Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 837 | Phil Is Getting More Emotional in His Late Years & Jase Admits He’s Only Funny Accidentally

Episode Date: February 16, 2024

Phil, Jase, and Al agree that they are a lot more in touch with their emotions as they age, and Jase recalls one of the first times he truly connected with his sensitive side after a tragedy early in his life. Jase realizes that jokes aren’t his strong suit, and the guys discuss how to stay open-minded and open-hearted even as you grow older. Jase reveals some mistakes in a biblical translation, but the guys agree that it doesn’t ultimately change the meaning of the message.  In this episode: Luke 24, verses 45-53; Ephesians 1, verse 18; Acts 16, verse 13; John 20, verse 21; Acts 7, verses 37, 51-58; Exodus 13, verses 2, 12 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. We're still without Zach. He's conferring somewhere in conference we hear. It will get him back. Yeah, but we're going to have my wife come in because we're without Zach for four podcasts. So this is podcast number two. Right, without Zach. Maybe that's a good title. Have your title and then say. Got number two without Zach. So we're going to have Missy, but look, I'm just giving you a teaser for when she comes on. You notice every time one of our wives come on, way more people listen. They do.

And it's probably the one thing I hear the most when I interact with listeners of the podcast out across the fruited plains is they say more wives. That's what they always say. We want more wives. She's coming, but I want to give you a little teaser. So, because we did an event together. And for what we're going to talk about today, you know, a lot of times it's hard to be open-minded, especially, and I said this and offended a lot of people, so I'm going to double down on it. But if you're over 40, it's just hard to be open-minded. Yeah, most people come to a faith decision before that for a reason, most people.

Exactly. It's not 100%, but it's most people. And I'm not real sure why. All the ones I've been baptizing. Mid to late 20s. 20s. Mid to late 20s, yeah. They will listen.

And what also. Oh, so the older they get, the less. Right. That's right. He's saying most time it's before 30. The time, just like Megan. 40, it's hard to convince them. But if you get to them before they're 35 in the 30s, something about the 30s.

But my point is since we're all over 35 and well over that, we need to constantly be reminding ourselves. Stay open-minded. Stay open-minded. Well, we could be wrong. We say that all the time. No, but I'm just saying that. I know.

I agree. Because it is. I have really tried to work on that. And so part of what I want to tease about before you can tell us where we're headed today is because she said, Misty said, well, because we got up and did. an event together and we'll talk about it when we get here because i'm always nervous in that situation because it hasn't gone well in the past and uh because i'm used to talking a lot doing my own event she does her own events when you get together yeah she's like you're gonna let me

talk you know that's that kind of deal so i said babe what do you want me to do and she said well the first part you need to do something funny and i didn't tell her that i hate it when people say that because 90% of the time when I say something funny, it was on accident. I'm not a comedian. So I said, I had an idea. I said, I'm in this idea of being open mind and closed mind, this is where I come up with this idea. I said, I'm going to craft a little speech around quotes from Phil Robertson. And so that's what, that's the teaser. I'm not going to tell them today.

I will say this. Are you about to give us a quote? And I've watched this very carefully. Yeah. My message is the same every Sunday morning. Correct. God became flesh, Jesus. He died on the cross for the sins of the world, was buried, and was raised three days later.

And when I share that, what I looked. far and it never fails. There's one thing, all of these 95% of all of them, I recognize it by one thing. And you're all going to be surprised maybe, or you may say, what? The explanation is tears. The ones I see that are shedding tears. they will respond to the gospel and we take them down and baptize them. 90-something percent tears.

When you see tears, the next thing is I'm giving my life to Jesus. They make that plain. So we start all over again. I baptize them in the name of Jesus for the mission of their sins. God's given him his spirit. Well, it's true. Over and over, and if you see the tears, they're coming. They're going to the...

So here's something. I'm dad to bolster that idea. Lisa and I were at any event this last weekend that I'm going to... It's not like words. Somehow you put them together and make people... Well, but I think you do have to say that some people, like when I did the prison ministry, every one of them guys cried and was lying right through their teeth. You know, so I'm saying it's not...

I didn't say what happened to them after they... No, I know. I'm just clarifying that... I mean, there's a reason God said, or Jesus said, you know, love the Lord. you go out with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Well, somewhere in there is emotions and tears, and I'll agree with you. The people that usually respond, they're cut to the heart. But here's the interesting thing.

It's not, and it's not always just like a verbal message, which is what you do. So this happened just this past weekend. We were at an event. They were showing the blind at the event, the movie. So I told them I would sort of host the showing of it because I said when this is over, if you got some questions and answers about the movie, you know, I'd love to give you what I know, being that I was in the movie, and so was Jay's.

The, you know, little actors playing us. And so we show the movie, afterwards people are asking questions about, you know, did this happen, had that happen, blah, blah, blah, blah. So everybody leaves out, except for one guy stays behind. His name was Jake from Russellville, Arkansas. And he said, can I talk to you for just a minute? And I never knew.

I thought maybe he was touched and wanted to talk to me about the gospel. He said, I just wanted you to know, and he was in tears, as you said. He said, when I, you know, I had not, I was, you know, I've been in church, but I wasn't a Christian. I wasn't sold out. I wasn't in on Jesus, but I was around it. And so my wife said, let's go see this movie, The Blind, where you go see it? He was a fan of the show, the Duck Show. He said, yeah, I'll go see it.

He said, when he was watching this movie, he's moved. as he's watching all the stuff that led up to it. He said, when you were baptized in that movie, in that moment, he said, it hit him like a ton of bricks like, you have got to submit. You've got to go all in. And so he said he was driving on his wife. He wasn't saying anything. And she's wondering what, you know, she's kind of thinking he's not saying anything.

And right before he got to his house, he looked at her and he said, I need to be baptized because I've committed my life to Christ. And he said that following Sunday he was. So to your point, even a movie about what you talk about every Sunday and seeing someone else submit can have an impact on somebody. I'm agreeing to a point, but I am just saying the reason and another thing we'll talk about when my lovely wife is here is we'll talk about the Chosen, because season four has been released. We've seen the first three episodes. And what you are depicting, the Chosen is really good at. I cannot watch an episode of The Chosen without getting teared up at some point along the way. They're really good about that.

But I am going to say that it's deeper than emotions. I do think there's some of that. But it's also intellect and reasoning. I mean, I remember when I was 14, I was not an emotional person at all. And so I don't think I shed a tear in the weeks that. that led up to me responding to Jesus, it was more I felt like an argument to my reasoning. I was arguing with God trying to read the scriptures to get around it. I couldn't get around it.

But I do think it is a process that goes through because life can be difficult. You have things that happen. When my daughter was born with all her problems, it tapped into the emotional side of my brain. which had never been used before that point. Other than my best friend from high school dying accidentally in a car wreck. I mean, I cried for really the first time just for days and days. It was very, very emotional. But outside of that, you know, life happens and it does soften you up.

But I do think this is a perfect lead-in to what I wanted to talk about here in our passage because, you know, there's two instances that happen on this road to Amos that started on the road to Amas. And you remember when Jesus comes up to the two disciples, Cleopas, is the other one named? Where are you? Luke 24. Well, I'm just kind of reviewing. They were depressed because... Some people say the other one was Simon, because he mentioned Simon of the first. verse 34, but I think he's talking about Peter when this disciple says that I don't think that's the other person. And I mentioned this before we were talking on the podcast.

Some people think it may have been his wife because at the cross, and I think it's Mark, there is the wife of Cleopus. It says clopus there, but it's the same name. Yeah. And so a lot of people think maybe that was the two of them walking back home to amass, a husband and wife, which would make sense because they invite him into their home rather than two brothers. So anyway, just for who it was.

So, you know, their faces were downcast, and there's an interesting verse, you know, in verse 18, they were kind of making fun of Jesus by saying, are you only a visitor? You don't know the things that have been happening. And there would have been a lot of visitors because of the Passover. Right. You know. So Jesus is like what things, but he knew. He was just playing along.

But they were. kept from recognizing him, and we talked about that. I don't know if it was physically or their spiritual blindness, which goes into my point about we're made up of body, soul, and spirit. Now, how that's defined can be difficult. But there is a theme in the Bible, especially in the New Testament that applies to us today, where people are spiritually blind. And at some point, we're all spiritually blind.

And if you're like, well, I don't even remember when I was, well, that's because you were spiritually blinded. It's hard to see that. And there's tons of passages, you know, the one in Corinthians where he says, the God of this age, little G, talking about the evil, has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see. And think about all the times Jesus said they're ever hearing, but never understanding. him. And so he asked, well, what things? And they're like, well, about Jesus. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priest's rules hand him over to be sentenced to death. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. So what does that mean? They thought he wasn't that guy. It's past tense. We had hope, meaning our hope is over. He's dead. And so that leads to a meal.

And when they're at the table in verse 30, he took bread, gave things, broke it, and began to give it to him. Now, what's this next statement? Then their eyes were opened. And they recognized him. Well, then he disappeared, which is ironic. So what does that mean? Their eyes were opened. And then they make this next statement.

we're not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road, and he opened the scriptures to us. So what does that mean? Their eyes were open, their hearts were burning. So somehow there's this combination of... There's a mystical... Awareness, right? Yeah, thing happening here.

Well, then another mystical thing happens. So then he appears to his disciples. and what we talked about on the last podcast, he's like, look at my hands and feet. And we kind of focused in, he had a super body that could now visit heaven and earth

with equal enthusiasm. How about that? There's a quote for you. Heaven and earth had merged now. There was no laws of earth that scare us now. There's no decay. There's no atom, and molecules that can block your way.

Even though you have a body, you can walk through a wall. You can do whatever. You can levitate because you does that in Acts 1. So before you read that, Jay's, before we take a first break, I'm going to remind you, Dad's got a book out, I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Why, Jesus is your greatest hope on earth and eternity. It's going to come out of March the 12th. There's a website, I Could Be Wrong, but I Doubted.com.

You can go there to register to get the book early, which is great. you sign up for that. You can read a chapter of the book. There's some cool stuff. We're doing his giveaways. So check that out. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.com. All right, let's take a book.

So then he eats a piece of fish on purpose to show that this is a body. He's dead. He's buried. He's raised. And he's like, do you have some fish? There's no other reason that you're going to come up with. And as evidence that this is true based on eyewitnesses, It even tells you how the fish was prepared.

It was broiled. Not fried. I think that's interesting. It is interesting. So 44, Phil loves this verse. He's read it many times. This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and Psalms.

And that's a lot. It's a lot. The Old Testament was a lot. about Jesus. The whole purpose of this was to reveal Jesus. And it is ironically, Jase, where you get to the next point. The exact same thing he mentions that he had also mentioned to the two on the road in their house, same thing. The scriptures and this whole idea, all of this was about him. Yeah. So he's repeating the same thing he did before. So we come to this next verse, talking about being open-minded and how this happens, verse 45.

Then he opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures. He told them, this is what is written that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things, which I think is a very profound verse to have a side note here on. They were literal witnesses. We make a big deal about we're going to go witness for Jesus and I think we're taking that a little bit out of context. They were actual witnesses. They ate the fish with the dead man. So then it says, I'm going to send you what my father is

promised, but stay in the city until you've been closed with power from on high. He finishes the last paragraph when he had led them out in the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And while he was blessed them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Now he disappeared earlier. Now he left them. And we've already said on the last podcast, the stone didn't have to be rolled away so he could get out. He didn't have to leave them to go. He didn't have to disappear. He could have done anything he wanted to. But him levitating was not needed, but he did it for us. It's the story that we wrapped our head around

so we could somehow another be open-minded enough to realize that there was a man here claiming to be God who came back from the dead. And there's no other way to express this than him leaving, him disappearing. Because what else are you going to say? We're not familiar with these kind of things happening in our world.

People don't just disappear. Now that you trick photography, Photoshop, whatever. But if Al, if we, just all of a sudden, you just vanished right now. Yeah. Your pedigree would go way up when you came back.

People say we should have been listening to Al more than the fuck. Yeah, I was catching up on the chosen season three. And there's a scene somewhere in their episode six or seven.

This has already been seen so I could give the spoiler. Because I had missed a couple episodes. I couldn't figure out which one, so I watched the whole season again. But it was so fantastic because they did this. And look, we'll talk about this when Missy's here, but, you know, it's not a, they're not giving you word for word with the Bible.

They take Jesus principles and then they kind of make stories out of it. But on this illustration, it was fantastic. Because they go to the Decapolis where there were a lot of Gentiles, and he goes there, and a big argument starts. They're all mad. And so they just sat on the ground because Jesus was humbling himself. And he said, let's just talk about this. And so while they're talking about it,

and he has all these different groups that they're. had depicted just firing at him in basically uh with content i mean they're they're angry the who you think you are no but while all this is going on a guy comes up blood coming out of his leg you know he's and it the smell was terribly it got infected he's dying yeah well jesus healed him in front of them all so what's funny is that all his disciples and Jesus were sitting down, and they're all standing up in their groups, hollering at him. But after he healed him, everybody sat down. And he stood up.

It was just a really good moment. Like, whatever we were talking about, that's over. Because we just saw it. It's almost like, if you were at the school board meeting and everybody's arguing, but then somebody walked in and you healed them, everybody's like, ooh. That's what happened. But it made me tear up, you know. because I was like, wow, what an awesome sight here. So just to read this, the end, so then they worshipped him.

And why not, right? And they returned Jerusalem with great joy and they stayed continually praising God. Which is the tease for the beginning of Acts, so he's kind of closing here and he begins. And we're going to go through a thumbnail of Acts going forward. But what I wanted to focus on and what we kind of decided today today is what, and look, we could be wrong about what we're fixed to talk about because I was calling it mystical because I don't have a better word. But I doubt it.

So when he says, or when Luke records that he opened their minds, we read that their eyes were opened, their hearts were burning. What exactly does that mean? And I want to say this, because I'm not going. going to give you just the things that I think will encourage you and inspire you. I'm going to give you the difficulty in this. Because right here we have a moment that he's opened their mind so they could understand the scriptures.

But when we go to Acts 1, one of the first things you're going to see is a question from one of the disciples saying, well, are you now going to restore the kingdom of Israel? To redeem Israel. Which doesn't seem to fit. I'm being honest here, because he opened. their mind to the scriptures, they seem to have it right here. And they're still thinking, well, when is this restoration going to happen? So it wasn't that they weren't open to the scriptures.

It's a difficult thing to address. And I'm not sure why that question happens in Acts 1. But I feel like that Luke is backing up a little bit in the book of Acts is why that happens because because when he says you'll be clothed with power on high it's like picks up in the same point yeah and then he's kind of given an overview that's just my thought right so let's talk about the open you know and i think it comes down to because i read a lot of scholars on this and look they don't seem to agree on how all this works and i really feel like after reading hundreds of paragraphs over this that they want to put Jesus kind of in a box and give these little pithy

statements on how this works but they just can't do it you know I mean the best line I heard in all that is somebody saying that we're trying to put Jesus in a box and have these pithy statements on how this works how he opens the hearts and opens the minds because we all think we're pursuing this. If we study long enough, if we're open mind enough, and we work hard enough, we'll figure it out. But when you read this, this seems to be more about him opening the mind

that it is them doing whatever to figure it out. So do you have an overview thought of that? Well, I do. Let's take another plan. So my thought is, it's a good little bit of a combination, I guess, in my mind to what you just said, that I don't know that he supernaturally did anything to them as much as they finally were open to receive it. Not meaning that they did anything either, other than he walked through a door for the first time they grab him and he's really back. he eats fish showing that he's like they are he's real he's here and i think for the first time on all this they're finally willing to listen with full attention i think that's what it means

i don't think it's as big you may think it's bigger that there's something else that happens here i think they're finally ready to listen and so he says okay now you're ready and he and he shares with them so i don't think it's as big i think it's bigger i know and i know you do that's the way I've always viewed that passage, but I could be wrong. Well, I want to give you another example, and this is something I read in one of the scholars, if I can find it. Where is the verse in Ephesians 1 where Paul said, I pray that he may open your, let's see, 18, Ephesians 1, 18.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may be may know the hope to which he has called you the riches of his glorious inheritance and the saints. Now, here's my point. I think Paul was limited as compared to Jesus. Right. And I think we're limited as it relates to Jesus. So we have to pray for people's eyes to be open and for their hearts to be open. But there's a lot of verses.

And there isn't one in Acts. I'm sure you probably ran across it where it said the Holy Spirit, opened her heart. Oh, I'm going there. Exactly. So here's what I did. And I'll go through this. This may be a little deep.

But I had a guy tell me the other night. One of the things he liked about the podcast was that, because he had read the Bible, he said, his whole life many times. He said, but I never had studied it until I started listening to Y'os podcast. And I thought that was a profound statement. But so what I did was, I looked up. up the Greek word for this word open

I tried to practice to say the Greek word but now I can't remember it was like Dian Dio Agno something like that because there's two words in the Greek used for open and and I just want to say this

I think this is interesting I told me to see I was going to do this for the podcast and she said don't do that but I'm going to do it anyway because look here's what you can do you're not listening to me a zoom up mattie look at me do i look at me do i look smart no no we're not intellect here no but here's what you can do if i can do this anybody can do it all you have to do if you're anybody except phil because phil doesn't go to the internet but if you type in a verse so if you type in luke 24 45

and put Greek lexicon. Bible Hub Greek lexicon will come up. And you can click on that verse, and it will put the Greek words, and it will put the form of the sentence. And once you see this once, you'll realize while there's so many different translations of the Bible. Right.

Because their language was so different from ours that their sentences seem like a bunch of fragments. Right. And so us... The structures are totally. different. Yeah. But what I'm telling you is it's very fascinating because in the Greek language, there's

two words for open. And this one, which is only used eight times in the Bible, eight, is a lot different than every other one. And so just to give you the definition, and what you can do, so when you see that in the Bible Hub Greek lexicon, you can then click on that word and it'll come up everywhere it's mentioned. So I looked up all eight. And one of them was the one I'll set with Lydia,

if you can find that. Acts 16, I think. If you'll go there and read that, I think you'll find this fascinating. And I know this is a little deep, but if you want to study the Bible, because this really opened, no pun intended,

my mind to something. So it's Acts 16. Let me find the phrase really. I'll let you read it. All right, here it is. She hears the gospel. So, yeah, she hears the gospel. On the Sabbath, we outside the city gate.

This is verse 13 of Acts 16. To find a place of prayer, we sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thiaa Tira, who was a worshipper of God. So she worshipped God. She was a believer. She was a businesswoman. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. when she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home.

If you consider me a believer in the Lord, she said, come and stay at my house and she persuaded us. Yeah. So what does this word open in the Greek mean? So the regular word they use is like what you would think. If I open this door over here, well, you open something that had a something that you could easily get in. so like a latch or like we you we all open the door this word is like completely open as in you had to break something so think uh and i heard a great sermon on this and the reason i'd never listened to it before because i listened to a lot of tim keller's sermon sermons but i noticed this before and it said jesus the prophet on luke 24 and i thought

I mean, I roll my eyes thinking, what could that be about? So I just didn't ever listen to it. But I did, and I'm glad I did, because this is what led me to go through this study. And he was like, it's a breakthrough. And he gave an illustration, like, if you were going to tunnel through a mountain, that kind of breaking. And I'll give you another illustration that I didn't get from Tim Keller. I just, when I read the eight verses about this, this breakthrough opening, which makes more sense when you think about the context of this, you're never going back to the way you were once this is

opened. It's like a new, new concept. New normal. Yeah, it's a new, which think about in the context of new creation, Jesus is the first born among the day. He has literally turned the world upside down, turned death upside down, and now he's turned people's view of him upside down, which is why the open-minded to the scriptures, because they were looking at these scriptures, and sure they were looking for the Messiah to come. But now all of a sudden he starts making these statements that all these things were pointing toward me, and they're like, I mean, it's a breakthrough, that their mind

has been open. So I'm going to give you another example, and this one's going to be very confusing of where this is used, because I think when you study the Bible, this will be helpful. So one of the ones that it listed, Al, as having this word open, you're going to find this fascinating, is in Luke 223. So I went and looked at it, and I was like,

well, they must have this wrong, because the word open does not appear here. And I'll read it. It says, as it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord. I was like, what? That can't be right. So 30 minutes later, I finally realized that that's a quote from Exodus 13, 2, and 12.

And this is the part that's he said, please don't do this because it's too confusing. but I think if you're going to study the Bible, you'll find this helpful. So in Exodus 13, 2, under the law, it says, consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me. And then in verse 12, it says, you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb, all the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord.

Now, we know in Luke 2 that this is talking about Jesus being born, right? Correct. Well, I hate to tell you this because I use an NIV, but the NIV, they just got it wrong here. because when you look at that Greek word, this opening happens. Well, now you probably put two and two together and realize they just left it out and said, hey, consecrate the firstborn as it said in Exodus. But when you read the Greek, it has this word in it.

And so get the picture in your mind. when Jesus broke through the womb, that was the idea. And it says that phrase in that verse, the NIV just chose not to put it in here. Now, does it really matter? I would say no. I mean, now some people would say, what do you mean? They got it wrong. They got it wrong.

Well, the point was not how the womb opened. The point was that he was to be consecrated, and that's why they took him to the temple. And that goes back to Pharaoh and them being liberated, and this is the law, and Jesus came to redeem that. But they went through the process with Jesus. But I was just making the point of when you define the word, and it's a spiritual thing when he opened their minds. but here they used the word as an actual physical thing. He had to break through that womb to get out. And so when you look at that about...

But she wasn't just there, by the way, to consecrate. She was also there to be purified. It says her purification process, which was to your point, they had to do the same thing after a monthly cycle as well. And so that really plays into the physical way you're talking about. Hang on, Jay's just. Let's take another day. So I know we're getting deep.

But the reason I did all that is because I feel like some of the other versions, the King James version, the N-A-S-B, they got it right. Because I do think, as studiers of the word, that the application of being born again, with that word being in there about Jesus, you know, breaking through the womb and coming out, When you think about being born again in Jesus, I think that's a pro, that changed my view of the weight of that. You know, this is not just like he opened their mind. It was a breakthrough. And I think when people come to Christ or Christ draws them to you, which I think the answer is.

Let me read this just to back this up for you. This is the New American Standard. The same verse in Luke 2.23 says, as it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. Thank you. I was looking that up and my phone wouldn't gather. But that's what we needed that clarification for. That's what it should have said. Now, does that mean, you know, we're going to burn all the NIVs? No, because the reason I brought this up and the reason I disagree with my wife on why I think we should bring this up is you're going to find these translation issues

in every one of those Bibles. That's right. Because the Greek language is such a different format with different vocabulary than the English. It's so different that it's hard to piece the sentences together. So what they do is translators, they get a large group of translators and they say, okay, what do y'all think? and they try to get the point of it in the English language. Well, it's very difficult to do. And I don't think the point of the Bible, which is Jesus, is altered in any way.

There's probably a couple of fringe translations on both sides that I would stay away from. I mean, y'all can comment on this too. But I don't want to send everybody into panic. I'm just saying all you have to do is to type in a verse and say Greek lexicon, Bible Hub, and you can see everywhere where that word is used, and you can make your own decisions, you know. But I think that Acts 16, I love seeing that because it comes down to this kind of question.

And really the Tim Keller sermon, which I encourage you to listen to it. It says, Jesus a prophet. There's a part one and the part two. I haven't listened to part one. But the part two was dealing with Luke 24. Because his whole point was, is God calling you or are you calling God?

and he didn't claim to have that figured out in every way. He was very humble about it. But after what I heard and after looking at this, it made me think, I lean toward, it's more important for you to realize that God is calling you, and he's open in your heart. And you want to be in a position to where you'll listen. There's a work of the Holy Spirit that happens when Jesus is proclaimed

that's very hard to explain. But don't ever doubt it, the spirit conviction, sometimes it's tears, and sometimes it's an enlightenment from a reasoning standpoint. But whatever that looks like, you need to be having a heart that's open to that. Right.

So, I think you've changed my mind, because now you've made me think about John 20, the same context when he appears to the disciples in verse 21, says, peace be with you as a father sent me, I'm seeing you. And with that, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. So probably now I'm thinking when he said he opened their minds and hearts, he literally was, that was the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Now we're talking.

That's what I said. I said it's bigger. Yeah, I think you're right. Just. And thought about that because the same thing. It says when he, with Lydia's same way. I'm sure that was the process. The Holy Spirit opened up her heart to hear then.

what was there to be heard because she was ready. Now, my point earlier that they were ready is probably true, but you're right. I think it's much bigger because now it's the Holy Spirit. It's bigger. And you know why I had trouble talking about this, because most the groups that I, the church groups that I've been raised in, they all lean toward what you were saying. Right. But when I read this on my own and listened to other, you know, denominational preachers in Christianity,

not like they're off, you know, following somebody besides Jesus. I thought, you know, I think I missed this. And so that's why I brought it up. And there's a lot more ways to go with this. And I did another study, not about the open mind, but I was trying to make that relation about being born again because I really found that fascinating in Luke too. Which really, if you think about it, let's take it last one.

If you think about it, Jase, that really opens up to John. three conversation with Jesus and Nicodemus, right? Well, that's where I was going with. So when I looked up the word again, so it said, unless you're born again, so I said, I want to look at that Greek word. Well, you know what the Greek word means from above? You know, you're born from above. Right.

Which, what is that? Well, you're born from God, which kind of goes back to John 1, where he said he's given us. the right to be children of God, born not of natural ways or a husband's decision. You remember that in John 1? Yep. But where? Born from God. Right.

Above. Born again. And so I thought, wow, that, that's interesting. Well, I said all that to say this, how this works. Because I wanted to come to one, remember I said there was eight. The one that really, it may be tear up, actually, after. this study was in Acts chapter 7 when Stephen now y'all are familiar with this sermon but i encourage you to read the whole thing and there's a lot in here about moses and he even quotes uh where i was wrong is is when i thought well i don't know

why these people are calling jesus a prophet he was more than a prophet but i think i got that wrong because remember when Jesus went to his hometown in Mark 6 and he said, well, a prophet has no honor in his hometown. He referred himself as a prophet. The reason people don't like in the Christian world referring Jesus as a prophet, because they're saying, and rightfully so, you can't get Jesus down to just a prophet, which is, I agree with that. But what I'm saying is Jesus was the, not only was he a prophet, He's the best prophet ever because he represented God and man. He was the ultimate prophet, just like as a priest. He was the last prophet.

He was the high priest, just like the king. He was the king of king. So don't be, don't let how you were raised in view of that limit what that's saying. So watch what Stephen says in Acts 737. This is that Moses who told. the Israelites, God will send you a prophet like me from your own people, which is Deuteronomy 1815. We'll go do the research. You know what he was talking about?

Jesus. Jesus. Thank you. So then he goes down. And we made that comparison of how much he was like Moses, those similarities that you see. So then he goes down to get to this word about this open, that it's a breakthrough. So watch this. He gets to the end of the sermon.

in verse, and it gets really profound, like in verse 51, he said, you stiff-necked people with uncircised hearts and ears, you are just like your fathers. You always resist the Holy Spirit, to your point out. Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming and the righteous one, and now you have betrayed him and murdered him. So he's talking about Jesus.

You who have received the law that was put into effect, through angels but have not obeyed it. 54. When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. Now watch this next phrase. It's very powerful. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God

and Jesus standing at the right hand. Look, he said, I see heaven. There's our word. open. There was a breakthrough. Now, you say, did he literally see that? I believe he did. I do too. I believe God allowed him an opening to view. And you know what he saw? He saw the son of man standing at the right hand of God. And the reason I think that that happened, I could be wrong, is because God knew that he was fixed to die. Yeah. And so he gave him a little bitty preview of where he was fixed to go. Yeah, I agree.

At this, they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices. They all rushed him, dragged him out, and they began to stone him, and they killed him. So my point is, though, in how does this work? I think there's a principle here that when you notice Stephen, what is he doing mind, body, so? His body is proclaiming Jesus. His mind was open through the Holy Spirit, and he put all the pieces together that the law, the prophets, and Moses were all talking about Jesus. He's arguing with these people who are disagreeing with him. And when they became furious, he looked up to heaven.

And I think when you're looking to God and you're using your body, soul, and spirit to do what God wants you to do via the Holy Spirit, there are breakthroughs. And it is God that had convicted him. It is the Holy Spirit that he's, that has opened his eyes and that's allowing him to do it. But you notice he's looking up to heaven because he believes this is real. And God gave him another breakthrough, which is to say, you're fine. Look at this. I'm at the right hand of God. What you believe is true.

And I think that's really the relationship of how we are to be. I mean, we are looking to God. We are looking at you. We are searching the scriptures. We are open-minded. don't feel threatened by listening to someone who we disagree with. We're not scared about all that because God has revealed to us we've had these breakthroughs and I just really think that that was what was going on here. Well, and that may tie in, and we'll talk about this more as we go forward

when we do our thumbnail of Acts, but when the people heard Peter's first massive address after the seeing the miracles and now seeing them open and they say they're cut to the heart and said to Peter brothers what should we do i mean it doesn't have that same Greek word but the mindset is there who's cutting the heart right you know and why are all of a sudden they open they're so open and what about all the passages paul's like this is a demonstration of god's power yeah so look we you know you don't want to be closed minded and and be saying that's sitting here with a notebook seeing if everybody's got everything right you know study it for yourself pray that god gives you wisdom pray that he reveals it to you but you know you're putting the work in the

time sometimes there may be tears sometimes you you may be angry but you're having these moments with god and and he's allowing your heart and heart to be softened and open via the holy spirit and look i think you spend the rest of your christian life having these aha moments They did respond when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. They did respond as they should have. Yeah. And we see that throughout the whole book of Acts, right, to Jason's point.

No, I think that's really good. And I like that idea about being open. And I'll say this as we wrap this podcast. As you mentioned about once you gets past 40, sometimes it's hard to be open-minded. but I would say, Dad described people responding in tears at a young age. None of us were really like that, but I will say this about all three of us sitting here.

Old or young, just tears. I will say this, the three of us sitting there, are we not more emotional than we've ever been in our lives? You said you tear it up when you read that passes. So there is something about growing and being open to God that even as you get older, I'm much more emotional than I ever. Well, it's a gradual thing that God revives.

It doesn't always happen all of it. at once. This is something that God continues to work on your heart. That's good. We're out of time. We'll pick it up here. We're going to do some looking into Acts the next few podcasts. We just couldn't really stop here. We, Jason and I talked about it with Zach and dad, and we just said, we feel like we now to kind of show you what happens as a result. Luke wrote Luke and he also wrote Acts. So for the next few podcasts, we're going to kind of show you what happens with this, you know, presentation that Luke lays out. So we'll do that on the next time of show. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast.

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