Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 365 | Jase Believed That Si Saw a Black Panther & Why the Love of Money Is the Root of All Evil

Episode Date: October 18, 2021

Jase and Phil talk about Miss Kay and Si's shared butchery of the English language. Jase admits he believed Si’s black panther story the first time he heard it. Zach and Phil discuss the willful misunderstanding that takes place when people ignore God. And Zach and Jase explore the reason the love of money is the root of all evil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? ...arrows for his endometriosis, which is, do you guys know what that is? No. It's an issue with your ovaries in your reproductive system. Last time I checked, I didn't have to fool with ovaries and what they were up to. Well, well, he didn't understand it, Phil. He thought he had, what he meant with. was fibromyalgia, but he said endometriosis. What is that?

What is fibromyalgia? Well, that's some kind of like inflammatory disease of the muscles related to serotonergic and dopaminergic neurotransmitters. I'm not a doctor. How do you pray? I don't think his disease is coming from his ovaries. It sounded like to me he was looking for a miracle. I mean, we've had the supernatural, the fact that Jesus came from a virgin, okay, I get that. But if somebody, I probably would have looked the word up and thought, hmm.

I don't think none of us, me, you, or Zach, will ever have a struggle with our ovaries. No, I don't think we're going to have a problem there. But I have noticed this, half of the conversations that I have. have with my wife are due to a misunderstanding of something. Yeah. And when you go back to our family, there's been a lot of misunderstandings. With any family. Well, I mean, because you got K and Psi, they get half the English language wrong.

They butcher it. Yeah. So you just think about, I mean, this is coming from, we were all talking about, when you look at the theme of Matthew 12 and 13, when he gets down to the good heart, the one out of four, he uses this phrase in Matthew 13 in verse 23. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soul is the man who hears the word and understands it.

He then produces a cross. yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. And he tells all these parables in chapter 13. Plus one of the other gospels, I don't know which one it is, but said when the seed fell on a good and honest heart. Yeah. A human being has to be completely sold to say there is a God. Well, right. Now, but he also said he used all these parables.

And part of the reason he said he used the use of parables, he kind of explains that it's like Matthew takes a time out in verse 10 of chapter 13 and say, why do you speak to the people in parables? Well, then Jesus quotes this in verse 13. This is why I speak to them in parables, though seeing, they do not see, though hearing, they do not hear or understand. So there has to be some kind of seeking aspect of a person's heart to understand. I mean, if you look at the definition of understand, how would y'all define that? Grasp? It's faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God.

Because whoever comes to him, which is what we're discussing here, must believe. that he exists and he rewards those who earnestly seek him. So we're basically sowing seed. I've been taking a cursing many times, like the first one. Listen to what the parable of the shower. When anyone hears the message, faith comes from hearing the message, you must believe He exists, God, and he'll reward you if you earnestly seek him. It's on that, well, everything is predicated on that for that first person.

Because if you take a cursing when you deliver the message, God has become blessed out on the cross for your sin, been buried and raised from the dead. And he begins to curse you for that. That's the parable of the sower. The seed did not fall on good, he's not being honest with himself. and with God and there's a problem there. And then he goes through the other ways. But the first one is they just don't get it.

And the evil one snatches away what was sown in their heart. He just doesn't believe it. I've seen it. I've dealt with it personally for all my life since I became a Christian and started sowing the seed. That comes up on a regular basis. Oh, it does. And I think one of the verses that comes to mind when you talk about understanding, I think this is probably one of the most butchered verses in the Bible, or at least misunderstood and misquoted, is Proverbs 3, 5, which is this, trust to the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. And typically people say this when they come to like maybe a theological issue that they don't quite grasp or something about God.

they don't, it's not, God doesn't expect you to understand. But you read the first five, six chapters of Proverbs. I mean, it's over and over again. It says things like this. Let the, let the wise hear and increase in learning, the one who understands, obtains guidance to understand a problem and saying the word of the wise and their riddles. He goes on to say in chapter one, those who diligently seek me, they're not going to, what does he say here? They will call upon me, but they won't answer because they will seek me delugee, but won't find me. Here's the reason why.

Because they hated knowledge. He says in chapter two, incline your heart to understanding. Raise your voice for understanding. The Lord gives wisdom and knowledge and understanding. Blessed are those. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding. And it's over. I mean, it's over and over again.

It's like saying, like, I want this to understand. And I think that there's a direct correlation. with even what we were talking about, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, it's a rejection. It's a dishonesty in your heart that you're like, I'm not going to seek understanding of anything. And I think what the gospel, when Jesus is trying to say, no, I'm trying to help you understand reality

so that I can give you life and give it to you abundantly. There's a mighty throng that when you first meet them, because they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, God gives them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done. That's the first person in the parable of the sword. When anyone, they hear the message of the kingdom, they don't understand it. The evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. They just don't get it.

Yeah. You say, look. The reason they don't get it, though, it's not because it's too complex. It's because of what you said in Romans is they refuse to retain the knowledge of God. That's a willful misunderstanding. That's right. So God gives him over to do what or not to be done. He just gives them over.

He said, okay, you think you're going to get out of here alive without me? I'm going to show you something and here we go. And that's just the first person. We're not into the other two, but like Jay said, three out of four thumbs down. Get that Bible out of my face. I see it all the time. I just don't hold it against them. I just said, just think about it.

there have been a few that after 10 years they show back up I've forgotten who they were and they say remember you told me that I should respond to the message about Jesus and I cursed you and left your house in a cloud of dust I said I remember it vaguely I said but there have been a lot of us done that he says well I'm here to tell you I've changed my mind about that well that's a I say have a seat and let's talk but my point is What, you got to define. Our job's not to attack them. We just say, just think about it.

Well, who are we to attack? Yeah. That's right. But I'm saying when you define understanding, because you think you hear a story or in the case of the Bible, you study and you try to get the point. Of course, you got to wade through how you were raised and what brand of religious group you were and you might have been taught a certain thing. And then you're reading in the Bible and then you gain a different understanding.

of something. I've had that happen all the time. Me too. Somebody who I respected told me something. And then the more I got to study, and I think, you know, I don't think I agree with this. I mean, it's like the first time I heard

Cy's Panthers story as a youngster, I thought, I'm going to have to keep that in the back of my head because I may encounter a Panther. And I wanted to have a plan what I'm going to do if I'm attacked. But the more this went on and the more I started contemplating and grasping,

trying to understand because I spent a lot of time in the woods, I thought, I don't think he's actually seen a panther. I just think he thinks he has seen one. No doubt. But when I first heard it, I thought this is a game changer.

This is not South America where there are a few roving, large black cats. This is South Louisiana. It's Louisiana here. Yeah, I told him about my new place in Tennessee, and I was like, you know, there's a rumor that there's a panther up where he said, I've been trying to tell you. He's not budging that there are these big cats.

I saw a black cat cross the road before daylight one morning. We'll see, but he planted the seed in your mind. And I went on up the road, and Sa was there. I said, sigh, we just got a visual of a black cat running. from right to left, I asked the guy with me, what was that? And he said, a black cat. And I said, was it a panther? He said, I just think it was a large black house cat.

So I told Cy that. And he said, see, even seeing you don't believe. He said, it was a baby panther. Yeah. Well, and we did the same thing. He said, Panthers have babies. You just saw a baby. We put the cat on his deer camera, a black cat, because that was a joke.

But he said the same thing. He said, well, that's a baby panther. I said, that we put out. If you're a cat, if you're a cat, if you're a cat, if you're a cat, we put a cat, a black cat out in front of his deer camera. Well, it took a picture. But surprisingly, the cat looked bigger on camera. I mean, so in his mind, even though we made this whole thing up, all it did was very,

validate what he's been saying in a weird way. And so my... Those kind cannot enter the kingdom of God in the spiritual tone. He's all right on his... He's a little wrong on his black cat thing, but that's the mindset. That's what it is. It's a belligerent and deliberate. Even though you know it's not true, you still use it to confirm what you want to be true.

Yep. Well, yeah, that's right. That's right. And I'm saying in this narrative, I mean, I think in chapters 12 and 13, what you see is Jesus is executing God's plan and the work of what he's doing in a big way through him and his ministry. You think about it. He's going around. He's teaching. He's healing, showing that he has a supernatural power.

He's proclaiming. and then there's two kinds of people that you're running up on, people who reject it and people who accept it. And he's saying in 12 and 13, the one who's giving the seed to be sown is him. He's providing the seed. All right. All we are is we just go out and we just plant it.

Well, what's confusing is in like the parable of the sower, he has four different hearts. but three of them are under one category, which is rejection. Rejection. And then you have one that hears it and I understand it. They accept it. Because he has a good and honest heart. He's open to what God is provided for him.

We're just messengers and farmers sewing it. Our job is to sow it. It's his job to save him or not save him. It's up to him. We just plant the seed, hoping they will be, believe and raise a crop. Yeah. So really...

Let's take a quick break. So if you look at the two narratives of rejecting Jesus or accepting Jesus, and he uses that phrase, anyone who hears the word and understand it as an explanation. And then even in the end of chapter 13, when he tells, I think, the most simple parable of the whole chapter, because he, now it's simple. for us because we were commercial fishermen, but most people would get this concept. I mean, this is, I think this is God not being humorous, but being so simplistic that he has an ironic statement at the end of this because he's like, in 47, he said the kingdom

of heaven is like a net that was let down in the lake called all kinds of fish. Well, whether you're a fisherman or not, you pretty well get this concept. There's different kinds of fish. you put a net out and you have no control over which one swims in it. When it was full, the fisherman pulled it up on shore. He sat down and collected the good fish in baskets but threw the bad away. I've done it them any time. I get the concept.

This one's a good one for eating. This one, not so much. So this is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous. So there's your two categories. Some go to a fiery furnace, which is horrible and dreadful. He starts talking about gnashing of teeth. This is a place you do not want to go.

And then in 51, to my point, he revisits this theme. He said, have you understood all these things? So, I mean, why is he asking that? Because it's the same phrase he used on about the good soul and the good fruit. he's like to those who hear this and understand it of course they said yes he said therefore and i think this is an interesting paragraph therefore every teacher of the law who we had a misunderstanding on who jesus is because all the arguments are coming from the teachers of the law so he says therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven

like the owner of a house, of course now we have another parable, who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old. So he even made a parable about understanding the parables and the opposition that comes from that. So when you think about what that means, because I had never really noticed this phrase till I was studying about this, You got these teachers of the law who had read all these verses in the Old Testament about the coming of the kingdom.

Well, now the king of this kingdom that they've read about has shown up. And it's new to them because they were not really prepared for how this king would be. Because they in their mind, going back to size panther. narrative in his mind. It was just out there in Lala land. Yeah. They never seen it. They never laid eyes on him. So it seems to be having a point that you have to, you can't be so close-minded into what you think this is going to be, especially when you're on earth. You didn't choose to be here.

You're looking and you've studied, but you have in your mind how this thing is going to shake out like a lot of religious leaders today and are not open enough to understand the king is here. And look, when you think about it today, we still have that same problem. They just didn't think he would be in a human body. They, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they're saying, he's blowing smoke. He's, yeah, he can't be God.

I mean, well, then he's a carpenter. He goes on in the next paragraph to say the same thing, Nathaniel, you remember when, when Nathaniel was called, his brother was laying, saying, hey, we found him so. And he's like, really? Where's he from? They said a little town called Nazareth. He went, nope. Nothing good.

Come out of there. Of course, he came up with that line that, you know, the chosen used as a tagline. He said, well, come and see. And so really, that's where I was going with this. When you think about understanding, the definition, understanding seems like a simple word. But if you read the definition, you'll see things like comprehend, grasp, thoroughly familiar with.

Well, how do you get thoroughly familiar or how do you grasp something? Well, first you've got to be searching. Then once you find something, you've got to be open-minded enough to realize this may be what you didn't think it was. It may be something different than what you had in your mind. So as you contemplate, meditate, at some point you go and see, you experience, whether that may be studying or. reflecting, but you eventually put into practice what's happening. Whatever the issue is, in this case, Jesus, I didn't really start to understand it until I started trying to be like Jesus, trying to understand Jesus from that way.

How is this going to come out in my life? You know, they came up with this theme of what would Jesus do, which is really what is he doing? what I always go to when I am sewing the seed and trying to plant the seed in their heart, I'm looking at their heart and they keep saying, no, no, no. I usually say, but out of all the people who have ever lived, he's on the earth trying to convince him that he's the king of the kingdom. and you're saying along with a mighty throng of other ones, no way. I said, look, what year is it?

And I try to convince them just from the year. I said, what year is? Well, it's 2021. I said, 2,021 years from what? From who? And they're like, well, I said, you're counting time by him. I'm trying to convince him that it's really him. Well, back when he was on the earth, that's what the problem was.

They didn't realize the world's going to end up counting time by him, but I don't think he's the one. Well, how did the world end up counting time by him if he wasn't the one? You realize how difficult it'd be for somebody just to show up, and the calendar is attributed to his appearance. Because you're trying to get their attention to be open-minded for just a second. That's right. But I do the same thing with the evidence in creation.

I try to, because as an outdoors person, I see all these details of life that supposedly in our public schools, they're telling our children, came from an explosion with no one orchestrating it. And all of a sudden you see this perfect harmony of life and reproduction and seasons. Nothing has exploded. Well, you're like, so all this order and simple. and beauty came from a random explosion of where you don't know even how the things that exploded came from.

It's hard. It's hard sometimes, though, to, at least I found it very difficult to convince somebody of the truth of Christ and who he is through simply what we call apologetical arguments, which I've very well versed in and have used and a lot of those arguments and discussions about the cosmology and science and all that. But I think that the role of the Holy Spirit in this is primary. I think so often we view it as like,

we're around trying to search for this thing and then we discover it, this thing called salvation or God or whatever. Now we understand it because we're like explorers looking for it. But I think it's, I don't think it happens in that way. I think God reveals, himself to us. So God's primary in what the Bible called revelation, God reveals himself to us. There's an interesting passage in Romans 10 that talks about this process of how we come to

understanding who God is, at least to the point where we can call on him for salvation. And it's in Romans 1014 that says, how then will they call on him who they've not believed in? In other words, if you don't believe in him, you're not going to call on him. So you get first got to believe in him before you can call on him. Well, then he kind of kicks it back another step. He says, well, how are they going to believe in him if they never heard of him? You know, how are they to believe in him of whom they've not heard? So now I'm going to believe in him, well, I've got to hear about him.

And then I love this next part. Well, how are they going to hear about him without someone preaching? So how beautiful, and how are they going to preach unless they are sent? as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. I love this cascade here because he's basically saying that it all starts with God sending someone, whether through the scriptures or whether people that God start, he starts the revelation process by sending someone to go proclaim this news, the new news he's talking about that you just talked about in Matthew 13.

And then we, so they hear it from these people that God sent, and then they can believe it, and then they can call on him. So I think the role of the Holy Spirit in orchestrating this understanding is pivotal, because when you use the word understanding, I'm thinking, that's for me to comprehend what's been revealed. That's how I would define it. Well, that's exactly where I was going, and we didn't talk about this before. But if you go back to chapter 12 and verse 18.

Hold on. Let's take a quick break first. You know, Jesus, he had just had this issue over the Sabbath where he declared that God's righteousness was greater than the law. That's basically was his declaration. I'm Lord of the Sabbath. And God's love in that moment gave value to people because he was healing a person that happened to be on the Sabbath day. And here he is the coming king of the kingdom. And he's like, here's how this is going to work. people are more valuable than your little narrative of keeping rules.

And he kind of embarrassed them by saying, well, you would get a sheep out of a pit. You wouldn't help somebody if, you know, so he embarrasses them because that narrative didn't fit. We have a misunderstanding here of how to keep the Sabbath and what that means. And so out of that, watch what happens when, you know, they begin to plot to kill him. Well, we have rejection because that doesn't fit their narrative. So this argument has escalated to where like, not only do we not agree with you. We need to kill him. We need to kill this guy.

Yeah. Because the ramifications of this is horrible, which, and all he was doing was- Which proves his point. Was elevating the value of people over keeping this law. So aware of that they were going to kill him in verse 15, he brings up this point. He quotes this verse in verse 18, here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love and whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him and he will proclaim justice of the nation. So God's work through Jesus was being declared by the work of the spirit of God.

This was the spirit of God working in this religion. religious argument about the Sabbath. Well, then he brings it up again in verse 28, because then they say, well, you're just, you have a demon. And you're driving out demons because you are one. So they try to kill him. Now they say he's demon-possessed. But in verse 28, he brings this up again.

It says, but if I drive out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. So they get into that argument about blaspheming. the Holy Spirit, because he's saying, I'm sitting here doing this work, showing that people are valuable, trying to remove evil from people's lives through the spirit of God. And so you see that also in a story we didn't read, but in verse 43, when he said, when an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and doesn't find it. Then it says, I will return to the house I left.

when it arrives it finds the house unoccupied swept clean and put it into order then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself and they go in and live there and he's worse off in the end well we know from other verses that when we surrender to god and he gives he makes available so this doesn't happen he gives us the holy spirit we replace our selfish ambition I think The principle is the same here. He's like, God moves in. Because what happens if God doesn't move in? And even if you try to do what's right in this world, I mean, not saying there's some kind of evil, you know, demon possession, but just people have tried it over and over and over to get their life right without the spirit of God.

Well, what happens? Doom to failure. It just the pattern keeps repeating itself. and it may just you may get into one thing and then get into another, but the bottom line is it's just not a recipe for success without the Spirit of God. So I said all that to say this. I think one thing we didn't talk about in Matthew 13 that hit me is that just like seeds are planted by a farmer, farmers tend to take for granted the actual growth process.

of the seed. Now we know, we take it for granted when a seed is planted, it has to be under the ground, and then it has to have water. Well, all of a sudden it starts growing. And they kind of take credit for that. But there's something about life being given on our planet that is not in our control.

And he's using that as an example of what happens spiritually. God does make it grow or it's not grown grow. Yeah, so that's where I was going for that. In 1st Corinthians 3, we had an argument because people, we had a misunderstanding. These people started following the people that were sowing the seed, Paul or Apollus or whatever. And so they had divisions. They're like, well, I'm with this group.

No different from what happens in the modern religious culture today. People go to different groups of people, on who the preacher is or whatever, and they're like, I'm going with this guy or I'm going with this guy, and ultimately you should be going with Jesus, and we should all just be sowing that same seed. But they have this issue, and so in 1st Corinthians 3, 6, listen to this. It says, I planted the seed, Apollo watered it,

but God made it grow. Yeah. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

And then he launches into this by the grace God has given me. I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and that foundation is Christ. If any man builds on a foundation using, and then he lists all these earthly, physical things. His earth, his work will be shown for what it is because the day, the day, will bring it to light. It will be revealed by fire. And then he gets to first 16, which is where I was trying to get in Zach's point. Don't you know that you are yourselves, God's temple,

and that God's spirit lives in you? It's the same principle that Jesus was showing on what God is like and his work and his plan. And you had this opposition, you had misunderstanding, you had rejection, but you had some people who grasp it, who experienced it, and who got it. And then all of a sudden they just took the same example as Jesus, surrendered, God gives his spirit, and then he's basically functioning, and I say they, we, as Jesus on the earth, through. the same power of the Spirit. Yep. Exactly. Let's take a quick break.

I think that's a great point because when you are reading these passages about, you know, Jesus' interaction with the Pharisees, because some people hear this, right, they hear the same exact information and they do not accept it. In fact, they reject it like the Pharisees did. And then you have others who receive the same information and they accept it. And I was thinking about these Pharisees in the Book of Mass. Matthew in his account of the Gospels, Jesus performs miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit, and they say, nah, we don't believe that's from God. He gives them a very rational and logical

argument when he gave him the reason about the, if I cast out demons by the name and I'm of the devil, then a house divided can't stand. But if I'm doing it not by the devil, then it's by the spirit, which means the kingdom's come upon you. He gives them a rational argument that's based in logic. They reject that. I mean, they're getting their revelation. They just continue to reject it. And then you have these other guys who these rogue fishermen, for example, that hear it. And they're like, I'm following you.

You say, what's the difference between these two people? Why does some reject and others don't? And that's, by the way, a very highly debated question, but I don't think it needs to be. I think it's because some people, they don't want to sacrifice their own autonomy. They're like, I'm not sacrificing my autonomy. and to understand Christ, and you mentioned it in 1st Corinthians, there's that passage in 1st Corinthians 2, I believe, that says that a natural person doesn't accept the things of the spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is unable to understand them. Why? Well, because

they are spiritually discern. The spiritual person judges all things, but he himself, is not to be judged, for who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct them. But we have the mind of Christ. You've got to have, you really got to have the mind of Christ to begin to have spiritual discernment as God reveals some of these things to you. So if you want your own autonomy and you're like, no, I'm not, I'm not taking on somebody else's mind. I'm going to do it my own mind.

Well, you're never going to get there because you can't understand it. Exactly. You have to have his mind. That's the same conclusion that I got. you have to be open-minded enough to look at these red letters. Emmerse yourself into them. Get to know who Jesus is. Then start looking at the signs of what he was saying in life, in modern day life.

And as you experienced that, because I remember doing this when I first came to Christ. And even though it was hard to see a lot of times that he is right, in the condition of people and that we all have the same problems, you just start experiencing it through the conversations and the word being presented, and I mean word as in Jesus being introduced, you start noticing that it's the same exact thing on our planet. It becomes more simplistic in your mind on the problem of mankind, which is ultimately sin,

and this lack of surrender to letting, God be in control? You are correct. It's amazing. Outstanding point. Well, I put down, I wrote down a few things, and I got these from the verses that we just read in the parable of soar. But reasons people reject or don't understand or, you know, going back to the narrative of, you know, we make up in our minds what we think this is like. so like for example i took a few things when he used the third heart he said the one he received

the seed that fell among the thorns is the man here's the word just like the the last heart which was a good heart but instead of understanding the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choked it so i i just wrote down a few things so so you're like well how come someone can't see Jesus in this case because of their wealth or the anxieties of life or the power of life because you think about when it comes to wealth well Jesus he didn't seem wealthy didn't have any money that I know of yeah I mean we had just we just read in the previous chapter where he was homeless you know John the Baptist who is the forerunner which we'll get into in the next chapter on what happened to him,

he didn't, he didn't have any money. And really the only time it came up, like when it's like, well, we need a pair of taxes, he's like, yeah, go down there and catch a fish and you'll find a couple coins in his mouth go. So it's the narrative is different where Jesus starts that sermon on the mouth saying, you know, blessed are the poor in spirit.

Well, that's just not appealing. I mean, what? It just doesn't fit. So you remember the famous story when the guy said, hey, I'll follow you wherever you go. And he's like, well, keep the commandments. He's like, kept them. So I don't know if he had kept all of them.

But he was a pretty good fella. You were getting the impression. So Jesus is like, well, go sell everything you have. Well, that was a deal breaker. Yep, that was a deal breaker. So that's why he couldn't understand. understand because he's looking at how we feel about money and look everybody likes a handful of money but he's like that's not going to that's not going to do it for you well my mom used my mom used

always say uh she said and she said and she said I don't care nothing about money I don't care nothing about it and I'd say yeah but you sure you like the things that money can buy but you think about why is money so why is money so appealing us because money is power and I think what's happening here is, I've said it before in the last few episodes, there's a power dynamic shift that's happening here that what Jesus is getting at. And I think that the reason why the rich, young ruler, why he didn't want to give it up, because you're giving up power, you're giving up your autonomy, you're giving up, and you think you're giving up control. And so, and you are, but I mean, but you're gaining so much more, you don't really have control anyways. That's,

that's, that's, that's the irony of the whole thing. You don't really have control. I mean, you can pretend that you do, but as Phil would say, or remember he used to say this all the time, he would say, you all have a, the date with destiny, or you're going to be six feet under pushing up daisies. You can't control it in the end. And so I think to submit to God is to ultimately to submit to the fact that he's controlling, sorry, not that he's controlled, that he's loving, but he's in control. but what's happening here is Jesus has said he's speaking in parables for a reason because he wants to hide this from people. And I think the reason why he wants to hide it is the same reason because he wants people to respond to him in a certain way.

We all know that old rich guy that has this young, beautiful wife. And if he said, why is she with him? What's the reason? The old rich guy with a young, beautiful wife, why is she with him? Money? He's willing for his money. Money talks. She's waiting for his power.

The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. And some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. It's because it's the power, though. It can't help you with your mortality. No, it can't get you out of the grave. No. But I think what you're seeing is this. continual thing unfold here with what Jesus is getting at is I don't think Jesus wants us

to come to the Father just because we're we want you know well he's so powerful I'm going to come to him that's not a real relationship yeah you know he wants us to come because God is is beautiful and he's revealing that to us and so if somebody's only going to come to this because they of the power of God I mean that's going to happen at the end right Philippians 2 says that at the end of time, everybody's going to see his power and be like, hit the deck, you're Lord. But not everybody's going to be with him. The people that are going to be with him are the people who want to be with him that love him

because of who he is. And I think that's what Jesus is getting out of here. You're missing the boat because you're too consumed. You're power hungry. Yeah, I agree. Look, I had wealth as opposed to God calling us to be poor in spirit, in attitude, and the spiritual. Then the second one I had was power, which is what you brought up.

Well, I stole your thunder, so I'm sorry, but let's take a quick break and let's hit that one. No, but I just, I was going to make the same points you made that, you know, God has always given us victory through surrender, which seems like the least powerful thing you can do. But then it allows God to use our weaknesses in powerful ways. And you've got so many passages about that. But then the third, I had pleasures because most people, when they think of pleasures, they're never thinking of the definition of God's joy, which he brings up, which is actually in some ways suffering for the kingdom or being persecuted.

He spent a lot of time in Matthew on the sermon to Mount. You remember what the Apostle Paul said when he's talking about what had come his way. he said having nothing but possessing everything. Yeah, that's an excellent point. Yeah. So I thought about this in the pleasures, though. If you try to sow seed, well, you're going to be persecuted. I mean, he said it is going to happen.

Yeah. Bank on it. Well, meanwhile, you said, what's the alternative? Well, people don't want to, they don't want to suffer. They don't want to be persecuted. it. So which led to the next one I put, these are reasons people don't understand or reject. People are comfortable in religious settings and rituals. They're comfortable there. Most churches, when you go there and you think, well, we need to do something, get some fire,

and we need to fire this place. This seems dead or whatever phrase we use. and people don't realize that people like those settings. They like doing the same thing over and over in being comfortable. And so when you look at trying to be like Jesus in this world, if you try to be like Jesus, exactly, the way he was in this world, you better get ready for being uncomfortable. Because when you bring him up in a worldly setting or you start trying to invite people or help people who are,

dying or be compassionate or help the poor, all these things that Jesus was doing, you better get out of your comfort zone. Not only trouble and persecution, but it's just people are messy. We're messy. They're messy. That's a lot of work. Yeah. So I'm saying these are, but these are reasons people reject and they don't understand

because they're not willing based on fear or, you know, to step out. So the next one I had, and this comes from those seeds being spilled along the path, is it says the evil one came and snatched them up in the form of birds. But I think a lot of people underestimate the spiritual warfare of this whole existence. No doubt. You know, it's not really about us or the people. There is a spiritual war going on. and we have plenty of passages to see about that.

But people are fearful of getting involved in that. They just rather be comfortable and leave me alone. I'm staying out of that. And the last one I had was when he said this about the worries of this life or the anxieties of life, choke it. Well, there's a lot of things you can get into in this life that have the appearance of doing good, whether it be politics,

or like having a career in life. We talk about careers or, you know, health care or, you know, being, being conscious of how can we, what do we do, you know, with a coronavirus that or if you could come up with something that was a vaccine or, you know, even when it comes to terrorism, if we could do something to stop that or all the wars that have come up or even doing something about crime or. I'm bringing all these things up because these are things we worry about or get involved in. But compared to God's plan and God's work and God's purpose in our lives, these things are not as important. Watch is. Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it.

But if we have food and clothing, we'll be content. content with that and then he started talking about the downside of following that money and just chasing money to the point to where you said you've been better off you'll just be content with what you have yeah what are you things then well the interesting thing about those five i write down five things that you said i may have missed one but it was money power pleasure comfort and worry was that it you know worry and i had the spiritual war the answer is godliness with contentment and the spiritual well the spiritual war in that people people just don't want to get involved in the day to day i mean they want to just it's kind of like uh you know in a physical war being a conscientious objector

but i got that when he said the evil one came and snatched away what was so because a lot of people they just don't want to get involved and they're the the idea of good and evil in this battle and the evil one. They, that just, it's not a, that's not a place I want to go. It's a fight and they don't want to get into the fight. I think, I brought that up because of people who just look and say, well, yeah, Jesus was here. He was just, he was a good person.

Yeah, sometimes they get snatched away by, by people in the church even. Like, you think about this whole idea of the kingdom, there's, there's all, there is some bad weeds in the church. And sometimes they will try to snatch them. believer out, or they'll try to snatch someone who just received the word. But I was thinking about all those things you mentioned, Jay, so or at least the five, I wrote down that there is, it's funny because they're all lies. I mean, every one of them is a lie.

You know, it's a fear of money or love of money, but as the verse that Phil mentioned, who was that? You mentioned, Phil, was that John the Baptist, he had nothing that had everything. What was that? That's Apostle Paul telling a young preacher Timothy. That's in 1 Timothy 6 about verse. eight. Yeah, that was a good one.

About six or seven. Well, even, he's giving you the solution and then gave you the pitfalls of chasing money. That's the thing. And so even like the power, but God says, well, you're going to have my power in you,

the pleasure, I'm going to give you all the joy, comfort, I'll come to me, I'll give you rest, worry, who can, you know,

by worrying out a single day to his life. All these things that prevent us, you know, I say us, that prevent the three out of four for, you know, from coming to Jesus, they're all based in a lie. And that's, I mean, that's the interesting about it.

It's all based in a lie. That's why Jesus says, I am the truth. And nobody comes to the Father except they're made. That's where the understanding comes in. Understanding is to possess and manifest the truth of what God's revealed. Yep. So look, we're out of time though.

So that was fun last couple episodes. Have Ms. K.N., and here we are solo. I'll send her home to you, Phil, so you can have something better. than a peanut letter and jelly sandwich. Yeah, it's bab on the cook runs out on you. See y'all next time. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

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