Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 362 | Mia Moo Fun Day & All the Amazing Things It Brings & Why a Good God Allows Evil

Episode Date: October 13, 2021

Jase shares the awesome experience he had at the 2021 Mia Moo Fund event and tells the story of an amazing worship experience at a hotel pool. Zach explains how God attempts to include us in the faith and discusses the kingdom work we can do to help others grow closer. Jase plays basketball against teenagers and makes one kid's jaw drop. Phil and Jase talk about how not to be angry with God when you have an illness. And Zach explores why God allows bad things to happen. Learn more about the Mia Moo Fund at: http://MiaMoo.org - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? All right, we're back. We have, where is Al? I don't know. We lost Al, but we picked up Zach. Al's went AWOL. Yeah. But I'm filling in, so I'll be the guy that says it's time to take a break. Oh, okay. That's your job. You have one job. So this weekend we did the Mia Moo. And we, and we, we We made an adjustment because we didn't meet last year because a lot of these kids are vulnerable to, especially in the coronavirus, just think last year. So we didn't meet. We had done a couple before two or three.

I can't remember exactly. But what we'd do is we'd do a fundraiser. and then we would have like a fun day with the families and kids that some of the kids that we had helped through people donating to Mia's charity. And so what we decided to do was just do a weekend. Forget the fundraiser. We just kind of said, you know what, God will provide any, and it really has a lot of good-hearted people have contributed. And we just focused on the families and the kids.

And we let Mia, or I asked her, I said, look, this is named after you. So we need you to lead us because you know more about from the kids' perspective of what this journey is about. And so, boy, she stepped up and moved the venue. We moved out to camp. it was a Friday night where they got together at the hotel and behind the hotel they had movie night they put a big screen up and they watched a movie it just kind of had fun together and then Saturday it was like 8 to 8 we uh it was just a very well planned get together we had about over 30 families so that that was about 100 people or over 100 people or over 100. people probably had 30 or 40 volunteers and it was just fun and it was engaging with the kids and different activities and i think the best part was probably uh right in the morning session for a couple hours all the parents get together and it's kind of our uh sharing time about various

things that are going on and i noticed the older parents with older kids who are later in the process, they did most of the talking and the ones that have just had kids with these conditions. It's a little more raw and they have a lot more tears because we all went through that process, you know. But what we do is we just give a platform for people to engage with each other and form these bonds and these relationships. Because you think about it, it's 18 to 20 years of just suffering. in a managed position.

Many surgeries. Multiple surgeries. And a lot of these kids, I've shared this before, they have a secondary either syndrome or issue, not just the cleft palate or facial reconstruction. There's something else. We actually had two people poke fun at them. Oh, yeah.

That, you know, so they're part of it. But these people, these families, you know, you just think how tough these people are. They're just warriors. I mean, we had one family. They have two, two of their kids have this condition. So, you know, I can't imagine. We also had two kids there who have a syndrome that doesn't even have a name.

It's just a number with letters. I mean, they said it, and I was like, no, what is that? Because they actually, the medical world actually doesn't know exactly what it is. And so, you know, you're talking about difficult. But all in all, we had the day, we had the sharing session, kids had a great time, and then on Sunday morning, we usually invite them to one of our churches that we meet at, but it was so many of them, and we're still in some of these protocols. We just, we asked the hotel manager if we could just have a service behind the hotel

by the, around the pool. Where were you? In Westman, Roe. And of course, guess what? She's a believer in Jesus, and she said, absolutely. So Mia and our neighbor, our neighbor's son, who's about the same age as me as about 18, he plays the guitar, Mia plays the piano. They did a couple of worship songs.

I did an overview introduction into Jesus around the pool with all the family. and then Mia and Missy saying that song, The Blessing. Oh, yeah. That's a good one. I'm going to tell you, there was not a dry eye around that pool. I mean, it was moving. Because, you know, really, we had even on the weekend, I did a lot of these stories and miracles of Jesus,

but walked the line of, you know, where, I read the story about, you remember the guy being let down through the roof? And I was like, we want to be those friends to you. And the ultimate goal is to focus on the spiritual side of things and the character. Because the first thing Jesus did when he saw them let him down out of the roof is he forgave him his sins. Which that's great since we know the end of the story. but from this guy who's paralyzed, he's probably disappointed in that.

I mean, the whole goal was to be healed so you can walk around. And so I kind of, with the people that I have involved here, you know, that's our issue. You know, this is a physical grind for years and that's a lot of suffering is going on. The removal of his sin has eternal ramifications. That was Jesus's point.

Right. You know, let's get right with me first. Yeah, which is what I, that's what I was focused on. Like in the sermon on Sunday, which I wasn't a sermon, I was like, I'm not a preacher, but this is, if you research this yourself, you know, I kind of explain the Bible in a simple way where it's focused on Jesus and that God is for us and it's a love letter woven through history. and we had gone through some of these miracles that had happened, and why do bad things happen,

and why, you know, why doesn't God just heal this situation? How do we respond? And so ultimately, the kind of the theme of the weekend, which was Mia's idea, was that 1st John 3-1 that says, you know, we're children of God, you know, in love. We're children. And she had a tagline, remember whose you are. you know and so because her doing this was really good for her because I think the best thing you can do when you experience

difficulty is ultimately get through it and then help other people going through the same difficulty and so yeah that's key man I think our our culture typically wants to minimize pain at all costs but some of it's unavoidable when you go through moment. You go to that kind of pain like Mia, I mean, that can really build the character and somebody that, you know, it can really shape a person, which, by the way, I heard she's coming up here for a few days while you guys are overseas. Yep, that's true. And what we did, I mean, you got to remember these, when you're with all these families

and we had our emotional time and we had our spiritual time and our bonding time, but we also just had a blast. I mean, these kids... So it's like a retreat. It's a getaway for them. Oh, it is. They're coming. They're unplugged.

And Mia came up with all these real clever games and ideas that I would never come up with that the kids love. What are the ages of the kids? Oh, it's from babies to 18 to 19 years old. Oh, wow. You had something for everybody. I mean, this one kid who was 13. he kept trying to get me to play in there. They had a little basketball game because you had some free time along the way.

Yeah. And, of course, I'm like, hey, I'm too old for basketball. I ain't picked up a basketball in five or six years. But they're just, they kept after me and they kept after me. So I was like, okay, I'll play. You know, I walked out. Let's do make it, take it. You know, threes are twos.

Twos or ones. They're like, what? And I'm like, because I figured since they're all young, teenagers, the only shot we had is if I get hot so we play, make it take it. And so we start playing, it's fun, but you know, there's other kids around in the gym, and this is a four-on-four.

They're all teenagers, and I'm not. Well, this one kid looked about 14 or 15. He does two step-back threes in a row, nothing but net. But as he won't by, he said, you might ought to have somebody get on me. And I thought, When he said that, all of a sudden I went back to being, in my mind, a teenager. I thought, boy, what's going on here?

So, which I liked it. So anyway, make a long story short, Missy comes out there and like, hey, we've moved to the next rotation. They've rung the bet, but we're in this game. So I was like, okay, first one to seven, and we were losing six three. So I hit a three, made it six five. and then so we get the ball again well they stole it missed a layup you know there's a scrum for the ball it's going toward half court i go out there one of our kids he like bumbles it to me i i just got the ball because missy at the same time it's like we have to go she she's just she's being like

this game is over but i'm like i've already said hey we're playing a seven so i picked up the ball Two people come to him, I'm kind of falling away, just fired up. Nothing but net. And so my buddy who got me to play one of the kids, he's 13 or 14, he was looking at me just, because everybody kind of went, oh, I mean, it was pretty lucky shot. But he's looking at me with his mouth open. And I said, yeah, that just happened. I still got it. Now let's go.

You know, so it was so much fun. but so you had those moments and like different time we had a fishing and a boating time those are the areas I hung out you know they also had arts and paints and you're doing these different things and each rotation you know there's different things you can do but it was just a real good family outing with a spiritual emphasis because you know I said look we do a podcast called Unashamed and I think the best best thing that you can do for your kids condition and you are found in the spiritual principles of this Bible. And so I did a deal on the fruit of the spirit, you know, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. So I'm like, because you don't know who's, even if people are believers. These are families that we've helped and we invited them and they came and we just, we paid

every, you know, everybody's contributions paid for the weekend. And so then they go out and post pictures and tell people we spread the word and basically form this community. So you can go to miamu.org and check it out. Or I'm sure there's various Facebook pages

or, you know, consider around the Mia Mu and see the pictures and see about the weekend. You did a good deed there, Jase. You did. You did. Let's take a quick break and then we'll get into Matthew, I think, Chapter 12. So, yeah, where we leave off at, was it Matthew 12? I have no idea. I mean, between the weekend and I did another event before the weekend in Nacchus, the oldest town in Louisiana, established in 1714.

That's what got my attention because I thought I'm going to go down there and share Jesus but I may get some people who own some property that I can treasure hunt. That's where they filmed

I think they filmed Still Magnolias in that town, didn't they? What is still magnolias? You know, it's like a famous movie that came out in the late 90s with that. Well, it must not be too famous

because I've never heard of it. It's not a Western. A few months ago, that's where they had the Sportsman's Hall of Fame. Oh, Phil. A lot of people that when I was there, they said, I saw your dad at the Hall of Fame. Yep. So it was a big, big event. A lot of past Globetrotters, muscle men.

Muscle. Yeah, the winner about six years. in a row, I mean, who's got the meat on them? I mean, you know, just working out. Bodybuilders. Bodybuilders. So he was the king of the bodybuilders. I can't remember his name.

But so I was along with them. Mine was the outdoors part. But it was in that. It's old old brick streets, you know. Yeah. It was a good thing to remember some of the past. heroes that come out of Louisiana, basketball players and football players. Well, you got Carl Malone, you got Terry Bradshaw.

Yep. Yeah, you got some stars up there. Was Terry Bradshaw there? No, he wasn't. I didn't see Terry, but I saw most of the ones, you know, were the ones being inducted. Some of them were older by now. Oh, I see. So it was just whoever was inducted.

That's right. Yeah, I guess, you know. Yeah. They had a ceremony. but it was in Nacchus, but I thought it was a pretty cool, pretty cool thing. Yeah, I was like, I saw the water tower when it said established 1714. I was like, now that's old. That's old.

That is old. They have a museum there, and everybody that's been inducted. And you can go through, you know, behind the glasses, you know, just little cubicles about all the people who've gone before us, you know. sportsmen of all kinds, some athletic, some outdoorsmen like myself. But I thought it was a pretty cool thing as far as bringing your fellow man together and showing people the different. There's a standard in the Bible that's throughout the Bible,

the ones that you wouldn't think were worth something. In Matthew, where we are right now, Jesus is showing the kingdom of God that everyone on planet earth, that means the ones born with various ailments and whatever. Everybody is worth, has worth, which, uh, jace, that was a good, good thing y'all did by the thing. Yeah, one of the things I did in my sermon was, uh, I went to Acts 17. I mean, the downtrodden on planet Earth sometimes forget that, and we forget, as their brothers and sisters, we forget that they have worth, and we need to make sure they understand that.

Yeah. You know what I thought, too, I noticed when I was just looking at everybody around the pool, and we had all kind of different, the makeup of society from, you know, African or, American families to Latino families to just Caucasian families. I mean, it was, and it was all different ages, and it was from all different parts of the country. You have Jesus there, and here comes this man, Romans 12, with a shriveled hand. So it was some kind of shriveled hand, but it could have been his mouth, his feet, his, you know, the whole gamut of, of, of, um, the whole gamut of, of, um, various ailments, you know. And so he stretched it out.

He said, stretch out your hand. And the man did. And it was completely restored just as sound as the other. And what is simply mind-boggling. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus over that healing. So J-Sahar are some people who will live. literally want to kill you because you helped the people with various animals, which you think is our, is, is human nature that brutal? And unfortunately, I think the word would be, yeah,

they are that brutal. Yeah. I mean, you would think that have been jumping up and down saying good, right? But, but, I mean, their naysayers, Jason, even when you did that in public and the families that have run up on the people with the shriveled hands and mouths and whatever else, you say, you reached out to them, help you. You were, in fact, he's showing you what the kingdom is like, and kingdom people will say that those people have worth. Yeah. They're worth our love and they're worth our help.

Yeah, because, I mean, their condition, unfortunately. There's not enough of it in this world. I'll tell you that, Jason. Unfortunately, no matter how much insurance you have or money you have, the you know you're in a position not only are you going to be uh your kids are going to suffer and you're i was talking to this latino family and their their daughter we i don't know how we got to talk about this but they were just talking about when she was born she was just constantly choking getting choked and and he was like you know i felt like i didn't sleep

for months because you're just i mean just think about that you're you just think about that you you're constantly having to listen and hear and you're just like, I mean, you're keeping them alive. Yep. And because some kids struggle in different areas, but I thought, you know, it's just, now I understood that because I remember when Mia was born, we kind of went through the same thing for that first month. And you're kind of sleeping with one eye open and, of course, she's in your room. And he's like, our daughter stayed in our room for 10 years, you know, during the night because it just, it was such a struggle

but you know you try to explain that to other people and they're like I mean they have no concept of that I'm miserable in a culture where body beautiful is seeming at the top of the list you say what about the ones who are born with physical ailments

of all sorts what about them when you get down to body beautiful you say they're human beings for crying out loud Yeah, well, it's just the wrong, our world has the wrong definition of beauty. That's right. And it's basically a mirage anyway. I mean, now through Hollywood and social media, you're, and with, what do they call it,

when they touch you up and paintbrush and not paintbrush, airbrush, what they call that? Photoshop. Yeah, Photoshopping and filtering. Well, by the time they get through all that, you don't even recognize. You wouldn't recognize them and couldn't pick them out of a lineup. Yeah. After the Pharisees went out and plighted how they might kill Jesus, aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place.

And many followed them, and he healed their sick warning them not to tell who he was, you know. And then he talked about what Isaiah had said, you know, just under the radar, but reaching out doing good. Sometimes it's just like what y'all did. That's right out of the kingdom playbook, Dace. Yeah, I had a lesson ready for this weekend. I just had been studying various things because you never know what's going to come up.

But I didn't really give this. I mentioned it in a couple conversations. But, you know, right after that situation where the friends are, they lower down the paralytic through the roof, which Jesus said, friend, your faith. as he called him friend well a couple of chapters later in luke's account of it there's a real interesting story and i think for people that have gone through what we have with me and those families this is a real interesting story this is luke eight i'll share this with you y'all and see

what you think but uh when jesus had returned a crowd welcomed him for they were all expecting. Then a man named Jarius, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about 12, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him, and a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. But no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched him at the edge of his cloak and immediately her bleeding stopped. Who touched me? Jesus said.

And when they all denied it, Peter said, Master, the people are crowned an impressioning issue, but Jesus said, someone touched me. I know that power has gone out for me, which is an interesting statement. Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet

in the presence of all the people. She told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. And then he said, daughter, which I think is interesting, because this whole story started when a man came to Jesus and said, my daughter is dying. And now on his way to deal with that situation, he meets a woman who had this condition for 12 years.

Well, representing families who go through what ours did in this weekend, see, we immediately, I immediately went back 12 years. And I thought, here's a situation where a woman gets diagnosed with a condition, because one of the other version says she had pursued multiple attempts to be healed, but nobody could heal her. So she had seen doctors. She had tried. And when you look at the old law, when you have this condition, she was viewed as unclean. So nobody could get around her. No one can touch her.

So I think it's why Jesus also did this, because if she touched you, then you were deemed unclean. Hey, let's take a quick break. But I went back the 12 years, because think about it, we got a girl being born, who they're happy and celebrating at the same time as this woman being diagnosed in a hospital, saying you have some condition and you have to be banished from society. and there's no cure. Well, now here's 12 years later, their paths are kind of crossing through the healer

of somebody who can actually heal, which is Jesus. But in that moment, I thought, yeah, a lot of people, like when we had our third kid, Mia, it was a whole different attitude at the hospital because we knew she was going to have some problems. And so, I mean, we were happy

that she was going to be born. and we could deal with it, but there was just a somberness to it all because we were trying to gauge the severity of it. Well, one of the women shared in our group session, you know, they didn't know that their baby had this condition until she was born. And so, well, I mean, can you imagine? Because then all of a sudden it's just mass chaos

and all the problems that come along, you know, with that shock. So anyway, to get to the end of the, the story, he says, daughter, your faith has healed you. And then verse 49, while Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jerus, your daughter is dead. Well, now he's been delayed. Now the 12-year-old girl has died. And so hearing this, Jesus said, don't be afraid. Just believe. And she will be healed. So when he arrived at the house of Jerus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter John and James a child's father

father and mother and it says meanwhile all the people were wailing and mourning for her. Stop wailing, Jesus said she is not dead but asleep. They laughed at him knowing that she was dead

and so if I stopped right there some of the other versions he then told them to get out before he told her to get up. but I thought about all those laughing because a lot of our kids that were there for this past weekend have experienced the world,

you know, laughing out and making fun of them or bare, because kids can be cruel. And then Jesus says, my child get up and her spirit returned and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat, which is funny to me because in the same way, you know, even in the conditions our kids have,

you know, they all have trouble eating. But in this case, it was like a dead girl doesn't eat. Yeah. So he was proving the fact that she was back. And, you know, I only went through that story just because from our perspective and putting that together with the paralytic going through the roof. Ultimately, if you can get your sins forgiven and they're, there's a way to get the Spirit of God that Jesus ultimately made available.

And you can live again. All our temporary problems here go away. They'll go away because of that hope and assurance. But in the meantime, you see in these stories, there's a lot of pain. There's a lot of difficulty brought on by the world and their narrative of what's wrong. Like demon this woman unclean. I mean, she was sick.

She had a condition. That's hard enough. But then she had to go through 12 years of loneliness and banishment, which a lot of the kids that we work with, they have a similar issue with being abandoned and not being included. So that's why I was saying. We go through those types of stories in a different way that seems to resonate a lot more with the people who were trying to help.

And it wasn't our idea. I mean, I think God put these in here and experienced them so we could have a base to help other people the best way we can, you know. Yeah, I see the consistent theme throughout all of these miracles that Jesus is performing in Matthew, a couple consistent themes. One is obviously the supremacy of Christ and everything. You know, he says in Matthew 12 that he gives the whole thing about the ten. temple. David's, you know, in the temple eating the consecrated bread. He's like, if he ate,

I mean, don't you realize somebody's greater than, or he said something is greater than the temple is here. You get down a little bit further. He talks about the sign of Jonah. He's like, something greater than Jonah's here. He's trying to testify to his greatness. But I think the secondary part for us in that is this is a very inclusive God. I mean, this is a God who wants to include us into his eternal community. And I think that what's cool, like what you guys are doing with these, just one aspect of kingdom work, what happened with Mammu Foundation this weekend, but it's including people.

You know, it's getting people into a community, into family. And those are little tastes and morsels of, I think, what, of who God is, you know. And a lot of people are hurting. A lot of people for a lot of different reasons. A lot of people listen to the podcasts are hurting, you know. But I'm encouraging. when I read what Jesus is doing here with all these miracles because they all, they're not just, he's not just doing these just to help people in the moment. He's, he's instituting something

much more sustainable than just a temporary healing. He's, he's building the case for his kingdom. That's what he's doing here, which is eternal. Yeah, what's so, what's so incredible to me is that we go through all these miracles and they're so awesome and they're helpful to people who are in pain just because if you have a condition or your kids or, well, you want someone with this kind of power to be on your side. If there's a way for that to occur, whether it will be, you know, he wants to heal you here or heal you later, having that kind of being on your side is always a positive thing.

But having said that, so you had this, this moment where he heals the guy with the shrivel hand in the first of chapter 12 when he gets to 38 some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him teacher we want to see a miraculous sign from you well he didn't like that because he says a wicked and adulterous generation asked for a miraculous sign but none will be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah which is so crazy because then here's a man claiming to be God tells a story and they're like what is the sign of joa he said well as for as jona was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish the son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth the men of neneva will stand up with the judgment

with this generation and condemn it for they repented at the preaching of jonah and now one greater than Jonah is here. So you're like, well, so let me get this straight. He then, here's the son of God slash the son of man, tells a story when they asked for a miraculous sign that he's like, look, a couple thousand years ago there was a guy that got swallowed by fish. They're like, huh?

I mean, this is a sigh story, to be honest. Let's say a quick break. And then he's going to compare that to the death of the brown resurrection. Well, it's easy for us to understand it, because we know what he meant, but just put yourself in their shoes. They're thinking, you're talking about being swallowed by a fish for three days? Jews demand miraculous signs, Paul told the Corinthians, and Greeks look for wisdom.

We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ's the power of God and the wisdom. of God. It's why it's bigger than man's wisdom. So in the midst of all that, what y'all were doing, you were showing them Jesus. If not Jesus, Jase, who? To deal with what the world, what life itself can throw at you while you're on the earth, all kinds of maladies and sicknesses and disease and like the ones you all work with,

with the, especially the facial damage that these things give them. You look at this, you say, if not Jesus, well, who? Where do we go? There's nowhere else to go, Jase. Well, I made a point. I made a point when I was talking to him. I was like, you know, I was angry and sad when I first learned that our daughter was going to have this condition because I thought, well, I mean, can we not just heal this?

Right? right now. Some unwittingly blame God for it. All right. And I thought, but you know, Jesus, I mean, God chose to do his best work with Jesus being allowed to suffer, to be beaten, and ultimately die on a cross. And I thought the greatest is the greatest act of love was really done in suffering and and physical abuse done to him. Plus his power, he said, when the Apostle Paul said, I got this ailment, but Jesus basically said,

suck it up. But Jesus, my power is made perfect in weakness. Yeah. That's a lot of people miss that, James. Well, I now believe, and I've seen it in my daughter, because it was difficult for us. You know, I had a little team meeting with the volunteers and when we were trying to figure out what we were going to do this year,

and I was like, you know, I talked to me, And I was like, I think you need to lead us in this because I can't relate to what you've gone through. And I just think if you do this in the name of Jesus and with God in mind and with your experience, I just think it'll be a better experience. But you've got to step up and do it. And so she did. But it was hard for the team because she's the, you know, she's only 18. And so I kept telling them, I was like, look, even if she fails or does something not as good as that we would have done it,

I think we should, we should, if we're going to do this, let's do it. Of course, what happened was, you know, look, it was way better than anything we've ever tried to do because she had that experience and that knowledge of going through what they went through. So in her mind, even though she's 18, she just, had better ideas from where it was to what we're going to do to how we're going to do it. It was just better. Because she had felt the treatment of it all. Well, right.

And I said there's a positive to having gone through this. And one of them is that we're never going to be on her level of understanding on how we can help. That's right. And so I said that. She got that from God, not us. And so it really worked. And it really made Romans 5, which is kind of our overall theme for the Miyamu. You know, the weekend was the 1st John 3 about who's we are, despite, you know, the suffering.

But that Romans 5, you know, that says we rejoice, even in our sufferings. Of course, we always think about suffering for Jesus in this light, but if you just look at it in principle, If you suffer, it says it produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope. No doubt about it. And hope doesn't disappoint us because God has poured out his love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And these are all those things that you can't touch physically, the fruits of the Holy Spirit. So I went through that. And then it goes on to say, but God demonstrates his own love for us.

while we were sinners, Christ died for us, which is what I was trying to get to. Just look at the pain and suffering that he went through. And it was ultimately for a greater good that is almost indescribable. Which also is what the Bible says is why he can relate to us and why he can be an advocate for us is because he dwelt among us.

It's like me or else he can relate, obviously better to kids that have gone through, cleft pallets whatever associated with that because she's lived that life and so Jesus lived our suffering and so he can relate to us

you know so yeah I think that's interesting I was thinking Phil you mentioned earlier just the centrality of Jesus again you think about this though I was thinking about these Pharisees that keep popping up over and over and over again this Matthew 12 story

it's funny that they that they asked for a sign And on the heels of everything he just did, I'm like, you would think Jesus' answer would have been, I just showed you a sign. And you guys rejected it. You know, the part where he heals the demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. And when he healed him, Jesus cast out the demons. And then the Pharisees basically say that what you're doing is of the power of the devil. And then Jesus makes this incredible kind of argument was basically that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard because if I'm of the devil, why would I cast out my own demons?

Like a house divided, it's not going to stand, right? He's like, you idiots, like, you people, you hate the truth. And that's when he goes to this whole thing about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. He says, I tell you, in verse 31, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven. who ever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or the age to come. I think the reason why that's true is because you mentioned Jesus is the way, the only he is the answer, he's all of it,

but you're not going to hear about Jesus unless the Holy Spirit tells you about Jesus. If you reject the Holy Spirit, there's nothing for you. And that's the cardinal sin of the Pharisees, is that they rejected the spirit who was the agent of God who was going to deliver the believer into all truth. So let's take a quick break. So would you say that another way to say that is if you think you can do this without God, it's just not a launching pad for success or, you know, of having that?

When you think you can do it on your own. Because basically suffering is allowed to show us our need for God. Would you agree? Well, yeah, you can't. Yeah, I would totally agree. And I think suffering, too, is in this world because God has – by the way, that's like the number one question that people have who have difficulty putting their faith in God is why would a good God allow these bad things to happen?

In apologetics, it's called the problem of evil. Any of our listeners who want to go down that rabbit hole, you Google the problem of evil, you can kind of look into some of what the great writers have written about. But I think the answer is the reason why bad things happen is because people, I mean, sin did enter the world through Adam and Eve. And as a result, I mean, there's bad things that happen to people, like calamities, natural calamities, or what happened to, you know, with NIA.

She didn't think anything calls that. Sometimes, you know, maybe sinful people, hurt people, but I think in the end, as God is wanting to build a picture, that this is a temporary place for us. Right. What's the song we used to sing? This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through.

Yeah, I agree. I've said before that suffering happens a lot of times from your sin or somebody else's sin or just living in a world that where darkness is. Yep. I mean, that's just the way it is. But Jesus coming to earth ultimately solved those problems. Yep. Now, there may be pain and physical problems along the way,

but ultimately, him having the power to heal physically and to forgive sins. That's why I just think that's really important that those two contrasts are around all those miracles. He would forgive people sins, but he would also heal him. And he would say, so you'll know I have authority to forgive sins, I'll heal. Well, if somebody has that kind of power, there's nothing that you can dream up that can happen to you physically. That's actually a problem if that guy is in your corner. Even from raising this 12-year-old from the dead, well, what is the problem? if he can raise a 12-year-old girl from the dead at some point if I have faith and trust in him

and he has faith and trust in me I'm coming out of that ground it's just a fact so I think it's more about okay I got to put this pain and suffering in the physical ailments in perspective here and think big picture that's good yeah well I want to ask you again about this because a lot of people have asked about the blaspheming, the Holy Spirit is the unforgivable sin. And because I know you've done more study on that, Zach, than we have. So how would you simplify that what the issue is here? And I guess where people get it wrong, maybe. Yeah, I would say that the prime, first I would identify what is the primary role of the Holy Spirit.

Like, what's his primary purpose? and most people, no, I don't say most people, the way I grew up hearing about the Holy Spirit was, first of all, it was referred, he was referred to as an it, not an actual person, and I think I thought of the Holy Spirit as more of that emotional experience that you have, you know, in church, when the music's just right,

and you feel, you just, how do you have that feeling? Or the chill bumps, you know. Yeah, yeah, the spirit's moving. The spirit's here. And I'm like, well, Spirit was already here before that happened. You know, but you read in the text of John 14 through John 17 when Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit's coming, he's telling his disciples because he's about to be crucified.

He's basically like, look, I'm about to leave. But I don't want you to be sad because if I don't leave, it's better for you that I leave because if I don't leave, the counselor's not going to come, the Spirit's not going to come. But when he comes, he's going to guide you in all truth, talking to his disciples. But you read that text. Go read it. John 14th to John 17. It's pretty clear that the primary role of the Holy Spirit

is to deliver the believer into all truth. It's to show us the truth. But John 16 says that when the Spirit comes, he's going to do three things. He's going to convict the world about sin. He's going to convict us about righteousness and about judgment. In other words, and he comes, the Spirit's going to be the one to take.

tells you that you're guilty and you need to repent, turn to God. He says, he's going to convict you about righteousness. He says, because Jesus says, because I'm going to the father where you can't no longer see me. In other words, it's going to be easy. It's easy to do the right thing when you got the son of God walking around with you, but I'm leaving. But that's okay, because the spirit's going to come and move in you. That's your sanctification. He's going to help you to live a righteous life. And then three, he says he tells us about the judgment that's coming because the prince of this world now stands condemned. In other words, I'm going to win. So simply put,

If the role of the Spirit is to tell us about the truth of Jesus, that's his role, and we reject that, and we reject him, we reject truth, then there's nothing left for you. It's the Hebrew 6 passage that says if you reject, if you reject this after you've received it, there's nothing left for you other than fearful expectation. It's the Hebrews 10 passage. It's the rejection of truth. So to blaspheme the Holy Spirit is the ultimate rejection of truth. And if you reject truth, then how are you going to repent and turn to Jesus?

Well, in the grand scheme of things, the human race is saved through the suffering, brutal suffering of someone else. It's the leach pan that saves us. So when Jesus told Peter, with all of Peter's mistakes and everything, he said, look, when you were young, you went where you wanted, but when you're old, you'll stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. Jesus said this, and we need to remember, to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify. God. Even the Apostle Paul, all of them, all these people

went through extreme suffering and their deaths were brutal deaths. But Jesus said, I'm just going to use you to glorify me to show you I'm the way, I'm the truth

and I'm beyond physical death. And then when you talk about all the illnesses and diseases of so many, you can't even drum them all up. He uses all that so that he is to be glorified because he said, I have solved every bit of that. All the suffering and all, I've given you eternity. It's all worth it.

I'm the only one that can do it because you have eternal life over all of it. So just keep everything in context. I'm here. I'll deliver you. And don't worry about it. Don't worry about the ones who can kill the body. you remember he said but the ones can get killed both body and soul and hell that's that's the one you want to worry about so that has to be interjected you know especially with all the physical ailments we

see here he just said basically live with it it's the way it is my my my my my my your suffering is producing what i like to see yep well well said well as i would say uh we're done i don't of time and we'll try to do better next time. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else,

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