Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast for 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. Let's get into it. Okay. So the scripture of the week this week is in the book of 1 Timothy, the fourth chapter, the eighth verse. It says, for physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. Okay, so man, powerful verse. We're going to see how we can simplify and apply that to our life. And again, if you enjoy how we do this on our spiritual kickoff episodes, guys, Monday through Friday, we do it within our community at the Lion Within Us. Go get started. We call it the Daily Spiritual Kickoff. So if you head over to thelionwithin.us and look and you see something up the top, or there's even places throughout the site that says daily spiritual kickoff, click it. Sign up for it. It's free. We try to do this. It also unlocks our prayer, uh our prayer request area of the community. And guys, that gets the most attention out of everything that we do. Which praise the Lord. I want it to because that's what we're going to battle on behalf of the kingdom for others, fellas. All that's found at thelionwithin.us. Get started today. I'm telling you, your daily spiritual kickoff. Okay. So, first of all, when we start thinking about this scripture, we need to understand, you know, I don't want to take anything for granted. Where is the book of 1 Timothy? Okay. So don't, if you don't know, it's okay. It's in the New Testament. Okay. It's going to be just go past the gospels and Acts and Romans and Corinthians and all that stuff. Then after 2 Thessalonians, you'll find 1 Timothy. If you get to 2 Timothy, just back up a little bit, okay? You're right there. So that's where it's at. The Apostle Paul wrote this to Timothy. That's why I talk a lot about having your own Timothy in your life. And this whole week we're going to be talking about training, discipleship, coaching. And most the reason I like thinking about training is because most guys get the concept of training, right? Think about when you walk to a gym, right? You know you would never walk in the gym if you haven't been there for maybe let's say a couple presidents. Okay. You haven't been there for a while. You don't walk into that gym and throw 300 pounds up on a bar and sit up underneath there on a bench press and expect to push it up. You just don't. I mean, that would be kind of like unbelievable if you could do that. Why? Well, strength doesn't appear overnight. Think about that. The result of strength is because you start showing up. You grind it out. You build the habits that are leading to the gains. And you're, you're, you're, you're pushing yourself, right? And you're doing it for a purpose so that you can get stronger. But there's a little tension, particularly when it comes to our spiritual lives. Many of us have have, for some reason, expect to walk in power without putting in the effort. Like, wait a minute, bro. Like, oh, Joke is in everybody wants to be strong, nobody wants to be sore. Right? We want peace and chaos, strength and trials. We want clarity and decisions, but we haven't trained our hearts to endure or our minds to discern. You see the struggle there? And what Paul is challenging, Timothy, right here, is very it speaks loudly, particularly for us as Christian men, because that that's physical training is important for sure. But we better be training in guidelines, which is infinitely more valuable because it shapes who we are and who we'll be for eternity, fellas. This is such a big deal. And there's a decision trap that exists. And Paul's warning us right here. He's warning in the verse before, before seven, he's talking about worldly fables. Right. And which, which we translate that to the way that we live today, uh, it could be looking like the endless scrolling we do on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook. I mean, just think about how much time is wasted consuming content that does not build us in godliness. I mean, just think about it. It's scary. And what if we approached our walk with God with the same consistency and intentionality that we approach the gym, or maybe you approach fantasy football or social media, like it just whatever that thing is that you're passionate about, what if you put that same level of passion and intentionality around your discipleship journey? It would change everything. And here's the deal an evil one doesn't need to destroy us outright, right? He just needs to distract us. He just needs us distracted long enough so that we never put in the effort to build spiritual muscle. Because I'm gonna tell you at the end of the day, boys, uh, discipleship is hard. It just is. It takes work, it takes time, it takes accountability, it takes effort. But just like the gym, the results show up when we're consistent. And that's what Paul's trying to show us here. So we have to train beyond the gym. Like, so how do we the question should be okay, all right, God? So how do I train for righteousness? Like, what what do I do? How do I train to be godly? Well, you start making the decision daily to first delight in the Lord, and then you start adding that discipline to our lives to what matters most. Again, nobody's gonna get strong by accident. Nobody. You're not just gonna accidentally wake up and be able to bench press a Buick. It doesn't happen. It's just not possible. And no one's gonna grow closer to Christ just by coasting. And I'm sorry if that if that falls wrong on some ears out there, but you're not gonna grow closer to Christ by coasting by. You gotta fight, you gotta put in the work, you gotta build it, right? So I'm gonna give you a couple things to consider. As you're trying to think through, okay, how can I spiritually exercise and train up? Hey, number one, you better start with some daily scripture reps. Okay, just think about reps that build muscles in the gym, right? Same thing with God's word. Consistency, that time in his word, that builds spiritual strength. Maybe start with a chapter or a couple verses, but read it, reflect on it, and then how can you apply it? Again, this is why we do the spiritual kickoff, helping you simplify God's word, and then apply it. And then how about prayer? Consider laps. Like uh if you're if you're writing laps in a gym, you're doing that for conditioning, right? Prayer is your conditioning, right? So not just praying at meals, but praying through the death today, like always talking to God, inviting him in, talk to him while you're driving, when you're walking, when you're working out, when you're laying down, wherever you're at. Keep the line open with God. And then you better have an accountability spot, all right? You would never go under in a gym and sit underneath a bench with a weight that you do not know that you can comfortably push, right? If you're gonna push yourself with a weight that's that's heavier than what you think you can do, you're gonna get what? Yo, bro, can you come spot me? The same thing is needed in our discipleship journey. Because we have to surround ourselves with brothers in Christ who are gonna call us out, who are gonna push us forward, who are gonna lift us up when we stumble. And here's the thing, guys, they're not the guys that are just gonna be our yes men. It's like, yeah, just keep doing it your way, bro. It's okay. It'll probably be okay. We don't need those types of guys. We don't need yes men. We have plenty of those out there. We need true accountability spotters. Okay. And then that should lead us to serving. Think about sets, like um the way you do different sets in the gym, like you know, uh uh supersets and things like that. You do that to build strength. If you have strength, but you don't use it, it's wasted. Absolutely waste it. If you're doing the workout in a gym just to look good in the mirror, what a waste, bro. No, for us, we put in the spiritual work so that we can serve our community, we can serve our church, we can serve our family, right? This is how we can flex off and show our faith and grow. And this, again, it all does was humility at the same time. And then the fifth exercise and the last one, fellas, to consider resting. Like rest in Christ. I don't care who you the best athlete on the planet, they take times to recover. They do. So we got to build the rhythms as well as Christians to have that Sabbath rest, right? We we shut off the distractions and we are just fully embracing the peace of God. Renewal is part of the training, fellas. It all goes together, okay? So right here, there's good news when we look at this verse, okay. The training isn't just for today's benefit, okay? Paul reminds us, he tells us, godliness holds promise for this life that we're living right now and the life to come. And that should bring us a lot of encouragement. Because in a world out there, fellas, that is starving for hope and peace, the only place we're ever gonna find that is in Jesus. He is it. And training for guiding this, the way we that Paul is telling us here, produces that strength that lasts anything besides you can build in the gym or your career or even your life. So we have to really think about what are we training for? Are we putting in the effort for temporary strength to look good in a mirror to trust to impress someone like how we look in a bathing soup? Or are we pursuing eternal gains by daily walking and pushing ourselves to walk closer with Jesus? Now the gym has its place. Don't give up on the gym, boys. We know it that line within us, we're all about taking care of our physical bodies. But the true test of the man is not how much he can lift, right? It's whether he's letting Christ lift him and lead his life. That's it. I mean, are we fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and are we letting him lead us? That's the big difference. That's the big difference. And look, if you've never surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and you're like, what in the wild world sports is this guy talking about? I'm telling you, fellas, you're here for a reason. And I don't know, maybe you just you you found this type of this verse and you're just curious, whatever it may be. Please hear me. You you are made in the image of God. And if we go back to the very beginning of creation, when God created everything, he spoke, spoke, spoke. Then when he came to Adam, he formed him with his hands. And it's the Bible tells us we were made in the image of God. That is who you are. So whatever you see in the mirror at the gym right now, because I'm just gonna pick on the guys that are at the gym, like whatever you see, whether you like it or you don't like it, God loves it. He sees perfection. Where you see flaws, he's like, uh-uh, that's exactly why I want you. Now you keep working, but we want to do the work, but he sees you completely made in his image. And that's awesome. And we have to remember, fellas, when we look at that relationship with Christ, well, with God, rather, uh, the the way it worked at the very beginning. We had God, we had Adam in the garden, it was perfect, and then something happened. And that something is sin. Sin entered the world, and sin is anything that separates us from God. That's all it is, fellas. So that sin fractured the relationship with God, right? And we we were put at the garden, and that created this massive gap. This is where we exist right now. This is the reality we live in. We have a holy and righteous God, and we have us here on earth, right? And here on earth, it's that's tough. I mean, bad things happen. Sales don't act right, you know, weather doesn't act right, you know, finances, all the things that can happen around us, all these things are a result of the fall. Right? So at the end of the day, fellas, what we try to do, what so many people get wrong, is we try to just earn our way back to a right standing with God. We try to do it with giving. We have to try to do it with helping others, we try to do it with going to church, we try to do it with even reading our Bible and and and all these things are good things in and of themselves, but they're not gonna earn our salvation because it can't be earned, right? The penalty of sin is death. So for the guy out there who's thinking, well, I just gotta be good enough. If I'm just good, I then I'll get to heaven. My question to you is who defines what good is? Because if you're trying to compare good, like your version of good, to someone who's in prison right now, you probably feeling pretty good about yourself. You hadn't killed anybody, you haven't committed any big crimes, things like that, right? But the standard's wrong. The standard we have to hold ourselves to is God. When we start comparing ourselves to a holy and righteous God and we start looking at us, we all fall short, bro. Every single one of us falls short of glory of God. The Bible tells us that 100%. So if we can't do it on our own, there's nothing that we can do on ourselves. There's nothing your mom can do for you, or your grandma can do for you, or dad, or your uncle, whoever. There's nothing anyone can do on our own, for us, rather. What can we do? Well, we need somebody to come in and do for us what we can't do for ourselves. We need a savior. And that's where Jesus comes into the picture. And that's why it's so important to recognize the need for a savior for what he did. He left heaven on a rescue mission for us and died well before he died. He lived a perfect life. He did all the He fulfilled all the prophecies, he did the miracles, he did the teachings, he showed us the way. The way. And then he went to the cross and paid the penalty for our sin. He didn't have to do that. He chose to do that because he loves us so much. And whatever you think, that sin that defines you, whatever that lie to evil one is telling you that you're defined by, whether it's lust or pornography or divorce or or or bad finances, or just you just feel like you're just uh no good, period. He nailed that on the cross. It's on the cross right now. Let it go. Jesus died for that sin. It's there. Then they laid his dead body, dead, not sleeping. He was completely dead in an empty, in a t empty tomb. Well, in a tomb. It was it was it it was Joseph's tomb, so they laid him in a tomb. They wrapped him up, and then three days later they went back to the tomb, and it was empty. The stone was rolled away. Jesus was no longer there. Why? Because he defeated death. He overcame death. And I don't know about you, but I'm hitching my wagon to the guy who can defeated death. Can't go wrong there. And that is the savior we look that we serve and we worship and we recognize to be true. That is Jesus. And that's the fundamental difference between Christianity and the rest of these types of religions out there. Our Savior lives. It's such a big deal. So, what does this mean for us as humans when we hear this and learn this? Well, first, very simply, you have to have some self-reflection. In that time of self-reflection, you better come to the realization, or hopefully you'll come to the realization, that you are indeed a sinner. You are. You're not somebody who just made a bunch of mistakes and needs some little coach to get better. No, you are a sinner in need of a savior. Okay? Then you better believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Like fully believe that in your heart. And you to the only way to believe that is you got to start getting in the Word and spending time in the Word, and then let that word's going to get into you, and then all of a sudden you just it's going to click. You recognize this to be true. Jesus is the Messiah. Then you have to actually do something. You have to confess him as Lord and Savior of your life. Not Lord and Savior over when things are going well. No, or Lord and Savior of Sunday from 10:30 to 12. You can be my Lord then. I'm talking about at all times. There's never a moment where he's not Lord. So whether it's in Tuesday in a meeting, Thursday night, you and your wife sitting in the bed, Friday at a ballgame, wherever you are, he is Lord. You have to confess him. You have to personally do this. It's not something I can do for you. It's not something your family and your loved ones can do for you. You can't do this for your kids. It has to be theirs. But you got to make this decision for yourself. And if you're right now hearing my voice, you've never accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior. Let's pray the prayer together. Let's just pray right now. Accept Him. Ask Him to come into your life. You don't have to be sitting in a church pew to do this. Wherever you are, He's ready. Let's just pray, Father, I'm praying for the one person right now who's fully recognized they have been disobedient. They have not been following you. They have been doing life their way and they're tired. They're wore out. They're hurting. So I pray you just be with that person as they confess you as Lord and Savior of their life. And Lord, I just I know the Holy Spirit's going to do some incredible things right now. But I specifically pray for some men to come into their life that's going to help them, help them with their discipleship journey. And I pray you just give them a sense of peace that passes all understanding for them to know they can rest confidently in you, Lord. I'm just so thankful for that. They made this decision today, right now, that they're in the kingdom. We love you, Lord. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so look, if you just accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I'd love to hear from you because I got a bunch of resources. I just want to give them to you. I got 10 scriptures to fight like a line. I got a couple of Bible studies. We have lots of ways we want to help you grow in your discipleship journey. Send me an email, Chris at thelionwithin.us. I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to pray for you. I'd even love to pray with you. If you want to hop on Zoom, I'll pray with you. I just want to be an encouragement to you in your walk. If you don't have a church that you and you're not sure even what to look for in a church, I want to help send you some resources to help get you started there. So look, look again, Chris at the lionwithin.us, send me a note. Promise I'm not going to hound you or anything. I just want to encourage you in your walk with Christ, okay? So our question of the week this week, guys, how much time do you give daily to spiritual training? I'm talking about every day. What's that look like? So think about that, reflect on that. Guys, our next episode is going to be a lot of fun. We have a great guest if you're going to enjoy this conversation around discipleship. But again, go to the linewithin.us, check out all the resources. Please consider joining the daily spiritual kickoff. That's free or the weekly roar. That's our our weekly little bit of, it's not really a newsletter, it's just a reflection. But guys, find a lot of encouragement in it. We got a couple thousand guys that have signed up for it. So, guys, go check that out. Love for you to be take part of that. Uh, and then join a community. Start your 30-day free trial of the community. Get started with that. That gives you access to our app, the different ways we encourage guys, the events that we have. Guys, we have live events every year. We have so many things. We got our book, we got our Bible reading plans on the Bible app. So many things are out there, fellas, but it all can be found. Central location, the Lionwithin.us. That's where you find it at, okay? All right, fellas. Well, thank you so much for hanging out. Give us a rating and review. Do look forward to the next episode. I think you guys are going to enjoy this conversation. So have a great day. Get after. If I can serve in any way, you know where to find me, and you know what's coming. Just keep unleashing the lion within. If you're like me, you don't need another book just sitting around collecting dust. What I enjoy is something to help guide me when my feet hit the ground in the mornings. And that is why we put together Unleashing the Lion Within. It has honest stories, scripture you can apply, and simple steps to help you lead at home, at work, and everywhere in between. So if you've been feeling stuck or scattered lately, you may find this resource encouraging. Read a few pages. Take one step and watch what God does with your obedience. Hey, and if reading's tough for you right now, no problem. The book is also available in Audible version so you can listen on the go. So if this sounds interesting, check out the LionWithin.us slash book or search for unleashing the lion within directly on Amazon. So there's no pressure here, just a resource that many guys are finding helpful. So grab the format that fits and take your next step.