Ep 1098 | Thank You, Phil Robertson | Unashamed of the Gospel
42:14 Share

I am unashamed. What about you? We don't want you to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. We don't want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep or to grieve like the rest of men. That's from 1 Thessalonians 4. 4.11 and 4.13. Right. And then it says, we believe Jesus died and rose again. So we believe that God will bring with Jesus hope.

Those who have fallen asleep in him. Well, the only thing they could be bringing if your body's in a cemetery is your soul, your spirit. Right. And...

As it turns out, you're reunited with a resurrected body that will live. Well, immortality has just taken place. And that's the hope and that's the promise and that's the guarantee. So I'm looking at it like, well, you said before, you don't have many years to live. I'm like, oh, I'm just fixing to begin to live on the other side, on the other side. So it's a comforting thing. Before I was converted...

I was leasing a beer joint, ladies and gentlemen, a beer joint. You're like, where they're fighting and drunkenness. That's a bar, by the way, in the modern world. Redneck bar. And at my conversion, the reason I was converted is my younger sister, Janice Ellen, told a preacher, a proclaimer, and a good one. She told him, if you convert my brother, he'll convert thousands.

And the preacher said, say what? She said, if you convert him, let's go up there to the beer joint. You convert him, thousands will be converted. My little sister is telling the preacher that. That's what happened. I was converted. And by me being converted would, in fact, as my sister had predicted, reach thousands. So if you look at it, Al. Yeah.

Like I say, the little strands on the way God works out things is beyond your... I would have never... If someone had come to the beer joint and said, hey, by the way, dude, before this is all over, you'll be carrying your Bible and preaching the gospel to people all over the world. But God always uses people that you just don't think...

he would use to really transform the world. The reason I brought it up is because I would have said, who am I? That's what everybody says. You did, in a sense, when Smith sat down and shared the good news with you, which was just the fast forward of this story and a lot of others. He basically explained to you that Jesus came to this earth. Guess what Jesus said when the Jews said, who are you?

what authority do you have? And he said, I am. That I am. It's the greatest line in the history of humanity. The greatest line is when they said, where's that in John? Yeah, John 8. He says, who are you? And he's like, I am. That's right. From beard joints to sharing the good news. I just, I look back at it now, I'm thinking,

A lot of times I ask myself, why me? Because I'm still saying, how in the world would you have considered me? That's a great point. And every one of us can ask that question. Phil was teaching a Bible class while he had... He was passing a kidney stone. Yeah, kidney stones. And they said, you might already go to the hospital over that. And Phil's like, nah, it'd be all right.

And so about halfway through the class, he goes down to one knee. And I thought, well, this is something he's going to show people when you pray. Humility. I thought it was an illustration. And he said, everybody rest easy. I'm in a little bit of pain here.

And then he turned over and went, he's still teaching. He went on his back. So just imagine there's a class full of people looking toward the podium and there's a man looking like Phil does on his back. Look. And he started raising his feet up against the wall and he kept on trying to get a little relief here, but never fear. I'll finish my lesson. And look, his intensity. He never stopped. He never stopped the lesson.

And finally, after it was the time, okay, it's been 45 minutes, that a man taught with his head pointing the other way with his feet up on the wall. Did he have a Bible? He had his Bible. I was tired of reading, you know. And the further I went, my mouth finally, there was so much pain.

I said, I don't know whether my mouth's going to keep moving or not. His lips started quivering, and I thought, this man's fixed to die right here, and he's my dad. In the Bible class. In Bible class, and they finally convinced him to go up. The nurses back in the back, we had some medical people there. They were up there bedding.

Whether you'd finish. Is he going to make it or not? So they were placing their bets. So the idea is just say, you know what? He'll never make it. And some of them said, oh, he'll make it. Of course, then he goes to the hospital and they say, you know, we got to go up in there and see what's going on. And Phil said, whoa, whoa, whoa. Go up in there. I said, start with that. Go up in there.

How does that work? Explain that one. Phil gave them an exegesis on what a one-way road is supposed to be. Yeah, that's supposed to be it. But anyway, they said, well, Phil, we're going to put you under. And I'm getting to the point that Phil does not, when he has an ailment, he just doesn't do what normal people do. And he said, I would rather you not put me under because he's kind of weird about that. By the way, we're in the book of John. And speaking of the resurrection of the dead.

about the resurrection of the dead during that process because when they finally said this kidney stone is hung

right where the the two urethra right right in there where they want one tube coming out of this kidney one coming out that one there's a little fork and road there well it's a medical term the thing lodged right there that's why i said go up in there we're gonna look i'm getting queasy so look they go up in there they see this thing they said well we got to surgically remove it whatever to to

He said, we're going to have a little piece of, looks like a, you know, y'all catch garfish or rod and reel, their teeth get hung on this little, it's a little fuzzy ball. He said, we're going to foul that thing.

And I said, so what's the next move? He said, come on out of there with it. So that's what they decided to do to get rid of it. Well, I laid back when it came time for them to go hunting for the kidney stone. And the guy said, some nurse said, you're going to feel a little warm pain in your arm. So they stick a needle in me, and I'm sitting there. And look, in a matter of seconds, I'm sitting there, and I just start, and I fall asleep.

As soon as my eyes closed like that. Now, listen to this carefully. You'll learn about the resurrection of the dead. From a kidney stone. From a kidney stone. Okay. I had never been under the knife, as they say, except right here. Yeah. So my eyes closed. And look, the next thing I know, it's my eyes were like this. I opened them.

I closed them and there was no passage of time. There was no, I hope he hurries up. I closed my eyes because he said, it's going to be a little warm feeling in your arm. I closed my eyes and I opened them. And when I opened them, I said, let's get the show on the road. Let's get this thing over with. He said, the show's over. The doctor said, the show's over. And I said, what? He said, the show's over. I said, what?

Did you get the kidney stone? He said, I got the kidney stone. And he had it in a bottle and he shook it like that and handed it to me. And I said, I finally understand the resurrection of the dead. And he said, told one of them nurses, I think he's hallucinating, you know, take it back to his room. I said, I ain't hallucinating. I said, no, I said, no time has for me. I said, how long was that whole procedure? He said about an hour.

I said, I closed my eyes and I opened them. That could have been 100 hours. It would have been the same result. I'd have closed my eyes and 100 hours later, I'd have opened them. But the time that passed for me was like this, that long. The people who have died before us, they're asleep. That's why the Bible says they've fallen asleep. Fallen asleep.

Well, that's like going under the knife. Well, if that had been 10 years, if they could have got some tubes in me to fed me, it would have still been this long. I'd have closed my eyes. Ten years later, I'd open them. The apostle Paul and all of them, they've fallen asleep, their bodies. But they open that. The worst it can be when you pass, when you physically die.

You close your eyes. No time passes for you because you're dead asleep. No time passes. And look, you just close your eyes. So a thousand years go by. A thousand years go by and you say, boy, resurrection day. That's the worst it could be. I'm a 74-year-old male. I'm listening to the man who

God who becomes a man, a human being, God in flesh, John 1, John 1, 14. And I've come to a conclusion. I love him. Yeah, that's good. But look, I've had trouble even telling my woman I loved her. And for the first 30 years after my conversion, I didn't go around telling people I loved Jesus because they're like, you what? Yeah.

But at 74, I love him. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, that's good. Because I read this and I'm like, he who does not love me will not obey what my command. It's like a relationship. I mean, it has to be deeper than, oh, I better not mess up here. It's like, no, I love my Lord. I'm not going to do that. When I was a kid, you know, Phil and Kay, they didn't tell us they loved us. I mean, it just wasn't. Do you remember the first time that he told you that?

It wasn't the Robertson way. In case I ever missed it, Jase, trust me now, I do love you. Yeah, I appreciate it. That's probably the third or fourth time. I mean, I was a grown adult. Phil did it through. He made a big deal the first time because he just said, I never have said this. Well, I think Al told me this story, Phil. Bill Smith had preached a sermon on love.

Everybody was grown and you felt convicted by it. So you come home and everybody's eating lunch or whatever. And you said, hey, hey, hey, hey, everybody stop what you're doing. I got to tell you something. I think I'm here for this. I was going to tell you all, I love you. And then everybody was like. And then everybody laughed because it was like, well, that wasn't that. Yeah. And when I got, I told you about scratching the head. I scratched my head on things like that.

Love your enemies. Yeah. I'm like, well, right. Do what? He said, love your enemies. So I always tell them the hook net story when the people were stealing fish from me and I'd always scared them off with the shotgun saying, don't be stealing my fish. Yeah. Yeah. So finally, one day I said, Jesus said, love them. I said, it won't work, but I'll try it because he said it.

So I said, I'm actually going to see if that works. Well, I go out there and the people who are stealing my fish, I said, boys, you know, I got them at gunpoint, but I didn't have the gun on them. I had a gun with me just in case. But then I said, guys, you don't have to steal them. I'll give them to you. And they looked at each other. But that did work better. It actually did. They quit stealing from it. What started us to be on TV was a commercial.

And Benelli, you know, became our sponsor, not because we wanted to leave Browning. They just they said, we no longer, you know, thank you. We no longer need your services, which is kind of how it goes when you have sponsors for videos and all. So Benelli, I think it was one of the funniest moments ever.

because they wanted to do a commercial because they really liked our videos. And they said, we want to do a commercial. Would y'all do it for Benelli? And we'll give you whatever money to help you do your video. And look, it was not big money. No, it wasn't back then. Everybody's like, oh, you got Benelli. I think we were more excited about getting the Benelli shotguns. Oh, you're doing it to get the shotgun because, I mean, they're proud of it. They have a high dollar business.

yeah but it's a great gun so they all come down this is before any of us has ever seen a tv crew or people and so here's a little a small crew which it looked big to me back then there's about four or five yeah three or four people and they got some cameras and the guy who lead that who became known as the marine uh he was like getting out they had

you know, sheets of paper and with dialogue. And Phil was just standing there. He kept saying, y'all ready? Y'all ready? And they were like, yeah, we'll be right with you, Phil. I mean, they were like, and I think if he says this, we'll do this three times. Phil said, y'all ready? Y'all ready?

And everybody kept talking. And finally, the Marines. Well, they were going to say, what is the best shotgun? And they wanted him to. They were looking at some catchy lines or phrases. To promote their best shotgun. They were looking for the hook. They said, we got a hook. If he says this, blah, blah, blah. They're all arguing about what they want me to say. That's right. Which is what TV people do. And Phil said, y'all ready? I got it.

And he was like, well, you got what? I got the line. You can save all that crap. And so the Marine, to his credit, which is why he became one of the producers of the show. He said, hey, he kind of jumped on the crew. He said, hey, turn the camera on and shut your mouth and let's hear what he's got to say.

And so they turned the cameras on, and Phil said, the best shotgun is one that goes boom, boom, boom. And it was like a weird silence. And then they all kind of chuckled. Yeah. And Phil said, that'll do it. And so like start getting his mic off, you know. And the Maroon said, you know what?

I think he's right. And when he said that, the look on the crew's faces were like, are you crazy? Are you insane? We've set this whole thing up, brought all these people here. But he was right. It was a great line. And that was the line. Oh, it was their hook. What I was saying, if you analyze it, is you want it to function. Yeah. Right.

Right. In a creative way. Boom. That's right. I said it in a way where they're like, well, what do you mean? I said, it will fire when you pull the trigger. Right. Because shotguns have habits of hanging up. Oh, yeah. Because most people, when they do a commercial, they're like, hi, guys.

use this Benelli Super Black Eagle 3. It's great for functionality. Well, people, they quit listening when he went, hi, guys. They gone. That's right. They on the port. But if you can say something that makes people think that's not on the nose, which granted is why we started doing a TV because the Marine, he thought, huh, that was kind of clever. We need to get these guys a TV show. And so that introduced Benelli Presents Duck Commander. Paul makes a point.

- You got you? Yep, he got you Al. He's in your shirt. You got him? - Sucker. - There he is. One finally got you. - You stinging? - Yeah, he's stinging. - Oh man. And then he gave the death, I'll kill him. - Well, I think you crippled him, but I will kill him for you. - You crippling.

I told you somebody was going to get longer whiskers. That was a first. That's as fast as I've ever seen you move in years. Well, you're all bound down with this crazy. We were just talking about sin, what it causes. That's the sting of sin right there. Sting of sin.

Yeah, you need to tell that story, what just happened. Because I hope he caught that on film. No, I think he caught it. Oh, he got it. The man got shot. Ladies and gentlemen, you just watched an attack of the evil one working through walls and stinging the brothers. Ah, man. Got you on the neck? Right on the neck. The sting of sin. Do I? Yeah.

And they wonder why that's the ravages of sin. And he's wondering why we're trying to get people out of it. Well, I can't think. You can take a wall sting and not even curse. I liked it. I didn't curse. And I had to crush it. But then he came out the bottom of my shirt. I killed him for you. You had stifled him.

Think about it. Our life is miserable when you're in between Walsh stings. But think about the sinful people who get stung by Walsh. Just think about it. They would still be hollering. I'll tell you this. This podcast, well, it turned into, for the first time in almost 600 podcasts, it went from a storytelling to action and adventure. We had an action scene. Yeah.

The sting of sin is dead. I must say, I knew what had come to him, and I knew that he had to fight it. But that's the way you ought to view sin. You see them coming out, and they have a sting. It's actually the perfect illustration for what we're talking about. I hate I was the one that...

The sting of sin is death. But see, I think what happened is that wasp heard us talking about giving life for making the world a better place. And he thought, I'm just going to give my life for the rest of these wasps here. Because they've been just buzzing around here this whole podcast. He just flat out. He just came right in for the kill, right to the neck. He attacked you for no reason. No reason. That's what gets me. But why does Satan attack us? What did you ever do to him? That's it.

What reason did he have? I mean, we never did anything to him. That poor wasp just gave his life for stinging you. He did. And thank you, James, for killing him. So here was the verse before I was so rudely interrupted by the wasp. This concept of justice. I say you can't just run it all just like it happened because –

Whoever paid to subscribe to Overtime is going to be very happy to see that. I would recommend that we bump that one segment up into the actual, like, has the intro for the main body.

Here's what you'll see. You'll see it. Longer whiskers would have helped because it covers the area that that wasp got up inside your shirt. Maybe. Now, that's a Robertson trait, Phil. You've been doing this for years. When something bad happens, Phil immediately assesses blame. This would never happen. Whiskers wasn't long enough. Longer whiskers because one lit and his whiskers are lit. Yeah. It is true. All right. Well, let me read my verse about justice. On the topic of love.

Love is patient. Love is kind. Now, just think about when somebody's life is on the line. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not boast. It's not proud. You've got to remember, when Jesus talked about murder, he said hatred...

you get the same penalty. Just to hate your brother. You've heard it said from long ago, don't murder. But I tell you that anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. That's the way he put it. You say, so hatred is on line with murder. So what? I'm getting there. Do we have the right self-defense? Love is not rude. It's not self-seeking. It's not easily angered. If a person of these qualities...

there would be no murders. It keeps no record of wrong. Love does not delight in evil. Rejoices with the truth. Here's the key. Love always protects. Someone says, do I have the right to defend myself? Have these kind of qualities as you go forth. I looked up the definition of protect. You say love always protects you.

protect, to shield from injury. You love someone, you'll say, whoa, whoa, whoa, that old tree is rotten. We need to get back. Don't get back behind the car. Be careful when you park. Whether you're driving a vehicle, walking across your yard, you say love. If you see someone fixing to be hurt...

Love means to shield, to protect, to shield from injury, to shield from danger or loss, to guard and look. Protect means to defend. You say, so your family is in jeopardy. Danger is out there and it's coming your way. You would love your family enough to say, I must protect you. If it happens to your neighbor,

You would have every right to go over there and say, I love y'all, and I see this gang coming. I see the mob coming after you. I'm going to stand my ground with you, and I'm going to help you. I'm going to protect you, whatever means possible.

That's my view of self-defense. I think that's a good point. Yeah, because if it's possible, you'd a lot rather have a Bible study with these five thieves that are going to take over your house and rape your wife and children. You'd rather sit down with a Bible study. You love them enough to say, look, I'm going to spare you. I'm not holding—so far, I'm not holding against you. But you keep pressing forward, and you have weapons of war in your hands, and you're coming toward me or my family—

But it also... I love my family enough to shield them and protect them. He said in 1 Corinthians 13, if I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I'm only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and that's mentioned in Mark, if I have the gift of prophecy, can fathom all mysteries...

and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains,

but have not love, I'm nothing. Now, you alluded to the guy was not living right to begin with. And kind of that's the fuel where all this come from. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love's patient. It's kind. Love does not envy. It does not boast. It's not proud. It's not rude. It's not self-seeking. Now, these are qualities that are a little more

harder to reach. It's not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, and love never fails. But notice he has said, but where there are prophecies, and this thing is flowing together, and the kingdom of God is coming together as a cohesive unit,

But where there are prophecies, they will cease. There'll come a time when people who get up and start telling you what's fixing to happen and all that, all we have is what's written. And I think it's been shut down for a while. Where there are tongues, it's mentioned. People having the ability to speak in any language they run up on, the apostles had it when they took off in Acts chapter two, there'll be silence.

where there is knowledge in a spiritual sense about fathom all mysteries. It applies away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when perfection comes and it's resting on the love of God and the love of each other, the imperfect disappears.

He said, when I was a child, I spoke like a child. I talked like a child. I reasoned like a child. I became a man. I put childish ways behind me, claiming you can do this and that and the other. Now we see a poor reflection, but we shall see face to face. I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And this is the point of it all. These three remain. Faith,

Hope and love. The greatest of those is love. So he's making it far more simple than human beings tend to do. Chase, let me explain something. You're 50. I'm 74. I said, when you get to be 74 and you're dog tired, it doesn't make any difference when you look at your woman and she's clothed or not clothed. You're still tired. laughter laughter

That's the difference between 54 and 74. So when you were 50... I just wanted to give him some encouraging words. When you were 50, there would have been a spark that you weren't that. That's what happened. Whoa, I'm not tired anymore. These days, I'm like, I'm tired when I got here, and I'm looking at it, I'm like, I'm still tired. I'm not tired anymore. Old age is creeping in. When my grandmother, because I stayed more with her than I did my mama, they ran their store, and I remember the...

little bit of memories i have a papa that was my nanny's husband and them as they carried on which i remember what was they had two double beds with a nightstand in between but every night they're so old but they reached across and they held hands and uh

You know, just little things like that. It was so touching. And then I remember well the two rocking chairs in front of her heater, and she would read the Bible to Papa.

She would read it. And I mean, the best she could. She wasn't that good because, you know, they didn't have a education, everything like that. But there were so many things that I observed in that, you know, that it was just like, wow. I mean, you could know they loved each other. You could know it wasn't perfect.

and all kind of things. - Every night when Kay goes to sleep, there's a hand that comes through the covers and it just sits there, that hand. And I'm like, I grab that hand, she squeezes mine, then pulls the hand back. Then we're going to sleep.

That's good. You got a romantic side. I never knew that. Just to make sure everybody's still there. I'm just telling you, when Grandma was talking about that position, every night that hand comes out of the cupboard. Just to make sure. Yep. Taking for a pulse? We should have put that in the movie. Well, you know.

I think it's just a, all right. I hold Missy's hand a lot because she's cold nature. That's right. It warms me up. So I always, even yesterday, because I thought she's probably cold in here because it was a little drafty. And I grabbed her hand and sure enough, it felt like two ice cubes falling.

I mean, it's just a little way. It's a little thing. Yeah. If you think about it, it's the little things. Yeah. Like that. But if somebody walked by. I feel left out not having Zach here to say something nice about me. Yeah. My point is, if you never see the hand come out from the covers and there's a little squeeze.

something's not right there. I mean, that kind of solidifies what we're doing here. Here's my hand. And never did I know he took that and noticed it or anything. My little wife, Miss Kay, there was a note on the chair leg where I sit watching the ball games and Matt Dillon said,

And there was a note there and it said, you know, I'm going to town. She gave her a little update where she was going. She said, you are my best friend ever. And then right below that, it said, except for Jesus. When you're in a situation where your woman is telling you, you're not my best friend, Jesus is, but you're a close second. It made me feel better. I said, yeah.

"Guess what we're hearing right now?" I said, "Not one sound." I said, "It's completely quiet." I said, "We're under these big oak trees in my yard." I said, "There's not a sound anywhere." I said, "How in the world would human beings not recognize that as a good place to be?" It's just, of course, maybe it's just me, but it was completely silent. We get over in them woods we on over at Jace. We get out in the middle of that thing.

You just wouldn't believe what you're not hearing. It's just calmness for the mind, peace of mind. I'm on record as saying peace of mind is the rarest commodity there is because people just can't be quiet, be in a place where I look in the streets and I'm hearing them holler and scream and running, and I'm thinking, I said, is...

I look, and every time I look, you say, where is it? On a city street. That's where it is. I just see, I envision, feel. It's one of the saddest things I've ever watched in my life. In an urban city on a street corner with a sign that says, shut up.

Be quiet. I would love to go onto any city street and have a sign that says, I'm here, and I hope y'all will shut up. Because I would just like to hear it calm down where people smile and walk on by. But for the stuff that's coming out of there, they won't stop. Back in the old town.

They get within six inches of a man's face, two inches, and the protesters are screaming at these guys who – it's a tough road, the police. No, it's terrible. And they're right in their faces calling them all these names, and all this stuff is just coming out of them. Corona spittle. And I look at it, and I'm watching it, and I'm thinking –

Boy, that's city life. That's the place to be. I am anti-city, period. Sorry. I think we've got that established. So every time we go to New York, which we have to do from time to time, that is the one thing you're right. Right now chills are going down my spine.

Oh, my goodness. Well, good news for you, Dad, I would imagine. The last time I was in New York City, they had a police department. By the time we get there, there'll be a billion dollars less for the cops. And I'm thinking, boy, that's going to be fun. Everyone has to understand, when you come to Jesus and your past sins are removed,

They are really removed. They're not counted against you. It's over. You are justified before God, even with all the sins that you had. Some of these younger bucks in America now, they're thinking that it's going to be instantaneous relief and you don't have to walk a godly life. We're the light of the world, the salt of the earth, because we're in the light of the world, Jesus Christ.

And we just need to understand that you're never going to get past your struggle with sin. The great news is your sins are forgiven and there is the mediating work of Jesus that will keep you cleansed. And you need to learn things like self-control and how to live your life and how to show people that.

what the light of the world looks like. We are being like Jesus in a sin-filled world, and our struggles are there, but they've been paid for, so we don't need to be

always singing the blues, that kind of the three or four that wrote us, you know. I'm not worth it. My wife deserves more than me, and I'm struggling with the Internet pornography. They just have to learn. You just have to start taking things that are sinful and get past them, but it's a struggle, and it'll last you the rest of your life. But I'm just saying, it looks like to me, in this time, our current situation, Jase,

What in the world would be wrong with people seriously contemplating, why don't we just be like Jesus? There wouldn't be warfare, hatred between us. There would be forgiveness, and there'd be love, and there'd be patience. Love for God and love for your neighbor, Al. It comes hard. It's hard. At one time, we, too, were foolish, disobedient.

The book of John, we've been reading about these people, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. You're like, thanks, I haven't changed a bit. But, and this is what we're discussing, and here's a good thought for today. Titus 3, by the way. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, God in flesh standing on the earth, John.

the book of John we're studying. He saved us. Watch this. Not because righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared. And going back to Jace's point, he knew how to love. He said, you got evil deeds,

All of you, all of you. I love you so much. I love you so much. I'm going to remove your sin and raise you from the dead. No doubt about it. It's been the most exciting.

one thing I've ever done in my life. What? To see people go from, like your buddy there, you was talking about. From lost to saved. Go from lost to saved. Oh, that's right. It's the most exciting thing I've ever done in my life is being a part of that. All in Jesus. The guy that ordered the duck call, that's all he wanted was a duck call. And in the midst of that, he cursed God. He would GED this and GED that. So I finally...

before we hung up, I said, by the way, I said, he said, you got my duck call coming? I said, yeah, I got it coming. I said, by the way, I said, why do you keep cursing the only one that could save you from death? And it was silence. Well, he said, hey, send me my duck call. Well, about 10 minutes went by and the phone rang. He said, hey, it's me again. He said, you know what? I never thought about that. I said, well, you're cursing him.

And I said, unless he can get you out of here alive, I don't know nothing. No one else could. I said, you know what you ought to do? You ought to come over here and I'll tell you about the one you're cursing. You may change your mind. He said, I might do that. I said, well, you ought to. Well, a week goes by, knock on the door. He steps in the door and he said, I'm the one that was cursing God. You told me you're going to show me why I shouldn't. So I told him about Jesus. He was converted.

About 15 or 20 years later, I ran into him, and he was one of the leaders at that church where I was speaking. So you never know. We're not here to judge the world. James is going to say, I've been reading chapter 4, but the last thing he says, basically, there's only one lawgiver and judge, the one who's able to save and destroy. But you, who are you to judge your neighbor? Our job is to point them out.

to God, namely Jesus in flesh, and his removal of their sin by dying on a cross and being resurrected. After it's all said and done, that right there, pretty well, all churches need to stand on that and not budge. We don't have to go around bad-mouthing the world what all they're doing. We look at them, we see it, and we're like, man, boy, do they ever need some counseling and some Bible teaching?

But we're relics of the past now. It didn't take long. I mean, we hadn't been there for 250 years, but it is upon us now. A lot of people from his former life thought he was a kook now. He's just some religious nut. I don't know what's happened to Phil. But then through the years, you were able to go back, including with Big Al and a lot of others, and share Jesus with them. And so all of a sudden, that crackpot was really just a cracked pot, but...

because you were a jar of clay that God was shining his light through you. After about 15 years, all my old ex-running buddies all came together saying, basically, he gone. That's right. He's out. He's out. Unreachable. Right. Which is what you needed. One of them stepped out, received the gospel. Once he saw what it was all about, death came near. The doctors...

When it came down to death, the same ones who had deserted me and I had deserted them, one of them said, what did that? He finally said, what's the story? Well, I told him the story. He was driving down on that old Bronco of his. And I told him the story. He said, I said, if you're an atheist, what do you think? I said, you could go at any minute. And he said, that's what I have just now come into grips with.

He said, "I could die at any time." Aneurysm near my heart. So I baptized him. Two months later,

He dropped dead. Yep. And you spoke at his funeral. And I was standing there when he's in the casket and I'm speaking to the town, brought my reputation with me as rough as it was. And all of them are sitting there. I wish we'd had that on film. They asked me to speak and I said, well, I don't know about that. I don't even have a suit. And most people at funerals have a suit. I said, but I don't own one.

They said, don't worry about it. Just do it. You were still a little fearful about preachers and all that even back in those days because you were barely new. Yeah. I spoke to the whole town about when Al died in their mind. But my words to them was, I said, see that casket right there, old big Al's in there? I said, I'll see him again. As you go forward, number one, live a quiet life. Number two, mind your own business, Jason.

Number three, work hard so that your daily life will win the respect of the outsider. And number four, don't be dependent on anybody. That's the four things. When I die, don't cry. Dance, sing, but don't cry when I die. When I die, you say, he made it because I watched him as he walked through the years. If it's faithful to Jesus, let's all squall over it. Don't do that. Celebrate. Celebrate.