Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 850 | Miss Kay Is in the Hospital Again & Why the Robertsons Talk About Death So Much

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

Phil’s only link to the outside world leaves him feeling sorrowful but more determined than ever to share Jesus. Jase’s link to the greater world seems to be the local grocery store. Miss Kay's hospitalization leaves Phil feeling lonely, and Zach finds an uplifting reason that the Robertsons have so little aversion to discussing death. The guys deliberate the reason that Christianity seems to flourish during difficulty, such as during the Roman Empire, and how oppression emboldens the followers of Jesus. In this episode: Acts 4, verses 23-37; Acts 17, verse 27; John 10, verses 10-18; Matthew 18, verses 26-28  -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed podcast. Jay, you got the breaking news button. I got some breaking news. Breaking news. We're having technical difficulties. I've never seen someone that has such a hard time pressing a big red button, Jayes. Good night. Well, look, these button designs, this is basically a problem. protest against the world. Why would you invent a button that you have to push twice in order for it to work?

Oh, man, that was, we got to get a new button. Just think about that. All your technology, and you said, let's do a breaking news button. But guess what? It's not breaking enough to where you can press the button once. Well, I think it's to protect you in case of if you. An accidental. Yeah, you don't actually have breaking news and you hit it.

They want you to have a second chance to be like, wait. Actually, that's not breaking. Well, we should call that an oh wait button. Yeah. Push the button. Oh, wait. I didn't realize those will be such a hard task. So we do have some breaking news.

So as this airs today on March 11th, tomorrow, March 12th, is when Dad's book releases. So we're super excited about that. And I don't think I've mentioned this on the podcast. This is such big news. I guess I just, it slipped my mind. But dad has generously and unusually offered a duck hunt as a sweepstakes for those of you that buy a book this week. And so we're super excited about that. So if you want to get a chance to hunt with dad, and I guess you, Jace, I guess you'll be there.

Well, I wasn't conferred about. I had a running suspicion that Jace was not going to commit. So let's just put it on the bottom and the fine print. Jace may or may not be attending. It probably depends a lot on whether there's any ducks, where Jace is, who knows. That's funny. So this is with Premier Collectibles is the group that does this, and it's signed copies of I could be wrong,

I doubt it. And you go to Phil Robertsonbook.com is where you go for this one. So it's Phil Robertsonbook.com. So if you buy a signed copy from these folks, you will go into a sweepstakes and an opportunity to visit. Not only it would be a hunt, but I think there will be a lunch or some sort of meal associated with that as well. So that's big news. That is big news. And thank you, Dad, for being so generous with that.

It gives folks a chance to meet you. Yeah. And, of course, get a great book on top of that. Zach, did you have some breaking news, too? I did. I hate to announce at the same time that we're pushing the book, but the blind is going to be on GAC PureFlix platform. I have no other information right now, but I probably shouldn't even announce it this early. But actually, I think in a few weeks.

But, yeah, stay tuned for that. We'll let you know. Phil, that's a streaming service. So, Dad, do you do a lot of streaming at home? Streaming or screaming? I'll be a little bit of both. I'm the last man you would want to talk to about modern events. Yeah.

Every once in a while, my only attachment to the world is Dan, and he's riding around now on a motorcycle. And his dad, which is a good friend of mine, he's my age. and we've been following Jesus a long time. But I would get little blurbs. Dan would put it in front of me, and he said, that's what's going on out, and he'll tell me wherever it is. And I got a little update on how our culture is going up or down.

So Dan is the one that he's my only connection to the outer world. So he shows you videos and different things that are happening out there in the world. He said, listen to this. Yeah. He sets it in front of me. I'll be drinking a cup of coffee and I'll be looking at what he's saying. But that's my only connection with the outside world. The rest of it is such a big pile of crap, that it's hard to take it on the chin.

It's pathetic. That's what it is. Tell us a saying, really. I mean, Ms. Kay's in the hospital. She's sick. She's been sick. She's in her 70s. Well, I'm in my late 70s, and I got a birthday coming up in April.

So I'm two years of shy of 80. Well, my days are beginning to slow down a little bit. You know what I'm saying? I feel perfectly fine. No aches, no pants, no nothing. I weigh what you all the way. So I'm just kind of, kind of, kind of going with the deal. But every time I look at my culture out there in these United States, it's just a sorrowful thing.

Yeah. It's not me mad at them. It's just a, so I'm trying my best to get Jesus in front of them. I want to remind you of the gospel that was preached. It's a gospel that, you know, by this gospel you're saying. if you hold firmly to the word, what I received up past you of first importance that Christ died for our sins

was buried and raised from the dead. I'm right there until my days are over here. It's been a good run. I've helped bring many, many to God. So this book and all this going on in the movies, the blind, you know, just glimpses of what I used to be. They got that in there.

So we're just trying to win, get people to see. There is hope. And there's 2,000-year-old writings, and they've weathered it, and they are there, front and center. It's right there in front of me and everybody else. It's hard to get this kind of information in front of the world over a 2,000-year-old pattern. but it has worked. And the Almighty made sure it went from shore to shore worldwide.

So Dad Moses wrote about almost 4,000 years ago. It was a long time ago. He wrote a Psalm, Psalm 90. And in that Psalm, he said that a man on earth will get about 70 years, 80, if he has the strength, was the way he put it, to serve God or not. So it's really interesting that an ancient man, 4,000 years ago, wrote that, and that's right about where you are. Yep.

I mean, it's pretty impressive. I looked. Somebody reminded me, I looked for some information. And I think it's here. I can find it right quick. One thing is worthy of note. He talking about me, the author of this book, along with old Dasher there, Dashir Gordon was married to my sister before she went on to meet the Lord.

Godly woman, he has remarried. But the way this has worked out is the author of this book that's coming out tomorrow, I have five children, 19 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. Well, that's quite the number if you just look at them when they all get together. It's a house full. About 60. Yeah, about 60 right there. So, you know, just something worthy of note, you know.

So that's my, I don't know how long I'll be with them, but hey. Well, you know, some people listening to this, mate, he said, man, you know, you guys are morbid. But, you know, going back to Psalms 90, Al, you mentioned it just a second ago, we're actually told here to, you know, he says, verse 12. So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom or teach us to realize the brevity of life that we may grow in wisdom. It really is healthy to contemplate your mortality because when you do contemplate and talk about your own mortality, you're numbering your days. You're realizing that this time here is finite, which what that does if you're a believer in Jesus is it pushes you into

seeking a heart of wisdom and to really understand that this side is short, but God's made us for so much more. And so to lean into that so much more side of what we're doing. So it's actually a healthy thing that we talk about this. I love that about our family that we've always really talked about life and death in this way. And it's been helpful for me in my faith. You don't know about it. Yeah. I had a viewer asked me a question in the grocery store, which has become really my connection to the world. Phil's got Dan and you've got...

Jay says Brooks Shires. Is it Brookshires or is it Brookshires? It's Brookshires. Dan said when he alerted his dad, Dan gave him the information that he had just purchased a motorcycle and I said what did your dad say because I recommended that he'd not do that I'd already told him I said I wouldn't do that I said it's too dangerous a machine Dan four wheels are safer than two so he told his dad and he said for 30 seconds there were silence and he said well son all I can tell you is you've been a good son you got the motorcycle are you riding it yeah and the traffic yeah he said

You've been a good son, and I'm proud of you. Whoa. So Dan said it didn't take but seconds for him to be told. 30 seconds. He said, that's all of it. Well, we had a cousin that lost his leg on a motorcycle. We were actually visiting that side of the Robertson family. When that happened?

When it happened. It's seared of my memory. I was a little kid, but he had, Jimmy Frank, Uncle Jimmy Frank had told him not to buy the motorcycle. He bought the motorcycle at 16 years old, went and got a bag of groceries, had the groceries in one hand steering the motorcycle on the other hand on his way home after just buying it and wrecked and lost his leg at 16. So I've always been a that's seared in my memory. You know what I mean? And it cut his life short.

He's one of our two cousins, first cousins that, you know, that passed on in this early 50s. So, yeah, I mean, dad had drilled in us, no motorcycles. And then when that happened to our cousin, that was it. They said, how come, how come you don't want us having them? I said, they'll fall over. I'm sure. Profound. I said, there's two tires, one behind the other.

It'll fall over. So if you're listening to this podcast driving down the road on a Harley. We love you. What is happening. I guarantee you. Put Jesus in the center of your life, which goes back to my story that I know. Hang on, Jay, because I've been, I want to hear this Brooks' your story, but let's take a break. I find myself in a weird position today, which is hard to get a word in edgewise.

But I was asked from a listener, why do you keep saying Jesus is better than miracles? Why is that a big deal to you? Which, you got to remember, I'm here trying to figure out if I'm on which kind of grits I'm going to buy. You know, and a guy walks out, hey, hey, do it, good to see you. Why do you think it's such a big deal? Why do you keep saying that? So it kind of, I didn't take. How do you feel about grits?

I didn't take 30 seconds. I took about five. And I said, well, because he's a lie. Of course, that just got a dumbfounded look. And it's like, what? I was like, you got to remember all the miracles that were done to point people to Jesus. They're all dead. Yeah.

He's alive, which is my message to you when you start thinking about your age. You know, Jesus is alive. I mean, we started in Acts 1 where it said in my former book, I wrote about what Jesus began to do. And so then it says until the day he was taken up to heaven. And the guy that brought you to the Lord, one of his famous sayings was he would talk about what Jesus has done, is doing, and will do. But what I've noticed is we tend to focus on what he has done and what he will do. But you can't forget. well he's alive.

Yeah, he is doing. And thus he poured out his Holy Spirit as the exalted king and Lord of all, which he is right now as I speak. He's alive. So that was kind of my point to the question that our viewer asked was he's better because he's alive. And ultimately we will be with him forever. no matter what happens to you on this earth. Yeah, that's good. Good or bad.

Yeah, and that's, I mean, it's so good that you brought that point home because in, in where we are right now in the book of Acts, we're in this, like, section of Acts 3 and 4 where a miracle has taken place. And this is sort of the, you know, we've already had the speaking in languages and everything that kind of kicked this thing off in this outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And then we see it manifested in this 40-year-old plus man who everybody knew had been crippled his whole life. And Peter and John heal him. And but they do it all in the name of Jesus, which to your point, Jay, how many times do we say the name of Jesus? Just in the text, it was mentioned several times, but in the book of Acts over 50 times and over 200 times of the New Testament, this idea is that the name of Jesus and the purpose. and the person of Jesus is why the miracles occurred, which is, you know, that's kind of my point.

It's like I think we as believers in Jesus get the wrong idea here in Acts 1, where we're like, well, he left. So we're, you know, it's kind of like when you're a kid, because you have this being that we call God that has these three distinct personalities, but is one God. But, you know, I remember, Phil, when you left, well the rest of the family got into a lot of chaos, uh,

fighting, mischief, mischief, because you were literally hundreds of miles away. So there is no accountability whatsoever. And so that's why I made that point about what he's doing. It's a false idea that he went a million miles away. You know,

because time and space really, I mean, we, the Bible writers have trouble even relating how that happened because he's no longer bound by time and space. But he pours out his Holy Spirit. And even in Acts 17, when he, when Paul preaches the sermon to those who are following all these other gods, even to the unknown God, he makes a point saying in Acts 17 that he's not far. though he's not far from each one of us that's uh act 1727 god and to your point the problem arises if you read the first section of john in the beginning was the word jesus the word was with god jesus and the word was god jesus he was with god in the beginning Through him all things were made, but that's clarified on where everything came from.

Without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life. That life was the light of men. And listen to this. The light shines in the darkness, Jesus. But the darkness has not understood it. To this day, that holds true. No one has ever seen God, but God.

God, the only son who is at the father's side, like you said, to your point, Chase, has made him known. Well, exactly. But even Paul, you know, when he was writing to the Corinthians in First Corinthians 5, he said they don't understand it. And they had a guy, you know, doing acts that were obviously wrong in sexual immorality in that case. And they were talking about how to handle that in the church. but Paul made an interesting notation in 1st Corinthians 5.5. He said, when you're assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and then Paul said, and I'm with you in spirit,

but then he said, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present. Well, why would he say that? Now, obviously. The solution is right in front of him. Yeah, through his spirit, which is what... They haven't understood it. which is we already declared that the book of Acts is Acts of the Holy Spirit through being unleashed through human beings.

And that declaration of in Jesus' name is declaring the presence of Jesus himself. Just knowing that, that's why when you read Acts 4 through 7, because Acts 2 and 3 sounds, oh, my goodness, this is awesome. everything is great. And then all of a sudden we get in Acts 4, and opposition starts to occur. Persecution, being led to jail. Then you get to 5, and all of a sudden,

there's people claiming to believe that God is present and real. And then they're doing things for the praise of men instead of trying to please God, which will get into an Anonis and Sapphire, which is probably one of the more scary. passages. As some of them confused when he departs, well, they said, well, he's out of here. But instead of saying he's gone and he's out of here, he said, oh no, he's, he's all worldwide. He's active. He's alive through individuals who say, I believe it. I believe he's away.

exactly so we so in the text we left off peter and john had been thrown into jail because that they heal this man and then they let him out and when they get out they basically peter just boldly you know proclaims jesus to this same group that had crucified jesus same leaders i mean nothing's changed it's just a few weeks later and so they don't back off and they threaten them and they tell them you can't speak. And they're just like, no, we're going to speak. You know, you're not going to shut this down. So they're very bold in their response to it.

And it's really interesting because, and that takes us up to where we left off in chapter 4, verse 23. Because when they're released, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So this is like now they're out there fully as being the followers. And so now that everybody knows. knows. I mean, this is, this is Jesus 2.0 is what they're, I mean, this is the movement is going strong. And when the people heard this in verse 24, these are this new Christians. This is the new

group that is formed. They raise their voices together in prayer to God. So their response, when they told them everything that happened was a prayer. And this prayer is amazing. I mean, the Bible is New Testament, especially, is full of a lot of prayers. But now this is a humdinger of a prayer right here. Here's what they said. Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, which, dad, you just read that in John 1. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father, David. That was good insight that they even recognized the Holy Spirit back in David's day.

Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his anointed one. These are quotes from Psalm 118 and Psalm 2. And it's interesting because they're even recognizing in the moment that this is not only a spiritual battle, but even still a political battle. It's still going on. And then they say this in their prayer, verse 27,

Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel. So here's we see this collaboration of Gentiles, Jews, Jewish leaders, to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. So they're letting all of us know that God's still in control. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hands to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders. Here we go, Jays, through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.

It's quite the prayer. And after they prayed, verse 31, the place where they were meeting was shaken. I don't even know what that means, but something happened there. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly. So that's the reaction to this miracle and then being jailed and then being threatened and then being told to shut up and don't talk about Jesus. In the middle of all that, you've got to remember, they were standing there seeing and observing the departure. In their mind, a lot of them thought, well, he's gone. They were looking intently up into the skies as he was going.

When suddenly two men dressed in white stood there and said, Men are gadily, why do you stand there looking into the sky? this same Jesus who had been taken from me into heaven, and they all watched it. So they said, well, he's out of here. He's gone. He'll come back in the same way you've seen him go. And to this day, that has proven to be true. Now, there's no doubt that's true. Let's take another break. And this goes back to what you just read to Zach's point earlier, that there was an urgency that is now brought in, even in that moment of it just happening. And that urgency still goes to this very day.

That's right. Is Jesus still working? Is he still working through us? Is this Holy Spirit still impacted? So I think it's a, I think it still goes. Yeah, despite incredible opposition, I was just reading at the history of the early church. I mean, there were 10 major campaigns to end Christianity, you know, from this time to 300 AD. I mean, to wipe it out.

There was, in Roman history, you see this. There was a hundred years of time during the first 300 years after this, where it was illegal to be a Christian. Yeah. Yep. And so I also saw this quote from Toterlian, who was, many thought, you know, was kind of the first Pentecostal. He was into the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But he said, the blood of Christians is seed because he wrote that at a, about 120, I guess, AD.

But his point was that as much opposition came to them from killing them and trying to stop it, it just, every time they killed a bunch of them, it actually, it was like seed, it just planted more and more belief. And so when you kind of look at it in that vein, it gives more credence to every time they keep saying we were witnesses of this. they believed that Jesus was at the right hand of God, they had God's Holy Spirit. You literally could not stop it.

That's it. Despite, I mean, the greatest attempt to stop it that you could. And it's in our lap right now. It's covered the whole thing. Yeah, I mean, it's amazing. Right in front of us. Because every other religious movement, you kill the leader and the movement dies. That's when the movement started here.

You killed the leader, it flurred, it just took off like a bang, and then for 300 years, you go and continue to try to stop it, just through killing every person that declared themselves a follower of Jesus. Well, and then it comes full circle, and it becomes the religion of Rome for 300 years. I mean, it's just incredible that that happened. Well, we were in Rome with Zach and dad filming the movie Torchbearer that dad narrated and Zach wrote. We marveled at just walking through the Coliseum, which is still in pretty good shape, you know, after all these years. And Nero's Gardens, which were just right across the street from that, and hearing the stories about what happened to a lot of Christians in both of those places.

I mean, terrible, gruesome, awful things. that happened. And as we looked around, remember dad, when we went into the Coliseum, someone at some point in history put a cross in the Roman Coliseum. It wasn't there originally, but someone put one in there. And it was just that picture of seeing that cross there that was like, no, we triumph. Even over everything that went down here, you know, we're still here. We're still professing. We were over there making a movie about, you know, Christianity being better than all the world's religions in the kingdom of God being number one. And that cross to me just symbolize that in this place where all these things that

happened through the years. Yeah, too. When you're there in Rome, you, I mean, you're looking at ruins, obviously, in a lot of places, but even the ruins are pretty magnificent. And you can understand, we've said this before, I think on this podcast, we said it when we were there. if some guy's coming in from Africa from living in a mud hut and he comes into Rome at the peak of the Roman Empire and Caesar says, I'm God, you can kind of understand why they may have said, okay, I get it. I mean, like it was so magnificent.

And to think about the power of the Roman Empire, I mean, this stadium where the Coliseum is huge. And I just looked this up the other day, it took them, I want to say eight years to build. it without any modern, I may be off a little bit, but it wasn't like 50 years or something. You're thinking they have no crane, they don't have cranes, they don't have modern engineering, they don't have tracos, and they'd have none of this. And they built this facility that is humongous. And I say all that to say, man, we were talking about the epicenter of power. And then, and this is by the way prophesied in Daniel too, when it talked about in the days of the Roman Empire,

there was going to be this stone that was going to roll down this hill and it was going to hit the bottom of this statue, which was the Roman Empire. And it was going to collapse everything. It was the whole thing's coming down. And in those days, the prophet says there'll be a kingdom set up that can't be shaken nor destroyed. You've got to understand this. I mean, we're talking about the epicenter of hegemonic power. And then this guy is born as a baby to a virgin in a stone. stable in a manger, and through this person named Jesus, the whole thing was about to start.

And I mean, you would not have planned it this way. And it's just so incredible to think about the coming of the kingdom and the way that it came was not in a power dynamic that anyone would have interpreted in that time period. But yet, it was Christ in the coming of the kingdom that actually did take it down eventually. and I read this verse 28 in chapter 4 of Acts. It says that all of this had been predestined to take place. God had planned at all. He planned the whole thing. And so you think, well,

I would have never come up with that plan. Well, yeah, you would have, but you know who did? God did. And it's that plan and that sovereignty of God that we get to rest in, which enables us into the boldness that we can have because our boldness is not based on our own effort or ability to package any of this up. We just simply rest in what God's done and talk about.

Well, and I think you see a pattern here developing of people declaring Jesus being threatened, being jailed, and then the believers praising God for that. But you are seeing, to your point out, the presence of Jesus being made known, being at the right hand of God. Because it even goes back to what he said in chapter 3 that we read in verse 12. where it said, Peter saw this and he said, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness, we have made this man walk? And he goes on to say, verse 16, by faith in the name of Jesus, this man, whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus's name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him,

as you all can see. And they're saying the same thing, you know, even now in 4 and 28, when it says they did what your power and will had decided beforehand. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. And it made me think the reason they're having such confidence, because you're like, man, I wish we could have that today, this kind of courage and confidence. I mean, what happened? It just seems like now, even though we're part of the same group doing the same thing,

we're a little lacking in that courage and confidence. And there was a little more information that they had sort of didn't quite get in Acts chapter one after he had gone back into heaven. Therefore, in 21, it's necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's baptism, and you can meet it, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. Well, that just took place.

For one of these, one of the guys that would follow Jesus, must become a witness with us of his resurrection. So if this needs to be clarified that we have individuals who will, were there at the resurrection. They became a witness with us of his resurrection. That had to, so you had one on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, if you say, he was there the whole time in and out and all these predictions and what would happen. Well, that's, he had one out there to say, and I was there the whole time.

I saw him die. I saw him raise from the dead. And so then they took off. They had enough information. The death of Jesus, his burial and resurrection. Yeah, which was God's plan all along. I mean, he had the witnesses. He exalts Jesus, despite what the world might think, that God is in control.

He is. And he gives the Holy Spirit. And then you see all these gifts of the Holy Spirit that are undeniable. Yep. Yeah. But it still wasn't enough to change their hearts and minds. from a persecution level. And I think they went back to some of the words that Jesus would say,

because they're having all these aha moments when they look back in being with Jesus, which to your point, Phil, I think is why that was a prerequisite to be able to have these gifts of the Holy Spirit. I thought about John 10, 10, where he said the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, which they're seeing that from various leaders. and powers, even in Acts chapter 5, we're going to get to a similar line that you see happen in Jesus' day while he was training them and showing them what God was like when they said, how has Satan so filled your heart, you know, where you're holding back this money.

They're seeing this battle, but then to continue in John 10, he says, but I've come that they may have life and have it to the full. And then three times he uses this phrase in verse 11, it says, says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He then says it again in verse 15, just as the father knows me and I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And then he says, verse 17, the reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again this command i received from my father and the point i'm trying to make is when you see this kind of courage it only happens when it happens

voluntarily they're not doing this over any other agenda except they believe that jesus is alive and is working through them via the holy spirit they were accused because somehow i ever made fun of them and said they've had too much wine. Peter gets up and says, these men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's just nine in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel said. Yeah.

And he ends it up by saying everyone who calls on the name of the Lord to be saved. Yeah, they believe this is real. And where I'm kind of going with this is the difference in a hero, because these guys are heroes. They're risking their life. Yep. They're willing to lay it down. because they believe this is real and they're functioning on the energy of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom.

But when you think about like, we tend to think of them as stars in the faith. But, you know, the difference is when you think about who a star is and what makes a star, like what we would think in our modern culture, it's that other people, they've gotten the approval of other people. That's what a celebrity is. people think they're cool. But you'll see this contrast as we go through Acts. Are you looking for the praise of man? Are you looking for God's approval?

Well, when you look for God's approval, you all of a sudden start doing things that are uncharacteristic in our world, like willing to lose your life over a message. Yeah. I mean, that's why I brought up the, it was 100 years right after this, that it's illegal to declare that publicly.

So it's this battle. the whole time of shut up. We don't want to hear it because it's threatening our agenda and what we want to do and be the best you can be. And it's that agenda versus, no, there is a way to have life to the full, which is ultimately living forever with your loved ones. Jason, I'm so glad you brought that up about from John 10 because I think Luke, this next section in verse 32 down to 37 of Acts 4 is going to describe the situation. And it sounds very utopic. I mean, this is like, man, so many people have strived for this setting, but you can't forget that Satan is still at work. And so let me read that section, at least to get us ready,

because it's going to lead us into five that we'll talk about on the next podcast. He says out of this, remember there's the Holy Spirit's being poured out. Man, the people are excited. They're praying bold prayers. And it says, all the believers were one in heart and mine, which is what we all want, right? We want unity. We want closeness.

No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. So it's almost a communal type experience that they're having here. With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, so they haven't stopped. And much grace was upon them all. So they're living the dream. There were no needy persons among them from time to time those who were. who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the

apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. So it's a very community-oriented situation. There's trust there. There's helping people. So this is, so many people have strived for this on earth. They're like, if we could just get this utopia, this place where we're all equal and all the same. Some of them tried to make a little money out of it, and they really got in a buying, Anonis, and stuff. Well, and that becomes the point, right? So verse 36, we see Joseph a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles call Barnabas. So this is the introduction of Barnabas, who is going to be Paul's sidekick.

But I love his name, which means son of encouragement. They changed his name because he was such an encourager. And Jason, I couldn't read this without thinking about our old friend Robert Dixon, Robert and Bertha from WFR. just the sweetest brother you ever met. And he started a ministry at WFR called the Barnabas Ministry. And it was just a ministry of encouragement. He sent cars to people on their birthday. Something happens.

He comes to the hospital and visits you. And I thought, man, that still goes forward 2,000 years later for people. So this Barnabas sells a field that he owned and brought the money and put it at the Apostles' feet. So all that is a setup for what's about to happen. And I think the reason Luke concludes this is because he shows you how great it was and how unified the people are. But then you got to realize they're just, they're people. And so, you know, people are going to fall into temptation.

Problems are going to arise. And so the next couple of chapters that we're going to get into are problematic for this early group. And we understand that all these, you know, 2,000 years later that there is no utopia on Earth. because you have people and people are going to fall short and people are going to sin and people are going to lead people in a path that's not good. You start reading the epistles when Paul writes and his whole thing is, watch out for these divisive people. They're false teachers.

They come in. They lead you away. They're like Satan masquerading as an angel of light. So you're starting to see that it's not going to be perfection on earth, even though it's so much better than it was because you understand who Jesus is. So I think he's setting the story up to take us to the next level. Well, I also think it's making sense of passages that are hard to figure out when you read in the Gospels like Matthew 19, 27 and 28. Remember when he said, this is the story about the, you know, the rich young ruler where Jesus said, go sell everything you have.

Yep. And they were like, well, this is impossible. It seems impossible if you have a lot of. of money and he made that famous quote in 26 with man this is impossible but with god all things are possible and peter said well we've left everything and then jesus said i tell you the truth just listen to this wording that the renewal of all things when the son of man sits on his glorious throne which we now have in acts here it's happening you who have followed me will also sit judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

And everyone who has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children, fields, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. And then when Mark gave the same account in Mark 1029, he says the same thing. Anyone who has left fields and houses, father, mother, brothers, or sisters for me and the gospel, will fail to receive a hundred times as much

in this present age, Holmes, brothers, sisters. But then it says, and with them, persecutions. But in the age that come, eternal life. So I think you're seeing that being played out because even though this does look like a utopia setting and we read this, and I've heard many sermons in churches about this, and they're like, why can't we pull this off? But you've got to realize when this,

this happens, you are fixed to be persecuted vehemently. Oh, I mean. Trouble is happening. This led to the greatest persecution of the church in that 100-year period than any other time, which is, it just shows you that this is a battle of powers doing it God's way or man's way. And we would have never have gotten it unless these, these texts here were put here that that's an explanation of what's going on because everybody's running in every direction around there yeah i mean ultimately and when we're all together in the

afterlife that is when it will truly be smooth sailing but for now this is not going to come without persecution threats and even you know threats to life as seasons come and go on our earth when you're out there declaring Jesus as Lord, the powers that be, and a lot of them that we create, you know, just man-made ideals of how culture and life should go, that they're not going to put up with that.

And what came out of it is the temple came down. Well, yeah, that was one thing, because they were holding on to that religious form, which they viewed this as a threat. Well, and remember, this is one of the dangers of utopia thinking as well, because Jason made a very valiant point there that, remember Jesus told him in Acts 190, said, you're going to start in Jerusalem, then you're going to go to Judea, Samaria, and the utter ends of the earth with this message that I've given you to share.

But Utopia doesn't want to go out from anywhere when you've got things going, so great for me. I mean, in other words, my needs are being met. You know, I'm not having to worry about money. You know, people are very generous and all these are all positive, good things, but they tend to put us inward. And that's the problem with this sort of thinking. And his whole idea was that they would go out.

And so, Jay, as you said it in Acts chapter 8, when we get there, it says a great persecution broke out against the church. And guess where they went? Judea, Samaria, and ultimately, to the utter ends of the earth with the good news. And it happened because they couldn't stay in one place. And that's what the gospel does. It doesn't allow you to turn it inward.

Although churches many times try to do that, let me just get my comfortable place where we're all comfortable and only thinking about ourselves. But how well does that work out? It doesn't. That's not our mission. It wasn't the mission from the start. So it's a big part of it.

All right. So we're out of time. We'll pick up here, because the story they were going to go into in the next podcast, I'm with Jay's. It's one of the most frightening, to be quite honest, difficult text for me, especially being a church leader to deal with because it's gruesome. And it shows you how serious God considers the heart and the Holy Spirit. So we'll get into that on the next podcast, Acts Chapter 5.

We'll see you next time on Unashamed. 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 blaztv.com slash unashamed.