Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 690 | Phil Thinks Alexa Is an Atheist & What’s It Like Being Married to a Robertson?

Episode Date: May 29, 2023

Phil doesn’t understand Alexa, and he definitely doesn’t want her in his bedroom! Phil’s brother-in-law Gordon answers the question “What’s it like to be married to a Robertson?” and his answer is less than flattering. Al and Gordon wonder at the phenomenon of siblings growing up in the same home who take such radically different paths in life, such as Phil and his sister Jan. Phil and Gordon reveal some contents of Phil’s upcoming book about the character of Jesus. In this episode: 1 John 2, verses 1-2 "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? So welcome to a very special edition of Unashamed. We got me, we got dad, we got Gordo, my favorite uncle. My favorite living uncle. There's only two left. And you're definitely my favorite of the two. That means a lot to me. I know, I know, you're special. What was it like, dash, being married to a Robertson? Janice Ellen Truthfully? Yeah. Do we not?

We're unashamed. Do we want untruths? I thought he wanted some kind of accolades or something, but I would say it was like being in an asylum of some sort for 44 years. I'm sorry if that hurts you feeling. Someone had locked the doors and you were just on the inside. Threw away the key. So most people, Gordon's been on the podcast before. We have a lot of new people and in and outflow of folks on Unashamed.

So Gordon is Zach's dad. And so I don't know. So do you take credit or blame for that? Because I don't know, Zach is a very polarizing figure on the Unashamed podcast. People either love him or they think he's too big for his britches. He's too smart. He uses too big a word. You know, he uses words like eschatology.

Yeah. Well, I've examined his epistemology. Is that what it is? Yeah, I take credit for him. Yeah. Yeah, he's... No, we love Zach. Zach is awesome.

So Gordon is Zach's dad. As dad mentioned, Gordon was married to Jam, who crossed over to the other side. Going on four years now, three and a half years ago. And so it was interesting because Gordon is, uh, is, is working with dad on a new book. And we've been kind of mentioning it on different podcasts. And so we're super excited about it. Gordon is a writer.

And of course, Gordon helped dad write the last book uncannsel. And so we were, and also we were talking about the movie, The Blind. And so it's really interesting because Gordon, you and I were talking about this, that dad and Jan grew up. in the same household. Yeah. And a lot of times you can grow up in in the same home, but kind of be different because if you're like oldest to youngest, it can almost be a different home.

Like Jeff and I are 14 years apart. Well, Jeff grew up in a very different home than I grew up in because I was there for some of the early years, like from the, from the movie years, whereas Jeff grew up in a completely Christian home. And so he grew up at a different home. But for dad and jam, because dad's number five in the line. Jan is number seven, being the youngest. Seven, seven children.

Seven children. So they in essence grew up in the same home, witnessed a lot of the same things, even though there's a few years difference between it. But their paths became very different. And so Gordon, you and I talked about that. Jan was very godly throughout her whole life. No doubt. A very straight arrow.

I mean, when you met her, she was that way. Dad, who I guess was a pretty good kid coming up, but then got to 18, got to college, and then obviously veered off the path. And so it was really interesting to see that how two kids out of the same home that grew up here and basically the same thing, when they got to an age of faith and decision, chose two completely different paths. Now, I mean, people have their own choices to me, but I'm just saying, I wonder why that is. I mean, why would Jan have chosen the path that she chose and why did dad, why did you? you choose the path you chose me.

They came out of the same background. What's the difference? You'd think if one would choose generally the same, that they would have stayed on the same path, but they didn't. And we found that interesting. What do you think so, Dad? I mean, what was the difference between you and Janice Allen? Seven or eight years in a row, most students,

depending on the university, but you're a rank-and-file universities. if you indoctrinate or teach for about to get a master's degree, which I did, it's about seven to eight years of teaching and the word Jesus was never brought up, not once. Therefore, you live a life when you're in your early 20s, and there is no parameters, there's no pointing to, y'all might ought to investigate this Jesus Christ. You know, he claimed to be God.

They have writings about him that are 2,000 years old, and he makes a lot of claims. Might investigate him just to see what he's all about. No, you didn't even get that. It was just like he never showed up. Right. Well, about seven, eight years like that, you may get a degree, but if you're not even, you may get a degree, but if you never hear one word about Jesus Christ, it has an impact on you.

And it's not a, I think it's proven from observation. I think I can tell that Jesus wasn't mentioned in most universities. I can see it all the time, can't you? Yeah. You reap what you sow. Yeah, but you and Jan grew up in the same household. You went to the same university. I'm assuming you had the same kind of time.

teachers. And yet, I didn't know her until she was 23, but from what I did know of her and what I heard about her is that from a very early age, she had a love for God that was pretty uncanny. Yeah. And she never, she never veered off that path. And you did. And yet, what we were talking about was God's Providence, how you went down one path, she went down the exact opposite path. But at some point when you were 28, those paths intersected, and then you traveled the same path from there on out. Yep. And so I do marvel at that because, I mean, she was, I said, I've said this before without

thinking about your former years, but your later years, you guys were a lot alike. Yep. Her, I joke around her. And she did predict to the guy who studied with me and pointed me to Jesus, she did predict, She said, if you win him, he'll win thousands. And the guy that was studied with Bill Smith, he said, do what? She said, I'm telling you, if you win him. So somehow she'd have made a wild guess, but she was correct.

Well, what was interesting was, and it could have been her love for Jesus and then some sort of prophetic ability and vision. for that is she did have a sight and something about you that she knew even though you had been a prodigal son, you had been away from how you were raised for 10 years. Yep. That there was something about you that if you ever surrendered to Jesus, that the potential was there to lead, in her words, thousands. That's what she said. To Christ. And she was... I wasn't aware of that. She was right on the money. In fact, there's a video out there. What's it called? Find Your One? No, it's on YouTube is WFR Discipleship. Okay. The letter's WFR.

So it's a video. It's about 15 minutes long. And it's something we did years ago, maybe 10 years ago, about discipleship. And it was the idea about if you ever could just connect to a person and teach them about Jesus and then become a disciple, there's no time where it could go. And the story was about Jan connecting to dad. And then a lot of other connections that were made after that. I didn't know what that was out there. Oh, it's amazing. And it really is, it's the first time I watched that, I got a big lump in my throat because first of all, there were a lot of people on there that have now crossed over into heaven

waiting on the rest of us. And Jan was one. Bill Smith was one and some other people. And so just hearing their voices again, you know, was moving to me. I mean, the promise Jesus brought with him is life and immortality. Now, if you just look at it on the face of it, you say, what do we get out of this, this following Jesus, why? Life and immortality.

Well, looking at it that way, I just, I'm pretty convinced having heard the ones who say, there's another that stuff, I'm just sitting here saying, I think maybe we've got the best story. Absolutely. And the thing about your sister is she had an uncompromising love for Christ. She wasn't a theologian. She wasn't a deep thinker. But she had this love for Jesus that was just unrivaled in almost anybody that I know. And then out of that, she had an unrivaled passion for people that were in the throes of Satan's clutches.

And the day that we had her funeral up at Wife's Ferry Road, I don't know how many women came up to me afterwards. And many of them with tears in their eyes and said, I wouldn't. And these were women that had been, you know, come out of the worst possible drug addiction, had multiple abortions, been sexually impure. And they said the same thing, almost to the word. If it weren't for Jan, I wouldn't be a believer today. And then other guys, men would come up to me at the same time and say, she didn't bring me to the Lord directly, but she brought Phil to the Lord,

who brought somebody else to the Lord, who brought me to the Lord. So her legacy, it's pretty amazing when you sit back and think about the impact she had on the kingdom and just directly or indirectly, the number of people that she actually brought to Christ. Here's the reason I bring it up in our discussion today, because I find this, I mean, you could call it ironic, you could call it coincidental, but I would call it, again, providential by the hand of God, that here we sit today. almost 50 years later having a discussion about a book that Jan's husband, who at the time that she was having a discussion with dad, who she brought a preacher to a bar that dad was running because she was so persistent that she followed through with this idea that we get this man to Jesus no matter what. It was a hole in the roof gang, you know, Mark, the book of Mark sort of moment.

We got to get this guy to do. of Jesus, right? So she brings the guy to the bar. She doesn't know Gordon Dasher at this point. You know, she's not married. She's still in college. But she's like, we got to get this guy of Jesus. Almost 50 years later, the man she married, now she's gone on to be with the Lord, along with the guy she brought, 50 years later, we're sitting here about to have a conversation about a book that her husband is co-writing with her brother. Now, you tell me that God doesn't work things out. I'm just saying. I mean, I'm just a guy, you know, that live through it as well.

So that's what God can do and how we work things out. I mean, is that not amazing? Am I the only one amazed by that? That that's what God does. Before you were ever part of that picture, before dad was ever a Christian, God was working. Well, I actually was a part of the picture, and you don't remember this because you were probably drunk. But she actually, I've been a believer about two weeks, and she brought me to the bar thinking that I could have some kind of of impact on field.

Really? Yeah. And he... This is new news. I have never heard this story. For real. No. I've told you, but typical...

Maybe I was drunk. Because when I was a wandering prodigal, I spent some time at yours and Jan House, maybe tell me this. He was stabbing in the dark. For real. Did Dad say when you came in the bar, you had a look about you? Yeah, he did. He said, hey, who is this dude you got right here, son?

He's got a look about him. Where are you from, son? I said Florida said, it figures he turned around and walked off. Some things never checked. So she brought you there thinking you might somehow. Because you were right out of the world. Yeah, it was right out of the world. He understands that lifestyle, but he cut me off in a heart.

If I knew that, I'd forgotten that. That's pretty amazing. So what happened was as a result of that, Dad, you were introduced to Christ, not in the bar moment because you weren't ready. I mean, there was an attempted introduction. but it's like not not ready but maybe a year later you were ready but when they came to the bar jan was passing out what you call them the tracks tracks yeah she was passing out traction on the rednecks up there you know they were about half drunk nothing works as a coaster under a and they look at some kind of you know we invite you to meet with the brothers and the sons of god to follow

Jesus, they were like, who in the world is there? Well, they started kind of cursing her a little bit. So I had to go up there and tell these boys that were sitting at the bar about half drunk. I said, look, that's my sister, Yohanah out there. Leave her alone. I pulled a Matt Dillon on them, you know, who wants to die here. Leave my sister alone, so they did. So she came and went, you know. But later on, within a year or so I changed my evil ways. And I, I, I changed my evil ways. and I thank her now, that's for sure. So, Dan, now at 77, you have a chance to look back. Recently, you've had some back issues,

and as you continue to tell us a lot as we do the podcast, the resurrection looms larger. Resurrection is looming larger all the time. I've never read a story like that I have in front of me. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, Jesus, and his word has no place in our life. So don't claim you've arrived where you never make a mistake, not at all. My dear children, I write this to you so you won't sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense.

Jesus Christ the righteous one. He's the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. What a writing. I'm just saying I would think that these people in these United States of America would at least investigate a person with that kind of power. He'll remove our sins and raise us from the dead. I've never heard of it before coming out of somebody else. I read the story. I'm convinced it's true. I would love for our audience to join us. And let's just see if life won't be a little bit better. I mean, give me a break. I mean, I'm looking around and, you know, I remember, you know, looking at people, they butchering the Constitution and all this. I'm just saying, why don't we try loving each other for a while and see how that comes out.

Love each other and follow Jesus, do what's right. I think it'll work and I think it's a better story than drugs, alcohol, and consorting with all kinds of evil doings. So when Smith sat down with you for that initial three days and talked about Jesus, of Nazareth. I said to him, what did you say? I said, it seems too good to be true.

I said, it sounds too good to be true, especially for me. I said, what a low-down heathen I've been. And I said, I will investigate him. All I'm asking the human race to do

50 years later is at least investigate him. I mean, I mean, you're going to die for crying out loud. I am and you are. and the whole bunch.

We got one shot here, the one that says, I am the resurrection. So do you have a better story that will give you the rarest of commodities, which is peace of mind? Jesus will give you peace of mind. Unmatched.

No doubt about it. So I think we ought to do that because the mental wards are full. the prisons are full. I love them all, but I'm just saying they're a little slow to come to the one who can rescue them and give them eternal life.

I mean, time's running short these days. So Smith said that, oh, Phil, it is too good for us, but it is true. That was his line. Which is a great line with you, they say, but it is true. which was the great line. So what was it about Jesus then?

And really that becomes the essence of the book, right? What is it about Jesus that makes him so appealing? Especially to a 28-year-old guy who had missed it. Jay's had a good little blurb the other day. When I looked at his shirt he was wearing, you know, everybody's big in these shirts, you know. And on the front of his shirt, it said, I could be wrong. I said, well, you need to put on the back of it as you walk away, but I doubt it.

So, oh, Chase, Chase's looking at me, you know, I could be wrong. Yeah, but I doubt it. I doubt it. Which fits Chase perfectly, right? So Gordon, tell us a little bit about, as we kind of, help us walk through the book a little bit about, you know, we're still working on it. But the idea is why Jesus is so great. because we've done you guys we've we've done four books uh in kind of this set is what i call it and you know we started off with this idea of the theft of america so we sort of looked at

america as a culture and we realized we got a lot of problems you know and we kind of laid those out satan is man he has convinced our culture of a lot of bad things he's been a liar from the beginning so there's no shock here so we laid out lies and we laid out truths And then we went into this idea that a lot of our culture thinks that politics can fix this. And so, but we kind of went back and said, look, that's not going to work. We have to get upstream of politics because Jesus becomes the answer because we know that's going to be the way. The last book that you guys worked on together on Cancel shows that, again, in a cultural sense, people say, well, you know, my way is my truth, my this, my that. And so they say, you know, we're going to cancel your voice because my voice is the voice.

And we say, look, you can't cancel us because our sins have been canceled at the cross. And again, we get back to a spiritual fix. And then this book really just says Jesus. Jesus. I mean, it has to be about him. So why him? And so Gordon, begin to walk us to a little bit about the structure of this book and why Jesus is the answer and kind of what you guys are working on with this. Okay.

So it's rooted in the beginning. of the book in our mortality. So Phil and our, P's a little bit older than me, but we are both, I'm 71, he's 77 and that date looms larger on the horizon. I realize,

and he does too, we talk about it all the time that we don't have a lot of years left. So what comes next? He used to say, what plan do you have for getting your body out of the grave? So for a number of years, and even when I met with him to talk about uncanceled, he had this idea of this book about Jesus.

And he just shotgunned. I mean, I'm sitting there typing away like crazy. I recorded him. And I'm sure I still miss some of these, these, I guess you call him attributes of Jesus, but he just fired him off. I mean, I'm looking at the list here. There's probably, probably at least 50.

So he just, the creator of everything, he's sinless. He never made a mistake. miracle worker alpha and omega omniscient. I'm omnipresent. He's the way, the truth and the life. He's the resurrection. I mean, it just goes on and on and on.

So, I don't know, at some point recently, he did a sermon just reading these off. And I think you finished it up with, and he's the best friend I ever had. And it was a hit with the church. When he got to that point, it brought me to tears. I just thought, man, this is like overwhelming. So, an answer.

Roar, a roar that came out of. And all I was doing was talking about Jesus. Yeah. I mean, he didn't give any commentary, really. So he just read these off. And so in answer to the question, what comes next after death, then you're still, you still wind up at this same place here. Is there a better way than just, is there a better story that answers the question of how can I have hope beyond the grave. Now, if the story's not true, it doesn't matter how many God myths we come up

with or, you know, we can talk about Jesus and God all day long if it's not true. But the appeal of the book is at least examine it. Go to the Gospels, Matthew Mark, Luke and John, which he said to me over and over again, examine these attributes of Christ. They're from Genesis all the way into the Bible and revelation. Just look at it and ask yourself, could it be true? And I want to find out whether it is true or not. And the book doesn't really give a lot of proofs. It's the power of the gospel that he believes, and I totally root him. It's just the power of the message of the gospel that resonates inside the emptiness in people's hearts that says, maybe I ought to check him out. And so it starts out with that thought, and then it moves into God, the creator, Jesus, the creator, John 1, without him,

nothing was made that has been made. He created all things. It's all been made. Created every single molecule and atom. And there's a little bit of evidences there just in terms of the sheer size of the 94 billion light year wide universe that we know about. And then just he talks a little bit about beavers building dams. And that's just intrinsic nature of a beaver to do that. He didn't learn how to do it.

It was just embedded in his deep. and A, the flight of waterfowl two times a year. Just the miracle of human conception and birth. We put the story in there about Skip Cooion, who says he remembers the date that he was born. Tell about that, Dad. Cuvion is an interesting. He said, I remember coming out of the womb. Looking around.

But he's never said, I remember the day about conception. He's never going that far. Hang on. I said, boy, you've got a good memory. I'm telling you all I remember Yeah, Cuvion is one of those individuals He's Cajun on steroids is what he is Oh, he's crazy

He's crazy Funny man But I was saying about this thing Immortality too Dad, do you remember the guy That this has been a long time ago So I don't know if you remember the story But I remember you telling him

About his He had never accepted Christ And he'd been at our church And he grew up there And his parents got to worry about him because now he's in his 20s, and he was a bodybuilder. And so, I mean, he had quite the physique, and his parents were worried about him, and they knew you would talk to anybody, and so they came to you and asked you if you would talk to him.

Do you remember that story? I remember. Tell that story, because that's a great story about immortality. They said, is there any way you can help my son? He's just, I think, getting off on the wrong track, and he's never obeyed the gospel, put his faith in Jesus. he said, would you mind talking to him? I said, no, I said, I don't mind it. So a few days went by a few Sundays.

Well, I was walking across the parking lot, and I saw him over there by his vehicle. So I walked over, I said, man, I said, you got some muscles, dude. I said, you're torqued up. I said, how long it takes you to get that cat? And he went to it, telling him how he was. Of course, when you told him, he kind of automatically swore. They bowed up, you know, and I mean, I said,

Swole. Oh, he was just solid muscle from. Sort of like this. Yeah, like Gordon. Yeah. Except muscular. No, they were an ounce of fat on this dude. Oh.

I said, boy. I said, what a physique. What a physique? I said, what about when you die? That's coming, you know. I said, that pile of muscle you got there is going six feet deep. I said, I'll show you the way out of there. I said, if you want to, he's just looking at me.

he said I'll come see you so he did and I told him by Jesus and my muscle and all I said you know it all goes six feet deep so that muscle went in the river down there didn't it down the river and his parents were happy and as far as I know he's still around so look so here's the rest of the story dad this just happened this about two weeks ago so his family the same ones that went to you The mom has just gone on to be with the Lord recently. They don't know. Yeah, I didn't know that. They own an appliance store here locally.

She's gone now. The dad's retired. But the son, the son that you baptized, runs the store now. And so Lisa and I went by there. We were looking for a refrigerator. And there he was. And now, of course, he's about my age. He's in his late 50s.

Still muscular. He's held on to it pretty well. I was like, you're still looking good. Good for him. And I said, do you still remember that time when dad hit you up in the parking? He said, I'll never forget it. And he still remembers when he came to Christ because of that conversation. He just told me that a couple of weeks ago.

Most people think it's laborious because they think godly people are some kind of quirk, you know. One of the things I remind people of from time to time, there's a college professor up there, Jack, I mean, Das, you know him, the one that you met with that professor Oh, Sammy. Yeah. Sandy. Sandy.

Sandy is a bona fide certified history professor. I said, let me ask you something. I said, how about going back in time and I want to know what every empire

was that they can find on record. Find them and then get back with me on what happened to him. So he came back about a couple of months later. He's a history professor. You know, that's what he did for a living, teach history and major university. And what he told me was he said, every one of these powers, they all bit the dust, every one of them.

Every power there's ever been. And he worked, I said, work it all the way up to the United States, of America, Russia, China, who whatever. I said, make it, you know, document that. We'll see how long they've had. But it surprised me that, and I just got to thinking about it, every empire that there's every man

has collapsed and is just rubble. So that's not very, to say, there's no way out of there. This thing is going to, and when Jesus showed up, he became, I mean, the way it worked out, the author of all time, up until Jesus showed up until Jesus showed up, they would judge time by kings, how long they lasted, you know, but nobody was counting time by anybody until Jesus Christ showed up.

What are the odds out of all the people, persons that had been alive on planet Earth? We count time even in China. They count time. They say it's 2023, AD, all of them. The world counts time by Jesus Christ. I would think they would scratch their head and say, we're all counting time by Jesus Christ. I said, you at least should investigate him.

That's a big deal. But most people don't even think. about it but I know one thing I may do some pretty amazing things while I'm on earth but no one's going to count time by me I mean just think of the possibility of that even happening you say it no way so I'm just saying we have the better story I know he was here because we're saying it was 2000 whatever from the time he showed up I mean it's to me that's a a key to the puzzle.

Yeah. Well, you talk about that, right? All the earthly kingdoms have tried to, you know, have that perfect thing. It always rises and falls, but he came as the king, the eternal king. Well, we look at the injustice of every culture. And I think there's a line from the book that's something like the best thing you could say about our republic is that it's the worst one in the entire history of the world except for all the rest. There's always been, we look for political solutions to what is really a spiritual problem, and that is we're broken before God.

We know that we're broken, and we look for all of these, I think it was C.S. Lewis that called them counterfeits or distractions. And so we think we can fix it politically, and we put great hope in that. But as he's pointed out, it's just the track record of doing it that way. It's not going to solve the problem that he talked. about earlier, it's not going to forgive us of our sins. It's not going to get us out of the grave. Those are the kind of things that we brought up in the book. Right, right. I mean, we're all counting time by Jesus Christ. I mean, give me a break. What are the odds of that? We're saying,

take a look at him. See who he is. I don't know if you know this, Gordon, but dad, and he had Dan come with him because he didn't want to be in the room alone with this woman, but he did research. with the smartest woman of the world, Alexa. Mm-hmm. And he didn't want to talk to her alone. So he brought Dan in with him. And because we had bought him an Alexa to wake him up in the morning, but he didn't like her being in the bedroom with him alone.

So you changed it to a male voice. We should have. And so he started, he quizzed her and he asked her who, about what was the, you know, what was the hearing? China, what was the year in Russia. You asked her all these questions, right? She knows everything. Right.

Let me check with her. And then he asked her about Jesus, and she didn't have a good answer. Nope. And dad told me, he said, Al, I think that old gal is an atheist. And so he unplugged her and sent her on down the road. I got rid of her. A lot of people, they kind of scratch your head when I tell them I don't own a cell phone. but I love you having one audience because I know that you're hearing what we're saying here today.

So I'm all for people having a cell phone. I've just chosen not to fool with one. Right. Well, he fools with him by proxy. Right. So when I live next door to him, he didn't have a cell phone, but he'd say, hey, get out your pocket computer and find out what this floodwater is going to do. He made me go on myself. What the weather's going to do.

Yeah, what the weather. But I think in terms of the flow, in order to give us confidence to face that looming date on the calendar that we all have with the grave, I've got to know that this God who calls me to give up everything I have in order to follow him, I've got to know that he's capable. And that's why we make the case in the very first chapter about him being the creator of the universe. I just think, and this is the point that he has made over and over again, if he's capable of just speaking and belching out stars and galaxies and planets and solar systems, every single molecule and every single atom in the entire universe, and he knows where they all are. If that's a true story and he's capable of doing that, then he can certainly take care of my sin problem. and my grave problem. So everything's rooted in that, and that's the beginning.

That's where we start in this book right here. And this is who Jesus is first and foremost. Yeah. That idea, creator, that you talked about from John 1, but then from Colossians 1, which, dad, you did that sermon, sustainer, maintainer.

Oh, yeah. I mean, the idea of it just ongoing, which is beautiful. But then I like the idea of him here and establishing this idea of, kingdom. I like the also you guys have talked about from John three about him being the greatest teacher. And it was the idea of him having that conversation with Nicodemus, which I thought was really interesting because obviously when Jesus was here, he had a lot of interaction with the

teachers of the day. And so the interaction when Nicodemus was really interesting because Nicodemus was representative of all the ones who rejected Jesus, but he didn't. He had something some sort of pull inside that said, I want to know more. Of course, they met under the cover of darkness because he wasn't quite ready to, you know, come out of the shadows with it. But talk a little bit about that, about how the idea about even what he taught him would ultimately be what he taught everybody else and kind of hate talking. You read all the things that he did.

And your end, Dash, was saying, I'm glad I have hope, hope. So it's a, this is a book about how to end up with 100% hope while you're here on the earth. So, I mean, that's the thrust of it. Right. Well, I think that he and I both have a past in teaching of public schools. Mine lasted a few years longer than yours did, but I probably, I thought I was a good teacher. but being a good teacher isn't the ability to wow your audience with things that are more of an entertainment type value.

It's having actual curriculum, having content, something that you say. And that's why the Apostle Paul said, when I came to you, I didn't come with wise and persuasive words, but I came with the demonstration of the Spirit's power. And he also said in that same section of scripture that when he was, with him, he resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified. So the power to take our lives into a different direction isn't to follow a teacher that's gifted with teaching, but that he has a message that's life-changing, which is the death and resurrection of Jesus. And what he told Nicodemus was, look, you know, you guys think you Pharisees and you teachers of the law,

you think that the pathway to God is by obedience to an external legal code. You obey all of these rules and regulations. But with Nicodemus, he said, actually, the pathway to God is to experience a new life. Like, you're being born again. But that kind of requires you to say, well, the old life wasn't worth having. It was not sustainable. It wouldn't sustain me. It wouldn't lead me into immortality.

that old lie. No way I'm going to be able to obey scripture enough to make God happy with me, because I'm always going to be breaking some minor part of the code or maybe major parts. But when you become a new creature, when you experience new birth, new life, you become somebody different than what you were before. So that's what I think about his, him being the greatest teacher of all time. And that's just he was able to, he was able to like a laser focus on the one area of everybody. his life. And the next chapter after that's the one, the next chapter of the book is the woman that he met at the well. And he was able to take, he just was able to pierce the broken part of her life and to be able to infuse new life, new birth into that. And this was a woman, and especially

coming on the heels of Nicodemus, that he really shouldn't have even been talking to. Right. In that culture. Right. And yet because he was willing to quote unquote roll the dice on woman like this, a whole village came to know because of her testimony. He should have been talking to her on two counts. Number one, well, really three. Number one, she was a woman. Yeah. And she was good Jews didn't speak to women in public.

Number two, she was an immoral woman who had been married five times and was shacking up with a dude. Which is why she's there in the middle of the day getting water when nobody else is there. That's right. Nobody wanted to have anything to do with her. And number three, he shouldn't have been talking to her because she was of another race that the Jews considered to be less, yeah, a Samaritan woman.

Three strike law. But what the passage says is that he went from wherever he was. I can't remember down to Galilee, and he had to go through Samaria, but good Jews did not have to go through Samaria. They went all the way around to avoid it. But he, like he had this penciled in or inked in on his calendar. Correct.

He goes through Samaria. He had a divine appointment with her for a very specific purpose to say, I'm the God of grace, I'm the God of mercy, and I'm specifically going to this woman that no good religious person would even speak to in public. And I'm going to speak to her and let her know that there's hope. Which is an interesting point, Dad, and I never thought about this to this discussion. So you're fresh out of the world.

You're a brand new Christian. Your education led you to be an educator because you have a master's degree. And so that's what you're supposed to do. And so you're a new Christian. So what do you do? You go to work for a Christian school. You're a teacher. You're a coach.

I mean, everything that you had done before you became a Christian had said, this is what you're supposed to do. And so this is the step you took. And so, and again, everybody says, yeah, that's what this guy needs to do. And you had an impact. You were leading some people to Christ in that setting. You're teaching. I was in your classroom. So you were my teacher.

And it looked like that was it. But you knew in your heart of hearts, that's not where you could teach the most people. And so you have this crazy idea for some reason that you need to move down here in the middle of nowhere, which we just drove out here. It's the middle of nowhere. And you need to fish and come up with a duck call. And that somehow through that you would teach way more people than you would teach in Christian education or some kind of education because that's what you were trained for. That sounds like to me a guy that wound up in a Samaritan village because that's where he had.

had to go. I mean, that's what, see what I'm saying? I mean, that's what God put that in you for some reason. On my part, I've run with the wicked, and I've run with the people of Jesus, the ones who follow Jesus. The ones who follow Jesus are way better. Right.

Sometimes. I like that. I mean, day in and day out, you say, man, now I'll follow the Jesus ones. It's, they're a lot better to run with. That's exactly right. So here we are. So, you know, it's interesting how that works in Jesus and people, which is good.

Give us a couple more because we only have a little bit of time left, Gordo. I love the one from John 8, which is Jesus defending this woman who's caught in adultery. When he's sort of our defender, when other people decide that, you know, They know better or because we deserve something that we should be the ones that that cast the stones. Talk a little bit about that. Well, this woman was, in John 8, was caught in the act of adultery, and you just let that roll off your tongue. It doesn't mean anything, but you think about you're in the middle of a sexual encounter with somebody that's not your husband. and these religious people burst through the door and drag you out, probably, probably naked.

She's dragged through the streets. We know it's early in the morning because Jesus is doing an early morning Bible class. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So they drag her up to Jesus. And of course, the irony of the whole thing is that as men of God, they didn't care about this woman. They didn't really care that she had committed adultery.

But they tried to challenge him on some point of law by saying the law, the law condemns us to stone such a woman, what do you say? The law actually says that if a woman is caught in the act of adultery, she and the man that she is committing adultery which should be both punished the same way. But they tried to trap him. And so he did, that's the story if you're not familiar with it, where he said, whoever's without sin cast the first stone and he starts writing into dirt again with his finger. I heard one Christian comedian say he was writing the names of the women that those Pharisees sees themselves had slept with before. I don't know what he was writing, but that might be what he was writing. But it says one by one, they dropped their rocks and walked away, and then

he turns to the woman. And this is the part that just, I don't know, it just hit me this week. He says to her, where are your accusers? Is no one here to accuse you? Nobody's left. She said, no, not one. And he said, now he says this to a woman who just got drunk. dragged out of an adulterous bed just moments before, he says, neither do I condemn you. Now, go on and live your life and stop living sinfully. Live right. And yes, he called her into holiness. He called her to leave her life of sin. But his compassion for this woman who was caught in the act of adultery was just stunning to me in a new way recently. I just saw. that. And I thought, wow, man, this is amazing grace. And I don't know if it's this chapter or not, but it kind of relates to the part of the book where Peter went to Jesus and he said kind of sanctimoniously, Lord, how many times should I forgive somebody? Up to seven times? Because he thought he was being very generous with his grace by saying seven times. And Jesus, he just looked at him. He said, no, it's seven times 70, 490 times for the same offense, apparently. You know.

No, that's the extent of God's mercy to you is that it's unlimited and that you ought to reflect the nature and character of me by dispensing grace in the same way. Because he said twice in Matthew, you should know what this means. You need to go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. And that's woven through this entire book. Yeah. This would probably be my last book. But our old Gordo there, we met.

We got a few more any day. So, Dad, you told a story. I want you to tell this, that we just have a little bit of time left, but you told a story recently of within that first year of you becoming a Christian. You were still, you know, coming out of that lifestyle. And so you had a few slip-ups in there.

But you told a story about when you came forward because of WFR was kind of a tradition of coming forward and just being open about when we mess up and people come with us. And so you came forward one Sunday because you'd slipped up somehow and that some woman came up and hugged you and told you she loved you in that moment. And I couldn't help but think about this story. But tell what your reaction was after that happened and what you told mom, because I thought that was very apropos for this story.

I was shocked. And I said, so when we got out in the park and I don't leave and I said, I said, that woman. and wanted to go gave me a hug. I said, you know, I tightened up, you know, I kind of winced at her doing that, you know. I said, whoops. And I said, you know what she said, she said she loved me. And I said, the shocker is, I believe she does.

And Ms. Kay, my wife, she said, she does love you. That's what she wanted you to realize, you know, you talk about your sin. She does love you. I said, yes, this is going to take some getting used to. I mean, I just had not run up on people who didn't just say, you, he, and whatever. I just thought it was interesting in light of this particular story that you did what you were called to do, and that was be repentant. And someone reacted instead of with a rock with love.

But that was foreign to you because you weren't expected. I hadn't seen that before. Right. And so that really is the heart of the story, right? I mean, that's what Jesus is saying. What's interesting is John 8 is one of the most amazing chapters in the Bible because by the time you get to the end of John 8, that's the great, you know, before Abraham was born, I am. When he gets to the end of this, they pick up the rocks again to stone him. Yeah. And then he slips away. They like their rocks.

They like their rocks, even towards Jesus. So, all right, we're out of time, man, for this special edition. But we got a little bit of overtime because I want to talk a little bit more in Dad. I hope you got your list with you because in our overtime, I want you to read the list because the list is powerful just in and of itself. So if you want to follow us under the overtime, blaishtyp.com slash unashamed. And I'm going to have dad read his list that is encapsulated in this book. And it's very powerful. There's a Zach word encapsulated.

That's a lot of syllables. Is that big enough to be a Zach word? No, that's not even close. It's not cerebral enough. Zach would frown on that word. It's not big enough. So anyway, follow us. over blazedtv.com slash unashamed and we'll give it a little bit more a taste of this new book

that gordon and zack are working on in our overtime segment thanks for listening to the unashamed podcast help us out by rating us on iTunes and don't miss an episode by subscribing on youtube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes and for even more content that you won't get anywhere else subscribe to blazed tv at blazed tv.com slash unashamed