Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 719 | Phil’s Surprising Response to Haters: 'It’s a War' & Jase Had Doubts About Missy at First

Episode Date: July 19, 2023

Phil has read the comments online about him, even though Jase has always said you should never read the comments! Phil has a remarkable response to all the hate that comes his way! Jase regales the guys with more tales from his time as a baseball coach, including the time he had to throw a mom out of the game. The guys discuss Luke’s obvious admiration for John the Baptist in how Luke writes about him, as well as the difference between John the Baptist and other prophets. Jase supposes people need to have hearts like children but brains like adults.  In this episode: Luke 7, verses 18-35; John 10, verses 40-42 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to Unashamed. We have been heavy into a conversation in the last podcast about John the Baptist. And, you know, it's kind of one of those things, Jay's. I think it's you, we all love him and respect him so much. And we've talked so much about him, Luke has, because Luke goes back in details his birth. even before he was conceived and what it took to get him here and the power. And so there's so many great things about this man. And then you get in this context that we're into in Luke 7, verses 18 down to 35. And he doubts.

You know, he doubts what he knows is true. And he asked Jesus about it. And so to deal with that fairly, it almost feels like you're being sacrilegious because you're talking about such a great idea. icon and a warrior, but really it should make us appreciate how difficult one life is on this earth and how difficult it is sometimes to take our doubts and turn them into something better. John the Baptist was murdered. The Apostle Paul was murdered. Jesus Christ was murdered. So these people are lining up to allow themselves to be killed.

And they just pray and they look forward and they put their faith in God, the God of heaven, and they move on. Yeah, I made the point in between the top three writers. I mean, think about it. The last podcast. And Peter, too. Peter, all of them. I mean, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. And I mean, I'm all for people being secure in Jesus.

I do think some churches. And these men I just mentioned have that. Oh, well, they proved it. I guarantee. But you also have to be open-minded because we are humans, and if you're basing how God views you based on your current circumstances on the earth, that's a terrible way to look at it. You're not going to get that from the Bible.

I mean, these guys had it rough. It's a danger that you may shut up after you. The man's in prison fixing to die. He's like, I thought we were taking over the world. What happened to this? Taking over the world stuff. So, I mean, just to get where we're at in this. Death is a centerpiece of all this.

I mean, amazing. Well, because that's what all other kingdoms do. They tell you what to do. They take you over by force. They oppress you. And if you cross them, they'll key you. That's right. That's the definition of a kingdom.

Yeah. Whoever's got the biggest army and the force wins. And Jesus. And the most committed army. Yeah. So Jesus, you know, and if you doubt in that army, they'll put a bullet in you. So, but Jesus is encouraging an open mind. That's why I'm saying.

And when we get to Luke 8 for the next podcast, that's what the whole parable is about, is about hearing, being open-minded, understanding, discerning, having wisdom. And even in this text, you know, I'm going to read the last verse first in verse 13. Where are you? Luke 735. Then I'm going to read all of it. In 735, he says, but wisdom is proved right by all her children. And Matthew's version says by her actions.

And so when you say, well, what kind of statement is that? I mean, the results of your wisdom will be shown to everybody in how you act, or even in this picture, you know, through your children. So you said, what led to that statement? So you start in verse 18, and we went through the overview of all this, but John's disciples told him about all these things because Jesus was going around healing. He had just raised a widow's son, and he sent them to the Lord to ask, are you the one who was to come? which is a question everyone will ask at some point in their life based on their current situations.

You know, is there a God or is his name Jesus or what's the meaning in the life? You know, why am I in prison? Why are things not going away? Or shall we expect someone else? Now, the direct context was he thought he was the Messiah, the Jewish Messiah, that was going to lift them from the oppression from Rome and free them. So when the men came to Jesus, they said, John the Baptist sent us to ask you, are you the one?

Or shall we expect someone else? And at that very time, Jesus cured many who had diseases and sicknesses and evil spirits and gave sight to the blind. And he replied, go back and report to John what you have seen. The blind received sight. The lame walk. Those who have leprosy are cured. The deaf here.

The dead are raised. The good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is a man who doesn't take offense or fall away on account of me. After John's messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John. What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind. If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes?

No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written. I will send my messenger ahead of you and will prepare your way before you. And then he compliments him greatly in one breath. I tell you, among those born of a woman, there's no greater than John.

Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. And we made this point last time. He was preparing the way for the kingdom to come. He was so close. He pointed people to Jesus, but he didn't get to experience the revealing of the kingdom because he had his head cut off. So in verse 29, all the people, Even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words,

acknowledged that God's way was right because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves because they had not been baptized by John. To what then can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace in calling out to each other. We played the flute for you and you didn't dance. We sang a dirge, and you did not cry.

For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say he has a demon. The son of man, speaking of himself and the third person here, came eating and drinking, and you say, well, here's a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But wisdom is proved right by her children. And I love the way that he personifies.

wisdom in that in that text you know he almost makes it wisdom as a person you know she is she is proved right about our children which is which is powerful so so just to look at this in the whole section because we we kind of did an overview last time for me i'm an outline guy so here's my outline for what you just read jays uh verse 18 through 23 why did john the baptist doubt And we spent quite a bit of time talking about that last time, just the bigger picture of that. Because there's no doubt that it was a doubt. And I loved your setup on the last podcast because he said, are you still the one? And you read John 3 with the words of John the Babes himself saying about what, 10 times he was the one.

Well, exactly. And I made the illustration. I didn't go to it in detail. But it's like when I was dating my wife, I had doubts. obviously, because we're very combustible. And does that mean I didn't love her? No, of course not. I ended up marrying her and had been with her over 30 years

and she's my best friend in the world and I think we have a dynamic marriage. But there was doubts. And at some point, the doubts began to dissipate. And even when we were first married, I would think, huh? I don't know here. And I think that's what people have to get in their mind.

Because, Al, the reason we're spending so much time on it is we both, probably all three of us, have been asked hundreds of times by very sincere followers of Jesus. I'm just having doubts, you know, whether there's a God. And I always have taken a positive view on that. I'm like, look, we all have. have those moments of doubt, especially when life has become difficult. Because God chose us to have bodies and to live and we're in a sinful world. And guess what? If you do everything right, according to what you feel is right, things are not going to go your way. There's going to be,

even if you don't make the decisions that cause major upheavals in your life, it's going to happen. You're one car wreck away from just your whole life changing or one diagnosis away. This is the life and the hand that we've been dealt. What Jesus is trying to get John the Baptist to see and all of us is these things are coming and it's okay if you're in me. If you trust me, it will work out fine. Here's an eternal being with an eternal plan and a love for all human saying, Trust me in this. We're certain of what we don't see.

We're certain of what we don't see. Where I said we get into trouble is because we want to have security in Jesus, but what we do is we get off and we put something in Jesus's position, and then we put our assurance in that, whether it be money or, you know, like if I would have put my wife ahead of my relationship with Jesus. Guess what? That wouldn't work. when you elevate somebody, it doesn't matter if you put your kids ahead of your faith in Jesus,

it's not going to end well. I mean, that sounds great. You know, I love my kids more than anything. I would object to that. I would say, you need to love Jesus more than anything. I mean, your kids are right there under Jesus, but that is the goal because life is too difficult. Things are going to happen. You're going to need answers to problems that no one besides.

Jesus can fix. So you can say that or you can live that. And that's what he was trying to get John to Babbage to say. It's fine. We're good. And he's like, what? No, we're not good. I'm in prison.

Fixed to get my head cut off. We're good. You did your job. And so these are the true heroes of the faith because it's hard to convince a man to know what the kingdom is like when he doesn't really know. but he's doing, led by the spirit, everything God wants him to do, and it just didn't end well from a physical and worldly perspective.

Sometimes when, like, one old, old Dan, sometimes he'll see up something that somebody said very negative about me. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, it's cursing me. I just smile. Yeah, he probably shouldn't show you that. You know, I don't like to read stuff like that. Yeah. But I'm just saying.

He says, this is what some of them are saying. And I looked at from time to time, I look down, I just smiled and say, Dan, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, good and evil. Well, hey, and you're right now that that's the other factor that's not necessarily in the context of this section we're talking about. But we know from studying the entire Bible that the enemy that we're up against is one who likes to press doubt and difficult circumstances. In fact, he'll create that. I've been rereading Joe Beam's book, Seeing the Unseen, which is such a good read, by the way. We've recommended it before on the podcast, Seeing the Unseen by Joe Beam. It doesn't create a hateful attitude, me toward them.

I don't hate them. I just keep going, preaching the gospel, praying for them. No, because part of the reason why, as you understand, the evil ones, remember the evil one's very first thing he did on the scene in Genesis 3, did God really say? Why would you ask a question like that? Because you're trying to associate of doubt. You know, I mean, that's what he does. So, Dad, when you talk about hating evil and not people is because we know who is the one that's behind the scenes here. You are correct.

You are correct. Well, you do have to have an open mind and make sure you're not creating the narrative of Jesus for you. Jesus is. He said, I am. But what John, John, he thought he was going to be the, the, the, Messiah for the Jews, which he is. But then the next thought was, and we're going to take control. We're going to free.

It's like that's what we do. If that means one thing, then that also means how he's going to do this and what it's going to look like. Well, when it don't look like that, you start to question. You're like, well, wait a minute. So you're doubting the one who can save you because of your current circumstances. understands. So, but finish your outline now. Yeah, let's, let's take another break. So my, my outline this, this one, like I said, why did John the Baptist doubt? That's 18 through 23.

24 through 29. What did John the Baptist deliver? And man, there's some rich stuff in here. This is after the messengers leave the parts you read, Jace, that he says to the crowd. That's very, very powerful. And I want to get into that. And then the third segment, 930 through 35 is who did John the Baptist divide? Because the message that he started with that even he had doubts about whether Jesus was the one, it made a clear dividing line between those who are willing to accept what the Bible says here, acknowledgement of what is right versus those that said, nope, I'm going to go with the old system. I'm going to go with the law.

I'm going to go with my abilities as a. opposed to submitting myself. So there's a dividing line that happens there. We'll talk about that too. So that was my outline for this segment. And every one of those kind of centers around John and these questions that he asked. Yeah. Well, in your second one, what was your second point?

My second one was, what did John the Baptist deliver? And the reason I put it that way is because, so in verse 24, John's messengers lead, Jesus begins to speak. And then he says, so in other words, what did you go out into the desert to see? So he's going to immediately pivot and start asking about John the Baptist because, you know, the followers have just been there. He talked to them. He sent the message back. And now these people are there. And they've heard this whole exchange. And he, and now he's going to talk about John. He said, did you go out to see a reed swayed by the whim? And of course, the answer is, well, no. Because, you know, who wants to go see a reed sway by the wind? You know what's

interesting about this, Jay? So when I was doing some research into this, because I think there's a, I think that now, after studying at this time, I think there's a little deeper messaging in this context as well, and about who hair it is versus who Jesus is. And the reason why is because I read about this I never had read before, that there was a coin that was actually coined, which I knew you'd like this because you're into coins, before Jesus was born, Jesus and John, by Herod, the father of our Herod, Herod Antipa. And on that coin, this Galilee and coin, on one side, it had reeds on it from the Sea of Galilee. They were kind of in the edge.

That was on the back of the coin. You know, like we'll talk about a wheat penny on the back of one of the wires. And so whenever Jesus makes this statement, the person I was reading that was talking about this wonders if there was some even reference to the idea about Herod. Because, you know, on the back of this coin, when, you know, a coin is allegiance to whoever made it, right? Because you're saying, you know, that's the king because he makes the coins. The kings are the ones that wind up or the leaders are the ones that winds up on the money.

And he says, did you go out there to see that? this read in the wind, no, what you saw was something better, something greater than even that, which is interesting because when he makes his next point, he said, did you go out to see a guy dressed in fine clothes? And then he says, no, if you want to see that, you go where to the palace? Because that's where all the best dressed people are. That's where the important people are and the powerful people. Exactly. And Jesus is calling the opposite. And you're right on that coin, like the two coins that you remember the story when he told, you know, when Peter said, we didn't pay our taxes or whatever, is it lawful?

And Jesus said, go catch a fish. And there'll be two coins in his mouth. Well, on that coin, I did some research on that or whatever. But it was Caesar when he said, give to Caesar what is Caesar? But it basically said, I, Caesar, I am Godlike. You know? Right. And in a reference to the son of so-and-so, it's like, I am the son of God,

which is the exact claim of Jesus, which is what people in these kingdoms do. They become God-like creatures, and they run their kingdoms, and they don't want to hear anything you have to say. They're doing the talking. And that's the contrast here where Jesus comes in, call in the people who you don't think are royalty, who don't belong in the kingdom.

can because they can bring nothing to the table all these there's a reason he's healing the you know the paralytics or in going after them and he's taken people that the people that are disregarded and there's a message in that for everyone i mean you won't world peace you're going to find it in jesus nowhere else yeah it's not obtainable with any kingdom or any philosophy that you can come up with besides this when you start thinking about because he puts us all on equal ground from the inside out, which is the power of what he's doing here. And I did want to say when I read something about Reed, Sweying in a Wind, I immediately go to these, Phil and I've hunted them many times, these ponds that have these cat tails.

And I want to see, I'm watching those Reed's swaying in the wind because that's where the ducks are going to gather. and my mind immediately goes to that. So it's a good picture, you know, for me. But the point is it doesn't necessarily mean anything big picture what. We're going there to hunt ducks is my point. And I may notice the reeds swaying in the wind just to see which way the wind's born to know how to put my decoys. But I'm not given that a lot of thought. It's a small thing.

And I think that's kind of what he was comparing that to. It's like, you think that I'm weak and small and there's not much going on. And when you look at a palace and see all the powerful people, you're like, that's where, that's where it's happening. But it's a contrasting kingdom. It's a clash of kingdoms. And remember, you're right. I said, he reminds them, hey, you went looking for him. You know, you went out into that desert.

And he's asking them, it's interesting because the question. comes in, are you still the one? Messes back to John is, oh, yeah, there's still power, there's still people, they're still preaching. And then he looks at the people, it's like, no, you went out to him to hear what he had to say. And why did you do that? And so he paints this picture because he winds up saying that you went and saw him because you knew he had a prophetic message. He was a prophet. In fact, he was more than a prophet because he was pointing to me. And then he quotes the Malachi 3 passage. And so, again, in my outlining way, his answer was this.

You went out looking for a guy who was unwavering in his commitment to his message. That would be John the Baddow's right. You went out and found a guy who was unconventional. He's not king palace material, but he's greater than that because of what he said, not how he looks. And then the third thing he said is you went out and found a guy who had an unavoidable message because he was talking about me. And so I think he really is stressing the point because then he goes into the next thing is among women, there's no one greater than the guy that you went out to hear. And that's a true statement. I mean, all the people have ever walked the earth, John the Baptist is unique.

But then he flips that and says, but you got to remember that what I'm talking about is as great as that guy is and was. in our case now, the least is greater than him because this kingdom now is upside down. The servant is the one who's great, not the guy in the palace. So I really think it hadn't come yet, though, you know, either. Right. Which is, I think it's an important point. I know, you know, we may be in the minority in that view, but it's, there's no other reason for him to say something like that. It's like, John the Baptist was a great.

I mean, he just said he's the greatest man. So that is important. I think part of this, though, the underlying message in a practical way, because when he gets to the end and he says this about, you say he has a demon, well, that's the Pharisees and the experts in the law. So you kind of have the Jewish response and you have the Gentile response. He's trying to call everybody. But then the tax collectors and the, said even the tax

collectors and the sinners are acknowledging that God's way is right, but the Pharisees and the experts are rejecting it. And because they haven't been baptized by John, because they're just looking, they can't get past his attire and his, his, his education. Demeanor. Well, and, yeah, he's not, well, who trained you? You've been out here eating goat steaks and, you know, it just... And bugs.

Well, right, which is why I brought up the point about Elijah. In the religious world, unfortunately, the people who look like John the Baptist and Elijah are probably not treated on a general rule ever Sunday morning as well as those who look like everybody. else, you know, with a suit on and, you know, you wear your best. And, I mean, I get it. Look, okay, you can make a point. But it just, it's so sad because they've missed out. They're sure of themselves, going back to the point about doubting, that this can't be the kingdom.

This guy can't be predicting the kingdom because of what he looks like. And then they're looking at the son of God. Jesus saying that can't be because look where he was last night and who he was with. So you just think, I'm going to tell you the moral of that story is, I mean, I would rather be away from the Lord than claim to be in the Lord and look at the Son of God and say he's not the one. I mean, that is an atrocity. So there's something about being open-minded and having some doubt sometime about what you hear and the messages you're listening to. And so you don't miss the person of this because that's really what it gets down to. You can't put all these teachings and rules and denominational creeds above who Jesus is.

That's why I love that question. Are you the one? That was a really good question. which is why I believe that in the end, John the Baptist was convinced, because that was a great answer by Jesus. I mean, I think he probably heard that and said, you know what?

The dead are raised. I mean, I would have taken that letter in that moment if I had doubt putting myself in John the Baptist, and I would have thought, the dead are raised. I mean, what am I worried about here? He can raise the dead, But even though I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how this is going to exist and I'm sitting here in this prison, if he's not worried about it, guess what? Neither am I because the debt are raised.

I think that's the attitude we've got to have. I think you're right. Let's take another break. And back to the text, Jay. So whenever Luke is laying this out and he says this comment about, you know, those one born of woman, no one greater, but the least in the kingdom. When in verses 29 and 30, the reason there are parentheses around that in your text is because Luke is just given you the results of what that looks like. In other words, he's interjecting these are, here's what happened. There was this divide of people that were willing to accept Jesus and those that weren't.

And they were also the same ones that were willing to accept John the Baptist and the other ones weren't. So he gives you the idea that whenever you look at Jesus, there is a choice to be made. And so to me, another point here is that the greatest thing John the Baptist ever did was point us to Jesus because that changed our era. That changed the idea of the kingdom of what that looks like. And it also gives us a new idea of what really is great, the one who serves. And Jesus said this over and over. if you want to be great, you have to be a servant. You have to serve other people.

And that's what he was fighting against. It's that whole mindset. And these people that, these Pharisees and others, that's, that's all they were caught up in is how you looked, you know, what boards you set on, what table you set at, where your seat was located. It was all about stuff like that instead of about what true greatness really is. So I think that's the distinction he makes, which is why my last thought on this in verses 30 through 35 is look at who was divided over Jesus and over John the Baptist. Because he says, you know, what can I compare to the people of this generation?

And now he's going to go right at the what do they like? They're like children sitting in the marketplace. And I thought it was really interesting because, you know, almost except for this context, every time Jesus is talking about children, he likes their childlike faith. He says, unless you become like this, this mindset, just being willing to trust me, you're not going to understand the kingdom. Now he does the opposite side of that and talks about childish behavior. And the two things he mentions, we played the flute for you and you did not dance. We sang a dirge. You did not cry.

It's like most of the scholars that I looked at about this section is they were talking about how when kids play an adult game, which you see this all the time. I see what my grandkids. they'll play school or they'll play some setting that they're not quite in themselves. They'll play family, you know, like I'm the dad, you're the mom. We're telling the youngest what they need to do because they're the kid. So he lays out that same scenario for these children in the marketplace. He says they're playing at weddings and funerals, but they don't really understand what this is all about. And that's the two things that he gives you, the idea of the dirge and the joy.

Yeah, I think that's an excellent point. I heard somebody say one time. They were using the same analogy, and they said a bumper sticker statement that I think, if you preach this sermon, you should use. And it came from this analogy that all the times Jesus said, unless you change and become like little children. So you have that aspect. But then you remember when Paul was rebuking the Corinthians, he says, stop thinking like children. And then he just gave a withering.

Mirage. And so this, I don't know, I wish I could give credit, whoever said this, but I can't remember where I heard it. But they said, in the Lord, you need to have the heart of a child, but you need to think like an adult. And it was a great point because he's like, we study, we learn, we grow, you have to think and study and try to figure this out. But once you kind of take Jesus and make him out what you.

you know, think he should be, well, you've already gotten off here. You're no longer using reason in which I keep referring to what we're going to talk about in the parable of the sewer. But it's really about preparing your heart to listen and to hear what he's offering. If you've already made up your mind, well, you're doomed from the start. And just think about how the parable of the soar is going to relate to that. Because one of those hearts, remember, they were fine at first. verse, but then the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth.

Well, it's the same concept that he's talking about here. Your life circumstances are affecting your view of who Jesus is. They are quick to reject Jesus. All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words, acknowledged that God's way was right because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law, the problems. rejected God's purpose for themselves because they had not been baptized by John. It's something about dedicated, real faith that they just didn't have it.

Yeah. I remember studying one of the guys. They were lawkeepers and they would go to the palaces. They were doing what he was outlining there. He said, nope. I remember because I had this, I've had many people. through the years, they'll say, well, you know, I believe Jesus was a good person, but you know, I just, it's like that's their first statement.

But I mean, you know. He wasn't Lord. Yeah, to say that he's God and all the controversial things he said. And I just, you know, that's just too much for me. And I remember finally, instead of trying to argue that, just on wits, I remember asking a guy, I said, well, have you? do you read what, you know, what he's like? And they looked at me like, I knew right then the answer was no.

I've just heard all this and I've made a decision. I was like, well, look, why don't you go back and read the Gospels? And then let's, well, then we'll begin. Because I have no basis for you just picking out parts of what you've heard through the years about various religions and make an assumption, no, I just don't. So you go read it for yourself, which goes back to the having a heart like a child and having this willingness to trust and be taken care of and be naive and innocent, but also being rational about this and thinking he wrote you a book.

And before you make an opinion on him, how about go research it yourself? And then let's have a conversation on exactly what he's like. No, that's a great point. Let's take another break. And it kind of goes ahead, Jay's, because you're talking about what we're going to get to. We get into chapter eight was the idea of the parable, the sower, which is that very thing. Because a child comes into the world, and they are. They listen.

They accept. They're moldable, you know, their hearts. They're willing to listen to you. But as they grow up, we know that you have to start instilling discipline. You have to put guardrails up. You have to make boundaries for them. because otherwise, if you don't, then they'll start veering into things that aren't right. And they'll start getting into all sorts of trouble.

And so I think that's the dividing line he's talking about is that's the childish behavior when it continues. And look, is there anything worse than seeing grown adults act like children? I mean, you go to any ball field in America. Like I just, you know, I'm going to baseball fields all the time. I'm watching my grandkids. And I watch adults acting like the most, the worst. most petulant, you know, terrible children in the world. And, I mean, it's disgusting to watch because you're like, oh, my goodness.

And I'm embarrassed for their kids and for people that are around their teams. I'm just like, this is terrible. That's exactly what he's talking about. I've shared my Little League experiences many times on here. And, you know, I waited, I guess, 10 years, 10 or 12 years before I became a head coach in that. It was my son's, my younger son, his last year. But I had taken everything I had seen that was just appalling that happened on the baseball field. And I said, I'm going to fix this for one year for these kids.

And look, I drafted, from me drafting the deplorables, I drafted every kid. Now, I did pick the talent over the attitude and the, like, so the, the number one athlete in the draft, you know, I'm doing research on all these kids. And they said, heck of a ball player, but attitude, terrible. There's no dad in his life. Uncontrollable. Been kicked out of the leagues.

And, of course, that's who I picked. And because I made it a spiritual thing first, and I had three coaches who volunteered, who were all very experienced in baseball, who had no agenda other than, And they bought into, let's help these kids. And so my job as the head coach, I said, the number one is that I said, I'm going for the parents. And, you know, I made them sign a contract.

Of course, I used who I was, the celebrity aspect of it, to convince them to do it. But I made them commit to having a positive attitude, to not, you know, arguing with umpires, to not use them. Rants and raves. Oh, yeah. And I made them sign it that I have. had the ability to kick them out of the game, escort them out the stands if they broke that. And look, do you know how long it took for this implementation to happen? The first pitch, the guy I drafted number one through a ball right down the middle,

and the umpire went, ball. and that kid imploded and then exploded and his mom went nuts. This is game one, pitch one. You know what we call that? That's called a test. I came out of the dugout, pointed toward the mom, and I said, you're out of here. And then I, and she's looking around like, what? And the umpire's like, he thought I was talking to him.

He's like, I said, no, I threw the mom out of it. It's complicated. Trust me. And so then I took the ball from the kid, and he's like, what are you doing? I was like, oh, you're going to the bench. And it was so funny because he said, well, the rule book says that I have to play two innings. And I said, well, I'll see you in court because you're going to that bench. But you know, this illustration is getting so good because I see so many things.

the rule book says, is that not exactly what Jesus is dealing with here, these people and their traditions? When this kid knows the rule book, that's what I was shocked at. I was like, he knows that he can play two innings and going to act like this. And now I've told the story, so I won't, you know, belay the point. But that's where it started. And look, it was bumpy. You know, she was crying and she said things to me that she should not have said, you know, the mom. Oh, she was cussing me up one side down the other because she's mad.

And, but the rest of the season, we eventually just moved her out to the outfield. She was not allowed in the stands because I convinced her, I said, this, your kid has more talent than anybody out here. But your, your circumstances at your house, and you putting the pressure on him and hollering is creating a situation where he cannot succeed. You're either going to trust me, you know, he needs mentors in his life, which, look, the kid turned out. out to be awesome. Once we got an understanding, we fixed his attitude. He hit probably 15 home runs. He was our second best pitcher. We won the league. There were so many people persecute me because everybody had their little agendas about who was going to be the all-star coach. You know, if you win the league, they were coming at me from every angle. And none of us, I didn't want to

be the all-star coach. My son didn't want to play a lot. So it was so funny when they had the meeting and I was late to it on purpose because they were, you know, I had to, I was now in charge, you know, after we won the league, I had the right to make all the decisions. And I was like, I don't want to be the all-star coach. And my son has decided not to play. And these two other players don't want to play. So good luck. I hope y'all win. So the whole fight, the whole year, it was about those kids.

And when I see one of those kids even today, they all look back on that as a lot. life-changing moment. We made what happened on the ball field a safe place. There's nothing negative. None of the coaches ever argued a call. Never. Even if it was wrong. We didn't say, oh, what?

Nothing. It was not allowed. And we just talked about their life. We practiced real hard, obviously, you know. I mean, we played the game of baseball, but we did it the right way. And you know what happened to those parents? Because what I learned is it wasn't my philosophy that won out. When you win, they love you.

They'll do whatever, you know. And we lost the first two games of the year, and we never lost another one. And it was really kind of a bad knees bears type story. But it just fits with what we're talking about in reality. No, it's so good. Let's take our last break. It's so good, Jay's because that's exactly what he's laying out, that there's this, the last bit of this context in our last segment here is that he lays out the concept of free will

that everyone has a choice to make, to do the right thing and to accept who Jesus is. In this case, he's putting it in the context of John the Baptist first, but either way the decision leads to him or the decision not to. Yeah, I was just, I was going to say that was my point, even in the what the mom and the kid on that baseball field, what they were so upset about, they kept talking about that ball being a strike. And I was like, it was a strike. But do you think everything in life is going to go our way? Baseball is all about overcoming failure. Overcoming when things go back.

You can't explode. We're all going to wind up in jail, which is really what it looks like. And that's why I didn't want to miss the point. Or you'll lose every game. Yeah, I didn't want to miss the point that this whole conversation happened because John the Baptist is sitting in prison thinking, where did this go wrong? Why is this happening? I've done everything that I can do, but he just couldn't see the big picture because it was a mystery, you know.

Which is why he closes it, Jays, with wisdom is proved right. So you laid out a completely different philosophy to approach a game that most people had watched and had their own opinions on how to do. wisdom was proved right because you found success as well as better attitudes by doing the right thing. But what happened? How was it proved right? Because over time you did the right thing. Exactly.

The words used bad things, Al, do happen to good people. Absolutely. Well, right. And even to go back to the baseball analogy, all the persecution I was getting because, you know, and even from them trying to stack the teams, to beat us so they can be the coach. All that was doing was making our group tighter and tighter. It was like I was using it all. I was like the whole league is against us.

They're out to get us. They actually won in our championship game, which look, we didn't have the better team on paper, you know, because the team was stacked who we were playing. And we went, we ended up winning six to five and the police were called because the other team and the parent just ate all and I thought this is a perfect way to illustrate what I was trying to get these kids to see yeah but but what we used as motivation since I was back that was back when we were doing our duck show they when we got to our dugout they had hung a duck uh of stuffed up by the neck in our dugouts when we walked in that that's some of those kids on the other

team. They were trying to intimidate us, you know, which is horrible. I mean, who does this in a little league baseball game, you know? But I just embraced it because I was like, are y'all scared or y'all intimidated? You know, and I mean, it just fired them up. They played as good as they could play. We were fortunate to win. But there was a message in there that I kept going back to spiritual principles about life is not fair.

and 10 of the 12 kids on our team came from broken families. Well, when we did our little after game meetings, we weren't talking about that game because we've already practiced and put all the time in. One of the four coaches would say, this is life. This is failure, because baseball is an awesome game to teach God's principles,

because you are going to fail more than you succeed. If you hit the ball, three out of ten times, you're considered great. Well, that means the seven other times you're going to have to overcome the defeat in that and get back up. And so I just think it's a good illustration. I'm glad you brought that up because this really helps you understand because in our own lives, it's just not going to go the way we think it is and embrace it. Yeah. And that's why I said ultimately wisdom is proved right. and then I added to that by integrity, time, and history. You keep doing the right thing over time and history.

It will be proved right every time. And I want to read this verse before we run out of time and head to overtime. And this is from John chapter 10. And I really think it's a great kind of cap of this idea about John the Baptist. In John chapter 10 of verse 40, Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. So now John's already gone. So now we're looking back.

And so Jesus is back in that same region where John was. And it said, there he stayed. And many came to him. And they said, so this is all these people over time. Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true. And in that place many believed in Jesus. And I just think that's such a great capping verse to what really John's whole purpose was all about.

You know, it says he never did a miracle. He never did a sign, which made him different from all the other prophets. And yet he pointed him to Jesus, which I think was just a great picture. And to end my baseball analogy, so last night, you can't make this up. I was playing cards with some of my friends. And the father of one of those boys that played on our team, we watched him every at bat because he got drafted by the Dodgers and he's in the minor league, you know, minor league system.

And, you know, I just thought back to that. Of course, you know, I'm like, yeah, I coached him, you know. I mean, in a funny way, as I'm taking credit for it. Of course, we had one kid that was a stud and that was him. And which he had a, he was one of the few that had a good attitude when he showed up, you know, because and that's why i mean but uh and at the time when we started watching it because we couldn't get it on his phone till then it was one to one and they had one hit in the eighth inning and it was him he got a bunt signal i mean a bunt single for the hit and the score in which

they ended up winning in extra endings but still when you go back to that if you get the heart right is my point if you get your heart right it leads to success even in worldly ways you in a lot of instances, you know, life may look difficult, but in a lot of ways, it carries you through to following your dreams also. Yeah. And so, you know, you got to take that in both. We've been looking at the negative because John was in prison. But even that, I mean, here's a kid that it's got some mentorship and the right way to

think of them that came from Jesus. It didn't come from me. Spirit-filled men that were pouring into his life about how you got to overcome, you know, obstacles and keep at it. So I thought that was a happy ending. That's good. That's a perfect way to end our podcast because we're out of time. In the overtime, I do want to talk a little bit about that.

We didn't address verses 33 and 34 about the negative, sort of the hypocritical side on the Pharisees, about what they said about Jesus and John the Baptist, because there's a lot said about these two verses. So I want to talk about that in the overtime. If you want to follow us over, blazedtv.com slash unashionship. is where we'll be. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

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