Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 470 | Phil Robertson's Answer to the Unraveling of America

Episode Date: May 1, 2022

Phil has watched America's unraveling for the past two years, and he thinks that the pendulum is beginning to swing in the opposite direction. Jase relives one of the greatest river harvests of Phil's life and provides the details on exactly where he took it. Al and Jase discuss the breakfast that Jesus shared on the seashore with his disciples just days after he had been crucified. And Al shares a message from a Marine who has greatly benefited from the Unashamed podcast. Watch the Unashamed overtime show, only on BlazeTV: https://BlazeTV.com/Unashamed - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So we get a lot of, we get a lot of notes, emails, letters from listeners, which we always appreciate. And there's, just so you know, Unashamed Nation, there's way more of you than there is of me. So sometimes we have help that helps us kind of read your stuff and try to get it to us. But Jeffrey sent a letter to Mike Kellett, who's, you know, one of the first. our preachers that WFR preachers with me. And I really appreciate the note. And he's currently serving in the armed forces.

He was a Marine early in his life. Now he's in the Air Force. And he just told a really neat story. I'm not going to read the whole story, obviously, on air. But he just shared about what the podcast, how it reached it. He was deployed. And it was during the pandemic. So, you know, he's already 7,000 miles away.

And then he's quarantined on top of that. And he found our podcast. And he was just kind of in a dry place spiritually, you know, just had kind of grown up and not been close to it. But it really spoke to him. So that connected in them to our live stream. And so it's just changed he and his family's life. And he just shared some really cool things in there. And we get a lot of military coins from vets and people that are currently serving.

And by the way, we appreciate everybody's service to our country. But he's someone that was unique because it wasn't necessarily a military coin, but it's fruit of the spirit. is the coin. And then on the back, it lists the fruits. And he sent all of us one. And I just wanted to, I know you're probably listening, and he's deployed right now. And so I just want to tell you, Jeff, we got your note. We got your coins.

And, you know, I love your heart. I love the way you've allowed God to use this platform to change you. And so, and I know there's a lot of other people out there that kind of have the same story. So we're very humbled that God has put us in this position. And I said before that Blaze, you know, Dad had a show how this started. Dad had a show called In the Woods. And it was great. It was a video blog and just kind of the day in the life of Phil, you know, stuff he does on the property.

But it always had a spiritual gift to it. And so Blaze has been a great partner for us. And, you know, they approached us and said, hey, you know, we want you guys to do a podcast and we want it to be about the Bible. And I was like, yeah, we got that. we can do that that's kind of in our bangs though jay you know we we could try what's i think what's powerful about that is even where we're at said corinthians 10 because it has a almost a military feel when he get when paul gets into that the weapons we fight with are not of the world and in different different places isn't there a verse i think somewhere in philemon it says something about

being a soldier. No, that's First Paul to Timothy. I thought it's Philemon. Maybe in both. I literally have not thought of this verse. It's on the right hand column. It's the right column.

Ten years. Right hand column. No, here's the one I was... That's the second Timothy. Let me do mine. I was right. Can I read mine? I read yours first.

Phileman won. He said T. Philemon, our dear friend and fellow worker and I guess some of the the people that was with him because I can't pronounce their names. It says, our fellow soldier into the church that meets in your home.

Yeah. Well, he wasn't talking militarily. He was talking about the same thing this soldier was. Yeah. A person who, through the power of God, is showing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness. Right. Yeah, the Timothy said endure hardship.

with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus and no one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs. He wants to please his commanding officer. Which is interesting. I think that's why the Bible, I mean, Paul did that on several occasions or, you know, is because it's a chain of command is the mind. is the mindset. In other words, a soldier, you know, signs on to defend the Constitution of the United States

against all enemies foreign and domestic. That's the goal. And then there's a chain of command. So, you know, you may not agree with what the command is, but you're going to do it because you signed on to do it. So I, and it's volunteer, I feel like that's what we are. We're a volunteer. That's one angle and the other angle is when you're a soldier, on active duty,

you don't go to church. Yeah. On Sunday, and you're not a soldier on Monday. That's right. And Tuesday. Yeah. And when you're a soldier, you're a soldier. Completely.

You signed up, and we signed up, and we said, Jesus is Lord. You're saying right now, I'm a soldier in an army. It's a spiritual army. spiritual things are on the right and the left, but this thing about, you know, going to reporting in for a couple hours here, you're missing the point here. Even if you're right,

this is a long slot. Even if you're on leave, you're still a soldier in the U.S. Even if you have your fatigue zone or not. That's right. Because if you're busted in his house, start messing around. Guess what?

A soldier, whether he has his uniform on or not, is fixed to bring you fury of his training. That's right. And in my case, I have a body. Bible that I'd much rather sit down and talk to you about. But if you're coming down in there to rob, kill, or steal, or rape or whatever, you know. Right. We've, you know, as a soldier, as a soldier, I am well armed spiritually and physically.

Well, I think you have a panic about, you know, something. Oh, hey, what are you talking about? No, not hardly. But I was just making the point. You've seen the news media lately? No, I really haven't. I would be shocked about what was going on. I hear they'll come in and rob you.

It's too depressing. A lot of them, more and more of them. It feels hard to get out here. If they ever get as far as where you are, then they really are taking. My trusty troops are this bo- A dog. Is that a dog? I don't know.

Bobo sneaky and freaky. I have three dogs and they are loud with somebody, anybody. I don't mean in the house. I mean, if you pull it into the yard, they are letting me know, we got trouble out here in the yard. That takes me back. That takes me back to the Today Show. Remember when the... Oh, I know.

He gave that same speech. Coda and Kathy Lee, they were like, you know, they were trying to keep it light and fluffy, you know, because one of the morning shows. And the whole family was on the thing. And they said, why, you know, Miss Kay, you've got some dogs, you know. And dad just jumps in and says, yeah, we got dogs. That's our first line of defense. and after that there's a hell of gunfire waiting on anybody that and saw was over there like she said what are you saying that's where the bible meets smith and weston meets smith and west

it was we got so tickled because they were like in panic mode and so they tried to pivot to sigh and sigh just goes he doubles down yeah he said we'd rather have a bible study but if a gunfight breaks out we're all the way home well it was saying he repeated well what you said well actually what you said that was so funny, you said, if anybody comes in our house with rape and murder on their mind? Yeah, it was too. It was, I was tried to forget that. It was so funny. We got so tickled because it was laughing about that.

But, I mean, you know, it is, these United States is way more dangerous than they were 40, 50 years ago. Well, that's why we need the fruits of the spirit. Look, we don't fight like the world. I mean, it's uncomfortable. I mean, we're ready. Well, yeah, I mean, that's what I'm. said every time we read something like that we're like yeah but i guarantee if you come in there but i mean i hate to tell you this but the bottom line is you're going to if you want to change the world

you got to do it from the inside out yeah yep it's just go ahead that's the way it works well exactly and you have to look at spiritual warfare for what it is and even even with this thing you're talking about that i mean the the the reason our culture is a dangerous place is because the even one has wreaked havoc on entire cities and huge swaths of our culture. I mean, in other words, they don't even know anything about God, never heard about it, don't know who their parents are. I mean, they live in with some, they grew up with some relative, not even their parents. I mean, just think about how, what's that's produced. So we're talking about now, you know, we're getting into multi-generations of all removal from civility. Yeah. You're so far from godliness, it's not even, you know,

they have no idea. So, of course, it's going to be dangerous. That's, I mean, Satan is the, the inventor of murder. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, it's going to be a, it's going to be a sad situation when he wreaks havoc on the entire parts of our civilization. I do see a movement out there. We've been at this podcast for whatever the last two or three years. It's been three, yeah.

But I've seen more of a movement within the hearts of the people. of the United States. Would you agree? I've seen a movement ever since this last election and all. I just seems like to me it's beginning to turn to turn back the other way. Yeah, I think so. Certainly for sure the lines are drawn clearly. You know, that first line of defense, you know, not only our military, but the law enforcement, I mean, I mean, they did a nasty deed. Yeah, that was just two years ago. Right. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, what I was going to say I appreciate every one of you people out there

Absolutely. I know a lot of A lot of, you know, people on armed forces and law enforcement listen to the podcast. So we do. We thank you guys deeply. It's nice to see, though, when he made reference that Fruit of the Spirit.

I love that. But I brought up that Phileman because I was kind of reading along here. You know, it starts off, Paul said he was a prisoner of Christ. And then he said to Philemon, our fellow worker. And then the point I brought up

was this archipus. He said, our fellow soldier. But the whole thing he keeps bringing up that, you know, he says, grace and peace to you. And I've heard about your faith, you know, in verse five. And then he gets down to verse seven, and he brings up fruits of the spirit, which is just by illustration when you brought up that coin. Your love has given me great joy. I mean, there's two of the qualities. And then he goes on to say, I love has mentioned a couple other times, but he gets to verse 13, and then he's like, well, I'm in chains for the gospel.

Because when you think about the spiritual warfare, and he's like, I'm in chains for the gospel, I'm out there sharing Jesus. And so what does the world do? Well, they'll lock you up physically. Yeah. They make you submit, say, no, you're not going to do that. But he's speaking of love and joy and fellow soldiers, but this is all a spiritual quest.

And my favorite verse in the whole thing, I skipped over it on purpose, but that verse six says, I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. And that is the exact opposite of what we normally think. Most people when they say, well, I would share Jesus but I don't know the verses. Or, well, I would share Jesus, but I don't have that talent. Or once I gain a full understanding, I'll then share it because I'm not qualified. But he's like, I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

Yeah. I think about that. Where's the text as though God were making his appeal through us? That's sacredness five. That's what we just went over. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I mean.

That's the ambassador, right? But you realize, I think, in this context, he's chained up for the gospel, which probably reminds him of when Jesus was going through his trials. He was arrested. He was innocent. You know, I mean, you can relate. At one time, at one time, he was. He was part of the problem.

Well, a lot. I mean, he was, he was, he was trying to stamp out Christianity himself. Exactly. Just think about a guy that, that then is just, it's just all of a sudden, Jesus appears in person post-resurrection and saying, well, what are you doing? And, you know, basically it was a strange conversation. What are you? He said, who are you?

Who are you? I mean, he's, he's sitting there on the Saul Forrest looking around, saying what in the world. But I noticed that he wasn't doing any argument. There was no arguing coming out of the Apostle Paul. And Jesus had a got a job for him. It wasn't like Paul was saying, well, I don't know. But, I mean, he believed pretty quick.

He did. Let's take a break. But, Jace, you're right. It's the idea of sharing your faith, that phrase, which is a really good one, is why you have faith. I mean, everybody has that story of how did you come to them? that. What, you know, it's your story. I mean, some point you came to faith, but I guarantee you there's somebody, you share that, then somebody else is like, oh, well, that, that impacts me. That's,

that's something I can do. Because your faith is in what? You're right. An actual being. That's right. It leads them to the being that they're like, oh, but then it makes you have a full understanding because when you think of all the verses that says, you know, Christ lives in you and even where we're at and St. Corinthians, the back end on 13, it says, do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you? That's 13.5. Yeah. Well, that's a big question.

Right. Because my first impression would be, you're talking about a guy who was here 2,000 years ago, over 2,000 years ago, you're saying that he's in me? Well, this is seeming weird to the world. Right. You believe that you're possessed by, the spirit of a person that was here over 2,000 years ago? Yep. I mean, that's what we're,

that's, that's what he's asking. Right. He's saying that's why, you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you? That's why when I talk to the naysayers who, no, no, no, they don't believe in God and all this. I'm talking with them. I usually end up by saying, let's just look at it logically, though. Who has the best story? Well, yeah. You with there is no guve or gloves of molecules that go around, you know, and then we die. And then that's all of that. I said, or this.

But they're thinking this is sci-fi, Phil. They're thinking this is sci-fi. Yeah, I know. They're like, well, he was here 2,000 years ago, and now you're saying. Well, when pressed, most of them will say, well, if what you said is true, you probably have the better story. But I like the idea that Paul was. Life beyond death. I mean, you live on.

I like the idea of what Paul told Philemon about the chains because there's people find themselves in different circumstances and situations. Chains come in a lot of different ways. He was talking about he was under arrest, literally in chains. But there's a lot of things that burden people. They're born with something. They've got to deal with it. Maybe it's a, you know, a handicap or some situation. But when you see people say, you know what, I'm serving God no matter what.

I met a doctor at the event I was at last week in California. Tyler, Sexton, his name. amazing man. He was born, he was 28 week baby and he had cerebral palsy so that, you know, they told the mom you need to abort the baby, you know, he's going to be an invalid and all this stuff. Of course, you know, she's a believer, so she didn't, she's not on abort her baby. You know, she said, whatever happens, he'll be a blessing to God and to our family. So, you know, it started out with these deals, kind of like with Tebow, you know, it was like, you know, they went against conventional wisdom.

So he has cerebral palsy, he embraces, you know, his whole childhood. You know, he said he was just, you know, made fun of his whole life. But he just had this strong dedication to God and to matter. And so now he's a doctor and he works in pediatrics and NICUs, you know, where babies who were born early, just like my man. So I was drawn to him Ralph the bat and he was telling me his story and he's written a book. And I was like, I mean, what an inspiration. because this guy could have just said, you know what? I mean, I've got the, I got several

policy. You know, I can't walk well. I've got other issues related to it. But he says, all these limitations. Right. He's like, no, not me. And I mean, it was just, I told him. I said, you know, guys like you, that's, this is what's all about. And it was because of his strong faith and his mom's faith that got him to that point. And so he just felt like there's, the word can't is not in his vocabulary. And I said, that's the way we should have. He had the brain power. Right.

He was just physically. Right. He has physical limitations. So what I'm saying is, in a sense, it's like Paul, he has chains because he's not like everybody else, but it doesn't matter because he's taking those chains and saying, you know what, that's not going to hold me back. And that's what Paul says. But you can't chain us up, really.

No. It's like, they say, I'm going to lock you up for sharing Jesus. No, you're not. Well, then they lock you up. They're like, see? You're like, no, it never happened. You can't lock me up the spirit that's in me. I have the spirit of the living God.

That's why these verses when he said in chapter 12, when Paul said, you know, he had the thorn in the flesh that we mentioned, he said, my grace is sufficient for you. I mean, this is in red letters for my powers made perfect and weakness. We're weak. Sometimes we'll be weak physically. Some people may be born physically. But the spiritual warfare, there's fruit of the spirit.

It can't be changed. No. It can't physically be halted. Right. I mean, you can disguise it. And that's why he's willing to be in change. But that's why when you receive the spirit of God, when you become a believer, and the spirit of God now indwells you, it lives in you, is what the Bible says.

So it's communicating with you literally, and it's a deposit about what's going to happen in the eternal. So you go back to 1st Corinthians 15. Guaranteeing what's to come. Exactly. He said your body is sown. It goes into the ground natural, but when raised, it's spiritual, not spirit, spiritual, meaning you can not only function in this realm, you can function in any realm, including wherever God is. But so the spirit is just this little taste of what it's going to be like in eternity. I mean, we just get that, and think about how powerful that is. I mean, it's life-changing. You know, you're talking about the fruit that comes forth.

Everything good. No bad. Yeah. Well, my point was initially, so we function like soldiers from a spiritual standpoint. If you agree that you have Christ in you, because that's mentioned a lot. I mean, Galician 2.20, I just read it, St. Corinthians, 13, 5, but there's other places. You think about, well, how he operated. So he was having conversations.

I mean, you just start picking them out. A religious guy came to him at night, you know, John 3. So he starts having this conversation about kingdom and the spirit, and it's like the wind, which is kind of what we're talking about here. You can, you know, you can turn a big fan on, but you can't do much about the wind. I mean, especially like if it gets blowing really hard. besides a, there's a lake wind advisory, which is telling you physically stay away from the lake.

So I'm like, why don't you just stop the wind? Well, we can't do that. Okay, well, that's the same thing. People live by the Spirit. Now, was that Jesus's point or not? I think he was going down that road. You're not sure where it's come from, where it's going, but it can be powerful. And so then, you know, next chapter is a woman that we don't associate because you were born over here and you look different.

But here's Jesus associating, having a conversation to start off about water. Yeah. And it got into living water. Well, he's talking about spiritual water. He was turning this. And, you know, it goes on from John 9 to we had a guy born blind, which is what you brought up situation. Yep. Well, whose fault was this?

And he's like, well, this happens so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. I mean, where God's power works in these situations. Even John 8, the woman called in adultery. Everybody's got the rocks in her hands because churches, they can do that. People drive by and you say, well, you do, you can try to help them or you can throw rocks out of the car is on the way by. Sadly, that's what's going on in our culture. But my point is he took things like things that happen in creation about agriculture. And he turned it all.

He took physical things real good about trees bearing fruit. Yeah. I suppose the guy has a garden. And there's four things that can happen to the seed. Well, you know, you start thinking about it like, yeah, birds could come eat it up. Well, some, you know, if you plant it in the wrong place, you got rocks. That's not going to work. you know.

And some are out there. They don't have any water. They get scorched or... Right. And some just... You don't know what the problem is, but they just won't produce any fruit. It's taking up space.

And then all of a sudden you look and some of it, you know, takes off. You know, why is he doing this? Because it makes you stop and think from a spiritual standpoint every time. He's taking the physical and he's making some kind of spiritual application that's deeper.

Well, that's true. power. I'm talking about true soldiering because you're getting into what's making your decisions. I mean, you can work out every day and you can be trained with all kinds of weaponry, but God realizes what we realize. You change somebody's soul and heart, especially when it's about something good. And you have the greatest weapon in a positive way that there is. And I think it's all centers around those fruits of the spirit.

Those weapons right there, I mean, that really makes changes in the world and people's lives. Against such things, there is no law. But the reason why is it's because we're touched by the eternal because it's fruit of the spirit. It's not our fruit. It's his fruit. It just flows to us. Let's take another break. But Jay, before you go there, so I was saying about, you know, and I just wonder,

So I wonder if Saul, who was trained by Gammael, Pharisee of Pharisee of Pharisee, Hebrew of Hebrews, obviously had a lot going for him in the Jewish world. When he became Paul after he was struck down that road, and then, you know, he went out in the desert. Before he was struck down in his mind, Jesus was not the fulfillment about what all the prophets said. In fact, he was well studied with Gamayor said. Yeah. But he was actively. He actually missed Jesus. He was actively trying to stamp Christianity out.

That's right. So I wonder, Jays, if, because if you, when you read Paul's letters, and I hadn't thought about this to you, just said this a minute ago, that he did, he took Jesus's same approach of teaching from nature and turning into spiritual. Because you think about 1st Corinthians 15, when he, when he explained what the resurrection body is going to be like, where did he go? He went to the soil. he said you're going to you know he said how foolish you know you say what kind of

is it going to be you take a seed you put it in the ground what comes out totally different a vine you put a watermelon seed in it's black comes out with a long vine with a bunch of watermelons that are green red and white and where the colors come from where did it all come from so that's why that's why he did it but i think that came first to planting your seed that's why it says that creation itself leads you to a creator or you have no excuse based on what it's been made, you see God's invisible qualities. Right. But what I love about that is it was an illustration from the ground.

So if you look down, resurrection. Then he said when you look up, remember he said the splendor of the heavenly bodies, but also the earthly body, but they're different. Their splendor is different. Then he compared it to animals, fish, us. He said, we all have different flesh, meaning that we will be changed in a dynamic way. But I just found that fascinating that he took that style of teaching. Did he get that from Jesus in those three years he's out in the desert having to power?

I think it's because Christ lives in him. That's why. Because I don't know that he, I don't know that Saul, Jace, would have had that insight. But I think Paul did after he met Jesus. Yeah, that was my point because I was saying if Christ lives in us. And it actually took him a little while to get going.

Well, he was three years in the desert. If Christ lives in you, this is where you get the ideas. Can you imagine what was going on his three years in the desert, sitting out there in the middle of nowhere? I think it was a tutorial. I mean, you know, he had already met Jesus. Okay, it's 8 o'clock.

Time. Sit out. Three years. He just disappeared. And then it was like he came out and he was done. What's pretty amazing is it gives you a little insight for the ones who are converted, you know, and we're constantly seeing them. And they get kind of antsy within the first month.

of their conversion because things and that they just thought this was going to flip a switch flip a switch and everything would but be better it you know solid food is for them when the scriptures are concerned solid food is for the mature who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish between good and evil take some time it's going to take some time it does it took the apostle pa we don't know what he was up to the in the training process but and it could have just been soul searching out of it was kind of like a a one-on-one, whatever. That's what I've always imagined, but I don't know. All I know is when he came out of that situation, he was ready to go. But to Jason's point earlier, think about it, he had now, the Christians are very leery of him because he was trying to kill him just a little a little while, just a minute ago.

The Romans, they didn't have anything for him. The Jews, they rejected him because they're like, you know, he's a turncoat. I mean, he literally was a man without any community starting out. So I get it why he, in this text we get into, Jase, why he's like, look, I have suffered for the kingdom. And I think back to when Jesus told him, memory he told Ananus, he said, I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. And he did. I mean, his whole ministry. Well, he says in 13.4 to be sure, he's talking about Jesus, because that's what he was trying to get them to return to.

Right. I mean, he just, he had just lit them up about their sins. You know, we read in 1220. He said, I'm afraid that when I come may not find you as I want you to be. Because he says, I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, alburst of anger, faction, slander, gossip, arrogance, you know, disorder. That's a little resume of the ones he was talking to. Yeah, and so they're thinking, whoa.

Not a whole lot of change, but you may be thinking, well, he's just judging that. may not respond that way. And he's like, yeah, here's why you'll respond that way, because he says, I may be grieved about many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin, and debauchery in which they have indulged. So when you look at those two lists of sins, he's saying, I'm scared when I come that there's going to be gossip, arrogance, disorder, slander, factions, outbursts of anger, jealousy, and quarry. Well, why would that happen? Those things happen if you break down each one, quarreling, jealousy, anger, slander, factions,

which is little groups that split it off. That happens when you're confronted by the sin in your life. You have two choices. You can either say, you know what, I'm right, I'll sin for God, I'm sorry, I repent, or you can say, well, who are you? What do you tell them? What happens? All these things, which is what he's saying,

You're going to be upset because I'm going to confront you about your sin. You haven't repented of it. You're looking into the metaverse instead of the metanoia, you know. You have this fake world that you're living in where you're serving God and living it up the other six days of the week. And so then he points them to Christ, but he brings up this spiritual weapon that we're talking about, which is weakness when he says in verse. Verse four, for to be sure of 13, to be sure Jesus was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power.

Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power, we will live with him to serve you. Well, the difference is, you say when I'm weak, you admit your failures. They didn't want to do that. They wanted to quarrel, get hot, who are you to? That's why the whole issue in these four chapters is they're like, well, who are you? Right. Talk about us. Look at your past.

That's why. That's why. To this day, one of the statements is basically get that Bible out of my bridges, you get that Bible out of my face. They don't want to hear that. Yeah, but people here were doing it in the church. Oh, yeah. I mean, they were like.

Well, that's what I'm saying. People see the mistakes that the Christians make. and they use that as a weapon against them. Well, right. It's like, you're no better than I am. You know, you're out there. You go home and say, I didn't like that sermon, you know. Yeah.

So, well, why not? Well, the real answer is, because he was right. I mean, he's stepping on my toe. Hang on, Jay. Let's take a break. But I wanted to get to the point is, and I think this is a misunderstanding we have a lot of times. When he gets to verse 9 of, chapter 13 he says we are glad whenever we're weak but you are strong and our prayer is for your perfection

well you think well why would your prayer be for perfection we we can't we can't be perfect and then he says it again in verse 11 he's like finally brothers goodbye aim for perfection well the last people on the planet that I would think would be anywhere close to perfection would be this bunch in Corinth. I'm not throwing rocks at them. I'm just saying you read the two letters. And you're like, perfection? So, but when you think about what is perfect,

well, only God's perfect. And when you read 1st John 4 that says, you know, perfect love. And 1st Corinthians 13 when he said, look, you need to perceive faith, hope, and love. and he was presenting love as really the ideal thing that they would pursue. Remember what John said too, perfect love cast out fear. I think that's what he was talking about.

But even Jesus is in a sermon on the mount, he gets to the end and he says, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. You're like, well, I can't be like God, but God is love. He says that in 1st John 4 also. And the reason I think this is true and the point I'm making, getting back to the fruit of the spirit, getting back to the point is that in 1st Corinthians 13. Remember, that was this real big challenge.

You're worried about all these other things, and he has this beautiful description of love, which is the greatest weapon on the planet. It is. It's the greatest weapon. It didn't come from us. It come from God because God is love, 1 John 4. But then he says, aim for perfection.

Now watch what he says. This is 1311. To my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace, And the God of love and peace will be with you. So it gets back to that relationship with God. God is love. That is your weapon. That is perfection.

And you are really messy people. And the way out of it is a focus on Jesus and then an application of love in your life. That is perfection. It's not your perfection. It's his. But if you're not willing to humble yourself and admit your weakness,

and be open-minded to what I'm telling you. It's never going to happen. Then he basically repeats himself. He says, may the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Spirit, which is where those fruits are, be with you all. By the way, there's Father, Son, and Spirit again in his clothes. Exactly.

You know. But look, as you're right, and the reason you are is because, remember we talked to this on the last podcast, He used his own weakness. Remember when he said he had the thorn? And he said, Jesus told me. I mean, so he literally told him, my grace is sufficient. He said, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

In other words, you saying, I can't do anything about this, but I'm totally trusting in you, that weakness is what makes his power perfect because that's when we fully submit to. I mean, that's ultimately the goal for all of us. So this past weekend, you know, I was teaching a class about sharing your faith. And I did kind of from Phileman. I was like, you know, you just have to go out there and have conversations and use the creation as illustrations to introduce Jesus. Right. No matter what comes up.

And y'all have heard my little speeches before. I came, well, with the three questions based on Act 70. about explaining the unknown God. And I do the same illustration every time. I'm like, close your eyes, picture guy, what you see? I think the first person said, a man on the clouds. These are church people. This is not, like I was down here at Bingo Hall asking people.

I had a man on clouds, we had a big light. And then I said, anything else? I was getting nothing. I said, so I said, how? many of you i said i'm going to give you an answer that you may be too embarrassed to say because i said close your eyes and picture guy i said nothing so i saw some snickering around i know people because it's you know i've done this for years people they just lights go out whatever reason because it's this is done by faith and it's kind of a trick question yeah it is

but but is one reason why they're not answered because they know there's probably well they're like what is the answer i've never what is this you what verse is this and the reason i do that is because I'm going to get to Colossians, which we're going to study next, but Jesus is the image of the invisible God. So somehow another, that verse is in stone. And you also have a backup, John 1, he came to make God known. That's John 1 17. So some form of Jesus should pop in your mind, whether it's just to go Isaiah's version, not just a beautiful like what you see on TV with the blue eyes but I guess now I might see the guy from the chosen, and I think that's okay.

Because that's what they're trying to give you an image of God's life. But when you watch the chosen or you see something like that, is it the way he looks that's getting your attention, or is it the character, the things he did? It's a man embodying the characteristics of true spiritual weapons. Because the prophet's. the prophecies about him, Isaiah and others said there's nothing going to be special about him. Not at all.

I mean, he'll be very... Like one from whom men hide their faces. Well, physically. Right. That's why I said. Spiritously is different. But how do you envision that? What's impossible?

Because faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see. But to my point, so I go through this whole thing about three questions, Acts 17. All these are icebreakers. You know, how do we get here? What are we doing here? How are we leaving? The planet. And I could tell everybody was like, well, this is fascinating.

Where did you get these questions? I'm like, they're pretty basic. You look around how to get here. What do you think I should do here? Well, how am I leaving here? All those are morbid questions without Jesus Christ. Because they all have dead ends or up for debate. And none of them without Jesus will produce these fruits of the Spirit.

on a consistent basis. You may have temporary moments of happening. So I go through the whole who Jesus is, why he came, you know, the gospel. I mentioned First Corinthians 15, but I mainly did it through Colossians. But I brought up this one point about, because someone asked a question about the resurrected body at some point, which was interesting. And so I go to John 21. I have a point here.

You know, Jess. Let's take a break. It's just taking me a while to get to it. But I brought up John 21. I said, you ever thought about? Because I said, as a fisherman and a hunter, I remember early on in my faith, and I've used multiple examples to start a conversation about Jesus in a hunting and a fishing situation. But I always love this story in John 21 because we were commercial fishermen down there. and we caught lots of fish in nets.

And so there's this story where this is post-resurrection, though. The disciples, they're out there fishing and they can't caught anything. So this guy tells them, hey, throw on the other side, a throw. And they catch 153, not a mesh is broken, which would be a miracle. And then they realize, you know, it's Jesus. And he's like, bring some of the fish you've caught. and then they sit down and they have this breakfast moment on the seashore with a guy that was dead three days before.

So I'm like, why would he do that? I asked the question in the class. Well, one guy said, well, to prove he was alive. It's like, okay, agreed, but if you read in verse 13, this is the third time he's appeared to him. yeah because he walked through the door one time how many times if it was just that but if i mean it's just and i'm bringing this up because of what we read in in second corinthians the reason they didn't want to change their life and paul mentioned it is that let me get the correct phraseology but in second corinthians 13 he says in verse three since you

you are demanding proof, yeah, that Christ is speaking through me. They wanted proof now to where I started earlier that Christ not only lives in you, because that's what Paul was saying. You examine yourself, see if Christ lives in you. And now he's asserting that he's speaking through him. So, well, that's a big claim here. And they're not focused on Jesus,

therefore Jesus is not speaking through them. They're not active in sharing their faith, so they can understand everything, good thing they have in Christ, because there is no faith in Christ at this point of their life. For a lot of them, that's right. So it's not, but it's amazing. They're like, well, prove it to us. Why are you going to prove that?

How are you going to prove this is Christ speaking in through me? Because it just seems kind of crazy, you know? Right. And so I asked the question, well, why else do you think he did it? Was it to stay alive? You know, we eat fish or something. We eat something because if you don't eat after a while, you will die. You'll die.

So you can say, well, I enjoy eating. Okay. But you have to eat. If you don't eat, there's a problem. You say, no, I just do it because I enjoy it. No, you have to do it somewhere in there. But if you just came back from the dead, that's not, I don't think you have to eat. Would you agree?

I think that you're good to go. Food is. Well, once we agree with that, if you came back from the dead, you would no longer have to eat. So why is he doing? So you just start thinking about this. Why is he doing this? I mean, this is the third time.

Because it kind of, I'm saying it might be just to put another exclamation point, but I just kind of get away from that because I'm like, once you've proven, once you've come out, out and said, I'm alive. You've beaten death. Do you have to keep proving that? Oh, I'm still here. Doesn't make sense to me.

So I was like, and you probably have figured out what I'm thinking. The only reason I could think of, because you think about in the past, why do you get together and eat with people? Usually. I mean, the number one reason, why are you doing it with other people? Because you love the people you're with. We gather up at a table. You love these people, your family. You don't all, now some people do it, which is probably not a healthy thing.

If you grab your food and everybody runs off to their room, that's probably not going to be a good situation moving forward because you don't have a relationship with these people. That's what Carolla told us, remember? It was how he described it. And he said, when I listen to you guys or Prager, you know, talk about family and they have their Jewish family, when they get together on Friday and their whole thing. He said, I envy that. So my point is, what is the conversation that happened right after this?

He had this conversation with Peter that he's like, do you love me? Because I guarantee you the reason he ate them fish with him because he loved him. I mean, he was like, this is it. There's no other reason other than he's with him. This is, we're doing something fun like we've done before, fished. because they all i mean we really appreciate this because i know that was fun right you're catching nothing from 153 these are the legend stories that are made i remember that day we had fished all day and hadn't caught anything and then all of a sudden it was like a light switch and there we were

i remember me and w e one time up to our bomb by we caught a hundred and the only reason i know we caught a hundred because we stopped well i said let's stop at a hundred but we had fished all morning yeah caught nothing and we kept trying different things and the water was a Let's go north. We went eight miles north, and it became a famous story because it was like this. Well, this was a miraculous story that led to an encounter and a full understanding of everything they had in Christ, which is my point. They thought, oh, not only can he beat death, not only is this a great story, but he loves us, even though we all ran off and did what we did. So you have this beautiful story of love.

I mean, I just think that's what he was trying to get at with the Corinthians. And it was hard for them to be open-minded about it because they had a lot of junk in their life. And they just didn't want to deal with it, you know. Of course, that's what I think. Another interesting. I could identify with it pretty good because I will have to admit, didn't. But three of us actually see the results. but Jay's there.

He was one of the ones that saw it. One morning I went out there and I caught in one net. That net's about probably 15 foot long, a hook net, six foot hoops. But Jay's pulled up there and it had to take me a couple of hours just to get them out of the net because there was 1,000 pounds of fish in that net. And I had to get them over there on the bank and back my truck up down there. And 50 pounds at a time, I started pouring them in the back of my pickup truck. And the whole bed was full.

And the bed. And Jace pulled up there and walked over and he saw him there. He said, good night. Was it catfish? Yeah. And then, no, I said, I think I want to sell these things. I said, what are you going to do it? Jay said, we need it.

I said, you and your mama, y'all divide them up and two pickup truck, go up there at the town. He's around. Well, that seemed like a good idea at the time. But, you know, I went up there and started selling them one at a time at the first store. And I thought, you know what? There got too many fish here. I mean, they're going to ruin before I get to the end. So I ended up pulling out a bar.

Yeah, I've done the same thing. At about 11 o'clock in the morning. Yep. I mean, it was one of these, you know, angry hills or whatever the name of it was, something like that. Broken promise. So the door was open. There's the only reason I did it. I stuck my head in there and there was about four or five people that looked like they had been there for years.

It was just a slow... The whiskey was flowing early. It literally just hadn't moved. How long had that been on their stool? And I said, y'all want to buy some fish? Because I thought this ain't going to work because then I spent all their money on whiskey. Right. And they said, well, how many you got?

I said, more than you could ever eat in one sitting. So they all ambled out there. And they looked under the, I had a tarp over the back of them when I put the tarp up. They were like, good, great. And it was just kind of silence. And then the guy who was behind the count of the bartender, he said, how much for all of them? I said, a hundred dollar bill. They were worth way more than that.

Oh, yeah. But I just thought, this is how you move them. It's good what you can get. This is wholesale. So he said, deal. He'd come out with a $100 bill that looked like it had been under that bar for years. It had like rusty. He had gotten it out of some box.

He'd been saving that for something special. I've told this story before. For the next few weeks, every time I went by there, it was like, fish fry, $8 a plate. He made that $100 back many times over. Oh, so funny. What would make that story better, Phil, your story and my story, is if you had been dead three days later, and three days before, and that would have happened. And then we'd have had the fish

And you're eating with a resurrected man I mean, because you love each other And you... It created the volume of fish A rather, it created a pretty rousing response Before all the smoke clear. It did. Well, we'll talk a little bit more about this.

I had a thought come up from my sermon the other day I wanted to talk about in the bonus segment And Unashamed Overtime. So I never got to my notes. I know. We're going to do that next podcast, Jason. I knew we were going to get there. So we'll see you on the overtime. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast.

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