Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 827 | Phil Is Perplexed by Trigger-Happy Newbies & the Surprising Reason Jase Quit His First Job

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Jase goes all the way back to his first job and the surprising reason he quit. Phil can’t quite figure out what was going on in a blind full of freshman hunters, but Jase ends up having to take the moral high road over it. The guys explore the cosmic choreography of Jesus’ life and why he needed to be crucified under Roman rule. Zach gives some encouragement for Christians who feel the weight of the world on their shoulders.  In this episode: Luke 23, verses 1-24; Colossians 1, verses 16-17; Ephesians 1, verses 7-10; John 18, verses 28-37; Matthew 26, verses 59-60 https://ICouldBeWrongButIDoubtIt.com — Get a free chapter of Phil Robertson's new book before it's released! -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. Yesterday, Jayce, I had some friends in town that came out and visited a little bit, and then went back to Oklahoma, Pete and Sedana. So I took them up to Duck Command. We didn't really have enough time for where they had to catch their flight to do the whole tour. but I was just kind of showing them around, you know, Duck Commander. And so I went into the offices of Tread Lively,

which is the company that produces all our podcasts that Zach runs. And I noticed as walking down the hall, the offices of people that work in production, they're like little dark caves. They're all, it's not lit up, it's all dark. And you see like a glowing face in the background.

And it's almost looked like your, afraid to walk in, it's like there's mold. It's really not. But I mean, it looks like it would be a damp, dark place that as I was looking at all the offices, it's not, you know, usually go to an office. They prefer an office without a window. Yeah, no window. Yeah. No light, all that, very dim lighting. So I quit my first job because it didn't have a window. Yeah. You could never work for Zach, you can never work for Tread Lab. It would never, because you'd be like a little troll. I'm really glad we're right in the moment of Jesus on the cross because people who had forced people to work

without a window. The only way I could. I was waiting for someone, Jets, to come by with like a pot of gruel, like to give them their lunch, you know, in their little caves,

you know, to eat. As an outdoor enthusiasts, I just, it just, it would be a torture chamber for me. It really would. Were you aware that the working conditions

of your staff and people, all your production people? Did you know? I mean, that was just my observation. I'd never been to the offices before. That was my first time. Well, they have, they have field trips.

You know, Maddie gets to do a field trip twice a week. Come out. You let her out to the sun to come out here. She gets out. She's probably wears sunglasses, you know, make sure it's not too bright outside. But, yeah, look, we had offices with windows and everybody was like, no, it's got to be dark, covered up. It's part of, you know. Well, they've all got headphones on because they're editing all our podcasts we do.

so and they're also just silent like it was just such an odd i've never been i guess it's that way for production companies ever but it was just like no one's talking everybody's listening in a dark place i don't know it does i just didn't look like a place what stood out for in that story is why you know i should have had my guest who i took duck hunting they didn't they didn't wear a face paint and you know the blind looks like a little dark cave yep and those ducks would get over You know, they were seeing something. I know what they were seeing. They were seeing those faces shining in the blind.

I was going to rag on. Were they against face, man? About their shooting, but look, do we have permission to be real here? Look, I've never spent a day duck hunting where I'm going to describe to you what my day was like. When the ducks came in, I would look to my left and look at the duck. Look at my left. Boom. I'd shoot.

I look back to my left. They were making me nervous because it was just a hail of gunfire. And some of the places where you could see where their patterns were hitting were nowhere near the ducks. That's why I kept trying to see what they were shooting. Yeah. But I would look in the air. There's nothing there. There's nothing that's flying toward them.

There's nothing flying away from them for the most part. But I'll keep hearing. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. Here's the funniest thing that happened. So the first duck that came in just came in beautiful backpedaling, backpedaling, lights at the front of the deco. We only had eight decoys out, and six of them were moving. And so the first shot that went off, the duck lit on the front end toward the blind in front of the front decoy. The first shot that went off was at the back decoy that was moving.

And I said, look, I was going to get. Now it's coming home. The duck got a, and one of them shot him, one of the new guys. So, whoa. But I said, one decoy and one duck. No, no, here was the funny part. And I said, I think someone shot a decoy. And Shane E said, that was me.

And I said, I'm not mad. And he said, I appreciate it, brother. I said, no, I'm not mad because we're brothers. I'm not mad because you missed it. He shot out at the decoy, but missed it by a foot. The only thing worse, this shooting a decoy is missing a decoy. Well, then I thought if you had hit the decoy, I would have been mad. But you actually missed it.

Oh, that's funny. So that caused Zach to drop out. Oh, why did you not say that in front of? I was going to, but hey, I couldn't get a word. He started talking about singing the Word of God. I just thought, I can't do it. He took us off. That was funny.

Well, I know it was great to have him. It was great to have him on the podcast, too. There always is. But what an idea, too, for a couple of guys. They're just like, you know what? We're going to sing the Word of God. I mean, that's what they do. Yeah.

They sing Bible verses. Well, you know, we just had this conversation, remember a couple of podcasts ago, before we had Shane on. That's what we do preaching-wise. We're just like, we're just going to preach the Word of God. And you think that sounds simple because the Bible says it preach the Word. But a lot of pastors, unfortunately, don't preach the Word. They preach other things, and you shouldn't do that. Well, the Word of God is living inactive.

And look, the Bible's about Jesus. I mean, we're going through. this and Jesus is being revealed but all these scriptures that that keep getting referred to as Jesus being the fulfillment of that's why we keep saying the Bible is about Jesus yeah and you read you could take a number of passages but that Colossians one when you just read that chapter talking about who Jesus is it is the resume of all resumes yeah he's the end. He's the image of the invisible God. Right.

I mean, I always used to do that illustration of close your eyes and picture God. And most people, I was kind of manipulating them because most people don't see anything because it is based on faith. And we didn't see the actual Jesus. Of course, now, since the Chosen has become so popular, when you tell someone to close their eyes and picture of God, they see that guy, Jonathan, who placed Jesus on the Chosen, which is funny. Which, by the way, that season four comes out February 1st, so we already be getting pretty close to this.

And I've seen the first two episodes, and they are fantastic. You mentioned the last podcast in our last overtime that what happened to John the Baptist with Herod's son, and they tell that story in one of the episodes. Oh, wow. It's really, it's hard to watch to tell you the truth. Because they make it seem real. And you think about John the Baptist, his job was to prepare the way for the Lord, and he did. And so then, you know, what they really captured, that the Bible doesn't say a whole lot about,

but just imagine what that did to Jesus and the disciples when John the Baptist had his head cut off over some woman. who was mad and manipulates the situation and Herod's pride and is like, I'll give you up to half my kingdom. And he's like, what do you want? I want the head of John de Baptist. But, you know, I don't want to ruin the show for you that you see. But the bottom line was he did his job. He did prepare the way for the Lord. And, you know, part of the ugliness of this earth and this world is that we do die, we are persecuted, and we're right in the middle of that here where Jesus is being made fun of because he wasn't representing some kind of worldly power. Right.

His power was way above anything they could even conceive. No, you're exactly right, Jay's. And I thought, I mean, you remember in John while he was even in there was like questioning, I mean, is this, do we get this right? Remember he sent the word to Jesus before he got killed? Yeah, they do a good job of that. And you got to remember, every time someone attacks God, they do it usually from this place of, well, why do these bad things happen? But bad things happen usually revolves around someone dying.

But in Jesus, death is not a problem. Right. It is not a problem. That's why we're here. And when you think about what Jesus was up against here, as far as worldly powers, which the evil one uses for his gain, because they're giving this aura that the more money you have, the more swords you have, the more power you have, that's how great you are. Right. And Jesus is disarming that. And us as human beings, we bow down to those types of.

types of idols. You know, we're thinking to be, to have arrived, you have to have a big bank account or to be having, you know, sex with whoever you want to or be in charge of something. Be in charge. Have some kind of leadership on the planet of any sort to be recognized by other people as great. You just think about how many slogans. I mean, I remember Muhammad Ali.

I mean, just boxing popped into my head. But you remember he used to go around and say, I'm the greatest. I'm the greatest. I mean, we are obsessed with knowing who's the greatest, who's the greatest coach, who's the greatest singer. It's all that list you had that time in the podcast, all the different kings.

It's just a mile long. There's a king for everything. There's a king for everything. That's why in the book of Matthew, right after Jesus makes his announcement that the son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men, they will kill him. And on the third day, he'll be raised from the dead,

and the disciples were filled with grief. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of God, they ask? They want to know how do you get to be a big wheel. So every other human wants to know that. Yeah. I want to be the greatest. Unless you change and become like children, little children, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. heaven and whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me and he lists verse six anyone calls as one a little ones verse seven woe to the world that calls people to do what they do if your hand and your foot causes you to sin cut it off throw it away then the last one and if your eye causes you to sin gouged it out and throw it away I mean, you can't make this step up. The graphic.

Yeah, he just picks a little child. He said, he's like a little child. Yeah. Innocent. And the key word there was the humility. I mean, I think the word the theological means the practical here is what you just talked about, Al, we did this on a previous podcast a while back. We talked about the kings of whatever, the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, the king of funk prince, the king of pop. Michael Jackson, the queen of R&B, Whitney Houston, the queen of Rock, Janice Joplin, the King of Country, Hank Williams.

I mean, you get to the top and you think, you know, you look just pragmatically, practically, look at what happens if that is your, if that's your idol, if that's your vision of the good life, then why is it that those who get there, they all end up medicating themselves to the point, a lot of them to the point of death. You know, all the ones I just mentioned, for example, they died of drug overdoses or suicides or Kirk Cobain, you know, and you think, man, if it, so, I mean, I think the thing, that's, that's the difference in the,

in this kingdom that Christ is bringing is that, and you just think about your own life. And when you, you've had these visions in your own life, I've had them, if I had this amount of money, Max just told me the other day, just last night, he said, man, if I had, and he described, the financial setup. Max is 18 years old. He's about to go to college. And he's describing his financial setup when he's 40. And he's like, if I, if I'm there at 40, I'm good. Like, I'm a made man.

And I'm like, no, you think that until you get that and you realize, oh, crap, you know, I've got more bills. I've increased my standard of living. It just, you don't get there. And we all know this. Anybody who has achieved any success in their life that you thought that would be what you needed. And then when you got there, you realized, nope, it's still not enough. And that is the peace of mind that I think is coming with the kingdom of heaven. It is not that kind of kingdom that's built on an inward pull of power and consumption. We're not pulling in things to fill us other than Christ himself. We do consume John 6.

We consume Christ. And as we consume Him, We're worshipping him and he's who fills us. And that is the big difference, I think, of what's happening here. And Jesus's death that is coming. It's not just the death for payment for our sin, although it is that. It's also death to the system, to the earthly kingdoms, to the everything, the whole story of Israel of what they were trying to accomplish but never could. It's the death to all the that.

and then the rebirth of the new creation that Christ is bringing in his kingdom work. And that's, man, that's truly good news right there. I was in the last, I think it was in the overtime we were talking about. That's why I said to what you just described when you're watching in our context of Luke 22, there's such a stark contrast and difference in looking at Jesus, who we know is our King and Messiah watching him in this moment as he's sacrificing himself and doing just what dad described in that verse by the giving of himself and serving all of humanity. You see this stark contrast because you have this angry, bitter, you know, power, mad group

of religious hierarchy that are the ones causing all the uproar, claiming it's him. then you've got a shallow, disconnected, I don't know what, just, I don't know, frivolous king of Israel, Herod and his group, you know, at least the one of Galilee. And then you've got this guy who really thinks he's in charge, but is trying to think of any way that he can deal with this situation other than killing him. Because some part of him knows that's not the right thing to do. But in the end, what does he do? he washes his hands as if that absolved him and said this is on you it's not on me but it was on

all of them but you see the contrast of that those are all earthly leadership situations versus jesus who mostly just stands there and says nothing yep he told piling in john 19 he said you would have no power on me if it were not given to you from above right and uh yeah i thought about that Colossians 1. When given Jesus' resume, he's the image of the invisible God. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, powers, rulers, or authorities. All things were created by him and for him.

Well, when Paul's letter gets to chapter 2, it says in verse 13, when you were dead in your sins, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins. He canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers, authorities and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. and you know we immediately go to think what because he was resurrected but even at the cross he triumph over them because every vice and every power move that they pulled he showed them that's not the way for true power and true success right just by his redeeming nature in humility and sacrifice the very opposite what they all deemed as weak he's actually conquered the law that stood opposed to us and any kind of accusation that you could

throw out against someone. But then he doesn't stop there. He gives to chapter three, so that, and these translators and these Bibles have the heading so wrong, because you just read that in chapter two where he he took away the regulations nailed it to the cross and then somebody put the headings up here rules for holy living rules for christian household you know they missed it because he's saying you know like in verse 15 let the peace of christ rule in your hearts as members of one body and be thankful let the word of christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom as you sing hymns spiritual songs with gratitude and whatever you do in word or deed do it all in the name of the lord jesus giving thanks to god the father through him he he provided

a way for us to be great through him becoming weak yeah and dying and redeeming and and cleaning us up and nailing that law that stood opposed to us on the cross i mean it would it was never a a path in all the great kingdoms, powers, and authorities for greatness. And that was actually the way he provided victory for humanity. So that we could then become him on earth, which is what the original intent was of God creating men and women to reflect God's glory. And he now provided a way that we could do it. He unshackled us. He took us out from under these powers and authorities and curses of the law. So it's really a beautiful story about God redeeming mankind to its original order of what it was supposed to be. That's good. Yeah. If you look at the account of Jesus

before the Sanhedron, we're in Luke 22, but if you look at Mark, I mean, I'm sorry, look at Matthew, you look at what Jesus said that really kind of, set them on fire. I mean, they were already looking for a reason to kill him. And they, in fact, one account says they were looking for false testimony, which we brought up before. But, and Matthew 26, let me read this real quick. This is the chief priest and the whole Sanhedron were looking for false evidence against Jesus

so they could put him to death. So they wanted to put him to death. But they didn't find any. Do what? What verse you in? I'm in 59 and 60. but they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally, two came forward and declared, and this is what they testified against Jesus.

This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days. Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you, but Jesus remained silent? If you remember with this story, it's actually interesting that they twist what happened. What Jesus says is he didn't say, he said you can destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days, speaking of his body. And so it's interesting to me that when you said, what does that even mean? Like, what does that have to do with anything about the temple of God being destroyed and being rebuilt in three days? We know that earlier when he said this, it says he was talking about his body.

But I think to look at the whole account of Matthew, from Matthew, the very first part of Matthew, it introduces Christ as Emmanuel, God with us. That's what that's what it means. Emmanuel, God with us. So God is now with us. God's coming to live with us. And the very end of Matthew, when he gives the great commission, he tells them that he will be with them to the end of the age. He'll be with them. And I think that if you could put brackets, around the whole like four gospels. I think that one of the biggest messages that Christ is coming to declare in this moment and what he's actually doing is he's providing not just a way for us to go to heaven, but more so for heaven to come to us, for God to come with us, live in us, which when you move into Acts chapter 2, you see what that means clearly, that the Holy Spirit is going to come. God himself will live in the bodies.

of believers. That's, I don't, I don't understand that, but I mean, that is power. That's a power I can't even comprehend. Jay's, you made that point out of Colossians, which I think is so strong because, you know, a lot of times we really don't grasp how well time this all was. In the last podcast, Zach, you read from Daniel 7. We also know from Daniel 2. This was choreographed to come out under Roman rule for a lot.

of different reasons, but one even was the way he died. Because you remember in John 18, which we read some in the last overtime, when he's talking to Pilate in John 18, starting in verse 28, they bring him. And so, you know, they won't even go into the palace because it's Passover, so they don't want to be ceremony unclean, which is, I find fascinating. They're willing to kill this man, but they don't want to be unclean and miss a meal. And so Pilate, comes out to them, he says, what charges are you bringing against this man? If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you. And so Pilate says, and this is what you would expect, we'll take him yourselves, judge him by your own law. Why are you bringing them to me? If he's done

something wrong, you have the power to deal with it. And here's what they said, but we have no right to execute anyone, which was the rub here. They couldn't kill him. The Jews objected, this happened, and here's the key jazz that says now when you read that verse minute ago, verse 32, this happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled. In other words, he came here to die for the sins of the world, but he came here to hang on a tree to take on the curse of the world, because this is going all the way back to the Old Testament, the curse of those who hang on a tree.

he came to be executed, crucified on a cross. And the only way that would happen was under, especially in this area he came, under Roman rule to be executed in this certain way, in this suffering way, which is the whole reason that he came. And so I don't think we realize how finally, it's not like this just happened, just random. This was all laid out and orchestrated by God Almighty before we were even created, that this is the way this was going to go down.

And that's exactly the way it happened. Well, yeah, even to that point, it's like we've made a big deal about the temple and the kingdom. And we said that the temple was designed to be a place where God and humans meet. Right. And heaven and earth meet. Thus, you know, by just association.

You know, we think of God. He's in heaven. we're here on earth. But if you'd look at what in Matthew's account, when Jesus prayed in Matthew 6, he said, this then is how you should pray. Our father in heaven, ha'll be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so a lot of people have trouble digesting that because they're like, well, that must be going to come later. And technically that's true because Jesus is praying here. at the beginning of his ministry. But when you get to Matthew 28,

post death, bell, and resurrection, he says all authority, which is where we're at, he's battling all the authorities before he dies on a cross. And he triumphant, he is triumphant on the cross and in the resurrection. He then says, all authority in heaven and on earth

has been given to me. And so I think it's interesting then when you say, well, what's that got to do with us? Well, when Paul was writing to the Ephesians, watch how he uses the cross. And I just noticed this the other night. That's why I'm bringing this up. In verse 7 of Ephesians, it says, in Jesus, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. So we know where that took place on a cross. In accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us,

with all wisdom and understanding, and he made known to us, talking about people who are spirit-filled, to Zach's point, the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached the fulfillment, to your point, about the times coming. But what's in this next statement? To bring all things in heaven and on earth together,

under one head, even Christ. And so my point is, this is bigger than just going to heaven. This was about him disarming the powers, triumphing on the cross, being raised from the dead, being ascended to the right hand of God as king of kings over heaven and earth, leaving us the Holy Spirit, or sending us the Holy Spirit, to them. be his representatives on earth, in essence, ruling through us on earth as it is in heaven. And granted, the last piece of that puzzle will be those who have trusted in him, those who have the Holy Spirit of God, being resurrected like him in this final fulfillment of heaven and earth

intersecting for eternity. No, that's exactly right. And we're seeing this all happen in real time while we're studying it because that's why he kept predicting about the temple being destroyed and everything. And the system, as you mentioned, that would be changed. In fact, he even told Pilate this back to John 18. So Pilate brings Jesus back in after this back and forth with the religious leaders. And he said, are you the king of the Jews? Is that your own idea?

Or did others talk to you about me? am I a Jew? Pallel replied, it was your people, your chief priest who headed you over to me. What is it you've done? He still can't find a reason to kill him. And then here's the kickers act, everything we've been talking about, my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews.

But now my kingdom is from another place. He just broadened out the whole concept. And that's what he didn't say. He didn't say, my kingdom is not in this world. That's right. He said it's not from this world, which means he's, that's a, that's directional language, meaning that if I say, where did you come from? Well, you got to be somewhere to come from somewhere.

And so the idea is he's talking about, like, it's here. I mean, that, that is a declaration. Like, the kingdom, this is about the kingdom. And I think that's the, though, this was a big shift for me in understanding the four gospels is that the, the, the, the, The primary thing that he's talking about is not the only thing that he's talking about, but it's the primary thing is he is talking about his kingdom. You see it in the language here, and we miss that, and we focus only on the atonement part of it,

which is that's a means to the end of what God's trying to accomplish, which is to dwell with his people. But what he's saying is that, like, there's a kingdom. This is about kingdoms. This is what we're talking about. And to prove your point, I mean, the pilot says, well, you're a king then. And Jesus said, you're right in saying I'm a king. And here's to your point. In fact, for this reason, I was born. That's quite a statement.

Because we know he had a lot of other things he accomplished, as you said. But in this context, he says, I was born for this kingdom and to be a king of it. That's what he says. And then he says, and for this, I came into the world. To testify to the truth. everyone on the side of truth listens to me and he just describes how you get in this kingdom yeah i think that's why people have trouble wrapping their head around this it's like what i read in colossians too you're like well how did he gain victory through a cross because we're in this section where he's

battling all these authorities and he seemingly loses that they seemingly win because they execute him But when you read Colossians, it says, but he took away the law, the law itself. You know, if you break the law, just man's law, that most of it is based on God's law, just by happenstance. Some of it's not, but most of it is. Then they're like, well, we got you. Well, he took away the law itself. It said he took it away, the law that stood opposed to us in Colossians, too, taking it away by nailing it to the cross.

He fulfilled it. then he took away execution. He executed execution. Because you think, well, that always works in the Roman mind, based on their authority. When you're executed, we win and you lost. But he took away execution itself. And ultimately, he took away death itself and we'll take it away for all of us. So my point is, you're like, well, how do we reign as members of the kingdom on the earth? Because there's no law that they can come up with or no punishment that can be associated with it from an authority standpoint that stands triumphantly against what Jesus disarmed. Right. You're like, well, they may kill you, though.

Well, yeah, they killed him also. How'd that go for them against him? Yeah. They're all dead now and he's alive. Yeah. That's exactly right. I can be forgiven and guilt-free and have a purpose on earth right now, despite whatever you say. Which is exactly why Jay's that he, Pilots answer, or his question and answer to Jesus was the same one people have been asking ever since.

Well, what is truth? In other words, if I came here to testify to truth, the reason I was born for this kingdom, well, what is, in other words, how would that work? He can't see anything beyond his Roman structure. He can't even imagine what he's talking about. He can't see that. And you said something, Jason, on previous podcast, and I love the line. He was only worried about insurrection,

but he should have been looking out for resurrection. Well, exactly. That was a much bigger deal than what he was looking out for, which is only people trying to thwart the power of Rome. Well, it's like I told you about John the Baptist, and, you know, depicted in the chosen. And I was wondering how they would show, I mean, they showed the saw blade coming up.

He's being bound, you know. And it's artistic impression what they did. Because they're like, you know, are these your last words? And he quoted what Jesus said, tell John the Baptist, that was kind of how they got that in there. Yeah. And they're like, oh, these are your last words. And they're like, so we therefore execute you.

And when they said that, the reason I came up with that idea about Jesus executed execution is because he kind of had a wry smile. And he looked out through a window, speaking of windows. And he just saw a lamb out in the field, you know, and he kind of grand. And then it cut away. And, I mean, you know what happened. You know what happened. But the way they depicted his personality or his mood in that moment was one of.

Victory. You can't execute me. I mean, I know it looks like you are. But to, you know, to quote my good friend, Shane E, I'm fighting a battle that's already been won. And this was before Jesus died and was buried and resurrected. But they built that. We had a great discussion after we watched that episode. And my friends that were with me, they were like, I don't know, why was he, why do you think they had him pictured, picturing a lamb?

And I said, well, because in John, too, he said, look, the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. He had already figured it out that he was preparing the way. How did he know that? It's a great little statement that's never preached on. Which is probably where they got the idea to put a lamb on the hill right before he was executed himself or so-called executed. But that's how we reign on the earth. It may look a certain way. It may look like Christians have no power, that they're being run over, that they're outnumbered,

that their voice is not making a difference. Oh, but it is. And it's like the wind. feel people are like the wind, John chapter 3. You're led by the spirit and you have this hope and you have this purpose here on the earth that God designed in the

beginning of time. The Ephesus 1 says he determined beforehand that we would be chosen. He knew. And he said in that context, just like you can't explain where the wind starts and where it ends, you're not able to explain how the spirit works

and how it all functions. And we don't. I mean, know he's there, but we don't know all those answers. And to your point, Jay, on the, on the death of Christ, and almost his attitude towards it, we can read Paul. You read the Pauline account of the death of Christ in 1st, Corinthians 15, and Paul is taunting death. I mean, he's almost, it's a mockery.

It's where, oh, death is your sting. Where, where, oh, death is your victory. And you say, man, who would, who could truly taunt death? and it could only be the one who's not bound by death, and that's why death was the final enemy to be defeated. And so what Christ is doing there, I mean, it is a victory, but it's a victory through suffering, and it's ultimately conquering a suffering. And so when we think, you know, that's one of the reasons why when we don't want to get in this podcast, we don't want to get into doomsday prophecies because the world, you can say,

oh, the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and, man, things are getting worse and worse, worse and the church is in peril and all. And it's a very negative view of the kingdom. And we just don't believe that. I mean, we believe that you're not going to shut down the kingdom of God. Well, that's a promise in Scripture. It's a promise in Daniel said. And it's a promise that we belong to a kingdom.

The prophet Daniel says that can't be shaken nor destroyed. This kingdom that we're a part of that Jesus brought, like, you're not going to break it. I mean, that's, that is the fact. And so that's why I think this message is so powerful. One of the reasons is that we don't have to carry around this anxiety that somehow us, this unashamed podcast, your church, your pastor, somehow we got to figure out a way to make sure that we don't break the kingdom and that we protect it from getting destroyed. That's not going to happen. It's not our responsibility to maintain it. It's just our privilege to be in it and to participate in it.

And that's a lot of freedom. That's a lot of freedom for me to not have to carry the weight of sustaining God's kingdom. None of us have to carry that weight. None of us. I want to read this last section that gets us up to the point of the crucifixion, because we left off with this last time, just to kind of fill in the blanks. Because we talked a lot about the conversation with Pilate. So in Luke 23, verse 13, here's up to that point.

Because, you know, Herod, he's handing him off to Herod, Herod sending him back. And so in verse 13, Pilate calls together all. the chief priest, the rulers and the people, and he said to them, you brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebe it, till there's the insurrection days. I've examined him in your presence, and I've found no basis for your charges against him. I mean, this is a slam. I mean, he just slams these guys. Neither has Herod, for he has sent him back to us. As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. What a statement.

I mean, that backs up all the privacy that he never said. I mean, he's done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him. And when J.C. you talked about that. You know, that was the brutal cat of nine tales and, you know, everything he did to him. With one voice, they cried out away with this man. Release Barabbas to us. Barabbas had been thrown into prison for a

insurrection in the city and for murder. And we know it was the custom that we talked about that someone could be released. They're crying for an actual insurrection. Verse 20, wanting to release Jesus, pilot appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, crucify him, crucify him. For the third time he spoke to them. Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have him punished and then release him. So he's just like, keeping, he's thinking he's going to convince him. And now it's creating an insurrection. Loud shouts, they insistently demanded that he be crucified and their shouts prevailed, and it always does against political types. So Pilate decided to grant their demand.

He released the man who had been thrown into prison for for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus. And this is a big phrase to me, to their will. So remember Jesus said, not my will, but yours be done. Pilate submits him to the will of the people, which is to crucify him for something he did not deserve. But he came to give his life for us. So that sets up what's actually going to happen in the crucifixion. But, you know, I just, I find it fascinating that Pilate is such an advocate for not killing Jesus. When he's not a believer, he can't quite figure it out.

he also has no real answer for who Jesus is. That's why I want to read that out of John 18 that we've talked about before because I think he's fascinated by what he's talking about, but he just can't, he can't see it. He can't see past his own power. It's funny because sometimes we'll talk and the way it ends, you interpret it as an invitation and sometimes you don't. Yeah, it's time to sing a sound. Yeah. Well, it's a difficult read, you know, knowing this was the plan.

that had to happen to rescue mankind. It is, and it's difficult to read it as it's happening because even though we know what happens, it seems so defeating in the moment. I think that's the hard part. You've said it several times. It's really, it's a bittersweet. One man dragged to the cross

and butchered like they did. It just, after you read about him, he was worth to have a bit of it but that was a mighty tough decision I mean it would have been for me

how about you well now do you know why he was sweating drops of blood the night before he had to go through all this I'm telling you man I mean even Jesus knew right well we always look at it

like you just think about what causes pain what causes pain and agony you know if you lose a friend in death you're upset. Whether he was executed or just died in a car wreck,

now you lose a family member, it's ratcheted up. You lose your wife. Well, it's about the worst thing that can happen to you. I mean, you're, what you think about from Jesus's perspective, I mean, he's had an eternal relationship. And this is, this is the plan based on the love of God

that he's going to come down and be killed by the very creatures that he created. I mean, that's just, I'm not sure where that falls into dealing with a loss in the moment. Yeah. I mean, even though he's an eternal being to step inside time and allow that to happen, it's just, there's humility, then there's that. I mean, it's hard for us to wrap our head around it is what I'm getting at. And when you think why he did it, well, as individuals, it's just moving to think, yeah, he died for the world, but somehow another, we separate the power of it when you look at it that way. When you think of your contribution from a sinful standpoint and just being an idiot standpoint, this is why, you know, when Jesus said that,

famous statement when I'm lifted up I will draw all men to myself and I think it's the nature of it was done in humility it was done based on his character and his heart for all people yeah no matter race no matter condition no matter wealth it's it's just there's nothing like it in the world there's not a better offer in the world there's never been a another movement that even kept the only thing that says death is not a problem for you. Yeah. Death's not a problem for you. Just Abraham, Moses.

He mentions them. They're not dead. They're alive. And just like we're reading in this story, the people that don't know and understand what this means have a hard time wrapping their heads around it. You know, there's been a little bit of controversy this last couple of weeks over during the NFL playoffs, one of the quarterback for the Texans, who's a believer, every time they interview him after a big win, and everybody loves the story, but he starts out by not just praise,

you know, thank God, he praises Jesus Christ. He says his name. He says, he's my Lord and Savior. I want to start there because without him, I'd have, and so now they cut it out.

Yeah. They cut that part out whenever he, they're live, they couldn't cut it, but when they replayed it, they cut that part out. And you say, and it made a lot of people upset.

And so you're like, well, why would they do that? Because they don't know what he knows and what we know. That's right. And so they're like, Why does he keep saying that?

We're just going to cut that part out. All we wanted to do is hear about football. But what they don't understand is this man knows what Christ did for him. And so he's like, I'm going to talk about it. And if you're going to ask me a question, I'm going to begin there. And why I admire the young man's courage. I mean, he's 24 years old. And he's like, no, I want people to know who I submit to.

But see, I get that. When I see this, I get it. Yeah. And, but a lot of, like, the people that are, this network, they're like, why does he keep doing that? They don't understand it. When to lose, he's already won. He's already won. And he's like, football's great, but you know what? I'm into something way bigger.

And so I just admire people like that because he has a huge platform and he's using it. And a lot of people that bothers. I don't want to talk about that. You know, keep that, talk about that at church. We don't want to hear that. Keep that to yourself. Keep that to yourself. But he gets it.

He understands what we're talking about here. that this is way bigger than ourselves, which of course was Jesus' whole point about the kingdom. It's bigger. It's bigger than power. It's bigger than what you think is, who you think is in charge. So we've obviously made the right call.

We're out of time. I want to, before we go, I want to remind you about Dad's book, which is going to release on March the 12th in about six weeks. It's called, I could be wrong, but I doubt it, why Jesus is your greatest. hope on earth and in eternity, which of course is what we've been talking about. You can go to a website, I could be wrong, but I doubt it.com to get a sneak peek of the book.

You get to read, I think the first chapter is on there. So it'll kind of give you a sense of it. And we'd love for you to pre-order the book because that helps us sell a lot more books when it comes out. So check it out. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. And we'll see you next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on.

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