Ep 1246 | The Robertsons Condemn the Minnesota Fraud Scheme: “A Mound of Ashes”

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to the Unashamed podcast. We spent most of the time in Proverbs 8 and then talking about the concept of godly wisdom, which is so ingrained. And I like that metaphor used about the grain of the wood. Same with beef. You know, there's grain in there and how you cut it makes a difference. But I was thinking about that Lisa, when she does her testimony and talks about her life prior to her coming to faith, she had no wisdom. And it was ironic and interesting that her lifeblood of like what she read as she was a brand new Christian, and she's 33 years old, not like she was a kid, you know, was Proverbs and Psalms. And she would read them every day and just like just just to try to understand a little bit more about who God is now that she had finally relented and sort of given up and submitted her life. But I was thinking there's so much such good stuff out there about Proverbs because Mark Moore, who's a guy that works at a big church out in Arizona, he's kind of the I call him the Bill Smith of the Christian church because he's super sharp, a great teacher and a great concept guy. And I read all of his stuff, but he's got a book he has these things called 50 core 52 and it's like a weekly Bible study. And he just did one on Proverbs. And it's outstanding. I want to recommend that to people to look and also say the last year came out with a devotional book out of Proverbs, which is also excellent. So this concept you brought up about wisdom was spot on, but it's also, you know, there's some funny stuff in there. Solomon had a bit of a sense of humor as well, which I love. Well, I mean, life is difficult. And we didn't really, you know, we talked about how Ecclesiastes comes at it from a little bit different angle because life throws you curveballs and, you know, he's like, it's all like smoke. I mean, you're trying to grasp it and the speed of it is so quick. Well, you're talking about a man who had a thousand lives. So, well, and Proverbs was written not only by Solomon, you know, there are other writers in that, which I do think it's representative of, you know, that Proverbs eight, tying it to the human world is so profound. And I do think it is a blueprint designed by God. And you see that all through throughout these from chapter 10 through 30. It's just these little sayings and almost riddles. And, but it shows you how deeper wisdom is. And I had a few interesting ones that I wanted to read. And I just thought before we make that segue, because ultimately, you know, to be successful in life, you either got to develop some wisdom or find somebody who has wisdom and get his opinion. And I think it's all linked to ultimately why God gave us a counselor who is God, the Holy Spirit in us. And I really think it will bring clarity in your daily actions, which, which is why Jesus said wisdom is pretty right for our actions. So here's a few Proverbs 14 for which states where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. You're like, what? So here's the thought. So just to illustrate on how you think, if you don't want to go out there, which a part of any venture, there's got to be sacrifices. There's got to be grit. There's got to be sustained things that you don't want to do to be successful. And you're like, well, I tell you what, I would love a clean manger. And you're like, what does that mean? That means you don't have to go out there and shovel up poop every day and fool with a stinky ox. But guess what? You get no crops. Now you can sit there in the basement of your parents' house and say, well, I don't have to clean this up, but you don't have anything. You know, and this is not so much a moral issue as it is just talking about what it takes to be ambitious and to work and to do the things you don't want to do. And I just don't know if you have any thoughts, but it just, well, you know, as soon as you said that, I had not, don't remember that proverb. That's very funny. But it took me back to my childhood from the blind movie when we lived behind the bar. And so I was very, Jase was just a baby. And I was only like seven years old. But mom or dad, I guess it was dad probably, decided to do a chicken coop behind our little trailer. And my job was to have to go out and get the eggs and clean out the poop. Well, I hated, I hated the chickens. I hated the eggs. I hated the poop the most because it's a terrible job. But it's really funny. You fast forward now I'm 61 years old and I can only eat fresh eggs. And so I'm not having to deal with a poop, but Joe and Christine can Jimmy do Jersey Joe because they have chickens. But it's interesting when you look at it from a different perspective, when you love farm fresh eggs, you realize there's going to be poop involved. It's just, that's what happens with chicken coops, you know, but someone has to deal with that. If you're going to get that delicious, fluffy egg, I think there's something to the egg where if you wash the egg, you actually, if you, I'm going to wash all this filth off of it, that somehow that they won't preserve. They won't preserve. You could take an egg and out of the coop and leave it on the counter for several months. I think I'm writing this and it was outside the fridge, but you wash it. All my eggs have poop on them when I get them out of the box. And I'm like, how could something this great be so close to something so terrifying? But look, all these things were just, which led to this conversation was embedded from God's wisdom in the creation of this planet. You see it all. We don't ever talk about this, you know, as even evidence of God, but it's evidence in your life and there are ways to think because we didn't talk about this on the last podcast, but a lot of proverbs is about this whole idea that Jesus really zeroed in on. When you think you're wise and you've deceived yourself and just because of your success, and which leads me to another proverb, which is about this skill set, which is what I was saying. We, we have this idea of wisdom being just something that is learned or, but it's, it's also skill and work and things like that that our, our English word for wisdom doesn't necessarily embody. There was some story that I can't find now, but where someone got a bunch of woodworkers and it, they called them wise and some of them were women and I don't remember where the story is in the Bible. I'm sure someone is thinking of that. And he, but he called them wise not because they had studied philosophy. They were just really good at working with wood. And so in, in that vein, Proverbs 22, 29 says, do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve kings. He will not serve before obscure men and the thought being people, you know, in their day, you know, the king is the king. If you're really good at something, they're going to find a way to find a job for you. It doesn't matter where you went to school and just, you know, if you're just good at it, good at what you do. And it made me think of verses like in Colossians three, which I think that really ties wisdom altogether in Jesus. It's like, whatever you do, you know, you work at it with all your heart as you're working for the Lord and not for man. And there's wisdom in that. Well, one definition I read of wisdom that said that wisdom is skill participation in God's life giving order of reality. And I really like that because it's like a, it is, it's participatory, which is what we've been talking about this whole time in the first John. It's participatory. And it's another way of saying that wisdom is honestly just to operate in reality, like to be rightly ordered into the way that everything really is. And the opposite of wisdom then would be to be participating in unreality, things that aren't actually true. It's not how the world actually operates. And I like that because it kind of anchors wisdom in something that's more, I'm trying to get a word for this, like it is what it is first. And then you get the ethic out of that, then you get what you're supposed to do. But these things that God's commanded us to do, they're not like arbitrary commandments. I think that's one of the main things that happens in the book of 1 John, is you get to the end of it. And he basically says, if you're looking at the commandments of God as like a burden, then you're not understanding what the commandments of God are. These aren't burdensome commandments. These are revelations of how reality works. And so if you operate in reality, then guess what? You're going to have a harvest. If you operate in the way the world really works, you're going to get eggs. Yeah, they got a little poop on them. You would have had to shovel all that out. But man, when you eat those eggs, you're going to notice a difference between that and something that's processed. It's going to taste a lot better. It's going to last a lot longer. It's just going to be better all the way through. That's what wisdom invites you into that life. Exactly. So Jase, we're Pat owners. We know the drill. Our pets get sick. We load them up. We take them to the vet. You wonder how much is this going to cost? We get the stress of the diagnosis. We walk out with an armful of meds. We cross our fingers. We hope it works. But here's the truth. Most of the problems start with the same issue, a weak immune system, usually from eating processed dead food year after year. So our good friend, Dr. Dennis Black, came up with this product that we have here if you're watching us called Rough Greens. It's packed with live nutrients that work from the inside out. It gives your dog the foundation they need to thrive instead of just patching up the symptoms. We're asking you to get off the vet, visit Mary Go Round, and introduce America's number one dog supplement to your pet. Thousands of pet owners are seeing the difference. More energy, shinier coats, fewer problems. Jase, when you're a little poochies, when it's time for their daily Rough Greens, how do they respond? I want to reward my guard dogs. They come in weighing at about three pounds a piece, but they sound ferocious. And this is my reward to them because I want to take care of them. And my pet, they're much bigger than Jase's dogs, but not near as ferocious. But they still love their Rough Greens and their Rough Chews. So we want you to check it out. Right now, you can try it yourself with a free Jumpstart trial bag. Just cover the shipping because the best doctor visit is the one you never make. Go to roughgreens.com. Use the promo code Unashamed to break the cycle today. RUFFgreens.com. Use the promo code Unashamed. I think that's exactly right. And that's my point. And my, just telling that story was someone without wisdom, immature as a child I was, doesn't understand that. And so the more you grow in maturity, and it's also a clarity thing. I love that you brought out the skill set proverb, Jase, because I was thinking about when dad always told his story, you know, he described a man, as he would say it, who's beating the air, you know, and he would do his arms, you know, he's beating the air. He was that man because he didn't have clarity. And so he went to school to do something, but then he didn't, he didn't, that wasn't what he wanted to do. And so he fought his own, and he was like that double minded man that's talked about in James one. And so for 10 years, there was this battle, and he turned to alcohol and drugs and immorality and all these different things. And then he found clarity when he finally understood who Jesus was, and he got that wisdom. Well, guess what? He changed his whole life plan as well, and moved down to the Wash Tile River to fish the river and start building duck calls and had never built one. And so all, and then he became the most famous duck hunter in the world and built our whole business and everything, you know, that's launched our whole family. So it just shows you what wisdom has the possibility of doing, but only when we have the clarity to, as Zach, you just said, to, to understand that we need that ethic in us, you know, we have to, it becomes a life changer. But the ethic is not a, it's not, I think the key that you'll, as you mature in the faith, the key is that the ethic becomes not like literally a rule to prove loyalty anymore. That's religion. That's what like the old school religion does. It's like, do the thing so that you prove the loyalty. And, and what is what God's saying is no, that's not how the ethic works. The ethic is actually this is, these are things that you're supposed to do, because this is like how you actually live an abundant life. This is actually how human flourishing occurs. And it's, and even that's not arbitrary. It's not like God said, here are the things that will make it awesome for you. You know, the everything that's being revealed is actually, it's a picture of himself. And, and, and so it's when we image God, then we actually have abundant life because God is abundant life. So as we image our creator, then we actually experience reality, which reality is actually not supposed to involve pain and suffering. The only reason that what, why we have pain and suffering in reality is because we humans have actually chose to actually not participate in, in reality. And instead, we're, we're trying to make up things like, you know, we want to determine it for ourselves. And, and it's just that this never, never works out for anyone when you try to determine reality for yourself, that never works out for any of us. And it leads to pain and suffering. Yeah. I love, I love though, every time, you know, this, this conversation you start noticing how many times you are saying about an abundant life or life, which is the way John started this, he is the word of life. Yeah. And think about those patches in him. There's no death. He is life. Not only life, think about it when he said in John, I've come to that they may have life and have it more abundantly. And so this goes in with this next one is Proverbs 21. And I just have a few random ones ones here. It says in verse six, a fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor in a deadly snare. The violence of the wicked will drag them away for they refuse to do what is right. And these are just concepts that you see in life, whether you believe in God or not. These are the things that happen if someone built his whole fortune on lies, what happens in the end? We've seen more than one show American greed. It's like they used to be on a CNBC. And I think it's always that, but they would take these stories of these Ponzi scheme guys like Bernie Madoff or whoever, but they would come up with these very sophisticated ways to accumulate a lot of wealth very quickly and deceptively. And it's like every time it ends up in just a mound of ashes, it all burns to the ground and they lose everything. And it always shocks me when I watch those because I'm like, there's like a point that we can get to, which is the scary part about sin because you'll watch how they developed into the leader of some kind of Ponzi scheme. And you're like, how did you think you were going to get away with this? Like this is going to come crashing down around you. And at some point you realize that the deceptive nature of evil is that I actually think that these people think that they're going to get away with it at some point. You just give yourself over to this lie that you start even believing it. Like, I mean, it's crazy what they think they can get away with, but it never actually works out. I mean, if you just look at the long history of the Enron scandal, I mean, it's just like one after another. You try these scandals out and eventually it all comes out. Even right now, Zait, there's a huge scandal in Minnesota about these fake daycare places where they just built billions of dollars out of taxpayers. And there were politicians that knew about it. Just all these people were part of the scam. And of course, now once the light of true shines on it, you're right. I mean, now people are residing, there are people who are going to go to jail, all these... Tim Walsham, I mean, it was the vice presidential candidate in the last election was running for, I think he was running for governor again, pulls out of the race. I think I read this a few days ago, he pulls out of the race as a result of this. So you had this empire. And so now not only are the people involved in the daycare scandal that they're done, but also look at the repercussions and then like you throw the pebble in the pond, the ripples go out, like it just collapses around you. And it just takes everybody around you with you. Good point. But you said it when you... It's believe in that lie. And of course, John's going to bring up that concept about deceiving yourself. And that's what happens. We brought up David, I talked to him earlier. David, he was so convinced in his sinful walk that he got into with the whole Bathsheba affair that when Nathan, the prophet came to him and told him a story about another person, he was angry. I mean, he was like, this man needs to pay. And it was him. And then Nathan looks at him and says, you are that man. Well, it's like if you stick with just the basic truths of just reality, it just works out for you. I mean, one of the problems that I read, I probably read it four or five times a year to each one of my kids. And it's usually when we're at an impasse where we can't really make progress. And they're just like everything that I'm telling them, it's like, I'm trying to put some kind of parameter on their life. And I'm talking about kids like not Max and Laila, they're kind of out of the house now, but I had this conversation with both of them. But there's this moment or moments in parenting, where you're basically saying, no, you can't stay out there three in the morning or so or something like that. And it's like, this is common sense. What are you talking about? And then their response is always that somehow I'm infringing upon their well-being. So some version of that. And that's how the gaslighting happens. They start to gaslight you, well, everybody else is doing it, whatever the things are. And when we hit certain points, I'm like, just sit down for a second and let me read something to you. And I'll read Proverbs one, where it says, hear my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching. And I'll just like sit in that for a second. Like that's the commandment. But the question is why? For they are a graceful garland for your head and pennants for your neck. My son, and then it goes on. I'm like, guys, like my instruction, what do you think? Do you think that I'm like, man, how can we really make Bear's life horrible? You think that's what we're sitting around doing? Like me and mom are like, man, let's just make it where he can't have any fun, where he's miserable. And after much debate, finally he'll say, no, I do think you guys want what's best for me. And I'm like, yeah, my instruction is actually the jewels that you'll wear around your neck. We actually are, what we're telling you is like, this is the way to the good life. Like we have the experience. We've made the mistakes that we're pleading with you. Don't make the same mistake that I made when I was 17 years old. But again, all we're really calling them into is reality. Like just come live in reality. Don't like what you're doing is a pathway to destruction. You know, then all those little sayings that parents have, they really, there's a lot of wisdom to them. Like my dad used to say, nothing good or my mom, nothing good happens after midnight. It's kind of true. You know, I didn't really go to my life happened after midnight. I should have listened to her drive around after midnight and you'll see that's just true. So in that light, I'll throw in Proverbs 22, six, where it says, train a child in the way he should go when he is old, he will not turn from it. And then later in verse 15, it says, folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him, which my parents focused on the word rod instead of the word discipline, which is why people don't like to hear that. But I'm like, I think the point was discipline as being a rod. Jase, they did mistranslate it. Our parents translated rod to leather belt. But I guess I guess somehow there was a mistranslation there, but they missed it. But I think you see the hypocrisy even in these polls that people do, which I get it, you're taking a poll, you're not committing the act. But I tried to find the one I had read before where there was a certain amount of money where, and it had what people would do for it. And I remember 7% was commit murder, which makes you think, I mean, just think 7%. I mean, if your church holds a thousand people and you're like, how many people here would actually kill me for a sum of money? 70 people in there are said, we're ready to roll. Yeah, that I mean, it shows you a lot about our life. So, Al, I just got a text that said, we have to plant trees down the perimeter of the property. Do you ever have issues with your neighbors? There's no saying they said good fences make good neighbors. Maybe good tree lines make even better neighbors. But we've been trying to build a little perimeter at the house. So I want to tell you something about fastcruingtrees.com. These guys have everything you need to make your dream yard a reality, starting with the best quality and selection of plants, and they deliver it right to your door. Fast growing trees is the largest online nursery with over 6,000 plants that can fit any space from indoor plants to fruit trees, the full-size privacy trees. We're going to order some more of the Leland Cypress. 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Look, now's the perfect time to plant. Use UNASHAMED to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. Check out the link below or in the show notes and support the show. Yo, I found a poll just by looking it up here and this was over 40% Americans would leave their romantic partner for a million dollars. And you have, look, multiple verses in here that we kind of chuckle at, but it's like, how did this inspired scripture get all this right? And you know, some of them are funny, some of them not so much, but Proverbs 21.9 says better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. Verse 19, quote that one many times. That's true though. Verse 19 says better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife. I mean, double down 10 verses later on it, you know? But then you also have Proverbs 7 and verse 27 where the song AC DC, this is where they got it. Proverbs, the adulterous woman, her house is a highway to hell, leading down to the... Yeah, I mean, well, let me just give a piece of advice. If you're listening though, the one about the roof top, what was it again? Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. So I firmly believe in quoting scripture. I think we should be ready to give an answer, but I'm warning of advice because I know a guy one time who quoted that verse to his wife in the middle of a fight and it did not go so well. So I just want to warn any of you guys. Sounds like he may have been the quarrelsome wife and that's... I'm not going to say anything. Just be careful. The point is the wisdom of God in the blueprint, it's something that you should meditate on, but you see it come up all through life where you're exchanging one aspect of something for another. And Missy and I was talking about this last night, just even in the dating process. I was young and immature. First girl, I thought, oh, this is... I was so in love and enamored until I met her parents and I thought, I got to get the heck out of here. I mean, you know, crazy. I just thought all my love completely vanquished because I thought she's going to grow up and if she turns out to be like either one of these people, I mean, I know crazy, but this is insane. I mean, that guy looked at me and basically threatened bodily harm for me just being in the presence of his daughter. I was like, don't come here. You talking about the dad did? Yeah, I walked in and he said, come over here and sit down. I forgot the details because, but he was basically threatening my life just for being here. And I thought... That's intimidating. Okay. And then the mom was like, amen, amen over there. And I thought, you know, this girl doesn't look near as good as I thought. I mean, because, you know, I was just, I'm at her, she looked good. I thought, okay. Yeah. There's some movie I saw. I hadn't seen the movie, but it's a clip on social media where the rapper 50 Cent, he's in the movie and his daughter is going on a day, going to prom with the young gentleman. And so he walks in the house and 50 Cent's like, hey, man, let me have a... Let me highlight you for a minute. And he walks him into the garage. Well, then he walks in the garage. There's like 20 dudes that look like, I mean, just bowed up or like, I mean, just tattoos everywhere. And he basically tells the guy, you make a wrong move and I'm going to cut you through it like you're done. And then all these dudes are like 20 grown men and just sitting there staring at this guy like, you messed this date up. You disrespect this man's daughter. We're coming after you. And the guy is like paralyzed in fear. So maybe there's a little bit of good in that day. Maybe he, maybe he perceived you as a threat, Chase. I will confess my wisdom or lack thereof. First time my daughter brought a, brought a boyfriend over. I did clean my gun in his presence. Yeah, but I was going hunting the next day, but I do remember thinking, maybe I should clean my gun. Just even though I didn't know threats or anything, I just subconsciously, I wanted him to know I'm very good with weapons. We're capable. So was that wise or was that me panicking? Yeah, you don't make it, you don't make an accusation. It's just more like, Hey son, this is what we use to kill birds with. This is called bird shot. Now this right here, this is what we use to kill big animals and, and intruders and people who've heard our family. This is called buck shot. Yeah. Well, I think I proved my point by going through a few verses. I meant this to be the cold open and this has turned into quite the revelation, but there's a couple more I want to get to. I did want to bring up proverbs 21 30 because I do think this is the theme that says there is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. I mean, that is encouraging. Mike drop. Yeah, but that is a Mike drop moment for all human beings right there. That's the, that's the line where in the New Testament, the Old Testament, that matter, that we belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken nor destroyed out of the book of Hebrews. I take a lot of comfort in that because you people talk about, Oh no, the church is in peril. The church is this. Look, let me tell you something. You ain't got to worry about that. You don't worry about whether God's going to lose. What you worry about is whose side are you on? We have no God's plans will not be thwarted. God's will will be done. And I'm just going to make sure that I'm on his side instead of the other side, which is another Hebrews 12 moment that because God's nature will not change. So he's going to, he's winning and we want to be on the winning side. Yeah. So I want to get to, these are the sayings of eager in Proverbs 30. Now this guy, some of these are interesting, but I want to just give you a hint of it because I, I just can't help it. But he was, he was the son of eager, no, his son of Jacob, who was an oracle. Yeah. So let me just pick a couple here. I have a bunch of them, but I'm going to pick a couple. So down in verse 15, which he starts off this, the leech has two daughters give, give, they cry. I mean, they suck the blood of give. So you're like, why is that in there? You're like, well, am I a human leech? Am I always, you know, trying to take them and give or demanding you give me, you know, such a good point. We all know leeches. You know, I mean, it's so profound in life and you can spot one in about five seconds. And then they validate it every time you see them. You don't want to be that person. But then watch where he launches to you. There are three things that are never satisfied for that never say enough. The grave, the barren womb, land, which is never satisfied with water and fire, which never says enough. So it's not just all about relationship. It's about in life. You just think about those four things. The grave, it just, it's consuming. You know, and anybody's ever had a counseling situation, you know, with someone who can't have children. I mean, it is consuming. It is devastating and painful. Land, and look, I've been in more land ventures that would not do anything with water. It just wouldn't either hold water or it wouldn't produce anything good. And you're just like, you're just beating your head up against, you know, an invisible wall and fire, which never says enough. I just thought that was interesting. This episode is brought to you by SimplySafe. And this SimplySafe On is the sound of peace of mind. SimplySafe sensors, HD cameras and 24 seven security monitoring protect your home inside and out against breakings, fires, water leaks and more. So you can relax, visit simply safe.co.uk slash pod for an exclusive discount. Then he, this next one is verse 18. He says, there are three things that are too amazing for me for that I do not understand. And these are about motion. So watch this, the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas and the way of a man with a woman. What? Just wrap your head around this. Cause look, think about it. When you see an eagle flying, it is almost impossible. You think, how is that eagle doing that? You know, they'll soar for miles and you're like, how is, how is he, cause an eagle is a big bird and it's weighty, but he seemingly having propulsion. Yeah. Without, he just, and when you look at creation and you're hearing this red and you're like, wisdom is there before the creation of the world. It's like the blueprint. You're like, I see somehow there is this life giving force that's able to pull this off and even a snake. You're like, how is he, how is he able to move on that rock? Of course, you know, science tries to come up and stay up with God, but it just, it seems when you put all these things together, it becomes beyond scientific because you think, how does a ship, I mean, though, you've seen all these videos. I mean, that people, they'll, they're just putting them everywhere. It's high seas and you see the ship just going through. Going down in a swale, swale and then coming out the other side of it. And you're like, then it goes, you know, into something man created with something God created and then forces of nature, what we call nature, which is God's creation, all coming together in one scene that's hard for you to wrap your head around. And then it's the, oh, what is a man doing with a woman and the way they act when they're enamored and in love? And why is she even entertaining this? How did we ever get together and popularize the earth? I think that's, how is this motion continuing to happen? And the difference in the way men and women think, you know, dad used to always say, you remember his saying was, he said, when, when the almighty made a woman, he made a strange creature. That was, that was his line talking about women in general. And, and because he couldn't figure out how they really thought and, and is really interested, he was just honest enough to admit it, but you're right, Jay, that he puts that in this line of mysteries is so good. And it's still the thing that motivates people to this day. And you could probably, he covered it, to come up with a hundred more of things that we just really can't wrap our minds around, but then we're part of this whole process to go through. Well, and then I think, you know, the book ends with this speech about a wife of noble character and it's like, but who can find, yeah, she, and which this gets back into Solomon, you know, who had a thousand wives and he's like, my conclusion is, wasn't any of them any good. You know, it's very sad yet. And then this beautiful story is shown about what this woman does. You know, our husband has full confidence and likes nothing to value. She brings him good and on harm and she's working and she's going throughout the city and community and keeping her house in order. And you just see this just work and sacrifice. And I mean, there's nothing like a sacrifice, especially of a mom who's to her husband and somehow that is just kind of the moral backdrop of society, in my opinion. And he gets to the end and he's like, give her the reward she has earned and let her work, bring her praise at the city gate. You know, we should throw a parade for some of these godly women out there. Well, and Lisa and I do our, if we do like a marriage weekend or, you know, multiple times to speak, one of our lessons we do comes from Proverbs 31, the passage you're talking about, Jason and Lisa, you know, basically speaks to the women in the audience back and forth with me and mine's out of Job 31. You know, I've mentioned Job 31 many times on the podcast because it's an ancient guy who was an upright man who loved the Lord and who went through terrible things because of what Satan had done to him and he couldn't figure it out. And in his defense of his character, he tells about what it is to be a man. And so I deal with that with the guys and man, it's just that these are ancient things to your point of this whole thing we've been talking about for a couple of podcasts that still are relevant and still matter. And we just tell current stories about it like we've done here today on the podcast, but I mean the principles and the truth of it still matters and still shapes people to this very day. Well, the reason I wanted to bring that up and I'm glad you brought up Job is because these, these wisdom literature books, you know, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and we hadn't talked about Job, but I do think when you put those three books together, you kind of see this wisdom personified, this blueprint that, you know, is a metaphor for God's sister or maiden or wife or however you want to characterize it that is fulfilled in Jesus because you see in Proverbs, all right, here's just kind of the facts of life. And there are subtly the side that you need to be on. There is a hint of morality and decision making and work ethic and all that that goes along with Ecclesiastes, you know, when it throws you a curveball at the end of the day, you know, sometimes you just got a fear of God and trust him in the process. But then Job, I think, introduces also this idea of the fallen celestial world and their involvement in this, which 1 John is heavily talks about heavily about, especially in 1 John 3, where Jesus came to destroy the work of the devil, which is such a profound verse and it's found in 1 John 3. And I think you see in that case, life is full with the evil ones attacks and the spiritual forces of evil and the heavenly realms. And I think all those components come together. But God has given us that blueprint. He gave us his son to embody that blueprint. And he's now our advocate at the right hand of God, but he's also given us the spirit to kind of make this happen in our actions of being like Jesus and reflecting who God is. Yeah, and you're right. It's a familiar theme throughout all of the word. This week, I've been studying in James one because I'm preaching out of that Sunday. And, you know, he James brings up God to wisdom, as I mentioned on the last podcast, but then he also talks about the testing of faith and the things that are going to happen to you that you persevere through. And then he also differentiates that from temptation, which he also deals with in the first part of that chapter. And he doesn't he puts it on us to make a decision about what we're going to do. Maybe he says each one is is tempted when he is dragged away and enticed. But it's your decision. And then he lays out the steps that happen as a result of that. So even though, to your point about the celestial world being involved, we don't want to just we can't just say, well, yeah, Satan's evil. And so therefore I'm living a lifestyle of darkness that I'm going to follow him. You make that call. Well, right about who you're going to follow. So it really is. We're tracking because, you know, when he and when James gets to chapter three, which this really embodied Jesus' style and his mission and in his sermons and about being from heaven. Yeah. And you're from the earth and going back to the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Well, when he gets to James three, and I want to read this based on what you just said, verse 13, he contrasts this about wisdom. It says, who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life that this wisdom produced an actions by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. It is literally the blueprint that God created the world. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, you're not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but it's earthly, unspiritual of the devil. So he's mentioned there. And then this profound verse that I've quoted hundreds of times in Bible studies for where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit and partial and sincere. All these things, Proverbs is about, but it's also all the fruits of the spirit. Peacemakers who sow in peace, raise a harvest of righteousness, but then focus on that. There's the work. They sow in peace and raise a harvest of righteousness. So, and that, you know what comes along with that? Dirty mangers, you know, cleaning up and that's that Proverbs 14.4. It is interesting when you go back to the creation, I mentioned this on a previous podcast, but when they were told to work the garden, when he put Adam and Eve to work the garden, if you think about like the fact that he said to cultivate the earth, it leads us to believe that whatever was outside of the boundary of the garden was not the garden. It was wild. It was things that needed to be tamed. It was things that needed to be cultivated. So you can think about everything, the whole earth was not the garden in the beginning, which I think is interesting because you think about, well, the blessing when the Bible says that God blessed them and told them to be fruitful, multiply, cultivate the earth and have dominion over it. So that was actually, work was actually the blessing. And so in Genesis 3, when the fall happens and the curse comes, the curse was not work. It was, now you're going to work and it's going to produce thorns and thistles for you. And the curse was not fruitful multiplication. Now you're still going to have to go into labor and you're going to have babies, but now it's going to be painful for you, for the woman. And so I think that that's a key because what we're returning back to with the story of Jesus and what Jesus accomplished and what He had inaugurated the kingdom is it is a restored, a restoration back to our Edenic purpose. And so if you go back to the first sin that happened in the garden was a sin that Adam and Eve, particularly Eve in the first part, she actually did not believe that the revelation of God was for her benefit. She actually thought that the commandments of God were somehow hampering her own human flourishment, which happened to be a lie. So she moves out of reality into unreality so the pattern was really simple. She first minimized the blessing. She then went when she, because she said, we may eat, whereas God actually said you may eat freely. So she took what God said and she minimizes it, which was the blessing. She makes it smaller. Then she minimizes the judgment lest you die where God actually said, you shall surely die, not lest you die. No, you will die if you do this. So she minimizes the judgment and then she maximizes the prohibition. She makes it much more desirable when she says you shall not touch it, becoming the first legalist in history when God actually said, you shall not eat of it. If you do, you will die. And I think that's interesting how her pattern of sin work because it's the same pattern of sin that we indulge in, which is essentially minimize the blessing of God, minimize the judgment and then maximize the prohibition to make it more appealing. We do it and that's that James passage. We're dragged away and enticed and then when that whole process plays out, what does it do? The same thing that did in the garden. It leads to death. Well, if you're wondering why we spent two podcasts, tell them about wisdom, because I felt led to do this just because first John is hard to wrap your head around. And I think, you know, if you kind of realize, okay, maybe I need to, like one of my mentors used to tell me every time I would bring up some passage that I hadn't really thought out well, he would say, you need to think bigger. And I fear that as we talked about last podcast, we're so focused on the torment, just, you know, getting in and not going to hell or whatever the the motivation is that we're missing this experience of participating with our maker on earth and re and representing him. And he's supplied everything we need. But I thought of one other proverb I wanted to mention, because I think part of our problem is we just feel like, well, what can, what can I do? You know, I'm so, I'm just one person. I got all my problems and all. So this is an interesting one. This is Proverbs 30 and 24. And following, and it says four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise ants or creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer. High raxes, which I had to look that up, their little badgers that live in rocks, are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the rocks. Locusts have no king, yet they advanced together in ranks. That's so good. And a lizard can be caught with the human hand, yet it is found in kings palaces. Oh man. So I mean, you're like, well, why is that in there? Well, you think you're small and can't do anything? I mean, these little creatures, you don't think they're very wise, but I mean, you're a human being created in the image of God. You're in the very good section of the creation, you know, in the image of God and able to reign and lower it over the creation. And so I think that's his point there. It's, especially when he's supplying you the power of his Holy Spirit and that you're participating in this divine nature. So I wanted to say that. And as we go through this, I think if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities of what your position means in Christ, I think it'll make you puff your chest out a little bit and do things that may be uncomfortable. Because to me, that's really what walking like Jesus is all about. You just go out there and take a stand. I listen to a daily devotional for our friends, Shane and Shane, I know you're good buddies with them. And this morning was a showstopper. I don't know why I feel led to share this, but they did the song, the doxology, you know, praise God from whom all blessings flow. I mean, and they made a point, everybody knows this song. It's like the Christian National Anthem. I mean, my wife actually led a group of people off the cuff at the K-Level Awards in that song. And what I was stunned at is everybody's saying, and it was powerful, but they did it on their diva was on that song and they had a preacher who told the story behind this song. And it was some random guy from the 1600s who never had any money, who basically there was a law, they couldn't write songs. It had to be word for word out of the Bible and he had all these list of songs. And he's the same guy who, by the way, because of his wisdom, was led into the presence of the King just because he was good at stuff. And the King had summoned the use of his house for this King's mistress. And he said, no, he said, my house is under repair. And by the way, I'm not going to use my house as a pimp for the King. Now, you say that to a King, you're probably going to get your head cut off. But he was like, I'm just not compromising. But anyway, immediately after that story, he called a construction person and he said, I need you to rip the roof off my house. I mean, he said that because he didn't want to lie. So he actually hired a contractor to destroy his house so it wouldn't be a lie. But later on, after he died, he died of obscurity, no money. They found this list of songs that he wrote in his journal, and that was one of those songs. And it became a national anthem. But it just made me think when I read that proverb, I thought, this guy, just some old guy serving the Lord who had lost his parents at an early age. The whole story made me tear up and came up through an orphanage and just never had anything. But he found wisdom in the Lord and look at him now. He was a lizard who lived in the palace because he understood who God was. That's awesome. Well, we may or may not get back to first John next podcast. We'll just see how that goes. But that was a good rabbit, old Jase. I love it. And it is all over the book. So it's good. Yeah, we'll see you next time. Don't undershame. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. 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