Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 250 | When Jase Locked Miss Kay Out, That'll Give You Worms & Evil or Mental Illness in Boulder?

Episode Date: March 29, 2021

Phil chuckles as Jase and Al recall the time their dad was too tickled by Jase's misbehavior to punish him. But first, Jase and Al realize their grandmother was right about picking up worms. Phil sees echoes of Acts 12 today. Al talks about the "buts" and "ifs" of the Bible. And the guys discuss whether the recent murders in Colorado and Georgia were the product of evil or mental illness and what Christians can do to help prevent these tragedies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? And all of these things we cover in the various places that we look when you're reading the Bible. You look at it and you say, because we're 2,000, over 2,000 years out from when this took place. But if you look carefully, what you do is you have one of these. these, what you call these little... Concordance? No, you have a little colored pen. What do they call them?

Highlighter. Highlighter. You take a highlighter, and I'm looking at the end of chapter 11 in the book of Acts that goes into chapter 12 at the bottom of my Bible. Then I got chapter 13. So I'm looking at 12 and most of chapter 13 in the last part of chapter 11. Well, if you highlight these things, in other words.

But mine's already highlighted in red. Yeah, well, I understand. But I'm just saying the overall thrust. These are what you call nuggets of keeping everybody on what is going on there. How does it relate to us being sitting here reading it 2,000 years later? What is amazing, if you will just look at it, You say, so what was the purpose in the midst all this thing? Herod's going over here.

In other words, Herod had a thorough search made looking for Peter to find him. He cross-examined the guards. And listen, and ordered that they be executed. I mean, the gospel is going out coming forth from a system where some monarch could just on a whim come by and you're a dead man. you let what happened they said well this peter that that joker one of them jesus freaks was down there hollering and the monarch gets wind of it why had he get out of there well the bible's telling you how it got out there some angel showed up and you're like whoa so look i got one two three four five just five little things that jumps out well i highlighted

them. Acts 12, 11, 19, telling the message only to Jews. Those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen, he jumps back to what was exactly happened. What was happening is they were telling the message only to Jews. They were preaching the gospel to the Jews. You look right below there, the disciples were first called Christians. right now we're looking back. Tell them where you're at, Phil. Yeah, I'm in Acts chapter 11, about verse 26 and following. A whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the church, taught great numbers of people.

All this is ongoing. You say, well, if you fast forward to the days of our days, there's old Jason Robertson sitting right there, one of my sons. there's another one down in Florida talking via virtual. Here I am seated here. You say, so what exactly is the format? What are y'all doing? We are telling the message now to everyone, the Jew and Gentile thing. We understand why at some point you say, well, who named us?

Well, other people got the saying, that's him Christians. Christians. They said, Christian, Christian. because they follow Christ. They follow Christ, and that's the roots of the entire movement. It's just one little phrase. You say, does he dig deeper into that? No.

He just updating it. We first were called Christian. Well, here we are 2,000 years later, as you say, well, now we know where our roots came from when it started. It started in that around Antioch, way back. Well, you get to 12, 24, the Word of God continued to, increase and spread. That's 12-24.

You're like, they were making sure, well, you fast forward 2,000 years. I sat with a guy who was an atheist yesterday evening. He's out in front of my gate standing there and I drive by. I said, well, how long were you prepared to stand there? He said, until you drove by.

I'm like, that's a good sign. It's a good sign. So you say, I said, we're making. a disciple out of you there, Nathan. I said, so we're working with it. We're sending you out. So the precise, I said, what I want you to do is I'm going to go through a study with you so you'll understand about the kingdom and the gospel so you'll become rooted in that. So I want you to stand on that. Well, I gave him all these verses and he was sitting there saying. Deep down, you were thinking, we need this guy to go back to San Francisco.

and when it gets on the next golf course, who are the big golfers these days? Well, I mean, the list is long. The list is long. But he works within that structure. I said, we need someone on the golf course to. I was more thinking San Francisco. Yeah, our San Francisco.

A greater need just to hunt. But the point is, back then, they wanted the word of God. It did continue to increase and spread, which we're attempting the same thing. and you get down to 12, 13, 5. The two of them, who were the two of Barnabas and Saul, they're together, sent on their way, like you said while ago, Jays, by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, sail from there to Cyprus.

These people are on the move. Look, when they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John will twist them as their helper. Oh, John, you don't read them much about it. him in the book of action he said he was there helping them out you say they had formed a cadre of proclaimers and they were reaching out and the proof that they went worldwide is proven by today you out you jace and me your day well when did that stop it never stopped oh it's still

that's my point still ongoing you say how in the world did it go worldwide we're giving you some insight with a few texts if you just get your highlighter and you say what was the point here what was the message Jesus died was buried and raised from the dead what did they do put their faith in that and they baptize them and they moved on well i'll reiterate but that's pretty cool yeah i'll reiterate the highlights i do believe that someone whoever decided to put the jesus quotes in red was was awesome that's one amendment you know we talked about last podcast when the Bible interpreters or uh I guess a better word put the apostles jace in orange yeah put them in orange or yellow you y'all knows you put them in yellow I put them in yellow but I mean let me know Jesus didn't say that well right but the apostles did

because the whole thing publishers days is the Bible publishers yeah publishers by the way the last thing about chapter 13 in the book of Acts. They ran up on this guy. He was up to no good, some kind of sorcerer. So look, he, and he was asked a question. The apostle, some of them said, will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Fast forward 2,000 years, Jace, and my question to my listeners today and the world at large and including these United States, will y'all, will you never stop perverting right ways of the Lord because nothing has changed

dude nothing we're still the battle goes on I think you bring up a good point and here's my take on it I think it's it didn't stop now but it started sputtering when the idea came of we're going to go

and set up camps with various in the name of various religious tones and interpretations of the Bible, instead of moving, it became a monumental model where there's just camps.

And I think the purpose was for those camps to reach out to the community around them, but in a lot of instances, it just became a camp. Here's what I'm saying. When some of our listeners say, well, the reason them guys are up there,

they're expanded on these biblical issues and biblical matters, is that's just what they do in their spare time. What they don't realize is, oh, this is what we're doing the entire time. We get up in the morning and it never stops. I mean, we're. Well, I'm a one-by-one guy. I think Jesus' model, the highlights, is that he went, now he had a little inner circle that he chose.

and he went to various parties, weddings, religious festivals, gatherings of people. But in his spare time, which was as he's traveling along to these various events, he was having meaningful encounters and conversations with people on an individual basis. Therefore, when you get to Acts 11, going into almost Acts 11, it's Acts 10, about verse 38. you all remember how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit like us and power like us and Harry went around you said went around that's us doing good that's us and heating all those who were under the power of the devil because God was with him so we point them we're not trying to overthrow the government we're trying to overthrow the evil one an individual human being

life. We happen to be in America at the time, but it's going on in Mexico, like our brother, that they just shot to death the other day down there. You're like, there's people being killed for the cause. So that makes the world nervous when you start talking about the evil one or the devil. Because then they're like, all of a sudden this has become some kind of spooky story, you know, or like a horror film that they got all their material. out of the Bible, all these exorcism and all these great movies that people are like, oh, this is,

they base that from stuff they read in the Bible. And even I think it's interesting, we're talking about Acts 12 today. And the murder and the murders and the lying and the stealing and the drugs and the alcohol, they'd still continue at a rate. But the thing about it, Dad, it brings order

to the world. I mean, yesterday a guy goes into a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, and kills 10 people. Shot him to death. And the first thing everybody starts saying is, what is it was wrong with? And what is his mode is, do we need more gun control? All the same old questions keep coming out. And to me, immediately I said, oh, man, the evil one. He got that guy.

Well, yeah. It's two things. It's either the evil one or he's got a screw loose, which is mental illness. But in every case, it's one of those two things. things. That's what's causing these problems. And people are like, well, I don't just don't understand. You know, maybe if we take away that gun, it's mental illness or it's just rank evil. And 2,000 years ago, Jesus was going around healing all those who were under the power of the devil. They were going around saying, we can get you out from under the power of the

devil. That's what Jesus was saying. That's what we're telling them. And we see them, turn from their wicked ways and their murderous things. And when you see people under lock and key in prisons and they're set free in prison, they have a life sentence. They can't leave. But they're converted. And you say, even under lock and key, you can still be free. So we preach the message.

What the world doesn't get that we get on a daily basis, and I mean we as in Jesus, is we get the highlights from sharing Jesus. you know sure we get the highlights of evil in the world on every newscast but when some evil person who has done incredible amounts of harm comes to jesus well they don't report that have you ever seen on the on a newscast they're like breaking like we shared a couple podcasts ago about one of these uh you know leaders of a gang in mexico a cartel coming to jesus well i didn't see that on the news. You ever hear that?

But now when he got marketed. That's a highlight there that I'm like, yes. Because that's our mission. Whenever I see something bad happen. And look, we've all, if you looked at our bottom five Bible studies with evil people that we've all had, we have encountered just raw evil. That is correct. And looked at them right in the eyes.

So here I am. I'm not thinking about this guy may go into a place and shoot somebody, but in the back of my mind it wouldn't shock me because this guy is evil or, you know, female, whoever it was. But I thought I got a moment right here through the grace of God to introduce Jesus, to change this heart, not only to save his soul and let him be a representative, kind of like a guy named Saul, but also to make the world a safer place. If we were surrounded by Jesus people, followers of Jesus,

Al, it would be a much better place. Yeah. My point is when I meet somebody, you know, our philosophy from the government side is when you see something, say something, if something's weird, well, if I see something, I say something about Jesus, then I may call the police and say, you might not have to watch this guy,

which I have done before in the past. I'm like, this guy. I don't feel good about this guy. Our family structure, we've had bullets going through our houses. I mean, you know. But I know Jesus is the first place you need to go. Let's take a break. And, you know, but even you mentioned mental illness,

which we've experienced that in our own family and how devastating that can be. But, you know, when you read the, in Jesus' time, he was on the earth, I believe all that was heightened, you know, the spiritual warfare because, I mean, the evil side knew Jesus was here. They couldn't figure out what he's doing here. You know, we know from the Bible tells us Satan didn't really know. He didn't know what he was doing here. So you have all these,

but he was casting out evil spirits. And when you read the description of some of these people, I mean, they sound a lot like bipolar. I mean, things we kind of attribute strictly. So I'm just wondering. That's true.

Even with evil spirits, you know, how they affect, you know, think about it. We know that the evil one struck Job with a physical illness. So can he, not work on people in a mental way? I don't know, but I know it was going on a lot in Jesus'

day, and he was, true, but I think, I think some things are, you know, a result of a broken world that we live in. And by giving us choices to make, well, now you have the possibility of consequences happening from somebody else's poor decision or bad, you know, kids are abused, things happen. I mean, I learned a lot when my wife had this ministry of dealing with these these women who were involved in sex trafficking because most of the women there when they were just little bitty girls were being pumped out by their parents you know to do awful things for for money well obviously that's going to have an effect on your mental state moving forward yeah and so you come in there and it becomes messy and so what i'm saying is that's just one small

I mean, there's a lot of things that happen. We're in a broken world. But I, you know, the problem may be hard to figure out, but we know the solution. And we've all seen when people are loved and when Jesus is shared, we've seen the worst of the worst come around and change. And to me, when I see an act on TV or if somebody, you know, you mentioned the one in Colorado, but, you know, a week ago, there was one in Atlanta. You know, the same thing. Well, the media immediately went to, oh, some of these.

Yeah, yeah, some of these were Asian women. But the more they got to investigating, you know, there was definitely evil behavior, mental illness and some bad religious experience. Yeah, and the sex addiction that he claimed to have, and they viewed them as temptation. I mean, the more you put it all together, the media's narrative wasn't even right. He just went in those places, and whoever was standing in his way,

he just started firing. So that's why when you get to like some dude, yeah. When you get to Acts 14, here comes Paul and Barnabas. They spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. They've winning them, but watch. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles, poisoned their mind against the brothers. So Paul and Burmahus spent considerable time there,

speaking boldly for the Lord. Now watch this. Who confirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. They had that with them. You're like, did that do it? Let's see. The people of the city were divided.

Oh, well, what do you know? We have people who were divided 2,000 years ago. I'm like, yeah, 2,000 years later you say, do you see any division out there? Some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. There was a plot afoot is the way it reads. This is Acts 14, the beginning of the chapter. There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews together with their leaders. Now, watch this.

To mistreat them, Paul and Burnhamas, and stone them. but they found out about it and fled to Liconian cities of Lister and Derb and to the surrounding country where they continued to preach the good news. So if you just, my point is, if you just look 2,000 years ago or right now in America, you're like, things have not changed out, not that much. Same scenario. But here's what I want to say. to bring it back to Acts 12.

Here you have a story. You got the king. He arrests people who are declaring Jesus. They killed James. He kills James, right. Yeah. And so when you start looking at the two sides here, and look at the small details.

In verse 4, it says they handed him over after arresting him, Peter, after arresting him, they hand him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. 16. We got 16 soldiers. We got bars. You ain't getting away.

We got you. We got the power to kill you. And so you look at their side and we get the picture. And when you look at the other side, what do we have? All they have is in verse 5. This is the totality of what they have. the church was praying for him well this doesn't seem like a fair fight because most people in the world say you're locked up you got 16 soldiers there we got bars we got the power of the

sword double chain we have the government we're winning we're winning and you got okay say your little prayers and so it just doesn't make sense for this team to win the one who's saying their little prayer and they view weak and I think think when we talk about all these things that happen in our world, it seems so evil and so big, and there's no way we're going to win. But you got to remember, our history was based on these kinds of fights, and we read this story. And when I was researching this, because any, anytime something happens in the Bible that I, it's like, whoa, because, you know, we get down to the end, Peter gets out, and there's some comical things.

things happen about because the church they pray and then it's answered but then they can't recognize that God has answered our prayer plus they get on the thing about well show them a miracle show them a miracle that'll work but al there was all kind of miracles going on well they still didn't believe it they didn't believe it he's out there knocking on the door and she won't open open the door but when you get down to the end well herod who orchestrated this whole thing he has the gift, you know, to expound on all these things, and he didn't give glory to God. And guess what happens? The guy with the squad, the soldiers, and the bars, and the government authority and the people's, you know, support, well, God uses an angel to strike him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

Payback. It just doesn't seem like, you know, you don't see movies that portray something like this happening. So I started looking this up in secular history about King Herod. And look, what I found fascinating. Yeah, Herod Agrippa. It's two different historical people that in their writings, which, look, it was an hour of my life, I'll never get back because most of it just, you know. but there was two different ones that said, now they weren't writing as believers.

This was the secular historical version, but they both said something like it was believed that he died from supernatural reasons. It was rumored that he died of, and I thought, huh, wonder where they got that from. So even in the non-biblical believing, historical world, something happened in his death

that was weird. And I'm like, well, maybe he was struck down by an angel and some worms ate him, which always got my attention what I was going to say earlier because your mom, my grandma, used to scare us like

about things we would do. She was like, oh, you don't need to do that. That'll give you worms. So I was always paranoid about having worms in my body, because that's a little. kid, I think she was just trying to get me not to do something. And her threat probably came from this story.

That'll give you worms. They'll kill you. So I'm like, oh, don't do that. No, they were. Hey, Jay's let's take a break. Yeah. And not only that, they were real. I mean, because I had them before.

You know, people in poverty go around barefoot all the time. That's what it was. She was like, wear your shoes. You'll get worms and die. But she was telling the truth. And that's why they used to worm us. You know, I mean, we got wormed. And you did too, didn't you, Dad?

Just like dogs. He died because he didn't give glory to God. There was no mention about, he didn't have his shoes on. Yeah. Well, I'm saying that's a real thing. He's just saying that worms can work within a human being's bodies because back somewhere they would worm us. They just line us up. Oh, yeah, with pin worms they call them.

Well, you know what? But there's some worse than that worldwide. You know what? Oh, in Africa, in Africa, they'll get in. There's called a tapeworm. That thing is about 30 foot long. Yeah. And it gets in through their feet.

It's a scary looking. I stand corrected. In chapter 12 and verse 8, when the angel came out and told Peter, the angel told Peter put your clothes on and your shoes. That's right. There you go. Granny was right all this time. Peter did so.

You know, it's a really fascinating. though. All right, most times if you're going to do a prison break, you would just, you would be in a hurry. I mean, number one, he was in there a while, which shows you that while they're praying

and he's stuck, God, he didn't get in a hurry because I guess he can't get in a hurry because he's not bound by time. That just popped into my head, but that's probably true. But then they take time out and say, I guess put your clothes on for a modesty issue,

but the shoes, okay. Did you see that one of the X-Men movies, there was one of the guys, he's a mutant, you know, but he could go so fast that he would be running around and everybody else would be like in slow, like barely moving. But he's running around doing all kinds of stuff. You know, of course, he's a good man to have around, you know, for a prison break. But I thought about that with his story.

It's almost like, because Peter's sitting there in between two soldiers. Yeah. And here's one of the things that fascinated me. He's sound asleep. Now, he's got this trial coming up the next day, and he knows that will end with his death. This is not a, we're not getting any due process. You know, he's not going to have a lawyer. No.

This is a public show of intimidation, which is how Harold thinks he's going to do. He's already killed James. So he's sitting there double-chained in between two soldiers, and we know there's some more out front, you know, on the shift. There's at least four there. And this angel comes in and has to wake him up. It said he struck him on the side to wait. him up. Peter is so confident that he's just sleeping at all. I mean, think about this is the night before you're going to die. Hey, by the way, out, before you finish, the same word, because I look

this up, that when it says he struck him to wake him up, is the exact same word in the end of the chapter where it says the Lord struck him down and he was eaten by worms, which I thought, Because when I saw that, I said, I wonder if that's the same word, but with two different, with two different outcomes. The point is, the person who has the ability to strike, which would be the God above. Angel of the Lord. Be on the right team, beyond the weak-looking prayer warriors and not the ones with the sword in the bars. Go ahead. I didn't mean to interrupt.

It's a good point. You know what, Jason, I didn't think about it. probably the same angel. I mean, I guess he was working this, he was working this neighborhood. You know, so on one side he's getting Peter out. So then they walk past these guards. And poor Peter, you know, he's already had the vision in Acts 10 where the sheet came down out of heaven and he's trying to figure it out. Then he kind of wakes up and then somebody shows up at his door. Well, here is again, he's not even sure if this is really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. Yeah, he was like, am I dreaming this? Or we really

walking out, you know. And so the gate opens up on its own. You talk about movies, Jay's. I mean, they walk right past these people. They're awake, but they can't tell what's going on. Great point. miraculously. Yeah.

And then all of a sudden, the gate opens. That's where the drive-in movie theater, I know where it came from. Somebody read Acts 10 and said, you don't know if we could do that. We could just let out a large sheet and people would ride up And watch it. You know what? All right. Go ahead.

Well, this has got all kind of inventions coming out of this day. But so you're exactly right. And then Peter, it said in verse 11, he came to himself. And I'm kind of like that. I don't highlight my Bible because then I have a hard time reading it when I'm preaching. But I write notes all the time. And I put three question marks. What does that mean?

He came to himself. So he was in this visionary state. He's not even sure he's out in any, looks up and he's out and then the guy who is with him is gone another one of these teleportation dimensional controls i mean he's standing there and then he's gone because they're not bound by the atoms and molecules look a lot of people who are not believers when they hear us reading a story like this this is the craziest this is craziest stuff i've ever heard but the more you get into it it actually starts making

sense. Look, I've had moments in my life. I pretty much have this daily, where I have to come to myself because I get lost in, you know, La La Land. But, I mean, we know what it means to be in a trance

or, especially when you sleep hard and you wake up and you're trying to figure out, you know, where am I at? What's going on? It's not above, out of the realm of possibility to understand how God works in these situations like this, when we have all these unexplained things that happen just in our normal day-to-day life

through sleeping or through, you know, there's things you can even, things on the earth that you take that affect how you feel and what you think. I mean, just go look at one of these big pharma companies and see how much crap they're selling, you know? So we get it. Even, that's why people get drunk. You know, because I always think about that illustration in Ephesians 5 that relates true worship to God as singing compared to don't get drunk. Why is he making that analogy?

There's a euphoric, I mean, y'all would have to tell me what it feels like to be drunk, but you get the point. I get it because I've seen people and see how they act. But I'm like, well, I'm going to accomplish that from God's view. singing spiritual hymns and songs, and I'm going to get the same effect. Of course, if I believe this, it's true. Well, I think you're right. Let's take another break. Especially on the addiction side of, because people drink for different reasons,

but the people that are trying to escape something, either something that's wrong in their life, maybe it's a bad relationship, whatever, and fill it with drugs or alcohol or something else. You're right. They're trying to escape the reality. The problem is, you sober up. and when you come back, the reality is still the reality. It's never going to change the situation.

And so that's why, you know, we celebrate recovery, whatever. They work on saying, look, only Jesus can fill the hole that you're trying to fill. You've got to have something bigger than just alcohol or drugs because that wears off. That won't. And then it destroys your body in the process and every relationship. So that's why it won't work. I've seen people get hooked on worship, just the euphoric feeling. And they're moving around from town to town, concert to concert.

You're saying, you think that's negative? No, I think it's awesome. But at some point, you've got to come to yourself like Peter did and realize, okay, I'm back on mission here. This whole point and the whole podcast that we've talked about today is revolving around. All these acts of God through people are in response to their encounter with Jesus. and the mission that is going on, which is exactly, I mean, Peter's like, I'm fixed to die tomorrow, it's over,

there's 16 soldiers here, I'm locked up, I mean, at this point, even a cheesy movie where like, we're going to do a prison break, there's 16 of them, you're not getting out of here, you're going to die tomorrow. You've already proven that he'll kill people with James getting killed. and then all of a sudden we have this God's supernatural ability done in a way that's not exactly recognized. You know, it blurs the line.

I mean, we know it was a miracle and it was supernatural, but they're all trying to figure out what happened. Even Peter is saying, you know, he makes that statement. He says, now I know in verse 11 without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel, which tells me he had had doubts up to. that point that this was really happening. You know he had to. Yeah. You know he had to. It is, it is interesting. It is interesting that the demise of Herod, on the appointed day, Herod wearing his royal robes, sat on, this is after he got through killing James and there after, well, he sat on his strong and he delivered a public address to the people. Now, what's how this unfold? They shouted, this is. This is.

the voice of a God, not of a man. Uh-oh. Now watch. Uh-oh. So he must have really given a speech, Al. Immediately, here's the reason, because Herod did not get praise to God. An angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. And here's the kicker.

But the word of God continued to increase and spread. And look, Al, it was just a matter of fact. Yeah, some big dog got up there, some big shot politician. petition got up right running his mouth yep the worms ate him but the word of god continued to spread and it just moves on like end the story that's what i was getting at look i love worship it is a great tool even you know with going through with everything i went with my daughter and i had i told about the couple that i felt ministered to me maybe ministered to them but it was all done through the holy spirit but you can't get so

absorbed in life circumstances where you forget the mission and what's going on. You know, you got to dust yourself off and look for opportunities to share Jesus and maybe prevent some of these catastrophes. You know, I thought about that. We brought up the two things that happen, you know, in the U.S. as far as, you know, the shootings. But you just think about how many things have probably been prevented because someone came to Jesus because of one conversation.

And they never went down that road because of the love of God. And you would never see the cause. Remember the cause. Yeah. So I wanted to make a point, Jay, that you mentioned it earlier, but I made this point in my sermon when I preached this last week. In verse 5, you read it a minute ago. So Peter was kept in prison.

And the next word, and I told our church and people listening, when you're reading the Bible, there's a couple of conjunctions. I'm a grammar guy. Dad, you taught English. There's a couple of conjunctions. When you see these words, you should perk up. Because the whole scenario is, this is a losing scenario.

But when you see the word but, then you know something amazing. It's about to happen. And like you described, that seemed like a weak play, but that was actually a strong play. I mean, the but there. Same thing with like in Colossians, one, Paul, says you've been reconciled by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight without blemish free from accusation. Who would turn that down?

But then the word, verse 23, if, that's another word. If you see the word if, you need to pay attention because that means there's an expectation from you to do something. If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not move from the hope held out in the gospel. So I always like those words like that in the Bible jump out to me. That would be my highlighted word at if I highlighted. I got you.

the butts and the ifs because what it what the whole point of this story which we've made in the podcast today is that we're going to we're going to win ultimately even in the moments where it doesn't look like we're winning and the in the idea of prayer and jays you mentioned it on the first podcast you came back about mea i mean you felt that you had missing new that there were people earnestly praying for the for surgeons for nurses for her for you know everything to go so that she would be able to get past this whole situation. And there's power in that. It was overwhelming.

And look, some people that I hadn't, you know, I'm a big LSU baseball fan always have been. I mean, you are too, Al. And, you know, just the, because when we were younger, we want when Skip Burtman was coached or manager, you know, we won all those national champions. And it's just something I look forward to every year. And I've been to multiple games and met multiple, you know,

LSU players. but you know some of them are just you just can't help they're your favorites because they're leaders and one of those guys was Alex Lane and you know I met him down there we just kind of hit it off he's been here a couple times I took him fishing but he called me you know when mea was you know going through her sergeant on and we caught up and but I just thought to my center here's a guy I mean the baseball they didn't even have spring training last year I mean, they didn't have anything, you know, they just called the season off.

Here's a guy trying to make it to the pros. He's with the Detroit Tigers organization now. But it just, and he was telling me, you know, we've been praying for you. And I'm like, now this guy has 100 million things to be doing out there. And to reach out to me in this moment, I don't know, it just, it moved me and it made me realize, well, no wonder, you know, she's hanging in there.

It really meant, you know, a lot to, which I was saying, I was telling him about this year's team. And I'm like, because we were talking about the team. And I was like, they need a leader. They need an Alex Lane to step up. They got the talent. They're young. You know, we were telling you.

I was saying, they need you. Someone like you. I was just getting excited. He's like, calm down. They'll be all right. So, well, we had just lost the first two games to Mississippi State. I was like, we need somebody to step up. Of course, then the next day they won, eight to three.

You were singing the blues. Hey, Jess, let's take one last break. But what was amazing was about the power of prayer in the story is they were gathered at a house praying. So, I mean, literally they were going to pray all night for something to happen. And it did. And you mentioned there was this servant girl named Rhoda. She went up to the door.

Peter's not going on the door. She got so excited that she ran back to the others but forgot to let him in, which I found comical. Yeah. And so, but when she goes back and she tells them, they said, you're out of your mind, girl. I mean, the miracle came to the, the miracle came to the door. She didn't let him in.

And then they're saying, you're out of your mind. And then they said, do what they said? It was interesting. They said, maybe it's his angel. In other words, they've already killed him. And his angels showed up. That's what they, but I thought about it. Isn't that so us?

Like, we pray about something and God answers our prayer. And then we don't want to believe it's true, you know, that it really happened. Oh, I know. I used that illustration earlier, even today, even if it's not a supernatural, like, miraculous thing, we'll pray and it's answered, and then we don't even recognize it or, like, can't believe it. I mean, this whole situation is filled with,

I didn't even, it reminds that I have a weird childhood story that popped in my head, but I remember, Willie and I were fighting. I thought Phil and Kay were out of town. They weren't around. And basically I had locked the house because I decided I'm going to be, this is my house, but for as long as y'all are gone. And so I locked all the doors, barricaded, close the windows.

Well, Willie would go around and he was trying to break in. This went on, you know, pretty much all day and night. I wouldn't let him in the house, which was horrible. I know. Because I wasn't, I wasn't small. Some of these stories are news to me.

Anyway, what I was unaware of is that mom came home and started knocking on the door, but I thought it was Willie. And so I'm laughing, you know,

and here's the weird part. So she starts hollering while I hear, but I think it's Willie taught because he has a talent. He can imitate. at her. Yeah, he sounds just like her. So I'm laughing. Well, she's getting mad because I won't unlock this door. And she's getting so mad. She loses her awareness. She's just beating on the door.

And she accidentally, we had a little glass part at the top. And she busts the window. And I look in there, I see blood. So then I'm like, oh, crud. You know, I'm thinking Willie has injured himself. Well, I opened the door was mom. And look, there's like smoke coming up to fire. And her hands bleeding now. Yeah, our hands bleeding. And so I always had an exit strategy, which is run through the house, and I'd always hit the back door because it wouldn't open.

But I had forgotten in the chaos that I had barricaded it where it wouldn't open. I bounced off that thing and go straight back. Well, she's found a belt. and this is the worst part but she's like trying I mean she's a small woman I'm a teenager at this point and she's trying to swing that belt at me

but she grabbed the wrong end of the belt so when she swings well there's a buckle coming at me and I'm like oh so when I jumped out of the way she swung so hard it wrapped around her and popped

her in the head and she just fell like a sack of potatoes Then I'm like, oh, no, her hands bled. You killed your mother. She's hit herself with a buckle. So at this point, I'm over there like, how do I do CPR? Because I'm panicking thinking, you know, I've knocked her out. So it was a bad moment.

I don't know if you remember. But look, I've heard her tell the story. Yeah. At the end of the story, so she decided she wasn't going to be able to punish you. So she said, when your daddy gets home tonight. That's right. you are going to get it. And so we were all, so now me and Willie are like so excited.

We're watching because we got to wait and see what, because the Jace is going to get just mauled tonight when Dad gets on. Dad gets on. Mom tells the story. Dad gets so tickled. Yeah. And he's laughing so hard that he didn't even have it in him to punish Jay. So Jace, you never got punished for the whole thing.

Of all the things that I thought that I was going to die over and feeling like, That's the craziest thing. What were you doing? He was actually getting on mom worse than he was getting on me. I mean, you stick your hand through glass. You're swinging a buckle around. I mean, what is wrong with you? But when I read this story, it popped in my head

because I was talking about somebody banging on the door. I didn't believe that it was her, and it was her voice. But I'm thinking, boy, that Willie. He thinks he goes. Just another little day in the life, ladies and gentlemen. That's hilarious. I felt really bad. I love here, Mom, tell it.

And it just, what happened was, like, most of the Robertson stories, it just became sort of the folklore of how we did growing up, which is kind of funny. But mom, now, she was, mama just grabbed whatever she had, you know, and if you had to look out. I mean, she'd clocked me a few times. When Missy first heard some of the stories I told her, she was like, well, that's child abuse. I said, no, no, you don't understand. You know, from her mind, this is survival. I said, we put her through. I never felt like, oh, this is child abuse.

I'm like, the woman's trying to defend herself. In a house full of men. Well, right. And she's so small that I'm like, well, what else? What do? because we took it way past the line. Because I just looked at it and thought, she can't hurt me.

That was my mindset. No matter what she does, she can't hurt me. So she thought, okay, I'm going to get a weapon. I mean, the one time she did hurt me was I was trying to do my running thing. And I came out of what used to be y'all's room. And she had taken a broom and turned it around. And I didn't know she was behind me. And she just wham.

And it flatmed like a pancake. And I thought, I tipped my hat to her. And I said, okay, you hurt me there. I never thought about it being the way it was. When you kind of look back, it was survival for her. I mean, look, it hurt me for about five seconds. And then I tip my hat to her. And I said, point taken, I will comply.

But I don't blame her because we were rebellious and as teenagers, we just were disrespectful. And she needed to hit me with her. Well, in modern day America, that's just a little dose of child rearing, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah. I'm not making light of people, you know, there is abuse and it's wrong. But with us, with big, strong guys, because everybody always says that when they meet us, they're like, good gracious, you are all big. I was like, and here's my mom. I mean, she's five foot and nothing.

Yeah. And weighed 120 pounds, you know, I mean, it just was, we just weren't respectful. And she tried to get our attention. Ultimately, she was and is the matriarch of our family. I mean, she, even now it's funny because dad, you know, she used to be kind of afraid of afraid of dad from the early years. But now, I mean, she'll start in on dad. And I just get tickled.

I just start laughing because, I mean, she's not afraid to tell you anything. Well, she was right 100% of the time because she always took up for us. But, you know, when she's chasing me with a brain, I've really messed up. This, because she would always take up for us no matter what we did. But when it's turned, it needed to be turned. I have really screwed up here and I need my butt hook. So I get it. So I'll close us out with the name of my sermon on this text was unchained.

And I went back and forth because I wanted to call it life or death. is what I reason was going to entitle the sermon because, I mean, these were all life and death moments. And ultimately, we all live and we all die. But if we're in Christ, we don't have to worry about it, you know. And then I was going to tell a story about the guy being from Juarez, Mexico. But Unchained got me because I thought, you know, so many people bind themselves out of fear or whatever. But the whole point of the story, I think, especially with Herod dying the way did at the end, is we don't have to be afraid of anything on the planet. Even death because we're unchained in Christ.

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