Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 192 | Jase's Plan to Stymie Si, a Pet Peeve About Preachers, and Bonfire of the Pews

Episode Date: December 6, 2020

Jase devises a plan to manipulate Si's behavior in the duck blind. Phil talks about why there are so many duck-blind conversions. And the guys discuss how to love Jesus more than fishing, preachers who rail against people who skip church, what God looks like, the significance of communion, house churches, and why the Lord's Supper became more special during the pandemic. Jase also explains why pews are "of the devil" and suggests a good way to get rid of them. -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So what's the report today? What was the... Today was Frustration Day. The hunt line. Yeah. Frustration Day.

We've been... You know, we were killing 25 a day. And then we went 8, 9. Well, today is 8. So you're like, well, they didn't show. But today was professional. We needed, if we had a line full of professionals. You're correct.

You had some guests to that. Well, we did have guests, but they weren't the problem. Which I didn't know what the problem was because I wasn't in an arguing mood today. Well, that's maybe the most surprising thing I've heard so far. Surprising. So what happened was at daylight, we got this full moon we're trying to deal with. At daylight, we saw way more ducks. and this hole we had gone to,

we had already a 24 and a 23. Well, at daylight, we look up, and I mean, there's a few ducks, two little bunches of mallards. And we haven't been seeing much, but what we see, they come in. Well, they got to the last two seconds of the circle, about three times, and wouldn't come in.

And so it's the first little mini argument was, Phil was like, well, we should have shot them, which is, you know, now that they left, I was trying to get them all in. Sure. But they've been, I've been watching the ducks. So I didn't know what happened. But then about five minutes later, I heard Phil and sigh having the banter was going back and forth.

So they, I guess they were in argument. And I didn't realize the invisible man was standing up while all those, because the first We should have talked about this with Sai yesterday. I would have said you can't spell invisible without the sign. But he, Sae was standing up during the first 30 minutes. Well, that's when the ducks flew. It was over after 30 minutes.

We could have left. And so we didn't, I mean, we shot eight, but I felt like we should have had 20. So what I did, this is how I respond. I just, I wasn't in the mood for getting angry. I didn't know what And then I heard that And our guest

They cooked cinnamon rolls In the blind Which was kind of cool They took the fire And he had this contraption And hot food In a cold duck blight It's like

There's nothing better So that made me feel better But what made me feel the best Was after the hunt was over They said What are you doing Because I went The opposite direction

Like not coming To pick everybody up And I cut as much brush as my rig would hold and where sigh stands the next time he, because I'd already left. Yeah. The next time he gets in that blind, he's going to say, what happened? Did a tree fall here?

So you're just out of, you're just going to, instead of arguing, you're just going to cover him up. You know what? If you want to stand up, you can do it now. Good luck shooting through this. But I don't think sigh is strong enough at this stage of his life to actually understand. do what I did. I literally took the top of an overcup tree

and just put it where he stands. I did brush the rest of the blind. That might be worth me going just to see his reaction when he goes in there. I'll brush the rest of the blind. Because as a guy who picks where to go in the setup,

today, we didn't have many opportunities, but we should have done way better. And the blind was not brushed inside his defense as well. Because this third time we hunted just the wear and tear of it. Yeah. The wind had gotten up somewhere in there. We had a 20 mile an hour northwest wind this last 25 maybe.

That's why I said. It was not a professional brush job. So I don't have anybody to blame but myself. I should have done that before we hunted. But it's hard to see before daylight. We hadn't been there in a few days. Right. So you know what?

We'll get them tomorrow. I'll make a few adjustments. We'll back at them. Well, hats off today. So he's looking at his own. how he factors in there just being the team player I'm gonna win

because he's turned to Mr. Positive Well Stone won there today so maybe that was one of the reason why you were more positive It happened to when he's away from stone That's right

Because he's, y'all kid about me being negative But I'm positive But when I'm that close to his Jay It seems like that end of the blind is negative enough for both of us It's like two two prickly things rubbing against each other with them to.

Jay is becoming more spiritual, which is good news. Yeah, it is. He's kind of had a real awakening here, maybe, which has been a good thing. Family issues. Yeah, very interesting. Raising teenage girls. I'm telling you, Jay says. I think the Almighty every day that he gave me boys instead of girls.

I don't believe I could have disciplined girls. I don't know what. One thing about girls. I can't see myself. My observation is because I was a teenager that I raised girls. Obviously, you know, I've seen a lot of boys raised. Teenage girls, in my observation, are way meaner in general to each other than teenage boys are. Really?

Oh, yeah. They're mean, they cut to the quick with each other, and they shame each other terribly. And boys are not like that. Your boys will fight. I mean, you know, boys will kind of fight, but then once it's over, it's your buddies, you know. I mean, you don't really have a problem with them after that. Well, Willie and I did, we did a lot of fights. Yeah, you didn't get over until you got grown.

Well, we were right close together. But I don't know. You had boys and girls. I mean, that's, my observation is the reason it's so hard when they're teenagers, especially when they hit that first freshman, when they're going with the older girls, especially. I mean, there was friction there. Oh, my goodness. It's just, I saw it with my kids, too, and it's really hard for them to adjust.

And if you're sheltered at all, it had been used. to that. Well, they turned out. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's what I'm saying. I think the word you're looking for is drama. A lot of drama. It is.

For a lot of different reasons. So, I mean, so Stone is figuring that out for the first time, you know, and the first time you have conflict, it's difficult. My biggest problem with my daughter, daughters now, I guess, is like when my boys, when we had an issue or we needed to tell. I take them hunting. I think that's your point. Well, you know, my daughter, she's gone a couple times.

She doesn't like it. Yep. So it's like, what do you do? Well, the other night, she's playing soccer this year. And, you know, I said, let's go kick the soccer ball. I mean, I just kind of wanted to do it anyway. So we went out and made a goalie deal at the garage. I hadn't seen them in a while anyway.

And which turned out to be pretty funny because we basically destroyed everything in the garage. By the way, one of our listeners, how do you guys fight the temptation of hunting becoming idolatry in your life for the last 50 years, I guess, 45, 40 to 50 years, we use that as a great tool for the kingdom. There's been many, many converted from duck blind instruction. Oh, yeah. Biblically speaking. And that's what really...

He's thinking, you know, if you're in the duct line, where two or three are gathered in my name, I'll be there. Did you know where he got this? He's thinking, well, if you don't go to church, which is not in the Bible. But in his defense, do you know where he got this question? I don't know. This came from a sermon that he heard that I've heard many times about a preacher getting up there and railing against people who are hunting

while the service is going on. Of course, I'm like, they're not here. We're here. Love us. Love on us. Don't. The old preachers hoping they'll get the word of what happened when they weren't there. Well, a guy I really like, I like his preacher.

I won't name him. But he used to, when he, he'd do this, you know how preachers are, L. They have the same little go-to in the heat of the moment. They list their things that you need to stay away from. But he would always include hunting as like the basically what that question says. You know, if you're, if you'd rather be hunting than, you know, in here, well, you know, the people that are visiting don't know Jesus yet. You lost him because he would rather be hunting than hearing this.

That's just honest truth. What I would say is I think Phil's on to it. I think when you ask a question like that, you're looking at it from a church building, a God department life. And I think that's the wrong way to look at it. I think whatever you do, whether word or deed, you do it with all your heart.

Jesus came up there to the fisherman. He didn't say quit fishing. He said, follow me, and I'll make you fishers. And man, well, guess what? They stayed on the water the whole time for the next three years. They was out there catching fish. and he wasn't opposed to fish and there was no talk about hey let me tell you we got to be in that synagogue so they met on Saturdays didn't yeah that's right on Saturday and it just wasn't that

you seem like if it would have been that big a deal to come up in the gospels at some point no mention of it so I think what it means and and y'all I've told you all this story before I think it was a long time ago on the podcast one of the most spiritual person I know spiritual people I know he invented the trout magnet he told me we were fishing he took the trout fishing for the first time

it's like a year ago and we were talking about a brother who has quit who has stopped meeting with the brothers and now this is a totally different situation if you're not showing up that's not good

nobody's in support of that if you look up and there's been a year and you haven't opened the door of any church building. That's a bad sign. Would you all agree? Totally different issue. So we're talking about him.

But then he brought up John, because I told you's one of the most spiritual people I know, he brought up John, what was it, 21, about the fish when Jesus was at, he caught 153. I love that there's a number there. Counted them. And then he said,

without any, busting any, any, any of a mesh. The net. But I feel like... That's hard to do. Catch up many fish. I feel like saying the number is more impressive because everybody who fish, they're like, how many do you get? And you're like, oh, I got a few.

How many? 153. Well, right, right. That's a big deal to me. Yeah, we got them. That could be two. We got them. So 153.

So he threw that in for the fisherman. But then he asked, Peter, do you love me more than these? And he's going through the story while we're fishing. and he said who do you think he's talking to when he said do you love me more than these and I said I've never really thought about it I thought it was the other disciples and he said well it may be but when I asked myself this question about it being the fish the 153 fish land there he said there was a time in my life where I love fishing more than I loved Jesus and he said that nobody told me that in a sermon my wife didn't tell me my kid i had no experience

i just asked myself that question one day do you love me more than these yeah which is interesting from a fisherman's perspective he was studying and he said i asked myself a question and he said so i made a vow to god he said i didn't go make a sign and get on the street corner and tell about what i was doing he said but I decided to pull my boat out of the water and park it until that thesis changed he said it took almost three years I said really

he said even though I was free to do it I was headed down the right path he said but the next time I launched my boat and from that point till right now at this second I love Jesus way more than this so it was very touching And I thought here's a guy who no wonder he's one of the more spiritual people, I know.

Now, having said that, when he takes people fishing, guess what he does? Talks about Jesus. So look, if he's not at the church building on Sunday morning, I'm not saying, I can't believe he's out there fishing. Oh, I know what he's doing. What he does Monday through Saturday is more critical. Well, I think what he does, even if he went fishing on Sunday morning, now some people, you know, they'll have to pull their truck over. to hearing that.

But to me, if you're a team player and you're part of the body and you're functioning and you have a fishing date with somebody, which we both believe that it's God-arranged meeting here, and you're sharing Jesus with somebody, I would say, hallelujah, not hold on a minute. This doesn't count. Let's take a break. No, I think you're right, Jason. And I think that's the motivation.

That's why I'm glad you brought it up there because last time we talked about, you you know, joy and happiness and the difference between the two and what it means to be Christ centered and how that the question about the pandemic and how do you deal with stuff? And I think this is an extension of that. This is a part of your life. Hobbies are what you enjoy doing. And you had that verse, you know, from Hebrews that talked about we should have enriching lives and things we enjoy to do.

There's nothing wrong with that. I mean, Jesus God, but you are who you are in that moment. And whether we're on the golf course, I'm not on a golf course with somebody or you're in a duck line or whatever, we're still sons of the Almighty. We're always looking for an opportunity to bless people. What's so stupid?

I mean, the reason I would never be a paid preacher is because, like, you hear people talk. I mean, now I'm not knocking you. I'm just saying. I'm not a paid teacher. Well, but you were for a few years. I was for 26. But it's like, because the members, if they drive by

and they see a preacher playing golf on money, well, what do they say? well i tell you what now we're paying this guy and he's out here on a dang golf course while i'm going to work oh it's worse if you play on sunday day it's sunday afternoon because that's like a you know the old school guys are like oh no you can't play golf on sunday that's the lord's day now what if you're out there i said every day and you're sharing jesus with a guy or because you don't know the context but all i'm saying is i'm making that up but we we know how that works it's like if it doesn't fit people's minds they don't like it they gripe about it and so to me the answer to the question is it comes down to the heart thing between you and god

and i think you use what you love to further what you love more yeah which is pointing people to god in jesus and look we've shared how many people we shared jesus with while hunting or fishing I've moved the decoys out and remove the debris and tell them to strip off their clothes like you came out of your mother. And I said, well, walk out there and I'll baptize you boys right now. And they're like, are you serious? I said, yeah. And one thing's for sure I found out, Al, they never forget it. In the dead of wintertime, I said, we got a heater.

We have heat in the blind. You come back and warm up, get your warm clothes back on, and all your sins will be moved. You'll be amazed on how much better you feel. And after it's all over, they call me up several times. They said, you know what? That really was the most amazing thing I've ever participated in.

But tomorrow, I mean, tomorrow I have a guy who I've hunted with and seen him in a few years, but he sent me a text, and he's taking a guy hunting in the military. He was a colonel. He has cancer. and they're like, they're only giving him a few weeks to live. And so him and some of his military buddies are on a hunt. And he knows who we are and whatever.

So this guy was like, is there any way he can meet you? I said, why don't we do this? Because they're hunting tomorrow. I said, let's schedule, because we pray before we hunt. I said, let's just do your blind and our blind in the morning. And I think that'll bless everybody. And we have a couple of guests tomorrow. So what are they going to be thinking?

They don't know this is fixed to happen. I guarantee you that probably has never happened to the guests we'll have tomorrow. They're like, what are we doing? And, you know, here's a guy died. Because we offer, we offer prayer for the hunt, for safety, for, I mean, that's just part of our being out there. Well, just a few days ago, we had that prayer. And one of the guys, you know, hunting with us was like literally, literally, had tears. We've been praying that he'd send more ducks.

That's a good friend. Well, I'm just saying, I think you have to put it into context. Of course, you're saying, well, you're a duck hunter. Well, yeah. I love duck hunting. I'm going to take up for it. I'm going to take up for people who duck hunt, you know. But you don't love it more than you love God.

I don't love it more than I love kids. You don't love it more than you love your wife and children. No. I mean, look, this path. People have to remember we build, we make. devices that sound like... Well, it is part of our... Birds. Right.

And so we... It's a skill set and we've made devices that sound like the birds you're trying to entice. It's part of our business. It's... But see, when I... Some people, they, they're, you know, the text is pretty simple.

Of four-footed animals, you know, birds of the air. You know, the fish of the sea, arise, kill, and eat. Well, at some point. You've got to love Jesus is the image of the invisible God more than you love that verse. That's right. I think that's what they're asking.

Well, and so that, the way I tell the story, when I tell the story about how our business got started, it wasn't, I mean, you loved to hunt when you were not a Christian, but you didn't know how to make a living and build a business until you became a son of God. So you got the clarity. So I always say Christ came first. Therefore, our whole business and our growing up, Jason and I and our brothers. none of it, it was always based on a first decision for God. And then a business that grew out of that. So I think we've always seen it in the proper perspective, even though we'd love it. I've never loved it.

I mean, it's a great question. I just think the key point is to don't put yourself in a legal-type situation where you feel like you're checking all the boxes of being legally correct in front of God. And so, therefore, you can just go do whatever. Yeah. I mean, I'd rather somebody be on a lake on Sunday morning and sharing Jesus than somebody being a church building on Sunday, but who was living like the devil the night before. And they're saying, well, I was at church.

The pattern usually is, what are you going to go with? We hunt on Sunday mornings. We hunt about with a, we'll hunt about nine. We meet where we're going. We don't meet till 10.30. But we hunt about nine. I said, well, let's go meet with the brothers boys. Right.

And we'll go out of the, we'll just come on out of the premises and off we go, and meet with the brothers. But it's not like a legal thing. Right. And then sometimes during the year. I speak there, so. Right. And then Jason and I usually speak on the other.

So a lot of times if the weather's not quite right or whatever, you won't even go Sunday. That's right. We're just going to. Yeah, we didn't go last Sunday. And look, and it was a good day. Yeah. But, I mean, we just didn't go. But the week before, they started flying later.

But I knew Tommy, was that the week before? When he spoke on the crucifixion. I was like, I'm going to hear that. So, I mean, it didn't. Now, that day, I wouldn't have duck hunting anywhere. Because that was something that, you know, here's a guy who I've heard speak on that before. I'm like, I'm going to be sitting there hearing him talk about.

Jesus on a cross. I'm just going to be there. That's a higher priority. It wasn't like I felt like I had to be there. I wanted to be there. And that's what I'm trying to get at. It's a, that's well, and I would say for me, now that I've kind of been in the role of preaching from two different perspectives, there's no doubt about it. I'm enjoying it way better, not working for the church, just from a preaching perspective, because all those things you mentioned earlier, you get so inward bubble thinking. I mean, I was preaching those services. I mean, I was preaching those at some point in my life, you know, trying to rail against people that weren't there because everything becomes about what happens in that building. And you just, it's hard for pastors and

preachers not to stay locked in there. Now I'm on the outside. I don't work there. So I don't do day-to-day church work like, yeah, I used to. But it's very freeing for me. Well, you know me. I've talked to so many leaders because I have a bad habit about not being able to be quiet about it. But I'll tell them. I'm like, don't rail on the people who are not here. It's like, if you present Jesus in a powerful, loving way, you don't have to worry about people showing up. They'll be here because they'll want to. Or repenting because that's what causes people to change their life is when you look at what he's done. Try that with your wife. Just order everything done. Let me know how that works.

We have about six or seven groups of you folks that are coming down to visit us this Sunday. Well, I wouldn't miss that for anything. They're all coming down. They want me to baptize them. They listen to what we're saying. We meet people every week to come and check it out, either where you are or where we are. And I love that. I love that this thing is impacting.

And the podcast is a big part of that. I mean, you know, doing that. Let's take another break. I was going to do one question. question that I got one of the question I got was I don't know if y'all saw this or not it was a good question when we had talked about before about I had done an illustration I don't know if you remember where I said when I had some young people and I said when you close your eyes and you picture God where you see and he had typed all that out and I said the number one answer was

nothing which this guy was a youth pastor who asked the question well he said it's sent a shiver down his spine. He's like, what? How is this possible? And so he was, he said he remembers that conversation we had on a previous podcast. But he's like, well, but what are the

verses that you're getting that line of thinking? Like when a person is trying to serve, especially a young person, an invisible God. And so that was the question, which I thought

we kind of covered that on the podcast. I mean, we might, I think we were quoting the verses, but not giving them, but off the top of my head, and then y'all can give a couple. You know, I think about Colossians 1, where it says Jesus is the image of the invisible God. So if you close your eyes and picture God, you see some form of a human that was from, you know, the Middle East, who if you tie in the Isaiah passage, which is where it said he wasn't. appealing or majesty that we should attract us to him so you get the idea

where is that Isaiah because he asked for verses 53 Isaiah 53 so he was an average looking yeah there was nothing special actually it goes on to say like one from whom men hide their faces

they would turn away from him like that I thought that madame meant when he died but I think he was that was in the description of, you know, when he was crucified, which we'll talk about later. Yeah. Because he was very marred and disfigured from all the, you know,

but it does say, when the, when the chapter 53 starts, that he didn't have beauty or the appearance of majesty that, yeah, that attract. And so, and then the John won. No beauty or majesty to attract this. Nothing in his appearance.

Nothing in his appearance that we should. should desire him. What verse is that specifically? Isaiah 53. 3. Yeah. 53. 2. He was despised, rejected by men, man of sorrows,

familiar with suffering like one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not. So that's what I, when somebody said, close your eyes and picture God, I'm going to picture

a Jewish, average-looking man from the middle. these doing these things. You know, once I went to Israel. And physically, nothing stood out about it. Once I went to Israel, I really had a better visual image then. I don't think he was the blonde-haired, European-looking. Well, not based on what we just read.

But I would also say that it's okay. The ones you see in people's living rooms. It's okay to imagine, when you close your eyes, to imagine the red letters of the Bible, because that is the image of the... the invisible God speaking. You are correct. You can get a physical...

John 1, he is the word, you know, and the word was spoken, so that's a good way of looking at that. Exactly what I was going to read. And so then in verse 17 of chapter 1, he says, no one has ever seen God, but God, the one and only, you know, Jesus has made him known or explained him. So those are the verses I would use. I don't know if y'all have any other. I thought it was an interesting question. Yeah. No, I think you're right.

I think that's the idea of nothing from our perspective, but God is everything. So it's a mindbender to think about the bigness of God, you know, in terms of just without time, without space, without anything, which that's why it is important to zero in on the human God, Jesus, because it's the only thing we can really relate to. I mean, even the Holy Spirit, we have a hard time describing. I mean, we talk about his fruit, we talk about his work. We talk about it being in connection with our spirit. But like Jesus said, remember, was it to Nicodemus in John 3? It was like, you know, explaining the Holy Spirit is like explaining the wind. You know, where does it start?

Where does it end? How does it blow? You know, he made that comparison. Well, you might be right. I think it's a difference in, I mean, I think, because I always go back to the marriage. Well, my wife, I don't, you know, if I've seen her so I can picture her. But what's more of the draw is, because there's a lot of good-looking women are appealing women, you could see a picture and say, oh, that is the woman of my dreams.

Well, that's a little shallow. You know, that could have a treble hook in it. So my point is, her slain or a mighty throne. Yeah. I think, that's why I brought up the red letters. once you experience Jesus, which is what I always, when I'm sharing with an atheist, I might do the close your eyes, what do you think of God? And they'll usually say, oh, it's just a made-up story.

Or it's a narrative that people come up with that they want to believe is true. It's like the story is made up. but since you they put it back on you you want it to be true so it's true according to you and we think it's hog-wise

you know so I was going to say you know what I can't it's hard for me to relate my experience with my wife but once I got around her well then that picture meant a lot more because I'm thinking of all the experience her personality the thing she says

and so that's kind of of how this works. You get a visual image of who God is. Well, he became a man. And then you tie that in with the red letters, which is more the experience that you get to have. Well, then

the picture becomes more vibrant. Then you look up and you've got your hand raised and you know, you're getting choked up about singing about it. I mean, because it's, and that's the experience that they can't see until they participate in it. So you're trying to

explain that to somebody who doesn't believe in God. How do you do it? I've never read about this kind of person, ever. All the reading I've ever done, I read all the world's religions. I've never read. Oh, outside of Jesus? Outside of Jesus. I've never read about an individual like this one.

Ever. Well, that's what stood out. That's what I'm doing sitting here. I said, wait a minute. Yeah, well, let me give you a little example about the idolatry, turning duck under into idolatry. an hour ago, we were sitting down here in the woods in the middle of nowhere in a duck blind, had the brothers there with us, all brothers.

We're sitting there. If there was a heathen in the bunch, he would be, he would stand out. And it might be talked to. Well, he would just be listening. I'll be talking to you, but I'm really hoping he's listening and they are. So in the duck blind, so you say, so what did you end up doing? an hour ago, an hour later, we're seated here, we're talking about Jesus Christ. Someone said, what I'm saying to you is that this thing about idolatry, if you do some things

that, and you're not in a church building, it's not a good way to look at the entire picture. What goes on today happened to be Wednesday. We're sitting here talking about Jesus. You say, so what do you call that? You call that with the people who are listening to my voice right now, a worship service. here it is where's the light show and the fog machine

no no I can't sing let's take another break well and there's another question out of this I think we should ask that was in that same line and we can explain it to the audience someone asked can you explain the significance and interpretation

of taking communion which I think fits in going that ties down so what I was going to say When I said I can't sing, but at the same time, I can't help but sing. Right. Now, it's annoying to my wife, but she chuckles. This is at our house. Because she can sing.

She's amazing. She's like a, yeah. She's one of the five reasons that I thought I must try to marry this woman. I heard her sing for the first time, and I thought, yep. Yeah, that's her. I just, I was moved. I thought. Whoa.

Wow. And now, I mean, it's been such a good thing that I can be involved in because I noticed that all you've got to do to be involved in singing is love Jesus. Right. Because then you can't help it. That's right. And so I... Which is our point.

We're talking about the joy. If you've got that sort of joy, I mean, that makes you happy. I mean, you know, it's what music is about. Well, when I was a teenager, I was scared to sing for the first couple years of my Christian faith because I thought someone would hear me. and I'm standing right next to him. So I thought this is going to be embarrassing for them. But somewhere in there, I lost that.

And I didn't go to size level where he's singing louder than everyone. So I's got a zone, about 10 pews around him that's, you know. And unlike his vehicles, keys are optional to sign. You know, he's just, he's got a rail. But what I was going to say is... I would say size sings in the key of all. I think the Lord's Supper has been awesome during the coronavirus when we we didn't meet, I guess, for a couple months. At least probably three months.

So we encourage people to take it at home and we would have like some worship and like a video and, you know. It's just fascinating. My wife and I a couple times. It was just us. It seemed more meaningful. Not that it wasn't before, but it's something about. taking it out of the ritual setting because it never should have been

in a ritual. I'm not saying they did it. I did it myself. You get in the habit of doing something over and over and it loses its fluster. It becomes a piece of cracker and fruit of the vine, which is what I was going to say.

So it started, the concept first started, I think, that Jesus implemented at the last supper, which was actually a Passover meal. They were carved. Matthew Mark and Luke recorded that, but John didn't. Right. And so you look back and you see, basically he was saying,

I'm the Passover lamb. That was the shadow of what happened in Exodus. Which was the idea that blood, sacrifice of blood, is what brought salvation to the Jews. And so he was basically saying, once I go to the cross, then I'm going to be the Passover lamb. Therefore, we're going to eat this bread because my body is represented in the bread.

And then they drank the fruit of the vine. It was like, well, this represents the blood that I'm going to shed. So that implemented it. Then Paul tells us what in 1st Corinthians 11, then he instituted it to the church. This is why we do this. And I love it because it says that we take it in a worthy manner, which somewhere somebody got the idea that that means stoically and rigidly. Right. But, you know, a worthy manner.

Because in the context of the Corinthian church, they were having a meal together. and worshiping and talking about God and all that. And then they would stop and they would recognize, you know, what Christ had done for. But there were people getting drunk. That's right. He brought up the fact that some people couldn't get past the wine and the cracker. Yeah.

Well, look. And they weren't sharing it with other people. It would be like, you know, you're having all these. This group wouldn't share with this. Wow. Has that changed today? It does not. Some of the brothers were when they heard the Christians talking about,

about that. What are you doing? We said, we're eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus. They accused them of being cannibalistic and I don't know what off. Look, it is scary at first. I mean, because, look, when I came to the Lord, I was a skeptic. That's because when I saw you all, I mean, okay. But then I was like, this, this thing can't be real. This is crazy stuff I ever heard. But as I studied, I began to experience Jesus. But that was one of the things that bothered me a little bit because I thought, you know, I'm going to take a cracker and drink some juice. Like, that's going to do something.

Because I was thinking. It's a wonderful thing. Well, I know, but when I was young in the faith, I didn't get it. I mean, I was just a young, I thought it seemed silly to me. I just thought, why are we doing this? Which I just didn't get it. Look, fast forward that as I grew in the faith, and I'm thinking about Jesus as that,

Crackers cracking in my mouth of his body being broken. I have a whole different response here. It's a very weird thing. I mean, listen to what the Apostle Paul, y'all talked about the Corinth. Is not the cup of thanksgiving, in other words, the blood, is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ, and is not. not the bread that we break, a participation, a participation in the body of Christ, to be able to participate, or let me put it this way, in order to be a participant,

you have to have your faith in Jesus, his blood that was shed. If you start reading through this Bible, every time you come up on an issue, Al, it always ends up with the thing that is of first importance. Yep. The Apostle Paul, that's 1st Corinthians 10, and he's talking about that and what pagans do. And I tell you eating a big meal, you're saying, he said it won't work there.

But you had a good point, Phil. We're one body. We all partake of the one loaf. We who are many are one body, and it's a thing about solidarity, whatever you want to call it. But when the sons and daughters of God meet, to them, it should be at all times, a very... Something you want it.

Sobering. Well, it's something you want to do. By the way, Thanksgiving, you know, I don't know whether it actually came back. I mean, last Thursday was Thanksgiving. But this right here says, I mean, I think that probably spun off of taking communion on Sundays, He's probably Thanksgiving, the day of Thanksgiving that the country decided well to be. Could have. Yep.

But what I think, you made it. Phil made a good point because it's not just about Jesus's bodybreaking. It's about the body coming together to do it together to celebrate. Let's take one nice break. And that's what we've always done it. I mean, our tradition is always, we do it every week, every time we meet. By the way, I don't have an issue if someone says, they have any meal at any time during the week.

I agree. Let's just stop here. Because I think the first century church, we know they were meeting every day. They were breaking bread, it says. They were worshiping. And so I'm sure they were taking it more than just once a week. Yeah, upon the first day of the week, we came to break bread. Right.

And it says there. There's one time in acts. I think most churches do it once a month. We do it every week. Some do it once a quarter. I mean, and everybody makes a big deal about it. Like, because people with traditions are different. Right.

I think I would do it. I just, based on what I'm reading, because you're representing Jesus and you're being a team player in the body of Christ, I would do it more frequently than. Less frequently. Yeah, I just, that's my position. Right. Now, and we've always believed that. People I've discussed that with, they said, well, we want to make it special. Right.

to me it's supposed to be special every time, but I did say I didn't, I was taking it for granted to my own detriment when the coronavirus made me realize, oh, this is really a special moment. Which made me think we should be more creative and maybe how that is distributed. Well, part of the problem is, like dad's group,

especially before coronavirus, They were having a meal together. People were at tables. And it really was a lot more first century style, the way you're doing the community. The problem is most churches. We actually did that. We had a meal and during the meal until the coronavirus came along. Then we thought, well, then you're trying to.

A little risky here. That much handling food. So he said, well, let's just wait a while. But originally, and I think we'll go back to that, it was just a few of the brothers, said, why don't we? A lot of people don't. have a meal. You know it's funny about that film? I mean the homeless among us. Yeah, I was going to say, you're number one person that when you completely disrupted how your Sunday mornings work,

your number one person visitor was the homeless. That's right. Because you had food. That's food. That's right. They got food down there. Well, for the homeless, they were like, we're going to do what? And I said, we're going to remember Jesus in the middle of all this. So we'd have a big meal and everybody's eating. And then after about probably 25 or 30 minutes, okay let's remember Jesus and it was already on the table it wasn't like somebody going around it was already on the table we just said well I'll tell what we did we did exactly what Jesus said to in the midst of a meal he said this is my blood which was given for you and drink it right he basically was saying remember me don't remember me now remember this what is as far

at WFR it's a reminder at our instrumental service we would set up stations and have a time where people would go and communicate with each other. I like that. Really neat. The problem is with most churches are just like ours. They're front to back. They're pews.

You look at the back of a person's head, and it's all about whoever's up front. Seated at tables is way better. So what I'm saying is, it's so structured. Look, whoever invented the pew was from the devil. Well, one thing is for sure. I mean, you're looking at the back

of everyone in front of you. You're looking at the back of their head. Just a hard way. So that's not very conducive to interaction. Let's sit on a board. And the ones behind you, the ones behind you, you can't get around to see them. So you're locked into a row. You do have the privilege.

They're looking immediate right. You see this person, immediate left. You usually a family member, but then the family members play out and they keep. But it's, you're right. I mean, it's not a very. It's not a constructive thing for good Christian interaction. action, the pews are not. The first time I visited there was a church, pretty close.

I'm for getting rid of all pews, replacing them with tables where people are seated around, having a meal, and talking it over. Let's start a campaign. Stop in the middle of it, have the Lord's supper, and then proceed. Look, do it in the, get rid of the pew. Do it in the wintertime. Burn the pews in the parking lot. That may be too right out.

We'll wind up on Fox News if we do that. They're writing in the church parking lot. I've got good news for y'all. Burn the pews. We're getting rid of our pews at WFR. Are you really? How'd you push that through? We got it pushed through

because they're just, they're antique. They're all broken. Everything's. That's doing a bonfire in the parking lot. I think we're going to sell them. Well, that's the main thing. They're 40 years old. Get the Wilson weenies out.

Have a church-wide. All right, our audience has heard it. All right, go back and tell you preachers. Burn the pews. Burn the pews. Look, what are they talking about? When I went to visit the church right down the road, they said, oh, they got good worship.

A guy at Duckman who was working in, he's like, oh, man, it's unbelievable. But in his description of what I was going to experience, he said stadium cushion chairs. And look, I parked up. I said, I'm in on that. That's what we're going to. The restrictive nature. It's still not going to help. It still won't help overall.

I don't know who game that out. I wouldn't go as far as Jay said. It's up the devil. But you may be right, dude. Well, what happens is think about it. You go back to speaking of communion. So you got 2,000 years of Christianity in a lot of different formats through the years. You get in the Middle Ages.

There was the doctrine early on that said, and if you didn't believe this, you were excommunicado. I mean, they'd kick you out or hurt you back in the day. I just got kicked out of a lot of them for San Bernard P. Well, I know. But that literally the bread becomes flesh, and literally the fruit of the vine turns into blood. So for a few hundred years, that was the doctrine. And if you said, well, no, this is just representative. It's just a symbol of the, they were like, no, no, no.

It somehow magically, divinely becomes that. And so you can imagine what that did. You were trying to evangelize people. How do you explain that to the visitor? Yeah, we're going to actually eat flesh and drink blood today. Yeah, that's why I said I had the most problem with that. It tied in with John 6th. I was like, this is weird.

But you know what I was going to say is a lot of people, I mean, the reason that Christianity is such a turnoff to them is, y'all remember the house church experience at our church, you know, what was it, 30 years ago? Because there's more in here about churches meeting in homes. then they are just building because that's the way it was the first 300 years first church building

and come along until 300 so look when you start making fun at me saying oh Jesus it's part in the peas what is wrong with this guy all right well first of all how you're going to get that pew in your house you ain't going to

you can't even turn sideways you'd have to cut it in half and put it back right yeah the pews that where we're at they're so long you're not there's not a house in the world that would hold one of these And my point is that that's what it, it has to feel more like a house church.

Because were they successful? Yes. You have a meal. There wasn't some traditional artificial rulemaking policy about what exactly is going on. You're focused on Jesus and each other, which is what the Lord's Supper does, which is what we were doing during the coronavirus. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, Acts chapter 6. verse three, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, they risked their lives for me. Not only I, but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful.

Greet also the church that meets at their house. Well, it means something. And just off the top of my head, I just give you why you're there, Jays, because I want people to understand this. This is critical. Over there in the last few verses of Colossians, Colossians, 4. give my greetings to the brothers at Laotica and to Ninthah and the church in her house. They're meeting in homes.

They're meeting in homes. And I like old Philemen. To Philemon, that's in between Hebrews and 2nd Timothy. To Philemon, our dear friend and fellow worker, to Afia, our sister, to our Chippas, our fellow soldier, and to the church that meet you in your home. Now look, that's just right off the bat, about three. So get out of my face, you said, what are you all doing? You're all going to church today? We're meeting at the house.

They're like, what? It's a meeting at the house this morning. We're going to meet in the house. They're like, what's interesting is... It'd be a hard sale. What's interesting is the coronavirus. What are you doing?

The coronavirus really kind of flipped that on its head because most people were meeting in their home. It was actually a positive. One of the few positives. And it's helped us, too. If the persecution gets to a point, it's going to be pretty rude in the next four years. We always have the option. They say, but we're going to stamp it out.

We won't allow them to do this and that and the other seeing in the church building. But you're down here on the riverbank inside my living room in there. And it takes a locked gate and there's weaponry in every location around there. He said, what are you all doing here? You've got some of your neighbors. So there's about 15 of us in there. We're remembering Jesus by drinking his blood. and eat his flesh, you say, how are you going to snap that out?

They don't know that's going on inside your house down on the riverbank. Now, they know where the church buildings are, and they say, target them. These people in California, they don't understand that we're never going away. The kingdom of God's always going to be here. I think that's what the Bible says. All these people in Red China, aisle, there's hundreds of millions that are sons and daughters of God. You say, well, how are they functioning very well? But they're in their basements.

And they're in their homes and they're whispering the scriptures and barely chanting a little song from time by time. That's right. No pews. No pews. No pews. But it's still there. All right. That's my little rant on that. All right. We've got to go. All right. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV at blazTV.com slash unashamed.