Ep 974 | Jase Gets Mistaken for Willie, Willie Gets Mistaken for a Homeless Man & Who Are the Saints?
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At Banner Health, we're here to provide more than health care. Whatever you're planning, wherever you're going, we're here to help you get there. Banner Health. Exhale. I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. So, Jace, I'm here in the southern lair. Lisa's recuperating. She had her follow-up.

breast cancer reconstruction surgery. How'd that go? It went, it went well, dad. It was, uh, in some ways it's been a little harder on her than the first one, which doesn't make a lot of sense. She had a slice all the way around her body, didn't she? Oh yeah. She, and they did more slicing because now you got to fix some of the original stuff. You know, you start, you know, moving things around inside a human body. Yeah.

Yeah, it's just not a it's not a quick fix, but she's doing well. She's got some bruising and pain. So we're down here. Joe came down, Joe and Christine. He's helping me get some stuff set up. So welcome, Jersey Joe, to the Southern Lair. Yes, the Southern Lair. Yeah, this is it.

It's just right now it's a big empty room. I feel special. We're really close together. We are. It's a good thing I like Joe so much. We're going to start. We're holding hands under the table right now. Well, we have matching watches, too. Well, and y'all are like married in family now. I call him, Jace, I call him my Jersey in-law. Yes. Because just to remind our audience, his son is married to my granddaughter.

Yeah. So your dad, your great granddaughter is now married. At this stage of my life, when you start describing stuff like that, it literally makes my head hurt trying to figure out what everybody is. I'm just trying to find out. I don't even know the names of all of them. Oh, I know Phil, which is, which I've said this many times on the podcast. I think that when you get at a certain age, uh,

and you have your family gatherings during the holidays, everybody should wear name tags. It's actually not a bad idea. It's kind of insulting, but it's not a bad idea. It'd be a good idea. No, look, I'll be the first one to tell you. I was a victim of this. I told you a few weeks ago I went to – they had an OCS, the school, which is a scary thought, where you taught school. Yeah. I mean, here comes a bunch of kids, and they look up, and here's your new teacher. Yeah.

And they didn't have a room, so we had the parking lot is where I did all my work. And what did you teach, by the way? Physical ed. Yeah. Okay. Well, I could see that. Jumping jacks. And sometimes you would fill in and teach some other stuff. But yeah, your main thing was phys ed, which, you know, think about this, Chase. Dad was 28 years old.

And he didn't have a beard then. And I mean, he, you know, he looked like he still had the, back then it was kind of the young Elvis look. It's kind of what dad was working on. But there was a vibe he had that was a bit scary. And, uh, so, and now I guess you still have that same vibe, but just in a different. I see these sisters now, the ones I taught and try to play volleyball and this, that, no, you know, we have a little physically, I think. And I, and I, uh,

flash back when i see them now come come into the church building got their husband their kids with them and their grandkids and their grandkids and they went all the way from from physical ed 40 years later to meet with the brothers it's a it's a you never forget them and they never forget you yeah it's interesting so to finish my story so i was there and they gave everybody name tags

But I was wearing a shirt that didn't have a place to put the name tag because it had a little clip on it. So I clipped it on my belt. So, you know, on the side, like where my hip is. Because I figured, number one, no one in this room, and there were several hundred people, looked like me.

I mean, zero. You came in today, Jason. I told Jersey, I said, because you were wearing dark sunglasses, you look like Cousin It with that hair and the dark clothing and the sunglasses. But how about this one? So I talked to her about a couple of years, and the price I was being paid was astronomical. It's $600 a piece.

A month. A month. 600 bucks. Big money. I remember that poverty, Dad. I told you I saw them all when they were in the seventh, eighth grade and about along in there. Yeah, that's where we were. But it occurred to me at no time. Now, these were the children of the saints. The children of the saints. I'm out to teach them physical ed.

There was not one slur, curse, one cuss word. You know, ball, playing ball. I know you'd think, well, I mean, these kids, I mean, it was amazing. I was amazed. I was, you know, I hadn't been converted long. I said, I'll tell you one thing. They come to Jesus, and I mean, they are, there's no cursing, bitterness, bad-mouthing, squalling, none. It had an impact on you.

It had an impact on how good they were. When you had been teaching in the public school system, so you knew the comparison and the difference. I saw both of them. But I will say this, Dad, to your credit, because you were only 28, you're a brand new Christian, and you were on fire for sharing what had been shared with you. Yeah. So there were a few teenagers that came right out of the world that were given an opportunity to come to OCS. Yes.

And you shared the gospel with them. They became sons of the almighty. And now three of those guys that you led to Christ as teenagers are elders at our church. I noticed that. Fascinating. I knew I was getting old then. Yeah. So let me finish this story for those who are still with us. So the first thing. All the things I've done, I did well with that.

You did well, man. I'm never going to get to the end of it. Oh, you're going to get there, dude. I had the name tag, not thinking it's a big deal because it's OCS. I figure everybody knew who it was. And the first person that comes up to me is a guy I know really well.

Saul Graves, he played for LSU football. Now I think he's a orthopedic surgeon now. Yeah, but I mean, our kids were about the same age as one of his sons, so we did the whole OCS experience together in the stands. I think now he actually calls the games as the color commentator on their –

He's also on their board. Yeah, and he's on the board. So I see him stick my hand, and he goes, Willie! So you had to play like you were Willie for him. Willie, yep. So then you're in that awkward moment where here's a guy I've been knowing for 15 years, 20. And I thought, should I?

Do an awkward correction here or just go along? Just be Willie. I just was Willie. I just went with it. And then I was looking around, you know, for a mirror because I thought, man, this

Willie and I don't necessarily have the same body type. What a nice way of saying he's bad. Yeah, seriously. So that happened. I don't know why that popped into my head. But, oh, I was making a case for the name tags.

Even as families, as you get bigger. So Jason, that reminds me of a story that I, that you have told. And so now I tell it sometimes when I'm doing Q and A's and stuff, and the people ask me about y'all, there was a time you and Willie were in New York meeting with A&E, but you stopped by Starbucks on your way to the meeting and bought some coffee and

And then Willie had set his coffee down and was doing something kind of next to him. And someone came by and put money in his coffee, his fresh cup of coffee. And the way you tell the story, or here's the way I tell you tell the story, is that you got so tickled because you said they put the money in your cup because you look worse than me. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I was like, despite him being 40 pounds heavier than me at that time, they figured he was worse off than me was kind of my take on it. What was so funny is he actually had taken the lid off. We have that same deal because in those little plastic cups they give you.

It's too hot on my lips if I sip out of their little, the way they want me to conform to the coffee cup. And it leaks out of there too a lot. So it's like he took his lid off to drink the coffee. We just use the lid to keep it from spilling everywhere. Like when we drink it, he takes the lid off. I mean, there's smoke coming out of the top and just a casual New Yorker

in one smooth motion drops the coins in it which he's angry laughing

Because he's like, well, I can't drink it now. I mean, this guy just. I don't want to throw away good silver. Well. I don't know. What's funny is his 50 cents went into a $5 cup of coffee. That's what's even funnier. I was like, you can't make this up. I was like, you think we're going to get this gig? He's like, well, after that happened, probably not. So you never told Saul that you weren't with him?

Never told him. I just played along. I told Missy and she's like, oh, that's typical. So he knew who you were. He just got the name wrong. She defended it. I was like, yeah, probably so. So literally now it's, you know, we all look alike. It's just the beards and the whole. Well.

You really don't look too much like them. No. Yeah. I mean, you're a little rounder. I'm a little bigger now. Well, we don't dieting together. So we're trying to do well. What do you say? Both of y'all look like you just come out of prison. It has got to look about him.

Yeah, that's what dad tells me. We first popped up, Jase. He said, boy, you two, you look like you've been in prison. I was like, prison? I don't know. I don't know either. Yeah, so I had an interesting day yesterday, Al. You'll appreciate this. So one of my childhood friends who's working in the ULM athletic department gave me a call and was like, but first it was a text and it was to me and Willie because Willie is a

Did he graduate ULM? He actually graduated. He actually graduated. So he's a ULM graduate. And it was like this exciting text to me and Willie. It's like, you know, we're on a roll. And I was thinking, what is this referring to? This is how out of touch I am with my community. And it was about the football team. And she was inviting us to come, you know, because there's a lot of –

a lot of excitement about the football team which so i was like well what is that i gotta go research what what's happening here but i had met the uh head football coach at a woman's basketball game that the same friend invited missy and i to last year and we went it was fun because they the ulm uh basketball team the women's team they had a couple of good seasons but i was surprised that

The stands were packed. It was a good vibe. And all the football team was there. Well, the head coach had just been hired. I mean, like three weeks. Yeah. And as fate would have it, we were sitting by each other. So I met him, talked to him, and I really liked him. I had a good feeling about this. I was like, you know, who would want to come to ULM? When's the last time they've won anything in football? And I actually looked this up before I came down here. They've had one winning season.

since they became a part of the fbs so i guess 30 30 something years you know they were pretty good when they were a double a it was back then it was one double they were kind of a national power at the at the old level the fcs level is what they call it now well they had winning seasons you know in the 80s when they were double a but as soon as they made that move

And I forgot what year it is. It's been a while, 30-something years. It's been at least 20-something years. They've had one winning season. Wow. And there was two years where they were 500. And last year, they won two games. So here comes a new coach. And I was trying to think, why would a guy? I mean, here I am.

I took two classes at ULM, so technically I guess I'm a former member. When I was playing football, to your story, and we played Northeast, we call them. Yeah, that's what they used to be called, Northeast. NLU. Now they're ULM. Jace, we like to poke fun at you from time to time on the podcast about your college experience.

what were the two classes you took health and first aid, first aid and golf. And I got an incomplete, uh,

I got distracted. He did. But I did. You were doing it to win people, right? I did go through and complete a two-year Bible degree. You did, with my help. So one of the things that our good friends at Hillsdale College, one of the things that they offer, which is fantastic, is for people like Jace that maybe during their college years weren't really into college, but later on you want to learn stuff, right? So it could be history, economics, economics.

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You can learn about the works of C.S. Lewis, the stories in the book of Genesis, as I said, the U.S. Constitution, Roman Republic, a lot of great stuff that they offer. And it's free, which we like that even better. Personally, I would recommend you take the introduction to Aristotle's Ethics, How to Lead a Good Life. That's something that could be very valuable in today's time. So this course is self-paced, so you can start whenever and wherever.

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And that was a big rivalry too, Dad, with NLU and Tech for years were huge rivals. Yeah, we used to go to the games. Yeah, because they were great. So anyway, I wound up going yesterday and had a meeting with the athletic director and met up with the coach. And I was so amazed at just what they've done to the facility since he's been there.

Not just that they're 4-1, and their only one loss this year was against the number one team in the nation, which is Texas. They got blown out. They got blown out there. But they've won the other four, which you're like, what was the big deal? They're 4-1. Well, the game they just won this past Saturday was against James Madison, who was undefeated coming in and who beat somebody good, North Carolina, Wake Forest, somebody like that.

And, uh, and ULM won 21, 19 and stormed the field, you know? Oh, really? Well, yeah. I mean, it's like we won two games last year. I mean, they're four and one. They were before the game, they were 17 point underdogs.

And I looked it up on the little ESPN game cast. At the start of the game, there was an 85% chance, according to these gurus, ESPN, that ULM was going to lose. And it was weird looking at the graph. It actually got up to 95%.

5% to lose as the game went on. And then in the fourth quarter, all of a sudden, it got 50-50. And then ULM won. At no point did they believe this is going to happen. So it was exciting. And you're like, well, why were they calling you? It was really just like, hey, y'all are in this community. You're famous duck people. And we were just trying to...

you know, they're, they're just like wanting everyone to kind of rally around. This is exciting. We're four in one. We're winning based. When I looked at all the records and all in the, in the past, I thought this truly is shocking. And, uh, but it, you know, I reminded him of something he said when I met him, because I was like, well, what's going to be your strategy here? And, uh, this is kind of a spiritual application. He's like, well, I'm going to recruit guys. Uh,

you know, who, who are country guys and love the outdoors and, and they're gritty and gutty. Cause that's what this place is. And I was like, well, I thought that was interesting. I was like, well, what's your thinking on that?

He's like, well, I've noticed because he's been in coaching for years. Where did he come from? He came from UAB and then he went to New Mexico for one year, but he's always been an assistant. The only time he was a head coach was a couple of years ago and he was the interim. It's like they fired the head or the head coach. I don't know the details of that. And so this is really his first year to be a head coach, even though he's been coaching for years.

But he said, I kind of specialize. I've always specialized in when college football teams are being rebuilt. And he's kind of an offensive-minded guy. But when he said that about loving the place where they're at, and he said, if you don't love where you're at and are proud of what you're representing –

You're just not going to be the best version, you know, of yourself representing. So he's like, I want them to buy in, buy into that. And so he only retained, I think, 12 players from last year's team. So just think, he's got 70-something new guys. And the fact that they're 4-1, it's a pretty amazing story to be 4-1. And I said, well, look, don't feel the pressure. Because he was already talking about Saturday.

We got Southern Miss coming in. He was giving me the game plan. He's very relational and motivational. There were several times he gave a little speech while we were there, and I was looking around for some pads. It's amazing how these people can motivate you

people you know he's just a very motivating guy and uh he's very authentic and uh and knew who we were and kind of like we're in the same vein i told him i was like well you're not gonna believe this but the last time i checked with our lovely production staff that the biggest majority of people that listen to our podcasts are like 15 to 25 year old males yeah so i was like we kind of

doing the same you know if you can get their attention he's trying to win football games we're trying to win lost people it's you know it's right spiritually it was exciting and and i do you know i'm happy for him and any because the community has been so supportive uh with our family uh throughout well i hope jace that the uh that the ulm didn't have to pay

The same thing that Vanderbilt had to pay for their fans coming on the field. When Matt Powell was on, we told the story, you told the story about Vanderbilt beating Alabama. And then I read just since we've done that podcast that you had in the SEC, you have to pay the other school $100,000 to

For the first offense, if you're a school, if you run on the field, you got to pay them that. The second time, if you do it, it was $100K. And then the next one is $250K. And if it's the third offense and after that, it's $500,000 to the university. So you have to pay it to the other school. The price is high.

You know, ULM's got a big history when you look at that. I mean, there was a lot of good players that have come out of there. I mean, Doug Peterson went all the way to NFL coach, and he coached one of my favorite teams there. So, I mean, their schedule, in all fairness, so far has been a little easy. When they did play a top-ranking team in Texas, they got stomped.

Well, they're the number one team in the nation. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. First year. But the James Madison victory was impressive. I mean, they were 4-0. I mean, they were...

They were given no chance to win is basically what I'm telling you. I think I'm a little biased. That's probably what it is because, you know, I work with the coach who kind of got canned because he had some issues there. Joe's close friends with Bowden, who was there before your guy, James. And one of the problems was, you know, recruitment, right? I mean, and that's what it is. You can build the best college team out there if you can get the right recruitment and the right players, you know, and it's being able to attract the talent.

to your small little football team. Well, Jay's quoted Saban. That was one of the best things I've ever heard because I've been thinking about it ever since you said that.

from a spiritual standpoint, especially, but to be the reason he quit coaching. Jay's talk. This is on the, uh, something you heard him say recently, Jay's. Yeah. The transactional versus the transformational. Yeah. That's, that's strong. That's what he said. He said football had become transactional. You know, it's just about the money, the, and all that. And he's like, that's not why I got into it. I got into it to transform young, you know, young guys into men. Uh,

That's right. They had something bigger for themselves. I just thought that was so good. I mean, that was such a good thought. Well, you know what happened? I was sitting there on Saturday morning. I just had college game day on, but I was studying where we're at in Colossians, just kind of getting an overview. And he starts off to Phil's point, which Phil's brought this up many times on the podcast. You're not going to go very far from –

post acts as far as the Bible is concerned and all these letters without it immediately getting to the gospel. I mean, it's foundation who Jesus is, you know, what he did, what he's doing and what he will do. Great commission is seen in all these, these,

small book like Colossians and Philippians. Yeah, so Colossians really, I mean, it's where he starts. He's like, he had never been there.

Right. I mean, this is he heard about this from Epaphras. And Philemon. Yeah. And Philemon, which is is all kind of tied together. You know, we were talking before we started airing. Phil said, what do they call this section of the books that we're studying? And they're called the prison letters. And you have four of them.

You have Ephesians, which we did, and Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, which Philemon is eerily tied in to the book of Colossians. And I'm sure we'll get to that at some point in this study. But it's a really unique, kind of bizarre way how it's linked. And it's really this reconciliation, which sounds like such a big word, but...

The music behind that word. I mean, if you saw something reconciliation, you're like, well, that's a big, that's a Zach word. You know, I've noticed in dad too, uh, as you get older, uh,

You really appreciate sleep maybe a way that you didn't when you were a young person. Is that a safe assumption to say? I mean, I've had a week of where I could only sleep maximum amount of time, three to five hours. So I'm just doing that sporadically.

And yesterday I woke up from a nap. I started off vertical. And when I woke up, I was horizontal across the bed. And that wasn't the bed's fault.

That's when you only get what you can get. Well, and obviously one of our great sponsors is Helix Mattresses. And we talk about them a lot because sleep is so important. And, you know, they match you. They have a Helix Sleep Quiz that you will go online to whenever you order your mattress.

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But when you really look at what that means, I mean, it's God bringing all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ. And that was a quote from Ephesians 1. You remember at the beginning? Well, he gets into that same thing in Colossians 1 toward the end of the chapter. He starts talking about reconciliation. That's verse 19 and 20. Verse 20 says, and through him to reconcile...

To himself, all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on a cross. But it all started when he said, I heard about your faith in the gospel and how it's bearing fruit. I mean, the good news. And the reason I'm bringing that up, I was studying that when I was listening to Saban start talking about that. And really, I was literally thinking at that moment,

What the gospel is, the reason it's good news is because it really explains everything about life. And once that explanation is kind of understood and embraced, it transforms people, which is the reconciliation process.

But I just thought about that. It's like what they call in college football, buying into something. When you buy into something, then you're transformed and you start doing unselfish acts, doing your job. It's the team over individuals. You start taking care of your character off the football field. You buy into what we're doing as a group of people. So there are similarities there.

and godly principles, even in just a function of a bunch of young guys trying to win a football game. It's like trying to get people together, right?

It sounds awesome, but it's very difficult to do because we're all individual human beings. And you're right. I thought the exact same thing, Jace, because these are good principles no matter what. And we know where they came from. And they're used in good ways because to build character in people maybe that come out of difficult situations is a good thing. The only problem with it is...

Is it so short lived? I mean, in other words, it's only as long as you can compete. So that's why, you know, a lot of times you'll see them just kind of fall apart when that's over, because where do you go? I mean, if it's not, if these things don't become qualities in your, in your marriage, in your life, in your career and your work and everything away from just a game, then it's not going to have any long-term benefit. And I think really, you know, when you look, I think all of us played ball, right? We all played some kind of,

portion of organized ball in our, you know, youth, you know, what I remember from playing even high school football, right. Is when you have the right coach, especially at the college level, right. Who believes in the Lord and also believes in winning. He has that certain drive where he literally molds children when they're at their most, you

you know, multiple, multiple place. Right. I mean, you think about a good football coach, right? I mean, if he's a, a God fearing person, he's teaching these kids teamwork. A lot of kids that are playing college ball now, unfortunately are coming from families where dad might not, might not be there. You know, mom's working two, three jobs trying to support the family.

And they're looking at the football coach as the man of the house who is molding these children and not only teaching them, you know, how to be a team, how to play like a team, how it's not I and we. I mean, he's also instilling empathy.

things in them that they're going to keep for the rest of their life. So, I mean, a good college football coach that believes in the Lord and believes in those kids is going to instill something in those children that's going to last with them forever. You know, and that's where I really embrace, especially the Southern football teams, right? What I've noticed is, you know, they say a prayer before the game, they say a prayer, you know, halftime during the game and, you know, it's centered around Jesus and, and,

I think that's the greatest thing. Some of these teams up north, you really don't see that. It's more about just going out there, winning and everything else. But again, I think a good football coach who believes, is a believer, like it sounds like this new ULM coach is, is really going to be someone that's going to be able to mold these children and give them something that they're going to be able to learn from and take with them the rest of their life, especially with their journey in the Lord. These are things you'll see that kind of flow through

the great commission. Go preach the gospel and baptize them. Well, they get in this area. We continue our advice from Tyre and landed at, uh, Prolimus where we greeted the brothers and stayed with him for a day. Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea that he's talking about how they're operating. When you get to the book of like Colossians, you start reading. I'm in Acts, you know, 21, seven. And, uh,

He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. That's old, what's his name? Philip. Philip. The evangelist. Well, he had four girls, but they went around preaching the gospel because I looked it up. You get to Romans, that was Acts 21. You get to Romans 16.

These two girls show up again, these four girls, but he names two of them. I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Sincrea. So you're seeing the spread that the gospel's performing. But then these girls were helping out. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you.

For she has been a great help to many people, including me. Greet Priscilla and Aquila. That's two of them. My fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only, but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. So it was spreading, but there was a...

a place because most people say, they just say, well, you know, you have me and evangelist and then modern day you I'm, I'm looking at my little granddaughter, granddaughter and what's, what she does. I mean, it's, it's Phoebe. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's women helping out with the program. Yeah. Well, I really think that's a good backdrop for, you know, the letter, um,

to the Colossians because it was a very diverse group because you got to remember like when you read Colossians 3, and this is a similar paragraph that you read. I know it's in 1 Corinthians 12. It's in Galatians 3 about how in Jesus it breaks down all these differences in us as far as

your ethnic background, you know, it says Jew or Greek or gender, male or female. All of the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to women. We don't give women enough credit is what I'm trying to say. Chase, does the Bible talk about the liver? It actually does. It's obscure. And it's basically if somebody wants to take out a deer, right?

There's an illustration that if you shot a deer in the liver, that would do the trick. That's in Proverbs somewhere. Yeah.

So somewhere in Proverbs, the liver is mentioned and the liver is very important. You know, we talk a lot about the heart, but the liver, when it's unhealthy, what the experts call fatty liver, it creates a lot of problems for your whole body. The American Heart Association has told us that you're three and a half times more likely to have heart failure if you have fatty liver. It affects about 100 million Americans a year, which is obviously almost a third of our country.

because everything gets thrown at the liver. Cholesterol, alcohol, toxins, Tylenol, cigarettes, a lot of bad habits, and the liver is the one that suffers. And so if you have a sluggish, fatty liver,

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Yeah, so Colossians 3.11, which we'll get to, it said, Here there's no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian or Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all. And I think that's what's amazing when you start thinking about, I mean, this is written, Colossians was written 2,000 years ago, roughly, from a guy who's pretty much at best under house arrest. He's in chains.

you know, in Rome. He's never even been here. And here are these people who are meeting in homes illegally. And it's, you know, when you look at what their homes look like, they were more like villas, you know. I mean, you had people from all kinds of different races, all different kinds of backgrounds. A third of the population was slaves.

But it's addressed in Colossians, so you have to kind of wrap your head around, well, what did that mean? The Roman order had like six classes of people. You can look that up. I mean, I think it starts off with like the senators,

And then it's like the Roman cavalry and then the officers and then just a Roman citizen. I'm going down the list of importance. Well, then it's everybody else, not from Rome, who is free. That's right above the slaves. And the slaves were people who either were working off a debt or who had been jailed because of some crime. And then all of a sudden they have to become someone's slave to pay it off.

Or captured from another country. Yeah. You lose in a war, well, you become a slave. And really what they did is what modern technology does for us. Yeah. I mean, they didn't have a way to do that. I mean, that's why when, you know, Rome became famous for building roads, but the Roman roads, it was the equivalent of what we do with the internet. Yeah.

Because all of a sudden you could get information about religion or whatever you were into a lot quicker because you just go down the road instead of having it be some kind of adventure safari where you're...

There's no road. They connected and civilized that day just by building roads. But you say, well, how'd they pull that off? Well, they used the slaves who were either in debt or... And so this is what the church looked like, all these people under one roof. And what was amazing and what people found fascinating, because we've always been a divided church.

Group of people. We always get into our little groups. They're seeing this montage of people who seemingly love each other and getting along, but it was because of Christ. It was because they were united in Jesus. And really, you see that when we studied Acts. You remember in Acts 11. You'd have gone there before the gospel got there. You'd have had a rough go. Well, it stood out because this is not normal. You're like...

Well, we got Jews and Greeks, men and women, you know, slave or free. Because really, when you start thinking about this, you could have a guy who's considered a slave in that world be a house church leader.

Because in Christ, that doesn't matter. That's right. But everywhere else around their surroundings, oh, that mattered. They're like, what's this guy doing? Doing the talking. And that's why I bring up Philemon. That whole thing is about with Onesimus, which is mentioned in Colossians 4.

In verse nine, because he's you kind of figure out the letter to Philemon by reading Colossians, because he's like, I'm going to send him to you. Well, then in Philemon, it's all about this same situation where Onesimus, you conclude, was the slave of Philemon who actually left, which is was an you don't do that back there. And Paul was like, look.

You basically get the implication that Onesimus came to the Lord and Paul trained him. And he's like, look, I'm going to send you Onesimus and you treat him like you would treat me.

And anything he's done wrong, I'll pay for it. I'll make it right. And it's kind of like you see this reconciliation in Christ being lived out. Yeah. And so... Brings out the oneness. It's really fascinating. I mean, that's a lot to digest without reading the book of Philemon. But we're going to have to get to it because it's part of this story that Paul is telling. Even Epaphras, when he's like...

You heard the gospel from him, and this is verse 7. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. Well, in Philemon, when he writes the letter,

there, at the end, he's like, my fellow prisoner Epaphras sends his greetings. So it's like, well, something's happened in between that time where he's no longer just telling me about it. He's locked up in here with me too, which is fascinating. But the point I was going to make about all that is that if you looked at the Roman world then and the structure and the power, and here's this little group of people

Over in Colossae meeting and Paul's writing a letter from jail and you fast forward 2000 years later. We're we're reading about that letter and the Roman Empire has been crumbled long time ago. Oh, yeah. And you're like, what? It was about a carpenter carpenter.

from Nazareth, this letter and these people coming together. So when you really look at it from a historical view and you see the, when you want to talk about the power in the gospel on what they were doing, and you would never think, this is like, this is beyond miracle that whatever they had was so true and good and right and powerful.

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Colossae was such an insignificant in terms of the world looking at it place that even now when you go to Turkey, you know, there'll be places that we read about that they've excavated. And historically, you know, people look at it and people go and visit, but they look over there and it's like, see that big old hill over there.

It was just like a small mountain. That's Colossae. It's just been covered up, you know, for 2000 years and they, it's so much. So nobody's even dug down to look at it. Well, I actually heard an interesting take on, I think I heard this from NT, right? But cause he went over there and wanted to look at it.

And where they think Colossae is exactly, it was like a farmer. He just had what we would call a big field. He just got a big garden and crops and plants, which is the problem why we can't excavate it because he's like, hey, nobody tearing up my garden here. I got to get paid. Looking for some relics or whatever. It was kind of a...

Off-handed comment. I'm not sure where I heard that from, but I did hear him say that. And I thought, because he kind of thought like us, it's kind of a small town. There's not a lot made up. We know they had good water because of the Laodicea reference where these cold, the snow melt. They had pure, clean, cold water, which...

Back in that day, you would want to build a town around that. They didn't know about Fiji water yet, so they didn't think so. And it was a trade route. But, you know, this sent me going down a rabbit hole when I was studying this because he makes a statement there in verse 3. Well, like he usually does, he gives all the positives there.

And then he kind of addresses, here's what you need to work on and how this is lived out, you know, living in Jesus. But in verse three, when he says, we always thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we've heard about your faith in Christ Jesus, the love you have. And this really stuck out to me for all the saints, right?

And don't let the word saints fool you. I mean, that's because people, when you read that, you think, well, we think of saint today. We think of something in a more...

a more modern religion, you know, where it's like saint so-and-so, it's like a life of devotion to God. It's almost more like a title or a designation as opposed to just being holy because you're set apart. Well, right. That was my point. God considers us all saints, and it's not because we've achieved something. Right. It's because what he did through Jesus, he made us a saint. Through their faith.

Exactly. Even, you know, we were talking about how slaves were treated and viewed in that world. That's why when Jesus made that statement, you know, I didn't come to be served, but to serve and give my life a ransom for many. Well, that word ransom in the Greek, if you go down that rabbit hole and look at it,

When we think of ransom, we think of kidnapping. So we try to, that's how we figure that out. But in the Greek word, ransom.

That word that is translated English ransom is to be made free, you know, paying the debt for freedom, which was that slave context. That's how you became free. Somebody could come in there and say kind of what Paul did for Onesimus saying, whatever he owes, I'm paying that ransom for his freedom. Because even when you read the book of Philemon and we'll get to that at some point in their study, uh,

He doesn't come out and say, I think you should free him. But he's like, whatever he's done, because he was saying he's in Christ now, which makes sense because he's like, there's no slave or free. And then he kind of hints and whatever else you feel led to do, which you get the impression that he's like, he needs to be free. This guy, I mean, he's a part of me and he's kind of given him the idea that he's a son of mine in the faith.

In Jesus. And so I think Paul in that moment is living out what Jesus did on the cross for all of us. Well, what's even more amazing, Jase, is that Paul, we know from studying Acts, when he was Saul, was a very arrogant man.

legalistic. I mean, you know, he was into killing people that didn't agree with him. And then he goes to this guy who will go anywhere. And dad, to your point about women, I think about act 16 and Lydia, which is also by the way, probably a tie to Colossae because even though she was from Philippi and, but look, the whole church started with her and some other women who were probably washing clothes. This is the reason they were down by the river. And that turned into the church.

But she was a dealer in purple, which Colossae is known as the purple or red cloth. So the whole church in Philippi started, Dad, based on Paul being willing to go sit down there and say, you know what? I'm going to share the gospel with you folks.

And the whole church started there. You're talking about another amazing thing that happened. Well, you remember we launched into Ephesians and Colossians from the book of Acts, but you can go back to Acts 11 when we talked about the church being started in Antioch. And Antioch was the most diverse church probably the world has ever known because it was in Syria where there's three continents within walking distance for them. And you see that in Acts 13 when he was...

when Paul was naming the leaders of the churches, and it was three different continents represented. Because it's pretty close to China, it's close to Israel, because it's kind of like where Syria is, well, it's close to Africa. And so I think you really see this diversity that came together under Christ. And you fast forward to this day, there is something very...

appealing, especially to the world in Christ. When you see people of different ethnic backgrounds, you know, cultural differences, rich or poor, older, young, male or female, you know, all of this united in Christ.

and functioning as the body of Christ, making God's presence known. Great point. That very fact there shows you the power in God working amongst all the hatred and divisions and wars. And there you have the church, which 2,000 years later, I would argue, is a lot stronger than back in this day. Yeah.

Well, and we started out this podcast talking about education and coaching and how it impacts people and the difference it makes. Well, ultimately, it's leadership. Jesus is the ultimate leader. And that's really the whole point, Jason, the early part of Colossians, when it's playing up the idea of how great he is, because he's enough to cure every problem that humanity can come up with. And trust me, we can come up with a lot of problems, a lot of stuff.

Yeah, exactly. So that's why I brought up that point about their love for all the saints. That sounds awesome. But we all know practically when you try to do life with large groups of humans, it becomes very difficult because of all our differences. And so I think then you get into, you know, he kind of highlights who Jesus is here with this beautiful, what a lot of people call like a song or a poem. But then he gets to them maturing and

Because they were, you know, some of the people that were meeting there with all these differences, you know that they were going around with all these different philosophies and the gods and they're under Roman rule and you got this madman Nero in charge. It's still rough over there. Well, exactly. But I'm just saying. You're right. Then he was kind of trying to point them toward maturity.

Because this is going to be very difficult to live this out under these conditions. Yeah. And then there was this idea of falsehood, which he's going to deal with. They were these deceptive philosophies as well. Well, we're out of time. I didn't plan it this way, but thanks to dad, we were talking about the strength of women,

especially in the church and shaping people's lives. And so our next podcast, we have one of our favorite women. I won't tell you who it is yet. You'll have to tune in. But a very successful woman who's never been on the podcast, I don't think. But she's from our family. No, I think she's been on once. Has she?

I'm pretty sure. Okay. Yeah. No, I got the thumbs up. She's been on one. I don't look, my memory is improving. I'm impressed. You must be taking Prevagen. All right. We'll see you next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes,

And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV at blazetv.com slash unashamed.