Chris Grainger: 1:10

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, this is your spiritual kickoff episode. Let's get right into it, okay? So let's look at our scripture. This week. We're in the book of Philippians, chapter 2. Looking at two verses though verses 3 and 4, it says do nothing from selfless ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but to also to the interest of others. Wow, powerful scripture right out of the book of Philippians. Let's see how we can simplify and apply this to our life. Okay, and again, if you're new to the Lion Within Us, the whole spiritual kickoff episodes. That's what we're all about. How can we take scripture and God's word and simply apply it to our life? Okay, and we do this Monday through Friday within our Lion Within Us community. So that's all part of the Lion Within Us. So, if you enjoy these, the episodes that come out on Monday, how about giving them five days a week? So, if that's something that would interest you, go to thelionwithinus and get started today.

Chris Grainger: 2:21

All right now we're at the Book of Philippians. We need to know that, first and foremost, we don't take anything for granted. Here at the Lion. We know that's New Testament. Okay, so you'll go past your Gospels, you'll get through Acts, you'll get through Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians and all that stuff, right, and then, after you get past Ephesians, you'll run into Philippians. Now, if you get to Colossians, you went a little bit too far, so just back up. So this is where you're going to find this powerful scripture.

Chris Grainger: 2:49

Philippians is just a great book just to spend time with. Anyway, particularly for guys. There's so much practical truth and direct truth in Philippians. You're never going to just regret spending time there and we're going to be talking this week the reason I'm wearing this shirt for the guys who are watching this on our YouTube channel because we're going to be talking about service and it's time for guys to start saying yes, particularly when it comes to serving others, and because if you're feeling stuck, man, I'm telling you serving is a great way to get out. So there's lots of guys I talk to and they feel absolutely just just mired in the mud. They're not going anywhere, they're not lost or they're not unbelieving, they're just kind of stuck, you know, they know that they've been saved, but it's not a fire anymore. It's definitely not a roaring lion, because why Life gets wears you down, it gets heavy, and that's why, like, as soon as guys are saved and there's studies and data that shows this that first year, that first year, is usually when they're on fire the most and then from there it just exponentially degrades.

Chris Grainger: 4:11

My mentor mentioned this. He's 86. He shared the gospel more in that first year or two of his salvation than he did for the second 40. And we have to recognize that. And here's something that is true for me that I didn't know until recently but a great way To reignite that fire Is by serving others, by simply serving others. And think about it Jesus didn't come to be served. No, he came to serve. And he calls us to do the same thing.

Chris Grainger: 4:45

Because this is not just about checklist guys Right, or just being a better guy, like I just got to be good. No, this ain't about that. No, this is about alignment, alignment of our heart for what God wants and how he desires us to walk with Him, particularly humbly and out of obedience, because that's when things start moving. So we're going to talk like the whole this week. We will share all about our mission trip. But again, this scripture today really points to us and tells us to get started, and sometimes that means we've got to get comfortable I'm sorry, get uncomfortable, not comfortable. We want to get uncomfortable Because the blessings of God are usually found on the other side of a little bit of discomfort At mission trips and service projects and helping others or mentoring others, right, these usually are not convenient.

Chris Grainger: 5:38

So if you're looking for convenience, like you're missing your opportunity, okay, because ultimately to do these things you're going to have to disrupt your routine. That's just the way it is. They require sacrifice, disrupt your routine, that's just the way it is. They require sacrifice. But usually if we do that, if we sacrifice it right, we can see some really incredible things start taking root in our life. But if we're always looking at for number one, you know what I'm saying. You got to look out for yourself, yolo, like this is me for me. No, you don't miss it. Philippians Paul is reminding us that our posture of service putting others first that's where humility really starts to take root, right, and that's where God starts working. Some crazy, crazy things in your life. And here's the hardest part of all this, guys. I'm telling you because, after coordinating a couple of these trips now hands down, this is the hardest part Saying yes, simply saying yes, because every opportunity to serve starts with one thing A choice.

Chris Grainger: 6:47

A choice we all have. But a man that says yes, there's something powerful there because he recognizes you know what this ain't gonna line up to his calendar. There's gonna be some money, finance issues we're gonna have to work out. We're gonna have to figure stuff out, because if you're waiting for everything to be in order for you to do this, it's never gonna happen. It's kind of like when I laugh when people talk about they're waiting for certain times to have kids, for the right time to have kids, I just laugh like, okay, bro, whatever we all know there's no right time. It's just you just do it and you jump in and it takes a little bit of act of faith and serving is the same way.

Chris Grainger: 7:29

I'm telling you I had guys tell me on this last trip that over and over again man, I almost didn't come, I almost didn't come, but I am so glad that I did. And I'm telling you that's when things start breaking through, that's where the chains fall off, we can start seeing that passion get reignited to that burning flame that we know is there. And let's not forget something, fellas, we're going to talk about this more on our meet episode this week. But guys we spur, guys we just do, because this is not a solo effort. Now you may have opportunities where you can go serve solo hey, go do that from time to time but I'm talking about when you're really on a mission trip and you're out there doing His work. You need each other. We just do.

Chris Grainger: 8:18

Hebrews tells us let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. That's Hebrews 10, 24. So that stirring up means we have to be together. We have to be together. We have to stir people forward, particularly other guys. We've got to challenge them. But right here, outside of the challenge, we've got to invite them. We've got to invite them in and then once they say yes, man, we have to be super high level of intensity of encouragement, particularly when things get tough, things get hard and when that happens and we start serving, you know what, encourage them to invite others next time.

Chris Grainger: 8:57

Tell your story. That's what I'm doing here on the line within this podcast this week I'm telling the story of our mission trip and I'm hoping that that's going to spur you, that's going to encourage you and maybe it calls you to reach out to me so that you can get information on our next trip, whatever that may be, whatever God because let him see the blessing on the other side of the burden right Show that guy, show that guy that there is blessing there, that the blessing far outweighs the burden, whatever perceived burden he thinks exists. Because I'm telling you, boys, after doing a couple of these trips now and coordinating large groups, there's nothing more powerful than a band of brothers coming together with open hands and willing hearts to do the work he's called us to do. So if this is resonating with you, like this little scripture right here, this scripture out of Philippians, is resonating and you're feeling stuck. Maybe you're feeling like there's not a lot of purpose, or you're just spiritually numb. Let's just face it and I'll be 100% honest, guys, I get this way a lot.

Chris Grainger: 10:04

I study God's Word. I teach God's Word every day within the line, within us. I'm teaching on the weekends. There's so much time working and studying the Bible and applying it and writing it for the Bible app and all these different things. But at the same time, I can still feel stuck. But after serving and taking the time to get uncomfortable, it always recharges. It always recharges.

Chris Grainger: 10:27

You know, I would encourage you to do this as well. Say yes, maybe even before the details are perfected. Okay, it's not going to always line up perfectly for you, but say yes and trust God to meet you right there in the middle of that mess, and don't do it by yourself. Bring another brother with you. There's power in that. That's how we do the kingdom work, that's how we grow in Christ and that's how we become the man that God intends us to be.

Chris Grainger: 10:57

And we have to think about it this week. So the question I really want you thinking about as we move throughout the week is what area of serving others have you been avoiding? I get it. It's so easy to put up that stiff arm. That's for those guys. I'll stroke a check. But that actual work, that's for those guys.

Chris Grainger: 11:17

Do you know how busy I am? Do you know my calendar? Do you know how busy I am? Do you know my calendar? Do you know the responsibilities I have? I get it. I wrestled with all those same thoughts, but I'm telling you so much goes away when you just say the one word yes and you just take that step of obedience and watch how God moves. I'm so excited to talk to you guys about our mission trip.

Chris Grainger: 11:42

So look, before we wrap up today, I want to be super intentional and we are super intentional at the Lion Within Us to make sure that every listener every week, at least once a week, usually on our spiritual kickoff episodes understands the greatest news and insights that I could possibly tell you. Nothing from our mission trip, nothing from the things within the line, what we've built and all the things that God's called us to do. All this stuff pales in comparison when we really lean in and start thinking about what God did for us and and start thinking about what God did for us and we start thinking about that perfect design when God created the heavens and the earth and it was beautiful, it was awesome, it was again. We were made in His image. It says the first man, adam, when he breathed the breath of life into his nostrils. He sat up, he was face to face with his creator and it was good, it was so good, and in my Bible it was good for about a page and a half. It wasn't long. Maybe you have a longer Bible, maybe you make it two pages in your Bible, I don't know.

Chris Grainger: 12:55

But sin entered the world and that fractured that relationship between us and God. So we have a holy and righteous God and an unholy us and we try to fill that gap between us and God and we try to close it on our own and we fill it with different things from money and sex and drugs and alcohol and all these different things. These things, just they numb us and then we have some of these righteous type of people. I just got to be good. I just got to keep doing good. I just got to do good stuff. I got to be a good person and if I do that enough, when I get to heaven they're just going to let me in because I'm a good person.

Chris Grainger: 13:32

But there's a problem with this. It's very subjective, because how good is good? Because compared to your neighbor, you may be rocking it. Compared to a guy on death row, you may be crushing it, but compared to a holy and righteous Lord and Savior, we all fall short and we just do. And that's not a very popular message, and I know look, it doesn't get clicks on YouTube or anything like that. It's not something that goes over well at all, but it's the truth. Oprah's wrong. I'm right, and I'm only right because I'm reiterating what this says directly from his word. This is not some made-up version of Chris's truth. This is directly from God's word.

Chris Grainger: 14:16

So there's a fault, there's a separation between us and him and there's nothing we can do for ourselves. You can't have a coach to come in here and coach you up just to make you better so that you'll have a right standing with God. It doesn't work that way. In the past we would have these sacrifices before Christ, we would have all these sacrifices and things like that to pay for our sins, for the penalty of our sins. But it was all temporary because you know that stuff faded away. Next thing you know we were sinning again and we needed something to pay the penalty for that sin, and the penalty for sin is death. We just need to clarify that really quickly.

Chris Grainger: 14:54

So if there's this gap between a holy and righteous God and an unrighteous us, how do we close the gap? What do we effectively do to move it in the right direction? And the answer is we can't do anything. We need a Savior to come in and do for us what we can't do for ourselves. And this is where Jesus enters the scene. And just picture this in your mind. It's just visualization. Close your eyes unless you're driving. Don't close your eyes if you're driving or on a treadmill. That's a terrible idea. But close and just think.

Chris Grainger: 15:25

Picture Jesus in heaven, getting up off his throne and saying I'm going, now's the time. I'm going there to give them what they don't even know they need. He leaves on a rescue mission from heaven for us and it's born of a virgin and live a perfect life. He was taught, he taught us, he did all the miracles, he did all the teachings, he did everything that he knew he needed to do to fulfill the prophecy and to show us that he is the Messiah, he is the Savior of the world. And then he did something that still is just absolutely mind-blowing when you think about it. He decided to give himself up for us and he paid the penalty for our sin when he went to the cross in Calvary. That's where they crucified him. They strung him up between two thieves. Guys. Those two thieves deserve to be there, jesus. No way, no way. So they crucified him and he died. He didn't faint, he didn't pass out. I don't know what you guys read Sometimes there's all sorts of different commentaries on this but at the end of the day, christ died.

Chris Grainger: 16:37

He died and they laid him in a tomb. They shut the tomb up, but that thing was like an Airbnb for Jesus, because three days later he came out. And this is who we serve, this is who we love, this is who we put in reverence, this is who we bow down to the knee of, because we worship a living Savior, Not some dead guy or two. Are you kidding me? A living Savior. And once we recognize that to be true, jesus overcame death, the resurrection changes everything, absolutely everything Again. That's why we don't dress up like we're going to a funeral every Sunday. No, because our Savior lives.

Chris Grainger: 17:20

These other religions in the world, not so much you can go where their peoples are buried, not with Jesus. He grows, he lives. He is the way, the truth and the life. There's no other name under heaven that's been given among men by which we must be saved. It is Jesus. And whoever's told you something different, that's a false doctrine or some type of false gospel.

Chris Grainger: 17:47

I hope that hearing it this plainly, this clearly resonates and I also hope that, if you recognize you've never had that point in your life where you fully surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, today is the day you go. Well, chris, I can't do that. Listen to a podcast. Are you kidding me? I should be in a church. It should be like some holy, righteous moment I'm saying look, I'm not against that. Go to church this weekend and do it then. Okay, if that's what you feel like. But if God's calling you to do work with Him right now, why are you questioning Him? Don't put off with Him what he's calling you to do today, because it starts by simply just admitting that you're a sinner. Yep, I am.

Chris Grainger: 18:27

I fully can recognize and admit that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus, you are Messiah. I believe that with all my heart, to the point I want to confess you as Lord and Savior of my life. I'm just going to give it all to you, god, and I will trust in your ways, because your ways are infinitely better than my ways. I just know this to be true and I need you and I will trust in your ways because your ways are infinitely better than my ways. I just know this to be true and I need you and I love you. So that's where you're at.

Chris Grainger: 18:55

Let's pray together right now as you confess Lord Jesus as Lord Savior of your life. So, father, just thank you so much for this opportunity to share the gospel. It's the greatest story, greatest love story ever told, lord, and we're just so thankful for you, for what you did for us. I'm thankful for my salvation, but also for the one person out there who's listening, who they recognize they need to surrender, they recognize they've been running for too long and then, lord, they're at that point to just give it all to you. So I pray that you just put people in their path. That's going to encourage them, that's going to speak truth to them. And, father, just thank you for how much you love us and how much that you do for us. We're not even aware. So we love you, lord. We praise you in Jesus name. Amen.

Chris Grainger: 19:45

All right, fellas, so look real quick. If you just accepted Christ as your savior, I want to hear from you, because it's kind of like this is a majorly big deal. So send me an email, chris, at the lion withinus. Okay, send me an email there. I will send you some free resources, our Bible study resources, our script We'll have like a 10 scriptures to fight like a lion resources. Get you connected with the stuff that we do on YouVersion Bible App, because you should be in the Word. I want to get you plugged into the Word pretty quickly. So, again, chris, at TheLineWithinus, I would absolutely love to hear from you on that.

Chris Grainger: 20:17

Okay, so, guys, again on Wednesday I'm going to be unpacking the details of our most recent Hurricane Helene mission recovery mission trip, where we were really there to serve for disaster relief. So I'm hopeful that you're going to take a chance just to listen. We'll have some fun stories, we'll have some funny stories, but hopefully you're just going to enjoy hearing how God moved through us. We were just willing to be His hands and feet and he really took advantage of that and we were able to do some incredible things. So, guys, thank you again. So much for listening.

Chris Grainger: 20:50

Again, the lionwithinus is where you find all our resources. Highly encourage you. Start the daily SKO, go ahead and get that going. That's an easy way to get going. Consider the community and then, with our mastermind groups, fellas. That is where everything, the rubber meets the road. So if you're looking for that band of brothers that can walk beside you to whatever you're going through in life right now. That's where it's at. All right, thelionwithinus. All right, fellas, get after it. Thank you so much for listening. There's so many other podcasts out there to listen to. The fact that you took just a few minutes to listen to the Lion Within us means the world to me Cannot say thank you enough. So have a great day. Say thank you enough. So have a great day, get after it and just keep unleashing the lion within.

Chris Grainger: 21:39

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

Chris Grainger: 21:40

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.

Chris Grainger: 21:56

What I learned 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, 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 we'll 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 the lion within dot us slash roar to sign up today. That's the lion within dot us slash ROAR to get your weekly roar today.