Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 769 | Phil Discovers a New Duck Delicacy & Jersey Joe Becomes the New Uncle Si

Episode Date: October 13, 2023

Phil’s friend Jersey Joe has mastered the art of making blue-winged teal edible, and the guys are salivating over the recipe. Jase casts some doubts on claims made in the duck blind this season, so he puts on his super sleuth hat to find out who did what. The guys delve into the story of not one, but two prodigal sons. Plus, when we spend time with people, does that mean we endorse their bad habits or sinful lifestyles? In this episode: Luke 15; Luke 16, verse 18 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. We're in October now, which is kind of the, I would call it the middle ground. We had our teal season. Well, you had dove season. Yep, it does. Which you actually went dove hunt, huh? I went dove hunting in North Carolina. Yeah. Well, we didn't do too well, however.

On the teal? On the teal. But one phase of the harvesting of the teal is we told a full-blooded, what would you call him Italian, full-blooded Italian, converted to Jesus, converted to Jesus, took him out there, and he asked about how edible these things were. I said, this is pretty far down the table fair. I said, however, I said, I've tried to eat them several ways. He said, I will make you some of the best eating meat from these blue bills.

Blue wing. Blue wing teal. Yeah. You know, we didn't make a meal out of that, a good one. So he made meatballs. Italian meatballs. At a blue wing teal. At a blue wing teal.

This is the first time hearing about it. That's right. I noticed I didn't get the invite. Kept it secret. Because I didn't want to advertise it because everybody says, you can't eat them. Well, I was about to decide you can't eat them. However, here comes the Italian, and he smoked them. He dressed them and dressed them.

So he added something to them, kind of like they were with meatballs, probably a little bit of pork. Well, I've noticed something about Italian. They were some of the best meatballs I've ever eaten. So here's what Joe said. So he said, your dad, he said, your dad, he. He, so I, brother of my said, Phil I made meatballs, a tag of meatballs out of those teal we kill. And so he said dad got one. Like, it was like, you were going to test, right?

It's like, you didn't like get your plate full to begin with. That's right. He said, but you ate the one. You were like, hmm. Then he goes back in for more. Now, was this spaghetti over spaghetti? Did you eat it over pasta? This was, this was, uh, and it made a red gravy.

Yeah, this Italian gravy. Graving, the meatballs were in the red gravy, so it's like... But did you eat it over noodles? I eat it over noodles. Yeah. All right. The big noodles. Not the angel hair.

No, the Italian noodles. Did he give you the recipe for this? Oh, he will not give you the recipe. He said, my grandmother talked to me, had to eat the, I've never tried teal, ducks. Yeah. But I said, I'll try it. So were they gamey tasting? No, they were not.

Really? No, they were just. So he shredded them? I had Stone. Stone didn't believe it. Yeah. He comes in. Stone vows for this. Non-believer.

On the morning, the evening before we had had them, so we got some in the refrigerator, Stone comes down and says, you're trying to look at me with a straight face and tell me that those meatballs, that, the blue bills. Blue wings. Blue wing, not, the blue bill is a skull. He said, in blue wings, you can't eat them. I said, I'm telling you, try them. So he said, made his plate, cut them, cut them up kind of in half.

He took two or three, and he cut them in a hive, put them in the microwave. He came out there, and he looked at me, he said, I've never tasted meatballs as good as those. And so he even ate them reheated, which they, you know, that's a little more true. How big? They were outstanding. How big was the meatball? The meatball was about, you know, about the golf ball. Golf ball size?

Oh, a little bigger than that. A little bigger than that. A little bigger than gold. So here's what I'm betting he did, because a meatball typically, Italian meatball is a mix of like ground beef, Italian pork. So you mix it together anyway. So he probably mixed in some of that other with the teal meat. He went with all teal.

Come on. And he smoked him early in the morning, he said, for a couple hours. So he smoked them first. Okay, that's smart. So then he got them and rolled them with whatever he put in the, veggies. I could see a little bit in there, you know. But I was shocked. I walked in there, and when I ate one, I went in there and got another one.

And he's got in a red gravy. And I've asked him for the recipe, but he won't give the recipe. So I laughed. He's coming tonight, and I don't know what he's cooking, but you can bet your bottom dollar it'll be good. He's actually after he feeds yollies, he and Christina come and I spend a few days with us at the Southern Layer. So I'll get a little Italian cooking. I laughed, OJ. So Joe was with you guys when y'all hunted that day and killed the lot of ducks.

And so he told me, it's classic. It was like I was talking to the sight. He said, yeah. He said, you know, when I shot, he said, 12 ducks fell. Yeah. And so I was like, you know, that everybody else was shooting the same time. He said, no, but I've got a special improved cylinder. I've heard this before.

Yeah. He left out one part. I said, well, you just broke the law. You killed 12. He left out one part of that story that I've noticed is a common thing with new hunters. When he shot and opened his eyes back up, 12 were falling. He was looking at his gun and forget the other five men and shit beside me. I killed all of them.

And his mind he did. He thought, you know, I've got this special bore. And when I shoot, I made a bunch of stuff. And I love it because it's like nobody else is in the blind with you. But you're right, Jayce. The eyes are typically closed. I know this. Out of the, I don't know which group he got him out.

I'll kill it for you. But those blue bills. I don't know why he can't come those blue wings. Blue wings. He's got bluebells on the mind. Now, I'll tell you this. If he can take a blue bill and make that edible, now, look, we went from doing the impossible.

to making a lot of money. I told Dad, the Italians are like the Cajuns, they can make stuff that normally is not that great. They can do those things to it that really improves it. You're saying it was good. Oh, it was delicious. Well, I wanted to say, now, my next clarification is that percentage-wise, I had a fantastic TLC season.

Yeah, because you managed to, you threaded the needle. Well, I want to say this. This is a profound statement that I'm fixing to say. I miss more days of till season this year than I have missed in the last 40 years combined. I mean, because I have such a rigorous schedule when I was looking at the year how this got away from me, like a snowball going down a mountain with the TV show and this podcast and events and all. I thought I've got to sacrifice something from my schedule-wise. I chose till season.

So I actually only hunted, of the 16 days, I hunted twice here. And we shot, well, the first day we shot, I was the only one that shot. I shot once and killed a green winged teal. I think it was the only green wing we killed. Or did it, I kill one. Oh, you killed one. Oh, you killed one. It's almost like deer hunting.

Hey, I got him. Which is kind of funny that we're talking about the table fair side because blue wingers are notoriously not very good to eat but green wing till in my opinion is the best duct to eat very good because it's just simple that blue wings have their diet yeah they have a tendency to hang out in sewage ponds because some places around the country blue wings are perfectly fine right but when it's a low water and the only water available is like a sewage pond with a blue wing he's like hey let's do it let's do it but what i was going to say in the other day that i went was the best day we had which was I think we shot 20, around 20.

There were two or three bunches. Oh, yeah, three bunches. Just about half of the whole heart. I was there when this. That was the best day. The 12 went out of one bunch, but there were five men shooting. Yeah. So we did get 12 out of a bunch, which is incredible.

It's pretty good. But for old Jersey Joe to be saying he got 12, well, you know, it's, what are we, magic? Is it the magic bullet? Yeah, he, he's. I was laughing because I was laughing. boy, you've spent too much time with Scythe. Every time you shoot, you know, everything. You could cut the meatball with your fork.

Yeah. And it was just outstanding. The problem with Jersey Joe's analysis of that, because in my mind, you know, I forget a lot of things, the older I get. I don't remember, I mean, I don't forget when 20 Teal come in a week ago. And what I did during that session. So they came in, they got behind the blind.

There was some nervousness there. Phil hit them with a little, he, he, he, he. And they came back, and right before they lit, they kind of balled up and started to hover. And I said, kill them. I raised up. Boom. One just folded, because the key to shooting, not that I'm an expert,

but here's the key to shooting, is they're flying so fast, And the whole thing happens in three or four seconds. Middle of seconds. So you have to reach a stage in your duck hunting career, but not unlike professional football or whatever. You hear the same phrase. They say the coaches will tell the football players,

you've got to slow it down because it's going so fast, but you have to get up and it's almost like slow motion, even though you're functioning at current speed. right boom one fold about five went left to right boom deadfold now there's chaos going around you but i'm looking down that barrel and it's in slow motion but when i shot the remaining four turned back to the left which my i'm on the right hand side of the blind and something caught the corner of my eye in between where all the action has happened and the blind and i see a teal leaving out about a foot off the water way to the right of the rest of the blind and i thought

no this is this is my job there's one that said i'm going to evacuate because you had four coming back so you're but i said that they're in the gunning lane right this one here he's going under radar this is my job and it was a hard shot because he had he had he had reached full speed now wide open but very smart of him to be only a foot off the water. So I really took my time because I only have one chel out. And I just boom and he folded. So for the Italian to make that charge, because that teal folded and dead 50 yards to the right

of where he can even see. And we only got 12 by the bunch and that was one of the 12. Well, I can tell you right now with 100% certainty, he was not a part of that. Well, I laughed because having hunted my whole life, know that some person who hasn't done a lot of duck hunting and especially has done a lot of teal duck hunting, and to claim you kill anything. Because most of the time, guys that hadn't hunted that much, it goes so fast, it's boom, boom. And you look around and everybody else, the action is still going. but you have shot your three shots so fast. We did good on that, buts.

Well, here was. They were delicious. I'll tell you what happened. So I'm trying to, it's my job to make sure we get everything that went down since we didn't have a dog to get them back to the blind. So I kind of started interrogating everybody because it happened so fast and some of them fell on dry land where it was not visible. So I said, well, what did y'all do? Now, Phil's on the other end of the blind, and Phil can't hear like he once did.

So I don't think Phil ever heard the question because I knew I had three. And Jay, who is to the left of me, he said, I went three for three. And he knows, I'm not asking on what you think you shot, because he knows I'm trying to gather the ducks up. How many we got? Chad, who said, I went two for three,

which tells me that's what happened because if he was just making it up, why wouldn't you say I went three for three? Right. And you're up to eight. Well, that's eight. So now your end of the blind, and Jersey Joe heard the question,

no answer. So, and Phil didn't hear the question. So there's four left, because we picked up 12. So it's possible theoretically that you got Phil who's been hunting for, what, 60 years? Yeah, since I was 11. I was just putting you down for three for three.

And so Jersey Joe, that is close. Upon this investigation, interrogation. Maybe got one. Maybe got one unless someone killed two and one shot, which could have happened. That's right. Could have happened.

So I hate to tell him, keep cooking, leave the shooting. Two other people. Were you with us the day we shot the 42 out of three bunches with the seven men? Bob DeMoss was there. They were filming behind the blind. The limit? It was the limit. Well, I was there then.

Martin was there, I know, but I think it was seven of us. I was there. I was just making sure you weren't giving me some kind of question. No, no, no, no. I would admit to. No, it was the limit. But we did it in three bunches. No, I remember.

That was on the pipeline. Yeah, that was on the pipeline. Last day of the season. Yeah, which was amazing. I was taking free. And now are edible for before we were shying away from it. Well, I just remember, I remember I didn't eat them for years because you were trying to boil some and you were going to make a dressing or something.

And when you raised the lid off, I literally gagged. Yeah. I mean, they smelled so funky from like a septic pot. So the segue was something was lost, the art of making a blue wing teal edible. And then it took a guy from New Jersey. That's right. Full-blooded Italian to find the recipe.

And you know what? And it created joy. You don't have. You will not give the recipe up. And never give you the gravy. I was trying to go to Luke 15. I know you were the good segue. Because here's the thing, you really don't have to ever shoot one if you just learn how to cook them good, then your role is fulfilled in our group.

Well, how many days did you go this year? I went zero days. I went zero. I went two. And I tried to sacrifice the till season, but actually, I was in on 50% of what was harvested from our. Well, which you on your FOMO charge. the fear of missing out, you really did well. Oh, I did well.

I didn't know. I hadn't been here in the last four or five days, and so I didn't realize that y'all shot nothing. So y'all just went out and watched the sunrise every morning? Watched the sunrise. Last week, yeah, wasn't much. Was it beautiful? One morning we killed two.

Yeah. You know, I remember a green wing tail. I killed him, the only one we saw. Well, the last time we talked about the season, yeah, we were talking about Phyllis. They killed what turned out to be a fish snake or water snake in the blind and thought it was a, I thought it was a poison snake, but it wasn't.

Yeah, that was embarrassed. I heard that story and saw the picture. But I just glanced at it. I didn't pay careful enough attention. So anyway, so that was the end of the till season. But Jason, you have segued us back. What was lost is now found. Recipe.

That's right. So we're in Luke 15. We told the first two parables, and now we're going to get to the third one today, which really Jesus raises. at the stakes with the third story because one is he makes it two people and I think he gets to the point of the whole story which I agree with you 100% of jays the whole story is about the older brother really even though I think swindal is right I think we relate uh to the younger guy

because that's a good news I mean like that's good I hate to bring it up but old jace would be the man that that will come forward but but when you get to Luke chapter 16, the context there, the law and the prophets were, verse 16, were proclaimed until John, since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached. So this is the network going into this, and everyone is forcing his way into it. It's easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least strong. of a pen to drop out of the law. Anyone, and he said something profound,

and I'll just... Where are you at? I hate to... I'm in Luke 16, verse 18. I hate to bring it up, but it's caused a lot of... I don't know what you'd call it, misery.

Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery. And the man who marries a divorce woman commits adultery. To me, that's one of the toughest text I have in all of this. The way it'll be when the kingdom gets here, you just don't want to divorce your wife. Willie-nilly doesn't get a reason.

But somewhere else it said, you know, if somebody, the woman commits adultery, that's the only reason you can divorce her if she does. So I just thought we would look at that and say, because when it comes to marriage, Jesus was very serious about marrying and staying married. Between you and a woman. Yeah, but I think the principal, you know, in Luke 15,

the fact that he's sitting around with tax collectors and this, you know, they put it in quotation marks. sinners, you know, they were all gathered around the hearing. I'm pretty sure there were some adulterers, divorces, and I think that's part of the problem that the Pharisees have. And so I think when Jesus, who is, he's portraying a character that's never seen before in that it was flawless. He was a flawless individual.

Even amongst, even in our world today, non-Christians, they've read the Gospels. There's no accusation about Jesus' character. Right. And so, and you have multiple stories. You remember the woman at the well. Yeah. She had been married, was it six times? Five times.

And then the current guy she was with, he was not her husband. Yeah. And you remember the, woman in John 8. She, the teacher of the law had had found her in the act and Jesus, remember he said, you without sin, carry, you know, so I think what's happening on this, it's like you see this scenario and they're accusing him.

I mean, the accusation has to be. Well, you're, you're saying that's okay. I mean, the Pharisees are trying to say, since you're eating. with them, you're endorsing their current lifestyle which in those two conversations that I picked out,

especially in the John 8, you remember what he said at the end. Now he said, don't throw stones and then the last thing he told her was go leave your life of sin. And I think in the John 4 he was actually introducing the idea that Jesus is the one

that we're spiritually married to with her. She had had all these broken relationships. but she never met anybody like Jesus. We're the bride of Christ, you know, if you want to make that. So I do think when we get to Luke 16 and he gets into the eternal consequences of the decisions you make with money, with sex, with what else, status. He does show some of these character issues that come out because they're accusing him of endorsing sinful behavior. And he does not, by statements like you just read, he does say, well, let me tell you, you should keep your... Well, and he's also addressing, Dad, which we'll get into this much deeper when we get there, but he is also, the Pharisees were, they went along with the idea, and we'll look at this when we look at marriage in the Jewish context, that you could divorce a woman for any and every reason.

The Pharisees was taking marriage. We don't go by that. Yeah. The Pharisees were not taking marriage as sacred as they should have been. In other words, they were putting away these women, one right for the other, for any and every reason. That is right. And so he's making the point. That's not the way God designed it.

And then he talks about Moses allowed you to divorce because you were sinful and hard-hearted, is what he said. So just because something was legally okay under Moses, he's saying... They tried to trump God on this one. That's right. And he's going back and saying, no, God is always designed. Because in Matthew 19, we get to this context. We'll look at that in depth. He says Genesis 2 is the design for all mankind, one man, one woman for life.

That's the way God wants you to do it. Now, do people sin and make mistakes to Jason's point? We're doing this whole thing about him, even with sinners. So, of course, that would include divorce people. So we've taken, what's happened is now we've taken the idea and we've made it pharicetical as opposed to making it Christ-like and just saying, look, here's the best design for marriage. One man, one woman. We've got it in our culture now where it's not even a man and a woman.

It's a woman who says she's a man, a man who says she's a woman. There's so many crazy things going on. Same sex. You can be married all this, right? So, but there's two different conversations you have. This is a different issue. We'll get to this when we get to Luke 16. But, you know, even Paul, when his dealings with Corinth, you remember the famous verse, you know, that says some of you were sexual immoral and male prostitutes.

And, I mean, there's a big list of them. And he's like, that is what some of you were. We were washed. You were sanctified. You can always start over in Jesus. You can always be born again. whether you're a self-indulger or a self-exaltor. That's right.

Because that's really the picture that is portrayed. And I said some people argue with that, but it seems to me when you read the parable of the lost son that both sons were trying to use the father to get what they wanted. And when you think about that in a spiritual context of things being lost, people being lost and Jesus eating and having a meal with them to try to find them and save them, there's kind of two ways you can go about it. Because we're all sinners.

Even the Pharisees, let's face it, their lives were pretty moral. But in their case, if you're looking at what you do and only are trying to use what you do to gain, God's favor, you're still being your own savior in that moment. Which is why, Jay's, he said, remember when he was telling me, he said, the law says this, but I'm telling you this, and he would go beyond the law and talk about it being a heart issue. The whole sermon on the mouth. A whole sermon on the mouth was just what you're talking about. And it wasn't just sinful issues.

Remember he's like, when you pray, when you fast, when you give, he was like, you know, go go in your closet and pray. And pray to God who, and the whole theme there is God who sees what is done in secret. That's right. Because their heart were a million miles away. They were using their good things to elevate themselves instead of elevate the nature of God and who he is. So I really think he redefines, and not that he's making up another definition, but he redefines sin in a way that is contrary to what. most people think. Most people think that you only sin when you go with prostitutes and what the younger son did.

When you rebel. But he's showing this where you get into pride and self-righteousness. And when you put anything as your standard for which you're basing your salvation on besides God, well, that's just selfishness. So it could be self-exaltation, which he had just criticized the chapter before. Do not exhaust yourself. Don't think you're better than other people because you've done more right things than wrong. Or it's this typical sin. We're familiar with how the younger brother sin, because most stories are like this. Everything's fine.

Then you hit puberty and what happens? You rebel against God. You rebel against your parents. You rebel against society. you rebel against moderation and you go out and you get drunk and you smoke dope and you do whatever whatever your pleasures are because you have made yourself God. But the older brother has taken the same stance. He's just justified it by not doing those things.

And you see that in the Bible over and over and over and over and over. Right. over. And I think that's why people do relate more to the story of the younger one is because it ends well. Now, when it comes to the older son, there is no ending. It's a cliffhanger, and that's why people argue about it. That's right. They're like, because, I mean, well, let's read the whole story, I think, and then we can dive into it. So he continued in verse 11. There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them, which I think he would get a third.

He would get a third. And the older brother would get two thirds. And look, it was a pretty straightforward situation. And look, you could give your inheritance early. If a father decided he wanted his children to enjoy what he had for, maybe he was sick, maybe he was dying, who knows for what reason. That was also acceptable under their Jewish law. What wouldn't have been acceptable is for a son to demand. his inheritance. I mean, this shows you his rebellion.

And I'd said this in the overtime last time, because that is another way to put that is, I wish you were dead. And really, in an essence under Jewish law, he was dead to him. Because once the inheritance went out, and the relationship was broken, it was like he said, okay, you're dead to me. Well, he walked away. That's right. He walked away from God, which is the whole reason for telling their story. That's right. So here's the father. said, okay, he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, which was from the father, set off for a distant country, and there squandered the wealth in wild living. So that's why I said. We pretty much know what wild living is. And you could

apply whatever, because it was not good. After he had spent everything there was a severe famine in the whole country there was a severe famine and he began to be in need so he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs he longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating but no one gave him anything when he came to his senses which you got to remember this whole theme has been john the baptist came repent for the kingdom is near. Jesus said, repent for the kingdom is near. There's been multiple references to the kingdom and repentance. And I think the first stage of his repentance was whatever that phrase means when he came to his senses. Yeah, that's why those phrases that's big. It's a big phrase. He said,

how many of my father's hired men have food to spare and here I am starving to death? I will set out, go back to my father and say to my father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired men. So he got up and went out to his father. Now look, most people think that's a lovely speech. But I would argue that in his mind,

he was going to try to pay back what he just squandered. He had a plan. Now, when you take that to a spiritual level, yes, he came to his senses, but he didn't realize anything that no one else is going to realize at some point in their life. There's not enough money in the world. There's not enough ideas that you can have on what will bring you happiness that is going to end in disaster. And his realization was the pigs are living better than me. Yeah. Because at least they got something to eat.

And look, some people never realize it. Right. Go to their death. People die in big pig pens every day in a spiritual context. Before we keep reading, let's take another. Now then we get to a real God-nature moment here. Jesus, the son of God, telling this story on why he is eating with tax collectors and sinners. Because this phrase in verse 20 says, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him.

which mean he was looking for him. That's right. And was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. I mean, what? No. That's why people love this story, because of that one paragraph, that he was looking for him, and then when he found him, he hugged him and he kissed him.

Despite his son doing the very worst thing he could ever do, which is rejection, abandonment, hate. You're dead to me. Self-absorbed. And you make a good point. Even in the coming back, he's coming back, in this culture would have understood this a little harder for us, to be an indentured servant. In other words, to pay off my debt, I'm going to work for you.

That's why he came back. But it wasn't like he really understood grace at this point. Yeah, the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, which I think is important. I think this is when he gets. it like he came to his senses earlier but this is when he understands right right because you've always sin against god first even david uh in the famous psalm 51 yep when he had had an affair he had killed the husband murdered the husband of the woman he had a fair with but he opened it up by saying i have sinned against you oh god alone so which is the same concept

So the son said, and Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. So the father, so you get the first act, which is him, looking at him, looking for him, being filled with compassion, running to him, which in their garb would have made the father look vulnerable. I mean, they didn't run. The fathers of the family back then, if you go look up, the context of what they were wearing. You don't see a father running for any rate.

They couldn't run. They got these long, flow-ins. He's having to pull his garb up. That's right. So now he says, the father said, quick. He told his service, bring the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet. So that's like in their culture, you've been reinstated.

That's right. You're back. we're acting like this never happened clean slate the ring on the finger signifying your back in the family the ring was the power celebration time it was power and authority the robe was wealth and status and the sandals you're not poor anymore let's have a beast poor people are barefooted be celebrated well and then uh one of the other things not happy in this is this fat and calf because we bring the fat and calf and kill it which by the way is why always have preferred the younger animal that I'm going to eat. Like, deer, you know, people go hunt the big racks.

And I'm like, no, the Lord was like, bring that fat in half. Give me that veal. It tastes better and it's easier to deal with. Let's have a feast and celebrate. So now we're back to joy. We're back to joy in heaven. We're back to joy on earth. Exactly.

For this son of mine, I love this statement. Because the other ones were lost and found. This son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. So you get this concept of being dead while you're alive, which is the first introduction that I know of about the spiritual death. Now, Paul got into that at,

length in Romans, you know, where he's like, because of sin, your body is dead, but your spirit is alive, you know, and this is where I got in with the zombies. Yeah. This is, this is, this would be, I wish that was here, but this would be a very good passage to entertain the thought of how zombies can be converted, transformed by the grace and power of God. Because what does it say? He was dead. He was like a zombie. Yep. going in a pig pen, you know. And now he is alive. He was cured.

We found the cure of the zombies. So they began to celebrate. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field when he came near the house. He heard music and dancing. Oh, we got a party. So it wasn't just a party. I mean music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.

Your brother has come, he replied. And your father has killed the fact. calf, which was very expensive too. We didn't bring that up. Yeah. This is, that was the most expensive thing you got. Because he has him back safe and sound. So there's another way to describe this.

Lost to found. Dead to alive, safe and sound. The older brother became angry and refused to go in. And before we go on, look, if you're going to take up for this guy, I'm not sure. Just that sentence alone. should make you say, wait a minute. So his father... And I have a feeling he was already...

Because the party was going on, he didn't know about it, I think he already had a pretty bad attitude probably to begin with about this whole setting. Like, you know, imagine you show up and there's a party going on. You don't know anything about it. So right off the bat, you start saying, what's happening here? I guarantee you he's not...

Whatever is said, he's not going to be super happy about it. Which is to my point is the Pharisees were not very happy people. And neither was this oldest son. Yeah. So his father went out and pleaded with him. And here you go. So you got the father going to both sons. But he answered his father, look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.

Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. And that's why I said, this is turning into two prodigal sons. It is. It's two rebels is what it is. There's two prodigal sons. Look. is he worried about the father or the stuff that he didn't get? Well, what started this whole story?

The younger brother wanted all the stuff. It's about the stuff and not about the father. I don't see how somebody, I'm trying to be compassionate with people who do not realize this, but it does kind of infuriate me because you're missing the grace of God. You think by your righteousness, by him not doing those things, that's what he thought. by me not disobeying your orders and not going out that I deserve to be consulted with. I earned it. Yeah, on whatever is going to happen.

And your stuff, by the way. The word that comes to mind for me for this guy's attitude is entitlement. He was entitled. And so he thought, I deserve this. And you gave me. These United States of America has fallen victim with that. Well, in church, look, these are church buildings are full of this. This is a self-righteous spirit.

Right. That is just as bad, if not worse, than the rebellious spirit against God. Because in this case, you don't think you're lost. That's right. And I believe these are the people, the reason Jesus, off the top of his head, came up with this parable because he then addresses the tax collectors and sinners through the younger brother on why he's eating with him.

And now he's addressing the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who are accusing him of endorsing sinful behavior. That's right. The entitle was, let's take her last word. So then he says, the son says, yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. Well, what is this? This is self-pity. It's a goat envy. Yeah, it's goat envy.

That's a good phrase because keep in mind, James 316, for where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. I'm pretty sure that you can make a case in a court of law. It's a slam dunk with the younger brother, but I think it's a slam dunk with the older brother of envy and selfish ambition in this conversation. But when this son of yours,

Not my brother. This son of yours. No. He doesn't love his brother, son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes, comes home, you kill the fat and calf for him. And that's not a question mark. It's an exclamation point. He's now accusing the father of making a bad decision.

And Jesus is telling this story. Who is the father representative of in this story? I think we can all agree that it's God. God. My son, the father said, because here you get the same grace in a different conversation that the younger one received. You were always with me, and everything I have is yours. So this is where the people make the case for the older son. He's like, well, why would God say that?

Because it's called grace. That's right. And it extends to bad theology as much as it does bad behavior. Exactly. And look, he could have easily, what he's saying is, is you could have gotten a goat anytime you wanted one. How could you have all the blessings of God and be angry and bitter and against your brother coming home?

That's right. There's the question for you. Yeah. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours, now this statement to me is the most profound, was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found, which is the point. That's what God does when he pursues people. I love the way he says that too.

He didn't say, but we needed to celebrate. We wanted to celebrate. He said we had to celebrate. Had to. So, you know, it's a fruit of the Spirit of God, which that's why I said the story is about the Father God. It's about Jesus rescuing people, and it's about. the Holy Spirit coming in people and you can't help it. True joy, it's like you don't say, oh, I think, you know, should we, should we celebrate?

Oh, no, you have to. And that's it. I mean, a lot of times people say, oh, it's just a little bit too rambunctious around here for me. It's a little bit too fired up, this, that, and the other. You're saying, no, but we have to celebrate because dead people who were dead are now alive. So it really isn't a celebration. So we'll go back, and I doubt we will get it all done today. Because I want to go back.

There's so much good stuff because we just read the story, even though we were commenting as we went through it. Let's go back to the first part of the story. One of the things that Jesus, when he used this illustration, thinking about how powerful it was to the people he's talking to by the lost son being in a pig pen. Jews didn't associate with pigs. that was persona non grata on the food list.

You didn't mess around with swine and you sure wouldn't have been working. So one of the things that really makes a graphic about where this son had gotten to by him working for this guy around a bunch of pigs would have made, you know, would have been very offensive to these, to the people he's trying to get through to it. And at this point in the story, they're probably saying, oh, my goodness. Can you imagine being in a worse place than having to work around pigs? And then this phrase, Jay's, that when he came to his senses, which is such a powerful. And so Kyle I mentioned this in the last podcast or maybe two podcasts ago, he wrote a book called aha. And it's based on this story. And he's the aha is awareness, humility, and action.

And so the first thing he was talking about the younger son, you have to have an awareness of your circumstance. And when you can't get anywhere, something's got to be done. And so the second part was he was humble enough to say, look, I can't, I won't survive here. I got to do something. I mean, I was wrong when I left. And then he has to do so. It says he got up and he left. And I want to read this C.S. Lewis quote, this is from the problem of pain.

He says that pain plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul. You know, a lot of times people have to get to a point because a painful situation or an awareness of their consequences before you'll ever do anything about it. And, Dad, that's really the heart of what the blind movie is about. You getting to that point. Here's the way Swindaw put it. I don't want to read this to. Remorse for his rebeying, talking about the younger son.

It didn't move the boy. Regret for his dissipation didn't rattle his conscience. The humiliation of tending swine didn't trigger his Jewish scruples, but the realization that pigs enjoy a superior lifestyle finally sparked a moment of clarity. And I love that because some people, and I was, look, this was me. I was, I had to have a moment of clarity, but the only way I could have it was to be shaken to the core. My case, it was a guy standing on me with a crowbar. That shook me to my core that if I keep living this way, I will not survive. I will die physically. And so that's exactly what happened to

this young man. So there's a lot of real powerful things about it. And for people out there that may have a prodigal son or daughter, you know, just you have to understand. Good news is when you got ready to go home, to come home, you did. Yeah. See what I'm saying? When he came to his senses, that's exactly right. He comes to that awareness. I always believe, I tell people all the time, that there's a homing beacon in all of us to want to be drawn to our creator.

And when you raise a kid, you know, and you raise them in Christianity as a believer, but then they go out and do what this young man did, that that homing beacons in there, it's just a question of what will trigger it and win, and you're hoping prayers that they'll survive, the lifestyle. Well, I think it shows you repentance is a process. And look, you never stop repenting. I think most people think repentance in the religious setting

is like confession. They're like, well, you do us saying you've got to go repent of it, which means you go confess it. And it's like, but there's a danger in that process of you thinking that by you doing that, that somehow you're forgiving it of your own actions, that there's always a danger because the evil one works on both extremes with equal enthusiasm. If you think you're something and you're hot and you're doing good things or your ministry's being successful, then all of a sudden you're saying it's your power or your ideas and

not gods. And then there's the other danger of saying, well, God, you know, does it love me? I've messed up too bad. So why even try? You know, and I think you see those two settings here. I wanted to read 2 Corinthians 710. And I think you see this happening with the two brothers. But it says in the second part of verse 9, it says sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrow as you. God intended, and so we're not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. And so I think when you see that with the older brother, he was sorrowful because of his

brother coming back, and you say, well, where's the death in that? Well, the death in that is he's attacking the father, who is life, and he's attacking the brother, who he should be loving the opposite, which death means, you know, separation. So I think it gives you a picture where he's saying a prodigal son, but one son for sure made it. And it's not the one you think. That's right. That's right. So now, we don't know.

The older brother might have came to his. senses at some point. Well, some of those Pharisees did. We know Nicodemus did. Yep. And so... Which is a great example. Here's a teacher of the law. Can't be any higher up. And what is Jesus

telling? You need to start over. It would be born again. That's it. Which is the same point. Why is he telling a religious leader? And yet he humbled himself and did it. All right. So we're out of time. Man, still got more to talk about here. I wanted, especially to

dive into that older brother's response a little bit deeper. So we're going to talk about a little bit more in our overtime segment, blazTV.com slash Unashamed if you want to follow us over. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else,

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