Ep 1000 | How Phil Shaped Thousands of Lives for Jesus
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I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome to Unashamed. I guess if we don't have our buttons, we needed some cheering and clapping and some background noise. It's a big day. That was the stage we went through, Al. The buttons and the cheering. We're all at different locations.

So, Jace, you have a different, for the 1,000th podcast of the Unashamed podcast, you have a, looks like you've moved into a cave maybe? Are you in an undisclosed location? Where are you? You need to work on your marketing. That wasn't a very good declaration of our 1,000th episode. You're the one that always, every time you're like, it's just a number, no big deal. Well, here's the difference. 1,000?

There's a lot. In any setting. A thousand? So happy 1,000th episode. That is big. Unashamed Nation. So it's been bumpy. We actually...

Oh, wow. That was impressive. Where did that come from? Well, look, I'm in Sadie's studio just to show you how bumpy this has been. You must be in a small corner of it because I've been in her studio and it's pretty impressive. Well, let me just start off with this. This is the first time I've been here. I actually did the last 999 here, but I got lost.

In the studio. This is not a little cubicle. There's different areas. They have a couch where she does hers, but now this is a different place, and it's dark everywhere around, so I really don't know where I'm at. But it's been bumpy. I actually talked to Phil this morning, and it was not a planned phone call. He called me this morning.

Oh, really? And so I have a Phil update. And because he was like, where are you at? I said, I'm in my truck. He's like, what are you doing? I was like, I'm driving to do the podcast. Are you coming? He went, no. So of course we're up at Duck Commander because we usually do it out at Phil's. But the backstory on that and the reason he called me

He was like, Jace, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to duck hunt much because for you out there who do not duck hunt, we are really at the door of duck season here. It's coming. Yeah, we're just a couple days away. And I think what's ironic about this is we've done our 1,000th podcast here today, but it's right in the spirit of my physical new birth.

So every year since I've been eight years old, I've gone through a nine-month process of life. And then I'm reborn via duck season. Zach didn't even get that. So look, there's two stages of life as a duck hunter. You're getting ready to duck hunt, which is nine months. Don't you find this ironic? And then all of a sudden, you duck hunt for three months. So technically...

You see where I got that idea? That's borderline idolatrous, but I see where you're going with it. No, because, now look, would y'all all agree that I work hard? I'm a hard worker. Would y'all agree? I have calluses on my hands and arthritis in my joints from all the duck calls that I've made. I'm a hard worker. And you know why I did that? Because I knew that when duck season came, there'd be no more building duck calls.

Oh, no, I get to go enjoy the products that I'm bringing to the world. So it's literally like in a work environment. It was my rebirth process. Now, the early years, it was more of school. I was like, because my dad was like, OK, save your sick days and I'll let you use them for duck fever. And I did that every year.

So I would be gone. You know how you get two weeks off for the Christmas holidays? Yeah. Well, I got a whole month off. And my parents would sign.

that I had a fever. I think I'm starting to see why Jason succeeded in college. He didn't get past that first aid and go. He had duck fever. I had duck fever. It is a condition for duck hunters. So my, here's my dad worried. And I just want to kind of give a public service announcement. Obviously he hasn't been with us for, I don't know how many podcasts, but in our time, a few weeks,

And the reason we haven't really said much is because we've had trouble diagnosing what exactly the problem is besides getting old. We thought it was all about his back. He had his third back surgery and he's actually, as of today, he said, for the first time I woke up today and my back didn't hurt. So I thought, awesome, but he's still hurting. And so he has been poked and prodded for the last,

four or five weeks, almost on a daily basis with quite an array of doctors. And at the same time that he's worsening physically, and what I mean by that, he's lost an incredible amount of weight and he's just struggling. He's trying to eat. I mean, we got him drinking milkshakes and everything we can do, but there's a problem. We all believe. And so, but we can't figure out exactly what that is.

So he's struggling physically, but he's also struggling a little bit mentally. Most days he's fine, but some days he just kind of checks out and we're not real sure what he's talking about. So we're trying to figure out what that is. And dealing with my dad is especially difficult because he does not like to leave his little compound. So every time he has to go see a doctor,

Uh, let's see. Let's just say it can be a bit challenging for those driving. And you're like, nah, I'll be all right. Resurrection's coming. You know, that kind of mentality. So we're working on it. Uh, he's open about it, but him even calling me, I think saying, I don't know how much I'm going to duck on. He was worried about that. And I was like, well, Phil, you're at a stage of your life. I was like, if you just want to come with us and wave, uh,

We'll make that happen, but if you don't fill up for it, you know, but he said, well, when you come down to scout, cause I'm going to scout the next three days, we just got a big rain. So rain makes little lakes, lakes, bring in the ducks. Wasn't there a song about that? I think that was, no, that was Luke Bryan. He was saying rain makes corn and corn makes whiskey. So I went in a different direction there.

but on the spiritual side, water brings ducks and we have the food. And so I'll, I'll take him around, you know, a little bit, but that's the fill report. I hate that. Let me add a couple of things to that. Jay's one is, and I don't know that he'll hear this, but I just want to say thank you to Dan. We talk a lot about Dan on the podcast. He's kind of dad's right hand man. And he's really taken over, uh,

You know, just making sure dad gets his meds and his, you know, stuff he needs to drink and taking him to his doctor's appointment. That's not, as Jace mentioned, that's not always easy because dad is kind of a reluctant patient. Yeah. It's a nice way to put it. So I just want to thank Dan publicly for that. And he's a great guy. And also, I want to just say that dad also, you know, the last time I talked to him, he was like, you know, I just, I feel bad. I hadn't been on these podcasts, but I'm just not up for it. And I said, dad, look,

you trained us, you know, we are your living legacy. Me and Jace and Zach and everybody else that sat at his feet. And so I said, you trained us to step in

and do what we do on the podcast and share the word of God and lead people to Christ. So I said, you are on the podcast. I realize you're not physically on our set, but every time we break out the word of God, you're trust me, dad, you're, you're living in us by what you taught. So, you know, and I was trying to encourage him because that's what legacy is all about. And that's why, look, he said it many, many times. You've heard him on a shame nation. He said the resurrection looms large and it waits for all of us because

because that's the way we're all going to go. So while we're here, we try to have the biggest impact that we can. So we're unsure about where it's going to go with dad, but just remember this, as long as we're here sharing the word of God, dad is always going to be a part of that process. True, and we're praying and we want you to pray. But I will say this, we're not stressed out and worried like the rest of men to trigger that verse that says, we don't grieve like the rest of men who have no hope.

Yeah. Uh, you know, Phil is, is it is what it is. And we're doing everything possible earthly and heavenly, you know, to try to get him to, you know, to be where he was. And, uh,

But it's just been difficult. And the reason we haven't really said anything, because we really don't know what the problem is. And it's definitely not from a lack of looking. So that is the plan. And we'll see how duck season goes. I'm hoping I did that little illustration because, I mean, I sensed a spark in him today because he's excited because duck season is here, even though he's disappointed that he's like, I'm not sure I'm physically and mentally ready.

able to deal with what he calls duck season from my mom's perspective the ordeal but he did say that today he said i'm not sure i'm ready to deal with the ordeal and i was like well phil we'll we'll take care of you and so don't worry because i didn't want him to worry about it he was i think he was like look if you're expecting a whole lot out of me

Don't, don't plan on that. I was like, no, I'm coming down there after the podcast, I'll do the scouting and the blind brushing and get everything ready. Well, and part of that's that fierce independence that he put in us to Jay's noticed a few years ago, the first time dad started having a few issues, uh,

uh that uh you know it was like the first time he couldn't pull that motor he said jay's you know start this motor for me we began to see that shift in that transition so again that's part of what it's about but look we just want to give you an update thanks jay's for doing that because today is really your day unashamed nation because

A thousand episodes, as Jay said, of anything is a lot. And you guys have grown with us both numerically. I don't know where we are, Zach, on people, but it's a lot of people that subscribe, that download. And again, we're grateful because you can't teach if someone's not willing to listen. And so, you know, that's what we love to do. And I look back, I was trying to find the notes from the very first podcast.

And I didn't find the exact notes, but I did find the date that we did the first three podcasts. And of course, Zach wasn't with us early. I don't remember Zach. Do you remember when you came in and started kind of being more of a regular? Zach was like the Gentiles. He, he, he,

We grafted him in, you know, because he just let's just face it. He's just different. But you represent a group of people out there who really appreciate it. Look, I'll say that you've moved into the top 10 comments I get when I go out into the public, which I've been a lot here lately.

You're in the top 10, and here's the statement they say. They say, I think you need to go a little easier on Zach. Jace pushed me to start my own podcast. And you have. That's our first spinoff. We've got a spinoff, though. But truthfully, though, I mean, you've got to understand that Jace is not too hard on me. This is our love language. And so...

This is how we interact. Well, we're trying to show you to the world has gotten so sensitive that people can't even disagree about anything. And, you know, you can learn a lot by challenging ideas. I mean, the Bible is a big book, even though it has one central theme, who is a person, Jesus, which we focus on. And we all agree on that.

But, you know, I think some of the things I've changed my mind on happen as a result of, you know, one month long, intense discussions about different things. Well, and we all talked about how that's played into our speaking in other places.

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So the first day, Jace, November 2nd, 2018. So it was six years ago. So what is today? Almost to the date. Yeah. Cause we're in, um, 20. Is it, what year is this? 24? We're in 24. I was kidding.

Have we been doing this six years? Six years. Wow. It started six years ago. I keep telling people four and a half years. I guess I've been doing that for a year and a half. Yeah, six years. Oh, we've moved up to six years. So you want to guess what our first 15 episodes, according to my notes, and I'm a pretty good note taker. I think we actually started in Genesis. No, we actually started there after the first 15. The first 15 episodes were the gospel.

That's how we started. The gospel of Jesus. Okay. The gospel of Jesus. And the very first podcast was an intro to good versus evil and God and Satan. That's where we began. And we've already told you all the exit strategy. When we say we're going to do the book of Revelation, that means when that's done, it

It's over. Now, it may take a year to get through it. Well, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying when we say let's do Revelation, I'm going to have my bags packed. I'm going to have my imperishable existence ready to roll, which I don't know what I'm going to take, but.

So here's another little fun factoid, Jace. The first few episodes, I think it was those first 15 maybe, and then we shifted into the overview of Genesis. But we were actually operating under a different name. We were called the Net Faith Podcast, which was our original name. Did you know that, Zach? Really? Well, did he know it? Zach, I was on it and I didn't know it.

It was called Net Faith. Was it because of we're fishers of men? Yeah, that was it. That was the idea. But then Zach had this idea about that we should really... It came from you, Zach, because you and Jill kind of came back and said, we should call this the Unashamed Podcast or something along that line. And so we filmed this promo.

And it was a really cool promo. And we were reading, me, Jason, dad were reading Romans 1, 16 and 17 in the promo. Do you remember that, Zach? Yeah, I do. At the end, there was a big fire and

And, you know, it was really well done. And dad was supposed to read the verse, but instead of saying, not ashamed, I am not ashamed of the gospel, because that's what Jay said. That's what I said. Dad said, I am unashamed. And he did it in such a dad way. I am unashamed of the gospel that that's what changed our name. Wow.

Well, Al, I didn't even know it. I forgot about that, Al. Yeah. So that's why I'm on the podcast. And technically, just a little factoid, I was not in the original plan to

to be on the podcast yeah you're right we had actually already recorded me dad and dan is that recorded did those come out they've never come out oh so they're not part oh wow that might be worth ten dollars original episode at some point i'm unashamed there were about 20 there were about 20 of them with al dan and phil

Cole says we're sure we have them. I'm going to see if I can write them back. Yeah, that would be interesting to listen to. I do remember this about Dan, Dan being the third chair guy, is a lot of times Dan's comment would be, so what you're saying is, and that'd be it. It was just what you're saying. Well, my wife and I were actually going to do a podcast. I didn't even know y'all were doing that.

And Zach somehow got wind of that. I think we were just talking about something else. Zach called me and I was like, yeah, I'm fixing to do a podcast. And Zach was like, well, we are too. He's like, what's yours about? I was like, well, me and my wife, we're going to do it. I'm a little nervous about it. And he's like, well, hang on. I remember because we were having the first discussions, but the thought came to me,

Of incorporating Jace in it. Cause I was thinking about what would happen or what has happened in the

the living room of Phil's house and how many Bible studies, impromptu Bible studies that I've witnessed. Well, there's been thousands. It's just like, it's just the way of life. And there'd always be, you know, people kind of around listening to the discussion. It was always intertwined with stories of duck hunting and cultural stuff and obscure stories about playing a game of spades and cooking, cooking,

Oh, you're right. Zach, there have been tens of thousands of podcasts unfilmed since I was a kid. Yeah. Because my parents, you know, they came out of the water declaring Jesus. And then that just became a way of life. I mean, I remember literally almost every day someone –

was getting Jesus shared with them at our house. And then it kind of developed into more of a hospitality thing. And one of the things that's really been neat from that is because we, by the way, thank you, Unashamed Nation. You sent over 200 emails that Alex and I have read. And just your stories are amazing. And I picked a few of them, but one of them was the guy Alex Napier. And I actually just met him up in when I was up in Kentucky last week.

And it's funny, I want to mention his what he said, because he said growing up in eastern Kentucky when he was a kid on the summer nights, you know, they sat outside because it was cooler out there and he would listen to his dad and his grandpa talk about the Bible.

And that became his basis of understanding what the Bible was. And so when he came across our podcast, the draw was it was back to his childhood. It was just like sitting on the front porch in eastern Kentucky, listening to my dad and my grandpa. He said, that's what I feel about your family and what I hear and what I get to participate in the Bible study. So to y'all's point, you were just describing it's not just us.

I mean, there's people all across, you know, people that listen all across the country that have similar experiences. And it touches into that by our style and kind of the way we do it. Yeah, it's been this whole thing has been amazing. You guys have been a part of it. But really, I think what people ask me all the time, they say, well, I tell them I want a podcast on the name of it. What's it about? And I always have a hard time answering that question because it is a Bible study, but it's very...

there's like a certain level of attention deficit disorder and how we all operate. There's a lot of squirrels. Attention deficit disorder? Yeah. ADD, Jay, is for you. The phrases you use these days. You've never heard that phrase. Maybe. Attention deficit. That means I have a hard time paying attention?

Yeah, it's like we have a heart. Well, just say that. Don't put it into a category that I have to sit here and think about. We chase a few. Like what we're doing right now, we're chasing a rabbit, right? It's what we do. But honestly, what it is, and I think the success of the show has been that this is a living room experience down at Phil's house. And really not just Phil's house, all of our homes, we've kind of all taken a

you know, Kay and Phil's DNA into our own homes and our own lives. And this is kind of an extension of that. I think that's why I had a guy show up the other day to our church and one of the listeners to Unashamed podcast. And he was telling me a story of his, his dad, you know, listened to the podcast and, and, um,

for the first time ever had started a relationship with Jesus. And he was so thankful that this podcast was one of the vehicles that God used to bring his dad to Christ. And when he was talking to me, he said, I just feel like I know you. I feel like I listen to you guys every day. I feel like I know you. And I think that's the really special thing about this form of media is

and podcasting is it really is a way, you know, we, we feel connected with you guys too, even if we don't know you personally the ones that we do meet. I mean, it's a, it's a, you guys are class act and very thankful for. Well, and that's Zach. We said that, I don't know if you remember at the beginning, we said, we want this to be us in our living room, talking about the Bible, just like we did growing up. And the podcast listener just has a chair and they're,

they're listening and participating in the sense that they're actively listening to what we're talking about and then taking that with them as they go. And so that, that was exactly what we had in mind. I'd love to, I'd love to ask the question of the audience. How many of you have been here from the beginning of,

That would be an interesting comment. I'd love to see your comments on the YouTube channel. Or when did you start listening? How long ago? I can't tell you. I know this. They have to be at least six years old. That's right. Got to be at least six years old. Well, one woman said she had to go back and listen to two a day to catch up because she'd come in at about number 60. I tell people who've never heard the podcast, I spoke

a couple of times this past weekend and people were like, oh, you have a podcast? And they're like, I'm going to start listening to that. And I was like, just go back about a hundred and start there. Cause I'm like, it's going to take you six years. I said four years the other night, but I was like, it's going to take you, you know, four or five years to catch up. But I was going to say, this has also been very good for us because it's helped, you know, mature our faith. Cause I would say, uh,

I would say my study time, I'd love to know what y'all's is since we're burying our soul in the 1,000th episode. I would say I put 30 hours of study in for the week, and we generally do four a week, sometimes six. So I would say 30 hours a week for six years is...

A lot of Bible study. Yeah. Mine's probably not quite that much, but the way my mind works, I'm probably getting about twice as much out of the text in half the time. I would actually, I know that was a little slight at me, but I would actually agree with that. Your memory capacity is a lot better than mine, which is a problem because people will bump into me and they'll act like I'm

I'm ready to discuss episode 797 at the drop of a hat. And they said, no, the other day you were talking about this and they go into it. And I was like, no, when, when was it that they're like episode 714? And I said, let me tell you something. It is whatever I thought at that point, that's,

That has been rinsed. I will have to revisit to. Jace may not even agree with that. All right. We got a treat. We got a treat here. We got a, so we got different emails. I've read a couple, but we, we have one of our listeners with us. I'm going to take a break. Oh, we have a listener coming in and tell us a little bit about her story. And so let's take a break. We come back. I'll introduce one of our listeners. All of us have a different approach. I think in the, uh,

Pro-life movement. Lisa and I are kind of frontline with abortion itself. We speak at a lot of pregnancy center fundraisers. And Lisa talks a lot about the effect that the abortion she had when she was 16 years old has had on her throughout her life. It's interesting because there's a new Danish study that's out that says a year after abortion, women exhibited a 50% higher likelihood of first-time psychiatric treatment than

at an 87% higher likelihood of personality and behavioral disorders. And so, you know, you hear the phrase Zach a lot use women's healthcare, but it seems the healthcare that is tied to abortion is not very good for women. Uh,

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Welcome back to Unashamed. We have one of our listeners, Kim Giglio from Arizona. And there are so many of you. We just, you know, it's hard to pick so many amazing stories out there. But Kim came to mind because she had won...

Tickets to come and see the blind with the family. And Kim, if I tell this wrong, just correct me. But her nephew wound up being in a terrible accident, and so she couldn't come. But she was so gracious that she offered her tickets to someone else who did come. And that's how I heard about her story. And so I know she's a longtime listener. So welcome, Kim, to...

Well, thank you. And I'll just add to I have become friends with the girl that did get to come. So, yeah.

Yeah. So we like through the Internet, we haven't met in person, but we do like a Bible study thing together. And yeah, so. Well, and that's what struck me about your story is such an unashamed story. It's full of grace and everything. So whatever happened with your nephew, did that turn out OK? Because I remembered us praying about that. Yeah, it did turn out OK. So a 17 hour surgery and six months in prison.

multiple surgeries after that, but not only did he live, but he can walk and which they were very, you know, he walks, he's back in the gym working out, um, really just a God story. And, um,

Even through that, my sister, his mom, has started going back to church. And so amazing story all the way around. That's fantastic. So now, before you came on, Zach was saying, I wonder, he kind of challenged out there to Unashamed Nation, how many have been with us the whole time? And you have listened to all...

I guess now up to where we're at on the release, but up to, up to a thousand podcasts. You've been there with us, right? That's right. I think I started like 30 or 40 in, um, but I quickly got caught up and then, um, I had a really long commute, um, before I retired, uh, some driving two hours each way. And then I flew twice a week also. So, um, very consistent, uh, listening and staying, uh,

up to date every week. So do you, do you think that Jace needs to take it easy on me?

You know, I think Jace gets a bad rap. I have to tell you, your family, the way you pick on each other is very reminiscent of me and my cousins. And so I love it. I get a big kick out of it. And I knew Zach, the minute you said processed cheese, it's never going to die.

I have had nightmares about that processed cheese. I meant to write that down as a cold open. I had a nightmare because my wife the other night made pork chops and it was smothered with mushrooms and onions and we hadn't had it in such a long time. It felt like the greatest meal I'd ever eaten. And then that night I woke up in the middle of the night because I was dreaming about what I had just eaten. Yeah.

And all of a sudden, when I popped the lid, there was processed cheese melted all over the top of it. And I woke up. And thought, no!

Do you agree with me on the processed cheese? Do you have a verdict on it? Oh, I do not agree with you. I'm so sorry. I usually contract with your big words. Like, I don't have a problem there, Zach, but you lost me at the processed cheese. That's hard. Thank you, Kim. You settled one on it. You have made Jace feel totally vindicated here. Oh, this has been a great idea. Yeah.

I knew you would like that. So tell us this, Kim, what is, because you're speaking today, because we have some emails, but you're speaking today for Unashamed Nation. So what is it about the podcast that...

has been the biggest blessing to you. What is, uh, how has it helped you in your spiritual walk and just your everyday living? Yeah. So, I mean, there's so many, I couldn't narrow it down. It's just, there's just so many times where a nugget from a Bible study that you're doing, it's like, Oh man, that's so good. You know, pull over, got to write this down. But, um, I would say the biggest one now is, um, and I'll try and say this without tearing up, but

My husband was diagnosed with cancer on the same day that you announced Lisa's cancer diagnosis on the podcast. And I will say it was very scary. I know I'm not speaking to the choir on this. I was really scared. For me, my husband's not a Christian, so...

I had that extra, you know, like, oh no, like what's going to happen? Like we're, we're running out of time. The diagnosis and the prognosis was not good. Um, at the time stage four, um, with the really rare cancer. Now, um,

I'll just, because I don't, I know we don't have a lot of time. I'll just fast forward to say that your calmness and, um, just the way that you trusted the Lord took me from panic to God's got a plan in a very short amount of time. So super thankful for that. Um, he's,

completed all of his chemo and he's about 55 days out from the stem cell transplant. There was no sign of cancer prior to the transplant. So we're just waiting for day 90 to hear the words remission. And I just have really never doubted from that first day, God's got a plan. I know Lisa came on the show and talked about

You don't know why some people are healed and some aren't. And I, that speaks to me. Um, I just see God's hand has moved in this. I, I don't even know where to start with just everything from the fact that we moved from a different state here. Um,

Where the leading doctor for this type of rare cancer happens to be 35 minutes from where we moved to, to just the treatment, the doctors that he got, you know, and just how well he's done through all of it. None of the major side effects that come with a stem cell transplant. You know, we were, he was out of the hospital in a very short amount of time.

recovering really, really well, and just praying that he sees God's hand in this too. That's awesome. I did not know that. But man, what a touching reminder for me and that God has a plan as well. And I don't know, Kim, if you've experienced this, but I've said on the podcast that things like this, what you're going through, what we went through,

Give you an opportunity to serve in a new way as well. Yeah. Not only serve God, but serve your husband. And that's what I experienced with Lisa. And so the spiritual growth I experienced has been powerful, even though sometimes in that fear where it starts, it allows us to trust in God in a new way, which is powerful. Yeah.

Yeah, and I tend to be the person that tries to fix everything. I think that's just my nature. And this was something where I couldn't do that. And I had to rely on God and just the thousands of people that have come out from every women's Bible study I've done.

The Unashamed Facebook page has a prayer request section. So Unashamed Nation has been praying for him. Just the thousands of people that have been praying for him, like I felt it. It was palpable.

I don't know how else to explain it, but absolutely, Al, it has given me opportunities and I've grown so much from this. That's powerful. What's his first name? Nick. Nick. As we close out here with you being with us, Kim, can we pray for Nick?

On the podcast? Love that. Absolutely. Father, I just want to come to you and so grateful Kim has been able to join us today. And I just appreciate her unashamed faith, how much she trusts in you and the fact that she's been with us along this journey for the last,

six years. I'm just grateful for her. I pray for Nick today, Father. I just pray a blessing on him physically that his cancer will be healed. He will be in full remission. And I pray his heart will always turn to you for the ultimate answers as we look forward to the great resurrection. We love you. We're so grateful for Unashamed Nation. So many stories.

like Kim and Nick's out there. And we're just grateful. We get to be a part of it every single day. We pray this in the power of Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Kim, thank you for joining us. Thank you for listening and being a part of the podcast. And so I love your heart and we just pray God's blessings on you. Thank you. God bless you all.

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with where the money's going, it would be nice. It would be nice. And that's one of our sponsors, our good friends at Patriot Mobile. They've been with us a long time on the Unashamed podcast. And for the last 10 years, they've been America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. Almost everybody, except for dad, has a cell phone. So you need to have a wireless provider. Why not Patriot Mobile? They offer dependable nationwide coverage.

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So that was great. So great to hear from folks out there. I wanted to, I wanted to in, in fairness that to you, because that was obviously a pro J's here's a, here's one from Paul. Who needs fairness when it comes to process. We're fair and balanced here on the other shame podcast. First and foremost, I love the show. And one of the reasons I wanted to read this email is because I really love where he found out about it. He says my 22 year old college student, uh,

told me about the podcast three years ago. So this fantastic, right? The twins heroes, this is our podcast and turns his dad onto it. I liked it so much. I went back to the beginning and listened to every podcast, which took me one or two a day until I caught up. It's a great show. I love listening. Great. We respect your father and appreciate how the Lord has worked through him. Secondly,

I love a good burger, and I love Kraft sliced cheese. Oh, I love that. So here was a prose. He said, I want Zach's burger recipe. Typical Jace. He cut him off before I got to hear how he made his burgers. Now...

Now, what is the name of this writer? His name is Paul. Can I respond to Paul? You can. And then we're going to have to have Zach tell how he makes it. Since we don't have Phil here, I want to say what Phil would say. So Paul, there was another guy named Paul. Paul.

who wrote these words, listen carefully. This is Colossians, the book we're studying currently. Chapter 3, verse 5, Paul saying to Paul, put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. Right.

I would surmise that processed cheese would fall into that category.

jace have you like been did you just come up with that or he did because he literally just came up with that off the top of my head and it's called a sign of the holy spirit give me a break we're talking about processed cheese if it's not sinful it should be yeah

I'll give you the recipe real quick. Give me the quick recipe. Oh, we're doing this again? Give him the numbers. He says you cut him off. I didn't even remember that. I don't remember you cut me off, but people need to hear it. Well, you probably, when you said sliced cheese, that probably was the end of it. Well, this was right after chapter two when Christ cut off parts of our old self that needed to be detached from the world.

the mind, body, and spirit. No one said he wasn't witty. And you cut it off. You don't go back. Now everybody knows why I cut you off sometimes. I'll tell you what I'll do, Paul. I'll plug my podcast. Not yet now. I'll give the recipe on that podcast where I will not be uninterrupted. But it is good. And I have got it figured out. And it is... The only thing I'm going to do different, though, I will say this. I will try...

Jace's son's meat mixture. I am going to do that. That's the only thing that might take it to the next level. Since we're baring our soul today, now you know that some of the times when I interrupt somebody, it's not because I'm being rude. I'm deeming what they're talking about as a cry for help. Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

So I want to read this one. I tried to just pick something that kind of representative of a lot of different thoughts. And so this is Zach from North Carolina. Now, Zach, I don't know if you sent this in under. I sent this one in. Yeah, I don't know if this is actually you. That would be a Zach move.

No, it can't be Zach because it starts out and says, I am a young man from North Carolina. Well, I'm younger than you guys. So I want to personally thank you as I started listening to the show back in 2020 when the episode count was in the 60s. So that's when he picked it up in the 60s.

During that time, I had just got sent home from college from COVID, was really struggling with a porn addiction. I knew I needed to quit and was struggling with doing so. By the grace of God, I found your show and would listen during times of the day that I was most tempted to look at images and videos. There for a while, I was completely up to date and listened to every episode, would even know the timing of when episodes would be released as I had to listen to the show almost every day, at least once a day.

I cannot thank you enough for redirecting my thoughts away from sin and instead pointing me towards Jesus. One line that Jay said that really stood out to me and helped me was when he said, you have to love Jesus more than you love the sin. As a result, I'm happy to say that I have not looked at porn in four years and my life is significantly better because of it. And that's from Zach. So, I mean, isn't that great? And it really, it just spoke to me.

how much we speak into the word of God. And we, we keep making the point is that got it was the idea is it's not trying not to do something is trying to get a better picture of Jesus. And then through his power is how you overcome things. And so that's really been a central theme. And that's why that stood out to me. That's what we talked about in the last episode. Exactly. What Colossians two years, not just about denying the flesh, but,

It's, it's, it's being connected with the head. I love that Zach gets that too. And I think that, uh, I would just add this is, and this is not a plug of the podcast, but this is more why this podcast matters and others, not just us. I mean, anyone that's kind of been in this content world, uh,

You will be shaped by what you consume. I mean, that is a, that's an unavoidable fact of life that what you consume, what you spend your time entertaining yourself with, listening to watching, it will shape you into a particular kind of person. And what,

What we're really doing here is providing, because it shapes us, even being a part of it, but like providing another thing for you to, like, this is content that you can consume that our hope and our goal is that it would shape you into the image of Christ, like our Bible study and our own lives has shaped us. And these conversations, Jace, I mean, I'll tell you right now, like, I mean, us talking every day and now, it has shaped my faith tremendously.

profoundly over the last five, six years that we've been doing this. This has been impactful. Well, that's what happens. What I want to say is I've always had a, had a theme of, you know, just since I was a teenager and came to Christ, cause I was a shy guy back then, which is shocking, which Phil always jokes. Yeah. When you finally figured it out, you went from never saying a word to not shutting up. But part of that is, I think, you know, just like the last listener wrote in, uh,

You know, when you remove your old self, there's this void of habits that you were doing. Well, you got to fill it up with something. And to me, when I started declaring Jesus to my friends or to the cashier at the wherever I was at or on the plane or just those conversations led to me getting up and speaking. Well, when you do that, you have to go study.

And even this podcast, when I told you about all the hours that you spend in it, well, you're just basking yourself in the character of God through Jesus and his word. It's like a byproduct. And it comes from being offensive minded in your faith. And I'm a real big proponent of that. It's like the best way.

to get out of a sin is to share Jesus with other people. And because people think, well, I can't. And I got two guys right now that have recently come to Christ who are in, you know, they're in a public place.

limelight type of world. And I've spent hours talking to them and because they're like, well, I want to talk about that. How do we go? How do you go about doing that? Well, in what happens is they start studying. They're putting God's story through their story just so they can share that. But they're asking me all these questions and we're studying and we're going back and forth. Well, this was time prior to them coming to Christ where they were just doing what sitting there watching movies.

you know, terrible movies or whatever, you know, it's like they had all this junk coming in their mind. And now that's how this kind of works. This is an active faith, which is really what unashamed is all about. You either, uh,

We're going to be proud that you're going to live forever, that you have a purpose on life. You know how you got here. You know how to handle difficult situations. That all comes from having a life in Christ where that's where all the answers lie. What I love about it is that, you know, a note like Zach's we just read, but I got a note from Dwight Franklin, a friend of mine from over in Texas. And, you know, Dwight's lifelong Christian, strong families, leader in his church, teaches Bible class.

But he listens to our podcast because it enhances his spiritual walk. In other words, not that he's not any, you know, he's not perfect. He's not sinless, but he uses what he gets to then enhance and teach other people. And so I love that. You got one guy that writes in and says, you know, you helped me through Christ to be able to deal with the sin problem. Another guy said, you're helping me teach other people.

And that's the beauty of it. It works to everybody that's there. I want to read one more because we only have a few minutes left. There's a lot of people out there that we love and respect and appreciate what you do. And so there are a lot of notes that came in from military and first responders. And I want to read one of those because it's kind of representative of what a lot of other people said. This is Kelly.

He says, I'm a firefighter for the U.S. Department of Defense based out of Jacksonville, Florida. I'm also a huge fan of your shows and podcasts. I was reaching out to let you know how much your podcast had impacted my life over the last year. Me and my family watched Duck Dynasty as well as Duck Treasure, Jace. It's our family nighttime routine, but the podcast has been a lifesaver for me, especially while I was on shift at the fire station.

Seeing what we on a daily basis take a mental toll after a while, we need something to take our mind off the cause when we go and witness. Watching, listening to the podcast has really helped me mentally while on shift, as well as in my Christian walk. What you guys bring to the table means more than you could ever know. As a token of my appreciation, I'd like to send you guys a patch from my department and some challenge coins. Be

because I know that Jason and Uncle Si love their treasure. God bless each of you. And please know your podcast is helping this firefighter. And I love that because it's not just the spiritual aspect in his case, but it also helps him cope with and deal with

A very tough job in a very tough situation. So, again, what a blessing that is. And in a way for us to say thank you for all you first responders and military and veterans out there that listen to us as well. Very few podcasts can intermingle processed cheese with Colossians 3. Not many people can do what we do here. Exactly. And become a blessing to other people. That's exactly right.

With our last couple of minutes, Jace, what would you say after a thousand podcasts, what has stood out to you in what we're trying to get done? Well, I guess since we kind of started telling you about Phil, I mean, we're at a stage where we believe in the power of God, but we also realize that we want to honor Phil. Phil's always just had a way, sometimes.

since he came to Christ to appeal to people. I don't even know what you call it. It's just raw and real. And he, he just, you know, thinks a little bit differently in life, but somehow through that, a lot of people have come to the Lord and, um, he's, he was the carrying the torch and, and I'm just kind of appealing to unashamed nation. You know, we, we pray that, uh,

you know, if, if the Lord wants to use him again in this setting that, that he can be healed, but no matter what, we're going to honor him. I want to tell a personal story, uh, which I've never shared, but last few months, uh,

I have a guy who was a mentor to me when I was a teenager. And he's a little bit like Zach. He's more in the Bible scholarly realm and has preached and written books. I'm not going to tell you who he is because he promised that I never would. But a few months ago, he had a stroke. And even though I had met him a couple of times years ago, we had only talked via email. And I reached out to his family.

Cause I, he just wasn't in the limelight much. And I was like, is everything okay? Well, he had a stroke and, uh, and some signs of dementia and different things. And he just was really struggling. So I reached out to him, uh, offered to, you know, pay some of his medical expenses, which I did, but also just said, look, I want to hire him. Cause I didn't want to say I'm paying your medical expenses. Cause he would say, no, it's like, I want to hire him.

to be a consultant for our Unashamed podcast. And that one thing, according to his family, really gave him a sense of purpose. I mean, he's, you know, I think he's at least 90. And sometimes, you know, so he sends me these things, and he can't remember the books of the Bible or the numbers or verses.

But what I've learned in the past few months that he has basically memorized the Bible through all his life of sharing. And so a lot of things I share, I get from him and they're not written in a way. They're just quoted verses with the principles behind it, with an emphasis on focusing on that this Bible is about a person and it's thrilling and it's about Jesus and

And I just wanted to say that because sometimes when life, you know, comes to you and we're all going to get old, look for those kind of opportunities, not only to honor the people who are getting older, but to make them still feel useful. And I thought, you know, I'm going to share that because it's kind of the madness behind what we do.

And me trying to have an act of kindness toward him, it really has blossomed into a deep spiritual conversation. And it's just amazing that what the spirit of God can do in a body that seemingly is no longer functional.

And so just this past week, he sent me four emails and I'm telling you, it was like he was 25 years old. I was just like, yes, this is thrilling. This is thrilling. I love how, I love how then that he like sending a Phil, like when, when Phil,

like his his his safe space or his whatever you hit when he gets in the vacuum in the corner or whatever if he when he when he get well when he gets the back in the corner he's coming out every time with the scripture and i i even noticed that now like that's something that's just so deeply planted in him um too it's kind of the same thing but i and i and even it well so much of even what we even talk about on the podcast this idea of the kingdom being here and

And the kingdom being now and to come as well. But Phil was the first person I ever heard say that. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I sat, you know, when I was 19, 20 years old, I mean, he taught me about that the kingdom of God is here. The kingdom of God is now and we are in it. And there is an urgency to the call of Christ that is happening right now. And it is an embodied Christianity now.

I saw that and have seen that and continue to see that in the life of Phil and Kay and their, in their home and their life. Yeah, no doubt. Well, I just want, I know we're out of time, Al, but I wanted to share that it's really not us.

It's the Holy spirit of God is what the draw is. And it's Jesus has lowered. And it's these other people in our lives, uh, like my dad and like this 90 year old man, I was telling you that have shaped us into being disciples of Jesus and helped us along the way. So that, that draw to this podcast is more of a spiritual thing and more of a, a body of Christ thing than just us as individuals. And we know that, I mean,

Many of you, I appreciate both of y'all sharing that. We know many of you out there view us that way. And so we're honored, we're humbled, and I'm glad we got to close out the 1000th episode by honoring those who have mentored us. So what a blessing.

We'll see you next time on 1001. Oh, we're going to do some more. We're going to do some more. Oh, okay. I wasn't sure if this was it. I was like, what happened to Revelation? 1001 is on the horizon. We'll see you next time on Unashamed. Thank you, Unashamed Nation, for a thousand great episodes. 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.