Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 762 | Phil Is Shocked by America's Response to ‘The Blind’ — and So Is Hollywood!

Episode Date: October 2, 2023

Zach brings in some fresh news about the performance of “The Blind” during its opening weekend, and Phil is stunned! Hollywood might not understand what it’s all about, but the American people do. Phil, Jase, and Al describe their memories of Phil’s baptism. Jase goes rabid at a junior high girls’ volleyball game, and the guys discuss reconciliation and the power that redemption stories have in the lives of people.  In this episode: 2 Corinthians 5, verses 14–20; Romans 1, verse 16 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. We got Zach in the house. Zach is back. I'm back. He's back, baby. We've been missing you, Zach, because you've been so busy with this movie that apparently is doing really well. It's surprised people is what they said. We landed, I think, number four for the weekend, which is great because we were only in. We got Paw Patrol. in our side. Paul Patrol.

The number one movie is Paul Patrol, which I remember my grandkids watching it. It's like a cartoon. But that thing was the rocket ship. I guess, Zach, you need to start making cartoons. Maybe we were off on the, instead of all this gritty realism, we are to be doing, you know, Jason as a cartoon character. Well, you know, I did get feedback on Jason's idea. A lot of people said they want to see the zombie movie next.

so the Christian zombie movie. You're burying the lead here. You were right, Jason. I brought that up weeks ago, and we're just now getting back to that. I'm way down the list on the pecking. I was in Massachusetts last week speaking, and some guy comes up and said, tell Jay's, no, we don't want to see any good Zimbus. I only have one person that actually commented, but he said, no. I actually had a few people, I had a few that sent me messages, and they're like, yeah,

Yeah, we think it's a great idea. Jace is on the something. You need to explore it. We'll see. I mean, just think about it. Why just sit there and take it? Why not do something? What counts as a new creation.

We're zombies anyway. We're going to get to that in Luke 15 at some point. The son was dead. He was dead and then he was alive. Good zombies. That's a good zombie. I wonder when it, when it ran. ran out of a hearing and it does not apply.

But after Jesus, we've been going through the book of Matthew in the last few months, the crucifixion is what Jesus said, what happened to him when he got into Jerusalem. Matthew, Luke, you know. Matthew, one of the guys. Mark, the death of Jesus, the burial of Jesus,

the resurrection, and post-resurrection, there's some marching orders that were given. Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth been given to me. Therefore, here's your format, guys. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit,

and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. You have it right in front of you. You can read it any time. And surely I'll be with you to the end of the age when this is over. So according to that, we're still under the umbrella of get the gospel preached,

and it did go in this country from shining sea to shining sea. It did. Well, we did exactly, we didn't do anything over and above the call of duty. We just carried out instructions. Yeah.

And there's more than this, but Matthew 28 to do it. The great, it's called the great, somebody called it the Great Commission Well that's the commission And I have I've way back I said I'd love to see the gospel preach

To the whole country and then spread from there I was shocked To wake up the other morning I said well You got a million watching I said just carrying out instructions So there'll be no changes for us Carry out instructions Take the gospel to the whole world

So that's my view of it. It's pretty simple, really. Yeah, we went so, I was, Lisa and I were on our way home from Massachusetts, and we stopped in DFW, got a ride over, met mom and dad. So there were two theaters that were showing that night, and we went in and kind of surprised there, but I don't guess they knew we were coming. I mean, we just popped in, and everybody started clapping and cheering. and we just gave them a little preview of the movie

what it was going to be like and just had a little fun with them. And everybody was so excited to be there. And so we did two of those, and then we wound up doing a little meet and greed afterwards. It was basically a standing ove, and we're just standing there. Yeah, we were just walked in. Of course, it was kind of funny as that

because I didn't realize on the front of the movie that there were advertisements for unashamed. And the duck hall room. So you did, so you guys put like a couple of, the thing we did when we kicked off the unashamed, you know, we were reading the passage and we said, I am unashamed. I don't know if you remember that. We did this like three or four years ago. Back, uh, he was like, did we do this yesterday?

He lost him at two or three. I don't. So anyway, they showed that and it was really good. It's very, very powerful. And then they showed a kind of a skit type thing with Sy and people up at Duck Commander. for theirs, but it was funny. But that was playing when we walked in. And then, of course, you imagine if you're sitting at a movie and you're watching people

on the screen, then all of a sudden they walk in the room. It was kind of a funny, like, reaction to everybody. And then I was thinking about it afterwards that. It was pretty cool because I said, I've been to see a lot of movies in my life, biopics about people good and bad, but I've never been in to see a movie about some people. And then afterwards, I got to go meet those people and take a picture. with them, which is what happened. The movie was about our family,

and then all these people were there. They just watched the movie. Of course, a bunch of them were in tears. I mean, a couple of them were just, you know, really just kind of pouring their heart out. It sort of became the next step from the previous things of Duck Dynasty and kind of just some down-to-earth people,

country people, and the way they live and pray to the people. Father, they saw the one we've been praying to. I'm not ashamed of the gospel, the Apostle Paul said, because it's the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believed, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. This thing is widespread. It's been that way for 2,000 years.

For from God, for in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith, from first to life just that is written, The righteous will live by faith. It's just that movie, putting it bluntly, is an extension of that. It's the mouthpiece that you follow. You're not ashamed of it.

You look at it as power to save people, you know, raise them from the dead. Just think about it. So everybody saw it. Well, you know, they made a little movie like that. The information in that movie was critical for the human race. Their sins will be removed and they'll be raised from the dead. I mean, that's what we're pedaling here. So we shouldn't be shocked when we look at it at some point

and it becomes mainstream toward the top. Right. It's needed. So the Almighty put that on the big screen, in my humble opinion, and people started being baptized as soon as he did it. They reported to me people, they're being baptized. is it, well, you know, well, that's Matthew there. Baptise been the name.

Yeah, there was a, there was a university in, what was it? It was Mount Olive University. They, um, gentlemen there bought out a theater or I guess a big room on the campus for the students to watch it. And they had a couple hundred students fill up the auditorium. And at the end of it, the guy on campus was like, if you want to, you gave me, priest the gospel to them. So if you guys want to be baptized,

we've set up some baptisteries outside. And they went out there and worship for several hours. And a bunch of them got baptized. I thought, you know, I've never heard of someone going to a movie and then hearing the gospel and then getting baptized. And apparently that's been going on.

And then another buddy of mine called me this week, said they're going to show it in Raleigh, North Carolina at their church. And they're going to bring, I think it's like 650 people. that are in recovery to watch the film. And then they're going to have a, they're going to preach gospel after that. So it's just crazy. I mean,

the response, I mean, the reviews, I mean, the, the reviews have been incredible. We have a 99% positive score on there. I mean,

just tons of people. I mean, I, I have been blown away. I mean, I've been crying all weekend. I get these texts or someone will share me with these comments. And man,

there's been some just, powerful, powerful moves of God in this film. I mean, it's crazy. I mean, even one of my friends from high school, this guy I knew in high school was pretty rough dude, went to watch the movie, and he was texting my dad, and he said, man, Miss Jan and Miss Kay, they were some real amazing women. He said, after watching the film, he said, I realize I need to make some changes. Well, he starts texting my dad back and forth.

And the last one I saw that I loved was, he said, man, I didn't know they had a podcast. He said, I've been binge listing to Unashamed, which, by the way, a lot of people have, I think, started listening to the podcast because of the movie. But he said, I'm going to go buy me a Bible this week, and I'm going to start reading the Bible from front to cover. This is a guy didn't even have a Bible. And I went to the movie and just had an encounter with God. So, I mean, it's been incredible. So, you know, you were telling the story about the Mount Olive. That's our old friend Kenny that has the Highway 55 hamburger chain.

And what's interesting about it, Kenny did that, Zach, because he started listening to our podcast back during the pandemic. And he came to Christ and came to a new decision in his life. And because of that, he's been on fire for the last three years. And so when this opportunity came along, he's like, I'm ready to pay this forward to other people. And so that's the beauty. That's really what living unashamed is all about is those kind of decisions. His mom talked about somebody, somewhere she was at. I think it was the release here.

She went the opening night here in West Monroe. And she said that someone had, they had already had divorce papers. And they were in the process of getting a divorce. And both of them wound up seeing the movie, not together, but seeing the movie independently and got back together and said, we can't do it. We can't follow this path we were on. We've got to work on our marriage. and so they stopped the divorce proceedings

and now working towards reconciliation. But that was just off the movie. The people who watched that movie, right before the Apostle Paul said he was unashamed at the gospel, here's the way he worded it. I'm obligated. Now just think about that. You look around the United States,

300 million people, the Apostle Paul said, you need to view them and be obligated both to Greeks and non-men. Greeks, that's all of them, both to the wise and the foolish, and there's both running around in any country at any time in history. And this is why I'm so eager to preach the gospel also to you here at Rome. I mean, he's laying out his framework.

He can't stop. He can't say back out for a, well, I don't know, you know, they're not from around here, are they too far gone? No, are the country going to hell? He said, just go in there, preach the good news. They have a couple of problems that I'm going to solve for. That's God talking. And it just laid out there, you know.

Everybody's a sinner and everybody's going to die. And the gospel solves both of them at one lick. Right. Well, it's worth suffering for and it's sure worth hearing. Yeah. So that's about what transpired here in the last few days. Yeah, and I think there's a big difference in being impacted by a film, which I've been impacted by other films

and then having something that's putting the life-changing message of Jesus into. It's life-changing potential. I think it's life-changing potential. I think the movie caught that. I do. And I thought having even real-time dad as a part of it and I won't tell you where that is,

but I thought that was a good move to be able to do that. Let's take a first break. Yeah, having the real feel. The critics probably. I haven't read anything, but they probably won't like that. But at some point you realize, I was thinking about 2 Corinthians 4 through 6, I guess, while y'all were talking. Because, you know, here was a group of people back in a culture and a world that looked a lot like ours today. Yep.

And they had to be reminded of the gospel. I mean, this was a church. Yep. which is, I think, pretty much the most embarrassing thing that could happen to a church if you had to be reminded of the gospel. Telling you. We shot a big hole with that. I've never thought of that with that perspective, but you're right. That is embarrassing.

It's like, okay, you go in your speaking. Maybe remind you something else, but not that, right? Let me just tell you what your problem is here. You have forgotten Jesus, who's the who you're married to, the head of the church. He died for you. Hey, let me just tell you a simple. story. So it is embarrassing. But, you know, when you read that about this new ministry that verse four of chapter four of St. Corinthians, when he says the God, little G, of this age has blinded

the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God. It is true. And it says, for we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants. And then he goes on in verse 7, which is a famous verse. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, which is us, humans, to show that this all-serpassing power is from God and not from us. And as he continues, talking about the heavenly dwelling. And he gets to chapter 5, and it says in verse 14,

for Christ's love compels us because we're convinced that one died for all. Therefore all died. He died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them. And the point I want to get to is verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come. All this is from God who reconciled or brought us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them.

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. So we're therefore Christ's ambassadors. I mean, from my perspective, it's like, okay, what's so special about this movie? Are you bragging because, you know, Zach did an excellent job of producing it

or you were willing to go along with the story? No, it just shows that the power, power is from God and not in us. Which proves it can go both ways. Evil and good. Yeah. You can go both ways. Unfortunately, most movies we see are satanic, and there's a lot of mischief and misery connected with them.

Any way you want to slice it. I don't think they're getting too far deep into it. They're just like show some action, show some cars, turn over. and explode, show a few breaths, and, you know, have some famous people in it, and they'll buy a ticket. I mean, I'm just saying, I think that's kind of there. You said this before, Jace, most movies are based on revenge. Most, and even movies I love are based on revenge. This movie is built on redemption, which is completely different.

And I've seen other good redemptive stories, but this one is compelling. There's no doubt about it. Yeah, I was going to say, Jay's... brought up that ending part with Phil, which was really powerful. I don't know if I've told the story of how that happened, but it's kind of crazy if you saw it you in there. There's the I am second clip that that was really,

this was a God thing for sure. And I think it was one of the most powerful parts of the film that I'd actually had a conversation with Jace who had watched. He was the first family member to watch a cut of the film. I sent it to him and Missy. they watched it. And his feedback was, he said, I loved it, but I think Phil's, you got one problem. I said, what's that?

He said, you never actually said the words, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus. He said, you need to get Phil on the end of it, basically preaching the gospel. And I was like, you're right. And so I went back to my team that morning. And I said, guys, because with Fathom, you got to do some kind of like, I forget what they call, like special. content, which is essentially somebody in the family, like addressing or something like that. So we'd already planned on having to do something. And I said, this is what we need today.

I said, talk to Jace. I told him about our conversation. I said, we need to do something like I am second, kind of like a, like Phil in a chair with just a black background, looking down the barrel of the camera, just giving the gospel at the end of the film, just a two-minute version of the gospel. I think that would be really powerful. And everybody was like, yes, you're 100% correct. let's do that.

And then we got on the podcast that day and we were talking about the blind. And I didn't know it. But I am second, Angie, was in the room with you guys. Yeah, they were here. Because they were there for, was it for Rucker? Yeah. We had been talking about that. Actually, they were just coming through and she said, you know, they listen to the podcast.

She said, we would love to check it out. And she and I had been talking. I said, well, why don't you just come on down? We'll have a lunch together. And they were going to talk to Rucker about being on. I am second. And so, yeah, that's why they were here. But I had no idea.

You had, Jace had been talking. So all these things were happening independently. Breaking news. Breaking news, God is really good at organizing get-together. Yes. Oh, it was crazy. Yeah, that was proven. When she asked Al, I don't know how she's got my number from Al.

And then I just get this text from Angie. She said, hey, this is Angie with I am second? Is there any way we can be involved in the film? I was like, call me. you know, right now. I said, that's so weird. You sent me that text because I just had a conversation with Jace this morning. Right before the podcast, you know, I was talking with my team told her,

I said, we need to do something like I am second. And she said, well, that's weird because I was in the studio this morning with Al, and I heard you guys talking about it. And I just felt like we needed to be a part of this. And so I said, well, can you, I don't, and I gave her the idea. She said, love it. Let's put it together. I said, but we got to get.

So they flew out. I think that Friday, that was. on a Monday or Tuesday, flew Phil out Friday and filmed him doing that. And it was, because they already had a shoot set up with Rucker. And just to mention to the audience in case you don't know, I Am Second is you go to IAMSsecond.com, it's a, it's a website with testimonies on it of people's lives.

And we're on there. We have a couple of different series that are on there. But there's a lot of other athletes, actors, people that are well known, their story of how they found Christ. or Christ or Christ found them. So it's really powerful. So that's who I am second is, if you don't know. And they've been great partners.

But I love that. I mean, the whole thing that's been powerful about this, I think, is that, you know, Hollywood or the industry folks didn't see it coming. They were like, I mean, all the articles were like, big surprise this weekend was the blind, wasn't on our radar. But it performed very well at the box office. And, you know, so we, you know, we initially have been given one week at the box office guarantee. So we like today's Monday. I think this episode post today. So we're guaranteed through like Thursday,

but I really think that if we, we had such a strong showing and if we continue to this week. So I, by the way, I would encourage you, go out. If you know, hasn't seen the movie, go watch it,

you know, today, tomorrow, Wednesday, because I truly believe that if, that we will probably get an extension and get another week just because of the success of opening weekend. And,

but yeah, it was, but the, the sea, that these theaters were filling up with people, all the feedback that I was getting was like, things like, man, this was such a, there is zero cheese factor.

Like, this was like a real tangible expression of the gospel. Like, you didn't water it down. You know, you didn't, you didn't, like, you know, make it, whitewashed to sin. I mean, you, like, this was, we showed the sin for what it was, not glorifying it, but we did. It was hard to watch in some regards,

but man, when that redemption part comes, you know, when Phil comes out of the water, I mean, every theater that I heard about, like, there's, there's been like an eruption of, of applause, you know, when Phil comes out of that water and he's, and he's clean, he's new, a new man coming up. So there's, it was just, I don't know, this whole week has been pretty special. The best thing about it is it's all true. Yeah.

All true. Yeah, the best thing and the worst thing. I guess the worst thing and the best thing. Let's end on a positive. Well, that's what I just read. Look, if anyone is in Christ, he is a. new creation. The old is gone.

The new has come. Yeah. I mean, it's possible to start over in life. I mean, while y'all were all doing movie stuff, I was in Colorado Springs, Colorado. That's right. You were going out for a Langhofer. Hang on before you tell that. Let's take another break.

Well, there's a lot to tell, but. I want to hear it. Were you on vacation? Or was just like, what was this? Vacation. Treasure hunting trip? That's a question. Vacation.

Zach, we don't even know what that word means. I was on vacation. So you were working. Well, I was working for free because I didn't, you know, I didn't charge anything. But I was, I don't know how this got started. I think, I mean, I love the Langhoeffers. Well, what happened was? He's been on the podcast before.

Yeah, yes. We need to get him back. He was converted. He was found under a bridge. Oh, he was. He was homeless teenager. His story is incredible, which he told probably. Oh, that's great.

So he's a- He was our pastor at our church for a few years. Yeah, great speaker, dynamic. Wonderful. And so him and his wife and his three kids are there. And, you know, we just love them. We're such an odd couple, you know, me and Trent, because if you look at him, he's this beast of a fellow.

I would say yuppie tendencies would be an understatement. Oh, yeah. He's yuppie on steroids. He wakes up every morning, you know, working out. He's using a lot of vocabulary that I... Zach would get it. Yeah, he would get the words. And we actually, you know, we drove around and looked at the sights and did what yuppie people do.

So I went on a trip. You know, Missy went with me. And I wasn't sure what I was going to be doing because I told him, I was like, If you want me to speak at the college, because he's the counseling coordinator at Colorado Christian University. Which is what he went out there for to start this council center. But he also speaks at this church, I think 10 or 12 times a year, so he's heavily involved. So I was like, whatever you want me today, we'll do it. And so we had planned this a few months ago because his schedule is bad as mine.

And so we just, we went out. So what's funny is as soon as we landed, they picked us up. And we immediately drove to his daughter's volleyball tournament because they were playing for the district championship. And like on Wednesday, because they said, look, my daughters, she's in this volleyball tournament. If they win Wednesday, they'll have to play Friday. So what do y'all want to do?

You know, you can go to a hotel. I was like, what are you talking about? I want to go that. This is incentive to win. I played volleyball for years. I was like, you have. You're a fan, Jay. We're talking about championships here.

So we landed, immediately drove there. I walk in. Of course, the team over there, they're like, look, there's famous people coming in for this tournament. They've come from Louisiana to watch this turn. We're in this little gym. It was packed. and there are two teams we're talking about

junior high girls going against each other which in my mind I thought oh this is going to be exciting I mean I guess whoever can get the ball over the net

that's why I just take me to the motel right now let's skip the ball game that would not have gone but you marched on in there that would have been a bad call so I got in there in this game brother

I don't go to volleyball games yet And the Langhoeffers are cheering. It was as loud of a crowd as I've ever been involved. And we're talking about this is for the championship. You've played all year. We get to this moment. And the skill level was beyond my wildest imagination. Stunned.

I mean, just stunned. You mean, these girls could play ball. I'm talking about Diggs, incredible, set, and just spike it. I mean, it was incredible. And of course, I found out later, a lot of these girls play in these leagues, you know, like the equivalent of travel baseball, you know, I was stunned. We always played here, but we never had a lot of organized volleyball in Louisiana. That's why it shocks you. But you go to places like that.

They're serious about it. Texas is big, too. So as the game started, you know, and I'm inquiring the trend, I'm like, what about our coach? He's like, she loves the Lord. She wants to bring glory to God, number one. So then I'm just now all of a sudden, I'm like, yeah, and she is the most positive. and she rotated the whole team, played the whole team. Like, this is what we've done all year.

And he said, that's what she does. So some of the girls out there, you'd have been conflicted as she'd have been a heath of. But since she was a believer, you're all in. I'm all in. And there was this tiny girl, like, in a rotation that, you know, because when you're in junior high, you go through ghost spurts, you know. And, of course, we won the first set.

They played a 25, just regular volleyball, you know, then they won the next one. Then we won the third one. And so I start to get to knowing these players. Of course, I'm calling by the number. I'm like, set it to one six. Set it to one six. Of course, every time Trent's daughter did anything, you know, it just went crazy.

But there was one little moment in there where our tiniest girl who, I mean, just physically, she was an underdog. She was tiny. And the force of the ball coming at such power, I mean, she was trying her best, you know. And I was sitting there in my mind thinking, sub her out. You know, I mean, this is the championship. I'm like, your weakest link, you're only as good as your weakest link, you know. But she made a play somewhere in there. That was just incredible.

And at that time, everybody's cheering. I'm clapping. Then that broke right there. Because it's like, here's the underdog on our team. She's out there. Incredible play. It was a momentum change. At this point, at this point,

now this is your team like these are your kids i lost it i'm now up hollering the loudest i see you number five nobody said you could do it everybody you know just went crazy you know so we wound up you've never seen jason an athletic event if he's into it it is i went full ls u i went lsu mode because i usually watch the game by myself because i'm embarrassed at how you know i get into it and so uh we won we're taking pill we won the championship i mean it was awesome so that was just gravy and uh and i used it as a way to encourage her because his daughter is very skilled for a junior high girl in volleyball and i said like look you keep this up they'll pay you they'll pay your college yeah but then i said but always

remember this it's the character of a person that matters yeah you got to put jesus number one because i just thought you know everybody needs mentors in their life yep and uh because I knew the technical game of volleyball because I played it so many years. You know, Trent's like, what kind of call is that? I was like, no, that was the right call. You can't go five feet under the net on the other side, no matter what happens. You know, but anyway. So I wound up speaking twice at their church for a, they had a men's, I guess it was like a men's camp, men's retreat.

And I spoke twice, which I didn't even know I was speaking twice. or so it was like you do whatever i told trin i was like now i got one speech and you've given me two so i actually shared jesus the first time uh and then the second i did a study on luke 15 since where we were eventually going to get there so uh and it's my favorite chapter in the bible but it was fantastic the whole trip and we were just doing kingdom business but there were several people y'all were talking about the movie who were like hey we because they had seen the movie the night before right so it was a pretty amazing so you were getting the feedback from them let's take another break so one of the things i wanted to mention sat that somebody had me a note that the blind movie podcast

which was the podcast we did about the movie uh reached one million total downloads this weekend uh in concurring with the movie release that's pretty amazing so i've heard a lot of lot of really good feedback about that as well. Just kind of our reaction to the movie, wouldn't it? Is that how you would describe the podcast? Yeah, the podcast was great, man. It was, you know, it was, it was such a vulnerable moment. You know, that's, that's a big thing I think that people keep talking about with the film and the podcast is just the vulnerability of, you know, being honest and telling your story, which, you know, Jason, make that point earlier, about reconciliation and becoming a new person.

And to me, that's the, that's been what I think has been so impactful about the, about the whole project. You know, one of the best reviews that I heard was from Elizabeth Hasselback. Is that her name still? Yeah, that's her name. Yeah. Married to the former NFL guy. Yeah. And she did an Instagram post on it that somebody sent to me.

And I mean, I loved it because it was like she was just talking about the power of the film. but she got to that part. She said, you know, I'll never see baptism the same way again after watching this film. And I thought, you know, when we've talked about baptism a whole lot on this podcast and had good debate on that. But at the end of the day, like that, that is what the whole baptism symbolized, right? In that moment, it's this, it's an old man who's dying and being put to death. and then a new man coming up. It's that new creation.

And that, I mean, that is the essence of the gospel. I think that's the power of a film like this. And not just this film, it's the power of the gospel. I mean, it's the,

you know, what the 1st Corinthians 15 passage that we quote all the time, you know, that the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. And what baptism is, is we're connecting with the gospel of Christ. We're connecting with his death.

Roman 6 says this. We're connected with his death in baptism. were buried with Christ through baptism and then we're raised to live a new life. And that's the hope. The hope of the whole thing is if you think, man, I'm a pretty bad dude, well, the answer in the gospel is not, no, you're not that bad. The answer is no, you're much worse than you think you are. But that guy can die.

We can bury that old man and then a new man can come forth and can be connected with the resurrection of Christ. So I think that's what throughout the vein of all of this through the podcast, you saw it in the podcast. I mean, Phil talking about Big Al, what a powerful moment that was, you know, talking about, you know, him coming to the same. Yeah, it kind of brought Dad to tears. It's funny you said that, Zat, because we were at Fort Worth, there was a couple that were coming back behind us to take a picture. And as they're walking past me, because I was sitting there, there was a little gap between me and mom and dad.

And she said, do you remember his baptism? Well, I thought she was talking about her husband because they were walking up together. That's exactly what she said to me. and I was like, no, did I do it? Like, I mean, like, I baptized a lot of people. I thought she was talking about her husband, and she looked at me kind of funny, and I was like, are you talking about your husband?

And she said, no, I'm talking about your dad. So she just kind of brought that it randomly, and I wasn't following. And I was like, oh, yeah, you're talking about dad's badism, of course. I mean, you saw it in the film. We were, that was the moment that we knew. Now, mom says that Jay says in that moment, Of course, I never know, this is exactly the way I go.

With mom, you never know, that you said, does this mean the devil's going to leave our dad? And she said, yeah, but it may take a while for him to get it all lined out. I was like something I would say. It sounds like it, yeah. I was, you know, I wasn't too sure about old Phil at that point. I was like, does this mean he's gone for you? Do you remember it, Jayce? Do you remember his baptism?

Yeah, I remember thinking, all right, well, let's try this. But we were all in tears, I remember that. Yeah, but I'm like, anything different is welcome. That's right. But it's weird how... I remember it. How you bring that up. Do you remember it at?

I remember it. It's weird you bring that up. So when I got up to do my speech, and look, the humor aspect, there was a, I noticed there was a cultural chasm between Colorado and here. because every joke that I tell that I've told before that people always laugh when I told in Colorado crickets I mean just crickets I thought what's wrong with these people you know and so after a while I got off the jokes but my first segment of course you know I didn't have any notes but is I threw Zach under the bus because I knew the movie was out and so many had had said I said it.

And I was like, yeah, the movie's out. I was like, now I told the producer, who is my cousin. The only thing I didn't like was the name. It was too confusing. You know, the blind, which there's only, what, half a million people in the world who knows anything about a duck blind. Most people, you know, when they see that, they think it's, you know, you think Helen Keller or whatever.

You're not thinking a duck blind, you know. So I said, I think the movie should. should have been named Mission Possible. And so everybody, it's crickets, you know. Just like here. Yeah. And so then I did the spill about Mission Impossible, one of the most popular movies of all time. How many has there been?

Like six. A lot. I mean, as soon as you hear Mission Impossible, you think, you think, you know, time. cruise the whole thing's based on a lie if y'all've listened to our podcast you've heard me do this it's they say it's mission impossible then he does it it's a lie and they took your money and it was all a lie because it really it really was mission possible because it was it was it well they should have been named mission possible so now and we're going back are they laughing are they laughing yet nobody

He cracked a smile. No, there was never any kind of chuckle whatsoever. So then now you have a guy who's just, Phil was being Phil, raging alcoholic, whatever you want to, however you want to depict it. Well, you're like, well, there's no way this guy. That's to turn his life around and be a force for good and make the world a better place.

For whatever reason, that would be impossible. Because from my perspective, as a kid, what was going on, me in that moment. I was like, not going to happen. He's too far gone. So, and really, one of the scenes y'all put in the movie about us going and visiting, you know, when I feel was, I don't know, you were on the run from the law, you were living in the woods. And now, I remember that moment more than any other of my childhood, because I thought, well, I want to see my dad. I haven't seen him in a few months. But when I went out there, when he came out of that door, I thought,

nope he just looked like a craze wild animal i was like nope and he really didn't acknowledge our presence but uh so i thought nope this is not going to happen so it was a bad idea is what i was thinking not quite ready yet so then i went through all the verses you know off the top of my head about you want you want to hear about mission possible that all things are possible you know you remember the verse where even talking about the virgin birth and Luke, he said, well, man, this is not possible. Well, God, all things are possible. And so that's what I was hitting on. I mentioned the Acts to Peter's sermon where he said it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus.

You want to talk about mission possible. Is it possible to be dead and come back to life? So it would have been a better name, but I forgive you. Fortunately, the movie, the blind, it covers that. Yeah, it does. Well, I'm just talking about the name, which is subjective. He was blinds. Let's take our last break.

But I want to mention this, because you brought up baptism, and I brought it up in my speech, because I felt the same way. And, you know, I stuck my foot in my mouth because I do a little bit in my speech where I say, I'm pretty sure that I've blown more things up than everybody in here combined. Well, I didn't realize there's, like, multiple military bases in Colorado Springs and some of the guys in the audience were explosive experts in our military. So, and I had one of them confront me after the speech and said, hey, you hadn't blown up more stuff than me. And the point I was making was in, you know,

I do the three questions. How did you get here? What are you doing here? And how are you leaving the earth? the three questions that all humans should ask themselves at some point as they live here on the earth. How did I get here? What am I doing here and how am I leaving? And so under the heading of how did I get here, I go through the belief in our culture that there was an explosion without any kind of intelligent design. And we have this magnificent universe and our planet being the earth being the world, being the right distance from the sun and all these intricate details and life on our earth

and all as the result of a random explosion between things that no one has an answer for on what exploded. And so that's, that was my point. Most explosions, if not all, that I've ever seen, resulted in chaos, not harmony. So, but when I brought up the baptism and I realized the military presence on day two. I brought up this idea about the reason it's so hard for our military sometimes to find Jesus is because they're taught through boot camp all the way through. The last thing that you're going to do for victory to achieve victory is surrender. You know, here you all on the battlefield, there's bullets, and all of a sudden you're like,

I surrender. Well, that means you lost. And that's in your brain. And so that's when I brought up baptism because most religious people who don't really believe baptism as even important is they think, well, that's something that you say you're doing. And in essence, I believe it's just the opposite. It is a moment in time based on what Jesus did, which is what saves you 100%. His death on and his life, you know, the virgin birth, his life, his character. character, his death on a cross, his barrel is resurrection, and him being exalted to the right hand of God.

Based on you hearing that, that's a moment of you said, you know what, I surrender. And so it was God's idea, not mine. So you read Romans 6 and you see this reenactment. You can reenact that and your old self is dying. It's the exact opposite of you doing something. It's you saying, I can do nothing. And I'm giving up right there. And so, in essence, that was my point. And I read a couple of verses to support that. I don't know if I've ever read them on the podcast, but I want to read them now because they just kind of came to me. One is in Proverbs 21, 30.

It says, there is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. The horse is made ready for the day of battle. but victory rests with the Lord. Any plan, any wisdom, any insight that you think you have, it will not succeed against the Lord. And so when you tie that into two New Testament passages, and you remember that Romans 7, when Paul gives the illustration about this war that goes on

every day in our minds with sin, and we do what we shouldn't do, and what I don't want to do, I do, and he says, you know, I find this law at work. He gets down to the end of chapter 7. In my inner being, I delight in God's law, verse 22, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind.

Y'all are familiar to that. And it says, what a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from the body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Well, that's the chapter after he did the illustration of why you shouldn't sin. He said, don't you know that all of us were baptized into Christ? We were baptized into His death. We were therefore buried.

Just like Christ was raised, we too may live a new life, but we know our old self was crucified. That's Roman 6. And the last thing I'll read is 1 Corinthians 15, because now we're talking about the resurrection after the reminder of the gospel. In verse 56, it says, the sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through Jesus.

Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so that was the same point that I made in the illustration, because I realized there's a lot of military guys in here. And I'm trying to get them to entertain the thought that true victory in the Lord is surrendering on the battlefield. Yeah, no doubt. Man, that's good. Because I think that what, like, when most of us, when we talk about baptism, a lot of times we, in a religious world, it's, I don't think this is. what the Bible teaches, but I think that some people would say that it's you joining a congregation and signifying that to the congregation. I do think that's, I think it's important to be baptized

in the church and to, and to make that public profession with your church. But the essence of baptism is what you said. I mean, it's right before you would read Romans 7, right before that was Roman 6, which is the baptism passage, but right before Romans 6, it ends Romans 5 with, the most provocative statement in the Bible maybe when he says, basically the more you, where sin increases grace abounds all the more. In other words, the more you sin,

this is how grace works, the more grace you get. And the obvious question that Paul is answering in Roman 6 is what we all think when we hear such a statement, we would say, well, then I just can go sin all I want. Is that what you're saying, Paul?

So when he brings in baptism, here in Romans 6, he's actually answering, a question about the nature of grace. And so he says, what shall we say that? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? If you're telling me the more I sin, the more grace I get, then why don't I just go send more?

He's saying no, by no means. And then he gives the justification for this. And what he's saying here is, is this is not about you just getting out of hell free card. That's not what this is. This isn't just a ticket to heaven in the way that people think about it. This is a transformation of a person. You are one type of person and you're becoming a new type of person.

Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus, we were baptized into his death. We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may walk in the newness of life. So that's what he's talking about here. And so when people, you know, see like Phil's life now, he's a man, it's kind of hard to imagine because I've known Phil my whole life. And the whole time that I've known you, Phil, you have been like this spiritual giant in my life. So it's hard for me to imagine who you were other than the fact that I've heard you tell the stories. But the reason why it's so profound is because of what this is right here that you, like all of us, we put the old man down and we were raised. to live a new life.

We're new people, new creatures, not the same. No, I love it. We're out of time. But just a reminder, as I mentioned this earlier, there's still a few more days the film will be showing guaranteed. So if you haven't seen it, of course, go. If you've gone to see it, maybe take somebody else. Definitely be talking it up.

Let's keep the momentum going. Rotten tomatoes. Make sure you go give us a review on Rotten Tomatoes. In fact, in our overtime segment, I have some reviews from some of the folks. folks that saw the film. And so I want to read those during our overtime segment. So it may be you who posted something. So we're going to read those in overtime if you want to follow us over. BlazTV.com slash Unashame is where you go to get our overtime content. And thank you,

Unashamed Nation. You guys have been the driver for the success of the film. We appreciate it. We'll see you in overtime. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to blazed TV at blazestiv.com slash unashamed.