Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 712 | Phil Gets a Sneak Peek at ‘The Blind’ Movie & Jase Shuts Down a Terminal at ATL Airport

Episode Date: July 6, 2023

Phil and the entire Robertson family finally got a preview of "The Blind," and it was an emotional experience for everyone! The guys are impressed and humbled by the far-reaching legacy of Phil’s conversion and how many people were brought to Christ because of it. Jase’s passionate support of his favorite college baseball team leads to an awkward situation at the Atlanta airport. The guys examine the story of Paul’s conversion and wonder what it must have been like for him to interact with the families of Christians he’d persecuted.  In this episode: Luke 6, verses 17-45; James 1, verses 22-27 https://philmerch.com — Get your “Unashamed” mugs, shirts, hats & hoodies! "The Blind" hits theaters Sept. 28th. Get your tickets TODAY before theaters start to sell out! https://www.fathomevents.com/theblind — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to Unashamed. We got Zach in the house. Yeah. Good to be here. Man, this is a treat, Zach. Normally we're zooming you in. You're like working on stuff, but now you've got to just like right here. It's down here on vacation. He's come back from Florida licking his wounds. I'm so glad you brought that up.

I think he's actually in, uh, where are you at now, Iowa Carolina, but I am licking my wounds after last night. That was not. So I decided to wear a little bit of purple and gold just to welcome Zach back to Louisiana because he knows this is the land of the Tigers. And by the time this airs, it will have been a few days. But most of you will have known that LSU won the National Championship. And they happened to beat the Florida Gators, who Zach and his family were big fans of.

We are. I actually had Gordo, Gordon, Zach's dad, was at my house. And, you know, and look, Florida had beaten LSU 24 to 4 in the second game of this series. And so Gordon's riding pretty high. He's coming in. He's confident. And I'm fully, I'm like, okay, you're confident. But he did say one thing.

He said, I kind of wish we wouldn't have beat them so bad because that may have been just too much. Yeah. But then they started out of head, and then it was like, then it just flipped and turned around kind of the same way. Well, I think it was Skip Burtman who said sometimes there has to be a saccharacter. to the baseball gods. He wasn't an idolatry. He just made, you know, it's kind of a thing. Well, you sacrificed your top tier pitching to win the series.

You know, it's best two out of three. You give away a game once you realize you're out. Well, once you're so far down. It's like why I put in. Right. Unless you pitched a lot of young guys. And look, Florida just teed off. Look, I don't want to, you know, rub it in or anything.

I'm not that kind of guy. Not at all. Not at all. None of the family really is that. You guys are. There's no experience of anybody rubbing it in. Never roasted me. No, that never happens.

Can I finish? Welcome, Ross Perra. I don't want to rub it in. But we beat y'all two out of three. And we didn't even pitch our best pitcher who is a once in a, what, 30-year? Generation or lifetime, yeah. I mean, this guy. So just let that soak in for just a month.

I appreciate that jace so what we did was we did a psychological war plan against Florida because you know he had pitched just to get here because we were in the losers bracket because you know we had to play the number one C which was wake for us and look they're good oh fantastic I mean it was amazing to beat them because those games were like unfam they were just unbelievable phenomenal oh they were so we we used up you know skeins just just to get there So, but I thought to myself, if we just get the lead, because it was like Willie Pitch on three days rest and there was all this drama. But I think that was all a psychological plan by LSU. Because once we got the lead, I don't know, it's fourth or fifth inning.

They were like, Paul, go walk to the bullpen with all your bags and all your warm-up tools. Because the camera had been on him all night, you know, so everybody's like. And the crowd started rising up. Of course, we're ahead at this time. And he's walking right in front of the Florida dugout. And then he goes down there and starts doing some stretching. And so you're like, what's the message there? The message is if you think you're going to come back.

The backstop is here. That's not going to happen. It's over. And it just got worse and worse. And then he got to the ninth and you looked up and he was back in the dugout. They're like, come on back. Everybody's hugging. I've always said Florida's a football school anyway.

Yeah, except for the last. podcast. Well, and you are, yeah, to be fair, you are rubbing it in. And you've trained your grandkids to do that because apparently your 10-year-old grant, I heard about this that your grandchild, your grandson ran my dad out of the house last night. My oldest grandson is named after me and that turned out to be prophetic because we've always been pretty good at trashd out. And so Gordo comes in. Of course, Gordon is the kind of person. He encourages this stuff, you know, constantly. Be fair, he does. He does.

And so he started in with Corby early. And, of course, once the game started going the way it went, my grandson rose up. And finally, Gordon, about the eighth inning, and he said, well, I'm going to pack, going to bed. I've had enough. I'm heading back to North Carolina. It was fun. Well, what's so funny when I look back on this? Because I have a few friends in Omaha, and I was trying to get there.

at multiple occasions. There was literally not a window because y'all kept planning stuff. We were very busy, which is why Zach is here. I'm here. We did the family premiere. I was actually,

we were going to take a break from the show, but the last show we filmed, I was in Maryland. And so I'm having to watch LSU every night in some way that was weird. And then I was, you know, embarrassing myself because I got so caught up in the game.

So like when we were playing Tennessee, I got my earphones on. I'm watching it on my phone in the Atlanta airport. And when Dylan Cruz, he had a home run like in the eighth or ninth in the opposite field, curveball. And which, by the way, just what a, what a fantastic play. We're talking about schemes. Yeah. And I love Cruz because, you know, they interviewed his parents and they just seems like a humble family.

you think his dad looked like every welder I know in West Monroe. He looked like he had a welding machine on the back of his truck. He was just the most normal looking person, and he was in his interviews. Well, it was so funny because they were like, well, congratulations, because Dylan Cruz won the Golden Spikes Award, which is the college baseball's best player, which, I mean, I thought him in Skeen should have been like, Yeah, Co. How does Skeen's not win it?

Right. Anyway, they told his parents, congratulations, and he was like, for what? Well, your son, you know, it's like, this team game. We're trying to win a national championship here. Which I love that response. It was just like, this is, that doesn't fit into my equation. So I'm in the Atlanta airport and you get lost when you have earphones on. He hits at home run.

Well, I responded. I'm a yeller. The way you wouldn't you're living, her. I'm a holler. I'm fist pumping. It's loud in my air. and then I looked up and realized that I have shut down the Atlanta.

Everybody is in stunned silence looking at me, and I was like, they didn't get it. You should have said. They had no idea. You should have said, you should have an unashamed podcast. So then I make it to Maryland.

We film, so then here we go again. It was the first night we're playing Florida. My schedule, when we got, we filmed 12 hours, I got to the hotel, which we usually stay at a house somewhere, but we were at a hotel. I took a shower, got found the game on TV, which was awesome. It starts, and that was that game, the first game against Florida. Extra innings? Oh, it was. It was a nail butter, yeah, it was.

So, home run goes off. We take the lead. Well, I just went absolutely nuts in the hotel room. I was by myself, you know. It's not five minutes later, which I forgot what all I did, but I just went nuts. It was like, I'm like, who in the world would be knocking them on my door? And they're like, is there a problem?

You got noise complaint on you. Noise complaint. Someone in pain or needing help. I was like, no, I'm trying to watch LSU. I got a noise complaint too. We watched it at Al's house or a son-in-law's house. We have kind of a compound set up. And I'd let everybody know no dashers are invited to my house.

Oh, yeah, how's not there. I was back there. I just, y'all didn't know it. I was watching it in my own privacy. You were never in your place. I was at my house, yeah. I was nowhere to be seen. But Jay.

I wasn't a part of the group. No, but Jay, it's, I mean, it's Jay's house. He lives there. and we're watching a game, and when something good happens, what do you do? You clap. We weren't excessive at all.

But, I mean, he was like, the whole time, he's like, like, like, and dashes are so annoying. I mean, he just sitting there. You clap, and he gets mad. Well, he's an angry thing. And he said he quit watching balls. He did not enjoy the experience.

For Zach, to be fair, you ruined Stone. You came to our house, my house, my other house before this, and we were watching an Auburn LSU football game. So Zach comes in, he's having dinner with us, wearing Auburn gear. He's not even an Auburn fan. He just came in to, like, cause the scene. I came to troll.

And he said by halftime, Jay went home. He just, he got so mad he was either going to fight Zach or go home. That has been like 20 years ago. But he doesn't forget. Yeah, that's the deal. You didn't have forgotten that. He didn't enjoy it, though. So anyway, congrats, congrats to the Tigers.

Yeah, congrats. Thanks for allowing us to gloat a little bit about it. So Zadat, the reason you're here, other than us watching baseball together, was for the family screening, as you'd call it, for the blind. So tell us about that, because that was amazing. We had a, it was way more than family. We had a packed theater. Why were we watching that?

Why? Yeah. Because they hadn't seen it yet. You were the one that had watched the film. Yeah. And it's now, it's now basically finished. Yeah, it's, I'd watched a rough cut. Yeah.

We're 90, we're 95. So we're in the theater. It's on the big screen. I mean, it's a big deal. And I had not seen it before. Neither had dad. And so we saw it for the first time, which we'll talk about our reaction. But just how about putting it on?

Because it was quite the production just to put this on and invite people. Yeah, it was a lot of work. I mean, I was nervous about it just because, you know, it's. You hadn't seen it yet. So if you ought to be like, what have we said? I'm like, I don't know. This is terrible. We're already in now, guys.

I don't know how to pull it back. Jason had already given it. some some good kudos yeah i want yeah jace gave you got you got you got to watch the film and and i will tell you that i want to i don't want to tell you what yet but you but there is a something at the end of the film that is very special that i will have to say was jace's idea i'm going to give you credit because that was your idea and it turned out like it's it was fantastic yeah i don't want say what it is yet because we can't let people yeah discover well i would say that i got the idea from the Lord because I was just, I was thinking we want, we won't, no matter what venture

we're involved in, we don't say this just as cliche, but our number one goal is to give credit where credit is due, which is the Lord. Yes, right. He's the one driving this train. Well, it's really interesting because obviously it's my first time to see it, so now I can comment just on my experience of seeing it. And I thought one of the most interesting thing was, and I would say this is a theme to add throughout. I'm sitting next to a guy that was converted to Christ through mainly

Jayce's ministry, but then all of us, because we disciples and did a lot of follow-up. So this is part of your list, Chase. The guy was sitting next to was part of your list you've mentioned on here before the friends you had. Who was it? Philip. Okay. Oh, when I was in high school? Yeah, when you were in high school. Yeah. He actually came to me after, but go ahead. Yeah, so Philip is sitting next to me. And, of course, I'm emotional. You know, first I thought it was just some kind of allergies in the air, but I realized it was just, it was a very emotional movie. And so, you know, I'm crying in different parts of the movie. But I look over and Philip is just, I mean, tears are streaming. So afterwards, I asked him, I was like, so, so, I mean, like,

I understood me crying because I was in it, you know, I was in the movie. I said, so why, why were you so emotional? And he was like, because if God had never changed, you know, Phil and Kay, I would have never found Jesus. Wow. You know, and so he viewed the film as, you know, degrees of separation from the gospel message going out to people. And so, I mean, he was cried as much as I did. He said to me, after it was over, he'd come up, he was emotional. He hugged me. He said the whole time I was thinking, I hope he makes it.

I hope he makes it. Because if he doesn't, I may disappear. It's like one of those time travel. Like, back to the future, yeah. Oh, look, I've disappeared. My right arm is disappearing. Come on, Phil. Hang in there, Dan.

I think that was cool when you're sitting there. When I was looking at the audience and I addressed kind of the whole audience, which was primarily made up of family and close friends that have, I would say, part of the downline ministry of U.N.K. And my mom was part of it, too. So I think that was, there was a moment there where I'm looking at kind of our family, our church family, even though we all go to different churches now, some of us do. but that that and not everybody was there i mean there were a lot of other people i mean that we only fit 220 people in there but i mean there's a lot of people just that i know about that i'm

close with that are part of that their stories are connected down the line from this and i think about like phil to jace or really my mom to phil to jace and back to me and you know philip and yeah it's it was you start thinking about the impact of how god's ripple effect works and how his kingdom works is a powerful let me take a break i do want to say uh about philip though and it was because it's an unusual conversion most times you know you have a relationship with someone or you know it's kind of how by the way those the fans you he's he was on the show he was mcmillan the villain on the show and he's size right-hand man and he's on the duck car and he's on the duck car and he's on our our new show oh that's right he will be right at some point yeah yeah he

along but pick him up but we uh i just wanted to share because when you realize where the power is it's not in us is you know i mean technically it's in us through the spirit of the lord but he was not even you know a target i mean he was on the list but he was on the list because my best friend in high school who was the first person who responded from the list that i had made we were going to study with another guy and uh on the way he recognized philip's car and said hey let's go pull i mean the guy philip was just in the parking lot like assessing who was the who was the first one blake okay so he said pull over and so i was like okay and so he pulled up and it was philip He had a little black, like a transam, like sports car.

It looked amazing. So he's sitting there pondering his next move, which was not, you know. It wasn't a good move. No. And so Blake said, hey, we're going over here to play some cards and hang out, which I was thinking, I guess it's okay to tell a white lie. It wasn't the full truth. Yeah, I was like, all we play? I thought we were going to have a Bible study.

And he's like, you want to come. It's going to be fun. He's like, yeah. And so then, to Blake's credit, he said, oh, and there might be a little Bible study. And he said, well, no, I don't know about that. And he's like, well, we won't, you know, it's not like we're going to sit you down and single you out. And so he said, sure. So he followed us over there.

So we got in there. So I said, come over here and sit down next to this other fellow. I mean, I did the exact opposite. So you did single. Was it going to happen? I said, sit down right here and listen. And so the original guy we shared with didn't respond at that time. He did later.

And Philip did, which was, I mean, just random side of the road, picked up the hitchhiker pretty much, went over, shared Jesus. And that was how many years ago? It's been over 30 because. Over 30 years ago. And he never, I mean, he just. Never left. The trajectory has been up with.

He and Alicia, his wife, were dating at that time, and they were the second wedding that I did, because that was kind of our track. These people were being converted, and then they were getting married, and then we were marrying them and disciplining them, and so it was really interesting. And so Blake and Philip now passed her 30. You know, and his wife, a girlfriend at the time, you know, I shared with her because that's how the gospel spreads. And she didn't say a whole lot.

And a few days later, she knocked on our door in the pouring down rain. It was like 6 o'clock in the morning. And she was just tears flowing down her face. And she's like, can't get around it. Yeah. And she's a solid woman. So sitting, so Philip was sitting next to him, and Alicia. And then sitting right behind me, literally in the seat above me,

where Mac and Mary. And Mac was on our podcast recently. Mack Owen, you know, he's in charge of all the celebrate recoveries, you know, on this hemisphere. And Mack was another dad that, and he was tearful after and he and I talked. And he was like, you know, I was part of this tree of people that once disciple, then made an impact. And so I told Mack, I said, you know, one of the things the movie reminded me of is I feel like

the first few thousand years of eternity is just going to be following the fruit. of the gospel. You know, people that you couldn't imagine, you impacted, so much of it you won't even know until you get, where you can see the whole picture. And so I just thought, that's what I got out of this whole idea of the film. I mean, just seeing the impact. Of course, Jan was central in it, Zach's mom, because, you know, she was that one that initially had the, and she, you know, plays a pretty big role in the film, is helping dad find

his way, which was powerful. But you're surrounded by all these people. I mean, in the moment, though, do you ever think about your downline ministry of how many people have just, I mean, that you've touched over the years for the kingdom? You know, if you, it's like that. Trying to remember, seeing them,

and they tell me, you remember me? Yeah. And I'm back, and I said, how long have you been gone? You know, because I wasn't following them, you know. But they would tell you, oh, I remember back, you know, 32 years ago, I remember 25 years ago. they go back in time, but a lot of them, they never forget the story.

Yeah. Well, I just thought, yeah, even the narration. It makes it cool, really. It makes me, you know, I said, who are you? He said, you don't remember me? I said, no, you look. And then they tell me, you know, too many. I think it's always exciting when you, like when you see someone come to faith.

I'm 45 now, so I'm just now at this place in my walk with the Lord that I'm seeing, I'm meeting people, someone that maybe I was involved in. and then knowing Jesus for the first time and then seeing them do that. Like to me, like a life well lived is I want to sit back when I'm 76, and I hope there's generations of people that I had even like... It's coming.

Yeah. It's coming. That's a life well lived. Well, in fact, Lou, we give you a hard time. You know, we always have. But in the serious mode, I want to tell you did such a fantastic job putting it together because you basically took the story

and it's so much, I mean, it's more than just a movie, but to condense that into something we can grab and did a fantastic job. I love just the vehicle by which you told the story. I love movies that start somewhere and then show you what built to that point. That's kind of what you do. So you how it works.

One dude came up one day in the last few years, and he said, Mr. Robinson, you meant the time that you broke out your belt. and you gave us all a whipping? I said, no, well, why did they give you a whipping? He said, well, you gave us a whipping because we had a big junk fest that night,

and you got wind of it, and the parents of one of the guys, old Billy Red Dog Phillips, his mom and them, said, you need to tear their little butts up. They were about 15. No, I think they were older than that. I was with them.

We ranged from 15 to 18. I was with them, and Red dog. But this guy was the one that I had to tell him. I said, son, I don't know who you are. I had my belt and my hand. Oh, Terry. They were going, getting in a line. I was putting three licks on everybody.

So I said, I don't know who you are or where you came from, but you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bend over that car. If your daddy don't like, I tell him, come see me. So I tore his butt up. He really did it, yeah. He said, Mr. Robinson, that's been 18 years, but I just want to tell you, I'm back. Oh, that's good.

That'll be in the sequel. Yeah, that could be the sequel. Well, I'd say it's something. The reckoning. I'd tell you something cool. I had long forgotten him, but he was saying he didn't forget it. Hang on, hang up for you tell that I was taking another break. We had a couple, so most everybody at the film that was there for the screening was either family or close friends who are part of the story.

And again, we didn't get everybody there. But we did have a couple extras that we invited. Well, one was Tanya from Unashamed Nation attended to represent kind of... Yeah, I finally got to meet Tanya. She's amazing. Yeah, so she said... I met her at WFR as well. She came to...

Oh, it was awesome. Like, she said... I saw her, because I didn't see her at church that Sunday because we ended up doing a house church with some friends, but I met... I talked to her at the screening, and she said, you know, I've been praying for years to... I wanted to go to church with my husband.

We've never been to church together since they've been married. I don't know how long they've been married. And she, but she said today, yesterday, it was the first time that we'd ever worship together in the church at White Street Road. She said, we went to Phil's class. And who's standing right there like, yeah, it was awesome. Like, so it's like, it's those little moments that there's another group we invited because we had the contest, you know, which we talked about on here. And the lady who won, her name is Kim. So she won the contest, but she had, so she had the tickets to come to the family.

screening, you know, we paid for all expenses, paid all that. And she couldn't go because she had already promised her daughter who was going on a retreat that, you know, she's like, no, you're good. I'm going to watch the kids. And so she had already made that commitment. And so we were like, well, you know, you want, you want it. So you at least get the money. And, I mean, if you can't come, you can't come.

And she's like, there's like $2,500. She's like, no. She said, I want you to find somebody else who I do not want to take that seat. I want someone who needs, somebody else needs to be at this movie. And I'm just going to give that money back. And y'all, so we found this other couple who we put,

do another drawing. Yeah, they told me that the couple met who I took a picture with them. They wanted me to take a picture with them. That's what happened. That's how they got there. And then they needed to be there.

And they were just in tears about it. And they were from West Virginia. Yeah. It drove all the way over. Great, great couple. Well, here's the crazy part. So then Kim,

her son and her nephew, got in a horrible car wreck. And so she was able to be there for her family. And now he's actually a surgery, I think, a 10-hour surgery. So he's in his name's Scotty. So I thought I did want to maybe get Phil to pray for Scotty just because I thought the story was so amazing, her giving up her seat and all that. And then.

So what a beautiful thing to do for someone else. And then. Oh, you mean they got knocked out because of the car wreck? Well, they did. No, she got knocked out for something else. But her nephew got in the car wreck. And then now she's been men. minister into the family. So in God's timing, you know, he had her where he needed her to be.

And so I did want to pray for Scotty. I was going to see if you could say a prayer for Scotty in his surgery. Yeah, right now. Right now. Father, we do pray for Scotty. The road immortality is straight and rather narrow. Bless his life, Father. He'll heat his body. We love you. And so does Scotty in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thank you. So, yeah, it was just cool to see how all this comes together.

I mean, I keep thinking about the power of community, the power of how God orchestrates things. And you see his sovereignty in moments like this in your life. When you're looking back at it, you're like, man, God was orchestrating a lot of things. You know, we were talking about these different individuals trying to remember their names and all. But it is pretty amazing on all the individuals who had contact with Jesus.

A lot of times he gives them. their name, their names are written. You know what I'm saying? You wouldn't think, you know, it'd be worth recognizing them. But somehow God thought it right, prudent to go ahead and tell who they were, what they did, had a little background to them, and then they'll talk about it's conversion. It's a conversion. But that's the same thing we're doing in modern day. Yeah. And that's the interesting thing about it to me is being able to sort of follow the fruit of that tree, which was to sort of pivot. We're eventually going to get into Luke 6 today, which talks about a tree and its fruit. And, you know, I think that idea of that,

that it is, I mean, all of us individually make a decision for Christ. And we start, everybody has a story. Everybody does. We started this book in Luke, and we linked it to Acts, because Luke wrote Luke, Annie wrote Acts. I always thought it was interesting, and we, I don't know if we talked about this or not, but that he addressed it to a person. It was to Theophilus. I mean, he had a person in mind that he was writing this too. And I don't know that I appreciate it as much as I have this week after watching the film that God wants a relationship with each and every one of us. And so it's like you could take that, you know, dearest Theophilus and just draw a blank and put your name in there because it really is aimed to each one of us. But each one of us then becomes that

tree that then blesses other people if we do it the way God wants us. And the same sins they were battling with if you if you fast forward to the middle 2000, 2,000 years, it's the same thing. It is. It's just sin. And then he'll explain it, you know, whoever Matthew or Mark or Luke, they'll give you little explanation of what was going on. Well, one of the settings, Dad, or someone asked you how you felt about the movie,

you read what Paul said to Timothy, who was his disciple, about the kind of man he was when he was Saul. Terrible. And then the man he became when he was Paul, he wrote a killer of gigantic proportions. And yet he winds up writing over half the New Testament. Amazing. There wasn't a lot of Christians back then, followers of Jesus, just because of population numbers and it had just started.

So you just think everywhere he went, he was bumping into people, family that they were still getting over the fact that he killed their family members. Right. That's an interesting point. And didn't you say the same director that did our film, did Paul the Apostle? He did. Yeah. Which is really interesting when you said that.

I have a shot because I thought about it that, to Jason's point, that in that movie, the most powerful thing that spoke to me in that movie, Paul the Apostle, which is very good, by the way, I highly recommend it, was that he was having all these images in his mind of all the people that he had tortured and killed. And so, like, his whole life of ministry, he couldn't let that in the film. You wonder if that was just thorn in the flesh if it was the guilt and shame from what he did. He said it was the worst, so I might argue with him. And then the idea was when he finally stretched his neck out on that post to give his life in the film.

I hate to give it away, but you know how it ends anyway. You know, he is reunited with all those people in eternity that he helped put there. Yeah. You know, I mean, that's a powerful. you're talking about fruit of a tree you know that yeah that's divine fruit you that's a good point jace made you think about the Paul

more than likely you know he did he ran into the same people that he persecuted to the point where it was like I mean he's had to have happened all the time and think about from their perspective they're having to work through this barrier like like you killed my what you were there at the stoning of Stephen

like what you're talking about bitter and I mean it's just it was there just wasn't a lot of Christians just I mean we we look at a few thousand but I mean overall it was very few and everybody knew the leadership just as a if a truth comes out of all this I mean why would you think he would the one to write most of the new testament he would pick this kind of person yeah I mean well that's the thing knocks out anybody saying well you'll say, I know I'm bad. I don't know when they ever come back.

I said, oh, no, the one that's writing all about this, he's worse than you if you just get right down to it. I mean, but it is interesting that he picked somebody who was a blasphemer like he said, you know, and a killer. Well, and you could run that out however you wanted to. Let's take another break. You can run that out however you want to, but there's a lot of different reasons why one is that I've always thought is because the people that Jesus in circle, himself with. We know we're considered themselves and others consider them unschooled and ordinary men. Paul was a very schooled and extraordinary man. So he was completely different than the original group and yet he bore the burden of having been against it. He kind of mentioned that it's

because of my ignorance. One of the things that God looked at was just, you know, how ignorant can you be? So if you think about it, like all the rejection of Pharisees that we read about in the gospel, Paul was a Pharisee that came on board, but only out of being struck down by his own weight of guilt. So, you know, it's pretty powerful. There's a lot of different reasons why, I suppose. But even in Luke, you know, five, you had this moment with the leper and then you have this moment with the paralytic. Then you have the moment with the tax collector. Well, when we get to chapter seven, which we're in between there, here's a guy who's commanding.

I call it the Untouchables part, too, Jay. It's the sequel. a Roman soldier. His servant. So it's a double maybe. But he's the Roman. He has the faith. Yeah, it's coming.

And then you have the town prostitute. Yep. It just, you're like, why is he going after this diverse of people? And he seems to be having the most difficult with the religious leaders. and so it's just not what most people think of when they think of Christianity. And so that's why I think reading the gospels. Not many were volunteered to say they were the worst, only a handful, but a lot of them do say,

I'm beyond help because I'm so sorry a little day. Then they line out what they've been doing, you know, I'm not worth it. Well, God says, yeah, you're worth it. Well, and Luke in particular highlights these underlies these underwent. undesirables, untouchables. There's no doubt, him coming at it with a Greek perspective, he broadens it. Because Matthew was very narrow in the fulfillment of the law, fulfillment of prophecy. Mark had this abridged version, very short gospel.

John gives you basically the last week of Jesus, you know, and it's a very personal nature. Luke broadens this whole thing. He's like, it's for everybody, you know, and which is really fantastic, I think, to your point, Jay. Well, and that's why when he gave his version of the sermon on the Mount, which is not, nothing was changed. He just, he just made you think, based on what he had heard from Jesus, more in what defines success. You know, you have the worldly kingdom. He just looked at it from a kingdom perspective. And you don't really know how much instruction was in the, after he struck him down blind, he's staggering around down there.

You're talking about Paul? Yeah. Yeah. And he's fumbling around down and that. So it doesn't say exactly, but I think that he was going, undergoing some, what would you call it? Well, he spent days with Enon Ice. I think there was some intense instruction. But you got to remember he was sincerely mistaken, which kind of what we're getting in today.

What's going on in your heart and your belief system, you know, matters. And so it's just not as clear, even in the world, everybody tends to justify their behavior and lifestyle and what they're doing. And so when you encounter Jesus and are introduced to him, you've got to be open-minded and soft-hearted enough to even consider something different. I think that's what he's going to get into. So I want to say this, Chase, as we kind of reset to get to this text today, which are going to be in Luke 6, 40. if you're falling alone, is you made this point. It was good, and it's been a minute. I remember what podcast it was back when we were talking about this idea about the hypocrite

and having the plank in your eye and seeing the speck in the other eye. You made a good point I hadn't thought about before, because I kind of like most people were kind of focused on this hyperbolic way Jesus describes and it's almost humorous. But there was a really good underlying point you made about being able to see. Because if you got a plank in your eye, you can't see. Can't see. And it took me back.

we were talking about Saul a minute ago, it was ironic that when Jesus made himself known to Saul and revealed himself, he blinded him at the same time. He physically blinded. He put such a bright light on Saul that he physically blinded him. He couldn't see anything. So some sort of massive. He was literally crawling around on the ground. He was. And he couldn't see. And so they had to lead him into this city. And so all of a sudden, this guy who was... All of his helpers probably just were over there looking like good night. Well, they just, they didn't even know what happened. They were just kind of stunned by the whole thing.

So they lead him into this city where ultimately humbles himself and he gives himself to Christ. And then these scales fall off and he can see, but it's pretty evident from little clues we get in his writings that he couldn't see very well. So he could see, but he couldn't see like he could before. But now he saw clearly because he saw Christ. And so I think it was interesting that this text leads us into that, Jays, because Jesus leads that by saying unless you can see clearly me, you're not be able to see

how important this life is. Well, just to read it again, so this was 641, because I do think understanding this is going to open our eyes to what he's going to say next. But he says, why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, pay no attention to the plank in your own eye, which I made a point, that word for plank, it was as big it was a beam like where the whole think a railroad tie yeah telephone pole or you know something so you know before we read that now most people have always viewed this as he was trying to be humorous but but i don't i just think because there's millions of more wood particles in this beam than there is would be a spec so what's his what's his point i think he's saying

you can't see that you have this enormous problem. You're not looking at others from a viewpoint of you have the same enormous problem, which is called sin. And when you forget that, you tend to be judgmental, have a judgmental spirit, which he just got through talking about do not judge or you will be judge. The plaint thing was an illustration of that thought.

Well, think about it. If you just peel all this back and think about real life on what Jesus is addressing, we all are into image management. We want people to see the best version of ourselves. That's why social media took off. It's the perfect place for you through airbrushing and through selective messaging to give the best version of yourself. That's why when people can type something, they're way more confident and bold.

because they're just, it's all an image. But in that same spirit, those same people are devastated when you criticize them. Yeah. So it's like two, there's two sides of this. And you're like, well, what? Because they can't see that they have the same problem. I mean, you're over there trying to peel a speck out of somebody's eye. Say, let me help you out here.

And you're coming across like, you don't have these problems. And that's why. I'm bad, but I'm better than you. Exactly. That's why he said, you hypocrite, because it's so weird. You know, the Greek word for hypocrite, you know how everybody does that, is hypocrite. It's the same word in English, which is very unusual. And the same word that's also used in that is what we use for what we call acting.

But, you know, back in their day, when they did a play or whatever, they would wear a mask. Right. Well, so you see why he's using this word because, well, what do people do when they act? they're playing a part that's not representing their heart. And if it's good acting, you're like, man, I mean, how can they do? You know, this is incredible. Well, we're actually all actors in a way. It's like people with a British accent that sound like Phil, you know.

It's just, it's hard to imagine that happen. Let's take our last break. But I think the key point he's addressing here is you're lying to yourself. And because all this other was how you treat people. And then all of a sudden he gets into. of this and to continue reading in 42 he says how can you say to your brother brother let me take the speck out of your eye when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye and that's why i said it it's a more he's going into what's going on in your heart yeah perspective and and we all

act like we don't know what this is and we think he's being funny no he's he's he's getting to the core of it yeah let's take the mask off and be real here you're going around pointing fingers of that body and you're not doing it from a place that you realize this enormous huge problem that you have so then he says you hypocrite first take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the spec from your brother's eye so when i think you take this further with a focus on jesus and a realization of your own sin you so what does this mean seeing the plank clearly well when you get to jesus and realize you know he knows what's in a man You know, the last verse in John 2 says that he didn't trust the people because he knew what was in their heart. He knew what was in a man is what the NIV says.

It's a very unusual verse. When you think about it and you look at this through Jesus' eyes, well, this big plank that we're ignoring, that's what he died on. That's the illustration. He died on our planks that we can't see. which is basically our own sin. And so you see the innocent sacrifice that he did that becomes personal and on a wooden beam. Yeah, what you died on. It's cross ways.

It's your sin. You created this problem that you're in denial about and making yourself feel better through smoke and mirrors by either judging others or lashing out when someone criticize you. And so that's what really causes humility is to realize this enormous sin problem that we all have. That has to be recognized. Which made me think about Hebrews 12 when he says, keep your eyes focused on me. Yeah. Because he went to the cross, not scorning it,

the idea that I took that shame for you. So as long as you stay focused on me. I think that's the big transition here is, because we want to make it the battle as us versus them. Right. And when he said, no, no, the battle is us versus him. Yeah. And when we see that battle as us versus him,

then when you see that who you're, up against and who you've been rebelling against, it is the great leveler, right? I mean, it's the, and we were talking about this other day, and we were talking about having kids in church, and, oh, well, they're not, they're not, we've been to sit about the Bible hour or whatever. We're like, well, no, we didn't need to be there with us. Like, well, they're not really getting it. And we're like, well, are we really getting it?

I mean, the chasm between what I get about God and what my, what my two-year-old gets about God is, there's not really that big of a difference. Right. If he's that high, so I think it's, you go from us versus then. to us versus him, and then I realize who I'm up against, man, that puts me in a posture of, it brings me to my knees, which is what happened to the apostle Paul when he was saw on the road of Damascus. He saw the risen Jesus.

He fell at his face. He was dead. He was blinded. And the same thing happened to John on the Isle of Patmos. He saw the risen Lord. By the way, he said it was like looking at the sun and all of its radiance. So I think there's this idea when we see, when we look at who Jesus, we look at the person of Jesus. And then I think, how do I stack up next to this guy? And what is my proximity and

my posture at heart towards him? Nobody can say, yeah, I think I'm good. Nobody can say that. Yeah, I'm fine. It was a good point you brought up about the kids, because the kids, I've always thought, are the greatest hypocrite detectors in the world. Yeah. Because they see us tell them, no, you can't do that. How dare you? And then they see us. Do it. Why are you doing that? I'm like, well, wasn't that technically a lie, Dad, when you were on the phone? You told me not to lie, sound like to me. I'll call you. You're like, huh, yeah.

Go, go play. And that's why, you know, really, there is a lot you have to apologize for, you know, when they grow up. Because they see you 24-7 and they see your hypocritical moments that you think nobody sees because it's all about image management. And so it's a good, it's a really good point. But I wanted to read James 1 because I think it's incredible based on what we just read about this plank system. I mean, you see James basically make the same point in verse 22 when it says, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. You know, deceiving yourself is part of the acting.

Yeah, it is what is being addressed by Jesus. And James here, it says, do what it says. anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like so the hypocrite which we all have hypocritical tendencies let's face it let's be honest we don't like mirrors especially for a spiritual mirror it's way easier not to look at the mirror and look at someone else and say well i don't you know to use this to his analogy as as in like, well, you know, they're getting old or they don't look as good.

Because what's so fascinating about it is the most beautiful people really on the planet hate the mirrors the most. Yeah. Because they always are finding some, in just the nature of being a human. There's always someone better looking. We get old. We gain weight. But when you do this in the spiritual, you see the same principles. It's so much easier to throw rocks at other people because why?

Well, it makes you feel better. Yeah. You're like, look at me. So watch what he says. But the man, verse 25, who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does. And so then he gives some practical illustrations. If anyone considers himself religious, yet does not keep a tight rain on his tongue, he deceives himself,

and his religion is worthless. And then this famous verse about religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless as this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Great advice. So the whole point is this deceit that goes on in your mind. And Jesus uses a fantastical illustration about removing the speck out of someone's eye, which, look, is not easy to do. because it takes courage.

I get squeamish. Now, Phil came from the, oh, come here, let me cut the top of the mountain off, you know, getting the hook out of your hand. But to do it from a perspective of, look, we're all a sinner, you realize that there's some gentleness, but we need to speak the truth in love,

and we need to be able to. You know pain is involved. You try to lessen it. You know pain is involved with healing, which is a big part of this. Yeah. So we're out of time. But in overtime, I just, I wrote down here, Jay's, I got a great mirror story.

I love that text. I hadn't thought about this one until you brought that text up in James, but I want to tell a mirror story that's so reflective of what you just described. So we'll do that in overtime. Set a little bit more of this Luke six up until next time on Unashamed. If you want to follow us over, it's blazedtv.com slash unashamed for our bonus content. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

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