May 23, 2025 • 46 mins
What happens when you bury your father at 8 years old… and then Jesus shows up?
In this powerful episode, Pastor Mike Signorelli sits down with Pastor Mattie Montgomery to explore father wounds, identity, grief, and the overwhelming love of the true Father. From growing up without a dad to discovering divine sonship, this conversation unpacks how the gospel heals deep emotional scars and redefines your legacy.
Whether you’ve struggled with loss, rejection, performance, or the pressure to earn love—this message is for you. You'll hear stories of surrender, supernatural guidance, and bold faith that will challenge your thinking and strengthen your walk.
- Healing from fatherlessness
- Identity through Christ, not performance
- The orphan spirit vs. sonship
- Reaping what you didn’t sow: the 11th talent
- Breaking cycles of grief, addiction, and shame
🎧 Listen now and receive what the Father has for you.
👉 Learn more & get equipped at www.mikesignorelli.com
👉 Connect with Pastor Mattie at www.mattiemontgomery.com
Mentioned in this episode:
Partner With Us
Your faithful giving enables us to reach the world through powerful, truth-filled content, both online and in person.
Partner With Mike Signorelli Ministries
Inherit Your Freedom
Are you ready to break free from the cycles of generational trauma, curses, and limitations that have held you and your family captive for years? I recently finished writing my second book - Inherit Your Freedom, a powerful guide to transforming your life and legacy. This is more than a book—it’s a blueprint for breakthrough. Through my personal journey of overcoming my own family’s generational struggles, you’ll gain practical wisdom and real-world tools to unearth the spiritual obstacles holding you back and embrace the life of freedom God has destined for you.
School Of Prophets
The School of Prophets provides prophetic community, classroom learning and real world experiences to refine the gift to be released into true prophetic ministry. It is made up of the prophets guild, a community of prophets, learning, growing and holding each other accountable around the world. The original School of Prophets (1100BC) was meant to instruct and deploy prophets to the tribes, cities and nations they were called to minister to. They would bring the voice of the Lord to rulers and leaders as well as the people of God. This school carries a sacred call to equip the prophets to encourage, build up and exhort the body of Christ. What to expect in the SCHOOL OF PROPHETS? SOP Global Community Prophetic Mentorship and Coaching Calls Powerful Biblical Teachings Weekly Live Community Gatherings Monthly Live Activations Recorded Lessons Released every Month Private Community Access Access to all resources: prophetic guidebooks, prayers, pdfs, etc Prophetic Accountability ENROLL NOW!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:33):
Hey, everybody.
You know, there's many of usthat have experienced pain in the
area of our fathers and whatwe've encountered.
You know, we know divorce isat an all time high.
There's many people choosingto live together, and they're committed,
but they're not covenanted.
And so we see so muchbrokenness in family.
You guys know, that's a bigthing in my life.
(00:54):
My father dying prematurely,multiple abusive stepdads.
And a lot of you guys, eventhrough the pandemic, call me Papa
Siggs.
And so we know that God willactually bring people into our lives
as ambassadors of the Father's heart.
And so I really feel like inso many ways, this could be one of
the most important broadcaststhat you're a part of.
(01:14):
Because if you look atdifferent things happening in your
life right now and you'relike, why do I struggle with this?
Why do I go back to this sin?
Why do I find comfort in thesethings, even though I know this is
not God's heart for my life?
You probably need some healingin this area.
I think that's why Jesus showsup and he says, oh, this is how we
pray.
(01:34):
Our Father, who art in heaven,and gives this profound revelation
of Abba Father.
And here's the other thing.
I believe that those fatherwounds could even open in different
seasons of our life.
That's my story.
Thinking that I was healed of it.
And then I get to anotherstage of life and it opens again.
And so this conversation couldbe one of the most important things
(01:57):
that you need in this stage ofyour life right now.
So I've got a guest with me,and, you know, just.
It's so funny because I'mgonna go there just right off the
bat, but, you know, I askedyou if you'd be willing to talk about
the heart of the Father.
And you know your pastor,Matty Montgomery, there's many people
that view you as a father inthe faith.
(02:19):
You have biological childrenof your own.
And I know a little bit aboutyour story.
I just feel like you have somuch insight here.
And so when I was praying,saying, like, man, if I can get an
opportunity to sit down withPastor Matty, what would we talk
about?
I felt like I just keptFather, Father F.
And so you pull up today in arental, and I actually walked out
(02:42):
saying, like, oh, is he here yet?
And it's a Camaro.
And my biological father drovelike a late 70s Camaro.
And so the only memories thatI have of my dad is driving in his
Camaro.
And so when you pulled up inthe Camaro, like, it's obviously
a modern one, I was like, wow.
You know, maybe.
You know, I don't want to beweird or hokey, but it just was kind
(03:04):
of like, wow, maybe.
Maybe this is one of thoselittle divine confirmation.
So I also asked if you doggedit out a little bit and floored it.
I'm not saying you did.
Can you confirm?
But welcome to my channel.
And for those who don't knowyou, do you mind just starting with
(03:25):
kind of, like, who you are,where you're at in life now, but
then going back to your stories?
Yeah.
Well, my name is Maddie Montgomery.
I pastor a church in northeastTennessee called the Altar Fellowship.
Beautiful, vibrant, colorfulcommunity of kingdom people, many
of whom have moved across thecountry, some across the world, to
(03:47):
be a part of what God is doing there.
And incredible church.
It's amazing, man.
I love.
I feel like even if I wasn'tthe pastor, I'd want to just go there.
Yeah, people are incredible,and what God is doing is.
Is unlike anything I've ever seen.
And.
And now we planted this churchjust five years ago, and it's been
explosive.
But prior to that, I spentabout 12 years as a traveling itinerant
(04:11):
evangelist in one way or another.
Now, I traveled to a lot ofconferences and crusades and did
that thing.
But at the same time, I alsotoured in a band called Fortinet.
I was the vocalist of that band.
Had the opportunity to preachthe gospel through our music in bars
and nightclubs all over the world.
Like, we weren't doing.
We were a Christian band, butwe weren't going on tour with Christian
(04:34):
artists.
We would intentionally bringout satanic bands and atheist bands
and antichrist bands.
And we would do that becausewe wanted to preach the gospel to
the people that needed it the most.
So, you know, we'd go intobars and nightclubs and we'd preach
the kingdom.
And you would see, you know, Imean, we'd be spit on and cussed
out, but the people doing thatwould be standing, you know, right
(04:56):
next to someone else who hasgot both hands raised as tears roll
down their cheeks.
And they say, man, I've beenlooking for hope.
And every night, people wouldrespond to the gospel, come to salvation
and faith in Jesus.
So we got to do that from 2000.
I joined the band in 2007, andthen in 2016, we did a farewell tour.
And so it was just about adecade of fun traveling the world
(05:20):
and preaching the gospel.
And some of the least likelyplaces bold too, though.
Oh, man, it was awesome.
I remember those days and justseeing you preach the gospel unapologetically,
like on the Warp tour, I mean,it was brutal, like, and, and.
And actually, I want topublicly honor you for that because,
you know, there's many peopleyou met from my team last night who
(05:40):
were just like, hey, you're my hero.
You know, they were a part ofthat era as well.
And.
But also, there's that phrasebiblically, like fruit that remains.
And just a cool story.
I want to.
I want to actually get this on film.
So after you got donepreaching last night, we saw hundreds
of young people literally runforward, jump to their knees, like,
I want to fully surrender to Christ.
It was super powerful.
(06:02):
And then you walk back and youlaid your hand on our music director.
His name's Aaron Craniac, andyou just begin to pray for him.
And then he told you in thegreen room afterward that, like,
what was it, like a decade ago?
Or you had basically met himafter a show in New York, and you
prophesied over him and said,you're going to be raised up as a
(06:23):
pillar of the church or achurch or something, and there's
going to be a weight upon you,and you're going to bear that weight.
And at the time, he'sobviously at a whole different church.
Years later, he joins ourchurch, and now he is a pillar of
our church, and he's leadingfive locations worth of worship.
So it's just incredible tothink that, like, that season of
(06:43):
your life is literally bearingfruit all these years later.
I'm so honored.
It's so cool.
It's like all I'm doing isjust running around, you know, planting
and watering seeds.
Yeah.
Only God knows what comes from those.
And it's really cool to get tosee some of the fruit.
Yeah.
God has pulled out of mylittle life, you know.
Yeah.
It's amazing.
(07:04):
And we're linking to yourchurch in the description as well,
so people can check it out andwatch your preaching and, you know,
kind of subscribe over there.
So.
But let's talk specificallyabout, like, going deeper into your
past, because I know that.
That you carry, you know,like, you carry the Father's heart
as well.
I think that's one of thereasons why people are moving to
(07:25):
join your church, and they'reattracted to what you're doing because
you feel the compassion, thelove of Christ just flowing from
your life.
But maybe go back and tell thestory of your father.
Yeah, well, my father, he wasborn to a crack addict mother in
the projects in Indianapolis,and she didn't know who his biological
(07:48):
father was.
She didn't want to raise ababy, so she gave him away to another
woman who lived in the same projects.
And he had brothers, sisters,half brothers, half sisters, adoptive
brothers and sisters kind ofrunning all around, all over the
place.
By the time he married mymother, every one of his brothers
(08:08):
and sisters were either deador in prison.
He was an anomaly, the onlymember of his entire extended family
to graduate from high school.
But he didn't just graduatefrom high school.
He went to college.
He got his master's degree.
He became a college professor.
Wow.
And when.
When I was born, he was acollege professor at Taylor University
(08:30):
in Upland, Indiana.
And.
And so I was born in Indiana,and then we moved.
Shortly after that, he got ajob teaching in a school in Oregon
called George Fox University.
But he passed away when I was8 years old.
He got cancer when I was,like, 3, and it had gone into a mission.
(08:54):
And then we moved, actuallyfrom Oregon to Michigan.
He got a job at a universityin southeast Michigan, and within
two weeks of moving there, hefound a lump on his shoulder here.
And within six months, he was dead.
And so, you know, at 8 yearsold, burying your father is a, you
(09:17):
know, kind of an indescribable experience.
You just.
You don't have context for it.
And people tell you all sortsof insane things, like, hey, you
know, God works in mysteriousways, and he must be trying to teach
you some important lesson.
And so I'm 8 years old, tryingto process the theology of loss and
suffering, you know, trying tosort of stare into the abyss of growing
(09:40):
up without a dad, you know,and deal in an instant with this
reality.
My dad's not going to be herewhen I go on my first date, when
I learn to drive a car, when Iapply for colleges.
He's not going to be here whenI get married.
He's not going to meet my kids.
And, you know, and all of thatwas, like.
Was devastating.
And so I had.
(10:00):
Even prior to my dad's death,I struggled with behavior.
But, you know, after my daddied, I sort of had a great excuse
to be angry at the world.
(11:06):
Yeah.
And so I spent the next yearsmaking, you know, the life of my
mom and my classmates and myteachers, coaches, just.
Hell, yeah.
You know, I was known for fighting.
I was known for kind ofconstantly being in trouble, man.
It wasn't until God really gota hold of my life early in college
(11:30):
that I was able to finally letgo of the the pain that I'd allowed
to become my identity.
And how did that happen?
Because.
Because I think what you'reexpressing is so real, especially
for people who are watchingright now.
It's.
The behavior was connected tothat wound.
Yeah.
It was grief.
You know, and I always say,like, when you read Ecclesiastes.
Right.
Grief is supposed to be aseason, not a cycle.
(11:52):
Yeah.
So we have to learn how to mourn.
We have to learn how to lament where.
And that's the one thing Ithink we don't teach in our churches
well enough.
Like, we're always trying to,like, accelerate through that season.
But it's like, man, we've gotto learn how to mourn better.
We have to learn how to sit inthe suffering, sit in the loss.
But then also, there comesthat Moses, or that.
(12:14):
That moment.
Hey, Moses, the servant is dead.
Let's wash our face for tomorrow.
We go in.
And I think what happens isgrief goes from a.
A season to a cycle.
Yeah.
You know, and that's like.
There's so many people whocome to our ministry that got heavily
involved in occult practicesthat were connected to grief.
So it was like, they.
(12:34):
That's when they're like, oh,I went to the psychic medium, because
maybe then I could talk to mydad again.
Yeah, right.
And then that.
That's so.
It's like they didn't say, I want.
They didn't wake up and say, Iwant to be a witch.
I want to be a warlock.
But that grief was connected.
Or there's so many people whoare like, oh, I'm just drinking to
get through this season.
And then it becomes a cycle ofalcoholism, and that root system
(12:57):
is loss.
And I think, for me, that wasmy story.
It's like, my dad died when Iwas in my early 20s from a genetic
brain disease.
And so.
But before that, he hadcommitted murder.
He went to prison.
It was like manslaughter.
So he eventually got out.
And then when I reconnectedwith him, I just tried to establish
(13:17):
a relationship, and heactually rejected me.
And his last words were to mewere, let sleeping dogs lie.
And it was kind of his way ofsaying, we've never had a relationship.
Why would we start now?
And I think he dealt with alot of shame, probably feeling like
a failure.
There was domestic abuse.
You know, he cheated on my mom.
So I think he, at that stagewas probably like, listen, you're
(13:37):
a grown man now.
Like, we never had a relationship.
Why should we?
He probably also knew that hewas gonna die, and So I think that
was his way of just beinglike, stay away.
It's over.
So when you talk about thatdestructive behavior, that was my.
That's how I got into alcoholism.
That's.
And it was the same thing.
It was like, if I can't have agood life, no one else is either.
(13:59):
Yeah.
So sabotaging.
Self sabotaging.
Destroying everything around me.
And so when you said that, Ijust wanted to flesh it out a little
bit because there's so many ofyou watching right now that are realizing
that again, I said at thebeginning of this broadcast, now
you're getting an insight intoit, that when you go deeper, you'll
see that maybe it's thefatherlessness, maybe it's that wound,
(14:22):
maybe it's the grief, and fromthat is growing out all these other
weeds.
So then you said, now you goto college.
By the way, quick side note,we're in Indiana.
Yeah.
So I'm thinking about, like,your dad coming out of Indianapolis
and now his son.
And it's like an emotionalmoment is in Indiana leading hundreds
of kids to Christ last night,calling them to repentance, you know,
(14:46):
sitting here now, broadcastingto hopefully tens of thousands of
people.
But what happened in collegethat caused you.
Because you just saidsomething happened.
What was that?
Yeah, well, you know, my.
My issue, and I think this isprobably the issue for.
For many of you watching, is,is that I.
(15:07):
I didn't know who I was.
It's my.
It was my father's job to tellme who God said that I so am, to
see me for who I am.
And I think because he wasgone, it's like I didn't know who
I was.
So I thought I wanted to befeared, and so I'd fight the whole
world.
I thought I wanted to bewanted, and so I'd chase girls, you
know, I thought I wanted to befree from control or from boundaries.
(15:30):
And so I walked away from thechurch, you know, and I felt like
I didn't know who I was or whoI wanted to be.
And so because of that, I endup being destructive and rebellious
and divisive and hurtful toeverybody around me.
And I think that's, you know,what is a father, but the one who's
supposed to be at the front ofthe line bearing witness to who God
(15:51):
says that you are.
Wow.
And.
And I think this is, you know, fathers.
I mean, the greatestinheritance any of us will.
Could ever receive from afather is identity.
Yeah.
And.
And so for me, God took me ona whole journey, really began the
summer after my freshman yearof college, I, you know, had left
the church.
I had started to studyreligion, world religions and philosophy.
(16:15):
And I kept running into this issue.
And the issue was, you know,when I'd read Plato, when I'd read
Lao Tzu and the Dao de Jing,when I'd read, you know, Buddhist
writings and teachings, itseemed like there was this sort of
universal acknowledgment of amoral standard.
Yeah.
Everybody, everyphilosophical, political, religious
(16:36):
voice all throughout historysaid we should be loving and kind
and patient and generous.
Cool.
But there was this naggingquestion in the back of my head,
and that is, what about thefact that I have failed miserably
to be loving and kind andpatient, Generous.
I mean, serious.
If this is what God, whoeverGod is, if this is what God has made
(16:57):
us for.
And it's so obvious that everyreligious leader, every philosophical
voice all throughout humanhistory have all agreed this is what
we were made for.
What about the fact that Ihave failed miserably to meet that
standard?
I'm in trouble, right?
And.
And so I'm sitting on the steps.
(17:18):
In July of 2006, I was sittingon the steps of my college dorm,
actually reading a book about Buddhism.
And.
And I just kept gettinghammered by this thought.
And the way I put it rightnow, the way I might phrase it right
now, is, is this thought thatI am a sinner.
Yeah.
Like Romans tells us, all havesinned and fall short of the glory
of God.
Like that was the reality thatwas just bearing down on me.
(17:39):
There is a standard, and Idon't meet it.
There is a standard, and I'vefailed to get there.
There is a standard, and Ifall short of it every day.
What am I going to do?
What's my hope?
And the wild thing is,throughout the entire expanse of
human history, there's onlybeen one answer.
Though there have been manyvoices that call us to the standard,
there's only ever been oneanswer for the fact that all of us
(18:01):
have failed to meet that standard.
And that is that he that knewno sin became sin, that I, through
him might become therighteousness of God in Christ Jesus
is that the Lamb of God cameto take away the sin of the world.
Yeah.
That's my only hope.
And so I.
God sort of backed me intothis philosophical corner.
Yeah.
Sitting on the steps of mydorm in the summer of 2006.
(18:22):
And when I finally set thisbook down and said, I can't argue
anymore, I can't run anymore,there's no way out of this, but to
recognize that Jesus is theonly answer for me.
It was like.
I've explained it before.
I said it was like waking upin a room full of strangers.
It's like I suddenly becameconscious of the fact that God wasn't
just a concept or an idea,that God was a real being.
(18:46):
And not only that, but he wasvery close to me, that he could see
me, that he was with me inthat moment.
And so his presence becameinescapable, unavoidable for me.
And I sat there on the stepsof my dorm for what must have been
hours, crying and shaking inthe presence of God and saying, I
mean, I don't know if you canuse somebody like me, you know, and
(19:07):
all of my.
It was like we had thisconversation, this ongoing conversation,
and.
And it was like everyobjection I had, he had an answer
for.
I said, God, I'm too weak.
I can't follow you.
And he said, yeah, but I useweak things to confound the strong.
But, God, I'm so scared, youknow, I don't think I can do this.
And he'd say, yeah, butperfect love casts out fear.
Every issue that I brought tothe table, he had an answer for.
(19:29):
He wasn't intimidated by my weakness.
He was moved by love for me.
And in that moment, man, heconfronted my doubt, he confronted
my weakness.
He confronted my insecurity.
And it wasn't like, all right,you're done.
You're saved.
You're getting into heaven.
No, it was like, all right,this is where we're going to start
from.
Yeah.
You need to know that I loveyou and I'm invested in you.
(19:51):
This is step one.
Let's go.
Wow.
And so, man, everything in mylife changed that day radically.
Well, you know, I'm thinking,you know, when you have a father
wound, you go into performance mode.
Well, there's two.
I always say this like, soimagine an orphanage, and everybody's
been orphaned.
They don't have a father.
There's typically two types of orphans.
There's the one.
(20:11):
And I've traveled all over theworld, and I've traveled to orphanages,
whether it's in Ukraine ordifferent regions.
And whenever you walk into theorphanage, it's like, there's one
kid that is, like, performing,like, I'm going to do every trick
I know how to do, so maybeyou'll adopt me, right?
And they're trying to make you laugh.
They're doing magic tricks.
They're coming up to you.
And then there's the othertype of orphan, the kid in the corner
(20:33):
of the room who's like, I'm sodead inside.
I don't care.
Nobody's coming to rescue me.
Whatever.
And I feel like for me, in myjourney of fatherlessness, I've been
both orphaned.
Right.
But when you think aboutpaganism, because you were talking
about, like, world religions,and I also went on a journey.
Matter of fact, my journey ofstudying world religions was so intense
(20:54):
that Indiana University,Bloomington, during my junior year
asked me if I would teach itas an elective course.
So I trained that summer, andthen that fall, they allowed me to
teach, like, a world religion survey.
And so we went to, like, theJewish Cultural Center.
We went to the IslamicCultural Center.
And I was on a similarjourney, which is very interesting,
(21:14):
because I think one of thethings is when you're looking for
identity, because father'sgiven identity as an inheritance.
So then what do you do?
Well, I'm gonna go make an identity.
I'm gonna find.
I'm gonna read the Hindu Vedas.
Yes.
I'm going to read the Quran.
I read the Satanic Bible,which is the playbook for American
culture.
That's a whole nother.
(21:35):
You know, But I was like,okay, nobody gave me an identity.
I'm going to make one.
And so I started doing.
And then what?
Then what also happened was Iwas oscillating.
I was like the orphan that wasbasically entertaining everybody.
And, like, look at me, look at me.
You know, like, I'm playingmusic, I'm creating art.
(21:55):
I'm doing this.
And then I was the, the otherorphan that was like, shunning the
world.
I don't care if anybody, youknow, And I was oscillating between
both of those.
And then at the same time,trying to make.
It's exhausting.
Trying to make your own identity.
That's right.
You know, but when you talkabout paganism, and I kind of heard
you speaking into that,paganism is essentially, there's
(22:17):
this deity, and in order toappease this deity, I'm going to
physically do something.
Right.
You know, so, hey, we needrain for our crops.
Let's do a rain dance.
Like, I'm going to dosomething to appease this deity.
And by that standard, a lot ofChristians are pagans.
Yeah.
Because they don't understandthe gospel is you bring nothing.
Yes.
Like, you know, and becausethere's people watching right now
(22:40):
are like, I had a bad dad.
I'm going to be a good dad.
Right?
No, you're not.
I, I, I, you know, my dad wasa bad husband.
I'm going to be a good husband.
No, you're not.
Right.
Because the devil will get youto the same destination by a different
route.
So you think you're going tobe different than your dad.
So I always said, I'm nevergoing to be an alcoholic like my
dad.
I literally.
(23:00):
The devil got me to the samedestination by a different route.
And I was raised in church,but never knew the gospel, so.
Because the gospel is, youbring nothing.
It's all filthy rags.
Right.
And so it was like, I don't.
I don't think I actuallyunderstood the gospel until.
Until I understood my total depravity.
Yeah.
And it was when I was incollege that I finally got to the
(23:21):
end of myself and I was like,I can't be good.
Yeah.
Like I.
I defined myself as my, Mybiological dad was bad and I'm going
to be good.
Right.
And here I am with women doing.
I literally ended up in thesame destination.
And then my own.
My.
What I thought wasChristianity was paganism.
Yeah.
It was.
I'm gonna fast.
(23:42):
Superstition.
Yeah.
I'm gonna fast.
I'm gonna pray.
I'm.
I'm gon Read my Bible every day.
And I'm like, wait a second.
I'm a pagan.
Yeah.
Because that's how theyapproach their deities.
And I think what I heard yousay is when you were sitting on the
steps and correct me if I'mwrong, and you're reading this, you
were like, wait a second.
I can't be a good Buddhist.
(24:03):
I can't be like, well, you know.
The idea was there's this standard.
I think everybody.
Yeah.
I can't reach this in our soul.
That this is what God has madeus for.
It's what God has called us to.
(25:19):
But everybody's written booksabout it.
We start entire.
We start entire religions about.
Yeah.
Trying to get to the standard.
Climb the mountain.
Yeah.
And it just dawned on me inthat moment.
No one can do this.
That's.
That's the whole point of thelaw in the scriptures is to teach
us that no one can do this.
Yeah.
That we are in desperate needof a savior.
The only people that resentedJesus for his ministry were people
(25:42):
that were.
Had.
Had convinced themselves that they.
They were doing it.
Wow.
Everybody else knew, like,there's this.
These 613 mitzvahs.
I cannot keep these.
I'm in serious trouble ifsomeone doesn't come save me.
I'm.
I'm doomed.
Yeah.
And.
And I think that's where I.
Where I came to in that moment.
In 2006, it's almost cliche,but I think about the prodigal, and
(26:04):
he just gets to the end ofhimself, and he's like, maybe I can
just go back to my father'shouse as a servant, right?
And then he shows up and hegets embraced.
And I think that that is thatmoment where.
And somebody watching rightnow is getting an epiphany.
You're getting a breakthroughright now.
Because that, for me, it waslike, I can't be a good husband.
I can't be a good father.
(26:24):
I do not have the ability todo it in and of.
In my own strength and my own power.
And any attempt to make my ownidentity is futile.
Right?
All my accomplishments orwhatever I thought was an accomplishment,
and I really came to the endof myself.
And that's my story, too.
And then from that moment on,I said, if anybody ever calls me
a good dad, it's Christ thatthey see in me being the good dad.
(26:48):
If they ever say I'm a goodhusband, it's Christ in me.
You know, a story I always tell.
You know, years later, beingmarried to Julie, you know, we used
to go and do streetevangelism, and we would call it
treasure hunting.
So it's like, God, give me a vision.
What do they look like?
What are they wearing?
What are they struggling with?
And we would write it down.
Then we would go into thesenew northwest Indiana towns and try
(27:08):
to find these people andminister to them and say, hey, look,
the Lord already showed me you.
Your situation, kind ofcombining like, prophecy with evangelism.
And so the Lord shows me,woman, blue shirt in a laundromat.
Having a bad day just needs areminder that God cares for her.
So I go into the laundromat,and this is in the middle of the
(27:29):
day, and I see a woman with ablue shirt.
I go to approach her.
She turns around.
It's my wife, Julie.
Wow.
And we had our own home with awasher and dryer.
And I was like, julie, whatare you doing here?
She's like, mike, I didn'twant to bother you.
She's like, we had a plumbingissue at the house, and we flooded
the whole first floor.
It's been the worst day ever.
(27:49):
She's like, I took our clothesand all of our stuff here to the
laundromat, and I pull outthis piece of paper that says, blue
shirt in a laundromat needs encouragement.
My point is, I said, julie, itwas you.
But I'm Too stupid to know that.
But the Holy Spirit in me sentme to my own wife.
So then when people are like,man, I wish.
(28:09):
I wish, you know, I had ahusband like Mike.
I'm like, no.
Like, yeah, it's.
It was Christ in me to mywife, like, I don't have the ability
to be a good husband.
And I think what I hear inyour story is like a real gospel
moment of surrender, which isthe root of being free from.
From all of this.
That's it.
(28:30):
Surrender.
Yeah.
Yeah, man.
It's like, you know, when.
When we surrender, the issueis, I think, so many of us, we trade
serving ourselves for servingour image of God in an image that
looks a lot like us.
Wow.
And.
And because of that, whathappens, What's.
(28:50):
What's produced is, you know,religion, what we call religion.
It's like, it's the idea thatI'm going to pray and fast enough
to.
To.
To have deserved God's goodness.
Yeah.
And I'm convinced that whathe's doing in the church and our
age is to deliver us from thekind of.
(29:10):
Deliver us from faith that isbuilt on what we feel we have earned.
Yeah.
You know, I talk a lot aboutwhat I call the realm of the 11th
talent.
And, you know, in the parableof the talents, you see the, you
know, one servant gets five talents.
One, two, and one one.
The five talent man, heproduces five more.
The two talent man, heproduces two more.
(29:30):
So everybody, they reapexactly what they sow.
But twice in the story, themaster is described as a man who
reaps where he does not sowand gathers where he does not scatter
seed.
I think that's such a profound description.
Who reaps where they don't sow.
Like James tells us, be not deceived.
Whatsoever man sows, that alsowill he reap.
So there's this idea that hasbecome ingrained in us that we will
(29:53):
get what we earn.
And that's.
That's true of the natural world.
I don't think that's true ofthe kingdom.
Wow.
And here's why we say, well,you reap what you sow.
But the doctrine of grace isin direct contradiction today.
Right.
We are all saved because we'vereaped something we never sow.
Yeah.
And so at the end of thatstory, you know, certainly you have
(30:14):
the warning about the 1 talentand who buried what was given to
him.
But after that, that onetalent is taken, and it's given to
him who has 10 talents.
And Jesus says, this isbecause to him who has, more will
be given.
And so there's this idea that,you know, he.
He worked for the extra five talents.
He got five talents, and thenhe put those to work, and he.
(30:35):
He turned those five into 10.
But at the end of the story,he received an 11th talent.
He didn't do anything for.
He didn't earn.
He didn't ask for.
And I think that's whatkingdom faith gives us permission
to pursue.
It's the ability to say, God,I haven't earned this.
Yeah, I don't deserve this.
I could never do enough workto produce this.
(30:55):
But I'm going to be boldenough to ask you for it anyway.
Wow.
And that has been, you know,our experience.
The Lord started to speak thisto me about five years ago when we
moved our family up to JohnsonCity to plant this church.
And, you know, I had peoplethat had been in ministry.
You say, you know, you got apastor for 10 years before you can
get any kind of traction.
And pastoring is brutal, andit's not fun.
(31:16):
And, you know, it just.
It goes really slow and it'sboring and mundane and.
And I was feeling kind of discouraged.
And, you know, one day, justprivate devotional time, I got to
Matthew 25.
I'm reading this.
This parable of the talents, and.
Yeah.
And Jesus, you know, begins totalk about the 11th talent.
And I start to realize, youknow, there's a.
(31:40):
That God is better than I thought.
Yeah.
And he will give us thingsthat we didn't earn.
And I had in my life only hadfaith for that, which I feel like
I'd worked for.
Like, I want to have arevival, so I'm going to fast for
that revival.
Yeah.
I want to have a, you know,powerful ministry moment.
So I'm going to spend hoursevery day in prayer for that powerful
ministry moment.
(32:01):
And because I have done allthis work, now I'll give myself permission
to have faith for it.
But we came to Johnson City onday one.
We said, we believe this cityis going to be our 11th talent.
The thing we don't have towork for that.
God's going to open it to usnot because we are good, but because
he that's good.
And so.
So we came into the city, andGod has just totally blessed and
(32:22):
prospered our work there.
And it has been far beyond,vastly beyond the sum total of our
efforts.
And it's the only.
The only attribution is it'snot because I'm a great preacher
or a good pastor or leader.
I didn't know what I was doing.
I'd never done this before.
It was, it was because God isgood and he's better than I could
(32:42):
ever be.
Wow.
Yeah.
It's like mercy is when youget what you don't deserve.
Exactly.
You know, living it, living inthat realm of mercy.
And you know, it's like, youknow, I think right now we're living
in this very like PTSD ororiented, you know, it's like we,
and we were talking about thislast night, but it's just like my
whole life I've been fighting.
Then I become a Christian, nowI'm going to fight the devil.
(33:04):
And people are stuck in thesetrauma responses where it's like,
but show me a season of peace.
Yeah.
Show me a time when you restedin what Christ already did.
That's right.
The fact that like he secured it.
And it's like, are we restingin our works or his works?
And, and I think for same.
Same for us.
I mean, dude, I showed up toNew York city with an 18 person launch
(33:25):
team and $50,000.
And what's crazy is, you know,I saw churches come into New York
City with a quarter of amillion dollars.
And, and they were telling me,we don't have enough money.
And I'm like, can you sharewhat you do have, though?
Or they would come in withlike 60 person teams from across
the US and within two to threeyears they'd be gone.
And somehow or another, wejust kept advancing.
(33:47):
And here's fatherless Mike Signorelli.
Here's first generation MikeSignorelli here.
And it was like.
And I, and of course I had todeal with a whole bunch of issues
in my own soul because like Imentioned earlier, it's like every
season of your life, I thinkhas potential to unlock that father
wound in another way, youknow, because, because you can use
it as an excuse and you couldsay, you know, on your wedding day,
(34:08):
you're walking down the aisle,where's my dad?
Yeah.
Then you, the birth of yourfirst kid, where's your dad?
Then you plant a church,where's my dad?
But then the real answer iseither he was always there.
If, if, if the true father isyour heavenly father, it's like either
he was always there or afather wasn't there.
Yeah.
And it's like, so you, thefather wound will say, your dad's
(34:30):
not here.
But the Holy Spirit would say,yeah, he always was.
That's right.
I mean, it's by the HolySpirit that we cry out, abba Father.
That's it.
He bears witness to ouradoption of sons.
And that's it.
Coming into that realitychanged everything for me.
Recognizing that I had notjust a heavenly father in a sentimental
way, but in a practical, like,he had been protecting me, providing
(34:52):
for me, teaching me what Ineeded to know, when I needed to
know it.
There have been seasons oflife, and he's been very intentional
to say, all right, kids, sit down.
I need to teach you.
You know, before I gotmarried, we spent.
He said, I want you to fastfor the next week.
I'm going to teach you how tobe a man.
We went on this journey overthe course of this week where he
said, here's three or fourareas that you need to clean up,
(35:14):
because I'm going to send youyour wife soon.
And so he has been, in a verypractical way, as scripture promises
a father to the father.
That's literal, what you just said.
Yes.
And I think there's peoplewatching right now that they don't
have that relationship.
But I feel like there's saltin this talk because some of y' all
are being provoked right nowto say, I need to.
(35:36):
That.
You know, it's like, could you.
Could you open up thescriptures and open up a journal
and say, okay, this is myconversation with my father.
Because I look back in my lifeand I see he was guiding me the whole
way.
And.
And maybe something to kind oflike, close it out on.
I remember when people werechecking me all the time, how do
you know God called you to NewYork City?
I'm sure they asked you thesame thing about your city.
(35:57):
How do you know?
How do you know?
And of course, I used to tryto vindicate it with, like, oh, but
I got this sign and this and this.
And finally I was like, youknow what?
Who cares?
And here's why.
Because I have two daughtersand the idea of going into a store
and asking for something,because, you know, I'm the oldest
of five kids.
We were on welfare growing up.
We were food stamp family.
(36:18):
So I never.
I was conditioned.
You don't go into a store andask for anything because you already
know the answer.
The answer is no.
And then having two daughtersof my own and just seeing how far
free they were to be like,dad, can I have this?
And they'll ask, even if theythink it's a no, just on the off
chance it could be a yes.
And they're daddy's girl.
So it's a lot of yeses, right?
(36:38):
And so then I got thisrevelation of, like, Because I think
like, the hyper charismaticPentecostal types, you know, they
don't have a full revelationof, like, son or daughter.
And we limit God.
We're afraid to ask.
And then you got the reformedfolks who are like, oh, we're not
prosperity gospel.
Neither one of them have arevelation of sonship.
Yeah.
And so it's like, my girlswould be like, dad, can I have this?
(37:01):
Can I have this?
Can I have this?
And finally I started tellingpeople, who cares if God told me
to go to New York City?
What if I chose New York Cityand he chose me?
So therefore, it's irrelevantbecause there's, you know, people
are paralyzed.
Like, you know, should I moveto this city?
Should it?
It's like, what if you chosethe city, but God chose you?
And him choosing you is moreimportant than you choosing a stupid
(37:23):
region.
Yeah.
It's like, well, I'm here now.
Yeah, why not get to work?
It trivializes it.
Even when I was in northwestIndiana, I said, father, I've been
faithful to harvest this field.
Will you let me go harvest inanother field?
But I'm your son.
And I think, like, for me,breaking free from, like, really
slave mindset, you know, andbecause a slave is always getting
(37:44):
assignments, and I think, evenfor us, God, what's your will?
For my life?
It's like to actually beadopted into my family.
And so it's like slaves aregetting assignments, but sons and
daughters get opportunities.
Good man.
Well, and the difference, youknow, they both work in the father's
house.
The difference between a sonand a slave is that a son inherits
(38:05):
the house he's building.
Yes, but a slave doesn't.
And I think this is our issuein the church, is that we, like the
prodigal, say we're happy justbeing servants.
Father, I've sinned againstheaven and against you.
I'm no longer worthy to becalled your son.
Make me like one of your hired servants.
That's his speech.
So he goes back home with hisheart, determined to just say, I
don't need an inheritance.
(38:25):
I don't need anything.
I'll just.
I'll just work if you'll helpme survive.
And that's how most people inthe American church approach God
right now.
But the truth is he's calledus not to be servants or slaves.
He's called us to be sons.
Now, that may look the same.
We may do the same work on thesame stuff, but the difference is
what I'm building, thiskingdom I'm building, I get to inherit
(38:46):
this is my.
So this October and you guyscan pre order the links in the description.
I have a book coming outcalled inherit your freedom.
And so when you talked aboutthat, I mean, got chills all over
me because they're both working.
But the difference is there'sfruit that remains.
You're building a legacy.
It's bigger than you.
(39:07):
And so like for me, signorellior signorelli, it literally meant
murderer.
It meant spousal abuse, itmeant adulterer.
And so it's like by connectingmy name to Christ, there's an inheritance
of that legacy.
And as I die to myself daily,what's happening is I'm not conforming
(39:27):
to the world, but I'mconforming that name.
And it's so funny, bro,because I just got back from Sicily
because part of writing thisbook, inheritance your freedom, I
traced my lineage because Ihad no connection.
And as I got to Sicily, Ifound out that these Christians out
there already knew who I was.
We watch your YouTube channel,blah, blah blah.
And I just got.
Maybe we'll show some footageof it.
(39:48):
But I got asked to preach atthis very large church in Sicily
where my family's from.
And really big, there's thisbanner in Italian, it says Jesus
Christ is lord, but lord issignore and my name is Signorelli,
which my name actually meanslittle lords.
Wow.
So, so like there's aChristian lineage to my last name
(40:10):
that basically means likelittle, little Christs.
Yeah.
You know, so here's mepreaching now.
My whole family on my dad'sside was multi generational Catholic.
So here I am in a spiritfilled church in Sicily underneath
this banner that says JesusChrist is lord.
S I G N O R E.
And my name's S I G N O R E LL I.
(40:31):
Wow.
The.
The little lords.
Yes.
So I say that to say I'mstanding under an inheritance and
my daughter's like in there.
And I mean, I was wrecked,bro, because I didn't inherit in
the natural, I didn't inherit anything.
But in the spiritual, it'slike we serve the God of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and youget grafted into this lineage that's
(40:52):
so much bigger than us.
And I see that on your life.
And that's why I just feltlike I needed to bring you to the
couch to talk about this.
And there's many of youreceiving freedom right now.
Strongholds coming down inyour mind, patterns of thinking being
broken.
So can you just maybe leadthem through some prayer right now?
And I want to Tell you this,man, I already had a kid reach out
(41:14):
to me.
And they said that last nightwhen you just led them through prayer.
This kid, I think he was like16 years old, he said, I feel so
free after that prayer.
Like, if.
If last.
If tonight was over.
And that's all it was.
I'm.
I'm good.
Come on.
That's so good, man.
So could you maybe just leadthem through some prayer right now?
And I want to share.
(41:34):
I want to share an idea with you.
So.
So much of what we calldeliverance ministry is built on
this premise.
It's built on a false premise.
And the false premise is this.
Okay, I have Jesus.
What else do I need?
The truth is, I think so muchof what drives, you know, deliverance,
(41:55):
or our pursuit of freedomcomes from a fundamental misunderstanding
of the ferocity of Jesus.
Like, what we experience ofChrist is that he's loving and gentle
and patient and kind.
But that's not all he is.
The truth is, when hell looksat Jesus, they see something like
Genghis Khan.
Yeah, Genghis Khan.
This is one of my favorite stories.
(42:16):
It's a horrible thing, Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan is said to havekilled 1.7 million people in one
hour.
Crazy.
One hour, 1.7 people dead.
So this is like brutal,relentless, insane, tyrant.
This is a king that you wouldnever stand against.
(42:38):
That's what hell sees whenthey look at Jesus.
That's what hell sees.
In Colossians 2, it says thatJesus disarmed every principality
and power, and he made apublic spectacle of them triumphing
over them by the cross.
And so I want you to know,here's where I'm going to pray from.
This is what I want to prayover you, is that the victory of
(43:00):
Jesus would be made manifestin your life, that the power of the
cross would become a realitythat you live in, not just an idea
that you consider.
That's it.
Amen.
So let's pray.
Father, I thank you for theblood of the Lamb that was shed on
the cross.
I thank you, God, for thepower, for our forever freedom that
(43:21):
was released there at the cross.
God, I thank you not just forthe cross, but I thank you for the
life that was given there atthe cross.
For our inheritance, for ourdeliverance, for our freedom, for
our total healing.
God, I speak right now to yourpurpose and plans over every person
listening to this prayer.
I pray, God, that those planswould become a reality.
(43:42):
I pray the darkness of despairor captivity that it would be broken
right now.
But the lies of life thatJesus came to release into them.
Lord, I pray right now thatyou would bring them in an instant
through decades of trauma,that what could take years and years
of counseling.
God, I pray that you would doit right now, in an instant.
I pray over their lives thatthe Lamb that was slain would receive
(44:04):
the reward of his suffering.
That Jesus would be manifestedas victorious warrior, as conquering
king, and their life would betangible evidence of that reality.
Lord Jesus, I release healingin your name into the life of every
person under the sound of my voice.
I release peace in your nameto every person under the sound of
my voice.
Let their life become a trophyof your victory on the cross.
(44:28):
I pray this in the mighty nameof Yeshua, Jesus the king.
Amen.
Come on.
Amen.
Hey, everybody.
You know, there's many of usthat have experienced pain in the
area of our fathers and whatwe've encountered.
You know, we know divorce isat an all time high.
There's many people choosingto live together, and they're committed,
but they're not covenanted.
And so we see so muchbrokenness in family.
You guys know, that's a bigthing in my life.
(00:54):
My father dying prematurely,multiple abusive stepdads.
And a lot of you guys, eventhrough the pandemic, call me Papa
Siggs.
And so we know that God willactually bring people into our lives
as ambassadors of the Father's heart.
And so I really feel like inso many ways, this could be one of
the most important broadcaststhat you're a part of.
(01:14):
Because if you look atdifferent things happening in your
life right now and you'relike, why do I struggle with this?
Why do I go back to this sin?
Why do I find comfort in thesethings, even though I know this is
not God's heart for my life?
You probably need some healingin this area.
I think that's why Jesus showsup and he says, oh, this is how we
pray.
(01:34):
Our Father, who art in heaven,and gives this profound revelation
of Abba Father.
And here's the other thing.
I believe that those fatherwounds could even open in different
seasons of our life.
That's my story.
Thinking that I was healed of it.
And then I get to anotherstage of life and it opens again.
And so this conversation couldbe one of the most important things
(01:57):
that you need in this stage ofyour life right now.
So I've got a guest with me,and, you know, just.
It's so funny because I'mgonna go there just right off the
bat, but, you know, I askedyou if you'd be willing to talk about
the heart of the Father.
And you know your pastor,Matty Montgomery, there's many people
that view you as a father inthe faith.
(02:19):
You have biological childrenof your own.
And I know a little bit aboutyour story.
I just feel like you have somuch insight here.
And so when I was praying,saying, like, man, if I can get an
opportunity to sit down withPastor Matty, what would we talk
about?
I felt like I just keptFather, Father F.
And so you pull up today in arental, and I actually walked out
(02:42):
saying, like, oh, is he here yet?
And it's a Camaro.
And my biological father drovelike a late 70s Camaro.
And so the only memories thatI have of my dad is driving in his
Camaro.
And so when you pulled up inthe Camaro, like, it's obviously
a modern one, I was like, wow.
You know, maybe.
You know, I don't want to beweird or hokey, but it just was kind
(03:04):
of like, wow, maybe.
Maybe this is one of thoselittle divine confirmation.
So I also asked if you doggedit out a little bit and floored it.
I'm not saying you did.
Can you confirm?
But welcome to my channel.
And for those who don't knowyou, do you mind just starting with
(03:25):
kind of, like, who you are,where you're at in life now, but
then going back to your stories?
Yeah.
Well, my name is Maddie Montgomery.
I pastor a church in northeastTennessee called the Altar Fellowship.
Beautiful, vibrant, colorfulcommunity of kingdom people, many
of whom have moved across thecountry, some across the world, to
(03:47):
be a part of what God is doing there.
And incredible church.
It's amazing, man.
I love.
I feel like even if I wasn'tthe pastor, I'd want to just go there.
Yeah, people are incredible,and what God is doing is.
Is unlike anything I've ever seen.
And.
And now we planted this churchjust five years ago, and it's been
explosive.
But prior to that, I spentabout 12 years as a traveling itinerant
(04:11):
evangelist in one way or another.
Now, I traveled to a lot ofconferences and crusades and did
that thing.
But at the same time, I alsotoured in a band called Fortinet.
I was the vocalist of that band.
Had the opportunity to preachthe gospel through our music in bars
and nightclubs all over the world.
Like, we weren't doing.
We were a Christian band, butwe weren't going on tour with Christian
(04:34):
artists.
We would intentionally bringout satanic bands and atheist bands
and antichrist bands.
And we would do that becausewe wanted to preach the gospel to
the people that needed it the most.
So, you know, we'd go intobars and nightclubs and we'd preach
the kingdom.
And you would see, you know, Imean, we'd be spit on and cussed
out, but the people doing thatwould be standing, you know, right
(04:56):
next to someone else who hasgot both hands raised as tears roll
down their cheeks.
And they say, man, I've beenlooking for hope.
And every night, people wouldrespond to the gospel, come to salvation
and faith in Jesus.
So we got to do that from 2000.
I joined the band in 2007, andthen in 2016, we did a farewell tour.
And so it was just about adecade of fun traveling the world
(05:20):
and preaching the gospel.
And some of the least likelyplaces bold too, though.
Oh, man, it was awesome.
I remember those days and justseeing you preach the gospel unapologetically,
like on the Warp tour, I mean,it was brutal, like, and, and.
And actually, I want topublicly honor you for that because,
you know, there's many peopleyou met from my team last night who
(05:40):
were just like, hey, you're my hero.
You know, they were a part ofthat era as well.
And.
But also, there's that phrasebiblically, like fruit that remains.
And just a cool story.
I want to.
I want to actually get this on film.
So after you got donepreaching last night, we saw hundreds
of young people literally runforward, jump to their knees, like,
I want to fully surrender to Christ.
It was super powerful.
(06:02):
And then you walk back and youlaid your hand on our music director.
His name's Aaron Craniac, andyou just begin to pray for him.
And then he told you in thegreen room afterward that, like,
what was it, like a decade ago?
Or you had basically met himafter a show in New York, and you
prophesied over him and said,you're going to be raised up as a
(06:23):
pillar of the church or achurch or something, and there's
going to be a weight upon you,and you're going to bear that weight.
And at the time, he'sobviously at a whole different church.
Years later, he joins ourchurch, and now he is a pillar of
our church, and he's leadingfive locations worth of worship.
So it's just incredible tothink that, like, that season of
(06:43):
your life is literally bearingfruit all these years later.
I'm so honored.
It's so cool.
It's like all I'm doing isjust running around, you know, planting
and watering seeds.
Yeah.
Only God knows what comes from those.
And it's really cool to get tosee some of the fruit.
Yeah.
God has pulled out of mylittle life, you know.
Yeah.
It's amazing.
(07:04):
And we're linking to yourchurch in the description as well,
so people can check it out andwatch your preaching and, you know,
kind of subscribe over there.
So.
But let's talk specificallyabout, like, going deeper into your
past, because I know that.
That you carry, you know,like, you carry the Father's heart
as well.
I think that's one of thereasons why people are moving to
(07:25):
join your church, and they'reattracted to what you're doing because
you feel the compassion, thelove of Christ just flowing from
your life.
But maybe go back and tell thestory of your father.
Yeah, well, my father, he wasborn to a crack addict mother in
the projects in Indianapolis,and she didn't know who his biological
(07:48):
father was.
She didn't want to raise ababy, so she gave him away to another
woman who lived in the same projects.
And he had brothers, sisters,half brothers, half sisters, adoptive
brothers and sisters kind ofrunning all around, all over the
place.
By the time he married mymother, every one of his brothers
(08:08):
and sisters were either deador in prison.
He was an anomaly, the onlymember of his entire extended family
to graduate from high school.
But he didn't just graduatefrom high school.
He went to college.
He got his master's degree.
He became a college professor.
Wow.
And when.
When I was born, he was acollege professor at Taylor University
(08:30):
in Upland, Indiana.
And.
And so I was born in Indiana,and then we moved.
Shortly after that, he got ajob teaching in a school in Oregon
called George Fox University.
But he passed away when I was8 years old.
He got cancer when I was,like, 3, and it had gone into a mission.
(08:54):
And then we moved, actuallyfrom Oregon to Michigan.
He got a job at a universityin southeast Michigan, and within
two weeks of moving there, hefound a lump on his shoulder here.
And within six months, he was dead.
And so, you know, at 8 yearsold, burying your father is a, you
(09:17):
know, kind of an indescribable experience.
You just.
You don't have context for it.
And people tell you all sortsof insane things, like, hey, you
know, God works in mysteriousways, and he must be trying to teach
you some important lesson.
And so I'm 8 years old, tryingto process the theology of loss and
suffering, you know, trying tosort of stare into the abyss of growing
(09:40):
up without a dad, you know,and deal in an instant with this
reality.
My dad's not going to be herewhen I go on my first date, when
I learn to drive a car, when Iapply for colleges.
He's not going to be here whenI get married.
He's not going to meet my kids.
And, you know, and all of thatwas, like.
Was devastating.
And so I had.
(10:00):
Even prior to my dad's death,I struggled with behavior.
But, you know, after my daddied, I sort of had a great excuse
to be angry at the world.
(11:06):
Yeah.
And so I spent the next yearsmaking, you know, the life of my
mom and my classmates and myteachers, coaches, just.
Hell, yeah.
You know, I was known for fighting.
I was known for kind ofconstantly being in trouble, man.
It wasn't until God really gota hold of my life early in college
(11:30):
that I was able to finally letgo of the the pain that I'd allowed
to become my identity.
And how did that happen?
Because.
Because I think what you'reexpressing is so real, especially
for people who are watchingright now.
It's.
The behavior was connected tothat wound.
Yeah.
It was grief.
You know, and I always say,like, when you read Ecclesiastes.
Right.
Grief is supposed to be aseason, not a cycle.
(11:52):
Yeah.
So we have to learn how to mourn.
We have to learn how to lament where.
And that's the one thing Ithink we don't teach in our churches
well enough.
Like, we're always trying to,like, accelerate through that season.
But it's like, man, we've gotto learn how to mourn better.
We have to learn how to sit inthe suffering, sit in the loss.
But then also, there comesthat Moses, or that.
(12:14):
That moment.
Hey, Moses, the servant is dead.
Let's wash our face for tomorrow.
We go in.
And I think what happens isgrief goes from a.
A season to a cycle.
Yeah.
You know, and that's like.
There's so many people whocome to our ministry that got heavily
involved in occult practicesthat were connected to grief.
So it was like, they.
(12:34):
That's when they're like, oh,I went to the psychic medium, because
maybe then I could talk to mydad again.
Yeah, right.
And then that.
That's so.
It's like they didn't say, I want.
They didn't wake up and say, Iwant to be a witch.
I want to be a warlock.
But that grief was connected.
Or there's so many people whoare like, oh, I'm just drinking to
get through this season.
And then it becomes a cycle ofalcoholism, and that root system
(12:57):
is loss.
And I think, for me, that wasmy story.
It's like, my dad died when Iwas in my early 20s from a genetic
brain disease.
And so.
But before that, he hadcommitted murder.
He went to prison.
It was like manslaughter.
So he eventually got out.
And then when I reconnectedwith him, I just tried to establish
(13:17):
a relationship, and heactually rejected me.
And his last words were to mewere, let sleeping dogs lie.
And it was kind of his way ofsaying, we've never had a relationship.
Why would we start now?
And I think he dealt with alot of shame, probably feeling like
a failure.
There was domestic abuse.
You know, he cheated on my mom.
So I think he, at that stagewas probably like, listen, you're
(13:37):
a grown man now.
Like, we never had a relationship.
Why should we?
He probably also knew that hewas gonna die, and So I think that
was his way of just beinglike, stay away.
It's over.
So when you talk about thatdestructive behavior, that was my.
That's how I got into alcoholism.
That's.
And it was the same thing.
It was like, if I can't have agood life, no one else is either.
(13:59):
Yeah.
So sabotaging.
Self sabotaging.
Destroying everything around me.
And so when you said that, Ijust wanted to flesh it out a little
bit because there's so many ofyou watching right now that are realizing
that again, I said at thebeginning of this broadcast, now
you're getting an insight intoit, that when you go deeper, you'll
see that maybe it's thefatherlessness, maybe it's that wound,
(14:22):
maybe it's the grief, and fromthat is growing out all these other
weeds.
So then you said, now you goto college.
By the way, quick side note,we're in Indiana.
Yeah.
So I'm thinking about, like,your dad coming out of Indianapolis
and now his son.
And it's like an emotionalmoment is in Indiana leading hundreds
of kids to Christ last night,calling them to repentance, you know,
(14:46):
sitting here now, broadcastingto hopefully tens of thousands of
people.
But what happened in collegethat caused you.
Because you just saidsomething happened.
What was that?
Yeah, well, you know, my.
My issue, and I think this isprobably the issue for.
For many of you watching, is,is that I.
(15:07):
I didn't know who I was.
It's my.
It was my father's job to tellme who God said that I so am, to
see me for who I am.
And I think because he wasgone, it's like I didn't know who
I was.
So I thought I wanted to befeared, and so I'd fight the whole
world.
I thought I wanted to bewanted, and so I'd chase girls, you
know, I thought I wanted to befree from control or from boundaries.
(15:30):
And so I walked away from thechurch, you know, and I felt like
I didn't know who I was or whoI wanted to be.
And so because of that, I endup being destructive and rebellious
and divisive and hurtful toeverybody around me.
And I think that's, you know,what is a father, but the one who's
supposed to be at the front ofthe line bearing witness to who God
(15:51):
says that you are.
Wow.
And.
And I think this is, you know, fathers.
I mean, the greatestinheritance any of us will.
Could ever receive from afather is identity.
Yeah.
And.
And so for me, God took me ona whole journey, really began the
summer after my freshman yearof college, I, you know, had left
the church.
I had started to studyreligion, world religions and philosophy.
(16:15):
And I kept running into this issue.
And the issue was, you know,when I'd read Plato, when I'd read
Lao Tzu and the Dao de Jing,when I'd read, you know, Buddhist
writings and teachings, itseemed like there was this sort of
universal acknowledgment of amoral standard.
Yeah.
Everybody, everyphilosophical, political, religious
(16:36):
voice all throughout historysaid we should be loving and kind
and patient and generous.
Cool.
But there was this naggingquestion in the back of my head,
and that is, what about thefact that I have failed miserably
to be loving and kind andpatient, Generous.
I mean, serious.
If this is what God, whoeverGod is, if this is what God has made
(16:57):
us for.
And it's so obvious that everyreligious leader, every philosophical
voice all throughout humanhistory have all agreed this is what
we were made for.
What about the fact that Ihave failed miserably to meet that
standard?
I'm in trouble, right?
And.
And so I'm sitting on the steps.
(17:18):
In July of 2006, I was sittingon the steps of my college dorm,
actually reading a book about Buddhism.
And.
And I just kept gettinghammered by this thought.
And the way I put it rightnow, the way I might phrase it right
now, is, is this thought thatI am a sinner.
Yeah.
Like Romans tells us, all havesinned and fall short of the glory
of God.
Like that was the reality thatwas just bearing down on me.
(17:39):
There is a standard, and Idon't meet it.
There is a standard, and I'vefailed to get there.
There is a standard, and Ifall short of it every day.
What am I going to do?
What's my hope?
And the wild thing is,throughout the entire expanse of
human history, there's onlybeen one answer.
Though there have been manyvoices that call us to the standard,
there's only ever been oneanswer for the fact that all of us
(18:01):
have failed to meet that standard.
And that is that he that knewno sin became sin, that I, through
him might become therighteousness of God in Christ Jesus
is that the Lamb of God cameto take away the sin of the world.
Yeah.
That's my only hope.
And so I.
God sort of backed me intothis philosophical corner.
Yeah.
Sitting on the steps of mydorm in the summer of 2006.
(18:22):
And when I finally set thisbook down and said, I can't argue
anymore, I can't run anymore,there's no way out of this, but to
recognize that Jesus is theonly answer for me.
It was like.
I've explained it before.
I said it was like waking upin a room full of strangers.
It's like I suddenly becameconscious of the fact that God wasn't
just a concept or an idea,that God was a real being.
(18:46):
And not only that, but he wasvery close to me, that he could see
me, that he was with me inthat moment.
And so his presence becameinescapable, unavoidable for me.
And I sat there on the stepsof my dorm for what must have been
hours, crying and shaking inthe presence of God and saying, I
mean, I don't know if you canuse somebody like me, you know, and
(19:07):
all of my.
It was like we had thisconversation, this ongoing conversation,
and.
And it was like everyobjection I had, he had an answer
for.
I said, God, I'm too weak.
I can't follow you.
And he said, yeah, but I useweak things to confound the strong.
But, God, I'm so scared, youknow, I don't think I can do this.
And he'd say, yeah, butperfect love casts out fear.
Every issue that I brought tothe table, he had an answer for.
(19:29):
He wasn't intimidated by my weakness.
He was moved by love for me.
And in that moment, man, heconfronted my doubt, he confronted
my weakness.
He confronted my insecurity.
And it wasn't like, all right,you're done.
You're saved.
You're getting into heaven.
No, it was like, all right,this is where we're going to start
from.
Yeah.
You need to know that I loveyou and I'm invested in you.
(19:51):
This is step one.
Let's go.
Wow.
And so, man, everything in mylife changed that day radically.
Well, you know, I'm thinking,you know, when you have a father
wound, you go into performance mode.
Well, there's two.
I always say this like, soimagine an orphanage, and everybody's
been orphaned.
They don't have a father.
There's typically two types of orphans.
There's the one.
(20:11):
And I've traveled all over theworld, and I've traveled to orphanages,
whether it's in Ukraine ordifferent regions.
And whenever you walk into theorphanage, it's like, there's one
kid that is, like, performing,like, I'm going to do every trick
I know how to do, so maybeyou'll adopt me, right?
And they're trying to make you laugh.
They're doing magic tricks.
They're coming up to you.
And then there's the othertype of orphan, the kid in the corner
(20:33):
of the room who's like, I'm sodead inside.
I don't care.
Nobody's coming to rescue me.
Whatever.
And I feel like for me, in myjourney of fatherlessness, I've been
both orphaned.
Right.
But when you think aboutpaganism, because you were talking
about, like, world religions,and I also went on a journey.
Matter of fact, my journey ofstudying world religions was so intense
(20:54):
that Indiana University,Bloomington, during my junior year
asked me if I would teach itas an elective course.
So I trained that summer, andthen that fall, they allowed me to
teach, like, a world religion survey.
And so we went to, like, theJewish Cultural Center.
We went to the IslamicCultural Center.
And I was on a similarjourney, which is very interesting,
(21:14):
because I think one of thethings is when you're looking for
identity, because father'sgiven identity as an inheritance.
So then what do you do?
Well, I'm gonna go make an identity.
I'm gonna find.
I'm gonna read the Hindu Vedas.
Yes.
I'm going to read the Quran.
I read the Satanic Bible,which is the playbook for American
culture.
That's a whole nother.
(21:35):
You know, But I was like,okay, nobody gave me an identity.
I'm going to make one.
And so I started doing.
And then what?
Then what also happened was Iwas oscillating.
I was like the orphan that wasbasically entertaining everybody.
And, like, look at me, look at me.
You know, like, I'm playingmusic, I'm creating art.
(21:55):
I'm doing this.
And then I was the, the otherorphan that was like, shunning the
world.
I don't care if anybody, youknow, And I was oscillating between
both of those.
And then at the same time,trying to make.
It's exhausting.
Trying to make your own identity.
That's right.
You know, but when you talkabout paganism, and I kind of heard
you speaking into that,paganism is essentially, there's
(22:17):
this deity, and in order toappease this deity, I'm going to
physically do something.
Right.
You know, so, hey, we needrain for our crops.
Let's do a rain dance.
Like, I'm going to dosomething to appease this deity.
And by that standard, a lot ofChristians are pagans.
Yeah.
Because they don't understandthe gospel is you bring nothing.
Yes.
Like, you know, and becausethere's people watching right now
(22:40):
are like, I had a bad dad.
I'm going to be a good dad.
Right?
No, you're not.
I, I, I, you know, my dad wasa bad husband.
I'm going to be a good husband.
No, you're not.
Right.
Because the devil will get youto the same destination by a different
route.
So you think you're going tobe different than your dad.
So I always said, I'm nevergoing to be an alcoholic like my
dad.
I literally.
(23:00):
The devil got me to the samedestination by a different route.
And I was raised in church,but never knew the gospel, so.
Because the gospel is, youbring nothing.
It's all filthy rags.
Right.
And so it was like, I don't.
I don't think I actuallyunderstood the gospel until.
Until I understood my total depravity.
Yeah.
And it was when I was incollege that I finally got to the
(23:21):
end of myself and I was like,I can't be good.
Yeah.
Like I.
I defined myself as my, Mybiological dad was bad and I'm going
to be good.
Right.
And here I am with women doing.
I literally ended up in thesame destination.
And then my own.
My.
What I thought wasChristianity was paganism.
Yeah.
It was.
I'm gonna fast.
(23:42):
Superstition.
Yeah.
I'm gonna fast.
I'm gonna pray.
I'm.
I'm gon Read my Bible every day.
And I'm like, wait a second.
I'm a pagan.
Yeah.
Because that's how theyapproach their deities.
And I think what I heard yousay is when you were sitting on the
steps and correct me if I'mwrong, and you're reading this, you
were like, wait a second.
I can't be a good Buddhist.
(24:03):
I can't be like, well, you know.
The idea was there's this standard.
I think everybody.
Yeah.
I can't reach this in our soul.
That this is what God has madeus for.
It's what God has called us to.
(25:19):
But everybody's written booksabout it.
We start entire.
We start entire religions about.
Yeah.
Trying to get to the standard.
Climb the mountain.
Yeah.
And it just dawned on me inthat moment.
No one can do this.
That's.
That's the whole point of thelaw in the scriptures is to teach
us that no one can do this.
Yeah.
That we are in desperate needof a savior.
The only people that resentedJesus for his ministry were people
(25:42):
that were.
Had.
Had convinced themselves that they.
They were doing it.
Wow.
Everybody else knew, like,there's this.
These 613 mitzvahs.
I cannot keep these.
I'm in serious trouble ifsomeone doesn't come save me.
I'm.
I'm doomed.
Yeah.
And.
And I think that's where I.
Where I came to in that moment.
In 2006, it's almost cliche,but I think about the prodigal, and
(26:04):
he just gets to the end ofhimself, and he's like, maybe I can
just go back to my father'shouse as a servant, right?
And then he shows up and hegets embraced.
And I think that that is thatmoment where.
And somebody watching rightnow is getting an epiphany.
You're getting a breakthroughright now.
Because that, for me, it waslike, I can't be a good husband.
I can't be a good father.
(26:24):
I do not have the ability todo it in and of.
In my own strength and my own power.
And any attempt to make my ownidentity is futile.
Right?
All my accomplishments orwhatever I thought was an accomplishment,
and I really came to the endof myself.
And that's my story, too.
And then from that moment on,I said, if anybody ever calls me
a good dad, it's Christ thatthey see in me being the good dad.
(26:48):
If they ever say I'm a goodhusband, it's Christ in me.
You know, a story I always tell.
You know, years later, beingmarried to Julie, you know, we used
to go and do streetevangelism, and we would call it
treasure hunting.
So it's like, God, give me a vision.
What do they look like?
What are they wearing?
What are they struggling with?
And we would write it down.
Then we would go into thesenew northwest Indiana towns and try
(27:08):
to find these people andminister to them and say, hey, look,
the Lord already showed me you.
Your situation, kind ofcombining like, prophecy with evangelism.
And so the Lord shows me,woman, blue shirt in a laundromat.
Having a bad day just needs areminder that God cares for her.
So I go into the laundromat,and this is in the middle of the
(27:29):
day, and I see a woman with ablue shirt.
I go to approach her.
She turns around.
It's my wife, Julie.
Wow.
And we had our own home with awasher and dryer.
And I was like, julie, whatare you doing here?
She's like, mike, I didn'twant to bother you.
She's like, we had a plumbingissue at the house, and we flooded
the whole first floor.
It's been the worst day ever.
(27:49):
She's like, I took our clothesand all of our stuff here to the
laundromat, and I pull outthis piece of paper that says, blue
shirt in a laundromat needs encouragement.
My point is, I said, julie, itwas you.
But I'm Too stupid to know that.
But the Holy Spirit in me sentme to my own wife.
So then when people are like,man, I wish.
(28:09):
I wish, you know, I had ahusband like Mike.
I'm like, no.
Like, yeah, it's.
It was Christ in me to mywife, like, I don't have the ability
to be a good husband.
And I think what I hear inyour story is like a real gospel
moment of surrender, which isthe root of being free from.
From all of this.
That's it.
(28:30):
Surrender.
Yeah.
Yeah, man.
It's like, you know, when.
When we surrender, the issueis, I think, so many of us, we trade
serving ourselves for servingour image of God in an image that
looks a lot like us.
Wow.
And.
And because of that, whathappens, What's.
(28:50):
What's produced is, you know,religion, what we call religion.
It's like, it's the idea thatI'm going to pray and fast enough
to.
To.
To have deserved God's goodness.
Yeah.
And I'm convinced that whathe's doing in the church and our
age is to deliver us from thekind of.
(29:10):
Deliver us from faith that isbuilt on what we feel we have earned.
Yeah.
You know, I talk a lot aboutwhat I call the realm of the 11th
talent.
And, you know, in the parableof the talents, you see the, you
know, one servant gets five talents.
One, two, and one one.
The five talent man, heproduces five more.
The two talent man, heproduces two more.
(29:30):
So everybody, they reapexactly what they sow.
But twice in the story, themaster is described as a man who
reaps where he does not sowand gathers where he does not scatter
seed.
I think that's such a profound description.
Who reaps where they don't sow.
Like James tells us, be not deceived.
Whatsoever man sows, that alsowill he reap.
So there's this idea that hasbecome ingrained in us that we will
(29:53):
get what we earn.
And that's.
That's true of the natural world.
I don't think that's true ofthe kingdom.
Wow.
And here's why we say, well,you reap what you sow.
But the doctrine of grace isin direct contradiction today.
Right.
We are all saved because we'vereaped something we never sow.
Yeah.
And so at the end of thatstory, you know, certainly you have
(30:14):
the warning about the 1 talentand who buried what was given to
him.
But after that, that onetalent is taken, and it's given to
him who has 10 talents.
And Jesus says, this isbecause to him who has, more will
be given.
And so there's this idea that,you know, he.
He worked for the extra five talents.
He got five talents, and thenhe put those to work, and he.
(30:35):
He turned those five into 10.
But at the end of the story,he received an 11th talent.
He didn't do anything for.
He didn't earn.
He didn't ask for.
And I think that's whatkingdom faith gives us permission
to pursue.
It's the ability to say, God,I haven't earned this.
Yeah, I don't deserve this.
I could never do enough workto produce this.
(30:55):
But I'm going to be boldenough to ask you for it anyway.
Wow.
And that has been, you know,our experience.
The Lord started to speak thisto me about five years ago when we
moved our family up to JohnsonCity to plant this church.
And, you know, I had peoplethat had been in ministry.
You say, you know, you got apastor for 10 years before you can
get any kind of traction.
And pastoring is brutal, andit's not fun.
(31:16):
And, you know, it just.
It goes really slow and it'sboring and mundane and.
And I was feeling kind of discouraged.
And, you know, one day, justprivate devotional time, I got to
Matthew 25.
I'm reading this.
This parable of the talents, and.
Yeah.
And Jesus, you know, begins totalk about the 11th talent.
And I start to realize, youknow, there's a.
(31:40):
That God is better than I thought.
Yeah.
And he will give us thingsthat we didn't earn.
And I had in my life only hadfaith for that, which I feel like
I'd worked for.
Like, I want to have arevival, so I'm going to fast for
that revival.
Yeah.
I want to have a, you know,powerful ministry moment.
So I'm going to spend hoursevery day in prayer for that powerful
ministry moment.
(32:01):
And because I have done allthis work, now I'll give myself permission
to have faith for it.
But we came to Johnson City onday one.
We said, we believe this cityis going to be our 11th talent.
The thing we don't have towork for that.
God's going to open it to usnot because we are good, but because
he that's good.
And so.
So we came into the city, andGod has just totally blessed and
(32:22):
prospered our work there.
And it has been far beyond,vastly beyond the sum total of our
efforts.
And it's the only.
The only attribution is it'snot because I'm a great preacher
or a good pastor or leader.
I didn't know what I was doing.
I'd never done this before.
It was, it was because God isgood and he's better than I could
(32:42):
ever be.
Wow.
Yeah.
It's like mercy is when youget what you don't deserve.
Exactly.
You know, living it, living inthat realm of mercy.
And you know, it's like, youknow, I think right now we're living
in this very like PTSD ororiented, you know, it's like we,
and we were talking about thislast night, but it's just like my
whole life I've been fighting.
Then I become a Christian, nowI'm going to fight the devil.
(33:04):
And people are stuck in thesetrauma responses where it's like,
but show me a season of peace.
Yeah.
Show me a time when you restedin what Christ already did.
That's right.
The fact that like he secured it.
And it's like, are we restingin our works or his works?
And, and I think for same.
Same for us.
I mean, dude, I showed up toNew York city with an 18 person launch
(33:25):
team and $50,000.
And what's crazy is, you know,I saw churches come into New York
City with a quarter of amillion dollars.
And, and they were telling me,we don't have enough money.
And I'm like, can you sharewhat you do have, though?
Or they would come in withlike 60 person teams from across
the US and within two to threeyears they'd be gone.
And somehow or another, wejust kept advancing.
(33:47):
And here's fatherless Mike Signorelli.
Here's first generation MikeSignorelli here.
And it was like.
And I, and of course I had todeal with a whole bunch of issues
in my own soul because like Imentioned earlier, it's like every
season of your life, I thinkhas potential to unlock that father
wound in another way, youknow, because, because you can use
it as an excuse and you couldsay, you know, on your wedding day,
(34:08):
you're walking down the aisle,where's my dad?
Yeah.
Then you, the birth of yourfirst kid, where's your dad?
Then you plant a church,where's my dad?
But then the real answer iseither he was always there.
If, if, if the true father isyour heavenly father, it's like either
he was always there or afather wasn't there.
Yeah.
And it's like, so you, thefather wound will say, your dad's
(34:30):
not here.
But the Holy Spirit would say,yeah, he always was.
That's right.
I mean, it's by the HolySpirit that we cry out, abba Father.
That's it.
He bears witness to ouradoption of sons.
And that's it.
Coming into that realitychanged everything for me.
Recognizing that I had notjust a heavenly father in a sentimental
way, but in a practical, like,he had been protecting me, providing
(34:52):
for me, teaching me what Ineeded to know, when I needed to
know it.
There have been seasons oflife, and he's been very intentional
to say, all right, kids, sit down.
I need to teach you.
You know, before I gotmarried, we spent.
He said, I want you to fastfor the next week.
I'm going to teach you how tobe a man.
We went on this journey overthe course of this week where he
said, here's three or fourareas that you need to clean up,
(35:14):
because I'm going to send youyour wife soon.
And so he has been, in a verypractical way, as scripture promises
a father to the father.
That's literal, what you just said.
Yes.
And I think there's peoplewatching right now that they don't
have that relationship.
But I feel like there's saltin this talk because some of y' all
are being provoked right nowto say, I need to.
(35:36):
That.
You know, it's like, could you.
Could you open up thescriptures and open up a journal
and say, okay, this is myconversation with my father.
Because I look back in my lifeand I see he was guiding me the whole
way.
And.
And maybe something to kind oflike, close it out on.
I remember when people werechecking me all the time, how do
you know God called you to NewYork City?
I'm sure they asked you thesame thing about your city.
(35:57):
How do you know?
How do you know?
And of course, I used to tryto vindicate it with, like, oh, but
I got this sign and this and this.
And finally I was like, youknow what?
Who cares?
And here's why.
Because I have two daughtersand the idea of going into a store
and asking for something,because, you know, I'm the oldest
of five kids.
We were on welfare growing up.
We were food stamp family.
(36:18):
So I never.
I was conditioned.
You don't go into a store andask for anything because you already
know the answer.
The answer is no.
And then having two daughtersof my own and just seeing how far
free they were to be like,dad, can I have this?
And they'll ask, even if theythink it's a no, just on the off
chance it could be a yes.
And they're daddy's girl.
So it's a lot of yeses, right?
(36:38):
And so then I got thisrevelation of, like, Because I think
like, the hyper charismaticPentecostal types, you know, they
don't have a full revelationof, like, son or daughter.
And we limit God.
We're afraid to ask.
And then you got the reformedfolks who are like, oh, we're not
prosperity gospel.
Neither one of them have arevelation of sonship.
Yeah.
And so it's like, my girlswould be like, dad, can I have this?
(37:01):
Can I have this?
Can I have this?
And finally I started tellingpeople, who cares if God told me
to go to New York City?
What if I chose New York Cityand he chose me?
So therefore, it's irrelevantbecause there's, you know, people
are paralyzed.
Like, you know, should I moveto this city?
Should it?
It's like, what if you chosethe city, but God chose you?
And him choosing you is moreimportant than you choosing a stupid
(37:23):
region.
Yeah.
It's like, well, I'm here now.
Yeah, why not get to work?
It trivializes it.
Even when I was in northwestIndiana, I said, father, I've been
faithful to harvest this field.
Will you let me go harvest inanother field?
But I'm your son.
And I think, like, for me,breaking free from, like, really
slave mindset, you know, andbecause a slave is always getting
(37:44):
assignments, and I think, evenfor us, God, what's your will?
For my life?
It's like to actually beadopted into my family.
And so it's like slaves aregetting assignments, but sons and
daughters get opportunities.
Good man.
Well, and the difference, youknow, they both work in the father's
house.
The difference between a sonand a slave is that a son inherits
(38:05):
the house he's building.
Yes, but a slave doesn't.
And I think this is our issuein the church, is that we, like the
prodigal, say we're happy justbeing servants.
Father, I've sinned againstheaven and against you.
I'm no longer worthy to becalled your son.
Make me like one of your hired servants.
That's his speech.
So he goes back home with hisheart, determined to just say, I
don't need an inheritance.
(38:25):
I don't need anything.
I'll just.
I'll just work if you'll helpme survive.
And that's how most people inthe American church approach God
right now.
But the truth is he's calledus not to be servants or slaves.
He's called us to be sons.
Now, that may look the same.
We may do the same work on thesame stuff, but the difference is
what I'm building, thiskingdom I'm building, I get to inherit
(38:46):
this is my.
So this October and you guyscan pre order the links in the description.
I have a book coming outcalled inherit your freedom.
And so when you talked aboutthat, I mean, got chills all over
me because they're both working.
But the difference is there'sfruit that remains.
You're building a legacy.
It's bigger than you.
(39:07):
And so like for me, signorellior signorelli, it literally meant
murderer.
It meant spousal abuse, itmeant adulterer.
And so it's like by connectingmy name to Christ, there's an inheritance
of that legacy.
And as I die to myself daily,what's happening is I'm not conforming
(39:27):
to the world, but I'mconforming that name.
And it's so funny, bro,because I just got back from Sicily
because part of writing thisbook, inheritance your freedom, I
traced my lineage because Ihad no connection.
And as I got to Sicily, Ifound out that these Christians out
there already knew who I was.
We watch your YouTube channel,blah, blah blah.
And I just got.
Maybe we'll show some footageof it.
(39:48):
But I got asked to preach atthis very large church in Sicily
where my family's from.
And really big, there's thisbanner in Italian, it says Jesus
Christ is lord, but lord issignore and my name is Signorelli,
which my name actually meanslittle lords.
Wow.
So, so like there's aChristian lineage to my last name
(40:10):
that basically means likelittle, little Christs.
Yeah.
You know, so here's mepreaching now.
My whole family on my dad'sside was multi generational Catholic.
So here I am in a spiritfilled church in Sicily underneath
this banner that says JesusChrist is lord.
S I G N O R E.
And my name's S I G N O R E LL I.
(40:31):
Wow.
The.
The little lords.
Yes.
So I say that to say I'mstanding under an inheritance and
my daughter's like in there.
And I mean, I was wrecked,bro, because I didn't inherit in
the natural, I didn't inherit anything.
But in the spiritual, it'slike we serve the God of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and youget grafted into this lineage that's
(40:52):
so much bigger than us.
And I see that on your life.
And that's why I just feltlike I needed to bring you to the
couch to talk about this.
And there's many of youreceiving freedom right now.
Strongholds coming down inyour mind, patterns of thinking being
broken.
So can you just maybe leadthem through some prayer right now?
And I want to Tell you this,man, I already had a kid reach out
(41:14):
to me.
And they said that last nightwhen you just led them through prayer.
This kid, I think he was like16 years old, he said, I feel so
free after that prayer.
Like, if.
If last.
If tonight was over.
And that's all it was.
I'm.
I'm good.
Come on.
That's so good, man.
So could you maybe just leadthem through some prayer right now?
And I want to share.
(41:34):
I want to share an idea with you.
So.
So much of what we calldeliverance ministry is built on
this premise.
It's built on a false premise.
And the false premise is this.
Okay, I have Jesus.
What else do I need?
The truth is, I think so muchof what drives, you know, deliverance,
(41:55):
or our pursuit of freedomcomes from a fundamental misunderstanding
of the ferocity of Jesus.
Like, what we experience ofChrist is that he's loving and gentle
and patient and kind.
But that's not all he is.
The truth is, when hell looksat Jesus, they see something like
Genghis Khan.
Yeah, Genghis Khan.
This is one of my favorite stories.
(42:16):
It's a horrible thing, Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan is said to havekilled 1.7 million people in one
hour.
Crazy.
One hour, 1.7 people dead.
So this is like brutal,relentless, insane, tyrant.
This is a king that you wouldnever stand against.
(42:38):
That's what hell sees whenthey look at Jesus.
That's what hell sees.
In Colossians 2, it says thatJesus disarmed every principality
and power, and he made apublic spectacle of them triumphing
over them by the cross.
And so I want you to know,here's where I'm going to pray from.
This is what I want to prayover you, is that the victory of
(43:00):
Jesus would be made manifestin your life, that the power of the
cross would become a realitythat you live in, not just an idea
that you consider.
That's it.
Amen.
So let's pray.
Father, I thank you for theblood of the Lamb that was shed on
the cross.
I thank you, God, for thepower, for our forever freedom that
(43:21):
was released there at the cross.
God, I thank you not just forthe cross, but I thank you for the
life that was given there atthe cross.
For our inheritance, for ourdeliverance, for our freedom, for
our total healing.
God, I speak right now to yourpurpose and plans over every person
listening to this prayer.
I pray, God, that those planswould become a reality.
(43:42):
I pray the darkness of despairor captivity that it would be broken
right now.
But the lies of life thatJesus came to release into them.
Lord, I pray right now thatyou would bring them in an instant
through decades of trauma,that what could take years and years
of counseling.
God, I pray that you would doit right now, in an instant.
I pray over their lives thatthe Lamb that was slain would receive
(44:04):
the reward of his suffering.
That Jesus would be manifestedas victorious warrior, as conquering
king, and their life would betangible evidence of that reality.
Lord Jesus, I release healingin your name into the life of every
person under the sound of my voice.
I release peace in your nameto every person under the sound of
my voice.
Let their life become a trophyof your victory on the cross.
(44:28):
I pray this in the mighty nameof Yeshua, Jesus the king.
Amen.
Come on.
Amen.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.