Ep 898 | Jase Doesn’t Recognize Morgan Freeman When They Meet & Phil Doesn’t Do Vacations | Ep 898
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Reporting live from under my blanket, I'm Susan Curtis with Dunkin' at Home. Breaking news, pumpkin spice iced and hot coffees are back. I'll pass it to Mr. Curtis with his blanket for the full story. That is so right, Susan. You know, it's never too early to get in a spicy mood. I'm talking cinnamony goodness that's so tasty, people don't want to leave their blankets either. Back to you. No, back to you. All you. The home with Dunkin' Pumpkin Spice is where you want to be.

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. I am still in the Big Easy, they call it, New Orleans. I sent a picture to Maddie this morning because I was pretty proud of myself. I've built myself a little studio here on this table here kind of in their dining room at this house. Lisa and I rented a house down here because we had some people that came and helped me with Lisa the first couple of days. So I need a place to kind of

you know, big enough for people to hang out in. So I had to, I use couch cushions, Zach, this is, this is what you call professional, um, sound building as my sound baffles. Cause it's very noisy here. Cause there's a busy street just right on the other side of the wall.

I saw the pictures. I wouldn't say it's professional. Maybe a bit of an overstatement. Well, it's funny because you see everybody that watches us on the podcast, you'll see us in this little studio like Zach is there. But trust me, just beyond Zach, because I've been in his little room up there, is just a smorgasbord of...

You know, just it's like a storage is supposed to be a little apartment is full of crap, basically. Yeah. But so, yeah, I just I was kind of proud. I had I mean, I'm not really a tech guy, but, you know, at the same time, you have to do what you have. It's like me in this nursing. You have to do what you have to do. Every morning I get up, I have a little cup of coffee and then I start working on drains and.

are basically draining leftover fluid out of Lisa's incision. So, you know, I never saw myself really being able to do that. But you know what? You do what you got to do. You know, I'm not a technology guy, which I'm seeing a pattern. It may be because we have a father who famously took one of the grandson's cell phone and tossed it as in this is trash, rubbish, trash.

Right in the river. So I had a unique experience. You know, I have a computer. I don't, you know, I check the LSU box scores and I basically listen to sermons. And there's a lot of, you know, Bible-based things that you can get, the Greek lexicon. It's just at your fingertips, so it's easy. But we were on vacation and I had my computer on in the morning, left it open.

Turn, you know, turned it off, but left the screen open. Go play golf. Come back, grab my computer and it won't come on. And so since I'm the oldest person on vacation, I thought, well, this is perfect because we've gotten younger here and they're all tech geeks. So they're like, oh, what's wrong with your computer? Let me have that. Then they pass it off and then they're having conferences around it.

And I believe it was Cole figured out that there was a tiny pinhole in the screen of the computer. And mind you, these computers, which to my surprise, because I didn't know how much it cost because my wife got it for my birthday a couple of years ago, thousands of dollars. Oh, they're not cheap. I mean, amazing.

So they're like, look at this, because if you touched your finger on the screen, you would see a little bit of light illuminate. And so Cole said, what's happened is when that hole hit, and then he started talking a bunch of tech psychobabble about pixels and algorithms of light that all rushed to the screen. So he said, your computer is on, but the screen is dark.

And I was like, there's some kind of spiritual application here somewhere. So he's like, you need to go to an Apple store. So I was like, oh, okay. Well, let's, babe, you ready? And he said, well, there's not a whole lot of Apple stores. And I said, what do you mean? In Alabama? He said, on the planet. Which I thought was interesting. So I was like, Apple store near me.

And they brought up Metairie, Louisiana. I thought. That's right where I'm at. I'm in Alabama here. So what I found fascinating was there were zero in Alabama. There was one and it was under renovation or reconstruction or something. So then they started looking up Florida. I was like, I'm not going to Florida to fix my computer. Yeah.

And so we had finally figured out, I said, I'll tell you what we'll do. Because there was one in Baton Rouge. I said, we'll just drive. When we drive home, I'll stop in Baton Rouge and then just come home. But it added up a huge amount of time. And so then I got to look and I said, well, maybe there's one in Mississippi. Yep, there's one in Mississippi. One in the entire state.

Jackson, Mississippi. It's right north of Jackson. I said, well, we got to drive through Jackson anyway. Perfect. Solve the problem. And so I scheduled, because then I didn't realize you just don't show up. They said, well, you'll have to schedule an appointment. This became the equivalent of almost like I had to have a medical procedure on myself. I had to call, have a consultation, set up the appointment. Because they were saying sayings of hope, right?

And it's okay. It became really weird to me. They were working on your mental status, your emotional health. So we do the deed, you know, no computer. I go to this nice little, I don't know what you call them. They're like malls, but each there's buildings. It was really like a strip mall. But, uh,

So we circled the area, and I know there was on a Saturday a lot of people, and it hit me, the amount of people, because we couldn't find a parking place. Missy's like, well, if there's only one in Mississippi, do you realize how many computers are in Mississippi? You're going to be here a while.

So she's like, leave the air on. Let me know how it works out for you. So she's in the car in the parking lot. Speaking of emotional support, that's the difference in Missy. I would have sent Lisa in with mine and said, babe, you got to do this because it's over my head. So I grabbed my computer, walked half a mile because that was the nearest parking place. And I'll walk in this place that is wall to wall people walking.

And when you go in, it was real fascinating because there's like triage centers that you move along through figuring out what the problem is. And when you get to the back, they called it the genius bar. And there's one fellow who's working all the cases. I guess he's the genius. He's the genius. And he's figuring out. It was just one of the most perplexing things I've ever seen. So I walk in, fortunately for me.

Because the first thing that happened was security immediately, when I walked in, they immediately came up to me. Because I look like I do, you know. Well, you were very close, uh,

In Acts 17, a non-computer person, the Jews were jealous. They had a problem. So they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started, you're on your way to. I was nervous, Phil. I'm not going to lie. Yeah. Because I don't know about computers, and now I'm in a world that I really don't care for a whole lot, but I need my computer.

So, but fortunately for me, the woman who was the greeter, she recognized me. And I think she said something to the effect, you're the last person I'd ever thought I'd see in this store. And I said, well, I appreciate that. I took that as a compliment. And she said, well, what's the problem? You know, and then she pushed a few buttons. Oh, I see you have an appointment.

Yeah, okay. So I had to get passwords and all, which I don't know. She's like, well, you had to have a password at some point. I was like, well, that's gone. So can you give me another one? So I get another one. Because you have to be all ready when you approach the genius. You have to have all the ducks in a row so he can just look at your computer. And, of course, then I tried the – you could tell I'd been trained by Phil because I was like – but I already know what the problem is. There's a pinhole –

In this screen. And she said, did you cause it? And I said, well, that's an interesting question. Uh-oh. Because not to my knowledge. I'm on vacation. I told her the story I just told you. So, well, he'll determine it. We have a group of investigators to figure out what happened. I was thinking, this has gone now from a medical procedure to a criminal investigation. Yeah.

So long story short, I finally make it to the back, Tim, which ironically, Tim looked like the African-American version of me. He had a very long beard, which I commented on. But he was looking at me, you know, because he didn't know who I was. And he starts the series of questions. I was like, pinhole, pinhole.

And so then he said, well, how we got into the investigation, because I realized then if I caused this, it was going to be a lot more money to pay to have it fixed. And so I said, look, here's what happened. Well, here's what was interesting in this. I'm mid story and how this happened and I had nothing to do with it. And a stranger comes up.

And says, hey, Tim, if this guy is telling you that's what happened, that's what happened. And so Tim looked at me and said, who is this? He thought it was my cousin, my brother, you know, and I said, I have no idea. And he said, well, I listen to your podcast. And I was like, oh, he listens to my podcast. So then Tim's like, you have a podcast about what?

Where to get the best dumpster food. Oh, it was so funny. You say it's supposed to be a Bible study, but we end up talking about things like what's happening right here. The Jews were jealous back 2,000 years ago, so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace. No, so listen to this. Bad characters.

mob and started a rat jace so look when the fella who was a stranger well his then his son who had a baseball uniform on and uh his wife came up and they're like oh no we can vouch for this guy he's he's i was like look i don't need somebody to vouch for me i'm just telling you what happened run your investigation do whatever you want to i just need the computer fixed

The shame nation to the rescue. Oh, it gets better. Then the manager, who was an African-American woman, she comes up because she thinks that there's a conflict. But she was like, ooh, Jace. I was like, she knows my name. And she's like, oh, I listen to his podcast. So then we started talking about the podcast. Well, then I noticed in that moment Tim's attitude changed.

completely changed from that moment on. And so I just thought, you know, I wanted to thank Unashamed Nation. And the bottom line is I thought they would just go back there and fix it. But they were like, no, this will take some time, you know, days. We'll mail it back to you. So I still haven't got it back yet, but evidently they're going to fix it for a nominal fee. Of course.

Well, how are you checking on your stocks and whatnot without a computer? Well, you know what? I'm not. That's why you got to be a good investor and just. See, Zach would already be panicky by now. If he hadn't had a chance to get nervous and sell everything off, he wouldn't know what to do, Jay. I'd had that computer fixed immediately. Buy me a new one.

Well, I thought about that, but they were talking about thousands of dollars. And I thought, you know, fasting is a principle that we don't use a whole lot, but it's kind of been liberating. So now I'm just kind of with, I'm kind of in Phil's camp. I mean, I do have a cell phone that I'm using here and there to watch some Bible videos and sermons and different things, but I'm mainly just sticking with the Bible.

Can't go wrong with that. You can't go wrong with that. Yeah, it's kind of old school liberating. And that's always a good idea. I like it. I actually thought about something when people say, well, Google it. We need to reinvent a search, and we call it Bible it. I like that. Yeah. Jace, we've been talking a lot about

and phones, and one of the things that I guess like anything else in the world, the evil one has used the internet and access to pornography as being a real negative thing. I mean, is that safe to say from your experience? Yeah, I mean, so many Bible studies you have with people, you realize they're spending so much time following an illusion. I feel like that's the current...

crisis of, you know, especially young men and young women just sitting here hour after hour doing nothing, but

feeding, you know, the flesh in an unrealistic way, which will, which will damage your relationships, you know, long-term. Absolutely. And, you know, you just got to realize the evil one is behind all this. And so that's what happens. And so what we're trying to do is create a better environment for our hearts and our minds and our eyes and our good friends at Covenant Eyes have a new, uh,

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You're right, because Google's got too much power as it is. We need to spread that out and get the power where it really resides. So, Jay, as you mentioned golf, so you play, this is the first year in many, many summers that I have not played golf because of, you know, my situation with Lisa and coming down here to have her surgery. So I kind of passed the baton along to Reed, was the guy that got the T-tans. That used to be my job.

Yeah. So I'm assuming y'all had a good week of golf. You know what's weird? When did that tradition start? It's been at least 15 plus years that we've been there. So here's what we do. We ran up on a golf course. It's called the Peninsula. And we usually say it like that. You got to say it like that. The Peninsula. It's one of the few golf courses that I've been to that you can...

play over and over and over again and never get bored, tired of it. They have 27 holes, which is unique. So you're liable to play. Yeah, two of the nines. Yeah, two of the nines. And it's a unique, fun course. It's...

Always well, always nice, always good. You never have to worry about it. Sometimes you go places and it's not always well kept, but Peninsula is really, really good. Yeah, so we love that. I'm proud that I never entered that zone. Well, Phil, for- That zone does not apply to me. For golfers, and I tell people all the time, they're like, oh, y'all go down to the beach-

Where do y'all play golf? And I'll always tell them, I was like, the peninsula. But because for non-professional golfers, to us, this is like the masters. I'll go practice the week before I go down there because I'm like, I'm headed toward playing golf

almost every day and so and it's just spectacular conditions the apostle paul was running into the very thing that you tend to be bringing up up to date here the crowd joined in the attack against paul and silas and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten

Phil, this is the most bizarre Bible study we've ever had. I'm reading the text and I can't find any of those things you were talking about. All right, well, I'm going to tell you something interesting. I'm going to tell you something interesting. I'm reading it saying there's no room for a...

Yeah, well, we're on vacation. I know you don't do vacations, but just imagine if you were. This is like a hobby that we all have. I played more in the last week than I have in the last two years. I mean, it was very relaxing. How's that back holding up, Jay? No, the back went down. That was one of the rounds I literally, every swing, I felt pain.

But it was good because I was competing with the young boys, and it's like you're passing the torch. And look, overall, I shot the best score. Now, I didn't have the best score, like,

overall as far as one round oh reed fired a 74 on the last day it's pretty good but overall i shot 82 from the back tees which we all real and that was the best score of that day so we all decided to move up a tee yeah and then i went 78 78 76 78 which wasn't bad but i want to tell you something funny that happened so we're we get on the first hole and

on uh it's called the cypress nine and i hit the ball a little left on my tee shot and what's left of the fairway is not out of bounds there's actually another fairway which would be nine on the same same course but there's a little waste area like a sandy waste area and there's four or five trees there well i hit one of these trees and it was the biggest and it was real it was a thick tree

Nobody ever saw the ball come down. So it's not out of bounds. It's somewhere in this bunker area. So everybody else hit it in the middle of the fairway. It's a pretty easy driving, though. Really? I mean, I hit a five wood. So it's not like I hit my driver. I'm laying up here. Dog leg right. So I go down there. Well, a search began for the ball. And we can't find it.

And so it got a little lengthy because it's like not because any other reason other than this ball should. Oh, I know why it got lengthy because it was you. Because you cannot give up on a ball. Anybody else would have just dropped one. But I'm like, where could this be? And so about the time that I concluded that this ball is stuck in this tree, I'm looking to figure out how I can climb this tree. I thought if I shake it, the ball's coming out.

And we'll resume. So I'm just fixing to embark on climbing the tree. I saw Nick Faldo do it one time. So I was like, I'm doing it. And I look back at the tee and there's a woman standing on the tee kind of looking like, what do we got going on here? And so there was a guy in the in the cart. And I said, y'all come play through us because there was five of us.

And she said, excuse me. And I said, knock yourself out. And she's like, well, I'm liable to knock you out unless you move to the left. And so I thought, oh, man, no, she's wanting to play through. But she's like, you're in danger. So I thought it was funny. We kind of chuckle. So she hits the ball right down the middle. Well, then this elderly black man gets out and he tees up and he was practicing with one arm. And I thought, wow.

Well, that's an interesting pre-shot routine. Well, then he stepped up and hit it with one arm right down the middle. It was kind of shocking. Just ripped it with one arm. And I said, hey, you still got it. And he went, I sure do. And so he gets in the cart, goes on. Well, I'll go back to trying to figure out how I'm going to climb this tree.

But I noticed all of our group kind of gravitated that way, and they were talking, you know, and I thought they were explaining my condition. And so they move on, which, by the way, the one-armed, he had two arms, but he just swung one arm. I was thinking he's just, it's like this joke where you say, I'll play you with one arm tied behind my back, and you would lose money because the next shot went right up by the hole. I was like, this man's fighting for birdie, and he's only using one arm.

And so Jep and Reed came up and said, that was nice of you to let Morgan Freeman play through. I said, Morgan Freeman, the actor? He's like, well, we saw you talking to him. I was like, I didn't know that was Morgan Freeman. Only Jase, he was so consumed by finding his golf ball, he missed Morgan Freeman. What you're saying is Morgan Freeman hits the golf ball with one arm.

Morgan Freeman has now entered Chuck Norris status in my mind. The man plays with one arm.

Well. So I met Morgan Freeman when I was down there one time, Jace. And the reason he only uses one arm is because he's lost the use of one of his hands. It doesn't work for him. That's what he told me. But that's funny that he played through you guys. That's awesome. Yeah, I thought I was in some kind of weird movie, you know. It's like Morgan Freeman. They call it a fever dream. It's a fever dream. Well, I've searched the text back and forth.

But I haven't found a text yet that'll say anything about hitting a little ball around out there. But you have found a text about a ride. I've searched the text, and I just can't find it. I will agree with that. I am finding there's Paul and Salas getting their tails beat.

severely flogged. They were thrown into prison. The jailer was commanded to guard. These people are fixed to be converted, but bringing in golf, that doesn't enter the... I think Phil wants to have a Bible study with us here. Let's have the Bible study. I just thought it was a weird, funny story. I'm just showing you what happens when you don't say, yay.

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and find Unashamed with the Robertson Family wherever you get your podcasts. That's YouTube.com slash Phil Robertson on Blaze TV for the YouTube channel and Unashamed with the Robertson Family on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeart. Check them out. All right, so let's get to that. I'll repent, but I will say it is way more exciting that a man came out of the ground, which is what this riot was.

the reason for the riot is because they were declaring that a man named Jesus from Nazareth was

had burst forth from the ground. That's way more exciting than putting a little round object into the ground. You are correct. Less strokes than another human. So we're dad, we're going to fast forward you cause we got another, right? You're talking about the one earlier, right? But we're in acts 19 today is where we left off. And, but we do have another, right? So that's, that's right on target for where we're headed today. Cause what's interesting is we're in Ephesus, right?

is where now we're in this last missionary journey of Paul. And he's going to spend quite a bit of time there. And so things are going fantastic. Remember the last time we talked about when Larry was on, you know, they had, there was such a revival that happened as a result of Paul

The sons of Sceva story with the name of Jesus was held up and all these miracles that Paul had done that these people had burned their scrolls, which were worth, I guess, in modern times would have been millions of dollars worth of stuff. They just burned it in a big pile and said, we're all in on Jesus. So what that did, and dad's been alluding to it, it created this jealousy thing.

again in this Jewish community. And so they strike back. And so I told you guys that my next sermon needs to be from revival to riot in three verses, because when you get down to verse 21, it says in Acts 19, after all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem. And so I don't know if that's because they've been going so well or

It's why he decided to go. But something in Paul said, I got to get back to Jerusalem, which that's going to be basically the end of the book of Acts is his trip back to Jerusalem and then ultimately to Rome, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. After I had been there, he said, I must visit Rome also. So he lets you know kind of what his future plans are. He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer. So he's going to hang out there, but he's planning the next trip.

And what happens is dad's been alluding to is another disturbance takes place. And so it just it's amazing to me how quickly these things will go from being really great to really bad. And it usually just takes a few bad characters. About that time, there arose a great disturbance about the way. And how many times is that? Maybe four times that this has been called the way way.

in Acts, and I'm assuming it's because of Jesus saying he was the way, the truth, and the life. A silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis brought in no little business for the craftsmen.

He called them together along with the workmen in related trades and said, men, you know, we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul is convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practicality and practicality and practically.

the whole province of Asia. He says that man made gods or no gods at all. So now the, the religious setting has turned into some economic downturn for some of the people in Ephesus. And the one thing you notice about when you start messing with people's money, and we've seen this already in Corinth, you start having problems. Well, you saw it with, um, you saw it with Jesus when he went into, uh,

uh, he cast out the demons, uh, and sent them into the pigs and 2000 pigs ran into the water and drowned. And they basically asked him to leave because of the economic impact of, of losing those pigs. So you start messing with the money, you know, and I think it's interesting here that they're like, you think, well, they're making money off of idolatry, essentially. That's what, that's what's happening here, which is, which is really stated in there. Uh,

what the writer of the book of Acts, the assembly was in confusion. Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. The Jews pushed Alexander to the front and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him.

He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours. Great is Artemis of Ephesians. I'm just saying in the grand scheme of things, it was a tough sell. Jesus appearing, dying on a cross, being buried and raised from the dead.

They were guiding, trying to, Paul and whatever he had to say, just put it in a box and blaspheme about it. And it was just a tough crowd. But to this day, you would run into the same problem. But I think Al's right. It came back to money and believing in false gods. You remember in Acts 16 with the fortune teller,

you know they wind up in prison because they shut that down in acts 8 simon the sorcerer remember he was trying to get the power to do miracles you know for money but what i want to say is this is this wasn't something that jesus didn't address you remember john 15 when he says to his disciples of course he's in the context of giving them the holy spirit john 14 john 15 john 16.

And it says if the world, in verse 18, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you, which is why you have a revival and then a riot. Because they're functioning wrong.

Like they're out of this world because when you fast forward to the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit has come into their hearts. Jesus is at the right hand of God and they are in the world. Because you remember he prayed in John 17 that God wouldn't take them out of the world. And eventually he would say in John 20, as the Father sent me, I'm now sending you.

And so that's what you're seeing. So he goes on to say in that John 15, which I think it's really profound. He's in verse 20. It says, remember the words I spoke to you. No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they obey my teaching,

They will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they don't know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. And that's really what this is about. When you're confronted with Jesus and that there is a true, living, righteous God, all of a sudden it makes you think, well, what have I been doing?

What hope do I have? So I've actually, this sin, my conscience being bothered is actually...

because there is a God and he came down here. So he eventually gets to the end of that and says in verse 26, 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. And you also must testify for you have been with me from the beginning. And so that's what's now happening.

Tough sell. It's a tough sell, but it's the conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit that leads to change and transformation. We talked about in the last podcast, you know, these gentlemen who burned their scrolls, you know, when they came to know Christ, they just, they burned all that up.

And they did it publicly. And they did it publicly. And so that's what really got this going, because now all of a sudden people are having a change of heart that's impacting in the culture itself. And that's when you start seeing the opposition line up. Yeah, but I think what we want so often is we want the revival of

but we don't want the backlash that comes from a true spirit filled revival. A true spirit filled revival is going to lead to transformation of people's lives and hearts, which is going to lead to the, to how we spend our money, how we spend our time, how we, what we're, what we entertain ourselves with. I mean, it's going to change everything. And when you, when there's that kind of power at play, you can't see a true revival. In my opinion, I think this is a great text for this. Well,

without the consequences of some type of of riot or some type of um some type of conflict that would come at you to try to shut it down because you see here it's the same thing by the way that with that um we saw throughout the whole book of luke when we were going through that and we talked so much about the temple listen to this verse 27 there's uh and there's a danger not only this is them

articulating against what was going on. And there's a danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute. In other words, what's happening here is putting our livelihoods at risk the way we make money if this continues, if we allow this to go on. Like,

they're shutting down the very thing that we're making money by, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing and that she may even be disposed from her magnificence of magnificence.

She whom all Asia and all the world worship. So what he's saying there is that when the way moves into an area, when Jesus Christ, when the way moves into an area and people begin to realize the way, it's going to shut down our man-constructed gods and goddesses. And so I don't think it's so interesting here that these are not Jewish people

but yet they're holding up their version of the temple in the same regard as the Jewish people held up their temple. And when Jesus comes in with his kingdom, it shattered all this temple structure stuff that we've been thinking about. And he's like, no, God's going to live in people now. God's going to move and the Holy Spirit's going to come and live in people's hearts. He's going to live in people's bodies. And that's a big, big deal because if that's true, then,

then that's going to change everything. And so Christianity does offer quite, I mean, it is dangerous for all these other competing worldviews. Yeah, but you keep saying the same word, which is world, worldviews. When it said Artemis, who has worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, that's why I read that in John 15 about even though we're in the world, once we understand who Christ is,

we don't belong to the world. And the bottom line is though, just think that that's why this is not very appealing to people who don't believe in Christ. Because there's a lot of people who love the world. You know, it reminds me of that first John two, when it in 15, where it says, do not love the world or anything in the world. But you think about what we do in the world. We make money. And especially if you're successful, right?

If someone comes up to you and says, hey, we don't want you to belong to this. They're like, what are you talking about? I'm making millions of dollars. I'm on top of the world here. I mean, well, that's threatening to them. And so I think that's what's happening, which we don't see this as much now because people

It's hard for Christians to speak truth to powers. We're intimidated. We know we're going to be persecuted. He brings it all to a head. I've declared to both Jews and Greeks. This is Acts 20.

that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. And now, compelled by the Spirit, I'm going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city, the Holy Spirit warns me

that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me. If only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. I know that none of you among whom I've gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Y'all, I'm fixing it. I'm fixing it.

They're going to take me out.

But that's what he's doing. He's preaching. What was that song? A Whole New World? I don't even know what it's about, but that popped into my head. A whole new world. Was that Aladdin? Aladdin. Was it? Yeah. Well, I hope it was something spiritual because that's what we're preaching through Jesus is a whole new world. That is it. Even though we're in this world. The opposition with all kinds of stuff is there led by their firepower.

It's that little black box. Yeah. Oh, I saw it, Phil. Look, it was scary. I tell you. An Apple store, it was scary. It's the, what's happening here, too, because you think we don't belong to this world, which is true. We're in the world, but not of the world. We're in the world, but we don't belong to the world. But the biblical mandate, ironically, is that the world belongs to us.

You read Genesis 1, verse 26, 27, 28, and the mandate from God is to rule, have dominion over the earth. God's created this for us, and we're to have dominion over that. And what happens is, and what's happening here in Acts, and by the way, Romans 1 as well, and pretty much throughout all of history, is that we flip that, and then we submit ourselves to the world. And then we say, we're going to worship God.

the things in the world. We're going to take the things in the world and then we're going to make stuff out of it. And then we're going to worship the thing that we made, which is just insanity. Well, that's what happened. Oh, I think you've touched on it because how'd we do?

Not very well. Yeah, God created it. That's where I think people get off. They're like, okay, well, man messed up, so now we're all under a curse or we're all sinful. It was that we chose, Adam and Eve chose to become sinners.

their own gods instead of surrendering and being the image of God, having the power that he delegated to them and using it for God's will, they used it for their own selfish motivations, which is what 1 John 2 is talking about, the cravings of sinful man. ♪

That's why I think Jesus distanced himself. Now, I don't know. Look, this is a little deep, but I wanted to see what y'all thought. That's why I think Jesus distanced himself from the world in several occasions, which seem weird when you read it because you're like, it makes you uncomfortable. One of them was, you remember when his family came and they said, your family's at the door? Because Jesus was becoming quite the thing. And we're familiar with

with a life of fame. If I was in a green room and they said, hey, your family is here, I'd say, well, get them on in here. The last thing I would say is, no, forget them. You're my family. You're like, what? Why would he say that? It's so uncomfortable to read that. But if you think about it,

It's like he was distancing himself from the physical world in that. What I'm doing is a bigger thing. And he does it again with Mary when at the resurrection. You remember when she thought he was the gardener and next thing you know, she's like, oh, it's him because he said Mary. And then she...

comes up and embraces him in some form. And you got to remember, she's probably thinking, oh, this is like Lazarus. Because you remember that had just happened in John 11. We're back going again. And he's like, no, no, no, wait. I got to ascend, which people view that as confusing because it's like,

What is the deal? I think he's in the same vein distancing himself from, no, we're not going back again on this planet like it was. I'm removing myself from the planet so I can save the planet for eternity, which is what the 1 John 2 says at the end of that paragraph. It says, this world will pass away. But what is the exact phrase? This world...

and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. Well, he lives forever because he's going to the right hand of God. Now, a transformed human who's immortal and eternal, that's bigger than what's happening on the earth in this world.

And I think, Jess, that really lays out the tension that you see here that we're reading about in the book of Acts. And again, this is Christianity just getting going. But we see the same thing 2,000 years later. And I see it framed up in Matthew 4 and Luke 4.

when Jesus is having a direct conversation with Satan, memories, 40 days, Satan comes. And first he tempts him with the hunger because he's been fasting. Then it's, he tempts the plan of God because he takes him up on the temple and says, and even quote scripture, you know, throw yourself down. But that third temptation is,

really shows you the tension and the struggle between, and we're still in it. I mean, this is this idea about we're waiting, you know, the final coming because Satan looked Jesus square in the face and said, see all the kingdoms, the world, see all the people out here in the splendor of. And so apparently they were at a high enough vantage point to see the splendors of the world and all the kingdoms and everything. He says, they belong to me. You think about that? He's saying that to the son of God, right?

And with full confidence. And he said, in all, we can do this together if you'll just bow the knee to me. And then you remember Jesus' response. He said, I only worship God and him only, his father. And so I think that to me is the tension of everything that we see in terms of the world. And look, anything that you do that's not God is shallow. And that's what we see here. You know what's interesting about this riot? And it reminds me of this, when it doesn't have the roots of truth,

then it's going to just blow itself out. But then there'll be another one on the next horizon. And it's all the work of Satan. I mean, I just see that's what he has because he knows he can't win. He knows he's already been defeated. And so it's just like, let me take as many down with me as I can go. And it reminds me so much of this setting is what happens here. It's like they didn't even have an end goal. They got mad. A bunch of people, all of a sudden Artemis is great. Well, what happened to all this stuff before that?

We don't see anything about Artemis except when they were threatened because of their money. And so I see it as a continuing tactic that the evil one uses to just try to basically claim as many souls as he can. No, I'm glad you brought that up because that's another uncomfortable thing. It's like, why is Jesus being tempted?

by the evil one, because in our default mode, we're like, well, we know he's not going to do that. But then when you read passages like Hebrews 2, or in 4, chapter 4, where it says he was tempted in every way, just as we are. So he's not unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. And we know he had no sin. And so here he is born into this world as a human, but he doesn't do what we do.

which is cave in eventually to, you know, to sin. And so not only did he pull that off, you know, and gives his teaching and he has his followers and all that. He then, when you read that Colossians 2, he, where does it say he made a public spectacle? He disarmed verse 15, Colossians 2, 15. Yeah.

Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross. And that's what he came to do. And he did it in the last way conceivable, which is offering himself as a sacrifice and then coming forth from the dead out of the ground as a human being.

exalted to the right hand of God to show you that there's something better than this world. I mean, it makes you really realize how God's specialty is new creations. Yeah, I love it. He created a world and look, he created a better world for us because allowing us to have choices and allowing us to

Be our own gods, which is what Zach was talking about in Romans 1. We exchange the truth of God, you know, for a lie. But in love, you know, he pulls all that off and he triumphs. And even though the world doesn't look like he's in control because, you know, what Al said, 1 John 5, the whole world is under the control of the evil one. There's another power way superior that has disarmed them.

And it was done through Jesus. Yeah. And really, what you have is you have truth. And in this case, it's in Paul's preaching the truth of God and one God and Jesus.

then everything else feels threatened because it's not truth. Because it's interesting. We never read in here where Paul says anything negative about Artemis, but they immediately took it as a negative because he's talking about the oneness of God. So we're out of time, but we'll pick this up next time. And we're kind of getting down towards this, the end of his time in Ephesus. This is going to send him on his way to Jerusalem. So you got one more section here. And then eventually we want to get into a study of,

in the book of Ephesians because out of this setting, there's some amazing stuff that Paul writes. So we'll get to that next time on Unashamed. See you then. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes.

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