8. Man Of God: Reclaiming The Ancient Paths

In this powerful and honest episode, host Bryan Kelley is joined by two Christian men—Connor and Rob—for a deep conversation about biblical manhood in a culture that seems to be redefining it.

This episode unpacks what Scripture truly says about being a man—starting with 1 Corinthians 16:13 and Proverbs 24:5—and challenges the worldly ideals of masculinity that glorify pride, dominance, and self-gratification.

Together, the guys discuss:

• The difference between cultural masculinity and Christ-like manhood
• How Jesus modeled true strength through humility and sacrifice
• The battle men face today in a world that either dismisses or distorts their identity
• What it means to stand firm in faith, lead with love, and live with wisdom

Whether you're a man seeking purpose, a father raising sons, or simply someone who wants to better understand God’s design, this episode offers raw insight, biblical truth, and a call to reclaim the ancient paths of manhood rooted in Scripture.

🔔 Subscribe & share to spread the message of truth and transformation.

Transcript

Bryan: 0:06

Welcome to the testimony podcast. I'm your host, Bryan Kelly. I am joined here today by a couple amazing men. I've got Mr. Connor over here and Mr. Rob on my right. How's it going, guys? It's going good, man. How you doing tonight? Fantastic.

Rob: 0:30

It's going really well.

Bryan: 0:31

I'm excited to be here. So glad to have you guys. We are talking today about biblical manhood. The title of today's episode is Man of God, Reclaiming the Ancient Paths, and taking a look at what scripture says about being a man. We've got amazing topics to share tonight. I'm going to kick it off with a little bit of a scripture here to talk about what the Bible says acting like men looks like. It's from 1 Corinthians 16 13. And the scripture says, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. And Proverbs 24, 5 says, a wise man is full of strength. So 1 Corinthians tells us to act like a man, be strong. And then the Bible then talks about what wisdom and strength looks like as if they're paired together. So wisdom, in fact, is looking into what the word says about being a man and not letting the culture define manhood. And so I just want to ask you guys, what does it look like in today's culture to be a man? Like what would you say the world is, you know, cheering be a man? This is what it looks like.

Connor: 1:43

I would say one of the biggest things that men cheer each other on for today is how many women they can sleep with.

Rob: 1:52

Yeah. I mean, in my in my opinion, it's almost like they're not cheering people on to be men. Uh you know, there's this thought of toxic masculinity and that masculinity is, you know, dominance or physical strength and things like that, which you know, is definitely not what I believe masculinity to be. You know, I'm I believe masculinity to be what Jesus brought. You know, he he didn't come with a sword to dominate, but he came with a towel to serve and to wash feet and to love and to literally die to himself and you know climb up on a tree and give the ultimate sacrifice. So the way I see it is it's that ultimate sacrifice is what masculinity is. But the the way that I remember my daughter, I think she was um she went to UCO in probably 2022 or something like that, and she came to me and she's like, Dad, uh you're I just want you to know you're uh toxically masculine. Like being joking, of course, but she's like, and I was like, Why do you say that? And she's like, she's like, Well, because you wear your hat backwards. And I was like, hmm. And so she told kind of laid out this whole class that they had where that's what they said that you know, any kind of just guy, it seemed like to me, at least any of my friends were these toxic masculine people. Yeah.

Connor: 3:32

So it's uh it's it's tricky out there nowadays, but for sure the culture um of men today is to perpetuate things that gratify your flesh. Yeah. Um it's it's honestly grotesque, uh, to say the least. It's definitely not the way the Bible teaches us to live our lives. Um, I mean, I remember a time not too long ago, you know, um, when I was living exactly that way, and I was pursuing all the things of the flesh, and in the moment it all felt so good, and it felt great to have other men think I was cool for doing it. That's just kind of how everyone they're feeding off of each other in that sense that everyone wants to one up the next guy, who can be the coolest, who can be the toughest, who's the best at fighting. That is just totally not what we're led to do as men. We're led to be gentle, slow to anger, um, understanding, but firm when we believe something is right, and um firm when we believe something is wrong.

Bryan: 4:42

That's so good. You know, like just listening to you guys talk, it it feels like almost the culture is directing this aura of wanting to revert back to childhood almost, like like the glorification of adolescence or even like pre-pubescence, where it's like it's all about you, it's about selfish gratification, it's about you know just everything that that you could want and fighting and all that stuff. But the Bible says actually in 1 Corinthians 13, it says, When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, but when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. And it's like for some reason, somewhere along the line, the world started focusing on getting men to act like little boys again when that's not what we're actually called to do, right?

Rob: 5:26

Yeah, it's like instant self-gratification. Like, you know, I have some friends that they're they're big on the online community and you know, they play video games, and that's kind of their life, you know. That's what they do. They they are they're online the whole time. And just like that, I'm like, you know, I talked to my buddy the other day and I said, you know, what what served you in your 20s, it it's not serving you in your 30s, and it's definitely not gonna serve you in your 40s. You know, you we have to like get to a place where we're not just feeding our flesh in of this instant gratification and allow it, you know, to kind of like sacrifice. We all have to make sacrifices, right? So what are the what are the sacrifices that I'm making, short-term sacrifices for my medium and long-term goals? Yeah.

Bryan: 6:15

It's like you become a man when you realize that it's not all about you and not all about what you want. It's about it becomes about your family, your wife, your kids. It becomes about everyone but you, actually. And real biblical manhood is learning how to die to yourself and care about the things that other people care about more than you. Um, even to the point of, you know, Jesus is our ultimate example laying his life down, and not just for a friend, but for, you know, people who are at complete odds with him, you know, people that spit on him and hate him and ripped his beard and you know, cursed him, and this is the creator of the universe that they're abusing, uh, but he still chooses to lay his life down because he is that sacrificial. Yeah. So where along the line did we come up with the fact that being a man meant it's all about you and how you feel?

Connor: 7:04

I'll tell you probably where it's going left. It's a lot easier to gratify yourself than it is to crucify your flesh. Yeah. Uh Galatians 5 24, and those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. That's not an easy thing to follow, especially when you're getting you're used to being told yes for everything, or not answering to anyone. It's a long, it's a long process to to iron those things out of yourself, and it takes a lot of discipline. Um, and it takes it takes Jesus really in your heart for that to start to become fruits in your life.

Bryan: 7:50

Yeah. I just want to speak to everyone out there right now who might not be a believer. You might be wondering whether or not this Christianity thing is real. If you go back and listen to the last episode, Connor actually shared his testimony, and then in episode one of this podcast, I shared my testimony. But both of us came out of a uh really you know terrible upbringing with just full of uh drugs and alcohol and wild living and uh really just kind of grabbing on to things that would be you know satiating to our flesh and to our our you know, filling every single void that we have in us that we can't figure out why we feel so empty. And deep down, I know that you're listening right now. If you don't have Christ in your heart, if you're not a believer, you don't have fulfillment, and I know it. And so you could be sitting there thinking, well, I have all these amazing things in my life, but deep, deep down, you know how empty you feel when no one's watching, when you're laying on your bed and you're all alone. And so I just want to encourage you that until you encounter the love of God, you don't actually know what you're missing. And so God is actually reaching out through this podcast to try to show you that he loves you so much, he loves you dearly and wants to guide you into what true manhood looks like. And until I encountered the love of God, I wasn't able to love anyone else uh appropriately. But once I did, it became all about well, I need to figure out everything about this Jesus and how he lived because this is the only truth I've ever experienced in my whole life.

Rob: 9:15

So yeah, I feel like I I can definitely um relate to that last thing you said. Just I remember a time when I had a daughter when I was really young, and then there was a time about five years where you know I was married, and then I got a divorce at like 21 or two or something really early. And there was just like five years of gratifying, gratifying my flesh, which I just felt so empty. Like, no matter how many peat girls, how many, how many drugs, how many whatever, I just felt it's like I got more and more empty over this, and I'm just like, and I remember looking around at my friends, I'm like, I'm not this is not who I am, you know, and it took the uh Aquaman, the movie, which is pretty funny, to take him out to uh kind of change to change me, yes. And so I I took my daughter to Aquaman and I go in there and I wanted to see it in 3D because and I so I took her to 3D and I'm watching I'm watching uh Aquaman and I don't know if you know the the story, but so the dad is uh the Aquaman's dad is a lighthouse keeper and his mom is like the queen of you know whatever the underwater world or whatever. And so and so when they were uh oh at the beginning of the movie, he's like he doesn't see himself as you know he doesn't know his identity, he doesn't know who he is, right? So that's how I felt for so long. And he's doing parlor tricks at the bar, he lets a guy die at the beginning. Well, then towards like the end of the movie or middle of the movie, he gets the king's armor on and he becomes Aquaman. And I'm literally watching this movie, and I hear God's voice as clear as it's maybe not audibly, but it was so loud in my heart, and God said, If you would put on my armor and you would use my power, you would be unstoppable, like Aquaman. Like in that in this in the scene, he's like fighting like a whole army by himself. Amen. And I was like, it's like something clicked in my head, and so I was like, I had it's um I had to hear my father's voice in order to start to see myself as who I am and really step into who I can become.

Connor: 11:44

Yeah, so what the Bible says about what we just talked about is Luke 9, 25, for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? You can have everything that your heart desires, but you can have nothing at the same time. You can be drowning in the world, and God has so much more for you, but you're not willing to let go of the things that are making you drown. Tangling you up. Like my version of freedom is the world's version of bondage, yeah, it's completely backwards, right? And my bondage is their freedom, you know? It's uh it's it's crazy.

Bryan: 12:35

Yeah, it's a beautiful truth, right? Yeah, yeah. Amen. That's amazing. So, you know, my thought about uh, you know, this whole topic is when someone realizes the love of God for them and who they are in Christ and all of these things, right? They might have this revelation and they decide, okay, God's real, Jesus is real, I feel him tugging on my heart, I want to give my life to him. There's so many people that just have a maybe an emotional moment with with the Lord, and they they say, Okay, yes, I believe I I want to go to heaven, and then they just stop. And we we have so many immature, boyish Christian men out there because they've never gone to the source, the word of God, to figure out exactly what the word says and and who the word says that they are. And so I feel like that's a huge piece because we we spoke first about the people who are lost and maybe don't know Christ, but the there's also going to be a big subset of people listening to this that they are nominal Christians, they are just kind of checking out this podcast, and they've never really dove into the word to find out what the word says about being a man and how do I actually change, how do I actually grow, how do I actually model what Jesus is like? And so I guess that's the first step is uh is getting into the word of God to actually figure out what it says, right?

Connor: 13:56

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's the the foundation and the truth of everything. If you don't have that foundation in your life, um there's a parable he spoke about it's what you build your foundation on. If you build your foundation on sand, then it'll it'll fall apart. But if you build your foundation on the rock that is Him, anything that comes will not shake your foundation, it will stand still in all storms.

Rob: 14:22

And I've also heard in you know, it's it's true that in John, the beginning of John, it's it says that the word is with God and the word is God. And so if you can literally look at your Bible as being with Jesus, and so if you if I asked you, hey, you know, even if you're not a believer, hey, would you like to spend six months with Jesus and like hang out with him every day and just get to ask him questions and talk to him and listen to him, would you take that opportunity? And I bet everyone says yes. And that's exactly what your Bible is. It's it's literally Jesus speaking to you, it's literally Jesus, you know, giving you revelatory uh uh uh thoughts and emotions and and things like that.

Bryan: 15:11

Um so Yeah, the the scripture actually talks about um the word of God being a mirror. And when you look in and you peer into it, right, you should see the face of Jesus looking back at you and reflecting who you are in him through every single you know word on the page. And when you see, when you see the Bible as the living word of God, he you know, the logos, um, you know, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, that is Jesus Christ Himself is the Word made flesh. And I remember that was actually my prayer when I first gave my life to Christ. I went on when I called out and I said, God, I I believe and I want this word to be made flesh in my life. That was my prayer. Make this word flesh in my life. I want everything in this Bible to become my reality because I believed in it. And uh I think that that's kind of the hunger that we're looking for. And if you actually want to change and transform the world around you and be a strong, real biblical man, it starts with getting planted in the word of God.

Connor: 16:14

Yeah. So, Rob, you were talking about before we got here, um, the man who translated the Bible for us so we can read that and learn about God. So, why don't you tell that story again about that guy?

Rob: 16:28

Okay, yeah. Uh so the guy is William Tyndale, and he is a scholar from he was born in 1494 in Gloucestershire, England. That may not be pronunciation. Yeah, that's good. He basically quoted or he translated the Bible from Greek to English in the 1520s, and at this time that was a big no-no because this is you, it was the Bible was only supposed to be uh spoken or ri read in Latin, and the only ones that were supposed to know this were the clergy. And so if you weren't that, then it was like heresy.

Bryan: 17:13

Yeah, it was like a stranglehold on truth. They didn't want the the actual truth of the words to get out into the populace.

Rob: 17:18

Yeah, and so Tyndale is the who we can say is the reason that we have the Bible in front of us right now, or or you know, translated, and and he was actually strangled to death and um burned at the stake or burned burned alive. Wow. And so if you think about you know the way that we follow Jesus, is like, are we believing Jesus or are we are we saying we believe or are we staking our life on it literally?

Connor: 17:54

So it's a good word, staking our life on it. So um when Jesus em uh entered the temple on Sabbath, uh he came in, and this is the scripture, it's John 2, 14, in the temple he found those who were selling oxen, sheep, and pigeons and the money changers sitting there, and making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables, and he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away, do not make my father's house a house of trade.

Rob: 18:27

A lot of people can see that as you know, this m that's a masculine trait that he that he's like domineering and he's doing these things. But what it is is he's standing up for what he believes in. If you saw somebody, you know, like say beating their wife or or doing something horrible to a child, that's it's not this like domineering thing to step in and take care of business. It's a masculine thing, but it's not domineering in any way.

Bryan: 18:58

Yeah, and it's actually Jesus embodying the word because it was written about Jesus, the zeal for his father's house would consume him. And so when he's when he's manifesting that, he's actually becoming the word. You know, the word is is be being made flesh in the temple as he drives out this uh you know, this unrighteous activity because he has a zeal for righteousness and he's passionate about it. Um and so we really have to dive into these examples of what the Bible says about being a man, and and there's no better example than if you model the life of Jesus Christ. If you look at him, the greatest servant among us, the greatest leader amongst us, the greatest teacher amongst us, the I mean, he literally is the epitome of every single attribute that we should be. He's he's the the bridegroom in the story of you know the the wedding and the the lamb and the bride all coming together. Um and so he is the he is the man of man of all men. Yeah, yeah. Um, so you know, what else about Jesus uh uh attracts you guys to be like, I want to model my life after him.

Connor: 20:02

Well, one of the things that I used to struggle with before I was saved was I would get really angry and I would go and fight people all the time. I was always in fights at bars, I was always beating people up. Um and one of the things that was taken away from me when I got saved was my anger. There's a there's a lot of scripture about it, but one that I really like is Proverbs 1632. Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. The thing about coming being slow to anger, it means being patient and loving with those uh around you because you are supposed to be the light. You aren't supposed to react the same way as someone would in the world. You are supposed to be a shining example for those around you, having Christ to shine through you. Um, and if you are quick to anger, just like everyone else, then what kind of witness are you?

Rob: 21:08

For me, it's it's the vision and the identity part of who like Jesus knew who he was. He that's you know, and I feel like when God spoke to me in that Aquaman movie, that's how I felt like he said, you know, you are a warrior and you're a king, you just have to put on the king's armor and be who you're supposed to be, and so and and with his power is the catalyst, you know. And so I feel like that the identity part of it. I know I'm a king, I know I'm the priest of my home, I know that I am a son, you know, those are some some things that I have I've had some very shaky father figures in my life, and so there's just I feel like God's just kind of adding these pieces bit by bit, trying to help me to see who I am. So, you know, as Jesus, that was his whole mission. Like I'm gonna basically carry I'm gonna bring on the burden and the sins of this whole world so that me and you can live not only here on earth in freedom, but then eternally li uh eternal lives in heaven amongst, you know, the people we love.

Bryan: 22:29

It's like that quiet confidence that like he knew that he knew that he knew that he knew who he was in every situation. And so there was never a need to get aggressive, there was never a need to get defensive, there was never because he just walked in and he was a thermostat and everyone else was a thermometer. Yeah. Right? He walked in and set the tone for the room, set the set the stage for every you know interaction that he had. And like so much of manhood apart from Christ is responding to you know, every which way the wind blows and every you know thing that comes at you, and it's almost like you know, so reactionary. But once you understand who you are and you're empowered by the supernatural lifestyle of Christ, it changes everything. Living as a Christian is impossible without the grace of God and without the Holy Spirit empowering you to be able to do it. So everything that we're saying right now, all of this stuff is available. And the moment that revelation comes to the truth of the word, then grace meets you to empower you to go forth and change. So, like we're not trying to say, Oh, you need to change this, you need to change this. No, you just have to realize that what you're doing is not right. Here's what the Bible says get a revelation of it and watch grace manifest in your life in such a way that it just changes you.

Rob: 23:43

And and and truth, like be just telling the truth, yes, has so much of an impact. Um because the truth sets you free, right? The truth literally sets you free. You know, I just recently walked through something like this where you know, I had hurt my knee back a couple months ago, and I I went to like a head shop and I started taking these like 70H tabs, which I didn't really even know exactly what you know what it was. I knew that it was gonna be for pain, but I didn't know it was gonna be crazy addictive. And so for like maybe two, three months, I took those and I realized like these are like pain pills, like I have to get off these. And and I was I was definitely hiding it, and I was, you know, just kind of scared of like, how do I get off this? You know, and I I went to my wife, God just put this burden on my heart just to be honest with her, and I was honest with her, and it was like broke that what that was on me, you know, it was literally the truth, it literally set me free.

Bryan: 24:47

Yes, yeah, yeah. The scripture says have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them because when things are exposed to the light, grace comes and all of a sudden you're free. And it's the most beautiful truth. So if like you're hiding anything out there, if you're living in sin and you're, you know, you've got this pornography thing that you can't get over, or you've got this addiction that you're hiding, or you've got these lustful thoughts that you can't break hold of, and you're like, God, why can't I get free from this? I guarantee you, it's because you're living in secrecy, you're hiding, and where you're hiding and where you're masking, the light of God can't shine and the grace of God can't access. So, just what Rob was testifying to take those things into the light and watch the grace of God completely set you free from that stuff. I have personal testimony just like that, where it's just freedom comes once things are exposed. So good on you, Rob, for that.

Connor: 25:41

You can also walk really, really close to the fire and not get in it. But the Bible says this about that Proverbs um 6, 27 through 28. Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So you also need to be really careful as a Christian, as really as a Christian, but as anyone, is what you're consuming, what you're allowing your eyes to see. Um you need to protect your your eyes are gates and so are your ears. And um you need to protect those at all costs. And like it says, if it causes you to sin, you need if your right hand causes you to sin, you need to cut it off. Not and that doesn't literally mean cut your hand off, please don't do that. Um, but it means take that thing away from your your your vision, like don't do it anymore. Like if Facebook's sending you lusty things, delete it. If Instagram models are popping up and you can't stop looking at it, you need to delete it. Amen.

Rob: 26:41

Or if you have alcohol problems, uh, you know, get rid of the bottle of jack.

Bryan: 26:48

Yeah, that one's a little obvious, but yeah, okay, with you.

Connor: 26:51

But you know, there's things we can do. Um, you know, God can deliver us from these things, but we also need to walk in that deliverance. Yes. You can't um it says if you you get deliverance, right, and they leave and they go wandering around and they can't find anywhere to go, they'll come back, and the house is swept clean, and then they'll bring seven more of their friends. So basically, if you walk back into that sin after you've been delivered of it, seven more demons are going to come and join that original demon and have a demon party, and have a demon party, and it's gonna get a lot worse for you. And I've personally seen a lot of people where that's happened to them where they got deliverance, and they come back a month later, they were even worse. Way worse. Uh, and then you get deliverance again. No one would disciple them, no one would walk them through anything, they would just set them free about their way, they'd come back even worse. And I'm one of these dudes actually, I haven't seen him in probably five months. I don't know where he went. Uh, I'm praying that he's okay. If you're listening to this buddy, reach out, uh Justin.

Bryan: 27:56

I think one of the most important things is to surround yourself with just like some brothers and sisters in Christ. Community is so important. We have um later in that verse that I sure shared earlier, the Proverbs 24, 5, it says, For by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory. So, like a real man like surrounds himself with a body of brothers or sisters in Christ that can help lift you up and help, you know, guide you into these things. And and like Connor was saying, like, we need to tend our gardens, right? So our the original assignment of man when we were created was to tend a garden and walk with God. And so, you know, right now that's that's our call too. Your heart is a garden. So tend your garden and stop putting junk and weeds in your garden and expecting fruit to grow. Yeah. Like you just can't do it. You can't, like you said, you can't let your eye gate be swarmed with these inappropriate images and these news stories that sow doubt and unbelief and whatever else, and then expect in three months from now that you're not gonna be feeling anxious. Like you're going to if you put that seed in your heart. Yeah. So, you know, be intentional, manage your garden, be a man, be strong, and be wise. Yeah.

Rob: 29:08

And surround yourself with the right people. I've heard you are who you hang out with. Yeah. You take the five people you r you hang around, and you are the sum total of those five people. And so if you know they're godly people seeking God, then great. You know, if they are far from God and not anywhere seeking God, then it's time to as hard as it can be step away and and just pray and look, you know, be open, you know, go to a church, go go to a small group or s or find a house church or something in order to surround yourself with the right type of people.

Connor: 29:48

Yeah. We were not meant to do this walk alone. No. We were meant to have a tribe. We were meant to have people like minded surrounding us at a Us, encouraging us, and holding us accountable. And I also I just that kind of leads me into what I was gonna talk about is our ultimate helper who we're supposed to that's our original ministry is our wives and our children. And that's also one of the most manly things you can possibly do is treat your wife and your family with respect. It says in Ephesians 5, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. One of our highest callings as men is to steward the woman that God gives us properly and to lead them closer to Christ. Yeah. Not to lead them further away, not to corrupt them in any way, not to stumble them, but to be a masculine man with your wife is to lead her closer to Christ. And wash her in the word. Yeah.

Bryan: 31:01

And there's actually like there's so many people that you come across that they sacrifice their marriages on the altar of going and doing ministry. But like they don't realize that their number one ministry is in their own house with their own wife and then their own kids. Yeah. And if you can't get that right, the Bible says you have no business managing the Lord's house. Yeah. So you know, those are strong words, but those are those are the words of the Bible. And it goes on to say that, you know, likewise husbands live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, not like, you know, just weaker physically, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers might not be hindered. So for all of you husbands out there who aren't treating your wives well, um, and you're wondering why your prayers are being hindered, well, maybe that's the verse that you need to go and reflect on. Yeah. Because when you show your wife grace and you you come into unity with your wife, because you are one flesh with her, so you can't expect to have your flesh divided in animosity and anger and hatred, and then expect to be able to go to the Lord and uh have your prayers not be hindered with with you know, it's the it's the the division between the two of you. It's not the the Lord isn't like you know saying, I'm not gonna answer you because you're not treating her right. It's because your flesh, your soul is divided, yeah, and you can't access the grace of God like you should. Yeah.

Rob: 32:25

And as your your wife is a direct reflection of you. Just because and just in the fact that she's your other half, but the way you treat her is the way she's gonna respond. And so if you're asking yourself, why is my wife doing this or why doesn't she do these things? Look at your you'd look no further than yourself. Yeah, you know.

Bryan: 32:48

I think so many more marriages would be saved if people thought like that. Yeah. If they said, Well, what's what's going on with me? What can I change? Everyone's all about like what what can that person do differently? And and it's it's really just look in the mirror.

Connor: 33:00

It's about searching your heart, and it it says in the Bible, a house divided against itself will fall. Yeah, I cannot stand, right? Cannot stand. That is truth written in the Bible, so there is no other way around it, men. All right, you you need to be treating your wife as a queen, and being the leader of the house doesn't mean that you are ignorantly leading. All right, that doesn't mean that she doesn't have a say. That doesn't mean that you don't pray together about things, that doesn't mean that you're in control of everything, all right? That's it's not control. Control, Jesus didn't control us, right? His love was free will. He we love him because of who he is and what he is to us, not because he controls us, because that's not real love. Real love isn't controlling. So if you're controlling your wife and wondering why she's resentful, why she doesn't want to sleep next to you at night, why she doesn't want to hold your hand, it's probably because you're acting more like a dictator than you are her husband.

Rob: 34:04

Yeah. And when you're fighting when you're fighting with your wife, it's like you know, the goal is not to win. Because if you keep fighting with your wife and you keep beating her, you're you're living with a defeated wife, a d defeated person. Like we don't that's not the win. Yeah, the win is to come to a common resolution with things.

Bryan: 34:26

Yeah. That's so good. And then moving on to later in the family, you've got you've got children too. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And the Bible has a lot to say about that. I mean, Colossians 3 21 says, Fathers, do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. And to provoke means to be antagonistic, to be like seeking out and nitpicking things and you know, be domineering in that same spirit of control and and uh you know, all of that. It's it's saying that your children can become discouraged and beat down. And they want, just like your wife, the kids want a leader to follow. They don't want someone barking orders and being domineering, they want to see their dad run and they want to follow. Yeah. And so, like, every single leader of of a family needs to be running after Christ. And as that man runs after Christ, man, the family will be swept up and they'll want to run too.

Connor: 35:14

Yeah. So, like when I see a leader, what what I see as a leader is someone who is willing to do everything and anything that they would ask of anybody else.

Bryan: 35:23

That's right.

Connor: 35:23

And they would be the first one to do it. Jesus was a humble servant. I mean, he washed the feet of his disciples and he he ultimately, you know, he sacrificed himself for us so we could all have eternal life with him. And if you're not willing to sacrifice your life for your family, i.e., like your job, if the job is taking away from your family and it's hurting your relationship with Jesus, maybe that's gotta go. Maybe you find another job. Maybe your hobby is becoming an idol in your life. You know, you're at the golf course every weekend, ignoring your children. Um uh, it can be hunting, it can be anything that you do. Uh man, we have to be really careful about what we idolize in our lives, because there's only one true king that we should be idolizing, and that's Jesus. That there's nothing else above him, and we are all below him because we are his servants ultimately, and we're ministering to him too. He's ministering to us, but we're also asking him, Lord, what can we do for you? How can we move your kingdom here on this earth? And we're doing the same thing with our families. How can we minister to our families? How can we help our families become better? Like, what are we doing, Lord, that's making my family unit stronger?

Rob: 36:44

If you take responsibility for things, that's when you become a man. It's not when you get married or you become turn eighteen or any of those things, it's it's when you start taking responsibility. And so I think that you know definitely carries over with your children of taking responsibility not only for you know provision and things like that, but they're also their spirituality. You know, when you look over and you see your children not worshiping God in a way that maybe you feel like you they should, or instead of you know, trying to say, Hey, why don't you do this? Why aren't you doing that? You know, you could just show them and and something a kind of a hack that I learned um was when my daughter was younger and she wasn't worshiping God, somebody told me that if you don't worship God outside of the home and just on Sundays, like she'll she's not gonna get it. And so we started doing that like once or twice a week of worshiping God, just putting on YouTube, worshiping, and I mean it was like maybe like six months, and boom, she's like all in on worship, and now she's like a worship leader, learned to play the guitar, she's like an amazing singer, she sounds like Shakira, shout out to Mikaela, and and just the you know, those little things of like okay, well, it's maybe it's easier to just in the moment be like, Hey, raise your hands, what are you doing? Or you could do the harder thing and implement something that's bringing it back to the true heart of worship.

Bryan: 38:27

Yeah, yeah. It's it's so interesting because most of the Bible, you know, when we hear things about revival and we hear things about wanting God to pour his spirit out and wanting life to change and the kingdom of God to advance, we we have these big aspirations of it being like, yeah, to everybody out there, right? But we don't realize that revival starts in our own heart. And until we get that and we wrap our minds around that, if if you would, if you listening right now, if you would get a hold of this, that if revival starts in your heart, it will consume first and foremost your family, then it will consume your neighborhood, then it will consume the church contacts you have, your friends group, your your job, your workplace, and all of a sudden you'll have regional and maybe even global revival if you just let it start with you. Yeah. So, you know, when we get our eyes focused on everything else we want to happen, but we aren't willing to look at ourselves and model what the Bible says about being a real man, um, we're never gonna have that revival happen. The the the passion of of what we want in our hearts to actually take root. So Yeah.

Connor: 39:34

It just reminds me of how my dad started revival in my whole family, you know. If he had never surrendered his life to the Lord when he did the way he did, I probably wouldn't be sitting here right now. I would probably be somewhere in Massachusetts having a beer, uh gambling on sports or something like that, you know, wasting my time essentially. Um, but he did, and it it's now permeating throughout my whole entire family. So it got my sisters, my sisters are saved, I got saved. Uh, one of my cousins, Cole, shout out Cole. I hope you listen to this, bro. I invited him to come out to the the Jesus gathering. He got radically saved, he got touched heavily by God. I mean, he got just whacked by the Holy Spirit. He got baptized. I baptized him. It was just amazing to see. And my cousin Luke, he's next. Shout out, Luke, you're gonna listen to this. Get ready, Luke. Um, and just my whole family starting to slowly but surely come into the kingdom of God. And yeah, I mean, it didn't really fully start my dad, like my grandma, you know, my my great-great-grandfather was the head of the Church of Norway. So, I mean, religion, quote unquote, runs in my family, but the relationship with Christ, the the way it's portrayed through me now, started with my father. Yeah, so it that's an encouragement to all you fathers out there who are pushing and trying and just praying for your family and just waiting for them to come home. Um, they will come home. You just need to stay strong in your faith, you need to be a good example, and you need to keep showing them how it's done. It's the only way people understand the kingdom of God without having the Holy Spirit is watching it at in first hand view. You're watching someone else do it in the first hand, like you need to see it. Don't talk about it, be about it.

Bryan: 41:36

Yeah, you know, that's the same story with myself and my dad. You know, I'd nine years old, my dad gave his life to Christ, and it I mean, it took me years and years 20 years to actually come around. But it was 20 years of him praying, and finally the Lord got through. He's he uh he found me and uh let us be that testimony for our kids because the you know I heard it said once that God has no uh spiritual grandchildren, He just has children. So until our kids have a personal relationship and an impersonal encounter with Jesus, they're gonna have to they're gonna have to figure it out. You know, we can't have our parents' faith.

Rob: 42:16

Yeah, that's good. And every everybody has their own destiny. You know, we have to remember that that even our kids, you know, they they might go, you know, for for mothers and fathers that that have a wandering child, you know, they have their own destiny, but you know, just praying for them and showing them love and not judgment, it's the it's the goodness of God that brings people to or brings us to repentance. Amen. So it's love and it's acceptance, you know, and obviously you're you've got to be careful and not we're not condoning sin, but we're we're loving the sinner. Yeah, we're loving them for who they are. And you know, I say it to my I have some kids that I mentor and kind of took out as my own, and I tell them, you know, you could slap me in the face and I might want to slap you back, but I'm still gonna love you. There's nothing you can do that's gonna make me love you any more or any less. Yeah, and so that's the heart that we have to show to our kids, and and I only got that from God. That's the supernatural love of God.

Bryan: 43:27

Amen. It has to be, right?

Rob: 43:29

Exactly.

Bryan: 43:30

So I want to take a moment, unless you guys have any final thoughts to say, but I'd like to take a moment to pray over, you know, anyone listening right now. Maybe it's a you know, someone thinking about their built their own manhood and and how that relates and what they want to change in their life, maybe they want to surrender their life to Christ. Maybe they're a Christian already and they just want to start walking this out a little bit better. Yeah. Or maybe if if it's a a girl or a woman listening and you've got family members that you want to intercede for and pray for, um, we'd love a chance to to pray. But do you guys have any final thoughts?

Connor: 44:03

I have one more thing that I want to say. This is a great resource for all men. This book called Wild at Heart by John Eldridge. Um, I highly recommend it if you live in Oklahoma, Texas, I think maybe Kansas. Just kind of in the Midwest area, there's a thing called Base Camp that you can go to and experience this book in real life. And me and Rob have gone, we've seen it radically touch men, completely set them free from all the bondage they have in their lives. Absolutely. So I I would highly recommend that you read that book if you are struggling to figure out your identity as a man in Christ.

Bryan: 44:40

Amen. And like I just really quick, I want to hit on the ministry that you guys are starting. You're gonna you've got some land and you guys are gonna start taking men out there. Yeah. Can you guys talk about that a little bit?

Rob: 44:50

Yeah. I just want to throw in here that um I was the guy from the last podcast that was late. And I just want to clearly uh that I wasn't late, but it's all good, no worries. But it's totally late. No, but um, yeah, so we have so when I met this guy and I crazily flew across the country not really knowing him, and we drove back. You know, he he had this uh a dream that we were gonna have this land and we were gonna have a hunting ministry and all these things, and I'm like, okay, that sounds cool. Like, why not? Like everything else has been such a crazy ride, like why not? You know, so yeah, all things are possible. Yeah, God provided the land, and we have like 160 acres, and you know, it's all God, it's like it's His land, you know, you can feel the peace when you're out there, and you know, we just our heart is to bring back the masculinity and really just be able to touch let God touch people's hearts on that land. Yeah, yeah.

Bryan: 45:58

And so well, if you're out there listening right now and this is ministering to you and you're you're you're wanting to buy a plane ticket to Oklahoma and get ministered to.

Rob: 46:07

I will write out there.

Bryan: 46:08

Uh Rob will show up late there. Yeah, Rob will show up late to pick you up.

Rob: 46:13

Yeah, I'll be there 20 minutes later.

Bryan: 46:15

We'll be at the airport, we swear. Uh go to uh go to the testimonypodcast.com and fill out a submission form and say, Hey, you know, I want to experience the Lord in Oklahoma while hunting. So reach out and we'll we'll get set up with you to come on out.

Connor: 46:31

That would be a dream come true, to be honest. Seriously. Um yeah, it was really crazy. God just gave me this vision of that, exactly that. And I was like, okay, God, how am I supposed to do that? And I was like, I can't do that. You need to do it for me if you want me to do this.

Bryan: 46:46

Yeah.

Connor: 46:47

So I just kind of put it in my back pocket and and held on to it, and I was like, okay, I'll save this for another day. I don't know when it's gonna happen or how it's gonna happen. And the day he adopted his son, um, this old farmer came up to me and he was like, Hey, Connor, I just want to tell you that uh you can lease a lot of land for really cheap through the school commission's office or something. I was like, What? I was like, Okay, uh, that's really interesting that you would say that to me. I was like, Okay, God, if this is you, I need uh I need witness from you, Lord. So that night I had a dream and I just heard God speak to me audibly, and he said, I'm gonna give you land for four thousand dollars, and you are to make it a beautiful garden. And I was like, I woke up and I was like, Okay, uh, let's do this. I don't know how to do it still, but let's do this. So I went on their website, I ordered a pamphlet. Um, it took like three months and it hadn't shown up, and I started to get into this unbelief of all of it. And um that day I felt all that unbelief. I just repented and just let it go and gave it back to God. And I went and checked my mailbox and the pamphlet was there, and I was like, okay, amen. So thank you, God, you are so good. And I'm looking through the land, I'm looking for ones. I'm not reading prices or anything, I'm just looking for ones that have um hunting and recreational possibilities. Yeah. And I find this one parcel, it's 160 acres, it's in Cleveland County, and then I look at the price and it was four thousand dollars. Wow. And I was like, okay, that's the one. So me and Rob were uh very broke, yeah. Uh had no money. So we're like, okay, God, you know, you got to do it again. So two days before the auction, Rob got like a check for like $10,000 that someone owed him. Praise God. So we got and uh we showed up to the auction and there was a bunch of really rich farmers there with big fancy trucks and big big, tall, 10-gallon hats. Yeah, and they were all walking around with their canes, spurs, looking really masculine, very super masculine. And me and Rob, me and Rob almost shook in our boots a little bit, but we remembered who we who we are. Yeah, that's right, of course. You guys are you guys are aquamen. Yeah, we are aquamen. We're literally uh we sat down and the first piece of land in the first county, and they they auction off like thousands of pieces of land, was the one we won. The first land in the first county.

Bryan: 49:15

Wow.

Connor: 49:16

So we won the we won the auction.

Rob: 49:19

We got the land. Connor almost knocks me out of my seat. Yeah, I knew that. And before this, they're like, don't make any noise or scenes, or you're gonna like be out of here forever. And he's like, dude, we got it. And he just like literally almost pushes me out of my seat. And I looked at the guy. Dude, calm down until we get the deed.

Connor: 49:38

Yeah, I looked at the God told me I was gonna get that. And the guy looked at me like I was crazy. Yeah, old farmer, like and then we dipped.

Bryan: 49:48

Yeah. And now here you are. Here we are. Yeah, you're about to launch a ministry, and it's gonna be amazing. Amen. And you're gonna turn that place into a garden, which is the original commission.

Rob: 49:58

Exactly. It's a beautiful garden, it's gonna be a beautiful garden. It's almost there. I mean, it's getting close. Yeah.

Bryan: 50:04

So, like my kind of And not just not just like aesthetically, right? It's like a beautiful garden of surrender, of surrender and fruitfulness.

Rob: 50:12

Yeah, of sowing and reaping the right things.

Connor: 50:15

The way I saw it, that this revelation I had over it was it was it what showing to me was Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane crying out to the Father and just saying yes to his will. Sweating blood. Sweating blood. He was afraid he didn't know what was gonna happen. He didn't know what was gonna happen, he knew exactly what was gonna happen, he didn't want it to. He almost he said, Father, spare me, but he submitted to his will and his and he kept going. You know, so that's kind of where I see that place as a place at where men will surrender their hearts to the will of God.

Bryan: 50:48

Amen. Amen. So that's ministering to you, and you want to come on out, fill out the form, let's start this party. Your will be done, Father. Yes, Amen. All right. Well, let me have Connor start this prayer just because I just feel like um we'll have you start, then Rob, you can go next, and then I'll close this out.

Connor: 51:10

We just want to lift up all the men out there right now that come home every day after work. They sit down on their couch and they don't know who they are. God, we just lift those men up to you that you would show them your purpose for them. God, that you would put them on the great adventure that you have for their lives. God, we just pray that all of the men who are questioning their masculinity, questioning their identity as a man, Lord, that all of those those spirits just pestering them, telling them that they're not good enough, telling them that they're not man enough, telling them that they're never gonna be anything, we just rebuke all those spirits right now in the name of Jesus, and we tell them to go, that those spirits have no place in your lives anymore. Lord, we just thank you that whoever's listening to this in faith that they receive this message fully and wholeheartedly, that there's nothing left or wasted on anyone, that it's just fully absorbed, Lord, that your revelation comes through this. I just pray that in the name of Jesus.

Bryan: 52:31

Amen.

Rob: 52:32

And Father, I just I just thank you. I thank you for who you are and who you are to me and who you are to these other men and and the women as well, Lord. Just just draw our hearts closer and closer to you, God. Remind us who we are. You are our father, our good, good father. We are your children. And so I just ask God, what do you want to do today? What do you want to do today, Dad? And so just just get make our visions clear, Father. Help us to make draw a clear vision and set out and be have the courage and boldness to step into what you have for us. And I just thank you for the responsibilities you put in our lives, Lord. Let I just pray that you would give us the understanding and the wisdom to walk in exactly what you have for us, God.

Bryan: 53:52

Yes, Lord, I thank you, Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, that you're bringing light to darkness right now in people's minds, that this podcast is going out, and there's going to be an anointing on the words. Every person that needed something unlocked in their heart would receive it by the Spirit of God right now. Wisdom and revelation come into compassion for your family that you are missing. Wisdom and revelation come into laying down anger, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, and letting it go and realizing that the greatest example of all suffered greatly, but still loved purely. I'm getting some words of knowledge, so I'm just going to release this by faith. I'm hearing that, Michael, you're wearing a gray shirt. The Lord is ministering to you right now and saying that he's calling you to come to Oklahoma to hunt. That's you, Michael. This is the call in your life right now. Will you pick up the call? I'm hearing someone by the name of James, you've been really struggling with discouragement, and the Lord is supernaturally letting grace flow to you right now. Over that discouragement, it's washing away. You're gonna feel a hundred pounds lighter. I'm hearing Tiffany, you listened to this episode, and you were thinking about your dad the whole time. And the Lord is restoring that view that you have of your father. He's the God of restoration. There's nothing he can't do. And I just release healing, provision, and wholeness by the power of the living God right now through this podcast. I pray all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Alright. So I just want to thank you guys so much for coming out, and uh, you guys are amazing. See you on the next episode.