Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 251 | Phil's 'Gunsmoke' and Jesus Deal, Mia's Courage, and When Jase's Life Got Better

Episode Date: March 31, 2021

Phil traces the curious evolution of one of Uncle Si's stories. Jase is on board with the Jesus part of Phil's deal, but he's not so sure about the Matt Dillon part. Jase shares more about Mia's courage and the emotional toll of her craniofacial surgery. And Jase has a major epiphany about eight things that have made his life take a turn for the better. -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Well, my daughter is improving slowly. That girl. Oh, it's better. We've been getting a ton of questions about it. Yeah, it's been a marathon, but they said the first couple weeks were going to be rough. And they were. It's hard to prepare yourself.

But it's hard to give updates because this is a marathon. And they're kind of monitoring. You know, we're flying her back and forth once a week just so they can look and say, okay, everything's going according to plan. But I'll tell you this, I mean, she's feeling better and starting to eat more because that's my biggest concern is, you know, because she's, you lose a lot of weight during this process. And which is normal because you, you know, you have told. She's not really big to start with.

Well, right. But she's improving. And, you know, we tend to, you know, we put, we're all in with our faith and trust in God. And, you know, meanwhile, you got the global pandemic, you have all these rules that are going on and you're in these hospitals. And, you know, the things that I see on the world's approach and ours is so vastly different. So I'm sitting somewhere in a hospital and they had a poster up there. and it's you know there's this woman who's which was what was weird she's in the process of running but she's not sweating that's the first thing i noticed and there was a caption that said for every five minutes that you for every no hang on i got this totally wrong for every mile that you run you save or you extend i can't remember how this went can we cut that and i'll start over

So I'm looking at this poster. This woman is running. She's not sweating. And it says, for every mile that you run, you add five minutes to your life. And I thought. I would have thought it would have said just the opposite. For every five minutes, or you run, you take five minutes off your life. I thought, I'm, you know, in the world, we're looking for motivation.

I'm all in with that. God's in control. and he's the ultimate healer. And no matter what happens, we're good. But if you're looking for motivation, first of all, you know what my first thought that popped in my head? Well, it depends on what's chasing you.

Who were the two actors? Who were the two actors who blew the train up and the bills went everywhere and they looked over there and all the horses were coming out of this? Well, what's, what's, that movie the Western. I mean, Phil.

They jumped off the cliff. I don't know how to swim. You've got it narrowed down to a few hundred. Is Bush Cassidy and the Sundad's kid? If that's the case, you had five minutes to have them I run. Them suckers live to be 200 years old. Well, the second thought I had was, you know. They didn't because they got shot up in Bolivia or someplace.

But the second thought I had after it depends on what's chasing you, because if something's chasing you that's faster, as in a crocodile or whatever, that's just a lie. But the same thing I thought was, you know, Sa, one of his top ten stories is him getting chase by wolves when he was, what was he a teenager? Do you remember? I mean, the details are fuzzy on that,

even though I've heard that story a hundred times. but it says it was a teenager. It kept getting bigger and bigger the lie he was telling. It got so big at some point he got all in and believed it

within the tennis shoes are smoking and... Yeah, he smelt burning rubber during the process and he looked down and his shoes caught on fire because of the friction created.

He set all Olympic records. That'll show you the way the way it works. I've surveyed the stories he told and I said just a bunch of bull but I said you know half a bubble off just a bunch of bull but the naysayers said oh no

Miss Robinson now what your brother has is talent it's talent so in the in the movie making world sigh is very talented because he can blow smoke with a straight face and then the smoke gets thicker

and thicker as he goes and they said would you do that? I said, I would not blow that much bull. He said, he will. He's talented. You're not. Sit down and shut up.

So basically, that's what the movie guys told me. What I'm on telling him the next time I say him out is I'm going to tell him, okay, you know why? Because he had the coronavirus. You know, now he thinks he's indestructible, which technically is. He has the Holy Spirit.

And I'm going to say, you know why that you made it? Of course, he's going to say, well, hey, God, heal me. He wasn't done with me yet here, whatever he'll say. And I'm going to say, and that time you ran the 14 miles with the wolves chasing you, you got all these, you accumulated the, and I'm going to tell him my little graphic, the five minutes added. Oh, that's right.

From that one trip, I hadn't thought about that. But, you know, in size, you got to understand, size stories, they're sort of like mom stories. There's, there's a truth there. Like, he was probably out. He probably saw a coyote, and it scared him, and he ran away from the coyote. And then that turned into the 10-mile run. First, it was one wolf, and then it was three, and then it was a pack. Then his tennis shoes exploded in flames.

and chariots of fire music started as he's running. Y'all are my sons, and I'll give you a little of summation of what this all boils down to. I think as I go forth now across America, whatever vehicle we use, whether it be podcast or just meeting together or going to places like Kentucky, making many books there is no end much study wearies the body now all it's been heard here's the conclusion of the matter

fear God keep his command us this is the whole duty of man for God will bring every deed into judgment including every hidden thing whether it's good or evil here's the deal to all you listeners out there here's the format we've told you we pointed you to Jesus we preach the gospel to you It's been ongoing, and it's been a couple of years and all, all these episodes. Everybody now, my humble advice is for everybody, all of you, read the book of John.

Oh, I like that advice. To find out who Jesus is and what grace is all about. Yeah. And then you must, for one year, watch at least 100 episodes of gunwomen. smoke and Matt Dillon and you'll see what law and order is all about and it is not a outdated cultural depiction you had me you watch so you got John and Matt Dillon you study both of them a hundred hundred episodes at a minimum because what Matt deals with in a law and order perspective is every known sin to mankind they were full of envy hatred and murder murder

murder, strife, deceit of coveting. Everything is in Matt Dillon. He steps in as the law, and he will put a bullet in you very quickly if you're doing any of this mischief. Good, Matt Dillon, bad, the evil one, and all the sins. And it's every, every episode, that's what it's about. Here's my take on that. The frailty and sinfulness of mankind.

You were going through about focusing on Jesus. I was amen, amen. amen and then all of a sudden when you got to matt dillon i went you know in the african-american church culture they they do something i've talked about that i wish everyone did is there amen amen and then they go well yeah which means learn about john the apostle what he said about jesus and learn what matt dillon did when he ran upon sinful men yeah well i don't know about that but you brought a hill is shown very too too too much Very small, too small for what Dylan did.

You brought up the Kentucky because I told you, I was in Kentucky last night. Hang on, Jayce. Before you tell that story, I want to read a verse to sum up your thought because it struck into my brain. It's from 1st Corinthians, 924. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training they do it to get a crown that will not last but we do it to get a crown that will last forever therefore i do not run like a man

running aimlessly i do not fight like a man beating the air and so i yeah just some reason that verse popped into my brain i like it what he's saying is you get way more than five minutes of more time you get immortality well that was my point without being obvious I mean, look, the third point on that was that's it. I mean, I'm going to run a mile voluntarily for no reason without something chasing me, and you're going to give me five minutes? I just sit on the couch and eat some Cheetos. It's not enough.

I'm like, run this race and you get immortality. Even your mistakes as you go, the curves in the road, the running, the racetrack, whatever. make them you slip, you stumble, you fall, you get up and you keep moving and immortality is yours. I like the concept. Thank you. I mean, there's more, look. The Bible. That's 1st Corinthians 9.

Yeah, 1st Corinthians 9. Where is the verse that I believe it's 1st Thessalonians 5 that at the end, it's, I'll look it up real quick. It says, may your whole body, soul, and spirit be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord. Isn't that process audience 5L? And my point is look, my daughter has been through

I mean it's hard for me to even people ask and I'm like what it's indescribable here so and I'm trying to facial bones breaking them loosening them

straightening them I mean these surgeons these days Oh, they're incredible. And yeah, that is. That's Matthew, I mean, Matthew, first Sassalon is 5, 23. And what I was going to say is she wanted to go to teen church last night. And I was like, do what, Missy was sending me text because I was on the plane because I went to Kentucky and did an event yesterday.

I'll tell you about that in a sec. But I was like, do what? I mean, my first reaction was, that's a terrible. idea. I mean, she's not, she just, she just had surgery. And but then I realize. And that's been a little less than two weeks ago. Yeah. I'm like, and it's a small gathering, but you know, our age of coronavirus, they're like, oh, you know, we don't want her to get sick or we, I'm like, she can't get any more sick than she has been. And, but it hit me about that soul and spirit. You know, for a teenage girl, all the surgery she's had, the emotional aspect of this is lost.

I mean, here she is. She can't communicate. She's in this pain-stricken world for days and days and days and week. And she wants to be with some people and go to something godly, you know? And I'm like, good call, babe. Because Mrs. I think is great for emotionally. And she did, and it was fine. And I thought, you know, it's pretty courageous because she's swollen and, I don't know,

they had prayer for. I mean, it was great. And that's what the world does it understand that we're not just focused on the body because, you know, your famous line about working out and eating right, you'll die healthy, just like this running, you know, you can run and be in tip-top shape. You're running through the mountains of Montana, and guess what? you encounter a bear and it starts chasing you. You lose.

What happened to all this five minutes accumulation? You lost all your points in one episode with a bear. It's just there's a difference when you look at the wholeness of a human being and how it's relatable to what God offers us. It's just a way, way better lifestyle. So I think she made the right call. Hey, let's take a quick break. some point he got all the guy who first started the jogging craze he died jogging of a heart

attack yeah and look what i'm trying to figure out we're all for getting in shape but it's just you know i'm saying it's it's just when you put all your eggs in that basket what what are you really doing here you know what i'm trying to figure out is okay a pandemic swept in out of china got loose out of some, I don't know, lab. So this virus that comes from bats is unleashed on the world, and it starts rolling across the entire planet Earth, and people begin to die because of it. There's a rallying. Everyone gets together.

So they said, wear a mask, stay six feet from each other, sprays. out, don't get into large crowds, went through that era, that part of it. They finally get a vaccine for it that they know works. Take this and you won't get it. And so that came, but everybody's still wearing masks and still scattering out. I'm thinking, when do we turn the corner on this thing and say, you know what? We got a vaccine you can take now and you won't get it. So when do we say?

We finally turn the corner. The reason why is because every time you turn a corner, they put another corner up, Dad. That's what you're missing. I'm trying to figure out when did they say, we got control of this thing and we've turned the corner. There's no end of the corner. So I turned it, you know, yesterday because I went to Kentucky and I was going to try to deal with spiritual matters. I wasn't sure what I was getting into and you know this. Events are always different.

but Al you had been here a year and a half ago. I think you preached at one of their services. So they got me to come clean up. What Al? No. My point is, if we keep going like we're going now, we're going to keep doing this, running the COVID, whatever it is,

running that one. Well, when the next one comes, if we don't get rid of this one, are we going, what do? fight fight both of them at the same time because if you wait long enough there'll be another pandemic coming from somewhere i'm trying to turn the corner on this phil i you know there's nothing that's not turning the corner i'm turn look here's how i turn the corner so i'm on the plane of course you you know on the on the planes and in the airport it's the strictest of rules you know

every miserable i'd say two to three minutes there's a voice over saying federal law you will be jailed there's no exceptions you know so all right wear your mask where you Everybody's wearing a mask. So I get to the location and, well, on the way, I have, you know how you have epiphany? You have ideas. And you say, because I don't have notes. I mean, I'm a one message pony. I share, I introduce Jesus.

I usually go over the same things. My speech is wrapped around people's perception of us. They see us on TV or they say. see, you know, that I have a good looking wife. And they're like, how did this happen? Which is an honest question. I'm not making fun of it. So then I, in the speech, share that we believe that God's in control.

And I go through your conversion and how the duck call business got started. And then how the show came about, you know, Sy's famous line on day one, God's directing this. He told the director, ha, ha. But we're not kidding. He really is. and then me meeting my wife was I was looking for somebody to help me get to heaven and I was trying to stay pure because I was a believer and so I give her a speech

saying I'm not going to do anything you know touch you inappropriately I'm looking for somebody to help me get to heaven but that was the line because she was like awesome that's who I'm looking for so I that's basically what the speech is but When I go to churches, I feel like, and since we do so many of these podcasts, you know, there's a lot of things about religion, and we've talked about them many times, that we don't like. And, you know, from the hypocritical lives or even some theology that seems to be legalistic, we'll use that phrase, just meaning kind of rule-oriented. And you have all these different religious groups on all these different street corners. and the perception of the world is they don't even like each other really. They argue and they fuss and fight over matters.

So having said all that, I had this epiphany, and I was like, I'm going to do these things. And I wrote them down. I wrote down eight things that, and these things are like things I thought were really good. And they're technically probably true, but that as I matured as a follower of, Jesus, it was almost the exact opposite was true. And I'll share them with you. And I could be wrong on some of these. These were just ideas that popped into my head.

So we're going to, what's that first John 4 that says, test the spirits to see if they're from God? James, before you start, I just want to say, I'm impressed. You use the word epiphany. I mean, for Jay's vocabulary, that's an A-plus. I'll give you a thumbs up on that. He got eight syllable. Eight syllable was placed.

the older my kids have gotten the more educated they've become and they've actually helped my vocabulary because when I'm at the dinner table and they're talking I'm like no wait a minute what did you say playing the piano he's no epiphany I said oh what does that mean so then I'm like that word I'm going to use it because when I was in school in the early days I wasn't paying attention I was staring outside. Because some people are not designed to be put in a box with walls, only to have a window for eight hours a day. I'm an outdoors person.

So I thought I was trapped. I was like, please let me go outside. So I wish they offered. When we were in preaching school, Jays, we didn't have a window, and you were just looking at the front. And then you learned how to sleep with your eyes open. Yeah, I did. Which I thought was a pretty neat trip.

But I quit that job because there was no window in an office. I said, I can't. This is, there's a thin line between jail and here. I can't, I can't identify with that. I'm trapped. I must leave, I must leave. And so I said that. I said, I'm resigned.

And they said, there's no window. They didn't know what I meant. They thought he's lost his, you know, he's off his rocker. I've often wondered and I've questioned my own upbringing and my choices. I spent. total probably eight to nine years getting educated being educated yeah and then i then i leave that institution had the degrees there there and back of my my diplomas are somewhere stored away and in the multitude of boxes and crates that Ms. Kaye Yaw's mother have gathered up. But I asked myself the other

day, I said, you know, I spent seven or eight years obtaining that. But then I get out and start making duck calls, fishing the river and making duck calls. And I'm thinking, how much, how much brains did I need? How many diplomas did I need? And how was that helping me with this hoop net that has a hole in it? So I'm patching the hooknet, catching the fish, making about $2.50 a week. Then the duck call came along, and then Hollywood calls on us. And I'm looking at how that worked. I said, you know, I wasted a lot of time.

Cooped up like you're talking about. Listen to some guy indoctrinate me on the current thing. And I never heard the word Jesus the entire time, eight to nine years, not one word. So I look at it now. I don't want to say it was a wasted time. Huh? So what good did that these diplomas? There's no doubt you were the, you are definitely probably the world's most educated

hunter and fisherman, or dog comemaker and fisherman. I would say you're probably at the top of your class. So you got that going for you. Let's take a quick break. He got so big. At some point, he got all. At this rate, we're never going to get to these things. So let me, now here's what I'll do.

Which is what happened to you, right? Look, yeah. So I give two speeches yesterday, like 40 minutes apiece, never brought one of these points up. It is. So I'm like, not worth it. So what are you doing? Just a head living, telling them stories? I mean, what are you?

Well, I went through what I did. I introduced Jesus, but I basically, in a way, answer their questions about how this happened. What are you doing here? Because one of the things I, you know, I mean, I tell a few jokes. I mean, there was some obvious ones, you know. The name of their church was like east side. And the, because I asked them what this place was, the town was famous for. And they said nothing.

So I was like, ooh, that's good. So I said, I asked what this place was famous for. And they said nothing. Well, they all laughed. I said, well, why don't we make this place famous for Jesus, which that's how I started. And then, you know, I did my little, I don't look like a preacher. Ha, ha, ha. I said, now, my brother did when he was here.

I said, but he's the weird brother. And I told about why you're weird. You shave on a regular basis more than us. You wear khakis. You know, you talk funny. And so. Wear deodorant. Yeah.

Yeah, they laugh. I was like, he baths like almost every day. So then I was like, then we had the big brother, which is Willie. I was like, that was obvious on why he's the big, he's not older, he's just bigger. That's funny. I said, then we have the wise member. You were the wise member of the family. Sa was the crazy member.

So they laugh. I said, Saia's favorite verse is Second Corinthians 513. So did my wisdom come from the diplomas I earned or from some other source? The wisdom came from when you decided after you heard Jesus when the, uh, Bill Smith shared Jesus with you when you decided to you needed to turn turn this around bow to the king yeah and you can't and then I said and I gave like four or five wise things you did when you came to mom's work and said I'm I'm doing this you know and you got a little teary eyed for the first time and then you move to the other end of civilization all

an effort to, I mean, I said, these were, then you said, I got a duck call that we're going to make millions of, well, these were wise decisions, but you were basing it on godly principles. So I gave you the wisdom, and I gave aside the insanity. So then somebody turns to second Corinthians 513 and they read the first half of it. They have no idea what that verse is, but it says if we're out of our mind, which the translation, the girl read, the first one that said if we're crazy, it's for, it's for God. It was like an easy to read translation. It was part of, why, they all laugh, you know.

I was like, you got to believe something about the man. I mean, he's nuts. And then Kay's the kind one. And I talk about, I think yesterday I talked about the principle she has where everybody, she viewed, you know, mom, you think about, even when we were young, even before she was in Jesus, she always views everybody with, like they're the greatest person in the world.

Like she wants to befriend them. How many times have we been to some swanky thing, you know, she's back there with the cook talking about recipes or talking to the janitor about whatever. I mean, she just has that ability where to make every person in the world feel special.

Jason, when we leave a, when we, every time we leave a fancy hotel, but then we used to do a lot for the show and stuff in New York, every time without fail, the housekeepers and people that service things on the floor of the hotel would come and hug mom as we were leaving. Is that not happened, Dad, every time we leave one of those like the Trump? Over and over. So it's true. Yeah, and y'all, y'all know this about her, but what I'm trying to do is say,

because these people don't know us and they see me they think boy this is going to be something you know is he going to tell a few guys she brought the she brought the woman in from the what do you call them the the big fancy hotels you know they clean housekeeper yeah housekeeper she brought one of them in one day and she said she called me she called her name and said she wants to hear some more about jesus she hasn't been in the country long and she's got this job in New York at this hotel. So I shared the gospel with her. And listen, she came to Jesus,

the cleaning woman, the Ms. Gays. She said, I told you, I knew she was searching for God. So I preached a gospel to her, shared it with you, you know? Yeah, we could do a whole episode about her daily life with that one principle.

But my point is, I get it all to where I introduced Jesus and say that's what, that's that's what's made this function and even though you enjoyed the show it wasn't us it was that spirit god spirit in us that's attractive and so then i'm like if he can use us despite our flaws he can use you that that's basically you know that that's that's it and so and just to illustrate that point even more they would there were a few people always look for these godly encounters they they had a guy they brought in with Down syndrome his first first guy I met he's like I'm your number

one fan you know and what you know we just I have these moments where I'm like these these guys are why I'm here because they have every reason in the world to quit but they're the most positive you know of the lot and they brought in another it was a nine year old boy I wasn't sure what is he didn't look like there was anything wrong physically with him but when he came and met me and all his family was there and i think they're i think they've been a tragedy uh in their family as like loss of life but i'm not positive i just sensed that the way it was going but as soon as he saw me he just busted out crying and i knew why he was crying he wasn't crying because oh he likes our show and he thinks i'm cool and that spirit that i have that god give him that god gave me the

Holy Spirit, that's the draw. And so you explain that to it. So I said, come over here. And I didn't ask him, he's nine years old. So I didn't get the details. And it was a lot of people in the room. But I had these pictures of my metal detecting. Garrett gave me where, you know, I can sign like an autograph or whatever.

And I was like, look, this is going to seem weird because I'm giving you a picture of myself, which is, that's really weird. But you'll think it's cool. I said, but here's what I want to give you. and I just I did the arrow coming down and he's looking you know in the cross and I just went through the gospel with him I was like no matter what you've been through what this person did that that's what you're drawn to that that's what we live by you know so these moments to me are why I'm there that's why I didn't get into these things because I'm just so tempted

when I go to religious establishments because you know how it is Al because you you worked in the church environment for years. I'm so tempted to get into these things because I'm like, have we missed this? So let me give you a few. I mean, we'll run through them quick. And you tell me whether I'm crazy or whether I'm on to something. All right, hang on. Let's take a break.

At some point, he got all. All right, number one, my life turned for the better when I stop pursuing Jesus. now I'm going to stop there because you think what that's what we're supposed to be doing is pursuing Jesus so I remember what I said the rules are they sound great and are true but there's a greater truth in here so my life turned for the better when I stopped pursuing Jesus and realized he is pursuing me so what why would I put that down there well you probably finally realized the power of the grace of God. And I read Luke 15 numerous times.

And I realized in John 12 when he said, By my death, I will draw all men to me. Meaning him accepting me despite my flaws is a greater motivation than me viewing Jesus like I'm driving down the road. and someone tells me about Jesus, so I'll stop and pick him up. It's like an insurance card. To me, it's like the principle I was going after here.

It's like having insurance. You have the card, you put it in your glove box. Why? Well, in case something happens. You whip it out. And the difference in this philosophy is more like, I'm the one doing the hitchhiking, and Jesus comes by, and I'm like,

I'm going with you. You're in control. You're driving. you know so basically you're walking along stumbling around and he pulls up and he says uh i know you're on a road right here and there's two kinds the broad one or the narrow one follow me and you'll you'll get it yeah remember i said these are ideas these are ideas this is so work with me yeah work with me because both both are true, but I all wanted to get your rebuttal. No, I like it a lot.

And I hadn't thought about it in quite that term. But a lot of people, a lot of people in our audience, so they're listening today, and this is going to strike them because some of you have seen your emails, they think they're pursuing Jesus, but they're actually pursuing things about Jesus or near Jesus. Because they'll say, you know, I try to study my Bible more. I try to pray more. I try to do this. And they're frustrated because they feel like they're in this pursuit of something they can't quite

grasp. But to your point, if you just let Jesus do what he does, the other part comes much more naturally whether than you pursue. Because that's not pursuing Jesus. That's pursuing a lot of other stuff. Yeah. Okay. Good.

I'm glad we can go somewhere here. Now, look, I have enough firepower and verses and ammo in each one of these. we could do a whole episode on it, but I just wanted to introduce it and see what you thought. Number two, my life term for the better, I phrased them all like this, when I stop viewing heaven as the goal,

let's stop a minute because everybody's like, what? I thought, hang on. And realize being with Jesus in heaven is the ultimate goal. do you see the difference? Yep.

And you're going to see every one of these principles have the same thing in mind. It is more humbling in the latter. It's like, oh, because I know the verses that say we'll receive our reward and we'll, but if you're just doing this and you're saying, give me my reward, I mean, we've missed something here. I mean, why did he send Jesus? If this was all reward-based on, okay, you do everything right, and I'll give you a reward. Or you're introduced to Jesus, which is the plan of God.

You realize that he's pursuing you. You surrender, which we'll get to here in a minute. Then you realize, oh, as we walk together, it's way more valuable and important to me to be with Jesus, wherever we are, than me thinking, oh, well, give me heaven. I did what I was supposed to do. Plus, Jesus himself said, I came to seek, which is your point,

and save the lost. Yes. By the way, the wisest man who ever lived said, this only have I found. God made mankind upright. You said, wait a minute here. God made them upright. We came out of our mother's wounds, Al.

We were good. Good. No sin, right? Then we were a little chilling. But God made mankind upright, Jays, to your point, but men have gone in search in search of many schemes.

Yeah. Well, I thought of Ephesians, too, to go along with this. Look, the only way you can make, this is where I had that idea. Ephesians 2, famous chapter in the Bible, we all used to be

under the kingdom of the air, you know, the evil one. And they walk right by the field full of gold, treasure. Yeah. They walked right by it. Well, right.

Never saw it. Well, we were all under the kingdom of the air and we had the cravings of sinful man, but because of God's grace, He saved us not because of what we've done, but because of what he did. It's by grace you've been saved. But there's a verse in between there that says, and he seated us with him in the heavenly realms. Now, that's where I got that idea.

I'm like, according to this, because of Jesus accepting me, I'm in heaven. I just haven't realized it physically, but spiritually, You know, I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer live. Christ lives in me. Well, he's at the right hand of God. And guess who else is there? We are. So, you know, we do this by faith. I mean, it makes more sense when you look at the latter than the farmer when you read that from this perspective. I know we're running out of time. So let me these next few I'll go through because I've talked about them before. Hang on, Jay's. Hang on. Let's take one break. At some point, he got all. And I want to. I want to. I want to. I I want to mention to your former point, just to think about, that not only do people look at heaven and not in the right comparison to being with Jesus, but a lot of people look at heaven. It's just, I don't want to go to hell, which has very little to do with Jesus. So I think any of that, if you're Jesus' focus, you're where you need to be.

And look, I think this is a maturity thing because I do think, you know, it got my attention. When I was 14, I was like, oh, Jesus is awesome. and I don't want to go to hell. Because when you're immature in the faith, that that is appealing. As you continue to move on, you realize, oh, this is all about Jesus and His grace and being motivated by that. But at first, it scared, you know, not wanting to go to hell. Perfectly legitimate reason.

If you believe it's real, which we do. Well, Dad, I think you and I could safely say that for the few years on Earth that we've been that we did it without Jesus, that was hell. Yeah, it was. All right, number three, number three, my life turned for the better. When I stopped keeping the rules, we've talked about this. And you know what I mean, the rule. Do this, don't do this, do that.

I stopped trying to keep the rules and started and realized I needed to have the attitude of Jesus. I get that from 1st Peter 4.1 that says, he who suffered in his body is done with sin because it says have the same attitude of Jesus. And so we've talked about that before

but it's more motivation where you're doing the right things but you're not doing it because the rule set it because at some point you're not going to keep the rule and I think we've done other podcasts on that. Any quick thoughts on that? No, that's your spot on.

And we haven't spent it quite a bit of time time. Yeah, and Colossians too, you can that if you're a first-time listener. All right, number four, my life turned for the better when I stop focusing on how we are to worship rather than who. I've also talked about that before. Every different religious group has a different way about how we're going to do this, and if you pile up all the arguments in the religious world on that, why don't we focus on

who? That's what this Bible does? Jay, they call them the worship wars is what I've always heard of them go, which isn't that crazy, something to war about worship. Okay. Number five, my life turned for the better. When I surrendered to Jesus outside the building, the church building.

And y'all know where I'm going with that. I mean, it's the same concept of, we keep our following Jesus inside the building versus outside. Thought? I would just say Hebrews, Hebrews 13, 12. Jesus suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood because that whole thing was written about people inside Israel. But then he made the point,

kind of like what you're talking about, Jason, what we do in modern times, we make the church building and the temple. Yeah. And he's saying, look, Jesus went outside there. You know what I have written down under that? Hebra is 13, but that's ironic. So the bottom line is we walked out the door, as I tell them from time to time. I said, just remember this. When you walk out the door of this building in about 20 minutes,

I said, we've been here a couple of hours. I said, you walk out and you get in your rig and you drive away. I said, worship did not stop when you walked out these. doors. It just continues. Exactly. I said, you open the door and you walk out and how is it going to be at your workplace tomorrow. I like this one right here. When this priest, Jesus, had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. And another text somewhere says that he seated us with him in the heavenly realms. Since that, that time, he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool because by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. As you, like you said, you started out. You

didn't want to go to hell. But that text gives a little more insight. If you know, because of your position, you've been made perfect. So that's pretty close to heaven on earth. Even with its struggles from time to time. I agree 100%. All right, let me do six because we're running out of time. My life turned for the better. And this goes in with the last one.

When I stopped looking for people to share Jesus with, I'm going to pause because you're like, well, I thought that's what we were supposed to do. And realize the Lord sends them every day. Way more than trying to drum them up. I don't have to go look. You know who the greatest conversation about Jesus that I had on this whole Kentucky trip were the people who were driving me around. We got into their life, their former life, their kids, we laughed, we cried, all of us.

I mean, it was a Jesus experience. We bear hugged them at the end and came back. I mean... That's before you got to the... I never got to the... event. I mean, this is it. Here we are. We're having Jesus conversations. And if you'll, I think that's why Jesus made that point. Now, this is an obscure point that I don't think we've ever made. But Jesus used a phrase often in the New Testament. He said, he had, he'd say, he who has ears let him hear.

Why would he say that? Because basically, if you have the ability to listen, these are the targets. people with ears Yep Why else would he say that? I mean, I think he just got drastically simple and realized that if you're around people who can listen I'm sending them

here you go. Don't drop the ball and make me send them to somewhere else. Because there's a lot of people who put their hands over their ears when they don't want to hear what's being said and rush at you to kill you. I thought about that. That's Stephen in Acts Avenue.

I did a whole lesson about years. I mean, I could have done better if I'd have been a little more mature. All right, verse 7. My life turned for the better when I quit trying. Now, this one's obvious, and everybody will agree, trying to do it myself. And I'll stop there because there is a lot in the Bible about accountability and responsibility and providing. and so a lot of times we appreciate that. But ultimately, it is about the next part of it

and realize I surrendered to Jesus. And obviously the first place I wanted to go here was baptism because that's the only thing I can think of that it represents. You're not doing anything. You're not earning anything. You're basically surrendering. surrendering. And if you read Roman 6, you're dying and you're being buried and he's replacing

your spirit as the navigation instrument with his. I just don't know where there's room for you to have any control from that point moving forward. I mean, you're basically going to spend the rest of your life trying to let him work. in your life through the minor decisions you make. And I know you all agree with it. And the last one is my life turned for the better when I began to focus on the journey and the process, not necessarily the destination and the results, which that's kind of like the heaven one.

but the reason I got that idea is I was reading in John chapter 7 when Jesus it's a you know John 7 doesn't stick out you know when we study John as like having anything major in it but there's a there's a couple things in there where he says you know my time has it come yet and you know his brothers came to him and they're like you need to go public no I mean nobody wants to be a public figure acts in secret, you know, which they didn't even believe in him, believe who he was, just giving him terrible advice. But that thought popped into my head about, can you imagine Jesus being a being who's not bound by time? He's an eternal being. He becomes a man, and now all of a sudden he has to wait. He has to go through a process that's going to save us.

and I know that if Jesus, who is our Lord, did that, then that trickles down to us. There's a process that goes along and with God's timing that we have to realize and that we have to work in, which it develops, you know, perseverance and character and obviously produces hope. So final thoughts, I know we're out of time. I like you.

I like your thinking, Jace. I do too. I think maybe on a future podcast we'll break those down a little further because there's a lot of there was a lot of meat still on the bone we didn't get to. Well, I'll sum it up with this. I think I offended some people in Kentucky because I said, look, if you're over 40, I'm not talking to you. I said, because you quit listening a long time ago. And I said, I can say that because I'm not a preacher and I'm over. Well, I said it to try to get them to do the opposite.

Yep. Because we make up our minds about these principles. And here I took eight things that everybody would agree with on the first part of and then thought, oh, wait a minute. And my whole point is be open-minded. See you next time. We have spent quite a bit of time talking about that.