Jase responded by asking, 'How do you know it wasn't an act of the evil one?' This unexpected and bold question caught the agent off guard, making him turn pale and stammer.
The podcast uses the two cities described in Colossians 3 to illustrate the contrast between living according to earthly desires (City One) and living according to Christ's qualities (City Two). City One is characterized by sexual immorality, greed, and lies, while City Two is marked by compassion, kindness, and peace.
The peace of Christ is described as ruling in hearts because it is meant to unite believers as members of one body. This peace is essential for maintaining unity and overcoming the divisions and conflicts that often arise within the church.
Zach believes that the lifestyle of the city of man, characterized by unbridled speech, sexual immorality, and self-indulgence, leads to loneliness, confusion, and ultimately destruction. These vices and behaviors do not bring true peace or fulfillment, but rather a temporary and hollow form of freedom.
Jase thinks that reading the Bible through the lens of Jesus helps to unify believers and break down denominational disagreements. Jesus is the central figure and the ultimate fulfillment of the scriptures, and focusing on Him can lead to a deeper understanding and application of the Bible's teachings.
The podcast suggests that people in power often lack peace because their primary concern is maintaining and expanding their power. This constant fear of losing power leads to anxiety and restlessness, which are contrary to the peace that Christ offers.
The podcast uses the analogy of a chicken with its head cut off to describe how the church can be disjointed and ineffective when it loses its connection to Jesus, the head. Without this connection, the church can appear to be floundering and lacking direction, much like a headless chicken.
The podcast emphasizes that the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father, teaches and reminds believers of Jesus' teachings, bringing a peace that transcends understanding. This peace is not like the world's peace but is a deep, enduring peace that guards hearts and minds.
The podcast recommends 'Homestead' because it is a thought-provoking film about a dystopian event that throws the country into chaos. The movie features moral dilemmas and is highly praised by the hosts, who appreciate its themes and the involvement of a talented and believing actor, Neil McDonough.
The podcast suggests that true peace and freedom come from creation and cultivation because these activities reflect God’s nature and bring a sense of purpose and fulfillment. Accumulating and acquiring everything one desires often leads to a life of restlessness and slavery to vices, which is the opposite of peace.
Critics are losing their minds for Shrinking on Apple TV+. We're back! This is gonna be fun. Calling it one of the best series on TV. In the therapy biz, we'd say trending upward. It's hilariously heartfelt. Do you think I'm selfish? Yes. Let me get into specifics. Don't need them, but hit me. And Jason Segel and Harrison Ford continue to shine. Paul, I gotta tell you about my dream. You tried to kill me. You're gonna let me in your dreams tonight, and I'll do it again. Shrinking, now streaming on Apple TV+.
I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. We were on our way down here to the Southern Lair this past week, and we stopped in New Orleans on our way back, because that's where Lisa had her surgery. And we did our six-month treatment.
oncology follow-up is what they call it. So, you know, they want to check you fairly regular when you've had, when you've had cancer like that. And just wanted to report all good, all clear. Doctor said everything looks great. So again, thanks Unashamed Nation for all the prayers. Lisa is doing amazing. It's, it's been, people ask me how she's doing all the time. I'll get notes from people. How's Lisa doing? And I always say supernaturally well.
Because that's the only way I can figure that she's dealt with it as well as she has, is that obviously God has blessed her with that. So anyway, I just want to let y'all know that the prayers were appreciated and it's all good. Zach, what have you been doing? What have I been doing? You know, we have...
And people have actually asked about this, about the up, like what's going on here in our area since the storm. Because I still see like follow-ups and reports and stuff. Oh, yeah. It's like, I mean, and some people are still intense, which is crazy to me. Like, I mean, and it's like so cold up here right now. But we've been engaged in an effort. By the way, One Kingdom has raised, I think they've committed to four people
rebuilds that they're funding. Wow. One, one kingdom.org. Oh, I actually contributed to that. So please tell me what I contributed to. And by the way, did you name that? Did you name that? Name what? Did you name one kingdom, one kingdom? Actually, that was Ben. But you know what? I would like to think that maybe that was my influence. You know, you know what? Now that you mention it. Yeah, I did.
I did name that. That's all me. You should write a book on the kingdom. We're so in that, which we are excited about that. I actually recently had a seven hour Bible study with a guy. We're going to write a book in 2025. We're going to have a book on the kingdom and we're going to, it's going to be awesome. But yeah, so they're built, rebuilding these houses and then world vision has come in and
And they're supplying all of the materials. So we've, as a church, we're up to, we're doing, redoing eight houses. So it's pretty cool. And then it's just, there's just, we just been, so what have I been doing? We've been really focusing on
you know helping folks out get this stuff up up and running here in the mountains it's been a it's all it is a long haul recovery but yeah there's still people living in hotels and yeah i just wanted to bring that up i mean it's happened weeks and i guess months ago yeah and uh it's you know we tend to move on and even with my house you know in the in the nashville area
i mean a tornado hit it six months ago and we we just got to the slab oh we're we've been deconstructing and cleaning up and the rebuild is just now the worst you know the worst part is jason you can testify to this is you you quickly learn that insurance doesn't necessarily mean insurance yeah and that's the shock around here everybody's like well
Yeah, you're not covered because your place flooded. And then people are like, but I'm not near a river or a creek. So how did it flood? Well, you know, that's I mean, it is it's actually. Well, you know what they always fall back on, which is kind of interesting being that our podcast is discussion about spiritual matters. They always just say, look, we can't do anything about an act of God.
in other words you know whether you believe or not when we can't pay we're just going to give god all the credit yeah we're old school we think everything is an act of god that's right so y'all are bringing up something that i said and i'll let you determine whether i should have said this because in one of my meetings with the insurance agent and i quote he said well because we were having a disagreement about what was covered
And he said, well, we can't do anything about an act of God. And I said, without hesitation, well, how do you know it wasn't an act of the evil one? That'll preach. And look, he literally turned pale when I said that. And I don't think it was a positive. I think he thought that I may be crazy or.
But because he had just never heard that line. And then after a lot of stammering and, you know, Jace, I'll do the best I can. So I think it actually was a pretty good line the next time you hear that line. But I've actually talked about when you treat Jesus and what he promises as in insurance, that's not a good thing.
It's more of an inheritance and what you're doing now. And so, you know, there's a difference in viewing it as, and you know where I'm going with that. It's like, yeah, I believe in Jesus just in case this happens to be true. I would think that would be an immature way to walk with the Lord. Yeah, and look, we're not down there.
you know, on insurance, they do what they do and they don't. A few weeks ago, someone killed this guy that was, Zach, was he in charge of the largest insurance? I think he was a CEO of, was it United Healthcare? Yeah. I mean, it's the big boy.
and uh so obviously there are people that go to those extremes which are saying don't don't do that just just argue your claim and let's let's don't try to uh take matters into our own hands well yeah and i was just yeah i'm not down on intro i'm glad we had it and they do a good job but i was just saying
We live as a part of a world in another world as disciples of Jesus and members of his kingdom. And that's why I think when you see one kingdom get involved, I like their motivation better. I mean, we're all helping each other, but there's earthly insurance and there's heavenly insurance. Well, let me clarify too, because I just, as you said that,
I was joking about naming one kingdom. I did not name. I don't want. So that was sarcasm. Note, disclaimer, that was sarcasm. Since it was your brother-in-law who kind of was there during that name change and brand change, you may have had some influence. I'll give you credit for that. Well, I mean, I do love the name. I think it's like I kind of wish we had it.
it's a pretty good name. Well, look, you get your best idea. I've always said that because I'm not the brightest bulb on the planet and I'm doesn't embarrass me to say that when you look at me, you don't think, well, there's a real smart guy.
No, but I'll tell you this, walking with Jesus and having his spirit makes you the smartest person on the planet. Amen. Think about it amongst yourselves. And the reason, I'll tell you exactly, because I'm one of the elders on our kind of our board of One Kingdom. And when Ben first approached us with this idea, he was the director at the time, it was great because the idea was it expanded
the concepts of what we were doing because we had WFR relief, which was kind of what Zach is doing there now in relief work. We had a relief organization that went around the world and provided hurricanes and famines and things like this. But then also there was a branch of it called World Radio, which has been basically putting the gospel out on radio through speakers around the world, over 100 different speakers in 100 different countries.
And so the idea was, well, you take all that and you put it together because, you know, the world changes. Radio is still impactful, but now we have the internet. What are we going to do with that? And, you know, as we, as you just talked about Zach, relief work becomes much more integrated through churches, which is the best way to reach people. And I want to say this about the folks in North Carolina, where Zach is, because as you know, I talked to him on the podcast, I was literally there when it all happened.
And one of the things I was impressed with right off the bat, literally the next day, there were people coming together to help their neighbors. I mean, I was at Ben and Melissa's house and there was a neighbor there with a skid loader getting trees off their driveway, you know, three hours after the thing had hit. And so the concept is we pull together. It's our job to help each other to sit around waiting on the government to
is turned into a bad way to do business. Don't wait on the government. Jump in there and go. Here's the lesson that I learned from all this is that there is a fine line between rednecks and hillbillies.
Really? Boy, this is... Are you representing Phil today in this analogy? That sounds like a Phil Robertson analogy. What is the difference in a redneck and a hillbilly? The difference is this, and you've probably never heard of it, but here's the difference. It's called liver mush. That's the difference. They eat this thing called liver mush. Everything else is the same. I mean, it's like my buddy Kevin Toops.
I'm like, you're from the hills of North Carolina, but I swear you could be from Bakkenville, man. You are our kind of people, man, except for the liver mush. They eat liver mush, but we eat things like hog head cheese and some of that. We got our own little, I don't eat chitlins, but some people do. Roadkill. Some people eat roadkill. Yeah, but we got our, y'all eat car balls and buffalo. You call it roadkill, but now it's all about
When it became roadkill. Well, I know we were, we were trained, we were trained in the assessment of roadkill. When was the time of death? I mean, I mean, cause it can turn, you know? No, there's a CSI department to the rednecks. And because you see that every day where I'm from on the sides of roads, it is, it looks like there's an investigation going on.
trying to figure out the time of death because that's really important to whether you're going to put it in the back of your truck or walk away and keep moving and leave it for the buzzards well you know it's funny because it's so ingrained in us and we don't even realize that i was watching videos of dad doing duck and dressing because we talked about this back in thanksgiving
And I love the way dad said, you know, when the duck is just right, when you reach in there and you pull on his leg just a little bit and it just begins to move off the rest of the bite. That's perfect. That's the way you want it right there. And I thought, who would have that becomes your life?
professional chef description of when the duck just, when it just pulls off the body, just, but you know, if you've eaten duck and you've had the duck and you know what that means. So, yep, that's about right. Exactly. That was a good description. Like only dad could give, which was pretty good. Well, let me give you all a question to get to our segue in Colossians. So if you read Colossians three, five through seven, uh,
and you read Colossians 3, 12 through 17, there's two categories. And if you just imagined that these were two cities that were known for these things, and you asked yourself, which city would I rather live in? That's the question. So I'll read it.
In verse 5, it says, put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. So this would be the description of the city. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, which is idolatry. And then verse 9, do not lie to you. Starting in verse 8. Yeah, verse 8. Let me put my glasses on. But now you must rid yourselves.
Yeah, so here's the next qualities. Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips, and don't lie to each other. So there's one city where that's known for, and the next would be this, and just the qualities after he described the new self. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves. Well, here it is. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience,
Bear with each other, forgiving whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you and all and over all these virtues put on love, which binds them together. And then the first part of 15 says, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. So what do you think? No, that's a great, that's a great door. Number two, I'll take door number two. Jace, we love America. Do we not?
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So join us, switch to America's only Christian conservative mobile provider, Patriot Mobile, by going to patriotmobile.com slash phil or calling 972-PATRIOT for your free month of service today. I knew you would say that, but I think if you put that worldwide and without the context, without the Bible, if you just put the qualities, I think it would probably surprise you.
at how many people would choose to live in door number one. And they would have reasons for that because I think some of it would be, well, I want to be free to do whatever I want to. And I would think door number two, what they would say, I mean, who wants to be around a bunch of weak goody goodies who are apologizing all the time and telling me how much they love me.
No, no, I think you're right. In fact, it's the old saying, I would rather rule in hell than serve in heaven. Uh, you know, I mean, there's some truth to that. It's funny. Cause I, I, uh, in the last podcast that I did on, no, not yet now podcast, I ended with a story about,
of similar to not, there actually was two cities that I was talking about. One of the cities and ask that question. I didn't think about the Colossians passage here. Ask the question, which, which city would you live in? The first city was, um, Las Vegas. And I painted the picture and the story of imagine you go on a four day bender and
to Las Vegas. And it's exciting. It's fun. You got the, you know, you got everything that Vegas, the Vegas strip has to offer. And you think about going and partying there for four days straight, just on a bender. And then you wake up that last day and it's time to go home and you survey kind of what you've just been into.
And then you juxtapose that to a scene up in the Smoky Mountains in a cabin somewhere. And I imagine myself at 70 years old, you know, married my wife, Jill, and we're on the front porch watching the fog rise up off the creek below us as we're sitting on this front porch and we're sipping on the hot coffee that we drank.
you know, French pressed out of a organic locally sourced and roasted coffee. And then the grandkid rolls out and then the next one rolls out and then Layla comes out and then the bacon and the eggs and the biscuits are going, the whole family's together. I was like, what scene do you want at the end? And one of them, yes, it has its excitement. It has its,
version of freedom. But if you understand freedom as the Bible talks about it, when you're a slave, they promise themselves freedom while they themselves are slaves to depravity. To live in that world of what you think is actual freedom, a lot of times it's to be a slave and to survey the scene of that Vegas scene the morning after you look up. I don't know anybody that says, man, that is the good life.
But you do think about that scene of serenity and peace and tranquility. And I'm with my family. I'm with my people. I'm looking at my legacy. And we're having this time together as a family. There's something about that that's beautiful. And that was the two pictures of the city that I got when you were reading that and asking that question. Well, when you think about it, Zach, what you just described, one seems so temporary. Right.
Because if you live the way that is described behind door number one in the first CDJ described, your time will be shorter because everything in that list shortens your life.
I mean, whether it's the emotional part of that, that whole attitude thing, or just the sensual part, it has an effect on you. You talk about a four-day bender in Vegas, you just cut years off the other end. What you described in the beautiful Smoky Mountains is an idea of longevity. It's peace, which is the word that comes out when you get to verse 15. I mean, so the idea that the Bible tells us about temporary peace
versus eternal is very descriptive in these two cities and the two ideas, even in what you would experience here while you're on earth. Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. I think all of those things are rationalized under freedom, or they use the same word, love. And they'll say, you know, love is whatever you desire.
You want to consent to, you know, and freedom. And so they take the same principles. But I think the main reason people would pick City One, which we're viewing that as, you know, where the evil one really runs roughshod, is because it's way more difficult to live in City Two. It's hard.
to have compassion it's very difficult to forgive grievances truly yeah i mean it is that is just difficult to do and there's a there's an uh amount of humility that has to happen vulnerability working things out it's just way easier to just medicate
with whatever vice that's out there and forget about it. And so I think, you know, the context of this whole thing is putting off the old and putting on the new because of your experience with Jesus. And so I really, what stood out to me about this passage is when he got to verse 15, which is something we haven't really mentioned, is he says,
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. And then there's a little phrase there. And I didn't really notice that this keeps coming up, not only in Ephesians, but Colossians as well. And it says, since as members of one body, you were called to peace.
And it's kind of a throwback to when he said that Jesus, you know, in the chapter one where he's the head of the body. And then in chapter two about these people coming in, introducing these things that didn't have Jesus at the center, human traditions and hollow philosophies and trying to have a rule oriented system. He said this person.
who's introducing this in verse 19, has lost connection with the head from whom the whole body supported, held together by its ligaments and sinews grows as God causes it to grow. And so I think, you know, before we even get into the piece, because we know that this city one promises freedom and
and a kind of love that is temporary and go whatever feels good, do it. You know, there's a famous Phil quote, which he said, you know, he lived the first 28 years of his life. But part of that piece of, you know, having relationships, because when you think about the categories of the one city, unbridled, you know, speech,
And passion. Yeah. Yeah. And, and the, and any kind of sex with any, with, with no restrictions whatsoever. Well, those two things are probably the two biggest relationship killers on the planet, whether you believe in God or not. Yep. Those, they, they, yeah, they, those two things lead to, if you look at your own trauma and drama, uh,
I guarantee you that most of us would look back and say, yep, that was in the mix. And the one word that won't come out of that lifestyle is peace. I can promise you that. So I guess the best part of the Christmas season is really celebrating that Jesus came to earth. And Jace, it's interesting to me that
He could have chosen any way to come here. You know, he's the creator of the cosmos and the universe, but he decided to come through the womb of a woman to get here and to experience what we experienced in growing up. I mean, I just find that very interesting. I mean, I always think about that verse that says every good and perfect gift is from above and the greatest gift on earth is life.
And so we were all in our mother's womb at one time and the fact that he did that same process
out of love is very inspiring. Yeah. So, you know, during the Christmas season, especially we celebrate this gift of life. And we have that same opportunity to share that gift with a mom and her baby. If you can imagine a young woman facing an unplanned pregnancy, feeling alone, unsure of what to do, probably a lot like Mary felt way back when she's searching for hope. And that's where preborn ministries are.
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Well, we know the result of those lifestyles, which I wrote a few things down, it results in you being lost. You're not sure what to do with your life. Loneliness, confusion, hurts, bitterness, self-indulgence based on lies, and ultimately destruction. Hmm.
I mean, that's where it leads, and that's kind of how the evil one works. And so I think for us, you know, when it says there's one body, I think the biggest problem the city of God has within this city, because that's actually the picture of the Bible. We're not from this world, you know, post-participation world.
in the blood of Jesus and his resurrection and having his spirit. We're a world within a world. There's numerous passages. We're the temple of God. We're the kingdom of God. We're the body of Christ. We're the bride of Christ. Even when Jesus, you know, had that famous line where he's like, my kingdom, you know, I'm not from this place. And I think the biggest struggle we have is we do look at sometimes in the Bible
in the city without Christ, and you do see successful people. You see people with a lot of money, and you think, well, how's this happening? And I had an interesting Bible study recently that lasted about seven hours, and that came up because it was like, well, how come all these people who are in the world, there are a lot of people who are successful? And I gave the point that, well, God created everybody.
And people use their God-given talents whether they believe it came from God or not. And they're successful. But when you think about the evil one and how he would go about captivating people in his entourage, I think he does use success in the world.
And they, they feel comfortably numb. They got plenty of money, you know? And so then you see in the church and you say, what's the biggest, how does he work in there? Well, you have sex scandals among leadership in a, in a given church, or you have all this, this speech lies, gossip, all this thing that happens in, in churches all over the world. And that's why I think when you kind of put that in context of verse 15,
where he says, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Because we tend to think of all these qualities individual, but he lumps them in together of letting this peace of Christ rule in your hearts sent as members of one body you were called to peace. And so it really made me think about how the denominational world, what we've done, even in North America, but in other countries,
You just think, we have so many different groups that you realize, you know, peace is a problem. And there's so many fights among so many different groups.
And I think the whole purpose of this letter was to use Jesus as a filter. Even that verse I read in chapter two about the decapitated from the head. When you think about it, because we all were raised eating chickens and I saw that process firsthand. But, you know, when you look at a chicken that's lost its head, it will flop around. And this is a morbid thought, but I think it's a great illustration of
For what happens when, as members of one body in Jesus, we lose connection with the head? A flopping chicken looks alive. They're just...
That's the phrase. He's running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Exactly. And when you apply that to the context, he's saying with all these groups that don't have peace and you're supposedly supposed to be connected to the head of Jesus Christ. And in that that seven hour Bible study I was talking about, that was my whole point to this teacher. I was like, what are you teaching on? You know, we were just talking about this.
And what I realized is he was teaching the Bible. And you're like, great. I said, but look, what I'm noticing is if there's a disconnect with the Bible being about Jesus, some of your lessons are going to fall on deaf ears. And he was like, well, how do you always have Jesus running through that process?
That vein. And that's what led to a seven hour discussion, which we pretty much went from Genesis to revelation and showing the power of that and how you do have Jesus in all your sermon. He is. Cause he was talking about doing the different characters of the Bible. I said, well, all those characters. And I referred to Hebrews 11 needs to run through the main character of the Bible.
I said, just try doing a show that is successful and take out the main star of the show. What usually happens to those kinds of shows? They don't make it. They're canceled. They're canceled.
There's a reason the show was successful, and it's probably due to the main star of the show. And if you're in the Old Testament and you're like, well, they didn't talk about Jesus in the Old Testament, well, then flip forward to the New Testament to see how the New Testament reinterprets the Old Testament to show, I mean, even Jesus himself said he opened up the scriptures to show them why the Christ had to suffer and be raised from the dead. So I love that, Jace. He's through the whole thing. When you're talking about these two cities, I could not help but think of
probably one of the most famous works in Christian literature, which is City of God by Augustine. And there's a couple of quotes I pulled up thinking about what you just said. More or less, like, why are people attracted to the city of man versus the city of God? And what are the, not to say problems, I mean, the city of God has no problems, but like, what is it that prevents people from
coming into the city of God and wanting to remain in the city of man. And Augustine says, And he also says in another place that God is always trying to give
good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them. And I think that's the reason why we don't
want to come into the city of, of God, because our hands are too full with what CS Lewis calls mud pies. You know, we can't fathom a better city. So we're, I'm sorry, I can't take your, your holiday by the sea. Cause I've got, my hands are full right now holding these mud pies and God's like, yeah, but they're mud pies. And you're like, yeah, but I can't, you know, but they're my mud pies. And he's like, yeah, but I have a holiday by the sea waiting for you. Like, well,
I'd love to go, but I got this other thing right here that I'm going to hold on to. And it's just half-hearted creatures we are. I think that's what prevents us from coming in. I'm glad you brought up that about the Kings because I was somebody when Jason was mentioning that earlier, one of the things that people will look at and say, man, I wish I was powerful.
Then I would really know peace if I just had power. It's the people in power that seem to have everything going on for them. But the biggest fear for people in power is how do they stay in power? That's why there's very little peace among the powerful, because the whole thing is about losing that. And that was the Augustine quote you just mentioned, is this idea that somehow I have to hold on to it. I want to read this because I've done a little bit of a...
sort of an arch to Jace's point about all the scripture. So this idea of peace comes up way back in Isaiah chapter nine and verse six. And we recognize this language is messianic. It says, for to us, a child is born to us. A son is given and listen to this and the government will be on his shoulders. So you talk about power. He will be called wonderful counselor, right?
Mighty God, everlasting father. And here's where the phrase first pops up. Prince of peace of the greatest of his government and peace. There will be no end. So this is the he's not trying to maintain power. He is power. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
And so I love it that this idea of Jesus being in peace and the bringing together, whether it's you and Gentile, male or female, one race and another, whatever the two that's dividing where there's no peace, where there's all this, you know, idea that we can't get along, that we can't do this.
He is reigning. His government is an everlasting government that says there will always be peace. It's the exact opposite. You're proving my point because if people read, you know, Isaiah is about this conflict between Assyria and the nation of Israel. And you're like, well, what does that have to do with anything? Well, there's going to be conflicts among nations when you say that. And you fast forward to,
Because there was a prediction there. There's a king coming that's going to bring all nations together in peace. And people are like, whoa, whoa.
What does that mean? And of course we know by the blood of Jesus and the resurrection and him pouring out his spirit and being exalted king of kings at the right hand of God, that happened on this planet. And we're all part of that. So if I was going to do a character study on Isaiah, I would get into Isaiah 9 and chapter 11. Yeah.
by the way, and pretty much 40 through 60, the whole section. Because there's one coming. You know, you remember Isaiah 53, it's the suffering servant. Our good friends at Angel Studios have come up with an amazing movie called Homestead. Zach, tell us about it. Homestead, it is a movie about an event that happens in Los Angeles that throws the entire country into chaos.
and they kind of hoard up in this prepper's paradise which we have a we don't prep intentionally but we have a prepper's paradise which is down there where you guys are at right now which is where i'll be coming to and if we ever get hit like that but that's a great film i i love those kind of films of of kind of uh dystopian type apocalyptic scenes this has all the all of that that you would imagine basically what happens is there's a nuclear blast that devastates all of los angeles so kind of like a
like a apocalyptic end of the world type movie. Um, it's got Neil McDonough in it, which you, you love him out. Oh, he's been in so many good things, but he's a fantastic actor and a believer. Yeah. But in this one, it's, you know, you have all the, like the dilemmas of what, like what would happen in some type of, of a apocalyptic event. There's a lot of moral dilemmas in it that you got to work through. But, um, I'm,
I love those kind of films anyways. I mean, I think I've said it on a previous promotion that I love anything that like apocalyptic or dystopian. So this is kind of in that vein. It's done. It's a very, very good movie. I highly recommend it. Yeah. It becomes about humanity. This, this film is coming to theaters December the 20th. So we don't want you to miss it.
Don't miss Homestead in theaters December 20th. Get your tickets now at angel.com slash unashamed. That's angel.com slash unashamed. Check it out. Yeah, I'd like to add a little place called Isaiah chapter 2 because I love that. This is a picture right here that I was thinking of. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. You think, well, what does that mean? Well, the things and the tools and the instruments that we use for power, swords and weapons, those weapons will be beat down into weapons of cultivation. I mean, that is the picture of the kingdom right there, if there is one. It is the things that you think are weapons or utensils,
for power to take people over by force, those things in the new kingdom will be beat down and turned into instruments to cultivate crops and to cultivate civilizations and to create new things. It's such a more beautiful picture, and it's a picture of peace. And when you were talking about, when I mentioned that quote from Augustine,
About being basically kings being servants to however many vices they have. I was that's the picture is that right. You come to downtown Asheville, which is inundated with people who are addicted to heroin and fentanyl and all kinds of opioids and all kinds of tranquilizers. I mean, it's like the streets are littered in downtown Asheville with people who are so free.
to do whatever they want to do, and they are pursuing pleasure at all costs. But I don't think anybody walks the streets of Asheville or Portland, Oregon or San Francisco and sees this and says, man, that is freedom. No, what do you say? That looks like slavery. That looks like the worst form of slavery. And that is the opposite of peace. Peace doesn't come through –
being able to accumulate and acquire everything that you want. The true peace, true freedom actually comes from creation and cultivation. And so why? Because that's how we resemble who our God is. And so the picture in the book of Isaiah that he's unfolding is we're all coming up this mountain to worship God. He's going to teach us
how, you know, the right ways. And he's going to make our paths straight as all these people are coming up and we're going to lay down our swords and lay down our utensils. We're going to let all these down and then we're going to turn them. God's going to turn them into instruments to cultivate a beautiful kingdom. Yeah. And the reason why people aren't addicted to fentanyl for very long, Zach, is because fentanyl was invented to be an end of life drug for
to help cross people over to the other side. And now people are in their youth are becoming addicted to it. And guess what happens? It becomes an end of life drug for them as well, which is terrible. And we lost a cousin, our first cousin. Exactly. And at 52. So let me read this. I want to say this, this idea of following the thread from Isaiah 9 that I read. Listen to what Jesus says when he gets here, because that was pointing to Jesus.
Here's what he said in John 14, 25. All this I have spoken while still with you, but the counselor...
Because this is how the peace got here for us. The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, so now he's looking to the near future, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. And listen to what he says in verse 27. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. There's that distinction. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
And so that's in John 14, 25 through 27.
And I just, it's interesting that he uses those same words. You want to know what the Prince of Peace looks like? That's what the Prince of Peace looks like. He gives us what we need. We don't have to go to drugs. We don't have to go to these vices you were talking about, Zach. When you have the Holy Spirit of God living in you, that brings about this peace that everyone desires. That shows you how you live. That gives you the desire to want to live in the city of God. And it changes everything for you.
You know what happens to you so often is that when you critique that, when you actually point out the fact that these lifestyles lead to this, like the press, for example, they'll pick that up and they'll say something like bizarre state. They'll call it bizarre. They'll call it odd. They have all these ads. Yeah, weird. And but I'm like, but look at the look at the free. Why? It's like you can't critique it.
You can't critique. I've said it before. You can't critique P daddy until something happens. And then now everyone's critiquing, but I'm like, if you were to, if you were to go back and critique the lifestyle four years ago, they would say, Oh, you know, unashamed host makes bizarre statement, you know, but now it's, it's acceptable. But I mean, it's like this, look at it and see, does this really yield anything other than death and destruction? Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to say, Al, cause we were going in the same vein, uh,
you know before when he said in colossians 1 18 he is the head of the body the church and then you know i made that illustration about the chicken with his head cut off in colossians 2 in verse 19 he has lost connection with the head and then now he's revisiting it
In verse 15 of chapter 3, let the peace of Christ rule in your heart since as members of one body you were called to peace. I love that John 14, 25, because if you really analyze that section, in verse 25 he says, all this I have spoken while I was still with you. So when he says, peace I leave with you,
That's what he was referring to. And then when he said, but the counsel of the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things or remind you of everything I've said to you. That's when he addresses in the second part of 27. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not.
let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. And I think that ties in to when it says that in the, in, in verse 19 of chapter one of Colossians for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. Yep. And then when he got to chapter two in verse nine, he says, for in Christ, all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. And then it makes that magic statement in verse 10 of chapter two. And you know,
have been given
who is the head over every power and authority. And so when you read all that and you just kind of take a time out and say, well, what exactly does this mean? That's why the first time I said that the denominational world in North America should unite in Jesus. And let's work the rest of the stuff out later. Well,
Well, I didn't know that was controversial because I'm reading these types of text. And as I refer to that seven hour Bible study with a teacher, well, we kind of came from two different brands of church. You know, he was raised in a totally different segment. And so that's what caused the discussion to be so lengthy.
Because I noticed once we kind of disarmed the denominational baggage that we all bring forth, like these subtle differences that made the different churches and just read the Bible with a focus on Jesus, it was amazing to me how open-minded he became to Jesus.
the scriptures yeah and i i really think if you want to have peace that that's what we all have to constantly remind ourselves is that you know the bible is the bible and he wrote it and when you have jesus as the filter it kind of breaks down a lot of these disagreements that we have that it that has caused the opposite of peace which is what i would say would be division and
Just think how we got here with, I don't know how many denominations there are in North America. Last number I heard was like 10,000. And that's just in people who believe Jesus is the son of God. How did we get 10,000 different groups who tend to kind of argue with each other? And meanwhile, this other city that's out there that we're living in desperately needs to hear
Yeah, and you pull things out of that other city's descriptions and inject them into this conversation, and that's what you'll start to see. Critics are losing their minds for shrinking on Apple TV+. We're back!
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I want to continue down my thread in Isaiah 9 to John 14 and read Romans 5, because here I think Paul shows you now once Jesus has left,
And send his Holy Spirit, which, by the way, if you want to see what that looks like, that kind of piece, look at Acts 2 and look at Acts 4. There's a Greek word called koinonia, which is a spirit among the spirit-filled people. And you'll see what it should look like. And to your point, Jase, it shouldn't be divisive.
This should be very unifying. But here's what Paul said in Romans 5, and look at the word he uses again. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's the ultimate peace that we're talking about, having this idea of being one with Christ, fullness as you described, James. Verse 2, through whom we have gained access,
by faith into this grace in which we now stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Yeah. And that's what it looks like. That's why that gaining access. Now, just think about this. You surrender to Christ. You bury the old self that we're, you know, we're talking about Colossians three, that you now have a new self. That's part of a body of a head. Who's representing us in heaven.
that's why my favorite definition of the bible is genesis to malachi is jesus is coming you you mentioned it in isaiah 9. matthew through john we have a picture of jesus while he was on the earth and what he did
and then you have acts of the revelation which i'm going to amend this definition that i heard that i've used a thousand times it's what jesus is doing now through spirit-filled people and a promise of him coming back which is the title of your uh podcast there zach now not yet in the way i said it but yours is actually not yet now
So maybe you could have meant that. That is what I was going to lead up to, that definition of the Bible and Jesus being the filter. I think you should now rename your podcast. I had planned to do this. It's too late now. No, no, no. Look, all you have to do is add something. Not yet now. Now, not yet.
Now that, not yet. Now, now, not yet. That's a good, that's good. And you, and so then people all over the world could say, look, well, it's kind of like a takeoff to how much, uh, would, could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck good chuck would. And you're like, Hey, have you heard that new podcast? Not, not yet. Now, now, not yet. Yeah.
They're like, wait, what? It's so confusing. I have to go listen to it. I'm going to have to make sure I get all the search engine optimization stuff purchased for any possible variation of that phrase. Now that I can buy into. Let me give you this last thought that I had about this idea of peace. Because what does the result look like or what should it look like? And there were two other passages there.
One was in Philippians four, which is a famous passage. But think about it. Dad calls it peace of mind, which he says is the rarest of all commodities. And he's right. But this is what it looks like. He says in Philippians four, verse six, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything where a prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your request to God. And here's what will happen. Verse seven and the peace of God.
which transcends all understanding you can't really put your finger on it because it's bigger than you will guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus and then paul says in romans 12 17-21 as far as it depends on you live at peace with everyone so what happens is when you have this peace of mind the rarest of all commodities that can only come from being full in christ
It therefore affects how you live towards other people. And that starts inside the body of believers, but it goes to everyone. And he says, as far as it depends on you, you live at peace with everyone. That means inside the body and outside the body. So it does change at a fundamental level who you are. And so I just, I love that, you know, Paul says in that one verse in Colossians, but would really, when you go back and look, this theme is throughout the entire scriptures, right?
about what peace looks like. And what if everything you did, what if that was the question? You said, does this lead to peace or does this lead to restlessness? And what if we just said, I'm just going to get rid of the stuff that leads to restlessness and I'm going to
take on the stuff that leads to peace. What if we did that? Yeah. And I'm going to say this, this piece that we have in Christ ruling, it's based on a promise. And that promise is based on a certainty. And I introduced that idea about the two cities. So I just wanted to read this in closing in revelation 21. I know I read this often, but just with the idea of the two cities, uh,
In chapter 21, it says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth that passed away. And there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them forever.
They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear. There will be no more death, no mourning, crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne, which is what he's doing now. I am making everything new. And you say, what about the other city? In verse seven, he says, he who overcomes death,
will inherit all this, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice witchcraft and magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. And then he goes on to verse 22, and he says, I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
or its temple the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of god gives it light and the lamb
I just thought I needed to read that since we set it up. That's so good. And it's a clear choice. It makes me want to go to 22 because that very next chapter, it talks about the tree of life.
come this restoration of eden and i love it how it talks about the leaves of that tree will be a healing balm for the nations and i just think man that's a beautiful picture that's what we need clear choice i'd say we're all think door number two yeah well and i say the next time somebody asks you you know where you're from don't give them the city on earth
That would be a good way to introduce Jesus. Yeah, the city of God. I love it. All right. We'll see you next time on Unashamed. We'll pick it up. 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.