Coach Matt Hennesy || The Caleb Gordon Podcast

It was great getting to sit down with Matt Hennesy the new head coach for the Bartlesville Bruin Football program. It was great hearing his journey and his exciting plans for the B'ville football program! I hope this conversation lifts you up this week and into the weekend!

This episode is sponsored by:

Revo Financial

Ash Cigar Co

Copan Restaurant and Truckstop

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This holiday season, please show your support by shopping local thank you!

**This podcast No frills. No edits, just me talking.**

I saw something this weekend that honestly gave me chills, in the best way.

Young people are done. Gen Z and Millennials are walking away from their screens on purpose. They’re doing digital detoxes, deleting apps, setting hard limits, all because they’re tired of feeling foggy, anxious, and lonely even when their phone says they have 300 friends. They want to think clearly again. They want to sleep through the night. Most of all, they want to look someone in the eyes and feel something real.

While the tech world keeps shouting about AI companions and virtual realities and metaverse everything, regular people are quietly craving the opposite. They want to touch grass. They want long dinners that nobody films. One report I read said that soon you’ll actually be able to hire “professional walkers,” people whose whole job is to meet you and go on a walk while you talk about life. That’s where we are.

We were never built for this much screen. God made us for real rooms, real voices, real hugs that last too long. The internet promised connection and delivered isolation wearing a smiley-face mask. The damage is everywhere now: kids who can’t focus for ten minutes, teens who cry when their phone dies because that’s where their whole social world lives, young adults who have never had someone just sit with them in silence.

This is the moment the church has been praying for, even if we didn’t know it.

Today’s students aren’t begging for another movie-clip sermon or a worship night that feels like a Coldplay concert. They’re desperate for something that feels old and true and solid. They want to sing songs that grieving widows sang a hundred years ago and still feel the same ache and the same comfort. They want to open a real Bible, paper that smells like paper, and read words that have outlived empires.

Pastors, leaders, friends: please hear this.

Stop trying to out-cool the culture. You don’t have to. The culture is exhausted from trying to be cool. Just give people Jesus. The real One. The One who touched lepers and flipped tables and washed dirty feet and said “follow me” to the biggest messes in town.

Sit with your people. Open the hymnal. Sing “Amazing Grace” like you mean it. Then open Scripture and read it slowly, out loud, like it’s the first time anyone has ever heard it. Let the room get quiet. Let the tears come. Show them that two thousand years later, this story still grabs the heart and refuses to let go.

Jesus is not boring. He is not outdated. He is better than the best filter, the funniest reel, the most immersive VR world ever built. He is alive, and when people meet Him for real, everything else starts looking like the cheap plastic it is.

The world is waking up hungry. They’re walking out of the noise looking for a table with room for them, a story big enough to live inside, a Savior worth giving their whole life to.

Church, they’re knocking. Open the door.

Life is so much better on the other side of the screen. I’ve seen it. I feel it. And I believe with everything in me that the best days are still ahead.

**LISTENER OUTLINE

**Philippians 3:12–17**

1. The Goal of the Christian Life (vv. 9–11) --RE-CAP from last week.

• Paul’s deepest desire: to know Christ—His resurrection and His sufferings.
• The prize is not heaven itself, but Christ Himself.
• Being “found in Him” is better than any righteousness we could produce.

Key truth:

Knowing Christ fuels everything else in the Christian life.

2. Pressing On: The Perseverance of the Saints (v. 12)

• We have not yet reached perfection, but we keep moving toward it.
• Like a marathon runner, the Christian keeps pressing forward.
• What matters is not the speed of the start, but the faithfulness of the finish.

Quote – Steve Farrar, Finishing Strong:

Strong men stay in Scripture, stay close to accountability, stay away from temptation, and stay alert to the enemy.

Key truth:

Saved people persevere because Christ is holding them.

3. Forward Focus: Forgetting What Lies Behind (vv. 13–14)

Paul warns against two traps:

A. Romanticizing the past

“We used to be so strong… things were better back then…”

Nostalgia can freeze people where God wants them to move forward.

B. Being crushed by the past

Failures, wounds, and sins can become stumbling blocks we never get past.

Either way, the result is the same:

We stop moving forward.

Key truth:

The Christian life is forward-focused—the goal is to know and obey Christ more deeply than yesterday.

4. Numbering Our Days (Psalm 90:12)

• Every day is a new opportunity to know Christ better.
• Wasting time looking backward weakens our effectiveness today.
• “Teach us to number our days” means:
• Live intentionally. Don’t drift. Make Christ our pursuit.

Illustration idea:

Hours until your next birthday—what will you do with them?

5. The One Thing That Matters (Psalm 27:4)

David’s one request:

• Seek the Lord
• Dwell with the Lord
• Gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

Key truth:

When we know Christ deeply, everything else—priorities, loyalties, desires—is transformed.

6. Marks of a Mature Christian (v. 15–16)

• Maturity means seeking Christ above all else.
• When we drift, God lovingly exposes it so we can repent.
• Our call: hold fast to what we’ve already attained.

Key truth:

Mature Christians keep moving forward—even if slowly.

7. The Company You Keep Shapes Your Maturity (vv. 17)

• Surround yourself with people who love Christ deeply.
• Those who chase earthly things will pull your heart that direction.
• Paul models a singular focus:
• “I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

Key truth:

You will drift in the direction of the people you follow.

Closing Big Idea

Everything else—good or bad—must be left behind as we press forward to know Christ more deeply.

The race isn’t over.

The finish line is ahead.