Chris Grainger: 1:22

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, fellas, it's fun Friday time, let's get right into it. So now you know we're going to start every episode at the Lion right With Scripture. It's all about Him.

Chris Grainger: 1:39

So look, this week we're in the book of Mark, chapter 16, verses 15 and 16. It says he said to them Jesus, speaking here, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. So, guys, that spiritual kickoff episode really unpacked that verse. Verses at length Go back two episodes ago. You'll find that one. If you want to have ideas on how you can simplify and apply that to your life, for sure that episode is going to help you. And if you didn't get the chance to listen to that one, but and hopefully you did, but if you didn't listen to the conversation with Dr James Davis, he unpacks this at length of what this truly means to be a follower, to be a disciple of Christ.

Chris Grainger: 2:23

Okay, so I had a great conversation with Dr Davis, just a fun guy out of Florida started the Global Church Network, wonderful things with his divinity school that he founded as well. Many, many ways that they're advancing the kingdom. And he talked about the finish. And the finish is so important. The finish is so important he talked about you know, that's fine. Those people intercede on their behalf, you know, start networking, making the proper investments, sending people out Right and making sure that we're doing all we can to help in any way that we possibly can. So, guys, finish is such a big deal as we move forward, as we try to advance the gospel, as we try to serve people at an extremely high level. I love the simplistic way that Dr James puts things for us, that he's challenging us. This is not just for top-end type of churchy leaders. No, this is for everyone's. Got this call to fulfill the Great Commission, Do the work that God's called us to do. And I don't know about you, but as a Christian man, as someone who's trying to do all I can to be obedient to the Holy Spirit, it was just an encouraging conversation, so hopefully you guys get a chance to listen to that one. He's just a high energy guy for sure. Lots of things happening in his world, based out of Florida. And again, hopefully, you guys enjoyed that one.

Chris Grainger: 3:47

All right, so you know, for our fun Friday, what we're going to do. So we're going to have a health, wealth and a self tip for you guys. So now for your new listeners out there, their health is how do you have stronger minds and bodies? Ok, because if we're going to do the work that God's called us to do, we've got to take care of those things. Now for a wealth tip we need to be better stewards of our finances and our careers. So we're going to talk about that. Try to give you some ideas to make sure you're improving that stewardship. And from a sales tip, ultimately we're trying to strengthen you as a father or a husband or both. Sometimes they're both. So we're going to kind of get right into that this week and we're going to talk about those tips. So for your health tips, something I want you to think about I got this from one of our fellow members of our community, jd.

Chris Grainger: 4:33

He started doing a workout program and trying to lose a little bit of weight, and one of the things that he was working with which he saw some success with out the gate, was eating a gram of protein for your desired weight. So let's say you had your desired weight was 200 pounds. You're trying to lose a few pounds, you're trying to get down to 200. Well, in his case you would. Actually, your target protein for the day would be 200 grams. That sounds like a lot, and guess what it is. But if you eat that much protein good sources of protein as well you're just not going to be as full. Your body's going to take care of that. You're burning that faster. That's not going to hold on to it, and the power of protein is such a big deal. I've seen this in my life as well. So any day, anytime I get off track of my protein, I can feel it. You know it's a great way to just get back on track. Put a number out there, start tracking it, start measuring it and see how the results go for you.

Chris Grainger: 5:31

Now again, we're not doctors. We're not telling you this is for you 100%. But if you wanted to amp up some areas for your life, to try to get a little bit cleaner diet in your system, add protein and you can do it in multiple ways. Eggs are a great way for protein, obviously, meats. I'm really big on protein powders. We're not going to talk about which powder I use, because you know what we're not, we're not going to endorse some of these things like that here. But just find a protein powder that works for you, that's good, that doesn't upset your stomach too much, and then start trying to just get as many, as much protein as you can throughout the day and just see, just try it for a few days. Just see, okay, I got 200, 250, whatever the number is, and just see if you can get it. And then how does that affect the rest of your eating? Because ultimately, we're trying to take care of our body so we can honor and glorify Him, so we can do the work he's called us to do. That means we have to be very intentional about the food and the fuel that we put in.

Chris Grainger: 6:23

Okay, all right, now for your wealth tip. This is very simple Stop chasing shiny. Okay, no-transcript what you're going to find. If you're chasing shiny, which you may find that that shiny thing has a hook in it, and it's usually in the form of a big payment. Now one of our members, adam, brought this up to us. This is a tip shout out to oh, adam, I love you to death, brother, because he's like you know what? I see too many people tripping up over this. We want shiny, we want the newest, we want the latest and greatest and we never think about the implications that come to us as our family, as the stewards of our family, because if that puts us in a financial hardship time, if it tightens up things too much to the point where something else happens, we can't respond appropriately. We have to incur debt. That's dangerous. And incurring debt just to chase shiny, that's something we have to make sure that we're intentional about just heading that off in our life, guys.

Chris Grainger: 7:21

So this means being very, very purposeful with your budget. I want you to have nice things for sure. I just don't want the nice things to have you. That's a big, big difference. So, again, maybe your vehicle doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but if you don't have that vehicle payment, you know what? You have something that so many other people wish they had. That's financial freedom to your car. So just be careful if you're starting to chase clothes or whatever these things are that you think are going to fully and finally satisfy you.

Chris Grainger: 7:54

Those shiny things in the world often do not right, because again the evil one dresses up, it's beautiful, these things look wonderful, they look enticing. And if you're that fish, you're out there in the water and a nice little, shiny little bait comes flying by you and it looks so great, looks amazing, I gotta have it, I gotta have, I gotta have it. Until you have that moment where you take the bite and you realize, instead of you having it, that it has you. And that's a real moment and I'm just imploring, I'm trying to help you guys. Just avoid that moment where the stuff has you and, because it has such a tight grip on you, you can't do what God's calling you to do. So good stewardship means being smart and not chasing shiny. All right.

Chris Grainger: 8:44

Now the self-tip. Again, this came from JD. Within our community Guys. Actually we were in one of our meetings I think it was a lion lunch. I had these guys in there. I said you know what? I've got a podcast coming up. I need some tips and we just talked about it. So more and more proof of the power of the lion within us community. How, guys, when they come together, when they're iron, sharpening iron, when they're trying to truly help each other get better, wonderful things happen, to the point where you get any tips today, all right.

Chris Grainger: 9:12

So for the self-tip, don't judge your spouse from your standards, and particularly we're talking about intimacy here. Okay, because this gets us in trouble. Okay, when we start to project our standards on our spouse, it really robs joy from one of the most beautiful things that God has blessed us with within our confines of our marriage, which is the intimacy connection that we have as husband and wife. So there's so many guys out there who are not satisfied and verbally complain and moan about their level of intimacy with their wife. Well, I don't, you know, we're never. We don't, we're not able to come together enough throughout the week. We only get to come together two or three times throughout the week.

Chris Grainger: 9:53

You're like you know, quit putting your standard on her. You know, recognize that the covenant of marriage is beautiful and everything that she's trying, she's striving to do to come together and to connect with you on an intimate level, that should be celebrated. So quit putting a scoreboard up. It just bothers me. I get it. We're guys, we love to keep scoring all this, but you know what, at the end of the day, just be with your wife, just connect with her. Quit holding her to these impossible standards. A lot of these impossible standards. If I can be real for a moment, you guys know how I'm going to do that. I'm going to be real.

Chris Grainger: 10:31

So many of these impossible standards come from pornography. Because guys are watching pornography, they're getting these ideas and these things in their heads of things that they wish their wife would do Right, and there are different types of moves and different responses that she would have from these actresses and actors and this pornography who are getting completely paid in as a black market. We know how terrible that market is, so full of darkness. In that market, of that market, the evil one has its hold on it. That's what I'm talking about when I say it's a black market. Fellas, I'm telling you this stuff is. We know We've had guests on the show who was in pornography and how absolutely dark it is, right and void and wicked and evil. Yeah, we're going to watch that and compare that to our spouse. There's no way she's going to live up to that standard and it's not very frustrating to even consider bringing that as part of the conversation.

Chris Grainger: 11:24

So making sure those standards are, we're not projecting them on others, on them is so huge. Just be with them. Enjoy the blessing that comes with the covenant of marriage For sure. Be fruitful and multiply. I want you to enjoy the things that God has designed within the confines and the covenant of a one man, one woman. Marriage, all right, so there you go, guys. Those are your three tips from our community itself. That eat that gram of protein per your body weight. That wealth tip stop chasing that shiny stuff around, it's going to get you in trouble. And the self tip don't judge your spouse from your standards.

Chris Grainger: 12:04

All right, so now the book of the week this week, guys. We talked about it with Dr James. I'm holding up a copy right here. It's the Synergistic Church the Answer to Fulfilling the Great Commission. The foreword was actually written by Robert Jeffress. I really just enjoyed this book. Lots of impactful stuff in this book, directly on how steps you can take to fulfill the Great Commission. So this is one that you'd want to have for your library. Go check out thelinewithinus book. You'll see a copy of this here from Dr James. I'd love for you to add it to your library.

Chris Grainger: 12:36

Okay, so now for our dad jokes this week. We're pulling two dad jokes this week from our member, doug, and absolutely Doug's one of our faithful, longtime members of the line with Dennis. He's always looking forward to the dad jokes each and every Friday he sends me on a regular basis. I said you know what? For this episode, we're going to make this a Doug special. So this is a Doug special for the dad jokes.

Chris Grainger: 12:59

Both of them didn't come from him. Let us know which one you like best. The first dad joke he sent me is why did the lettuce go to the gym? I said I don't know, doug, why did the lettuce go to the gym To get shredded? I was like, uh-oh, here we go, here we go. So that's the first one from him. And then number two why did the ice factory have to call the fire department to put out the fire when they had tons of H2O on hand? I was like I'm not sure it was because their assets were frozen. So there you go, let us know Again. Guys, I rolled the holy cow for dad jokes. Let us know we're number one or number two. Why did it? Let us go to the gym to get shredded. Number two why did the ice factory have to call the fire department to put out the fire when they had tons of H2O on hand? Because their when they had tons of H2 on hand, that's their assets for Frozen Again, fellas, dad jokes All about just trying to make you get a little chuckle this week, doug.

Chris Grainger: 13:47

Thank you so much, my brother, for sending those in. It's just an honor just to know you, buddy, all the wonderful things you've shown us with your marriage, the way your marriage has grown. It's just great just to have you part of our community. So now the question of the week this week, fellas, is what drives your mission to fulfill the Great Commission? So what's driving it? Something's driving it and I'm praying that you're taking steps of obedience to fulfill what God is calling you to do.

Chris Grainger: 14:14

If you're not and you need help maybe you need some abandoned brothers, some Christian men out there. They're going to speak life to you, they're going to encourage you, they're going to hold you accountable. That would challenge you to be obedient, to do the hard things that God's called you to do. If that's what you're looking for, thelionwithinus, that's where you connect with us. That's how you get started. Thelionwithinus, start your membership today. You're going to find Christian men there that are going to lean in. They're going to listen, they're going to push you to be a better, stronger Christian disciple of Christ. All right. So again, thelinewithinus guys is where you connect with us for all our resources, for sure.

Chris Grainger: 14:52

Again, we have lots of ways within our community. We have our daily spiritual kickoff. If you need a little bit daily boost to get your day going, you'll find that there. Maybe you want to start one of our devotions. So they're on the YouVersion Bible app number one Bible app in the world. Tons and tons of devotions over 30 devotions out there on YouVersion Love to get your feedback on them. Hopefully they will serve you well.

Chris Grainger: 15:13

Lots of people use them for their small groups because they have questions as well. So you can take that apart and pull it together into a small group session. They're usually three, four, five days. Some of them go up to seven days long and they can be individual sessions. You get together with your small group, you read the study, you check out the scripture, you come together, you have a really good discussion and that is where the iron sharpens the iron. Okay, through the discussion, through the conversation.

Chris Grainger: 15:40

We do that in the line, within the Community, through our Discipleship Mastermind groups, where we put you in a group, a small group of Christian men who are trying to get better, and then we're going to try to help you identify a challenge, an opportunity, something that you want to improve, moving forward, and what we're going to do we're going to lean in over a period of 12 weeks and we're going to help you grow. So that sounds interesting. That sounds like something that you want to take part of. We're having these discipleship mastermind groups going on a consistent basis to get plugged into the next one and that's at thelinewithinus within our community. All right, you guys have a great day. Get after. Have a great weekend. Thank you so much for listening. Give a rating and review. All after. Have a great weekend. Thank you so much for listening. Give a rating and review. All that stuff helps. Be a monthly donor supporter that would be huge. And, at the end of the day, just keep doing what God's calling you to do. All right, fellas. So get after it. And you know what? Keep unleashing the lion within.

Chris Grainger: 16:39

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. 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 forum 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 want help overcoming issues and becoming stronger in many different areas. That's why we created several mastermind groups where the iron truly sharpens iron.

Chris Grainger: 17:39

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 with them.