Welcome to the Harvest Chapel PA Podcast.
We're so glad you joined us.
Each week you'll hear powerful messages, testimonies and conversations designed to
help you grow in your faith and encounter Jesus in a fresh way.
Let's dive in to today's episode.
I don't wanna take up too much time.
We're super blessed to have the Herndons with us this morning.
Blessed to be a part of their life.
Been friends with Jordan for a decade and we were able to do a lot of things in
youth ministry together when we were both youth pastors in this region.
And I just wanna honor you two because these two have done so much for this
region.
Whether it's at Providence or Pathway, they have done so much in this region and
they still continue to pour into this region.
Jordan felt led to, he was called to the suffering place of Florida, sunny Florida.
Suffering for the gospel, no.
But Florida needs Jesus too, amen?
We'll sow them there, that's okay.
As long as they come and hang out every once in a while.
But Anna and I are honored to be on their advisory board for their ministry,
wholehearted ministry.
And Jordan is truly making an impact specifically in men's lives.
How many know that we need to see the Lord move in the lives of men across our nation
and the world?
And Cammie has a fantastic dance company, dance studio that's literally changing
lives as well.
And God is just breathing on their ministry and honestly on their yes to just
be surrendered and go where God says to go.
So would you actually stand and help welcome up Jordan as he comes to preach
this morning?
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Man, I love Matt so much.
Every time I see Matt and talk to Matt, I feel like I got a big hug.
Anyone know what I'm talking about?
Man, man, is anyone excited to be in the house of the Lord?
I'm excited, super honored.
Pastor Don and Lori, thank you.
Anytime we're here or doing worship or whatever, just so honored to be able to be
here and share a microphone, whether that's worship leading or just talking
about Jesus who I love so much.
God's doing good things right now all across the world.
Amen.
And before I share, I wanna just really briefly give some context for my story and
my wife's story.
My girls are in the kid's ministry today but I have a few pictures.
Do you mind throwing up the dance studio picture of my wife up front?
I'll give a little bit of context.
So this is really cool.
When we moved to Florida, my wife felt called to go into partnership with these
two girls and start a ministry that is like a regular dance studio without the
toxic culture.
And they've seen God, they have almost, I think it's 260 students, something like
that.
And their dance shows a few times a year, they see like, we filled, I think,
a high school for two shows, like over a thousand people a couple times.
They share the gospel.
It's amazing.
Yeah, let's give God some praise.
So, so cool.
We are hard.
We were in missions for, with YWAM for about five or six years.
We were based in YWAM Kona.
We would travel a lot of places.
We felt like when God sent us where we are now, that we will remain missional.
Not just because we know we're called to the nations, but with everything we do.
So the dance studio is the same.
And so they just helped actually plant a dance studio in Nepal.
We're praying about going to Nepal this next year as a family.
It's just gonna be cool.
I would love to take some men, trek some Bibles to the mountains while
she teaches some dance students and trains leaders.
That's one thing my wife does, which is amazing.
Can you throw a picture of the guys on the beach too?
Here we go.
Here's my men.
This is really cool.
I wanted to, before I speak today, just give you a little context for this
last season.
We have a ministry we started on the beach.
It's based off of our ministry.
It's like a little section called Wholehearted Men.
And God spoke to me this last year.
In October, we had had one full year of workouts.
We got a flag.
We started offering workouts on the beach.
I'm a coach.
I have a CrossFit Coach certification.
And the goal being encouragement.
It's free right in the center of West Palm Beach.
And if you know anything about West Palm Beach, it's kind of this be your best self
fitness, kind of high level culture where there's a lot of young people,
young and old, but a lot of young people who are really going after fitness and
it's an amazing mission field.
And we put this flag up on the beach.
We started hosting workouts and every single workout we would share the gospel.
And God's been doing incredible things.
We've had, every single month, we gather once a month, we've had over 30
to 40 guys most times.
We actually had one yesterday right before we hopped on a plane.
We had about 25 men.
And guys are getting saved, healed.
And through the last year as well, which I'll share briefly about as I speak,
God spoke to me upon promises from the past few years to write a book called The
Wholehearted Man.
Yeah, come on, give him praise.
And writing a book is no easy feat, but I felt the Lord say that we need
activation language for men.
And yeah.
And you know, a lot of books out there, I'm not putting them down.
I've read all of them.
I love them.
You name the book, you know, the seven, this, you know, the problems with men and
this way and that way it's great.
But I felt like Lord, where's the activation?
Where's the one, two, three?
Let's get to the heart.
Let's get some physical stuff in there.
The book has an eating plan for those in the room who need to just, you know,
shape up a little bit.
And because God is concerned about our mind, our body and our spirit,
right?
And so we're holistic people that God has called to do great things.
And that's the goal of this book.
So what we do, why I'm sharing is the guys that come to the beach, we put them into
this program if they want to be in the program.
We get them saved.
We do a nine week discipleship course with them through Zoom.
We test like physical things in the beginning, physical things at the end.
And they kind of come through nine weeks and just transform.
And just sharing that for me is so important because the last season of my
life has really been getting language for men and women, but language for men and
seeing lives transformed and then men who are healthy stepping into their identity
and being sent to do great things, right?
And so many of you might've been men in the room.
We did a men's conference last year in May and God did incredible things.
And this morning, I want to share really briefly about the book as I'm sharing,
but I want to use it in the way that it's made to be used for other men to do the
same.
Because this thing is the kind of book you can teach from as a man.
You can lead a discussion group with it.
You can take it to the gym and track your goals.
You can do anything you need to do with it.
But I want to share this morning from the core of this thing because it's really the
heart of what we're doing with wholehearted ministries.
And even this word, like where does wholehearted come from?
What are you talking about, right?
And if you want to, you can turn in your Bibles this morning to Numbers chapter 14.
And as you're turning there, you can also put a little finger in Joshua,
the story of Joshua we're gonna share.
It's Joshua chapter 14 as well.
And I'm gonna pray for us.
Lord, thank you this morning for your presence, Lord.
Thank you for Andrew and Leah and the team and what's being cultivated, Lord.
Thank you for Matt and God, just this whole team, Lord, just bless this place.
I bless what you're doing.
And God, I thank you that this morning, you have fresh bread for us.
Lord, you have something to say.
Lord, I thank you for the rainbow that Matt mentioned, Lord, and the word that
you put in my heart, which is about promise.
Lord, you've called us.
You've sent us, Lord, and you've given us a promise.
And Lord, this morning, I thank you that your promise over us has not failed.
Lord, in the things you've spoken, you are faithful to see completed.
And Lord, I thank you that this morning, you wanna refresh some and inform others
into the refreshing joy that it is to live for you with all of our heart.
Lord, I pray you bless us and that you would use my weak words and match them
with your power.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Yeah, thanks, buddy.
That's a sweet ringtone, I like that.
Hey, so really quick, I wanted to honor Andrea and Leah as well.
We actually live in the city that Leah, I think, grew up in, which is so cool.
And every time we come up here, she's never here, she's always down there
doing something and we're always here.
So I was like, hey, they're in the same place at the same time.
But they're amazing.
But the story of Joshua and Caleb, has anyone ever heard about it?
Raise your hand if you've heard about it.
All right, come on.
Let's just recap it a little bit.
So you've got the people of God, they've just come out of slavery,
right?
And there's this promise that the Lord gives to Moses.
And I think in life, I like to put myself right in this story with Moses.
So many of us are given a promise.
We've been called somewhere, we've been sent somewhere and God says, hey,
this is what I'm gonna do and I'm sending you and I've given you a plan.
So they go through this process, right?
They're in the wilderness.
But what happens?
They send a group of 12 men into the promised land, right?
To test it out, to see what's going on, right?
And two of the men that were in this group of 12, their names were Joshua and anyone
know?
Caleb, right?
Love the names, Joshua and Caleb.
If there's a Joshua and Caleb here this morning, I love your name.
But here's what happened, right?
Joshua and Caleb, with the group of 12, they go into the land and the Bible says
that they're the only ones that came back with a different spirit than the other 10,
right?
And I wanna just kind of take us there in the story.
Moses is a little discouraged because the other 10 kinda come back in unbelief and
he sends Joshua and Caleb in and in verse 20 through 24, we see Moses broken.
He's broken before the Lord and he's crying out to God for mercy because there
wasn't faith for the promise.
But Joshua and Caleb, they had faith for the promise, right?
And he wouldn't allow that to continue but he said this, that he set apart Joshua and
Caleb right here in verse 14, 24.
Because Caleb had a different spirit and he followed me wholeheartedly,
I will bring him into the land in which he went to and his descendants will inherit
it forever.
I'm reading from the NIV.
But did you know that there is a different spirit that you're called to carry in this
life, right?
And I think about our life, I think about culture, I think about what's taking place
and I put myself even back in that story because yeah, we're in a different time
but these two men lived a different way, right?
And it's not this judgmental way, this different way where we're looking
down on other people who don't know the Lord or something like that but it's this
faith, it's this promise, it's this ability to say Lord, I have given you
everything, right?
It's this surrender.
And I love Caleb and now we can go to that Joshua 14 scripture.
We're gonna go to Joshua 14, seven through 12 because Caleb remained true to the
covenant of the Lord and the promise of the Lord.
I'm gonna read Joshua seven through 12.
Now this is 45 years later, I love this.
It says this, I was 45 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord,
sent me to Kedesh Barnea to explore the land and I brought him back a good report
according to my convictions.
But my fellow Israelites who went up with me, their hearts melted in fear.
I, however, remained faithful to the Lord wholeheartedly.
So on that day, Moses swore to me, the land on which your feet have walked
will be your inheritance and that of your children's forever because you followed
the Lord, my God, wholeheartedly.
Now then, just as the Lord has promised, he has kept me alive 45 years since the
time he said this to Moses while Israel moved about the wilderness.
So here I am, woo, come on somebody.
Here I am, 85 years old.
Come on, any 85 year olds here today?
Anybody?
Okay, 85 years old.
If you are, that's amazing because the promises of God are just as true to you
and just as good to you as any other age in the house.
Here I am, I'm 85, still just as strong today as I was then, just as vigorous to
take the hill country that the Lord promised me on that day.
You yourself heard that the Antichites were there and the cities were large and
fortified, but the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.
That's a powerful verse.
I think it, even in my heart as I read it, I'm like, oh, something comes alive in me
to wanna give my all to the Lord, amen?
Have you ever been given a promise by God?
Raise your hand.
Right, as you can see, I'm a little interactive, so hopefully that's okay.
But man, I live in this way where I have to see, I'm a vision person and I have to
see what God's doing and sometimes when you don't see it, it's okay because he
uses it in your life and it's so good and then you lean into him and his love.
But I love this passage because you've got a man who has 45 years since a promise,
remained faithful to that promise, right?
And in culture, I think today, all across the world, whether in the
church or outside of the church, we don't know how to finish well.
We don't know how to finish well and one of the reasons I love Matt is I've watched
him over the years.
I'm gonna honor him for a second.
I've watched him over the years honor a mother and a father in a ministry and
watch them help them finish well their season and this season and that season and
move into this season and himself, he just loves people, right?
And there's this life that we have to live where we see what God's doing,
we're able to embrace it wholeheartedly, give our yes and then move into what God's
doing in the next season but say, hey Lord, I trust you no matter what I see
or how I see it coming to pass.
And I just wanna proclaim today, that rainbow was for every single one of
you.
As you came in, whether you saw it or not, there is a promise I believe over every
single one of you today that maybe you've dropped, maybe you don't even remember it
but God's gonna begin to speak it to you even as I'm sharing this morning and he's
gonna light it on fire again and he's gonna bring faith into your heart again to
believe for the things that he has said.
Amen?
Amen.
All right, how do we figure, how do we get past this?
Man, let's talk about being wholehearted.
You see, I think that we live in an age that demands for wholehearted people but
we've got half-hearted people.
And I wanna share this morning, you know, sometimes I talk fast and
sometimes I get you interactive but I hope you can stay with me because I am just so
passionate about people waking up to the reality of what God is saying over their
life and what he's asking them to do.
And I speak to men a lot but this message is not just for men.
We're gonna go through a little bit of the outline of the book because it pertains to
all of us.
But I just believe that we have got an age of men and women who are half-hearted and
God is calling us to be wholehearted.
We've got this thing and half-hearted living, it leads to a lukewarm lifestyle,
right?
And a lot of times, what I love is that, you know, and we're in a season right now,
I don't know if you've noticed through the Charlie Kirk situation and other things,
the body of Christ, men and women are waking up.
They're waking up.
We're getting out of tiredness and sleepiness in our faith.
People are proclaiming the gospel in a way that they never were.
Really short testimony, the week after Charlie Kirk got shot, we had a workout
planned and I was on the beach and we always have a few guys that have never
heard of church or you know anything, they're cussing and getting mad at,
you know, guys on the sand as we're working out but we all leave encouraged,
right?
And they hear the gospel but we're out there and one of the guys, you know,
just shares that he doesn't really agree with some of the views of people who are
in favor of Charlie Kirk and this whole thing and we don't need to get into that
but I began to share the gospel.
I began to share the gospel.
One of my buddies began to talk about the love of God and the promises of God and I
watched this guy just melt and I watched his heart get so tender before the Lord
because he was giving me all the right answers that he grew up in church and all
these things and I began to say, but how's your heart doing?
Are you living wholehearted?
Do you feel completely passionate about what you're doing?
Do you know that you're in the lane that God has called you to run in?
And he just began to melt and this is the time, guys.
This is the time.
We've heard stories and words about times like this.
God is moving in ways right now that we have not seen before.
And some of us need to get our hopes up, yeah.
This is the time at the grocery store to be saying, hey, do you know Jesus?
Do you know that Jesus loves you?
You know, you're out working in the field or you're at work, I don't know,
this is the time.
And I wanna talk about this because what begins to happen when we don't live this
way in a season like this is with our mouth, we stop proclaiming the goodness of
God.
We stop really saying, Lord, I believe in what you've said.
I love trusting the Lord.
We stop all of it and we get into this thing and the lukewarm lifestyle,
what it does is it makes us divided.
And when we live divided, I don't have a chair up here but oftentimes I do this in
men's events because as a man, it looks really silly but when you live
divided, it looks a little bit like this, right?
And the thing about being divided is you can always tell someone is between
something.
Right, you can always tell and this would be a little bit of the world and this
would be a little bit of the kingdom of God and as a man, the closer you go down
here, the scarier this gets.
But the reality is, is that for all of us, we can see when people are living
half-hearted.
We can see it.
And I just believe we're in an hour that demands for it to be called out in love.
You know, Matthew 12, 25, Jesus talks about how a house internally divided
cannot stand.
Right, and so what does that mean?
If the foundation is off, if there's something going on deep within us that,
you know, it's some multiple pursuits that we're going after, multiple loves,
multiple, you know, God and money.
Our 401K at retirement and the things of God, right?
We live in this tossed state.
We live, we wake up, we don't know left from right.
And I watch so many men, young and old, they live in this tossed place where daily
they're looking for purpose and fulfillment and joy.
But in reality, it's, if you get down to the depth of their heart is they haven't
said fully to the Lord, I give you my yes.
Fully.
And I think one of the things God's calling us to in this season is to get off
the fence.
Right, we need an undivided church.
We need men and women who are undivided.
Revelation 3, 16, you know, the Lord is through John speaking a message to the
church but I just, you know, he talks about this lukewarm water, right?
And lukewarm water is, lukewarm water is gross.
I don't know if you like lukewarm water, maybe some of you do, but I don't,
right?
And being on the fence is the same way.
It's this, it almost, we enter into this passivity.
We enter into this comfortability and it's easy to push it off on the season of life
or, you know, the weather.
But when reality is as deep within us, we need woken up in our heart.
We need an encounter with the Holy Spirit.
I wanna encourage us today that the way to wholeheartedness is seeing the level of
depravity that we're facing in our own heart.
And what that looks like is being a little uncomfortable with, man, Lord,
maybe even you this morning, like, Lord, I think there's some places in my
heart that need woken up.
I think there's some things in me that need refreshed.
I think there's some purposes that I need reminded of, some words that you've
spoken, some things that you've said over me that I've forgotten to be just
quickened again.
You know, the Bible, it talks about the heart so much.
I wanna give us a quick definition.
Man, what is wholehearted living?
So I'm talking about half-hearted living.
What is wholehearted living?
Wholehearted living is completely, sincerely devoted, determined,
enthusiastic, being marked in earnest commitment without reserve to a person or
a thing.
Living wholehearted for God is where every part of your life, your ambitions,
it's submitted to God without reserve.
This is what Jesus modeled to us through his life.
Mark 12, 30 says it, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul,
with all your mind and all your strength.
I think a lot of us in this season, I think we need to be asking, even going
into the holidays, man, what am I loving most?
What am I valuing most?
What am I giving myself to most?
I think a lot of times we, I speak this message a lot, on the beach, but a lot of
times we even preach this message, and you might have heard this,
like let's be our best self.
It's a great message.
It sounds great, but it over-promises, and sometimes it under-delivers,
because we in our own strength, we cannot be the best version of anything.
We need to come to a place of surrender.
And I've watched so many friends, even those who have done ministry with me
and my wife, and you know, ministry's tough, but I've watched us go back into
this, into this back and forth place where we, man, we just, we forget that our heart
is what it's all about.
We forget that the condition of what's taking place, our full yes, is what it's
all about, and we begin to try to, in the ways of the world, become some
version of something that was only meant to happen through surrender, only meant to
come from laying it all down at His feet.
I wanna talk really briefly about the heart.
You know, the Bible talks about, in Proverbs 4.23, that we're to what?
Guard our heart above all things, because everything flows from it,
everything.
And you know, the condition of our heart, it's really what we're given to,
translates into every area of our life.
I wanna read this from the books, I love this.
I remember studying this and picturing soil.
The heart is the soil and it's the seedbed for everything that we do and say in this
life.
It is out of our heart that our mouth speaks, our body moves, and God is trying
to constantly get us to remain open and tender and submitted to Him and His
purposes.
We need to guard and protect the condition of our heart at all times.
Did you know that you're made up of body, spirit, and soul?
And your soul, I'm saying, is the heart.
And it's your mind, your will, and your emotions.
And daily, our mind and our will and our emotions need to come into alignment,
amen, with the word of God, with the promises of God.
And when they don't, they get submitted to other things.
And you know, back to what I said about being your best self, I think we have kind
of promoted this message, even in ministry today, of you're naturally a good person
and you're gonna push yourself to good things.
But the Bible is actually clear that outside of the grace of God and surrender,
even in Jeremiah, there's a passage.
We in our own strength and our heart without Jesus, it's actually not
inherently good.
We need Him.
We need Him and it's a counter-cultural thing to say.
But I believe, guys, that we're in a season for every person right now where
people need to hear once again that, hey, unless you're submitted to the things
of God, you will not be ruling and reigning with God.
And I just know for me, I'm just set ablaze in this season.
My wife and I, in the past two years, we've gone through a lot of things.
We've seen a lot of ministry leaders go through hard things.
We've seen a lot of friends in ministry give up on God.
We've seen people who we love and trust turn their back from God, turn their back
from us.
We've been through it.
And one thing the Lord just keeps reminding me again and again and again,
and I don't know where you find yourself today, but it's that if my heart will stay
submitted and tender to His plan and His purpose and His word and His promise,
despite what I might feel, He will be faithful.
Amen?
Any promises today that God is lighting you up with as I'm sharing?
Come on.
I think God is calling us this morning to a fresh surrender.
I have a, yeah, I have a real deep desire to see men and women step into this
wholeness, right?
And I wanna throw the outline up on the screen real quick.
You can put that up there.
So this is actually, and this isn't a plug for my book, but I would love to meet you
at the table after if you do wanna get a book.
Matt and I are praying into doing a men's event.
It's gonna be awesome.
In the spring, we'd love to have many of you there, but we're gonna go through what
I'm teaching about today, but we're gonna go through this.
And I know this looks a little wild.
I'm gonna give some context for it, but you can't understand this until you
have heard the story of Joshua and Caleb.
And so try to track with me if you can.
This mountain, every single one of us have been invited to a mountain with the Lord.
Every day, there is this place, right?
Clean hands, pure heart.
Lord, I need to see you.
I want to see you high and lifted up, right?
That is the call.
Every man, every woman, you have been called.
There's a place of intimacy at the top with the Lord.
And the more you become like him, the more you love him, okay?
And if you can see this, if you can, I'm sorry, I'm gonna describe it to you.
The bottom in the left corner, it's the burden, the call, the story of
Joshua and Caleb, characteristics of being wholehearted.
That is a little bit of what I've begun to share with you this morning.
It's this idea of lordship that we start, every single one of us, whether you're a
man or a woman, you start at this place where God's gotta get you off the fence,
he's gotta call you out of comfortability, he's gotta set you ablaze with his love,
and he's gotta say, hey, I wanna take you on a journey.
I don't want you to be in church to be in church.
I wanna take your heart on a journey, right?
How many know you can be in church, but that doesn't make you a Christian?
I can be in my garage, but that does not make me a car, okay?
So God's got this plan for every one of us.
And what begins to happen is when we see this as this journey, then the four
locations up to that flag at the top, which I'm calling a place of wholehearted
living, which isn't a place you arrive to, it's a journey that you get to and you
realize that sometimes when you get there, you gotta keep going back up and down the
mountain with the Lord, okay?
Because we never arrive, every single one of us, no matter the promise over your
life, no matter the ministry call or the experience you have, I say this humbly,
we never arrive.
We never do.
So what we do is we've named these four locations.
And I'm gonna say them like this this morning, even though it says manhood,
sonship, brotherhood, and fatherhood.
I'm gonna say manhood is the first one, or womanhood, for all the women,
sonship or daughtership, brotherhood is the third, or sisterhood, community,
and fatherhood is the fourth one, or sisterhood, womanhood, mothering,
a mother's heart, okay?
And why we've put these here is because I wanna just really quickly summarize each
one.
But I don't know if you've seen this, but we've distorted our understanding of
what it means to be a man and culture.
And it's a discussion we could go on for a long time.
And I'm not interested in getting into it because a lot of it's just very
controversial, but masculinity at its core is strength in the service of love.
And so when men begin to not see their gender-specific call to bring strength in
the service of love, they begin to distort that and use that strength for themself,
okay?
And the same can be said of women.
But I'm just gonna say it with men for a second.
And what begins to happen is we use the strength and then we get these toxic
situations.
And is manhood toxic?
No, it's beautiful.
It's amazing.
That's one reason why we're gathering guys on a beach and I'm trying to get them into
the nations and track Bibles, because strength and manhood and masculinity,
we need it, guys, right?
But when it's distorted and it's not understood, you see, so many of us,
we don't see Jesus correctly in His masculinity, and so we as men don't know
how to carry it.
Jesus knew when to weep, He knew when to flip tables.
He was a righteous man, but He also was a strong man.
The Bible called Him a fierce warrior.
And we've got to see this.
We've got to see that there's parts of our hearts as men and women that God has put
inside of us for adventure and for battle and all these things, you know,
and then it leads into sonship, which you could put the graph back up.
I'll keep pointing to it.
Hopefully this isn't bothering anyone.
Are you guys good?
Okay.
Sonship is the second location.
Manhood, our identity, leads to an understanding and a security in the love
of God, right?
The Bible says that we are sons and daughters.
And so many believers, myself included, we live our whole life trying to do enough
to become enough for God.
But God has already given you His love and He's already said, hey, I qualified you,
I love you.
And we live this life, you know, John Eldredge says that there's two
questions that every man is asking.
It's am I loved and do I have what it takes?
And the questions he says for women are am I beautiful and am I worthy of pursuit?
And the Father answers every single one of those questions.
He answers them through His presence.
But when men do not get that, they don't get this sonship encounter, they live for
performance.
And maybe you know someone like this, maybe you struggle with this.
This was me for years in ministry.
I had to do enough and be on enough stages just to feel significant in my home.
And it breaks God's heart.
God invited me into a season where He said, hey, what if you just loved me,
not on a stage?
What if you love me when you're not leading people?
I think this is the question for so many of us, whether we're in ministry or not.
Do you love Him?
Do you know His love today?
Brotherhood is the third step.
We're sisterhood, community, so important, right?
But a lot of us, we're missing the person right next to us.
I have a friend, yeah, I have a friend who, he says, oftentimes we're looking for
the next leader or pastor or person.
I grew up in ministry, I've seen this, but we're missing that daughter or brother
right next to us, right?
Who has God put in your life this week who you're kind of like, they're just not
perfect enough for me to share my deepest, darkest secrets with?
And you're like, oh man, but you're really struggling.
Right?
A lot of us, we just need to be okay with saying, hey, you know what, I need you in
my life.
I need you in my life.
And then the last location, and I know I'm going fast, but we're going somewhere.
The last location is this fatherhood piece.
And I think so many of us today, we don't realize that this is the most
fatherless generation since war times.
What does that mean?
It means that years ago when there was fathers gone, they were fighting.
They were like the men we're honoring today.
Thank you for your yes, by the way.
Today, fathers are disengaged.
They're not fighting wars.
They're disengaged.
They're lost, they're hurting, they're depressed.
And this isn't a smack on somebody.
This isn't like, guys, it's okay.
We've got to see Jesus again.
Are you getting me?
But we've bought this idea that we can do life alone, right, we call guys to the
beach, and a lot of times we'll just be like, hey, remember that you can fail out
here with a brother.
And we've got dads of kids, you know, we've got all ages.
We've got guys over 60 that come, and it's not just the young guns.
But what begins to happen is that there's this peace and security that these fathers
start to walk in, and then it makes all the guys around them want to be good
fathers as well.
And it just comes from knowing who you are, and knowing who your father is.
And I think that there is a fresh invitation for many dads this morning to
the promise that you've been given over your kids, to the promise that you've been
given over this family, this church family, the promise you've been given over
your extended family.
They need you.
Your kids need you.
Your wife needs you.
Life gets busy, I know, it's tough, but your wife needs you.
Man, I feel that for somebody this morning.
I grew up in this area, I went to high school here.
I love this place.
I bring friends here and they say, I love your roots, it's so wholesome.
But what happens is this area is known for us just getting comfortable, guys.
And don't let it not be said of you that the fire and the passion of a life that
Jesus offers is not burning in your heart.
Do you see this trajectory that I'm talking about?
There's this invitation for wholehearted living.
There's this invitation for saying, man, some of us, we've got promises of
being a father.
The Lord's spoken over some of you today, man, you're called to lead, you're called
to run and minister to young men, or minister to young women.
But man, maybe we've partnered with a lie.
Or we've been on the place where, man, you just, you know, my day-to-day,
maybe you've been hurt in this last season.
It's okay to be hurt, and it's not easy.
It's not easy to be hurt.
One of the things that happens, though, when we're hurt is that we've
gotta remind ourselves that our heart's gotta get healthy.
And I just wanna ask you this morning, I know I've said a lot and I talk fast and
I'm dancing around this stage, but I just wanna ask you, man,
is your heart healthy?
When's the last time you really felt his presence in such a profound way that it
changed how you looked at your kids?
It changed how you loved your wife.
You know, one of the things about my wife and I's life is it's not typical,
right?
I don't work a nine-to-five, she kinda does with the studio now because God's
blessing it so much.
But we live this missional lifestyle and God has told us, man, we need to raise
support and also do ministry locally and in the nations and what tends to happen is
if I'm not careful, I begin to let a cultural normality of dads going and
making tons of money for their families and their moms staying home affect me.
And I'm just being vulnerable with you for a second and I'm gonna tell you why I'm
saying this.
It's because every family's different and no matter if the mom's doing a
nine-to-five and the dad's not, it's okay.
God's called all of us differently.
What begins to happen is culture breeds a message of what success looks like.
And it's so counter-cultural to the kingdom.
And what happens is my yes and my love and devotion to the Lord and the missional
call He's put on our life could get stifled, are you following me?
If I don't keep my heart tender and pure.
You know, in the previous generation, ministries and leaders, it was about your
anointing.
It was about what you can do, how you can make a room come alive.
There's the presence of God there.
Now it's about purity, guys.
It's about purity.
It's about the love in your heart for Jesus.
It's the same in your family.
So I know I've said a lot.
I wanna give us one more thought and then we're gonna pray, is that okay?
All right, why don't you just say to your neighbor, say, this is good.
All right.
You know, another picture I didn't put up on the screen, but my wife and I,
before we moved to Florida, we had this picture God gave us and it's a picture of
a heart.
And in the heart, it has sonship, brotherhood and fatherhood.
And you know, I think other than the call I wanna close with, I just wanna invite
you this morning to examine your heart.
You know, man, do I need the love of God to touch me like a son again this morning?
Or do I need a brother in my life?
Can we get a, who's the keys guy?
Hey brother, you might hop in on the keys.
Thank you brother.
It's time to shine.
Come on baby.
Come on brother.
But I wanna say with me, this picture of this journey, man, do I need just a fresh
touch from Abba?
Like, Lord, you love me.
Come on, just stay there for a minute.
Maybe that's you.
Man, I need to hear again that I'm loved.
Son, daughter.
Man, maybe this morning for you, it's I need a brother or a sister in my
life.
I've gotten distant.
I've put myself on an island.
You know, I don't know what it is for you, but I know for me, it takes intentionality
to do that, to put people in my life.
And maybe this morning God's called you to father in a way that, man, it's not that
you're messing up or something, but you've just got a little discouraged.
I don't know where you are, maybe to mother, not just to the men.
But I just feel God saying this morning, my promises over you have not failed.
My yes towards you is the same as it was however many years ago, right?
45 years go on for Joshua.
Man, do you know somebody that can hear something from God and 45 years later be
fully, what does the scripture say?
He was just as vigorous to take the mountain, to take the land.
Oh, Jesus.
What is the land God's promised you today?
I know for me there's things God has promised me, but it takes me getting
serious about it.
And oftentimes, you know, God allows things to happen to get us up off the
bench, not to get us frustrated, but he allows it to happen to say,
hey, it's time to go.
It's time.
Don't get, don't let the pain hold you back anymore.
It's time.
Let's close our eyes.
Jesus, I just ask for your presence, Lord.
Lord, I thank you for this region and Lord, all of the ministries in this
region, Lord, but I thank you this morning for Harvest Chapel.
God, I thank you for every man and woman here today.
Lord, I ask from heaven that you would come, Lord, minister to your sons and
daughters, just in these moments.
Lord, before Christmas comes and Thanksgiving comes, Lord, remind us of the
fence.
Lord, remind us where we're at.
Lord, what step this morning are you calling us to?
Lord, to go fully in.
Or Lord, do some of us need ministered to by your spirit?
Lord, I thank you that every man has what it takes.
Lord, there's love in your heart for every man and woman.
Lord, I pray this morning for significance within your love, Lord, to touch every one
of us.
Lord, self-worth from your love and your presence to come and to download into our
heart today.
Lord, we wanna live wholehearted.
Fully given, mind, body, soul.
Just wanna invite you this morning.
You know, man, if God's ministering to you, maybe even specifically about the
fence, it's very hard to take a step of faith.
But I would love to just invite you just in a moment, if there's an area of your
life that you know, man, I know God has promised me this.
His love, as a father, as a brother, there's this thing He said.
And you've just been a little bit, man, I need a fresh yes.
I wanna just take a moment, give you an opportunity to come up and just offer your
heart a fresh surrender to Jesus.
And I wanna pray, and I actually have a chorus.
Just keep playing those chords.
To worship you, I live.
Let's play one.
To worship you, I live, I live, to worship you.
Come on, just a fresh surrender today.
Oh, to worship you, I live.
To worship you, I live, I live, to worship you.
To worship you, I live, to worship you.
Fresh surrender this morning.
Come on, just offer your heart, even if you just wanna stand where you're
at.
Oh, to worship you, I live.
To worship you, I live, I live, to worship you.
Oh, my heart, Lord,
to worship you, I live.
To worship you, I live, I live, to worship you.
Yeah, if you've responded, I wanna pray over you, and then I'd love to come and
just lay hands on some people.
My wife and I are gonna be at the table out there.
Love to talk to you, get you a book.
But Lord, I just pray, Lord, for your heart, for every single one of us,
Lord, this morning, especially those that have responded.
Lord, I thank you for a fresh yes.
Oh, Lord, we ask you for a fresh yes.
Lord, we say yes to you, and we ask for that download from heaven of your
presence, the fire.
Lord, to be those that take the promise.
Oh, Lord, raise up wholehearted men and women in this place, or refresh every
heart here today.
In Jesus' mighty name.
Just because God loves you so much.
I just wanna give one more invitation, because I just feel this drawing in the
spirit right now.
God's presence is here, and he's moving.
He's doing things right now, I promise you.
Bigger than what we can see with our eyes.
But if the Lord is tugging on your heart in this moment, I just encourage you to
come and find a space at the altar.
If you need to just lay something down at his feet, just make it real.
Just, God, I surrender this to you.
Maybe you are having some challenges at work, or maybe you're having some
challenges at home in your marriage, and just come up prophetically and just
kneel and just say, God, we just lay this down at your feet.
We surrender to you.
We can't do this by ourselves.
We can't fix this in our own strength.
There's something beautiful that's happening in this moment.
I don't want you to miss out on what God is doing.
This is the safest place.
The church should be the safest place.
A place of vulnerability, a place of coming and kneeling at the Lord's feet so
that he could do ultimately what only he could do.
So, God, right now in this moment, we just say come and do what only you
could do.
God, if there's individuals even watching in their living rooms right now,
I just invite you to kneel before the Lord right now if the Lord is tugging on your
heart.
Just kneel before him right as a family, right in your living room.
Just take a moment just to say, God, I just fully surrender to you.
God, I just celebrate what you're doing in this room.
God, I thank you for your love.
Jordan touched that.
He said about some of us may just need to have a fresh understanding of the Father's
love.
So if we can, can we just, can we quietly stand as one body right now?
Because I want to pray over all of us because I believe that all of us in this
room, all of us watching online, can step into greater levels of
understanding God's love.
So I want you just to put your hands out in front of you.
God, I just thank you for every son.
God, I thank you for every daughter.
God, I thank you for every marriage represented in this room.
God, I thank you for fathers.
God, I thank you for mothers.
And God, we just say come and do what only you could do in this place, Lord.
We just fully empty ourselves and say God, we want all of you.
We want all of you.
God, I just release your love in this room right now.
I believe some of you are feeling something fresh, maybe for the first time
in a while.
And sometimes our natural instincts is to have to work for something.
And I just want you just to receive his love this morning.
I want you to put it on your lips.
God, I just, I receive your love into my life.
I choose not to work for it.
I choose not to strive for it.
God, come and do what only you could do.
Jesus, we love you.
Just begin to put that on your lips.
Just, Jesus, I love you.
I thank you for the promises that you've spoken over my life.
Maybe we've taken our eyes off of the promise and we put them on other things.
So God, I just thank you right now that this is a time for just divine alignment.
I feel really prompted just to say there's room at the altar.
There's anyone in here that just says, man, there's no, you feel like there's no
room for you.
I'm telling you right here, right now, there is room for you at the table.
There's room for you at the altar.
So God, we just thank you for what you're doing.
We say multiply it, Lord.
Multiply it, God.
Do what only you could do.
Do what only you could do, God.
I know Jordan spoke to all of us this morning, but he definitely has a heart for
men stepping into their created value.
So I just wanna pray over the men of the house just for a moment.
If you're even standing near a man, would you just place your hands on their
shoulder?
Because I just believe that God is asking us, not only as a local church,
but what he's doing in the nations and the world.
I'm excited for men to step up and become who they're called to be so they can lead.
So Lord God, we thank you for every man in this room, God.
We thank you for everyone watching online, God.
We just say thank you that it's through your strength that we can do all things,
God.
But we just come against insecurities, God.
We thank you for supernatural boldness, God.
We thank you for zeal, Lord.
We thank you for passion.
God, we thank you for sons finding fathers and fathers finding sons.
And Lord God, we just thank you for moving in our midst, God.
We bring all of those insecurities to you.
But first and foremost, God, we thank you that you are our father.
You are our heavenly father who is perfect, lacking nothing.
So right now, male and female, we receive your love like never before.
We thank you that you are our father.
And God, we just say, would you have your way?
Could you just say that with me?
Have your way.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Can we just celebrate the Lord together?
Can we just give him some praise?
The altars are open.
It's just what the Lord is doing.
If you wanna come and just spend some time with the Lord, please do that.
If you're on our prayer team and you feel led to pray with some of the individuals
up here that are just surrendering some things to the Lord, that's totally fine.
But thank you guys so much for being with us.
Can we bless Jordan and his table out there in the lobby?
Thank you, Jordan, for being with us.
Such a beautiful word, timely word.
But I just encourage you to stop at the table.
See how you can find out what they're doing.
See how you can be praying for them.
Those prayers are so, so powerful.
So thank you guys so much for being with us.
If you wanna double dip, we'll be starting our second service at about 10.45.
Bless you guys.
Thanks for listening to the Harvest Chapel PA podcast.
We hope this message encouraged you and drew you closer to Jesus.
To stay connected, visit us at harvestchapelpa.com or follow us on social
media at Harvest Chapel PA.
We can't wait to be with you again next week.