John Eldredges

Nakita Kolov, the Russian nightmare.

No, the devil's nightmare here. From it's time to man up. Challenging men to step into their true manhood. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it. Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. So we picked a very special episode, one of the most popular that we've ever done, of an interview with John Eldridge.

And so how fun. You get to sit back and listen to that. Remember, this show is not live today, so there's no sense in calling in.

There won't be anybody here to answer the phone. We're so grateful for you listening, and we'll be back live next week with Kingdom Pursuits. Kingdom Pursuits, where you hear from ordinary people instilled with an extraordinary passion. Together we explore the stories of men and women who take what they love and let God turn their passion into Kingdom Pursuits. Now, live from the Truth Booth, your host, Robbie Dilmore. Well, here we are, Sam. It's New Year's Eve. Is that what it is? It's something like that.

We're in the eaves, that's for sure. Well, on Kingdom Pursuits, talk about taking your passion and use it to build the Kingdom. In my own world, in my own ministries, one of the neatest things that God's taken my passion is with the Masculine Journey radio. And Masculine Journey radio inside of that is very much connected to the ministry of John Eldridge. And so we have a real treat in the store today, don't we?

We do. It's amazing. I know John's usually always got a lot of stuff going on, but whenever you get the opportunity to speak with him, I know without the work that God's done through him, none of us in this room would be the same. I mean, God does the changes, but he's used John and blessed John in some ways. It's just been amazing to really just move my heart so much closer to God and affect generations to come in my family, which I'm excited about.

Yeah, absolutely. For those of you who may not have heard of John Eldridge, he wrote the book Wild at Heart. He does Ransom Heart Ministries up in Colorado. He was the originator of the boot camps that we talk about all the time on the Masculine Journey. And so everybody in the room today, if you want to introduce everybody, Sam, we've got the whole team here. Yeah, we've got a good portion of them. Andy's with us today.

You'll hear him on Masculine Journey, and Brian, and Harold, and you and I. And most of us met through the boot camps. Some of us met outside the boot camps and have gotten closer through those. But, man, just I can't talk enough on how much God's blessed John's ministry and made a huge impact in my life.

Yeah, and for those of you who know Corey, he got tied up and couldn't come in today. But literally, he came to Christ as a result of that and then the boot camp that he came to last time. And you think of the way the kingdom is literally expanding based on the idea of a band of brothers. And really, that's one of the main questions you want to ask John is, when we get him on today, which he is coming up, we're scheduled to have him today on the show, he's written this new book. It's called Restoration Year, a 365-Day Devotional, which is really a different format for him, Sam.

I've never seen one of his books in this format, but it's similar to your own format. It is. I think it's that daily dose of life comes at you and tries to strip you, it seems like, most of the day.

I don't know of anybody that life doesn't come at them sometimes pretty hard. This gives you this daily boost, this little push back to God in a way that anchors you for what you need to do throughout the day. Yeah, I am just totally fascinated, and for me personally, and I know for you, Andy, the daily prayer, which is also from John, is a big part of our life, right? Yeah. I mean, I spend at least an hour a day kind of with John in that he wrote the daily prayer that originally was the format of what I use, and so it's kind of neat that I get to spend that time with God, but as a result of originally his intimacy.

That's true. I've heard a lot of good things about the daily prayer. I'll have to admit that I haven't fully integrated it into my daily, because it is a daily prayer. I haven't fully integrated it in my daily, because it is quite long, and it does take effort, but spiritual growth does take effort, but I will say the devotional similar to John's daily readings that he sends out via email, and he takes excerpts from the books, and what's really good about that is I've read them all, but you have a tendency to forget what the content was, and to have that on a daily basis, and then you go back, and you'll see the reference to the book, and it's like, oh, yeah, that really spoke to me at that time, and it seems to be timely, or a reminder of something where maybe you hadn't really considered that thought in a while that you probably need to have some kind of a recurrence of it, so I'm really excited about having the book itself, because it's just nice to have something on hand to be able to do the daily devotional. When I read Wild at Heart, it led me into just such a different impact, different change, that every one of his books that I've read become my favorite. You know, I'd read one and go, man, it can't get better than that, and to watch God work through John, then he went into what ended up becoming the, well, I'm trying to think of it, the stages, right, where he really unpacked some of that father by God, and walked you through that, and you go, man, how can he get better than that? One of my other favorite books he did was Waking the Dead, where he did a lot of, I think, talked about Jesus' teachings and preachings and how they were in four streams, and just the way that he anchors you back to Scripture in a different way has really been pretty cool. Well, the thing that fascinates me, Sam, in your own story, it was his, and again, this book, like so many of John's books, is aimed right at your heart, because he realizes that's where the action is, and that was the miraculous thing that happened in your own life that led to your own book.

It did. I went to a boot camp, it was an advanced boot camp, and John did some teaching on the good heart. You know, so many people anchor themselves into the Scripture that says the heart is wicked, you know, you can't trust it, basically, right, the paraphrase, and John really opened my eyes to, yeah, that's true until you receive Christ in your life, right, and then he puts in a heart of flesh and removes a heart of stone, and for me, just the awakening of the good heart, you know, really led to what became Good Heart Ministries, which eventually became a book of a daily devotional, you know, and all that, you know, God took through from my path, a lot of that was led through John, you know, in the way that he has a way to reach. Everybody has someone that speaks to their heart in a certain way, you know, and John's been that kind of person for me, you know, that when I've seen him live or I've heard him on tape or read his books, there's just something about that that really helps take me to God in a much different way than I've ever seen. And so it's almost like there was a gigantic paradigm shift or, you know, awakening of your own heart, and so interestingly, that led you back to God and back to the Scriptures, which you saw in a new light, and that led to the devotional, so tell us a little bit how that worked, you know, when you began to go there.

Yeah, it's like many things with God, you know, he, for me anyway, he takes me on a journey that I never intend to go on. It started, I was at a company in Indiana, and I felt God say, hey, let's do a little Bible study. So three or four of us met, you know, every couple weeks and did a Bible study. And then I was reading, preparing for the Bible study, and I'd find a scripture that really spoke to my heart.

And so I just would send it to those three or four and just say, hey, this is a cool scripture. And then that kind of grew over time. And then it became where I would write some things God would lay on my heart about that scripture. And that ended up becoming what was called Bible verse of the day and watch God grow that ministry to where it went from that company to, I don't know, it went out to 1500 people a day across six continents. It was just amazing to see God grow that. And then at some point, God said, I want you to make this a book.

Like, yeah, I'm not gonna do that. You know, the confirmations that would come, you know, you know, God has a way of just kind of saying, reminding you, and I would get an email from somebody out there I didn't know and say, hey, why don't you put these in a book format, you know, and that really became a thing that, you know, I wrote this book and put together these daily devotionals and just watch God really work in my life and visiting those devotions again. And, you know, interestingly, we have Harold here is our oldest team member, never failed to mention that makes us feel better.

Well, if you're as old as me, Harold, it's just nice to have somebody that's a little bit older. But anyway, you know, as I as I think about Harold's story, you know, he, he, his wife, and he started coming to my Christian Businessmen's Committee meeting in Mocksville every week. And this, you know, John Eldridge's ministry and all these things that led up to boot camps really had a profound effect on you even in retirement.

Yeah. Well, one of the things that I've been thinking about here the last few minutes, we're missing John's call. And I thought back to our last boot camp, John teaches about spiritual warfare. And I didn't know so much about that, even though I've been a Christ follower for most all of my life.

And oh, that's perfect. See, when we come back, we're gonna find out about spiritual warfare and maybe why we haven't been able to get up with John Eldridge. So all of you listening might be praying that this will be able to get through John. And we can find out more about the book, but in the meantime, I'm dying to find out about Harold. So we got that coming up.

Stay tuned. So much more Kingdom Pursuits coming at you. And oh, by the way, I don't have a riddle today because we were expecting this full-time restorative year. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion from you. And uses it to build the kingdom today. We are talking about John Eldridge's new book, The Restoration Year, that has just come out. It's a great 365-day devotional, and boy, it's a really great thing to really begin to think about what you're gonna do in 2019 and how God and you could grow in your relationship over the year. When we left our hero, Harold, he was sharing how, you know, God kind of came after you in the last few years.

Yeah. When my sweetheart and I started attending your meeting, I was encouraged to attend a boot camp. And I guess I'll be like Cory and admit that I went under duress, like, you know, I don't really want to do this. But to please Robbie and my sweetheart, I did. And found out that it was something that really meant a great deal. It was a really good experience for me. And I had not previously had a, quote, band of brothers. I didn't know what I was missing. But since then, I have become a part of this group.

And guys that are outside boot camp, I never would have met, wouldn't have had an opportunity to know any of them. And yet, we share a love for God, a realization that we need all the help we can get. Because like I said earlier, before the break, I didn't really understand spiritual warfare like I do now. I don't claim to know all of it, but I do know now that there's a battle taking place that is going on and the devil is wanting my soul with all that he can do. And I need to have a band of brothers to help me fight against that, be aware of what's going on in the unseen world around me.

That's an amazing thing to learn and to realize just how precarious our life on this earth is. Darrell Bock Yeah, that idea of a band of brothers would have been something. I thought I had it. I'd been a member of Christian Businessmen's Committee probably for 15 years. And I had these men and I prayed with them every week.

So I thought I knew their story pretty good. But as we got deeper into understanding what it means to put on a mask, what it really means to be authentic with your brothers and tell them what you're really struggling with, and the whole idea of those things came into an intimacy in a group that you really don't get unless you understand some of what the Scripture teaches on that whole area of hiding. Dr. Darrell Bock You've got hiding, you've got the spiritual warfare, you've got the good heart we talked about. As God opens your eyes, as his coverings are lifted from your eyes and you can see more clearly, you really, to walk with a group that understands those concepts as well.

There's not a place that I can go and be more vulnerable than I can with this group I'm in here and be able to share my heart and know, A, I'm not going to be judged or B, their hearts are good towards me. And that doesn't mean they're always going to say things I want to hear. But they're going to say things out of a good place that usually lead me right back to God, which is where I need to be. And I think that the power of that, the power of being able to walk in that is just amazing.

Dr. Darrell Bock Yeah. And that's the interesting thing to me is I could, it's like God came after me in this way. In other words, I was a complete heathen car salesman all those years. And then my relationship with Christ, he put me in Christian Businessmen's Committee.

I had a group of men that I regularly prayed with and understood those kind of certain parts of that. But then he brought Sam and Darren and you guys into my life to take me deeper, and deeper we went. And then you get to watch new folks come in like Brian. And Brian, you know, you've been with us for, what, three, four years? Brian And it's been a journey for you to kind of get to the point because as you might could tell, Brian's not like, oh, goody, I get to talk on the radio. But God's enabled you to be able to face some things and get closer and just share from your standpoint.

Brian Yeah. So, I mean, the boot camps, I went to my first boot camp four years ago, I think, with Masculine Journey. Yeah, I mean, God's been taking me outside my comfort zone for a long time now. You know, I would never have thought that I'd be on the radio. Like why am I even here, to be honest with you, but this band of brothers has meant a great deal to me. And I wouldn't be where I'm at with my family. He's done a great deal of my life on the home front for me. Without this message, I wouldn't be who I am today.

So I'm certainly glad to be here and with, you know, John Eldridge has meant a world to me in my life, along with this band of brothers. Darrell Bock Well, in our tradition of talking about somebody when they're not here, Corey couldn't make it. But the story we understand, and I've never got to hear it, so I thought it might be interesting to hear it from your perspective, because I've heard it a little bit from Corey's perspective. But the outcome was Corey came to our last boot camp, received Christ, and then got baptized right there and is turned into this phenomenal disciple.

I've never seen anybody just so hungry and thirsty and just, man, just amazing to see what happened. But from what he tells us, about a year or so ago, he tried to quit, and Brian is his boss. And so I would like to go back into that story for a minute and tell us what happened with you and Corey.

That day, here comes this guy, obviously he must be a pretty good employee. I've heard that from several sources. What happened? Corey Scherer Well, long story short, obviously, we don't have to forever, but – Darrell Bock You can make it long. Because we're waiting on John Eldridge.

John Eldridge Yeah. You know, Corey was going through some tough times personally. That was pretty evident. But he came to me and said, you know what, I just don't think I can do this anymore. I think the stress was getting to him. There were a lot of things going on behind the scenes that he just couldn't take.

And he, you know, basically said, you know, I'm going to put my notice in and I'm going to quit. You know, I continued to kind of seek out his heart. Darrell Bock Okay. So that's – before you got there, you had sort of a get together that you did last year that was sort of like a boot camp where you took some guys off, right? John Eldridge I did, yeah. Darrell Bock And was he in that group? John Eldridge Three or four guys. No, he was not. Darrell Bock Okay.

Go ahead. John Eldridge Yeah. So I met Corey about a year ago, a year and two months ago. I think he started with us. But basically he said, I'm going to quit. And, you know, it was three or four days later, I was still going after his heart, you know, you can do this, right?

You know, you can do this. And finally, he kind of broke down and said, you know, I think I made a bad decision and I'd like to stay on if you'll let me. And of course, I was willing to let him. I knew he could do the job. I knew he could get through all the stress, you know, took that opportunity to, you know, talk a little bit deeper with what was going on in his personal life and just listen to what he had to say. And I think it was a really good time for us. At that time, I invited him to a boot camp for the masculine journey. Turns out, I couldn't even go to the boot camp, which was pretty interesting altogether. But it was good to see him, you know, come to Christ.

I don't know if y'all saw the email that John Eldridge sent out with their boot camp that they did in Australia. But there was a individual who was baptized. Great news.

Perfect. Go ahead and finish your line, though, because you were talking about somebody was that John had sent out an email that somebody was baptized. Yeah, they sent a video out that one of the participants wanted to be baptized. So, you know, here is this video of John Eldridge baptizing a brother in Australia.

And in our band of brothers, Corey was actually baptized in the lake at our last boot camp. So it was really neat to see the parallels. Oh, wow. And we're blessed now to have with us John Eldridge's new book, Restoration Year. Welcome, John. Hey, guys.

How are you doing? We are just thrilled. Absolutely thrilled. And maybe you got to hear that for a moment that you had sent out that video of the man being baptized at the boot camp in Australia at the same time at our last boot camp in November. We had a young man accept Christ and asked to be baptized in the lake there here at our boot camp.

Isn't that beautiful? And we're just thinking about the fruit of your ministry. You don't know this, but you're being joined by all the band of brothers here from the Masculine Journey radio show that, you know, we all are disciples, believe me, of your ministry and your boot camps and those kind of things. We've been doing them for a number of years. So we are excited about your book. Tell us a little bit about it. Oh, you know, I love devotionals.

I think they work because they're short. The truth is, I've got eight books on my shelf right now, and I've only read the first chapter of all of them. People don't have time to read, you know? So what I wanted to do was put out something that was short and simple, you know, kind of a daily pause where you could read a scripture, kind of hear a thought, and then a guided prayer that just helps us reconnect with God in a busy world. Oh, man, and that first entry where you talk about getting a word for the year, I can tell you all the guys in this room have experienced this at a personal level, and what that has done for our lives. Just that one little piece of the book, if people took advantage of that, the intimacy that that leads to for your whole year is unbelievable.

Isn't it helpful? I started practicing that, well, a number of years ago now, and Stacey and I do it, and we would do it with our kids when they were at home, when our kids were younger. We would sit down somewhere around, you know, the first of the year. It doesn't have to be on a specific date, but somewhere as you're starting your year, and the thought really has two parts to it.

One is consecrate your year. I hate to interrupt you, John, I really do, but we've got a break coming up, and this is definitely a subject that you're going to want to hear about, that we're going to talk about, which is his first entry in Restoration Year by John Eldredge. We've got so much more Kingdom Pursuits coming up. Please stay tuned.

We'll be right back. We're updating the studios here at The Truth Network, and so we're not able to do Kingdom Pursuits live today, so we picked a very special episode, one of the most popular that we've ever done, of an interview with John Eldredge, and so how fun, you get to sit back and listen to that. Remember, the show is not live today, so there's no sense in calling in.

There won't be anybody here to answer the phone. We're so grateful for you listening, and we'll be back live next week with Kingdom Pursuits. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom, and we are more than blessed today in this last show of 2018 to have with us John Eldredge and his new book, The Restoration Year, which is a 365-day devotional and right before the break, John, you were sharing about your first entry, January 1st, where I love this, where you talked about what would your theme—to ask God the question and listen for what would be your theme for this upcoming year for me, and there's just no way of explaining the fruit in my life of this concept of asking God a question like this and listening.

Yeah it's huge. It's huge, and what I was suggesting was to take the first step of just consecrating your year to Jesus, to his leadership, to his love, do it as a family. I do it personally, we do it in our ministry, we just say, Lord, we consecrate our calendar to you. Like, we give you the choices we're going to make about how we spend our year, we consecrate our funds, we consecrate our play, our vacation time. Consecrate your year to Christ, and then ask him, Jesus, what are you saying over our year?

Do you have a word for us, do you have a scripture, is there a theme to the year? And now that we're almost out of 2018, I can share one of my words over this year that Jesus spoke was health, and I thought it was kind of strange at first, because I'm normally a healthy guy, and that's not a category that I tend to worry about, I'm grateful to say, but it actually ended up being huge for this year, because we had a number of things come in, some accidents, some injuries, some sickness, some surgeries in our family, and to just pray, praying health, praying life, letting Jesus guide us into that was very reassuring. It was almost a promise over the year, but also some guidance in some direction.

Like you said, over the years, it's just been a huge practice for us. And I adopted it in my own way, John, because I've been doing this a couple years, because you've had it on the podcast at Ransom Heart, which is an amazing podcast, I couldn't recommend it any higher than any podcast I've listened to, that, you know, he's been talking about this a number of years, and I adopted it to the point where not only do it for the year, but I asked for one every day. And like this morning, I had a Christian Car Guy show to do, and I was a little unsure where I was going, and he came right in and said, Robbie, we're talking anointing, and he gives me this word, it's just phenomenal. But what it does for me, and I know Andy's here, Andy, he gave you a real blessing this year.

He did, but first of all, if you're asking for him for a day, you're going to run through the dictionary pretty quick there, Rob. He gives me the same one time and again, believe me, there's a lot of times that he brings me, yeah, oh yeah. I hear you. So yeah, mine was clarity this past year, and for me, going through some of the life situations I had, I really thought it was going to be specific to that. But it made a whole great impact on my life because it was so much more than that. There was clarity that I got on my place in the kingdom. I mean, I kind of, you know, really got to be part more of the ministry here. There was a lot on just the kingdom itself and just, you know, family stuff, things that wasn't necessarily my situation that I thought it would be about.

But God's good like that, and he gives you what you need. I heard some of the other words from the other guys and it's kind of envious, but clarity was perfect for me last year, and we were talking about this on our recent masculine journey radio podcast that, you know, sometimes there's an expectation that he continues on that theme in a different vein. I'm kind of interested to see what this year's word will be, but we'll see. Yeah, that's the neat thing about doing it, John, is that you got to kind of let go of that one word for the year, which is hard, and you get a new one.

I know, I know, towards the end of the year it's become so precious to me that I almost wait to ask for the next one, because I don't want to let the current one go. The idea is, it's actually, we're building on it, right? It's not that, you know, love doesn't continue as a theme, or clarity doesn't continue, course code, you know, wants to continue that. We want to just build into something new. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it, too, just taking some time, getting quiet, consecrating the year to Christ, and just saying, God, what are you saying over the year? What are you speaking to me? Do you have words of hope?

Do you have words of promise for me? And then, guys, write it down. Don't trust yourself to remember it.

I put it on a three-by-five card and I tape it to my computer, because I forget. I forget. And then later, it's like, oh, yeah, that was amazing. Hey, John, this is Sam. I had a question for you. We talked in our last radio show this last week about, you know, everybody getting this advanced word, and several of us have gotten one for the year. But what was really cool was to see how the words he gave individuals last year kind of contributed to the whole group. Now, in your band of brothers that you walk with, have you seen God kind of intertwine the words that maybe you have, or Bart has, or some of the other guys, to where they really impact each other?

Yeah, of course, right? Because you're doing life together. And if the friendship's appropriate, if the intimacy's there, you want to know, hey, what's your word, or what's God speaking, so I can be an advocate for you in that. And so I can help you remember. And so I can help you interpret things. You would do with our adult children now, and to remind them, oh, well, don't you remember, you know, the unexpected bill comes, you know, the kids are sick, whatever it is, and then you can, oh, don't you remember what God said over your year, you know, He promised abundance. And I know it doesn't feel like abundance right now, but let's continue to pray, pray into that so we can, by all means, fight for each other's hearts in that way.

Exactly. It's, uh, John, I'm excited, you know, personally for this book quite a bit that, you know, your books that God's laid on your heart over the years have just meant so much to me, starting with Wild at Heart, Father by God, Waking the Dead, and I can go on just, you know, how much they've broadened and brought me deeper in my walk with Christ and with the Father, and obviously the Holy Spirit as well. But I'm really excited about these little glimpses each day that, you know, is what I've always loved about your writing is you'll make a point, but then you'll always take people back to God, you know, and take them back to that source, and I'm excited about the daily reminder of, hey, life's busy, but here you need to get back here with God every single day and anchor yourself, whether that's with a word, whether it's with the reading. I'm excited about the impact the kingdom's going to get from this book, and I thank you for writing it.

Oh, thanks. Yeah, and there's a theme to this book, in fact, it's, you know, a lot of devotionals, you know, over the 365 days, you're going to get 365 very different thoughts, and that's fine, you know, God can be very in that, but what we tried to do with this one, it is focused on restoration. So it's a bit of a guided journey, sometimes through prayer, sometimes with just a question at the end of the reading to think about, but the purpose being seeking more wholeheartedness this year, seeking more restoration from our past, seeking more wholeness in Christ, seeking more of the life that He has for us, so that the idea of restoration here is, this won't be kind of a potpourri or a smattering, a smorgasbord, you know, of different thoughts, there's really an overarching purpose to it, we're looking for more restoration. Now I find it fascinating that you, you know, your word was healing last year, and then here comes this book on restoration, and we always know from your ministry that it's aimed at the heart, which is one of the most delightful things about it, but you add that into restoration, and I heard you say something, it may have been in a podcast is where I heard you say it, but it's so profound, it's just kind of guided me all year, was that one of Satan's primary objectives is just to destroy your union, and they'll get between you and him, and if he can do that, then that's the opposite of healing, the opposite of restoration, and so much of what you've got there is going to help with that word that goes back I guess a couple years for you, to union, and end up at healing. Yeah, yes, that's big, I'm glad you brought that back up, because whatever the assault is, you know, it could just be chronic disappointment, it could be a traumatic event, it could be a betrayal, you know, by a loved one, or by a church against you, but the attack always ends up being against your life with God, your trust in Him, your confidence in Him, your union with Him, and it's good for us to name that, because above all else, you want to protect that, and that's the frequent prayer of mine, Jesus, heal my union with you, because the assault is persistent in the world that we live in, oh God, heal our union with you, because it's from our union that everything else flows, our hope, our strength, our life, our passion, you know, everything.

Yeah, and like the daily prayer, it appears that the book is aimed as well at helping us understand the life that comes through the resurrection. Yeah, yeah, I don't know why this is, but most Christians have a hard time kind of keeping front and center the idea that God is very committed to your wholeness, to your restoration, you know, the miracles of Jesus, the words of Jesus, you know, the healing of the blind, the raising of the dead, all of it is designed to drive home the message, and the message is restoration. God is a restorer. He's a restorer of relationships, hearts, and lives. Well, I hate we have another break, but we do, so we have one more segment with John and his new book, The Restoration Year, a 365-day devotional, again, you can go to KingdomPursuits.com, and click on it right there, you can order it from Amazon, and we've got so much more coming up.

Stay tuned. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom today. We are so blessed to have the team from Masculine Journey, but more importantly, John Eldridge, whose new book, Restoration Year, is now available, which, as Sam pointed out, you know, RansomHeart.com is just like this phenomenal resource, so yeah, you can go to Kingdom Pursuits and find it, but you go to Ransom Heart, and there's so many resources there, it's just unbelievable. Just the, you know, from the books, the videos, the tribe is amazing, you know, just the stuff you can get from there by joining it, and just, you know, how much that's really meant to us, you know, individually and collectively as a group has been pretty cool. John, as you talk about the Restoration Year, it takes me back to my very first boot camp out at Frontier Ranch years ago, and one of the entry things that you say or spoken is, you know, Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost, you know, and I was one of those people that had always heard it as the lost, right? And just looking at this, saying, okay, this is all about recovering what's been lost, and a daily reminder that the enemy comes every day and tries to steal, and he tries to rip away and take away joy for me is a big one. You know, I got to be constantly reminded of the enemy's trying to steal that joy, which for me is the entry way to everything else, you know, and so just going back to just that one passage even and how much that really leads back to that restoration. That's such a good, that's such a good verse, the Son of Man came to seek and save all that was lost, all that was lost. So hopeful, so good to go into the new year with that, Jesus restore the things in me and in my life that the enemy's trying to steal. I happen to think, Sam, when you mentioned that he's trying to steal your joy, and I was thinking about the joy that we were thinking about before the program started, and then Satan gets involved and we don't get John for a good little bit, and that was what I was referring to earlier about our boot camp, this last one.

You know, you tore your legs up, you couldn't be there, and Robbie has a problem, and Darren has a problem, and it's like, okay, Satan's trying to destroy the whole thing, and yet look how it turned out, what happened with Cory, and so he lost again. Way to go, guys, I just want to share that, way to go, way to press through, that's phenomenal. The warfare sometimes is there, but yes, with your encouragement so many times, believe me, and I know Andy feels the same way, that weekly podcast you guys do is just hugely refreshing for us, right, Andy?

It is. I was telling Robbie, it was probably a couple years ago, but I ended up going to the Tetons and was out there in the West for some time, and ended up, I think I had 80 podcasts built up that I hadn't listened to, because I just had started listening to them, and I listened to them, almost like 40 of them during that. You binged. I binged. That was a binge.

It was a Netflix. Exactly. So I came back and talked about it a little bit, and I think all of us have started listening to them, and they're a weekly occurrence, definitely, so they definitely have blessed my life, and I know the team's. You went out to Colorado as a result.

Absolutely, yeah. We came out last summer, and that was a great time. You know, I wanted to get some time with you, John, but you're a busy man, and I felt like it was better for others, but it was really a good time. We've been to the boot camp, and I think our team does an excellent job of replicating it, but there's something different about, and this is what the team said, there's something about going to Colorado and experiencing it there, and just having the team there, and had some time with Alan when we talked. It was right before we had him on for a discussion about his book, and so it's really been cool being a part of the ministry and just staying in touch with the Rance and the Heart message.

I obviously have to try a member or whatever, but one thing I wanted to ask you, too, John, I think Brian and I both were talking about it before the show a little bit, a couple of things. I read All Things New last year, and it was really good, and it really gave me a different perspective of what's on the other side of what heaven's going to be like, or when things are fully restored, I read their daily reading from yesterday, and it was talking about we're created for happiness, but with the understanding that happiness doesn't fully come until all things are restored, there's that, and then there's this idea that here on this side of the earth, there's all these things I wanted to do, the bucket list. Well, the bucket list can be completed because eternity is eternity, and we'll have that opportunity, and those things that he's put in our heart, we'll have the opportunity to do so much, but you really didn't think about it. You do think it was like the eternal worship service in the sky, which is, we'll definitely enjoy worshiping them, but it won't be, we'll be experiencing our hearts, so I got that from it, but then what Brian and I were actually talking about, just to give the background of where I was going, was the fact of what will the kingdom of the animals will be like in heaven, and how we'll experience those, and we'll, there'll be, I believe the Bible clearly defines that there'll be animals, but what will be the nature, and we'll have our own there and stuff, so maybe you can speak a little bit about that. I know it's a little bit different type of topic, but I think as much as we have an affinity to animals here on this side of the, and pets here on this side of heaven, that it's an important part that it may be, this is coming from the third grade class question, but hopefully, they're all kids at heart, so. No, it's critical, it's critical, and it's not off-track, it's right in the theme of restoration, we just have to ask, does God destroy, or does he restore? He loves, he loves, he loves to restore, and so in Romans 8, a lot of Christians haven't even heard this, Romans 8, Paul makes it very clear that this creation, he says all creation, this world, including the animal kingdom, has a day of redemption. It groans, Romans 8 says, for the day of its restoration, when the sons and daughters of God are revealed, and then of course, you have the promise of the restored earth, right?

I saw earth restored, Revelation 21. God does not destroy, he restores. He does not destroy the animal kingdom, he restores it, and can you imagine a new earth without any animals?

Why would he do that? So all those beautiful Old Testament prophecies in Isaiah and in Jeremiah, the wolf will lie down with the lamb, right, the bear will graze with the cow, their calves will play together. Those prophecies are talking about the restoration of creation. So yes, animals in the kingdom of God, Jesus comes back on horseback, you think there's just one animal, there's one horse in the whole kingdom of God?

Exactly. So we've got to get that straight, that the earth is restored, creation is not destroyed. God is a restorer. And then it comes down very, very personal. We just lost our dear family dog last month, and that's a heartbreaker for people.

It can just be so devastating to go up on the mountain behind our house and bury our beloved dog. God cares about the things you care about. He cares about the things you care about. And when Jesus promises the kingdom to Peter in Matthew 19, 28, and 29, he says, Peter, all of the things that you have lost are going to be restored to you. And then he gets very specific and very surprising.

He says, houses, land, I mean, he's trying to make it very concrete. I'm not going to destroy the things that you care about. I'm going to restore them. So of course, your beloved animals are restored to you in the kingdom of God. Of course they are.

Well, hopefully they won't get me up at five in the morning wanting to go to the bathroom. Exactly. Jon, sorry, this is Sam again. You know, one of the questions I wanted to ask you, you know, as we, and you spoke about this, as you know, you can't out give God, you know, and so as you wrote this, you know, God laid this on your heart, how did he work for you in that restoration process? If you don't mind sharing, you know, what did this book do to your heart as you put it together and walked with him in it? Yeah, well, actually, if we go back a couple years, my word over the year was restoration. And I didn't know at the time that was going to be a year where I would take a sabbatical. I'm a hard-charging kind of guy, and I love to get stuff done.

I mean, I just, whether it's in my garage at home or it's in Mission around the world, I just love to get stuff done. And I needed to take a break, I had really fried my soul, and I wasn't, you know, drinking, I wasn't having an affair, but I was fried, man. I was cooked, and Jesus spoke the word over the year, this is your restoration year, and then through the course of the year, he brought these beautiful things to me. Sometimes a very deep healing prayer with some friends, some processing of old griefs that I had not dealt with. And through the course of the year, time in the wilderness, time on the river, nature heals.

Ah, nature is so healing. And through all of that, it ended up, the theme of the year ended up really coming true, was restoration. And what a gift that was, and that, yeah, that was a big part of the inspiration for writing a devotional that actually had a theme to it that would take people through a journey of restoration.

Wow. And so, can you give us a snippet that's inside there somewhere that you feel like, wow, I can hardly wait until they read this one? I think lost hopes. I think hope is big, and I think hopelessness. I don't know if you know this, but the suicide rate in the U.S. is insane right now, and we need to restore people's hope, so that's what I'm stoked about.

Wow, you have no idea how disappointed we are that this show's over. We got the precious chance to talk with John Eldredge. His book, Restoration Year, a 365-day devotional, again, RansomHeart.com, unbelievable resources, all of them. Join the tribe. Do what you can do. You will not be disappointed by any of their podcasts and what's going on there.

So RansomHeart.com. Thank you, John, so much. God bless you, and God bless your year. Yeah, I'm cheering you on. I'm cheering you on. Way to go. Thanks, John. Thanks, John. This is the Truth Network.