Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 258 | Phil's Busted Truck, Jase's Failed Driving Tests, and Making It Easy to Find Jesus

Episode Date: April 12, 2021

Phil has a theory on why Jase had to take the tests three times to get his driver's license. Al becomes an emotional support animal for Lisa. Phil reminds everyone that he doesn't sell CBD oil. Jase discovers that Missy has been listening to "Unashamed," and he's nervous. Phil's truck won't crank, and he refuses to incriminate himself when Al presses him on car maintenance. And the guys talk about the things Americans try to add to the simple message of Jesus, debates in the church, and how we can make it easy for people to come to Jesus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So I was planning on being in studio today. But I basically came back down here to my Southern layer because Lisa was taking her real estate test yesterday. She's been studying for about three months. And you know, when you're trying, you're getting your 50s and you basically go back to school, which is what she's been doing, but she's been doing it online. You know, you just don't know that you got it anymore, you know, because we can't even hardly remember what we had for breakfast yesterday. So she's been like really into it.

And so I've been trying to be like super supportive. And so basically I came back instead of staying to do the podcast and do it down here because she needed an emotional support animal, which is, you know, you see a lot of guys, military, PTSD. They need emotional support animal to help them function. Well, basically, that's what I'm doing. I am. I am Lisa's emotional support animal. So I came down here. She passed the test.

She had to make at least a 70. Most people fail at the first time, we found out. And if they do pass it, they just barely pass. A lot of math involved. I was shocked. I wasn't really just show a house. I'll may be getting into the yuppie. I mean, that sounds like a definition of some kind of yuppie behavior.

You go from the king of the castle to the emotional. what'd you call it, spirit animal? Emotional support animals. He has one verse that Pretty Boy speaks highly of the particular movie now is, I mean, his role being an emotional support animal is that in Romans 12, a man should not think more highly of himself than he ought. He's fulfilling that text. I'm just a dog.

I'm just a dog. But Al, you're being godly incorrect because we're actually humans. So, yeah, there we are. And I still have my human role, but I just understood that she needed that to help her get through the process. So I was really proud of her. She did awesome. She studied hard. She made a 79 on it, I think.

And so she passed to a flying color. So now she can sell house and some money. What was the best you could score out of 100? Well, 100. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm telling me most people that take it the first time, they fail it. Strong C plus, man.

That's good. Well, it's like my driver test taker, whatever that person is. You know, I went and took my driving test the first time, which I failed. I failed the written. You failed it? I failed it. I'm not a good student, Phil. And so the streets were safe, you know, for a while.

So then I go back and I pass it, barely. And then I fail the driving point. because I sped twice. They got me because they said when you're coming off of a, well, you call it going on to the interstate where you're coming, they said, should you go as fast as they are on the interstate when you're on the ramp? I missed it too.

Well, they said, our, dude, do you just blend in to the traffic and speed on in there? Well, then there was a couple other choices. So I said, you're careful there, but you don't want to get up to 70 miles an hour. Yeah, right. Coming off a sharp,

curve going out there. I said, no, I'm not doing 70. They said, wrong or you're wrong. I said, oh, no. I said, I don't care what that test. Whoever made that test? I said, I'm not hitting that thing at 70 miles now. You've hit a nerve here.

You've hit a nerve because my wife, she screams at me every time I get on Interstate because that's the only place on the highways in the world, in that moment you can go full NASCAR. Yeah. And so I just blow it. Every time everybody gets. shifted because I just hit it and I'm like I'm following the law. I'm a law abiding citizen. I'm thinking what if they're bumper to bumper when I get on the interstate right forward.

If they're bumper to bumper, there's not a spot if I'm come tearing out of that 70 miles an hour. I'm playing a little caution. They said wrong. You missed that one. I missed that and too, but they'll move. And so the second time, all right, so then the third time I had take the, I said, I got to take the written too. I've already passed it. They just like, nope, you got to take it again. So I take it again and pass the driving. But I noticed that I only passed, it was like the minimum. If I'd have missed one more question, I'd have failed.

And she said, I don't feel real safe because you barely passed. And we had a little conversation. Of course, I was 16 years old. I was like, but I did. She said, yeah, I know, but you barely did. So it wasn't a ringing endorsement. She was like, you're not a real safe driver because you missed the maximum amount that you could miss to pass. It's like, well, you need to try to change the test.

I mean, I pass. So I'll figure it out. I'll be all right. Let's face it at 15 and 16, it was 15 for me. How much can you really know? I mean, the book teaches you so much. and then you drive around, you know, downtown Westman Road with this guy, you know, that's not really real because you're right.

You want to do some real testing. You get out there and get on I-20 at the I-20 bridge. Now, that's some NASCAR, you know. That's the real deal. But you have to learn that by experience. I had to do the test. The average mile per hour speed limit was 20 or 25. Well, and when she said, when I said I was speeding, you're like, because like my daughter

the other day said, Dad, you sped. We were talking about this. I was like, I went one mile per hour over. I was like, in your driving test, 26 and 25, bam, hammer's coming down. There is no grace, zero. It's hard for a redneck to be legal when it comes to driving. I've never thought about that, Phil.

That's right. I don't really know what that means, but. We're not smart enough to be driving. That's what they're saying. Do you agree with that? I don't drive much, so they pretty well whip me. Boy, this is, I thought it was self-deprecating humor, but I just think it's just self-deprecating.

It's hard. It's hard to be a redneck and survive in this culture. Yeah, well, you're going to go to one of these big cities. When I go through Austin, tell me about it. Completely different story. Yep. I'm acting like I'm getting on the interstate the whole time. Every time I haven't been in a city a long time driving, but every time I'm there, I'm thinking,

these people are going too fast. Yeah, they are. I agree with that. It just seems like it's too fast. But they do, Jayce was right, they do get out of the way. They get out of the way. They all know that. That's the only thing I'm, I'm sure.

I love it. I love getting on the interstate. And I helped my daughter when she was taking her test. I said, look, this is the only thing in life that it's, the law is just to go crazy. I said, you punch it and you come out. They don't get away. Guess what? You'll never know about it.

That's why we have the resurrection. Way more important to be focused on that. I'm not quite sure about that logic, Jay, but I mean... You should see me do it. When I get on it, I'm coming. I just hope I'm not in the back seat. Will you drive it? Oh, I'm telling you.

I'm coming wide open. I know it. Everything I got. And I have the test. You don't ride a lot with Jay's, dude. So, Jays, you told me before we got on that Miss has been listening to the podcast, which I thought was funny because Missy was on the podcast, and you were squirming, which I found very entertaining.

So what's she saying about her podcast? Here's the problem. Is she a thumbs up? Here's the problem. Let me tell you what the problem is. And I'm sure she'll listen to this, and we'll have to talk later. But what I keep telling her is, look, the Bible is true. It's a true story.

We all agree on that. But we're commentating on the Bible. So what we're saying is based on a true story. So when I intervene, there is a possibility because, look, it's not just driving that offers challenges. I don't have the capacity to remember the exact details after about an hour. So if you start going back in time, you go back six months. So when I'm telling stories, as we're talking about the true story, there is a high probability that I may get one little detail wrong.

It's the only thing I really agree with Cy about other than Jesus is that, now, if Cy says 95 and 5, but his is more, I don't agree with his percentage. But it's based on a true story. But some of the size stories, I'm not sure they're really based on it at one time. Because, you know, he's got the metaphysical acts and laws of gravity being defied in the story. I'm like, well, this is no longer based on a true story once you're doing things that are miraculous. So I said all... Remember, Jay, sigh blows a lot of smoke.

Yeah. So I said all that to say that we have... have that because she she doesn't feel comfortable about telling a story unless she knows all the facts or she declares that she doesn't remember the exact detail so it makes me nervous when she listens to it because i'm like there's probably a high probability as many shows as we do that i got some story wrong but it was based on a true story so it makes me nervous but she and if it's spiced the story up then all the better That's kind of the robbers and whatever.

Well, she thinks that I'm only doing it, getting the facts wrong, to spice the story out. But I'm like, no, I'm actually trying to, you know, tell the truth. So it makes me nervous. But she likes the podcast, which is, I'm shocked every time because she said, I listen to it all the way over here. And I was like, oh, boy, I just sat down. And she's like, it was good.

Yeah. Well, we all stumble in many ways, Jay, according to James. if anyone is never at fault in what he says, he's a perfect man able to keep his whole body in check. So I just thought I'd throw that in for whatever you're thinking there. We all stumble in many ways. Yeah, we do. And we need grace, which, look, we're in, I mean,

we're doing these stories and narrative form that we read and are inspiring. and we're in Acts 14 and 15. But, I mean, if I just read this story, because a lot of people out here who don't believe, if they happen to listen to our podcast for the first time, and you read a story that, you know, Paul comes up there, preaching they're like, we're fixed to kill you. They stone him, which back in those days,

that was something they were pretty sure, okay, he's dead, you know, or in no condition to be getting up walking around. up moving. They drag him out of the city. They're like, okay, that's all that. Oh, he's back. How long did he recover? Ten seconds. Well, it says, so Jay's, it was in actually 1419. It says they stone Paul dragged him outside the city thinking he was dead. So, I mean, not only they stone him, they dragged him out with his, what they're thinking is a dead body. Maybe it was. And it says in verse 20, here, I love this one. It just says it's like this. But after the decisive, had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. Next day, he went and found Barnus and left for Derby.

So we're interjecting, if you put two and two together, that story, I would say, something happened at the gathering. Something happened. Now, some people would say, oh, no, he wasn't really dead. It's kind of the same thing with Jesus. He was just passed out, and then, you know, he came too. but every time we read something like this, because you were right,

Jay's these guys know how to kill people. Remember Stephen, who Paul ironically was overseeing his death? He didn't come back. He went on to heaven, you know? Well, it's because you had God directly working through these guys in a miraculous way to confirm their message. That's Hebrews too.

I mean, miracles, signs, and wonders. And you get the full explanation on why they were occurring, to confirm the message. They're like, Jesus is Lord. They're like, no, he's not. We're going to kill you. They kill him. And then they look up and he's back.

He said, I told you that Jesus is Lord. And you're like, well, maybe he is. That's it. That's all you need to know. That would do it for me. I'm in. You're like, well, does he still do it today? I mean, we have the stories.

I'm not going to say he's not because he can do whatever he wants to. But, I mean, I have this same story. You're still going to have to put some faith and trust in this. and faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see. But I think when Paul wrote in Romans that anybody should be able to look around and based on what they see as far as creation and deduct, there is a God. I look at the earth's going around the sun, 67,000 whatever, miles an hour, takes 365 days to get around the sun one trip

and you're back where you started it's turning it every 24 hours it makes a complete turn half ever it's dark half ever's daylight it works with such precision when I read about somebody that death couldn't hold I'm saying the one who put this cosmos into existence and the precision at how it works

there's nothing. There's death is not. Nothing can stop him. Well, I think what should have queued him... Hang on, Jay's. Let's take a break. What should have queued him in is when he just got through talking about in the previous chapter that the difference in Jesus' death and everyone else, animals included,

his body didn't see decay. The most thing I thought about that like in from a hunting situation, you know, you're out in the woods and you go up and you run upon a decaying body and you say yep it's dead if you die and your body doesn't decay that this is the person who you need to get hooked up with because he's got controls of the atomic structure the molecular structure of matter yeah the one who's got control of that and we know they're there we never seen an atom but we no, they're there. You know, proton, new ton, power.

You're like, you get, whoever dreamed that up and got control of that, the Bible says God did, go with him. But it is? When it comes to physical death, being stone, hung, whatever. I mean, it is, it is crazy because somebody listens to size stories and I'm like, this is, I think people think the same thing about the Bible. I mean, a fish, swallowing. I've had that argument thrown to me in Bible studies more than any other.

I mean, you actually think there's fish out there eating people and then you live to tell about it. But why pick that one? How about the body not decaying? Let's go down that. But you know, to Dad's point, you know, you mentioned this on the last podcast, Jay's, from Acts 17, that God sets the time and places. And so obviously he wasn't ready for Paul yet because he had more things for Paul to do. So they either killed him and he brought him back or they didn't quite kill him and he came back. But either way, it wasn't his time yet.

Whereas in Stephen's case, it was his time. I mean, for the church to go forward, for everything to happen, God said, you know what? I'm just going to welcome you home. And I think there's a lot of encouragement for our audience out there because, you know, somebody would get cancer, somebody gets sick, somebody's parent, you know, something happens with their child. And they're just like, I just don't understand why this is happening. But you got to understand. God holds it is a believer.

God holds everything in his time and his place. And if it's your time to go home, you go home. If it's your time to do more, you do more. I think ultimately you have to trust that much. Because Paul, I mean, he gets up off the ground and goes right back into work. Humans tend to view physical death. And I guess because they don't see the individual anymore. but we tend to view physical death as the end.

And so we use terms like they passed away. We lost our, they are, they've died. But Peter, he said, he viewed physical death as a departure. I feel a lot better about what Peter and the Apostle Paul said in 2nd, 5, 5 there. Yeah. When he talks about, you know, we live in this tent of the body. And we got a eternal house coming. And you start reading those texts, you say, good night.

That's why Jesus said, you live and believe in me. You'll never die. Yeah. You'll never die. You'll depart. But departing sounds a lot better to me, Al, than a demise, meaning you are gone. We lost you. to the home office.

Didn't Paul say in Philippine? Was it Philippians where he said, look, it would be bad for me personally. I would rather go on and be with the Lord. I mean, I'm ready to go. I feel like I've done what I can do here. I mean, I'd rather be with Jesus now. But he said, but for your sake, you know, I'm going to stay on and do what God's calling me to do.

And of course, you know, he's getting beat up and flogged and stoned in every town he's in. I mean, I can imagine. I'd be like, you know what? I'm ready to go. But he said, I'm going to stay because it's better for the church if I'm still here. And what he was saying was, I trust in God to set my time in place. Why should any of you, the Apostle Paul to a big dog or grippa,

why should any of you, we mentioned this last week, consider it incredible that God raises the dead? I mean, if he built the cosmos, I mean, and he's the author of life, Why would you get all bent out of shape by just believing there's life beyond the grave? You know? So that's where I am. I'm looking at it. I'm like, you know what? They dreamed a story up and they keep repeating it over and over and over and over the resurrection of the dead.

I mean, to me, it's more ludicrous for, you know, when you share this, people like, well, these are the craziest stories coming back from the dead. but when you see humans in real life, to me, it's way more outlandishly stupid for some of the principles they apply like a warranty for something. You know, they're like, they're selling you a product. You pay the money, whatever it is, you know, you buy a TV, $1,000. They're like, no, it's not over because we'll give you a, an extended warranty.

You're like, well, how much does that cost? And it ain't cheap. So they're trying to guarantee that the lifespan of this product, you know? And you're like, well, if it's going to tear up, I don't want it. These are the conversations I have because I have, all you're trying to do is get me money on an incredible lie. Because they're like, well, what about a lifetime warranty? you know and it's like $50,000.

I'm like, okay, so I give you this money and then I die. But I still can get this TV. And meanwhile, two years later, you came up with another one that's better. But oh, I have a lifetime warranty. I could buy 30 TVs. I mean, you see what I mean? I'm looking at them like, this is the dumbest thing because you're trying. to use decay as a way to monetize your bank account.

And so I'm paying you for this assurance when, let's just be honest, this is a piece of junk and it's going to tear up. And you're trying to get way more money with some kind of guarantee that's incredible. It's not going to work, you know? I've had them say, look, this thing has a surge protector. We recently bought some TVs. this thing has a surge protector where if your apartment which I took offense to that I mean I have a house but I don't want to do blows up it will be fine and I'm like

okay let me get this right if my house blows up do you think I'm worried about this TV but I'm saying they will tell incredible stories to get more money for a guarantee that this won't tear up. When we all know, the lifespan of them is about six months. I view the whole, I view the whole, I view the whole thing, TVs and all. I view the whole thing as bowing to Jesus after I read about what he had to say and what he did, what he's now doing, what he will do. I've checked them out.

I'm literally my insurance depends on Jesus, him crucified and raised from the dead. I consider that the greatest insurance policy of all time. And the remarkable thing about it is free. That's why I follow Jesus. Yeah, exactly. You can say the same thing about that's about, you know, how long something lasts you're applying to resurrection. because everywhere they're going, they're preaching grace, which is forgiveness, and they're talking about the resurrection.

And your famous line is, he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. I'm looking at that. I said, that's an insurance policy there. Yeah. And what I'm saying is you rent a car. They make you look at it. I mean, it's not like because I had to do it, you know, and you're looking at every little dent and speck and paint chip. Because if you bring it back, and you read the consequences for any mistake,

oh, you're paying out the nose. And so you're inspecting this thing. Well, bring that, you know, go do some bumping and grind and getting on the interstate, swap some pain in a rental car, and then go back and turn it in. I'm going to tell you, the last thing you're going to get is grace. You're like, well, okay, I had a little bump, you know. No, you're fixed to pay 10 times the amount. that you originally paid.

I got into the old white truck. Hang on, Dad. Hang on, Dad. Let's take a break. I got into the old white truck yesterday. Right, right, right,

rub, rub, rub, I said, uh-oh. Rambah, wub, wub,

didn't hit a leg. Engine is turning over. Well, I thought that was a turnover like it was running. No, no, this would just run,

blah, blah, nothing. Uh-oh-oh-oh-oh. The engines turning over, the batteries are hot. But the vehicle will not crank. Oh, it's not igniting.

Well, not crank. And I saw, I shut the door. I said, Dan, I said, get a wrecker down here. And I said, I think my fuel pump went out. I said, not getting fuel. I said, call, call, get the thing, drag it back up at their plate. So he goes, a man. He made about 8 o'clock at next morning.

Looked up. There's a wrecker right there. They dragged old white truck off. Six years, never failed to crank. Six years. Not once did it. ever failed to crank until yesterday, wouldn't crank. He sent the message this morning.

He said, tell Phil, the mechanic, he said, tell Phil, fuel pump went out. I said, that's what I thought. He said, I'll have it to him a couple of days, rock on. So it wasn't pay out the nose. Just put a fuel pump on it, Jason, rock on. Well, that's kind of like. But you own the truck. I'm saying if you rent a vehicle, they're going to try to come up.

point is the world takes advantage of any mistake in any way. That is correct. Like if you want to rent a car, they're like, here it is. If you change it whatsoever, you're going to pay five times what you originally paid. That ain't just half of it.

The rest of that story is some woman wrote me a thing and she said, I just got stripped of $200. They slick me because they said you were the ones selling the marijuana oil. and like an idiot, I bought some, shucked out $200, and I got no...

And that she wants $200 from meat. I got no kind of oil. And I said, well, there ought to be a law against that for people saying I'm selling marijuana oil. Here's a newsflash. I think there is a law. Maybe. Here's a news flash to all you listeners.

Don't buy marijuana oil and think I'm trying to sell you some. I don't have anything to do with marijuana, oil, or whatever. It's not me. They're lying to you. I don't sell marijuana oil. But they keep saying they get slicked. Dad, I had a guy come up to me in Michigan, and he was like, I got a question about your dad and this CBD oil.

And before he could say anything, I said, hoax. And he went, what? I said, I guess you answered my question. It's a hoax. The whole theme of this, what we're talking about today is people will read the Bible and say, oh, the story's too incredible. They'll go to the internet on a table. chat board and say I add pop up and think that's 100% absolute truth put it in stone yeah oh well

what's wrong with this that's right I will never sell marijuana oil or any other kind of oil so don't bite they're lying to you speaking of oil I got three questions for you dad about the truck just because I wanted our audience to understand this truck of yours you've had it six years how many times have you changed the oil how many times have you cleaned it out and how many times have you washed it in six years. I would not, I would not answer that, those three questions,

uh, because, uh, it may incriminate rate. So I, bleeding the fifth amendment on how, on car, being the fifth.

On car. Yeah. That's the last thing I thought you would say. Zero. I change the, I mean, I just watched this truck. I can't even get in it.

I said, well, you know, this thing has never failed me. I said, don't fail me now. But I checked it. I said,

I don't think his thing getting any fuel. I call Red. He's a pseudo-mechanic. Red, I tried to crank his thing. I said, he won't crank. It turns over fine, but not he won't crank. He said, probably a fuel pump. He said, that's the way it works.

You pull up. I said, does it have gas? That guy told Dan this morning, he said, I've never seen a fuel pump that was that worn out. I can't believe that thing was still moving. But it's been good, too. Well, I realized where I got my mind. mechanical skills from or lack thereof.

Exactly, which is why we need people in our lives, right? So back to our text, you know, when Paul basically either resurrects or comes back, he goes back to Antioch, which is where he's kind of been established there. And it was interesting, before we move into 15, that he did something I thought we should have mentioned on here because he appointed elders he and Barnas did in Antioch, which is kind of one of the first churches, remember it was up in the north, up in Syria. How would I remember that, Al?

I don't, you know, I mean, remember it's in the north. How would I know that? Well, because Syria is north of Israel. I thought you knew that. Did you not, were you not listening to your Old Testament geography? I was lost the entire time as far as direction. I mean, I wasn't sure where I was at. I knew one thing, stay inside the wall.

Well, I've never been there, but I have studied the geography of it. Yeah. But it was interesting that he kind of structured the church to have some leadership for when he left. And I think that's kind of what happens as he goes forward. I mean, he realizes that this is long term. So you're going to have to have some wisdom in these cities to be able to deal with all the stuff that happens. Because in the next chapter in 15, we get back into the circumcision debate again. And we've already been talking about it all the way back to chapter 12.

But I'll tell you this, Al. You know, with Peter when you preaches the first sermon. He wrote a whole book to Galatia because of this issue that came up. But I think the reason you have elders, which is a good point, is because there's always an issue. Even in modern day America, some group of people, they're always trying to add something to the simple message of Jesus as a prerequisite to how we're going to function. That is correct. I mean, you just, I mean, circumcision, people look at that and say, can you believe that? That people would say that you have to have Jesus and you have to have this procedure done on a mail before you're in or you're out.

And I can't believe that. And then you'll go right down the road and people say, now, here's what we do here. And it's something to me just as ridiculous, whatever the rule is about. or code of conduct or even dress code if it's not modesty related. But I mean, we always like these little inclusionary things to be branded as our group. And to me, you're adding to who Jesus is. And hey, Jay's, let's take a break. The two girls that showed up Sunday morning.

They said, we think we're in the wrong church. We're looking for the preacher here. But we... Yeah, you told us that story. No, and I just said, well, he'll be around here directly. I still haven't figured out why you did that. But why didn't you just say I'm the preacher? Because I knew they were looking around and they figured that if you go within any group,

you could see in their mind the big dog, the preacher, that they were looking for him. I just said, I said, well, he'll be honest with you, Phil, but here's what I think. I think they thought, let's ask this homeless guy who the preacher is. That's exactly what they did. And you just didn't want to have that. I played along with it. They said, who are you? And I said, Jim Smith.

And they said, Jim, it's good to meet you. I said, well, good to see you, girls. I know. I said, well, you may be in the right shirt. But anyway, we converted both of them. So I thought, you know what? It's, I like the, you couldn't tell is what I'm trying to say. Yeah.

I think it's a, I think there's a lesson in that. It's a noble quality. But I think it's more. in this context, you should be going out. But they did say, okay, in these, there's a central location. But when all the letters from Romans on, you see all the problems that occurred and came up. Because my whole, I have one thought about first and second Corinthians that I've said many times when I've taught that book in classes. Where were the elders?

Because that place, if you think your church has problems, that. that place was all the charts with problems. And I'm like, the elders are never mentioned. So maybe they were young in the faith. We probably hadn't appointed him yet. Maybe. Yeah, probably hadn't appointed him yet at that point. He was still kind of trying to, you know, give them letters and stuff.

People have made whole doctrines out of what they read in first and second Corinthians. And I'm like, you got to realize the situation here. And look at the backdrop. up. They were young. We know they were a young church because everybody's a young church back here because Jesus just died and was buried and resurrected. They also had the power of all these miracles and all these crazy stories that were reading. Well, these people were standing around there. And they wanted to have these fantastical acts. And God gave some of the people that the apostles laid their hands on the ability to do these powers. Well, they just couldn't

handle it. And so all of a sudden, it got way away from sharing Jesus to your neighbor and have an integrity in your life. And that's why he eventually gets to 15 in 1st Corinthians and reminds him of the gospel. That, plus on top of that, they were trying to get human beings. I wonder if they run into that same problem. Two thousand years later. Love is patient. love is kind it does not envy love does not boast love is not proud just think of the human race love is not rude love is not self-seeking it's not easily angered love keeps no record of wrongs love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth love always protects love always trust, love always hopes, love always perseveres, the Apostle Paul and him are going across

the country where there is no Jesus and they're running into the human race and they're thinking, man, that's why 2,000 years later when we say we're trying to get them to love God and love each other. It's a chore, Al. It is. And you know, something I found fascinating. Jays brought this up about circumcision. You know, Paul, who has been circumcised because he was a Jew, you know, he's not against circumcision. The context is it's, you know, that you have to be circumcised to be a Christian, which is the false part of that. What's interesting is we know, and that's why it's very important when you're studying the Bible that you understand the context of everything you're reading.

Plus, you know, why we're. was it written? Plus, circumcision is not going to help you when it comes to being patient and we love your rejoices with the truth. Love always. And half the population can't even do it. I know it. Here's something for you to chew on you man. I thought about it. When we get to Acts 16, I'll jump ahead just a bit. When Timothy pops up and Timothy had a Greek father and a Jewish mother. and grandmother. Now, we know that Timothy is one of Paul's early protégés, you know, first and second Timothy, you know, he was one of the early church leaders. But in verse three of 16, I find this fascinating to show you that contextually, maybe sometimes it's not a bad thing. Verse three, Paul

wanted to take him along on the journey. He's just met this family. So he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. So, I find that fascinating that Paul, who basically is the biggest proponent of you don't have to have a search system of the gospel, he circumcizes Timothy because he feels like it'll help their ministry. So, you know, it shows you that he's not just down on one thing. It's easy for us to just throw everything out. What he said was in this case, I want Timothy because they knew he had a Greek father to be able to speak to a Jewish audience.

So I found that fascinating about the context that Paul was saying in one chapter, look, don't trust in this, but the other chapter, he actually practices it. you know, to help Timothy be more. Exactly. But my point is, it's like, I mean, you can pick anything. You know, tattoos. You know, I've seen spiritual, seemingly Jesus-loving people say, well, you can't have a tattoo.

I'm like, what? I mean, you know what I mean? It's like you're really going down this road. It's Jesus and the lack of a tattoo. Because his point in this whole sermon when he says, I like this phrase he uses in 158, when he said, God who knows the heart showed that he accepted them by giving them the Holy Spirit to them just as he did to us. Because they were struggling with the Jew versus Gentile situation. They have the Holy Spirit.

But then they're like, oh yeah, but there's something physical. that's not right, which is why, I mean, tattoos popped into my head, which is a long way from circumcision, I guess I thought pain is involved in receiving both, possibly. But he goes down in verse 11, and he says, we believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved just as they are. I mean, to me, that's the bumper sticker moment of their moment. of their movement, which is this being in Jesus, which is very hard for people to get what I'm

fixed to say in their heads, but I'm using it on that statement, is 100% grace-based. And it was his story, not mine. Jesus is the innocent sacrifice. We don't deserve it. There's nothing you can do to earn it. There's no good thing you can add or lack thereof. that's going to save you outside of the grace of Jesus. But people just, I don't know, Al, they have a hard time digesting that.

Because you have the stories, you have the examples, you have a whole letter written to a whole group of people saying, don't add anything to Jesus and the gospel. In fact, he says if you do, you'll be eternally cut off. That's Galatian the one thing. It can't be any. Anathema. He cannot be any more, he cannot say it any more clear.

And look, then he says, and so I say again, he repeats himself in Galatians 1,6. Jay, so let's take one last break. And to your point, in chapter 15, verse 19, James, the brother of Jesus, is basically one of the elders at the church of Jerusalem. But he's also the guy everybody looks to him. He's solid, he's stable. Obviously, he's Jesus's brother. He wrote the book of James, which is a great book. He said something really interesting in verse 19.

He says, it is my judgment. This is him as an elder, as an early church leader, therefore that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. So what he's saying is we don't want to make this hard. I mean, we want to make this easy. Like you said, Dad, love each other. I mean, we want to make this easy. But then he says, instead, we should write to them telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols. from sexual immorality, meat, strangling.

He mentions all the different Jewish, I mean, a Gentile lifestyle issues that they were having coming out of that pagan world. So I did find it interesting that that's the way we should approach each other. It should be we want to make it easy for people to find Jesus. And then we want to tell them, look, this lifestyle, this stuff you got going on, this is not good. It's not healthy. It's not what Jesus wants for your life.

So they had some things to teach them, but they had to get out of their Jewishness to do it. And I think, I think, too, looking at it from the other side in these stories. We haven't mentioned this yet, but you know, when this missionary journey started, Mark, who has a book in the Bible, he didn't

stay with him. He's like, and you know, when you do a study on Mark, you'll conclude that in the end they all patch things up and maybe he was a little young and immature at the time. I mean, who, I'm reading between the lines there, but

for whatever reason, well, here in Acts 15, which they're on the same team, Paul and Barnumas have such a sharp disagreement, which says at the end of chapter 15, that they part company. And you see the introduction of elders here, and my point is, we're going to get this wrong. And so you would think people would not miss the grace of God, but guess what, it's going to happen. And some people may because they're young in the faith, but sometimes you just can't agree on, you know, maybe things about where we're going to go share Jesus or build this water well for, you know, in Africa to help kids or whatever the issue is, you have disagreements,

you get things wrong. But they, what I like about what God did through these people is you see that they didn't burn the bridge with each other. They found ways to reconnect and do other things and have roles and put sharing Jesus as the overall mission, no matter what happens, even if it's bumpy for a few days, weeks, or months, we're going to come back together for the calls. I hope the religious people across the United States and the world

through this, we're just speaking to these matters, will at least agree to all come together on Jesus, him crucified, raised from the dead. I'll just stand on that. I'm glad you brought up Mark, John. Mark, as he's called in the text there, Jay's, because there's a couple of interesting things about him. One is he was a cousin of Barnabas.

So it's not really surprising that when Paul gets into it about Mark, Barnabas, who's his cousin, you know, takes up for him. And I thought about that line in open range at the end of it after Robert Duvall killed the bad guy. He said, if somebody needs to write a letter to his daughter and tell him what happened here, and they say, well, I don't think they have a relationship. He said, yeah, but people are funny. Ken or funny when stuff like this happened.

And I thought about that with this situation because, you know, they're kin. And so they split up, but you're right, Jay's. And the other thing about John Mark, he was also Peter's protege. Basically, his writing of the gospel was sort of Peter's account because he was his right-hand man. But, you know, it's interesting that Paul and Peter would struggle throughout their early years together. Because, you know, Paul felt like Peter was showing favoritism. And he wasn't really being fair to Gentiles, even though he was the one that ushered him in. We're still only human now.

But you got to remember, too, Al. Like, I'm married. I mean, you asked me about Mississippi earlier. And look, we have, I've said this many times, it's true. I mean, all we have in common is Jesus, that's enough. But when we first got married, she was not raised in a family where you disagree and argue. You just, nobody, you don't welcome these confrontations. I like disagreeing and I like arguing.

And I like doing it with people I love and I know are strong enough to where their opinion matters to me. I mean, people I don't care about, I'm not going to argue with them because I don't care. So, I mean, that was before I matured in that area. I mean, when I'm sharing Jesus with people, I'm trying not to argue or disagree. But my point is, well, I kept telling me that, well, through the years, she's like, okay. If I, well, so now we have public arguments, you know, and people get a kick. out of watching us because we yeah we saw it on the podcast all the time but what I'm telling

you is I I learn a lot in those conversations I mean we I don't know if I shared this when she was writing her blog for a Passover week we we got into an argument about something that really wasn't that big a deal and we literally talked discussed and argued all night and it and But it was all good and it was all Jesus related and it was done in love, but it was passionate. But I learned more from that argument than I had learned. I could learn it going to some class because she was giving me a different opinion that I had really never thought about and I didn't agree with. And I'm not sure we really ever came to a complete agreement. but I noticed when she wrote her blog,

she leaned toward my position. Not that I think she just didn't bring hers up because I think she thought that it would be too many people would think like I do. And it really what people are probably going to say, well, what was it about? What was it about? But it was basically about who was in the crowd, you know, hollering for Barabas to be released.

least when, remember when Pilate said which one of you? And she was like it was all the trap. And I agreed it was all a trap. And it all was a coup. But I was making the point because of Peter's denial that any Jews around would have found it very difficult to take up for him for Jesus in that moment once he's basically not handcuffed, but bound and fixed to die. Because I said, look, everybody likes a hero and everybody likes a movement until somebody's arrested and then all of a sudden we're like well wait in here because there's there's fear so anyway that was the gist of the argument but i'm just making the point that i think it's healthy that if you keep the big picture at the forefront it's it's no it's not something we should shy away from being passionate about what we believe and what we teach and having these arguments and but you don't burn the bridges Love is patient. Yeah. That's exactly right.

And unfortunately, we've seen enough this last year. We've seen enough, to your point, we've seen enough mobs to know you're exactly right. In the moment of the mob, man, it's hard to swim upstream and do the right thing. And if your disagreement reaches a certain level, that's when you need to go talk to the elders. Yeah. Which is always humbling. Hey, I've been in on a few of those, you know. Well, and full disclosure, dad and our elders at our church.

And basically it's a servant position because we're just trying to help people. But it is important to have leadership. So next time we come back, we pick up in the story. We'll actually be shifting over to what they call the second missionary journey. And it begins with Timothy sort of being added to the team. And so we'll go from there. A lot of good stuff. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast.

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