Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1178 | Willie & Jase Robertson Revisit Phil’s Legacy & The Question Your Obituary Should Answer

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

Willie and Jase lean hard into brotherly rivalry as Willie reveals his slow-drip strategy for getting under Jase’s skin, then they turn their sights on Zach for some good-natured teasing. Al notes that both brothers are channeling their inner Phil, and Willie credits Phil for inspiring his latest book, “Courage: 40 Days to Sharing Your Faith.” The guys contrast Zacchaeus’s willing heart with the rich young ruler’s unwilling spirit and deliver a legacy gut-check: when it’s all over, what will people say your life was really about? In this episode: Romans 10, verse 17; Luke 19, verses 1–10; Luke 18, verses 18–30; Galatians 5, verses 19–26; Galatians 2, verses 11–14; John 17, verses 18–23; 1 Peter 3, verse 15; Colossians 4, verse 6. Chapters: 00:00–9:23 Willie & Jase Gang Up on Zach 09:24–24:14 What’s Up in the World of Willie 24:15–36:01 Phil’s Choice Changed the Robertson Legacy 36:02–47:13 Preaching the Barroom Gospel 47:14–56:51 What’ll They Say About You When You’re Gone? — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to Unashamed. We have our special guest on, or my little brother, Willie. Hello. Welcome back. It's good to be back. Cousin Willie. Cousin Willie. I call him my bigger, younger brother.

It's part of my speech. I'm not sparring with you all too much today. yeah. Well, we just spent 10 minutes refighting the mansions over the hilltop from last episode. I'm used to taking on Zach, so yeah. Well, of all the podcasts we've done,

I just didn't enjoy that podcast. Zach was making me uncomfortable. I don't mind disagreeing with him, but I just thought, really, this is the hill we're dying on today? You did not mind disagreeing with me. No, I didn't. I just, yeah.

I just, I don't know. You didn't disagree with me. That's what I was trying to tell you. Oh, no. They were arguing over song, Will. So Jace said, this was the first song they say. He went to WFR. They did Manson's all the hilltop.

He went into the whole. First song, though. I know, the whole theology. But what got me was is that Jace then buries his head in his own studies and did not come back aware until the closing prayer. He didn't even know there was a service. Literally lost all. That's what got me.

I was like, he blacked out. He blacked out. In Bible study with glasses on note, but. Look, I took a lot of notes. I'll give you what I studied on if you want to get to. I mean, he blamed it on Manches over the hilltop, but then, you know, threw him off. But I just thought it was interesting.

The only Jace, but he says he does that when he plays cards. Is that true? He just, if you ever see him do that where he just gets in his own little study, he just, he's studying. I've done that before. Yeah. Jace is kind of in his own world. I think of this, I feel like this is an appropriate time to tell this story. So we played golf with some guys and Jace used to play with us.

And so this guy was like he had asked Jace about a bed or something. Jace ignored him. And so they go like, you know, they're on the back nine and the guy says, hey, I asked Jace something that, you know, did he want to bet? And the guy looks at him, he goes, hey, Jase doesn't even realize you're here. which was so true he doesn't even realize there's other guys

playing golf with him right now he is in his own little world that's why nobody likes to ride with Jase because the minute he hits the ball he's like yeah let's go over here I'm right here just I'm 20 yards behind you right here yeah let me go see what my lie looks like

interesting you say that because they're Jesus created a word within a world. It did. And we're in that world. So I am in another world in the world. It's weird you've mentioned this.

I played cards last night. I haven't played in weeks because the last time I played I lost, which is rare. It's rare, but it was painful? Is it gambling when you lose then? Because you said it's not gambling. Well, it's not gambling. You got to look at it from a 10-year. It's a 10-year.

No, I say year to year you do evaluation. As long as you're positive, you're still playing good. And you know that from your stash. So let me just say this. It was a good night last night. So, but what I will notice. Was I there? No, oh, no.

Okay. This was crazy, crazy game last night. And what I did notice is tempers flared last night. Not at me at any time nobody ever got mad at me. But I'm just saying, tempers flare, because when people lose, we're men, we're watching the NFL football game. It's a high-tee situation. Yeah, it's a temper started flaring. Not all these people are following Jesus, but there's no drinking or anything like that.

But people, tempers were flared. But about three or four times, I'm not even, to your point, I'm not even aware what's happening because I wasn't in the high. hand and all of a sudden I hear because the voices start being raised and so I kind of like you snapped out of your inner world is hey everybody calm you know and then four or five times during the knife someone pointed to me and said well I would really tell you what I feel but since jace is here I'm not and so I thought what have I got to do this but I think he meant I'm not I'm gonna respect that because he wouldn't use that kind of language or whatever. And I took that as a compliment.

I think it's good. Because it happened multiple times. Then that kind of became the thing. Like, I'm really mad. You know, it wasn't like there wasn't a few four little words floating around out there, but it's like they really got mad. And then like, I'm not going to. I thought that was kind of weird.

I've never seen that happen. What would you have done had he not, if he just would have gone off, somebody would have just lost it? Well, I've seen him do it before. Yeah. That's why I'm like, why all of a sudden are we acknowledging that? I don't know.

But I took it as a compliment for Jesus. That's good? And I'm glad it didn't break into a fist of course, which I don't think it would. But they were pretty hot. They were slamming the table and throwing cards across the room, which Willie did that one time, famously. I usually make them. Like I, part of what I do is weren't playing cards. So off the bat, I'll pop off and, because I do a lot of talking.

So I make somebody mad. Yeah. It's a big advantage. So then what they, then they're the whole night. Zach's, they just desperate, they want to beat me so bad. And once you get to that place in cards, that's that one little advantage I need. I need you to make that one play. You executed that perfectly at my birthday bash.

Yeah. Because we had a lot of... Oh, yeah. That was a one-o-one. Who did you go after that night, Willie? Well, there was a list. But at the top of it was, there was what he referred to as the beaver,

which is our uncle, Cy. Because he had a little... He had a miniature figurine of a beaver, and that he used that for his card cover. If y'all don't play cards, you don't even know what that means. But you protect your hand by putting usually a chip But he put a little beaver.

And so Willie started picking at him because every time they got in a hand together, Willie would like bust his beaver down. Blow his beaver down up. Hey, Beaver, you might already call some friends. The dam's breaking. And this went on for hours. I never stopped.

Just kept going. It was like a drip towards you. It's a basically, you create something here because you're going for something. So everybody gets to laugh, and so then, and it were, I mean, Sa, that's meltdown. He basically gave Willie all his money.

And then he borrowed money. He lost it all back to Willie. On the next day. Everything I just gave him, he lost it back in literally three minutes. Dave's tell that story. Oh, it was hilarious. I left so. It was funny.

And, you know, sometimes the drip can last like 25 years. You'll start dripping Whatever it is And you just keep doing it for 25 years What's the line for you, Zach? You just keep doing what you're doing You do what you do That's the line

What's funny is That's what you said Well, I did say I'm just to remind I'm good at reminding people Stupid things they say I was back and Willie worked for me There was one moment

Where he was I hired him as a hired hand And I pulled out my Dave Ramsey Envolops I think we may have told this on the podcast before, but he says... Some stories are funny every done. Well, he's ever making fun on me

about me like budgeting. And I say, hey, you do your thing, I'll do mine. And we'll see who. We'll see who ends up on top. Budgeting. Because what's been revealed through this podcast is Zach has tight tendencies when it comes to money. Like to a level that I was fun.

Yeah, you'll say that. But the truth is that y'all got a hold of that, whatever that narrative is. and y'all all do this and you'll drip it for years and then and then everyone believes it but it's not even necessarily the full truth it's just you've said y'all said it so many times now that's what everybody thinks even my own kids are calling me tight i'm like look at what i bought all you guys they must listen to the pie yeah they probably know some people don't accept it's the rich young ruler is in multiple accounts in the gospel yeah so that's uh exhibit a there you go some people just

need to go sell everything they have willie brought his own coffee you. Why not? I love it. So we'll tell us what's going on in your world. So you got the new show. That's been crazy. I've been busy.

Y'all filmed a couple of seasons now? Two seasons, yeah. But only one is aired, correct? One is, yeah, one came out on A&E. And then the other is, we'll come out on Hulu, and that'll be October 16th. Oh, it's another show? It's the same show, but now it'll be on Hulu. Different platform.

So a different platform that's. that a lot of people will be able to... And I got involved in the second season. Yeah, Jay's came on board. And then the second season will start in January back on A&E, and then it'll be on Hulu as well. Okay, good. It's fun around here because, I mean, of course,

I'm not having to do it, y'all are having to do the work, but just seeing people like back excited again, people, you show up here. There's a buzz going on. I'm not sure I would classify that as work. It was a lot more laid, It seems different to me from the outside in.

Just watching it happen, it seems like it is a little more, I don't know, organic or something. I just had one job, which is real life, because we're in this transition of training younger men to not be so yuppified. Cover your ears, Zach. And yesterday he wore a camouflage shirt on the podcast. Did he? Oh, wow. He's got a duck on his hat today. He's getting out of Norsey.

So just doing that, you have young men who, like, you know, they're addicted to their phone. They can't function in the outdoors. It's a problem in our society. And so basically, that was my role. So you're channeling your inner dad to whip them into shape? I tried. I don't know how, you know, I haven't seen it. Speaking of inner dad, well, so your family's all on vacation this week.

You're here. I mean, I was like, if that's not. I don't know how to fail move. I don't know what is. Now it's everybody but Willie. I know it was, there's about 40 of them. So you're stacked in a place. That is a feel move.

It is a dad move. Isn't that awesome? Yeah. That worked out. I mean, sadly, that I'm not there. Of course. Corey's trying to get me to fly down just for a night, just a cook. I knew they're missing your cook.

No, I was, well, I've been traveling, so I've been, God, I've been so busy on the road. So are you speaking? a lot. Don't you do? Yeah, that's where I've been seeing, Willie. We bump into each other in the airport. Every time I'm some plat, they'll say, I just saw your brother, and I'm like, which one?

You know, because everybody's traveling. Yeah, I have been on a run like crazy, and I'm fixing to go on a crazy run. That's why I'm not there. So I do like Ohio, Washington State, Nashville, South Dakota, Tampa. Wow. That's all just one run.

Yeah, I'm here these two days, because I had another event, but it didn't work out. But I would have been gone, I think, 19 days straight. Is this still the business thing that you were doing before? Is this something different? No, the other night I was in the L.A. area. I spoke to church. That was so awesome.

Yeah, it's like God, I feel like God wants you in these places, and you don't know really why until you're there. And then you leave, and you're like, oh, wow, that was amazing. So it feels like, I'm just glad it feels like the book of Acts, you know, especially at the end where, you know, they're running around everywhere. And so it's the same way you're here. I was in Jacksonville. I spoke to church.

Oh, he's been on the... Oh, yeah, Joby's church. Yeah. So I did the, their revival in Jacksonville. You know, I was in Michigan. So some of its churches, some of its life surge, which is that business. Yeah. Tebow and I.

You saw that. Oh, we saw the video. We actually ran it on our podcast, didn't we? Yeah, because I told the story. because I bumped into you and you told me this. Oh, yeah. And, yeah, T, yeah, T, yeah, T, but I dressed his room up in LSU gear and when they played Florida.

When they played Florida. So then we were just together in Colorado Springs is that's where I came from this time. I went from L.A. to Colorado Springs. And I got some friends and got Trent Langhofer's right. I had a lot of friends there. And they texted me and they said, are you going to be in Colorado Springs? I said, for a second. Because I came in from L.A.

and then zoomed out. Working your way across the times. Listen what Tebow did. Listen, listen. So Tebow comes out and he says, so it's like 6 o'clock. Yeah. So I had spoken. No, in the evening.

So he had just got through Donne speaking. Then we'd do a meet and greet. Take photos and then we leave. So Tebow says, don't tell me any of the scores to any of the games. Well, isn't he a college football analyst? Yeah. So he comes out, he looks at it, he's on his phone and I said, I'm not going to tell you anything, but I'll just tell you that I'm really sad.

And he looks up at me just with the biggest anger. I said, I didn't say anything. I just, he said, I can't believe, you know, he is just so mad at me. I said, you can't hold back the entire SEC. You're saying, I don't want any score from any. SEC. That's way too many. You should be like tracking it. Pick one and say don't tell me that. But you can't say like don't even, especially when

we just had our first loss. And I'm here with a guy who, you know, is an analyst and I would want to talk to him about it. He said, don't tell me the scores. He's still mad at me. He's so strange. Then he comes in and says he, then he, oh, this is funny. So he comes in as I'm taking pictures, he gets done, he comes up and sneaks out behind me and picks me up. And, you know, He said, I owe you. I'm going to get you back for what you did. He picked you up off the ground.

He's strong. Yeah, he's a big guy. Big guy. Big boy. He's a husband winning. I'm just saying. And he kept it going, you know. Actually, Terrell Davis was there too.

So when we walked in, it was us three. I said, hey, hey, athletes coming through. Athletes coming through. This sounds like the start of a joke. Tebow, Terrell Davis. And Willie. And Willie walking to a church. There you go.

So when Tebow lays, and I thought this was funny, there was a person there who was getting their picture. There was people there. So the guy turns around and he goes, hang on. Did he mess up my picture? He meaning Tim Tebow. Like if you got the photo with Tebow picking me up and you're in the picture, that's that.

That's the picture you won't, right? But he was like, no, no, no, I don't, like he screwed my picture. I need to take that again. right it back it's kind of funny sometimes things happen funnier in real life

that's what you go with you know yeah that's yeah I always just say that whatever happens that you think screwed it up right

so when something happens you think screwed the whole thing up that's probably that's what you're trying to go after that's probably what you were going after right

so you're just a road warrior road war yeah yeah preaching and speaking and I did a so I have a line of golf clothes coming out

I'm on Willie Lyle. Oh, really? So I did a photo shoot. Is it all like 60s throwback stuff? No, it is super legit. It's, it's, Blanco is the name of the company.

And, oh, you know who's also with us on that, the quarterback for Vandy? Oh, really? Again, these strange bedfellows

that come together. That guy is amazing. Oh, like Pablo. Yeah, yeah, something like that. He's doing the...

He's in on it. Yeah, it's a company. It's out of L.A. So when I spoke in Riverside that night, then to a church group. And then from there, I like drove an hour and a half and then got a hotel. And then I was at daylight. I was in the Los Angeles National Forest or something filming. I was shooting a gun.

We were trying to shoot golf balls out of the air. And we were filming a commercial. with the golf clothing. That was fried. And then from there, I went to Colorado Springs. And I tell you what, though, that the pastor there in Riverside, he gets up. So the guy had sent him in my book, Gospeller, he said it's one of the top five best books he's ever read. So it kind of blew me away.

I was like, wow. He said that when he introed you? Yeah. Yeah, it is a good book. Because the guy who brought me in and said, wow, I thought he, I thought he may like the book, but that was a full-throat endorsement. In fact, he's making part of his sermon series about it as well. So that was cool because I didn't really write it for, wasn't necessarily for pastors,

because I didn't know if pastors would really, you know, you get into theology and they get a little weird on that. But yeah, it was cool that he read it and saw it as far as just the aspect of sharing the gospel, which is the new book as well, the devotional book as well, which is where that comes from. So since you mentioned that, it just came out, right? It did. Like this week. Did you actually write this?

Of course I did. He said that yesterday. He's like, did he actually write? I said, well, you just got his name on. Are you riding these books in an airport? What do you think? Yeah, I have. You know what's fair?

I ride everywhere. Do you guys do the chat, GPD? Do y'all do that or not? I was with a bunch of pastors recently, and I said, you all do it. Every one of them were like, oh, yeah, of course. And because I don't. And I was like, oh, wow, I still haven't. Yeah, I haven't never.

I don't use it to write. You can't use it to write, but you can use it for, like, research. And it's pretty good at research. Well, they were telling me, and I said, well, I mean, I, like I'll Google something. You know, like, yeah. But you know, but Google will always pop up with whatever somebody, you got to pay to get it to get your searches in, Chat GPT is more and GROC is more.

You got to pay. The results that come up on Google, somebody paid to have that on your page. So you've got to sort through all the ads. Who's paying it? It's called search engine optimization SEO. It's anybody who wants their whatever to show up in a search engine.

I was just trying to figure out who's doing the paying. I've searched things my whole life. Nobody's ever said this cost money. You don't pay to search, but when you search something, companies want their stuff to pop up in your answers. So it's all like a money making. Yeah, but we're not paying cash. We're not forking over the cash. Who's forking over the cash?

Who's shucking the cash to Mr. Chat Joe, CPO. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. This is back to dad looking at the fax machine. and saying, how is it possible? You mean, somebody feeds it in, and then it comes out on the paper, but I'm looking at the wires, how is it possible? It's like some kind of magic check.

Somebody's on that bop-pip-pip-pib-pib-pib-pix. It reminds me when I try to talk, Phil, into investing money, and he's like, can I lose it? And I was like, well, yeah, who gets it? Who actually has it? But if you see the number and then it goes down, you look on in your little box, where and how did that money go from pockets? Pocket. People have pockets.

It was here. Then it was, it's somewhere. Yeah. I made it, you know, somebody put it in my hand. I made it. You took it and it went somewhere, but nobody knows where it went. It was an interesting conversation. We never got past it because he said, so I have it in my pocket.

Then you're going to put a number that I have in my pocket on that computer screen. If I lose it, who's coming to get the money out of my pocket? That was the argument. We never got past it because I really couldn't explain it. I was like, well, it's just a number that it's not. There's no actual paper money. It's a number that represents paper money. And he's like, no, that's not real.

So we didn't get past it. That's a throwback. So I felt like, well, that on gospel, because what did dad, you took the book to dad. Yeah. And well, I printed it out. Yeah. And then he read it. Because I want him to read it, you know, quickly because I knew he was starting to kind of slide a little bit.

So as soon as we had it, you know, in a form, we just printed it here at the office and sent it down just in paper form. And he read it really quickly, and he sent me my favorite, it was a text through Dan. And he said, well, that was the best explanation of how to share the gospel I've ever read. And then this is the part that made me laugh so hard. He said, and you were so nice about it. That's hilarious. But I felt like it was, I mean, it really was sort of an homage to his whole life. And now it just kind of carries through, I mean, he never wrote a book about it.

But if he did, it would have been that. I mean, because that's, it's really what we learned, right? I mean, our whole life. Well, the first chapter was about Phil, and I went even deeper into that story. Because at some point in my life, I just thought, wow, what if that? What if that wouldn't have happened, you know? Right. What if Bill doesn't drive up to the bar, you know.

Right. Well, no, that happened. Yeah, what if Jan hadn't had the heart for? If Jan said he'd gone, you know, like. Even Cy says now that he gave up on that. Like, you know, like everybody did. Yeah, I think that was the coming. But if none of that happens, then.

Yeah. What happens to us? Our whole lives look completely different. Right. You read passages like faith comes through hearing. the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. But when you see that happen, because that's what happened. Yeah.

He heard the message of Christ in a bar, and it produced faith. Right. And it took a while. And it didn't take right off the bat. Exactly. Well, seemingly nothing happened, and then I, even in the book, I say, I wonder if Bill was driving back going, well, that's a day I'll never get back of my life. You know, like it didn't.

You know, the guy didn't do what it was. And so, well, Phil's actual first response was, according to the story, was unbelievable. But for a pastor to hear that, you're like, oh, no, it's believable. He's like, unbelievable. I mean, because Phil was being like, that's so incredible, it's unbelievable. Well, the second round, he said, it sounds too good to be true. Now his heart's coming to. That's true.

That was the other line. The other line was, it sounds too good to be true. true and Bill said oh it is too good but it is true right I think the third line he said was what's the catch yeah what was what's yeah what's the catch yeah I mean this doesn't it sounds like that's so Phil but so that I go through and the inspirational part for me was even to think about Bill like I mean how many preachers do you know would jump in their car and drive to another state go into a bar talk to a crazy person who's, I just don't know if I know a lot of guys who would do that.

I'd say less than one percent. A very small person. I mean, most people would just, you know, be like, no, that's, you're going to have to tell him to come. And I think that. Because I kind of imagine what it was like, like Bill told Jan. Yeah, to have him to come to church and we can, we'll talk to him after. He ain't come to church.

I'll tell him, can you go to where he were? Well, that's a bar. Okay, which one in town? Well, it's not even in town. It's not even the state. It's not even the state. It's like, okay, let me get this right. You won't need to drive to another state, talk to a man who doesn't want to talk to me.

Yeah. Like, he doesn't want this. He's not bagging and all that. I think you got to be at a place in your faith, too, because, like, there was one time in my life, I drove to a bar. Yeah. Over a discipleing, one of our new Christian. I remember. Yeah.

And I thought, I look back on that. I wouldn't do that now. I'd be like, p. Yeah. But there was a time there where I. I thought, and I remember asking Missy, but Missy was like, what are you crazy? And I was like, and I actually camouflaged my look, because, you know, I was new in the faith, pretty much. I mean, seven or eight years in, because I thought I don't want to be seen at this bar either.

Or then somebody's like, I saw old Jay at the bar the other night. So I like, you know, I actually wore a bandana. Hey, I like that look. Yeah, I did. He was auditioning. We sat in the parking lot, and it was packed, the honky talk. I don't even know if they're still here. It was in Monroe.

And it wasn't five minutes, and the very person, out of all these hundreds of people, came walking out. With another new sister. Two women. And I just walked up there, which I was thinking, because she was saying, what happened? We were sharing Jesus with somebody else. and they said, well, yeah, you know, y'all just brought this girl to the Lord, and she's going to the bar every night.

So I called the girl after the study. I was like, I'm getting reports. We're sharing Jesus with somebody, and you supposedly declared Jesus as Lord, and she's like, it wasn't me. Not me. But then we heard it from another source, and I thought, is this girl live?

And that's why we just said it was like New Year's Eve. and I thought, I know what people do on New Year's Eve. I was like, let's go up there and just see. Five minutes she comes stumbling out.

And so I went up there thinking, I was thinking about the argument. We're going to have confrontation. She's going to cry. Oh, she cussed me out. I was on her turn. How dare you come up here? Jay's found out that once somebody

is kind of crossed over to that other side, They'll do just about anything. A week later, she did apologize. You don't mean, it worked out. So, by the way, this is the 40-day devotional. And there's one of the devotals in here, you talk about light and dark, and it really reminded me what Jason was just saying, how you come out of a lifestyle into light.

And that's what changes everything. But the last thing you want to do is go back into where you were. Right. You know, part of that's the crossover, I guess. Well, that's the light. Yeah, I mean, when you're talking about, yeah, I use a lot of those. light, darkness, death, you know, life, saved, lost. I mean, you know, so what you're trying to do is get on the initial stages,

which stage is talking about then, that's the next stage, right? The next stage is where you go from, you know, then trying to live, you know. And like even in the Bible, you know, where you go into the letters to the churches. So on this initial phase, you know, of trying to get people to start thinking about how do you share that? Like how do you, how exactly do you share that? Because as I'm running around,

I'm like, I realize most people don't know, they don't know what to say. Like they're like, oh, that's so awesome that Bill drove to that bar to talk to your father. But then when you put yourself in that situation,

you're like, would you know what to say? Would you even know where to start? Yeah. Bill did. He knew the story he was going to tell feel. And what I found that so many people today, they just don't know. And it's not that they don't have the desire to know. They want to know. It's just not the system and how we do this.

We just, we don't know how to, you know, we're not telling people exactly what do you say or how to share, how do you share that? And so, and then to start getting people, you know, when I'm sitting with someone, what we're trying to figure out is which side of this are you on? Yeah. Are you in the dark? Are you in the light? And in Galatians 5 is one of the best examples of that to me, you know, that's written down. The acts of the sinful nature. And he says, and here's the fruits of the spirit. You die to this.

You're no longer like this. This is how you are now. And so I usually read that passage to them trying to tether them initially, trying to tether them to the Bible. So I don't want to tether them to me because I may not ever see them again. And then there's also other problems when you start following. following somebody just because of them. You're like, oh, I look up to you so much. And so you want to tether them to the Bible.

So on this initial phase, are we in the dark or the light? And it's interesting, you know, when you're going through that with people in their life, what they think. Most people think they're good people, you know, well, I think I'm good. And so you're trying to find where is that at, you know, are we in the light, the darkness? It is a journey, though. We're talking about even feel like there's a, even the girl that was, that went to the bar, I don't, you know, which we used to, like, it was such a, yeah,

like you're out of bar, like, like, that, oh, yeah, that could be, yeah, I don't know, it doesn't, that doesn't, that's not your whole life, you know, it's where they're trying to find, you know, this journey. And we see that also at the Bible, it's like, I wanted to give you more, you couldn't handle it. You're, you know, and you see this, even Peter, look at him, you know, I mean, just outright lying, you know, just literally telling a lie. Yeah, that's, At the point right before he's in Acts preaching, he's telling a lie, which is not telling us. He would have seen the least qualified to be the first guy up, you know? Even as a Christian, I mean, our post-resurrection, Peter was a racist in Galatians.

Paul said, I rebuked him straight to his face. So you even see post-resurrection, it's a process, right? It's a process of being sanctified. That gives me a lot of comfort. Yeah, that's what I happen to me. that when I shared their story, we all of a sudden had this people just started coming to Jesus. I don't know how many people was brought to the Lord those first couple of years right when I got married.

But so then you're like trying to make that transformation permanent now. That's why I said I would never go to a bar now because it's just kind of part of the process. I mean, even that girl today, she's still around. Yeah, she's so it's been, what was that, 30 years ago. 30 years ago. But back, you know, you're just kind of young and immature thinking, okay, we're going to get them all in, and we're going to all keep them in now. But it just, you can't, you can't handle all that because the bigger the number gets.

Well, you start out. But I would, I mean, I would go in a bar. Oh, exactly. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But back then. That's actually where our story started. Back then, I was thinking to a lot.

little bit too legalistically, you know what I mean? Well, right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, because wherever the conversation is to be had, and you start the book with that, I love the idea that conversations lead to conversion, you know, which is true. And that's exactly what happened in Dad's case, but it happens in many cases. I mean, that's what leads.

Well, it's hearing the word, you know, I mean, that's what you just said. It's hearing the word and how are you going to hear it if you don't have a conversation, which is what Jesus did. right? With your mouth. Or I guess, I guess technically with your computer. Yeah. You know, or your phone.

That's right. Yeah. I mean, you can, you know, writing a letter, you know, so you could communicate. I guess there are other ways, especially now. Like, like, I was just hearing Jay say he was, when you were saying it was basically a Bible study through text. If you go back 10, 20 years ago, we'd all said through what? Yeah.

I remember the first text I ever got. He said, this guy said, just text me. And I went, text you? He goes, yeah, just text. He said, it's way better and easier. And I was like, well, I'll just call you. And he said, no, don't call me. Just text me.

And so just having to get that. So there are new ways. Oh, there's new ways. So there's new ways to get the gospel out to other people. However, you know, I still think face-to-face contact. I mean, that's what we're getting to in life, right? Like, we're just going to eliminate all interaction with human beings completely, you know. So I still think, you know, the gospel's going to get out that way.

But it is through the conversations. And basically the whole, if you think about Phil, I always say this, I can trace that back. So now hundreds of millions of people all over the globe have been touched in some way by the gospel from you, you, me. Zach, our whole family. Now, for us, where that started, was back to Philly and Kay in a small town in southern Arkansas, no money, no fame, no just a long trail of heartaches and tears and dumb, bad decisions and sinfulness. From right there, you can go forward and realize, look at what the gospel has been out

through podcasts, through books, through television, prayers, the end of the show, movies, all this, and you can trace all that back. That's amazing. I mean, that you can trace it back to, here's, here's where that started. Here was the conversation that happened. So the inspirational part is, well, who knows, who knows who that person is when, when somebody goes out and has that conversation, you never know what God's going to do with it. Yeah, exactly.

And so then it's like, and I'm like, so who could you think of the kind of the film Robertson types of people. And everywhere I go, everybody knows those people. It's the guy who's not there. He's not there. Like, oh, I wish he was here to hear this. He ain't there or she's not there. And we may have to go take them.

So you just never know who that is. And so, and the idea is from the book, which Phil didn't write it now, which she probably was always one to feel, you know, I always people with him. But like, you know, when you sat in those studies, which we heard a lot of those when we were kids. We would see the old boy walk up with a couple come down the house, and so I would listen to how, uh, what he would tell him and the journey they would take. And, um, so the book was for people so that you can start to figure out what are some, what are some of the places I can start in the Bible that I can start doing that? Because the idea is,

so if you think about a church, there's a guy standing in front talking and there's a thousand people sitting in pews. Well, and I always say this, if you wanted to get your message out, would you take the one dude or would you take the thousand? If we wanted to get out the word that Duck Commander's best duck call out there, well, give me the thousand every day. I want the thousand going home, going to work. And so I think the gospel, you know, that's where the real.

So signs as you see outside people's buildings that say you're now entering the mission field, you know, that's the idea. And so it's to get them, and most people just don't know that. So, like, on one of my journeys, I was in Florida a couple weeks ago, and a guy comes up, and he hadn't read my, but he knew who I was. And he sits down, he's telling me about where he's at in life. And then he was talking about, I don't know if God wants me here somewhere else. And he's really, and I said, well, let me ask you this.

Do you know what the gospel is? And he just looks, yeah, I go, what is it? So he tells me, part, he had most of the gospel. of it right and I said do you know where you would where could you find that in the you know where you could just open your Bible and show that to someone or me and he goes well I'd have to get on an app and I said I said you don't know where it's there and a app for that and then he goes actually I don't know I said so if you told someone that if you told someone the good news of Jesus but you you don't even know where it's at in your Bible.

And you're trying to figure out whether God wants to use you. He was really big way, you know, does God want me to lead this or lead that? And I brought it back down to the simplest thing. If you don't know where that is in your Bible, you may need to start there. Yeah. I said, because you can start doing that tomorrow. Yeah. I said, and I told him, I said, when it becomes obvious, when it becomes obvious that you are

a leader of people and that you are trying to convert people from the world, When that becomes obvious, you'll probably, you'll know your next, you know, where to go next, you know. Yeah. Because I think people just don't, they just don't really open their Bible, read the Bible that much. You know, they get little snippets. I think this is why this, why this podcast was so great, just because it is. It's taken, you know, from the Bible and then applying it, and I think the applying it is the, I mean, you can know it all and you can read it all. And I think you can get kind of inward in your own walk in Christianity where it's all about it's in.

And so my book was trying to spin it going, it's all about the out. It's Zekees when Jesus says, this is why I came to. Yeah, that's one of the devotions. This is why I'm here to, you know, seek and save what's lost. Jesus, I mean, he basically is telling me, this is the reason. and I came. You said that Zakias was just trying to get a better seat. I like the way you frame that, you know, because he climbed the tree, so you can get a better

look at Jesus. He's trying to get a better seat to see what was going on. And what he didn't know was, is the conversation was coming that was going to change everything for him. And he didn't even really know what was coming at all. You know, Jesus just said, yeah. He invited himself to his house. Yeah.

Now, I don't know that that never happened. You know, here's the deal. they're always different. Yeah. It wasn't the same thing. I think what we tried to do in churches, we're like, we have this pattern.

You know, it's like, we've got to have this, the right method of, you know, well, it's always different, you know. Do it. He just invited himself over to his house. That was bold move.

And he could have said, no, you know, but I thought it was, you know, and we've all kind of been there a little bit where, you know, you come into a place

and people want to see you, you know, a crowd gathers, like, oh, you know, like as I walk through the airport, it's like, oh,

one of them ducked hostage guys. You know, it's like you can tell. So Zichias, I think, is like, he's wanting to see what the big deal is. You know, like everybody in town's there. Now, no one likes him in that town. You don't, we don't find that out, you know. Right. No one really likes this guy.

I always like comparing him, because Luke did, you know, Luke 18, he does Rich Young Ruler and comes right back in 19 with Zika. So I felt like Luke makes the comparison of the two. Because what you see is, is that one guy. was so well liked and so respected and yet didn't have the heart for it. Right. And this other guy who nobody likes, he instantly said, four times I'm paying, I mean, Jesus didn't even say anything to him about his money or anything.

He just like. We don't know what exactly they talked about, but we know this. He just said salvation. He started making a lot of life changes. He did. In the moment. And I can almost, like I know that personality type, right? You know, it's the type that would go and try.

try to get the better seat, you know, he's definitely, and then once he gets all in, I think that was, that was, that was, that was, that was feel. Like, once you got Phil on the right thing, and then he took off. And so it's just, it's such an inspiration, I think that for how Phil changed and then, you know, and we saw that at the funeral, right? I mean, we saw the funeral, what really mattered. And that's what I've gone to have been talking about here recently as well to take that the full way and to find out what really matters in life.

Because I've always done a thing on obituaries. I just read one because of Duck Dynasty. I get a lot of obituaries because it'll say, and he loved his, he loved working on his cars, and you could always find him, his favorite show was Duck Dynasty.

And it's some guy in Wisconsin, some guy in Missouri, you know, and you're just, and then you just, you basically got a couple of paragraphs. of your whole life. Yeah.

We're going to sum it all up. Yeah. And here's the kicker. You don't even get to write it. Like somebody else writes it. Exactly. It's what they'd think about your whole life. And so.

I think it's a good icebreaker question. I think when you want to change it a lot, when you're like, what would they say about you? Yeah. It'd be a good question. Yeah. I mean, it hit me. What would they say about you? I just thought about this because yesterday, we got this random text.

And, uh, and I told me it. I was like, we were actually bringing up the text. I was like, do you ever think in our world I would get a text like this? And I read it to her. And I won't say the guy's name, but he's like, hey, man, you were on my mind this afternoon as I was reading some scripture. I just want to say thank you for always being a beacon that points so many towards the true light of this world, Jesus Christ. So I kind of stopped and scroll back.

Because I would call this guy an acquaintance. And I scroll back and I was like, oh, he came to the Lord a couple of years ago because we text about it, you know, and I gave him some duck calls. But I haven't laid eyes on this guy in a couple of years. But then it says, I'm thankful that God brought me to that poker game 20 years ago that ultimately brought you into my life. And I thought, wait, what? I mean, because I had no memory of that, but from his perspective. Because you were in your world within your world. I was in a world within my world.

But evidently, a conversation, to your point, Willie, that led somewhere to him going through the gospel or whatever. And I thought, well, because it's not ultimately, it's not us. I mean, I love how you started your book off, talking about the Great Commission, because we just did this thing in John, or did this thing. We were in his prayer, Jesus was like, as the Father sent me, I'm sending you. Well, then he says that again, because I went down a rabbit hole, because that word sinned, there's two different Greek words for that.

And so I was like, this could be groundbreaking. Really wasn't, but it was interesting, I think, that one of them is like an apostle, the word apostle for that sin as Jesus was given this authority to represent the father, the Godhead. and he was sent on a mission. And then he sends us in the spirit, in the literal spirit, the spirit of him, for this kind of temporary mission that we have. And so understanding those different words, it's all over Philippians and maybe,

because I think you're going to hang around for another podcast. I'd like to share that. But really, my point is, it's really not about us. God is just using flawed people who have been redeemed through him to share this wonderful good news. And that's the draw. Yeah. And even in a text like that, that was the draw in there that, I mean, I wasn't involved in the Bible study. Whatever I said that night must have been something that thought, oh, that's weird.

Yeah. In that setting. Because we were talking about going to a bar and now, well, who goes to a poker, game. Well, he's thankful enough of that encounter. Yeah. That, and that's about God and not us. Yeah, I want to get into that on the next one, because that's exactly where we are in John 17 is Jesus says, because now, you know, I and the father sent me here, now I'm

sending you. And so that whole concept, he hits that in that text. I want to read this one before we close this out. I don't know, not sure if it's in the book, well, but it's just, it just, it just, it jump to my mind in Philippian, no, Colossians, 4, 6, let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone. I mean, that's exactly what you just described. Which is going to be the little rabbit hole I want to go in Philippians. Kind of has that same. Right. It's like the vein of 1st Peter 315. Yeah.

where he's like in your heart set apart Christ's Lord always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asked you to give the reason for the hope that you have and then and Phil's compliment to you but do this with gentleness and respect it's like be kind yeah be nice about it gentleness and respect but but give an answer so well it because I do think I think what we're fighting against is is somewhat of an inward you know, I think people, they get inward. So when they come, when they leave the darkness and when they enter the light, is anybody tell them like, hey, now your mission is to go after other lost people,

just like you were? Yeah. Is that being very, is that being told to people where they understand? I don't think it is. I think it's like, okay, now you're. Now you're in. just try to live and not sin. That's it.

Try to, you know. Well, it's about you. You're making it. Try to show up as much as you can once a week. Try to get involved with it. We don't tell people to do it. Just try. Try your best, you know.

Try to read your Bible. Try to read your Bible. Find you a good church, you know. And I think it's the, it's probably the, it's such a bad, that's not a mission. And so you wonder why so many people in the church are like, is this it? Like, I don't, you know, it's an hour and 15. minutes a week and I'm like it's survival versus revival you know so you see I'm saying we get so inward and then people are like oh I read my Bible I do my you know and I'll even say

you know the Bible like all of that it's the inspiration of the Bible but it's already done if we're if we're not seeing that lived out in our lives it will it would have died off that's just that's just 2000 year like that's how you see I'm speaking of the prayer where Jesus is like I'm not going to be here we are We're following something that we can only see it through what's in us. It'd be like I'm married. You marrying your wife. And then on day one, you hand her a book and say, just read that and do your best.

And we'll... I'll check it back at the 25-year-mark. All right, we're out of time. We'll pick this discussion up next time on Unashame. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. and be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.