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God’s Work of Sanctification: Growing in Christ Through Ordinary Grace
Show: Anchored in the Word with Dave Jenkins
Podcast: Servants of Grace
Host: Dave Jenkins
Show Summary
Sanctification doesn’t usually feel dramatic. It often feels slow, ordinary, and sometimes even invisible. Many Christians wrestle with honest questions like: “If God is at work in me, why do I still struggle?”
In this episode of Anchored in the Word, Dave Jenkins explains what sanctification is (and what it isn’t), how it differs from justification, and how believers can recognize biblical evidences that God is truly at work in their lives. This episode offers encouragement for discouraged Christians by anchoring spiritual growth in God’s promises and the Spirit’s power through ordinary means of grace.
Audio
Video
Episode Notes
- What sanctification is: God’s ongoing work of making believers more like Christ.
- What sanctification is not: Justification—our once-for-all declaration of righteousness in Christ.
- Why sanctification feels slow: We notice failures more than progress, compare ourselves to others, and God often grows us through ordinary obedience and trials.
- Biblical signs of growth: growing hatred of sin, love for righteousness, conviction rather than condemnation, and the slow growth of spiritual fruit.
- How God grows His people: through His Word, prayer, the local church, repentance, and the ordinary means of grace.
Key Scriptures
- 1 Thessalonians 4:3
- Philippians 1:6
- Romans 8:29
- John 17:17
- Hebrews 12:10–11
- Galatians 5:22–23
- Galatians 5:16
- Hebrews 10:24–25
- Philippians 2:13
Call to Action
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Explore more episodes on the Anchored in the Word page or watch on YouTube.
Dave Jenkins is happily married to his wife, Sarah, and lives in beautiful Southern Oregon. He is a writer, editor, and speaker who loves Christ, His people, the Church, and sound theology.
Dave serves as the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries and the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine. He is the Host and Producer of the Equipping You in Grace Podcast and a contributor to and producer of Contending for the Word.
He is the author of The War of Worldviews: Truth, Lies, and the Battle for the Christian Mind (Theology for Life, 2026), Contentment: The Journey of a Lifetime (Theology for Life, 2024), The Word Matters: Defending Biblical Authority Against the Spirit of the Age (G3 Press, 2022), and The Word Explored: The Problem of Biblical Illiteracy and What To Do About It (House to House, 2021).
You can connect with Dave on Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, or subscribe to his newsletter.
When he is not engaged in ministry work, Dave enjoys spending time with his wife, going to movies, sharing a meal at a favorite restaurant, or playing a round of golf with friends. He is also a voracious reader, particularly of Reformed theology and the Puritans, and is often found working through a stack of new books from a wide range of Christian publishers.
Dave earned his M.A.R. and M.Div. from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
