Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1221 | Uncle Si Refuses to Let a Long-Lost Sister Walk Away from God & What Is Faith?

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Uncle Si helps his best friend, Philip McMillan, baptize the sister he never knew he had, and Philip credits Jase and Phil with changing the trajectory of not just his own life but generations of his family. Si gets real about what happens when people keep putting off the decision to follow Jesus, and the guys dig into what the Bible says about trusting God even in moments of fear or anxiety. Plus, Si reveals what happened when he dared to preach to an inmate who was not interested in anything he had to say. In this episode: Acts 2; Hebrews 11, verse 6; Hebrews 11; Romans 4, verse 17; 1 Peter 3, verse 15; John 3, verses 19–21; Luke 17, verses 20–21; Matthew 5; Romans 8, verse 11 Chapters: 00:00-13:27 Discovering long-lost sisters 13:28-19:57 What does faith truly mean? 19:58-28:12 Dealing with fear & anxiety as a Christian 28:13-37:33 How to miss eternity by a single moment 37:34- 45:31 Jesus pays his taxes supernaturally 45:32-56:18 How a wise man spends his gold  — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? I want to, you know, sets a stage for today's study. First, we're going to go back in time. We're going to go back in human history, and we're going to take a look at the last day of the life and death of a human being, amen. And since that day, the world has never been. the same. I actually agree with that. I could not agree more.

Sy. Sy's bringing it today. Well, no, because moving up from Junior podcast to the big table and he's ready. Watch it out. Well, you know, when I come up here, since I'm with Bible scholars, I've got to do my homework. And we got, by the way, if you're listening, obviously, sides in the house, because he led for us today. Philip Mcmillan is here, one of our favorites. Philip, welcome back. You had been on Unashamed in a while. Yeah, it's been a while, Al, since I've been in a while. We are always glad to have you. And you, before we get into this Bible study that Sai has set us up for,

you were telling me a story before we got going that you've got to tell our audience because it's fascinating. And it's the whole reason we're doing what we're doing. I mean, in this study. Absolutely. Tell me that story. So I'll start off with, I'm thankful for Phil and his

life and Ms. Kay and his willingness to teach his children about the gospel because Jace was able to share it with me and then my girlfriend and now my wife for 35 years and all my children have heard it and my family members.

And so they, I've got a reputation. They know if I come in, I'm going to be talking about Jesus. They know that, right? And I learned that from Phil. And also me and Jace went on a wild run of about 200 people that we shared the gospel with, you know. You were one of the early,

we've talked about the list many times on the podcast. Oh, we had a list. You were one of the early ones on the list, which made you then one of the early, entourage for Jays. Well, I had a list, but then my best friend from high school, Blake, which was a friend of yours, and I didn't know y'all knew each other, he had a list. And so we were going to a guy who was on the list, and Philip was sitting in this little

sports car on the side of the road. That's where I met you. We basically picked a hitchhiker up. And he never left. You were the hitchhacking there. I just been hanging around, boys. But we had a, Jason and I had, we didn't know it at the time. We didn't know what the Almighty was doing because we were just going where we felt led.

So we went to school, which you later went to the same school we did. And when we got out, we kind of took, you know, divergent trails because I went to work for the church. Jay's kind of just stayed on his, like, evangelistic track, reaching people. We're back to the El Commander. But we had kind of a two-pronged approach because Lisa and I were more kind of that fill in the gap. We did primarial counseling with you guys. Oh, yeah, y'all and Kellett. And then we also did your wedding.

And then we kind of, that was our role. We were the walk alongside couple. And you and Jason, others were kind of the point of the spirit. And I'll never forget that because I'll be eternally grateful for everything that anybody's ever poured into me. And the wildest thing has happened in my life recently. So 20 years ago, I get a call and my buddy Blubber. Blake says, hey, somebody wants to meet you. I was like, okay, so we go to this place, and it's a girl and a tall guy.

Everybody's tall to me, so. But they come out, and she says, hey, I'm Kim. I'm your sister. And I just, I was just like, wait a minute. Yeah, this is funny. You knew about the two brothers. You never heard about a sister at this point. No, no, I mean, and this was 20 years ago, and so I was like, okay, so I walked up to her,

and she started crying. She cries a lot. and she was like, you're my brother, we've got the same dad. And I was just shocked. So we talked for a while and we built a relationship. And I mean, I feel like I'm easy to get along with. I may not think so. We've been together for 20 years.

But, you know, it was strange. So I rode to my dad's house and I walked in and I said, Rip, you got anything you want to tell me? He was like, about what? I said, about my sister. And he was like, oh, yeah. Yeah, that's true. Oh, wow.

I was like, wow. So we talked for a while, and I called her. We stayed in touch for two days, and we talked a lot, and it was really good. I thought it was great, but she moved away, and I never saw her again. Her phone was off. I couldn't get in touch with her, didn't know how to, and 20 years goes by, and she sends me something on Facebook. And the only reason I use Facebook is to put all-sized junk on there. But I don't even check the message part.

So I checked it, and it was her saying, I'd like to get to know you. So I responded, nothing. Responded, nothing. I sent her pictures of me inside all the events we've gone to. Just like, hey, you know, call me. I'd love to see you. Because now you're quite a famous person. Well, no.

You are. You're basically size butler. You know, I hate to hear it that way. So, yeah, I'm sized, do it all. I mean, I've got a million stories about that. But anyway, so I'm sending her all these pictures. for two years and never hear back from her. And so we actually attend church services with her real brother that I didn't know until

David Romley told me who he was. So that was just a happenstance. He happened to be there at church. And so I got her number from him and called her and just tears, cried, you know, and she was like, I couldn't get in touch with you. I don't have an account to get back into my Facebook. And I was like, wow. And so we got together and met, and she's awesome.

She's wonderful. She's super smart. She cries a lot. She's emotional like me. So this is like up to date now. This is up to date. Like a week ago? Yeah, this was like three weeks ago.

Or maybe a month ago. And so we get together and we talk. And we spend some time together. She comes over. She hangs out with us with me and Alicia. We all go get our nails done, which is something that is pretty funny. But she's, just she called me and she said just one of the gals i mean yeah i mean i'm whatever taking it for the

but i just said uh i'm glad to to know that i have a relationship with this person now who's been my sister all this time but i didn't know and um and you feel something too let me interject at the DNA level right that's the way i was with phyllis like even though i didn't know her and i hadn't didn't grow up with her there's something there because we both share that dna so i I talk about DNA. It's in there. It's strong. It's something there.

And you feel it. You know it. I do. I do. Yeah. And so she said, I don't know where all this joy comes from, but I want to know. Wow. And I said, I can't wait to tell you, to show you.

So me and Alicia shared the gospel with her, and we fired up the grill and ate good. And we heard the good message about Jesus. And she said, I believe this in tears. And she said, I believe this. And there's been an emptiness inside of me that I need to feel. and I thought about Hebrews 116 without faith It's impossible to please God Because those who come to him must believe that he exists

And that he rewards those who earnestly seek him And she was earnestly seeking him So me and Cy, we go out of town for a week And I didn't hear from her for a few days And I was down, I was like, I just don't understand You know, I don't know the- So he was telling me the story and I said, well, what's her holdup? Yeah

What's she balking for? Right. And when he brought her down, suddenly he ought to introduce her to me. I said, darling, you've been searching for something and you say you found it. What are you waiting for? Yeah, it's time to move. That's a verse. What's a waiting for?

No, no. I said, what are you waiting for? You've been searching for this your whole life. And now you found it. Now you're like a mule. You're backing up. I never call a woman a mule. I see any kind of.

But that's okay. I get your point. It was accurate. But then she said, well, no, I'm through walking. Yeah. And I said, well, hey, this would be the best thing you've ever done in your life. But so good, though, Sack, because sometimes people do get to the edge of that place. And look, she's obviously probably been here off and on for many, many years.

But you have nudged that by saying, you don't have to wait anymore. Just go ahead and take that step. You know, I love that. Yeah. And so she, the weirdest thing is my older brother. was like, hey, when I saw him and we haven't even talked about this yet, and he said, hey, do you have Kim's number from 20 years ago when I told him who she was? I haven't talked to him about it.

He just asked me before I could tell him, do you have her number? I'd kind of like to get to know her. And then my eyes started tearing up and I said, I've got a lot of stuff to tell you. Because that's what I was saying about DNA. Yeah, he knew it. Okay, you feel something, okay. You can't explain it. Okay, because I was the same way

We finished. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And me and Kim automatically just are drawn together, you know. I can't explain that. But she came to the building on Sunday. We went down and talked to Safer a little while.

She went down front. She confessed Jesus as Lord and was baptized on Sunday. By you? By me. She was like, will you do it? And I was like, that's so good. Yep. That's so good.

Yeah. It's so good. So, you know, family becomes such a theme for everything. And we see it in the scripture as well. And I want to give a little shout out to the Family Research Council. Some guys in D.C. Tony Perkins is the leader of it. He's a Louisiana guy.

He's a pastor. Amazing organization. They stand firm. They defend faith, family, and freedom on the front lines. But they can't do it alone. They need us, believers, standing shoulder to shoulder with them. Or we risk losing what generations before us fought to protect. So we want you guys to check them out, help them out.

Be a supporter. Give today at FRC.org slash unashamed. That's Family Research Council. Check them out. The story and the legacy continues. And this is what it's all about. This is why Christ did what he did. Phil, we're in a series now called Forever Family,

and it's based out of Acts 2. And the idea of after all these years, which brings us back to what we're talking about today, the story of Jesus still impacts. I told the story Monday about a guy that watched a video that dad did 10 years ago this past weekend and came to Christ because of the video that dad did. And his wife had been trying to get him to come to church. He wouldn't come to church. I don't have anything to do with all that. And then dad broke through. I mean, dad's been gone now

almost a year, but he's still breaking through. And this guy came to Christ. His wife was nine months pregnant. He went, he went this past Sunday over in the Dallas area, got baptized, got married because they were living together, and then had their baby daughter. Making everything right. Yeah, exactly. Made the whole thing right. And so that's why I'm saying. The story, you set it up perfectly. It's the greatest thing that's ever happened to humanity. There's nothing that's ever going to happen that is earth-shattering as his death burial. And the greatest thing about this is, even, even, though we weren't together our whole lives,

God has brought us together. And Jason has been sharing some scripture with me in Romans. But God calls things if they weren't as though they were. And I shared that with my sister Kim. Yeah. I've been on the Romans 417. Well, you knelt down, that was a couple Sundays ago. And you were telling me some of this story.

Yeah. And I had just been reading with that. I actually found that verse because I was arguing with a hard head. Was it, Sy? It wasn't me. At that time, it wasn't me. Well, Sy's not the only hard head. I say that.

Not in this family. I say that with comedy. Yeah, and love and mind. Because some of these things that we just say, words that we say, like you quoted Hebrews 116, it's real hard to wrap your head around on exactly what faith is. I mean, we know the word and you can give the definition. It's, you know, being sure of what we hope for or certain or the evidence.

Because that verse, when you kind of look at the original language, it's kind of hard to define of things. It's the evidence of things not seen. Yeah. Well, you just kind of kind of stop and think about, what does that exactly mean? There's evidence of things I can't see, which kind of turns on its head, a courtroom, setting and somebody's like, look, I have evidence. And they're like, well, where's it at? So, well, you can't see it. But I'm sure of it. And it's called faith. Well, you know, you probably it's probably not going to go well in our earthly material, I believe, what I see.

Well, that's not going to go over very good in the courtroom. But isn't it funny that even the book of John is written in kind of a courtroom jargon. It's a, yeah. It's like this is the verdict, which is the same word for judgment. But, you know, the translators, but, oh, that's verdict. Yeah. Because it's the courtroom text. Light has come into the world, but men love darkness, so they don't want to come into the light. And so you see all this through faith. So that Romans 4-17, talking about the difference in living in faith, whatever that is, as best we can wrap our head around it, or under the law that the Jews had. And he makes this statement in comparison in Romans 417.

I have to get my glasses on because I can't see. But I'm sure it's there through faith. He says, I want to read this because I've been on this for about three weeks. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations because he was talking about Abraham. Because think about it, he in Hebrews 11 discusses that. Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead

because God asked him to sacrifice his son who through that generation, speaking of generations and offspring and DNA, there would be generations of all people that would be blessed. Well, then God says,

we'll go sacrifice him. So here's Abraham. Through faith, he literally believed in something that was not believable. Right. Jesus hadn't been raised yet.

Against all hope. How does a guy reason into think, and I'm using the word reason on purpose, he's reasoned that, okay, I got to trust God, and he's asking me to sacrifice my son, so let's walk up this mountain. Which is something that was, that's unthinkable. It's unthinkable. You're talking about faith. Yeah.

He concluded, and he came up with a little slogan that caught on, which is, because his son is saying, well, if we're going to do a sacrifice, where is the sacrifice? Yeah, you're it. And he's like, well, he just said, the Lord will provide. But that is faith acting out. So just now that I've given the context of that, he says he is a father in the sight of God, father of faith, in whom he believe. And then it has this statement, the God who gives us.

The God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as they are. As they are. Or as they were. He calls things into being. There's another translation that are not. So that's kind of what faith is. And you fast forward that and you say, well, what does it mean to have faith? Well, it's just like what you experienced.

You have a sister that you knew nothing about. and now you have a sister-sister. Yeah, that's right. A double sister. And it's been called into being through something you could never really see or figure out. But through the same resurrection and death on a cross that God provided that unites people and makes them into a forever family. And the part, like you were talking about, it's hard to believe.

It's like he had nothing to do with it and had no knowledge of it. Yeah. Developed it. Right. That's why the verse was at First Peter, always be prepared to give an answer for the reason for the hope we have. You never know when that moment comes. That's 3.15. Well, the first part of that says, but in your heart set apart Christ as Lord, which is the key catalysts for being prepared to give an answer.

That's exactly right. Which is why we speak about Jesus. And I was talking about, you know, this hardhead that I was talking about, which I'm thankful for, because it makes me study. Yeah. And realize that because we tend to make everything just to be. about morality. You know, I need, well, I need to do better, clean my life up. And Jesus, the message of Jesus just pulls down to have a better life, you know, morally,

which is provided there. We have a reason. But it's way more than that. You now have an answer or something to give someone who's just bumbling around through life, didn't choose to be here. You know, we believe God made you. and now here's the reason that you're here. Absolutely.

And you introduce to Jesus, now you have an answer not only for your life, but for life itself. Yeah. Well, when you said stumble around, you're just being, you have no purpose. That's exactly right.

And God didn't make anything without a purpose. Mm-mm. Okay. That's right. Yeah. There's a U-2 song that I used to listen to when I was younger. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. this up recently.

Did you all? We've been going through rock and roll songs. For some reason they've been resurfacing, yeah. I come to the conclusion if you hadn't found it

through this and through what Christ did, you ain't ever going to find it because that's it. It was like Kim. She was searching, okay? And what she was searching for is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Joy, peace, things that I call them the untouchable and back to faith, you can't see them. But you can see the result and you can feel the result of it. Yeah. Yeah. So it's there, but, you know, it's like faith.

How do you really, how do you tell me a definition of it? You really can't. It's very hard to wrap your head around. But when you, I heard something not too long ago I thought was profound. Because in this difference in trying to live under a written law versus. Which you never can do. Which you can't do perfectly. You can't pull off.

And then that's why you figure out why Jesus started with that sermon on the Mount, because all of a sudden he's using another phrase that's hard to wrap your head around when he says, look, I didn't come to abolish the law, I came to fulfilling. Everybody's like, what does fulfill mean? Exactly. And meanwhile, he's also introducing a coming kingdom. And when asked about that, he's like, well, you won't say, here it, is or there it is like you can point to it. It's among you. It's not of this world. That's

Luke 17, 20, and 21. It's in your midst. And so then when he promises this Holy Spirit, and you're like, well, how do I see that or receive that? I mean, it's hard to wrap your head around, but you just think about it. You're still going to have all these emotions because we're emotional beings, and it's hard to interject your emotions and the unpredictability of life with a written law, because we get into situations where, and I'm sure they did too, which is why they had all these amendments to the law. They're like, well, what happens if this happened, just something, whatever the scenarios, which happens every day.

I mean, I was even driving over here, I felt like I was in a parade because I cut a bunch a brush. First thing I noticed in the parking. How far is it extending out my truck? It's further than the legal limit, I'm sure. Yeah, I might already get a red flag. It's like another vehicle behind Jason's vehicle. But there's people rolling down the window, blowing horn, blowing the horn at me, you know,

what you got there? You know, it's been, hey, it's a bunch of bamboo. It created a parade, but everybody lived to tell about it. But I'm just saying things happen in life. And so you're trying to plot. but things that happen that are painful or bad, all of a sudden you have all these emotions. And they're, you know, fear or anxiety,

or you go to the doctor for a checkup, and they're like, oh, sorry, we found something. And all these things flood in your mind. Well, the difference in trying to go look at the manual and seeing how I'm supposed to respond to this, and what Jesus offered is now you have its purpose. presence inside of you. And you have four letters that show how he operated in his character and all these

situations that come up. So my point about what I heard is if your focus is on Jesus and his presence in you, all of a sudden, even though you're still going to experience fear, anxiety, worry, doubt, all these things that you see, then there's something that you're like, oh, wait, wait, I have a presence inside of me. that I'm focused on. That's going to turn all those negative emotions in fear to faith, being negative to being positive,

even though you don't see it. You're like, it's kind of like the Abraham story. Oh, I'm trusting there's some answer in God's plan. That will make sense. So even though I don't see it, I'm going to trust him in this moment. And then that gives you that peace that you're talking about, that joy despite what you're going through.

And I think that's the difference in what we have in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When you say that, I always go back to the way I started this, okay, about we're going to read about the life and death of one man. That man knew what, you got us look down to you. That man knew what everything he was going to have to go through. And then you said it. He's present in us. yeah so that's a powerful thing i always look at you know jesus is not given enough credit for being a human being i agree with that sir and and we have his spirit you know which then it gets into

another thing that's hard to wrap your head around which is this being that we follow that we surrender to is a community but he's won yeah so that but you know what i found fascinating a big community. I was just reading, you know, through John in preparation of this, nothing specific. But, you know, it keeps coming up. He keeps referring to his father. And I thought, he seems to say that a lot in the book of John. So I looked it up 140 times. 140. He's like, I'm from the father. I only do what the father tells me. Yeah, but that's what his purpose was. Well, it was. But it just, it was, it was, it was, I popping. I mean, you throw in another 30 in 1 John. And I'm like, almost half of the time's father is referenced in the New Testament is in the book of John. And this relationship that he has,

and he spent three chapters introducing that he's going to give his spirit, the Holy Spirit. And you're right. It's not accidental that he's using family as his point of reference for being here. I mean, he keeps putting in that father, son, and spirit reference of community, family, in the sense of three, and yet we know also they're one because of what he started out in John 1. Well, the unity of it, exactly, which we keep bringing that back to it. I was going to say this, Phil, we mentioned you talked about the U-2 song, that some of these secular songs that really have spiritual themes,

but how people in the world, they don't even know Christ yet, understand that somewhere subliminally, you know, like deep down, we were in South Africa and this group we were with, they would sing the opening part of that song. And they were an acopal group, but this kid was very talented. He sounded just like Bono, seeing this song, you know, still haven't found out. And this audience was seeing because everybody there knew, now that most of these were not Christians, but they all knew Bono, and they knew you two. And they would be singing this song. And all of a sudden, he would leave, when he got to that point, still haven't found what I'm looking for. Then he would go here.

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Oh, wow. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. And all of a sudden, they didn't know the words of that. But the words that they started singing along this is to see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory, pour out your power and love, Holy Spirit.

Wow. And then we sing holy, holy, holy. Now that is a good upgrade. It was so good. It was like he would be, and we'd see it night after night we were doing these concerts and speaking. And we would share the gospel with them. But I would watch them every time they're singing.

they're saying, all of a sudden it is open the eyes of my heartlo. And they're like, whoa, what does this mean? Like, we just left you two and went to something else. But that's the whole deal. And unless you're allowed to see that glimpse of what might can be, you won't take that step and that chance. And it's hard. It's hard to step out of something you've never known before.

I mean, you know, to get the Holy Spirit, as you described as, that takes a huge step of faith to do that because you don't know anything about it. Well, especially when you're living in a world that you deem success in his acquiring as much wealth or property or power. That's why people are so devastated when they lose their job. Right.

Yeah, but when you get right down to it, all that stuff that you're talking about acquiring for here don't mean nothing. No, exactly. It has no, there's no power there. There's no peace, no joy.

None of the stuff that's good that comes from God, you can't get it here on this. hurts. No, exactly. And so that's a good point because one thing that I was telling Kim is now your focus can change, not on what you were looking for, but you found that now. Everything in your life, you're all forgiven. You're forgiven for everything that's happened.

And so you can focus on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, all these things you're talking about. Your focus has got to change on him, not on yourself. Who sings the song if I've got Jesus? I've got Jesus. Yeah. That's Ben Fuller. Okay.

We met him at the end of that, he says, if I've got Jesus, okay, I've got it all. Yeah. Then you need nothing else. Yeah. Yeah, your brother passed that on to us. When he, you know, later in life, he realized, you know, when his health started declining, and he was like, yeah, we need a little meeting over my, you know, my finances and what's going on. Well, I was actually surprised at how little was left. I was like, Bill, where did all your money go?

he's like, okay, he gave it away. And he put his hands up like this. I had nothing to do with it. Well, yeah, I mean, I think Phil, the amount of money he spent just on land project. But I was so kind of shocked, you know, and I thought, well, we probably should have had this conversation a little earlier. But Phil then quickly said, he's like, well, you can't take it with you. And he had a good perspective on it, really. Not only that.

You never seen a hearse on a, I took to a you all, have you? Well, not only that, okay, it can't make you happy. Okay, there's nothing. I don't even know how to. We have desires, okay, and if you could fulfill every desire you had, you would still be longing. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Still be thirsty.

Somebody told me, if you can. burn it up. It's not that important. And you're like, wait, what does that mean? Because you can't burn us up technically. We have the Holy Spirit of God that Romans 8-11, you know. Well, I was thinking about, Sa, I'm working already ahead for a Christmas Eve lesson that we're going to do here because we traditionally do a Christmas Eve service that I love. And Cal and I have been doing it together for 20 years. And I was looking at those gifts, you know, that the wise men brought. Yeah. You know, back in Matthew, too. And, and, kind of looking at the implications behind those gifts.

And it was interesting because the first one was gold, which is fit for a king. You know, that was the idea. It was like he deserves it. He's a king. What is a gift for a king? Exactly. But I thought about it from Jesus' perspective,

I'm sure that Mary and Joseph appreciated that. That probably got him through the lean years, got him to Egypt and back when they were running around from Herod. But at the same time, Jesus never put security in gold. He didn't have anything the whole time he was here. He was literally a homeless guy. No, no. He said, I don't even have a place to lay my head.

I don't even have a plate to lay my head. So what I thought about it is as good and honoring as a gift that that was, when you think about it in terms of security versus Jesus himself, it means nothing. Because you can have all the gold in the world, and what's it going to do for you at the end of your life? I have a personal experience about that when I went to Tulsa and spoke to as a guy in jail. I preached to him, and I hit a nerve. Holy Spirit picked him, and he jumped up in my face. and here comes a deputy, he's fixing a whoop his head, you know.

And I said, guys, oh, ho, whoa, we're good, we're good. I said, dude, I said, I've just shared with you something that is worth more than gold and silver. I said, and then you get up in my face and said, hey, you're a TV star, you got all this money, hire me a lawyer, and get it. I said, and you brought up a dollar bill when I was sharing you with you where you will spend eternity. Something money can't buy. I said, dude, I said, one of these nights you're going to be in that six by six by yourself again? And I said, you're going to remember what this whole crazy man told you. I said, you was worried about a dollar bill.

And I was giving you the keys to the kingdom of God. So, Sal, you'll appreciate this a couple of podcasts ago because we're in this text, Jesus on the cross. and what you just described was my perspective on the two thieves hanging on either side of it. Remember when they had that little discussion? One of them was mocking him. And remember what he said. He said, I thought you were the crack.

Get us out of here. Yeah. Save us. Save us. Get us off of this cross. So he wanted to be saved in the moment. But then that other guy said, hey,

we deserve to be here. He doesn't. Yeah. And then he looked at him and said, well, you take me with you to paradise. He understood the bigger picture. Oh,

so you had two criminals hanging there. One wanted the. moment. And one wanted eternity. I mean, that's the difference in the two. That's what you just described. I have to bring this up. Another illustration of this, I was reading this last night. You remember in Matthew 17 where they had this guy with a demon, he had seizures, and they, Jesus' disciples went and they couldn't heal him. Nobody could control him either. Yeah, they couldn't control him, but they couldn't heal him. And so they asked you, Jesus, and this is 17, verse 15, they said, or verse 16, I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.

And then, so Jesus gives a little withering rebuke. He's like, how long am I going to put up with this unbelieving and perverse generation? Bring the boy to me, and he rebuked the demon, he came out. Well, then the disciples came to him in private, and they said, well, why couldn't we dream? Yeah, half-off, what could we do it? Power outage. Yeah. And he's like, because you have so little faith, because we were talking about, kind of believing in the things that are not and all this, and there's a controversial verse that's left out in some, where it's like this kind can only be driven out through prayer, which is a strong statement for prayer.

But then Jesus gives a little speech, and in that speech, he says that if you have the faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move, nothing will be impossible for you, which is one of the most profound statements in the Bible. And the point is it's who your faith is in and not the surroundings or the method or I think that's the bottom line. What's your reading right there was what I was having a problem with after I've done the study after I got Phillips outline from Al. Yeah. Because I was saying, wait a minute, why is just bothering me so much. And I think deep down,

you know, because I looked at it for 77 years, Jesus has been a, I don't even know, used the word, maybe anchor in my life. That's a good word. Mm-hmm. Biblical word. Okay. And I'm looking and say, wait a minute,

why is this bothering me reading about his life and death, the day, his last day on earth? Yeah. and I think it's because, hey, that's really the foundation of my life. Yeah. It's it. Well, and it defines the love of God. It's the love of God with all this power, creator.

Because he was telling his disciples, your belief is not solid. Well, look, I want to read this next verse, because I think it clarifies what we're talking about. So he makes that statement, nothing will be impossible for you. And then the next paragraph says, when they came together in Galilee, he said to him, the son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him. And on the third day, he will be raised to life. And here's the kicker.

And the disciples were filled with grief, which is what I was saying earlier. We're emotional beings. They never got past the, they just heard him say, nothing. going to be impossible. Oh, this is exciting. We're going to take over the world. And then he's like, mountains. And look, the son of man, me, he's talking about that seven and third person. I'm going to be handed over to other men and be killed, betrayed, which is worse than being killed. And he didn't even say it in the moment, but he, by one of you, which will happen later. Now he throws in, he's going to be raised in life, but they never got to

that point. Their brain switched off because they're filled with grief, which is another emotion that comes from, they have their trust in something earthly. And they're like, well, wait a minute, you're going to be portrayed. This is not our plan for you. This is not good. And to get back to the illustration about money, then the story goes to this. Well, after Jesus and his disciples arrived in Copernum. This is a 17. This is a fascinating story, and we're all fishermen here,

so I really love it. In verse 24, the collectors of the two drachma tax came to Peter and asked, does your teacher pay the temple tax? So they're trying to create a scenario because since he has a movement that somehow he's in defiance to Rome,

and they're trying to create some tension. Yes, he does. he replied, when Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. So somehow Jesus was aware of this conversation without being present. What do you think, Simon? He asked from, now listen to this question. From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes? From their children or from others? Which is an unusual question. From others, Peter answered, because you think about it in life, all these powerful people,

they ain't worried about the kids paying taxes. I'm sure they'll find a loophole somewhere in there. And then from others, Peter answered, then the children are exempt, Jesus said to them. But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line, take the first fish you catch, open its mouth and get the money.

And you'll find this gold coin, a four drachma coin, take it and give it to them for my tax and yours. What a story. There's the creator of the universe. He don't have any money. He don't have a house. He's nothing materially. He's homeless.

But it's not that he couldn't have it. And he proved that in such an odd way that how could you even make this up? Well, the question is, Jay's, did he put, did somehow, supernaturally he put the coin in that fish's mouth or did that coin scoop up that coin and Jesus knew it. I said it's the fish scooped it up. It's the greatest treasure find of all times when it comes to the fish after you paid the tax of the coin.

You get the fish. It was a big opalusus's catfish. You paid the taxes. But he's making a point here about you missed the point. if you miss this question he asked about the kingdom of God and children. He's the son of God. Yeah, that's a good point. He's the son of God as a son of man, but he's like, I don't have to pay taxes.

I'm going to be raised from the dead, which you miss that part. Not only that. And money can't do that. You're talking to the creator of the cosmos. But he's like, but as a son of God, we're going to pay the tax and play along with this little game. Oh, I'm all obey the law. Yeah, I'm all obey the law. and then he launches into a whole chapter, Matthew 18,

of talking about who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and it's the children, which is his whole point for telling this whole story about there's nothing impossible, but you have all these emotions, and then on the earth, it's not going to look like we're winning. I'm going to be handed over.

I'm going to be, and that's why you have a choice. We're in John 19. You could go through, you know, the facts that there's actually Roman documentation from a historical viewpoint, even Josephus, that, oh, there was a guy here named Jesus, and Pilate handed him over and killed him. And that's fascinating to people out there because they think, oh, I thought the Bible was just some kind of made-up story. No, there's historical documentation. Secular history backs it up. Yeah, but we tend to focus on that, on the story, rather than these kind of things that set it up, that he's like, there's a mind

that you have to get into through faith where you're literally believing beyond what the earth has to offer. And he does it there with multiple miracles, healing a boy that has these seizures, paying taxes with a coin that he provided in a fish's mouth down somewhere. And he's doing it all by telling an illustration about, yeah, we're the children of God. But he's also teaching us a principle that even though we understand larger than the world, world. We still have to live in this world. Trust me, every April 15th, I have the same feeling like, oh, because I hate sending that money to the government. But you know what? I do to not offend them because I'm a U.S. citizen. I do it. The reason I don't like to do it is because I would rather give that money away as a kingdom member to people that I know could benefit and expand

the gospel. But you know what? Jesus showed me the example. You just, you live here. This is where we're at. We're impacting people because we're already part of the kingdom while we're here. because that's what he was trying to show them. This is what it's about. I want to mention this side, because we're in our last segment, that you talked about being upset and how this affected you reading this text this time. And, you know, every time you go in

and kind of do a deep dive into the story, especially the scourging and then the crucifixion of Jesus, because it's so brutal. But I want to say this because this particular time, I mentioned this a while back, I was very angry reading this. I took it this time, this particular study, because we've been studying John,

and I was angry because of these religious leaders that were so smug and just full of pompous piety. And they just rejected him. And like, these are his people. Like, these are the nation of Israel. They had the books and the law. They had it all. And they just ignored it.

And they played it politically to the – I don't even give Pilate a pass more than I give those guys a pass. And he said they're the ones that are guilty of a greater sin. They should know more. Yeah, I got a question about that because of pilot was afraid? Because he said, hey, I find no fault with this man. Definitely. In fact, it says it – it says it – Yeah, it says it –

And his wife was having these mysterious dreams and said, hey, you better – You better to get away from this. Here's the verse, John 198, because they said, we have a law, and we spent a whole podcast on this one, and according to that law, he must die because he claimed to be the son of God. So this is what the Jews tell Pilate.

And listen to what the Pilots said. When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid. So that tells you right there, he had already been afraid. Well, they took a law about you couldn't blaspheme God, and then they interpreted it to say, well he's blaspheming guy

because he claimed to be the son of God. And they never considered, what if he is God? Which basically all he did. That's the part that makes me angry. Yeah, me too. It's okay, is they had the prophecies about the Messiah coming. Yeah, yeah.

And yet he arrives and then the thought don't even hit it. He's here. Well, he was from the wrong neighborhood. He didn't have any of the credentials. It's the thing about, hey, they have, they had a different perspective of what's going to happen. A narrative. You can't read Isaiah without knowing who Christ is.

After what, I mean, you know. Oh, we have done so many Old Testament references into this study because it is everywhere, all over the prophets. I'm like you. There's a lot of times that I've got so mad. But then I look at this, okay, the evil and the barbarian, barbaricism. I think you just invented a new word. Barbaricism.

I don't know, but I just say, I like it. How evil is the way I look at. It's cruel. What they've done to him. Cruel. Very cruel. Okay. And like, here's the thing that gives me, though.

Jesus knew what he was going to have to go through. And that he still. Isaiah 53. Yeah. He still bore up through. it and when he was hanging on the cross dying you know he's forgive them father they don't know what they're doing yeah and i look at which is a key moment well not only that but i just look you have no idea the power that christ had yeah i can put a coin in a fish's mouth he can

And then catch. No, no. I'm just saying, oh, my goodness. You know, you don't even have any idea what you're fooling with. No, he could have done them in right there, Sigh. But he thought about us. And this is the whole reason why that word became flesh to do what he was doing. And that's why he told the apostles up.

That's why I'm like Jay. He said he's hanging up on stuff. I'm hung up on the man, Christ, Jesus. Yeah. That's a good thing to be hung up. It's a good. The creator of the universe becoming a man. And I said, you don't even know.

He could have smoked you. And still can. What's just one thought? And you're burnt to a crisp. Yeah. Which is why the Old Testament is filled with a lot of that going on. But he goes the other way. Remember what he said about the soldiers right in?

Father, Forgiven, they don't even know what they're doing. It's one of the things he said from the cross. You think about the statements he made at the cross, how much it was focused on everything but him. I mean, he was talking about Mary and John. He was talking about the criminal. He was talking about the Roman soldier. I mean, he's looking from this vantage point

of being nailed to this cross, knowing he's about to die, and his thoughts, even at the very end, about everybody else. But it's the same power going on today. Look at any government, look at our government. It's this cancel. We invented a word like, well, this was, this is the cancel culture.

Jesus was a threat. They canceled him. We even used the same dialogue, even in politics. They're like, oh, we crucified. He's never coming back over there. I need a little knowledge here, okay, because when Jesus is, pilot is questioned in Jesus, and Jesus tells him, hey, you know, now, I wouldn't even be here unless someone else had allowed it.

I had allowed you to even be asking me these questions. Right. Because Pilate thought he was in charge of the situation, but he really wasn't. Yeah, but he wouldn't. Yeah. Okay. And I look and I say, well, wait a minute. Is he referring back to the father?

Has done this? I think he was saying the father set up this government establishment that you claim to be. Yeah, in charge of. Yeah, in charge of. He set this all. Okay, because I wasn't sure. Imagine a world without that. He's the one with the more sin.

Because Paul affirms that in Romans 13 when he says, God establishes early authority. I mean, he's like, he puts them in authority. He puts them in places. And so we look at that, and that bothers us because we're like, well, how could this be this terrible regime? But if you read the Old Testament, God has used his will throughout evil leaders for many, many, many generations.

Well, even our country, you know, a couple thousand years later, I mean, if you listen to these historians, I mean, we crafted our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, all on basically what happened in Sparta, Athens, and Rome. That's right. Here's what I thought to this whole three or four days. I'm watching Fox with all these protests. What are they protesting? I hadn't been watching. They don't know.

That's what gets, they don't know. It's just like in the days of Romans. They don't know either. Well, the latest one is no king. We're like, yeah, we're all, we're with you. We're not for kings either. I mean, I don't know why. We have a king.

We have a king. Unless you had Jesus. Jesus is the king. Right. But I look at this and I just said, you know, the human race is never going to learn. No. It really isn't. That's why we got a job to do.

All right. We're out of time. Man, that went on. Wow. Yeah, that's that way. Well, I knew I was going to have fun and learn a lot. Oh, my goodness. This was awesome.

I thought we were fixing to really get started. No, no, yeah. About the time we get cranked up, we got to shut it off. It's always good to have you boys on. Hey, thank y'all for having us on here, guys. 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

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