Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 638 | Jase Accuses Zach of Bad Etiquette & Phil Wishes People Would Just Act Right

Episode Date: February 26, 2023

Jase and Al pass on some misplaced sympathy for Zach from a kind-hearted fan. But he’s more than willing to play the victim for once! Jase is bewildered by Zach’s phone etiquette … or lack thereof. Phil admonishes people to do good because they are saved, instead of trying to earn their salvation. The guys elaborate on what Christians are called to do to please the Lord and transform human desires into heavenly ones. Plus, are we saved or barely saved? In this episode: 1 Peter 4, verses 12-19; 1 Peter 3, verses 8-16; 2 Peter 1, verses 6-9; 2 Peter 3, verses 16-18; Proverbs 11, verse 31; Romans 6; Matthew 19, verses 16-24; John 8 "The Blind" hits theaters this fall. Get updates, trailers, behind-the-scenes moments, and special opportunities here: https://theblindmovie.com — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So, Zach, it's always good to have you back. You'll appreciate this. I talked to a very kind listener that she had come into some money, and she wanted to donate some money to her podcast because it made such a difference to her, which was very nice of her to do. And so I touched base with her, and I was asking her why she was asking her why she,

wanted to give to our podcast because we don't really take donations to the podcast because it's not not like that and uh but i appreciated her sentiment and um she said well i just you know i know that zack has so many problems and because he you know his equipment has issues and i just thought it might help you know because the podcast has been such a spiritual blessing to me and i just you know i feel bad for zach and so i was like boy i said zazz you know he just has to to get on top of that. I think all these jokes I'm making about Zach, people. I mean, I love her heart, but she just poor Zach.

He just can't quite get on top of that. Wow. Well, I'll set us up a Patreon page or something. There's a way to do that. I don't have that set up yet, and I'll pay the victim. I'll pay it for me, for me. Thanks. I was looking for revenue.

So she really was going to, she wanted to donate to the podcast. That's actually very. I guided her to some of our ministry opportunities because we do a lot of ministry stuff. But I did appreciate her heart. But, for Zach, your lack of your issues that you have sometimes with the microphones and whatnot has led our dear sister to want to help us out. But he suffers at, you know, a younger age of forgetfulness. and, you know, my illustrations about the phone, Zach's phone etiquette is not the best.

Because you would think an average person... I've done the best I can. An average person wouldn't send a text 24 hours later expecting that the circumstances were still the same as they were when the text was sent. Oh, I love it. So I heard an interesting illustration. the forgetting curve.

Now, I actually was going to share this, and I couldn't remember. Yeah, you said, I think I'll forgetfulness. But I forgot. What was that guy's name? In the psychology world, the Ebenhouse curve of forgetting.

It's the forgetting curve. And it basically says, I can't remember the details, ha-ha. And so when you hear a sermon, like 20 minutes after the sermon, and you have forgotten a third of it. And as each hour passes by, it just goes down.

And it's like a seven-day chart. As a preacher, I realized this years ago, I had to humble myself and realize because I put so much into sermons. And then I realized fairly early on that they were not remember my sermons. They're not remember. An occasional really good story or an illustration.

So six days later, it's, they it's less than 20% retention even possible. And if you keep going on that curve, as days go by, it's less and less. And ultimately, say when you think about when you're nervous and, and have the anxiety and you remember this, this forgetfulness curve, they're not going to remember it. Which actually helped me when I realized that early on that, not that it made me lazy and not want to put the work in it.

It just made me realize that why, should I get so nervous and really worried when I need to lay it out there? Because look, the weird thing is, Jays, every week, it hits somebody to a point that they'll never forget something you. Exactly. Because some people come to the Lord during that. And I do think that's why you should share Jesus. And go all in on God's scheme of redemption in when you speak. That has to be the culmination.

because ultimately that is what changes lives. And I mean, you can have the greatest illustrations and the greatest stories and you can do all this research and you can, you know, have the five steps and have them all beginning with the same letter. Guess what? They're going to forget that. But you've got to remember it. But what we forget, now listen to how this reads.

Peter is talking about suffering for doing good. Finally, all of you, this is chapter 3 about verse 9 or 10 and about 8, all of you, here's the situation, live in harmony with one another. Not just not from time to time, you hear a little lesson that kind of spurs you. you are to live in harmony with one another. Be sympathetic. That's who you are. Love as brothers.

You begin to do this so much that you're known for it by God first and by the people who are listening who forget everything you say on like a 30-minute sermon. This is a lifestyle. Be compassionate and humble. He's talking about all the time. Don't repay evil with evil. or insult with insult,

just don't delve in that kind of stuff at any time. But with blessing, because of this, you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil. That's all the time everywhere you are. You hear a sermon and you say, you know, I love life and I want to see good days.

I need to keep my tongue from spitting out vile stuff. You must keep his tongue. You must keep your tongue from evil. And his lips from deceitful speech, he must turn from evil because it's what he's done, his entire life, he sees Jesus, he's saved, but he's still got all these dirt. He must turn from evil and do good.

He must seek peace and pursue it, which is not just, well, you know, I remember that lesson. That's pretty good. Yeah, ha, ha, ha. But he needs to apply whatever he hears. For the eyes of the Lord on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Who's going to harm me for you're eager to do good? Just do good, and you're better off as you go further.

them be prepared to tell people when they ask you, how are you doing this? I just don't see you throw temper tantums and fits of rage every time I turn around. How did you do that? Because you used to be, you used to be, you used to be. A change life is a powerful thing. And Peter is saying, live a change life. You'll win in the end and you'll bring others with you. I think it's a great point.

No, it is. And it does... It becomes habitual. It does highlight that the living of an example and a life is as powerful as speaking words or, you know... They hear what you have to say, but if they're not careful, they'll forget it in the first five minutes when they walk down there. Something happened on the way home,

and then they'll start right back up and crank it up again. Right. It's just being too hard-headed for the gracious gift that God has given you. You need to loosen up the head. Don't be so hard-headed. Peter's going to bring this up in this second letter. You remember where it says of adding to your faith, goodness and knowledge and self-control and perseverance, you know,

and God and this, because if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, this is... And that increasing measure is the ticket there. Yeah, but it says if anyone does not have them, he is near-sided and blind and has forgotten. that he cleansed from his past sins, which I was making the point that most people

who come to Christ or go to church and they're not taking it seriously. They get bored with the same story because they're like, well, I got that. There's got to be something more. And it kind of takes you back to the rich young ruler. And your marriage question was, you know, what do I lack?

He's like, well, there's got to be something. You know, and Jesus's like, well, you, the command, He's like, I got all that. What do I lack? And, you know, Jesus knows the heart. He comes up with something that he didn't want to give up, which is go sell everything you have.

Because he's like, why would Jesus come up with that? Because, you know, this guy was bored with religion. He thought he had earned it. Exactly. And so that's really the secret to understanding, you know, this idea of suffering and something. submission and being a servant because you're constantly reminded of what God did on a daily basis because you're not here long. And so when you look at the big picture, this is something you have

to remind yourself all day. I mean, it's like I had a thought one time. I'm like, why am I just waiting on Sunday morning to sing songs to God? I mean, they got this thing called a play list. I've had human beings look at me straightening in my face and say, you're not going to tell me I said, Jesus died for your sins because you're dead in your sins. I said, but he died. He pays for him. It's free of charge. And he said, no, you ain't putting that on me.

I'm not going to die. I said, well, everybody else has. Man, you don't, you wouldn't think human beings would get to the point where they say, no, I'm not going to die. Well, exactly. Well, what I was said is amazing that, you know, if you put in your soul and your spirit and your mind, you know, worship, song so I decided to declare it well not because I drive all the time I'm like well I'll just make that worship time

well look you put in sermons and songs for hours in a day it's amazing after a while you look back and you're like well this is working it's just way but you're thinking more clearly even though you're not hearing anything you hadn't heard before

but you're experiencing that and it would it would allow you to have the proper attitude when things don't go your way in the name of Christ because you're like, oh, okay, but now I'm prepared for it. You're just expanding the opportunity for God to work. It would be hard to survive in life as difficult as it is if you only received, you know, the benefits of a worship experience an hour a week at that point.

Right. Well, it's just not enough. It kind of goes back to this idea in the church that we've taught salvation is simply something that you're saved from and not necessarily something. you're saved two, which is, I think, why it gets boring for people when they go to church, because they're stuck in that first part of it. But you mentioned the rich young ruler. I think works plays into this to Phil's point about, you know, living a godly life.

It's something you actually do. You mentioned that rich young ruler. So I pulled it up here. And this is what he says. He says, what good thing must I do? I mean, that, that's the question that he asked to inherit eternal life. Like what good thing must I do? What must I do?

He still thought he could earn it. Somehow he could earn his salvation. Yeah, he thought he could buy it essentially and add it to his collection. But you would think Jesus's response, if you've been paying attention in the last 20 years of the church, like that you would think his response would be due. You don't have to do anything. But he doesn't say that. He does give him something to do, which I think there's this symbiotic relationship, according to James, between works. and faith.

And we're so afraid, though, to talk about it because we don't want to move into some kind of legalistic thing or say that you're earning salvation by what you do because you're not. You're not earning it. But I will say that, and I think scripture teaches this, that what you do, it does form your spirit. There's a book out there called, you are what you love. And the basic premise of this guy's point is that at the very inner part of your being, You operate on a gut level. Like, you are what you worship. You are created to worship and to have longing and to have desire.

And you think, well, how do I desire God? How do I want what he wants? How do I, because I want sin. I want this or that. And you can fill up whatever your sin is. How do I change what I want? And I think that's the point of- He's perfect and you're not.

Yeah, but to the exact point, it's a fundamental law of, of human beings that everybody has something that is the driving force in their life. Yeah. I mean, Paul said at Romans 6, everyone is a slave or whatever's mastered him, but everybody has something that is their God. Everybody. That's such a good point, because it's not a matter of if you'll worship. You're going to worship. You were made to worship.

You can't not not worship. It's not a matter of if you'll worship. It's a matter of what or who you're going to worship. or it's not a matter of if you're going to like desire the kingdom. It's what version of the kingdom are you going to desire? Because you're going to desire some version of the kingdom. And what I think what the gospel is getting to is, is you're getting forgiveness of sins, yes.

But bigger than that, you're being conformed. If you walk in the spirit, you're being conformed into the image of Christ. And you start to desire what Christ desire. That's the real freedom. You know, we are just a few weeks. you read that they promised themselves or we will actually I think we will read this they promise themselves freedom in second peter two 19 while they themselves are slaves to depravity your movie a big theme in the movie is you searching for freedom and when you finally got the freedom you thought you were searching for you realize it wasn't quite that free at all and i think that what is so helpful it was for me and my transformation and continues to be helpful in my transformation the transformation of my heart is that I want freedom. I want real freedom, not freedom to do what I want to do.

I want to be at peace. I want to be at rest. And to quote St. Augustine, he says that we were something like, we were made for you, O Lord, and our hearts will be restless until we rest in you. And I think that's the thing that walking in a Christian faith should lead us into a place where, yeah, our hearts are going to wander. and our hearts are going to be restless until they rest, we rest in God.

That's what you're creative for. And so the Christian life then moves from doing the right things to be saved to I'm doing things so that I can form my spirit so that my desires can be rightly ordered. It's not to gain favor. I don't read my Bible and say my prayer to gain favor with God. I read my Bible and I spend time with the Lord so that my spirit, can be transformed over many, many years, what Eugene Peterson calls a long obedience in the same direction. And that's it. People don't like that because it's not quick and easy. They want

that one and done. They want to go to the church and get their worship song on and be filled. Now, I'm done. I'm changed. I'm good to go. Well, no, you're not. It's a long obedience in the same direction. It's a lifetime of healing. And that's what I think Christ offers us. I brought that up just because when you get to verse 16 and 17, which is not easy to figure out what the meaning is. I remember when I was young in the faith, I used to think, huh, what does this mean? But it says, however, in verse 16,

if you suffer as a Christian, do not be a shame, but praise God that you bear that name, for it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome, be what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God and if it's hard for the righteous be saved what will become the ungodly and the sinner so then those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their creator and continue to do good

so I think the the issue is well what does that mean about the judgment beginning with the family of God I thought we were already judged in Christ on the cross which we are. Right. Yeah, because that's, man, that's been applied all over the place. So most people believe, I'll be interested to hear what your thoughts are,

but most people believe that when you look at the different categories of which suffering comes or judgment comes, you have, we listed these in the overtime. I feel like we should do it again. But we basically laid out that, you know, what causes us?

suffering in the world. It could be just because it's a broken world. So you're born into, you know, some people are born with special needs and you, so as a result of the, you know, Adam and Eve's sin in the garden and the world became broken. It can be from your own sin, the consequences of that. It can be from somebody else's sin, especially when you were innocent or a kid. it could be some discipline from God or it could be battling the spiritual forces of evil in Ephesian 6. I think those are five things. Did I leave anything out?

Well said. So identifying that can help you. So most people, I think, believe that Peter's addressing this end-time, you know, judgment of just being a Christian and suffering in the name of. of Jesus, or he's referring to go back to the 1. Peter 4.7 where he said the end of all things is near. So it's like them coming out of Judaism and the upcoming event of the destruction of Jerusalem or, you know, I tend to think this is just, you know, when suffering happens in these trials, going back to chapter one, being a test of your faith.

that's what I think he's referring to, but I'm open to what y'all think. I mean, I think it has to be in the context of what he's talking about. It has to do with suffering because that's been the context of not on the whole book, but certainly this everything we've been talking about in this paragraph. So the judgment has to be linked to that, right? I mean, it's time for judgment with the family of God. He's not talking about the judgment seed of God. he's got to be talking about the judgment that's happening through this suffering, I think.

Yeah, because there's too many passages at Al's point. I mean, just to clarify that, there's too many points. We've been declared saved by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus. Right. We're in. Right. There's no, you know, so people say they have a mis-view, some people in the church, of what happens on Judgment Day. For those in Christ, whose hearts are sincere, it's a sentencing that,

The judgment's already happened. Right. You're welcome. Right. So that's the point I was trying to make. So it's confusing, I think. Well, even this, let me, and to make that point, so he quotes Proverbs 1131, which is kind of interesting because it's quoted,

if it is hard for the rights to be saved, what would become the ungod in the center? But when you go back and you read Proverbs 1131, it has. actually reads this way, because you got to remember, this was transliterated from Hebrew to Greek. It actually says if the righteous received their due on earth, how much more the ungodly in the center? And if you read all of Hebrew, I mean, Proverbs 11, what is talking about is, because in verse 28 says, whoever trust in the riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. He who brings trouble on his fan will inherit only win, and the fool will. be servant to the wise. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. And he who wins souls is

wise. If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the young God in the center? So even Solomon in Proverbs is talking about what people receive while they're on earth. And what he's saying is, look, if you're on earth, the righteous will receive good things while they're there. What's going to happen to those who aren't righteous? They're going to receive their due while they're here. So the ideas in time they're going to receive difficulty is his point. So I think that would play into the context that he's saying suffering. If you want to suffer on earth, you want to be for something good, not for something bad. Well, I keep bringing this up. But 19 brings that phrase up again, those who suffer according to God's will. So it's a phrase he

keeps bringing up like he did in four, too. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. You've surrendered to God in Jesus based on His grace. And God is saying, and through the Holy Spirit, Peter's writing, that doesn't mean that you're not going to suffer for doing what's right. There's going to be suffering for this. But it's okay. It's fine.

And the reason that Jason has bringing this up, and I'm glad he did, is because the way I was taught what this passage meant when I was growing up is, look, we're barely going to make it. And everybody else doesn't have a chance. Yeah, and I don't agree with that. It's not what this passage is teaching. Well, and we've heard sermons about that. You know, it's less like... Just remember, everybody is persecuted and they are persecuted for doing good,

not because they're not being persecuted because they think. think they're lost. They said, I'm lost. And all of what Jesus did to them, it doesn't count anymore. I've just, I've just lost, lost it. I mean, instead of them understanding, no, you're being good and people should see it because you do believe Jesus died for you was being raised from the dead. You know, doing good, you do it because you are saved.

Right, exactly. I remember hearing. Not to be saved. I remember hearing an embellal. illustration of a conversion, you know, in a sermon one time. And it was like, you know, the guy, here we are in church and the guy gives his heart to the Lord and he's baptized and everybody's cheering, you know. And they're talking about angels rejoicing in heaven. And then some crusty brother says, now hold it.

Wait just a minute. If you work hard enough and long enough, you might make it. That's right. And that's the attitude, unfortunately. Boy, what a bummer. Well, right. But they base it on verses like this because it seems to be a scary passage. Well, if you just went in, if you just went in, this is why it's very important.

We talk about this a lot on the Unashamed podcast. When you study the Bible, you want to study it in the context in which it was written. We've been studying First Peter in the context of suffering, which is what Peter's been talking about this entire time. And when you read 17 and 18 in that context, it makes perfect sense because he's going to say in verse 19, so then, again, back to that, those who suffer according to God's will to Jason's point. So he's going to reiterate his point. But if you just went in and plucked out those two verses and then tried to apply that to the end time judgment of someone's soul, you could make the very wrong application. Sure can. That, you know, people, there's no way they can make it because, you know, it means it's hard.

for anybody to make you. There's no way you can make it. So you don't want to do that. You don't want to study that way. You want to study it in context, which is the point that he's saying. You want to suffer for doing the right thing. As dad says, you want to suffer for doing good, not for doing evil. And that's his point that he's trying to make.

Let's take another break. Well, what I think is ironic. I want to make a small joke here that as much as First Peter 3 and 4, I mean, especially 4. and at the end of three, it's hard to understand. When Peter gets to 2nd Peter 3, he writes this, he makes this statement about Paul in 2nd Peter 316. He's like, he's talking about Paul also wrote in verse 15,

and it says he writes in verse 16, the same way in all his letters speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do the other scriptures to their own destruction. And I'm like, hey, Peter, there's some things that you wrote that are a little difficult to grab a hold of. That's right. This is not totally off topic, but that reminds me of an encounter that I had one time. I told you guys before, you guys know, but the listeners that I had a brief stint,

as a would-be politician. I never made it. The people rejected me and sent me home. So I never made it. But I was in the room with a guy one time who is, I won't say his name, but he is a very, very well-known political figure. And we had a lot of heated arguments about politics, mainly because my position has always been, if it doesn't begin with the father, son, and Holy Spirit, then it's

going to end in tyranny of some sort. you can't just have these ideas floating around out there for the sake of themselves. But we got in this discussion, and he looked at me and he said, you evangelicals, he said, y'all are so gullible. Y'all are just a bunch of morons. And I'm like at the end of this table. And I'm actually writing something. And I was sending it to him and he's reading it and he's laughing about it.

And he said, if you knew anything about the Bible, you would know that Paul, because I quoted the Apostle, he said he wasn't even an inspired apostle. He said, Peter. Now, Peter, he was inspired. If you're going to listen to somebody, listen to Peter. And the Lord spoke to me. Like, and I got that verse you just read. And I opened my Bible to that passage.

And I just, like, slid it across the table. I said, we have a problem to him. He said, what's that. I said, read, read that what Peter said right there. And he ever starts reading it. So read it out loud. And he gets to that point about basically referring to what Paul wrote as scripture. I said, so Peter, you say, don't listen to Paul.

I'll listen to Peter, but Peter says, listen to what Paul says, because what Paul says is scripture. Even though it's hard to understand. Even though it's hard to understand. He just looked at him. He's like, are there more of you? Yeah, there's a lot of us out there, buddy. You know, but it was one of those moments.

And you lost. How could you lose that? How could you lose? I don't know. They just weren't ready for you, Zach. That's why people are just opening up their wallet, trying to contribute to the Zach Dasher fun. That's right.

I just feel sorry for you. They feel sorry for you. They look at your life and they look at the way you do things. They say, he needs some money. He just needs some help. His equipment doesn't work. He's falling apart. He makes a shameless plug for the blindmovey.com.

Let me help you help you. By the way, I do want to say this too. This is off subject too, but you all have chastised me for giving out the blindmovie.com stuff. And some of, I've read a few comments, but we did. accumulate a lot of interest in emails and our marketing company who's going to market the film. When they were going over all the data, they said, we've never seen an audience disengaged in an email campaign, ever. They said, we've worked on every Christian film that you can think of. We've never seen an audience like what you guys have.

Let's hope you produce that. Oh, I hope it turns. Yeah, the movie looks great. But the blindmovie.com, we need your help because here's the deal. When we take this to distributors, like we want to get this in theaters. I mean, this movie needs to be seen by people because it's such a powerful movie. But part of part of that is we go in with all these emails and say, look, we have an audience that's ready to go watch this film. Here's how many people have signed up.

Here's how many people have opened up the email. And the bigger that number is these big distributors. look at that and say, wow. So we really do need the help of this audience to make this thing happen. But anyways, side conversation. But yeah, I'll take all the help I can get. And I'm very thankful how to the lady who was willing to donate. So he's very kind.

She is. She's a good, arid lady. So anyway, back to our text. And so the last verse here. And really, to me, he closes this out with the, this is the central point of everything we've gotten up to now because he's going to close out. with this kind of a, I don't know, closing thought, which is very powerful. He says, so then, and this is really the close out of the first four chapters of this letter,

so then those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful creator and continue to do good. And, Dad, you've made this point. And while you're there, the last thing Peter said in 2 Peter, just so we'll know where he's going, not to be carried away by the air of lawist men. We've got to be careful about that. And fall, here's what he says, from your secure position.

I like that. Me too. We're not operating just as willy-nilly, you know, here today, gone tomorrow, and all that. No, this is a secure position because of our faith in Jesus, him dying, being buried and based on dead. Which provides the point we were talking about earlier.

You're not hanging by. three a doctor, they say, you'll barely make it if you make it. Yeah, which is where's the secure position part of their doctrine? Well, and the point here is, I think we do an injustice as when bringing people to Jesus, if you're not, if you're not counting the costs with people and telling them the truth that a Christian life doesn't mean you're not going to suffer. That's right. It's just the opposite.

I mean, so, I mean, I think the underlying truth and all this. is when we share Jesus with people and they're ready to respond. I think a healthy conversation about being willing to give up everything and being willing to suffer and endure pain and discipline in the Lord, that's a conversation that should happen. Right. Most times it's not. It's like, oh, we're just trying to get them in and promise some rainbows and roses and not talk about the storms or the thorns.

And it ends up growing the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The other words, your secure position is being in him. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. I was going to say, I think these guys knew, you know, they're operating in a culture where if they put their faith in Jesus, they know that it's going to, it's hard for us to get this. They know it's going to cost them everything. Yep.

We live in a culture where you really lose no skin in the game. I mean, if you really make a stand, you will. But like you, you can carry the name Jesus in 2023 in the United States. And you're not going to really lose any skin in the game. And so I think when you interpret what he's saying here, I mean, this is that if you really understand what he's getting out here, this is not the same message that we would hear today that come in, like you said, Jay, you're going to get all this great stuff. it's you know roses and petals or whatever that whatever you said rainbows and skittles i forgot what you said but what was it rainbows and roses i actually off the top of my head said rainbows and roses and not talk about the storms or the thorns that's pretty good somebody written that down

because you don't get the rainbow to after the storm and you got the rose but you got the thorn but that's just part of the christian life you're you're if you're being confrontations And because Jesus was. I mean, look, he was confrontational. There's no doubt about it. With religious leaders, he said things to them that were appalling to them, that angered them. I watched one of the, in the season three of the Chosen of the Night, and it was so well done. You know, he gave, he got up and gave his speech, and it was one of, at his hometown, you know.

And, you know, they just took some other, if you take all the gospel references to it and add everything, it was confrontational. They're like, what is he talking about? And it just was the tension, and they captured it on the show. I mean, you cut it with a knife. Because everything they believe in their tradition, in the Jewish tradition, he was just like, I am. I'm the fulfillment of it. And they were like, who do you think you are? It's one thing to read it.

It's another thing to see that played out and realize how in that moment, how angry they were. And it's a reference to the Gospels where they were trying to get their hands on him and kill him. But the Bible says that they just weren't able to do so. So you're not sure what that means, but they were after him to the point of we want to kill you. But they couldn't get him. So that's why I was bringing that up last podcast about there's a difference in being mean and judgmental and confronting in a way that's not godly. Just sharing Jesus and having conversations difficult when,

especially starting with your family and, you know, at your school. And if you're out loud and on purpose for Jesus, I'm telling you, it's going to ruffle some feathers. Even if you're doing it in a grace-filled way. That's right. because when, you know, you tackle the spiritual forces of evil and people's own sins, people don't want to change. And conflict happens, but that conflict is being encouraged by Peter here. And he's not straying away from grace to Phil's point.

I mean, he actually, he's going to get in in the next chapter, these two qualities that you must have, that when it says he gives grace to the humble, and we cast all our anxieties on him because he cares for us. But he goes on to say that being prideful limits the grace of God because it said God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And when you really think about what that means, it's like you're not experiencing the grace of God. It's not God's fault.

That grace is ready and available to every, human being on the face of the planet and everyone that's ever been there. He wanted them to grow in the grace, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. Yeah. Our pride and our fear, that's what keeps the grace to die out. Grace is not a stationary thing. You're growing that and you grow in it and you grow in it. You become stronger.

The further you go, the more strength you have. Yeah. But there is a surrendering action that has to happen. Yep. And so, and which really change happens, but I think Phil and Zach have both referred to this as a process because it's true. You know, somebody defined surrender as in, you know, the pain, when the pain that you're experiencing in your current condition becomes greater than the pain that happens if you change. Because at that moment, you realize I've got, I can no longer, you know, it's a reverence to, you know, Luke, 15, the prodigal son.

I mean, he finally was in a pig pan, eating slop, squandered everything he had, has alienated every relationship, has committed, you know, spiritual suicide with every great relationship he had in that. It happens all the time. He finally realized, you know what, I need to surrender here. I just look, look, but it's unfortunate that you have to get that low. by your own choices to recognize God's grace. And some people, some people will even reject it.

Some people will even reject it at that moment. I mean, there's people that you look and you think, I think the key is he realized and had a moment. I would argue that the Holy Spirit illuminated his heart. And when the Holy Spirit illuminates your heart to your, to your situation, like it's not, you need to move. You know what I mean? And you need to move in the direction of God.

what the the part that I love about that prodigal son part is that it says that when he decided to come home and he's coming up over the hill and he's rehearsing in his mind he's like I'm going to tell my dad I'll just be a servant you know I'll be a slave or whatever I'm just I just want to be in the house you know what I mean if I could just get in the house then that's better than what I got here even a servant in his house is better than a king out here in the pig pan kind of thing so he's rehearsing in his head and he comes up over the hill. I don't have the scripture in front of me, but it says something to the effect that the father, while he was a long way off, saw his son. And the father takes off after the son. And the father pursues the son. And then he embraces the son. The son has not even had, got a chance to say anything yet. And the father embraces the son and says, my dead son is now alive.

Get the fat and calf. Get the ring. We're about to have a party. And he got, he was restored. And I'm like, man, you use, all you see from this guy in this moment is simply, it's just an about face. I mean, all he does, he just turns, he just turns towards the father. And then the father pursued him. He never got to the dad.

He never even got a spill out. And the father was like, nope, it's all me. I'm doing the whole thing. And I think, man, if God loves us like that, then we're, we're, we're in. pretty good shape. We're in pretty good shape. Yeah, I heard a recent lesson about that. Let's take our last break.

That from the, from the Eastern mindset, that those parables, all three of those, are about the father finding. Because, you know, it's about the coin and the. Well, he would have had a robe on. He would have had to pull it up. You know, you couldn't run in those things. Right. I mean, I was over. I saw all the garb.

Yeah. Nobody running anywhere. See, he would have had to shame himself. Yeah, to, you know, pulling your cloak up and then running, which is, there's a spiritual truth in there also. But a Trump, who spent him and his family, spent a week with me a couple weeks ago. And he sent me a couple of lessons he had given, and one of them was on the prodigal son. And, but he, he deemed it the running father. Yeah.

Which, to Zach's point, was good. But he, he had had a, and I wanted to share this, because it's very powerful. So at the end of his sermon, it was actually so. good illustration. I was like, it's so good that people are not even going to remember your your Bible explanation of the prodigal son, but I mean, it was, it was one of the greatest living illustrations I've ever watched. And what happened was he had a client, because he's a counselor who, unfortunately, it was a woman who had cancer. And part of her story in, and You know, he was helping her, you know, through that in her family.

But part of that was she revealed to him that she didn't know, you know, who her parents was. She was adopted or whatever. And she shared with him a tape recorded phone conversation she had when she discovered who her mom was. And Trent, during the lesson, because he then asked her, he said, you know, the Lord has just put this on heart but he he called her and said look it's that is so good can i share that with our church family and she was like please do and so he played it so here's this woman who was i believe in her 30s or 40s when this was when this happened but she had done one of these ancestry tests and she had done the research and she had figured out who she thought who her mom was and so she'd call her up but she tape recorded

the conversation just to see what happened. And so we're sitting here watching this. And at first the mom was not very nice because it was like, now who are you? What do you want now? And she's like, well, I've done some ancestry tell. She was going through it. But she was like, no, what do you want?

And so finally you could sense the frustration in this believer who, you know, who has cancer. Now she didn't get off into all that. But and she's like, look, I'm just going to throw a date out there. And she says her birthday. She said, does that date have any significant meaning to you? And it was like in that moment, all the light bulbs went off. The mom started crying.

And now she realized this is her daughter who she had given up, you know, as a baby. And look. So all the people gathered around the daughter, they just start screaming. I mean, just like it was really. inaudible, you know, but just chaos. Well, I was moved to tears. And of course, when it comes back to Trent, of course, then he couldn't talk.

It's like so powerful. He's like, I couldn't get the words out. But it basically mirrored the image of that story of the joy that you experience when someone who was lost is found. The attitude changed. And I mean, it really wasn't,

here's what the father's love was like. It was just, He was given a illustration in life to why Jesus used that type of story to illustrate God's love for us. Because in real life, it is powerful. Oh, it moves you. It causes joy that's hard to explain. And it was really powerful. I thought it was interesting because it was a lady given the lesson that I was listening to.

And she was given it from the, again, from the Hebrew Eastern, mindset, which was really fascinating, which would have been Jesus's perspective of why he came up that he was eaten with sinners. And here was the reason why. Because from God's perspective, he seeks out sinners, you know, and that was the three parable. But we look at it from a Western perspective. And so we see ourselves as the sheep and the coin and the sons because we're looking

at it as the lost people trying to find God for us. And she talked about how that's a different, a Western mindset, is a lot different than the Eastern mindset. They're going to look at it from the father trying to find us. We're looking at it from us trying to find God. Well, I had a similar thought. I thought, based on First Peter, though, as excited as that is, in reality, and you see it immediately, it wasn't all rainbows and roses then.

I mean, then the older brother, he's like, right? Exactly. So, and even in this, with this mom and her daughter. of the Pharisee is the older brother. Well, all this, this mom and daughter, look, it's not going to be sunshine and rainbows with them because now you've got to wade through all the problems that happen. And this process of grace begins, but it's not easy. And to Peter's point, look, things are going to be difficult as we move forward.

I think in the church, we tend to just focus on that initial contact and then say, all, you're good now. And then there's no, there's no growth in grace and there's no response to the difficult. It's what then. It's like what now. And I think the what now is this. It's what he's getting at here in 1st Peter. It is the rest of your life.

So I come to Jesus. Now what now? Okay, the rest of my life, it's discovering the truth that God is good and that he is powerful. He is good at it. He is powerful enough to do what he said he was going to do. So when suffering comes, when pain comes, when trials come particularly because you're living for him, like we can rest in him and trust in him. He is that prodigal son, father, that runs after us.

And I think those images are so powerful, even like we see morsels of them, like with the example that you gave. We see that. And it's hard for us to get that. A lot of us didn't have good dads. I mean, I had a great dad. But a lot of people didn't have good dads. And I learned that in college ministry. You start talking about God being a father.

and people all of a sudden like, whoa, like that brings a lot of negative connotations for a lot of people because they didn't have a good dad. They had an abusive father or a father that was completely absent and he wasn't around or was just neglectful. And so this conjures up a lot of negative imagery for some people. But I think when we come to know the heavenly father through Jesus, then we come and, you know, we're saved from sin, but we're also saved to a relationship with a perfectly, good and faithful father, and we get to spend the rest of our life progressively finding out who he is and how good he actually is. We taste and see that the Lord is good. And I think that's what, just one more thing.

In Romans 4, I think that's what in the ESV version, it says Abraham's faith increased as he gave glory to God. As he understood that reality, it actually increased his faith because he tasted in the goodness of the, of the father. and he saw how good God really is, and he said, I want more of that. And I think that's what we're being drawn into by the Spirit. Well, and I think you quoted the last two verses, which says we should commit ourselves to their faithful creator.

You know, that's what happens. The longer you walk with the Lord, you realize that I'm faithful because he's faithful. And then he says, and continue to do good because he's good. Right. And I think that's why he uses creator, the idea that he is creator and sustaining. That's why he's trusted. So when we get to the next podcast, I think that's why we need a shepherd to guide us to that, which is where we're going to go when we get to the next podcast.

Before we do that in our overtime, I wanted to go to a passage with which I think parallels this in John 8, and I want to mention that in the podcast, I mean in the overtime. So if we want to follow us over, it's blazedtv.com slash unashamed. So if you want to come check that out, we'll see you there. 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.

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