Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 619 | Jase Relives the Biggest Fight He Ever Had With Willie & How He Got Shamed For It

Episode Date: January 23, 2023

Jase recounts the only real fight he’s ever been in and what it was about. A listener proposes a fight between Jase and Jay Stone. Jase examines masculinity and how it’s changed in America, and the guys explain the transformation of Peter during his lifetime and hardships preaching God’s Word. Plus, Jase stumps everyone with a difficult question no one’s ever considered. In this episode: 1 Peter 1, verses 3-7 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? That was Zach, take the wheel. Am I thinking the wheel? Yeah, I was saying, Zach, take the wheel. There was a song. That's why you said Carrie Underwood. You started with Carrie Underwood. I didn't, I was, I didn't.

So here's the deal. Jesus, take the will. You know way more bigger words than me, but I use subtleties about life and things that are real. And so I said, Carrie Underwood, and you're like, Carrie Underwood, oh, Jesus takes the wheel. Because then you had a moment of like, oh, Jesus needs to take the wheel. Okay. See, so I'm looking at things from a spiritual real perspective. But go ahead.

And Dad's got that look of who is Carrie Underwood. Never heard of her. You haven't, Phil? Maybe we'll meet some time. Look, I'm going to get with Dan the Butler, and we're going to get that song on your playlist. You need to hear that song. Jesus take the will. She wrote a song, I guess she wrote it, saying, Jesus take the will.

Yeah. I wasn't aware of that. Yeah, well, it's a good one. I actually met her. She was really nice. Yeah, that great Pete heard of her and her husband. I haven't met her or met her husband. Awesome guy.

I love Jesus. I think he listens to the podcast, matter of fact. That's what he told me at least. But yeah, so here's the context. I was going to start the podcast off today, which is why Jay said that, because we were talking about one of the best comments that I've seen of all the comments I've read. And I told them I wanted to read it. This is from Vicki on the episode with Shane and Shane. And this is what Vicki says, that I want to see Jace and Stone get into a physical fight.

Really? Which would help. I think that would help with ratings. I really do. Well, first of all, before Jace addresses that, how did that come out of the Shane and Shane episode? Because didn't they like sing a worship? Well, what happened, Shane Everett, I think, rolled over on Jay Stone

because Stone said that Jace was a fun sucker. Oh, yeah, I remember now. And then the whole thing happened because the story with, then the Jace told the story, so it brought it up. and yeah i mean you got to be careful though because stone is i did see a picture on facebook yesterday matter of fact that his your your daughter his wife said the if they're not at church and there was another place i can't remember the other place that they were at if they're not there then they're at the place they were at which was at a jiu jitsu studio so he's he's about to

test for his blue belt which is like the next step up in the chain so he's there's the belt that they received from this, is it actually blue? It's got, I think it's got stripes on it. I think it's got blue stripes on it. But don't quote me on that. They wear what they call a ghee,

which is kind of their outfit that they. Well, I'm not familiar with geese. Vicki, my response would be when I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, a reason like a child.

When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. That is 1st Corinthians 1311. However, the undertones of that, kind of like I did with the Carrie Underwood, is I picked a passage that it is in a chapter of love. Love is a stronger thing to fight with.

So having said that, Jay and I have many, many spats and they're usually done just by words but he's not like bowing up on me saying if you go too far I'm going to put you in some kind of Taekwondo hold and snap your fifth vertebrae yeah yeah that's a safer method because he walk into his house and on his living room floor he's got a uh like a what is that al it's a mat no they were They roll around. Every day they roll around on the ground and grapple. And I used to do that when I was in fifth and sixth grade.

And that's why I read the text. I quit doing that about the seventh grade. I just stopped that. I said, you know, I don't, if there's a need to roll around on the ground, okay. But I haven't had one since then. Well, and as we've discussed on the podcast, previous podcast, holidays were a favorite time to get some fresh meat into our wrestling and grappling moves, Jays, because we would have a fresh batch of cousins, dashers, others from around the country

would come in for a few days and we would trowel our stuff out on them as I mean, as Zach has reminded. The only time I was in a wrestling match with, you know, another human being and in a, when there was a conflict, I think I was probably 19 or 20 years old, and Willie was, so I guess he's a year and a half younger me. And it's a famous story that we've talked about. And look, we both were wrong, and eventually we apologize and hopefully repented. But it was an argument over who is going to use the oven.

And y'all were out of town. We had a buddy there sitting on the couch watching all this. And Willie, I had a pizza in the oven that I had put in, and he came in and took my pizza out because we only had one oven. I think you still only, no, you have two now. Maybe that was a subliminal. One just blew out, but the mechanic photo. Yeah. So Willie took some toast.

For the oven update there. Willie was making toast, and his logic was it takes less time to make toast. and it does a pizza but I but I was there first that's the rule so you shall wait but he said no he he opened that oven and took my toast I mean my pizza out and put it on so and put his toast in there I said no so I went toward the oven oh y'all when this is going on I was about 19 years old I could hurt you yeah he was about 18 so as I went to take his toast back out because he he put his hands at that moment that was my pan and my pizza he he broke the rule there so when he did that when i went to open the oven back up and put the pizza back in he shoved me he made physical contact and then it resulted in about a five minute the same thing they do on the mats but this is this was for real it ended who was

Some, well, I'll tell you the story. You can judge for yourself. So there were licks passed both ways. And I somehow got him and picked him up. And he was facing the opposite direction as me. And once I got him off the floor, Willie was not quite as girthy as he is now. So I was able to do that. And so when I got him up, I just fell back.

I think they call it some kind of souffle in the wrestling. It's called a suplex, right? Suplex. The belly to back suplex. Yeah. And so he hit the table was the first lick, bounced off the tape because I just let him go. And he hit, y'all used to have a big flour can that looked like a five-gallon bucket. It was made of 10.

And he hit that and it just exploded flour in the whole kitchen. And then I turned around, got him, grabbed by the back of the head and let him kiss the carpet for a little bit. And then I think at that moment he said, you can have the oven. And so I backed off. He stormed out of the house. The problem was the conviction came from our buddy, who was a brother and still is. He said, that's a fine way for two Christian guys to be acting. And then I was like, oh, that was probably not the wisest amazed.

But that's the last physical altercation we were in. But we made up. We got over. So I stopped all that. But since you brought it up, look, if you're going to go a hypothetical and lose the Lord and love and all this, if Jay approached me in a physical way wanting to fight, I would probably go get a weapon. Yeah, that'd be a smart move.

Well, I'm just saying that's what I would do. No, it's smart. I wouldn't want to go up against him either. If he says, you want to tango? I would look around and find something that I could do some damage with from afar. Well, I watched him about a year ago. I was over at Hals House and a couple of our college students that were in the college ministry when we were in Louisiana came over. and one of them was playing college football.

And Jay, who's my, I think Jay's older than me. So he's probably in his, what, is he 47? He's 47. 47. And he looks at this 21-year-old football player and asks him if he wanted to wrestle, which I was like, I mean, I don't even have that desire. I mean, there's nothing in me that says, hey, you want to wrestle? I don't have it in me.

So, but. Because because you were conditioned from an early age. Well, yeah, I don't have. have that either. I think some men, it's a way to, you know, they're competitive and it's, they need something to, you know, put that ambition to. And I play cards. Yeah. You know, or I'll, you know, I'll go fishing and have a competition that way. I'm, I'm just not a, I'm just not into physical altercations. But, but to my surprise, when they did wrestle, Jay had him in a submission hold within, I would say, 60 seconds.

Yeah. And this guy was a lot stronger than Jay. I was, I actually was really impressed. Well, yeah, the benefits of that is if somebody tries to rob you and all. And so then you're like, well, how do you feel about how are you going to defend yourself? Well, I'm back to the weapon. Yeah. You know, you could do like Phil.

What Phil does is Phil, he has a weapon pretty much at all times. Or. Yeah. He has bodyguards who have skill sets. Yeah. So that's the way to do it. Yeah, actually, Dad's main guy that takes care of him. He's a big jiu-jitsu guy, but he's also in great shape.

And he's got a lot of tactical weapons on him because he's a SWAT police officer. So it's kind of best in those situations to have a little bit of everything. I will say, because I've gotten to know a lot about Jiu-Jitsu, although Jay's, you know, him doing it has made me never want to do it because he's hurt all the time because it's not easy on your body. But I will say this about the discipline of itself. It lends itself to other people's, you overpower people by their strength. It's kind of an interesting.

It's a defensive discipline. It's not an offensive when like karate or some of the others. So it's really interesting just to learn about it. My granddaughter, Jay's youngest daughter, Sage, she's a, years old and she's rolling with boys who were 12 and 13 years old and holding her own. I mean, she's got like a, a, an ability. So she may go far. I mean, she's got like potential for black belt or whatever. So I don't know. It's interesting. Jay got into it mainly just to get in shape and lose weight. He got into boxing and then that. But, you know, he's stuck with it. He's a part owner of

their studio and with some other guys we know. So it's been, it's been good for their family. They love it. So the answer is, don't hold your breath for seeing that altercation, even in an exhibition. Now, we could have him own, because we argue quite often and people find it funny, because we're both tough-skinned. And I like having relationships where you don't have to worry about hurting people's feelings. Pretty much sums up most members of my family, which is, I think, while we can have conversation. but Jay and I, you can take that to the 100th power. He's not going to get his feelings hurt. And I'm not either.

I just want to personally think, Vicki, because I will be lining up a guest appearance by Jay Stone soon now and unashamed. Not to fight, but just to have a discussion. Just to talk things out. Just to talk things out. Just to find out where everybody's at. But he's a tough man. He's a tough man and a good man. You got to remember, I get the reputation for.

you know, not having any fun because I take these guys on where no one else dares to do and disagree. But they, they're so shocked when someone disagrees with them. They're like, well, you're just, you're just not a fun guy. So that's where that comes from. I have it with several members of my family. They're not used to people saying no. I think that's a terrible idea. So let's take a break. I love it that our female audience is now rooting for fights on the Unashamed podcast.

So thank you. You're totally getting our vibe, Vicki. We appreciate it. Yeah, speaking of, let's go out of a first Peter. No,

you can make the transition by 2nd Corinthians 104. You know, the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. That's why I'm not into that. You know, look, it's good. They stay in shape and there's nothing wrong with it. But I'm just, I think when what we have in the gospel is way more powerful.

But I do think, Jason, it is a good transition in the sense, especially talking about Peter, because, and that's who we're talking about today, because we're going to pick up and we're still looking kind of at his background before we get to first and second Peter, which were his books. But, you know, there's a, there's kind of a thing that's been out there for a lot of. long time that, you know, in Christianity, you don't really have masculinity. And so there's kind of been almost an attempt, I mean, maybe I'm just overstating it, but to seem to strip back just basic masculine. And I'm not talking about misogyny and, you know, doing things that are, you know,

not right. But I'm talking about just men being men. And that may be. God created us the way we are. That's right. And so, and the things we. enjoy doing it. So when you look at these guys, sometimes, especially even with Jesus, there's this kind of caricature of these early disciples and Jesus himself is like being almost androgynous, like not masculine, you know, but somewhere in between and, you know, because you're loving and you love people that you wouldn't be a man. But these, these have the feeling to me in our study that these are men's men. We laid that out in the whole fishing episode, last episode about what it takes to be a commercial fisherman.

And trust me, that's not a job for the, for the, you know, weak need to be able to do it. It's hard, hard work. A lot of that comes from the way you see men depicted on TV shows and movies. You know, they're either superhuman or the dumbest people in the room at all time. They can't do anything. They're stupid. They can't, you know, so, you know, I think that's part of our culture. You know, it's like two extremes.

You know, it's either the action movie where they're jumping out of planes and then hitting the ground while running, you know, or they're in a house setting where they're depicted as stupid and weak and just an idiot of the family. So, hey, I wouldn't base my moral standards and gender roles based on what I watch on TV. No, exactly right. So on the last podcast, we were talking about Peter sort of his, one of the things that makes him interesting is that he really seems to in some moments when he was with Jesus during the Gospels and the ones we've studied so far, he seems to really get it in the moment. And then it seems like he turns right around and kind of puts his foot in his mouth. So he's like got this boldness about himself. but then also he's kind of like trips over himself as well. And Zach brought up in the last podcast, Matthew 16, starting in verse 13, where Jesus says,

Who do you say I am? And it's Peter who steps up and says in verse 16, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And that's when Jesus says, blessed are you, Simon, which we talked about the names, you know, one who hears, this was not revealed to you by man, but by my father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, meaning rock. And on this rock, this confession you just made, I will build my church. And the gates of Hades will not come. But I will give you the keys of kingdom.

So he's predicting about Peter's role going forward. And which we talked about that on the last pike because that's great. That's why we love Peter, right? He's so bold. He gets it. But then we only go three or four verses in verse 21. So it's the same conversation. And the Bible says verse 21 from that time.

time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, that he must be killed on the third day, raised alive. So now he's like, okay, this is how this is going to happen about the kingdom. Peter, who just said he was the son of the living God, took him aside. So he didn't even, I mean, he's like, pulls him off to the side and rebukes it. Never, Lord, this will never happen to you. So you just said he was the son of God. and now you're telling him what he will and won't do,

which shows you the nature of Peter. And then, of course, Jesus says, get behind me, Satan, because you're stumbling about to me. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. And so you see that same precursor. If you fast forward,

imagine Peter on the night that Jesus says he's going to betray him. He says, never, Lord, I'll be with you to death. I'll go to prison. I'll do whatever has to be done. And then, of course, a few hours later, what does he do?

He denies. him three times. So there's definitely something going on inside of Peter that seems to be kind of a quick back and forth of, I don't know what you call it hot and cold or I mean, he seems to get it and he seems to miss it. And in some ways, it's encouraging, but then it's also, you know, it's just, it's the nature of the man. It's encouraging to us because I think we all can identify with the, with the hot and cold nature. You know, we struggle with that. But what's interesting to me is that that Peter is the same guy. that you, as you just mentioned, that denied Christ and think about his motivation for denying Christ.

He's basically up against the power of the Roman Empire, and he sees the Messiah, the one that he thought was going to bring the kingdom in a certain way. That's why he pulled the sword out and cut the guy's ear off. So you know Peter's ready to fight until he realizes, wait a second, it looks like we're losing. And so when he goes up against the power of the Roman Empire, particularly when they had Jesus, and he sees that in his mind he thinks Jesus is losing. And under that persecution that Jesus was under, he denies him. And then it's that same Peter that writes this epistle, two of them, first and second Peter, these epistles that we now have in Scripture.

And this first Peter here was written in the context of, the oppression of the Roman Empire, particularly Nero, persecuting Christians. And so now he, just think of the irony of that, in one moment, this guy is denying Christ because of the fear of persecution. And then a even greater degree of persecution broke out years later. And he's now writing the epistle to encourage the believers. And you think, what happened in between? And the answer is what happened in Matrina is.

is what Jace mentioned last week over and ever again. He is risen. And Peter had had an encounter with the risen Jesus and was totally changed. And we also know from church history that Peter, you know, was crucified on a cross. I think he, I think he requested to be hung upside down because he didn't want, he didn't feel worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord Jesus. And you think, man, what, like, what could change someone so profoundly? And it's the resurrection, it's this smack dab of the middle of this.

So I think that's interesting. I was going to bring up the same point. And he addressed that. Jesus did, Peter's death, the kind of death he would undergo in the end of John 21. After he reinstates him, the last podcast, we did this parallel between Luke 5 when they were called and Jesus had the miraculous catch. And then John 21, post-resurrection, now we have Peter reinstated. and that's what he struggled with was the suffering of Jesus because it didn't fit the narrative of what he wanted a conquering king.

He wanted to use our story. He wanted the Jay Stone version of the kingdom. Let's just whoop everybody. And really ultimately, you know, I made a subtle point there, but Jesus chose to use the subtleness of love, which became a, you know, it wasn't that he, it wasn't, you know, viewed by man as strength. But ultimately, when he came back from the dead, now look, he went from a man to being the most powerful man the world has ever known. He's now indestructible when you read that in Hebrews.

But I was going to make the same point. So then ironically, Peter writes a letter addressing, I would say, the number one, argument over why there's not a God, which is why is their suffering? Why does God allow suffering? I mean, that really is the theme of his letter. It's, you know, to people, the strangers and aliens and exiles who have faith in Jesus, you're undergoing suffering and it's going to get worse. And he just addresses it.

I mean, if I just read one verse, which I really think is, you could do a theme verse for first Peter is, you know, when he says in 2.21, even if you back up to 21, the end, I mean, the second part of verse 20, it says, but if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. As people who are not in Jesus, they're like, wait, what? If you suffer for doing good and endure it, this is commendable? Well, that's outrageous. To this you were called because, Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. Well, to Zach's point, what happened?

I mean, what happened in Peter's life? He went from the polar opposite in the Gospels to now writing, and we'll, obviously, the next few weeks as we go through this, we will explore this because why is there suffering? Why did he write that? That doesn't make any sense to people in the world. Yeah. Hang on, Zach. Let's take another break.

All right, go ahead. Yeah, it does it. And I think that what encourages me more about this, too, is even the one who wrote this. I think this is the paradox of the gospel that just every time, the more layers of the onion that you pull back, you're just, I just become more and more in all of this truth of man's inability, but then God working through fallible men to accomplish his. ultimate will. Peter is such a great example of this, not just to who he became, but even post-resurrection. Because, you know, you're like, because I'm always, we're always looking for that arrival place. Like, man, when am I going to get to that place when I'm done with sin? And I, you know, I finally got there. And, and even Peter, I mean, Peter never fully got there on

this out of heaven. None of us will. And, and I think about the man who wrote this book under this epistle, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was the same guy. that was teetering with racism in the book of Galatians when Paul says, because of the way he was treating the Gentiles, he was saying, you know, he was trying to bind on them and not and kind of withdrawing himself from the Gentile people when the Jewish, his Jewish friends were around. And Paul said that when I saw that he was not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, he said, I rebuked him to his face. Yeah, I don't think he was teetering with it. He was just outright doing it. Good, good point. He was. And so you think, you think, I'm going to pick a guy.

It's like, you're God. You're like, I'm going to pick somebody to write an epistle. And they're going to be a major leader in the church. And you just wouldn't pick someone who had these character flaws. And I love that, though, because God does pick people with major character flaws. God picks people with sin struggles. God picks people with, he picks people, which is good news for anyone listening. into this podcast because I can promise you the one thing we do all have in common is that we

have character flaws and we have issues in our own life and it's just beautiful to know that God can do amazing things even through us even even though we have these issues which is what led does things like when he wrote in first peter five six humble yourselves therefore under God's mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time I mean that this transition in his life, you just see how much it had an effect on him. I mean, pride was a major problem for him as he journeyed with Jesus. And you fast forward. And eventually, I love that you brought up that history says that he requested to be crucified upside down. I mean, somebody doing that, we're going to kill you. Okay, well, go ahead. If you're going to crucify me, do it upside down

because I'm not worthy to, I don't want anybody to be confused with, you know, me doing the same way. I'm not worthy to look like Jesus in that capacity. I mean, what a, what a heart. And you even look at him among the 12, there was a, you know, sometimes people with the greatest leadership ability have to have that, go through that just broken, break down my pride moment, which obviously Peter went through when he denied Jesus. and that whole scene that Jay's read from John 21. I wanted to mention just a quick, you know,

because we've studied Acts before on the podcast, but one of the things that you see that happens to Peter is once on the other side of the resurrection, you know, you're talking about 30 years are going to go by before he's going to write these words in First Peter. And, Jace, to your point about suffering, you're right, hope through suffering, I would say, is the theme of the book in First Peter.

And the reason 30 years have gone by now, the church in the, you know, early 60s is under tremendous persecution. So that's the setting for the book. But think about what Peter did. First of all, as far as we know, he was the only married disciple. I mean, we know he was married because, remember, Jesus healed his mother-in-law. And so, you know, somebody else of the 12 may have been married, but we don't know that they were. But right off the bat, that tells me that he was probably a little bit older. than the rest of the group, possibly, probably, because he was married.

And he probably then had a little bit of maturity and wisdom that marriage will bring, maybe that wouldn't to the other guys. So there's something about him. But when we get on the other side in Acts 1, notice that who's the first one to stand up among the believers in Acts 115 to then replace Judas? It's Peter. And who's the one to stand up and preach the first gospel sermon in Acts chapter 2, you know, after the Holy Spirit is poured out.

It's Peter. Who healed the beggar in the temple in Acts 3, Peter, with John alongside, which then brought all the persecution that Jesus had had in Acts chapter 4, because now Peter has led the disciples exactly where Jesus were, where the Jewish leadership doesn't know what to do with them. And then you get to Acts 5, and there's some deceit going on in the church. Well, who's the one to step up to bring shame on this situation? and basically caused the death of two of the early church members. Peter, he's the one rebuked him in that city.

And who's the one that God sends to convert the first Gentiles into the church in Acts 10? Peter, who we know had a problem with Gentiles, as y'all mentioned already. And then, of course, in Acts 12, who's the one that was going to be killed that miraculously escaped to continue his work is Peter? So to get to this point where we get to when we get to First Peter, I think it's interesting to watch sort of his maturation that happens over the course of the first 12 chapters in Acts because, you know, after that you sort of read about Paul, but you don't read about Peter. But this is the course of what it takes. And I think in terms of encouragement to our audiences, you said earlier, Zach, sometimes you just kind of let God work in you to develop who you need to be. I mean, you have to have that moment where you break down your will and let him, you know, lead your life at the same time. It takes time.

It took Peter a long time to get to the point where he pins these words that we're going to study. Look how far he went. And second, Peter, you get out of about midway in the first chapter. He said, make every effort to add your faith. And he basically lists the fruit of the spirit. put to put you in faith faith goodness to goodness knowledge to knowledge self-control to self-control persevered think about peter he was the one who's you know cutting people's ears off and i mean and saying you know this is not going to happen to you you're not going to die on the cross to save the world we're

going to we're going to stop that you know and he was told by jesus get behind me Satan so He had some pretty bumpy periods of time, Paul and Jesus, to self-control, perseverance, perseverance, godliness, godliness, brotherly kindness, brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, he had watched himself the last 30 years, and he had come to this conclusion,

these things would keep you from being ineffective and unproductive, which he was when he was with Jesus. In your knowledge of our Lord Jesus, anyone who does not have them, those kind of qualities, anybody, does not have them. He's nearsighted and blind because he's forgotten that he's by cleanse, he's been cleansed from his past sins. So Peter really understood the weight of having all your sins removed

and showing the human race a changed life as they go forward. He learned it the hard way. But who hasn't? That's right. Everybody learns the hard way when you get right down to it. That's right. Let's take a break. All right, go ahead, Seth.

Yeah, yeah. And to reiterate, the setting here that this epistles written in is in a period of great suffering. And I think that back to Jay's point, that is the number one. rebuttal and I guess a barrier to people believing in the God of the Bible is why would a good God allow such human suffering? And there is a there is an answer to that that I can't wait. I think is I'm just ready to get in that cliffhanger. Oh, there's yeah. I mean, yeah, I think it's we will get into that because I think there's a lot of people suffering that listen to this podcast because I read the emails.

I know there I know that some of you out there are going through like really. tough situations. One of the things that I think is indicative of our culture is that we've been told that if you're suffering, then you can't be fulfilled and have joy. And to not suffer and to be comfortable is to find joy. And it's just not true. I mean, if you think about working on a documentary film right now about mental health and man, when you start looking at the statistics, I don't have them in front of me, but just on the the increase in the rates of depression, the rates of suicide and suicidal ideation. Out to roof.

It's, it's astronaut. I mean, it's just, it's just exploding over the last, you know, 25 years, since COVID, even more. And you look at our culture right now, and you think, well, are we comfortable? Are we affluent? And the answer is, yeah. I mean, if you want to go out to eat to a restaurant, most people can go out to eat at a restaurant. If you, we all have cell phones.

We have, I mean, like, we're very comfortable, very affluent. There's not a lot of not suffering on the scale, even close to what these folks are dealing with and in folks in other parts of the world. And you have to ask yourself if comfortability and affluence and the lack of suffering was the key to human flourishment and happiness and joy, then why in the world are we so miserable in 2020? You have to ask yourself that question. And I think Peter is giving it through this epistle. is going to give us the true pathway to finding lasting joy and real joy. And that's what encourages me about where we're headed. No doubt.

And it's specifically why the gospel is powerful is because he basically, through his conversion in the literal act of Jesus, suffering, dying on a cross, being buried and being resurrected, It first transformed Peter to the point where I was going to make the point. I preached a sermon from Acts 2. When you hear Acts 2, you have two events that we first think of. The spirit being poured out. And then Peter preaching the first gospel sermon, you know,

post-spirit being poured out, post-Jesus going to the right hand of God. and there's been tens of thousands of sermons preached from there using Peter. Peter was told. Let me just make this point for you. But I preached a sermon just on 14, Acts 2.14. And it says, Peter stood up, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd. And my point was, what Jesus did on the cross and the resurrection transformed. him first. And he had this reinstatement. He had this clarity about suffering. He saw the big

picture and it moved him for the first time. You know, post-spirit being poured out to stand up, address the crowd, and raise his voice. And so then what came out would be one of the most famous sermons in the history of the world. But that had to happen in his heart first. And so that movement happens to every single human being. You know, when you hear about Jesus, you see Jesus for yourself, you understand Jesus. There's a moment that he had like here where you say, you know what? This is what I'm doing. That's what led to the speech was the point of the sermon. is the transformation that happens in our lives. Yeah, what's amazing along with that,

he was given the prestigious job of this right here. He said, dear friends, he says this at the end of his two books. He said, this is now my second letter to you. I've written both of them. He tells you what he has in mind. I've written both of them as a reminder to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. He starts with that and then ends with the end of the world for crying out loud. And just a little short period of time.

Yeah, that's second period of three, one where he said, it's a good point. He said, I wrote, I have written to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. It's a good point. Yeah. Yeah. Listen to how he starts it in 1st Peter 1. I don't want to jump the gun here, but I was just thinking about the correlation. Jumping the gun.

Jumping the gun. Go ahead. Jumping. Before you jump that gun, let's take a break. To jump the gun, there's a correlation here is that suffering does not mean lack of joy. That is not, that's not biblical and it's not reality. And you could also say that the lack of suffering doesn't necessarily lead to joy. And joy and peace is a big part of this.

I love Phil's line. He always says, peace of mind is the rarest of commodities. So you read that first paragraph in the introduction here, Peter and Apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, which some of us always, you may feel like an alien in this country. But to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Capadocia, Asia, and Bethania, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father. They're chosen by the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

What are they chosen for? They're chosen to obey Jesus Christ to be sprinkled with his blood. May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. And you think about, I don't think this book is a book that says, God wants you to suffer and be miserable. I don't think that's not what he's saying here. He sets it up from the beginning. This is how to deal with suffering and misery.

What the call here is, is it's a call to grace and peace and not just grace and peace. Peter wants us to be ours in the fullest measure. And I think that's like a really huge carrot that is dangled in front of us to go after. and not only go after. I mean, we can actually attain that, as we're going to see in this epistle. Well, I love that. I love that picture that Jason was talking about with transformation of Peter. And it speaks straight to that, Zach, because it contrasts the words, Jason, from Acts 2, 14,

to the first words when he realized who Jesus was when he said, go away from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man in Luke 5. I mean, look at what happened in his life. in that transformation. No, I agree. It's kind of the same thing as the Apostle Paul's life and what he had been underdo. Yeah, but Peter's more relatable.

I mean, it's like since Zach jumped the gun, you know, when he said we have, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, which, you know, Peter was chosen. There's a little show out that I love. It's called The Chosen. and it depicts Jesus and those that he has chosen in a real way. And it's really doing good. Check it out. It's streaming near you.

But Peter is my favorite character because he's relatable. I mean, look, you really can't say it. You couldn't say this in a church building, but I'll say it now. I think it's really cool that Peter cut the guy's ear off. I mean, it takes a special talent. I mean, just when I read that, I'm like, well, that's cool. Oh, but he shouldn't have done it, you know. But, but my, the man side of me is like, hey, cut that guy's ear off in one little wick. Here's a news flag. You can say that in a church building. Yeah, I know. I was just kind of being funny. But what I'm saying is there's a lot of everything he, I mean, he's like the character I resonate most with. He's so passionate. He's willing to take a risk. I'm like, I just, I love him. But then he just does the dumbest stunts. that you could imagine.

But then when I kind of look at my life, I'm like, me, me, also me. I mean, and so I really think that when Zach was reading this, there's something about that transformation that Jesus did. Because deep in your heart, you're like, man, if we can get this guy lined out, he's cool. He's articulate. He's always thinking outside the box. And so I think that's what ultimately led to this giant transformation.

And then all of a sudden he's talking about one of the most controversial things in the world and really giving you clarity. I guarantee you once you get finished reading these two letters that he wrote, it makes you feel comfortable. I used to be uncomfortable when people would say, well, if there's a God, I mean, why is all this suffering going on? I remember as a new Christian, I was like, oh, that's a really good question. I mean, why don't he do something? But the deeper I've gone into this, I'm like, oh, wow, have a seat here. And let me explain this to you.

Because there's, even to use an analogy that we will use probably throughout this whole book, you remember when the three Jewish followers of God were in the fiery furnace. And then somebody said, oh, wait, there's somebody else in there. and of course it looks like a son of god so and i think you know we'll get into that because of first peter one where he says that these trials that come they they refine us you and when you refined uh you know like it says gold here it actually gets brighter in the fire and so all of a sudden he's not only saying you're going to suffer but there's somehow it's going to it's going to be a more positive thing to your life. And you're like, well, wait, just a doggone minute. But then when you look

back at what Jesus did, he goes through his suffering. In an actuality, at the end of the day, the suffering that Jesus went through when he came out the other side, he was actually more powerful. There was something revealed that we were like, oh, wow. He knew it was going to happen to him. Yeah. So that's why I said, you're not going to venture too far off of the death and suffering of Jesus and the resurrection because in that is basically the answer to suffering. And you keep using this word that I think is very essential to this conversation. And that word is transformation. This is not just about having your sins forgiven, although that's a big part of it.

It's also about being transformed. And I think when a lot of times we'll read these verses about like being chosen before, you this foreknowledge in God's foreknowledge, he chose us or chose Peter or whoever. But right here, listen to some of the language here, verse 2, according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit. That's transformation talk there. That's ongoing talk. That's not a one and done deal.

I mean, the work of the spirit, I mean, if we got into a full, you know, theology or doctrine of the Spirit. I mean, his primary role, according to Jesus, is to sanctify the believer, deliver the believer into all truth. I mean, he indwells us. It's a lifetime process, you know, and to obedience is to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. So I think if we read this text, when they, oh, God, you know, this is the saying that God chose us for, forgiveness of sins, that's only part of it. There's this whole transformation process. the sanctifying work of the spirit, the fruit of the spirit, Galatians chapter 5, love, joy, peace, patience, all that stuff that comes as we obey Christ. And I think that's what this whole book is about. It's leading us into a transformed life. That, that to me, can not be overestimated because I think so often we focus only on like getting saved from sin, but we

don't focus enough on who were saved too. Sanctification is a part of salvation. It's not just about our justification, which is meaning, you know, justification meaning I'm freed from the, from the guilt of sin. I'm not only longer guilty in court of law. There's also that whole part about being sanctified, being freed and released from the power and the grip of sin. And that's a big, big thing. And that's the part of that I'm excited about is the transformation process, because that's the part that leads you to the peace. But part of that transformation process is getting God's spirit, and then you know that it is a guarantee that no matter what happens to your body, because it will suffer, either from old age or if somebody beat you, beats you up,

or something, airplane crashed or whatever, but you know in the back of your mind, oh, wait, I'm coming back from the dead. And so at some point you start combining the two things that transform specifically the two things that Jesus did. And you realize the third thing, I guess, is why he did it, which we'll get into. Because when you ask yourself the question, what was the only thing Jesus didn't have when he left heaven to come here? Have you ever thought about that? What was the only thing Jesus didn't have in heaven when he came here?

That's a good question. Those questions make me nervous. Us. That's why he came here. He came here to redeem us. There's a song. There's that song that was very controversial, and I'm not sure why, but I understand the point. But the song, he didn't want heaven without us.

So Jesus, you brought heaven down. And a lot of people pushed back on that because they said, well, God doesn't need anything. And that's not what Jason. They said, God didn't need us. The verse. The verse I was speaking of is Hebrews 12, 1, and 2, and it's the reason for suffering when he said, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning in shame. Well, that was right after he just talked about all these cloud of witnesses, you know,

and the joy was for us. And so when you really think, well, why did Jesus suffer? I know why he suffered. He suffered for us so we could be saved and go through this. transition. And so then, look, you fast forward this since I open this up, when it says death has been swallowed up in victory, have you ever thought about what that means? It doesn't mean you're not going to experience death. You just swallow it up, just like when you eat something, you swallow it up, but you experience it yesterday, Jace, when I die, don't cry. I won't feel.

I may cry tears of joy. All right, how about that? Hang on, Zach. Zat. I know you got a burning thought, but you're going to have to save it for overtime because we're out of time on this version of Unashamed. So we'll pick up with this discussion in our overtime as well as in the next podcast. Get back to our text in First Peter. If you want to follow us over, it's blazediv.com slash Unashamed to get our overtime segment. 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 get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to blazed TV at blazestivie.com slash unashamed.