February 4, 2025 • 48 mins
We explore the freedom of sonship and how being adopted and fathered by God reframes identity, restores courage, and reshapes how we lead our families. Ed shares his father’s story, breaks down key scriptures, and offers a simple way to start living from a secure name.
• Mission to equip men to be present, Christ-centered fathers
• Freedom defined beyond sin avoidance into identity received
• The false naming of sin, success, and failure challenged
• Ed’s origin story and the cost of performance identity
• Ephesians 1 adoption unpacked as chosen and secure
• Romans 8 and John 5 as the pattern of like father, like son
• Practical fathering with God in daily decisions
• Impact on children and grandchildren through blessing and presence
• Prayer for a new beginning and clear next steps
• Resources and community for ongoing growth
Help us transform another man into the father his children need. It doesn't matter how you started your story, but what you do next can change your family for generations to come. Click on the link to donate to our ministry: The Father Difference.
Ready to be the parent or grandparent you’ve always dreamed of becoming? Subscribe and tune into this podcast each week, and check out our resources, heartfelt encouragement, and practical tools to help you make a lasting impact on the ones you love most. Click this link below:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
What kind of father do you want to be?
What kind of man do you want tobecome for your family and for
yourself?
If you've ever wondered how tostep into the fullness of your
role as a father, husband, andman of God, then you're in the
right place.
Here at the Father Difference,our mission is to inspire and
equip men to be the best fathersthey can be.
(00:24):
It's a powerful mission.
And today, we're going toexplore exactly how you can take
steps toward that calling.
Whether you're a father, a son,a husband, grandfather, single
dad, stepfather, or just lookingto grow, I believe God has
something powerful for you intoday's message.
(00:44):
Whether you're tuning in live orwatching this later, we are so
excited to have you here.
If this is what you're lookingfor, then subscribe so you can
tune in each week to the FatherDifference Live.
You can sign up below.
And now your host, a husband,father, grandfather, author, and
(01:04):
former NFL player, Pastor EdMcGlassan.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
Well, welcome.
I need a few more lights on thesituation here.
Let's see if we can fire thoseup.
For yours truly, I am sograteful to be here.
I'm your host, Ed TaneMcGlassen.
And today I'm going to talkabout the freedom of sonship.
If you're not familiar withthat, we'll get into that.
But uh really looking forward touh sharing this with you.
(01:41):
We're uh on the fourth day ofFebruary here in the year 2025.
So welcome if you're uh tuningin.
I'd love to hear where you'refrom.
If you could just let me uh knowand you know where where what
country you're from, etc.
(02:02):
We have people watching this allover the world.
And uh welcome, brother Mendez,Michael.
Uh good to see you online.
I don't I'm not able to seeRumble and all the other places
where this is also broadcasting,but would love to hear from you
and uh and connect with us, it'dbe an awesome thing.
(02:25):
So today we're gonna talk aboutthe freedom of sonship and what
that really means for you as adad.
If you're gal watching, I I havegals who slip in on this show.
And before I get started,welcome, Jessica.
You know, I want to share withyou that this Thursday at 12
o'clock, I we're having anincredible event online with
(02:49):
Rachel, Rachel Yeager.
She is absolutely a fireball.
And guys, if your wife, if yourwife is maybe looking for like a
new beginning this year andwants to grow from fitness,
nutrition to being a mom tobeing a businesswoman, et
(03:13):
cetera, Rachel is is got got thegoods.
And we're doing a special showon February the 6th.
That's in two days at 12 p.m.
Pacific Standard Time.
And Rachel is awesome.
We're going to actually talkabout born for such a time as
this, who was part of aprophetic message in the Bible
(03:35):
to a woman in the Old Testamentwho made an incredible
difference with her life in themidst of all the challenges that
she had.
And so that'll be on Thursday.
So that's going to be a funtime.
So welcome to the FatherDifference.
If this is your first time oryou've been here before, here's
(03:58):
my buddy Emma King, one of thebest running backs I ever got to
play football with fromYoungstown State University.
We were the fighting penguins.
Just imagine singing that fightsong at Rams Camp.
I don't even remember what itwas.
(04:18):
It was kind of corny.
Hail the old penguin.
How's a penguin a beast of prey?
I'm not sure exactly.
Uh welcome, Ray.
Your first time here.
Lord bless you.
And tonight we're going to talkabout the freedom of sonship.
GoPens.
There we go.
Football player fan and allthat.
(04:39):
So welcome.
And so we're going to talk aboutwhat that means when I talk
about the freedom of sonship.
And so I'm going to start out byjust asking you a question.
What is ultimate freedom to youas a man?
If you were to think about whatfreedom might look like or the
(05:00):
kind of freedom that Godpromises to us, what would you
say that freedom is?
Some might say freedom from sin,Christ came to set us free,
absolutely, from sin and death.
But what does it mean to livefree as a man?
Imagine just the impactdifference that you would have
(05:25):
if you really felt like you werefree.
(05:57):
One uh Ray says, freedom inlearning my godly identity.
That's awesome, right?
And uh was played football inhockey.
I don't know.
I guess you know, one teachesyou to fight.
I got a bunch of hockey playersthat that I'm in a Bible study
with every week, and they're prothey're pros, and they're
(06:20):
they're pretty amazing.
And but imagine what it'd belike to absolutely be free, not
just free from sin, which isn'tan awesome gift that Christ
bought for us, but being free tonot being dependent upon other
people in the world to tell youwho you are, or to try to
(06:44):
project over you that you'rethis.
And yet I meet men all the timewho feel stuck.
I'm gonna share this.
Uh a friend of mine had one ofthese crazy prophetic dreams,
and it's really powerful.
And and it and it really willspeak into kind of what we're
(07:06):
gonna talk about about how Godwants to set us free so that sin
doesn't name us.
Because ultimately, the devilwants to name you by your
brokenness or by your failures.
Well, he had this dream in inyears ago, and he was he in this
(07:28):
dream, he was in an auctionhall, and in this auction hall,
it was just filled with thisjust smoke, everybody's smoking
cigars, and there's a stage upthere, and and these guys had
stogies, and and it was just hesaid it was foul.
I mean, the people were justraunchy, and all of a sudden
(07:53):
that the curtain gets pulledback and gets open.
And they start bidding, and onthe stage were were children,
and and men were these thesevile men were shouting out their
bids.
And it wasn't money, it was itwas sin.
(08:18):
And and one guy shouted, Lust!You know, and so and he got the
highest bid, and then all of asudden that child was bought for
lust.
And and another one washomosexuality, and and that
child was was sold for that, andthese names were liar, and and
(08:40):
all of the names of that thatthe devil wants to put on us
those identities, those placesof brokenness.
He, if he can capture your heartas a man by naming you by what's
broken in your life, you'll livein a prison of not for for much
(09:03):
of your life and neverunderstanding what it really
means to be free and to be namedby God and to be loved by God.
And I remember him sharing that,and then he said at the end that
Jesus spoke and he said, Whowill bid for my children?
And he woke up.
(09:28):
When I heard that, and that muchof what we get to do as fathers
and grandfathers is that God hasgiven us an incredible privilege
as a man, as a father, as agrandfather, to really help
young people discover who Godhas made them to be.
(09:52):
And the freedom of what it meanswhen God names you and blesses
your life, versus what sin willdo that tries to name you, where
it becomes your core identityand everything gets seen through
your sin.
(10:13):
And part of the devil's plan foryou and for me is that we would
constantly never get to see whoGod says us to be.
And it's not only sin, but it'salso things that we name
ourselves by or things that wedo.
(10:34):
And, you know, me in my life, Imean, much of my childhood was
was all about being able to wearone of these jerseys one day and
to play football.
And if I if I didn't get to getthere and do that, that my life
would would not would be afailure.
(10:56):
I would not live up to what Ithought my father wanted me to
be, or or my mother wanted me tobe.
And uh many of you know, youknow, it all happens with oh
yeah, one of the comments is Iwant to share this with my
adopted daughter andgranddaughters.
(11:17):
Absolutely.
And you can share this.
This will be on our YouTube pageafter this live show.
You can get it there, and alsoit'll be on our YouTube on our
website at the FatherDifference.
And so, you know, part of, youknow, part of the thing that the
(11:37):
enemy is trying to do with youand with me is not only is he
trying to name us by ourbrokenness, he's also trying to
name us by success so that wethink that everything is a uh it
happened because of who we are,how amazing we are in our life.
And yet, how many of you haveunrealized dreams of those
(11:58):
places where you thought youwould go, that if you could get
there, you would arrive.
And only to maybe build thatlife, I've I've coached a number
of men where their comment to mewas, you know, I I've spent my
life building a ladder to mydreams.
(12:19):
I climbed that ladder and wasable to realize some of my goals
and dreams in business, but Ilost my kids along the way.
And I would say to them, Well,how many of you want your
children to live that samedream?
And they, none of them, theysaid, please just show me how to
get my kids back.
(12:41):
And sometimes these aregrandpas, sometimes these are
fathers.
And as we get older in our lifeand we grow, we realize that the
current culture and theconfusion that we have out there
with this next generation uhfalls to us as fathers and
(13:02):
grandfathers to do somethingabout this.
And the great thing that happensin Christ is that God has given
us authority and power manytimes that a lot of dads don't
realize to make an incredibledifference with our children.
(13:23):
Even if we start out and webreak, we break them in the
beginning and we do it allwrong.
And so if you've been around me,you've you've heard about my
story.
But tonight I want to shareabout what it means to really be
in this freedom of sonship andwhat that really means.
And so here's the the firstslide I want to share with you,
(13:47):
just to think about.
Tell you a little bit about mystory for some of you that have
never been there or heard mebefore.
But, you know, it was on May the28th, 1956, that my dad,
Lieutenant J.G.
Ed Tenney, he was a test pilot.
I actually wear the dog tagsaround my neck that he took off
(14:13):
that night after he read thisverse of scripture that I'm
going to share with you.
And he's reading this next to mymom, who's very pregnant with
me, and it says that when thedisciples saw him walking on the
sea, and Jesus was walking upand down the uh the waves, they
(14:34):
were terrified, said, it's aghost, because they'd never seen
anybody walk in the water.
Jesus was walking out to themduring a storm, and they cried
out in fear, and immediatelyJesus spoke to them, saying,
Take heart, it's don't beafraid.
And then Peter says, Lord, if ifit's you, command me to come to
(15:00):
you on the water.
And Jesus said, Come.
My dad, on May the 29th, 1956,before he fell asleep that
night, circled that word come inthat story.
(15:20):
And the next day went out totest his plane.
So the Bible says that Peter gotout of the boat and walked on
the water and came to Jesus.
Well, long story short, justabout one o'clock that in the
afternoon, on May the 29th,1956, my father's plane lost
(15:42):
power, was in a crash dive,heading for the beaches of Santa
Cruz.
He was at Moffitt Airfield Basein Northern California.
He was a test pilot for theNavy.
And when he realized that if hebailed out, his plane might you
(16:03):
know spin out of control and hitthe people on the beach.
And his last words on worthwere, This is November Papa 88
taking it in.
And my father turned the planetowards the sea and hit the
(16:27):
water at 400 miles an hour.
People on the beach didn't knowthat he was making heroic
effort.
And so much of my life, youknow, I wondered why my dad, you
know, how come my dad didn'tknow not to fly the next day?
(16:49):
Or what happened in those lastmoments?
That was the last, you know,that was the last story about my
father that my mother told me.
And so that's kind of marked meas as his son.
And it marked me a couple ofways that number one, he was a
(17:11):
hero, and he, you know, died fora country.
Number two, that you know, hehad some some kind of revelation
the night before he died when hecircled that word in the Bible.
Matter of fact, with my momthere, he looked at it with such
(17:33):
a strange look that my mother,having kind of a woman's
intuition moment, said, Ed, am Igonna lose you?
He said, No, why would you saythat?
Well, the next morning he died.
Now, the next time we gettogether, I'm gonna tell you the
rest of the story.
So I'm gonna leave you hanging.
Because I want to get to what Ireally think God wants me to
(17:54):
share with you tonight about thefreedom of sonship.
So, in the midst of that, youknow, interchange and losing my
dad, you know, it created thismoment in me where I needed I
needed to have a father.
Because true freedom happenswhen you know whose son you are,
(18:18):
and you have a father who'sresourcing you and loving you
and in your life.
I mean, a present father is anincredible, just an incredible
benefit and blessing in the lifeof a of a daughter or son or a
stepdaughter or a stepson.
(18:38):
I mean, when fathers are inplace, cultures change.
You look at where dads are inplace in our country, you see
incredible things happen.
And especially when there'sspiritual fathers who are there.
And yet the absentee dad orchildren that were father
deprived, you know, they sufferin their life.
(19:01):
They're not quite they'rethey're awkward with people.
They don't live with as muchcourage in their life.
And yet, God's made you and I insuch a way that when we learn to
do this one thing with him, itcan completely set us free from
being named by our brokenness,by our things, by our stuff, by
(19:26):
people.
I mean, it's it's interestingtoday, you know, with all the
craziness that's been in socialmedia and all those things, that
much there's been much talkabout what identity is all
about.
So the world's answer with thedevil kind of influencing them
(19:46):
is that you are who you want tohave sex with.
Think about that.
Isn't that crazy?
Where your sexual identitydetermines your personal
identity, and that's just offthe rails, and it just does has
no bounds.
Well, you know, God's neverintended for it to be that way.
(20:10):
Because our core identity isn'tbeen made based on who we want
to be intimate with that way.
God has been the one who's theone who's wanted to name us all
along.
Now look at this scripture.
So, how does he give us freedomof being a son?
(20:31):
Well, I love this verse inEphesians 1, 3 and 5.
We're just going to kind ofbreak this down the rest of our
time.
But it says that long before helaid down the earth foundations,
he had us in mind, and hesettled on us as the focus of
his love.
Oh gosh, I love that.
(20:52):
Is that the way you see God theFather?
You know, even before he said,Let there be light, that he
settled on us as a focus of hislove, to be made whole and holy
by his love.
Long, long ago, he decided toadopt us into his family through
(21:15):
Jesus Christ, and what apleasure he took in planning
this.
Ephesians 1.
Incredible, incrediblescripture.
And we're going to kind of breakthat down.
Well, here's the first thingthat's in there.
Long before the earthfoundations.
Well, the Bible says in Jeremiah1:5, before I formed you in the
womb, I knew you.
(21:36):
Before you were born, Iconsecrated you and appointed
you to be a prophet to thenations.
Now, God's saying this toJeremiah.
And it says it to us as well isthat before God made the earth,
he perfectly formed us for whohe's called us to be.
(21:57):
He's created us to know him andto receive his love and to be
free from sin and to live outthe life that God's made us for.
And that's that's God's plan forhow He turns our stories around
when we get sideways.
You know, the Bible says thatGod sent his son so that we
(22:19):
could experience his freedom.
And one of the things aboutJesus is that he had this
freedom to be who his fatherwanted him to be and to do what
his father wanted him to do.
Sorry about for those thosethings that popped on the
screen.
I I gotta watch my thumbs up andstuff because I get all these
(22:43):
flashes on my screen.
There it goes again.
It's not that I have some kindof supernatural power that I can
make the screen do crazy stuff.
But see, God has has done thatbecause he wants us to
experience his freedom.
And so you know what that meansfor you and me?
(23:06):
It means this.
It means that you can't be amistake.
If God knew about you before hesaid, Let there be light, he's
been waiting for the moment ofyour birth.
To reveal his love to us, toreveal his son to us, to break
(23:27):
the power of sin in us andforgive us for our sin.
But uh not only that, he wantsto be a part of your story and
help shape you into who he'scalled you to be.
I I love that this nextscripture that I share with you
is that he's in the way he doesthat, he, you know, he wants to
(23:48):
adopt us into his family.
He wants to actually be a fatherin your story and in my story.
Not only save us from our sinthrough his son, he wants to
father us the same way hefathered his own son.
And I love this in Ephesians1.5.
Long, long ago he decided toadopt us into his family through
(24:11):
Jesus Christ.
And what a pleasure he took inplanning this.
God's always wanted to adoptyou.
And what's amazing about thispicture of adoption, so
adoption's different than havinga child, because when you adopt
a child, if you've ever adopteda son or a daughter, or you're a
(24:33):
a dad who's now in a real waybeing a father to your the the
kids of your of your new wife,is that you get to see who they
are on the outside before youchoose them.
And so you could go, well, Idon't know if I, you know, you
(24:56):
know, you that they look like alot of trouble.
But see, God knew us perfectlybefore he even made us, and he
chose us to be a father to us.
Because, see, he knows that whenhe when he's in that place of
fatherhood with us, it sets usfree from being owned by
anything in this world.
(25:16):
He wants you to be successful inyour life with him, he wants you
to discover his love, he wantsyou to receive the family
inheritance through youradoption.
He wants to be a major part ofshaping you and leading you and
teaching you.
(25:36):
And she was so great about that.
You could lose your dad like Idid, or your dad might still be
living and just walked away frombeing your father, or was a
brutal dad, or you didn't knowhim at all, and you've never
known anything about your dad,and and guess guess what?
(26:04):
Those things will never limityou when you understand
completely that God himselfwants to father you and unlock
that story he's perfectly madefor you to live.
Because you're not a mistake.
I just love that.
Look at this next scripture.
Now did he uh plan on adoptingus, it said God wants to father
(26:29):
us because he's made us for anunending relationship with him.
That's what that scripture said.
His plan all along was to be ourfather, and and that's why he
sent his son.
And I'm being and when I beganto understand this, it just blew
my mind that God the Father notonly sent his son Jesus to save
(26:53):
my life, he sent his son Jesusso I could be father by him.
And guess who he's gonna makeus?
Well, we're gonna look like whenhe's done with us.
We're gonna look just like hisson.
He's gonna father us along thesame lines as the way he
fathered his son.
(27:14):
He took such great pleasure inplanning this so that you could
live out of that true identitythat he's made you for.
Not some kind of propped-upfalse identity that you make
yourself, or the way kids todayare rebranding themselves so
that they can be seen on theirsocial media.
(27:36):
And, you know, I think socialmedia is is come around on the
earth at this time because thereare so many children that are
desperate for identity.
They're desperate for a dad likeyou.
If you're a mom here for a momlike you, they're desperate to
(27:58):
know who they are.
And all it takes many times is ais a quest is just uh that you
stop by, you you visit withthem, you meet them.
It's a powerful way you canchange the life of somebody.
You know, key wants to fatherus.
(28:19):
Here's the next uh slide for youto think about.
And he's in in 2 Corinthians 618, he says, I will be a father
to you, and you will be my sonsand daughters to me, says the
Lord God Almighty.
That there was the verse thatjust completely unlocked it for
me.
(28:41):
Because I mean, one of the oneof the things that you run up
against when you're a man andyou're you're a father, a young
father, is that when you startstruggling in your own
fatherhood because you didn'thave a dad teach you how to be a
father, then who are you gonnalearn from?
That was me, that was my story.
(29:04):
And I desperately wanted to notonly know that from myself, but
I also wanted to be a good dadto my kids.
And I would blow it all thetime.
And and we don't blow it becausewe don't love our children.
(29:26):
We blow it many times because wewe start out fathering many
times through the model of theway we were fathered.
You know, I remember my stepdadsaying to me, Well, if it's good
enough for me, son, it's gonnabe good enough for you.
And so I mean, uh, I mean, ourfamily, you know, he he was a
(29:47):
wonderful military leader to hismen, submarine commander, my
stepfather was.
But the dilemma was with him isthat he he didn't know how to do
this with me.
Very well.
I think he learned that as hegot older.
But when I was being raised, itwas all about performance.
It was all about football.
(30:09):
It was all about working out,lifting wages, doing your
homework, getting good grades,blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah.
And so what I took away from mychildhood is I took away from,
you know, that I got to be awinner for my dad to love me and
(30:29):
approve of me.
How about you?
Hey, we got a another one ofGod's heroes there watching from
Phoenix, Arizona at Luke AirForce Base.
Welcome.
I love the military.
Without them, we wouldn't havethe freedom that we have today.
I think I think they got a muchdifferent commander-in-chief
(30:50):
these days.
Resource them, Mr.
Trump.
Well, you know, God, God has hasmade us in such a profound way
that He's made us with a need inus for Him.
And we don't have Him in ourstory, then we're gonna we're
(31:15):
gonna build our life around whowe see ourselves to be.
And problem with that is thatyou're you're completely alone
in that.
What if you're wrong?
You ever tried to rebrandyourself, it just didn't work?
(31:36):
Ever felt alone?
I I meet guys all alone all thetime that don't have very many
intimate friends at all.
They try to do life alone.
And we just kind of put our headdown and do it.
I've had those times in my life.
I've I've lost a number of myfriends in the from the NFL that
(31:57):
are no longer alive.
Friends in ministry, you know,after being in ministry since
I've been 25 years old, when Ileft football to go into
ministry, I've you know buried abunch of my pastor friends.
And it gets incredibly lonely.
(32:17):
And who do you talk to when youwere trying to discover who you
are?
That's why there's probablynever been a greater need in all
of our times in the church wherePaul says, you know, get a
thousand instructors or saypreachers, but few fathers.
So goes the fathers in the land,so goes the country.
(32:43):
And for America and much of theworld, those of you that are
watching from New Zealandtonight and Europe tonight, so
goes the fathers in yourcountry, so goes your culture.
And when fathers get knocked outof the game, and moms are left
alone with children, they theystruggle with their their sons,
(33:06):
with their daughters.
Because you need two people todo a great thing.
But especially if we're talkingtonight, it's about being a
father.
And so who's teaching you aboutbeing a great dad?
Well, guess who?
The number one guy who wants toteach you is God the Father.
And the more you learn toreceive from him, the more
(33:28):
impact you're gonna have.
Think about this.
See, he's gonna father youbecause he wants you to be like
Jesus.
And it says that he knew whathe's doing from the very
beginning.
He decided from the outset toshape the lives of those who
(33:48):
love him along the same lines asthe life of his son.
Romans 8 29.
Powerful picture that he wantsto shape your life, to trust
him, to follow him, to walk withhim.
And who's had more impact in thehistory of the world than this
(34:12):
man Christ Jesus, the only sonof God?
Amazing, amazing story, amazingperson.
But he was being fathered byGod.
So that's your answer, and myanswer is the better we are at
learning to be fathered by God,the more impact we're gonna
have.
Here's another thought just uhto to share with you tonight,
(34:37):
and that is see, God the Fatherwants a like father, like son
relationship with you just theway he had with his son.
I love this verse in themessage.
So Jesus explained himself atlength in John there.
So I'm telling you this straightthe son of son can do, uh can't
(34:58):
independently do a thing, onlywhat he sees the father doing.
What the father does, the sondoes, and the father loves the
son and includes him ineverything that he is doing.
I just love the picture of thatlike father, like son
relationship that God has hadwith Jesus and He has with you
(35:22):
and wants you to live in.
I mean, think about what itwould mean to you to learn how
to follow the Father aroundevery single day and do what the
Father's doing with yourchildren, with your wife, with
your new girlfriend, with yourjob, with your career, with you
(35:45):
as a man in a culture.
And so the freedom that happensin sonship is that when you're
free, because God you havereceived that God has chosen you
to be a son and wants to blessyour life, then you're not going
to become a prisoner of tryingto discover who you are, like
(36:06):
too many are today.
Or you start trying to get youryour name totally from your
tribe that you come from, oryour your prescribed identity,
or your your success, or here'sa nefarious one where you name
(36:26):
yourself by your failure.
And I meet I meet men all allthe time in our coaching program
here at the Father Differencethat name themselves by their
failure.
And so they they they justfigure that God can't really use
(36:46):
them.
So they stay away.
And you know, in a in a lot ofthe models in in churches, you
know, we you know, I did thisfor years, a local pastor, is
that you know, I had guys comingforward to repent all the time.
Then I realized one day I wasn'tteaching them how to do it.
(37:12):
It's like the the only part ofof the gospel is to you know
bring them forward to confesstheir sin and and to be saved
and born again, which opens thedoor.
But the other part is this thiswhole understanding that uh for
me to really teach them to be adifferent kind of man or a son
(37:37):
or a beloved son, I needed thatfor myself.
That's what we're gonna talkabout next week when we get
together, is about not onlyabout the freedom of sonship,
but you know, how can you reallylearn to receive this for
yourself or for your family?
Because it'll it'll change yourlife.
(37:58):
It did me and it did my family,and just be honored to share
this.
If you come back, make sure youlike our channel if you're
you're coming here.
But before I I get off, I I wantto pray with you and I want to
ask you who do you see yourselfto be today?
(38:20):
If I were to say, you know, whatis your your core identity?
Think about it for a minute.
How many of you would nameyourself by what's still broken
in your life or what you'velost?
Maybe it's an an old identitythat you still name yourself by,
(38:42):
good or bad, or maybe it's yourbrokenness you're naming
yourself by.
Imagine what it would be likefor you to really learn to
receive who God has called youto be.
That core identity of sonshipthat He wants to not only adopt
(39:06):
you as a son, he wants to fatheryou.
We learned about in 2Corinthians 6 18.
He was going to be a father tous.
We're gonna be his sons anddaughters, says the Lord God
Almighty.
Imagine what that would be likein your own story to where you
really got good at doing thisand receiving.
(39:29):
Because that that'll change yourlife more than anything else you
do.
Something profound happens whenyou learn how to receive who God
says you are.
Because then you don't have togo, oops, I did it again.
Sing a Britney Spears song, youcan do that.
(39:50):
And here's the other caveat andthe the incredible benefit of
that.
The clearer you are about whoGod has called you to be, the
wider the bigger swath, and orlet me say it this way, the more
impact you're gonna have andhelping your children discover
that too.
(40:12):
Because what we're after here ishelping our children really
discover who God's called themto be.
In a world where they got, youknow, 15-second videos,
30-second videos, thousands ofthem, where they think they got
to brand themselves all the timeand be this and be that.
And the the stopgap or theperson that God's put in place
(40:37):
to make the biggest differencein that, and moms have an
incredible difference.
And Thursday, invite your wifeto be a part of our show on the
difference a mother makes, is adad who's really clear about who
God has called him to be.
Well, maybe you've struggled andyou've you've come around this
(40:57):
channel, or you're watching areplay right now, and you you
can honestly say, Man, I I'vebeen struggling about who I am
and what God's made me to be.
Maybe you've you're inretirement age and and you're
living off your pension or yourretirement, and you feel like my
life's over, I'm not gonna makemuch of a difference.
(41:21):
Well, you know, and let me tellyou, there's probably no bigger
or more powerful of a voice uhin the world right now than a
grandpa who's filled with God'sspirit and loves his
grandchildren.
I mean, I got 14 grannies, andI'm I'm like the the crazy hero,
(41:45):
and I love that.
I love being in their story, Ilove blessing them, teaching
them art, playing with them,teaching them to run trains.
They love trains, they lovecars, they love, I mean, a
plethora of things, but morethan anything, they love being
with us as grandpas.
(42:08):
And so you're gonna have a wholenew beginning in that.
So I want to pray for you beforewe get off tonight.
And uh, maybe you find yourselfand you wanna you need a new
beginning with Jesus becauseyou've been away.
Maybe you haven't been atchurch, maybe you've been
suffering, you've beenstruggling, and uh all you gotta
(42:29):
do is ask him in.
You don't have to just comecompletely full circle and
completely repent of everythingthat you've ever done wrong.
You don't have to make up forall that lost ground.
All you gotta do is take a step.
So I just love the honor to praywith you right now, no matter
what country you're coming from.
(42:51):
And just if you're in that placewhere you said, Ed, I need a new
beginning, just pray this withme.
Say, Jesus, right now, Isurrender my life again.
I want you to heal my story andforgive me from all the the sins
(43:12):
and all the places I've run fromyou in.
I want a new name.
I want to be the man that you'vecalled me to be so I can become
the father my family needs, orthe grandpa my children will
need, grandkids will need oneday.
(43:32):
Father, I give you my life.
I ask you to to change me, tofill me with your spirit, to
make me like your son.
In the name of Jesus.
The name of Jesus.
Amen.
If you just prayed there for thefirst time or you want some more
info, send me an email.
(43:54):
You can go right now and reachme at my ministry at
thefatherdifference.com.
You can send me an email there.
I think you'll probably throwthat up on the screen.
Actually, she's traveling, soshe's not able to do that.
And let me see if I can find allthose things.
(44:15):
If you just go tothefatherdifference.com, let's
see here.
Let's let me get you there.
You can send me an email righthere to Ed Tandy, a blessing of
the father.
Uh, if you just prayed somethingand or you want some follow-up
from me, I would I'd love toconnect with you.
(44:36):
And uh and that's my promise.
And if you're not, if you'venever received my free book, The
Difference a Father Makes,that's available at our website,
absolutely free for you.
We're in uh 233 countries rightnow being downloaded every
single day.
So grateful.
Uh it's going all over the placebecause it's a huge ache that
(45:00):
men have in the world.
And God wants to set us free andhelp us discover who He's truly
made us to be.
Thank you so much.
There'll be a short video when Iend this stream, and would love
your support, your prayers tohelp us get this message out
further and further, further.
(45:21):
Because if we don't heal thefatherhood kind of epidemic that
we have in the world, ourchildren are just going to
continue to go sideways.
But God's doing something.
It's a new day.
I'm so grateful.
Thank you for your time.
It's an honor for me that you'rehere, that you want to spend a
half hour with me.
Actually, 46 minutes, got alittle long-winded today.
(45:44):
We'll see you back here at thesame time next week, 5 p.m.
Let your wife know aboutThursdays.
It'd be an awesome thing.
The Lord bless you.
SPEAKER_00 (45:57):
Dear friends, imagine a world where every
father feels equipped to leadwith faith, love, and purpose.
A world where families thriveand communities grow stronger
because of devoted,Christ-centered fathers.
SPEAKER_01 (46:12):
You know, beloved, that is the vision that God's
put in my heart for every singlefamily.
You know, he is on the move, Ibelieve.
He promises in Malachi thatbefore the great and coming day
of the Lord, he's gonna dosomething profound.
He's gonna turn the hearts offathers back towards their
(46:33):
children.
So the hearts of their childrenwill turn back to their father.
That's what God is doing.
I meet dads daily who want tolearn to be better fathers.
Yet many have never been shownhow.
Too many families are beingfractured to bitterness and with
parents and grandparents evenbeing canceled.
(46:56):
That's why we're launching anonline community to quit men to
be the fathers that God hascalled them to be.
It's more than a program, it's apart of a movement that God is
already doing to reshapefatherhood.
It's a sacred calling rooted inthe teachings of Christ.
(47:17):
And we're calling this theFatherhood Academy, where men
will embark on a journey ofhealing and spiritual
restoration that helps themtransform their family
relationship.
And to make this vision areality, would you consider
partnering with us financiallyas we continue to reach and
(47:40):
disciple every man, dad, andgrandpa that comes our way?
Your donation will help create aripple across the neighborhoods,
communities, you know, andultimately our nation, and
create each child, here's adivision in the unwavering love
and guidance of a devoted dad.
SPEAKER_00 (48:02):
Will you partner with us?
Your gift, whether a one-timedonation or ongoing monthly
support, will help to transformlives.
Together, we can equip fathersand grandfathers to lead with
faith and create a brighter,hopefully future for generations
(48:22):
to come.
Click the link to donate today.
Thank you for believing in thismission and joining us on this
transformative journey.
What kind of father do you want to be?
What kind of man do you want tobecome for your family and for
yourself?
If you've ever wondered how tostep into the fullness of your
role as a father, husband, andman of God, then you're in the
right place.
Here at the Father Difference,our mission is to inspire and
equip men to be the best fathersthey can be.
(00:24):
It's a powerful mission.
And today, we're going toexplore exactly how you can take
steps toward that calling.
Whether you're a father, a son,a husband, grandfather, single
dad, stepfather, or just lookingto grow, I believe God has
something powerful for you intoday's message.
(00:44):
Whether you're tuning in live orwatching this later, we are so
excited to have you here.
If this is what you're lookingfor, then subscribe so you can
tune in each week to the FatherDifference Live.
You can sign up below.
And now your host, a husband,father, grandfather, author, and
(01:04):
former NFL player, Pastor EdMcGlassan.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
Well, welcome.
I need a few more lights on thesituation here.
Let's see if we can fire thoseup.
For yours truly, I am sograteful to be here.
I'm your host, Ed TaneMcGlassen.
And today I'm going to talkabout the freedom of sonship.
If you're not familiar withthat, we'll get into that.
But uh really looking forward touh sharing this with you.
(01:41):
We're uh on the fourth day ofFebruary here in the year 2025.
So welcome if you're uh tuningin.
I'd love to hear where you'refrom.
If you could just let me uh knowand you know where where what
country you're from, etc.
(02:02):
We have people watching this allover the world.
And uh welcome, brother Mendez,Michael.
Uh good to see you online.
I don't I'm not able to seeRumble and all the other places
where this is also broadcasting,but would love to hear from you
and uh and connect with us, it'dbe an awesome thing.
(02:25):
So today we're gonna talk aboutthe freedom of sonship and what
that really means for you as adad.
If you're gal watching, I I havegals who slip in on this show.
And before I get started,welcome, Jessica.
You know, I want to share withyou that this Thursday at 12
o'clock, I we're having anincredible event online with
(02:49):
Rachel, Rachel Yeager.
She is absolutely a fireball.
And guys, if your wife, if yourwife is maybe looking for like a
new beginning this year andwants to grow from fitness,
nutrition to being a mom tobeing a businesswoman, et
(03:13):
cetera, Rachel is is got got thegoods.
And we're doing a special showon February the 6th.
That's in two days at 12 p.m.
Pacific Standard Time.
And Rachel is awesome.
We're going to actually talkabout born for such a time as
this, who was part of aprophetic message in the Bible
(03:35):
to a woman in the Old Testamentwho made an incredible
difference with her life in themidst of all the challenges that
she had.
And so that'll be on Thursday.
So that's going to be a funtime.
So welcome to the FatherDifference.
If this is your first time oryou've been here before, here's
(03:58):
my buddy Emma King, one of thebest running backs I ever got to
play football with fromYoungstown State University.
We were the fighting penguins.
Just imagine singing that fightsong at Rams Camp.
I don't even remember what itwas.
(04:18):
It was kind of corny.
Hail the old penguin.
How's a penguin a beast of prey?
I'm not sure exactly.
Uh welcome, Ray.
Your first time here.
Lord bless you.
And tonight we're going to talkabout the freedom of sonship.
GoPens.
There we go.
Football player fan and allthat.
(04:39):
So welcome.
And so we're going to talk aboutwhat that means when I talk
about the freedom of sonship.
And so I'm going to start out byjust asking you a question.
What is ultimate freedom to youas a man?
If you were to think about whatfreedom might look like or the
(05:00):
kind of freedom that Godpromises to us, what would you
say that freedom is?
Some might say freedom from sin,Christ came to set us free,
absolutely, from sin and death.
But what does it mean to livefree as a man?
Imagine just the impactdifference that you would have
(05:25):
if you really felt like you werefree.
(05:57):
One uh Ray says, freedom inlearning my godly identity.
That's awesome, right?
And uh was played football inhockey.
I don't know.
I guess you know, one teachesyou to fight.
I got a bunch of hockey playersthat that I'm in a Bible study
with every week, and they're prothey're pros, and they're
(06:20):
they're pretty amazing.
And but imagine what it'd belike to absolutely be free, not
just free from sin, which isn'tan awesome gift that Christ
bought for us, but being free tonot being dependent upon other
people in the world to tell youwho you are, or to try to
(06:44):
project over you that you'rethis.
And yet I meet men all the timewho feel stuck.
I'm gonna share this.
Uh a friend of mine had one ofthese crazy prophetic dreams,
and it's really powerful.
And and it and it really willspeak into kind of what we're
(07:06):
gonna talk about about how Godwants to set us free so that sin
doesn't name us.
Because ultimately, the devilwants to name you by your
brokenness or by your failures.
Well, he had this dream in inyears ago, and he was he in this
(07:28):
dream, he was in an auctionhall, and in this auction hall,
it was just filled with thisjust smoke, everybody's smoking
cigars, and there's a stage upthere, and and these guys had
stogies, and and it was just hesaid it was foul.
I mean, the people were justraunchy, and all of a sudden
(07:53):
that the curtain gets pulledback and gets open.
And they start bidding, and onthe stage were were children,
and and men were these thesevile men were shouting out their
bids.
And it wasn't money, it was itwas sin.
(08:18):
And and one guy shouted, Lust!You know, and so and he got the
highest bid, and then all of asudden that child was bought for
lust.
And and another one washomosexuality, and and that
child was was sold for that, andthese names were liar, and and
(08:40):
all of the names of that thatthe devil wants to put on us
those identities, those placesof brokenness.
He, if he can capture your heartas a man by naming you by what's
broken in your life, you'll livein a prison of not for for much
(09:03):
of your life and neverunderstanding what it really
means to be free and to be namedby God and to be loved by God.
And I remember him sharing that,and then he said at the end that
Jesus spoke and he said, Whowill bid for my children?
And he woke up.
(09:28):
When I heard that, and that muchof what we get to do as fathers
and grandfathers is that God hasgiven us an incredible privilege
as a man, as a father, as agrandfather, to really help
young people discover who Godhas made them to be.
(09:52):
And the freedom of what it meanswhen God names you and blesses
your life, versus what sin willdo that tries to name you, where
it becomes your core identityand everything gets seen through
your sin.
(10:13):
And part of the devil's plan foryou and for me is that we would
constantly never get to see whoGod says us to be.
And it's not only sin, but it'salso things that we name
ourselves by or things that wedo.
(10:34):
And, you know, me in my life, Imean, much of my childhood was
was all about being able to wearone of these jerseys one day and
to play football.
And if I if I didn't get to getthere and do that, that my life
would would not would be afailure.
(10:56):
I would not live up to what Ithought my father wanted me to
be, or or my mother wanted me tobe.
And uh many of you know, youknow, it all happens with oh
yeah, one of the comments is Iwant to share this with my
adopted daughter andgranddaughters.
(11:17):
Absolutely.
And you can share this.
This will be on our YouTube pageafter this live show.
You can get it there, and alsoit'll be on our YouTube on our
website at the FatherDifference.
And so, you know, part of, youknow, part of the thing that the
(11:37):
enemy is trying to do with youand with me is not only is he
trying to name us by ourbrokenness, he's also trying to
name us by success so that wethink that everything is a uh it
happened because of who we are,how amazing we are in our life.
And yet, how many of you haveunrealized dreams of those
(11:58):
places where you thought youwould go, that if you could get
there, you would arrive.
And only to maybe build thatlife, I've I've coached a number
of men where their comment to mewas, you know, I I've spent my
life building a ladder to mydreams.
(12:19):
I climbed that ladder and wasable to realize some of my goals
and dreams in business, but Ilost my kids along the way.
And I would say to them, Well,how many of you want your
children to live that samedream?
And they, none of them, theysaid, please just show me how to
get my kids back.
(12:41):
And sometimes these aregrandpas, sometimes these are
fathers.
And as we get older in our lifeand we grow, we realize that the
current culture and theconfusion that we have out there
with this next generation uhfalls to us as fathers and
(13:02):
grandfathers to do somethingabout this.
And the great thing that happensin Christ is that God has given
us authority and power manytimes that a lot of dads don't
realize to make an incredibledifference with our children.
(13:23):
Even if we start out and webreak, we break them in the
beginning and we do it allwrong.
And so if you've been around me,you've you've heard about my
story.
But tonight I want to shareabout what it means to really be
in this freedom of sonship andwhat that really means.
And so here's the the firstslide I want to share with you,
(13:47):
just to think about.
Tell you a little bit about mystory for some of you that have
never been there or heard mebefore.
But, you know, it was on May the28th, 1956, that my dad,
Lieutenant J.G.
Ed Tenney, he was a test pilot.
I actually wear the dog tagsaround my neck that he took off
(14:13):
that night after he read thisverse of scripture that I'm
going to share with you.
And he's reading this next to mymom, who's very pregnant with
me, and it says that when thedisciples saw him walking on the
sea, and Jesus was walking upand down the uh the waves, they
(14:34):
were terrified, said, it's aghost, because they'd never seen
anybody walk in the water.
Jesus was walking out to themduring a storm, and they cried
out in fear, and immediatelyJesus spoke to them, saying,
Take heart, it's don't beafraid.
And then Peter says, Lord, if ifit's you, command me to come to
(15:00):
you on the water.
And Jesus said, Come.
My dad, on May the 29th, 1956,before he fell asleep that
night, circled that word come inthat story.
(15:20):
And the next day went out totest his plane.
So the Bible says that Peter gotout of the boat and walked on
the water and came to Jesus.
Well, long story short, justabout one o'clock that in the
afternoon, on May the 29th,1956, my father's plane lost
(15:42):
power, was in a crash dive,heading for the beaches of Santa
Cruz.
He was at Moffitt Airfield Basein Northern California.
He was a test pilot for theNavy.
And when he realized that if hebailed out, his plane might you
(16:03):
know spin out of control and hitthe people on the beach.
And his last words on worthwere, This is November Papa 88
taking it in.
And my father turned the planetowards the sea and hit the
(16:27):
water at 400 miles an hour.
People on the beach didn't knowthat he was making heroic
effort.
And so much of my life, youknow, I wondered why my dad, you
know, how come my dad didn'tknow not to fly the next day?
(16:49):
Or what happened in those lastmoments?
That was the last, you know,that was the last story about my
father that my mother told me.
And so that's kind of marked meas as his son.
And it marked me a couple ofways that number one, he was a
(17:11):
hero, and he, you know, died fora country.
Number two, that you know, hehad some some kind of revelation
the night before he died when hecircled that word in the Bible.
Matter of fact, with my momthere, he looked at it with such
(17:33):
a strange look that my mother,having kind of a woman's
intuition moment, said, Ed, am Igonna lose you?
He said, No, why would you saythat?
Well, the next morning he died.
Now, the next time we gettogether, I'm gonna tell you the
rest of the story.
So I'm gonna leave you hanging.
Because I want to get to what Ireally think God wants me to
(17:54):
share with you tonight about thefreedom of sonship.
So, in the midst of that, youknow, interchange and losing my
dad, you know, it created thismoment in me where I needed I
needed to have a father.
Because true freedom happenswhen you know whose son you are,
(18:18):
and you have a father who'sresourcing you and loving you
and in your life.
I mean, a present father is anincredible, just an incredible
benefit and blessing in the lifeof a of a daughter or son or a
stepdaughter or a stepson.
(18:38):
I mean, when fathers are inplace, cultures change.
You look at where dads are inplace in our country, you see
incredible things happen.
And especially when there'sspiritual fathers who are there.
And yet the absentee dad orchildren that were father
deprived, you know, they sufferin their life.
(19:01):
They're not quite they'rethey're awkward with people.
They don't live with as muchcourage in their life.
And yet, God's made you and I insuch a way that when we learn to
do this one thing with him, itcan completely set us free from
being named by our brokenness,by our things, by our stuff, by
(19:26):
people.
I mean, it's it's interestingtoday, you know, with all the
craziness that's been in socialmedia and all those things, that
much there's been much talkabout what identity is all
about.
So the world's answer with thedevil kind of influencing them
(19:46):
is that you are who you want tohave sex with.
Think about that.
Isn't that crazy?
Where your sexual identitydetermines your personal
identity, and that's just offthe rails, and it just does has
no bounds.
Well, you know, God's neverintended for it to be that way.
(20:10):
Because our core identity isn'tbeen made based on who we want
to be intimate with that way.
God has been the one who's theone who's wanted to name us all
along.
Now look at this scripture.
So, how does he give us freedomof being a son?
(20:31):
Well, I love this verse inEphesians 1, 3 and 5.
We're just going to kind ofbreak this down the rest of our
time.
But it says that long before helaid down the earth foundations,
he had us in mind, and hesettled on us as the focus of
his love.
Oh gosh, I love that.
(20:52):
Is that the way you see God theFather?
You know, even before he said,Let there be light, that he
settled on us as a focus of hislove, to be made whole and holy
by his love.
Long, long ago, he decided toadopt us into his family through
(21:15):
Jesus Christ, and what apleasure he took in planning
this.
Ephesians 1.
Incredible, incrediblescripture.
And we're going to kind of breakthat down.
Well, here's the first thingthat's in there.
Long before the earthfoundations.
Well, the Bible says in Jeremiah1:5, before I formed you in the
womb, I knew you.
(21:36):
Before you were born, Iconsecrated you and appointed
you to be a prophet to thenations.
Now, God's saying this toJeremiah.
And it says it to us as well isthat before God made the earth,
he perfectly formed us for whohe's called us to be.
(21:57):
He's created us to know him andto receive his love and to be
free from sin and to live outthe life that God's made us for.
And that's that's God's plan forhow He turns our stories around
when we get sideways.
You know, the Bible says thatGod sent his son so that we
(22:19):
could experience his freedom.
And one of the things aboutJesus is that he had this
freedom to be who his fatherwanted him to be and to do what
his father wanted him to do.
Sorry about for those thosethings that popped on the
screen.
I I gotta watch my thumbs up andstuff because I get all these
(22:43):
flashes on my screen.
There it goes again.
It's not that I have some kindof supernatural power that I can
make the screen do crazy stuff.
But see, God has has done thatbecause he wants us to
experience his freedom.
And so you know what that meansfor you and me?
(23:06):
It means this.
It means that you can't be amistake.
If God knew about you before hesaid, Let there be light, he's
been waiting for the moment ofyour birth.
To reveal his love to us, toreveal his son to us, to break
(23:27):
the power of sin in us andforgive us for our sin.
But uh not only that, he wantsto be a part of your story and
help shape you into who he'scalled you to be.
I I love that this nextscripture that I share with you
is that he's in the way he doesthat, he, you know, he wants to
(23:48):
adopt us into his family.
He wants to actually be a fatherin your story and in my story.
Not only save us from our sinthrough his son, he wants to
father us the same way hefathered his own son.
And I love this in Ephesians1.5.
Long, long ago he decided toadopt us into his family through
(24:11):
Jesus Christ.
And what a pleasure he took inplanning this.
God's always wanted to adoptyou.
And what's amazing about thispicture of adoption, so
adoption's different than havinga child, because when you adopt
a child, if you've ever adopteda son or a daughter, or you're a
(24:33):
a dad who's now in a real waybeing a father to your the the
kids of your of your new wife,is that you get to see who they
are on the outside before youchoose them.
And so you could go, well, Idon't know if I, you know, you
(24:56):
know, you that they look like alot of trouble.
But see, God knew us perfectlybefore he even made us, and he
chose us to be a father to us.
Because, see, he knows that whenhe when he's in that place of
fatherhood with us, it sets usfree from being owned by
anything in this world.
(25:16):
He wants you to be successful inyour life with him, he wants you
to discover his love, he wantsyou to receive the family
inheritance through youradoption.
He wants to be a major part ofshaping you and leading you and
teaching you.
(25:36):
And she was so great about that.
You could lose your dad like Idid, or your dad might still be
living and just walked away frombeing your father, or was a
brutal dad, or you didn't knowhim at all, and you've never
known anything about your dad,and and guess guess what?
(26:04):
Those things will never limityou when you understand
completely that God himselfwants to father you and unlock
that story he's perfectly madefor you to live.
Because you're not a mistake.
I just love that.
Look at this next scripture.
Now did he uh plan on adoptingus, it said God wants to father
(26:29):
us because he's made us for anunending relationship with him.
That's what that scripture said.
His plan all along was to be ourfather, and and that's why he
sent his son.
And I'm being and when I beganto understand this, it just blew
my mind that God the Father notonly sent his son Jesus to save
(26:53):
my life, he sent his son Jesusso I could be father by him.
And guess who he's gonna makeus?
Well, we're gonna look like whenhe's done with us.
We're gonna look just like hisson.
He's gonna father us along thesame lines as the way he
fathered his son.
(27:14):
He took such great pleasure inplanning this so that you could
live out of that true identitythat he's made you for.
Not some kind of propped-upfalse identity that you make
yourself, or the way kids todayare rebranding themselves so
that they can be seen on theirsocial media.
(27:36):
And, you know, I think socialmedia is is come around on the
earth at this time because thereare so many children that are
desperate for identity.
They're desperate for a dad likeyou.
If you're a mom here for a momlike you, they're desperate to
(27:58):
know who they are.
And all it takes many times is ais a quest is just uh that you
stop by, you you visit withthem, you meet them.
It's a powerful way you canchange the life of somebody.
You know, key wants to fatherus.
(28:19):
Here's the next uh slide for youto think about.
And he's in in 2 Corinthians 618, he says, I will be a father
to you, and you will be my sonsand daughters to me, says the
Lord God Almighty.
That there was the verse thatjust completely unlocked it for
me.
(28:41):
Because I mean, one of the oneof the things that you run up
against when you're a man andyou're you're a father, a young
father, is that when you startstruggling in your own
fatherhood because you didn'thave a dad teach you how to be a
father, then who are you gonnalearn from?
That was me, that was my story.
(29:04):
And I desperately wanted to notonly know that from myself, but
I also wanted to be a good dadto my kids.
And I would blow it all thetime.
And and we don't blow it becausewe don't love our children.
(29:26):
We blow it many times because wewe start out fathering many
times through the model of theway we were fathered.
You know, I remember my stepdadsaying to me, Well, if it's good
enough for me, son, it's gonnabe good enough for you.
And so I mean, uh, I mean, ourfamily, you know, he he was a
(29:47):
wonderful military leader to hismen, submarine commander, my
stepfather was.
But the dilemma was with him isthat he he didn't know how to do
this with me.
Very well.
I think he learned that as hegot older.
But when I was being raised, itwas all about performance.
It was all about football.
(30:09):
It was all about working out,lifting wages, doing your
homework, getting good grades,blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah.
And so what I took away from mychildhood is I took away from,
you know, that I got to be awinner for my dad to love me and
(30:29):
approve of me.
How about you?
Hey, we got a another one ofGod's heroes there watching from
Phoenix, Arizona at Luke AirForce Base.
Welcome.
I love the military.
Without them, we wouldn't havethe freedom that we have today.
I think I think they got a muchdifferent commander-in-chief
(30:50):
these days.
Resource them, Mr.
Trump.
Well, you know, God, God has hasmade us in such a profound way
that He's made us with a need inus for Him.
And we don't have Him in ourstory, then we're gonna we're
(31:15):
gonna build our life around whowe see ourselves to be.
And problem with that is thatyou're you're completely alone
in that.
What if you're wrong?
You ever tried to rebrandyourself, it just didn't work?
(31:36):
Ever felt alone?
I I meet guys all alone all thetime that don't have very many
intimate friends at all.
They try to do life alone.
And we just kind of put our headdown and do it.
I've had those times in my life.
I've I've lost a number of myfriends in the from the NFL that
(31:57):
are no longer alive.
Friends in ministry, you know,after being in ministry since
I've been 25 years old, when Ileft football to go into
ministry, I've you know buried abunch of my pastor friends.
And it gets incredibly lonely.
(32:17):
And who do you talk to when youwere trying to discover who you
are?
That's why there's probablynever been a greater need in all
of our times in the church wherePaul says, you know, get a
thousand instructors or saypreachers, but few fathers.
So goes the fathers in the land,so goes the country.
(32:43):
And for America and much of theworld, those of you that are
watching from New Zealandtonight and Europe tonight, so
goes the fathers in yourcountry, so goes your culture.
And when fathers get knocked outof the game, and moms are left
alone with children, they theystruggle with their their sons,
(33:06):
with their daughters.
Because you need two people todo a great thing.
But especially if we're talkingtonight, it's about being a
father.
And so who's teaching you aboutbeing a great dad?
Well, guess who?
The number one guy who wants toteach you is God the Father.
And the more you learn toreceive from him, the more
(33:28):
impact you're gonna have.
Think about this.
See, he's gonna father youbecause he wants you to be like
Jesus.
And it says that he knew whathe's doing from the very
beginning.
He decided from the outset toshape the lives of those who
(33:48):
love him along the same lines asthe life of his son.
Romans 8 29.
Powerful picture that he wantsto shape your life, to trust
him, to follow him, to walk withhim.
And who's had more impact in thehistory of the world than this
(34:12):
man Christ Jesus, the only sonof God?
Amazing, amazing story, amazingperson.
But he was being fathered byGod.
So that's your answer, and myanswer is the better we are at
learning to be fathered by God,the more impact we're gonna
have.
Here's another thought just uhto to share with you tonight,
(34:37):
and that is see, God the Fatherwants a like father, like son
relationship with you just theway he had with his son.
I love this verse in themessage.
So Jesus explained himself atlength in John there.
So I'm telling you this straightthe son of son can do, uh can't
(34:58):
independently do a thing, onlywhat he sees the father doing.
What the father does, the sondoes, and the father loves the
son and includes him ineverything that he is doing.
I just love the picture of thatlike father, like son
relationship that God has hadwith Jesus and He has with you
(35:22):
and wants you to live in.
I mean, think about what itwould mean to you to learn how
to follow the Father aroundevery single day and do what the
Father's doing with yourchildren, with your wife, with
your new girlfriend, with yourjob, with your career, with you
(35:45):
as a man in a culture.
And so the freedom that happensin sonship is that when you're
free, because God you havereceived that God has chosen you
to be a son and wants to blessyour life, then you're not going
to become a prisoner of tryingto discover who you are, like
(36:06):
too many are today.
Or you start trying to get youryour name totally from your
tribe that you come from, oryour your prescribed identity,
or your your success, or here'sa nefarious one where you name
(36:26):
yourself by your failure.
And I meet I meet men all allthe time in our coaching program
here at the Father Differencethat name themselves by their
failure.
And so they they they justfigure that God can't really use
(36:46):
them.
So they stay away.
And you know, in a in a lot ofthe models in in churches, you
know, we you know, I did thisfor years, a local pastor, is
that you know, I had guys comingforward to repent all the time.
Then I realized one day I wasn'tteaching them how to do it.
(37:12):
It's like the the only part ofof the gospel is to you know
bring them forward to confesstheir sin and and to be saved
and born again, which opens thedoor.
But the other part is this thiswhole understanding that uh for
me to really teach them to be adifferent kind of man or a son
(37:37):
or a beloved son, I needed thatfor myself.
That's what we're gonna talkabout next week when we get
together, is about not onlyabout the freedom of sonship,
but you know, how can you reallylearn to receive this for
yourself or for your family?
Because it'll it'll change yourlife.
(37:58):
It did me and it did my family,and just be honored to share
this.
If you come back, make sure youlike our channel if you're
you're coming here.
But before I I get off, I I wantto pray with you and I want to
ask you who do you see yourselfto be today?
(38:20):
If I were to say, you know, whatis your your core identity?
Think about it for a minute.
How many of you would nameyourself by what's still broken
in your life or what you'velost?
Maybe it's an an old identitythat you still name yourself by,
(38:42):
good or bad, or maybe it's yourbrokenness you're naming
yourself by.
Imagine what it would be likefor you to really learn to
receive who God has called youto be.
That core identity of sonshipthat He wants to not only adopt
(39:06):
you as a son, he wants to fatheryou.
We learned about in 2Corinthians 6 18.
He was going to be a father tous.
We're gonna be his sons anddaughters, says the Lord God
Almighty.
Imagine what that would be likein your own story to where you
really got good at doing thisand receiving.
(39:29):
Because that that'll change yourlife more than anything else you
do.
Something profound happens whenyou learn how to receive who God
says you are.
Because then you don't have togo, oops, I did it again.
Sing a Britney Spears song, youcan do that.
(39:50):
And here's the other caveat andthe the incredible benefit of
that.
The clearer you are about whoGod has called you to be, the
wider the bigger swath, and orlet me say it this way, the more
impact you're gonna have andhelping your children discover
that too.
(40:12):
Because what we're after here ishelping our children really
discover who God's called themto be.
In a world where they got, youknow, 15-second videos,
30-second videos, thousands ofthem, where they think they got
to brand themselves all the timeand be this and be that.
And the the stopgap or theperson that God's put in place
(40:37):
to make the biggest differencein that, and moms have an
incredible difference.
And Thursday, invite your wifeto be a part of our show on the
difference a mother makes, is adad who's really clear about who
God has called him to be.
Well, maybe you've struggled andyou've you've come around this
(40:57):
channel, or you're watching areplay right now, and you you
can honestly say, Man, I I'vebeen struggling about who I am
and what God's made me to be.
Maybe you've you're inretirement age and and you're
living off your pension or yourretirement, and you feel like my
life's over, I'm not gonna makemuch of a difference.
(41:21):
Well, you know, and let me tellyou, there's probably no bigger
or more powerful of a voice uhin the world right now than a
grandpa who's filled with God'sspirit and loves his
grandchildren.
I mean, I got 14 grannies, andI'm I'm like the the crazy hero,
(41:45):
and I love that.
I love being in their story, Ilove blessing them, teaching
them art, playing with them,teaching them to run trains.
They love trains, they lovecars, they love, I mean, a
plethora of things, but morethan anything, they love being
with us as grandpas.
(42:08):
And so you're gonna have a wholenew beginning in that.
So I want to pray for you beforewe get off tonight.
And uh, maybe you find yourselfand you wanna you need a new
beginning with Jesus becauseyou've been away.
Maybe you haven't been atchurch, maybe you've been
suffering, you've beenstruggling, and uh all you gotta
(42:29):
do is ask him in.
You don't have to just comecompletely full circle and
completely repent of everythingthat you've ever done wrong.
You don't have to make up forall that lost ground.
All you gotta do is take a step.
So I just love the honor to praywith you right now, no matter
what country you're coming from.
(42:51):
And just if you're in that placewhere you said, Ed, I need a new
beginning, just pray this withme.
Say, Jesus, right now, Isurrender my life again.
I want you to heal my story andforgive me from all the the sins
(43:12):
and all the places I've run fromyou in.
I want a new name.
I want to be the man that you'vecalled me to be so I can become
the father my family needs, orthe grandpa my children will
need, grandkids will need oneday.
(43:32):
Father, I give you my life.
I ask you to to change me, tofill me with your spirit, to
make me like your son.
In the name of Jesus.
The name of Jesus.
Amen.
If you just prayed there for thefirst time or you want some more
info, send me an email.
(43:54):
You can go right now and reachme at my ministry at
thefatherdifference.com.
You can send me an email there.
I think you'll probably throwthat up on the screen.
Actually, she's traveling, soshe's not able to do that.
And let me see if I can find allthose things.
(44:15):
If you just go tothefatherdifference.com, let's
see here.
Let's let me get you there.
You can send me an email righthere to Ed Tandy, a blessing of
the father.
Uh, if you just prayed somethingand or you want some follow-up
from me, I would I'd love toconnect with you.
(44:36):
And uh and that's my promise.
And if you're not, if you'venever received my free book, The
Difference a Father Makes,that's available at our website,
absolutely free for you.
We're in uh 233 countries rightnow being downloaded every
single day.
So grateful.
Uh it's going all over the placebecause it's a huge ache that
(45:00):
men have in the world.
And God wants to set us free andhelp us discover who He's truly
made us to be.
Thank you so much.
There'll be a short video when Iend this stream, and would love
your support, your prayers tohelp us get this message out
further and further, further.
(45:21):
Because if we don't heal thefatherhood kind of epidemic that
we have in the world, ourchildren are just going to
continue to go sideways.
But God's doing something.
It's a new day.
I'm so grateful.
Thank you for your time.
It's an honor for me that you'rehere, that you want to spend a
half hour with me.
Actually, 46 minutes, got alittle long-winded today.
(45:44):
We'll see you back here at thesame time next week, 5 p.m.
Let your wife know aboutThursdays.
It'd be an awesome thing.
The Lord bless you.
SPEAKER_00 (45:57):
Dear friends, imagine a world where every
father feels equipped to leadwith faith, love, and purpose.
A world where families thriveand communities grow stronger
because of devoted,Christ-centered fathers.
SPEAKER_01 (46:12):
You know, beloved, that is the vision that God's
put in my heart for every singlefamily.
You know, he is on the move, Ibelieve.
He promises in Malachi thatbefore the great and coming day
of the Lord, he's gonna dosomething profound.
He's gonna turn the hearts offathers back towards their
(46:33):
children.
So the hearts of their childrenwill turn back to their father.
That's what God is doing.
I meet dads daily who want tolearn to be better fathers.
Yet many have never been shownhow.
Too many families are beingfractured to bitterness and with
parents and grandparents evenbeing canceled.
(46:56):
That's why we're launching anonline community to quit men to
be the fathers that God hascalled them to be.
It's more than a program, it's apart of a movement that God is
already doing to reshapefatherhood.
It's a sacred calling rooted inthe teachings of Christ.
(47:17):
And we're calling this theFatherhood Academy, where men
will embark on a journey ofhealing and spiritual
restoration that helps themtransform their family
relationship.
And to make this vision areality, would you consider
partnering with us financiallyas we continue to reach and
(47:40):
disciple every man, dad, andgrandpa that comes our way?
Your donation will help create aripple across the neighborhoods,
communities, you know, andultimately our nation, and
create each child, here's adivision in the unwavering love
and guidance of a devoted dad.
SPEAKER_00 (48:02):
Will you partner with us?
Your gift, whether a one-timedonation or ongoing monthly
support, will help to transformlives.
Together, we can equip fathersand grandfathers to lead with
faith and create a brighter,hopefully future for generations
(48:22):
to come.
Click the link to donate today.
Thank you for believing in thismission and joining us on this
transformative journey.
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