Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1173 | Jase Defends His Uncle Si–Style Storytelling & Jesus Says Eternal Life Starts Now

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Jase marvels at how the “exaggeration gene” seems to run in the family, from Uncle Si to himself to his son, Reed, after his son laughs off a notice from the electric company. Zach digs up a vintage video of Jase that’s suddenly making the rounds online again, and Al peeks behind the curtain at how podcast titles are crafted. The guys and Brighton explore Jesus’ promise of peace, joy, and love in John 16, and the gift of eternal life that starts now. They trace God’s manifest presence from Exodus to the Gospels, showing why “in Jesus’ name” is no password trick but a living presence. In this episode: John 16, verses 29–33; John 17, verses 1–5; Luke 3, verse 21; Luke 6, verse 12; John 6, verse 29; Romans 8, verse 11; Exodus 3, verses 13–14; Exodus 33, verses 18–23; John 4, verses 20–24; John 20, verse 17; Acts 17, verse 27; Philippians 2, verses 9–11; Genesis 3, verse 15; 1 John 4, verses 8,16 Chapters 00:00–07:46 Reed & Brighton’s “Near-Eviction” Notice 07:47–15:02 Jase Defends His Exaggerated Storytelling Style 15:03–24:30 Three Themes Jesus Emphasizes in John 24:31–37:54 Jesus Builds A Bridge From His Father to Our Father 37:55–47:30 God Reveals His True Name 47:31–57:20 “In Jesus’ Name” Isn’t Just A Password — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. Back by popular demand. We couldn't just let you go. Because you did such an awesome job. Both of you guys did about telling us your story. But we wanted to have you as part of the Bible study as well. And you took a lot of notes, right? Yeah, I'm ready. This is the best part. It's too much study. He was ready for John 17. And then Reed even bought his Bible. So. I sure it is. So I got this and show the audience here.

This was, so I'm staying with some of the folks from I am second. And there was a picture of Reed inside of there as well. I know. It's crazy. I just did one of those. Yeah. Now it's Jay's and I think Si did something and Bobby did. They did.

We were all there together. Right. But I'm not sure. So before we're done, I guess every family member is going to be in that white chair. That was really. That was really young. That was before I went through my identity crisis and had long. hair and all that.

Well, when they reached out to me, read me initially to talk about dad, and they said they kind of want to do something about like prodigals, and so it was going to be me and dad and you, I think. And I said, well, look, I really think Jep would be great for this project.

And I love the idea of Reed, because I like the idea of generational prodigals, and yet everybody come back. So that was kind of the idea, and that was the first one they did. So then they came to me and said, we want to do series. last one.

On older brother of the prodigal. Oh, really? Is that what your thing is about? That's what it is. It was actually my idea, but they went with it. Really? Oh, yeah,

because they were like... You and I've never talked about what you did, so I didn't know. It was something I've never done before. Yeah. It was... You and I've talked about

on the podcast. We have... Kind of that our roles, which were flipped because I'm the older brother. He's the younger, but in life, we were the other way around

in terms of kind of how, you know, our own struggles, which I think was pretty powerful. I'm so glad you did that. I was the middle brother, which he wasn't even in the story, so I don't even have the story. Yeah, well, that's the problem with middle brothers. That's right. No, you were

in the story when he was in with the hog pen? Yeah. That was a joke. I love Zach. Jay's asked to qualify every time he rips me because everywhere he goes now, he gets, people, were asking about his relationship with me.

And literally it's the number one question he gets now. It used to be why is his side really that crazy now? What's going on you? See for you, Zahologist, do you see where that joke went? He was one of the pigs with the prodigal. He was the friend.

He was the one that was helping squander well. Hey, if you're listening, no need to defend me. That was funny. I don't know. Well, we were talking about this recently, somewhere I was at, and they were talking to the podcast.

And I was like, it took people a year at least to get used to our podcast when we first came out because they were like, they're so rude and they talk over each other. And they won't let somebody finish. And Jase is so rude. And, you know, they need to let Phil talk more. And it was just all this back and forth. And then finally somebody had the light bulb moment that said, oh, this is what they do. This is like how.

This is our childhood. Love language right here. Yeah. Well, you jumped into the podcast, but you did the family too, because you did the family too, you're probably the family. So what, but I was going to ask you at first when you having the, did you come into the,

to the Unashamed podcast where you, like, skeptical? Like, what, I'm going to check out what this is about. Are you actually coming, expecting it to be,

like, impactful? I did not think it was going to be as much Bible study as it was, I guess. Like, I thought it was going to be a lot more, like, gooping around.

Yeah, yeah, or like telling stories and stuff and like a little bit of Bible study. Yeah, definitely not. I've been telling, they put the,

we'll, we'll have a few nonsensical stories that dad used to hate because dad would just be like sitting there ready to chunk. I don't hate them, but I don't, you know, I'm not in love with them. But what the people in the production do is they make the titles from those stories of the podcast. So it gives you the illusion that this is not a Bible study. But it was funny because we had me own at one point. And so I was saying, well, me, you know how your dad is.

It's like everything is like the worst thing that's ever happened to any human being in the history of humanity in the stories. And Jason is like, well, I don't think that's true. And Mia said, yeah, dad, it's true. She just like totally like, yeah. It's called embellishment for effect. And I get that from an uncle that we have, who's the greatest storyteller ever.

I'll both share a name with. I passed that on to Reed. Yeah, Reed has that. Oh, Reed. When Reed was a youth, he's a little. Now he's a little more mature about it, but when he was a youth, he would come in and weave a tail back in the day. Oh, my goodness. I mean, I can still weave a tail.

This morning, Reed, you said, re-call me. I'm a show me. What can I say? He called me and I thought he was checking on me to see because I was going to go to their house. Missy's keeping their kids. And just to make sure how we were navigating traffic. And he was like, well, I actually want some coffee. And I'm seeing when you're going to come.

And you're, this is, and I quote, this is something I would say. He's like, there's a coffee shop, 18 seconds from where I'm at. And I thought, 18 seconds. That might be an embellishment for effect, because it was probably longer than 18 seconds. It actually is pretty close. It's going to stick to it. But you got coffee, right? You didn't run out of money?

No. Because I know your electricity almost got turned off today. We found that out, too, by the way. We're recording. Missy's watching your kids. and the guy shows up at your house and turn your electricity because you haven't paid your bill. We might have to pull a few dollars together. Isn't that something though?

The thing would do that with just kids being? Well, actually, well, you said last night last night is where y'all ate dinner at was too expensive. Y'all are talking about that high dollar meal and now you can afford to pay off. We had daddy war bucks here. But no, the whole story with that is we, our bank got hacked, auto paid, didn't work. And so here comes this guy, and my mom calls me right after the first podcast we did. And she's like, there's a guy here.

He's going to cut off the electricity. And he saw the kids and said, I'll give you a few hours. You need to get this taken care of. And I was like, Mom, I literally paid for it because I got a call from him, too. It's all good. You know, just forgot. Never got turned off. No, I'm good.

This is the first I'm hearing of this story. So, yeah, this all happened. Which made me realize now I've got to go pay my water bill and my gas bill. They will be lining up before cutting up. Yeah. My water gets cut off by every six months because something will happen like that. And, you know, we're out of town a lot. So something happens to the automatic way of paying for things, then all of a sudden,

we're not there. So I have no idea. So somebody will be staying at the house and there's no water. Speaking of nonsensical stories. Let me tell you the title here. The title will be that Jayce's son gets evicted from his home. That's it. That's the title right there.

Reading Brighton can't pay their bills. Read and Brighton. Read and Brighton. Missy, last scene walking down the road. holding hands with three toddlers looking for a ride and a place. We got a bunch of good titles here. I will say this, before we jump into our text, that the reason I mentioned that about Jay's, that's why Missy says she can't listen to the podcast.

She can't take the embellishment. She can't, it's just too much for us. Yeah, yeah. So you're able to look past that. Yeah, I can look past it. Right. I'm kind of perfectly removed. I have to make a PSA Eversoft and I feel like it's time now.

And now that you're going to be a part of the podcast in a Bible study, there was a guy named Kevin McIntosh who was supernaturally brought to the Lord. We've told the story many times. He actually, you mentioned him this morning. Directional about him. Because he posted a video from like 1980 something, maybe 89, I don't know. It's old. Of me sharing Jesus.

He asked me to do this video, and he's like, hey, there's this thing. coming out called the internet. Look at it. What is that? He's like, do a gospel presentation and I'm going to put it on there. And he did. I think, you know, 14 people watched it. Yeah. But he's like

resurfaced it now. And now it's probably done pretty good. But anyway, this guy... You had no beard, short hair, the whole look? I don't think I had a beard. No, you had a beard. In the spirit of embellishment, I just wanted to... I think the actual video was around

circa 2000 like six really it wasn't the 80s but it's still a long time ago you were young 20s well here we go now I'm going to give me my PSA because I had no idea it looked I looked a lot better than I do now yeah I was younger four left so the PSA because Kevin McIntosh said this one time after I told an embellished story he said I've noticed something about you and I was like what is it he said You should never be listened to or taking seriously unless you have duck calls in your hands or a Bible. There's the picture of you. Wow.

I thought, you know what? That's good advice. The rest of the time, I'm just kidding. Yeah, I'm just kidding. I'm handing it up. If we're talking about the Bible, I'm serious. And the duck calls, I actually know a thing or two about duck call. Well, you gave a good gospel presentation.

I watched the whole thing. I was like, I didn't listen to it. He sent it to me. It's good. I don't like why. People used to ask me all the time if I listen to the podcast, and I was like, no. I was like, if I want to hear my dad ramble on about whatever. You know, that was before I knew how big of a Bible study it was, too.

I was like, I never listened to it. I heard you say that pretty recently. I was like, look, if I want to hear my dad ramble on, I'll give him a call and I'll say, hey, and he'll go for 45 minutes. And I'll say, all right, good talking to you. And I got my fill. This is the PSA. Well, look, Reed, you will say this.

Sometimes you will call me, and, Brighton, you're just now being introduced to this. And you will ask me some random question, and I will give a 15-minute Bible. You will. I will. It just, I don't, because I'm thinking, oh, this must be the reason I studied that because now Reed's calling me. So here you go. Yeah. Yeah.

That, which, by the way, you got that from dad, because dad would always. be into something. And whoever walked through the door is like, oh, are they all mighty sitting down over here, son. Let me tell you what you need to hear. I did get that from my dad. I do that all the, look, I'm not kidding. I walked in from a podcast a couple weeks ago, and we had the, we have a little cleaning team. They're called the fairies, maybe, the cleaning fairies.

and one of them like, how's your day been? And the next thing I know, they're all standing there with pails and brooms. And then I realized, I've been talking a long time. And that person was thinking, I was just being nice. That was like, hello. Yeah. And you're paying them by the hour. So they're like, well, they weren't.

I didn't care because I thought, you asked me how my day went. And I just launched it. It was a podcast. after party with the people cleaning my house. But I think they weren't bored. Yeah. Let's put it that way. No, they like stories.

People like stories. And I figured at any time, if they didn't like it, they could go back to cleaning. But I thought it was good. And, hey, it's not lost on me that there's probably so many people that listen to this podcast. I wish they could just call you up and be like, what did you mean by this? And I have that blessing of being able to do that. So I appreciate it. And I feel like I get it now.

Like when you're so deep in study, you're like, you're so excited about it. You're like, I got to tell somebody, you know? Yeah. Well, your thrill has like made my thrill even more. Yeah, now we just feed off each other. Yeah. I mean, it's we're family here. We're talking about spiritual thing.

And a lot in the Bible, if you don't really look kind of deeply, you'll miss. And I think in this study of John, I think we've done a better job of connection. the dots back to the Old Testament? Well, and even going forward, because we spent a lot of time in First John as well, because John, you know, John has obviously has all these years on him when he is writing these books. And so, you know, you get the idea as he brings it forward

and you read First John, you realize, like, wow, the application he takes from not really understanding into like now seeing it so clearly, it really brings that to life, which is where we're going to go next in the study, by the way. Now you wanted to read the end of John 16 before we technically get into John 17. Yeah, I wanted to, because I can't remember exactly, and we may have read it all, but I want to read at least this last part that gets us to the prayer,

it's starting in verse 29, because they finally feel like he's showing, like now they're getting a little bit of clarity. They still don't quite get it, but they're getting it better because Jesus disciples said, and it's funny that John would say this because he was part of that group, now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech, almost like they've been frustrated, you know, with all the parables and the way he goes about it. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to ask anyone,

anyone ask you, have anyone ask you questions. Because, you know, the whole thing is this, Jay's pointed out, which I never noticed how many Q&As there are in this book. How many questions he asked compared to how many questions he's being asked is three to one? Right.

is three to one. Jesus is asking profound questions. So they said, this makes us believe that you came from God. So it's almost like that, all right, we're in,

we're going to do this. And then Jesus, and this almost sounds like sarcastic to me. Maybe it's not, but it sounds like, you believe at last, Jesus answered,

but a time is coming and has come when you will be scattered each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my father is with me. I've told you these things so that in me you may have peace.

And that was one of the reason I want to bring that up is because he mentioned joy up in verse 19 through 24. He mentions love in 25 through 28. Now he's peace. You notice how he's hitting the fruits of the spirit. So his whole time he's been talking about the spirit and explaining him, now he's like, here's what you're going to see this come in your life. I've told you these things so that in me you may have peace.

In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world, which John is also going to pick up later in first year. Well, you brought it up because, look, he's basically saying you believe at last until I get arrested. Which is, which is the next chapter, because then he's like, but a time has come is coming and has come. Yeah. When you will be scattered. That's fixed to happen a few verses later, one chapter specifically. Exactly.

They didn't get it. They didn't get it. Which we talked about that with Dallas when we were talking about The Chosen. Right. Because that's a big question with people. Because I think we all put ourselves in their position. And I'm glad I wasn't because I want to believe that I would believe. But I just think we're not realizing these things he's introducing are absolutely hard to wrap your head around.

You're going to die. Oh, and come back. Okay. Great. Like in some mystical way, but not actually. Right. How could you wrap your head around that? Well, he's turning the world upside down.

I mean, you hear that, but he really is turning their entire paradigm on its head, and they just have no, you can't understand something that is beyond your kind of realm. You know what I mean? So when he's introducing the kingdom of God and the kingdom is breaking into reality, I mean, there's no possible way they could have understood it. Right. Well, right. Well, just think about that statement.

He says, overcome the world. What's a normal human being thinking in that moment? Really? You're under Roman rule. You're worked with your dad

as a carpenter from nowhere. He literally has nothing. He has no home, no money, no anything. No symbol of anything of worldly power. He hadn't even written a book. You know. Yeah. You're having to borrow a coin

to make an illustration about what's on the coin and you've overcome the world? Just what kind of statement is it? Even the statement he made earlier about destroying the temple and raise it up in three days, you know, everybody's like, what? I mean...

But even think about this statement, the way he said it, he's like, but take heart. Yeah. So whatever he's fixed to say, take heart in this, I've overcome the world. Oh, what is he crazy? Well, he kind of defines how he did that in the verse before it when he says, basically, you know, I am not alone, for the father is with me.

I've said these things to you that in me, you may have peace in this world. You'll have tribulation, but take heart of overcome the world. So he's really anchoring the whole thing back in presence, and that he is, him and the father are united. So when you get to John 17, it's like the invitation at this point. is an invitation that now you get to come, I'm inviting you to participate and to actually to partake of this divine nature that I'm already in. That's why this gets so good in this prayer. Oh, it's good. Well, Jason, you want to just read some of it? Sure. I don't know. Read all of it,

however you want to do it. I mean, here's what I'm going to say for I read some of it is, I read this several times in preparing, and this gets dense, complicated. It makes you realize that our prayer life is pretty weak compared to Jesus. I mean, I think this is only, I guess, a couple of times he cried out maybe in prayer, and then you have the Lord's Prayer, where he taught the disciples how to pray.

Yeah, I wrote down several. I did notice one thing, because there's like Luke 321, Luke 612, John 615. These are all times when he was praying, and it was always when something big was about to happen typically, which is exactly what this is, of course, and the density of it and the depth of it. But yeah, you're right.

Say in Luke 612, he spent the night in prayer. I mean, I've never spent a whole night. I mean, I've prayed before a night, and I've had some sessions and some discussions with God. But, I mean, it seems like you would think if he's the son of God, he wouldn't need to do it, but he shows just the opposite. And I think it's because of that, it's because of that, what, you know, is describing Romans 8 as this sort of time

when the deity all is together. I mean, that's kind of our contact in prayer, you know, the Holy Spirit, Jesus, the Father. It's like that bringing together. I mean, we're in a pivotal moment. Here he is representing God. He said it over and over again. He's like, if you've seen me, seen the Father.

He's now introduced the Holy Spirit that's coming. He's in between, you know, he's fixed to be arrested. So he's passed this on to his disciples, because he actually makes this statement here, my work has been completed. And you're like, well, wait a minute, I thought you were just getting started. You didn't even died yet.

Yeah. But he wanted to show the power of God, the character of God. That's why I used signs to show what this relationship is. he's introduced the Holy Spirit. He's now previewing what's fixed to happen. They're all going to run. And so in that moment, he has this prayer. So it's one of the few places in the Bible that I think you have to grab a hold of the entire prayer

and just kind of meditate on it. And all of a sudden some theme lines kind of approach out of that in what his overall mission was and what that meant to human beings. So like in my divisions, before I read it, they have it split into three ways. This is not inspired. They just have it. Jesus prays for himself. Jesus prays for his disciples.

Jesus prays for all believers. Which is kind of a weak, you know, nothing compares to the prayer itself. It's just our human understanding of what he's fixed to say is hard to wrap your head around. But I've seen some where they divided into seven divisions. Well, I've always thought the three wasn't a bad thing because you see that a lot. Three has been a big number here throughout the whole book of John. But also when you read in the other accounts, because John doesn't go into the sweating drops of blood. I remember Luke mentions that.

So the other gospel writers mentioned this prayer leading up right before the arrest in a little bit different manner than John does. He got in, I think, to the content of what it was. and so remember he and he kept coming back over to wake him up you know they're supposed to be you know be there but he was it three times you know so it could have been this these segments that this was what he was pouring out we know from the other ones he also said you know is there any other way and then he said not my will but yours be done which again is not mentioned here so I think you're just getting this like this is like the dense piece and I don't know if John heard this or you know how it was relayed or maybe they prayed this on their way to the garden. I don't know. I'm not exactly sure how it plays out, but I know

it's different. John's version is different than the other three gospel presentations. They get to give a little bit different look at it. But his, like he's done with this whole thing, 14, 15, 16, is the only one that talked about the Holy Spirit too. Yeah. None of the others do. What I find interesting is if you look at like common phrases used or words over and over, He uses some version of give, given, or gave 17 times in the prayer. So we might need to figure out what was meant by that. And world is about the same amount of times, especially if you include the last two of the last verse we just read. Well, I mean, we could read the first five verses at least.

I think that it's interesting from our last podcast, you had said something in Brighton that made me think of this particular part of scripture, which, by the way, in my opinion, John 17 is like one of the most important chapters in the entire Bible. I would agree once again. This is like this is not, in fact, our entire church is centered on, if you think all churches will have like a burst that they center. Ours is centered on John 17, 3, which gives us, a definition of eternal life that I think

what did you say in the last episode? You were talking about, we first started, and you were kind of telling your testimony a little bit, but you said something about how you viewed

the kingdom. Yeah, like it was like it was like, or like, I figured how you said it. Like I'm just trying to not sin like in life. Yeah, like it was way out there. Yeah.

Like God is kind of in this far off place. You're just trying to grind it out. And like we're just grinding it out until the end. instead of like, oh, I'm living in the presence of God now as a believer. And this verse really helped me, I feel like, understand that. And I don't, I'll just read it. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

That's like a present thing that's happening right now. It's not something that's like, you always think of eternal life, like, I'm just going to live forever once I get to heaven. And then everything's going to be perfect. but like we're getting that now as a believer. And I get to walk with the Holy Spirit living inside me now. I think that's the key phrase. Because we tend to think every time we're talking about being glorified or eternal life, it's always a distant thing.

But you know, you read verses like Romans 8-11, if the Spirit of Christ who raised Jesus from the dead is living, in you, he who gave life to Jesus's mortal body will also give life to your mortal body. So that is a resurrection verse, but that little phrase, if he is living in you. It's a big point. It's a huge point. So he spent three chapters saying, I'm going to give you a helper, Holy Spirit, that Greek word paraclitus, who will be in you forever.

Yeah, that's so key. Because if you look at Moses, whenever the whole story of Israel coming out of Egypt, there was a promise that they were going to get to go to this place. And it was called the Promise Land. And that was the big promise. It was the big deal. But there's that moment in Exodus 33,

whenever Israel, right off they had made the golden calf. And Moses is like, I have to go down and make, now I have to make atonement for you people. I have you stiff-necked people. What have you done? I can't believe he's done this. And he's like super embarrassed. And so he goes and acts as a mediator on behalf of the people, which he's kind of a precursor to Christ,

because Christ becomes the ultimate mediator in Hebrews makes that point later. But if you read his argument to God, which is absolutely hilarious because it's like he's trying to manipulate God. And like it's funny that he thinks he can manipulate God, just like you think like Jacob could out wrestle God. right so he's arguing with god your people yeah your people your people and in in his discussion with yahway moses basically says that the promised land without your presence is worthless and i think that's how we've interpreted our christian walk at least i was like you it was always like i viewed heaven as the promised land is it like a place we were going to but then meanwhile i'm sitting there when you were in college and and I'm a college minister at White Street Road.

I'm like, I'm looking at these college kids. I'm like, and so I always thought my message would have to be, hey, 18-year-olds, grind it out for the next 60 to 70 years and don't do any of the fun stuff, and then you get to go to heaven. And I'm like, that's a tough sell. You know what I mean? Exactly. It was liberating for me to see, like, what you just said, because I was like, wait a second.

That's not the gospel. The gospel's not grinding out. the gospel is a quality of life that's defined here by knowing and being intimately in love and communion with God and you know eternal life is very clear this is eternal life what not that one day you get to go to heaven it's that they know you the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you've sent well when in the world does that happen yeah well that's what I wanted to say so if you go back John two you remember where this started one of the signs after the wedding, which I think was significant,

people would one day be married to Jesus, the body of Christ. Well, then it gets into the temple. He clears out the temple, and they're like, he makes this famous statement that basically, I am the temple, destroy this body and I'll raise it up three days. The temple he was talking about was himself. Well, and so you go back to the temple, and then you look in the Old Testament.

You have heaven and earth. kind of meeting together with the presence of God on earth through the various forms, tabernacles, the temple itself. And so you have Jesus' first prayer when he's like, I pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so you get the idea that Jesus is saying, I'm the place, even though I'm a person, where heaven and earth meet.

God became a man from heaven, which he says tens of times, maybe over 100, I came from heaven, I came from heaven, I came from heaven, I came from heaven. We're all focused on going, going, going. He's like, I came from heaven. I'm not of this world. So even in this first five verses, watch where you see this at. Yeah.

He says, so after he just said, I have overcome the world, Jesus, after Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven. He looked toward heaven and prayed. Father, the time has come, glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all, and look, this word people that is in the NIV is the same word for flesh when the word became flesh. I look this up on another podcast, but over all flesh that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

And then watch this next verse. I have brought you glory where? On earth. He looks to heaven. Well, now here's what you've got to stop and say, what does he just got through telling the disciples the last three chapters. I'm fixed to leave. I'm going to heaven, but don't panic.

Don't be alarmed. Don't be troubled. I'm going to give you a helper. Well, where is that coming from? Heaven. Heaven. And it's going to be in you and where are you at on earth? And this is how the new temple, this idea of new creation is being formed.

And you even see it subtly here. But you wouldn't notice that unless you had gone through the temple rabbit hole all the way back. And him saying the John 2 is what I'm saying. He looked up to heaven. Do you think he's doing this by accident? No. He's trying to validate the message. He's been telling them all along.

I'm the gateway to God. Heaven and earth. Like I'm about to build a bridge, basically. And what you told me this a few weeks ago, if you have already talked about this, you can, you can stop me. But in John 20, after, so after he's died and is resurrected, this blew my mind when you told me this, where he says, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I'm ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God. And am I correct? I'm trying to remember if I'm remembering this

correctly. You said that that's the only, that's the first time he's referred to God, to people as your father. Yeah. An hour. Your father. And our. Right. No, it says to my father and your father. Yeah. And your father. So the whole time he said, my father, my father, you know, who has sent me. And, and then after he's built the bridge, we're talking about, after he's connected and you've gone through the gate, he's built this gate like you just said, now it's our father, you know. And I think it's like, God is going to dwell with his people no matter what. Like from the beginning, he's always going to find a way.

And I was in studying for this. I was reading Deuteronomy 12 where the Lord is choosing a place of worship. And it says over and over again, but you shall seek the place that the Lord or God will choose out of all of your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. And there you shall go. Verse 11. Then to the place that the Lord your God will choose. choose to make his name dwell there. Verse 14, but at the place that the Lord will choose.

And every time he says that, like after, and still in verse 11, it says, there you shall bring all that I command to you, your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vowed to the Lord, which is funny because all, like, none of that is really sufficient. And, like, Jesus fulfills that now. as the dwelling place. Like now we get to be the dwelling place. That's a good point because if you think about the focal

point of that is looking, you've got to find the place of worship, right? So you get to the New Testament in John's Gospel with the woman at the well, what does she ask? What's the place of worship? Do we worship on the mountain or where my people worship? Because we got a temple up there that we built,

the Samaritans built our temple up there, but you Jews worship in Jerusalem at the other temple, which temple do we worship at? I mean, that's a big question. And think about how provocative Jesus' answer is, because he said the time is coming and, in fact, is now here when you will neither worship God on that mountain nor in Jerusalem. Even that alone, the fact that Jesus Christ himself said that you will not worship God

in the temple that's down there in Jerusalem. He said that. I mean, so the fact that today's like, what's the date today? September 23rd that we're filming this. I know this will come out later, but they're saying today is the rapture. I don't know if you've been reading this or not online. Like, today's going to be the rapture. I don't read many things.

Well, I don't think it is going to be the rapture. Maybe it is or not. But the point is... I hope not. We're all still here. Well, I mean, yeah, we're all still here. If we walk outside, nobody's out there, boys. But think about this idea that we're waiting on, like, to be rapture up into heaven

when Jesus seemed to clearly teach that the center point is going to be in human bodies. And eventually it'll encompass the whole globe. but to your point, we're waiting on to go to heaven, which is I think the point of John 173 is that's not what heaven is. When you read the end of the Bible, you see the kingdom. You see, what is it, the new city, the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. So it's coming to us in the end. You also don't see us dwelling with God.

You see God dwelling with us. Yeah. Look at it carefully. That's what it says. I wanted to comment on these nuggets that Brighton brought up in Deuteronomy 12, which is awesome. But later on in that chapter, in verse 18, and I haven't studied this, I was just reading ahead. There's also statements that you're actually going to see mirrored in John 17 with this God dwelling with people. Like in verse 18, it says, instead you are to eat them in the presence of,

the Lord your God, at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then when he gets to verse, let me see, 21, if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far away from you, and then he goes into this. And that idea, which the name is mentioned later in this chapter, and there's a rabbit hole that I want to go down, that I'm not going to go down on this. but when we get to that section, us as English-speaking humans, we think, oh, a name. It's a title given to someone. But in the Old Testament, the name, like I just read in Deuteronomy 12, it was more than name.

It was a title given to a way to address God without saying his actual name, which is why that's still a thing, even in our culture today, which goes back to Exodus 3. when Moses, remember the burning bush? And he's like, well, who should I tell him? And he goes in to start talking about his name. And what does he point out? What his name means, I am. Which here's Jesus.

Here's Jesus saying all these titles about I am, I am, I am. And my point is when he gets to John 17, and I'll go ahead and read that verse, because we can go down the raven hole when we get there. But when he says that about the name in verse 11 of chapter 17 of John, I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you, Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name,

the name you gave me so that they may be one as we are one. Well, what is that doing in Deuteronomy 12? What is the significance? Because the name, from their understanding, was more than just a title. It was a presence. It was a power. It was a character being revealed. It's like you carry the name.

That's why in the Ten Commandments, when it says, don't misuse my name. But if you look up the Hebrew, it's like, don't carry my name in a vain way. It's like you're representing. It's not all of a sudden, don't, curse in the middle of don't murder and don't steal. And it's actually the way you represent yourselves is carrying bearing the name. Because you're an image bearer.

Well, a lot of the image bear. So a lot of Hebrew scholars prefer to say that in the Exodus 3 that I will be what I will be. That's one translation of I am that I am. Another one would say it when you look at the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, is I am the being one. But when you look at what some people point to, I think this is a better way to say it, the Hebrew word here, I wrote this down for a sermon,

I preached on Exodus 3. It's the verb to be, ha'ya, it doesn't just point to existence. So he's not, because, so Y'alli's not just saying I am, I eternally exist, although he is saying that. It also points to this.

Listen, manifest presence. Exactly. something breaking in, something showing up, something being active. So when he says to Moses, I am, what he's really saying is I am, which means I'm here, I'm present, I'm with you. I think that's what the whole point is centered around his presence. And the name of God is important to this because until Exodus 3, God said, I never told anybody in my name.

Which is interesting that that even includes the patriarchs that received the initial promises. I think I should read. He didn't say the name. I think we should read it because some people went on old. He revealed himself as El Shaddai, but not as Yahweh. And he says, only to you, Moses, you're the first time. This is the first time I've ever told anybody my name. Let me just read this.

So verse 11, I mean, he's like, Moses, I got a job for you. And Moses said to God, well, who am I, which is the backwards version of I am who, which is how God responded, not by accident. Who am I? I am somebody we're in Nashville somebody should make a song about this I've said that many times that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt because that's what we all think at some point well who am I that that I can represent you bear your name and God said I will be with you and this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you does this not sound familiar

Does it not sound like what Jesus is claiming? When you have brought the people out of Egypt, Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. Does that not sound familiar? And when you talk about liberation and ultimate freedom, now this is there being liberated from an oppressing government. But what did Jesus offer in his freedom? How about sin and death itself?

The ultimate freedom. Moses said to God, suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. He's acting like, this is ridiculous. They're going to ask me, well, what is his name? Then what shall I tell them? God said to Moses, I am who I am.

Or, like what you said, I will be what I will be, which has a little letter there to say that. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me. me to you. And Jesus echoes that now as the, he is now God in human form. This is one thing. What Jesus did is another. God deciding to enter the world through the birth canal of a woman, which echoes Genesis 315 and the curse that was put on the evil one about, I'm going to crush you. Well, let me say this, because I've got to get this in before we run out,

but there's so much in John 17 about the name that Christ inherited that he received, that God gave him this name. That's where I'm going with that. This is so interesting. If you go to Exodus 33 again, when Moses is telling God, like, we can't go to the promised land if you're not going with us. Like, I'm not going. If you're not in it, well, I'm not going.

Like, blot me out if you're not going to be there with us. And then whenever he is in negotiation with God, which he wasn't really negotiating. I'm just using hyperbole there. But he says, show me your glory. And this is what God says. And he's affirming Moses. I'm going to show you my glory. And then God basically defines what his glory is in the very next verse in Exodus 3319. And listen to what he says. And he said, I will show you my glory. He says, I will make all my goodness pass before you. So this is his glory. His goodness and will proclaim before you. you my name the Lord Yahweh and I would be gracious to whom I am gracious and I will show mercy on whom

I will show mercy. So the glory of God is his goodness, what you said earlier, the part you're missing out on is the goodness of God what you sat in that church and listened to that song. I ain't feeling that, right? But his goodness is his glory and his name. So when you think about Yahweh being revealed as the name of God to Moses and then to the people of Israel. And then basically that was the identity. That's how they identified themselves, was by his name. When you get to John 173 and Christ is talking about a name that he's inherited and the center point of all this, then you start to see, wait a second. And the very essence of the name of God is manifest presence, eternal existence and manifest presence.

And Christ is now embodying, he is inheriting. He has inherited that name. Then you start to understand what Paul meant in Philippians too, why at the end of time, every knee will bow and every tongue confess what? The name, Jesus Christ, is Lord. Exactly. So look, fast forward, because I know we're almost out of time. So you have this where Jesus just brings that up about the name in John 17.

Then what happens? We know Jesus fixed to be arrested. He dies. He's buried. He's buried. He's raised. He has this fellowship with him. You gather up in acts. He's like, wait here till you receive the power. The Holy Spirit, which he predicted, John 14, 15, 16, is poured out. All of a sudden you see this sign. It goes back to Genesis 11, Tower Babel. All the languages were mixed, and now they hear their own language from these voices of the disciples. That's the miracle. Peter stands up, preaches a sermon about Jesus. And when they hear it, and he specifically got into the death and the bell and the resurrection of Jesus, he's Lord in Christ. And the people heard this, they're like, what do we do? And Peter replied, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.

It wasn't just a title. He had gotten it. this is the presence of God that you're witnessing via the Holy Spirit. I'm not just telling you a story about a character. I'm doing this by the power and presence of God right now. Yeah. And people responded. I just think how that should change us in thinking, oh, God's far off,

which is why all through the Bible it says he's not far. Remember Act 17? Not far from each of us. Oh, he's not far. Right. So you knowing that you have the presence of God inside of you as you're declaring Jesus, I think that's more his point and his prayer in this chapter, which is very powerful. And look, that's not a one case event.

They continued to say that in the name of the name. That's how that became my name. It's not like a magic password. You ever thought it's like, oh, if I say it in the, okay, in Jesus' name, okay, that said the password. now he's going to answer the prayer if you answer anything in my name well and people argue about it

like what you have to say but they're there they're or even if it's wrong to say it which is where that came from they're like who am I I'm not even worthy to mention his name which I think is a good attitude to have because we are just human beings

that are flawed but I think Jesus was introducing here because he's going to get to their mission that he uses flawed people and he moves into flaw of people to further what he started and be the representatives of heaven on earth, which is back to the temple language. I want to read the last section of this 17, 1 through 5.

So verse 4, he says, I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do, which is interesting, and we can talk about that on the next podcast. Because this is kind of almost like a celebration point. he brings in it. Wait a minute. Why would he? And so what that, this verse takes you back to is remember the verse in John 6th where he's,

they said, what is the work of God? And he said, here's the work of God to believe in the one he sent. And so I think that's the reason he used. That's just my opinion. Yeah. But it's like they believe in me. They got it. Even though it's going to be bumpy and you're going to be scattered because that's when he said.

And he just said that at the end of 16. Well, right. He's like, you know, oh yeah, you believe at last, right? But he knew their hearts. And so then it says, and now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I have with you before the world began. All of a sudden, this gets deep because this goes back to John 1. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, and then you go down to 14, the Word became flesh. What's encouraging about this after the Holy Spirit is when he gets to verse 24,

he's then when he's praying for all the believers, he says, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you love me before the creation of the world, which now makes this love angle make more sense. Yeah, I've often used that as a way. way to really round out a good theology, which is you ask the question, what was God doing before he creates the world? And we now know. We now know he was loving himself. And not in a narcissistic way. The father was eternally loving the son. Relations between the three. Yeah.

But I think it helps us understand the nature of God because if we try to put other attributes that are contingent upon creation in that spot, you're going to end up like bringing God down. For example, if I say God was pouring out his wrath before the creation of the world, you're like, well, who was he pouring his wrath out on? Wasn't anybody there. Wasn't anybody there, but himself. There's no sin to pour wrath out of right. That requires him to need us.

So wrath becomes its contingent upon creation. God doesn't need us, right? He didn't need me to be God. He's God before he creates any of us. And he also wasn't dispensing mercy before the foundation of the world. You know, he was loving himself. Love is that primary attribute. I think it's preexisting attribute.

I'll say it like that. And I think that's why First John is really keen on twice it says in First John chapter four, that God is love. So I know we're out of time, but I want to say that's why he also uses give 17 times, because what is love? It starts with giving, and God is the giver of everything. So you start making that connection. I like it.

Yeah. All right. Well, that went fast. Yeah. I know. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube.

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