Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 736 | Jase’s Awkward Airport Bathroom Encounter & Phil Doesn’t Get Why It’s Worth Talking About

Episode Date: August 17, 2023

Jase’s retelling of his time in Wyoming has Phil thinking it might be heaven on earth, though the trip home was less than blissful! Jase details an awkward bathroom situation in an airport bathroom, but Phil’s advice to him isn’t very practical for traveling. The guys discuss the various cultural and biblical meanings of discipleship and outline the enormous sacrifice that Jesus asks of his followers. Jase boils it down to three salient but memorable points that apply to both heaven and earth. In this episode: Luke 9, verse 50 – Luke 19, verse 27; Isaiah 50, verses 5-8; Galatians 6, verses 9-10 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. Jace has been on the road for quite a while. Jase, can you tell us about some of your road travels? Well, I was more in the sky, I guess. But I did, yeah, we did have to drive. I went to Wyoming in the middle of nowhere. And for the first time and, well, I guess ever since I've had a vehicle,

Jeff and I were driving around and you couldn't find a gas station. And we started noticing that every truck that we passed, they had a gas tank in the back of their truck. Yeah. So you're like, well, why didn't you just Google map it and find one? Because Google Map didn't work in Wyoming. That's what you called no man's land. That's right.

Yeah. When you want to know where to go, you pull over and ask somebody. Or find a map. Yeah. Old school. Yeah. So it was nice. Phil, you would have loved it there.

No cell phones work, none. And you... I'd have felt right at home. Yeah. No, it was nice. But we didn't run out of gas. We figured it out. Because really, I had the times that the Google map would come up,

it just basically said there was no gas stations anywhere around. And about the time we were going to run out, we just came up to an intersection, and there was a gas station there. But it wasn't on Google Map. Do the owners of the ranches, do they walk around on the cell phone, talking to their working hands? No, I never saw a cell phone. No, they don't.

That's what I was asking before I go camp out there. Yeah. No, you would love it, Phil. We actually camped out. Then we went to Montana. So, I mean, I just, I saw, you know, a lot of wildlife and a lot of beauty. And even though it was hot, unseasonably warm up there, I mean, it was, it never got over 90 in Wyoming, but it was a high 80s. But then in Montana.

It's a pretty interesting concept when you come a long way and you came. from somewhere in England or Scotland, you rented or bought a wagon, got the women and the kids, threw them in the back, and started heading west, and you finally pulled up to a spot. He looked around.

He said, okay, well, it's a tough ride. We lost two or three of our family members, but we're here. Let's just mark us off, I don't know, not that big, couple of hundred thousand acres. Yeah. Is that the way it went down?

That's what it seems like. I asked that guy in Wyoming, I said, you know. I got in the wrong wagon, it was all else. I said, you'd have trouble loving your neighbor, and he said, why is that? I said, because you don't have any. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. They're probably, I would think that more of them are God-fearing men than their predecessors all the way down here to the woods, Louisiana.

Dad, my line about you for years has been that you were born 100 years later than you should have been. If you had been born in 1846, I think you would have been a probably, I mean, not that you haven't done well, but I'm saying you would have really loved life probably during that era. That seems like your kind of existence. I don't know. I would think so. Were there ducks on the water or in the sky above these states? Oh, yeah. You mean they were there, weren't they?

They were there. I told both ranches, I said, I was like, Phil called these mountain ducks. I'll tell you what was crazy. So we get to Wyoming. The sun was setting. We're on this porch. You know, we hadn't started filming.

We're just, this is the day before. So the owner, who was a really interesting fellow, and really into, like, habitat. And so the ranch he just bought here, he was, like, restoring it to its original glory. I mean, he was saying that... Good for him. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He was into that.

So we were sitting there and kind of watching the sunset and just listening to the sounds. Because you see nothing but just mountains and nature and animals. And then all of a sudden you hear this sound. And a mallard hen just come floating. down the river because the river is right in front. He said he kills the limit of ducks, and this is a two-story lodge right on this little river.

He kills the limit of ducks every day on his porch. That's why they stay. It looked like about a 30-yard shot. He's up, so if they come down the middle of the river, I said, boy, you got it made here. Yeah. He's just next to heaven there. Yeah, it's a neat place. He didn't need any duck calls, did he just, they just float by.

I'm going to sit in some, but yeah. So the nesting ducks had already, their broods are already there, and they're probably flying around little groups up and down. Yeah, we saw several ponds. Big rivers or small rivers? Small rivers. We saw several mamas with the little ones behind her. We actually saw several rattlesnakes too.

I mean, the landowner, he killed two. in defense of himself and his dog. And we're out there stomping around. And when I asked him what this place was after we filmed three days, he said, well, yeah, it's called Rattlesnake Ridge. I thought, well, somebody should have told me that. And I'd have had a little taller boots. But, you know, I noticed something about these rattlesnakes.

They were kind of blonde in color, and they didn't look like ours. I mean, I'm sure it's the same brand. but it's just the way the lay of the land they're camouflage. I would have never seen one unless they moved. They blended in. Oh, you're just, you step wrong and you're just dead. Because look, by the time you get to a hospital, you're hours away. Well, he had gotten snake bit the year before.

He told us about it, which was a very frightening story. Because he was basically checking his pulse. He went out there and got, you know, some antibiotics for his cows and horses and was just stabbing himself because he thought, I ain't going to make it anyway, you know, because it's so far away from any kind of medical. He was trying anything. But by the time he got to the hospital, he was surprised he was still alive, that the snake that bit him had no venom. So it still, you know, messed him up a bit, just the bacteria.

So he caught a break on that. What he? Bide him on the arm. Bide him on the hand. He was moving a piece of pipe, and he just said, you know, you don't see them because they look just like this kind of sandy ground. Yep. So I'll tell you that.

After the next day, I was watching where I stepped. Jason, did your radar, did your snake radar? Was it on full alert after hearing that story? Well, it was so funny because Jep just on his own, you know, took some camera people, one of the days because he wanted to go climb on the top of a mountain. I was like, good luck with that. Let me know how that works out.

But that was before he got the intel, about all the snakes, you know, I was like, after he heard that, he was like, I cannot believe. I didn't get bit. I was like, hey. Yeah, because you know, you're talking about their habitat.

You start crawling up the side of those hills. Every one of those little holes, carve outs for you to climb. That's a nice place for a snake house to be. that's exactly right we take them out the cotton mouths not the fish snakes and all that but uh we have all four of the porous snakes on even these united states you know rattlesnake coral snake big one right there you know uh what else would it be copper heads copperheads and cotton mouths yeah so that's the four that are all around us all the time we see them probably

probably this table here, it would be a pretty good mound of them so far this year. You just nearly get bit. You're working on a beaver dam, and they tend to get up on them beaver dams. So the snakes, the cotton mouths, but you do have to watch them carefully. I mean, I'm watching the ground very carefully when I'm walking around down there. So so far as important. But you got a snake wrangler with your dog there, don't you feel? He likes to snap their heads off, right?

Yeah, well, oh, Bobo, that one I have now is not the one before him was the snake dog, but this one here, he's a little bit, he's a little bit. Snake, yeah, well, yeah, he just not, not his way to get up in him and doesn't know it, you know. He must be a lot smarter. Yeah, he's smaller and smarter, I think. I watched that other dog, the one before, and that was impressive. Dan would send me videos of when you, because you think, you know, he would lose against a snake,

but the, the quickness that he would grab the snake and shake and shake his head. Oh, yeah. I mean, it was pretty impressive. There's an art to it. When I was home, I was home last week just to show you how it is in Louisiana.

And there's a little lady that cleans the house. She was next door cleaning at Nan's house. She came over, which she rarely comes over when she's, cleaning, and Lisa and I were home. And she said, would y'all come look because I went to pick up a piece of trash in the floor and it moved? I think it's a snake. And I was like, in the house? So I grabbed me a shovel on the way in there. And it was a little old, probably about two foot long. And it was brown and it had some markings on it. So I wasn't sure if it was a baby copperhead

or something else. So I took care of the problem. But when I took care of the problem, but when I that thing out, it was still wiggling around, you know, it wasn't all the way dead. And speaking of dogs, that blue healer dad that used to live up the road from you. That thing got a hold to that snake. And you talk about go to work on him. I mean, you know, it was pretty small, but you could tell it that's a, that dude was a snake killer. Yep, yeah. Well, we all survived. I met a lot of good people. I bumped into a lot of unashamed listeners in the airports. And we met a spectacular family on the way back from uh they used to live in louisiana about we got to talking it was so so weird when i sat down missy because missy uh and jessica

met us in montana and uh filmed an episode with us you know they want of course when they heard we were going to montana they're like hey we're in especially they were willing to That's a lot of hard work. Yeah, because in Montana, the cell phones worked, and it was, you know, it was like some normal existence or whatever. But, you know, Wyoming, we camped out on the side of a river out just in amongst where the deer and the antelope roam and play. But we got some world-class footage. But we met a lot of interesting people, but I came up to sit with Missy in Montana because I had, I had gone to the bathroom, and that's another story I need to tell.

But I guess I'll tell it at some point. Well, when does peeing on the ground become a story worth telling? No, I was at the airport at this point. So, Missy met his family. I just checked very carefully if I got it behind the bush to make sure a cut-mouth wasn't there. I don't see the big, big scramble there. All right, well, let me tell you that story then, sir. We had to hear that story because, to be fair, it was in a bathroom, right?

But we are talking about it. I was talking about a bathroom at the airport, Phil, because, you know, look. Well, I was talking about it like a short, stubbed, sturdy brush right over there. This time I was back into civilization. But it was an interesting story when I said, because, look, everybody crowded in there. By the way, I feed more outside than I have in a commode. Yeah, I'm familiar. So I walked in because we had just had another flight to get there.

And so you know how everybody rushes to the bathroom? And I had met most of the people that were walking in there along the way or in the plane. Well, we went in there and all the stalls, somebody was in them, the ones on the wall and the ones behind the curtains. That's the worst. Once you got to your destination in the middle of Montana, we're caught, I mean, in my own. Well, hang on.

I'm on the way back now. That herd of I've got to pee now. No, so look, so we're all kind of forming a line. That's trying to create his own version of the store. Yeah, get all that. We're back to civilization. So I'm waiting. So the first thing that opened up was a guy in a stall with walls.

And I was first man up. And it was a very large man. Not that that has anything to do with this, but I just couldn't figure out, you'll appreciate what's going to happen. When I headed, when I took off toward that stall, the smell coming from that little room hit me like somebody hit me between the eyes. It's one of the reasons I've done most of my bathroom techniques. I've done that outside a commode.

Because creatures gather up around commode and it's worse than snakes. A huge man with a smell like that. Another reason, wait to the great outdoors, hold it to them. So I backed off and I said, y'all go ahead. And I noticed man by man, he had head toward it, nope.

Turn around. Next man, head toward it. Nope. Next man. Well, then we all got to giggling about it. And I was like, y'all were wondering, you thought you had to go really bad. And you thought, well, I guess, old Jace, wasn't an emergency. I said, but now you know.

And they said, we know. I would rather die of kidney failure than to go in that stall. Another good reason for being out in the thick woods. I love dad's, it's a typical dad response. That's why I don't use stalls in airports. boys that's why i don't go so look here's what here's what's fun y'all laugh but when i got to missy who had met this really nice family we were sitting there and that guy same guy walked by and i said babe you're not going to believe this i said when i went in the bath i said you see that guy right

there and she said i do not want to hear a bathroom story i was like no this is you're gonna she's like no i don't i don't know she wouldn't let me tell her so i said okay You're out. So anyway, I met the nice family. Well, if she listened to the podcast, she would hear it. But I don't know if she'd listen to the podcast. She doesn't want to listen to the stories. But she met this family because I was like, oh, babe, you know them.

And the reason I said that, because it was a real nice African-American family. And the only reason, you know, in Jesus, we're colorblind. But I'm bringing that up is because I just thought, I mean, they were like mid-conversation laughing. And I thought Missy must have known them. But she said, no. She's like, I kept looking at the lady, the mom of the family across from me. She kept smiling at me. And so I thought, well, she must recognize me.

Why does she keep smiling? And so she said, I said something, you know, have I met you before? And she said, no, I just smile at everybody. But she said it made me think Miss Kay, I mean, because how she's so engaging with everybody. And so the more we got to talking to them, of course, then we got into who we were and what we did, and we all following Jesus. And the uncle, you know, uncle, who I can't remember his name, but he started preaching, you know, it just,

it was a really neat setting as much as we laughed and sat there waiting on the plane. We were all on the plane together because they were coming back to Louisiana to visit family, from California. But they were from the same area where I was born, you know, rushed in Louisiana. So, but I just thought, you know, there's something about that that's just, cool, the unity you have in Jesus in that, and just trying to make an impression and being positive, because we were both kind of in that mode, you know, where you have the spirit of Jesus.

Why you're there, Jason? I think that's why when we go through these, the gospels about Jesus, I think it's presenting him as his people would gather around as one. underneath after they began to see what kind of person he was. Exactly. Yeah. This is the way you should act. Yeah, I mean, I think that's the read of what we're studying here by Jesus' character.

Yep. Well, when it comes to leadership type things, people tend to rally either behind something and it unifies them or against something and it unifies them. The difference is when it's something positive that's good for your, life, your attitude tends to be like the people Jace described. When it's against something, it's always this anger and negativity, you know, which we see a lot of that going on today. It tends to be just very toxic.

You know, it's just people aren't smiling. They're just, they're mad or they're upset. I don't know. I would rather be unified around something much more positive than just the negative. No, that's right. That's why it was so much fun. I mean, so finally, the daughter was doing some research and she was like, oh, you do a, Bible study, you know, we were talking about the podcast.

And I was, oh, yeah. She's like, well, you need to come do an event, you know, out at our church, you know. And so we were talking about it. So I said, well, do they say well when they're not sure about something? And, boy, they started laughing. And they were like, oh, yeah. And so I told them about that experience, you know, I had before. I said, I've really tried to implement that around here in these churches, but they don't want to hear it, you know.

They just, you know, they want to stick to the amen if you agree. If you don't agree, keep your mouth shut. Well, a summer or two ago, Lisa and I got invited. I met this guy named, I can't remember his last name, but the bishop. I just remember the bishop. And he was up in Memphis area, just south of there in South Haven, Mississippi. And he was a charismatic preacher. And he and his wife, and they passed.

pastor this church. And they had Lisa and I come up and do a marriage like retreat or refresh at their church. And man, you talk about have the biggest time. Because they're, you know, they're very interactive and responsive when we were doing our thing. We're using a marriage talk.

You know, people just kind of sit and listen, you know, but man, these folks were into it. But man, you talk about elevate your game, Jay's when you're speaking and people are reacting that much,

it's, it was exciting. It's one of the best ones we've ever done. All right. Do you want to get back in the league? Let's do it. So I think we left off at the last section in Luke 9, the cost of following Jesus. Because then we kind of begin this section on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

And you look at it, I got a page turned over. I'm looking at Luke chapter 8 and one, two, two pages. But look, in a short period of time, a very short, short time frame, the Parable of the Sorrel of the source. You're preaching the gospel is like planting seed, seeing plants grow, which is like the kingdom, a lamp on a stand so you can see. No one lights a lamp and hides in a jar or puts it under a bed. You put it up where you can see. Jesus' mother and brothers, she talks about his kin folks, and everybody has kin folks. Jesus calms the storm. He has the power over storms. Just think about that. And it just showing you the accolades of the Savior of the world.

The healing of a demon-possessed man, that'd be a nice person to have a relationship with, if you had someone that could do that. So there's you, Jesus. Then it's a dead girl and a sick woman. What in the world could he do? And you read his response to all these things. Well, I just quoted a couple of pages, the heading on it. You say, it's showing the character of the one who says, I have the power in heaven and earth.

It's all been given to me. And he's proven it with story after story after story, getting a human being ready to say, I won't end. Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And there it is in Luke, just a couple of pages that I mentioned. You say, boy, you would at least think someone would say, who's that?

Who is that? Just doing all that? Who's it? And then you get to Jesus. you're like, hmm. Yeah. It's a powerful thing. So, Dad, before you're saying that, Jay's, I wanted to make one point before we get to

the new text, something I discovered when I was looking back in our study, because we got to this 951, which is a real watershed event, because you remember it said he resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Yep. And Dad's been making the point leading up to this, that this was a huge moment, right? because he's about to shift into his purpose. The biggest moment there's ever been in man's history. Exactly.

So that word resolute was interesting, and I did a little bit of word study on it, and it took me back to Isaiah. So this is a prophetic text about this moment, but I wanted to read it because it really helps you with a mindset of what we're about to talk about the cost of following Jesus. This is Isaiah 50 in verse 5 says this. The sovereign Lord has opened my mind.

my eyes, and I have not been rebellious. I have not drawn back. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. So these are all prophetic texts about what Jesus is going to face. Verse seven, because the Lord, because the sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, have I set my face like Flint. And by the way, that's the same word for Resolute that we read about in Luke. I love that phrase. I set my face like Flint, for I know I will not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other. Who is my accuser? Let him confront me. And so it was just, and the whole text is about that, but just that one little phrase there.

that's Isaiah 50 Yeah No we were thinking just alike Because what I was going to say is You know this goes back to what he introduced In the earlier part of Chapter 9 So when he made the prediction

That the son of man in verse 22 You won't be rejected would suffer He must be killed He'll come back to life on the third day Then he said to them if anyone would come after me, and a lot of versions put disciple right there, even though it's not the word for disciple,

but that's what being a disciple means would come after Jesus. He must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me, and then he goes through that. Who wants to save his life will lose it. Well, part of him resolutely setting out for Jerusalem implies that we resolutely set out for Jesus. We're going to follow in his steps, and there's a death that we're going to participate in

and a new life. It makes you think of that passage in Hebrews, I mean, in Ephesians 4. You remember when he said, so we put off the old self and put on the new self, just in a practical way. That's going to become our journey in this resolute fashion.

So I looked up that word out resolutely in a purposeful, determined, and unwavering manner. Yep. So that's why when you get to the last paragraph, based on what he said in 923 and following, and based on him resolutely going off to die, he then, it comes up, on what it means to be a disciple.

Because when you think about that word, we don't, I don't, do we, do we use that word anymore? Outside of talking about Jesus in our culture? Not that much. I don't think we do. Do we? No. Zach, you have the pulse on the culture.

I mean, is that a word we use in anything outside of Christianity? I don't think we use it a lot if we do. I mean, it's certainly not in the, language of pop culture, you know. Because it's really a strange word. I looked up every kind of dictionary and just the meaning of the word in Greek. And, you know, it's this idea to, you know, learn, but learned by an intimate experience. So it's like, it's not just that you're following.

Usually we say, oh, it's a learner or a follower. But it's, it's, the reason we don't use it, I think, is because we tend to think when it comes to learning, well, we go to school for that and you're learning books. You read some books. That's a human being saying, I'm all in. I'm all in. Yeah. And it's so much deeper than even like an idea of an apprenticeship or an internship. Those are things we talk about people sort of engaging into the following of other people. But those just don't seem to be near deep enough to catch the depth of this idea and this reading. You only find that kind of attitude inside the kingdom.

Now, I think you're on to something. When you said it's all in, I think you're right, because Jesus brought them in, his disciples, but then he sent them out, which is part of really the foundation of the whole Bible. When you look at all the Old Testament prophets, they had an encounter, Moses at the Burning Bush or Abraham, but then they all, you know, they had this intimate encounter,

and then he sent them all out to do something. In each case, and that pattern continues here, and that's why when you're getting to where we're at today, nothing's changed on that. Because really what I got passionate about instead in this, you know, in the nice, cool nights in Wyoming, was that religion today wants to just take Jesus in, put it on a pew a couple times a week,

and it never goes out. Plus, here's the point. You still don't see it if that's all you get. If you're not resolutely participating. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. You say, well, I have to see the kingdom of God. So you're looking at the king and what he's telling you,

but it's all based on when you see a kingdom of God. human being, you're going to find out which side he's on and how resolutely he accepts this or he doesn't. Well, yeah. It really. You're going to come forth, and you can see it. It's like what you mentioned earlier. And I'm shocked that you mentioned this, just because I kind of thought the same thing.

It made me kind of rethink how we even use the word gospel or good news today. Because you mentioned it in your thoughts while I'll go in review. And Luke 8 in the parable of the soar, you know, the first verses that they went around proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Well, at this point, you can see it. At this point, you know, today, people usually only equate that with the death, barrel, and resurrection of Jesus. Well, he hadn't even died and been buried in race.

This was right before. He predicted that he was going to do that. So it made me just do this study on the word, and I was shocked at what I found. because I found that, you know, there's a gospel according to Caesar Augustus when he was elevated. And all that was was when he became the emperor or king, well, he had all his people go out and declare that, you know, the good news of Caesar Augustus. Because whether you thought that was a good thing or not, it was basically a history-changing future for everyone involved. because he's going to be your emperor whether you like it or not. And what's the text that says you can, based on what you, you're not far from the kingdom of God.

You're not far from it. The Acts 17 says he's determined the exact times and places that we should live, that all men would seek him out and perhaps find him, though he's not far from each one of us. So there's that language. I think that when you think about the term discipleship, in Western Christianity, I think one of the biggest disservice that we've done to that word and that idea is, you kind of mention this, Chase, but it's like you reduce it to

almost like a set of beliefs that you get the right information and then somehow that right information is going to transform you. But the truth is, is that hasn't been most of our experiences. What transforms you is being in the presence of God. And the gospel itself, for example, is not the end of it. It's the means to an end. The end is being in the presence of God, and the gospel, the death, burial and resurrection is how we get into God's presence. And I think when you think about discipleship, what does it mean to be a disciple?

I just think of that verse that Jesus says, I am the way, the truth in the life, and no one comes to the Father except for me. So it should be a practicing member of the way, somebody that is incubating and their desires are being true. transform. Because if you think about, I ask this question all the time at our church that it's a simple question. And the answer is even simpler and it's obvious. And the question is, why do we do what we do? And I ask me, why do you do what you do?

The answer is because you want to do it. You do what you do because you want to do it. And so the goal of discipleship should, we should move away from just purely and solely a cognitive, like, experience of me learning the right thing. thing. How do I approach and change what I want? And the way that I change what I want is I have to, I have to behold something that's more beautiful. And I think that that beauty is God's presence. It's who he is. It's everything that he represents. And that's the kingdom thing. It's not something you can contain it. We want to contain it. We want to get it, like box it up. Let me contain it.

Let me reduce it to just my justification, not realizing that, man, there's just more, like there's more that God offers us. It's a true unity and relationship. That's what he says in John 17. I mean, read John 17 when he prays for believers. He prays for oneness, connection, intimacy. Let them be one as we are one. Sanctified them by the truth. Your word is truth.

It's all about this ongoing process of sanctification, really, becoming like him. And even in this, the word you just mentioned about the way, you know, when I looked up, I looked up the Greek words that are used for disciple, which, you know, learn from a person. by experience, who is the object of knowledge, is not just your reading his manual. That's the hymn coming in, which you said all in, but then he would send you out. So then you get these phrases, come after me,

which is you're going to see this frequently, anyone who would come after me, and then you're going to see, you know, follow me, like where we're at Luke 957. When the guy came up, he said, I'll follow you wherever you go. So I looked up that Greek word, well, wouldn't you know it? It's a specific road or way, which is to your point.

But it's a person that you're following. And so we're setting up him sending out not just the 12, like you did at the first part of chapter 9, but then he sends out the 72 in Luke 10. And so the reason I made a big deal about that good news is because I realized when they were proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, it was not unlike what was happening in this culture that you go announce that the king is here. And just to give you an illustration of how that was when I was doing this research, you know, the most famous story we know of, and this will be familiar as I tell you about it. So in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, you had the Athenians from Greece versus the Persians.

The Persians were favored. So everyone in Greece was in panic mode because there's a war going on and they're fixed to be invaded. Well, to everyone's surprise, the Greeks won. But back then, you know, they didn't have cell phones. So they had to find somebody to go announce to Athens that we won. Because, you know, everybody's getting their stuff. It's panic, riots in the streets. Everybody's getting out of there.

So they picked this fella who ran 20-some-odd miles. So you probably already made the connection. This is 490 BC. So when you think marathon today and they, this happened, the idea of this happened 2,500 years ago, he runs the, how far, how many miles was it? 26 miles. Yeah, 26 miles roughly.

and he says, rejoice, we've triumphed. And then he fell over dead because he had run 26 miles. He ran the marathon. But it made me realize, you know, and they call that he declared the gospel to, you know, to everyone. But it made me really think in a practical way. Here we have Jesus, and you have this concept of us, you know, being drawn to him, which is, none of this has changed. Even though he hadn't died and been bearing right, he's.

still drawing people. You read the John 12 passage, you know, that he would, him being lifted up, he would draw men to himself. And then what does he do? He sends us back out. This same thing is going on. I mean, yes, he eventually dies as buried and resurrected. He pours out the spirit. His spirit lives in us. Then we become like him. But it made me realize how much more that we have a responsibility, responsibility is bad work. We just have, like the guy running the marathon. Yeah, this news is so much greater than any other proclamation, any other good news. You know, in their cultures, this is what you did.

You had to get the word out that there is a new regime, there's a new king. Well, this is the king of kings. That's why the apostle Paul nailed it when he said, the acts of the sinful nature are obvious. And he has a list that you can observe. And it starts with sexual immoral. morality, impurity, debaucher. That's right there in front of you, and it's obvious.

Then he said, but when you want to see the kingdom, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithful, against such things there is no law. You got that. Well, right after that, he said, don't be deceived. God cannot be mocked. You have two things you can look at, two groups of individuals. One of them that acts of the sinful nature are very obvious with them.

And the other one is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Don't be deceived, verse 7 of Gleason 6. God cannot be marked. A man reaps what he sews. So you have these two groups. You can spot them. You say, can you tell a difference? You say right off the bat.

It's obvious. who that group is. Never seen a group like that before. Yeah, to me, I think what we miss in the church a lot is we put a lot of emphasis on what Jesus died for. And he died, he died, or what he died to save us from when the answer is obvious, right? He died to save us from our sins. And that is 100% correct and true and essential. But it's not the full picture of the gospel, because there's also the question of what did he save us to? He saved us from sin, but he saved this to a life in him. I think as John 173 says that eternal life is this to know the one true God in Jesus Christ's son whom he sent.

Or John 316, For God should love the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And that eternal life is defined as a relationship of intimacy with the triune God. It's a satisfaction of your hunger that we all have. And it's a true fulfillment. And I think what we do in the church often, and I've done this too, is we only talk about what we're saved from. So then what happens is it's like, okay, go get saved from hell, go get saved from sin, go get saved from death, go get saved from that. And we never talk about hardly ever what we're saved to and who we're saved to.

And if you're going to have real transformation, the kind that the Bible promises us, the kind that Jesus promises us, the kind that he said would come through the Holy Spirit. And you're going to have to be saved to something as well that's more beautiful. So I think it's like a, I don't want to say over-emphasis. It's just a lack of emphasis of the other side of salvation. Save from sin, yes, but saved to life in Christ. And what does he say? Life abundantly. There's an abundant life.

And right, Paul talks about it in First, Corinthians 15. I mean, First Corinthians is chapter one, I believe. He talks about this abundant life and what we're saved to, what no eye has seen, what nowhere has heard, what God is prepared for those who love him. So there is this preparation, and it's not just something that happens 80 years in the future, right? When we die and maybe we get to go to heaven or whatever at the resurrection, that is the fulfillment of it. But the way Jesus defines it in John 173 is eternal life is not only something that happens in the future. It's something that can happen right now because he defines eternal life as knowing God.

Yeah. That can happen right now. Yeah. But then he goes on to say in John 17, you know, to the point I'm trying to make, in 23, he says, may they be, in his prayer, he says, may they, you know, talking about the believers, us, if you will, may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. So, I mean, Oh, you know, Jay, you ever met, we all know people in CrossFit and no offense to the way in CrossFit,

but I heard this joke one time, I thought it was funny. You know how, you know how, you know, you can tell if somebody does CrossFit or not? If they're in shape. They'll tell you about it. Oh.

And it's funny. That's funny. That's good. But it's like, you get incubated in this culture of CrossFit, and I would do it, except it's just way too hard for me. But like, we got a good friend, Gary, that does it.

And then every time I get with Gary, you guess what he's talking about? I mean, this is cross fit, right? But I think it's the same way with Christ. I mean, if, if you're truly in him and you're experiencing the fulfillment, like, it's almost like nobody's got to tell you. Nobody's got to tell Phil. I've never, I've never had anybody said,

man, we need to get down there with your uncle Phil and motivate him to share Jesus. I mean, I don't think that, are you any of you guys? We don't need motivation, you know, light and fire on us and go tell somebody about Jesus. I mean, it's almost a byproduct of experiencing what you're talking about, the oneness that you talked about, that Jesus talked about in John 17. Yes. You start tasting that, and then guess what happens? You start talking about him. You have to.

Well, I think what we do in the religious world is we say, well, we don't want hurt anybody's feelings or we don't want, you know, because it's really, it's really something people in the religious world argue about whether you should go out and declare Jesus in public. And the fact that you're having that discussion is what I think he's fixed to say here in Luke 9. Because when you put this all in perspective, because people think this seems harsh. You know, very few preachers are preaching on the cost of following Jesus when the guy said, I'll follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nest, but the son of man has no place to lay his head. Crickets. You're not hearing this sermon being preached.

And so, Al, I wrote this for you. The next time I got you some cheesiness here, a three-point sermon. If I can find the three points here. I wrote this down. So the first point is there. I have no home here because when you just look at the nuts and boats of what he just said,

the guy said, I'll follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said, I don't have a place to sleep. So what's he inferring? I don't have a house at this time to go in and sleep. So there's no homes here. That's number one. So the second thing is,

he said to another man, follow me. But the man replied, Lord first let me go and bury my father. Jesus said, let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. So there's no funerals here. So we got no home here. Second day, he's like, no, no, we're not going to the funeral.

So then another said, I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family. Jesus replied, no one he puts his hand to the plow and looks back as, fit for the service in the kingdom of God. There's no goodbyes here or there. There's no funerals here or there. And the no home, you know, you get to that verse that our citizenship is in heaven. And the reason I did that in those little cheesy points is because what he was trying to get him to see is this same thing that Al read, which is when he resolutely set out to Jerusalem,

them that was going to imply that we were resolutely going to go down the same path we're going to die we're going to bury and be raised not because we did it because he did it then you get into those cheesy lines which are true this is based on you know what we received from him and not what we achieve which goes back to why they didn't get it in the previous chapter when they ran upon the village that didn't believe and they said, well, can we throw some, some of those Elijah fireballs on them? They were missing the point of this kingdom. This wasn't going to be. Which is, what's just, think about this.

He told the same thing basically to Peter. Like, you're going to, you're going to be stretched out and you're going to go where you do not want to go. I mean, they're talking about encouraging, right? Yeah, you're going to come with me. Let me tell what's going to happen. You're going to go where you don't want to go. They're going to stretch you out and kill you, which is what happened to Jesus, too.

I mean, Jesus, I mean, he was crucified on a cross. And when he's standing before Pontch's pilot, do you remember what he told him? He basically gave the argument for what he was talking about when he said in John 1836. He says, my kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here. I mean, this is like this whole thing that this Eschatelal.

like the just climax that's happening here at the cross. But I mean, this is all part of the march up to this. It's this idea that it's not like what I'm a part of here is something that's not even of this world. It's in this world. You know, the kingdom is in the world, but the kingdom is not of the world. It didn't originate here and it certainly will not end here.

Yeah. And that's what is his point in these three situations. Once you have this intimate. experience in Jesus. Well, these people, you should be telling them, y'all need to come go with me because I'm headed toward Jesus. It doesn't seem that harsh once you prioritize

the declaration that the king of heaven is here on earth. And I really think that's his point. It only seems harsh when you take it out of the context of what's happening with Jesus predicting his death-bound resurrection. them declaring this. The evil spirits, you're able to cast them out. He gave them that power. You can heal diseases.

So you're bringing all people together. You're fixing all the ailments. And so then you get to the next chapter because you would think they get this by now. And then they have that power and they start bragging to Jesus. Hey, even the demons submit to us. And what do he do? He rebuked them. He's like, don't be, because it was to us.

And so you can do the same thing in churches. If it's about you and your ministry and your performance, then you get that attitude of when someone doesn't agree with you, well, what do you want to do to them? You want to fireball them. When they do submit to you, you want to have a dance because you're like, look how powerful I am. So that's why it's only in light of what he did in Luke 9.

I must die, I must be raised. You come to me. and then I'll send you back out. Let us not become weary and doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, opportunity, and we have a lot of them coming through life

as we live here as a member of the kingdom. Let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers. You're like, you come together on the, to one head and you have the same heart. Yeah, I love that phrase, the family of believers. Family of believers. Well, that's, man, there's so much more here.

We're out of time for a regular podcast. It went quick. We'll talk a little bit more about this than overtime. If you want to follow us over, it's blazed.com slash unashamed because I got three points of my own, Jays, for that section. And so I'll share my sermon title titles with you in our overtime. So we'll see you there. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast.

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