Ep 939 | Jase Welcomes a New Grandbaby, a Phil-esque Compliment & How to Handle Election Anxiety
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This is Kristen Bell. And Adam Rohde. And we're dating. In our new show, Nobody Wants This. Right, right. We're not really dating. No. In real life, we're married. Right. Married to other people, not each other. Ugh, this is complicated. Right? It's just like our love lives in Nobody Wants This, a show about what happens when a bold and sometimes provocative podcast host finds her unlikely match in a sweet, traditional rabbi. You can watch every episode of Nobody Wants This now, only on Netflix.

I am unashamed

What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. The band is back together. It's been a minute. We're back, boys. Zach's back. Zach, you sound a little rough. Yeah. Hey, it's been eight days of Dante's Inferno. I mean, it has been...

Whatever I got was not from God. It's just from some, some evil force, man. We haven't seen you in 38 days. We can't, we can't think his hack would come back days. He does. And now he sounds like somebody has just beat him with a, with a rod. It's so bad. And then I'm, and so there, here's the, here's the good news for you guys. I'm washing dishes.

helping jill clean the house which y'all probably would have advised against but i was in there anytime you start a sentence with i was washing dishes i was washing dishes and jill's like you know we got a dishwasher and i'm like i i can't i don't i can't use it yeah it's called that i don't know why like i gotta it's like if i'm gonna do it i'm not i don't know and i mean i picked up a a saucer about that big i'm about six inches in diameter

And something happened in my back. And I mean, and I immediately thought I have now joined the ranks of the unashamed podcast. Well, we're four for four now. Sick, thrown out back.

Oh, it's been bad. I have to say, so Jace was putting on his shoes. I was in the shower and just lifted my foot. You picked up a saucer. Dad, at least your story, at least you were doing something masculine. You were trying to move a boat. At 70, whatever. At 75, yeah. Well, there's a pop that takes place, but you don't want to ever hear this. But when that hit...

I sat down on the boat and I told old Dan, I said, Dan, don't ever try to pull a boat in like that. In that moment, Phil, did you realize, well, that's over? It's over. I knew there was going to be months, not days. Yeah. That's a bad feeling. They took a look at it at the, you know, the,

The back people, I got a couple old guys, and they looked at it. They said, yeah, we're going to have to do some surgery on that. Yeah, yours was a lot more serious. Well, Zach, let me be the first one to. Welcome back. It's good to be back. You know what's crazy is I was in Nashville yesterday meeting at a church with the brothers. It was really exciting. Missy was like, hey.

I got a lead on a good assembly today. So we went, it was, it was fun, but someone actually asked me about the podcast and they said, what happened to Zach? And I said, I think he might have fallen away. I'm not sure. If Zach had missed one more week, we were going to put him on a milk carton days. He was missing. Well, then I had to walk that back because they thought I was serious. And I said, I'm kidding. I,

I hope. But I did get a note, but this note just appeared as it was going over, you know. Doing your teaching? Yeah. So no king equals no kingdom.

That's what he left. That was the note I'm looking at. It's five words. Yeah. No king equals no kingdom. I like that guy. Whoever sent Phil that note, I like that. Yeah. I would have actually tried to do it. He was a visitor, and I mean, you know. A king equals a kingdom. That would have been a more positive way. Yeah, you're on the positive route. Well, yeah.

So, Jace, can you tell Unashamed Nation why you went to Nashville? Oh, I can. Can you give that information? It's not a secret. So my son and his lovely wife have, together with what I believe is God's power,

Brought number three grandchild onto the earth. What a way to announce that arrival. That's pretty good. We have a new arrival. And look, here's what's fascinating. No one, including them, knew the sex of the child before the child entered the world. I heard the women getting all stirred up about that. Boy, it created so much drama. I mean, my wife left a week before it happened just because she thought it's imminent.

It's imminent. You know, a week later, I'm like, well, babe, I'm getting into a schedule crunch because I'm here waiting to come when the baby is en route, literally, to the earth. Was it male or female? We need a drum roll. It was a girl. It is a girl. It is a girl. It is a girl. And just beautiful. And I was really surprised.

So, you know, now you have a baby. Used to, everybody gathered up at the hospital. But I guess ever since COVID and all that, it's like going through security, filling out paperwork. No, it's hard to visit a hospital now. Yeah, they're like, we'll meet you at the house when we got out. So we had a big celebration when they came. Well, what I couldn't get over is this woman had this baby during the, let's see, I guess it was October.

mid mid morning so now it's the next morning when they get home and so i was expecting her to be like in the back room you know recovering she looked like nothing had ever happened reed's wife i was just shocked i was like well how do you feel and she's like oh i feel great

No big deal. Didn't you just have a baby less than 24 hours ago? And she's like, yeah. But I said, well, you've become, I mean, I was trying to be careful about how I approach this subject because I am your son, Phil. And so I said, you've basically become a professional baby factory.

That was your tone down verse. Well, Missy looked at me, you know, but I looked at her and she just smiled. So I thought, okay, I think that I was trying to brag on her. Like you evidently have become a professional. If less than 24 hours later, you're just acting like nothing ever. Well, this would make number three.

And she was letting people know that there's about three more to go. And then they've hit what the number was. Well, you know what she said? The nurses said that six children. She said, I'm your girl. You know what she said? The nurses said to her on her way out. What's that? They said, see you next year. Because they have three under three. Yeah. Oh, wow.

It was so amazing to watch their oldest, who's not quite three yet. Their world has been disturbed a little bit. So she was more like, don't forget about me here. Yeah, I'm still here. Well, right. And she was just a drama queen and very funny and entertaining. And we were asking her questions. I said, now, are you two or three? Because I was trying to get everybody's ages right. She said, no, I'm five.

I was like, oh, okay. Oh, that one's sassy. She's good. Yeah. So it was really fun. And it's always a reminder, you know, how great I believe God is and he's the author of life. And, you know, you just can't help but stare at these little creations.

I like this kind of trend that these young couples are doing with this, you know, going back and not knowing because, you know, you don't get that many like true, real surprises.

you know, in a good way in life much anymore. Now with the internet, everybody's, you know, looking up stuff immediately. Nobody has any patience to find things out. So I think that's the next, I hope that catches back on that people are like, let's, let's wait, you know? Well, I noticed it was a little trouble for them to reveal that since they were at the hospital. Cause I was like, cause when Missy said, okay, you know, it's in route, I started going and then she called me and was like, okay, everything's fine.

Cause that's the more important thing. He's safe and healthy. And what, but the baby. And I was like, well, is it a girl or a boy? And she's like, well, I don't know yet. I was like, well, they didn't tell you. She's like, I mean, I don't, I'm not sure how this reveal is going to be revealed.

And so I think I was actually the first person who knew because I just as soon as we hung up, I call Reed. I was like, Reed, I can't take it. I was like, I heard Missy said it was babies healthy and good. And he's like, everything's good. I was like, I got to know. I mean, is it a girl or a boy? And he kind of hesitated. He's like, well, we haven't told anyone yet.

I was like, well, I really would like to know. And he's like, I'm your dad. He's like, it's a girl. I was like, oh, wow. I was wrong. I said it was going to be a boy. But I was just guessing like everybody else. Well, so we were off a little bit, which is why Zach was accused of being gone for 30 days. I don't think it's been that long. But it has been a while since we've seen you, Zach. We had a lot of guests at home.

while you were away doing your business things you do. And one of them, or the two last guys we had on were amazing. We loved it. One was Chad Robichaux. I love that guy. He's written a new book, and it's incredible. I got a chance to finally finish reading it, so I definitely encourage you guys to check out Chad's new book. Chad's on my short list. I got his cell phone number, and when I go to the overseas mission work,

I always make sure I call Chad before I leave just in case I need an extraction. He's the guy you want. That's the guy you want. I got a few of those guys in the Rolodex, which is awesome because these guys are the best of us, in my opinion. I mean, there's certain, it takes a certain type of person to rush to the danger zone.

Yeah. Area, which is actually in the sermon I heard yesterday. He used the illustration, which I thought was was pretty cool. But because he was doing it on really about grace and peace because they were doing a they're going to start a series on Colossians, which Colossians is eerily similar.

to Ephesians. Yeah, it's very close. In fact, he made a quote, which he didn't know I was in the audience, but he made a quote that two-thirds of Ephesians, the same verses are used in Colossians. That's right. Which I was like, whoa. But he made an illustration talking about anxiety and fear that our planet is just filled with.

and being under pressure. And he was using the illustration in election years. He was like, the media uses all this anxiety dogma, I guess, to whip you up because they want you to vote. But he's like, if you just sit in front of that for hours upon hours, it causes anxiety.

And because that is what they're trying to do. They're trying to trigger an emotional response. And he had a few stats. It's like, which were disturbing. But as far as how much time we spend on our phones, I wrote that down somewhere when he said that, because I was like, wow, I think adults is like five to seven hours a day, you know, on their phones or digital phones.

whatever, but teenagers were like seven to nine hours. But anyway, he made an illustration. It was like, you get all this anxiety and, and all this, this happens. And he said, you know, when a crisis happens or tragedy or, or chaos, when everybody's panicking, what just happened? He's like, then here comes the professionals running to the tragedy and

Saying, it's going to be okay. Here's the plan. Move in an orderly fashion. You know how that operates in these kind of situations. But then he said something that I really liked. And he said, you got to remember, as spirit-filled followers of Jesus, that's who we're supposed to be in this world.

And I was like, no, that's good. It's what Mark Sayers calls, he has actually a book about it. It's called A Non-Anxious Presence. Yeah. To be a non-anxious presence is actually shocking in an anxious culture. He actually used that exact phrase. Really? I wrote it down. Non-anxious presence.

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No, and I think as a pastor and a pastor's mindset, you know, for as many years as I've been leading in a church and even as an elder, what you said, Jace, is so true. I find myself in election cycles especially, you know,

Every time I'm up having to let the folks know, look, this we're not riding on this next. I know what you're hearing. I know this is this is the one and we can't lose this one or it's all over. You know, the end of democracy, the end of our country. We've got to be above that whole mindset into what we're doing because we know we're eternal citizens first and foremost.

And I think as a pastor, as someone who's trying to protect sheep from the wolves, you always have to have that consistent message about anxiety. And you're right. You get whipped into these frenzies. And I hate it when I see believers like buying into this mindset. If we don't support this candidate, this party, this whatever, then it's all over. But that's not what we're called to.

Yeah. First. Yeah. When he, he, he actually, where he wrote that down, non anxious presence, he read Colossians three 15, which is eerily similar to some of the things we've read in Ephesians, but it says, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Since as members of one body, you were called to peace and be thankful. So yeah,

It was really good. And this guy who was originally from Australia, he was like, we don't have that. We didn't have that same problem in Australia. He said, because in Australia, which I thought was interesting, if you don't vote, you get fined. So they have a totally different motivation for voting. Like save the money on all the trying to whip people up into the digital marketing and the preying on your emotions thing.

So I thought that was an interesting thing. I mean, I'm not sure that's a bad idea. You either vote or you get fined. Well, when you get to Galatians, and it sounds eerily like you're reading from Ephesians. You're all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. He goes all the way back over and over in all these letters. And he gives them an update on every one of them.

You're all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you were baptized into Christ, have clothed yourself with Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek. All this is togetherness of Christ.

of people who are coming out of the kingdom and struggling with some of the ideas there. I mean, it's, and it, and it just updates them. It updates them. It updates them. You get the Galatians, Abraham, where Abraham see the heirs close of, for the promise. You say that he's brought up, you turn up a couple of pages and,

You know, there's one body, one spirit, one... He keeps reminding them, every one of them, in these letters that you read. That's why they're so critical. You read them and you're like, hmm. Yeah. And it's the same material over and over and over again. But it's just a reminder, a reminder, a reminder. The Corinthians first, then when they were in Galatia, then the Ephesians.

It just updates. It just updates of keeping the faith. Stay, stay, stay faithful. Yeah. It's pretty amazing how it's just the same stuff is mentioned over and over again. Yeah. Well, how often is the word peace mentioned in Scripture, particularly in the New Testament, of kind of what we're moving into in the kingdom? Yeah.

And we don't talk about it enough, but I mentioned this on our podcast so many times, but Phil, you've got this brilliant way of saying it. You say the peace of mind, the rarest of all commodities. And I love how you say that because it is rare. But you would think that, man, if I'm on the side of what God is doing in his kingdom, that should manifest itself in a peace that

surpasses all understanding, which Paul says in Ephesians 2, 14, that Christ himself is our peace. So he is our peace. And so that's the thing about the kingdom, why it brings peace, because that little note you got on your Bible right there, no king, no kingdom. We're in it, but we do have a kingdom because we have a king, and our king is our peace. That's right.

And you said it's that because it goes back to the idea about who rescued us. This conversation started by you saying, you know, I know some guys that if I get in a bind somewhere in the world, I can rely on them to come rescue me. Well, that's exactly what has happened to every one of us spiritually. I mean, Christ rescued us. You know, he came in and he rescued us from our own sinfulness and from, you know, everything we were facing. And he, that's why he's called the Prince of Peace. I

He brings that to us because once you know that, you know what you need to know. You can deal with anything in this life. I mean, three short little texts in Ephesians that we've been looking at, speaking the truth in love. You go down there, that's for...

4.15, you go just a little bit. He who ever did not come to know Christ that way, there's a true, you know, you've heard of him. You were taught in him in accordance with the truth that's in Jesus. And just a little below that,

Self-created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. It's just reminders of what the truth is and stick to it. And it's the Jesus, many efforts to keep the spirit through the bond of peace. One body, one spirit. I mean, it's all just recapped over and over and over like he didn't get it the first time. People got a funny way to get a bunch of them gathered up.

And their backgrounds, these clashes. Yeah. But I love it, that verse you just read, because Jesus, you remember when he said, I am the truth. Yeah. But in Ephesians 4, Paul actually made truth a verb when he's speaking the truth in love. Yeah. You're truthing.

As you spread God's love. And that's kind of what I thought about in this prayer. Is that where we left off? Was this? Well, the truth sets you free. You know, it's critical. Which is the truth as a person is what I'm saying. Yeah. So which is why this should always be thrilling. I mean, I think people, you know, you go to you do the same thing every Sunday. You go, you hear the sermon and.

People are yawning, but when you kind of look at what this is saying, especially in the context where we're talking about today, this anxiety and real pain that people go through and that we all go through at some point and pressures, and especially when it comes to politics and nations and people fighting and wars, and then you have all this division among humanity and prejudice and all this going on, it just becomes overwhelming.

Sometimes, and you're just like wanting to just go to an island somewhere and get away. Which is where the anxiety comes from because you think somehow that you're going to –

create the world that is going to satisfy you. And we, we put our hope in systems. We, we put our hopes in Kings. I mean, that's exactly what Israel did. They said, we want a King and they demanded a King and then God gave them a King. And they're like, Oh, maybe you don't want a King, you know? But, but I think that's the thing in the kingdom. We talk about here a lot and in political movements, uh,

The problem is, is that one side says, give us a king, but we don't want the kingdom. The other side says, no, we'll take the kingdom without the king. And they come together. And it's what Christ brings. And in that kingdom where he is the ultimate king, we can have peace even in

The worst of circumstances, because if you read the context that this early church was living in and which a lot of these letters are written in, they weren't ruling the world at this point. I mean, the church obviously advanced quite a bit beyond this, but here they were experiencing peace even under the oppression of

of Roman rule. And I think that's important to note, that even in oppression, we can find peace in times of prosperity and in times of oppression.

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But I've got good news for you. So the last one I opened up has a lot of camping stuff in it. And I don't really do a lot of camping out. So I am going to give you my box of awesome because I love you as my cousin so much. It will go to great use. We do a lot of camping up here in the mountains. You do. You have a beautiful place. It's not hot and miserable like Louisiana is.

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Well, that was kind of the thrust of the sermon I heard yesterday, which, you know, the longer I'm in the faith, the less I believe in accidents. Because it put into context the backdrop of what we're studying in Ephesians. You know, he had three points, I guess, of what causes anxiety, you know, in the world. And they were natural. And because there was an earthquake in that region, talking about Ephesus,

Colossae, which it's only 120 miles apart, I think. But he was mainly focusing on Colossae and Laodicea. And I forgot the name of that other town there. It started with an H. But, you know. Hierapolis. Yeah. And so you have, I mean, they just had an earthquake, which what does that cause? Chaos, panic, you know. And then you had the cultural stress of,

Nero was the Roman emperor at that time. Well, all you got to do is a quick Google search about Nero. I mean, just think. And what Whitehead, the guy I was listening to, he did something really interesting. They took all those statues, and I guess we're in such DNA mindsets now, but they...

they provided images for all the Roman emperors on what they look like. Because when you think about Nero, something I didn't realize, he came to power when he was 16 years old. And so they digitally had a face to what he looked like, which was pretty shocking. But when he put it up on the screen, I mean, here's a 16-year-old guy. And when everybody saw it, his line was,

Don't y'all remember this guy in your high school? Because he just had a look about him. Just like, imagine him in charge of the world. He's the most powerful man in the world. And that's why when you see what he did, I mean, this guy killed his mom. He killed a couple of his wives. He married men and women. He would castrate the men before he married them. I mean, it was like...

Public displays of consummating their marriage. You know, I mean, it just everything this guy did. And then when he turned on the Christians, because you have this big fire of what, 64. And then he blamed the Christians. Well, then he just started killing all them as cruelly as you can imagine.

And so he really, he really led to the death of Peter and Paul. I mean, he was the guy. Yeah, it was on there. Yeah. On his wife. He brought that up. Yeah. And of course, then he went to the third point was relationally. Cause just imagine all the stress between the Jews and the Gentiles, especially in the religious world and all the natural prejudices that are still going on in that region today. I mean, when you, you look at all that,

And you look at Paul's letter to the Ephesians,

Something kind of hit me. He didn't talk about this, but here's what I wanted to bring out is most people who study Ephesians, but based on what I just said of all these, these issues, because he made a comment, he said, the root of anxiety is a disconnection from God. And I know where he's getting that because in Colossians, you remember when he in Colossians two, where he goes through that Jesus has freed us from our sins, you know, after we, you know, we participate in,

baptism, and then the next phrase is like he canceled the written code. And then he starts talking about don't let anyone who has this rule system affect you. And it talks about different things. And then he says a verse, he says, such a person has been disconnected from the head, which Jesus is the head of the church.

But I thought about, I said, that's where he's getting that. But then I thought about Ephesians, and I think this is a good review because we got to catch Zach up. He missed a month. But most people who, and I've said this before, I'll never say it again because it kind of hit me in the moment because here we are in between chapter 3.

And chapter four, which is a big transition in Ephesians. And I've said many times, I said, you know, the first three chapters is kind of what we believe. And the last three chapters are how we behave. But in that moment yesterday and listening to that sermon, I thought, well, that was a dumb thing to say and a dumb way to think. Because number one, it's more about who we believe than what.

And number two, it's actually filled with Paul praying. When you think about Ephesians 1, it's a big prayer in chapter 1. Well, then there's a big prayer in chapter 3, and it almost like picks up where the prayer ends in chapter 1 in verse 22 and 23. And then when he gets to chapter 3 in verse 14, it's like he continues that prayer.

And I think in that moment, it kind of hit me that, you know, some of the best doctrine comes from people who have this kind of prayer life. I mean, you just think about what he's doing here. You know, he is literally just burying his soul from his inner being. And if you fail to remember in chapter two, going into chapter three,

The word, he himself is our peace. Talking about Christ. A little bit lower than that. Making peace through this one body.

through the cross by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace. Three times the Apostle Paul's goal was this is the only way you're going to have peace. You concentrate on the one who died, was buried and raised from the dead. And the gospel just keeps coming up. And all of their...

mystery peace well right he keeps bringing up peace because look at the backdrop that that's what i kind of got from that introductory introductory uh lesson on colossians i was like man these people are hating each other they have just a lunatic who's the emperor with all that they're just had an earthquake because we know this was written in that time frame in that

right before the fire, right after the earthquake, and then you have all these pressures going on, which would only accelerate as Nero continued. And so I'm not sure when his reign ended. Maybe I wrote that down. It wasn't too long. Let me look. I'll look it up real quick. Oh, 54 to 68. Yeah, I was going to say, it didn't last long. It didn't even make it to the destruction of the temple.

So we talk a lot about family on this podcast. Jace, your family continues to grow, which is a blessing. It does. And you don't get to pick it. You just got to, which is why, you know, we have so much family counseling and everything.

Different kinds of things, because you just go with the hand you're dealt. There you go. As a family. And so one of our favorite groups that we've loved for many years is Focus on the Family, because for many, many decades, they have been trying to help families be stronger, be more spiritual, be

And one of the ways that they're doing that these days is they have a great podcast called Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Jim's a good friend of mine, a friend of our podcast as well. He's been on a few times. And every episode is designed to help you guide your loved ones through unique challenges that Christian families face. And we want to continue to build and have more families come into Christianity, particularly

Decades of trusted, compassionate stories are going to be on this podcast of redemption. He's going to Jim is going to connect biblically sound advice on marriage and parenting. It's very relatable, practical. Check it out now on your favorite podcast platform or visit Focus on the Family with Jim Daly dot com and start making a difference in your family's life today. That's Focus on the Family with Jim Daly dot com. Trust us. You're going to love it.

So you said that about this is the power of what praying people do. When Lisa was on the podcast a couple of podcasts ago, we were talking about this prayer, Jason. We were talking about, for this reason, I kneel before the Father. We talked about there's a lot of different positions of prayer and the ideas that we humble ourselves before God in those moments, which that humility is where you see what you're describing. And Lisa talked about her humility.

Like when she finally in full desperation just laid out, you know, before God and said, I don't even know if you're real. I don't even know if I believe in you, but I'm in such a bad place. I have, I need you to rescue me. And he did. And she talked about that was a turning point in her life. She was 35 years old and obviously not just for her, but for me and our life and our marriage. The reason I bring that up, Jace, is because I've gotten so many emails this last week from different people that,

uh, out in unashamed nation telling their story similar where they just, they were like, you know, I finally, it may have been an addiction. It may have been whatever that was going on. And they were like, until I finally just laid it out before God and said, I have to have you more than anything else. Uh,

that was the point that life change happened for them. And so I think your description of it was really good. If we know Jesus and say, we got nothing on our own, you're the only thing that can change me and save me, then things can begin to happen. You start seeing the response that we're reading about and we will read about in the rest of Ephesians. So that's a powerful point. Yeah, I thought it was. And when you put the two books together, Ephesians and Colossians, you really see that, I mean,

He says over a dozen times in the first chapter in this kind of prayer for them, realizing, you know, these are new Christians and the backdrop is severe. I mean, he even told about the year before Nero died, which he committed suicide just, you know, because they were they had had enough.

And, you know, he had the Olympic Games that he participated in. It wasn't like, oh, we're going to the Olympic Games. Well, what was fascinating, I don't know where he found this research, but the 10 events he entered, he won every one of them. Shocker. Yeah. What an athlete. What an athlete. I mean, who's going to beat the emperor, right? He told the funniest story. He was like, and one of the events was a horse race because he's real big into horse racing.

uh horse racing and and he had these uh he created these competitions that were based on art because that was his number one thing it was he considered himself an artist so he said he was he made a funny joke about you think break dancing is ridiculous can you imagine whatever art he was doing that he was gonna win but he told the one about horses they had the chariots you know and it was a race what

Well, he got thrown from his chariot as soon as the race started and somehow still won. And whatever historical document he was reading this from is like they concluded the reason he won is that if he had not been thrown from the chariot, he would have won. So, but he's at the bottom line is the emperor wins because if he doesn't, he's going to go kill someone. Yeah.

So that's what they were up against. And it made me realize that, you know, Paul zeroes in on this in Christ and going through the scheme of redemption through a prayer for them. When you read Colossians, you know, when you get to verse 15 of chapter one, it's this beautiful scene.

And profound view of Jesus. And you remember that famous section where it's like Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He's above all powers and authorities and holds things together. He created everything. And then it then it in both cases, it comes down to he's the head of the church, which is us.

Yeah. And above all, you know, powers and authorities. And so it really is making this more thrilling than what it what it is. If you're just reading it like, oh, let me try to figure this out. You know, there's a thrilling aspect to these letters and that's the motivation behind.

And pretty much for his sermon wrap up with grace and peace and love. These are the motivating factors of who our Lord, who our head is that we represent and who's making his presence known through his spirit. I mean, that is the...

which should be thrilling us to the point to when we, you know, go to the burning building. We're the ones having the peace, you know, viewing this like our world saying, hang on there. There's a way to find peace through all this pain and these storms and the evil attacks. And not only here, but bonus side, we're going to live forever, you know, because he came back from the grave. I got a running suspicion that we have lost a,

generation of people who would have a primary allegiance to the kingdom to this outrage culture. I mean, I really believe that. I mean, I found myself early on was getting so angry and just captivated by the fear, the anxiety, the anger of what I was watching or seeing. And then, of course, there's all the clickbait that comes around that. And I've been in it. I mean, I've been in that world. And

And I think that in that time period of my life, what I was missing was what you just said. I was missing a real emphasis on the presence of God. And my view of salvation was very limited as well. It was only salvation. My understanding of it was only about reconciliation, but had nothing to do with my life here and my life now and the peace that God offers now. And I would read a verse like in John six and,

51, when Jesus says, I'm the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. I had no context of what that meant for the life of the world that in Christ.

There is true life, true intimacy, that non-anxious presence, that not being just completely controlled and consumed by fear, division, anger, lashing out. I mean, I don't want to live that way. And I think that the gospel offers us something much more, and not just for the afterlife. In fact, even that term, afterlife.

If you're in Jesus, there's no afterlife. There's just life. It's all life. There's just life. Yeah, there's no afterlife. It's just life. That's what hit me yesterday when I was listening to that sermon, because everybody gets so whipped up about the elections. I mean, his point was valid. People are literally, every news organization, they're trying to whip you up into a frenzy. Of course, they want you to watch so they can have advertisers and make money, but

And when you read the bio of Nero, you're like, no matter what happens, it's not going to be as bad as what they were going through. I mean, you know, and the fact the planet survived is amazing.

So, Jace, back to the prayer.

In Ephesians 3, he says, verse 15, For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. And obviously a big theme that Paul has been talking about in the first two and a half chapters is,

of Ephesians has been this idea that we're all part of this family together and the idea of Jew and Gentile coming together. And it's interesting that word family, patria, is the Greek word. It only appears in two other times in the New Testament. But look at how it's brought together. The first one is Luke 2.14, when Joseph and Mary

or going to Bethlehem for the census. Remember the census was called by the way, by a Roman emperor. And they had to go there to be counted so they can know, you know, how many subjects they had. And it says they, they went there because they were of the house and lineage. That's that word, Patria family of David. So that was the Jewish idea. The reason they were brought there is because, and we know from the genealogies of Matthew one and also Luke three, uh,

That they were both of the lineage of David. So they were Jews. But then in Acts 3 is the other time it's mentioned. Verse 25. And you remember the context is when Peter and John had healed the beggar. And Peter uses the same word. And it appears way back in Genesis 22 and 26. God said to Abraham, through your offspring, all peoples.

Petria, there it is again. Family, all families on earth will be blessed by you. And so I thought it was really interesting. It's only mentioned twice in the Bible, but one is talking about Jewish lineage. One's talking about all people, Gentiles and Jews, pre-Jew when he's talking about Abraham. So when he's praying this prayer, he's like, you guys, you got to realize how awesome this is.

I mean, God has always planned for all of humanity to be saved and have the opportunity to trust in him. And, you know, when this is happening, we're reading it in the first century. And to your point about all of the prison letters, they're called, you know, that Paul's imprisoned as he's writing these letters. And so his mindset is the same going out. He's like, it doesn't matter what's happened politically. It doesn't matter whether you're in prison or out of prison or your life's going well or it's not going well.

We are part of the family of God, which makes it tolerable for any setting in any situation. So, I mean, that's what a great word to get for the idea about God bringing people together. Yeah, I thought that's the same thing. You know, it's implying that he is the source of family. You know, my translation has a little letter by family and it says, or fatherhood.

Yeah. Well, that's because the word patria is close to the word for father as well. That's why it says that. I was thinking patriarch, or is that where we get that word? It is. Yeah. It is. So when you think about how that works, and he's called our father, and Jesus was called the son. Yep. And even in doing a study of every time where you see Jesus is the head of the church, well, he's the...

When you try to define that word, because it's tricky on the Greek word for head to try to find the definition in English. And so we just try to do the best we can. But it has this idea behind it. It's like the source, you know, which is behind it. Because you think about even, well, our source is God. So when you look at the family structure,

You're like, oh, okay. And he made them male and female. I mean, how many times does he do that? And the two become one flesh. Well, then what happens? Well, then a baby's born. I just saw it happen. And you're like, well, what does that look like? Well, it looks like a family. I saw the family. And they're multiplying very rapidly. It is. The family's getting larger. Getting bigger. And so I think these are important questions because when you take God out of the equation,

What are you left for to figure out how this happened? You know, I mean, what are your other alternatives? And so to me, it makes more sense that someone made this, that this was an idea. It was intelligent design or however you want to say that. There's probably a better way to depict this. But I do think this is a very profound verse. And you're right to point it out.

Well, and not only that, you think about the attack and you've mentioned this before, the attack in our culture is.

own family itself it has to be of the evil one because i mean how could you have so many different ways to to try to destroy what we know what we would call a traditional family system or unit you know i brought this up before but you know when jd vance was he's kind of a champion for family yeah and so the other side said well they they you know i'm sure they got in a meeting somewhere and said now how are we you know he's attacking us because he's saying we're not family people

And they're like, well, let's just call them weird. And so that, cause it was somebody sent out an email. Cause all of a sudden everybody on the left side of politics started saying weird, weird. These people are weird. I mean, they're like, they're pro family weird. But I thought about it. I was like, that's really not a negative word. When you think about we're strangers. And I mean, I would take it as a compliment, but,

If that's weird, I love being weird. What I participated in yesterday, it was like awesome, you know? But it gets my blood boiling because, you know, I have a, when you look at politics, I have a daughter who we've acquired. We didn't naturally give birth, but she's an orphan girl from Nicaragua, and I've told about that. And she came to this country legally.

And she went to college and she got a degree and she's been here five or six years. Well, guess what the problem where she wants to become a citizen. She has no, nowhere to go to. We're her, her family. She's an orphan. Yep. And she's having such difficulty becoming a citizen. And it's just infuriating me and my wife. Cause I'm like, if there was ever a person,

who needs a country and needs a P and people. It's an orphan girl. Who's worked her tail off. Who's smart. Who's contributing to our, our society. And, but she's so having to pursue her career.

to be here that she doesn't have time to have a family, you know, and you kind of see that other side of the political equation. So we've been having very difficult conversations where there's like, I realize you're trying to do it the political way to get in to, to become a citizen.

But you look up in your work and you're contributing to society, but they keep declining you on being a citizen. It's very frustrated. So we're now in a position where we're trying to get her to make very difficult decisions because you're talking about fear and anxiety. As soon as her work visa runs out,

They send her back to where she came from, but she's like, but you know, I want, I want to be here. So it's very frustrating because I kind of see that idea of you can go down through a system where they're making it where you don't have time for a family, you know? So we're having these difficult conversations. We're like, is this really what you want to do to pursue this and make a lot of money and be very successful? Yeah.

And then look up and you're just by yourself and alone and you're not really sure if you can even stay here, you know, because this is going on for years. This mystery is that through the gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, Jew and Gentile, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God of grace given me through the working of his power.

Which is a good verse, which is I wanted to finish that story, but just saying we had a long talk with her on our way home from Nashville yesterday. But she was stressed out and we were talking about anxiety. And look, everybody has this going on in their life. You know, what's going to happen next? What if, you know, in her case, it's like, well, what if I'm deported because I lose my job? You know, she just doesn't feel secure. Of course, we went to Jesus. We're like, well, ultimately, look, what we have in Jesus is

trumps all that. And I mean, I even brought up the rich young ruler. I was like, it's very difficult to look at your life as perhaps being penniless, but in Jesus. But at the end of the day, being cut off from community and trying to do something in a country where you're trying to earn

citizenship, I was like, that's a road to nowhere in light of what you have in Jesus. So if you have to make a difficult decision, we're not going to be controlled by that. And one day I'd love to have Missy on here and we'll talk about that. But it's because it has a political elements to it. And I see this young girl who's just working her rear end off. And I'm like, somebody keeps taking that stamp and

decline. You know what I mean? Which is why you can't, this is a perfect setting. We're out of time for next podcast because that next line says, out of his glorious riches.

is where our power and strength comes from. So we'll touch on that when we get there. We'll see you next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV at blazetv.com slash unashamed.