Ep 965 | Jase Pretends to Be a Ghost to Freak Jep Out & How Liberalism Has Snuck into Our Churches
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Ryan Reynolds here for, I guess, my 100th Mint commercial. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, honestly, when I started this, I thought I'd only have to do like four of these. I mean, it's unlimited premium wireless for $15 a month. How are there still people paying two or three times that much? I'm sorry, I shouldn't be victim blaming here. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash save whenever you're ready. For

$45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details. I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. Zach, so I understand you're coming back

You're doing the, so this thing you guys are doing, the guy behind bars. So y'all are like doing multiple prisons, right? You're going to be in Angola. We'll be down in your neck of the woods in Angola. You were in San Quentin last week. San Quentin. Which is a famous prison in California. And now Angola, which I guess maybe I shouldn't call them famous. They're kind of more infamous because they're kind of our state's

where the they're kind of the worst criminals go well they but they've both been reformed the prisons have so there's it's actually quite a bit of ministry going on there it was one of my favorite moments of being at saint quentin was at the end of the night after there was about 100 baptisms or so willie i told you i really end up pulling his muscle on his leg which is great oh i talked to him i actually talked to him about that because i saw him yesterday and i said i heard you had a

Baptismal injury. Well, I just said an injury, and he said, do you hear about that? I mean, I pulled my hamstring baptizing somebody. He's like, man, I need to get on a bike somewhere. No, he just needs better technique. He needs to come talk to Big Brother. He was making fun of himself. It actually slipped on the mud, though. It's a little bit of chaff.

So you couldn't get all of them hardly out of the water. And this was a big guy. But Willie said that the amazing part was when they got done with the 100 people that were baptized. We didn't have much water left. All the water was there. So Willie said the water...

Just stayed at that same level, and it was going everywhere on the outside of the tub. Yeah. Maybe it was like the widow's oil. Or the 5,000, you know, the food just never ran out. Yeah, he said, we never ran out of water. I hadn't heard that. It was awesome. Controversy. At the end of it, it was like, I mean, everybody was on fire. It was so exciting. And one of the prisoners got up and spoke.

who was going through a seminary program at St. Quentin's. I think he may have been a pastor in the actual prison, and he was an inmate. And it reminded me of kind of like the first century because he was like, because, you know, they're under lock and key there, so they can't. I mean, they're not, you know, communing in the same way that we are with news media and all that. But he said, and he said, fellas, I hear there's a revival going on in Angola.

Of course, they just went berserk. Everybody started cheering. He said, and I'm telling you, we need a revival here. And he just started proclaiming that over those inmates. And I mean, when I tell you they were getting hyped up, I mean, I got chill bumps thinking about it. So I think there is a revival going on inside of Angola prison. And this isn't like just prison conversions, you know, where you go in and do the thing, a bunch of people get baptized. They actually have long-term revival.

churches being planted in these prison systems, seminary programs. I think New Orleans Theological Seminary is actually raising up pastors inside of Angola prison and

And so they have a theological seminary there and they teach them and then they plant churches in other prisons, which is around the state, which is amazing. So dad and I have been there. But here's why, how I know that what you're saying is true, because dad and I have been there a couple of times, is that 80% of the people, more than that, 86% of the people in Angola will never leave Angola.

That's correct. They're all going to die there. There's a huge cemetery there where thousands of other people have already died there. So the thing about it is they're not leaving. So it's not like they're doing this to somehow get out and then just start back into a life of crime. They're there.

And so the rest of their life is going to be spent there. And that's why a lot of them have turned to Christ because they're like, you know, I messed it up on this front, but I'm going to do the best I can while I'm here and make sure that I have eternal life. So it's pretty incredible. And I think the core message is you've never gone too far beyond the blood of Jesus. And Colt and Kyle...

amazing young man that I got to spend some time with there. Whose dad was Chris Kyle, American sniper. And so he spoke a 20 year old young man. I'm really like this guy, man. He's just a bright young man that I think is going to do a lot in the kingdom. But when he was talking, one of the things that he said was, you think about his dad was murdered. I mean, his dad,

was a victim of murder and he's speaking to a for all intents and purposes a bunch of people who were in prison for murder yeah and uh he talked about the apostle paul

And he said, I can't imagine. Yes, it's hard enough. I mean, my dad, he said he gives on testaments. My dad was murdered. And to forgive someone who murdered my dad is is is hard. He said, I can't imagine that that person had murdered my entire family. And he said, you got to thank Paul, the apostle. Paul's going in and dragging out entire families. Yeah. And and because they worship Jesus. And so for him to come back in now and be so instrumental in writing this

the bulk of the New Testament. He said that the power of forgiveness is the core of this whole thing. And he told the group there, he said, none of y'all have gone too far. And I thought the whole event was awesome. So we'll be down in Angola with a group of guys down there. I think LO Worship is going to, my daughter's on that, so I'll get to see her.

So it's going to be good. I do have an update, though, for Jay. So I wanted to, because we did say we were going to do this, I wanted to make sure we covered something if you guys got a couple minutes. The people have spoken about the joke that I told a few podcasts ago. Remember the joke? Syllable, syllable, syllable. You remember the joke? The wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable. It was known to me as the airbag.

air traffic control joke. It never landed.

Well, I got it. That's a joke. I used a joke. I got the joke. Okay. And I can't contain my excitement, as you can tell, but I did want to report back. Well, I think I know how this is going to go since Zach is reporting, Jace. I mean, it was, I mean, and I'm not trying to, I don't want to rub it in. Be truthful. How many people got the joke? Let's hear it.

I quit counting, but it's hundreds. Hundreds, Jace. Hundreds sounds like a lot, but compared to a million listeners, only 1%? Small sample size. You got to look at how many people didn't get the joke, which I would call those people haters. There was about four. There was about four haters, but there was about 300 that said they got the joke, loved it, endorsed it.

Of course, they all said they, as soon as I said that. Did they say, I like it, I love it, I want some more of it? I think people liked it. From the hills of the Ozark Mountains to the teacher in Delaware. From the lakes of Minnesota. American people spoke. To the hills of Tennessee. And I'm not gloating about it. I just wanted to report because I know you were probably wondering what the people thought. So I'm just going to let you know.

Well, Tase, what's your answer to that? What's your response, as they would say in the political world? How do you respond to that? That's why the Lord uses diversity to get the gospel out. So there's small pockets there.

of intellectual people who need to hear the gospel as well. That's right. I do think... It's coming around to my point of view. No, yeah. It's not either or. It's both them. Look, those 117 people, bless their hearts...

We want them in the kingdom. That means fans too. I was encouraged by it. You got to remember though. I felt vindicated. I love people who support us and all, but what I always tell people is that you're supporting Jesus because we're not

anything hot about us whatsoever. The top three things when I go out in public that I hear, there's three things. Number one is about this podcast, which has been a shift from probably up until two or three years ago because it was always about Duck Dynasty, which is the number two thing. But the third thing is that they make this statement, and I heard it just two days ago.

It's like, we just wish y'all would be back on TV.

And for a while, I was like, yeah, maybe one day. But I finally just had enough. And I just had to say, I am on TV. I just did a show for two years. There's four seasons out there that they haven't even run yet about our treasure hunting show. Right. And so I said that. And they were like, you are? So I thought, well, you listen to the podcast. Where is this lost in translation? Is it?

So I'm just saying, Zach, be careful because that statement would not keep coming out. I mean, I just don't see why they keep asking me that. Yeah. I'm on TV. You can go watch it right now. Doug Family Treasure. It's hard, though, for people in the current world of television because of the Internet and the sub setup like we are on Blaze and saying with Fox Nation, it's hard for people to find things online.

And I get it. It's not easy. It's like treasure hunting. There's the irony. Look, so- Here's the irony of it. I told y'all that story a few weeks ago. Because look, the whole idea came from the Bible. I'm reading the Gospels and Jesus keeps making all these treasure references to what his ministry is on the earth. I mean, you remember it? It's like when a woman loses a coin and the apologetics people say, oh, back then they had a wedding ceremony.

Like a necklace and it had like 10 coins. I mean, this was her representative of her marriage and she loses one of those coins. Does she not sweep the house all night until she finds it? And when she does, they throw a party and then angels are rejoicing in heaven. And he's saying that story and saying, this is what happens when one person.

is found, lost, found, dead to alive. And it's what our ministry should be. I mean, I've read that so much. I mean, I think Luke 15 is top five chapters in the Bible for me. And every time I see somebody baptized, I literally imagine, I was like, boy, there's some applause in heaven. There's rejoicing. This is awesome. So that's why we did this show because the irony of the show is that

What is the true treasure in life? I mean, we're finding treasure, but if you watch the whole episode, by the time you get to the end, we're saying the treasure has nothing to do with something that was lost in the ground.

It's more of a reflection of the relationship. And when I watched your first episode, I got it because there was this family and they were there and y'all wound up eating with them. And I thought, ooh, there's the treasure. You know, the relationships we make. And people ask me, I get asked all the time if I'm out doing an interview or if we do a Q&A, what's the best thing about this whole thing with the show and your life and the podcast? I said, the people.

We meet some of the best people that are, some are like-minded, some we lead to Christ, some teach us to, I mean, the people have been the biggest blessing to me. Well, that was what was ironic. It was two that just walked out that door. Exactly. I mean, they were here for our last week. Now that I think the statute of limitations has almost run out, so I can say this, but when we first planned the show, the production side of it was all about what we were going to find.

They're like, and if you don't find it, we'll figure out a creative way for you to find it. And I said, no, whatever happens, happens. Whatever we find, we find. If we don't find anything, which I think of all the episodes we did, there was a couple that were strikeouts. They said it was some historical place. And we went there and all we found was beer cans and modern bullets. So I know what happened there. It was a party, but not the kind of party that's happening in heaven.

And you say, well, what'd we do? We ran it. And we said, is there anything else that happened interesting there? So one of the episodes where the spot was not a historical place, they said, well, this it's haunted.

So we just leaned into that. We put out some, well, I didn't because I'd have been too embarrassed to do it, but it was Jeff's idea because Jeff has a little mystical streak in him. He's like, well, what if it really is? I mean, there's a lot in the Bible about spiritual warfare. I think we should put out some cameras. And so we wind up. Jeff's always been the most gullible among us. And so the producers were all looking dumbfounded. And I'm like, let him put the cameras out.

you know let's just see that and whatever there's whole shows that do that to find the ghost so what i did without telling any person involved in the tv is when he put the cameras out and we're all sleeping in our tent well i just went down there and tried to do suspicious activity on the camera to make it think oh maybe it is you know which turned out to be a pretty funny episode you know it was one prank after another

But the point I was going to say is you see a lot of spiritual applications to that, which is really what I think we should all do. Whatever gifts that God has given you, like in Phil's case, you know, he had the gift of sounding like wildlife, but it's particularly ducks. So he made duck calls. But when he would do the duck call seminars,

He would then stress that the Creator was way more important than the created things, and then he would share Jesus. I mean, that's how this whole ministry got started. That's exactly right. And the declaration of Jesus is the battle, and there are powers out there that we're up against. And you made that point about Paul. And what I think is ironic about Paul is he was murdering Christians and free Christians.

And then when he started declaring Jesus, they locked him up. And the very letter that we're studying, he wrote it while he was chained to a wall. I think, Chase, all of us, it's safe to say that we kind of are all part of the pro-life movement in a different way. You know, we kind of have things we emphasize. Lisa and I, of course, are more on the abortion side because of our testimony and Lisa's testimony. You guys...

more in fostering Zach and Jill adoption. There's a lot of different ways to come at this idea that we want to protect life. And that means not just inside the womb, but as we go forward in life as well. Yeah. And as Christian people, I mean, we understand the process that,

When a man and a woman come together, an autonomous being is formed. And that's how we all got here. And so we, you know, we're so adamant about being pro-life because we're like, we'll help the people who produce babies and bringing them up because to us, you know, they're all

worthy of life. So our friends at Preborn, that's exactly what they do, and they're one of our sponsors. They stand as a beacon of hope for the most defenseless, as Jason just said, and that's the Preborn baby. Every day, Preborn's network of clinics rescues, on average, over 200 babies, while also surrounding expectant mothers with God's love.

which we love that, that we're loving people as well as saving babies. They offer free ultrasounds so that that mother can witness the miracle of life and give that baby a chance. So for just $28, you can sponsor an ultrasound and give a mother the chance to choose life, not only for her baby, but also for herself. So check these guys out. Let's join together, help mothers choose life.

To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250, keyword baby. Or you can go to preborn.com slash unashamed. That's preborn.com slash unashamed. I was going to say one practical application. So I told you a few podcasts ago about being out with my wife when she was working out at our estate south of Monroe. And I found this Spanish coin, which is...

Top three things you can find is Spanish real global currency of the 16 and 1700s. And I find, even though it was really worn, which I like because I'm like that thing had almost worn down to nothing. And we posted a picture of that, but it made me realize either. I'm not very good at treasure hunting because I've hunted there hundreds of times and had what they call professionals and experts. And we all miss that. So I went back two days ago and,

Now, because now I'm like, well, if I miss that, what else did I miss? And wouldn't you know it, 10 feet from where I found the Spanish coin, my detector went off and I knew that was something good. I was like, how did I miss this? Dug it out. It was an 1896 Indian head penny. And so, and which beautiful, I'll show you a picture of it. And so then I was like, that was here the whole time, right beside that.

I didn't walk 30 feet, and I got a curious signal. I didn't think it was anything good. Dug it up. 1892 Indian Head Penny. So we call that a double play. We stole that from baseball. But I got two more, and I'll show them to you. But you know what it made me think? It's like whenever you – when he said I in Ephesians, when he said –

You know, he talks about all this armor. Well, you wouldn't think if he has all this armor on, what does he need to pray about? But it's just showing you that this is a difficult journey to do this spiritual battle as God's representatives because the world is evil. And he says pray, what, six times in three verses?

Pray with all kinds of requests. Pray, pray, pray, pray for me that I may make, uh, fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. But I thought that's what happens. Sometimes we give up and we think was nothing here because he used all those treasure hunting references, but,

You're not going to find all that stuff. And you never know the conditions or somebody's heart or whatever. And it just made me realize, you know, no matter what happens, you got to keep declaring Jesus. And you got to keep digging, which is part of that. So let me just mention these last three, and then we'll get into that last part of prayer because we're going to wrap the book today.

Because we left off, we were talking about in the last podcast, we talked about the peace that comes from the gospel, which kind of led us into peace that we get in our lives. But then he talks about the shield of faith, which I thought was interesting because we were talking about people that try to find peace in

without faith and it comes up empty, you know, because that's where you get into all these things you're trying to fill into your life. Because he says, extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, which is interesting. Now, again, in his day in the first century, when he would say that, they got it because they would take arrows and dip them in pitch and light them on fire and fire them into people. So they'd set stuff on fire. Of course, they could set you on fire. So it's really interesting. The Romans, this shield,

It was called the scutum, S-C-U-T-U-M, four and a half foot oval. So it was big enough you could hide behind it. And listen to what it was made out of. It was hide and it was covered with wood. So you took the wood, covered it with hide, and then had an iron frame around it.

This is what they were carrying around. But what was interesting, Dad, they would baptize their shield. They would immerse it in water so that when the fiery arrow came in, it would extinguish it. So I thought it was interesting that they had this and they were baptizing all of their shields before they would go out into battle. But the Romans were so good at this, and you've seen this in movies before. It was in Gladiator. They could put them together.

and make a ceiling and hide underneath it. So if these arrows are coming in, they're all together. They've now created a giant fort out of the shields, or they can make a wall

By getting side by side, and like you see with this riot control, and literally can go forward as a wall or go backwards as a wall. And so I just thought about it. There's so many applications. And then we think about not only is it protecting you, but then you can join with another person or a group of people and become stronger. So it's just an interesting picture of faith and the idea and how that the evil one attacks it. Well, that even goes along with the prayer stuff, because even when Jesus...

when they asked him to teach them how to pray or whatever. And, you know, he didn't say if you pray or it's a good idea. He's like, when you pray, but every word he used was plural. Yeah. It was our father. And I think it shows you the power of us being the kingdom and the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, what we do together with all of us praying, which, you know, we had our studio audience here last podcast.

And that was the first thing they said, because when you're going through cancer and surgeries and the first thing they brought up was the prayers. Yeah. Which is when I first met him, we just stopped at what we were doing in the parking lot and prayed. And then at the service, we prayed together, you know, and tears were flowing. And but there's something powerful about having access to the creator. And think of all the passages that that.

are in the Bible about that, about asking whatever you want. And there's just something power, powerful about it. But it is a reflection of your faith because faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Because if you base it on what you see,

You're never going to have that kind of prayer life, you know, because it's just mayhem and chaos and pain. You know, Al, the guy we're talking about, he sent me a picture of a woman, an older woman wearing a T-shirt that said 1% better today. He said, I got to tell you this story. And it was kind of an odd thing. So the next time we talked, he said, somebody asked him how Kim was doing, how his wife was doing.

And he said, well, she's 1% better today. Just think of how she's going to be in 100 days, which I thought, man, what a great way to look at life. You know what I'm saying? It's like it's going to get better. And so he said that to somebody and he had been telling people that just as an encouragement. And he run in the same day, he runs across this woman who's wearing a T-shirt that said, I'm 1% better today.

And I thought, and he just, he said, I just teared up because that was confirmation that the way to look at it is, is that God is in control. That's a faith response. That's how you look at things. No matter what happens, I'm in. I'm all in. And so that's kind of what this context is to me to show you the power of it. Yeah, I mean, it's part of not giving up. And I mean, look, there was a guy, this is a funny story. I played cards not too long ago. And one of these guys was like,

you know, thanks for calling me back. I was like, what? He's like, well, I sent you a text a couple months ago. And I was like, well, I don't have your name in my phone. He's like, yeah, but I said who I was. But the guys I play cards with, half of them go by nicknames. You don't know their names. I didn't know who this guy was. And he's like, call me. Because at first he said, I left you a message. I said, well, you should have sent me a text.

And he's like, well, I did. I was like, well, you had nothing in here. I didn't even know your name, your real name. I'm not calling you. And I was like, well, what'd you want anyway? And he's like, I wanted you to baptize me. And I was like, well, that's what you should have said, and I would have called you. Because then I felt horrible, you know, because I just big shouted him. I think he buried the lead, Jason. But I have to admit, in that moment, he was one of the last people on the planet

although I didn't know him very good, that I ever thought would be calling, wanting to be baptized, me to baptize him. And I'd never shared Jesus with him, but I'd played cards with him a few times. Now, something, however I was coming across...

He had put two and two together. Well, maybe you prepping for the podcast while you're playing cards. Maybe that's it. Well, probably so. I've had a lot of Bible studies while playing cards. Jason's like over there in his corner waiting for him to get the right hand. He's just working on the podcast. Then I realized, you know, that's the way we should be operating. And I gave him a little speech about it. I was like, well, it doesn't matter he baptized. And he's like, well, I know that. But, you know, he was saying you've been instrumental in the Bible.

and making me realize I can do this. And he said, but as it worked out, a guy baptized me in camouflage, camouflage waders or something. So he said it had the same vibe. But he had gone to a retreat, had been thinking about it, you know, and then he heard Jesus and responded. So I just, you never know about this. ♪

You know, we talk a lot about the Unashamed podcast, obviously, because this is our podcast and our platform. We have other podcasts.

We got the duck call room. We got, uh, what's Sadie's called? Whoa, that's good. Whoa, that's good. That's good. Which is a, which is a great name. Christian's got one, uh, her husband as well. Is there any more Zach in there? Corey just launched one. Oh, really? Yeah. It's called L O mama, her and Matt Redman's wife. Oh, excellence. So the, so the podcast keep growing and we love it. It's just, it's a platform for us to be able to talk about Jesus, to talk about good things. We're going to talk about,

One of our good friends, Focus on the Family, who have been helping families and Christian families for many, many decades, they have a podcast that we want to tell you about. It's called Focus on the Family Podcast.

with Jim Daly. And every episode is designed to help you guide your loved ones through unique challenges that come about as being a Christian family living in the world. With decades of trusted, compassionate stories of redemption, Jim Daly, who's a good friend of ours, connects you to biblically sound advice on marriage and parenting. And this podcast is relatable, practical, and interesting. So whether you're dealing with everyday issues,

or you're looking for guidance on complex matters, Focus on the Family is there to support you every step of the way. Check them out on your favorite podcast platform or visit FocusOnTheFamilyWithJimDaily.com and start making a difference in your family's life today. That's FocusOnTheFamilyWithJimDaily.com. Trust us, you're going to love it. Let me get to this next one because I want to get to the prayer one. Is the helmet of salvation.

which I think is interesting. And I associated that with assurance. In other words, the helmet is protecting your salvation, which you should be assured about. I think so many people are so unsure about,

of their salvation. And the Roman helmet was made out of bronze, dad, which is really interesting. You think about it. The Romans even knew way back then you need something really strong to protect the noggin, right? Cause you attack the brain and they took the bronze, they fit it over an iron skull cap. So you got iron and bronze together. Then they would put leather and cloth in, of course, where they could make it comfortable. Yeah.

to be able to wear. But I think about how the evil one, one of his main attacks on the people of God is to make you doubt that you're really safe. I mean, how can you be? You're still a bad person. I'm still convincing you of this or that or the other. So it's just another one of those weapons we have. Yeah. When I read it, I think, well, the head of the church is Christ. So I just think,

He is our salvation. And you think about what you do with your head. You think, because that's where your brain is, which he's in charge of that department. But you speak, you listen. You see. You see, you taste. I mean, all of this goes through Jesus's character, in my opinion. That's why I keep saying, you know, you focus on Jesus. I mean, the Bible's an interesting book.

But even in this battle, we tend to think, well, this is us against the world because it's the evil powers of this dark world. But one passage we haven't read throughout this whole spiritual warfare context is 2 Corinthians 11, when he was being persecuted by people who were believing in the same God.

And it says, for such men, this is 1113 of 2 Corinthians, are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, because before I read that, when you think about masquerading, people, they'll put masks on people.

They have all these kind of parties and they'll, oh, we're going to have a masquerading party or whatever. Masquerade. And you put it and cover your face and you're like, oh, who is that or whatever. But they're masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising then if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

That's why when I read that Helmet of Salvation, you've got a lot of religions that you're like, where's Jesus in this process? And that's when you get into all kinds of things. But like a rule-oriented religion, well, that's not based on what Jesus said. Because his was all, I did this for you. This is my grace.

And that's just one thing. But even another, I just think we have to recognize that some of this warfare is going to happen within a lot of church buildings. Even the worldly side of it, Jason. You see people, the causes they have given their lives to, it is their religion.

And what's happened in their brain, in that head, they've been convinced that whatever this cause is that they're a part of, that that's everything. And they'll give their life for it. They'll be advocates for that. They'll be instigators for that. And that shows you the power and the allure of the enemy again. That's what he does. Well, it's power trips. I've had more arguments with church-led functions or programs.

than any other place on the planet. Of course, I've been in the church since I was 14, you know, but it's just so depressing when you see ungodly behavior happening

in programs that were designed originally to be godly. Yeah. And who are probably doing a good work, but it becomes more about the program than it does the head of the program. And the head of every program is Jesus. Right. And listen to this verse before that in 2 Corinthians 10, the verse you read in 11. Yeah.

He says, we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. So it shows you the power that goes on in what God does when he changes us. And he says in that earlier that these are not weapons of the world, but this is something spiritual. Let me give you the last one.

Because he says weapon, Zach, you mentioned this before, the only offensive out of all these different things we talked about in the armor is the sword of the spirit. We know it gets at the end. And so the Roman short sword called the machaira, it's two-sided and it's a razor sharp blade. So they're in battle. They can get you either way, either side.

It's interesting because there's two Greek words for the Word of God. When you read that verse in Hebrews 4.12, it says, "...the Word of God is alive and active, sharper than a double-edged sword. It penetrates to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." In essence, it's like that Roman sword, but now we're talking about it has both content and expression. The word logos is the one used in Hebrews 4.12.

But the word rhema is used here in our text in Ephesians 6, 17. And it's the same word that Jesus, when he's talking to Satan, says,

Remember he told him, he said, turn the stones into bread. Jesus says, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every rhema, every word that comes from the mouth of God. It's the expression of God. Jesus is logos. So he is the word. That's John 1, 1, that text. But he's also the expression of God.

And that's how we battle the evil one. So I love that idea about the double-edged sword and how that it's used both to be Jesus, but also then to express Jesus to other people, which I just found that fascinating. You see that same picture in Revelation 1, verse 16, when John on the Isle of Patmos had a vision of the resurrected Christ, which, by the way,

When you see the resurrected Christ, the response is you hit the deck. I mean, that's what Saul did. You fall out like you're dead. That's what they did. He's just like, I'm done. I'm done. I mean, you're looking at the glorious Christ and all of his splendor. And it says here in his right hand, when he had this vision, he held out seven stars and from his mouth.

came a sharp two-edged sword, speaking and coming out of Jesus' mouth, and his face was like the sun shining in its full strength. And I think when you think about the power of the Word of God, I mean, it is powerful. So I don't think it's any...

It's coincidence that if you look at when churches tend to move into theological liberalism, the first thing that has to be attacked in order to diminish the deity of Christ, in order to form some type of liberal theology, and this has been the case since its inception, is you have to attack religion.

the authority of the word of God. I mean, first let's attack the, let's attack his word and let's marginalize his word and let's make his word, you know, a relative or, or some kind of culture. We're just going to interpret everything in a cultural context instead of an eternal truth. But, but the truth about it is that as much that has come against the word of God, do you realize that the word of God has withstood the test of time?

I mean, 2,000 years, and then you go back further than that if you count the Old Testament, thousands of years of human history, and the Word of God has prevailed. And so I think this expression of Christ that the Bible actually points to, the person of Christ, that is the power, and that is the offensive part of this, that as we proclaim His truth, we proclaim Him through the manifestation of the kingdom,

I mean, that's where you're going to see, I think, the ground zero of any type of real battle where these weapons will be employed. So in Josie Wales, Jace, one of our favorite lines is when the guy who's his little sidekick, he says, I got the gold right here, Pa. Yep. Well, now Zach has the gold. And they look like bills. And so I think the next time we play cards, I'm going to encourage Zach to

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Peter said in 2 Peter 1 that the Holy Spirit carried along the word all throughout human history. And so that's why the Bible is so powerful is because the author of it is the Holy Spirit. It's God-authored. So everybody who doesn't understand the syllable, because I had to look up theological liberalism. I've never heard that phrase. You've never heard the term before? No.

It's also known as liberal theology. It is a religious movement that interprets Christian teachings using modern knowledge, science, and ethics. It emphasizes the importance of reason and experience over doctrinal authority. So what does that mean? What's your thoughts on I will fearlessly...

In Ephesians 6, 19. No, 12, 19. Yeah, fearlessly make it known. The mystery of the gospel. What's mysterious about it? I think the mystery of the gospel, when he was writing it, was the same mystery we read before that, okay, there's a Messiah coming. If you read the Old Testament, you're like, but how exactly...

Is that going to work? How did, of course, we know it's not a mystery to us because we know, well, he became a man. For 2,000 years. And he came from a virgin and he never sinned. He went around showing the character of God, doing miracles. And then he died for not only the Jews, but he initially died for the Jews, but included the Gentiles.

And in essence, died for everybody so that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. That's right. And then he resurrected from the dead to show us, well, all humans could live again. I'm an ambassador in chains. So I'm saying, though, Phil, the first, how many books in the Old Testament? 39? The first 39 books was mysterious. Because it's like, well, how exactly? He's coming.

Remember even when he said in John about, you know, y'all put your faith in Moses. And he's like, well, Moses spoke about me. Well, I'm sure some of those people standing there was like, what did he say? Moses was talking about you. And he also said Abraham was looking forward to my day coming. Remember when he said that same thing? I think you got to remember in these contexts at that time of history,

This was mysterious. But look, James, it's still mysterious. It's still mysterious to people, even though we know this, because what they didn't know was, what they thought was, is that he was going to come here, set up a physical kingdom, and Israel, the nation, the same Israel they're fighting at today, was going to rule over the whole world. And then it would just go on like that into eternity or into perpetuity.

People still miss the same thing today. They're still waiting on the physical establishment. We're like, hey, kingdom's here. It's still a mystery. That's a good application. But Zach, did you want to answer? I wasn't sure if Christian, what did you call it? Theological liberalism. Like if somebody said, well, you're practicing theological liberalism. If somebody told me that, I would be torn between saying thank you or, oh, I would never do that.

I'm not sure that was a, it's a positive? No, it's not a positive thing. If you look at what's happened in almost all of the mainline denominations, they have gone theologically liberal, which, I mean, I would define it this way, as it's an ultimate denial of the authority and the divinity of Christ, and it's interpreting the Bible through

through the lens of just saying, these are, these are good moral stories, but these are like, Jesus was a good person. He was a good guy. He was a model for us to love, but he wasn't actually the son of God. I mean, and it's an evolution of value. It's the same thing as political liberalism. Cause what they say is, well, we don't need the old stuff. We don't need the founding stuff. That was all good to get us going. But now we know better how to do things today because,

And so we're going to establish our values as we go. That's always dangerous. I wasn't picking on you or making fun of you. I literally had no idea what that meant. And I'm not embarrassed to say that. So I just thought there might be 12 people who were like that. But he didn't do crickets, right? No, because it sounded so good. It rolled off your tongue so impressively. It wasn't a cricket moment. I just thought, ooh.

Now I know, don't be that. Jay said that you had the moment where he said, you know, I'm both intrigued and disgusted at the same time. Well, I want to visit what you just said about the mystery to answer Phil's question, because going back to Ephesians 3, because we're in Ephesians, right? So Ephesians 3, Paul does give us a definition of the mystery, which is

To what Jay said, but I want to add one caveat too. Uh, these are three, six says that this, this mystery is the, here's the definition that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and members of the same body. And do not leave out this last part and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. So the mystery of the gospel is that, that, um,

Jew and Gentile can both now be partakers of the promise through the gospel. So when you think about that word to partake, it's a word that reminds me of the word participation. And there's a verse in 2 Peter that says it this way when it talks about this partaking. It says, by which he has granted to us his great, precious, and very great promises, so that through them, through these promises that God's made,

You may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. And I think going back to what Jay said in a previous podcast when he mentioned the question that Jesus asked the disciples the first time he spoke to them was, what do you want? What do you desire?

What do you desire? And what do you want? What do you want from me? And the answer to that is what happens through the gospel is, and this is the mystery, that we actually get to have our desires fulfilled. We escape the evil desires of the world, and then we take our desires before this holy God, and we get to partake.

In his divine nature. I mean, that's a mystery. The God of the universe, we get to partake in the inner life of God. And I think that what that means is that we get to partake in this divine love that transcends

any human understanding or any human invention. There is no possible way that a human could invent God. There's no possible way that a human would come up with the idea of a being whose very essence is sacrificial love at his very core, that fulfillment comes from being last. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. To me, that's the upside down kingdom of

that Jesus came to inaugurate and by which he now sits as king in that kingdom. That is the mystery. And that is what the promise is for us. And through that, we find what we're actually ultimately looking for. You know, he said he was the Apostle Paul. I pray that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

for which I am an ambassador in chains. If you just look at that, you say, what in tarnation is he doing in jail with iron bars, and he's still saying, yeah, for which I'm an ambassador in chains. I mean, that's a, you would think, a horrible position to be in, but he doesn't treat it as horrible as I do.

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in sharing Jesus. And there's always, when people, you know, I think, look back at my younger life, there was times I was nervous or I said, I don't know the verses or, you know, what all the people say,

And the way you get over that is you're introducing Jesus and you're unleashing power. But it's never easy. There's always some nervousness or difficulty or tough conversations or even fear. I mean, we've all had studies with people. He's an ambassador and he's locked up in jail. But, Dad, that's an oxymoron.

to be an ambassador in chains and ambassadors want who goes and represents, but he said, I'm locked up. But Zach described at the beginning of the podcast, how do you have revival in a prison? That sounds like an oxymoron too, but that's, that's the mystery. Well, that's the upside down kingdom, which is upside down. But I will, I wanted to clarify on the mystery there. There's it's like Paul. Cause when we get to Colossians, which we're going to next, uh,

Well, he says the same thing, but he says, I want to reveal a mystery. And he's talking with the Jews and Gentiles in mind. But it says the mystery is that Christ is in you. Then four verses later in chapter two, he's like, we revealed this mystery. And then he has a little caveat. And there's a...

uh a comma and it says namely christ christ is the mystery revealed what comes out of that is that jews and gentiles can be together but in the context first corinthians 15 when he said listen i tell you a mystery and then what was that mystery about he said you'll be changed the devil will be raised imperishable you'll be like jesus you know that remember that context yeah so i'm saying you

The mystery is Christ revealed God. And the byproducts of that is that Jews and Gentiles could come together at the feet of Christ. We're going to be resurrected because Jesus was resurrected. So I'm saying there's an umbrella, which is namely Christ. I'm quoting that Colossians 2.3. But the...

What would you call that word? Some of the things that happened because of that is that that barrier between races was destroyed. Even the barriers between male and female was destroyed. And the role of those. Those are the results. Those results and fruit. Exactly. I want to read this because what a great point. And I'm glad you pointed out because I think if you read Ephesians and you take the verse of that, I say, oh, the point is Jew and Gentile coming together. Well,

As a result of something. Well, right. I was just clarifying. I know you know that, but I was just. No, I'm glad you did. No, I'm glad you did. Cause I want to read this at the end. Cause what I read was at the beginning of chapter three, which basically Paul says for this reason,

I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known by revelation. So he's basically saying for this reason, this mystery was made known. And then he defines the mystery. But you got to go back and think, well, what was the what was the reason?

Well, he just ended what you just said. Paul just said that same exact thing at the end of chapter two, which is the reason that the mystery is being made known. And here's what it says. For through him, we both have access into one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens together.

with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. So there you see the centrality of Christ. The results are undeniable.

Yeah, and then he goes on, in him, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. So when you said, Jace, that it's Christ in you, that's what that means. You're the dwelling, we're the dwelling place now.

of where Christ lives. That goes back to that John 1 when he says, where do you live at? What he's going to get to in Ephesians is, I live in you. I live in the bodies of my people. Don't miss the practical point because he says it twice here.

To pray. Because people say, well, I'm just, I'm fearful, or I have a hard time sharing with people. I have a hard time telling people about Jesus. He says twice, he asked the Ephesian church twice to pray for him, to declare Jesus.

the gospel fearlessly. He asked twice. So that tells you right there, when you feel like you're against the wall, just can't, I don't seem to be open. Jace described it great. You know, my home, I just, I'm not doing anything that God wants me to do. Then you need to pray about that, that God will open that for you because Paul said twice to do it for him. So if he says it twice, then we should do that. Yeah.

Well, Ann, when we've been comparing this to Jesus's ministry and Jesus's life and how many times in all the things he did, he continued to go out by himself and pray to God. It was not like even when he told his disciples how to pray. I mean, it was like when you pray, he was just assuming that.

Okay, if we're coming together, I'm bringing all things under one head, heaven and earth. You're my bride. You're my body.

Praying is part of this, even in any kind of battle, the spiritual warfare you're talking about. Praying got you there. Communication. And you know why? It's because it's a communal conversation with the creator of the universe, the savior of the world, and the Holy Spirit that lives in you. That's what's happening when you pray, just if you're wondering what goes on. It's a complex thing because when he said pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests,

I mean, it's a bigger thing than we're going to cover here in just a few minutes.

Which I think we all struggle with our prayer life because we tend to get ritualistic. I mean, you remember what he compared it to. He's like, don't be like the Pharisees who want to just have thinking they're going to be heard by God with their number of words and standing on the street corner. And remember the guy that said when he prayed, he's like, I'm thankful that I'm not like this here tax collector here, you know, which, uh,

Then the tax collector just fell on his knees and said, you know, thank you, God, for your grace. I mean, it's more of a heart that you're not being something God-like. I mean, there is a God and you're not him, which I wanted to say this before we close. I did that little teaser about John and in the spirit of prayer and what Zach said about the kingdom. And I said, I asked everyone on the last podcast, what was the first things that

First thing Jesus said in the book of John, and it was, what do you want? Well, I thought it was interesting that the last thing he said in the book of John is, what is that to you? And it was in the context of, if I want him to remain alive until I return, because all the disciples were martyred, he was kind of giving a prediction about Peter and his death.

And, you know, he says that, but it has this idea of there's a God and we're not him. And this is post-resurrection now. Yeah. And they're all worried and concerned about their life, you know, and what's going to happen to them. And he's like, yeah, one of you is going to stay alive. And if I want him to remain alive, what's that to you? Yeah.

This is about what I did for you. Work it out. I don't think it was a sarcastic comment. You tend to read that as sarcasm. But I think it was more like, I'm in control and that's good for you. Don't worry about what's going to happen. I had this. And I do think that taps into prayer because really most of the prayers we ask, he's already answered.

When he went through his prayer about give us our daily bread, well, he set that in motion. He sends us rain. He gives us gifts. I think we're out of time, but I think we need to do one more podcast on that because, man, there's some good stuff you're bringing. Well, it is, and I feel like it's a bigger subject, but that's how it ends.

And it ends with this one statement. The point I was making about reading that last part in John 21 is I'm going to tell you, this is a way to end the book of Ephesians. This last verse, he says, it packs a punch. The last phrase in Ephesians 6, 24 says, grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

And it hit me that because Christ died for us, he's able to give us an undying love. Yeah, which is pretty. What a statement. My translation says, with love incorruptible.

Ooh, that's good too. All right. We may have to tell one more time about this. I'm not sure. Or we may get to Colossians. We'll decide and see you next time. We'll study Colossians in the meantime. You start reading Colossians. 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.