It's Time To Man Up! - Reconciliation & Restoration

This is Stu Epperson from the Truth Talk Podcast, connecting current events, pop culture, and theology, and we're so grateful for you that you've chosen the Truth Podcast Network. It's about to start in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it, and please share it around with all your friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. It's time for Christ, once the Russian nightmare, now the devil's worst nightmare, and your tag team partner, Nikita Kolov. It's time to man up. Do you believe God is a God of reconciliation and restoration? Nikita Kolov here with It's Time to Man Up, the devil's worst nightmare. Today, I'm going to share with you more of my story, how God restored a relationship with my earthly father through the power of reconciliation with my heavenly father. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says this, All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. Some of you know my story of salvation, 17 October 1993, where I found myself at an altar about 11 months after I left the world of professional wrestling. That walk, that walk to the altar, that surrender forever changed me, forever changed my future, and it changed my life. It went from what I call success to fulfillment on that day, and it set me on a path.

It set me on a journey that never in a million years would I have ever dreamed I would have done half of what I've done now. And the things I did in wrestling, some of you know my wrestling history, some of you know that story of walking into wrestling with no training and no background and no experience in wrestling. And within just a matter of months becoming a world champion, tag team wrestler, 13 months in becoming, or getting in the ring against the nature boy Ric Flair. Woo, some of you remember that guy, and wrestling him in the very first ever Great American Bash, I don't know, 25, 30, 35,000 people, how many were there for the world heavyweight title and many of the championships that I won along the way. Best of Seven Series against Magnum TA, the World Television Title Unification Match against Terry Taylor, Starrcade 87, the Jim Crockett Cup Tag Team Tournament with the American Dream, Deathly Road, the Atawa of Powah, too sweet to be, powah if you will. I mean these matches and so, so many more, the legendary chain matches, the Russians against the Road Warriors, the infamous matches, the superpowers against the Four Horsemen, and on and on and on it goes. And of course, walking away from wrestling and as I said, finding myself at an altar, well that decision would lead me on this course, this journey that fast forward to today, looking back now, having traveled to 30 different countries, 30 different nations, all 50 states, preaching and ministering, crusades and revivals, and gosh, the smallest audience, an audience of one, the largest audience, over 73,000 in Jamaica.

I actually had my ministry partner, my tag team partner, Lex Luger with me there in Jamaica and I'm reminded though, when I asked you the question at the opening of the show, do you believe God is a God of restoration and reconciliation? Pretty amazing to look back on the story with my dad, with my father, he, give you a little backstory on that, he left when I was about three years old and I have very little recollection, very little memory of him in my life as a young man growing up, all the way even through my teenage years, we were a product of welfare because at the time my dad did not support my mom. I was the youngest of four. She was a teacher's aide. She worked at an elementary school as a teacher's aide for actually over 40 years, well into her 70s.

She just loved giving back that way, but we struggled. We struggled financially, therefore we became a product of welfare. My earliest days began in what I affectionately call the projects or the ghettos of Minneapolis, Minnesota. And eventually my mom would make our way out to the suburbs, out to a suburb called Robinsdale, where I would spend my teenage years and became actually an entrepreneur at a young age. I remember in the sixth grade I got a paper route, a delivery of newspapers, and that began my years as an entrepreneur and fast forward all these years later, I still consider myself to be an entrepreneur in addition to a minister of the gospel.

But that said, my dad would eventually come back into my life in my college days. I went to a college ironically in Golden Valley, Minnesota called Golden Valley Lutheran College. Now, I didn't go there to study about Jesus just like straight up, right, like for real. It was a Bible college, but they were the number one junior college football team in the nation at the time. And I was already familiar with several of the coaches. In fact, the very first male mentor that I had in my life was my seventh grade football coach, a man named Bill Burke. And he was the defensive coordinator over at GVLC as we called it. And he was instrumental in and really encouraging me to come there out of high school to play college ball. And so I did, and it was there that my dad would then begin to reenter my life.

Let's say it that way. He started coming to some of the football games, and I do recall, you know, especially the home games, we would, in fact, I can even visualize right now how after the game we'd go to Denny's restaurant for a bite to eat, he and I. And yet the relationship was very superficial. I mean, very the conversations were very surface level. I mean, you know, we talk about the game. Of course, we talk about the weather. We talk about, you know, the Minnesota Vikings.

I mean, it was just not any real depth to the conversations and that that went on through my college years. Eventually, I would transfer to a school called Moorhead State University in Moorhead, Minnesota, and finish out my college career there. And he actually made the trip up there. Quite an amazing man in this sense. He rode a motorcycle well into his 80s. He was riding, he loved riding motorcycles, and he'd ride his motorcycle, make a three hour drive up to Moorhead to watch the football game and then drive home. And so we had that level of relationship in those college years. And post college, you know, my sights were set on playing in the NFL, playing professional football. And of course, I got a phone call, a random call one day from a dear friend of mine, Joe Laurinaitis, who many of you know at the age of 60 just recently passed, way too young in my view. But more than just a friend, he was like a brother and I was like a prodigal son to his family.

They embraced me. I actually recruited him out of Irondale High School in New Brighton, Minnesota, to play college football with me. He turned it around and recruited me into professional wrestling. And that's what launched my career in wrestling. But it was post graduation from college and pursuing a professional football career, I get into professional wrestling. And coming up and shortly, you're going to hear a little bit of my dad's testimony. And I'll just kind of give you a teaser there because he actually talks about how he felt or what he thought about me getting into professional wrestling.

But I have this career in wrestling. I still don't have much of a relationship with him. I would travel back to Minnesota to visit family. My sister still lived there and nephews and nieces. And of course, my mom, when she was alive, I would travel back to see her during the holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas time during those wrestling days, during my wrestling career.

And I would maybe see my dad for, oh, I don't know, a couple hours, you know, while I was there for the holiday. And that was really about the extent of my relationship with my dad. And then something happened along the way. Along that journey, I was attending a conference in January of 2006. A dear friend of mine, Bruce Birchfield and his lovely wife, Lisa, were facilitating a conference called Blessing Generations.

And they were working with a ministry out of Colorado called Family Foundations International, Craig Hill. And this whole conference was about how, as a father, our role in speaking blessings into our children. And it was kind of patterned after the Jewish model of, if you're familiar with the Friday night Shabbat, when the Jewish family would all get together for dinner every Friday night. This is still a tradition.

I have Jewish friends who still do this, I mean, thousands of years. A Friday night Shabbat, it was the father's role of going around the table to each of his children and speaking blessings over their lives and words of encouragement and a vision for their future. And so Craig Hill kind of took a page out of the Old Testament and made a Christian version of that. And so this conference was going to teach us as parents how to speak those blessings into our children's lives. And it was on that first night of the conference that God really convicted me. And if you're familiar, or maybe you're not, there's a scripture in the Bible.

Let me just share that with you. There's a scripture in the Bible in Exodus, chapter 20, and it says this, Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God has given you. It's one of the commandments, one of the 10 commandments and a commandment with a promise. And it was on that night at this conference, this blessing generation conference, that God really convicted me. And he said, call your mom tomorrow, call your dad, and I want you to ask them for forgiveness. Repent and ask them for forgiveness for those early formative years and not honoring them. You know, I thought through that that night and I thought, you know, I wasn't around my dad that much, so I don't know how much I dishonored him.

However, the Lord's asking me to do it, right? My mom, that was a whole other story. I mean, she raised me as a single mom. There were plenty of times that I was dishonoring to her, no doubt. And so the next morning I did, I made that call.

I was obedient to do what the Lord asked me. I made that call and I said, you know, to each of them. And my mom was funny, I mean, because as only moms will do, I'm like, hey, mom, God, you know, put this on my heart. I just need to ask you, you know, to forgive me.

I just want to repent and ask you to forgive me for, you know, those days growing up when I know that I know that I had dishonored you on more than one occasion. And she listened and was very, very polite. And at the end, she's like, wow, I forgive you. And then she followed like every mom would, I suppose. But you weren't a bad boy growing up. And I'm like, oh, mom, if you only knew the half of it. There's things I did you don't know about, nor am I ever going to share with you. She lived to be 93 years old. So she lived a very full and long life, but she forgave me.

So there was release number one, right? My dad, the conversation with him, I just felt like, well, you know, I kind of anticipated what his response would be. And it was pretty much what I thought. And I just, and I've essentially said the very same thing, dad, if, you know, growing up, if you feel like I dishonored you in any way and, you know, Lord, just put this on my heart. I just, you know, want to repent and just want to ask you to forgive me. And he was, again, very gracious. And the interesting thing, though, with my dad, there was one other thing the Lord put on my heart to say to him that I had never said before. And so before I hung up the phone, I said, Hey, dad, I go, I go one more thing.

And by the way, he was a man of very few words. He, you really had to kind of pull a conversation out of him. A pastor said one time, your dad doesn't say much, but when he does talk, it's pretty profound.

And I would have to agree with that. But I ended this conversation by saying, dad, one more thing. He goes, uh huh. And I go, I love you, dad.

Now I was 46 years old. I had never said that to my dad. I wasn't looking for any kind of reciprocation, honestly. And, and basically what I got was what I, if you, if you want to say what I maybe expected was, well, thank you. You know, there was no, I love you too, son or anything that was just like, thank you. And I'm like, all right, talk to you later, dad. And, and, and so that, that released something though, in the heavenlies, like for real.

And this will be probably another story for another time. Cause even with my own children, even the very next day, there was some things with my oldest daughter, Taryn, that were released, um, through my obedience to call my mom and dad and ask them for forgiveness and repent for dishonoring them. You know, the interesting thing about that scripture and that promise, notice what it doesn't say. Now I read to you what it does say, but notice what it doesn't say.

It doesn't say honor your mother and father. If they're a great mom and dad, if they're, you know, off the chain, if they're over the top, it doesn't say any of that. I mean, you may be out there listening today and you're thinking, you don't know my dad. He's, he's horrible.

He's bad. You know, or my mom was the worst or, you know, whatever you might think of your mom and dad. I get that. I mean, I could clearly look at mine and go, okay, my dad left when I was three. He wasn't the best dad on the planet, was he, and had very little, you know, interaction with him. However, you know, I wanted to be obedient to that scripture and just honor them. Now I didn't have to necessarily be their best friend or, but, but scripture clearly says, honor your mother and father. And here's what you need to know, no matter how good or bad or your view of your mom or dad. The God of the universe, the creator of all things chose the two of them and their DNA to create you.

So no matter what, no matter your perspective of your own parents, if you want to live that long life and, and, and gain the promise of that scripture, then we have to honor them. The other thing God put on my heart then was to continue to call my dad and on a more regular basis now. And so I began to do that.

I called him more frequently and, and ended every conversation that we had with the same words. Dad, one more thing. I love you. That's nice.

Thank you. You know, just those kinds of responses from him, you know, and he was, of course, grew up in a different era. Keep in mind, he was, he was 83 at the time. I was 46.

He was 83 at the time. And, and so I just consistently stayed on that, in that groove, calling him fast forward to, to March of 2006. And I went, I went on a man camp and it was there that, that the Lord had me, had me write a letter at the camp to my dad and then a letter from my dad. Or you might say a letter that I would, things I would want to hear from my father, right?

My earthly father. And I did that. And then lo and behold, of course, the Lord prompted me to actually mail that letter to my dad. And I'm like, like, for real?

Like, do I have to really do that? So I did. Again, I was obedient. I mailed it to him and I got a very, very brief letter several weeks later from my dad, appreciating the fact I sent him and just kind of laid my heart out there to him.

While consistently making these phone calls and concluding each call with, I love you, dad. That was in March of 06. Fast forward now to May of 06. It's his birthday, Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, 2006. And I called to wish him a happy birthday. And, and so the Lord was, I think, really working in his heart and, and of course, continuing to work in my heart. And something happened on his 84th birthday.

Something changed. From that conversation, as I began to conclude the call and say one more thing, dad, I love you. He reciprocated for the first time in his life at age 84 and said, I love you too, son.

And that was amazing, right? And that, that process from January of 2006 to May of 2006, set us on a path that would bring together the restoration of a relationship, a father-son relationship that I had not had for 45 plus years. God reconciled that relationship, restored that relationship.

And guess what? He began to travel some with me and churches brought him in to share his story, his testimony. And it was like a tag team, father, son, and Holy Spirit. He would share his testimony. I would preach and the Holy Spirit would show up and do its thing. And we would see other story, hear other stories of restoration and reconciliation. On that note, I want you to hear his testimony right now. And it's such a blessing and again an honor to have my father, Pete Simpson, to share his heart with you for a few minutes this morning.

Will you welcome him as he comes? Amen. There are some parallels in our lives. We both came to Lord late.

I have to take responsibility, at least for part of it, for him coming late. I drank to excess for 25 years. And in 1970, I had hit rock bottom and I knew something hadn't changed. So I thought, well, maybe there's a chance the door is still open. So I went to church one day and it was just like the Lord throwing his arm around me.

1970, 37 years. And I was still fog up when I think about it. Psalm 40 says, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the Miami clay. And he set my feet upon the rock, making my footsteps firm. Well, fortunately, it was the Lord that was patient.

It wasn't me. I didn't have much time for the Lord there. I was walking with Satan and it got worse and worse and worse. And one of the really frustrating things about it was when the Lord delivered me from alcohol and I found out I had more fun when I was sober than I did when I was drunk. It was really an insight.

And of course, when I found out that Nick got involved in wrestling, I thought, oh Lord, he's gone. No hope now. We never cloud that. But God is power.

Isn't our God wonderful? So the Lord delivered me from alcohol. He did it just like that, but it took a little longer with tobacco. I came to the Lord in 1970 and it wasn't until 1980. I kept praying and I'd say, Lord, when are you going to deliver me from tobacco?

Finally got to where I was getting the same answer every time. You quit and I'll help. So I did and he did.

And again, he just delivered me instantly. I read about these people having so much trouble quitting smoking. Well, I know about that. I quit several times. I got to the point where I was only buying one pack at a time and I'd say, well, after this is done, I'm going to quit. But it gets to the point where you have to, in your heart, really want to quit. That's the reason that people have that problem is they don't really want to quit.

They enjoy that and they'd rather keep on with it. But again, it demonstrates the power of God that they just instantly delivered me from that. And I never had a desire to smoke again. Back in the days when you got that courtesy bottle of wine, some of you aren't old enough to remember that. We were flying out to California and I told my wife, I'm going to drink that, just see what happens. And that little bottle, about that big. And I drank it and nothing happened.

I didn't have any effect and didn't create any desire to have another one or two or three, which is always my problem before. So anyway, I do thank and praise God for what he's done in Nick's life and the way he's using him. And I thank him for the privilege of taking a part for just a little bit in his ministry. And I just want to give God the praise.

Isn't there God wonderful? As you can hear from his testimony, he could barely tell it ever without without getting so emotional when he grabbed the old rugged cross. But the Lord taught me a number of things through that reconciliation restoration with him and my earthly father and my relationship with my heavenly father. And he blessed me to be able to be with him on his final father's day.

In 2016 and share stories that I had never heard before that may have to be for another time. But all that to say, I was there in his passing. He lived to be 92. I was there in his passing. And on the very last words out of his mouth when I was leaving his room on the last night, as he muscled himself, he said, And on the very last words out of his mouth when I was leaving his room on the last night, as he muscled himself up out of his chair to give me a hug. Something else he wasn't comfortable with doing, but he got comfortable. I made him get comfortable. The very last words out of his mouth that I'll forever cherish and hold on to were these.

I love you, son. And that is a story of reconciliation and restoration. Men, I would like to challenge each of you to consider spending five days with Lex Luger and I at Man Camp, pursuing the heart of God. Ladies, if you're listening, we'll send your men home better equipped to be men of God, godly husbands and godly fathers. God appeals to you. Give them your blessing and encourage them to sign up today at mancamp.info. Pastors, if you would like to bring Koloff for Christ Ministries and Man Up Conference to your community, go to koloff.org and email me. Remember this, it's time to man up.