Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 695 | Jase’s Incredible Catch Draws a Beachside Crowd & the Annual Robertson Family Vacation

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

Jase’s deadly catch stole the show at the annual Robertson beach vacation! Phil makes an observation about a shared trait of people who belong to God’s kingdom. Jase finally passes the victory torch to his sons on the golf course and admits there’s only one channel he listens to on his XM radio. The guys examine the behavior of the disciples toward Jesus and the depth of their respect for him.  In this episode: Luke 5, verses 1-11; John 21, verses 3-14 https://philmerch.com – Get 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? So welcome back to the award-winning, unashamed podcast. Are you going to say that every time? I want to say it every time, but I had to at least say that one time. We are now an award-winning podcast. That was the takeaway, right? We are now an award-winning podcast. We will now be doing a podcast on the verse from Romans that says a man should not think

of himself more highly than he ought. We are an award-winning podcast. Sure, where exactly? I'm not won many awards of my life, Jay. There's just a few, you know. I was Mr. Pankrest. That's really the only title I've ever had. I was in the eighth grade when I had that one.

That's big. That's a big deal. That's good. I mean, I think there were 32 students there. But you mentioned one of y'all did the previous 10 years. decade and jace was kind of playfully saying you know 37 people showed up no that was at the k level that was my joke that was this joke that i lost the teleprompter on i think what i said was i was being uh because you're being facetious but miss you're saying there's your word of the

cuff was this is why i don't listen to the podcast which i told her later i said thanks for the ringing endorsement i mean to finish my clearly we had already won. Go ahead. To finish my point, I don't remember maybe the Billy Graham days back then, but it seemed like to me that there's a movement at hand within the kingdom of God. I mean, I sensed movement, big-time movement in the kingdom of. I listened to these people the other night. and watching them and their reactions. That's a good point.

And what they're doing. Oh, that's true. I have seen that the last decade. This is the first time I've said, you know, we may be getting somewhere here. Right. Well, that reminds me of a funny story. And I know we're going to get into League 5 today, so prepare, put your seatbelt on. But so I've had this ongoing kind of spat with, what's the radio called that comes in your vehicle?

Serious? Serious. So what happened was when I sold my old truck, I had just renewed my subscription. I was on a trip. It took like, you know, over an hour talking to a person. So I get that. But I sold my other truck. Well, when that person bought my truck, they turned off my series radio and my new truck.

You see what I mean? Yeah. That's what happened. Right. Well, it made me mad because I thought, because now they were like, well, call us and renew your subscription, but I just did. So I just said, okay, I'm boycotting this. I was angry.

So all of a sudden, Phil mentioned that since the Billy Graham days, about a week ago, when we got back from vacation, or a few days ago, well, I have one channel now that's on. It was on. And it's the Billy Graham channel. That's the only channel I got. And I thought to myself, are they sending me a message that they're praying for me?

Or is this just a sign? So I have one channel. It's the Billy Graham channel. So you're getting a lot of Billy Graham. Every time I turn on my truck, Billy Graham is just, I didn't realize. I mean, the man was a fireball. Oh, he's a great preacher.

It is one fireballer after another. So now I'm kind of half. about the whole arrangement because I thought, okay, this winning, speaking of winning. That's kind of my point. It was like there was a point when he was preaching his sermons in the kingdom of God I thought was headed in the right direction, but that's begun to begin to wane until what I saw the other night. But Phil, I've noticed. This may be the beginning, Yeah, it was good. We've talked about that in the extra time that it was a seven, eight hour celebration that we were at with fans.

And there was not a hint of any kind of immorality or Fulte Lane was. It was just really encouraging. It was fantastic. But I will say this about Billy Graham. You have a lot in common. I mean, he was in the vein of your style of preaching with the blunt. I didn't realize how blunt Billy Graham is. Yeah.

So, because I've listened to, obviously, it's on every time I get. It's just, he's pretty blunt. Well, we didn't, obviously, we didn't, Will and I got to meet him, which was a real honor for me, you know, being a pastor for many years. But we have become good friends with Franklin and Will and some of the rest of the, and Sissy and the family. So it's been really neat to just get, like us, be a family,

that has dedicated your lives generationally to spreading the gospel. So you're right, there's a lot there. And, Dad, and Franklin's just a little younger than Dad, but he's a lot like that too. He's just a straight shooter, you know. The other thing I noticed is that just looking across the entire spectrum and their clothes they were wearing reached to the floor

and they were saying godly things. I said, you know, these, these, you don't get a good look at the kingdom women until what I saw the other night. I was impressed with it. But you know, you mentioned this day in the last podcast, and we saw that. There's, when everything you're about is anger and protest and how bad things are, even from a physical sense, you twist into something that's not very appealing.

That is correct. You know what I'm saying? And that's either, that's across the political. I did not see that the other night. No. It's just, I don't know what you want to call it, dirty scene. it just wasn't there. No, there's a piece that goes along, you know, with the process of really having communities,

which was kind of... It just says, you know, Christians have, you know, they get the reputation like they're not having any fun. I mean, that was one of the most fun things. We had a blast. That was a blast. Yeah. Well, to your point, I mean, I think it's...

You can only get so far if it's just a revolt, right? I mean, and it's a protest. I mean, I think that's what's missing in the kingdom right now. I say what's missing. Now we saw that night. We also want to show the beauty of God and the beauty should triumph, triumph over whatever it is that we feel that's destroyed our culture. And you've got to show something better.

And when God's people get together, it is, I mean, it was encouraging. It was very encouraging. It was very simple and pure, just being with God's people that were happy and praising him and laughing and worshiping and crying together. It was a great evening. So what I was going to do. Before you leave it, let me say one more thing. Because we didn't get a chance to do this on stage.

But I do want to thank our crew that's here. Josh is here today because Maddie's on her honeymoon. We talk about Maddie a lot and she's new. So we get to kind of poke fun at her. But she just got married and so she'll be back next week. But Cade and no name, as dad calls him, Connor and Cole and all of our crew that really does a great job because they have to edit everything we talk about. and get this ready to go.

And dad said this before. We've never had a crossword with people that have worked with us either way. True. And that tells you about how great they are. So I just want to thank our crew because we haven't done that yet. But we win podcasts a year. It's not just because of us here doing this. Somebody has to get this presentable and get it out there.

I should have thanked them, but like I said, I was a deer. And look, I should have think. It's okay. We just, you know, we had like. I should have thanked Blaze too because they, I mean, they're. Provide the platform. They do. And so, but I was wearing one of their nice hats.

You are. I thought you were represented as well. Because you got to wear it all night for everything. So I wanted to say that before he left the subject of podcast the year. So it does take, you know, take a lot to pull it off. So, but I wanted to say I had this idea because we're in League 5. And you got to remember, we came from commercial fishing backgrounds. This is what Phil chose to do for a living.

post-Jesus, despite two master's degrees. Post-Jesus pre-Duc-Call world. Pre-Dut-Call, we were fishermen. And so every time, and look, I'm just going to be honest, you know, the single most thing that got my attention towards walking toward Jesus was y'all's conversion. You and Mom, I mean, that was a big, I saw God's transformational power lived out. we would make a movie about that it would be powerful i think you should i mean i would probably

you know call it something like the blind oh the blind yeah there you go and it could and then if i only knew what that meant but i'm working on zack to tell us somewhere in the movie or in the credits to say this is what i called that so let me just well let me let me let me say this i did ask i did ask i did Ask Unashamed Nation. I said, what do y'all think? And they overwhelmingly responded with, we keep it the blind. So the people have spoken. And since that whole concept was kind of born out of this community here, I would

just go around with it. Yeah. No, I like the name, Zach. That was not my argument. My argument was, explain that somewhere on your packaging. That's all I said. Because some people, they might not know who Phil is. or they may not know what a duck blind is.

They may not understand the concept of I once was blind, but I now can see. I just thought if you had a subtle explanation for it on the back of the whatever, you know, or you know how they have these little, what do you call them? An explanation for what the movie is. They're like the tagline.

A little disclaimer, whatever. No, it's not. This is a good idea. That's actually a good idea. I'm going to make a note of that. I've been telling you this for a month. month and you've been taking that to mean I didn't like the name I was like no I like the name I just want an explanation somewhere for people I like to be clear boy I tell we can't go five minutes about an argument on this podcast so now we're arguing about an argument that we never really wasn't an argument so what I was going to say in the spirit of my series radio and looking at things as a sign I mean I can't help by the way you're the one suffered not that I wouldn't love a lot of bit of Graham's sermons but but just step over your pride and reorder your serious.

I couldn't do with it. I'm in the car too much for that. Oh, I'm sending a message here. You know what I mean? I just did this. I can't help. Yeah, but it was a glitch in the system. Somebody has pushed a wrong button.

And I don't feel like it's my responsibility to call and say, hey, somebody pushed a wrong button because I signed up. But I'm saying you're suffering because you're not getting to hear your music and all that. I just used it as a quiet time. So I'm not. I thought I don't need this anyway. I put my worship music on. But now that I've got Billy Graham 24-7, I'm like...

That was from the Lord. There's no doubt. I agree with that. It's awesome. So I want to give you another sign. So here's what, when we were on vacation, we were supposed to be on vacation, but we're never on vacation. You can't take a vacation from studying God's word.

So I was in Luke because we're in Luke. Yep. And we're in Luke 5. And so I think it's cool that this is a miracle. about fishing. And what I was going to say that even though Phil and Kay's transformation

was probably the biggest thing that got my attention and led me to pursue the Lord, I used to read when I first started reading the Bible, I'd read all the fishing stories because that's a hot fish, you know? And so, and I could identify with that.

Especially some of the details that people who are not fishermen might miss, like when you get to, you know, there's another story that we're going to study in Luke 5, which is in, is it John 20 or John 21? 21. John 21. And it's fascinating when the Bible does this.

Yep. You have what you think is the same story told by two different people, but it's not. Nope. It's the same miracle done at two different times. Correct. And the responses by Peter, who was kind of the central figure, or I guess, I mean, Jesus was a central figure, but Peter was the most notable, I guess.

He was the most targeted of his response. So I think we all agree at this point in our Bible study that Jesus did these miracles to symbolize something. Would you agree with that? Correct. So when you start pursuing this and you see these two stories, it's really fascinating how Peter grew from the first time this happens,

which we're fixed to read it, to the second time in John 21. Correct. It's fascinating. So we'll pursue that. But what I thought we would do, and what I was going to recommend when I was reading this, I thought wouldn't it be cool on the podcast

to just go over like our top 10 crazy catches? Because you got to remember, we fished for how many years? About a decade. no longer probably two decades down i mean even when the duck call cranked up we were still fishing yeah yeah it's probably 20 years yeah 20 years and look we haven't stopped fishing since then so when i when i go to the beach on vacation we used to play golf i used to like golf you used to be my number one thing because we would play 27 to 36 holes a day but we were young but old age is crept in we can't get through i mean my back got hurt the first round

And to be honest, my commitment to our TV show, the Duck Family Treasure, which is fixing to come out, by the way, season two. And this podcast, I had not picked up a club in... A year probably. Almost a year. Yeah, me either. So don't say, Jay's is out there playing golf messing around. No, I hadn't. I've been, I'm working here.

And by the way, we always are competitive. So we're playing Jason's sons and other young people in our family. And it showed. It was complete domination. We got dominated. My sons just obliterated us. So there's that story. Let's not talk about it.

Let's talk about it. Okay. I just want to let people know. We're humble in our old days because we paid a lot of money to do a lot of the young people. So my parting words to them every other day because we didn't play golf, you know, every day. Couldn't take it. Here's my $20, whatever I lost, $10 or $12, and now I'm going fishing. So I thought about us telling the 10 greatest catches, because this catch on what

happened in League 5 is spectacular, especially if you're a fisherman. But even if you're not a fisherman, this is a miracle. If a person can do what he did, and that person being Jesus, this should get your attention. This should make you stop and think. wait a minute, if this is true, that this means my world is rocked. If there's a person who was on the planet who could control what fish do just from his mind, this is a person you need to look into and get to know if possible. So you see where I'm going.

So do we get to tell one of our top stories? Well, I was going to, but you know what happened on the beach? one of my top 10 stories, perhaps number one, happened the next day. So why don't you tell, I'll save that. So I got one on tell. It struck my mind when you said that many ago. So I don't know if you remember this, Dad. So this is, I think this is pre-Christian days because we used to live in a trailer park in

farmable right next to a lake. No, that was definitely pre-Christian day. Right. Well, I'm not sure if we lived there and went back there is why I'm saying that. Oh, that's true. But I think we were living there then, so Dad wasn't a Christian yet, because what we were doing was illegal. So it makes me think it was before. Statute of limitations.

Statute of limitations. Well, I remember that place is where, you know, when Dad kicked us out of the house. Yeah, that's when it happened. So I was about eight at the time. So I'm with you, Dad, and you're not supposed to fish nets in the lake. It was a rule. But you knew you could probably catch some catfish if we put a trammel net across that bridge. It was right there next to our house.

Underneath the bridge. Underneath the bridge. So you and I went out. We had a little small, there was a little bit John boat. I mean, it couldn't have been over 12, 14 feet long. And so it's dark. We have no light because we're doing something you're not supposed to be doing. So I just remember being a kid, like being like super excited because we're like, you know,

we're doing this. So you put the net out. And then we go back, you felt something tug. So we went back around and started running it immediately. And you brought up. an Apalooza's catfish that looked like, at least in my mind's eyes, the eight-year-old kid, it was as long as our boat. Do you remember that?

That huge fish. And it had already ripped a hole in the net, and you were trying to get underneath him, figuring out how we're going to get this massive. We're talking about probably a hundred pound plus fish into our boat. And that sucker took one turn and he was gone. And he left a hole in your net this big around. It was a massive Apollosus catfish under that. But it's just one of those memories that I'll never forget looking at that fish as he came to the top because my eyes got this big.

He must have been six foot long as I was. Yeah, six foot long. So that's one of my fishing. I mean, there were many. We've shared most of them the year that you were out of money, couldn't pay the bills, and you went out and put some trot lines up. And they started literally, there were so many catfish in the backwater. You were catching them on bare-hubs. Unbelievable.

I've never seen anything like it before or since. Every hook, before I baited him, had a catfish on it. You kind of thank the Lord and said, you know what? The trot line ran a quarter mile. I just went down a roadbed. It's the road in the woods between Arkansas and Louisiana. Louisiana was on my right and it was on the left. When I went right down the middle and I just would tie off on a limb like this, zigzagging.

and when I left there, I had right out 1,000 pounds of catfish. Good, nice. I know why you were. Two of my old ex-buddies I ran with. It was after I became a Christian, and I told them. I said, y'all fixed to see something that you've never done before or you never will do. I said, the fish, we can fix to do it. And I just put the line out, and the thing, they started hitting them hooks from the bait I had on them,

the day before. Yeah. So I was just baiting them up. By the time I baited them up, I had the floor of the boat with fish. And then I just went back down there taking them off. It never stopped until the boat was about like that or a sink it. It would have sunk the boat. Yeah, about three inches.

So, Dad, you said something interesting. So you had started even then a process of when we would need money to pay the bills or duck commander. You would pray about it. Yep. And then we'd go do something like that. and the Almighty would answer the prayer. And I saw some miraculous catches.

Yeah, that's what I think so too. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but it sure was. Zay, you want to tell that story where y'all caught those four little brim in that creek? I was respectfully listening to the story. Well, sometimes the miracle is that you caught a fish. And look, we appreciate that. So that matters, too, Zai. When you catch 1,000 pounds, it's worth looking at.

That's kind of what was going on in this Luke 5. Yeah. Yeah, there was one year that my buddy had a place where we would duck hunt in a rice field. And we were going to go out there and catch some frogs. This was when me and Jeff were in college. And we drove out to this rice field. And there were crawfish just, I mean, like literally, just the entire road and levy system was covered in crawfish and we would drive the truck down.

They would just scatter into the water. And so we came back, I don't know if you remember this, Phil. He came back to your house and said, Phil, we need to borrow your net, your crawfish traps, which you had about 50 of them. And you said, as long as you bring me back to cooler full of crawfish, you guys can use them. And so we went out there and kind of the same thing. We started with, uh, with, uh, um, roe. kill when we threw some road kill in there and then the craw,

we put them in the trap and they just, I mean, the crawfish just, I mean, descended on those traps. But then we started, we were catching so many that we went to the local crawfish store Cormiers where all the people in Monroe go to eat crawfish. And so we had about a two-week run where we were selling crawfish to Cormier's until the farmer kicked us off the rice field. Oh, you didn't mention the poaching part. I didn't know you were on somebody else.

I thought that was all legal, but apparently he only had rights for duck hunting, not crawfish. What's yours is mine and mine is yours doesn't apply to land. It's pretty much blown to him. That's funny. I have seen some fascinating things happen when it comes to crawfish, especially when it big rains. You remember our property one time turned into a river of crawfish? Oh, man. It looked like some kind of effect on a movie.

Yeah, because that red underneath the water. It was a river of crawfins. Millions. Millions. It was fascinating. So in all these things. Good stories. I thank you for pulling that out of that.

Jace just firmly threw you under the bus. That was a very interesting. Well, I just figured if we would have submitted pictures, you know, you'd have Zach and Jep with like three brim and a catfish. And the catfish was a mug cat. And, you know, look, Jesus is better than a miracle. And I do think all these things, the conditions, where you could, you know, there is a difference in God working providentially and miraculously,

which in this case, this was a miracle that they had fished all night. They hadn't caught a fish. Anybody knows about fishing when he says move to the deeper water. Well, fish are in, the ones you catch are in shallower water. You know, if you go out to the middle of the river, I mean, Philo attest this. How long did you fish the Washhtaw River? Would you say where would you catch most fish? Near the bank or in the middle?

Out in the middle in the deep or in this more... No, I'm not saying... Depending on what time of year it was. Yeah. Yeah, which is true. But I would say most of the time it's the shelf off the bank that goes to the deep. That's right. So what's crazy is Jesus is a carpenter by trade.

as a human. And I know that was not well received when he's like, hey, throw your nets on the other side. Now, I can imagine you back then, because you have all these arguments where the fish are with all the local commercial fishermen. But, you know, if a guy who builds houses comes down on the bank says, hey, Phil,

you need to put your net because I imagine what you would say. And I hate to say it, but I'm being honest. I think you would have said, hey, you need to stick to building houses and let me worry. Precisely. I'm about where my nets ass go, right? So I'll read the text or you'll be telling my story on the beach. I'll tell your beach story first. Okay.

So here's what happened. We were, what I like about going to the beach is trying to figure out how to catch fish from the beach that you can eat. Because I've always been a processed guy. I've already shared with you. One of the reasons my wife loves me, other than, you know, she made a promise to the Lord of me. But, I mean, one of the other than she has to. Yeah, other than she has to is she loves that I can go to the woods or on the water and provide for our family a meal and do the whole process. You know, catch, clean, cook, eat, eat, clean, sometimes.

clean up after it's over. So we had a plan. And look, this is like a three-year plan. I encouraged her strongly to book the house where we were at because when I looked at my journals and all our fishing, the best year we had, we were at the house where we stayed this year. I was like, I want this house. And she was like, why do you care?

You've never cared. And I was like, because we hammered the pompano. Yeah, which are delicious. It's called Limits of Pompano on the beach there. So get the house, make it happen. You know, I mean, I, and she pulled it off. Yep. So I said, I think there's something.

She's already booked it for next year. Oh, I know. So we, that was the plan is to go Pompano fishing, which, you have to look up Pompano. They're not a big fish. No. But they're really good to eat. And you can only catch three apiece. And so, you know, we have this plan.

We got all the equipment. We use 20 pound test line. but you catch other fish every time you go. And one of the reasons I'll just say behind this house, there's kind of a flat out there in a trough, which makes it good for that kind of fishing. It is. So we strategically did that.

We spared no expense. I bought a new rod and reel. We're all excited. It's all about the fishing. We're going to catch the fish. We're going to eat them on the bank. We're going to cook them for everybody. It's going to be wonderful.

So day one, we fished. pretty well all day. And we caught one pompano. I mean, I'm talking about we fished daylight to dark. Now, we caught a few other fish. We caught a little baby shark and a couple of catfish, but just one pompano. By the way, just to set the same for the audience, so everybody gets involved because they're using these sand fleas that you catch in the surf.

And so the little kids are out catching the bait while the guys are doing all the fishing. And so, you know, all the son-in-laws and everything. everybody's involved in the process. It's not like it's just two people fishing. I mean, like everybody seems to engage. But you're fishing, but you're fishing from the beach. From the beach. I'm fishing.

You just. And the women are all laying under the umbrellas right in front of behind everything. They're watching, you know. And we're, I'm under an umbrella. I'm trying not to get sunburn, which is almost impossible. But, uh, so anyway. And I did have a fish the first day that broke my line. I mean, something.

I thought maybe it was a shark or whatever. I mean, it just, it just. I just pulled all my line off my reel because I had my drag set. Pop, I mean, it was just ferocious. So I was like, wow, not a pompano. So day two, we go out, back out, a little more calm in day two, and all of a sudden we start catching pompano. You and Jay, boom.

So we're giggling, you know, like we're back in junior high. If our plan is working. And then all of a sudden, and you got to remember I got 20 pound test line, The rod goes off. Now, it's not like we're just, I mean, we're a few hours into this. We're averaging about one pompano an hour, yeah. Which was pretty good compared to one in 12 hours the first day. And so all of a sudden my rod just, it's more than just a pop.

It, because we had four rods out. I run over there. Well, this thing is just spinning, just like when I had my line broken. I said, this is not a pompano. And Jay's like, well, what is it? Well, I started running out of line because he's pulling the drag. So I start going down the beach because I'm out of line. Because he's not going out to the middle.

He's just going kind of away and to the left. And so I'm kind of following him. And I kept telling you, I was like, well, there's no way I'm going to hold this fish. So we were trying to figure out what it is because we thought, you know, is it a stingray? It's like, no, he's got too much run. And there's too much head movement. I can feel. And it's like, well, it can't be a shark because I have 20 pound test line.

He would already brush it. Right. Yeah, they cut the line. So we could not figure out what it is. Well, this goat, we get five minutes in. We get 10 minutes in. I'm not even trying to turn this fish. I'm just hanging on.

If he runs, I go with him down the bank. Well, what happened was a crowd started gathering because, I mean, I am bowed up. And my lovely wife videoed the whole thing. and so we might can run some of that i don't know now look i'm on the beach so take it what it is you know but so 10 minutes in jay finally said i think you're going to have to try to turn him and i was like well why not because i can't this is going to break your line he's going to break my line i'm getting tired and i'm almost out of line well so he makes another run and i just bowed up on him i stuck my thumb on my line so the drag wouldn't pull and i thought

I'm either going to break my line or I'm going to turn him. This is a fight here. I'm like, I'm in charge. I'm boss until you break my line. Well, I turned him. So now I started reeling and now I'm pulling. First 10 minutes hanging on. So we get 10 minutes into that.

And now every muscle in my body and I don't have many and I'm over 50 years old, I am worn out after this. I mean, I'm dizzy. Between the golf and now this here and that's hot. So 10 minutes of that, now it's just become personal. You know, I'm like water. You're like Bill Phillips. So, and then at 20 minutes in, the tide turned,

and I thought there's a possibility that I'm going to land this, and I'm thinking it's a dolphin or something without teeth because I thought, why is my line not breaking? So we get to the 30-minute mark. All right, hold on. This is such a cliffhanger, and let's take a break. And all of a sudden, it breaks the water. And to everyone's shock and surprise,

and now the reason I'm telling this, in the spirit of Luke 5, it is a shark. And at first glance, it's about five feet. There's a picture of it. It's about five feet long. So you see that. So we're going to show it. Four and a half, five feet long.

Yep. We were guessing at almost 100 pounds. And it was called, it was a black, black tip. Black tip shark. So we couldn't figure out. And we landed the shark, and Jay grabbed the shark by the tail. And he was very careful because the shark was plain dead. But when he let go of it, it then did like Anopoulos's cat does.

It tried to bite everything within a six-foot parameter of that, which was very vicious to watch. And Jay was looking at me like, I could have lost an arm there. And I was like, yeah. So when we got to look and we had a piece of wire in his mouth, and I'll tell you the story, what happened was not possible. It's impossible to land a shark that size, on 20 pound test line, unless the shark had been on someone fishing for shark and on their get-up, which was a metal leader, which is what happened.

What happened was someone who was fishing for shark got a hold to this shark. and it broke the line way up. So he had the leader still stuck in his mouth. Had his leader in his mouth. Well, then the shark swam by another pompano fisherman because we saw his rigging and broke that line. Then he swam by another pompano fisherman and broke that line. Well, I was the fourth person.

He just swam by and all this knot of line and hooks that he had broken. my hook just he actually turned himself in. I didn't catch the shark. He caught me on the way by. He wanted to get it. Yeah, he was destined to be caught. So I was hooked onto all these lines. So actually when we removed the line,

Jay took a pair of wire cutting pliers and cut the leader out of without getting bit, which was very. Y'all did this shark a favor. He was probably left there thinking he'd been to the dentist. Like, who. Save the shark life. And released him. But so what happened was really a chance in one in millions for you to land a shark that big on the beach, which I noticed very few people went into the water after that.

Everybody's like, I don't know. Because you didn't know that guy was out there. Well, and I'm not, look, I don't want to scare you off the beach. But after that happened when I, because we would walk. out on the shallow bar and throw as far as it could, but you're walking, you know, 50, 60 yards out in the water. Yeah. Well, one of my walks, I'm walking out there and I look and here comes a dark blob.

And I kind of froze and looked. And it was about an eight foot shark swimming right toward me. And so then you're in that moment of what do I do? What do I do? I started to run back, but I thought I'll never make it. He's too close. I mean, if that triggers a response, so I'm there with a rod, and I just thought, well, if he gets within this rod down, I'm going to try to pop him on the head, I guess. I mean, I don't know what else I can do, but he got probably 10 feet from me, and he just veered out.

So then I was like, hey, Austin, run this line out for me. Dad, he learned their reviews. Get the young bucks out there for that job. So anyway, that happened. So it was a once in a few million scenario to catch that fish. But it was a, I was pretty proud of it. And there was a huge crowd that had gathered around. Oh, everybody cheered.

And I mean, it was, you know, we kind of had a moment there. And then we caught our limit of pompano, which we grilled them and we all ate. And I got to eat some. They were delicious. Yeah. So that was a top 10 catch for me. It really was. Yeah.

It's off the bucket. Yes, and to do it with 20-pound test line in front of a crowd of people, it was quite exiled right. It was. I landed the beast. You did land the beast. All right. You can get back to us. So with that, I want to read this story.

So this is Luke 5 one day as Jesus was standing by the lake of Geneseret. I don't know why we're calling that because it says that is the Sea of Galilee. There must be another name for it. I tried to look that up. I think it just had different names. And I've been to this sea, and it was just think in your mind. it's like a bowl, and you can see for miles. You can actually see across it,

but it's a lot bigger than it seems. But you see why they would call it a sea, even though it's really a lake, right? It is. It's like a bowl, and real pretty. And with the crowding around him and listening to the Word of God, he saw at the water's edge,

two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to sign, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.

Well, Simon, you know how he is. He's like, master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. And I just want to say, too, the best time to, you know, fish is early and late. I mean, it just none of this was checking all the boxes. But he says this famous phrase, which I love. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. So he surrendered. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

So they signal their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink, which I think is incredible because they went from, And even in a similar moment with us, I caught that shark and it was really cool. But then I was actually horrified. Because you got to deal with it. Well, because Jay, I mean, somebody could lose a limb or their life. When that, we all underestimated the power of that shark.

Until I saw him flop and try to bite everything around here. But now you got the boat sinking. So you go from extreme jubilation to fear. And we're going to get this. And remember, these miracles of Jesus symbolize something. and that is going to be part of the revealing nature of this story on why this happened. And you'll notice that by Peter's response. So in verse 6, when they had done so...

No, verse 8, sweet. Yeah, verse 8. So when Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man. for he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken and so were james and john the sons of zebedee simon's partners then jesus said to simon don't be afraid from now on you will catch men so they pulled their boats up on shore left everything and followed him

so a lot to unpack here or a fisherman those are a great tenets of a great ten texts. We get it, right? I mean, when you spent that much time doing it. You bet you. One of the things initially that got me was, obviously, I don't know how well at this point, Simon, when he knew about Jesus, the story of him and his mother-in-law is before this text, but I'm not sure it happened chronologically that way.

It could have been after. But one thing's for sure out of whatever he heard Jesus talk about, and then maybe it was Jesus' reputation already in that. in the Gatilly region, that, as Jay's pointed out, he went a little suspect of him. Right. He went against his own fishing instinct to say, because you say so. So that said something about respect, that, okay, we're going to do this because you asked me. But you knew it had nothing to do with.

In his mind, he said, we ain't catching. We're not catching a fish. I mean, that's exactly what he thought. We're going to strike out on this. And before we get into the deep meaning, I do want to mention the John 213, So now this is post-resurrection. So we're going way on the other. Peter has grown here in these three years have gone by.

Yeah. But you got to remember at this moment, the last time Peter was with Jesus, he had denied him. Yeah. Well, Jesus had predicted he would deny him, and then he did it. He did. And now, you know, we have a few appearances that he's with, but you've got to realize that was weighing on him heavy, even though he's. He had seen his appearance and knew he was resurrected.

Correct. So verse three of John 21, I'm going out to fish, Simon Peter told him. So it's like full circle. We're right back after the ministry of Jesus. Jesus is death, brown resurrection. He's going back to fishing. And it says, we'll go with you. So they went out, got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

So that's eerily similar. Another goose egg. early in the morning Jesus stood on the shore but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. So Jesus is now post-resurrection in his shape-shifting mode. That's right.

He called out to him, friends, haven't you any fish? No, they answered. He said, well, this sounds familiar. Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you'll find some. And how many times have you been fishing and somebody said, you know, I think

We caught something down to whatever. I mean, I've always, you know, you've experienced something similar to this. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I just always think about that meme that people send me all the time when they're like, that Will Ferrell meme that says, I don't believe you. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved John said to Peter, it is the Lord.

As soon as Simon Peter heard him say it as the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him before he had taken it off and jumped into the water. Now, this is a totally different response. The first time he's like, go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinner. This, he's going toward, he's jumping out of the boat. The other disciples, verse 8,

followed in the boat, which would have seen this is. Now, he jumped out of the boat. He's swimming in front of the boat. They're going along. behind him and they're towing the net full of fish for the for they were not far from the shore about a hundred yards when they landed they saw a fish i mean yeah when they landed they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread jesus said to him bring some of the fish you've just caught so he had already had some fish which is funny because peter has jumped out of the boat he's like and then when he gets there jesus like just like, go get me some more fish, and he's like, oh.

And so he goes back, he climbs back aboard. They dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153. So now we have a count this time. But even with so many, and here's another difference, the net was not torn. You remember in the other story, the net was beginning to break. That's right. Jesus said, come, let's have breakfast.

And none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. But he still didn't look like himself. No. Up to this point, which is really interesting. And so then after this, there's this famous, I would assume, if you haven't read this, it's a very powerful, sweet yet, just inspirational moment where Jesus reinstates Peter, and he asks him three times about if he loves him because he had denied him three times.

and at the end of the day, he gives him this charge to feed his sheep. So I wanted to read that because you have similar miracles, or the same miracle, done at two different times with two different responses by Peter, which shows something about his growth process. And we can discuss what this symbolizes. Well, one of the things that jumps out of me, some of the comparisons, the first time, Jesus is clearly, they don't know who Jesus is in the, in terms of he hasn't done anything yet with them. And so they listen to him before the first miraculous sketch. So they, they listen to him because they're intrigued by him and they can see his physical appearance, but they're not

sure who he is. It's really interesting. When we get to the end, he doesn't look like he did at the beginning, but they instinctively know he is who he is because of the second miraculous catch. I just find that interesting that one. time you're looking at him and you're not sure because you don't know much about him. But when you spend three years watching him do his thing, then it's like, oh, that's Jesus. He doesn't look like who he is, but I know it. It's spent a lot of time fishing, but they never had seen anything like that. No.

And that's why John just knew instinctively. He was like, oh, that's the Lord. When he tells you throw your nets on the other side and you start catching fish, remember, that's the guy. You know, which is fascinating. Yeah. Well, the biggest thing that stood out to me, and I don't know if you've ever thought about this. and look I'm all about experiencing the presence of God

I think that's what eternity's going to be like but if you'll notice there's multiple times in the Bible when people realize that they're in the presence of God it's not these flowery you know because you see in cards and in worships it's everything's flowery

and oh but let's face it when you realize you're in the presence of God sometimes it's scary. Yeah. It's terrifying because you realize that you're not God and that you're sinful and you feel guilty and dirty. And I think that's normal. And I actually think it's a positive thing here. And what Peter did is something that we all have to realize that when God is real and he's present,

we need to go down on our knees. And so it's what we do recognize. in our sinfulness and his lack of sin, his holiness, his purity. And I think that's part of it. And I think when you get to John 21, he had realized that Jesus is so good that he still loves us.

You know, he's running to him, even though he had just denied him. And I think that's, there's something powerful that Jesus was symbolizing there. No, I agree. Yeah, I think the question is, thinking about what like what does a miracle what kind of response does a miracle demand particularly the kind of miracles we're talking about the jesus perform then we talk about this a lot on the

podcast about not getting caught up in you know focusing on the miracle above the miracle giver or the miracle worker but i mean to your point jase just to reidify that when uh simon peter when he saw the miracle uh and and they came and they filled both boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, this is what this is the first response. He fell down at Jesus's knees saying this, depart from me for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. When you think about like when you see a miracle and that's one of the things I would say

is like a great litmus test for like miracles today. Even like does it, does it demand that kind of response in the presence of a holy God? you see this miracle performed and your your one response is just depart from me. I am a sinful man. It's a recognition of your own inability in the presence of a holy God. So it wasn't just even in this moment that he saw that God was powerful. I mean, just in this miracle, he was aware in the presence of the miracle of his own sin, that where he said, I can't even be in your presence.

So depart from me, God, just a recognition there. And then the second thing is the fear, you know, that you mentioned. That should create some kind of fear in you. But I love the gospel of Christ so much because I love how Jesus responds, which is fear not. You know, he says this. He says, and Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men. And so I love how Jesus takes the direction when he says,

Don't be afraid, but then he redirects Peter to the real purpose of the miracle, which was not to fill the boats. I mean, that's not the point of this. It's not to fill the boat up with fish. He's calling these disciples. He's calling them out to this incredible ministry to make fishers. They're going to make them fishers of men. And so he redirects them to that.

So, I just think I can't miss that. That's really the truth, because that was the symbol. and that he's going to clean you up. I mean, subliminally, you're going to figure that out. He's going to forgive your sin. And he's going to make you fishers of men despite your flaws. Yeah, I like it. We'll unpack this some more.

We're out of time. We're out of time. We'll go over to overtime and discuss this a little bit more because there's a lot of really rich stuff that's in here. So if you want to follow us over, it's blazed. We'll get our overtime segment. We'll see you over there. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast.

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