Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 670 | Jase & Missy Do This Embarrassing Thing in Public & Willie’s Cadre of Yes Men

Episode Date: April 23, 2023

Jase and Missy make their friends blush with one of their openly passionate habits! But it just happens to be one of Jase’s favorite things to do! The guys poke fun at Willie, Zach, and the way they’ve chosen to run their business empires. The guys discuss the Alpha and Omega and why a Greek reference was written into the Bible. Plus, everyone remembers Al’s first sermon ever — but not for the reasons you’d think!  In this episode: Revelation 1; Revelation 22 "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? All right, welcome back to Unashame. We got Zach back. So did you get any text from Zach, Jay, saying he was going to be with us that I see he's here? No. So we get a text in, in, while we're doing the podcast. Two podcasts ago, we had a first ever.

I mean, we've done like, you know, literally it pops up. When you do, 4,400 and where are we at in the, how many podcasts? 670. I was close. 4,600. It just feels like 4,000. Zach sent me a text live while we're talking. So I think he's realized that he's been thrown under the bus a little bit for his diva-like qualities. And he usually we end our podcast session at 1 o'clock and we were running late because we had a guest.

I had a guest and we had some interaction. A certain member of our party where they were late starting. I won't mention any names, but Al didn't get here for a while. I had some Chick-fil-A issues. Yeah. So anyway, but what we've determined is that, you know, Zach's such a mover and a shaker, and he's surrounded by yes men. Yep.

He's kind of like Willie. He reminds me of Willie. Well, he is because he's. Oh, come on. He does because he puts the A and D and A-D and A-D, just like his little cousin Willie, because he can't have like a three minute like we're just sitting around.

He's got to fill that with something. Like if we're just sitting here waiting, it's like, well, I got to call somebody during this wait. Because when I get on the phone with him, it's like, now I may have to have a, I may get a call coming in while we're talking. I was like, you may get a call. We're already on a call.

No, I've noticed this. Here's another similarity. So like when we go to a public event, Like a church gathering or whatever. And if I see Willie over there, I'll lean over to Missy and I'll say, I'll give you the over, under of five minutes. And she's like, do what? I was like, Willie will have to get up and leave the arena within five minutes.

Yeah, five minutes. He can't sit there. And so then she's like, I'll take that bet. It's usually like two minutes later. I said, there he goes. Pay up. I'm not that bad, though. No, you are that bad.

So look, Jason, we just went to see, we went to see Jesus Revolution with Zach and his whole family. We go, we sit down the movie. We literally sit down. Now, he did have the baby with him, which was so I gave him a pass. But less than five minutes, here goes Zach. He's out. He's gone. Yeah, but that's a subconscious thing.

I know. That's right. I'll take the baby because they're like, if I can't stay here, I have to get up. I'm like noble, right. So he leaves out with the baby. But look, here's how I know that it's built in. So then he leaves.

I thought, well, that's good. He took the baby. And then here comes his kids. They're like, it's like I was in a satellite system, like I was circling the earth. But I'm stable. I'm the international system. And here the kids come, zoom, zoom, zoom. I mean, that move, that whole time they were up.

And I was like, what are they doing? I mean, they're just, and I couldn't even hang on to them. They came by me. So it's just like a built-in. That's why Willie and I argue so much, because I'm one of the few people who will say, no. And he's like, what, what's wrong with you? I mean, what? Because they're used to having people that they say yes, no matter what.

And it turns you. Surrounded by yes. There's only one person who has the right to, and I'm, I'm, I'm, tapping into that verse, where is it, 2 Corinthians 1, no matter how many promises God made, they are yes in Christ. So Jesus, yes, everyone else, no. So you're the no man. That's your no man. Look, and I, that's your default. Well, I will say no if I feel it's a no situation. I'm not just doing it on purpose. But I like people who have a have a posse around them, an inner circle.

Because they're busy. And you are a busy man. So you have these people who are just making it work. To be fair, I had a call scheduled with working on the distribution of the blind, theblindmovie.com. And so I couldn't be late for it. That's honestly why I had to leave. I hated it because y'all were getting into some good meat right there.

I mean, I don't know where the discussion went. I haven't watched it yet. Oh, you did drive some pretty good stuff. And just the audience knows. Of course, we're kidding. So Zach does wear a lot of hats in our organization. And so my philosophy is when someone asked me something to Jason's point, my answer is yes, unless there's a reason why we should say no. A lot of people, though, the answer is no, unless you can prove.

to me why we should do something. So that's a different way looking at. You know, I have an inner circle. I mean, seriously, we're joking about this, but family, you can be honest with each other. That's true. And if you really want to know the real situation, you know, you go home and ask your wife. Trust me. She'll tell you.

She's the ultimate one. And so I just put that into friends and family, and even if it's in public, because I know they can handle it. But I have an inner circle of spiritual men that I've purposely tried to befriend. And the one quality they have to have is that they love Jesus. I mean, in a real, passionate, public way. So I have four or five men, probably five. And so when I'm in a situation that I'm not sure what to do, I will call them and ask their advice. And the second quality they have is they don't care about saying,

know or disagreeing because I want to know what they think. It's a bad situation if you alienate yourselves from anyone who's going to oppose whatever you want to do. That's no good for you. You need people in your life who will say that's a terrible idea. And so you have to do that on purpose. So we're making jokes about it. But I do think it holds you accountable when you have those types of relationships. Well, and everybody's gifted in different ways, too. Dad and I were talking about that this morning, because we got some publishers coming in tomorrow,

and we're working on some book stuff. And we were talking about how that in a family unit, you had giftedness, and people have different gifts and abilities. But when you put that together, and if you have that harmony, especially because you're all Christians, it is pretty amazing what you can accomplish. Blood can is a powerful thing. It's a powerful thing.

But even some of these friends are... That's right, you look through the Old Testament. It's layers of family structures that it goes. Generational. Generational. That's it. It's a powerful thing. That's what we've lost in America to a greater...

There's no doubt. The country was founded on it. And this in our culture of everybody getting their feelings hurt. You know, I mean, one of my best friends in the world, his name's Barrett. And he lives halfway across the country. But I literally almost talk to him every day. and outside of family, you know, he's one of my best friends. But the reason of that, he loves Jesus and he will say no.

And he loves to argue. And he's a great friend to me because I want to make sure that whatever direction I'm pondering on, I'm well informed by someone who is solid and who doesn't mind a little conflict. If you don't love to argue, you're not going to be close to you. That's true. That's true. Throughout the New Testament, there's a series of arguments. Well, I like to argue, but I realize that some people who are sensitive, they get their feelings. Yeah, because they hate any kind of conflict.

So those people, I don't argue with. It's a different kind of relationship. Right. And you would hate that if you couldn't have conversations where you could have a different way of looking at things. That would be terrible, which is why I think that our podcast is so, you know, good, I think, because we all have differing opinions. Well, if I'm wrong, I want to know it. I mean, and, you know, one thing, look, I've had this happen many times. So my wife and I, we will argue in public, and y'all probably all seen it. And we can't be any closer.

You know, we're all in. We're all that we've ever known as far as, you know, male, female. We were virgins when we got married. We are all in, and she loves Jesus. But I've had people. confront me and say, you know, I'm worried, well, what's wrong with you and your wife? You know, we'd be at a house church or something. They're like, I mean, y'all were, that was a pretty heated disagreement. I was like, I started laughing. I was like, oh, no, we're, there's no,

this is how we communicate. We hold each other accountable, and it's not, uh, we, we, we like that. We, we, we love to, we're having a discussion here. We're trying to see what the best path forward is. She grew out of the phase after just watching her. Yeah. All of us mellow as we get a little bit older in terms of how we go. That's true. You stay married long enough. Yeah, I look back at the early days of me and Jill's relationship.

And I think we've all kind of, she's mellowed, I've mellowed. But my earliest memories, some of them are at y'all's house. And I just have memories of very heated biblical arguments with my parents. and a room full of uncles and aunts and cousins. I mean, it would get intense at times. It was, those are my formative years. Well, you argue to see if what you believe holds up to the heat, which is biblical. You know, your life is, I mean, when we study Peter, you know, you're refined by fire to test this.

Now, that, you know, it's more talking about the adversity that comes in your life. But when it comes to, there's a lot of things that's hard to figure out. We're going to discuss one today. I mean, a lot of these subjects can get a little deep and there's different opinions. And so we would like to argue some of those things to see where you're at on that. Now, I think the older we've gotten, we've realized that other people misunderstand that. Well, in the case, what Zach's talking about in our parents' family, they were, everybody loved each other and were committed as family members and everybody loved the Lord. But everybody was at varying degrees of how they view Scripture.

Isn't that a fair way to say it, Zach? I mean, everybody kind of came. It was a little more traditional versus less traditional. And so, you know, when you get together and talk about the Bible, it was definitely sharp. and where everybody was in their studies. And so I can remember when Janet Gordon would come into town. And again, they had different experiences and they were at different place in their study. And you and mom were at a different place from, say, my uncle Harold and Aunt Mary and where they were and maybe some other uncle and aunt.

And so it was sharp. But at the end of the day, when everybody left, everybody loved each other. We'll see you the next time we come back. It's not like we left. We'll never talk to each other again. I think that's why we got on TV with doing that because one of the byproducts of that is we laugh at ourselves. But, you know, a lot of people out there, now, whether it's pride or whether it's, you know, how they want themselves to be perceived, they don't like laughing at themselves. I mean, you see that.

It always reminds me of that time that back in the day at our church, there was a kind of a stoic songly. who was very professional. You know, it did the hand motions. I don't even know what that's called, you're a musician. Keeping time or whatever. Yeah, keeping time of the song because they're singing like acapella.

You know, he's doing all that. To keep the beat, you know, or whatever. So one time, we've shared this before. And this guy was the same, he was almost like Jesus. He was the same yesterday, today. I mean, same, and we're very well-dressed,

not a hair out of place. He stayed. Yeah. Yeah. And one time I'm sitting in the audience, I was there. It was the first Sunday. I was, my first Sunday to preach at W. Oh, really?

It was my first Sunday up. That's why it was such a memorable thing. Exactly. So this guy takes off, because there's about 10 steps to the pulpit. To the top. It used to be higher than it is now. And I know that because every time I've ever spoken, I realize that I've got 10 chances to embarrass myself on the way up there because that's a lot of steps and it used to be higher it was

higher than it is so five steps in i don't mean a slip i mean a facial his feet go go out from under him some book goes to the wall and the pitch pipe all of it just violent crash that was a noticeable gas he's down i mean the whole church because it looked more painful than obviously it was because he pops back up, gathers his songbook, and here's the part that I thought was concerning, never acknowledged what just happened. Number 342. And look, as he said the song and led the song.

Number 342, I'll never forget. Now, no one in the audience, a thousand people, they're not thinking about the words to this. They're all thinking the same thought, which was what I was thinking, and I was thinking, did I really just see that? I actually started questioning whether it felt like somebody, it felt like an earthquake was happening inside the church building from the rumbling of the pews from people laughing on the inside, but nobody could let it out. See, I don't like that.

I think you should just acknowledge it. Imagine if you were preaching that day with my sense of humor that I had to get up there. I would have had to say it. I don't think you did. I didn't. I debated it. This guy was also an elder at the church. I was very young.

It was my first son who was it? Norm Rhodes. His name. I think he's passed on that. He's crossed over years ago. And I told, here's the beauty of it. That day, because I debated it. I sat there and went back and forth.

Because it was like, I'm just getting started. Do I really just, do I take a shot and just never get off the ground? I wish you would have, Al. I should have went for it, looking back. I think you should have said, you know, we got the miracle. Out of the way. But, you know what I tell you. But, Al, that did become like kind of your signature move.

I mean, you were the guy that your opener, how many openers have you started with in your career calling out the awkward moment? And, I mean, that's kind of your thing. Willie does it too. Oh, yeah. But I didn't say anything that day about it. But it's funny, when he crossed over years and years later, I told that story, and I still told the story about that day years later and had to mention it. I had to mention it like 20 years later, I told him.

If it had been me, I would have had to get about a one-line statement of some sort. Well, if I had been experienced. I'd have been experienced. I would have. but I was such a rookie. I was so green. I was just afraid. Oh, nerves were there.

And he didn't give me a, he had just said anything. If he would have acknowledged it, I would have felt like I had an opening. Yeah, this was perfect for him to tell a little joke. If he would have told a little joke and everybody would have laughed, then I could have said, boy, Norm was excited to get going this way. Anything could have just brought that. Yeah, I mean, anything. Because people wanted to release that tension.

Oh, man. Because I never, I never even, I never got past it. I never listened to the song. When you were up, I was thinking, everybody probably was still thinking about it. Why didn't he bring it up? Why didn't he bring it up? Because I can't.

Well, you didn't remember I preached that day, but you remembered that. You remember that far? There you go. The last podcast, we talked about how we, none of us have a ready recollection. You people that are in traditional churches are familiar with that. Do you remember that phrase? I did.

I did. I pray for that every Sunday. Well, we need to do it now because. because the age that we're all getting, nobody has a ready recollection of anything. But what's crazy is, I remember what the man had on. He had white slacks with real white pretty shoes.

Somehow they got tangled up on him. Yeah, he had those, it was the shoes. It's the shoes guy. It was like that episode, the outlawed Josie Wales, you know, when there was like old Tucco. He, he, he, they came up the stairs. It was Tucco lookalike.

And, but Tucco sent the group of, of spaghetti westerners. No, if you haven't seen the movie, you have no idea what I'm talking about. But, I know exactly. The Clint Eastwood is in the upper room at a hotel. And so they, they ascend up there. And so there's music playing because it was during the Civil War the setting was. And everybody stopped for one. It was like a lot of noise.

And there was one tiny little thing before they opened the door. And Clint Eastwood was cleaning his gun and he puts the bullets in it. They opened the door and he's bum, bum, bum, bum, boom, boom, boom. And there's one guy that's not quite dead yet. He's looking like, how did you know? And he said, you're spurs. He heard that spur jingle. Of course, the next scene is, Tuko.

says there are those who come by the door and he does the cross and he says and those by the window what is the name of that movie the good the bad that was the good the bad and ugly so uh evidently my memory's getting better because i just did that scene that was a that was a ready recollection right there so anyway my whole point we're bringing that up was I think when you look at who we are look we're all sinners, we all make mistakes. I do think we need to be open-minded to differing opinions. I mean, because I think one of the key components to live in a life in Christ is being open-minded.

And a lot of times you have to get back. I mean, it's like for me, I never appreciated our country until I left it. I'm telling you, that was the one single greatest thing I did of being a patriot to our country is once I left. I got a whole new perspective on where we live. That's true. I mean, you go to a third world country all of a sudden, you're like, man, I need to be more positive. I could not agree more.

And I say that still with Christianity. And, you know, I'm all the time giving that opinion, which I know it makes some people mad. But, you know, visit other churches. You know, you appreciate, you know, where you came from and where you're at once you get a different perspective on. you know, the big picture of things in Christ. So be open-minded and be willing to laugh at yourself. It makes great for relationships. That's a great point about I don't hate so much on your,

on your heritage and your upbringing. I mean, you know, we can make fun some of, you know, things we don't like about, you know, our past and our traditions, but so much of it shapes a lot of the good of who you are too. Oh, exactly. I mean, you don't have to always just hate on it. You know, people do that. And people get hung up on it and they just get bitter, you know,

and you shouldn't do that. Well, there's no perfect churches. You know, Jesus is perfect. And that's why I said he's the ultimate yes man and he's the head of the church. He is perfect. Yeah, exactly. But we're gathered with other people who are sinful and they're going to make mistakes and they're going to get things wrong. And some of their theology, guess what?

It's going to be wrong. So you can either choose to spit out the bones and be a team player. Or you can be negative and just, you know, go out on a hill somewhere, out in the middle of nowhere and just do church. church by yourself, which is what people do. Yeah. And I'm saying if you're having trouble to get along with people, it may not necessarily be them. It could be you.

That is true. It's about the time you hit, it's about the time you hit that fifth divorce. It might be you. It might be you. Look at the mirror. There's a, there's this really famous sermon. I think it's famous. I just heard it in the last couple of years by a guy.

name Alistair bag, I think is his name. And he is talking about the thief on the cross. And he's, he's saying, you know, man, when I get to heaven, I want to meet this guy. He's like, you know, I just got to talk to that guy. He said, I just imagine when he got to heaven. He gets up there and the, he gets to the pearly gates. And I'm, and St. Peter's there, whoever, I mean, how'd you get here? Why?

How'd you get in here? And the guy's like, I don't know. I mean, I just, did you? Are you sure you're in the right place? Yeah, I mean, I'm, you know, I'm supposed to be here. But how did you get here? And the guy can't answer the question. So he goes back and gets his supervisor and comes back out.

And he's like, hey, this guy's here. We don't really know how he got in. So they start questioning. And they're like, hey, did you understand the doctrine of justification by faith? And the guy's like, I've never heard of it. He said, hmm. Well, do you know anything about the doctrine of scripture? He said, I've never, never opened a Bible.

I don't even know what it is. is never read it and he's like well how how in the world did you get in here and the guy's like the guy in the middle cross he said he said i could come and it's like this moment where it's like it ain't about all of that you know what i mean at the end of the day it's it's it's it's jesus calls you in and if he says you can come you can come but we divide over a lot of stuff we divide over a lot of tertiary issues the list gets pretty long sometimes i i wish i would have had that story but I hadn't read, what was his name again? Alexer Begg.

Alexer Begg. What was funny about that story, as you said it was a famous story, and then you kind of botched the guy's name. But I'm like, if it's famous, get the guy's name right. Did I mispronounce it? No, but it's like you didn't own it. You were like, you kind of, you do what I do when there's a word that I don't use often.

I kind of mumbled through it. I'm not sure what it. People are like, baby Alistair Begg. Yeah, it's like. Alistair beg, I thought I said it. Yeah, I should have owned it. Yeah, you just like, go ahead and own it. Just say it's Alice.

And if it's wrong, then you can say, well, there's alternate pronunciations of the word. That's what I did there. But what I was going to say is I used that same illustration, just to show you how we're more cohesive than you think. Some patico. I just had an argument with my lovely wife, speaking of arguments with my wife, that we love and thrive on. And I used the thief on the cross as an

illustration. And I took it out of context, kind of like what you just did or Alexander did, but I love the point he made. That's Alexander. Alistair. Alistair. Alistair. Not Alexander, but you owned it. You said that with confidence.

So here was the argument. So Missy was, she doesn't like how I wait to the last minute. to do things. Yep. And I'm like, babe, that's all I got. I'm busy.

And so I make this illustration. I'm like, because she's a football fan now. I was like, what is the greatest part of a football game? And she's like, the kickoff? I'm like, no, the last two minutes. They ever, I mean, they do the two minute drill. This is, I said, the last two minutes is where great people, where stars, rise to shine to see what's on the line.

The greatest thing in life happens in those last two minutes of everything. I was like, look at the thief on the cross. Last two minutes of his life. What did he do? He rose to the occasion, humbled himself. And she's like, that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You took that totally out of context to prove some point on why you're a procrastinator. So pick a side.

Take a side. Well, actually, that's a point, because if you were only going to see, if you could only see two minutes of a football game, you'd want to see the last two minutes. I want to see the last two minutes. The thief was fortunate enough to be in the right spot at the right time. I was just to say, if you're rolling the dice, if you want to get down to the last two minutes.

But look at what he could have done. on the guy on the other side of the cross. Yeah. Because he had two minutes too. I mean, it's added to you. God knows the heart. You know, we better, you better repent because this is. Yeah.

It's not time to go out and saying, you know, I'm just riding this thing off the cliff. No. Well, I think the point, though, is, I mean, if anybody, like, literally entered the kingdom of heaven with zero credentials, it would be that guy. I mean, he brought nothing. I mean, so it does, I mean, it is a powerful story in the scriptures that really show us the character of God and how much we really are bringing in when we come to Jesus. So we don't, we don't bring anything. But we get, but we get bogged down on the, and I think we, I love our robust theological debates that we've had over the years. I mean, that spurred me on.

I think it's healthy and good. and we should study deeply in the scripture. I think the point, though, when you turn that as this, in addition to Jesus is what makes me whole or sanctified or justified, that's when you get a problem. And I think that a lot of us struggle with that, you know, thinking that somehow our righteousness, our theological knowledge, our doctrinal positions, what creed we submit to, all of that, we elevate that to a place. that really only is reserved for God. I would say to Jason's and Missy's argument, I would put it this way. If we're talking about value, there's no greater value between the thief on the cross and say Timothy, who from an early age knew Jesus and knew what he was about and spent his

whole life serving him, value-wise, the thief and Timothy are the same. They both got Christ. But if I had a choice of who I wanted to be like, I would choose Timothy over the thief. Well, true. Because I'd rather spend my life to it. True, but I was trying to defend on why I was. Well, I know what you were trying to do, yeah.

So, but that is a perfect segue that we didn't do on purpose into a thought that I've had since we've been doing this I.M. series. And we have some bonus I.M. We do. We have to wrap it up today. And here's the segue I want to make. How you view Jesus is the most important. view that you'll have your entire life, what you think of Jesus. And in that moment, the thief

on the cross, he got it right. And so I think there's some credibility there. And so when Jesus made these I am statements, it triggers a response from us on what do you think about? What do you think about a being that was on the earth saying, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, I am the bread of life, a bread of life. I am the gate for the sheep. So a bonus one that we have is in Revelation 1. And, you know, it's hard to get into this without getting into the book of Revelation, which I welcome. But just to give you the background, I mean, a persecution for the church was imminent. And it was already you were seeing a part of that happening by reading like a statement, where does John say is it in verse 9 Revelation 1-9?

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus. And so he was on the island of Pappamas and he falls into a deep sleep. And all of a sudden, going back to Revelation chapter 1, the first couple of verses, a revelation of Jesus is revealed to John on this island. And so unlike a lot of other scriptures that we read, a lot of revelation is in picture form. So in my opinion, it's because when you think about being asleep or in the spirit or you're able to visualize things

that are not necessarily bound by the laws, of gravity and the laws of nature, which is called dreaming. So we then... Which is why dreams are so crazy and sometimes hard to... Right, but it was a letter written, I mean, it was, and it's the only time in the Bible where you have multiple churches addressed. You have seven churches addressed by Jesus. So I'm making a point to say, though, that no matter what you've heard or read or thought,

the first verse says, this is the revelation. not plural. It's not the book of revelations. It's singular. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. So which God gave him to show his service what must soon take place. Now, in this revelation that he's going to reveal to John,

he makes a statement, and I'll pick up in verse five. So it says, chapter one. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, the ruler of the kings of earth. So he's pointing to Jesus in this revelation of Jesus. To him who loves us, the second part of verse 5 in chapter 1, and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us to be a kingdom and priest to serve his God and father. So this is the scheme of redemption being revealed him.

to him be glory and power forever and ever amen and then there's a quote here from Daniel seven look he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him even those who pierced him and all the people of the earth will mourn because of him so shall it be amen and then watch these are we go to red letters i am the alpha and the omega says the lord god who is and who was and who is to come the almighty. What a statement. Now I want to skip over and read just one other place because you get this visual of seeing Jesus,

like verse 13. He saw what was like a son of man, and this is the same kind of lingo that you see in Daniel 7 predicting the coming of Jesus. Dressed in a robe, reaching down to his feet with a golden sash around his chest. Now watch this picture of Jesus. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow.

His eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand, he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliant. So this is a dude. So, verse 17, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

Then he placed his right hand on me and said, do not be afraid. I am the first. So here's another I am. I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I was dead and behold, I am alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and Hades. So there is.

is. That reminds me of, I just pulled this up from one of my favorite books, The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis, 1941, he wrote this. He says, I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God himself, it is not. How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of him is of no importance except in so far as it is related to how he thinks of us. And I think about, like, what this revelation here, it's interesting. That's exactly what's written here. It's a revelation to us how we think of God.

But you see how he anchors it in this image of the Son of Man that puts the preeminence on Christ first. It's who he is. And it puts us in a posture of, like, it's, you know, Christ isn't there just to sustain my self-esteem. I mean, this is one of the great. passages in the Bible to show the Lordship of Jesus. And I think about, like, and you think about John, I mean, Paul on the road to Damascus.

And when he see, this is, this is a picture of the risen Jesus. Because you got Jesus, you know, pets the lamb. You got those pictures, you know, when you're a church when you're a kid. You got Jesus that's got the kids around him, you know, all those pictures that we have of, that we conjure up of Jesus. And there's a real. I mean, that's what he did and who he was. And you want to think about who is he in his very nature.

And I think it's the risen Jesus because the Bible says in John 17 when he says the hours come, it would say something to the effect of restore me to the glory that I had with you before the world began. So the post-res resurrected Jesus is a picture of Jesus kind of like who he was before he incarnated. And the picture here is not a picture of Mr. Nice Guy. I mean, he's got a sword protruding from his mouth, a double-edged sword. You know, John was so terrified that the only thing that he could do was fall at his feet as though he was dead. It's the same exact response that Paul had, or Saul, rather, had on the road to Damascus when he had a vision of the risen Lord. And Saul says it was like looking at the sun and all of its radiance and it blinded him, right?

You know, it was so bright that the light blinded him, John says it, that it was like looking at the sun with all of its radiance. And so when I think about that, I go outside, you try to look at the sun, you better not, you can't. You can't even behold its brightness. And it's that picture of the bigness of God, this being that claims to be alpha and omega beginning and in. I am these, I am. Yeah. And then that God, when you fall in your face before his glory and you realize that you're undone, this is the part of the gospel. He is the one that reaches down and he touches John's shoulder.

Yeah, I agree. Don't be afraid. I agree 100%. And if you go back to the last I am that we addressed where he said, I am the vine in John 15, I made the same point. This was after you left and you had your meeting. but in verse 16 he said because we got to the same place there when he said you did not choose me but I chose you and appoint you to go bear fruit fruit that will last and so we talked about that as perspective because we tend to view Jesus as I'm going to come to Jesus as a means to get what I

want so give me rewards give me health care give me you know whatever give me you can and and that's not the image that you get from reading this it's a different kind of perspective when he says i am the beginning and the end you have to i think to to let this your mind wrap around this and i've been trying to do that for a week now just reading these passages this is so profound to say i am the first and the last the beginning and the end so it's hard for you to wrap your head around that. This is not a, he's not a means to your end. He is the end result of everything.

So to back up and wrap our heads around it, first I wanted to ask y'all, so why, you know, the alpha and the omega, let's discuss that. So if people ask you, I mean, I know what you're going to say, but just for the discussion purposes. So obviously that being the Greek, alphabet for first and last. So there's an element of that.

So alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last. I think beta is the second letter. The reason I'm bringing this up, because you realize that since this is in the Bible, the world and culture has used these Greek references in every conceivable manner that you can imagine. I mean, even in the finance world, they have, you know, they call you're seeking alpha,

which is your performance, money, money wise. And, you know, beta is how much volatility a stock has. And Omega is the price involved, you know, on options. You know, what's it going to cost? What are the risk? And, well, they're taking a spiritual concept, because let's face it, a lot of people's end to their life is how much money they have. They've got a bunch of money, you made it.

That is their alpha no money. Now what? Well, right. And I think that, well, you just start inserting things because everybody has something that they're working towards, something. So what is your end game? I think Jesus, by making these statements are like, where did you start? and where are you working toward this?

What's your end game? You know, we use these references and everything. What is your plan B? And they're like plan B for what, for life itself on what you're doing here. Because Jesus is making statements of like, I'm the A to Z. I'm the first and last. I'm the beginning in the end. So where does that, how does that factor in to how you're living your life?

And see, I think it's sort of an upgrade for, this now this new culture that he's speaking to because the I am part that we studied up to now is more in a Jewish mindset to understand I am who I am, right? They understood that from Moses and the burning bush. Now he's bringing in this Greek and Roman culture to say, I am. Now we bring in an idea of alpha and omega. And they're like, whoa, wait a minute, first and last, beginning and end. Then he says who was, I mean, who is, who was and who is to come.

the Almighty, meaning encompassing all of eternity from a Greek mindset, from a Roman mindset, from a Jewish mindset. That's why going back to the book, Gordon and I are fixed to come out with, he conquered death for us all. He and he alone has canceled the written code. He's full of grace. He's full of money. I'm saying he is. We're saying he's the great I am. That's right. Well, he is perfect, and he will make you perfect. He's the greatest preacher there ever was. He's the bread of life.

He's the greatest healer ever. He's your redeemer, reconciler, fullness of God. He's your guarantee of eternal life. He is your life. He is Lord of all. He is our high priest. He is the seal. He's the greatest supreme being who ever died and forever lives.

greatest sacrifice second to none greatest savior second to none he's the great i am you know top that he's the greatest person in heaven and on earth he's your escape hatch into eternity he's the greatest intercessor ever he's the way the life the resurrection he's your brother

and he's your friend that's a lot of who is he he is he is he is he is and And the way he was worded, what we're going about is, he says, I am literally everything you can think of. He is. Yeah, you think about even what he said here. He said, I'm alive. He didn't just say I'm alive.

He said, I'm alive forever and ever. Yeah. And, oh, by the way, I got the keys to death and Hades in my hand. You're like, the keys to what? Have you ever heard anybody even think about having the keys to death? That's why they've never even come close on inventing a Jesus. Yeah. You just can't do it.

I agree with that. You can't do it, which I would argue is I love apologetics. And we had Frank Turrick on a couple podcasts ago and thinking about all the Christian evidences. And you see, you boil it all down. What's the greatest evidence that he is? I mean, that could not be invented by humanity. And even thinking about the context of Revelation at the second to the last chapter, 21, I mentioned a few podcasts ago.

When he says that he is not only that, he's also the temple. I mean, in the new city, like the Lord God and the Lamb, that is the temple. I mean, I think it's everything that this I Am series is pointing to is that all of the things, that we tend to think are like these things we're going to put our hope and trust in, even the things of God. He's pointing to them saying, it's me, it's me. It is my person as known in Jesus Christ. And everything is centered in him and his supremacy. He is transcendent and far beyond us.

But yet he is also imminent right here with us. Emmanuel, God, with us. I mean, you start thinking about what everything Jesus is saying here. You see that that picture. He's so powerful that John, paralyzed at his very sight, but then at the same time, there's this moment of embrace. And I think that's what Jesus is getting at about himself, and we would be new well to see that. Yeah, I think that's why he said, don't be afraid, because look, we know what's fixed to happen here.

The Romans, through Nero and the mission in this culture at the time of this writing, I mean, they're literally fixing to declare war on Christians. They're going to be ripped apart. I mean, just the most graphic ways you can kill someone is fixing to happen. And I think that's why Jesus is revealing himself in this way as a reminder of saying, look, if I'm the first and the last, I'm the beginning of the mega, the storm may come. And you may be ripped apart, but you're not going anywhere. He is indestructible. So are his followers.

And that's why he gave this intimate writing to these seven churches because they're fixed to be persecuted in a way that was so graphic. So even us today, their persecutions happen and we think about the cost. And I think that's why he said alpha and omega because it is the beginning. He is the beginning, but he's also the point. Because by saying that at the end, it is, what is your end get? What is the point? And so what we do in our culture is we think, well, what is the cost of me living out my love for Christ in a public way? Well, people say, well, you don't want to do that because it may hurt your business.

And so my point is, and you can make a lot of references of that. You know, you may be persecuted in high school if you're a young person. Well, yeah, but that's where you're- You can't mix your job in with religion. All right. That's where you're missing the point of, are you using Jesus to get stuff? or is he the ultimate beginning and end of everything? I'm going to trust him no matter what comes that way,

because that's his whole point in revelation. That's the context of this. This is going to look like you're fixing to lose everything. Reminds him that old boy from New Orleans says, man, you can't get the Bible out and start doing that. You're trying to sell duck calls. It's going to hurt your business. You'll lose both.

Boy, I want to be still around. Compared to what you lose, compared to what happened in Revelation and what the coming events here. It's absolutely nothing. That's not a question. I think that's why you have to have that attitude of like, I can't help but speak. That's why he was being so, the statements are so, what is the word? Outlandish.

Outlandish and revolutionary because he realized the pain and suffering that was fixed to take place. But he's like, don't fret about this. I mean, think about your point there. It's such a good point. when he says on the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the end, it's a, it's, he's saying he's the point. He's the, he's the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, and if, if it's anything other than him, think about this. If it's anything other than him, then it's finite, which means it's a dead end road. And I think that in this statement, because Jesus is the final destination, he's the gate. He's the gate. So when you arrive at, it. So when you arrive at the end, the beautiful thing about the Christian faith is, when you arrive at the end, you arrive at the beginning of an infinitely glorious and beautiful and good God. You will never exhaust him, ever.

So the road never ends. Where any other thing that we pursue, it's a finite road, and it has an end. It's a dead end road. It doesn't go anywhere. And I think that's the nature and the beauty of who God is, is that we will never exhaust. as beauty. And to me, that is like, that's heaven. We're out of time, but I am going to use a couple of examples of how the world tried to use this statement in their own way that I think you'll find very interesting.

All right, so we'll do that in the overtime. If you want to follow us over, blazedtv.com slash unashamed as we wrap up our I Am series. We'll see you in overtime. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. and don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to blazed TV at blazTV.com

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