Welcome And Scripture Of The Week

Chris Grainger 0:02

Welcome to The Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men. Whoever hungry to be the leaders, God intends you to be. I'm your host, Chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, guys. Spiritual kickoff time. Let's get into it, okay? Scripture of the week this week is Psalm 146, verse 6. That's 146, verse 6. He is the maker of the heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever. Love that verse, guys. So we're going to be talking about this one. We're going to see how we can simplify and apply it to our life. Quick reminder: we do this Monday through Friday at the Lion Within Us. It's called a Daily Spiritual Kickoff, okay? Monday through Friday comes in the morning. Cool part is I'm able to go live in the platform, share scriptures, share some encouragement, some insight. The guys that join live, we have a lot of them every day. I'm you can chat, you can engage, you can interact. When that live feed is done, if you missed it, don't worry about it. We put it in that one little space. We don't put it on YouTube, we're not putting it on Instagram, we're not putting it anywhere else. It's right there for you to be encouraged by. Okay. It also gives you access to our prayer request space. And I'm recording this podcast actually on a Monday. Now, in about an hour, we're going to have our monthly or our weekly prayer huddle. Okay. So look, this gives you access. You have the ability to share your prayer request needs, whatever they are. We'd love to pray for them for you. And then you can pray with us in that prayer huddle. It happens every Monday. It's a Google Meet type of thing. The link is in the daily SKO. All right. And for you guys that are in the continental U.S., if you sign up for the daily SKO, we send you a link with a for a free gift. So just pop on that free gift, add it to your cart, boom, we'll make you that free gift. Okay. So, guys, all that's found at thelionwithin.us. Okay. All right. Let's get into this one. So, where is Psalms? We need to make sure we understand this. This is Old Testament. If you open your Bible about halfway, more than likely you're going to get really close to it. So it's after Job before Proverbs. Okay. So you're going to find Psalms. This is Psalm 146. So obviously it's going to be towards the back of Psalms, okay? Because it's 150 Psalms. So it's going to be towards the back, getting towards the end. If you get to like Proverbs 1 or 2, you're really close. Just back up a little bit. All right. So now, love this verse. It's really a call to praise when you think about this verse. He's the maker of heaven and earth, the sea, everything in them. He remains faithful forever, right? It's a reminder for us, fellas, to not place our trust in people or systems or the temporary things of this world, right? Because it's what it's doing, it's contrasting the limits of man with the limitless nature of God.

Daily Spiritual Kickoff And Prayer Huddle

Chris Grainger 2:35

So think about, you know, earthly kingdoms. They rise and they fall, right? They just do. I mean, plans, the greatest plans, they fade away at times. Strength, I don't care how strong you are, strength gives out at some point, right? But God, He's different, right? Because He's the one who creates, who sustains, and remains. And that's where this really verse hits at the core. Because every single day, think about this for a second. When we open our eyes, we're looking at the work of

Finding Psalm 146 In Your Bible

Chris Grainger 3:05

our Father's hands. That's it. I mean, look right now. I'm just looking out my window. I have a beautiful sky, beautiful pond, a pasture, it's just trees. It's it's it's beautiful, right? So for you, where you're at, maybe the ground beneath you right now, or the breath in your lungs, right? None of this stuff is random. None of it. And some of us guys out there, we pride ourselves on being builders. I know some phenomenal builders out there. I build a lot of stuff. I create stuff, right? Uh and there's something good in that. But think about this, we take raw materials and we turn them into something useful. You know, you can take a pallet of wood and turn it into a house, right? But we shape, we form, we create. But if we're honest, uh we're we're already typically when we're building stuff, we're building with stuff that already exists, right? I mean, the two by four that you're using for a project was already a tree before, right? The steel was minerals that were in the earth that were forged together to create the steel, right? So even your own ideas are shaped by what you've seen, what you've learned, or what you experienced, right? That's just that's just a human nature. We've got to recognize that to be true. God didn't start there. You know, He created everything from nothing. Everything from nothing, right? So I don't know about you, but I can't go build a house from nothing. I gotta have some materials, right? And this should stop us in our tracks. So from the highest mountain range to the deepest part of ocean floor, right? From galaxies that we can't even like comprehend or imagine to the smallest cells in our bodies, God made it all. And he made it not out of existing material, not from like bar resources. No, he put from his power and will, he put these things together. And the crazy part is, as incredible as all that is, this verse doesn't end there, right? It could have. It could have simply reminded us of his power and left us in all. But instead, it pivots into something even more personal when you think about it. Think about how this verse ends. He remains faithful forever.

God Creates From Nothing

Chris Grainger 5:15

Because in a world that feels unstable, that that little reminder matters, guys. Because if we're being real, there are moments where it can feel like God is distant. Right? I mean, I'm working on a plan right now about God being quiet. I don't know about you, but sometimes, man, that's that's that's just the reality of what it is being here on earth. Because the world is massive. Life is loud, right? Circumstances hit hard. And it's so easy to wonder if we've been overlooked. God forgive me. Forget about me. That's why we need to have some it is written in our life, and this is one of them to push back. Because this is going to push back against that lie. His faithfulness, fellas, is not tied to how we feel. It's not dependent on

Faithfulness When Life Feels Quiet

Chris Grainger 6:05

whether we notice it or not. And it doesn't rise or fall based on circumstances. He remains faithful forever. That means when you don't see it, yo, he's working. When you don't feel it, yep, he's present. And when you question it, okay, well, he still hasn't changed. And we need to recognize that. As men, we have limits. Just think about it. We just all do. You guys get tired. I know I get tired. We all fall short. We screw up, right? Well, we say we show up, and sometimes things just happen and we don't. This happened just yesterday in my Sunday school class. The teacher was like, Man, oh, good gracious, like I was supposed to be here, but I forgot all about it. Galluscall, and he just felt bad. He didn't mean to intentionally make that mistake. It just happens, right? They're ceilings to our strength. They just are. I don't care if you win a strongest man contest. At some point, you put too much weight on that bar, he ain't gonna push it up. There are ceilings to our patience. Most of us ain't got a whole lot of that. And there's ceilings to our love at times, man. Because we're just human. But not with God. Not with God. His faithfulness doesn't have a ceiling. It doesn't run out, right? It doesn't weaken over time. And it's not dependent on what we've earned, right? No, no, no, no, no. It's constant, steady, and unshakable. And there's something encouraging about that, fellas. Because the world's gonna push hard at you. You're gonna have a lot of pressure, uncertainty, uh, you're gonna have a lot of demands coming at you to hold everything together because we're guys, well, it's all dependent on us, right? Bro, um, it's good to know that we're not walking through this alone. We have a heavenly father who created everything that we see and still chooses to remain faithful through it all. Right? Not sometimes, not when we get it right, not when life is easy, but forever. He's faithful through it all. And maybe that's a little reminder you needed to hear today. I don't know. I never know how the spiritual kickoff is going to land with you guys. I just know one thing. God's word is such an encouragement, it's such a blessing. We don't want to just fly by it. But look, having that understanding of God's word is one thing. Having the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit within you is a whole completely another. And that's the whole thing at the Lion, this is what we try to do. We try to encourage guys in their walk Christ. Maybe you're you're listening to the Lion and you haven't really made that decision to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That's okay. If you're here and you're curious, I think, thank you. Just thank you for taking the time to even to explore your faith. Okay, and I'm not gonna try to woo you over with a bunch of different uh types of arguments. I'm just sharing with you what God's done in my life, and it's been pretty awesome. I mean, God has uh after saving me, he's shown me through many different emphasis his plan. And I can tell you, since being a Christian, I what I'm mistaken was it was things were just gonna be like like uh this magical road to easy or something. I don't know. I just thought it was gonna be

Why Good Works Cannot Save

Chris Grainger 9:10

a lot easier, but it's not. I mean, but it it's been it's been challenging. It's been challenging. Um, but it's helped me release control, and it's helped me have a s find a semblance of peace out there. And this world is uh it pushes back, it tells tells me what I have to do, certain live certain ways, and and since walking with Christ, and it's just it's been a helpful reframe to who I really am, what matters. And it started with just understanding that uh, you know, I was made in the image of God. And I try to speak this over my children all the time and let them know this, but I need to believe this for myself as a man. Like, look, I know I'm I'm made in the image of God. And when I look in the mirror, I see all I see is the flaws, guys. All I see is the flaws. I see what the guy who needs to lose more weight, I see the guy who's anxious, I see the guy who's failed at this and screwed up at that, done this, and done that. Right, I see all this stuff, right? I don't see a child of the king. I didn't used to, rather. But it's been helpful to recognize, nope, although I've made these mistakes, I'm still an image-bearer of God. Like that's crazy. Me, made in his image, and you are too. Then I had to wrestle with you know my sin. And that's just something that separates us from God. But I mean, I've had a lot of sin. I've still struggled. I'm a sinner, right? I still try to pursue the things of this world instead of pursuing the things of him. And that's just something I've had to really work on. And that that sin nature uh runs deep in us. You know, you don't have to teach a young it's a sin, right? Do you if any of you guys got any kids? You can attest to that. Right? So I'm a sinner. And then it's like, well, if I'm a sinner and I've separated, you know, this sin separates me from God, what can I do? Like maybe I just need to, I don't know, go to church or give money or donate time, just be a good person, right? And and and that has some merit. Like all those things inherently are good. The problem is we try to equate, the world would tell us we can equate. Well, if we're just a good person, then we can earn a right standing with God and we can just enter, you know, enter the kingdom of heaven, right? The issue is it just doesn't line up biblically. It took me a while to figure this out, and I wanted to share that with you. Yeah, I mean, doing good works, yeah, we're putting our we are his craftsmanship created for good works, for sure. But the works themselves don't earn a right standing with that for our salvation. That's called works-based righteousness, and it just doesn't, it just it's it's not structured that way. So essentially what this means is that to overcome the sin in our life, we can't do it on our own. So we need someone to do for us what we can't do for ourselves, okay? And that's why we need a savior, really, because the penalty of sin is death, right? So this, you know, we're not gonna uh you know help, you know, um what's it called? Um have good favor and do all these things that works your way to a right standing. So you can't do it. So you need someone to do for you to do for you which you can't do for yourself. That's why we need that savior. This is where Jesus comes in, okay? And ultimately, who he left heaven for us to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. He was born of a virgin, did performed all the miracles, the prophecies, all that, you know, and showed us without a shadow of a doubt that he was the Messiah. And then he went to the cross and willingly died for us. Willingly died for us. And that part should just blow your mind because it blows mine. Like, I don't know anybody that would willingly die for someone who doesn't deserve it, right? We're sinners, we don't deserve that. But this is what Jesus did. So they laid him in a tomb. He was pierced for our transgressions, he died, he he didn't faint or fall asleep, he actually died on that cross. They laid him in a tomb, and it was like an Airbnb for Jesus, though. He just needed that thing for three days. It was just a weekend, we can get away, right? But uh, three

Who Jesus Is And What He Did

Chris Grainger 13:30

days later he rose. And see, that's the fundamental difference in Christianity and all the other religions of the world. We believe in a risen Savior. We put our hope there. He is the way to truth into life. No one comes to Father except through him. This is Jesus, right? That's the name that we must be saved by, right? There's no other name under heaven that's been given among men by which we must be saved. It is Christ in Christ alone, right? So it comes to a point in every man's life. I'm saying man, because most of you guys are listening to our men, although we do have quite a few ladies who listen to the show. Thank you for listening. But you have that decision you've got to make, right? Is whether or not you're gonna believe Jesus is who he says he is, and whether or not your faith is gonna become your faith or not. Because you can't get in on the coattails, man. Like you, there's plenty of praying mamas and grandmas and things like that that are praying for you right now, and they would love, love for you to be able to earn a right standing with God based off their prayers. I wish that for all my children. You know, my two oldest daughters have received Christ. My two young ones have, they're so young right now, they're not you know to that point. But my prayer is one day that they will accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, but they can't get in on Daddy's faith, right? My faith is my faith, my wife's faith is her faith, right? And it's not transferable. It's a it's a it's a one, one, one, one ownership type of type of deal because God wants the relationship with you directly. Obviously, he wants a relationship with your family too, but he wants that relationship with you. So it's a one-on-one situation. So that's where you have to come to. That's what you have to wrestle with, whether or not you want to have that personal relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And I pray you do. And I pray you take that step and admit that you are a sinner, right? And stop, stop trying to compare yourself with the world and compare yourself with a righteous, holy, and righteous God. And when you do that, you quickly think, oh man, I got a problem. Like I can't overcome this one. It's not something I can just uh muscle through. No, you we have a sin issue, right? Then you have to believe, if we recognize we're a sinner, believe that Jesus is the Messiah. He's not just a good man or a good teacher or a good rabbit, he's the Messiah who came to take away the sinner the world. He is who he says he is, basically. Then it comes down to this, right? And some guys can get through the first two parts, okay? But the third part is where we confess him as Lord of our life. And that's challenging. Because confessing him Lord means we have to give up what? We have to submit. Submit to him. And it's the best decision you'll ever make. But I can't make it for you. I can only point you to the peace that passes all understanding when you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and implore you to do that. But I can't force you to. I can't force you to. My encouragement to you is if you don't have that personal relationship with Jesus, if you never confess Him as Lord and Savior in your life, and you're listening to this podcast right now, you're here for a reason. Like, make no mistake about it, bro. Like it may be a praying grandma or a praying wife or a praying mom or something like that. But you're here for a reason. And you made it this far through, and you haven't clicked off yet, buddy. Do the work with God that He's put on, that He is laying on your plate right now. And it starts with making the most important decision you'll ever make. That's to follow Him, to surrender to Him. And look, you don't have to be sitting in a church pew or some altar at the end of a service on Sunday. You could be like on a treadmill, on a trail, in your truck. I don't know where you're at. At the grocery store, listening to a podcast, picking up Doritos. I don't know what you're doing. But I know one thing, it's today's day you can surrender to him. And I pray you do. And I pray. So right now, let's just pray the prayer together. As we accept, as you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and then feel the peace that passes all understanding. Just floods your heart, your mind, your body, your spirit. So Father, that one listener right now, who's confessing you as Lord and Savior. Lord, they're at the end of their rope. Maybe they've been doing life their way and it's just uh it's been overbearing. It's been a lot. They recognize their way is not the right way. Lord, they recognize that they are a sinner in need of a savior. They believe that you are who you say you are. And somehow what you did on that cross counted for them. So Lord, I pray as they are now confessing you as Lord and Savior of your life, that they know that it's not magic, it's just gonna get you know easier. You know, life life's not just gonna

Prayer To Surrender To Christ

Chris Grainger 18:25

all of a sudden just li a s a switch is gonna flip from that standpoint. But something is happening right now. The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit is coming to take over. Lord, scales are falling off of their eyes. They're gonna be able to see the world in a new way now. So I pray you put people in their path that can help walk with them, guide them, direct them, just just be an encouragement to them. And Lord, just so thankful for them making this decision. It's the best decision they'll ever make. And Lord, now the true work begins. So I pray you be with them. Encourage them, put people in their path that are gonna help them in their walk. And I'm just so thankful just to have this chance to point them to you. I love you, Lord. We love you, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. So look, if you just accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I'd love to hear from you, okay? Send me an email, Chris at thelion within.us. Want to get checked up with some free resources we have at the Lion Within Us. We'd love to just send them over to you. Uh, get you plugged in with that. Uh other than that, you know, fellas, we wherever you're located at, we'd like to help you try to find the right church and all these different things that are out there just to try to get you, just to be an encouragement to you in your discipleship journey. Uh, obviously, the lionwithin.us is our website. Connect with us there. That's a great way to get plugged in with all the wonderful things that we're doing and trying to serve guys. We have the daily SKO, you have the Lions Ven, you have Masterminds, we have the Bible app, all that fun stuff though. So the LionWithin.us is where you find that. Question of the week this week is where do you need to trust God beyond your own limitations? Guys, we all have them. We all have limitations. Some guys have higher limitations than others, right? Uh, but that's okay. We all have limitations,

Next Steps And Trust Question

Chris Grainger 20:10

but at some point, yeah, where are you gonna put your faith? Are you gonna put your faith in things that you do know? Or are you gonna put your things, maybe some faith, some your face in some things that you don't know and trust God with it? That's my encouragement to you, guys. Our next episode is phenomenal. I mean, it uh it's just phenomenal. Uh, got to interview someone that, you know, but God, right? God opened it's an incredible door. His story, his testimony is amazing. Uh, if you guys have ever thought about what it's like to leave the earth, you're gonna want to to uh to listen to this one because this is he has firsthand done it four times. And uh man, what a great testimony! So I'm look forward to sharing that story with you guys, okay? So again, the lionwithin.us, where you find all the resources, guys. Thanks for listening. Thanks for hanging out. Give us a rating review if you don't mind. That would be awesome. Hope to see you at the Daily SKO. Open up the Bible app, find us there. Have a great day, fellas. Thank you so much for hanging out, and just keep on leashing the Lion Within. If there's one habit that can change your home, it's this when a husband prays with his wife. Not because it's a magic formula, but because it recenters your marriage under God's authority and care. And let's be honest, a lot of guys want to do it, but most don't know how to start without it feeling awkward. Maybe you tried it before and it felt forced, or maybe you've never tried it because you don't even know what to say. Or maybe you're thinking, man, I'm not a pastor, I'm just a guy. And that's why we created this guide. It's our how to pray with your wife. Simple guide. It's biblical, it's practical, and it's designed to help you start praying with your wife in a way that actually feels natural. So it's a five section guide and it gives you a simple framework to get started. Okay, it makes sure everything is grounded in scripture. And it also has a powerful PDF that you can pull up whenever you need, especially

Simple Guide To Pray With Wife

Chris Grainger 22:05

when things get off, because they're going to get off. That's normal. So this is all about reclaiming your marriage and reclaiming the spiritual leadership reigns of your home. Because praying with your wife is one of the strongest ways to fight for unity, to build trust, and to write the ship when life starts to pull you off a course. So if you're ready, get access today at thelionwithin.us slash guides. That's thelionwithin.uslash guides. And start unleashing the lion within at home by leading your marriage through prayer.