Ep 990 | Jase Can’t Prove He’s Not a Robot & Phil’s Reaction to Kids Operating a Band Saw
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I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to the Unashamed Podcast. We're still, Jace is in the duck call room. Jace, are you channeling your inner side today? Well, I think the first time was a little weird, but I seem a little more comfortable today. I mean, it's like 20 years ago, me alone in the duck call room, because I was the first paid employee ever.

at duck commander really you were the first one you didn't you didn't know that you didn't read the book i know that you were you were patient i worked i worked there before jace but i was unpaid oh yeah you did caveat that first well yeah we don't want to go too far back because child labor laws might have been broken and though they were broken there's no resentment there's no resentment there

Every time I go through the tour now, I see that bandsaw. They put the actual bandsaw that was out back, which was my job. I was literally 11 years old with a naked bandsaw and cut many, many, many pieces of wood up. It's amazing that there was never any bad accidents. I actually remember that speech, Al, because I was –

When you had the barrel, you had to cut off the end. Yeah. And it was hard to hold it straight because your fingers were so close to the saw. They were. And my hand was shaking the first time I did it. Phil said, hey, your hand's shaking. And I was thinking, well, I can't, I'm not going to be able to stop that. So he noticed that and he said, look, here's, what's the worst thing that could happen? Yeah.

And so I thought, well, I could lose my finger. He said, exactly. And he said, you got another one on the other hand, just like it. You got 10 of them. I thought. That's why Al says he struggles with compassion. That's exactly what it is. I mean, like, if you could go back in time, you would say, but I'm just a child.

Let me ask you a question. I heard this story about Phil, and I want you to verify if this is true or not. I don't remember who the candidate was, but... We now have a... Phil, I don't have my button. I can't do any... Oh, yeah. We have a truth. Oh, your sound effect. Yeah. What do they call this? A fact check. A fact check. I want to know if this is fake news or if this is real news. So you guys will tell me. Okay.

I don't know who the candidate was, but somebody, the candidate we'll call him, was on a fishing trip with Phil and got a hook stuck right in the meat of the skin on the top of his hand. If you're not watching, I'm pinching the skin on the top of my hand. So the hook went through it. And Phil, his surgery was to take a knife.

and pull the skin up and just cut off the top of it where the hook came out with the meat attached to it. Of course, it left a hole in the guy's hand. Have y'all heard that story? Oh, yeah. Okay, Zach. This actually... We need a bell. Oh, hang on. Matty, I'm going to get my assistant to help me. So, unlike the spelling bee, which I never understood this. Thank you, Matty. In the spelling bee, when you...

When you get the word wrong, they ring the bell. So I'm going to do, since I don't like that, if you get it right, I'm ringing the bell. Is that story? Let me fact check that story, which obviously I've already said. So the bell is going to be right? Yeah, the bell will be right. Okay.

When you called for the bell, I kind of knew it. Well, I gave it away. But next time, you won't be so sure. You'll be on the edge of your seat. We're creating drama. All stories have to have a beginning, middle, and end. That has some tension. I actually was an eyewitness to that story.

Now, I'm not sure. Oh, I didn't realize that. Oh, I was an eyewitness. And I'm going to, you told the story terribly. You had all the facts right. I did. I did. So what happened was, Phil, I mean, it was panic. Look, it was panic. Phil, I need to go to the hospital. No, no, relax. Relax, my friend. I've had this happen multiple times. No problem at all.

I've done this more times than you can count. So that calmed the guy because he was like, oh, he's a professional hook remover, which is what Phil came across as being. And so when he grabbed, and it was on the top of his hand, I believe. Yep. He grabbed the skin, but he's given a play by play.

But Phil has a sizable knife, which made the guy a little nervous. He said, hey, relax. I'm telling you, I've done this many times. He said, what you do is, and he started raising the skin. He said, you make a mountain with the hook inserted in the mounting. See how the mountain is forming? And the guy was just looking. And then he said, once you do that, and he reached down with his other hand, he said, you cut the top of the mountain off. Ha ha ha.

And so when the mountain had the snow melt, he brought up snow melt, it came back down. Well, there was a hole in his hand the size of a half dollar. He just cut it off. And he's like, good to go.

Wow. That happened. It happened. So if you judge, you want to judge Al and Jace for not having compassion, you got to go back to the family of origin stories. That's exactly right. Well, that's why all the injuries I had as a kid usually took two or three days for me to get help because I avoided my dad at all costs. And we never went to the doctor for anything. Al, my arm was broken. Both bones. Both bones in my arm.

And I think it was three days before I actually went to the hospital and they had to re-break my arm. Yeah, I know. I said it, which was the most traumatic part of that. Because my dad was out of town, remember? Yeah, yeah. So I came up there and said, look, Dad, I sprained my arm. Because that's what Mom said. Said, oh, it's just a sprain. You'll be okay. They were watching Dallas. Phil said, I hate to tell you this there, Jace, but both arms,

Bones are broken. He said, you see those points protruding right under your skin? He's like, that's broken bones. Yeah.

He said, I can't. Jace had it laid up on a pillow like his arm was on a pillow. He said, I can't blame. You can't blame Phil, though. I mean, he got it from his dad. When my mom got bit by a water moccasin, he had to wait until his show was over before he took her to the hospital. And let me. And Granny was like, her legs turning black. There's red streaks running up her leg. Something's not right here. And Paul was like, let me finish the show and I'll run her up to the hospital. So.

They got it. It travels down here. I feel like, though, we have – that's a generational sin that I hope that maybe we're turning around a little bit. What do you think? Well, I think we are. We talked about this previously. It's because I feel like I'm very compassionate to my progeny, but it doesn't go the other way for whatever reason. It's just hard to – Well, you went generational sin. I don't know if I'd go that far. I don't know.

I think it was an effort to toughen. I mean, look, our world now is too soft. There's no doubt about that. Everybody's getting their feelings hurt. And I mean, hard work is frowned upon. And so that's why I've said this many times. People, because we're famous duck hunters, not that I aspired to be that. It just happened. And people want to go duck hunting with us. And when they do, they're disappointed.

Yeah. Because they're like, y'all are mean. And we aren't mean. We just, we treat men like men in that situation. We're not sugarcoating anything. We're telling other men to shut up, sit down, shoot where you are. It's very blunt. Keep your head down. Yeah, keep your head down. And I mean, I snap at guests. I'll say, hey,

If you want to shoot some ducks, you're going to have to get your head down and be still. But they're like, why you got to be so mean? It has nothing to do with meanness. I'm just giving you the facts. And I'm not caressing your shoulder while I'm telling you this is what it takes to be a successful duck hunter. So anyway...

So we don't have Phil again. He's still recovering. I do think he's recovering. He seems to be doing a little better. Yeah, he's kind of a roller coaster with it. He's definitely still got some issues. We've got a conduit who leaves us dandy voicemails.

which I think he sends them to all three of us. We're all getting them, but it's a daily update, which what's there about 12 to 15 minutes long of, of update, which is good. I mean, we get the full scope, but you have to set aside some time to listen to the whole thing. Well, their audio. Yeah. Their audio text, which I don't even know how to, I've never done an audio text and yet, uh,

That's how Dan communicates. And you're right. I'm very appreciative to get the word. I just, I find myself looking at the phone, wondering how, how long, how much longer? Cause I can't, it's not like a video where you know how long it is. So it's like, I may be here for an hour. But today's message was encouraging. So we'll let you know that we got an encouragement. To my point of us, uh, not acting like men. What is that? First Corinthians 16. Yeah.

Act like man. It's in the Bible. It is in the Bible. You know, I just had a fly come. I'm in a building in the middle of town. I mean, since I've not been here for a while, I mean, we got flies in the duck call room, which was not allowed under my watch. That just shows you've been gone too long. So I thought about Phil last night because I was researching what we're talking about in Colossians.

And I stumbled upon a sermon, and I was listening to it because they were doing a series in Colossians. Nobody I'd ever listened to before. I was actually looking up fruit trees, because I had this thought about when we started in Colossians 1, talking about this, it's likened to a new creation, a garden, the gospel, bearing fruit and growing. I just can't get that out of my head, because I keep thinking about the parable. Sower...

Parable of the sower, you had the four hearts and the soul, and then you had the resistance to these plants growing. But it gets to the end on the fourth heart, and you remember which one was the good soul. It had the result being fruit coming forth. Yeah, well, a hundredfold or something like that. Yeah, which is like, I mean, I don't know what the average farmer is going for, but I think

He was exaggerating to a point, I mean, 30, 60, 100 times. I mean, this is kind of like put $20 down, invest, and you get a million. It was like he was making a point. This is the fruit that's going to come out. And if you think about it, Jase, the implication of that, which is amazing, because this, Zach mentioned generations a minute ago,

When you turn this fruit bearing into something positive, it can go on beyond your life, beyond your children's lives. I mean, in other words, it continues to bear fruit through the time that we're living in and beyond us. So it can be a hundred times. Yeah. What was the connection to Colossians? Well, because I was...

I guess the thought I had was, here was the thought I had. I'll tell you the story. I was thinking, you know, a lot of, if I look at trees, I can't tell you what every tree is like. Now, my dad, this is why I'm bringing him in. He has studied all the leaves and he can tell you, of course, he's doing that professionally.

because of when nature's emergency happens in the woods and it doesn't happen. He needs to know what leaves leave. Yeah, it's one of his greatest speeches ever when he ranks the top 10 leaves for using in a moment of crisis. I remember him doing a couple of In the Woods of Phil episodes about it with the actual leaves. It was hilarious. But I know most trees, but my point was I was thinking about

When you see the fruit first, well, you automatically know what that tree is. I mean, just think like apple tree. I mean, you say, hey, there's an apple tree. Well, what gave it away? The 124 apples below it. That's my point is like that tends to be the confirmation. And when you compare that to our lives and Jesus' life,

being in you and people seeing that fruit it should be that obvious which is where I was going with that and so I was I was just thinking of a statement I don't I thought what was the name of the people who study trees and I couldn't think of that name yeah

But you almost said it. An arborist. Arborist. But I went down the fruit tree line. Yeah. But when I saw the word, I didn't want to be like Zach because I'd never seen this word. What do you mean you want to be like me? Well, I didn't want to say a word that only...

Less than 10 people have ever heard. Since he's on record. Yeah, I didn't want to sit down and say, look, I didn't want to say this. You don't have to be a pomologist to know which tree is which. Look at the fruit. Or a botanist. No, pomologist is the study of fruit trees. Fruit trees. So you've got very specific type of plant here we're talking about.

So, Zach, did you ever get your cell service working back up there? You know, last time I was there, you couldn't get any calls. You couldn't do anything. Well, yeah, on one phone, but I'm having issues, I'll have to admit. So, we may need to hook you up with our good friends at Patriot Mobile. They're America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. I've been doing this for over 10 years. They offer dependable nationwide coverage, giving you the ability to access all three major networks online.

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Just go to PatriotMobile.com slash Phil, or you can call them at 972-PATRIOT. Right now, you get a free month when you use the offer code Phil. So join us, switch to America's only Christian conservative mobile provider, Patriot Mobile, by going to PatriotMobile.com slash Phil, or call them at 972-PATRIOT for your free month of service today. So I looked at that word and I thought, I don't even know how to say this. So Patriot,

I'd heard that you can look up on the internet, they have a pronunciation of words. So I clicked on it. So I was trying to say the word. You know, there's a dude in its own like YouTube, every five seconds he's saying, pomologist, pomologist, pomologist.

And so I would try to say it and I was having trouble at first. So I kept rebooting. You are your dad's son. Because what you described there was not, I finally got what happened there. You looked up how to pronounce the word on YouTube. Yeah. A video pops up where the sound is repeated, but you, the way you said it. Yeah, there's no guy sitting there. It was like a cartoon character and it had like lips and his lips would go.

But it's a cartoon. There was no face. It was just lips. And it would open and go, Pomologist. Pomologist. So I thought, man, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen. So I kept re-watching the video. So about the third time, it said, sign in to prove you're not a robot. And I thought. And you said, Pomologist. I thought.

What is happening right now? I'm looking at a computer that's technically like a robot. Yeah. And they're saying, I need to sign in, which I didn't even know. Sign into what? The Anti-Robot Society? I could not figure it out. And that's what I thought about. Phil, I thought, what would he do in this moment? What? How am I as a human being?

Being asked to prove that I'm not a robot. And all I'm doing is trying to pronounce a word that I really don't care about retaining the knowledge of. I'm trying to make an application about fruit trees. It should be obvious based on the fruit. But it made me think, because the only way I could do it, because I wasn't going to sign in, but every time I'd reboot it, it'd say sign in to prove you're not a bot. I would...

I'd kind of redo it. It's a sign in. I was like, it's over. I've been shut down. There will be no more hearing this guy pronounce this word. So I rebooted my computer and just out of curiosity, I went to see if it would let me do it. And it did. So I guess you, you have been proven not to be a robot. Yeah. So I, I'm trying to say, if you ever have that problem,

robots don't do reboots. They, that clears the air, which by the way is the only option I have when I have a problem is reboot. After that, I'm got a call Jersey Joe. Yeah. So that's what I think that should be a good shirt for you. Uh, Zach, since you're the tech guy. Yeah. Robots don't reboot. Robots don't read. Would you wear that t-shirt?

I don't know if I'd wear that or not. I'd have to think about the statement a little longer. I can't really verify. But I will tell you this. It is funny that you were looking up fruit and trees and vines because I've been on that same trajectory too. I was thinking the correlation between what we talk about the kingdom and the temple and all of that, how that correlates. I think I mentioned this in the previous podcast because we're

The podcast, we're in Colossians, but at our church, we're in Mark. And we're in particularly Mark 12 this week, which I'll be teaching on. Is that a little something called Mark? A little something called Mark 12, which is interesting because the last time I preached was on the beginning or part of Mark 11.

where Jesus turns over the tables in the temple. And this week, this Sunday that's coming up, I'm going to be teaching on that part about Jesus being the cornerstone. And he quotes Mark, he quotes Psalms, I think 118. But here's the interesting thing about it. In Mark 11, before he goes in the temple, you know, there's this weird thing

It seems to be weird, but it's actually connected. There's this weird occurrence where Jesus walks up on a tree and it's not producing figs, even though it's out of season, he still curses it. And there's a whole thing behind that about Israel not producing fruit. And he goes into the temple. And then in Mark 12, you have this parable about the vine, which is kind of synonymous with the tree. But it's all revolving around this concept of fruit.

And I think it connects directly with Colossians 2 when he says that the mystery of Christ is in you. That's the big reveal of the New Testament. But I was looking up some different commentaries on different views on this idea of the temple. And one view is that sometime in the future, there's going to be a third temple built.

That is going to be like a real, like a physical temple that's going to be rebuilt in Israel. And, uh, and I was just, I was reading that and I was saying, man, that kind of flies in the face of everything Jesus seems to be doing here. You know, it just, I'm just like, like, like the temple itself, you see this, it's like, it was a foreshadowing.

of what would be fulfilled in Christ. And then as an extension of Christ, the church, like that's like Christ is the temple now. And that's what he said in John two. And so I, I kept reading that word foreshadowing and you know, what popped in my head, I couldn't get away from it was foreshadowing is it's for shadowing. So it's like, it's a shadow, but it's like before something happens, but, but a shadow typically is what it's behind something that's already happened.

And so when you get to Colossians, the language shifts from foreshadowing when he's talking about these things to guess what? What's the word he uses? Shadow. These are a shadow of the things to come. And I was just thinking, you know, we have to really resist any ideology, any idea, any philosophy or doctrine that would distract us. So anything that takes us away from the fulfillment being found in Christ is

the reality being found in Christ, we probably need to work to get away from those kinds of ideas and work towards understanding that Christ is the fulfillment and by extension us as part of his body. Very interesting. I've had that same argument with a guy, and I can say this because he doesn't listen to the podcast, and for years, you're like, why doesn't he listen to the podcast? He's like,

I talk to him almost every day. He's my best friend outside of family. He's like, our whole life is a podcast. I can't, because he loves to argue about the temple. But we're going in the same vein, because I wanted to read this from 1 Corinthians 3, because I think you see all the components that you just said, and what I think helps us understand Colossians,

And I took a picture of this off the internet. I was trying to find out kind of how fertilizer contributes to the growth process. I was just looking at plants growing. I mean, I literally went there for hours. And the reason also is to kind of give your illustration some legs, is my wife, she loves to have plants. The problem is she has them inside.

And so, look, that was a point of contention for the first 10 years because I was like, go plant a garden. I kept trying to like, and she's like, why do you keep saying that? I'm like, because you you're having plants inside. And if you hadn't noticed, they keep dying. They would do better out there.

And so I'm not, I don't argue with it now, but she'll go out of town. She'll say, well, you take care of my plants. Well, you know what I do? Take them outside. I'll take them outside the entire time. She's gone. And she comes back and she's like, boy, these look wonderful. They did great under your watch. I haven't told her that secret yet. But, and, and the reason I'm saying the podcast either. No, because she says, no. So, so the reason I'm, yeah. Speaking of fact checker,

The reason I'm saying that is because I think the same thing. People are trying to get fruit in a temple setting from the inside, which, look, we're designed to share Jesus out in the world. You know, think Hebrews 13. We go outside the camp. And when I read this 1 Corinthians 3 last night, I was like, oh, wow.

That is so funny, Jase, because I have it written in my notes because we're talking about Paul's ministry in Colossians 2. And I had written down 1 Corinthians 3, 5 through 15 to read today on the podcast. It's amazing how the Holy Spirit works. So, Zach, how's your liver doing? Do you know? My liver is healthier than it's ever been. I mean, it's crazy.

Well, I'm so glad to hear that. You and I have had some enzyme numbers in the past that weren't so great, different sources. You had some COVID issues with yours. Mine is the fatty liver, which kind of goes along with fatty everything I found. And what we found out was is that from the American Heart Association, if you have fatty liver, you're three and a half times more likely to have heart failure than those that don't.

The American Liver Foundation says that that affects 100 million Americans. So it's obviously a problem. And the reason it is is because the liver is the filter system. It gets everything thrown at it. And if you have a sluggish, fatty liver, it makes you gain weight and lose energy. So your liver needs to have 500 key functions to do every day. So we want to help our liver. And the solution that we found is one of our sponsors called Liver Health Formula.

It's an all-natural supplement, contains 11 clinically proven botanicals that help recharge and protect your liver. Zach and I both took this product and got our numbers back in line. I still take the product. So if you're looking to ignite your fat-burning metabolism, boost your energy, and transform how you look and feel, try Liver Health Formula and receive a free bottle of blood sugar formula to reduce sugar cravings when you order today.

Try liver health formula by going to get liver help dot com slash unashamed. That's get liver help dot com slash unashamed and claim your free bonus gift. I'm upset at my translation. And but it's it's what I've used the longest and I'm like stuck in it. But, you know, Colossians one in verse one.

28 says, we proclaim him admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone, well, most versions say fully mature in Christ. But the NIV says perfect. And look, I think this has led to a wrong idea of what Christianity is because people are like, oh, I got to be perfect.

It's the same word when Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount and said, be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. Well, most people, when they read that, what are they thinking? Never making a mistake. Don't make a mistake. Well, how are you going to do this? That's impossible. They're like, you think you're perfect? No. Well, you violated the Scripture. But it's a maturity thing. And so I said that. So when you read 1 Corinthians 3, the same problem in Corinth.

In verse 1, he says, Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly mere infants in Christ. What are we talking about here? They need to grow. And maturity is in here a lot. Remember Ephesians 4? Paul addresses it. So you'll no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves. That's why we have the church, so that we can grow. And what is the purpose of growth? Well, we're back to the parable of the sower here.

Jesus formed in you comes out into fruit, whether it's fruit of spirit, love, joy, peace, patience. But all these things are to bless other people. You just think about that. That ties into Ephesians 2 at the end where he says we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good work. It's the fruit.

And Paul's not taking credit for it, even in Colossians 1, the last verse. He's like, Christ in you, it's his energy that's providing the power for this fruit to come forth. So back to 1 Corinthians 3, he says, I gave you milk, not solid food for you. You are not yet ready for it. Indeed, you're still not ready. Now, a different group of people, but same problem. They need to mature.

You're still worldly. For since there's jealousy and quarreling, and some are following Paul and Apollos, well, now we're kind of in the same vein. If you follow anybody but Jesus, it's not going to work out well. There's going to be no good fruit. So then he takes a personal look at it, kind of like he does in Colossians. He says, well, what is Paul and what is Apollos?

Only servants. He says the same thing in Colossians 1. He said, I'm serving here. You, through whom you came to believe as the Lord has assigned each his task. And here we have another garden illustration. I planted the seed. Apollos watered it. You could throw in some fertilizer if you wanted to. That's the picture he's given because it has what? Nutrients.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers, God's field, God's building. And then look at verse 16. Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's spirit lives in you?

Same principle as that, but it's all right there in one little tidy section. So I looked this up on the internet, took a picture of it. If your plant is not growing, you can try moving it to a brighter spot, watering it, or adding fertilizer. And you say, what's that got to do with anything? It's got to have light. Well, we know who the light of the world is.

So anything other than it being exposed to Jesus as a Christian, you're not going to grow. And I think that's his point in Colossians 1. The watering, the adding fertilizer, these are all the things that when other people make this public by sharing the awesome things that are happening in Christ, that's like fertilizer to people. You know, even small things. I mean, when you share someone coming to Christ, what do other people think? Oh, yeah.

Well, what if I did that? Because you're hearing about this transformation. You're hearing about the tears that changed lives. This is how fruit works. And Jesus even uses the pruning technique.

discussion as well. I think it's John 15. In other words, even sometimes painful things still help us to grow and produce more. And we see that as well. So it's into this idea about fruit bearing. It's interesting because here I'm at the, my old house still recording podcasts because I've got some internet issues at the new place. And we were here two years ago.

And outside by the pool, there's just a little bush that I never noticed for two years. I didn't even know. I mean, it's been there and I didn't even know it was there until we moved. And Lisa came back over and looked and there were five or six limes, big, beautiful limes laying on the ground.

And so she's like, she came up, she brought them home. I said, did you buy some limes at the store? She said, no. You know that bush that's in the corner out there by the pool? And I was like, no. Is there a bush by the corner of the pool? It's a lime tree. But for two years, it never produced any limes. So I never noticed it. Now, when I come back over here, it's the first place I go to to pick the limes off. And it's just a little scraggly looking bush. But until it grew fruit, I didn't even know it was there.

Exactly. I think that is the transition that we have to make when we move from a religious, and by religious, I mean a man-made interpretation of the gospel, which is mostly about sin management, to the gospel of the kingdom, which is gospel of transformation.

Because what's happening here is what Jesus is talking about is, and Paul and Colossians, is becoming a particular kind of person. So what kind of person is that? It is a person who...

is in the image of God, but being conformed because of sin, right? Sin alienates us from that, but through Jesus and through his redemption, we are being conformed back into the image of the Son. We're taking on the image of Christ. We start to smell like him. We're becoming a particular type of person. So the cross, or when we trust in God, for example, when we repent of our sins and we receive forgiveness, his grace is not just about covering our sin up.

It is that, but it's not just about that. It's also about transforming us into a particular type of person where we move from hate to

to love, where we move from impatience to patience, where despair is turned into joy and anxiety is turned into peace. Our pastor at church talked about this this Sunday. I thought it was so good when he made this point. He talked about a watermelon seed. A watermelon seed is just a seed, but it contains all the information inside to become something more, a fruit that we can actually eat. But when it's planted into the ground, it's

God causes that to grow. And then we end up with a flower off of a vine. And then this thing pops up a melon and then we harvest it and we actually eat it. So what we're being called to, we talk about fruit. What we're saying is this is a, we are becoming a particular kind of

of people. We are being transformed. So we don't go in there. It's not, let me cover up my sin and change my behavior. So now that I got to do the love thing. No, you become a loving person. Well, I got to be patient. No, that's the thing. When you live by the spirit, you become a patient person. These become your default. These become who you are. That's the goal. The goal is not to simply will into ourselves good behavior.

The ultimate goal is, man, I want to be transformed when what comes out of me supernaturally and by default and from the gut, my visceral, my immediate response is not one of sin, but it's one of communion with God, which manifests itself in the fruit of the Spirit. That's what it looks like.

One more thing I want to mention. The 1,000th podcast of the Unashamed podcast is coming up soon. And so we want to hear from you, Unashamed Nation. You can send us a question. You can send us a story, maybe how that podcast has impacted you. You can tell us that Zach uses too many big words. Whatever you want to send us,

We want you to drive the 1,000th podcast because we would have never gotten there without you. So officialphilrobertson at gmail.com is where you send those stories, questions, whatever you want. You're going to drive us on the 1,000th podcast because it's all about you. We're tracking. You go from a thorn tree or some other undesirable is what I call them, into a fruit-bearing tree. I mean, the tree is uprooted.

And even those trees are good for fertilizer. They have nutrients, God-giving nutrients. So when you brought up that about the watermelon seed, it made me think, because I gave that same illustration one time in a Bible study, and the guy was like, well, that's just science. I mean, that's not God. It was a tough study. And I remember reading somewhere, and I dropped this line, which was a good line.

I said, well, where did the colors come from? He's like, what are you talking about? I was like, when you look at a watermelon seed, it's one thing which you would think people would say that was a supernatural occurrence because how did that big melon, this big around, come out of that little seed?

With three plus colors, I mean. Where did the colors come from? Come on. Can't answer that. It's not just that it, it's like it has bells and whistles to it. Oh, yeah. And you start reading all these psalms and, you know, it makes me think of that, you know, when Job.

The word was he was contending with God. You know, we're supposed to, because Paul uses that reference in Colossians 1, he was contending for them. And Job was contending with God because he was like, why is all this happening? And God gives him a little speech. And it's basically about that just creation itself. He's like, where were you when all these things were happening from snow melts to frozen water?

ponds of water to all kind of things living and teeming on the ground. But, you know, I said all this made me think that about this temple and even in our homes, I thought we should be, these are greenhouses for Jesus. That's what they should be. They're not the end result of

This is where you find this growth, and he mentions it in the beginning of chapter two, which is where we are in Colossians, when he says, I pray that you may be encouraged in heart. I mean, he's talking about as a group and united in love. Well, that's kind of the greenhouse effect where think of it in your family. What's the parent's job?

You're trying to give them all these, you know, the light, the nutrients, all the things for them to grow and mature. And so why? So when they go out in the world, they're a productive member of society. And, you know, hopefully representing Christ, the same thing with a church building or a temple is so when you go out in the world, you, through the power of Jesus, are turning thorn trees into apple trees, right?

This is what's supposed to be happening. That's the beauty of it. Somebody told me this this week, his greatest compliment that I think we've received at our church and this guy's been coming and, um,

Trying to think I could tell you a little bit about him without this guy was he was I would say he came out of kind of the reformed movement. And I mean, his whole family is is I mean, I'm going to tell us what that is, because I don't know what the reform is. This kind of the rest of the Reformation movement, Presbyterian world. And and he he said, it's funny what you guys are teaching at your church.

He said, because you didn't come out of the same tradition I came out of, but obviously he was a well-studied –

I mean, had studied all the great thinkers of the Reformed tradition. And he said, you guys are tapped in not to the form of the Reformed tradition. You're tapped in to the source. And there was an analogy that was given of like when lava comes out of a volcano and the further away that the lava gets from the source –

What happens over time? It turns into rock. It gets hard. Once it cools down, it gets it gets hard and it quits moving. And he was just talking about, you know, we have to go back to the source of all this truth that's been discovered, hasn't been discovered. Actually, it's been it's been revealed by God. And so he said, and I was thinking about Colossians when he was saying this, because we've been in it.

And it really, it's that the, the core of the volcano, you want to be close to the volcano. If you're looking for a metaphor, you want to be close to the volcano because the core of the volcano is Christ. And anything that's around Christ, the source is going to be, it's going to move. It's going to have movement and it's going to be fluid. And I think about that, like that, like that's the, that's what the picture is of these vines as well that are in scripture, uh,

And this idea of fruit is once you get cut off from the source, there's no more fruit. You cut the watermelon by now, by the way,

I know a whole lot about watermelons because every summer from the age of 13 until I graduated high school, that was my summer job was I worked in the watermelon fields, which is the worst job you can ever possibly imagine. But I know a lot about them. And I know once you cut off the once you cut the vine, then the melon does not grow after that. I mean, it doesn't it has no nutrients going to it. And so if you see a small melon that's not fully ripe and you cut it off, it's not going to keep growing.

Wow. It's not connected to the source. And so I think when you think about what we're saying here is the idea of Christ being in us now, it is the guarantee that we can never be cut off from the source because he lives in us. So then the idea now is don't quench the Holy Spirit. Don't choke out the conduit of life that Christ is offering us through the spirit. Listen to the spirit.

Obey the Holy Spirit's conviction. Lean into his conviction and do the things that he tells us to do. And by doing so, you will become a different person. You will have different desires. You will have different affections, longings. You will be directed at a different end. And the result of that is going to look like something that's beautiful.

That you're going to find the peace of mind that transcends all understanding, and you're going to be in the realm of Christ in a lost world around us. Maturity is not how long you've been identifying as a Christian, because I know a lot of people who were mean when they came to Christ, and 30 years later, they're still mean. It doesn't matter how long you've been sitting on a pew.

Talk about that for a second. You said something there to identify with Christ. What's the difference there? Well, I'm saying people say they're a Christian, but their fruit doesn't look like Jesus. And we're not supposed to be mean people. I just picked that as an illustration. But I'm saying we tend to think, oh, because I'm older, I'm more mature. But I know a lot of immature old people just in life.

Yeah, it does. There's no guaranteed wisdom just by living. And so that's one thing. It's not time. Just because you've been here the longer, I mean, just because you've been here at a church building the longest doesn't mean that you're mature. I think we'll agree with that. It's what Zach said. It's Christ who you become. When people look at you and say, it's obvious that you're a Jesus Christ person.

Why? Because the fruit of Christ, you read the Gospels and it's not so far away from how you're living your life. You're showing the character of Jesus. And it's not so much about doing things. You can do a lot of good things and have a terrible attitude.

I mean, a lot of you even say that, you know, we do. I do charity events and different things and people get involved and people are volunteering. It's all going good. And then somebody is just being impossible. You know, they're not. We're doing a good thing.

You would think everyone... Yeah, that's the... I think that's the form. That's what this guy was talking about. You focus on the form of it instead of the source of it. That's the point of Colossians. Like you said, you people are focusing on the form of whatever the thing is. And for us, for them, it was religious, like Sabbaths and new moon celebrations and all these other things. It could be anything. It could be, according to Jesus, it could be the Scripture itself, right? I mean, you can study the Scripture. Yeah.

I have a really good illustration for this. I hate to use this as an illustration because this is real life, and this happened, and it's a very tough read. But in the spirit of where we're at in Colossians, I just think this is a good way to view this because he, obviously, they were meeting resistance with following Jesus. So they were starting to question Jesus.

whether this is something they should do. And they were devaluing Jesus, which is why his whole point is, look, look who is your Savior. I mean, the Colossians 115 through 21 should have been enough. And then he goes on to say, you know, I want to present you fully mature in this mystery is that this Christ, the firstborn over creation,

He created all things, visible and invisible. He's ahead of all thrones, powers, governments, rulers. He's before all things. All things hold together. He's the firstborn from among the dead. I mean, you can't kill him. He's the head of the church. But then he says the mystery is that he's in you.

And so when he says that last verse where he says, to this end I labor, after wanting to present everyone mature in Christ, after he just said he's in you, that's the mystery.

with all his energy, which is so powerfully, it works in me. I mean, he was saying, that's why I'm encouraging. I have Christ in me, and this is the right thing to do. The illustration is, I ran across this, I think I read it a few years ago. There was a book called Taylor's Gift, and it's a rough story to read because this 13-year-old girl dies in a skiing accident.

And but she and her family were organ donors. And the reason I came across this is because Max Lucado, who we're familiar with as a great book writer for the Lord, he wrote the forward to this book. And, you know, I highly recommend it, even though it's a sad read. There was a there was a moment in this book that Max Lucado addressed. And that's what I wanted to bring out. So they decide to.

have her organs. I mean, she's 13 years old. She was perfectly healthy and she dies in a skin accident. Well, a girl who was in a hospital who had a bad heart, who basically could only just lay there and breathe because her heart was in rough shape. She gets Taylor's heart. And so the, and the book is about that. But what the powerful part was when the parents who would later meet Taylor

the woman who got their daughter's heart, they wanted to listen to her heart, which it's, you just think about that as a parent. I mean, that never crossed my mind is coming up, but it's like, I mean, they were perfectly comfortable in the Lord, even though it was very sad and lots of tears. They're thinking she's with the Lord, but they actually have her heart in someone else. And they wanted to listen to that. Of course, when they did, you know, everybody was,

in tears about this because it was just, they're listening to the only thing left physically of their daughter. But Max Lucado made a point about this. He said, that's really what this is about, talking about transformation, is that when you have Christ in you, you basically have the heart of Christ. That's what people are listening to from God's perspective. And I thought, what a way to look at that.

And he made a quote that I wrote down for you, and it said, and it's not so much that you have Christ in you so that you can go to heaven, but heaven has come inside of you to live and be evidence in this world, which is the whole idea of fruit. But I thought that was a real...

applicable illustration. - And I think it shows you that even everything in the Bible and the Old Testament that was pointing, you were talking about foreshadowing earlier, Zach, that pointed to Jesus and the Messiah was that this would be possible for this to happen. And so I think we do a disservice really to his call to us by only saying, "Well, wait till we get to heaven."

I mean, Jesus is living in that heartbeat's going every single day that we make an impact to people's lives. And so, you know, and everything in the Old Testament pointed to that as well. And so I just think it's interesting because you don't read anything about heaven in the Old Testament hardly at all. No, it's a heart transplant so that God could.

work in a broken world. Exactly. That's what we're doing. That's what he did. That's what Jesus did. And he met resistance the whole time. I think we'll see that on the next podcast when you look at that word contending. I mean, I looked at it and it's just, it was so fascinating to me how God

You know, God contending for us through Jesus. And that's what we do. And it's not what you think. It's not a physical fight where we're trying to take over the world through weaponry or to set up these temples like Zach was talking about. This is a heart change that becomes a character change. I mean, you become a different person.

And that's why matters of the world don't consume us because, you know, we're operating at a different plane. We're fruit bearers. You know, we're showing Jesus. And that's until he comes back. So it's a powerful, powerful thing. Right.

We're out of time. A little shout out to happy Veterans Day. We love our vets. Si is our vet as well as Jay Stone as well. He spent some time in Afghanistan. So we appreciate you guys and what you do to us.

and what you've done for our nation. So we'll 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.