Ep 1014 | Lisa & Al Admit Satan Sowed Seeds of Doubt During Her Cancer Journey
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I am unashamed. What about you? So, Zach, been doing any preaching here lately? Oh, yeah. You up and running? You already have a captive audience now with everything going on. Yeah, I preached yesterday. We're in a little something called Mark 11. Yeah. So we got into a little bit on what we call the temple. A little something called Mark 11, Jase.

Why'd you laugh, Chase? You just made that sound like, oh yeah, everybody knows about Mark 11. Well, you had this Elmer Fudd look to you today. With the...

You know, well, I don't know. It's the, the, uh, catchy shirt. Like, like what's yuppie. Are you like what a yuppie would wear to go rabbit hunting, but then you don't want to get shot. So you grab an orange hat on the way out.

You know, Zach likes those waskily wabbits. Yeah. So then when you said we got a little something called and I was waiting because I thought, oh, this will be a famous quote in Robertson lore. But then it was like Mark 11. Mark 11.

So then I realized, he then realized that off the top of our heads, I'm not sure exactly what Mark 11. So if that was your point, it's very clever because now people are racing to look up Mark 11. I'm looking. So was it clear the temple or the withered fig tree? Both. I did both of them. Okay. The fig tree and then the cleansing of the temple.

So yeah, I went, I went about 42 minutes and I could have gone 62, but I looked at my notes. I was like, I got three pages of notes left. So I just, I took like the last two and a half and just, so we'll just skip over that.

Well, the problem is when you're doing it the way you guys are doing it, it's what we do. If you were just preaching every week, you'd just say, all right, next week we're going to pick this up. But if y'all are rotating, right? No, but you know Zach's wife. The problem with going 42 to 62 is not because of the people. It's because of the woman you're marrying. When you get in that car, she's going to say, Zach, now I love you, and I don't want you to take this the wrong way.

But if you want to go from 42 to 62, why not just write a book about it? It's funny you say that, Jace, because she actually, before I got up to speak, Grant, my brother, actually did the communion yesterday, which was, I call it the first sermon because it was so long. And she comes up to me and says, hey, you're going to have to shorten your sermon. She told me that going into it. So I had already been...

I don't want to say warned. She just encouraged me. She completes you, and she was right. My wife does it all the time. She's like, look, how long are you going to go?

And she'll make me say five minutes less than what I should. Yeah. And so then she's like, that gives you five minutes of wiggle room. But you've done it, Zach, enough like we have as well that you know when you lose an audience, right? I mean, so you didn't lose it. You still had them. Brad?

Oh, he's asking the guy that works for him. No, that doesn't count. What is he going to say? No. Let me ask my yes, man. If I went to, uh, when's the last time you paid him? Cause that will become a factor in his answer. That's true. Uh, Brad, but Brad did say that I had the audience still. So I felt it. I could tell I had them. It was, but I have gone before where I've like, I've lost the audience. Yeah.

I've lost a few. I mean, you can't, there's no way in preaching. If you do it enough, you're going to lay a few eggs. But I had, but I had been working on this one for probably about four or five weeks just because I was, well, you know, we're headed in. I mean, it's actually what this whole podcast has become about kingdom being here and

And now, but not yet fully realized. And, um, so we were kind of laying that, that, that Mark 11 is foundational work for understanding what Jesus is about to do on the Mount of Olives. So I was pretty fired up about it. And I'm also going to preach in like four weeks on the Mark 13 when Jesus is on the Mount of Olives. So, um,

Does the going through what you guys have and the church there and this disaster and all that stuff, is that affected how you guys are when you're together? Can you sense like a different spirit about the folks or is it just kind of everybody's getting back to normal? No, it's pretty like emotional. Yeah. Everybody's kind of like on high alert. You can tell they're exhausted. Yeah. It's kind of a weird time. And then we have another church that got destroyed yesterday.

Church building? Church building. Because technically the church would be the people, so that would be a very morbid statement. Thank you for the clarification, Jase. I really appreciate the gentleness. Jase is making sure you're linguistically correct. I know you're in hunter mode today thinking about wascally rabbits, but I'm just saying let's keep this up.

I don't know why that occurred to me. And why is that funny? It is funny. I look up and you're like almost belly laughing. I thought, I was like, what did I say that was so funny? I didn't realize it was what I was wearing. It's why I get along with people from Australia so well, because their whole culture is more sarcastic.

by nature and they have thicker skin that's true and so our family is like that and so i get it you're not gonna you're not gonna hurt my feelings you know right and so and likewise i i like that i mean look i had uh one of the guys from uh

king and country that we had on the podcast oh yeah i like those guys well i was in i was uh last time i was in tennessee he supposedly has an old property and i've already asked once and i was like i want to hunt your property yeah treasure hunting not not rabbits and uh he's like sure it'd be great well the first time i tried he he was like well i'm not gonna be there

And so I tried to explain to him, you don't have to be there. I just need a drop of pen. I'll let you know what I find. We're brothers in Christ. He's like, yeah, but I really want to be there. So the last time I went up, I was like, hey, what's these three days looking like? And he responded back, how's 2025 look?

I thought. I didn't know whether to laugh. Do I get my schedule? Was he being sarcastic or was he? So guess what I did? Nothing. That's the last message. I thought, how is 2020? I took it as a joke, as in, you know, don't call me, we'll call you kind of thing. And I was like, okay.

But there's no ill feelings or whatever. I like a man that's direct. He's like, I'm tied up for the rest of the year. I'll have my people call your people and we'll work something out. But it's okay. That's not a deal breaker with me. But I would comment on, I do think when things happen, especially that are totally out of anyone's control, any kind of earth, wind, and fire,

It does make you reflect on we're trapped on the planet. There you go. We're all perishable. Things just don't go like they're planned. And it does make you more open-minded to what God offers. Well, that's a perfect segue, Jace, because I just happened to preach a sermon called Earth, Wind, and Fire. And I went about 40 minutes back. So we'll see how our minds stacked up to yours. So Unashamed Nation, you're going to get a rare opportunity

look into uh just a sermon preached by me and it's um did you have the the band uh wasn't there a band called earth wind and fire one of my favorites did you make a reference to that you know i did not i just dropped it in kind of like hoping people would get the reference if i could but what you're saying is just for clarification they're about to listen and or watch your sermon

On the pot. So we're going to move into a new segment, and we've never done this before. I don't think we ever have, but Maddie says we have. Oh, we have done this before. But look, Al, I did not know that was your – When you just said that? I had no idea. You weren't there. I wasn't.

I didn't even know. Well, when you said it, I thought, I guess Jesus has been doing a little research to see what I preached on. Negative. You should have preached 30 minutes, and then we could have had a 10-minute follow-up critiquing the sermon. Yeah, we'll save that for another podcast. All right, check it out, Earth, Wind, and Fire. This discipleship series that mostly, I haven't been here in a while, but mostly Mike and David have been sharing with you has been from the Sermon on the Mount.

So much good teaching and training. And Jesus obviously was getting his disciples ready for what was about to happen. And so that's why that sermon is so powerful. And of course, it ties in the idea of Jesus coming here and being the fulfillment of all the law and all the prophecy. And in that sermon, he was describing exactly what that was going to look like. And like most really deep things that we get from Christ, probably they weren't getting it so much in the moment.

But later on, they would look back and they would appreciate it. And that's really the way it is for us, right? You look back and you see the people that influenced your life. You see the people that introduced you to Jesus. You see the people that made you a little bit more like Jesus. And you learn more about him. And you can look back and say, man, that got me ready. Because here's the thing. This little situation in Matthew where they're out on this water is really the first test, right?

of their faith jesus had done a few miracles and so they saw that and they saw his power but this is the first time that they had really been afraid after this amazing teaching and training out there on this water and it's interesting because there were clues there that they really shouldn't have been as frightened as they were right they're in this storm and of course they're fishermen so it's not like the first time they've ever been in a storm but this is probably a pretty bad one and jesus is asleep

In the boat. Now, that should have been their first sign that we're probably good here, right? I spend a lot of time, Lisa and I do, on airplanes. And when something doesn't seem like it's going like, because you get to watching these, but you fly a lot, you start seeing everything is just a routine. You got this, you got that, you got your takeoff, you got the ding here and the ding there. You got the people serving the food. It's just like this routine. And then sometimes things will happen that are out of the routine. And that's usually what gets your attention. I always look at the flight attendant.

Something's going on. Maybe she's on the phone back and forth up front and I'm watching because I'm seeing how she or he is reacting. If they yawn and sit down and get on their phone, I'm good, right? I'm not worried about it because they're not worried about it. Now, if they start getting down on their knees and praying and lifting up hands, then there may be a problem, right? And so that should have been the first thing with the disciples. I mean, Jesus is asleep. And then they wake him up because they're scared.

Now, I was trained in my house by my father, you don't wake me up from a nap for anything. You better be on fire, something's bleeding, or you're hurting bad, right? And we just learned that. You don't wake him up. Then someone from Leonard Skinner called way back in the duck call days and wanted to talk to Dad, and we wouldn't wake him up because we were frightened of him, right? And so Dad had a new rule then. If anybody from Leonard Skinner calls, you can wake me up. Or the president, he said.

And that's happened too, by the way. That's another story for another day. And then Jesus says to them, you of little faith, why are you so afraid? Come on, guys. Don't you trust me? We did all that teaching. You saw me heal all those people. And you're worried about a little storm? So he rebukes the wind and the waves, and they're just nice and calm. And I love the question. And this really is the question. What kind of man is this?

Isn't that the question? We look and we see the power of Jesus and we say, what kind of man is this? You see, faith, is it really faith if it's not tested? Is it really strong if you don't know how strong it is? That becomes the disciples' question. Our faith has to be tested so that it will not only be proven genuine and worthy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but then it can be a weapon for us.

that we can use in spiritual warfare james who is the half brother of jesus so he was living through all these times first not as a believer later he became one of the early church fathers in acts 15 here's what he said in james 1 consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kind because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. So you have to have the testing. James knew. What about Peter? He certainly had a front row seat. He was one of the ones that was afraid. He said, somebody's got to wake up Jesus. Here's what he said in 1 Peter 1 verse 7. Though now for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold and gold that perishes even though refined by fire may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Peter became the leader of our movement. He became the one to step up and take everything that was thrown at him. And he realized that faith was strong only because

it was tested so what are some of the things that test us and uh man i've had an interesting couple of weeks to tell you about because i've been put to the test there's no doubt about it these last couple of weeks the first one is the power of failure that's a test who in here likes to fail up couple hands losers none of us like to fail

But all of us know we grow a lot from failure, right? It's difficult. We don't like to admit that we're not the best at everything we're trying to do. There's a power that comes in failure. One of my favorite stories of the Old Testament, and there are many, people say, why would you study the Old Testament? Because everything that's in the New Testament is rooted in the Old Testament.

When you understand that, when you understand the Old Testament and what God was doing and the people that he was doing it through, it makes all the rest of it come to life in powerful ways. And there's a great story in 1 Kings 16 through 19 about Ahab and Jezebel, this king and queen. They were terrible.

In fact, the Bible says this about Ahab, and this is in 1 Kings 16. He did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those who had ever lived before him as king. That's bad. It also says Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings before him. Not a good guy. And he married poorly. He married a woman named Jezebel.

There's a name that nobody's naming their kids now. There's a reason why. If you're listening, you're Jezebel. I'm so sorry. She was terrible. False teacher, false God. She had all these prophets she brought with him. It was an arranged marriage, and all it did was arrange terrible times in Israel. Cultural rot. That was what was going on in Israel. And it was a hard time. And God looked down and said in his wisdom, he said, you know what? We're fixing to see who's ready.

to step up for me. And so he just held the rain back. Now, I've lately seen a lot of rain when you wish it would stop, but he just stopped it for three years. So now we got drought, we got difficulty. It's being put to the test. So this cultural rise, but it hasn't changed anybody's heart, any minds. And then there's the rise of the prophets, and particularly one Elijah, man of God, only one willing to stand up to Ahab and Jezebel.

Now, Elijah is one of our great heroes of the Bible. In the spirit of John the Baptist was like Elijah. People who are willing to not care. My dad's one of those guys. You know, I mean, people said, can you get Phil to just not do this or do that? I said, if I could get dad to do or not do something I would have done a long time ago. You can't do that. You know why? Because he has the heart and the mindset of a prophet. God said it. Here it is. Take it or leave it.

That's a prophetic mindset. That was Elijah. And he had it in his mind, Elijah did, that because of the power of God, because of what he had been called to do, that he could win over Ahab and Jezebel. He had the audacity to think that these two terrible leaders could turn it around. He said, well, how do you know he felt that way, Al? Because there was a huge battle of spiritual forces on a mountain in chapter 18,

And 850 prophets and priests of the other side were against one guy. And he was victorious. And God rained down fire and it was an amazing moment. And he chased him down, the Israelites did, and they killed every one of these false people. And he just knew this would do the trick, but it didn't. In fact, Ahab told Jezebel everything that had been done and that all of her prophets had been killed with the sword

And so she sent a messenger to Elijah, 1 Kings 19, 1, 2, may the gods deal with me. She's still holding on to her gods, be it ever so severely. If by this time tomorrow, I do not make your life like the ones you kill, just as hard hearted as ever, a heart of stone.

Now you say, well, how would this man of God who had just experienced this amazing victory over all this falseness and to see who God is, how would he react in a moment like this? This is shocking. Verse three says, Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. What? The man who had seen this much power, the man who knows how great God is truly, who had actually had conversations with him? Yep.

You see, sometimes there's a narrative that we have in our minds that the way something is supposed to go or something is supposed to be and it doesn't happen and we feel like a big fat failure. That ever happened to you? As to me, man, he just, that was it. In fact, he sat down under a broom tree and he told God, he said, I've had enough, Lord. Just take my life. I'm no better than any of my ancestors who have gone before. He was depressed. He wasn't eating.

All he wanted to do was sleep all day under that broom tree. An angel came to him, ministered to him, strengthened him. He says, go up there and God's got a message for you. So he went up on Mount Horeb, which was the same one the Ten Commandments had come down. And he went into a cave. Then an angel came and said, go out there and stand at the mouth of that cave. Think about what this would have been like. He does it. He's standing there. And the Bible says, first of all, God says, what are you doing here, Elijah?

When God asked that question, you better have an answer. His answer was, well, I've been zealous for you. The Israelites have rejected your covenant. I'm the only one now. They're trying to kill me too. And you know what God said? Go, go, go out here. I want to show you something. There was a powerful wind that tore the mountains apart. God wasn't in the wind. There was an earthquake that shook the earth. God wasn't in the earthquake. There was a great fire that came up, blazing hot. God wasn't in the fire.

And then a gentle whisper came to Elijah. And when he heard it, he put his cloak over his face. And then the voice said again, why are you here, Elijah? And then you already said, go, you get

Caught up in failure, you get caught up in difficulty, you're trying to fight this, this sin problem that continues to gnaw at you and it's always there and you think there's no way. Lord, I just, I can't do it anymore. It's just, I'm the only one trying to live right. I'm surrounded by terrible people. My marriage is in ruins. And what God says in a gentle whisper, go. I've got 7,000 that haven't bowed the knee to Baal and they're waiting on someone to lead them.

That's what our God does. Failure is a test. It was a test for Elijah. His spirit, the spirit of being able to stand up for Jesus, would come out in John the Baptist who would point to Christ who would change all of our lives forever. Elijah was not a failure, but he was tested. And it says he was afraid, and that's the second power, is fear. I mean, I don't like being afraid. Do you? I think about Peter.

He was such a great man, our leader, the one who started everything, started our movement. Man, from the first time, right? In Luke 7, when he was called, he's listening to Jesus, and he's just like you and me. When he looked at Jesus and he saw him in all of his glory, you know what he said? Lord, I'm too bad. I've done too much. Go away from me. I'm a sinful man. And Jesus looked at him and said, oh, I know, but I'm going to make you fisher of men.

Amen. There you go. That serves a round of applause. Go ahead. Go for it. In Matthew 16, when Jesus says, who do people say I am? Peter looked and said, you are the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God. He recognized Jesus. He stepped out of there. And man, we didn't get very long when Jesus told him what that meant. And Peter, the same one, looked at him and said, never, Lord, this suffering and death you're talking about, this will never happen to you.

that they already woke him up now they're rebuking him to his face and it's really interesting you know what jesus's response was get behind me satan he looked right past peter to who was prompting an answer like that the evil one you are a stumbling block to me he wasn't talking about peter he was talking about who was motivating peter to say this will never happen to you so many people look beyond the power of jesus christ

into the circumstances of the situation and they lose sight of the fact that the one who manipulated it is the evil one. A marriage that's struggling, you look and you say, man, why did I marry this person? What a mistake I made. You're not realizing Satan has made this atmosphere to try to destroy your relationship. That's what he does. You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. And then he already told Peter, along with the rest of the disciples,

Take up your cross and follow me. We've all got burdens to bear. I mean, Peter was coming at that because he thought he knew better. We don't know better than Jesus knows better. That's why he says we listen to him. And then, of course, there was Peter's courtyard test in Luke 22. Jesus had already told him he was going to deny him. Peter didn't believe it. He didn't think it was any way. In fact, he had said just that same night, I will die for you. And you know what? He would have.

until he saw Jesus give himself up. And then Peter had nowhere to go. You see what happens when you finally give in to fear because you think there's no way this can be won. This battle is lost and I'm afraid. And so he goes out there and it's a cold, bitter, early morning. It's still dark. It's the middle of the night.

His whole world has been turned upside down. All the things he thought were going to happen because he had the narrative just like Elijah and what this was going to look like, that wasn't what God had in mind. So he gets around a fire. So you got earth, wind, and fire. He gets around a fire with a bunch of accusers who look at him and say, I think this is one of them. I'm not blankety blank. I don't know the man. Three times he curses his Lord.

In the Luke account, it says he looked up at that moment when he heard that rooster crow and Jesus happened to catch his eye from across the courtyard. He looked at him with hurt eyes, I'm sure. Told you, son. Then it says he went out and wept bitterly. Have you ever been in those moments where all you could do is just cry about it? That's what fear does. But it's a test.

Because in John 21, Peter is restored. And three times, the same amount of times he denied Jesus, three times he asked him, how much do you love me, son? You know I love you. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. He knew.

The potential of Peter. He knew his faith. He knew his strength. He saw him already in Acts chapter 3 when they would do the same thing, attempt to with Peter and John that they did to Jesus. He knew that people were to say there is salvation is found in no one else, no other name in heaven. He may have cursed him three times, but now he is praising his Lord and his Savior because we can overcome fear and failure.

they're just a test the third test today is the power of the future because even with failure and fear we worry about the future sometimes it's what we got coming up tomorrow maybe you got a operation coming up joe man and we worry right what's it going to be like how much am i going to be in pain when i wake up or maybe it's some relationship that's really in a bad way and we got to confront that situation this week it's going to happen

Oh man, I don't know. Maybe it's we don't know how much time we have left. Only get one life. And James says it is a whisper. Goes fast. Fear. Failure. What about the future? Well, Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection fulfilled prophecy and law all in one. And his ascension did something even greater. It let us know that he has all authority because that's what he said. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

And I'm never going to leave you alone. We told him in John 14, 15, 16, I'm going to go up and I'm going to represent you in heaven. And I'm going to restore things and make them right. And I'm going to reign there. And you're going to be my hands and my feet and my eyes and my ear. And you're going to be my salt and my light on earth. And you're going to let people know if they trust in me, they will live forever. You see, he supplies the future and he's doing it right now.

We don't have to wait for heaven. Oh man, this life is so bad. I can't wait to get to heaven. Do it here first. That's the idea of the kingdom of God. We are the living, breathing, active, Jesus Christ, spirit filled hands and feet of our Lord. And we impact people. We don't stop. Well, what are you going to do about retirement, Bob? Retirement? There's no retirement. There's only living for him until he comes back.

And trust me, when that day comes, when we finally do cross over into whatever eternity is going to look like, we're going to look around and we're going to say, what a ride that was. I want to spend the first 10,000 years just catching up with people who generations from now were blessed by something we're talking about when I was alive. Can you imagine what that's going to be like? There's a cop that's going to be there that helped put me on the right path in New Orleans. I got a lot to tell that guy. The people that have blessed your life.

When the church started, you remember what it looked like? The apostles were told to wait. Holy Spirit was coming. And all of a sudden there was a great what? Wind. Great wind. Powerful wind. And then they looked around at each other. And you remember what was sitting right up on top of their head? It looked like a little tongue of fire. We got wind and we got fire.

And then in Acts chapter 4, after they had been tested again and everybody came through it trusting God, knowing that they were doing the right thing, the Bible says as they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God boldly. The earth shook with the power of God. Earth, wind is still the things that motivate us today. The Holy Spirit lives in us.

Al, what's the Holy Spirit like? I'll tell you what Jesus said. It's like the wind. You don't know where it came from and you don't know where it's going. But you know what has an impact? Ask the people down in Florida if wind is powerful. In a spiritual sense, it's much more powerful. And what about fire? We don't, you know, fires couldn't be bad. But man, when you're fired up for Jesus, it can be good, right?

Dad used to always tell us we'd come in and we'd be dating somebody or, you know, you have your girlfriend. He said, well, how are the fires burning? Pretty good, Dad. And what about heaven and earth? You see, heaven has come to earth. It's what Jesus did. He brought heaven, just a slice of it for us to experience and to see and to feel. And so the whole time we're on this earth, we're heavenly beings. We're dual citizens.

We're citizens of the United States of America, but we're citizens of heaven, living by the standards of the kingdom of God. That's what we're called to. We had Kirk Cameron on the podcast this week. He's written a new book called Born to Be Brave that's really good. And he had a line in it that I love. He said, we are not fighting for victory. We are fighting from victory. Manny Canales was right. We win, and we know that.

And what is that going to look like in your life? Yeah, but how? You don't know, man. I'm going through a lot of stuff. I got failures. I got fears. I got all these things. Those are tests. Faith is belief in the one who saved you. He is strong enough. He will bounce you back from failure. He will give you strength in times of fear. And he will show you a clear future, a future forever. Told you I had a rough couple of weeks. So I'll close with this.

We went up to North Carolina to take a couple of rest days to see my family, the Dashers, which you know that's a whole thing just to face them, right? You know, just to be around the Dashers. Well, we didn't know it was going to rain 20 inches in two days of our rest time. We were on our way to Raleigh to speak.

And I just told the lady that lines up our speaking, I told her on the phone, not like proud or arrogantly. I said it. I said, you know, we give God the blessing, but we've never missed an event. Praise be to God. Little did I know. Right after 20 inches of rain, a hurricane finds us in North Carolina. I mean, we live in two coastal states. I thought the hills and the mountains were safe. Nope. Awful.

Terrible storm. But we were right in the middle of it. And you know, it's interesting. When you're in something like that, and later on we'd seen all the pictures and the devastation, but when you're in the middle of it, you don't know what's going on. You're just trying to survive your night with the wind and the water and the trees falling. Missed our event and couldn't even call to tell them we couldn't make it. We drove for hours north, south, east, west. We're trying to get east.

Running out of gas. There's no gas. There's no phone. There's no GPS. There's no plug in the address. We're so used to these things. All gone. Like that. Trapped. Now, I'm claustrophobic. The older I get, the worse it gets. And I'm feeling pressure. And that night, we'd driven all around trying to get out of there, and I couldn't get out. The thought of going back to that cold, dark house without any light...

Just put it. It was like a thousand pound weight on my chest. I thought I was going to have a panic attack. I've never felt that way. So I went over to Zach's house. They were in Louisiana trying to get back. They couldn't get in. We couldn't get out. So I went over and looted his house. I literally looted his house. I felt so bad. I had my phone at the light and I'm looking for a candle. I'm looking for anything. But I thought if I just had a little bit of light to take back to that house we're staying in.

I might can make it till tomorrow. And I'm praying like crazy. Can't let the people know we're not be able to make it through. We can't even get out of here. I felt like a failure. I felt afraid. I worried about the future of the moment. Are we ever going to leave? At the moment, when people are turning around saying, can't come this way, highway's gone. It was a test. Do you believe me? Am I big enough for you? Have you not seen me work? You ought to see what's happening up there now.

Dashers and everybody else have turned into Relief Central. And some of you have gone to help. Amazing. We're sitting outside. My spirits are buoyed. You know why? Because I'm with my forever family. I found some like-minded people. We're at Bill and Melissa's house. We're sitting out back and we're cooking on their cooking stuff because they camp. Unlike me, I glamp. That won't help in a moment like this. There's no Hilton, okay? I tried. I went to the Hilton. They said, get out of here. We're having a meal together. We're praying.

They got a radio that you crank it up. We're going back, way back now, dynamo. And the only information we get from the outside world is what's coming through that radio. And this woman says, I got good news, and I perked up. 26 just opened to the south. So now people can get in and bring some help, and we can get out. And I mean, within 10 minutes, we're in that car, and we're headed to Atlanta, Georgia. And I thought, God, why would I doubt? Why would I doubt you in moments like that?

Yeah, it was scary. There was a, people have lost their lives. It's a tough situation. But you know what? They're coming to the same realization that I came to. God is big enough for anything. And our future is secure in heaven. So it doesn't matter if it's the wind, if it's the sea, if it's the rain, if it's a fire, our future is secure in Jesus, both here and now and later. All, all for one. What a blessing.

We went to New Orleans. Lisa had her second surgery, and she's here today doing great. And we went down so she could get her nails did because apparently you got to have your nails did before you have surgery, which I didn't know that was a rule, but apparently it was. And because I get bored in situations like that, I got my nails did too because these feet could use some help. And so while we're sitting in the chairs getting our nails did,

All of a sudden, these people that are working on us, most of them are of Asian descent. That may surprise you, but it's true. They start running around like we're in a Godzilla movie, you know, is what it felt like in the moment. And they were running over the windows. They're taking pictures. And I was like, what is going on? And it was a massive fire across the street. And my feet are all wrapped up. I can't even get out of here.

My truck is parked across the street. The fire trucks are blocking it in, and here we go again. Now it's a fire. But you know what? After what we'd just been through in North Carolina, I was like, this is all right. If that Ford truck burns up, they got more. I'll go to Banner. Doesn't matter. Cop was outside. He said, you can't leave us at all. We're leaving.

Sorry, officer, I'm leaving. I'm walking the other way and I'm getting out of here and that's my truck over there. So, you know, if it makes it, it makes it. He said, well, nobody's going to mess with it. We've got about 80 police officers right here. And we went back and we said, God, I hear you. I hear you. Worried about surgery, worried about how things are going to go. When you're put to the test, trust. And I'll tell you what God told Elijah, what Jesus told Peter, and what he told me.

When you're not sure, go. I got work for you to do. So I don't know how you came in here this morning. Maybe you're having some of your own stuff you're dealing with. I know some of you are because you already shared it with me. I know some were already renewed today, and they put on Christ and baptism, and they're beginning now their walk because they said, I'm all in. You'll be tested, but you're going to pass the test. You know how I know you will? Because you're going to go.

Because there are thousands out there who are still waiting to hear the name of Jesus, and it's up to us to share it. We go. So if you've got some situation you're dealing with, and you just need some forever family, I got you. You just need to break bread like we already have done this morning just to get some strength, I got you. You need to shed a few tears. I saw a few down here in worship. We got you. That's what the forever family does.

in Christ. If you've never put on Christ in baptism, today's a great day to do it. If you got a burden you got to share, if you need to be anointed because you got something, you're just needing some leadership and some love and some trust, we're here. We're here for you.

So that was my Jace free sermon. You know, I said no interruptions from Jace, right? If I try to do it on here, I've never gotten through my sermon. Yeah. So I might actually listen to that one. You might. Well,

Well, I would take that as an ultimate compliment for me. But also, since Missy says she can't listen to the podcast because of Jason, then I'm thinking, well, maybe it's just Jason. But you know, by the way, Unashamed Nation, we're kidding. We said that. I love Jason, what he brings to our podcast. But he will drive you a little crazy. So a couple of things I want to mention, because I didn't quite have time to get to some of the tie-offs in the sermon, just because of time.

But one of the things when I was telling the story about the fire in New Orleans that happened, you know, we were in the nail shop. So we go away and we leave the truck there and we have to walk back. And it was a pretty good walk. I mean, and you have to have surgery in the next day. And so I was a little bit worried about it.

But I was more worried that I was going to show back up and my truck would be gone. Right. Because we're in New Orleans and you're never quite sure, you know, exactly where you are down there. But we walked back at about, we had supper and me, you and BK, my 60, almost 17-year-old granddaughter was with us. And we walked back and there it was. My truck was still there. There were still a couple of fire trucks there that were there.

I think still putting a little bit of water on the houses. By the way, no one was hurt in the fires we found out later, which was a blessing. And nothing happened to my truck. And so we drove it back. But we were talking to somebody after the sermon and they were like, well, did your truck, how bad was it burned? I was like, oh, no, it never burned.

It wasn't too bad. Yeah. The other thing I was going to tell you is that... It was a little smoky. A little smoky. It did smell like we'd smoked a brisket inside the truck. But hey, I like smoked briskets. It wasn't too bad. The other thing I was going to tell you was that... So this whole sermon was about...

how God is bigger, you know, and whether earth, wind and fire, all the things that we see on earth that test us, that we're going to have fear, we're going to have failure, we're going to worry about the future. I mean, it's in our nature. So many approached me after this sermon who were going through cancer, depression,

There were three different brothers at our church that are right in the midst of it. And they were in tears. They were like, thank you so much for this sermon because it just reminds me because I've been feeling so bad because I've been so fearful. And I was like, look, that's who we are as human beings. It's like your children. You know, when a storm comes up, you say, okay, we're going to be okay. And come in here and get in bed with us.

Because you know, you know, most of the time we're not going to have that terrible thing. And so you're providing security. Then what God does is the same thing for us. Yeah. And so Satan's always going to be.

In the details of things. I mean, that's his number one thing is his scare tactics for us. Right. And to make us fear and to doubt. Because, you know, even with this latest surgery I had, you know, they do my blood work and they're like, oh, well, you know, your red blood cells are low.

So then you're thinking, well, what else have I got wrong with me if my red blood cells are like... It was like you're gearing up for this one thing. And they were like, it was questionable whether they were even going to do the surgery. Right. Until we found out the numbers were okay. Yeah, until it came back up. But I mean, but isn't that just like the evil one to put that doubt in there? You're already worried about a surgery. And then he comes through and says, oh, and by the way, here, let me fluctuate these numbers a little bit. You know, it's just...

But that's the way it works. So I was going to tell this story, and I just ran out of time. But after we missed the event in Raleigh, North Carolina, we felt so bad because we couldn't even let the people know. And we finally got a message out by satellite text, and it got through at least the day of.

And I called the lady, her name is Vicki and she runs the center. And she's been so gracious to Lisa now because she realized it wasn't our fault, but still, you know, she's trying to put on her event to raise money for her pregnancy center for the whole year. It's a big deal. And no matter what happens that we couldn't get there, it's a big deal for her. But she told me she was so gracious and she invited us to come back next year and speak at the banquet. And we're so excited about it. But she told me that because it was short notice, um,

She didn't have a lot of options, you know, immediately. But one of the things that she had been thinking about was one of her board members is a man who had an abortion story when he was younger. I don't know the story, but she just mentioned that to me. And I've heard a lot of stories about men.

Who took their girlfriend or someone to get paid for an abortion and then deal with the same guilt and difficulty as a woman would because they realize now they're realizing that I shouldn't have done that. And so they deal with that. And I assume that was something along that line. I can't wait to meet this gentleman. But she told me his testimony was amazing.

And the response to it was so good. And he even joked about it because she said when she said, Alan, Lisa can't make it. They're caught in the storm over in the other part of North Carolina. There was like an audible, oh, like, you know, from the audience. And so when this man got up to speak, he said, I heard that groan when you heard the Robertsons aren't going to be here, but I'm going to do my best. You know, and then everybody was kind of pulling for him. So it was a pretty good way of doing that. But she said,

It was a complete blessing for them because he was one of their own. He's a local guy. He's on their board that helps the pregnancy center. And he was able to tell a story and that it was very, very powerful and personal. And so she said, you know what? Here's what she said to me. And again, I told you openly, I was really struggling with this whole process. All the three tests where I was personally struggling with.

is he said, she said, it just shows you that God was in control the whole time. That's right. He knew we needed to hear from this man and we'll get you guys next year. And I thought, man, well, thank you for that because that's really what the sermon was about. So I hope it was a blessing to you, Unashamed Nation. I love it when our producers give us a chance to do this from time to time because, you know, I love talking about things we do at our church on the podcast, but it's great for you to be able to see it. And by the way,

WFRChurch.org, you can always get any of our live stream stuff. So if you want to go back and look at sermons or things we talked about there, you're always welcome to do it. Or sign up for the marriage retreat we're doing. There you go. We have folks that come to that. We're doing two now every year. So you'll see more about that. We do it in February, but you can usually start signing up in November. So check it out. We love our church. We love that it's

really a worldwide forever family. So it's a great blessing. So love you guys. 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 blaze TV at blaze tv.com slash unashamed.