Unashamed with the Robertson Family - EP 786 | Phil Gets an Answered Prayer & Which Robertson Preaches the Gospel the Best?

Episode Date: November 13, 2023

Phil reveals the prayer he prayed for a long time before it was answered in a way he never expected, and Jase inspires a young man to work harder. Zach’s influence has Jase sprinkling fancy words into his teaching, and the guys try to wrap their heads around God’s existence outside of time and what it means for our short lives.  In this episode: Psalm 102; Psalm 110; 1 John 5, verses 13-15 Own "The Blind" on digital TODAY & watch instantly: https://theblindmovie.com/watch — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Let me throw this in one more time. I still say every few weeks when we're talking about all these things, the reason, Al, I've been going down to the, no matter where you start, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they all add up to the same. We get to Luke 24, he said to him, this is what I told you while I was still with you. you're not with us now he's gone back into heaven but everything that's said about him

must be fulfilled that is written about about me and the law of Moses the prophets and the Psalms then he opened their minds so they could understand the scripture well up into this point if you turn back about a couple of pages we're going up to Jerusalem

he's talking about that And everything that's written in the prophets, he repeats it. Must be fulfilled. He'll be handed over to the Gentiles. They'll mark him and insult him, spit on him, flog him, kill him. On the third day, he'll rise again. At that point, and that's Luke 18, at that particular point, the disciples did not, and I'm stressing that,

did not understand any of this. They had no idea. After all that is written, you would think, okay, we're beginning to get it. Well, Matthew records it, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. I call it the four-page syndrome. The last four pages in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John brings it all together, and you get out here to Luke 2446, he told them, then he opened their minds. This is what I tell you while I was still with you.

everything must be fulfilled it's written about me. Law Moses, prophets, son. Then he opened their minds. He told them. If he opened their minds and he told them and he said, here's the way, I would say every time you come up and sit down next to some people who follow Jesus, they have to get this on straight. The Christ will suffer.

Rise from the dead. Where's the gospel? And repentance and forgiveness of sin to be preached in his name all to every nation, beginning in Jerusalem, you're witnesses of these things. I'm going to send you my father, what my father promised. You're talking about the Holy Spirit, but stay in the city until you've been clothed with power from Ohio. So I'm saying, like yesterday morning,

I just took, I said, look, don't try to study the whole Bible and argue about this and that and the other. Just get it on straight, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the last two pages. Mark, read the last two pages of Mark, and it'll say what the last two pages said in Matthew. Matthew, Mark, then Luke, last two pages. Then John, last two pages. I said, start there and study your Bible after that, but get that on straight.

So, you know, about six of them, five, six of them, I baptize them on the spot. Every time they hear it like that, and that's where I pretty well camp out, I'm just saying all this arguing about yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, four times Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, all say the same thing. It's amazing. I've never heard anybody to approach it that way. I've never heard anybody to say, look, he said this four times at the end of four books. Why would you repeat yourself? I said, the answer is simple, so you can't miss it.

You literally can't miss it. That's all I got to say going in. Because my question was... It's quite the withering open. Yeah, my question was, we started the podcast. Oh, yeah, we started like four minutes ago. Well, I think Phil just started talking. We will not be held back by some kind of thing that called podcast.

Yeah. No, let's just get this podcast, real life. You're whipped up into a frenzy. Sometimes you're wires. I said a text of Maddie. I was like, are you recording this? She said, yeah. Okay.

Well, we can't make that up, man. That's good. Wow. That's a withering open. It's a valid point, though. A lot of people say, you know, they're like, well, the Bible is not relevant. It's an old book. It was prehistoric times.

And yet somehow... Why do y'all keep repeating the same thing? Well, somehow it's... it relates to today and it kind of hit me that the reason that is is it's the same god yeah he's not changing like shifting shadows which i hope he hasn't changed the bit since he had us write this right this down which is why it's relevant today because when you start looking you read the bible you start looking around you're like yep same problems no solution outside of god Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Same promises. So no matter what the culture is, you know, don't go home and dig a hole and say, I just don't know what to do. Yeah, that's right. This is real. This can happen. That's my point. God's still moving.

He's still changing people's lives. Heaven's a real place where we're headed. Yeah, that's true. And, you know, really it's kind of interesting because where we are in Luke 18, we were talking at this four dad started in on this gospel rant that the God is unchanging, but we are, we do change. And we're talking about prayer, which is an interesting concept into what, what that's all about.

I mean, if God doesn't change, why pray, right? Yeah. So, you know, we've got a context in Luke 18. we've been talking about, you know, this persistent widow and the idea of him saying... The disciples, they say, he says it. They had no idea. Even after he did it, they still didn't know. They still couldn't grab it.

They said, what? I mean, because, you know, it's not every day you see somebody being raised from the dead. Well, it's news flash. It's hard to wrap your head around when you're caught up in your current circumstances on what God's plan is. He knows way more than we'll ever know if you're honest. Well, kudos to you for bringing up all the things that most people, they may argue with them, they get them out there. It needs to be more down to earth than that.

I mean, the meat of it is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John the last four pages, the last two pages in each book. Yeah, that's what I tell. I mean, look, yesterday. Over and over. You were baptizing people. You know, I had a sister with a lady, you know, African-American sister, who I just absolutely love.

Missy and I, we just, there's just some people that you're around. And when they're talking, you just feel like, you know, you're talking about God in a person. Oh, yeah. But we, she was, she said, yeah, I had a, study with, I think it was her nephew. She said, you know, he's young and dumb. And just trying to, he's caught up in the world. And she said, he just keeps saying one thing, the same thing over.

Why in the world are you people following something you can't see? That doesn't make any sense. And she said, now I know you got something that I can just fire him up on. You. You know, and so we got into, you know, she got a notebook out. Give her the last two pages in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I did it in about three-minute rant. Well, I kind of went the, you know, the three questions. I said, I think I'd start asking him. His disciples had no idea.

Yeah. When he was when he got right to doing it, he was given right, well, God them walked. I met up. But the disciples, they know. knew nothing about what he was talking about. Well, it's amazing. Well, it's because we're in this earthly mindset in our current circumstances. That little, bad little dude had it down right.

He had it down right. I said, you know, ask him where he came from. I mean, how do you get on the earth? What's he doing here? And how is he leaving? I just ask him what he thinks, you know, on the answers to those questions. She needs to bring him to a little class on Sunday morning over there next to the Big Bill and there's a little bit.

Well, yeah, she can't get it. She's trying, but she can't get him up there. That's all we do. His point was, just show him to me and I'll follow him. So then I went in on the, you know, the Hebrews 1, God has spoken to us by revealing his son. I said, you know, if you close your eyes and picture God, what do you see? Most people see nothing or some old judge gray hair ready to just drop the gavel. and I said, you know, what we should see is the red letters of Jesus, to your point, Phil.

Yeah. I said, or, you know, at least you should see that guy from the chosen. That's right. But the black letters, but to be fair, the black letters are just as powerful as the red letters. I mean, they're all inspired by the Holy Spirit. You know, I think it's, that's why I think that. And Luke, basically. they brought it to a head, I'm going to send you what my father had promised, but stay in the

city to you've been clothed. He opened their minds, it says, oh, paramountry above that, so they could understand the scriptures. His own disciples were watching him, and he listened to what he said, but what he did, they're sitting there sneaking around. Yeah, but it's more like that movie of the, you know, who's the Harrison Ford or whatever, in the Jill of the Nile. They wanted to find this jewel that you know how movies go the greatest jewel on earth and so they're all looking for it and the guide who has taken them to look for it was the jewel it was a guy i don't know where they got this idea from but and that's why they couldn't see it feel because they're like well show us the power show us the might show us the material thing show us a castle where we're all you know on

streets of gold leading where we're going to rule. And he's like, no, I'm... To them, they were saying, you are a king? Yeah, Jesus is like, I'm that, I am the jewel. They're not going to be able to wrap their head around it, and people still are not today, which is why I told that story yesterday, having a 30-minute discussion on this. You got a young man who's like, well, just show him, which it sounds just like the people that Jesus was dealing with.

Just show us the father. show us the way. And he's like, I am the way. The little boy said, so I can see something. Yeah. I need to see what it is. Think about the thing. First of all, it was Michael Douglas, not Harrison Ford.

Yeah. Shoulder than now, just as a podcast correction. It's been a long. But that's an important caveat. Because I was, because my mind, you know where my mind went, my mind went to Raiders of the Lost Dark. And I was like, I don't remember. And I was trying to put it together.

And that was, yeah. Somebody would have sent that in, so I wanted to correct it. No, but Jay's think about it. Think about the fallacy of the young man's question. Because every single day you climb on an airplane, you get on a train, so many different instances around the country, you trust, you have faith in things you don't see. Every day you invest in the stock market. I mean, people put their faith in a lot of things they don't see every single day. So the idea that somehow the unseen God, as he puts it, wouldn't be fruitful to you and is worthy of looking into, you do it every single day.

You put your faith in things you don't see. Well, what's the other option? The other option is to say, I'm going to put my faith in a universe that came into being out of nothing. Right. So just think it, what is nothing? You can't see nothing. You can't. I mean, you can't. There's, it's nothing. That's, that's the whole idea. There's nothing there. But yet you, but it's not a huge leap for us to believe that, that we spring into being out of nothing. But yet, if you, if you put it in the context of a, of a God, a personal God who, who creates, then all of a sudden people are like, whoa, that's, that's, that's, that's too hard to believe. That's why we had Frank Turk on the podcast a while back. And he wrote a whole book that I read years ago called it, his whole point was, I don't have enough faith to be. be an atheist. In other words, it takes a leap either way. But I've gone down the rabbit hole

on these questions with apologetics and defending the Christian faith. And I love that branch of Christian theology, by the way. But there's a quote from Spurgeon that I love. He says that the gospel is a caged lion. He does not need to be defended. He just needs to be unleashed. He doesn't need to, God, like, we don't need to defend the gospel. It defends itself. And so I think that the power is in the gospel. The power is in transformative lives. And the power is in this fact that, like, to me, what I think moves people to understand and to know God, the arguments are great. They're there. We have plenty of historical and scientific evidence. That's all there. But to me, that is not nearly as powerful as what Paul says in Romans chapter one. The power's what?

in the gospel because everybody has that, I mean, it's become the cliche to say this, but everybody has that God-shaped whole now in their heart, and the only thing that can feel it is God. And we all know that in the core of our being. And so I think it takes a degree of honesty and a degree of seeking for the Holy Spirit to reveal that to you. You know, you have to be willing to want to receive that, you know, and some people don't because it's a, it is a threat to our own personal autonomy and sovereignty to this.

for us to submit to to something someone greater than ourselves. Yeah, right after the resurrection, there's a few of them, Joanna, Mary, Mary, Magdalene, James, they're walking around. Jesus runs up on them. He's just been raised from the dead. What are you discussing together as you walk along?

What's y'all talking about? Think about this. They stood still. Their faces downcast. They're looking at the dirt. You're shaking the head. Oh, he's gone one of them named Cleopold. was asking, are you the only one living in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have

happened there in the last few days? Jesus asked him, what things? I mean, just look the way this unfold. About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet. He was a prophet. See, he's gone now. Powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priest and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. Look, he's been telling him this for three years. He's saying, this is what I'm going to do. Well, now that he's done it, he run up on a little group, but we had hoped that he was the one who would go and redeem Israel. We thought he was going to be our way out.

And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, so they thought three days, you know, that's a long time, but he's gone, he won't be back, that's it. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning, but didn't find his body. Well, they came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels and said that said he was alive. Somebody said, do what?

He said, yeah, we got some people with the word, but that he survived it. Well, that's what he'd been telling them for three years. Then you're talking about hard head. Some of our companions went to the tomb and found it, just as the women had said, but him they did not see. He said to them, now listen, Jesus is what came to his mouth. mind how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken well if the ones that were that close to his literal resurrection think about what people into jace's point about some

little boy saying i don't know you know how can y'all believe in something you don't you can't see all this starts to come back to everybody did not the christ have to suffer all that the prophets spoken, did not the Christ have to suffer those things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, now he's a walking Bible, he explained to him what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. Well, if it was that hard to get people to follow Jesus within three days of what happened, what he did, he said if he was going to do, you know, y'all read your Bibles, who you think he was talking about. Well, that just shows you, though, how difficult it is for any generation

to accept Jesus as their Savior. He died for my sins, was raised from the dead, and saw my grave problem. It looks like you'd see more, but I didn't move until I was 28, so there you go. So you can miss it in a snap of a finger. I think you're right, Dad. I mean, and to Zach's point, along with what you said, Dad, I think we have an understanding the powers in the gospel. Jesus couldn't convince a lot of people, and he was Jesus. I mean, and his actions were that of the son of God, and a lot of people didn't believe him. So, of course.

It was a tough sale then as much as it is now. Yeah, 2,000 years later, you know. Yeah, I love that. He said he went back to the prophets and he went through the scriptures. And so I think that when we talk about, like, Matthew, Martin, Look, and John being kind of core context of the gospel. But it's all built on what was written in the Old Testament. In fact, we're going to the book of Isaiah at our church right now, and it's kind of interesting. I've actually gotten rebuttal on this, which is I don't understand why, but I have.

But I said, my first sermon I gave, or second sermon I gave on Isaiah, I was in Isaiah 27. And I said, we have to interpret the close one, too. Isaiah 53 is the one that just really spells it out. Yeah, but if you read Isaiah and you don't have a context of Jesus, then you're not going to get the full picture. So I said the better way to interpret Scripture is to interpret the book of Isaiah through the lens of Paul and through the lens of Jesus and through the lens of all the New Testament people who wrote and talked about the prophet Isaiah. And that's what Paul's argument was in Romans when he started the book of Romans.

He basically said, I'm about to explain to you, you know, basically all what the prophets wrote. I'm going to give you Old Testament prophet scripture in the revelation of Jesus. And you're going to see Isaiah in a way, and Jose and all the other people that he quotes, Malachi. You're going to understand what the prophets really meant and who they were really pointing to. And they were pointing to Jason's point to a person, not an idea. They were pointing to an actual person named Jesus. And so I think that's the, you know, for anybody who's like, man, I can't, I can't believe in something I don't see. I mean, I wonder why I get that because the church, I mean, look, let's be fair and honest.

The church has asked us throughout history to believe in things that were unbelievable and not in a good way, like things that are irrational. And God never calls you to believe in what's something that's incoherent or God is a God of coherency, a God of order, a God of needs. meaning, but that doesn't mean that everything is physical. And we do believe in things to Al's point that aren't necessarily things that we can touch and see. I mean, we believe in a lot of historical figures. Do we have no access? I can't witness Alexander the Great. Do I believe he existed?

Absolutely. Well, is that a leap of faith? No, I mean, it's documented. I believe it. And in the same way, you know, Jesus will occupy space and time and we can believe he's real. but the real transformation has to go beyond just an intellectual assent to know these things. It has to be a personal knowledge of a living God. He is a living God.

And then that's where I think the real fruit comes is when we experience God in a personal and meaningful way where he actually has an application to the way we live our life. Yeah. That chapter 24 on Luke about the verse 7 or 8, The women, they bowed down, verse five, they bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead? He's not here. He has risen.

Remember how he told you while we were still over in Galilee? The son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful man, be crucified on the third day, be raised again. Remember that? Then they remembered his words. when they came back from the tomb they told all these things to the 11 and to all the others the women are the ones that being the voices of what went down so it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen that last that's the last four pages that's right at the end of Luke so whether it's Matthew Mark Luke or John all you people that listen to this podcast if you

miss Jesus in his death for your sins to cleanse you of your sin and the resurrection and three days later so that you can, you're alive. All the ones that have passed on, the Bible said he's not the God of the dead, but of the living. So it's the greatest story ever told. All we want you to do is accept that by faith, believe in Jesus what he's done for you, what he's now doing and what he will do. I don't think it's asking too much of the human race.

Well, and it's interesting that the way the story plays itself out in the power of the gospel. We were just out in Las Vegas last week, and we went on an event, mom and dad, Lisa and I, and Willie. And, I mean, that's a long way from, you know, home. And yet we kept running into person after person. Dad, how many people told us when they saw the movie how it had impacted their view of the gospel. I just kept hearing that over and over and over again. It was like, but it was a movie about your, our family, you and mom's life. But what? they took from that was the power of the gospel, which is interesting, because that's exactly what it is. So I just think over and over and over again, there's different ways to see the

unseen to Jason's point earlier, which is powerful. Speaking of the movie, Zach, with that crowd, it's not even a gamble. Yeah. That's exactly right. Pun intended. So Zach, tell us about the movie because I know the DVD is about to release before we get back to our text. Tell us a little bit about that. So, yeah, the movie, by the way, the pre-orders, Phil, the blind has been the number one DVD on Amazon, the DVD movie. Really? Really?

A lot of people that are buying it. Yeah, that was impressive. So we beat, this may make you feel better. I noticed this weekend that we were number one. And do you know who number two was, who we had to beat to get to number one? Taylor Swift. Not Taylor Swift. She's not out yet.

But close. Close. What would be your next guest, Al? I don't even know. Barbie. Oh, Barbie. We beat Barbie. So we beat Barbie.

So that was his past week. But yeah, so the DVD comes out. I never got involved with the Barbies. I am dumb on her. Or what, whatever it is. Darby, Barbie. I don't think it's kind of a bad thing on that. Oh, we beat Barbie.

to be Barbie. Barbie was big. Congratulations. Barbie was a big hit. Barbie was a big hit. I don't know why it was a big hit. Somebody they label me. Somebody told me this, I don't have a cell phone,

but somebody said that, you know, they looked at it and I was unwoke. I said, oh, I'm wide away. Don't worry about that. You were unwoke? You were unwoke? Did this or that and other, you know, and said something about the movie, but I mean. That you fell wide away, don't you?

Yeah, wouldn't that mean you were asleep if you were unawed? I don't know, but I woke up when I was about 28 if they wanted to really know the truth about it. I would call, I would call dad the- 28 years ago, yeah. I would call dad the anti- Barbie. Hold on a second. That is a line that we just captured that I think could get a headline there. Phil just said he said he got woke 28 years, well, he's 28 years old. There you go.

I like that. Well, it is biblical, right? You know, rise awake from your sleep. What's that? Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5. Hang on Zat. Let's take a break.

Anyways, yeah, DVD comes out tomorrow. So you guys can go to Amazon, Walmart, wherever you buy your DVDs at. But it's out. The cool thing about it, it's got a lot of bonus features we put in there. Interviews with my mom. We have real interviews with my mom and Bill and Phil,

Bill Smith, who was the pastor, from the movie, which is we were able to find some footage because there was a little thing we did years ago that kind of told Phil's testimony and they interviewed mom and Bill Smith and Phil. I don't know if you remember doing that, Phil. I don't know. Do you remember doing that little video? How long ago was that 60, 70 years?

No, this was like 10 years ago. 10 years ago. 10 of 15 years. You were only 10, man. I'll send you a copy of the DVD because you'll probably want to see it. It's got an interview with mom. It's got an interview with Bill Smith. I think Mack Owen is in there.

It's kind of just your, you're in it. It's your whole journey. It's pretty powerful. It's kind of the point of the movie, which is kind of the ripple effect, is the idea behind that video. Every time I watch it, I tear up because it's almost like you're hearing voices from beyond the pale. Yeah. Listening to Bill, listening to Jan. I mean, you know, just remembering them when they were here.

So I love it. I'm so glad you'll put that on the day. DVD. I'm so glad we got the footage too from that. And then also we got deleted scenes in there that weren't in the movie. You know, we cut. We left a lot on the cutting floor. So there's some deleted scenes.

So if you really want to see kind of behind the scenes, deleted scenes, footage of the real bill, the real Phil and the real Jan, then go get the DVD. It's out tomorrow 11, 14, November 14th. Is there any cut scenes of me not being told to go to bed that are, that actually Yeah

Yeah I think that was your Somebody said Which one were you? I said I was the one That kept being told To go back to bed That seemed to be

The consistent line There may be I don't know There's quite a few deleted scenes in there So I need to Familiarize myself with it That's awesome

Before we Before we get to our text I do have an event That's on Thursday November 16th This week later 6 p.m. It's the event

in Washington, Missouri at the triple three Vineyard Trinity Hall, but you go to your other mother.org, which is based in union, to get information. So if you want to see Lisa and I, our last event, our last official event of the year will be this week. So we're excited about that. Jason, any travel tales before we get to the text? I hadn't asked you if you've been anywhere this week.

You've been home this week or what? I have been home this week. Yeah, we had the week off. So we kept the little one, which was nice. It just every time at this age, I'm more appreciative of life and how God uses us. You know, we're talking about God is a father to the fatherless. And you look at our culture, you know, we've been talking about God as our father. and we read that in Luke 11 and Luke 18.

And I don't know, it's kind of made me rethink my prayer life. Because I realize, you know, when you read that passage in James 1, where it says if any of you should, if any of you lacks wisdom, he should pray. And I look at how the new birth, you know, being born again is a process. It's like, you know, a kid that's, you know, a kid that's, two, he asked some pretty strange questions. And, you know, most of the answers that we give are, no. You know, because they're wanting to do dangerous things, you know.

I want to go jump in the pool, you know, at two years old. Well, they don't understand why you can't go jump in the pool. By he said, oh, what are you talking about? And so it's been very enlightening to applying that to our new birth and how we have a relationship with God. who doesn't change and everything in our world has changed. So we left off in Luke 18. We looked at the first, I think it was eight verses about this parable of the persistent widow. And Jason, we went back and also looked, we pulled in Luke 11,

which was when Jesus, the disciples asked about how they should pray and what they should pray. And so we looked at that and then we kind of compared that to this because basically Luke has these three parables about prayer, the one in Luke 11 and then also forward to Luke 18. So we kind of covered a little bit of that leading to this next one, but you and I were talking before, probably a good idea, especially based on what we've talked about so far on the podcast, just kind of looking at prayer in general and how that works with a God who's all-knowing, everlasting and unchanging. How, how How does the prayer concept work?

Yeah, I mean, look, I'm going to be honest. Somewhere in the last week, it kind of hit me that, you know, when Jesus repeats himself, you might ought to take note of that. So he tells this story in Luke 11, which is one of the least preached stories you'll hear. I mean, people, they'll get into when he said, this is how you should pray, you know, our father, et cetera, et cetera. but he tells that parable. You know, there's a guy sleeping in his house.

He gets a knock on the door. This is Luke 11. I'm just paraphrasing. And he's like, what in the world? It's the middle of the night. But the guy keeps banging on the door. He opens the door and he's like, look, I got some, his neighbors. Like, I got some friends in.

Can I borrow some bread? You're like, what? It's the middle of the night. But because of his persistence, you know, he gives him some bread. get entertained the strangers. You're like, well, that's all nice. Why is Jesus telling that?

He's wanting us to be, you know, in that case, he then explains that we should be persistent and shameless and almost audacious in our prayer life with God. But then in Luke 18, he tells another story, which has the same point. Here's a woman who is a widow. and she keeps coming to this judge who doesn't fear God and he doesn't care about people. I mean, he's not even a good, good judge. He's a bad judge. Yeah, she's trying to get justice against her adversary.

And he refused. But finally, he said, you know, even though I don't fear God or care about people, which is a strange thing to say and a very bad thing to say. Yeah. Because this widow keeps bothering me, which is giving you the idea that our prayer life should be so intense that it's almost, you know, like we're trying to bother God. We're just relentless. But he says, since she keeps bothering me, I'll see that she gets justice so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming. And then, you know, the Lord says, 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, what a question. You just think about everything going on in the world. And this is really not a, you know, something that we spend a lot of time talking about, but injustice happens every day. And, you know, what I find fascinating about the Bible is in God's word is it's not political. It deals with issues that cross-prud. political line. You know, there's always lines that in politics that people tend to stress.

You know, he spends a lot of time talking about children and a lot of time talking about marriage. We've already read about it. And he detailed marriage, you know, between a male and a female. And he's talking about don't cause any kid to stumble. You know, he's, we want to protect that. Well, kind of in the Bible Belt, these are two issues you hear a lot about in churches. You know, we define marriage and we protect the unborn. and we try to protect children. But what's also fascinating is Jesus seems to spend just as much time talking about injustice and him making things right in the end

and helping the poor, which are two things you don't hear about. That seems to be on the other political side where they're talking about. And that's what I love about the Lord. It's like he has a heart for all people, and he has a heart for people that have been done wrong. That excites me. He has a heart for children and keeping them safe. He has a heart for marriage because he realizes the importance of that family dynamic in our culture.

And so I'm not making a political speech here. I'm just saying all of these stories, you just keep seeing these things about how God cares about us in our culture and his principles. think is what we desperately need. But having said all that, the fact that he uses the same illustration with two different parables in just such a short period of time, there's a struggle with praying to a God who is unchanging and who is just and who is loving and us having all the distractions and circumstances that we have to go through. There's a struggle here. And I think a lot of people have asked this question. Well, if God is unchanging, why would we be persistent in praying?

I mean, if we can't change who he is, why would you keep asking him? And look, if you Google that, you're going to see thousands of arguments, debates, thoughts. And so, well, which is it? does he change his mind or does he not? And so I thought we could get into that a little bit and get y'all's overall views of that. I mean, I think it's a good conversation to address because Jesus seems to be stressing this, knocking, being persistent. So how does that work? Well, I would say God is unchanging, but we are ever changing.

and since he functions as much in our time as he does outside of time, I think from our perspective, things do change. I think about a couple of different Old Testament examples. One is Hezekiah, which is probably the most obvious one, where God says, you know, this time next year, you're going to be gone. I've decided you're coming home. And so Hezekiah prays fervently, persistently, just like this story. he says. And then the word comes back, okay, you got 15 more years before you're going to go. So the question is, did God know all along that Hezekiah was going to live 50 more years? Yes, because he's outside of time. You said, well, what does it matter? Well, it matter to Hezekiah

because for him, the circumstance changed. He was told by God one thing, and then he was told by God something different. I think about the bargain that Abraham had for, Sodom and Gamara. Did God know all along what was going to have in that city? Yeah. He said, well, what does it matter? Well, it mattered to Abraham because he was trying to save a city. So I think you just have to look at it from, it's all about perspectives.

It's the same thing with saying, what does any of it matter? Because it's all already happened. But every person matters to God. And we're still living and still making decisions and is trying to show integrity. So I think every prayer matters, and that's Jesus's point here, and persistence does matter to us. It doesn't matter whether God knows the outcome or not. That's my take. Yeah.

Well, I'm glad you said that because he did say, you know, Luke 18 is very interesting that these two parables, which the parable of the persistent widow and the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, which we'll do coming up, 9 through 14. I think they're the only two parables in Luke that actually tell you why he told them. Yeah. He says, you know, you can check me out on that, but I think I'm right on that. He says, he told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. And so, you know, I have a meandering thing that I went through. I brought up that James I, and I'd like to just. share this and get y'all's thoughts on it because it kind of scared me that i don't believe i've

really researched prayer enough in my christian faith to get a handle on it it you know i i've kind of treated and i'm just kind of confessing my weaknesses here i've kind of treated god like a you know a genie in the bottle but from a sincere play you know i'm not asking you know for a million dollars or you know let me, but it's like, you know, you wait, you have a situation, there's a need, you pray about it. I mean, that's, and I've realized that it's way deeper than that. And so the James one, when he said, if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, and he gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. And when he, when he asks, he must believe and not doubt.

I thought, well, how is that possible? because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord. Now, he goes on in verse 16 and says, Don't be deceived. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly Lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

So there's an, I think the Zach word is, mutability of God. He's not changing. Zach, did I use that correct? You did. He chose to give us birth to the Word of Truth that we might be a kind of first fruits that he created. So I'm reading that,

and then I wanted to read a little bit of Psalm 102, and you say, what is this Psalm 102? It's a prayer of a guy who's obviously very sick. The little heading in Psalm 1.2 says, a prayer of an afflicted man when he is faint and pours out his lament before the Lord. And so, look, it's very depressing the first 11 verses. Because here's a guy saying, oh, Lord, let me cry for help.

And then he says, do not hide your face from me when I'm in distress. And he's like, and he's afflicted because he's in my bones, my bones burn like glowing embers. My days vanish like smoke. my heart is blighted and withered like grass. I forget to eat my food. I mean, the man is sick. He's groaning. Then he gets to verse 12 and he says,

but you, O Lord, you sit and throne forever. And he starts going on about qualities of God and kind of the unchanging nature of it. So he gets to verse 18. He says, let this be written for a future generation that a people not yet created may praise the Lord. The Lord looked down from his soul. sanctuary on high from heaven he viewed the earth to hear the groans of the prisoners and release

those condemned to death so even in his distress he's given credit that you know i know i know you are compassionate and you care and you're and you're loving but it just i'm looking around and and i'm miserable and so the place i wanted to get is to verse 23 and read to the end it says in the course of my life, he broke my strength. He cut short my days. So he's, you can tell, he's mad. He's bitter and he's struggling. So I said, do not take me away, oh my God, in the midst of my days. Your years go on through all generations. In the beginning, you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain. They will all wear out like a garment like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded but you remain the same and your

years will never end and notice this last verse the children of your servants will live in your presence their descendants will be established for you and so the reason you said why did you pick psalm 100 and read that in a prayer of somebody who is just so down and then praying about a god who doesn't change in his in his nature he endures forever because when i was reading hebrews chapter one to go back to my illustration about uh wasn't the illustration that happened yesterday with the with the sister who was asking me about her nephew and not me trying to get a picture in her mind that we're to reveal jesus in hebrews chapter one and y'all remember what hebrews is about is Jesus is better.

He's the fulfillment of the prophets. And what we were talking about earlier, and you start reading in Hebrews 1. In the past, God spoke to our forefathers to the prophets at many times, various ways. But in these last days, he's spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe. The son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

And to your point, Phil, after he provided purification, for sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited his superior to theirs. Well, then he uses, look, 10 Old Testament references to show that Jesus fulfilled what was written. Well, you know what one of them is? Psalm 102. And I want to read it in verse 10. in the beginning, this Hebrew's 110,

Oh Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain. They all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe, like a garment. They will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end. And then he says, to which of the angel,

which is another reference from Psalm 110, to which of the angels do God ever say sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for my feet are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation, which I never really understood that verse until right now because I realized all the prayers in the Bible when you read, look, some of them seem to be answered.

You know, when Peter and them were in the prison and the people were praying for them, you know, and then the earthquake came. And look, then Peter and them show up at the house. Well, they had just prayed, and then they didn't believe it. Remember that? Yeah. God answers their prayer. And they're like, well, they can't be.

Well, that wasn't a very believable prayer. What happened to this, not doubting stuff? So my point is, but what about when they pray for John the Baptist? Well, he got his head cut off. So you're like, well, what happened? You know, Acts 27, when Paul, they were. on the ship, you know, his, an angel was sent to him, and you can read, read that. So my point is, I think when you combine Psalm 102, Hebrews 1 and Luke 18, what we get here,

it is very difficult for us as sons and daughters of God to understand when you start lifting all of God's qualities. He's eternal. He's all knowing. He's all powerful. But he's also a God of love. He's a God of Justice. When you start trying to put that in your practical.

everyday prayer life, your head's going to explode. It's just you're not going to be able to see it, just like a kid can't really see why I'm telling him, no, you can't go jump in the pool right now. You know, ask me in 10 years, and then we'll talk. But I know this. I know that Jesus revealed himself as God, and I do understand that on a cross, this all-powerful, eternal God became weak so that we could be a part of his forever family. I make that connection, and I think that's why this Hebrews is quoting that. It's like everything in our world is going

down. It's all going to wear out. If you put your faith in your money or your house or your friends or your family, it's all going down. It's all going down. So what's left is actually something that's inspiring. It's an unchanging God. It's not based on circumstance. So I think the struggle in the prayer life is realizing who God is, despite your circumstance, is constantly changing. Well, that relationship aspect of it is the power of prayer. But at the end of the day, you're never going to understand God's way and God's plan completely because we're human. It's going to wear out. So that was my sermon. That's pretty good.

There's a lot more to unpack. So we're out of time for a regular unashamed session. So we'll pick this up in our overtime. BlazTV.com slash unashamed is where you go to get that. We'll see you on the other side. 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.

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