The David Alliance

TDA The David Alliance Garth Heckman   The transition to adulthood has changed dramatically. Between the rapid rise of digital technology—which often replaces face-to-face community with screens—and the shifting structures of family and labor, the traditional "scripts" for how to grow up as a man have largely been dismantled. To build a healthy, successful, and purposeful life today, young men should focus on five critical areas of awareness, backed by sociology, psychology, and modern research. 1. Redefining Purpose Beyond the "Sole Provider" Role For generations, the default script for masculinity was simple: be the primary financial provider and protector. As women have rightfully achieved rapid economic and educational progress, that old script has evolved. Many young men now struggle with feeling obsolete or "optional" when they are no longer expected to be the sole breadwinner. Young men need to understand that their value in a family and in a relationship is deeply personal, emotional, and cooperative—not just a paycheck. "The state of feeling unneeded is literally fatal. The best protector against despair is realizing that the world needs you." — Richard Reeves, President of the American Institute for Boys and Men (AIBM) Modern success means learning to be an equal, emotionally present partner and co-creator of a stable home, rather than holding onto an outdated, isolating provider model. 2. Transitioning from "Digital Retreat" to Real-World Agency With the rise of smartphones, immersive video games, online pornography, and social media, it has never been easier to escape the discomfort of real life. Researchers note that while young women struggling with mental health often report higher rates of internal anxiety, young men are more prone to "checking out" entirely—retreating into virtual worlds where they feel a false sense of control. To combat this, young adults must cultivate a mindful, active relationship with technology. The Wise Use Tech Plandeveloped by mental health professionals suggests the Three T's for managing tech: Tracking: Consciously observing how much you use your devices and how you feel afterward. Telling: Sharing your habits and feelings with trusted friends or mentors to build real-world accountability. Tuning In: Asking yourself if you are using screens to escape boredom, social anxiety, or the hard work of building a life. Success in the physical world requires stepping outside the screen, embracing the discomfort of real-world interactions, and taking active ownership of your daily life.

THE DAVID ALLIANCE [email protected] Garth Heckman CATCH THIS:  Because the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, you become the mobile temple of God. The cosmic river of life no longer flows from a building in Jerusalem; it flows out of the deepest, most central part of your converted being.     Rheousin (ῥεύσουσιν) – "Will Flow" The Literal Meaning: This is a continuous active verb meaning to stream, to gush, or to flood heavily… ALWAYS FLOWING ALWAYS FRESH       The theology here is clear: Believers are not meant to be reservoirs that store up grace; we are meant to be pipelines that distribute it.   4. Practical Applications: Living the Outflow If the koilia (the core) is filled with the Spirit, it must result in a rheousin (a gushing flow) into our everyday environments. Here is how that applies practically:     WHAT THIS MEANS 1. Shift from "Consuming" to "Overflowing"   2. Radical Environmental Transformation (The Ezekiel Effect) WHERE EVER WE GO THINGS ARE GONNA GET WET!    3. Cultivating Emotional Integrity at the Core (Koilia) Because the river flows from the koilia—the seat of our emotions and deepest hidden spaces—it means our inner world matters immensely. If our inner core is clogged with bitterness, unexpressed anger, or anxiety, the outflow gets restricted.         James 3:11,12 can bitterness and fresh water come    Inconsistency reveals a problem - not with the source, but within the choice of which source to work from.  Its all about control - not the source The tongue… the mind - must be renewed. The river of life …the inner being of a man.    So we see two things at work in us… We can block the River - choosing to not obey We can poison the River - thought life   How to poison a river? Satan can’t read your mind…  I can… every time. - you are going to think about chocolate ice cream…  NOW: I bet you are thinking about chocolate ice cream!  THEN: I attack you for thinking of chocolate ice cream. That’s how satan works.        Practical Application from Scripture To keep the River flowing freely: - Walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25). - Be filled with the Spirit continually (Ephesians 5:18). - Obey His leading, pursue holiness, and fan into flame the gift of God (2 Timothy 1:6). - Repent quickly when we grieve or quench Him.

[email protected]  The David Alliance Garth Heckman The New Testament / Messianic Connection In Christian theology, Jesus directly applies this imagery to himself and the Holy Spirit. In John 7:37-38, he stands up at the Feast of Tabernacles—a festival focused heavily on water rituals—and cries out: "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." The ultimate fulfillment is seen as the Gospel and the Holy Spirit starting as a small movement in Jerusalem and swelling to bring spiritual life to the "dead" places of the entire world.     John 7:38 reads: “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” To fully capture the weight of this verse, we have to look at the explosive cultural context in which Jesus said it, the radical imagery of the original Greek, and what it actually looks like when this "living water" breaks out into daily life.   1. The Theological Context: The Water Libation Ritual Jesus doesn’t whisper this statement in private; he shouts it on the final, greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles(Sukkot). During this 7-day festival, the High Priest led a massive procession down to the Pool of Siloam, filled a golden pitcher with water, and marched back to the Temple. As the crowds waved palm branches and sang the Hallel (Psalms 113–118), the priest poured the water out onto the altar.   On the eighth day, the water pouring stopped—symbolizing that the desert wanderings were over and they had reached the Promised Land. It is precisely at this moment of silence, when the water ritual ends, that Jesus stands up and shouts that He is the true source of that water. He is claiming to be the rock in the desert, the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s temple, and the source of the prophetic river.   2. Deep Dive Into the Greek Text Two specific words in the original Greek completely change how we visualize this verse. Koilia (κοιλία) – "From Within Them" The Literal Meaning: In older translations (like the KJV), this is translated as "out of his belly." Koilia literally refers to the abdomen, the womb, the innermost core, or the seat of human appetite and emotion.   IT WILL CHANGE YOU DEEPLY FROM THE INSIDE OUT… **The man who hit his thumb with a hammer who was filled with joy “I didn’t swear… I didn’t swear..!    The Theological Depth: Jesus is making a startling anatomical shift. In Ezekiel's vision, the river flowed from the physical threshold of the Temple. Jesus says that for the believer, the river flows from their koilia—their absolute innermost core.     CATCH THIS:  Because the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, you become the mobile temple of God. The cosmic river of life no longer flows from a building in Jerusalem; it flows out of the deepest, most central part of your converted being.

GARTH Heckman [email protected] The David Alliance  1. The Message in a Bottle from the Canadian Wilderness In the early 2000s, a young boy living near a small, unnamed tributary stream in the remote wilderness of northern Alberta, Canada, dropped a plastic bottle containing a note into the water. The River Highway: The small stream trickled into the Athabasca River. From there, the current carried it into Lake Athabasca, which feeds into the Slave River. The Slave River then flows into the massive Mackenzie River—the longest river system in Canada. The Ocean Arrival: The Mackenzie River emptied the bottle into the Arctic Ocean, thousands of miles north of where it started. The Final Twist: But the journey didn't stop there. Caught in the Arctic's churning currents and shifting pack ice, the bottle traveled through the Northwest Passage, drifted down past Greenland, and entered the Atlantic Ocean. The Discovery: Nearly 15 years later, the heavily weathered bottle washed ashore on a rugged beach in Scotland, roughly 4,000 miles away from the quiet Canadian stream where it began.       Ezekiel’s temple river vision, found in Ezekiel 47:1–12, is one of the most powerful and visually vivid passages in Hebrew prophecy. Writing while exiled in Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple, Ezekiel is given a visionary tour of a magnificent, restored future temple. The climax of this tour isn't a piece of furniture or a ritual, but a miraculous, life-giving river that alters the geography of the land.   1. The Trickle from the Threshold Ezekiel sees water trickling out from under the south side of the temple threshold, flowing eastward past the altar. It starts as a mere trickle, an unlikely source for a massive body of water. 2. The Supernatural Expansion The divine guide leads Ezekiel eastward alongside the water, measuring the distance and checking the depth at four distinct intervals: 1,000 cubits (~1,500 feet): The water is ankle-deep. 2,000 cubits: The water reaches the knees. 3,000 cubits: The water is up to the waist. 4,000 cubits: It has become a massive, deep river that cannot be crossed on foot—a river deep enough to swim in. THOUGHT: The MORE the River grows the more it is in control. The River is going to go where the River wants to go… you ain’t going to stop it.    The Miracle: What makes this expansion supernatural is that no tributaries or feeding streams are mentioned. The river grows exponentially entirely on its own, flowing straight out from the presence of God.

TDA The David Alliance Garth Heckman What’s the best fighting advice you have ever been given… mine?… Avoid confrontation at all costs even if it means running away. Better to be out of breath and look foolish then out of breath because your dead.  the second best piece of advice Practice responding to an attack more than practicing how to attack back   We have been talking about hagah - or focus, attention and meditating. As the scripture says its chewing on something until you absorb it deep into your actions. Not just your mind, but your actions…  And why is it so important? Because we are at war… and a good soldier knows you practice warfare until it becomes who you are.    If you face just one opponent and you doubt yourself, you are already outnumbered. Dan Milman     There are more people with no training whatsoever who successfully defend themselves through sheer Will and indignation- than there ever will be trained martial artists, who get attacked and successfully defend themselves. Tony Blauer self defense legend

The David Alliance [email protected] Garth Heckman  The 10-Minute Hagah Protocol Phase 1: The Setup & Intercept (Minutes 0–2) Before you can fill your mind, you have to cut off the digital firehose. This phase applies the "cognitive friction" principle to lower your brain's baseline stimulation. Step 1: Leave your phone in a completely separate room. Sit at a clean desk or chair with zero digital screens in your line of sight. Step 2: Use a physical Bible or a single piece of paper with your chosen verse written on it. Do not use a phone app—the temptation to switch tasks is too high. Step 3: Close your eyes and take three deep, slow breaths (inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4, exhale for 6). This activates the parasympathetic nervous system, slowing your heart rate and preparing the prefrontal cortex for sustained focus. Phase 2: Selection & The First Taste (Minutes 2–3) Pick a single, high-impact verse. Do not try to read a whole chapter. You want a single "morsel" to ruminate on. Good focus options: Proverbs 4:25, Psalm 46:10, Philippians 4:8, or Joshua 1:8. Step 4: Read the verse out loud, slowly, three times. Pay close attention to punctuation and the natural rhythm of the words. Phase 3: The "Muttering" & Deep Encoding (Minutes 3–7) This is the core of Hagah—the active rumination. You are going to verbally and mentally circle the text. Step 5 (The Accent Shift): Repeat the verse out loud under your breath (literally muttering it), but shift the emphasis to a different word each time. Example with Psalm 46:10: "BE still, and know that I am God." (Focus on the command to halt movement) "Be STILL, and know that I am God." (Focus on the internal quiet) "Be still, and KNOW that I am God." (Focus on deep, unshakeable certainty) Step 6 (Deconstruction): Pick 1 or 2 core words from the verse and dissect them. Ask yourself: What is the exact opposite of this word? What does this word look like in action on a stressful Tuesday afternoon? Phase 4: Intercepting the Wander (Continuous) Your mind will wander during Phase 3. This is normal and is actually the precise moment your attention is trained. Step 7 (The Catch and Release): The moment you realize you are thinking about an email, a project, or a notification, do not get frustrated. Frustration triggers cortisol, which breaks focus. Acknowledge the thought, mentally say "Not right now," and immediately speak the verse out loud to pull your attention back to the anchor. Phase 5: Personal Integration & Close (Minutes 7–10) True Hagah must translate from intellectual processing into real-world application. Step 8 (The Bridge): Formulate one concrete sentence tracking how this specific verse applies to the rest of your day. Example: "Because I know to 'be still,' I will not check my notifications between my 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM deep-work blocks today." Step 9 (The Seal): Speak the verse out loud one final time from memory, close your notebook, and transition directly into your primary task for the day while your brain is operating at peak focus. Why This Works Scientifically By speaking the text under your breath (muttering), you are engaging dual-coding theory. You aren't just processing the text visually; you are processing it auditorily and kinesthetically (through the physical movement of your vocal cords). This drastically increases the cognitive workload dedicated to that single truth, effectively starving peripheral distractions of the mental energy they need to pull you away.

Garth Heckman [email protected] The David Alliance  To understand how to train your mind using these two approaches, we have to look at their fundamental mechanics. While modern secular mindfulness and Biblical meditation (Hagah) both aim to quiet a scattered mind, they achieve it through completely opposite movements: one focuses on emptying, while the other focuses on filling. Here is how the ancient Hebrew concept of Hagah works and how it contrasts with today’s popular mindfulness practices for building cognitive focus. The Root of Hagah: Active Rumination In Western culture, the word "meditation" often conjures images of complete silence, stillness, and clearing the mind of all thoughts. The biblical Hebrew concept is entirely different. The Translation: The Hebrew word הָגָה (Hagah) literally translates to "to mutter," "to growl," "to chew," or "to ruminate." The Imagery: It is famously used in Isaiah 31:4 to describe a young lion growling over its prey. It is also the word-picture of a cow chewing its cud—swallowing food, bringing it back up, and chewing on it again to extract every ounce of nutrient. The Practice: In Joshua 1:8, when God commands Joshua to "meditate (Hagah) on this Book of the Law day and night," he isn't telling him to sit in silent contemplation. He is telling him to under-the-breath mutter, speak, and mentally chew on the text continuously throughout the day so that it shapes his immediate actions. Hagah vs. Secular Mindfulness: The Core Differences While both practices strengthen the prefrontal cortex and improve attention regulation, they navigate the internal world through different frameworks:

The David Alliance [email protected] Garth Heckman The digital world is explicitly engineered to capture and fragment our attention. Dr. Gloria Mark, a leading informatics researcher at the University of California, Irvine, tracked digital behavior and found that the average attention span on a single screen has plummeted from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to just 47 seconds today. When your focus breaks, it doesn’t just snap back. It takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to fully return to a deep focus state after a single interruption because your brain gets caught in "intervening tasks." To train your brain to resist this friction and rebuild sustained focus, apply these three science-backed strategies:     Yes, absolutely. While the ancient world didn't have smartphones, the human struggle with a scattered mind, anxiety, and competing priorities is timeless. The Bible addresses the concept of focus extensively, using ancient terminology like singleness of heart, guarding the gates of the mind, and fixing one’s eyes. Scriptural wisdom aligns remarkably well with modern cognitive science, framing focus not just as a productivity tool, but as a discipline of the mind and spirit. Here are three distinct clues and frameworks the Bible provides on how to focus. 1. The Principle of the "Single Eye" (Eliminating Divided Attention) In the New Testament, Jesus explicitly addresses the danger of a divided mind. The ancient concept of focus was often tied to vision—what you allow your eyes to linger on dictates your internal state. The Scripture: In Luke 11:34, Jesus states: "Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy [single/focused], your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy [bad/divided], your body also is full of darkness." The Clue: The original Greek word used for "healthy" or "good" in many translations is haplous, which literally means single, uncomplicated, or unfolded. Conversely, the word for "unhealthy" or "bad" (poneros) in this context implies being double or divided. The Takeaway: The Bible warns that if your vision is fragmented by too many competing inputs, your internal world becomes chaotic. It tells us that true focus requires a single, undivided gaze. 2. Guarding the Gates of the Mind (Active Filtering) Just as modern psychology tells us to limit notifications to protect our working memory, Biblical wisdom commands us to set up strict boundaries around what we allow into our consciousness. The Scripture: Proverbs 4:25–27 provides direct, actionable instructions on attentional control: "Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left..." The Clue: This is a classic Stoic-like scriptural command for attentional filtering. The Bible recognizes that distractions ("the right or the left") are constantly pulling at us. Proverbs 4:23 pairs this with the ultimate reason for focus: "Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life." In ancient Hebrew psychology, the "heart" (lev) represented the mind, will, and intellect. The Takeaway: Focus is a defensive act. You must actively filter out the noise of the periphery to protect the trajectory of your life. 3. Capturing Thought Loops (Taking Cognitive Control) A major enemy of focus in a digital age is the endless loop of mental chatter, comparison, and anxiety. The New Testament provides a aggressive model for dealing with rogue thoughts rather than letting them run wild. The Scripture: In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul writes about the mental discipline required in leadership and faith: "...we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." The Clue: The phrase "take captive" (aichmalotizo) is a military term meaning to capture at sword-point or take as a prisoner of war. The Takeaway: The Bible instructs us not to be passive consumers of our own thoughts or digital feeds. When a distracting, anxious, or irrelevant thought enters your mind, you are told to arrest it immediately, evaluate it, and intentionally redirect your mental energy back to what matters. The Ultimate Biblical Focus Filter: If you want a modern-day checklist for what should pass through your attentional filter, Philippians 4:8 lays it out perfectly. It tells us exactly where to anchor a scattered mind: "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

The David Alliance [email protected] Garth Heckman   Here are ten things most people don't know about the real Colonel Sanders: 1. He was not a military colonel The title "Colonel" was strictly honorary. It was bestowed upon him twice by the Governor of Kentucky—first in 1935 and again in 1950—as a recognition of his contributions to the state's cuisine. He took the title seriously, though, eventually bleaching his beard white and adopting the iconic string tie and white suit full-time.   2. He got into a fatal shootout with a business rival While running a standard gas station in Corbin, Kentucky, Sanders got into a fierce dispute with Matt Stewart, a rival station owner who kept painting over Sanders' highway signs. When Sanders caught him in the act, a shootout commenced. Stewart shot and killed a Shell gas company executive who was with Sanders. Sanders shot Stewart in the shoulder. Stewart was convicted of murder, effectively eliminating Sanders' local competition.   3. He was fired from a dozen different careers first Before finding success with chicken, Sanders had a chaotic resume. He was a railroad blacksmith, a steam engine stoker, an insurance salesman, a ferry boat operator, and even practiced law in Arkansas. He was ultimately barred from his own legal practice after getting into a physical fistfight with his own client inside the courtroom.   4. His first restaurant success was ruined by an interstate highway By the 1940s, Sanders had built a highly successful physical restaurant and motel concept in Corbin. However, in the early 1950s, a new interstate highway bypassed the town entirely, obliterating his customer traffic. He sold the property at a massive loss, was left broke, and lived off his 105-dollar monthly Social Security check while reinventing his business.   5. The pressure cooker was his secret weapon In the 1930s, pan-frying chicken took about 30 minutes—far too slow for a restaurant service. Deep frying dried it out. When the commercial pressure cooker was invented to cook vegetables, Sanders brilliantly modified it to fry chicken using oil under pressure. This reduced the cook time to just 9 minutes while keeping the meat incredibly juicy.   6. He was legendary for his explosive profanity Despite his grandfatherly appearance, Sanders had a notoriously fiery temper and a mouth like a sailor. He was known to unleash massive, incredibly creative streams of swear words if things weren't done to his standards. He once admitted, "I used to cuss something terrible. I was a master at it.”   7. He fiercely sued KFC after selling the company Sanders sold the American operations of KFC in 1964 for 2 million dollars but stayed on as a brand ambassador. As corporate executives began tweaking the menu to cut costs, Sanders grew furious. He famously went on late-night talk shows calling the new gravy "wallpaper paste" and the chicken "a damn fried dough ball." When he tried to open a competing restaurant named after himself, corporate sued him, and he countersued them for 122 million dollars. They eventually settled out of court.   8. He delivered his first child himself During his early, cash-strapped marriage to his first wife, Josephine, they could not afford a doctor when she went into labor. Sanders successfully delivered his firstborn child himself at home.   9. He wore the white wool suit year-round Once he adopted his famous look, he committed to it entirely. He wore a heavy white wool suit in the winter and a lighter white cotton suit in the summer. He refused to be seen in public wearing anything else for the last 20 years of his life.   10. He was a massive philanthropist who gave away his fortune Because he knew what it was like to be destitute, Sanders spent his later years giving away the vast majority of his wealth. He funded massive scholarships, bought medical equipment for hospitals, and adopted dozens of orphaned children overseas through charities, right up until his death at age 90 in 1980.           Sermon: Unfinished Business Text: Joshua 14:6–14 Focus: The life of Caleb Introduction: The Tragedy of the Settled Life There is a massive difference between finishing a task and quitting out of exhaustion. Too many people wrap up their lives, their careers, their callings, and even their faith long before God ever intended them to stop. They settle into a comfortable valley because the mountain looks too steep. They trade their calling for a couch, confusing the end of a season with the end of their purpose. But the Kingdom of God has no retirement plan. It only has a graduation plan.   Dog Impetuous is an adjective describing someone who acts quickly and impulsively, without thinking carefully about the consequences. It refers to rash, spur-of-the-moment actions often driven by sudden emotion rather than thoughtful planning. In a more literal or literary sense, it can also describe something moving with great force or violence     Numbers 13: (the first half of this chapter is all true… even the part about the enemies… its all true - But why does God say about their report?    29The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.” 30Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly conquer it!” 31But the men who had gone up with him replied, “We cannot go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are!”…       How do you maintain that kind of raw, kinetic power after forty-five years of hardship?   Numbers 14:24 But my servant Caleb has a different SPIRIT/attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will possess their full share of that land.   DIFFERENT = HB Ak-aihr - follower of the Lord, “other mans spirit” They gave a bad report… it was the truth..   STAY HEALTHY… THE BEST IS YET TO COME AND YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO FIGHT.

Garth Heckman The David Alliance  [email protected]  th grade… lets make a snowman… just a huge snowball… we push it up a large hill… lets roll it down and see how fast it can go… Im going to let it roll over me at the bottom… BIG MISTAKE. IT PICKED UP MOMENTUM, SUCKING UP EVERY PIECE OF SNOW IN ITS PATH… FASTER, BIGGER, FASTER, BIGGER….        Introduction: God Has Always Been Moving Momentum. It is the principle that a body in motion tends to stay in motion.  In physics, it is a law.  In the kingdom of God, it is a promise.        God Is the Source of All Momentum The Spirit Moved First   The very opening of Scripture shows us a God in motion:   "In the beginning-MOMENTUM- God created-MOMENTUM- the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering-MOMENTUM- over the waters."  — Genesis 1:1–2 The Hebrew word for 'hovering' is rachaph — it means to flutter, to brood, to move with energy and intention. This is our God. He does not wait passively. He moves first. He initiates. Momentum in the kingdom always begins with Him, not with us. You did not choose momentum. Momentum chose you.   Once the world was formed it was called to multiply and be fruitful = momentum!      In him is the momentum… where is his Spirit leading?  "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself."  — Exodus 19:4       WHAT IS GOD SAYING… I BUILT MOMENTUM TO CARRY YOU OUT OF EGYPT. The build can be hard, the waiting, the build up… But when they left - they were begged to leave, given treasure, given favor, provided miracles of crossing the red sea!      The eagle does not flap its wings furiously —  it spreads them wide and rides the thermal currents. The question is not: 'How hard am I working?' The question is: 'Am I in alignment with what God is already doing?   An eagle will carry its young on its wings after pushing them out of the nest…  Not only that they will remove the soft lining of the nest to get them to step out…  IF THEY DON’T THEY WILL PUT THORNS IN THE NEST… The eaglet will be forced out only then to have the mother fly with it, catch it if need be and teach it to catch the thermal waves of momentum.  Maybe things are uncomfortable because God is trying to move you into momentum. 

TDA The David Alliance [email protected]   Corinthians 1:27-29: "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."     Right after using these three words, Paul caps off his thought in verse 28 with a fascinating Greek phrase: ta mē onta, which literally translates to "the things that are not" or "the non-existent things." God literally takes people and things that the world treats as if they don't even exist—social ghosts, invisible people, tiny crumbs—and uses them to bring to absolute nothingness (katargeō) the heavy hitters of society. It is the ultimate biblical paradox: God uses the "morons," the "powerless," and the "nobodies" to rewrite human history.

[email protected] The David Alliance Garth Heckman Common Patterns Across Preparation for the ultimate purpose. OR AS I LIKE TO THINK OF IT WHAT THESE WAVES PRODUCE AS MY FREQUNCY - Obscurity and delay built character: Long "preparation seasons" stripped self-reliance and taught waiting on God. - Suffering produced empathy and reliance: - Skills and context were strategic: God repurposed their vocations/cultures (shepherding, fishing, scholarship, administration, tentmaking) rather than erasing them. - Failures were not disqualifiers: Denial (Peter), murder plot involvement indirectly (Paul, Paul shouting at the High Priest), family dysfunction (Joseph/David) became part of their testimony. - Positioning: Experiences placed them exactly where needed (Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, Paul on Roman roads, Ruth in Boaz’s field). - Ultimate purpose was bigger than comfort: Their lives advanced God’s redemptive story—preserving Israel, establishing kingship, prophesying, building the Church, and pointing to Jesus.     Purpose Disruption follows purpose.  ie. God created the earth and sin entered. God calls a person and disruption enters,    If our purpose does not end in people it’s empty of true fulfillment!     1 —  Purpose is simple. It is given to us by God. But is fulfilled thru your gifts, talents, passions, abilities, (these are different waves that create the frequency of your life)       2. Purpose has nothing to do with perfection - but rather in motion - continually moving forward in Gods purpose.   3. The sum of your interruptions, roadblocks and daily grind fulfill your purpose more than the grand scheme, dream or goals you achieve.   4. "Your unique gifting, passion and quirks were engineered for friction and addiction. What do I mean? Your purpose will cause friction for some. Your Purpose will be your addiction… you can’t give up.   Joseph told his brothers his dreams. This wasn’t just a young boys blunder, but a confidence and stubbornness born out of his purpose.       5. "Your purpose might look entirely invisible to the world." Culture tells us that impact is measured by volume, dollars, visibility, likes and applause. A divine perspective, however, measures weight differently.    

The David Alliance [email protected] Garth Heckman So what am I talking about today?  But we get our gifting, our passions our talents and our purpose all confused. What is what? Gifting is a natural ability. Athletics, singing, math, Art Passion is something we love doing. Performing, creating, teaching, playing Talents are typically something we have practiced to achieve.  And sometimes these all weave together for the perfect storm.    But none are the sum total of our purpose!    The Bible doesn't give just one single sentence for a person's purpose;  it unfolds it like a grand narrative with a few core pillars.    OT and NT a person's ultimate purpose is generally broken down into three main relationships:    -  your relationship with God,    -  your relationship with others,    -  and your relationship with the world around you.   1. To Know God and Bring Him Glory MGLG At the very foundation, the Bible states that humans were created by God and for God. Your primary purpose is to be in a relationship with Him and to reflect His character to the world.   Reflecting His Image: In Genesis 1:27, it says humans are made in the "image of God." Think of this like a mirror—our job is to reflect His love, justice, kindness, and creativity into the world. Bringing Him Glory: MGLG -The prophet Isaiah quotes God as saying, "Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made" (Isaiah 43:7). BOTTOM LINE: LOOK LIKE GOD AND MAKE HIM LOOK GOOD       2. The Twin Pillars: Love God, Love People When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment in the entire scripture was, He simplified the entire Old Testament law into two direct actions. This is often looked at as the "Ultimate Summary" of human purpose.   MATTHEW 22:37 The first commandment Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and spirit. Second greatest is to lover your neighbor as yourself.        3. Cultivate the World (The Cultural Mandate) Purpose in the Bible isn't just spiritual; it's also practical and action-oriented. Right at the beginning of the human story, God gave mankind a specific job description regarding the earth itself. In Genesis 1:28, humans are told to "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it." This is often called the Cultural Mandate. It means humans are designed to be stewards—caretakers of creation. Your purpose includes taking raw potential (whether that's land, a business, a family, or a talent) and cultivating or literally squeezing everything out of it to help life thrive. 4. Walking in Unique, Prepared Good Works   the Apostle Paul writes about how Gods purpose intertwines with our purpose which is good works.  We are uniquely crafted for specific contributions to this world.   "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." — Ephesians 2:10   The word used for "handiwork" or "workmanship" in the original Greek text is poiema (where we get our word poem). The Bible views your life as a unique masterpiece designed to carry out specific good deeds that match your exact strengths, personality, and experiences. Does "Handiwork" Tie into "Good Works"? Thematically yes, strongly: The verse's logic flows from identity (we are God's crafted masterpiece) to purpose (created for good works God pre-planned). Being God's poiema equips and orients us toward the erga agatha. Good works are the outworking and goal of His creative work in us—not the cause of salvation, but its fruit (tying back to vv. 8–9).   Picture this: His work in us, created us for his works through us to fulfill his purpose.      Handiwork vs. Good works in Eph. 2:8,9 Two different words. Gods work is a masterpiece Our work is a labor. ONE IS OUR IDENTITY THE OTHER IS OUR ACTIVITY     Life experiences we see in scripture and the real world.  Their life experiences were not random or wasted but formed the precise preparation, character development, skills, relationships, and credibility God used for their callings.** The Bible shows a consistent pattern: God shapes people through seasons of obscurity, suffering, failure, cultural exposure, and incremental faithfulness long before the "big moment." These experiences built humility, dependence on God, specific competencies, empathy, and strategic positioning.     David (1 Samuel 16 – 2 Samuel) **Key experiences**: Rejected by His father born illegitimate, Shepherd boy overlooked by family, given menial jobs, trials by lion/bear protecting sheep, anointed privately as future king, served Saul as musician/warrior, faced Goliath with past faithfulness as proof, 13 plus years as fugitive hiding in caves from Saul, attracted misfits and losers, forced to work with the Philistines his enemies.    - **How it prepared him**: Learned how to deal with rejection and turn to God. Shepherding taught leadership, courage, and reliance on God (Psalms reflect this). Defeating Goliath came from tested faith in small battles. Wilderness years forged trust in God’s timing (refusing to kill Saul), developed military strategy, and created a loyal following. These equipped him to unite Israel, establish the kingdom, write worship that endures, and prepare the way for the temple/Solomon. His "rejection" years were kingship training.

Garth Heckman [email protected] The David Alliance  Can opener What is it? How do I use it? Where do I use it? Why do I use it?      My Natural gifts are leadership, communication,          (Preached when I was 14, spoke for Mayor Pawlenty, spoke infant of 20K- never nervous) My physical gifting is balance, strength, I could skate, ski, snowboard great for a husky kid My Spiritual gifting is Evangelism, Apostleship, Preaching/teaching, giving My Soul gifting is creativity, music, poetry - written 100’s songs, books for Hal Leonard My Mental gifting is prolonged focus, grind, discipline AND AN IDGAF ATTITUDE These are all waves… but when they tune into the frequency that God has for me it intensifies my life in His purpose.    **BUT HANG 3 PICTURES ON A WALL… NEVER!          Liars club and old show - What’s this for? What is its purpose. David Letterman got his start here…    When I tested in high school it said you should be a professional clown, a comedian or an actor/singer. I guess I’m all three today.   I took a test when I was in my late 20’s at a conference. Basically it took questions and pictures of your formative years and helped you weave insight into your gifting… My Storie board growing up helped me understand that I was doing exactly what I should be doing… But none of these told me my purpose.    Mark Twain is widely credited with the famous quote: "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.   a 1970 sermon by the Rev. Ernest T. Campbell at the Riverside Church in New York.

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected] Gravity  -  You can’t beat it. Client lost 265 pounds… Box jump 2 inches… to 20 inches.   You can’t beat gravity… but you can improve.   Eph. 3 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.   Look at the dot of an “I” in your bible. That is the sun, it holds 1 million earths Our current earth is the galaxy it lives in THERE ARE PLANETS OUT IN OTHER GALAXIES THAT ARE BIGGER THAN OUR GALAXY.      Paul is essentially praying that his listeners will do the impossible: to intellectually comprehend something that is inherently beyond intellectual comprehension, all so they can be entirely consumed by the divine.   He is telling you to try to beat gravity… you won’t but you can experience it greater and greater.      A teacher in bible college put it this way… Describe to someone what the ocean is who has never SEEN THE OCEAN AND NEVER experienced anything liquid.     God calls us to grasp how wide, long, high and deep his love is… knowing we never will fully grasp it.      But the attempt is clear: ALWAYS FOCUS ON GODS LOVE FOR US!        When you focus on Gods love 3 things happen in your life!        - 1. Sin We don’t have a sin problem,  we have a knowing God problem.     Knowing His Supreme love keeps us tender and sinless - think of the time you were most whipped in love. I can. Kim and I were dating and she was in the car leaning forward fiddling with the radio. I was outside standing behind my car filling it up with gas. I looked at my buddy Pele and said can you believe that girl loves me? I literally could not fathom it… He looked at me in disbelief and said “it makes no sense”. **But what if he then said “how many times do you think she will let you fool around  with other girls… how many times will she let you smack her around, lie to her, steal from her, gossip about her… etc… I would have had a mental breakdown and sparks shoot from a short circuit in my head… that would make no sense to me. Knowing God’s love keeps us from asking how far can I go in the world...     Satan will take your sin, your past, your guilt and try to make you feel like a servant. ITS CALLED SIN CONCIOUS   John 14:31 If you love the father you will obey his commandments. Love God = the fruit is obedience.   *if you focus on the commands you will be religious and guilt ridden and sin conscious.     You will fall into the trap of trying to push yourself away from your sin Using willpower Discipline Rules Accountability    What did Joseph say when he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife? He remembers the 7th commandment: Thou shalt not have adultery… NOPE!  

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected] Gravity  -  You can’t beat it. Client lost 265 pounds… Box jump 2 inches… to 20 inches.   You can’t beat gravity… but you can improve.   Eph. 3 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.   Look at the dot of an “I” in your bible. That is the sun, it holds 1 million earths Our current earth is the galaxy it lives in THERE ARE PLANETS OUT IN OTHER GALAXIES THAT ARE BIGGER THAN OUR GALAXY.      Paul is essentially praying that his listeners will do the impossible: to intellectually comprehend something that is inherently beyond intellectual comprehension, all so they can be entirely consumed by the divine.   He is telling you to try to beat gravity… you won’t but you can experience it greater and greater.      A teacher in bible college put it this way… Describe to someone what the ocean is who has never SEEN THE OCEAN AND NEVER experienced anything liquid.     God calls us to grasp how wide, long, high and deep his love is… knowing we never will fully grasp it.      But the attempt is clear: ALWAYS FOCUS ON GODS LOVE FOR US! 

[email protected]  The David Alliance Garth Heckman Just because cancer sucks doesn’t mean your life has to.  I have talked openly about my cancer journey before… 3 cancers started in my Colon, spread through my Lymphatic then liver cancer… they said I’d be dead in 2 years with liver cancer. But even though I made it I was left with a brain tumor and an enlarged heart… plus severe neuropathy and hearing loss and a few other goodies…  But what I kept telling myself was I hope others can learn from my journey… so I just finished  5 eBooks on my cancer journey. I just listed them on Etsy and Sam cart. If you have questions about cancer for yourself or a friend feel free to hit me up. But with that I want to do a short series on what I learned the hard way from living through the hard way.   1. Prayer Becomes a Lifeline, Not a Ritual Before cancer, prayer can feel like a spiritual discipline — something you do because you should. Cancer strips that away entirely. When you are lying in a clinic chair watching chemicals drip into your veins, prayer stops being a religious exercise and becomes the most honest conversation of your life. You learn to pray with a rawness and desperation that actually draws you closer to God than a thousand comfortable Sunday mornings ever did.   2. God Is Present in the Darkness, Not Just the Highlights It is easy to sense God in the mountaintop moments — the answered prayers, the breakthroughs, the celebrations. Cancer teaches you to find Him in the valley. In the 2am fear. In the waiting room silence. In the moment the doctor walks in with results. You discover that His presence was never limited to the good days — He was always there. You just needed the noise of a comfortable life to be stripped away before you could feel Him.   3. Surrender Is Not Weakness — It Is the Bravest Thing You Will Ever Do The control you thought you had was always an illusion. Cancer simply makes that undeniable. Learning to say "God, I trust You with this" — and actually mean it — is one of the most spiritually mature and courageous acts a human being can perform. You discover that surrender is not giving up. It is giving over — and there is an inexplicable peace that follows that most people never experience until they have no other choice.   4. Your Identity Is Not in Your Health, Your Productivity, or Your Role Cancer has a way of stripping you of everything you used to define yourself — your energy, your independence, your ability to perform and produce. And in that stripping, you are forced to confront a beautiful and terrifying question: Who am I when I can do nothing? The answer God whispers back changes everything. You are not what you do. You are not what you produce. You are deeply, permanently, unconditionally loved — and that is enough.   5. The Body of Christ Was Designed for Exactly This You learn very quickly that you were never meant to walk hard seasons alone. The meals that show up at your door. The friends who sit in silence with you because they don't know what to say but they show up anyway. The stranger in the waiting room who prays with you. Cancer reveals the Church at its absolute best — and you discover that receiving grace from others is just as holy as giving it.   6. Eternity Becomes More Real Than Ever Before When your mortality is no longer an abstract concept but a very present reality, eternity stops being theological and starts being personal. You find yourself thinking about heaven differently — not as a distant idea but as a coming home. Your grip on this world loosens in the most freeing way. The things that used to consume your worry — money, status, opinions of others — begin to look very small against the backdrop of forever.   7. Gratitude Goes Deeper Than You Knew Was Possible You never knew you could be so grateful for a Tuesday. For a cup of coffee. For the sound of someone you love laughing in the next room. Cancer recalibrates your gratitude to a frequency most people never reach. The ordinary becomes sacred. The mundane becomes miraculous. You find yourself thanking God for things you walked past a thousand times without noticing — and that shift in perspective becomes one of the most unexpected gifts of the entire journey.   8. God Can Handle Your Anger, Your Doubt, and Your Questions One of the most liberating spiritual discoveries of the cancer journey is that God is not fragile. He does not flinch when you are angry. He does not withdraw when you have questions He hasn't answered. He does not love you less when your faith feels more like a flickering candle than a raging fire. You learn that honest wrestling with God is not a sign of weak faith — it is actually the evidence of a real relationship. He can handle every hard question you bring to Him.   9. Your Suffering Has a Purpose Larger Than You Can See Romans 8:28 stops being a bumper sticker and becomes a lifeline. You begin to see — sometimes only in hindsight — that nothing in your journey is wasted. The fear you survived gives you the ability to sit with someone else in theirs. The night seasons you endured become the very thing that qualifies you to speak hope into someone who is just entering their own. Your cancer becomes a platform for a ministry only you could carry — because you lived it.   10. Death Has Lost Its Sting — and That Changes How You Live Perhaps the deepest spiritual gift of walking through cancer is coming face to face with your own mortality and discovering on the other side that you are no longer afraid. Not because the journey wasn't hard — it was. But because somewhere in the valley you encountered a God who conquered death Himself, and His resurrection became personal to you in a way it never was before. You come out the other side living differently — more boldly, more lovingly, more freely — because you have settled the deepest question a human soul can face.   These ten things are not just lessons — they are a testimony. And your three cancer journeys have given you a depth of spiritual authority on every single one of them that no seminary degree could ever replicate. 💙

[email protected]  The David Alliance Garth Heckman Just because cancer sucks doesn’t mean your life has to.  I have talked openly about my cancer journey before… 3 cancers started in my Colon, spread through my Lymphatic then liver cancer… they said I’d be dead in 2 years with liver cancer. But even though I made it I was left with a brain tumor and an enlarged heart… plus severe neuropathy and hearing loss and a few other goodies…  But what I kept telling myself was I hope others can learn from my journey… so I just finished  5 eBooks on my cancer journey. I just listed them on Etsy and Sam cart. If you have questions about cancer for yourself or a friend feel free to hit me up. But with that I want to do a short series on what I learned the hard way from living through the hard way.   1. Prayer Becomes a Lifeline, Not a Ritual Before cancer, prayer can feel like a spiritual discipline — something you do because you should. Cancer strips that away entirely. When you are lying in a clinic chair watching chemicals drip into your veins, prayer stops being a religious exercise and becomes the most honest conversation of your life. You learn to pray with a rawness and desperation that actually draws you closer to God than a thousand comfortable Sunday mornings ever did.   2. God Is Present in the Darkness, Not Just the Highlights It is easy to sense God in the mountaintop moments — the answered prayers, the breakthroughs, the celebrations. Cancer teaches you to find Him in the valley. In the 2am fear. In the waiting room silence. In the moment the doctor walks in with results. You discover that His presence was never limited to the good days — He was always there. You just needed the noise of a comfortable life to be stripped away before you could feel Him.   3. Surrender Is Not Weakness — It Is the Bravest Thing You Will Ever Do The control you thought you had was always an illusion. Cancer simply makes that undeniable. Learning to say "God, I trust You with this" — and actually mean it — is one of the most spiritually mature and courageous acts a human being can perform. You discover that surrender is not giving up. It is giving over — and there is an inexplicable peace that follows that most people never experience until they have no other choice.   4. Your Identity Is Not in Your Health, Your Productivity, or Your Role Cancer has a way of stripping you of everything you used to define yourself — your energy, your independence, your ability to perform and produce. And in that stripping, you are forced to confront a beautiful and terrifying question: Who am I when I can do nothing? The answer God whispers back changes everything. You are not what you do. You are not what you produce. You are deeply, permanently, unconditionally loved — and that is enough.   5. The Body of Christ Was Designed for Exactly This You learn very quickly that you were never meant to walk hard seasons alone. The meals that show up at your door. The friends who sit in silence with you because they don't know what to say but they show up anyway. The stranger in the waiting room who prays with you. Cancer reveals the Church at its absolute best — and you discover that receiving grace from others is just as holy as giving it.   6. Eternity Becomes More Real Than Ever Before When your mortality is no longer an abstract concept but a very present reality, eternity stops being theological and starts being personal. You find yourself thinking about heaven differently — not as a distant idea but as a coming home. Your grip on this world loosens in the most freeing way. The things that used to consume your worry — money, status, opinions of others — begin to look very small against the backdrop of forever.   7. Gratitude Goes Deeper Than You Knew Was Possible You never knew you could be so grateful for a Tuesday. For a cup of coffee. For the sound of someone you love laughing in the next room. Cancer recalibrates your gratitude to a frequency most people never reach. The ordinary becomes sacred. The mundane becomes miraculous. You find yourself thanking God for things you walked past a thousand times without noticing — and that shift in perspective becomes one of the most unexpected gifts of the entire journey.   8. God Can Handle Your Anger, Your Doubt, and Your Questions One of the most liberating spiritual discoveries of the cancer journey is that God is not fragile. He does not flinch when you are angry. He does not withdraw when you have questions He hasn't answered. He does not love you less when your faith feels more like a flickering candle than a raging fire. You learn that honest wrestling with God is not a sign of weak faith — it is actually the evidence of a real relationship. He can handle every hard question you bring to Him.   9. Your Suffering Has a Purpose Larger Than You Can See Romans 8:28 stops being a bumper sticker and becomes a lifeline. You begin to see — sometimes only in hindsight — that nothing in your journey is wasted. The fear you survived gives you the ability to sit with someone else in theirs. The night seasons you endured become the very thing that qualifies you to speak hope into someone who is just entering their own. Your cancer becomes a platform for a ministry only you could carry — because you lived it.

[email protected]  The David Alliance Garth Heckman Just because cancer sucks doesn’t mean your life has to.  I have talked openly about my cancer journey before… 3 cancers started in my Colon, spread through my Lymphatic then liver cancer… they said I’d be dead in 2 years with liver cancer. But even though I made it I was left with a brain tumor and an enlarged heart… plus severe neuropathy and hearing loss and a few other goodies…  But what I kept telling myself was I hope others can learn from my journey… so I just finished  5 eBooks on my cancer journey. I just listed them on Etsy and Sam cart. If you have questions about cancer for yourself or a friend feel free to hit me up. But with that I want to do a short series on what I learned the hard way from living through the hard way.   1. Prayer Becomes a Lifeline, Not a Ritual Before cancer, prayer can feel like a spiritual discipline — something you do because you should. Cancer strips that away entirely. When you are lying in a clinic chair watching chemicals drip into your veins, prayer stops being a religious exercise and becomes the most honest conversation of your life. You learn to pray with a rawness and desperation that actually draws you closer to God than a thousand comfortable Sunday mornings ever did.   2. God Is Present in the Darkness, Not Just the Highlights It is easy to sense God in the mountaintop moments — the answered prayers, the breakthroughs, the celebrations. Cancer teaches you to find Him in the valley. In the 2am fear. In the waiting room silence. In the moment the doctor walks in with results. You discover that His presence was never limited to the good days — He was always there. You just needed the noise of a comfortable life to be stripped away before you could feel Him.   3. Surrender Is Not Weakness — It Is the Bravest Thing You Will Ever Do The control you thought you had was always an illusion. Cancer simply makes that undeniable. Learning to say "God, I trust You with this" — and actually mean it — is one of the most spiritually mature and courageous acts a human being can perform. You discover that surrender is not giving up. It is giving over — and there is an inexplicable peace that follows that most people never experience until they have no other choice.   4. Your Identity Is Not in Your Health, Your Productivity, or Your Role Cancer has a way of stripping you of everything you used to define yourself — your energy, your independence, your ability to perform and produce. And in that stripping, you are forced to confront a beautiful and terrifying question: Who am I when I can do nothing? The answer God whispers back changes everything. You are not what you do. You are not what you produce. You are deeply, permanently, unconditionally loved — and that is enough.   5. The Body of Christ Was Designed for Exactly This You learn very quickly that you were never meant to walk hard seasons alone. The meals that show up at your door. The friends who sit in silence with you because they don't know what to say but they show up anyway. The stranger in the waiting room who prays with you. Cancer reveals the Church at its absolute best — and you discover that receiving grace from others is just as holy as giving it.   6. Eternity Becomes More Real Than Ever Before When your mortality is no longer an abstract concept but a very present reality, eternity stops being theological and starts being personal. You find yourself thinking about heaven differently — not as a distant idea but as a coming home. Your grip on this world loosens in the most freeing way. The things that used to consume your worry — money, status, opinions of others — begin to look very small against the backdrop of forever.

[email protected]  The David Alliance Garth Heckman Books available here:  https://garthheckman.mysamcart.com/the-faith-based-cancer-manual/#   I have talked openly about my cancer journey before… 3 cancers started in my Colon, spread through my Lymphatic then liver cancer… they said I’d be dead in 2 years with liver cancer. But even though I made it I was left with a brain tumor and an enlarged heart… plus severe neuropathy and hearing loss and a few other goodies…  But what I kept telling myself was I hope others can learn from my journey… so I just finished  5 eBooks on my cancer journey. I just listed them on Etsy and Sam cart. If you have questions about cancer for yourself or a friend feel free to hit me up. But with that I want to do a short series on what I learned the hard way from living through the hard way.   1. Prayer Becomes a Lifeline, Not a Ritual Before cancer, prayer can feel like a spiritual discipline — something you do because you should. Cancer strips that away entirely. When you are lying in a clinic chair watching chemicals drip into your veins, prayer stops being a religious exercise and becomes the most honest conversation of your life. You learn to pray with a rawness and desperation that actually draws you closer to God than a thousand comfortable Sunday mornings ever did.   2. God Is Present in the Darkness, Not Just the Highlights It is easy to sense God in the mountaintop moments — the answered prayers, the breakthroughs, the celebrations. Cancer teaches you to find Him in the valley. In the 2am fear. In the waiting room silence. In the moment the doctor walks in with results. You discover that His presence was never limited to the good days — He was always there. You just needed the noise of a comfortable life to be stripped away before you could feel Him.   3. Surrender Is Not Weakness — It Is the Bravest Thing You Will Ever Do The control you thought you had was always an illusion. Cancer simply makes that undeniable. Learning to say "God, I trust You with this" — and actually mean it — is one of the most spiritually mature and courageous acts a human being can perform. You discover that surrender is not giving up. It is giving over — and there is an inexplicable peace that follows that most people never experience until they have no other choice.

The David Alliance [email protected] Garth Heckman VERY FAMILIAR STORY -   *TIED TO MY NOTES TODAY   THE BUILD UP and DEMISE OF ISRAEL    THE PEOPLE WANTED A MAN OVER GOD (They wanted a King)… Here is an old quote: when more than one votes… you can assure its the wrong decision. It wasn’t a King that was truly the problem -  BUT RATHER following a man, that was the problem. It was the peoples desire to follow a King over a prophet who followed God.      ***No one voted a prophet in.         ****People choose a King, God chooses a prophet.    Saul offers false sacrifices Saul chooses to disobey Gods orders to wipe out the Amakalites  Saul becomes erratic and tormented by demonic spirits  Saul now operates out of fear  *Israel and the army now saw their enemies the way their leader did - IN FEAR.   The battle of David and Goliath was never really about David and Goliath. It was the culmination of Israel's spiritual decline under Saul, and the first visible sign that God had already been at work preparing a different kind of leader — one after His own heart.       1 Samuel 17 41 Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, 42 sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. 43 “Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods. 44 “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled. 45 David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! 47 And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!”     David's arrival on the battlefield was jarring precisely because of the contrast. He was young, unarmored, and inexperienced — but he carried something the entire army had lost: a reference point for who God was.         David doesn’t call out the enemy, he calls out his tactics… His weapons of choice.  WHY?      In 1 Samuel 17:45, David identifies a three-fold physical threat.  In John 10:10, Jesus identifies a three-fold spiritual threat. They map onto each other in a way that shows how the enemy operates:   | Goliath’s Arsenal (1 Samuel 17:45) | The Thief’s Mission (John 10:10) | The Spiritual Parallel    -  The Sword.  |  To Steal   | Goliath relied on his sword to strip Israel of their land, their freedom, and their identity. The enemy wants to rob you of your peace and purpose.    The Spear.  |   To Kill | A spear is designed for a direct, fatal strike. Goliath’s   Literal goal was to end David’s life; the thief's goal is total spiritual death.   The Javelin   |   To Destroy   |  A javelin is thrown from a distance, bringing unexpected, widespread ruin. The enemy aims for complete devastation of your life and relationships.    The Core Contrast: Flesh vs. Spirit The real tie-in between these two passages is the **source of victory** that both David and Jesus point to. Both stories set up a stark contrast between reliance on worldly power and reliance on divine power.    * **David’s Answer:** Right after naming Goliath's weapons, David says, *"But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts."* He acknowledges the physical threat but completely bypasses it by relying on God's authority.    * **Jesus’ Answer:** Right after naming the thief's three-fold threat, Jesus says, *"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."*     Bears and Lions can’t call you out. They can’t mock you, cast verbal jabs and doubt at you.      Historical Context His defiance of Israel's armies was also a taunt against their God. Your problems, issues, fears, is a taunt against God!   Goliath's relys on human technology, political position and physical power.   David invokes God's character and power, not his own resources. This echoes the idea that God's name represents His active intervention (similar to Exodus 3 or the Psalms).     It wasn’t the weapon David had it was the Worship.  Slingers were common;   -  Tribe of Benjamin 700 warriors ambidextrous        -    Sling a stone up to 95 MPH              -   At over 200 yards…  They were so confident they would inscribe words on their stones… MINE WOULD BE “ROCK ON”      David contrasts Goliath's weapons with the invisible but superior heavenly host. This title appears frequently in prophetic books but here underscores early recognition of God's military sovereignty. "Whom you have defied [cheraf-ta]": The verb charaf means to reproach, taunt, or blaspheme. Goliath's challenge is personal against Israel's God, making this a theological battle, not just military. YOUR PROBLEMS ARE A THEOLOGICAL PROBLEM…  i.e. Your problems are a “who is your God Problem”       Do you know who my father is?   - a. No   - b. Yes and I don’t care   - c. Yes and I will leave you alone BUT WHAT IF THE QUESTION WAS THIS IN THAT SITUATION… “I wonder who my father is?”     Jehovah Jireh (יְהוָה יִרְאֶה) "The LORD will provide" — revealed when God provided a ram as Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac. Genesis 22:14. Jehovah Rapha (יְהוָה רָפָא) "The LORD who heals" — revealed after God sweetened the bitter waters of Marah for Israel in the wilderness. Exodus 15:26. Covers physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. Jehovah Nissi (יְהוָה נִסִּי) "The LORD is my banner" — declared by Moses after Israel's victory over the Amalekites. A banner was a military standard — the rallying point in battle. Exodus 17:15. God Himself is the flag Israel fights under. Jehovah Shalom (יְהוָה שָׁלוֹם) "The LORD is peace" — spoken by Gideon after encountering the angel of the Lord and fearing he would die. Shalom is not just the absence of conflict but wholeness, completeness, and flourishing. Judges 6:24. Jehovah Rohi (יְהוָה רֹעִי) "The LORD is my shepherd" — the opening of Psalm 23. One of the most intimate names — depicting God as the one who leads, feeds, protects, and restores. Jehovah Tsidkenu (יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ) "The LORD our righteousness" — a prophetic name pointing to the coming Messiah who would be the righteousness of His people. Jeremiah 23:6. Deeply connected to the New Testament doctrine of justification. Jehovah Shammah (יְהוָה שָׁמָּה) "The LORD is there" — the name given to the restored Jerusalem in Ezekiel's vision. Ezekiel 48:35. God's presence dwelling permanently with His people — echoed in Revelation 21 with the New Jerusalem. Jehovah Sabaoth (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת) "The LORD of Hosts" or "The LORD of Armies" — one of the most frequently used names in the prophets. It pictures God as the commander of vast heavenly armies. Used powerfully in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Malachi. Jehovah Mekoddishkem (יְהוָה מְקַדִּשְׁכֶם) "The LORD who sanctifies you" — Exodus 31:13. God as the one who sets His people apart and makes them holy. Sanctification as His work, not ours alone. Jehovah Gmolah (יְהוָה גְּמֻלּוֹת) "The LORD of recompense" or "The God of vengeance" — Jeremiah 51:56. God as the one who repays — both in justice against enemies and in vindication of His people.   The Compound El Names El Shaddai (אֵל שַׁדַּי) "God Almighty" or literally "God of the mountains" or "the all-sufficient one." First used with Abraham in Genesis 17:1 when God renewed His covenant. It speaks of God's absolute sufficiency — He is enough for every need. El Elyon (אֵל עֶלְיוֹן) "God Most High" — used by Melchizedek blessing Abraham in Genesis 14. It emphasizes God's supremacy above all other powers, rulers, and so-called gods. El Olam (אֵל עוֹלָם) "The Everlasting God" or "God of eternity" — Genesis 21:33. He has no beginning and no end. Time exists within Him, not the other way around. El Roi (אֵל רֳאִי) "The God who sees me" — spoken by Hagar in the wilderness after she fled from Sarah. Genesis 16:13. One of the most tender names — God seeing the forgotten, the marginalized, the one who thinks they are invisible. El Gibhor (אֵל גִּבּוֹר) "Mighty God" — Isaiah 9:6, in the famous messianic prophecy. One of the titles given to the coming Messiah — pointing directly to Christ. El Hannun (אֵל חַנּוּן) "The gracious God" — Nehemiah 9:31. God whose grace prevents Him from completely destroying even a rebellious people.   New Testament  Abba (אַבָּא) "Father" — an Aramaic term of deep intimacy, closer to "Daddy" than formal address. Jesus used it in Gethsemane. Paul says believers are given the Spirit of adoption by which they cry "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15. Emmanuel (עִמָּנוּאֵל) "God with us" — Isaiah 7:14, fulfilled in Matthew 1:23 with the birth of Jesus. Perhaps the most staggering name of all — the eternal God choosing to be with humanity in flesh.     Why This Matters Each name was not invented by theologians — it was revealed in a moment.  God didn't introduce Himself as Jehovah Rapha in a lecture. He revealed it when Israel was thirsty and the water was bitter. He revealed Jehovah Jireh when a father was about to lose his son on an altar. The pattern is consistent throughout Scripture: Every name of God was born out of a human crisis that God personally entered. That means the names are not just theological categories — they are a record of God showing up. And for anyone studying or teaching these names, the invitation is not just to know them but to discover which name corresponds to the specific place of need you are standing in right now.       Lets end on this:  1 Sam. 17:40 40 He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine. WHY FIVE STONES? Because Goliath had 4 brothers!  Ishbi-Benob, Saph, Lahmi AND SIX FINGER FRANK     …THERE WILL ALWAYS BE GIANTS… But who is your God? He is the one who crushed satans head and gives us the victory!    CALL ON HIS NAME AND HE SHALL ANSWER. 

The David Alliance [email protected] Garth Heckman    Bears and Lions can’t call you out. They can’t mock you, cast verbal jabs and doubt at you.      Historical Context His defiance of Israel's armies was also a taunt against their God. Your problems, issues, fears, is a taunt against God!   Goliath's relys on human technology, political position and physical power.   David invokes God's character and power, not his own resources. This echoes the idea that God's name represents His active intervention (similar to Exodus 3 or the Psalms).     It wasn’t the weapon David had it was the Worship.  Slingers were common;   -  Tribe of Benjamin 700 warriors ambidextrous        -    Sling a stone up to 95 MPH              -   At over 200 yards…  They were so confident they would inscribe words on their stones… MINE WOULD BE “ROCK ON”      David contrasts Goliath's weapons with the invisible but superior heavenly host. This title appears frequently in prophetic books but here underscores early recognition of God's military sovereignty. "Whom you have defied [cheraf-ta]": The verb charaf means to reproach, taunt, or blaspheme. Goliath's challenge is personal against Israel's God, making this a theological battle, not just military. YOUR PROBLEMS ARE A THEOLOGICAL PROBLEM…  i.e. Your problems are a “who is your God Problem”       Do you know who my father is?   - a. No   - b. Yes and I don’t care   - c. Yes and I will leave you alone BUT WHAT IF THE QUESTION WAS THIS IN THAT SITUATION… “I wonder who my father is?”     Jehovah Jireh (יְהוָה יִרְאֶה) "The LORD will provide" — revealed when God provided a ram as Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac. Genesis 22:14. Jehovah Rapha (יְהוָה רָפָא) "The LORD who heals" — revealed after God sweetened the bitter waters of Marah for Israel in the wilderness. Exodus 15:26. Covers physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. Jehovah Nissi (יְהוָה נִסִּי) "The LORD is my banner" — declared by Moses after Israel's victory over the Amalekites. A banner was a military standard — the rallying point in battle. Exodus 17:15. God Himself is the flag Israel fights under. Jehovah Shalom (יְהוָה שָׁלוֹם) "The LORD is peace" — spoken by Gideon after encountering the angel of the Lord and fearing he would die. Shalom is not just the absence of conflict but wholeness, completeness, and flourishing. Judges 6:24. Jehovah Rohi (יְהוָה רֹעִי) "The LORD is my shepherd" — the opening of Psalm 23. One of the most intimate names — depicting God as the one who leads, feeds, protects, and restores. Jehovah Tsidkenu (יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ) "The LORD our righteousness" — a prophetic name pointing to the coming Messiah who would be the righteousness of His people. Jeremiah 23:6. Deeply connected to the New Testament doctrine of justification. Jehovah Shammah (יְהוָה שָׁמָּה) "The LORD is there" — the name given to the restored Jerusalem in Ezekiel's vision. Ezekiel 48:35. God's presence dwelling permanently with His people — echoed in Revelation 21 with the New Jerusalem. Jehovah Sabaoth (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת) "The LORD of Hosts" or "The LORD of Armies" — one of the most frequently used names in the prophets. It pictures God as the commander of vast heavenly armies. Used powerfully in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Malachi. Jehovah Mekoddishkem (יְהוָה מְקַדִּשְׁכֶם) "The LORD who sanctifies you" — Exodus 31:13. God as the one who sets His people apart and makes them holy. Sanctification as His work, not ours alone. Jehovah Gmolah (יְהוָה גְּמֻלּוֹת) "The LORD of recompense" or "The God of vengeance" — Jeremiah 51:56. God as the one who repays — both in justice against enemies and in vindication of His people.   The Compound El Names El Shaddai (אֵל שַׁדַּי) "God Almighty" or literally "God of the mountains" or "the all-sufficient one." First used with Abraham in Genesis 17:1 when God renewed His covenant. It speaks of God's absolute sufficiency — He is enough for every need. El Elyon (אֵל עֶלְיוֹן) "God Most High" — used by Melchizedek blessing Abraham in Genesis 14. It emphasizes God's supremacy above all other powers, rulers, and so-called gods. El Olam (אֵל עוֹלָם) "The Everlasting God" or "God of eternity" — Genesis 21:33. He has no beginning and no end. Time exists within Him, not the other way around. El Roi (אֵל רֳאִי) "The God who sees me" — spoken by Hagar in the wilderness after she fled from Sarah. Genesis 16:13. One of the most tender names — God seeing the forgotten, the marginalized, the one who thinks they are invisible. El Gibhor (אֵל גִּבּוֹר) "Mighty God" — Isaiah 9:6, in the famous messianic prophecy. One of the titles given to the coming Messiah — pointing directly to Christ. El Hannun (אֵל חַנּוּן) "The gracious God" — Nehemiah 9:31. God whose grace prevents Him from completely destroying even a rebellious people.   New Testament  Abba (אַבָּא) "Father" — an Aramaic term of deep intimacy, closer to "Daddy" than formal address. Jesus used it in Gethsemane. Paul says believers are given the Spirit of adoption by which they cry "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15. Emmanuel (עִמָּנוּאֵל) "God with us" — Isaiah 7:14, fulfilled in Matthew 1:23 with the birth of Jesus. Perhaps the most staggering name of all — the eternal God choosing to be with humanity in flesh.     Why This Matters Each name was not invented by theologians — it was revealed in a moment.  God didn't introduce Himself as Jehovah Rapha in a lecture. He revealed it when Israel was thirsty and the water was bitter. He revealed Jehovah Jireh when a father was about to lose his son on an altar. The pattern is consistent throughout Scripture: Every name of God was born out of a human crisis that God personally entered. That means the names are not just theological categories — they are a record of God showing up. And for anyone studying or teaching these names, the invitation is not just to know them but to discover which name corresponds to the specific place of need you are standing in right now.

[email protected] The David Alliance  Garth Heckman The battle of David and Goliath was never really about David and Goliath. It was the culmination of Israel's spiritual decline under Saul, and the first visible sign that God had already been at work preparing a different kind of leader — one after His own heart.       1 Samuel 17 41 Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, 42 sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. 43 “Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods. 44 “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled. 45 David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! 47 And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!”     David's arrival on the battlefield was jarring precisely because of the contrast. He was young, unarmored, and inexperienced — but he carried something the entire army had lost: a reference point for who God was.         David doesn’t call out the enemy, he calls out his tactics… His weapons of choice.  WHY?      In 1 Samuel 17:45, David identifies a three-fold physical threat.  In John 10:10, Jesus identifies a three-fold spiritual threat. They map onto each other in a way that shows how the enemy operates:   | Goliath’s Arsenal (1 Samuel 17:45) | The Thief’s Mission (John 10:10) | The Spiritual Parallel    -  The Sword.  |  To Steal   | Goliath relied on his sword to strip Israel of their land, their freedom, and their identity. The enemy wants to rob you of your peace and purpose.    The Spear.  |   To Kill | A spear is designed for a direct, fatal strike. Goliath’s   Literal goal was to end David’s life; the thief's goal is total spiritual death.   The Javelin   |   To Destroy   |  A javelin is thrown from a distance, bringing unexpected, widespread ruin. The enemy aims for complete devastation of your life and relationships.    The Core Contrast: Flesh vs. Spirit The real tie-in between these two passages is the **source of victory** that both David and Jesus point to. Both stories set up a stark contrast between reliance on worldly power and reliance on divine power.    * **David’s Answer:** Right after naming Goliath's weapons, David says, *"But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts."* He acknowledges the physical threat but completely bypasses it by relying on God's authority.    * **Jesus’ Answer:** Right after naming the thief's three-fold threat, Jesus says, *"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."*

[email protected]  The David Alliance Garth Heckman VERY FAMILIAR STORY -   *TIED TO MY NOTES TODAY   THE BUILD UP and DEMISE OF ISRAEL    THE PEOPLE WANTED A MAN OVER GOD (They wanted a King)… Here is an old quote: when more than one votes… you can assure its the wrong decision. It wasn’t a King that was truly the problem -  BUT RATHER following a man, that was the problem. It was the peoples desire to follow a King over a prophet who followed God.      ***No one voted a prophet in.         ****People choose a King, God chooses a prophet.    Saul offers false sacrifices Saul chooses to disobey Gods orders to wipe out the Amakalites  Saul becomes erratic and tormented by demonic spirits  Saul now operates out of fear  *Israel and the army now saw their enemies the way their leader did - IN FEAR.   The battle of David and Goliath was never really about David and Goliath. It was the culmination of Israel's spiritual decline under Saul, and the first visible sign that God had already been at work preparing a different kind of leader — one after His own heart.       1 Samuel 17 41 Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, 42 sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. 43 “Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods. 44 “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled. 45 David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! 47 And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!”

[email protected] The David Alliance Garth Heckman

The David Alliance [email protected] Garth Heckman Are you able to ask for directions? Why do men get made fun of for not asking for directions… I have never had a problem with asking for directions… but I guess some men do. Hmmmm weird, but anyway there is a myth out there called    The Myth of the Maverick Gentlemen, let’s be honest about something. For most of us, asking for help doesn’t just feel uncomfortable. It feels like an admission of weakness or defeat. We’ve been conditioned to believe that a real leader is a lone warrior—the man who has all the answers, carries all the weight, and never, ever shows a crack in his armor. We look at asking for help as a white flag. We think it means: "I am not strong enough. I am failing." But I want to challenge that today. Keeping your mouth shut when you are drowning isn’t leadership. It’s pride. And biblically speaking, isolation is the most dangerous position a man can put himself in. Look at the life of Moses in Exodus 18. Moses was the ultimate leader. He led millions of people out of Egypt, parted the Red Sea, and spoke to God face-to-face. Talk about a resume. But Moses fell into the trap of the "Maverick." He was sitting from morning until night, trying to judge every single dispute for the entire nation of Israel by himself. He was carrying the whole weight on his own shoulders. His father-in-law, Jethro, watches this play out and gives him a brutal reality check in Exodus 18:17-18: "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone." Notice what Jethro didn't say. He didn’t say, "Moses, you lack vision." He didn't say, "Moses, you lack character or anointed power." He said, "The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone." Even the most anointed, powerful leader in the Old Testament had human limitations. Moses’ value didn't drop because he needed help; his leadership capacity expanded when he accepted it. He appointed capable men to share the burden, and only then did the nation thrive. Men, true biblical leadership is never about independence; it is about interdependence. God did not design you to be a solo operator. Ecclesiastes 4:12 tells us, "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." When you refuse to ask for help—whether it’s in your marriage, your business, your mental health, or your spiritual life—you aren't protecting your leadership. You are starving it. You are cutting yourself off from the strategic reinforcement God has placed around you. Asking for help is not a failure of leadership; it is an act of strategic ownership. It’s looking at the mission and saying, "The mission is more important than my ego. Winning the battle matters more than me getting the credit for doing it alone." Let’s drop the lone-wolf act. Real strength is having the courage to look a brother in the eye and say, "The work is too heavy today. I need another strand in the cord." That’s not weakness. That is how kingdoms are built.

The David Alliance [email protected]  Garth Heckman Driving with Kim in the car when we were first married. I pulled a gun on a guy in a corvette!  I was on my way to Youth Group - I was the youth pastor.   Judges 6  11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” 13 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.” 14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”         1. He Was Living in Poverty and Oppression For seven years, Israel had been brutally oppressed by the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern peoples. The oppression was so severe that the Israelites had abandoned their homes in the valleys to live in dens, caves, and strongholds in the mountains (Judges 6:2). The invaders would sweep through the land like locusts, destroying crops and slaughtering livestock. The text notes that Israel was "brought very low" because of Midian. Gideon wasn't a wealthy noble or a ruling judge; he was a victim of a devastating, nationwide economic and military siege.   2. He Was Hiding in a Winepress When the Angel of the Lord finds Gideon, he is threshing wheat in a winepress (Judges 6:11). Why this matters: Wheat was traditionally threshed in an open, elevated area (a threshing floor) so the wind could blow away the chaff. A winepress, however, was a pit dug into the ground or carved into rock. Operating out of fear, survival and panic.     3. He Was From an Insignificant, Idol-Worshipping Family   4. He Was Battling Deep Skepticism and Grief Gideon’s immediate reaction to the Angel’s blessing ("The Lord is with you, mighty warrior") is not pride, but bitter skepticism. He looked at his current reality and concluded that God had abandoned them:   The Irony of the Title When God calls Gideon a "mighty warrior," Gideon is: In hiding (not in battle) Doubting God's presence (not acting in faith) Belittling his own status (not displaying courage) The title was prophetic. God was not validating Gideon’s current resume; He was naming the potential that He was about to unlock through His own power.       When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon in Judges 6:12 and addressed him as a "mighty warrior" it was a statement of what God would do through him, not a description of who Gideon currently was.   He saw what he would do - which in turn is who he would be - in turn is who He really was in Gods eyes!      Can an egg fly? Can a puppy protect you?  Can an acorn shade, protect and feed thousands of animals? Can a spark destroy city?    We see an egg - God sees an eagle! We see a puppy - God sees the Rottweiler that attacked the sex predator who ran into the Childs yard.  We see an acorn - God sees The Foret de Trancais 26,000 acre forest We see a spark - God sees the Chinchaga fire burning 4.2 million acres.    Do you think when Jesus saw the disciples arguing over who would be the greatest, when Peter would deny him, when Thomas would doubt him, when they would not understand simple scripture, when they could not heal a boy, or worried over storms, food or religious leaders… HE SAW THEIR STORY! You will all be so committed and change the world so powerfully that they will need to Kill you to stop you! And you will be honored to give your life for me!      How does Jesus see us? We are salt We are light We are friends We are secure in him We have overcome the world We will do greater works then Jesus We will have rivers of living water flow out of us We will tread on serpents, scorpions, nothing will hurt us We are plugged directly into him He is always with us We will crush the serpents head We are the head and not the tail We wear a robe of righteousness We are more than conquerors    EVEN WITH THE DISCIPLES… JESUS WOULD BE DISAPPOINTED IN THEM - BUT NEVER REJECT THEM OR GET ANGRY AT THEM OR SHAMED THEM. Rather he would Ask a question Correct their perception And never reject them.      2 Kings 6 The King of Aram is mad and thinks there is a traitor. It is Elisha… Go kill him.  -  14 So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. 16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.      -  Its right there!  What is? Your answer - it’s right there. You just can’t see it.  **Yesterday I was praying and seeking Gods wisdom on finances… he pointed to my kitchen table and showed me a stack of money… he said its right there. You just can’t see it… but its there.     You might think you can’t see it because you are in the dark… no you are not in the dark, you are in the preparation phase which can feel like the dark.   The Chinese Bamboo Tree (your example) Spends the first 5 years growing almost nothing above ground while developing a massive, deep root system. In the 6th year, it can grow 80–90 feet in just 6 weeks.   The Saguaro Cactus Grows extremely slowly — often only 1–2 inches in the first 10 years. It can take 30–40 years before it even grows its first arm. Then, once established, it can live 150–200 years and reach 40–60 feet tall.

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]  #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor  Taking up your cross" is often viewed through a lens of submission, but when analyzed through the mechanics of character and endurance, it reveals itself as a high-level feat of internal power. Here are three talking points on why this act represents the ultimate expression of strength: 1. The Mastery of Volitional Suffering True strength is rarely found in the absence of pain, but rather in the voluntary adoption of responsibility despite it. Most people spend their lives fleeing discomfort or seeking the path of least resistance. To "take up a cross" is to consciously choose a difficult path for the sake of a higher purpose. It requires a level of psychological and spiritual fortitude that far exceeds mere physical exertion because it involves silencing the primal instinct for self-preservation in favor of duty. 2. The Weight of Integrity Over Ego The "cross" often represents the heavy burden of standing for truth, even when it is socially or personally costly. It is easy to be "strong" when the crowd is cheering you on; it is a monumental feat of strength to carry a conviction that makes you a target. This represents the shift from external validation to internal alignment. It takes more "lifting power" to carry the weight of one's principles through a storm of opposition than it does to follow the momentum of the status quo. 3. Absolute Discipline of the Will In any high-performance endeavor, the greatest enemy is the "inner quitter"—the part of the mind that seeks comfort when the load gets heavy. Taking up your cross is the ultimate exercise in willpower over whim. It is a daily, repetitive commitment to a mission that offers no immediate physical reward. This type of endurance builds a "moral callus," transforming a person from someone who reacts to their environment into someone who purposefully shapes their character through sustained, disciplined action. This concept suggests that the strongest person in the room isn't necessarily the one with the most power over others, but the one with the most po

[email protected] The David Alliance  Garth Heckman   The Busy Man's Substitute     There is something about a man that would rather build something than bow to something. Give a man a mission and he'll work himself to exhaustion. Ask that same man to sit quietly in prayer for thirty minutes and he'll suddenly remember seventeen things that need to get done first. We are, by nature, doers. And somewhere along the way, we convinced ourselves that doing things for God was the same as being with God. It is not.   The Scripture "But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed — or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her.'" — Luke 10:40–42   Now before you say "that's a story about women" — slow down.   Martha is every man who has ever stayed busy for God while quietly avoiding intimacy with God. She wasn't sinning. She was serving. She was working hard, doing good things, keeping everything moving. And Jesus gently called it a distraction.   The Honest Truth About Why We'd Rather Work 1. Work gives us something to show for ourselves. Prayer produces nothing we can photograph, present, or point to. You can't put thirty minutes of quiet conversation with God on a report. But a new ministry program? A mission trip organized? A church built? That's something. That feels like proof we matter. The hard truth is that a lot of what we call "work for God" is really work for our own sense of worth. We need to feel productive. We need to feel useful. Sitting in silence with God doesn't feed that hunger — it exposes it. 2. Work keeps us in control. When you're managing a project, you hold the pen. You make the calls. You set the timeline. Prayer requires the opposite posture. It requires you to come to Someone greater than yourself, admit you don't have all the answers, and wait. For a man wired to lead and fix and solve — that is genuinely uncomfortable. We don't like waiting. We don't like not knowing. And prayer, at its core, is an act of surrender. 3. Work keeps us from the conversation we're afraid to have. Here's the one most men won't say out loud: sometimes we stay busy because being still means being honest. And being honest with God means the real stuff surfaces — the fear, the failure, the sin we've been managing around, the doubt we've never admitted to anyone. A project never asks you how you're really doing. God always does.   The Deeper Problem When a man substitutes work for prayer, he doesn't just miss out on rest — he starts running on his own fuel. And a man running on his own fuel will eventually hit empty at exactly the wrong moment. Every great project built without a foundation of prayer is just a man's plan with God's name on it. Moses didn't lead two million people through the desert on strategy. David didn't defeat Goliath on confidence. Nehemiah didn't rebuild the wall on project management skills. Each of them had one thing in common before the great work began — they had been alone with God long enough to know it was His work and not theirs. The work they did for God flowed out of the time they spent with God. That order matters more than most men realize.   The Gut Check Ask yourself honestly: When was the last time I prayed longer than I planned for a project? Do I know God's voice — or just His assignments? Am I building His kingdom or building my reputation inside His kingdom? If God called a halt to every ministry project tomorrow, would I still have a relationship with Him — or would I have nothing left to talk about?   The Invitation Jesus didn't say Martha's work was wrong. He said Mary's choice was better. The better thing is not always the bigger thing. Sometimes the most powerful thing a man can do for God's kingdom is close the laptop, silence the phone, sit down in a quiet room and say — "I'm here. Not to report. Not to plan. Not to ask for anything. Just — here." That kind of prayer doesn't feel productive. It doesn't look like much from the outside. But it is the one thing that turns ordinary men into dangerous ones. Because a man who knows how to be with God is a man God can trust with the work.   Closing Prayer Lord, forgive me for the times I mistook my busyness for faithfulness. Teach me that You want my presence before You want my productivity. Still the part of me that needs to perform — and grow the part of me that simply needs You. Amen.   "Be still and know that I am God." — Psalm 46:10

The David Alliance [email protected]  Garth Heckman Point 1 — Your Voice Creates Identity in Those Who Have Never Heard Their Name Called Right One of the deepest wounds of fatherlessness is not just the absence of provision or protection — it is the absence of being named. A father's voice is the first place a child learns who they are. When that voice is gone, the void doesn't stay empty. The street fills it. Culture fills it. Peers fill it. Trauma fills it. When a man speaks affirmation, correction, vision, and truth into a young person's life — especially a young man who has never had that — it is not a small thing. It is reconstructive. You are not just encouraging someone. You are building an identity that was never built. "The tongue has the power of life and death." — Proverbs 18:21 Words from the right man at the right moment can redirect an entire life trajectory. Don't underestimate what it means to simply say — "I see you. I believe in you. You have what it takes." Many young men are starving for exactly that sentence from a man they respect.   Point 2 — Silence Is Not Neutral — It Is a Decision With Consequences Many men stay silent because they feel unqualified. They think — "I have my own issues. Who am I to speak into someone else's life?" But in a fatherless generation, a good man's silence is one of the most destructive forces in a community. When men don't speak up — in homes, in churches, in neighborhoods, in the lives of boys watching them — those boys don't experience a neutral environment. They experience abandonment again. The absence of a voice teaches its own lesson: "You are not worth my words. You are not worth my time." "And I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap... but I found none." — Ezekiel 22:30 God is not looking for perfect men. He is looking for present ones. Men willing to stand in the gap. The bar is not perfection — it is availability. Your broken, imperfect, still-being-sanctified voice is infinitely more powerful than a polished silence.   Point 3 — Your Voice Has a Generational Reach You Cannot Fully See Most men who step up to speak into a fatherless generation will never know the full weight of what they did. You may pour into a 14-year-old boy for two years and feel like nothing stuck — and then that boy becomes a 30-year-old father who raises his children differently because of something you said that he never forgot. This is the nature of generational impact. You are not just speaking to the person in front of you. You are speaking to everyone they will ever raise, lead, or influence. The ripple goes further than your eyes can follow. "A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children." — Proverbs 13:22 That inheritance is not just financial. It is verbal, moral, and spiritual. Every word of truth, every moment of correction wrapped in love, every time you call out greatness in someone who couldn't see it themselves — that is inheritance. That is legacy. And in a generation starving for fathers, one man with a willing voice can father hundreds without ever being their biological dad.   Closing Charge to Men You did not choose the generation you were born into — but you were placed here on purpose. The fatherlessness around you is not just a social statistic. It is your assignment. Open your mouth. Speak life. Show up. The generation coming behind you is not looking for perfect men. They are simply looking for men who stayed.

The David Alliance [email protected]  Garth Heckman 1. Discipline over Impulse: * Weakness is being a slave to your temper or your ego. Strength is having the capacity for fury but the character for peace. The man who cannot control his temper or ego is not free—he is owned. Every outburst hands your power to the moment, the person, or the slight that triggered it. Real strength is keeping a loaded gun in your holster. You retain the capacity for fury (which earns respect when needed), but you keep the character to choose peace. That choice is what separates the slave from the sovereign. Impulse makes you predictable and weak. Discipline makes you dangerous and free.   Discipline Over Impulse: The Strength of the Sovereign Man   Introduction There is a lie our culture has accepted — that the loudest man in the room is the strongest. That the one who strikes first, speaks harshest, and bends to every impulse is somehow powerful. But Scripture tells a different story. True strength was never about what you can do. It's about what you choose not to do.   Point 1 — The Slave and the Sovereign "Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control." — Proverbs 25:28 A city with no walls isn't free — it's exposed. Vulnerable to any enemy that wanders by. The man who cannot govern his temper or his ego is the same. Every outburst is a breach in the wall. Every reaction hands your power to the person or moment that triggered it. You think you're expressing strength, but you're actually being owned — by your emotions, by your circumstances, by whoever knows which buttons to push. The slave obeys every impulse. The sovereign chooses his response.   Point 2 — The Loaded Gun in the Holster "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." — Proverbs 16:32 Restraint is not weakness. It is disciplined capacity. There is a profound difference between a man who is peaceful because he has no power, and a man who is peaceful because he has mastered it. One is gentle by default. The other is gentle by decision. God isn't calling us to be toothless. He's calling us to be trustworthy with teeth. The lion doesn't prove itself by attacking every creature it meets — its restraint is part of what makes it formidable. Keep the capacity for fury. Earn the character for peace. That combination commands respect in a way that raw aggression never will.   Point 3 — Impulse Makes You Predictable, Discipline Makes You Free "A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel." — Proverbs 15:18 When you live by impulse, you become readable. Anyone who wants to manipulate you simply needs to poke the right nerve. Your anger becomes their weapon. But the disciplined man is unpredictable in the best way — because he doesn't respond, he decides. He separates the stimulus from the response and in that space, lives his freedom. This is what the fruit of the Spirit is really describing in Galatians 5 — self-control isn't listed last because it matters least. It's listed last because it holds everything else together. Love, joy, peace — none of those survive without the man who can govern himself.   Conclusion The world will tell you to let it out, follow your heart, say what you feel. But undisciplined men don't build anything lasting — not families, not legacies, not kingdoms. The sovereign man understands that every time he chooses discipline over impulse, he reclaims a piece of himself that the moment was trying to steal. You were not made to be owned by your emotions. You were made to rule them — and in doing so, to be trusted with far greater things.  

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor    Canker sores   Mark 6:10 Also He said to them, “In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. 11 And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”   1. Release Responsibility — You Are Called to Deliver, Not Convince   Jesus draws a hard line: You are responsible for faithful delivery, not forced results.   The disciples were sent to preach, heal, and proclaim—but not to argue people into belief. When rejection came, they weren’t told to try harder… they were told to move on.   Core truth:   Rejection of the message is not failure of the messenger.   This protects you from:   Emotional burnout Needing validation Over-investing in resistant people   Application (especially for you as a leader/coach): You can preach truth, coach men, build movements—but you cannot make a man receive it. Some people are assignments… others are distractions.   2. Refuse Contamination — Don’t Carry What You Were Never Meant to Keep   In Jewish culture, shaking dust off your feet was symbolic: “I will not even carry the residue of this place with me.”   Jesus is teaching:   Don’t carry rejection into your next assignment Don’t let offense poison your spirit Don’t let one closed door affect your next open one   Core truth:   What you carry forward will either fuel you or infect you.   If you don’t “shake it off,” you’ll bring:   Bitterness into your next conversation Hesitation into your next opportunity Distrust into your next relationship   Application: Every leader must develop the discipline of **emotional clearance**:   Release the offense Drop the disappointment Refuse to rehearse the rejection   You don’t need closure—you need clean feet.   3. Recognize Judgment — Rejection of Truth Has Consequences   Jesus says something intense: It will be **worse than Sodom and Gomorrah for those who reject the message.   That means:   Rejecting truth is not neutral Ignoring God’s invitation is a serious decision Accountability increases with exposure   Shaking the dust wasn’t just emotional—it was a testimony:   “You had your opportunity.”   Core truth:   Light rejected becomes judgment received.   This gives weight to your mission:   What you carry matters What people do with it matters even more   Application: This should produce:   Urgency in your message Clarity in your communication Peace in your departure   You don’t leave bitter—you leave **witnessing**.      Closing Statement (Sermon Punch)    “I will not beg where I was sent to bless.  I will not carry what tried to bury me.  And I will not stay where God said move.”

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor      Acts 14 19 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 20 However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. 1. Persecution is Real, But God’s Purpose is Greater Paul faced brutal opposition—Jews from previous cities followed him, stirred up the crowd, and stoned him, dragging his body outside the city gates thinking he was dead. This shows the cost of bold gospel preaching. Yet Paul’s story reminds us that opposition does not equal defeat. God can sustain His servants through physical danger, rejection, and apparent failure. Application: When you face pushback for your faith—at work, in relationships, or in culture—remember Paul. The same God who preserved him is with you. Difficulty doesn’t mean you missed God’s will; it may confirm you’re on the right path. 2. The Strength of Community and the Power of Getting Back Up After the stoning, the disciples gathered around Paul, and “he rose up.” The text doesn’t say an angel appeared or a dramatic miracle was described—simply that faithful believers surrounded him, and he got back on his feet. This highlights two powerful truths:   We need each other. Isolation makes recovery harder. God often uses ordinary acts of faithfulness (gathering, praying, encouraging) to bring supernatural strength.   Application: Don’t try to endure hardship alone. Surround yourself with disciples of Jesus, and be the kind of person who runs toward the hurting instead of away from them. God specializes in raising up what the world writes off as finished. 3. The Mission Continues—Don’t Stay Down The very next day, Paul got up, went back into the city (the same place that tried to kill him), and then traveled on with Barnabas to Derbe. He didn’t quit, hide, or take an extended break. His resilience propelled the gospel forward. This is a picture of relentless obedience. The enemy’s best shot wasn’t enough to stop God’s plan. Application: What “stoning” have you experienced—failure, criticism, health issues, betrayal? Paul shows us the next faithful step is often just getting up and taking the next step in obedience. The mission is bigger than our wounds. Keep moving forward. Key Takeaway for the Whole Passage: Faithfulness to Jesus doesn’t guarantee safety, but it does guarantee that God can turn even stoning into a stepping stone for greater impact. Like Paul, may we rise up, lean on the community of believers, and keep advancing the gospel no matter the cost.

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor      Two mistakes in a mans life… caring about what everybody thinks… and Not caring about what anybody thinks. Both are extreme traps… What if you cared about what certain men in your life thought… men who were involved in a deep spiritual walk, men who were committed family men, men who were not ashamed of the gospel? What if you cared what they thought?    Men in todays world can make the mistake of looking for everyone's approval or not caring about anyones approval like personal autonomy. both have dangers. Can you give me a few talking points on this subject?Here are some clear, balanced talking points on the tension between seeking everyone's approval versus caring about no one's approval (extreme personal autonomy). Both extremes are common traps for men today, and both carry real dangers. You can use these as notes for a conversation, podcast, article, or self-reflection.   1. The Approval-Seeking Trap (People-Pleasing)   Modern culture (social media, corporate environments, dating apps) rewards constant validation-seeking. Likes, shares, and "being nice" get rewarded in the short term. Dangers: Loss of self: You slowly abandon your own values, goals, and boundaries to avoid conflict or disapproval. Resentment buildup: Constantly suppressing your real thoughts leads to quiet frustration and eventual blow-ups or burnout. Weakness signal: People (especially women and other men) subconsciously lose respect for men who need universal approval. It reads as low confidence and low status. Manipulation vulnerability: You're easily controlled by bosses, partners, friends, or social pressure.   Extreme version: The "nice guy" who finishes last because he has no spine.   2. The "I Don't Care What Anyone Thinks" Trap (False Autonomy)   This often comes as a backlash — "I'm sigma," "I'm my own man," "society is lame." It feels empowering at first. Dangers: Social isolation: Humans are tribal. Complete disregard for others' opinions cuts you off from feedback, alliances, and opportunities. Blind spots: No one is 100% objective. Rejecting all input means you never correct course on bad habits, poor decisions, or character flaws. Arrogance and immaturity: It can mask insecurity or emotional stuntedness ("If I pretend I don't care, I can't get hurt"). Practical failure: Career, relationships, and reputation suffer when you alienate everyone. Even high-agency men need sponsors, mentors, partners, and networks. Extreme version: The lone wolf who ends up bitter, alone, and wondering why life is so hard.     3. The Healthy Middle Path: Selective Approval + Inner Sovereignty   Strong men care deeply about the opinions of a small, high-quality circle — not everyone. Whose approval should matter? Your own (first), then people you respect: mentors, close friends with character, family worth keeping, romantic partners who have earned it, and competent colleagues. Whose approval should not matter? Random strangers online, low-character people, ideological enforcers, or those who don't have skin in the game with you.   Key principle: Internal locus of control combined with reality-testing. Judge yourself primarily by your own standards and results, not feelings or popularity. Use selective external feedback as data, not as your compass.   This builds real confidence: You're not fragile to criticism, but you're not delusional either.   4. Practical Advice for Men Today   Build a personal code or mission that is non-negotiable. When your actions align with it, external noise loses power. Practice "strategic disagreement": Be willing to politely say no or hold an unpopular view when it matters. This earns respect faster than constant agreement. Develop thick skin through exposure: Lift weights, take cold showers, face rejection deliberately (e.g., cold approaching, sales, public speaking). Emotional calluses help. Audit your relationships: Distance from chronic critics who drain you; invest in reciprocal relationships where honest feedback flows both ways. Remember biology and reality: Men are wired for status and competence more than constant emotional harmony. Chasing universal approval often clashes with masculine drive.   5. One-Liner Talking Points You Can Drop   "Seeking everyone's approval makes you a slave. Caring about no one's approval makes you a fool." "The mature man doesn't need the world's permission — but he isn't too proud to learn from worthy sources." "True autonomy isn't 'I don't care.' It's 'I care about the right things, from the right people.'" "Approval addiction is quiet self-betrayal. Total detachment is quiet self-sabotage." "Respect is earned through integrity and competence, not through people-pleasing or edgelord posturing."

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor      Ever stop and ask someone for directions and they start out calling out numbers, highways, street names etc… and your like whoa wait just a second… how about you give them to me like this…   Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.     The fastest way from A to B is a straight line… not so fast there skippy. That is not always the case.    Lean not on your own understanding… You may think you see the fastest way, it may actually be a straight line.. but unless it is Gods plan, you are fooling yourself.      The loom affect The trajectory of a bullet Parbolic arc

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor    Jesus spoke the truth even when it hurt. To the Pharisees, to the people of didn’t understand he was the bread of life, to the disciples… who do people say I am.. to Peter - get behind me satan, to Peter again you will deny me… he did not hold back. I belive he always spoke it in love, but nonetheless he spoke it. `   This is the "Hidden Invoice" for the leader. While you’ve focused on the financial cost to the company, the personal cost is often more devastating because it’s a slow-motion erosion of your professional soul. A banana in your backpack.    As a powerlifter, you know that if you have a hitch in your technique, you can muscle through it for a while—but eventually, that technical flaw becomes an injury that ends your career. Leadership is no different.   1. Burnout via "Emotional Friction" Avoidance is actually more exhausting than confrontation. The Insight: When a leader ignores a culture issue (like a Gen Z employee checking out), they don't actually stop thinking about it. They spend cognitive energy rehearsing conversations they never have, worrying about the "Contagion Effect," and managing the fallout of the dysfunction.   The Personal Cost: This constant "mental background noise" is what leads to burnout. You aren't tired from the work; you are tired from the friction of the things you aren't saying.   2. The Feedback Loop of Imposter Syndrome In your notes, you mentioned that Accountability must be seen in the top tier. When a leader fails to address a toxic team member or a lack of clarity, they know they aren't living up to their own standard.   The Insight: Every time you avoid a hard truth, you send a signal to your own brain: "I am not actually in control here." * The Personal Cost: This creates Imposter Syndrome. You feel like a fraud because you are wearing the "Boss" title but refusing to do the "Boss" work (which is the hard, honest conversations). You stop trusting your own judgment because you’ve stopped acting on it.   3. Career Stagnation & "Reputational Gravity" In the 2026 workforce, a leader’s "Vessel" (their reputation) is their most valuable asset. The Insight: People talk. If you are a leader who allows "Ambiguity Tax" to run rampant or ignores "Ethical Dissonance," that becomes your brand. High-performers (the "Gold Standards") will stop wanting to work for you. The Personal Cost: You find yourself "stuck" managing a team of C-players because the A-players have all fled. Your career stagnates because you can't hit the "High-Velocity" goals that get you to the next level. You become the leader of a "holding pattern" department.   4. The "Relational Debt" at Home This ties directly into your focus on how work helps real life. The Insight: You cannot turn off the "Avoidance Mindset" at 5:00 PM. If you are avoiding the truth with your Gen Z employees, you are likely training your brain to avoid the truth with your spouse and children. The Personal Cost: The stress of the "Unsaid" follows you home. You are physically present but mentally "reading the room" of your own household, looking for the same cracks you ignored at the office.   The "Diagnostic" for the Leader In your speech, you can give them this brutal metric to measure their own personal cost: "Look at the one conversation you’ve been avoiding for the last month. The mental energy you’ve spent avoiding it is likely 10x more than the energy it would take to actually have it. Avoidance is a high-interest loan; Truth is a one-time payment. Which one are you paying today?"  

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]    The NFL Draft….    Yesterday I got a new computer… no more lag time, no more excuses, no more late podcasts…   #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor    Westside training… its not how fast or how strong, its how long     1. Endurance Builds Christlike Character and Maturity   The Bible repeatedly links endurance (or perseverance) with spiritual growth and maturity. James 1:2-4 says: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Just like physical muscles grow stronger through resistance and stress, a man’s faith is forged in trials, temptations, and long seasons of waiting. Endurance teaches patience, self-control, and reliance on God rather than quick fixes or emotional highs. For Christian men, this is especially vital in roles as leaders, providers, and protectors—where short-term comfort often clashes with long-term faithfulness (e.g., staying committed in marriage, raising children, or standing firm at work).   2. Endurance Equips Men to Finish the Race God Has Set Before Them   Scripture portrays the Christian life as a marathon, not a sprint. Hebrews 12:1-2 urges: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..." Men are called to lead with vision and consistency over decades—through financial pressure, spiritual warfare, family challenges, and cultural opposition. Without endurance, many start strong but quit when it gets hard (ministry burnout, marital struggles, or discipleship fatigue are common pitfalls). Building this "muscle" means training through daily disciplines like prayer, Scripture, accountability, and obedience, so you cross the finish line faithful, not just enthusiastic at the start.   3. Endurance Demonstrates Faithfulness and Brings Eternal Reward   Endurance proves genuine faith and glorifies God. Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." Revelation also promises rewards to "him who overcomes" (a theme tied to endurance). In a culture that celebrates quitting when things feel unfulfilling, a man who endures models the steadfast love of Christ (who endured the cross for us). This strength inspires his wife, children, and church community. Practically, it counters the "spiritual ADHD" many men face—hopping between churches, commitments, or passions—and instead cultivates deep roots that produce lasting fruit for God’s kingdom.   Practical takeaway for building this muscle: Treat endurance like physical training—start small, stay consistent, embrace resistance (trials as workouts), and recover with God’s grace (Sabbath, community, repentance). Over time, it turns weak resolve into unbreakable spiritual strength. If you'd like Bible verses expanded, practical exercises, or how this ties into specific areas like marriage or fatherhood, just let me know!You've reached your full speed limit. We've moved you to a slower speed for now. Upgrade to SuperGrok for much faster reply speed.

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor    What’s the best bible? NIV, NLT, GV, NASB, KJV, NKJV, IOU, NBA, NFL or the one I love the Wuest translation…. But you wanna know truly the best bible version? Its the one you read.  Wuest Study bible is the best near greek experience in English for a bible.    1. The Crisis of Identity (The "Manual" Problem) Many men today are trying to build lives, careers, and families without ever reading the "manufacturer's instructions." When we don't know the Word, we define our masculinity by cultural trends—which change like the wind—rather than the unchanging character of God. The Result: A generation of men who are "spiritual orphans," unsure of their true calling or value. The Fix: Realizing that the Bible isn't just a history book; it is the primary source for a man's identity. 2. The Erosion of Leadership (The "Compass" Problem) A man cannot lead his family, his business, or his community to a destination he hasn't seen. Biblical illiteracy leaves men without a moral or spiritual compass. When a crisis hits, an illiterate man reacts based on emotion or instinct rather than responding based on Truth. The Result: Passive leadership at home and a lack of conviction in the public square. The Fix: Internalizing Scripture so that decision-making becomes an act of obedience rather than a guessing game. 3. The Power of the "Sword" (The "Weapon" Problem) In the New Testament, the Word of God is described as a double-edged sword. A man who doesn't know the Bible is essentially walking onto a battlefield unarmed. We cannot fight temptation, pass on a legacy to our children, or stand firm against injustice if we don't know the promises and commands of God. The Result: Men who are easily discouraged, defeated by habit, and unable to mentor the next generation. The Fix: Moving from "casual reading" to "intentional study," treating the Bible as a vital tool for daily survival and victory.   "A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to a person who isn’t." — Charles Spurgeon

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor    So what is it, Garth? What’s the most powerful question to ask as a salesperson? And I’m not talking about open-ended or close-ended questions here. You see, after being in the sales industry for 22 years, and coaching over forty thousand salespeople… I can tell you with no hesitation that every great salesperson I know asks themselves this question: “If I were the customer, would I buy this product?” Think about it. If the answer is YES. You’re no longer selling… You’re simply advising. You become an advisor, a friend. This is where selling becomes so easy and natural. But on the other hand, if your answer is NO. And if you find yourself trying to convince yourself to not feel guilty about the product you’re selling… That’s when all the objections, the struggles, and the embarrassing calls start to come up. Now having said that… Asking this question is so powerful, but it’s just the first step.   I was in a car ride with 2 other youth pastors and the one told me he grew up Christian light with a side of guilt. He would tell people how great Jesus was, and how much love he had for them and how fulfilling he was… but then he added - but not me- he can for you, but it doesn’t work that way for me. He said it took a solid 10 years to try to figure out why it worked for others (and he believed in it, he believed in Christ work on the cross etc…) but it just didn’t seem to work for him. After a long long long walk in faith he realized the difference was he did not fully understand Gods grace. As Spurgeon once said “grace is not grace until it is abused”. He came to realize that his whole walk up to that point was totally dependent on how well he performed. He would not let himself feel saved, righteous, loved fulfilled, hopeful etc… unless he knew he was not sinning for a long time… he had to earn it. Basically this mindset is “oh thanks for what you did on the cross Jesus, but its still completely dependent on wether or not I can earn it. Your death is null and void unless I perform on my end.  When he finally realized that it had nothing to do with him and all to do what Christ chose to do on the cross - it dug a hole so deep into his heart and filled it with humility…he was so humbled at what God would do for him… knowing he did not deserve it, he could not earn it and even more amazing he could not lose it. When you walk in that… everyone wants what you want. You go from evangelizing and hoping someday you experience what you are telling others - to actually having people see it in your life. 

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor    Here are 5 of the all-time greatest commercial catchphrases (often called slogans or taglines). These have endured for decades due to their simplicity, cultural penetration, and ability to stick in people's minds—frequently ranking at the top of advertising historians' and critics' lists for impact and memorability.   "Just Do It" (Nike, 1988) This three-word imperative became a global motivational mantra, transcending sports to symbolize action, determination, and personal achievement. It's widely regarded as one of the most influential slogans ever created.   "A Diamond Is Forever" (De Beers, 1948) Often cited as the single most recognized slogan of the 20th century, this phrase transformed diamonds into the ultimate symbol of eternal love and commitment, profoundly shaping the engagement ring market for generations.   "Got Milk?" (California Milk Processor Board, 1993) The simple, direct question (often paired with celebrity milk-mustache ads) boosted milk consumption awareness and spawned countless parodies and imitations, proving how effective a minimalist approach can be.   "Where's the Beef?" (Wendy's, 1984) Delivered by feisty octogenarian Clara Peller in TV commercials, this catchphrase exploded into pop culture, becoming shorthand for questioning substance or value. It turned a fast-food ad into a national phenomenon.   "Think Different" (Apple, 1997) This grammatically bold slogan (intentionally avoiding "differently") celebrated innovation and non-conformity, perfectly aligning with Apple's brand during its resurgence and inspiring creative   What was Jesus catch phrase?   Here are 5 of the most iconic and enduring "catchphrases" from the life and teachings of Jesus, drawn from the Gospels. These short, memorable statements have shaped ethics, culture, and language for centuries—much like modern advertising slogans, they distill profound ideas into punchy, repeatable forms that people still quote today.   "Do to others what you would have them do to you." (Matthew 7:12; also Luke 6:31) Known worldwide as the Golden Rule, this positive command summarizes ethical living and appears in various forms across cultures, but Jesus framed it as the essence of the law and prophets. It's a timeless call to empathy and proactive kindness.   "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:31; part of the Greatest Commandment with loving God) Jesus elevated this as one of the two core commandments on which "all the Law and the Prophets hang." It challenges self-centeredness and has influenced moral philosophy, social justice movements, and everyday ethics for 2,000 years.   "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) This bold "I Am" declaration defines Jesus' exclusive role in salvation and relationship with God. It's one of his most direct and theologically central statements, often cited in discussions of faith and exclusivity.   "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5:44) Part of the Sermon on the Mount, this radical reversal of "eye for an eye" thinking promotes forgiveness and non-retaliation. It has inspired figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and remains a challenging ideal in a world of conflict.   "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." (John 14:1) Spoken in the context of his impending death, this offers comfort and assurance amid anxiety. It's a concise message of peace through faith that resonates in times of trouble.   These phrases stand out for their brevity, depth, and cultural staying power—many have entered everyday speech (e.g., "turn the other cheek" or "judge not" come from similar teachings). Honorable mentions include "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find" (Matthew 7:7) and "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). Which of these resonates most with you, or do you have a favorite saying from Jesus' teachings?856msFast     What is your catch phrase?

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]  #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor    2. Poor Sleep and Chronic Stress Disrupted sleep and elevated cortisol (stress hormone) are major saboteurs. Poor sleep increases hunger hormones (ghrelin), decreases fullness signals (leptin), and promotes fat storage—especially around the midsection. High stress from work, life demands, or overtraining triggers emotional or comfort eating and makes the body hold onto fat as a survival response. Many men underestimate how much "just pushing through" with less sleep or high-pressure jobs undermines results.   Not to mention poor sleep causes poor eating habits which can cause inactivity which is muscle loss, which increases visceral fat.   How to address it: Prioritize 7–9 hours of quality sleep nightly. Manage stress with short daily practices (walks, meditation, or hobbies). Avoid late-night screens and over-caffeine. Have a sound machine, a fan, a night mask that blacks out all light, cut out late snacking and caffeine… whatever it takes sleep is king! 

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      #The brotherhood manifesto #TripleCsurvivor    Paul says to run the race… most men are not in shape to run.. and yes it will affect your walk with God.    Here are the 5 biggest obstacles to weight loss that men commonly face, drawn from patterns in a mans life -  While men often have physiological advantages like higher baseline muscle mass and resting metabolic rate (which can make initial fat loss faster than for women), these challenges frequently derail progress, especially with age, lifestyle, or unaddressed factors.   1. Declining Testosterone and Hormonal Imbalances As men age (often starting in the 30s–40s), testosterone levels naturally drop, leading to reduced muscle mass, a slower metabolism, increased visceral (belly) fat, lower energy, and greater difficulty burning calories. Visceral fat is particularly stubborn and linked to insulin resistance, which promotes fat storage and cravings. This creates a cycle where lower T makes weight loss harder, and excess fat further suppresses T. Many men overlook this and treat symptoms with generic diets instead of checking levels. How to address it: Get bloodwork for testosterone, thyroid, and insulin sensitivity. Strength training (especially heavy lifts), adequate sleep, stress management, and sometimes medical evaluation for replacement therapy can help restore the hormonal environment for fat loss.   Again I truly believe a man who is in health has a much greater advantage serving his wife, kids, employer and the church if he is in shape. Not muscle bound, not run a marathon… but healthy. 

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]  THE MAN   ABOUT 2 1/2 YEARS AGO I HAD A CHANCE TO TALK TO MULTI MULTI MILLIONAIRE… HIS FIRST QUESTION TO ME RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE “IF YOU WERE TO DIE TODAY WOULD YOU GO TO HEAVEN?  I ASKED HIM WHY HE STARTS EVERY CONVERSATION LIKE THAT? AT THE END OF THE CONVERSATION I SAID “HAVE YOU EVER BEEN AFRAID IT MIGHT COST YOU YOUR REPUTATION, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY OR MONEY?  HIS REPLY: I HAVE FOUND OUT OVER THE YEARS JESUS DOESN’T CARE ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK… HE BLESSES ME REGARDLESS!    Some day I will own a gym again, and when I sign people up on the contract I will have a place where I explain the plan of salvation to them… I may lose customers… but its always the gospel first!    When healing takes place, when forgiveness takes place it is the supernatural invading the darkness here on earth. YOU WALK AROUND LOOKING TO MESS UP SATANS PLANS! YOU ARE THE SECRET WEAPON!   Stages of faith seen in the scriptures. - You ask Jesus "if you can” Luke 5:12 Leper - You ask Jesus “if you are willing” Matt. 8:2 Leper - If I can only touch him Matt. 9:20 - If he touches me - He goes out and heals the masses - If he says the word - Matt. 8:8 The centurion - If I hear his word - Paul hears Jesus speak to him on Damascus - If I read his word - We read the Word and believe it  -  I AM HIS WORD 2 Cor. 3:3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. *Get people to Jesus at all cost (Mark 2:1-5 bring the paralytic man through the roof to Jesus)   -  What are you willing to do to bring people to the Gospel?   -  What are you willing to believe in order to get people to the Gospel?   -  What are you willing to risk to bring people to the gospel? 

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      Going to see G3 and not being able to get up front… but looking for a bathroom upstairs I walked in on him - “your Joe Satriani… Yes I am”.    Mark 2 When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. 2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word (OUR JOB- PREACH THE WORD OF GOD - Preaching Gods word always messes up the religious and the traditional) to them, 3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4 They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, (PEOPLE ARE SELFISH EVEN WITH THE BEST INTENTIONS) so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. (SOMEBODY’S GOTTA GET DIRTY - uh…thats not how we do things here - the religious are always quick to point out the “right way”) 5 Seeing their faith ( GK-auton personal possessive pronoun all 5 had faith), Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” (CHILD, I AM YOUR FATHER, YOU ARE MY CHILD, I DISCERN YOUR BELIEF - you believe in me therefore you are now my child/I am your Father)  6 But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”  (WHY DO YOU THINK THESE MEN SAW JESUS AS THE MESSIAH BUT NOT THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS?) 8 Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9 Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? (RELIGIOUS LEADERS TAUGHT THAT SICKNESS WAS DUE TO SIN IN A PERSONS LIFE - so healing and forgiveness were intertwined) 10 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 11 “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” 12 And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”   a series of controversy stories (Mark 2:1–3:6) that highlight growing opposition to Jesus from Jewish religious authorities       Both reveal Jesus exercising divine authority in ways that clash with first-century Jewish expectations.     Jesus first declares, “Son, your sins are forgiven”—bypassing expected healing and striking at the root issue.     (forgiving sins is “easier” because invisible and unprovable; healing is verifiable), and performs the harder visible act to authenticate the invisible one. The healed man’s immediate obedience proves Jesus’ authority as the “Son of Man” who exercises divine power now, not just in a future kingdom. The crowd’s reaction (“We never saw anything like this!”) underscores the unprecedented nature of the claim.   Taxi drivers in NY - get out now. Uber is coming. It will change everything.     This incident challenges the entire religious establishment: forgiveness is no longer Temple-bound but available through Jesus’ word; institutional mediators (scribes, sacrifices, Pharisees, Rules and Temple system) are sidelined.

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      Sermon Psalm 103:5    who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. NIV   Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s. KJV   He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s! NLT       Desires/mouth/Glory/years/….souls desires -  the inner most parts of a person.            With good things • The “good things” are both spiritual and tangible. Notice the catalog earlier in the psalm: – Forgiveness of iniquity (v 3) – Healing of diseases (v 3) – Redemption from the pit (v 4) – Crowning with loving devotion and compassion (v 4) • God never rations goodness. “He who did not spare His own Son…how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). • Every blessing in the heavenly realms is already ours in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).     Youth GK - Juvenality, young youthful (youth in all that you are. Energy, mindset, optimist)   Eagle A symbol of strength and renewal in the Bible, the eagle is often used to depict God's provision and the renewal of strength for those who trust in Him.   God's Provision God is the ultimate provider who satisfies our needs with good things. Reflect on how God has provided for you in both physical and spiritual ways.   Renewal of Strength Just as the eagle renews its strength, God offers us renewal and rejuvenation. Consider areas in your life where you need God's renewing power.   Spiritual Satisfaction True satisfaction comes from God alone. Evaluate what you are seeking for fulfillment and ensure it aligns with God's will.   Trust in God's Timing Trust that God will satisfy you in His perfect timing. Be patient and faithful, knowing that His timing is always best.   Gratitude for God's Blessings Cultivate a heart of gratitude for the good things God provides. Regularly thank Him for His blessings and provisions.       What Does Psalm 103:5 Mean Who David’s “who” reaches back to the LORD he blesses in verses 1-2. The focus is personal: the Creator Himself stoops to care for an individual soul. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). Because He is unchanging (James 1:17), His benefits listed in verses 3-4—pardon, healing, rescue, love—flow straight into verse 5.     Satisfies you • God does more than meet needs; He fills the deepest hungers until nothing is missing (Psalm 107:9). • Christ echoes this promise: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me will never hunger” (John 6:35). • Satisfaction here is ongoing, not a one-time event. The verb shouts continual provision, the way manna arrived fresh every morning (Exodus 16:4).         So that your youth is renewed God’s gifts carry a purpose: revival. The picture is inward vitality overriding outward decline. • “Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). • Renewal keeps us useful, hopeful, and energetic for service—never merely comfortable spectators. • Isaiah connects waiting on the LORD with fresh strength (Isaiah 40:31), showing renewal is relational, not mechanical.     Like the eagle’s The eagle embodies altitude, longevity, and vigor. Scripture often uses the bird as a snapshot of God-given strength. • Eagles soar above storms, riding thermal currents instead of flapping in panic—an image of trusting rather than striving (Isaiah 40:31). • They enjoy remarkable life spans, fitting the idea of youth being “renewed.” • The LORD carried Israel “as an eagle stirs up its nest…spreading its wings” (Deuteronomy 32:11); He does the same for every believer, lifting us above circumstances into His higher purposes.     summary Psalm 103:5 promises that the LORD Himself continually fills His people with every good gift, bringing deep, satisfying refreshment that restores inner vitality. Like eagles catching fresh currents, we are lifted by His grace to live energetically and purposefully, confident that His goodness will never run dry.

  Some pharisees even argued that it was illegal to pray for someone on the sabbath.    When is the sabbath? The determination of the "actual" day of the Sabbath depends on the religious and historical context, as different traditions observe it on different days of the week. Judaism: Saturday In the Jewish tradition, the Sabbath (Shabbat) is the seventh day of the week. It commemorates the biblical narrative of the seventh day of creation when God rested. Timing: It begins at sunset on Friday and concludes at nightfall on Saturday. Significance: It is a day of rest, prayer, and cessation from all forms of creative work (melakhah). Christianity: Sunday (The Lord's Day) Most Christian denominations observe the Sabbath on Sunday, the first day of the week. Reasoning: This shift occurred early in church history to honor the Resurrection of Jesus, which took place on the first day of the week. Exceptions: Certain groups, such as Seventh-day Adventists and Seventh Day Baptists, continue to observe the Sabbath on Saturday, citing the original biblical commandment to keep the seventh day holy.     THE ORIGINAL COMMANDMENT Exodus 20:8-11 THE COMMAND 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested (ABANDONED) on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.           The sabbath was given for man to rest and reconnect with God. Jesus said it was a day for Good… not evil. It was to Meet the deepest needs of man spiritual and physical renewal.       THE SABBATH: PRE-VIEW FOCUS ON GOD FOCUS ON WHAT HE IS ABOUT FOCUS ON WHAT ONLY HE CAN DO FOCUS ON HOW HE HAS USED YOU AS YOU SEEK TO HONOR HIM IN ALL YOU DO… Thats the secret!       The pharisees were mad that Jesus did not keep the rules… they were powerless, so rules are all they had to feel powerful!    Remember - rebellion is a false sense of power… but even if fake it sure can feel real… and taste good.  What rules do you hang on to when you feel powerless? We all do it.  DO YOU FIND IT EASY TO POINT OUT OTHERS WHO BREAK THE RULES? THAT STEMS FROM A PLACE OF POWERLESSNESS.    Have you ever said or thought “well at least im not as bad as them”. That is just simply your flesh acting out like the Pharisees… I have more power because I act better.   At least five things in these verses need special comment. 1. Remembering First, Israel is to remember the rest day. Sabbath means rest. "Remember the sabbath day," means, "Don't forget to take a day off.”     Remember: Make it a pattern. not just day off, NOT JUST A DAY YOU GO TO CHURCH…but a pattern of keeping it holy, focused on God and his works.      We live in a world where we revel brag and posture on how busy we are.... think about that for a minute... we are proud that we do not take time to focus on God, celebrate his holiness and goodness.     DON’T FORGET TO ABANDON!     It’s God showing us a discipline we all need more of. learning to say NO… No to people No to pressures and expectations No to purchases we think we need No to things we are not good at No to time that is spent on meaningless events   Abandon!

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]          Mark 2  23 One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. 24 But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?” 25 Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 26 He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.” 27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”      The Pharisees lived in cities… don’t miss the point. If they were following  Jesus they were a long way from home. They were simply there to find something wrong with him. ooohhhh people who spend all their time pointing out what others do wrong… powerless and religious!     The people were required to meet the requirements of the Sabbath… this is the law. JESUS NOW COMES TO FULFILL THE LAW     Lord even over the Sabbath.   The Pharisees tried to make the Sabbath Holy by following the rules… Jesus is Lord over the Sabbath. Its not about Rules it’s about Jesus being Lord of your life.     3 Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. 2 Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” 4 Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him. 5 He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! 6 At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus.     A great example of what happened to the sabbath could be wrapped up in what happened to healthcare. In the USA Churches started hospitals… care for the lost and poor If it was a country - It’s the 5th largest economy in the world  A paper pill cup on amazon is .2 cents, in a hospital it can be as much as $15 *what was once meant to be serving and healing is now consolidation, ownership for the sake of monopolizing profit!  its about the Benjamin's!  The pharmaceutical companies control the curriculum in the medical schools.      Some pharisees even argued that it was illegal to pray for someone on the sabbath. 

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      Did you know that yesterday EASTER was the exact anniversary of our Lord and Saviors death. Exactly 1,993 years ago on that exact day Christ rose from the grave.    Walking through the cemetery as a kid at night… We fear death.. Not birth Not life But death… we can’t relate.   I could claim to be born as a God I could claim to live as a God I could claim to die as a God But am I willing to CLAIM to resurrect 3 days later to prove it…   But because he did resurrect we now no longer need to fear death. He conquered it, he made a fool of it, he said where is your sting oh death. Thats all you got? And why wait 3 days until you come back to life?       1. Ancient Medical Understanding: When is someone truly dead?   In the ancient world (including Jewish and Greco-Roman thought), people didn’t have modern tools to confirm death (no EEG, no heart monitors). So they relied on observable signs:   What they looked for:   * No breathing * No pulse (very hard to detect accurately) * Body cooling * **Onset of decomposition**   The key issue: People could appear dead and revive (coma, shock, hypothermia)   So there was always a lingering fear: “What if they weren’t really dead?”   2. Why “Three Days” Became a Cultural Threshold**   In Jewish thought, there was a widespread belief (not formal doctrine, but common teaching) that:   The soul hovered near the body for about 3 days**   After that:   * The body began to visibly decay * The soul was considered fully departed * Death was **final and irreversible**   You see this hinted at in the story of Lazarus:   “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” (John 11:39)   That’s not just a detail—it’s a theological statement: “This is beyond recovery. This is real death.”     3. Modern Medical Insight: Decomposition Timeline   Even today, decomposition supports why 3 days is significant:   Within ~72 hours after death:   Rigor mortis comes and goes Autolysis** (cells breaking down) accelerates Putrefaction begins (bacteria causing decay) Odor becomes noticeable   By day 3, the body is unmistakably dead.   So even by modern standards: Three days removes doubt.     4. The Power of the Resurrection Timing   Jesus didn’t rise immediately. That’s critical.   If He rose:   * After a few hours → skeptics say “He fainted” * After one day → “Maybe He wasn’t fully dead”   But after three days: It destroys every natural explanation.   This is why the resurrection isn’t just miraculous—it’s strategically undeniable.   5. Biblical Pattern: “Third Day” = Divine Intervention   The “third day” shows up all over Scripture as the moment God acts decisively:   * Hosea 6:2 — “On the third day He will raise us up” * Jonah 1:17 — Jonah in the fish 3 days * Genesis 22 — Abraham receives Isaac back (figuratively) on the third day   The pattern: Day 1 = loss Day 2 = silence Day 3 = God moves   Jesus steps into that pattern and fulfills it.   6. Roman Execution Certainty   From a historical standpoint:   * Roman crucifixion was brutally efficient * Executioners ensured death (piercing, blood loss, asphyxiation) * Bodies weren’t casually misdiagnosed   So combine:   * Roman certainty of death * 3 days in the tomb * Sealed grave   The resurrection claim becomes *maximally bold*.   Bottom Line (Teaching Power Statement)   Three days wasn’t random. It was intentional.   It ensured that:   * No one could argue Jesus merely fainted * Death had fully taken its course * Resurrection could only be explained as supernatural     “Jesus didn’t come back early—He waited until death had fully won… and then He crushed it.”

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      Bearer of Measured Brutality.   Do You YOU, feel like I do! Peter Frampton comes alive…   Be the BOMB…  The man who would go off. Is it seen in your walk, talk, dress, your command of your kids, your eye contact, your voice, your mental involvement in your kids, your social setting awareness.   **Yes, I know exactly what you're referring to.** This comes from a 2017 interview with Jack Reynolds, a convicted child molester from Indiana who served over 12 years in prison for offenses in the 1980s (he claimed more than 300 victims). In the interview—conducted after his release and shared widely in child safety circles—he openly described his victim selection process.   One of the first things he assessed was the child's father. His exact words (from the interview footage and transcripts that have circulated): “If I thought the father was a threat, I would not approach the child.” He targeted boys who appeared isolated, from split or unstable families, or who lacked a strong, present father figure. If the dad seemed attentive, involved, capable of confrontation, or simply “in the picture” in a protective way, Reynolds moved on to easier targets. He wanted zero risk of exposure, confrontation, or interference—predators like him operate in secrecy and silence, and a vigilant father raises the stakes dramatically.   He scoped out potential victims in everyday places like school grounds, Little League fields, or neighborhoods, and he explicitly looked for vulnerability: no close friends the child would confide in, mothers who might welcome “help” from a friendly outsider (he’d position himself as a “superhero” offering to take the kid for outings), boys with little sexual experience, and families lacking strong values or structure.   ### Other insights from this and similar predator accounts This isn’t unique to Reynolds—multiple law enforcement interviews with convicted offenders (and research on grooming patterns) show predators treat “father presence” as a high-risk filter. Here are related patterns that consistently come up:   - **They prioritize low-resistance targets overall.** Beyond the father, they avoid kids who seem confident, assertive, or likely to speak up immediately. They test boundaries gradually (grooming) and bail if the child resists early or has a tight support network (close friends, involved siblings, or other adults who pay attention). Reynolds himself said he skipped kids “that he would tell” because the risk of the child disclosing was too high.   - **Absence or perceived weakness is the real opportunity.** Predators don’t necessarily need a completely absent dad—they exploit dads who appear distracted, disengaged, overly trusting, or unwilling/unable to act. The “threat” Reynolds described wasn’t just physical size or aggression; it was *perceived capability and willingness* to protect (being present, setting boundaries, staying alert). This is why child-safety experts emphasize that involved, visible fatherhood itself is a deterrent.   - **Grooming is calculated, not impulsive.** Reynolds stressed it wasn’t random or overnight—it involved scouting, building trust with the family, and exploiting cracks (e.g., a stressed single mom or a lonely kid). Modern versions often use social media for the same low-risk access, which he himself warned about in the interview as giving predators even more tools.   - **Broader deterrence themes from other interviews.** Similar accounts (from prison interviews and prevention programs) repeatedly highlight that predators scan for *opportunity + low consequence*. Strong parental involvement (dad *and* mom), clear family rules about strangers/adults, kids who are taught to recognize uncomfortable situations and report them, and communities where adults watch out for each other all shrink the “easy target” pool. Physical fitness or “intimidating” appearance can play a role, but consistent presence and boundaries matter more.   The core takeaway from Reynolds’ own words (and why clips of this interview keep resurfacing on parenting and men’s accounts) is simple: predators are opportunistic and risk-averse. They don’t want a fight or attention—they want silence and compliance. A father who is actively engaged, physically and mentally prepared to protect, and visibly part of his kids’ lives sends a clear signal: “Not this one.” It’s a powerful, evidence-based reason for dads to stay sharp, involved, and unapologetically protective. This interview was shared precisely because Reynolds hoped it would help parents close those windows of vulnerability he once exploited.             The Bible portrays fatherhood as a sacred responsibility that includes providing, guiding, disciplining, and actively protecting children—both physically and spiritually. While it does not contain a single verse that says "fathers must be aggressive defenders against predators," it repeatedly emphasizes a father's duty to guard his family from harm, sin, and vulnerability through presence, wisdom, instruction, and spiritual leadership. God Himself is often pictured as the ultimate protective Father, serving as the model. Key Direct Instructions to Fathers   Ephesians 6:4 (ESV): "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." This verse gives fathers primary responsibility for raising children. "Bring them up" implies nourishing and protecting their growth, while "discipline and instruction" involves training them in God's ways to equip them against moral and spiritual dangers. The warning against provoking anger highlights balanced, non-abusive leadership that builds rather than breaks. Proverbs 22:6: "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not turn from it." This calls fathers (and parents) to proactively guide children onto a righteous path, which serves as long-term protection from poor choices or harmful influences. Proverbs 13:24: "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him." Loving discipline is framed as protective care—guiding children away from folly and self-destruction. (This is balanced by calls for compassionate, non-exasperating leadership elsewhere.)   God's Example as Protective Father The Bible often compares human fatherhood to God's character:   Psalm 103:13: "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him." A good father shows tender yet strong care, knowing his children's weaknesses and shielding them. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (instructions to Israel, applied to fathers): "These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Constant, everyday spiritual instruction acts as a hedge of protection.   Jesus strongly warns against harming or causing children to stumble:   Matthew 18:6: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." This underscores God's fierce concern for children's safety and innocence, implying fathers (as protectors) must guard against those who would exploit or lead them astray.   Biblical Examples of Protective Fatherhood   Job: He rose early to offer sacrifices for his children, acting as a spiritual "hedge" around them out of awareness of their vulnerability to sin or attack (Job 1:5). This models proactive vigilance. Noah: He obeyed God to build the ark, saving his entire family from destruction (Genesis 6-9). Joseph (earthly father of Jesus): He protected the child Jesus by fleeing to Egypt to escape Herod's threat (Matthew 2:13-15). Broader theme: Fathers in Scripture are called to be providers, leaders, and defenders of the household (e.g., 1 Timothy 5:8 on providing for one's family, or the general principle of headship in Ephesians 5:23).   Broader Insights on Protection The Bible ties a father's protective role to:   Spiritual warfare and awareness: Being alert to dangers (physical, moral, or demonic) and trusting God while taking action (echoed in passages like Psalm 127 on the Lord watching over the house, or fathers as "watchmen"). Teaching and presence: Deuteronomy 6 and Proverbs emphasize daily involvement—being there, teaching truth, and building character so children are not easy targets for evil. Compassion with strength: Protection is not harsh control but loving guidance that prepares children to stand firm (Proverbs 14:26 links fear of the Lord with confidence and refuge for children).   In short, Scripture presents the protective father as one who is present, spiritually vigilant, disciplining with love, instructing in God's ways, and willing to stand against threats to his family's well-being—modeling God's own fatherly care. This aligns with the idea that involved, attentive fatherhood raises the "cost" for anyone seeking to harm or exploit a child. Many Christian teachings on family draw from these principles to encourage dads to be both tender shepherds and strong guardians. If you'd like specific translations, more context on any verse, or examples from Old vs. New Testament, let me know!881msFast