Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1037 | Jase Witnesses Demonic Possession & Answering a Call that Will Change Your Life

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

Jase, Zach, and Jersey Joe trade a flurry of zingers and good-natured critiques while Al looks on in delight. Joe assumes Jase’s choice to wear women’s cold weather gear gives him superpowers, when actually it’s Jase’s experimentation with European coffee blends. Jase suspects demonic forces may be at work on the podcast. The guys point out that immigration into God’s kingdom is not limited to a spot on a map, and Joe lays out the ways his life has gotten better since he answered the call to Jesus. In this episode: John 1, verses 12-13; John 3, verses 27-36 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Zach almost violated the child labor laws. Right there at it. He would if he could, Jason. I'll tell you that right now. Let me tell you how we hired Maddie. I actually called up the school that I graduated from, and I called the communications. I said, who's running the communications department? And actually I knew the guy, a friend of mine, I said, who is the best student that you have coming out of your program this year?

And he said, Maddie. I said, I want to talk to that person. That was the interview process right there. Wow. You're not going to say what led to that? What led to you making that call? No, I'm not. I'm not going to say that.

No, we had a person in Maddie's role that never spoke in 10 years. he didn't laugh he didn't smile he didn't speak so for us sitting here talking after a couple of years I thought you know this guy he just thinks this is absolutely the most boring thing it was just zero response well to be fair Phil had had one guy that Phil had changed his name to no name yeah so there was a hostile kind of work environment like well he wouldn't speak what is your name? Nothing. So he became the man with no name.

That was actually a pretty good movie. Jay's people that had produced us tend to think it may be better to melt into the wall than become part of our operation. So Zach's right. They're not sure exactly. But Maddie has come in like a fresh flower and we love her. She keeps us in line. There's nothing to keep old men in line better than a young woman.

who loves what she does and is good at it. So we love Maddie. Have we started this podcast yet? I think we started it with... Jersey Joe's in the house. Jersey Joe. Yeah. Jersey, fresh from New Jersey.

Yeah, I want to get one thing straight here. I no longer want to be considered a guest. I am a contributing member. Oh. Okay. Oh, he's changed his title. We got to get that straight because, I mean, there's too many, you know, appearances. Does that come with a raise?

It comes with a raise, and I believe... Zach, would you double his contributing? salary. I'm sure. I want to double it. As long as the raise is a percentage of your current salary that I'm,

yeah. I say double it. Because two times zero is still zero. I was going to say that in Louisiana, the math always works with that zero very simply. Yeah, absolutely.

You know, I noticed, so a little birdie told me, Al, that you thanked everyone for that new studio, but the guy who did the bulk of the work. Oh, did a birdie tell you that?

That's what I heard. I heard that there was a whole conversation about how nice that new studio looks. And Al thanked the money man, Zach. He thanked all the production crew. And they said, he never mentioned your name at all. And didn't you go down there for like a week to do that? Did you really? I said, yeah.

Yeah. So Joe, did your little birdie tay that I might have been waiting until you came on the podcast to tell you, face to face? You know. Joe, you're not going to hem him up. You're not. He's slick. You know how this group works, though.

This group likes to pit everyone against, you know, and just put a little thing in your ear, you know, to pick on somebody else. That's how everybody works. You know, they got pick on somebody. Well, let me tell you something, Joe. I've learned this as being part of this family. Somebody told me this one time,

and it's stuck with me. It's a brilliant line. You've got to write this down. expectations are premeditated resentments. Oh, boy. Here we got another, Zach. All right, let's break this down. She won't that person.

I need a dictionary first. I like that. Let me look that up. How do you like it? Expectations are premeditated resentments. When Jay's came by Black Mountain and he didn't stop, I think he called her text. I can't remember now. It's been so long ago.

but I never got offended. I never, but in the reason why, there was no resentment because I had no expectation. I had just evaporated expectations when it comes to, particularly when in my family, they're just not great at like showing our appreciation. Oh, yeah. I can't believe you're still bringing this story up.

No, I'm fine. I'm telling you. I'm not. You really hurt him. You know that, right? I was busy. I didn't just do nothing. I blew the horn.

Then send him a text and said, if you heard that horn, that was me. Yeah. That was a nice gesture. It's all right. But yeah, I mean. All right. You know. We have a saying in the fire service, and I have to put this in a way, so I kind of put it.

So doing a good thing around here is like peeing in your bones. her pants on a cold winter day. You get a nice warm feeling inside, but no one else notices. This has gotten more in a lot disturbing. So let me just say officially that Jersey Joe, along with my grandson-in-law, Joey, they transformed a six-by-eight-foot closet in my lower room, into the unashamed lair, and they did an excellent job. You see behind me, the background they put up, they put some Wayne's coat in here, a fantastic

job. And more than anything else, Joe, who is an expert in all things IT, he got my internet lined up because that was the biggest issue down here. It's hard to get reliable internet. So, Joe, this is your official appreciation since you brought it up. Well, I'm a warm inside. You know why you didn't get appreciation? Why is that?

Because God, the love. Lord of heaven and earth does not live in buildings built by the hands of men. That's true. That, my friend, will preach. Yes. Whatever you're talking about, that'll preach. That's my contribution to this conversation because 75% of what y'all just said didn't register to me. Didn't register.

No. So I got one question for Joe, because I just want to get his take on it, because we spent a lot of time talking post-duct season. about Jace's new mentoring program of the duck boys and buck boys, and we've been trying to figure all that out. But Joe, you actually are part of that group, even though you're not a boy. You're like a 50-year-old man. If you miss the podcast, I put you in that category. You put me as a duck boy?

You've only been duck hunting three years. Four, actually. but four, okay. But duck boy, I mean, maybe like duck, I don't know, young man. You know, I don't know what the, you know, I elevate. So here's the deal. We have definitely a level that you graduate to every year, I think, with this group. And I can safely say I am no longer the gopher and the bottom of the blind now.

I now have a little bit of authority in the blind when some of the duck boys are there. So, you know, I kind of like graduated up there. Yeah. So I would not classify me as a duck boy. Well, you are, but you're further along in the process. Would he consider Jason a duck intern maybe as he moved up to interns? Well, the problem is what he is absorbed, like. from an information standpoint, makes him more advanced than the other duck boys.

However, due to his maturity physically, you see how I did. Is that a fat joke? He is the young duck boys, they can just do more stuff physically. It's a fat joke. I actually saw one run on top of three foot water. Of course, there was a bed of smartweed under him, but I just thought, now, that was impressive. So he quickly started ascending up the duck boy ladder. Austin?

You talking about Austin? No, this was actually Luke. Oh. He went to go get a duck, and he just took off. Because I then, I went there. I thought, what would happen if Jersey would try what he just did? Jersey would be buried there. You'd have to call some of your firemen friends.

Jay's, do you remember you told the story about the one-time Jersey pull of the boat in, 100 yards or something? Because the water was shallow. Do you remember that story? Oh, yeah. We've had multiple motor issues this year. And there was a sound that, you know, first I thought it was like a dog. You know, when a dog gets something hung in his throat.

But then I realized we didn't have a dog this year. And somebody said, no, that's Jersey. That was my allergies. I had an, so I have an allergy problem. And I was having an attack. My allergies. You know, we can talk. Let's talk about your lady scarf, right?

So we all get in. So we usually meet at the layer about 5 o'clock, somewhere in that time frame. And of course, Jace, you know, being Jace, he's always fashionably late, which is on time to him. So he's always the last one to get there. So we're all in there. I'm standing next to Martin. We're talking. And Jace walks in with slippers on.

and a big jacket takes the jacket off. And I'm talking with Martin, and I happen to look over, and he has this, like, velvet woman scarf that he's wrapping around his neck. It's actually silk. And I said, what are you doing? And they all look at him. And he goes, well, it was dark this morning,

and I tried not to make a ruckus, and I just grab. And I'm looking, and he's even wearing it correctly. So I started to really start to think what's going on here with Jace. But in his defense, it happened to be the lucky lady scarf. So it's now known as Jace's Lucky Lady Scarf. And he needs to bring that with him. It gives him this superpower because let me tell you something. He drove one of the Polaris.

I happened to get in the Polaris with him to go out to the boathouse. I have never seen him drive so fast. He was like Superman in this. lady scarf. I'm sitting in the back, and if I tell you that if I didn't have Martinair to hold me in, I would have been flung out of the four-wheeler. That was a funny morning. What happened now that I can tell you is I get this espresso from Europe.

And look, they only go up to 12 in years past, but they had... 12 what? Intensity level. Okay. So one to 12. I said, don't send me anything less than four. So I only have four through 12 because I just didn't. What are we?

We're going to drink some coffee here or we're going to drink some coffee? Well, they had some new additions this year. And it was a 13 and a 14. Well, that morning was the first time I tried a 14. Yeah. So now you know, because I didn't seem like I was in a hurry. So you're saying it's not the lady scarf. I mean, did the Lady Scarf gave you power?

The Lady Scarf gave him power. I don't care what he says. We've had one profound quote. I'm going to give you another one if I can, because I'm making it up as I go here. What was your quote again? Expectations are premeditated resentments. Premeditated resentments.

See how slow my brainware? I still haven't even. I can't pronounce it. I'm not going to remember it either. So now I give you one. In a world of gender confusion where we're trying to use God's holy book to and just common sense to provide some clarity on it. I will give you this.

warmth is gender neutral. I think we just invented a slogan. I didn't read that. Yeah. Yeah. It is. So that's why I go to the kids and women sections of stores because I feel like, like if a lawsuit came from kids or women,

it may have a greater chance of succeeding. It's like, how dare you make this person cold? So I just think they use better products. Some guy they're like, you're a man, get over. So I've just noticed that a lot of their products are warmer. I'm not, well, you put this in my head now, So now I'm wondering what other lady products do you wear? I have gloves.

I have gloves. I mean, to be fair, Jay, to be fair, if you said, hey, go get a warm scarf, I'm not in this, and I'm looking at four selections here. And one of them is silk. I don't think I'm picking that one. Well, I didn't know it was silk, but I thought it was mine. And it turned out to be my wife's. But when I put it on, just heat.

Heat began to generate and I thought this is warm. Then I had to go watch a video. I did give you powers. I did have to watch a video on how to wear it. It was an infinity, what they called an infinity, you know, typical advertising. Yeah. We have an infinity scarf because you make a figure eight. I actually wore it on a podcast here. You did.

I did. Did I not, Maddie? We need to pull that picture up. And you put it on, and after you get past the idea that we want to advertise using godly qualities to get my money, my wife bought this. But I have now taken it over because I did rip it. I ripped the tag off of it, which then created a hole, but she no longer wanted it. The tag that said made for women? Yeah, probably.

No, it said infinity, because I was still thinking, the only thing I know of that has anything thing to do with infinity is the Lord God Almighty. So let's rip that tag off. I do remember Jay's wearing it because I was thinking to myself, ooh, that is one ugly woman. Well, the coffee definitely did something for him too because he was definitely amped up and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. And, you know, he was talking like he was from New Jersey.

I mean, he was like fast. He was just like, jumping like crazy, talking like crazy. And then that was the day you got out of the blind. and you left for like an hour and we wondered where you were at. There's all kind of hypocrisy going on here because I'm thinking about like Jason, like, I mean, brutally chastised me when I wore a coat on the podcast. And now I did it because I was cold, but he, and now he's wearing silk scarves to the podcast.

Well, the problem with that was you were wearing a coat indoors in Louisiana. There was an invention that came along in part of our history, and it's called Central Air and Heat. I just thought that was embarrassing that you came from the mountains to come to Louisiana, and it's like, oh, you walked in, and you had a coat rated for 20 degrees. I'm just saying we're not that different. Like, you're doing the same thing that. We're not that different, Jace. No, I just showed you the scarf.

War that I love. Oh, and another thing you're hypocritical on is that you have been ripping me behind the scenes. I think the audience needs to know this for the way I read the ads. You said I'm talking too fast. This morning, what did you say? Are we going here? You just saw this.

Look, it's one of the most exhilarating things because our viewers are not getting this. And then let's deal with this. Look, when Zach reads an ad, it is. amazing because I feel like I'm watching some kind of demonic possession that takes over. Because look, he'll be talking normal, like whatever Zach normal is. And then he gets to this ad. And he's like, we're hearing the book of John. And then all of a sudden he starts speaking faster than a human can speak. It's like, what did he just say? So I feel like now that I want to. to recommend all our viewers.

Look, they now have a concept. You're a software, man. You can actually, you know how the chipmunks made millions of dollars by speeding up people? Well, look, you can slow them down and actually hear what Zach is saying. So I said he's like a World Wrestling Federation color commentator when it comes to ad. And he always does it. Jay's, here's some proof that what you're saying is right. We just got a new ad script that we did today.

And halfway through the ad script, I've never seen this before. Whoever said, slow down. And they hadn't even met that. So, Maddie, she's 23 years old. Technically, Zach is paying her salary. So she's trying to be nice. So now I just said, look, I'm going to jump in here and be the interpreter. So I was like, Zach, try doing this about a thousand speeds slower.

Slow down. It's almost a miraculous speaking in tongue moment. Oh, poor Jack. I don't know what it is. Sorry, I brought it up. Thank you, Zach. I'm glad you chased the softball on that one. One more thing before we get to our studies today, because we've got to get back to John 1,

But I do want to mention Jersey since you're on the podcast that you have been heading up our Unashamed Bible study that we do at that BFR. We do it every Sunday. And once a month, on the first Sunday of the month, we've been doing a guest Robertson, we call it. I think I did the first one in January. Jase was last week. And we try to get one of us in there just so you guys can meet us because we know that's part of it. And just to tell you how much we love you guys. because a lot of visitors come in.

And so once a month, we do kind of a special one. But I just want to tell you've been doing a great job. You picked up the mantle. Dad obviously can't do the class. He does come every once in a while just to observe and give that thumbs up. But I just want to tell you thanks for that. And I want to let the audience know. We love it when you guys come.

We encourage you to do that. Sometimes people get baptized. Sometimes they rededicate their lives. It's a great class. I've kind of taken off where Phil left. and, you know, I'm just doing what Phil taught me and obviously everything that I've learned in my readings. And, you know, every Sunday I'm there, 9 a.m. And I lay it out there.

I talk about the gospel, talk about some current events related to the gospel. Jace was there just last week. Oh, I was. I wanted to talk about this. Yeah. Let me see. Is your skin really thick? My skin's always thick.

You kidding? So, out, here's how it went. So we had Phil there, which was awesome. NK. Yeah, NK. And we didn't have, we had a few visitors, but a lot of people, you know, like my in-laws came. I was like, are y'all visiting? We have regulars that come every week, the same people coming every week.

Okay, so they're just a part of the class. Yeah. So Jersey, you know, he asked me to do it. So he got up and gave about a 15 minute. sermon and I thought well I'm I'm long-winded by nature so I was like we might already cut that to five the next time I'll get there well listen I know I've spoken with you before and the problem is is if you don't start talking before Jace you'll never talk yeah so amen yeah welcome to understand Al this reminds me of a conversation that we had when I was an

intern briefly and realized that I needed to just do something else but uh not that there's anything wrong with an intern. I mean, being a duck man intern, a duck boy intern. I don't say duck boy. Yeah, I mean, I'm just saying. So I learned, you know, back then, if it's like when you have a song leader, you know, when they have the, what do you all call it Al?

Worship leader? You're talking about a. Well, I was going to call it a church service, but I'd already thrown that, you know, under the bus, because most people are actually. not serving. They're just sitting. Yeah. But we call it a church service. Yeah.

But there are people there serving. We should, you know, show up and serve. A church gathering. A church gathering. But I remember they had a debate one time because the worship leader was giving, you know, he's supposed to lead worship by singing. But it was turning into, he was given many sermons. And so the preacher was like saying, hey, that's my job because by the time the preacher got up, since there had been so many sermons, he didn't have much time to actually do what he was supposed to do.

It was an interesting little back and forth. I don't know if you remember that out, but I'm sure that. I remember it. And also by nature, Jays, I've learned through the years of ministry that most worship leaders want to speak and most preachers want to sing. That's right. And stay in your lane, bros. Yeah, that was the culmination of the meeting is like, you sing.

I'll preach. So anyway, so you were supposed to introduce me, but it was more of a sermon and then an introduction. So look, here's how Joe introduced me. He's probably forgotten this because he was doing this off the top of his head. He said, now this guy doesn't drink, he doesn't cuss, and he's real blunt. And I thought, am I following John the Baptist or Jesus? Am I a Nazarene? am I a Pharisee?

What is this? That's just being complimentary. Well, that was true. Well, all those things were true. But I did think that was interesting. I thought, boy, the man who needs no introduction. I just thought that was funny. It was so funny to me.

But so I think it went well. I did delve into, because I didn't have any notes, you know, I introduced Jesus, but I've been so inspired by this realization that we're part of a kingdom of heaven on earth. And so I did a little five-minute dissertation on that, Zach, and you'll be surprised that the response was this. You ready? Yeah, there was some yawning. I looked out. It wasn't a yawn.

It was a half-yawn. It was the mouth went open, but there wasn't a yawning. a yawn because they thought watches went up what is he talking about and i think i gave a line that i had never given before because i made a reference of people saying well where where is heaven what are we going to do when we get there you know it gave a little few heaven questions and i'm like i gave a question i said you know where heaven is and everybody boy they parked up on that I said, you're looking at it. And it was...

So then I made the point that I have the Holy Spirit of God, Jesus specifically. So heaven, in a way, that didn't come from anywhere on earth. So I'm representing as an ambassador of Christ, Jesus himself. I mean, you did a great job. So I took Phil home afterwards, and the first thing Phil wanted was food. Phil needed food.

So there was no conversation in a truck until we got food. But once Phil ate his food, he then said, he said, how about that, Jace? I said, yeah, I said, it was an awesome job this morning. He said, I'm so proud of him. He's just taking it to a level that I can't imagine. All my kids, they've taken it to a level that is beyond me. So, I mean, he was totally complimentary. He enjoyed listening to you.

So I think he did a great job and we're only kidding. You know, people weren't sleeping. They weren't checking or watched. It was a great message. It was a cricket moment. But I wanted to bring this up. I think it's because what we're talking about on this podcast a lot. You cannot reduce the message of the kingdom into sound bites.

And I think it's hard because it's not. not a, it's not as easily packageable what we're saying when we, this idea of heaven coming to earth, the kingdom of God being here. I mean, especially if you've been trained up from the early age into thinking that heaven, an eternal life is way out there. And that's quite the feat to overcome. You know what I mean? So I think, I think that's why when you, when you start, you know, teaching on this, and if especially if it's in a group that hasn't, you know, maybe heard it yet, then it's kind of like, wait, what? Yeah. It, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, I've experienced the same thing.

I mean, it's exactly, it's where that word came from, you know, that phrase that we hear, heaven on earth, right? Heaven on earth. What is heaven on earth? And it's what we're living, you know, when you have the Holy Spirit with you and you are living a godly life, you are living heaven on earth. I mean, that's really, you know, that's what happens, Jay's. When people are listening to the podcast, they're getting, you know, hours and hours of

what Zad just talked about in us painting this picture, whatever text we're in. it keeps coming back to the same central theme. And so when they come to WFR, usually it's what I call to make the proclamation of intention. In other words, they're making their call that, look, I want to be a part of that kingdom. I want to be a part of this. I want to build and help other people know about what I now figured out. So that's why I love the idea. It's just an entry point into something now that is motivated a heart to make a life change, which is powerful. That's why. Jersey, you know, he took over Phil's class and you're like, well, that's weird. But it shows you a power in the kingdom of God. And I wanted to read to you where that came from because, I mean,

I'm just going to be brutally honest. If you look at me in Jersey, he's from New Jersey. I'm from Louisiana. That is just the tip of the iceberg of things we don't have in common. You know, this is almost to the scale, to use a biblical analogy, of Jew and Gentile. I mean, we are from two different worlds. But we've now come together in Christ. We both have the Holy Spirit. We're brothers in the kingdom of heaven on earth. So we skipped over this verse in John 1 now, but I wanted to read it.

because I think it's interesting where he says when Jesus, you know, he started off, it doesn't say Jesus, he starts off Word. He was in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. Through Him all things were made. Without Him, nothing was made. That has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

So we share that. We have this life. Absolutely. Yeah. That's not only now, what Jesus is doing now. through his spirit in us, but we will have life that does not end. So 36 times he brings up life in the book of John. So then he gets to verse 10. He says he was in the world, and though the world was made through him,

the world did not recognize him. They were looking at it from a worldly point of view. Oh, he's a carpenter. He's from Nazareth. Nothing good can come from there. He came to that which his own, but his own did not receive. even his own nation where he was from. They're looking for the Messiah,

and he's like, hey, he's got his hand raised, and they're like, who are you? They didn't recognize him. But then this interjection here in 12 and 13, all of a sudden takes a global, past, present, and future humanity vibe to it, is what I'm offering. It says, yet to all who receive,

him to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent. You say, what does that mean? Like the borders of where you're from. He's in the context of... It's not correlated to your DNA. Yeah. Well, to like, well, I'm an Israelite because I was born, or I'm a Jersey.

what do they call people from New Jersey? Jersey, they call us Cajuns, but... People from New Jersey. Oh, people from New Jersey. You need to work on that. Come on with a slogan. It's like the Romans 9, I'm pulling it up real quick. It's kind of a similar language, Romans 9,

when he talks about Israel not being connected to the flesh. It's not the children of the flesh, who are the children of the promise. It's not your border, and it's not the... next thing is not based on a human decision. You know, I think I'm going to be, you know, born of God here or be a children of God. It's not, you know, he's not, it's not about the physical natural birth, nor a husband's will, but born of God. And it just, it is a statement that I think is profound because it includes

everyone. Yeah, everyone. I mean, you, and what does Jesus say? Come to me. Yeah. He's inviting everyone, and he's given you the right to become children of God. I mean, I looked up that word right. Potentially, yeah, it's like the potentiality is for everyone that has the potential to become a son of God. I think it's a profound statement that when you say, well, he's inviting everyone. Yes. You remember the parable he told, and he's like, you know, go invite these people. They're like, well, they don't want to come. He's like, well, go to their streets, find the lame, the poor, invite, invite. I want my house to be full.

I just think it's a very profound statement. And what I'm saying is that's why this works, even though we don't have a lot in common from a earthly standpoint. Our culture is totally, it's almost like a foreign country. I mean, absolutely. And I mean, you know, God brings everyone together, right? And, you know, every, you know, I see, you know, with what I get to do on Sundays, I meet a lot of people and I, you know, and I always start off with saying everybody's got a story, right? You have some story that has brought you here, but we all have one thing in common.

We were created by God and we believe in God. We believe that Jesus died for our sins and that unites us spiritually. And we will always be united. brothers and sisters in God. And I think that's really the crust of it when you start to really dig through, you know, why do we have a lot of the issues that we have today in life, right? Why do we have wars and why do we have enemies? And it's because of different lines of thinking, right? Or where you're from. Or where you're from, absolutely. So I mean, you know, Jesus is truly the answer to everything when you look at it, right? There isn't a problem that can't be solved.

Well, one of the things that, one of the things, though, that differentiates what Jason was describing in 112 and 13 is all those other decisions, whether it's your bloodline, a decision of a husband and wife, all these you don't make. You know, your bloodline, the decision for two adult people to procreate and bring you into the, you didn't make a decision for any of that. But when you're born of God, you make a decision to follow God. You're making that decision.

That's how you're born. It's like when someone wants to come here to America, maybe they're from some other country and they, man, they want to get here so bad, they want to become a citizen. And we've had a lot of this idea of, you know,

immigration, a lot of issues. But there's always been an opening for people who weren't born of the American blood, not American parents or grandparents, but want to get here. Why? Because they want to be citizens of this country.

And what that brings to them. That's a very small scale compared to what it means to be born of God because you can do that from anywhere in the world. You don't have to be of a certain country, of a certain race, you know, a certain gender, none of those things. This is truly an opportunity for all who have been called, who have been sought out by Christ to now choose to be a part of him. Yeah. I mean, that's not right. Many times. People that get so upset that they're shipping back people from other countries. I said, well, you need to get in Jesus because he brings,

people from all nations together. That's it. If you want to visualize a place with no walls and no borders, and that's what God does through Jesus. So here's what I think is fascinating. And you brought Joe into the conversation, Jay's. So Joe received a call from the Almighty. He wasn't sure what it was, but that's what it was.

He was being sought out because he just knew. He knew that things weren't right with him, with his family. Joe, I'm just speaking for you, but if I'm wrong, correct me. And then he was like, I need to answer this call, and I'm not sure how to do that. He winds up feeling like God wanted to reposition him in Louisiana because he had met us through the podcast and through the show and other means. He wanted to learn. He wanted to know more.

And so he changed locations from the place he grew up, people he loves, to come to a country that he knew nothing about. Louisiana. And it's interesting after five years, he's now as Louisiana as any of us, with a Jersey flair. But more importantly, he is now a born again son of the Almighty, as well as his family, who now have followed his lead, not only come here, but more importantly, to come to Christ. And so I just think that's a picture of anywhere. I mean, it doesn't have to be Westminster or Louisiana or some other place, but that's the idea. Christ seeks us. out. So I mean, I think as we're about to get into these first disciples being called,

it goes on even to this day. Yeah, he does. And you don't know. Say, I have this now famous saying that I say that, you know, Garth Brooks got it right when he said some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. And I talk about it all the time, but I get into more detail on what I mean about that. So, you know, we talk about, you know, the Bible says that, you know, our stories are written even before we're born. You know, God knows what he has in store for us. We don't. We're just along for the ride.

We listen to the calling that we get, that little voice in the back of our mind that we hear that says, you know, you've got to do this or you've got to do that. But, you know, you can have something that you pray on and pray on and pray on and pray on and you don't get it. And you don't know why you don't get it. And some people get discouraged. And they say, oh, well, you know, there's no God.

I've asked for this and asked for this and asked for this and it's never happened. My prayers are never answered. But what we fail to realize as human beings, you know, our stories are written and God knows what he wants for each and every one of us. And, you know, you may think you want something and pray on it and pray on it and not get it. But then you find out years later that if you'd have gotten what you want it, you wouldn't be where you're at now today. So you can relate that whole thing to my story, you know, I say it all the time. I didn't know why I had to move. I just had this feeling down in my heart after listening to this podcast multiple times. I had this feeling that said, you know, you need to make a change in your life. And at that point, I was stressed out of my mind.

I was angry, nasty, scream and yelling all the time, short-tempered, just very unhappy. I mean, financially I was doing fine. I had a great career in a fire service. I had a full-time job. I was feeling good about life. I thought I was happy, but I really wasn't happy. And I didn't know true happiness until I answered the calling. And once I've answered the calling, boy, the blessings, they just keep coming. I mean, I've got tied in with you guys and I continue to, I mean, if you said that Joe Kenjemi was going to be teaching a Bible study on Sundays that Phil Robertson used to lead. Anyone that knows me in New Jersey would say, no way.

But he's going to one day become a duck boy. Yeah, he'd be a duck boy. I would say, you know, when John, when you look at John the Baptist role and leading into him calling these first disciples, you know, when John later on said in chapter three when he said because they brought up they're like look you know Jesus and

his followers are baptizing a lot of people you know he clarifies it in chapter four saying well Jesus actually wasn't baptizing but his disciples were because they were kind of trying to you know look he's he's doing more than you

and John the Baptist said this in verse 27 this, John replied, a man can receive only what is given him from heaven, which kind of goes back to that John 1, 12, we were talking about born from God. Remember, in between you got Nicodemus, who here's a guy who's a religious authority, Pharisee, and Jesus tells him he needs to be born again and why? Because you can see the kingdom of God.

once you're born again. And then he's like, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he's born a water in the spirit. So John makes this statement that you can only receive what is given from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I'm not the Christ, but am sent ahead of him. The bride belongs to the bridegroom,

which is a preview, a preview of what's fixed to happen in Jesus that humanity would become his bride. So then he says, the friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. The joy is mine and is now complete. But then he says this,

and that's what I was going to say about this, what Jersey said, he must become greater and I must become less. And that same thing happens to us. You know, when Jersey said, oh, we all have a story. Yeah, we do. And it's interesting to us.

But what moves people is God's story in us. And as we mature, he becomes greater and we become less. And of course, then he eventually goes on to say that he gives the spirit. going back to the John 3 Nicodemus conversation without limit. And that also goes back to this. We have the right as people. That's in, uh, that's the last verse of John 3. Listen to this.

It is so powerful. 36. Whoever believes in the sun has eternal life, which is where this whole thing started. Not just life here. Yeah. It's life forever, eternal. But whoever rejects the sun will not see life. But we've already said everyone has the invitation.

For God's wrath remains on him. I skipped the verse. Where is that? It's verse 33. Oh, 33, yeah, 33. That's it. Yeah. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is faithful.

I feel like we should go back right. Let me just read 31. The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. That's going back to the John 1 about they didn't recognize him, that he's from heaven. Then it says, the man who has accepted it has.

certified that God is truthful. Remember, Jesus comes bringing grace and truth. And then this is the verse. You're right. Verse 34. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God and God gives the spirit without limit. Yeah, you got to sit in that because that's a big, that's a big point. When you think about, I always have said it like this, the Holy Spirit is an open conduct. it of full revelation of God. That's a really, break that down into simplistic language. Imagine it is like a, like a connection, like a hose. And it's just like no, no like, there's nothing that's encumbering the flow of this God

revealing himself to man because the spirit is given without measure. And so if you read in the scriptures, there's terms like the blasting the Holy Spirit, which is kind of related to this, or another term is you. used to quench the spirit. And I think about like quenching, it would be like taking your hands around that hose and like squeezing down. So I'm not getting all of it. And I'm not getting his revelation.

I'm holding on too tight. I'm quenching the spirit. So I like this verse because what it shows us is the only thing that stands in between us and the revelation of God and himself, which is like the source of all life, is not on God's part. God's not withholding his goodness. Right. We quenched that spirit, but he gives you the spirit.

It's also quenched because we're like, well, he's from another country. I mean, you're going to see this great. Because you're believing in something that's not real when you believe that lie. And I think that's going back to the baptism of Jesus. And when he says, the one that's coming after, I baptize the water, but the one coming after me is going to baptize you with the spirit. Again, a large part of that means it's like, God's going to, he's going to move in you now. So now I'm directly connected with God because God has made his home in humans.

He's made his home in a human body. Your body's a temple. That's why that thing you said earlier, Jace, is kind of key. You know, God makes his home in human body temples. And what that means is I have direct connection now with understanding what the good life is. So if you think about your own life, you sin because you actually believe the good life is something outside what God has revealed it to be. Well, that's my point because I think this is a foundation for moving forward through John. Because when you get to John 4 and you have his disciples, you know, they go in this city.

But they had rules. Now Jesus is thinking outside the box because where does it say were Jews do not associate with Samaritans? That's in four. Yeah. So we have a limitation here because the disciples, they were. went in the city, nothing happened. Well, Jesus went out here and broke down every limitation that they had already put on in that Jewish culture, which is you can't be having a conversation with a woman in broad daylight, and you can't have a conversation with someone who's from

Samaria. But you also showed, Jay's from that example, that most people aren't going to come to that realization unless where they are is challenging. This woman who was there had all these personal issues, had all these issues that Jesus just, I mean. Yeah, that's the next box to be checked. Exactly. He easily brought those out. But I find that fascinating because most people, and we use Joe as an example earlier, they don't come to that place just by natural order. Something supernatural has to break through to them that they need this.

Which is the revelation of the Holy Spirit. That's why in John 4th, too, you think about the whole text there. It's interesting. It's all, like, wrapped in this language of temple, right? She says, we worship Samaritans. We worship at the temple up there in the mountain. Oh, it was a place. You guys, it's all about where does worship happen.

He said, you guys worship in down at the temple in Jerusalem, the second temple that was built by Osiris. And Jesus said, yeah. She said, where do we worship at? He said, yeah, it's not in the places anymore. The father wants you to work, wants worshippers who will worship him in truth and in spirit. again, connecting back with the Holy Spirit. So you see this idea that that's really what the whole thing's about. If you drink the water, I have to give you, it'll be a spring in you welling up to eternal life.

What's he talking about? The Holy Spirit living in humans. Well, we're almost out of time. But I'm saying, I think we're missing one thing here. It's about people. When he said, I've given everyone the right to become children of God, well, he's now running within the Israel. circles that have all these cultural laws and customs that's not going to allow all people to see Jesus because he can't even associate with him.

That's why he's going to people's houses and they're like, what's he just up? What are you doing over here? Well, he's giving everybody. He's inviting everybody. So what happens at the end of that story in John 4? Well, she goes and causes a breakthrough. I mean, the other disciples came back and said, what? You ready to go?

That was all that. Nothing happened. But he had this encounter with this woman. She then went and told everybody about who this person she met was. And then what happened? People started putting their faith in Jesus. All of a sudden, that John 1, 10 through 12 is being lived out. And that's what he did.

He broke down all these walls. So eventually when we get to that, those passages that says there's neither Jew nor Greek, slave, nor free, male, nor female, all that's going to make sense because of how Jesus started this whole ministry. So we're out of time. Joe, it's always a pleasure having you on the builder of studios, the duck intern, and now the contributor on Unashamed Podcast. As that, Joe has done so well today, I think we should triple his salary. I've decided tripling his salary needs to happen. Zero plus zero. Maybe senior contributor. Okay.

Senior contributor. I'm going to have business cards made. So thanks, Joe, for coming out. Thanks for all you do for the kingdom. We'll see you next time. It's been great. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast.

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