Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 785 | Phil Is Open to Suggestions for ‘The Blind’ Sequel & Jase Gets Schooled by His Own Son

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

After many weird forays into his own mind, Jase finally comes up with a movie idea that just might work! Zach gets roasted by Willie and Jase separately, and Jase reveals a time he was stunned into silence by his son’s rebuke. The guys explore the idea of God as a father figure and the family design that he built for humanity. Then they look at prayer and the purpose it serves in human lives, as well as the debate around the “right” way to pray. In this episode: Luke 18, verses 1-8; Luke 11, verses 1-13; Romans 8, verse 26; Psalm 103; John 17, verse 17 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? All right, welcome back to Unashame. We just came off recording a crazy episode, so we're all kind of gathering ourselves ready for this last one. So we were a little all over the place in the last one. Yeah, it'd be a good gift to give somebody the bonus time, whatever that cost. That last overtime was worth the price. Zach told the most bizarre story.

I don't want to get into it again, so that gives somebody the gift that keeps on giving. Give them the 15 minutes. It's definitely the strangest story Zach's ever told on the podcast. I'll give him that. But it was a true story. I'm trying to do an ad for you, Zach. Give them the 15 minute bonus time. It's the equivalent to the jelly of the month club.

It's a gift that keeps on giving. But I did have another movie idea because I know you're talking about going around. Now people's asking Zach. So now he's going back to his alma mater. Yeah. Going there like, oh, who's the guy that was behind the blind? He's a graduate of our school. Let's have him back and tell us how he did.

He caught lightning in a bottle with the blind. Phil, you know, was a contributor to that. Pretty much was the reason that that worked, Zach. But I agree. And Phil had a, you know, he had a similar experience. He went to Louisiana Tech. And then they invited him back after, what, 40 years? 40 years.

And then put you on the wall. and Phil finally concluded that they just wanted to check. Because they're probably good. Your alma mater, they're trying to, I'm just going to cut to the chase here and keep you grounded. Humble pie, which we realized. 30 days in the hole. Who needed to be introduced to Jesus, humble pie.

They're just going to want some money. I think that's the only pie served around here as humble pie. You're only as good as your next project. So I'm going to give it to you. I've given you multiple ideas, and they're all just sitting on your floor in your office there and crumpled pieces of paper. But I think this one will work. You're assuming he wrote it now. You pick up, Phil.

You ready? This will be a lot more marketing for you. So you pick up now, since you have the blind and you see where it ended. Now you go through the – because Phil, like we've talked about the kingdom, he now has the Holy Spirit. but it kind of ended right there, you know, with one meal. Then what happened? So then, look, you ready for this? The ministry and call it the blur.

The blur. It's so good. It left the room. Let me take a note of this where I won't forget it. Phil, as you're... Well, I told you, you got to have... It's fun. It's positive.

People go over the Lord. You know, you had a hit TV show. You come up with the number one duck call in the world. All the thing, it became a blur. Well, there is a gap. Now, Jason's right in the sense that I've had many, many people ask me, okay, is there going to be a sequel? Because everybody knows the Duck Dynasty years, which are the most recent.

Now they know the full backstory. What about the middle? That's what they're asking me. See, now that, Al, but now that he can see. Yeah. He's so busy. The Lord is using you so much that it's not that you're blind, it's now a blur. Well, it was a blur.

I'm so impacted by, I'll give you a little example. I'm impacted by the crowd of people. They come from literally all over the world. It's a small place. They sit down and there's a question for them. did you come here to be baptized? A lot, dude. Yeah.

Did you come ready to be baptized? They made a decision. They want to confirm it. If you did, raise your hand where I'll know where you are. So I'm watching now, and if one raises their hand, at least six more, five to six, are coming behind them. They didn't come there to be baptized. So I tell them the stories about Jesus.

Well, maybe they just are thinking, oh, we can actually do this today. Yeah. And I said, it's free of charge. I said, no money is changing hands. It's a valid point. There's very few things in life that are worth anything that are free. That's right. God's grace should be at the top of the list.

So you know what happens when they make that point. I said, you're in luck because here, so we will baptize you. both times in the last, say, a couple of weeks, 12, about 15, have obeyed the gospel. I've taken them down. Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe Jesus became flesh and died on the cross for your sins? And the ones who, with tears, 90% of them, say, yes, I do. I said, well, because of that confession that Jesus is Lord, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God's going to give you his spirit. One of them said, how do I know I'll have the spirit? I said, you'll know. If your faith is in Jesus, you'll know. So that's all I do for the kingdom. I was appointed to preach the gospel. Yep.

So that's all I do. I used to ask my mom that when I was kids. I was, what does it feel like when you come out of that water? Was it like, like, I think that's a good question. How long have to have the spirit. I mean, that is a good question. You know, and I think that the spirit, which we talked a little bit about this in last episode, I think it's, I think, not he, he's a person. And he, he does convict us of things and that we would have never, ever been convicted of.

He speaks to us in the most intimate ways. And I think that it's like any relationship, really with anybody, it's a relationship that grows over time. It's not like a magic thing. You know, oh, I'm completely whole because you're, you know, you're hearing a broken state. But you walk with the spirit. You get to know his voice and hear his voice. Like my dad, for example, you guys know he does this a lot of it. You know, he does that bird whistle.

He can do it. It's, but on I was a kid. He does it so much. I don't even, you know, he just, it's like, I don't even pass. attention to. If he's around. You're immune to it. He just constantly, I wish we had that sound, what he does.

Well, he would do it like when we would be out somewhere and he would, he would do that whistle. We knew, oh, it's time to go. Well, text him right now and tell him to do a voice whistle. And then. We don't need it. He won't do it. I think people would be interested in what we're talking about. He would love to do it.

Well, you don't have, he doesn't have a cell phone. we're live i mean so you want me to you want me to text him right now say we have a podcast request for you to vocally do the whistle so people will know what we're talking about this as a producer i would think that you would know that this story needs some legs so so and while he's doing that i'll say this since we were talking about the movie there too so zach is in the movie as his dad at the end because I had some people asked me about who the people were. Yeah, I got a little confused at the end. I wasn't sure who was who.

All right. So let me tell you who they were because you were there. I mean, the character of you. I was there? You were there. You know, I met my character. Yeah. And I took a picture with him.

No, yeah, the little guy. Yeah, the little guy. So one of Richard Anderson's sons played you at the table. But you didn't know he was playing you. I think it may have, I don't remember which. I think that's who I took a picture. No, I was thinking there was a little actor that played you too. But anyway, and then Max, Zach's son played me.

He's the one with a feathered hairdo, which I thought was pretty good for that era of my life. But then they had, you know, the actor playing Cy, but my daughter, Alex, is playing Christine in the movie. Then there's the actress who played Jan in the whole movie, and then she's sitting next to Zach who's playing his dad, which I thought was pretty cool. So these are little Easter eggs that you probably wouldn't know. Most people just see those people. They're not kind of realize who they are. I had different reactions from that. Most people were like, man, that was super powerful watching you play your dad.

I teared up. Yeah. And then there's Willie who was like, dude, that was weird. And he, and he, like, ridiculed me. And, like, there was like a, probably about a 15 minute just like, he had planned to roast. And he roasted me for probably 15 minutes for a plan of my dad. Well, Willie has been roasted me and you ever since we roasted him at his roast. He can't get off of it.

That's why I told him last time he started in on me about, you know, being fat. I've got the sound. Oh, you got the sound. Well, that didn't take long. Boy, Zach's got a hotline into Gordo. Hey. All right. And I said, we want you on the podcast.

He's like nine. All right, let's hear it. Put it close to the mic. Could you hear that? Yep. Do it again. Do it again. Do it again.

Yeah. That's what he does. He does that with his mouth. I actually nominate that to take over the cricket every time. Now I know why his dad did it, because Zach would say something. And he couldn't figure out the cricket. Even as a little child, he was dropping these big words. He didn't realize he had a skill to try to break the tension in the room.

It doesn't sound like that. That was early. My point was that if I hear that, I know that's my. father's voice because I know him and I've been raised with him. Oh, I've been waiting for the spiritual point. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It actually does go in with what we're talking about because Matthew, I mean, Luke 18. Before you get to the text, though, I got another text to read. Are you fixing to go there? I wasn't going to read it. I was just going to say that what happened was, because we're steady in this. And I think we publicized this that when we, Al, when we went to Bible school, which, you know,

I didn't realize what I was doing there until now, which has been. been 30-something years. But God had a plan. But the only book that, well, we didn't study Mark. Right. And Luke, we had a real dry, love the guy. Yeah. Love this guy.

A bit dry instructor. He was just a bit dry. And I was incapable of paying attention at that stage of my life. And so when I read Luke 18, I was like, well, this sounds familiar. didn't we just do this? I was at my house, you know, by myself, stood in. And I looked back to Luke 11,

and I was like, oh, wait, he told the same principle with two stories. That's right. Which made me then feel convicted, because I had never noticed that before. And then I thought, for Jesus to repeat himself

with two different parables with the same meaning, evidently I've missed something here. I mean, he's really making a point and the fact that I didn't know it, that's all I was going to say. Oh, and the fact that Luke brought it out. So before we go back.

So we're going to cover Luke 11 in Luke. We're going to get there. So before we do that, I want to read this verse because I promised it in the last overtime and we never got to it because of Zach's creepy story they told from Arkansas.

Romans 8, 26, because we've been talking about this kingdom concept and the deity and the spirit and the temple now being us. I want you to listen to this, in lieu of where we're about to go. This is Paul. He says in verse 26, and he's been talking about redemption, in the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Verse 27, and He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. And it's thought it was a fascinating statement that he makes to the Romans because in light of what we've been talking about, the idea that Yahweh sent Jesus who shows us Yahweh as well as himself, who then sends us his spirit, which again shows us who Jesus is living in us. And according to Paul, he also has even more of a role.

he actually in prayer helps us communicate in ways that we don't always know we're communicating. So as we're getting ready to go into this prayers of Luke 18 and also back to Luke 11, I thought I wanted to read that text because it really sets up about who he is. Let's take our first break. Okay. So are we going to go to Luke 11? Yep, let's do it. And Al's going to, because Luke 11 and Luke 18, you'll see the similarities.

Connection, yeah. But what I was going to say before we read this, because we're going to be talking about prayer. And the reason that I didn't know that these two paragraphs were connected, there's very few sermons you hear on these two paragraphs. Would you agree with that? Correct. Because you hear quite a bit on Luke 11, not much on Luke 18. The prayer that he's describing on how we should. pray. And you got to remember, these are two parables. But a parable, I forgot who said this, but you know, when Jesus spoke in parables, they're not like an allegory where we, when we study

the verses, we try to find a spiritual principle and everything. It's just the nature, especially when you preach or teach. But, you know, Jesus' parables usually had one overall theme. Now, There might be a lot of subtle things about it that you could draw some principles. And I really think he zeroes in in how we should pray. Like from our perspective, how we should pray. But the conclusion is it's not really what you see in the religious world. And so that just really perplexed me. So some of this might make you feel uncomfortable.

but I was going to say two things, because it's going to come back to God, our father. He's portraying as we pray. And I think you'll agree, the two principles. We're praying as children to our father in both cases. And he knows what's best. And that works because he is the perfect father. But it made me think that two of our problems in our culture,

before we get into this, and maybe I'll get your opinion on this, is one is we seem to have an identity problem, especially with our teenagers. It's like there's just a lost identity, which we all believe we get our identity from the Lord. And I've done this many times. I've said, I've asked these three questions, how did you get here on the earth? But I never said, well, this is our identity. I would just say, here's three basic human questions that all humans should ask.

And I use this as a starting point to share Jesus with people. I've done it thousands of times. How did you get on the earth? Because everybody has to come up with some source, whether you're a believer or not. I just, I believe there was a big bang. There was no intelligent decision. and we just got here through natural selection and evolution. Or I don't know.

There's not too many options. Or, you know, we believe God made you. I use Acts 1726. God gave us life, breath, and everything else. And he did this, you know, for a reason. And what are we doing here? And I usually go to St. Corinthians 520. We are there for, you know, Christ ambassador.

that is a purpose for. So what are we doing on the earth? And how are we leaving? And that's when we get into the resurrection. But I heard an interesting sermon from Tim Keller, and he did it from Psalm 103. And I'm bringing this up because I'm going to refer to Psalm 103, the next couple podcasts when we talk about God,

our father, and how we should pray. But he had three points, which was really incredible, about what parents give us as children. And they give us existence, obviously, because when they came together at some point, we were the result of that, right? And they give us resemblance because we resemble our parents.

It's just this is how this works. But they give us most importantly and primarily a relationship. And when you look at those three principles and realize where I'm going with this is one of the biggest problems with kids' identity is fatherless homes. And I found this website. I mean, it was the number one Google search. I just Googled fatherless homes. And the number one search was the consequences of fatherlessness.

And of course, y'all probably see what I'm doing here. because when we pray as children to our father, which are going to be the basis of these two parables, you even see that now in our culture, what happens when there's not a fatherly presence in our homes? And this list, and y'all know what happens, but when I clicked on, it's a long report, but, you know, number one is poverty.

The children and father absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor. Number two, drug and alcohol abuse. Same thing. You know, the statistics are staggering on how much more abuse there is in a fatherless home. Physical and emotional health. Children age three and older living with a residential father, a father figure, found that children living with a, you know, parents had significantly fewer behavioral problems.

So that was that one. Number four, educational achievement. And I found this stat crazy. 75% of all high school dropouts fatherless home. Just think about that stat. Right. I mean, it's crazy.

71%. Crime. Guess what? You go to the prison. They did the search. survey way more in there look busted busted home yeah uh what's the next one sexual activity unwanted pregnancies i mean it's so staggering the numbers i mean they got all the numbers here it's just crazy and so when i read that i was just kind of overwhelmed because i was like wow you know

god designed this with his family you know the father the son and holy spirit which is why he set up the way he is because you can't experience love alone. Even though he's one, he has these three manifestations and you see his love come out in sending Jesus. You see his counsel come out through giving his spirit, which think of all these where all this fatherless homes leads to a lot of counseling. That's if it's, you know, the need for love. So I just thought those two underlying principles were very important when we start looking at this in the relational aspect to the father no i i agree and even even the concept of truth jays truth is not mentioned in that list but when i look and i see today i watch these college kids and they've all gotten into this

everything's going on the world with israel and hamas and you know the palestinian conflict by the way it's been going on for now it's 80 years this back and forth but I watch them and I think, these kids don't know any truth. Like, they know nobody's there to teach them anything. And so then you just react the way they're reacting. Oh, there's someone there that's teaching them, all right. Yeah, but not truth. Exactly.

So you're getting lies. So it's really interesting to me. You're right, the concept. We haven't even talked about truth as a basis of the Holy Spirit. But, Zach, that's one of the main guide. We're talking about being a guide is to guide back to truth and what's right. Remember he said the will of God. Yeah, that's what he says in John.

He says, when he comes, he will guide you into all truth. And then John 17, I think 17, 17 says that he prays that we would be sanctified by the truth. Your word is truth. Well, how do we hear the word? Well, God has to speak it. He does that via the Holy Spirit, which is that's why it's so important. Understand it because it's what is true. That's probably a good question to ask because what even is truth.

That's what Pilate asked Jesus. What's truth? Yeah. But to your point when he said in John 1 when he said Jesus came full of grace and truth, that was right after he said to my point, John 112, yet to all who received him to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will but born of God. And what I'm saying is the current crisis in the culture, the breakdown of the home, which is what I was getting at,

and the lack of identity when you take away godly principles and a stable home life, that is a reflection of the need for all of us to have a relationship with the father. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's why he said, well, that's why he says in John four to the woman at the well when she asked about a place, he said, it's not a place. It's not in the mountain, on the mountain. It's not in Jerusalem. What do you say? The father now seeks worshippers who will worship the father, the father in spirit and truth. So you see this combination. Again, you mentioned grace and truth, spirit and truth, how that's linked to the father.

I mean, that's because the father sends the spirit to deliver that to us. And truth, if we defined it, it would be this. It is when your thought matches up with reality. That's what it is. It's when my thought matches the way the world really is. And when that relationship between thought and reality is truth. And so when the spirit reveals things to us about ourselves and about the – because the biggest lie the devil told us, I think I mentioned this on a previous podcast.

I heard this from Ray Ortland, was that God or that that the earth, the world is an oasis on the desert of God. That's the biggest lie the devil ever told the world. And we believed it. What the spirit's doing is to counteract that lie and say, no, no, no, that's backwards. The truth is, reality is, is that God is the oasis. And that all the things that you're looking for, all the fulfillments of this, that you think you're going to find in this world, you will never be. fulfilled by the consumption of the things of the world for the sake of themselves, you are only finding fulfillment in God.

That's truth. And then the spirit's trying to line up our thought with that reality. And when that matches, we have a thing called truth. And then we can actually live in it and experience it. And it actually increases your faith is what Romans 4 says, that Abraham's faith increased as he participated. As he gave glory to God, his faith increased because he tasted the goodness. of God.

Which is the idea of the mustard seed. Let's take another break. Well, and also, it's a real hopeful thing, too, because Jay's described situations where many-time whole groups of people, you know, can't see where they're trapped because, you know, they're in this bad system that they're trying to function in. But there's the beautiful thing about this is there's always a connection to the father in heaven. You just got to make that connection. He, you know, he's always seeking, which we talked about in Luke 15.

Yeah, I went to Brian Rucker we've had on the podcast before. He got married this past weekend to a great gal. And, you know, he's told his story on here. There's an incredible story. Again, no father, you know, living in a bad situation, got into drugs, got in a gang, got in a gang, into prison. He gets in a gang because why? He's looking for an identity. That's exactly right.

And he's looking for a family. Yeah. There he goes. So I'm watching this wedding, and now he's a man of God. He's one of our ministry leaders. By the way, his story is now out on I am second. So I encourage you to go look that up because it's incredible. So I'm watching this, and I'm just in tears because I'm thinking,

he found us who then showed him Jesus and the Father. And now this man has the Holy Spirit. And I'm watching him build this new family with his son being his best, man standing right next to him because he had a son during that bad period of his life. Now he's back in his life and he's being raised. So I mean, I was just watching this picture of grace standing before me. It's incredible. He's the only man that I know of that when in his job interview they said, okay, well, what's your story? You know, just to break the ice. And he said, well, I'm a convicted felon and actually got hired.

That's right. The worst line of all time. but he was honest and they shared Jesus with you know what's funny jace the man that hired him was one of his groomsmen at his wedding i mean it shows you the power of jesus and uh you know i i've said this before probably but when i have had the privilege to share jesus to people who have kids and their home is brook you know and they because it usually is like well now what when they come they're like well it's the first thing i should do i'm like you you have to go Jesus to your family, which gives them the access to the father. And in that process, you're going to realize how much you need to be a father now.

Because it's not going to be, being a father is extremely difficult. I mean, we could all tell our horror stories. It is, it takes a lot of patience, unselfishness, forgiveness, repentance, even, you know, to your kids. because unlike God, we're not perfect. And even in some cases, they have to, you know, forgive us. I mean, because I remember a conversation I had with my oldest son. When I was in that situation where it was like, well, why do I, you know, why?

And I was like, because I said so. I was like, it's kind of, and I used that principle because I'd heard somebody, some preacher give that. When we don't understand something in the Bible, we do it, because God said so, and that's just it. And so I was making that principle. And my son said, but you're not God. And boy, I just, you're talking about crickets.

I wish I'd have had that Gordon whistle. Because in that moment, I realized he was right. That was a really smart thing to say. And I didn't keep going on the narrative because I said so. I was like, you know what, you're right. Because earthly fathers are still flawed. I could be wrong on this. But I want you to trust me because I, and I moved to the father.

It was a really profound conversation. I was like, I love the Lord. I'm getting my information from him. I'm basing it on his truth. And this is a tough situation. And guess what? If I'm wrong, you have to forgive me. And I'm going to pre-apologize.

But this is what we're going to do. But my point is, in that struggle, is, how God wants us to pray to him. Once you abandon that and leave, because it'd be a lot easier, that's why there's more fatherless homes than there are, because it's just way easier to say,

forget it. Go down the road and go do whatever you want to. It just takes a lot of work, patience, discipline, awkward conversations. But that struggle is what I think Jesus is trying to catch. Your children have to see the, they have to see the fruit. Yeah.

One of the guys that I've read used to read a lot years ago, he's a Christian apologist. His name is J.P. Morland, super smart guy. And he did all the evidences for the existence of God. And they asked one of the questions that they asked him was, what's the biggest objection in your ministry that you've seen that would prevent someone from coming to Christ? And it's been a while since I've read this or heard him say this. So I may get a little bit wrong. But he said something to the effect of in all of my years of doing apologetics, what I've found is that most people, the vast majority of people who reject the notion of the God of the Bible is for two reasons.

One, they want unbridled sexual expression. or two, and I think he said more likely, was that they had a horrible reference point for an earthly father figure. And whoever their father figure was in their life, he was not a good guy. And that's how they projected on God. And I think that what you're, I think that's why the devil wants to attack families. He wants to, because he wants to destroy fathers and homes. He doesn't want the devil does not, for all the things you mentioned, there's another book called Life Without Father. that gives all these stats, an old book, but it gives all the stats of what you're talking about.

And Thomas Sol's written about it and some of his books as well. I mean, you look at the stats on what happens when the father's not present in a home. I mean, there is no denying it. I mean, it is, it will, you want to destroy a culture. You want to destroy a society. Here's how you do it. Get the fathers out of the homes. And I think the reason why a father in a home is, you know, so important is because it's reflective of who God is.

this book right here, which I highly recommend Michael Rees wrote it. It's about the lighting in the Trinity. He says here that the most foundational thing in God is not some abstract quality, but the fact that he is father. And he just gives verse after verse after verse, that God is ultimately father. And so even Jesus, whenever he, you know, when Jesus explains who God is, what does he say, you know, that no one can come to the father except through me.

So, I mean, even Jesus when he's talking about who God is, so God's eternally Father, who eternally is begotting the Son, Jesus, and then the spirits that love in between them. I mean, to me, that's who God is. No, and valid point. I mean, because look, Jesus referred to God as his father every time in the Gospels, but one. And you know when the one that wasn't when he was on the cross, when he went, my God, my God. Because in actuality, he was giving up the relationship. in his family

with the father for us so that he could be our father. To be for a second. Let's take another break. I want to read this Luke 11. Before I do, I want to read this little section out of Chuck Swindaw as a guy that I read a lot.

And I think you'll like this, Zach. Because we're talking about prayer. And Jay's made the point at the end of Keller's lesson. That last point was about relationship. Because that's what prayer is. It's an invitation to relationship. It's a conversation, you know, at a deep level.

But I want you to listen to what Swindal said. This is so good because it shows you the difference. Because prayer is not always easy to explain to people. Here's what he said. Prayer is a mysterious thing, at least with respect to the God of the Scripture. Pagan prayer, on the other hand, this is false, you know, that you see out there. It makes perfect sense. In false religion, prayer is merely part of a transaction, a process in which petitioners

attempt to bend the will of deity to give them what they want. Therefore, pagan prayer is always involved bargaining, promised to do this or that in exchange for a positive answer, bribing, making large donations to gain a favorable hearing, bagging, making oneself pitiful enough to warrant kindness and justification, proving oneself of divine favor. That's what makes pagan prayer uncomplicated. It is arduous and painstaking, but it's very straightforward. It reduces the deity to the level of a vending machine. The cosmic bell hot. The cosmic bell hot.

And I actually wrote that in my notes, Zach, because you say that a lot. So listen, this is what he says about our prayer. Prayer before God, however, is exactly the opposite. The God of the Bible cannot be bribed or manipulated. He needs nothing. He knows our hearts. He's completely sovereign. Therefore, prayer before God is not an exercise of manipulation, but a necessary part

of a relationship. He is a relational being that desires personal interaction, which I think is really powerful. It shows you the difference in how we view God, and I think that's the backdrop by which prayer he is. And so that's why we're going to go back to Luke 11, because Jesus had introduced this earlier, as Jay said. But before we get to those two stories in Luke 18, I think we need to read this because really you have to put them all together.

Let's just read it. All right, so here's Luke 11. One day Jesus was praying in a certain place, which, by the way, this happens how many times have we set the story that he's someplace pray? Which is true, because he was, you know, you want to see what's right. Watch what he does. That's right. Not just what he says.

When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. He said to them, when you pray, say, Father, and to Jesus' whole point that set this up, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. there's the kingdom again. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us and lead us not into temptation.

Now that's pretty short, compact. Then he said to them, and he's going to give him a couple of stories. Suppose one of you has a friend and he goes to him at midnight and says, friend lend me three loaves of bread because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before them.

Then the one inside answers, don't bother me. The door's already locked. My children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything. I tell you, though, he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend. Yet because of the man's boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks, finds, and And to him who knocks the door will be open. Which of your fathers, if your son asked for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asked for an egg, will give him a scorpion. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Exactly.

And I think when we went through Luke 11, I made the point where it says boldness. which is going to be repeated in Luke 18, that when you go down a deep dive with that word, some translations say, unashamed audacity. It's almost like, this is where people have the problem with it, because it's almost like rudeness,

like bothering God, shameless, relentless. And, you know, at first when I read that, I thought, it doesn't seem like the normal prayers. But then I got to thinking, you know, when he says knock, well, if you came to my house and just did this, if you went, well, you're sitting there thinking, what was that, babe, did a limb fall? Did a bird run into the door? You know, knocking is, which is already, it's a continual thing that you're like, well, oh, what was that?

That sounds like somebody knocking. Nobody answers. Then what do you do? You knock some, he's almost encouraging this relentless attitude. And then when you put it in the context of father and children, well, you see that. I mean, I have a little one now who's in a fatherless situation that we're trying to help out that we, you know,

we had for the first 10 months of his life 24-7. And, you know, now that he knows some concept of the English, language, trust me, he knocks all day in various ways. It's just a relentless that never stops. No, because they're not afraid to ask. And it's like once I read this verse, you know, I wasn't paying attention much as much to my kids just because of the pace of life and you're young and you're trying to make

a living. But now, you know, it's just my wife and I, and we have this little one here and I'm older and I'm reflecting here and I'm reading these patterns. is it just and I'm looking and I'm like boy my prayer life stinks because I'm doing nothing I mean this kid every time he sees me he wants something I mean that's just the way it is and you're balancing all that and trying to teach us taking taking so much time and and selflessness which was my point why I really feel like it's giving me a window in how I need to change my prayer life you know it's not just some flowery three-point sermon

that I'm in the habit of doing, it's almost a struggle and a wrestle in a daily environment, which is why I brought up Psalm 103, because it is a struggle for us on earth and trying to figure out what God knows and how we think life should be going. Just think of what would happen if you never answered to the call. if you never answer to it and they're just there i mean i can't imagine look we don't get to see him as much now but i can't imagine because it's just a daily i mean they're they're molding their character and their personality and they're looking for leadership and trust and they're forming that identity through a relationship well if it's not there it's just like a big hollow plate you're

not giving them the best chance to succeed and god's it's using that very principle through Jesus right here, showing, yeah, you may not like this. You may not understand what's going on. Because the kid, look, what does a three-year-old really understand? Not much, but they're asking, and you're portraying trust in that you're not giving them, if they ask you for an egg, you're not giving them a scorpion.

You would never do that, you know. but they still don't understand how come you're not giving them what they think at this time they won't. But it's so true to who we are. Let's take our last breath. Because you compare what you're discovering now with this infant child, now toddler, compared to the story you told earlier about your oldest son. It's still the same concept. The older son understands more of the implications, but he still has to trust his father.

ultimately, even us as flawed fathers. So when you think about how we relate to God, this was Jesus' whole point. It starts out by saying, Father, we hallow who you are because you are greater than we are. So it puts you in that submissive situation to depend on him. Well, right. When Zach made his two principles,

he said why people struggle, you know, believing there's a God. And you said this one, they want to express themselves sexually. And what was the other one you said? I had a bad experience with their earthly father figure. Had a bad experience. But I'll tell you another one, I mean,

they can add a point three here is when bad things happened. You know, because I was recently counseling with some people. They had lost a child, which is horrible. It's terrible. There's nothing you can say. But here we are praying to a God because they're not wanting to pray. Because they're just like, I just can't. I mean, we prayed for this not to happen.

and it doesn't make any sense. And so now they're rethinking their whole view in the existence of God. And that's where this gets hard. Because to make the illustration that Jesus is making while we become like little children, is you're just never going to be able to understand what God knows and how this works.

You're never going to be able to understand to understand. That's right. But he's asking you to trust him on a daily basis, and it's going to be a struggle. And I think that's why it has almost this not a negative connotation, but this audacity and shamelessness. And as long as you're struggling and you're wrestling with it, because prayer becomes a window into your humanity.

Because it's affirming when you're praying to God in pain and struggle, when you're lashing out, when you're uncomfortable. You know, you're hearing somebody who's in so much pain, they're praying a prayer that you're like, I'm not sure this is, you know, they're, all their struggles are coming out. And it's telling you inside there's a God and you're not, you're not him. Yeah. And you're either going to trust your father or you're not. And I think that's what he's appealing to here. And there's this, there's an idea here too that when we do pray, because a lot of these things that we're praying are even singing, like you read through the Psalms, and you're like, well, I don't, I don't really believe that. I mean, I want to believe it, but I can't really say this with a clear conscience because I am full of doubt. And I haven't put it all my trust in God. And I have all these things we want to say.

But what we're doing when we do that and we participate in formative practices, they're formative, meaning they form us into a particular kind of person, is we're saying we want to be this. God make us this. It's, it's progress. And so when you look at this prayer here that Jesus is instructing, I love what Al said, pointing out the fact that you start with who is God, Father, how would be your name? And so you're lifting up and you're testifying in that prayer that God is powerful enough to do whatever it needs to be done. And then the second part of it is that he's good enough. Give us each day our daily bread that God's good enough.

And our mutual friend, Zach Stevens, years ago, he was telling me about that he was doing it like with his kid. They were, he was on the couch, one of his kids. And he was probably like three years old. And they were doing a trust fall. And they were having the best time. The kid would just fall back and close his eyes and fall back. And Zach would catch his son, his three-year-old son every time. And the kid would just jump back up on the couch and do it again, do it again, and do it again, dad, do it again, dad.

And he said, man, it just was a. because we were talking about this passage and this whole thing about trusting in who God is. He said, man, you know, he's never been, I've never dropped him one time. And in his mind, he doesn't have a framework for that. You know, and the only way that Zach would drop him would be one of two ways. One, if his son was 500 pounds and maybe he couldn't catch him, he didn't have the ability to catch him, or he was a horrible dad and wanted to watch his son fail and hurt and let him fall.

God's neither of those things. He is powerful enough to do with. what he said he's going to do, and he's good enough to have our best interest at heart. And it's these prayers like this that over time we start to actually believe that and live it out. I think it's one of the big parts of prayer. Yeah. So he has this prayer. Well, I want to at least read the Luke 18, and so we get it out there.

So the first one in Luke 11 was this friend in the middle of the night who had some guest over him because of his audacity, he finally gets up. So in Luke 18, Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up, because you got to remember, he just depicted a in-time judgment that was going to happen. That's why he brought it back up here. That's why he brought it back up. So verse 2, he said, in a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men, which is strange. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, grant me justice against my. adversary for some time he refused but finally he said to himself even though i don't fear god or care about man yet because this widow keeps bothering me and that's why i said keeps bothering me

i will see that she gets justice so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming and the lord said listen to what the unjust judge says and will not god bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night. I mean, you just picture this prayer crying out day and night. Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice and quickly. However, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? And that's, to me, I think, link right back to what he was just talking about earlier. There's no doubt that he brings that out in that moment. I think it gives you a picture, too, of this injustice when bad things happen.

which is why I told the story about the worst things that can possibly happen to you, that's when you go to your father and you trust him and you do it aggressively and you cry out. And I think that's why Luke inserts that story here. So we'll talk a little bit more about that in the overtime as well as next time we'll get into the second part of this, which is actually how you pray in terms of your attitude, and that's the second story that it tells. So if you want to follow us over to get a little bit more, BlaisTV.com slash Unashamed as well. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

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