Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 493 | Jase Can't Help but Laugh at His Brother's Accident & What to Pray For — and Why

Episode Date: June 10, 2022

Al tells hilarious golfing stories involving a tree, injuries, laughs, and a few tears. Phil learns about golfing terminology and compares golfing with wrestling injuries. Jase explains how we should pray to reach the works waiting for us, which were specifically prepared in advance for each of us to do in this life. Al and Jase warn against complacency among believers, because the darkness in this world works too hard for the good to stand idly by. Sign up to 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 I had an interesting experience yesterday. I left, at least and I had to leave the family vacation, which is weird for us now because we own a house down there. So in the old days, like we were all in the same house, but it feels a little different when I've kind of got my own home, but then we're getting together every night. Of course, we played golf this week, past week,

which was I started out really good. I played good the first day. Started developing the old habits the second day and my third day I couldn't even swing the golf club. It was just brutal. Yeah, it was miserable. Now it was painful to what. It was so bad.

I think we all. I got the shanks. I mean, I hadn't had the shanks in years. It was just awful. What are the shanks? The shanks are when you come back. Your timing is so off. Your club is wide open and you hit it literally at a 90 degree angle.

You hit it off the hazel. Yeah. It's an impossible shot to do on. purpose. You couldn't do it on purpose. It's like you're looking down the fairway and the ball. And he goes straight that way. They call that gallery killer. It's very dangerous. Only look, not quite as... You're in a realm that I'm completely... Well, Phil, it's not as bad as the low pull hook because that one is going the same... Pull hook. It's going low and left. That's right. And the difference is it's going at a lot higher speed.

speed spin and it would hurt somebody. There's a reason why I don't need to be playing with people, you know, lying in the fairway. That would be a bad call if I were playing. What's the warning signal? Four? Yeah, but the problem is if you hit a hazel rocket, you can't even get four out of your mouth.

Four people have a... Just to show you. As opposed to... Well, it's the word is F-O-R-E. I never figured that out. It's four... I never figured out why that came about. because...

I'm trying to figure it out right now. I'm just going to look at it. Well, because look, well, I'm just going to explain to it. Because when somebody hollers four, and it was originated in Scotland, which is our roots, yeah. That's where our roots are. They would say, four, well, then you look up, and now it has the possibility to hit you right between the eyes.

I'd rather you just nod holler. And I will say this. This happened to Zach's wife, by the way. Oh, it was bad. And Zach's the one that hit it. Yeah. But that wasn't, he couldn't call for. Because she was standing about what?

Or she was sitting in the golf cart like 20 feet away. So you didn't have time to say four. Because I don't know, you know, what's the speed at which the ball 100 miles an hour? Oh, yeah. Why wouldn't you stay outside the danger zone? That's just a question. She was outside the danger zone. Evidently not.

Well. She called a golf ball outside the head. Well, Zach is so bad a golfer that he can. hit it every direction except backwards. So the last person you would want to hit is your wife. Oh, and she had to have surgery later because she lost her hearing. Yes, you could technically hit it backwards if you hit a tree. Yeah.

So he can do that. Well, and I've told the story. I hit my, I said, remember you were on the T-Bot? That's the funniest thing I've ever said. I had a ball that looked at, there was a flat rock that was literally not even two inches. But it was a T-marker. It was a T-marker, so it was about 10 or 12 feet. in front of me is two inches.

I had a golf ball, full speed, hits the rock, comes straight back, and hits me right in the groin. Yeah, it was, pump, boom! It was, about it sounded like a two rifle shot. Man down. And then... It went from four to tore. Tor!

Look, the inner part of my thigh, I sent a picture out to the golfing buddies. Yeah. About a day later, from my knee to my groin, all the way up, was solid, purport. purple. And look, right in the middle of that massive bruise. That's too close to things that are not perfect. Oh, it was very close to shutting out down forever. Look, it was a white dimples from the ball right in the middle of my entire thigh being bruised, which tells you, Jay, he's talking about speed. But think about the physics involved and what had to happen for me to hit a ball off the

driver face that didn't go two inches off the ground. So what's the longest drive ever recorded from the T to where it bounced? Wow. That's a great question. Over 400 yards. Yeah, you got these. So this ball can travel from where it is. 400 yards away.

Not when I had it. Four football field. The average, I think the tour average is like 300. Three hundred. I mean, but I'm saying. That's three football fields. Three football. I mean, somebody hit one a mile on, on Antarctica or something on the ice.

Yeah. But, you know, it just kept rolling. Of course, high altitude they hit it further. But there's guys, Dad, that are these professional long ball hitters. They're not even really golfers. No. But they have learned how to hit golf balls 400, 500 yards. I mean, they're amazing to watch.

We see them in these tournaments. Well, that's that DeCambeau. He actually competed and made it to semifinals. Yeah. But he's a professional golfer. But now he's injured. So which tells you something. Which is what happens.

So here's some golf historians say that the cry of four dates back to the 16th century in Scotland. And here's what the word means, which just makes sense. It's originated in the Middle Ages four. And in general, it indicates that something is ahead or in front of. So that makes sense. That's where it came from. So you're saying four because it's like people are ahead of you, but like, or someplace, and something's coming your way, I guess was back in the scene.

So I hit, Al witnessed it. I believe you were there. So I hit a golf ball. The hole is a dog leg left. And we played at our favorite course. Peninsula. The Peninsula. You have to properly pronounce it.

The peninsula. And they have 27 holes. We've been playing there for years. And the reason is it's just a spectacular course. I love the layout. The people are awesome, and if you think this is a commercial, so what. It's great. You will go there and like it.

Food's good. Everything about this place. I love it. That's why we go. We play there every day. Every year and every day. I don't go anywhere else. What usually can you eat with the food line?

Oh, they've got a... Well, they had a new thing. They had some kind of double cheeseburger, and I got it. And I said, I'll be back here tomorrow at the same time, and I want to do this again. Put my Adam La Roche, we need to do this again. And the tea was... My favorite there is they have like a blacken mahi sandwich. So like a piece of fish, a mahi that's...

Well, the woman said you need to get everything on the menu, but I couldn't get past the double cheeseburger. They looked like they had some kind of... It looked like that waggoo steak meat kind of... They were thin, but they just... They had some kind of cheese and thick bacon, but it was charred done. but they did this quick.

You could tell, which was fine. She's right. She's right. Everything on the menu is good because Lisa and I had a condo there for a while a few years ago. Spectacular. That's great. So let me get back to my story. So here's what I'm saying.

We're out there. We're on vacation. We're having fun. Did you win the most money for the week? I won the most money. Oh, J. Oh, J. But I haven't said this, it was the worst.

We played four rounds. It was the worst collective scores of my career. It wasn't pretty top to bottom. And we all decided that we're just not good anymore. But we had flashes. That's right. There were flashes of greatness. Jelp holed out on his second shot on one hole for Eagle.

I mean, it hit, it's in the hole. And I think my best little moment was I birdied, a hold out. Now, I did chunk the first one. I hit two great shots on a par five. So I'm pitching for eagle. A chunk that went about five feet. So I just stepped up there without even a practice swing because I was fresh. Which may be the secrets of your chival.

I just stepped up there and hit the next pitch. Bump, it's in the hole. Birdie. But then I birdied the next one, which is a par five. So, I mean, I had flashes of brilliance. And look, the final hole we played, which is probably one of the most difficult par fives in the world, I birdied it for a big pay, I'd say a big payday.

For us. 20 bucks, you know. But still, I went from breaking even to winning 20 bucks. My best moment came obviously early. The first day, we're four holes in, and I knock at about, what, about 30 feet maybe below the hole, and I made the first birdie. I think it was more like 40. It was a long putt.

And out, Trano. Yeah, so that was my, unfortunately, that was, pretty much the peak. And it was good. What he thought Al was back. So I was going to tell you this, the low moment was, so there's a dog leg left, and this hole is just almost impossible because the layup area is really tight. So what I would do is take out my driver, which is the best club in my bag, and I hit it about there. I'd say I average 290. I'm pretty long from my age, you know, but this one I really caught. I mean, I bet I hit it

310. The problem is, it didn't hook enough, and there was some guys on the T-box on the next home. It's part three. And so I saw it, by the, you know, there's a tree there, so I didn't even notice they were on the T-box, and I thought, oh, no,

that's going toward the next T-box. And I started to say four, and it already bounced. And then I heard some four little words coming back at me. And they weren't four. They weren't four. Just hollering across the golf course and I thought my bad it must have rolled up on the teabox but when I got up there it was actually I was 10 yards short of their tea box really yeah I never you never told me that

yeah I never told you I remember no wait a minute here because I look back at the fairway I'm only 10 yards from our fairway yeah it's just right there next they have the tea box and you know the deal so so the reason why that's a problem there used to be a line of trees there but the hurt Hurricane took out the trees. So they guarded that T-box, right. But now it's gone. But I thought, you know, here I am on vacation where I'm from my family. I hit a ball that was reasonable.

I mean, I hit it right in the screws. And it was the best drive you hit all week, probably. Well, yeah, it was awesome. But it didn't draw, and I'm over there close to, you know, the people next to us. But not on, they were on the T-box. It scared them, what it did. They heard the ball hit, 300 yards away. and so you're going to fire all four-letter words,

340 yards away from it and shake your club? I just thought, but I'm not going to let that ruin the vacation. But I did just say that there's spiritual war, even when you're out here. That's true. Because it made me angry. First, I was sad because I thought, oh, I hated to hit in front of those people. I never realized there was all these emotional. Well, me either.

I mean, who does it? An X with the ball. But then when I got up there, I guarantee you these were the sort of guys, and we don't know them, so I'm not judging, but I'm saying if they react that way, these are kind of guys that would react that way about anything, anywhere.

Yeah. You got a problem. Like, if we're staying on the tee by somebody hits the ball, you know what? Work ethic, you wouldn't want to work underneath this bunch. You know what I would say if the ball come up, they rolled up there, and so I'd say, somebody back there can't hit the ball.

If it almost hits my earhole or whatever, I could see somebody in that moment. But again, in the moment, so you're that far away. And you didn't holler because you didn't know it was going to get to them. But is it all just about because you hollered? Because if you look up and it's still coming, you're probably going to get in the face. Yeah, because I thought, now what? Now when I see these people later in the parking lot, now you cussed me because I hit a drive close to you.

You know, I had a bad feeling about that. So, go ahead. I was just going to say, so that I birded 18, you know, and I played four rounds in a row. And we decided that we just showed flashes of brilliance. But on the fishing side, because I said I was going to get a fishing port. Oh, that's right. I never did. You never did.

We really never caught anything noteworthy. I mean, we caught some interesting things. I caught a stingray that weighed, what, 25 pounds? We all missed pompino season. because it was at the tail end of it. Like two weeks earlier you would have. I say that, but I got some bad news. We figured out where we had stayed before years ago

where we had really. So you're in the wrong spot. No. Wrong spot. I'm just putting two and two together here. Now you must rid yourself if you're going to play golf. Of all such things as these. So you're a golfer.

You have to get rid of anger, rage, malice, slanderous, filthy language from your lips. There you go. You're going to play golf. That's a great point, Dad, because... There's a great point because a lot of golfers, those things strung together...

Well, even one of our family members... It's just sounds like you all are talking about it. I've never tried it. One of our family members gave up golf, and he didn't play with us on vacation. But you noticed he was a kindler gentler now. He was kind of gentler because he finally subscribed to my philosophy, which he told me on the way home

because we rode together on the way home. He said, you gave me some good advice. And this is kind of funny advice. All the things that resonated with. Hang on, hang on boy, tell that. Let's take a break. He said, you remember what you told me? I was like, no, I don't remember.

He said, you told me you're not good enough to get mad. That's the one thing. That's right. You remembered. You know, I'm like, you don't. That's one way of. We don't practice. You're not just going to show up.

That's why I had zero expectations. This is a challenging, it's fun, but it's challenging, especially off the T-boggling. And look, the one day that we all shot bad, the wind was born 30 miles an hour. Well, when you watch the professionals play golf, when that wind gets up 30 miles an hour. They don't shoot as good either. They don't shoot good either because the ball is a few. In a spin, if you miss hit it, it's ten times worse because of the wind. So you didn't catch any fish.

Well, we caught some, but nothing. I mean any good eaters. But I did find a spot. down the beach. For future. So I get back to the house and I tell Missy, I was like, I want to book this. I already picked the house out for next year. And she like, looked at me like, what?

Because you've just entered around that none of us go into booking houses because the women have been doing that for 30 years. And she said, why? I said, because I saw a fella catch two pompano right in front of me. And so I thought, well, that little deal's over. No, he's catching them. So I figured out it's the spot. I said, in fact, see what they want for the place.

And we may buy it and rent it out. Now, look, then she was like, had a horrified look on her. Of course, I said, hey, I'm serious. That's funny. Only Jayce would say, oh, two pop and I'll buy that house. I went from, I'm going to fish her next year, Chuck, can I buy this play? So what I started all this, we talked about taking a rabbit hole, to say I left a day early.

And of course, that was a grace thing for me not to have to go back and play golf again. I was actually glad I was leaving because I don't know what would have in the last day. But Lisa and I were flying up to Memphis, and we were speaking. We did a marriage conference at a church in South Haven, which is just south of, in Mississippi, just south of Memphis. it was a predominantly African-American church. And the pastor there, they call him the Bishop Matthews. And I met him. We both spoke together in an event last year in D.C.

And it was an event for Tony Perkins. So it was kind of a political thing. But there were a lot of pastors there speaking. And, you know, he was just a fireball. I loved him. And we were in the green room together. And yeah, you just kind of get to know people. We all became pals.

So the next day we're flying to the airport from D.C. last year. And it turns out we were both in the same car. They were going together. So now we get like a 30-minute visit. So in that visit, he told me about his church. He said, would you ever consider coming to speak there? Because he liked what I had to say, too.

I said, Bishop, I'll be there. You let me know when you want to do it. I'm there. And where that happened to be yesterday. So we flew in and I met him. His church is great. And he's such an awesome person because he was introducing us. And we did our thing.

But they're also, you know, on the, They're on the charismatic scale of our, you know, brothers. And so you talk about you just can't help but get fired up. You know, I mean, normally at a marriage conference, it's kind of low-key and we're doing our thing. But I'm getting that top back going, well, what was funny was I've spoken to predominantly African-American audiences before. So I know how it makes you feel as a speaker.

You get pretty fired up. But Lisa's never experienced it. So like her parts, because we do it together, so I do some as she does so. and she got so fired. She'd get going, and the wind would start clapping and like, ooh, you go, sister. And she went. I mean, I was like, I had never seen her kind of go to that next level. So it was animated.

It was very animated. And by the way, great audience, great people. And we spent about three hours doing our thing with them. But I'm going to have him down sometime so y'all can meet him because he and his wife are fantastic. They have 11. We should be excited. You know, I mean, when you think we've studied in Colossians and what you look at who Jesus is and who we have in our position.

I mean, that's something to be excited about. So, I mean, I tend to lean toward the excitement. Me too. What's called charismatic, but I mean, I love it. Well, it's just, you see it more in charismatic churches, which I think is a great thing, too. We need to be more charisma. That's good. He has 11 children, and three of his sons were the ones that were running, like, all the sound

and the audiovisual and all that. So that whole family is a part of leading that church, which I just thought was a really, It's a really, really cool thing. But anyway, so I know a few of them. I'm talking about the podcast. So if you're listening, thank you guys at the tabernacle because you were awesome. That made our week. Well, I was going to make a segue with the golf analogy, Al.

I knew you were. That's why I had to jump my story in there. I'm not good at golf anymore, and I've dealt with that. And it's fine. It was fun. Well, you're better than us. Well, there's something to be said in that. If you can beat your competition.

Because I shot in the low 80s twice. and I shot in the low 90s twice, so it's not great. But I did have more birdies and I won the most money. Me and Jeff, I think everybody else lost. By the way, it's the least I've lost in several years. So even though I played back. Yeah, a lot of you thinking, oh, they're big time game. No, I think we played for a week and the most money that.

40 bucks, yeah, come on. Transact. You got to play for something. But I will say that I'm not devoted to golf. It's not devoted. It's a game where you're chasing a white ball and you're trying to put it in a hole. But when in the last section, this is our last talk on Colossians. Yeah, we're closing it out today.

Because, you know, Colossians 4, when it gets, we covered the end when we were talking about what the church is, which is it's individuals, it's homes that are being spokesmen and women and families. for Jesus. And he addresses that in the end. Well, it's just like Jesus's ministry where he was having these conversations and he was meeting in homes. And even in chapter four in verse 15, where he said, you know, there's a church in her house. He singled out a sister here. And we talked about the Laotasia and the Revelation chapter three reference. But when he gave these further instructions here, He starts off in verse 2, chapter 4, he says, devote yourselves to prayer. And as I read this, the end of the chapter, he singled out a brother, Apaphrus in verse 12, it says, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus sends greetings.

And look, listen how he says this. He has always, he is always wrestling in prayer for you that you may stand firm. in all the will of God mature and fully assured. You probably know where I'm going with this. One of our family members, he doesn't watch TV except he's a wrestler. He's a, what do he call that they're doing now? The MMA fighter. I know, but I mean they do the, is it Nijitsu?

Jiu Jitsu. So they're in his family, wrestling, his daughter does it. Which, okay, I think it's good for self-defense. or whatever, but it's like a hobby of his. Yeah. So all he watches... He's very devoted to. All he watches is something I've never watched,

which is all these wrestling and ultimate fighting. It was a little brutal for me, you know, but I mean, he... He had that on the entire vacation. I thought they were just... I said, do they do this 24-7? And he's like, no, it's an app on my phone he subscribes to. Yeah. I was like, that's all you watch?

He's like, that's all I watch. He doesn't watch anything with a ball. He doesn't watch news. He's quit all sports. He does it. So he just watches these. But when I read that, having had that in my subconscious for a week of people wrestling, it is intense. And this is not fake.

You know, back when we used to watch wrestling now. Yeah. It was a show. They go out, it's like a soap opera where they're, they're, they go out. It's like a soap opera where they're, there's wrestling is choreographed and I didn't care everybody you know they're like breaking news wrestling is fake I'm like well yeah you actually think they're doing I mean they'd be in the ER although that being said these are huge men the things they do to one another would kill us like

if they swatted you across the chest like they do each other I would wait I throw the towel in when he came running at me I mean these people this is real I didn't even know this was the thing so I'm embarrassed. So they do it in a way where they don't hurt each other badly, but, you know, Jay was telling us, you know, at first they didn't even have any rules. You just come out there and they cart you off. But, you know, now they got some rule structures. But I thought about that, you know, being devoted to prayer and wrestling in prayer. I mean, it kind of convicted me in my own prayer life because I thought, whatever, whatever he's talking about here, I don't think I've been doing a very good thing.

Good job of. But I will say this. Let's take a break. I will say this. It's one of the reasons why Paphros was wrestling is because he's the one that planted this church. So remember, he's the one that Paul sent there. He talks about that in the first chapter. But that's my point out.

But because he loved him so much and was so invested in what was happening in that church, that would make you wrestle. Exactly. It'd be like in your family, either your physical family or your church family, if something happens, and we mentioned something off air today, I meet a family going through something very difficult. I mean, I wrestle about that in my prayers because I'm thinking, man, anytime you have trouble in a family of people you love, I wrestle with that because it hurts you. You're like, man, that was just terrible.

So I think that's the reason. Some woman got on the corner post of where they wrestle. I don't forget which show was on. It was one in Fox News deals. But it was a woman, I think. she jumps up at the corner and turns a flip i thought whoa and she ricochets lost her footing on the corner and slammed on the concrete of course didn't move i mean just knocked out instantly and whoever was looking at it said something to the effect that you won't see her anymore i mean didn't kill her

But you said, when you misstep like that, she's out. Well, literally out. The things they can do, think about that, jumping off those. They jump out on a table. Well, that's where I was going with it, what you said, Al, about, because we talked about last time about this, you know, how Jesus goes into our relationships and our home and our workplace and things of authority. and you know when you tie into that you know we're in a spiritual war and we we stand firm he uses the

same analogy at the end of that about our struggles not against flesh and blood you know against powers and then he but he gets on starts talking about prayer and i think and it's done in a way that i think we we neglect and i just it stood out here but what also stood out is how much we talked about work. And he's talking about working for the Lord. Now, I mean, he says it twice. He says it in Colossians 317. He said, whatever you do, whether and word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. And then he goes down to verse 23 and says, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men. Well, notice in his closing comments, how many times he says this about work again.

If you look at verse 11, he's talking about Jesus who is called Justice, these are the only Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God. So it's not like they're, this is not playing church and having a prayer. That's what I'm trying to get you to see. They're working for the Lord, not for money. or they're doing this because they love the Lord.

And they're wrestling in prayer because they're invested in it. Then he says it again in verse 13. I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those that lay out of see you. Which, and I think the reason why he would say that is because this church must have been supporting this brother. And so why else would you vouch for his hard work? In other words, he's saying, look, this guy's, he's doing your business.

reading, you know, he's doing what you've sent him to do. I mean, I think, you know. And then 17, it says, tell Archipus, see to it that you complete the work you have received and the Lord. And then, oh, by the way, I'm Paul writing this in my own hand and remember my chains. I mean, you're just getting a, you're getting a visual here of these people. When you say they were sold out for Jesus, I mean, the intensity level. level of what they were doing back then seems way more intense than when you start talking about

the work of the church today, moving from house to house, person to person, because first of all, it's probably not doing that. We've become a church building mentality. So my effort would be as deep as, I wonder if I should go today, you know, show up at 10. I mean, do you all think I'm reading that into it? No, I think that's a great point. When you look at the totality of it, what they were doing in conversation and conversation, house to house. I mean, house to house was a big thing. That's what he was talking about, even in their job and what they're doing, their platform, whatever was happening,

they were using it as a platform for Jesus. And in the meantime, when they wasn't working, they were praying and they were praying hard. Wrestling. You have to remember, in a non-existent computer culture, everything was by word or mouth. These writings are 2,000 years old. There's letters we're reading here. We're reading.

So you say, well, the transfer of information or misinformation, it cut both ways, the only way it got there, Word of mouth. Word of mouth. Yeah. So when he wrote letters, it was all word of mouth. Yeah. And you say, what's interesting, and at least in my mind, the writings are still here.

Yeah. What we're reading is historical records of letters written to something called the kingdom of God and the work involved in all of it. it's pretty amazing that it could be now in this computerized world, you say it'd be blown away a long time ago. No, it's still here. And also, Dad, look, even in this current information, as you're describing, you know what makes a TV show or a song or whatever, a hit, a success?

Word of mouth. Hard work. Word of mouth. In other words, when people tell somebody, have you seen this show, have you heard, heard about this song. The speed at which information travels, 2,000 years from the time this was written. Just get your word out of your mouth to a lot more people. Well, I was going to podcast. You say when you speak, that's being beamed out to who knows who, how many in all. But you say, boy, what a vehicle. But if you look at it realistically,

just step back and look at the big picture, it's still word or mouth. But you know how the only reason that anybody's going to... What's the odds of getting something this old and book form so that everyone could still hear it? Well, because it's come across 2,000 years. The only way this podcast ever grows is somebody who's listened to it. Have you ever heard of the Unashamed podcast? Yeah. And you've introduced it to it.

So it's still word of mouth that still builds success even to this day. And to your point, you can't just throw something out there without... I've seen these, this Colossians. I've seen it lived out. in the last since we got on Colossians. Let's see last Sunday, it was 10 people that followed me in a 25-mile journey down here on the riverbank

and people of different ages, different ethnicities and all that. We were all standing down on the banks of the river, and they were having their sinful nature cut away, Colossian chapter 2. In fact, we shared, I read some. from Colossians, where it was all standing on the bank. Still word them out.

Still the same format's still going on. What are the odds that something could even reach that level? Yeah, and still be there. Let's take a break. Well, I was going to draw a parallel to, because a lot of it, when it, most of the time we talk about churches on, you know, who saves us, Jesus, you know, what saves us, you know, his grace. And how do we respond?

We respond through faith. And we read Ephesians 2, which is awesome. when he gives this picture of we used to follow the ways of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, you know, the evil one, and the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient, which that's what I was going to say. You got to remember when you look at the worldly side of things, the evil, dark, sinful world, they're working hard too. Oh, yeah.

I mean, and it says it, in Ephesians 2, too. They're highly dedicated. Oh, they're dedicated and devoted. And all of us lived among that at one time. We all know, you know, we have an old self that was crucified. And we were by nature objects of wrath because God is holy and we're not. But because of his great love for us, here's the goodness. This is what we, I think, do get right a lot of times in our churches.

We, you know, we share God's grace. He's rich in mercy. He made us alive with Christ. even when we were dead in transgression it is by grace you've been saved and god raised us up with christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms which i think this is similar to what happened in colostians too how much you know christ cut off your old sinful self in colostians three since you've been raised with christ set your mind on things above in order that this back to the ephesus two seven in the coming ages he might show the riches of his grace and suppressed in kindness to us

in Christ Jesus, for it is by grace you've been saved through faith. And we're in the coming ages of ages. Yeah, and it's not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by work so that no one can boast. But we stop right there. And I think, like, when we get to Colossians 4 and Colossians 3 and 4, the second part of 3, this next verse in Ephesians 2 is important because it gets into what we're supposed to be doing right now.

for we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. And the reason I'm reading that is because now I want to read Colossians 2, 3, because he says devote yourselves to prayer, and I'm going to bring up these other two things in a second, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too, and look what it says. that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in change.

Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should. So he just said in Ephesians 2 that I just read that God has prepared in advance for things for us to do. And I think here it's worded this way. I pray that God may open a door for our message. And when you tie that in with where we started about wrestling and prayer, these are the things we should be praying about. Yep. And nothing has changed for 2,000 years.

Nothing has changed. People are still under the control of the evil. There by nature, objects, or wrath. Yep. They're running around. We were all there. And now here we are, starting in our homes, but moving into our whatever we do for a living and wherever we go to church.

Because in this case, I think you can make a strong. strong case, I could be wrong about this, but when he said be wise in the way you act toward outsiders, I think he was talking about outsiders who were inside the religious establishment, because that were the ones causing all the confusion with the false teaching and the false apostle, the false apostles, because they were coming to them, getting their focus off Jesus. And people said, what do you mean? Can you be outside of Jesus inside of a church? Yeah, you know, visibly. That's why he said, set your mind. on things above.

That's something you can't touch because that's in your heart. You can be visibly part of a religion or a church and be outside of Jesus. Yeah, it happens all the time. So you need to be wise in how you treat those people because they're going to come into your group and try to tell you things that are not true

and do not line up with who Jesus is. I just think, now he may just be saying random outsiders, but it just seems like he was addressing them in all the chapters. It's funny, you're right. And you know, Rick Warren, who wrote purpose-driven life and purpose-driven church. And so years ago when I was in full-time ministry, I read purpose-driven church. It's really good.

Got a lot of good ideas from it. But the way he described it, he had talking about the church that he pastored, he had them in circles, days. There were like five different circles. And I don't remember all the seas, but I remember the middle of it was the core. He talked about that being the full believers, fully devoted, fully committed. But as you went out that circle, you finally got out to crowd, meaning that they come, they're listening,

but they haven't moved to the center of that, in his illustration, that circle that they've devoted and dedicated themselves to Christ. But he was always aware, as long as you got a crowd, you've got people who haven't totally crossed over for Christ yet. And it's a good point, because, I mean. By the way, there's a mighty throng out there within the religious world that are right what you're talking about. mighty throne.

Yeah. It says the big difference between core and a crowd. Yep. And when you look at it from that person. Well, look, everybody has something that they are using to justify their current lifestyle and behavior. And so, you know, I was telling y'all a story before we even started today. You know, there's a guy who I know in a worldly environment who I was shocked, you know, that I saw him at church. I thought, oh, he's visiting.

Well, more I got told to him, oh, no, he's a believer. But nothing about his lifestyle. Made you think that. No. I mean, I've heard the man talk, you know. He does not talk like a follower Jesus. He's not putting these texts into practice. Well, but he's not for Jesus.

You know, he has a belief. He's just not against him. Well, right. He's not against him. But his life. It's a good point because that's a big difference. If what he's saying, what he does, on the typical weekend is true.

Now, he could be just making up, but that would be lying. But he's not living for Jesus. I mean, he's basically trying to, you know, have sex with whoever he runs up on, you know, and just his lifestyle is not, you would never guess in your wildest imaginations. However, when asked, he's like, oh, yeah,

well, I believe in God. I mean, we got, so you're concluding they got, he got some kind of special arrangement going on. Yeah, but that's, let's take our last break. Jayce, that's the old, that's the old God is the great insurance person. You know, he's your insurance policy because just in case all this stuff is right, I want to make sure that I say I knew him, but then, but I don't want to live for him and devote myself to him. My point is, I needed some wisdom and how to act, because it became difficult to have a conversation.

because... Yeah, how do you base it off of now? So I was thinking, I need some wisdom. I mean, I read this verse and I thought, yeah, I was in this situation the other day. I was thinking, how do I have this conversation? Because he's acknowledging that there is a God. Because your goal is not to run him off. See, that's what happens a lot of times in churches.

Somebody's not living the life. And so you go to them and confront them with the idea that you either straighten up or get out of here. But that's not what Paul's talking about. I mean, he's saying we want them to understand. How do we do that? Well, some people, they would say, well, you're judging him. But you got to remember when we studied Corinthians, if someone's claiming to be in Jesus,

the other members of the body has a right to make a judgment. If you're like, I'm in Jesus, and then you're telling me what you just got through doing and they are doing it on a frequent basis and are not acknowledging it as contrary to God's word. Well, we need to have a conversation. I was trying to think of that. And we need wisdom in that conversation.

And you try to make the most of opportunity. So to me it makes a little more sense than when he says, let your conversation be always full of grace. Which that's my point, that you're always wanting to help people cross over. You don't want to love. So the way the apostle Paul put it, and when we covered first, Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 5, 12, what business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?

Yeah, that was the verse. God will judge those outside. He'll do that. Expell the wicked man from among you. So, who, well, that's where I was going with it, Phil. Pretty serious if your lifestyle, better follow your, the diversions you live by. Well, right. Where I was going with that is in the second part of six. I know it's kind of confusing, but it says, let your conversation be always full of grace, season with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

And I thought, I know how to answer the world. If somebody doesn't believe in Jesus, I'm sharing Jesus. Yep. But it gets a little tricky when someone says, oh, I believe in Jesus. And you're like, you do? I'm shocked. That's news. I mean, Jesus wouldn't function like you're functioning, right?

Well, true. Now, if they're denying that, if you're looking at obvious sins, because Galatians 519 says they're obvious. And I'm talking about big sins with big consequences, where, you know, families are broken up. And if you're involved in that kind of stuff, well, there's something, this is not working. It's something we don't talk.

about very often, but it does come up. And you see it. Well, it does take some wisdom on how to have these conversations. And you need to wrestle in prayer with figuring that out, right? So here's what you don't want to be. This is from Matthew 7, 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and your name drive out demons in your name perform miracles? Then I will plainly tell them, I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doer. The problem is it's going to be.

You don't want to be that guy is what I'm saying. It's going to be hard to bring this woman that you're sleeping with and she's cheating on her husband with. It's going to be hard to bring her the Lord if you're doing that. But you're saying will come church with me. well you know where are we going what kind of church is this so and that's why i got back to this work and now look yeah lisa mentioned in her in her speech in our when we talked yesterday she said the lord she posted this on her facebook page to women you know people that follow her she said the lord will never send you someone else's husband just so you know all right yeah so what i was

going to do is create the scenario which i think is fair that this is and go back to verse two and he gave three qualities that I think help you in your wisdom to keep this kind of stuff from happening and I'm not sure what they all mean that's why I was going to ask you because I mean one he says devote yourselves to prayer I know it's not just praying once at an assembly or you know once before a meal being devoted to something that's why I brought up the golf thing is there's a lot of practicing, there's a lot of time, commitment, there's some passion here, there's a roller coaster of emotions going on during all that process.

Then it says being watchful. That's the one I wasn't sure about. So I looked up everywhere it says be watchful. Because I thought, what does he mean by that? And before I tell you all, what is your initial My initial response would be that it's for opportunity. In other words, the watchfulness is that I'll be able to recognize a chance for me to step into someone's life to show them Jesus, whatever. That would be my initial.

I would think everything that you view, you view it as good or evil. You have trained yourself to know the difference that Hebrew writer's head. Believe it or not, there were two categories that are. merged. And I'm not going to go through it all, but I think it's good for our listeners if you want to. But because Jesus a few times, he said be watchful, be alert. Remember when he went down and when he was praying? I'm about being devoted to prayer.

And what were they doing? Sleeping. He wanted them watching. Yep. Even you can make a case, even in the Transfiguration, he wanted them to watch. I mean, I thought about the other night when I was told you about I was going crazy about the LSU game. I could tell you how awesome that was. You say, oh, it's great.

But when I got to thinking about this concept, when I watched it, I felt like I was invested in it. Like, I'm a part of this. You were there. Yeah, I'm, this is what I'm, it's your response. Which is why you got so excited because you were all in. Yeah. And I'm saying to participate in it is bigger than just acknowledging it. Yeah.

And so, but those were the two lines. You know, you think about the verse that says, be alert, your enemy, because it says be watching. That's what I was saying. Be self-control and alert. Well, but it's just what else is. There are opportunities for us to share Jesus, and there's opportunity for us to get off the track that we're on. That's a good point. Those are the two things you've got to watch out for.

And nothing else. But when you put it in prayer, so he's. Here you have this devotion where you're having daily conversations, and I mean heartfelt, time, energy, passion into, and then you're being watchful. So you're looking at through Jesus says the filter, the big picture of things. And I think to give an example,

it's like the guy who cussed me out on the golf course. Now, what do most people do when that happens? You drive up there and cuss him out. And see where this thing leave. Well, yeah, okay. I mean, he's easy. He's acting like an idiot. It's on, you know, whatever.

Well, you got to watch, watch out for that. Yeah. Because this is not, our struggle's not against flesh and blood here. So, and then you also, you know, if we would have had a confrontation, you would have tried to look for a way to turn that into a Jesus conversation. Maybe the Lord sent this to happen. And however that happens. And then the last one was thankful.

Now that prayer and thankful, he did. So in the whole book of Colossians, remember he kept saying be thankful in all circumstances. When we read chapter one, he's like, we always thank God for you, you know, God the Father and when we pray. So it's like it's it's it's like it went full circle back to these attitudes that make someone productive in Jesus and don't miss their purpose. Yeah, we're out of time. But in the overtime, I want to flesh that last thought out a little bit about gratitude and then do a couple of things to wrap up the book. Plus, I thought of a wrestling story. I didn't get to tell earlier. I broke my arm in a true wrestling story. Exactly. So that was one of the stories. So we'll see on the Unashamed overtime side is blaz-TV.com slash Unashamed. It's where to go to get that

last bite of Colossians. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to blazed TV at blazedtv.com slash unashamed.