Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 274 | Phil's TV Habits Are NOT for the Woke Crowd and Sharing the Gospel with Joe Biden

Episode Date: May 10, 2021

Phil is getting the feeling that woke and "Gunsmoke" don't mix. Phil, Jase, and Al talk about underestimating Jesus, what it means to be called, and what it means to belong to Jesus. Phil reveals what he would do if he had the opportunity to share the Gospel with Biden like he did with Trump. And the guys begin their study of Romans, aka the constitution of Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So, Dad, I noticed you've got a new coffee mug there. Yeah, Phyllis gave me that. So read it for the ones who were listening. What does it say? Happiness is watching gun smoke over and over again. Did she have that custom made or is that actually, See, somebody's had that as ever.

Evidently, there are more of mees out there in the world somewhere. I think it's for the over-70s crowd. Turn on old Matt Dillon and see what kind of sinful behavior he is dealing with. You know, I've never watched Gunsmoke. Yeah. You've missed a lot in your life, Chase. Somehow that doesn't surprise me, that. You didn't even remember it as a kid because I love Gunsmoke growing up.

Didn't watch that one. Really? No. Because it was on all through my time. childhood been on for 50 years it's one that for a long time it was the longest running series on american television he deals with the human race and their sins and he's he's he's judgment day in the words i was out digging in the dirt down don't mess with matt playing war yeah you know running but you're right i never thought about it as spiritual context but dad sees the

so he was like he he plays the role of the jess the judge judge and then he's weeding out the good guys in the back he doesn't play the judge he he he played law did you violate the law yep you didn't violate the law you have no trouble with mad how many times was matt dillon shot over the course of the 20 he has more holes in than swiss cheese and somehow he keeps recovering oh he's like but the ones that went up against him since the show must go on it's a dead end street when you run up it you're going to lose yeah you sort of That's why the shell wouldn't would have run 50 years. This is the perfect backdrop for an overview of Romans because it's a lot of the law of work versus the law.

That's true. I haven't thought about that. The people who wrote this, you got to remember they started in the 50s, I think. May have even, yeah. I think they started. Oh, definitely the 50s. You know it was a radio show before that in the 40s. I remember.

He and Chester, they were there. They had sound like the horses coming. and they did the same thing. So was it James Arnest? Was the same actor? Was it somebody else? I think so. So he was like Matt Dillon for 30 years.

He was. Because it went through the 70s. Because I saw it was in color by the time. They made a final movie. He made a movie based on the episode. And they had him. He was probably mid-70s, my age or older. Yeah.

But I would say the years had taken a toll. You remember the show Mission Impossible? but not the movies, the show. Well, the guy on there was his brother. Oh, in real life. Yeah, the guy with a white hair that was kind of the leader of the mission. And let me guess, then they did it. They did it every week.

It was burns me. It's just, why are people so vulnerable? Let's do a show and call it Mission Impossible and then we'll go do it. Because that's the hook, that made it. It's anti-God. I mean, it's just. without faith that is impossible to please God. Now, that's a mission impossible.

Trying to keep Jesus buried, impossible. But we just, we like the idea. We just don't want the life change that goes along with the truth. That's a pet peeve of mine now. That was the back of the Formula Television. Although that one was actually a pretty interesting take for its era. Most of them were the crime shows. It was all about, it was detectives.

You know, cop shows, streets of San Francisco. You remember that one? You know, they had the old guy on there. So those kind of shows. Cannon, which Cannon was a detective, and he weighed about 350 pounds. A big old belly on him. They remind you on every episode, outdated, outdated cultural depicting,

meaning don't think this was really. Yeah, they don't want you to say. So that's the little woke crowd now. The woke crowd to letting you know. Wait a minute. They're the law and order like here. No, you don't know. Way outdated.

Oh, yeah. They're outdated law and order? Yep. You can't have the good guys and the bad guys. Everybody's just got to be. See, with the Dillon, with Matt, the good always won. Always. Good always triumphs over evil, which is biblical.

But they don't like that at all. Yeah, I love the what this is going back and putting the labels on there. And even some shows it was ridiculous. The Muppets. and stuff like they're doing the same thing on stuff like that. Sure. Everything has to go back and take it out. Well, so we're in Romans officially now.

This is a great study that we're looking forward to. We kind of touched on a little bit in one of the past podcasts, but we're actually going to start diving into it. I thought kind of the thinking behind us going here next was that we started out, of course, we did an overview when we first started the podcast. And some of you guys that are new and you're kind of listening kind of to the current, but you're trying to go back. I would encourage you to go back

and start from the beginning because we kind of give an overview of the Old Testament and what led to Jesus getting here. Then we did a study in the book of John, which was Jesus here, which, you can go back. We've done like 300 episodes. I know.

Some of these people will not be on the earth by the time they get to the end. No, you would be shocked. So, J.D., a guy was standing about that got baptized last week. He went back and got them all. He told me, it was 400 of them, I mean, 300 of them, but I got them. I wonder how much work he got done during that period.

Well, but he works. He mows a golf course. So, like, he could, all day, you can listen to it. Well, that'll work. Yeah. So a lot of people are binge listening or watching our podcast. So we did the book of John, which, as Jason said, simply and rightly, that it was before Jesus got here, Jesus was here, and now we're in the phase of, you know, he's been gone for

2,000 years. Well, and he's coming back. And he's coming back. Because it's like if you told me to pick out, I'll put you on the spot. If you told me to pick out a theme in Romans, I mean, what's a verse that just immediately comes to your mind? Well, for me, it's always what we named the podcast on, Romans 1.16. I thought you'd say that, which is why I justify going through the book of Romans. You know, usually I stick to the book of John.

Right. Because, you know, if I picked out a verse to prove my point, it's three words in the first paragraph. When Paul, he starts writing a servant of Christ Jesus. There's a hint. Called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God, which is what Jesus did. The gospel, what Jesus did, has done. is doing, we'll do, however you want to describe it. Through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures, what you just said, Jesus is coming.

He was predicting. That he promised beforehand which Jesus is coming. So the theme I have is the first three words in the NIV of verse three, regarding his son. Because if you don't regard Jesus in this light, whatever else he writes, in any letter after this, which is why they always begin with the gospel or about Jesus.

If you miss that, then the rest of it falls apart. So I think you do that even in a church bill, and you can try to figure out theology and how we're going to worship and where we're going to set up and how we view this and that and everybody has their little views on the internet.

Here's what we believe. And if you don't, regard Jesus because he is the image of the invisible God he John 117 he explains God or exudites God he's made him known if you want to know about God you're gonna have to look at it through the eyes of Jesus and his attitude his personality which then you go back to the Gospels and and that's why we make that statement is my point and the point that I'm making is that it wasn't the reason it's not accidentally the way the Bible is laid out that you have the Old Testament. Then you have four different

accounts of Jesus, four different eyewitnesses. And then you have Acts, which is what happened immediately after he left, which is the establishment of the church, the unlocking of the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And then you get to the first epistle, or the first letter, which is Romans, which is exactly where we left Paul in Rome, you know, under house arrest, which he would eventually die there, writing this book or this letter. Yeah. And it's a book for us. So what I've always loved about Romans is, to me, it's the most comprehensive

understanding of the gospel itself. I mean, what he does is break, he breaks it down at a deep level. But remember, this is kind of the first thing going out to the Gentiles. So, you know, this is a lot of cultural differences in the Jews. Yeah, when you think of Romans, what stood out to me is all these movies. we were talking about TV shows and they always view the Romans in such a light

I don't even know how to describe them like this pageantry and power and in those types of movies and here I'm like you're writing a letter to the Romans who are believers

I bet those people had it rough yeah I mean just because this was frowned upon oh this seems so weak from what they present as in this time as being a national power, which you go over there now, think you'd get a different life. Well, you would, but you know what's interesting is out of all the places we mentioned when we were in Acts about Greece, about Athens, Dad, when we were there.

But we also went to Rome and filmed for that movie Torchbearer. And I was amazed at how well they had preserved things from this century for us to look at. It was amazing. It was pretty amazing. I mean, the Coliseum is amazing to thank you. Most of us still standing. Still standing. And they kind of redone the deck on there.

And, of course, one of the things. Where they kept her brothers and sisters underneath that floor of it, it was like cubicles. Yeah. And they had the lines in one, and then their tigers and the people handling them before they'd turn them loose on their brothers and sisters for everyone to see them being mauled by wild animals. Yeah. It was all right there in front of you. It was a, what can I say? It was a, if you look at the ruins and you're standing in amongst them, it was, it's a, it's a, it's a powerful thing in lieu of this book right here.

That's exactly right. That's what I mean. That's what the movie world is missed. You think of the movie Gladiator, which, look, I like that movie that Russell Crowe was in. But you never think, the world never thinks that the more powerful people were the peasants outside who are believers in Jesus. That's why this is so ridiculous to them. I mean, you're like, oh, these people are more powerful than the guy fighting in the ring, you know, cutting off people's heads. You're trying to tell me that this person is more powerful?

Yes, because he is the Holy Spirit of God. It was kind of a version of what we watch on, we've toned it down on Sunday evenings where men run, violent men butt heads. They're saying they got rules about the head button now because they found out

you know you're talking about professional wrestling no talking about professional football on Sunday evening oh I had no idea

what you're talking about I thought you saw you watching wrestling we've kind of watered it down until we're on Sunday evening

and you see violent men and they they come together in a clash I mean it's but it's not to the death

although some get severely injured I mean, but it's a pretty brutal thing to watch when grown men that are muscle up and talked up. If you just went back 2,000 years and you went to that Coliseum, it was like Sunday evening football with a little more,

with a little more blood. The intensity of these people are not. Oh, what are you talking about? They were cheering, and I mean, it just turned into a bar. It's a lot like, it's the same kind of picture, but we sort of toned it down a little bit where it's not violent enough to where you say, well, you know, people are getting their heads lopped off

or wild animals are eating them. But it was just for entertainment. Yeah. And they would meet there and watch the action. But it was a brutal thing. Yeah. It was a lot about popularity, which I thought Gladiator deals with some of that

in the sense that it's a lot of it is a distraction from politics and all that. You know, kind of the, you know, if the people are happy. And think about this. the, in the book of Romans, that's in lieu of just prior to a massive move on the Roman Empire to crush Christianity. Right. This was written in about, what, 55, 53 or so, I mean, in the 50s.

Right. So this is what, about 25 years after Jesus. So it's pretty, pretty early in the game, as they say. Well, I think that's why when you read a verse that I'm not ashamed of the gospel, when you wrote that, it means more when you look back at the culture. Who! Because if you declare that, you're going to be persecuted or viewed as weak. And the reason I picked up that phrase regarding his son, you know, Jesus said in Luke

9, it made me think of that when you said the unashamed. Hang on, Jess. Let's take a break for you to read that. Luke 923, Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself. and take up his cross daily and follow me, which would be in direct contrast to the Roman way. You know, you're the most powerful, the strongest rise up.

Then he says, whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit his very self? So the next statement is the most profound one, but I know that if I heard this, I'd be thinking, oh, no, this doesn't sound very appealing to me.

And then Jesus says these words, if anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the Holy Angels, I tell you the truth, which is an interesting way to segue into this. Some who are standing here will not taste death before they will see the kingdom of God.

So there's a lot there. I mean, there's this battle between choose the world or choose me. Yep. There's this idea of, you want to follow me? You better bring you across. This is not going to be easy. Is it going to be me or you? Which is really what I touched on with the Roman theme of this law of

versus law of faith. Are you going to try to do this on your own merit? Are you going to trust me? Yeah. And then he brings up the idea of the kingdom, which is what we're a part of. And when you're looking at the backdrop of this Roman Empire, it just seems ridiculous for you to say,

oh, no, I'm a member of a kingdom that will crush this. We will win. Well, and if you want a deeper dive into what, happened, especially in this first century, you can read the book Fox's Book of Martyrs. If you want to read about historically what happened to a lot of the people that Jason was just talking about, it was brutal. I mean, it was terrible. And I mean, all of our early brothers and sisters faced this.

Everyone slaughtered. And it's really interesting because up until when we're going through the book of Acts in the first 25 years of the church, all the persecution is coming from the Jewish side. You remember every time Paul would go to the town was the Jews that would stir it up and, you know, they're the ones that stone Stephen. So all it was coming from them, but now the gospel is going out into the Gentile world. And Rome is the epicenter of everything. I mean, they're the superpower of their age. And so now the persecution is starting to shift over from the Gentile.

The kingdom of God has been, is, was born in Jerusalem. it's reached all the way to Rome, you say, and the kingdom of God is operating under the umbrella of an earthly kingdom called the kingdom of iron because it smashes everything. So they're going in, when Paul wrote those things in the last statement in the book of Acts, he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus. He stayed there for, you know, two years. it wasn't long after that that they lopped his head off because they'd stand over you and you will bow to Caesar and him only

and they would say I won't pray to Caesar I'll pray for him but I won't pray to him but when they said that beheaded him wasn't Nero in charge at this phase?

He was right after that just right after that the most ruthless yeah so dad and I saw some places at the forum because there's still all these old places that were around during this era. They're in the Nero era, and they showed us where they were places.

So he would take Christians, and he would put him on a spike. I mean, just impale their bodies and then set them on fire to light his gardens. That's right. I mean, you talk about just coming up with just evil, terrible ways. And then, of course, Dad mentioned the Coliseum, and a lot of early Christians, and a lot of slaves and other people, too, were basically mauled by lions, Our brothers and sisters were slaughtered. I'll tell you one thing, one of the things I think Jace happened is that now in modern-day America,

it hasn't reached that level because, you know, we use a lot of Roman law in America, but a constitution of republic is a little more healthy than what they had going on with these monarchies and these emperors. But so they could be brutal, much quicker. without any qualms. So they, you stood up and got in their way or somebody running them out of the street or holling about, they down there, hallowed about this Jesus or something.

They'd say, go down and I and kill them. Well, and then he was just. I mean, throw them in prison. I mean, look, they took a beating. Yeah. That's what the Book of Revelations are about. I think that's why, you know, Romans has been coined the Constitution of Christianity.

I've heard that before, you know. Because really, I think the point of Luther Luke 9 is a spiritual concept more than a physical. We immediately think, oh, don't be a shame because they'll kill you. But he was also planting the seed for you're going to win this from the inside out. Yep. Because obviously the spirit would be poured out later after he said that in Luke 9. And then when you get to Romans, well, the spirit's been poured out.

People are now have access to it. they're now sharing Jesus everywhere, despite the backdrop of the Roman Empire. And you get to something like Roman 6, where he then makes this analogy, you know, with this take up your cross in mind. And he's like, you die to sin, you know, because of what you understand in Jesus. You know, Romans 3, when it says the but now righteousness from God is revealed, this law of faith, this faith in Jesus. And then you get to Romans 6, you can actually, you can actually take

your spiritual cross and reenact, you know, in baptism, this death barrel and resurrection, what you believe. So I believe Jesus was planting that seed back then. You know, even so when we fast forward to 2,000 years, it's still the same principle. At some point, you've got to figure out, do I want prosperity in this world and forfeit my soul? Or do I want to go all in on Jesus? Of course, it's like we're at a time frame here when he writes this in the mid-50s A.D. We'll buy 500 AD.

Took about 400 years for God to finally say, oh, I'm bringing it down. The kingdom, my kingdom will march on by the time you get to like Constantine. Yeah, that's 300. Yeah, 300 years or so. Well, by the time they roll in there, well, lo and behold, they're converted. Yeah, Constantine was the first emperor to become a Christian. He's the one that sent the monk, the guy underneath him down in there. Dionysia, Sexagus, sends him down there and says, I'll tell you what, you go back and you get in there archives,

and you find out when this Jesus showed up because I'm fixing to start following him. So he sends the monk down there, and he's the one that went out in there, looked at all the archives, said, well, I've got it down to where, about, you know, when Augustus was here, it's when he showed up. Well, he was talking to Constantine. He said, yeah, Augustus, well, then the next one about 18, you know, that was about when Jesus, about the next 15 years, he dies, and on the other one, I forgot his name. Close enough. Tiberius.

Tiberius. So that was about when Jesus was 18, 17, 18. were by the time Jesus left Tiberius, but it was a tranquil time. Some of them wrote us and said, why did he pick that time? Well, Daniel was the one that said he would do it, but it was a, Rome was a peace with not many wars at the time Jesus showed up. It was a pretty good place. But it went south in a hurry.

And not only that, it was, I mean, we know, because Paul said in several letters that God sent his son when the time had fully come. So he purposely picked this point in history. to come here. I think the time was for our benefit. And also, you've got to throw in that second Corinthians passage that says none of the rulers understood who Jesus was, if they would, they wouldn't have crucified him. I mean, look, Jesus is underestimated today just as much as he was back then.

You are absolutely correct. He's Roman leader, because every time they would dig deeper, they would say, oh, wait a minute, this guy is from Nazareth. he's a carpenter I mean Nazareth was just a gar hole This guy's causing all this trouble His people out there Which for those who don't know what that means

You know as commercial fishermen You would find pristine waters Where you'd have a better chance To catch something great But if you ever went And put your nets out in a spot That didn't catch We would call that a gar hole

Because all you get Yeah All that in there was gar Let's take another break. That's why Jesus never told them going there and overthrow the government, kill them all, get the emperor, get them. He says, I do jobs of that magnitude. I'm the one who'll bring them down, not you. Love them and point them to me as best you can't.

Even if you're in prison, the Apostle Paul gave us a model, okay, you know, what's happened to me, you know, is worthy of note. I'm down here. They got me under change. know what? I got a good prison ministry going and the whole prison guard, the guards, I've all heard the gospel here and they got them all, even in the book of acts, you know, the jailer was out there and the prisoners were baptizing him. But it just, but it goes against our idea of power. Yeah. You just think about it. It'd be like going to Russell Crowe during halfway through the movie because he's trying to win the crowd, which I've used that line many times, win the crowd, win your

freedom, get the people on your side. But halfway through it, he just says, you know what, there's a, there's a sheep herder down here that works on the spiritual side of things. And I'm going to gain my victory of my freedom by selling everything I got and I'm going to go following. Well, that movie, I mean, that would have gone from a nine to a one. I think that's the problem here. But even in the movie, the setup was he was a powerful general for another emperor, and then when it goes down into the slave and comes back. So even then, he was still a powerful person.

I mean, he kind of had to be redeveloped. He had a certain set of skills. He did. He was like that. Now, I preached the gospel to the last president, and personally, two or three times. So I got the gospel preached to him. You say, well, what about the currentman?

If I have the opportunity, I will preach the gospel to the, the one who's in power now. You see what I'm saying? And right now, it could be worse as far as if you just look around, they're not to the beheading stage yet. No, I'm not ruling it out, but I'm just saying persecution comes many, many ways. Well, you talked about, you know, it's interesting that our country, the founders really were pretty brilliant because they took the idea of Republic,

constitutional republic, from the idea of Rome, without the emperor. Then you also have some of the democratic ideas of Greece, and they roll that into one idea of governance, but God is the king. That's right. Because the founders said, I mean, Jefferson wrote, he's the one that gives us the rights. So it is a brilliant way to live. But Franklin was right, if you can keep it. If you can keep it.

Because now we've got a whole situation where people want to happen. And we're falling back into the same mistakes all the empires did. Their misunderstanding of the God of heaven is right. Right, then it's always about power. So we'll see where it all ends up. It goes back to that one of the first stories in John, where he ran up on Nathaniel. And remember Nathaniel, which we talked about a couple podcasts ago,

the trees around the Sea of Galilee, he's under a fig tree and he's trying to figure out the whole plan of life. He's upset and things are not going great. And then his buddy Philip brings this guy. Jesus and they have an interesting conversation which basically Jesus said I knew what you were thinking I knew you under the fig tree so but because his attitude toward Jesus was like everybody else when he heard he's from Nazareth he underestimated him he's like well you can't be the Messiah you're you're I know who you where you came from I know who you're with then they have this

bizarre story which eventually Jesus quotes this event that happened in Genesis 28 about Jacob's ladder, which is, here's Jacob out in the middle of a pasture somewhere, using a rock for a pillow, and he sees this vision and angels descending, you know, up and down the ladder to heaven. And so Jesus quotes that in John 1. He says, I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man which was implied what Nathaniel was thinking so here he was Nathaniel thing here's this just you know low income guy coming from nowhere claiming to be the Messiah and then all of a sudden he displays this power of I know what you were thinking I know the exact passage you were thinking and he's basically relating to him

I'm the ladder I'm the door to heaven that's right not this old system that you were under. And he made comments throughout the entire gospel the same way. You remember when he went in the temple and he's like, I'm the temple. You destroy this temple. I'll raise it up in three days. Well, all this stuff was like all the trust in their power and everything we think of is true power. He was just doing the exact opposite.

He looked weak. He looked like he didn't have the credentials to be who he was. but then they couldn't explain how he's doing these miracles. He was a king and the followers were there, and it sort of spooked the Roman Empire because they were thinking, what is these people? What are they doing?

I mean, they thought like, well, we may be in jeopardy from this crazy bunch. Well, because all of the followers, all the disciples, and we see it over and over and over again in the Gospels, misunderstood why Jesus came. They thought it was a physical, restoration and a lot of people still miss it today. They understand that this is a spiritual kingdom

and he kept trying to tell them that he's like, well look, we're going to be above governments. It's not going to be about governments anymore. That's right. But they just, they all missed it because we're looking at it and saying correctly, everything has a spiritual solution. That's right. They're looking at it from everything has a governmental. Correct. You're suing them fixed. Which is why we don't ring our hands when someone comes into power in our system that, you know, goes against what we believe. Because we're just like, that's what people do. That's what men do.

We read the book of Romans and says, yeah, well, here we go. You know, I think we've got maybe a group that showed up. You say, do they have any knowledge of God? You say, no. You say, well, we got some trouble for a while here. We'll see how it works out. But whether we're mutilated, kill, ostracized, or whatever happens to us, we're children of the resurrection.

We're born with Jesus. and we move on, no matter who's our president or whatever. But I think it's this persona that people have to get over, especially the man's man. And look, I've studied with them, anyone. And I consider myself one when I came to Jesus. I mean, it was because this, my view of it was weak. I was like, these are weak people.

These, you know, they cry and. You know, how am I going to love my enemies? Yeah, I'm like, come on. That dude needs his butt foot. You know, that's the kind of. of stuff, I'm going to give him the right hand of fellowship. We want this kind of power.

But it reminds me of this, since we're talking about this, this scripture popped in my head when Paul told the Corinthians and said, let's take a break. When Paul told the Corinthians and 2nd Corinthians 134, he said, for to be sure, Jesus was crucified in weakness. Yet he lives

by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him. Yet by God's power, we will live with him to serve you. And that's really, I think, the ultimate question of how we view, here's with the backdrop in Rome, that's what he was saying.

I mean, this power is hard to manifest itself out there, but you trust me, in Jesus, you get your eyes on Jesus, and all of a sudden you've become the most powerful being on planet, no matter what it looks like. That's right. That's right. What anybody says.

It's interesting. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago, but called, God calling human beings, is said about four times. We received grace and apostleship, Romans 1 to, for a reason,

to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes of faith. You also are among those who are called to belong to Christ, to all in room who are loved by God, called to be saints. You're like, so God is,

is, how do you, all the words from these apostles, Al, and their converts, it was God calling the human race. Come on, come on. You know, we have life and immortality here. We have forgiveness of sins here. We have the spirit of God that's imperishable seed. Immortality, eternal life is riding on.

And he's called. them through this apparatus he set up and the Romans are saying kill them but but none of them all the ones that died they still live to this day yeah they're alive you know I would compare that dad to to the era of what a hope the era of the 40s when you had war war two happening and the world was basically all hanging on what happens in this war and in in America we you know we were slow to get in because we're like, yeah, that's over there. We don't want to get into it. But when we got into it, when there was Pearl Harbor, it was a calling.

Yep. And so, you know, you see all those old signs. Uncle Sam is calling you. Oh, yeah. Calling for the war effort. The women are making planes and tanks. My father was a soldier. My mother was an airplane riveter for the defense department.

Yeah, California, which is where you were going to see. Well, the same thing having 9-11. Exactly. A lot of people sitting there and they're like, now just wait. doggone in there. Right. I mean, it, you're, you feel called just by seeing evil. Oh, and so many people went, join the military after 9-11 immediately. I mean, they were like, we're getting, we're getting in on this because we're called to something bigger. So I think it's, I always think of that same thing when I see those texts. Rome was a powerful, was a powerful, powerful, powerful kingdom. But in the end,

you can go over there now and look around and say, well, there's Zeus. He's over. He's over on the ground, you know, statue, you know, you say the whole thing collapsed and you say, hmm, one more in a long line all the way to press a day. And it keeps going back to what old Jace keeps saying, what am I doing here? But you know that what? Well, but you even think about when Jesus said God,

there's, there, I think it's Matthew 12, where he said he's, the father's the Lord of heaven and earth. And it doesn't seem like a profound statement. But when you think about what we do in the world, we worship the sun or the moon or the, you know, they came up with all these gods that were from these different planets. And we're fascinated with all that. And then here comes this guy from now. And we say we can save the planet. We can save the cosmos.

Yeah. We can, I mean, we can, you know, do some recycling. When you start looking at it, man, we're just lucky to be a. alive. The place is volatile and we're perishable and so much for the whole galaxy.

But when he makes a simple statement like that he's like, the sun doesn't care about you. Guess what? If you get too close to it, you know what's going to happen? You're going to burn up without mercy. The moon doesn't care about you. None of this stuff that we

lift up or create gods that they're the god of the son or the god of the moon or how much how much concern do they have for you none none of this stuff you know we talked about trees and people hug them all over the world guess what that tree doesn't care about you it doesn't care if you're hugging them or not and so that's why what i love it when jesus makes those statements about he he's he's above that it makes me think of that passage in hebrews three where it says the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. I mean, why is he saying of that?

Of course, he goes back to Moses in the history because they were putting all their faith, which would have been tough if you've been taught a certain way your whole life through and then generation after generation to generation, then here comes a guy from Nazareth saying, okay, we got a new way. They're like, no, we're going to go with Moses the old way. Especially religious people who are the most hard-headed people on the planet. Yeah, but he makes that statement, which is a really good statement when Hebrews 3-3. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.

I mean, if that ever summed up humanity in all worldly powers, because we put all our faith in the way the house looks, the way the nation looks, the power display that we have. That's why we keep hollering, we got to save it. We got to save it. We can save the cosmos. Things falling apart. People are attacking us. What are we going to do?

Well, if you can find the one who can build it, he can build it again. Right. You then, you're on another level of power. And so then he goes on to say, which goes back to my point when it says regarding his son, I mean, those three words are very powerful because no matter what you read in that letter, it has to go through the filter of Jesus. Because then he says, for every house, verse four of Hebrews 3, is built by someone, common sense, but God is the builder of everything.

Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house testifying to what would be said in the future. So he had a role to play, and he did his part, and Paul's going to discuss that in Romans. And that was a long time before Jesus even showed up. Oh, yeah, hundreds of years, which makes this even more unbelievable for them. But then verse six. Hang on, Jay, so profound. Verse six is so profound, but it says, but Jesus Christ is faithful as a son over God's house, and we are his house.

Yep. if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. But, you know, the natural conclusion of that is, he's more important than the house. You're like, oh, we're God's house. The people, not the building, not the establishment, not even the nation. But the builder of the house is more important. I mean, to me, if we just got that one principle as a religious world,

we would be way more dynamic in our daily lives. And also back to... And we would be way more righteous than we are now as a nation. To Romans 1-3J, so regarding his son, this is why Paul is so brilliant in terms of a writer because the rest of verse 3 and verse 4, he sums up everything about Jesus in two verses. Regarding his son, who as to his human nature

was a descendant of David. There's all that Jewish history. all the covenant of David Going all the way back to Adam Eve, Seth Follow the lineage But he came from Nazareth Luke 3

But he was born in Bethlehem Which they did not And then verse 4 And who through the spirit of holiness Was declared with power To be the son of God By his resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord

So that's the God of side of the equation So I love it Because in two verses Paul explains the whole thing about Jesus that he was human, but he is God at the same time. And how do we know that? Because of the resurrection. No doubt.

And he also, Al, goes on to say your point in verse 6, and you also are among those who are called, but I like what you're called to. We don't use this phrase very much. We are called to belong to Jesus Christ. That should be your answer whenever you are in a situation where, mischief is about to take place. Because people ask me all the time, how do you overcome it, temptation,

what do you do when you're in a setting and things are going wrong? A good line to say is, I belong to Jesus. Whatever you are thinking about doing, that'll stop it. And that'll stop the invitation. I belong to Jesus.

I mean, just think about your belongings, your personal belongings. They, you know, they do what you, you know, they're your belongings. I mean, it's an interesting, way to characterize our relationship here. This last Sunday we recognized every year around the 1st of May, we've had a tradition going back at least 20 years at our church,

where we recognize high school graduating seniors. We get them up on stage. We usually give them a little gift and show some pictures of their development. Many of these kids grew up all through our church with children's ministry. They learned about Jesus. One of the things I always tell them to what you said, The way I put it is remember who you are because you're busy to go to some college campus. You're going to be sitting in these classes and these woke professors are going to try this stuff on it.

Remember two things. Remember who you are because you're us. We trained you for this moment and remember whose you are. Because if you belong to Jesus, it doesn't matter whether they trial these theologies and all these tricks that people do to confuse you. if you belong to Jesus, you're greater than any kind of false thing that can possibly come against you. And it doesn't matter what they do to you, you're going to live forever. I wish I had known that when I first did in my college career, I wish I had known that. Unfortunately, I didn't.

And after all the smoke cleared, you said, did you ever hear someone speak kindly? One kind word in eight years of my education about. But the word Jesus, not one time. Much less the person. Much less the person, not once. You say, it's interesting. You look at our government, just how many time do you hear them say, the governing officials, either side, I don't care what you call them.

You say, I don't hear the word Jesus coming out of it. That's why I brought up Nathan. I belong to it, and I'm looking at him. I'm saying, how y'all never mention him? But you know what's ironic? Dad, you know, it's ironic about that? Right now, in Rustin, Louisiana, there's a plaque hanging with 150 other plaques.

Y'all the years of Louisiana Tech University, every year they pick one person, and they honor that person by saying, this is our alumnus of the year, and they're in the Alumni Hall of Fame. And so all these plaques are hanging on the wall with pictures. You're up there, 2014, and you know what it says? on your plaque, a servant of Christ.

Really? Really. And so the last laugh... You tell me that before. The last laugh is held by you because that's exactly how Roman starts out. Paul is serving of Christ. And it's hanging in the Louisiana Tech. I can see it now.

Louisiana Tech will decide to have one section of where they teach about Jesus Christ. I don't know. We're going to go that far. You can go there. There's a course. He's a fellow galilee. He's a carpenter. He's a carpenter.

He was a carpenter, but we're going to talk about him. And if you want to go over there while you're being educated, if somebody had come to me, said, listen, you found out about this person. And, you know, he's the savior of the world. I'd have said, really, yeah. Of course, you'd have had enough religious background where it might have kept me from some of my mischief. I will say something else, though, Dad.

So I stood there for 30 minutes and read all the plaques. Yours is the only one. Really? That mentions the name of Congress. That is scary. It does seem counterproductive in our education system where they talk about being willing to talk about anything in education, but they don't want to talk about when most of the people identify as themselves in some religious way across the globe. Right.

We don't want to talk about that. It's the one issue that we don't want to talk about it. Good, bad, or different. I guess I owe my former university anthropology. and say, you know what, you did put my ugly face on the wall and say, what do you say I say? It says, well, here's what it's. Here's the full thing. It says a duck hunting icon, which is true.

I mean, you're probably the most famous duck hunter in the world, I guess. James, maybe you're the second most. Second one says TV personality, which, let's face it, that's why you got on the wall was more because we had a TV show. I mean, just being honest. And then third, third, but most important, a servant of Christ. Well, that was good. Somebody put time. I actually wrote it.

Louisiana Tech is bringing Jesus back into the curriculum. I'll tell you why, y'all do that, and I'll send you some money. So far, I haven't sent you a dime. I was going to say. By the way, we're going to tell you about Jesus. We don't care what anybody says. So people have names on buildings. I have a check ready that you will receive when that happens.

If they have one where you can. It's a good deal. People can preach the gospel. They'll be the Robertson Hall. I will donate money to the university. I'll do the class for free. Brattshow, my old buddy Bradshaw said, Phil, all they want when they put your plaque up there,

all they want to check. I'm like, when they get her department that teaches about Jesus, just a little bit, but at least bring his name up from time to time. They'll offer a class where they share Jesus. Look, I'll volunteer to teach it, and then you can just pay me if you want to give a contribution. By the way, my education, yeah. So I'm saying we'll circle.

Wait a minute, I will too. My education, by the way, for the ones who are, who are interested, it didn't help me with making the duck calls. Ms. Case says it actually did. Because she said, you know. But sometimes knowledge is not the key. You learn, it's kind of like when I went to the school with Al, I had a miserable time. But it taught me discipline and patience and just the fact that I graduated really taught you

the spiritual qualities that you needed to make it work. I've always said college education teaches you as much about how to deal with the world as anything. And a lot about perseverance. That's right. Just stay the course. I've always said in our education system, it's like eating fish and you've got to spit out the bones. The problem is now when you get a non-Christian

university, all you're doing is hacking on the bones. It's all bones. You're just, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. You're like that old dog underneath the table. I'm like, give me some sustenance, some meat. That's true.

Well, anyway, Romans, we're off and running with our study Romans. I want to encourage our Unashamed Nation to read ahead a little bit, you know, and it'll help you when we go through it if you kind of read through the book. I've read through it several times just in prep for it. If you read something in its context, it helps you when you go back and you kind of talk about. I would say it's about my most favorite book. I love it. I'll give you an example.

I know we're out of time. but even that verse we just read that those who belong to Jesus, I did a class one time that how we belong to Jesus, but by that you deduct it, oh, I belong. Because one of the struggles that we have is feeling inadequate, unworthy. We have our sin. We have our baggage. And just say when you read a verse, you immediately think,

oh, I belong to Jesus. But then there's a lot of ways to look at that. and one of the great blessings we get to experience is that, oh, even me, I have a place where I belong. That's exactly right. And most people want to belong to something. 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.

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