Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 760 | Phil’s Baptism Scene in ‘The Blind’ Was So Powerful That the Non-Believer Playing Him Wept

Episode Date: September 28, 2023

A never-before-told story from the set of “The Blind” movie illustrates the power of Phil’s conversion scene to everyone there, especially the actor playing Phil. The guys muse over the power of God to use any story and any life for His glory, as well as the role that humans play in sharing those stories. The guys also study the text from Luke about a woman healed on the Sabbath, while highlighting the difference between righteousness and self-righteousness. In this episode: Luke 13, verses 10-17 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. I do want to take a moment to welcome all of our Spotify listeners. I know we're being featured on Spotify on this episode. Dad, do you know what the word Spotify means if you're... I have no idea. Spotify. Just thinking about Spotify. Spotify. I'm like, what was... You got to remember. You got nothing. I'm not... I'm computer. or ignorant, so that would...

It is an interesting word. It would shut me down right there. Our hopes it means Joe Rogan deal. Yeah, that's right. I'm thinking Joe Rogan deal. We know Joe Rogan is featured on here as well. I thought Phil was going to say, you know, and the most important thing in duck hunting,

I guess besides being camouflage, is to be on the exact spot. Yep. So I thought he might say, you need to identify the spot. So it's a combination of words. Identify and spot together, you got Spotify. Maybe we could add that to the hunting lexicon. We could say, you know, there's ducks down there.

They're up there on the upper pipeline up there. That's where we've Spotifyed them. Yeah, that's what I'm saying, which I think goes in with the concept of what Spotify is. You use terminology like that in and amongst a bunch of rednecks. You won't get to first place. Well, I'm trying to explain to you. It's a place. We're expanding.

we're bringing in the love to the redneck world. So it's a spot where people can listen to certain podcasts and I guess I don't know. And by the way, if those of you knew, if it's the first time you're listening, this is kind of what it's like. We're kind of a, we're a Bible study group, but it's Robertson style, and that's what we do. And so we're about to get into the book of Luke. We're about halfway through the book of Luke. It's kind of a Bible study. It's kind of a Bible study.

But you come right in the middle, just like we've been. talking about the blind movie, which is our new movie coming out. So, but we're excited to have the Spotify folks in. And by the way, you can ask, you can submit questions via Spotify that will make it to us. And maybe hear your questions at some point on air. So welcome Spotify listeners. You know, wouldn't you rather be on a team whereby God has committed to us the message. of reconciliation.

Jesus, his death for us, his burial reservoir. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God.

God who made Him, who had no sin, Jesus, to be sin for us. So that in Him, we might become the righteousness righteousness of God. What a plan that carried through and went worldwide. It's pretty amazing, boys.

It is. I mean, worldwide. Yeah. You said, man. And we get to do it. And still ongoing. Yeah. And we get to talk about the Bible, which is life-changing, as we've already mentioned,

the story of Jesus, along with Jesus' words, which is what we're studying now. So it's changed us and helped change other people as well. So, Zach, I feel like we need a drum roll. There we go. Did I hear that? Yeah, that's pretty good. Drum row. Today is the day.

We've been talking about this movie for so long. And today is the day it finally hits America. And we're super excited about it. Today we find out if our baby is ugly or beautiful. It's up to y'all. You know, we've done the hard labor. Morbid. Oh, that is.

It feels like labor pains, man. I mean, we've been doing this. Labor pain. Well, Zach's been too immersed in the project, Jesse. Yeah. I'm nervous. I'm, you know, you put this much energy into something. I've never, ooh, it's been a job.

Well, just know, Zach, that it's the effort that counts. So no matter what happens, it's a great, the movie is great. You guys did a great job putting it out there. And so whether folks, it gets in front of people or not, and hopefully they're seeing it and sharing it. it with other people, I guess it's up to them. But we really do. We really do encourage you to go watch it.

If you hadn't already got your ticket, you better get them. Zach mentioned on a previous podcast that we were going up against the mighty Taylor Swift here shortly. Yeah. Yeah, that's in two weeks. So we got a. Oh, you had to do. You should have asked me. We should have asked Jay's.

Chase could have got us in with Taylor. We're acquaintances. I probably could have pushed that through. but too late. I should have called you because you could have probably called her and just said, you mind pushing your release out

for about two weeks? You probably could have pulled that three. Or just did some kind of joint venture, you know. Yeah, we'll talk about your thing if you talk about her. We'll promote you. Yeah, that's right. I mean,

come on, Taylor. Give us some love. Willie's been sending out to all his friends, screeners of the film. I got one this morning. morning, he sends me what they say back. And so he sent it over to Dave Ramsey, who was just raved about it and then said, man,

this is, said, I'm not crying. You are. That's what he told really. I'm not crying, you are. But he said, man, I think many people are going to come to know Jesus by watching this. And everyone that we've showed it to is kind of said the same thing. So today's the day, the 28th. I've been talking about the 28th for so long, the 28th of September is here before us.

And, yeah, it was kind of cool, you know, I was thinking about when we went back and we did reshoots on this film after we had did the final cut. And there was, there's one scene in the film. You'll see it tonight if you go watch it or this weekend. It's a salvation scene, really, where Phil, his character, Phil shares the gospel with someone. And when I, when we, when Andrew wrote it, I was like, man, it kind of feels a little. two on the nose. And so I said, let's kind of figure out a better way we can do it where it's not that,

like, I don't know, it's not on the nose. And we're sitting there in the room and the actor who is not even a believer and has had a lot of issues with, I think he's shared publicly, these had, you know,

issues with substance abuse in his own life and, and some issues with his own earthly father and things like that. He said, man, no, do not cut any of this scene. He said, he said,

he said, I'm a method actor. And he said, which means I try to connect emotional. with whatever the scene is that I'm doing. And he said, man, when I was reading that last night in my hotel room, that whole thing about dying to yourself and being born again. He was like basically telling us the gospel that was in this particular scene.

He said, man, that resonated with me. I found myself in a puddle of tears on the floor of my hotel room, just weeping. I connected with that, that idea of the old man being buried and a new man coming forth. man, that, do not change that. And we all just kind of looked around because we're all believers and we're like, okay, we're going to go with it. And man, it really did come out on film, you know, that that idea right there that you, that you can become a new person in Christ, that you can be someone different, that the

old man can be gone and all of the sin and all of the shame and all of the guilt can be buried and a new man can come up that's connected with Jesus took by the resurrection. And so, you know, that's, tonight will be the night where you guys get to see that. You know, it's interesting, Zach, because I didn't know all that. It's the first I've heard that. And, but when I watched that scene, the, what got me was then watching the rest of the film is that the actor playing dad, there was a confidence about him. I mean, he really is a good actor.

There's a confidence about that scene that you could tell. And I didn't know it at the time because it was early in the movie. But when you then go back and watch him where he doesn't have confidence, where he's trying to figure it out, he's trying to do what's best for us in the family. But he's unsure of himself, which kept leading him into bad decisions. Now it hit me when looking back, I thought, man, the man dad became was really the way that guy portrayed at the beginning. that was so confident to share the good news in the gospel. So you do get confidence from that, what you described.

And that's a beautiful story because really the whole idea of the movie is to target people who don't know Jesus. So for someone to hear, and remember, the power is not in the Robertsons or dad. There are powers in the gospel message. That's where the power comes from, which is why he was so impacted about. Yeah. And he's completely unchurched, which is, that's the thing. I mean, it's like this is not someone who has been raised. And he was guys from England.

and he hasn't been raised in an evangelical culture or anything like that. And it was, I don't know, like when you see someone and they hear the power of the gospel and then can articulate it back to you and they're like, there's something there about this dying, this self born again. Because these are religious terms we use a lot, but that's somebody who's not religious that hears that. It's like, that's beautiful. There's something there, you know.

Well, they do have churches in it. England, but there's, well, they do, but it's, well, you're like, well, he's from England. I was like, yeah. Well, I just mean he's not, yeah, good point. I mean, I'm just saying he's not raised in kind of the southern, you know, Bible belt culture is what I'm, is what I was getting at. And by the way, most of the churches I went to in England were museums now. Yeah, but there's a movement of God.

But I, but there is a great movement there is. Well, I'm planning a trip to England and I didn't want to get over there and say, hey, tell Zach, We got some churches over here. I know there are believers in England, but I think that. And we did come from there. That guy, they miss it without realizing that they just missed it. Good news, gospel, Holy Spirit, therefore in the waiting and the ones who renounced their sins and turned to Jesus, then it really becomes critical

because the fruit that they will now bear when the change is over by the power of the spit. Love, good thing, love joy, be good for people to have. Peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-controlled. That's what is,

on the burner. That's what is denied or embraced. That guy on the floor, he had the right idea. If the movie has the power's there. If the movie,

if many, many, many are converted, well worth the effort, no matter what anyone says. Numbers. Yeah. And it's the story of the gospel that does

I mean, that's what, you know, we're moved. We're moved by story. It's not rocket science. It's easier than that. Well, it's a combination. I've noticed, you know, we all kind of went to the same place without having a meeting about going the same place. But because a lot of people say, well, he hadn't heard the message or, but I keep hearing this word power, which is what I was thinking. That's what's unique about the story of Jesus is that it is a story.

story, it's words that you tell someone. But then there's God's power, which is, you know, in Luke, we're talking about all these parables and what the kingdom is like, and it's like you plant a seed, and we're going to talk about the mustard seed. We just got finished about the fig tree and it growing. You're like, why is he talking about things planted? And when you look at Paul's take on it, you know, to the Corinthians, just for a couple of verses in chapter, chapter one.

verse 17, you remember when they were having all this controversy about who was actually doing the baptized. They were putting their faith in whoever baptized them instead of the reason for baptism. And he has that verse in chapter one in verse 17 that says, But Christ sent me to preach the gospel, not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. And then chapter 2, verse 4, he says the same thing. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

And then what I think applies to our study in Luke is chapter 4 in verse 20. He said, the kingdom of God is not a matter of word or, my term. translation says talk, but the Greek word is words, but of power. And that's what's hard to describe about it. You know, it's not just like we have an idea. Or, I mean, you know, forgiveness is great, but it's bigger than that. He was just watching what he had done the film and got it. And he was crawling on the floor.

Yeah, it's words that point to a person who, has supernatural power that transcends years later into people's lives. I mean, it's a connection with heaven and heavenly powers and unseen things that if you did see would probably just make you fall over into the fetal position. And it's comparative, though, to yourself. And so Zach described it, all of us have struggles. And so depending on how long we've been alive, those troubles tend to accrue, you know, over time. And so when you compare that to the power of what you're reading and listening to, you're like, there's no comparison.

I need that. Time is a critical issue because if you look at all the conversion stories, I've just reeled through them years, 35, 40 years of preaching the gospel. And every time you really get to dissecting it, you see that they're in their late 20s, mid to late 20s, early 30s. Well, they've got a track record. They didn't have track record at 18, 17. Yeah, you're just living in your parents. You said, how come so many, come because I just noticed. I said, they were all running around 30 years old.

That's when they make the move. But they got a track record now. And the track record based on in the face of the gospel of Jesus, the gospel crushes it. Yep. You can start over. Yep. Well, my theory on that.

You have to die and be buried. We think they're getting rid of you. And they're like, and you said, how old were you when you were, how old were you? I was 31. I was 27. I was 28. I was 29. I was 32.

It's all... That's right after you made a mess of things. That's right. You have a track record and it stinks. But to that's point, it's more, and it's even bigger than culture, because even in Jesus' day, guess when you were considered now a person, an adult, a person to listen to, 30 years old.

That's when he started his ministry. So you're right, cross-culturally even, that's about the age that you finally are like, okay, I got to decide what I'm going to do here. Yeah. So it was the same for his hair. Sunday morning there was a guy and seated over here. And we just were talking.

I would say it was about 40, 50 people. But I asked him what year it was in Iran. And he said, what year it is? He said, well, it's 2023. I said, well, ha, that's what it is here in America, where you are now. So you came from Iran, yeah. I said, well, now you're here. I said, both countries are dating time by the same individual.

Iran along with America. He said, I've never thought about that. I said, you count time by Jesus just like we do. Now you ought to make a move on him. Well, he obeyed the gospel here 30 minutes later. I was standing in the water with him. starting over. Mm-hmm.

So he's probably, I'm just guessing here, but probably he was, what's the bigger religious movement out there? I mean. He's probably originally Muslim. Muslim. I would guess probably, being from Iran. Well, they did change, the Muslim did change the calendar. So they tried to get around.

And he did too. I love that what Jayce said. Jace put that when he was talking about Paul's words. You know, I didn't come to you with wise and persuasive words. lest the cross be emptied of its power. I came to you with a demonstration of the spirit's power. Yeah, I think that's because I want to clear something up too. Like sometimes we get a lot of, not a lot.

We've gotten some pushback on people when we say, or if you hear somebody on the podcast say that they converted somebody, you know, oh, you didn't convert anybody. That was God. No one's claiming to convert anybody in terms of like, it is the Holy Spirit. Everybody on this podcast believes that it is the power of the Holy Spirit

that convicts people of their sin that the conversion is done by the spirit that what we do what we're if anyone says they hear we just mean that there's somebody's got to tell them you know Romans 10 Paul says somebody's got to preach the gospel to them and so we we talk about they hear less people share right well but is it but I skipped over the verse that addressed that in the first four chapters of to the Corinthians when he said I planted the seed Paul speaking of himself apollus water but God makes it grow. And that's why, yes, but somebody's got to plant the seed that.

Like, well, when we say, yeah, that's passed on. There's one thing when you come to Christ, you hear this power-laden message. You know, faith comes through the message, but there's a power in that via the Holy Spirit that is unleashed. And then it is seen by the world in the response and the transformation and the repentance process. this, but then you house that same power. So when you go out, because a lot of people, their biggest excuse is like, well, I don't want to hear what you have to say because you're a sinner just like me.

But this is not about me. I have something inside of me that is not just humanly, you know, just based on my human origin. I'm now housing the spirit of God, the mind of Christ. and so that is unleashed. I think the problem is it takes time. So that argument about, well, you're flawed. So how can you tell me about this? But God has given that to us and we plant and we water.

But God is still the one making it grow. He makes it grow. That's good. That's a great point. You know, I was thinking about like when you think about what that in the film and in our own lives of that baptism moment, what that means. I was thinking about how much condemnation and fear and anxiety people in our culture are under. Just with fear that, ma'am, what about something that I did 15 years ago that could pop up and resurface today?

And then I can be publicly humiliated. I could be fired from my job. I could be, all the consequences that can come from the mistakes that we've made in the past. Because now there's a digital footprint of almost everything we do. But what if somebody said there's a way that if you did this, if you, if you would follow this one person that all of your digital footprint would be just erased and that could never be held against you. That's that's kind of what it is when you, when you come to Jesus. It's that it's that that whole footprint, that whole, all that evidence that was against you, all the mistakes that, and we've all made them. That's the thing.

I think everybody in the back of their mind, no one is good enough. nobody really measures up. If you could see in the window of our own home when we lose our temper, whatever is happening, if you could see that side of us, then nobody's left standing. And what the gospel offers in Christ is it does offer a way to be new. It offers a pathway to wholeness and to a place where there is no more shame and there is no more fear. There is no more guilt.

It's, yeah, all on him, which is powerful. So we're in Luke 13 is where we're currently studying. We've been studying the book of Luke. And we just got through a text, a passage in Luke 12 where Jesus gives a lot of warnings to his disciples, but also there's a large crowd that's gathered. There's some religious leaders that are there as well. And, Jason, I think the last time that we were in the study, we did the first eight verses of Luke, which is kind of an odd

Jesus was kind of using a couple of current events. Of Luke 13. Yeah, Luke 13. Look, it was a passage I wasn't really familiar with other than I had quoted Luke 133

hundreds of times where it says unless you repent, you will perish. I would use that verse as as like a response. You know, we got to repent, Luke 133. But as I read it,

read it well i had missed that sounds like i'm it sounds like he got a walker yeah someone's upstairs i didn't even know we had an upstairs to this place i didn't either saying you all got some background noise you got a walker we got well when i hear anything when we're talking about the bible and i start hearing something above from above like like soldiers marching yeah i thought what is happening. Well, you said repent or perish, and then I heard literally footsteps above me. Which is why I said earlier, it's kind of a Bible study mixed in with like a wasp sting or foot. I mean, we don't break.

There's a heavy-legged redneck walking above us, I hope. I'll fix it, too. This is it, guys. This is the podcast right here. If you first time here, you're on Spotify. You say, what do y'all do? We don't take a break. We don't cut.

We just, Jay's walked out of the room. I mean, what kind of shipping? I mean, we're trying to a podcast. And they're literally just walking around. So you all figured it out?

All right. Problem solved. All right. Do you figure it out, Jay's just looked at me like, hey, I'm working here. I'm doing a podcast.

I guess somebody can walk around on there on the duck Room podcast, just walking around above your head. Yeah, he was gathering. It's duck season. Everybody's got a roll. I wasn't there this morning, and evidently they had a couple bunches of teal that came in, and they didn't shoot well.

Phil's being quiet over there. Most flew away. Everybody's grumpy. Three or four there was stayed there. I said, three or four, I said, we should have had an eight or ten out of that. Yeah. It happens. It happened.

So in Luke 13, you know, what I had missed was there was a question involved here where, you know, the Pharisee, and I'll just read it just as a review, it says, now there were some present, and this is 13.1, there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood pilot had mixed with their sacrifices. and it's not uncommon to what happens today. You know, why does something bad happen? I mean, if you're claiming to be from God, why don't you fix these problems? I mean, here's pilot sacrificing worshippers. Where do you square with that? Well, then Jesus...

We don't get the background, but they were doing something godly and good, and then they suffered because of, you know, punch his pilot. So Jesus knew their heart, and he said, do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? So he turned it around. So what are you saying?

They're worse. And he said, I tell you no, but unless you repent, you'll perish. And then he brings up another tragedy. What about the 18 who died when the Tower of Salam fell on them? Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you were. repent, you too will perish. And you can go back and listen to the complete podcast, but the point is we're all perishable. We're all guilty as adults. And it's not something that we like to really think about. And what he said is so radical.

Because he's saying things happen. You know, we talked about John 9 with a man born blind. They came up with the same thing. because us as humans, no matter whether we admit it or not, deep down, we think, you know, if we're pretty good and we do good things and then we're going to have good things happen to us. And we basically talked about when things are going well, that's a, that should be a danger sign for your life. Well, especially his main thrust and point, as we discussed earlier, was that nobody's good on their own. You can't do it by yourself. And so it winds up being a great picture of grace because when he tells the parable in six through nine, he basically is saying, we deserve whatever we get. We can't do it on our own.

But God in his long-suffering and patience says, but I'm going to give you opportunities because of what I've done. And so ultimately that's where we land. It's not on us. It's on Jesus. But he's talking to a group of people that haven't yet decided whether they're going to follow them or not. It's in the midst of warnings, you know. Their main problem is self-righteous people. He's talking about self-righteous people.

So, look, in chapter 13, chapter 14, chapter 15, you're fixed to see this come up. You know, this self- illustration after illustration. Self-rebellion is going to be addressed. The pig pen's going to come up in Luke 15, you know. But we're all familiar with that. we don't spend too much time talking about. And I think it's even coming out of chapter 12, a person who's got a lot of money,

they're building bigger barns. And so what are they thinking? They're thinking, oh, I'm somebody. I'm almost, I'm not the God, but I'm Godlike. I mean, and why would I have all these blessings? Well, those kind of people is who Jesus later describes as, it's very difficult for them to ever come into the kingdom. Yeah, I think a key thing here is, too, you hear this word self-righteous, and it's usually attributed to what kind of people, religious people. And it's easy as someone who is religious and a Christian, it's easier for me to kind of throw my own people under the bus. But the truth is that you see through this. I mean, this is really the human condition, right? I mean, even people who are non-religious or non-Christian, that self-righteous, it's what we do.

default. We want to, you know, Paul says our thoughts, the moral laws written on our heart, Romans 2, and our thoughts accuse us and defend us. And that's, I think what this is, we want to convince ourselves that we're great people. We want to convince ourselves that, you know, that people get what they deserve and we want people to get, but when you look at your own heart, if you're honest, if you look at your own heart, then you, you know, what are you measuring your own heart against? And most people, measure their own heart against their own heart. And we establish ourselves as what is good.

And then that way, whatever we compare to ourselves is, we're our own standard. I think what Jesus and what the gospel does, which is why it's so offensive, is that the standard is no longer yourself by which you measure how good you are. The standard is an infinitely good God. That's why when Paul makes his argument in the book of Romans, he gets to Romans 3, and he quotes, I think it's out of Psalms. I mean, there is no one good. No one who seeks God. Like, we are not, we're just, we're not good in and of ourselves.

And if you spend your life trying to convince yourself that you are, then what's going to happen inevitably is it's going to create a massive amount of anxiety in your heart and in your life because you're going to be so afraid. that man, what if they see the real me? Because you're going to have to hide that. Because everybody knows in their heart of hearts to realize is we fall short. We fall short of God's glory. The good news of the gospel is that God sees you in your rebellion, in your wickedness, in your brokenness. And he says, I see you there. And Romans 5 says, why you're there, why you're a sinner, while you're an enemy, that's

where I died for you right there. I see you. So don't say you're not that bad. You're actually much worse than you think you are. And that's where I see you. That's where I know you, and that's where I died for you. And if you can accept that, which is called repentance, right, we accept that love, and then we repent and we turn away from ourselves and our own selfish desires.

And we move towards God, we can experience this thing called intimacy. We can experience this thing called life. That's what the gospel brings. That's good. Let's take another break. Oh, you're on to it there. Look, one of the most controversial things I ever said in a class, which I had half the audience come up and say, boy, you're wrong on that one.

And so I went and studied and came back and said, nope. Did you say I could, did you say I could be wrong? No, that was earlier in my faith where I was so convinced I didn't even have the idea that I could possibly be wrong. But after I, after I fielded all the rocks, dodged all the rocks that was being thrown in my way, I said, let me go look this up, make sure this statement was accurate. But what I read the Galatians 519, which is a famous list of sins, you know, and I was like, I said, these are not the problem. These are the symptoms of the problem.

This is where they didn't like that. Right. And so I figured that they understood where I was coming from because of the James, you know, James addresses this. You remember when he said in chapter one, when tempted, no one should say God is tempting me. for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he tempt to anyone. Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed. And he goes on to say in 316, for where you have envying selfish ambition, there you find disorder in every evil practice.

The self, you saying, putting your whatever is number one in your life or your own thoughts as God instead of God, that's the problem. Yeah. Because you can do that in different ways. Because the same people who are keeping the law, who are not doing a lot of those sins listed in Galatians 519, they're just as far away from God as the guy down in the pig pan.

Yeah. Because he's like, well, by my own righteous acts. That's why I said they're just symptoms. Because pride is probably the worst sin. Yeah. But we don't think, you're like pride. Well, what is that? Well, if you think you're some.

body and you therefore don't need God, even though that doesn't seem real radical in the sin category, it's actually a worst place to be because you're never going to be open-minded to anything God has or offers because you think you've got it all figured out. No, I agree. And I think that's why, Jay's, that Luke concludes this next story right after this context we've been talking about, because this is a classic. example of exactly what we're talking about. Before you read it, I just want to say, too, in Luke's version of the sermon on the

Mount, going back to Luke 6 in verse 20, just remember, it was not fantastic news to read this. But it goes back to what he said when, blessed of you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed of you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed of you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you. And then he goes to the woes. Woe to you when you're rich.

You know, 25, woe to you who are well-fed. You know, these are not sermons we hear in modern churches. Because we want to be comfortable. We want to think, oh, we've made it. Right. That's our big say. I've had many people to me, you know, come up to me. And they're like, boy, you made it.

I'm like, why? because I'm famous and I got some money. I mean, that's a joke to me based on what I read in scripture. That is not the definition of making it. And you even see it in our investment world. You know, all these ads that the last one I saw, it was like empower yourself. I thought empower yourself. What is this fiction about?

It was like, you know, invest and you have money. And then you're empowered. You're empowered. You're controlled. You're controlled. They use those words. Control your own life. Rest easy.

Control your future. And I'm like, and what? Retire? What am I going to do? Retirement is right before death. Yeah. But you're like, yeah, you're empowering yourself. And it's a guessing game because you don't know.

I mean, you know what I'm saying? I mean, like a lot of people build their whole time up. I'm fixing to relax. I'm fixing to enjoy life. And then just like we read it in the story. that very night your life is taken. You can't put it in things on this earth. Well, that's my point.

He's saying repent instead of retire or, you know, explaining the way life's tragedies, he's like, no, you need a new direction. You need to change. Well, however you've been thinking, we need to change that. That's right. So then he gets in, you're right, there's going to be a series of stories that.

And I love it because where we're going, just to give you, especially our new Spotify friends, to give you a glimpse where we're going, it'll be a story about a person. Then it's a parable or two to illustrate the point. This is another story about a person. That's kind of what he's going to do these next few chapters. But even in that Luke 6th, he did the same thing.

He told the blessings and the woes. And then one chapter over, he's like, no good tree bears bad fruit, you know, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. It's the same thing he's doing with the illustration of the fig tree. Right. Your tree is the problem. There's no fruit.

So we need to do something about that. Well, I have a seed for you. New tree. Doesn't involve you. I'm going to do this. That's right. It's on me. Yeah, this idea that you were talking about that people say you've made it and this whole

idea of power, empowerment. I was thinking of Sprite. You still have a campaign, obey your thirst. And it's like this as if that if I can have this sprite. I'm going to drink this. I'm going to obey my thirst. And once I consume this beverage, then I'm going to find whatever it is, the fulfillment, the joy I'm looking for.

And it's only good until the next pride. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but they're using godly principles to sell their merchandise, which is what I'm all the time being fascinated by the contradictions there. But somebody might hear you. And then I say, yeah, it's easy for you to say because you've got whatever you have in their mind that they think is what, if they had that. fame and that money that they would be happy.

But there's this, have y'all seen the movie, Wall Street? Money Never Sleeps. It's got Shia LaBuff in it. And one of the, he's like a, he's an underling that's kind of trying to make his way.

And I can't remember the whole set up of the movie. But there's this moment where he's talking to the head of this major investment bank. And he's kind of the young guy that's up and coming. And this other guy is running the show. And his character. he looks at the main guy and he says, he said,

what's your number? And the head of this investment bank is like, what do you mean? He said, what's your number? Like everybody's got one. He's what do you mean? Like,

there's a number that you have in your mind that when you hit that number, that amount of money, then you're like you're going to walk away and you'll be, you'll be satisfied. You'll be, it'll be what you've always wanted. What's your number? And it's one of the best scenes in any movie to illustrate the point that

you just made, Jay's because you know what the guy's response was? He said, more. He didn't want to know. He said more. And I, you know, that, and that's, man, this is true that the problem with more is that once you have it, you still don't have it.

And, and that's the thing. You think this thing is out there that a man, if I can consume this, then I'll be happy. Then my heart will be satisfied. And that is the, when you mentioned that verse, about where each one is dragged away and enticed by his own evil desires. I mean, that's what's coming out of the heart.

That's what it's, it's a desire for consumption of more thinking that we're going to be able to consume the things that were made by our own hands. And somehow that's going to fulfill us. But Paul's pretty explicit when he went in to the Ariopagus and he said, God doesn't live in the temples that are built by your hands. He's not served by human hands. And you're not going to be fulfilled by consuming the things that you may.

I mean, think about that. You're making these things. You're like, how can that possibly fulfill you? My number is $200. Based on the movie Valdez is coming. I talked about it 472 podcasts ago, roughly. So, Spotify, folks, you got to go back a day. $200, because if you got $200, you pretty well got it made for the day.

$200? $200? I don't know. No, watch the movie, and then you'll understand what I'm saying. But there was an injustice that happened. And then ex-martial was like, you know, this family of the guy, they killed a guy, and it was the wrong guy. And so they- That's why Valdez was coming, right?

That's right. And they just said, well, forget her because she was a Native American. So they were racist. I mean, there's a lot of spiritual undertone. What's the movie called again? Valdez. Well, you've got to say it right now. Valdez is coming.

Valdez is, I'm, I'm pulling up now. And so he convinced the town. Is that Burbank? I'm going to give you the spoiler alert because this movie is about 75 years old. So if you haven't seen it by now, it doesn't matter that I'm going to tell you. But he convinced the town to give this Native American woman and her kids $100 if the, guy who ran the town who had all the money if he would give a hundred it was one of those that you give a hundred i'll give a hundred let's take care of this injustice that happened

take care of the widow and the orphans true religion here well the guy that had all the money who has tens of thousands of dollars and back then in the old west i mean he he's just loaded he's not i'm not giving that woman a hundred dollars and so valdez kept coming saying oh yeah so then they said, we're going to, we're going to kill you if you don't keep asking for that $100. And so Valdez kept coming. And what they didn't know was Valdez had a set of special skills that he had learned while being a Texas ranger.

And that's why it's called Valdez coming. I won't tell you how it ends, but it was all over $200 for the well-being. I think Valdez got $200 worth of vengeance. So I said, I had $200 with an asterisk, which is, wasn't much, even back then. But there was an injustice done, and it was just the right thing to do. And it would help them get on their feet. And so that's why I said, whatever there's a, you know, you need enough money to get on your feet. But you make a good point.

Let's take our last point. You make a good point that it's never. enough even so you could go with a little number a big number use more that's why i went with two hundred i wasn't being i know i got sarcastic i got you don't really need all this there was a real life situation i just saw recently to what zach was describing from a movie but i was actually watching it california was having this debate i think it was in oakland over reparation and these people are getting up and they're giving their ideas these are just people that live in oakland you know and everybody's throwing out numbers you know what would it take that we're going to

be okay now with everything that's ever happened to any African-American in the history of you know America and one guy said whatever the number is it's not enough and I just thought that's it I mean if that's where you were trying to gain your you know that everything's good you see this in your everyday life you know we missy come in there and she's like look things are breaking you know missy's fixing them up okay but she wanted to move a door she said if I ever told this story that I would be in a lot of trouble but here we go But she wanted to move the door at my house in Louisiana because it's turned into a little cage for my animals. Because if they get outside that room, they poop all over the house.

So we have a fence up there. Well, people, I have about three doors that you can enter my house. But everybody comes in there. The dogs go crazy. Is this the first one you see? It's right there on the corner. So she come in there. and all she was giving me the list of all the things that that was wrong with the house that we were fixed to fit and everything it was like yep yep most of these things were a danger to ourselves or others i was like yep need to fix that fix that and we got a little baby running around there fix that she said i want to move that door i said nope not not moving the door you know she's like well it's an inconvenience you know but i was thinking well it's going to take a lot of money to tear out a whole wall

So then we got into this debate. I said, take the same money and let's find some orphan kids. We're not moving that door. I just thought that crossed the line from the $200, in my opinion, to move a door. I just couldn't do it. You should have said Valdez is coming. And to my wife's credit, she thought about it, didn't like it at first, but she said, no, I think you're right on that, you know.

And so what I'm saying, I was trying to apply what she said. Well, that's easy for you to say. Yeah. But the only reason I'm coming from that is I learned true joy through, we've been talking about this movie. You know, when Phil gave us life to Christ and mom as well and our family started over, well, we didn't have any money for years. And so fortunately for me and you, we found true joy and true happiness and money wasn't involved at all. We survived. Yeah, exactly.

So later on in life, you know, because I made not only did I not pursue wealth, you know, that was a frustration moment for my wife and I, because every time I had a chance to be promoted or do something that would make money, I'd always say, well, that's not going to make you happy. Because I was going back to my childhood, I was like, I'm not pursuing that. And so finally I told my wife one time, I was like, get it through your head. We're never going to be rich, ever. That's not going to happen. So, which turned out to be completely false. However, my point was I'm not pursuing that. Therefore, I think when, you know, this show happened and the blessings did pour out,

I think we navigated it better than most reality. Go Google reality stars and see what happened when they became famous and got a lot of money. It was like a bomb going on. There's a reason the most depressed people on the earth, someone wrote an article. about or lottery winners. Yeah. Because they thought, boy, if I just win the lottery, then they won it, and it was just all downhill.

Everything destroyed. So that's what I was basing that off of. So I think it was the pursuit of people. Zach had that point earlier, people said, well, yeah, you've got something. But it's like, no, wait, but we've been saying the same thing with nothing or with something. It's the pursuit of people over property possessions or a procedure. Read our story.

I'm a reader text. So we can, we'll get into the weeds. So on a Sabbath, verse 10, on a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. A woman was there who had been crippled by spirit for 18 years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, woman, you are set free from your infirmity. What a moment.

Then he put his hands on her and immediately she straightened up and praise God. That could be just a t-shirt right there. indignant because indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath the synagogue ruler said to the people there are six days for work so come and be healed on those days

not on the Sabbath the Lord answered him you hypocrites doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to give it water then should not this woman a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has kept bound for 18 long years be set

free on the Sabbath day from what bounder. When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. So why don't we do this in the bonus time? Why don't we address the thing that people don't really address when they read this is this is one of those few moments where you're at a worship service and somebody does something. And then the people in charge come in there and they have a public argument, which is horrible, you know, because all the people sitting here, they had to be uncomfortable. Yeah.

I'm like, they're like, well, I mean, he just healed a woman. I'm clapping, and then the guy up there, quit clapping for that. There's a time and place for that. This is not it. So, and it just made me think of how many times I, and there's only been a few. Actually experienced it, yeah, me too. where something like that has happened at an assembly modern day. And I can think of at least two, but I thought we could.

That'd be good. We'll talk about that. We have an overtime segment for our new Spotify folks that you go to blazedtv.com slash Unashamed is where you get this new bonus overtime stuff that we do, as well as everything that Blaze has to offer as well. So we'll see you over there. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to blazed TV at blazedtv.com slash unashamed.