Chris Grainger: 1:01

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 is your spiritual kickoff episode. I'm excited to be here with you. Let's get right into it. Okay? So this week we're in the book of Proverbs, chapter 18. Just looking at one verse though, verse 16. It says a gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great. Hmm, very interesting verse. Now let's see how we can simplify and apply that to our life. Okay, because, again, the whole point of the spiritual kickoff episodes, guys, is just to give you a reflection on how to take this scripture and apply it to our life, because it's one thing to have head knowledge, it's another thing to move it to our heart, and then that's going to lead to the actions that we take, and I try to do these reflections each and every day within our Lion Within Us community. So if you really like the spiritual kickoff episode and we hear from lots of you guys that you do I just encourage you to check that out at the Lion Within us. You may really enjoy just hopping in the community just to be part of that Monday through Friday spiritual kickoff. All right, so let's get right into it.

Chris Grainger: 2:05

So first of all, we need to understand where is the book of Proverbs. It's right there towards the middle of your Bible. Get to your Psalms. Once you pass all the Psalms, you get to Proverbs. Okay, so hopefully you'll find it. That's almost midway. It's 31 Proverbs. This is 18. So a little past midway is where you're going to find this one.

Chris Grainger: 2:26

So again, the whole proverb is very simple A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great. Now, each and every single one of us think about this. Guys, you're all given gifts from God. You have unique abilities, talents that aren't meant to just be hidden or never used. It makes no sense. And they're not just for your benefit or your personal gain. No, no, no. They're for advancing the kingdom, for bringing light into this dark, dark world I don't know about you, guys, but it feels so dark out there and for, ultimately, serving and loving those around us. But, man, I don't know about you, but often I've held back. I felt uncertain or just unable or unqualified or reluctant. And, man, that is not what God's designed for us.

Chris Grainger: 3:15

So we're going to use this proverb today to see what we can learn and discern to move forward. We can learn to discern to move forward Because we're reminded. We're reminded of the power that a gift has and what Opening the way, opening the way this shows us there's an opportunity and a responsibility that our gifts bring, because if we use our gifts with intention, we honor God and we're walking in His purpose. And the door that he desires to be open for us in our lives are waiting for us to step out in faith. I'll often say you know, god's just waiting for you to take that first step, that next step of obedience, rather, because you never know, maybe there's a blessing, the blessing we've been waiting for is just beyond that next step of obedience, that's it.

Chris Grainger: 4:06

But there's so often I know I've seen it in my life that I let fear or doubt or insecurities or reluctance just hold me back. I just put my head down and I don't take the step I need to take. He did not give us these talents and gifts to sit on the sideline. You would not keep your best quarterback on the sideline. No, you put them in a game and you have a purpose. It's unique to you. But you have a purpose and a call in your life, and here's the crazy part about that Only you can fulfill that. No one can fulfill my call for me. But if you embrace your gift and your call, you start letting your life be a testimony to his greatness, things are going to start shifting because you only get a small, little blip of time, small little blip on earth, to serve him, to walk in his light, to fulfill what he's placed within you. It's all right there, and there's tons of danger, guys, in simply holding back, because when you don't embrace your gift, it's not just you who suffers.

Chris Grainger: 5:19

Your reluctance to use your gift, with what God has blessed you with, can have a ripple effect on others, positively and negatively, because each gift is part of a larger tapestry that God is weaving together. And when your thread is connected to someone else's thread in order to serve and honor and glorify Him, there's beauty in that. And when you withhold your contribution, there's a void when you start running from it. Or even worse I'll touch on something here in a second outsourcing it. Look it just takes away so much of an opportunity that God's given us. Because if you have a reluctance or outright refusal to use your gift. That really, in essence, what you're showing God right there is.

Chris Grainger: 6:09

I don't like your way, I don't trust your way and I'm telling you this is an area lots of guys fall into and what you're doing is you're choosing to prioritize your comfort zone over God's command, and that's a scary place to be in, because when you reach that beam of seat of judgment of Christ, you're going to have to have an account for what you used or what you neglected. How's that going to go for you? He expects us at all times to steward what he has given us. Now, I can't steward what he has given you, but I can steward what he has given us. Now I can't steward what he has given you, but I can steward what he's given me. And how I do that each and every day matters matters, and that also means I got to take that step into the light. That means stepping in light, means taking steps of faith, and here's the tricky part. Sometimes you don't know the outcome, and that's ridiculous to think that you got to take a step and you don't know the outcome. It's God's way. But as soon as you lean into your calling, all of a sudden you're going to find that weight of hesitation that's been holding you back it's going to lift and that lifts because it's being counter counter set with obedience and joy.

Chris Grainger: 7:25

You start using that gifts and whether your gift maybe let's just walk through them teaching, encouraging, creating, leading, serving different types of gifts we have you can use that gifts precisely as how the god, how god uses, how god desires for us to use in the world around us. So when you think about God's call on our life and how powerful it is, we have to be willing to lean in and say yes. Yes, when he calls us, yes. And your gift? You may think it's the smallest, most minute thing on the world. Why would he ever use this little, small gift for anything good? And what you're doing is you're missing the omniscience of God, because with that small gift he can do miracles, he can open doors. That small, little stone that you cast in that lake can have a ripple effect that you'll never be able to see or understand. And it's all about bringing people into that relationship and coming to know him.

Chris Grainger: 8:31

And when you fully embrace this idea, you're going to find deeper meaning and purpose. And you're just going. You're going to find that you're just going from just checking boxes Another day. Here's another day to living with intention, and he's going to find that you're just going from just checking boxes another day. Here's another day to living with intention, and he's going to be shining through because you recognize, you're part of his story. You see how great that is, and I'm not trying to set this up to like, hey, the purpose for your life has got to be some big, flashy thing.

Chris Grainger: 9:02

No, it could be small, simple steps of obedience, small simple steps. In fact, sometimes the world ain't even going to recognize it. But I'm just encouraging you to take those steps and do it faithfully, because whether or not it's seen or recognized by others, it doesn't matter. God sees, god knows. You're going to be in the beam of seat of judgment one day, and all that's going to matter is you and Him right there.

Chris Grainger: 9:27

And so I'm just going to encourage you, guys I don't know where you're at right now, what you're thinking about, but this should be a season of your life, no matter where you're at, to step boldly to what God's called you to do, whatever it is again, I don't know it. Embrace that gift, whatever the gift is, because he's entrusted you with it, but know that the gift is not for your own glory. Tell myself this all the time the lion within us, no matter how well the lion does and we're growing, we've got all these wonderful things happening it's not the lion within Chris, it's the lion within us and it's built for his glory and I'm trying to use the skills and the talents, the little bit that he's given me to bring him honor and just to show him how much I love him and hopefully to encourage you guys. So take this step of obedience today and start preparing yourselves for that moment when you sit down in the beam of seeing a judgment that you can live such a life that you can sit when he says, when he looks at you and he asks you about your life, you can say, lord, I use everything that you gave me. Maybe, just maybe, you're going to hear those words well done, good and faithful servant. How awesome is that going to be?

Chris Grainger: 10:43

But you got to step out of the shadows. You got to let go of reluctance. You got to take hold of the life that God has called you to. You got to use those gifts. I mean, use them. It's crazy to think you have a gift and you don't use it. Be an active part of the kingdom, and you're not going to find any greater purpose than that. So, god, I want you to think right now how are you using the gifts God has given you? Are you at all? Or is it just like stuff in a box in a corner somewhere? Because I'm telling you that ain't going to fly. For boys, it just ain't going to fly. You got to lean in, you got to utilize it.

Chris Grainger: 11:19

Now, if you're thinking well, chris, what in the world? I don't know what these gifts are. How am I supposed to know? Well, listening to the Holy Spirit, listening to others who are walking with the Spirit, you'll know. But here's the trick you have to have the Holy Spirit, which means you have to have surrendered your life to Christ, which means you have to be a disciple. And I'm not brazen enough to think that everyone who's listening to the land within us right now has fully surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If you have, you're in a great place, and I encourage you to keep listening.

Chris Grainger: 11:54

Don't cut it off right now, because, for some reason, you're here, you're curious and you're walking down this path and you want to know a little bit more and look, there's pastors who get paid lots of money to unpack this stuff and I'm just doing it to you. I'm going to share a simple way that I know what God has done in my life, and it started with me recognizing that I was made in his image, because when I look in the mirror I see a jacked up, flawed dude. A lot, until I remember wait a minute, god designed me this way. I got a few pounds I need to lose, yep. God's need to stop saying a few, at least four letter words, yep.

Chris Grainger: 12:32

But you know, doggone it. God made me exactly this way for a reason, and I'm just going to embrace that and recognize that I'm made in his image. You know what? I'm not perfect, why? Because sin entered the world, and when God made Adam, things were great until sin entered, and then that separated us from Him. And that's what happened. That's all. Sin is anything that separates us from God, fellas. That's what happened. Sin entered the world. Thus, now we have this gap between a holy and righteous God and us, and, doggone, the gap seems just. It's like we're never going to close it. And guess what? We ain't. There's nothing we can do to close it.

Chris Grainger: 13:09

And that's the frustrating part for a guy that wants to get stuff done. Because I know you. You want to get out there. You're a go-getter, you're a doer, you're listening to the line within us. You want to just lean in and do this stuff. But doggone it. There's nothing you can do to earn your salvation. You can't go to church enough, or pray enough, or read your Bible enough, or help little old ladies cross the street enough. None of that stuff's enough. Are those things good? Yes, and I want you to do them. But we can't put our hope in that stuff because trying to work our way to the kingdom, it's not going to work. Let's just be real, it's not going to work.

Chris Grainger: 13:43

So if we can't work our way to salvation and recognize that we're made in his image, we got here, we have a purpose all the way here. We talked about the purpose today. But how are we going to leave here? If we can't get to earn salvation on our own? How can we do it? Do we need a coach to come in and kind of coach us along and help us just do better? And this is how most people approach Christianity. I'm just telling you it's wrong. You don't need a coach, you need a Savior to come in and do for you what you couldn't do for yourself.

Chris Grainger: 14:15

In comes Jesus on a rescue mission for you, for me, for the entire world. He came, he was born of the verse and he fulfilled all the prophecies. He did all the teachings and the miracles I love Jesus' style, by the way and you'll find Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew, mark, luke and John. So if you want to just hear more about Jesus directly and you're not sure where to look, look in those four Gospels, and everything after that is just unpacking grace and showing us how we should be preparing and living our lives for his triumphant return.

Chris Grainger: 14:47

So Jesus lived the life that we couldn't live, the perfect, sinless life. And then he went to the cross for you, because the penalty of sin is death, and yet we needed someone to pay that in a way that we couldn't pay, because our blood's imperfect, it's got sin. His blood was perfect, the Son of God. So he went, he died on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin, and then they laid him in a tomb, and the reason that we're not wearing black, like we go to some funeral on Easter, is because the tomb is empty. He only was in it for three days, because we don't worship a dead person. That makes no sense to worship someone who's dead.

Chris Grainger: 15:33

Lots of other religions are based on that, but not Christianity. We worship a living Savior and that's the hope that we have. And Scripture tells us he ascended to heaven and he is the right hand of the Father. Right now no one goes to the Father except through Him. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the way. He's it. There is no other name among heaven that was given among men by which we must be saved. It's Jesus. And I know it's very, very controversial to say that the only way is a certain way, like I get it that I wouldn't do it that way, but I'm not in charge. And Jesus is saying look, I am the way, I am the way, and you may get offended and I totally get it, but I love you enough to tell you the truth and to encourage you If Jesus is the way.

Chris Grainger: 16:25

So it starts with admitting first and foremost that you've got a sin problem. We just do. You ain't got an anger problem, bro, you've got a sin problem, it's a heart issue. So if you've got a sin problem, you need a Savior to step in and do something for you that you can't do for yourself, ie Jesus, and that's believing that he is the Messiah, the Son of God. And once you recognize that to be true, you've got to confess Him as Lord, and that means Lord of your life, over everything in your life your children, your finances, your marriage, your career, your health. He has to be over it all, and that means making a conscious decision to follow him every day. And that's my prayer for you, and I tell you this because it's the most important decision you'll ever make, whether or not you choose to surrender and follow Christ. And I pray you make this decision today because for some reason, god's got you here. He's got you listening to the lion.

Chris Grainger: 17:26

You're this far into a spiritual kickoff episode. You know you haven't fully surrendered your life to the Lordship of Christ and you know you need to take action. But I can't do it Listen to a podcast. I need to be in church. Where does that say that? In Scripture? No, no, no. People get saved. All over In the Scripture we see that over and over again. You can get saved the moment you choose to surrender your life to Him. If you feel like that's the moment, it's right now, today, let's just pray together. Let's just pray together and you confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Chris Grainger: 17:59

So, father, for that one listener who's ready to confess you as Lord, I pray you just comfort them right now, put your arms around them, just give them encouragement, Give them hope, give them joy, peace, that passes all understanding. Father, I just pray you just be with them as they fully surrender their life to you and I pray you put some men in their life that will come alongside them, going to help grow, disciple them, because it's not about just getting to the start line. We got to work with them all the way through. We need to be helping them grow, helping them see, helping them learn, so that they can be equipped to use the gift that we talked about today, that you've given them to advance the kingdom. So we love you, lord, we praise you and we do all this according to your will, in Jesus name, amen.

Chris Grainger: 18:37

So if you just accepted Christ as your Savior, touch down. I'm so pumped up for you. I want to hear from you because I've got some resources I want to send you. I actually used this resource yesterday. I want to send you 10 scriptures to fight like a lion. Send you our Bible study, get you hooked up, maybe even try to send you a Bible. Chris, at thelionwithinus, dot us. I want to find out where you're at in the country and we have lots of guys and resources and connections all over the U S. See if we can get you plugged into a good Bible, believing gospel, preaching church, so that you can continue to grow, and then we just want to just again come alongside and just welcome you into the kingdom. So I'd love to hear from you, chris, at the line within dot us. Come on back on Wednesday, guys, we'll have a great episode with a wonderful gentleman Looking forward to this one. I know you're going to like it.

Chris Grainger: 19:20

Fellas, head over to thelionwithdenus. That's how you can get connected with us for our devotions, our Bible studies, our weekly ROAR newsletter, all the different things that we have going on, not to mention or forget, rather, our community, where we're helping guys grow each and every day through discipleship, masterminds, bible studies, lion munches, uh, forward sessions, summit. We got so much going on within the community. It's all designed to help you grow to be the leader God intends you to be, so I hope to see you inside that again, that's the lionwithinus for that, and then you can head over uh, while you're there, to lionwithinus, give us a review, give us a rating, help us out on the podcast and share this stuff out.

Chris Grainger: 20:02

Guys, this is how we grow the show is by you listening. You like what you hear. You send it to a buddy, okay, and then check out the live events Okay. We have lots. A couple of times a year, rather, we get together and we love to have you come, particularly if you're on the East Coast, but we got guys that come from all over the country that come in. So we have an event in the spring and the fall that are planned every year in advance. And then we have mission trips as well, where we're looking to lean in, to go primarily focused in the Appalachia area, to serve and try to help folks there. But check it out and see, because if something aligns for your schedule, there will be nothing more that we would enjoy more than having you come alongside with us, beside brothers in Christ, doing what God's called us to do. We're going to use our gifts. I want you to use yours as well. All right. So, guys, get after it. Thank you so much for listening Again. Ratings and review definitely help and if you want to be a donor of the show, just support what we're doing. Maybe you want to sponsor someone else? Head over to thelionwithinus and you can get started with that today. So have a great day, guys, get after it. I'll see you here on the next episode and remember to keep unleashing the lion within.

Chris Grainger: 21:10

I don't know about you, but I used to find Mondays really rough.

Chris Grainger: 21:15

I would find myself trying to reset for work, trying to get my bearing on the family calendar, trying to find time for my own spiritual growth and development, and often I found myself overwhelmed or just flatly ignoring aspects of my life that I know are meaningful to me was that if I had immediate access to important and impactful spiritual topics and reflections to start my week well after the allure of a Sunday sermon has passed, I would set my whole week up to be more meaningful and for the opportunity to make a true impact.

Chris Grainger: 21:52

If you think that getting such a boost would help your week to get started on the right foot, we would love for you to sign up for the Weekly Roar, which is our newsletter that is produced by the lion within us Each week will deliver a powerful reflection and practical steps to help you apply scripture with clarity and purpose, all being rooted in light and truth. So in just a few minutes, we hope to arm you with insights for living out biblical leadership with confidence and strength, and maybe even have a little extra bounce in your step. If that sounds useful, head over to thelionwithinus slash ROAR to sign up today. That's the lion within dot us slash r? O a? R to get your weekly roar today.