Ep 1028 | Jase Gums up the Drive-Thru Line, Zach Takes Revenge on Neighbors & the Masculinity Crisis
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I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. We're still in a transitional phase. That's why we're still in the layer. But I did notice the studio is happening. I saw the table.

Saw some of the things. I noticed, I don't know who did it. I'm assuming since there are people here from the Duck Car Room that some of our stuff has wound up in this room. So I don't know if that's temporary, but I know that Duck Car Room didn't win a K-Level award. Well, they may have. No.

No, they did not. They didn't. Not yet. But maybe we could just pass down all our stuff. Like once we've enjoyed it for a while, we could just like, like a little brother. Not a bad idea. Like a hand-me-down. Let them hold it for a little bit. I noticed somebody's got it blocked, but the wrestling belt is back there. So they pinched a few of our items for, I guess, their podcast. Yeah, I don't know how that ended up in here. I'll have to do some research on that. Yeah, get right on that, Zach.

So last night was Lisa's birthday. Unfortunately, she's in Gulf Shores and I'm here, but we wanted to go out and celebrate because that's what we would have done had she been here. So me and Hawk and Bill and Anna and BK went to one of our favorite restaurants. And so I just put her on speaker phones. I got a table for six and I just laid it there and called her.

The waitress came over and I was like, hey, she said, we celebrate these specials. I said, yeah, it's her birthday. And I pointed at the phone. They bring you the cream brulee or a fruit dessert? Well, she offered to at the end, but I'm on this, you know, I'm trying to do better this year. And so I was like, I can't, you know, I can't partake in that. I said, but, you know, somebody might could do that. So, yeah. That's a good illustration in what's wrong with the world. Yeah.

When you're Skyping in to your own birthday party. That's not good. Well, she was actually at another gathering of friends in Gulf Shores, so it was just a minute, Jase, but it was just kind of a funny, I'd never done that before. So then I get home, and Zach is cooked at my house.

And what did you cook? I didn't cook that. No, I actually ate at a... Who cooked at the house? My son-in-law. Oh, your son-in-law. He was staying there. I like your son-in-law. He's a top-notch guy. He's good people. Now, I did a little thing that we like to call canes last night. We don't have one of those in North Carolina, at least where I live. I thought y'all were working on the girth. I'm working on it, Jay. Oh, are you? Yeah.

Well, I went in Rome, you know. Let's talk about being in Rome. You're in Louisiana. You came from North Carolina. When I walked in, I've been duck hunting since I last saw y'all. Oh, really? I went yesterday afternoon after the podcast. You told me you were not going this morning, but you went. Well, I had to because what I saw yesterday afternoon intrigued me. And we were three minutes, three minutes away.

from having one of the greatest duck hunts ever three minutes his legal shooting hours were it was over at 5 23. well at 5 26 you're talking about yesterday yesterday 5 26 pm the heavens opened as i was walking to go get the rig to pick everybody up and it just looked like a bunch of bombers invading

Our duck hole where we were. Mallard's? Mallard. It was the grand passage. It happened yesterday, three minutes after legal shooting hours. How did they know that? Dad says they have. It is a full moon. And so they get on this full moon pattern where they become nocturnal. Here's what's interesting. We went out to the hole. I drove my rig out there. About 30 ducks got up. Well, not much here, but there was 30 here.

They leave. We do not see another duck till 5.10. So we only have 13 minutes. At 5.10, I looked out to the south and I said, those look like mallards, six mallards.

and they came and i said nobody call let's just see what they do so they started working all around the this big field we run worked round and round and so every time they'd make a turn close to us i said the next time they do that let's everybody call because we were in a little bitty tight hole in the corner

So the first time we did it, no response. I thought, well, we're not going to get those. But they came around, did it again. We all called. Well, two of them just locked up and came straight in over our decoys. Just ba-boom. When we shot, 150 mallards got up out of the field. Mm-hmm.

That you didn't know were there. Didn't know they were there. We drove an Argo out into the field. You would think. They would have got up. I mean, you know, it's kind of thick. There's some weeds. They've been sitting there the whole time, and they never said a word. Quiet. So then three minutes after, here comes 500 and just fill up the property. So I thought, okay. Now, I'm going in the morning before a podcast. And so, unfortunately...

We saw them. They all left. No, we saw them, but they just would not come in. They were just. Tomorrow's the day. I'm going to go tomorrow. We shot six. It wasn't a total waste, but. Zach's dressed for it. He's ready. Well, that's what I was going to say. You came from North Carolina. Yeah. And when I walked in from, because look at me, I've been in the wild. It was ice cold.

And I looked at you and I thought, okay, the fear of freezing to death in Louisiana. I've been cold. The last time someone froze to death in Louisiana was 1748. I think you're good, but if that makes you feel better.

I'm cold. Oh, look, because now you went back. Now I'm hot under the collar. I'm going to tell you what. Between you and Willie, man, I have had more analysis of my appearance. Exactly. You can now validate what others have said, and we say it here all the time, that when you're in Louisiana in the winter, and we only get a little bit of winter, but when you're here, and I think it's because of the moisture and humidity, and it's 30s,

right around 40 degrees with a wind blowing, it's a cold that goes straight to the bone. I mean, you live in a cold place. It's not like this. I don't get bone-chilling cold. It's a bone-chilling cold. My buddy from Kansas, I go hunt with him. You're talking about like zero. Oh, yeah. But he said, when I come down there, I freeze to death because I look at the temperature and dress accordingly.

And I freeze because of all the moisture. 35 degrees here is 40 degrees. It's cold. You better be prepared. I think we need to talk about the resurrection because everything you're wearing to me is saying a fear of death. You have an orange hat on. Don't shoot me. And now that is the thickest coat.

I've ever seen. It's the biggest coat that's ever been on a podcast. If I wore that to the duck blind, I would fall down four times before I got to the blind. This is a big boy coat. I mean, this is, it's warm. It's got the feathers inside of it. It's very warm. You're actually going to hunt tomorrow. Yeah, I'm going

I'm going to hunt. Oh, you want to go with me? I do. This is going to be a great story. Now, what's funny is I met one of the, well, I've known, so I didn't know who all the duck boys were. There's about seven or eight of them. They're in training. So I went, yeah, and I figured out one of them last night was someone who I've discipled early on in his walk with Jesus, Reeves. Oh, yeah. He's been a number of times. So he said, let's get coffee. I'd love to hook up and meet up with you while you're here. So I'm going to go duck hunting.

on Wednesday, that's where we get coffee. I told him I would be with y'all. He said, "Oh, you have to get me in." I said, "I've been hunting out there." And I said, "Are you one of the duck boys?" He said, "Yeah, I'm one of the duck boys."

And I said, well, just come. He said, that's not how it works. If you're a duck boy, he said, I can't. Like, I have to get invited by a guest. So he had all the rules. He was telling me, like, y'all got a system you're developing. I'm at a place where other people are. We have a pyramid. He literally said, the only way I can go is if you tell Jace,

that you want me to go because you're the guest and that's the only way I can get in. Yeah, he's trying to subvert the system.

- Jay's just like the Don, you know, he doesn't get engaged. - What you guys are developing, it seems very interesting. I feel like there could, you could probably implement. No, Jay, look, calls me every night. - Yeah, Jay's the enforcer, Jay's is the Don. - Oh, he's good. - And he's like, look, what's funny is he gives me the profiles on where they're at in the growth process. 'Cause like one guy quit- - You talking about the duck boys? - Oh yeah. - Yeah. - So he goes to them, he says, you know, I think he's been improving.

Because what we do is these, our culture has raised a bunch of young men who are spending way too much time staring at their phone.

and working out and not using the muscles that they have in the youth. So you're remapping the brain is what you're doing. Well, look, on opening day, I'm going to just tell you what happened on opening day for the duck boys. They didn't get to go on opening day because you have to put your time in for that. We had the grizzle veterans, which we did shoot 32 ducks.

But opening day for the duck boys, we went to a new blind and we made a two sided blind that will hold 12 men. So I said, get them all. I want to take a look at the young troops. So we had them all there. Well, what happened was they don't realize they're being assessed, but they didn't realize that. Oh, they, they figured it out after the hunt. So we, we hunt. They show up thinking this is a party. Oh, we're part of the gang. There was a speech.

a prayer and a sermon before we started. Jay gave the speech. That's the safety speech. Yep, it was a safety speech. Don't ring somebody's ears. Stay in your lane. One of the duck boys said, I think we need to pray. And I thought...

I like this, this, that he wants to pray. But then part of me thought, is he only doing this to try to be impressive? I thought, see, my first reaction was somebody sucking up. There's like, however, maybe he was just being bold. However, when you pray out loud, that doesn't lie. And when he prayed, I thought he, he prays a lot because it was a very real, authentic,

great prayer. So in the, in the non paper form of checklist, he just got a couple of good marks. He did. I thought he moved up. I'm saying that word is that you need to be listening. I moved him up and, uh, but he didn't know he was getting moved up, but he did. And so, uh, then I gave a little, little Jesus sermon. This is what we're about.

And cause I just thought. You never know. Somebody may not be right with the Lord. We had a, we had a Jesus. That's an homage to dad. So then we hunted. Well, there was one, uh, unsafe act, which it wasn't like, you know, someone could have died. But cause Jay's speech is like, everybody has a quadrant. Yep. You don't shoot.

Unless you're in your quadrant because you don't want to shoot over your partner's head. And it's more just a respect thing. They're not in your quadrant. So trust the guy next to you that he'll fulfill his obligation. That's the other thing, Jase. We learned it early.

is the consequences. The consequence of ringing somebody's ears is permanent ear damage, earing loss. The negative about if a duck gets away is a duck got away and we'll kill him tomorrow. So it's just, you know. Oh, I said there was one. There was actually a couple instances where someone, both were duck boys, did not shoot in their quadrant. And so it's like, I took note of that. And I said in the moment, stay in your lane. Okay.

Bro. Stay in your quadrant. I just said stay in your lane. You're on the right side. Does Jay hunt the left side? Is that the anchor of the- Actually, this is a two-sided blind. So I was in the apex. I actually was in the middle. And I gave a little funny about that. Yeah. Because usually- Middles usually reserve for yahoos. But the way this blind is shaped, I wanted to be able to shoot either side.

Cause I wanted to, you know, make sure we kill some ducks. Not that I'm bragging. You typically hunt cause you're left-handed. You typically. I'm left-handed. On the right. Yeah, I'm left-handed, but I'm versatile. So, uh, so overall, I mean, I think we shot 10 or 12 ducks, but there was two things that emerged. Too many of them were sitting there on their phones, not paying attention. Just, you know, they come out there to get on their phone. I noticed it. And then when it was time to leave, uh,

Some of them had driven in, and some of us had boated in. I mean, we had 12 people. You can't all get in a boat. Well, about three of them, they just went and got in their rig and left before all the stuff had been pulled up. Ooh, that's demerits. That's a mark off there. That wasn't addressed in that moment, but they got demoted from the next duck boy hunt, and Jay reamed them out. You don't ever...

come down and not bring something to the table but the speech after was about those phones i mean jay got up it was like a football coach in a room he's like i'm gonna tell you something if what you're seeing in this creation and in the conversations that have been hilarious and noteworthy and spiritual and and jesus if if that can't get your attention

then you need to look at your life. You need to go home and look in the mirror. Yeah. And he said, some of you need to leave that phone wherever you brought it from. I love this. Yeah. This right here, this is good. This would be good. A good TV show because I agree with you. There is a,

I mean, a crisis of real masculinity in the country, in the world right now. And I would say there's a vacuum of men discipling other men. If you've listened to this podcast for any period of time, one thing that you should know is that we take the Great Commission very seriously. It's very clear that Christians, as Christians, were called to share the gospel and make disciples all over the world.

And that's what our friends at Tomorrow Clubs do. They've been doing it for over 25 years. We love this ministry. They're going into some really difficult places all over the world, places that have pervasive poverty, alcoholism, hostility towards Christianity. In many cases, this is the first time that these children in these places are going to hear the gospel. So our partners at Tomorrow Clubs, they work with children in these places. They teach them the word of God. Their ministry is incredibly efficient. And for just $30 a month,

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with children whose parents don't know Jesus. So they're not getting discipleship in their homes. And what they're doing is they're entering in these communities and they're teaching these children about Jesus and they're discipling with them with long term relationships. So that's key. So really want to encourage you guys to get involved in what they're doing. So if you want to help out and you want to be a part of this organization that we are participating with, go to tomorrowclubs.org.

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It's also that a, there's a cultural thing going on now with people. Cause they're so conditioned to phone. They can't enjoy any moment without having to record it. So you look at it and you see something amazing and you look around and there's 500 people with their phones up. I, one of the greatest. Or look at it, you know, like, and you're just like, just enjoy it. Jill and I were out at, um, we went several years ago out to, uh,

San Diego, I had some work out there, so I flew Jill out. We're going to spend a few extra days, and there's a cliff there.

called Sunset Cliff. I think that's the name of it on the Pacific Ocean. And it's supposed to be like one of the greatest and most beautiful sunsets on the West Coast. And so it's known this place is, and tourists, they come and, you know, we were tourists and we like, let's go, let's be romantic. Let's go out there and watch the sun go down. And then we get out there, that's me and Jill. It's very romantic. It's very beautiful. The sun's starting to set. And this couple, young couple comes and they get in front of us.

And like he gets the camera out the phone and then she gets in like a yoga pose and she's making a heart. If you're not watching, she makes a heart with her fingers and he's trying to get it where the sun is. It positions her right in the center of the heart and she's doing the yoga pose and they're trying to capture this moment.

And they're ruining your moment. Well, yeah. So me and Jill are watching this and they did ruin the moment in some regard, but it was good because I preached the next Sunday. So I use this in my sermon, but I was like, they spent so much time trying to capture the moment

To put it on a social media post. Put it on Instagram that they actually missed the moment. Yeah. And they actually didn't even get the, they missed it. She wasn't good enough. And then they start fighting because the picture, the sun did never made, she never could capture the, and she's blaming him. You didn't take the picture right. He's blaming her. No, you didn't do the pose right. And they missed the moment. They missed the sunset trying to capture the moment of the sunset. And I thought, man,

if that won't preach about where we're at in our current cultural moment. Well, I mean, duck hunting is exhilarating. Yeah. And-

You enjoy the beauty and the peace of it all. And so, I mean, I think it was a good speech. I mean, Jay's a lot. And we're not anti, like, for years, once cell phones became part of the thing, people, we always had them, and you could communicate if you had to get a message out or whatever or look at the weather. I mean, there were some positives about it. But nobody just stayed on their phone the whole time. I mean, like, we were hunting. Yeah, I'm like. You're listening. Well, Jay's line was, there's nothing wrong.

on there that you're going to scroll. That's a great point. It's a habit that people are into. Have you ever heard of the guy? He's an author. He wrote a book called Wild at Heart. It's an older book. Eldridge. What's his name? John Eldridge. Yeah. So he said something. I don't know if it came from him, but it just popped in my mind when I thought about what you guys are doing about masculinity, that masculinity has to be bestowed upon you by another man.

I thought that's interesting. And he's, they've done all the research, whatever. You don't just, you don't just, a man gives you that. And a lot of cultures, they have like a rite of passage and those things. And our culture is like, that's all evaporated. But what you guys are doing, and I could tell talking to Reeves, I mean, they're like, he's, I mean, he's a man. I'm not diminishing him at all. He's a great man. He's a young man. They're all young men. They're good guys. But I do think that like, there's something to that. And I remember when I was a young man,

I wanted to sit under the counsel and the leadership of other strong men. And one of those was Phil. And as much as I hate to admit it now, one of those guys was you. I never knew that you would turn out to be so ruthless to me on this podcast, but there was a time. It's tough love. No, the only reason I am is because you're the one of the few people that

or unoffendable, which I deem that quality very high. Those are rare. Because you know we have the big stuff in place. That's true. And so part of this happened, you know, Hurricane hit pretty severely our property about three years ago. Yep. So Jay was like, and now that Phil's down, because he had him and a couple of his young ewes that were always working, and you don't realize how much he was doing until he's not able to do that.

I was like, man, we need some help around here. Just clearing out trees and logs. Off-season help. Jay, it was kind of Jay's brainchild. He's like, let's just get a... But you got to remember about something about Stone. So, because, you know, Stone's a little surly and you're around him. You're like, what's up with this story? But he was a teacher and a coach for a dozen years before he came on board with this. He was always really good at hunting and fishing. But so he had that in him about...

shaping and training young men, football, basketball. So a good coach, I mean, there's so many coaches that listen to our podcast, and I know why, because you're shaping just what you're talking about. You do that through sports. In our case, it's through hunting. So Jay has really taken that part of his life and now applied it in. But he never stops being a teacher and a coach. He's a great teacher. He is. I mean, Jay's a guy, if I'm going to cook something, if I smoke a meat,

I'll call him. Like I did one over Christmas and his instructions, the way he, I mean, it's very clear, very precise. I mean, he communicates. He's got a ton of videos. So that same opening day with the Duck Boys, well, you know, one of them said, man, they started talking about they were hungry. And I thought, you know, this is bring your own snacks.

And so they're like, boy, they started fantasizing about what they could be eating because they were all ready to go. Yeah. I'm like, we're not leaving. They're dropping hints. Finally, Jay said, we're not leaving until Jay says we're leaving. And I said, well,

I got good news, boys. And so I opened my bucket. I had one of those big Yeti buckets. And out comes, I had about five cans of one of the greatest things you can eat in a duck blind. Don't say sardines. King Oscar sardines with jalapenos. And I had a little Tabasco with it and a little mustard. And I said. Crackers. Oh, I had crackers.

They were more, they weren't the squares. They used to be squares. But when you put a package of crackers in your bucket, they just turn into crumbs. Barely crumbs. Which works. Almost powder. You can sprinkle a little bit on them. Well, to my surprise, here are these young, in-shape men. And they started going, eww. Eww.

They turn their nose up at it. And so I started ridiculing them because I was like, this is one of the greatest things. You want to be a man? You know it's a superfood. I mean, it is. Sardines are a superfood. Yeah. It's very healthy. And so then they had a cameraman there. They was like, well, why don't y'all just try it? You know, because they wanted to film. So they did.

And I think it was funny because they were like, no, no. I mean, as soon as it hit their lips, it was like, no, no, no. One of them started gagging, you know. I just thought you got a long way to go to manhood. Did any of them enjoy it? Did any of them eat it? None. The only person that enjoyed it was one of the men.

One of the mentors. Yeah. Oh, Chad. I mean, he was just eating it like it was filet mignon. I mean, look, it's not a filet mignon, but in a duck blind. Yeah. And just being out there, it's part of it. I like sardines. I want to give you the positive. I don't, but I learned a long time ago from dad's way more. Jace is, you know, he'll leave quicker than dad used. Dad would just out day sometime. Yeah.

And like, I get it all day if there's a chance we might get something because I've wrote it out. I'm at that point now, the next two or three days, because I'm off. I'm probably, I mean, it's getting personal here. What I'm saying is you learn, in which those guys will be learning, if you want something to eat, you better put a few little snacks. If you don't like sardines, you better put something in your little bag. That's what Jay said. He's like, do we have to tell you?

that you're self-sufficient here. You bring a bag. That's why we have a bag and a bucket. Don't be whining because you're not eating every 10 minutes. It sounds like a football team. I mean, this is what it is. I'll give you a few positives. One of the duck boys that has emerged because they're asking us questions. And so like a lot of one of the best things I can do.

I have weaknesses and strengths when it comes to duck hunting. One of the best things I can do is if a duck goes down, there's over a 90% chance that I'm bringing him back. And that's a whole other world. Dad's always said there's no retriever that's better than Jay. It is, but I like it. It's fun. And I don't like to leave any duck behind. So, you know, it's personal.

So they were quizzing me about it. You know, well, you don't realize how influential you can be. I mean, I basically said, here's the whole deal. It was about a 20 minute speech with all the tips, pointers. And so one of the duck boys who was listening, he got another visit to another place because I was like, that guy there now. And we were going through them. So I picked two or three to go on a hunt because I thought it was going to be really good.

And so we shot down two mallards. Well, one of them I wasn't sure was dead. And this fellow, Luke, said, you want me to get him, Mr. Jase? I said, get him. And I had mentioned that you have to move as fast as possible when that duck is down. But always keep your gun in a safe position. But you have to. That first move has got to be wide open.

That joker went down that ladder and we're hunting in a place that was hip deep and it was filled with smart weed. So it's like a carpet of smart weed floating right below the surface. And I kid you not. I looked at Jay and I said, that is the first human I've seen not walk on water, run. He was high stepping and it looked like

Like if we'd have filmed it, but it happened so quick, I didn't think. It looked like it was a miracle because you couldn't see the grass that was floating. Right. But about every time he would sink down, and he's big trying to run through a wall. I mean, just he'd been working out. And he just...

on the water into the thicket and it was thick and he didn't even slow down. He just went in. Now that's the strength of being a duck boy right there. Did he get the duck? Once he hit the thicket, he was out of the grass, Matt. Then it was just, I said, he's still running. He's still running. And then there was a pause and I heard boom.

And I said, I think he actually got that duck. I said, Jay, before he hears what I'm going to say, if he brings back that duck, he will be elevated to the top of the list after that. You know what this reminds me of? When he would carry the...

They'll get him to carry the fish and boy, boy, strong. Yeah. All my friends, he would say, well, he'd look over at Greg or one of those. He'd say, man, look at the physique on that young man.

And we'd all look, you know, of course, they'd be like, everybody puff up, you know. And he said, grab that tub of fish. Let me see what you got there, son. And, you know, it's like he's straining and they're looking. And dad's like, look at that. Woo. You talking about strong. He's taking on the trait. So then he came back and he wasn't acting like he hadn't been there before. You know, he was strong.

And I said, he got, even with the blind, I said, now that was a retrieve. And he was like, thank you. Was he breathing heavy? No. Wow. And I thought, you know, there's a big difference. I said, how old are you? He said, 25. I said, there's a big difference in 55 and 25 because my running on water is...

Over. I would have had a different tactic. I would have been half the speed, and then when I got in the brush, I would have had to use other tactics to find. But he just bull rushed all the way. That's the beauty of youth. If you can harness that, you got that. And now the other six duck boys are now working hard.

that much harder to make sure that they can that's it you got it so it's going good yeah but look it's actually helped me too because i'm conscious when they're there i always give a little jesus sermon uh we hang out in john a lot and i'll give you for instance but it's made me more conscious of just who i'm around and i'll give you illustrations so i left here yesterday because i was going duck hunting but i realized well i haven't eaten anything i mean it's one two o'clock and uh i don't like fast food but

I like Chick-fil-A just because they seem to acknowledge that there is a God and they have good manners and the food is decent. Good service, yeah. So I go in, have a funny conversation with the little girl outside because she said, that'll be $18. Yes, I ordered $18 worth of food. And I looked in my wallet and I had a $100 bill and then I had a huge stack of money. But when I saw I got it out, they were all ones.

And I said, you know what I think has happened? And she's looking at me because it got awkward.

I said, I have a credit card, but I thought since I have such a big, you're the person that I cannot stand to be behind it. I held the line. Oh, I know. And I'm like, what is, cause this person order and give them your credit card. What are you doing? I said, I would have been saying behind. I said, look, my lovely wife. I said, we've been married 34 years and, uh, and I dropped the Jesus nugget in there. I was like, the only thing we have in common is Jesus. And now our kids, I said, so it works. I said, but look,

Here's how clever she is. She left the ones because she wasn't interested, and she left that hundred just in case there's an emergency.

But everything from the five to the 50, I said, it's gone. And I said, I never noticed until right now in this moment. You smart woman. And so I'm going to give you $19 bills and let's start over and regroup. You know what she thought though, Jace? I can tell you what she thought. She said, that old guy, that poor guy.

he doesn't have any money and i had a hundred in there al yeah but she was like you know she looked at you she looked at your nasty truck and she thought that old guy he's just dreaming you know not the couch cushions got the maybe so we had a little chuckle but i had a little jesus nugget there so i pulled up to the window and this guy says hey jay she killing any ducks so i thought well he recognizes me from somewhere and i said well i'm fixed to go right now i said how's the chicken business

And he went...

He liked it. I was like, you're in the chicken business. Is it good? Or he said, you know, I've never thought about it like that, but I guess it's pretty good. I said, okay. All he had was you're killing any ducks. He wasn't expecting, you know, yeah or no. He wasn't expecting a how about you. It was kind of funny. These are young people is my point here. So then he said, well, you know, let's go. I ordered some kind of grilled chicken, cheese, bacon. So evidently nobody had ordered that.

in the last hour. So he's like, can you pull up while we get your order? So I pulled on up. Well, I pulled up and I had my window down because I thought. I call that Chick-fil-A purgatory. Yeah. When you get put into the little in between. You got to wait for somebody to bring it. I'm not really paying attention. And I heard a guy say, Jace Robertson. So I looked and I went, yep. And he said, heard of you? Well, I know what he meant because that's right out of Tombstone, you know. Heard of you. Yeah.

I said, well, you boys doing it. They look like teenagers. And he said, we drove 700 miles to hunt in the great state of duck dynasty. That's what he said. The great state. So now it's our state. 700 miles. I said, I'm assuming you came from the north because if you didn't.

you're living in the gulf you're a sea creature i said you probably should have stopped along the way and hunted before you come down here where the last great one you know so we they hunted a public refuge over there and i thought would y'all shoot they actually shot a few mallards you know but my point of being in this mode is i thought because i quickly thought to myself it's monday

And I said, you look, I said, you boys are young to take a road trip. I was like, you look like you're 17. That was a good way to find out how old they were. And he said, 17, I'm 22 years old. So they were 22. But I thought it's Monday. Well, you don't have a job. You're not in school, but I didn't want to say that. But I thought, you know, I think we need a Jesus sermon. So I just said, well, what do y'all think of Jesus?

And it was just like when I asked the guy, how's the chicken business? The guy said, well, I try to pray every time I'm in the outdoors. I said, well, you must be praying a lot because you're a hunter. And he's like, well, I try to. But I said, well, here's what y'all need to do. Go to your hotel. I'm sure there's a Bible in the drawer somewhere. And y'all read the book of John.

And I said, when you get to chapter 20, and then I went into the fishing. They had a big fish, caught 153, you know, and then they're eating fish. And Jesus said, come eat breakfast. I said, you know why that story is powerful? Look, I did notice they were eight feet away, and now they're three. So they were listening. We were drawing them in. They're dialed in. Yeah. And I said, you know why that's a spectacular story?

And they were like, why? I said, because if there's a way to fish or duck hunt forever, it's going to be the way Jesus pulled it off, coming back from the dead. Yep.

And they just had the stunned look. I said, so y'all going to go back and read the book of John? They were like, yes, sir. I was like, well, y'all do that. Make Jesus your Lord, and I'll see y'all on the other side of this thing. I'd love to hear the rest of that story. And you know they'll be telling that story. Oh, yeah. Hopefully it'll- I mean, if you came down here to duck hunt, think about it. You come down to Louisiana to duck hunt. Because of the show and the family. Because of the show and the family. And then you run into Jason. You see-

Jay said Chick-fil-A. You got to be like, this is what we came for. Yeah, because I was a little embarrassed that these duck hunters saw me at a chicken place. In purgatory. You were in the bad. But I'm saying, why aren't you eating ducks? But I didn't want to explain it. So I just thought, hey, I'm going duck hunting right now, which is why I'm at a chicken place because it's in the middle of the night. At least it's foul.

Chicken, I mean, I think it tastes better than a duck anyway. So the Chick-fil-A is pretty good. Duck, duck is tough. So I don't know what this has to do with the book of John other than the more we're reading it, I'm thinking Jesus called these disciples and part of us being spirit-filled men is to take the young men and turn them into disciples of Jesus. Actually, it's a perfect segue to where we left off because, again,

Zach read 1 through 5, and we were talking about the life and the light, which, by the way, that's what you exhibited in that moment. You were light and life. You gave them, like they came for a reason, but you gave them, they left with something bigger. Yeah. That's what life and light does. But it actually, now we're in the next two, three verses of this text, in John 1, that describes this witness.

This guy who came, who was prophesied to come because he wanted to point people to Jesus. So your story just exactly describes the purpose of John the Baptist. And remember earlier when I mentioned all the times testifying or testimony or being a witness is used in the book of John. He's making a case. Yeah.

For Jesus being the Son of God, the Word becoming flesh and being resurrected. Right. I did want to make one comment before we move in, and I want to read 6 through the rest of 18 to set it up for what we'll be talking about going forward. But I want to make a comment about that, Zach, in verse 5. We talked about you read, "...the light shines in the darkness."

But the darkness has not understood it. What is your, does your say that word as well? Mine says that the darkness has not overcome it. Okay. So that word, Greek word, I looked it up. It can go either way. Obviously, there's a little different attachment.

to whether you overcome something or whether you understand something. Of course, it's one of those classic words, is it either or, is it both and? I think it's both and. Darkness has not overcome it, but it also hasn't understood it. And the idea is that there's, anytime you run up on somebody, there's a potential of light and dark, I think, in any individual. And so we're talking about something being there and being offered,

And then there's a choice to either be a part of it or not be a part of it. And so I, you know, cause I,

If you're talking about understanding something, you're darkened by it. You're not sure. You don't know, and you need to know. So I think it's interesting that he uses that term. I do think Peter, when he said in 2 Peter 1 in verse 16, in the same line as this testimony and testifying, and they were witnesses. Because you see the church today, they call what we do witness, which...

Not sure that's really the same thing. We weren't eyewitnesses of it, but... We do witness life change. We do witness... Well, exactly. And we have the Spirit. So I don't have a problem with it. But Peter says we didn't follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty, which is why they all...

were martyred instead of denying Jesus. For he received honor and glory from God, the Father, when the voice came to him from the majestic glory, saying, This is my Son, whom I love, with whom I'm well pleased. And you remember that happened at his baptism, Jesus' baptism. We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. Now, he could have been talking about the transfiguration there, too, because he also said it there.

But verse 19 is where I wanted to get to. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, because they were all saying Jesus is coming. And you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises again.

In your hearts. So he makes that same kind of John analogy here about light and darkness. And I think it does go back to creation also when he's like, let there be light. So in the new becoming new creations, which is all over the new Testament,

We become new creations in Jesus, spirit-filled people. Well, let there be light once again. It's more of a spiritual light that is an awakening. Which I think that's why that word intrigues me because you can't overcome that light. Satan couldn't overcome that light. He tried, but he couldn't. And so it can't be overcome, but at the same time,

For some people, once darkness appeared, it's hard for them to understand. And so they have a choice. Because later in 2 Peter 3, he says he doesn't want anybody to perish. In other words, he provides light because he wants everyone to be in the light. God loves every created being he made, he loves. And so you have a choice once darkness enters the picture. Do you want to stay there?

Or do you want to come into the light? I mean, the opportunity is yours. So I love it that that word has such a broad implication when you think about it, because you can't defeat Christ, but you can't ignore Christ. I mean, just think about the concept of light itself. I've heard it said this way, that light or darkness, rather, is the absence of light. And so I was thinking the same thing. It's not like you never think about, okay, I want to go in a room that's full of lights and I want to bring darkness into it. That's not how it works.

Well... To make the room dark, you turn out the light. So light is a... And it's kind of a great picture of the life in the kingdom that this whole... What we argue is what the kingdom is about. It's progressive, and so it's not...

So many times we think it's like God's giving us like this, he's gonna reward you with eternal existence. Well, that's not really, you know, the description of life, eternal life in John, the Gospel of John, it's not simply a quantitative existence, it's also qualitative, it's a quality that is meaning in his presence. And so, I think about when it says Jesus is the light of the world, he's the light of men, it's that he illuminates us.

Wherever he is, there's illumination and you can see. Yeah. I said, oh, whoa, that's that. Oh, wow. I can see now. I can have. And think about when you're in a room. You ever done this? Like I look at, like if you stay at a hotel and you wake up, you ever woke up in the middle of the night and you, and you don't know where you're at and you're like. In your times.

You're like, your hands are like, I have no idea where I'm at. That's a great illustration. That's why when he makes profound statements like John 15, when he says, I'm the vine, you're the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. But then he just makes this little statement. Apart from me, you can do nothing. And that's why it's so light and darkness, life and death.

You can't do anything. All you are is confused and you're stumbling around in that hotel room until all of a sudden, at the corner of your eye, you see the light under the, just that little thin strip of light under the door from the hallway. Something that gets you to something. It's a context. I don't know who made this quote. You'll probably remember it. But it's, you either love Jesus or you hate him.

What you don't do is moderately believe in Jesus or something to that effect. Because when you do that, you've rationalized somehow. I mean, it's either light or it's darkness. There's no middle ground. That's why you get into the text about being lukewarm, and it makes him want to vomit.

because it doesn't add up. And I do think it's like that when you're being honest with yourself. It's just an honest thing. You remember the movie The Natural with Robert Redford? It's like an old movie 30 years ago. The baseball movie? The baseball movie. And he had had all these hopes and dreams playing in the major leagues, and then he gets into a bad situation. All of a sudden he disappears for like 20 years, and he shows back up. He's still a great player, but nobody knows where he is. So nobody knows who he is.

And he comes in the office of the guy that owns the baseball team, and he's been just ripping the ball. And all of a sudden, everybody knows who he is, and they're like, man, who is this guy? And the owner, they symbolize –

the sort of nefarious nature of this guy because he's dark. He doesn't like any light. He's got one little lamp on. He's sitting in this dark office and overlooks the stadium. It's real creepy looking. And so Redford is looking around, you know, and so they're having this conversation. He said, it's dark in here. And the guy said, yeah. You know, he gives all the reasons why he likes the dark. And then Redford says, well, you can't see in it.

You know, just like a practical. And so they had this argument when he leaves, he flips the light on. Well, that's why before light was invented, I saw somewhere that the average sleep time before Thomas Edison invented the light bulb was 11 hours.

Which happens to be probably nighttime to daylight, right? Well, that's what I'm saying. Shut it down. What you going to do? Then before the cell phone was invented, it was like eight. So you see, you know, you had light. So that gave you another threat. So now, now that we have cell phone, I'm sure it's like five or six. That's probably not much. Because you're getting dinged in the middle. But what my point is, you're doing a lot more in the darkness.

Now, because you have a physical light, but probably what you're doing is not very. Well, I think it was that visions in Ephesians when Paul says the disobedient do in darkness. I mean, the idea is there's one passage in first Thessalonians, which I've always liked first Thessalonians five, four, because it's a faith test. I do a faith test in my speeches.

Have you ever taken the faith test? A faith test? It's a faith test. There's an actual verse in the Bible that's like, you want to know if you really have faith in Jesus? There's a test scenario. If I can find first Thessalonians, I'm singing that song in my head. First Thessalonians. What's five, five. I'm there. Okay. Here it is. But first Thessalonians five, here's the faith test first. Uh,

So he had just talked about when Jesus comes back. You remember 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18, we believe Jesus died and rose again, and he'll bring with him those that have fallen asleep. All right, we'll be caught up in the air. So then he gets chapter 5. He says, now, about times and dates, we don't need to write you. Like, well, when is he coming? Because everybody, all we know is whenever somebody says he's coming, that's not then. So then he says, you very well know the Lord to come like a thief.

But then in verse four is the faith test question, and it discusses what we're discussing here. But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. So there's the faith test. If Jesus coming back right now would surprise you,

Well, you failed the faith test. That's pretty good. Even though you don't know when it exactly come, but when he does come there's, you know, whether it's a physical trumpet sound or whatever, however it happens. Yeah. You look up and you're like, Hey, what is that? A drone? Oh no. It's big. It's a man. Wow. How is he doing that? You know? So some people are going to do that. Yeah. And, and I don't think it's going to be in a way where it's like, well, did he come on the East coast first? And, and,

Because I think if you have the power over the atoms and the molecules, you can just show up everywhere at one time. Well, if you're surprised, that's the one thing you do not, according to this verse, you're like, oh my goodness.

It actually, I can't believe it, whether you're in trouble. And the rationale, read the rationale for why we're not surprised is verse five. Well, right. That's why I wasn't getting this light and darkness. This is the one I was talking about. You are all sons of the light.

and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to darkness, so then let us not be like others who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. That's pretty much how it happens. That's a general rule. Well, I think he's just using this as an illustration to where you're trying to hide something

Your mischief. Which I've told you. Well, that's what they did in the garden, right? I mean, they hid because they didn't want to be seen.

That's what Adam and Eve did. Jill and I went on a trip with the kids over Christmas. We do a Sabbath trip every year. So we stayed at C. I'm going to give a confession here, by the way. Wasn't the Sabbath just one day? Well, we did. It was a resting trip where we turned off all the phones, turned off all that. We do it every year. I like it. And so here's the confession. It'd be interesting if the person who received what I'm going to tell you is listening to the podcast. It'd be interesting. But

But we stayed in a house on the beach next to another house, but they're kind of close together. Well, the other house was about four couples, I would say in their late 20s, early 30s. And we saw them come in and I thought, oh, they're just getting away for the new year. Oh, let me tell you something about midnight. We're talking dark.

The party started, and I mean, it went on until 4.30 in the morning every single night. And I couldn't sleep. I was so angry. So the day before, the day we left, I had Max. I did it as almost a joke. Like, I bet you wouldn't do this. Kind of like how you manipulate the duck boys. I was manipulating Max. I was like, I bet you wouldn't go up there and just bang on their door. Because it was about 8 a.m.

And they had just shut it down that night about 5 a.m. So they'd only been in. So Max goes up and he starts banging on the door. Hey, ringing the doorbell and screaming. Well, they all come stumbling. I mean, and then he takes off running, jumps in the van and truck and we take off. They're like, they're coming out and they're stumbling. And they're like, whoa, I'm just like gut rich laughing.

So we got to, we're going to send him up there to sing some worship. No, no, no. This was vengeance. This is pure revenge. You know, well, it's a Sabbath that turns sour. Well, they would party till they would party till 4 a.m. And then sleep till 3 p.m. And then get back, get up and do it all over again. But I thought, you know, the question should have come up. What would Jesus do in this situation? He turned over the tables and the tip. Look, I said it was a confession. Yeah.

And so if you are the victim of the banging on the door at my direction, I don't know if I want to repent, but I at least want to tell you that it was me,

And we can talk. Yeah. And you should repent. All right. We're out of time. We'll pick it up next time. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed Podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. And be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.