Battle, Adventure, and Beauty with John Eldredge

Hey Brave Coleman, this week's podcast is from our BraveCo conference last year. It's John Eldredge's message about getting adventure into your life. I hope you enjoy it. Have a great week.

We live in a time where masculinity is shamed, and men don't know what it means to be a man. As a pastor and counselor, I've spent the better part of my life equipping and training others. My goal with this show is to translate my hard-earned experience into tools and tactics to help you become stronger as a man. This is a BraveCo podcast. I'm your host, Jason Valentin.

So, we're going to take a journey of the heart this afternoon and this evening. Proverbs 4:23. Danny quoted this morning. We're going to come back to that verse. Now, Proverbs 4:23: "Above all else," we're going to throw that up on the screen, "above all else, it's your heart, guys, because it is the wellspring of life. From it flows the issues of life." Okay, the heart is the center of the action. Okay, a heart, the heart is a phenomenal thing to have because with a heart, you can love, and you can fall in love. With a heart, you can laugh. With a heart, you can have friendships. With a heart, you can chase your dreams. You can enjoy your adventures. I mean, a heart is a really phenomenal thing to have. And without a heart, without a heart, you can't love. And without a heart, you can't have joy. And you can't crack up. And without a heart, you can't actually know God.

If you, if you take a brief cruise through the scriptures, it's, it's, it's all about the heart. The heart is the center of the action. "Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against you." Right. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding." Right. "The eyes of the Lord look to and fro throughout the earth for those whose hearts are fully His, that He might show Himself mighty on their behalf." Right. You see, I mean, all through it. And Jesus, when He is agonizing over these incredibly infuriating people, highly religious people are the hardest people to be around. They're just so infuriating. And what He says is, "Well, they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are in another county." Right. They're just far from. So, you get that. It's Paul praised this phenomenal prayer in Ephesians 3, that God would strengthen you in your inmost being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart. Okay.

So, the heart's the center of the action in all the, all the progress. In fact, even courage. Okay, from a French word, the word "cœur," which is the word "heart." It is courage is to have heart. Okay. So, if you're going to make any progress in your life, any headway anywhere, finding your mission, finding a girl, maintaining a marriage, winning the hearts of your kids, you know, on and on and on, finding joy. If you're going to have any progress in your heart, in your life, it is because you are becoming more wholehearted. The, the journey is a journey towards wholeheartedness. And the mission of Jesus is the restoration of the heart. That's, that's the goal. That's, that's where we're going. All right.

So, I want to pray together and just invite Jesus to do that with us over these sessions. We get to share. Jesus, come from my heart. You don't even need to bow your head. You need to close your eyes. God's the least religious person you'll ever meet.

To everybody he met, but it was one group of people he did not have a whole lot of patience for: highly religious people. So, what we simply ask is, "Oh, Jesus, I would love that. Are you kidding me? Like, to have my whole heart back? That would be amazing. I'm in. I would love to take a journey with you this afternoon and through the whole weekend, through the whole experience. Come from my heart. Come from my heart. I give you access. Okay? I give you access. Help me locate my heart. Show me, God. Let's go. Let's go. The Spirit of a living God, take me into wholeheartedness. Take me on that journey. In the name of Jesus, we pray."

Okay, so Genesis, you get this, um, phenomenal, mythic, early record of things. It's not mythic in the sense that it's not true. It's mythic in the sense that it's global and encompassing and explains everything. Um, you know, God makes the waters and the separation of the waters, and He makes this phenomenal world. And then He does something really extraordinary. "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule.'" Okay. So, "God created man in His own image." We'll put that verse up on the screen. Genesis 1:27: "God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Like that's extraordinary. Gender is filled with so much beauty and dignity and power because gender is how and where you carry the image of God into the world. So, we can't just talk about the heart. You either have the masculine heart, or women have a feminine heart, right? So, when you go on the journey of the heart, it's the journey of the masculine heart, the journey of the masculine soul. Gender is so profound. It is, it is literally at the level of the soul. You will be a man forever, right? When people step into the rest of the reality, when they step into the fullness of the kingdom, they, they are still male and female, and they still rule, by the way. But that bestowing of something that's filled with so dig, so much dignity and honor, right? The Imago Dei, the image of God in you, is in your heart. God gave you His heart as His son. That's how and where, and that's the nuclear powerhouse, that's the center of your life, the power center there of passion and beauty and love and fierceness. All of that comes out of the heart, out of the masculine heart that He put within us.

I want to, I want to start this afternoon's journey together, our time, our walk together, by wandering together and accessing what is that, what, what did God set within you uniquely in your masculine soul? Because as Denny said this morning, he said, "There's a calling we all share together. We are men here on the earth in this hour." Can I just add, if you've been appointed to be on the earth in this hour, you are in the Navy SEALs. Like, I'm telling you, like, you kidding me? This is like a gnarly time to be on the earth. We'll get into more of that later and why that is. But, but like, wow, we share this calling to carry the image of the heart of God into the world in our masculinity, in the masculine soul. Okay? But then there's things that God put within you very uniquely. Each man in this room has such a unique story, such a unique set of passions and questions and wounds. All of that. So, we have a commonality that stretches across time and space, and then there's a uniqueness to the masculine soul in you, the masculine heart in you. And that's why you're here, right? You're like, "Oh man, I'd love more of that back. Like, what, God, what do you want to do in me to restore that image in me?"

I, I don't have this quote on the screen, but, um, Saint Irenaeus said that "the glory of God is man fully alive." Is that killer? What? Like, most people, most people have no idea what the gospel is. The gospel is the restoration of your humanity. It is the restoration of the Imago Dei, the image in you. It is a heart that has been made whole and set free.

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Battle, adventure, beauty. Battle, adventure, beauty. These are things that are core to the masculine soul. And you watch that story unfolding in Genesis because God gives us this passionate, powerful heart, sets us in the world to rule, and then things start going sideways, right? And there's battles to be fought, there's adventures to be lived, and there's a beauty to be loved really well, right? That's, that's Adam. Suddenly, he finds himself in that situation. And that's, that's every man's craving. That's every man's story. Battle, adventure, beauty. If you look at what men do with their free time, you learn a lot. If you look at the games little boys play, you learn a lot. Look at the video games that young men love and turn into bestsellers, you learn so much about the masculine soul. Look at what men dream about, what, what they daydream about. What you do, right, will tell you so much about some of the deep things that God put within us together. And God put within you individually, singularly. Battle, adventure, beauty. Love, romance. Okay, let's, let's unpack that for a minute.

Um, I actually want you to do an exercise. We're going to do a number of exercises as we go through here. I want you to list, very quickly, without editing. So, if you've got something to write with, you've got your little journal, do that. If not, you can do this in your head. Uh, online, you can do this very easily. Favorite movies. Don't shout him out. Just, just jot him down for yourself. Favorite movies. List three or four, five, six. Unedited. Just prioritized. Just favorite movies. What are your favorite movies? What stirs your heart? Hmm.

And now look at that list and ask yourself, why? Why those movies? Why do you love them? Jason, favorite movie? Just toss one out. Tombstone. Why?

[Music]

Justin: Wild West, adventure, right? Battles and the justice thing. Yeah. Somebody else, put your hand up. Endless Summer. Right? Exactly. That is actually eternity, by the way. Yeah, I'm not kidding you. Uh, it's Endless Summer. Sorry for you guys who love winter. It's Endless Summer. Why? Why do you love Endless Summer? The surfing road trip film. Why?

[Voice]: Right coast of South Africa. Yeah. Yeah.

Look at him. He's gone. That's beautiful. What else? Somebody, put your hand up. Movie? Yep. 300. Why?

[Voice]: Battle, brotherhood, unity. Right?

You see that? Yeah. I see that visceral, that visceral response to it. Let me have another. Cast Away. Fascinating. Why?

[Voice]: Yeah. Right. He had to rise up. He rescued himself. He had to rise up. He had to come through.

Okay, that's, we're gonna get back to that. That's huge. Yes. Oh, come on. Last one. Last of the Mohicans. Why?

[Voice]: Yes. Yeah. Epic. The battle for oneself, but the battle for the beauty, right?

Come on. Yeah, that's a, just, yeah, that guy's killer. Yes. The Ten Commandments. Okay. Another dated. He's right back there with Endless Summer. So, why? You and Charlton Heston? Bingo. Yeah. Yes. All right, there it is. False identity, real identity, overcoming oppression. Not to mention leading like three million people to freedom, right? And, and face to face with God. Okay.

Now, what's fascinating is, do you hear? There wasn't one, or even repeated within six guys, right? Isn't that fascinating? So, I said, there's something universal that we share, but then it's very particular to you. So, this is a little nugget for later. The movies that you love are telling you some very important things about your soul and your identity, your true name, and your mission. And you just, just tuck that away. Don't, like, can we need to come back? Let's, um, for later. That is a fascinating thing because story is the language of the heart, right? And story speaks in ways that facts and principles and stuff just don't speak. Story speaks. Okay. And so, you look at that and you'll find battle, adventure, beauty. Battle, adventure, beauty. Battle, adventure, beauty. And usually in the same film, or it may, you know, just, uh, encompass one of those themes.

So, let's start with battle. Exodus 15:3. Let's put that scripture up on the screen. Exodus 15:3. So, after The Exodus, right, this unbelievable throwdown. So, Yahweh literally goes to war with the reigning principalities of the earth, who happen to be located in Egypt at the time. They ended up moving over to Babylon. But, and He, it is a throwdown with these guys, okay? And He sets His people free. It, it is the archetype of salvation, right? From bondage to freedom. And they're standing there at the edge of the Red Sea, and here comes the entire Egyptian army in chariots barreling down on them. It's a massacre. It's bloodshed. It's, it's the collapse of Afghanistan, right? And God parts the Red Sea. They go through. Army rushes in. Boom. And it was at that moment that they look back and they go, "The Lord is a warrior. Our God is a warrior. Yahweh is a warrior. The Lord is His name." God has a warrior heart. And you would know this if you just looked at the video games men love to play. You look at your favorite movies. You watch the life of little boys. This is so deeply wired into the masculine soul, the need and the expression of the warrior heart.

Now, I want to add very quickly, it does take unique expressions. And it takes a lot of warrior, for example, to finish college. Takes a lot of warrior to be an artist. So, I'm not just talking about 300, though that's, you know, a killer film. But the warrior heart is in your being because it's in the being of God. It's part of His identity. Yahweh is a warrior, right?

I'm going to put a photo up on the screen of a little boy. He's, I think he's about four years old at this point. And he, this is, he's got on the costume of boyhood. He, right here, it's Thor with the hammer of Thor, which he promptly used on me. This is the son of one of our staff. Little guy, Isaac, is his name. But this is, this is archetypal. I mean, just, I just love this because, like, and it could be Jedi Knights, it could be Spider-Man, a fireman, a cowboy. Like, boyhood, if you just let boys be boys, you see the battle come out pretty quickly. And I was raised in Southern California. There were no guns. No guns in our household. I was raised in a very suburban kind of, you know, and, and nearly lost my soul there. More on that later. But, um, we moved to Colorado. We raised our sons in Colorado. And, and I, I wasn't raised in hunting. I wasn't raised in any of that. My sons would chew their graham crackers into the shape of handguns at the breakfast table. And then, you know, I mean, you just can't make this stuff up. It is so deep in there. Yeah. Okay. Right. So, you get that. And, and that little guy, and, and all little boys like him. It was not women who invented hockey. It was not women who invented the Special Forces. It was not women who invented Airsoft guns, although that was a brilliant piece of marketing, right? Because they're like, "How do we get moms to approve these guns coming in, right?" And so, we'll call them Airsoft guns. Have you been hit by one? There's no air, and there's no soft, right? It hurts. But that is not, that is not a female creation.

In this, is a really fascinating thing. Um, how much do you enjoy losing? Oh, it's just a crusher, right? It's, yeah, exact failing, blowing it, striking out. Why? Why is that so absolutely devastating for the masculine soul? Because you're a warrior, guys. You are a warrior through and through, to the core of your being. God gave you His warrior heart. And again, it gets expressed in different ways. But the pandemic rolls through, crushes humanity, and there was so much anger in men. So, domestic violence went up, right? Drug and alcohol abuse went up, all that during the pandemic. The rage. There's two kinds of drivers in our neighborhood now. This is, this is a fascinating thing to watch. There's very, very timid drivers. People are just creep up to the intersection and then creep through. And then there's the ragers, right, who come flying up on my tail. And I, and, and I carry the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law, in my driving. Um, but these guys, these guys like they're going 20, 25 miles an hour, they get on my tail, and then they just ride my tail so they can get around me. And the, the rage, it comes out in me. "I'm gonna kill you because what you're doing is so unrighteous." Right? So, it's like, yeah. Um, but you see that. Why the rage? Why was rage such a, a fruit of what we all just went through and are still in? Why, why rage? Because men knew we are in the midst of a battle. And I don't know what the battle is. What are we fighting? We're fighting a germ, we're fighting politics, we're fighting masks. You can just feel that. No, you know, kind of thing in you. And then like, and then it just gets all ugly, right? And you get last November and all that, you know, the rage in men. You can't deny the warrior heart. If you suppress it, it will come out later in profound depression, anxiety, or rage. Okay. This is so deep within the masculine soul. And I got to tell you, it's a rough time to be a man. This, this is a rough time to be male for a whole bunch of reasons. One was the fatherless crisis that Danny was talking about. The other is just massive cultural confusion about gender, about masculinity. And, and then you got men who are really screwing it up out there and giving masculinity a bad name. So then you get, "We need to get rid of masculinity," you know, all that. It's a tough time to be a man. Okay. So, let's, let's admit that. And, and that's why God gave you a warrior heart. God gave you a warrior heart because everything you need in this life, you're going to have to fight for. You will, you will have to fight for your friendships. You, you have to fight for your church. You're gonna have to fight for your marriage. You'll have to fight for your kids. You have to fight for your calling, your career. Everything you want. That's what, how do you train warriors? You put them in war. Like, there's just no other way to get that done. This isn't textbook. This is live. And you are in it right now. Okay.

But, but the world we live in right now is very emasculating to boys. Very, very. We're trying to take the warrior heart away from them. Don't be loud. Don't be rowdy. Don't climb on that. Don't get so high. Don't go so fast. Right? Don't just, don't be so, you know, male, right? And it's, yeah. And so, you know, all that stuff, higher levels of, of, you know, psychopharmaceuticals on boys and that sort of thing, then, then little girls in public education and all that. I mean, and then the other part of it that makes it really rough to be a man, actually, is because of what happened to Jesus and to Jesus in the church. That Jesus, Dorothy Sarah says, "We have declawed the Lion of Judah and made him a house pet for pious old ladies." Okay. So, yeah.

I want to show you, I want to show you this guy. This Jesus. We're gonna pray this little, this little clip here. This is creepy religious Jesus. But this is the Jesus most people think of when they think of Jesus. So, let's, let's roll that creepy Jesus. It's like, don't let this guy in your Children's Program, you know? Wow. Like, and this, because it's, it's, um, it's the nicest man in the world. He's the nicest man in the world, that Jesus, right? He's very, very spiritual, very religious. Children around him, lamb on his shoulder. Maybe you've seen all, seen those pictures. You spent any time in Sunday school. This is the guy you get. Okay? You don't get the Lion of Judah. You don't get the warrior who is Yahweh, right? You get this guy. And it's really brutal on men's hearts in the church because you're like, "Hey, uh, follow Jesus." Okay? Um, if the invitation feels like, "Be a soft man. Be a weak man. Be a timid man," because that, this is the guy we're holding up, you know? And, and you pick most priests, pastors, rectors, deacons, in most church settings, we, we kind of hold up this sort of guy. Just the nicest guy in the world to be the model of masculinity. And it makes it very, very confusing for men. These, these are these guys are really very clean. Their fingernails are clean. They pee sitting down, you know? That.

[Applause]

It is emasculated. And that, that's a hard, that's a hard guy to follow. It is. You would not follow him, you know, into Afghanistan right now. You would not follow him into really tough situations. So, I, I'm gonna pause for a moment and say, Jesus has a personality. He's a real person, okay? With a sense of humor, okay? And a playfulness about Him. He's absolutely brilliant, okay? Cunningly brilliant. And He is fierce. Jesus is fierce. Now, when brokenness is, is in the room, He is the kindest man you will ever meet. Yes, there is a kindness to Jesus, no question, right? But, but when the enemy's in the room, He is fierce. Absolutely fierce. And, and the scandalous things He does. I mean, the guy, He seems intense on destroying His reputation because one of the things in His day, Jewish men did not speak to other women in public, women they were not married to. And a rabbi didn't even speak to his own wife in public, okay? And Jesus walks up to trafficked women and builds friendships with them. He, you know, John 4 is with the woman at the well, and you know her. She's got like, multi, you know, she's in serial relationships and a sexual reputation. And, and she comes to the well, and Jesus strikes up a conversation with her. And you're like, "Dude, like, like, this is gonna make the tabloids. This is like, do not let, if this gets on the internet, you are discredited." Okay? But He doesn't care. He does not care because He's the most loving man you will ever encounter. And then He goes to the wedding. They run out, they run out of booze late into the evening, you know, they clear out the cupboards, and it's really an embarrassing moment for the family and, and all of that. And so, Jesus comes to him, and she says, "Hey, there, they have no more wine." Nothing left to drink. And Jesus is like, "Oh, Mom, no, not right now." But you see the flexibility of Jesus. Flexible. He's like, "Okay, okay. Why don't you fill those stone jars over there?" Yeah. That six of them, 30 gallons each. Do the math. 180 gallons of wine. That's 907 bottles. That Jesus kicks into the party late in the evening. Like, Jesus is the kind of person you want to go on a road trip with. [Applause] Right? He is marvelous. He's absolutely marvelous. And His sense of humor. So, He, he kind of calls the guys into His, His deal, into the revolution, uh, with the miraculous catch of fish, right? It's early in the gospels, you know, and that's where Peter says, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." You know, like the religious stuff. And, and Jesus like, "Just put out the boat, and we're gonna get this thing done." And it's a miraculous catch of fish, and they, they leave everything and follow Him. Okay. So, you got to get the inside joke here. That's how they met. Okay. Three years later, crucifixion, resurrection. And then after the resurrection, Jesus was kind of in and out and shows up in remarkable times. But He's gone, right? So, the guys go fishing. And Jesus shows up on the shore. John 21. Are you familiar with this? This is, um, this is unbelievable, okay? So, He doesn't, He doesn't say, "Hark thou unto me, come study the scriptures." Okay? He literally shows up on the beach and He says, "Hey, how's the fishing?" And it says the disciples did not recognize that it was Jesus, which means like, what? He's got like some sort of disguise on? He borrowed somebody's robe or something? Like, what kind of thing? And their, and their answer to him, they just blow him off. They think he's the typical tourist joker who always asks fishermen how the fishing's gone, right? And their answer to him is a one-word answer. He says, "Hey, you got anything?" And they say, "No." Yeah, just blow him off. If they knew it was Christ, right? And they don't. And so, Jesus, "Why don't you try the other side?" And they're like, "Okay." And so, they throw other side. Bam. Three years earlier, magic moment. The way it's the inside joke, right? And that's when John goes, "It's the Lord." And Peter's in the water, you know? And the fascinating thing is, the guys were fishing naked because it says that Peter put his clothes back on. Okay? So, it's a rough night, hot. They're out there. And I, I, the whole time, Jesus has not announced that it's Him. He just does that. And then He goes, you know, and they, they come. Jesus is phenomenal. He's phenomenal, okay? This is a man whose company you will really enjoy. And He is the least religious person you will ever meet.

All right. So, um, it's not that guy. It's, it's the warrior heart. He's giving you the warrior heart. He's giving you a heart for adventure, battle, adventure. Because you want, you watch the story of Genesis. The Imago Dei is bestowed. Gender at the level of the soul. It's so powerful. And, and then He gives Adam and Eve like a wedding present. He gives them the world. Okay? The world. The whole world, guys. And think of it like, no one has discovered music yet. No one's discovered art, architecture, industry, commerce, science. Like, no river has been mapped. Nobody's figured out sailing yet. It's, it's in there like an Easter egg. The whole thing is just waiting to be unpacked, okay? Adventure is deep in the masculine soul. And if you get guys riffing, try, try this sometime this weekend. Ask guys about the best times in their life, right? When were you really alive? When did you, like, most feel alive? Get them to tell you some stories. You will hear stories mostly of adventure, okay? Because it's, it's adventure tests us. It shapes us. It, it calls us out. It, it's food for the masculine soul. Imagine, oh, adventurous food.

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Okay, so if you were given enough money, I don't know what it is, $15,000, $20,000, to fund the trip of your dreams, what would you do? Just give that some thought. And you don't need to put your hands up. Somebody's gonna bankroll your dream trip. What is it? Where would you go? What would you do? Who would you invite? It's next year. It's really gonna happen. Okay. Someone is funding your adventure. What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you invite? Uh, sorry, guys, no. It's not. But what you're doing is you're accessing forgotten places in your own heart, okay? Because life just beats this out of us. It just beats the warrior down. It beats the adventure down, right? And men lose heart. Um, when Thoreau wrote, you know, gosh, more than 100 years ago now, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation." It is because they lose heart. They lose heart. And you are wired for adventure. This whole, this whole world, again, you want to, you want to learn about Jesus? Look at His world. Waterfalls, thunderstorms, deserts, right? Tigers and buffalo and killer whales. If you really want to know the heart of God, look at creation. Because religion has just done so much drapery over Jesus and the Father and their heart. But just look at the world He made. You learn an artist, you learn a lot about a novelist by reading his novels. You learn a lot about, you know, Vincent van Gogh by looking at his paintings, okay? Look at God's world, in the wild beauty of it, the danger of it. Your heart is designed to thrive in that world. Come alive in that world. So, where would you go? What would you do? And who would you invite? It's a way of accessing lost places in you, okay?

Battle, adventure, to beauty. Because what happens next? You know, because in Genesis 2, kind of repeats the story. So, it's dust of the earth, right? And Adam becomes a living soul. But Eve's not there yet, okay? So, Genesis 2 is looping back through the story to give you a little more texture and detail. So, first, it's the animals, right? And God, God brings all the animals in front of Adam to name. And they're obviously in pairs. There's male and female because they need to, you know, reproduce the earth and fill the earth, okay? So, any of you guys spend time around, like, dogs or barnyards or, you know, just kind of animals hanging out, male and female together? What do they start doing? Yeah, they start humping each other, okay? Like, so I'm sort of watching this, and he's like, "That's a caribou, and you know, that's an elk, and we'll call that a jackrabbit." And what about me? What about me? God actually heightens the longing and his loneliness through that whole story of of the animals because he's looking at all these pairs doing, you know, getting it, getting it on. And, and he's got the equipment. And he's like, "What about me?" And then God knocks him out, takes a rib. He wakes up, and there is a naked goddess. I mean, he's history. He starts writing poetry. It's, he's, he's like, yeah, he's Romeo, right? Suddenly, Adam's Romeo. Is the warrior of the adventure? Or no, he's the lover now, right? And it's beauty. Come on, are you kidding me? Like, our sexuality is so deeply wired into our masculinity that when this stuff begins to get harmed and and broken and and confusion in there, and it is super painful because it's so deep in our soul. And like, we love it and we hate it because it, you know, it makes you come alive, but you're not sure you're man enough. And it's a lover. And, and lover all your life. And, oh, and then there's like confusion about even gender orientation. And I don't know, like, it's not really beauty for me, but I do want intimacy. I do crave love and affection, right? Right. Yep. Yep. And, and then man, you get bombarded, you know, in a culture like ours. And it's like, whoa, this is so, we run from it instead of seeking wholeheartedness.

So, I, um, guys, I just got some great news for you. Like, if you ignore this heart, it doesn't go away. It goes underground. And then the warrior comes out in rage, right? And the adventure comes out in an affair. Do you know that most men who have affairs have them not for sex, but for adventure? It's true. They're bored. They're just looking, looking for something that makes them come alive. And then that cute little thing bats their eyes at him, and he's history, right? Because he's dying inside. Okay. Wholeheartedness is your immune system in a world like this. And our sexuality is so deep to our nature. And when Jesus says, "The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost," He means everything that was lost. All within us that has been stolen and assaulted and surrendered, if we're honest, right? And taken captive, right? There, there are massive parts of our masculinity that are not yet experiencing the healing work of God. But His goal is wholeheartedness. And in its, this heart, He is fully committed to the total restoration of your heart and soul as a man. And then uniquely as you express masculinity in the world, the writer, the architect, the physician, the researcher, right? In your passions and your adventures and your battles and, right? That's you. That's you in that heart. And, and then the lover, right? The beauty. Like Adam, like Eve was taken from Adam's side, and none of us have recovered from the surgery. Like, we are haunted by Eve. We keep looking for her, right? Because there's something in us that remembers what we were made for. And, and the hero that we were, the hero, lover, warrior, king that we were. Like, this, all we're doing here in this opening story, wait, we're asking the question, "What is this heart God put in me? What is my masculine soul? What makes me come alive? What stirs me? And what therefore needs the healing presence of God in our lives?"

What do we do? Because the story of every man's life in this room is the story of the long and sustained assault on your heart by the one who knows who you could be. And he fears you. He fears you. And so, if the assault has been particularly ruthless in your life, what that means is that you are particularly dangerous. And you, there's just been this horrible, guys, like, like horrible assault on your heart to shut you down. Okay? So, this is so important to the journey that we're on because motivation can only take you so far. Promise can only take you so far. Your own promises, right? Motivation can only take you so far. And the only way you can make it in a story like the one we're living in, we're living in a gnarly story. It's a love story, but it's set in a world at war. It's always a love story, but it's in a, it's in war. The only way you can make it at this point is the restoration of your heart. And so, as you think about the places in your life, "Wow, I would love to have a family." Or, "Man, I have just no idea what my calling is." Or you are in the stage of your calling and it's not going well, and you're longing, whatever ground it is you would love to take in your life, it requires this. It requires your heart. And, and you will need a greater measure of your heart back. And I try, I tried, guys, everything. I'm, I'm going to tell you more about my story in the next session. But everything I'm giving to you, it is not theory. Been a therapist for 30 years. I've worked with thousands and thousands of men. But I just know my own story. And I can tell you, the discipline doesn't work. Discipline's important. Discipline doesn't, it won't see you through. It just won't. And it won't see you through a tough marriage. It won't see you through cancer, okay? That you need something more. You need that powerhouse that God put in the center of your being. You need your whole heart back. And the offer of the gospel is the restoration of your heart. That is what Jesus came to do. Okay. More on that this afternoon. We'll unpack all of that. But what we're trying to locate here is that you are His son. You have His heart. You have the heart of Yahweh in you. Have the heart of Jesus in you. I guarantee it. I promise you. And then you have it very uniquely to you, very uniquely to how you express adventure and love and beauty and battle in your soul. That is the gift.

And then David says the most phenomenal thing. He says all kinds of unbelievable stuff in the Psalms. Reading the Psalms is reading David's journal. And it's pretty candid, okay? You get a real look at what, what is the inner life of a warrior king like? Well, read the Psalms. Some, uh, 119. Here's what he says. We're going to put this scripture up, plus the last scripture for this time. He says, "I run in the path of your commands because you have set my heart free." If you tasted that, if you knew that life, you would give everything for it. You would sell everything for it because everything else in life depends on that. You have to get that back, right? God's not here to put your heart in a cage, to shut you down, and just make you a good boy, okay? He is here to set your heart free, to give you wholeheartedness. Jesus has beautiful, um, trafficked women, broken with not clear sexual boundaries, throw themselves at His feet. And He's good. He's good. Like, I, I don't need that. I'm not gonna abuse you. I'm not gonna take from you, but I love you and I'll invite you into a pretty wild story if you're interested. Like, He's wholehearted. He's well. And it's what, it's what enables Him to navigate praise and criticism. He, he's the same guy. Crowds are cheering, the next minute they're calling for his head, right? And he's, he's just the same guy. He's true. There is a trueness to the being of Jesus that he can just navigate this pretty messy world because he's wholehearted. And he would love to do that for you.

Hey guys, thanks so much for listening to the BraveCo podcast. If you like this podcast, would you please rate it, review it, leave us a great comment? And if you like this episode in particular, share with your friends and family. That helps us to spread the word. Guys, stay brave. We'll see you next week.