Ep 1093 | Jase Teases His Role on ‘Duck Dynasty: The Revival’ & Pays the Price for Doing Willie a Favor
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I am unashamed. What about you? Three, two, one.

Welcome back to Unashamed. Zach just did a fake Matty countdown for us. Just hadn't quite got the melody right, Matty, but he's working on it. We got the tone right. You got the tone right. You got to get the melody right. So we were laughing because Matty forgot to put my clock. I can't function without a clock. This thing is timed. I am the keeper of time on the Unashamed podcast. I want to say this, though.

Unless you put that to death in some capacity, you're going to struggle in eternity. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, he asked me to preach one time. Jason never stopped preaching though. How long did Jason go? He preached Sunday at church. He actually, I didn't time it. There you go. I didn't time it. Oh, I did. But it was right around the right, it felt right. It was 32 minutes. 32 minutes. Oh, that's great. The goal was 30. But,

Could you not see a clock? I knew you were struggling with something, but I'm sitting in the middle. By the way, I never get to, usually if I'm there, I'm down front. I'm either participating in a service or I like being down front.

But because it was Mother's Day, I sat back with Lisa behind Cy, which is always interesting. So I'm in the middle of the audience yesterday, which is unusual. So I don't have any idea. I'm just John Q member. You're just one of the people. I was one of the sheep. I tried to complain to somebody, but nobody cared. So there you go.

You were complaining about me? No, just in general. I mean, 32 minutes is not long at all. I think the sweet spot for a sermon is somewhere around the 48 to 52 minutes. Here comes the over-analysis. Paralysis by over-analysis. Now, look, if you're just joining us, let me clear up. Because some people, this may be the first time you're listening. Well, that's right. This is the first time you're listening. So we start every podcast, believe it or not,

with a three, two, one by our lovely unseen Maddie who works behind the scenes. And it's a spectacular... She's been the best hire for Unashamed since Jace. I was trying to describe off the top of my head. She's a spectacular button pusher. She goes three, two, one, push the button. Yeah.

So look, and if you don't think that's important, Matty, that's one thing she does among many other things. That's just what she does to get us stuck. Don't minimize the button pushing, Zach, because there are some buttons you can push on this planet that the planet would then be destroyed. Everything in it would be laid bare. So pushing buttons is important. So that was the first thing. The second thing is, if you're just joining us,

I actually preached in my hometown yesterday. It's the only time I get a little anxious sometimes.

I could tell you were a little... Well, the Bible says no man is a prophet in his hometown. So you got up... I mean, you're going into the area to where you may not have... Well, well... Were you received well? No, look, but I'll say this for you, Jaystar. I preached a lot. I mean, I used to preach every Sunday. But if you're not a little bit nervous about being a spokesman for the Almighty, then something's not quite right about you anyway. I mean, like...

You ought to be a little apprehensive about taking that one. Here's my take on it. I could be wrong, but my take is I do a lot of speaking. So you're like, well, why are you anxious in the hometown? I mean, can I be brutally honest? Here's the biggest factor is where Al preaches and my parents –

have attended for years. The leadership there, who are all dead now. Yeah, all our mentors are gone. Who brought my parents to the Lord. So there's a little nostalgia thing there. It's been 50 years. Yeah. So I still have a good place in my heart for the people there because of that. Look, they asked me to preach. Okay. But I think when you preach or speak a lot,

People are excited. When you go out from this place, the crowd is better. Well, they came for you being at that event. Well, right. And so it's a way better crowd. Well, here at this church, they have two different simultaneously gatherings under the same building. So one is watching it, and the other is...

Getting it live, I guess. In room. It's all live, I guess. In room, yeah, is a better way to say it. But unfortunately for y'all, and I've brought this up before, but hey, I don't work there. You speak in the more conservative, and that's basically, I mean, I don't know any other way to say it. More traditional. Yeah, one is kind of traditional. They sing acapella music.

Which is fantastic. I don't know any other way to say this. You kind of have the older people on one side and the younger, more energetic. But they have you speaking in the older place. Most of the time. So for me, going all around the country, my first impression here, which I'm past it now because I've spoken there. I mean, I speak once or twice a year there. It's just, you know. Yeah.

I get a lot of energy back. It's like, I think the first time I spoke there, you know, after the Duck Dynasty craze and all that, I mean, I think I actually said, you know, reach down and check your pulse. You know, I said something that I thought was profound. It was just cricket. It's like if I had that cricket button, I would play it two dozen times during the sermon. It's just not a lot of energy.

It's not a shout back. They're not shouting. Except for two or three people. There's a few in there. Cy and what's the other one? Kurt Lively. Kurt Lively. They shout, and it's almost like an alarm clock to the assembly because it scares me. And look, yesterday, Cy did it numerous times, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. I did because I was sitting right behind him. Well, here's the funny part.

So I've never seen side do this. Now this, I heard when I gave the invitation, there was why I wrapped it up. And I was like, which I thought was, you know, pretty good. It was, uh,

The singers are just starting to sing, and I hear Osai say, come to Jesus, boys. That's what he said. I mean, look, he's 80 yards from me. He said it so loud, I heard it as I was walking down. But I really think the...

The lesson was about God getting his family back. That was the overview of Ephesians. So our audience will love it because we did Ephesians last year, and then we preached Ephesians at our church. And so a lot of that I was able to roll into. And I only go once a month, so other people preach. And we were able to hit those themes, which I learned a lot just from talking about Ephesians with y'all.

So it really, it goes well together. And Jace's role, it was Mother's Day, right?

So it was a little bit, but you know, we kind of quit doing Mother's Day sermons a long time ago because you just kind of honor moms. And Jay's did a really unique thing. I did a Mother's Day sermon. Well, you did. As it turned out, you found a way to do that, which is pretty impressive. Mother's Day sermons are always, mothers, you're so amazing. Father's Day sermons are man up. Yes. Get up off your tail and get to work. No, it was crazy because I read, when I got to the text, Ephesians 3, which is,

When he says the whole family, he said, I pray, you know, we pray to the Father who our whole family derives its name. Well, you made a good point that I hadn't thought about, that Ephesians is a super family-oriented book that I kind of miss. We just, we gone through it twice. I mean, more than I thought. So I think this is interesting because if you're like, well, why don't we just watch it? But I think understand the process. I'm in my hometown. Yeah.

I didn't think about doing this lesson until Friday. By the way, he knew about it a month. For those of you who think, man, y'all just dropped it on him. He knew about it. Let's just back up here. Now, we did a couple podcasts. We did six podcasts. Look, I did an event the weekend before, which I did use as an illustration for this sermon.

So I had Thursday and Friday off on purpose because I was like, well, I got to preach. It gives me two days. Well, my brother, Willie, hey, do me a favor. We got a little show coming out. Here we go. Well, look, I had done two scenes before, and I was there maybe 90 minutes. There was no – it was just like –

Do your thing, whatever the subject was. Did it feel like you were getting back on a bike doing that? Well, it was just so much. There was no conflict. When we did Duck Dynasty before, there was a certain tension between the production company and what they call us the talent, but the family. Zero of that. So I thought, oh, there's nothing to it. So I looked down, and he said, Thursday, we got a scene we want you to do.

And really, it wasn't a scene. It's real life, you know, and I can't talk about what it is. Right. Which I'm wondering why, because I actually haven't signed anything. I'm not under contract, which they have, look, since what happened. As one of the executive producers on the show, it makes me a little nervous right now. Well, it should, because let me tell you, when I tell you what happened Thursday, you need to go have a meeting after this podcast. Oh.

So I look down at the call time and it says 10 o'clock and it says wrap time, 1230. I was like, perfect. I've got the same kind of deal. You know, of course it was out in the woods and you know, so I drive down there. You don't do your best studying at 10 to 1230 anyway.

So Zach, I turned 60 this year, which, you know, I used to think 60 was old until I got there. And then it's amazing how fast you get there. But I will say at 59, I realized as I was getting to 60 that

that I needed to lose some weight. I was having some health problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and just generally not feeling great. So I tried it on my own. I lost a little, but it was really a failure until I got some help. And really, it's thanks to our podcast that I found out about some great folks at PHD Weight Loss.

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644-1900. Or you can visit myphdweightloss.com. That's 864-644-1900. Tell them that Al sent you. I show up at 10 o'clock thinking we're going to put a couple hours in, you know, whatever it is, you know, in real life we're going to do here because it was actually my idea. They called me and it was like, you know, we heard about this. I was like, sure, I'll do that. Because I really liked it because this is happening in real life.

And this is breaking news, those of you that, when you start watching the show, that you know at some point Jace is going to show up. Yeah. So anyway, I show up at 10 if there is a season. Well, they came firing me because I didn't hurt him. He never signed a contract. So look, 10 to 1230. 10 call time, route 1230. I was like, okay, here we go. I had me a little glass of tea, you know, and I was like, let's knock this out. Well, at 830, it's dark. Yeah.

8.30 p.m.? I'm limping to the wheeler that I brought to this set site. And I'm coming home saying, whoo!

So there's no tension, but there's also no time frame. You know, I go home, I sleep till noon and I can't even get out of bed. I will. I will. I called my assistant and I said, we need to

Get some kind of contract moving forward. So not only did it take one of my study days, it ruined me for half of the next one. Because you were physically spent. Oh, my goodness. And so what you did make it back to Ephesians, correct? So I did, but here's what happened. I went out there. I was like, man, we just studied Ephesians. I know Ephesians like the back of my hand. I was probably self-confidently

approaching it, well, I start writing the lesson. I didn't really have a title. And the only reason I got one is because somebody from the team at WFR said, what's your title? I was like, hmm, that's a good question. I was like, let me go knock this out. Which I love the title you came up with. It was really good. And so I go out there and start writing. Well, the introduction, I look down. I got the introduction. I was like,

Well, that's about 40 minutes. So I backed up. And so then they're still sending me tapes. That's like a Zach sermon there. I said, do you ever get that title? And I thought, I'm having trouble bringing this together. And so I said, yeah, I got it. When a plan comes together. Because I was inwardly thinking...

Somewhere in the next 48 hours, I got to make a plan to come together. So let's name it that, via the Holy Spirit. And literally, that was what they put up there, when a plan comes together. So are you guys, so are you in Ephesians, or this was the introduction? No, this was the conclusion.

Jace was doing the overview wrap-up. Overview wrap-up of the whole book. I had preached Ephesians 6, 10 through 20, the last sermon, and then Jace was doing the wrap-up. We try to do an overview to begin. Look, this is right out of my training course.

But it's like you tell what you're going to tell. You tell it, then you tell what you tell. So that was it. That's basically what it was. And I wasn't there for maybe only three or four. So it wasn't like I could listen to everybody in some. I just kept reading. Look, I literally kept reading Ephesians. I'd write an intro, and I'd say, nope, that one's 50 minutes. So I started over. So about Saturday morning.

And maybe because I pretty much stayed up till two or three o'clock in the morning. I kept rewriting the introduction. And about Saturday morning at about eight, nine o'clock, I went out to our little swing in our backyard and I spent about six hours and I came in because I was hungry. And Missy's like, you got your lesson done? I said, I have good news. I have the introduction.

Which is 32 minutes? Nope. I said, this is about 12. So you see what I mean? I had it. And that's, you know, well, the problem, I tell you the problem, the problem is you're used to, you usually start the Unashamed podcast with a story. Yeah.

And you're used to. He's used to 32 minutes. You're used to a 32-minute open. And so you're trying to apply that to your sermon, and you end up against the wall. Which today is hitting that theme, yes. So enough nonsense. This was the basic outline that I did. And I started off with something that, because I thought these people, as far as I've already told you, to me it looked like, I mean, it's just they need something to stir them.

From the outset, because it's just laid back. Yeah. Yeah.

All the illustrations I'm coming up with are, you know, I don't want to say them because it's basically, I mean, it's a bit morbid. I guess we'll leave it at that. So what I did was usually, you know, when you honor someone, you have them stand up, which I don't like, you know, because it's awkward. Like if I'm in the group that has to stand up, I'm like, I don't want to stand up.

And so I thought, ooh, I'm going to do something different. I got an idea. So my opening thing was Happy Mother's Day. And I said, now listen very carefully because I realize I'm doing something where the audience is going to participate. So I didn't want this to be awkward for anyone because I think they think I'm going to have all the moms stand up. But I said, everyone who is not a mom, I want you to stand up and give our moms a standing ovation. Yeah, which was brilliant.

Well, I think it worked because I had a couple jokes that I was going to say that are true that I thought would be funny. And they were. Yeah. Because I said, now look, they're tired. They need to be sitting. They need to be sitting. There were some women that said amen. Crystal Lewis on my left, I said, they're tired. She went, amen. It was about the loudest amen I got. It was a good one. And then I said...

Use this as a moment. And I was kind of using that idea of Ephesians 6 where it says you have the armor of God on and then you stand. He says it about three times. I think you preached on that. I did. And I said, look, take this as the first...

whatever I said, first act of you, when you get back home, get off the couch, stand up, and help the mom of the family. And all the women loved it. It was actually a semi-applause from the women. And Missy, who didn't get to hear the entire sermon, because she went with our parents and was going to like,

simulcast it and let them watch it which they tried to but people kept showing up our different members of our family because it was mother's day yeah so uh she's like you said that babe where was that at 30 years ago I was like babe I've come a long way so anyway that was kind of where it started and then I went to the Ephesians 3 that I mentioned 14 and uh

And then I was like, well, what does this have to do with Ephesians? And I put everything because I read then, I had this thing about looking at Ephesians through Paul's perspective. And I went to Acts 17, the sermon he preached in reference to the unknown God, which kind of described how we got here.

what we're doing here and how we're leaving. And I mean, to the planet, you know? And so I did that illustration that I had done on the, at the event the weekend before, when I asked the redneck questions about where are you from? Yeah. And people said the state. Cause they, I hadn't had anything biblical. I just said, let's get to know each other. Where are you from? Everybody said the state. I was like, what do you do for a living? Everybody said their job. Everybody said their job. And I said, where are you headed?

I mean, there was not a biblical context whatsoever, but the number one answer was heaven. And so then I kind of turned that around based on looking at it from God's perspective, the book of Ephesians, him being, you know, God, the father being for us.

Jesus being with us and the Holy Spirit being in us. And with the theme of the whole Bible, I made a quote that I don't know who said it in the first place about God getting his family back. And then I read all these verses where it's like Ephesians 5, live a life of love as dearly loved children. Ephesians 1, 4, you were adopted as sons. It talks about the inheritance. All this is family stuff.

and then he uses illustrations, you know, later on in the Bible about husbands and wives. But then he said, this is a mystery, but I'm talking about you and the church, you know, Christ and the church. We're married to Jesus. One point I didn't make out that I wish I would have had time for because it was at the end.

was that that—I never thought about this before— that relationship we have with Jesus produces offspring. Yeah. People that are born again. And I was going to go to John 1, 12, you know, being born of God. It's not based on a physical thing. Which is so funny you said that, because where we're eventually going to land in John 8—

is the question becomes, are you children of Abraham or children of God? Exactly. Which is a big question, which is kind of what you're talking about. Which I brought up. I did this thing I got. I couldn't remember at the time, but I think N.T. Wright came up with this. But it's nothing that any other human who's a believer hadn't kind of thought about. But he's like, the plan of God comes out in six acts, which one of them is yet to happen, which is Jesus coming back, which is the sixth act.

But it's, you know, where it's creation, the fall, Israel. And I went through this, but I was talking in between. And I was like, you know, after that fall, and of course I expounded on that being it wasn't just that people sin. You also had this other being in the garden who came from the heavenly side, you know, and I had a thing on Ezekiel 28 I was going to do, but...

I didn't do that in the sermon. So, Al, it was the summer of 1995, and me and you sat on a beach in Gulf Shores, Florida maybe, or somewhere around there. And you told me about Camp Chioka, and I went, and it changed my life forever. So I want to thank you for that, brother. You know, you were at that point, Zach. You needed that little nudge, and I knew camp is exactly what you needed. Well, I truly believe in Christian youth camps. You know, our friends at Tomorrow Clubs,

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And then you have other celestial beings fall in Genesis 6, and then you're like, well, what did God do? He chose a family, Noah. I kept that family theme. And then you think, okay, now we're good. Nope, still it goes off the rails because now you have other celestial beings roaming around, whatever that is in Genesis 6.

And so then what happens? You have the Tower of Babel. Then the nations are divided. Well, what did God do? He chose a family. And then I did this thing about Abraham and Sarah, who's 190 people.

years old, and then he gives them a child to show that this power is coming from me. And so I just kept that concept. But then you have all of it coming out in Jesus, which is the fourth act. See it, creation, fall, Israel, Jesus, who, and then I made that statement, which I thought was good, who, how did he get here?

Through a mom, you know, and God the Father and the Holy Spirit, but through a mom. And you made me think about when you said that. I leaned over and told Lisa. I was like, and what's amazing is that's all about perspective because Jesus knew he was coming and how he was going to come here. But from Mary and Joseph and Israel at the time's perspective,

This was not only an unplanned pregnancy, but this comes up, by the way, in this context we're in, as an illegitimate child. Oh, yeah.

I mean, you talk about of all the ways to come into the world, he chose one that we would have never imagined was possible. Which I didn't mention this, should have, because this was at the front, which is why all of this became what Paul was referring to as a mystery. And I thought that was fascinating. I didn't realize that until I prepared for this sermon, that the word mystery is used 28 times in the New Testament, but it's mentioned eight times.

In Ephesians. Yeah. And so that was turned out to be the point of my... Which is over a third of the time. Yeah, the mystery is how the... Specifically in Ephesians is how the Gentiles will be grafted into the family. Well, that's one of them. But he uses the mystery in different context. The first time he uses it, I mean, I'll read it, is in... Where's my glasses? Right here. When he says... And I made a point about in Christ...

Let's see, where's the first one? This is crazy. Verse 9, Ephesians 1, 9. He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, which I did a thing on that. It's literally dozens of times in Ephesians, and it's hundreds in the New Testament, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment.

Now, granted, he's going back to the past and the Jewish role in that, which was that third act.

but he's bringing all things under one head. So that's what I focused in on the plan of God. That was my first point. And that was the first one I read about the mission. So every one of the points, which there was only one point, it was that point. He's getting his family back. And then that led to the Gentiles being included, which that was the second point, God's plan for people. So I have God's plan in Christ.

God's plan...

Which is the family. That is, I think that the way... Yeah, I tied it all under the umbrella of the family. Yeah, because the way it plays out in the Old Testament is that all peoples at the time was Adam and Eve. That was everybody. There was no division of peoples until Genesis 11. Everybody was part of the same race and same national... There wasn't a national distinction. And so the motif is...

Family happens through the fruitful multiplication, right? Be fruitful and multiply. All the families of earth shall be blessed because of Abraham. So you see that running through. And then coinciding with the fruitful multiplication of people is also dominion and cultivation. So when you read the Ephesians passage in Ephesians 1, it's not just the people. It's also the whole creation itself. So you have the concept of dominion.

cultivation of the earth, but that happens through families. I thought about this this week. I was thinking about, you ever known someone like they had their life together, married couple, and their yard, they had a nice yard, they had a nice house, they kept it clean, whatever. And then some kind of infidelity enters into the marriage.

And anytime I've ever seen that happen with friends of mine and the marriage falls apart, I've always noticed that the cultivation and the dominion that they once exercised goes away and chaos enters in. They quit mowing their yard. They quit caring about the house. They quit caring about their business. They quit caring about all these things, and it just gets devoured. I think there's something to this that healthy families, which is the bedrock of civilization, have.

The healthy moms and dads raising children together in the way of the Lord, that leads to cultivation of crop and gardening. It leads to building things and creating things with the stuff that God's given us. I think that's kind of the mystery because when it moves into Ephesians 3, he says very clearly in Ephesians 3, 6, that this mystery is...

That the Gentiles are fellow heirs and members of the same body and partakers of the same promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. So that seems to be the whole thing. So you get to Malachi, for example, and God's what he's like talking about divorce. He says the reason why he hates divorce is because he seeks godly offspring. That's why he hates it.

Because he seeks to have godly offspring that then will cultivate the new earth and the new heaven. So I think that's the picture that's kind of unfolding. Well, I think if you listen to the sermon, you'll see how this went along. They're all connected. But it was more, I did this thing on the DNA of God being...

the glue of how this plan came forth, which the DNA, and I read several verses in there of love, light, and life, and kind of focused on the relational aspect. That's why I had the God, you know, God, the Father's for us. He's with us. He's in us. And I just made the point when you focus on the places instead of the person, you

I think it disrupts your theology a bit. And so I did this whole thing about heaven, earth, and hell. That was probably the most uncomfortable everybody was because I made a statement that I don't think I've made in public before, that when you look up the phrase heaven and earth, because I just read it in Ephesians 1 and verse 10,

It's in both the Old Testament and the New Testament hundreds of times in the same verse. Correct. Same context. And I made a point that I asked the question, I said, and I quoted a bunch of them later on in the sermon. You know, when Jesus prayed, your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. When he got up and after he was raised and said, all authority on heaven come.

in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go, made disciples. So I quoted quite a few of those. But I said, do you know how many times

Heaven and hell is mentioned in the same verse. And look, it was crickets. Well, what's funny is you didn't hear me because I didn't say it loud enough for you to hear me. But I took a chance, and I didn't know, but I took a chance that I knew where you were going, and I went, none. Yeah. All right, well, yeah. One person says, I said, none, and you said, zero. I said, zero. Zero.

Because when you said it, I did a quick thought in my process in my mind. I thought, I don't know of one. No, it's not in there. So then I knew I was going to have to take a time out because people then think, what are you saying? Yeah.

There's not a hell? And I was like, oh, there's a hell. I said, but it came later. And so then I read Genesis 1, 1 through 3. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And I said, there's no mention of hell here.

And so everybody's looking. I said, it came later. Pretty quick. Yeah. Because then you have the evil one arrive on the scene. But then I did an illustration that I thought very carefully about how to do. And this was all coming from Ephesians 1 and verse 4, the last two words where it says, he chose us in him before the creation of the world. So I went back to the creation of the world in Genesis 1. And those two little words are,

In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons. And so I made an illustration saying that.

Look, it's not unlike God-conscious people who are believers. When they have a child, even though there's pain involved in giving birth to the child, and even though the child seems like he's in pain, they come out crying. I was like, there's no anger there from God-conscious people.

you know, of looking at their baby. And then I said this as a joke, and all the women, if you notice, laughed. I said, the anger comes later. And they all laughed. And I was like, and the only reason you're angry is because you love them. They're not doing what they're supposed to be doing. They're like, what? No. No.

So, Al, as we get older, the family continues to grow. Kids, grandkids, you're in the grandkid phase now, correct? Yeah. And, you know, I will say this, and you never know until you get there. You begin to think about future and legacy when your grandkids start to grow up. There's no doubt about it. Yeah, I can't overstate the importance of protecting your family's future with life insurance.

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And so that was the concept. And I was like, the only way you can kind of see that, because the Old Testament is filled with God being angry and judging. Because why? They're not doing what they're supposed to be doing. And so that's kind of how I went that route, which led to me making the practical application of,

of it's more important about who you're with than where we're going. And I was like, that's what the Bible teaches. And so I used that as an illustration, the thief on the cross, which I've done in a podcast before. I heard it from someone else, but it was a very good point. When he said, today you'll be with me in paradise,

Well, all the Bible scholars out there immediately and all the curious Christians are like, oh, what's this paradigm? Let's break this down. Let me find some other verses to see. And I said very loudly. Is this in between? Is this the final stop? I got loud on this point, I remember. And I was like, you missed the whole point of what he said. He said, you'll be with me. That was his point.

And so just think of all the times Paul says, remember when he has this argument with himself and he's like, you know, I'm in a quandary about being here on earth or in the body or at home with the Lord. He constantly says that. And even this picture in Revelation 21.

It's more about the Lord being the light, and he is the temple. So it's the same concept. I said, look, I'm not making a play about places. I'm just saying the Bible stresses he's getting his family back. And I had an illustration that I didn't do, but it's just like me and my wife. I mean, I've done this multiple times because she loves to travel. I was like, babe, I think we need to take a trip. She's like, I'm in.

She's not saying, where are we going? The idea of me and her going somewhere is the emphasis. The destination is secondary. Yeah, and I think Paul makes this point when he talks about the concept of hell in 2 Thessalonians 1. Listen to how he describes it to your point, Jace. He says that when the Lord returns and is revealed from heaven,

So whatever the scene here is, it's kind of scary. Well, what is that? Away from the presence of the Lord.

and from the glory of his might. When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all those who have believed because our testimony to you was believed. So when you think about it, like the two different people groups at the second coming, one group is going to be shut out from the presence of the Lord, which seems to be the description of hell. So it's not like the emphasis is not on the place. The emphasis is on shut out from the presence of the Lord.

The other side, which means they won't be able to do what the saints are going to do, which it says the saints are going to be on that day marveling at Jesus. They will marvel at the glory of Jesus. So the prize is that you're in his presence and you get to marvel at him. What's funny is I had that verse in my notes that I didn't, the exact verse, because that's where I was getting into why God is.

to get his family back, had to defeat the powers that he also created who did not want to have their servant role to bear the image of God. I made a big deal about when you image God, whether it's a verb, adjective, or noun, you're reflecting. That's why I read number six, by the way, a promise of blessing.

Because one of our moms that is, I don't know how old she is. She doesn't look old, and she's probably 70. But she looks 50. Try 80. Is she 80? 80. And I don't want to mention her name since we're talking about age. But look, she has been one of the biggest encouragers to that church family there for years. And she's a single mom.

She actually texted me later in the day because it was Mother's Day and she sent me a picture of her grandkids. I said, you got mentioned today in the sermon. I said, you're going to go back and listen to it. She sent me back. She said, no way. She did because, look, I have heard this woman. I actually made a joke. I was like, it's not like I'm hanging out with her. But through the years, I have heard her quote, number six, in my presence or to me.

dozens of times, which means she has said that thousands of times to people. And I wrote it down. It says, and it, look, this is way before Carrie Jobe and Cody Carnes, who I think are married, but I think she's still called Carrie Jobe, came up with this song. They made a song out of it during COVID, but it says, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. I will put my name on Israel and bless them. But my whole point of it— And then she would always close it by saying, the Lord loves you and I love you. Yeah. That was her tagline. The whole purpose for me reading that is this, we're here, which is really what sin is, is when you're not imaging God.

You're doing something contrary to the image of God. You missed the mark. That's what sin means. Think about that 2 Corinthians 3. We all with unveiled faces reflect the Lord's glory. And so I forgot where we were going with that, but I used the same thought process on that verse. That was my point. So I had God's plan in Christ. Then I had God's people in Christ.

in Christ, which was the Jew and Gentiles coming as one. I read Ephesians 3, 6, and then I backed up after I'd done kind of the heaven and earth thing and got into that temple in Ephesians 2. Yeah, 19. Yeah, 19 through 21, where it says, we join together, rise to become a holy temple in the Lord and in him, there it is again, in Christ.

You two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives. So I wrote down this and I put a star by it because I thought no matter where the time goes, I want to read this. So I read this off my notes. In Christ is where God and humans meet. Heaven and earth are connected. Heaven and earth are connected. Jesus is in heaven, but

representing us. And I read the Hebrews 2.14 where he defeated the evil one or disarmed him. He said, I came here to destroy his work. Uh,

Because he had the power of death. And that's the point I was going to make, is that that was the whole reason that he had to be defeated, because the DNA of God is love, light, and life. Well, that conversation about death in the garden, oh, that got his attention, because God's eternal.

So now the evil one and humans' sin, they have disrupted the plan of God's family here because death is brought into the equation. And that's what I think a lot of people miss about all this. We just act like it's all about the sin. Well, if you die, God's eternal. How are you going to live with him?

And so I think that was an important point. And so I read or quoted Hebrews 9.24 that you want to talk about atonement. This is the most neglected aspect of atonement is Hebrews 9.24. When Jesus went into heaven itself and is displayed on our behalf. Correct.

I mean, you're talking about culminating that. It's making God's presence available, which when you throw in Ephesians 4.10 that says the reason he ascended is so that he could fill the universe. Yeah.

So he's at the right hand of God. Then he pours out his spirit. So he makes the presence of God there, which then makes the other mystery in Ephesians 3.10. It makes it make sense that his intent was now through the church. It says mystery in verse 9. It says the administration of his ministry.

His intent was through the church, all the colors of God's wisdom should be made known. Where? To the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. Because Jesus is sitting there on our behalf. That's why he also says in Ephesians 2, 6, after we receive God's grace from the gift of Jesus Christ,

He seated us with him, with Christ, in the heavenly realms because he's seated there, which I didn't go into this in detail, but I had some notes on it. So him sitting at the right hand of God is why we're standing for him on the earth because he gets into that in Ephesians 6, which I think was a really good point. So then, so I had God's plan in Christ, God's people in Christ, the Jews and Gentiles coming together, and then...

God's church in Christ, which I just read that one, Ephesians 3. Then God's family in Christ, and I went to the Ephesians 5 passage where the whole thing's about husbands and wives, and then all of a sudden he's like, what about you and the church? That's the mystery. I'm talking about you and the church, which that offspring produces people that are born again. Forever family. Yeah.

Which goes to John 1, 12, goes to John 3. You won't see the kingdom. Right. You won't enter the kingdom unless you're born in the spirit. We're men who stare at trees, and we love it. Well, in order to stare at a tree, a tree has to be planted, Jason. Now is that time of year. Spring's here. Spring's here.

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in which I did this really quick, was God's individuals in Christ. Because then Paul, like, personally says this, which I hadn't noticed before. But he says, and this gets into us being ambassadors. This is Ephesians 6, 19. He says, pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. Yeah.

for which I am an ambassador in chains. And it says, pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should. And I think if you think about all those other verses and him talking about the mystery and why it was a mystery, which I got into that, 1 Corinthians 2. The whole reason this is a mystery is that if the rulers, 1 Corinthians 2, 7,

If they would have known their demise, their power of death would be defeated by Jesus dying, Paul said they wouldn't have crucified him. So that's why the whole thing is a mystery and it's hard to wrap your head around and why it took me 30 hours to put it together. Because you're going back to the Old Testament and it's all under this cloud of mystery because he was keeping it a secret. Right.

or they wouldn't have done it. His death destroyed their power of death. And so it allowed for people, all people, to receive God's Spirit. And if you have the Spirit in you, even though you die, you live. He defeated it. Well, and that's one of the reasons why I like the idea you laid out of the

of the acts or the, how'd you put it? Yeah. It's like the acts of the drama, God getting his family back. And so what was really good about that is that, that underlying theme was that there's, there's a villain in our drama that,

That we didn't have anything to do with creating. And really, without God and Christ, we couldn't really deal with in any way because it's outside of our sphere. And so I thought that was really powerful because you made the point about, in Hebrews 2, about Jesus' –

death and resurrection defeating that fear of death in the evil one, which was a huge piece of that puzzle. So, but look, Jason, I mean, I think in an overview lesson, because I did the overview to begin this book months ago,

A good overview lesson is one that when you go back and look at it, and I've noticed it now that you've gone through it today on the podcast, it could be about six other sermons. Any of those points you laid out that were a point in your deal, like a genre, could have been its own sermon. But that's what an overview does. It shows you in the power of a book these letters that were written individually.

is that Paul laid out, I mean, this book was full of some themes that were incredible. Exactly. And then when you break them down in a smaller way, but then you got to have that big picture of looking at it too. I'm glad you brought that up because my goal, and I think this is helpful or we wouldn't be talking about it, is like I tried to give a grid of,

to go by to understand the book. That's why I brought up the DNA thing. If you just noticed every time he talks about light, love, and life in Ephesians, you're seeing God. That's how he works. That's who he is. And if you look at every time he brought up mystery, he was saying, I'm making this known to you. In every context, he was like, this has to get out.

And so then what was it really about? Well, look at all the family language there.

that he was using as an illustration, but in fact, it is a reality. This is about God and humans living together forever, dwelling together, as the verse says, living together throughout eternity. So one thing, when you brought up the, we didn't bring up the light, but we're going to get into that in John 8 next time. Yeah.

Where he says, I'm the light of the world. You know what's something fascinating? I wish I'd had time to do it. You remember when we did the – and this will be a good segue to the next time we get in to John –

When I read that about this guy who was a scientist, you know, and they figured out this laser light, and we went through all the jewels in Revelation 21 that we ascertain is a depiction of us. It's like those lights under a microscope. They weren't the best jewels. Yeah, they wasn't. From a human perspective. But you know what I found fascinating now?

Is that in Ezekiel 28, talking about spiritual warfare, because I had a whole section on it, which I mentioned it, but I didn't get into detail. When Satan is compared, and granted, it's kind of mysterious because he's talking about the king of Tyre. But then all of a sudden, he starts going back to the garden and the evil one there and telling that story.

Which is the two kingdoms because, and I read this in the sermon, in Ephesians 2, 1 through 4, I addressed that about the sin and all, but it says we were under, what does it say? The power of the kingdom of the air. Let me get the exact phrase on that. Ephesians 2, it says we were all dead in our sins and

and transgressions in which we used to live when you followed the ways of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is at now work in those who are disobedient. And he mentions Jesus' kingdom in Ephesians 5, which he's saying if you're into being greedy or sexual immorality or impurity, you know, which is the same word for this unclean spirit,

you'll have no part in the kingdom of Christ. And so because you've become an idolater, you're not surrendered to the one true God and his DNA. So I had depicted that. But when I read that Ezekiel 28, so in the second half when he talks about the evil one, this is fascinating. This is truly fascinating. So when he gets to...

comparing the king of Tyre to the evil one. Look what he says in Ezekiel 28 and verse 12.

It says, this is what the sovereign Lord says. You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Look at this next phrase. And every precious stone adorned you. Look, he mentions all those stones that this is what he was wearing, evidently, in his garb. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, and it's just an indication of God's beauty, of, you know, having a role in God's plan. I mean, him giving you life. He gave the evil one not only life in a spiritual sense, but he also gave him a job. Same thing he does with us, which is why Christ, I mean, Paul, while he's chained to a post in prison, said, I'm going to be an ambassador for Christ. And we're reading this letter 2,000 years later. Good job, Paul. Yeah.

And so then what happened? Your settings and mountings were made of gold on the day you were created. They were prepared, which is what you got to remember. He was a created being in the celestial world with a job, and it was to help humans, not try to convince them into doing something that God didn't want, which is the same thing he did. And then it says you were anointed a guardian cherub.

And so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God, which is also a depiction of the garden. You were blameless, verse 15, in your ways from the day you were created until wickedness was found in you. Well, what happened? He didn't want to keep his role. And so then it goes on to say, so I drove you in disgrace and I expelled you from the garden. And I mean, I expelled you, O guardian cherub.

In verse 17, your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. I threw you to the earth. And I'll skip down to the last verse. It says, all the nations...

who knew you or appalled at you, you have come to a horrible end and you will be no more. I mean, it was a prophecy there that Jesus is going to take you down, which goes back to Genesis 3, 15. Right. The curse put on him was that through a mom and her offspring, he will crush you. Yeah. Which is, I think when you look at it,

from a holistic view, God getting his family back, the defeat of the powers that didn't want to image God is part of that plan. Yeah, which is why I love these little glimpses you get in the Bible of the other part of our drama, as you described it. It was good. It was excellent. For those of you wondering, you can go to wfrchurch.org to see Jason's sermon in its entirety or mine a couple of weeks prior to that. So

We'll be back in John chapter 8. We pick it up next time on Unashamed. 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.