Come and See The Man Who Calls You Out of Hiding

In this episode, Mark shares the story he avoided recording for over a year — the story of how Christ called him out of hiding, confronted his ego, and named him into a new identity. Through the lens of Gideon’s story, Mark reveals the fear, hesitation, and obedience that shaped the birth of The Valiant Forge. This episode is not about elevating a man — it’s about revealing the Man who changes everything.

If you’ve been hiding, shrinking, or resisting God’s call on your life, this episode is for you.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I didn't want to record this episode. Not because I don't have something to say. To be honest, I didn't ever want to start this podcast. Not because I didn't feel like I had something to say. But the truth is it's because I know what my ego is capable of. I've built something before. I chased the numbers, I chased the validation, I made it about me and pushed God to the background. So when God gave me the idea for this episode over a year ago, I avoided it. I told myself I wasn't ready. I told myself I was being humble. But the truth is I was hiding. Just like Gideon. And that same voice that called Gideon a mighty warrior while he was hiding kept naming something in me that I didn't believe. Today, I'm done pretending that I wasn't called.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Welcome to the Valiant Forge Podcast, where we help men overcome life's battles, show up better in the world, and become a valiant warrior for God. This is a place where we share practical strategies that will equip you on life's journey to help you become the man God has called you to be.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Hiding behind work, hiding behind shame, hiding behind silence, hiding behind the fear of being seen. I get it because I've lived it, and this podcast isn't about me stepping into the spotlight. It's about me stepping into obedience. It's about stepping into the name that Christ has spoken over me. Hail, O mighty man of valor. I didn't believe that. I didn't want to believe that. I still don't fully believe that. This is why this podcast is called the Valiant Forge Podcast. Because Gideon was called a valiant warrior, and he didn't believe that because his identity for the longest time was I am the lowest of the lowest clans when God called him a mighty warrior, and then God used him to deliver the children of Israel out of the hand of ten thousand Midianites with three hundred men. So this episode is called Come See a Man, but it's not about coming and seeing me. It's about coming and seeing the Christ that is in me, that is working through me. I hate saying this. I still to this day have a hard time saying this, but I've been called. I'm doing this podcast because God called me to do it. It it still in some ways feels like an ego trip, but it's not. It's not about me at all. It's about Christ. Now, before I talk about calling, I need to talk about ego. Because my ego is the reason I never wanted to do this. Years ago, I built I started to build a fitness business, and I love the validation. I love the attention. I love the numbers. I love being seen. I still to this day, when people meet me for the first time, I have this tendency to just pull out my transformation picture and say, hey, look what I've done. I don't want to be that person. I don't want this to ever be about me. When I was building that business somewhere along the way, because in the beginning, I said, God told me to do this. But the truth was, God told me to get in shape. God didn't tell me to start a fitness business. That was the devil. The enemy comes in and says, Did God really say that? Doesn't God want you to have these great things? Doesn't God want you to build this? That's the trick of the enemy. So when you're doing something like this, you have to be very careful to make sure that you are connected and listening to God. And the man that I was back then, I was not listening to God. I was listening to the validation, to the likes, the egos, the DMs, the comments. You're so inspiring. It was you, you, you, you are doing this great thing. I ran a marathon. Blah blah blah blah. Great. I don't ever want this podcast to be about me. I want to make sure that this podcast is about Christ. When I say come see a man, I don't want you to look at me. Listen to my voice, but what I want you to hear coming through my vocal cords is the Holy Spirit, the voice of Yeshua, the voice of Christ, because that's the one that matters. Somewhere along the way during my fitness journey I stopped asking, is God pleased? I started asking, do people like me? I didn't want to do that again. So I hesitated starting this podcast for a very long time. Partly because I was nervous. I'm not I'm not a bold person. I became a little bit bold when I was doing the fitness thing. I'm not a bold person, so that was part of it, but really there was this thing inside of me because when I went on that ego trip, and I've talked about this many times, but maybe you're new to the podcast, my marriage, my thirty five year marriage, almost blew up because of that ego trip. I didn't want to do that again. I didn't want to build another platform around myself. I didn't want to check the analytics like they were a mirror. I didn't want to keep checking the YouTube views and seeing if I got new subscribers and figuring out how to do the best thing to grow my channel. I do want it to grow, but not because of me. Because of Christ. I don't want you to see me sitting at this microphone. I want you to see Christ through me. I didn't want to make this about me again, so I hid. And I called it humility, but it wasn't humility, it was fear. Because this isn't a podcast built around my personality. It's built around the presence of Christ. So Christ kept calling me to start this podcast, not softly, not politely, not gently, but a voice that wouldn't let me stay where I was. It just kept prodding me, start a podcast, start a podcast. And it was naming something in me that I couldn't see. The I am a valiant warrior, not me, not this man, but the Christ in me is the valiant warrior. It was a voice that sounded a lot like the one Gideon heard. The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor. And if you've heard me on any of my other podcasts where I tell this story, and I hate this, oh, please tell us your story. This is not my story. This is God's story. But if you've heard me tell it, when I go to start my podcast, every podcast that I do, this one that I'm doing right now, I hesitated for over a year. I I wrote this in my notes over a year ago, come see a man. And I wrote down a few notes about what the episode should be about, but I avoided it. And I know, and when you hear me on other guesting on other podcasts, I say, I can do these things because I know the Lord is with me. Because Gideon asked, How am I going to do this? The Lord said, I will be with you, and I always remember that. Gideon didn't feel like a warrior. He didn't act like a warrior. He was hiding in a wine press. I didn't feel like a podcaster. I didn't act like a podcaster. I was scared to talk to people in restaurants. I was scared to talk to people on the streets, let alone getting in front of a microphone. I wasn't ready for this. But God kept calling me anyway. Just like Gideon. God called him anyway, even though he didn't think he was ready. And that's what God's been doing with me, naming me, calling me, forging me. Now I held on to this for over a year, this episode idea. I held on to it for over a year. Not because I didn't believe in the message, because I didn't believe in the man delivering it. I thought if I say this out loud, I can't hide anymore. If I say this out loud I have to step into what he's calling me. So I delayed. I resisted. I wrestled. Just like Gideon, I stayed in the wine press, but that voice didn't stop. And eventually obedience became the only option. So today I'm drawing a line in the sand, not to elevate myself, not to build a platform, not to build a brand, not to chase validation, but to stop shrinking back from the man God has called me to be. This podcast isn't about me. It's about the Christ who called me. It's about the Christ who wouldn't let me stay where I was. It's about the God who's forging me into the man he says I am. Now this phrase come and see a man, it comes from the Bible. Luke four twenty nine, it's the Samaritan woman, the woman at the well. She goes to all of Samaria after Christ moved in her life. She says, Come and see a man who told me everything I've ever done. And then she went and witness to all of Samaria about Christ. She didn't say look at me, look at me now, come follow me. She said no, come and see the man who told me all that I've ever done, who changed my life, and that's what I want you to see. And I want you to see that because I want you to know that he can do that for you. And you can go tell others, come and see the man who changed my life. When people see your life changing, when they see the changes that have happened in your life, how you were becoming a different man, a better man, the man God is calling you to be. When they ask you how are you doing this, you can say, Come and see the man who's done all this for me. Come and see the man who changed me. Come and see the man who made me a better husband. Come and see the man who made me a better father. Come and see the man who made me a better community leader. Not come and follow this podcast guy who told me how to change all of these things. I may tell you, give you some ideas and give you some insights, and they're all going to come from the Bible. They're not coming from me. They're coming from Christ. I want you to come and see the man that is using me to speak, the man who is forging me into something I can never become on my own. Now, if you're a man who feels like he's been falling short, if you're a man who feels like he's been hiding, if you're a man who's afraid of being seen, come and see the man who called you anyways. Now if this spoke to you, if Christ is stirring something within you, I want to invite you to walk this out with me. Not to follow me, not to build my platform, but to join me in lifting him up so others can see him, not me, not this podcast, not you even, but the man working through you, the Holy Spirit working through you. So if you want to be a part of a brotherhood of men being forged by Christ, follow the podcast, subscribe on YouTube or whatever platform stream you are listening on, not to listen to me, but to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking through me, using me. I also have a community on school that I'll have in the show notes, but that is again not about me. I may be running it, leading it. It's just to be honest, I'm not doing much with it, and it's probably still the same thing. I am very hesitant about doing anything too quickly because I don't want this to ever come off as this is, hey, look what Mark Osborne is doing. This isn't about Mark Osborne. This is a Christian, faith-based podcast because I want it to be about Christ. And any community, anything that I'm building, I don't ever want it to be about me. Now, I, you know, I'd love to hear comments. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this. I will give you the answers that I feel like Christ is giving me if you have questions. Comment, uh, send a text, whatever. I get comments on Spotify once in a while. I get I love the comments on YouTube, and if I get comments anywhere else, I'm more than happy to respond and help you. Let me know what you think of all this. Let me know if you struggle with this. Have you been hiding for a long time because you don't want to chase validation? Because this is what the world is about nowadays. Everybody wants to show themselves on their social media platforms. And I think social media is good if it's used in the right way. And that's really my heart is to use this in the right way. Because I've been there. I've been the one to chase the followers and the validations and the likes, and I don't want it ever to be about me. So I'm gonna end this with I normally say stay strong, stay valiant, keep forging your path and be blessed. And that is true. But I'm doing it a little different this time because I don't want you to see me. I want you to come and see the man who changed me, made me the man that I am, and is continuing to forge me into the man God is calling me to be, and he, not me, can forge you as well.