Ep 1251 | Phil’s Gift of Prophecy Lives on & Jase Proves You Can’t Follow Jesus Quietly

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to the Unashamed podcast. Zach, I meant to ask you on the last podcast and I forgot. You had mentioned a while back about Max and Layla doing some touring with their old buddy Larry Flees. That's still happening and because I've had a few people ask me about it. And where can they go to find out where they're going to be? Yeah, they're going to be all over. I think they're doing, I don't know, 15, 20 cities. Go to Larryfleet. I just pulled it up. Larryfleet.com. Now Jill and I, we're going to be at the Bristol, Tennessee, because that's not too far from the house. And we're going to do the Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia show. And then we're going to go to the Raleigh one. So if you're in those areas and you listen to the podcast, we want to come hang out, go check it out. We'll put the link in the show notes too, but it's Larryfleet.com. You got all the, you can buy tickets right there. So yeah, they're going to be touring with him. We're fired up about it. It's going to be fun. That's awesome. I do want to mention too, Lisa and I are doing our first event of the year, January 30 and 31. And we're going to be in Olney, Illinois. So if you're from that area, the event's going to be at the Elm Street Christian Church, but it's for a group called the Full Armor Christian Academy. It looks like they've got a way to get tickets on their Facebook page. So if you want to try to search that out, if you're up in the Olney, Illinois, I think it's about maybe a couple of hours north of St. Louis is where this is going to be. And so we're actually going to be there for two days doing two separate events because I think this O1 out, but I'm not sure. So you realize this the last two days of Duxes? I do realize that. So I'll be, I'll be cheering you on. You know what I call that? Poor timing. Poor planning. Poor planning. No, I'm kidding. He's getting on the Elm Street. Larry just texted me ironically as we were talking. He said, I'm headed down to South Louisiana, South of Lake Charles, going to do some duck hunting in the marsh for the next couple of days. Wow. He said, is Jase killing any ducks? Sound like he's trying to. And he listens to our podcast. So speak directly to our friends. Acts like he's trying to say on the way, what do you do? No, I responded back. I said, well, I'm going down next week. He said, well, I'm only got a couple of days. I got a, I got a hard, I got to hold, I got to get ready. Hey, let me tell you something. Cameron Parris is world famous for their ducking. I don't know how they're doing down there, but that's some good duck hunting in that area where he's headed normally. Yeah. I think they're doing pretty good. I think up North and way South, the parts in between has been struggling due to lack of water. But we just got a rain. I'm going to hunt our hole for the first time since the big rain tomorrow. So I'll give you all a report next time we're together. And since we just are doing one podcast right after the last one, those of you that felt my excitement over the teal wraps that are coming in my future have not happened yet because that's hopefully going to happen tonight. So I'm going to be down there next week, Jay. Jay, since I need to get with Jay, I know you said I could hunt, but I need to make sure that we still, are we still good? Is everything still? Well, the reason you're going to get with Jay is that's yet to be determined. So I don't want to, the way we do it, you don't understand that. Here's that way we do it. Jay is the buffer because it would be awkward if I told you right now, you're out. Which is why he keeps bringing it up on the podcast. Get your feelings hurt. You're crying. I don't think that would bother you to hurt my feelings. But when we create this buffer zone and we follow the plan, we do that so that Jay can kind of not say anything false, but he can feather the news. Which is so funny because yesterday we recorded on for Hillsdale in this room, Jay's, and I mentioned this to you in between the podcast and Christian came in, they came straight from the Dublin like you did today. He and John Luke, which I was super impressed. The next generation, your work on the new show is apparently working. And he's grown a beard. I mean, they looked like he had a beard yesterday. He had a camo shirt on and he had a beanie, a black beanie, and he said in your chair, and he wanted to make fun of Zach. He felt it. It almost came out because we were telling the story, but he couldn't quite pull the trigger. And I thought, well, Jay's will have to like tutor him over that last hump, which is it's okay to make fun of Zach. He's got a thick skin, you know. Well, and he's he's basically E.T. incarnate, which is, I know it's extraterrestrial, but we use it for easy target because he has yuppie tendencies. Are you talking about me or are you talking about Christian? Oh, I'm talking about you, buddy. This is what this is. The park Christian couldn't quite get over the. You know, it's funny you say that, but here's the truth. If you saw the town I grew up in, when you think of the rednecks in Louisiana and put that in a category and you go to where I grew up, it's a whole nother level. I promise you, there was no yuppies in Trenton. You know, you know, you're right, Zach, because we plucked one of those Florida rednecks up from there from your old stomping grounds, and he is now working in our duck car room. Cades. It's a different breed. Am I right? It's a different breed. He is country. He is. You still show yuppie tendencies. See, I now know when you have a beard, but the problem is when I see it, I have the same feeling when I pass by some of my neighbors and they're out there on their hands and knees and they're premeditating what their yard looks like. And you're doing the same thing with your beard. I told you, it does no good to grow the beard or allow it to grow. If then you're going to try to trim the hedges and shave the neck, just let it go. This is godly. This is the way he does that. In the words of Dad, Dads, you don't grow beards, they grow themselves. You just get out of the way. Yeah, I mean it. That's what Dad is saying. Jill says that looks like a walrus. She said, you look like a walrus. She said, you got to keep it trimmed up. So I think this is part of the... You got to remember the biggest form of crime that you can commit is premeditation. And so you're... Like when he's out in his flower beds, is that premeditated? This is not a beard slaughter. It's just a premeditated. You're trying to say, oh, I want to have a beard. I like the idea, but I want you to look at me and say, oh, that looks nice. I don't think I told you all this, but when I was... We had a little bit of a break during the holidays and so I was in Gulf Shores. And I took my shaver and I took it all the way down to shave level just to see, because I hadn't seen what's underneath here in about 10 years. And I was going to make my decision to do a shave, because Lisa kind of wants to see it all the way clean. But when I got it down to the lowest level before the razor, I looked in the mirror and I thought about you, Jase, when you took yours off right after the show ended and then called such a star and you raised some money doing it. But I thought, nope, the things happen to a man's face from 50 to 60 that nobody needs to see. So it'll never come off. It's staying on the rest of the way. Let it go. So what's happening is Christian is way further down the line in his rehabilitation than you are, Zay. He's quickly passed you by. He's got the black beanie. Was his beard manicured? It was, I think it was let go for him, but it wasn't quite. It's kind of a starter beard. He's young. So it's not quite coming. Phil called it the Yasser Arafat. He called it the Sycatchus beard or the Yasser Arafat. That's the splotchy one is the Yasser Arafat. So we just had a group of rednecks come in here. I'm looking, I can barely see them behind the lights over here, but I'm seeing beards back there. This looks like our group back here. It's our people. We have a studio audience today. They're from Kentucky and Tennessee. You talk about rednecks. Those are kind of like Hillbilly back in the holler, but that's a whole other level too. You start talking about Kentucky. That's like on the, that's on the same level where I grew up in North Florida. They were giving me possum recipes yesterday. Oh, it's backwoods, boys. But here's the thing about the Christian, those guys, so they, they have the opportunity. I don't, I don't live in an area anymore where there's any duck hunting. So if I, if it's a deal, I mean, I make a journey. I mean, it's a pilgrimage back down to the, to the homeland or I go to Arkansas or somewhere like that. Or I went to Nebraska last year, which was nice on the North Platte River. And that was us. We, we did kill the ducks. That was, that was pretty awesome. But Zach, you live, where you live now, you talk about yuppie land up there in Black Mountain and Asheville area. But you think it's, would you say yuppie? I would say more hippie. Well, I guess so. You're right. It's more hippie yuppie. Maybe we just call them yippie. Yippies. Yippies. There you go. There's a lot of yippies up there where you are. A lot of yippies. They had a big, they had a big no kings rally the last time I was up there. Of course that group of yippies, there wasn't anybody in there. I'd have been the youngster if I'd have waited up in there. It must have been some of your older neighbors there, Zach. They were, they're not big Trump fans up there. Neither nor. But I actually, and that's funny, the neighborhood, I mean, we're all friends, but there's pretty diverse opinions in the neighborhood for sure. Did they know about you? Do you just, do you get in there and mix it up? It's what I'm deals like. Yeah. What my one way, your son does that bear. Oh, well, bears, yeah. The secrets out with bear, but then they would, one lady was like, moved in down the street. She said, yeah, I went over there to like say hello to her. And she's like, yeah, I Googled your name. And she said, we're not going to like each other. Oh, uh-oh. And I was like, why not? And she's like, I'm a raging liberal or something like that. So what? I mean, I don't look, hey, you should have said, hey, I don't mind the liberal. Let's just tone down the rage. I don't need any rage out of it. Well, I put the charm on her. I said, hey, we all have our positions. I said, I'm going to love you just like Christ would. I'm a Christian and hey, you're welcome at my dinner table anytime. You're right. The kingdom of God is bigger than parties and political ideology. That's for sure. She was taken back by it. She was like, really? I said, yeah, really. She said, you would have me in your house for dinner. I said, yeah, absolutely. So we don't have to agree on everything for us to be friends. And so it was so, yeah, it's kind of interesting place to live. But but I'll be back down in the homeland. So I was thinking, Jason, can you slip on your redneck when you come in? Just like putting on an old blanket. I turn it. It's default. I can go back real quick. But I would like one more request and I'm just throwing it out there, Jason. Oh boy. Here's how this is how it goes. This is the one that leads to two. Jason, you've been talking about your relationship with your animals. Yeah. I know one of their favorite treats is rough greens. And so if they'll just take care of their business outdoors like dogs should do, I will avoid them handsomely with some rough greens. That's right. Rough greens is a great product. Our good friend, Dr. Dennis Black came up with this product. 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Promo code Unashamed. And I want to, I was thinking about that crawfish pot. Just, I'm just throwing it out there. You keep thinking about it. I come hang out at your house one night. We can, we can pray together, have a Bible study and maybe crawfish pot. I'm just throwing it out there. Now he's down the menu. See this is where it goes. Now you're putting your. That crawfish pot is life altering. It is fantastic. I'm serious. Is there any way I'm being in town for about five days, just one meal at your house with the crawfish pot? That's my, that's my. I'm going to tell you this. I found something fascinating. We had the van Normans in and they stayed three days, I guess. And so was it true, was it true what Benjamin Franklin said? What's that? That guest house guests were like fish. They began to stink after three days. No, no, they were great. That's what Benjamin Franklin said. He didn't say that. No, no problems on that. But what I did find ironic is Missy makes this surprise crawfish pie for lunch. And she, what she does with the crust is she makes a little cross and puts it on there. And so crust design, we go all in there and get a piece of the pie. I'm intrigued. We sit around a round table kind of duck dynasty style and say a prayer and offer thanks. And was there a camera rolling? No, okay. I'm going to go and bow the pie. Well, I'll go back in there because I thought I might go back in. Tap it again. Tap it again. Well, I go in there and look, I look at this pie plate and there's a cross in the middle. And that's the only thing I have. I thought, boy, these van Normans, these Aggies, they literally just consume that, which is an incredible amount of pie. But then they just felt bad and they thought, well, we're going to leave that cross. They didn't want to desecrate. Well, you should have read that in the scripture from the last podcast about our consumption or our participation in the Lord's Sarmony. We're ingesting that. You co-inheod with that crawfish pie. That's why I ate the cross because that's the only thing that was left. And I just thought that was psychologically funny. They thought I probably shouldn't eat the second and third piece because I don't know how they got. I mean, they just engulfed the whole pie. Five humans. The crawfish pie is a little heavy. It lingers. So I try to eat a little less than what I think I should eat because 30 minutes later. The van Normans had the same philosophy as Al, which is why I had to get on PhD because after a while it caught on with me, is that the one who eats the fastest has the potential to eat the most because we didn't always have a lot of leftovers back in the day, Jays, when we had a broom full of teenage boys in our house. And so if you ate quickly, there was a chance that there may be one piece of chicken left or something somebody didn't get. So I ate way too fast. I can't slow down because it's just now the way I've been doing it. Well, and look, it came right out of the oven. And you know how those crawfish pies are? They're hot. Well, it was molten lava. And the youngster, Lake, he's what is he, 17 years old? He's like, my lips are stuck together. I was like, that's the skin that has burned because he ate two pieces before I got halfway through one. I was like, you're probably going to need to get you some chap stick on the way out. But anyway, it was good. Well, I'll see what I can do, Zach. Well, the backup plans that could be what we had last night. So it was Lisa's birthday. And so I got old stone before he left for Jiu Jitsu to I went and bought a whole tenderloin ribeye. You've done before is that, you know, good. Oh, yeah. And this was a bit, this was an eight pounder, eight pounds of tenderloin. And he hooked it and put it in that smoker. And then he put his probes in there, but he had to leave. So it was up to me and Nan to get this thing right. But now it's pretty foolproof because you got the probes. They tell you the tip. We pull that thing off the grill and put some butter on it, let it rest. Perfect medium rare. And then Vinnie and Alex have started making dads crawfish or last night it was shrimp because Lisa doesn't like crawfish shrimp and crab all grottin. And they've got, they're getting it. Every batch is more and more like dads. And last night was on time. And then we pour that over the steak. I've done it. It's like a salve of sauce. But you talk about good. I mean, that thing was lairpins. So we had mom and aunt Ann there. And so we had the old ladies and they were lapping it up. They were loving life. Mom is doing great. We've been kind of giving you updates on her. So it was a great feed. So that maybe can be the backup plan. If you don't get the crawfish pie, maybe we can do a tenderloin for you. Well, he's, he's, he's got, he's giving me a soft commitment. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna assume that I'm getting the crawfish. Don't call me. I'll have a guy reach out and we'll try to work it out. Get your people to contact his people. So we'll do lunch. I'll text you the dates that I'm coming in and Missy will be on the text as well. And then that way. Text Jay and we'll go from there. I'm talking about the crawfish pie. That's a separate deal. I gotta go through Jay first. He's the enforcer. Even on the crawfish pie. I smell a no coming here. If you're not on the premises, you know, Missy's got that from Kay, Tennessee. She's now getting where she's cooking these pies and cause I smell them. I go in there and I'm like, where's it at? She's like third cabinet behind the, what I was like, babe, me and you are the only people that live here. Now she's hiding them from you. Oh, she's hiding them. She said, well, I just didn't want somebody to walk in because we don't, we have a no knock policy and, and just consume it. I think the Van Norman center reeling, you know, cause we went in there and I was like, they ate that entire pie. It was that good. So Zach, I got an idea for you. So Jase loves my cream cheese pie and Missy does too. So if you can make a side deal with me, maybe I could trade one of my pies for a crawfish pie for you. Yeah. And we could do a little trade. Now we're getting into negotiations because Zach, when you come forth with open arms saying, can I go and you have nothing in your hands? It's hard for me just to jump on that because that is the yepy way to bring something to the table. And that's why he calls me a hustler in the last podcast. He said, I was on an ad. I'm serious. I'm serious. Yeah. Here's how this got started because I did the revival, Duck Dynasty and I'm sitting down with these producers and they, they're like, what do you want to do? And I said, well, in life, there's two kinds of people. There are givers and there are takers. And I said, right now these, these duck boys, they take, they have nothing to offer. That's right. And they have a lot to offer. They just don't realize what the idea is. And I want to, you know, sweat, equity, just do something. Give me something. I was like, we need to do about a six part series on that transformation. And so Zach, that's your biggest problem. That's why you're having to go through the buffer. Well, when I saw Christian and John Luke walk in here with Beards in Camo yesterday for our Hillsdale episodes, I thought, I think Jason's tutelage must be working about a year and a half into it. It's been bumpy. Yeah. Willy's actually, I was proud of him. And, and John Luke gave me one of the biggest compliments I had said in the podcast that I'd never seen one person in least in my ministry come to Christ through a poly through my presentation of apologetics and, and John Luke say, I'm going to push back on that. And he, I never even knew that he was in their list. And he said he had listed all those classes. When he was a high school kid, yeah. When he's a high school kid. So that was, He said that shaped his, his belief in his faith in Christ. That almost brought me to tears. I thought, I knew it. I didn't know it was, I never knew he was even in there. Yeah. And that funny. That shows you. All right. You ready to get first out? Oh, I'm ready. Cause I think if your apologetics better lead you to Jesus and the participation. And that was what we made the point in the, in the podcast. It has to lead you there. Cause the story of Jesus is the story of Jesus. It is who he is. That's how God speaks. That's what led CS Lewis to the Lord, which obviously led to what he did as well. So we're in first John chapter one and Jason, the last podcast, you took us on a little, um, we've got a little journey through the new Testament with this word, co-in-nia. Rabbit holes for Jesus. Rabbit holes for Jesus. This fellowship that God is welcoming us in is deeper than you think. It makes God more real. I mean, I know this is done through faith, but if you truly believe that you're housing the same spirit that was hovering over the waters in the first two verses of the Bible, it's now living inside of you. Not only will he raise your dead body, but he, the fruit of that will be a mouthpiece to the world. And so your point was from, from our opening text here and then into what we're going to read today, which is kind of then the lifestyle that follows that is that eternal life is in Jesus and his Holy spirit now lives in us. And so that, that bit of eternity is already in us. Uh-huh. I call it the portal. And so no matter how much time we get here on this earth, it could be a little time, it could be a lot of time, but even a lot of time as we discussed in previous podcasts, it's not going to be long. Exactly. But we're already into the next step of eternity because we're in Christ, so the life has now begun. Oh, that's it. Now look, we appreciate y'all staying with us to this point in the study of 1 John, because it's been a little deep, because this is hard to wrap your head around, being yoke together with the creator of the universe. I mean, that's pretty hard to wrap your head around. This one thought where he's going is what changed my life because I get to 14, I saw my parents lives transformed and I'm like, well, what, what caused this? It took me a few years to kind of process that. I read the book of John. I fall in love with Jesus. I believe he's the Son of God and I end up surrendering to Christ. But, you know, we were going to a little country church. My dad wasn't the preacher. Oh, you were there. Yeah. And it just seemed like I'm reading the excitement and the joy of who Jesus is, but I'm looking around thinking, what's wrong with these people? They don't seem real excited about this. And, you know, think old country church. Now, my dad was excited and my mom, but it was just the fluff around this. And so dad was just kind of flexing his ministry muscles. You know, like he had been a Christian a few years and now he's got enough in depth of discipleship from Smith and others that he's now begin to kind of say, okay, I'm going to start sharing. He'd been sharing it with everybody, but now he had some knowledge of the Bible and he's begin to teach a little bit. So you're going to White's Fair Road and then you know, we had left. They had said, we, I had, I was a prodigal. And then when I came back to the Lord, this is where the family was. Yeah. I had kind of checked out and a buddy came back. I came back. And so there I was thinking, I mean, there was only one person within two years of my age. There was one family that had a few kids there. A girl. And I thought, I guess if I'm going to get married, I'm going to have to be with this girl. Cause that, that was the only pool to pick from, you know? Cause I mean, I was going through my teenage years and when you're picking out of the pool, you want there to be a little more fish in the pond. I just thought, boy, this is, this is. It was a numbers game is what you're selling at that point. It's just a numbers game. So now I've given my life to Christ and all the girls in this family were crazy about us, but we weren't, you know, all my friends at school were just hellions. Cause I was hanging around the hunting and fishing crowd. Right. Cause they're all, that's the only thing I could do well. And my dad was making a name for himself in the hunting world. So that kind of was the only thing I had in common, but these boys were rough. And so my first two years of my faith from 14 to 16 was just survival. And I, back then I didn't say a whole lot. Al can testify to that. Be quiet. This was the quiet chase. Yeah. Very few words came out of my mouth. Boy, at the, how times have changed. Hey, but look, I was just taking a beating at school because I was just being persecuted mercilessly and because I wouldn't participate in what these boys are wanting to go do. It was all vile and I'm reading verses like this. I can't claim to live in the light, live in the darkness and all these boys, the lights are out. And so that transition, me being persecuted, those two years thinking just the Christian faith was not doing wrong, which that's about as far in my immature faith as, as I was thinking. But I kept reading and I kept thinking, well, I'm not taking this kind of abuse from these people who have no plan, who have no life, are completely miserable. They seem angry. They're all scared to die. It was just kind of sad. They're just hoping they survived the lifestyle. So if you guys are stressed about getting out of debt, let me tell you something. It's go time. Al, you actually struggled with debt early in your marriage. Uh, it's a, it's a bind. It's a burdens act and it's something that you just tend to dig deeper if you don't find some way to get on top of it quickly. So if that's you, I'm telling you right now is the time. This is one of those moments where timing actually matters because done with debt is one of the best I've seen at navigating debt release. 2025 was a record year. They enrolled over 102 million dollars in debt for our listeners and others. So here's what I'm telling you about this now, because according to the federal reserve's last survey, many banks that they've tightened their standards. And so right now may be your best window to negotiate settlements before lenders tighten even further. So done with debt, what they do is they track credit card and loan company behavior. 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They're scared and they're just acting like a bunch of idiots. And so I started talking to them. We go that was the transition. They call this idiot evangelism. That's what they call it. I was 16 years old. 16 years. I mean, honestly, though, I took to me. We have to recover that kind of masculinity. Yeah. Six, the 16 year old boys can be men and they can. And that was a rarity. I remember being a lot younger than you. But like for me, that was, you know, I know a bust on you a lot. But I mean, that was an anchor for me just to see with your conviction, especially at that young age. I always held onto that. I mean, I don't want to be a weak guy. You know what I mean? I don't want to be somebody who's afraid. Exactly. And that's why I made a point last podcast. We set all this up to get to right here, the practical life, because that's where he goes. He goes to how you walk, what you do, and how you should be. And how you can't keep one foot in both worlds. And so even though when I was 16, I didn't notice this passage, but other passages that say the same thing. That's why I pointed out that he, in his letter, he said, we proclaim to you what we have seen and heard. And then he says it again, we proclaim this. And I'm like, I need to proclaim this. I need to quit this trying to survive because I was just getting ridiculed. And when I started proclaiming it, they started scattering. It scared them. In fact, they thought I'd gone crazy. I mean, they were like, because I started asking them questions, you know, how'd you get on earth? Y'all, y'all answer this and I'll, I'll go drink with y'all. I'll buy the beer. You know, this kind of logic, that's kind of how it was. And they were talking about what they were going to do with this girl. And they were getting, I was like, yeah, I'll tell you what you're going to do. You're going to wind up in a hospital getting a shot. Because this is, this is what's happened. Because I got into a field little take on all the STDs and well, they're looking at me. Hey, Jase, things will ride off. I mean, that was the case, boys. Microbes. This was not normal in the conversation. You know, our conversation changed. And so the point I want to make is, is, and here's what, here's where the light switch went on for me and first John. He talks about how awesome this encounter they had with the word of life. Yeah. I'm like, we saw him. We want your joy to be complete. And then, so then he gets real practical and I'm going to read it. It says, this is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, which is not unlike what I was telling my buddies. Yep. Here's the message. Here's what you need to do. God is light in him. There is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him, which is that the reason we spent the whole podcast talking about that is because, man, is it awesome? We're participating with the creator of the universe. We're fellow shipping with the Holy Spirit of God in an intimate way. Well, if you claim that, yet walk in darkness. Well, you're lying and not living by the truth. Now, at first I was having trouble wrapping my head around this, but you notice what the problem is. You're claiming like what you're saying is not adding up with what you're doing. Yeah, exactly. And how you're living. And that's why he said he was a proclaimer of truth. That's that same idea. What's the reason why you're lying is think about the argument here. He says, this is the message God is light in him. There is no darkness. What John's doing, he's not giving a list of bad behaviors here. John is describing reality itself and he's saying, no, no, God is light. So if you claim to have fellowship with him, if he is the light, but you're walking in darkness, he's like, something don't add up, boys, because he is the light. He's not like projecting the light. No, he is the light. So to walk, to have fellowship with him, you can't possibly. This is like a statement of like, this is like reality. Like I can't be in the pool and not in the pool at the same time. You got to pick one. If I'm in the pool, then I'm in the pool from not in the pool. I'm not in the pool. So he's saying that you're in, if you're walking with him, guess what? There's not going to be darkness. There's going to be light because he is light. There's an implied nearness in what he's saying. You have to be near this light. And when you fear in darkness, you're nowhere near the light. You're lying to yourself. That's Jason's point on this idea that you kept talking about in previous podcasts about participation and fellowship because what he's doing is, is that this is not an association with God. It is a participation with God. It's not that that's the picture here. And this, I think this understanding of it makes sense, but you have to take these concepts like truth and light and you can't separate them out there and talk about them as something that God does or something that God, he doesn't do the truth. He is the truth. He doesn't like project the light. He is the light. You have to root all of this in reality itself. And then the question then becomes, are you actually participating in reality or is there some kind of gaslighting farce that you're participating in? It's one of the two. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that was the big transition why I said when I started speaking, it came from me reading verses like this with my buddies. This is 1 Peter 4 and verse 11. Listen to this. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. Well, that's why I started talking because, you know, my buddies were, you know, it is when you're in high school, everybody's claiming they're doing things that they're not doing. And I used to trick them all the time. They'd be like telling me, telling the group, you know, oh, I slept with this girl the other night. And so I just started saying, well, that's funny. He's like, why? I was like, because I asked her about that and she said, she slapped your face. Now look, I didn't know that for a fact, but you know what? I knew it was lying. So you lied. You lied to expose a lie. Oh yeah. And so that was our conversations for two years because I'd say, So in the darkness, you even lie about what you're doing in the darkness. Well, that's what we do. That's why he's addressing this. You're make these claims. We're really good at just spinning yards in line about- Because he's trying to look good in the eyes of the other buddies. So I just took the gloves off because I'd say, you scared to die? Like we'd be having a Jesus study. And they were like, nope. I was like, you're a liar because I've seen you operate. Oh, you'd be crying the loudest. And you know what? They didn't deny that. They are scared to die. Yeah, right. This is just to cover up. Because you know you're in the dark. You know you're not right. Exactly. And it really, this echoes what we, when we studied John chapter three, and I want to read that again. Yeah, that's a good post to go. This is similar to what he wrote with Jesus when he was quoting Jesus. Now, listen to John three in verse 19. And remember, this is the context of Jesus saying this is a night-time conversation he had just had with Nicodemus. Who was a religious fellow. Exactly. And Jesus comes out there and just says, you need to be born again. I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it. Yeah. Now, who tells a religious person they need to be born again. He blew him away so much. He's like, how can I go back to my mother's will? I mean, he was like, what are you talking about? But to my point, I think he looked at Nicodemus and said, your claims, whatever they are, are not matching up with your lifestyle. Because if it doesn't include me, you're lying. Exactly. And that's really what law keepers do without Jesus. So, which is what I was for a couple of years. That's why I said, I was just trying not to do wrong, thinking, oh, I'll justify my behavior. So watch what he says in John three, 19. This is the judgment. Or it's translated here, verdict, but same word for judgment. You want to hear a judgment from Jesus. Light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. And it's always my dad. I used to think he had a talent because he would sit down people almost every night and share Jesus with them. And he would say, now I know y'all been cutting up. And I'm thinking, how does he know that? And they were always like, yes, sir. And then he's like, what about it? What you into? And here they, I thought, how does he every time? You know, because I was like prophetic. All right. I thought, well, there's got to be some people out here. Little skill. Doing it right. Oh no. Well, he, you know, my dad read a verse that says all men sin and he just believed it to be true. Therefore he's cutting to the chase saying, I know y'all been cutting up. Well, guess what? All humans who are adults, they're like, yep. So Jay says, I enter into my 61st year on planet earth. One of the big differences from last year, when I turned 60 to this one is I lost about 80 pounds through PhD weight loss. And I have to say life is good without that extra 80 pounds. Now, if you keep this up, I'm going to move you to top scout. Because now I think you could actually walk a couple of miles without passing out and calling down one more. I'm breathing much better. Thank you, Jay. So I am exercising more than I ever have doing some hiking when I have to Oregon climbed up a mountain. Here's a picture of me at the beginning of the journey a year ago. Here I am now, obviously looking better, but much healthier. Off a lot of my meds that I was on before. No CPAP machine anymore, which is a great blessing as well. So you're probably at that point. You've been watching me and you're saying, okay, I work for Al. He's keeping it off. I may be ready to jump in. I'm telling you, now's the time to do it. If you want to understand why your body isn't cooperating, call PhD weight loss now and mention fix my weight loss to unlock our New Year's special. Book your consultation. It's free. It's personalized and it could explain everything for you. Call 864-644-1900 and say fix my weight loss. That's 864-644-1900 or you can visit myphdweightloss.com and be sure and tell them that Al sent you. The skill, Jase, the special skill dad was that he could have that conversation and they would just admit to it and continue the conversation. That was the skill. And the handful of people who said, no, you know where he went. He's like, well, we figured out your problem. Verse one liar. You're a liar. And they're like, yep, why add that to the list too. You gotta be patient. You gotta be patient with it. You throw it out to you. Like, I know what you boys have been up to and then you just let it sit. Yeah. And I do it all the time. My kids, I probably shouldn't say this on the podcast because. Don't worry. They're not listening to that. No, they do. A lot of your friends list. Oh yeah. They're a lot of their friends listen to and so they're going to know the tactics. So if you're listening, I'm going to go and tell you, but like I'll do that. I know what you boys have been up to. Go ahead and spill it. Tell me what it is. I already know. And I'm most of the time when you do that, if you'll sit there long enough and not give up, they will cause it'll start coming out. Yeah. It's good. Look, I've learned that just from because in our weird world where somebody sees you on TV, they'll hand you anything to sign. Well, where I draw the line and it's usually young people, they'll hand me their phone. Well, I know what's in that phone and they'll say, well, you sign my phone. And I'll say, is there anything illegal or immoral happening with you and this phone? And they pause. I'm like, which is your answer, which most of them then say, what do you mean? I was like, immoral, not moral, sinful behavior, illegal, breaking the law. And they're just quiet. And especially if their parents are around. And I'm like, well, here's the deal because we already know the answer to that by the hesitation. You know, the pause. If I put my name on here, I don't want anything illegal or immoral to ever happen. That's pretty good. And it's not my name that's making that true. It's who I am in Jesus. I'm representing him and now you want me attached to your phone. I don't want to go to your phone and what you're doing. So if you're endorsing your phone, if you'll agree with that, I'll sign it. And I've had all but one say, okay. One said no. One said no. And I was like, well, when you repent, come back and I'll sign it. That was a real life story. I appreciate his honesty though. That was good. Well, that's what I thought. I was like, you need to pull the book of John up on your phone. So let me finish reading 19. I don't know why we're getting so worked up today. Well, I guess that's why. Verse 20, everyone who does evil hates the light. Have you noticed that while we're participating in the sufferings of Christ? They don't like you. And look, my friends from 16 to 18, you'd say, oh, that's great. Jay, she shared Jesus with her friends. Yep. And guess what? None of them came to the Lord in that two year. The meeting. Yeah. Now through the years, most of them have come to the Lord, which is great. But it was hard for me to deal with that because you know what they started doing? Making fun of me. Yeah. Getting away from me. Making up stories about me. You became Jay's the Baptist. They down the bad exactly. And so I, it was a couple of years of wilderness there. Yeah. So then it says everyone who does evil hates the light, but listen to why they won't come in the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. So it's the cover up. And because I, you know, it's human nature. We cut up and then we want to cover it up. Right. I just, that just hit me that. Yeah. That'd be a good shirt. There you go. There you go. Sure. People cut up cover up. Yep. And then something where Jesus covers it up and so we can confess it. I don't know. There's something in there. You can do is the other way. So then it says, but whoever lives by the truth, because light and truth go hand in hand, comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. And that's why this hit me. If we claim, well, we need to let Jesus do the talking here. Yeah. And I think if you're studying your Bible and you realize you have the spirit of God and you're meeting people, especially in high school, public high school, I just found it impossible for me to live as a disciple of Jesus quietly. They just wouldn't let me. I'm like, just leave me alone. Let me do my own thing. You know, separation of church and state guys, you know, just back off, wouldn't back off. So you know what? Then I started bringing it and drew the line in the sand. It took a couple of years and then they start coming back one by one. Because you know what they realized? There's no future in evil behavior. It's ruin and misery, destruction. And Jace lays out a really good, in this analogy, he's making of his own life and these relationships and the corinea that was there. Because these are people he, obviously some of them, some of your best friends and still are. So it's not like he didn't care about what happened to him. You generally hope they would do the right thing. Oh, it hurt me. Yeah. I mean, the first guy I shared Jesus with was my best friend. Right. And he declined. He declined. And I said, why don't you want to do this? And he said, well, and he said this girl's name. I knew she was prettiest girl in school. And he's like, she's, you know, I'm fixed to go out with her, which I knew. What that meant. What he wanted to do, which made me want to go warn her and say, stay away. So what Jace is describing, and this is what John is describing, the thing that differentiated him from them was the fellowship of the light. In other words, it's not that Jace didn't have his own sin, which he's going to say that in the next paragraph. You're not sinless when you're challenging people about a lifestyle of sin. But you're, what you're doing is you're challenging them of who they're having fellowship with and what your life is. You were challenging a lifestyle and your lifestyle is different, which is why they noticed. Oh, they noticed. And it bled over because I was my point is a lot of times people out there think, well, I can't share. I can't do that, Jace, because I've messed up. You're like, wait a minute. This isn't about whether you've ever sent it. We're all sin. None of us can not claim to be, you know, claim to be without sin. But the idea is who, who is your fellowship with? Who is your, who are you walking in light? Because then all of a sudden you've got a track record of I'm not going to live this way. Or you were painting the picture. And through the years I grew enough to be able to share that and talk about that. But boy, when I started off, it was all animosity. And it bled over into all my, you know, playing sports and I got out there on the football field and somebody, you know, we're trash talking. Yeah. Well, before I never said a word, I was quiet, but now I'm like, I got the spirit of God in me. You're not. What are you thinking? You're, you're wanting to take on a person who's filled with the creating agent of the world. Yeah. So they're like, I mean, it's scared people because I was a big trash talker for the Lord. Right. You were the Larry Bird of our schools out here. Well, I was, but and so then it just infuriated them. So I think you see that in, in this first section of first John one, six, with that is the backdrop, John three. So let me read this again. Yeah. And then read all the way through to two, because that's where I was to get it. It says, this is the message we've heard from him. This is one five and to clarity you God is light in him. There's no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walking the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, this is what you're doing. You're walking in the light, not just making these claims. Right. As he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son purifies us from all sin. There's your line. There's your good news. That's good news. We have trouble believing that. I mean, God's grace is so amazing that it's just hard for us to say, you know what, he's just forgiven us completely. And that's why you see those words, a Hebrew writer, John himself. You can approach the throne of God with confidence because that's where he is. Yeah. I think we should go through Hebrews after I read this. So verse eight, if we claim, well, here's another problem. We're saying one thing and doing another. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. So you see, the reason this is confusing, you're like, well, I thought he said he purified us from all sin. Well, yeah, but you're acknowledging that that's happening. That that's what's going on. Well, the confession, the confession is not, again, we use that word transactional. It's not a transaction that, okay, I say my confession and then we transact and then I'm now good. When you are confessing your sin in this particular way, what you're actually doing is you're agreeing with God about reality and what's real. That's what confession is. It is a participation. And so when you think about what you said earlier, Al, about like people say, well, I got all the sin in my life or my past or even my present. I'm not qualified to share what Christ is doing in my life or I'm not qualified to share this. Well, if you're living in a spirit of confession, you are because that in revelation, when the accuser was coming at God's people, the John the Revelator said the way that they overcame him, the accuser was through the power of their testimony by the blood of the lamb and the power of their testimony. That's a form of confession. So my confession actually is one of the ways that I'm agreeing with God about reality. And then when I go to tell people about what he's doing and what he's done, it was never about my righteousness anyways. It was about what he is doing in me. And so my confession is it's a realigning me with what's real. That's what that's ultimately what it is. It's a realignment of what is real because I'm the one as the song says, prone to wonder. My heart is prone to wonder. And so God's continuing through the spirit to bring me back. Me back. He's there. He never left. He's just thought, no, no, go there. No, no, go there realign, realign. Remember what's real or remember where that I am light. Remember I am truth. Come back to me. You remember Peter's words in Luke five when he realized the power of Christ and who he really was in that boat. He said, go away from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. His first reaction was confession and he was right on target. But you know what Jesus said, you're going to come follow me and I'm going to make you a fisher of men. In other words, I'm going to bring you into my light and Peter struggled and he denied him. But at the end of the day, I guess who was up there preaching that first sermon? Oh, Peter. Well, and he did experience the resurrection in the same miracle. Yeah. Part two where they catch the fish. John 20, you remember that. Exactly. And now all of a sudden he's jumping out of the boat trying to get over there on the shore, which is very powerful. So it says in verse nine, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse or purify us from all unrighteousness. But you notice what it says. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just. Well, that's the opposite of what we are when we make these claims. We're not faithful or just or just. So so really this story becomes about, is this about you or is it about what the Lord is doing in you? This fellowship. So I always say that when people say, well, I'm going to share my story or they'll say, come, you know, come share with us, share your story. And I'm like, well, my story is going to be filled with sin and death. God's story is the good news of that. So I'm going to be honest about my life. Verse 10, if we claim we have not sin, we make him out to be a liar. And his word has no place in our lives, which is an interesting concept. So then he's like, let me clear this up. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. The motive is we don't want to sin because that's anti character of God. And in him, there is no sin and nothing good ever comes from it anyway. Right. And then he throws this in. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. We've said this a couple of times, but that description of Jesus has been the righteous one is the paraclete, which is the same word Jesus used talking to John back in John 14 through 16 about the Holy Spirit. Yeah. When it says that word in our defense, that's the paracletus, which means walking alongside. So the four times he uses it in John is describing the Holy Spirit. Right. It's a defender. It's a counselor. It's a guide. It's a teacher in those settings. And then here we get to that. It's also one who defends and walks alongside, which again, that's what keeps us in the light. That's the portal. That's the connection that makes it. And so that's how we make it as well. Jays, you're going to save Hebrews because believe it or not. We have eight minutes. Yeah. We have run out of time. One in the world. Matty, what happened? Did you fast forward? She didn't, but it was, but keep that, keep that fervor for the next time we get together. I do want to let our audience know the, that group of rednecks I described that came in is Hunter's family and Hunter, we talked about you in the last podcast. You weren't here, but Hunter's the one we want you guys to pray for and his family. And we, we mentioned in the last podcast, that you inspire us by your faith and your strength and your confidence. So thank you, brother. It's been glad that it's been great to have you here in our presence. So Unashamed Nation, pray for Hunter. Add him to your prayer list and his family as well, because this is a strong young man of God. So awesome. Amen. We'll see you next time. I'm not ashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple podcast. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.