Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 623 | Phil & Jase’s Epic Hunt Leaves Jase Giggling like a Kid & Why He Once Slayed “Sacred Cows!”

Episode Date: January 30, 2023

Jase is on cloud 9 after an epic hunt which he recounts in elaborate detail. Jase and Phil acknowledge the “Spirit of the Pintail” and God’s perfect design for such a bird. Guest Larry Bowles joins the guys to give an update about the work going on sharing the Gospel in Greece, Iran and Afghanistan. Also, Al and Jase remember the times they “slayed sacred cows” when they were in preaching school!  In this episode: 1 Peter 1 vs 22 - 1 Peter 2 vs 3 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So today is your last day to hunt. Last day. So I come in, y'all aren't back yet, so I'm thinking, oh boy, they'll be singing the blues and the last day, and it'll be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. You would think. That's what my expectation was when I came in here this morning. But instead, it was quite different.

I was a levitated. into the podcast room. You did. So this is a long story because it's all relative. People that... Do you tell any other stories except a long story? I don't know. Can you tell a short story?

No, I don't like a short story. In fact, if it's a book and it's a short story, I'm like... It needs a novella. It's either bumper sticker or a novel. That's right. No in-between. I like it. So the backstory on this is we go hunting.

after the podcast yesterday. We only had one hour to hunt. Yep. But I was already down here. It was in the afternoon. The place we went, no ducks are using. So to say it was a long shot is an understatement. But old Burley wanted to go.

It was just you and Burrow. Me and Burrow, we go out there. And I said, you never know. So we go out there. No ducks are there. We put out a pretty good spread of decoys. And at 5 o'clock, which is just literally minutes before legal shooting hours is over.

I look up and there's four mallards coming from the heavens out of the north. Just their wings are locked. I can tell they're coming. And I look behind them and there's 40 pintails. And for you non-duck hunters, pentails usually hang out in fields and big agriculture. And they're big out west. Our listeners out in California, they're big out there. We have a lot of them in Louisiana, but where we specifically hunt, it is the rarest of duck.

They say on the other side of the river, and I go crazy every year over pentails because there's something just beautiful and majestic about them. The way they fly. They have an arc to their wings. It's really pretty. But you look up what a pentail drake looks like, and it is a thing of beauty. It is. Long neck. One of the reasons that I started getting interested in the creator, instead of the,

this happening out of nowhere, as Phil says, saltwater, was when I saw the Pintail, aka the Bullsprig, in flight. Yep. And I thought, no, somebody made that. And the reason they call him Pintel, because he has one feather that is extremely long. How long is that feather, Phil? Four to six inches.

But, I mean, if you pulled it out, I think it's long on that, but it sticks out. It sticks out about four inches, yeah. It's like a rooster tail. Right. It's on a... Which is why they call it the sprig, right? That's the idea.

So back to the story. So, I mean, I just go nuts when I see these ducks. Because it was so shocking. We didn't think we were going to see anything. I was like, get it, I got, I got it, I'm just me and barely, you know. I'm shaking the string. And I was like, should I call? Should I call?

Because usually at this hole, if you call, they're spooky about it. You know, if they're coming, why I blow a duck call? I mean, so I said, I'm not going to call. I said, let the four mallards light. because I was convinced they were coming straight down. And then we'll get the pentails. So they come in front of us. They come straight over the back of the blind.

Pentails were behind. And then it was like 15 seconds goes by, 30 seconds goes by, because we're down, expecting them to reappear. No reappearing. So then a minute goes by, and I'm like, what happened? He's like, I don't know. Well, then we look up and he said, there they are. Well, it was just the pintail.

but they were leaving head and south really low so it's like they almost went down behind us i said what happened to the mallards he said i don't know so it was depressing because i'm watching these pentails well then we hear the mallards well i get out of the blind and look around where they they lit behind us so i tried to like sneak up on them that didn't work they got up and i kill one so we i shot one mallard drake pentails are gone i mean it wasn't a bad hunt so but i was a like, and that's all we saw. So the reason I'm telling that story is because this morning

we're going to a completely different place. We had the decoys in the boat. There's four of us, me and Burrell and Phil and the nurse practitioner. The nurse man. And we're almost fixed to pull out and I said, hey, grab a rack of those pentail

decoys because I saw a bunch of 40 yesterday. Famous last words. And I heard someone mutter. It wasn't me or Phil. we hadn't seen a pentail over here in years. I said grab. No, it wasn't Phil. One of the burly or the nurseman said that.

I said, hey, grab the pentails. I took that as an insult. I just saw 40 fly by yesterday. Of course you took it. So anyway, we put the decoys out. We killed a few little scrap ducks, nothing much going on. And we had to leave at 9 o'clock to be here. and what was it, Phil, like 8.30?

At 8.30, I heard the nurseman say, pen tails. And I look up, and there's four pentails fairly low. I mean, the sun was shining on. Because I just, look, after all this hype after yesterday, I got duck fever. I was nervous. I was shaking, you know, I was like, holding my hand. I was like, dang, I'm shaking here. Checking your pulse.

So I was like, should I call? I did the same process. Yes. But since they didn't come in yesterday, I tapped them a leg, just a little hen call. And they locked. Phil saw it. They just locked and turned. And I thought, it's happening.

And so when they come around, I said, let's shoot them over the back of the blind. Because I was just trying to kill what? Yeah. We do not kill pintails in the woods. Because you're never thinking, get them in the decoy. And so, but when they came over, they were all on my side. I'd have been the only one to shoot. It was through the trees.

Lines like this. The ducks are coming. like this. They were coming over the back of the block. Opening it out there. And they just, he wanted to kind of shoot them right here. Yeah, I did. But because I didn't think they were coming.

Yeah. I just letting them go out there. So, so they come over and I tapped them again. Kank, can't. And when I did, they just sat down in the air and just started backpedaling toward the decoys. They got about halfway down. And I said, kill them. But when I raised up, they just kept coming down.

Oh, and they got close. That's when you know. Closer. It's over. Closer. And we just, all four of them. And it's perfect. You got four men.

You can only shoot one pin tail piece. Yep. So we all shot our one pentail apiece legally. And then I thought, this is a woo-hoo movie. I didn't say woo-hoo. I thought about it. And I thought. But you weren't filming.

You could have done it. Well, no, I did it. I started woo-hooing because usually we act like we'd be. been there before, but guess what? We haven't been there in so long. I thought, this is a woo-hoo moment. And so then we took pictures for 20 minutes, and one of the pentails had a double sprig, which is rare.

Oh, yeah, that was very. He had two of the long feathers. Double-s-spring. I mean, if I had been- The fact they only get the two with age. Is that what it is? You've been around a while. Well, I learned something new.

I didn't even think of that. You're kind of a double sprig now, Dad. That's kind of your, you're in my. Yeah, I got double sprigs. So. I got bag eggs on both sides of the back. Oh, it was that. So I said, I'm good.

I'll turn around until the blind. I said, I'm good. Because they're like, well, this is your last day. Because I got to go film. Yeah, you're working the rest of the week. Rest of the week. That's why I was. It was the prettiest sight I've seen this year.

Oh, it was the prettiest site I've seen in the last two years. Because last year was a struggle. Yeah. It was awesome. You know what it was, Jay's. You've been, you've put in the time, you've worked hard. It hadn't been the best two seasons. You've been, you got a new show.

You got podcasts we're doing. And the almighty blessed you. I really believe it. The closing act. And Burley. Your favorite duck and the perfect number. Yep. And they worked perfectly.

Look, Burley had the greatest explanation to what happened yesterday that I've ever heard. And he said, hey, Jase, you know how Burley is? I said, yeah. He said, do you know why we didn't get the 40 pentails yesterday? And I thought he was going to say something from a duck technical analysis form. I was looking at the decoys and I said, why? He said, because the Lord does not give you more than you can bear. He said, look, when you're in temptation, there's always an open door.

There's always a way out. And he said, the Lord knew. The only way out of this is for me to direct their flight south. Those ducks had to go to Kada Hoodle Lake. And when I thought about it, I thought, you know what, he's right. If 40 pentails would have came in there yesterday. And I'm like, all would have been broke. I only can shoot one of these.

And I thought, barely. You're right. Why was I frustrated that that happened? And then the next day, we, the next day, Here comes four. Now, you might call this coincidence, but I'm leaning toward it. It just happened to be four of us,

and they came in. It was the last day. I mean, it was a storybook, in it? It didn't happen right before the podcast. And then I thought, I thought, you know, I wish we'd have had a cameraman for that, but then I thought, what am I saying? We'd have had a cameraman that had flared off the camera.

Exactly. We wouldn't, it wouldn't have happened. And you couldn't have done a woo-hoo because you'd have tried to be acting all Joe cool about the whole time. I actually took footage of it in my mind. That's right, which you can never erase that. Yeah. Now, your audience today, when they've heard that story, what they're thinking is,

this is really a big deal with him. Well, it's the, what is wrong with these people? I said it was a long story because, look, you reach a point in duck hunting where you're looking at the greatest challenge. And I've concluded the greatest challenge in duck hunting is to shoot ducks where there are no ducks. So we take the ducks Orderline stupid And Burrell said

Let's see now Let me let me see onions, bell pepper celery garlic He said I'm trying to get What about how much flour Cooking oil

So from those ducks They will now go There will be a A duck gumbo You can get three days out of it That's that's It's a big pot Big pot

Yep So in a way To get the broth and we only take the backs and the legs for the meat inside the gumbo. We're also taking the spirit of the pintail, Phil, and even on. That's the top of the food chain. You add in a little shit. They are a beautiful bird.

It was exciting. It's like that wood duck on the wall there, just the color code on him. I mean, there's more design, artistic design. Just look at that wood duck out right there. We have a lot of wood ducks and mallards, and we shoot. And look, it's just, it's really James Ford here. You want something you can't have. And so, because other people, every time I go crazy about pentails, I mean, they're like, well, we got thousands of them.

They're shooting them like doves. We don't have them. And to convince those pentails to come down into a hardwood timber hole, which is not in their nature. Their nature is to go way out into a big field. The reason I, we had those pentail decoys, though, I'm convinced they look down and thought. well hey they would not have come in there without those decoys well there's some pin tail good call then you write a book one time good call good call that was a good one thanks for plugging my book well i appreciate we didn't even have zach here for the shameless plug

dad did it today that had to take uh he had to take a couple of podcasts off because he said the tire tracks that i was putting on him was more than he could bury it no i'm kidding i'm kidding we we our family loves to argue, we usually don't do it just because, you know, some people find that offensive. Yeah. But our family, we really find it quite exhilarating. And we test our arguments. Yeah.

So for those that that were in on the bonus footage. We had a couple of bonus footage ago in the overtime. It was an epic. I felt like, I don't know how dad felt, but I felt like I was watching a really good tennis match. Well, look. Back and forth between Jason's. Since I don't do social media, look, y'all. go to social media and tell Zach he won. Just make him feel better because I am comfortable in my

position and I'm pretty sure that he's wrong. So go ahead and brag on him because we don't want to burst the bubble. So he took a little time off to nurses, nurses win. So because Zach is not here today, we have brought in one of our favorite people, our unashamed contributor, one Mr. Larry Bowles from Oklahoma. He is my favorite Oki from near Muskogee, Oklahoma. So we're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, we'll have Larry join us, and we're going to talk about his ceremony yesterday, which was fantastic.

So we'll see on the other side break. All right, welcome back to Unashame. We've got our old friend Larry Bowles. Hey there. Welcome back to the Lair. It is wonderful to be back. So Larry, so I'm finally here, when you're here. Yeah. It's been kind of a rarity. It has. I show up and you leave.

Right. And you're like, I want to see you. I'm about, yeah, Larry, you're my replacement. That's why when you're here, I can go somewhere else. I know it. I know. I said, this is how it's going to be. I show up and you just take off. Yeah, our replacement.

No, it's good to. I'm used to sitting in Jace's chair, and he's there. And when I sit in Jase's chair, I tend to talk a little longer stories. I do. It's the chair, Al. It's the chair. It's the chair. It's the chair.

It's not Jace. It's the chair. A little bit long-winded. Larry, we always love having you. You're a great preacher, and you get to preach in our church. church, which is a blessing. And a funny storyteller, because when he overheard me telling the Pentale saga, and he said, where was you at South America?

Costa Rica. Costa Rica. And he said he heard this loud wrecking. People were like, come look at this. You're not going to believe them. And they go over there, and you went over there. And what was it? It was an armadillo.

It was an armadillo. Okay. They're rare. The guy from Oklahoma, you're saying a few armadillas. We hit them with our cars, you know, accidentally and stuff. But I guess it's a rare thing. It's kind of like a pentail here. It's not rare in other places, but it's rare to you.

So you got the meaning of the story. I did. So tell us a little bit about, before we getting into all of our Bible stuff, tell us a little bit about what's going on in Greece. I know you've been, since you've been on the show, you've been at least one time, I guess, huh? Since the last time you've got the podcast. Yeah, yeah.

So tell us a little bit about what's happening over there, how things are going. Because people love your work. Great. Again, you know, the pandemic changed everything. what the ministry that used to happen in Athens is now kind of happening from Athens. And we had always done video discipleship ministry and that sort of thing. And we'd had, you know, two or 300 videos.

And then the pandemic shut all the travel down. So that kind of just threw gas on the fire of that video production. And ever since that has happened, we're reaching people in different places like never before. And this is even within Afghanistan and Iran. And so the last time I was down there, I was on Lesbos Island, which Athens is kind of the lobby of that refugee flow. Well, Lesbos is kind of the front door. And so this guy comes into the room and he says, I know you.

And I said, well, you just got here. And I don't think we've ever met. And he said, no, I know you from the video in Afghanistan. And that's where I first had about, heard about Jesus. So this is getting. into Iran and we now have about six or eight underground kind of churches there that are just as a result of the videos that are slipping in there. And we've been able to get some of it on satellite because Iran, most people don't know, is Internet dark. It's a little bit like North Korea.

Afghanistan's not. It's wide open. But anyway, it's the Lord is doing things in places that. is just amazing. And I've always said, if we'll get out of the way, what he can do in spite of us and through us is. So when I preached there was that, that was, because I was, it went into Iran. That was, that was what you said was simulcast. Yeah, so somebody may know me in Iran from saying the video. And it is, well, they absolutely do. It is also in our video archives. And you can, You could go to AccraCenter.org and pull it up. Well, did you go back to the restaurant we went?

I have been once. Yeah. Well, the guy who interpreted for me, he sent me a picture the other day. That's jubon. Yeah, they were at that same place. I said, I think I've started a tradition here. Yeah. You know?

I don't know. Yeah. We were privileged to have you and Missy come. And to try to get Jace something to eat in the city of Athens. It's only a city of, you know, six months. million, but we had to narrow it down to this one spot. I concluded that I would have been, it would have been good to eat there about 2,000 years ago. But I said, let's get out of this city. Yeah. Yeah, we found the perfect place there. Yeah, it's wonderful. Yeah, I told that story before,

but it was so awesome. Well, people mistake, they look at the Robertson family and they see the way everybody looks and they think, oh, you could, these guys eat roadkill, they do anything, but, you know, You don't realize how picky this group is about food and game and like. I found that now. You know. Once you host this. I had the same misconception. I'm a food job.

But I mean, no, roadkill depends on if I was created the roadkill. Well, true. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm way more nervous over potluck casseroles that people throw together. We were trained for that. They take the stuff that they were going to throw out. throw it all together and take it to a church building and say potluck. Right.

But if you shoot it, and you clean it, and you know exactly what you got and where it came from. You know why I like that place? Why? Because he brought out a platter and there were three or four fish that they had just caught. Yeah. And he said, which one you want? You get to pick your fish. I'm like, no, this is my kind of restaurant here.

Here, this is what we caught. And I was like, I want that one. I think the guy came up and he held it in front of him and he flipped the gill up on that fish. He did look at it and he was fresh. That's when he was, he had him hooked and flopping on the dock. Oh, it was fantastic. So I did that. I didn't tell you this, Larry, when we were in Greece last summer, and we missed each other

because you were in the States. And so we ate at a restaurant, the same thing. They brought the fish out. So we were having lunch. And so they showed the fish. And so Lisa and I were going to split it. But I looked at the menu, and it was whatever euros, you know. So I thought, okay, you know, for lunch, it was going to be like, you know,

30 bucks or whatever, you know, once you did the thing. Well, I didn't realize it was that many euros per gram of fish. Right. So we eat our lunch. It's delicious. The fish was great. They come out and they bring in the bill. There's four of us.

And so I grabbed the check, you know, and I looked down there and it's, you know, $300 for lunch. Yeah. I thought, I'm looking around. I thought, man, did somebody get something, you know, a gold or something? Right, right. So then I look at our fish. That fish was $120. Right.

Because it was by the gram. But I didn't, you know, I wasn't picking up on the language there. I was having a language issue. It's a little bit like when you go and get a lobster in America's market price. Exactly. And so. I found out the hard way with a nice $300 left. But I think the fact that it was fresh fish, Al.

It was delicious. It qualified as priceless. Yeah. Was it baked, brawled or? They just. It was grilled, though. He's grilled. Yeah, they grilled the whole thing.

Yeah. Brought the whole fish out there. And then did he, he clean, he filleted it for you, didn't he? No, he did not. Mine was completely the whole fish. Yeah, they, they tell you, they will stand at your table and actually, you know. He deboned dies. He offered that to me, and I said, I'll do it myself.

Yeah, of course you did. Just cook it. And it was fantastic. It was fantastic. I tell you what I fell in love with there was the, the deal with the meat spit rolling around and them shaving the meat off with the white sauce. It's called a giro. And you know why it's called a giro?

The word comes from gyroscope, that idea of it's spinning. So there's one flame source. And then they peel that off. So everything has got that nice crispy. It's got that crispy, out size, juicy. Like a nice crispy bacon kind of thing, yeah. Was it better than an op? That's don't go crazy.

But it was really, I mean, it was fantastic. It was not as good as a croppy or an. But it was right below it. It was delicious. It was in the top five fish that I eat. This was a grouper. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I had to.

White flaky fish. I love the flow of the conversation we got from, you know. Well, you can tell you. We were fishers of men, but we're also fisher men. And we're fished up. Yeah. Look, but you got to realize for me, I don't like big cities. I'm claustrophobic.

We were doing that for the Lord. You were not in your natural environment there. But when I got out there, I loved it. So I would, if I ever would go back, I would eat there every day. We'd be on a first name basis. Yeah. Yeah. They'd probably have a dish named after you.

Ride the winners. Yeah. Ride the winners. It was a winner. So I want to say, so about know, acrocenter.org, you mentioned, if you want to see what Larry's doing or one kingdom. Notorg, which is our connection to Larry. So you want to check out his work and it's amazing work that we're a part of.

Be sure and do that. Let's take a break. So we're in 1-Peter, and I wanted before we get into the text that you preached yesterday, because your sermon was so good. And I took a page of notes that I'm going to be working for a. I have a very copious note-taker. You are a copious note-taker. We're going to, but I'm sure you do a little bit of background, and I love your background stuff. And we kind of already did the intro to the book when we preach the series.

But what is your take on just the setting of it? We talked a lot about on the podcast about Peter's sort of role as the impetuous, you know, like foot in mouth and yet the same time fantastic guy that went through that three-year discipleship program with Jesus. So we talked a lot about his character and even the idea of him being a fisherman. Right. And sort of had that shaped him. But what's your kind of your take of him as a man and then also the setting for the book? I mean, because I knew you thought about it. would you get into it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Being a retired fireman, I had always seen Peter in perhaps a

different light because given the choice between being a fisherman or a fireman, Peter absolutely would have been a fireman, I think. Because at firemen, you have to look at them and explain things, not once, not twice, but three times. You know what I mean? And he just, I, everything is in his life up to that point, he was going to fix it. And Phil and I were talking about this before we came on air. The idea that he's going to do everything is like, you know, Jesus is like we're going to Jerusalem. Everything is going to be fulfilled. I'm going to be handed over and I'm going to be crucified, you know, and I'll be raised on the third day. And Phil made the point, Peter's like, adamant that in Matthew is like, no, that's not happening. Not on my watch. It's not

happening. And he was such a fix-it-in-the-flesh kind of guy. Here's Jesus in the garden, and here comes Judas and betrays him, kisses him on the cheek, and they're going to arrest Jesus. And Peter's like, oh, no, no, I'm going to cut this guy's ear plumb off, you know, and that's, that is so him. And I made the point in the sermon yesterday that coming to a relationship with Jesus does not, we don't make disciples at the at the acro center by by a transfer of information we it is absolutely the revelation of who christ is in you can you tell how long it was oh between the three-year span with jesus right in the book of acts talks about peter and he's the one that gave the open the door of the kingdom yeah well how long was it before he sat down and wrote first and second peter roughly well i always

Oh, my goodness, it was late. At least 30 years. At least 30 years. This is 30 years later. Right. What a change in a man. And what it is, it's a shift in his mission. And we're talking about that while ago.

I mean, it used to happen in Athens. Now it's happening from Athens and that sort of thing. He was set out to be a missionary to Jews, to, you know, the messianic community. unity, proving that Christ is the Messiah. And that's what he even says, you are the Messiah, you are the Son of God, this proclamation. Who do you say that I am? Jesus even told him what kind of death he would. Exactly.

I mean, yeah. So he's getting the full of the road. You're going to be led around and you're going to do this way. But this is very late in his ministry because now, if you see the first 10 chapters or so of the book of Acts, this is all Peter's doing is dealing with with the Jewish community. And then there's a shift. And Jesus is like, no, your mission now is going to change. And it's a little bit like, you know, what we've experienced in our mission.

It's like, I'm going to do this. And he's like, no, you're going that way. And it's a little bit like riding a surfboard in a tsunami. You're just, you're going with the way that he's leading. You know, it kind of seems strange when you read about him. the people got riled up at him, the Jews, because he was ordinary and unschooled. Right. Remember that?

Yeah. Which means this guy. Ordinary unschooled men. Actually, in the Latin Vulgate, the word is idiote. You know, it's amazing. They're common idiots. So the leaders of the Jewish people at that time, they were like, where in the world did they come up with this? Right.

I can see how they were like. It's Acts 413 where it says it. Yeah, exactly. And so this is very, very late. This is just almost, yeah, I'd say at least 30 years. And then Second Peter is actually his last, it's a farewell. It's been revealed to him that he is going to die. Jesus has told him how he's going to die.

And so it's almost a sign off. But all of this, the people that he lists here in verse one, of 1 Peter chapter 1. All of these are, you know, in these, this is very similar to the seven churches of Asia. All of these places are in what is now modern Turkey. So this is our folks. Same idea. And they are now coming out of a pagan society.

And he is trying to get them to understand that you cannot follow Jesus through religion. This is not the Christian religion. And this is going to be the life of Christ in you made manifest to the point that you're going to live in a non-combative example. I mean, all of these instructions and everything, it's not an idea that I'm going to live in opposition to the society that I'm in, but I'm going to be salt and light. I'm going to be a city on a hill. I'm going to be the life of Christ, the hands and feet of Jesus in this.

And so I'm going to submit to the authorities that I have no ability to undo. It's very much like the idea of Jesus saying, you know, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. You know, that's not your fight. Your fight is to believe in me. And so. Which is, yeah.

You're exactly right. And what I, you know, what's interesting is if you look back at Acts 10, you know, in Acts 9, whenever Paul, when Saul is called to let her be Paul, he's told you're going to be my envoy to the Gentiles, which he was. Right. But it's interesting that I assume, and you may agree or disagree, it was for credibility's sake, he sends Peter to Cornelius. Right. Not Paul. Right. But Peter.

because he's established. He's the leader. He's the, you know, he's the guy who, you know, preached that first sermon. He's the guy for whatever 10 years has been doing it in the, in the messianic community, in the Jewish community. So he's the guy that's going to be there when the Holy Spirit falls on those first Gentiles. That's exactly right. And it's for credibility, right? I mean, to open that door. I think so, absolutely. And I think that, you know, that Robert Ables, who's with One Kingdom and I were having a conversation the other day. And we're talking about these divine appointments. and how things we think just happen in a process.

But, I mean, he sets up meetings between people that establish credibility, like you're saying, that open doors, that open ears and open hearts to a degree that others really, really can't. And so it's all part of him working all things together for good for his purposes, for his glory. Yes, right. You were one of those divine appointments for us. Oh, well, and you guys were... First time I heard you, I was like, who is this guy? I get out my notepad and start taking notes.

I was like, I've never heard anybody talking about the deity of Jesus. This is good. I look over at Jays, and Jace is looking at me like, who is this guy? I think I said, hire him. That's what you said. You're not saying that now, so you say, that's a thing, yeah. Well, you're here's like, yeah, I don't know about that guy. Let's take another break.

So before we get to verse 13, because we... We've already done three through 12, but I want to talk to you a little bit about it just as a lead-up. You really never do it anyway. So, I mean, I heard his lesson yesterday. Right. And it was in the same vein. No, it was right where we were. It was really good because it made me feel good about what we've been talking about.

But we said if you were to come to the verse where you started yesterday, be holy because I'm- Yeah, verse 16. The intimidating concept. Yeah. That's what makes you cringe in the text. Exactly. But you think I'm out. Yeah.

You mentioned a sermon on the Mount today, but the first time I remember, it was a new Christian. I remember reading the sermon on the Mount at the end where he says, be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. I thought, well, I'm out on that. I can't. There's no way I can do this. That must mean something else or something else?

You know, I just was having trouble wrapping my head around. It doesn't mean anything else. Yeah. It's a restatement of the same. same idea that comes from Leviticus 1119. Yeah, which is really rich. So let's talk about that. Just your first impression, when people who read this and are thinking, well, how does this work?

How are you, how am I supposed to be holy because he's holy? And I thought this was all, you know, dependent on him and not me. Well, that's what goes back to the idea is that that's what all religion seeks to do. I seek to make myself holy by external forces. And I use the example of John 15 is that, you know, Jesus says, I'm the vine and you're the branch. I'm going to be the life source and you're going to be a branch. And I don't want you to be anything more than a branch or anything less than a branch. You just be a branch.

And your one job is to abide in me. And so if you've got this branch and it is abiding in that vine and it has that life source, source. So it has life in it. But what is it that makes that branch grow and throughout a growing season bear fruit and flourish? It's sunlight, wind, and rain. Okay? And if it doesn't have those, it doesn't do that. And so those are external forces acting on the life source that's in it. You've cut that branch off and you cut the life source out and now it's no longer good for anything except to be thrown into fire and burn. What is it? that breaks that into dust, sunlight, wind, and rain,

the exact same external forces in the world. Yeah. The one with life flourishes, the one without life, is broken down and destroyed. And so this is the idea that we're always trying to fix ourselves from the outside in with more knowledge, that next piece of information, you know, that same level, whatever I do in the power of my strength,

really only makes my flesh more hostile and resistant to God. Exactly. And don't you think that's what you hear, Larry, when you hear people say, they say, well, you know, yeah, I'm struggling. I need to do better. And I need to start, you know, going to church. Or get back in church. I need to get back in church or read my Bible more.

I need to, you know, pray more. They start giving you the list. And all those are good things. Oh, they're great things. But they're giving you the list of things they can do without ever saying, you know what, I need to find Jesus quickly and either reintroduce myself to him or find out why I never don't have a relationship. I mean, instead of the relationship aspect, it's usually the tenets. The life aspect. I'm looking for, and so everything that we do,

we hear people talk about imitating Christ, be imitators of Christ. And we take that idea, and we take it for a touchdown. And you know, look at curriculums that are written for Bible classes and stuff. There's 12 weeks, so we'll do 12 things. Well, Jesus, you know, studied a lot. So you studied a lot. You pray a lot. And you get to the end of the 12 weeks and it's like, great, now you can do that. Well, if you could do that, you could be Jesus. Yeah. You know? He wouldn't have had to come. But you're right. I mean, the true definition of all that is that you can't do this. Exactly. And I made the point in the sermon is that Jesus didn't come to show us what we could do. He came to show us what we could not do.

That's how he fulfilled the law. Right. And none of that is not one cross of the T or dot of the I is going away until heaven is earth is over. The spirit of religion and independence from God and self-effort is as alive and well as it's ever been. Even though it's all been nailed at the cross, we still want to save ourselves. And so it's helped me.

Yeah. Don't you think it's ironic? The only time religion is mentioned in James, he says, you know, he talks about keeping a tight rain on your tongue in chapter one. But then he says, true religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is taking care of widows and orphans. And when you think about it, he used an example of two groups of people who are pretty much dependent on someone else. which I found that to go in with what you said because really religion is, you know, imitation. Ephesians 5, you know, it's like, be imitators of Christ. And we'll bang you over the head if you're not. But I just find that ironic. That's the only place that's mentioned. And it's most time when you think religion,

you go into some big cathedral, you know, and you feel like you have to bring something to the table as far as your morality and your theology. And maybe somehow you, will arrive at the end of your day. You mentioned that, but if you take that idea of taking care of those who can't take care of themselves, and then you go back to the Levitical law that Peter's drawing this from, from Leviticus 11, Leviticus 19, Be Holy as I am holy, all of these Levitical commandments

were given. It's like you can harvest your field, but don't harvest the perimeter of it. You leave that for the widows and orphans. Well, right. Well, my point was, though, I was just saying, like, a baby, which the illustration here of the new birth is, and us participate in Jesus, if we're born again, and he's making that illustration, well, I know one thing from a baby, because I've been around a lot of them, and we talked about this on the last podcast, they are totally dependent on someone else. That was my point. It's like, you're going to find that the key thing that people are looking for is when you give God everything. Right.

When you're totally dependent on him, well, that's a synonym for being born again. Right. Because all of a sudden, you've realized, oh, I can't, I don't have the accolades, I don't have the success, I don't have the strength. Yeah. But it's very hard to do. That's why I said it. I just thought it's interesting. He used that analogy on true religion because I think he was taking people that we view.

as, I don't know, not that strong or, you know, we're looking at the thing. I'm like, why would he even say that, you know? Let's take our last break. You framed it from Matthew 10 when you talked about that we have to die and be resurrected in his life, right? Exactly. That's kind of how you framed that. He said, you know, whoever does not deny themselves take up their cross and follow me

is not worthy to follow me. Right. And we're like, well, wait a minute. because everybody, the world's trying to figure out if Jesus is worthy. Yeah. You know, is he worthy of my time? Is he worthy of my attention? He's like, no, no, no.

This is what you're doing is you're asking me to follow you. And Jesus says it doesn't work that way. You need to follow me. Yeah. Which is what Peter's whole problem was when he said, hey, if they all turn away, I never will. Right. I'm better than them. I'll cut that.

If I have to go to prison with it, if I have to die. If I got to get a sword and cut that. guy's ear off, I'm going to do it. Three hours later, I don't know the man. Yeah, exactly. He's terrible. Yeah. And that was, that was the point I made is like, you know, everybody's like education's just got to be the key to everything. Well, what did the disciples gain? Jesus taught them every day they saw every miracle for three solid years. Where did it end? They all deserted him. Yeah. When things got tough, they all denied him. They all hid themselves away. because being a disciple of Christ involves participating in his death and being moved through his resurrection and into his life so that his life is made manifest in us. That doesn't come through education.

No. That comes, this is the revelation of Christ in us, the hope of glory. Yeah. The world says that this scripture is a bunch of rules that is imposed upon humanity. not at all. What I see happening in the world around us and everywhere, all of this is just simply being exposed in every person that I'm looking at. And if I have to prove that this is truth,

then it's not truth at all. Because this is truth and life. It is written into us. And if you go against the teaching of God, you are going to suffer the consequences. Yeah. It's just, it's going to happen.

It's inevitable. Yeah, if I don't follow the rules of some religion, like I don't follow Buddhism. And so whatever Confucius has said, I don't think I've ever obeyed. And I don't believe I've ever suffered the consequences for not obeying his commandments. But you go and disobey the commandments of the one whose words are spirit and life and are written into our very fabric of our DNA because he created us. All of this is on the hard drive. I love what you said that the sermon on the Mount was hardwired into the DNA. It is.

It's written into our fabric. It's not a sermon. Whether you've heard it or not, whether you've read it or not, it's there. It is. And if you hear it being spoken in these red letters that Jesus is bringing to you, it's that truth testifying to the truth that is written into you. And Jesus says it. He says that you diligently study these scriptures.

and you think that by them you possess eternal life. You don't. These are the scriptures that testify about me, and you refuse, you detach from that vine, you refuse to come to me to have life. And you're doing sunlight, wind, and rain, and you're just beating yourself to death, and it's going to turn you into Christ.

When Jason and I were in school, Larry, they used to talk about the sacred cows. The instructors used to joke that you could hear in the back. around the lowing of the killing of the sacred cows. You had to explain that. Most people are not going on. So it's like a teaching that you came up with or that you believe.

You heard or you brought into school with you. And so their job was to slay this. Yeah, that's not necessarily correct, you know. But in their defense, it was a lot of what we believe, you were taught that way. Even he read for Peter that when he said the, was that the empty way that was handed down to you from your ancestors. What you inherited. Yeah, where was that at?

That's in 13 through 21. Yeah. But it's like he addressed that. Yeah, it's in verse 18. Right. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefather. So it made me think of that.

The sacred cows usually are you being raised a certain way and taught us. certain way that is not in line with the gospel. So we would joke with each other when he's a, like, okay. So, but so you slayed a sacred cow for a lot of people in your sermon. I want you to mention it on the podcast before we get to overtime because it's so popular. And I was so glad you mentioned it because it's, it's one of those things that bugs me. So Philippians 413, which is, which is everywhere. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

And so you mentioned this in locker rooms. Oh, it's on there. We're going to win this football game because of Jesus. That's right. I can do this. That's a sacred cow, right? And it goes to this concept that I can do it. Right.

And so tell what you said in your sermon because I agree with the 100% the context of what Paul met when he wrote that. It has nothing to do with powering through something or achieving some goal. It is absolutely about finding peace. and finding contentment in the person of Jesus Christ in whatever situation that I'm in. And so Paul is saying, I know what it is to have food. I know what it is to be starving to death. I know, you know, how to, and I've found contentment in any situation because I really don't, I mean, you know, I'm sure that Paul never wanted to be stoned.

He never wanted to be beaten with rods. He never wanted to be shipwrecked. He never wanted to be left for dead. But he was. Yeah, he was actually like promoting losing. Well, you know what I mean, that's where I get to the end. Right. But what he's saying, he says that my hope is not in the outcome of how the situation that I'm in is going to turn out.

Right. My hope is that I'm safe in Jesus no matter how it turns out. Right. So to live as Christ and to die as gain. And so the idea that I am looking for Christ's presence, his peace, his comfort in the midst of any situation, that's not where I place my hope. And so the way we use it, the way we read that verse as we apply it to ourselves is that I am going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to do this. I mean, I made the point that Jesus did not come to help us in our life. Jesus came to be our life.

And the only way to life is through his death, burial and resurrection. Resurrection, life that Jesus offers is only available to those who have died. Yep. And so I want, I want to be spiritual. I want the life that Jesus offers, but I don't want anything to do with his death. I don't want anything to do with his daily suffering, you know, that would cause me to be spiritual and have his life made manifest in me. But isn't that what 1st Peter won, the first section was saying about these trials

coming and you're finding joy. He's talking about rejoicing even though you're suffering and you're having trials. But it's just a subject that people, it's just not appealing. When he's talking about the tested genuineness of your faith, who's determining that your faith needs to be tested? Who do you think is running that show? Well, it's not me. And I'm glad it's not.

It's the Lord. Yeah. And he is saying, I mean, I always hate that. It's like, Lord, you know, I love you, I do, but just please don't ask me to prove it to you, you know. But he is saying there's going to be evidence in your life. The one who obeys my command is that is the one who loves me. Yeah. And there's, so if the one who denies themselves take up their cross, that's the one that's worthy of me.

The ones who love me are the ones who do what I say. I don't care if you can quote it. I don't care if you can quote it in Greek. Yeah. You know, it's, it's, will you actually get up and do it? So whoever will get up, open the door, then I'm going to abide with them and then with me. So the name of the sermon was life made manifest. And before we go to overtime, would you read Larry's 2nd Corinthians 411 in your version?

Because you used the ESB, right? It's not always. I've got the NIV in front of me. Okay. Yeah, read, read St. Corinthians 411 because I circle that as kind of the, what I call the key text to me in your, sermon. And I want to discuss that a little bit in the overtime, but I want you to read that. I'm trying to remember where I did it here. Here, wait a minute. I got it. Okay. Second. Second Corinthians 4.11. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus

sake. So that. So that. And I want to talk about that. So that in the overtime. So that his life may be revealed in our moral body. So then death is at work in you, but life is at work in you. Exactly. We're being given over to death. And I want to talk about that a little bit in the overtime that's so that because you made some really good points about that. So if you want to follow us over, hear a little more from our old friend, L.B. from Oklahoma. It's blazediv.com slash unashamed for 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 BlazeTV at blazedv.com slash unashamed.