Ep 1034 | An Update on Phil’s Health, Upcoming Surgeries & Jase Channels His Inner ‘Exorcist’
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Oh, it's such a clutch off-season pickup, Dave. I was worried we'd bring back the same team. I meant those blackout motorized shades. Blinds.com made it crazy affordable to replace our old blinds. Hard to install? No, it's easy. I installed these and then got some from my mom. She talked to a design consultant for free and scheduled a professional measure and install. Hall of Fame's son? They're the number one online retailer of

Custom window coverings in the world. Blinds.com is the GOAT. Shop Blinds.com right now and get up to 45% off select styles. Rules and restrictions may apply. I am unashamed. What about you? I saw a picture of the Duck Boys on Instagram, and Jace, I hate to break the news to you, but the Duck Boys' final picture of the duck season was the Duck Boys with two big bucks, not ducks. So I don't know what kind of...

what that means. It's being addressed. And they actually call themselves the duck boys. They like the duck boys had a great season. I'm like, you're I'm looking, I'm looking at you with two big monster deer. You want to pick a fight? I'm a,

I've been fighting for three days. No, let's see. When's the last time I saw you? The last time you saw us was two days ago. Two days ago. Let me tell you what happened after that session. And I want to apologize for those two podcasts because I kept thinking, why am I so tired? And I was just, I was feeling, I wasn't feeling good, but I have the Holy Spirit. I'm like, we're talking about things. I don't even remember what happened.

Let me interject, Chase, because I felt like that was two of the best podcasts we've ever done. Well, I will take zero credit for any contribution I made because that was surely the Holy Spirit of God. Because as soon as I walked out of this room, I started feeling a little discomfort. And I went to the bathroom and I thought, whoa, what?

That was messy. Then somebody wanted to talk about something. I don't even remember the conversation, but I just had to end it. I thought, I got to go. I'm not feeling real well. So when I got home, it got worse. Because then I could tell I had fever. It got more messy is what you're telling me. Well, you know, it's been a long time since I have thrown up with force uncontrollably.

And so I got into one of those deals where it's kind of like a stock picker trying to figure out what's where, where the next vibe is coming from, you know, but in this case, I only had two choices, but it did occur to me, you know what I think we need? I think in our toilet industry, I think you need to buy a toilet when it may happen only once every 10 years.

Because you get into a situation where you have two places where things are coming out, but you're only in one hole. And I literally was doing some kind of weird dance. I would sit down. I would get up. I'd turn my head over. I'd sit back down. I was looking at that wall thinking, you don't realize how dangerous it is.

It's an acronym called TMI, Jase. No, I'm just saying this is what real people go through. I saw a quote somewhere. When you go through hell on earth, that's when you realize you need the presence of God in your life. There's 150 psalms out there that describe that. And I really think, you know, we're reading Romans 8. I was thinking Romans 8. All these scriptures were popping in my head in between verses.

Whatever that was, that seemed to go on for hours. Because you do a lot of praying in that moment because you really think in the short term, you're dying. I mean, this is what was the movie that they get into the demonic. They always do the demonic things and you start throwing up. So I don't know. Maybe that was the connection. Yeah. The Exorcist. So I actually think I've lost weight recently.

because since that 24-hour period, I haven't felt real good. I've had a few fever bouts. But, you know, everything I do is I take some water and I just sip it. And then you say...

Okay, I think we're good. Step back. So I've been sipping a little coffee. Maybe like a saltine cracker to ease back into the solids. That was the first thing I ate. I ate about six crackers, and I thought, okay. Well, then last night, because now I'm two or three days into this, Missy had made our parents, Al...

some meatloaf and mashed potatoes she actually cooked there two days in a row which by the way mom was raving about because i talked to mom pretty much every day and she was telling me she was like missy's meatloaf was every bit as good as one i ever made and how good it was and how appreciative they were so that's good well they actually ate it twice which is because then you know phil wasn't doing good the second day she said and uh

So I was going to give you a little field report. And that's one of the reasons I'm here today because, you know, it's all about perspective. Getting better is something we take for granted. Yeah, that's a good point. And so right now, look, I feel not great, but I'm better than I was. And I'm pretty sure, you know, I'll be better as time goes on. But that's been sad about my dad because he's just, he has these conditions that, you

They do not seem like he's getting better. I mean, we just have a little short stints where he feels better. And so he's got bad news and he's got more fractured vertebrae. Yeah, multiple. So we've had six already.

Yeah, this would be seven. Well, I think it's more than one, but anyway, so that'll be happening. But what you see is like, you know, Missy went down there Monday, and he seemed fine mentally. But then yesterday, which was Tuesday, he didn't seem so well. He was going to lead the prayer, and he just didn't.

He couldn't lead the prayer. I mean, it was just a long pause. And one of his cousins was there. One of his cousins was there. You remember old Mac Hobbs, Al? Oh, yeah. And they were visiting him and Mary, two of the sweetest family members that we have, and loved them to death. And it was really difficult for them to see Phil in his current condition. And so he died.

as he said, he said, Phil, let me, let me finish that prayer for you. You know, of course, then he got teared up. It was very emotional. Now, having said that, uh, Willie went down there last night and Phil was perfectly fine. The best he had seen him mentally. So it was like just in a few hours. Yeah. He was perfectly fine. And, uh, so it's very frustrating, but, uh, that's a field report. So keep praying. Uh, you know, we're,

We're trying to make him comfortable. And I think for the most part, we've done a pretty good job of that. You know, he has more better days than bad days. So. And I'd have to say, Jace, it's definitely been a rally point for our family in terms of, you know, us cooking. And a couple of times last week when I was in town, you know, Lisa and I went out and actually cooked there and just, you know, visited. Because what happens is, you know, they're just in the house now all the time, too, and they don't get out much. So.

You know, just an encouragement. So, you know, it's like anything else. You go through something as a family, you have to decide, you know, what are we going to do about this? We're going to rally to it, you know? And so I think it's a good thing for any family that's going through a difficult time. You can sit around and, you know, just feel terrible about the situation or you can say, let's pull together as a family and make it the best we can. So that's kind of been our approach. And we've had a lot of new ideas. We actually had a meeting last night. I was just on the phone because...

Obviously, I didn't. Because no one wants to be around you right now. If this was contagious, which my wife, either she has supernatural forces. She just doesn't get sick very often. And I thought, babe, you're getting this. I mean, because she was just been in close proximity, but she hasn't. So evidently, it's either not contagious or my wife just she just doesn't get sick. Or she hadn't got it yet.

Yeah, but I'm going to tell you, she gets sick about once a decade. So now when she does, she goes down. So anyway, she's been real nice. But I have my computer today because I haven't been able to prepare. I literally was so just, you know, when you have fever for a long period of time, it just, you can't, I couldn't write, I couldn't see straight. And so I'm going to do this Bible study today on the cuff today.

So we'll see how that goes. Well, I mean, we're talking about John the Baptist. I mean, we are. Yeah, we're kind of in our wheelhouse here. And we did have a preliminary. Al, Jason and I had a preliminary discussion before the podcast. I did call him this morning.

So y'all are having podcasts before the podcast. We did. And I said, I've been thinking about this. I've been unable to write anything down, but I kind of ran it by Zach. And he thought it was an interesting discussion. So there's your cliffhanger. I like it. Yeah. So, yeah, I don't know. Well, myself and the audience are awaiting this epiphany. So we've talked a lot on the podcast before.

About weight. And usually it's Jay's pointing out that he has heavier co-hosts than himself. Zach, am I mischaracterizing? No, he's been chastising us. No, there's no chastisement. I deal in facts.

In the real world. I say the truth. So everybody knows on this podcast, last year I announced that I wanted to lose 60 pounds by the time I got to 60 years old. But unfortunately, I did not make it. It's because I tried to go it alone. I needed help and help has arrived. And it comes with a great organization called Ph.D. Weight Loss.

Dr. Ashley Lucas is the person who founded this weight loss program. She's a registered dietitian. She has a PhD in sports nutrition and chronic disease. So she knows what she's talking about. And look, I've done a ton of diets before. I know diets, but they explain things in a way that helped me to understand, which is really good. So I've been in the program now. I'm entering into my fourth week. I've already lost 16 pounds. And here's what I love about it.

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and consistently. And the other thing that they help you with is you got a support system. And this is what I was missing before. Now I'm going to lose that 60 during this 60 and maybe a little bit more. So look, you've been wanting to get into something. You're not sure about it. I'm telling you, trust Al, come on board. Join me on the weight loss journey.

You can schedule your one-on-one consultation today by calling 864-644-1900, or you can visit MyPhDWeightLoss.com. That's 864-644-1900. Tell them Al Robertson sent you. Let's lose some weight together. Well, do you want to just, do you want to go ahead and dive into this? Why don't you do what you were going to do with the book of John?

And then I'll figure out how to go down this. All right. I'll catch this up because we've been for a minute or two in John 1, 1 through 18. And just because, as we've described this, it's the prologue to the book of John.

But, you know, everybody's trying to describe it. It's like you take everything about Jesus and just condense it down into this one package that's so powerful. Every time you begin to unwrap it, you just run into this whole new line of thinking. And that's kind of what we've been doing for the last few podcasts. And then in the middle of this, he gets to this concept of John the Baptist, who is like this witness person.

to the light and to the life. And so last time we were on the podcast, we got into that more specifically in the verses.

And of course, it takes you back to the Old Testament. We talked a lot about Isaiah 40, Malachi 3 and 4, because John the Baptist had been predicted as Jesus had been predicted throughout all the Old Testament. So it's kind of taken us back to that concept that all of the Jewish history has now come together in this moment with this forerunner coming on the scene. And everything he's doing is like prepping people.

the people for what's going to happen. The interesting thing is you're not prepping it for way in the future. He was prepping it for literally in his lifetime. And so the last thing I said about this, because now we've gotten down to John one 19 is that this unique role he played was, wasn't just as this Elijah, you know, in the flesh kind of person, but he was also a family member. He was some kind of cousin and,

And he actually was, you know, given the Holy Spirit in the womb, the Bible says in Luke 1. So, I mean, you know, this guy is an amazing person. Well, that's it. And now we get to this witness part of what he's going to do. So that kind of gets us back to where we are. That little mention of Luke 1 is where I went down the road. Yeah. Because, you know, when you think about this,

You seem to have, you know, Jesus being portrayed, which in John 1, you know, we didn't say. This is kind of like an overview that's almost poetic. And then you see it lived out in all these, whatever you want to call it. Some people call it like a symphony or portraits or

With all these conversations and signs, some people break it down to the first 12 chapters are these signs, and then 13 through the end is the glory revealed in what Jesus does and who he is. And so all these things in John 1, I mean, he starts from the beginning, which is interesting

Interesting, because if you look at the other three gospels, what they call the synoptic gospels, they all have interesting starting places. And you can go look them up and see. But John, he's like, let's just go back to the beginning, which I think is interesting.

And so it kind of, he's tying up basically creation with this new creation that Jesus is going to introduce. Would you agree with that? Yeah, for sure. Well, when you get to like what we're going to get to in the end of John 1, he goes back to this story with Jacob's ladder and you see this kind of, uh,

This quote from, I believe it's Genesis 28, when he said in 31, I tell you the truth, this is John 1, 51. You shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. And he kind of introduces this, what we would call temple language, which in their mind, the temple was where heaven and earth were.

It's where God and man met. And so everything their world was from a Jewish standpoint was about this temple. And so then even in John 2, you know, his first sign is this at a wedding banquet, you know, which leads to him clearing the temple. Remember, and then the argument that came out of this. And Jesus says, you destroy this temple. This is 219.

And I'll raise it again in three days. And the Jews replied, it has taken 46 years to build this temple and you're going to raise it in three days? But the temple he had spoken of was his body. And so if you tie all that together, this ladder where Jesus is bringing heaven to earth together, think about Ephesians 1, 10, 11.

Then you say, what's the significance of John the Baptist? Well, when I read Luke 1, I was shocked at, even though I've read this many times, we actually did Luke in a podcast. Did we not? Yeah, we did. The whole book. But I don't think we made note of this. And I just kind of wanted to read where the details about John the Baptist's arrival. You mentioned it. Yeah. Yeah.

And before I read that Luke 1, just to go down my rabbit hole, where I had this idea is when I read in John 1. Where's that verse where it said the priest and they came to John? Let's see. Let me read that. The priest and the Levites. Yeah, Levites came to John.

So let's just read the John 1 first. That was in 19. Yeah. So verse 6 says, There came a man who was sent from God. Now that little statement there, they came a man. Well, Luke 1 tells how that happens in graphic detail. Correct. And you'll see some interesting things. His name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light. He came only...

As a witness to the light, he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming to the world. So then when you skip down to verse 15, it says, John testifies concerning him. He cries out saying, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me has surpassed me.

Because he was before me, which kind of goes like this statement. Yeah. Which let's just stop and think about that. But it goes in with what John's beginning going back to the beginning was the word and the word with God and the word was God. Right. So then verse 16 from the fullness of his grace, we have all received one blessing after another.

The law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. So then go to verse 19. Now, this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. And he did not fail to confess freely, I am not the Christ. So he was basically saying what some people call, he was a signpost, right?

Or a forerunner. Yep. So if you look up Levites and priests, just a standard definition, what would y'all say? I'll look it up on here. The priesthood for Israel was all from the tribe of Levi. Yeah.

So like, this is the, these are the heritage guys, the, the one tribe that was picked that their role was to service at the temple. They did the sacrifices. They did the cleansings. They ran the whole show. And so out of that group, you would have a high priest and you would have all these hierarchies, but then these were some sort of probably mid-level guys, uh,

Which we mentioned that Zachariah, who was John the Baptist's dad, was more of a low-level guy. But they were all from the tribe of Levi. So I don't know that there's a significance between the two, but they were all from that group. Well, I think the key is there's that priestly role that was reserved only for Levi.

men from this particular tribe. Correct. You don't have a legitimate priesthood outside of the tribe of Levi. Which, by the way, Moses and Aaron...

were from this tribe because they were brothers. And it was kind of interesting because Aaron is kind of seen as the father of the priesthood, but Moses was also a priest, which is a whole other rattle. Well, to read the AI overview, which I'm, I mean, I think at some point we need to change that to something because everybody's all wigged out about AI, which, okay, it's coming.

I mean, we just had the whatever the Chinese came up with, the deep, whatever it was. Deep seek, I think. Deep seek. Well, is it really artificial or is it just a compilation of all the data? The idea of artificial intelligence is an oxymoron. It's barring from intelligence that we have already inputted into something. Thank you. That's what I thought. Me and my wife talked about that.

So, Zach, we had an exciting phone call this last week. I think it's a big announcement to Unashamed Nation, maybe to Jace as well. Would you tell Unashamed Nation audience how many babies have been saved because of their help with our friends at Preborn? Over 5,000 babies were saved through Unashamed.

our audience being a part of this ministry, which was like, wow, that's like a real number, real people who now are living on planet earth. Now we're talking. And so we just want to say, thank you. First of all, it's more important than ever. The government, the federal government seems to be more pro-life, but when you get down to the state level,

Not so much because we got states that are all in the battle. And the problem is now we have an abortion pill. And so instead of it being a clinic or someplace you go to, the real battleground becomes in a person's home. That's really what I love about our partner here is this painting. It's not just a negation of something. It's a painting of a picture of motherhood. So they're meeting these mothers exactly where they're at and offering them food.

free virtual care, which I think is amazing. So our friends at Preborn have rescued over 300,000 babies in total. So what happens is every time you send them a tax-deductible donation,

you're able to help that and to continue to save lives. For $28, I mean, that's one ultrasound. That makes a difference. So whether you can give a little or whether you can give a lot, when you continue to give, it makes a huge difference to what these guys are doing. They're a five-star charity.

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But I was just thinking, artificial intelligence. Because when I read this definition, I think they got it right. But they just went in there and figured it out. But it says in the Bible, priests and Levites were both classes of people who served in the temple in Jerusalem. Oh, wow.

And I think that's significant. And some people who listen to our podcast might not have known that, but I just thought, well, isn't that interesting that the first definition that comes out has to do something with that temple. And the next chapter, at the end of the first chapter of John, in chapter two, we're going to get into a lot of temple talk. And so it made me go over and read Luke 1.

And what's funny is I have a NIV version, which I do not go out on the streets and say, oh, I love this version of the Bible. Sorry for those who have come up with that version, but I've read the same Bible so long, I just, I can't function without it. You know, I'm back in 1984. But what I noticed is when you read online, which is why I brought my computer, you

Well, the NIV, they've changed a lot of their translations since 1984. Yeah, they upgraded in 2011, I think. Yeah, and that's going to be significant because of what I'm going to get to. But I just wanted to read this on the birth of John the Baptist foretold. I mean, this is such a crazy story. And even in Luke's beginning, he says, because I see the word come up, when he says in Luke,

Well, just let me read the first two verses. Interesting take.

Because Jesus, John, you know, in the beginning was the word he, you know, his is capitalized, but it's this same idea about when God makes a promise and think of Hebrew six, it's impossible for God to lie. Or when God says something, it happens that you can trust it. His word happens.

And think of the Isaiah 40 that we read. Remember, it said, His word endures forever. And that was the same quote that John used in the John the Baptist coming. And, you know, it's interesting, Jace, because you make a good point, because Luke is saying in this first two verses of his gospel that he's the very first of this second generation of people coming.

you know, listening to the witnesses because, you know, he was a doctor from Ephesus, but he's now listening firsthand to the people that saw it, which now all these 2000 years later, as we talked about last time on the podcast, we're still getting the eyewitness accounts from what we read in the scriptures. Yeah. So I want to read some of this, which seems historical. And at first you think, oh, this is kind of boring, which is why I probably never noticed this before.

I was given the details. Verse five, in the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zachariah. Well, what was he? He was a priest. So what did he do? He worked in the temple. Now watch how this works. Who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife, Elizabeth, was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations, and

blamelessly. So that was kind of their credentials, and it's the reason God chose them. Because we talk about God choosing John the Baptist, but I'm going to make a point that he actually chose Zechariah and Elizabeth.

For a purpose, which led to another purpose. And there was a miracle or supernatural intervention that occurred because verse seven says they had no children because Elizabeth was barren and they were both well along in years. We'll do the math. This is, you know, when you reach a certain age, you're no longer able to have kids.

Right? Yeah. It's like an Abraham-Sarah type of thing. Yeah, it's all connected. Well, yeah. So, I mean, when we start talking about he foreshadowed, there was a lot of foreshadowing going on. And he chose a guy in the temple. And look how he chose him. I just was fascinated by this. Verse 8. Once when Zechariah's division was on duty, he was serving as priest before God.

So it's just a random thing where he's chosen by a priest before God. And guess how he was chosen? By a lot. I mean, this was just random...

He happened to be, I'm using the, I'm being sarcastic here, but. It was their version, Jase, of a lottery. We would, you know, where you just put some names in a hat and draw one out. I mean, that's basically how Lot was done. Which doesn't seem very Christ-like, but just, I'm just saying, this is the word of the Lord.

He was chosen by lot according to the custom of the priest to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing at the right side of the altar of incense. This was not a normal functioning thing that was happening here.

He's because God had a plan. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you and many will rejoice because of his birth for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.

He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth, which is a passage I've never really understood. And that's why I wanted to bring it up. But seeing as how this is a miraculous or however you want to, how should we characterize this? One thing since you're there, I'll mention because I read this text too, Jase, is the Greek word there could be birth or in the womb, right?

Which, when you read later about how it went down, I think is a better translation than even birth. Let me see how they changed that since 2000. I looked that word up. 115 says, For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or forment a drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he's born. So they even amended what I read.

Yeah, exactly. I think it's a better, yeah. Yeah, I do too. Well, let me read this version then moving forward. He will bring back many people of Israel to the Lord their God. And let me start right there because what I was going to say about that being filled with the Holy Spirit or under the influence, you know, we were taught, Al, in Bible school, when you see that, there's something miraculous happening. You're being filled. You remember when the Holy Spirit,

was poured out and people, it says they were filled and they began to speak in tongues. It's usually some kind of miraculous spirit. Now that's not always the case. You know, in Ephesians five, it says, be filled with the spirit, seeing the,

to one another and with Psalms, spiritual songs and hymns, you know, but I'm just saying as a general rule, you do like in this case and the point you're saying, well, how come you don't understand this? Because in John seven, there's an interesting and somewhat controversial. What do you call it? When the writer throws in his opinion,

Parenthetical, maybe? Parenthetical thought. Yeah. In John 7, and I want to read this. In verse 37 of John 7, it says, On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. So that is like, oh, what is that?

What does that metaphor mean? Well, if you're thinking that, then he throws in what that means. By this, he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time, the Spirit had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified. So I bring this up because, well, I thought Jesus, I mean, I thought John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit at birth. And then here it says,

The Holy Spirit hadn't been given yet. What does that mean? Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah. So if someone who was not familiar with this, how would you explain that is where I'm getting at, which is why I've always, when people ask me about Luke 1, well, how did John the Baptist, how was he filled with the Holy Spirit if John said in John 7 the Holy Spirit hadn't been given? ♪

Well, and my answer would be, I can go back in the Old Testament and give you probably four examples where men of God throughout Old Testament history, before Jesus even, the Messiah even came, had the Holy Spirit given to them for specific purposes. So it's not like this Holy Spirit. We even had a talking donkey. Exactly. There's a big difference. And I had this exact same conversation yesterday.

on the Not Yet Now podcast, because I was talking about this baptism of the Spirit, and then someone had made it in the comments section on the YouTube channel that having the Holy Spirit is clearly separate from salvation, and they had mentioned a couple instances in the book of Acts, but...

I made the point there's a difference between a gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift of the Holy Spirit. So when the Holy Spirit could be in someone like John and working through in the Old Testament, because the Holy Spirit was, I mean, the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity. It's not like he just sat out until Pentecost. Yeah, he was actually hovering over the waters of creation. He was present the entire time. The big difference of what happens now

at Pentecost and really what Jesus is inaugurating here through his baptism, the baptism of the Spirit, is the one that he talks about in Acts 2, that if you repent and be baptized, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. That's a different thing. That is the Holy Spirit moving in and taking up residence in the believer, which is why it's connected with this temple language. That's 1 Corinthians 6, that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. So that is not separate.

from salvation. Because Paul says in Romans 8 that if you do not have the Spirit of Christ, and that's a capital S, so he's talking about the Holy Spirit. He said, you're not connected with Christ. Oh, this is so good. I asked y'all. We agree. I had the same opinion, and I knew that's what y'all were going to say, and I agree 100%.

But I just wanted to do it in that format. But I want to say something because even though we're talking about John the Baptist and we've now gone down a rabbit hole, but I think it's a good rabbit hole.

This is actually another rabbit hole from your rabbit hole. No, Al, we're in a rabbit hole of the rabbit hole of the rabbit hole. But this is like that Leonardo DiCaprio movie. What's it called? Inception? I'm starting to question what's real. I want to say this. We're in the Matrix, guys. I want to say this.

Because I really think this is profound when he said, I baptize you with water, but he'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit. That's John the Baptist saying that. Well, I've gone to Luke 1 and showed you already that it wasn't just some random guy. Oh, it was some wilderness guy that had camel hair and ate sheep.

Locust dipped in honey. I know it doesn't say that, but I'm just telling you, I tried to eat a locust one time. That was one of the most disgusting things I've ever tried to eat. So what you're saying is you need a good sauce. That's what you're saying. Well, he ate honey also. And I thought, you know what? After I tried the locust, I'm pretty sure John the Baptist dipped it.

In honey. It was honey-depped locusts. It's lost in translations. It made me gag and sin as much as I've thrown up in the last few days. I don't want to talk about that anymore. But I want to say this. Do you know that John used a Greek word, if I can pronounce it, that is found nowhere else in relation to the Holy Spirit? Did you know that?

No, you're in John 7. Oh, I won't give you the verses. We're going to read them. John or John the Baptist? John. Okay, the Apostle John. The Apostle John. Now, when he uses that he'll be baptized...

John baptized by water, but Jesus will baptize you with the spirit. That is the normal word, wind, you know, translated wind, fire of the spirit. So holy, you got holy is a Greek word and then spirit. So you put them together, you got something. But there is an unusual word that's only used by John, John, the writer of John,

That is called Paracletus. Yeah, Paracletus. So there are one, two, three, four, five references. So the first one is John 14, 16. So let's just go ahead and read that. It's an awesome, it is an awesome word. It goes to what Zach said, there's a difference between,

And when he introduces this idea, so let's read 15 and 16 of John 14. If you love me, you will obey what I command, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another. Now, there's very different renderings of the word into English. You have counselor, helper, comforter, I think, or, well, I'll save the other one.

So let me just read you a little bit of the definition of this. So is that paraclete is right there? That's paraclete counselor. Mine says counselor. I don't know what the updated. What does yours say, Zach? Does yours say counselor? John 14. John 14, 16. Pay attention, Zach. We're having a Bible study here. Well, I got like four tabs open right now. Yeah, let me see what. I'm chasing rabbits with you boys. Mine says helper. All right. Well, I covered that.

But look, I love the definition of this is someone who is called to aid, support or intercede on behalf of another. I mean, that's the idea, right? Yeah. An advocate, intercessor. That was the other one. Advocate.

A consoler, comforter, helper. Well, it's only used here in John. Don't you find that fascinating? And John, like, I mean, when he said he'll baptize you with the Spirit, well, this is what you get. Verse 16, he will give you, look, not only will he give you another counselor, he'll be with you forever. Now, that's quite a statement. Not just, oh, for a time.

He will be with you forever. That word, wait a minute, I'm going to get something that's going to be with forever. Does that mean I'm going to be here forever? I wouldn't think. I mean, that's why I'm saying when he said he'll baptize you with the spirit, John was just getting started on what the implications of that was. Then it says, okay, where's the next one? Because I'm getting bogged down here. John, I'm doing this on my phone. 1426. Okay.

When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father...

He will bear witness about me. True. But I want to say this. That was right after verse 23, because we're just skipping randomly through this, which 23 said, if anyone loves me, he'll obey my teaching. My father will love him and he will come and we will come to him and make our home with him. Hmm. Hmm.

And so 25, he uses this paraclete again. All this I have spoken while still with you, but the counselor, there's the paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you. So what is the idea here? We're talking about making home. He'll be in you. All right. So next one is 1526. I feel like we've gone this far. We need to read all of them.

1526. Now, remember, this is after the dissertation about the world where we're in a world, but the world doesn't. They're not going to like you if you follow me because they didn't like me. And so then he's introducing the idea of you're not of this world. There's going to be a world within a world. And now you're starting to see that you have a world with humans and then you have a world with.

of humans in Christ who have this counselor, this guide, advocate, helper, who's going to be there forever in you. And so when you get into this heaven and earth coming back together, you're,

in some form. Now you're starting to see how this is taking shape by introducing this counselor. So 26 is when the counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who goes out from the father, he will testify about me. Well, no wonder we're talking about Jesus all the time.

Yeah. Okay. And I'm really excited about this. And you must, you also must testify for you have been with me from the beginning. So then when you get to John 17 and that prayer, all of a sudden you get our inclusion. But the next one is John 16, 7. But I tell you the truth, it is for your good that I am going away unless I go away. The counselor, the paracletus,

The helper of God will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, look, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment in regard to sin because men do not believe in me in regard to righteousness because I am going to the Father where you can see me no longer. And in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. You're like, I have that in my body? Yeah.

And if you think about what he's saying there, too, like, why is it? He says, Jesus is saying, it is good that I leave because it's not fully complete yet in you until he comes to live in you. And it makes a little bit more sense when you think about it that way with his argument in verse 10 where he says concerning righteousness.

Because I go to the Father and you will no longer see me. Like, what does that mean? And I think what that means is it's easy to do the right thing if Jesus is sitting right next to me.

Right. I mean, I got the son of God right next to me. Like, I'm going to do the right thing when it comes to righteousness because I've got the son of God with me. But he said, I'm leaving and I'm going to go to the father and you're not going to be able to see me any longer. Or the spirit is going to come in, though, which you already referenced that verse where he's going to make his home in human bodies now. So now, you know, Jesus was incarnate. The son was incarnate in Jesus, meaning that he could be in one physical place at one time.

But when the Spirit comes, He can be in the bodies of all believers throughout the entire world, throughout all time. So now when you think about the proximity of my presence with God, it's not a, I don't go into a temple anymore, a place, and I got to come back out like Moses did. He had to go in, he'd meet with God, he'd come out, go back and meet with God. That's kind of the whole point of the Spirit is, no, no, no.

He's going to be with you always. Now he is living in you. He's taken that residence forever in the body of humans. It tells you, Zach, the two key components of why the ascension had to happen. One was that, just that. That's when the Holy Spirit would come and make it personal to each and every one of us. And the second thing was,

to show that human beings could then be in both realms and function because we could be in the presence of God. So you've got both of those. See, Al, you're tracking. Your mind went there, and I haven't even – look, I said all that. I missed the pre-meeting. I missed the pre-meeting, and I'm there. Look, there's one thing left.

There's one verse reference left, and if you read the whole book of John, you're not going to find it. I said there was five. I only read you four. You did. Where's the fifth? So without cheating and looking up the Greek, without cheating. I'm going to say it's in the book of Revelation. No, I'm saying it's John 17 somewhere. He said it wasn't in the book of John. It's not in the book of John. Al, you got to pay attention to play the game. I missed that.

So, and it's, look, this, all that's exciting because I saw y'all just bursting with excitement. As I was reading every word, I was like, boy, John, when he's talking about Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit, he was fixing to lay down

A showstopper in what that means to humans. And he used this Greek word that is not used anywhere else in the Bible. And just to make it complete, the last time he used it is actually in 1 John. And I'm going to read it. And you're going to say, wait, what? 1 John 2 and verse 1.

My dear children, the only reason I'm not reading the first chapter of 1 John is we're going to study 1 John after this, because if I start reading this, we will have to do seven podcasts to get how excited I am about what he talked about in the first chapter of 1 John before he got to this phrase, because it made everything...

Make sense and click once I read this. What was it? 1 John what? 1 John 2.1. You might want to, if you underline in your Bible, you might want to underline this one. Because look what he does here. And this is a mind bender. 1 John 2.1 says, my dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our life.

Well, that word, let me see what the current NIV version is. It says that we have an advocate with the Father. Well, that's a better translation. Before I throw the NIV under the bus again, I want to read the current. The new NIV. ESV says we have an advocate. You say that word, advocate? Yeah. Oh, well, you know what? They made the change in the new NIV. So let me read it here. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin, but if anybody does sin...

We have an advocate, a paracletus with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the world. So Al, when you naturally or spiritually say,

Went there when you said it also makes Jesus' ascension make sense. Well, it does because it shows that connection. That's why I read that about Jesus being the ladder and you're going to see the angels ascending and descending. That's why he also said, when I'm lifted up, I will draw them into myself. That's why he said in John 3, John 3, you say, what does that have to do with the ascension? You remember when he said,

I'll read it. Well, let me read the new one. In John 3, he says, where is that at? Right after he talks about being born again, and he says, I think it's verse 12. I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you do not believe. How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man.

And you're like, what's he talking about? Because he's looking at him becoming human. Yeah. Doing what he did and then making the presence of God in the heavenly realms available for humans by being the first human to enter that portal on our behalf.

So when you think about it, he gives us the spirit, this pericletus, and we then, what do we do? We testify about it. We represent him. Well, then John takes that same word and is like, well, he's representing us there. I know you're struggling with sin here, but you have God's spirit and you have his son at the right hand of God.

making that presence available for human beings. And he is performing that today, which gets you to realize when people say, what is Jesus doing now? He's doing spectacular things in the heavenly presence for us. And he's doing spectacular things on earth through his spirit, paracletus, that's in us. So just to remember the word here, I came up with a catchy tune because I know we're running out of time.

So you have a world within a world. You have spirit-filled people in the world. So we're all created by God, and we all talk a lot, most of us. We're, in essence, parakeets. The thing about when you walk by a parakeet, but it's a bunch of nonsense.

But there are those who are paracletos, who have the Holy Spirit of God. When they're talking, they're speaking the word of truth. So it's a good way to remember it. I didn't read that out of a book. It just come out on the top of my head.

But it'd make a great shirt. Be a paraclete instead of a parakeet. That's good. Well, I think that when you think about the significance then of this baptism of Jesus, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, hopefully what this will do, because there are people in our audience, because I know they've responded to me in other formats, that believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit means that when you speak in tongues. And I'm like, no.

That is not what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is. Well, because to your point, if that was true, then how come John wasn't baptized in the Holy Spirit at birth? And that was the point I was going to make. I know we're out of time because we did not finish this because I was going to make a point. The whole reason I even went down this rabbit hole is because I was perplexed on why John didn't get it.

Remember when Jesus came to baptize him? Yeah. I mean, to be baptized by him. He's like, well, wait a minute now. You need to baptize me. I can't baptize you. It's like two views. You have John's view, and then you have Jesus' view. And remember when he was in prison? He was like, hey, somebody go...

Go ask Jesus if he's the one. Yeah, we sure this is the one. Well, wait a minute. I thought that was your whole job, John. What seems to be the problem? And I have concluded what Zach mentioned earlier, that even though he was chosen by God, like a lot of people in the Old Testament, and ultimately it was Zachariah and Elizabeth,

There was still, and the same thing when Jesus said, John the Baptist is the greatest person ever born of a man. However, if you're in the kingdom, you're greater than him. And I think it's a reference to having this paracletus inside you as this counselor. Well, that's the point. I think the point is this. N.T. Wright, the bar from him again, said that the point of the gospels is,

The four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it's the story of how God became king. And so when you start to think about it in that context, what's happening here is this is the inauguration. He's coming. The king is coming. The kingdom is coming. I mean, Mark says that. I mean, he defines the gospel as the coming of the kingdom in Mark 118. Well, I'm getting to that next, but maybe we should suspend this and pick this up. Are we out of time? We're way out of time. We're out of time.

We're over. Because I never got through the Luke 1. I need to finish Luke 1 next time. And then we're going to get into exactly what you're talking about, the kingdom of heaven. Yeah, it's all coming. All right. So we'll pick it up here next time we get back into the book of John on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast.

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