Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 240 | Jase's First 'Duck Dynasty' Meeting, Warning Labels on Westerns & a Truly Embarrassing Rebuke

Episode Date: March 12, 2021

Phil discovers "outdated depiction" warnings on Western TV shows, and he suspects there's a lot in the Bible that would get the same treatment. Al gives a shout-out to an "Unashamed" listener who started a ministry. Jase shares what the "Duck Dynasty" producers said about his belief in God at their first meeting. And the guys discuss the most embarrassing rebuke in the history of organized religion, cancel culture in Acts, and why anyone can become an amazing child of God. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So, Dad, you mentioned on the last podcast that we get a lot of letters and emails and communications from our audience. And we love it. I mean, it is kind of hard to get to everybody. So I always ask for patience with you guys that send the stuff in. But I got a, somebody sent me one of our listeners, his name is Captain Kirk, which kind of got my attention. heard his name. I didn't realize he was listening to podcast, but he was watching our live stream. So he kept popping up on the Facebook, I think, during the, during the, you know, podcast,

I mean, during the live stream at church. And so I was like, Captain Kirk, you know, so I mentioned, well, so Captain Kirk sent me a Joe Burrow, Ohio State jersey, which we showed one time on the podcast. And so it was really nice of him to do that because I think, I think he did it because he said, Jace always gets the really cool gifts. and I never seemed to get anything, so he sent me something unique, which I thought it's funny. Because Jay's always getting these things, you know, they're really awesome. So he sent me another gift and I'll hold it up here.

Can you see it, Jay's? Oh, yeah. So it's like a pennant for the bingles with Burroughs, number, name, it's really nice for him to do that. And so I wanted him to know I got it because I know he listed a podcast. But, Dad, you're going to love this. So he told me in the letter he sent with the pennant that, you know, he just appreciated what we're doing on the podcast, what we do with our live stream. And it's really helped him. And he said he read both of your books.

And he was so impressed. And it just like planted in him, you know, that he needed to do something. He needed to do something ministry-wise, you know, with all the, you know, encouragement and challenges that you laid out in the books, what we're doing on the podcast. And so he started a ministry. And I love it because he calls it the Acts 29 ministry. Of course, there's only 28 chapters in the book of Acts. And so his point was that this continues to go forward. You know, all the stuff we've been talking about and the inspiration.

And so it doesn't stop. And so that's his ministry. And basically he sent me a copy of the letter. He sends a letter to all his neighbors first is people closest to him. And then now he's kind of expanding out in his town. basically just sharing the gospel with them saying, hey, if you don't have a church home, you know, here's where we meet. You know, he probably mentions about us too.

So I just thought, you know, he does, Captain Kirk deserve a shout out for starting his own ministry to impact people with the gospel, basically based on what he's heard from us and also what he read in Dad's book. So I thought that was pretty cool. I mean, that's a good text for, for what's his name, Captain Kirk. A Captain Kirk. How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? how can they believe in the one of whom they've not heard,

and how can they hear without someone preaching to them, and how can they preach unless they are sent, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news like our Captain Kirk in modern day 2,000 years since the Apostle Paul said that. Boy, he had a change of heart in order to talk like that from Saul to Paul. pretty amazing welcome aboard uh cap'n i love the idea that when you're encouraged by the gospel your impulse should be how do i encourage other people then and cap'n kirk's got the right idea in other words it's not just how do i get stuff from me you know unfortunately that's how people

approach a lot of times the whole idea about meeting with a church or meeting with their brothers and sisters what can i get out of this but it's what It's what you bring to give. It's the idea of you want people to know. That needs to be your total focus. And so whenever you do what he's doing, I mean, that's, and you get great encouragement. And trust me, people will respond to that. When they do, it just, I mean, it's like a good drug.

Like Jay Scots, the Jesus high, you know, you want to keep going there because you keep seeing people's lives change. Welcome aboard. Every time I hear something, some kind of Star Trek reference, I think about, Phil is teaching a Bible class. I bet I was a teenager. It was back when we had that little church out here in the country. Boy, you got a good memory, Jay's. Oh, you'll remember this. So Phil's teaching a Bible class, and he makes a reference to Star Trek, and basically he was throwing Star Trek under the bus saying, the God we follow, you know, is the ultimate going boldly where no man has gone before. And, well this guy who's in the class takes issue with it and he he tells Phil he's like that that's real

and Phil's like you know Phil kept going on the God thing being real and he was like no the the enterprise yeah they're up there oh yeah you remember that when that happened oh yeah it feels like no it's a TV show because then it was getting awkward and this guy was convinced that there was an enterprise now obviously he must have had some kind of mental challenges we deducted or didn't know how tv works but i just remember i was so fascinated that he had watched that so much that he he thought they were real and they were up there faith comes from hearing the message he heard about captain kirk and the Enterprise, he said, who are you to say that's not real?

I'm like, that's a TV show, dude. What we're talking about is not. But yeah, we. Which what's fascinating about the conversation was that people look at us like we were looking at him over the Star Trek. People were like, oh, you believe that there's a guy named Jesus and he came back from the dead? I'm like, yeah. So I guess it's about perspective. It was a, it's quite the story, and I will be the first one to say,

it is a doozy of a story. It is a doozy. So much so, I don't think man could have dreamed it up. That's my answer to atheists who say it's impossible. But they could dream up Star Trek. They could dream up Star Trek, but not Jesus of Nazareth. I'm like. But you know, when you go back, because I'm a huge tricker, you know,

way back. I love the originals. Of course, I missed the original series because it was on in the late 60s. But that's not real. It is a TV show. So what's the guy I said now, the young book, I did figure that out. We're easy now. And what is he saying now? I wonder if he ever went from Captain Kirk on the TV to Jesus. I hope he understood reality at some point later. in his defense he was if memory serves he was a 14 15 years old yeah he was young he was just and he just thought it was real he wanted to believe it but what i was going to say was so this show was only it was only three years in the 60s and you know it wasn't long and acting and it was really when you go back and look at it's pretty terrible but you know the what happened was they had a they

guessed a lot of stuff that was not around when they did it that turned out you ever had the communicators dad that they'd flip up the communicator and they're talking into the thing well that was a flip cell phone you know 30 years before a cell phone was ever invented I mean at that time you had a phone but it was still like a rotary phone on your you know kitchen counter nobody they yeah yeah somebody imagined some pretty good stuff I mean to to Jason's point about television and movie, I've always thought everything comes from the Almighty. But there was some pretty inventive things that happened.

They were transporting people here and there and yon. You know, it's just a lot of things that... I've come up with an observation over the last 40, 50 years that for individuals who don't believe or won't believe in Jesus, they'll believe in anything out. That's right. You cast him aside. and they literally will believe in anything.

Yeah. That's been my observation. They get their best ideas from the Bible. Yeah. Yeah. The TV. There's no doubt. They,

the idea of the resurrection, you know, you have an unkillable person or even like Star Trek. We're going to beam. We're going to go from here to there. There's several times that happens in the Bible. Yeah.

You know, Philip and the European. He just, phew. So they're like, Oh, let's capture that. And I think just the basic definition, the real definition of love

and looking at the spiritual side rather than the physical, those are the things that they just keep using because they're more fascinating. So I'm like, get your own stuff. If you don't believe in God, and go come up with a story that using the principles that's better

than these found in God's Holy Word. And let's see how many people come watch. I've often said, it's a question, what is your story? Because you just heard mine. Yeah. And they all kind of just look at me. I said, who has the better story?

Yeah. Me or you. Well, you know, the big thing they're on now, and I mean the world, is there's like, well, you really can't distinguish good and evil. It's just all a blur. And I'm like, start making movies where you don't have good and evil

as a premise. See how many people watch it. Yeah. Good luck with it. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. They, almost all of them have that principle because it's, it's in our DNA because we were created that way.

Good and evil are a current two things that are worthy of note because they're still here and they've always been there. Good and evil. When you go back and you look. and you see in all of the, you know, early record, that's why Genesis is so fascinating to study, is God gave these things to humanity. I mean, like, we were made in the image of God. So outside of being a believer or anything else, just the idea of being a human being,

you're made in the image of God who is a creator. He created everything we see. So naturally, it's in us to want to create because we're made in the image of God. So whether you even recognize God, you can. you can be an atheist or an agnostic and say we came by evolution. And yet, how do you explain your ability and desire to want to create, create beauty,

create art, all that. I mean, that has to come from somewhere. As dad famously says, what department in seawater came up with that idea. Yep. Yeah.

So I think that's exactly where it comes from. So even stuff like that, even stuff that's like, you know, whimsical stuff. But it does, it is ironic. it always comes back to the base in people, good or evil.

And now, of course, in the modern times, last time we talked about Western's Dad, you know, they love it now when evil wins. Like now most movies, you know, movies end with the bad guy winning. The bad guys are winning more now. They're winning way more than they did on Matt Dillon. That's exactly right. Matt Dillon, Matt Dillon for bless his soul, whatever, he thought, he would put a hole in you.

He would put a hole in you quick. But it was all about good or evil. They come along and met Matt Dillon. They died and he lived on. Yeah. And now you got, you know, all this, the police are bad and all that. You get into the stuff with all that, which is terrible. Let's take a break.

So I want us to go back and sort of pick up where we were at in Acts chapter nine. We taught before that we kind of. left off by talking about the amazing, you know, conversion of Saul, of Tarsus. And as we've already laid out, you know, Stephen being martyred was then this like watershed event for the church because up until that point, I mean, even though there was persecution and the Jewish leadership had tried to shut them down, you know, up until that point, they're just rocking and rolling. They're still in Jerusalem and thousands of people are now becoming part of this new way, as it's called.

But then, you know, Saul was a different animal. You know, he was young. He was a part of them. But the difference in him is he seemed to know there was a ruthlessness about him that you didn't see with others. Because remember, they kept questioning. They were like, well, I don't know. What do we do with these people? Like, you know, the people love them, but, you know, we need to do something.

And they just said, tell them to shut up, but they won't shut up. And then they beat them one time. And they were like, you know, they didn't want to kill them. Because they were afraid of because of Jesus died and look what it's created, you know, created with this script. But Paul saw, you know, he was different. There's a depiction. And it's pretty ironic that when those Western, the advertisements for him, Matt Dillon and all of the old Westerns, John Wayne and all of the things, what they'll say, Al, is that they'll say outdated depiction.

outdated depiction. They've got the warning. Warning before you watch Matt Dillon, what you're seeing is an outdated depiction. So, and it's listed. This is outdated. Don't take this seriously. This is, this is outdated. They're saying the same thing about Saul or Tarsus. They would put beside that if you did a TV show on the life of Saul to Paul. They would put on there outdated depiction. This is not real what you're seeing. That's what they're saying with the old Westerns. They would say the same thing about the Bible. It's outdated. Therefore, we cancel it. It's canceled in their mind. We cancel that. You're talking about, y'all are talking about good and evil and the guy that comes from the depths of sin, the killer who now is writing on behalf of

God as one of God's spokesman. They would say way, way outdated. depiction of reality. That's not real. The story you're reading. What they miss is, you know, they're so proud of the discovery and invention of the internet, which basically brings the, you know, the whole world, you know, to it. It's a way to interconnect. And here's God who comes up with a document in history that the world revolves around

when it when it shared. That's right. Because the same principles that are in here, you know, there's a reason the Bible's been the number one seller for how long, and even still today. If it was outdated, how come people keep buying it? Since the 1600s. Yeah. I just think it's fascinating that it would only take, you know, it'd have to be a God

to come up with a document that's filled with history. that can stand the test of time and be relevant no matter how much time passes. I mean, to me, what's more incredible? Yeah, all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God be thoroughly equipped.

That's what the Bible writers say this book is that they wrote down by the power of the spirit. But the cancel culture, which by the way, I have a book coming out that deals with that particular group because it's not a new group. This is an old group. This goes all the way back, all the way back to Adam and Eve,

the cancel culture. If you don't agree with what we say, and that's a fairy tale, if you don't believe the Bible is not a fairy tale, we will cancel you. That's what they're saying. Yeah. Well, that's why they had that show. What is it? What's that show? They're basically saying, we are God. What do you talk? We are God.

They had a show I brought it up before. It's like, God Facebook me or something like that. God text me. Yeah. I haven't watched it because I don't, I'm scared of what I'll see. No, God friended me. Wasn't it God friended me? Is that what it was? Have you watched that show? I thought we were going to. No, I had watched him, but I remember seeing it. Well, I was talking to the guy behind the booth. I thought you're talking to me. A young guy, I thought, hey, are you watching?

But what they failed to realize, no matter what the show's about, and maybe it's good, I don't know, somebody can tell us, is that he already has texted me and he already friend of me. This document is accomplishing what you think, because a lot of people think, well, if God actually sent me a text, well, then I would believe. Because they're looking for proof instead of faith. Or if he would just say, give me a few words. Yeah, which is the same. Talk to me, God. Same thing that was going on, the exact same thing, 2,000 years ago after Jesus is here. They're like, well, just, just show yourself.

And you remember Simon and the sorcerer. Give me this power. Prove yourself to me. But by reading, you can find it. What's you got, Al? I found it. So I'm going to read you the setup for the show. This might fit into your thought pretty good.

Yeah. It is called God friended me. And here's the setup for the show. Miles Finer is an outspoken atheist whose life is turned upside down when he receives a friend request on social media from God and unwittingly becomes an agent of change in the lives and destinies of others around him. Well, after repeated pokes by God, Miles' curiosity takes over and he accepts the ultimate friend request and follows the signs to Kara Bloom and online journalists.

brought together by this mysterious account, the two find themselves investigating God's friend's suggestions and inadvertently helping others in need. Miles is set on getting to the bottom of what he believes is an elaborate hoax, but in the meantime, he'll play along and in the process change his life forever. I got a question. Has that show been canceled? Because it actually sounds like something I would be, I'd want to watch. All I know for sure is, Al, when you read this book of Acts, what you come away with is the cancel culture was alive and well in the first century, and it remains that way to this day. Well, yeah. Well, look, here it is, Jayce. Here's the question. Here's the answer to your question. Why is God friending me being canceled? So it canceled

after two years. There you go. It was too good. It's a fruit dad's point. But the point is, they still are trying to use something that what I'm saying is already written. God did friend you, and he sent you a text. It's called the Bible. And he even, somebody out there highlighted the red letters because the text says Jesus, because he's the image of the invisible God. It's already there. You just thought, oh, let's do a show.

I have an idea. No, you don't have an idea. You just stole this idea, which I'm for it. if that's what they were trying to do. Jay, be careful because you're on the edge of being canceled. We all are. Yeah.

Okay. I'll get over. But the reason we're lingering in Acts 9 is because this is a pivotal point in the church history. Because in chapter 10, he's going to make known through the miraculous that the entire world, Jesus died for everyone and that the Gentiles can be in because Saul is his chosen instrument. I think that says that in nine, where does it say that? He'll be my chosen instrument. It's when he's talking to Ananis.

Yeah, 15. This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles. And that'll be introduced. But you have to get your head around that. because Acts 10 seems to be, there's a lot of confusing things in there when it comes to the miraculous and what was going on,

but people had a hard time believing, as they do today, that all races of people could be one. Of course, in this context, it's going to be in Jesus. But it is fascinating that he chose Saul because of his past. I mean, it's just incredible.

Yeah, Barnabas, in Acts 9 about verse 27, Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, Saul. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord, going back to the meeting on the road, and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. Cancel him, see, get him, kill him. When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Cessaria and sent him off to Tarsus. Then, look at this. The church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, just like Jesus said, take it,

start in Jerusalem, Judea, day or Samaria. They enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened the church was and encouraged by the Holy Spirit. It grew in numbers living in the fear of the Lord. There's the exal of Tarsus and the fruit that he was, that became forth from his ministry to this day. That is exactly how it should be. The church, and I think it is. We are, the America is beginning to experience somewhat of an awakening on what they have been standing on the last 250 years, and they've lost that. And now the fear has set in, and they need to turn it in to where the fear would come

upon the ungodly, not the godly. So here we are. So, yeah, that's right. Let's take another break. So you're right, Dad. And what was interesting is that about Saul is that he would say later several times in different his writings that he was set apart from birth to do that. I was set apart.

God knew what I was going to do. He just didn't know it. Exactly. And so what was interesting was, is you were talking about them trying to cancel him. Well, that's exactly what he was doing trying to do to the church. He was trying to cancel them by shutting them up, by killing them. The council culture was alive and well. and Saul of Tarsus proved it.

He was the chief guy. What was interesting was that God used the moment of his conversion to accomplish a couple of things. One is, is to get his attention, obviously, and to let him know what he was doing. But then the second thing was, that's also removing the greatest threat for the early church because, you know, the other ones were so bad. So you think about it, it was brilliant by the Almighty to do it the way he did it, because it's like an atheist that sets out.

to disprove God in the Bible and then becomes gets converted to it. Well, they become one of your greatest voices to speak to other people that don't believe in God. And the story of Saul of Tarsus to the Apostle Paul should be enough for people when they say, Phil, if God would only talk to me and speak to me, if God would do to me what he did to Saul of Tarsus, then I would follow Jesus. But I said, always my answer is, but you have the story. The story itself. He did do it because you read it. He did do it.

Read it. It's in a history book that is real. That's why I think when you did your lesson, Sunday, Al, it was good that you asked those questions. And I think it's deserving of analysis. Because the first thing he said in verse four of nine is, why do you persecute me? which I think you have to realize why you're doing what you're doing. You know, when you look at, you know, my life is missing something. I'm not, you know, I don't have joy.

I don't have peace. I don't have love. I don't have hope. I keep making bad decisions. Whatever the life without Christ is, you know, he tapped into that by saying, why are you persecuted me? Yeah. So whatever in your mind.

I'll mention that why. and then you got down to the who'd you say you were then the next question when he said why he said who which was a good question and which i mentioned in a preceding podcast that's a question that everyone has to ask themselves who is jesus who you have to make yeah a decision but look we were talking about tv shows al on our show you know i was there in the first meeting with the people the executive producers. And it was like, everything is funny, everything is funny. Oh, y'all believe in God.

It's funny. I'm like, oh, wait a minute, that wasn't funny. But in their minds, it was all like, the fact that y'all believe this is real. Plus Saul of Tarsus. It is funny to us. Plus Saul of Tarsus was sitting there, and he said, so who are you?

He said, I'm the one you. I am the one you are persecuting. Well, he's thinking, well, all I've been doing is killing people who say they believe in you. Jesus said, that's why you're doing it to me. Which is my point, Phil. You're doing it to me, so. It became real in this moment. But it still should become real to you when you read the story.

Yeah. Because you look at your life and look, later on Paul, then Paul, and you made a good point about the change in the name, When he wrote in Ephesians, look, this is probably the most read chapter, I would say, from after Acts. Ephesians too, because it's beautifully written. He starts off saying, we were all dead and our transgressions in which we used to live. That's the why are you persecuting me part of his testimony. When you followed the ways of the world, the rule of the kingdom there, the spirit who is now working,

and those who are disobedient. And then he's like, all of us were disobedient, and we gratified the cravings of our sins. And so he's come a long way now after this. He's right, we were all there. But then verse four, he says, but because of his great love for us, this is like when the touchy-feely music comes on here,

God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ when we were dead. it's by grace you've been saved. He raised us up and seated us with him in the heavenly realms. So now you have this victorious image of where we are. And then it's like in order that in the coming ages, he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in kindness in Christ Jesus. And then it's by grace you've been saved through faith.

It's not from yourself. It's the gift of God, not by work so that no one can boast. read all that to get to this this last verse here because it says for we are god's workmanship created in christ jesus to do good works which god prepared in advance for us to do which goes to your point out about he was set aside from birth but he's including all of us here we were all made with a purpose we go through the same system even though his sins were deemed more consequences and they were. But we were all sinful.

We were all abandoned. You don't have to have him come over on a loud speaker and tell you this same process works itself out in your life. You can see it. All you've got to do is analyze the questions. My response was if he could save that dude, he could save me.

I wasn't that bad going around killing the sons and daughters of God. So. At that point, Dad really struck me. And so, you know, based on our last conversation about this, Jase gave his sermon that he's done on this text. And then dad talked about that and then did this video for me. And it was that idea, Dad, that it relates to everybody. So the why question is not just what, the reason I think Jesus asked Paul a question instead of, he could have just said, Saul, Saul, you persecute me and go do this.

Why did he ask the question? Because he wanted to engage Saul's conscience. because up until this point, Saul thought it was a good idea to be going around killing people and dragging them off to put him in prison in the name of God against Jesus. But he's also asking that, Al, because he's not fulfilling his purpose. And I think it's a perfectly legitimate question to ask people today who are outside of Jesus, why are you persecuting him? And they're like, well, I'm not persecuting.

But you're not fulfilling your God-given. He gave you life. I'm pointing you to God and you are persecuting me. Wow. Yeah. But I think people do it even in their anger today because they want to live how they want to where God has a purpose for them over here. And it is to be an instrument to encourage others to look at Jesus.

And in fact, the longer you keep yourself from surrendering to him, in a way, you're actually persecuting him because everything you do, is not helping the cause of eternal life in people. It's not at all. So I think it's a legitimate question even today. It just seems more special in this place because he was going to be the chosen instrument to introduce this to the Gentiles,

which eventually would bring us on board as Americans. And so I think you're right. Let's take another break. And my point was in this, I called it the Q&A that saved the way. and the question back that dad mentioned a minute ago, who are you Lord? The why question leads you to the who question,

because that leads us to clarity. And so it was interesting, I hadn't really realized it until we went through this text. Paul, it says later that Saul opened his eyes and realized he couldn't see, which told me that when the light struck and it says he went to the ground and then Jesus speaks to him, his friends, his companions, it sounded like thunder to them when Jesus is talking to Paul. But he's laying there on the ground with his eyes shut like any of us would do because they

was so bright it blinded it. But he didn't even know that yet. So it was interesting to me that he's sort of in the fetal position, this proud man that's been persecuting the church and all that. And all of a sudden, because of a bright light and a question, he's like something has happened to him in this huge way. And so he had clarity in the moment. But, you know, Jesus knew that he was going to spend three days sitting in a room in the dark because he couldn't see, no food, no drink, doing what? Contemplating.

It made me think of that line, Jason, Conan, the Barbarian, when the old guy, James Earl Jones told Arnold Schwarzenegger, he said, take him to contemplate on the tree of woe. And that's what. that's exactly what happens to Paul. He's put into a room. Yeah. Yeah, remember they crucified Conan, but he survived. Yeah, and you can make a lot of spiritual analogies

that they got from the Bible there, and they had the spirit world in there. I mean, it's, and they're all looking for this, something that can make you live forever. I wonder whether they got that idea. But I wanted to make an analogy that, you know, When Paul wrote later to the Corinthians, where the church seemingly had been more enamored with the gifts, which is going to be introduced in Acts 10 to the Gentiles, the miraculous spiritual gifts,

than they were about faith, hope, and love, and focusing on Jesus and the gospel, I've said many times the most embarrassing rebuke in the history of organized religion. you forgot the gospel so but you know in the in his second letter to him what i really like is that he what happened in acts nine with him him being the chosen instrument he was trying to get them to see that god uses everybody and i'll just give you a couple examples because i want to know your thoughts in second christians two he says in fourteen he said god leads us in triumphal procession in Christ. If you just stop right there, you would think, oh, he's talking about heaven, you know,

one day. No, he leads us in triumphal possession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. He's talking about right now on earth in your life. He's leading, you are instruments. And then he goes into this, which I've always found fascinating, because we're, you know, the Robertsons have a high sense of smell, it seems like. I'm not sure why.

So I really identify with this verse. It said, for we are to God, the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one, we are the smell of death, which goes to your point about the council culture. That's why they're getting so angry. You're low. Why are they so angry that I'm trying to get them to realize they can be forgiven, have purpose in life and live forever. Well, it makes them feel guilty, and it scares them because if God is real, which is

what it comes down to when Saul hit his knees, he realized in that moment, you know what, he's real. And I'm persecuting him. And so in that story, we all have to have that same conclusion. So I don't want to linger because I just want to give an example. So here he says, we're the aroma. then in chapter four he says we're a jar of clay to show that the powers from us then in chapter five one of my favorites he says we've been given this message of reconciliation and he calls us

ambassadors well what do ambassadors do they represent yeah and he but he's telling them the the church at corin so he comes out and there's more examples in but i'm going to go all the way down to the end of his letter in Corinthians. He gets to 13.5, it's kind of an obscure verse, but he says, examine yourselves to see whether you're in the faith, which all that happened on that road was that God foresaw, literally, to examine himself. He asked him a couple questions. Why are you persecuting me?

So he examined yourself to see you're in the faith. Well, he basically concluded, oh, I'm not in the faith. but God allowed him to be and then he says do you not realize and this is this is the sentence I wanted to get to 2nd Corinthians 135 underlined it if you so choose do you not realize that christ Jesus is in you I mean that is the ultimate goal that when we come to Christ through his spirit he indwells us we become the representatives of God and we're used and we spread around this fragrance good and bad we become God's ambassadors despite our flaws to me what happened on that road with Saul is the same thing that happens to every one of us in a smaller way but in the end it's the same representation plus one little caveat God, do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you unless, of course, you failed the test?

I mean. Yeah. I mean, look, Saul could have said, no, I'm going to take my chances. Yeah. And guess what? Wouldn't have ended well for it. Let's take one last break. So you're exactly right, Jay's.

And I found it interesting that when Jesus answered the question, who are your Lord? he did it in two ways. One is he said, I am. And in the sermon, I went back and read all those I am passages from John that we did last year. Love it. Because that's what he was telling. That's what he told the other disciples. So now he's telling him, I am Jesus, which is enough.

And then he says, now go do what I'm going to tell you to do. And he didn't tell him. He just said, you just go. And so I made a point that we didn't talk about before. I thought that was something I discovered in the sermon is that he basically had three guides for Saul. The first guides were the ones that came with it, remember? Because he's blind. Yeah, and he can't see.

And so basically, they heard the sound, so they take him by the hand. They lead him to Damascus. And for whatever reason, the Bible doesn't tell us, they take him to this house of Judas on Straight Street, which we talked about Straight Street last time. It was kind of ironic that it was named that. But I thought about it. They didn't know any more than him. in fact, I bet they didn't even hang around because they didn't know he talked to Jesus.

They didn't know what was going on. It probably scared the daylights out of them, so they probably skedaddle. But the point is a lot of times there will be what I call the Bible calls blind guides. And they're just leading us around, but they don't even know any more than we do. And so I thought that was interesting. But then the next guide was Ananias, which we talked about before, who was God's guide. and then the but he led him to the holy spirit which was the ultimate guide so i thought that was interesting that in that text you see three different kinds of guides and of course you want to be

guided by the one that guides you to salvation and the holy spirit which is what an anise did he finally went not only did he heal him physically but more importantly he told him what to do to follow jesus which is exactly what was going to change his life forever well i liked it uh i wrote down of notes when you did your lesson. On these three questions, I put, why do you persecute me, which he was appealing to his contents, which everybody has looked deep inside and let their conscience, and be honest with themselves.

Correct. To even consider looking at Jesus, which was the next question when he said, who are you, Lord, which you mentioned now the clarity. You have, you know, when you start looking at the IIMs of Jesus, which is always a good thing, you know, everywhere I get, go when I went to the last event I did my invitation to them is go home by yourself go into your room get your Bible and read the red letters of John read the whole book and and ask yourself a question what is Jesus like who is he because that's what's going to provide clarity you know or

google I am every time he said I am and read all those things what do you think about that because when that becomes real we know what happens your life will change if that's real that's why it says in Hebrews 138, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's like, it's never going to change. That's why it's still appealing today, because God came up with a plan that could go throughout the history and the future of all time. It would stand up. It's unchanging, and it's so good you wouldn't want it to change, and once you believe

it's real, then you change. Therefore, Chase, you wonder, why the world to this day still count time by him, time itself. Well, I think that's what he's saying is I'm not more anywhere. God has a sense of humor. Just like Straight Street, I mean, to me, it's like people think that you can't have a good time. You know, I was telling y'all this after our last podcast that when I went to this,

this just awesome group, you know, in Florida, and we had this awesome time. but I noticed during the worship music that over half the people weren't really participating, and it was making them nervous. And I thought some of these people come from conservative churches. Some people are not believing. And you're looking at the raw emotions of people. But here you think sometimes we put God in a box and think, oh, we have to be, our definition of reverence is like looking like we're in pain to worship God.

You know, and then it's like we forget that if you believe God created us, where do you think our sense of humor came from? I mean, oh, we can all laugh and we, but God, he doesn't do that. Well, I thought we were made in the image of God. I think God has a sense of humor. So I'm just not sure why this happened in the religious world. Why do we have to come in and all of a sudden be like, oh. I know he has the ability to laugh because Psalms 1 says, when people mock him and they turn against him,

the nations raise up and rage against him. He said, the one enthroned in heaven, he laughs. He laughed. Like, yeah, you're going to mock me. Yeah, we'll see how that's going to work out for you. I make so many people uncomfortable when I talk about breaking wind and all because, and people are, oh, that's crude, you know, and it comes from our European ancestors. We do not discuss those kinds of matters, you know, when we're civil.

And I'm like, no, I know why God did that. It's funny. That's always funny. When I went to New Zealand and I presented the gospel and pointed up to Jesus, the sound that came back to me was this. It was that sound. And I thought, so I asked the guy back down the back when I left the stage, I said, what was that loud murmuring?

He said, they don't like what you're saying when you point them to Jesus. They're telling you, we don't do that in public. Christianity is a private thing. But they've never heard anyone, Mr. Robertson, speak on what you're speaking of out loud just at an event. So they're afraid of you. But later on, when I got back to the States, and some of them even there would whisper to me, Al, and they would say, we appreciate what you said. But they would whisper it and make sure no one was listening, which I thought ironic. Well, let me finish the third, because I got these from your sermon, but I had the, why do you persecute me, which makes you, you know, look at your conscience, be honest with yourself.

Who are you, Lord, which Jesus provides the clarity with the I ams. And the last one I has what to do about it, which is going to lead to certainty. You know, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see, Hebrews 111. but the certainty was when he said go i mean he told anonize to go and he's basically telling saul to go yeah and which we got into that before when it's talking about in jesus it's not yes and no in the first christian's letter it's always yes and reasons to go out and be god's representatives but that i think those three questions are really good about his conversion because you analyze your what caused the problems. You see the answer, which is Jesus. And then what are you going to do?

We go. We just don't sit in rooms or go to a church bill once a week, have a little worship, and then go do whatever our normal life is. You know, we're on a mission. And the reason in it, I wanted dad to do the video he did for the show, for in the woods of fill,

and then I use some of it, was because I described the moment when mom described, when he got to his moment of clarity, and it was similar. And then, you know, God sent his anonize, which was Bill Smith, who you had already met, you know, earlier to be the one to share with you what you needed to do. And then you did it. And then I love it. The last little bite you did on there, you talked about kind of hiding out from all your old pals.

And that's exactly we know from Galatians 1. That's what Paul did. He took off. Before he made that trip to Jerusalem, you mentioned, which we'll talk about this on the next podcast, He went to the desert for three years. And we don't know what happened there other than he just got, he got disciples. I don't know what he got with Jesus, but he had to get away from everybody before he started his full ministry, which I thought was pretty important.

I did the same thing. And you did the same thing, which I thought was amazing. So I wanted the audience, our audience, to be able to know, Dad said it right. If Saul of Tarsus can do the right thing after doing. so many wrong things that Phil Roberts can do it. If Al and Jay's can do it, anybody has the capacity, no matter how bad it's been, no matter what you've done for the evil one in the past, to become an amazing son or daughter of God. I mean, it's a good great things. We're all capable of that, which is why we're doing this podcast. Yep. You know, so people will know.

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 blazedtv at blazedtv.com slash unashamed.