Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 686 | The Saddest Place Phil Has Ever Seen & the Sermon That Went SIDEWAYS

Episode Date: May 22, 2023

Phil remembers a visit to the most depressing place he’s ever been, and Jase peeks behind the curtain of movie-making magic. The guys talk about Jesus’ first sermon, the one that nearly got him killed on the spot. Jase and Al take a look back in the Old Testament to a couple of stories that are easy to miss, but hold great significance to Jesus. The guys also ponder the reasons Jesus may not have been welcome in his own hometown. Last chance: Vote for Unashamed as K-LOVE's podcast of the year by FRIDAY 5/26: https://www.klovefanawards.com/vote In this episode: Luke 4, verses 14-30; 1 Kings 17; 2 Kings 5; Isaiah 61, verses 1-18 https://philmerch.com – Shop now for your “Unashamed” mugs, shirts, hats & hoodies! "The Blind" hits theaters on 9/28/23. Get sneak peeks, updates & insider exclusives: https://theblindmovie.com — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. Zach went off to do movie business, Jay, so he won't be with us for this podcast. He's working hard. Theblindmovie.com. I promised him I would mention the movie for you guys to check that out. See what we're offering there to get little teasers and different things about the movie. But the trailer just released recently.

So those guys are working hard. It's going to be out this September. So be sure I'm going to be looking for that. Jace finally saw it. I did see. I wasn't sure why he sent it to me. I didn't know if he wanted me. I think he knows you would give him a critical look, like give him the good and the bad and what they need to work on because you have a sense to do that.

I'm not a good critiquer because I just, I don't know, it's just not my gift. Yeah, you try to be positive. I try to be too positive. I was positive. Because sometimes you, not that I'm saying you're negative, I'm saying you have a way to say, Yeah, but you need to work on. You need to be critiqued. That's a good thing.

It's just some people are better at it than other. Well, and I mean, I'm on TV. And, you know, so our show, I mean, it's pretty well just off the cuff. You know, we pick a location and we go there and try to make it work. But so they'll send me after they put it together, you know, the editors and all. There's a lot that's film. Well, they try to, you know, find the story in this, the point. You know, they say when you tell a story, you have a beginning, a middle, and the end,

which is why I love that reference when I hear someone from Hollywood say that, because I always think about Hebrews 13, 8, where it says Jesus Christ is the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. I'm like, he's the beginning, the middle, and the end. It's the ultimate story. He's eternal. But I'll watch these things because you don't, you think, well, you experienced it. You know what happened.

Oh, no. Because they're taking a few days of footage and putting it into a, you know, 30 to 40 minute, like a highlight reel, I guess. And they're trying to link. Because when people watch something, they're like, well, what's the, it's not just, it's not a documentary,

and it's not a random collection of just meaningless things. Right. So it's amazing that you'll watch a rough, cut and say oh that was well it was better than i thought and i was there i mean it was like this was then you watch one and you're like what happened what what is this so a couple times i've like i'm like fine go back and find some other footage this this is crickets but uh so i guess you know he knows i'm used to that so i laid out the pizers which all the positives were the major things.

It was a powerful story. I think they, I lived it, but it seemed like I relived a lot of those things when I was a kid. And it brought back memories I really didn't want to bring back. But, you know, I think it was therapy in a way. But I also, you know, noticed from on the production side, I'm like, well, I couldn't hear a couple things or, you know, of course, all those things.

He was, oh, we're correct in all them, you know, which they are. They're in the process. process of doing that. Yeah, because that's why it takes, you know, almost a year to do post-production. But, you know, it's interesting. Even, even we were working on the first, on the little duck show, you know, you'd be a part of a scene and part of an episode.

And I can remember many times we were like, I don't know, that, that didn't seem to work at all. Yeah. And then they would put it together and cut it and add in all their visuals they do. And because they put a lot of money into production of the first show. And you watch it and thought, eh. Well, yeah. The end result was way better than it felt like when you were actually doing it in real time.

I think this is where they invented the phrase based on a true story. Because they'll interview you and they're asking you questions. Well, they'll do an interview, you know, a week or two later. Right. Why can't you remember what happened? That's right. So I'm kind of thinking back trying to give some kind of narrative. They're doing stuff.

And they'll take it out of context and put it. Well, then when they do that, it didn't. Then it became funny. And you're like, you know, how do you come up with this? I'm like, well, I really didn't. They just took it out of context and put it in that light. Well, it became funny. I'm like, don't blame me, blame them.

But they're like, well, it's funny, so it's okay. Right. So, I mean, look, that's just the sausage being made of movie production and TV show making. But I've always said at the end of the day, you know, I'm not an actor. and we've always just kind of decided to be who we are right, wrong, or indifferent. And in this case, what Phil's movie, well, you know, it shows how you used to be. I mean, most people wouldn't have the vulnerability or courage to put that out there because, you know, it was mostly negative. But that's what we do in Christ.

Right. I mean, this is the reason we're here. we we god takes us and you know he creates us he gives us this free will and out of that free will comes you know a lot of good things but a lot of destructive behavior and uh which makes our decision to surrender to him that much more powerful yeah it makes me feel a little better to watch a few years of sinful behavior when i read what the apostle paul said about his behavior Yeah. I mean, I'm like if God could spare him through all of what he's doing there. Yeah.

I mean, he's killing people, piles of people. Yeah. And stoning them dead, stoning people that death is a pretty rough way to go. It's hard to change. One of his, one of the, who was the guy he held the clothes for and the first stoning, Philip? Stephen. Stephen. Yeah.

Act seven. I think the current prison system shows you how hard it is to rehabilitate people. Yep. You know, I mean, we lock people up for different reasons. I mean, one, to keep everyone else safe, but, you know, they call it a rehabilitation program of sorts. But unfortunately, most people who go to prison, when they get out, they do something to get right back in. Yeah. And so, you know, we're going to see that reference.

And, you know, Jesus goes to all places. his hometown, you would think he would be welcome there. I could see that no matter what ever happened after we visited Angola, where lifeers, a lot of people in there for the rest of their life. Then as you are leaving, where the river bottom hits the high ground, there's a little slope there. There's a graveyard out there. Yep. Remember?

Yep. With a lot of sticks of wood. Yeah. given down on them. I mean, it's a sad, sad visit. Yeah. To his point, it's hard to get to rehabilitate them. Well, you came there and 50, 60 years later, they ended up right down on the edge of the.

You and I talked about it when we were there looking at that, that, man, that's, there's a reminder that. That's where you end up. That's where you end up. Well, I think that's a perfect lead in to, after Jesus was tempted, he returned. he returned in verse 14 of Luke 4 to Galilee in the power of the spirit. So which is the fourth time this is mentioned in... Yeah, first three chapters. Well, yeah, the spirit descends on him out his baptism.

He goes from the water in the spirit to the wilderness to be tempted by the evil one. He's led by the spirit. He's in the spirit. He quotes scripture and refuses the snares of the evil one. And now, still by the power of the spirit, he, and the news about him is spreading throughout the whole country in verse 14, and he begins teaching in their synagogues. And everyone praised him. Yeah. Which is another temptation, by the way.

Everyone seems happy at this point. Everybody's happy. So he went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And on the Sabbath day, he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. And I did some research on this, you know, and they would have these, you know, they'd start off with some in the synagogue kind of worship. They would have some prayer and praise, kind of like a worship thing that we do. And there were several instances, five or six or maybe seven, seven things that happened, which he only participated in two of them, which I think is something.

And so everybody would be standing up. this guy, someone would read something from the prophets. I think they would read something from the law, then they read something from the prophets, and then he would go sit down, and then everybody else would remain standing, and then he would pontificate on the meaning of the red prophecy. This is what they did in Israel, in synagogues, 2,000 years ago. So he stood up to read in verse 17, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.

So on rolling it, he found the place where it is written. The spirit of the Lord is on me. Which now, to your point, well, before references, and he comes to this text, we've seen the... Well, he finds one that says the Spirit of the Lord is on me after it just said the Spirit of the Lord is leading him, is on him, it's coming upon him, he's in it, he's full. full of it. He's full of the spirit. I think that's 4-1. Jesus, full of the Holy. And it's written down a long time ago. So he picked a unique,

not unique, he picked an interesting place because in Isaiah, there's a whole section either named the suffering servant or the servant of the Lord. And it's always looked at as kind of mysterious to people from Israel because it was the picture of

of the Messiah that was to come. And that, you know, you have Isaiah 51 and 52, you know, that in 53 that shows that whoever this Messiah is, he was not a good-looking guy, but he was going to redeem Israel. A route at a dry ground. Yeah. He was going to suffer. He would be pierced.

I mean, it was a difficult passage when you think about it because you're talking about someone to lead you out, but it also looked like somebody has been brutalized here. He's going to go through a hard time. to do it. Even if you go back and read Isaiah, I think it's 7, 14, and 15, you have that famous prophecy that he would be from the sea line of David and he would be a virgin. Yeah, came from a virgin, would be called Emmanuel. All these things were, came true. So here he is picking, this is Isaiah 61, one and two, the Spirit of the Lord is on me, verse 18. And these people he's talking to, I'm just guessing here

somebody had to have read that oh they knew it like the back of it yeah that's what I'm saying oh yeah they knew this the spirit of the Lord is not they're at a worship service for you know and they're reading the Bible and the old heads have been coming here for years oh yeah reading these texts

you gotta remember something and everybody's happy that's really key to understanding what's fixed to happen because when we think all we go back to our hometown you know what would be what would happen. But you got to remember his hometown was being controlled by the Roman Empire. These people are under the thumbnail of oppression.

They're not happy. They're having to pay taxes. These people have invaded their hometown. I don't think anybody would be happy. They were in a state of persecution. Yeah. Nobody would be happy with that arrangement. This is how wars get fought.

when some other country invades your country and takes over, people rise up because they're not happy about this. So they're waiting on this said Messiah, because, and you'll see from this passage that he chose, this is good news to them because they don't like being occupied and being being oppressed. So he read- You look throughout their history and it wasn't like it is now.

I mean, there were different times where there other, kingdoms came in, but this, this was a unique situation because they were still holding on their Judaism fully, and yet they were controlled by the Roman Empire. They're being oppressed. They're not free people. Now, this is all the way back to that. Hang on Joe, let's take a break. This will be good news to them. The Spirit of the Lord is on me. Now, he's reading Isaiah. He's, you know, we, we know what he's saying, but they are not quite sure because he's just a, he's in his hometown. He's a carpenter. And they know. full of scandal and accusation and kind of a weird guy, let's face it.

And he's very young. 30 years old. It's in their culture, it was young to be in a role where you're going to be like teaching people and all that. So yeah. So the Spirit of Lord is on him because he is anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. Well, these people are poor because of the Roman invasion here. I mean, they're not as rich as they think they could be or whatever. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, which I feel like in a physical way,

they would deem themselves as prisoners, even though they're not locked up, you know. But they're not making that analogy. The Romans stayed with them, but the Romans didn't like them. Yeah. Right. They didn't like this bunch. And recovery of sight for the blind, which is probably, you know, something that they were probably having a hard time wrapping their head around,

what is somehow another, this Messiah going to heal us and different things and help the blind? You make an interesting point because there's a higher and lower thought here, Jays. They're probably relating to macro political issues, but each one of these, of course, is a personal.

It's all speaking to their personal blindness. They're personal. It's a spirit. He's making a spiritual point. They're having a, but they're having a physical application. Yeah, it's good. So to release the oppressed, and I'm sure that's probably the main thing they heard.

Yep. Because if I was being occupied and there was a prophecy that someone was going to come and make all this right, this would be something I would want to hear. Now then it says an interesting phrase to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. So which is a quote, and most people, I don't know how you feel about this out, but it's a year of Jubilee reference in Leviticus 25, or 24, 25, and I read it. So it was like every 50 years.

Kind of a little time frame when this is going to happen. Well, it was every 50 years, there was like a clean slate. It's your debts were canceled. Now, it was ever 50 years, which is a lot of time. But it's like, everybody got a new start. Yeah, like, if you're in a new start. Yeah, like, if you're in.

prison you get out of jail you uh you know you don't owe anybody any debt or they call it the day of atonement you everything you just got to start over under this old law reset yeah so i looked it up if you want to get deep into that you can but i'm pretty sure of course even my reference here on the in the margin of my bible says jubilee you know for that 19 you can look that up which isaiah referencing that. So then he rolled up the scroll, so he reads this passage, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. So everybody else is still standing there.

Well, now it's time for him to tell you what that means. And when it's going to happen? Well, you know, he can say anything you want to. This is how this worked. He was going to give an explanation. of the prophecy. Well, his sermon was three, four, five, six, eight words, which is probably the, his first sermon was the shortest sermon in the history of that gather.

I could use a few eight-word sermons. I like that. But as you know, it's interesting. Jesus has a dramatic, he understands public speaking, too, because he waits. Like, he sits down and says, everybody's eyes are fastening. So I imagine this, like, dramatic pause, because they're. waiting for him to tell him and he's just looking for for he gives him a oh i agree 100% he's waiting to see it like okay is he gonna is he gonna explain this was

and there's also you know a message in here about public speaking i mean sometimes it's not how much you say yeah i mean he says one sentence he says today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing boom didn't he drop the mic now we And if you're just reading your weekly Bible study and you read through Luke 4, my daughter and I was talking with this last night, you're not even, this is not even registering. You're like, what do you say? Because it's not in our language, I get, you know. But if you just stop right now. Think about all the things they had heard up to this.

They hadn't heard this. No one had ever said that before. No. I mean, it was, I guarantee you there was a murmur. It's like, what do you say? What do you say? Today, today, this scripture is fulfilled. Well, so then you have to go back.

I'm sure there was some rustling back through the, so let me read this again. The Spirit of the Lord is on me? Is he talking about him? Because he has anointed me. Is he claiming to be anointed from the Lord? and he's going to preach good news to the poor and free the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind. I'm still not sure what that means, but to release the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord's favorite. He's going to institute the Jubilee. We fixed to do a clean slate and he's the one doing it. So that's why the response is what it is. Because they all spoke well of him. because they thought, well, I like this.

If you have a way to pull this off, we fixed to be free. He's going to fix my cataracts. I'm going to be, we're going to lift this oppression. He's going to make me rich somehow. And so they were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. And then there was a wait a minute. There was a Q&A that just miraculously. evolved because he said the sermon usually you know Al you've done this we get up and speak

then you do a Q&A yeah it's planned this Q&A happened spontaneously they're to the point now where they're saying this guy somebody says this guy saying well isn't this Joseph's son yeah so and you know what they were asking is the shack line you saw that who who well and you read the other version The other Gospels And they're like, Isn't he a carpenter? I mean,

Yeah. He's in his hometown. They're like, this is great. But they start doubting because they're like, but we know you. I mean,

and you got to remember when you're in your own hometown, they've seen this guy. They seen him as a kid. He was going around. They're like, you're going to fulfill all this today. because he basically said, I mean, with all due respect to the chosen, they got it right.

Because they gave a version of this on one of the episodes that he was like, I am the law. But in this case, he was like, I am this. Yeah. I am the fulfillment. This is me. And you're right. There's thinking about it. Some of them in their minds, they're flooding back.

They're watching him and Joseph and maybe some of his brothers delivering something they've made somewhere. and you just get to thinking like, well, he's just a guy up the street. He can't beat this. Exactly. But notice they're happy at this point. That's right. They're not. I'm going to skip down and you think, why are you taking so much pain to go through this exactly?

Because I think it's real hard to wrap your head around what's happening here if you don't really put yourself in this situation and see where this all goes wrong. So if you skip down to verse 28, now I'm skipping over. his answer to the question, well, isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Joseph? It can't be, he can't be this. You skip down to verse 28. So whatever Jesus said that we're fixed to read, all the people, all the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built. This is his hometown in order to throw him off the cliff,

which I think is a very interesting phrase because in the same chapter, just a couple of days ago, the devil was tempting him to go throw himself off the cliff and let the angels rescue him. And now just a few, A few days later, we have people. He's on the edge of the cliff.

Making him to a cliff to throw him down. Right. You talk about a sermon that went sideways. Well, it wasn't even a sermon. It was just an answer. They asked a question, aren't you a carpenter? Aren't you, what they say? Isn't this Joseph's son?

Which is an interesting question. Yeah, right. Jason, I've had a few sermons that went south, but nobody ever drove me over to the mill. This one from altar call to cliff throwing, cliff diving. That's right. That's right. Without your hang glider.

So the reason I did that this way is you're like, what could he have said? Because everything was going great. And he spoke the truth. He is the fulfillment. We know who he is. Shouldn't the people in his hometown have figured this out by now that maybe this wasn't a scandal that he came from a virgin, you know, in quotation marks? He said, what if this is really true? He's making this claim.

So what was Jesus's answer to, isn't this Joseph's son? Where did this go from being amazing at his gracious words that came from his lips? I mean, almost Luke is saying this in a way that he's trying to get you to see. They're just bubbly over being, having the good news and proclaiming freedom and recovery of sight. Freedom of the press. We hear every Sunday morning. You know, people get up and say, hey, Lesz, we're going to tear some walls down. You know, we're going to break some chains.

Those of you, they were blind. You'll see now. We're going to, you know, who wants their miracle today? People are going to see. It's the same kind of sermon. Now you know where it came from. So what was the answer that caused this cliff episode? So you go back to verse 23.

Jesus said to them, surely you will quote this proverb to me physician heal yourself do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Copernum so you're like what so which is really interesting to to get that answer to that question because that would be a they would have said what so i don't think they had so much a problem with that statement because he's basically saying you're going to say, because once you wrap your head around that I can heal the blind, give, release, free the oppressed, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and preach good news to the poor.

Well, he also gives you a little clue there, Jace, that he had been doing some things that he assumes they would know about. Right. If you read like the first three chapters of John, You get all the things he was doing. He had the conversation and the woman at the well in John 4. That's right. I remember Cana, which is.

So the word had already spread. Well, it should have. It should have. Well, we read in verse 14, Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit and news about him spread throughout the whole country. So they had heard. So when you go to John 2, you're right, as you read about it, remember when Mary came to and said they're out of wine. That was in Cana, which...

They had heard rumors, but they had not... This particular ones have not heard him yet. Right. Well, they had had rumors that were true, to Al's point. They had heard about this. Something happened in this wedding. Yeah. I mean, look, six huge jars, the size of this room.

180 gallons. And somehow another, they got turned to wine from water. Well, that's going to get out. And people were still talking about how great the wine was. This wasn't a cheap stuff. So that happened in Cana, but you remember what Jesus said? Woman, why do you trouble with me?

You know my time hasn't come. So in other words, he's telling her, it's not quite time to start, but because you asked me. And so they're hearing these things that he's done, which is part of his point here before Jay's gets to reading the rest of it, because they've heard some things about it, but apparently he hasn't done anything like that in Nazareth. This is kind of his opening.

So he said, I tell you the truth. He continued, which I think is a big line. No profit is accepted. in his hometown. So now we're like, this is the first moment that it becomes uncomfortable because he's now

making an accusation to them that evidently, you know, you probably want me to do some of this stuff you've been hearing here, but no profit is accepted in his home. You're not accepting me for who I am. I mean, I'm sure people are rolling their eyes.

I was like, what are you're kind of being a little outlandish here, Jesus, the carpenter. So then he says... Because before you lead that, the reason he's... And another reason he said that is because a prophet prophesies what the Almighty tells them. And you look back over the course, he's going to mention two here, but you look back at Jeremiah and some others, not very well liked, not very well accepted. Because the messages were so direct and pointed to the people, it wasn't popular. popular. So that's part of what he says behind the no profit is, you know. Well, and true. And I think

there's an insinuation here that he's claiming to be a prophet who's telling the truth. And he's claiming that another prophet that they all respect, even though he's dead, is Isaiah. Yeah. And he's saying, yeah, Isaiah was talking about me. Well, you know, I'm not making fun of these people because I would probably be a little skeptical in that statement. I was like, no, I mean, I know you. What I mean is the fact he's in his hometown, he's not going to get away from this because they're going to say, you're claiming that Isaiah had you in mind with this. But Jesus is saying, yeah, because the rumors that you've been hearing about me, they're all true.

The rumors that my mom was a virgin, true, you know. And you remember, so when he would go places, remember, he'd say, don't tell anybody. We're not quite ready to reveal, you know, like he would go all over. over once he got into Judea and all the way down to Jerusalem. But he went to his hometown, and he just went in and told him right off the bat, this is who I am. I think it was to give him a shot to do the right thing. But obviously, yeah, I think he probably knew this wasn't going go well. Maybe. But what he does something is something really controversial, because this message that he read from Isaiah was all flowers and rainbows when they were the

recipients of the freedom. So I'm just going to go ahead and tell you what I think before I read this, because it's a little hard to follow what exactly he's saying. What he's fixed to say is that you're not these people because you don't believe me. Well, that's what got them riled up. Because he then does this. He says, I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in a, Elijah's time when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine

throughout the land so you got to remember these people know the bible that's uh first king's 15 and five yeah it's where you read i think it was 17 yeah well maybe it started famine started 15 and i read this and it it's a fascinating a story it's a great story but it says yet elijah was not sent to any of them but to a widow in Zarathath in the region of Saddam. So let me just give you a, because you say, who is this widow? Well, she was not a Jew. That's right.

She was a Gentile. And she was a sinful woman. So they're like, do what? There was a famine. He's telling a story here, and he said, there was a famine, and Elijah was not sent to any of Israel's people. And it was like it happened yesterday. I mean, he...

Well, and I think maybe we should just read it out. You want, I think, I think we could read the First Kings 17 section, and you get, because it's such a great story to see his point. And I'm not sure how many people just have First King 17 on the... On their speed down. Yeah. Which I think's really cool, that the drought was so bad that Elijah was being fed by Ravens in a creek. And just to set the context, let's take another break.

right there was a wicked king and queen Jezebel and Ahab and so they and so this the reason there was a famine is God was trying to get their attention and so that's the setting for what happens here so you know at times got tough here there was a famine I'm sure they were all familiar of that and three and a half years no rain and so he's eating you know ravens or you know the Lord's taking care of him but in verse seven sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. The word of the Lord came to him, go at once to Xerapheth of Sada and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.

So he went there. He came to the town. A widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and said, would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink? As she was going to get it, he called and bring me a piece of bread. As surely as the Lord, your God live, she replied, I don't have any bread. And which, by the way, the reason I'm reading this is in this same chapter talking about the temptation of Jesus, you also had a temptation over being hungry and a piece of bread. I mean, you're seeing some similarities in what he's pointing out here in that. I don't have any bread, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil and jug. I'm gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal from myself.

from my son that we may eat and die so she's saying i'm about to make our last meal this is it we're out of food we're out of food we're out of everything it's over this is our last meal it's going to be special and then we're going to die elijah said to her this is verse 13 of chapter 17 first kings don't be afraid go home and do as you've said but first make a small cake a bread for me from what you have and bring it to me and then make something for yourself and your son. Now look, any human being on the planet, if you're at your desk door and it's all over starvation, you're thinking this is the biggest hustle con and this is the old, hey, the Lord told me for you to give me some bread because what she should have said or what I'd have said is, well, he didn't

tell me. This is like the email from Nigeria that says, you know, you got $10 million here if you'll just send me a thousand. I'll tell you how you can get it. But actually I read in verse 9 that God had told her to do it. So now it's happening. So verse 14, for this is

what the Lord, the God of Israel says. The jar of flour will not be used up in the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the lamp. She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family for the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah and look then

the story even gets greater than that because sometime later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill he grew worse and worse and finally stopped breathing so she said to Elijah what what do you have against me man of God did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son. That's why I said she's a sinful woman and thought, well, they've, they've done a little diagnostic on my heart and realized that I'm terrible. She's basically saying, why deliver me from my last meal if you're just going to kill my son anyway? It was her point. So Elijah said, give me your son. He took him from her arms, carried him up to the upper room where he was staying, laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord. Oh, Lord, my God, have you brought tragedy also

upon this widow I am staying with by causing her son to die. Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord, oh, Lord, rescue this boy and let the boy's life return to him. The Lord heard Elijah's cry and the boy's life returned and he lived. Elijah picked up the child, carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, look, your son is alive. Then the woman said Elijah, now I know that you are a man of God. and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is truth,

which is a real profound statement because that's how this crowd should have responded to Jesus' word. That's why he said, I'm telling you the truth. And he's making a subtle reference, Jace, that he doesn't mention in his version of the resurrection. Calls for a little patience. Little patience on that part. That's why I wanted to read it.

The ramifications of this and the shadow of this, are obvious. That Jesus is the son of God. He has the power to redeem. He has the power to raise the dead. He is the fulfillment. This is the guy. And here's why this just went off the rails.

What Judaism has been doing up to now is you get up and you talk about God and how awesome he is, which is great. And then you talk about how you can follow the commands to somehow please him. Jesus is basically saying, believe in me and follow me. I mean, he's bringing,

he's turning this all upside down. I'm the fulfillment of this. There's a new way about functioning with God. You're looking at him. Plus, they've never heard this. Never heard. But they did have Elijah's story. Well, they did, but it infuriated them

because he's saying, well, let me just keep reading. So you go back to verse 26. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarifah. So we read that in the region of Sudan. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha, the prophet. Yet none of them was cleansed, only naming the Syrian. And that's second Kings 5.

We have another Gentile. From Syria. They're both from Syria. Well, and guess this. he's this guy's rich which makes this worse because you think no wait a minute here didn't this hall start off with saying i came to preach good news to the poor well he the fact that he picked a poor woman because of a famine but he picked a rich guy this guy was loaded he was the general over the whole syrian army but but when you read that story

I think we could read the condensed version of it. Yeah, I can tell a story. So he, so he's in, he's up in Syria and he's got leprosy. And the king in Syria says, well, have you considered maybe going down to the prophet in Israel, which is pretty amazing? He says, you know, I've heard big things about him, which is kind of interesting in the context of what happens here. So, so Naaman leaves Syria, comes all the way down to Israel, has all this entourage and he's got. money and he's like he comes up to the house and elisha just sends a servant out and tells him what to do and it offends him yeah he wouldn't because he's like i mean i'm the powerful general came

all this way and he got this servant that comes out and tells me to go dip in the jordan river seven times so he's like kind of furious about it but then one of his servant says what if he had asked you to do something great wouldn't you have done it all he's saying is just go down here to this river and so then he does and course he well he yeah he's he kind of kicked and screamed a little bit right but he did it and he's healed then he's overwhelmed because i mean if you have leversy which there was no cure i mean he so he wants to now go give him a reward right and i think this is the fascinating uh part of the story you know just for bonus stuff so he goes back and tries to pay him And Elisha is like, no, I don't want your money.

You know, just go praise God. Yeah, I don't do this for money. So one of Elijah's servant, yeah, Gahazi, he sees opportunity here. So he leaves, and while Naman is on the road, he's like, hey. He follows him down the road. Oh, Elijah changed his mind about that prize, the reward. So, and I mean, here's

Neiman, he's got all this wealth. He's like, dude, I don't have leprosy. You know, hold out your hands, you know, here you go. And so what I think's really cool about the story is it's bad for Gehazza. So since he did that, well then

the Lord who healed Neiman's leprosy gave that same leprosy to Gehazza. All of a sudden, as he's carrying his silver I heard a guy preached a sermon on this one time, Jason. When he comes back to Elijah, Elijah says, where have you been? In the Hebrew phrase, his reply was, nowhere in particular.

Which I thought, how many times have you been told that by your teenage child, right? Nowhere in particular. And the guy preached at sermon says, when someone tells you they've been nowhere in particular, that means they've been somewhere in general. And up to no good. I feel the same way when you ask somebody where they're from and they're like all over. You know what that tells me? You got some things in your past that you're ashamed of.

You need Jesus immediately. If you can't just because you don't want me looking up what happened in your hometown. So why do they all get furious about this? So here's the application because I believe, and Al you can chime in, what I believe happened is when he said he challenged their hearts that they weren't poor in spirit, This was about sin and hearts and being blind to what God has done through him to being hardened in a prison and not realizing it that this was God's plan. And so he picked two people who were Gentiles, which I do think that he was laying down a foundation too, that God is for everybody. That's bigger.

I mean, that's a overwhelming point that comes out of this. If you have a heart that's broken, you know, if you're poor in spirit, which reminds me of that, preach the good news to the poor, if you realize that you're in a prison from your own sin and ways and trying to do this by yourself and you think you're great and don't see a need for God, It was a great news, Jesus told them. It was, and they got furious. But it was just over their head at the time. They just said.

They wanted to kill him. Oh, I know. I mean, I'm talking about, have you ever preached a sermon where they wanted to kill you? I don't know. I've heard a few that you never know. No, and I think you're right, Jayce. And I like the reference. I think one of the reasons why the other gospel,

don't mention this, saddening, but Luke does, is because Luke being a Gentile, being an outsider initially. So he saw that little thing you were talking about Jay's about, because that's the other side of this. It's not just their sin that made them so furious in their realization, but it's also that Jesus, who was saying, I'm from here, but I'm really an outsider to bring you to salvation. And he uses an illustration of what outsiders can do. So I think it's a a double thing he's working here. Jesus was from Nazareth, but he was also the son

of God that came here from the heavenly rounds. Obviously, that's what they were having a hard time. I think that's one thing, but I think also another thing that's very important, is he picked two people that he was saying, it doesn't matter where your border is or where you're from,

you better have a heart for God that will surrender. Because it was very hard for naming. you know, it's really hard for a man of power to submit to anything. And to go down there and to finally say, well, you know, I'll try it. Because we would think, well, he had leprosy. But you know, it's just hard. Yeah.

And the guy didn't even come out and see him. All he had to do was go to the Jordan River and dip seven times. He's good to go. And he had a problem with that. Well, it's hard for powerful people with wealth to listen to anyone. It is. And he even complained about the river. He said, why don't I want to get in that mud hole?

I passed two really beautiful rivers. You only made it come across two rivers to get to this one? But he did it. Yep. And this woman who was in these very humble circumstances that had every reason in the world to be mad at the world and mad at God and she did it. She went along with this as crazy as it was.

And so that's why I think in both cases, he was showing you a heart that's open to listening to God. And this is crazy. I know this is crazy, but I'm from here and I am the son of God. As crazy as this sound, watch me. You know,

or like what happened with Nathaniel and Philip when he said, come and see. Trust me, I'm telling you the truth. That's why I once said to somebody it would take more than a Jesus to invent a Jesus.

Yeah, I agree. But this is proof of it. So, and Jay is about this woman. I think the reason her son died and then Elijah resurrected him was to show her that if you trust in me, anything is possible. In other words, if she doesn't make the first cake,

then her son was going to die anyway a little while later, but there would have been no bringing him back. Yep. Had the private up in there. But look, Jesus knew they were familiar with these two stories. The reason we had to read it

is because most of our listeners are not familiar with these two stories. But these two stories, if true, and I believe they are, are very exciting if you're a human being. That's right. Yeah. They both involve people being healed from diseases that have no cures and people coming back from the dead and the Lord providing.

I mean, this is awesome. You call that in the world game set match. That's right. Exactly. And Jesus is using two awesome stories telling religious people that I am the fulfillment of that. And look, here's what we're getting out of this. We're getting good news. But it's not what they're thinking because I believe they were putting this in the physical sense.

They thought, well, when are you going to crush Rome? Well, you better get on verse 30. You better do it pretty quick because you're running out of time. So what was the final word on that? So what happened when they... So invert, they get to the cliff because we had a literal, we had a literal cliff hanger. We did. And God does what the evil one tried to get Jesus to do earlier,

somehow whether it was angels. And you remember, after the evil one left, or Jesus left the temptation, you remember what happened, and this is in one of the other gospels, angels came and attended. The very thing the evil one was trying to get him to do happened, but it happened on God's terms, not from selfish ambition. And here the same thing happened. They were fixed to throw him off the cliff.

And verse 30 says, but he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. Now it burns religious people up to not know more details. That's right. But somehow God protected. That's right. And maybe just in confidence he walked right through him and said, you won't touch me. Which the whole point is if you trust in the Lord, you're in good hands. All things are possible.

I love it. All right, we're out of time. We'll flesh it out just a bit more in overtime if you want to follow us over, blazedv.com slash unashamed. 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 blazedtv.com slash unashamed.