Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 254 | Phil's Question for America, Struggling with Lust & Why Churches Aren't Packed After Easter

Episode Date: April 5, 2021

Phil, Jase, and Al offer their theories on why churches are full on Easter but not the rest of the year. Jase talks about how falling in love with Jesus changes your sinful behavior. Acts 26 inspires Phil to ask Americans a question about God. Al teases the Robertsons' new "I Am Second" series. And the guys discuss how to get a handle on sexual sin and why every day is the day to celebrate the resurrection. -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So, Dad, I haven't showed you yet, but we did, I don't know if you remember this, a few, I guess it's been months ago now. We filmed an update for a video that is called I Am Second. And you guys should go check it out. I Am Second.com. They basically do short films. most of them are only seven to ten minutes long about famous people. A lot of athletes are on there that basically tell their conversion story.

You know, I was this and now I'm this. And it always ends. It's kind of a really cool setting because it's like you're dressed in dark clothing and you're in a white chair. And it's just the way they film it. It's very intriguing, I think, and good. And there's several really good testimonies on there. About seven or eight years ago, they filmed.

a film of you, dad, and Jeff and mom and Reed, Jason's oldest son, basically just talking about, you know, their lives. And I thought it was really intriguing and really great and really awesome. And so we did an update because that was seven or eight years ago. And that's what's on there now. And so in the update, mom and dad sort of tell, you know, here's what's happened in our lives. You know, the last few years, which was really funny.

I mean, mom was hilarious. It was really good. I was laughing out loud. So they sent me this new material to look at. And then we also did Lisa and I, we did our marriage story. And that was really powerful the way they cut it and the way they filmed it. And then we did Phyllis. And you and mom talking about Phyllis, as well as her talking about her connection with us.

And Phyllis was here watching it with me when we were watching it. So we're all crying. You know, it was just like we started. it all over again. But it's really going to be powerful. And so what they're going to do is in May, they're going to release that with the old material and the new material, they recut it into like eight episodes. And it starts dad with yours telling your story. But I was fascinated because, you know, that was seven years ago. But it's amazing, even just looking at differences physically. I mean, just the way you were telling the story. I mean, you know, all the original stuff was really,

really good, but the new stuff I found fascinating. So, and Reed's, you know, his story's going to be on there, too, Jay. So I'm really excited about this and kind of how they're going about it. They call it from dysfunction to dynasty. That's kind of the name of the series. So what's the working time? Tell people the, what's the point, the overall point? So basically, it's just an outreach.

The guy who, the guy who owns interstate batteries is a believer. And so he thought, how can I impact the world? And he's, I think he's from the Dallas area. And so because the early ones, there's a lot of like, you know, Dallas Cowboy football players and people you recognize. And he just, he just thought, you know what? If people talk about life change and how Christ changed their life, you know, this might lead some people to the Lord. And the original film that's Reed, Jep, and dad, mom has had over 10 million views in the last seven years. years and you know them talking about their life change and and things like that so it's basically just

an outreach i mean it's just a way to try to you know show people who jesus is but i think it's pretty powerful they should have changed the title if it's seven years later to i am last you remember that in that show where he said you know finished second and he's like what was that taladega or something he said if you don't finish first you're last which is not true but But in Jesus, it kind of is when he says the last will be first, first will be last. Well, and that's the kind of the point is that, you know, as a Christian, the, they're saying is, is that Jesus is always number one and I am second. So that's kind of their tagline when you close. Like, Dad was like, I'm Phil Robertson, I am second.

But it was funny, Dad, on the new one, or maybe it was the, I think it was the new one. I remember me? It had been the first one. You said second. and then you made a point that in redneck land, it sounds like it ends with a T instead of a D. I am second. And you said that, it was funny.

And they put up on the screen, I am second, and they spelled it with a T at the end of it. Yeah, that's true. Because I've heard some of my buddies say, wait a second. I've forgotten that line.

You know how people say that in our culture? They'll say, wait a second. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't notice that. That was a good catch. Well, I guess you noticed. English major. Redneck English.

Yeah. Well, we're, you know, we just celebrated Easter, which I think is great. But the question is, well, now what? Because Al, I know you've worked in ministry and church organizations for years. And so you probably noticed this, had meetings about it. But what I've noticed is like on Easter Sunday that it's packed. what makes people twice the amount usually it's usually double i mean they're they're getting in new seating and everybody wears everybody but me i guess because i my wardrobe is limited but everybody

wears new clothes and bright and and everybody shows up and then that next week half the people show up so i'm like what happened all this resurrection stuff we're we're fired up you know the resurrection they're going through uh uh just uh going back to 100 AD 100 100 that's when the Easter celebration they can trace it back to the human race celebrating back to 100 AD then about 300 AD. They modified a little bit. First, it was just prayer and fasting on good Friday. Bad for Jesus, good for us, but they have tracked it back all the way back, a historical account

of Easter, and it's been there a long time, which is worthy of note. But it's kind of like when the Apostle Paul on Mars Hill that we talked about, other day when he said he's he's he used to wink at people who or were ignorant because they believe that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone an image made by man's design and skill he said in the past god's overlook at it is interesting that when he said god will judge the world with justice by the man he's appointed and he said he's given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Now we're back on Easter. But you say, what was the response? And the response was some of them sneered. Well, fast forward 2,000 years,

you bring up the resurrection of the dead and you start talking about those matters. The bottom line is there's a lot of sneering, sneering going on. But to answer your question, And he said, why do they all show up and seem to be excited? And a week later, where are they? Yeah. It's really, really, Jase, they really don't believe it. I don't know about that. I think, no, I think he's got a point because if you really believed it,

you couldn't just do once a year. Your lifestyle will prove if you really believe in the resurrection. It just does seem weird that the attendance at a, what we call a church service, I'm not sure where we get that from, but it just goes out the roof. And everybody's flowery and petty. And we do, even as the leadership, they put the best of the best. I'm like, nobody is running up to me and saying, good night. We're getting out of here alive.

they got the hats the ladies do and I mean it's a dress code like you wouldn't believe well here's what I think like we we're getting out of here I don't know I've got a I think Jay's kind of like it's it's the pageantry of it it's sort of like I used to always jokingly say it was the preacher's Super Bowl it's kind of like the Super Bowl people will watch that one game when they don't even watch the NFL but they'll be in somebody's house and they're you know, watching the commercial. I mean, it's just kind of like a happening. I think that's what a lot of people do about these.

Three grub, all you can eat. It seems like more an insurance policy at that point, though. And what I want to talk about today, if y'all want to, I mean, I'm taking a turn here, is that I think God put something in the plan for us to remind us every day of the resurrection. the last time we got together, we talked about Jesus, you know, I referenced Colossians 115 being the image of the invisible God and in him all things hold together. He's the head of the church.

And the spirit of the resurrection is in that because it says he reconciled us through Christ's physical body to present us without blemish and free from accusation and the implications. of those. He's resurrected. We're part of his forever family. We celebrate the resurrection. We're going to live again. But when he gets to Colossians 3, which is only two little short chapters later, he makes an interesting statement, chapter 3 in verse 1. And to me, this is, this is my answer to the problem of people just having this once a year celebration. He says, since then, you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above.

And you say, well, wait a minute. What did he mean since then you have been raised with Christ? So you immediately have to back up. And in chapter one, he tells you who Jesus is. In chapter two, he says about our participation in Christ. You know, in verse 9, he says, in Christ, all the fullness of God, the deity lives in bodily form. And you have been given fullness in Christ. He then says, in him, you had the putting off of your sinful nature, spiritually, not the physical.

circumcision, which is what his point was to them, having verse 12, been buried with him in baptism, and here's the key phrase, and raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead. So my point is, and the foundation is, God in his wisdom, not only raised Jesus from the dead through the power of the Holy Spirit, but gave us humans a way to participate in that, which is what happens in baptism. We're participating in a death, a barrel, and resurrection, because Jesus died, was buried and raised. And with the sealing the deal with the Holy Spirit, it is God who's made us for this very purpose and has given, that might tie into any him we live, move, and have our being. He's given us the spirit as a deposit, which is a great

way to word this, guaranteeing what is to come. That's 2nd Corinthians 5, about verse 4 and 5. You're like, man, that eternal, talks about our bodies being an eternal house and not a temporary tent. You start putting all that together. By the way, so y'all know, when you all get to be mid-70s, 75 is coming up in about three or four weeks. You'll notice that as each year goes by, when you get in the mid-70s, what we are discussing looms larger. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

As far as hope is concerned. Well, no doubt. So all I was making the point is. Hang on, Jay. Hang on, Janice, let's take a break. I was making the point that after Easter Sunday, you say, now what? Well, now what is, Colossians 1, the resurrection of Jesus happened. Whether the world acknowledges it or whether you do in your daily life, it happened.

It's only useful and beneficial to you if you get to Colossians 2, and you participate in that. You surrender to it. You say, I'm all in. And there's a way, God's idea not mine, after reading Colossians 2, that you literally get fullness in Christ by participating through, I believe, the act of surrender, baptism, dying, being buried and raised. And then he throws in, you're now no longer under this old system of rules and regulations. and he gets to chapter three, and he says,

since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ and God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also appear with Him in glory. And then he goes into this text about daily life, which is put to death, whatever belongs to the sinful nature,

what you had cut off, Christ cut off your old cell, and then put on the new cell through the spirit. And I said all that and read all this to say, now what is this your life on a daily basis, the choices you make, the leaning toward the fruits of the spirit, the neglecting the old impulses. That is the reminder of Easter every day.

The resurrection. On top of that. Easter happens every day in your life. On top of that, I will just have it in one sentence. Living this out, because of the resurrection, is a blast. It's, I mean, it's a blast. I mean, I love it. I literally like the list that the list that he puts in there, Jason, verse five.

You see what happens. I mean, all these are kind of linked together, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, greed. And then he frames it by saying all this is idolatry, which I find fascinating because you remember last time we were talking about Paul talking to them. And he was distressed, it said, about all the idolatry and all the idolatry. and all the idols he saw in this city. And then he took it down to the people that he was talking to. And we mentioned those two groups of people. They were known for pleasure seeking.

And the stoics were known. They tried to be straight-laced, but then they were known for suicide because they couldn't live up to the standard because they didn't understand who Christ was. So I find it interesting. You see the same thing today. We have one thing that the world does not have. We are always confident.

you say that's 2nd Corinthians 5, 6. We're always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body, we're away from the Lord. You're like, you say, this is pretty cool right here living out, you know, in our daily walk, and in view of the resurrection, you say, you are confident. And you know that as long as you're at home in the body, you're away from the Lord, so it tends to make you look forward to the day when you are with the

Lord in a glorified body. You see what I'm saying? No doubt. I mean, it is, what's the word? Well, it gives you confidence and a lot of courage, too. Well, and my only point is that every day is an opportunity to remember the resurrection by living your raised new life through the Holy Spirit with a focus on Jesus. Because you think about it, let's just take this from where we started. If you only met once a year with God's forever family to celebrate the resurrection, and then you read this list in Colossum 3-5, put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, because he just said since you've been raised with Christ.

You know, Christ has indeed been raised, and you've participated in that. and then it says put to death and the usually the first one on these list of sins is sex that's not right which is my my translation says sexual immorality sex that's not moral then it says impurity lust evil desires and greed which is idolatry because of these things the wrath of god is coming. So I wanted to make a point. Well, you think how many times, if you only met once a year for celebration of the resurrection, well, how many times in a year would you lust? Probably more than that. Which I think is his point here. This is going to be a daily reminder of what happened on the cross

and the resurrection of Jesus and your participation in it, Colossus 2, since now what? Well, tomorrow, which is today, we celebrated Easter yesterday. Now what? That's why today, we're here. It's Tuesday. It's a good Tuesday. And tomorrow will be good Wednesday. I thought today was Monday, actually.

Well, it might be. My point is, every day, whether you say, you say, so what are you doing now? Because this seems to be a worship service in play. What day is it? You say, well, Monday, you say, it's a good Monday. Then it's a good Tuesday. It's a good Wednesday, good Thursday, good Friday, good Saturday, good Sunday. When you view your walk with God in terms of every day is a good day, one more day on planet Earth,

but you know you're going to be raised from the dead. It makes all the days good, Al. Troubles come, they'll pass. Storms will come. It'll pass. But every day is a good one. And you don't have to be in a structure of great stone and all the gold and the glitter. You don't have to do that at all.

It's a good day in the middle of a mud hole in Louisiana. Hey. Yeah, I always think about that. Yeah, we metal detect and the, you know, the what you're after is gold and silver. I mean, my buddy, who's probably your age, old Bob, every time we go, when we're wearing a little group text or he's like, today's the day, we find a gold coin. He has said that for 30-something years. Never found one. But we'll find silver coins, and he'll say, yep, but we're fixed to find a gold coin.

The resurrection is better. It's better because it's kind of like going back a couple of podcasts ago. I realized that basically from God's perspective in his human detecting world and his pursuit of each one of us, thank Luke 15, where Jesus said if there's one sheep, there's laws, I'm going after it. You know, he found us. He detected us. We were lost. He gave us life and put us back into circulation and gave us a situation and gave us a

the spirit as the counselor and comforter. And to me, that's compared to me finding a silver coin. Well, it's not even a comparison. Yeah. Where's the text where the apostle Paul asked the people he's talking to out? He said, why do you think it's so impossible that God raises the dead? What text was that in the book of Acts? You know, why do y'all think it's impossible for God to raise the death?

there'll be a resurrection of the I think it's 1st Corinthians 1512 if it has preached that Christ has been raised from the dead how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead I mean I just think a lot of people are saying

there's no resurrection of the dead and you remember in Timothy there were a couple of guys who were leading people to stray they said that the resurrection had already taken place you just think how crazy that is You're like, oh, no, y'all missed that.

Oh, we did? Well, tell us what happened. And I think people don't want to deal with it because really God's design for the resurrection to be relevant and to be a reminder happens every day in this spiritual war that we have of keeping your old self dead and buried and keeping your new self alive and well because of the resurrection.

I mean, Al, how many letters do we get about how to overcome a particular sin? I mean, you know I don't because you read them. But what would you say most of them are about? It's a huge percentage. Let's take a break. It's a huge percentage of our audience. We have a large email audience. So a lot of it's just like, how do I not lust?

How do I not look at pornography? How do I not do this? how do I not do that? And in fact, Steve, who does our Facebook discussion group for Unashamed, which is like thousands of people, he said he hears so much, you know, from the group in the discussion. But I think what we're laying out is the right thing. In fact, I thought about 2nd Corinthians 4, verse 7.

You sparked this, Jason. You talked about, you know, us being the treasure of God. Paul said, we have this treasure in jars of clay, meaning our bodies, to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us. We're hard pressed, but not crushed. We're perplexed, not in despair. We're persecuted, not abandoned. Struck down, not destroyed.

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. And so, I mean, that's a direct link to saying, if we're in Christ, the Holy Spirit's in us, us and we dwell on those things, we're going to produce fruit that's not of the evil one. And so that's where you kind of got to get back to that nexus of why are you drawn to evil when you're living a resurrected life in Jesus. I mean, you know, there's a lot of ways to get to get to that thought. Yeah, I think practically, I mean, I've had hundreds of people sit down and they're like, you know, I'm in the pornography.

What am I? How do I get out of it? well you know you're sitting there thinking well stop watching stop watching it and it's like well if it's not that simple and the reason it's not is because i think number one is what we've already discussed it's like you have your belief in jesus but only in a church setting or when you say a prayer, but it's not translating into your everyday life. So I think that's why he's so, he's pretty graphic here when he says put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. I mean, it's like you're hunting, as a hunter, I understand what, what death means.

I mean, you take this out. I mean, it's a, it's a crucifixion, which he's, He's tying it into your old self being crucified. And I always start off of the same questions. I go back to what they believe. I say, do you believe Jesus is the Son of God? In any sin that's a problem rampant in your life, you go back to the same foundation and fundamentals. Do you believe Jesus is the image of the invisible God?

Well, yeah. Do you believe he died on the cross? Yeah. Do you believe he was raised? Yeah. Have you surrendered to that? because then you've got to lay a base of this old self, new self. So once the answers to all that is yes, well, then you get into most of the times it's just a habit that is gone on.

It's what you do. So if it's a cell, I mean, we know the cell phone and the TV world now is way different than it was when we were teenagers now. I mean, now five seconds, you're in to the most graphic thing that you can think of. I mean, back in the day, when I was in eighth or ninth grade, if you wanted to see a naked woman, somebody had to get a magazine, tear it out of the book, put it in their pocket, bring it to school, and unfold it and show it to us. I was like, whoa. I mean, I remember those days. Well, now two clicks on a cell phone, and you can see way more in the magazine,

you can see live entertainment. And I used to make fun of people who say, well, it just popped up on my screen. I was like, yeah, I bet it did, until one, you know, popped up on my screen, and I'm like, oh boy. So I think you have to recognize right, right off the bat the source of that,

but realize that's a small thing in the grand scheme because most people who get involved in these types of things that are listed in, Colossians 3, 5, and can't get out of it, they're looking for that. So if you're looking for it and you find it, you're going to have to... But you're right, that, Jay, says it's a mindset because it's whether it's pornography or love,

us because I remember the three of us went to New York to promote this podcast when it first came out and we did some shows. And I remember this so vividly, we were coming out of a green room for one of the shows and there was a young woman that came and led us out, which is what happens. She's probably an intern, whatever. She was dressed very inappropriately, you know, and you could just about see everything. It wasn't much left to the imagination. And she's at work.

I mean, you know, we're there. So I noticed all things. three of us, we noticed it because you can't not notice. She's walking right in front of us. And we all looked away at the same time. I don't know if you all remember this. But I thought in that moment, I thought that's what a resurrected life looks like because you're going to notice things, but then you can decide whether you're going to dwell there or you can decide whether, you know what, Jesus is ruling my life. I'm not going to look lustfully at this young woman. I don't care if she's dressed inappropriately or minusely whatever because that's somebody's daughter

probably somebody's girlfriend whatever but she's not there for me to have bad thoughts about and so i think that's the sort of thing you have to start thinking about i think you're right and i think the reason we don't talk much about we don't single much uh like sends out on that we've done 200 whatever episodes on this our discussions and and you'll notice very seldom do we get into specific sins. And I think a lot of churches try to do that because our thrust is kind of coming from 1 Peter 4.1. If you fall in love with Jesus and you try to be like Jesus in that you're out sharing

Jesus, you will do less sinful behavior because you're actively doing things that are right in the name of Jesus. And I think that's the ultimate way to battle it. But if you wanted to break it down in the way Paul did in Colossians, I think he does come up with this graphic way to address some of these, the putting off of the old sinful self. And look, you remember Jesus himself? Remember when he said, you know, if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out? And, you know, people don't talk about that passage because they're like, what in the world is that? I mean, that.

We're going to have a bunch of one-eyed Christians. Yeah. think you feel the same motivation here in Colossians 3 in that the reason Jesus did that because if you really think about what he said, he is right. If you just can't stop this pursuit of earthly, worldly things, in the end, in all his wisdom, he was going to the final analysis, you're better off as graphic and barbaric as this sounds. of having no eyes than to every seven seconds, as the scientists say, that a man thinks about sex or whatever. I don't know about every seven seconds.

But if you just cannot function in life without minute by minute pouring something that you know is wrong into your mind, Jesus was making a point. Look, it's not worth it. Plus, let's take another break. We all have a woman legally married. You take the covers. You take the covers and you just pull them back. You're making me nervous.

I know it. And she's lying there. She's lying there. She loves you dearly. You just pull back the covers and you say, I think this trumps anything I could see on the internet right now. This trumps at all. You need to think like that.

Yeah. And remember, she's all yours. but everything else is forbidden fruit, make the best of every opportunity, take every, you say, it's the only way to work. Phil,

you're on to something. I really, I said this once, and I had people, didn't agree with me, but that's fine. But I said it's not the nudity or the,

you know, the excitement that you're watching a naked woman or people having sex, you know, on a porn side or whatever. It's, it's the idea. the lure, the excitement of, oh, the grass is greener there, and I don't have to have a conversation, you know, with a woman.

And because most people, they say that are really headlong into this stuff, there's a certain feeling of inadequacy, you know, in that area, which, look, I'm going to tell you, of all the spiritual motivations I've ever had not to get hooked on. on pornography. That one was at the top of the list for me. When somebody said, well, the reason people do that is because you feel inadequate in some way, which I'm like, well, I don't know if I do or not, but since you said that's what it is, well, I ain't going to get hooked up into that, you know, because it just my pride of, because it is a trap. You're not getting anything out of this.

They're doing it to make money, you know, us that have been on TV shows and I'll realize they're like, hey, let's do a, you know, let's have a sex act so people will watch. Well, that'll probably work. And, you know, that person may even be dead or that was 20 years ago or whatever. And here you all are all worked out. It's just a fantasy and an excitement and an idea that's not happening in your real life. And so then I think it disrupts the. the sex that God invented, it was his idea, where a man and a woman, look, you fight, you know,

in marriage, you have arguments. And, but if you're, you know, if you're making good decisions and you realize, you know, not every time is the greatest thing ever, but it's an enjoyable life of having sex with your wife to go to your point, Phil. That is correct. So, you know, I think you're exactly right. And I think that's why Paul called it in Colossians three idolatry because idols are fake. I mean, they're not really God. God doesn't live in, you know, temples made by human hands. So he's, so his point is that this is not real. And to dad's point,

it's not. And so that's why the EVE one has used it so effectively. I've told you guys before that there's a there's a whole thing now of where people are young men are impotent with real women because they've looked at pornography for so long that they can't have sex with a real woman. Yeah. And it has nothing to do with religion. It's just their body now physically only responds to fake images on a computer. Well, think about it. That's terrible.

I mean, that's a hellish existence when you can't have real. connection with a real person. And it's a real thing. I mean, the scientists are looking into it. What do we do? Of course, we know the answer. The answer is leave the false idol and embrace something real first in Christ, and then you're going to be different.

You're going to be changed. I brought up that example that Jesus said about if your eye caused you to sin, gouged out. And people are like, oh, that's so drastic. Well, I'll tell you this. How about do this? take your cell phone and have it only where you can receive calls and make calls. Take the internet off of it. Take your TV and give it to, you know, somebody else.

I mean, because those are not nearest drastic physically, but you can stop it. I mean, just get rid of it. I mean, before you get into the actual eye gouging, I mean, I'm being, I'm embellishing for, you know, maybe. a bad joke. But so it's, and I think that's the answer to the problem. I mean, we're given the philosophy from our faith in Jesus and what we participated in and who did we bury and who is the new person and try to bring them to Jesus instead of look at them lustfully. I mean, those are all the answers. But in a practical way, if we go down this road, you can remove the problems where that's arising.

If it's happening too quick and you can't help, we'll get rid of it. I think that's exactly right. Let's take our last break. So I was saying about that text, Jason, and later in Colossus 3, to your point, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly

as you teach and admonish one another with wisdom as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual psalms with gratitude. I love that whole idea that's the sort of thing you want to be filled with, and that's sort of thing you want to talk about. And he says, that's what we do, and that's the evidence that we've put that to death. Because, I mean, let's face it, it's a terrible life if you never have any peace because you're constantly warring against your earthly and fleshly desires. And look, we're all sinners, but you just don't want to live there.

Well, right. And I think when you've become serious about this, because, I mean, he's going to get into relationships right after that, talking about wives and husbands. And throughout all this, you know, our prayer life, he brings up and encouraging one another. Well, part of encouraging one another, I think in every issue in life that you have, you have to find spiritual people. You know, if you're a man struggling with pornography or lust, you need to find, there are people in your phone that you know will try to help you get to heaven. And I always start there.

You tell them what the struggle is, and then you give them permission to hold you accountable on a daily basis. So it's amazing once you make the decision and get the big foundation parts right as far as why you're doing this, which is grace motivation through Jesus, then you have your accountability partners. And if you start putting that into practice on a daily basis, It's amazing how once you distance yourself, they say it takes 21 days to break a habit.

So three weeks into this, if that's true, it's amazing how all of a sudden things start being put into place and the old adage will come true that God's way is always the best way. I like you thinking and I finally found this verse. I've been looking for the last 15 minutes while you've been pontificating. All right, good. I was wondering if you were doing your own personal Bible study. Here's the question. Paul was talking to a big dog, a grippa. And he said in Acts 26, about verse 8,

why should any of you, and this is my question to America, why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? Yeah, that's it. I've been looking for that sucker. for the last 15 minutes. Where's that? That's in Acts 26, verse 8. I just thought we'd go out here

with the pornography and all that. Look, you get in your head firmly and you say, you know what? Well, you know, the God who made the cosmos and controls the atoms and I'm worried about whether he can raise a dead body from the ground?

I mean, he's a creator of all life. It's nothing to him. It's easy. So you look at that, why should any of you consider, it incredible that God raises the dead. That's what I'm standing on, and that's what keeps me from not, from clicking on to the internet or trying to see somebody's woman pressing around the first one thing and another. I got my own woman. She's all I need. She's y'all's mother.

That's how y'all got here. See what I'm saying? Pretty simple. And I keep it right there. What I like, I love that question, because it is, I like bumper sticker moments. in the Bible that be late. I mean, you said America, I think we're across the globe now, but that's okay. Because I think that's a global message, which is

why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? I mean, that's a good question. It is. And when you get to your life and specific sins, don't

underestimate that Colossians, journey that we went through. If you claim that Jesus is real, and he's the image of the invisible God, and he did, die, was buried, and raised, and you want the benefits of that. Oh, you want to live forever. And you surrender to that. Well, when you get to Colossians 3, there's some things you just have to put to death on a daily basis.

Yeah. That's what it means. That's what it means to be raised with Christ, to go back to our original thought. once a year is not going to be a strong enough encounter for you to battle what happens on the internet, on TV, and in your mind, minute by minute, it's just not going to be enough. Go down my road. Just don't, I can't even click on to the internet if I wanted to. I've never owned the cell phone.

So that's not going to bring me down what these guys are struggling with. I'm like, well, get rid of them. Yeah, I agree. If it's going to cost you your soul, get rid of them. You know, some of the ancients, they said it best. Job said in Job 31-1, I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. I mean, the idea is you made the decision about that. And I love your point, Jason, about daily.

I thought about lamentations when Jeremiah said that God's mercies are new every morning. You know, something about waking up every day realizing that, We're in grace. God loves us. And look, no matter what happened yesterday, let's move forward today. And I love your practical stuff about accountability. There's a lot of stuff out there, good stuff that people have found ways to help them overcome. There's a book called Every Man's Battle, which I've given to a lot of young men through the years,

these Christian guys who struggle with pornography and then figured out what we're talking about here today. You're right, Jay. It's a bigger picture. I want to read this text here. We don't have much time left from First John. because John has a great way of putting it about the temporary nature of this kind of fake stuff that's going on. He said in verse 15, do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in it.

It's a choice. For everything in the world, and then he puts it in three categories, the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does, comes not from the father, but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. And so you just got to keep putting it back into the context of temporary versus eternal. Yeah, that's a great definition of the world wide web. And web as in sticky.

It's to me, I treat sexual sin greater than the others because when Paul's single, it out in 1st Corinthians 6, he said, all other sins are outside of his body. But he who sins sexually sins against his own body and you're sinning against for those of us who are married, your wife. And so I wanted to say this. To me, I feel like it's kind of like, you know, you've seen these machines where if you, you know, you get your finger in it like a, like a shredder or something that you were putting to, I think about these wood chippers. You put a log in there,

it just shreds. And I think a lot of us, we just try to just ease up there and put our finger in. And the next thing you know, you've been shredded into a thousand pieces. And that's kind of his point here. And ultimately, it comes down to this.

James said, for where you have envy and selfishness, ambition there you find disorder in every evil practice. You think about it from looking at it from the sex view. And the reason we brought this up is because those first four things that he mentioned in Colossians 3, 5 were all in the sexual world of things that you put to death. You think about it. When someone is looking at pornography or lusting, it's all selfish.

Yep. He's looking at this person as 100% for his benefit. Well, if you try to apply that in your married sex life, you're not going to have a good sex life anyway. So it's when you have in a godly marriage that's unselfish, you have two different people trying to be unselfish in these moments, well you want to have a great sex life in God that's the way to do it but if you're totally looking out for yourself well it's not going to work anyway Al that's why to your point

I think people have a tough time transitioning into real life if they're all the time in fantasy land because that's completely self-absorbed well then when they try to apply that to real life guess what she's not she's not liking this because you're 100% self-absorbed. She's like, what about me? Well, plus, and all the naysayers, you young bucks out there running around, oh, can't turn my computer off. You expect me to not look on the computer. I'm like, oh, oh, look, dude, look, you're thinking I'm just going to give these boys a few words of encouragement here, Al, because I'm speaking of your mother, you say, well, when you hit about 75s, your sex life is over anyway. No, wrong. Resurrection. Still going on. So you say,

I'll let you know when the sex is finally over. But right now, still going strong. Good to go. Not as much, but plenty of it. So this old deal about, I don't know, I'm in a trap. Do you have a woman? You're married to it? Yeah.

I said, no, you're still going on with it. Get after it. I mean. I remember, Dad, I remember you asked one of our mentors, Carl Allison, who went on to be with the Lord. You were kind of a young elder then. He was the older elder. and you asked him one day in an elder's meeting. We hadn't gotten started, but you said, Carl, so when is the age when, you know,

the whole sex life is over, you know, when it just shuts down? And Carl said, I don't know, Phil, you'll have to ask somebody older than me. I was wanting a few words of wisdom. Now I was about 50 when I asked him at, but now I'm 75 like he was then. And I'm like, now I get it. It still goes on. You get it. Well, it's good stuff, good discussion.

Hopefully it'll help some folks out there who are struggling with some of this. We've got to live the resurrected life. Two things I took out of our podcast today. Every day is a good day. And we want to live Easter every day, not just once a year. That's it. 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 any. anywhere else, subscribe to Blaze TV at blazedtv.com slash unashamed.