Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 375 | Phil's Major Embarrassment, the Problems with Preachers & Jase's Treasure-Hunting Troubles

Episode Date: November 5, 2021

Phil and Al discuss what it's like to volunteer as unpaid preachers, and Jase and Zach shine a spotlight on overpaid preachers. Jase's friend gets into trouble while looking for treasure, and Jase prays in someone's yard while metal detecting. Zach calls attention to the misguided belief that one dynamic pastor in a church has an exclusive connection to God. Phil admits to an embarrassment that's stuck with him for decades. And Jase thinks meteorology is the worst profession. Matthew 15-18 - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So I preached yesterday on the section that we've been studying. And it's like, as Jason said before, the podcast helped me because we get a chance to talk about this. Yeah. I'm getting other people's perspective as I'm prepping. How they know. It's out since you're, since you're preaching for free. It's okay.

So what you're saying is if I was making money, then I would have to give y'all a cut. But I tell you what, I'm going to give y'all 50% of everything I make. I do, guys, did you occasionally actually give us credit every once a while for an idea? What about what about when I told you the, did you hear me say the last couple of weeks ago, I did your FOMO? I know. Yeah. But I like the, you did it. You added a phone move.

move, fear of messing up. So it's a fear of missing out, but some people then turn around and have a fear of messing up. And so they won't do anything. With most religious groups, correct me if I'm wrong, if you have a tier of leadership that's over you, will allow you constantly find human beings being what they are, they keep coming to you if you are underneath them saying, no,

they interject themselves so that you hold to the narrative, whatever it is with these. It's pretty nice to be, do what the Apostle Paul said. Look, you're not paying me. I'm not doing it. I'm not working for you.

No, I think I'm a much better preacher for free. I mean, I don't think there's any doubt about that. That's why I remove myself. And you don't worry about getting fired. Well, you're not hired. Well, and even beyond that, what I didn't realize before was that when I had the burden of what I call church work, which pastors have, I get it. I mean, you guys are listening out there.

I know a lot of pastors listen. I understand your burden. I had it because things have to be done. People's funerals have to be spoken at. Weddings have to be performed. Sick people have to be prayed over. So it's the work of the church. But when you're the guy that's in charge of also presenting the,

Word of God to guide and direct our everyday lives, those are tough things to carry together is the problem. So what I'm doing now, I get to do what I loved about preaching. And really, I think somebody was, in fact, your mother-in-law, Jay, says one of my biggest encouragersers. About every time I preach, she sends me the nicest text. And I told her what encouraging she was. And she said the only person she would enjoy listen to as much as me as you, just so you know.

So I thought that was pretty good. Wow. I shows you. She's got pretty good. judge a character right there. We've come a long way since that initial invitation that I said, I'd like to marry your daughter. Now, she didn't say no, but her husband did.

And she didn't say, you're wrong, Larry. Whether their daughter loved you or not, they didn't love you, Jase. I thought, okay, she would have spoken up. No, she is. She's a really good encouragement. She encouraged it. So one of the thing, we were texting about. back fourth yesterday afternoon.

And she was saying some things about my sermon yesterday. And one of the things I kind of realized in having this discussion with it, because Peg's been around a long time, is that I think this new change in me, too, not working for the church, it's allowed me to kind of return to our roots as a teacher. You know, and I started Weiss Ferry Road. You know, back in the day, Jay's going to test this too. They didn't just throw you up there in front of the whole group.

You're talking about how to earn your way in. You had to be vetted for years, you know, that you, knew what you were talking about. So I started out teaching, and so did you, Dad. I mean, you and I used to teach across the hall from each other. But the teaching nature of the Bible is, I think, what's helped me to be able to present. And it's a little bit different because, look, I hear guys that have just a gift of preaching and prophecy, and they're incredible to listen to it. I mean, they're amazing people. What they do would just take a text and really challenge your life with it. But I'm definitely more of a big picture person. It's just my, it's what I'm

good at. It's my gift. So I'm able to do that in preaching. I mean, look, I had my stint with, you know, because what happens is you go to school and most people think that that means, oh, well, this is what you're trained to do. And so then I went through the intern program. Just because you're trained, I mean you're gifted though, right? Exactly. And so what I was doing because I was reading the gospels over and over and over and over, which I've continued to do throughout my entire Christian life, because I want to be like Jesus. You know, I'm one of these guys that I really believe, Galatians 220, that I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live,

which that's what's giving me the confidence. So every time I get up, the last event I did, which I didn't share about that, which was I did for free, because I had metal detected this guy's yard like seven times. And he had a cleft palate. that I shared the story, and he gave $1,000 to Mia's charity. I mean, not only did I find all his treasures in his yard, he actually contributed. And so he's like, I'd like to get to get.

So I think about you said seven times. It's like the question, Peter, how many times is too many to metal to take somebody's yard, seven? Well, and get this. And my goofy buddy, the last time we went to his house, he keeps getting a deep serious. and he just keeps digging down. And these metal detectors that we have, they say they go a foot deep. Well, now, once you get to about three foot,

whatever you're doing, you know, but in your mind, he was thinking, oh, this is some treasure box buried full of gold coins. And so what happened was... But you're getting down there now we're electrical lines. He sends a shovel through the main waterline.

Ah, waterline. And I look up and I thought, Okay, time to go, because I saw water spewing from a hole. Not good. Everyone gathering around. And so now I'm like, okay, now I feel guilty because one of my friends, I mean, there's a team here. So he asked me about speaking at his church one night. And so I did that this past week.

Look, it was packed. My first line, when I got up in front of these people, I said, I didn't know this many people lived here and I was out in the middle of nowhere. You're supposed to call before you dig, Jase. Yeah, but we gave. You're supposed to call before you dig. They, uh, what's the number, 811? They, 811, yeah.

What is that? 811, I don't know that. You know the number to the bank for the time, but you don't know 811. No. As the treasure hunter, you better find out about 811. Google it sometime. Well, it happened. So, uh, and I shared Jesus, but what I'm saying is there is something.

I felt that same thing. Al about I was just there in a community where in America, the model that we've adopted in churches, this is my opinion, but y'all can debate it if you want, where somehow another, you pay the preacher to do the work.

It's like we feel like, let's give this guy some money, and it's not much. I think there's a few preachers out there making a lot of money in churches, and that should raise some eyebrows. You know, if you're staying in an $8 million house and you're working for the church,

we need to have a meeting about that. I want to convert to that group. In general, the only reason I said that is because my... Hey, Al said that can get him back in the ministry right there now. I tell you what, I could be called back in for... You know why I've said that? Because my son, when I was in Nashville this past week, we were going through this neighborhood,

and he was telling me all these houses, you know. This is Luke Brian. house and I mean and Reed is building quite the house. I saw it. It's impressive. But there was some huge house and he's like, oh, that's a preacher somewhere. And I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. Luke Bryan, I understand.

Yeah. Yeah. He said, that's a preacher now? I said, they might need a meeting. So everybody laughed. They could try my method. We don't pass the plate. And we say if you want to donate or give any money,

there's a box back there that's bolded to the floor. So nobody run off with it. But Phil, look, if I walked into your church and I saw you and they said, there's the preacher, I would turn around and say, I think maybe we need to pass the place. I mean, this guy, get that

guy, box of donuts. Who is that guy? Jim Smith? I mean, if you're going to do it for free, you don't have, by the way, back on your mother-in-law, the troubles and then your dad-in-law, the marriage that struck a chord with me.

Easy, Phil. I live with these people. So what, what, what, what, what, when did you get married? 80s? Oh, no. Was it set? No, I have a, you know what? I have a clock from my in and.

I'm so glad she gave it to me. So when was that? It has the date of, you're just, you're obsessed. My Kay sister gave me a clock that had my wedding date on it. And I'm so glad. 1990. Okay, 1990. Just to show you the difference between the mindsets of the 1960s to the 1990s, 30 years, period.

Yeah. I said to your mother, we're just teenagers. Yeah. You know, I'm a senior in high school. She's a junior. I said, well, guess what? Someone paid for my education and I'm going to college, so it's been nice knowing you. She said, hold just a minute, buddy.

She said, I'm going with you. There was no conference about, well, you reckon you ought to check with your mommy. No, it was like her daddy passed away, but all I told her was, you might ought to tell your mama that you're heading out with. She said, I've already told her. I said, what did she say? She said, whatever you want to do.

But you got a memory. So that was when you could snatch them and get out of there. And no mother-in-law's. I don't know that's compared it to kidnapping. That's where you came from, Jase. So be thankful, son. If your mama hadn't said, I'm going with him. I'm going with you, no matter where you're going.

Phil, this was BC in your life. And so a lot of decisions that had been made were not right. Just because it all worked out, I'm not sure that the recipe is well far. I'm giving you the function of how you even got it. here. So be thankful. Well, I am too. And look, I've said before, I thank the Lord every single day because I was raised by two teenagers on a college campus. Mom was finishing up high school, dad was in college. It's a wonder I'm never survived. Only by the grace of God am I sitting here today.

Which, by the way, we are in production, or at least pre-production on the movie of this whole time period. I think I'll watch it. Oh, it's going to be. I'm sorry, it's going to, it's going to be good. My question, so y'all are actually going to make a movie of that? Young Philly Kay. How is it not going to be ready to all? We may be.

I mean, I've had to cut, I did have to cut a couple scenes. I was like, it's a little too graphic. Yeah, it's just, uh, it's, it will be PT 13. It would be NC-17. It was a, it's a rough story. Why do people keep doing things to embarrass me? I do not know. Because this is going to be a great story.

of what it really is I it's it's such a beautiful story redemption there's well there's a lot of people that well I was just gonna say I was gonna say though that transformation that I really wouldn't be here if I hadn't have seen the transformation I mean I say that in my speeches I got to see kind of a you know a situation where it wasn't like I went to church and and heard about Jesus I mean seeing the transformation then led me to Jesus yeah so It was it very impressive. No, I think it's a powerful story.

So to all our listeners, for you folks that are listening now, just remember, I repented. It's embarrassing. So whatever you see, I'm sorry. Your credit, Phil. You have been honest about that. Look, I had this thought. No, but let me tell you before you tell you a thought.

And that point that he just made is huge, because I've now encountered multiple people that have reached out to me. and to Phyllis because they have a similar story as hers. But look, the problem is that people don't know in their family because they were never really honest about who they were. So now they're having the 50-year tail wagged the dog. And you're talking about a lot of pain in people's lives. That's common.

Yeah. It's so common to have. And dad's deal about, you know, I was a heathen. I admit it. I was terrible, which allowed us to move on so much quicker. I basically told them on the front end, if you want to research my past life, well, here's what you're going to find.

You know, getting high, getting laid, getting drunk, I don't know what else to tell you. But it's just the way it was. That's right. But it's remarkable. Well, what I was going to say is... Hang on, let's take a break. What I was going to say is there's a passage in Acts 18.

We read it when we went through Acts. But when Paul was facing some opposition in Corinth, the Lord spoke to him in this dream and I just want to make an analogy about this. What text are you? Acts 18, verse 9 and 10. And I was just going to say this became my ministry motive. But it says one night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, do not be afraid. Keep on speaking.

Do not be silent. For I am with you and no one is going to attack and harm you. But this last phrase is the one I want to. to zero in on because I have many people in this city and when you think of churches to get back to our original point about this where they hire preachers and they pay them you know when you read something like this there were people that the Lord viewed in this statement to Paul as part of his inner circle that wasn't necessarily on a pedestal somewhere he was like I have people in this city and it made me

me think about being part of God's inner circle. And to me, that's 24-7, 365. And so when I go to a city, I'm trying to get people there, whether they take a paid position in a church somewhere, or whether they're just God's people in that city, if we have God's inner circle in as many cities as we can get, that's going to be a positive thing for getting Jesus out. Because that works. It's called protection. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I just say, I think that, it's okay for pastors to be paid.

I don't think that's what we're saying. No, and by the way, in the Bible, it's fully, I mean, Paul said they're worthy. I mean, especially when they're doing the work of the church. And I'm saying the same thing, you're worthy of double honor. Exactly. But I'm glad you made that point earlier. I think all of us have kind of been in that position in some regard where people look at the pastor as some, some like something special like he has special like connection with God that you don't have access to

it's just not true i i think that's why it this american model of having the guy you know when we did the church plant in monroe where phil's at now you know we went over there with about 10 couples and there's one one of the guys that went with us he would always tell me so man you got to be the guy every every great church has the guy you know he named a few churches we need we need you to be that I'm like, no, there's no guy. Like, can you read like the biblical model for church structure like at a first Peter? I was just, when you were talking, Jason, I was thinking about this. You've got Peter, who's an apostle, meaning he has apostolic authority, meaning that

he's a big dog. And, but when he talks to the elders, he didn't say Peter as an apostle. He says, Peter, he says, therefore I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder. So you see Peter comes down off of this position when he's talking to the elders who are leading the church. He says, I'm just one of y'all. And then when they reference the lead pastor or the in the Bible is called the chief elder, same term, lead pastor, chief elder, the main shepherd. You know who they're talking about? Jesus.

By the way, who is the man? That's the man you need. That's the man. He says when the chief shepherd appears, in other words, when the lead pastor appears, when the main pastor appears, when the main pastor appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. He's talking about Jesus. When Jesus, so we talk about the lead, like the lead guy, I think that's a problem. You know, we've built these, this model where you got this guy who's got a dynamic personality and then everybody kind of gets around the guy. But what happens when the guy falls like Mark Driscoll up in, yeah, up in Seattle?

Here's a number one, one, the number one podcast out right now is about his collapse and fall. Right. So I think that we got to be careful developing. I'm just, I love what we're doing because we're like, ain't no guy. That's what I was getting to. That's what I was getting to. It's got to be an inner circle. Because the churches tend to alienate

the lead pastor from everyone else. Even, I've been in places where they've introduced the new pastor and didn't even introduce his wife with him. I'm like, I thought the two were one. That's a package deal. Trust me, she's going to be a part of it.

Which is, y'all know me. I'm all for, even in the elders, I mean, the wife is just as important as the man. When you introduce them, get the wife up there. Because you don't do anything on your own. But my point is, Zach, you read First Peter, but, you know, Ephesians 4, I've read this many times. I'm glad to see you're still holding on to it because just barely, it's all coming apart on your day. Yeah.

Good use. Verse 11 of Ephesians 4 says it was he who gave son to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, And that next verse is to prepare God's people for works of service so that the whole body of Christ may be built up and reached unity. So I'm saying this idea of we're paying this guy to do the work, we sit here an hour, then we give a thumbs up or thumbs down by how much we're given. And then everybody go out and just live normal lives in society that's not going along with how Jesus's ministry is. I think it's just upsetting to me. It's unsustainable. It's unsustainable to think that we're going to come in as believers, and we're going to

sit one hour a week in the assembly and be catechized in the assembly. We're going to be taught. We're going to be molded in that one hour. And then we're going to give all of our spiritual responsibility as we are the priesthood of believers, but we're going to give all of that over to one guy. And we're going to say now, we're going to pay you to do what we're supposed to be doing. We're going to pay you to be the priest. It's too much.

So here's what I was going to say about this event I did in the middle of nowhere in Poh-Dunk, Louisiana. So I've metal detecting this guy's yard seven times. Well, on three different occasions, somebody from the community saw me out there and pulled in. One was a special needs kid that was a big fan, but we gathered around because the mom, I don't think it was his mom, I think it was his grandma, but she had. if I'd pray for him. Well, we got into a circle, and I prayed, no, we're in a yard.

It's not Sunday morning. I don't even live here. But we had a situation here, and I pray, well, she starts crying, and we had a little come to Jesus, I think a Jesus moment. Encounter. Well, somebody got wind of that,

that we're praying out here in the yard. So the next time I was there, some guy came up, you being diagnosed with cancer. He came up there, tears in his eyes, for we even got started. He's like, you know, I heard you would pray for people. And I was like,

well, yeah. And so I had that moment. Well, then there was another family that their son had attempted suicide. So they saw me in the yard, pulled up, and we had this, we had a prayer,

you know, for them. And I'm, of course, it's funny because my buddy's looking around and is like, I mean, this is turned into a church house. And so when here's my buddy who doesn't work for the church there, he's just, I think he's one of God's people in that community. So then he's asking me, because he's like, I'm trying to get something going. I teach the young people. And so when I showed up, I was shocked at how many young people were there at this gathering, which excited me because I thought, well, I see his work that's happening here.

I've already met some people in the community. So I started thinking outside the box thinking, this is, God's doing something here. We're stirring, and it wasn't revolving around the preacher. Because look, here's what's interesting. When I got to the church, well, I met the pastor. And he's like, yeah, this is my last week here because he had just taken another job somewhere. So in fact, it was the exact opposite. That's why I'm bringing this up.

He's leaving. I was like, well, who's going to be the pastor? And they're like, I don't know. I guess you for now. now. I said, well, I guess for tonight. It's a one-hit wonder. But I was just trying to make that analogy, because here's a church where you would think they would be going through a difficult time because their pastor's leaving. But I actually felt the exact opposite. I thought, oh, because that place was, you could not put another person in there for this gathering.

And of course, I shared Jesus. And as I left, they were doing the invitation. And it was awesome. Well, I think it's a great point, Jay, is that the health of a church of the body of Christ should be in that church and not a pastor leaves or stays is not going to determine whether that's a healthy place or not. That's the point I was getting. Yeah, and I think WFR, our church was in the same position. Our guy, Trent, who we love, we've had on the podcast, and I miss him because he's such a dynamic person. But he's been gone now two years. But our church was healthy enough that, you know, we could have a couple of guys just step right into the, in terms of the proclamation. And I'll say something else. Let's take a break that I've learned

from when I preached before, when I was a paid guy. So a lot of times in churches, this is more inside baseball for being a pastor, you'll get things from church leadership or even your own observations. And you'll start thinking things like, when's the last time, you know, I preached a sermon on and then throw a topic in there. Or someone will come to you. and say, we know, we got a situation here. You need to be preaching on this. So you're preaching becomes so reactionary, you know, to your surroundings, which at first that sounds pretty good.

But then I realize you get further away from the Bible and the context of the Bible when you're thinking is that way. So what we've done is about us preaching as we're doing this podcast. We did the book of John. We did the book of Acts. We did the book of Romans. We're now in the book of Matthew. And this is just straight Bible.

And so what I've noticed is from a standpoint of feeding sheep, people seem to be much healthier than me just popping topics somewhere or finding the hottest book that's out there in the market. You see what I'm saying? I mean, it's really as a return to what was happening. It's like the two girls that came in and said, it's just like a normal church. And I said, oh yeah, she said, well, where's the preacher? Yeah. Because she was looking around.

They were both looking around that they couldn't spot the guy that was a, well, I bet they wanted to put. some money in the box too. Zach, that's why also I think these churches realize that, oh, we need small groups. How come they're so effective? Well, because Jesus' model

was he took a small group of people and he went around doing godly things on an individual basis. Sometimes crowds would gather, you know, bigger crowds, but he had all these moments of individuals. Well, then, and you want to have a great church in our society

today. You have that church filled with small little inner circles who are getting together on a daily basis of saying, how can we get Jesus in this community? That's what makes it powerful. It's like all these little pods, which again, I was going to say this earlier, which is why the chosen that show is so powerful, because they zeroed in on that little inner circle of Jesus and him training them to be God's light in the world on an individual daily basis. Even with their own world. Even with their own. Even with there in spite of their mistakes.

They're only human, which is the way this works. I love that. Man, that's so key because thinking about a conversation we had in the last podcast about the meta, Facebook's meta, which is really going to do more to take people away from community. You kind of see the devil's scheme of what he wants to accomplish. He wants to get people apart and isolated. That's why this model of having this pastor who's isolated and insulated, well, insulated, really, insulated from the people and then the church, that flows down. And I think that it's so true,

man, you guys talk about like, like this idea of, of just returning back to scripture, like, not coming to church is to really be, it's not about entertainment. It's not about us coming to consume the entertainment of the church. That's what I love what you're talking about our expository preaching. That's the term expository preaching where we just, we're going through the Bible and let the Bible speak where it speaks. And it forces us to deal with, you know, difficult passages that sometimes you may want to skip over because there's a lot in here that if I had written the Bible, I would not have put in here, but I didn't write the Bible. I had one of those yesterday, Zach, the past, we talked about the podcast about the Canaanite

woman. That's an uncomfortable text. And you don't hear a lot of sermons about it because Jesus basically said, you know, we're going to feed our food to the children, to the dogs, and this woman. But the point was that Jesus made, which is a powerful one, is that she got it. She got it. The disciples kept missing it. But here's this Canaanite woman. And she's like, yeah. But you know what?

Even the dogs get the crumbs. And Jesus says, what a woman of faith. She understands. She also got it. She was unoffendable. That's right. And you think about how many people in our churches are offendable. Look, they will get offended over the drop.

of a hat or maybe I should say the wearing of a hat. We talked about that. You know, you eat a Snickers bar in the back of the, oh, I didn't know there was a line where holiness that you cross over and you can't eat here, eat here, can't eat here. Or I've had people say, well, you can listen to music out there, not in here. I mean, it's like, what? Not up in here. What?

And they're like, and I'm offended. But this woman was unoffendable because, do you? Jesus pretty much tried to offend her. That's right. And it was impossible. She was like, doesn't matter. Just give me the crumbs. Which is why he said, how many times did he say to the disciples in this text, 14 through 16, are you so dull?

Do you still not understand? Are you not listening to what I'm telling you? And the woman, he's like, now there's some faith. Because three times out of her desperation for this daughter that had a demon, she's like, I get it. You've got the power to do it. And she would not stop until he said permission granted. Well, you see, you see her heart. Her heart is a heart of desperation.

I think the reason why we want to blame the senior pastor model, kind of the guy model, but really, man, we really demand that from the church, right? The people do. We want that because it's containable. If I can just reduce my whole thing down to, hey, let me come here Sunday morning, get my worship on, get my worship fix on, and be fed. let me come and consume, you know, to worship, and then I'll leave it. I can contain that.

That's totally different than the Romans 12 passage, which says that true worship is not you going on Sunday morning to consuming something. It's to offer your body as a living sacrifice. This is your spiritual act of worship. And stretch it out. That's a lot more. Where Monday and Tuesday is just like Sunday. Well, unlike Jason described, every prayer that he had with each of those individuals

that was in a seeking moment. moment. I mean, that was offering up sacrifice and praises. That's worship. I mean, it is purest sense and form. That's what I was going to say, but you know, you can do that anywhere. After a while, it hit me that I thought, I think God wants me to do something here. I mean, because look, I've metal detected all over the surrounding states, and I keep going back to this place and people keep showing up. Then the guy asked me, I'm like, then he's like donated his money to helping these kids and I'm like I need to I mean what is he got to write me a letter you know not tap me on the old phrase and we will see you at the next appointed time yeah wait a minute

when when is that don't have you got to back that guy guard guide guard and direct us to the next appointed that's right it was to it was to thy next appointed time I think it was the word so so I had an experience like jason was describing so there's guy tied one guy that does landscape and he was doing it in our neighborhood down in Alabama. And so we get to talk in and he hadn't heard of the podcast, but he had heard I was a preacher. So we just started talking. And you're going to have a lot more spiritual discussions. And he was telling me he wanted me to pray for his brother. He said, just, you know, please pray for my brother. And he was telling me some things about it. And I said, well, let's do it right now. And we're standing in the middle of the street in my

neighborhood in Alabama. And he kind of looked around like, he was like, can we do? do that. And I was like, yeah, we can pray wherever we want to, brother. And we just had that prayer. And he said, man, thank you so much for that. You know, what he was saying was, I've got this need in my life. I'm concerned about spiritual well-being of my brother. And I want you to know about it. But then it was like, well, let's just go ahead and do that. Like, we can do that in the middle of the street or where we are, you know, which was, I thought it was funny that he looked around to see, you know, is this, can we do this in the middle of the street? Sure we go. Let's Take another break.

Well, to get back to your story about the faith of the Canaanite woman, I heard somebody make a joke one time that Jesus was unlike any other preacher ever. And the reason he was the greatest is because he was the only one that when asked a question, when she came up and said, Lord, have mercy on me. My daughter suffered terribly from demon possession. Jesus didn't answer a word. So they're like, well, that just ruled him out of any other preacher. society because they would have never been asked a question and not say anything.

They didn't have an answer for it. Alex, that hits too close to all my hair. But you think about it, most preachers are have the gift of gab. That's right. And they would never, under any circumstance, not answer a question. This wouldn't do it. That's exactly right. So I think that he was breaking down a lot of walls here.

And I've said that before, a lot of what you'll find when you look at how Jesus operated. He was a listener. Right. I mean, in this case, he just didn't answer, which I don't know why he did him, but it is bizarre. But then he listened. Right. Well, I think obviously knew some of what was about to happen. But he waited until they said, once again, here's the disciples.

Can you shut her up? Because you're not responding to her, but she's like annoying us. I'm paraphrasing, but that's what they said. And then he addresses the one. Because then I think they were devaluing. you in her. Exactly. And you don't do that. Don't do that. Everybody is valuable. What turns out is she understands what you dummies don't. You know, that's what ultimately said. So I made the point in the sermon. I started out in John 14. And of course, we're getting towards 16. Dad's going to preach this

Sunday. But we, I never really made as big a deal. I think that it is a big deal in this text, that this begins with John's beheading in prison. Because, It obviously impacted Jesus because twice he withdrawals in solitude to sort of mourn the moment. And more than I thinking about it, this really did kick off the whole shabang because John had been out there in the desert. People liked him even though he was kind of strange. They followed him. And now when all of a sudden you speak truth to power and they cut your head off and it comes out on a platter just for people's amusement. You know, and I never really thought about that much.

The Herod and the story was such a village. person. He had no conviction. He had John kill because he had a, had a incestuous lust for his niece and then made a bunch of boastful things that he wouldn't go back on. That's the only reason John lost his head was because this guy was such a moron. And so I thought about it, but think about the chilling effect that would have on the disciples, because this was the guy that pointed everybody to Jesus and his head comes out on a platter. He's the forerunner of Jesus. It was a powerful preacher and prophet, you know, it was Elijah. So I realized that everything that happens after this is really Jesus trying to get his troops ready about for what's about to happen. Because

Jesus is almost saying, look, you don't even know yet how bad this is going to get. I mean, yeah, losing John, he can get his head. Which is my point about having that inner circle. I mean, I think we all need that be in part. I mean, first you just ask yourself a question, am I part of God's inner circle in this town wherever I'm at am I would he could he say what he said to that place in Corinth to Paul in that vision I got some people I want to be one of those people here in that inner circle right yeah I was watching the uh Sunday that football game the other night no reason I was watching it but doubt you're a Dallas fan you got I am I got my cowboy had well they and they were starting a quarterback that I'd never heard of

Cooper Rush which by the way I gave the I'm a cowboy was that I gave them about a 2% chance to win that game. I was thinking they are not going to win. Exactly. No, that's the only reason to watch them. Yeah, they won. But look, here's what I wanted to say. I wanted to make a spiritual application

because it's hard to watch football these days for a lot of reason. But, you know, I just like the game. And I wanted to see this guy because I just thought, man, I bet he's nervous. I mean, this is, hey, you're starting. Here you go. Good luck, buddy. And so. I don't think he's ever started.

First career start. Yeah. Well, I noticed as the TV went on, they kept showing his family. I mean, how many times they show it during the game? A dozen, 20. Oh, wow, yeah, it's more than that. That was the story because somebody back in the truck was like, zoom in. Zoom in.

I went to the fourth quarter went to bed because I said, no. They're not going to win. So they went. But I was like, well, why are they showing? Why does this mean more to his inner circle? Because they know him. To us, it was just a guy. You know.

We never heard of it. beard, which I liked, but I mean, had a beard, you know. And you don't, it was no big dip. But for them, look, you could see the passion, the tears in their eyes, the high, I saw, I could read his dad's lips one time when they were, when they were driving at the end. He was like, be smart. Just be smart. Just be smart. I was thinking. He was coaching him up. He can't hear you from up there. He's not thinking, okay, I need to be smart right now. that. But I, you know, it was moving.

That dad was going back to Little League, to high school football. I mean, in his mind. He had a little cadre of believers there. That's exactly what. And that, because I thought about that's what we are in God's kingdom. We're these little groups and we have our little inner circle. And look, I don't make any excuses about it. When I see people that really focus on Jesus and love Jesus from the heart,

whether I have anything else with them in common or not, I pursue a relationship with them. I have an inner circle of people like, so if something comes up, whether it's raising my kids or something, I have on Speed Dial an inner circle of people. And you say, well, how did you create that inner circle?

I pursued it. I want these people helping me make Jesus decisions on a daily basis. And the reason we're so passionate with each other because we know each other, we spend time with each other. So I wanted to promote that because I think even in a silly football game, we're all familiar with our inner circle and what we have,

because that truly is how you're going to produce and who you represent and where your passion is going to come from. So number one, you want to be a part of God's inner circle. You're in his inner circle and then have those friends, and that is your ministry team as we think of the church being established. That's really interesting, Jay. Let's take our last break. that when you

to further your analogy you know the crowds of course of course that was a road game but so the the Saints quarterback had a backup quarterback that really played well they won

then you had the Jets had a backup quarterback and they knocked off the bingles yesterday then the Cowboys so it was kind of like the day of the backups you know that it kind of was

but I thought about how fickle crowds are two of those were home crowds where they were cheering for this guy but look these guys have never played before if they play a little bit more they're going to stink it up at some point. I mean, it's coming because you're an NFL quarterback.

Those fans will be booing them, but who won't be booing them is the inner circle. That's why he's. That group I met with on Thursday night, two or three nights ago, out of Dallas, great brothers reaching out to the people in Uganda and showed them how to drill whales, but they've got teams of disciples that are going down there and discipling the Ugandans while they're at it and they help them with their physical needs. It was just a great bunch of brothers that I didn't even know existed until I went over and met whether it was pretty cool.

It's real cool. I was impressed. Why was Jesus upset about John the Baptist? He was in his inner circle. He prepared the way. I mean, it's the, when I went to Greece and met with these Iranians, well, if you had told me anything about Iran, I was not interested. But I met these people in the name of Jesus.

who were risking their life to share Jesus. And guess what? I wanted to be in that inner circle. I told him, I said, I was quiet for about the first hour when I ran up on y'all. I said, I was just watching to see if I could tell that you were disciples of Jesus because of your love for one another. I said, I've been here long enough now.

You love one another, and I'm glad to be here. So we had a guy yesterday at WFR Dad that was from Liberia, and a really interesting guy. And I've been to Liberia. So after I met him, I was sick yesterday. I was preaching, but my ears are stopped up for about the last three days. So when you're preaching and your ears are stopped up, it feels like you've got a five-gallon bucket over your head. I couldn't hear myself.

It was so distracted. So I was going to get up and whine about living Louisiana during the ragweed season, which is right now. And I said, but, you know, then I met this brother from Liberia. and I thought if I start whining about how bad it is to live in Louisiana, he's going to say, quit whining. He's from Liberia. I've been there. That's a rough track. But all these brothers, when you find that community we've been talking about in any culture, it always speaks to what you were talking about.

It's so clear. It's the people of God. And you can see it and you can notice it. And it doesn't matter how bad their economic situation is. It doesn't matter any of that. The love of Christ, when it's shyness. saw it first-hand Thursday night, Dallas, Texas. Any culture.

Well, and the way it shines, I love what you said about the inner circle whenever everybody else is condemning you. The inner circle is going to lift you up. But on the flip side, when everybody else is praising you, it's the inner circle that's going to say, hold on, man. You're not saying too highly of yourself. That's right. Play smart.

You get both sides of it. That's exactly. But I think that's what Jesus was training these men to see they were getting to know him, because when he drops the bombshell when we get to Matthew 16 about who do you say I am and he's like you're the Lord's son of Christ well I think people forget that he said I'm going to build my church I mean it belongs which that's us yeah we belong to him it's his it's not ours yep we're sitting there thinking now should the pastor get a raise or and I know that's part of what you got to do right but the bigger picture is this is the Lord's church we we We're doing the Lord's work, all of us. Right. Not just, we're not going to pay some guy. And what committee I serve on and how we do this, that, and the other.

But that's the problems we all get disconnected. So everybody goes to their house, there are no inner circles. That's why when somebody thought small groups was the answer, small groups per se is not necessarily the answer. Most of us got into trouble when we got a small group of teenagers with nobody else around and started doing mischief. So I'm saying the small group for Jesus, is what's powerful.

The inner circle is... No, and you're exactly right. And one of the things I thought about, there's two different things in this text, in this whole period, where the villains are the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the teachers of the law. And they do a couple of things.

One, remember, they griped about them, not washing their hands, which we've talked about. And then the disciples said, did you realize we offended the Pharisees? Like, Jesus's like, who cares about that? And then later, they demanded a sign. And Jesus, at the disciples, and he heard them, they forgot to bring bread. So he says, don't fall for the yeast

of the Pharisees and the Pharisees. In other words, I know you have them in high regard, but don't listen to them. And then they looked at each other and they said, he said that because we didn't bring the bread. It was so innocent. At the same time, it shows you how easy it is to miss. And you want to fall right back into that, like, religious, you know, hierarchy, which is what was even though they had a point. I mean, if I saw him feed 5,000, then 4,000. Which, by the way, he created matter. So Zach mentioned the second law on thermodynamics in the last podcast. Jesus created enough food to feed about 15 to 20,000 people out of 12 lows and a few fish.

Well, not only that, Al, you know, how many storms, you know, they walked on water, you had that. You had him asleep in the boat and they woke him up. Oh, we're going to die. And he's like, shh. And then the storm saw. So he's got what? Power of nature, elements. What law of thermodynamics is that?

One? Yeah. And so, well, then he has this, when he says this about, this is something we've used many times, which people are surprised this is in the Bible, because we thought the Navy invented this. But in 16, 1, and 2, he comes up, which is a direct quote from what he said in chapter 12, about saying the Pharisees and the Sadducees want a sign from heaven. I mean, they have Jesus. He is from heaven.

You have the guy who's creating the signs. But they're like, oh, no, no, no, no. And so he replied, when the evening comes, you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red in the morning. Today it will be stormy. So for the sky's red and overcast, you know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the time.

early weather channel reference. I love this because the worst profession, speaking of paid professions, are weather people. Literally, anyone can do this because nobody really knows. It's the most unpredictable thing on the planet. And Jesus gives you some wisdom on how to predict it. Duck hunters would know that. That's right. Well, we would know it. But you didn't know that that's in the Bible. That's why these people that sell there's no evidence about God. It's some kind of made-up story, you know, people that are non-believers. And I'm like, oh no, there's evidence. You know where that

saying came on how to read the weather? That's that came from us. The Lord. Once again, the originators right here. So now these people with all these graphics and technology, you know, and then every once a while some meteorologist will stick

his head outside and say, ooh, red in the morning, Sailor's warning. Got that from Matthew 16. Wow. Man, we have really uncovered something here today. You didn't know that.

See, this is news. Aks learning along with the rest of us. Learning. So the point is, as we get here to wrap up point, and this will lead us into what Dad's going to be preaching about, is that all these things that Jesus was doing was getting these guys ready for what was going to happen. The one good thing about the disciples,

and I thought I'm under the bus all the time, when we were in this part of the text. In fact, somebody told me, oh, you're so hard on the disciples. I said, well, look, I'm no different. If you had followed me around and wrote down all the stupid stuff that I thought and said when I was first being disciple in Christ, it would be just as laughable as what these guys.

Just think about this thing is going to jump from, you know, who is this guy? Yeah. Who is he on the way walking on water feet? Who is he? It goes from who is he to this. This is what I'm going to do. That's right. When they got to that, they're like, yo, wait a minute.

Whoa, whoa, everybody looked around. Even his disciple, they looked around, they didn't get it. No. None of them got it. But these guys, minus Judas, are going to not only understand it one day, they're all going to go to their death. That's right. Being who we needed them to be, right? First, it was like, you're going to do what?

Right. So it's really, never. So I'm saying the point is it should be encouraging to us who miss a, a lot of times that, you know what, you can still do great things for the Almighty, even though you miss a lot of points because certainly that was the way from the original guys too. Yep. All right, Dad, so I've teed you up.

So now you're Sunday, you're going to let it. Now, by the way, those of you that watch our live stream, you can catch Dad WFRchurch. org on Sunday morning at 10 o'clock. So if you want to watch, he's going to be preaching. Because I don't know when this will come out. It'll be this Sunday. The good news is, this is, fortunately for me, that. They can't fire me because they never hired me.

Me either. Me either. Zach either. And if they did fire me, I wouldn't hold it against him. I'm like, bye. See you all later. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

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