Forrest: Hey, I'm Pastor Forrest, and welcome to the Multiply Church Podcast.
Forrest: Each week we open God's word together to help you meet God and multiply good in your everyday life.
Forrest: We're so glad that you've taken time to join us for this week's sermon.
Forrest: And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media so you never miss a message.
Forrest: Now, let's dive into this week's sermon.
Forrest: Happy Father's Day to the dads in the house, and you all have no idea how encouraging that I want this morning to be to the fathers and grandfathers and father figures that are in the house right now.
Forrest: Their family are working on their relationship with God.
Forrest: So would you put your hands together right now for the fathers that are in the room?
Forrest: I don't think you realize how encouraging I want this to be.
Forrest: Can you give it up for the dads that are here right now on Father's Day to grow in their relationship with God?
Forrest: Walk with their family to worship with their family.
Forrest: But isn't it great that I know the one who does, Jesus Christ?
Forrest: Isn't it great that we know the one who does have the answers?
Forrest: Oh, when I was young, I was a kid in the summertimes.
Forrest: I remember uh watching some daytime TV, and I grew up watching the classic law shows.
Forrest: Uh Matlock with Andy Griffith.
Forrest: I'm dating myself right now.
Forrest: Unsolved Mysteries, an occasional Magnum PI.
Forrest: Maybe some of you had a childhood like that, or maybe you get into the true crime podcasts.
Forrest: You know, this is always just detectives and investigations and the dramatic surprise testimony from a witness.
Forrest: And what you see in those true crime and this different law shows is that a uh a witness, a witness's testimony can play a pivotal role in a case, can even change a case.
Forrest: Now, also, if you watch these courtroom shows, you also know that there's this thing called an expert witness.
Forrest: An expert witness is somebody who gets called to the stand that's normally a doctor or some kind of a specialist, some kind of forensic scientist, psychologist, has some kind of credentials that they get up.
Forrest: They've been trained and they've studied an area and they get up to explain something that everybody else doesn't understand.
Forrest: And sometimes that the expert witness can change the direction of the case, but some of the strongest witnesses that there can be is somebody who is an eyewitness.
Forrest: And I think at times we get confused that Jesus is calling us to be an expert witness when really what he wants us to be is an eyewitness of what you have seen him do in your life.
Forrest: For you to be somebody who's an eyewitness to tell the truth about what you've seen, heard, and experienced with God.
Forrest: Last week we jumped into this series, Can I get a witness?
Forrest: And it was a reminder last week about how all of us that are in Christ that we're called, that we're called to bear witness to the truth of the gospel, the story of what God has done in our lives, that we have this seed that is the word of God, and it's our job to sow the word of God, but we can't control what happens beyond that.
Forrest: That's with God, what soil it lands on.
Forrest: And we are addressing some fears that hold us back from us sharing our faith and being the witness that God has called us to be about his truth.
Forrest: Because oftentimes we can get into this mindset and what we address today of feeling like I'm not an expert, I don't know enough.
Forrest: I don't know enough.
Forrest: Well, what if I try to share my faith and that person asks me a question I don't know the answer to?
Forrest: Or what if they ask me about science versus religion?
Forrest: Or what if they ask me about hypocrisy in the church, church history, or they ask me about something they saw on TikTok this last week and I don't have an answer for it.
Forrest: And it's easy for us to get into this mindset of feeling like, oh, you know, I just don't know enough to actually be the witness or to share my faith.
Forrest: And on Father's Day, this hits fathers in a specific way because it's kind of universal truth among dads that we do not want to ever make it seem like we don't know what we're doing.
Forrest: We don't ever want to admit that there's something that we cannot fix.
unknown: Right?
Forrest: There's something broken in the house, we want to fix it.
Forrest: There's a noise in the car, we want to diagnose it, figure out what's going on.
Forrest: Your kid has a problem, you got a solution for it, want to solve it.
Forrest: There's stress going on in your life and in your family.
Forrest: You want to be the one to put it on your back and carry it.
Forrest: But for some reason, when it comes to our relationship with God, evidence of our faith, the future faith of our kids, far too many men are content with staying silent.
Forrest: Silent about what Jesus has done.
Forrest: What he did for us on the cross, what he's done in your life.
Forrest: And we're gonna look at Mark chapter 5 that shows us some men who bring everything to Jesus and really tackle this fear of I just I don't know enough.
Forrest: I don't know enough to share my faith.
Forrest: And we're gonna look at some men in Mark chapter 5 that are encouraged us.
Forrest: The title of my message today is Go Home and Tell.
Forrest: You know, it's easy for fathers for us to get in this trap of feeling like, ah, well, I just don't know enough or not feeling qualified, not feeling qualified to lead your home spiritually, or maybe you're ashamed, or you you just feel awkward, or there's fear that's there.
Forrest: But you don't have to wait until you know everything to be a witness of what God has done in your life.
Forrest: And if you wait until, try to wait until you do know everything, guess what?
Forrest: You'll never be a witness.
Forrest: Or if you, dads, if you wait to feel fully ready to lead your family or home, you never will.
Forrest: And we can't confuse that God is asking us to be an expert witness when he's asking us to be an eyewitness and give eyewitness account for us to just be honest about what God's done.
Forrest: Now, there's some great resources that we can have to learn about the evidence of our faith.
Forrest: I I love the book, The Case for Christ.
Forrest: If you haven't read it, you can read it.
Forrest: There's a movie of it as well.
Forrest: Also, I've been enjoying scholar Wes Huff the last couple of years and his evidences of the scripture and textual criticism.
Forrest: You can he has a series called Can I Trust the Bible that's online that you can find.
Forrest: But ultimately, we have to wrestle with the fact that we don't have to know everything to tell what Jesus has done in our lives and done for us.
Forrest: And if we are not faithful to share and to witness, we're gonna miss out on some opportunities for God to use us in ordinary, everyday conversation in life that God wants to use us to give us the opportunity to actually sow the gospel into somebody who desperately needs it, to bring hope into a desperate place.
Forrest: And we we can miss out on the intentionality that God wants us to walk in and lead in in our homes.
Forrest: And dads, ultimately you can succumb to the lie that you need to be the one that's able to fix everything.
Forrest: Last week we finished up Mark chapter four as we looked at this parable, the sower, and we sow the word of God in our story, but we can't control what kind of soil that it falls on.
Forrest: And at times we can feel afraid.
Forrest: Oh, well, I don't know enough.
Forrest: And today we're gonna look at Mark chapter five, and we're gonna walk through this chapter together as we see a man who's in desperate need of freedom, and we're gonna see a father who's in desperate need of faith, and they have a savior who's bringing grace right to their door.
Forrest: Jesus is crossed the sea into the Gentile territory.
Forrest: Everything about the beginning of Mark chapter 5 is uncomfortable.
Forrest: Jesus is in the Gentile region, he's going to this graveyard.
Forrest: There's a man there that's being tormented by demons.
Forrest: Nobody's able to control him.
Forrest: He's demon possessed, he's violent, he's angry.
Forrest: And Mark is giving us all these details that really are just showing us and letting us feel just how far away from God this man is.
Forrest: And Jesus goes to him.
Forrest: And then later in Mark chapter 5, we're gonna see and meet a father, Jarus, who's a religious leader, who's this desperate dad who is in need of Jesus to do something he cannot do on his own.
Forrest: But we start the story as Jesus he encounters this demon-possessed man who's among the tombs, he's in the grave, and he has this legion of demons that are possessing him, and he's violent.
Forrest: And Jesus goes to him and he casts out the demons into this herd of pigs that are nearby, and the man is fully restored.
Forrest: And the reaction of everyone who is there with confusion and fear.
Forrest: This is what happens in Mark chapter 5.
Forrest: If you have your Bible, turn to Mark chapter 5 on your phone.
Forrest: You can look it up on the Bible app.
Forrest: Mark chapter 5 and verse 15.
Forrest: This is the reaction.
Forrest: When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the Legion of Demons sitting there, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
Forrest: Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told them about the pigs as well.
Forrest: And then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
Forrest: When Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.
Forrest: Jesus did not let him, but said, Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.
Forrest: So the man went away and began to tell the people in the decopolis how much Jesus had done for him, and all the people were amazed.
Forrest: Now let's just zoom out for a second.
Forrest: We have this man who just a few minutes ago has been delivered, has been delivered by Jesus, delivered from demonic possession.
Forrest: And then he wants to get in the boat with Jesus and go with him.
Forrest: Which makes total sense.
Forrest: Here's Jesus, he's just healed me, he's just delivered me, he's just saved me.
Forrest: I'm going with him, but what does Jesus do?
Forrest: He doesn't let him get in the boat.
Forrest: Instead, he looks at this man and he says, Now I want you to now go home and tell your people what has happened today, the mercy that you have received.
Forrest: Now let's just think about this for a second.
Forrest: Is there a less qualified person?
Forrest: This brother has just been delivered from a demon, and then Jesus then looks at him and says, I'm sending you now to go be a witness.
Forrest: What excuse do we have?
Forrest: Here's this man who has just been delivered from demonic possession, and what is Jesus' reaction?
Forrest: He says, Go home and tell.
Forrest: This man wouldn't have been qualified by today's standards.
Forrest: This guy didn't know anything.
Forrest: All he knew was what he had seen, heard, and experienced that Jesus had saved him.
Forrest: Had brought him hope and change.
Forrest: And the power of God that he experienced in his life.
Forrest: I know for me as a dad, I feel the pressure all the time.
Forrest: I feel the pressure to get everything right, make the right decisions and protect my kids from everything and try to control outcomes and things, even when I can't control it.
Forrest: And maybe for you, maybe you feel the same way where you feel like as a dad, you don't feel qualified to lead spiritually.
Forrest: Maybe you feel awkward about praying with your kids.
Forrest: Maybe you feel ashamed about your past and what your story is, and you don't want to talk about it or talk about parts of your story.
Forrest: Some of you are holding back from bringing your family to God because you think that you can just fix everything on your own.
Forrest: And underneath that is this fear.
Forrest: This fear.
Forrest: This fear that you've got it.
Forrest: Or, you know what, I don't know enough.
Forrest: I'm not qualified.
Forrest: Now, today in this message, I'm not able to cur, I'm not able to cover all in one sermon today.
Forrest: All the objections and apologetic questions with Christianity, or to answer questions of science and religion, and hypocrisy of the church, all these things.
Forrest: I'm not able to cover all that.
Forrest: I can't cover all that in this sermon today, but guess what?
Forrest: I don't need to.
Forrest: Because we see in Mark chapter 5, what Jesus shows us is that he doesn't wait until somebody knows everything for them to be able to share the fact that they met God, that God restored them and then sent them.
Forrest: This man who desperately needed freedom.
Forrest: And so, dads, I come to you today as a brother to encourage you.
Forrest: And I want you to take this the right way.
Forrest: Any encouragement today.
Forrest: I want you, the first thing I want you to do and to look at is that to be the person that God's calling you to be, to not be stuck in this lie of you not know enough, or that you can just handle it all on your own.
Forrest: You've got to let Jesus deal with your demons.
Forrest: Now take that the right way.
Forrest: Oh, well, you know, I just I feel too far gone, or I feel like my past disqualifies me.
Forrest: Or my family knows the old me, and I can never, I can never make up for what has happened in the past.
Forrest: Can I tell you it's never too late?
Forrest: It's never too late.
Forrest: It's never too late for you to bring yourself to Jesus because listen to me, listen to me, listen to me.
Forrest: What you don't let Jesus deal with, your family will have to live with.
Forrest: Am I telling the truth?
Forrest: Can we just encourage our brothers today in Christ?
Forrest: Bring it to Jesus.
Forrest: Bring it to him.
Forrest: Let him take a hold of it.
Forrest: Here's Jesus.
Forrest: He sees this man, and this man's in a desperate place.
Forrest: Jesus goes to him, he delivers him, he heals him, and then Jesus sends him.
Forrest: And Jesus confronts what's destroying him.
Forrest: And the chains that were bound that bound him now have been broken and he has been healed.
Forrest: And Jesus then sends him out for him to talk about the restoration that God has done in his life, and he is no longer in bondage.
Forrest: He's been redeemed.
Forrest: Now, dads, there may be something in your life right now that you're struggling with that's holding you back, that's that's keeping you believing lies and not stepping into the spiritual leadership and to the witness that God has for you.
Forrest: I want you to let Jesus deal with it.
Forrest: And what what I mean by letting Jesus deal with your demons, what I'm not saying that every struggle is literally demon possession, but what I am saying this is that things can master us, like anger and shame, and alcohol or pornography, fear, control, regrets from the past.
Forrest: And we can let that pressure keep us from bringing to Jesus what he desperately wants to bring freedom for in our lives.
Forrest: Because listen to me.
Forrest: If you don't deal with your wounds, you may wound your children in the same places.
Forrest: Deal with your wounds.
Forrest: Deal with the priorities in your life.
Forrest: Deal with your calendar and what your calendar says to your family and your kids about what actually matters most in your life.
Forrest: And remember that it's never too late.
Forrest: And you're never too far gone.
Forrest: And God loves you and He cares about you, and He wants you to come to Him, literally to His feet, is what we see with this next man.
Forrest: This first man that we looked at who was down and out.
Forrest: This next man we looked at, this father, he's up and out.
Forrest: He's respected.
Forrest: He seemingly should be the one who has everything figured out in his life, but he cannot control this.
Forrest: Look at Mark 5, 21.
Forrest: When Jesus had again crossed over by a boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake.
Forrest: Then one of the synagogue leaders named Jarus came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet.
Forrest: He pleaded earnestly with him.
Forrest: And so Jesus went with him.
Forrest: A large crowd followed and pressed around him.
Forrest: He's a synagogue leader.
Forrest: He's got a reputation and well respected.
Forrest: He's the one who's probably used to having the answers, but he can't fix this problem.
Forrest: His daughter is sick.
Forrest: She's dying.
Forrest: And he comes and he places himself at the feet of Jesus.
Forrest: I don't know about you, but I know there's times in my life where there's problems that are going on and things that happen to me, and I'm trying to figure it out for myself and manage it.
Forrest: And it seems like Jesus is the last person to hear about it when he's actually the one who can actually fix it all along.
Forrest: If we would just bring it back to him.
Forrest: And maybe for you, maybe what you've what's going on in your life right now, maybe you looked fine at first.
Forrest: Maybe right now you've been really successful at work and all your time and attention is going there because you are getting a lot of praise and achievement at work.
Forrest: And it's easier to achieve at work than it is to achieve at home.
Forrest: Or it feels more productive at work and things are getting out of balance because you need to be the man, the father that God has called you to be.
Forrest: Maybe you're just spread thin by trying to give your child every single opportunity all the way to a fault.
Forrest: Here's the thing anything that pushes Jesus to the margin in your life is not good.
Forrest: He needs to be our first priority.
Forrest: And so Jesus has this man that's now in front of him, this father, who's dropped to his feet.
Forrest: And sometimes us dropping to the feet of Jesus is the most spiritual thing we can do.
Forrest: Because you may not know everything, but what you need to know as a father, you need to know where to go to find the fix.
Forrest: And that's what Jesus, that's my second point.
Forrest: Know where to go to find the fix.
Forrest: Because the enemy's gonna tell you, oh, well, you know, I can handle this.
Forrest: I've got it.
Forrest: I'm good.
Forrest: I don't need the help, but a faithful father is someone who knows where to bring the things that he cannot fix.
Forrest: And here's Jarus.
Forrest: His daughter's dying.
Forrest: He's brought to Jesus this thing that he cannot fix.
Forrest: He's humbled himself.
Forrest: He can't heal his daughter, he can't control the outcome of this situation.
Forrest: And he falls at Jesus' feet.
Forrest: Men, let's fall at Jesus' feet.
Forrest: You can bring Jesus your doubt.
Forrest: He's big enough for your questions.
Forrest: He's big enough to handle it.
Forrest: God's big enough.
Forrest: The pressures that you're feeling right now, God's big enough to shoulder them.
Forrest: Bring those things to him.
Forrest: Jars didn't know how to heal his daughter.
Forrest: But he knows where to go.
Forrest: He's heard what Jesus has done.
Forrest: He's heard about the fact that Jesus can heal.
Forrest: And he doesn't know exactly what to do, and he doesn't have the perfect plan.
Forrest: But what his plan is is to bring this to the feet of Jesus.
Forrest: And then Jesus agrees to go to his house.
Forrest: Now, there's an interruption here in the story.
Forrest: Jesus is stopped by a woman who's been bleeding for 12 years.
Forrest: And we're not going to spend time on her story right now on this message, but I just want you to think about what's happening here.
Forrest: You've got Jarus who's asked Jesus to come and to heal his daughter.
Forrest: Every single second counts.
Forrest: And now Jesus is stopped to heal somebody else's daughter.
Forrest: And Jesus is doing this not because he's not caring about Jarash, but instead he's teaching Jarus that his timing is perfect.
Forrest: And that he's the one who has authority over death.
Forrest: This is a Jarus is kind of at his end of the end of his rope.
Forrest: He's come at the feet of Jesus.
Forrest: He's asked Jesus to go with him.
Forrest: He's desperate.
Forrest: And dads, we can get into this place.
Forrest: We come in ourselves, we we try to do it all.
Forrest: Get the appointment, pay that bill, get them to all the practices, provide the meal and the food, work the job.
Forrest: But we need Jesus to actually be the one who can do what we can't do because he's the one who can actually protect them.
Forrest: Jesus is the one who can actually save their souls.
Forrest: Jesus is the one who can actually heal their wounds.
Forrest: Jesus is the only one who can guarantee our children's future.
Forrest: He's the one.
Forrest: And so they show up to Jarus' house, and the situation turns dire.
Forrest: Verse 35, when Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jarus, the synagogue leader.
Forrest: Your daughter is dead, they said.
Forrest: Why bother the teacher anymore?
Forrest: Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, Don't be afraid, just believe.
Forrest: And he did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
Forrest: And when they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion with people crying and wailing loudly, and went in and said to them, Why are why all this commotion and wailing?
Forrest: The child is not dead but asleep.
Forrest: But they laughed at him.
Forrest: After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and they went in where the child was.
Forrest: He took her by the hand and said to her, Talatha Kalum.
Forrest: Then the, which means little girl, I say to you, get up.
Forrest: Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around.
Forrest: She was twelve years old.
Forrest: And at this, they were completely astonished.
Forrest: Jesus shows up on the scene.
Forrest: And they walk out of the house and give Jarush the worst news that a parent could ever hear.
Forrest: Your child is dead.
Forrest: People are crying, they're wailing.
Forrest: And Jesus walks in and he says, Why are you crying?
Forrest: They said, This situation is over.
Forrest: Don't bother the teacher anymore.
Forrest: You all can leave.
Forrest: The situation is now hopeless.
Forrest: And they're looking at the one, King Jesus, who's the one who has the power over life and death.
Forrest: The ultimate hope.
Forrest: And I'm sure right there, I'm sure that Jaris probably right then, he's probably feeling the weight of this and feeling like, man, it is too late.
Forrest: I didn't do enough.
Forrest: I couldn't fix this.
Forrest: And people have already resigned the situation and said, it's over.
Forrest: And then Jesus looks at Jarus and says five words to him.
Forrest: Five small words.
Forrest: He says, This don't be afraid.
Forrest: Just believe.
Forrest: Everybody say believe.
Forrest: He speaks right to the fear that's in Jaris' heart.
Forrest: And he says, do not be afraid.
Forrest: Just believe.
Forrest: And instead of Jarus filling the gap of the rest of the story with a bunch of lies, Jesus looks at him and says, fill in the story with faith.
Forrest: Not fear.
Forrest: Don't be afraid.
Forrest: Believe.
Forrest: And what we need to do as followers of Jesus, as fathers of people who are witnesses of Christ, fill what you don't know with believing faith in the one who can actually make the difference.
Forrest: I just don't know enough.
Forrest: I don't know how the story is going to play out.
Forrest: This is all going wrong.
Forrest: I don't know what to do with my family.
Forrest: I don't know what to say to my teenager.
Forrest: I don't have all the answers to the questions.
Forrest: It's too late.
Forrest: Why bother?
Forrest: Send the teacher home.
Forrest: It's over.
Forrest: Can I tell you that fear is a false teacher?
Forrest: Fear is a false teacher.
Forrest: And do not let fear fill in the gaps of the story where Jesus is asking you to have faith and believe.
Forrest: And Jesus walks up to the girl.
Forrest: And she stands up alive.
Forrest: And the whole situation is turned around.
Forrest: And all those people who thought it was over, thought that fear was going to have a final word in the situation.
Forrest: They see what true faith can do.
Forrest: These people, they even laughed at Jesus.
Forrest: And I love that Jesus kicked them out.
Forrest: He said, get out of here.
Forrest: Jaris, you come with me.
Forrest: Don't be afraid.
Forrest: Don't be afraid that of what you don't know.
Forrest: Don't be afraid that I'm not going to work in your life.
Forrest: Don't be afraid that I can't help you and that you can't find the answers and the provision in me.
Forrest: You know, back in January, I was thinking about the dads in our church and specifically those that have teenagers.
Forrest: And in a couple of weeks, I'm going to be kicking off a group for dads with teens and dads of teens.
Forrest: It's going to be a five-week launch of a long-term discipleship path for dads with their daughters and sons called Primal Path and raising resilient daughters.
Forrest: And we already got some elite dads who have already jumped into this group who said, Yeah, I'm going to jump in and learn how to disciple my teenager.
Forrest: And they're not letting fear or shame hold them at saying, you know what, me and Jesus, we're going to we're going to walk forward.
Forrest: I'm going to get equipped.
Forrest: I'm going to learn.
Forrest: I'm going to learn what it means to disciple a kid.
Forrest: Not being held back by their past.
Forrest: You know, last week I had you guys share your stories.
Forrest: And a number of you shared your stories and turned that in.
Forrest: And it was beautiful getting to see the stories that God is writing in our church.
Forrest: And where people have intervened in our lives, friends and coworkers, and grandmothers, and different people who were faithful to witness to us and then see the transformation that's happening in lives right here in our church.
Forrest: Of situation that were involved broken pasts and challenges in families and sexual brokenness and addiction, all kinds of different stories of redemption that God is writing right here in our midst.
Forrest: And one of the stories that was shared with me last week was a story from a father and a grandfather.
Forrest: And he he talked about the fact that he grew up in church and went to VBS as a kid and to church camp.
Forrest: And when they they had, he and his wife had kids of their own that was important.
Forrest: They wanted to bring their kids up in church, but as they got older, sports began to take priority in their life.
Forrest: This is what he said.
Forrest: The soccer tournaments, the baseball tournaments took us out of regular attendance during the summer, and then it became fall sports too.
Forrest: As they got older, it was sports that dominated the summer schedule.
Forrest: Travel out of town for tournaments became the norm, and the families you're spending the weekends with probably weren't setting the best example for the kids.
Forrest: You buy into the idea that if your kid is going to have an opportunity to play in college, you have to commit to the best teams and go to the biggest tournaments to get seen, or spend all summer going to college camps to get noticed.
Forrest: And it may be well intentioned, but it's a lie.
Forrest: Whatever God has scripted for your kid's future is so much better than what you can purchase access to.
Forrest: As it turns out, my kids never played college sports, as most don't.
Forrest: Burnout's a real thing.
Forrest: But they did miss out on lots of other opportunities to spend time with friends and family and didn't learn the importance of prioritizing their faith above everything else.
Forrest: I taught them the opposite.
Forrest: Thankfully, God has drawn them back to his community.
Forrest: At the end of the day, the only thing that sustains in this life is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Forrest: No amount of batting practice, shooting free throws, or kicking balls into a net can replace that.
Forrest: Make your kids' eternity your priority.
Forrest: Powerful.
Forrest: Powerful words of a dad.
Forrest: Not condemning other dads, just bearing witness.
Forrest: Bearing witness.
Forrest: Just saying, you know what, I I see now some things that I didn't see then.
Forrest: Not judging, not condemning, just just a dad and a grandfather just being honest.
Forrest: Being willing to tell the truth so that someone else can walk in wisdom sooner than he did.
Forrest: Because sports is not the enemy.
Forrest: Your kids can love Jesus and play sports, but sports is a terrible savior.
Forrest: And the opportunities that that we get in this life, they can be an absolute gift as long as they don't become God to us.
Forrest: And dads, we can fall into this mindset and lie that our children's future, it really depends on our hustle more than it does God's intervention and his hand in our kids' lives.
Forrest: I love it, what he said.
Forrest: Because what God has scripted for your kids' future is better.
Forrest: It's better.
Forrest: Your testimony, your story, it's not a replacement for the gospel, but it certainly is a doorway for the gospel.
Forrest: Of what God has done in your life.
Forrest: And for you as fathers, you don't have to have every answer to every question that's in the Bible, but you do need to know how to go to Jesus' feet and receive his mercy.
Forrest: And to bring to him your real self, not a fake version of you, but a version of you that's walking in the freedom that God has for you.
Forrest: This public testimony.
Forrest: And not be trapped in fear.
Forrest: We talk with our young girls about their words and about fear, and a lot of times bedtime.
Forrest: You know, little people have little problems, so it's dark at night.
Forrest: And we tell them, hey, don't be afraid, God's with you.
Forrest: And a few nights ago, early in the morning hours, there was a big storm that came through.
Forrest: Y'all remember that?
Forrest: Thunder and lightning.
Forrest: And wife and I are there.
Forrest: We hear over the monitor, our three-year-old, saying, Storm, you leave right now.
Forrest: Storm, I told you to go.
Forrest: Now she's taking it to the extreme.
Forrest: But she knows that her words are powerful.
Forrest: And she knows she doesn't have to fear because God is with her.
Forrest: Could you just imagine?
Forrest: Imagine us, imagine us a church filled with people right now who just weren't afraid, weren't afraid to share what God's done in your life and what Jesus has done and you and what God could do.
Forrest: The people that could be impacted just just by knowing what God's done in your life and your family.
Forrest: And for you to be this tangible witness, this visible witness of what God has done, don't underestimate what God can do through your honest testimony.
Forrest: A couple weeks I said starting this with dads of teens and primal path and raising resilient daughters.
Forrest: I would love for those of you who have teens, dads to jump into this.
Forrest: You can sign up.
Forrest: Next step station online, church center, all the different ways.
Forrest: If you're sitting next to a dad, a teen, please just elbow them like this.
Forrest: Because we already have some elite dads who said yes and are gonna start doing that and walking with their kids to see them be discipled and be intentional with them and be intentional fathers.
Forrest: And I'm very blessed by the fact that I have an intentional father.
Forrest: I have a great relationship with my dad.
Forrest: I have a great relationship with dad, which really is a story of God's redemption because uh my my grandfather, my dad's dad, took his own life when my dad was very young.
Forrest: He grew up without a father.
Forrest: And when me and my brother got to be about the age of my dad at that time, he turned to the bottle.
Forrest: And my dad, as a young father, had the courage to go get help.
Forrest: He went to Christian counseling, and God totally changed his life.
Forrest: And not only that, it was soon after that that me and my brother we accepted Christ as our savior.
Forrest: We got baptized.
Forrest: My dad, it's great.
Forrest: We have a great relationship.
Forrest: Leader and church and making disciples.
Forrest: I'm so proud of my dad.
Forrest: But our story could have looked totally different.
Forrest: If my dad, when when he was a young father, didn't have the courage to let Jesus deal with his demons.
Forrest: And some of you, some of you right now, like some of you need to have the courage, man, woman.
Forrest: You need to have the courage to say, you know what, courage to say, you know what, I'm gonna step up, I'm gonna confess.
Forrest: Yes, I do need to go to a Christian council.
Forrest: Yes, I do need to have a conversation with my small group leader.
Forrest: Yes, I do need to press in.
Forrest: I need to actually get Christian friends that are around me here in the church so that they can encourage me and support me because God has a story of victory that He can ride in and through you.
Forrest: If you will let the fear go and let God work in your life, let Jesus take the demons, take it, take it on him.
Forrest: That one day that his son would become a pastor.
Forrest: I was never in the cards, I'm sure.
Forrest: I'm sure all of my growing up, that was not what he was thinking.
Forrest: And then one day that would be in ministry and to help to start this church.
Forrest: What could God do?
Forrest: Some of you in the room, some of you right now, you're in the place where you need to receive God's mercy.
Forrest: You're in this state right now where you need to, because you feel isolated and ashamed, maybe even tormented, that you just need to bring yourself to the feet of Jesus.
Forrest: And you some of you need to accept him as your savior.
Forrest: Some of you need to be saved and get your life to Christ.
Forrest: Some of you in the room, you need to be encouraged and you need to have courage.
Forrest: You need to have courage placed in you by the Holy Spirit and by the Father that God wants to do amazing work in and through your life, your story, and your children and your children's children.
Forrest: Some of you today need to have the courage to know that your story is not over.
Forrest: The brokenness that's in your family, the brokens relationships with your kids, God is powerful enough.
Forrest: Can we not believe that God is the one who can bring the victory?
Forrest: Does anybody in here believe that our God's the one who can bring restoration and victory?
Forrest: I know that he can because we have story after story after story after story of God doing it just in the short life of our church, of what God can do.
Forrest: What does God want to do and to place courage in you today for that conversation that needs to happen at the dinner table or the or the apology or whatever, whatever the honest move is for you.
Forrest: I want you right now, I'm gonna pray over you.
Forrest: So stand to your feet now.
Forrest: Lord, I want to pray, Father, right now, over every home that's represented here today.
Forrest: God, I thank you, Father, for the redeeming work that you're doing in and through our lives.
Forrest: God, thank you, Lord, that you've not left us or abandoned us, but instead, God Jesus, we bring ourselves to your feet.
Forrest: God, as we bring ourselves to your feet, King Jesus, Father, you receive us and you heal us and you change us and you restore us.
Forrest: And God, every single God broken storyline, God, you write a better story.
Forrest: So, Father, right now I pray, God, anybody in this room right now who's a Christian who claims to follow Christ and this needs courage right now.
Forrest: Needs courage.
Forrest: And so, Father, I pray right now, Lord, that you would minister to anybody in the house right now that just needs courage from you right now, God, courage in your heart for that conversation and for that relationship.
Forrest: And so if if you just need courage today, you're a follower of Jesus.
Forrest: I want you to raise your hand because I want to pray for you.
Forrest: Yeah, raise your hand up.
Forrest: I want to pray for you right here, hands all over the place.
Forrest: Father, right now in the name of Jesus, we pray, Father, for your mighty power.
Forrest: God, the fact that God, you, Lord, are the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end.
Forrest: God, we have, Lord, you as a refuge and a shield.
Forrest: And right now, Lord, we pray, God, courage and encouragement into the hearts of all those, Father, who've acknowledged you right now.
Forrest: You put down your hands.
Forrest: If you're in the room today and you have not received Christ as your Savior, today's your day to receive Him as Savior.
Forrest: For you to ask for forgiveness, to be set free.
Forrest: I want you to pray in your heart and mind, Jesus, save me.
Forrest: I believe that you died on the cross for my sin, that you walked out of the grave, that you are alive.
Forrest: Forgive me, cleanse me.
Forrest: I give my life to you.
Forrest: I bring myself to your feet so I can be in heaven with you one day.
Forrest: Thank you for saving me.
Sallie: We're so grateful you joined us for this week's message.
Sallie: At Multiply, we believe life was never meant to be lived alone.
Sallie: If today you made the decision to follow Jesus, we'd be honored to walk with you on this journey.
Sallie: Visit multiplyky.com to let us know.
Sallie: We love you and we'll see you again soon.