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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 fun Friday time. Let's get into it. You made it to the end of the week. Can I get a hallelujah? Or maybe an amen. Or like, just let a let a breath out there, boys.

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Scriptures a week this week has been the book of Nehemiah. We really focused heavy on Nehemiah this week. The second chapter and 18th verse is the verse we really looked at. It says, And I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king's words, which he had spoken to me. Then they said, This is the key point, guys, let's arise and build. So they put their hands to the good work. So fellas, love, love, love that verse. If you want to go back and see how you can simplify and apply that one verse to your life as a leader today, two back in your podcast feed, you'll find a spiritual kickoff episode with this particular verse, and we unpack that at length to try to give you some insights there. Again, we do this Monday through Friday within the Lion Within Us. It's all for free. We call it the Daily Spiritual Kickoff. So if you like the podcast, if you just are encouraged by it, I'd encourage you to go check out what we're building within our Lion Within Us community. Okay. So the Daily Spiritual Kickoff is completely free. Just open it up. Just go check out thelionwithin.us. Click on daily spiritual kickoff. I promise you I can talk, fellas. And then sign up today. Okay. So that gives you ability as well. Just in case you guys didn't know, we have an app that goes with the Lion Within Us community. It's all this, it's it's really uh engaging on how the platform works. It's a great way just to kind of dip your toe in the water, just to see what it's all about. So check it out for you guys that are more interested in the community or the mastermind that links at the lionwithin.us as well. Okay. So if you missed a conversation with Dr. John Wilson, really enjoyed this one with him, uh, just unpacking the Nehemiah way. He took, he he spent a lot of time working through those six Ps and as a reminder, prayer, planning, preparation, progress, perseverance, and people problems, right? And then I threw in a couple more. I threw in precision, I threw in passivity, right? And we talked a lot about that. So if you're a layperson in a church and you just want to just serve at a higher level, this could be a great resource that you bring to church leadership to let them know about this particular framework to call the knee of my way. Obviously, John is using God's word to teach, to, to equip, to direct. So I encourage you, go check that out. Maybe, maybe you want to be the guy who just puts this copy of this book in your pastor's hand and then you schedule that follow-up meeting. Don't just put a book in his hand and just let him go. Like, here, I want you to read this, and I'm gonna come back in in a few weeks and let's sit down and talk about it. Okay, that's a great way to get started. And that may be the little launch you need to get some things moving. So, again, if you want to go listen to that conversation, it's be a previous episode in your podcast feed. Go listen to that with my buddy, Dr. John Wilson. All right. So now for you new listeners to the Lion Within Us, on Fridays, we do a health well and a self-tip. That's kind of like the primary pillars of the lion. The health is how do we strengthen our minds and our bodies? Like it can't just be a strong body if you have a weak mind. So that type of thing. Wealth is it's not just about money, bro. It's like stewardship. Stewardship is what it's all about of our finances and our careers, okay? And then health is, I'm sorry, self is what do we need to do as men to improve in the areas of being a husband and being a father. Those are big, big areas, right? Big buckets. So we just try to give little tips, okay? So for the health tip, and I'm a big sweater, I'm just gonna throw this out, but sweat that stress out, bro. I'm telling you, this is a stressful world we live in. It is. But one of the best ways to push back is to just to get moving. Just to get moving. I don't care if it's walking, if it's rucking, if it's a quick EMOM, which is every minute on the minute workout, or if you're just chasing your youngins around the yard, movement matters. And I'm telling you, there's not a day goes by, and I can promise you this, there's not a day go by that I don't sweat. It just it I have to check that box. Whether we're out in the barn just doing chores or we're actually working out, running on the trail, lifting weights with my wife, whatever it may be. I have to get that sweat. It just there's something about that. And if you do, I promise you, your mind and your body will thank you. Now, now you may be thinking, Chris, it's the last thing I want to do today is to get hot. And I'm just telling you, bro, you're you're missing an opportunity. We have to steward these things well. While you're sweating, listen to some podcasts, listen to some preaching, listen to hey, you can also just pull up Uverse and Bible app and just listen to God's word. I did that the other morning for a run. I had to teach. And I was teaching uh out of 2 Samuel. So I was like, you know what? I'd already done the study. I was like, before I teach this morning, I'm just gonna just listen to this to the scriptures. So I literally started at 2 Samuel 1 and uh I listened to like eight chapters while I was doing a run. It just easy. So there's so many convenient ways to grow closer to God while you're getting your workout. But the main thing is get that stress, that stress out by getting that sweat out. So if you're stressed out right, if you're stressed out right now, consider that, okay? All right, for your wealth tip, cancel the subscription to comfort, okay? Now comfort's nice, but but we don't grow it when we're comfortable, okay? So if you want promotion, the breakthrough, the new opportunity, then you may have to start taking some risk. And that's where really leadership grows. And John and I, we talked about this a lot, right? Just you can't just be uh he called it a pew potato. No, no. We're not called to comfort. We're called to be bold, to be bold enough to get out and to stretch ourselves. And and quite frankly, to stretch ourselves in the areas that we we may not know the outcome. That's the show, that is the true attestament to faith, right? You you weren't you don't really know what's gonna where it's gonna land, but you're but you're bold enough and you feel the call enough from God that you're gonna do it, okay? Because you were not made for safe, you were made for impact. We need to remember that, fellas. I'm telling you, so if you have a chance today and you start looking at at the areas in your life where maybe it's financially that that you need to sure up. Take it to God. And then whatever He calls you to do there, be bold enough to stretch yourself. All right. Now the self-tip this week. I've I've taught this in different ways before, but I kind of want to come go back to it. Be present, not just in the room. I've also taught this in the past about be where your feet are, okay? So being home, boys, that is not the same as being engaged. Okay. So, and I can attest from this. This is something I I have to work on. Family, the your loved ones, your wife, they need your full attention. They just don't need your body there. Okay. This this is not a weekend and burnings type of situation. No, they need your full presence. Phones are distracting, TVs are distracting, tablets, all this stuff is distracting us, right? What's missing so often in our families is eye contact, eyeball to eyeball, knee to knee, right? Laughing, listening, leaning in, asking those questions that need to be asked. Presence, fellas, is one of the greatest gifts that we have as fathers. And also that we have as husbands, that we can give. So I'm just encourage you, again, be present today. Be intentional tonight, when you're sitting now, when you're having a meal with your family, if you're if you're sitting there with your wife, you're having a conversation. Whatever you have to do, put the distractions to the side and fully just be embrace being where you are right then and see how they respond to that. I'm telling you, the response is going to be incredible. This is gonna be a challenge for you because when you try to do this, okay, here's here's the warning. When you try to do this, the evil one's gonna get pissed off. And next thing you know, you're gonna have notifications blowing up. You're gonna have all these things happening around you trying to distract you, trying to pull you away. Just recognize that's the time you have to fight. That's the time you got to put on the armor of God and let's go to war. I guarantee you, those kids, that wife, your bride, she's worth it. Okay? All right, fellas, that's your three tips. Health, self, well, and what health, geez, Louise, wealth and self. Sweat that stress out, cancel that comfort, be present, not just in the room. Okay. So the book of the week this week, fellas, no surprise. The knee of my way, mobilize a church full of leaders by Dr. John Wilson and Amy Lynch. Highly, highly, highly encourage you guys to get this. I've already promoted it big time earlier and just in this episode as well as the last episode. So, guys, go make it happen. Go get a copy. All right. So our dad jokes this week. First dad joke is I made a pencil with two erasers, okay? And it was absolutely pointless. All right, so that's a pretty good one. Then number two, I've got a great joke about construction. Hmm, but I'm still working on it. All right, fellas. Let me know which one's best. Number one, number two, they both kind of get a little bit of an eye roll this week. I get it, but let me know which one. I made a pencil with two erasers. It was pointless. Or number two, I've got a great joke about construction, but I'm still working on it. Again, if you have a dad joke we haven't used on the lion before, shoot us an email at support at the lionwithin.us. Drop your dad joke there. If we use it on the show, we'll hook you up with some free resources, give you a shout out, and I love just to say thank you for that. All right. So the question of the week this week has been where has God called you, not called Chris, but called you, unless your name is Chris, to step up and serve. He's called each and every one of us to do different things. Clearly, he's called me to the line, and I'm trying to do all I can to walk in obedience to what he's called me to do here. He's called you to do something too. So whatever that thing is, what are you waiting on, man? What are you waiting on? I'm telling you, we don't have time for passive uh Christian leaders, not men, no, or apathetic. No, we gotta have some dudes that are that are ready to say, okay, send me algo. I'm gonna rise and build the way our scripture says this week. So whatever that little prompting the Holy Spirit's putting on you right now, quit suppressing it. Pray about it, ask God for clarity if you need to, and then go do that next thing, whatever that next thing is. All right, fellas. Thanks for listening. Thanks for hanging out. Ratings and reviews, all that stuff matters. The big thing, the lionwithin.us, if you want to donate to the show, you can click on the donate button. But I encourage you, check out the daily spiritual kickoff, join our community, put in a put in a uh an assessment for the leadership mastermind so we can see if there's a good fit there. Open up your Bible app, check out the all the things that we offer at the Lion Within Us. On the Bible app directly, fellas. We're writing stuff there all the time. So go check it out. Thank you so much for listening. Have a great weekend. We'll see you next week and keep unleashing the lion within 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-through 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 thelionwithin.us and join the community and see for yourself what happens when iron truly sharpens iron.