I am unashamed.What about you?Welcome back to unashamed.We have, uh, we have traded wives.
Yeah, that came across wrong.
Not really.We have traded wives for the podcast.You got to wait till I finish.
Uh, we had Missy on the last podcast.We have Lisa on this podcast.So Jason and I are betters. Have agreed to do the podcast today.We have Zach still on the house, which is here.I'm back boys I'm telling you excited.
So Zach I got good news for you I saved it on the first one because we had so much to talk about with me a move Sai has relinquished your block of silver I'm keeping the gold.I'm keeping the gold.Okay, so here's the deal.
You're not getting this silver until Jason and I get our gold backs.So that's what we got.We got silver for gold.This was a nice heavy one, Zach.
So how did you get that back exactly?
Because I have my way, Zach.I'm looking out for you.
You think I'm out to get you, but I'm always... He's actually not just a Phil whisperer.He is a Robertson whisperer.That's right.
And so I had some things, he needed help with me the other day, and I said, well, I will do it for Zach's silver piece.
But you had an arterial motive in it.
I did, because Jace and I want to lay our hands on the goldbacks.And because there was a whole storm the last time I was there, I didn't get to do that.
You know, when I looted your house, I should have looked for the goldbacks, but it was dark at Jace.I didn't, you know, it was a bad.
Jace, he loots the house, you send me Lots of cash.I'm just saying.
I did send you lots of cash, so I want one of those GoBots.However, I feel, I sent you way more than the totality of those GoBots.
You're coming out good on this deal.But I feel another impersonation of Phil coming up.We don't have Phil.
So in lieu of dad being here, he's still working on his back and we're hoping he'll be back by the time we do the next podcast.But Jason is introducing us to some Phil saying.
So it's kind of like, uh, you know, when you, we, we've been talking about maturity, you, you become more like Christ.It's not just doing more things or studying more. the true growth is becoming more like Christ.
So in that same spirit, I'm trying to become more like Phil for one moment.Because you're in his chair.I'm in his chair.So boys, you gotta remember, you gotta remember something, whatever your name is, Dasher.My sister's son, my sister's born.
You're my first born, so you gotta remember the words of Peter. This is right after the first sermon ever preached post Holy Spirit falling out on people.
Peter said, Acts 3, 6, silver or gold, I do not have, but what I have, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ. Walk and he healed the guy.
So I thought that'd be applicable for Christ Praise be to God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ in his great mercy He has given us new birth.Yeah, that's new birth Baptized for crying out loud.I mean, give me a break.What year is it?Oh
So that's our homage today.
For all of you who miss Phil, there's your dose of Phil.
Dose of Phil for the day.You can tell he's trained us well.
And I can tell you, with him having his back problems, I woke up this morning at five o'clock with back problems. And it makes you feel terrible.So I mean, you have empathy, don't you?I do.I will not disrespect Lisa.
Bless her.She's so good hearted.So she's, and I'll let you tell a little bit about your recent surgery.She had a follow up reconstruction surgery last week.
And, uh, I threw my back out, uh, about a month, a month and a half ago. And it was, I couldn't move.I told the story of the podcast.Then I got this, uh, there's a cream called, I think it's called Volt, Voltaire or Voltaren.
So I said, Jill, get that cream and put it on my back.She put it on my back and then she put a heating pad on it.And I didn't realize it till later, but when I tell you burn, I burned all of the lower backs.Then I had burns that are.
I mean, and then, then, you know, I'm like, and then, but then I went to the physical therapist and they did something that I never thought I would allow someone to do, but she did a thing called dry needling.Have you heard of this?
I've had it done on my elbow. And I stick the needles in there and then they hook electrodes.So there's needles in my back around the burn spots with the back thrown out with electrodes tied to it.And they're sending electrical pulses down into here.
Zach, this is how they built Frankenstein.
That's what I felt like.Hey, but it did work.I will say that I'm back.I'm 99% back.I have 1% left to get to 100%.
Well, it's good that you needed to be back because you're having to haul water every time we go to the restroom.
I mean, it was the Lord's provision because there's no way we could have, I mean, with the last 17 days with no water, you know, no electricity, no, I mean, and all the, all the stuff we've moved, but yeah, it was, it was the Lord's provision.
But I'm back, back here with you guys.Y'all were like wanting to shut the whole thing down.I was ready to get back and do what we needed.
We needed you.Jay's now running out of stories.We need some big words.All right, babe, tell them a little bit about your, um, your procedure, how you're doing.
Cause a lot of people ask all the time and she's doing great, obviously cause she's on the podcast, but.
I am doing excellent.Um, again, I, I totally say that's, um, because of prayer, um, God has answered all the prayers for my wellbeing.
Um, but I had, um, you know, after you have this done, so they took tissue from my stomach, put that into my breasts and after that happens, then they, that it settles because it's growing together.It's growing in its new area.
Here's just my observation.When you take parts of your body and move them to other places in or on your body, it's quite the process to get everything to work the way it's supposed to.It's amazing that it can be done.
I mean, it's a complete blessing, but it's not easy.
It is. So after all of that happened, and then I had scar tissue from where he took it out of my, um, lower stomach.Um, then he goes back in, he fixes all the scar tissue and then he does, um, lipo, lipo.Okay.I'm sorry.I still got surgery.
She's a little bit of in a fog.
I am.So, um, so they do lipo on my hips and the bottom parts of my legs to fill in where my Um, where the tissue has, you know, kind of readjusted itself.You just need a little more to make them look more normal, I guess you could say.
But anyway, so that's what I had done.
Yeah.And she's done great with it.And just like before, um, not much on the pain meds.In fact, it was funny.I was talking to our old pal Rucker who we found on the podcast a couple of times who has an amazing story.He was a drug dealer.
He was a gang member, uh, went to prison. wind up coming to Duck Commander, Jay shared the gossip with him, because he worked with us, and now he's heading up one of our major ministries.
And he had just had surgery, because he was having brain fluid leak into his ear.
He was, he told me the same, he was, and get this, he just had the surgery done, and he actually sent us in a group text, he was like, he was really struggling.
But as soon as he got well enough, it just happened to be our Miamou event, and he volunteered, he was there.Yeah, he told me he came out there.
Volunteering.I talked to him yesterday, he's such a good man.But he was telling me, he said, I was telling about Lisa not liking the pain meds.And you know, like you need it at first because it's so heavy.
That's what we're trying to get dad to understand.But, you know, then as soon as she starts feeling better, she wants to get off because the pain meds themselves make her feel bad. make her itch and all this stuff.
I was telling Rucker this, and I didn't know how he was gonna, you know, him being a former drug dealer, he said, yeah, I'm the same way, man.He says, you know, I took it because I needed it.I was in a lot of pain.He said, but I had to get off.
He said, you know, back when I was a drug guy, I just couldn't, I decided I'd just sell that.I wouldn't actually take it for myself. He said, now I sold them and made a lot of money, but I preferred other drugs.
It was funny, even with drug dealers, there's like a line of things you will and won't take.So that was Rucker's story.He's amazing.Amazing man.Yeah, but so Lisa's doing great, so we're glad you joined us.
And we appreciate all the prayers.
And we're back on the road again this week.
Back on the road, heading to Montana.But when we were in New Orleans, Lisa decided she wanted to get her nails done because she
You know, it was going to be down for a while with the surgery, not able to really get out much because you got drains and stuff like that.So we went down to the nail shop.
It was about probably nine or 10 blocks away, and Lisa wasn't sure, you know, when she's having the surgery, that we could go all the way down there and back and walk, because first we were going to walk.It was pretty nice.
This seems strange to me.You're having a major reconstruction surgery, and you're like, you know what?Let's go get my nails done.
It was strange to me as well, Jayce.I didn't quite understand it.But you know what?I'm just being the support husband here.And I said, I'll even get my toes done, because she likes it when I join her.So I said, I'll do it with you.
Well, this is quite the growth process.
Oh, it is.I'm gonna sit and do the whole thing.
Because I love my wife.Nobody's messing with my toes.
Somebody needs to mess with your toes.
I always thought it was strange that when I walk into these places, everybody in there has a mask on but you.And I'm thinking, what I'm saying, something's not something.
The only way someone will mess with my toes is if I lose one.If they're trying to put it back where it was.Other than that, I don't want anything.
You ever did it one time. You'd continue to do it.
I have to say is that my feet have never felt better my feet have never felt better So so we go into this place I decide we're gonna drive down so we get him up We have to get my truck out cuz down in New Orleans.
It's not easy to park not a lot of parking down there So get my truck out we drive down to the place and it you know We could have walked it but it would have been about 20 minute walk and so we parked right across it was rare to find a parking spot we go into the place and
They're working us over.I got my feet are all up and then I got bags on them and all sorts of stuff.I never seen anything quite like it.Lisa's got, they're working on her hands and her feet.There's two guys.And so this all is happening.
All of a sudden, these two guys that are working on Lisa, they're running around and they're in the window and they're coming back.And I thought, what in the world is going on?
So finally, one of them calmed down enough in sort of broken English and said, there's a fire. across the street.And so about that time, we start hearing the first fire engine show up, and they're all at the window.So everybody has left the people.
There's seven or eight of us sitting in the chairs, and all the workers are down looking out the window.They got cars out there, they're running around.Somebody runs and gets a car, and so we're just kind of sitting there.I can't get up.
I got stuff all around my feet.That should have been your cue to run.I should have run.I should have went and got my truck and left, because here's what happened.Within 10 minutes, There are fire trucks on both ends of the street.
Hoses are where the police are outside.They're moving people back.Two or three houses have caught on fire because they're all real tight down in New Orleans.And so.
And I'm thinking we had just come from Zach's thing, you know, and I was trapped up there in that hurricane.And now my truck, there's no way I'm getting my truck out.
I was pretty sure the fire wouldn't get it, but I'm like, how are we going to get out of here?But there's also Al, the pot, I mean, there's two houses on fire.Exactly.And that, right, exactly.Which no one was hurt.We found out later, which was good.
No one was there when these houses went up.But anyway, we go outside, talked to a police officer.He said, y'all need to get back inside.I said, I said, well, we're fixing to leave.We're going to walk back to the hotel.
I said, but my truck is right there.And I said, I'm, I feel bad about leaving it.Cause I, you know, I'm afraid, is it going to get towed?Is like, I had the parking thing, but it's out in a little bit.He said, no, no, you're fine.
He said, and we're all here.So it'll be here when you get back. And so Lisa and I walked all the way back to the hotel with our nails did, cause the people came back in and finished up the job.Cause what else we're going to do?We're all waiting.
I think Phil would say, this is why you don't get your nails done.Thank you.I was waiting for that.Hey Jace, that's why I don't do nails.Anyway, but it actually happened.Zach, we've been hearing a lot about this being the abortion election.
meaning that abortion is probably being talked about more in this current political climate than any I've heard before.And it's kind of baffling to me because it's not a political issue for us.
I mean, it is, but it's so much deeper than that because, I mean, we're talking about life here.
I think connected with mothers is the key and really painting that picture of what the beauty of life.And I love that's what our sponsor here, that's kind of the angle they take on it.
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That's pound 250, keyword baby, or go to preborn.com slash unashamed.That's preborn.com slash unashamed.But anyway, we walked back that night at eight o'clock with BK and got my truck and it was fine.
And nobody got hurt in the fires, which is good news for that as well.That's a blessing.That's a blessing.We all wanna study some Colossians?
Yeah, where did y'all, so I've been gone for not too long, but what happened in my absence?What did I miss?Are we in a different book now?We left Ephesians?
We're in a different book.We went to Colossians, and we've given like a dozen overviews
We basically study the books, the whole book.So like Groundhog Day.
It's so good though, it's hard for us to move on.We've been in 1, 1 through 14 for a few podcasts, but we kind of had some guests in, Kirk Cameron.
But I do think, you know, laying the foundation for the setting here, because it is an unusual bit of a circumstance where Paul's writing a letter to a group of people that he had never been, and it's a small town.
I made the point, I think, a couple podcasts ago, in Acts 19, there was this school of Tyrannus where Paul had, for two years, young people coming in, and not only new Christians, but he trained them, and then they went out.
And one of them was Epaphras that he mentioned in verse seven.We're assuming this, I mean, because it's like, well, where'd this guy Epaphras come from?And so when you trace it back to where we were in Acts, which is why we launch to Ephesians,
which one of the volunteers was at the Miamou.She was like, look, I recently found y'all's podcast.I mean, it was Karen, formerly Traxler, I'm not sure.And she was like, but y'all didn't even finish the book of Acts.
I was like, well, we had already done Acts before.So we launched to Ephesians.So it was kind of a funny conversation.And I said, just come, come go with us. refer back to the book of Acts.
If I ever do a full teaching again, that's what I'm gonna do on the New Testament.I'm gonna teach the book of Acts, and then every time we get to the city, where the letters were written later, I'm gonna launch over and study the letter.
That would be a great way to study.It would take you a long time, but it would be- It would be fantastic.I think it would be in the context of what was said and happening.It would make a lot more sense to me.
But you gotta remember, you're trying to keep this big picture in mind.This is the launching of God's message via Jesus to the world.
And so when you read the book of Acts, you're like, it launched, but then you're like going a little further down the rabbit hole, seeing that churches are cropping up, and they're house churches here.
These are people that you're just not thinking are powerful people, and it's all different kinds of people.
We went through, they all had slaves, and we talked about how that is different from what we think of today when we hear that term, but that was just a part of their life. as far as people being in debt or you lose a war and they just work off.
whatever death they have, but that's why when you get to Colossians 3, and this is not unlike a lot of sections in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 12 has this, Galatians 3, 26 and 27.
When he gets to Colossians 3, 11 and 12, he's like, here, there's no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian or Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all.
And so you think about the ramifications of this little house church in Colossae, where they're like, we're not bowing to Caesar and to Rome as far as where we're gonna achieve freedom and prosperity.
We're bowing to Jesus inside this Roman rule, and all these different classes of people, and whether they're male or female, we're coming together under one head.That's Jesus.Well, this seems like, from a cultural viewpoint, that's never gonna work.
This is not powerful.What are y'all into?You're following some carpenter from Nazareth?And then here we are a couple thousand years later,
We're reading this interaction from a guy who's in prison, chained to this group of ragtag of people who had recently had an earthquake and they were under this Roman oppression.
I mean, it's crazy to look at their circumstance and realize all the difficulty they were having. how Christ was creating them, in them, this transformational spirit that became God's new creation on earth.
And so it made me think about all the phrases, you know, when something bad happens, we think this is hell on earth, but very seldom do we think literally, oh, this is heaven on earth.And it kind of goes back to Jesus's prayer.
This is the kingdom of God.
That was one of the things that when we had Kirk Cameron on, It was from his book, and I'd read an N.T.Wright quote about, he called it heavenizing Earth, which I'd never heard that before.
N.T.Wright did, or Kurt Cobain?
Well, N.T.Wright gave the original quote, but that was the name of his chapter in his book.But it was the same concept we'd been talking about. is about how powerful Jesus' coming was, but also Jesus' going.
You know, which is, we miss so much about the Ascension before we realized that was a huge deal for us because now heaven has been left here for us to experience until we get to eternity.
That reminds me of, on Facebook, I keep reading different things about Gordon and Zach and Ben and all of them doing their stuff in North Carolina. and about people coming in and bringing food, people coming in and cooking food.
And that's exactly what's happening is they're bringing heaven to North Carolina.Because they're bringing hope.And to a lot of those people, they may not have ever been churched people.
They may not even know who Jesus is, but that's what Zach and his whole family and their church that's there, and then also our friends Malia and Michael are there cooking too.But to me, that's what it's all about.
Whenever there's a crisis and you all come together, you're having your own little house church.Because I saw Zach and them were having worship
I mean, and you think about that, I mean, there's still people who are missing out there, but it's still a time of worship.It's still a time to praise God.
I remember the day after, so you guys still hadn't gotten there yet, so this is the day after the storm.I guess it would be the day of the storm, because it was later that day, and we were at Ben and Melissa's.
And you're just kind of in the middle of it, and you're a little bit shell-shocked, because you're not sure how bad it is, but you know it's bad, because you hadn't got a look at anything.
And I remember, I told somebody this story recently, when I heard the first helicopter, I remember just a little bit of hope spring up inside.Because at this point, I've tried to leave.You can't leave.You can't take a car.You can't get out.
You're trying to get in.And when I heard that first helicopter, and it was within, what, babe, an hour. We heard a second, we heard a third, we heard a fourth.Some of them we saw.Some of them were military from the government.
Some of them were media people looking, but some of them were just regular helicopters.But I just remember sitting there in that backyard thinking, people are gonna get in here.I mean, they're coming. And it does something to you.
I felt hopeful for the first time in three days in that moment.
Yeah, there's something about the food situation.You know, all these people have come in and cooked One Kingdom, we talked about that, Malia, Michael, which, I mean, the food game's just been like...
I mean, I mean, we got a lot of bad going on, but one of the good things is, is our whole church eats together twice a day.
And it's pretty dang good.But it's something about that brings human agency.I've said it before, just about food.It's more than just, you know, sustenance for my body.
I mean, we're like, we're enjoying this story of even when Jason, the last podcast and Missy were talking about. you know, John cooking the jambalaya, like we're proud of that.And it's sharing that meal together.
And, you know, a lot of Jesus's ministry revolved around that.But when when you are talking about I think I think because what it is, it's it's it's food is physical, but it's also something spiritual that we share around the table together.
So it embodies really the the nature of the kingdom, which is we're physical bodies. with spirits, and we're in a kingdom.
And when you were talking about Colossian, that first chapter there, he is talking about getting out of a darkness, being transferred out of a domain of darkness,
But he talks about what we're transferred into, as in something that's happening in the present, he says, we're transferred into the kingdom of his beloved son.
And so there's something about that, that picture that the Book of Colossians is or the letter is building that this is a urgency.There's an immediate nature to it.This is not a way off future unrealized reality.
There's something about it now and there's something about here.So I think when you go and you look at like this situation is like what we've been going through in North Carolina and Tennessee.I went to Irwin, Tennessee, by the way.
I mean, they got hit, too.I mean, it was all Georgia.It's a pretty big radius.But in each one of those towns, I think people have shown up.
The kingdom has been shown through churches and through God's people abundantly providing resources and presence for people to be a part of.And you're right, Al.I mean, just the presence of a helicopter. Somebody knows.Somebody's coming.
Somebody hears.I mean, it's just, we're not alone.We're not isolated.It's a picture of it.It really is.
So Zach, do you still have the Goldbacks or did you trade them for some gasoline or food up there?Because you've been going through a lot of stuff.
They are securely stored in an undisclosed location.
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Yeah, so what we pointed out, Zach, is in Colossians 1, when he just basically gives their identity in verse 3, he's like, we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, when we pray for you, because we've heard of your faith in Christ, the love you have for all the saints, the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven, and that you've already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel, the good news.
that has come to you all over the world.This gospel is bearing fruit, growing just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace."And then he mentions Epaphras, that's where you heard it from.
In verse nine, it says, for this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
And then verse 10, like the verse you mentioned, which is in verse 13 about he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom.
He says in verse 10, and we pray this in order that you may live worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way.So it's like you have these two, contrasting yet simultaneous things happen.
You realize that you're gonna live forever, you have this inheritance, Jesus is at the throne, but then he's like, but it's what you do now, you live a life worthy, which is not unlike what we read in Ephesians 4, one says that, and 5, one, he's like, I ask you to live a life worthy, which is letting Christ
live through you through his spirit, which he's gonna get in to the latter part of chapter one, when he says, this is the mystery that Christ is in you, the hope of glory.
And so that's why that kingdom thing is so important because he kind of gives the nuggets about it.He's like, y'all give thanks in verse 12 and one to the father who has qualified you to share
No, it's just the Father that does the qualifying, not us.That's right.And the saints in the kingdom of light.So everybody thinks, oh, this is going to happen.I have an inheritance.I'm going to live forever.
This hope is different from worldly hope because this is certain hope.It's not like, oh, there may be a chance that it doesn't happen.This hope is built on certainty.
But then he makes that transition again in verse 13, because he's like, he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves.Well, this is now.
Not going to.Yeah.He's done this, which if you go back to that verse three, you can see it in the language of three through five, or actually five and six.You see, he does, because you get hung up.So the hope laid up for you in heaven.
And if you just leave it there, then you're thinking it's out there. It's laid up in heaven, so it's a hope that's way away from us, but the very next verse says that it has come to you.
So it's the hope in heaven has actually come to us through the gospel, which I think that's the big thing that we have to understand about what all happens in Christ.
Because there's a very similar passage, as you were reading that, I was thinking of Mark 11.
when Jesus is coming into Jerusalem during His triumphal entry, and He goes, well, first of all, in Mark 11, before that, it says that, blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father, David, Hosea, and Ahai.So they kind of rightly
acknowledge that there's something happening, some kind of kingdom thing going on here when Jesus comes in on the donkey, goes into Jerusalem and fulfilling a messianic prophecy there.
But he goes into the temple and he looks around, he leaves the temple, and then something weird happens.He sees a big tree. And it's not producing any fruit, so he curses it.
So you see the language of this fruit production in Colossians 1, connection with the Holy Spirit, connection with the kingdom.What you see in Mark 11 is a fig tree that's not producing fruit, and he curses it for not producing fruit.
And a lot of the scholars believe that what this is about, this is about Israel, who was not producing any fruit.They had the appearance of all the things that were required, that the law required, but their hearts were not in it.
They didn't have the spirit, they didn't have the Holy Spirit.
And so then Jesus goes back into the temple and he turns over the tables and he says, the reason why he turned him over is because you turned my father's house that was meant to be a place of worship for all the nations.
You turned it into a den of robbers.And this is what I'm saying.What I'm saying here is I think Jesus is coming to and the Olivet Discourse shortly thereafter, is that the temple structure is coming down.There's going to be a new temple.
We've said it over and over again in the podcast.You're going to be the living stones of the temple built on the cornerstone.
So when you get to Colossians, what you're seeing is the case for that, that Christ is going to come and live in you, that you are going to be the temple.All this is connected, Holy Spirit, fruit being produced, the kingdom and the temple.
You can't separate these things out.They're all connected through Christ in us.
Yeah.I think that's why he makes the transition about this.You came from this dominion of darkness and he brought you into the kingdom of the son he loves.And then he's like, when he gets to 15 through 23,
all of a sudden, people label this as, this is why Christ is supreme, the King of Kings.Because in their mind, they're thinking, the people in control here is Rome.I mean, Nero.And so Christ- And you can understand why.
I mean, if you and I went to Rome, and you're, I mean, even with all of our architectural advancements and technological advancements, to look at the Roman Empire, to look at the Roman Colosseum, to look at what they built.
The roads they built that are still there.
I mean, it was somebody that was with us that said, you can understand how someone would come into Rome during this period of time when this was actually written.And somebody says, Hey, yeah, Caesar's God.
And some guy comes from a mud hut in Africa and he looks around and says, Okay.I get it.I mean, you get it.So when you said that, Jace, that Rome is in control, Rome is the power.I mean, we're talking about like a power.
This is a power that it's hard for us to grasp the might of the Roman empire in the time in which this is written.They were so far advanced beyond the rest of culture.It wasn't even a comparison.
Zach, I mentioned before, especially with the hurricane, but really just day-to-day news, I'm really proud for us to be a part of Blaze Media because they do a good job of getting to truth.The opinions are varied.
We get to talk about the Bible on this platform.They've been a good partner for us, wouldn't you agree?
Yeah, they've allowed us to have a Bible study on the internet.Not a podcast, as Phil would say, but internet Bible study.
Well, so many of the other platforms talk about narratives and their truth and your truth and my truth.What we talk about is the truth.Things as they happen, but also the Bible, of course, which leads us to loving God and loving America.
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Check them out.By the way, that's why the Bible says that Jesus chose to come to earth, God came to earth in Christ during this time.
You know, because we think about how powerful we are today, like America, but no, he chose to come in the days of Rome.And whenever Daniel was looking forward, he said he would come in the days of Rome.So there was something powerful about that.
Well, and they set themselves up as gods and lords.And that's why when he says Jesus is the image of the invisible God, well, it's language that these people like Nero and emperors and kings, they put their images on coins.
And then they would have some God-like phrase on there.Caesar is Lord.And so then I think it really gives you the context of what they're in.
And a couple of podcasts ago, I hurriedly went through 1 Corinthians 8 and Galatians 4, the whole chapters, because it starts talking about this knowledge that's referred to in Where did we see that?In 1.10, where it says- Read it again.
Colossians 1.10, it says, we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.
Because a theme that's gonna come out in Colossians is a lot of these young Christians were being swayed by this mystical knowledge of the gods.Gnosis, yeah.That were not God, the Father, and His Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
Which, by the way, that other belief system was really that men, divine work that comes from men.It was actually, Zach, it was humanism, even way back then, the idea that these people on Earth were running around, and they were God-like.
And it's always been humanism, which defined that would be this, that we begin with ourselves to make meaning of the world, and we end with ourselves.So you begin with yourself and end with yourself.
And the point is, if you're gonna have a lord and a king, the problem is Nero was a weirdo.I mean, by anyone's definition, you just look at his life.So when you're putting your faith and trust in him, Well, all you're getting is flawed.
And then you have Jesus who is not only perfect. but he's imperishable.I mean, his qualities are, I mean, there's no comparison here.
And so, but I found fascinating that in 1 Corinthians 8, and I feel like I want to revisit this, because I think it sums up their context and Galatians 4, because he starts talking about knowledge, and you all remember this when he said, you know, about food sacrificed to idols in 1 Corinthians 8, we know that we all possess knowledge, but it says, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.And here's the key phrase, but the man who loves God is known by God.And what he's insinuating is these false gods, these fake gods, they don't know you. They're just idols.
They're made up.But the true living God knows you.He knows what's best for you.He's perfect.He's holy.He loves you.He wants what's best for you.He's eternal.And so then he goes into 1 Corinthians 8, talking about all these so-called gods.
Verse five says, for even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, As indeed, there are many gods and lords that Rome created and even our own culture creates.
Yet for us, there's but one God, the Father from whom all things came and for whom we live.And there's but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
And that's why you see in Ephesians, like you do in Colossians, the key to growth is growing in the knowledge of Christ.And Galatians 4 goes on to say, and the reason I brought it up is it's so powerful.
He has the same phrases about, don't put your faith in all these fake gods that produce nothing, but it's like, but stay in Christ until he is formed in you, which is a very profound statement in Galatians 4.
So I brought that up just to say, when you hear all this about the dominion and the powers and the rulers, because he gets into 16 and he's like, this Christ, he,
All by him, all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authority, all things were created by him and for him.He is before all things and in him, all things hold together.
He's the head of the body.He's the firstborn from among the dead so that in all things, he might have the supremacy.So he's like laying out the case for your current condition because they were being persecuted.They seem like outcasts.
They were like, trust the earthly powers and what they have to offer and all their gods and religion.
And it gets down to something where I thought of, which is kind of funny, because he starts this off saying, remember this good news that you heard from the beginning, the gospel, that's what it means is good news.
And you think about what all the other gods and even Rome in their day offers, it was fake news. You know, we tend to think the former president invented that phrase.Has been around a while.It's been going on since the creation of time.
You create a God and then it's fake news.You trust us and everything's gonna be all right. And it's not, because it's earthly and it's unspiritual, no matter how you craft it.
So that's what you're going to get to in chapter 2, because then he starts getting into all these philosophies that are based on human tradition, flawed humans, and the basic elemental principles of the world and not on Christ.
That really is the theme of this.
That's the filter.I think that you'd mentioned something earlier.I think it's like a good question is, how can I identify? the false gods from the real God.You mentioned that too, by the way, about the knowledge of God.
I was thinking that same verse that you brought up, that knowledge puffs up.And it seems, well, does the Bible contradict itself?At one point it's saying that we should have knowledge, and then other verses say that we shouldn't.
And there's a verse that I think is often misused. And Proverbs three that says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
And we typically use that verse to like any time that like we're trying to figure something out in the Lord up, not lean not on your own understanding or or maybe we'll go to First Corinthians one and two, where it talks about Paul said he didn't come with any of the good arguments.
He just he didn't come with wisdom.But you got to get a caveat that because he's not the verse in Proverbs three says, lean not on your own understanding. He doesn't say lean not on understanding.He says just lean not on your own understanding.
And in 1 Corinthians, Paul doesn't diminish wisdom.He diminishes and chastises human wisdom, but not divine wisdom.And so I think that going back to what Al said about humanism, the filter's this.
Where does my wisdom begin with, and where does it end?Where does my knowledge begin with, and where does it end?Where does my understanding begin with, and where does it end?
And if the answer to that is myself, or some other human, or some other finite thing, then it is idolatrous in and of itself, and it's going to lead to meaninglessness.
But if it begins with who the God of heaven is, the God of the Bible, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, if it begins and ends with Him, then you're going to increase in that knowledge.
And that's the case that Paul's making in Colossians, is that the reality is found in Christ.That's what he's saying, that all of these other things, they begin and end with themselves, they're fruitless, they're sterile, they're death works.
To really experience life is to be transformed into the image of the Son, to begin with Him and to end with Him, because He's revealing what reality is. I think that that's the big caveat there is that God does want us to understand.
He does want us to have knowledge.He just wants us to have knowledge of who He is because He illuminates the entire world for us because He made it and we were created in His image.
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So I wanted Lisa to speak to this just to put a personal application into what we're talking about, because you painted the picture beautifully, Zach, when you went back from the Mark passage.
about how Israel was missing it because they were missing the Messiah.They were missing the completion of the package.You know, Jesus had come and they rejected him.So obviously they can't bear fruit.
So a lot of times people are listening and saying, well, you know, I study, you know, I go to church and they give me practical things they're doing.But then you come back to, yeah, but are you knowing and studying the right thing?
Because if it doesn't start with Christ and a heart change, if you hadn't submitted to Him, if you don't have the Holy Spirit leading you, you can hear and listen and attend and do all those things.
I want you to speak to that, babe, because when Lisa gives her testimony, and I hear it every time, and it's always powerful, because you describe being 15 years in our family, married to me, going to church, here in teaching, here in sermons.
I mean, the same stuff we teach and preach today, and yet it was an impact.Your fruit was not right.So what changed 25 years ago?
What allowed you now to become the woman who is growing in the Lord and maturing and inspiring and mentoring other people?What changed for you in that moment?
Because that's what a lot of people are listening and saying, man, I want what you guys are talking about, but I don't know how to get there.
Well, I think it's because when I was baptized at 18 years old, I was not baptized into Christ.I was baptized into the Robertson family because that was my way in.And so, you know, I made Alan the Lord of my life.
Everything in my life revolved around him, which you would think if everything in your life revolves around you know, your husband, then- You'd have a great marriage.You'd have a great marriage.
You wouldn't be looking outside the marriage bed for somebody else.And, you know, even if he is, you know, if Alan is the Lord of my life, then why in the world would I ever be tempted to go somewhere else?
But it's because whenever something other than Christ is the Lord of your life, You're gonna fail.You're gonna fail every time.
Yeah, because I heard an illustration about this that fits right in this, because at the end of the day, Al is flawed, like all other humans.Can't be Lord.And he dies.
So if he's your Lord and he's your everything, and you see this, the illustration I heard is like, well, what happens if he dies?Well, your whole world crashes down. Because then what?
That's why when you look at what Jesus- Or what if he falls and fails?And I want to get into this more in depth in future podcasts, but I looked up this Greek word.
It was actually after we had Joby Martin on, and he brought this up as something he wanted to say, but it was after the podcast.It was like, well, we ran out of time.You got to get it in there.
But this word that says that Jesus was the firstborn over all the creation, and then later it says he was the firstborn from among the dead.And that particular concoction of firstborn in the Greek is only mentioned three times.
And there's two of them.And the other one is in Revelation 1.It says, again, he's the firstborn from among the dead.
And what I realized, because his point was the Greek word is, I don't know if I can quote it, but it's like prototakis, but it's the word where we get prototype.And so you say, well, what does that actually mean, that he was the prototype
of the firstborn among creation.Because when you think about what Jesus accomplished, he came to earth, he was the first human to show us that God could live in a human, which is another reason why he was baptized.
He wasn't baptized because he had sins, but what happened when he was baptized?Well, the Holy Spirit entered him.
So it's like, well, that was gonna be really good, because later on, we were all gonna figure out this mystery, which Colossians later addresses, that Christ could be in you. But he's the one that started that.
And it always makes me think about Phil's first duck call when he had the prototype.What did that imply?Well, there's more to come.Well, then you throw in the fact that he was the first prototype to show that humans could live forever.
They didn't have to die.So now you have another principle.God can live in humans, that's the firstborn of creation, but now humans can live with God, because God's eternal.
So just think about the power in who Jesus is, which is why you shouldn't put your faith and lordship in a human that's not named Jesus.Because you can have God living in you and you can live forever.And that's why it's a much more lasting,
life and it's a clean life because he's perfect.
Well, it was like Zach was saying earlier, there's an impossibility if you're trying to produce fruit, but you don't have something inside you that can grow it correctly.And so that's where we were.
The irony is for us is once Lisa submitted to Christ out of just complete brokenness and failure of our marriage and your life.
And again, like Jace was saying, rejection, and it was almost the death of a relationship.Because I was rejected by the Robertsons, as should be.I was rejected by you, and I had nothing else.I had nowhere to turn.
And in that, rejection is whenever I turn to Christ. And that's when- Who did not reject you.Who did not reject me at my worst.Whenever I was, I mean, you know- That was the phrase, tell them the phrase you used.
Y'all are really quoting, you're saying rejection, but when he gets to 21, it says, once you were alienated from God.Yeah, that's right, alienated.
And were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior, but now he has reconciled you by Christ physically.
Where were you enemy at?In your mind, which is interesting, that phrase.
And tell them the phrase you said when you were laying in the backyard.What would you tell God or ask God?
The one thing I wanted was to be rescued.And so I said, I don't even know if I believe in you, but if you're out there, please come and rescue me.And that's exactly what he did.And he did not wait.And this is what I tell people all the time.
He does not have to wait for you to clean yourself up.
That is his job.Because whenever his blood washes over you, you are clean.
Yeah.And that's what you said is it, I love that.It's a faith.It's the faith that you had was so small.I would compare it to a mustard seed to say, I don't even know if you're there, which, and that makes people uncomfortable.
I've, I've, I've seen Twitter or X feeds and, and people blasting people for saying this, but like, if I have to have perfect faith, if I have to believe a hundred percent without any doubt, I mean, that's not how I came to Christ.I still have doubt.
And I think that God doesn't require you.What he does require is just, it's the prodigal son.It's to turn about face.As soon as you turn, he's like the prodigal son, but while he was a long way off. He didn't come up and beg the father.
He didn't get down on the knee, let me in.His intention coming back to the father was, I just want to be a slave.Even being a slave in your house is better.But the Bible says that while he was a long way off, the father went and pursued him.
All he did was turn in a posture of repentance.And God was there to take someone who had been alienated and bring them into his kingdom.
Well, that's why it uses the illustration of bearing fruit.It's planted, then it begins to grow, and then when he gets to Colossians 1, he's wanting you to become fully mature.
Well, this little plant is growing, and the best illustration for that, as you remember, I mean, way into John, he's washing their feet. He's showing them what he's representing.And you remember what happened with the disciples?
A fight broke out about who was the greatest.You're like, they got a long way to go.It's a process.How much time do we got left?We're past done.
All right, well, the next podcast, not the next one, because the next one we're going to be with our friends from The Chosen.But after that, remind me to give a St.Augustine quote in connection with enemies in our mind.You've got to remind me.
Well, you write that down, because we're into the amen section of this podcast.
So Maddie's written it out, I'm sure.Thank you, babe, for being here.Zach, pray blessings on you and your family and everybody in North Carolina and Tennessee as well.Love you guys.We'll see you next time. on Unashamed.
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