Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 699 | Jase Used Hustle Pool for the Lord & Phil’s First Time Seeing the Ocean

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

Jase relives all the time he used to spend in bars, but he wasn’t doing what everyone else was doing! Zach uses Phil’s reaction to seeing the ocean for the first time as an illustration of how big God is, and Jase strongly discourages people showing up on his doorstep unannounced late at night. The guys love hearing from Unashamed Nation about how much God has used the podcast to change hearts and lives! The guys explore the concept of loving our enemies, especially those society deems unworthy.  In this Episode: Luke 5, verses 12-31; Jeremiah 20, verse 9 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 to unashamed. We were back with you. Did that, did you preach yesterday? I did not. I hadn't preached in probably three weeks and I'm not up for another week and two weeks. Well, you may forget how to do it by the time you get back up. I might. I might forget. Maybe you should preach on Jeremiah 20 in verse 9. Ooh, that's one of my favorites. Look that up in your space.

Fair time. That was their theme verse. When Jason and I were in school, that was their theme verse for our class. Jeremiah 20 verse 9. It's very good. Do you want me to read it? Yeah, I read it.

But if I say I will not mention him or speak any more in his name, his word is in my heart like a fire. A fire shut up in my bones. I'm weary of holding it in. Indeed, I cannot. I cannot. I love that. And Jeremiah had a lot of sermons that fell on deaf ears.

He had a tough group. He had a tough crowd. You know, they say tough crowd. So I did preach yesterday, Zach. And it's interesting because I've been trying to align where we're, our preaching series with our podcast series because I'm already studying and I get to listen to y'all. So I get a lot of good sermon material. So I'll take anything I can get.

It's good prep. It's good sermon. And so, unfortunately, though, now there's like a gap because we're already in Duluth. I'm still in second Peter. you know, which is where we were. Oh, I know. I might have to confess, when you're up there preaching sometimes, I'm like, wait a minute. Didn't I say that?

That was my idea in the podcast. Because I know we have the amends, which I've always been a proponent of the well. A lot of the African-American churches have the well, which I love, which means, do you remember what that means, Phil? When they say, well, when a preacher says something, that means. I disagree. And if you see me after, I will explain what comes after the well. They don't interrupt you. They're just like, they're kind and respectful, but there is a different interpretation to that line of thought.

But I don't know what you do when you say podcast material. Well, I'm ashamed. So I was dealing with, which is probably one of the toughest, And I'm the one that planned the schedule, so it's not like I didn't know I was going to have to deal with this chapter. But I was in 2 Peter chapter 2 yesterday, which is one of the more difficult to preach a sermon. Yeah. It's one of the more difficult, you know, you wouldn't just go pick that one to go preach somewhere because it's really harsh. And remember it's the one where Peter is going after the false teachers.

It's not harsh. It just seems that way if you just take it out of the other, his first letter. and without the first chapter. Because you got to remember the context of that. This was basically his dying words. He knows he's about to go. And so he's giving them one last big charge. So anyway, so I felt like I kind of walked that razor's edge of trying to deal with it

contextually and what Peter was dealing with and why he wrote it, but then also bringing in our, you know, 2,000 years later, our cultural picture of where we are. So I felt good about it. It was a, you know, you're depending on the Holy Spirit. The way I approach preaching is the Holy Spirit has a. message to deliver. He's using a very cracked vessel, according to, you know, Paul and St. Corinthians 4, to deliver that message. So you just want to stay out of the way and hopefully get what God wants out of the same. But you want to put your study in also. Exactly. So, because it took me a

week to wrestle with that thing to get it where it wanted to go. But I felt good about it. I felt like it was, it accomplished what I had hoped it would with God's help to be able to deliver that, to both be relevant but also be fair to what Peter was trying to say. Every time I get in front of a group, which is every Sunday morning in the little building next to the main building, all I do is build everything against Matthew. It starts in chapter 16. He's been doing these miracles and dealing with all of the issues of the human race. In the middle of Matthew, he goes, the first half,

to make sure they know, try to get him to understand who he is. Well, then he starts on what he's fixing to do. And so Matthew says, Jesus said, I'm going up to must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders. Chief priest, you said, didn't work out well, all these arguments. Teachers of the law that he must be killed, and after three days be raised from the dead.

That's Matthew. Mark says the same thing. in the middle of Mark, in the middle of Luke coming up on us. Jesus strictly warned him not to tell anybody, but the son of man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders. He said this, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, chief priest, teachers of the law,

everybody says, no, all of groups. He must be killed and on the third day be raised alive. So it finally gets to his purpose of being there, but he always waits halfway through Matthew, halfway through Mark, Luke, halfway through John. And that's when he begins to say, here's the way this thing is going to come out. They were scratching their head, even the disciples, and no one really understood what he meant. Well, I have that on the board behind me when I start 2,000 some odd years later, and I'm just making sure they get that second part of Matthew, Mark, Luke,

and John. This is the purpose of him coming. He's going to remove your sin and he'll raise you from the dead and you better get on to it. Go go preach that and you baptize people. Well, that's the message you're drawn to. So I had an interesting thing last night happened and I probably shouldn't share this. So I think I will. You know, and when you're wrong. But I doubt. I doubt. I Could be wrong on this, but I doubt it. So, you know, when you see a wedding, especially in your family, this is a, it's about a three-day venture. Yeah. Because all the families come in, the new family that's being married into our family, they're all in.

The women get more excited than the men. Yeah. So there's like, and we have the start of camp, which is, you know, all close to our hearts, because we all, went to the local camp there that now Willie's son runs. So my daughter, she's involved in that heavily. So about... So she's going to be a counselor out there this summer? Oh, she is. And so she came in, so she's in, because she's off from college, you know, in Nashville. And so she said, do you care if we have worship night before the start of camp at our house? And I was like, I'm I if when you said worship at our house you don't have to ask me that I mean just walk in so this was two or three nights ago well I was assuming six or seven people it's a big staff yeah there was a light I already had thought there's a lot of girls are going to be coming through there was a light knock on the door and when I opened it because missy was like oh sure but she wasn't even there when they showed up and

And so I just hollered from the couch. Come on in. Don't knock. Come in, you know, because if somebody's knocking on my door, I'm nervous. So they came in. Well, it was about 40 of them. 40. And so they sang, prayed, and preached for about two and a half hours,

which was the backdrop for me to work on the wedding, which was awesome. It felt like I was in like a little cubicle in heaven. So you were working on your wedding while all that was going on around you. Yeah, it was awesome. Kind of took you back to the school of preaching days. Yeah, and Missy came in at some point, you know, and of course she got right in the middle of it, providing harmony. It was really a special night. So fast forward a couple nights later, because so the whole neighborhood has all these new people in because now you're still on the wedding and you have that.

So last night, after the rehearsal dinner, we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Well, there was a knock on the door. It was late. It's almost 10 o'clock. So I looked out there, but I saw a person, big guy, huge. I didn't recognize, but I figured it's either from the family that's coming in or it's part of this camp crew. Because there's people staying all over the neighborhood.

So Reed opened the door, and it was kind of an awkward pause. Of course, the guy sees me sitting on a couch, and he said, hey, Jace. And I said, hey. Of course, I'm studying for the podcast. I got my Bible up, and there's some notebooks. So I was kind of listening to the conversation, and Reed didn't say come on in, but he was like, what? What can we do for you?

It was like, Dad, did that time to Willie. Can I help you? He said, well, I'm a big fan of the Robertsons, and I thought, uh-oh. and a big fan of the podcast. And so Reed said, yeah. And he said, so I drove from California to try to meet y'all. And so then it was an awkward silence because I looked up at the clock. I was like, good grief.

It's about 10 o'clock at night, you know? And I said, well, hey, I'm studying for the podcast. And he was just looking. Because I was thinking, well, what, what, what, drew you here was not me. It's what you're hearing on the podcast, to your point. Right. You know.

And he's like, well, I, you know, can I ask you for a picture? And usually I don't if they show up in my house because I'm like, there's a line you cross. And I'm saying this. Don't, don't show up my house at 945. I don't care where you drove. Because it kind of hit me on that. It's like people who say the reason they're having a bad attitude is because they got up at 4 o'clock in the morning. I'm like, well, what's that got to do with anything?

sleep later and be nicer. You know, just because you drove a large distance doesn't mean that was a wise decision. You know, so anyway, I took the picture, but I just want to say, look, you're drawn to the truth that is revealed, which is Jesus. And that's great. We're happy about that. But don't drive at my house for a picture because the gate was open. We have a gate. It was open because we're having a rehearsal.

you know, for the, for the wedding. So it was the perfect storm. Which I'll add this since Jason went here. I've said this before. Anybody in our podcast audience, you are always welcome to 301 North 7th Street, West Monroe, which is our church on Sundays. Dad teaches an unashamed Bible class. Sometimes I preach there.

Sometimes Jay's does. And size is usually there. So you're welcome to come there, worship with us, meet us. But please do not come to our homes. Just because you don't know. We also have some cookie crows. crazy people that show up at your house with not good intention. And we don't know the difference. And so that's just a... Yeah. So I thought, that's why I said. Maybe I shouldn't share that,

but I think it will. I think that's good. And look, we, we know people get swept up, but Jay's made a great point. You're being drawn to the gospel. It's not, we're just, we're just vessels who put this out of yourself. I think that's a, I think it's a great point that needs to be talked about. I noticed here the day on one of the message boards, I was, reading some of our audience interacting, and it was, it was gotten to this argument about, you know, I like this person more, I, meaning different ones of us on the podcast, and they need to talk. I follow Zach.

I follow Jace. I just, I was thinking, I mean, I really thought of that verse. I just turned to it in 1st Corinthians three. Yeah, for when one says, I'm of Paul and another, I'm of Apollus. and are you not mere men? And I just think about like, yes, I mean, you think about don't put your hope in people. Don't put your hope in any of us.

I can tell you right now because, I mean, I know all three of your flaws and we all know each other's flaws. We will let you down. And I think that it's, man, I do think that's key, man. It's like we're like if,

if what we're doing is not pointing people to Christ, I mean, then what are we doing, right? I mean, and I know we are for a lot of people, but I mean, yeah, there's nothing special about nobody, none of us, you know, particularly you guys, because Yard Moore kind of had that fame from Duck Dynasty, but it's just people. That's what I'm saying. And because I was going to say, you know, and for what?

A picture? The picture we're trying to present is the image of the invisible guy, which is Jesus. So that is the picture that you should receive, which is why, because he, I could tell, he wanted to come in and hang out. And I said, no, I'm studying for the. the podcast. The picture you need to be concerned about is the image of the invisible God. Yeah. And don't come back here. And there's still, there's still a social boundary of people, when people come to your home, they need to be pretty much invited there to be able to come in.

So that's, we need to live that by that. Let's, let's take a break. So it even, this whole concept kind of goes in with what I talked about in my sermon. My sermon titles, I actually what he thought about this was liars, lords, and lustful losers. Boy, it sounds real warm and fuzzy, Al. That was the name of it. And so when I read that, it went through it, I was like, I'm going to tell you, this was a rough one. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel because in all of those situations, there was always a righteous remnant.

There was lot. There was no, there was the good angels. And so at the end of we turned it back up. But it was not exactly the text you would choose to preach. Hey, you know, you appreciate what heaven is all about, understanding that the alternative is something you just don't want to be a part of. Right. And my ultimate point was that Peter was warning about people that you follow.

You want to make sure that they're in line with what Jesus is doing. And he ran up on some people in the first century that had bad mojo in the, there, what they were trying to accomplish. And that's the same with us. We're glad you guys follow us, but look, we got to stick to the word of God and what he's leading. Well, exactly. And we kind of talked about some controversial things in the last podcast on the bonus time.

And so, but really it's about if you say, where are you at in Luke? I mean, he calls these men. They leave everything. And he said, I'm going to make you fissures of men. And then Luke kind of records the instances of the specific people that Jesus was calling. And how you dubbed them the untouchables, which I thought was clever. Yep. Because you got a guy with leprosy or some sort of skin disease that was a social outcast.

There's a paralytic that not only do or they overlook, look, but people don't feel comfortable around people like that because it makes them feel bad. We just don't want to go to that part of our society because it's sad. We don't know what to say. We don't know why this happened. And we just don't want to deal with it. And it's hard to be in that world. Of course, being a celebrity has brought us all into this, that type of world.

of we've all had, you know, prayers with kids with cancer. And, you know, Willie and I was at the request of a dying kid one time. We're on a video with the kid as he was dying. I mean, it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to be a part of in my life. I mean, it's a little kid. Yeah. You know, it's not his fault. He's dying.

And he's like, I want to, my last request, I want to talk to Willie and Chase. And we did it because we were trying to offer him encouragement and peace in this terrible situation. Well, in the end of my sermon, James, I told a story that it happened the night before. We were leaving the stage, and there were a lot of people that kind of came over and wanted to see us. And so we're talking with people and trying to take a few pictures on our way out the door because we got to get on a plane, fly back home. Dad had to teach and had to have a wreck, as it turns out. I had to preach the next morning, but a young man comes up to him. And he looked like he was a, I don't know, 16, 17, 18 year old young man.

And he's just crying. And he said, because I shared some of my story in our Q&A that we did. And he said, I'm right where you were. And I need to talk to my dad and I need to get this thing right. And so I just stopped. You know what I mean? People are coming up and I just said, hang on just a minute. Let me talk to this young man.

And so we had a conversation about what it means to come back to God. God because he was, it had been a prodigal son. And so, and then I prayed with him. And so I thought, you know, he was moved by the message and by me willing to share what God had done in me. And so that's why we went there. And so that's the reason we do what we do is because God has brought us to rescue and redemption in him. All right. So that's why we do this.

Well, I was going to say this. I mean, I think if you, if you say, man, what would really excite you? I think what would excite all of us if somebody came up and talked to you. about how how great God is and how much God has changed their life and how much. And for me, the biggest compliment is, man, I started listening to your podcast and I never knew Jesus in the way that I know him now because of what you guys are doing. That's a different type of compliment than you guys are great. What we want to do is I want to see him glorified and magnified by what we're doing.

I mean, that's what matters. That's why we do what we do. And it's those moments like you encountered right there, Al, that are, that's real. That's, those are real genuine. Yeah, another guy. Another guy told me at the event, God saved me because I began to listen to what you were telling me from his work. He took another guy told me that at that event we were at. And he's right. It wasn't us that saved him. God saved him through us talking. It's his word. That's right. Well, my point was the third leg of the untouchable is where it's kind of a record scratch moment here. because really most people would say oh isn't that awesome jesus he touched the untouched you know the guy with the skin disease and every when everybody's panicking and contagion is running rampant you know here's

jesus showing who god is that he's healer and and accepting of all people and even the guy the paralytic but in that moment gets up and takes his mad and he takes his mad and skips out of the door and he in each of those four even get to the third one, the record scratch, he's telling the leopard to be clean, but there's a spiritual connotation to that. That this Jesus

can clean you. Even not from the outside, he's making a point. Yeah, I'm going to clean the outside, but I can clean you from the inside. And that is what sparks the controversy when he does that because the paralytic

he says, your sins are forgiven. And it's like, What? And so he was only doing that to show the greater power is that this is God, because only God can forgive sins. Well, then he calls the tax collector, you know, Levi or Matthew, I mean, he's called Levi here. And then they have a party, a bank, I mean, they called it a banquet. It was a party for Jesus.

And there were large crowds of other tax collectors. we can all agree we don't like them by general rule. That's right. So all of a sudden, this is not warm and fuzzy anymore. I can see healing a guy with a disease. I can see. But you know, one of the big reasons why, Jay's is because from a Pharisee's perspective, he looks at those other two and says, well, they couldn't help the situation they were in,

but he helped them. Now we got to, these guys here, they've chosen to do what they've been doing. Life's choices. And not only tax collectors, but sinners. The hurdles are numerous, but he's getting a lot of flack on the way to tell him. By the way, he began to say, we're going up to Jerusalem. The chief priest, the teachers of law, the most religious people, the people that are causing us trouble and saying, what the world is that?

You know, healing this one, that one, on the Sabbath, all these arguments. Jesus was given them how this is going to be. once he started down the road of we're going up to jerusalem the most religious people on the earth are going to turn me over to the gentiles and i'm going to die be buried in three days i'll be raised from the dead once he starts down that trail things get worse not better they begin to get like a monster is raised its head oh you're right we're in the early rid of him we're in the early stages. Oh, that's why he hadn't mentioned that yet because he's laying a groundwork. But he does say, I've not come to call righteous in verse 32, come call the righteous, but sinners to repentant. So if everyone was honest, everyone that's old enough to understand

right and wrong, you become a sinner. You see, they got factions, and he's saying, I'm going to die for all every one of y'all because you're all sinners. And you need to get that in your head on quit bad mouthing your neighbor and and I'm going to teach you how to love him and it was just they said we're going to get rid of him I mean they they rallied together under the auspices of the evil one and I mean that was all right about a rough road or hoe so what happened was I mean god gives the law to the Jews and and you're going to see this uh you know come out in Luke six which is Luke's shorter version of the sermon on the Mount. But from their perspective, God gave the law so that they could keep a lot of it and then

earn God's blessing. Yep. And Jesus is turning that on its head and he starts with the people first. Everybody's doing it, Jase, but sin is starting. Well, the problem is they're like, you know, Jesus is calling people that doesn't seem to fit their legal approach to how God is, which most religions say the more good you do, the more in favor you are with God. And Jesus is coming and turning that on its head, basically saying, I'm providing the way out. I'm providing. And I'm the only sinless one here.

And because of that, you try to do what's right. It's not the other way around, which is what separates Jesus from everybody else. You're never going to attain at all. You're never going to be good enough, no matter how much of it you keep. That is correct. You've got all these verses. If you break one point, you're guilty of all of it. So he's putting everybody on the same plane.

That's why he said, I came to call. My point is he hasn't told them how, except he's getting close. how all this is going to work because right now they're looking at him and he's going to come back and finally say I'm going to die for the sins of the world and I'll raise him from the dead and now you're on ground

where he said do what I mean they're like what in the world is that the one that's going down and said be good the lepers and is that the same one that said love all your neighbor no matter why much sins he've committed and well that's where I was getting to

and we'll get to Luke Cid I'm just trying to pray everybody, it gets worse. But he's going to get to Luke 6 where he starts talking about you should love your enemies. And, you know, we talked about that in the overtime because

you live in a world where people are not going to agree with you. And so you don't compromise truth. You don't compromise trying to convert people to Jesus because he's the one that changes your life, not us. But how you treat people, Jesus is really radical.

I don't think anywhere else in any world situation or religious situation, are you supposed to love your enemies and do good to them? He continues. We'll get into it. And you're like, wait, wait, what? So how you treat people matters to Jesus. So he brings that out. and the religious world, they don't like that.

The people under the old law, they don't like this. What do you think Paul thought, Jason, about him, and this was just an argument to them, but it was a brilliant argument Jesus uses. It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I mean, he just makes a practical point. That's what doctors do. They help people who are hurting and they need healing. So what do you think Luke thought about that?

I mean, here's Luke, who's a physician. Jesus said it, but he's looking at it like. Luke's eye. got big. Yeah, he's like, yes. That's what, I mean, because he spent his life in preparation to do just what Jesus said on the physical side. But what he's saying is, I'm a spiritual healer and a physical healer in his case, because he could literally bring that. But that wasn't his purpose. But I couldn't help but think about that one to mention it, that here was Luke, who was a physician, and Jesus uses his profession to illustrate, that's why he came,

is to help people find healing, which I thought was interesting. But what's interesting about it is the underlying implication of what Jesus said, which is that everyone is sick. Everyone's a sinner. That's the beef. You ask, where's the beef here? Well, because they're saying, yeah, but we're the righteous and you're hanging out with sinners. And that's really what comes down to. Works won't do it. It won't do it. So, thus comes our next phrase, because now they're trying to find ways since he's representing himself as God, and they're representing themselves as lawkeepers, they're trying to turn him into a hypocrite

because they're like, well, let's find where he breaks the law. If he breaks the law, well, he can't be from God because he's violating the law. So the first instance you see is verse 33. They said to him, John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. But yours go on eating and drinking.

So they don't really attack Jesus as much as his disciples. But this is also just the first time they do go directly to him with a complaint. Because, you know, the other two, they were just thinking it. Then the second one, they went to the disciples. This is the first time they asked him, and you're right, but there's a caveat. It's not really about him. It's about why don't your disciples, why don't they more like us is what they ask. So Jesus gives them an answer that is, they probably thought, what are you talking about?

He says, can you make the guest of the bridegroom fast while he is with him? So I'm pausing for on purpose. Say what now? Can you make the, so they said, why do your, why do your disciples, why are they not fasting? Because that's in the law. You know, there's a time to fast. Of course, and when the next thing is, you know, about the Sabbath, how they're acting on the Sabbath. So he says, can you make the guest of the bridegroom fast while he's with them?

But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them in those days, they will fast. Which is a little glimpse, to add to your point you've been making, that's a little glimpse on what was going to happen to. He just kind of drops it as a hint here. If you're new to the faith, Jesus is basically saying, and I mean, I'm fixed to do a wedding tonight, but if you go to Ephesians 5, And look, there's been more arguments about the roles of the husband and the role of the wife, especially, you know, in our current culture, about, because it's like, wives submit to your husbands, you know, husbands love your wives. The point was that, Paul's point, is that we're married to Jesus. He says that at the end. He's like, this is a profound mystery, but I'm talking about the church in Christ.

Jesus is the bridegroom. We're married to Jesus. There's two vows you make. You're married to Jesus. And you, for us, you know, we marry our wife. Well, that thread helps each situation because it's when you start thinking about it. So when you come to Christ, well, that's just the beginning. It's not over.

You start this journey with Jesus. Well, when you say, I take this woman, you know, sickness and in health, till death does it does uh what is the old it's like that do us it's like i accept jesus for removing my sin and in both cases you're going to need the grace of god to function yep and i mean that was paul's point in ephesians 5 so here he's referencing that i mean there's a reason jesus never married this is it he's married to us all of us i mean that that's that was his idea and i think it's So then he tells them this parable. No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one.

If he does, he will have torn the new garment and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wine skins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out, and the wine skins will be ruined. No. New wine must be poured into new wine skins. and no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says the old is better. Now, number one, the fact that he's using wine as an illustration

probably sent a lot of them to pass out. And the second one is he's, what's his point? How would you describe? So they ask him a question, how come your disciples don't fast? Because they're not keeping the law. They're being hypocrite. That was their implication.

Right. And Jesus says, I need to be more like us. Because they're with me and I'm the bridegroom and you don't take new wine and pour it into old wine skins. So that was his answer. So what, let's say you. So, yeah, there's three different, there's actually three different illustrations. Because the first one he deals with is the idea of the wedding is the picture it is as you described. The second one is this concept of who would take a new garment and basically ruin it.

to fix an old garment. That's what is. I'm done with duck hunting clothes, but I didn't go this far. Well, because you didn't care if it stayed in one piece of a lot. But, no, Dad, actually, your illustration makes his point. So to you, the old garment that you have, and I'm thinking about that shirt you donated to the museum,

that meant more to you than anything new that came in, right? Because you love that shirt. It was comfortable on you. that's really becomes the point is because he's saying you're comfortable with the old, but I'm telling you, we're bringing in something new. So that's his point. But the Pharisees were much more comfortable with the old. That's the point he's trying to make.

Well, and they don't like the people he's running with and the way he's doing it and what he's claiming. Yeah, I think you can see their hesitation in something new because everything he's doing It's not that it's just something new. It's that it's a completely different, like, paradigm shift. It's a, they don't have room for it to even, like, the capacity of the wine skin. That's right. It's their wine skin can't even hold it. And I think that's the point here.

It reminds me of a C.S. Lewis quote and a story about Phil that I've told in a lot of sermons. And it always resonates with people that. that felt, if you remember, we went to South Carolina for something. And we were staying at this hotel, like this resort on, like on the, on the, on the Atlantic Ocean. And I asked Phil if he wanted to go and look at the ocean. And he was like, nah, he's just like, no, and I don't want to do that. I was like, but you've never been to the ocean.

Don't you want to see it? He's like, no, I don't want to see it. And I said, well, you want to go get something to eat? He said, yeah, let's get something to eat. It just so happened to be. The restaurant was. on top of like the sand dune area, like a little restaurant up there.

So you had to go up to boardwalk. You had to see the ocean if you want to eat at the restaurant. So we're walking up there and we're just talking and no big deal. But as soon as we hit that crest where you see the ocean, I remember Phil stopped in his tracks and just like, when he saw it, he's like, whoa. And it was like this moment of like, man, I didn't realize what was there. And I think it reminded me of that C.S. Lewis quote where he says that we're half-hearted creatures.

And it's not that the Lord finds our desires too strong. He finds them too weak. We are half-hearted creatures who go about fooling with sex and drink. He said it because it's like settling for a mud pie in the slum because you can't bathe them a holiday by the sea. So I think when you get down here to this wine story, I think that's what it is. But new wine must be put in the fresh wine skins. And no one can, after drinking old wine, wish for new, for he says the old is good enough. It's all he knows.

All he knows is the old wine. He can't even fathom something so beautiful, something so grand, something so amazing. And so what Jesus is bringing to Jason's point, it's not just like a new thing, like a new version of an iPhone. Oh, it's like the old. No, it's a whole other deal. that they don't even have the imagination to comprehend or even think about. And that's why I think it was so difficult for the Pharisees because they were so latched on to their own power dynamic

that they could not fathom the beauty that Christ was bringing in this kingdom. Exactly. Because that's the two underlying questions he's asking. I know it's three illustrations, but it's two questions. Where's the bride? Where's the bride? I mean, if somebody answered my question, how come your disciples are not fasting?

because that's a good thing to do. Well, he starts talking about, well, the bridegroom, they're not going to fast because the bridegroom is here. Well, I'd be thinking, well, where's the bride? Which is the,

why he's reaching out to these people. It's like, I'm going to make you fishers of men. These are going to be the bride of the bridegroom. The bridegroom's here. So we're not fasting. They're like, well, who's the bridegroom and where's the bride? Well, that would have been two questions

to ask. Of course, they weren't asking that question. Because if they would have, they'd have put their faith and trust and the guy standing right in front of them. He's saying, here's another I am moment. I am the bridegroom. And look, more than likely, since we're kind of early in Luke's depiction here, Nicodemus, who we read about in John, was probably one of those Pharisees that was there listening

whose heart was touched and he would become part of the bride. Yeah. Which makes it pretty amazing when you think. And the second question they should ask is, where's this new wine? What new wine do you speak of? That would have been a good question. Those two questions would have been very useful for them to understand that Jesus, what he was trying to say. But instead of, they go in a different direction and keep this narrative.

That's a great point, Jase. That's a great point because look at their response on all of the things. things that Jesus said, it was never to be inquisitive of more. It was always just instantly, you know, deny it and say that it's not real. You know, it wasn't like, hey, wait, explain to me how you can be the one to forgive sins. They didn't ask that. They were just like, no, this is blasphemy. Never, they never were curious about what he was saying at all. And I think that's the difference between a Pharisee. Say, are you, do I have a Pharisees mind or do I have the mind of a seeker of the heart that God wants.

A Pharisee is not curious. He's already got it figured out. He's got everything tidied up in his little box. And he has all the answers already that he can control and that he can contain. And I think that's what God is bringing here through Jesus. He said, you can't contain it. You can't control it. You come seeking.

You come with a curiosity. You come with a humility that says, maybe I don't have all the answers. God, what do you have for me? They never asked those kind of questions ever. Well, that's why we brought up in the overtime last time about how we treat people and how we're persecuted, which he's going to get into Luke six. He's like, you are going to be persecuted in my name. And, you know, the reason we brought that up is because he's giving you a picture of who the people are that he's calling. and you quickly figure out that he's calling everybody, Jew, Gentile, the sick, the lame,

you know, the tax collectors, and that's all he's doing. And he's going to be the bridegroom of everybody. So like the Pharisees and some of the controversies that are not controversies, it's just people looking at how people operate and trying to find something wrong. So if you claim to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, there are other people, that are always going to have this fair seical mindset of, well, you're doing wrong. And so we brought up the fact that,

you know, somebody had a picture of somebody working on the crew of the chosen. So we're going, not in the management, not in the picture, there's somebody working on equipment back there in the back. And I've been on the set. There's a large crew.

You can come to my set on our TV show. And there are, I'm positive, even though I don't know, half the people on the crew. I'm positive there are people who do not love Jesus working on our crew.

So if you were going to make an assumption that because I'm working with them, somehow another, I'm mischaracterizing Jesus, that would be a wrong assessment. Or that have different political views. I mean, Fox is the one that is the platform for your show.

I'm sure there are people working on your show that wouldn't align with the views of their network. But you know what? It's America. Exactly. But so it just seems how these things morph that, you know, somebody sees somebody, you know, wearing a rainbow flag. So they're assuming that, you know, I'm in supportive. I'm in, I support whatever narrative the world says.

And my response to that was, you know, God invented the rainbow. I'm not sure I'm ready. I wish we could take it back because like, no, I had it first. I never let it go. You know, so to make assumptions, you know, because I see a rainbow, That's on you. So the point is how you treat people, and Jesus is trying to share that with the religious people of the day, and they're having trouble with that. He's talking about loving your enemies.

He's talking about reaching out to tax collectors. And so, you know, I tell you this, you don't have to be a believer, you know, to work on the crew of my show. I mean, number one is I have no control who the production company hires. And so you say, what do you do? I love these people. I love them and I show Jesus to them and and I befriend them and even you know something I learned as a teenager and this was kind of awkward and I've told y'all, you know, the way my life went, you know, I've never been drunk a day of my life and I owe, you know, I'm thankful because I saw how Phil led his life and I just said, you know what, I'm going to leave that part out of my life. And me. Yeah.

I saw you go off the deep end. I was like, no, I think I'll pass on that. So what threw me for a loop is as an 18-year-old Christian, I've been in the Lord three or four years, and the pastor of our church, the lead pastor, who actually did our wedding, Ray Melton, he invited me one night to go to essentially a bar. And I thought, this guy's crazy.

I said, well, you're the preacher. And he said, yeah. And it was called a pool hall. And he's like, no, what I do, I go out, I take brothers up there and we go play pool and we show them Jesus in our community. And I was like, this is the craziest thing I've ever heard of. But the more I thought about it, and he used this instance in Luke 5. He said, you know, Jesus had a bad reputation for hanging out with the tax collectors and sinners.

He said, I never go alone. So I always have brothers with me. And so, and we did. And we didn't drink. We played pool. But I met people. And some of those people were led to Christ. Ah, a lot of people, because I continued that ministry after he moved back to West Texas, you know.

And so I just thought if somebody drove by, though, this is what the picture this is. Certain people would drive by. And you could make arguments on why you shouldn't be there. and some of them would be legitimate. You know, if an alcoholic, a self-proclaimed alcoholic is in there, I would have a different conversation. So, you know, maybe you shouldn't participate in this ministry, you know. But me and Mr. Ray, it was awesome.

And so I even took it further because one of the guys that was converted during that time period was one of the greatest pool players in the state of Louisiana. And so I came up with an idea. I said, here's what we'll do. because this guy was making a living, hustling people out of their money, playing pool. And I said, that's over. And he's like, what, I can't do that? I was like, you could, but I got a better idea.

What we're going to do is we're going to challenge people to play. And if you lose, we'll pay them $20. So the pressure's on. But if you win, we're going to say they need to have a Bible study. I have to have a Bible study. I said, so we, and he's like, well, how do I win? there. I was like, this ain't about you. This is about God winning. You're now contributing. No, I said, you are now playing pool for the Lord God Almighty. Don't screw this up.

So look, we are. Maybe that's why he was the world's best. Well, look, so the first, the first guy we do this to, there's a guy over there playing by himself, you know, and we start talking and, you know, he thinks he's good and you know my guy's just over there he's got he's got one of these pool sticks in a case you know yeah it's when you know he's sitting over and i said how about that dillon gunfighter so he's watching me play look and i'm terrible this is think the sting here so he's watching me play and i was like look you want to play and he said i'll play i said what you want to play for and he said uh you know how about ten dollars i was like how about 20 well he's already seen me play he said oh i'll do 20 So I take my $20, and so he goes to get his, because that's what you do, you know, you both put your $20 on the table.

And I said, look, I don't want your money. You don't have to bring up $20. Well, then he was kind of confused. So I'm going to get you to play my friend. And if you beat him, you can take my $20. I said, but if he wins, I said, we want to share something with you. And I will say at this point, Jays, because we were both interns together when this was all going on, $20 was the $1, $20 was the $1. a lot of money.

$20 was a lot of money. It ain't like it today. It's like, he said, so I can't lose. I was like, no, you have to put up no money. He said, well, what's the catch? I was like, the catch is we're going to share a story from the Bible if you lose. And he's like, well, how long is that going to take? I said, how long do you want it to take?

He said, how about 10 minutes? I said, great. I can do it in 10 minutes. And he said, well, I'm not going to have to worry about it. And I said, okay. All right, fine. So my buddy over there, well, he's nervous because now he's like, I mean, this guy's spiritual destiny. If I fail.

And I kid you not, my buddy broke, we're playing nine ball, ran the table. This old boy over here never shot. He never picked up his stick because we played two out of three. The second, he broke and ran out. And I said, well, it looks like you lost. he could have let the stick in the body he never fired a shot and and my buddy now he's thinking this is on the border of being miraculous i thought i better now Kevin my buddy who I want to give him credit he was a new Christian Kevin McIntosh he said you know I think the spirit of the Lord must have been

with me I said oh I think it was that was impressive and uh so we up sharing with this guy and he was our first hustle convert so of it actually i shared jesus with him in the parking lot and he was he was actually drinking a beer while while i'm sharing jesus with him because you didn't 70 ground rules about that you just said 10 minutes i'm not you know but if somebody would have driven by what is the picture they're seeing here they would have said look at jace i mean he he eats and drinks with pool players and what i'm getting and i'm taking and i'm taking up for the guys of the chosen for this said reason. You know what I mean?

And so when his response was after 10 minutes, because I said 10 minutes time, I said, what do you think? And he took that beer and he slung it across the road. I mean, the suds were flying out, you know, which now I know what people who are looking at this. Now they're thinking, what? Well, he's littering. You see what I mean?

It's always going to be something negative. He's not worthy of eternal life. I took that as a really good sign, though, for the study. And eventually, he came around. And that's the fellow that I've told the story about before. We wind up baptizing him a couple nights later. And the next day, because I didn't know there was a warrant out for his arrest, you know, they took him.

He was in prison three years. And the day he got out, which was Christmas Day, he knocked on my door. And I was like, well, where have you been? He said, I've been in prison. But I've been studying my Bible while I was there. He did some follow-up. So anyway, I know that was a long story, but I'm just trying to get you to see, are you the, are you finger pointing trying, you know, to see who's legit or are you living like Jesus?

And all I'm saying is, yes, there are things you can do that may seem like not the best idea. But, you know, I'm getting these ideas in Ray Melton who taught me that he got this from watching Jesus and who he's trying to bring in. So we're out of time. We'll talk a little bit more about this than our overtime segment, blazestivy.com slash unashamed because Jay Zetes with pool hustlers and sinners. So we'll talk a little more about that in the overtime. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. and don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube

and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to blazed TV at blazediv.com slash unashamed.