Ep 1089 | A Navy SEAL’s Guide to Fighting Demons, Distraction & Spiritual Decay
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What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. We are in our boxes, but I'm looking at the studio, Jace. In my chair, in Al's chair, is my erstwhile son-in-law, Stone, has joined the Unashamed podcast. Welcome, Jace. Thank you. Good to be here.

He got called up to the bigs from duck call room. He got stepped up. It's a move up from the AAAs, Jay, into the major leagues. You probably won't be here long. We'll send you back down, but today you're here. There's a big difference between unashamed and duck call room. The biggest difference is organization. Okay.

We're not that organized either. But you guys are on another level. Your leader is Uncle Si. Oh, I'm aware. That's where. Can you spell disorganization with that, Si? No.

Well, I say, Jay, I talk about all the time. So, in fact, Jay was down here a couple of weeks ago, and we did a little crabbing off our dock down here. And, you know, Stone is always learning things and then teaching them. And so he's teaching me about how to boil these shrimp and crabs. So, Jay, I had to call you this week because I'm organizing a little dinner party of some of my friends down here, and I'm going to take my first shot.

at the old shrimp barrel. And so I'm going to have to get all your insights. But what did you learn from a Cajun online? Where did you learn that? There's this fellow on the YouTube, the Stale Cracker. He's a stale, stale cracker. You seen him, Zach? Yeah, put it on a cracker, dude. That's it. That guy? He said, we're going to burrow these shrimp. But he's very entertaining. Do they use subtitles for him?

I think so. He's Cajun. I mean, his boy is hardcore. Oh, he's full of blood. You know, he's one of them. He got papers. That dude. He said, while we wait, we hydrate. Yeah, then he shotguns a beer. Yeah, then he drains the beer. He wears like a holster with like two beers in it, and he's very aggressive in his cooking. He does a jambalaya, and he's got his paddle. He's wild.

ow, he's like hitting the pan and he's screaming. I mean, it's intense. Oh, he's very entertaining. But he's got his little belt. He's got four holsters in it. Two of them was for Cajun seasoning and the other two for natural lights. Yeah.

What does he say? Hit it with that two-step. Cajun two-step. That's his seasoning. It's good. But the dude, he knows what he's doing. He does. He does. Yeah. And those shrimp, they peel perfectly. He's got it down on the when to put the seasoning and when not to. So Jay has got it perfected. He does. But he does all the – he does the cracklings. I mean, he does anything that's like Louisiana cooking.

I mean, he's got the recipe for it, and he'd turtle soup. He does the, I mean, I've watched him quite a bit, and at the end of each of his recipes, he says, put it on a crackadood, and he puts it on a saltine cracker, and he takes a bite of it. Well, that's your go-to, man. Oh, yeah. Because, I mean, I think I told the story here when I was up in Nashville a couple weeks ago. Reed had a smoking issue.

Which was he put the meat in the smoker. Did I share that story on the podcast? Yeah, you did. Oh, I did. He had to call Jay. I'm glad you clarified he had a smoking issue. I was like, did he restart smoking? Now I realize where you were going with that. You said don't let the temperature get above...

Yeah. I forgot the degree. You were just like, it was like a, you know, it was a hotline. It was a smoker's hotline. Yeah. Well, I noticed it. Anytime I get a call from Reed is, is, is about smoking meat. Yeah. You know, something done happened. What do I do? You know, I've called the hotline a few times. Yeah. Yeah. I've called, I couldn't figure out the brisket situation and cause I'd made a couple on my Traeger and, uh,

And I just couldn't quite figure it out. So I called Jay on the last one. You know what's funny is a spiritual application just popped in my mind over that. Because there was a busy week because we were there. I forgot what they had going on. Oh, it was Easter. It was Easter week. And so he was singing at the Ryman, you know, leading worship. So he was practicing all hours of the day. And I had all his friends over.

Of course, he goes and buys a mighty fine piece of meat. I mean, it was a whole ribeye. And so he goes out, the smoker, because he just put it on a timer. But when he woke up, went out there to get it, it should have been ready. Yeah. But it was zero temperature. Yeah. So he called you. But what I notice is all his buddies...

They were all there. They were in a panic mode, and they kept tempting him to do something other than what you said. Because you just gave it kind of off the top of your head, which I guess that's happened many times. I've had that happen before. Yeah. And he kept looking at me, and I said, trust what the man says. Your buddies are, you know.

that they're tempting you. I was like, this is going back to the garden here. Yeah. I need to trust what the man says. He's the smoker. Well, hey, our buddy's calling us right now. I guess he's at the back door. Yeah.

All right. We'll go get him. Go get him. We'll continue with this. We're breaking the fourth wall again. Yeah, we are. We've got a guest on. Originally, we were going to have Chad Squared is what I call him back on. Chad Robichaud, Chad Wright.

a couple of really fantastic guys. And Chad Robichaux is somewhere out there doing good, but Chad Wright still came. Yeah, I've seen Chad Robichaux, who was, what was he, a Marine recon? Yeah, recon.

So he's an MMA fighter, and he's a tough dude. He's also a black belt jujitsu, which is what drew Jay into his circle when we first met him because Jay is part owner of a jujitsu school.

So he kind of was drawn to these guys and Jay's military as well. But Chad Wright, I mean, man, he wowed us. He was a member of Navy SEAL Team 2, I believe. I think it was 8. I think it was Team 8. Yeah, he actually went to where we used to do the podcast. Yeah. This is the second time this has happened. Godwin went out there. In a week.

That's where Chad right went. Zach, what kind of ship are you running here? This thing is taking on water. All our guests are going to the wrong location. That is a bad sign. That was partially my fault. I could have communicated a little better. I'll give you another spiritual application. If you're not careful about who you're running with, you'll wind up in the end in the wrong place. And you're like, what happened? What happened?

All right. Well, look, let's take a break. And when we come back, we'll have Chad set up to join us on the Unashamed podcast.

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Well, we're back. Chad Wright, I'm sorry, brother. You were such a gracious host when I came down to Rome, Georgia.

You took me out to lunch. I was on your podcast. I got two loaves of your mama's bread, and we sent you to the wrong place. You wound up at the wrong studio. Please forgive me, brother. That's not on you, Zach. That's my man, Jay Stone. I learned so much about Jay Stone this weekend, good and bad. I thought I knew Jay.

But until we had the hunting hell week this week, you know, we have hell week in seal training. And for some reason, that's so Navy SEALs, we got to make everything hard, even hunting. Yeah. And so we wanted to plan a hunt. And I said, well, may.

Coon hunting, squirrel hunting, backwater, mosquitoes, heat, day, night, snakes. This is the hunting hell week. We had about 15 students to begin with, and we dwindled down the last hunt to four. Who were the last men standing? I want to hear that. This was like some kind of, like, were you invited guests?

Once the word got out, then everybody and the brother wanted to come. We had people from New York, Christian and

One of his friends, Jonah, the security guy. Everybody was there. This was a training op. Yeah, yeah. And we had about the same attrition rate as SEAL training. We went from 15 to 4. Mission success. Before you got here, I told a story about Jay's a smoking guru, smoking meat. And I got these young bucks in Nashville to trust what Jay said because the smoker got on.

But Jay, you asked me, which I thought was a curious question. That makes sense. You sent me a text about, what was this? When did this hell week start? About a week ago? It started Friday. Friday night. Jay sent me a text, which I thought was weird, but now it's all making sense. He said, you want to go squirrel hunting in the morning? You remember what I said? I can't. Yeah. I can't.

You should have trusted what I said there. Wrong time of year. This is the wrong time of year. Let me tell you, Jase, I disagree because we killed a passel of squirrels. I'm not saying you couldn't get them. It's just not worth it. I can wait until the fall. We had the dog, and that makes squirrel hunting so much better when you've got that dog to show you where they're at. You're moving. You're steady moving. Yeah.

But we killed a bunch. We took a mess over to Si. We took Si a whole pan of squirrels yesterday. Big fox squirrels. That's his favorite thing. Oh, he loves them. It is funny that here we've come down here to Louisiana, drove eight hours to do some hunting, and by the last hunt, there wasn't a single member of the hunting party from Louisiana. We had three Georgia boys and a Florida boy.

Out there running... A North Florida boy from Lake City, from what I hear, right? Running around a cornfield last night. We had no idea where we were, where the water was, but we had a buggy to hunt out of and a dog out there running a coon, and we made it happen. And Al, I want to congratulate you, man, because I know a lot of people are listening to this on audio, and they can't see. We only have...

Half of Al. Where's the rest of you, Al?

I mean, I am so proud of you, man. Well, thank you, Chad. Thank you for noticing. Yeah, you know, I lost like a chunky middle schooler that I had around my waist. I'm still going. But you know what? It's amazing because I have not looked back because I've been just looking forward, you know, where I want to get to. And I was actually looking back at the last time you were on the podcast and there was a picture.

Me and Jason, you and Chad Robichaud. And I was like, whoa. You know, you look back and you think, ow, you didn't look so good. So, yeah, it's definitely feels better to lose a little weight. And I can appreciate the amount of discipline that it has probably taken you and mental fortitude.

to not only just begin that journey, but to stick with it to the point that you have to feel so much better now, man. No doubt about it. And then your energy comes back and you're able to get out and do stuff you used to do, which makes it a lot better. But I appreciate guys like you that are that way consistently because they help guys like me figure out, you know, hey, we got to

You were right. It's a mental beginning. I mean, you've got to start with the mind and say, okay, this is something that's got to be done. If you don't start there, you're never going to get the results you want. You either do that or you come to Louisiana and run around in a cornfield at night chasing a dog. There ain't no way you're going to be heavy if you do that consistently. No, and it's amazing too, man, when you consider how much our physical body

and our mind, we call it our soul, our mind, will, and emotions, and our spirit,

They're all so interconnected in so many different ways. And, you know, we don't do the best job as the church in terms of holding each other accountable to our physical health, right? And when we can improve our physical health by discipline, by doing the things we know we should do, right?

it does have a major positive impact on what we are doing

able to accomplish as an ambassador for Christ out in the world. Not only the image that we portray in this physical world, but we just feel better. We have more energy. We have more drive. I think our mind is clear when we read the Word, when we read Scripture, when we pray. Our mind is clear to receive what the Lord has for us in His Word. It's just all connected, and I would challenge every person

follower of Christ who's listening to this show, if you need to lose a little weight,

get out and move your body, put in the work, and it's going to make a positive impact in the kingdom. It's definitely not everything, right? I'm not saying we should get to the point where we are worshiping our bodies and idolizing our physical fitness and our health, but it will make a tremendous impact, I believe. Well, you make such a good point, Jeb, because since I was 18 years old and came to Christ...

I've been able to maintain a very strong spiritual discipline in terms of my approach to the word of God, to my conversations with the almighty, you know, own mission with the gospel. But what happens is a lot of times you then lose containment on some of the other basic things, which I did as well. And you're right. That's just as much as an attack on.

is anything else because if you don't feel well, if you're sick, if you're limited, if you limit yourself and your opportunities, you're

then that's an attack on you as a whole person because it's body, soul, mind, and spirit. You're right. It's all together. And so it's such a great point that all of it is the Almighty's to use for His will. And so the evil one, you know, if he can't get through in one attack, he comes at you another way. And that's a lot of times what happens with people. It certainly happened to me. Well, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. I mean, let's not forget that. I think Christianity...

is unique in that of all the religions in the world, it actually has the highest view of the human body in the physical world. And particularly that God incarnated and came into a human body, and then the Holy Spirit now lives in the bodies of believers. Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 6, there's a lot of verses in the Bible about that. Your body's a temple. Right.

of the Holy Spirit. That's a big deal. And Al, you made the point of how the evil one will kind of wage war against us in terms of on that physical side, our health, right? Well, what is the evil one's ultimate goal? It's to kill you. It's to kill you, right? So he wants you out of here, right? Because he knows if he can take you out of the equation, that's less that you can be used in the kingdom

you know, for the work that you've been given to do. And so I've never, I've just never thought about that before in terms of a spiritual attack, how, you know, addiction to food and sugar and an unhealthy lifestyle. Yeah. You can view it in that way and you've got to wage the war on that front. Well, you know, I used to be a little heavy myself. I know Jay. Yeah. Hey, you know what motivated me to lose weight? I had crippled down a mallard drink.

I was about 235, 240 at this point. I remember. And I went to run him. And I finally caught up with him about 300 yards later. And when I finished him off, I started wheezing like an asthmatic. Like, hee, hee. I sound like W.E. Phillips. Hee. And I sat there on that levee for 45 minutes, wheezing. And I thought to myself, you know what?

You are one pathetic individual. And from that point on, I said, I'm fixing to get my tail back into shape.

And I've been in shape ever since. I'm just glad I didn't kill that. And how long ago was that? You kept it off for years. How long ago was that, Jay? Oh, good night. It's been seven or eight years. And it came about the time that your wife said, once you reached a certain weight, just don't come back. Yeah, Anna told me. She said, you get up to 300, I'm out of here. The thing about her, when she says something, she means it. So...

The Robertson is strong in that one. Oh, yeah. Oh, she's eat up with it. And I told her I'd mess with her a few months ago. I said, since I'm in better shape, she is now. I said, I'll tell you what, you get up 200, I'm out of here. She cut them eyes over.

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I thought about this passage in 1 Thessalonians 5. I mean, this is right after he describes this Jesus coming back, dead bodies coming out of the ground. And then it's like, well, when is this all going to happen? And he's just like, well, don't be surprised when it does. He didn't really answer the question. He's like, nobody knows. Then he's like, we're children of the light, live in the light. And then he gets to the end and he says, do not put out the Spirit's fire,

This is verse 20. Test everything, hold on to the good, avoid every kind of evil. And then he makes this statement in 23. This is 1 Thessalonians 5.

May God himself, the God of peace, set you apart or sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

I think that's pretty powerful. It is, man. So, Chad, it's so good that we just naturally went here in this conversation because the last time you were on the podcast,

You had us riveted telling us your story of when you came to Christ. I mean, I'll never forget it. I've told a lot of other people as well. You were in that you were in North Africa someplace. You were you were on mission, but you were surrounded by forces of evil and you felt it and you knew it.

And you wind up talking, your brother's pastor had prayer with you as you went around through this place. And it ultimately led you to the feet of the cross and it changed your life forever. And I just remember the impact of that, you telling it. And so recently we've been in the book of Ephesians that our church preach in.

And Jace is up this week to wrap it up. But a couple of weeks ago, I preached on Ephesians 6, 10 through 20, which is that great passage about spiritual warfare and the armor of God. And so I immediately thought about you thinking back to your story. And then when you were going to come on the podcast, I said, oh, man, I want to get your perspective.

as both a physical warrior for our country, but also a spiritual warrior for Christ. And talk about a little bit of us today, talk a little bit about this passage about spiritual warfare, as we've already led into, that it's more than just after our soul. I mean, this is an eternal battle for everything.

Because once you become new in Christ, the eternity actually begins while you're here. I mean, there's no doubt about it. The line I used was, is eternal life. We've always thought about it as a quantity word. You know, in other words, it's forever. And we talk about that. What's heaven going to be like and stuff like that. But it's actually a quality of life that begins here. Because once you've crossed over,

You understand eternity because the Holy Spirit of God lives in you. And so that brings eternity to camp, as Zach said earlier, as the Holy Spirit. You are the temple.

of the Holy Spirit of God. So that eternal life begins even now in this stage we're in on earth. And so the quality of life should go way up for believers who understand who God is. So I want to talk about that a little bit today and just get your perspective on that. I mean, have you thought much about that in terms of Ephesians 2?

and how that applies into your daily spiritual walk? Yeah, I think about it quite often. And by the way, we were fortunate enough to interview my brother Zach on our podcast, and he laid out

this whole doctrine of the eternal life beginning now for the believer in long form and so beautifully. Zach, you are just on to something there that has impacted me and really changed my perspective on the time that I have here on this earth as a follower of Christ.

And man, I just pray that the Lord continues to use you to put that message out because it's a message that the church needs to hear everywhere, and especially here in America. This isn't just us in survival mode. Man, this is us thriving. Our eternal life began the moment we received the gift of salvation, and we are walking in that path.

power through this life, man. And that message has changed my perspective, Zach. So I want to thank you, brother. I love you so much for that. But as far as spiritual warfare, you know, and the thing is a lot of Christians might be listening to this and it's hard to understand because, you know, we live in a country where our lives can be pretty difficult.

Cushy. Yeah. Right? And we're thinking about spiritual warfare. What is all this talk about spiritual warfare? You know, I've got, you know, even our problems that we have here in this country are pretty silly. I mean, they're a big deal to us, but they're pretty silly problems for the most part, right? So what is the battle for every believer, the battle that every believer can identify with?

It's the battle between the remnant of the old man that is, that is that because you are still on this earth, there is a remnant.

Yeah. And the warfare is the battle between that remnant of your flesh and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in you, right? And, you know, I read Romans 12, and most of my speaking is off of Romans 12, do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed, literally go through a metamorphosis

by the renewal of your mind. And when I speak on that, I have to wonder how many Christians are out there in the audience thinking, well, why do I need to renew my mind? It's because you are in a fight. And the fight is between that remnant of your fallen man and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. And it's a daily battle for us to...

To put that remnant to death, right, as much as we possibly can. And now, this is not for salvation, right? This is fighting the good fight. This isn't salvation. We're saved by grace through faith and faith alone. But to me, that is the daily battle and the spiritual warfare aspect. It doesn't always play out in...

the same type of experience that I had overseas, right? That's what we want. We want to experience something like that because it's this confirmation that, okay, this is real. I mean, you sense the realness of it. But, you know, that experience that I had

I don't attribute that experience I had to the work of Satan because Satan is way smarter than that. Satan would have never orchestrated that experience because he's smart enough to know that that's going to probably put me on a different course, right? And so you think about how smart the enemy is. Should you fear Satan?

That's a question that I struggle with. I use the word respect, you know, because there's a story in Jude where he's like, don't even make fun of him. It's an idea of respect. Where is that at? Don't slander celestial beings. Even the archangel Michael did not bring a slanderous accusation against the devil when he was speaking over the body of Moses. This is Jude.

Yeah, that's Jude 9, verse 9. There's only one chapter in Jude. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, which is an interesting thing because if you go back and read in Exodus about Moses, it says God buried him. Yeah, in the numbers. And then later he showed up on that mountain.

You kind of got a glimpse of some kind of new body. So something happened there. When you made the statement earlier about the number one goal of the evil one, the devil, it is to kill. Yes. Destroy. Bottom line. That's it. Hebrews 2.14 said Jesus came to destroy the power of the work of Satan.

which is death. That's Hebrews 2.14. So that's why he's always associated with the realm of the dead. So that is the enemy. So when he had this argument, it says, he did not dare bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, the Lord rebuke you. So fear, respect, I mean, even the archangel,

wasn't going to accuse him. He just said, the Lord rebuke you. But to be fair, though, I do think that's a good point. I preached on this last week. We're going through Exodus. Well, Exodus 3, there's a scene where Moses, he's at the burning bush, right? And Pharaoh in the book of Exodus represents the evil one. He represents everything that's evil there.

And God's instruction to Moses is not go run from the devil, go run from Pharaoh. He says, I want you to go confront Pharaoh. And it reminds me of that what Jesus told Peter when he said in Matthew 16, I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, why do you have a gate?

You have a gate to protect your fortress. It's to keep people out. The kingdom of heaven is storming the gates of hell, and the gates of hell will not prevail against the onslaught of the kingdom of God. And to me, the power is in Jesus. We say the Lord rebuke you, but when we're coming on behalf of the Lord, we're not running from evil. The kingdom drives through evil and conquers it. It's a different way to look at it.

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I heard somewhere you brought up something interesting, so it's hard for me to do this off the top of my head. But I was listening to a sermon a year or two ago. When he says that verse you just got through saying in Matthew 16, where he says, who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied, some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, Jeremiah. Jesus says, verse 15, what about you? Who do you say I am? Peter answered, you're the Christ, Son of the living God.

And he said, blessed are you, Simon, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by the Father in heaven. I tell you that you're Peter, and on this rock I'll build my church. And the gates of Hades, it says, will not overcome it.

And the guy I was listening to preach looked at the Greek. And when he got into the Greek language here on this phrase, one of these prepositions that we put in here in the translation does not exist. And, of course, he started talking about it, and I was like, where is he going with this? But his point was, when you read it the way we translate it, we're acting like it's coming at us, but it's not going to overcome it, you know.

But when you actually take that preposition that we just put in the English language, trying to grab a hold of it, it actually should read the gates of Hades won't withstand it. And his point was,

Who's dishing out the power here? When you read it and insert that, and look, I'm not hating on the translators. They were just trying to get a picture of it. But I think we, a couple thousand years later, are trying to wrestle with it. And we think they're the one putting all the resistance. And it's kind of the total opposite. They're not going to be able to endure the power of spirit-filled people because if God is for us, who can be against us?

And he solved all the problems that the evil one used. That's why I read that about he disarmed the rulers and the powers when he died on the cross and came back from the dead. Because what are their tools? They want to get you to sin and wallow in it and become a slave in it, and they want you to die. And that's what Jesus overcame. So I think just acknowledging that on who we are,

should make us way more aggressive in the face of evil. Yeah, that's good, Jace. That's good. Isn't it funny how we can read...

these specific scriptures and kind of misinterpret them for years and years and years. And then it just doesn't quite make sense when something in scripture doesn't make sense is because you're not understanding it right. That's why we need to go down the rabbit holes or the cane trail, you know, and say, well, wait a minute now. Just back to your original question on the Ephesians, you know, and spiritual warfare, right?

I just think it's, you know, don't, don't always, because you can get carried away with spiritual warfare too. You know, you see people that they're, they're in their, their entire ministry just revolves around that one single, you know, aspect of scripture and you get carried away with it, you know, but, but,

But there is a battle. It doesn't always look like what you think it's going to look like. And the battle is the forces of evil.

Basically, playing to that remnant of your fallen man, I think, and trying to manipulate the mind into succumbing to that. Now, I don't believe in this battle that's being waged, and I don't know about you guys, but I don't believe that...

There is any force of evil or the evil one that can actually create a scenario where the child of God can lose their salvation.

I don't believe that. I think if we could lose our salvation, if it was ours to lose, we would darn sure lose it. And so that's another thing. When we talk about spiritual warfare, I think so many Christians are out there going through life and they hear about this spiritual warfare and they get scared in a sense of, I might lose this battle and therefore lose salvation.

my salvation. And so that's another important thing that I think should be discussed in terms of this conversation is, you know, Satan is not powerful enough to come in and basically say,

usurp the work that is done in you and in terms of the work of salvation that is done in you as a believer. Like you can rest in that, man. Yeah. Well, I think it all comes down to just God's perspective versus your perspective. I mean, cause there's some interesting verses. I think if you kind of wrap your head around this, which I find fascinating about the text and I recommend everyone listen to that sermon I'll preach cause it was fantastic.

And you kind of touched on this about usually spiritual warfare, we look at it just kind of from our own perspective, just like day to day. Satan's behind every corner in these little decisions, but we don't really look at the big picture. But he had already addressed this in Ephesians 2 where he said,

You remember when he said, as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live. When you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. Oh, we know he's talking about.

He's talking about the evil one. Because something that's fascinating in Ephesians 6, which he's later going to say, is your struggle's not against flesh and blood. But we generally think that. You think about all the problems on this earth, it's usually...

person to person. It's his people. We think, oh, that's a strong, that old boy, he don't like me. He did me wrong. I tell you. But there's a bigger picture going on, you know, what, I mean, that's what the Bible just said. I read it. And you get the idea that there's two kingdoms here. The one of the air is,

How does he work? Verse 3, all of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful flesh and following the desires and thoughts. And then it says what you get as a result of that, like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. And then you get into the but because of his great love. Well, the only time he mentions God's kingdom in Ephesians is...

is in chapter 5, which I think is kind of setting up this spiritual war. You got the evil one's kingdom out there, and he described what's going on. We've all been there. And then in 5, he says, Be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live a life of love just as Christ loved us.

And then he says, but among you, there must not even be a hint. This is kind of the stuff you were talking about, of sexual immorality or of any kind of impurity or greed, because these are improper for God's holy people, nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk. And he goes through a whole list of things. And then verse 5 of 5, which is where I want to get to. Be sure of this, no immoral, impure, or greedy person, such a man as an idolater,

Because now you're worshiping something other than the one true living God. Has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ? So he really sets out the battle, getting to the battle of the two kingdoms and you have a choice. So I think from your perspective, when people say, well, can I lose my salvation? I don't think from God. He's done everything.

that he can do and should do to take care of any kind of problem. And many times Jesus said, no one can snatch them from my hand. But I think it comes down to a question, and it's pretty obvious. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God? Because when that is a reality...

People see that in your life. And the evil one is saying, just like when he took Jesus and tempted him, himself, he was trying to challenge God.

His belief system. Are you going to serve the God and Father who wrote this, which is why Jesus quoted the passages? Or do you want to come to my kingdom, which is all pretty much earthly based? Well, that's why the word respect, I think, is a good term to use, because I've actually I know what you're hitting on, Chad. And I've had this conversation this week about a certain topic where

Somebody was concerned that someone had brought a demonic spirit into a small group and that had imparted almost like this demon on somebody else just by their very presence. And the other person was a spiritual believer. And I'm like, no.

Like we're not like it's not a virus that we're like you're living in fear. We're not walking around. Someone's going to throw a demon on you. Like if you have the Holy Spirit living in you, like you are a child of God. You are like you are in his hand. And you may you want to invite a demon in. That's a different discussion. But I'm but you're you're no one's going to throw a demon on top of you. Are demons real? Yes. Is the demonic world real? Yes. But we shouldn't over.

realize this, there is a tension here. And I was reminded of this quote. I just looked it up from one of my favorite books called The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, where he kind of panoramically

paints this really incredible picture of what kind of spiritual warfare looks like. Because it's this, the book is about like a head demon with his protege demon, and he's coaching him on how he's going to go after the soul of this individual guy. And one of the things that Lewis writes in the book, he says, there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence.

The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. Yes. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

The idea is that, like you mentioned, some people make a living off this, conjuring up these fears. We have to rest in the fact that we do serve a God who has a kingdom that cannot be shaken and will not be destroyed. Daniel 7 goes through the entire New Testament. We belong to the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit lives in the bodies of humans. So we don't have to fear, but we do need to respect. So I think that's the tension we're trying to hold.

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Visit tomorrowclubs.org slash 30 camps or simply text 30 camps to 44321 to give today. I think so, because look, I skipped over chapter four, but he had just said, put on the new self.

And take off the old self. That's in 422. You remember that. But then he starts talking about loving your neighbor and in your anger, don't sin. And don't let the sun go down when you're angry. And then this curious verse in 27 says, and don't give the devil a foothold. And I think, you know, as us being Christians,

cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and we're out there representing him. We're imaging him in this world. There's always a temptation for him to want to take you down. I mean, I know y'all do all the wrestling and all. I don't know. Is there some kind of foothold that can make you tap? Oh, yeah. There's all kinds of them. You know what that is?

It's that little thing you got sitting on the corner of the table right there for 90% of people. That's that foot hole that's probably going to make you tap. That's why I only use that for phone calls and sports and weather. The black box. I can't see. I'm assuming you're talking about a cell phone, Chad. Is that what it is? That's what Phil calls the black box. I noticed this the other day. I'll share a little part of it.

Recently, obviously, I'm connected in the fitness world and a lot of the pages and stuff on Instagram are fitness pages. Right. And and by the standards of the world, it is not wrong for a female athlete to post these pictures of themselves that really don't leave much.

for the imagination. I mean, if you follow fitness content, you are going to see some stuff from female athletes, and I'm a man and I like women, and by the standards of the world, that's not an issue.

But just to talk about how something like that gives the devil a foothold. As I scrolled through Instagram, I realized I was seeing these photos of these female athletes walking

And by the world standard, there's nothing wrong with it. And I realized I liked it. Yeah. I mean, you know, you hit one and then you see the little dots across the bottom and you're like, oh, she's posted a bunch of pictures. Let me swipe through these real quick. But then what ends up happening, if you don't nip that in the butt, what ends up happening, you go out into public and a glance becomes a gaze in real life. Yeah.

Right. And then what ends up, it progresses from there. And then it becomes a distraction in what you're supposed to be doing. Because all these little things here, it's like when he says, don't steal. And we're thinking, oh, I don't need to steal. That wasn't his point. He said, don't steal. You need to work so that you can share.

Because that's imaging God is sharing. That's the whole point. It's just like this. Imaging God, we're supposed to be sharing Jesus with men and women. Well, if you're spending all your time just looking at what she looks like, it's a complete waste of time. And we'll captivate you. Well, not only that, Chad, you run that out a little bit further.

And then you have an encounter and you meet the woman in real life that you're that you're checking out. And then you run a little bit further and maybe you meet up for coffee. You run it a little bit further. You're having an affair. You run it a little bit further. Now you're looking at your your four or your eight year old son who's devastated that mommy and daddy are getting a divorce. And all of a sudden, if you can fast forward that in your mind.

I think that's what the sanctification is. There was a couple things that helped me with the cell phone. I'm glad you brought it up. One is I saw how much my kids struggle with finding their way to Jesus because of the distraction of the phone. But another thing is there was a guy I was fixed to baptize who just gave a tearful speech.

confession that Jesus is going to be the Lord of his life. That's it. He's done, you know? And, uh, I noticed he had his phone in his back pocket. I was like, well, you might want to take that out before I baptize you, you know? And he's, he started to do it and he said, you know what? You need to go ahead and baptize that too, because that, that has been one of the most contributing factors of me not coming to the Lord sooner. And, uh, and,

Dad Gilman, if he didn't do it, you know. Praise the Lord for that, man. Well, it was just something that really touched me, you know. I thought, you know, he's recognizing right here in this moment, we're putting it all to death. And I thought that was a noble thing. Al, I know we don't have much time, but I wanted you, you shared a story that we've shared here before from your past in your sermon.

about New Orleans and your life, and you told that story about Phil, I think you should tell that. I think it would culminate this.

Well, and two things to set that up. One is when you think about the armor of God, it starts off by saying it's God's armor, it's not ours. So the power is his. It says be strong in the Lord and his mighty armor and his mighty power. So it's his. And I made the point about standing and first surrendering because that's what we have to do. If the armor is God's, then I have to surrender to put it on.

And Chad, I made the point that when you, Stone, did the same thing, when you raised your right hand,

you surrendered your rights as a US citizen to be then a warrior for the United States government to defend the constitution. And then they took you and trained you to do that. And so you surrender because you saw the evils that face our country. And so in us, and it's not a perfect analogy, but in some ways we do the same thing. We raise our right hand and say, we believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, and we're all in the kingdom of God.

And therefore, we go all in to do it. And so I made the point about taking your stand, which is how he starts. He says three times to stand. And if you think about it, Zach talked earlier about Exodus 3. When Moses found that burning bush, the bush told him to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. And the reason that ground was holy was not because it was out in the desert somewhere and there was a bush on fire. It's because the presence of God was there.

And so anytime we stand with the Holy Spirit of God living in us, that's holy ground. And so I made the point that when I was a prodigal, I left New Orleans literally with my tail between my legs and scared to death because the evil one had almost taken my life. And I never wanted to go back there. But wouldn't you know it, two years later, less than two years later, we were going back to New Orleans. But this time I was going with my dad.

and doing a duck call demonstration. And I was afraid. I was like, I was afraid I'd run into some old running buddies and all this stuff. I was young. I'd just gotten married. And when we walked into that Superdome,

And we mentioned this on a past podcast when dad stood up and declared, I mean, he was sharing his faith in a public setting, which was the duck call setting. He talked about the Lord Jesus. I was just filled and inspired because I realized that my dad was standing on holy ground in that same place that I had given away so much of my spiritual wealth to the evil one.

And I watched the Holy Spirit of God work through him in that moment. And I knew then I was like, I will never turn back from the almighty. And that's what happens when we go on offense. So I love that the armor, every one of those is three sets of three when you look at it.

And all three of them start with a defensive posture, whether it's, you know, the truth, you know, the belt of truth, the, you know, the faith that distinguishes these arrows and prayer. But they all end on offense with us going out with the gospel, with us having the word of truth that divides good from evil and also praying that we can declare fearlessly.

And so every one of us have the defensive stand of God, but we have the offensive ability to share that. So that was kind of my whole thing, but I couldn't help. It was fantastic, Al. And the famous line that Phil gave, because you got to remember, he was a raging alcoholic in his past life. Al had about lost his life. Dabbled in it, yeah. Yeah, in New Orleans. And so this whole event, it wasn't a church event. It was in the Superdome. Yeah. And the...

sponsor was Budweiser and it was a, they had a banner. He, my dad was speaking right in front of the banner that said Budweiser, the king of beers. And so everybody's drinking. I'm pretty sure you and Phil were the only sober people there, you know, if not, it was a small percentage. And it was that moment that you, you told them the story when Phil reached and grabbed his Bible after the duck call thing, they were all, everybody was cheering, you know, and drinking beer and,

It's all fun and games. It was all fun and games. And my dad had that moment of clarity. You described it real well, Al, where it's like, should I do this or not? And he picked that Bible up and he said, yep. You see this behind me? Budweiser, king of beers. He said, I've drank a many one.

He said, but I need to do you right as a fellow human and tell you about the king of kings. And that was to me in that moment, he drew a line early on for our family that no matter where we're going to be, this is spiritual warfare. These people are going to die and they're going to be lost for eternity. And over what? A few beers and just having fun. Well, I got to say this. I've been around Chad a couple of times and-

And I listened to him speak and watch him operate. I always thought, you know, he kind of reminds me of a young Phil. Yeah. But he confirmed it during the squirrel hunt. Okay. So he's got his crew with him. Great guys. And we got on that first squirrel and they let that squirrel get away without killing it.

And he chewed their tail just like Phil Robertson would chew our tail when we let a matter of drake get out of the hole. And I thought, boy, that's funny. Chad, what did I tell you when I came down to Rome, Georgia? I told you the same exact thing, didn't I? Well, I tell you that I appreciate that. I don't accept it because I'm going to tell you Phil Robertson

Man, there's not words that can express how thankful I am for Phil, even though I've never met him. He has been such an impactful force in my life and just a steady, calm voice.

of truth, man. Yeah. And I've gotten so much from that man and, and I've never met him, never will meet him. Yeah. But, well, you'll meet him one day. Well, I'll meet him one day. Yeah. Apart, apart from this earth. But, but I'm going to tell you, I, yeah, I mean, I,

I don't accept that compliment because I look at him as like, you know, as well. And look, Chad, you realize when it comes from us, it's heartfelt because you know how dad is our patriarch as well. So what a great testimony that you are. I can't believe we're out of time, but we are. We're actually over time. But

we invite you anytime you're in town. We love chatting with you. You are a warrior for the kingdom first and foremost, but you're also a warrior in terms of everything you've done in your life. So we appreciate what you do. You're always welcome here. Check him out. Just, just Google Chad, right? It's two D's Chad,

and you will find some amazing content. You don't worry about all that. I just want to encourage every one of my brothers and sisters out there to today reflect upon what Jesus Christ said on the cross right before he gave up the ghost. It is finished, man. It is finished. We're talking about the spiritual warfare, all this stuff. Look, reflect upon that. It is.

is finished. Praise the Lord for that, man. And I love you, brother. That's a great final word. Thank you, Chad. Thank you for being on. Thank you, Stone. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed Podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. And be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.