A&E's “Duck Dynasty” Alan and Phil Robertson preached at Saddleback Church in California, a week before Rick Warren returns to the pulpit. The Robertsons shared parts of their testimonies, spoke of God’s goodness in their lives, and invited the audience to receive Christ.
Alan, the only beardless man in the Robertson family, will join Season Four of the A&E television show after twenty years of pastoral ministry. He shared that his early childhood was difficult, much in part to his father’s love for alcohol. Alan credited Jesus Christ and his mother for keeping the family together during that hard time. His mother eventually helped lead his father, Phil, to the Lord. Alan said with joy that his father became a new man and began sharing his faith in Christ with “everybody” he knew.
Through much struggle with their family business, the Robertsons learned that “anything worth having is worth trusting Him and being patient over it,” Alan said. “God has blessed us in many, many ways,” he said – the “Duck Dynasty” family has written “The Duck Commander Devotional,” to be released in the Fall.
By way of introduction to his father Phil, Alan read part of Psalm 128: “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.”
Phil took the stage and began his message with a story about a customer who was constantly using the Lord’s name as a curse while ordering a product over the phone. He finally asked the man why he was using the name of the God Who could save him from death as a curse. The man was caught off-guard by Phil’s question, and accepted his invitation to drive from Alabama to Louisiana and talk with him about the God Whose name he was taking in vain. After talking in person, the man repented and was baptized that day. Phil said that love motivated him to confront that man about his sin - “I have my past, you have yours,” he said – “drugs, sexual immorality, alcohol, cursing … until I learned the error of my ways … fortunately for us, God remakes us and we go again. There’s hope for everybody.” Phil’s autobiography, “Happy, Happy, Happy,” has been at the top of the New York Times Best Seller list for several weeks.
Part of Phil’s message to the church was about how America has so drastically turned away from the Lord. He contrasted the beliefs of the founding fathers of our country with the lack of morality in America today - “The belief in God – all-powerful, wise, and good - is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man,” he said, quoting James Madison. If the founding fathers of this country could have seen how degraded American morality would become, they would “hang their head in shame,” he speculated.
He also observed that people spend thousands of dollars on healthcare in an attempt to stay alive, yet reject the God Who can save them from everlasting death. With much conviction about the Gospel, he said of Christ: “He was here, He did die, and He was buried, and He was raised from the dead. There’s hope to get off the planet alive.”
The “Duck Dynasty” patriarch also touched on creationism and evolution. He mentioned Pascal’s wager – that if God does not exist, then both the believer and the atheist are doomed to die and to never live again. If He does exist, then only the atheist is condemned. In either case, the atheist has no hope. “I’m going to put my money on Jesus of Galilee,” Phil said of his decision to follow Christ.
“Make Jesus Lord of your life, believe in His death, burial, and resurrection, [and] you get in on His grace – it’s free of charge – by putting your faith in the Gospel,” urged Phil. He said of grace, “[The] Law says ‘Keep it or die.’ Grace says ‘Trust God and try.’”
Phil is adamant that trusting in Christ will change an individual’s life – the testimony of God’s grace toward him proves just that. He said of His Savior, “Just like He was raised from the dead to the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Season Four of “Duck Dynasty” will resume August 14.
To watch the sermon, click here.
