February 11, 2025 • 57 mins
We unpack how receiving sonship from God reshapes a man’s identity, heals father wounds, and empowers dads to love with presence and joy. Stories, scripture, and a simple prayer show how blessing transforms families and gives men courage that is not tied to performance.
• Why identity flows from who fathers you
• How vows against our dads still repeat patterns
• The trap of performance and arrival points
• Practical listening prayer to follow the Father
• Steps to bless children with specific words
• Resources for coaching and community support
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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 EdMcGlass.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
Hey, welcome.
Welcome tonight.
Got some of my friends showingup.
Hey, we got Ray Diggs in thehouse.
Welcome, Ray.
Great to meet you this week.
Powerful, powerful voice,powerful man.
And what God's doing.
Got Emma King in the house.
Good to see Dr.
King.
(01:39):
And welcome to all you guys thatare showing up here.
Just really grateful.
Just really grateful to see youguys, all the different people
from different countries aroundthe world, which is just so cool
that we can get together and uhbless you too, Mr.
(02:00):
Diggs.
And so we're gonna tonight,we're gonna talk about really
what it means to receive yoursonship.
And and before we we do that, Iwant to talk about why is that
so important in your life.
And so we're gonna get togetherand and pray right now and then
(02:22):
get into this teaching tonightfor all of our friends that are
coming on and joining here at uh5 p.m.
Pacific Standard Time.
And uh, if you keep if you'renot read my hat, it's it says,
make fathers great again.
That's what I think God istrying to do around the world.
(02:44):
We got uh we got one of God'sfinest there at Nellis Air Force
Base in Nevada.
Welcome here.
Judson's one of our coaches andour and our ministry team here,
and exciting to have him.
And and we're building a lot ofthose these next years to reach
all the dads and fathers we needto.
(03:05):
So let's kind of start with aprayer.
Father, thank you for my friendsthat are joining.
I'm so grateful to see them.
I'm so grateful they're hereeach week.
I ask you to bless them tonight.
I ask you to open their mind andtheir spirit and their heart to
(03:26):
the extraordinary potential andpower of being a loving, present
father and spiritual father.
Father, thank you for the rolethat you have made us for.
Even Adam's first role in lovingEve and then being a father, and
(03:51):
how Lord, you have givenfatherhood to us as such an
incredible gift.
We pray tonight, Lord, that youwould speak to us deeply and
equip us to be the best fatherswe can be.
And all God's men said, Amen.
Let me know where you're tuningin from.
We got Instagram, TikTok,Rumble, X, which probably be
(04:17):
called X marked the spot wherethe real treasure is.
And so really, you know,grateful that you're here
listening, watching, and andreceiving.
So anyway, let's get right intothis presentation I have for you
tonight.
And it's and it's how to receiveyour sonship.
(04:40):
So here's my first question.
What does sonship mean to you?
When you think about, you know,somebody says sonship, it's not
a word that a lot of peopleunderstand.
But basically, it's the blessingthat that every dad has to give
(05:03):
to his children.
And when your dad was presentand loving and there and
resourcing you and and givingyou those things that you need
in your life, and you feelconnected and seen by your dad,
you sort of carry youryourselves differently than many
other.
You probably have seen in theworld today, you can tell, you
(05:26):
can really tell those young menthat are out there and fathers
who have been fathered well.
The same way we watched at theSuper Bowl.
Uh, yes, I am wearing the Ramsjersey.
Yes, we had an offensive linemanjump offside and cost us a shot
(05:48):
at the big show.
But it was it was a it was a itwas an it was an amazing chess
board that the coach and what'sgreat is that both teams are
filled with gods, with gods,guys who love Jesus.
(06:10):
I heard more Jesus talk comingfrom the celebration on the
Eagles and even those that thedisappointment on the Chiefs
that I and I've seen in years inin the National Football League,
and it is about time.
And the reason why that is, andI'm just going a little off
track here, but is that there'ssomething that's incredibly
(06:33):
powerful when those perceivedheroes in sports stand up for
something that's good andrighteous.
That's so powerful.
Because so many young kids whowear the numbers of their heroes
or in basketball wear the shoesof their heroes, et cetera,
(06:57):
they're so in need of fathersand the sense of whose son they
are.
And when their sonship ispowerful and they feel favored
by their dad for who they areand blessed by their dad, and
they have a father who'spresent, it's it changes the
(07:21):
life of that young man.
As a matter of fact, you know,grandfathers have that same role
with grandchildren.
And I know a lot of grandpastoday that are in the process of
refathering and you know beingin the life of their
grandchildren because a lot oftheir own children are
(07:46):
struggling in their life.
And man, if there is ever a daywhere we need to have great
fathers and great-grandfathers,it's today.
Now, how does that happen?
And uh what's the mechanism forthat to happen in the world in a
great way?
And and what's the mechanism forit to happen in you?
(08:08):
Well, it's it has a lot to dowith whose son you are.
And if you're only, say, the sonof a broken dad, or a dad who
left, or a dad that make youfeel invisible, then you're you
can if if that's your only senseof where you get your identity,
(08:32):
or in reaction to it.
You see a lot of young peopletoday who are in reaction
against the brutality of theirdad or their lack of their
father.
And so they then paint onthemselves a new identity.
They they choose an identity inthe in the in the world of of
what the devil has tried to puton this next generation is well,
(08:55):
then choose your identity forwhat your sexual appetites are.
As though that is an identity.
And that's no, that's justthat's something that you desire
that comes out of your oldflesh.
Sometimes it's good if you'refollowing the Lord, and
sometimes it can be incrediblyuh wicked.
(09:16):
And and so identity for us asmen and fathers is crucial in us
being able to father ourchildren and to do a great job
at fathering our kids.
I remember in my early days as adad making myself this promise
(09:37):
that I wasn't gonna do any ofthe same some of the same really
hard things that my my dad, mystepdad did to me.
Anybody ever make that promise?
And raise your hand, by the way,if you made a promise, I'm not
gonna do some of those badfathering things done to me.
Anybody say that?
(09:58):
And so we can escape thoseincredible moments of being that
were framed for us by the way weare fathered, just because we
choose to do opposite.
I meet guys in some of mycoaching that I ask them how
they're doing as a dad, and Isaid, Well, I just basically
hate my dad and I just want todo something opposite of my
(10:20):
father.
I said, Well, how's it going foryou?
He said, Well, I guess not toogood because I'm I'm signed up
for coaching.
And and I said, Well, do youknow why that happens to you?
Why is it so hard to escape someof those foundational shaping
moments of the way your fathertreated you, loved you, was in
(10:43):
your story, is because they haveprofound impact because they're
your dad's.
Your dad, whether he knew it ornot, carries this an authority
to help you discover your trueidentity.
And when that father doesn'tknow who he is, he can spend his
(11:04):
life trying to live through you.
I play with a lot of footballplayers, and I've met guys in my
life whose sole identity is inperformance on the athletic
field to prove themselves totheir dad, even in the National
Football League, to have suchincredible pressure on
(11:25):
themselves that they end badly,because their core identity is
about being a winner, or theircore identity that they got from
their father is X, Y, and Z.
And so when you think about inyour own story, what's your core
identity?
I mean, what is that you know,identity that you have, you
(11:51):
know, taken on upon yourself,and you you can find out what
that core identity is by thoseplaces where you celebrate
yourself.
Think about that.
Where do you celebrate yourselfin a great way?
(12:13):
And I can hear where some of yousay, Well, I I don't know that
uh I celebrate myself at all.
I'm still trying to get become abetter man.
And isn't it interesting how weget into this place where we're
still living for the approval ofsomebody in our story, and and
(12:34):
we never get it.
And as a result of that, we feelill-equipped to give this to our
children.
Because I I found in my own lifewhen in I mean in earlier days
of being a dad, because I wasdriving myself all the time to
try to get to the next level,that I was doing the same thing
(12:57):
to my children.
And without realizing that, Iwas wounding them and framing
their future around this ideathat they gotta have it together
to be blessed by God.
They they gotta do it a certainway to have love from me.
(13:18):
And without realizing it, I wassetting up my children for
failure.
Because here's here is thetruth: we're all flawed.
Matter of fact, the Bible saysit this way, all have sinned and
fallen short of God's standard,God's glory.
We all blow it.
(13:38):
And so, how do we deal withourselves when we're broken?
And the people who father uswill shape how you treat
yourself when you're not feelinglike a winner.
And so, God, what's God'sanswer?
God's answer for broken sonshipis to father us.
(14:00):
And you've probably heard me saythat over and over again.
And by the way, it's the secretof being a great dad, because
who you are fathered by leaksinto those that you father.
And so you can have a great dadon earth who is a great dad, but
(14:21):
he is flawed.
You'll find that you're some ofthose same flawed things that
you your dad gave to you thatyou've learned from him, you end
up doing with your children.
Remember, I said earlier howmany made that promise to never
do some of those same badthings?
And yet how many would raiseyour hand also and say, I did
(14:42):
that very same thing.
And boy, that's boy, that juststicks right in our face when we
do that.
And then we see our childrenliving that out in our own life.
So, how does God fix that in us?
Well, that's what that's whatwe're gonna talk about tonight.
(15:04):
We're gonna we're gonna talkabout how to really receive that
sonship.
But before we do that, I want totalk a little bit about what
that sonship actually looks likefor you and for me.
So here's the first thing.
So, why is it important toreceive our adoption from the
Father?
That's one of the big themesthat Jesus came to do, and Paul
(15:29):
talks about in scripture.
And that is the very first thingis that we'll become like the
man who fathers us.
And uh, when his disciples, youknow, were asking Jesus, you
know, to show us the father,Jesus is saying of himself,
(15:49):
whoever seen me has seen thefather.
We all start out in this placewhere that persona and that
identity that we live out oftowards our children first comes
through our dads or through thatperson who fathers us.
(16:10):
Well, the benefit of beingfathered by God is it changes
the complete trajectory of ourearthbound limitations.
And and what I love about that,and I share that in this next
slide here, is that you know,not only did God want to father
(16:32):
us, right, and and and show andand really become the father, it
helps us determine who we areand who we become.
Number two, the the truth of thematter is that we the reason why
he called us to receive ouradoption is so that we could
(16:56):
have him as a father in ourlife.
And I love this verse.
And it said, and the word becameflesh, talking about in John
1.14, talking about Jesus, fleshand blood, and moved into the
neighborhood, and and we saw theglory with our own eyes.
(17:16):
A one-of-kind glory, a likefather, like son, generous
inside and out, true from startto fission.
John 1.14.
And so when people saw Jesus,they would say, Show us the
Father, you know, that will beenough for us.
And Thomas said that, but Jesussaid, basically, if you've seen
me, you've seen my father.
(17:38):
In a lot of ways, when peoplesee our children, they're going
to connect, you know, they'regoing to connect who they are to
who fathered them.
Now, one of the greatestcompliments that we can get as
fathers is when people come toyou and and say, you know, I met
(18:03):
your son today, and he'sextraordinary just like you.
Oh man, uh, those those aremoments that you just don't
ever, you just don't everforget.
Isn't that the goal?
Isn't that what you want?
You know, don't you want thelove and the mentoring and the
(18:25):
modeling and the man you are toleak out right through your son
to everybody he meets?
Where his starting point iswanting to be like you.
And by the way, that's in everylittle kid.
I mean, watch your kids watchyou, your grandkids even watch
(18:47):
you to do what you do, to saythings the way you say, to walk
like you, because they'relearning, they're following.
I mean, that that relationshipbetween a son and a father, and
wanting that is such a powerful,powerful understanding about who
(19:10):
they are, because they they theyfollow.
And when you remove that dad,what what is that young son
gonna do?
Well, in our world today, youknow, and he gets around one of
these, he starts to name himselfby the images and the the people
(19:31):
that he sees on YouTube andsocial media, and it's why it's
such a powerful thing.
And and I really believe thatall these social media apps were
created because of the deepwound in this generation of
(19:52):
young people that we have.
And we were some of the firstportrayers of this.
The baby boomer generation, youknow, spent much of its history
trying to name themselves bywhat they have, where they own,
where they live, their failure,their music style, their
(20:15):
incredible things that we canname ourselves by.
The problem is, whatever youname yourself by that's
earthbound and limited in thehuman forms of things can always
always be always will become atrap for you.
For instance, say I had a youngman the other day who wanted to
(20:40):
be a great football player.
He never got to play.
And it was like he wanted towear this jersey and play on the
field.
Or, and if that's your identity,what if you don't realize it?
I mean, I I mean, for years Iwanted to make it to the Super
Bowl.
And if you notice, I don't haveany Super Bowl rings on.
(21:03):
I have friends, my my bestfriend Brian Holloway, he's got
a number of them from thePatriots and the Raiders on his
hands.
I mean, God's He got the play inthe big show.
Now, if my identity is in thatarrival point, I'm gonna always
feel as though I missed out inmy life.
(21:26):
So, how does how does Godreconcile that in us when we
have disappointment?
Well, the one of the mostpowerful things that can happen
to you and to I is when werealize that those achievements
that we have in the world andthose moments that we use to
name ourselves are just moments.
(21:47):
They're not our true identity.
Because the truth of the matteris I get to wear this jersey and
it's cool because of something Idid, but this isn't who I am.
And no matter what, no matterwhat you've built in your life,
what kind of business or life ordream you had for money, houses,
(22:08):
places to live, you're gonnahave a lot of disappointment in
your life.
And if you're always drivingyourself to get to that next
level as a father, and then oneday you're gonna come and go, I
finally made it.
Now I can give my time for mychildren.
You're not gonna have them therefollowing you, they're gonna be
(22:31):
gone.
And you're you're gonna you'regonna sit back and go, Oh my
gosh, what did I do?
Well, here's the great news.
You can get them all back.
It's one of the mostextraordinary gifts that God
gives us as fathers, is nomatter how good we started, no
(22:55):
matter how bad we've done thingsin the lives of our children,
it's never too late for us tobecome the father our children
need us to be.
And that's one of the incrediblepromises.
Now, how do we get there?
Well, we we don't get there bybecoming a super dad now.
(23:16):
We get there by learning how toreceive our the gift of sonship
that God gives us as a fatherwhen he sent his son Jesus.
It's one of the most powerfulrestorations of people groups
there is.
And those people groups in theworld that are highly religious,
(23:38):
thinking it's their faith thatgives them this.
And we got squaths of allthrough the Middle East and
different sects and faiths, fromthe Muslim, the Jewish faith to,
you know, and their numbers ofChristian groups where they
measure their identity in theirdenomination or their tribe or
(24:03):
their group.
What happens if you lose yourchurch?
Or what happens when yourpastor, you know, blows it and
goes sideways, then who are you?
I meet people who will say, youknow, I tried the church, but I
got really hurt by the church,and and so I haven't gone back
to church again.
(24:24):
And and I say, really?
So your determination is aboutgoing to church is that you're
never going to be hurt.
You're never going to bedisappointed.
The the leaders will neverdisappoint you.
The problem with that is that weall have humanness as a pastor,
even as perfect as I was as apastor.
(24:47):
And anybody who's followed mefor any amount of time uh in my
life knows that that on my bestdays, I I have anointed moments
and flawed moments.
And if people are getting theiridentity from me as the model at
(25:08):
any level, they're going to besorely disappointed.
But when we learn to receive oursonship from God and we
understand truly what sonship isall about, it can become an
anchor to your soul and ananchor to your identity, and it
(25:29):
can be something that willanchor your children and your
grandchildren one day.
Because these young people todaythey are looking for a brand.
What they're really looking foris their true core identity, and
it's not found in money or theworld or success or failure or
(25:52):
sin or sexual identity, or youjust keep putting those up
there.
It's found when they meetsomebody who knows who they are
and they live their life in thelove and blessing of God the
(26:13):
Father who sent his son for us.
Let me tell you a little story.
I was in a coffee shop not toolong ago, and I had a young man
there drinking coffee.
And one of my practices, myinternal practices that I've
(26:34):
learned, because I I learnedyears ago that as a father, as a
grandpa, as you know, Edma Glassand a beloved son of the Lord,
the better I am at learning todo what I see the Father doing
with people, the more impact I'mgoing to have with them.
(26:55):
Notice I didn't say the more Ipray to be anointed to go in
with hellfire and brimstone toconvert these people.
No, it's your ability to findout what God the Father is
doing.
And the model comes from Jesuswhen he said, I can only do what
I see my Father doing.
Part of sonship is giving upyour right to determining your
(27:19):
own identity and giving thatyour heart and who God's called
you to be to him.
And so one of the practices of abeloved son that we saw in Jesus
was his mission was to pleasehis father and do what his
father was doing.
And so it caused me to learn,and following Jesus, that the
(27:44):
the the most exciting path ofbeing a son is learning to do
life the way Jesus did with hisfather.
And that is when you're meetingpeople and you or you see
somebody or you notice somebody,you just say this little
internal prayer, Father, whatare you doing with this person?
(28:10):
And then kind of stepping in tothat, no matter what the
conversation is about.
My conversation isn't about, youknow, or my desire isn't about
just leading every person I meetto Jesus to Christ right now.
But it starts out in God, whatare you doing with this person?
(28:36):
That's what sons do.
Imagine your fathering stylewith your children that was kind
of anchored in God, what are youdoing with my son?
Or maybe my son-in-law orson-in-love, or my daughters, or
you know, my distant relatives,my cousins, you're constantly
(28:58):
asking, God, what are you doing?
And when you when you step intowhat you sense God might be
doing with them, and he'll showyou one of the ways is you ask
questions and to startconversations.
It's one of my ways that I sortof I do in in my life, and and
(29:22):
God's showing me it's thefunnest thing in my in my life
to do is just to be a son andfollow the father around all day
long because he's alwaysworking.
That's what Jesus said.
The lift up your eyes and see,for the harvest is already
white.
So the issue isn't there's isthere anybody to lead to Christ?
The issue is we got to lift upour eyes from what we're doing,
(29:45):
what we're thinking, where we'restuck, and see for there's
people all around us all daylong that are desperate for a
guy like you to speak life intothem.
And so I saw this guy, and hewas said, Chapman University
doing some studying and and I Iwalked over to him with my
(30:06):
coffee and I said, Hi.
I said, Do you know why God madeyou?
And this young man just puts hisbook down.
He looks at me and he goes, Ican't believe you just asked me
that question.
It's like a holy timing thing.
(30:28):
And I said, Well, what do youmean?
He said, That's my heart's cryevery day.
I'm really confused.
I said, Really?
Why are you confused?
He goes, Well, I'm not sure.
I'm not sure who God's made me.
I'm struggling with same-sexattraction, and I'm struggling
with my you know who I am.
(30:51):
Matter of fact, I'm here withsome Christian friends of mine
in town, and they're strugglingtoo.
It's like I have most of myfriends, they don't know who
they are.
And so I looked at him and Ismiled and I said, I asked him
another question.
I said, So tell me about yourdad.
(31:14):
Why I asked that question isthat in a lot of the stories of
young men and women that areconfused and maybe have gender
dysphoria issues that are, youknow, are around them in their
life, or they're they'reconfused about their sexuality,
is their environment of beingraised, many times it's just
(31:39):
incredibly brutal.
And he put his head down and helooked back up.
He said, My dad was a monster.
And I've lived my entire life tostay away from him.
And I wish I could tell you thatthat's a that's the only time I
(31:59):
ever heard anything like that.
Uh I hear that too often.
Or my dad was distracted, or mydad was this.
But in almost every case, inthat confusion of that realm,
but also in all the otherpatterns of of brokenness that
young people carry, their theirdad wasn't a present papa with
(32:23):
them, loving them, resourcingthem, being in their story.
So I I said, you know, Istruggled with some, not with
those sims, some of those samethings, but I struggled because
I lost my dad in a differentway.
(32:45):
And I started sharing my storyabout how my dad was killed in
action.
And this young man was justglued to what I was saying.
And I and I said this to him,and it opened the whole
conversation.
I said, it all depends on whofathers you that helped that
frames for you what your futureidentity might be.
(33:07):
It can be identity ofbrokenness, it can be identity
of absolute blessing and reallyknowing who God's made you to
be.
And he said, Well, how do I getthat?
I said, There's only one way.
You you might go to all thepsychiatrists in the world and a
(33:31):
psychologist, and they'll helpyou discover your hurt between
you and your dad.
But that identity piece that youhave, when you ask God to show
you who you are, it will changeyour life.
And you won't have to perform acertain way or do certain things
(33:54):
to be in the club.
And tears started welling in hiseyes.
He goes, I want that.
And I said, Did you know thatnot only did Jesus come and die
for you?
Because I know you go to churchand and you want more of Jesus.
He said, You're so right.
(34:14):
I just he just feels far away.
I said, Well, why do you thinkthat is?
And he out of his own mouth, hesaid this.
Well, I think part of it is thatI live in such guilt all the
time because I'm just not able,I just don't know how to live
this life he's called me to.
(34:35):
And I said, you know, this lifeisn't a life we can use our
effort to live, it's a life thatwe've got to receive.
And he and part of that is thatwe've got to receive his
forgiveness first.
And not only do we receive hisforgiveness, the second part is
that what's missing in your lifeis not all the talent you have
(34:59):
and all the your gifts andnatural gifts.
Yes, what you're missing is youdon't know who you are.
And he goes, That's exactly it.
How would you like to find outtoday?
He said, right here.
I said, right here in his coffeeshop.
And so I prayed with him and heasked God to forgive him and
(35:20):
asked Christ in his life again.
And then I said, I want to prayfor you as a father, your dad,
the way your dad would haveprayed for you if he'd have
walked with God.
And I put my hands on him and Iblessed him.
And uh he just started weeping.
(35:40):
And he was weeping because he'dnever had a loving dad touch him
that way and bless him that way,and God began to give me words
about him and his abilities, andand you know, just I want you to
pray this prayer.
God, show me who you've made meto be.
(36:03):
And I I end up, it wasn't a longinterchange, maybe about 45
minutes, and then I hugged thisyoung man, I blessed him, and I
said, Here's my number.
I want you to call me when Godbreaks through in your heart.
And so I left the coffee shop,and about three months later, he
(36:26):
writes me a long email, and hegoes, Hey, Pastor Ed.
That moment changed my life.
Not only did I feel forgiven forthe first time, I've completely
lost all my same-sex attractionto the point now where I've met
(36:50):
the most beautiful girl, and weare getting married in three
months.
It's within six months of ourcoffee shop encounter.
And I am so grateful that youstopped to father a boy who
never had a dad.
(37:14):
You want to know the impact youcan have as a father on the life
of your daughters and the lifeof your sons?
I mean, if you're a mom, there'sa couple moms who've slipped
into this group.
Imagine your identity being sosecure as a mother that you
learn how to bless your childrenthe way God the Father blesses
(37:36):
you.
Because that's the the secret ofwhat God came to give us.
And when we at the at the coreof who we are as a son or a
daughter of a father who lovesus, and the more we receive that
(37:59):
ourselves, the more impact wehave.
Because we've been named, we'vebeen made by God to get our core
identity from him as our fatherthrough Jesus Christ that he
sent.
(38:19):
And Jesus was the perfectpicture of the model.
You know, I shared with you, theword became flesh and in moved
into the neighborhood.
And when people saw him, theysaw with their own eyes this one
of a kind glory.
And it wasn't that he had thisglow about him, like the old
(38:43):
Renaissance painters would paintaround Jesus, where he'd walk in
and you know, he had thisdifferent the thing that was
different about Jesus aboveeveryone wasn't that he looked
different from any other Hebrewthat was there.
(39:05):
It's that he walked around withthis with the pleasure of his
father on his life as his coreidentity.
And think about that.
What would your life be like ifyou weren't striving to name
(39:25):
yourself or prove yourself?
How would you fatherdifferently, or if you're a gal,
mother your children differentlyif you weren't getting your core
identity from their performance?
(39:46):
What would change in your ownparenting style?
And this next verse there is themore we let God father us, the
more we will become like Jesus.
And this is one of my favoriteverses that describes the uh
(40:08):
internal life and the smile thatJesus lived under.
It says of him in Hebrews 1:9,and this is part of an Old
Testament scripture that Paul iswriting to the Hebrew church,
the book of Hebrews, to a Jewishcongregation.
(40:28):
And it talks about who the Sonof God is in the Old Testament,
and he says, and you have lovedrighteousness and hated
wickedness.
So Jesus lived his life notloving wickedness and hating
righteousness, which is apicture of someone who's not
fathered by God, or someone who,you know, thinks they they love
(40:55):
righteousness by hating wickedpeople.
But they describe how Jesus gotthat.
Therefore, God, your God, hasanointed you with the oil of
gladness or joy beyond yourcompanions.
And one of the one of the thingsthat happens when our identities
(41:18):
are secure in our sonship withGod as our Father, is that we
live out of the joy of the Lordover our lives, no matter what
we're going through.
You know, the Bible says thatthe joy of the Lord will be your
strength.
(41:38):
And the reason why it says ourstrength is because it's not an
internal happiness that wecreate, but it's a joy that
comes to us because we know whoour father is.
We know who our Savior is, we'regrowing with him, we live in his
(42:00):
word, and we love the righteouslife he's called us to, and
we're receiving constantly oursecurity and our identity and
who God says we are.
Powerful stuff.
And I'll share this last littlethought with you in closing.
(42:21):
Not only will we become likeJesus, God wants us to have the
same like father, like sonrelationship with us.
I mean, that's what I wantedmore than anything in my life.
I wanted I wanted a dad that wasin the stands watching me play
(42:46):
football.
There on the sidelines sometimeas a coach.
And my stepfather was a coach.
And you you you play differenton the football field when your
dad's watching.
And in the in a lot of the earlydays of being a young football
(43:07):
player, my stepdad was in thewas in the stands.
He's the only father I knew.
And I'll I'll never forget, notone of my better football
moments, but we were playing ourarch nemesis, and uh and we were
getting beat pretty badly, andthey were taunting us at the end
(43:32):
of the game.
And this middle linebacker forthis opposing team, and we, you
know, they they outgunned us,outmatched us, we got stomped.
And they were just celebratingand ridiculing us.
And and I had enough, and I justjumped across the line, dropped
(43:57):
the ball that was a center, andshapoom, and hit him, knocked
him out, penalty flags, threw meout of the game, and I'm leaving
the field.
Not not necessarily a righteousmove.
(44:20):
But I'll never forget my mystepfather was in the stands
celebrating me, going, way togo, son! Way to go.
And I share that in that notthat I am not that I am calling
(44:40):
for our children to cold cocktheir enemies, you know, in a
football game.
Ray Diggs said, I understood Iwould have done it also.
But somet something happensinside of your heart, especially
(45:03):
in the in the place of couragewhen you know whose son you are.
And I want to tie it togethertonight.
And that's my question, whoseson are you?
And if you're just a son of a ofa dad, that's a great dad.
That's a that's a great benefit.
(45:27):
But if you're a beloved son ofGod the Father and you've
received your sonship, that putsyou in a class all your own.
Because one of the incrediblebenefits of being a son of the
father is that you have himcheering you on the rest of your
(45:50):
days.
And he loved you so much, hesent his only son to die for
you.
So when you learn to receivethat forgiveness for your sin
and learn how to receive hisgrace and blessing to be the man
he's called you to be, or yourgal, if you're a gal watching in
(46:13):
our group tonight, then it setsyou above all of your companions
because you like Jesus, you havea joy that resonates inside of
you because you're notunfathered anymore.
(46:34):
And when that moment came intomy own life, my own story, it
completely changed the way I sawmyself and unleashed a courage
in me to live all out for thisguy named Jesus.
(46:54):
Unafraid of being rejected,because part of the benefit and
the gift of living in thisworld, we're gonna have turmoil,
we're gonna have struggle, we'regonna have great days and bad
days, we're gonna havepersecution.
There's Christian brothers andsisters uh of ours that are
(47:17):
being martyred around the worldbecause they have stood up for
Jesus.
We're gonna have to face allthese things, but when you face,
no matter what comes to you, andyour identity is not attached to
the outcome, but it's attachedto who loves you and who backs
you up and who sent his son todie for you so that he could be
(47:39):
your father.
That sets you apart above everyother person outside of Christ.
And that's such a blessing.
Because God wants to be thefather of us all and has all the
children of the world that heloves.
But sons and daughters are theones who generally make the
(48:00):
biggest impact because theircore identity is in their
sonship with the father and notjust in their achievements on
earth.
So next week we're gonna talkabout steps to really enter into
more of this sonship.
If you want to learn more aboutthis, a couple of resources for
(48:24):
you that my faithful assistantwill shoot up on the screen.
Uh, number one is if you go tomy website right now, and it's
the you you can, I have a bookthere that I wrote called it's
uh it's a free book.
It's called The Difference aFather Makes, right?
(48:47):
And if you go to our website,you can thank you, Ray, for the
words.
You can get that free book anddownload it right now.
And I just I'm gonna challengeyou to read it with a question
of Lord, I want to learn how tobe a son, or maybe you're a
daughter.
I want to learn how to be yourdaughter.
(49:08):
That book will begin openingthat door, and that's our gift
to you.
We're actually giving that bookaway right now in believe it or
not, over 233 countries aredownloading that book and have
access.
It's grown, it's goneeverywhere, and we give this for
free.
So that's that's our gift toyou, and you can get that right
(49:32):
now.
The second thing that we have asa resource is that maybe you're
in a place where you need somecoaching and you would like some
help with your family, maybeyour grandma, grandpa, your or
family, or you got children thatare sideways, and you're you're
(49:52):
looking for some tools and somepractical ways to really grow.
Well, one of the things thatwe're we're building right now
that we have as a resource foryou is we have the Fatherhood
Academy.
The Fatherhood Academy hasonline training courses,
podcasts, live coaching.
(50:13):
There's there's a number ofthings.
And there's a really it's anincredible benefit to you
without much investment from youand your time, energy, and
resources to really help you bethat guy.
And so if you're interested,that's available to you right
(50:36):
now at our website.
And uh, we're uh we're running aspecial right now, and all you
got to do is click on ourwebsite and you'll see what
that's all about.
But that can be really helpfulfor you because I can tell you
that I'm the guy that I amtoday, not only from the love
and blessing of God the Fatherin my life, but from those men
(50:58):
who have sewn into my life.
And matter of fact, what followsus every single week here, if
you you haven't gotten enough ofme, is we have a men's online
group that you can be a part ofif you join our Fatherhood
Academy, and you can join usevery week, and we go into a lot
of depth on how to navigate allthese things I'm talking about
(51:24):
with practical one-on-onecoaching with a bunch of guys
online, and it's it's a powerfulcommunity of men.
So maybe that's your cup of tea,and we'd I'd love to be there.
And before I get off, I want topray for every one of you right
now who you know are watchingtonight and you have questions,
(51:44):
and you really do want to bethat kind of father.
If that's you, just open yourhands wherever you are, and I
want to pray for you the sameway I prayed for that young man
in that coffee shop years ago.
Father, I just um I'm sograteful to my friends that are
watching tonight.
(52:05):
I'm so grateful that they'rehere and and they're hungry to
be the best men they can be, thebest husbands they can be, the
best fathers they can be.
Some are the one to be the bestex to an ex-wife they can be.
Some are single dads, andthey're watching, feeling like
(52:28):
they blew it.
It's never too late, my friend.
So, Father, I pray for themright now, and I pray that you
would reveal to them theincredible man Jesus Christ
right now.
Reveal your son to them andreveal that you want to be their
father too.
So maybe that's your prayertonight.
(52:49):
You want more of Jesus.
Well, just pray this simpleprayer with me right now.
Just say, Jesus, right now, I'masking you to come into my life.
I want to I want to be free fromthe guilt that I have to manage
all the time, and the shame thatcomes in my life, and the sin
(53:10):
that so easily knocks mesideways.
And I want to run this race thatyou promised that we can run
with perseverance.
I want to make a difference as aman, as a dad, as a father.
And father, I want your blessingin my life.
(53:31):
And so come into my life, Jesus.
Forgive me of all those thingsthat I'm trying to work out
myself.
And Father, I need a father inmy story.
Would you father me?
Father me so that I can be theman you've called me to be.
Father me so I can be the fatherand the grandpa you've called me
(53:56):
to be.
And we all pray this in the nameof Jesus.
Amen.
Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, wouldyou would you send me, would you
let me know and uh email me?
You can send me an email atedcandy at blessing of the
(54:16):
father.com.
And before we get off, I have ashort little video.
If you just hang with me andwatch, it's only, gosh, it's not
very long.
And I'm so grateful that youshowed up here tonight.
And so all that to say is Igotta go, I got another group
starting in a few minutes andwould love to see you there as
(54:40):
well.
So, Father, bless you.
And remember, my friends, it'snever too late for God to give
you a new beginning.
Just look at Ed McLasson.
Anyway, God bless you.
Have a great night.
We'll talk to you.
And if this, by the way, if thisblessed you, would you join my
(55:00):
YouTube channel?
Just subscribe so you could andturn on that little bell so you
know that when I send in newvideos, we're standing in a
bunch.
We're just here to resource youand to help you come along.
So watch this video before youget off.
And I will see you next week.
SPEAKER_00 (55:19):
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 (55:34):
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
(55:56):
children.
So the hearts of their childrenwill turn back to their father.
That's what God is doing.
I mean 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.
(56:18):
That's why we're launching anonline community to quit and 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 pride.
(56:39):
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
(57:03):
disciple every man, dad, andgrandpa that comes our way?
Your donation will help create aripple across the neighborhoods,
communities, you know, anultimately, anchoring each
child, your division, and theunwavering love and guidance of
a devoted dad.
SPEAKER_00 (57:25):
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
(57:45):
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 EdMcGlass.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
Hey, welcome.
Welcome tonight.
Got some of my friends showingup.
Hey, we got Ray Diggs in thehouse.
Welcome, Ray.
Great to meet you this week.
Powerful, powerful voice,powerful man.
And what God's doing.
Got Emma King in the house.
Good to see Dr.
King.
(01:39):
And welcome to all you guys thatare showing up here.
Just really grateful.
Just really grateful to see youguys, all the different people
from different countries aroundthe world, which is just so cool
that we can get together and uhbless you too, Mr.
(02:00):
Diggs.
And so we're gonna tonight,we're gonna talk about really
what it means to receive yoursonship.
And and before we we do that, Iwant to talk about why is that
so important in your life.
And so we're gonna get togetherand and pray right now and then
(02:22):
get into this teaching tonightfor all of our friends that are
coming on and joining here at uh5 p.m.
Pacific Standard Time.
And uh, if you keep if you'renot read my hat, it's it says,
make fathers great again.
That's what I think God istrying to do around the world.
(02:44):
We got uh we got one of God'sfinest there at Nellis Air Force
Base in Nevada.
Welcome here.
Judson's one of our coaches andour and our ministry team here,
and exciting to have him.
And and we're building a lot ofthose these next years to reach
all the dads and fathers we needto.
(03:05):
So let's kind of start with aprayer.
Father, thank you for my friendsthat are joining.
I'm so grateful to see them.
I'm so grateful they're hereeach week.
I ask you to bless them tonight.
I ask you to open their mind andtheir spirit and their heart to
(03:26):
the extraordinary potential andpower of being a loving, present
father and spiritual father.
Father, thank you for the rolethat you have made us for.
Even Adam's first role in lovingEve and then being a father, and
(03:51):
how Lord, you have givenfatherhood to us as such an
incredible gift.
We pray tonight, Lord, that youwould speak to us deeply and
equip us to be the best fatherswe can be.
And all God's men said, Amen.
Let me know where you're tuningin from.
We got Instagram, TikTok,Rumble, X, which probably be
(04:17):
called X marked the spot wherethe real treasure is.
And so really, you know,grateful that you're here
listening, watching, and andreceiving.
So anyway, let's get right intothis presentation I have for you
tonight.
And it's and it's how to receiveyour sonship.
(04:40):
So here's my first question.
What does sonship mean to you?
When you think about, you know,somebody says sonship, it's not
a word that a lot of peopleunderstand.
But basically, it's the blessingthat that every dad has to give
(05:03):
to his children.
And when your dad was presentand loving and there and
resourcing you and and givingyou those things that you need
in your life, and you feelconnected and seen by your dad,
you sort of carry youryourselves differently than many
other.
You probably have seen in theworld today, you can tell, you
(05:26):
can really tell those young menthat are out there and fathers
who have been fathered well.
The same way we watched at theSuper Bowl.
Uh, yes, I am wearing the Ramsjersey.
Yes, we had an offensive linemanjump offside and cost us a shot
(05:48):
at the big show.
But it was it was a it was a itwas an it was an amazing chess
board that the coach and what'sgreat is that both teams are
filled with gods, with gods,guys who love Jesus.
(06:10):
I heard more Jesus talk comingfrom the celebration on the
Eagles and even those that thedisappointment on the Chiefs
that I and I've seen in years inin the National Football League,
and it is about time.
And the reason why that is, andI'm just going a little off
track here, but is that there'ssomething that's incredibly
(06:33):
powerful when those perceivedheroes in sports stand up for
something that's good andrighteous.
That's so powerful.
Because so many young kids whowear the numbers of their heroes
or in basketball wear the shoesof their heroes, et cetera,
(06:57):
they're so in need of fathersand the sense of whose son they
are.
And when their sonship ispowerful and they feel favored
by their dad for who they areand blessed by their dad, and
they have a father who'spresent, it's it changes the
(07:21):
life of that young man.
As a matter of fact, you know,grandfathers have that same role
with grandchildren.
And I know a lot of grandpastoday that are in the process of
refathering and you know beingin the life of their
grandchildren because a lot oftheir own children are
(07:46):
struggling in their life.
And man, if there is ever a daywhere we need to have great
fathers and great-grandfathers,it's today.
Now, how does that happen?
And uh what's the mechanism forthat to happen in the world in a
great way?
And and what's the mechanism forit to happen in you?
(08:08):
Well, it's it has a lot to dowith whose son you are.
And if you're only, say, the sonof a broken dad, or a dad who
left, or a dad that make youfeel invisible, then you're you
can if if that's your only senseof where you get your identity,
(08:32):
or in reaction to it.
You see a lot of young peopletoday who are in reaction
against the brutality of theirdad or their lack of their
father.
And so they then paint onthemselves a new identity.
They they choose an identity inthe in the in the world of of
what the devil has tried to puton this next generation is well,
(08:55):
then choose your identity forwhat your sexual appetites are.
As though that is an identity.
And that's no, that's justthat's something that you desire
that comes out of your oldflesh.
Sometimes it's good if you'refollowing the Lord, and
sometimes it can be incrediblyuh wicked.
(09:16):
And and so identity for us asmen and fathers is crucial in us
being able to father ourchildren and to do a great job
at fathering our kids.
I remember in my early days as adad making myself this promise
(09:37):
that I wasn't gonna do any ofthe same some of the same really
hard things that my my dad, mystepdad did to me.
Anybody ever make that promise?
And raise your hand, by the way,if you made a promise, I'm not
gonna do some of those badfathering things done to me.
Anybody say that?
(09:58):
And so we can escape thoseincredible moments of being that
were framed for us by the way weare fathered, just because we
choose to do opposite.
I meet guys in some of mycoaching that I ask them how
they're doing as a dad, and Isaid, Well, I just basically
hate my dad and I just want todo something opposite of my
(10:20):
father.
I said, Well, how's it going foryou?
He said, Well, I guess not toogood because I'm I'm signed up
for coaching.
And and I said, Well, do youknow why that happens to you?
Why is it so hard to escape someof those foundational shaping
moments of the way your fathertreated you, loved you, was in
(10:43):
your story, is because they haveprofound impact because they're
your dad's.
Your dad, whether he knew it ornot, carries this an authority
to help you discover your trueidentity.
And when that father doesn'tknow who he is, he can spend his
(11:04):
life trying to live through you.
I play with a lot of footballplayers, and I've met guys in my
life whose sole identity is inperformance on the athletic
field to prove themselves totheir dad, even in the National
Football League, to have suchincredible pressure on
(11:25):
themselves that they end badly,because their core identity is
about being a winner, or theircore identity that they got from
their father is X, Y, and Z.
And so when you think about inyour own story, what's your core
identity?
I mean, what is that you know,identity that you have, you
(11:51):
know, taken on upon yourself,and you you can find out what
that core identity is by thoseplaces where you celebrate
yourself.
Think about that.
Where do you celebrate yourselfin a great way?
(12:13):
And I can hear where some of yousay, Well, I I don't know that
uh I celebrate myself at all.
I'm still trying to get become abetter man.
And isn't it interesting how weget into this place where we're
still living for the approval ofsomebody in our story, and and
(12:34):
we never get it.
And as a result of that, we feelill-equipped to give this to our
children.
Because I I found in my own lifewhen in I mean in earlier days
of being a dad, because I wasdriving myself all the time to
try to get to the next level,that I was doing the same thing
(12:57):
to my children.
And without realizing that, Iwas wounding them and framing
their future around this ideathat they gotta have it together
to be blessed by God.
They they gotta do it a certainway to have love from me.
(13:18):
And without realizing it, I wassetting up my children for
failure.
Because here's here is thetruth: we're all flawed.
Matter of fact, the Bible saysit this way, all have sinned and
fallen short of God's standard,God's glory.
We all blow it.
(13:38):
And so, how do we deal withourselves when we're broken?
And the people who father uswill shape how you treat
yourself when you're not feelinglike a winner.
And so, God, what's God'sanswer?
God's answer for broken sonshipis to father us.
(14:00):
And you've probably heard me saythat over and over again.
And by the way, it's the secretof being a great dad, because
who you are fathered by leaksinto those that you father.
And so you can have a great dadon earth who is a great dad, but
(14:21):
he is flawed.
You'll find that you're some ofthose same flawed things that
you your dad gave to you thatyou've learned from him, you end
up doing with your children.
Remember, I said earlier howmany made that promise to never
do some of those same badthings?
And yet how many would raiseyour hand also and say, I did
(14:42):
that very same thing.
And boy, that's boy, that juststicks right in our face when we
do that.
And then we see our childrenliving that out in our own life.
So, how does God fix that in us?
Well, that's what that's whatwe're gonna talk about tonight.
(15:04):
We're gonna we're gonna talkabout how to really receive that
sonship.
But before we do that, I want totalk a little bit about what
that sonship actually looks likefor you and for me.
So here's the first thing.
So, why is it important toreceive our adoption from the
Father?
That's one of the big themesthat Jesus came to do, and Paul
(15:29):
talks about in scripture.
And that is the very first thingis that we'll become like the
man who fathers us.
And uh, when his disciples, youknow, were asking Jesus, you
know, to show us the father,Jesus is saying of himself,
(15:49):
whoever seen me has seen thefather.
We all start out in this placewhere that persona and that
identity that we live out oftowards our children first comes
through our dads or through thatperson who fathers us.
(16:10):
Well, the benefit of beingfathered by God is it changes
the complete trajectory of ourearthbound limitations.
And and what I love about that,and I share that in this next
slide here, is that you know,not only did God want to father
(16:32):
us, right, and and and show andand really become the father, it
helps us determine who we areand who we become.
Number two, the the truth of thematter is that we the reason why
he called us to receive ouradoption is so that we could
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have him as a father in ourlife.
And I love this verse.
And it said, and the word becameflesh, talking about in John
1.14, talking about Jesus, fleshand blood, and moved into the
neighborhood, and and we saw theglory with our own eyes.
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A one-of-kind glory, a likefather, like son, generous
inside and out, true from startto fission.
John 1.14.
And so when people saw Jesus,they would say, Show us the
Father, you know, that will beenough for us.
And Thomas said that, but Jesussaid, basically, if you've seen
me, you've seen my father.
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In a lot of ways, when peoplesee our children, they're going
to connect, you know, they'regoing to connect who they are to
who fathered them.
Now, one of the greatestcompliments that we can get as
fathers is when people come toyou and and say, you know, I met
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your son today, and he'sextraordinary just like you.
Oh man, uh, those those aremoments that you just don't
ever, you just don't everforget.
Isn't that the goal?
Isn't that what you want?
You know, don't you want thelove and the mentoring and the
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modeling and the man you are toleak out right through your son
to everybody he meets?
Where his starting point iswanting to be like you.
And by the way, that's in everylittle kid.
I mean, watch your kids watchyou, your grandkids even watch
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you to do what you do, to saythings the way you say, to walk
like you, because they'relearning, they're following.
I mean, that that relationshipbetween a son and a father, and
wanting that is such a powerful,powerful understanding about who
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they are, because they they theyfollow.
And when you remove that dad,what what is that young son
gonna do?
Well, in our world today, youknow, and he gets around one of
these, he starts to name himselfby the images and the the people
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that he sees on YouTube andsocial media, and it's why it's
such a powerful thing.
And and I really believe thatall these social media apps were
created because of the deepwound in this generation of
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young people that we have.
And we were some of the firstportrayers of this.
The baby boomer generation, youknow, spent much of its history
trying to name themselves bywhat they have, where they own,
where they live, their failure,their music style, their
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incredible things that we canname ourselves by.
The problem is, whatever youname yourself by that's
earthbound and limited in thehuman forms of things can always
always be always will become atrap for you.
For instance, say I had a youngman the other day who wanted to
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be a great football player.
He never got to play.
And it was like he wanted towear this jersey and play on the
field.
Or, and if that's your identity,what if you don't realize it?
I mean, I I mean, for years Iwanted to make it to the Super
Bowl.
And if you notice, I don't haveany Super Bowl rings on.
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I have friends, my my bestfriend Brian Holloway, he's got
a number of them from thePatriots and the Raiders on his
hands.
I mean, God's He got the play inthe big show.
Now, if my identity is in thatarrival point, I'm gonna always
feel as though I missed out inmy life.
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So, how does how does Godreconcile that in us when we
have disappointment?
Well, the one of the mostpowerful things that can happen
to you and to I is when werealize that those achievements
that we have in the world andthose moments that we use to
name ourselves are just moments.
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They're not our true identity.
Because the truth of the matteris I get to wear this jersey and
it's cool because of something Idid, but this isn't who I am.
And no matter what, no matterwhat you've built in your life,
what kind of business or life ordream you had for money, houses,
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places to live, you're gonnahave a lot of disappointment in
your life.
And if you're always drivingyourself to get to that next
level as a father, and then oneday you're gonna come and go, I
finally made it.
Now I can give my time for mychildren.
You're not gonna have them therefollowing you, they're gonna be
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gone.
And you're you're gonna you'regonna sit back and go, Oh my
gosh, what did I do?
Well, here's the great news.
You can get them all back.
It's one of the mostextraordinary gifts that God
gives us as fathers, is nomatter how good we started, no
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matter how bad we've done thingsin the lives of our children,
it's never too late for us tobecome the father our children
need us to be.
And that's one of the incrediblepromises.
Now, how do we get there?
Well, we we don't get there bybecoming a super dad now.
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We get there by learning how toreceive our the gift of sonship
that God gives us as a fatherwhen he sent his son Jesus.
It's one of the most powerfulrestorations of people groups
there is.
And those people groups in theworld that are highly religious,
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thinking it's their faith thatgives them this.
And we got squaths of allthrough the Middle East and
different sects and faiths, fromthe Muslim, the Jewish faith to,
you know, and their numbers ofChristian groups where they
measure their identity in theirdenomination or their tribe or
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their group.
What happens if you lose yourchurch?
Or what happens when yourpastor, you know, blows it and
goes sideways, then who are you?
I meet people who will say, youknow, I tried the church, but I
got really hurt by the church,and and so I haven't gone back
to church again.
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And and I say, really?
So your determination is aboutgoing to church is that you're
never going to be hurt.
You're never going to bedisappointed.
The the leaders will neverdisappoint you.
The problem with that is that weall have humanness as a pastor,
even as perfect as I was as apastor.
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And anybody who's followed mefor any amount of time uh in my
life knows that that on my bestdays, I I have anointed moments
and flawed moments.
And if people are getting theiridentity from me as the model at
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any level, they're going to besorely disappointed.
But when we learn to receive oursonship from God and we
understand truly what sonship isall about, it can become an
anchor to your soul and ananchor to your identity, and it
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can be something that willanchor your children and your
grandchildren one day.
Because these young people todaythey are looking for a brand.
What they're really looking foris their true core identity, and
it's not found in money or theworld or success or failure or
(25:52):
sin or sexual identity, or youjust keep putting those up
there.
It's found when they meetsomebody who knows who they are
and they live their life in thelove and blessing of God the
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Father who sent his son for us.
Let me tell you a little story.
I was in a coffee shop not toolong ago, and I had a young man
there drinking coffee.
And one of my practices, myinternal practices that I've
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learned, because I I learnedyears ago that as a father, as a
grandpa, as you know, Edma Glassand a beloved son of the Lord,
the better I am at learning todo what I see the Father doing
with people, the more impact I'mgoing to have with them.
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Notice I didn't say the more Ipray to be anointed to go in
with hellfire and brimstone toconvert these people.
No, it's your ability to findout what God the Father is
doing.
And the model comes from Jesuswhen he said, I can only do what
I see my Father doing.
Part of sonship is giving upyour right to determining your
(27:19):
own identity and giving thatyour heart and who God's called
you to be to him.
And so one of the practices of abeloved son that we saw in Jesus
was his mission was to pleasehis father and do what his
father was doing.
And so it caused me to learn,and following Jesus, that the
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the the most exciting path ofbeing a son is learning to do
life the way Jesus did with hisfather.
And that is when you're meetingpeople and you or you see
somebody or you notice somebody,you just say this little
internal prayer, Father, whatare you doing with this person?
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And then kind of stepping in tothat, no matter what the
conversation is about.
My conversation isn't about, youknow, or my desire isn't about
just leading every person I meetto Jesus to Christ right now.
But it starts out in God, whatare you doing with this person?
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That's what sons do.
Imagine your fathering stylewith your children that was kind
of anchored in God, what are youdoing with my son?
Or maybe my son-in-law orson-in-love, or my daughters, or
you know, my distant relatives,my cousins, you're constantly
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asking, God, what are you doing?
And when you when you step intowhat you sense God might be
doing with them, and he'll showyou one of the ways is you ask
questions and to startconversations.
It's one of my ways that I sortof I do in in my life, and and
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God's showing me it's thefunnest thing in my in my life
to do is just to be a son andfollow the father around all day
long because he's alwaysworking.
That's what Jesus said.
The lift up your eyes and see,for the harvest is already
white.
So the issue isn't there's isthere anybody to lead to Christ?
The issue is we got to lift upour eyes from what we're doing,
(29:45):
what we're thinking, where we'restuck, and see for there's
people all around us all daylong that are desperate for a
guy like you to speak life intothem.
And so I saw this guy, and hewas said, Chapman University
doing some studying and and I Iwalked over to him with my
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coffee and I said, Hi.
I said, Do you know why God madeyou?
And this young man just puts hisbook down.
He looks at me and he goes, Ican't believe you just asked me
that question.
It's like a holy timing thing.
(30:28):
And I said, Well, what do youmean?
He said, That's my heart's cryevery day.
I'm really confused.
I said, Really?
Why are you confused?
He goes, Well, I'm not sure.
I'm not sure who God's made me.
I'm struggling with same-sexattraction, and I'm struggling
with my you know who I am.
(30:51):
Matter of fact, I'm here withsome Christian friends of mine
in town, and they're strugglingtoo.
It's like I have most of myfriends, they don't know who
they are.
And so I looked at him and Ismiled and I said, I asked him
another question.
I said, So tell me about yourdad.
(31:14):
Why I asked that question isthat in a lot of the stories of
young men and women that areconfused and maybe have gender
dysphoria issues that are, youknow, are around them in their
life, or they're they'reconfused about their sexuality,
is their environment of beingraised, many times it's just
(31:39):
incredibly brutal.
And he put his head down and helooked back up.
He said, My dad was a monster.
And I've lived my entire life tostay away from him.
And I wish I could tell you thatthat's a that's the only time I
(31:59):
ever heard anything like that.
Uh I hear that too often.
Or my dad was distracted, or mydad was this.
But in almost every case, inthat confusion of that realm,
but also in all the otherpatterns of of brokenness that
young people carry, their theirdad wasn't a present papa with
(32:23):
them, loving them, resourcingthem, being in their story.
So I I said, you know, Istruggled with some, not with
those sims, some of those samethings, but I struggled because
I lost my dad in a differentway.
(32:45):
And I started sharing my storyabout how my dad was killed in
action.
And this young man was justglued to what I was saying.
And I and I said this to him,and it opened the whole
conversation.
I said, it all depends on whofathers you that helped that
frames for you what your futureidentity might be.
(33:07):
It can be identity ofbrokenness, it can be identity
of absolute blessing and reallyknowing who God's made you to
be.
And he said, Well, how do I getthat?
I said, There's only one way.
You you might go to all thepsychiatrists in the world and a
(33:31):
psychologist, and they'll helpyou discover your hurt between
you and your dad.
But that identity piece that youhave, when you ask God to show
you who you are, it will changeyour life.
And you won't have to perform acertain way or do certain things
(33:54):
to be in the club.
And tears started welling in hiseyes.
He goes, I want that.
And I said, Did you know thatnot only did Jesus come and die
for you?
Because I know you go to churchand and you want more of Jesus.
He said, You're so right.
(34:14):
I just he just feels far away.
I said, Well, why do you thinkthat is?
And he out of his own mouth, hesaid this.
Well, I think part of it is thatI live in such guilt all the
time because I'm just not able,I just don't know how to live
this life he's called me to.
(34:35):
And I said, you know, this lifeisn't a life we can use our
effort to live, it's a life thatwe've got to receive.
And he and part of that is thatwe've got to receive his
forgiveness first.
And not only do we receive hisforgiveness, the second part is
that what's missing in your lifeis not all the talent you have
(34:59):
and all the your gifts andnatural gifts.
Yes, what you're missing is youdon't know who you are.
And he goes, That's exactly it.
How would you like to find outtoday?
He said, right here.
I said, right here in his coffeeshop.
And so I prayed with him and heasked God to forgive him and
(35:20):
asked Christ in his life again.
And then I said, I want to prayfor you as a father, your dad,
the way your dad would haveprayed for you if he'd have
walked with God.
And I put my hands on him and Iblessed him.
And uh he just started weeping.
(35:40):
And he was weeping because he'dnever had a loving dad touch him
that way and bless him that way,and God began to give me words
about him and his abilities, andand you know, just I want you to
pray this prayer.
God, show me who you've made meto be.
(36:03):
And I I end up, it wasn't a longinterchange, maybe about 45
minutes, and then I hugged thisyoung man, I blessed him, and I
said, Here's my number.
I want you to call me when Godbreaks through in your heart.
And so I left the coffee shop,and about three months later, he
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writes me a long email, and hegoes, Hey, Pastor Ed.
That moment changed my life.
Not only did I feel forgiven forthe first time, I've completely
lost all my same-sex attractionto the point now where I've met
(36:50):
the most beautiful girl, and weare getting married in three
months.
It's within six months of ourcoffee shop encounter.
And I am so grateful that youstopped to father a boy who
never had a dad.
(37:14):
You want to know the impact youcan have as a father on the life
of your daughters and the lifeof your sons?
I mean, if you're a mom, there'sa couple moms who've slipped
into this group.
Imagine your identity being sosecure as a mother that you
learn how to bless your childrenthe way God the Father blesses
(37:36):
you.
Because that's the the secret ofwhat God came to give us.
And when we at the at the coreof who we are as a son or a
daughter of a father who lovesus, and the more we receive that
(37:59):
ourselves, the more impact wehave.
Because we've been named, we'vebeen made by God to get our core
identity from him as our fatherthrough Jesus Christ that he
sent.
(38:19):
And Jesus was the perfectpicture of the model.
You know, I shared with you, theword became flesh and in moved
into the neighborhood.
And when people saw him, theysaw with their own eyes this one
of a kind glory.
And it wasn't that he had thisglow about him, like the old
(38:43):
Renaissance painters would paintaround Jesus, where he'd walk in
and you know, he had thisdifferent the thing that was
different about Jesus aboveeveryone wasn't that he looked
different from any other Hebrewthat was there.
(39:05):
It's that he walked around withthis with the pleasure of his
father on his life as his coreidentity.
And think about that.
What would your life be like ifyou weren't striving to name
(39:25):
yourself or prove yourself?
How would you fatherdifferently, or if you're a gal,
mother your children differentlyif you weren't getting your core
identity from their performance?
(39:46):
What would change in your ownparenting style?
And this next verse there is themore we let God father us, the
more we will become like Jesus.
And this is one of my favoriteverses that describes the uh
(40:08):
internal life and the smile thatJesus lived under.
It says of him in Hebrews 1:9,and this is part of an Old
Testament scripture that Paul iswriting to the Hebrew church,
the book of Hebrews, to a Jewishcongregation.
(40:28):
And it talks about who the Sonof God is in the Old Testament,
and he says, and you have lovedrighteousness and hated
wickedness.
So Jesus lived his life notloving wickedness and hating
righteousness, which is apicture of someone who's not
fathered by God, or someone who,you know, thinks they they love
(40:55):
righteousness by hating wickedpeople.
But they describe how Jesus gotthat.
Therefore, God, your God, hasanointed you with the oil of
gladness or joy beyond yourcompanions.
And one of the one of the thingsthat happens when our identities
(41:18):
are secure in our sonship withGod as our Father, is that we
live out of the joy of the Lordover our lives, no matter what
we're going through.
You know, the Bible says thatthe joy of the Lord will be your
strength.
(41:38):
And the reason why it says ourstrength is because it's not an
internal happiness that wecreate, but it's a joy that
comes to us because we know whoour father is.
We know who our Savior is, we'regrowing with him, we live in his
(42:00):
word, and we love the righteouslife he's called us to, and
we're receiving constantly oursecurity and our identity and
who God says we are.
Powerful stuff.
And I'll share this last littlethought with you in closing.
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Not only will we become likeJesus, God wants us to have the
same like father, like sonrelationship with us.
I mean, that's what I wantedmore than anything in my life.
I wanted I wanted a dad that wasin the stands watching me play
(42:46):
football.
There on the sidelines sometimeas a coach.
And my stepfather was a coach.
And you you you play differenton the football field when your
dad's watching.
And in the in a lot of the earlydays of being a young football
(43:07):
player, my stepdad was in thewas in the stands.
He's the only father I knew.
And I'll I'll never forget, notone of my better football
moments, but we were playing ourarch nemesis, and uh and we were
getting beat pretty badly, andthey were taunting us at the end
(43:32):
of the game.
And this middle linebacker forthis opposing team, and we, you
know, they they outgunned us,outmatched us, we got stomped.
And they were just celebratingand ridiculing us.
And and I had enough, and I justjumped across the line, dropped
(43:57):
the ball that was a center, andshapoom, and hit him, knocked
him out, penalty flags, threw meout of the game, and I'm leaving
the field.
Not not necessarily a righteousmove.
(44:20):
But I'll never forget my mystepfather was in the stands
celebrating me, going, way togo, son! Way to go.
And I share that in that notthat I am not that I am calling
(44:40):
for our children to cold cocktheir enemies, you know, in a
football game.
Ray Diggs said, I understood Iwould have done it also.
But somet something happensinside of your heart, especially
(45:03):
in the in the place of couragewhen you know whose son you are.
And I want to tie it togethertonight.
And that's my question, whoseson are you?
And if you're just a son of a ofa dad, that's a great dad.
That's a that's a great benefit.
(45:27):
But if you're a beloved son ofGod the Father and you've
received your sonship, that putsyou in a class all your own.
Because one of the incrediblebenefits of being a son of the
father is that you have himcheering you on the rest of your
(45:50):
days.
And he loved you so much, hesent his only son to die for
you.
So when you learn to receivethat forgiveness for your sin
and learn how to receive hisgrace and blessing to be the man
he's called you to be, or yourgal, if you're a gal watching in
(46:13):
our group tonight, then it setsyou above all of your companions
because you like Jesus, you havea joy that resonates inside of
you because you're notunfathered anymore.
(46:34):
And when that moment came intomy own life, my own story, it
completely changed the way I sawmyself and unleashed a courage
in me to live all out for thisguy named Jesus.
(46:54):
Unafraid of being rejected,because part of the benefit and
the gift of living in thisworld, we're gonna have turmoil,
we're gonna have struggle, we'regonna have great days and bad
days, we're gonna havepersecution.
There's Christian brothers andsisters uh of ours that are
(47:17):
being martyred around the worldbecause they have stood up for
Jesus.
We're gonna have to face allthese things, but when you face,
no matter what comes to you, andyour identity is not attached to
the outcome, but it's attachedto who loves you and who backs
you up and who sent his son todie for you so that he could be
(47:39):
your father.
That sets you apart above everyother person outside of Christ.
And that's such a blessing.
Because God wants to be thefather of us all and has all the
children of the world that heloves.
But sons and daughters are theones who generally make the
(48:00):
biggest impact because theircore identity is in their
sonship with the father and notjust in their achievements on
earth.
So next week we're gonna talkabout steps to really enter into
more of this sonship.
If you want to learn more aboutthis, a couple of resources for
(48:24):
you that my faithful assistantwill shoot up on the screen.
Uh, number one is if you go tomy website right now, and it's
the you you can, I have a bookthere that I wrote called it's
uh it's a free book.
It's called The Difference aFather Makes, right?
(48:47):
And if you go to our website,you can thank you, Ray, for the
words.
You can get that free book anddownload it right now.
And I just I'm gonna challengeyou to read it with a question
of Lord, I want to learn how tobe a son, or maybe you're a
daughter.
I want to learn how to be yourdaughter.
(49:08):
That book will begin openingthat door, and that's our gift
to you.
We're actually giving that bookaway right now in believe it or
not, over 233 countries aredownloading that book and have
access.
It's grown, it's goneeverywhere, and we give this for
free.
So that's that's our gift toyou, and you can get that right
(49:32):
now.
The second thing that we have asa resource is that maybe you're
in a place where you need somecoaching and you would like some
help with your family, maybeyour grandma, grandpa, your or
family, or you got children thatare sideways, and you're you're
(49:52):
looking for some tools and somepractical ways to really grow.
Well, one of the things thatwe're we're building right now
that we have as a resource foryou is we have the Fatherhood
Academy.
The Fatherhood Academy hasonline training courses,
podcasts, live coaching.
(50:13):
There's there's a number ofthings.
And there's a really it's anincredible benefit to you
without much investment from youand your time, energy, and
resources to really help you bethat guy.
And so if you're interested,that's available to you right
(50:36):
now at our website.
And uh, we're uh we're running aspecial right now, and all you
got to do is click on ourwebsite and you'll see what
that's all about.
But that can be really helpfulfor you because I can tell you
that I'm the guy that I amtoday, not only from the love
and blessing of God the Fatherin my life, but from those men
(50:58):
who have sewn into my life.
And matter of fact, what followsus every single week here, if
you you haven't gotten enough ofme, is we have a men's online
group that you can be a part ofif you join our Fatherhood
Academy, and you can join usevery week, and we go into a lot
of depth on how to navigate allthese things I'm talking about
(51:24):
with practical one-on-onecoaching with a bunch of guys
online, and it's it's a powerfulcommunity of men.
So maybe that's your cup of tea,and we'd I'd love to be there.
And before I get off, I want topray for every one of you right
now who you know are watchingtonight and you have questions,
(51:44):
and you really do want to bethat kind of father.
If that's you, just open yourhands wherever you are, and I
want to pray for you the sameway I prayed for that young man
in that coffee shop years ago.
Father, I just um I'm sograteful to my friends that are
watching tonight.
(52:05):
I'm so grateful that they'rehere and and they're hungry to
be the best men they can be, thebest husbands they can be, the
best fathers they can be.
Some are the one to be the bestex to an ex-wife they can be.
Some are single dads, andthey're watching, feeling like
(52:28):
they blew it.
It's never too late, my friend.
So, Father, I pray for themright now, and I pray that you
would reveal to them theincredible man Jesus Christ
right now.
Reveal your son to them andreveal that you want to be their
father too.
So maybe that's your prayertonight.
(52:49):
You want more of Jesus.
Well, just pray this simpleprayer with me right now.
Just say, Jesus, right now, I'masking you to come into my life.
I want to I want to be free fromthe guilt that I have to manage
all the time, and the shame thatcomes in my life, and the sin
(53:10):
that so easily knocks mesideways.
And I want to run this race thatyou promised that we can run
with perseverance.
I want to make a difference as aman, as a dad, as a father.
And father, I want your blessingin my life.
(53:31):
And so come into my life, Jesus.
Forgive me of all those thingsthat I'm trying to work out
myself.
And Father, I need a father inmy story.
Would you father me?
Father me so that I can be theman you've called me to be.
Father me so I can be the fatherand the grandpa you've called me
(53:56):
to be.
And we all pray this in the nameof Jesus.
Amen.
Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, wouldyou would you send me, would you
let me know and uh email me?
You can send me an email atedcandy at blessing of the
(54:16):
father.com.
And before we get off, I have ashort little video.
If you just hang with me andwatch, it's only, gosh, it's not
very long.
And I'm so grateful that youshowed up here tonight.
And so all that to say is Igotta go, I got another group
starting in a few minutes andwould love to see you there as
(54:40):
well.
So, Father, bless you.
And remember, my friends, it'snever too late for God to give
you a new beginning.
Just look at Ed McLasson.
Anyway, God bless you.
Have a great night.
We'll talk to you.
And if this, by the way, if thisblessed you, would you join my
(55:00):
YouTube channel?
Just subscribe so you could andturn on that little bell so you
know that when I send in newvideos, we're standing in a
bunch.
We're just here to resource youand to help you come along.
So watch this video before youget off.
And I will see you next week.
SPEAKER_00 (55:19):
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 (55:34):
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
(55:56):
children.
So the hearts of their childrenwill turn back to their father.
That's what God is doing.
I mean 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.
(56:18):
That's why we're launching anonline community to quit and 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 pride.
(56:39):
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
(57:03):
disciple every man, dad, andgrandpa that comes our way?
Your donation will help create aripple across the neighborhoods,
communities, you know, anultimately, anchoring each
child, your division, and theunwavering love and guidance of
a devoted dad.
SPEAKER_00 (57:25):
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
(57:45):
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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