Did I do howdy? This is never gonna get old. I’m certain of it. Who would’ve ever thought that someone would do something like this? And because it’s Father’s Day and I’m a father of three sons and as a family decision, we decided that I was gonna spend Father’s Day away from my sons because of how much me and my family love king Jesus and his family. And so yeah, thank you. As well as Austin and Britain, who are also here with me are fathers. And, and so we give our whole hearts to you today. And you know, if we’re not careful, we live in a culture that has trained us to do certain things and we don’t realize how conditioned we’ve been towards things until something happens and shakes us out of that norm. And so this is something that only you’re gonna be able to do.

There’s nothing that we can do for you in this, this sense, but I would encourage you to not just be a bystander today because this is not a prop. And it’s not just a teaching tool. This is a living, breathing, very intelligent, very emotional animal that I think it would be illegal and against every core value that, that we hold on so tight tightly to as a family, is that we cannot use things for God’s glory. We get to partner with things. And so this horse is not gonna be used to do anything today, but what you guys get to do if you, if you choose so is watch what it is that can happen when love has a head on collision with one of God’s created things. And so what I, I’ve never met him before but he and I have got something in common.

Neither one of us feel very good this morning. I’ve spent the last two weeks in bed and so I’m gonna give you all I got. I don’t know how much that is, but what I do know is that if you’re willing to, and I love to do this, so if, if you’re willing, just hold your hands out like you’re gonna get a gift. And this is only something like that. Just love how God just gives us invitation after invitation to say Holy Spirit. We’ll do it one more time. She’s not used to this. Say Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, do whatever you want to do in my life today. Amen. So now, regardless of what I do, holy Spirit’s gonna do something super special for you. And so because this guy apparently doesn’t feel super well, we’re not gonna ask a whole ton of them here off the beginning, but I do wanna ask him to move a little bit because as you guys heard that these horses are typically they’re round people, but because every person is different, he’s gonna have to figure out who I am and what it is that

Today is all about. And the fact that I’ve got him going this direction in the pen right now is on purpose. Because when people are working with horses, they’re usually approaching them from this side. And I want him to feel as comfortable with me as he can, but he’s also gonna, with his comfort, he’s gonna have to also thank you son, acknowledge something else. And that is that today is not like any other day of his life. And I don’t know what his story is, but I promise you that he’s got a memory, he’s got experiences, he is got issues. Anybody say amen to that? And I’m not gonna question any of the people that have interacted with this horse before, but I’m gonna say that the only heart posture that I can have and what it is that he’s picking up on him licking his lips and the way he’s looking at me is just a really good sign of he is inquisitive about me. He wants to come close to me. He’s not really sure. Even just this step, my heart today is gonna be that on this Father’s Day, as is a father.

And the amazing thing about fathers is that if we’re living our lives in reflection of the father, then everything that we, every part of us just wants the very best wants freedom and wholeness and connection. And that every part of his life becomes something that he can run to me with. And that even in these beginning stages of him trying to get to know who I am and what it is that I want from him,

Atta boy. Atta boy. It’s okay.

Little cat and mouse as quick as you can. Well, I’m moving him around. I’m gonna let Austin minister to you guys and some music, but I want you to ask yourself some questions because what he’s having to ask right now is what it is that I want from him. And if you can put yourself somehow into this scenario and realize that

Most of us aren’t just wild and barbaric and wanting to figure out how to go rape and pillage and do destruction in our culture, you’re sitting in this room right now because there is something special about you. There’s something sacred that’s making it to where you’re wanting to know how to be a holy person, how to be someone that’s more alive and how it is that you are gonna partner with heaven to learn what it’s like to have the attributes of God actually showing up in your life and that those around you, you’re gonna respond to the kindness that’s with within you. And it’ll be so kind and so powerful that people actually will look at you as one that has such tremendous influence. The ones around you will actually say mother or father. It’s a role that today, if we’re gonna celebrate fatherhood, we need to know what that even looks like. And in this short amount of time, there’s nothing that I’ve taught this horse, but the beautiful thing about this animal is a horses are so sensitive to what’s going on inside of me that he hasn’t responded to any cues that I’ve given to him. He’s not responding to my words.

There’s a, an atmosphere that’s being created in this space around him and there’s an atmosphere that’s being created in this room. And we’re on this planet right now, folks at a time in human history where we have never seen this level of fatherlessness as long as we have any record of it because it’s not, fathers aren’t present simply because of work or call to war or death. It’s that fathers might even be present, but they’re not. They’re in the homes but they’re not fathering. And so those of you that are actually fathering, we celebrate you knowing that this is gonna be the cure to what it is that’s ailing our, our culture, that men are knowing how to become whole. Wow buddy, what happened?

What happened?

See, he’s got a snotty nose, he’s got the sniffles. So he was about ready to fall asleep on my shoulder. I miss those days. My sons are grown men now. And there was something that was being released in me as a dad, as a man when I found that these little, little ones that I didn’t even hardly know and they certainly weren’t capable of doing anything for me, but I just took so much joy in bringing comfort to them and being close to them. This guy is not very comfortable with me being on this side of him. As I mentioned before, most people that engage a horse or get work with them, they work with him on the other side. And so this is a side that he’s just not really used to me being around. But he’s never gonna learn how to be free or know what he’s capable of. If he’s not comfortable with me having access to all parts of him. And that if we are a room full of those who want to call themselves the sons and daughters of God, the church, the one that he said that he was willing to give everything for so that we could rule and reign on a planet and that we could be his light.

If this is the desire of this room, then I say that everything is being made available to us today. And that if you’re willing to give Holy Spirit access to all parts of you and that even for this moment that you would quit seeing yourself as ones that you just want God to use.

Hmm.

Because nobody’s been on his back before. That was just a really weird experience for him. And I wish you could feel what I feel because his pulls went through the roof and he started quivering almost like fl when they get a fly on ’em, they can kind of twitch their skin and it’ll get a fly off ’em. It was kind of cute ’cause he was trying to flick me off like a fly. But it’s this invitation that, and we can read all the verses, we can memorize the verses, we can go to church, we can do all the right things. But if we miss this part, then I think that we’ve missed the whole thing that Jesus’ whole desire was that those of us that would choose to become children of his would become one with him. And that oneness wouldn’t look like slaves to God. Although we have a posture where we, we know who we are and we know who he is,

But

He didn’t come so that we could be his slaves or his servants. He wanted us to be his sons and his daughters. And because the first thing that I was able to do with this part of creation was, it was pretty simple with him established that I’m here, I’m powerful, but I have something for you. I don’t want to take something from you. I think it’s way more fascinating for me than most people. ’cause You don’t realize what all is going on here. But he was thinking, okay, there’s pressure on my back. Should I maybe lay down? For those of you that know your Bible, there is, there’s a portion of scripture and Romans where it’s actually kind of a correction. And we live in a world that’s becoming more and more cynical and more and more confused about what to believe because there’s so much conflicting in information and it’s actually made our souls exhausted and our soul is tired. And I believe that everything that’s being communicated here, and I can’t, I can’t script this stuff. All I can do is tell you what it is that I see that’s going on and his soul is weary. There’s been so much conflicting

Information being presented to him. There’s been, it’s actually made him sick. And the Bible talks about those that have missed discerned the body of Christ, that it’s made them sick and not so sick that maybe you clearly you’re able to come to church this morning, but it’s made our souls weary. And so he said in Romans that, that we’re all actually without excuse, the creation itself is revealing to us the attributes of God. And so it’s not a far stretch for me to say, can you look at the horse and can you see yourself and realize that what it is that’s going on for him, that he’s discovering that he was created to do something that he had never yet been invited into. And that his ability to say yes and allow me to become one with him. This isn’t a small thing. This is where if you watch the movies, this is where they buck and they fight and things get really western. I personally kind of enjoy it when that part happens, but I would have to, I would actually have to pick a fight with him for that to happen because of how transfixed he is with what all is going on in the atmosphere right now.

Yeah,

His feet feel like they’re in cement. Like, I’m not sure how to move. Can we try it buddy? It’s not magic and there’s no horse tricks here. And I know that the skepticism that we have in our culture, I don’t blame you for thinking, okay, you got a horse that’s almost, almost completely trained. The transition from going from a man on the ground to a man sitting on the horse isn’t a small thing. It’s not a small thing that humanity was separated from God because of sin and that the only way that we could become one with him was gonna require the death of God himself. That the gospel is not just a a good story, it’s the tragedy of what it is that you and I partnered with. When we as men and women that know what it’s like to be consumed with sin, that for us to become one with them wasn’t just a small sacrifice. It required everything. And it is because of what’s going on inside of me. Whether you can believe it or not, this made it to where he’s got the confidence and the courage to allow me to become one with him.

And it’s the same thing that I believe if you can, if you can receive this picture that Jesus modeled for us what it looks like to be fully alive, and I doubt that there’s a man in this room that if I ask you for a show of hands would say that, well, I’m good enough. I don’t care if I become a better man, I’m about as good as I’m ever gonna get. If you’re there, holy Spirit, would you shake him out of that spot to where, I don’t care what it takes, but would your fire come and make it to where we cannot stay the way that we are, that we will become these people that are drawn into this thing that says from glory to glory that you’ll take us to these new places and you’ll teach us what it’s like to be fully alive and that our families are gonna benefit from the character and the knowledge and the wisdom and the kindness and the power that we carry. Remember we talked about the other eye, the other side. So for him, this is gonna be a different experience.

How we doing that?

Okay, we’re gonna go back to where we started because now there’s been just enough that he feels like he’s been asked to do that he’s going to partner with what I hear a whole lot of Christians are doing. Please pay attention to this part because I, I think this is probably more, the most common thing in this room right now would be people that are content, calling yourself a servant of God and what happens to really good hearted people and maybe just the way some of this could just be semantics or the words that people are are teaching you, that Jesus himself became a servant, but that was not who he was. He was a king that knew how to serve. He was the perfect image of the Father. And because he was his son, he modeled to every one of us what it looks like to know that your identity has gotta be rooted and grounded in the fact that you are a son of God, a daughter of God. And guess what? Sons and daughters of God do they love to serve? Because when you’re possessed by love, and this isn’t just a theology or a belief system, it’s not something that you read in a book or you were told to do because it’s, it’s not that it’s wrong that you read it in the book and it’s not wrong that it’s just theology,

But Jesus was really adamant about, you’ve got a form of godliness but you’ve denied the power in it. There’s so many of you that would say, Lord, Lord, look at all these things that we’re doing in your name. And he says, depart from me for I never knew you Remember when like all he wanted to do is like he was finding so much comfort in just being with me, being near me, letting me hold him. But because in our lifetime this takes years, I’m sorry son. If he ever becomes more aware of the circumstances that surrounding him, then he is aware of me, then he is gonna spend his life living in reaction to those things. And we’ve got so many distractions and so many things that are going on in our lives right now. So many things to consume our time or numb us, we need to be careful that we’re not focusing more on the things that are temporary than the things that are eternal. And although I believe Jesus wants us to be whole and not sick, that he was the one that healed everybody that he prayed for. Somehow. I’ve been sick for two weeks

And it’s given me a great opportunity to once again in really focus on what it is that’s gonna last forever. And what it is is temporary. I dunno if you could hear that, but he was having a conversation with himself. I think he’s thinking, okay, you’re over here and that thing’s on me. I know it moves. It smells funny. Okay? Not only has nobody ever been on him, but he is never been saddled before. So it’s just feeling strange for him. If you wanna have something fun to watch right now is watch where his ears are going if this is a distracted lifestyle. But notice that his left ear has not left me. He is so focused on me right now. He’s checking everything out with his right side is kind of a superpower that horses have. They have two worlds, but they can only be single-minded. So their attention is focused on one thing. And because he hasn’t taken his focus off of me, he hasn’t been triggered or living in reaction to the fact that he’s got this foreign object on his back.

That’s a good boy. It’s

So good. He’s like, did good. I ain’t moving no more. Let’s try this.

I am so good.

Can we do farmer blows in church?

<Laugh>?

I don’t know where it all comes from. This is actually a really important moment and I’m gonna sit here for a second. Jesus said, come and follow me. And it was an invitation that I think is for every one of us in this room right now, come follow me. But it didn’t end with Jesus asking people to follow him. It ended with a prayer that I believe is still partially unanswered that Jesus prayed and he said that he prays that Father, would you help them become one with me the way I’m one with you, and that you would make them one with each other so the world would know who I am. And it’s pretty heavy if you realize that the creator of heaven and earth, the creator of everything that exists, the creator of time and space, everything that holds everything together, said that although creation reveals his glory, he wants you and I in oneness with him and each other to show the world what his attributes are like, what’s his character is like, what his nature is like, and that we would be the ones that unlike the people that followed Moses that only were familiar with the acts of God or the things that God did,

We would be like Moses, the ones that are familiar with the ways of God and that the ways of God became something that was influencing everything around him.

Okay,

We need to be done by 10, right? You guys laughed.

<Laugh>,

Is that a guess?

Okay.

Single-Mindedness. Let it be a word prophesied over you today that you become single-minded people, ones that are not refusing to give your attention to all the fear and all the things that are going on around you that you can have your eyes on the road, but you’re gonna be single-minded. His left ear has not left me. There’s a reason why it is that his life is not in chaos and that he’s actually bearing the fruit that I would say is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, all the things that we all want are the attributes that he’s learning to live in. Only because he’s one with me and he’s single-minded about it. This is generally quite a process to get a horse to where they can have a level of trust to make it to where all these things can be happening. Because now he’s not just a trained pony, he’s able to partner with a resource that he’s just now getting to know that’s gonna be a resource that according to the way the Bible describes it, is that it would be exceedingly abundantly above anything that he could hope, think, or imagine. It goes beyond his wildest dreams, what it is that he’s carrying.

And there’s a weight, but it’s the kind of weight that is teaching him and leading him and making it to where he knows where to go and what to do. Look where his ears are with all y’all. Here he is in a building with lights and screens and thousands of people, but he’s fixed on me.

Wow.

Remember when we started how standoffish she was, especially even after I got the rope on him. He didn’t didn’t want me near, near his face. And if I gave him another minute or two right here, I’d be holding his head up for him. Snap out of it. Don’t let it happen. I am not hypnotizing him. He ain’t got no drugs. There’s nothing but pure peace. But it was generated out of sincere love, the kinda sincere love that would make it to where we’ll lay everything down so that others might live. And if we are the family of God that is demonstrating to a world what it looks like to be fully human, and Jesus is the model of what it looks like to be fully human, both male and female, then I think that we can cut through all the confusion that the world is continuing to be faced with and say that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. Those because of the name of Jesus aren’t stuck. We don’t have to stay the same if there’s actually can all the fathers stand up right now, man of God, you’ve been entrusted with something that is

According to the heart of God, the most precious thing that we can be trusted with. And that is that you’re in covenant with a woman and that you’re a father of children. You’ve created life. And that’s not just your parenting techniques that make you special. It’s this unconditional love that you experienced for the first time when you held that child. And so, man, I honor you today in an hour that might be one of the darkest hours that our planet’s ever seen from men like you to take their rightful position and be a father that knows what it’s like to be whole and how to lead a family with that wholeness. I’m 54 years old and I just signed up for a year long leadership floor course. So I would know how to lead and steward the people that I have influence over better. We’ve gotta do this. Men, and I think everybody that’s seated should probably applaud these men.

There’s very few things that we’re gonna do in life that are as high stakes as this. And being a father and being a husband are two of the greatest privileges that we’re gonna get. And so I think that we ought to lock arms with each other and make it to where, when we leave this place that we know that we’ve got a band of brothers that makes it to where we don’t have to figure out how to do this on our own. And there’s gonna be a team of people up front here that wanna pray with you. I’m gonna resist the temptation because I don’t wanna spread whatever it is I’ve got to my family. But don’t leave this place with questions unanswered and without getting the encouragement and the help that you need. So thank you all for letting me be a part of your Sunday morning and especially your Father’s day. And I pray, holy Spirit, would you just seal everything that I’ve spoken that’s truth, and that you would bind this truth to our hearts to where it will echo in us until we believe it? In Jesus’ name. Amen. Thanks y’all. If if you want prayer, come on forward, otherwise go get some chow with your family. God bless y’all.