Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 857 | Phil Is Skeptical of the Drive-Through Car Wash & 3 Things Robertson Men Never Do

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

A terrible drive-through car wash experience has Jase stating the three things Robertson men should never do, and Phil is happy to report that he’s stuck to that his entire life. Jase, Phil, and Al share their favorite parts of their Louisiana heritage, even though others might find them a little eccentric. The guys cover the two interesting stories of Simon the Sorcerer and Philip and the Ethiopian and recognize the importance of those moments in the spreading of the gospel beyond Israel. In this episode: Acts 8 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. As Jay said, it's a time marvel because for you guys, it's a day or two. For us, it's about five minutes until we reset for another podcast. So we're still like heavy into what we've been talking about. I will say in Louisiana right now, we are in the middle of pine pollen season. and it's brutal. It rains pollen. It rains pollen.

Literally you can see it. If you just stare long enough, you can literally see it in the sky. You park your vehicle and you walk out an hour. You can go wash your vehicle and walk out an hour later. And it's just a green sheen. So all that, you're breathing. So like constantly, of course, we're all, we have, luckily we have Maddie here to try to fix us. But we're coughing and hacking and wheezing.

That's why we live in Louisiana, though. It's the state of extremes. I always says the state not fit for human habitation. I don't know how y'all do it. And yet we're here. Zach, you got out. You decided, you know what? I'm just going to go somewhere better.

Because it's the sportsman's paradise. What are you talking about? It is great. And we just, we like being like. There are times when it's brutal, and this is one of those things. We like being the weird cousin, you know, of all the states if we were all cousins. We're the weird ones. That's right.

But the food's good. You got great food. A lot of merriment, you know, basically happy people. And that Mississippi Delta has its own, it has its own beauty. I mean, it's, it really is pretty spectacular. I always tell that when I go to Texas, I say, if you guys are, because they're the only ones in their constitution that can become their own country. So, you know, things get just really sideways in the U.S. If you guys do it, bring us with you.

We'll call it Texiana and we'll bring the food and the merriment. That's what we can raise to say. That's what Louisiana is famous for, which, look, I've thought about this before. I didn't know we were going to talk about this, but I've had some deep thoughts because I thought like. Oh boy, here we go. We're back on that coaster. No, I thought about what Zach said. It's like, why would a rational thinking person live in Louisiana because of all the extremes?

It's a lot of extreme. A lot of things want to hurt you here. In the summer, it's unbearable. I mean, if you wanted to get, this is a morbid thought, but if you wanted to get rid of, of somebody, just go tie them up in the woods at night. You don't have to do anything to them. They'll be... This is still about putting weights on somebody.

No, no, no, no. Just you want to get rid of the bike. Tie him up in the woods at night in the summertime. Something will eat him. Something will get him or torture him. It's true. And the rain is unbelievable. The storms are violent.

And, Zach, you can speak to this. The cold here, it's a wet cold. The temperature doesn't have to be that low, but it's so humid here in the winter even that it will just go to your bone. I've been more cold at 40 degrees than any other time. My really good friend Barrett from Kansas, who it gets below zero there. I've hunted with him. He said, you know the only time I've ever been cold in my life?

And I was like, where? He said, when I go down and hunt with you? Because he said, I'll see 40 degrees and I'm thinking, oh, right there in a t-shirt. You forget, we're wet here. I'm in the corner. shaking violently and I feel like there's a thousand needles. I don't understand why they're poking me and I said it's called humidity. That's right. And when it's cold. But my point was, but we have hospitality and we have food. That's what you were described. That's it.

Which just shows you my point. It doesn't matter where you live or where you're going to go. It's who you're with. That's the more important point that we zeroed in on. Right. So as long as we're miserable together, we can have a good meal, sing a song, tell you a story, and then you forget all your troubles. So, so, yeah, you probably should have, you probably should have also, when you said summer, that means from about March till about October, that's summer. Yeah. And then the rest of it's winter.

There's very little, we have a change of seasons. We have a change of misery. I would say May to through September, yeah. So here's what, so yesterday. Lisa gets her car wash and I was like, babe, I don't know why you're, I mean, she needed to get her oil change so she got it watched, but I was like, I'm not even going to wash my truck because it's just ridiculous.

We got to wait until the season's over. I mean, it's going to get about a half inch deep on my truck, but if you wash it off, it did, well, Jay said, it's going to be right back on there. But I was looking at it and I've been having trouble breathing, getting out of it, just gets on my clothes. So I've never gone through one of these things, but they got these new things all over town where you just go and,

They'll, you know, you go through this thing. Inside, they wash it. But I've never used one before. So, yeah, it's an automatic. Automatic, right. Watch that. I've never done it. A.k.a.

, aka money makers. See, you don't understand. I've never done it before. Have you ever heard of a Martian? Martian? Yeah, Martians. Somebody from Mars? No, they say they're green people and they thought they were from Mars.

What they don't realize, I know where that got started. A Cajun ran through a pine thicket. And when he came out the other side, they thought, That guy must be from Mars. It's a green man. It's a green. It's a, he's from Mars. No, it was just a cage and running through a thicket.

I must be colored by because I always thought that the pollen was yellow. Is it green? It's greenish. It's chartreuse. More green, yeah, charitruits, which is why the best bait you can use is a charteroose colored crankbait when it comes to crank baits. Because that would be. I mean, I don't know.

They think it comes off in the water. Yeah, they think it comes off a tree. and this is a shard tree and that they can't help it's 10 to 1 with any other crank bait right my name uh phil's neighbor caught he named it gertrude this this little bait and he said it's 10 to 1 with a crane mack and he proved to me at an early age that that was true right so uh so i'll pull into this thing yesterday and there's a young man there and he takes your credit card they give you several options i said well i just want the cheapest one because in about an hour this is all going to be back, you know. I said, I'm just trying to get it, get it less than it was. So it was $10. He took my

credit card. He puts it in the machine. He gives to me. He said, okay, well, he didn't give me any instructions. Well, I've never done this before. I mean, it doesn't seem like it be too hard to figure out. When I pull up where your wheels kind of go into this, and there's two men on either side of my truck, a young man and an older man, and they're doing the windshield with the big squeegees and on the tires. And so they're just kind of prepping before I go in. With this young man, he's, he's, he's, He's already got a bad attitude. I can just tell. Now, my window's up,

but I can just tell. He's not happy. He's not happy to be working at the car wash. Or something. Maybe something happened in his life. So I don't, I'm just sitting there. I put it in park. You know?

Well, I've never done this before. There's no instructions. Nobody's told me what to do. And he starts yelling. So then I lower my window. But there's suds and water all over my truck. I lower my window just a little bit. He said,

can't you read? I said, what am I reading there, bud? Because he's young. He's, you know, he's just a kid. And he said, right here. And he's pointing at the thing. It says, put it in. And you gave him your money. Yeah, I've already paid. This wasn't the guy that took my money, but this. Yeah, let me give you a tip. When you are paying for services to be rendered and the people you're paying, that's making their living from that, starts yelling at you. He's yelling. You should not be doing that. I hadn't finished the story. So he's pointing at the thing, You know, so I was like, oh, okay, I got it. I said, hey, dude, this is my first time to do one of these.

And he just stops and looks at it. I said, why are you so angry? You know that to him? I said it. Why are you so angry? Good for you. And he looked at me as well, because you're not reading the thing. I said, dude, I've never done this before.

It's okay. You should have said, I'm a Robertson. We were taught, which I'm sure Phil is uncomfortable about this, but we were taught two things at an early age. We've told you this before. don't cut the grass. Remember that, Phil? Because the frost will get...

The fall to get it. Yeah, the frost will get it. Don't cut the grass. It's a waste of energy, time, money. All right. And number two is, you don't shave. Same principles apply. It's a waste of time, energy, and money.

Well, I, since I am a... Try to stay to my roots, I realize the car wash falls into that category. Yeah. Especially in Louisiana. So this is a hot button topic with my wife. We've had quite a few interesting debates because she said, babe, you need to wash your truck.

I was like, why? An hour later, the pollen is going to cover it once again. That's right. And then I'm going to be like your dad who washes it every couple hours. Well, right, because if you go down that rabbit hole. Well, that's what I'm saying. What are we doing? So before I finish the story, I would.

You just made me think about something. Dad's new book, I could be wrong. We were doing an interview year's at Duck Commander. And Martin comes in, and I have to give credit to Martin. This was really a funny line. He looked at the book and he said, I could be wrong, but I'm a Robertson. That was funny. I was like, all right, Martin.

I'm going to give you credit on that one. That was a good. See, he gets it. He gets it. So I'm putting now, I think. Y'all do struggle with that, by the way. I think Al should apologize because Phil doesn't like that you went and washed your car. And look, you had a miserable experience.

I did. It was bad. So here's the rest of it. It's not quite over. So he didn't say anything. I stunned him. I stopped. Well, it occurred to me, listening to some of y'all's stories, I said a truck being washed.

No. I've never done that. I never have you. You've never done it? I never did until yesterday. I've always washed my own. I'll get something on it, you know. I'll go out there.

maybe with a holes or something, but to go hire it done by some little kid. Well, I just thought it'd be good layer off. But so it's not quite over yet. So the guy just looks at me like I stunned him. And he didn't give me an answer. And I said, it'll be all right. So I rolled my window up.

Well, I went to put my truck in neutral. And I accidentally put it in trial. So I just take off. Now you're trying to run him over. Well, I was locked into some kind of aberrower. apparatus, but I just took off into the thing. Well, the last thing I saw was this guy went from angry to apoplectic. I thought he's going to have a heart attack because I guess he thought I was doing it on purpose, but I really didn't. I just, you know, against my first step.

Yeah. And then I realized I didn't hit the car in front of me, thank goodness, but I came probably within a few inches. And then I slid it up in a neutral and I just sat there and enjoyed the show. But when I drove back by, I was leaving out. I hit my horn. I gave it. him a thumbs up. He probably thought, oh, I thought this was his first time in a car wash. This is his first time driving. I get a little nervous in there, too, man. You get in there and you got to put it in neutral and it's a lot of pressure.

Everything's, yeah, they're moving a cruise. I don't think I'll do it again. I did it once. I never tried it. I never went back. I don't think I'll go back. It was not a good experience. I think it's a quick way to lose 10 bucks.

Well, I will say this, two hours later, I went back out to get in my truck to go watch my grandson play soccer. And I had about a sheen that had now reformed. Was it $10? How much? $10. We all are describing something that in my almost 80 years on the earth, I've never participated in that. I don't know what. Well, you were probably wise, Dad, because it was not a good experience.

I'm going to go out and look at your truck when I leave today just to see where it's at. Because I don't really look at another person's truck. I know other people do. You've never cleaned out the inside of your trucks either. No. Because your work truck is, whew. There was a few repairs I had to put on it in the last few months. But other than that, no problem.

I think the moral of the stories don't judge a book by its cover. Don't. judge the present by the package. Well, I did think at the end of it when I left, I thought, you know, I'm leaving here. I'm going to go to my house. I'm going to do a little study for our podcast. And I'm just happy, go lucky, you know. I'm not missing out on too much.

And I look back at that poor young man, I thought he's still there because the cars are just steady coming in there. So I hope he finds a happy point. So there was a lot of people doing this. Oh, yeah. They're busy. They're making money. And look, they had a money. up to you could pay 40 bucks i don't know what the difference was from 10 to 40 but there were

different levels of something i but i can't imagine what else they would have done unless they sprayed something on there because it wasn't it once i got to chemicals because the tube's the same length right i mean you drive through the two that's right you everybody went through the same thing but one one guy's paying 40 and one guy's paying tens i'm not sure at this pace we're not we're gonna have no listeners left because we've offended everybody who shaves cuts their grass or I want to get back to Axe? I think we need to. I think we should.

Before we offend anyone else. We're not against you car washers. I'll make, you know, wash your car, do what you've got to do. So we're in Acts chapter 8, and Jays took us on a mighty roller coaster last time, and we hopped around with this idea about angels. Well, in spiritual war, I was just focusing in on things that happened. No, but actually, Jase, the next section that we hadn't read, I'm going to read this, because this is exactly what you're talking about.

In verse four of Acts chapter 8, those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. So the idea was, again, that they didn't walk away from their faith. They just walked away from the white hot, you know, Saul's killing people, and they took their faith with them. They were preaching wherever they went. Wherever they went. This is not church building on once a week. What I'm trying to describe is what the kingdom of God looks like. It's a unashamed declaration of Jesus Christ wherever you go.

And there's a persecution that arises because there is a spiritual battle going on. And all of a sudden you see spiritual forces start showing up. Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly right. That's a pattern that you're going to see the rest of the way. That's true. And then there's a battle of powers. Which power is going to win?

This is what you're fixed to see. We've got a guy who's focused on earthly physical power against the power of the Holy Spirit in God's people. And this is the battle you're fixed to see. So here's what happens, just to just what you said, Joe. Philip went down to a city in Samaria. So that's where he wound up. And again, he's one of the magnificent seven. And he proclaimed the Christ there.

when the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said, which, by the way, that's the purpose of the miracle is to get you to listen closely to the message. And here's what happened today's spiritual warfare. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many. So he's throwing out demons, evil spirits. I mean, the spiritual realm is very activated.

He also, and many paralytics and cripples were healed, so there was great joy in that city. So they go out of one area where they're getting persecuted and it's gloom and doom and we're killing people. We go to another area and everybody's paying attention. I do think it's interesting that you remember back in John 4 whenever Jesus went into Samaria, because all the Jews avoided Samaria. We've given you a little bit about Samaritan, the history of Samaria. They're kind of a mix. They got overrun and overtaken,

and then they wound up kind of with this inner breeding with Gentiles. And so the Jews did not recognize them at all. And you remember in John 4 when Jesus ran up on that woman at the well, she was talking about her heritage and her being there. And Jesus, you remember what he told her? He said, there's going to come a time when worship won't take place on this. And there was a temple there where she was a mountain or the one down in Jerusalem. but we'll all worship together in Spirit and Truth.

And I did think it's interesting that this is that moment, Joe. This is when it actually is happening. Jesus remember telling her that, but this is it. This is that time. Well, I think Jesus prepared their hearts with the... I do too. Remember, she's the whole town believed in Jesus back then. So now he's coming back in and they're, oh, yeah, you remember, oh, so-and-so.

And for the record, the town is a little... argumentative because the town had been destroyed, the actual town Samaria. So they viewed it as a region. And they say, well, this was probably part of the rebuild of, but it was that, and it still is referred to as a region. But I just read that in some of the scholars, but they all said that. So he was just in this region, which is why you're going to wind up later on a dirt road. Yeah. You know, out in the middle of the desert.

Right. So this is where he goes. Good things are happening in this region. And then we're going to get a story about one of the converts here who's not really a convert. And it's a very interesting story. It starts in verse 9. Now, for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone grand.

Right. Right at the bat, that caught my attention, Dad, because he used to tell us when we were young, don't go around telling people you're great. If other people say you're great, that's fine, but you don't do that. You put that in us. But this guy's telling people how great he is. And all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, this man is the divine power, known as the great power. So they've got him as some sort of, I guess a demigod. You know, I mean, this guy's supposedly could do. do so many amazing things. Which is a theme of the book of Acts. It's got the real God against all other gods. Exactly.

They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. So we've read sorcery, magic, I mean, illusionist. But it could have been false, you know, God too. I mean, he could have been fueled by the spiritual realm. Exactly. Exactly. That's what I was going to bring up. As angels are, have their attention here.

Right. But when they believe Philip, as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, there's that again, Jay. They were baptized both men and women. So this guy kind of had a lot of people captivated, to your point about spiritual warfare, and then he comes along with the gospel, and all of a sudden people are turning away. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles that he saw. And so you already kind of see a little something about him that he seems to be more amazed by the ability to do the miracles than actually what he was supposed to. He wanted that ability, which is why I'm all the time saying Jesus is better than the miracles.

because here you have a case where somebody wants to come to Jesus because he wants the ability to do the miracles. Because he's been doing whatever he's been doing. But he thought, they're better. He recognized a true miracle and a true power, which then gets into, well, how come Philip was able to do this and he was not an apostle if he was one of the seven. But you do remember that in Acts 6, when they were going to serve the widows, the 12 gathered them together in verse 2.

And then verse 3, they chose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom. We will turn these responsibility over to them. then in verse 6 they presented these men to the apostles and prayed and laid their hands on them and the reason I'm bringing that up because when we get to the next section in chapter 8 verse 14 the apostles in Jerusalem when they heard that samaria had accepted the word of god they sent peter and john two apostles to them when they arrived they prayed for them that they might receive the holy spirit because the holy spirit had not yet come upon them, they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus,

which sounds confusing. But you would have to conclude that they were talking about they hadn't received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, because we know from Acts 238 that they had received the indwelling, because watch what happens next. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them. Here's two apostles, and they received the Holy Spirit. Spirit. So they received the gifts of the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the Apostle's hands, he offered them money. Well, what's his whole motivation? Now, look,

I was very disappointed in the scholars what I read, because a lot of them did not say what I just said. they're saying that you know the holy there's not a difference between the gifts the miraculous i found the same thing in my study i was just very disappointing yeah in the context of this story this guy was all about doing these miracles that's what this is all about he wanted that power yeah so watch what happens next uh so when simon back to verse 18 saw that the spirit was giving on at the lay in of the apostles hands he offered them money and said give me this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. Peter answered, may your money perish with you because you thought you could buy the gift of

God with money. You have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart for i see that you are full of bitterness and a captive to sin then simon answered will pray to the lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me i mean i'm not he was obviously a new christian and new christians do stupid things right so i'm not willing just to write him off i mean i did it says when he believed jesus i got to take it for what it said he believed jesus and he was baptized and he seemed to be accepted And I know that he received the Holy Spirit of God there.

It wasn't the Holy Spirit manifesting the way he wanted to. Exactly. He was supposed to be focused on Galatians 522, the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, you know, self-control, faithfulness. But he wanted, he didn't just want the gifts. He wanted the power that the apostles had as eyewitnesses to the resurrect to the Lord to be able to confirm the message about Jesus. by imparting that power of the gifts by laying his hands on other people and they get he he basically wanted to go from a one-man show to having all his people be able to do the same things because he was looking at it from a money standpoint it was the first pyramid schemes

pyramid scheme of the gifts this is what we've been talking about though like when we would say we want it's not it's more about the miracle giver than the miracle he didn't get that. So this guy, Simon, he wanted the miracle. He wanted the gift of God, but he did not want God. And that is a big distinction. He didn't want the spirit to live in him. I'm glad you made the clarification, Jay.

So there's a difference between the Holy Spirit and dwelling a believer, God moving in, living in you, and then having a gift of the Holy Spirit, meaning miraculous gifts that you're performing through the power of the spirit. That's not the same thing. and he clearly here did not want the Holy Spirit to dwell him. He just wanted the kingdom without the king. He wanted the gifts without the gift giver. And because he wanted his own power, he wanted to be able to perform the trick for people.

And he saw that. And he missed two very important things. And people, unfortunately, are still missing it today, and including many scholars that I read in this section, and Jay's made the point. And I had the exact same reaction. Philip, who is one of the magnificent seven, those servants, he's right there with Stephen, who was given the ability to do miracles and is doing them.

He didn't lay hands on any of these people and give them in part miracles. That's right. They had to call the apostles. The apostles had to come. So, I mean, right off the bat, Simon should have said, if anybody could have done this, it would have been the guy who he's been seeing doing all these miracles. This is a key point. Like if, and I'm not saying I hold this position exactly, but there's a, there is the idea that here, that the way you get apostolic, I'd actually agree with this. The way you get the apostolic power is the apostles laid their hands on you and gave it to you. But there's no, I mean, I don't, I don't believe that this kind of power is, is roaming around in the world today. If it was, and I want to see the person who, who is performing these kind of miracles.

and when they make a command, they get it right 100% of the time. They carry the authority of God with them. That's what was happening with these apostles. So then they laid hands on these guys and gave them the same type of gift. You won't find anywhere in the Book of Acts where there wasn't an apostolic presence. The only place that hands weren't laid on first was in Acts 10 when it fell on Cornetus and his family. But Peter was there. and then that proved that now the Gentiles were welcome in.

But he was there. There was an apostolic presence. You'll never find a case where someone they laid hands on to do miracles, then laid hands on someone else. And in fact, you see stories like this where a guy wanted to do it, whatever is motive. And of course, the answer is no. Yeah.

And we realize people believe this today, and we love those people. Absolutely. But I'm just going by what the text seems. Yeah, we're just doing with the text. To say and imply. And if you don't have that one bit of very important information in your heart, that you have to love Jesus more than money. He wanted the powers and the gifts of Jesus because he wanted to make some money.

Yeah. And he had lost his following. The people that used to think he was great for what he could do. Now I said, wait a minute, this Jesus is way better. than Simon the magician. I mean, he lost his position. But it's an important point, having said all that, because when you come to Jesus and trade him like on what you're going to get

rather than what you're giving, you're on the wrong foundation. And that's bigger than just miraculous, Judge. You're right. I mean, that's anything. We shouldn't, what do you call it, Zach, the cosmic bellhop? We shouldn't look at Jesus. as someone we bring into our lives because we want stuff.

Well, and I think baptism is going to be an important point here because when he believed and was baptized, well, that was his crucifixion there. He died. He was buried and he was supposedly humbling himself to trust the Lord here. So the very thing he did right off the bat was the exact. opposite of that. He's like, well, give me that power

because this is what I want to do. This is my agenda. So I want to use what Jesus did for my agenda. That won't work. And remember what Peter tells him. He didn't tell him he needed to go back and redo anything. He just told him he need to repent. He said, you need to change.

You need to get this wickedness out of your heart. Because a lot of times I know, because I hear from so many of you in our audience, you will come to realization sometimes that maybe you've been focusing on the wrong things. And so you think, well, this whole time I haven't been a Christian or I haven't, you know, what about my baptism? What about my, you know, my first face. Look, the answers here are simple once you know Christ.

Just repent. Change. Yeah, that's why I said, we're not throwing him under the bus. He was a new Christian. And he did repent. He said, pray for me. That's right. I mean, I think he did it.

Pray for me. Like, I think he, that's a great point. I probably, maybe I overstated it when I said he wanted the king without the king, or the kingdom without the king. Well, in that moment. In that moment. Yeah, in that moment. But we all mess up.

But we all do that, right? We all want, there are great Christian people who want the things of God over the God of the things. I've done that in my life a lot. I want, I'm more kind of on the intellectual side of it, but like I want to intellectualize this. I want to, I want to have the, I want to know the word. And I get so into that sometimes that I forget. But this is directed me to a person called Jesus, and he's the prize. And it introduces you to that.

We're on a journey. And when you're on a journey and you come to a realization that you need a course correction on the journey, you're still on the journey. It's not like you're saying, well, you know what? I'm on the wrong journey. I got to go back and start over. No, you need to course correct. You need to, you know, get this out of your heart and out of your life.

This is not good for you. Well, you always got to look and keep it in perspective. I mean, it's just like books, you know, I was recommending Joe Beam's book. We're recommending Phil's book. But we have a book. It's called the Bible. That's right.

People write books to make money and give you their opinion on what this is about. But what this is about is way more important. And if you get that out of line, I could see a scenario where somebody is writing a book just to make money. And that's kind of where it ends. Right. Well, to your point, that's funny, guys, because let's take another book. Dad's been doing a lot of these interviews, and when he's talking about his book, they ask him questions about it, and mostly dad has read scripture. Your answer to most of your questions

about the book has been the book, which I find fascinating, because that's what this book is about. It's about the one in which we point to. So verse 25 says, when they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. So they, went down here for this specific purpose and then they you know strengthened them and then i love this last little line preaching the gospel in many samaritan villages so when they went they didn't just go for this one thing they hit the whole region with more gospel so i'm sure samaria is now a happening place because of the gospel so now this is the second part of story it's still philip but this is the I feel like this is the last, like, beginning, jumping off place of what Jesus told them to do.

Because now we've moved from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria. And then I think this one episode, along with what's going to happen in Acts 10, and then, well, Acts 9 and 10 with Paul coming on board, is now we're going to go to the whole, everybody. You know, we're going to go to the utter end to the earth. Because the bottom line is after this episode was Simon in verse 25, which I didn't they, when they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem,

preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages. Right. The bottom line was the gospel of Jesus being preached is the center thrust of what's happening. It's the center of thrust of why there's so much persecution, of why you're having this battle with these powers. Yeah, which is why you have this debate about how to confirm it. And, you know, here's a guy wanting the power.

and not the power. I mean, you've got to keep that in perspective. So the gospel has already begun to go out because remember in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, remember all those countries that were represented with the people that were hearing the gospel in their own language, those people are starting to go back home. And then this guy, this Ethiopian guy, is another one.

But I think the reason Luke includes it in his narrative is to let us know that now the Spirit of God, and the angels are seemingly focusing to make sure the gospel goes out. Let me just read the story, and then we can comment up. Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, so there's, and J.S. You read this in the last podcast, we're seeing the angelic interaction. Yeah. And now the new kingdom.

Who are messengers from God? Hebrews 114 says, are not all angels ministering spirits, sir, assent to serve those who follow the Lord. Yeah. And you remember they showed up when Jesus left and told the disciples, he said, what are you standing around for? You know, he's coming back, so you better get to work. So they're engaged.

They're involved in what's going on. Exactly. So the answer would be, yes, except those ones that got kicked out of heaven, and they're doing the opposite. And they're working against you, which Bobby had a lot to do with what happened to Stephen. Go south to the road, the desert road, that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

So he started out, and on his way, he met an Ethiopian eunuch, and that's kind of an upper now region. It gives us in the margin. An important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopian. So this guy is a royal official, and we know this because he's in a chariot reading his own Bible,

which nobody had by that. Which is probably why he was a unit. when you look up the history of what these entities would do is they would castrate people who worked for the royal government. Around the queen or around. For two reasons. There were no distractions from a sexual viewpoint, and they would have no heirs, which is why you trust people like that with money.

I mean, it's a very unfortunate, I mean, you think, that's just barbaric. Well, that's just the way it was back. The way of the world works. So I would tend to believe that was the situation, but I think from looking at this, because you've got to remember, this is starting to the Jewish nation and then spreading, as Al said,

I mean, Al said, from Acts 1, 8. But it's very difficult for these people, as it would be for us, to get out of our comfort zone and go to people who are different, culturally, regionally, whatever else. You know, we were talking about Louisiana, how different we are.

There's no doubt we're different. Yeah. And we're hospitable to everyone. But you go to other parts of the country and look, I feel, I'm just confessing this, even though I'm part of the United States, I feel like a fish out of water. I'm like, what's wrong with these people? Why are they eating this stuff? I can't even understand what they're saying.

They can't understand me. It's like a different country. But if you're looking at this, what do we have a... responsibility to do. Love all people. This is what the kingdom looks like. And so here, I mean, just think about this situation. Here's an Ethiopian, you know, man of color from Africa, who's a eunuch, who's in charge of this, whatever that, the treasury of the candace, which means the queen of the Ethiopian. She was the queen of the Ethiopian. Now, if I'm Philip, and you say, well, why is an angel the Lord telling him?

because it's just not the first person. It's not the guy you're going to go look up. He's going to go look up. Okay, this guy's got sexual issues. He's from a different country. He's a different color. And he's in this royal guard. But I think between the angel and I believe between this other,

I'm going to call it a coincidence, but I'm going to share something with you that's very crazy about this text. And I'm positive. You've never heard this. Because only a treasure hunter would discover this. And I am a treasure hunter, and I'm unashamed about that because I got that idea from the Bible. Luke 15, I'll remind you, Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners, which I believe this applies here. These are people that the religious people didn't want to associate with, and Phillips having to grasp that God wants me to go to this person and perhaps reach this country.

And Jesus told the story about finding lost treasury. Tells three stories. Everybody remembers the story, right? Yep. Did you want to take a break first? I do. Let's take a break. So I looked up in the Greek what this word,

where it says the Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace. I was trying to figure out what is all this mean? Well, do you know what the Greek word for treasury is here? No. I told you you wouldn't know this. Gaza. So get this in your head. Tell me this is a coincidence or maybe not.

They're on a road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. Yep. And the person that an angel has directed him toward is in charge. of the Gaza of Candace. Mm-hmm. Is that just a coincidence? I don't know. I hadn't thought about it.

So when you, when you, when you, uh, tie all this together, there's a man who came from one treasure and was going to another because he was, they were on the road to Gaza, but he was going back to his country where he's, he is, he protects the Gaza of this country. And he finds the real treasure, which would be Jesus. I like it. I just thought that was interesting. You have two gazas in the story, but one of them was masked in what he did,

which is the word for treasure. That's pretty good. Well, you know, another thing, Jason, looks at the very end of this, and I'll read the rest of it. Which I was kind of, you know, without saying it, there's an irony here where in the Gaza Strip. What I was going to say. That represents treasure and look at the chaos that is going on. So this, at the end of this, when this is over, Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Sessaria, which we know from later in Acts. That's where he settles in.

But that city of Zodas is actually Ashdok. which is in the Old Testament in the Philistine region. Do you know where it is now in modern Israel? Right above Gaza Strip is where this city is that used to be Ashdod and here. So that's where Philip went to. So it's kind of interesting. Similarities are surreal. All right, let me read the rest of this text,

and we'll probably have to break it down a little more in the next podcast where I'm out of time. This man, this Ethiopian unit, had gone to Jerusalem to worship. So we know, therefore, he was a Jew. He was probably converted in Jew. And on his way home was sitting in his chariot, reading the book of Isaiah, the prophet. That's why I told he had money. If he's got a chariot and he's got his own scroll,

nobody had that. Well, government officials usually have money out. True. Unfortunately, that's true. The spirit told Philip, go to that chariot and stay near it. So to your point earlier, he's prompting him not just to me what a statement yeah go over by that chariot and stay there

it doesn't tell him anything else right no and you figure it had to been on the move you figure out no i think he was sitting there i think he was just taking the rest i think it was sitting there well it said he was sitting but i don't know it may have been moving i think it pulled over well you can't drive the chariot and read at the same time that's driving well he could have had a driver he could have so then Noah ran up to the chariot and heard the man. Maybe it was moving. So it sounds like it was moving. Probably it wasn't moving fast.

And heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. Do you understand what you're reading? Now, it's funny because the spirit and the angel, or some combination of both, got him there. But it looks like Philip knew what to do once he got there. Well, he heard him reading Isaiah, which is profound. This is a real profound passage. I love this. Yeah.

Do you understand what you're reading, Philip asked. How can I? He said unless someone explains it to me, which what an answer. Don't you wish everybody had that guy? Yeah, that'd be nice. It makes you think of Romans 10. You know, Faith comes to hearing the message, and then it says, but how can someone hear if one is not sent? That's right.

But this guy obviously is open. So we invited Philip to come up and sit with him. So he joins him. The eunuch was reading this passage of scripture. And we've read this many times on the podcast. This is from Isaiah 53. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation, he was deprived of justice.

Who can speak of his descendants, for his life was taken from the earth? The eunuch asked Philip, verse 34, tell me, please, who is the private talking about himself or someone else? then Philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized? And I'll just drop down in the margin because there's... So Philip had to have told him.

He had to have talked about it. I mean, right. It's kind of like Acts 2, right? He had to have said so. That's right. in verse there's not a verse 37 in the niv. Zach is there, does 37 appear in your version?

So the, the, and the reason why is because none of the early manuscript have this verse, some later manuscripts do. Verse 37, according to the later manuscript, said, Philip said,

if you believe with all your heart, you may. The Unic answered, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Most people think that was added later as just the idea of why we're conversed. because all of a sudden he just starts talking about baptism. I don't know what to think about that other than there it is.

Well, I knew we were going to get to here, but we only have a few minutes to talk about. Right, so we're going to have to flash that out. Let me read the rest of it. And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the unit went down into the water and Philip baptized it. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away. And the unit did not see him again. So this is a transport.

That was crazy. I'm disappearing. He disappeared. But the eunuch, it didn't even shake him. He just went on his way of rejoicing. Philip I ever appeared. So appeared, he just shows up at this new place, which is the old Ashdodod City, Azotas, and traveled there preaching the gospel and all the towns.

Yeah. You know, one thing that hits me when you just read that, and when it says he had come to Jerusalem to worship. This is in verse 27. I was thinking about the woman at the well, and her question was, where do we worship? In Jerusalem or on the mountain? And Jesus said, a time is coming when you'll need to worship the father on that mountain, nor in Jerusalem. He now wants his people to worship him in truth and spirit. And there was this idea of the coming of the kingdom. And it's so interesting that he's on his way, almost reminiscent of that woman thinking, I'm going to Jerusalem to worship. And what he got instead was an encounter with a living God.

By going back to the, he was reading the Old Testament. And to the point we've said on this podcast over and over again, these guys are all reinterpreting the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus, which is what Phillips about to do here. He's going to interpret the last servant song out of Isaiah 53, which is kind of the climax of that whole section of scripture. of the triumphal Jesus and how he accomplished salvation. Like that was written in the Old Testament. And now he's reading that, not fully understanding what that means. And then Philip's going to come and say, oh, yeah, let me tell you who he's talking about. I just think that, which by the way, it gives way for the Holy Spirit to live in us.

And we become now the place, we actually become the place of the house of God. I think that's part of what is happening here. No, I think you're exactly right. And it really is. It is interesting that it brings it all together in Samaria coming from Jerusalem. And here it is Jesus doing exactly what he said back in John 4 is going to happen. And that is this idea that now we're going to be anywhere we go. And the guy.

I mean, look, it's all human being. There was a statement being made that the gospel is going to be preached to every single human being on the globe. Right. And that's going to kick into overdrive when we get into the next chapter, which is the conversion of Saul to Paul, and then that's going to be his role. So when we come back next time on the podcast, we'll flesh out a little bit of that because we kind of just left you hanging there with that verse that's not there. We'll talk a little bit about that. And then we'll jump into what probably is one of the biggest moments in the Book of Acts,

which is when now Saul is converted and leads to ball. So we'll do it next time. Not a shame. 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,

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