Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 928 | Phil’s Million-Dollar Check Moment, Si’s Bathroom Play-by-Play & Godwin’s Time in Prison

Episode Date: July 25, 2024

Godwin and Jase reveal the silliness that went on when they built duck calls for the company, including Uncle Si’s bathroom commentary that nearly made Jase lose it multiple times a day and Mountain Man’s appearance on the scene. Phil recalls the day his ship finally came in — in the form of a million-dollar check from his business. The guys discuss how to show the world that we belong to Jesus and the best ways to imitate Christ.  In this episode: Hebrews 11, verses 39-40; Ephesians 4, verses 8-10; Matthew 5, verse 13; 2 Peter 1, verses 5-11 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Oh, man, this is, it's already wild on Unashamed. We've been having the podcast within the podcast. We got John Godwin in the house. I'm bad. One of my favorite humans, since we had the last podcast, we defined what humanity was, John, you're one of my favorite human beings on planet Earth. You. Well, thank you. Well, I love you. Yeah, I love you, too. You're not the best human.

that's Jesus. Yeah. That's what we went through. He is the best human. All of us become the best in Jesus. And John, you reminded us that there's with dad, there's B.C. And there's, I guess, A.C. Would we say after Christ?

Yeah. Because we were having the discussion again about Jason's stupid seatbelt ticket. And Zach told us not to bring it up. I ain't heard about. Oh, good. Well, look, here's the deal. Here's the deal. Zach,

Zach keeps saying, don't bring this up because he said, unashamed nation sends three words to me concerning the seatbelt. Let it go. Yeah, it's from frozen. Let it go. Let it go.

But Phil responded for the second time that he never had a ticket, and then all of a sudden the accusations are flying. D-U-I. I remember. We have every generation. within the last couple represented here. Yeah, but John, you came to Phil's defense and you said, well, hold on, that was all, every accusation that was thrown at Phil, you said that was B.C. before Christ.

That's right. And mainly, John, because you only knew dad, AC. Yeah. I mean, he helped lead you to Christ. Yeah, that's pretty amazing. So, John, we've had you on before. So everybody knows who you are. course, and you're on our brother podcast, the duck call room with part of the regular.

There you go. He's really great. Last time he said, when you weren't here, he said it was our sister podcast. Well, I got to thinking since we were talking about nature, I should probably call it the brother because we don't have these sisters on there unless you count John David, you know, maybe. But the, so John, you and Paula, we're going to have Paula on as well, but she's too busy for us. She's a workaholic.

So what are you been doing lately? You've been like, I know you do a lot of stuff on the road. You do a little bit of fishing? What you've been doing? Yeah, I've been fishing and building duck calls, of course. I've been traveling a good bit. I've got to go to Florida next week. I go to, a week after that, I go to Mississippi to a store.

And then I go. Now, what do you do when you go to these places? I'm going to ICAST, which is. the fishing industry's shot show. So I'll be in several booths there. So what is the nature of your presentation? Do you get up and give a presentation or these appearances? He does to some.

Yeah, most of them I speak, yeah. And I tell how Phil brought me to Christ, which when people ask me, you know, how'd you hang around that bunch, which is pretty easy for me, because I just talked like Phil was telling me, but I'm telling them. Yeah, I like it. You're sharing Jesus by association. Exactly. So really you're talking to them, but they think you're just talking about how you came to Christ.

And then they may say, well, I want to come too. Yep, that's it. That's it. I went to a prison a couple of weeks ago and spoke. Not as a prisoner, right, but just to speak there. Oh, I thought you were fixed to reveal something more sinister than a seatbelt and improper. I didn't see you in a while. Of a seatbelt.

You had a captive audience there, I guess. I did. And I'm going to Indiana at the first of September to drive your tractor to church Sunday. Really? So I'm speaking on Sunday. I'm going to drive me a combine or something up in there. I know how that happened when they were all in a meeting. And they said, look, I think we should just all drive.

our tractors to the church bill and they said but we need somebody as like a theme and somebody said i got it john godwin yeah because when we see him we think drive your tractor to church that's pretty cool yeah yeah drive your tractor to church sundown where we're in indiana because i'm gonna be in metalbury because next week i'm going to be in noblesville indiana lisa and i doing a marriage event. What I'm excited about is that we get to do this with Tony and Phyllis. They've been invited too. So we've never done an event together like that.

So it's going to be on the 26 and 27. It's Robertsons at Bladesav.com, by the way. So man, he'll put that up if you're in that area. John, do you have a, do you and Paul have a website or anything that says where you're going to be? No. Or do you just. He just told you, what, bring you. I guess that was it.

Yeah. I'm going to. If you're going to get out there, you need a website. You need a like a calendar keeper and assistant. I do. You got to get. I need a Bonnie. I am.

We all need a Bonnie. Bonnie works for me and she's family. I'm going to read one of Cart Cameron's books in a library, August the 24th. It's all over Washington Pairs, they're trying to get a, Christian books back in the library. Oh, instead of this other stuff, you know. Are they going to use subtitles when you read this?

No. No, it is figured out. I'm in Washington, Paris. They don't know what I'll say to you. Oh, okay. You know, that's one of the, I will say when I've done some events with John before. And one of my favorite things is to be in the audience, because a lot of people still only know John from of the old duck show.

And so John used to just do these random funny lines, but it really just didn't make any sense, which made them so funny. And so when John gets up and starts, he kind of starts in that character and everybody's like, oh, yeah, this guy. And then all of a sudden he starts telling his story. And it's such a beautiful story of Christ

and how he was introduced to him and how it changed his life. And the shock and all that happened in an audience, John, when they hear you, realizing that your, you know, your role on the show is more kind of like a character. But when they hear the real John God, I mean, it blows them away. And I love sitting out there with the audience because they're like, did you know he, did you know any of this stuff? Did you know he could talk?

I ain't as think he's a dumb on. Well, I've always said Jesus makes you smart. Yeah. He does. Yeah. He does. I had got up there and spoke and just wonder. And Paula said, that was awesome.

I said, I don't even know what I said. Yeah, I had one of those moments a couple weeks ago. I felt that ain't what I was planning on saying. It's, well, you get out there and you can talk to them, you know, before you go on and find out the vibe there. That's which way you go. Well, I was going to see what he, I was going to see how duck. commander's going because I hadn't been there in a while. Oh, that's going good.

Are you doing the duck calls now? Are you doing the shipping? I'm building duck calls. That's all I'm doing. And I'm doing just as quick as I can. Bass Pro Cabela's Academy. They're still ordering them. Amazon.

That's good, Guy. When you're acting like this, he's bad. Busy's good. Yeah. But she can still talk bad about it. You used to always say, Jason. John had to be panicked at one moment and then calm in the next. That's just kind of his nature.

Yeah, I just want to get things done. John, I still remember, I still remember standing on the back porch in my house, which was across the street from your house. And I don't know if you were calling me from your house or from somewhere else, but you and I were having a conversation. You'd been working at the mill, you know, a paper mill there in West Winona. You'd been there for 20, was it 22 years? 21 years, yes.

21 years and working swing shift. John and Paul were brand new Christians. We did house church with them. Man, we were rocking, rolling, leading people to Christ. But the problem was every time we were doing something great, John usually had to be at work. Because he's working nights, working evenings, working days. And so, but he just kept going. That's what I love about John.

And then one day we were talking. I said, well, you know, mom and dad, of course, Jace was there at this time, too. I said, they've been talking about maybe adding somebody on. and why don't we have that conversation? So I basically got the ball rolling, and that led to you retiring from the mill and going to Duck Commander. And now, am I got this right? You've been at Duck Commander longer than you were at the mill? 25 years.

25 years ago. I've been hunting with you boys since 1996. The year I graduated high school. Amazing you can keep up with all these numbers. I went work. I went full time in 2000. Remember, in 99, I worked part-time. You started out part-time.

What did that mean? Well, I'd get off graveyards. I'd come down there and pack his duck calls. I thought you were going to say that meant I wasn't getting paid. My first paycheck was pretty awesome because after I'd done quit and Riverwood and went down there in my first week, and Ms. Kay brought me that check. She wouldn't let me pull it out of her hand. Yeah, she said, don't cash you still money.

Oh, yeah. I thought alone. Well, I said that because the first, first, I guess, 10 years that I worked, there was no, I was working part-time because I- But you eat good. Well, I was Phil, I was like, well, when are we thinking we could, you know, because by that time, I was getting up to 18, 20 years old, I was like, am I ever going to get any money for this? And Phil said, no, you're working part-time. And I said, what does that mean? says that means we're feeding you and we're giving you a roof over your head.

Oh, them beddles was good. You remember that film? He said, I'm a part-time. That's another one I don't remember. Yeah. I remember many times when there was a big Walmart order or something. I would have a party. Yep.

And y'all would cook, you cook a ton of food. I'd bring people out from church. Yeah, it'd be like a party, but then at the end of it, you're working. I was the first full-time employee, which meant I got paid. I remember that happening. So you had an employee. You went down the same logic. You said, now you're full-time.

We're going to pay you. Yeah. My whole career was part-time. And I will say this, too, about John and Paula. You know, Lisa and I had a complete meltdown in our relationship and marriage, and that happened right across the street in John and Paula. but they were the ones that were there. You know,

everybody needs somebody that's like takes you through that process of when you have a meltdown, your whatever, you know, relationship, family. And John, you were that guy for me. And,

you know, mainly you didn't say a whole lot. You just listen. You know, I would rant and rave and be in a, have a bad day and one day not trusting God, the next day, trust him.

And yet you just were that guy. So I know I tell you every once a while, but I really appreciate it. Everybody needs a John and Paula Galvin in their life, someone like that that can walk you through the hard time. Yeah. And she's, she's amazing. She's one of my favorite humans on the planet. You did good, Galen.

But it just took me that back down memory lane. You know, John and I, and I guess Cy and Martin spent, I don't know how many years. And, you know, that's when the Duck Show came about. That's what we were doing every day. I'm not sure how many years we spent in those four chairs once we moved up there. You may have a general number of that. Seven or eight years, I guess. Yeah, probably.

And we would have all these visitors come in, which is like where Mountain Man came from. Mountain Man said he wanted to talk to me. I met him as Willie's air conditioner mechanic. He said he wanted to talk to me, so I said, well, look, I'm sitting at that duck call. station, eight hours a day. You can come there anytime you want. So he showed up the next day and he stayed a year. Yeah.

He literally would come to work like us and sit down for no, you thought he was working there. But he wasn't. He was just sitting there at a station for one year. You know why, Jay's, is because he had gotten fired. He was Popeye. He worked for Popeye's restaurant. in our area doing their air conditioning work.

And he got fire because he hung a deer in one of the Popeye's freezers. And he forgot to go get that deer out there for the manager showed up on Monday. So he lost his job. So that's why I had all that extra time on a set. It was so funny because they said, you know, they were talking about having another character involved or something, you know. They're like, we need to get that guy who works there with you, Mountain Man.

I was like, oh, he doesn't work there. And they're like, well, he's there every day. I said, no, he's just listening. Because what we would do is we would have Bible. It was like we would have Bible studies. And God wouldn't initiate a lot of those, which really helped me in my study time, because he'd say, what you've been studying on? You remember that?

About once a week, and I would go through. It was a podcast before there was a podcast at the Duck call. Practicing. And then we would have our laughs every day because the way the duck call room is positioned, you had to walk about, you know, 100 yards to go to the bathroom that was right beside the duck call room. But it's a weird thing. And the walls were so thin that this doesn't seem like a big deal except every time Si would go to the bathroom. Well, we would just listen and you could hear everything he was saying.

And he had a complete conversation and a play-by-play just audibly of everything that was happening. And we used to laugh. I would laugh so hard I was about to wet my pants. But that would happen every time because we were like there. You said he's in the bathroom and he's talking while he's. The whole time. Yeah. Him and his boys.

Yep. Yeah. up. He'd say, okay, let's see where we're going. Yep. And it's a, it's a play by play that sometimes got frightening. It was like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on here a minute, boys. What in the world? Yeah. Whoa.

Wow. And he did that over and over every day. And then he would come back in, well, we're all crying. with their heads down, and he's like, what's y'all been talking about? And that process repeated itself hundreds of times. Because you know what's... How did that not make the show? I mean, that...

It should have. I don't know. I told them about it, but I think they thought that was just... But you know, Jay's what's amazing about that is Si, if you were to tell him that, he has no idea he does that. No. No. I mean, that's just Cy being Sy, Cy, he has no idea that he...

does that. And so anytime we used to do events together, and he's that way everywhere, because we just, you're like, hey, we need to run in the restroom before we get on the stage.

We're going to rest room together. It's the same thing. And I'm just dying laughing because I was like, who talks us? I said, sign, you have to be patient. I said,

and you look toward the horizon. And I said, when you see the smokestacks, a big boat, I said, that boat's going to unload in our favor. He said, how far out is it? I said, it's not over the ridge yet.

We can't see it. But it's coming. It's coming. And another year we go by, and I said, just look toward the water. I said, it's coming. And he said, have you seen it? I said, I've got an eye vision. I said, but did that unloaded yet?

It's coming to unload. I wonder if that's why he used to always walk to the riverbank and just stare for long periods of time, talking to himself. He was waiting for that ship to come in. Yeah, he said he told me about that. He said, I'd ask him. So we hired Willie and got him on there, you know. And then I just walked out there, looked in the mailbox one day. And I looked at it.

I said, huh. I said, that's a, Willie, what he's doing? I got him. He's the commander-in-chief. So I just looked down and I pulled that piece of paper out of it. It was a check? One million dollars. Is that when the ship came in?

Yeah, yeah. So one million dollars. I said, die, ships unloaded. I said, word, man. I said, it's coming. It's coming. No, that's when you went into part-time work. You're working.

You're working. It's something to you. The ship finally, I said, well, come a day, Sa, when the ship will unload at the dark, my man. And then he, every year, for about five years, he said, is it you still, you see it?

Yeah. Said, I see him. It's getting, getting big now. Yeah. He said, it's almost on the bank side to start unloading. Yeah. Long green. Yep.

I used to think, Sye, you know how when you're, I literally looked up one day, it said, good night, I'm a million. The ship is here. When you're a kid, you have imaginary friends. It's like Si never got out of that. He's always talking to himself.

He's always talking to people, which is incredible. So with the transition, are we going to get into Ephesian, though? Let's do it. John, won't you ask Chase the question for old time's sake? What you been studying? I'm glad you asked. So last podcast, we talked about. why Jesus became a human.

And we got into the deep water about what does it mean to have a sinful nature? The good news is God sent Jesus for us. But in my study of that, something that I didn't go into, and I'm going to do it in the spirit of what I've been studying on. So the name of this podcast is unashamed. And generally people think, well, we're trying to get people to be unashamed that they're following Jesus. Kind of the Romans 1, 16, 17, 17.

Romans 1, 16, 17. However, we've used one of these references before, but last night in my study about Jesus becoming a human, I noticed something in Hebrews that has not been revealed. So this is what I've been studying on, because this was last night at about 1.30 in the morning. So when Jesus became a human, and I'll refer, we went through this whole,

section last podcast in Hebrews 2. When it got to verse 11 of chapter 2, it says something interesting. It says, but the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. And this is in the context of Jesus becoming a human. So the God of the universe decided to become a human, and he's holy. And he made us holy because he died on a cross. And it says, we're of the same human family. But this next sentence says,

so Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers, which that kind of hit me like a ton of bricks because I thought we're trying to get people to be unashamed for Jesus. And one of the ways you're going to do that is to realize that that Jesus wasn't ashamed to become a human because he loved us. And so then when you go to Hebrews 11, you have a different thought, because that's Jesus becoming a human, and he's not ashamed of that, which greatly inspires me.

But then in telling the story of Abraham through his faith in Genesis 11, and you remember the story, but I'll pick it up in verse 13. It says, all these people were living by faith when they died. they did not receive the things promise. They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. Kind of like Phil's boat. They were like, you know, go sell everything you have and move to a different country. And you're like, why?

Because I'm telling you to. This is God speaking to Abraham. And he said, okay. And I'm not even sure why, but I'm going to do it. And so then it says, and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on Earth. which is going to be a preview for how we are now. Yep. Which is awesome.

You say, what's this got to do with being unashamed? Well, watch. People who say such things show that they are looking for a better country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God for heaven. he has prepared a city for. So I thought, boy, it's one thing that Jesus is not ashamed to become a human.

And then it's another thing that God is not a shame that he's got a city for humans to live with forever. By the way, Jays, that city, if you keep reading over into chapter 12, because a lot of people say, oh, yeah, that's going to be great when we get to heaven. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You have come to the kingdom of God, the city of the living God, the, the Jerusalem for all of us. He talks about the kingdom in Hebrew chapter 12.

So that city, we realize that now. We are citizens of the kingdom of God, which is very powerful. The boat pulled up when Jesus pulled up on the earth. That's it. The boat pulled up and began to unload. Yeah. And we've been out there gathering at that boat ever since, 2,000 years later. Yep.

Well, if you look carefully, one area, we have sort of skirted, for what reason I do not know, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. This is Ephesians Ford. Now listen to this, one spirit, just

as you were called one hope and you were called one Lord, Jesus, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. And then he does a miraculous thought. and a in-depth thought.

But to each one of his grace has been given us Christ apportioned it. This is why it says when he ascended on high after his resurrection, he stayed 40 days and he went back into heaven. He led captives in his train and gave gifts to men. What does it mean except that also he ascended, descended to the lower earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended high. than all the heavens in order to feel the whole universe.

Now, this is kind of over my head. It was he, this is Jesus, who gave some to be apostles. Well, we kind of recognized the apostles, one of them, one of them went but rogue, some to be prophets, some to be evangelist, and some to be pastors and teachers.

you prepare god's people for works of service which is what the book of thephesus is about so that the body of christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of god and become mature attaining attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of christ that's pretty amazing for as far as y'all we read the feeson's chapter four then that right there was there will be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to prepare God people. But to get all of that lined out and to speak as one is quite remarkable worldwide. Would you all say? 2,000 years roughly from when that was written. That long to still be talking. I'm telling you.

And, Dad, what you're describing is what he says here in Ephesians 2, 10, when he talks about being created for the good works, you know, not by ourselves, but because of Christ. What you're describing is what that works looks like, what those works looks like. And you said a lot, because I was doing a little bit of deep dive on that. I'd set a couple of podcasts back that grace was always about paying forward, not paying back. the idea that God has blessed us in the heavenly realm. So therefore, as Jay just described it, we're waiting there for other people to be able to show them the ship. So they can better understand the kingdom of God. I got a passage.

I wanted to read you what Jesus said about this. And this is way back very early in his ministry. You remember when he talked about the beatitudes we call them, where he talked about what it looks like to be a kingdom member, you know, blessed or the poor and spirit, the kingdom. of having all those verses. Then he says this, at the end of that, Matthew 513, You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men. So he compares them to salt first. Then he says, in verse 14, you are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bow.

they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. So long before Paul even wrote those words in Ephesians 2, Jesus is showing us exactly what the expectation is. Once we understand and find this grace that God's given us, we don't keep it to ourselves. I mean, we bless other people with it, with our light shining, with the saltiness. In other words, they were having those conversations, that one year with Mountain Man, Jase, you described.

That was to bless this man of so you could understand who Christ was. He became a son of the living God because of the light that was shining. Yeah, I'll tell you that story. So he sits there for one year and he asks questions about life, the Bible. And it was kind of like what Godwin was talking about. we would share with each other kind of indirectly saying, well, that we all were like you, kind of like the Ephesians 2, 1 through 3. We had our moments of following our own gratification and sins, and we were real honest and open.

So one day I had to leave early, and I left, and he called me because I had given him my number, which looking back on that, that had some, it was really good and really bad for a lot of reasons. But every time we got a mountain man would call me, I'd be like, just skip to the end before this got, what's going on? And after a while, I'd say, just skip to the end part on what you need.

Because by the time we get here, I don't have time, but, and he said, I noticed you left us. I was like, yeah, and he said, I don't think I can, I can leave without doing something about what I've come to understand about Jesus. And so it was kind of a weird thing. I said, well, what are you wanting to do? And he's like, well, I'm thinking you might ought to baptize me. And I said, well, I'm stopping at my house.

there's no water, you know, up at the church bill, I mean, at the, uh, at Duck Commander. So it was kind of weird because he was saying, why did you leave, come back, but I want you to baptize me. I was like, we're going to have some water, you know, and he's like, well, there's a, there's a big old lake down here. She ain't he lay. I was like, that's in the opposite direction that I'm going to get one of them to go baptize. Well, you know, it's a long, long story short. it. He wound up driving to my house and we went back to my pool and, you know, kind of to

Phil's point. It was the only time I've ever seen Mount Man emotional and it was just as slow as when he talks. You know, it was just, the man's soul was just poured out there. I've never seen a more broken man wanting to be baptized in my life. So, Jay's, you told me about this. Back then I was working at the church. So I was up preaching the next Sunday after this happened that week. And you told me, you said, you know, Mount Man got baptized. And I said, oh, that's great. So when I got up to preach that Sunday, I said, hey, I got an announcement.

I said, we got a brand new brother back there. Oh, Mount Man got baptized this weekend. I said, stand up, Mount Man. So everybody started clapping. And I realized in that moment, I had no idea what his real name was. Yeah. I had never heard it. I still don't know.

I do. I do because here's what I said. I said, Mount Man, I just, in front of the whole church, I said, I just realized I don't know your name. I said, surely it's not Mountain Man. And everybody started laughing. He said, Tim Garardi. So that's his name, Tim Garardi. Well, who knew that? I know. I did. He made me think that. He don't look like a Tim. It made me think, no, I mean. That's John from the show right there.

You know, I read that in Hebrews 11, but God's not a shame because we're looking to this heavenly country. But it made me think of even Mountain Man being in that building, not working, just hanging out for a year. But we were working. God was working through us to bring him into this. I mean, this is Ephesians 2 being shown now on the earth. This is God encountering a human. And even though we laughed the whole time and most of our conversations were not about God or the Bible, just having fun. We'd have these moments every day where he's just listening.

And it took about that long for him to make a decision. Nobody was putting any pressure on him whatsoever. He just wouldn't stop coming, which was okay because I thought, well, he was seeking. Yeah, he's seeking. You know what's ironic, Jason? Zach, I bet you didn't know this. So now we got this podcast, unashamed. John's on the duck call room.

Sadie's got a podcast. Willie and Corey had a podcast. Used to be on Fox News or Fox Station, whatever. And so all these people, everybody in our families have all these different ways that communicate. But you know they had the very first, it wasn't called a podcast back then, but the very first,

it was an internet radio show. But I love that story. Jason, you describing how how emotional he was, you know, when he came to Christ. And I was thinking about this, you know, the last podcast, we talked about this idea of wrath a lot. And you had mentioned that second Peter one verse. I wanted to read it because I think it's like, I went back and read this in between the podcast.

And man, it's almost a kind of a flip the way that it's presented, but it's almost the same exact argument or case or, you know, this being presented here. Yeah, I agree. In Ephesians, too, it puts like the escape the corruption of the world part first because it's like you used to do, you used to be this, you used to be this, you used to be this, you used to be this, but now in Christ. And it, but here it kind of flips it. It puts the, this is who you are in Christ and, and this is what you used to be. But it's just kind of a mirror image.

But I wanted to read it because I think that that, that, you think, why get emotional? Like, why do Mountain Man get emotional? why does everyone, when Phil talks about this, the one thing they've had in common, everyone that he's been baptizing lately, and he's said this several times in the podcast, is the word tears. And you think, why, why? And here's why. Because it says here that his divine power, this is 2nd Peter, chapter 1, verse 3,

his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life. I mean, that's a, Jesus died for the life of the world, John 6th. It's not just, you know, he didn't just die for our sins. He also died to bring us to life. So he's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Well, how does that happen? Through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises.

And here's the reason why. So that through this. them, you may become partakers of the divine nature. That's the reason for the tears, because he goes on to say, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desires, Ephesians uses the language of passions, for this very reason, and he goes on to add all this things to it, but it's, it's, the reason why you are emotional is because you're escaping the death work that has enslaved all of us as sinners.

and we are being invited into this partaker of the divine nature? Like, what is that? I mean, think about what does it mean? I mean, whatever it means, it means that who, whatever God is in his nature, he's inviting us to come in and partake of the beauty of that nature. And that's why I think we get emotional when we, when someone comes out of that corruption of the world and into this beauty of who God is. You know, Zach, I was thinking about that.

You remember in the movie Saving Private Ryan, and of course, the setup, you know, is that you have to go find this guy because he had lost all his brothers. He doesn't know that. But, you know, and so he's the only one left out of, I think it was four brothers. And so they send this company, and they're just going all across Europe, you know, during a war to find him. They find it, but he doesn't want to leave because, you know, he wants to stay there with his brothers, you know, and fight. And so they wind up. Most of them got killed through the process, you know, of trying to get him and get him out. And you remember at the very end when Tom Hanks, who's the main guy, he looks at him, he tells him earn it.

And then he dies. And this act of giving of himself. And so then the scene morphs from the young private riding into this older man at the cemetery. And he's so emotional. You remember he starts crying and his wife and his family is there and they've got their arms around him. And he says, have I been a good man? Have I earned it? And it was really amazing because it's kind of the way we think of.

We can't earn, you know, what God has done for us. But we try to respond in such a way, the phrase that dad is used before to live a life worthy of our calling. Because we've been called to something so great. And while we can't earn it on our own, we're so appreciative that we want to make sure that everyone knows the sacrifice that has been paid for us was worth it. And so we want to live that life. And so in all the movies I've ever seen, it's the only one that to me shows a little bit of a glimpse, you know, from a human standpoint, about what it means to have such an awesome sacrifice.

Yeah. And then how we would possibly try to respond to it. The point, I think here's where this is, this is why what we're teaching on this podcast and exploring for even our own life is, is we call the gospel of the kingdom. This is the language from Mark, you know, chapter one,

the gospel of the kingdom, because what you're essentially describing there is, is the answer to how, how do we get an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? That's what Peter's talking about in First Peter. Listen to the language in verse 11 of chapter one. For in this way,

there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So if whatever the way is, he's just talked about what that way is, what is that way? It's the understanding that we are now partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption of the world. And because of that, for that reason, we make every effort to supplement our faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If ever lacks these qualities is near-sighted, that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent. to confirm your calling an election for if you practice these qualities you will never fail. That's our fault. I think that's the thing. What we're saying is, is like, we're moving into a kingdom. It's not just one time, I'm saved, I'm good.

Okay, now I can do my own thing. You've missed it if that's how you see the gospel. The gospel is an invitation into a kingdom with a king, King Jesus. Good part. I love it. And it's without, it's without shame and without guilt. it's living for what, you know, has been given to us, which is the whole thing. John, you and I were neighbors and we raised our families, you know, right across the street from

each other. Yeah. And really that whole time we were there for 17 years across the street from you guys, we spent that time trying to pay forward the blessings and the victories that we got. And I mentioned a hard time for us. You guys, you know, you adopted Johanna and she had some behavioral. stuff when she was very young. And we walked through that together. And speaking of emotion, the night she graduated high school, and we were sitting there in that auditorium, and she got the largest scholarship

of any of her classmates. And I just sat there and wept. And the reason I did was because I thought we've been together for our whole lives to help people find a better way in this life. And so that's the beauty of what the kingdom of God does. It also allows you to join other kingdom-minded people and live life together and bless other people. It's amazing. It takes a village. No, I thought the same thing when you quoted that, Al, that, you know, that is Ephesians 4-1, where he says, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you receive. Yeah, Colossians 1-10 as well.

But then in 5-1 and 2, he says a similar thing when he says, be imitators of God then as dearly loved children and live a life. of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. And I just want to make the point that Jesus showed us by becoming a human. He gave us the example of how this works, how you can give your life up because of what God has planned or because of his love, because of his grace. And so you get into these types of doctrines where people say, well, Jesus had to, you know,

the only reason he did it because he was God. Or they say, well, he did it because he had to. But when you read what Jesus said, you remember in John 10 where he said, I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep, my sheep know me, just as the father knows me and I know the father, I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen,

and he was talking about the Gentiles, which we'll get to in the last part of Ephesians 2, but it says, I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and we shall be one flock and one shepherd. There you go, Phil. The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life, only to take it up again.

But here's the key verse that I want to get to about living a life of love, because Jesus gave himself up and him showing us how to do this as a human. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down. Talking about his life, of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. The command I received, this command I received from my father. And my point is how that comes out practically to humans is whenever a bunch of religious people get together and they try to figure out what I have to do. What I have to do.

But I think this is the model. Jesus is real clear here. He's like, no one's taking my life from me. This is not something I'm doing because I had to. This had to be done. I'm doing this on my own accord. He's choosing to lay down his life. So I always tell people that in response,

and when they're like, you know, you're going through the verses and how you respond and what I need to do. They're like, do I have to do this? And I think that's when you've got to remember Jesus's words. Now, I'm offering this by my own free will and choice. I think when you encounter Jesus and understand what he did, that response to grace is,

I'm doing this, I'm laying down my life because I want to because of what you've done. So I just think that changes the narrative of how we view, you know, like what you said about trying to earn it or live in a life worthy. You want to lay down your life. And that's what you do. You know, Roman 6 is all about that. You know, he frames it around, shall we go on sin and so that grace may increase.

You know, most verses that people read about baptism, they go to Acts 2 and say, well, look, you get forgiveness of sins or Holy Spirit. But Romans 6 is all about this offering of yourself. So now you're God's possession to be used representing him. I mean, it's pretty fascinating. Well, and it's also important to bring this aspect of it up, Jace, because I think a lot of people, we've talked a lot about theology in Ephesians and it's understandable because there's so much, you know, deep stuff here. But sometimes people, I feel like, go overboard because they don't want you to think you can earn your salvation, which they're, right, because he says clearly, this is not by your works, but it's because of Christ.

But they spend so much time stressing that it's almost like, look, I mean, you've got the grace of God now. So, you know, there's nothing else you can do as if somehow we don't respond with a lifetime. I think back to my conversion, look, you didn't have to tell me that there was nothing I could do. I'd figure that out. Yeah. But people say, well, you have to acknowledge that. But what do you mean?

I'm trapped on a planet going throughout space and then I'm going to die. I got it. The church is like a kind of marriage. Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant. church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish but holy and blameless. That's what he says the church is like.

That's pretty powerful stuff. No, and dad, that's a great illustration that he uses and that you brought up because when you get married, and this is a lot of times what young people don't understand when they get married, the work then begins. Yeah. It's not like we've had a culmination here. Now we go into coastal living in a marriage. That's when the real work begins, but it begins because of the relationship and the nature of it. So it's an excellent illustration to show exactly what it looks like.

All right, we're out of time. Now that went fast, John, thank you for being on the podcast. When they told me, they said, John's going to be on the podcast. I said, he's always welcome here. And Galwin, you do the Duck Call Room podcast, right? I do, yeah. What do you do, once a week or what do y'all do, two a week? Two a week, yeah.

If y'all want to listen to God, when you can find the Duck Call Ring podcast. Have you figured out how to tame, Si? No. We just let him go. All right, we'll see you later, John. See you next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast.

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