Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 820 | How the Robertsons Survived ‘Duck Dynasty’ as a Family

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

Jase's weekend of "kingdom moments" leads him to reflect on what helped the Robertsons make it through the wild ride of "Duck Dynasty" as a unified, loving family. Phil reads the weather reports and decides he’s too old to get out of bed for icy, driving rain. The guys are excited over the new addition of more souls to the kingdom and dive into why all people seem to be longing for something greater than themselves.  In this episode: Luke 24, verses 45-49; John 5, verses 21-25; Acts 1, verses 6-8; Psalm 139, verses 7-8 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome to Unashamed. We are Sands Zach today. We're having a rare Sunday recording. Because of the weather, Al. I know. It's a rare weather event coming to Louisiana tomorrow. Yeah, so I don't think we could make it. They're calling for 26 degrees, North wind, 10 to 15 miles an hour and driving freezing rain for about a 32-hour swath. I saw the victims of the NFL, victims meaning victims of the weather. But yeah, they play.

That was the Kansas City. Miami game. Miami game. It was negative 6, wind chill, negative 30. I mean, my hat's off to those dudes. Well, don't take your hat off too long when you're out there. Tyree Kill, after the game, I noticed he sent a tweet out that said, nobody should have to play and have lips that look like this.

His lips looked like he had been eating powdered donuts. The man was a popsicle. Oh, they're frozen. It was frozen. I saw a picture of somebody that had a beer. They had opened a beer in the stands, I guess. And so I guess it kind of spewed up at first. And then it was just frozen.

It was just like a tower of frozen beer. Ice beer. The only reason we watched, we only watched the second half because this is a perfect segue. So I had a guy who I met when I spoke at the Mighty Oaks. What is that called? The Mighty Oaks Foundation. With Chad Robes Show, who was on our podcast a couple times. A tremendous human being, yeah.

Tremendous human being helps soldiers with PTSD, and they have a, you know, a faith platform that does that. He came to Christ. We shared his story. Well, one of the guys who was there that night when I spoke, I guess this was in October. I did this. You know, now we're here in January. And I didn't know. Multiple people have tried to bring this guy a fellow soldier who works now kind of in the special ops world and kind of a global. adversary for us and uh he just responded because i had bought his he had donated a fishing trip that's what he does but it was like 15 20 minutes away from where you're at al and i was like well yeah i was like well i'll go ahead and buy this i mean the money's going to the soldiers here yeah and i'll try to piggyback that on our vacation or whatever and so i wind up with it And so then I met him, and we exchanged phone numbers, and we talked. And, of course, you know, I just was assuming he was a follower of the Lord

because most people were at the event. And so anyway, long story short, we started kind of a texting Bible study. And he said he was ready to be baptized and was wondering if I would baptize him. And I was like, well, where are you at? And he was like, I'm in Florida. I'm in Louisiana. He said, I'll come anytime, anywhere. I said, well, how about this weekend?

So he drove over with his family, him and his wife, five kids. And here's what's interesting with the local pastorate at his church, because he said he's been working on me for years. And he wants to see this. So his wife and two kids. Oh, well, I didn't realize that. His preacher got a little dose of that. Oh, his preacher was there, yeah. And then Chad sent me a text.

I hadn't even talked to Chad about it, but the word got out. Well, Chad's son was in your class today because he just wanted to see his name is Ty, be baptized. And so he came in for the event. And so they all went to Phil's class. It's called the Unashamed Bible Class, which is why I'm sharing that. So you're not just listening, you're participating in the network of what I would call kingdom business or forever family affairs because that's what we're doing here. And really, you know, even in our text, I remember one text that really got to him, which is what we're studying in Luke, is I said, look, you know, no doubt, because in our conversations, I told him to read the book of John. I said, ask yourself two questions.

Who is Jesus? And what was he claiming? Well, I didn't mean for him to go through John, and everywhere he identified as Jesus to write that down with scripture notations and what his claims were and how he felt about that. But when I checked back with him and said, how's that going? He sent me all his notes via text, and it was paragraph after paragraph. And I said, look, bud.

you got it. It was awesome. Yeah. Yeah, that's when you know somebody understands what we're talking about. Yeah, I said, look, you got it. I said, now, and it made me think, but I want to call your attention to one thing, you know, because he's like the Lord has been after me, you know, for years, and I've been fighting it. And I told him last night over dinner when we had them all over at our house.

I said, look, it's very difficult for soldiers. to come to Jesus because you're doing something that is contrary to your... You're trained to kill or not a train to love. Well, you're trained also, you would never think as a soldier

that the path to victory is waving the white flag and surrender. You would never equate that with victory. And I said, this is the riddle of following Jesus. By doing the very thing that you would think from a worldly standpoint, surrendering, which is imminent defeat, I said, in the Lord, it's ultimate victory because he is the one that achieved the victory for you. And so we talked about grace, you know, over.

They're trying to kill, but Jesus, they did kill him. The world did. So we could live. I said, he accomplished the victory by going the cross for you and by being resurrected. But I felt a need based on our conversation to say, look, you've got what you're saved from. I said, in most Christian-oriented churches, you know, preach that. You know, it's Jesus's grace, his blood on a cross, his resurrection, it saves you from, and I put in parentheses, like, saves you from sin, saves you from death, saves you from yourself, saves you from the evil powers, saves you from hell. I said, but you got to remember, just as important is what Jesus is.

saving you too. And I said, the reason I'm inviting you over to my house is because we're doing kingdom business here. You're going to become a part of our forever family, and you'll have a platform that I don't have. You'll be in countries that I'll never be in. You'll have conversations with people. And that's what the kingdom on earth represents. And I went back to where Jesus prayed. I pray that your kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven. I was like, when you have the Holy Spirit, you will then be Jesus through His Spirit on this earth. And I said that from helping the poor to helping widows and orphans to fighting injustice.

I said, but speaking Jesus to everyone you come in contact with, leading your family. Being the leader in your family. I told him his gift to love to the children and the people he got out of that country. I said, God's thanking you. that he's letting him know exactly and he's been a part of that in his life i said now you're doing it for jesus i said we don't want to just get them out of oppressed countries we want to get them to heaven we want to we want to we want to be you know that and now you have have that where he's like i got

i got i got and so uh so i went to the tail end of phil's class because i didn't want to be a distraction and i love how y'all did that you shared the gospel and then jersey joe got up who we also had He's the firefighter from New Jersey, who I've been making fun at because he's learning how to duck on it. But he's doing quite well. And I called him after, and I really bragged on him. I was like, that was fantastic. And I said, the reason that was fantastic is because, you know, Phil shared Jesus and went through the response. I said, but then here's a guy who was sitting in their chair only a few years ago.

And now you're getting up giving the same call. I said, it was awesome. I said, and it helps you overcome the nervousness or anxieties about, you know, public speaking. Because it doesn't feel like public speaking when you're a part of changing someone's eternal destiny. That's right. And so I really bragged all. It was a good, good deal. Oh, it was fantastic.

So we had another guy respond, and it was, Phil mentioned this in the last podcast. And he was from Washington State. and he was the guy who, remember, he wanted to be baptized in nature. Yeah. He was our own, what was that wrestler that was the nature boy? Rick Flores. Yeah, we started calling him nature boy because when he got back in the room, and really, I want to brag on y'all, you know, the church,

I know you're an elder there. You know, they baptized so many people. They had this thing down to a system. I mean, you change into the clothes. And you get to keep the clothes and it says, I've been raised, I think is what it's. Yeah, I've been resurrected or something. Yeah, I've been raised with Christ. And so you're changed in that, but you get to keep them.

And which is cool. It's kind of like, you know, I went down there and I got this t-shirt, but the meaning of it is a very good conversation piece. It's not like the old one you get. I went on this great trip and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. This is, I got a ticket to heaven. And I got this t-shirt. There you go. It was awesome.

And they also had, you know, the best baptizing waiters I've ever seen. They're like snugs. There's no boots. It's like your... So, Jay's, thank you. Because when I went to Alaska, those are trout fishing waiters. And because the worst thing in the world he wants is duck hunting waiters. You know, the water just pours into them.

You want them snug on your body and on your sock on your feet. I said whoever did that knew what they were doing. Thank you. That was way past time to do it because that water, they had so much water in there. It's deep. I mean, the water, that's the deepest baptistry I've ever seen. And so. Yeah, we tell them you need to take some of the water out.

Don't get it where no matter what you do, you get wet. Well, I managed to stay dry. I got wet with all the hugs, you know. But those two guys were feeding off each other in the, in the room. And post-baptism, you know, for the guys that were in there, man, it was awesome. That guy from Washington, I mean, they couldn't have been any more excited. And they were feeding off each other and getting each other's contacts, you know, because it was a special day.

And they, well, Ty said, well, I wanted to be baptized in nature also, but Jay's taught me out of it because it was 30 degrees. and I was like, hey, I've done it and I will do it, you know, but why not do that? I said, because you don't realize this excites everybody and the energy, especially, I went to the contemporary service this morning and boy, the energy in there was phenomenal. So it was a really spectacular, you know, morning with that. And we, I've been so busy this weekend because I have my mom. buddy Barrett in, he was going to duck hunt with us.

And he did yesterday, and we only shot two wood ducks. And I shot them both because they were on my side. And that's all we could have shot. And then this weather came in, and he got panicky that he was going to spend a week here. And he's got to work. So he went to Phil's class and then left. He said, I've never been on a duck hunting trip where I never fired my gun. And he said, but I learned something.

This is why I wanted to share this. He said that sometimes when you think you're going for something, he said, I was going for duck on. But what I came was to be a part of this kingdom moment. And he said, because I'm fired up. And I'm fixed to take this, you know, to our church. He said, because we need a class for the visitors who don't know Jesus, who are, you know, wondering what's going on. And he said, I was so surprised. It took my favorite road a long time to figure that out.

But, I mean, they've done it. Well, and Willie also instituted it down at the church he goes to as well. Let's take our first break. Yeah, so, I mean, it makes a lot of sense. Yeah, it was exciting. And we had the little one with us. And so for the weekend. And so last night, you know, I was juggling, you know, having this amount of people in my home

and having a Bible study with all the kids. Because it was, you're into, you know, not only does Jesus saves us, but it's a path to galvanize our families. Because here's all these kids. They've got five kids. And they're witnessing their dad changing their life. And I'm going to tell you, they sat around that table and was attentive. I mean, we talked for two hours last night in Bible study.

And those kids were as attentive. And they were ranged from, I would say, seven or eight years old to 18, 19 years old. and they never blinked. I told a tie, I said, you have a good woman there. But I was thinking about, I just kind of put all the kids the way she's doing it. But by the way,

we're in the book of Luke, but one of the last things, down to the last three verses, this is what is written. Then he opened their minds, Jesus, post-resurrection. Luke 24.

So they could understand. understand the scriptures. He told them, you said, well, by now they got it. Well, we look. He told them. This is what is written. The Christ will suffer and what he's been saying from the time he got there to the time he left and rise from the dead on the third day. Repentance, forgiveness of sins, will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And that's exactly what we're doing. Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah, that's good, Dan. And what's interesting is, Jay, because I watched the sermon today and the worship from down here. In the first sermon, we just started a series in the book of Psalms. And so Calut was in Psalm 139, but we're doing these little video testimonies that go along with it. I did last week, and then I'll be up again next week. And it was one of our sisters that's, from your era, Jay. She was in the youth group with you and her husband's an elder and outer church.

And it was now that I think about it, I didn't know all this happened today. But man, you talk about it. And it was only like five minutes long. This is a video. But she talked about her year of 2020. And she said she comes up with a new word every year. She and some of her friends. And that word is their theme for the year. It's a great idea. I'm going to start doing it myself. And that, you know, you just help your friends stay accountable to each other and to God. And so she, they pick out a word every year. And that's their theme word for the year. And she talked about some of the words she had in the past. But she picked out for 2020, the word was praise. And then she started talking about everything that happened to her that year.

I mean, of course, COVID hit. She's a teacher. She couldn't teach. She's at home. She's, you know, everybody's worried about everything. A hurricane hit that August, Laura, and an 80-foot tree fell on their house and on her. She was in the bedroom and trapped under this tree. People from the church is funny. You'd say, who would you call first? She called our church first. And she said within 10 minutes, there were several people there and they rescued her and

her kids out of her house. And I said, who would call their church first? But she talked about that and the help. And, you know, she was like cheerful the whole time. And then in November, the same year, she finds out she has cancer. And so she talked about having living a life of praise no matter what. And of course, now it's 2024 and she had talked about what God had done. It was just, it was so powerful.

But she had a quote. I want to read this quote as I wrote it down. It was so good. It said she, and there was a quote she heard. It said, if you live your life and fear of your circumstances, you will always live in panic. but if you live your life and fear of God, you will live in his presence and you'll find peace. And I thought, man, what a powerful testimony and statement that she made of this whole idea of what truth does and how it changed your life. So, days, I'm glad your new guys got to hear that because, I mean, really, that's the foundation.

If you can live like that, no matter what happens, no matter what the circumstances are, I'm firmly and fully in the presence of God. I mean, that'll lead you through anything. And you're talking about people who, in this case, the guy you described, I mean, they're getting some pretty good scrapes around the world. But when you're in the presence of God, it doesn't matter. You know what I found fascinating is last night, you know, I'm going through John. And because I gave a long speech about, because usually I don't baptize a lot of people because I don't want them to be distracted.

You know, you remember 1 Corinthians 1. Yeah. when you had this big chaos develop over who was doing the baptizing. And Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, I think is verse 16 or 17, he's like, for Christ didn't send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. And so I was like, look, I'm going to do this because I met him and I just felt like sometimes in life that some things happen. There's too much for a coincidence. You know, me going to Mighty Oaks and then me buying his fishing trip.

I told him that. And it was too much. So when he asked me to baptize me, I said, I'll do it. But I want you to understand something. Who does the baptize? I said, that means nothing. It's insignificant. I said, this is you reenact in Jesus' death, barrel, and resurrection.

I said, but I would be honored to do it because I just feel like there's a connection here. And so after having said that, so I go through John, because I always feel like, you know, I have to practice what I preach. And because a lot of times I'm like, I want to make sure this guy understands, you know, what he's doing, which he had already convinced me with his outline of the book of John, which was awesome. But then while we were talking, he just quoted John chapter 5. and he didn't try to memorize it. You know, he just read it. But it just literally flowed off his tongue. And I thought this was interesting how, you know,

because he kept saying over and over, and he said, I've been running from God my whole life. And I'm tired of running. I mean, it's over. But he said, you know, when I read in John chapter 5, and he wasn't sure which were the numbers, but he basically quoted this. And I just thought I'd read it

because I thought it was a powerful moment how this whole section meant so much to him that he then just quoted it without trying to memorize it. It was pretty impressive. And it's John 521, and he had a different translation than the NIV, so it wasn't exactly like this. But I want to read it because he basically quoted these four verses.

It says, for just as the father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the son, that all may honor the son, just as they honor the father. He who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, he has crossed over from death to life. And I thought, what a section of scripture as you're deciding to follow Jesus. And I had that underlined. Do you?

I told him, I said, God's telling you, good job. When he went over and saved those people's lives. I said, now you're practicing as a warrior, but you're practicing love. Exactly. Love and children and kids. I said, that's a problem. So he said, you know, I realized that I really believe that. God noticed him.

The statement he made after that, he said, I just realized that everything I've tried to do to find happiness has resulted in me being lost. and he said, I need to honor Jesus after what I've read. And it was a really powerful moment. And it was just, I was glad to be a part of it. This, Mike was in Psalm 139. It's funny he said that. It's just me watching this and hearing these stories is so incredible.

Because in Psalm 139, David said, verse 7, where can I go from your spirit? where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you're there. If I make my bed in the depths, you're there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, I was settled on the far side of the sea. And even there, your hand will guide me. Your right hand will hold me fast.

So David makes the point, you can't run from God, you know, and yet we try. Mike made the point. He went back to Adam and Eve in the garden when they had seen. What's what they tried to do? They tried to hide. They try to run. because of their shame and their guilt.

And he talked about Jonah doing the same thing. And the point is, once you understand and you stop and you submit, you quit running, and you finally just lean in to what God has done for you, it changes everything. It changes your view of everything. Of course, later in that Psalm 139 is the famous verse, you see in a lot of pro-life stuff, it said, for you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. So you think about how God sees us, Dad.

I mean, the intimacy, even from when we're just sales that begin and our mother's wound. It built a fire under Kansas' duck hunter. Barrett. It built fire onto him. It built a fire. Kansas's duck out of it. I was disappointed as I was that we shot no dugs and I invited my friend to drive eight and a half hours because this epic front was coming. He said, Jace, the front was just too much.

It was too much of a front. because I don't want to be trapped down in Louisiana and live with your parents for a week. I said, because that's very possible if we have an ice storm. That's right. Which we're not sure. I mean, they're saying it's going to develop, but that's one of the reasons we're doing this podcast.

I think this is one time. You know what I'm going to do? Sleep. Phil said, he said, no matter what happens tomorrow, 25 degrees, freezing rain, 15 mile hour north wind, I'm going to sleep in. I think that's a good call. You know, at 20, you'd say, we got to get them.

We got to get them. 80, you say, no, I don't believe. I'll see y'all, Tuesday. Let them go. Well, I tell people all the time, when you're from the South, especially where we are in Louisiana, we just do not do well with ice of any kind, except in our tea. Sometimes we want ice around because we can't drive in it. We can't walk on it.

I mean, I compare it to a duck hunt, I mean, to a football game, even the, even the athletes, I can tell. Pain, pain was in their eyes. As soon as the screen came up on my TV, I said, ooh. I mean, just the look of it. Look terrible. I don't coach for Kansas City. He just had, his whiskers were just locked. And I thought about my whiskers.

I said, I tell you what, that front there, it just freezes while you're standing there. Well, they're supposed to be a game on right now while we're recording this. And I've never heard of this hardly or ever in the NFL. They literally pushed it to tomorrow because when they showed a picture of Buffalo with 65-mile-hour winds blowing snow, you couldn't even see. I mean, it looked like you were in Antarctica. I was proud of them for sucking it up, but I thought, you know, y'all need to calm down and delay these things you know get it's tough there was one shot

uh in the second half because i we were i had no interest in watching the game uh because i didn't care who won and i was tired after real we'd gotten up and gone duck on but there was one shot there was a guy i mean it's six below zero when was howling i mean howling wind chill negative 30 and there's a shot of a guy in the stands without any shirt on. I saw that. Oh my goodness. And I said, how much alcohol do you have to consume?

To make you that brave. And I said, I'm going to give you a prediction. That man will wind up in the ER tonight. It may not be from frostbite. It may be from alcohol poison. Yeah, but it's happening. Yeah. That is funny.

So a couple of things, Jays. One is Dad's new book. is about to come out March the 12th. And so you can pre-order it now. And so we won't encourage you to do that. And the name of the book is, I could be wrong, but I doubt it, which came from Jason's shirt.

And the publishers fell in love with it because we were calling it something else up until we brought that up. But you can go to I could be wrong, but I doubt it.com. There's actually the website. And it gives you a sneak peek. You can actually read the first chapter of the book.

that's on there and pre-order because we need you to pre-order so that we can get more bookstores to take it and more websites to take it so that happens. What's that dad helped me greatly with that book? So what's the book about? Yeah, he's a gosh right. What's the book about? Well, it's really, I would say, Jase, it's Jesus is enough. I mean, if you had to, dad went in, you know, dad used to have that list.

He used to read from all the things of who, who Jesus is and what he's done for us. It's basically based on that. And so it's kind of a bookend off of this four-part series because he kind of lined out all of our culture issues and former books. But now it's like Jesus is enough. And arguing about them, if you camp out there, where is the good news that people need to hear? Yeah. So it's just one of them things where he, look, you know, he's calm down and settle down and just get what's important. What's important.

But I just read it a while ago in the book, John, you know. Well, that was fascinating to me. Even last night over dinner when Ty was telling me, when he heard my speech, you know, at the military, you know, we're helping the guys with PTSD. You know, most of my speech was, I would say, frivolous. I mean, I did the duck call thing, and I told a few stories. and some of the things were funny just because I've done them before and people laughed, so I thought, oh, I guess that's funny. So I was trying to loosen the crowd up.

But he said, just the fact that you got up and kind of went through what your family is about, and it was all tied to Jesus because the last 10 minutes to kind of have a take off of what you said about Jesus is enough, my tagline was Jesus is better. And I had all the areas of life where Jesus is better, not only in how you got here, but what you're doing here and what happens next. Jesus is better. He has a better answer for anything that's offered out in the world.

But what his response was before you share that, Phil, was he said, you know, it was more just the fact. that somebody like you, I don't know what he meant by that. He said, if you could do it, why couldn't I do this? Because you just seem like an ordinary person.

And so he said that. And I just, I thought, you know, that's really what it's about because I went off on a take about relationships with him. I was like,

it's really what it's all about because our family, we're all united in Jesus. There's a reason why our family didn't explode like most families. who become reality TV stars. If you go Google the past reality stars on what happened after their show was a success, it's an explosion of relationships.

So it really had an impact. What was you going to say, Phil? I'm just going to say, you know, Zach's dad was a great help in putting that book together, you know. Yeah. He's part of our extended family, married to my sister, for 30 years, you know. And it speaks that the kingdom is for everybody

because for the first 20 years that I knew Zach's dad, Gordon is his name, Gordon Dash. I thought, what a weirdo. You know, he wore khakis. He was a barber, and he just didn't seem to fit in. He was a yuppies, yuppie. He just didn't seem to fit in here,

but he had an incredible sense of humor, and he still does. And we used to make fun of him for all his subtle differences from our world and culture. But, you know, he just pushed back and made fun of us for being. Y'all are just a sight. You know, you need your own TV show. He actually had that vision before it became a reality. Yeah, that's true.

He did. But in the Lord, isn't it something that we're totally united? in our view of Jesus, despite we could not be any different, which it reminds me of me and my wife. And Ty mentioned that last night, too. He said, when you said that in your speech, because I looked around and saw your wife, and he said, before you said it,

he said, but I thought, what's she doing with him? And so I got up and said, I know a lot of you who met my wife are thinking, what's a woman like that doing with a guy like this? And I said, the evidence of God. And he said, that really, that really impacted me. He said, because I thought, what else could it be? That's exactly right.

It's a picture of the kingdom. It is. And in our case, Jan was the youngest in your family, dad. And so, you know, she was like most youngest in a family. She was very beloved by everybody. And, of course, she was an amazing woman of God, too, from a young age. So she brings Gordon in, who is nothing like anybody in our family. He was the most unique and different out of people that, especially people that married

in. And so he had like a long uphill battle to climb. And, you know, he says, I don't know if it's true or not, but he says that your parents, dad, my grandparents did not like him at all and really never did grow to appreciate him too much because they weren't silly people, that's for sure. But I don't know. I think they loved him more than he thought they did. But my point is, it's a great lesson for families because sometimes, you know, it's not always, you know, things don't always g-hawe.

But if you have something bigger than yourselves, and we always had that with Gordo. And now after all these years, Jan has already crossed over waiting for the resurrection, he just got remarried. And I love his new wife. She's amazing. She's the new A-N-Anne-Anne-Anne, is what I call her. I met her once. Oh, yeah. She's amazing.

But what I'm saying is, and now here we are doing this book together, because Gordon is one of the few people in the world that can really capture dad's way of saying things. And so he can sit down with dad and they can talk through it a couple of sessions. And then Gordon writes it. And it's just like dad is saying it. He just has a gift for that. And I don't know if it's just a time you all spent together. He's a gifted writer. Well, he had never written a book until he wrote the last two for dad.

And it's amazing because it's just that. that closeness that's there. He writes for me as well on our website, on my and Lisa's website, I'm Lisa Robertson. So it's amazing just the relationships, how that works. Here we are doing this podcast together as well. And I think about it, Jase, because so many people in the world, they're looking for something, kind of like this guy, kind of like Ty was. They're looking for somebody. They're not sure. And so like it could be science, it could be politics. It could be the latest wrong in society. I mean, how many people are just lining up to go protest and react and live their lives

for something? They have nothing to do with, but they're just void of something bigger than themselves. So they're going out and be a part of it. And, you know, half time they'll interview them off, you know, and they don't even know what they're doing out there. It just shows how much they're longing for something bigger than themselves. And we know what it is. That's the hardest part about it.

Exactly. Well, it reminds me of, I mean, you just picture in your mind. for the listeners. You have a female version of Phil, which is Jan, who marries a guy that could not be any more polar opposite, culturally, socially, physically. Just fill in the blank.

But it was a lot like my wife and I, it was a spiritual decision. He loved the Lord. And, you know, my aunt Jan, you know, she had a big impact, number one, on who I married. And number two, on you coming to Christ because she kind of led the movement to get a pastor up there and get Jesus in your ears. And so, you know, in a weird world, they actually, how long did they live next to you? Down here on the river, which. Several years.

About 10 years. Yeah, 10 years. So you can imagine even Gordon, you know, he's, I love him because he can dish it out, but he can take it. And look, we've all ganged up on him many times at some of the things that we just find culturally. There's not a mean bone in his body. None at all. But for him to, because of the kingdom, to sacrifice everything he knows and loves and is about from his culture and where he's from, to move down to the middle of nowhere,

which is where we are, about a mile from Phil's house right now, and to live in the woods right next to you, I just was always impressed with that. Because my wife, I mean, there is a line that's not going to be crossed. She's not going to go live out in the woods. She's just not going to do it.

And I've realized that. She's just, because, and it's not anything from a spiritual standpoint or social. She's not going to put herself on up and get rid of it because of me. Well, she might do that, but she's not going to live where a bunch of things with teeth and claws and stingers. That's the deal with her. She's scared of the outdoors and things that'll bite you. And Phil, you're literally living within a few feet of fangs, poisonous spiders, buck teeth, beavers.

it'll make you be careful of where you step. Exactly. Especially when the water comes up. I've been attacked on our very set where you guys are by varmets while doing the podcast. So yes, it's a dangerous place. Let's take our last break. Well, you know who else found that out, Jace, was Jay Stone, my son-in-law, because when he and Anna got married, he had him a nice little fishing setup down on the Caney Lake,

which is about an hour from where we lived in Calhoun. he's he had they had it all set up the women went out and kind of you know kind of put a bow on a bachelor pad and tried to get it fixed up for the new wife and anna was out there about a week and she told him she said nope I'm not living here so you need to come up with plan B and it won't it will not it will not be in the middle of nowhere and so plan B wound up being an acre of my property and they built a house next to us and they've been close to us ever since so Anna is a lot like missing. She's not going to live out in the middle of the woods.

Exactly. Because she's mortified of snakes. She bakes me little cakes and sends them to me. She does. Cakes about eight to ten inches long. They're good too, aren't they? They are delicious. Yeah.

Pumpkin bread. She's turned into quite the little baker. You know, and Dad, you're talking about our loyal heart. She has weighed in line before at 6 o'clock in the morning in the cold for an hour to buy a king cake for Jay. I mean, that's... Wow, three days ago, she did it without even consulting with me. I mean, she just, I looked up on my counter and it was a king cake. And so then I dropped by a duck commander because I had to sign a bunch of stuff.

And, you know, I slipped her some cash. And I was like, Anna, what a wonderful person you are. Because I have Barrett coming in, too, because I thought, because Missy's like, she's been on a fast. You know, she does that. A lot of churches do that at the beginning of the year. Yeah. And she's like, why would you buy a king cake when you know, you know, what I'm doing?

And I was like, babe, I didn't do that. Anna, she knows all of those kingcakes. And she's like, I mean, you're going to eat that whole thing. You will not be able to do this. And then so we got to reprieve because when Barrett. came rolling in. Yeah. You know, just think, here's a guy living in Missouri that hangs out in Kansas.

He's not familiar with homemade kingcakes from Louisiana. And that is one of the best ones in the state, too, I might add. That's a fine one. So Missy cooked meatloat for us and mashed potatoes, which he had a bad experience with that last time because of how much he ingested. So he backed off a little bit. And then I rolled out that king cake and he cut a piece of that, you know, because Mardi Gras coming up, which is why they're making them. And he ate a piece of that and he said, Jase, that's the greatest thing I've ever eaten.

So two days later, it's gone. You had some help, which was good. Yeah, it was wonderful. Well, look, I was going to do something with a new segment, but I'm just going to tease. it now because I want Zach. We use that to open the next. Hopefully Zach will be here, but I want to tease it at the end of this podcast so that it'll be a cliffhanger.

But we're going to try to introduce a new segment. Have we decided what we've called this new segment? Well, I've been calling it the unashamed mailbag. This was my thought, just off the top of my head today. So I have an exciting letter that's quite humorous in my opinion that I will read on the next podcast and it'll be the launch of our new segment. What do we call it the Unashamed Mailbag? Unashamed Mailbag, yeah.

Because we still get, you know, we get emails and, you know, different forms of communication from Unashamed Nation. Obviously, there's a lot of Facebook groups out there. I mean, there's a lot of different ways you guys listen to us. And we appreciate all the input we get from you. But, you know, sometimes we do get actual letters. I guess they figure if they're ever going to get anything to Dad, He's going to have to come in the mailbizer.

He's never going to see it. Well, that's true. And I was going to say how they figured out, you know, what my home address was, was disturbing because there's a 90% chance that I will never see it. But, you know, I got it. And it was worth waiting for the next podcast. So we'll do that. But I know this was a different format today.

But I think we've talked about so much, you know, what the scripture say about the kingdom. and the kingdom business on earth is, and what I mean by that is spirit-filled people doing what Jesus did. And that's what we do. And so I think it's good every once a while, you know, to use scriptures, to have these conversations, to share these stories that are happening, because we want the whole world, especially those who are disciples of Jesus, to be actively doing this in their community, in their neighborhoods, you know, at the gas station, at the checkout.

Someone says, what's the response? What response are y'all trying to find? Repentance, Jesus is talking here, toward the end of the book of Luke that we've been in, and he said, repentance and forgiveness of sins. What's preached is that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. That's what he says over and over and over. and you say, well, what comes out of that? What comes out of it is repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations,

beginning at Jerusalem, which is exactly what's happened. You are witnesses of these things, and I'm going to send you what my father has promised, talking about the Holy Spirit, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. So that's the end result of what should happen with what Jesus did. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's pretty cool. And that's, that's, that's Luke 24. That's the close of Luke 24, which we'll get to 45 through. Yep.

49 that he just read. So here, then Luke in Acts 1, it literally is like he picks it up, which we'll go to go through in detail. and it's really the whole theme for today's podcast. Jesus saves you from a lot, but he's calling you to action, just like he did as disciples. And so when he gets to Acts 1, he goes through what happened next post-resurrection. Jesus stayed around for 40 days and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to him 40 days and spoke about the. kingdom of God.

Yep. And so when he did that, in verse six, they met together. They said, well, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel, which makes you realize they're still thinking that somehow we have to take over the Romans because they're in control? And he says the same thing. Luke says the same thing. He says in chapter 24 that you just read.

in verse seven he said it is not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by his own authority which we've read many times in the book of luke when they ask when's this going to happen when's this going to happen and he's like be watchful be ready it'll be like a thief but it says but you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem and all judea and samaria and to all the ends of the earth. Isn't that fascinating that they're asking him, when's he going to restore the kingdom? And he starts talking about you being my witnesses, my representatives, my ambassadors, all the other verses that will come out in the letters to New Testament churches from Romans all the way to Revelation, which is what we are continuing to do. We're still in that

segment of time where God makes his appeal through us. as representatives, ambassadors, witnesses, based on what we read, and based on their life, and given their life, most of them, ultimately, because they wouldn't deny that Jesus is the Christ. And the Holy Spirit is poured out in Acts 2. Peter stands up and shares Jesus. You know, you read verse 22, he starts going through Jesus and why he's better, why he's enough. And in verse 37, when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart. And they said, what do we do?

Well, this morning, we had two fellows in Phil's class make the same appeal. You know, in verse 38 says, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The same spirit that was empowering those men to be his witnesses and representatives are now living. and those two fellows that just happened a couple hours ago. I mean, isn't this neat how you're reading a book from 2,000 years ago about the creator of the universe revealing himself in Jesus? And that promise says it's for you and for your children, verse 39,

and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord God will call. Yep, looking in the future. He called us, he called Ty and the man from Washington, the nature boy, and he's calling you today. I love it. We're out of time, but I love that description, Jason. Over time, I want to explore that a little bit more,

especially how that God spoke all throughout cultures by action. I love what you said there. So if you want to follow us over and hear that conversation, blazedtv.com slash Unashamed is where our overtime segments are. We'll see you there. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube,

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