Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Um, I want to welcome Dennis Dennis. It's been great to, you know, Lenny, all LaGuardia has been trying to introduce me to you for, I don't know, a year or two. I don't even know how long but a while, but he's always like, man, you're going to love this guy. And I met you at Casey last week at a coffee shop and you pulled up in this just masculine truck and you're awesome. You're awesome. Already do so. But we had coffee together. And so Hey, on the, on this episode, we're going to be talking about when fathers turn their hearts to next generation. And Dennis is based in Kansas city. He actually runs a ministry called turning hearts. And his entire passion is to literally disciple families. I mean, this guy is like, you're rare and you're pretty amazing guy. And they also have, they also host a house gathering, which is kind of like a house church and he's just very passionate about equipping people and empowering people. So Dennis welcome.
Speaker 1 00:00:48 Yeah. Thanks a blunt. No, uh, it's great to be here. I appreciate the opportunity. Like you were saying, it was great to meet you last week here in Kansas city and love any opportunity to speak into the lives of men, to the lives of family. Uh, what an area of need a neglected area. I would say we have those ministries over there in the back, and if you ask hard enough, you might find somebody that can help with those. But, uh, but it's our everyday life, you know,
Speaker 0 00:01:20 I
Speaker 1 00:01:20 Spent every day it's parenting and marriage and anyway, so yeah,
Speaker 0 00:01:26 A hundred percent man. And we're going to, we're going to kind of walk through a little bit of Luke a little bit Genesis, a little bit of war, how this family is bred for war are prepared for war. So we've got a really fun, um, kind of agenda laid out here for you, but as we kind of get into it, you know, the, the problem and I'm not picking on the church, I don't want to pick on the church time for the church. Um, you know what I mean? Like we're called yeah, it right. Like, cause in the marketplace I could have been a multimillionaire millionaire. What way by now? I was like, I was like, Lord, I gave you the sweet days of my life and I'm going to continue till, till the end of my days, you know, fighting for your name and your church.
Speaker 0 00:02:08 But yes, it is an issue. It is, there is an issue when, um, the concept of discipleship has turned into a program in the church culture and I'm not against programs. I think that can be very helpful, but they can't replace this concept of fathering and mothering. You know, I call it the lost art of mothering and fathering. So I mean, dude, I'm talking to Dennis Aldi, you're in Kansas city. You're passionate about this raising of men to, to disciple the family. So give us a little bit of your passion man. And then we'll get into the agenda.
Speaker 1 00:02:39 Yeah, no, uh, it's a long story, but um, I have S uh, got married 30 something years ago. Uh, had seven kids. So we had quite an affinity for, for a lot of fun in the house. Uh, but for my whole life knew there had to, the Bible has have a real answer. You know what I mean? It can't just be this thing we attend on Sunday, but we go home and we're just in chaos and no hope for the house. And then as well, I'll even throw in the reality that growing up in a Christian home, I had great parents, so blessed, not, you know, I'm so thankful for the heritage I have in the Lord, in my family and the impact that had on me. But at the same time, how many of our families were just the church has decided when our kids get 15, they rebel.
Speaker 1 00:03:31 Matter of fact, I heard that it devastated me. I was at a Christian conference in, I think it was in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm from the south and the preacher gets up. And at that time he had a couple of kids, but my wife and I, we always said we wanted 13 kids, but we kinda got a little bit exhausted. But, uh, anyway, uh, the guy gets up and he says, you know how it is with children? He said, um, you know, you, you love them and you serve and you train and you do all these wonderful things. And then they hit about 17 years old and they rebel against you and your life is hell, it's terrible. It's a terrible life and everything, all your dreams are crushed. And maybe when they turn 25, 27, you can, uh, try to start to build back the relationships and see if you can be a little bit closer to him. And I'm sitting in that meeting, I'm just like, I need a new religion.
Speaker 1 00:04:27 That's what Christianity offers. Then I'm guaranteed. My kids are going to rebel and my life is going to be held while they're doing it, worried about them. I literally, we need a new God. The God we serve, isn't able enough or don't have kids, don't get married, have kids they may have. But, and I knew that wasn't the case. And so all of these things, the Lord using in my life, and then we're, we're having a lot of kids and I'm like, there has to be a way, uh, the Bible has to speak to generations, knowing the Lord. And, and so I, you know, I begin to go back and I'll just mention, you know, Exodus, the law, the sins of a father are passed on for three and four generations getting ready to Gordon, to the Genesis part. All of it, the sins of the father passed on for three and four.
Speaker 1 00:05:23 But you know what the righteousness of a father says for thousands of generations. So what an opportunity and God created us as men to have impact, you know? And so I knew I want to impact thousands of generations. So I have turned my heart to the generations, my own children. I even turned my heart to my own parents, you know, honor them. But the verse I was going to mention, you take, get into it. Genesis chapter 17 is the very famous covenant where God cuts with. And, and I don't remember exactly when, but if you'll go to Genesis 17, I'm going to guess it's about verse 18. But somewhere in that range, you know, and God cuts covenant with Abraham. And he says in your seed will be as many as the stars in the sky and the sands of the head. But it keeps saying it's an everlasting covenant from generation to generation.
Speaker 1 00:06:21 And that is how I define the turning of my heart. I'm, I'm looking to the generation that went before me, those guys older than me. And I'm saying, come on, give me what you got, give me what I need. And then I'm turning around. I'm being as active as possible, which is way more than sometimes my kids want active is possible, training them in righteousness, giving them my art. You know, it'd be way easier to check out and just make all the money you mentioned. You know, it'd be way easier to provide for them, so to speak, but not give them my own heart.
Speaker 0 00:06:58 It's a big mistake that's being made in his church. And I think most of it's just cause people don't. I mean, the scriptures are clear that people perish for a lack of vision, right? Prophetic revelation. God has given us the strategy. I kind of look, I kind of look at what you're saying right now is kind of like, you know, I don't, I liken it to zeal. Like I don't have to muster up zeal belongs to God. I just got to get close to God. And his deal's going to become part of me, succinct thing with training, turning our hearts, you know, God's always turning his heart to us. And even like, you mentioned an Exodus, I love that because God will deal with us and discipline, but just for a generation or two, but his reward is for thousands. You know? Like it just speaks to his grace and his, you know, cause I I'm, I'm very passionate about the word grace because of grace ops.
Speaker 0 00:07:47 But I actually, the Lord turned my heart to Greece because I hated the concept of grace. I hated cheap grace hypercube. I was like, screw grace, you know, like all excuse my language, you know, but I was like, dude, who wants to do anything with grace? Just forget it. I'm tired of it, but God turned my heart to it. And then you start looking in the old Testament, new Testament stuff. And you start to see that even in law, there's grace and even in grace, there's law, you know, when you start to, so, so yeah, man, um, you know, kind of, and I think in the Genesis passage, I might, I'm not a hundred percent sure. So you have Genesis 13 or 17 attached to Abraham's covenant is this phrase, um, that they would possess the gate of their enemy, that they would overcome and possess the gates of their enemies, right? Like this family, this covenant family. And so like it's coming kind of like zeal, right? Like we're good skidding. Just get close to God. He's already got a strategy. You know, he's already got a strategy for your family to win and for you to have great kids and you know, he's got a strategy for everything. Like I don't have to get super creative and muster all this stuff up right now in your name. Right? Turning hearts. You stole that out of the Bible.
Speaker 1 00:08:57 It's all God stuff. I agree. I agree. No wholeheartedly. And, and unfortunately again, just going back to that covenant with Abraham generation upon generation, that we would win in the gates. I mentioned this to you earlier. You know, we, um, most of our homes, well, let me just say this first though, I spent a lot of time with a lot of young man. I do, I mentor several or, and families, my wife and I do a lot of ministry to families. And I'll just be honest. The truth is, is that a lot of our young men that are now husbands and fathers, they just didn't see a good picture of it. So we don't have a lot of confidence that we can do it, which is in my opinion, is where grace comes in. It is this tangible reality of God that we say, you know what?
Speaker 1 00:09:47 I may not know what to do, but I will. We'll win at this. Even I may mess up so many times, there's never this idea of perfection, but it's this grace moving me forward, but it is we're in our families. You know? So often it's husband fight and wife, and they're just constantly trying to work things out, but it's so difficult. And Hey, I know, uh, I've been married 33 years. I understand that. But the Lord's intention, if, if we were supposed to win at the gate and I think you said this to me, Brian, I appreciate it. It's the strength of our family that brings that. And man, there's just there alone. He can be taken out, but when he's got his father and grandfather and his children and their children, you know, the family unit was designed to win and to win at war against wicked forces in heavenly places and against an enemy.
Speaker 1 00:10:45 That's trying to stop those generations from passing on. You know, if, if God's covenant was for the generations, the enemy come and start cutting that, passing it on from Dennis's generation, my children's generation, he wins. He knocks out several decades and generations of people, which is where we are today. You know, again, I don't think the church, you mentioned the church. I don't think the church intentionally found ourselves here, but by a lot of good tactics of the enemy and we haven't men fathers, haven't been able to rise up to that challenge to go in and pass on what God gave us to that next generation. For the sake I've told my kids and my wife and I, we teach his parenting class. I tell everybody the bad news is this, okay? We're not going to know if you were a good parent till way after you're dead.
Speaker 1 00:11:42 And you know, my goal is just that they move out of the house and have jobs and can pay their own bills. I know, but that is a terrible goal. I mean, it's, I pray all our kids do that, but I have one goal in life. And instead at least 10 to 15 generations after me or teaching their children, what I taught mine, I'm going to be long gone before I'll ever know if I was successful as a parent because we are after the generations, we're after turning our heart. And so that, that turning to me is extremely practical. It's what people have to quit their jobs, but it is a priority and an engagement of heart, something other than our job as men, I'm speaking directly to men. Cause I appreciate this being, uh, a ministry to impact the man. So
Speaker 0 00:12:38 Yeah, actually, you know, grace offices for the whole family, but we aimed it in cause it's the spirit and man, this, you know, you mentioned so many things there that I'd love to take an hour or two to unpack, just start skim, you know, kind of hit through it. But there's, you know, you mentioned like arguing with your wife, you know, and, and you mentioned, uh, younger guys not feeling like they were prepared. I mean, I'm probably one of those guys, even though you're pretty close in age, but I'm, you know, as a younger guy, I never really had like, yeah, I didn't know what I, you know, I didn't come to cars. So I was like 17, you know, no one really, I wouldn't. I went out and looked for father types, but no one really trained me or, you know, showed me the way.
Speaker 0 00:13:22 I mean the kind of did, I'm not, I'm not saying I'm just been a lone ranger, but yeah, it is tough sometimes when you're like, you know, I've got four daughters and you know, am I doing good as a father? Um, probably in a lot of ways. Yes. Probably a lot of ways. No, you know, like it could be working on it and you know, like you'd said earlier, like it's not about perfection. You know, we say that our culture all the time is about pursuit. You know, it's just keep trying again, like, you know, even as I, as I lead people all the time, I'm like, it's never too late. You could be 60 and it's never too late to turn your heart to your children. You know, you could have totally screwed it up your whole life. Right. And, but the power, when a father turns as hard to the children, I mean, it's never too late for that.
Speaker 0 00:14:07 Right? Like it could be the last two weeks of your life. And it could be the most redemptive, powerful thing that your kids could remember. Right. Like I'm just saying like, there is a power when a man turns his heart and I personally, I'll just kind of throw a cup this in here real quick. Like I had to give myself permission all these years. I'm not going to read the Bible every year and I'm going, I'm okay with that. Like, you know, there's this Christian performance and I'm the same as bad. If you want to read your Bible, I want to read my Bible every day. Cause that's where my strength comes from. But dude, I had to give myself permission. No one taught me that I just had to realize, I don't learn that way. That's wait. Like I didn't go to college. I'm more of an entrepreneur type guy.
Speaker 0 00:14:47 I don't need college. And it's like, I'll figure it out as I go. But if you give you put me in a college where I got to read a hundred pages a day, I might as well just end my life, dude. It's over. Like, that's just to me, that's death, you know, that's death by reading, you know? So it's like, I can't do. And I had to do the same thing in my parenting where it was like, I just found this passage, what does Deuteronomy six, right? Where there's Shamal the hero, Israel, the Lord that God is born in. But it goes on right after that. And it talks about, you should model this to your children. Like as you walk, as you talk at dinner time, as you lay them down to go to bed and I was like, I can do that. So I just picked out a few little things.
Speaker 0 00:15:22 Now I've been super busy, the last two or three months. And I'm already a busy guy, but I've been extra busy, just doing a lot of stuff for grease offs and getting things ready. But I've told my family, I, I talked to my spew days. I'm like, man, dads, I'm back now. I'm just busy now. I'm not crazy busy. I'm like, I'm going to make time for you guys. And you know, I'm sorry. I know I've been. And I, and I've actually in the midst of the business, I tried to take them out of Roughrider for launch. And you know, I did do little things like that, but you're so right, man, there's such a power talk. Let's talk about the, well, we could lay down a couple of things, right? So we got, cause we referenced Psalm 1 27. We know that that's a very popular verse unless the Lord builds the house we labor in vain.
Speaker 0 00:16:02 Right? Those who build it unless he watches over the city. Well, you know, when it says, God builds a house, he's building, you know what lives inside a house as a family. And so God I've always seen it that God's building a global redemptive family through a chosen people called Israel and in Christ, we're grafted into the mission strategy of sanctifying, the name of God through his people to set apart his name by the way we live. So, um, and then it goes on verse three, children are heritage or reward. Verse four is like, they're like arrows in the hands of a warrior, right? Five is like the man who fills those quiver with them. So th this man is busy with his purpose, says he won't be put to shame when he stands with this enemy and the gate. And the Lord showed me that that was clearly about generations. You know, enemies, not afraid of one man, but he's afraid of one man. That's bringing generations.
Speaker 1 00:16:50 Yes. Yes. I agree. Totally that the verses you're using, they're like arrows in the hands. So I'm, I love bow hunting. I'm a big hunter and all this. I teach archery, uh, classes all the time. And I use that verse. I believe it or not. Every parent wants me to teach their kids. Cause I take that verse. And I say, so let me ask you guys a question. You're all 16 years old in the room. You're learning how to shoot about us. I want y'all to pick up your era and just set it over there and see if it will shoot itself. Now, speak to it, say, shoot itself, hit the target. And of course it's an impossibility. And I said, you got to remember kids. You're an arrow in the hands of a warrior. You better know who your warrior is and your warrior shoots you out and we've missed the enemies.
Speaker 1 00:17:35 Come in. And he's telling kids, oh, your parents don't understand. They were of a generation that was whatever. They didn't have cell phones and understand your life. And it's a lie from the devil. It's absolutely kids, an arrow has to have a warrior to hit the target. And I find what's hitting a target to me hitting the target is fulfilling the destiny that God made you forward. And so we, that has been so broken in the Christian community. We, the church unintentionally bit into the lie that God wants me to go do a new thing and yeah, you'll do the new thing. But the new thing will be under the direction of generations. It'll have the anointing of past generations and then it will have the ability to even get passed on more and on into that next, because of exactly what you said, we will be in a minute.
Speaker 1 00:18:32 The gate is for this purpose. We, as men are created to build little families that become armies and we're put in locations to deal with the surrounding environment of those. But we're just so busy having to wrestle with our kids, with our wife that we're just, and again, that's not like you're terrible if you're doing that. No, we're all fair. But the point that we can come together and say, you know what, I'm not against you. My wife or my kids aren't against me or each other. We're together to fight the enemy at the gate. That's the purpose. I think in all this,
Speaker 0 00:19:12 You know, you said something when we were together in Kansas city, that really stuck with me. And I learned in that moment from you, I thought it was really cool when you were, you just talked about how a father, cause we were talking about, well, how do we do this? Right? Like how do we do Bible studies and get this? How do we train the kids? Right. And cause that's something that's been really hard for me. Cause it's like, I've been through those sessions where you call your kids to the dinner table and you're like, Hey, we're going to, we're going to go through Psalm 1 27 or whatever, you know? And they're late. They're like, I'd rather be dragged behind our car. You know? And I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, but this is the word of God and we're going to do it. And I've even had to discipline before the thing starts.
Speaker 0 00:19:53 And I'm like, oh, this isn't going. This is terrible. Right. As it starts. But you know, you, you put this out there and it, it actually is very free because I'm going to practice this now for the next couple of decades, because you're like the role of a father is to discern being, we need. And I was like, oh my gosh, you know, you're like maybe they just need to have some fun play a game. And then in the midst of the game you're and I was like, oh my gosh, that's such a better approach than this religiosity of like, you know, cause I'm trying to do it to be a good dad, but I'm also maybe trying to check off the list. Right? Like doing that stuff I'm supposed to do. Cause I never, I wasn't raised like this, you know, so I'm figuring it out. So that was really good advice, man.
Speaker 1 00:20:31 I remember reading in the scriptures where it said where the priest of our homes and then there's another scripture. And I don't remember where they are. I'm not good at that. But another scripture says the job of the priest was to discern the body. And so I can remember, you know, again, I still have four kids living at home and my youngest is now 18. So, um, um, you know, coming home from work one day and there's just stress in the house and, and it's family night. And so in my family, we did that. There was one thing I, I can't, I can't say it enough, but again, it's not for the rule of this. It's for the, I'll use your word, the grace of it. We had a night of the week. That was family night. And I'll tell you, dad, didn't miss it.
Speaker 1 00:21:16 I turned down every opportunity that took me from family. And I know I'm booked solid that night. I don't care if it was $10 million. I'm booked solid that night. I got a commitment because I wanted to teach my family that my heart was for them, way above other things. But the point in those family nights was I would get there and do just what I said to you. You know, my family is stressed out. What we need to do is watch the Lord minister to us as a family just by us having fun together. And so, yeah, there's times where we, we teach how to worship young kids, how to have a quiet time. We teach how to obey parents. We, it, but it's never just this order about it's what is the family need? So yeah, it's been a huge in our family. And numerous times I could tell that our family just needed to chill. So we put in a movie that we like and just chill, you know? And, and,
Speaker 0 00:22:16 And what's cool about this too, is like, you know, earlier when you were saying like guys fire their wives or they're distracted with their job goals and that kind of success goals, um, cause you know, I talked to marketplace guys, you and I are more called towards the church, you know, but then you've got those guys that are gifted and skilled and they are called to the marketplace. Right? So for them, I know guys that make mistakes and make hundreds of thousands of dollars. You know, they, they fall down a stairwell and you know, gold falls all their pocket. They just have the ability to make money. Right. Make well, they're just have that gift. And so, you know, we want to talk to them and I got a guy right now, that's a multimillionaire. Uh, then he, he lost everything in 2008. He's actually going to be on the podcast.
Speaker 0 00:22:56 Uh, he's coming on the grease ops team actually help families build wealth, you know, and help them be smart. Like he's like, yeah, he's like, I want to get into your budget and help you find a hundred bucks by saving some money and doing a, B and C so that we can take that, invest it, you know? So he's a rare guy because it's hard to find that type of guy that will just help anybody, you know, in the financial sector. But, but anyway, you know, for him, um, it was just like, Hey, slow down. Like, so I'm bringing this up because like we live, I believe we live in the busiest culture maybe ever on planet earth. There's so much stress, finances. COVID all of the madness of COVID. Um, you know, tyranny, all kinds of stuff that we see rising up. And so God sitting back patient sovereign going, they're going to get it one of these days that it is about the, my global family called the kingdom of God advancing God's government and the earth, you know?
Speaker 0 00:23:51 And so, and we do that through families. We do that through discipleship. I mean, that's what Jesus set up, the great commission it's, you know, cause back then, Jesus didn't ha it wasn't like the great commission program that everybody came to join. He went up to them personally said, Hey, come follow me. And then they lived with them for three years and it was very expensive and it costs them a lot. But, and then at the end of three years, he's already died. You know, I always say this because we forget it. Sometimes we forget that when Jesus did the great commission, when he commissioned his disciples, he was already, he was already in his resurrected body had already died, you know? So he came back to put on the finishing touches because all rabbis would commission their disciples and then he had to send them in Jerusalem to get the power, you know, the power of the holy spirit.
Speaker 0 00:24:34 But, uh, but you know, it's just, there's so much stress dude is it's insane. And it's eating even the church alive, right? Like, yeah. So we just, a lot of times I'm like, just, if, if you guys, if people could just learn to tap the brakes, learn to slow their life down, not be controlled by like one of the things we had to tap the brakes on when, in our earlier days with our children, our girls was religious sports. My kids liked sports, but we didn't like it as a family that it was so controlling. So like overbearing, it's like my kid's not going to be, she's not aiming to be professional. She's just trying to be a kid having fun and learning some team dynamics, you know, but there's just such this intensity of like, they're not in it when they're in third grade and fifth grade and sixth, they're not ever going to have a chance in junior high. And I was like, whoa, whoa. You know, like they got to miss Wednesday night. You can't be a church. We're going to be doing sports stuff on Sundays. And as a family, that was tough. Cause like, it's like guys, I'm like, we gotta make a decision as a family if we even want sports in our life. But that's a tough one, man. Cause we've said no to a lot of opportunities like that because we won't tolerate it.
Speaker 1 00:25:43 You know, I, I totally agree on, I'll make a statement that, you know, in my life and I started out and we were having kids and having family times a week, we had to learn so many things in our own marriage. And then as the Lord did them in our marriage did in my personal life first, uh, with me as a man trying to figure out what does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be a godly man, a husband and a father and, and the Lord really sealing and beginning the process of sealing me, my identity as just somebody, God likes a whole lot. And, and you know, wrestling, what makes me godly? What does it make? And just having to get rid of all that. And so the Lord miraculously does this work and he's still my number one need every day is God.
Speaker 1 00:26:30 What do you think about me today? Because if I let my mind figure it out, man, I'll be tossed to and fro here and there being busy, being all these things. But in that we learned some phrasing that helps us. But it sounds almost like when I, how do I do that? So I kind of hate to say it, but it's goal was to capture my own heart as a main, what do you mean capture your heart? It's to get in touch with the weakness, with the reality and the honesty of who I am as a man, and then let my wife see that because, and I'll say this now often your wife tries to say that and we criticize her. She'll show us a weakness. And I will bet if you'll just do this, this and this let's come up with a new, and then we as men, occasionally we'll be vulnerable enough to show our wives, our heart.
Speaker 1 00:27:26 And they're just like, well, that's your loser, you know, whatever. And, and, and so we, as, as, as brothers and sisters, husband, and wife, but brothers, sisters in Christ don't even know what our own hearts are often. And men have a way harder time with that than women, right? But then the vulnerability to share it with someone. And if you can do that as a man, if you can capture your own heart, share it with your wife. And she's probably going to trample it a few times because she's, but I need you to remember, you've done that to her numerous times. So it's not like she's the bad one here. The goal of the parenting and passing onto this generation, turning our hearts to that next generation is to give them our heart. That's not to say, I can say, dad, you need to give your kids your heart and you need to capture their heart.
Speaker 1 00:28:16 I promise you, if you give a child your heart, you will have captured there. Every movie we ever watched, Bri, if you ever go to something and you mentioned like it's not too late at 60. And there's some things that I did in the last moments of his life were, comes a vulnerable. And the whole place is weeping and tears. We were created to know our heart, to give our heart and to share that heart with a spouse and then our children. And if you do that, your children's hearts will be, I mean, it's Malika four or five and six to the maximum. The hard part is, is for men. It's it really, it took probably a long time. I'm not gonna say, I mean years, cause I still probably am struggling, but really know the heart of who I am is Dennis Ali, my strengths, my weaknesses not try to hide the weight, but really even trust the wife that she won't trample.
Speaker 1 00:29:17 You know? And when it's not that a wife is bad, it's, it's just, all of life tells us. We're terrible when our weaknesses come public. And so critiqued by how we do rather than cancel culture, right? Everything is that. And, and so, but, but I want to throw out the statement. I'll encourage people, make this, your prayer. Lord, tell me what you think about me and help me connect with my own heart so I can give it to my wife and kids, even if it hurts, even if it hurts because we're after again, the very phrase of what we're talking about, turn our hearts. We've got to have our hearts.
Speaker 0 00:29:55 Well, when you said that about the movie theater, just you just think about the power of a turn heart, right? Like in, in, like you're saying, like when we understand what God's seen over us, what, what what's happening is a couple of things, right? We're getting words of healing, spoken words of new identity identity is what drives behavior. And that's where the church gets it a little backwards because we, religion likes to crack the whip on behave a certain way. We're, it's impossible to behave wholly if I don't know God, right? Like it's impossible. If I don't know my identity, it's just impossible. I wouldn't even really desire it. I'll just be trying something that I don't like, you know, just kicking against the goad I was anxious or whatever, but the identity of Silicon, our culture of grace ops, you know, we would have, we would apply the, of the five-star charge.
Speaker 0 00:30:50 The word that we chose for this turning hearts is affection that we would actually, as men, we would use it like an Advil. And I like how you're describing the relationship with the wife and have grease and take, take a couple on the chin. Cause you've given her a few on the chin, you know? So I like that because I've got that tension in my marriage and you know, authenticity is a very powerful thing and it draws people because what it says is I don't have it all together, but maybe together we can figure it out, you know, or I don't have it all together. But, um, I think there's a better way, right? Like, so, and we say that even in, in Grace House, we're all about building your band of brothers all about getting at least two guys that you can be vulnerable with, that you can actually be authentic with and do the five star charge.
Speaker 0 00:31:40 Do you know, let's do this thing called discipleship. Let's, let's train each other. Let's raise each other up and change challenge and challenges, a good word yet. Let's challenge one another. And you know, because a powerful, uh, in a, in a marriage is powerful, but I also want to challenge men to go outside of your marriage and get a couple guys and really do that. And I know you're about that too, but you do that thing because a lot of times too, it can be beneficial to me to talk to us, to my band of brothers and authentic way. Um, also helps me in my relationship with my wife. I there's certain things I'll do with my band of brothers, a certain type of dialogue or content that I'll have with them that I probably won't get around to with my wife, you know? And, um, although she knows me, intimately knows everything about me and, and will correct me in a heartbeat. And I always, I always tell people I'm going to make it to heaven because of Jesus blood and my wife.
Speaker 0 00:32:40 I'm like, my wife is always trying to save me. But, uh, no, that's very hard for me to, so our chair challenge of affection is let's give our affection to our wives. Let's give our affection to our children. Let's even do what Jesus said in this is tough. Give our affection to our enemies. Let's care about those who even hate us. Jesus did that so well. And then, you know, w we'll find ourselves becoming the men who are like him in nature, you know, so, and that takes, it takes a band of brothers that takes a community to raise a child, right? Like it takes, it takes, focus, takes focus in this day of madness, you know, and right now the enemy wants everyone to believe. Just like, you've already shared, it's hopeless. You can't win it's you guys have already lost the battle. You might as well hang it up. And it's just not true, man. Once the church awakens his word, like the guy in the movie, we might be a little late to the game, but when we turn the heart, man, the power, God flows and the nations, you know what I mean? So it's like, we want it all to happen right now, but we're not going to be late. Cause God's the one that wins.
Speaker 1 00:33:52 It's true. No, I have to remember that. I mean, again, these aren't just good self-help type tips. I mean, this is the reality of the heart of the creator of the universe. I love your word, grace. I do. Um, I'll remember most God's
Speaker 0 00:34:08 Word.
Speaker 1 00:34:12 I love that you picked it.
Speaker 0 00:34:14 You turned my heart to it.
Speaker 1 00:34:16 We've still misunderstood it, but I'm convinced, you know, when sin, abounds, grace much more, I think, okay. When I'm tempted to sin, there's supposed to be something much more available than this temptation to sin. Do I find it right? Is it here? And, and, and I am convinced it is. And it helps me in those moments of seeing it because I'm convinced. And again, I think I had a definition given to me about grace. It was the power to be who God created you to be. And therefore do what God called you to do, you know, and in the church is just what you said. We kinda mix it up and put the emphasis on behavior are, go act perfect. And your identity, what you know, but without the, without being who God made me to be this, the power to be Dennis, when he made Dennis, it was exactly what he wanted with the things I don't like about myself, but he likes, and I'm not talking about sins.
Speaker 1 00:35:17 I'm talking about just things about me, like my big feet. You know what I mean? Not always quite so big, but the Lord likes him purpose in him. And so embrace liking those things and being Dennis is now empowering me in those moments of sand. And, and it's transforming me. It's doing those very things to be the man God made me to be. And you know, so many fathers have called me up and they're like, man, I don't have any idea what to do with my family. And uh, you know, can you tell me something? I said, look, it matters not what you do. Just do. I'm telling you will happen. And that's the encouragement is just turn the heart. You don't have to have the right words to say every time. It, matter of fact, as we've said, it's in those moments when we're in front of our wife and kids are just not in front of them, we're just around the supper table and we just totally screw it up and we leave and everybody's mad later we call our buddy back and say, y'all know what, I just screwed it up. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me? Fat is in pot is, in my opinion, is powerful. Pulling out the scriptures and doing a 200 point message on grace or on any subject salvation, you know?
Speaker 0 00:36:39 Well, when you put it that way, it makes me think of the word righteous because we kind of think in our, in our mindsets that, you know, doing it righteous or holy is to do it right the first time. And that's true. But when we make it right, that's just, it's like accredited to associate's righteous Lord. When the dad turns as hard, a couple hours later, oh man. Cause I'm a, I'm a type a go getter. Um, if I didn't have a family, I'd work 20 hours a day. Not because I'm a workaholic. I don't, I just love to grind. You know, I love to innovate just all this stuff. So I'm not, I'm not justifying saying them. Right. I understand. But, um, I'm, I'm a grinder type guy. And so, you know, there's the biting and producing. When I wake up, it's, I'm more bent to produce. So I have to, I have to make myself a bide and I know a lot of people who are more bent to abide and I'd like to make them produce a little bit. I'm like, he's got, you can just sit here all day. I mean, sit here long enough and then go, you know, but man,
Speaker 1 00:37:45 The brothers comes in literally.
Speaker 0 00:37:47 Yeah. And I think our band of brothers, you know, there's this, you said Christianity, isn't about self hoping it that's. I mean, dead on, I mean, there's, it's about self, it's a self death movement. It's not as if you want to come alive in these things die, you know? And that's what my band of brothers is going to help me with. They're going to in, in the most, this is the hard part. This is the hard part for me. Okay. So I've been serving Christ following Christ 25 years or maybe a little longer. And you know what, I really need still more than anything. And what you need is we need healing. We just need salvation to heal us. You know, salvation, isn't a box we check, like we got that mastered, like God showed me that he's like, he was like in Titus two, 11 and 12, which is the grease offs versus that's where it all comes from.
Speaker 0 00:38:40 I just two 11 says for the grace of God brings salvation. And I, and the Lord stopped me once. And he was like, don't ever separate grace and salvation. They're always connected. And I'm like, okay. And he's like, he's like, he's like, you don't get it yet. You still don't understand salvation. Like, don't think that you understand it. You can have understanding of it, but you don't master it. You don't master salvation. We don't master it. We're still catching up to the finished work of the cross. We, I don't know what all that means. What does that mean? When Jesus dealt with all my iniquities? I don't know the generations, the sins of my fathers and grandfathers Jesus was dealing with on the cross. And I, I get, I mean, so in one instance, we're like already there, but in another instance we're still catching up to, it's still still manifesting.
Speaker 0 00:39:25 You know, it's still, so really the essence of my band of brothers, like this is the hardest thing, right? Cause there's a lot of broken masculine in the world and there's a lot of pain and I really just need a group of guys to serve me healing. I'm going to, if it stings a little, right. But just like, let me have a place where I can let my guard down. And I don't feel like I'm just going to get the flame thrower approach. You know, don't try to fix me. You know what I mean? Like that's a tough one. Don't just let me be heard. Let me be real slow to come in and fix me. Be real slow. It doesn't mean that we don't offer instruction, but you just let a guy bleed, let them ache. You know, there's a phrase in the scriptures that says, um, we're fearfully and wonderfully made and it says our soul knows it very well.
Speaker 0 00:40:12 So there's actually a, a thought out there that I ran into that as the mouth speaks, the pain in the broken parts of us, that the ear hears it. And the soul knows who we really are. And there's a self activating type of healing that we engage with the father. I believe that it goes all the way back to the womb and just wild stuff. Right. But what I really need even 25 years in, right. I need healing. I need Christ. I need his presence. I need his identity. Like you said, I need to know what are you seeing over me today? You know, because we live in a world of madness and this crazy, but the cool thing is, is this bringing it all to a head and it's going to cause us to really face and decide what really matters. You know, Hey man, I agree with you.
Speaker 0 00:41:00 You and I, uh, I like you, man. You're great. I gotta hang on. I'm glad that Lenny introduces Lenny was extra, supposed to be with us today. For those of you, money was going to be with us. But he, uh, he does this thing on Thursdays. We're filming this on a Thursday. He's uh, he takes a day off and he was like, I might not be able to make it. And Hey, you know what? That's awesome. I was like, lady, your day off, bro. Like, that's fine. Well, that just means we're going to have to do another one and do a different topic. And Hey, just to wrap it up, if you want to offer any thoughts on the Luke one identity passage about John the Baptist. And so that he's going to be like Elijah and turn to the hearts of the fathers, to the children and I'm missing something there. I probably should read it because at the end it says,
Speaker 1 00:41:42 And the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the righteous and to make people ready for the prepared or ready for the local,
Speaker 0 00:41:50 Right. Or for a lot of people prepared. So, you know, we've talked about this, family's built for war. We're supposed to be sanctifying and sending parts, name of God, you know, through modeling this to generations. And then in Luke's passage, I love it. Cause it's like this turning of the heart is attached to somehow helping people be prepared ultimately to stand before God, but just be prepared in life. So talk about that. As we, as we wrap up, man,
Speaker 1 00:42:18 No, I, it, it it's, it, it happens. I think it is a natural progression again. And I'll take it in maybe its simplest form. So we have children and those fathers parents turning their hearts to the children, capturing those children's hearts. All of a sudden those children want me to teach them, uh, morals, Christian. They want me to teach him my faith. They want to, they belong to have their daddy space, which is exactly the intent of that generational transfer. And that prepares them for the Lord. I mean that prepares them for the world. It makes them ready. But, but somehow in our culture and the day we live in today, the church, unfortunately again, and I just so agree, man. I'm so a part of the church. So when I'm talking about church, I'm not pointing a finger in any way, but again, it's so unintentionally, we listen to the enemy, the world saying, oh, you don't want to pressure your kids.
Speaker 1 00:43:22 You got to let them make their own decisions. And you got to, but the Bible Deuteronomy six that you meant talk about it when you get up, talk about it. When you lie him, talk about it. When you walk along, I put it on the board poster. I mean, it's pear where to be preparing. And again, I'm taking this Luke one verse and taking it to just the simplicity of a parent, preparing a child for the world. And then even on a greater sense, the gospel of the Lord, Jesus preparing neighbors, people for him to come back, you know, Elijah's job or John, the Baptist was to make ready so that the Lord himself could show up and the people would be ready for that moment. And that moment's coming again. He's coming again. And so we're about today, the turning of our hearts, because the Lord does his inheritance is a people, a nation, you know, nations. And, and so it absolutely it does. It prepares our hearts. We know there's so much, we need to know the season we live in, what's the Lord doing on the earth and how do we get in a line with that? And so, uh, it's another big subject in my opinion of, of what this preparing is. And, and, but it naturally happens when we give our heart, we receive a heart from a generation and we're given ours to the next it naturally prepares I believe.
Speaker 0 00:44:46 Yeah. And ultimately it's God's strategy, you know?
Speaker 1 00:44:50 Yeah. It's so expandable. His plans work
Speaker 0 00:44:56 Well say, yeah, it's just, God's way. It's where he did it. You know, where he put it out there. So, well, Hey man, it's been good. It's been rich rich episode where I have to do this again, bro. I would enjoy well, thanks for being with us today, Dennis. Um, as always the way always thanks for tuning in to the grease house podcast. And until next time live upright.
