Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 542 | Phil Plans His Funeral with a Skynyrd Song & What Is Temporal Love?

Episode Date: September 5, 2022

Phil expresses his confidence in the resurrection of the dead by asking his sons to get some jives going at his funeral! Al remembers riding in the truck with his dad 40 years ago, when Phil asked him to play this Skynyrd song at his funeral. Jase details how to become courageous. And Jase wraps your head around the dwelling place of the omnipresent person of God while explaining the complications of temporal love. 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 welcome to Unashamed. We're in Hebrews chapter 13 today. Finally getting there. Man, it took us forever to get out of 11 and 12, Jason. I just always felt like those two chapters are so rich. And this one is too. It's just kind of a pivot. I mean, I think 11 and 12 are just bedrock chapters of our faith. I mean. Yeah, I agree. So.

But it was interesting because I'm learning as well as our, our viewer. I mean, this is a Bible study makeshift that we're all learning. But I mean, look, I have literally, when we went through chapter 12 on multiple occasions in the wee hours of the night by myself with my two little dogs, my guard dogs, that weigh a combined weight of maybe seven pounds. But if you enter, they sound like they're ferocious. I have just like said, yes, you know, looked around. It's 1 o'clock in the morning, you know, but I mean, I'm reading this. Can I get an amen? Yeah.

So I just, those worship moments at night, you know, reading and study, and it's just so encouraging. Well, it reminded me, Jays, because it's 13th star, starts off with love, which is interesting that that was the first kind of pivot point. But it reminded me of when we were kids and when, you know, we fought a lot, you know, just as brothers. You know, we were rough and tumble and all kind of stuff. Not like, I guess you wouldn't call them fights like we were really hurting each other, but we were, you know, some leaks would pass. I don't disagree with that. There was a lot of pain.

It was a lot of pain. I usually try to fight honorably, like let's step outside. and do this. But Willie and I, they were the old, you know, you turn you back, bam, battery to the head. Yeah. You know. Shotgum, yeah. It's good that y'all all matured enough to get that crap behind you.

Well, what I was going to say was that granny, your mom, dad, would, she would always quote the verse, but of course, she'd do it in the King James. She said, if you can't love your love thy brother whom you have seen, how can you love God whom you have not seen? There you go. And she would always quote that verse to us. But years later, I realized she was taking that out of context because it was called by the brother in Christ. And which, you know, I think the practical illustration of it was fine. You know what's shocking about it all, Al, is to show you the short, the short stay. while we're here.

I mean, it comes by like a fast wind. Y'all going from children to your own families and now they're there. I mean, you look at you, say, man, what just happened? I mean, it's quick, very quick. Yeah, you're exactly right. Because, and I still can remember most of my childhood. I'm not so old. I've forgotten it.

But, yeah, I mean, you're right in my mind at it. feels like just yesterday and we were running around and granting power were there. And I mean, it literally feels like yesterday. And yet so many years have gone by. And I've said this before. Jason and I, well, all your kids now, Dad, we're patriarchs of our own clans. And I mean, we have grandchildren. I mean, it is a story, our family structure, any way you want to slice it.

It is a story that, in fact, goes from rags to riches. Well, that's what happened, and I'm like... But I think the more important part is when you get down to a verse, which we'll get to, which I think, you're talking about a profound verse, that I've spent the majority of my Christian faith trying to wrap my head around, is that Hebrews 13, 8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I'm telling you. It's such, you're like, no, wait a minute.

What? But when you're inserted in it, time. And like you say, it's hard to get a feel for how fast time is traveling, even though, because it doesn't seem like it's very fast in the short term. I mean, we're doing a one-of-the- -wow one-hour presentation here, and you'll look up after about an hour, which is what? We don't, we just put a number to it to help us get a sense of how fast this is traveling. Here's what's shocking to me, and I'm 76 years old, heard a lot. The part in Hebrews chapter 4, and at the end of verse 9, part of verse 9,

yet His work, God's work. Now just think about this for a moment, when your head quits spinning. And yet his work has been finished since. the creation of the world. You're like, do what? It's a very good verse. That's my point. Because from their perspective, when people like, well, God's just waiting for,

now let me interrupt you. You're not waiting on anything. If you have always been, that means you'll always be here. And you just are. So when you put all those pieces, you know, Jesus says I am. or nothing that was created that has been created was created without him what does that mean that means he wasn't created that's why when you read these texts he's he's we're at the end of the beginning and it was done before the earth was created it was all worked out how it would

be who would save us how he would do it when it would come all of it done Jesus is coming that's the first part, Jesus is here, like your word, and he's coming back. Well, it's all already happened from the beginning to the end. It's like, well, what are you all waiting on? You said, we're not waiting on anything. We're just part of the process. This thing's been over for thousands of years. Well, I think you've got to pick and choose the things that are the most troubling for believers and members of the kingdom, because you've got to remember, we've been talking for two chapters about unseen realities. Our faith. is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

And somebody brought the verse up last podcast about we don't, or no, you just, the one you just mentioned that we, if you can't love your brother who you see, well, how are you going to love God who you can't see? So he was even applying the difficulty there of faith in that you have this trust where it affects your life and everyday decisions based on something. you don't actually see with your eyeballs. That's right. Which is pretty incredible.

But I just thought of three, I'm kind of jumping ahead here, but just as a preview. And maybe I heard a lesson on this one time. I don't know why these things popped into my head, but on 13-8, when you think about, like, I think people struggle with being saved, being a follower of Jesus, but then messing up. Of course, he's already mentioned in 12-2 and 1-3, we've. gone over this a lot. But you can't say that Jesus is at the right hand of God, but you got to remember, he's an eternal being. So he's not up there at the right hand of God saying, oh, Jay's just messed up. Hang on, everybody stop. Let me, I'm going to forgive him. No, he's, it's more broad than that,

because he is an eternal being and he knows my heart today and he knew it yesterday. And guess what? He's going to know it tomorrow. So you look at it like that because when you when you when you look at it like that, you realize that you're not falling in and out every day of his grace, which is I think the way a lot of people view how this works. So that's one, because I'm going to get to, I know some institutions, some religious institutions that you have a list of things that you must do. to obtain forgiveness. And some of them is you actually got to go drive somewhere. You got to go into a booth.

You got to follow these procedures. And then you're like, okay, you're ready. You're ready to go again. Well, then, oh, you messed up on the way out. Turn back around. Go through the procedure. So I think part of the underlying current in Hebrews is addressing what was that system in this case where you had a system where they get together once a year and they do the

sacrifices and then you do the daily sacrifices and you have the order of thing. A picture of us to come. Yeah, which turned out to be what? It just couldn't, it couldn't bring confidence because your performance was always lacking. That's right. So this is why Jesus came. So that was one, is this daily forgiveness, even though you mess up. So I think when you apply Jesus is the same yesterday today and prayer that gives you confidence. The second is considering the physical death aspect. Because he does it view this. When you take all the verses about being at home with the body or away from it

or all these guys in Hebrews 11 or God is the father of righteous, the judge of all men to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, he's not viewing death as a problem. Yesterday, today, and for death, when you genuinely believe death is not a problem, you've become real courageous and confident that this is just, it just is. That's not any hang up with God whatsoever. And the last thing I was going to say, I think that helps people apply,

is that you think about all the religious institutions and how much they've changed since the beginning of time. Just think, if you put all religions out there and how they change subtly or just look at the history, even now, you've got. different religious groups cropping up here and there and things on the fringes. Do you realize how much all that changes from day to day? Even the own church you were raised in. Just think how much it's changed since you first started going there.

But one thing's not changing. Jesus is not changing. Now you can forget about him. You cannot focus on him. And all these changes can occur. But the way back, even if you're a believer in Jesus, the way back is to focus on the immutable aspect of who Jesus is and what he represents, because that's not changing.

That's right. Well, in lieu of Hebrews chapter 12, the life beverted, we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be thankful, and so worship God, accept it, with reverence and all, because he's a consuming fire. Listen to this, J, J. It's in Revelation 1, and starting about midway down there, about verse 7. four or five. To him who loves us

and has freed us from our sins by his blood. He has made us to be a kingdom and priest to serve his God and father. To him be glory and power forever and ever amen. Look, he's coming with the clouds. Every eye will see him.

Even those who pierced him and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him, so shall it be, amen. I am the alpha and the omega, says the Lord God. Which means what? The beginning and the end. The beginning and the end. Who is, who was, and who is to come, the almighty.

What a statement. It's the same thing. Yeah. Good night. And look, he's invisible. And we see it. Yeah. And we get it.

But he's invisible the whole time. You said, have you ever seen him? I said, never laid eyes on him. Unseen reality. Yeah. But not only is he the beginning and the end, but he's the middle. Yeah. What blows your mind even more is that he knew all this before,

but then God injects himself into our time for 33, years. That's right. So he could experience everything we experienced and then he removed himself out of our time again. I mean, you know, he replaced himself with a spirit with the spirit. That's right. That actually is in you in time. Although it is imperishable. And so when you read a verse like Romans 8-11, which is hard to get your head around, the same spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, if it's living in you, will give life to your mortal body. Which is why I said, death is no longer a problem in any time period once you have the Holy Spirit of God.

That's no longer a problem. So hang on, Dad. Hang on. Let's take a break. When I bat it, just y'all, y'all remember this. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.

Because that'd be you're sad. You say, no, I ain't crying. And you say, he said, don't cry at his funeral. Get some jive, some kind of jive going. I don't care. We're there some of it without them. Do we write this down? I mean, do you want to...

You planted your funeral on the Unashamed podcast. There's a lot of people that would be a depressing conversation. You need to be jumping up and down. Say, that's a sucker there, mate. And they're saying, well, you know, I don't know. So I kind of like the idea of passing on because it's just, It's just sleep. I sleep.

For 1001, it's 1001, I'm asleep. But no time has passed. And all of a sudden, I just opened my eye. Close them, that's death. And you open them. There it is. Twinkling of an eye reference. I mean, boy.

So I don't know if you feel the same way, Dad. So, you know, I'm the historian of the family. But when I was probably about 10 or 11 years old, you used to drive to school every day. and so I rode with you. And so we'd have that drive into town. And you told me once, and of course,

the song was out when you told me this, but it was Simple Man by Leonard Skinner. Yep. And you told me that's the one you wanted to, you wanted that plate at your funeral. Now this, this was 40 years ago. Is that still,

I never forgotten when you tell you. Frank up old CCR. Well, no, Leonard Skinnerd saying, See? Leonard Skinner. Yeah, Leonard Skinner. Yeah.

Simple man. But he likes CCR too, because the down. on the river or whatever. Oh, yeah. Down on the corner? No, not down on the corner. Oh, do.

By you, big wheels. No, that's probably, Mary. What's the, uh. Oh, Jay. Good night. You gone down the rabbit. I remember y'all when you were little boys, but now you're, you have gray hair like me. And it was so fast that, man, oh, that was quick.

You know what? So, oh, tell me about it. And what's even more amazing, Dad, I was talking about this, this kind of mind-blowing stuff we got into Ralph the bat. But the more we discover, and I'm saying that as humanity, the more we discover. Born on the bayou. Oh, yeah. Okay. That's a good one.

Yeah. That's a good one. So the more we discover, you know, because the thing about the Bible was written, we've been talking about all this past thousands of years ago. So nobody even knew you could get off the planet. even knew the planet was round. I mean, the Holy Spirit knew, but people didn't. They thought it was just flat

and at some point you'd just fall off, you know? But the more you discover by leaving the planet traveling around our solar system, the more amazing it all is. It doesn't, it doesn't make it less amazing. That's right. It makes it more amazing.

I've been telling you about this telescope. You're watching, it's so far away and it's so big, you're actually looking into the past and watching formation. I mean, it's just, it really is incredible when you think about how the eternal nature of God is. And it's hard for us to grasp it. Yes, you're right. I mean, because we're finite being.

So we're all having to do this on faith because, you know, we can't think like that. Well, Phil had an excellent point before we started filming. And, I mean, we were kind of arguing, I think. But because he was saying, you know, I had an epiphany that the gospel was not mentioned in the Old Testament. And so, well, you characterize your argument, and we can have that now. Because it's going to lead to the realities we're finding out in Hebrews, is what I'm saying. Well, he just all of a sudden appeared, and the Hebrew writer is saying, since the promise

of entering, this is chapter four, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, He makes an interesting statement. Let us, you're like, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us. Now we got, you got us, we, us, just as they did. You're like, we got two groups of people here. One group is a little bit shaky, too shaky, to have the blessings of this. But the message they heard was of no value to them.

So the gospel was preached to them, but they didn't respond because those who heard, there's the those, not us, not we, but them, they, who heard did not combine it with faith. Okay, so let me jump in. Because what I'm saying... And that's the Hebrew writers just to try to get them to see that. Well, because here... And you say, well, what did he mean?

And I think it's an important point. Because the gospel was preached in the Old Testament because it was that Jesus was coming, which is the son of God. Yep. But it wasn't called the gospel because specifically when he died and was buried in resurrection, resurrected, he was confirmed that, oh, he is the son of God because he was innocent sacrifice and the resurrection. Remember, he said it was veiled.

It was veiled to them. True. But why was it veiled, which is the whole point of Hebrews, and my point is, is because when Jesus came, because they all knew the verses about predicting it. They knew it. But he didn't fit the mold that they thought he should be. He ran around with tax collectors and sinners.

That's, no. He wrote a donkey in to make the grand entrance. Oh, no, I'm just picking these off the top of my head. He was getting riff, rift and track. His inner cord. His knights to the king were a bunch of old stinky fishermen and people who had... Uneducated. Yeah, who were just thrown out of the...

What would you call it today? The elite society? None of them were there. This guy didn't even have a house. He was basically just a loitering nomad. How far out did he go from where he started? 30 miles? Yeah.

Just a little tight circle there. So I'm saying, look, you got to be careful because what religions do a lot of times is they try to make a formula out of what we read here. And the whole point of this is that it came through a person. His name is Jesus. And it's hard to put that in a formula style. So when people read 1 Corinthians 15, they say, well, here's the definition of the gospel, the death-bell and resurrection of Jesus. They don't say the death-billed resurrection of Jesus, because that is the greater emphasis.

I mean, it wasn't just that he died and, you know, was buried and supposedly resurrected. Lazarus did that, right? Yeah. But why did he do it? Because Jesus was over saying, watch this. I mean, Jesus was the one making that. So if Jesus would have been just an ordinary human, you know, full of sin, well, then his death wouldn't have been the same.

That's right. So who was dying? So I'm saying in religion, we try to make this all formulamatic. Is that a word? I just didn't mean anyone. I think it should be. And look, this is in there past what I read while ago. it still remains that some will enter that rest.

So you don't want to give up on them. And those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in because of their disobedience. Therefore, God set a certain day calling it today. When a long time later he spoke through David, as he said, look, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. And then he goes into what Joshua N.

But the bottom line, he said, he who enters God's west also he rest from his own work. Well, think about it. So let me just do an equation with you off the top of my head. So if you're bitter, what's your problem? Y'all are counselors. If you're bitter, what's the problem? The evil one.

There's something you can't get over, something you hadn't been forgiven. I don't feel you can forgive. Something happened in your past. Yeah. That is causing you. So, all right. So if you're stressed out, what's from? Same thing.

Well, no, it's a little different. Or you're worried about, you're worried about what's going on. You're worried about the future. You're worried about, whatever. Whatever. If you're stressed, you're worried about what's going to happen or what's happening. Right. What's happening in the present.

You know, a guy pulls a gun on you. And you're like, well, that's going to cause you some anxiety. or or somebody sends you a bill and you don't have the money in your account. So now you're stressed out. Why? Because of what's fixed to happen? That's just, you can name a bunch more. I'm literally going off the top of my head.

The suicide rate is your living proof of what you're saying. Either one side or the other. And in that moment, yeah, or both. So it's like you see why he made such a statement. I know we. Yeah. Let's take a break. Well, so I'm saying when you think about how we act on the earth and how time affects that, the practical realities of that.

Well, then you just come down and make a statement here. I mean, he didn't get into what he did here. I mean, you just take this statement out of contact because we've already talked. about that, but he did lots of things. And he doesn't. I mean, because to me, him being at the right hand of God, which I think is the most neglected aspect of his reign, I mean, to me, it's right there, because that's what he's doing now. It is then, it says today. I mean, Jesus is on your behalf at the right hand of God. That's why he started this whole book off saying, he's spoken to you in various ways, but in these days, it's through Jesus.

Through his son. He can make a statement that literally, number one applies to all people and it applies to all circumstances past present and future so that's why to your point in hebrews four he keeps focusing in on today because today you know what can happen right now today i mean somebody literally can pull over on the side of the road or they can do while they're still driving but probably be safer to pull over on the side of the road and hear who jesus is and understand who he is and they can say, you know what, I'm going to give my life to Jesus today. And it works. Yeah.

I mean, it works as in that decision will have, it will change every circumstance in your past, present, and future, which nothing else can really do. You say, well, you can't change the past. And we talked about that even with Esau. He couldn't get past that past because he's like, well, no matter what happened. I can't change what happened. And so I'm, and so he just chose to several vices that were ungodly to pursue because of that fact in his mind. And look, you may not change the circumstances or, you know, you may go to prison and have the consequences for your sin or whatever it is or lose your birthright in that case. But you can change how you feel about it and your eternal destiny in Jesus.

Jesus. Yep. And so that, nothing else can give you that combined with a future. I mean, maybe some, some therapy can help you deal with it. But then when you combine that fact, you can still live forever in the presence of God no matter what you did. Well, that's just nothing. That's not offered out there anywhere. No.

And you mentioned, Jay, that it's like in a counseling situation. And you're right on both points. And by the way, bitterness was what we talked about in Hebrews 12. And then remember, I think it's Peter that says, don't be. anxious about anything. Yeah. You know, so there's two responses to those two scenarios of our past, present, and future in its forgiveness and faith.

I mean, those are the two things that we, that Christ provides for us to deal with our own weaknesses. And you're right. Esau, he was, he was, he was, he couldn't forgive himself either because he knew he blew it. And then he went into this lifestyle. But you know, we never mentioned this before, but you get to Genesis 33. and Esau and Jacob made up. I mean, they got past their problems with each other.

I don't know whatever happened on the rest of the East. Obviously, it wasn't too good if we're reading about him. He was 12. But they got over. They got over their deal. Well, he makes the point that he says he's, where does it say he's godless? Yeah, yeah. It said 16, 12.

I mean, he said he was just godless. So I know what, when you're godless, you're not thinking about faith, hope, love. you're not, you're not, you're, you're, you're filled with anxiety and bitterness and denial and doubt and rage and anger and the things brawling and mouth, all the things that come from those ungodlike qualities. So. But you know, what's interesting, Jason, even a godless person like he obviously was can still find blessing in spiritual themes because he wound up forgiving his brother.

even though he wasn't, we know he wasn't a godly man. And they were able to continue on. That's why these principles in the Bible are so big. What Jesus brought is so big that even people that don't believe in him still can find a pathway to a better life if they put some of those principles in their life. What we're saying is if you put your ultimate faith in him, your life will be so much better. I mean, you can rest easy, you know, all those stressful times. Peace of mind. I've said for you is the rarest of commodities.

peace of mind and that you get through Jesus and him only I don't care where you go while you talk about this and that you say without Jesus nope so so we started we started in the middle I was going to say something about that I was going to go back and pick up I was just going to say it we've set the foundation for these practical applications and I was going to do the same thing you did so when you start in chapter 13 I mean we're in this awesome kingdom we have all these unseen reality is God, the Father, and Jesus and the dead are made perfect. We're now ambassadors of Christ as part of the kingdom on earth.

And this thing is just bigger than we once thought. We're part of something that's eternal. And so he says, keep on loving each other as brothers. And I just wanted to make the point that then he says, and I made this on the, I think the bonus time of the last podcast, but where he says don't forget to entertain strangers, which seems like a strange thing to say after all those heavy philosophical arguments about who we are and what we're a part of and how this spans from the beginning of time,

all of a sudden he's like, don't forget to entertain strangers. And I made the point that the reason this was so important is because in their system, strangers weren't welcome. In fact, that's why they missed Jesus. because how he was operating did not line up with what they thought the kingdom of God should look like and who should be the king. So they're like, no, you're down here associating with Samaritans or you're getting mad because we're, you know, selling things in the temple or whatever the case may be every time the Pharisees got angry or, you know, you healed somebody on the Sabbath. I mean, who do you think you are? So, you know, I think it's very interesting that a practical part of this is that that goes

into what we're doing now. God is using us as members of the kingdom of heaven on earth to reach people. Well, you're not going to reach people unless you're entertaining strangers. Yeah, that's true. And you're right. And they called it in the Old Testament, they call it a process. socializing, which is a hard word to say. You know, they would bring some Gentiles in through marriage and other ways, but there

was a whole process. You remember when the story of Rehab, she was mentioned in Hebrews 11. You know, she's the reason that they knew what was going on in Jericho. And so, you know, they made a deal. And so she survived that, you know, everybody else died. But, you know, the Bible says in Joshua that once that happened, like once they came in, they rescued her family, she couldn't stay in the camp with the Israelites. But her and her family, they're over there, you know, because they had to go through this cleansing process to be able to even be in the camp, which we're going to talk about later in this content.

So to your point, Jais, you're right. It was not easy. And so what the Hebrew writer here is going against thousands of years of Jewish tradition by saying entertain strangers. Well, what I thought. In other words, hospitality. Yeah. What I thought I'd do is just ask y'all because I made a list. And surprisingly, I came up with like 10 things, which I lost.

the list that somewhere in between me making it and right now. But I got most of them in my head. But I wrote down throughout my Christian life the ways that I've entertained strangers. And I was going to ask y'all, because a lot of people said, what was that? Because that's uncomfortable for us for different reasons, because the obvious one is, it's dangerous. Because there's a lot of people out there who will use whatever kindness you offer as a means, to either take advantage of you or hurt you.

But I just thought in your lives, in your Christian life, what are the different ways that you can name that you've entertained strangers? I'm driving down the road hundreds and hundreds of times just going to my abode to the vehicle park there. Pull up. What are you doing? What are you doing? Which is real dangerous.

Yeah. and it varies. Some say I'm here to kill you. Some are say I'm here for you. I want you to baptize me. I mean, I've heard every line on when I pull up. What are you doing? Seeing people on the side of the road.

That's obviously one. Yep. Hang on. Let's take a break. To this day, I feel for all the ones I didn't openly embrace and try to reach many of them, you know, there's been so many. Well, I was thinking more, I mean, I know that's one way. I was thinking bigger, like we've all had small group ministries at our homes where

guess what, who's showing up? People I've never seen before in my life. I've had multiple things with my kids where I would say you invite all your friends and we'll cook for them because I want to number one, I want to know who they're hanging out with. but number two it was a way for us to share Jesus you know with their friends in front of our kids but you're entertaining what what about how many how many times in the last 10 years we've got up on a stage and literally entertained strangers we made them laugh and then we told them about Jesus and people we've never met and a lot of them will never see on this side of heaven I've met a lot

of them and 40 years later they show up from the first time I saw them. I don't remember them, but they remember me 40 years ago. They tell me what happened, and if it ends up, you took me down there and baptized me, I have fallen away, but I just want to let you know that I'm back. And they'll tell me that, and I'm like, good for you, my man. You know, it's hard for me to remember me. You remember me. They remember me like it was yesterday, it seemed like. They can tell you what time of day I ran into them or whatever, whatever reason. But they are constant stream of them. Keep showing up. You remember me? You remember me? You remember me? Well, that's true. I mean, a lot of that's happened because of we're famous, you know.

But I was thinking, too, Al, is, you know, I've done the exchange kid that, you know, where they're from another country. And like, so they stay with me. I don't know who they going to send. I mean, send me somebody. Well, there's a stranger. But we entertain them. Then you got the foster kid. Same thing.

We adopted kids. So those are three different things. What was you going to say? I was going to say another one is since I'm living down here in Alabama part-time, everybody I meet is now as a stranger. And it usually starts in my neighborhood. But, you know, it doesn't take long for us to meet them. We're like, hey, why don't y'all come over and have supper with us?

And Lisa cooks a meal. and people that I just met last week, my neighbors, you know, somebody I met in town, they're at my kitchen table and we eat and we, it doesn't, guess what, it doesn't take long before we get into a discussion about our family, about the Bible, about Jesus. So I still do that. I mean, we did it last night. We had eight people over at this house and most of them I had just met. So they're strangers, but they won't be strangers long because that's what we're doing.

Well, my point is, Al, I think if you just read over it. this, you don't notice it. But all of a sudden, he says, we're receiving a kingdom that can't be shaken. We need to be thankful. We need to worship God with reverts and all. Our gods are consuming fire. Keep on loving as brothers. And don't forget to entertain strangers. I think if you forget that, you forget your mission. You forget why we're here. Why are we here? I mean, why does not, you know, God just come down and we just take us on right now? Because, he uses us as ambassadors. We spent the whole last podcast talking about that

to other people to show how good God is through Jesus, and there's an eternal home waiting on us, forever family. Now, then he makes this illustration as motivation. Now, this is strange. He's like, don't forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so, some, have entertained angels without knowing it.

And it worries me. That's one of the wildest verses, half of a verse in the entire Bible. It completely blows my mind because you read the content. Like I know a lot of Old Testament, and angels were a lot more seen to be more interactive than they seem to be today. But then who knows? Maybe they just operate in a different way. Yeah.

What was you going to say, Phil? I was just saying that I feel bad about the ones that I've run into. I keep thinking I should have done more to tell that guy, you know, for the here later, you know, he went up there. You know, we've had people that have stayed with it, and then they've gone out and murdered people, and you just look at how close you come. Well, and you... There's no such thing.

I thought you were going to say, I entertained a stranger, and then I found out they went back to heaven and you know but you went the other way yeah but yeah you know well but dad's right i know we've had some that have said you know you know what are you doing and they're hollering and carrying on you know they they're mad at me and i've never met them and just they just come out of the blue we try to convert them amazingly i've had them won't come up and say we've said we're fix to kill him and then after two hours, we're baptizing them. But they come down there, he knows who I am. And I'm like, I never heard him.

I never admit the guy. One of them, I never had met him. But, you know, then he was in prison, you know, the child molester, whatever. And he shows up, he said, he knows who I am. And we just start from there. But it's difficult just to stop what you're doing and deal with somebody like that. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, because you've got, we call it today, they call it,

illness in Jesus' day. They called it demons. I mean, there's a lot of people plagued by a lot of stuff. True. But his point here's... Let's take our last break. His point is a little more positive.

What it is. But I, so here's what blew my mind. So I went back when I knew we were going to be talking about this. Because like I said, I'm just trying to figure that out. Like, obviously, you think they're people, but they're actually angels.

So I don't even quite know how to wrap my mind around that. But I did go back and read Genesis 18 and 19. because you remember when Abraham, when they got the confirmation of the promise? Oh, I agree. I think this is the one place. And look, by the way,

I went and studied too. And this was the one place that the scholars went to, saying, well, there's a record of that happening. And go ahead. So there were, and it was interesting because there were three,

three people. I put that in quote, three beings came to Abraham. And then one of them was kind of doing all the talking. And Abraham feeds them. So they ate a meal. He had Sarah whip them up a meal, which just reminded me of Miss Kay, you know.

And then, but then one of them left. And then two of them went into Sodom and Gamora. Because, you know, they had this whole deal where basically Abraham was like bargaining with the one, the one that was doing all the talking and about trying to save these cities because they were fixing to destroy everything. Of course,

his nephew was living down there. So he finally got him down to 10. If you can find 10 righteous people. then we won't destroy it. But of course, there weren't 10 righteous people. That's how bad it was. But the two men or the two beings, I keep saying men, who walked into those cities, it was so evil there that all these people surrounded the house and said,

send them out so we can have sex with them. So they saw them as humans, I guess. So again, it just blows my mind because all that setting and backdrop. And then you get this verse that says, they look like people if they want to. So it's a very strange thing. I do think it does give some credence back to the Nephilim text in Genesis 6, which a lot of people reached out to us in various ways,

so they thought that's interesting. And the phrase was, you know, it says the Nephilim were on the earth in those days. This is 6'4 of Genesis. And also afterward. So when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them, they were the heroes of old, men of renown. So I mean, evidently, angels taking the form of humans has been, just has been.

So now you fast forward today. Which probably fed, Jay's, which probably fed into all the Greek and then Roman mythology about the, these deified people. There's no doubt. I think that's a factor on where this came from. But I will just say this is clarification. Because I know this is interesting, it's fun, and it's talking about, and look, and I'll venture to say, you've probably bumped into an angel before and didn't know it. I really believe that happened.

I don't see where that ended anywhere. But what I will say this, he spent the whole first chapter saying, Jesus is way superior to angels. So don't get hung up on that, is the practical. reality of that because you see people always go too far. I mean, there's a worship song we sing that I love that says, you know, we're standing here on Holy Ground where the Lord is present, you know, but there's one section that says, you know, we're surrounded angels all around or whatever. It's a moving part of the song. Well, I know where they're getting that from is from

chapter 12 and 22. We've got thousands of angels in joyful assembly. So, uh, You know, that doesn't bother me at all. And I don't know why that would stop if you read a verse like, you know, Hebrews 114 that says, are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation? Well, there's a question mark. Well, there's a yes or no answer. Yeah? Yeah.

I mean, you know, now can angels get? go bad? Yeah? Yep. So, I mean, that's about all I know because that's all the verses says. But when I read this, the whole point was not, are you bumping into angels? The point was entertain strangers and be hospitable. There's a mission here that God wants us to do.

You can't go wrong doing that. Well, that was his point. He just threw this in as somewhat of a motivation. No, he might have had Genesis 18 on his mind. And I think he was just trying to get them to see that God is working here. And look, you entertaining strangers should be a part of your DNA as a representation of the king. But also, you've actually bumped into angels, and let's just hope you're not embarrassing yourself in front of them and the kingdom of God by how you're operating in this. in this because look a lot of times people i know this is hard for people to wrap their head around

but i know a lot of people that act one way in a church building and when they get around and i'm using in quotation strangers as in the world they act completely a different way because they want to fit in you know you act different you know at a tequila shot party than you would doing the grape juice and the crackers on Sunday morning. What you're saying is your reputation is at stake every hour of every day. Your reputation and the one of Jesus is pretty evident. Yeah. As you go through life.

Well, think about it. Think about it. It didn't work out too well. If you hadn't read the story in Genesis 1819, you might have checked that out because when you don't treat angels properly, bad things could happen to you. because basically those two cities were wiped out. Well, they were. And everybody was killed.

And that probably was the role of the third. And by the way, if somebody says, well, do you guys believe in ETs, extraterrestrials? I'm like, absolutely. Bible talks about them all the time. Well, in the spiritual world, yeah. Yeah. But I do think, too, the point of Genesis 18 was, though, they didn't know who these guys were. And they did.

I mean, you can list probably six things that they did. They took them in their home. They fed them. they were, I do think that's why people go there, the scholars, it's because it wasn't so much that they were angels. It was that they treated them, they just thought they were strange people. They didn't know they were angels. They treated them very decent and opened their homeschool.

Peter said if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gamara by burning them to ashes and made them an example of what's going to happen to the ungodly. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in the way it's worded, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men, for that righteous man living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials, which I'm thankful for, and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment while continuing their punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire

of the sin for nature and despise authority. So you run upon all kinds of human beings on your way, on your walk. I'll say this, Phil, to go to that point. You've got to be careful when you bump into an angel and then you start getting a revelation from the angel and putting some stock in that. Because in 15 of 11, 2nd, 2nd Corinthians, it says that the servants of Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

So I was just clarifying. When you meet people and you say, oh, I met an angel and I'm going to put, because look, in church buildings today, people say, oh, you know, I met an angel. we've seen this on the fringes and they're like he told me this and he told me that well Jesus is the final word and if an angel's telling you something that's contrary to Jesus

you better make sure that it's not a masquerade of yeah you have been tiptoeing through the tulips because you don't want to fall victim to this bold and agate these men and there's a lot of them worldwide are not afraid to slander celestial beings.

Yeah. They're not afraid to just say, oh, I had that bunch of crap. Right. Yet even angels, although they're stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.

These men blasphemean matters that you don't understand. That's true. That's why I don't make jokes about, I hear people making jokes about, brute beast. The evil one and say, I don't do that. No.

Because he's like, Even angels don't slander celestial beings. And I guess that's a good way to wrap that thought, because we've got to go to overtime, is, you know, we're never going to understand it all. The bottom line of the Hebrew writer is saying, just live in such a way that while you're talking to people realize one of them could be an angel. But if you're doing the right thing, then why should that bother you? That's correct. I mean, I think it's kind of exciting. It is.

All right. So we're going to continue a little bit in Hebrews 13. team, we get over to our overtime. It's blazedtiv.com slash unashamed if you want to subscribe and pick up a few extra minutes of our podcast. 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

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