Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 863 | Lisa Robertson Faces Surgery After Cancer Diagnosis

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

The Robertsons find comfort in their faith and each other as Al shares the news of his wife Lisa’s breast cancer diagnosis. Zach points out that it’s natural to grieve, though as Christians, we grieve with a sense of peace and hope because of our faith. Al points out some interesting historical facts that tie Peter’s presence in a town called Joppa back to important events from the Old Testament. The guys study the only resurrection performed by Peter and guess his motivation for doing so. In this episode: Acts 9, verses 36-43; 1 Kings 11 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. We usually start out with what we call the cold open. Of course, the last podcast, Dad had a hot take and got us right into the text when Zach, we left you behind. But, you know, we do also get a lot of, we hear from a lot of you guys on a lot of struggles and things that are going on. And we just want you to know, we pray for a lot of you guys on a regular. basis. I can't physically respond to everybody that sends me stuff, but I do pray for you.

I want to hear about things that are going on in your lives. And I know you guys pray for us, and we appreciate that. You've been praying for mom who's still in the rehab hospital, but getting stronger and better. And those prayers matter. And so we are a family in Unashamed Nation, more than just a podcast and an audience. I feel like we're a lot deeper than that. And Dad got a letter from someone and was sharing it with us in between the last podcast and this one. And so, Dad, I want you to maybe read an excerpt of that. We're not going to say who this person is, but just the letter you got it and then your response to it and we'll have prayer.

And I had some more news to share with you guys as well. Go ahead, Dad. It's quite the letter. I'm going to share with you my testimony, Mr. Robertson. I've suffered from the depression and anxiety for as long as I can remember. I grew up in the church, but unfortunately for a depressed kid, it wasn't a healthy church. I heard from believers that God would never love me because of certain music I listen to and how I look at things. So eventually I began to hate myself, spent years cutting my risk upward in an attempt to die.

At one point, I bled for six hours and still didn't. die. I began taking drugs, too. I figured I had a bad trip. At least I'd finally die. Still didn't die. I was however known, shown a glimpse of what hell looks like. One of the last times I cut, relapsed, I had reached my breaking point. I cried out Jesus and if you really hit there, give me a sign. I need to hear something. A few minutes later, a friend of mine showed up to the house where I was living. He said, hey, man, I just felt compelled to come over and see how you doing.

By the way, Jesus wants you to know that he loves you. I got my answer. The Lord also brought me through a 15-year addiction to pornography, which started in the 7th grade and a nasty divorce. I said, well, we'll send him a few things. I got one of the brothers, he documents where people come from when they come on Sunday mornings up there. And many of them are baptized. He follows it up with some encouragement. So this guy is the kind of guy that we encourage.

We have people that come. Dad has the Unashamed Bible study on Sundays. Pretty much any Sunday that you come to West Monroe. He's going to be sharing, and there are some people that will follow up with you. So we encourage you to do that. Come visitors to the BFR. Sometimes Jason are there. Sometimes we're not, depending on if we're on the road.

But we encourage that. And look, we go through stuff too. We've been pretty open on this podcast about things we're going through individually or with our wives and families. We've talked to you about mom. And I found out this week just within the last week that Lisa has breast cancer. and, you know, just started as a knot that was discovered and you go check it out. And then all of a sudden you realize you're into a new battle.

And so on our way down here to the southern layer, we had to go through New Orleans. And, you know, it's an eye opener. And so I have to say, I'm very proud of Lisa. She's been super strong just when you hear this because when you start talking about what you have to go through, as a result of that, it's not going to be easy. It's going to be difficult. And so we've got that ahead of us to face. I know many of you out there in Unashamed Nation have struggled with the same thing. And so I know you're going to be praying for her and for us.

And we appreciate that. So we'll be having a big surgery coming up in a few months. So just ask for your prayers on that. And as always, you know, we share that together. That works both ways. And so this brother that sent the letter to dad just know we're praying for you and encouragement to you as well. So that's really kind of what's all about.

He is searching for one thing, hope. Yeah. Hope. That's all he cares about is, I hope. Yeah. But it's better than turning you back on Jesus, that's for sure. Well, there was a young brother, dad, that sent me a note. He's a lot younger than me, and his wife has had recurring breast cancer and now some other areas. And he gave me some great advice.

He said, you know, if I could, because I always ask people every time now, I talk to me about this, what would you have done differently now that you, gone through whatever you've gone through. And one of the things this young brother told me he said, you know, you're walking a thin line when it comes to your bride. You want to be confident, but you also want to be concerned because they're going through something very difficult. And I thought, man, what a great advice. But isn't that what we do in life? I mean, we want to have the confidence of knowing that God is who he says he is. And so he can help me deal with anything. And yet at the same time, I don't ever want to be callous to people's concerns when they're having to go through a difficult era. So thank you, Josh. That was great advice. There's been some,

there's been some cool nuggets that you've encouraged me with. I know you've been encouraged that, like, even your surgeon is invested in the blind. Yononautil, you know, y'all never met. And there was already a connection there. And so I think that there's some cool things. Yeah, he told me when we came in, Zach, he said, you know, we start talking. And this guy, you know, I mean, this is all he does is work in this area and help women. and through this through a mastectomy and cancer. And he said, I don't know if you had anything to do with your dad's movie. I said, when it comes to dad's projects, I have something to do with all of it.

And so he started laughing. He said, well, I just wanted you to know that I'm friends with some people that, you know, invested pretty heavily in the movie. And because of that, I was an investor. I said, you're kidding. And he said, no. And I said, well, that's fantastic. Now I feel a lot better about you because you make good investment.

So, yeah, but it's, and then he's also from Monroe, even though he works in the Orleans. And so we just had a lot in common. So, yeah, God just brings you through those moments, which is a real encouragement. Yeah, but we're praying for you, too, Al. You and Lisa, both y'all, you guys are loved on my family. There are some difficult times and a lot of other families. So you've got a lot of people praying for y'all, ma'am.

Yeah, we're praying. We're praying for that one who wrote that letter. So I want him to know that. Yep. And we appreciate all you guys out there and unashamed. and everything that you go through. But remember this, we win. So the resurrection, I mean, we're all going to go into the ground unless the Lord comes back first.

That's it. And so the confidence that you have, everything we've been talking about is true. And so you are concerned when you hear things because none of us like to go through difficult times. But at the same time, you have the confidence to approach the throne of grace. And therefore, you win. No matter what happens, you win. So don't give up. on Jesus.

Well, what's interesting about what we're reading, because this is a Bible study, and we tend to look at this book, you know, mainly from a theological standpoint or trying to get it all right and figure it out. But even where we're at in Acts 9, you're seeing an incredible abusive religious power where people have it. We've come. Yeah, where people have it wrong. and they're literally threatening and not just threatening killing non-believers.

And you're also seeing this big cultural divide and racism just in a fury of trying to do something together with, you know, what the Bible depicts as Jew or Gentile. And then right in the middle of that, you know, here's the Lord's chosen, eyewitnesses. doing miracles and there's a woman who it says she's a she was doing good and helping the poor and she became sick and died and peter raises her up which we're going to read that and second there was a you know a man who had been a paralytic for eight years well it's hard to get the emotion of going through these situations and the all these things i just described are traumatic i mean it's trauma for the people involved. Yes, it was 2,000 years ago. But I think one thing we don't talk about that we should in the book of Acts is God's use of these miracles. Not only was it to confirm his message

and to show people that this has changed and this is a possibility, but it was also just a window into God has the power and will make everything that is wrong, right. If you can raise a dead girl, if you can supply that power to a human and do that, if you can heal a paralytic with a snap of your fingers, if you can bring people together who are filled with hate and oppression. And even in Acts 11, you're going to get to one of the prophets gets up and he predicts a famine that was going to happen in the Roman world. That's in Acts 11 in verse 27.

And when you think about the pain that that caused, and by the way, you look up in any historical account, there was a big famine in Rome, the Roman world from 43 to 47 or whatever. And here's the evidence of that. But it shows you who stepped up. The Lord's people stepped up. up and they acted like Jesus in the situation, giving them hope, which is what you said he was

looking for. And I was thinking that, Jay, someone sent a letter into Blaze, Cole had sent it to me, a note asking about the signs that's behind me just over my head when I'm down here in the Southern lair. And we've talked about it before, but they said, you know, there's something about a cross and a tomb is in there. So these are what Bill Smith used to call as hieroglyphics of describing the gospel. There's also one there on the table in between Dad and Jays.

And that Jesus did come to this earth. That's that arrow down, that he did down a cross for our sins, that he was put into a tomb and raised on the third day to show that we don't have to fear the tomb because he's the first fruit, the first born of the resurrection. That arrow going up is him going back to the Father. which you read about in Acts 1. And then that arrow coming back is what he told the disciples in John 14. He's coming back.

You know, he wouldn't leave us here forever. And so when you believe that with all of your heart and all of your mind and all your strength, and when you obey that message, it changes you. And you have the confidence. And you have the ability to go through anything,

whether it's cancer, you know, heart disease, you know, some terrible thing, loss of a child. The gospel trumps at all. And so that's what those symbols mean.

That's why we have them around us. And by the way, someone has the person sent it in. So where can I buy those? I don't know. People send us these because they make them. So, you know, you just have to draw some out and get somebody to make it for you. But the gospel message of who Jesus is, his story, is what changes us forever. So just remember that.

All of you out there who are struggling and whatever way you're struggling, ultimately, that's what does. And Jace brings up a great point because the miracles themselves only, point to who Jesus is because everybody that this girl that gets raised in the story we're about to read, she died again at some point and because she's not still here. But she died again with the hope of an eternal resurrection. And that's why she was good. It wasn't just that she was good on her own is because she understood who Jesus was because she was a good woman. So why don't you read that text, Chase? Yeah, I'll read it. But that's why the number one, if you read Acts, And it doesn't take too long.

But if you read from Acts 1 all the way to the end, you'll find that the most stressed point was the resurrection of Jesus and the most stressed action was the work of the Holy Spirit. And when you put those two things together, you realize that life is difficult. But those two things, the resurrection of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit, not only will it help you go through all these struggles,

but it also points you to a time where all these things will be made right. They're all going to be made right. I mean, you look up the historical facts of what happened to all these disciples, and they all gave their life, you know, except John. I think he supposedly lived in 94. Yeah. But they all were taken from this life at the hands of somebody who didn't believe in Jesus. I mean, they were martyred.

But they knew all these miracles. They had that in the forefront of their mind knowing that this is a God who specializes in making things new. He's the ultimate reconciler of all things. Mind changer. Yeah, and just in a physical way. He made his physical being, and Jesus has a body in heaven. You know, he showed his, he said, look at my hands and look at my feet. It's I myself.

So all these things will be made right. So with that, where do we leave off, Val? Verse 32. So in 32 of 9, as Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the saints in Lita, and I looked up these towns, and you can still see where they were. There he found a man named Anaeus, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. Peter said to him, Jesus Christ heals you, which I think is the right perspective. He wasn't taking any credit for it whatsoever, and you'll see that theme again.

chapter 10. James, before you move on, I thought it was interesting because you remember there were some instances when Jesus was still on the earth and they couldn't cast out demons and they couldn't do some things. You remember what they said? Why can't we do this? And I thought it was interesting because their question of Jesus is so turned on its head now because they realized now fully after the resurrection that they couldn't have done it anyway.

Yeah. Jesus Christ is the only one with the person. power. Yeah. Then he says, get up and take up your mat, which that sounds familiar. I wonder where I get that from. And why do you need your mat now? It's a good reminder of where Jesus brought you from. Immediately, Anaeus got up. All those who lived in Lita and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. So that, and that, that's kind of gives you a perspective on why God allowed this to happen. Because you just, the human mind can't conceive the story of Jesus, really the story of God focused on Jesus and the Holy Spirit being poured out that God has visited his creation

and given them everything they need for life and godliness. this. So that's why these supernatural events are happening. In Joppa, there was a disciple named Tabitha, which translated as Dorcas, who was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time, she became sick and died. Her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Litter was near Joppa, so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lita, they sent two men to him and urged him, please come at once. Peter went with... That's like 11 miles, by the way, difference between the two towns. Yeah.

So Peter went with him, and when he arrived, he was taking upstairs. All the widows stood around, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. I mean, it's a funeral. It's awake. It's people crying. It's awake. Peter sent them all out of the room. Then he got down on his knees and prayed, turning to,

the dead woman, he said, Tabitha, get up. She opened her eyes and seen Peter sat up, which just, you know, every time the chosen does a scene like this, one of these, these miracles or whatever, you know, it brings tears to my eyes, because it is that moment to realize that in Jesus, it's not over. That's right. It's never over. That's it. That's good. He took her by the hand, helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. What a moment. Yeah. This became known all over Joppa and many people believed in the Lord.

Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a Tanner named Simon. One of the things I was going to say right off the bat is that it's really interesting because, you know, why would Luke pick these two? because most of the people that he's been writing about come up later in the narrative as having a big row. And these two, we never read about again. And it could have just been two random things because he was kind of going back to showing what Peter was doing. But I think my opinion is, this is strictly opinion, is that these two people, this Aeneas and also Dorcas or Tabitha, probably were very beloved and known because of their character and because of who they were.

And so he mentioned some, I think, probably for a reason the people in that day would have had even more of understanding. But it was very evident from Tabitha's case that she was well loved. And Jason, I love what you said about that, this idea of being at the wake because, you know, all of us have been to so many, you know, funerals and the visitation of the wake, as they call it, the night before. when really people are sorting out and dealing with this person dying. And so what you'll typically hear, there is a lot of laughter, even in tragic situations where something sudden happens, you still want to try to remember this person for all the good that they did or the impact they had. So you'll hear stories and people that know this person will tell stories and what about

this and what about that. And I think all of that is our process of going through the grief, but it also shows you that every person brings value. And so just that one little verse about them showing what she did, the clothes she made and all that shows you how love this woman was and the impact that she had had. And that may have been one of the reasons why that there was some bit of hope that somehow either Peter could save her before she died or do what he did, which is actually even more credible. And that's raised her from the dead because let's face it, this isn't happened very much. Even the days of Jesus, he only did it, you know, a couple of times, three times, I think. Yeah.

And so this is a rare thing to bring somebody back once they've made the crossover. And you do notice the way that this is, that Peter's doing this, even both the healing and of Aeneas and Dorcas, he is appealing to the authority of Christ. This is not, this is not a conjuring up of something. This is a, he's speaking with authority when he says, Jesus Christ heals you, rise and take your vet. And then in the second part, he gives her command, Tabitha a rise. And she opened her eyes. So this isn't something like, he wasn't going to miss this because it wasn't in his own power that he was doing this. This was, there was some authority here that we have to recognize apostolic authority carried a weight that was, I mean, they're acting on behalf of God here.

Yeah, that's a big deal because it's going to give a test. It's going to give credibility. And what it is doing is giving credibility to what they're doing. here is that they're bringing this to fruition under like real authority that comes from God. This is his authority that he's allowed him to use. Which is going to continue the growth of the church. That's a great point. Let's take another break.

So it provides credibility, but it also provides a window into God's character. You know, every miracle he did showed you God's character. Yeah. And trauma comes to every human being. So if you think, well, I've never had trauma in my life, well, it's coming. And there's always that moment where it changes everything in the short term. You feel like you're in a dream, you're thinking about things you haven't thought about, you're emotional. Some people turn in, I'm more just kind of get numb, you know, when loved ones die or,

or, you know, you get a diagnosis like Al and Lisa have just had. It changes everything. But you see in these moments that Jesus has the answer to trauma itself. It changes your perspective on it. There's no trauma out there that he doesn't give a window into God's character and approach about it. That's the message of that letter to that young man who wrote a letter. That's why you have passages in the Bible like First Thessalonians that said, we don't grieve like the rest of men who have no hope.

There's just a different view of that. And think about if you didn't have that. I mean, the last podcast we talked about, without Jesus, there's no way to get along with people. You just don't have a solution, whether it's culture, race, social, male, female. There's just, there's not a way to get along and bring people together. It's something that everybody tries to do, but it ends up in chaos. And so the world's answer is to keep segregating.

They're like, just keep dividing everybody up into little camp. Get your corners, which is funny that, like, that's what happens too. Like you, you split off with your group. Well, then what happens is once you split off, after that fights over and done with, then you start infighting. And you split off again. You keep getting into these marginalized, isolated communities to eventually you're not in community at all, which is not the heart or the character of God.

And I'm glad you said what you said, Chase, because it's not just, this isn't just for credibility for what they're saying. It is, it does give a glimpse to the character of God. And I actually, the full confession here, that the hardest thing from, I don't have it. I don't have a lot of doubts. when it comes to the existence of God, the claims of Jesus being the way, the truth, and the law. I get it on a philosophical level.

I had doubts in my life. I had a lot of doubts, and I've worked through those. I don't, I'm intellectually satisfied, is what I'm trying to say, with the claims of the Bible. I am intellectually satisfied. I don't, I'm not, I'm not struggling with that. What I still struggle with is, is, does God really, is he really active in my life? And does he, does he really care for me when I am in the,

those moments of trauma. And I think that's probably something that most people on some level have that question throughout their life. And sometimes that creeps his head back up. But when you said what you said about this passage revealing the character of God, I was immediately brought back to when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. And he was emotionally moved by that experience. You know what I mean?

He cared what was going on, even though he knew, even though he, because we can say, it doesn't matter. This world doesn't matter. You're going to be raised from the dead one day. It doesn't matter, guys. Hey, it's the big picture. Even the Christ knew the big picture. He knew the ultimate end of all of us who are in him.

He still had compassion in the temporal moment of the temporal pain. Yes, we don't grieve like the rest of the world grieves, but we do grieve. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, we do grieve. And I grieve, I grieve my mother when I lost her. I grieve when I, anyone I love, when they die when they get old, when they get sick, when they, I mean, I grieve that. But I don't grieve like the world does because I do have the hope.

And I do know where we're headed, but there is real pain there. And I think what we're seeing here with Peter and particularly with Jesus in his journey is, man, I'm present right here. Even though I know the end of this story, man, I'm here with you and your pain right now. And that, that is powerful. Well, I love it, Zad. I love the humility, about you sharing that. that everyone, you know, goes through some level of struggle. And yet, to Jesus' point, I think we all want to try as best we can to reflect the character of God. And usually that reflection comes

when we're at a low point, when something's difficult, when there's calamity. I received one of the greatest compliments I could get by way of one of my children through somebody else because I talked to a brother, and he said, well, I talked to Alex, and I heard about, you know, what's going on with you and Lisa and just, you know, wanted to check on you and see how we're doing. And he said, I asked her, how are your parents dealing with this the day we found out? And here's what my daughter says. And this is, this is what you, this is what makes you proud that you try to raise your kids the right way. She said, well, you know how my parents are. They're taking out their African friends tonight and having dinner and just going on and doing what they do. And, you know,

it was just, it was a great compliment that from your kid, that you're trying to reflect the character of God, even when you see bad news, we still have things that we have to do. And, you know, for the kingdom. And so that's what gives you that confidence because you understand the power of who Christ is, although obviously you carry the concern of having to face something very difficult. Well, yeah, and there's a spiritual warfare aspect to it. And, you know, when we get to Acts chapter 10, when Peter kind of had this aha moment, I know I'm skipping way ahead. but I just wanted to get this one little point because he goes back to this idea of showing God's character

and his credibility through the healing powers and raising this woman from the dead. When Peter was speaking in Acts 1034, and we'll give the context in the next podcast, he began to speak and said, I realize how true it is that God doesn't show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what's right, which is what we talked about last podcast, but Peter had this aha moment.

He's like, God does not show favoritism. And what's disturbing about what we just said about having a solution to the world's problem, even churches tend to still gravitate toward people who are like themselves and are cut off and are alienated. and it doesn't look like God doesn't show favoritism, you know, in the church, because it becomes kind of clicking. I have those texts, all those texts you're quoting. I have those highlighted in my Bible. This is quite, this is quite an aha moment, but then it says in verse 36, you know the message God sent to the people of Israel,

telling the good news of peace to Jesus, who is Lord of all. You know that all that has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him. So there is two forces that work, and to Zach's point, understanding God's character and compassion and all that.

At the same time, it is an evil world. there are evil powers, there are dark places that are trying to inflict as much misery on especially the people of God as possible to get you to shake your faith in Jesus. I do want to mention one thing about the story that was interesting, Chase, because I did the, like you did, I looked those cities up. And I think one of the reasons why that Luke includes the stories is there's a historical irony about Joppa, especially, not so much litter, which was also, I think it's Ludd is what's called now. But Joppa, which is Jaffa now in Israel, has an interesting history about it.

And there is a little bit of a historical irony that this is the place where Peter winds up. Basically, it looks like taking a little time to spin with this Tanner named Simon, which is then going to be launched into the Gentiles coming in, which we're going to get to in Acts chapter 10. But there were two things that happened here in Israel's history that to me are just very interesting that Peter would be here in this moment when he's about to go and preach the gospel of Gentiles. The first one was in Second Chronicles 2,

and it's when Solomon builds the temple, which we've spent a lot of time talking about the temple and its presence here throughout both Luke and, Acts. So the cedars of Lebanon, which was a structural integrity for the temple, came into this port city of Joppa, which was interesting. That's where they came into. They wound up building this temple. So that has the historical tie here, the idea of the temple. And then the second one, this is where Jonah went to, and Jason was talking about Jonah in one of the podcast recently in Jonah's chapter one was Joppa. This is where he, you know,

you know, got a ship and tried to run away from his mission to go and share the good news, you know, with the people of Nineveh. And remember he winds up, of course, being delivered by a fish instead of by a boat to be able to bring that message to these people that he did not think worthy to be saved. And yet, God says, you go and preach because all people deserve to hear about me. And so those two things took place in this city. And I don't know, maybe it's just a coincidence, but this winds up being where Peter winds up,

you know, now he's about to be led to go and preach the Gospels to the Gentiles. So I don't know. Do you all think that's just a historical irony or maybe there's some purpose here behind some of this? Well, there does seem to be a theme about God doesn't show favoritism and the story of Jonah. there's a baseline of that thought. You know, Jonah didn't want to go do it.

And look, none of us really do because you see what's happening. You know, I remember a new Christian one time when I was bringing him along in Jesus. And he's like, well, looks like to me, what you're asking me to do is going to cause me a lot of trouble.

You know, I just never thought. thought about it from that perspective, but I thought, yeah. Trouble is always there. I said, but it's true, you know, and God, you know, God's going to take care of you. And he's like, well, I thought they all died doing this. I was like, well, that's true. Yeah. And that could happen.

And just in that moment, I thought only a new Christian would have that perspective. But it's real and it's true, which is why it is difficult, especially in our culture, to declare Jesus is real, you know, in throne at the right end of God. This is really happening. So, you know, it's hard to love people. It's hard to get along with people. And Jesus is the answer to that, but you're going to face intense opposition by trying to dethrone whatever they have in the place of Jesus.

Yeah. It's just going to cause you a lot of trust. Yeah, when you mentioned the Cedars of Lebanon, I was reminded, I went back and looked this up, this passage in the Old Testament of Solomon. There's a point to all this, I'll make it a second. So there's this setup where Solomon is so powerful and his kingdom is so powerful that he goes out and he creates these golden shields. and this is in First Kings 10 and paraphrasing the whole story, but he plants these golden shields, there's 300 of them that he made,

and he plants them in the cedars in the forest of Lebanon. And so there's these shields there. That's interesting because I was thinking about the temple correlation with these cedars. He plants these shields in the ground, and it was like a display of two things. One, overwhelming wealth that we can, we have enough gold that we can, can create 300 humongous shields to it is a display of power that we can put them in in the

Lebanon and nobody's going to touch them like nobody's coming to steal these things you know why because they would come against the power of solomon and his kingdom and there was a respect there this was the kingdom in its heyday and then when his uh descendants took over the these shields were actually stolen and and they don't have the money to remember replace them. So what they did was they came in and put the same like shield structure up, but it was made out of bronze. So it looked like the real thing, but it wasn't the real thing. And they put those in the cedars of Lebanon or the forest of Lebanon. I thought, man, what a good correlation of kind of how the whole flow of the kingdom is, is that we're hanging on

to these shadows. And then what we ended up, what the Pharisees were doing and everybody was doing this day is they were, it kind of looked like the real thing, but it was not the real thing. It looked like gold, but it wasn't gold. It was actually bronze. And they had to guard them, by the way, too. They had to guard the bronze so that nobody would steal it. And when it's the real thing, and I think this is what is happening in the Book of Acts, when it's the real thing, and it's the real kingdom, you don't have to guard it, and you don't have to fake it. And nobody can take it down. And that, again, goes back to the prophecy that Daniel made, that God will set up a kingdom that can't be shaken or destroyed. It's authentic. It's real. It's not fake. And you cannot stop it. That's why we have a,

our view of the end times in this podcast is we are, we're bullish. Like we're at, we actually think God, like, you can't stop what we're doing. Like, I don't care what you, you think you can stop it. Stamp out what you think you've stamped it out. You created more fires when you do that. You cannot stop the kingdom of God. And so when Jace read that verse earlier, that's why we don't grieve like other people grieve because in the end we know that you cannot stop the kingdom that we're part of well exactly in the next chapter in first kings that was 10 just about the power then he it goes in that he had a thousand well he had 700 wives and 300 concubines that and there's an interesting verse that it says uh because he in verse two it says Solomon held fast

to them in love. And you know, you think about other religions that what you get in the afterlife is whatever it is, a hundred virgins or whatever. 72. Yeah.

So this gives the illusion of love. I mean, you think, man, he took the finest 1,000 women and was with them. What a life.

And, of course, then, you know, the next verse. And a lot of it was power. too, Jays, because these were political alliances too. Well, true, but it's an illusion of power, but it was an illusion of love. And they led his heart away from the Lord when you read that.

And he gets down to the end of that paragraph in verse 11 and 12. And he's like, since you've done this, you know, I'm taking away my kingdom from you. Because it's like I have the power. I have the love. I have the best you can have on the earth. And it led him to following gods, well, any other gods set up, which was our whole point for bringing this up. Whatever is number one in your heart, if it's not the real God, it's just a hamster on a wheel and chaos in seas with a bunch of illusions. Well, that's exactly what I thought about, the idea that the Cedars were imported to build a temple, which was a false reality.

of what God would be like living in us. The gospel was exported out of this same port city because Jonah would go and share good news with these people who were terrible and yet repented and came to God and the messenger himself was not happy about it at all. And so now we get down to this point in the first century and Peter is at the same place.

And I'll tell you something else interesting I found. This Tanner named Simon. I started looking up this idea about what a tanner does, and obviously they tan hides. So he would have, Simon would have been ceremonially unclean as a Jew. And the reason why is because he has dead animals he deals with every day. So here's a guy who was cut off from being able to go to the temple because of what he did for a living. And also historical records tell us that tanners didn't tend to live with everybody else. And it makes perfect sense why.

They had a bunch of dead carcasses around their place of business. So they were isolated and they were ceremonially unclean. And Peter finds himself in company with this man when he receives a vision to share with the Gentiles. Now, again, you know, us having a chance to look back and see all of the ironies here and the idea of what God is doing at a big level is huge. I mean, it's really interesting the way he brought it all together. Well, and it takes you back to a couple podcasts ago in Acts 21 where Paul's arrested for what crime because he brought a Gentile into the temple.

Unclean, not allowed, which is why I brought that statement up that Peter made when he just having the awareness that God doesn't show favoritism is something that you can read, but it's really hard to put that in your life when it comes to people. Yeah. Very much so. I mean, look, on the way down here, I was infuriated because I'm driving in the little roundabout, and I'm always like, okay, here we go. Roundabouts in Louisiana.

Proceed with caution, and wouldn't you know it, there's a woman who's getting over in my lane. I'm moving off the road. And when I looked at her, I kid you not. She had a cell phone in one hand with her thumb moving and a cheeseburger in the other hand. And it was nine o'clock in the morning. I thought, where did you get a cheeseburger? That's danger coming down the road. Nine o'clock in the morning.

she warm that up in the microwave. That's from last night. In my infuriation in that moment, I'm telling you, I thought, the last thing I thought is God doesn't show favoritism because this woman is in danger because it was raining of being struck by lightning. How are you driving in a roundabout with no hands? She was in more danger of being struck by your truck, I think, than lightning in that moment. You know, because I'm now attacking every aspect of her life.

I came that close. She's having a head-to-head collision. I'm in this, going this way, and cars over here. You're in one lane because people are listening, so Phil's got a hand illustration going here. There I am, and here this is. She comes out of whoever it was, and they're coming at me. I told him Ms. Kea said, hold on. So I'm watching her.

I can't go left. I can't go right. It's just coming at me. At the precise moment when her vehicle, it was like 10 feet from mine coming hard. Yeah. I just took a hard right, you know, come off the highway down in the ditch. And their car, side swat me gently. But it did knock the air out of my tires.

They'd hit the tire. Pretty good lick. Pretty good lick. So there I was. I couldn't run them down because now I've got three tires that are working. The other one's flat. And why would you want to? We're thankful for that because I know you were going to run them down and share the love of Jesus in that moment.

I was going to try to get them in there. What is your problem here? They didn't miss me, but they just scraped and took the air on my tire and they barely missed a head on. Wouldn't it be funny if that was the same woman? She had a cheeseburger. In full transparency, once I took a deep breath. They were busy with something because they just come out of the traffic. Well, yeah.

It starts coming toward me. Well, I know what mine was busy with was downing that cheeseburger and telling somebody on Facebook how good the cheeseburger was. But once I caught my breath and realized, why am I so angry? I mean, that was terrible. And I think in the moment I was angry, I thought, you're talking about talent. To navigate a roundabout, eating a cheeseburger, texting on your phone. And even though it was a close call, I thought, man, I'm surrounded by the most talented people on the earth. One that liked hit me.

I mean, they were doing something other than just looking down the road driving because he just kept coming. Yeah, and you don't get out much. There's a theological term for what happened there. It's called common grace that you couldn't go after them because I don't know. what the end of the story would have been a lot different. Maybe she had caught up with them. Well, my point is it's hard to get along with people, and that's just getting down here. I can't imagine a different culture, a different religion, a different set of circumstances around

with all of this pain and misery that life can bring. It's just very difficult to look at it from God's perspective and be Jesus on this earth. It's just very, very difficult, which is why. So I should have known that we started the podcast off on kind of a somber note, talking about people's struggles. And then we ended it with a cold open about a woman with a cheeseburger at one hand. It's how we cope, Al. This is how we cope.

This is how the Robertsons do it, which is a perfect. I mean, it was border a lot. Where do you get a cheeseburger at 9 o'clock in the morning? That is breaking news. All right. Next time we come back on Unashamed, we're going to launch into our. Acts 10, one of the most important chapters in all the Bible, because us being Gentiles, as Jay said, this was how we got in. So we'll see you next time. We'll talk about it 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 Blaze TV at BlazTV.com. slash unashamed.