Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 942 | Jase Attempts to Be a Good Samaritan but Fails & How Long Since Phil Looked in a Mirror?

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

Jase’s lateness to the studio of course comes with a wild story including getting stuck in a drive-thru and an encounter with a woman running through the woods to get away from him. Phil wonders what any of it has to do with his cryptic notes or their Bible study, and the guys study the specific qualities of Ephesus that led Paul to write the Ephesian Christians their own letter. Zach highlights the irony of the power of love in a city that loved power, and what’s left of the old Roman gods? -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Bill has to see the unseen. To us, we're all like, you got your might down here. It's like faith, it's like faith because you can't see your face. Well, Annie can't hear that way either, so. When's the last time you actually looked into a mirror? It's probably going on years, you know.

We're trying to get dad to pull his mic up. Jay says it's an act of faith because dad can't see it because he's got the little mic that attaches to his headphone. Kind of like a sigh wears. Yeah, well, you can't see what you can't see. Yeah. Because I'm sitting here thinking, pull your mic up, but you can't see it. Then we went into how long it's been since Phil has actually seen a mirror. Well, it was like your theory on side, which I think you're exactly right.

But when Sa got his eyes fixed and looked in the mirror, he thought, oh, boy. So now he's like shaving and crude. Yeah, he immediately went got a makeover. Got his beard trim and shaped up. He started grooming. Yeah. He did. He had like a 40-year grooming period, like wilderness.

Well, it started when he retired from the military because he said, he said, boys, when I retired from the military, my race. retired with me. So that's what he told me. Yeah, he tried to bring back the rat tail. That didn't work. Yeah. So I call it the skullet.

It's a, it's like a mullet, but since size has no hair on top, on the front, it's a skullet. He's got hair in the back, but not in the front. He's party in the back, business on top. This seems like a weird day today, because we're doing our podcast at a different time. Due to Zach having some difficulty. Zach's travel, travel problems.

Zach just get, he's having a hard time getting back to real life. It's like he's, he's like he's a hamster, Jace. He's on the wheel. He's tried. He's really running hard, but he just can't get anywhere. Can't quite get there. You know, but I will say, maybe I shouldn't point this out, but you were also late, Jace. Oh, I was way late.

Yeah. Well, we had delayed an hour and a half. So then we get our ready to go, Zach's in his place. And everybody's like, where's J's? I don't know. Then he texted and said, I'll be there. Life is filled with adventure. Do you me give you the high points while I'm like?

Of course. There's always a story with you. I woke up at my normal time, even though I had received a text that we were reminder for this one time only, we're moving up an hour. It's kind of like the equivalent of setting your clocks back or forward. But, you know, When you're a man of routine, you get ready. And I was fixed to leave.

And then I realized, oh, wait, I have an extra hour. So I waited the extra hour, get up to leave again. Then I receive another text saying, Zach has been delayed another 30 minutes. So I go back now. This is, so I was ready to leave four hours ago. I knew this was going to be Zach's fault. My lovely wife came in and she had taken, you know, the little one that we are,

it's the first day of, I don't even know what you call it, preschool or whatever. So, well, I had to hear about that. So now I'm a little delayed from the actual departure, but she's like, well, you better go get something to eat because we usually are here in the morning and we have breakfast. But Al's not here. He brings breakfast. So I was like, well, I'll go get some lunch. We're fixed to talk.

Well, I didn't realize how many more people are stirring toward the middle of the day in town. And due to the heat here, you know, I go, the only fast food I go besides, you know, the true wilderness is a Chick-fil-A. And they didn't have their employees out taking orders due to the extreme heat. So what I noticed about here's the problem I have with fast food setups. Once you go in, there's no getting out. you can't eject you can't say it because now people pull him behind you and you're just in line and it just it just seemed like i was going to be there throughout the day it was really slow but you've got me hung up uh and what we're doing with jason's reading of macky's parallel

of the feet i'm like say what so so turn them loose i don't know what they Dad's reading my internal notes. There's three people who know what Phil just said. Al actually gave Phil some notes. Internal, not necessarily meant to be shared with the audience. This may be just a hunch, but that might have been a bad idea. Well, it's looking like. So, no, I did.

I have the information going into what we're now looking at in a piece. You don't like my story on how I was getting here. I was kind of mid. So Paul finally started making his points. All right, well, let me give you this. He starts out with Acts of 1 there. You know, it's not for you to follow the times or dates the father is set by his own authority. You'll receive power, though, when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you'll be my witnesses beginning in Jerusalem to all.

Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. So it picks up a little stamina. All of them are preached to. When the people heard it, they were cut to the heart. So Peter has set forth a fire that's going on. Oh, I'm with you. I'm excited about it. We're the only part.

We got to Ephesians, you say, is the message still sound with the ones they started with over here in act chapter one it goes together yeah it goes like a glove like a glove what i like about this we're the only podcast in the world that interrupts a story for the actual content yeah which we're going so i will really give you the highlights from that point on i may get the jic for a there's a truck jackknifed with a trailer you say you can't turn left so i had to go all the way around town to get down let's get me who mackie is because your reading is supposedly for one Mackey. But that was a recap.

Mackey's parallel. Yeah, I don't even know what that's referring to. What we're doing. You went to Axe and got. I saw that. I said, well, I'd like to wait to see how Mackey's material unfolds. The craziest cold open ever. So anyway, if you're listening and you're like, what's going on?

I'm left with who is Mackey? Who is Mackey? So there I was traveling here, realizing that I might be late. And then I get in the back roads where Phil lives. And I come up on a car that's parked in the middle of the road right past the curve. Was that Mackey? No, it wasn't Mackey. I don't know who it was.

So a young... I don't know. I'd bump into them on the way down here. Well, I slow down because I'm like, There's no hazard lights. They're not in their lane, in the middle of the road. So I start slowing down. That's never good.

No. I mean, literally a mile from here. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And so I see the door open, and it's a young woman with a crazed look on her face, like going to the ditch, looking at me kind of in a panic. And so I thought she was just going to the ditch so I could get around. I was like, oh, she didn't realize there's a car company. You're parked in the middle of the road in a dangerous place.

So I slow down because I thought, well, maybe she needs some help. So as I'm slowing down to roll down the window, she just took off through the cutoff. There's a cutover. They just cleared all that land. I mean, it's 100 degrees. It's the middle of the day. And I thought, what is going? on here. But then it kind of hit me. I thought, I think she saw me, because I look back at her

car and it looked like we had a radiator problem because there was a lot of liquid on the pavement. Just a little smoke coming up. But I think she... Did Mackie have any reference to your life? No, I was just saying it's all about perspective. Life is an adventure. I think she had car problems, but then she saw me, because this is a dangerous place, and thought, I need to run. I just thought it was interesting. I'm trying to tell you why I was late. It was beginning to unfold a little bit.

Yeah. Anyway. What were you doing? What's the woman doing in the middle of the road? She's probably still running in that cutovers, all I know. When you're trying to be a good Samaritan and people run from you, maybe you need to get with size to start working. on some grooming tips.

Well, I could have rolled down the window if I'd have thought about you, Phil. I'd have said, I have the Holy Spirit of God, but I think that would have made it worse, you know. I think it would have. All right. So, Dad, I'm going to solve your mystery and tell you who Mackie is. It's Dr. Tim Mackie, who we've been following some of his studies on Ephesians. And at the end of the last podcast, Jace read, which was a brilliant idea because the stuff was really good.

The comparisons that Dr. Mackey made from Ephesians 3 back to Ephesians 1. Yeah, which was obvious, but just when it was all put together, there was like seven or eight things. Because you get to Ephesians 3, when you get to the end, now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever, Amen. I mean, what a statement. I think it's one of the most powerful statements in the Bible. To your point, you go back to the book of Acts, where this started to unfold.

It is, I mean, the solid message of Jesus. Oh, there's no doubt. I mean, beyond repute. Well, it kind of hit me when I read that. You know, if we just all sat around and made a list of what we would like God to do for us, I'm sure we would come up with a list. We would have some things. Oh, yeah. Just think about what that says.

But then when you kind of read what he said, it's like, well, he can do not two times more or three times more than what you think. Or a hundred times more. We're not even at a hundred. The term immeasurably. Immeasurably. You cannot measure how much more. It's even more than you can imagine, which may mean.

think, you know how we usually use the word unimaginable is when something bad happens. We say, oh, that is just evil that's unimaginable. Unimaginable. We usually use it in the negative light because we're human beings and we're not thinking, oh, God can work in me something that is unimaginable to me in a good way. but the only reason that I connected all those dots from the Mackey outline, which he, I think, did the same thing. If you're going to have that kind of prayer life and start imagining these things,

I think you have to take the first three chapters, all the good things that he laid out there, all the exciting, thrilling. The resurrection of the day it is what's got him stirred. Well, and power and heaven and earth coming together. When he wants to start the book of acts, but the time they get to feasins, they're just hammering the resurrection of the dead. Well, in the same spirit that raised Jesus is now living in you. So, Dad, since Dad's released some of my internal notes,

I'll say what else I said in the notes or an email, I said to you guys, that that was so good, there were still some meat left on the bone. Because Jace just opened up by reading that, comparison back, man, it just had my mind reeling from the last podcast. And, Dad, I'm so glad you went to Acts because one of the things I wanted us to talk a little bit more about out of this text was the third one, Jay's. First one was United. It's the groundwork in the book of action. It's the groundwork. Exactly. And you mentioned it's the resurrection. And then, of course, it's right after that. So you mentioned United Heaven and Earth. We talked about the storehouse

of riches, this idea that the riches from God, which have, no depth, by the way. That's also unimaginable. And then the third one was the Spirit takes up residence in us. And we talked a little bit about it, but I wanted to talk some more about it, because Dad just mentioned Acts, because that's when the Holy Spirit was the game changer. That's when everything changed when he was poured out in that moment that we read about in Acts 1 and 2, because it changes everything now that he lives in us. And that links to some of the other once as well. But some of the things I didn't mention before, I want you to listen to this, the Spirit of God. I read in the last podcast, Romans 8, 26, 27, where it says he relates our

weaknesses to God. And then Zach read a couple of podcasts ago in 1st Corinthians 2, that he works to connect not only us with God, but then to fellow believers, this idea of the wisdom that comes from the spirit and how that connects us all together. He renews us, 2 Corinthians 416, He transforms us. 2 Corinthians 318. He informs us of God's will. Philippians 2, 12 and 13. He purifies our hearts and makes us holy.

1st Thessalonians 2, 12 and 13. He bears fruit through us, Galatians 522. He makes disciples of Christ better. John 14, 15, and 16. And then it says here in this text that he does it in our inner man, the inner being, which literally is what it means, which is where we struggle and also where we're renewed. So I just had to get that in because it's such a huge, you know, world creation changing event when the Holy Spirit now resides in us to now build up what is the temple of God in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And it's worthy of note that by the time they got to Galatia and they started out with the message that,

Peter preached, that you've looked at all the Corinthian letter first and second, but just to say in the Galatia, what he's fixing to say in Ephesus, he says, you're all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek, which is amazing for this audience. slave nor free male nor female for you're all one in Christ Jesus and if you belong to Christ then this keeps coming up where it just start from then you are Abraham's seed well that's where you better be and airs according to the promise you turn a page or two pages and the same thing there's one body one spirit one hope when you recall one Lord one faith one baptism it's a

it's a coming together of all this material and it's amazing what all is said in this short period of time a little bit in the book of Acts. Peter lays the groundwork and and I mean here here they go. You know, and what's interesting about this is that because Phil, Phil emphasized the resurrection and then I love with Jay Steadie. Then he emphasized the coming of the Holy Spirit living in us. And I was, when you all were saying that, I was thinking, what is the connection between the two? And if you think about Jesus, Jesus didn't ascend to the Father until when, after the resurrection.

So the reason why the resurrection is crucial, one of the reasons why the resurrection is so crucial. It's not just for our own, like, we get to be raised too, which is also obviously a huge part of it. But it's also essential to the coming of the Holy Spirit. because in John 16, when Jesus is talking about the coming of the Spirit to live in us, he says in verse 7, I tell you the truth, it's to your advantage that I go away. What's he talking about there?

His ascension. He says, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. So when you think about the correlation and what's happening in Ephesians chapter 3 and the resurrection in the coming of the Spirit is in Ephesians 3, what he's talking about is that all these amazing things that God has done and is going to do for us. But it says that also we will know this, that we will know, verse 19, the love of Christ, that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Well, where does that fullness come from?

Where does that knowledge of love come from that we would actually know it? it comes from the Holy Spirit. Living in us, well, how are we going to get the Holy Spirit? Christ has to be raised, and Christ has to ascend to the Father so that he will send us the Holy Spirit. So it's kind of this full circle moment

of all of this coming together in Paul's writings here, but that's really what's happening here. Yep. It's worthy of Noah. That was excellent. Well, it goes back to, I mean, it took me back to thinking

how this all got started. I mean, you remember in Acts 19, you know, when Paul comes to Ephesus, he ran upon some disciples there. And he's like, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe? And they said, we haven't even heard there is a Holy Spirit. So, of course, then he, you know, asked him about their baptism. And the people he had run up on have been baptized with John the Baptist baptism. him. So, you know, upon hearing this, he baptized him in the name of Jesus. And then all of a sudden

these miracles start, you know, God gives, you know, through the Holy Spirit, Paul, all this confirmation that, you know, he sent from God and sharing Jesus and, I guess, you know, having the authority to do this. The message is still there. Exactly. And you remember what happened. I mean, he stays there two years going in the synagogue. So when you read his letter to the Ephesians, no wonder, you know, the last two verses of chapter two was talking about you're the temple of the Holy Spirit, because he had had this encounter. He was going to their earthly temples. Well, then he branched out from there and you remember what happened. You know, he starts driving out demons and all this. And then they have this big riot breakout because they had this. They had this.

seventh wonder of the world here this temple of artemus which i think is the greek word of it uh the roman was the princess of diana yep who was like you know based on what i read i mean it was like kind of the hunger games girl you know she was the goddess of fertility yeah and uh and hunting i mean but you think about it it was a pretty good gig Because you could say, I have the power to allow you to give birth. Well, people are going to have birth, verse when they, you know, a man and a woman come together. But that was kind of their gig, you know, and it's like, oh, it's because we're worshipping this made-up God. And, you know, when the money started drying up from what Paul was preaching, saying this is just a myth.

death, you know, the Orion. Because you remember what happened? They were turning in their scrolls. Remember days they were burning up all their stuff? And, you know, there was life change happening. Yeah. Make every effort, you say to these Ephesians, make every effort, which you know, it's going to be a pretty tough gig right there, to keep the unity of the spirit.

That's a tough one, through the bond of peace. Then he says one body, one spirit, one call to one hope when you were called, one Lord, one fate. So you read that, you say, to keep this all going is literally remarkable. This is wild news for most people. Oh, yeah, I was going to ask you, Jess, don't you think the same exact thing? How many times have we run into people that were just like those guys in Acts 19 that are trying to, to do it on their own. Their lives are a mess. And they say, man, I need to read my Bible more. And I don't know. I need to get back in church. But my life is just such a man. They're doing it

without the Holy Spirit and what he brings to the table. And I mean, it's amazing to me that 2,000 years later, it's the same exact thing. The people that don't know that this inward piece is possible. Yeah, I think, I think the difference is when you, the phrase, they can't do it. what it's not about doing it it's about being in it and being him and that's the big revelation that's happening here with the spirit the spirit the holy spirit i mean you read this in ephesians three and you mentioned that the first christian's passage as well what what is like what is the what's the end point and the end point is life in christ it's actually saying the holy spirit's actually saying this is like life with christ is where true life is it is where life is

found and everything else is going to lead you to a death worker, to emptiness, or to, it's, there's no life there. There's life here. And that's that, that's why the language that Paul uses in both First, Corinthians 1 and 2 and in Ephesians 3 is it's language about abundance. It's language about fullness. It's language about the imagery there is that there's something in this for me. Like, right, there's some kind of a need and longing and desire that is fulfilled.

filled in Christ and the role of the spirit is he is the person of God who makes this known to us. He's the one that illuminates our imaginations for this. He's the one that reveals this truth. It's like he's turning on the lights so that you can actually see the room and see, oh, no, that's where the couch is. You know, that's where the, you know, the chair is. That's where the, he's showing us reality. and what is reality, it's Christ.

Life in Christ, abundant life in Christ. That's the language. Yeah, that's the point I was going is, you know, that's our theme here for this podcast, for our life, even for our discussion. And he's going to start off with chapter four saying that very thing as a prisoner for the Lord. I mean, this is what we do, live a life worthy of the calling. I mean, God uses us in different ways, but,

But we all, as members of his body, the church, Spirit, Phil, we all have this responsibility to the actual calling of making Jesus Lord of our life because of him coming to earth, him down on the cross, being buried, being raised, he's given us his spirit. And so the reason I went to Acts 19, I mean, Phil went to Acts 2, which was perfect. But then you see this being lived out. And when you read his letter to the Ephesians and says, you know, God can work in you and do way more than you can ask or imagine, when you look at what happened in this town that we're now reading the letter that he sent to him, I mean, Paul was getting nothing but misery

out of the riots. They're trying to kill him. They're arguing. And it keeps going on and on whereby when it gets to chapter 20, he goes around Ephesus and has this little private meeting with the elders. And I just wanted to read a portion of it. Yeah, he wouldn't even go back in there. He had a meeting somewhere. I'm not going back in there.

And so he sent for the elders. And in 2022, he told this is after the riot and all this. He says, and now compelled by the spirit, I'm going to Jerusalem. not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me. If only I may finish the race and complete the task, the Lord Jesus has given me the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace, which is why I'm referring to that Ephesians 4-1. He's like, I urge you to live a lot. It's like a reset. You know,

You have this, he's been talking about love, he's been talking about power, the power of love, but he's doing it in a city where these people are in love with power. And really, those are the two contrasts he's presenting. Do you as a human being want to be powerful and love it, or do you want to display the power of love and get persecuted, cause riots, get run out of town, be threatened to, you know, to lose your life. And so then he goes on to say in verse 25, now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. I mean, he's like, I'm out of here, which he did write him a letter. But he said, therefore, I declare to you today that I'm innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not hesitated to proclaim.

to you the whole will of God. And he talks about keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, be shepherds of the church of God. He goes on to say in verse 32, I commit to you to God and to the Word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. It's the same things he's referring to in his letter. and he says you yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions and everything I did I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the week remembering the words of the Lord Jesus

and I think it is interesting it is more blessed to give than to receive when he had said this he knelt down with all of them and prayed they all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. And of course, then he got on his ship. I was just trying to lay the groundwork for how big a venture this was. I mean, this was the seventh wonder,

one of the seven wonders of the world had their own goddess. And when you look up how all this place got started, you know, hundreds of years before even this, you know, a meteorite fell from the sky, and they, you know, they were all looking around thinking, well, this was the sign that this place, you know, the heavens have spoken.

And it's so interesting that, you know, when you fast forward that and they make up this goddess, who's a hunter. Chapter 4, verse 10, to he who descended, God becoming flesh, Jesus, is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe.

Yeah. You started to talk about it, how they would be broken into different works. Prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, prepare God's people for works and service. But the preparation part is one of the most amazing thing ever. Yeah, it really is. But really when you just look at the Bible,

the New Testament as a whole, I mean, emphasis keeps coming up. You have chapter 19 and 20 in Acts. then he writes this letter but he also you remember timothy those two books he was sending timothy to ephesus yeah and then in in revelation jesus himself writes a letter to the church at ephesus and you remember he's like look you did great for a while battling evil because we all know in this kind of place what was going on but he's like you've forsaken your first love i mean the very thing Paul was writing them about, they were just having extreme difficulty in living this life as

Jesus as Lord. Well, you can even chart it too, Jays, for looking at as the gospel goes out from Acts 1, which dad started out there when it goes out from Jerusalem. I mean, Jerusalem is where it started, but you can see now we're talking about worldwide impact on the church and what it's doing. So you start looking at Antioch, which is up in Syria, you got Ephesus. which is over here in Macedonia. You ultimately have Rome,

which is where Paul winds up. But you're seeing this... It's still spreading. It's still spreading to this very day. So I want to reset back before we leave this text, because there's a couple more things I want to talk about. We talked about United Heaven and Earth Chase when you read that from Mackey.

This incomparable riches, which is grace, power, God's generosity, the spirit that takes up residence in us. We talked about, the Bible, talked about how that becomes this new temple, this house that we've been talking about, that his spirit indwells, and that's us. Then he talks about Christ's love, because maybe it's how much he's established. And we talked about that being agape love, which is unconditional, sacrificial.

And then number six on this list was the power to know. Remember to know this love that surpasses knowledge, and then back in 117 to know him better. And after we talked about this on the last podcast, when we were finished recording, there's a little devotional that I read every day. And it's just a bunch of different authors. We've done some of these. Dad did one with your daily feel, where they just take writings from different Christian authors and put it into a little devotional. And here was the one from that day.

But I thought this was so powerful. We tell me about why should we try to get to know Christ better? And his text was 1st John 520. the Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we may know him, that we may know him. And the same thing we've been talking about, right? Why do we want to know him? And then here was this little devotional thought.

And listen to this. I thought it was so good. This guy's name is Jack Hayford. He wrote a book called How to Live Through a Bad Day. And here's what he said in the Devo. When you're in the middle of a bad day, aim your hard questions at God, not man. Why? Because in life's darkest hours, there are usually no human beings with adequate answers. Counselors may analyze, associates may sympathize, and experience friends may empathize.

But finite minds and feeble flesh can never satisfy us with the presence we seek for when we truly cry for God himself and not just human answers. I thought that was such a rich thought in the idea that while we're so bound for bad answers when we're looking at people around us instead of the only one who can truly do anything about it. So the worse it gets, the better it is for you if you know God and if you know Christ and you know him better. So I just thought that was such a rich thought this idea, Jace, that we would know him better for a reason. Yeah, and that's why I brought up all this history. It's like the difference in Jesus and other religions, you know, these, it's all about Jesus and what he did. But these were real places. I mean, you go over to modern day Turkey and find the remains of this one of the seven wonders of the world.

And guess what's there? A little souvenir shop selling these trinkets representing the temple of Diana. But the actual temple of Diana, guess what? it's not there. I mean, you just see where it was. And I just thought, isn't that what we do when we try to be God and we try to create gods on the earth and then live our lives? And I think that's why when it gets practical in these next three chapters about husbands

and wives, I mean, can you imagine if you're basing life decisions on some made-up temple that's supposedly going to answer your questions on who your relationship should be with. You know, that's why when you see these references, when Paul wrote to Timothy, remember that saying where he said, these people forbid people to marry? You're like, why? Because they were getting all their information from this temple in the middle of the city where they had, and only a woman, you know, could work there in quotations and having all these ceremonies and parades

about how you're going to provide for your family, how you're going to make money. That's why when in Ephesians 5, it comes up talking about not having any kind of hint of sexual immorality or impurity or of greed. Because that was really what was behind making up gods. That's what we do. It all comes back to what Paul said there

when he said Jesus said it's better to give than to receive. Because you think, why do we come up with these imaginary gods so that we can receive? I mean, what makes different, Jesus so different, talking about his love is it's all about giving. I mean, his expression of self-giving love from God is the only place you're going to find that type of religious vein on the planet. Which is funny because when I mention that about the love, you know, the Greek word, which is Agape, which was the main, only two Greek words for love mentioned the Bible, Phileo, which is the love of family, brotherly love. And then Agape, which is sacrificial, you know, spiritual Christian love. And to your point, Jays, but the Greeks have seven more words for it because of all the different things that people put their trust in. And Zach and I realized it and dad, we've mentioned this before.

When we were in Athens looking at the temple, what was left of the temple of Zeus and the Acropolis and all that. And we thought, man, if this is where your hope lies, this is pretty bad. It was just one column left on the ground, right? Remember that? Zach? When we saw that, it was like, this is not where you want to be. It takes me back to what Paul said when he stood in the same spot that we were in.

He said, God cannot live in temples built by human hands. I mean, you know, that's exactly what we know. That's a life-changing part of it. Well, I really think that's what's behind. What we're talking about now is what's behind this. He can do more than we can ask or imagine. It's just a matter of us making a decision. Are we going to have the same kind of courage that Paul expressed

and was trying to convey, you know, the reason for this type of courage? because when you put all the historical context to this, it would have been really hard to break out and say, you know what, I'm following Jesus. Yeah. They're like, what? Yeah.

I mean, how are you going to make money? What, you know, what about, you know, how are you going to have babies, you know? Because, I mean, it doesn't matter whether it's true or not. If you believe it's true, and that's what the cultural acceptance is, that's what's going to happen. And they were all making money. And he came in there and it was just absolute disruption. It was really the God against the man-made gods.

And I was thinking, what you just said, that about a culture and life and how you get into these, swept into these ideologies. And I thought about the same thing we're doing the pro-life movement now. I mean, that's become a big issue in the current presidential campaign is about whether you're for abortion, you want it available. of all states. And I thought, how does that become a defining issue for people where you can, you know, basically kill your children in your womb? And that becomes such a strong thing that people say, we want to go out and win elections based on a mindset like this. You know, at one time, people were for abortion, but they were kind of quiet about it. But now that's out the window. Now it's like, we want more of it. And it just reminds me of how.

these ideologies come up over and over and over again. And they don't even make sense. It's like the every life people that do the diapers. We have them on the podcast. You're exactly right. It's a temple of Diana 2,000 years later. It's a political group saying we are the gods of fertility. That's it.

We're going to do what we think is right. And if you went back, Jason, another 2,000 years before Diana and this fertility stuff, you'd have Molek and out in the desert. And guess what they were doing? Sacrificing their children. and all in the name of a God. It's a crazy thing which shows you it has to be of the evil one.

Why would anybody even do it? Which, to make the point, though, our answer to that is Paul's answer, which was the Lord your God does not live in temples built by man's hands. Yes. As if he needed anything. And God determined the exact times and places that all men would live so that they would seek him out, perhaps Simon, though he's not far from each one of us. And we should not think of God as, I forgot the exact language, but we are his offspring.

We are his children. And so the call is to bring people into an understanding of who they were made in Christ. And once you establish that, then all of a sudden, there is no argument about the value of life. I mean, you are made in God's image. You are as offspring. Which is exactly right, Zach, which is why people will say. and I see this sum now on the Republican side, well, you know, we just got to back off on this thing because we got to win elections. What they don't understand is there's no, is this not a political issue for us? This is a moral issue.

This is, this is because what God said is right. We're never going to change on life. We're never going to say it's okay to kill babies in the womb or out. That's never going to change. That's beyond political parties. That's beyond who I pull the lever for. So the idea that somehow we can shape our morality into a political party, a leader, or somebody else, it's never going to happen. It's because we serve something greater than anything on earth. Yeah, it's not about pragmatic or pragmatism, meaning it's true because it works. No, what truth is is what God says it is. And it's anchored and woven and supporting and all around the fabric of reality. It's, we're trying to say submit to reality.

Like, let the Holy Spirit reveal reality to you and then submit to what is real. And God is real. And God has created us in his image. And that's real. And that way, I'm not really concerned about what works or like some kind of utilitarian view of it where it where it's just a utility. No, no, no. We're talking about the very fabric of truth. And I don't think we can never leave that as believers.

You know, it's funny, Zach, you mentioned pragmatism because one of the Greek words, one of those seven different ones other than Agape, is pragma, which means an obligated logical, you love something out of duty or logic. In other words, and that's it. I'm just being pragmatic. I don't really believe in it, but you know what? If I have to love it, I will. That's another Greek thought from another Greek word.

And we're like, but that's not the kind of love we have that has to motivate our hearts and changes. Yeah, we're talking about a kingdom love. And I've gotten flack even from some of our listeners for saying this kind of stuff. But it's true. I mean, like, we have to, as kingdom people, we cannot give our primary allegiance to any of these political movements. Correct. I'm not saying we don't do, like, involve ourselves politically. But like, no, we're kingdom people.

And I'm not, I'm not going to, like, put my life in the hands of a movement that's not centered in the truth of who God is. and then who I am in him. And, I mean, that's the key. I'm not avoiding any controversy by saying that either. I think you're actually leaning into controversy historically because it's been God's people who have stood prophetically in a gap of culture who have said, we're not doing that or that. You know, we're going to stick here in this kingdom vein.

So, you know, I'm just kind of a diatribe there. I apologize, but I believe that to be true. I don't apologize. You might start a riot. Maybe Ephesus writes all over you. That's why he's using this language, like when he began that prayer in 314, he was like, for this reason, I kneel before the father, which there's your sermon, just like he did with those elders, because you know this, when you have a temple that's made up

in the middle of your city and you're basing all your family decisions based on a statue that's not real. And you look at this statue, you know, I looked at it. I mean, this is what we're going with, which is no longer in existence. So how to, you know, live off the land. Of course, and people, they'll even bring up this modern day, you know, fertility God and make them up.

So you've got human beings making decisions about families and life and all this. But I noticed they've detached themselves from Diana on the, because she also went out and, you know, shot hogs and shot, bear and you had a, you know, Bowen era. And it was, if you had, so like, feel what they did instead of us just going, duck on them, you had to go visit the temple. Say your prayer, bow the knee. And then if you did that, you would have a good hunt.

That's what they did. It reminds me, James, we were telling that story. I think I've told it before on the podcast. And I don't have it in front of me, but it's in the Old Testament. I think it's in First Samuel, maybe. But where they had stolen the Ark of the Covenant, and they put it in this room, and they put their little God in there next to it, they had little wooden God called Dagon. And they put Day God in there where every day they would come back in, and Daegon would be laying on the floor, bowing down to the Ark of the Covenant. And so they started posting guards and trying to figure out what was going on.

And so the last day they came in, this happened every night. The last day they came in and little Dagon was broken into about 12 pieces before the covenant of God. And it was kind of like, the thing about how stupid that is that every day you got to come in and put your God back together again. It's like, I don't know. Maybe I'm not following a big enough God, you know? Well, exactly. Well, that's the reason I went down this road because I thought, you know, I see in my wife this desire, you know, she had that desire to want to have kids. I mean, it was a great desire, and she saw me this desire to go put, you know, some wild game on the table.

Because, I mean, it really floated my boat. And I thought, what two things they picked to have their God over. And, but I think, I think it's, you, you got to step back and say, what is, what is life really about? Start asking those kind of questions. even yesterday I had a guy send me a he sent me a video that just was pointed in his living room which was weird because the first time I watched it I didn't have the sound on and I just thought somebody randomly had their phone on and then accidentally sent me the text and I couldn't figure it out well when I turned it on it was a guy blowing his duck calls saying on a scale from one to 10 where am I?

and what do I need to do? And so, which was helpful because based on what I was looking at, I thought someone has lost their mind. But so I listened to it, and the point I want to make is, this guy could tell Ben practicing, I gave him a five. But my point was he was only trying to learn how to blow a duck call based on other people that he had listened to blowing duck calls. And I was like, your cadence is off because you've forgotten one key thing.

This is supposed to sound like a duck. That's what it's for. And you probably see where I'm going with this. It's like you're never going to be great if you don't realize what an actual duck sounds like. When you're trying to figure out, is there a God, who are we going to follow, where am I going to pledge my allegiance? that's why God sent Jesus. And when you zero in, and Ephesians, Paul's letter did a wonderful job of making this all happen in Christ. If you don't know what Jesus looks like in great detail to your point about knowing him better,

you're never going to pull this off. You're just going to have a bunch of letters that seem to be, you know, in contrast with the world, but it's not going to make sense. No, that's really good. And we're almost out of time. I think that's, and that was the last one, by the way, was the fullness to have the fullness of God be evident in us.

And we talked about that in the last podcast. What would it be like to never be empty, to never run on empty? And that's exactly who God is. And so you're never going to run out of who he is when you understand that. And you're into Zach's point earlier when you're in him. And you're not trying to do it on your own. So it's a, it's a perfect way to wrap that up.

Man, what a rich prayer. I think we spent three podcasts on that one prayer because it's so, so good. And it kind of now turns the page and where we're heading in chapter four. So we'll try to get there next time on Unashame. 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.

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