Ep 976 | Jase Unwittingly Gives His Landscapers Quite a Show & Makes Friends with a Bug Lady
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I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. Jace, I walked in this morning and I was like, and then there was two. They're falling like flies. Speaking of which, I've been battling. My house has turned into just a fly house.

war i'm at war with you and i and i have to agree and and have the same thing i can't stand for one fly to be buzzing around i got my own and i don't know but you're worse than me but that would be bad if you couldn't how are they getting into your house well that's that's what we've been discussing because uh my wife she has this her approach to that is i looked up after i

I literally just went to war because we've had so many people in our house in the last couple of days because we're doing the Miamou event. I guess that's, it starts tonight. This weekend. It starts tonight. So when this is aired, it'll be a week ago probably or a few days, but, uh,

So all these volunteers, we have a couple hundred, a little less than 200 people coming in, kids and their families. And then we have 60, 70 volunteers.

That's a big deal. So, yeah, my house is full, which last night. Now I know how the flies are going to do it because if you're in and out of doors in Louisiana. So the flies, just so you don't know, if you don't live in a place like this, which, by the way, is not fit for human habitation. And yet we live here.

They just wait right at your door. That's what it is. And the minute that door opens, three or four come in, and then they'll only send out one at a time because as soon as you kill one, about five minutes later, here comes another one. That's how it works. Now, we got distracted why it's just two of us, but Zach's dealing with the- The storm, the aftermath. And they've really just turned into now relief work. That's what they're doing. I mean, not just for themselves, but for the whole community. I mean-

Which is amazing what they're doing. So we can't stress him out about not being on our podcast, even though we miss him, but he's doing God's work. Well, it's the principle of when there's chaos and tragedy and natural disasters, whatever you want to put into that category, there are always those who rush to the...

tragic occurrence and take leadership. That's right. And, uh, and that's what they're, you know, that's why we appreciate our first responders, our military, all these things that happen because they become leaders because, I mean, I mean, I've heard illustration of this about leadership. It's like when you wonder who's leading, uh,

If a theater or a building catches on fire and chaos ensues, when the professionals show up, they provide a sense of calm because they're like, here's what we're doing. Leave this door. You know, go and...

These kind of groups or whatever they... And part of it is their training, but it's more than just training because you have people, but it's like a gift, like a human gift that comes in your DNA and your whatever, in your environment. But my point is the church, which is the body of Christ, rushes in...

to these environments. And it goes back to this argument about where is God when these things happen? And I heard some scholars say this one time, and I never forgot it. I've used it a thousand times in Bible studies and conversations. But when you look at Jesus becoming a man, God in human form, and his life ending on earth on a cross, it told you one thing about God right there.

He's not blind to suffering and tragedy. He became a part of it and he did it in love. And so that's,

That's how God designed this. And then we do the same thing in these types of issues as the body of Christ. And when you say that, that's a good point is when you say, where's God in all this? And you look up and there's wave after wave of people showing up to cook, to clean stuff up. It's like, oh, he's showing up. The Holy Spirit has now led these people to come into these areas. And Zach made such a good point when he was on the last time we had him on when he could get out.

He said that the kingdom of God is so much more nimble at helping people than any centralized, whether it's any governmental deals or whatever. And he's right because it's nimble because it's people driven to help people instead of just an entity or an institution or whatever. You know, I thought it was a good point. That's right. And so Phil, he hurt his back again.

And he came the last couple of pikes. He's really been a trooper. He's been trying hard. But this back, you know, he had the accident, what, a year ago? Is it a year, a year and a half? It's been at least a year, a year and a half maybe. He tried to pick up a boat. Two years, Matt, he said. Two years ago that weighed one ton and Phil weighed 190 pounds. Maybe. And is, you know, in his late 70s. So it was a bad move. Wound up breaking his back.

And they did a procedure and then he broke it again. Yeah, because what happens is, as people with back problems, I'm sure know that listen to the podcast.

The way the back works, once you fix one area of it, then you begin to mess with all the rest of the areas because they're all linked. So he's having issues with that. He's got a lot of nerve problems, and he's really in a lot of pain. And he looked terrible today. I felt so bad for him. Look, I stopped by there because I always take him some Chick-fil-A and Ann's in town, and he just looked so terrible. And I said –

Dad, are you okay? And he said, I don't know. This is the worst thing I've ever been through. But he was like walking over to get his Bible. He could barely even walk. I said, Dad, it's okay. Me and Jason will handle it today. Take the day off. Take the day off. Get some rest. He's got a little procedure coming up that's hopefully going to help him. So keep him in your prayers because he is really suffering. But Dad...

Has the highest pain threshold of anybody other than maybe our grandpa had when he was alive. And so for him to be in this much pain and letting you know that, it's not even fit for mere mortals. Because dad is, I mean, he has a high pain threshold. I don't even think he took antibiotics or used any kind of deadening products.

For anything till. No, I mean, he's had like minor surgeries and not had anesthesia. That's how high his pain is. He's like, I ain't taking anything for, you know, a few minutes. So to circle back to my fly story, I look up a couple hours later. That's not something you hear on the podcast every day, Matty. I'm circling back to my fly story. Well, because I had an incredible experience.

Do you kill them with the fly swatter or are you with the salt gun? Whatever means necessary. I mean, I have a fly swatter. I like a fly swatter. I do too because it's more of a personal, like I can, you know, I'm good at it. But you get into some situations because what they do, they come back, you know, and so then I just, I get my hat and I start timing the circle. And I said, I'm one.

You get it to about five seconds. And so I anticipate. So I was telling Missy this story.

which is what led to what I'm fixing to tell you. And so I'm 1,001, 1,002, and I anticipated, and I just swung my hat, and I felt it and heard it. Whop! And I thought, what? So you didn't wait for him to light. You got him on a fly. I got him on a blunt because he kept coming in the same place every five seconds. He wouldn't land. He was coming off my right shoulder, and I didn't want to move and mess up his little –

Whatever he was doing, the marathon for flies. So I popped him. Well, then I saw him. He was addled. So then when I went over, I grabbed a paper towel because I was just going to grab him. Because I don't leave the dead flies around. But as I went to get him, he like, here he goes off again.

And so then I dropped the paper towel, got my hat and threw it and popped him. Now I'm on my hands and knees. I grabbed the napkin. I get him. And I was like, man, what? That's the greatest fly kill ever. So immediately, you know how I am. I had to look for somebody. No, I had to look for somebody to tell. Well, the only person there was Missy.

And she never changed facial expressions during the whole story. And she's like, why would you tell me that? And I said, because it was an incredible story. I can appreciate it, James. I'm glad you told me. She hates flies. So look, an hour later, a pest control person, a woman, pulls up. And I'm like,

I thought y'all just came, you know, and she's like, well, your wife called because, you know, the fly. I heard you got an outbreak of fly. I was like, no, it wasn't an outbreak. They're just doing what they do. I was like...

There's an occasional fly getting in. So I told her the story, but then me and her start getting into why there's been more flies this year, which was a very interesting conversation. Oh, because she had some knowledge of that. Oh, yeah. This woman, I could tell, she wanted to run up on somebody like me. And let's break it down. Because you were interested. Yeah, exactly. I would be too. So she had lots of ideas, and she wound up leaving me a little bag of

of bait to put on the outside garbage cans, which is what she's like, you know, I think in your situation, they're coming to the garbage can. Cause when does your garbage come, you know, or picked up? It's like, well, cause it's, it's hot here. Yeah. Right. And I was like, I have a lot of people over a lot of smelly and they get there and then they, it's pretty close to the door. I think to move the garbage cans further away. You're coming up with a game plan. Oh, we're getting the game plan. Which by the way, I've never.

seen a woman pest person. I was kind of surprised. She's the first one you've ever said. And I mean, and I don't know why that is, but I'm glad it sounds like she's, she broke down every critter. Cause you know, I told her about the, the time I had the, uh,

The critter get in my ear. The earwig. The earwig. They say it doesn't get in your ear, even though it's called an earwig. Exactly. That was a myth, they said. Which was a lie. I told her I'd been seeing more earwigs just in the outside areas, and so she started breaking down the environment of which, you know, that promote more earwigs. So I found the conversation interesting.

Fascinating. But it just told me that when it comes to humanity, it takes all types. I literally had an insect expert. Yeah. And so we probably spent 30 minutes breaking down how we can make our house. I was really wondering what she was going to come up with because, you know, I always use the old wives tales. Remember they say you put a...

a baggie full of water and you put it above your door. Yeah. Somehow they wouldn't go through that, but that's not true. No, I asked her about that. She's like, no, that's a, that's a myth. Yeah. So anyway, I wound up going and thanking my wife, uh, for doing that. And I was trying to tell her about some of the conversations we had so I could remember. Yeah.

She's like, babe, I'm really starting to worry about you. She thought I was having like a midlife crisis over this fly. I was like, babe, it was a spectacular, you know? So anyway, so yesterday I had something happen before we get into Colossians. Uh, you know, I'm, I'm a treasure hunter.

I have a show about treasure hunting. It taught me how to do it. And, uh, I'm sponsored by Garrett, which they make metal detectors and I have my name on, on one. So, and I post from time to time, you know, we have an arrangement. So Missy's like, well, you know, you've been so busy lately. I mean, when you get a chance, I need some stuff to post, you know? So that's,

When I hear that, it's like, oh, I need to go treasure hunting. But we've been so busy. We have the Me and Moo thing. We've done a lot of podcasts and various other things.

So I was like, well, I'm going to go out there where I found that Spanish coin on my property that I've hunted hundreds of times. And then a few podcasts later, I told you, I went back out there. I found two more Indian. It's like they're just keep coming up. I go out there yesterday thinking, maybe if I just find one thing, we'll do a little picture. You know, I'll have one hour to do it.

So I go out there in the same spot where the holes are. There's a cypress tree in my front yard. It's just right there. Well, there's a lot of iron in there.

And so then I had an idea. I thought, you know what? Some of this iron is shallow and I can tell that it's just like maybe a piece of a hoe or maybe an axe head because it's a bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. But I don't want to dig it up because I know it's a big piece of iron. Right. But I thought, well, I'll just dig that up and maybe there's something in or around. Because it could, I see now because I'm not an expert in this.

I guess it's safe to say when we can, when we support businesses, we buy things, we like to do that with companies that support kind of what we support, what we like, right? In a perfect world, which we're way away from. I'm sure we'll ever get there on this side of heaven.

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It could also block something else. That's right. It becomes a blocker. All right, I got it, I got it. And I just thought maybe. And so I started digging up. I literally started digging up every signal. And I probably dug up three or four pieces of iron. And one of them was an old hole, which I found. It was kind of cool, even though it was just a big metal piece of iron.

And I was digging all the nails out of each hole. Cause you can put your pinpointer down the old nails. Some of them are huge. Their nails were way bigger. So you think nail, you're thinking little, these are like huge, big blocks. Like spikes. Almost like that. So, I mean, I had my whole bag full of this stuff in the first 30 minutes.

And then I felt like that was a lot of stuff. And so I kind of reset myself and I started going through the same area. Well, I get a signal that I thought, hmm, I dig it up. It's a, it's another Indian head, 1895. I'm like, well, here we go. I'm taking pictures, you know? And I was like, I got my picture.

But now it's excitement. That's what this does. I get another signal that was a weird signal, and I actually thought it was iron. I dug it up. It was a buffalo nickel. I was like, okay, well, I got two coins, you know, and that's something. Well, I get another signal, and I'm not moving. I'm five feet just going round and round where I dug up all the iron, and I dig up a 1919 wheat penny.

which is just looks like a regular penny. But this thing was like glowing green. It had a coat of patina around it. Well, now I'm getting giddy because I got three coins and this theory I had is actually working because I know there's good stuff here. I just needed to remove the iron. Then all of a sudden when I took some pictures, I turned around and said, I'm going to head home. My detector goes off and I immediately, I thought, this is a silver coin.

It was just as clear. And there's holes all around where I'm getting this signal. So I started getting like giddy. I said, I know this is a signal. Was it fly giddy or was it? This is way beyond the fly giddy. Okay. I'm just trying to get your giddiness on a scale. I dig this hole and turn it around. I check where the hole that's left and nothing there. And I was like, oh, it's in the pot. It wasn't even that deep.

And when I put it over my main metal detector, it was just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. I was like, I know this is a silver coin, but I couldn't see it. So I reached in there where the sound was coming from and just got a handful of dirt. And when I looked in my hand, I could see it. Huge, big silver quarter. And it was a walking Liberty.

So they only made the walk in Liberty from 1916 to 1930. So even though it's not that old as far, I mean, it's solid silver coin. It's a hundred years old. Well, and I'm saying though,

When you find stuff in the 1800s, it's more exciting, but the walk in Liberty is kind of rare because you only have a 15 year period. And this one, the reason I'm telling you this, it didn't have the date on it, which is famous for them. It's in spectacular condition.

And so I'm taking pictures of this. Do you know why they call it walking liberty? What was the. You'll see when I show you the picture. It's fascinating because it's Lady Liberty. Yeah. Walking. Ah. Look, I found so many. Of course, this story. You didn't have any problem with the post. Look, there it is.

So that's her walking. And across of it, you can't see. Oh, they're fantastic. This thing is in mint condition. Well, you would think it's in mint condition, but you can't see the date because at the bottom, the date was always raised. Oh, and that little piece underneath it. It's the first thing to leave. Yeah, right. But it does look like it's in mint condition for finding it in the ground. And look at the In God We Trust. I love the In God We Trust.

Uh, the way it looks, cause it's raised to God. We trust with the stars and, uh, and look, look, look at the back of it. Oh, wow. So yeah, you'll be looking at this, but it's like a Eagle flying. So the, yeah, I mean, the cool thing is it's almost like it was, the idea was an active coin. Cause yeah.

Lady Liberty's walking, the eagle's flying. Oh, it's spectacular. I've only found one or two, I think just one before this. And this was in my yard where I've hunted hundreds of times. So look, now I'm like off the charts excited. I'm howling to the skies and no one. And I literally put that in my pocket and I thought, let me just check the pod.

to make sure there wasn't something else. Ha ha. I was like, there's another silver coin in the same pod. So that was a mercury dime. I'll show you the picture of that. There it is. 1920. Oh, wow. So it's got the date on it. Yeah. I mean, can you believe it? It's unbelievable. Put that in my pocket. Take two steps.

Goes off again, and I dig up another silver, which was a 1912 Barber silver dime. That's amazing. They're just all right. It's like somebody just dumped it in the- It's like they dumped it, and the iron was masking it the whole time. It was in my yard the whole time. I could have done a whole episode on this, and I'm gallivanting all over. If only you had a show, Jase.

And so all I got was some fantastic pictures. I hope it was an epic pose for Garrett. Oh, it's going to be epic. So that's what's funny, is it's hard to take pictures of yourself with all these coins. Yeah, it's the ultimate selfie. So look, I literally, I thought about Phil yesterday.

Because I actually got a cramp in my back and was rolling around on the ground during all this, which is then when I realized I thought I was alone the whole time. Somebody was watching. The people who were fixing to mow my yard, there was a whole team of them.

Because they had pulled up, but I had my earphones on and I didn't realize it. And you're running around. I'm running around, rolling around on the ground. And when I looked up, they were standing there looking at me with grins on their faces. But I think they were thinking, what is he doing?

You know, they were thinking, this guy is insane. So look, do you realize how hard it is to lay down like that and show the coins and take a picture of yourself? No, I've never done it before, dude. Yeah, gave me a cramp in the back. So anyway, I had to share that because it just made me, one, realize the spiritual application I've used many times because we're going to get into this in Colossians when he compares...

you know, the treasures that are hidden in Christ. And it's way more exciting than anything

I'm finding some old coins. And to me, it was thrilling because it's my yard. Oh, yeah. And they're valuable coins. I mean, they're not, you know, nothing life-changing here. But, I mean, valuable coins, but it being in my yard. And there's a reason he uses that analogy. And I think back to Luke 15 and that story. I mean, it causes joy. Yeah. And this is lost. It's never going to be found unless somebody does a lot of work. That's right. And gets really lucky. Right. Yeah.

And you've said this before, that the idea is it's always been there, but the blessing of it doesn't come until you find it.

And so when you think about that on a spiritual scale, I mean, that's, that's pretty, that's a pretty big idea. In other words, it's always been there, but until you tap into it, you can't, it can't fulfill what it was meant to do. And you could say the same thing with spiritual gifts or anything else. This is, which is why it's just, it never ends. Now I'm thinking, and I'm sure you've thought this is like, what else is there? Oh, as soon as we finish this today, we're,

Because I didn't want to leave. No. But I had to because we were meeting all the volunteers and getting all the stuff. So I was like, I got to go. And Missy, so I was sending her all the pictures. Well, they just kept coming.

So after a while, she said, you're getting really good at this. Because she was thinking, you've hunted here hundreds of times. How are you finding all this so quickly? So she was excited about that. As much as she didn't like the fly story, she liked the pictures of the dog. That's another spiritual application, Jay, is about this idea of masking, that something could –

could mask something good. Not that it wasn't necessarily bad, like you said. I mean, it's kind of interesting. It was a hoe or a head or whatever. Yeah. But that there's something much more valuable behind... Oh, no. Most of this was junk. Yeah, the junk is masking... The real blessing. The real value. And I think that's just the reason...

The Lord used that as an analogy. When he said he came to seek and to save the lost and told these illustrations, I mean, that's what he does. He plucks us out of the mire of the world with all this chaos. And it really is the style of what Jesus did while he was on earth. He made the same observations you're making. He just had these guys, and he's trying to teach them because he knows he's fixing to be gone.

And they've got to carry this on. And so he's just looking around. He's like, you know, it's like a field. And then he just tells a story. Yeah. And they're sitting there thinking, huh. And then he's making all these deeper truths. And he says, look, I'm here. You got me right now. I won't always be here. Yeah. You know, you're going to need this one day. But they didn't understand it until he was gone, which is pretty amazing. You know, we've got a merchandise store. And merchandise is one of the best ways to get the word out.

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Well, if you want to get into Colossians, I mean, I think this initial couple of paragraphs is a real good summation like we did a podcast a few ago. Yeah. Because he just immediately gets to the gospel. I mean, he said he's praying for him. He's heard about him.

Do you want to read that first paragraph? Yeah, let me do that little first paragraph again, because we've kind of done little sections at a time. And there were a couple of things that I missed when we were kind of laying out the overview I wanted to mention anyway. And so it says in verse 3, we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith, which, Jay, as you made the point a couple of times, that Paul had never been here.

Which I find fascinating. Yeah, me too. And he's only heard about it because of the people, Epaphras and probably Philemon. And we pray for you because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints, the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel. So I like that. I didn't bring this up before, but

you notice that Paul uses that same framing of faith, hope, and love as a trio. And I just found that fascinating because he did a whole chapter on it in 1 Corinthians 13 when he said, out of the three, love is the best, which is kind of interesting. But he does that again here. This gospel that has come to you. All over the world, this gospel is bearing fruit and growing.

Just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace and all its truth. Now, I will say this about that. You know, these people, back in this day, you didn't travel too far from where you were because it's too hard to get anyplace. You know, you had to walk.

And so I'm sure of them getting a message that the stuff they were into was going all over the world was pretty exciting. Yeah. I mean, because they wouldn't have known otherwise. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf. So he's the one that started the church there and who also told us of your love in the spirit. So it works both ways. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you.

and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord, and may please Him in every way.

Now, them bearing fruit, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully give thanks to the Father who has qualified you, interesting term,

to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light, where he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. Yeah, it's an awesome section. One thing I thought we didn't mention is, because when you hear about this guy, Epaphras, just in my study,

Someone brought this out, and I think it was a very good point. If you go back to Acts 19, when Paul was in Ephesus, because you think, where did guys like Epaphras come from? And Paul, I'll just read this. This is 19, 8 through 10, because he really had a makeshift Bible school. Yeah. The school of, how do you say his name? Tyrannus? Yeah. Yeah.

I think it's the only time he's ever mentioned. Yeah, I think I did a pretty good job of it. Yeah, that's it. But I'll just read this. It says, Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God, which is what he just mentioned here in this letter as far as their identities. He has qualified you and brought you into the kingdom of his son. Yeah.

In verse 9 of Acts 19 says, but some of them became obstinate. They refused to believe and publicly maligned the way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

This went on for two years so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. Which ironically, Jace, was the same amount of time you and I. Well, I think they made that point when we were at the school. Yeah. They brought this up. Because they were doing it every day. And it's just like us.

Every day for two years is a long time. Well, there's one, I think it's the, you can check me on this. I'm 99% sure this is true. But in the ESV version of the Bible, there's a notation here. And when it says daily, it says it's like every four hours. Most scholars think that it was like 10 p.m.,

I think 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., which is a weird time. Probably because they had to work, right? Yeah, but some people say...

that it was 11 to four during the day. Yeah. But he was there every day at an odd hour is my point. Right. An odd few hours, which is where they get that. Because when I was reading that in some theological book and I was like, how do they know he was doing this five hours a day? Right. And I think it's a notation in the ESV. You can check me out on that. I'm going to check it later. But I think it's interesting because Paul had planted that seed

with these guys every day so when you read this phrase in colossians 1 when he's talking about and a lot like ephesians 1 when he says i want you to know christ better yep you're not gonna grow and mature accidentally right it's not and and you know i'm all for altar calls because some people in the power of conversion even we're talking about this treasure you know

We're lost and we're found. You hear the story of Jesus and these conversion stories are awesome. But what he's addressing is this growth and training and teaching and getting rid of the baggage. And that's what happened for two years. Just think about how many Bible studies happened.

That day. Right. This was purposeful. So here's what it says. Some manuscripts add from the fifth hour to the 10th, that is 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Okay. But I think the part I read is there was some debate about that. Yeah. Whether it was... Could have been at night. Yeah. But either way, the point is, it was... I mean, this was a five-hour daily Bible study for two years. Yeah. But the reason I'm making a big point out of this is because I think when you... We tend to think, oh, these are...

Books about doctrine. Right. These were real people that Paul had, I mean, when you go back to the book of Acts and Jesus said, you'll be my witnesses, the Holy Spirit's going to come on you. You know, Peter gets up.

Preaches the first sermon, the Holy Spirit's made available. There's people coming to Christ. Then Paul comes in after he's killing the Christians. I mean, this whole story, this movement started and some of the little bitty details of it that we kind of sweep under the rug. That two years of him training young men and women with the gospel was bearing fruit because here's this guy, Epaphras, that says, hey,

I went down to a little place called Colossae, and it's rolling. So now you have this whole letter that we get all the benefits of, of seeing who Jesus is. A lot of this is about growth and maturity and watching what you put in your brain because he challenges some of the things they were struggling with, which is not unlike what we deal with.

It's a really good point, Jay, is that the idea, I love the idea that to bear fruit is to allow something to do what it does naturally because a tree bears fruit or a plant because that's what it was made for. It's the same with us. But we all know that it doesn't reach maximum bearing fruit capacity unless a lot goes into it. Exactly. The pruning, you know, Jesus talked about that a lot in John 13, John 15, the idea that all that has to happen is so...

I'm just sitting here thinking about all the people dedicated to listen to this podcast because we do the podcast. So obviously we're dedicated to present it to you guys. But when you guys tell me when I go someplace that you're listening to,

to us for four hours a week. Yeah. And along with living your life and doing everything else, I'm always impressed because I was like, man, who has time to do that? But people that want to bear fruit and grow and study God's word, so I get it. Well, that's why I'm kind of telling this. It takes time. And he gives this beautiful portrait of Jesus in the next section, but he seems to be, number one,

kind of addressing their identity because he calls them holy and faithful and saints and part of the kingdom of the Son, the body of Christ, which he'll get to. And then he's also, you know, just when you start thinking about how he's viewing this,

we all as human beings want to do what's right. And when he starts addressing all the problems that are coming in amongst them and all the persecution that they're receiving, and part of it is this kind of Jewish legalism. He deals with that in chapter two, this rule-oriented thing. And then you got to remember the backdrop of this. The backdrop of this is there's all these other gods in the city,

They're under Roman rule. Well, these gods, and he addresses it. I did a lot of study on this, and we'll get to. They're made up gods. There's only one true living God, and that's us. We're known by him. And so I think he's trying to get them to hang in there, kind of realize who they are, realize that Jesus is Lord of all, King of all, and he kind of gives his reasoning in this beautiful way.

uh, poem or song, you know, in 15 through really 21. But I, what I was going to say is I heard this, uh, preacher that John Tyson, he was preaching a sermon and he came from a real kind of Pentecostal background, but like, and he described it in that he was doing an illustration because he was doing a sermon on, uh,

Where is that where it says, I want you to, Colossians 1.28, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. Yeah. And he said, I came from a group that was just on fire, you know, and it was all kind of short term. Did you rile the crowd up and you get them to respond? And he was like, now look, I'm all for altar calls. Don't get me wrong. But he said, I remember that.

As I look back on it, he said, we had a pastor there that when the people would come down, he would like put his hand on their forehead and he would say, never the same again. He said he would go to the next one. Never the same again. Never the same again. So he said, when I look back on that now, and as I've matured myself and realized that this is deeper, this is long term, this is...

Going through struggles and kind of like what we talked about when tragedies happen, God sends us in as a church. And he's like, I think back to how are you going to convince a pastor in the moment to put his hand on somebody and say 20 years of struggle and growth and all kinds of problems. Well, nobody wants to hear that in the moment. But I thought it was a fascinating moment.

uh illustration about when he was young because i look back when i first came to the car came to cry i was the same way i mean it took a while but then i was like why are we not on fire what's the problem and the bottom line is you know people have a lot of baggage yep they've they've gotten into things that have uh affected their thinking and their mentality and it it

like the iron does it with treasure, you know, it keeps them from being open-minded on the simple story of Christ. Plus everybody, Jace, is a work in progress. So it's impossible for everybody to be at the same level at all times when you're talking about the kingdom of God. So when you go in and you're with a group of people, I mean, there's people that all, some people just got in, they just found out about this. Whereas the other guy over there, maybe they've been there 50 years,

and have been a blessing, but they're going to be totally different and look at it a different way. The way you kind of described it is like hype and hype is, is not a bad thing. Like when you, when you watch a football game, you're watching a bunch of young football players that have been hyped up for that moment because we got to get out of here. We got three hours to prove we're the best. And we talked about this, the difference in transactional versus transformational, what you're trying to get them to do is act like you've been here, but,

there's always that thing about we got to hype them up to get them into that moment. And so I think that carries over a lot of times into churches because it's like, well, man, we got to have a full hype fest every time. But it's really, and I'm not against excitement, but at the same time, man, over the long haul, it's not near as exciting when people are just cooking food for people that have just gone through a disaster. But man, that's the kind of stuff when I see a video like that, that gets me going because I said, these people just drove all the way to North Carolina to help other people.

Well, the point I wanted to make on this first section, you know, when he says we always thank God, our Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we've heard about your faith in Christ, the love you have for all the saints, faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven, and that you've already heard about in the word of truth.

The gospel that has come to you all over the world, this gospel is bearing fruit and growing just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace and all its truth, which then he gave the point that you learned it from Epaphras, our fellow dear servant. And I think a lot of people think church turns into when you hear the gospel and you respond, well, it's over, you're in.

And it just seems to stay right there, which is the reason he's going back to that is it's always the power. It's always good news, I guess. And a good question to ask is why is it good news? And I think you see that in the amount of Bible studies you have. People have a picture of the church.

in a lot of areas where it seems not very joyous, not very hopeful, not very loving. Because I think we tend to put maturity first.

into, well, if you've been a Christian for 20 years, that means you're mature. But maturity doesn't come with just time because some of the grumpiest people I know have been Christians for years. And they're doing a lot of things. A lot of people think, well, if I do a lot of stuff, that means I got it figured out. No, there's something about keeping the story of Jesus alive

at the forefront and the focus that rekindles your fire on a daily basis. That's why when he gets into the part about knowledge, one of the deceptive philosophies that were being introduced that were hollow was based on this Gnosticism, this mystery and knowledge that only a select few find out. And it's kind of like an intellectual view of,

Like if you can figure out the secret. Right. And it made me think of that 1 Corinthians 8 verse,

which he really gets into the situation, what's going on here. Cause you got to think about their system back then was you have the gods and basically the gods could be anything, but it's all, if everything's going good with the gods must be pleased, but you can't find security in that because us as humans, there's, they're, they're not real. And look at the way that they took it days. When you look at all these different gods and what they represented, they were all human characteristics. Right.

You know, it's the god of power and the god of the water and the, you know, Achilles had the speed. Everybody's got, it's like superheroes. Like, we got to have a bunch of superheroes because they all represent a different version of ourselves. When you think about that, how...

humanism works. That's what they were doing. Humanism way back there. Exactly. I actually studied that last night. Cause when we get to Colossians two, there's a phrase and I, I went down the rabbit hole of looking at it when it says, uh, the elemental forces of the world. Let me see where that's it. Uh, verse 20 of chapter two,

Well, that says the basic principles of the world, but there's somewhere else that says the elemental. It says the same thing in verse 8, too. Oh, that's it. That's it. So 2.8 says, See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of the world. And some translation says elemental principles.

or forces of the world. So when I looked at that, that's why I wanted to bring up this 1 Corinthians 8, 1. It says, now about food sacrificed to idols, we know that we all possess knowledge. Well, here this knowledge comes up again. And he says, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something knows.

does not yet know as he ought to know, which is a confusing sentence. But the next verse kind of clarifies that. It says, but the man who loves God is known by God. And you say, well, what's his point? He's fixed to explain it. Well, all these other gods are not real. They don't know you. That's right.

So the living true God knows you. Well, there is the big difference. And that's why this is more relational than the amount of information that you have in your mind or trying to look at a situation and say, well, a hurricane came.

Somebody must have done something wrong. The gods are angry. Yeah. Somebody's guilty. Yeah. And so he goes on to say, and to clarify this, so then about eating food sacrificed to idols, this is verse four of 1 Corinthians 8.

We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and there's no God but one. They're just made up. So it makes you think everyone has a God or a system that they put their faith and trust in. That's right. And they're all nothing or worthless besides the true living God because they don't know you. Right.

There's the difference. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there's but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live. And there's but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

Which is going to be a pattern that you're going to see in Colossians 1 because Christ was creator of all things and he's sustainer and...

whatever word you want to use for when he came back from the dead, he can't die. Right. So he can extend your life forever. Well, no other God promises that. And you really won't love what you don't know. Exactly. Which is what makes love better. So I want to read this Galatians 4 because, look, you're going to see the same identical theme. You remember when he said,

We've all become sons through our faith in the Lord Jesus. We were baptized into Christ. Well, then he starts talking about being an heir as a son. Yep.

Well, when he gets to verse 8, he goes through the same idea about speaking of these elemental forces of the world. He says, formally, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. He brings up these made-up gods again. But now that you know God or...

or rather are known by God. It's the same phrase he used in 1 Corinthians 8. He's like, these other gods don't know you. They're not for you. There's no security in that. So think about their condition under Rome. What's the problem here? Well, the Caesar...

The Nero, he's a flawed human being. Yeah. Do you think you're actually going to get security by him or whatever gods he says we're following? Right. It's a rule-oriented system. And the crazier that they got, the crazier everybody's life got. Exactly. So then it goes on to say, or rather, you're known by God. How is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Mm-hmm.

And that's what those elemental forces of the world represent. Like you said, the earth, fire, wind, whatever happens, circumstances. Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you that somehow I've wasted my efforts on you.

I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. Verse 13, as you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel. We struggle in life, and we find that as a way to grow in our faith and be dependent on God, because God is speaking through us, is my point. So verse 14,

So verse 15, what has happened to all your joy? I can testify that if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us so that you may be zealous for them. It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so ungrateful

Wow. So I read all that to say...

Knowing Christ, he was saying, I want Christ to be formed in you. And that's the goal, I think, in his letter to Colossae is get back to Jesus. This is a process where he's formed in you and you become Christ. So think about when he says in Colossians 3, when he says,

Since you've been raised with Christ, set your mind on things above. And then it says where Christ is seated, who is your life? Yeah, I love it. And takes us back to Ephesians 2, that you may know him better, which I believe now that's what the whole book was about. All right, Jace, we're out of time. Just...

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