Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 343 | Si Loses His Mind with Jase & How Phil Caught Tons of Fish with Bare Hooks

Episode Date: September 10, 2021

Jase beats Willie in a golf tournament and gets accused of hustling. Si has a total meltdown after Jase wins yet another card game. Jase and Al discuss miracles in the Bible and how Jesus used them to prove he transcended earthly power. And Phil tells the story of catching fish on trotlines — with NO bait. - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So I preached. We're a little bit behind. I try to kind of partner our, whatever we're doing our study on the podcast with what we're preaching at WFR because that way I can get some good sermon ideas like I did from Jason's, from our last podcast.

So I can use that when I get there. But so I did, so I just did the genealogy this past Sunday. because we're just cranking the book out. And it was really interesting because, you know, I made the whole point that we've talked about on here about the idea of that grace was kind of all spread through it because you had those women mentioned, you know,

that how this really scandalous, you know, situations that they brought into the lineage of Christ. So I kind of made that point that really from the beginning, Matthew was talking about grace. But I was like, you know, why do people look back anyway? But if you think about it, and I made this point, Dad,

that if, you know, Phyllis' son, had not been interested in his genealogy, Grant, you know, my nephew, your grandson, if he hadn't been interested in looking back, they never would have found us. That's true. And, you know, so I thought, man, because when they started the process, they had no idea that, you know, that the guy who she thought her whole life was her dad was her dad. But then when they looked at the DNA and the genealogy, just sort of like when, Matthew started this book, you look back and you thought, wait a minute, something we've thought

was true our whole lives, something's not right. She had to change her thinking by saying he's not my dad, the fellow, he's my stepdad. Right. My dad is down in the woods over. That's right. And put on top of that, dad, that he had been dead for nine years. So in other words, it wasn't like you could go back and say, hey, I just found this out and have a conversation with him.

He's been gone a while. That's right. And so it really put her in an interesting position to then have to start searching and looking to find. And when I was doing some study on not only that chapter, but also what we're studying here in Matthew, it was interesting because this Chuck Swindal, who I've been reading his commentary, he said, how many of you even know the name of your great grandmother and great grandfather? And I thought to myself, you know, just four generations, most people go back. Most people don't have any idea. No. They couldn't just name them, you know, easily or quickly, unless you spend a little time looking back.

So it does show you how quickly, in terms of human generations and human time, how quickly we forget as, you know, even our fairly recent past. I mean, within 75 to 100 years of your past, you just lose it. So I thought it was interesting that thinking about all that in context of why Matthew thought it was important to put Jesus's genealogy, you know, in there from a perspective of him being the king, you know, because he was the king of kings. So that was the whole idea that came behind. But I just thought, you know, we could relate to that. So I asked Phyllis about it. I said, what do you think about that? And she was like, oh, I know the importance of genealogy.

What's interesting for Phyllis is that she had so many things that didn't quite fit in her mind. into her family that she was raised in, she just didn't quite understand why she looked at things differently and was different. And of course, it took 44 years to find out exactly why. And so we're blessed to have her here now.

But we were saying this other day, and we did Tony's Facebook Live thing for his art because we got some new art up behind us from Tony. And, you know, when you, she loves to hunt, she loves being outdoors, and she never really did any of that stuff

growing up because her family was not like that. So now she's kind of getting to redo all that, you know, as an older woman, which is really interesting. So anyway, just I thought it was worth noting, Deis, that we kind of have a family connection, you know. I like looking at genealogies because when you start thinking of along those lines, you're going to eventually get back to the fundamental human question. How did we get here? That's right. Where do that come from?

When I look at our genealogy, I mean, I have to really think my other brother, our other brother, Willie. So we're in a golf tournament this weekend, which... I was wondering if you played in that. Oh, I played in it. And so me and my partner, my partner's pretty good. So was it a two-man? Two-man, four-ball, which Phil has no idea what that means. But you play your own ball, and your partner plays his own ball,

and whoever makes the best score out of you playing, that's what your score is. So I don't know why it's called four-ball, actually. But here's what's funny. The people we play with, was Willie and one of his buddies. Willie ain't been playing in golf. I ain't been playing much.

But my partner is better than his partner. That's a given. Well, we go out there and shoot the same score. Now, they felt good. They shot 76, which is four over. We felt terrible. I was embarrassed. Neither me nor my partner played.

Well, I think Willie in his mind thought, we can beat him. You know, so we, so now you got a competition. Well, it's 76 and 76. So, but there's a day, too. Well, so what happened was they, they flight this thing. So they have the championship flight. They're all too good.

These people practice all the time. So then we were going to be in the first flight that are the non, you know, these guys should have gone pro, but whatever happened. You know, there's always a story. But they're up there battling for who's the best. So then you have that next tier. Well, we shot so bad that we got bumped down to the next tier. So we're in the second flight.

And so we, but since we shot the same score and the way it turned out, we played with Willie again. On day two. So we get out there on the first team. You're like rom and cantalade. You got to remember, this is the rules of golf. You know, they counted my clubs for a hit. I thought, oh my goodness, which I did, you know, and then they grabbed one, which they still have. He's like, hey, we saved you from being disqualified.

I was like, what did they take? I said, I gave my three iron because I was like, I can't hit it anyway, so I don't know why it's in there. You're only supposed to have 14 clubs. So look, we got up there and fixed a tee off and Willie's like, I say we put a $5 Nassau on this. And I said, with who? I mean, this, what happened yesterday? That miracle that we shot the very worst and you shot the very bad. That's all I needed.

I mean, I was thankful for my genealogy in that moment because who cares about the tournament now? I thought the audacity to think that that's fixed to happen again. So long story short, we shot 68, which felt more like it. And eight-stroke improvement. They shot 74, which was an improvement. And honestly, I was shocked that they played that day. So Willie's partner sends me this tape. I want you to explain to me what this means because I thought about this.

I'm glad you brought it up. He said, are you going to be in Westham Road this weekend? Yes. We need a spotter to play with me and Willie Saturday in the Pine Cone. Yeah. It will be sometimes Saturday morning. What does that mean? We need a spotter.

Well, because they didn't have an even number of teams. And so there was like when it got, so you play four people per hole. Well, the way the math went up, it was too short. So they needed somebody to play because they just didn't want to play by themselves. But what happened was somebody else dropped out. Okay. And so then we eventually played with them. I got you.

But here's what's funny. Because I was like, I haven't played. And plus, I don't even know what a spotter. I don't even know what that's. These things are hard, you know. Oh, they're terrible. You got to play the ball down. Oh, yeah.

We played really, really good the second day. What's so funny is Willie. So they're down. you know, $5 and you can press and it's complicated, you know, but make a long story short. Willie's the king of the president. We get to 18 and he's 20 bucks down. And so he said, how about on the last hole, double or nothing, you know, unless we tie, then you owe us 20.

But 40, you know, if we lose the hole and zero if we went. So like, okay. So my partner makes Birdie. So Willie, actually, I mean, I had to give him credit. He's got about a 20 footer for Bertie, and he made it. So, which then he felt like he won somehow, that he lost 20. I was like, go ahead and give me that 20 in your victory wall, in your fist pump, which means you lost 20 instead of 40.

And so then we went and got wound up getting second in our flight, which means you get paid. And, yeah, because that's a pretty big. tournament. Oh, it's big. Yeah. Yeah. So it was good. Of course, then, look.

But then everybody thinks your sandbag the first day. Look, so I get up there. That's why I left. We're waiting around, you know, for the money here. That's payday. We're in the money. Everybody's happy. I thought.

No. So this guy, I don't know. He said, yeah, boy, that was pretty good to shoot eight strokes better than you did the day before. And then his buddy said, yeah. Of course, they had had a few adult beverages. he's like, I think we got a little hustling going on. I was like, yeah, that's me, the golf hustler. I said, let me tell you.

Purposely playing bad. I'm going to tell you something. I said, that's 76 yesterday. We earned that. That was the round. But you know what kills. And people say that, just because do they not watch professional, even professional golfers? I mean, a guy can go out and shoot 62.

Well, I got, and then the next day, shoot 72. I mean, it happens. For you, when you play the ball down on a course that's not a PGA tour course and you hit it a little right or lel, the PGA tour don't have a rock bed in a washout, you know, with three pine cones sitting on your ball and you got to hit that thing. Or a root wide, yeah, exactly. I broke a club. Yeah. Because I hit one. There was a little tree in my way on my three swing.

Well, I never food was a golf world, so I don't know. You feel like you're missing something. I all started talking about Genie. Absolutely not. I love that genealogy led you into Willie. Well, I just thought it just was so shocking to me that they, because we tied one day, that all of a sudden he'd come out there just saying, yeah, y'all want to play us? I was like, yes, I do.

Add a zero to that five. Oh, that's classic. No, we'll just make it fun, $5. It's just a story of has-beens, washouts that are just trying to be. And used to be. Just trying to slick somebody in a little. So I tried for the perfect day. Then I went up.

Lacey, you enjoyed taking that $20 more from Willie than you did anything to do with that golf tournament. There's no sweeter money on the planet. He's digging into his wallet. Give me that $20. So then I go dove hunting, which turned out to be not as good. Yeah, I love eating doves. I'm still waiting on that. That's one of the finest eating birds.

It is my favorite of all foul. Today, this is no joke. So I go out there. And of course, I didn't go with the crew, and it's a thousand-acre field, and there was a lot of dubs, but I just, I could not get one to fly over. What's funny is on the way down here, you know, I passed by a size house, and I kid you not, the power line runs over his door, and the biggest dove I've ever seen. One of those white-winged doves was on the power line right above his door. And I thought, that's a sign right there, that it's over. There's no threat here.

That's right. So I can't wait to tell him. Yeah, it was just sitting there. I didn't notice that on the way down here. I was like, well, there he is right there. I need to come outside of yard. I know. I'm hoping somebody will kill some so we can do some.

In fact, they had real tree on their, I mean, on their website the other day, Jace was running different recipes. Yeah. And they had a big old pile of grilled dubs that they had bacon wrapped around them. They put a little cream cheese and jalapidia in there. It was like, here's what you need to get your fog kept up. I'm going to get them. I'm going to watch.

You know, it's funny. We talked a few podcasts ago about a sign I playing cards together. And since that time, we played, because he always says I get lucky, and it's always laughable because we've done this for years. Speaking of genealogy. Yeah. And I will say, the last time we played, maybe this was a sign or whatever, we get involved in a hand.

I mean, this is just a few nights ago. and I have 2-4, which I realize is not a great hand. It's one of the worst hands you can have, but I was being ambitious. Well, Sa has 10-4, which actually technically is a worse hand than 2-4 because at least mine, if an ace of 3 and 5 come out, I can hit a straight. 10-4, you should fold always and hold them. I mean, well, what happened was two-fours came out, for your community cards.

There's only four fours in the deck. I'm explaining this for Phil. You have four fours in the deck of cards. I have one. Si has one. Well, two of them, the other two, came out. So I'm looking down, I'm like, ooh, I got three fours. Well, Sa's looking down, ooh, I got three fours.

Well, the problem is his 10 beats my two. Correct. Unless there's two cards over a 10 out there, which there weren't. And so, Saia's overbedding the pot, which he normally does. He's just bedding huge. And he was putting me to a point of where I got to like either fold or shove all in and get him to fold, which is what I tried to do, which is impossible because he has a four. I mean, I didn't think he had a four because there's only four of them. Because if he does have a four, I'm in trouble.

Anyway, I go all in. He's like, car. So we got all our money out there. Well, we turned the card over and I'm like, whoops. Because he actually had a four with a 10. So I'm like, I'm actually getting my wallet out to re-buy. Because I thought, well, he finally got me in a hand, you know.

The last car, there's one card to come. Deuce. Oh, no. which gives me a full house, a boat. There was three deuses I could have hit in the deck. When that card came out, it was like all these years everything Sai has been saying about, I'm the luckiest man alive. It was like a tea cattle that the water that is now ready to pour.

He goes off. And I mean, some of the things he said, I think he was trying to say one thing and it came out differently because it was worse than PG-13. And he lost his mind for real. He just had a meltdown. So after everybody was bewildered and looked, then we laughed for 10 minutes until I thought I was going to pee in my pants. But I was like, sigh, I got lucky.

Sorry. Now give me that pot. It was so funny. I'm going to have to ask him about it now. Yeah, asking about the four deuce, which was weird because the only reason I played it, because Willie's daughter, that's her bluffing hand when we play on vacation. She'll just take the four to, well, why do you pick that the worst half possible? And she just acts like it's pocket aces.

And she tries to bluff with it, which is funny. Which is one of the reasons I played it because it became a memorable hand. So then I said Sadie taught me that, Ty, sorry. Let's take a break. Yeah, I might ask about that. All right, I had to share that. I don't know it popped into my head. I thought it was funny, so we'd clear that.

So for the record, I'm saying I got lucky. You got lucky. But Sae says all your plan is luck. But my point is if I would have reballed and you play, you know, good card. Eventually, it would have all made its way back. It's not like you never make a mistake. I made a mistake. But reading Sai is impossible.

So I don't worry about Saia because I just think the longer he sits there, that's to my advantage. That's how this works. And they wonder why I've never played a card game. No, that's one that got by me. You never find yourself in these situations. It's like I was telling that story, the sound effects from Phil's visual was just cricket.

Nothing. Four, two, ten, four. So Jay's on the last. a podcast, you had some really interesting stuff about Copernium because that's where Jesus starts his ministry of Matthew chapter 4. And you said there was one more thing you were going to Well, what I thought was interesting. Look, there was a lot of things. Because it really was a spiritual versus physical. It was. And you see that in the miracles he did. And that's where he was going public. And you see all this happening in the Roman center. And I mean, and he also healed Peter

mother-in-law, that's in there. I mean, there was a lot of things happened. So you would think with all the miracles that happened there, this would be the most spiritual city on the planet. Well, what's interesting is when you get to

Matthew 11, which we will eventually get to in more detail, but I just wanted to bring this out because I think there's a fundamental principle that you should never miss when it comes to chasing in time, you know, miracles or answers to your problems,

but only from an earthly perspective. Right. That's not what we're about. That's why I went through those fundamentals about what Jesus represents as far as the Heavenly Kingdom and that the one who wrote these words is more important on how you view the agreement with other people on what the words were.

You got to look at it from a relational standpoint, which was what Jesus was trying to do. And where you look at the answer to the spiritual problems, way more important than the physical. That's why when he healed the paralytic, well, the first thing he said, he forgave him his sins. Which just threw the teachers of the law into a conundrum

because they're like, well, you're a blasphemer. But he was using a sign to show that, he had the authority over the physical and the spiritual. But it's more important to have your sins forgiven, which the cross proved that and the resurrection, and more important to live again, than to have a temporary stay of physical health. Right.

And I think that's what people miss. And I'm going to prove it to you, because when he gets to Matthew 11 in verse 20, Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed. So you're like, why is he denouncing the cities where the miracles had been performed? Because they didn't get it.

It didn't lead them to him. They were just enamored by the miracles. Kind of like the idea of the people following him that when he fed the 5,000 for more fish and bread because it was really good. Yeah. Then the idea that he has the power to create fish and bread from nothing. They were more concerned about the one meal than the. idea that he was the ultimate fear. But you would think this was common sense, but you see it in our modern culture today. People are gathering up, and they're still looking for signs.

They're like, well, you have the one who gave the signs available. The spirit's been poured out, made available. Go get it. They're like, yeah, but I want the sign to show that I can get it. Or I want an end-time sign. Yeah, he mentions Tyre and Saddam, but look what he says in 22. I think it's 22. But I tell you it will be more bearable for Tyrant Saddam on the Day of Judgment than for you. And you, yeah, 23. And you, here it is. I've been calling it Copernum, but you say Copernium.

But either way. And you, Copernum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No. You will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom. Adam. Yeah, I don't know why I sets it on. It would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you. Whoa. Whoa. What a statement. Which is, by the way, where I got the idea that this passage is where I got the

idea that Jesus knows what would happen if something that didn't happen would have happened. because that's basically what he said. If the miracles would have been performed here instead of there, then this would have happened. Well, it didn't happen. But if it did, this would have happened. That's right. Well, how do you know that?

Which goes to my point, his characteristics, his traits are beyond earthly imagination. I mean, you can say, oh, yeah, yeah, I get it. So I just thought, I wanted to bring that up to say, of all the great things that he did, of all the great stories we did and all the spiritual principles, they still missed it as a town. Yeah. And there's a region. Is that not incredible? It's amazing. And, I mean, he compares it to Sodom, which we know is one of the greatest sites of judgment in all of human history, especially in biblical history, you know, Sodom and Gomorrah.

and what happened to them. And he's saying, man, if we did just, if I had done what was done here to them, Abraham would have done that back in the day. That's why a text that says, and Gabriel was talking to Mary, going back to the beginning of the book of Matthew, nothing is impossible for God. Right. Human beings have this zone, this limit.

They'll go right up to it, but they won't think nothing is impossible. Well, that's why. That's right. But that's why I feel. They still have one more thing. When we talk about this, because I've had some letters. Because of Ben, all of them say, it's impossible. Right.

They're usually at word all the time. It's impossible and impossible. You say, not with God. And they're like, what are you trying to say? You say, we're saying what Jesus is saying. Nothing is impossible for him. Well, exactly. I mean, look, I had some guys seen me a book the other day.

Because basically they're saying, well, what's your thoughts on modern day miracles? I'm like, look, guy can do whatever he wants to. Now, whether it's supernatural work that you're calling a miracle, because a lot of times we've prayed, we've had hundreds of stories where we prayed and a person was healed, and I believe God worked in their life. I believe he did it. Now, is that a miracle? Religious people call that a miracle.

But a miracle is something that even an atheist would believe. It's not necessarily. And I know it's semantics, but I think it's important. It may be the providential work of God, and you think it's a supernatural occurrence. A miracle is what's going on here. We have people being raised from the dead and paralytic's being healed. I mean, bodies are being fused. And these are things that are impossible.

And so if God wants to do that today, well, who's? Who am I to say no? But I will say this, based on what we've read so far, especially in the last two podcasts, that leads you to the miracle worker, to a relationship with him. That's more important. Which is the most important. Let's take another break. Yeah, Jayce, it'd be like our old friend Joey Jones.

You know, he lost both of his legs in Afghanistan. understand, if God in his possibilities grew two new legs, we wouldn't have any qualms calling that a miracle. That's a miracle. Like if he came in and it just, bam, not surgeries, not just boom, they're back. Well, that's a miracle. Right. Now, if we pray for him and he's healed, but he doesn't have new legs and he finds a way to

have prosthetics and we're like God worked in his life providentially. It's not a miracle. Right. That's what I was trying to get back. But even your, to your point, even if he did that and we marveled at it, if we still miss Jesus and his ability to forgive, what would it matter? There's still a dead in-rope. You would run around, but you wouldn't be lost. Well, it's like, that's why I'm saying, the people that send letters and look, you're missing the point. It doesn't matter that you believe in modern day miracles as much as it matters if people believe that Jesus is the son of God. To me, we're just wasting time here.

You sending me a book about that or a letter about that is a complete waste of time, because I'm all for them. I mean, it's like when somebody asked me about speaking in tongues once upon a time, and look, there's a lot of different interpretations of what that means. you know, some people believe that, based on what you read next two, that people were hearing their language in their ears, in their ears from people who had never studied that language, which I think that's what was happening. Yep, no doubt.

That's a miracle. Well, when I go to the Ukraine, I actually prayed that I could speak in tongues. And you said, why did you pray that? Because I couldn't understand what they were saying. And I was trying to share Jesus with. And they couldn't understand what you were. And so I actually pray. And I was like, Lord, I'm ready.

Give it to me. Because I'm going to share Jesus with them. My heart was right. Because I was putting, I wasn't putting the cart before the horse. I was like, I'm going to share Jesus. Well, it never happened. But I met an interpreter who knew Ukraine and English. So I thought, well, it's not a miracle.

But I really believed God sent that guy. It would get the job done. It got the job done. I prayed, who cares on whether, why should we sit around in a circle and determine whether that was a miracle or not? It doesn't matter. Now let's go share Jesus with all the Ukrainian so that we can get up in heaven and laugh about how this happened.

But to me, that's my point. And I hope that clarify, because I get a lot of feedback on that. Because this is a sore subject with people. You know, they're, I don't know why I think it's some particular religious. groups. They're like, so what do you say it? I'm saying, Jesus is Lord, and he did all this miraculous work in this town, and then he just chastised them saying, gave you all the miracles, and you're saying there a text somewhere it says, blessed are you, because you've seen, you believe, but more blessed are the ones who have not seen, but were blessed. That's right.

That's what he said to Peter. That's John 20. Yeah. No, John, John, at the end of Matthew 60. Yeah. In John 20, he said, now, you know, if it's in the book of John, I mean, that's where I hang out. When he said, I think it's John 20 in verse 30. Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Oh, I skipped it. It was before that.

Verse 29. Thomas said, remember when Thomas said, I won't believe? He said, all right, I believe my Lord and my God. Then Jesus said, because you have seen me, you have believed me. Yeah. You have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Then he said Jesus did many other miraculous signs.

Yeah, right at the end. I was thinking of a different one, but it's similar. The idea is what he told Peter when he said he was the Christ, the son of the living God. He said, blessed are you, Simon, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my father in heaven, which I thought was pretty interesting. Because nobody there would have been telling him that because nobody believed it, you know? Well, it's like the last podcast. I talked about this snake was inches away from me. Now, if that snake bites me, it's probably an out.

Well, I guess if you were not going the speed limit. 35 minutes to the hospital. So barring a miracle, probably be dead. Tessian wasn't that big. Yeah, because he was three-footer. So, you know, if the snake would have bit me, you say, well, what are you going to do?

There's a verse in there that says you can handle deadly snakes and won't be hurt. Well, that's true. So if God decided to do that in that moment, great. I wouldn't say, oh, no, God can't do it because it's more important to put your faith in Jesus. But to me, so if that didn't happen, then what's going to happen? I'm going to die, and then I'm going to be resurrected. So guess what?

I still won. And I can guarantee you, I don't know that you would have died, but I can guarantee you you would have swole up. Because every time I've seen a cotton mouth bite anything. I just look at my dogs. The dogs is what I was thinking. I'm just saying you can take this to a point. Well, you know, put your tennis shoes on and just walk from one end of your property to the other looking up.

I will guarantee you by the time you get to the end, you're going to need medical assistance. Just about. You have to watch where he stepped down in each. No, that's why I said, look up and just walk. I'm telling you, you ain't going to make it. Stone told me he jumped up on top of the blind other day that they were brushing a blind and a couple of them big old red wastes got him, I said, boy, it made you mad too.

He said, oh, there's nothing worse that's just getting a couple of. But you think about it out, what led to this in Matthew 4, we just covered the temptation of Jesus. And one of the issues was, Jesus' response was don't put the Lord God to the test. That's right. That's right. I mean, don't come up with a scenario.

I just don't like it when we gather up at a religious setting. And we're having great worship. And then the guy comes out and said, you know, are you ready for a miracle today? I would rather you say, you know, are you ready for Jesus today? You're ready to see Jesus, though. The miracle leads us to Jesus. So at least if you're going to say that, clarify it. But what they usually say is then they define the miracle.

And they'll say, you know, we're going to tear down some walls in your life. We're going to start out. Well, I'm like, well, none of these things were miracles. He does that. That's right. That's just this supernatural work. That's right. I mean, call it a pet peeve, but I'm like, gee, Wes, can we not figure out how to communicate this?

Because I don't want to make it less appealing to the world because they're reading their Bible. And that's why I brought this up about Copernum. I mean, to me, it's just so stunning that he said that after all this stuff had happened there. You would have felt that have been the greatest, most fired up place in the world. Well, it makes you wonder, let's take another break. It makes you wonder if we get back to our text in Matthew 4, 18, because Matthew is going to tell about the early disciples. He mentions the four fishermen.

Well, what I was going to say before you read that was, I think it makes you realize that verse 17, when he said repent, it's just hard to repent. Yeah. You know, you see something spectacular, and this guy is representing heaven. and he's doing miracles. But when you're like,

that means you've got to start changing how you think and where you go and what you do and how you live. And, you know, you fast forward to Matthew 11 where he's like, hey, Sodom is going to be better off than you. Well, these people didn't want to repent. And look, people now don't want to either. It's not easy.

And remember, not only was it talking about just to change life that repent, which is what that word means, but their view of the kingdom had to change too. That's right. Because they saw it only as an earthly kingdom. I'm talking about earthly versus spiritual. They saw it as a setting of the preeminence of Israel forever.

And by the way, there's still a lot of people that are still hanging right there on that one thing about physical Israel being the preeminent as if that's the purpose of the kingdom. It changes your ancestry, your whole life. You know, we're talking about genealogy. You know, your families believe a certain way. it's just hard to come in there in Jesus and say, you know what? I'm changing how I think.

Because to me, that's been of all the people I've studied with. It seems to be the biggest problem with people not coming to Jesus is they're like, well, if I embrace this, that means my family or my ancestry. They're mistaken. And people don't want to deal with that. Right. And it's understandable. But I think that's what part of this is.

Yeah, I think you're right. And it's hard to, and it's, like you said, it's not easy to do. Which is why Jesus, yeah, which is why Jesus went around with the riff, Ralph and the broken and the outcasts, which leads us to the calling his first disciples of fishermen, which still, look, if somebody, when we were fishermen, we'd have been on a bank and somebody come down and said, hey, y'all come follow us. I'd have been like, where? Oh, yeah. I mean, this ain't much, but it's something. I mean, just to pick up and take off, right? I've seen more than one that just watched us when we've been down there baptizing people.

And look, they're like this. They just shake their heads. This bunch. Well, Phil, they're still shaking their heads. I know. They're still wondering. Yeah. Well, I just thought it was interesting.

What did they think? Now, we know that Andrew and Philip were John the Baptist disciples. We know that from, was it John? And so they already had kind of an idea about what this was about. And then so I think they were probably present, at least whenever John said, this is the Lamb of God, the one we've been waiting on. So Andrew, first thing he does is goes and tells Philip, I mean, tells Peter about it. Because he's thinking, you know, obviously Peter's got some abilities that he's thinking this would be, I mean, he would be just right for them. Plus, you think about it.

You're out there the way they live. and somebody just comes along and say, look, they've got this guy he's right up here where they saw him yesterday and there's something about the way he talked. It started out like somebody's out here that's among us that we don't know what this is all about, but they're beginning to say

some even saying he's the Messiah. Yeah. You know, what? He's healing people. Where is you from? And they start talking. I say, wait a minute. And I could see how they were sort of slow because if somebody walked up to me and, you know, I've never read anything about him.

And they started telling me about this guy who goes around and large crowds are beginning to follow him. I would be a little suspect. Yeah. Wouldn't you? Oh, absolutely. And that's what I was thinking. I wonder how much they were influenced by what they were hearing about Jesus. How much did they actually see?

Because they're from this region too. They weren't seeing it first. Yeah. I mean, I just wonder what they knew. We know from John, oh, no, it's Luke, Luke 5 that you get a little more detailed account of how Peter came. Remember, he was, he asked Peter if he could push out on his boat a little bit to be up so this audience could hear him. And so Peter's just listening to what he says. And then, of course, that's when they have the miraculous catch.

You know, he says, throw your nets out. And so they caught all those fish. And of course, James and John were over there too. So that, you know, he just tells the story, Matthew, but what really happened. was it was a miracle catch that got their attention. But do you remember Peter's response? And now they're looking over at the one he was doing the talking. So they've been listening to him talk.

Them and a lot of fish, the creator of fish, he's just pulled one off here. And it has a way of impacting people. But to Jason's point about repentance, isn't it interesting that Peter's response to the miracle was, go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. Yep. In other words, I'm not worthy. I don't need to be in your company. I don't even need to be here.

That's exactly right. Which is the ultimate repentant thought. Yep. Well, which goes back to the point I was trying to make. If you're pursuing the miracles, you don't realize that God uses the brokenness and the emptiness and the wreck of your life to get your heart in a position to where you're like, oh, I can't do this, which is what we learned in Romans. I mean, that was one of the foundational. principle. Because to the world's perspective, they go to a meeting and you're promising all these miracles. They're looking at their life. They're like, well, it doesn't happen. Good.

Happened to me. But that's where you should hang out because that gives you the platform to realize how much you need Jesus. Because you've made a mess of yourself. I think it's a more realistic way. If I'm just connected to the miracle worker, I feel pretty good about it. Exactly. I'm like, I'm with him. They're like, well, has he done a miracle for you today? No, but I guarantee you when I die, I'm going to need that one miracle. Yeah, that's fine. That's what I always tell people as a joke, because they're like, do you believe in miracles?

I'll say, I believe in at least one. I will come back from the dead, and that's a biggie. That's right. Well, and let's take our last break. I do think it's interesting that Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful, because these men are in faith leaving what they know. You know, was it any easier for them to walk away from the nets as it was for Matthew to walk away from the tax booth?

That's what he knew. Yeah, the bloodline and the seed line is followed all the way from Genesis. That's right. All the way to Mary and Joe, what we're looking at, Matthew. And so the reason I brought up, I mean, Abraham is because in Genesis 12, God told Abraham, he said, take your family and go to a place that I'll tell you about when you get there, that you're at the place. And Abraham got his people together and took off. And so that same covenant that was made with him is the same one we're seeing here with Jesus.

And he goes to these men and he says, come and follow me. And you're right. He didn't give a lot of explanation about what we're going to be doing. I think there's two important principles here. Number one is, I think it's more important to realize Jesus is pursuing us than we are pursuing him. Because that was what he did. He said, come follow me. But in a lot of religious settings, it's all about, well, you need to pursue him.

But if you share more about him pursuing you, that's the proper motivation. The second thing is everybody talks about what is their calling when it comes to church and religion. well they just happened to be fishermen so he said i will make you fishers of men but he said the same thing in matthew nine when he got to the farmers i mean the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few and the lord uh ask the lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field and my point is whatever you do that becomes your platform your fisherman, you're fisher's a man. You realize Jesus is pursuing you. If you're a farmer, guess what you become? Farmers for men. If you're an accountant, you're an accountant for men.

That's how this worked, which I think would clear up all these people looking around saying, Waters don't know, I'm waiting on my calling. Jesus, he pursues you, and then you use whatever you do to become that for men, for Jesus. Right. And it doesn't take away. It makes everything else secondary. So, I mean, we grew up fishing. It was work.

We enjoyed it. We still liked to eat fish. But when Jesus was number one, fishing or anything else was never going to be above that. So I think that's the mindset. You know, that Jesus is always above whatever it is you enjoy, whatever is you're good at, whatever. I mean, as long as he's where he's supposed to be. And it did work out for the best. It did.

That's why he said that time and John, where he's, he said the work of God. When he said him and the father had been working and I'm working now and he's like, the work of God is to believe in the one he sent. Right. And so it doesn't, when you look at all the work that people do, you can always find the same process, whether it's fishing, farming, accounting, just pick anything. The same process happens to achieve something, but you're doing it for men out of

loyalty to Jesus. That's why he said, you know, in Ephesians, he created beforehand good works for us to do in Christ Jesus. Right. It's the same concept. When I put out the thousand hooks on the state line road between Arkansas

and Louisiana, Arkansas to the north, Louisiana to the south, that road, there is one between the two states. I put my trot lines out there. I needed about, you know, $600 worth of fish. I caught a thousand dollars worth of fish.

Just set the hooks out. They were biting. They were hitting the hooks and getting caught without baiting the trot line. But when I baited it, I never left it until the boat was almost sinking. And the two guys with me were not Christians. But I told them, I said, before I ever put them out, I said, the Almighty's with us, boys. I said, we're going to see what's fixing to happen right here.

I believe. Supernatural, providential work of God. It wasn't a miracle, right? I just looked at it and I said, thank you, Lord. Now, they were jumping up and down saying we've never seen anything like this in our entire life. What would have been a miracle there? I guess a miracle would have been if they would have fallen from the sky. Or maybe just all jumped into the boat.

Oh, yeah, they'll jump in the boat. All I know is I went back, I had the ice in my truck like I was going to catch them. I believed I was. And I got the fish, and it took a while to get the fish from the boat to get them loaded over. And I had a big, big, big whole truckload, big old ice box. I drove down at it. Well, now we actually have the flying cart, you know, the jump in the boat. I mean, even the guy at the fish market said, those were.

some pretty catfish. Where'd you catch him? I said up on the Arkansas line. He said, man, we needed them. So this was backwater or something that had gotten on this road? Backwater was falling out in about July, a little early than right now. Here's what I find interesting about that story. So you're a new Christian. It was either dog luck, a miracle of just God's saying. This was within the first five years of your Christian walk. That's right. So or providential. What I'm saying, it was a supernatural providential work. It was a lot of fish in a hurry. I've never done it before our sands on the trot line. So it was, but you had faith because you went prepared.

Yep. For what God was going to do. So you had faith. And he did some work. And you did some work. A lot of work. You put the stuff out. And you had knowledge because you knew when back all was falling out, you had a good

chance of catching fish. So you put all that together, what you're naturally good at. You have some things you know. You're willing to jump in with both hands. But ultimately, you trust in God. That's how you operate your life. I mean, to me, that's like the whole. It's not too far off from Peter and them catching the big load,

but I caught the big load. More than that, from time to time, I'd get a big load. But that particular deal was pretty eye-catching, even for me. I was like, wow. People say that out of me, they're like, well, you're just lucky. Yeah. Yeah. Just like that hand, just like the for is induces.

One of them said that. Oh, no. One of them, one of the guys said, there you're talking about, dog, look, because we've been fishing. They wanted me to fish on up the way. But when I got to where I was going, I said, no. I said, I don't like the color of the water. I went on down two miles below there.

But when I got in there, I said, this is it right here. But that's my point. If you're in Jesus, look, if you're in Jesus, you're going to be extremely lucky. He said, you're talking about lucky. And I said to him, one of them, I said, I'll take it. And my point is, look, so you're resurrected. You're coming back from the dead. your body is being changed to imperishable.

And the guy who didn't believe is standing beside you. And he's like, you lucky, as I'm leaving. That's right. He's like, you're talking about lucky. That's right. That's what's going to happen.

But I always, when I talk about it, our early years, I always put it in a faith context. I say the way we lived was the same way the Israelites when they got out of Egypt. They left slavery. God took them out.

And then they depended on him, begrudgingly in their case, but they depended on him to provide for him. So that manna would fall down every night. But he said, don't get two basketfuls, get one. And I always said the same thing that we had us fishing. It seemed like we got just enough to make it. So it was like we kept having a trust in God because if we ever thought it was you or us, we would miss out. You say, well, you can't set a trot line out with hooks hanging down in the water. And before you bait them, you're not going to catch you any. You think you never catch in it. They were biting the bare hooks. I had bathed them the night before, fishing on down the way,

but hadn't caught much. Well, you might have been snagged. I hit about five strikeouts in a row, but when I got there on that roadbed, they started biting bare hooks, and I said, well, hey, I snagged a two-pound crop of yesterday out of Willie's Pond. Guess what? He tasted just the same. Oh, yeah. Nothing is impossible. What I wanted to say is, close us out there. In the end of John four, he goes through his ministry about he's teaching in the synagogues, he's preaching a good news of the kingdom. This is in verse 23. He's healing diseases in verse 24. All those suffering from severe pain, the demon possessed, those having seizures, those who have been paralyzed, he healed them and large crowds were following them. And it leads us up to a mountain in chapter 5.

All these miracles and signs of freeing people from demons and healing physical ailments led to a sermon where he starts off talking about the greatest spiritual qualities that you can possess, which is my point. He's more concerned about your heart and your spiritual makeup than what happens on the outside. But that gets your attention, which will be the platform of where we go off. Greatest sermon ever preached. The spiritual map to Jesus, the sermon on the mound. on the map.

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