Speaker 1: 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 into it, okay? So the scripture of the week this week, 2 Corinthians 10, chapter 3, verse For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. Ok, now we're going to see how we can simplify and apply this to our life. Right, and as a reminder, guys, we do a spiritual kickoff every day, monday through Friday, within our line within this community. So if you just enjoy these in any way, if they encourage you, jump on over the line within that US is a free way we offer to just get guys introduced to what we do as well. But just to encourage them, fellas, just encourage. So it's all within our platform. It's all exclusive. We don't put the recordings anywhere else. Cool part is if you can join live when I do them every morning, usually between 8 and 8.15 am Eastern If you can join that live, you get a chance to chat directly. And if you can't join live, don't worry, we post those videos every morning. So when they're finished they have to render on our end, and then we post the videos there and that's it. So they live there. So it's a great way.

Speaker 1: 2:21

We've been working through the Minor Prophets. This has been a fun one. We just did last year and a half, we worked through the Psalms, every Psalm, so it's been incredible. We've worked through some Gospels before, some Old Testament books for sure, but now we're in the minor prophets. I'm actually right now we're in the book of Joel. So there you go, fellas.

Speaker 1: 2:39

So for this verse today, though, we need to understand, first of all, where is it? We don't want to assume anything here at the Alliance. So 2 Corinthians, that is your New Testament. Okay, that is your New Testament. Ok, after First Corinthians, before Galatians. So you'll go past your Matthew, mark, luke and John, your Acts here, and then you'll get to to these areas. Ok, so that you want to just be aware of, kind of, where you're looking at in your, in your Bible.

Speaker 1: 3:07

All right, so now, this week we're going to talk about some heavy stuff and primarily walking in the light, particularly with fellow brothers in Christ, because this war that's raging against the flesh right now, guys, it is freaking unreal. Ok, as we live in a physical world, but as a Christian man, we got to recognize hey, the battle we're fighting is anything but flesh and blood. Ok, because we're not anything but flesh and blood. Okay, because we're not. What's this say? Right, here we are. Do not war according to the flesh. So that's not it.

Speaker 1: 3:40

We know it's evil, but every day there's a tension between walking in a broken world and a broken body, with a spiritual enemy that wants to absolutely steal, kill, destroy everything God has called good. He just has. John 10,. 10 is as true today as it ever was right, and we have to be careful because it's a subtle path towards destruction that we often take and a regular battle that I hear from other guys I've battled this myself too that we face as men is the war against lust, because it doesn't usually come out as just like a blatant rebellion.

Speaker 1: 4:21

Lust starts creeping in quietly. It's a longing or a feat to feel something right, to feel affirmed, to be excited, to be desired, to be powerful, to be seen, and then that desire to feel those things slowly gives way to what, to compromise. It just does A glance. At first you can't control the first, look, but you can, doggone, control the second, and then that glance turns into a linger, a scroll turns into a click, a scroll turns into a click. A thought is actually acted on instead of being captured Right, and before we know it, that door is open for destruction and pornography is a. It's a silent killer. Guys, let's just be real, because what is? Where does pornography thrive the most? Secrecy? Let's just be real, because where does pornography thrive the most Secrecy? Let's just be real. None of you guys are sitting around with a bunch of other guys watching porn. That would just be freaking weird. No, it's secrecy and it warps us, it warps our hearts, it rewires our brains and the biggest problem is it distorts God's design for love, for sex and for relationships. And once that pornography door gets cracked open, it's so hard to shut it, fellas, because guilt starts to set in or shame starts being multiplied Right, and then one of the biggest problems isolation starts to take root. And once isolation takes root and you have guilt and you have shame plugging into you, satan is having a field day. He just is. And anytime we stay in the shadows, he's celebrating, because that's where he kicks our freaking butts at is in the shadows and the world out. There they are.

Speaker 1: 6:13

There are some solutions and they are useful, but I've often found that these are just insignificant or insufficient, rather, and the solutions out there are like filters for your, for your computer and phone, things like that software. You have accountability apps out there. Now you have therapy something. Therapy can be very good as well, and none of these should be dismissed because you may need to use a multitude of different resources. But we, as Christian men, we need to understand one thing that these are not the weapons, they're just reinforcements.

Speaker 1: 6:49

The real power isn't found in a program, it's found in the word of God, because, think about it, when Jesus faced temptation in the wilderness, he didn't quote some philosophy. Did he Heck? No, he didn't phone a friend. He didn't have a phone, but he could have. I mean, he didn't phone a friend. You know what I'm saying. He responded with three words, and these are so simple words and they carry so much weight for us as Christian guys. It is written, that's it.

Speaker 1: 7:25

And think about this If the Son of God used scripture to fight the enemy, why don't we? Why don't we? Because you ain't going to win this battle with willpower, fellas, you just ain't. As someone who struggled my whole life with just food. I mean, I'm not at my ideal weight, but I'm definitely better than I was right. I've lost about 120 something pounds since my oldest would be was 15 years ago. But it's constant fighting against it and some days are better than others.

Speaker 1: 8:01

But you win these battles by wielding the sword of the spirit, the word of God, consistently With extreme discipline, and you often are wielding it out of desperation. And we have to remember that we are equipped for war. He has equipped us with everything we need to stand firm. He's given us his word. That's the offensive weapon. He's given us his spirit. That's our power source. It's nonstop. We have that power. The Holy Spirit dwells at all times. It's not just nine to five and after five it checks out. It don't work that way. And he's also given us people. These are our brothers in Christ, because this can't just be some box to check boys. This is how we aim ourselves for war. So we have to memorize verses, we have to pray verses out loud.

Speaker 1: 8:56

When I went, I just got back from a little retreat with my wife and one thing God just gave me Psalm 40 for some reason for that weekend, for a season of Lifetime man and it just hit me, just pray this back to Him. So that's literally what I did. I opened my Bible and I prayed out loud, just reading Psalm 40, back to God, and then meditating and reflecting on the truth from God's word. That's what I enjoy doing the most, because that's how you reshape your mind and this anchors us in righteousness, that right standing with God, and it tears down any strongholds that the enemy is trying to build. But I want to caution you right here. Even if you have the right weapon in hand which you should we were never meant to fight alone, because lust flourishes in isolation. Because lust flourishes in isolation. But I'm telling you, after being in the lion now for several years and just seeing the impact it has on guys, victory grows in community because God didn't decide us to do this stuff alone. Fellas, every soldier think about this every soldier out there needs a unit. He just does Every warrior. They need a shield bearer.

Speaker 1: 10:12

So if you don't have brothers in Christ to walk with, to pray with, to confess to, to be encouraged by, then your likelihood of being defeated goes up. And I'm telling you, this stuff doesn't happen by accident. You're not going to find the true brothers out there just trip up and fall over. It takes intentional steps like joining a men's group or joining an alliance within us, or seeking out one-on-one discipleship and being able to confess what's really going on without any shame or condemnation whatsoever. James tells us in chapter 5, confess your sins to one another and pray for another that you may be healed.

Speaker 1: 10:53

So freedom, for that freedom that we're searching for starts with confession, and that healing begins when we can actually be honest with each other. Get it. So if you're listening to this right now and you feel the weight of the battle that you're fighting against pornography, I just need you to hear this, bro you are not alone and you are not beyond saving, you are not beyond freedom. But also hear this you cannot weigh this, win this war by just playing defense. Can't do it, man. You got to put some runs on the board, bro. You can't just be defensive, and be offensive means getting into the word of God, getting with other brothers in Christ, getting honest and actually getting serious about attacking this, because Satan just wants you to think I'll deal with it one day, or he wants you to feel stuck with it one day, or he wants you to feel stuck or that you're too far gone, but God wants you to be free, bro. So, while we're walking in the flesh, remember you do not have to war. According to the flesh, the Holy Spirit is so much stronger, the word is so much sharper and the light is brother, the light is brighter, I'm telling you, brotherhood is where it's at. So, fellas, be encouraged and also reach out, bro, if you need help, if you just need someone to talk, to reach out, because that is why we started Delilah with Dennis, to serve guys in these areas.

Speaker 1: 12:34

And our question we're going to think about this week is what small compromises have gone unchecked in your own life? And I don't know what that compromise is. I can tell you one. Here's a. Here's a quick litmus test. This is not even in my notes, but it's just something for me. It's just, it's very salient.

Speaker 1: 12:52

If you were to hand your wife your cell phone at any time, actually check. If your wife or girlfriend were to pick up your cell phone at any time and had full access to it, would your heart rate be impacted whatsoever? So would it go up? If she picked up your phone and had complete, unfettered access to everything on your phone, would there be an elevation in your heart rate. If the thought of that makes your heart rate elevate, that's your checkpoint right now. There has been a compromise somewhere in your walk.

Speaker 1: 13:38

Don't feel condemned, but recognize that to be true. There should never be a moment where your significant other cannot pick up your phone or look on your laptop or your tablet whatever that device is without any fear of browsing history or potentially finding areas that shouldn't be there. Let's just say that. So, if you have those compromises and that convicted you right there, reach out TheLionWithinus. Connect with us directly. Okay, that's what it's about. And look, chris, at TheLionWithinus. Connect with us directly. Okay, that's what it's about. And look, chris, at TheLionWithinus. That's my email. Send me a note, because I want to at least plug in with you, try to encourage you and also see if we can get you plugged into some resources that are going to help you along this journey, primarily some other brothers in Christ, okay. So for that listener out there, though, who found the lion within us, and maybe you're curious about Jesus, what this whole Christian thing is about, I just want to take a minute here. We always do this at the end of every Spiritual Kickoff episode, just to let you know.

Speaker 1: 14:50

And it all started with God's perfect design this world. Believe it or not, I know it's jacked up now, bro, it's so jacked up, but at the beginning it was perfect, it was absolutely great. And then God formed the first man. His name was Adam, with his hands, and the Bible tells us he breathed the breath of life, the Ruah, into his nostrils. Then Adam set up. He was face to face with his creator, made in the image of God. How cool is that? That Adam was in the garden with God. You think about that and it just blows your mind. There's nothing. Think about a world where nothing can go wrong. It's just perfect. That's what Adam experienced and it went great for like two pages in my Bible Maybe it's more than yours, but I don't know Page and a half, two pages about his general Genesis 3.

Speaker 1: 15:54

That's's, we have sin entering the world and from that moment when sin entered, it separated us from god. So we have a holy and righteous god and we have us who are not holy. We're not set apart. There's this chasm, there's this gap between us and we try to close that gap with things in this world, with good deeds, good works, which all these things. I want you to do this stuff, fellas. I'm not telling you to go out there and not help people, but the problem is we start thinking that those works earn our salvation. Right, and we, just we do it.

Speaker 1: 16:33

We go to church, we read Bibles, we'll pray, we'll, we'll help little old ladies cross the street, we'll give money to good organizations and things like that, and all that stuff is fine and dandy, but it doesn't cover our sin need, you know, because the payment for sin is death. So this gap that we have between Holy and righteous God and us, we can't cover on our own, you know. We need someone to cover for us what we can't do for ourselves. So what we truly need, once we recognize this to be true, is a Savior In comes. Jesus, who left heaven on a rescue mission for us, came to earth, was born of a virgin, fulfilled all the prophecies, did all the miracles did all the teachings, showed us the way, gave us everything we needed to understand Raising people from the dead, healing lame people, blind people. It was crazy what Jesus did, but all of that, he left heaven on the rescue mission to go to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, because we can't pay it for ourselves. So he was the perfect savior. Payment for all the sins, propitiation, the payment that satisfies. That was Jesus. And he nailed him to a cross. They crucified him and he died. And the penalty for death? Payment for death rather sin. The payment for sin is death right. So he died on the cross and that's Christ.

Speaker 1: 18:23

Now, the fundamental difference between Christianity and all the other religions of the world is that it doesn't end there with the death of our Messiah. They laid him in a tomb. They did for three days. It was kind of like an Airbnb for Jesus. He only needed it. They did for three days. It's kind of like an Airbnb for Jesus. He only needed it for just for those three days, because then he rose, so he overcame death. That's the big difference. All the other religions out there, their leaders are still in the ground, they're still dead.

Speaker 1: 18:51

Jesus lives. That's what we celebrate. That's why we choose to surrender to him. That's why we choose to surrender to him. That's why we choose for him to be our Lord and Savior. Because I don't know about you, but I'm going with the guy who overcame death 10 times out of 10. And I know it's not going to be easy on my walk, but it definitely is going to be better, because I'm walking with Jesus and that's the hope we have. There's no other name under heaven that's been given among men by which we must be saved, fellas, it is it, jesus is it. He's the way, the truth and the life. Fellas, I'm telling you, he changes everything, about everything.

Speaker 1: 19:28

So if you're listening to the Lion, you've made it this far, through the spiritual kickoff episode, and you've never surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You're here for a reason, bro. I don't know why. I really don't know why. I just know one thing we're going to diligently, every week at the Lion, good Lord willing, as long as he gives me the strength and the ability to do this, we're just going to share the good news of the gospel and we're going to let the Spirit do what the Spirit does. So if you're ready to accept Christ as your Savior, you're ready to confess Him as Lord, I don't care if you're driving down the road, if you're on a treadmill, if you're on a walk, if you're at work. Wherever you are, listen to the lion. It could be cutting grass. Now's the time. Now's the time to make the most important decision you'll ever make in your life. So if you're ready to do that, I'll pray with you right now. So let's just pray it up. So, heavenly Father, thank you so much for this opportunity just to share the good news of the gospel.

Speaker 1: 20:28

There may be one person out there who recognizes and admits that they are a sinner in need of a Savior and Lord. They believe that they are a sinner in need of a Savior and Lord. They believe that you are the Son of God, that you are the way, the truth and the life. They believe that you are it, jesus, and they're right now confessing you as Lord and Savior of their life. So I pray, you hear their prayer. I pray, father, you just give them encouragement. You put people on their path. That's going to help them as they begin their personal discipleship journey right here today. And we praise you, we love you and we do all this according to your will, in Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 1: 21:10

So if you just accepted Christ, look, I want to hear from you, chris, at the lion within, dot us. Ok, shoot me an email. The main reason is I want to hear from you, chris, at the lion within, dot us. Ok, shoot me an email. The main reason is I want to hook you up with some free resources. We have a lot of ways to help you get started. So some of those it is written. I want to give you some of those right at the gate just to encourage you you know, it may be just a good way to get kind of jumpstart your, your discipleship journey and also just want to find out where you're located, because we may be able to, with the resources we have all over the country, we may be able to help you. At least think about what to look for when you start considering a local church. Okay, and if you're in a local church, maybe it's a good thing to we can help you with to evaluate should I stay in this one or should I look for another one, because once you really start leaning into God's word and start being obedient in that, you may have some red flags out there that you know what these are. They're too big to ignore. So therefore, I need to make a decision. We want to help you with that, all right, so shoot me an email. I'd love to help you with that, ok, thank you so much for listening.

Speaker 1: 22:12

Look our episode on Wednesday for the meat episode. This week we're going to be diving deeper into this topic of pornography Some really good resources out there to help you guys who are struggling with this, who just need some help in these areas. So head over and we'll see that episode come out. The line within that US is where we have all that the resources that we currently have. We also have a really cool Devo on the Bible app right now, for I'm just a guy battling pornography, so open up your Bible app, search for that. You should see that right there at the front of it. Okay, within the Bible app. So, other than that, fellas, have a great day.

Speaker 1: 22:46

The lion withinus is how you find all our resources, from our daily spiritual kickoff to our community, to our leadership masterminds. They are three primary ways that we try to serve. So jump in, get started. Daily SKO is free. Jump into the community. Jump into or make an application, rather, for Leadership Mastermind, and we see if we can get you plugged in. All right, guys, have a great day. Come back next time. Thank you so much for listening. Give us a rating and review and just keep on leashing the lion within.

Speaker 1: 23:15

I've got something big to share.

Speaker 1: 23:17

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.

Speaker 1: 23:24

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.