Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 606 | Why Phil Quit Teaching & the Number One Problem with Marriage

Episode Date: December 30, 2022

Jase questions the decision to end the year on December 31. Phil and Jase discuss the number one problem with marriage. Phil reveals why he stopped working as a teacher. Zach describes his love for his children and why that means he must be in good hands. And the guys talk about the most common New Year's resolutions. -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So it's the end of the year, the 2022, is almost in the books, Jace. By human, you know, we came up with a calendar. Is it really the end of the year? You know, I mean. So Jay's is questioning the validity of calendars now. The whole establishment. I'm going to fail.

We count time by Jesus. Yeah. And I don't know. I don't. I mean, we need to at some point. I'm more aware for sure of time than you are, probably both you all. But Zach is as well, because we have to deal with people outside of just the bubble that y'all live in. You're just doing things.

You don't know what day it is, what time is. Well, that's what I'm saying. Look, three quarters of my life. Someone has to tell you this is happening. That's tomorrow's this. Let me give you a formula for my life. That's what I hope you understand. Three quarters of my life, I do not know what day it is. Half of my life, I don't know what month it is.

And a quarter of my life, I don't know what year it is. Well, some of the atheists are now saying, and he wants me to go where he's walking. You're so optimistic. I love the fact that you think that people who do not believe, in God are regularly turning this podcast on. So that gives me hope. It does.

And it may be as far as well as well. Look, come check it out. I mean, I think that's right off the bat. And which gospel, uh, when the famous slogan, come and see. Wasn't that Nathaniel and. Yeah. He was like, come, come check Jesus out. I always liked, I noticed this morning on Twitter, um, David Pollock, who played at Georgia.

He's on the game day. he was saying how good our podcast was which you know yeah people that you know or see and respect their work is kind of it's kind of fun when you see that they're who is this it's a you know david polyth that's the dark hit a guy he played at georgia oh i met him yeah yeah we met him i was on the uh college he listens to our podcast the college game day i got into the bowels of how that works and i'll tell you this uh did i sign you some kind of disclosure. I don't think I signed anything.

I think I can share this. Trust me. They're not going after you. Look, I thought this podcast was off the cuff. That whole show is nobody came to me or nor Willie and said, okay, here's what we're going to do. It just happens. It's like, y'all ready? I thought, what are we fixed?

That's how it went. So I was with Willie on a. when you weren't on Jays, and I wasn't on air, but I was just with him. And what I loved about it is after you did all that, after they did the show and the fans were crazy, we were in Georgia. And then they just went out in their big bus thing and just watched football for two, three hours. Yeah, that's what I remember. We hung out on the bus.

We just sat around and talked about football. They were very laid back, very nice people. I enjoyed my experience, one too. So I'd just say those guys are to be commended for being really good. off the cuff. Now, maybe they had a meeting somewhere, but we weren't a part of it. Well, so I don't think I mentioned this since we're talking about time today, and we'll talk a little bit about New Year's and how people treat that today.

But so I don't know that we mentioned this the whole year. Maybe we did, and I just forgot. But now that 2022 is over, this marks what we consider to be the 50th anniversary of Duck Commander. Yeah. Because we go back to the 1972, and I don't know that we've ever been. Controversy. I mean, I don't know.

Somebody. I was three years old then. So is that where you got the idea of Duck Commander when I was three? 72 was when you were in the, supposedly the way I always heard the story. You were in the duck blind, Big Al Bolin, who you've told his story before, atheist that became a Christian right before he passed. And you, y'all were in the duck line. You're calling some mallards.

and they come right in, he said, Phil, you're not calling ducks, you're commanding them, which was kind of the birthplace of the idea of duck commander. That's the way I always heard the story. He said, when you call out of them, they come.

We call out them. So you have a... It may not come. He said, you need to take that duck call. You built it for yourself. You need to, you need to market that. Hey, and I do want to, yeah, I want to point this out that there is a movie coming out.

and Big Al Bolin's characters in the movie. Yeah, all of that. So that's all in there. So you guys, it's funny hearing these stories come back because I've just been like, you've been necked deal. We didn't get that plug in there, Zay. Zadzgo gets a plug. See, I could have said.

Tell us where to go, Zzai. I could have said while ago when we were talking about the game day that when I made my picks, I was like 9 and 0, but I didn't. Yeah. But now, since we're just. shamelessly plugging her stuff? So I've never bet on a football game, but after I did that, I was like, you could.

I could, but guess what? I choose not to. Go ahead. He says not to. I'm not into the shameless plug stuff. I don't do that, but I could have told them, go to the blind movie. com and put your email in for updates, but I didn't say it. That's right.

Yeah, I'm just saying. You held back. No, I support that. I held back. So the birthplace the idea, now, dad was still, the idea was planted, but it was still three years before you came to Christ. I had a, I came to Jesus. That gave me a clear head. Yep.

So I just looked at where this is going to be in the next 30 or 40 years. I said, you know, if I stay with the education thing, I said, I'm going to top out about 35 grand a year after, after, After 25 years, I said, I think I can beat that. And so then I told Ms. Clay. What was that ever a good guy? I told you're a mama. I said, find me a place on the river. I said, and I'm going to fish for a living.

It'll be rough, but we will survive. And I said, at some point in there, I'll get this. I said, do you see this right here? And I reached in my pocket, I showed her the duck call. And I said, we'll sell these duck calls. and we'll do way better than if I teach school somewhere. I said,

my exact words were I said, you'll have some of that long green in your pocket. She was looking at me, you know. I said, you call it. I said, what about it? And she said,

funny that you were walking around with the duck call in your pocket. It was. Like, this is it. Because this was before I was going to alert her that we fixed to change

to get now the education system. We fixed to go to the woods. So I said to her, find me a place right on the riverbank where the water will come up in my yard. I said, and I'll fish the river, I'll get the duck call on the market. And I said, that long green will be in your pocket. So we talk a lot about. You'll have no financial worries.

And she said, do you think? I said, no doubt about it. You sat out and had a panel, and they just looked at you and said, okay, everyone, we're going to make a career choice match. I'm pretty sure that one of the first things that they would have taken off that would have been teacher. They just looked at you. No. Entrepreneur. He looked a lot to everybody.

River rat, adventure, living off the land. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. You know, a commercial fisherman. He had a Johnny United States look back in those days, though. But so we talk a lot about the spiritual aspect of obviously Duck Commander, the clarity that you had. But what I love about Duck Commander, story is it's a truly uniquely American story. In other words, you have an idea, you know, something you're good at and something you want to produce. And then you built that into a

business that ultimately led to a lot of other stuff, obviously even us sitting here today. So, I mean, it's, it really is a great American story. And it's, I mean, this is kind of the idea that we've always hate you. And at the same time, it was the first time in my life, I was appealing to a greater power than myself. That's what I was going to say. It was a pretty good God story. It was a guy's story first. I agree with that.

And then, yeah, in America, it's American story. So I tell everybody, it was either dog luck or there's a God in heaven, one or the other. And if I were here, he'd say, there's got to be a God. I mean, we tend to call it like it is. I mean, because the little show we did, I mean, we were all. convinced that that felt a little silly, to put it mildly. But, you know, if you. So as children, what were y'all thinking?

We were, you got up and you got to looking around when you turned in a teenage boys and me fishing, y'all were helping with the nets and running both. Jace, run the motor a lot. He just had, he just ran. Oh, it was mainly me helping. Now, these other boys, you know. Oh, good night. They'd gather up on the fake.

For you, you just don't remember what a name. gather up on the bank. But I believe as far as the boat in the boat times is what I was. I was the initial motive. So looking back, y'all are now in your 50s. So what do you think? Was it worth it? Oh, it was a fantastic.

It was a fantastic childhood, Dad. I mean, once we got down here, I mean, we had, we felt like we were roaming this whole area down here. We hunted, we fish, we, I love our years down here. I mean, they shape me. It had been different if the laws of land and posted signs is what it is now. I wouldn't have enjoyed it near as much. Now that we're landowners, it's a little different.

I thought we owned the whole place because I never saw another single soul. It's called poaching. But nobody, there was nobody there. They weren't. They weren't here. Plus, there were not any hunting clubs at that time. No, none of that. No hunting clubs and all that.

So we just looked at it like God's creation and we're in the middle of it. Well, the shock to the system was the first time when one Mr. Red Dog Phillips and young Jepico ran into one George Franklin, shot him out of duck on his property. That's when the shock hit the system. You know, we don't own all this property around here. We found out pretty quick. But then we wanted to becoming great friends with George. Through all of it, we tend to forget.

And I didn't know where the conversation was headed here. here, a new command I give you, Jesus talking, love one another. And listen to this. It's profound. Most people miss it. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples, and it all hedges on one thing, according to Jesus. If they run up on you and they look around, and they say, these people love one another. Jesus, said, that's your marker. That's your thrust. That's the end of the line. Love one another. And when they see that, they'll figure out that it's through me that you love one another. That's the whole thing. I didn't realize that when I was younger, but that's why all this had been about the last 50 years.

That's right. And it's been about building something and trusting God along the way, which we obviously did and impacted people. An atheist would say you just got lucky. I said, it's possible, but I don't There was more in there than you're seeing. I think they'll. So we ran a couple podcasts, the best of, I believe, and the best of, what was the other best of? The best of the wives. Oh, the best of the wives. Yeah, that's the last couple of podcasts.

Primarily was the altercation captured by me and my wife on multiple events. Well, I love having this. The last one, more stinging because she brought out that piece of paper. She brought a list, Jay. list. So. To refute some of your claim. So I figured out the problem of marriage before we get to what we're, what are we talking

about today? We're talking about New Year's resolutions. Well, we need to fix that. Yeah. Because, look, that is something in our society that's not working. Instead of going by the calendar, and it's a marker as they, you know, get started again, I think that all comes when you repent and turn to Jesus. Well, what does repent mean?

What does repent mean? It means when people run upon you now, they say, one thing stands out about them. They love one another. Yeah, but I'm saying, Phil. But go with me on it. You're making change. Well, all a New Year's resolution is, you're going to change something.

So repentance based on the grace of God should be foundational for a New Year's resolution. That is correct. Probably should be the number one. Let's take a break. So before we get there, I was going to ask y'all. The statement you just said, you said, I figured out the key to marriage. No, the problem, I figured out the problem in marriage. Okay.

In marriage. So what would y'all say it is? The problem in marriage? Well, I mean, the easy answer would be sin. I appreciate the easy answer because if it's anything bad, you should start with sin. If it's anything good, you should answer Jesus. That's always going to be right.

That's right. However, I would add to that. I thought we could go a little deeper. I'll go a little deeper than shallow Zach and say that you have two people who grew up in completely different environments that have decided to now live together for the rest of their lives. That's quite the undertaking. Yep. Do you want to comment or before I reveal this epiphany I've had?

What would you say is the biggest problem in marriage or the hardest? Number one problem in marriage. Loving one another. Phil's on that today. And I think that's good. Can't go wrong. Now, the epiphany is that the number one problem in marriage is you get to know each other. And that's a problem?

Yeah. Well, I wanted you to think about it first. Because here's what happens. Getting to know you. You say, what, Jase, that's what? I was hoping y'all would respond that way. Because what happens is we all have this, we learn this when we're little kids. You know, when you're real little, you just are who you are.

But every little kid learns at some point, oh, wait a minute now, we need to act one way when we're around people. And another way when we're by ourselves. Well, Al's going in back in the back of the room where y'all all stayed as children. Al had this gigantic picture of the Wonder Woman. Mm-hmm. You know, kind of scantily clad, I might add. Well, that our mom took a magic marker and filled in the cleavage. Yeah.

And extended her bloomers to hot pads. I remember how. He's young, not married yet, but he's got Wonder Woman over here on the. board. On the wall, a big picture. I always had a Wonder Woman thing. And I don't know if I ever said this on the podcast, but you know who cured me of my Wonder Woman fixation?

My mother-in-law. Oh, your mother-in-law. Because she came to a trunk-or-treat one year in a Wonder Woman costume. And that fixed it. I did it. The Lord works in a serious way. I was going to say before everybody says, well, you're talking about getting a note.

So what happens is you learn at an early age to act one way. in front of people. And so even when you're dating, you always are putting your best self forward. But there comes a time in marriage due to the, just the nature of spending all your time with another human being, that at some point you start acting like you really are and they start noticing that. Problems arise. Because now they know you.

Both ways. Yeah. So I was, you know, I'll give Zach credit. And ultimately that is sin is the root of that. But there is something by acknowledging that. But it's not always necessarily simple behavior. It's just sometimes ticks and habits and things that make you hard to live with. You're just not, you are who you are.

And it's difficult to live with another person. So in that capacity, I was just being honest. So is it possible without God to actually have a, if you don't have a knowledge of God, and if you just leave fundamental loving one another, you leave that there to be either taken advantage of or not practice. So why is it there so many divorces? Well, because to Jason's point, people, once they get to that point where they really get to each other, they think, well, I messed up here.

I'm not the wrong person. This isn't what I thought it was going to be. So you're right. Without God. The ones in it for the long haul are becoming a very small group. Well, that's true. But without God, it's much more difficult. And my theory is we understand the idea of sacrifice, submission, words like that,

because we understand what God, how his relationship is with us. so if we can reflect that. But unfortunately, there's a lot of people run away from those qualities. You know, they get that Bible out of my bedroom, you know, whatever. Right, right, right. What are you going to say? It's like a marriage, too. I think a marriage too.

What happens is a lot of times, then when you get the backlash from being seen or being known, as you said, then what you do is you do what we did in the Garden of Eden. You start to cover up. And even in your marriage. And I've thought about this a lot. And we did ministry this way, really, when we started doing college ministry, but it was an idea out of Genesis 1 through 3 that the fundamental problem is covering. And that's why when Adam leaves sinned in the garden and they were naked and the Lord came and looked for me and said, hey, you know, they ran and hid.

And then he said, why did you hide? They said, because we were naked. And we were afraid. He said, well, who told you you you were naked? and did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat up? And so they covered up with fig leaves and they had made that covering for themselves. And then the Lord came and killed an animal and made them a more suitable covering. And I think that what happens in our culture, though, is not just our culture, it's any culture,

is that we think somehow we're either going to bootstrap ourselves up enough to be good enough for our spouse or God or whoever to affirm us. And it's just not the case. You can never be good enough. I thought about this verse in Romans 5. It says, for while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, perhaps for a good man, someone might dare to even die. But God, but God demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. much more than having now been justified by his blood,

we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only this, but we will also be, we will also exulting God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

I love that because I think it's kind of the key to a healthy marriage is actually you have the problem is that like jay said you're going to be known but the solution is you have to be known and you have to be known in your brokenness and affirm there not in your performance that's how god that's that's the gospel god looks at us and says you know he doesn't say you're not that bad he says you're much much worse than you think you are and while you are there while you're there as an enemy as a sinner that's where i died for you that's where i came for you so now you can be known, and that's where true, I think that's where true intimacy is born, but very few people can get there because of, I guess, because of shame and regret and things like that.

That's why you see so much in the, in the epistles in the New Testament, marriage is used as illustratively as probably the closest thing on earth we have to our relationship with God, right? I mean, there's redemption because there's brokenness. And in a marriage, you're going to have that all the time. I mean, you have opportunity. I always say there's no better place than in your marriage to have an opportunity to live out forgiveness because you're going to make mistakes. You're going to fall short, you know, even if it's little things. I mean, it's same small, miss small in my mindset.

Well, yeah, I think, too, like you think about how many people and probably even us ourselves, just how did you, how were you when you came to Christ? I mean, for so long, even after I was a Christian, I really thought. like that I had to get it right and then I could come to Christ. I thought, I mean, I got to get my life right so that I can come to Jesus. And with so many people over the years that like you're in that conversation with them. And they want out of whatever their thing is,

but they're like, man, I got to get this right so that I can come to Christ. And I'm like, every time I'm like, you've got the whole thing backwards. You don't get it right to come to Jesus. You come to Jesus to get it right. He gets it right.

You know what I mean? I think it's the same thing, kind of in marriage. And for me and Jill, we found a lot of healing our own marriage whenever, really when we get to that place where we could confess sin to one another. And I could confess sin. She could confess sin. We could start to be known and open up those darker places of our lives. Say, hey, here's what's in here.

And I'm not saying we do it perfectly now. We don't. I mean, because we're on this side of heaven. But, I mean, to the degree that you allow yourself to be known by your spouse and vice versa. And then there's an affirmation in that. That's the degree to what you're going to experience, the intimacy that God offers and who God is. No, I think you're, you know, you're right. I think that's a good basis for talking about making, trying to make New Year resolutions,

which is basically repentance just once a year. The problem is, very rarely do we pull it off? Well, that's true. Most people, if you took a poll and said, what percentage? of your resolutions did you follow through with? I guarantee it would be a low number. So I looked them up, Jay's. Let's take a break.

The most common New Year's resolution, and these are pretty general. Exercise more, lose weight, get organized, learn a new skill or hobby, live life to the fullest, whatever that means.

Save more money, spend less money together, quit smoking, spend more time with family and friends, travel more, and read more. That's kind of the, generalize what people say they're going to try to do in a coming year. Well, other than the last one, if you had the word of God in there, I think those are pretty,

I think they need to think bigger. There was nothing spiritual about any of that, like you said, unless it was the Bible. Nothing in there said reach out and help. No, it was a neighbor. It seemed like a good. I sat down during the services yesterday. When you were up, the v. Al, there was some woman came up and said, I have two people that just want to talk to you. They're down there.

They want to talk to you and see if you could help them. I said, go get them. So they were, she went up and brought her. Then there's another one that showed up woman. But they basically were all looking for the same thing after they told me their story. peace of mind had alluded them. It just wasn't there. And they said, how come, how do you get peace of mind around here?

So I spent about 45 minutes while y'all was talking to those two, those three, to get them to see. Oh, it's there. Right. But it's a, take discipline. Right. So. You tell them about Jesus? Yep, and I said, maybe you miss Jesus and all this.

So I shared the good news with them and basically said, look, you're going to make mistakes. They were trying to get around the area where you make mistakes as a Christian. And instead of realizing that Jesus was there to mediate for them and to keep them cleansed, if they trust him and if they would try. Right. That basically was the 45-minute lesson. Here's what I think. When people try to make changes, I think there's two things that are not happening, whether they're in Christ or not. And, you know, Zach read Romans 5. But Romans 7, I think we'll all agree that when Paul wrote this struggle as a Christian, and just to give you a few highlights of that, but he was like, verse 15, I do not understand what I do for what I want to do.

do not do but what I hate to do and if I do what I don't want to do I agree the law is good as it is it is no longer I myself who is doing it is doing it but sin is living in me I know that nothing good lives in me I mean you know that's where they were yes you know Paul's trying though and what I've noticed is when you ask someone uh you know if they're a Christian or if they have a relationship with God, if you ask people that off the top of your head and confront them in the short term, I've had a lot of people say, well, I'm trying,

but that's not a very good answer. You know, are you a Christian? Well, I'm trying to be. What you're saying is the struggle is the question that he finally gets at, what a wretched man I am, who will rescue me from this body of death? That's where most people are, right?

I'm saying is, is in that Roman 7, I think you have to acknowledge that we're more sinful than we make out. We've convinced ourselves to get back to the marriage illustration that we're putting our best face forward in front of most people. But, I mean, because this, you read this whole chapter 7, he's like, look, I'm wretched. I mean, what a wretched man. I know nothing good lives in me. I mean, it just seems like, was he exaggerate? No, he's just being honest. We're more sinful than we want to admit because we're really good at giving an appearance that we're not. And then I think the answer is when he gets to Romans 8, when he said, there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

There's like two extremes. You're way more sinful than you think. And Jesus's grace is way more covering and way more powerful than you realize. Well, then you realize, look, there's no condemnation. And when you look at what that Greek word is for no, it's stronger than no, it should be capitalized. It's destroyed. There's not a hint of condemnation. They're struggling with being viewed as perfect.

By one sacrifice, he's made perfect. They say, I think he missed some because I'm making some mistakes here. Exactly. How could you view me as perfect when I just messed up over here? So my point is, when you ask somebody, why are you a Christian? They say they're trying. It doesn't fit with that Roman 7 and 8. It's like two extremes.

There's no condemnation. This is not about, you know, what you're doing on a daily basis on like... And out, in, out, and out. Yeah, I did more right today than wrong, so therefore I'm feeling pretty good. I tried well today. I'll get up tomorrow and try... No, there's no condemnation for those in Jesus. Yes, I'm a wretched sinner.

It's worse than you think, but guess what? Jesus, in Christ, because that was the key phrase, in Christ, there's no condemnation. As bad as I am, I'm also more pure than you would imagine because of what Jesus did. So why is there such, that's such a hard peel to grasp? I don't, I don't know. But I'm saying that should be the basis for making a resolution. What you're saying is if somebody says, are you a Christian, there's two answers. is yes or no.

It's like asking a woman, are you pregnant? Well, not. I'm trying. Or yet a little. Yeah, I'm trying. What does that mean? Well, it means you're not pregnant. That's right.

So, and that's, I think we as people, that, that's, that's, you're really, you know, it's kind of like, I heard an illustration one time, if I can get this right, because it just popped into my head. But it's like if you ask, you know, do you have rats and roaches in your, basement. Well, if you just go down there and look, making racket and whistling down there, well, guess what? You know, I don't know, I don't see anything. Well, you know, look, if you sneak, if you sneak down there, if you really want to look and you all of a sudden turn the light on look, you'll see everything scurry. Everybody that Jesus ran up on, except the ones who say you're not who you claim you are.

Those he was pretty harsh with. But all of the people that Jesus appeared to, the woman at the well, the woman committing adultery, you said all of them, he treated them by saying, your sins are forgiven. Yeah.

Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. It was just a hard, it was a hard sale then, and they're all looking around. Well, it still is. You don't realize this girl, what she's been doing.

Jesus said, I know what she's been. Says the hypocrite. Turn from you see. Who didn't, who didn't think. He was a sinner. You know what I'm saying? To your point, you know, the guy sitting there who's full of sin just like she is, is saying,

look at that poor wretch. You can fix it without faith in Jesus where you never make a mistake in your mind, but you got to realize. But it really is. Let's take another break. It really is. It's a good point about, back to the larger point about this idea that somehow we can resolve our way into things that make us better. Is it better if I quit smoking? is it better if I'm less, well, yeah, all those are true.

It's better for you in general. But are you going to find peace of mind ultimately because you're thinner, because your habits are better because of this, that, or whatever that people put there. Ultimately, it's a much bigger question. Yeah, well, I was going to read. Go ahead, Zett. No, yeah, I think the problem with a lot of this is,

I mean, all kind of goes back to the, to the idea of workspaces, workspace salvation versus grace. and, you know, all that, law versus grace. And so you get into this, and I think what he's dealing with here in Roman 7 is that, you talk about that turmoil, whether it be some kind of moral deficiency or dealing with some kind of legalism, whatever it is. But when he gets to the end of Roman 7, and he rightly sees the frustration in this, right? Who will rescue me from this body of death?

The next line's important because he says, thanks be to, was it said thanks be to Jesus Christ, our Lord. So you move to Romans 8, it's life by the spirit. And I think that's a big part of this because it's, it's not that your works don't matter. It's not that we don't try to do good works because it's a book, you know, James says that faith without works is dead. And so if you have true faith, it should accompany works. I think that this whole thing in Romans 8, putting to death, if you're led by the,

if you live according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the spirit, you are putting to death, the deep. of the body and you will live. I think the thing is, what is the motivation for your work and for your deeds? The motivation for your deeds and for your work is that I think we missed this a ton. I did for years. I thought that being a Christian, if you say you're a Christian, I thought what that meant was having the right set of belief, I believe the right things.

And I didn't understand that it's not simply about believing the right things. It's believing Jesus. It's believing in the revelation of the spirit. It's trusting in God. It's doing the thing. So my deeds and the work that I do, it's not to gain favor with God. It's not to gain any type of approval or any type of reward. It's not like God says, you do this, and then I'll give you this.

And so I'm out there working trying to do it. Romans 4 clears that up. You know, it's not a, it's if we could demand that it would be a wage, it's a gift. What it is, though, it's, it's, it's, formative, meaning that I do these things in my life. I read my Bible. I say I pray. I meet with the body on Sunday.

I partake in the Lord's supper. These are things I do. Why? Because they form in me a desire for the kingdom. And that's the big thing. That's the number one question that I get from young people is, how do I desire God? Well, you have to do the things that will foster and create a desire. desire within you, just like all the things you desire. We desire what we behold. Whatever we're

worshipping and beholding, that's what we, that's what we're going to want. And so I think it's much more about formation that God, the, we're being formed by the Holy Spirit. I don't know if that makes sense. Isn't that the point he made in Roman 6 when he said, you know, should, should I sin more because grace is so great? And he says, no, you died to that. How can you live in that any longer? In other words, as you're talking about it, he, he mentions it from baptism. in Roman 6. The idea is that that old person is buried. And so you're right, the formation of the new person is never going to live for worldly things.

I mean... Yeah, because then you start to want the things that God wants. That's why when you read the end of Romans 8... Where's the text that says God is there not counting men's sins against him? Not counting the sins against you. I was going to say, at the end here of Romans 8, or not the end, but verse 14, he says, for all who are being led by the spirit of God, because that is the goal,

these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery, leading you to fear again, which how many people in the church, how many Christians live in a spirit of slavery? They're so afraid. They're living in slavery, and they're fearful.

He says, that's not the kind of spirit you receive. He said, but you received a spirit of adoptions, as sons by which we cry out, Abba, Father. And the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. And if we are children, heirs also, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ,

if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may be also glorified with Him. And I'm thinking about my daughter, who we adopted almost two years ago, April will be two years. And it's so funny because I was worried that I'm not going to be able to love this child as my own. And I said this Sunday morning a few weeks ago, I said, and I answered the question with, I love her more than I love my other kids. Of course, you now are like shaking their head. I mean, it's incredible how much I love little Ruth. And I'm like, man, when I read this right here, I'm like, if God loves me like I love her,

I'm in pretty good shape. Yeah. I mean, I'm in pretty good shape. If God loves me with the love, and he does love me like that, and infinitely more, that's the spirit that when we walk with God, I think that it's, that's the summation of this fear. It's like it just eradicates all that because we move into a relational context with God. We move into a relationship because we're known by God and God knows us. Well, that was good.

That was God's playing all along. That's why when people who think that God started loving, you know, just when creation happened, they're missing the point that that's why God has his, however you want to clarify it, personalities or three and one. He had that loving relationship in eternity, who he is. That's why you have the spirit in Jesus. I mean, when he became flesh, so that way, you know, when he did become a human, it wasn't something he wasn't familiar with.

It wasn't like love wasn't there, and then all of a sudden it was. That's why if Jesus would have just been created, then that would have been that God would have been incapable of love. I think it's a good big picture to look at. I'll read that 2nd Corinthians 5, 17 through 19. Yeah, I see, Dad. Let me read the one before that.

Hang on, let's take a break. I wanted to read 2nd Corinthians 4, since we're talking about it started verse 14 new year's resolutions i was going to read 2nd Corinthians 4 uh 16 we don't lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed yep day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all so i think this is the basis for making any kind of new year or new day resolution. It says we fix our eyes not on what is seen.

So like when you listed that list, I think pretty much everything on it was something you can see. Yeah, and about me. But what is unseen. And for what is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal. So if you say, well, what does that mean?

I wanted to reference Colossians 3, it's a famous passage. So since we have, and we did a whole podcast on Colossians, since we have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Now that's not something you can actually see. But through faith, we believe it's true.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died in your life is now hidden. with Christ and God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. It doesn't get any more technical or more sophisticated than that. That's why, going back to the question, you know, are you a Christian?

Are you, if you put your faith in what I just read in Jesus, that is your basis for all decisions. That's why the remainder of Chapter 3 is filled with a bunch of resolutions that you can do. Therefore, based on this, based on you focusing on Jesus, that's right-handed God, or if you want a New Year's resolution,

you read the red letters, you know, every day, because this is what you believe. That's your basis for decision-making. So then he says, put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. Then, you know, here's the list, sex and morality, impurity, lust, evil desires. You know, he talks about the old self,

but then he gets to things you can do, you know, verse 12. clothe yourselves with compassion and kindness and humility and gentleness and it's not that these things that people are wanting to do every year are not attainable or they're not good things it's the basis is where the problem is right and so if you want changes that last forever you do it in reflection of the only eternal being that we have well said i like it so read that text that starting verse 14 because this is When I thought about that's what I thought to the end of the chapter.

Which is the big view. Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all, therefore all died. And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, which is a difficult thing to do for him and being. But for him who died for other men and was raised again. We're back to the gospel. So from now on, we regard no one for. from a worldly point of view.

Though we once regarded Christ that way, I remember it, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come, and all this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, gave us the ministry of reconciliation, helping your neighbor out, that God was reconciling the world to himself. And here's the key verse, not countenance. men's sins against them. We've got to realize that all these struggles we have, God's there, and he's removed them.

On our account, you say, you're perfect. So all of it's from God. He reconciled to himself through Christ, and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation, help others. God was reconciled in the world to himself as Christ, not counting men's sins against him, and he's committed to us.

We're there to encourage people as we go forth. If you're encouraging others, you're actively doing that on a schedule that's, and you're reaching out to others. It really helps your life, too. It's what he's saying, I think. Oh, yeah. And that's why he said at the end,

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us. I did it yesterday. I met with the brothers. Three or four of them were confused and not, they weren't, they weren't blessed. Their minds were, they were trying to figure out how they could get to heaven to still make the mistakes they make. I was there just upon to be Christ.

I think the tricky part in this is, it's not necessarily bad things that are, you know, idols in your life. You can take a bunch of good things, you know, having money or, you know, being famous or what are some other things. You can make that. I mean, money's not bad. Making money is good. But if that's the number one thing in your life,

all of a sudden we've got a problem. You know, I mean, your resolution may be not necessarily some graphic sin. It's something that was originally good. And now it's become something that you couldn't live without. And I think that's what we do. I think about that Ephesians 5, where he said, you know, live a life of love. But among you, you know, there shouldn't even be a hint of sexual immorality or greed or impurity. It says, which is idolatry.

So I think that's the biggest problem, you know, with most New Year's resolution in quotation marks or Christians who are saying, you know, I'm going to do this or that. We're focusing on these big things. But actually in our lives, it's more of these things that were not necessarily bad that we were after at first that has become an idol massed around just the way we're putting ourselves forward. I mean, you think about it. It's, I mean, that's where that's where real change is needed is recognizing, oh, you know what, I'm stingy. and the reason I'm stingy is because I've put all my security in how much money I have. So, I mean, you wouldn't see that. That's not something you think about.

It's kind of like, though, it's like you're right. It's like a pride situation. Jay's you and I just recently ran into a friend of ours who's a caddy on the PGA tour. And I've thought a lot about it because he's been with a couple of really good golfers. And I thought, you know, caddy is a very, this guy's. a really good golfer himself. Oh, he's, he actually teaches golf. Right, and had enough he could have made his own shot.

But as a caddy, it's a very humbling job because your whole job is to make this guy great. It's to help him win. I mean, that's how you make money. But it's a humbling thing because, like, you're just the guy on the bag. I mean, we know him. He's a great guy. He's a believer. Oh, he loves Jesus.

He loves Jesus. That's, you know, that's why we're friends. But that humble, that humble nature to me, is reflective of us in our relationship with Christ. It's not about how much money I make and how great I am and my talents and my abilities. It's about me making him look great. And I think that's just kind of the humble approach that you have. Well, my whole point, you know, bringing this up from my angle,

was that there's a reason that New Year's resolutions are probably averaging two weeks in duration to be fulfilled. And I'm saying you're not uncovering what's deep down in your heart and the basis for these decisions. They're just little sound good. You know, I'm going to lose some weight. And, you know, it's frivolous. If you want to get serious about making changes in your life, you've got to take a deep look at Jesus in your heart and what he did and who he is and his character and why he did it. and every possible angle. And then you got to realize,

I think what Paul said in Romans 7, you're worse than you're, you're worse than you're given the impression of. And God is better than how you're responding to him. And so then you make that, take a look at what you really need to fix. Or look, some people say, well, I've been praying in the spirit,

you know, to reveal what I need to work on. Well, I got another idea in the meantime. ask somebody who has the spirit, and they'll probably tell you. But the reason we don't ask is we don't want to know. Or read the Word of God, which was written by the Spirit. I mean, that's another good way to do that. Again, we're not down on, hey, you want to make yearly reflections and make some good changes. That's fine.

But our point is in this whole podcast, I think today is it's the renewal is the day by day. I love that. Well, if you agree that, look, most resolutions don't, they don't make it. you have a picture of you're either sitting in a field spinning your wheels or you're in a vehicle headed in the right direction. If you want changes that last, they have to be based on eternal truths. So that's the perfect tease for overtime because here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers is how much resolutions last. I've got the numbers. Oh, I'd love to know.

I've got them here. So we're going to do that in overtime. So if you want to follow us over, it's blazedtv.com slash unashamed. Take out of out.