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, fun Friday time. Let's get into it, okay?

Chris Grainger: 1:20

So Scripture of the Week this week my favorite book of the Bible, james 1st, chapter 27th, that's 2-7, that's the verse it says. Religion that God, our Father, accepts as pure and faultless is this to look after orphans and widows and their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Love that verse, guys. Again, took some time to unpack that in our spiritual kickoff episode. So go back in your podcast feed Not the last one, but the one before that always comes out on Monday and guys hopefully get a chance to soak in on that, because that is really about simplifying and applying God's word into our life. And again, monday through Friday, we do this completely free, but it's completely exclusive within the Lion Within Us community. So head over to thelionwithinus, start for free for your daily spiritual kickoff. Maybe you want to actually join the community and you can even level up and take part and see if you'll be a good fit for our leadership mastermind. Again, it's not for everybody, but that's something that you're interested in. We have a great assessment there that kind of gives us an indicator of how serious you are. Then we'll have a conversation and we'll see if you're a good fit. All right, our last conversation from World War. I was really great, loved it.

Chris Grainger: 2:39

The Alternative to Abortion why we Must Be Pro-Abundant Life when I saw the subtitle of the book I'm like, yep, we're going to talk about this one. John 1010, the thief comes to steal, kill, destroy. But I've come that you may have life and have it abundantly. Fellas, that is what it's all about. So he took some time to unpack what that meant and the great part was he has a personal story to go with it, because I don't know about you, but it's great. It's cool that you get the theory and all the science behind it and all this stuff right. But when it gets personal, it just hits harder, it just hits harder, it just hits harder. And I'm so appreciative that he shared some of his personal journey as well as, again, his wife. They were boyfriend and girlfriend at the time in college. They get pregnant. She goes to the nurse and out of her mouth the first thing the nurse says well, you got to take an abortion right, like we're going to take care of this, and it's just. It shows you how, how quickly a slope it can be when we head down that path of destruction and the evil one steal, kill, destroy this culture of death. It's out there and as Christian, particularly Christian men, we got to start taking a stance. So I'm so appreciative for him, him for the work that he's doing to help others see that there is a healthy alternative to abortion. Again, there are no surprise babies, boys Lots of surprise parents for sure, but no surprise babies. And we just need to do all we can as Christian men to support the moms and the families, the family unit that is going through this.

Chris Grainger: 4:09

All right, all right For a fun Friday. We always do a health, wealth and a self tip. Again, a health is your mind and your body. How do we strengthen that? Wealth is around stewardship of your finances and your career. And self is about, hey, leveling up as a husband and a father, okay.

Chris Grainger: 4:23

So for the health tip, this week we want to be super intentional about guarding our mind around numbness. Okay, because we have to fight off the slow drift of being apathetic. Okay, because culture around us fellas, it can make you numb to evil. It just can't, because it's freaking everywhere, right? You see entertainment, social media, all these graphics, all this imagery and, at the end of the day, the evil one is just going to keep you busy, and when your mind becomes dull, you miss the spiritual and emotional signals that God is trying to show us, right? So if you're a pro abundant life, right, that means we have to stay alert at all time, at all time, especially to the need of others, the unseen and the unheard, the unborn, the single mom, the abandoned child. To do that, you got to be careful about what you're consuming, because that what you're consuming Well, we have to remember it takes our attention. No-transcript In scripture. Instead of an app, bro, or maybe actually start pulling up some. If you want to pull up something on your, on your phone, read a story or a blog from a pregnancy center about a foster family or adoption agency. To get connected, and stay connected intentionally in the true, real life needs, because when you intentionally cultivate emotion and spiritual sensitivity, you're going to be prepared to step in the gap when God shows it to you and life is truly hanging in the balance. So, fellas, you have to guard your mind against numbness. I can't do that for you, but hopefully that gives you some insight right there, at least some encouragement to do it. But hopefully that gives you some insight right there, at least some encouragement to do it. Now.

Chris Grainger: 6:28

Wealth tip this week is budget generosity into your finances. Ok, because being pro abundant life it's not just about belief, bro, it's about sacrifice, and your bank statement has to reflect your values, right? If it doesn't, you got to reassess values. Right? If it doesn't, you got to reassess. So if you budget generosity, it just makes it so much more proactive, I guess is the right word. Right, you're not scrambling, okay? So maybe you need to really look at that giving fund on your monthly budget. You need to see outside of your local church in your time. Where do we need to be supporting with our wallet to fund the agencies, the groups, the organizations that are doing tip of the spear work? Maybe it's a pregnancy center, maybe it's just sponsoring a single mom directly. You go straight to that mom directly with help.

Chris Grainger: 7:20

Whatever it is, you're going to have to be able to do this. Just be honest, to be able to do this in a meaningful way, you're going to have to plan for it, you had to budget for it, you had to set some, some, some true funding to decide. Maybe you build up that account and one account gets up to a certain level and then at that point you go all in, right Makes all the difference in the world. But it's this level of intentionality, guys, that aligns your financial priorities with God's heart, particularly his heart for the vulnerable. And also added benefit you're showing and teaching your children that a real man is Gives generously, without any hesitation whatsoever. There you go, fellas, that's out. Now your self tip.

Chris Grainger: 8:03

Ok, start being the lead proponent of pro-life conversations at home, at your dinner table, because it's not your pastor's job to disciple your kids on the value of life period. Ok, now they should be, they should hear that message from him. But the primary job is you, because many kids grew up in these Christian homes but they adopt the world's view on abortion because no one's teaching them. So what you have to do? You have to have honest, age-appropriate conversations about the sanctity of human life, share stories, talk about adoption, talk about service, talk about compassion. And if your kids are seeing that conviction from you as the leader of your home, I'm telling you it's going to change everything. It's going to change everything about everything, and they're going to be far more likely to embrace it. So maybe you need to watch a documentary we talked about the 1916 Project here before, maybe you need to watch that or testimony about pro-life work, or just simply teaching them about the Imago Dei, that they were made in the image of God Right, and then perhaps, when you select and pick that ministry that you want to fund and support, maybe even volunteer your time, let them be a part of that, because this creates not just a moment of teaching but a culture of honing the honor of honoring life in your home. Fellas, that's what it's all about. Ok, that's three tips for you. Hopefully you find that encouraging again that, guarding our mind against numbness, we have to be super intentional there, budgeting generosity into our finances and leading the pro-life conversations at home.

Chris Grainger: 9:46

Ok, book of the week. No surprise, we got this one here from Roland Warren the alternative to abortion. While we must be pro abundant life, the foreword was also written by David Platt. You guys probably recognize that name, so highly recommend you get a copy of that. All right, dad joke time, so I recognize that name, so highly recommend you get a copy of that.

Chris Grainger: 10:02

All right, dad joke time. So let's get to our dad jokes. First dad joke is where do boats go when they get sick? The boat dock. There you go. That's pretty good. How about number two? I don't trust those trees. They seem kind of shady. So anyway, fellas, let me know which one? Number one, number two, number one when do boats go when they get sick? That would be the boat dock. Number two I don't trust those trees. They seem kind of shady. Again, eye rolls totally count. Sighs are okay. If she turns around and walk off, you may have just hit a touchdown. All right, fellas. So look, if you got a dad joke that you want us to use on the joke. If we use it, we'll give you a shout out, as well as we'll give you some free swag for hooking us up, okay, and for helping us out, All right.

Chris Grainger: 10:44

Question of the week. This week has been how are you protecting the vulnerable where you can? So we have to be taking proactive action here, fellas. We can't just be of sideline participants and just observers. No, you have to actually do something. So what? Maybe you've been convicted. This week We've talked a lot about this pro-abundant life movement. So maybe that's convicted you to the point like, okay, I got to do something Great, now put it into gear, let's go. We're counting on you. Particularly the unborn are All right, fellas. So thanks for listening. I know we touch on a lot of topics that are always not super popular, but it's all about doing what God's calling us to do and I'm telling you, being pro-abundant life, I can't think anything more of anything more particularly, of more importance than taking this position and taking it out and loving on others and just helping people see the value and the beauty and the sanctity of human life. So, guys, have a great day, get after it.

Chris Grainger: 11:42

Thelionwithinus is our website. Head there, start your daily spiritual kickoff for free. Join our community at TheLionWithinus. See if you qualify to be part of our leadership mastermind. We have a great assessment to get you started there. All that's found on the main site.

Chris Grainger: 11:58

You can also open up the Bible app. That's an easy way to connect with us there. Tons and tons and tons of Bible studies on the Bible app. Love for you to check those out. You can even connect with me on the Bible app. I usually go about two a month. There's a cadence we've set up. If you want to go through one of those studies with me directly, when I start those each month, I'll send you an invite and you can take part with me. Love to connect with you there, okay.

Chris Grainger: 12:20

So again, the lion withinus. If you want to be a donor of the show, just help us out. That's the lion withinus slash. Donate. If you can give us a rating and review, that would be awesome. Guys, prayerfully, we'll see you next week. Thank you for hanging out, thank you for your time this week and remember to keep unleashing the lion within. I've got something big to share.

Chris Grainger: 12:42

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: 12:49

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