Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 713 | Jase’s Run-in with a Toxic Tree While Froggin’ & His First Time Eating a Swamp Delicacy

Episode Date: July 7, 2023

The guys can’t help telling tales about all the swamp creatures they love to eat, plus a new one that Jase was recently exposed to. Jase recalls a painful frog hunt that ended with him being physically ill, and Phil traces a duck back to a faraway place that Jase recently visited. The guys study a text from Luke about the pain and labor involved in producing good fruit, which leads to some fascinating real-life illustrations from their own pasts. Jase and Zach discuss the importance of building a life upon the firm foundation of Jesus, instead of the shifting sands of the world.  In this episode: Luke 6, verses 43-45; Romans 8, verse 12; Matthew 12, verse 36; James 1, verses 23-25 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 Unashame. Still got Zach in the house. Good to be back. Yep. Always good to have you in the foals, Zach, back in Louisiana. Anyopoulos of catfish on the menu or anything good like that? Well, I'll say this.

So I went to a place in Maryland. I'm not sure I'd ever been to Maryland before. I went last year and spoke over there. There was some really great people. I've done that before. I mean, just kind of mingling with the people. We filmed an episode there coming later, and it was fantastic. But we meet these people, and we were around the Chesapeake Bay, which was beautiful.

That is pretty. But I've lived in Louisiana, but I had something happen that I have never experienced before, and it was downright embarrassing or ignominious. Oh, hold on there, Tiger. What did he just say? Ignominious. Someone... Chase pulling us out.

He's just, he's been waiting for you to get here so he can impress you with that. Carefully worked that word in here because I had to, although I had to practice it about four times and look it up. Here we go. We got the Google search engine. I'm looking over here. Well, because someone... What is it? Ignominious.

Ignominious. Ignominious. I-G-N-O-M-I-N-I-O-U-S. Even does that to spell it. So, because that's when you're embarrassed or disgraced. I thought it went in with... Public disgrace or shame. How did you find the word, first of all?

Someone said it to me, and I just kind of nodded and then went and looked up what was said. So let me use it in a sentence. Zach was ignominious over his gaiters. Exactly. Performance in the College World Series. Move on, y'all. It was embarrassing. Moving along here.

And we should be the opposite, you know, for Jesus. But I was, I used it there because we actually, it's famous for blue crabs. And now I know Louisiana has them too, but I've never been a part of a blue crab bowl. Yeah. Yeah, we do crawfish. Oh, you're in the place for them. If you go down south, they'd do them more down there, but not as much up here, right? Well, what I'm bringing this up for is it was fantastic.

No, they're delicious. I mean, they're absolutely insanely delicious. That's right. I would say I ate a dozen, and they were big. Right. But it's the same concept as crawfish. So did y'all eat them like, so dad. do they call it molting when the idea when they're they don't have the hard shell their sauce no we didn't

do the salt i know this i've eaten those in restaurants before they are good oh they're good will you eat because there's a there's just eat the whole thing it's just there's a time period that happens where they turn soft the the molting process or whatever i don't know how often they do that but they figured out how to capture that moment and sell them and it must be an expensive venture because they're Yeah, there is. But this was just the cracking and open the shells, and I'm not sure who cooked them, I mean, or how they cooked them, but they had a little, they had a little, it reminded me a crawfish.

Well, up there. Like a shrimp, boys, but the old bay season. In that area, the old bay, everybody talks about old bay. Old Bay, yeah, and we did the cracking, you know, you do the claws, and, but even the insides were just absolutely delicious. So I say we need to start that tradition around here. I mean, because look, it was off the chart. I thought it was better than a crawfish bowl.

Yeah. I mean, just the meat is better. It's just better. And a little better payoff, right? About 25 or 30 years ago, about 25 or 30 canvas-back ducts, the fastest duck there is, by the way. And they hit us up here on Moss Lake in the middle of the woods. And they lit right in front of us. I raised up, killed a couple of them.

Other people were shooting, too. So I looked on the duck when I picked him up, and he had a band on his leg that was sworn to where I couldn't see the numbers on it. That's a lot of wear, and it's an aluminum band they put on duck. He's been around a while. Well, the government puts on bands, they put bands to track them. And then when you turn them in, they give you a certificate, because a lot of people may not be.

They want to know where they're going, but anyway, I sent it to the... Your tax payer dollars are going. Yeah. I sent it to the state police and ask them, could they get that number because they got these ways of getting filed off, serial numbers, whatever. So they sent me back and gave me the number. And the information on that duck was that duck was banded 12 years earlier in Chesapeake Bay. Wow. He had made the trip all the way from the...

Chesapeake Bay to Louisiana. And it also gone back and forth every year for a dozen years. A dozen years. Wow. But he flew by O.P.R. He came by me. He made the wrong stop. In the pot he goes. It was a rest stop. That was his fatal mistake. I was wondering where you were going with that because I thought it almost was sworn in two just a little bit of aluminum. Where did the Chesapeake Bay? That's a whole different flyway, right? Yeah. It is. I would think somehow he got over. It's not salt water, but it's kind of like. Like March? Like March?

Brackish, Marrakes, yeah. Yeah, it was a fascinating place. I mean, I could roam there. I was very fascinated by the place. So you were bringing that up and reminded me, Dad, of, I don't think I told us to on the podcast. We were up in Ohio recently speaking in an event, Mom and Dad and Lisa and I. And so we go in this event, and I assume, I guess, it's because they had us there.

We walk in and we're meeting all the VIPs, which are very involved patrons that are supporting this ministry. and they're all sitting around tables and we just kind of walk in, everybody claps, you know, and we were just kind of meeting and greeting. And I guess somebody had the idea here in the heartland of Ohio

that they were going to do crawfish and shrimp bowl. And so in the middle of every table was a big thing. And all their things were full of shrimp and crawfish. And there were some sausage in there, potato and carrots, I mean, a corn like we do it. But I notice when I'm walking to the tables, I'm meeting folks, hey, glad you all are here. Everybody like around the table about,

there'd be eight people at a table six of them had i mean the bowl was full nobody's even touched it two people would have like two mangled crawfish sitting in front of them and that'd be it and i was like y'all not eating these crops and they were like we don't it's not it's not worth it what is it i mean they couldn't figure it out they couldn't figure it out so i'm doing a little private lesson showing them how to do it a couple of them were like but it was really interesting going and then i come up on this table and this one big old boy is sitting there and he's got a pile of of crawfish holes in front of him, husk. And I was like, you're not from Ohio.

Yeah, exactly. I said, where are you from? He said, home of Louisiana. I said, all right, I get it. You know what you're doing. It's funny. The more you do it, the better you get it peeling. Which on the crabs was a little easier.

I mean, once I watched our host, I thought, okay. I mean, they got their system there. And it, first couple. Got the little mallet and the fork. Got the mallet. Well, they didn't, we just used. mallet and hands. You said have this little tiny forks, but yeah.

We didn't use, well, it was just, yeah. This was just, you know, gorgeing, barbarian style. Which is right up here. Yeah, well, I was looking for a picture of my phone because we live in Nashville or Black Mountain area, North Carolina. And one of my buddies sent me a pitcher. They were doing a big, low country boil, which involved crawfish. And when he sent the picture of what he was about to boil. I was like, he said, you don't know anything about that?

And I looked at it and all the crawfish were dead. I was like, you're, how do it? Not good. I said, don't eat the ones with the straight tail. Then I put, which will be all of them. Yeah. They thought they figured it out. They've been out of the water a little too long.

Yeah. I said, don't eat, you never eat crawfish that were boiled dead. They need to be alive. And that tail curls up, which is how you know is alive. It is kind of interesting that crawfish and crabs. I mean, they are nature's gods, because he created nature. They are his cleanup system. They're the vacuum cleaner of the outdoors.

They come in, everything that's died, they go in. They're cleaning everything. They'll pick something clean. If you fall in the water, Dad, you say this. They'll pick you clean. They will. And so it's really interesting because these delicious, you know, crustaceans are basically, it's not a lot between something dead and you.

Let's face it, they're delicious because you boil them in all kind of spices. No, I mean. Hey, that crab meat, it was, it's just white. Crabbs is different, but crawfish. Crabbs are the same way. They're just eating. There's no, it's saltwater. There's no.

And I just, I think it, now, you'll talk about God having a sense of humor. Because if you, you can zoom up on the blue crab. And this thing looks like an alien. Well, we make movies about aliens. They like blue crabs. Oh, they're like, you would never consider that this is something that I want to put in my body. You would think this thing, if it actually did invade my body, it may take over, and you got, you know, Alien 7, blue crab. But it's so good.

And I just, I think there's something about that that's unexplainable that's only. That's a God thing. Yeah. Phil, do you remember the year? You may not remember this, but when Jeff and I were in college. there was about a three-week window. We went out to one of our buddies's place who had a, they used to duck hunt on a,

in a rice field, and we were going to go out there and go frog gigging because he heard some big frogs out there. Well, we pulled up out there. There were crawfish just all over the levees. I mean, like we would drive the four-wheeler, and they're just, I mean, millions of them. And so we came back to your house and told you about it,

and you said, boys got to get them traps. You had like 40 or 50 traps. And you said, just bring me back a couple, coolers full of crawfish y'all can use those and said we went back out yeah we did we went out there and for two two or three weeks i mean it was 24-7 we would we started off with with uh with roadkill and we took some you said buffalo carp you said put buffalo head in there top the heads up so we did that but then that got too much work so we were making so much money that we were like let's just go buy a box of chicken we'd buy a big box of chicken from the store and

South Monroe. So there's a chunk of chicken. We just chunk a chicken quarter in there and throw it out there and 30, 40 minutes, the traps would be full. We'd pull them back out, load them up in the croaker sacks and take them down to Cornets and sell them, come back, get more chicken. And it was just, I mean, and we just kept doing it as like until they stopped. Actually, the farmer kicked us off.

He said, no, let's take these farming and my farm. This is my farm, you know, you got the duck hunting lease. You don't hide the crawfish. You know, harvest leaves. That's what happens when it comes down to. product that you found out all the money my money's involved everybody gets a little stingy but that's hilarious yeah that took me back to the crawfish days jays we used to crawfish our property here for a year or two yeah it's a it's a lot of work well it was just embarrassing i was sharing that

i just didn't know they were that good and that was the thing so i didn't want other people to miss that you need to do that as soon as possible it was fantastic the blue crab the blue crab steaming yeah i mean they could have used a little more heat i like you know my lips to get numb when I'm eating crawfish. But overall, I mean, I've always said when you leave Louisiana, you know, you left the cuisine. But in this case, I was pleasantly surprised. Well, when I go into a place, so we'll go in, I go to a restaurant, I'm traveling, I'm some part of the country, I've never been. I was like, what is your state known for food?

What are you known for? That's what I want to eat. That's kind of what happened. Right. And we don't go to a restaurant. You know, we go film these episodes. We're in remote places. And we're, part of the dynamic.

of the show is we we just like to live off the land yeah whatever it's famous for we let's go get it and uh so that's kind of what happened but so when i went to the that panhandle chef a shelf above like tallahassee area there's a little town called peri florida yep and i was like what are you known for and they were like oysters i said let's do it you know and they were they were fantastic i mean it was the first place i've eaten the oysters that were like louisiana yeah yeah that's a big thing in florida north florida you know you get around and we have a crawfair Boil in Louisiana. North Florida, you build a fire, you put a little grill on top,

and they just throw fresh oysters on there, and they pop open, and you just sit there all night and shuck oysters. It is good. Both raw and the other stuff. All right, well, I'm getting hungry, so it better take a break. Does y'all make me anything since I'm in town? I started, is there any opulosa catfish? What's on the hinea menu for?

You'll find some blue crabs, and let's get on back on that. Louisiana. We do have blue crabs. I'll do crawfish or the fishing, you know, It's not optimum. You miss that run. Yeah. But I'm sure we could, we could do something.

Come up with something. I guess we're going to feast on the words, that's where we're headed. It's a spiritual substance. There you go. Luke chapter 6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Has their stomach growls. Or Luke said, blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.

Oh, that's good. I'm hungry. So, well, we left off in Luke 6. we got back on the planks and we basically, I think we agree. I think y'all agree with me. I don't think it was necessarily intended for humor. No, you've given me a new insight on that

because I'd always kind of taught that as the other way, but I think your points are much more say and deeper. Well, when you think about it, even if he was being hyperbolic, there's a deep meaning there. It's so hyperbolic. It doesn't it? When there's millions of more,

wood particle. Yeah. It's not a joke. Why did he go for the one? It's not a joke. You're looking, it's all to make yourself feel better. Yeah.

By throwing rocks at other people's, and I don't want to say little sins, because his whole point was we all have an enormous problem. Yeah. It's called selfish ambition. Yeah. And then we covered up. And that's why we got into, in the bonus time,

we got into Genesis 3, where you see this happen. happened in verse seven where after they sinned, no, nobody told them the consequences of it, but they did what we all do. You started cover up. They went and got fig leaves. They made coverings for themselves. God handed down the consequences which resulted in them being separated from God, which our sins

separate us from God. There were other consequences, the pains in childbirth. you know, the conflict in marriage, the work in the ground with the thorns and the evil one, the snake being used, so it had to crawl on its belly. And then it says, and the Lord made suitable coverings for them, and which was animal skins, which meant, you know, he was showing you a vision into what would later become Jesus on a cross, which was a sacrifice, blood being shed, to cover up their wickedness, the shame of it all.

And I mean, that's in verse 21 of Genesis 3. So that's kind of what we did. And the point is, because when he moves on of this analogy about the plank and the spec, he says, you hypocrite, which is in the last part of 42, but then it gets to 43, and it says no good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. each tree is recognized by its own fruit people do not pick figs from thorn bushes or grapes from briars the good man brings good things out of the good stored up look in his heart and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart for out of the overflow of his heart the mouth speaks and then he gives another analogy that says why do you call me lord lord and do not do what I say. And this kind of goes back to that James 1 about you looking in a mirror and then

forgetting what you look like and not putting into practice what the Lord says. He says, I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed, and its destruction was complete. Yeah, I think it's, you can't overestimate what's happening here, this concept of self-introspection. That's really what he's talking about.

You mentioned the fig leaf, which is a perfect, like, parallel passage to that, Genesis 1 through 3, you know, story, which is, you said, I think over time, this is, it's repeated over and over again in scripture. But what's the fig leaf about? It's about the, it's about the refusal to look inward, right? So you cover up and you high, because I'm not going to look at myself. I don't want to look at myself. We talked about it in the James passage. You don't want to look in the mirror. You don't want to see yourself. But that's the, that's the main point here. I think sometimes we read this passage and it's misused a lot about, oh, don't be judgment. Anytime someone makes a moral judgment in cultural debates.

Oh, don't judge, don't judge. We're really missing the point. It's not that the judgment is wrong as much as it is that what he's talking about is you're not looking at yourself. You're actually using other people's sin as a distraction from looking at your own stuff. And that's what he's drawing us into is look at yourself. Like, look at yourself. You got to remember, you got all these texts.

They're leading up to the, to the mantra they preached John the Baptist Jesus sent out the apostles sent them out and he's showing you what kingdom behavior looks like

because the kingdom is at hand I mean so he's given them the final briefing on the kingdom before Acts one comes along and two when they saw the kingdom of God come with power and they begin to preach Jesus, he was showing them what kingdom people would look like. Yeah.

Because you got to remember, they don't know about the kingdom of God. They're saying, do what? They don't even understand this amazing transfer of Pabor where Jesus will be worldwide in his people who are the kingdom of God. It is here and this is how it should behave. That's a great point because I think when we read this a lot of times, it's, because the big debate in Christian circles is, is it faith or is it works, right? How would you, how would you spot them? Yeah.

Well, if you follow these texts, that's how you'll spot them. Yes, it's not even as prescriptive as we think. I think sometimes we read this on one side, oh, this is all the work you've got to do to be saved, but then we're like, well, no, because it's what Christ, they're not us, and you're trying to reconcile that. I think this is very, I think it feels right. I think it's a lot more descriptive of this.

This is what someone looks like who is in the kingdom. This is what someone looks like who's been transformed to your passage. You mentioned in the last podcast of Paul, talking about the transformative power of the spirit. This is what it looks like. It's descriptive. Well, that's what he meant. And Luke said, that's where Luke came at it.

He was like, we feel like a successful kingdom or, you know, in a worldly kingdom is how much money you have, how comfortable you are, how much you're laughing and gloating and winning people are recognizing you as great i mean that's what luke six 20 through 26 is all about and he's like he's showing them what it's like that it's never finished because there'll always be sin before you come to jesus and before you before that all happens. By one sacrifice, which he's fixing to do in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, giving them what the kingdom looks like, but he said he has made that sacrifice he's fixed to make.

You're going to be operating under a system whereby by one sacrifice, he has made perfect, forever, those who are being made holy. You get in the kingdom of God through your faith in Jesus and what he's going to do. It hadn't happened yet. But as you get, that's why Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it's a documented, detailed account of Jesus going to the cross, dying on the cross, being, all of them. So, and the word, go out and make disciples.

What he's showing you is, look, he's already made you perfect. All your sins in the past are covered. It's not like law where once you're going to go back under the law again. You're being made holy. and it's an ongoing battle, if you want to call it, from the time you run up on Jesus, you say, It's a process. He's made me perfect.

My past sins, he's not counting against me. My future sin, he's not holding him against me. He's there 24-7 to keep me cleansed. So you put it all together, you know, he's giving you the way out. And it's really, it's not burdensome. But it is a change of heart to know that none of your sins in the past are counted against you, and none of your future ones are counted against you. Just go, and here's the way you should look and the things you should do.

So it's a wonderful thing. Yeah, I think that you can't get two things confused. You can't get your justification confused with your sanctification. That is correct. And I think that's what's happening in this discussion. Well, explain that for people who are not up on what those exactly mean and the difference there in. Yeah, your justification is that you're freed from the penalty of sin. So that's what Phil just mentioned.

You don't stand before God as a Christian who's covered in Christ blood. You're not guilty in a court of law. Like your sins are not held against you. Sanctification is you're freed from the power of sin progressively as you walk in the spirit. And I think it's what this whole idea of works is about when we read these passages about fruit or you mentioned the passage in james yeah listen to the second half of that verse in james you mentioned the first part about you know anyone who is a hearer of the word this is james 123 and not a doer he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror for once he has

looked at himself and gone away he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was but then there's the contrast to that verse 25 but one who looks and i love these words like this in at the perfect law, and then it defines that law, the law of liberty, which is the same kind of language you used that Paul used in 2nd, Corinthians 3, and abides in it. So you're talking about living in it, not having become a forgetful here, but an effectual doer. This man will be blessed in what he does. I think this is like this idea that I'm coming into this walk with Jesus now, and I'm intentionally looking intently into a perfect law. I'm living by the Spirit. Galatians chapter five tells us that the Spirit actually produces fruit. And all of that fruit is not even my fruit.

It says it's the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. So when you go back to this passage in Luke and he talks about like a good tree is going to produce good fruit, what he's saying is when you are abiding in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit in you, as I meditate on his word, as I pray the Psalms as I participate in in the kingdom life. I meet with the brothers at the church. That transforms a person. And over time, over years of walking with him, then all of a sudden, the spirit, not me, I don't produce love, joy, peace, patience. If you tell me, I mean, you meet with someone who's in the depths of a battle in their marriage, and you say, well, just love your wife. And you're like, how do you do that? How do you choose that? And you don't really

choose that. You don't choose love. You don't choose joy. If you don't have joy, I mean, I mean, you can't just say, okay, I choose joy today. That doesn't work. But what you can do is you can do the things that God calls us to do, and then the spirit will produce that fruit. It's his fruit. It's not the fruit of Zach Dasher. It's the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentle, self-control. That's what God produces in us when we look intently into the perfect law over a period of time. That makes sense? Yeah, true. I have a slightly different take on it.

I agree with what you're saying, but I think when you think about this analogy that he's doing, it's just like the, you know, I make. Yeah, when he said the tree and it's fruit, no good tree bears, bad fruit, nor does a bad tree, very good fruit. We've got two trees here. And he's talking about looking into yourself. that you've got two foundations or one with a foundation, two houses here. Well, what are the choices, he's saying? So it basically comes down to you or the Lord. So either, you know, this tree, if you put your hope and trust in what you find in yourself, wrong tree.

Yeah. Bad fruit's coming. That tree's got to be uproof. rooted. It's got to die. And we got to get a part of another tree, which is, you know, get to John 15, you see that. You remain in that tree. Well, here, I mean, it's like that reminds me of that joke.

I don't know if I can remember this joke. I'll stop my head. That, you know, two guys, they're climbing a mountain. They both slip. They fall into a ledge. They're trapped. One of them says, I. There's two possible ways up from here.

And one of them says, I am positive that if we go left up this way, 100% we can make it. And the other one says, well, I am not sure. I think if we go this other way, we'll make it. And so the one who is sure takes off and he slips and he falls down the mountain and dies. The other one who wasn't real sure, he goes his way and he makes it. And you say, well, what, what is the joke here? Well, who was saved? Which one made it? The one who wasn't sure. He wasn't sure. The one who picked the right rock. He picked the right path, even though he wasn't real sure about it. So my point is, no matter how sure you think you are, you know, in your own mind or

You could be surely mistaken. So a lot of people, Paul said he persecuted the church in good conscience. That's right. So my point is it's not the strength of your faith. It's the object. And I think that's what he's talking about here. What did you build it on? Because in this context, he's talking about, are you building this on your inner hidden heart and agenda?

Because whatever it comes out of it, the old. overflow of the heart but that's why i'll rightfully so what differentiates the trees is the qualities of the fruit good is that which can help others good is that which can help others figs and grapes while bad bad fruit is that which harms others thorns and briars right out through that end jesus reminds us the heart is the source of the fruit and the mouth is the evidence of whether it's good or bad. So, yeah, my point was in that that is a great point out that fruit, you can tell on how it impacts people. Yep.

And so, and Zamm made a point earlier about culture because we think, well, we got to remove ourselves in culture because they're never going to understand keen to principle. But I disagree with that. When I look at movements that come across, especially in the last 10 years, we've had some movements come across our culture. And look, we are qualified to talk into culture because we live here. I've raised my daughters, and now I've been the process of raising granddaughters that are almost grown. So I have something to say. And what I would say is what is your movement producing? What does the fruit look like?

And I'm taking out salvation. I'm just talking about when you look at a movement of people and something they believe in strongly. You can tell where it's coming. You can tell where it's coming from, where it's going. Is it helping people or is it hard? Yeah, I think the key is when you address it these issues and culture, though. It's coming out from the perspective of it's not us versus them. That's right.

And I think that, like, Phil say, I've heard Phil say this before. He said, something like I've identified the problem and the problem is me. You know, or Chesterton said, you know, what's right? He had this famous essay that he ran a book he wrote too called What's Wrong with the World? and then his tongue-and-cheek answer was me. And so the point is that when we pontificate on all these cultural things, we do have to recognize that all of this, this capacity for evil and deception and lies,

it is in all of us. I think to Jason's point, though, when you talk about how do we anchor, because it's not just, you don't have to anchor this in the right tree, and the role of the Holy Spirit in it is pivotal. I thought about this Romans 8 passage, because it talks about basically not sinning and then doing the right thing. And it's like, well, I thought I didn't have to do anything.

I thought Christ did everything for me. He did pay the way, but he did send the spirit, and he did say, it's good that I go, because if I don't go, then he's not going to come. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. And then there's this idea in Romans 7 where Paul is talking about what he does, and he's like, you know, I'm trying to do the right thing. And then when I do the right thing, the, like, basically evil is right there. And I'm back and forth. And he kind of ends Romans 7 with this question of despair, who will rescue me from this body of death?

And he answers it. And by the time he gets to Romans 12, it's pretty good on what kind of behavior. Yeah, because Romans 12, he gets into what it looks like to worship God. And so... He also says, I know that nothing good lives in me. Yeah, so you got... That's right. You got to connect with the one who is good.

And the only way you're going to do that is through Jesus, but... And surrendering to him. You surrender to Jesus, but then the connection point, the application of our salvation, Jesus accomplished it. But who applies it to us is the Holy Spirit? And that's what Romans 8 is about. It's about life in the spirit, and it's about what we do. So he says here in verse...

Hang on before you read that. Let's take another word. He says here in verse 12, Romans 8, he says, so then, brethren, we are under obligation. So there, we are under obligation still, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you must die, to Jason's point earlier. But if by the spirit, then this is the Holy Spirit, you are, you are, there's an action here, you are putting to death the deeds of the body you will live. for all of those who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba Father, the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if we are children heirs also, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with him. So I think it's this, it's this connection with the Holy Spirit as he reveals reality to us, and then we submit to that. That's when we get the fruit of spirit, the Gleicons 5. Yeah, and fruit's always character issues. I mean, I think this whole thing has been about integrity and God's character, which is the polar opposite of being a hypocrite, which is trying

to give the image of something that you are not, which is the context of what you are. Which is the context of he's saying because this all came after he defines what is prideful you thinking you've arrived because you got a lot of money and you're comfortable and you're noticeable and you're powerful versus being weak humble full of tears and being insulted well when you embrace that that may be the road as as a follower of jesus he he then supplies the power and the comfort and to go along with what you said that's why in the context of love your enemies in 635 that we read it says exactly what you just read he said love your enemies do good to them and lend to them without expecting to get anything back then your reward will be great and you will be sons of the most high well why because he taught you

this because he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked be merciful just as your father is of all. But if you're not rooted in that, that's why I said when you're trying to remove the speck out of someone's eye, you're coming at it from a place of, well, God did this surgery on me. Yeah. And I, and my surgery was way more extensive. There's an enormous problem we all have. It's like if you haven't had that happen, it's easy to do surgery on someone where it's not personable. And look, you know, this analogy, and I'm sure. you know, a lot of procedures that are, that are happening, they, they tend to be rough because they're just doing their job. Yeah. But when you have someone who understands that they had this

same surgery done to them, well, you're then speaking the truth in love. You're being gentle. You're prepared to First Peter 315 to give everyone an account of why you have hope, but you're doing it with gentleness and respect. Because you remember at some point, I was in the pig pen. I was a million miles away. And I think that's what he's trying to balance in your heart. This has got to come from that humble spirit. But you're going to be attacked if you make a stand for truth, and

you're going to be called names. You're going to be called things like bigot and whatnot, but I think about, like, what's the marker of what Jay's just described there? What does that look like? Here's how I judge it. This is anecdotal. I think it's actually, I think it's scriptural too. I ask the question, who do you eat with? Like who's at your dinner table?

Yeah, I could tell a lot about a person by who they eat with. And, like, I know you've been accused of things, but I look at who, I look at who sits down your dinner table field. And I'm like, I don't know many people eating with the people you eat with. Jesus ate with sinners. You've eaten with some, I mean, there's been some cats roll through here that, I mean, it's like, the world would be like, wait, what? I thought you were, you know, all the accusations I hear, but I'm not seeing that,

I'm not seeing that in who's in your living room. who's sleeping on your couch, who you put up over the years. I don't, I just, it's like, it's been risky. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Well, I'll share a story that just happened to me. Now, a few podcasts ago, I offered a rebut to a man that showed up at my house, you know, got through the gate, late at night,

knocked on my door, you know, wanted a picture. So, and I gave him the picture and a little bit of a rebut. But then I called him out on the podcast. I was like,

I'm showing up my house, you know, late at night. I mean, that's a dangerous precedent to set. So somehow another, this guy figured out my email and sent me a very nice apology. And so I type, I sent him, I reached out to him. And I said, you're forgiven. And the reason I was so quick to do that is because he realized that, you know, know, that wasn't a wise thing, you know, to do over a pitcher. I mean, come on.

So we began a dialogue in what really matters, which is, you know, having Jesus be Lord of our life. And so I said, you're always welcome here now, you know, after you send me an email, of course, and you perform the social etiquette that people do about showing up. But if we want to talk about that, we will. But the reason I was quick to forgive, and you're like, well, what are you sanctioning that? No, we had a conversation. And we, you know, got into his life and his heart and his need and desire to have Jesus, the Lord of your life.

Because I'm like, no, I'll have a conversation about that. I'll. And it was a sad story. I thought the guy was 30 years old. He was actually 16 years old, which made a lot of sense. He had a full-grown beard, which was impressive. You don't always have the wisest thought. Well, and look, I hadn't had a father in his life.

And so, and I thought, you know, everything started making sense to me. Yeah, that's good. You know, nobody told him at some point, you don't do this. Right. And I called him out on it and became like a father figure to him. But now he kind of got mad and said, well, he embarrassed me or whatever, but he realized that I was right, and that's kind of a socially unacceptable thing. But it led to a need for moral direction and making better decisions, which led to us discussing Jesus.

So he's now reading the book of John, and the next time he comes in town, he will come over and we will talk about Jesus. That's an invited guess. Which I think, Jay, that illustrates exactly what he's talking about in this text. Jesus is what qualifies us to impact culture and people. I mean, we're all firmly establishing that. We can't do it on our own. It's what he quite, and I kept going back to qualifications there because when he talks about judging and condemning, I'm not qualified for that because I don't know people's hearts. Right.

And that was my point. When it comes to forgiving and giving, I am qualified for it. I attempted to take a speck out of his eye. But once he responded in a positive, humble way, we both recognize, we both have planks. Yeah. And let's talk about that. and find some kind of relationship in Jesus, which is really what life is all of them. So I think that point of what I'm talking about, and even how we impact, not just inside the

kingdom of God, but outside the kingdom of God, is you have to be willing to engage people to explain to them what good fruit is and what bad fruit is. I thought about, here's a text from Hebrew 6. Here's the way the Hebrew right. And by the way, Hebrew 6 is a context where people are, leaving Jesus to go back under a system of law. And here's what he said about this in verse 7, Hebrew 6, 7. Land that drinks in the rain, often falling on it,

and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receive the blessing of God. So this idea about good fruit, right? But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end, it will be burned. What we're trying to do is get people to see that good fruit that blesses other people blesses you in the process. When you're producing thorns and thistles, ultimately you produce things that only harm other people, but it harms you. What happens ultimately to the tree that doesn't produce good fruit? It's burned up.

Yeah. And so just if I was going to go out and clear me an orchard to plant fruit trees so that I could bless those and give away my fruit or make jelly or whatever I was going to do with it, what do you do first? you clear out all the stuff that's bad and you put good things in its place. So I think ultimately self-reflection is to get us to a place that blesses other people around us and then ultimately blesses us by the process. So, I mean, I see that as something that makes us more impacting of culture, more willing to take on a 16-year-old. Who doesn't know what this truth? Well, yeah, I think the irony of all this is Jesus is making these illustrations because he wanted you to think.

and I've had some of many arguments about this kind of stuff because when you go to the illustration mode you know there's always some guy who says well briars have berries that are edible yep I mean oh Jesus is saying you know you can only get the good fruit from the good treat but if you hang out in a briar patch yeah you're going to eat once a year

there's some nice berries but you're going to be shredded from one end to the other and there's also a lot of snakes that have... Big rattlesnakes are going to be hanging. And so I just think, you know, when you start looking at this from a spiritual level, I mean, I look at that as to say, yeah, it's all an image thing. And, you know, the briar patch says, oh, look at my nice berries, you know. But, boy, it's a very small reward for a life.

For a life of pain, a lot of work and a lot of other things hiding in the briar patch that will kill. you. That's right. I remember my mom when she'd say, go out there and pick some blackberries. I won't make a blackberry cobbler. And so we go out there. What seemed like hours, probably wasn't that long. But I mean, as kids, you're thinking, man, we are just piling them up. You come back in with a bowl like this

right here. You have just a handful. I mean, and then she's like, not enough. And you spend all day. Your hands are sore because you got the thorns in them. And then you get there. And when you finally get your harvest, I mean, they are great to eat, but it's always disappointing the amount of work and what you've got to go through to get a blackberry that's stuck in a

or in a thorn bush. I mean, your hands are bleeding. You've worked all day for a little. It's not the same thing as going into a lush garden on a tropical island with pineapples and just bananas low-hanging mango. That's why I think when he's a different story. In John's version of an illustration that was similar that Jesus gave,

he's like, I'm, I'm the tree. You're just a part. of it and you fall off you're like a dead branch that's piled up and burn i mean it's a very graphic thing and so that i think that's what takes the pressure off of you trying to be something that you're not and and realizing you know we have an enormous problem and being in jesus being a part of that is does take a a sense of humility i mean i think that's the the thrust don't the mature mayhow trees had the big long thorns on them. And so it's really interesting, when you're scooping up those mayhaws and making that jelly,

it's fantastic. But when we were kids and had to climb the tree to shake the tree, oh, trust me, it was injurious. Yeah. I mean, it was rough because, but it's an interesting point. That's why I feel since you guys up there. Of course he did. So we were only outer edges, you know. And you see some trees that only have thorn, you know, I've told the story before, but there was a bullfrog

one night under a tree, but I didn't stop and assess what kind of tree it was because it was dark and I was focused on the frog. You're going for the delicious frog way. Well, exactly. So about the time I was fixing to grab him, he jumped. Well, I jumped because that's what you do. But when I jumped, it was, I got too close to the tree and one of those blue thorns, you know, those trees on the river bank?

Yeah, yeah. It impaled me behind my ear. And there was some kind of toxin in there. There's a toxin of them. It made me sick. And I just, you know, my neck swole up. I got nauseated. You know, I'm throwing up.

I mean, I was like... Sounds like hunger games. Yeah, all for a frog, which was awesome. But my point is, that tree needs to be cut down and burned. That's fair. Well said. There's nothing coming out of that, but bad. Which I think was his point here.

And that frog. Did you get the frog? I got the frog. So the frog wisely thought, you know what? I'm going to get under this thing because somebody goes along here trying to pick me up. But then he didn't realize he had Jason. This year when we were picking up Mayhawls, Dan and I, we were out there and water was about knee deep at some such stage. And that backwater back and forth, you know.

So we took little nets. But we were to be sitting there getting Mayhawls. And I looked up one morning. And I just looked up and it was a cotton mouth, you know. I mean, you know, about the size of my arm just coming through. Right there, where we were picking up, I was looking around you, I got a little old net in my hand. No gun, no stick, no stout, no staff, no way. And that cotton mouth just goes on by this.

But I'm watching him. So what I'm saying is to get the berries sometime you're stepping around some dangerous creatures. That's right. Which is kind of part of the whole context of what we're talking about. And also, and we'll shift gears a little bit, we're almost out of time in our overtime segment. We'll talk a little bit about, we hadn't said much about the secondary illustration, which is the building, because it's basically built on the same concept, but it's kind of how you build that up to what that looks like. If you start out with a bad foundation, then you're going to build something that won't last is the same illustration that falls in.

So we'll explore that a little bit more in our overtime segment if you want to follow us over. It's blazedtv.com slash unashamed as we wrap up Luke 6. We'll see you in 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,

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