Ep 928 | Phil’s Million-Dollar Check Moment, Si’s Bathroom Play-by-Play & Godwin’s Time in Prison
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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 back. 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. 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 BC and there's, I guess, AC, would we say after Christ? Yeah. Because we were having the discussion again about Jason's stupid seatbelt ticket.

Zach told us not to bring it up. I ain't heard nothing. Oh, good. Well, look, here's the deal. Here's the deal. Zach keeps saying don't bring this up because he said Unashamed Nation sends three words to me concerning the seatbelt.

Let it go. 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. DUIs. I remember. We have every generation within the last couple years.

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 you said that was bc before christ that's right and mainly john because you only knew dad ac yeah i mean he he he helped lead you to christ so yeah that's pretty

Pretty amazing. So, so John, we've, we've had you on before. Uh, so everybody knows who you are, of course, and you're on our, uh, brother podcast, uh, the duck call room, uh, 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. Cause we don't have any sisters on there unless you count John David. Um, you know, maybe, but,

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 have you been doing lately? I know you do a lot of stuff on the road. You do a little bit of fishing. What have you 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. A week after that, I go to Mississippi.

And 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? Most of them. 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 talk like Phil was telling me, but I'm telling them. Yeah, I like it. You're sharing Jesus by association. Exactly. 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 no oh i thought we you were fixed to reveal something more sinister than a seat belt an improper scene in a way of a seat belt now you had a captive audience there i guess i did and um i'm going to indiana

at the first of september to drive your tractor to church sunday really i'm speaking on sunday i'm gonna drive me a combine or something up in there i know how that happened guy when they were all in a 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, ain't it? Yeah, it is. Drive your tractor to church Sunday. We're in Indiana because I'm going to be in- Middlebury.

Okay. 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 26th and 27th. It's Robertson's at bladesav.com by the way. So Manny will 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, Al. What? I guess that was it. Yeah. I'm going. You need like. If you're going to get out there, you need a website. You need like a calendar keeper, an 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 Kirk Cameron's books in a library August the 24th. It's all over Ouachita Parish. They're trying to get a Christian...

uh books back in the library oh instead of this other stuff you know are they gonna use subtitles when you read this no no it is i'm in washington parish they don't know what i'll say 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 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 care in that character. And everybody's like, oh, yeah, this guy. And then all of a sudden he starts telling this story.

And it's such a beautiful story that, you know, of Christ and how he was introduced to him and how it changed his life. And it, the shock and all that happens in an audience, John, when they, when they hear you,

realizing that your role on the show is more kind of like a character. But when they hear the real John Godwin, I mean, it blows them away. And I love sitting out there with the audience because they're like, did you know any of this stuff? Did you know he could talk? I ain't as think as they dumb are. Well, I've always said Jesus makes you smart. Yeah, he does. He does.

I had a good moment there and spoke and just wonder, and Paolo 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 and everything.

That's which way you go. Well, I was going to say what he, I was going to say how duck commander is going. Cause I hadn't been there in a while. Oh, it's going good. Are you doing the duck calls there? Are you doing the shipping or are you doing? 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. Oh,

That's good, guy. When you're acting like this, it's bad. Yeah, he's kind of disappointed. Busy's good. Yeah. Okay. But you can still talk bad about it. You used to always say, Jase, that John had to be panicked at one moment and then calm in the next. That was just kind of his nature. Yeah. I just want to get things done. Yeah. John, 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 Monroe. And you'd been there for 20, was it 22 years? 21 years. 21 years and working swing shift. John and Paul are 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.

Cause 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, uh,

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 is, am I got this right? You've been at Duck Commander longer than you were at the mill? 25 years. 25 years. 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 full time in 2000.

Remember, I worked 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 package duck calls. I thought you were going to say that meant I wasn't getting paid. Yeah. My first paycheck was pretty awesome because after I'd done quit and Riverwood and went down there in my first week and Miss 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, oh. Well, I said that because the first, I guess,

10 years that I worked, there was no, I was working part-time because I, well, I asked Phil, I was like, well, when am I, when do we think we get, you know, cause 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, no,

What does that mean? He says, that means we're feeding you and we're giving you a roof over your head.

Them vettles 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, they would have a party. Yep. And y'all would cook. You'd cook a ton of food. And bring people out from church. Yeah, it'd be like a party, but then at the end of it, you're working. Well, yeah, I was the first full-time employee, which meant,

I got paid. I remember that happening. So you had an employee and you went down the same logic. You said, now you're full time. We're going to pay you. I was like, yeah, my whole career was part time. And I will say this too, about, 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 from John and Paula, but they were the ones that were there, uh,

Everybody needs somebody that takes you through that process of when you have a meltdown, your whatever, relationship, family. And John, you were that guy for me. And mainly, you didn't say a whole lot. You just listened. I would rant and rave and have a bad day and one day not trusting God, the next day trusting him. And yet you just were that guy.

So I know I tell you every once in 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 times. And she's amazing. She's one of my favorite humans on the planet. You did good, Galvin. But it just took me back down memory lane. You know, John and I, and I guess Cy...

And Martin spent, I don't know how many years. And 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, Jase? It's because he had gotten fired. He was Popeye. He had worked for Popeye's restaurants in our area doing their air conditioning work. And he got fired because he hung a deer.

in one of the Popeye's freezers and he forgot to go get that deer out of there before the manager showed up on Monday. So he lost his job. So that's why I had all that extra time on the set.

Jace, I would say that, man, probably at any time in history, it's probably the most important time to be all in on being pro-life. Would you agree with that? Well, I think that just comes from the Almighty. You know, his basic principle.

His personality is woven in love, and he is the author of all life. Nothing that has been made that has been made was made without him, and that includes humans, which is why we're so passionate about this.

And make no mistake about it. I mean, this is spiritual warfare. We're fighting the prince of darkness because he seeks to destroy and kill. And that's true when it comes to babies in the womb as well. And so we join a lot of great partners around the country. One of those that we join with is a group called Preborn. They have a network of clinics that continues to shine bright light.

In the darkest corners of our country, there's thousands of abortions that happen every single day, unfortunately. And this group, along with us, want to fight that. One heartbeat at a time is how pre-born introduces mothers to their precious pre-born babies. The ultrasound is the weapon. The heart is the game changer.

This combination leads to pre-born saving over 280,000 babies so far. So we want to join them. Your donation of $28 sponsors one ultrasound and is critical to the battle for life. Help mothers choose life and join with pre-born. To donate, you dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250 keyword baby or go to preborn.com slash unashamed.

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. And 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 would initiate a lot of those, which really helped me in my study time because he'd say, what you 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 room. And then we would have our laughs every day because the way the duck call room is positioned is,

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 Cy would go to the bathroom, we would just listen and you could hear everything he was saying.

And he says a lot. 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. Him and his boys. Yeah.

Yep. He'd say, all right, boys. And he'd open that door and close it, and then it would crank up. He'd say, okay, let's see where we're going. Yep. And 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 our heads down. And he's like, what y'all been talking about? And that process repeated itself hundreds of times. How did that not make the show? I mean, it should have. I don't know. I told them about it, but I think they thought that was just...

But you know, Jace, what's amazing about that is Si, if you were to tell him that, he has no idea he does that. No. No. No. I mean, that's just Si being Si. He has no idea that he...

does that. And so anytime we used to events together, he's that way everywhere because we just, you're like, Hey, we need to run in the restroom before we get on stage. Well, we go in the restroom together. It's the same thing. And I'm just dying laughing. Cause I said, 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, that boat's going to unload. And,

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 would 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 on it.

I said, but it ain't 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 a long period 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 asked him. So we hired Willie and got him on there, you know. And then I just was, 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. One million dollars. I said, die.

Ship's unloading. I said, where is mine? I said, it's coming. It's coming. Now, that's when you went into part-time work. You're working part-time. The ship finally, I said, will come a day, Si, when the ship will unload at the dock, my man.

And then he, every year for about five years, he said, is it you still, you see it? Yeah. He said, I see it's getting big now. He said, it's almost on the bank side. It started unloading. Long green. Yep. I used to think, Si, you know how when you're a kid. I literally looked up one day and said, good night, I'm a millionaire. 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. Got him. Like he's talking to people, which is incredible. Yep. So with the transition, are we going to get into Ephesians though? Let's do it. John, why don't you ask Jason a 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 why,

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 and

that they're following Jesus. Kind of the Romans 1, 16, 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 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...

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 promised. 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 he has prepared a city for them. So I thought, well, it's one thing that Jesus is not ashamed to become a human. And then it's another thing that God is not ashamed that he's got a city for humans to live with.

So, Jay, as you know, one of the things about getting older that you don't necessarily just sit around and think about is that

You and I have now become the patriarchs of our own family. I mean, dad's still here. He's still our patriarch. But now we have our own children, grandchildren, other people that have impacted our lives. And really, it's a big responsibility. But I don't know. It feels natural to me. How does it feel to you? Well, you know, there's a famous verse that God said, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. But with that comes, as you said, great responsibility, right?

And a lot of conversations on how to best do that. And, you know, we have to learn from each other. And one of the groups that we turn to is Focus on the Family. And they have a podcast out that we love. It's called Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Jim is a good friend. He's been on our podcast before. Dad and I have been on his show before as well.

Every episode of Focus on the Family is designed to help you confidently guide your loved ones through unique challenges to Christian families. They have decades of trusted, compassionate stories of redemption that Jim is going to connect you to biblically sound advice on marriage and parenting that is relatable, practical, and also very interesting. This isn't just another podcast. It's a lifeline.

So whether you're dealing with everyday issues or searching for guidance on more complex matters, Focus on the Family is there to support you every step of the way. So give them a listen. Be ready to learn and apply and thrive in Christ. Check it out on your favorite podcast platform or visit Focus on the Family with JimDaily.com and start making a difference in your family's life today. That's Focus on the Family with JimDaily.com. Trust us, you will not regret checking it out.

By the way, Jase, 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 Jerusalem for all of us. He talks about the kingdom in Hebrews 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. Wow.

And we've been out there gathering at that boat ever since, 2,000 years later. 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 4. Now listen to this. One Spirit, just as you were called one hope when you were called. One Lord, Jesus. One faith.

One baptism, one God and Father, and then he does a miraculous thought and an in-depth thought. But to each one of his grace has been given as 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 higher than all the heavens in order to fill 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 recognize the apostles. Wasn't but 12 of them. One of them went but rogue.

some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God's people for works of service, which is what the book of Ephesians 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 to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. That's pretty amazing.

As far as y'all, we read Ephesians chapter 4, and that right there was, there'll be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to prepare God's people. But to get all of that lined out and to speak as one is quite remarkable worldwide. Would y'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, not by ourselves, but because of Christ. What you're describing is what that works looks like, what those works looks like. That's right. And you say it a lot, because I was doing a little bit of deep dive on that. I'd said 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, you know, just 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, blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven, all those verses. Then he says this at the end of that, Matthew 5, 13, 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 bowl. Instead, 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, we're having those conversations that one year with Mountain Man, Jace, you described. That was to bless this man so he 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, 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 a mountain man would call me, I'd be like, just skip to the end before this. 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. And he said, I noticed you left us.

I was like, yeah. And he said, I don't think 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 do you want 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, I mean, 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 to have some water, you know? And he's like, well, there's a big old lake down here. I was like, that's in the opposite direction that I'm going. Get one of them to go baptize you. Well, you know, so long story short, he wound up driving to my house and we went.

back to my pool and uh you know kind of the feels point it was the only time i've ever seen mountain 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 i've never seen a more broken man wanting to be baptized in my life

We've been really open with you guys and just sharing with you about Lisa going through this battle with breast cancer and surgery and, man, just so much stuff that you don't plan on and don't realize until you get into this world. It costs a lot of money, money that you weren't planning to spend. We have been blessed so much by medical sharing with believers because the idea is we're all in this together anyway.

And so I just can't really speak highly enough about this whole concept. And Zach, I know we've got a new group that really has the same philosophy. Yeah. We're working with a new partner called Lassie Health. That's L-A-S-S-Y. Lassie Health sounds like the dog, but not spelled like the dog. But Lassie.

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So, Jace, 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, Mountain Man got baptized. Oh, that's great. So when I got up to preach that Sunday, I say, I got an announcement. I said, we got a brand new brother back there. Oh, Mountain Man got baptized this weekend. I said, stand up, Mountain 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 don't either. Well, I do, because here's what I said. I said, Mountain Man, 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 Garrardy.

So that's his name, Tim Girardi. Well, who knew that? I know. I did. He don't look like a Tim. It made me think. No, me either. That's John from the show right there. You know, I read that in Hebrews 11 about God's not ashamed 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 family has all these different ways of communicating. 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 when he came to Christ. And I was thinking about this. The last podcast, we talked about this idea of wrath a lot. And you had mentioned that 2 Peter 1 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 kind of a flip the way that it's presented. But it's almost the same exact thing.

argument or case or you know that's being presented here yeah in ephesians 2 it puts like the

escape the corruption of the world part first because it's like you used to be this, you used to be this, you used to be this, but now in Christ. But here it kind of flips it. It puts the, this is who you are in Christ and this is what you used to be. So it's kind of a mirror image. But I wanted to read it because I think that when you say, why get emotional? Why did 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 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 2 Peter 1, verse 3, his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life.

Jesus died for the life of the world, John 6. 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 life.

And very great promises. And here's the reason why. So that through 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 these things to it, but the reason why you're 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 world.

of the divine nature? Like, what does that, I mean, think about what does that even mean? I mean, whatever it means, it means that 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 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 cause 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's, 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 this act of giving of himself. And so then the scene morphs from the young private Ryan 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 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 anything.

You know what God has done for us. But we try to respond in such a way that the phrase that dad has 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 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 it 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, is the answer to how, how do we get an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ? That 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 that's 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. Whoever lacks these qualities is nearsighted 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 and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fail.

I think that's the thing is that 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 point. I love it.

And it's without shame and without guilt. It's living for what has been given to us, which is the whole thing. John, you and I were neighbors and we raised our families right across the street from each other. 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 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 with 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,

No, I thought the same thing when you quoted that, Al. That is Ephesians 4.1 where he says, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you receive. Yep, 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.

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 receive...

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, you know, 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 got to remember Jesus's words. No, 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 grace.

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, Romans six is all about that. You know, he frames it around. Shall we go on sentence so that grace may increase? You know, most verses that people read about baptism, they go to Acts two and say, well, look, you get forgiveness of sins or Holy Spirit. But Romans six 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, Jay, 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 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. Cause he says, clearly this is not by your works, but it's because, because of Christ, but they spend so much time, uh,

stressing that point 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. Well, I think back to my conversion. Look, you didn't have to tell me that there was nothing I could do. I figured that out. Yeah. But people say, well, you have to acknowledge that. And really, what do you mean? I'm trapped on a planet going throughout space and then I'm going to die. Yeah.

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. 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 and now we go into coastal living in a marriage. That's when the real work begins. But it begins because of...

of the relationship and the nature of it. So it's a, it's an excellent illustration to show exactly what it looks like. All right.

All right, we're out of time. Now that went fast, John. Thank you for being on the podcast. Thanks for having me. When they told me, they said, John's going to be on the podcast, I said, he's always welcome here. And that's true. And, Goblin, you do the Duck Call Room podcast, right? I do, yeah. What do you do, once a week, or what do you all do, two a week? Two a week, yeah. So if you all want to listen to Goblin, you can find the Duck Call Room podcast. Have you figured out how to tame Si? No.

Ha ha ha!

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. 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 BlazeTV at blazetv.com slash unashamed.