Chris Grainger: 1:38

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, spiritual kickoff time. I'm excited to be here with you, so let's get into it, okay. So the scripture of the week this week is in the book of Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 14, just one verse. It says For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. All right Now. So we're going to see how we can simplify and apply this. That's the whole point of the spiritual kickoff episodes, guys. And again, if you like these, if you like the way we go about this, monday through Friday, every day, monday through Friday, in the mornings, I go live inside our Lion Within Us community and I share just some brief encouragement just to get your day started in the world. Okay. So if that sounds like something that you would like, something that you enjoy, head over to thelinewithinus to get started to plug into that daily spiritual kickoff. So if you search daily spiritual kickoff when you get to the site, you'll see it right there. Plug in, get started, okay. And then again, we don't put that content anywhere else. It's a one and done deal content anywhere else. It's a one and done deal. It's exclusive for our members and guys. We just want to give that to you, to bless you with it, okay, so go check that out at thelinewithinus. All right, now we need to know about.

Chris Grainger: 2:46

First of all, we open up the Bible and you hear a book like a backup. It can get very confusing, okay. Well, first of all, where is it? So, just chill out. It's in the Old Testament. So it's there. It's part of your minor prophets, okay, so if you get to Jonah, then you get to Micah. You need to get to Nahum. So you just keep flipping them. You're flipping over. Then you get to Habakkuk. If you get to Zephaniah or Haggai, you went a little bit too far. They can be a little bit tricky to find because these easy to fly by. So don't beat yourself up if you can't find it out the gate. Okay, that's the main thing. All right Now.

Chris Grainger: 3:25

This verse right here is really about leadership. Okay, when we put the glory of the, of the Lord, first and foremost. That's what it's all about, because we're called to lead. We know that you're, we know that You're listening to the Land with Initiative. You know we're called to lead, and we're called to lead with purpose. We better have some conviction behind that. And also we're called, as Christian leaders, to lead with a high amount of integrity. Ok, but this isn't just about making decisions you need to understand that or guiding people. It's about reflecting God's glory in all that we do. And Habakkuk, you know he paints us this picture here of the unstoppable expansion of God's glory and we have a role like dude you're listening, look in the mirror. You have a role in advancing that mission and this is inevitable. It's going to happen. So we need to check ourselves. Are we being aligned to it or not?

Chris Grainger: 4:24

Because he was living, habakkuk was in a time of injustice. There was some corruption going on. There was some spiritual rebellion going on. Can I get an amen? Does it sound like he was living in 2025? I mean, let's just be real. But he was wrestling with God on these things and on these things and he was questioning how long evil would prevail. And what was god's response? His glory is going to cover the earth like the water is covered to see the end of the day. Nothing is going to stop god's plan, nothing.

Chris Grainger: 4:48

And the message that we can take for this, guys, as leaders, and the question we start really asking ourselves is are we aligning the way that we show up, particularly with with our leadership, with his unstoppable mission? Or here's the tough part to think about Are we trying to build our own kingdom? And I know you say, chris, I'm not doing that. Are you Be truthful here, be real Now. Every role we have as guys, whether it's serving your spouse or taking care of your kids, or running a business, or being an employee right or mentoring others, every one of those roles, we either contribute to spreading the knowledge of God's glory or we work against it. You'll never say that you work against him. But ask yourself these questions Do your actions reflect Christ, even when the pressure gets up?

Chris Grainger: 5:46

Okay, it's because it's easy to reflect Christ on Sunday morning when you're blessed up and highly. You know you're prayed up and everyone's blessed and highly favored and you're looking good. Right, you're in a church setting. But when the pressure gets up, are you reflecting Christ? Do you leave with integrity when nobody's watching? I mean, do you when the camera's off? If you will, are you taking steps of integrity in those moments and are you trying to encourage others to know and glorify God with the influence that you have?

Chris Grainger: 6:21

And look, we all have different levels of influence. We just do right, but every one of you has a certain level of influence, whatever that may be. And what you need to be thinking about is are you helping to advance what God's calling you to do, or are you trying to prohibit that? Are you hindering that? And because the gift of influence is really what leadership is all about, but how you use it, it means everything, because if you're leading with humility or courage or obedience, you're contributing to God's greater plan. Right, not just your personal. Look at me and try to build up your LinkedIn profile. Let's just be real. So here's here's a couple of practical steps, because we want to try to get really practical at the line with Dennis from time to time, to give you guys some ways to actually take this meat and potatoes and apply it.

Chris Grainger: 7:09

First, you have to anchor yourself in God's word. You just have to. You can't reflect something that you don't know. If it ain't in you, it ain't coming out. Buddy, I have my water jug right here, I shake this thing up, I take the top off, I pour it out. Guess what's coming out Water. Why? Because water's inside of it. That's it. Coke's not coming out, tea's not coming out, you know, powerade's not coming out. Nothing Water comes out of this. So if you want more of God's glory to come out of you, then you have to be filled with his truth. You have to make that a daily priority. I can't make you want to read God's word, that's something between you and God. But I just encourage you, fellows, get in the word every day. Now.

Chris Grainger: 7:47

The second thing humility over recognition. This goes completely against what the world says, because the world says, like, look at me, I'm important and I'm so important I need to post about it, so the whole world will see my highlight reel. And I'm so important I need to post about it, so the whole world will see my highlight reel. And I'm telling you, the worldly leadership is seeking that power. We, as godly leaders, need to seek service. We need to reflect Jesus in how we lead. The next thing you need to consider is encouraging others towards Christ, and this means at home, first and foremost. That's your number one mission, field work. And then in your community, use whatever influence you have to point others to God not to promote you. And if you do that, operate with integrity, because the nods of His glory spreads. It's going to spread like rapid fire when you walk in truth, honesty and righteousness.

Chris Grainger: 8:42

Because your character, fellas, please hear this your character matters so much more than your resume. I'm sure your LinkedIn profile is dope and it's awesome, all the crazy things that you've done in your career Wonderful None of it matters. If your character gets completely thrown out the window, none of it matters. And if your character matters, that's going to drive you to live on mission, because every day is an opportunity to expand the kingdom. It just is. So the way you work, the way you parent, the way you love your wife, the way you engage with others should reflect God's presence in your life.

Chris Grainger: 9:16

Because your leadership, guys, think about this please. It's a piece of a bigger story. It just is Habakkuk. He's showing us this Because God's plans are bigger than our plans, but but he invites us to be a, to play a role in it. How cool is that? No, he wants us to be part of that and, as men of faith, we're supposed to be active participants in this mission. So really think about that. Really think about that.

Chris Grainger: 9:46

Is your leadership pointing others to God's glory or yourself, you know what? If you can't answer that honestly towards God's glory that's okay. Now what are you going to do about it? But at the end of the day, the world needs more bold, godly men who will lead with purpose and with the knowledge that everything that we do, that we act, all the actions that we take are honored and glorifying God, because he is in charge, he is reigns right. So it's time to step up, it's time to lean in fellas, it's time to lead well, because that mission of filling the earth with the knowledge of his glory guess what? Of filling the earth with the knowledge of his glory, guess what? It starts with you, it starts with me, it starts with every Christian man who has surrendered his life to the lordship of Christ. And that is how you simplify and apply this verse in the back.

Chris Grainger: 10:38

Now, look, all this stuff is great, but if you don't have that personal relationship with Jesus, this is such a big deal. And look, I'm not naive enough to think that everyone who listens to the Lion Within Us is a Christian. Now, I would definitely admit that the majority of the guys and girls, but a lot of the ladies listen, that you are Christians and hallelujah, praise the Lord. But for the ones that aren't and you're just curious, maybe you've never heard the true story of what Christianity is all about. And I just want to start with one fundamental truth that I please I hope you hear me is that God had a perfect design when he created the world and he loved it. He had such a great design in mind that when he made the first man, that guy's name was Adam, by the way, if you didn't know he actually formed Adam with his hands and he breathed the breath of life into his nostrils. And then, when Adam set up, he was face to face with God and it was awesome. I mean, it was really great. I mean, you go back to the very beginning of Genesis, you'll see this.

Chris Grainger: 11:44

The problem is, it went great for about a page and a half of my Bible, because sin entered the world and a sin is. I don't think what sin is is anything that separates us from God. Okay, so we had this separation between us and a holy and righteous God, and guess what? God is holy and righteous and we are not. And then, because sin entered the world, we start chasing all these things in the world with money and pride and lust and all these things are just pulling us because we have to make us feel a certain way, because we deserve that and ultimately what we're trying to do, we're trying to make ourselves gods right.

Chris Grainger: 12:18

And then you even have some guys who are out there thinking, well, yes, sin entered, but I just need to be a good guy. Like, if I could just be good, surely when I die and go to heaven, like they're going to let me in because you know I'm good. I'm sitting there like, look bro, that's a dangerous, you know that's a dangerous proposition you're playing with because, at the end of the day, you know what, how good is good? Are you going to get up there? And you missed it by a half inch because you didn't do this extra deed. If you'd have just done this extra deed Like I know what you think Like good, in comparison, it's easy to think that we're good, right, compared to people on death row.

Chris Grainger: 12:54

We have a prison that's in our county. Compared to people on death row, it would be easy for me to sit back and think, oh, look at me, I'm not on death row. I've never killed anybody, so surely, compared to them. I'm good and God's going to let me in on my merits and I'm sitting here. No, that's wrong. That's wrong Because the standard is wrong.

Chris Grainger: 13:13

The standard is not comparing ourselves to others. The standard is comparing ourselves to a holy and righteous God. And when we do that, guys, we all fall short. We all fall short of the glory of God. We just do fall short. We all fall short of the glory of God. We just do so.

Chris Grainger: 13:26

What do we need? So if we can't cover this on ourselves and we can't be coached up, right, there's nothing. There's not a coach on this planet. There's tons of coaches out there and if not a coach on this planet that can coach you up enough to overcome your sins. So what do you do? Well, you need someone to step in and do for you what you couldn't do for yourself, and that's where Jesus enters the scene. So he left heaven on a rescue mission for you, for me, for the entire world.

Chris Grainger: 13:49

He was born of a virgin. He fulfilled all the prophecies, he did the teachings, he did the miracles, the signs, all the stuff that showed us directly that he was the Messiah. But he didn't just stop there, right, he didn't just stop there. But he didn't just stop there. He didn't just stop there. He went and gave himself up as the perfect sacrifice for sin, to the point where they crucified him on a cross. And he willingly did this, guys, and this is the mind-blowing part. He willingly left heaven, glory, to come down here to do that for us, for God so loved the world that he sent his only son. It's crazy, it's mind-blowing. I know, and check this out. He didn't just die on the cross and stay there, no. So they took him off the cross, they put him in a tomb. He was dead completely. He's gone right. He didn't faint or fall asleep, he's dead. And then, three days later, he rose. He overcome death.

Chris Grainger: 14:42

That is the big difference between Christianity, what we believe to be true, and the rest of the religions of the world. It's because we worship a risen Savior. He is living, he is a right-handed Father. Right now, there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. It is Jesus. He is it. He is the way, the truth and the life. Guys, let's go.

Chris Grainger: 15:04

So once you see this, it's like okay, holy, wow, like Jesus, he lives right. So what do you have to do At that point? You have to make a decision. Are you going to keep doing things your way through life or are you going to surrender and say you know what my way? It has its moments, but something's missing. And I know something's missing and I know what that thing is. That thing is Jesus. So I'm going to surrender my life to you. I don't know what you have plans for me, I just know I'm going to walk in obedience.

Chris Grainger: 15:39

And then there's people out there who say, okay, if you do this, it's going to be cupcakes and rainbows and cotton candy and all this stuff. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not telling you that. It definitely doesn't always get easier, but it does get better. It gets better because you have that relationship with Him. The Holy Spirit's going to come. You will have the vision that you've never had before and at that point you start your discipleship journey, and that's what it's all about.

Chris Grainger: 16:01

So if you've wrestled with this for a long time, if you can't definitively look back and say this is when I surrendered my life to the Lordship of Jesus and this is when I started walking with Him, he is Lord of my life period. Today's the day. Don't put it off, because if you have that little gnawing, that little bit of conviction happening right now and you're not taking action, buddy, you're being disobedient to God. So what we're going to do, we're going to pray right now, and if you're ready to accept Christ as your Savior, just pray with me. Okay?

Chris Grainger: 16:33

You're like Chris, I'm listening to a podcast. I can't accept Jesus listening to a podcast. Why not? Who said that? Who said you had to be sitting in a church pew on a Sunday morning to accept Christ as your Savior? Uh-uh, that's not what I read in the Bible. No, he is ready, he is calling you and now is the time to surrender to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Chris Grainger: 16:55

So, father, I'm just praying for that one listener right there who right now, is ready to accept you, who is confessing you as Lord and Savior, who recognizes that their way is not working, who recognizes that they need a better path. They need you. They need you, god, and I pray you just pour out your peace that passes all understanding on them. Right now they may feel just completely wrecked, completely in shambles, just just at their wits ends. They don't know what to say, what to do, where to turn, but for some reason they're turning to you because you are the author and perfecter, you're the Alpha and Omega, you're King, you're sovereign, you're Lord. So I pray you hear their prayer. I pray. They know this, I pray they just know this right now and I pray you just put some people in their life that's going to help guide and direct them along their discipleship journey that starts today. It's in Jesus' name. We pray Amen.

Chris Grainger: 17:45

All right, so look, if you just accepted Christ as your Savior, I want to hear from you. Okay, so send me an email, chris, at thelionwithanus, I'm going to hook you up. We've got a bunch of free type of downloads, pdfs and things like that that I want to send you to get started. I also want to definitely try to get you plugged into a good gospel believing, gospel preaching, rather Bible believing church. We want to get you connected. Also, just want to give you a virtual high five. Just let you know that you are not in this alone and let's go. Biggest decision you ever made right here. All right, guys.

Chris Grainger: 18:15

So look, wednesday episode, meet episode this week Guys on fire. Bro, I'm just here to tell you you're going to love this one. The guy has a ton of energy. He's just he. He a ton of wisdom in his sermon. First and foremost, a little sneak peek. He is out of my the church that I spend so much time just just learning and studying from the church of 1122. He hasn't been on the on the pod before, though, so he's a brand new guest. I'm so pumped up, so excited. Pastor Joby actually connected me with him and it's an honor. So you guys are going to really like this one. We're going to talk a lot about discipleship, talk a lot about walking with Christ. We're going to talk a lot about men's groups, the stuff that we know is important to you. So check it out.

Chris Grainger: 18:55

Head over to thelinewithinus. I talked about that at the beginning of this episode. Thelinewithinus is where you get all our resources. It's where you can join our community, the Daily Spiritual Kickoff. You can join our mastermind groups. Guys, that's all the stuff. That's part within our platform. That's exclusive, members-only exclusive content. But then you also have the Bible app. So if you're using the Bible app from YouVersion, check out the Lion Within Us, all the different plans we have going on out there. We have our weekly roar newsletter weekly roar newsletter. It comes out every Monday morning we have our Christian leader assessment free, easy way to just to check. Just check some. It's kind of like a check engine, like where are you stacking up right now? All that is at the lionwithdenus, all right, guys, so get after it, have a great day, look forward to seeing you here on our next episode and remember, just keep unleashing the lion within. I've got something big to share.

Chris Grainger: 19:43

We're making a major shift because we know the battle was real and it's time more men had access to the support they need.

Chris Grainger: 19:50

For too long, guys have been trying to carry the weight alone pressure at work, tension at home, wounds from the past in a world that demands strength but offers no place to rest. We see it, we've lived it, and that's exactly why we built our community. It's a stronghold, a place where warriors can find rest, truth and a band of brothers standing beside them. And starting now, we're making it easier than ever to step in. We've lowered the barrier to just $15.99 a month. That means, for less than the cost of a drive-thru lunch, you can join a brotherhood that's centered on Christ and built for growth. Inside you'll find access to our daily spiritual kickoffs every Monday through Friday, our Lion Lunches, our Bible Studies, our Friday Forge Gatherings all that and so much more. Every man needs a stronghold, and you don't have to fight alone. If you've been waiting for the right time to jump in, this is it. Go to thelionwithinus and join the community and see for yourself what happens when iron truly sharpens iron.