Ep 968 | Jase & Tim Tebow Make for an Odd Pair of Friends & Phil Gets ‘Run Over by the Grace Train’
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With an hour before boarding, there's only one place to go, the Chase Sapphire Lounge by the club. There, you can recharge before the big adventure or enjoy a locally inspired dish. You can recline in a comfy chair to catch up on your favorite show or order a craft cocktail at the bar.

Whatever you're in the mood for, find the detail that moves you with curated touches at the Chase Sapphire Lounge by the club. Chase, make more of what's yours. Learn more at chase.com slash sapphirereserve. Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC. Subject to credit approval. I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. Zach, you're coming to Louisiana, is that it?

And I'm going to North Carolina. Are we literally going to pass in the air? As you're flying by me, I'll just wave, okay? Just wave out of your plane. I'll be down in Angola prison. They finally got you. You know, I told you the statute of limitations hadn't run out on that. I know. We're excited about that. Are you turning yourself in?

Turning myself in, we're going to go see about the revival that's going on in Angola. We're going to have some music, some preaching, maybe some baptisms. So that's exactly what Dad and I did a few years ago, and it was quite the amazing event. Of course, it was funny because it was so exciting, the worship, and Dad's preaching, and he had the classic, wonderful opening line,

that you read Galatians 3, I think, and you said, just because you're behind bars doesn't mean you can't be set free. No, it was just because you're under lock and key. There you go. You can still be set free. You can still be set free, yeah. Well, that rhymes. It had a little bit of a rhyme. All of those guys were there, so they died.

They was going to bury them right there. Yeah, about 90% of people in Angola will never leave there. So they're going to be buried on the premises, which is pretty amazing. But they can go out to victory. Well, it's funny because Dad was talking to one of the guys that's in charge, like the deputy warden, and he said, I just can't believe. I mean, these people love Jesus. This is amazing. And he said, I thought this was some of the roughest people in the state of Louisiana. And he said, oh, they're here, Mr. Phil. They're just not in here for that.

There's still some here that aren't in the raising hands. They're the ones we got locked up somewhere else. Somebody asked me a question because you hear a lot of prison ministry stories. Prison conversion. I've heard people criticize prison ministry to say it's easy to get people baptized or whatever. And it's almost like there's no discipleship that goes along with it.

But someone asked me about that. I said, you know, it's interesting at Angola and San Quentin as well, but Angola particularly, they have, and I've mentioned this on a previous podcast, they have churches that had been

inside the prison. They have seminaries that are going into the prison, their New Orleans Theological Seminary, training up pastors. So this is a long-term thing that's happening that's been going on for years. And a lot of them, Zach, get transferred to other prisons in the state of Louisiana and then plant churches in those prisons. It's happening. Oh, it's incredible. I mean, it's so powerful to think about what the... I mean, it...

We're going to have Joe be on in a second to talk about just the power of grace. I mean, it's like grace is a freight train. It is. It's even storming the walls of these prisons, and it gets me fired up. I'm excited to see what God does down there. That's awesome. Whoever told you that has never been there. I mean, my two-year stint, the people that remain, because I had the sentencing block, so they would go there because they thought it would help their case. I'm already dealing with...

people who are trying to use this to their advantage. But the ones that would get out, I would say, meet me at, I'd give the address to the church bill. And not one who got out ever met me, but, but a lot of them that they're sentencing didn't go so well and they stayed, they, they wound up, they wound up making the decision. So it was kind of crazy, but I would never say it was easy. Cause you know, I had one guy who, uh,

I mean, I wouldn't let him talk because he was obviously, you know, I had the typical argument. I'm like, whatever your philosophy is, you wound up here. Because he was trying to rebut my presentation. And so I took him on and wouldn't let him talk. Well, then he threatened to kill me and my wife and my kids. And I was like, guard. But, you know, I was locked up in the cell, right?

And he's like, you don't have time for a guard, you know. And you say, well, nothing happened. But it could have. I mean, I thought this guy could kill me. Every time we were going into Angola and another door slammed behind me and there were many doors that we went through, I was thinking we're getting deeper and deeper into the enclave here. So I was aware of the setting. I felt the same thing. I mean, you know. I don't want to go there.

They had a show sometime on TV where they would take young people there and just watch. Cause it is, there's, it does something to you. I mean, I was there. It scared me. Yeah. As a volunteer, but, uh, but you're right. I mean, it's, it's the best medicine for not to ever be there. Exactly. Except to accept the brain. I had a strange, I had a very strange sensation when I was in Angola a few years ago. I did a, sent a whole day down there. Um,

There was a moment where we're in this particular part where they handle the horses. They got like a horse farm out there and some animals. And they raise dogs out there too. It's amazing. They got a whole farm. Where I went, they grew peas. Yeah. You know, they're out there working. Angola makes the best hot sauce I've ever had, by the way. And they sell it. But anyways, I'm in this area and it's me. I feel like we're doing an ad for Angola.

Well, how would... Don't go there. You know, the hot sauce is great. You know, I love their biscuits. Well, I did tell the story about the guy trying to kill me, which my response was, you can't kill me because I just went psycho crazy, you know. I was like, I got the spirit of God. He'll probably strike you down before you even try. Because I'm like, I'm not taking lip off somebody who's in here, and I got the spirit of God. That's what I've been there for. Yeah.

I ain't taking no lip off no lobber. I was kind of bluffing, but he didn't know it. I think he thought I was as crazy as he was. Well, you did have the spirit, but he could have killed you. Yeah. Well, I was like, no, you can't. I'm going to come back and haunt all your crew. What was your, finish your story. Oh, I'm sitting there with like 50 guys and there's me and the, the deputy warden. Um, I think her name was Warden Fontenot. And, uh, she's a petite woman and there's me.

and no guards. And so I'm like, Oh, these must be like the petty thieves. You know, what are these guys all in here? There's no petty thieves in Angola. She's like, uh, most of these guys are in here for murder. And I'm like, and weirdly enough, I felt strangely safe. And I said, wow, there's no guards. And she said, no, these guys are awesome. These guys are awesome. They've been, you know, reformed. And most of these guys are like in church. They're leading in the ministries here. And, um, and I felt like,

strangely safe. And it was just interesting to think about the power of Jesus to change people and transform people. I mean, I think about Phil's journey. I mean, look at Phil now versus who Phil was at 26 years old. Different guy. You know what I mean? So I felt that. I felt that in certain parts of the prison.

That sounds like a good way to get the gospel out on a Dateline episode. Yeah, exactly. Here was Zach thinking everything was okay. He felt safe. He felt safe until he wasn't. I made it out. I made it out, so we're good. So they trained those dogs in foreign languages so that none of the prisoners could ever try to intercede.

on their behalf which i thought was interesting so and nobody knows what language they're using except the guys that trained them so it's pretty good when they when they yell out whatever in whatever language look out because here comes the dogs which i thought so they're ready for whatever happens and the dog the dogs are half wolf and half yeah like i think german shepherd yeah that's what they are well this morning's hunt i was the dog and uh

because phil says i'm better than a dog which is technically true you're good retriever does he obey as well as i did phil said them two trees there nope nope the left two trees got a whistle as you're whistling with the hand he wasn't actually do hand gestures well it's kind of crazy we we had a crazy hunt today we we don't have a blind where all these teal are going yeah and and

Every year is different because you're like, how long have y'all had that place? How long have we had this place? 30 years? Yep. 30 years. We used to have a blind on this point because there was another time 30 years ago where the water conditions were exactly like they are now and all the ducks wanted to light there. But when we built a blind there, that never happened again. And we literally never shot a duck there.

And so that bond's long gone. So we've noticed this is happening. So today we decided to do a double dope option.

So we sent the A-team, and I'm only saying... Say that word again. Double what? Dopoption. That may not be a word. Matty, look that up. Double dopoption. We've used it for years, so it's... Like dopopping? Yeah, like he dopops him. The fact that Zach does not know a word that I just uttered is making me feel like I just got out of prison myself. Double dopoption. Double dopoption. Dopoption.

Okay, not a word. However, it should be. And what it means is if two groups of people go hunting the same area, but they're not together. Right. So you're catching them coming and going is the idea. Call, who's the guy that wrote the dictionary? Webster. Webster. Call Webster and get that in the next. He's been dead a long time. Oh, is he dead? Yeah, he's been dead a long time. All right. Well, that would have been a good story.

So we have two groups of people because at our age, and I'm just saying our because the group I was with, we're past getting a chair, sitting in a brush right by the cotton mouse. Yep. They don't have a blind. So Jay had two guys that look like he does, in shape guys. Young bucks is what Phil called. Of course, they're all 40 years old. They're not even breathing heavy when they walk out there. So me, Phil, and Jersey Joe-

I'm now referring him to that because after he's been walking around for about... He is breathing heavy. Three minutes, he is breathing heavy. I can relate to Jersey. He was actually on opening day kind of dry heaving like a dog after we got in the blind. It was one of the funnier things I've ever seen. But we couldn't laugh because he said, I think I'm having a heart attack. Which has happened out there since I had a heart attack. But he did better today. So...

We got in there this morning. Of course, then it becomes a competition, no matter what, because they're just right down the way. And so the first little bunch came in on us, four. But it was early. It was legal, but it was early. Two went in on my side of the decoy spread, and two went in on Phil, and Jersey was in the middle. So I said, shoot them. I shot the two on my side, and Phil and Jersey shot.

Did not fire their weapons. I'm like, why didn't y'all shoot them too? I'll let Phil answer why they didn't shoot the two. They were hanging kind of to the right of me. Yeah. And there was Jersey Joe. We don't shoot over people's head. Yeah. I get it. You were doing blind etiquette. And I had a thicket in front of me that I had Dan cut it down where I could see over it.

Well, he cut it down all right, but not where you could see over it. Where nobody knows is I slipped out there before when I heard the motor crank up the way. Were there other cohorts?

And I got out there and I trimmed that down. So after the very thing that you would, you would get on to us for my whole lives. Now, you know, I think the problem there already hit the right, right at the 70 mark. And when you hit 70, there's a lot of things you can trim down brush. If you want to, you have to be slippery about it though. You do. Cause you, you told us to never cut the, but then we had a single and we got him. A dove came by.

I got him, and that's where that dove fell 100 yards. But that's what I was most proud of because he's better eating. We had a bunch of ducks this morning that came from Mexico. That's what I was going to tell. And I got some footage of them. 30? I'd say 30. Would you say 30? They lit right in our decoers and played around there all morning. Were they speaking Spanish? No, they're called a Mexican whistling tree duck. Oh, yeah, I've seen it. And they're actually talking about next year,

having a season for them. Really? You can't kill them. They're not in the... No, there's no season for them. I mean, you can't even kill them. They came in and, you know, when you get in your 70s, everything looks similar. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. So then they were whistling and it was really beautiful.

They're not very smart because we were talking soft. We didn't want to scare them off. And finally, I said, who cares if they get up? We stood up, waved at them, and they just sat there. No, Alex lived in town right by the church building. And she had a pond, and they came in every year there, about 50 of them. Oh, yeah. So that was fun. That's the best decoys you can get there, right? But then later on in the morning. I did add, when somebody looked up on one of them blocks, you know, and

And they've looked. The phone? Yeah. Had the phone and they called somebody, but they said they're good to eat. Very good to eat. Oh, really? That's good to know. So wrap it up. They recommended them for food stuff. So we got to take a break and welcome our guests. But then the young bucks got two bunches in and they wound up strapping us.

six to four. So B team beat A team or were y'all B team? Are you now? We were A team, but now we're known as the B team because we got strapped. All right. Well, let's, let's take a break. And we got a very special guest. Well, we already told you it was Joey, but we'll, we'll bring him on. I've been traveling quite a bit lately, Jason. I've been in different States and it's interesting because I see the

political ads that I don't necessarily see here in Louisiana because they pick states and do ads. And I've noticed that the pro-abortion folks have a lot of ads going on in a lot of states. And so when I was sitting there listening to them, I was just thinking,

Man, I can't believe you would base a political campaign over being able to have more abortion. Oh, it's disturbing. Yeah. And you see the polls of like, you know, which candidate would handle the issue better. And the ones that are four seems to have a bigger number, which is...

I mean, I think we're at a moment in our society where we have to stand up for the innocent. So the word I come to, Jace, is darkness. It's a darkness. And in this darkness, there is a way to defend life. And we do that consistently on our podcast by talking about life and the importance. And that's from womb to tomb life, by the way, to get us ready for eternal life.

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It was interesting though, the guy was talking about big words and now you're dropping in the dope, what was your word? Dope-pop-tion. Dope-pop-ation. What was it again? You can't even say it and you're the wizard of vocabulary.

Dopoption. Dopoption. Zach, look. Dopoption. Double dopoption. You know who came up with the word, though? I have to give credit. I don't know if he listens to the podcast. W.E. Phillips was the first person that came up with the dopoption because they have a setup where they have two blinds, Joey, so they fly by you here, but they won't leave. They just turn around and come back. So as they come back by, he says, we got the double dopoption. Well, the key is you all know what you're talking about.

It's from the root word, dope pop. I don't know if that's a word either. Yeah, but the key to communication is do the people know what you're saying? That's it. So whether it's a word or not is irrelevant. When you go into the duck blind, group A and B know exactly what you're talking about. That is the key to communication. And this is coming from a pastor that communicates all the time. Well done. Where have you been all my life? Yeah.

You should be here. I'm feeling better about this already. So, Joby, welcome to Unashamed. This is Joby Martin. For those of you that don't know Joby, he's the founding pastor of 1122 Church, which is in Jacksonville, Florida.

And I noticed, because I read your book, which I can't wait to talk about it. You're from South Carolina. Right. You live and work in Florida, but you pull for the Bulldogs in Georgia. Go Dawgs. So how did that all come to be? How does that happen? Well, I'm a Christian. Because you're basically covering the whole southeast corner. Yeah, my Bible's written in red and black. And so I wanted to be for the Lord's team. Yeah, we...

What about that, Zach? Well, you're in Gator country. I grew up around Jacksonville, but I used to live in McClinney, Baker County. Oh, let's go. We have one of our campuses there in Baker Correctional.

Okay. Yeah. We were just talking about prison. Yeah, Florida, that's a swimming basketball school. Does Florida still play football? It is right now. I can't talk trash, man. Let me give you an advice. Pick another year. Yeah, no doubt. Now, they're real smart. They're just not good at sports. You got to be real smart to get in there.

I thought Tebow went to your church. He does. Is that true? He is. That was my next question I was going to ask you because we all know Timmy and his wife, and they've been here a few times, and they usually stay with Jace. They do. Because when I think of two people who are just alike, it's Jace and Tim Tebow. Yeah, and Tim.

Miss Universe. They're like twins. It's like twins when I see them. We have an odd friendship. I told you, nothing in common except Jesus. But I learned with my wife, that's really enough. That's all you need. 100%. So, yeah, Tim and Demi go to our church, and Tim's parents do. And I honestly think one of the reasons he asked me to play a discipleship role in his life, maybe starting 10 years ago or something,

And I think a huge reason is because I'm such an avid dog fan. Never once have I said, oh, remember that time you were in college? Because he used to whip us. And I hated him when he was in college. I did too. And everybody was like, you need to meet Tim Tebow. And I was like, that's, and he prays every time. He broke Herschel's record against us. Oh, wow. I didn't know that. Anyway, but he is the literal best dude.

He loves Jesus. I've never seen somebody leverage their platform for the kingdom like that.

like that man. So yeah, it's an honor to get to church. Well, Joby, I've heard good things about you. I asked our mutual friend probably about six months ago, Shane Everett. Oh, let's go. He said, who's the best preacher in America right now? He gave me two names and one of them was yours. He said, you were one of the- And the other one's mine, right? I'm not going to say the other one because he's got a lot of pastor friends. So you may be in that other category, but he did say- I hope it was me. Yeah.

The Shane's are also awesome. Yeah, we love the Shane's. They've been on here a couple times. They had them on and sang some of their songs on the podcast, which is amazing. Yeah, they're great. And Shane, he's a hunter, man. He's like an actual hunter. He goes hunter. He killed a big elk he killed. He killed a massive elk. I know. He sent it to me. We do this thing at 1122. We call it Saturated.

We invite a bunch of, hopefully, some of the other best pastors in. And it's basically like a week's worth of camp. We would call it a revival, but it's hard to schedule when God might unleash his spirit on you. But we posture ourselves for that. And he sent me a picture of his big elk during...

Normally the chains come and lead worship for us and stuff. So I got to give a shout out to Kyle Thompson who does on dawned life because I never would have met you or us by text and email. If he hadn't mentioned that he knows you and he's, yeah, there you go right there. And we've had him on the podcast several times. So thank you Kyle for introducing us. Uh, and I do want to mention one more thing before we get into the ministry stuff. The, um,

And last night you were at the Dry Bones Men Conference, which was here in Monroe. Yeah. It was their first one to do it. Just some guys, you know, that aren't even full-time ministry or anything, but they do something else. And yet they said, you know, we need a men's event here. They put it together. You were kind of the keynote, but there were a couple other local guys that were there as well. I hear it went great. The Spirit of God was there. Oh, yeah. These men were fired up.

I've never been to Monroe before. Kind of reminds me of where I grew up. And there were over a thousand men worshiping the Lord,

Just studying his word and just calling men to do what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 16, to stand firm and act like men. And so you're the first person I've ever heard mentioned that verse, but I always loved that verse. Well, act like men. Yeah. When he got to the end. Yeah. That's it, man. That's it. Right. He says, be watchful.

Be strong in the Lord, stand firm, and act like men. Let everything you do be done in love. I actually think that verse, act like men, is like the hub of the wheel, and all the other imperatives are on how you do that. Yeah. And so anyway, that's what I talked about last night. Oh, that's good. So tell me, so I want to know first a little bit about you. I know you were from South Carolina. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about how you came to Christ and how you wound up in ministry. Why? Yeah.

uh very begrudgingly so that's why i said they drew they dragged uh jason and i and kicking and screaming oh my goodness so i grew up uh hunting and fishing uh in dillon south carolina if you've ever been driving up 90 i-95 and see south of the border the like gas station fireworks place that's that's the little town i grew up in and um i've you know i would have said i was a christian just because i was southern and i believed in

the second amendment and sec football and santa claus and god you know yeah and then got in some pretty significant trouble uh when i was in high school and uh a jv football coach that i had known um he started taking me to this camp this little baptist camp that he ran and they the counselors reenacted the crucifixion of christ and i'm sitting there as a teenager

watching this thing happen. And it was as if I was transported to Golgotha 2000 years ago. And all of a sudden, this thing that I'd heard was a story, you know, we would go maybe like Christmas and Easter. So I'd heard of the crucifixion and resurrection. But those are just big words, right? Yeah, man. I mean, I don't know. I just, I believe that it probably happened, but I didn't believe in or believe that it counted for me. Yeah. Yeah.

And, you know, it's a Baptist camp, so we sang Just As I Am about 17 times. I don't know, about the 17th one. Coach Bulley stands up. And you had those white knuckles. Oh, my gosh. I was like, all right, Lord, I might go to heaven, but I am not getting in front of these people, you know. And he said, I believe there's one more out there.

And I was at one more and I, you know, it was Baptist camp. So you can't get saved where you are. You got to go down front. And so I went down and asked Jesus into my heart. And, uh, then a few years later, I was a counselor at that camp. And, but I was like, I didn't do anything important. I was like the grass cutter and the, you know, lifeguard and all that kind of stuff. And one night, this is back in the day when, uh,

There was a guy up front singing with a guitar, and he had an overhead projector. Remember those? And he was singing, I Am a C. Remember that song?

I am a C. I'm a CH. I'm a C. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, I was from Dillon, so I was in the 11th grade before I realized we were singing I'm a Christian. I didn't know what we were doing. I thought we were speaking in tongues. Oh, I remember this. I am a C. That's it. I am a CH. Coach Lee leans over to me and says. How far into it before you realized when he got to Christ? Years. No. How many letters though? Oh, my gosh. When I spell Christian, I still have to sing the song in my head.

He leans over. He's like, Joby Martin. He always calls me a homie. Joby Martin, when the singing's done, you're going to preach. I was 19 years old. I was like, what? I was like, Coach, I don't feel comfortable speaking in front of people. He said, boy. I mean, think South Carolina football coach. He said, boy, did you say comfortable? Boy, do you think Paul and Silas were comfortable in prison? Boy, do you think Daniel was comfortable in the lion's den? Boy, do you think Jesus Christ was comfortable on the cross? I was like, no, sir. I said, well, what do I talk about? He said, boy, that's easy. Talk about Jesus. Talk about 30 minutes.

Come on. Go. And so first message I ever preached, and I preached John 3, 16 because I knew I could find it, literally. You had seen it on Bill. Right. So I preached. A couple kids get saved. A couple middle school kids get saved. I'd never done this before in my life. Yeah. And I walked off of that little tiny platform, about 100 middle school kids from Bennettsville and Dillon, South Carolina.

And I walked off of that little thing, and Coach Lee put his finger in my chest, and he said, boy, when you teach the Bible, I see two things happen. I see you come alive. I see them come alive. And I said, Coach, I'm never going to work at the church. A few years later, I called me into ministry, and now pretty much from that moment until now, every week of my life, I've opened up the Bible and taught God's Word.

With an hour before boarding, there's only one place to go, the Chase Sapphire Lounge by the club. There, you can recharge before the big adventure or enjoy a locally inspired dish. You can recline in a comfy chair to catch up on your favorite show or order a craft cocktail at the bar.

Whatever you're in the mood for, find the detail that moves you with curated touches at the Chase Sapphire Lounge by the club. Chase, make more of what's yours. Learn more at chase.com slash sapphire reserve. Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC. Subject to credit approval.

That's so powerful because you think about everybody wants to go into full-time ministry to think to do the work of the kingdom, but you had a football coach spoke prophetically into your life and put that calling on it. They put that in your seed in your heart that God called you to later. That's powerful. Yeah, I, I,

I don't believe there's a sacred secular divide when it comes to vocational ministry. I actually think when I went into the ministry, I'm not really in it. According to Ephesians chapter four, my job is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. So the duck hunters and the duck callers of the world are really the front. I mean, most of the, I got to work hard to get around a bunch of non-believers. Part of the reason I coached my kids teams forever was to just, you know, so that I could share the gospel with folks. And so,

Yeah, you know, I also, I did about 15 years in student ministry first. I never in a million years thought I'd be on a podcast with you people. I mean, this is crazy. I was just doing a Bible study with a bunch of teenagers. Yeah. And then God kept bringing people, and as I was just faithful with the ministry that was right in front of me. Remember, we're on the same page.

Bill's doing the church and the steeple. The church and the steeple. The people. What is that? God brings us together. I am a sea. Why does that work? This is the church. Here's the church. Here's all the people. Look inside. There's all the people. Yeah. But like one of the things, this podcast, actually this and when Kyle does the forging table, I give this podcast out way more than I give out like commentaries and, you know, the professionals because I'm –

Because a lot of guys, especially at our church, a lot of guys, a bunch of guys get saved as adults, which honestly doesn't happen very often, but it's happening by the thousands at our church at 1122. And when they're like, well, what do you mean do a Bible study? I can say, here's two Bible studies you can watch, just a bunch of grown men. I mean, I know you're a pastor, but, you know, that have regular lives, that love the Lord and are just marching through the scriptures saying,

What does this word say about me, say about God, say about the gospel, say about Jesus? Yeah. Trying to take out as much church speak as possible. Yeah. And just let the Bible deal with us and who we are. I appreciate that. Yeah, because it's real. And your story is eerily similar to mine. Because, I mean, my biggest fear was public speaking. I was just real shy and...

So I think God uses our weaknesses, you know, for his strength. Cause I always, even today when I get up, I think, what do I have to say? Yeah, I'm a nobody. I'm a duck call belt. I am a duck call belt. It's never been connected to like, it's a ministry that somehow, I mean, it's just what we believe and I believe it to be true. And I'm like, there's a way to duck hunt forever. This is probably it.

based on what I've heard. So, you know, I think maybe the authenticity wins out, you know, in our ministry. But sometimes you actually have an advantage over me because they expect, I mean, I'm the paid professional pastor guy. Of course, I'm going to say these things. But when the, when the guy that is just living his life, but loves Jesus with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength,

sometimes your voice can be louder. - Maybe so. And I think those are the people that show up and the expectations are so low. 'Cause they're like, just think people have seen us, especially me and Phil on our little duck show that we had,

Well, then we're going toward the stage. Well, look, everybody's thinking, well, I bet this is fixed to be profound. Because they haven't, if that's all you knew, because it was pretty silly side of us only, because they would edit out anything serious.

But I think that's a good platform to hear Jesus. It's the same thing with Godwin, because I do some events sometimes with John Godwin. And so from the show, John just drops in random words because it's funny. And he realized that was his role in the show. So when he's walking up to the stage, I'm seeing everybody looking at each other and says, is he going to speak the whole time? And it'd be like they're thinking you when you were 19. And he gets up there and he tells the story about how when Jesus got a hold to him, how much it changed his life.

And he just lays it out so beautifully. And I can tell the audience is shocked, you know, that he can even have three sentences. So I think it's interesting the way God builds platforms. I mean, when I go out and speak, I talk about our family. Of course, now we have a movie about our

our early life. So you saw out of the pain and difficulty, then we wound up in a great church community setting and learned a lot from people about how to minister and love people and serve them. And then God built this thing that we could have never imagined, like you're describing, that we would somehow be on national television and then be able to go and speak and instantly people would know who you were and want to listen to what you have to say. So, I mean, only God could do something like

And families like my family were tuned in every single week. I mean, first of all, you know, when it first came out, my kids were much smaller. It was one of the very few things we could watch as a family. And then what's funny where I'm from, I mean, I live in Jacksonville, Florida, you know, I hunt fish all the time, hunt a lot.

And the fact that you're believers and I'm a believer, everybody just assumes on my end that we all know each other. As if there's like every hunting Christian, there's like a camp that we all meet up at every year. It's a big rally. Like what are we doing here? One of the lines I've been using, I'll get up and there'll be people who drive.

down there because they saw the podcast. So we got a little room for the regular church starts over here. But I usually ask them, I said, what year is it? They'll say, what, 2024? I said, 2024, something major.

happened 2,024 years ago because all of you are saying that's the year, one after the other. I said, if you're counting time by somebody, and for the people who say he didn't exist, when you're counting time by him by the thousands worldwide. I said, give me a break. 2,024, big year. It's always a good argument, Phil. It's always a good argument.

All right, so I want to talk about your book. Here's what's interesting. So, Joby's not on here because he wrote a book, because that just happened to be the timing you were in town. But you wrote one, and you sent me one. And so, I've read a lot of books in prep for podcasts, because a lot of people do come on to promote their book or movie or whatever, which we love. So, I read this book.

mostly in the air because we just did three events in a row, at least an idea. And so I read it in about two and a half days and it is outstanding. I can't recommend a book any higher run over by the gray strain. And there were a couple of stories. First of all, let me just tell you when I was reading it, I was like, this guy is us. So by the way, we're like, you talk about think the same, all of the scriptures, listen to this, Jason, I want you and Zach to listen to these scriptures. I took copious notes, uh,

So Ephesians 2, Romans 3, John 8, Luke 15, Psalm 51, combined with 2 Samuel 11, John 4, Matthew 18, John 21. I mean, are those not our go-to passages? I mean, we are so sympathetic of the way we think in terms of just seeing grace.

throughout all the scriptures. I think that's what struck me first about the book. So it was really, really well done. I appreciate it. I think, I wish I was smart enough. I noticed you're preaching it now as a series. And I was thinking, yes, that's what I would do. If I spent that much time working, let's get that out every chapter as a sermon. Yeah. Our church is incredible and our elders are incredible. And so when I am able to release a book, our whole church just focuses on that content for seven or eight or nine weeks, however long it is. And so, yeah.

I wish I was smart enough that a year ago I was so strategic that I thought, you know what we need next year is grace. But then even as it was coming out, I thought, man, our society, our country needs grace. It's one of the most misunderstood concepts in the church.

Some people think grace is like license to sin, which is the farthest things from the truth. Or the other extreme is some people think that grace is an offer to them because they're too far gone. And there is more grace in Jesus than sin in you. Yeah. And you kept saying that throughout the book. The whole point of the book is this is like the anti cheap grace book. So the freight train idea is if you were to show up late to church and I was like, hey, man, where you been? And you said, well, I just got hit by a freight train.

I would look at you and think, Jace, I don't think you did. Because your hat's still on your head. You got both your eyeballs. You're not bleeding. You have all of your limbs, right? It looks like you're just late.

And yet so many people claim that they've encountered the grace of Jesus and it is exponentially greater than any powerful freight train you could run into. Yeah. And so the first two chapters, Ephesians 2 and Romans 3, are just to establish what grace is. Then basically all of the other chapters are people that encountered Jesus in the Gospels and how their lives was changed forever and ever and ever. So I want you to tell a story because, I mean, there were certain things I knew we've only got a short amount of time to talk about the book. And I want people to get in and read it.

But you tell a story, and it's in Grace Saves, so it's early in the book, about Samson and Sadie. And I thought it was one of the best illustrations ever.

About exactly what this thing is all about and then the way the story worked out in Spencer and lad I hope you remember. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, good good. So because of Jace's legal issues that we talked about the last podcast Referencing it I Experienced the grace of the state of Louisiana free man

Well, he's got a story, Jace, that's a lot like this one about Samson and Sadie. So tell the story. So we lived in Athens before we came to Florida. That's why we're such avid Bulldog fans. And I wanted English Bulldogs, but couldn't afford them because I was on a youth pastor's budget. So we got boxers because they're kind of like the much cheaper version. They kind of got the look, but whatever. So we got Samson at first. He was great until Sadie came along, and then he was terrible. And so we...

We got to the point where we had to keep them in the backyard all the time. We had kids, and you know how it goes. Your dogs are precious and all that until you have kids, and then they had to go to the backyard. We built in this fence because the fence was because we love our dogs. They always wanted to get out, but it was provision and protection because we love them. One day, the dogs get out.

This girl's watching my kids. She calls, says, I haven't seen the dogs all morning. I get home. The gate's open. I know what happened. Sadie went first. Samson was probably like, Sadie, don't do it. The master built this fence for our provision of protection. They take off running.

And every time we disobey the authority above us, every time we step out on God's provision and protection, it can only lead to one of two things. I know it feels like fun at first, but it can only lead to death or bondage. And so I'm doing what every dog owner in the neighborhood's doing. I'm riding around with cheese hanging out the window. And your neighbor's like, hey, did you lose your dog? So like, nah, Grampy and Nana got out, but they love to gun down some cheese. So then...

Gretchen calls, my wife calls me, and she's like, I found them, they're on the internet. I'm like, what? They started a GoFundMe page? What are they doing? Well, somebody found them and took them to the pound downtown Jacksonville. So I go downtown, which I hate going downtown. I live at the beach, and the only time I go downtown is disappointment because I go to the Jags games every week. And so...

I go down and my dogs are locked up. And they're mad at me because they're not tagged properly and the boy hadn't been fixed because he and I were trying to hold out at my house. So there they are. So I'm like, all right, well, what do I do? We've all been there. Right. I just didn't have it in my heart. And so...

They're like, well, it's $290 per dog to get them back. Oh, wow. And I thought, huh. I didn't know boxers accrued value over time because I think I spent 50 bucks a puppy on these things. What?

So sure enough, I walk down the little like jail cells that they have and there are my dogs. Right. Sadie didn't even know. She just was like, hey, where have you been? And Samson sat down, looked very sad. He's like, my bad. Yeah. So I look at the girl and I'm like, well, it was the woman. Right. Yeah. This woman you gave me. So I asked the girl, I was like, well, what if I what if I don't have almost six hundred dollars? Like, what do I do?

And she's like, well, you relinquish ownership over to us. Now, here's the truth. My dogs had incurred a debt that they can't pay. Yeah. And if I would have said, all right, kids, I'm going to get you out this time, but you owe me 600 bucks.

What are they going to do? Race a greyhound or save Timmy from a whale or deliver a paper? Like they can't. And even if they would have promised, if you'll just get us out this time, we promise, boss, from today on, we'll be perfect. It still doesn't pay for the debt that they had incurred. So I go back to the desk and I'm trying to figure out what to do. And I look over my shoulder and there's this big poster right in the middle of the building.

of the pound and it says adopt a dog today for 30 bucks and I was like ma'am this is brilliant I would like to relinquish ownership to my dog and she treated me like I was Hitler himself so I filled out this paper she notarizes it gives it to me

I take about three steps. I turn around. I come back and go, I'd like to adopt two dogs. Those two. And she goes, you can't adopt your own dogs. I go, well, that's cute. I've got a notarized piece of paper in the city of Jacksonville that I don't own any dogs. You've got two. I'll take two. I'd found a loophole. I'd give them 60 bucks and fill out an official form

application and legally adopt Sadie and Samson back into the Martin family. Well, there's the grace of God right there. And that's the gospel. That's it. That's the gospel that you and I... Tell them about the white three days. Tell them. Oh, and this is great. And I was like, so I kind of take them home. They're like, nope, we got to keep them for three days. Oh, wow. Bathe them, clean them, put this little low jack system in case you ever lose them again, we can find them. And so...

Of all things, three days later, I show up and they're spick and span clean, toenails cut. Three days. They had dental work done. It was unbelievable. Yeah. And what an illustration of grace. I loved it because you said it's something we don't deserve, can't pay back, and yet it cleanses us and puts us in a relationship. I mean, it was just, I thought it was real. And you planted the seed to the person in charge about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Amen. Amen.

Amen. And you got the $60. Hey, Joby's the guy you need on your team, James. If you had had Joby, I would have. I mean, I had to say if somebody would have came in and said, somebody said, you've been hit by a train, that's why I was late. We have a guy in our family who does things like that. His name is Uncle Si. Okay. It's train-like stories. I think we can all agree on that.

I haven't yet met him, but I can concur based on the evidence that I've seen. Lower your expectations. So I love that story. I wanted you to tell it because it's so good. It illustrated it so beautifully. And I was literally laughing out loud on the airplane. So when you say that you were reading the book and we were texting and you were like, man, I feel like, you know, we kind of think the same, especially when you're, as you call it, your little duck show came out. Yeah.

There are a ton of similarities. A huge part of how I learned to preach is I grew up in a storytelling family. Just a bunch of guys that hunted and fished. And it was like, it's always the same guys telling the same stories. And it was like, the older I got, the more to the center of the storytellers.

I got, and I'm not even close to the best storyteller in my family, man. I mean, my dad and uncles and they have all the, you know, and don't you see Joey that a good story, you may have heard it 10 times, but you can hear it again.

For sure. Because it's so good. I mean, tell this one. Tell them that story. Because every time... We grew up with Dad telling stories, and people would come in, and we'd get going. He'd get going, and we'd say, Dad, tell them about this. Tell them about that one. Tell them about that. Two hours later, he had been telling stories the whole time. That's why I brought up Uncle Si. He's actually the greatest storyteller. And he is fantastic. But some of his stories defy...

the laws of nature and physics. I mean, he was chased by wolves. Everybody has a chase by wolf story, but his, his rubber, not really. Well, the boy cried wolf, whatever, but his, his,

Tennis shoes made of rubber. Rubbers. The friction that was caused as he was running caused his tennis shoes to explode in flames. He could feel them melting as he was running. The way he tells the story is so funny because he's like...

So there I was, I was being chased by wolves, and I'm breaking every track record in the history. If they could have had a stopwatch on me, you world record holders would have. He said, I ran 100 meters in under 10 seconds. But look, then he says, but then I smelled something.

And I thought, is that a tire? Somebody burning some tires? And then I realized that my tinny loafers had burst into flames, Jack. So how did you start that story? You said, so there I was. There I was. Page one.

So there I was. So there I was. That's how I started out every good story. That's why I was telling you that there was so much in there that just felt so common to us. That's why I told you, I said, you're one of us. I mean, it was just like- You don't learn that in seminary. No. Oh, I did terrible in preaching class. I think it's the way our brains, though, to get something simplified. I mean, because to me, I'm a human. I'm living on the planet, and-

newsflash, I'm going to die. And I'm stumbling across reading the Bible at 14 years of age. And when I get to John 21, I was like, this human claiming to be God is now eating fish on the bank post-death. I mean, to me, to simplify it all, I thought, well, if I want to live...

I need to quit being such a skeptic about this and realize there's nobody else that has accomplished this. So I said all that to say, when you said that first line, a couple of podcasts ago, I shared one night about a week ago, I just read the red letters because I hang out in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John because I'm trying to get to know Jesus better. And 40 years into this, but I just, for fun, I just read the red letters. And I was so shocked that his first line was,

that's recorded from John is a question. It's, what do you want? And I don't know, that question hit me like a ton of bricks. And I thought, in that, as a human, you've got to ask yourself, what do I want? They were following Jesus. He turned around and said, what do you want? But it's a very profound question if you were the son of God to ask fellow humans, what do you want?

And we all have something. And it's not Jesus before we meet Jesus. And I just, I thought this is... Once we encounter him, it changes us. This is why we tell stories, though. And it's filled with those little questions of life that make you reflect, you know, what am I doing here? Well, look at how Jesus taught. The Bible says he never taught without stories or parables. Exactly. And they weren't big, fancy, like synagogue type things. It was just...

fishing and farming and these kind of stories that, and a part of the reason he would do that is so he would teach a parable about scattering seed. And so then two days later, nobody can take home their copy of the New Testament. It's happening real time. And the next time that guy's out there scattering seed, he's like, wait a minute, wait a minute.

It's teaching and reteaching and reteaching again. So part of the reason I'll do dog stories and that kind of thing is because when people go home and they see their dogs, it reminds them once again of the story I told. And so they're rehearing the gospel over and over and over and over. Oh, exactly. Well, and then the book, you told a lot of stories. One of the things that I appreciated, Joey, that you were super transparent when you were in a chapter that's something you're not good at. Yeah.

Anger. And like anger, which by the way, on the anger chapter, I want to mention this, Jace. He quoted Tim Keller. So obviously, and you said God rest in peace or something like that. Obviously, you were a fan. Jace loves Keller. And this was from his book, The Healing of Anger. It said, in its uncorrupted nature, anger is actually love.

Yeah. Yeah. Which was pretty good. The points you made there, but you were so transparent about the idea that that's something you struggle with. And yet at the same time, as we talked about on the podcast, because we just dealt with anchor and Ephesians,

But God is the one who's the most angry in the Bible. I mean, most of the anger passed to him. So it tells you, you laid it out beautifully how that leads you into sinful situations. But we should be angry about some things, both in our own life and what's going on around us. Ephesians doesn't say no anger. It says be slow to anger. That's right. It's what you're angry about also.

In fact, if you're not angry about the things that God is angry about, you should really check yourself, especially in our culture today. Oh, I agree with that. And that was another thing that really was just, I'm so...

excited that you were bold about things that culturally people want to run away from. But you said, look, I'm just a mailman here. You know, I'm laying out what God says and that's what I have to do. And sometimes in large churches, especially in places, you know, in certain cities and certain states, they tend to want to back off the message.

Because, you know, it doesn't fit into the cultural. Yeah, a couple of things. One, you know, you guys studied Hebrews. I mean, Hebrews makes it clear that one day I will stand before the Lord and give an account for what he has put under my purview in regards to being the lead pastor of the Church of 1122. And one thing I just refuse to do is for him to look at me and say, so why didn't you teach this part? Yeah, right. So I'm just going to teach it as is.

hopefully full of grace and truth, but I just refused. I didn't know it was going to work. Like when we planted our church, I didn't know a bunch of people were going to show up. Everybody told me to not do all the things that we're going to do. Like they said, make sure you keep all the religious icons at a minimum. So we put a 50 foot red steel cross right in front of the church. Yeah.

I don't want anybody to be confused about what we're doing. We want to point people to the cross. Exactly. And the reason that I can share the struggles that I have, it's because the good news of the gospel of Jesus has out us every single one of us. Exactly. I'm not a mistaker that needs to try harder. I'm a sinner that needs the grace of Jesus. Yeah. And so, yeah, I got a long way to go when it comes to anger. So on that chapter, I just share some of my worst moments. Also, as a preacher or a communicator,

Listen, man, when you share your success stories, almost nobody can relate to you. And when you share your failures, I'll never run out of material. Yeah, that's right. I mean, I'll never run out of material. Right, which is why we say we won't either on the Unashamed podcast because we're constantly there. We're out of time, man. That went by fast. That did come by fast.

I have a feeling this is not the last time we'll have Joby on the podcast. JobyMartin.com because I went there to kind of see a little bit about what you're doing and things you're doing both there in Florida but also around the country. So if you want to check him out...

do that but man joey thanks for being on you teal hunted this morning i did my first time ever duck hunting how about that was here y'all got them and you got it out full limits and then in the true spirit of what we share in common i said where'd you go and you went louisiana yeah

I bet. I don't even... You know what? That's a good duck hunter because a duck hunter would never tell you where they were. Never. I knew he got them when he said the state of Louisiana. You find out and then you let me know. That's it. Well, thank you, Joby. My pleasure. Hey, honestly, I know you're just being obedient to what Jesus has told you to do, which is the best advice in the whole Bible, by the way. John 2, 5, Mary looks at the servants at the wedding in Cana and says, do whatever he tells you to do. I love it. Well, I know Mr. Phil...

Years ago, you said yes, and then you said there's 100 more yeses to follow that. There's a bunch of us. There's a bunch of us around the country, at least in my little neck of the woods, and we are blessed because you guys said yes to what Jesus told you to do. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, brother. Amen. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed Podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

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