Phil’s Message to Afghan Christians and How Hurricane Ida Affected the Robertsons | Ep 339

i am unashamed what about you we just had one come through a lot of people said so how y'all doing you're up in north central louisiana uh what people have to remember who are not from louisiana we live a stone's throw a little further in a stone so i say 100 yards we live 100 yards from a river that comes out of arkansas the ouachita we have water fluctuation naturally but we're not shocked by it year in and year out we have a water regime that fluctuates 30 feet so just look 100 yards away you see you see a bayou you're like how high does that thing get you say 30 feet straight up and they look they look around but where you are and we're right on the edge of we're just on a hill just above it phil you're on the edge of madness yeah the 30-foot water when it hits if you get it if it goes to 30 it's under my house the water's under my house a 30-footer you say so you do have a little slack there you do have a little slack it's never got in the house never got in the house now it gets within about in 91 it got to within a foot of being in the house i eased across the river in a boat and motor looked at the levee and the levee was like two inches where i was my house was like a foot yeah it was two inches on that levee two more inches and it breaches the levee and it'll rip a big hole in it and the flood waters will begin to recede and somebody else is flooded i only make the point to let people know you live at a place 40 years you know there's going to be water in your yard you'll be cut off by water from time to time you you park then higher up the the high ground you walk across to your dwelling with the groceries you've got a four-wheeler something bringing the groceries in so it's a little bit you know columbus them but it's it's no big thing so we're used to looking at flood waters on an ongoing basis we say yep uh where is it going to get to and they said 45 feet and i'm like 45. 21 2 is pool stage that's when everything is just sitting there low as it gets 31 2 you got a 10-foot rise 41-2 you got a 20-foot rise we begin to gather up stuff you don't leave stuff in your yard stuff that will float away or that water will ruin we have equipment we begin to move it out move to higher ground got one coming we're looking at i'm not a computer person but i've got people who look at them i said what does that computer say this water's going to do so you say you got another 10 foot rise i said 10 foot all right we move stuff further up the hill what about now it's got another five foot rise we move stuff back up the hill further when all of it leaves we return and life gets back down to normal but my point is we don't get excited about floods we're we're so used to it that's part of life in louisiana yeah we dodged a bullet on at least an up and down the road dodged a little dodging a bullet means somebody got hammered today you saw a little creek in waverly tennessee i mean it's just a creek a little small thing if you dump 17 inches of rain on it it just rips the neighborhoods apart it just up and it blows everything away going in people's houses falls out yeah you say well what in the world 17 inches overnight but anywhere around here if that happens there's big trouble with floods it's just too much water to drain off that rapidly so i'm just saying we we did well i really feel for the people in deep south louisiana a lot of guys i played ball with they were from larose and those various parishes yeah they got hit hard they got here and tennessee's going i mean they're going to get it it's amazing not many i i you know so far i haven't heard the loss of life but because one's too many but it's just amazing how destructive a hurricane is and you would think our brothers in south louisiana are a very hardy group of individuals all those people right they're like me they're used to waters but they say well this one you know nothing you can do but just run and come back later yeah just the way it is this one was a big one those things would never stop we always have pretty suddenly i mean you only had a couple days of notice men with all their ingenuity are never going to fix to solve the problem of floods it rains enough you're going to flood yeah we had to rearrange our plans here we were going to have uh shane and shane on the podcast and um i was disappointed i actually prepared i was like now what did they do because i wasn't familiar with them and you sent me one of their songs which i was really impressed with they do worship songs these are musicians they go through the book of psalms and they so that's where they get their material which is a good place to go and they they write worship songs i guess that were written from the psalms yeah and they're really good so i i had picked out you know i just hadn't gone through the psalms in so long but there's 150 of them yeah and so i went through some and i had song ideas for shane and shane that were a little a little offbeat and uh so i thought we might have a writing session when did this group arrive well they were coming in they were supposed to come in on yesterday i mean how long have they been musicians well they've been around a while they're they've got a they've they put out quite a bit of music they're they're unbelievable um i heard him at a at a event i was at in arizona and the reason why i like these guys is because um their music and their whole persona is very christ exalting um in fact we were worshiping uh with a group in an arizona small group of people this is where i met i met shane both of them but i got to be buddies with shane ever he's a he's kind of an outdoorsman a little bit of a country boy redneck kind of guy loves to hunt fish so we were talking i didn't know who he was we're talking about duck hunting and and uh then he walks up on stage and starts leading the whole thing i was like i didn't know that was him and um but as they're singing they moved into one of the songs the last song and of course i'm like eyes closed i'm just worshiping the lord and i'm kind of lost in the moment and we sang the last you know sometimes they let the audience sing and they just kind of back off the mic so yeah they let the audience sing and i open my eyes up and they're gone it's like they're gone it's intentional it was like this is about him and so the other initiative that they're working on now um they've got a new album coming out we'll have them on they're going to come back but they're going to uh they've got a new album coming out they're going through they do a lot of hymns they go through the the psalms and rewrite those and put them to i mean just incredible i'll send you some of the stuff i mean i we we've incorporated a lot of their music in our church um just because we want to get to songs that are that are scripturally sound and and god exalting and a little you know i use the word disruptive in a good way so uh but we'll have them back again their singing is you know it's kind of touchy feely and uh so i was kind of in fun was gonna come up with some different ideas to get them out of their comfort zone so you may give you a sample one i was dying to get this like psalm 141 is all about the evil world setting traps for people of faith and so i was like lots of them around so so if i just read this like one verse from psalm 141 it says uh in verse nine keep me from the snares they have laid for me from the traps set by evil doers let the wicked fall into their own nets while i pass by in safety so see these are not the type of songs so you want to see if they could present well i was gonna no no no no no it's a trap you know you know you got these trap sounds from symbols and tambourines it's a trap it's like a salsa trap song which would be fun but it also is there's a seriousness there yeah that is happening so i was gonna try to expand their horizons lots of traps in this i just wanted to see what they would say probably crickets well you could maybe you get a writing no no well they're going to come back so we'll have them on and traps are reality jase yeah yeah reality so i had another pie in the sky i had another one from psalm 134 there's only two verses and it talks about not ministers of the night so how are you thought about that you know how old do you have to be if you say well i'll never run into a trap on planet earth someone trying to trap me or something you're like no you're your dreamer there's traps everywhere everywhere you know all the texts be careful how you live watch out for this much out there you know you're wrestling again what was the movie when that old boy said it's a trap oh brother where are you oh yeah come on now come on so i'm stealing a little bit of that idea but uh the psalm i mean it was a it was a good study because the psalm 134 was like it was night minister i think they'll go with somebody in the temple in uh temple worship in first chronicles it was a reference to that and i was looking well some of the the musicians it says they would rest during the day because they were ministers of night so they let other people get everything ready but i thought we have night ministers today i thought about it chad johnson he takes people yeah frog hunting and fishing at night it gets them out there because it you know it scares people i realize this from i'd share this story before you know i would give uh i would auction off frog hunts for charity well i was stunned how much people will pay to do that because to them it's exhilarating and they're scared they go out there and they scream all night long and you're kind of seeing their heart in that situation but you're also showing them god's creation and you're doing something out of their comfort zone you know and eventually like what chad does they'll have a prayer you know just floating down the water and amongst all the creatures and the sounds and you know they're people are trying to get their life right and so i thought about that i thought about gators are in the shallow water i'm telling it it shakes people up well he's on call 24 7. i mean three o'clock in the morning that guy's ready to go you know i also thought about when i was a teenager and the first time i went out to camp you know where willie owns that and his son john luke runs it but i had a lot of favorable memories of that of being out because they take all distractions away there's no cell phones there and you spend a week out there basically worshiping god having fun doing classes and different things but you're just living out in in the woods this camp but one night during that week-long session they and you'll probably remember this they had what they called an all-night prayer session oh yeah and i remember first hearing that i thought we're gonna pray all night i mean how are we going to do that well what they did is they but each cabin would take an hour but in essence you would pray all night till the sun comes up yeah and i'm telling you that it was a really powerful moment to be a part of that every every year and i thought well now i get it there was a psalm about it night ministers so kind of a take on i thought the melody could be that you know in the worldly song they had the night moves yeah bob seeger working on the night that one yeah i'm like where is the spiritual version of that we need a song about night movers you'll gather saying yeah that was about something a little different though because i'm kind of a that's a different kind of night move yeah my first year of marriage i literally shared jesus with people at all hours of the night i mean it just i don't know the lord it was his idea that's when people called and that bracket i was in it was i would have all night bible studies but i actually look back on if i read psalm 134 i was actually a night minister well i think that's a there there is a shelf life on night ministry and my and that shelf life for me has passed running doing college ministry for you know 10 years you're like there's gray beginning to get below your chin exactly i can't do it but we need these people you know i mean the bible like first thessalonians 5 is those who get drunk get drunk at night most most people at night and i'm saying between midnight and 5 a.m there's a lot of corruption going on you are correct there is a small group of men and women who love jesus and are on i think the cutting edge of ministry they are night ministers they're the ones but it's the dirtiest of all ministries i think about you mentioned chad and debbie i mean i'm like i don't know how i think i do not know how they do it i mean those they they're on call for women who i mean they'll they're they're picking up women who are trapped in prostitution and i mean they they're doing some of the i mean it is a messy business but i look at um when my when my mom passed away this is an interesting story i may have told this before on here and i'm at the funeral and they've got i mean there's a line at the door of people wanting to pay their respects and um and i knew most of them but one lady comes up to me and she's just weeping and she said man i'm my son is saved because of your mom and i didn't know who she was like so really she said oh yeah so then she starts telling me the story of mom his encounter with phil and her and how influential mom was in phil's conversion of introducing bill smith to him and bringing bill smith in and which by the way we're working on a movie about for our listeners about the first 28 years of filling kay's marriage which is going to be very powerful and part of this is going to be what's that going to be ready i wish i tried i'm trying to get it from r to pg-13 but it's yeah it's uh it's going to be interesting but but she's telling that story and she said and you're and so phil comes to christ that your mom um at least partly from your mother's ministry and and and just heart for him he converts and when we say by the way he converts what we mean is that phil introduced jesus to that's what we mean by that he introduces jesus to chad johnson chad johnson rescued this woman out of prostitution and drug addiction and he's the night minister i was the night minister and who was estranged from her son but after going through the transformation program um her son finally after a year came to church with her and then he i think he heard maybe you speak or you one of you you guys preach and then he responds to the gospel and and became a christian and she's like so i just want you to know and of course that was of all the things that came forward it was it was that because that those were night ministers bill smith going into that bar meeting you that's my idea about this now i do i kind of like it let's take a quick break stone does he well i i ate over there last night he did a a smoked chuck roast and some venison and i will tell you as someone who loves to to eat meat the quality of meat matters this 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express shipping at goodranchers.com know where your meet comes from with goodranchers.com somebody asked me yesterday with the brothers they said is there any way to get married here i said we will marry you to jesus first and then you can marry each other if that's what you want to do i said we'll start with jesus you marry him first they're like really i said yeah i said then we'll get to the to the marriage between you two i said think on that be right here a week from night now we'll start the process thank you very much they said okay we'll be there sunday but see to me that goes in with where we're at in matthew talking about john the baptist's role in jesus because you remember when john the baptist died his his death came from him rebuking the powers that be in their marriage situation yep yep i'm not sure where that is well even even when you think about the the we talk about the night ministers these are these are the rogue ministers you know john the baptist was a rogue minister i mean he didn't fit the mold for sure you know what i mean he was he was in dirty ministry yeah you just thought there was a better chance with the with the if you wanted a formula come to jesus first marry him and then you two marry each other and i said we can do that on the same day yeah and they were like that is awesome i said think about it i'll look for you next week because if you're serious you'll be back yeah but if you just want to run it by me you know can we get married i said you may not think of the weight of all this this is a serious thing were they from here i think they were local but one of them said you know i think he said he worked out there at the mill i said contact chad johnson yeah i said why are you there so phil you good solid brother moving into matthew 3 though you you actually had one stint as an actor from uh i i didn't see it but i heard that you actually got the pledge on the baptist oh yeah we talked about that uh i didn't know that i brought that up when i was just quoting what john was was saying you brewed a vipridge a bunch of snakes who warned you of the coming wrath and but i was saying it you know i was acting yeah i mean but people started crying and i don't it was just okay i found this i found this people were getting up and leaving people were crying and but i was just telling them what john the baptist showing them yeah what john the baptist was like but it created quite the uproar but you know what we're going to get to this since we're studying matthew it's in matthew it was live in 14 when herod in verse 3 had arrested john and bound him and put him in prison because herodias his brother's philip's wife for john had been saying to him it is not lawful for you to have her i mean you just think that's where it started which in matthew 3 which i said last podcast i i believe there was something from god's plan about bridging the gap from having his chosen people the jews and having the law and then bringing john the baptist forth who as far as keeping the law was near flawless i mean it said he had the holy spirit from birth around him he never touched a minute drink he and he's out there just throwing hay makers about anything that was not lining up with the law i mean i'm too blunt but i said well i've never started a bible study by saying you brood of vipers well that warns you of the coming wrath i i i've never gone that far with it [Music] yeah you weren't that blind let's read it and as uh matthew 3 1 in those days john the baptist came preaching in the desert of judea and saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is near this is he who's who was spoken of through the prophet isaiah a voice of one calling in the desert prepare the way for the lord make straight paths for him so john the baptist before he again gets into that indictment of the brutal vipers i mean he was prophesied about this is not a i mean this this this is somebody prophesied about in in the old testament which i think you turn one page just to give the people an update because everybody's waiting on the kingdom to get here 2 000 years after john said repent for the kingdom of heaven is near i have my hand you listeners on on on the page i'm on matthew 3. i turn one page and i'm looking at matthew 4 from that time on verse 17. matthew 4 17. from that time on jesus began to preach see if this sounds like john repent for the kingdom of heaven is near now i've folded three pages now in my bible and i'm turning over again as you go he sends out the the the the disciples as you go verse 10 chapter 10 verse 7 as you go preach this message jesus is talking the kingdom of heaven is near now i got three times in a row out of the same book with john the baptist jesus and the disciples and they're all saying precisely the same thing but a lot of people are wondering what you're well they're like why are you making making a point about it why would you read that and say yeah it's coming 2 000 years later somewhere in the future the kingdom will be here we're just waiting on it to get here if john the baptist and jesus and the disciples are saying it's at hand it's near we'll just start there and read the rest of matthew mark luke and john and get back with me on whether the kingdom of god is even here or not if it was near 2000 years ago when this went down and all three of them are saying the same thing wouldn't you think that it arrived at some point i think the confusion pretty quick the confusion comes in if you define kingdom which is basically where god reigns yeah i think what got what's missed is people look around at the earth and say well god's not reigning here because look at this place it's we have diseases there's hurricanes there's wars and just the things in the past week that have happened and they're blaming god so they're like well the kingdom can't be here what they're missing i believe is that when someone surrenders to god and he reigns in their life that is a part of the kingdom of god yeah and when you look at some of the verses where you now you know later when he says even in this this passage in chapter 3 when john the baptist says that in verse 11 i baptize you with water for repentance but after me will come one who's way more powerful than i whose sandals i'm not fit to carry he will baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire so you have the introduction of the holy spirit actually being available well if you house the holy spirit of god in your body oh you're part of the kingdom of god because god is reigning in you and you have all these passwords christ is in you well you heard what matthew recorded john the baptist is saying in mark mark chapter 1 about verse 13 to 14-15 the kingdom of god the time has come the kingdom of god is near repent and believe the good news that's mark chapter one you turn nine chapters mark nine one i tell you the truth some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of god come with power you're gonna see it in your lifetime they were being told so for someone to miss that is beyond me well what i was going to say though phil is that we we tend to focus on this what i just said about the kingdom of god on earth being people who house the spirit of god we are the kingdom is here through those people what but what other people religious people focus on is the next phase of that which is the bodily resurrection where the kingdom is gathered together which which is true that that that will happen you know first kins 15 speaking of the resurrection he says that so in adam all die so in christ i'll be made alive and then he has an interesting uh let me read it so i don't get it wrong but in first corinthians 15 when he says the last enemy to be destroyed is death where's that at that's fat 15 23 and the kingdom then yeah that's what i was getting to then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to god the father after he's destroyed all dominion authority and power for he must reign until all his enemies are under his feet the last enemy destroyed his death so i think there's a part of the religious world who are only focused on that aspect of of talking about the kingdom and i'm like but you're missing the part where john the baptist and jesus are saying in this 2000 years ago all the disciples yeah that the kingdom is at hand now i've had arguments with people in discussions that say well that doesn't mean near or at hand like it's fixing to happen yeah and i'm like i'm not sure what that because they're like well with the the lord of years it's like a thousand yeah before you die it's coming in their lifetime yeah where is that yeah that one's the mark 9-1 yeah let's take a quick break i think the reason why people well that's why this matters you really get this if you work with young people if you work with older people it's not a big deal but if you work with like young 18 year olds 19 year olds 20 year olds and you say let me give you the gospel you come to jesus you put your faith in him all your sins will be forgiven and if then now grind it out for 80 years to be about 80 80 or 90 you'll die then you get reward you get the reward that's not the best news because i've gotta you're telling me i gotta grind it out the rest of my life but if the kingdom is here and the kingdom is now then i can start to experience the presence of god and the joy of my salvation right now i think that's what that's why it matters like just like boots on the ground why does it matter what we're talking about here it matters because you're participating what we're submitting to you is that you're participating in the kingdom now it's what nicodemus like i want to see the kingdom i want to say the kingdom of jesus christ what did jesus start talking about being born again yeah i started talking about the holy spirit of god exactly i mean you got peter now we're going to get to this because we're in matthew but you know when jesus where's that matthew 16 where he asked the disciples who do you say i am and peter said you're the christ the son of the living god and he's like i tell you what on that rock i'm going to build my church and i'm going to give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven a lot of religious people when they read that they immediately to get back to my point envisioned peter at in heaven with a big gate and he's got some keys that fit that gate and they're like so when you die you meet saint peter you're going to meet peter he's going to unlock the gate because he's got god gave him some keys now look i'm reading in the bible and i see that he got these keys based on him saying that jesus is the son of god and i read when john the baptist just said that he's the jesus is going to baptize you with the holy spirit i turn a few pages to phil's point over to acts 2 and i see this wind come up and there's fire on people's heads and the holy spirit is dumped out from heaven and it the signs and miracles he's being preached and then this fellow peter gets up he's the one that got up because he is the one who has the keys well but i'm saying we're looking at that other people said no he's that's the keys to the gate up at heaven and so he what does he do he basically basically declares that same confession he made to jesus in matthew 16. he's like look jesus is the son of god yeah he is a man came from david's line and like what we talked about in matthew 2. and so he goes through the death and the burial and the resurrection it was impossible they're all look listen like this same guy from nazareth and born in bethlehem he's like yeah um let me assure you that he is both lord and christ so the people here they're cut to the heart oh hold on he but he told them what they did he said but you you with the help of me i put him to death the fact that a lot of them which some of them probably did wander away when they heard that because they're like well who are you put that on us yeah no yeah so they're cut to the heart and then the same word comes up because they say what should we do and he's like repent well that's now we have almost kind of like an infusion of what john was preaching because then he says and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus and then it said you'll receive forgiveness of sins which kind of goes into what john the baptist is saying but then all of a sudden it's like and you will receive the holy spirit the gift of the holy spirit well to me at that moment that's where people should say wait a minute here you saw what he said to nicodemus you saw this conversation between john the baptist here if you house the holy spirit of god guess what the kingdom is now here yeah in you and so when he said i give you the keys i think it's the declaration the keys of the declaration that jesus is the son of the living god he is the messiah he is the christ he's lord and so when you when you surrender to that and and you know repentance is more than just saying oh i'm sorry for what i did i mean it's a change of thinking because that's what he was appealing to he was trying to get him inside their mind and change how they viewed this jesus the little baby jesus turned out to be the king the king that's why he started off saying where's the king of the jews and the magi came and then pilate gets at the end so you're the king of the jews well no he missed that no he's just king jew gentile he's he's king he's in control that's why jesus said pilate said said are you a king he said you've said you've said it oh he acknowledged it and then but but speaking of the kingdom when jesus said when you pray he said that's what you'd be praying like the thy kingdom come yeah that will be done on earth just like it is in heaven so i think when we think about like what this is relevant for today because my neighbor uh spent a good bit of time in afghanistan working with the state department and i go there he's on the front porch of the day almost in tears and i'm like man what's wrong he's like man i've got my phone's blowing up emails are blowing up you know all these people trapped in afghanistan people that i know afghanis that he knew and had worked with over there that are running for their lives you think about the underground church in afghanistan running for their life the taliban hunting these people down you think why does it matter if the kingdom's here uh i think it matters because like god's kingdom is is actively working right here the kingdom is moving in afghanistan right now and they're trying to stamp it out but they can't that's why i i major in kingdom work yeah not governmental work that's good man-made constructs i'm like no i'm not your man but that's why people who when you said like converting people or your mom yeah it's it's christ in us it's the holy spirit that it's god converting people through these jars of clay with our baggage it's not really us no it's not and i think people misunder misinterpret that whenever because we get comments every now and then well phil's not converting anybody i'm like that's not what we're saying god like we're yeah we're people are scared of that word conversion because when they think that they think oh it's a cult you're they're con like yeah brain washing you know we've been brainwashed but it's been by the spirit of god it wasn't and it was at our own choosing yeah but what it is it's an introduction to jesus and it's a revelation of your of your of your sin your depravity but it's also a revelation of of of what christ did in his finished work on the cross i think there's a big theological debate that's going on for the last several years it's kind of coming to a head now of this idea of you've got two things going on uh christ died for my sins the theological term is substitutional penal atonement christ died as a substitute for month for the penalty of my sin and then the other side i said no no christ died for the collective atonement of every like of humanity and they it's like we we pit these things against one another i think this matters in the context of this kingdom discussion because christ died for for zach dasher's sins me individually he died for phil robertson's sins he died for jace and all you listening he died for your sins individually and stood in your place when we are added into the kingdom then christ uses individuals to redeem the world and so that's why you see um the church the underground church we're like we're supporting the underground church and the liberation of people in china and the liberation of people in afghanistan you you see us working towards things like justice and stuff but we do it collectively but we can't begin that work until we're personally redeemed and then then the kingdom is unleashed on the world as it happened in this particular place and you look at hospitals uh the advancement of science cures for all these diseases that all came from from from god's people all over the earth you have in fact collapsed and we're we're we're going down that road too getting closer all the time we're moving in the wrong direction but the kingdom of god when someone obeys the gospel like they did in acts chapter two repent be baptized you receive god's spirit it'll be a spiritual kingdom under a american [Music] governmental construct well not just american but whatever it's a spiritual kingdom constitutional republic you say that's correct and the kingdom of god is working along through that now this will collapse like all the rest of them has the the man-made construct it was well thought out it was bible-based but you say but the kingdom will never be destroyed and government and the kingdom and the kingdom of the kingdom and the kingdom is working in in america but the kingdom is also working in afghanistan and iran worldwide it's it's a spiritual kingdom though it's a jesus point or it's housed in human bodies that's it i mean so the holy spirit is housed i had them ask me what god i mean what group will i be with i said what group will you be with let me read just tell them the kingdom of god let me read this and based on what he said offered me a different explanation this is luke 17 20 and 21 once been having once having been asked by the pharisees when the kingdom of god would come jesus replied the kingdom of god does not come with your careful observation or other translation says visibly yep nor will people say here it is or there it is because the kingdom of god is within or among you you will be the kingdom and they all looked around like what look people who make this only futuristic this this jesus red letters gives you a contradiction of that because people like well when we what we'll know when we see it well no he said the opposite it's not going to come with your careful observation you're not going to look over there and say there it is that's right here it is because it's within or among people well it's like the he also says it's like the wind you can't say where it's coming from or where it's going it's spirit-led people i don't know what else it can be yeah it's it and it's probably fair to say it's it's not here in full fruition which it will be well we said that there's another faith but i'm saying a lot of the religious world nullify the facts that you're part of the kingdom once you house the holy spirit there's because god raises us it's the greatest forest on power on planet earth there's a there's a uh there's a heresy in in scripture known as gnosticism which is essentially the idea that that the everything physical is is evil and bad and everything spiritual is good and i think what what happens with this theology of the kingdom that we're talking about is it blows gnosticism out of the water because it says basically that the kingdom is here it's a spiritual kingdom manifested in bodily form which by the way is what christ did as well right the kingdom of heaven coming in bodily form but but it is here and and i think it matters when john says that he i mean that's what he that's the first thing it says about him that he said was that the repent for the kingdom of god is near yeah that's why we're making such a big deal about it it's a big deal and jesus repeated it in in the next chapter when he starts his ministry and the disciples went out he said preach this message repent for the kingdom of heaven is near they're that's it and i think it matters now more than ever because when we're in times where like i remember the last the greatest event in human history when the kingdom showed up and it's encouraging because how many times if you're listening to this podcast over the last year and this is a admission of my own part that i felt defeated because i look around at the culture and i'm looking for whatever and geopolitical and you're like man is there any hope and the tr and the answer is yes why because the kingdom is here that's why i was so encouraged i talked about this in the last episode with with a sadie's event this weekend because i saw the kingdom of god unfolding in a room of 1200 young girls and i i saw the kingdom move and i was like wait a second it just hit me like it's like they're not going to shut down the kingdom no matter how bad it gets the kingdom of god will not be thwarted that is correct will not be shut down we can take comfort in that well because they can't find it they can't because they can't say here it is or there it is because it's it's within people that's why it's even amongst all religious groups and amongst the whole world they're actually i think colossians 3 speaks on that where it says you know while you're there we're hidden in christ it's like and we may be in a house somewhere we may be in a church building but we also may be you know in a parking lot we were talking about the night moves i mean i remember being in a parking lot of a bar because i met with this girl the night before he was a new christian and i said i keep getting reports that you're going to bars and she's like well they're lying i'm not doing that and so missy and i no this is you know i'm 20 years old but we were we were going by somewhere and there were some signs saying they were having some big party at a at a bar i said let's just drive by there and see i wasn't there 30 seconds and guess who comes stumbling out of the bar the same girl who said wasn't me i don't know where you're getting getting that report but i mean my point was we were the kingdom we were doing kingdom work here because when she saw me and i saw her i didn't even have to say anything she just when i got home guess who's calling me she was cussing me up one side down the other she found her in the bar well she's like what are you spying on me i told you i wasn't there i just let her talk and then as the conversation went on you know what happened we joined he starts crying he's talking to the colossians here the apostle paul said we're giving thanks to the father he has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light he has rescued us he has already rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us already happened into the kingdom of the son he loves in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sin well how could you be brought into the kingdom if you were at colossae and not be there i mean give me a break well that's why it matters we used to we use the term it's called the finished work of christ for a reason he finished it he accomplished it and then he brought us into the kingdom yeah i want to clarify my story too because a lot of people think well why would you be doing something like that but you notice it says repent for the kingdom of heaven is near and there is a decision you make and when you're young in the faith it's bumpy right there at first we're fixed to get to the next section where jesus was baptized which he wasn't doing it to be forgiven of sins because he had none yeah but what why would this act be happening of the holy spirit descending on him like a dove well then all of a sudden he starts his ministry yeah and it it becomes a shadow for us on what happens when you receive that holy spirit well you start your you start your ministry that's what you do and so god declared in that moment at jesus baptism that what he's the son because that's where we get our identity god declares the same thing to us when we're baptized yep where he loves us and this is what pleases him hold that one second let's take one last break and then he comes out of the water and what happens all bells and glory and prizes and rewards know the exact opposite he's taken out to the wilderness for 40 days to be tempted by the evil and so i told that story about that girl because she had said she was going to repent she said not me and turned to god and followed jesus and we baptized her and then a few weeks later we have reports that she's not just going to bars she's going to bars and getting drunk and trying to hook up with guys that she's not married to so as a concerned brother and sister i'm like what are you doing this out of love but a concerned citizen of the king yeah i'm i'm a concern says and look eventually after that bumpy part you know she spent years following jesus and we talk about that story now and we laugh about it which it wasn't funny because at the time it was serious i mean her eternal uh you know dwelling is on the line but now we look back on like i can't believe you came to a bar to see if i was lying you know well that's a good point i'm glad you brought repentance up because because that is what john said he said repent for the kingdom of heaven is near and a lot of people listen today maybe you're thinking man i don't i don't see the kingdom i don't feel the kingdom i don't feel god's presence because when we talk about the kingdom what we're saying is you're dwelling in the presence of god he's with us immanuel god with us and and that's why the kingdom is there because christ means emmanuel or emanuel means god with us and i think that if you say how can i see the kingdom well just just keep this in mind that's the same exact question that nicodemus asked the very next chapter or the john 3 rather in john 3 other gospel he says how can i see the kingdom and basically what jesus is telling him is you got to repent yeah what jesus said in matthew 4 said repent for the peter what did he say when we preached the gospel luke had it best with when he's speaking of the apostle paul paul here is i consider my life worth nothing to me if only i may finish the race and complete the task of the lord jesus has given me the task of testifying to the gospel of god's grace now i know that none of you among whom i've gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again he said therefore i ministered of all the blood so when you preach the gospel you're basically preaching the kingdom the last thing in the book of acts boldly and without hindrance paul preached the kingdom of god and taught about the lord jesus christ if you read all those texts that's two of them you got about eight in the book of acts you read that you say preaching the gospel is the gospel of the kingdom yeah that always he puts it in prayers a lot the gospel and the kingdom the gospel and it's not you can't leave him out and i think this matters because even even as a christian i've been a christian for 20 years and this weekend like i i've had these moments where i've had to do this like i've already repented this my the christ i'm saved i'm free from the from the penalty of sin i'm going to heaven there's no guilt associated with me but sin does have a power over me still in parts of my life and i've kind of felt callous the last several months and i had to like i had to repent i repented to my wife uh uh yeah two days ago i was like i have not been leading our family spiritually i've been i've been um uh distracted by other things and i haven't felt god's presence either and so if you're if you're listening and you're like man i don't what do i do if i don't feel god's presence if i don't i'm not tasting the kingdom i would say there you probably need to just get on your knees and repent well i think repenting i think a definition of that would be good i mean it's a it's a change of your heart and i think that's where it comes into you you humble yourself before god and you're honest but you change your thinking also on what produces success because if you're thinking how many followers you got on twitter or you know snapchat or yeah if that's where you're getting your identity well that's just a poor way of thinking or how popular or whatever you're going into areas that i'm not familiar with well i'm just saying whether you please god snapchat i'm gonna talk a little yeah but whether you you gotta make up your mind on whether you're trying to gain god's approval are you trying to make god happy are you trying to make other people happy or yourself so i mean repentance is there's a lot involved that because then when you acknowledge that well then your directions gonna change where you go what you do who you're with what you say and so you look up and your whole life has changed because you've actually changed lords which is crazy it's from yourself to jesus first to those in damascus then to those in jerusalem and to all judea and to the gentiles also look that's everybody i preached that they should repent and turn to god and prove their repentance by their deeds which is a change of direction and then the change of life yep well i think we're out of time so we'll hit back i'm assuming when we our next episode we'll probably continue with john the baptist it may be a good time to talk about baptism because that gets introduced we kind of i'm glad matthew 3 matthew 3. so i'll be here for the next two episodes i don't no hate mail al's out of town so al needed some he just needed some time oh he did he was he's so stressed out bless his heart but we just gotta pray for him thanks for listening to the unashamed podcast help us out by raiding us on itunes and don't miss an episode by subscribing on youtube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes and for even more content that you won't get anywhere else subscribe to blaze tv at blazetv.com unashamed you

Channel: Phil Robertson

Views: 94,389

Rating: 4.9510422 out of 5

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Id: y9xX4JM4Un8

Length: 52min 49sec (3169 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 03 2021