Speaker 1: 1:23

Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I'm your host, chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, guys, it's your spiritual kickoff episode. I'm excited to be here with you. Let's get right into the word, okay? So we're in the book of Exodus this week. Exodus, chapter 3, verse 11.

Speaker 1: 1:41

But Moses said to God who am I? That I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Now, that's an important verse. Right there, guys, because this week I'm going to be walking you through the idea that I struggle with I know some of you guys struggle with it too. Man, I'm just a guy. What do you want from me? What can I do? I'm just a guy, right? You want from me? What can I do? I'm just a guy, right?

Speaker 1: 2:05

Look, we'll unpack this at length on Wednesday, but for this spiritual kickoff, I want you to think about this one verse, because ultimately, it talks about embracing God's call. This is what we have to do, because we're going to see right here Moses had doubts, moses has insecurities, and we see it right here this profound moment of self-doubt in Moses' voice. You can hear it shaking God, who am I? Who am I that I should go up to the Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? I mean really Me, because I don't know about you, but it just resonates deeply, particularly when I'm struggling with insecurities or questions about my abilities. Maybe you have that too. I know you know places in the Christian circles. There's no we should. There's always this question about you know we're not open and authentic. Well, I'm gonna tell you what. If you listen to the line within us, you can know firsthand I'm open, I'm transparent, I'm authentic. Transparent, I'm authentic. The last thing I want to do is try to put up some fake facade that I got all this stuff figured out because I don't. We all struggle, and with the age that we live in right now, with life's challenges, this question who am I? Comes up all the time. All the time it often holds us back from taking risk and embracing the roles that we're called to fulfill. You can't move forward doing what God's called you to do if you're stuck in fear or insecurity and this self-doubt. This is real Because think about Moses.

Speaker 1: 3:34

He's a towering figure, for sure, from a biblical history standpoint, but it wasn't always that way, right. He's thought of as a great leader, unwavering in his service, for sure. Yeah, when we start looking back and peeling back the layers of the onion, we see, hey, he was a guy that had his own insecurities, his own fears, his own self-doubt. And we see it right here in this verse, better than anywhere else, because he even says in 4.1, he says look, what if they don't believe me? What if they don't listen to me? What if they say you know what? You're crazy man. That Lord didn't appear to you. Again, this is right here.

Speaker 1: 4:15

We see in Scripture he's questioning it. He's even thinking about how inadequate he is in his communications. He even tells the Lord in 410,. He says pardon your servant, lord, I've never been eloquent, neither in past nor since. Since you have spoken to your servant, I am slow of speech and tongue and I'm like okay, man, this is it. This is self doubt. Over and over and over, and maybe that's you. It's been me for years. Every time I've cut this mic on. I still don't think I'm qualified to cut it on. You know what? I'm just going to keep leaning into it. I'm going to keep doing the best that I can. I'm not Joe Rogan. I'm not some of these wonderful big podcasters out here that are making all this money and they have all this influence. You know, I'm just one guy who's walking in obedience, walking in obedience, and I'm going to do the best I can. You know, some people on YouTube pick on me, that's okay, pick, pick away, it's fine. You know what? This is my attempt, what God has called me to do, for sharing the gospel and bringing others closer to him and building disciples. So, at this point, throw rocks, it's okay, I'm used to it. The fiery darts are there and I have the same insecurities and self-doubt.

Speaker 1: 5:27

And think about Moses. What he did, he was playing the excuse game, because it's all too familiar, isn't it? He was faced with a divine mandate, guys, and he immediately started coming up with excuses. And I don't know about you, but I have mastered this over the years. I haven't. He was trying. He doubted his abilities, right, he had doubted the fact that people would fear being rejected and call him crazy, and he was trying to let his past mistakes and his shortcomings overshadow what God was calling him to do. He believed, ultimately, guys, when we look at Moses, that his limitations define his capacity to fulfill God's commandment, and I'm going to tell you what this holds so much of us back. Because we think that the limitations that we put on ourselves mind you, we put these limitations on ourselves most of the time they're going to hold us back from doing what God calls us to do.

Speaker 1: 6:31

It's just crazy when we start actually talking about and saying those words out loud because they don't make any sense, does it? You don't think God's with you at all always, and we start thinking about personal awareness and then compare that to God's sovereignty. Start thinking about personal awareness and then compare that to God's sovereignty, because one thing we see from Moses right here is personal awareness is a powerful, powerful, I'd almost say adversary sometimes to God's sovereignty, because God's sovereign, he's in control. But, man, I don't want to feel uncomfortable. We see, right here, just like Moses, like many of us, he relied on his understanding of himself rather than what God had called him to do. He was measuring his potential by his standards, not by what God's are, because God's standards are completely we can't even think about those. So this is a flawed perspective, guys, very flawed. This is a barrier for lots of people, lots of guys. This is a barrier from embracing what God's calling you to do and we see right here, when we truly sit and think about this, we realize that God designed Moses with all those imperfections, because he's God. He knew he was going to have those imperfections or quote unquote imperfections the way Moses saw him. But God knew that he would use Moses at the appointed time and place in the manner which he wanted to and that he was going to be successful. And that's you, because this is a divine design.

Speaker 1: 8:00

Fellas, you are made in the image of God. Do you need to be reminded of that? We're made in the image of God. The God of the universe created you right here, whoever you are listening right now. He created you with your own unique talents and strengths and what you perceive as weaknesses and all these different things. Yep, he used all that precisely the way he wanted to, and he looked at things. He's like I like that one and he made the next one man. Look at that one. You're made in the image of God. So let's redefine this whole. Who am I mindset? Because when you start thinking in that question, who am I man? Who am I mindset? Because when you start thinking in that question, who am I man? Who am I? Remember that you're a child of the king, designed for a purpose 100%. You're a royal priest to the baby. This is what it's all about.

Speaker 1: 8:46

So your natural instinct should be to respond with faith and obedience, because you need to recognize that your impact for the kingdom is less about your perceived strengths and more about your willingness to follow God's call, because your journey is not defined by your capabilities, uh-uh-uh but it's defined by your readiness to pick up your cross and follow him, no matter what challenges are in front of us. And you're going to have challenges, I get it, but you have to take in front of us. And you're going to have challenges, I get it, but you have to take that step of obedience. What Moses is showing us right here is that he's encouraging us directly to take the step of obedience despite your doubts, despite your insecurities, your fears. God's call transcends your insecurity. Let me say that again God's call transcends your insecurity. Let me say that again God's call transcends your insecurity. Don't put him in a box. When you start aligning your actions with his purpose, things start changing Big time. They start changing and it shows us right here that when you start aligning those actions and you open up yourselves to being used in ways that you can never even think of before. Oh man, just stand back and get ready.

Speaker 1: 10:11

I'm literally sitting right here doing this podcast because I took steps of obedience. I had no idea people would actually listen. I had no idea people would actually want to join our community. I had no idea that I would be able to serve business leaders to help them understand how to take the Bible and apply it to their life. Are you kidding me? No way smart enough to figure this out, but I am smart enough, or obedient enough, rather, to take the step and follow him daily, and it's trust in his sovereignty, believing that he's equipped me, just like he's equipped you for the task that he sets before us. Okay, this is not something he's not going to put you in charge of, something that you're not ready for.

Speaker 1: 10:48

He's going to be with you and this verse right here is a powerful reminder that self-doubt and insecurity, they're common. That's a common part of just being aoubt. And insecurity, they're common, that's a common part of just being a man. Let's just be real, even for great leaders like Moses. I mean, we think about Moses, we think about hanging on the rim stuff in the Bible, right, but these feelings of insecurity, of doubts, of fear, they should not deter us from embracing God's call. They shouldn't of fear. They should not deter us from embracing God's call. They shouldn't. They should propel us towards resilience. Not resilience in our abilities, but resilience in His strength, in His sovereignty.

Speaker 1: 11:29

You need to that, whenever you have that question of who am I starts popping up, affirm that you are God's chosen instrument. Recognize that right now, that you're ready to act in faith and obedience. And if you're willing to take that action, the impact that's going to be made for the kingdom hinges on, not on your strength, but on your willingness to follow God's lead. How about that? Because he's going to equip you for every good work. His word tells us that you just need to think through.

Speaker 1: 11:59

This question right here is how are you going to respond to God's call despite whatever doubts you may have? And I know you got the doubts. I got them too, all the time. There's never a shortage of doubts going on in my mind, but you know what Obedience that supersedes that by far. Just take the step of obedience. Just do what he's called you to do. Don't worry about the critics or the naysayers. You don't have those out there, no matter what you do, he wouldn't just warn you there, but take the step of obedience, lean in and just follow him.

Speaker 1: 12:37

Now here's the deal To do what he's called you to do, to listen to what he's trying to tell you. You have to walk with him. That means you have to surrender your life to him. I know it sounds super simple, but not everybody's done that and I would be a fool to think that everyone listening to the Lion Within Us has surrendered their life to the Lordship of Christ. I know the dog went well, good and well that that's not the case. I wish it was, but it's not the case.

Speaker 1: 13:03

So if you're listening to the show and you're not a believer, I'm just glad that you're here. You're at least curious and want to know what the other, this whole Christian thing, is all about. And I just want to share something with you, this whole thing I talked about earlier about we're made in the image of God. I am dead serious. This is who we are. When he formed the very first man, he formed him and blew the breath of life into his lungs. And tell you what? At that moment, adam sat up and he was face to face with his creator, and that's what we're made in the image of, and it's awesome, it's really cool. I think I don't need to reiterate over and over and over how there are no flaws, right, god? God's perfect and his design is perfect. Even though we may think it's flawed, it's not Okay. So we're made in his image and things are really great for about a page and a half in my Bible. Then and things were really great for about a page and a half in my Bible Then we had this thing called sin entered the world.

Speaker 1: 14:00

I'm not going to go into a bunch of big details on what happened, but ultimately, a sin is anything that separates us from God. So at this point we have us, who are made in the image of God, and this sin ruptures that and we're cast out. It's called the fall. We're out, okay. And the rest of the whole Bible really is how do we overcome that? What do we? What do we do? How do we pay for it? How do we repent? What do we need to do to step forward?

Speaker 1: 14:24

Okay, and here's the reality. We're all sinners, every single one of us, but we all fall short of the glory of God. Now we compare ourselves to other people, we feel pretty good. The problem is, when we compare ourselves to a holy and righteous God, each and every one of us falls short. If you don't think you fall short, well, that's a great, probably a good flag for you that you're falling short right there, just in your thinking. We all fall short of the glory of God. Now we recognize that we're made in His image. So we know we have this divine design of who we are. You have this divine design of who we are. You definitely know there's more out there than just life. We're talking about eternal life, but we've ruptured that because we have this sin that's entered the world. So now we have this gap between us and a holy and righteous God.

Speaker 1: 15:12

What do we do? That's tough. What do we do? Well, can we read the Bible? Can we pray? Can we tithe, go to church, attend Sunday school, attend discipleship groups, attend masterminds, be a good neighbor. Do you do all those things? While inherently they're good things, they will not buy your salvation. You can't do that. You can't buy it. Mom and dad can't buy it for you, grandma and grandpa can't buy it for you. Your wife can't buy it for you. Your kids can't buy it for you? Nope, no one can get this. This is a personal, one-on-one thing between you and God. So we got a gap. We can't pay for the gap.

Speaker 1: 15:59

What in the world do we do then? Well, if it's something that you don't need, a coach, you need a what. You need somebody to step in and save. Today. You need a hero, you need a savior, and that is who jesus is. He left heaven on a rescue mission for us, as our savior was born of a virgin, fulfilled all the prophecies, did all the things, the teachings, the miracles.

Speaker 1: 16:26

Man, just go spend some time in the gospels and just hang out with Jesus, and then he wants you to cross for you, for me, for the entire world. And he paid the penalty for our sin with his perfect blood. And they killed him, they crucified him right there on the cross and they laid him in a tomb and there was mourning, there was tears, but the reason we don't wear black on Easter is because we're not going to a funeral, because three days after they laid him in that tomb, guess what? He overcame death. He rose, and that is who we worship. That is our Savior. Not some dead guy in a tomb, no, a living Savior, who is sitting at the right hand of the Father right now, and he is the way and the truth and the life. Fellas, no one comes to the Father except through Him. There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. It is Jesus. He is the only name, the name above all names.

Speaker 1: 17:32

I just pray as you think through this and think through your life and think through all the decisions that you've made and where you're at now, where you're trying to go and, ultimately, are you trying to bootstrap this thing called life on your own or are you willing to surrender something to a little bit bigger power? And if you feel like you've reached the end of your rope and you know what, I can't do this. There's no way I can do this. It's not sustainable I'd encourage you to surrender. Surrender to him, because now that you know that you're a sinner and we recognize that Jesus is the Savior that we're looking for and you truly believe that in your heart, you've got to confess him as Lord, and this means confess him as Lord of your whole life, not just Lord over certain things. This is Lord over everything your money, your marriage, your kids, your career, everything Right, because this is the God that we serve. He deserves that.

Speaker 1: 18:19

So once you come to that point, you recognize, you know what. I'm just a guy, but doggone it. I want to be a guy on fire for him. Then you have to make a decision. Are you going to choose to surrender, to follow him? And that's my prayer that you choose to surrender today, that if you haven't put your faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ as your Savior, that today's the day you can take that step of obedience and just invite him in. I'd also encourage you don't put off for tomorrow what God's calling you to do today. You got some business to do with the Lord. Let's do it together right now. So let's pray.

Speaker 1: 19:02

If you're ready to accept Christ as your Savior, this is for you. So, father, just thank you so much for how good you are to us. I just pray for that one listener right now. Maybe there's a tear going in their cheek, maybe they recognize their need for you. Maybe they recognize finally, now that they realize that they are made in your image and that the world may say that they are all flawed and jacked up, but now they know the truth. Now they know that and now they also recognize they need a Savior. They don't need a coach, lord, they need a Savior, because they can't do this. None of us can.

Speaker 1: 19:37

So I pray, as they receive you and they ask you to be the Savior of their life, that they accept you in their heart, they confess you as Lord, that you just pour out your blessings on them, pour out your peace that passes all understanding, that you open doors for them that they didn't understand even existed before, that you put people on their path. That's going to encourage them, speak life to them and will help them progress down their discipleship journey. So we love you, lord, jesus, we praise you and we just thank you so much that we get this opportunity every day to pick up our cross and follow you. It's in your name we pray Amen, all right. So if you just accepted Christ, look, touchdown, let's go. Now what I want you to do? Send me an email, chris, at thelinewithinus. I'm going to hook you up with a bunch of free resources and things that we've developed over the years to help Christians kind of get going, get started, because you're in a battle now and I want to be there with you. Also, love, jump on a call and just do a virtual high five and pray with you. Okay, so again, chris, at the lion withinus is how you connect with me. There on Wednesday, come back. We're going to be diving deep into this idea of I'm just a guy. I'm going to give you a few more examples to consider. When you, if you feel like that you're just insecure, like you know, you don't have these qualifications, like you're not any good whatsoever, you can't bring any value, I'm going to debunk all that for you on Wednesday. Okay so, come, just come. How about that? Insecure, fearful, doubtful, whatever, wherever you are, and my prayer is that I leave you charged up and ready to do what he's called you to do. So now, the lionwithinus is how you connect with us guys. That's.

Speaker 1: 21:15

Thelionwithinus is our website. Join our community. I'm on a shame on asking this anymore. Join the community, start your free trial today, because we have our discipleship mastermind groups in there. We have our regular meetings in there pretty much on a daily basis, our daily spiritual kickoff. If you like this episode, like this, how about you had it each and every day of the week? I'm telling you we have opportunities to serve, to grow, to fellowship. This is what we do at thelinewithinus, all right, so that's how you connect with us. Obviously, we're on the Bible app. We have all our devotionals out there. We have business opportunities for our Summit Leadership Program. Guys, the website has it all Head over there right now. Thelionwithinus All right, we'll see you next on Wednesday here. Fellas, keep coming back, keep supporting us, keep encouraging us and hopefully we'll do the same for you. All right, so have a great one. Keep unleashing the lion within.

Speaker 1: 22:15

If you're a man who's looking for greater spiritual guidance into how to become a better leader, finding resources that you can trust and then implement can be daunting. For me personally, I thought it was a lost cause and I decided to take the action, knowing that I wasn't alone. It was because of this wide gap that we created our line within this community, and the areas that we're helping Christian men grow are incredible. For instance, we've built ways for guys to lean in and grow through fun events like our daily spiritual kickoff, where you get that much needed boost directly from God's word, our Bible studies that always focus on how to discern and apply what we learn, and even our amazing form, where you can speak your mind without fear of getting shut down or judged by the extreme rules of modern day social media. On top of all that, we know that many men won't help overcoming issues and becoming stronger in many different areas. That's why we created several mastermind groups where the iron truly sharpens the iron.

Speaker 1: 23:11

Our community is about having a growth mindset, accountability, intentionality and transparency. In other words, just leave fake you at home and come to community just as you are. I fully believe what we feel. I see the impact it's making on men right now and I would love to have you check it out. So start your very own 30-day free trial today to see how we can help you be a better leader. So if you're ready to take that first step, head over to thelinewithinus and get started. Your journey begins here. Visit thelinewithinus and I'll see you inside the den.