Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 175 | Phil Says We're at a Tipping Point, the First Unashamed Wedding & Hate as a Badge of Honor

Episode Date: November 6, 2020

There's one thing Phil appreciates about the internet. Al performs the first-ever Unashamed wedding ceremony. Zach and Al recall their sinful pasts, and Phil remembers Jep's house arrest. Phil is certain our culture is at a tipping point, and Al says there's only one way to fix it. And the guys talk about Jesus' testimony, getting your kids on the right path, wearing hate as a badge of honor, and being freed from the 3 Ps: the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the presence of sin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So today, I feel like it's musical chairs here the last few weeks with me traveling, with hurricanes. We've had to dislodge our podcast setting to other locations. I mean, it's been a strange year, you know, since, ever since we moved to the Lair. And today, Jay's is sick, which is rare. He didn't get sick very often. He brags about never getting sick. So Zach, who was just here in my chair, now is this piping in from North Carolina.

So welcome, Zach. Today you're like a guest. I'm the quarterback, and you get to be the whatever you are. Well, you know, I read all the comments. Every time I'm on that, there'll be three or four that say, we want Al back. Why is Zach here? So maybe today I'll get some positive. Yeah, because you're in another role.

Well, that's what somebody brought it up before, I guess, was from the time before last one, when you were here. And so Jace was like, well, yeah, I was, you know, I was said, that was better, you know. And I was like, well, yeah. I mean, that's obvious. You know, but at the same time, I said, give Zach a chance. He's going to, he's going to grow into his role. And besides, Zach and I, as I've explained to the audience before, is Zach and I produced

the show. So technically we're not talent, you know, Jason and dad are the talent. We're just the, we're the producers. So we're just here for the fun of it, right? I'm just a nice guy. Me being the talent is by anyone's imagination is a far-fetched idea. Well, the main thing about, the good thing about being talent is you get paid. I drove to town yesterday so everyone will know. You say, when's the last time you you've been in town the Sunday before. I'll roll in there. We've got a little group of people.

Amazingly, it's grown exponentially. But the people who are coming and are being converted to Christ through the message we present, they are like, it's in the hundreds now this year. but they're all from somewhere else. So they come down and participate in the new birth through their faith in Jesus, his death, burial, resurrection. So we highlight that.

So it's like a revolving door, but they're from all over the United States of America. So they come there. The new birth takes place. We pray with them and for them. They leave. so the numbers at the little congregation, they're almost tenfold bigger,

but they're travelers. They go out. But I thought to myself, someone says, well, y'all don't seem to be growing in leaps and bounds. I said, well,

it's a card on how you look at it. The members there is about the same. A few more probably come in from time to time. But the people who are coming from other states and then going back to their homes, We just tell them, look, push come to shove, just meet in your house. Get your kin folks together, your neighbors, and keep your eye on Jesus, your eye on the prize. It's simple.

Put your faith in him. He's removed your sin. He's going to raise you from the dead. Right. So just go back and meet in your homes. Remember him when you come together, remember him. His body, the blood was shared for you. So, but taking the Lord's Supper there together is a little group.

Well, this little group is becoming a much bigger group out. That's right. But it's diffused. Right. It's people, which I love it. Well, and, you know, a lot of people have bad experiences with churches, and I get it, you know, because I work for the church for a long time. Church can be a place of, you know, a lot of consternation and difficulty.

So, you know, it's just people. It's just messy is what it is. Sheep or sheep, you know, they're smelly and messy. Jesus told us that. But our church is, that has actually embraced the whole thing. So you're often a plant that we have out by the college that Zach actually worked with as well. And then, but our main body at WFR, I mean, because of COVID, really, we've been able to sort of partner with the podcast audience. These people are tuning in because they don't really have a church family.

So they, a lot of them discover the podcast first. Then they go over to WFR church.org. So they see me preach. or Kellett or whatever on Sundays. And so people are starting to gather to do that. And we just sent Kellett and Jeremy. Jeremy's our kind of online minister. And he basically makes contact with all these folks.

He gets information, send some discipleship videos. I mean, it really is sort of a, I don't know what you got, a virtual church in the sense that you're not physically here, but you're still impacted and able to be disciples. And so Kellett and Jeremy just took off to Illinois. And they met with a group. I don't know if I told you this, Zach, a group of about 30, and it was about 10 that had started with the podcast, then was watching WFR Live Stream, and they just reached out and said, hey, we got these, you know, three families that are getting together, and we watch you guys,

we feel like we're part of the church. So they just took off up there and met with them. Well, they invited it all their friends, so there was about 30 of them, and just had a little discipleship weekend, you know, just talking about the main thing and what you need to do. And basically, you know, what we've talked about, this podcast doing. That is first century. like Christianity the way it went worldwide right so we need to do we need to implement that these days what did you tell Zach and I was that we were on a plane going somewhere and what did you tell

us that when we were talking about doing this podcast do you remember and your show your other show I said I know this is going to sound like a shock to you boys but I said I've just looked at this thing we need to speed this baby up our outreach we need to speed it up and the only way I know how to speed it up is this internet, y'all keep talking about. I said, now, I've never owned a cell phone. I've never clicked on or tuned in. I basically tuned it out. I said, now I'm looking at it saying,

we could use that thing as a vehicle to get the good news preached from anywhere. That's right. So we're sitting down here at the lair where we all go leave to duck hunt now. We're surrounded by, you know, all kinds of four-wheeler's, you know, you know, the Yamaha halls are out there. We're running and getting in them and going and fighting the mud and fighting the beavers. It looks so nice and clean and bright in here, but you go outside. But even from that location, you say, y'all are getting it out that God became flesh.

Jesus died on a cross was buried and raised from the dead. By the way, mistake free, the perfect man, the perfect God, the creator of the cosmos, the greatest prophet who ever lived, the greatest healer that ever lived, the reconciler, the Redeemer, the miracle worker, the way, the truth, the life, the resurrection, the one lawgiver, the judge, well, I'm, I'm starting to preach here, so. That's all right, preach. Well, I'm just saying. We've got 48 minutes.

My bottom line is, I'm not getting out of here alive unless Jesus is real, so I'm all in. I don't care about all these elections. We vote for the godliest men. Donald Trump, let's see. He's pro-God. I'm like, well, he's pro-life. Well, he's pro-gun. Well, and he's pro-America.

Well, I'm like, I'm voting for him. And if you said, well, what if he was for the killing of your infants in the mother's wound? And he said, let's pick up all the guns where these boys can't do. duck hunt anymore. And what if he's, you know, so I'm like, you know what? If he were that way, I wouldn't vote for him. I don't care what party he's with.

But as it turns out, he's my kind of man. Pro God, pro-life, pro-gun. I'm like, pro-American. I'm like, he's my kind of man. Well, you know, Zach, it's interesting because we haven't talked about this on the podcast. Dad's talked a lot about when he first,

I mean, the first time he met Trump and then the subsequent times that he's been able to share a little bit with him, but you actually were the vehicle for the first meeting because you were working with the 16, 2016 Trump campaign to connect to evangelicals, right? Yeah, they called me up, I guess October and said, we need to help with you people, your people. Who are my people, evangelical conservatives? And, you know, and as my whole point on it was, and this is still kind of, a lively debate, but you really think about what's at stake here with the court system and,

I mean, the Federal Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court nominations. I mean, there's a, like, like Phil said, there's a very strong case to be made for why evangelicals should get out and participate in culture and in the elections. So you ran for Congress. Well, you ran for Congress in 14? Yeah, 2014. And barely lost. and I mean

But really the whole genesis of that And us being with you on the campaign And trying to help you win He was you running for a local representative To Washington And really to me all this that we're doing today The building of that all came out of that I mean

I just see God's hand all over it Because you've actually been able to do more with us I feel like for the kingdom Then if you'd have been a sitting congressman I mean, we'll never know. But the contacts you made, all that. I mean, I feel like that is kind of what built the place, you know, to connect us with Blaze to do in the woods and then eventually the podcast.

No, no doubt. I think that it's definitely open up doors. I mean, it is interesting, though, when you were talking about when Phil, when he came to us on that plane and he said, go get on that thing. Y'all call the Internet. Get on that black box. Yeah, it's funny that we probably have the only podcast in the country that does not have an internet connection. We had to bring it.

So even if we're here for this body, they have a little Wi-Fi car that will be internet service at the layer. Yeah, you're cutting out on I hear about three out of every ten words. Well, it is bad. It's just the problem is we, for those of you that don't know, you know, obviously you don't know this area. So dad lives like 30 miles out. And so we want to do the podcast out here because Dad doesn't like to go to town, which he tells us that every podcast almost. So we thought, well, we'll come to you and do the podcast.

The problem is they've never laid fiber optics this far out. I don't know where they stop coming out, but without. It's a tower, but it's beyond your vision, but it's sitting over there. Yeah, we're bouncing off of that, but that's the problem. The highest piece of ground around here is not very high, but that's where they put the satellite, you know, trying to beam it all down. but my goal is not to get the internet in everyone's home. My goal is to get Jesus in everyone's home.

The best way we can, I don't know. They got to have the internet to get us to. I understand. That's the way it works, you know. I think a lot of people watch it at work. The thing I hear the most from people that watch and listen, yesterday there was a couple that came. I was preaching at WFR.

And so they came down from Kansas, and I had forgotten that they were coming yesterday. I should have written it down somewhere. And so like afterwards, Jeremy comes over and he said, hey, there's a couple here from Kansas that came. Missouri or Kansas City? Kansas City, Missouri. They're on the Missouri. Same thing. Yeah. Separate River. So they, it was Lisa and Brian. And they listened. So I'm sure they'll hear this. They had been living together for several years. And I think if I remember right, she started watching the podcast and got convicted. She was like, well, this ain't, this is. is not right. You know, obviously something we said about, you know, living together and not being married.

And so she, she kicked him to the couch like two years ago and quit sleeping with him. They were still in the same house, but she wouldn't sleep. So that part of their life dried up. It dried up. And so, but then they reached out and they were like, hey, you know, we want to get baptized and we want to get married. Would you do it? I said, well, sure. Just come, you know, come to WFR. And they were here yesterday. So, but I forgot about it. So I preached. And I, and I, I, I, I don't know, is that you're like this, but like when I preach, like, it takes me a while to kind of get back into normal mode. You know, just, you kind of get in this place in your mind. It just takes me a while to kind of come down, I guess.

But anyway, so I'm kind of out of it. And I baptize them. Well, I don't have any notes for a wedding, you know, to, you know, I just don't know that on the top of my head. I could have just pulled something together. So I said, what are y'all going to eat for you, hit the road? And they were like, yeah, so, well, just come to my house and I'll feed you and marry in my living room. I said, I got married in my preacher's living room. So I guess I'm still to get 36 years later, I'm still married.

So I guess it worked out for a year. Well, now that is Christianity. It is. It is. And they had actually. Repentance. They said, good, this is not right. Now the guy's off the couch.

He's thinking, boy, it's a win-win. I get eternal life and honey, we back in business. Yeah, they were excited about their trip home. They could stop at a hotel. I bet they were. You married? We just had our first, unashamed wedding. That's right.

It's the first one. First one. So let's take a break. So, yeah, so when I married him in the living room, and it was really interesting because, you know, my grandkids are running around and playing in the background. And, you know, it's just Phyllis and Tony were there. And so Phyllis was talking to her.

And it was really touching. And you're right. It was first century, yes. And so they had gotten a Louisiana license. So they're actually Louisiana married, you know, even though they're going back. But what I told them was really interesting because I said, you did it right.

you committed first to Christ. And obviously it's been a while because it changed their lifestyle even when she first was convicted. Now, all you people out there in computer land, I'm not so fired up about this whole thing and I'm going to go buy me a cell phone. I'm not that fired up about it. However, for all of you in computer land that are shacked up, you just say, we can fix this. We can make it right.

We put our faith in God. He'll forgive us of our sins. or otherwise, and we'll be under the grace of God, and that we can be the kind of family unit that the United States desperately needs. We need to have a father and a mother, and what those two did, they made it right before God. So we're going to do this right this time. That's right. I think it's a wonderful time.

And you don't have to come here, obviously, to do that. You can do it wherever you are, but you've got to get things right. You've got to make sure your commitment is to Christ, and you're going to follow him, which they did. And then I told them, I said, you know, it's interesting because baptism, what they were doing with their baptism in my mind, the way I explained it a lot of times to people, is almost like a wedding. Because, you know, people have made a commitment to one another. But then you go and you stand before that justice of the priest or that preacher, that whenever you say that, you're saying, this is my I do. We're the bride of Christ. Exactly. And that's what I shared with yesterday. And I told him, I said, you know, the Bible, a lot of people say, well, you know, sex.

morality and then they try to come up with all these now weird ways that people have found to violate you know god's word but i said all you got to do is read genesis two you know 24 and and jesus quoted it and that covers everything because you know said well the bible doesn't talk about homosexuality or jesus doesn't talk about homosexuality i was like oh he he he covered it in genesis two when he quoted that one man one woman this thing about we got all these different genders and all these different ways of people. I can't even, it makes my head hurt to try to figure out who's a woman, who's a man. And it's just real simple.

He made us male and female, simple gender, and he made us to have sex with your wife or your husband. I mean, that's the plan. So anything else outside of that is off script. And by the way, Al, it's not burdensome. No. It's not burdensome. It's fantastic.

It's great. I mean, the intimacy that you draw from this person, And as you grow through the seasons of your life is amazing. I mean, you've talked about for you. Now you come out of a relationship just like theirs. That's right. Myself and your own mama, shacked up. Yep.

Right. And we went through the same thing that that group, that couple did yesterday. That's right. We made it right. Made it right. You know, I hate that we did that to you, Al. But hey, what are saying that? Hey, I'm the bastard.

You know, that's just, that was. Hey. But you know what? You guys got it right. And I was never offended by that. when you finally told me, or whenever, you know, we talked about it at some point, but I was grown. But I was like, hey, I grew up. I had a good childhood. I mean, when your life changed, it changed everything for us. Oh, J's, you know, he and here, of course, I remember him said,

well, please tell me you got married before I, you know, before I came along. He was kind of, he didn't want to be a bee. He didn't want to be a bee. That's when mom speaks. I'm glad now, wow, that we can look back at our sinful past and basically smile. That's right. Because God smiled on us. Well, we smiled back and say, hey, we had it wrong. Through your help and our faith in your son, God, we made it right. Well, and I think it's never too late to make it right.

That's right. And I think the reason I was never judgmental about y'all is because for four years I checked out, you know, and I talked about yesterday. in my sermon. We all had our time in the wilderness out. I was 14 years old and checked out. I became a double secret agent at church because I was there and looked good. I was talking about that how a good tree can't bear bad fruit and a bad tree can't bear good fruit. So what I was saying was, so I was telling the church and the live stream on yesterday,

I was like, look. That's a good lesson, by the way, for these young bucks like Zach and Jace. That's exactly right. So you internally, if the Spirit of God is not bearing that fruit in your life, then you're not plugged into him. Because maybe he said, you have to remain in me and me in you. That's what he said in John 15. And so when I checked out, I looked like I had it going on like it was all good.

But it wasn't. Living the lie. Living the lie. Zach did it for a period too. How old were you, you were like college age and you kind of went off the reservation? So we were about 19 or 20. Yeah. But it wasn't too long for y'all, right?

Just a year or two, maybe? Yeah, yeah, it wasn't. We were off for a little while. But you know, I think one of the things that I think for young people that I wish I had to listen to our preacher who said that there's no advantage to sin. You know, I think I heard about a lot of great testimonies. And I wanted to go out there and work on my testimony. What I didn't know was that, you know, by doing that, you know,

by doing that, there's a lot of baggage and scars that come with that will last a while. But the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is continuing to heal me. But, yeah, me and Jeff were out there for a few years until you guys got involved. And you remember how when you shut it down? Can you hear me, Phil? All right. Say again, you dragged out there for a second. Bad Internet.

Yeah, I said, so we were out there for a few years until Dad and Phil shut it down. Do you guys remember when you did that? I don't remember. Oh, I remember it well. The intervention. It started with Jeff, but then, of course, we were talking to Gordon and Jan. And so at the same time, because they were cutting up together, you know, and Zach was here. I guess you were going to college here.

And so they had them a little, they had them a little pop party, you know, college pop parties going on up there in town. They were living in an apartment. And so Willie was actually working with the college age at that time. And so he got wind of it first. And then so Jeff had left his truck somewhere for like a couple of days. And so he was probably on a bender. And so Willie left a note on Jeff's truck. And he said, I know what you've been up to.

You need to report out to dads today. And so Jeff pulls up. We're all there. And he walks in. Of course, he had that just, you know, rabbit. He looked like he was coming into the, you know, to the layer. It was a Robertson family intervention. And the first thing dad said was.

Of course, Jeff's got ear rings in. And so Dad says, first thing I want you to do is get the keys out of my truck and put them right here in my hand. That was the first thing he said. So Jeff pulled his keys out and put it and as that. And he said, and then you get that crap out of your ears too. And so he took his earrings out. It was a three-month, what do you call it, house arrest. Yep.

And Jeff was confined to the immediate living quarters for about three months. And we started telling them, pointing them to Jesus. Well, what was interesting was, what's amazing is his final statement after the entire ordeal was, what took y'all so long? What took y'all so long? That's what he said. Yeah, well, it was, I know that coincided with duck season, too.

So it was basically in the woods for 60 days. That's right. Nothing but it wasn't a bad. It wasn't a horrible deal. No, and he was glad. I mean, like, he knew he had to have that, just like you did, just like I did. We had to step away from the influencers. And of course, Zach, he came along with the same.

He was basically had whatever, however your intervention went with your folks. And so they came out together, which is by the way, Al, what that is a little microcosm of America and the importance of the family structure. That's right. It goes all the way to grandpa, great-grandpa, down to father, down to children. It's from top to bottom. They got these words for a nuclear family as in decline,

but there's nothing nuclear about it, but it is a lot about spiritual. Well, the spiritual road. It's also being attacked by groups now. I mean, so is it BLM? And I think they've taken it down off their website now, but for a while

you could go read it, but they've moved it now because they're getting blowback. But they said, we want to destroy any patriarchy, any one of these families where, you know, everything that we're fighting for. They call it the Western prescribed family, which basically means mom, dad, kids in a home protecting you.

You know, community. So one of the things I was talking about yesterday in my sermon, you know, to Zach's point, is that I made the point that the testimony, because you remember he told the disciples, he said, you'll testify about being with me because I've been with you from the beginning here. So that's how we were going to get the story is Matthew, Martin, Luke, and John. But the problem people say is they'll say my testimony, but it's really Jesus' testimony. because the disciples testified about their time with him. So what I'm saying?

I mean, that was the point, because then he says after that, he says the spirit, when it comes into you, he's talking to the 11 first, but then to us, he said, the spirit will testify what the gardener,

the father, and what I tell the spirit to tell you. So, you know, I made the point that you got the gardener in this John 15 and 16, you've got the true vine, you've got the branches, which are us, and then the first the 11,

and then you've got the Holy Spirit, which is the fruit bear. He's the helper. You know, in the NIV, in our version, dad, it says, counselor, is what they call him. And in the newer NIV, it says advocate, which I don't really like that, because really Jesus is the advocate, but they're all the same person. But the word actually means in Greek is a helper, which I really like. Paraclet is a Greek word, it means helper. So the Holy Spirit is in us to help us know what God needs to tell us to do because he's testifying to us.

So to Zach's point, I think that's the idea of testimony is it's not our story. Because everybody's got a story. You know, everybody's messing up. Even if you didn't go off the reservation, you're still a sinner. You know, most of the people that haven't had that experience has become very judgmental. for whatever reason. But everybody's a sinner, so you've got to have the Holy Spirit to be able to help you bear the fruit.

And so all those are linked together so powerfully. So when I look at my story, it's only a story because I left. You know, he told the disciples, he said, he said, I'm telling you this so you won't fall away. You know, he was worried. He knew what they were going to have to go through. In fact, he said, when someone says they're going to kill you, they'll say they're doing it on God's behalf.

So he didn't even mince words. He just told them all they were going to get killed because of faith. I mean, that's scary when you think about it. We look at what we're facing today, and it is increasingly dangerous for believers. But they were going to get killed, and Jesus knew it, and he told them, which I thought was powerful. That's why that resurrection looms big. That's exactly right. In the human race, it looms big.

So, Zach, does that make sense to you about that? that it's really Jesus's testimony. It's just being lived out through you. And when you connect into his story, and for me, it was, you know, somebody took a crowbar to me, and, you know, this was where I was at. I was going to die in that lifestyle,

and pretty quickly. And so I came to my senses, just like the Luke 15, you know, the kid in the story. You know, he went off, he squandered, he lived the life, and then he came back, because he came to his senses and said,

you know, this really is not, not a good lifestyle situation that's going on. So that's kind of where I was. But it's really Jesus's story, more than my story, because when I came back to him, man, I got lined out and I'm still here. I think for me, it was a realization twofold. One of what was living was not fulfilling. And then the second part of that was that there was something else being offered to me that was much more fulfilling. I was being offered of what as Phil says, peace of mind, the rarest of commodities. That's right.

Well, and I think that's the greatest blessing, and that's why that, you know, you could say, he says peace in this text, but he also says love because he tells me, he said, you've got to love each other. So you think about all the different fruits of the Spirit, I mean, they all carry with them a different perspective of what's good, you know?

And Paul lays it out so plainly in Galatians 5. I mean, there's just, there's two lists there. One's the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness. And then you look right above there and you see that lifestyle, which is bad fruit, you know, that comes out sexual immorality, drunkenness, you know, and all the things that go with it. I don't know, it just seems like too good of a deal for everybody not to want to get in on it to me. You know, you'd think if the goal of all of our lives on planet Earth is to get in a position,

in our case, in Jesus, and you're there so that people will know that you love God and that you love each other, how hard could it be when you get right down to it? Right. Just think about how monumental that mountain is to climb to get people to say, you mean you're trying to tell me

that the whole gist of all of this is for us to be a group of human beings who love their God and they love their neighbor. There's just not a downside to that. Jesus said, you did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit and that little caveat at the end, fruit that will last.

So eternity, immortality is tied to that, loving God and loving your neighbor. I'm like, I'll give her a world. I'll give that a try. We'll see how that works out. Way better than a sinful life. Peace of mind does not come without God. Without his spirit.

It just does not happen. Yeah. And I think we have to, as we're telling the stories, because there is power in the testimony of Jesus in people's lives. And, man, we've seen a lot of major life changes. But to Zach's point, which Mike Kellett is the one that always said it to us, is that sinful behaviors never to your advantage. No.

It's not. I mean, it's even as a Christian, like, we've been saved. Our sins have been nailed to the cross, but sinful life leads to problems. And I made the point yesterday, it's sin is, it's both pervasive and progressive. You know? The irony of evil is that when Jesus said,

if the world hate you, and look, you're going around doing good, he never made them a mistake. stake. And he said, keep in mind that it hated me first. Right. You say, so the provider of immortality was saying, just remember when they hate you for doing good like me, he said, just remember, they hated me first. It makes me feel better. In fact, I kind of wear that as a badge of honor. I'm like, well, if I'm following Jesus, I expect to be hated and guess what some of them do hate me they do and it's you're right you're not surprised by that if you belong to the world it would love you as it's own all you have to do is is is live your

life al with the current narrative that they have there is no god and with violence looting robbing shooting broken families drugs you just go on as as it is you do not belong to the world, but I've chosen you out of the world. That's why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you. No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they'll persecute you also. If they observe my teaching, they will obey yours also. So there's a percentage of people, the couple that showed up yesterday, the ones where I was across the river over there. You said, They came for the same reason that that couple came to you that you married them and you baptize them. You say, the kingdom marches forward, and no matter who's in control of it, these governmental systems, no matter who's in control,

it's pretty well a scrap from start to finish if you follow Jesus faithfully. You'll stand out among me, and that's for sure. Well, and it's just like we talked about earlier. You become a target. If you don't have someone there to help you back when you go off the reservation, which we described earlier, you described it. I mean, he's thinking about it if Zach and Jeb had been fast forward to now, they were the age they were then, and people seemed to have less conviction. Even on the quote-unquote Christian side, because this whole text in John 15 and 16 is written to believers. I mean, like you said, there's a clear choice about the who.

who the world is. These are people that are not remaining in him. So they know at one time they said they did. So if you don't have people to pull people back and people are just living like they want to, I mean, these kids that are running around the street, you're right. I mean, they have no structure. You got to remember, we're discussing what happened 20 years ago, 25 years ago, with Jeff and Zach, you say, well, guess what? Guess what? Guess who has a house full of kids? now, Jeff and Zach. Oh, yeah. Well, now they're looking at their children and saying, whoa, here we go.

So now they've understood that the role they play into getting their children on the right path. Because you love them, and it's all out of love. So you say the power of the spirit and the producing the fruit, trust me when I tell you, the children, oh, they are watching carefully. Well, it's really interesting because Zach's kids and Jep's are really, great kids, too. They really are. I mean, they're a reflection of their parents,

Christian Walt, which is amazing. They're so gifted and talented. Y'all have done well, Zach. You and you're in Jeff with your children. Yeah, we're not done yet, but I appreciate that.

But you know, when you said that we use phrases like the power of the, of the spirit and the kind of referencing, even our discussion we had last, last time we were together with Jace, the power of the spirit, if you read this, this whole,

three or four chapters here in John, the major power that we're talking about is the power that comes from truth and the spirit of truth. And that's why we're also enemies. That's why there's a target on our back because, I mean, really, whoever determines the truth, that's who's got the ultimate authority and the ultimate

power. And in reality, that truth is gods. It's not even ours to determine. But that's why, I think that's what, where the threat that the believer, while we're so threatening, even though we just want to live a peace-filled life, it's because what we're claiming is that we don't get to determine truth for ourselves. We can only receive that from the spirit, from him revealing it to us. I received it through reading the Word of God. I received it when I got home from, from Tech that day, Louisiana

Tech, and you guys had already moved Jeff out, and there was a note on my door, and it said, Zach moved out, changed my life, tell you more later. And I opened that door and all his furniture is gone. That was like a reality check for me. There was a truth there that I was about to find out about. And I needed to hear that. And I continue to need to hear it. I think that's what this whole text is about.

The spirit. That's a good point. And I never knew that. That's the first time I've ever heard that story of how you found out that he, because you're right. We just took your message. Sometimes little notes will go a long way. That's exactly right. That's powerful.

Well, for me, I talked about yesterday. So, Dad, you also did the same to me, but I didn't respond well. I was 17. I just graduated. I just thought I knew how to run my own life. But you put it to me like, well, look, if you're going to live the way you're living, because, you know, what I said yesterday was some people try to be both. And I think that's what this text is talking about.

They try to claim to be in the vine, but the fruit. of their lives is not good. And I always said, you get to a point, when you're working double side, you get to a point where you're forced to make a choice. You either got to go with it or not go with it, because like Zach said, people are living a lie. And I was living a lie. And so once you guys found out about it, and you thought I was always good because I had

been good until I wasn't because he even wanted to move in. So y'all are kind of shocked by it, I think, more than anything else. And so, but you told me, I mean, we sat in that old blue Chevrolet pickup. And you said, Al, here's the deal. If you're going to live the way you're going to live, you cannot do it here. So we want you to be here. We want you to do what's right. But you gave me the clear choice.

And so I left. I was like, well, I'm a man now. I'm out of high school. You know, I was only 17. So I took off to New Orleans and then just did a deep dive into sinful behavior and debauchery until I almost got killed. But looking back, and I said this yesterday about you, dad. I said, I was so glad and proud I had a father who gave me the choice.

Now, I made the wrong choice, but I knew when I came back what to expect. And so I did it just like Luke 15. I mean, I literally had a speech in mine. I was in the pig pen. I was heading home. And you guys met me and just welcomed me in, just like the father did in Luke 15. Yeah, with the fat and catfish. The fat and catfish.

And we had a celebration. That's exactly right. Let's take another break. So to your point in a minute ago, Dad, you were talking about persecution that comes from that. And Zach is so spot on. because what people really hate is the truth. It's what it reflects in them. And, you know, there's a verse where here's what it says.

It says, when the counselor comes, John 16, he says, when the counselor comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. And I made the point yesterday that how does that happen? What does that mean? but what it means is what we just have been talking about when people live by truth it convicts everybody else of the way they're living well they don't like that they don't want to be told what to do and now in today's society they they take up sides that's right it's two distinct sides that's exactly always that's what we've got going now in america yeah i think uh i love this

text, I think I may have mentioned this in the previous podcast, but I don't know if I finished my thought on it, that he says the Spirit's going to do three things. He's going to convict the world about sin, and then also righteousness and judgment. And then he further explains what that is. He says of sin because they don't believe in me. I think that's that original conviction that the Holy Spirit says you're guilty and you need to repent. That's right. It's the, it's the justification, which is being free from the penalty of sin. And then the next part, he says,

concerning righteousness, because I go to the father and you can no longer see me, it's easy not to sin and to be righteous when you're standing there with the son of God right next to you, but he's like, I'm leaving. I think that's the sanctification that we all are living under being free from the power of sin. And then, yeah, and then lastly,

concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged talking about Satan, and that's being our glorification, being free from the presence of us. And one day when we see God's glorious revelation of himself, like the talks about Philippians too, it will be impossible to sin because you will not be able to believe in a lie anymore because you'll be looking at just the glory of God, at this risen king. And so I think we see in the text here that through the Holy Spirit, God is applying salvation to us. us. I mean, in all three ways, our justification, our sanctification, and our glorification. Another way to say that is the three P's. We're free from the penalty of sin, the power of sin,

and one day the presence of sin. We'll be saved from all that. Does that make sense? Yep. Well, that's got a little illiteration going. He's preaching it. I love it. Yeah, and to your point, as he says, he testifies of what God is going to, you know, wants him to say in us and to us, us. I read this one yesterday. Romans 8, 15 says, because you know, you think about Romans 7 and 8, Paul describes what we're talking about here. Romans 7, he describes what it's like when you try to take care of your own righteousness and your own sinfulness. And he says, it's like a man beating the air because he just, I do what I want, don't want to do. He's describing this picture of people

trying to do it without God and without the Holy Spirit specifically, because then he gets to Romans 8. And he says, but here's the life for you. Here's what the spirit's going to do for you. And he says this in verse 15, Romans 8, you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. And that's to the point, Zach, about Satan being defeated. Because all he really has over us is the fear of death, right? But once you know that Jesus not only die for your sin, it's resurrected, and you're going to be resurrected as well, what else does he have? I mean, he's been defeated. That's the defeat. It said, but you have received the spirit of sonship adoption, and by him we cry, Abba, father,

that intimate relationship with the gardener from John 15. The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. So we had that security and that salvation. I mean, again, it's just, I find it baffling that anybody who would hear that would not want to get in on that. Yeah. Jesus told them, I have much more to say to. you more than you can now bear. He said, I don't want you a head to explode here.

That's right. But when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me, the spirit, by taking from what is mine. And here's the key point in what Zach was said, and making it known to you. You have to have him. He's riding alongside your conscience.

He's going riding along in your head right next to your conscience. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. A little while you will see me no more. So he's telling him, preparing them how they're going to have to do that between themselves and the spirit is going to give them. They're going to need that desperately. In fact, they're not going to be able to function without it.

So while you see me no more, then after a little while, you'll see me. I'll be back. So rock on. And he leaves. He dies. He's buried. He's raised. He stays 40 days, and he's gone.

Back to heaven. But he lives in his people worldwide through the spirit. So you say, man, thank God for the counselor, the helper. And, you know, from their perspective, I can understand it would be so frightening. Because he tells them in this text, he says, you're going to be scattered. You know, I mean, like, you're fixing me more frightened than you've ever been in your life. Because when Jesus died, I mean, even though he told him he was coming back at the same time, it's like the reality was they thought this didn't work out.

At one time, we had a government, unlike the Roman Empire, government, empress, kings. I mean, they basically, yeah, I could do anything. and they wanted to. They weren't worried about it. You know, there were certain rights the Romans put into place, but it was a pretty brutal way to operate. Well, here we come along, you know, almost 1,800 years later, and they formed these United States of America,

a Constitutional Republic, got at the center of it, and we were rocking along there. We rose to the greatest nation on earth because of it. But now that is being chipped away and we're losing that. And you're saying people are running in every direction. And all of a sudden, the awareness of God in the mind is not there like it was 200 years ago, 250.

So now we've sort of found ourselves at a tipping point. Is right. Are we going forward with God or without him? Well, and we hear so many people that listen to the podcast that tell us that. They were like, man, I mean, I just over and over, Zach, you see it too. Email after email after email is like, this, this is, like, this. This is, I finally got it. I understand now.

My life needs to change. And that's the only way we're really going to fix our culture. It is. It is. By heart change. I mean, Civil War won't work. We already know that. We had one.

You know, lining up across from each other with guns and shooting each other, that's not going to fix the problem. It's the heart. It's the idea of it. We're going to have to get back to God. That's exactly right. To me, it'll empower us with his spirit to help us. So you're like, but you have to humble yourself to do that.

That's right. But it is the best way to go. Yeah, and the best way to live. I mean, there's no doubt about that. And we've all experienced that, all three of us have, even to just step away, you know, from what's so good. And when you do, you just see how bad it is. And it's like, I don't want to do that. You know, I want to live it out for him.

Zach, any final thoughts before we wrap up? He's out again. His mouth is moving, but there's nothing there. Yeah. Zach is good to have you. I wish I could do that to Jay sometimes. The evil one is working through the, the, The computer wires.

I wish I had a button I could press, and then all of a sudden, Jay's thing would just go off, you know, because the biggest complaint we get is from an audience as Jayce talks over you or whatever. And so you've got the Jace haters out there. I'm glad God told us on how to behave

and the way we should live via a book. Yeah. Because they didn't say what you want to about the internet, though great advantages of the internet, but there's some other, I mean, It's toning you in, toning you out, bringing it down, bringing you up. Good night, it's working.

Yeah, yeah. That's why you don't want to trust in man-made gadgetry. That's what I call it. We're sticking to the book. We love it. All right, we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

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