She titled her review, "Love, Love, Love." And she said, "I can't say enough about The 4:13 with Jennifer. It has answered so many questions. Thank you for all you do. You are so appreciated." So --

Jennifer Rothschild: So are you, Nancy.

KC Wright: -- your reviews, they mean so much to us.

Jennifer Rothschild: They do.

KC Wright: Because really, your reviews are answered prayer.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

KC Wright: Because we pray that God would touch one heart at a time, one podcast at a time. So when you leave a review, it's -- we call God answers. And these are answered prayers. They're not reviews, they're answered prayers. Because our heart is, "Lord, let every podcast make that listener fall more deeply in love with you, the shepherd and lover of our souls."

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, man. So true, KC. You're right, they're far more than reviews, they really are. They're an answered prayer to us. And they remind us that you're out there, because, yeah, it's me and KC smooshed in a closet with headphones on. And so to know that on the other side of the mic is this precious soul, you, means a lot. So I hope you know you're loved today. Whether you left a review or not -- our love is not conditional -- we do love you so much. So thank you for being a part of our 4:13 family.

And I'm glad we've got a new member of our 4:13 family, Dan Jacobsen, today. This was a delightful conversation I had with him and I can't wait for you to hear it.

KC Wright: Dan is the lead pastor of Heartland Community Church outside of Kansas City. And like Jennifer said, he's the grandson of the late Warren Wiersbe. Warren, a renowned Bible teacher and former Moody Church pastor, published more than 150 books through his lifetime, including the popular Be Series. Dan is going to give you the inside scoop on his grandfather's life and ministry and give you tons of inspiration as he unpacks this never-before-seen content "Becoming New."

So settle in. This is going to be good. Here is Jennifer and Dan Jacobsen.

Jennifer Rothschild: All right, Dan, there's many things about you, I'm sure, that are fascinating and laudable, but we have to start with this. You are Warren Wiersbe's grandson. Now --

Dan Jacobsen: Yes. Yes.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- our people who are listening, some are like, "Wow!" and some are like, Who?" So that's where I want to start. Okay. He -- I want you to introduce him. But just for our people to know, he was an amazing Bible teacher, pastor, and author. But some people may not know him. And so I would love for you to introduce who Warren Wiersbe is. Tell us what he was like, but -- we want a little bit of the formal bio, but we really want the family portrait. Like, who was Warren Wiersbe?

Dan Jacobsen: Yeah, yeah. This is always such an honor for me to talk about my grandfather, and I think that's just a blessing to have -- belong to a lineage of really respected people. I've learned, Jennifer, that there's, like, a generational moment where I can kind of size up if someone knows Warren Wiersbe or if they don't. I won't tell you what the age is, but there's, like, a definite age that I know if I say his name, someone knows him. If they don't, they're more my age, they don't know who he is.

He was -- he pastored in the second half of the 20th Century. He was brought to faith by Billy Graham before Billy Graham was really even, like, a known person, and so that kind of places you in the Christian American legacy of the middle 20th Century. He was a pastor. He pastored one of the biggest churches -- nondenominational churches of that time back in the '70s, which was the Moody Church in Chicago, Illinois. And my grandfather loved to preach. He loved God's Word.

He famously has said that he wasn't good with tools or with sports or athletics, he just was good with words and sitting in a library and studying and thinking, and God used that in his life to help him make the Bible plain to a whole lot of people. He wrote over 170 books in his lifetime, almost all of them scriptural and about God's Word. He was obsessed with helping the child of God grow into the image of the Son of God through the Spirit of God by the Word of God. That was, like, his sort of mantra for his ministry.

Spent a lot of time preaching on the radio. If you Google "Warren Wiersbe," you'll not find a lot of video of him, but the video that you'll find, you'll find this kind of older, short, portly gentleman who kind of looks like Yoda from Star Wars. That was like -- when Facebook first came out, one of his students at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School made, like, a Photoshop version of Warren Wiersbe as Yoda, and it's -- I wish I could find it. I'm sure AI could make me one. But it was just hilarious to our family. Because he was like Yoda. He was a lot more clear than Yoda, but he was short and pithy and helped us remember these wise sayings about God.

So that's kind of like the Warren Wiersbe that a lot of people know, is the author, the preacher, the person they've heard on the radio, the Bible studies, the Be Series that he wrote on the books of the Bible that are still being used by churches and small groups to this day.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

Dan Jacobsen: My grandpa -- one of the greatest, I think, testimonies that you can get in your legacy is that he was the same person in front of crowds as he was in front of a person. And so when he would come to our house -- I grew up right by the airport that he would fly into the most. And so he would stop in our home often and try to sort of charge his batteries before he'd go do a speaking engagement or something like that. And we spent a lot of time with him. And he was funny, loved to laugh, had this great sense of humor, was always trying to figure out what would make you smile.

And, you know, many older generation grandfatherly-type figures, they do the quirks, the things where they pull a nickel out of your ear, like, they steal your nose and...

Jennifer Rothschild: Yes.

Dan Jacobsen: My grandpa did that, but he came by it honestly. His early training in being in front of a stage was actually magic. He did magic growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, which was kind of taboo for a Baptist. But his first three books were about magic, about how to entertain people with cards or mental magic, or thimbles back then, switching thimbles. And so he would come and he'd always make us laugh by surprising us with his capacity to pull things out of our hair or things like that. So, yeah, just loved -- just loved the relationship that we had.

Jennifer Rothschild: Wow. Okay, I love that. That is unknown trivia there. I mean -- y'all, did you just hear how much trivia we got? Came to Christ through Billy Graham, was trained in magic, wrote three books on magic, but he's written over 100 books on the books of the Bible, what you call the Be Series, which we'll unpack just a little bit in a minute.

But what I love the most, of all the trivia that you gave us about your grandfather, is he was the same in front of a crowd as he was in front of a person. I love that, Dan. And I have to believe that contributed to your calling and your legacy. Because if your grandfather exhibited hypocrisy and been one person behind the pulpit and one person with his family that was different -- you are now a pastor. I have a feeling it could have created a lot of confusion for you. But look at how you've walked in his legacy.

Dan Jacobsen: Yeah. Jennifer, that's a really -- that's really -- I think you're right. I've never thought of it that way. Thankfully I've never had the opportunity to think about it. You know, my grandfather is one of the stalwarts of integrity in my life, if I could say it that way. I was called by God to ministry out of a season -- you know, there's always these seasons in American Christianity where leaders acting badly becomes a very big story. And especially Christian leaders.

And so God really used that to prick my heart and to say, you know -- there was about a seven-second moment in my life where I was like, I'm going to fix the integrity problem with pastors in America. I was 16 years old and I was angry about it. And God's spirit whispered to me and said, No, you're not. But what you can do is just be faithful, be a good shepherd, follow in the footsteps of those who are loving people well and really pointing to Jesus. And admit when you're wrong. And when you fail, repent. And do your earnest work to know God and to cherish him and to be a good leader of people to the Cross and to the empty grave and to the new life that's available in Jesus.

And so my grandpa -- you're right, he was a big influence in that. Although I kind of -- I was a little nervous to tell him when I felt my calling to ministry. Because I'm a fifth-generation pastor. I didn't know that at the time. I just kind of thought God was calling me to ministry. And so I harbored this sort of calling secretly in my life because I wanted to test God. I wanted to know, like, God, am I just feeling this sense because I've got a grandfather who's good at this and an uncle who's done this? And my dad --

Jennifer Rothschild: The family business?

Dan Jacobsen: Yeah, the family business is exactly right. Yeah, it's exactly how I thought about it.

But as I just grew in my love for God's Word, I couldn't help but want to help make the Bible plain for people. And so when I applied to the Moody Bible Institute and was accepted, I kind of left my grandpa's name off the resume. I don't have his last name. Jacobsen. My mom is Carolyn, is Warren and Betty's second child.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, okay.

Dan Jacobsen: So I kind of can hide behind, like, I'm not a Wiersbe, even though I'm a Wiersbe. And so I was able to just ask God, Hey, independent of my grandfather, have you called me to be a part of building your Kingdom? And the answer to that was a resounding yes.

When I first moved into college, my mom took the time to write out a beautiful note to me, that I still cherish and I have to this day. And she just detailed the chronicles of her prayers throughout her growing up adult life and when she was having children and what she was asking God for. And one of them was that she'd have a son who would be used in building God's Kingdom.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, wow.

Dan Jacobsen: And, you know, I've got two older sisters. They are used in building God's Kingdom today in mighty ways. And there's just, like, this special prayer she had that she never told me about until God had kind of confirmed that. And then when I told my grandfather, I said, "Hey, you know, my mom's been praying for me for my whole life that I'd follow this trail, and she never told me about it. And isn't that crazy of God to do that?" And he looked at me and said, "Dan, that's nothing. I've been praying for you for 40 years." That's been a prayer in our family, that God would just use our family in building his Kingdom.

Jennifer Rothschild: Wow.

Dan Jacobsen: So I just -- my life is really a testimony to the answered prayers of prior generations, you know. And we can't ever underestimate the quiet prayers prayed in a prayer closet years before God will mature those seeds into a beautiful tree or something that really grows up in his Kingdom for his good. That work happens in quiet and in stillness. And so I'm just so grateful that back in my lineage, way back before Warren Wiersbe, there was a man named Johan Alfred Carlson in Sweden who was praying for his offspring to love Jesus and to make him -- make Jesus famous throughout the world. So here I am doing that, yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: I just -- I mean, what an encouragement to us as we're listening to this, the fervent, faithful, quiet, invisible prayers of righteous people. They really do avail a lot. And we may not see it in our lifetime, but pray on, people, because Dan is an example of that.

And then what you've done here -- which is what we're going to talk about, this book -- I just love. Because it's called "Becoming New," and it's one of Warren Wiersbe's manuscripts. Okay, I want you to kind of unpack this. Share the story of finding the manuscript and how you went about processing and completing it.

Dan Jacobsen: Yeah, absolutely. So my grandfather was always writing something. And, you know, a lot of people read a couple books at a time. My grandfather was writing a couple books at a time and -- just in different stages of thoughts and things. He ended up starting this project -- it was towards the last decade of his life. He was about 79, 80 years old when he started to stop taking speaking requests and started really hunkering down in his library to write important works that were really going to benefit people for generations.

And what he wanted to do was create a 100-day distilled devotion about all of the things he's reflected on about God and how he changes a person's life. And so he started this work, and started assembling it, and then he passed away in 2019. So he was about nine years into this project. He'd written some phenomenal things, had a lot of stuff come out in that decade of his life, but this was one that he never really finished. And there's a couple of reasons for that, publishers and things like that.

But when he passed away, my grandmother was five weeks later after him going to glory. So they passed away within five weeks of each other. Really poetic. And when that happens, the kids have to go into the house and deal with the estate and all the stuff that they left behind. And my grandfather had donated all of his books. He had 11,000 books. He donated them to Cedarville University in Ohio, where the students there get to use them. And it's a really beautiful thing.

But we had to go through all of his files. And my uncle, Dave Wiersbe, was kind of rifling through some files and he came upon this manila file folder that had a working title kind of scratched across it, and inside was a couple emails back and forth to publishers about what he was trying to do. And my uncle recognized this is 100-day devotions and there's, like, you know, 90 pages here of, like, 90 devotions, and, like, most of them are pretty good.

And so he kind of looked around the room and looked at me, and he was like, "Dan, you know, you've got a couple degrees, and you're a pastor, and you know your grandfather's voice and his theology." And my grandfather -- once I went to Moody, he really mentored me in many different ways in pastoral ministry, which was such a blessing. So he handed me the folder, he said, "Hey, why don't you try and see what you can do with this. No pressure, but maybe we can finish this."

Jennifer Rothschild: Wow.

Dan Jacobsen: And so I received this like Frodo receiving the ring in "Lord of the Rings." It was a heavy burden for me.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

Dan Jacobsen: Because this is, you know, the legendary Warren Wiersbe, who is prolific. You know, there -- he didn't have an editor in his life. He was his own editor. He would turn in his manuscripts and then they would go out and get printed by the publisher.

Jennifer Rothschild: Wow.

Dan Jacobsen: And here I am, you know, a young 20-something, who -- I was like, Man, Grandpa, I never -- I never wrote nothing, so how am I going to add to the legendary Warren Wiersbe? Jennifer, I sat on it for a couple of months.

And then March 2020 hit, the whole Covid thing happened, and many of us found ourselves with just discretionary time. And my Covid project -- I guess this is what it was -- was to sink into my grandpa's thoughts. And so I got my head around what he was doing, what he was trying to accomplish, and from there I began the process of editing this devotional book, which is one of the great joys of my life so far.

Marrying my wife, having my three kids, of course. But this project really helped me sink into my grandfather's heart, but also he shepherded me closer to Jesus through these 100 days. And the writing process was super fun.

But the book -- maybe I just share about what the book's about.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, yeah, tell me. Well, before you tell me exactly what the book is about -- so did you write the other ten or did you pull from his other works?

Dan Jacobsen: Well, yeah. So my grandfather -- well, I wanted to make sure everybody knew my grandpa wrote these words.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay.

Dan Jacobsen: But a lot of -- you know, it's 100 days, and only 90 were there, so I had to supply some stuff. And so what I did was I went through my mind and my notes and my notebook and my private conversations with my grandfather in the different topics that were really valuable or, like, really insightful that he would share with me, things that maybe only he and I talked about that I knew were close to his heart. And I developed those into their own day's devotions that kind of fit within the stream of what he was already doing.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, yeah.

Dan Jacobsen: Things that I had just high confidence that this was his voice, his thoughts, his perspective, and his way of interpreting the Scriptures. So, yeah, I had a little bit of work to actually, like, jump in there.

But, you know, Jennifer, one of the honors of this project was when I turned it over to David C. Cook, the publisher, they said, Dan, we can't tell where your stitches are or where your sup- -- you know, where you supplied it. And it was just a really fun project for me to go, wow, that same thing my grandfather had in being clear through his writing, like, I think God's put that in me too. And it's just a fun project to work kind of together with my grandfather.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah. From where he's already in glory. I mean, that's spiritual DNA right there.

Okay. Because I want you to tell me about the book, because it's on -- well, the big idea is spiritual transformation, right?

Dan Jacobsen: Yes.

Jennifer Rothschild: I read one time -- one of his quotes, he said that transformation is not putting on a mask. It's a change of character that comes from within. I love that quote so much. So tell us about how each of these daily devotionals help to facilitate that process.

Dan Jacobsen: Yeah. So, Jennifer, what I love about your podcast is that whole, like, "I Can" statement that you have at the opening. You know, like, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. And one of the things that my grandfather picked up on in his ministry, that he wanted to help followers of Jesus really live their lives around, is the concept that one of the "I Cans" because of Christ is that I can change.

And what a beautiful reminder for many of us who are stuck in patterns and habits in our lives that we struggle to get out of, various temptations that we wrestle with or different reactions that we wish we could maybe tweak here or there and be -- more gifts of the fruit of the Spirit that will bear their fruit in us. And over time we go, oh, I wish I was more like Jesus than I am.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yes.

Dan Jacobsen: And so my grandfather said, hey, Romans 12 says that we are renewed and transformed by the renewal of our mind. This is a promise that God bears out in the lives of his children. And so he took the idea of metamorphosis, of how God takes a caterpillar and turns them into a butterfly, and says that's the picture of the Christian walk, the Christian life.

And so he starts in Genesis to talk about the God whose Word transformed darkness into light and transformed this world that we experience. And he talks about the God who changes things and how God does that throughout history. And the book is laid out in just very simple format. It follows the arc of Scripture. So it starts in Genesis and then it kind of just goes through the canonical order of the story of the Old Testament. My grandpa didn't write something about every verse in the Bible. He did that in his Be Series.

Jennifer Rothschild: Which is amazing.

Dan Jacobsen: Yeah. There is a comment or an idea or a thought or a spiritual principle that he wrote on every verse of the Bible expositionally in his other works.

But this is a thematic approach. He wanted to help really, like, a young believer or someone who maybe is tired in their faith to kind of find that spark in Jesus again, to remember God is working in your life and here's how he does it. And so he traces the arc of the people who God changed, you know, the forefathers and Moses and Ruth and some of David's mighty men. He shows how the psalms are indicative of this change process that God brings about in our lives.

But really the New Testament is about the transforming power of Jesus, the Son, through his transformative work on the Cross and the new life that he births in us. And my grandpa, he just stopped the book at the end of Acts.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, seriously?

Dan Jacobsen: So it doesn't go through the epistles, it doesn't go into John's works. I mean, the Gospel of John's in there, but -- yeah, the narrative just goes to, like, how the church got rolling today and how the transforming power of the Spirit is alive today, just like it was in the history of the early church.

And so he had outlined -- some of the other manila file folders that we found were outlines of Romans in 100 days and 1 and 2 Corinthians in 100 days. And we don't have any words on those yet. I think he left those for me to pick up.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, good luck with that. Good luck with that.

Dan Jacobsen: Well, maybe one day. Oh, my goodness.

But really this book, this "Becoming New," is just this rally cry to say, hey, we can change through the power of the Gospel, and so it's really how God does that through us.

Jennifer Rothschild: That's such good news, Dan, because -- like, even when you were suggesting and talking about that we can change, I know I was, and I'm sure our listeners were thinking, yeah, I got a list. I got a list of change. And it is the Spirit's work in us through Christ. So I love how practical 100 days is.

And so one thing I think about, though, Dan, as you talk about that is there's someone listening right now, and he or she may be 85 years old and she's thinking, or he's thinking, well, it's too late for me. Like, my brain patterns are set and my habits are set. There ain't no transformation for me. But then there might be a 20-something listening and they're like, I'm good. It's good. So tell us why this spiritual transformation matters. And is it available to someone who would call themselves older, and why does it matter for someone who might be younger?

Dan Jacobsen: Yeah, this is the -- what a great question. Thank you for this question. And this is -- I'll admit, this is a hard question. My mind is kind of on --

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, it is hard. I get it.

Dan Jacobsen: -- eyes of the spectrum here. So the first is that -- I think my grandfather's example in this is really profound. Here's a man, he died at the age of 89 years old. And when I would call him to ask him my questions about ministry or the problems that I was facing in my church or the things that I needed his wisdom for, I was always struck that he would ask me a question.

And he would say, "Do you ever notice that God tends to use busy people?" We'd be talking about something else, and just stop and be like, oh my goodness. He goes, "I was just thinking about that the other day. I was just thinking that God uses" -- and my grandfather's always had this curiosity about the Scriptures and about the work of the Spirit.

And I think, you know, for me it's one of those, like, if Warren Wiersbe needed to stay fresh on his relationship with God up to his day that he died, I mean, there's a lot of -- I'm not him, and so I've got a long way to go in my life.

Jennifer Rothschild: Amen. Yeah.

Dan Jacobsen: But we also -- I think my grandfather would always point us back to Scripture and see how God is constantly changing people, regardless of their age. I think of the story arc of Nicodemus in John's Gospel. And who knows how old Nicodemus was, but I tend to perceive him as an older gentleman, someone who was very schooled in his ways, very set in his opinion of the Jewish system and God. And we see him approach Jesus with all of these questions. And then he kind of stands up later in the story against the religious leaders and kind of challenges and asks them a question about Jesus.

And then there he is at the Cross watching Jesus give his ultimate sacrifice, doing his ultimate work, which is paying the penalty for sin and dying. And Nicodemus puts his body in the grave. And if ever there was a person who should have been established in their ways, it would be Nicodemus, who would have thought, well, I've seen this script before, I've seen many would-be messiahs come and go, and I guess this one's not one.

And then the resurrection happens. And the resurrection of Jesus from the dead changes every moment of our life. It has to change every moment of our life. Not just the moment of salvation and first faith that we have, but every second thereafter is a moment that the Spirit of God is sanctifying us and reminding us of the fact that Jesus died on the Cross for our sins, he rose from the grave to bring us to new life so that we might become new creations. And that is a daily, ongoing process. And I just think about Nicodemus. We don't know in Scripture how that process worked its way out for him post-resurrection, but we can see John is hinting in the Gospel towards some sort of redemption.

On the other side of the spectrum, Jennifer, I think about my daughter. My daughter is 11 years old, and she is just this beautiful -- she has my grandfather's writing capacity. She writes almost every second of her day. And every time I see her on her iPad, I'm doing the parent thing of, like, "What are you doing?" And she goes, "I'm writing my story." And I look, and I'm always like, wow, you got, like, 5,000 words today. That's insane. Like, who are you?

Jennifer Rothschild: Wow.

Dan Jacobsen: She is enamored with the fact that -- just the words, and she's got this, like, family trait for us. But she loved the fact that a book came out written by my grandpa that I helped edit, and so she decided to go through the 100 days. She started the day that the book came out. She ended 100 days after the book came out.

Jennifer Rothschild: Wow.

Dan Jacobsen: And along the way, she would come up to me -- and she'd read this at night by herself. And, you know, I loved -- I'd go in her room and she'd have her Bible open, because each day there's a chunk of Scripture that you're supposed to read before you read the thoughts from my grandfather. And so she'd have her Bible open and then my grandpa's work. And a lot of them are my words too. And I love this picture of discipleship that happened intergenerationally because of this book. And here's a young girl, you know, she is -- you know, by a lot of people in the church, they wouldn't give an 11-year-old much credence --

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

Dan Jacobsen: -- let alone an 11-year-old -- you know, 11-year-old girl much, like, spiritual clout.

Jennifer Rothschild: Right.

Dan Jacobsen: And she's wrestling with the things of God and she's -- I could see as she comes home and tells stories about how she interacted with her friends at school that day, they're challenging her worldview. You know, our kids go to public schools, and we got great schools here where I live, but she comes back and she's like, Hey, this is the conversation we had. This person thinks this way about this issue or that issue. And I just -- she goes, "I remember what God says about this and it made me want to be kind to my friend, but I also need to know that I got to be firm in my convictions."

Jennifer Rothschild: Gosh.

Dan Jacobsen: She's 11.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

Dan Jacobsen: And this is what happens when the Spirit of God gets ahold of someone's life, regardless of their age.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yep.

Dan Jacobsen: And so I think, like, there's a journey she'll go on in the rest of her life. I hope she makes it to 89 years old. She'll always be growing in faith. Just like here I am mid, late 30s, I'm still growing in my faith, growing in my knowledge of God. And so God's Word is for all of us, right?

Jennifer Rothschild: It is. It's an inspiration. But y'all, we don't just stop with the inspiration. This becomes an invitation to all of us, whether we're 11 or 89 or in our late 30s. That's what we do. We just -- one verse at a time. Because his Word is living and active. Don't get me start preaching here, Dan.

Dan Jacobsen: Come on. Let's go.

Jennifer Rothschild: But it brings life, right? You don't -- self never satisfies self. We gotta have the life of God satisfying us and bringing us to life. That's transformation. And that can happen. Man, I cannot wait to read this. And 4:13ers, we're gonna have a link to it on the Show Notes also so you can easily get the book.

But, Dan, unfortunately we're gonna have to get to our last question, which I just love. The Lord has planted depth in you, by the way. He's planted depth in you, and I highly regard it. So thank you. I could listen to you all day. But we will get to our last question.

So -- and this might be hard also because you just edited a book with 100 devotionals in it. But I'm curious if one comes to mind, if you have a favorite that -- or maybe it's just a devotional or a theme from the book that you could leave us with as our final, like, "you can."

Dan Jacobsen: Yeah. Jennifer, you've already talked about this. This is the quote that you brought up from my grandfather. And actually it's day one, so it's an easy starting point in the book. It's the one that comes to mind today as I thought about our conversation, what I wanted to talk about, and it's the idea that there is a way to change your life that is superficial. And we do this every January. We do this every, you know, back-to-school season. When the season change, it's kind of like a new season, a new me type of thing. And we change our wardrobe, we change our workout, we change the different things that we eat, and yet we don't change within.

And so the opposite of, you know, metamorphosis is really just transformation or imitation. My grandfather along the way -- one of the things that I love about his perspective is that he's honest about the fact that there is an enemy in the world that is trying to deceive us, that is working against God's purposes. And God's purpose is to transform us into the image of his beloved Son. To be glorified in that, right? And so that happens when we go to heaven. But the sanctification process happens on this earth, and there's someone working against us, trying to get us to settle for something less than.

And so the work that God does in our heart is this deep spiritual knowing of ourselves, knowing the purpose of God, knowing the power of God, and it requires us to slow down and to kind of pause and not accept quick, cheap substitutes. And the enemy is a masquerader, which is just a cheap substitute to look like something authentic. But it's really disingenuine, it's really fake. And I know that I don't want to spend my life faking it.

I don't want to get to heaven and have that awful phrase, "Depart from me for I didn't know you." I don't want that. I want to know Christ and to know the fellowship of his sufferings and to be joined with him in that. And that often requires me to slow down and to take stock of my own life, to be humble and to be authentic with God, who already knows me. And so it's possible, but I think a lot of times we just refuse to engage God's process.

And so this book is really part of that process of helping us know God's Word, know ourselves, and know His Son, and so -- that's just how the book starts. It's like, hey, there's two roads before you. You can go the genuine way of change or you can go just the world's way of change. One's better than the other. Which are you going to choose?

KC Wright: Good word. There is a way to change your life that is superficial. New season, new me. But we need more than that. We need inward change. We don't want imitation, we want transformation.

Jennifer Rothschild: Amen.

KC Wright: Don't settle for imitation or the world, be transformed by the Spirit of the living God and the living Word.

Jennifer Rothschild: Amen. Yes and amen.

He said -- you heard it -- that there were two roads for transformation. Go genuine, our friends. Let's not go for cheap substitutes.

KC Wright: This is a book I can't wait to read. And you need it too. So go to the Show Notes now, 413podcast.com/367 to buy it and to enter to win it. We will link you there to Jennifer's Instagram so you can enter to win, or you can go to straight to Instagram @jennrothschild, because that's where the giveaway is, right there on the Instagram.

So, of course, we've got the Show Notes. You can read the transcript too. And one more thing. We will link you to some of Warren Wiersbe's books.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, yes. Yes.

KC Wright: Okay? Yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: Because some of you need to get to know him.

Well, our people, this has just been so, so sweet. I just love meeting fellow brothers and sisters from the body, from the family of God. These are our people that we're going to spend eternity with, and Dan was just a breath of fresh air. So just remember that you also are loved and you can be transformed by the Word, because you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. I can.

KC Wright: I can.

Jennifer Rothschild: And you can.

KC Wright: You can.

Hey, I had an idea for you.

Jennifer Rothschild: Ooh, what?

KC Wright: Okay. So Dolly Parton, she wrote a song --

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah?

KC Wright: -- and she had it put in a time capsule.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh.

KC Wright: And in the future, way in the future, they're gonna unlock the time capsule and play the song. And she said it was so good, she wants to release it now, right?

And then there's the Queen of England --

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah?

KC Wright: -- who wrote a letter, but it's not to be read until the future.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay.

KC Wright: So J.R.?

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

KC Wright: We're talking about a transcript that was found. Maybe in your spare time, which you have none, maybe you can do something like that. Lock it in a -- lock it in a -- I don't know. A time capsule --

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

KC Wright: -- and in the future release -- release a manuscript.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay.

KC Wright: I don't know. I'm just thinking out loud here.

Jennifer Rothschild: That is a cool idea. I love that idea. Okay, you're right, I gotta make some time for that.

KC Wright: How many books have you written?

Jennifer Rothschild: Twenty.

KC Wright: Twenty.

Jennifer Rothschild: And every word matters, dude. So I can't imagine writing one and putting it in a time capsule, but --

KC Wright: And my dream's just to write one. I want to write one book.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

KC Wright: I'm so impressed with you.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, my gosh. Don't be.

KC Wright: Twenty books. But this guy, 120?

Jennifer Rothschild: I know. He was amazing.

KC Wright: Amazing.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay, y'all need to look him up. You're gonna love him.

KC Wright: I'm going to right now, yeah.