Welcome And Scripture Kickoff

Chris Grainger 1:02

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, guys. Spiritual kickoff time. Let's get into it. Okay, so the scripture of the week this week is the book of Colossians, chapter four, two verses though, verse five and six. It says, Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders. Make the most out of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone, fellas. So that's just a great, great, great verse. We're going to take some time in this episode to try to see how we can simplify and apply it to our life. And guys, that's what The Lion Within Us is all about. We're all about simplifying and applying God's word and to help encourage you in your walk with Christ to be the leader that he intends you to be. So if you enjoy these comments, these episodes rather than the SKO episodes, I just want you to just encourage you. Just jump into the Lion Within Us. It's the free way we insert that we walk

Colossians And Jesus Is Enough

Chris Grainger 2:04

with you. We have these videos that they come out every day. They're live. You can enjoy me live when I'm doing them. And then also it gives you access to our prayer request space where we'd love to be praying for you. And fellas, if you know that prayer request space also has a weekly prayer call every Monday. And then on top of all that, guys, here in the continental U.S., we like to send you a free gift. So there's literally just so many ways we try to serve, encourage, and walk with you. All that's found at the linewithin.us. And uh fellas, hopefully you're just gonna just hop in right there today and um we'll be encouraged by that. So this scripture right here, we we need to think about it. How can we simplify and apply it for our life? Before we get into it, though, where is the book of Colossians? We need to understand that. So that's again, tell us not everybody's at the same place in their discipleship journey. So we just need to understand. So Colossians is in the New Testament, it's one of the epistles. If you get to Philippians, uh keep flipping. If you get to 1 Thessalonians or 2 Thessalonians, you went a little bit too far, okay? So it's nestled right in there. And and the book of Colossians has a powerful undercurrent uh throughout the pages. When you read Colossians, and the undercurrent is simple. Jesus is enough, man. Jesus is enough. And Paul, the Apostle Paul, he wrote this letter to believers living in a culture that were filled with these different types of competing philosophies and distractions, and there's lots of false teachings happening out there. And there were pressures, okay, that were pulling them from the simplicity and the supremacy of Christ. Guys, this is the world we live in today. This is where it's at. And over and over again, the Apostle Paul is just hammering them, pulling them back right here, showing them what spiritual maturity looks like, reminding them about their identity, their hope, and the foundation that is only found in Christ alone. Period. It's in Jesus. So as we get to the closing end of Colossians, that's where we're at in chapter four, he shifts from this like deep theological truth into practical applications. And this is why I love verses like this, man. It gets practical, simplify and apply. And what's fascinating is that after unpacking who Christ is and what he's done, Paul moves towards how we as believers should interact with the world around us. This is what this verse is all about. Be wise in the ways you should act towards what? Outsiders. Right? Making the most out of every opportunity, conversations grace, season with salt. You don't know how to answer everyone. So you the more that I think about and reflect on verses like this, the more I think that I often, and I'm pretty sure you may agree with me, we overcomplicate the gospel, man. We just do. And think about where Paul starts. He starts with our actions. Because he says right here, be wise in the ways you what. You act.

Actions That Speak Loudest

Chris Grainger 5:00

You act. Because our actions are such a big deal. And it's important for us to think about. People, they will listen to our words, right? But ultimately, they're evaluating our lives. They want to watch how we respond under pressure. They want to know how we treat people, how we treat our wife, how we treat our kids, how we treat our co-workers, how we treat our boss or our customers, right? Because what are they observing? Think about it. When people are looking around, where are they observing? They're trying to see if you're going to be a man of integrity, or if you're going to be a humble man, are you a patient man? Are you trying to see are do you show kindness to everyone or only when people are looking, right? And they want to see, is it consistent? Okay. And they're looking for this stuff, fellas, and we have to recognize this to be true. This is more important than uh what they think about our individual theology. We just need to wrestle with that. And honestly, I think the everyday believer, if we're really embrace it, we have some of the greatest mission fields imaginable. More than any pastor out there. And I'm not picking on pastors. I love them. I got some pastors in the line that we absolutely just pour into. But pastors, think about it, they're spending a majority of their time around who? Around Christians. Right? And that's good. They're supposed to be building and equipping and building us up so we can go out and do and do the work, the mission field. But while the average man, think about that. Think about who you spend most of your day around. Most of you guys, if you're being honest, you're spending your days around people who need hope. These are your coworkers or your neighbors or your friends, or the different, hey, how much your parents at the ball field, running around through ball fields, or waitresses at restaurants, or cashiers who are checking you out, or mechanics at work on your car, or the people you work out with at the gym. Literally, fellas, every interaction becomes an opportunity to represent Christ. That's it. This is what Paul's talking about. But the problem is we rarely view life through that lens, right? We often think of evangelism as some big, massive formal presentation, like I got to sit down with my Bible on the Romans Road. You need to understand these verses. And whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We need to recognize that the kingdom is frequently advanced through the ordinary moments of life and the everyday faithfulness that we pursue it with. So it could just be as simple as a conversation at work, or encouraging somebody who's struggling, or listening to people, and not offering judgment, just listening, or being patient when everyone else is just blowing up and losing their ever-leveling mind. You're patient. Tell anybody, this is a big deal. We have to choose to be different in this world as it's growing increasingly harsh. And Paul, so think about this scripture, he's moving them from our actions to what? Our words. Because he's like, look, your actions are important, but also you need to make sure your conversation is full of grace. And that hits me hard. Because like I grace-filled conversations are, let's just say this, increasingly rare. Right? Because we live in a culture where people love to win arguments, man. I mean, there's been people who have professional debaters. There's podcasts out there. They just want it, they get a lot of views just because they're controversial and they want to debate. And they're trying to prove their point or they're trying to publicly humiliate other people. But Paul's reminding of believers right here, the way we speak should reflect the grace we ourselves have received from Christ.

unknown 8:41

Okay?

Chris Grainger 8:41

That doesn't mean we avoid the truth, but it does mean how we communicate that truth matters. It matters. And I think there are lots of guys out there that unknowingly approach gospel conversations like debates to win. Like, I gotta win this debate. Instead of seeing, wait a minute, this is a person that I just need to love. We start hammering these Bible verses over and over and over before we take an understanding, taking the time to really understand who they are, or their pain, or their story, or their struggles, or even their questions. Because Jesus met people where they were. He listened. He asked questions, even though he knew the answer, he still asked questions. And he showed ultimate compassions. Now, yeah, he spoke ultimate truth for sure, but never absent of love. And that's so much harder than just simply arguing with guys. And what does Paul say next? So he starts talking about this conversation for the grace. Then he says season with salt, and that's pretty cool when you think about it. Because salt has a deep meaning in the biblical standpoint, okay? Salt preserves things. Just think about what salt does, preserves stuff from decay. It also is an enhancement. Like you put salt on stuff sometimes, it just gets better. And I'm not a big salt guy, maybe you guys are, but salt can make things more better, it can make things more effective. So, what Paul is saying right here is that conversations should preserve truth and also make the gospel appealing and meaningful to the people that are hearing it. So he's not saying water it down. He's definitely not saying compromise it at all, but compel it. Compel. Our words should bring life into conversations, not drive people further away from Christ because they're being arrogant or because we're being arrogant or harsh or self-righteous. No, this see how the salt matters. The salt of our speech really is how we edify Christ. And finally, Paul lands the plane like while he's thinking about one of the big, and he really lands it so where one of the areas that the biggest fears that many guys carry when it comes to these faithful conversations. He's like, look, I want you to do all this with salt and grace and all this, so that, so that matters, you can know how to answer everyone. And let's be honest, most dudes avoid spiritual conversations because they have a scared, just a deep underlying fear that somebody's going to ask them something they don't know. Okay? Man, what if they ask me about suffering

Turning Everyday Life Into Mission

Chris Grainger 11:19

or evil or or they want to talk about Mormonism or or or uh Buddhism? Where do they talk about like difficult passages of scripture that I don't just I have no clue? Well if they want to go to the book of Ezekiel and start talking about some of that prophecy and then just show and take yourself out the game. I'm telling you, buddy, I think there's something incredibly powerful about being willing to admit as a man, you know what? I don't know, but I do know I will get that answer for you. Right? And I'm telling you, someone, this is what I've wrestled with a lot in my life. You know, particularly, you know, I didn't go to a seminary. This is the school of hard knocks, walking with Christ. And I've learned a lot over the years. There's still things I don't know, and there's still things I'm learning. I still get in conversations, but I don't know the answer, but I'm not afraid to say I'm not sure, but I'll find out. I'm not sure, but I'm gonna find out. I'm gonna dig into because then that deepens our relationship with Christ right there, just that in that moment. And that's not weakness, boys, that's being authentic. And authentic being authentic and authenticity, that goes a long way in the world we live in these days. Because nobody is. Nobody is. There's plenty of fake stuff out there. So if we think of it, those moments become opportunities to deepen our own walk, guys. Because questions, what do questions do? They force us to study, to learn, to wrestle, to grow, to seek wisdom. Because God's not calling you to know everything. There's not a theologian on the planet that knows everything, but he is calling us to faithfully represent him and remain willing to continue growing. For me, like the daily SKO, I talk about a lot on the podcast, but the daily SKO is a daily commitment of me being in the Word and growing. Like my preparation for daily, you can't see it right here. I got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. I've got nine resources, ten right here that are at my fingertips that I'm going through every day. Just to prepare to do the daily SKO. Why? Because I want to have the different perspectives. I want to take this serious. I want to have to what happened and the so what and the now what. I want to have be able to do all that. And it takes time, it takes study. There's things that I don't know, I don't understand. So I go research a word. I was like, okay, what's the Greek or the Hebrew behind this one? And okay, that's interesting in this context. What is what's to tie to the Old Testament? Okay, what does this mean for us now these days? And that doesn't just happen, it takes diligence. It takes diligence. And the more I think about verses like this one from the Apostle Paul and Colossians, the more I realize how practical and approachable these verses are. Because it's talking about living wisely and loving generously, and speaking graciously, and being prepared and remaining humble. So our faith journey, fellas, is not supposed to be as complicated as we make it. But just we overcomplicate it. Maybe it starts by simply recognizing that every person that we run into is someone deeply loved by God. Let's start right there. And every interaction carries the potential. It doesn't always work out, but it carries the potential to point someone towards him. And I'm telling you, when you start thinking of it that way, it's like, okay, man, how are in the world are my actions reflecting Christ to the people around me today? Because am I going to be drawing them to Christ or am I going to be pushing them further and further? Like, guys, this is a big deal. Because the mission field that you're in right now, wherever you are, that is your mission field. It's not designated for missionaries. Now I know missionaries have a goal for sure, but we're all missionaries. We're all ambassadors for Christ. And the quicker we recognize that and realize that and lean into that, the quicker we're going to start making an impact for the kingdom. Not for us, but for him. It's all about him. And then you have, then, yeah, you need to understand some basic understandings of how to walk someone through the gospel. We talk about this every week on the line within us, and we can give you resources and encouragement on how to do that. But it starts with what Christ is doing in your life. If you just show that and reflect that what Christ is doing in your life, it's going to change everything about everything. Because right here, like wise in the ways that we act towards outsiders, making the most out of every opportunity. That means he's going to give us opportunities. They're coming, right? And then when opportunities come, that leads

Grace Filled Words With Salt

Chris Grainger 15:44

to conversations. Well, the gray season was salt so that we know how to answer questions. When you start applying scripture this way, it's when it gets fun, man. This Christian stuff is fun, bro. You just gotta lean into it. And if you don't have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit working within you, it's okay. You're at the line. For some reason, you're listening to this podcast. I don't know why. The podcast is growing more and more guys are listening to it. That's awesome. But you're listening here, and maybe you're just curious about Christ. Maybe you're like, I just finished teaching about Nicodemus in our daily SKO. And the cool part about Nicodemus in John 3, he's just curious. He's curious about Christ. He's a Pharisee, he's a member of the Sanhedrin. This dude knows his Bible. He's got the whole Old Testament memorized, but he's curious about Christ. Maybe that's where you are. I just want to say thank you, bro. Thank you for listening. That's why we do today the spiritual kickoff episodes this way. I'm not trying to preach at you. I'm just trying to show, okay, based off what the Spirit is showing me with this verse, here's what it means to me, and hopefully it's useful to you. And that's how we do it at the line, guys. It's not a command style, it's very reflective. But I want you to do, I do want you to know this, bro. When you look in the mirror, and whatever version of you that you see back in that reflection, that is not the version that God sees. What God sees is someone who's made in his image. And I want you to know that, man. You're not a result in mistakes that you've made. We've all made mistakes. But you are made in the image of God. It literally says in the Bible, in Genesis, when God formed man, then he breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and Adam sat face to face for his creator. He was face to face with God. And that's who we are. And it was great for Adam and Eve in the garden for like a day. I'm not for a day, but for a couple, for right two pages in my Bible. It was really good. And then we had to fall. And what what fall is, is the separation between us and God. And that's all that's when sin entered the world. And fellas, this is the problem that we that we run into with so many guys out there these days. We have a sin problem, and we think it's just like something we can just overcome on our own. We think we can just be a nice person. We'll just be kind to other people. And what we have is at the core of who we are, is we're sinners. So we have to really got to wrestle with this because so many do just think it's about being good or just trying to be a nice person. And look, I'm not against being good. I want you to be good. I want you to be nice. I want you to be encouragement to others. I just don't want you to think that any of that stuff earns a right standing with God. Because if you think that, you've completely missed the point. Because nothing that we can do can earn that right standing. Nothing. We all fall short of the glory of God. And the penalty of sin is what? Death.

unknown 18:25

Okay.

Chris Grainger 18:26

So no matter there's not, there's not a good deed that's good enough to overcome the sinner in our life. And we have to recognize that to be true. If no one's ever told you that for the first time, you're hearing this for the first time of the lion. I'm just thankful you're hearing the truth now. Which leads us to the next question. Okay, if I'm a sinner and I have the sin in my life, and there's nothing that I can do, then what is the answer, Chris? I'm so glad you asked. What you need is not something you can do, but someone to do for you what you can't do for yourself. That's why we need a savior. That's what Jesus is all about. He literally left heaven on a mission for us to rescue us from our sins. And I was just reading, again, I just was teaching a stuff out of John in the Daily SKM. And how Jesus talked about, you know, I must go. He knew that he was headed to the cross the moment he left the throne. And bro, I can't get over that. I don't know about you, but I would not go on a mission today if I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was going to be ended up with me being crucified. But this is what he did. And the love that God has for us, fellas, is demonstrated by what Jesus did. I don't know about you, but love has to be demonstrated. I can tell my wife I love her all day long. But if I go running around with other women behind her back, that ain't loving her. I love Miss Becca by taking her out, by talking to her, by spending time with her, by holding her hand, by giving her kisses, by just doing favors and doing things for her. I want to show her my commitment and my love. This is what God did for us. He so loved the world that he sent his one and only son. This is it. He loves us so much that he sent Christ, knowing he was at to the cross. And once you start wrapping your mind around that, it'll blow you away. It's like, wait a minute. Jesus went to the cross and he was actually thinking about me when he went to the cross? Yes. Yes. He did this for you. For you. Mind blowing. I know. And then they put him on a cross, they crucified him, they killed him. He didn't pass out a thing of fall. Jesus died on the cross. And if the story ends there, it's like, what in the world is this all about? This is another guy that just got crucified. Yep, that's right. It would have been a sad story if he ended it right there. But they took him off that cross. They land him in a tomb. It's not like an Airbnb for Jesus. He needed that thing for the weekend. Three days later, he rose. He overcame death. And I don't know about you, but I'm hitching my wagon to the one to overcome death. That's it. I'm going to follow that guy wherever he goes. Whatever he says to do, I want to do it. And I want to live my life in accordance to what Christ has called me to. If you're finally hearing this for the first time, he ascended to the heaven. He's right hand of the Father. He said, No one comes to the Father except through me. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. That's it. Jesus is no other name under heaven. It's been given to my man by which he must be saved. It is Christ in Christ alone. If you're finally hearing this, praise the Lord. Now what are you going to do about

Answering Questions Without Fear

Chris Grainger 21:39

it? What are you going to do about it? And if this faith has to be yours, you have to take this step. I can't take it for you, but I'm imploring you to do it. And it starts by repenting. You talk about that sin issue, right? Repent. Turn from that sin. But what do you turn from? That's one thing. What are you going to turn to? You've got to turn to Christ. Then we have to just actually believe that Jesus is who he says he is. C.F. Lewis says it best. He's either a liar, lunatic, or a Lord. One or three. He's either just completely lying or he's lost his mind or he is who he says he is. I'm imploring you to believe that Jesus is who he says he is. And then after that, boy, you've got to make a public confession. You just got to confess him as Lord and Savior of your life and invite him into your life. As Lord, not on Sunday, every day. When you're in the bathroom, the bedroom, the boardroom, it doesn't matter where you're at, the gym, everywhere. He's Lord. He's over it all. That means we lower ourselves and we put him up. We exalt him, not us anymore. From the way you handle your finances to the way you parent, I'm telling you guys, everything. That's gonna be so much better. Because the minute, the minute you confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit power is going to come. It's going to indwell. You have the new heart now. The old flesh is gone. The new one's here, boys. And then we're walking with the Lord. The scales fall from our eyes. And we're ready for the fight. And if that's you, and today is the day that you're ready to say, all right, Chris, I mean, I'm hearing it right now. I am feeling it right now. What do I do? Hey, let's just pray. You don't have to be sitting in a church pew. No, you can be wherever you are. The Lord is ready to meet you wherever you are. I want to walk with you. And I'm just going to pray with you right now. And my simple prayer. And I'm praying. If this is, if the Lord is calling to you right now and speaking to you right now, take a step. So follow that one listener who's listening. They finally hearing the gospel. Maybe they're hearing the gospel for the first time, or at least the first time clearly. I don't know. I'm sure there's been lots of seeds planted, but maybe this is a seed that's finally taking root. I pray that you, I know you hear them. I pray they have a peace. As they just they are repenting. They are recognizing that they are a sinner in need of a savior. They believe you are who you say you are, and they are confessing to you as Lord and Savior of their life. They know that's not instant, instantly things are not just going to get magically better for them, or the problem's going to go away. But now they have you. And with that, man, they're ready to face life. Because they're ready to listen and obey and take the steps that you're calling them to. I also know that the evil one is not happy about this decision, Father. He's going to do all he can to discourage them to make them walk away. So I just pray against his attacks. I pray heads protection around this person right now. Keep them safe. Thank you for loving them. Thank you for drawing them to you. Now we got one more to the kingdom, Father. We love you. We praise you in Christ's name. Amen. So look, if you just accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, like, touch down, let's go. That's what it's all about. I'd love to hear from you. Send me a note, okay? Chris at VLineWithin.us. I monitor that. No one monitors the email for me. I monitor that. I love to hear that you accepted Christ listening

The Gospel Invitation And Prayer

Chris Grainger 24:54

to the to the spiritual kickoff episode. I got some resources I would love to send you just to help get you started on your discipleship journey. Nothing fancy, but simple things that hopefully will be an encouragement to you. And it would just absolutely lift my day up to know that you accepted Christ while listening to the lion. Now, for you guys out there who've been kind of stirred up on this one, put it to work, man. Don't let it just be where you finish the podcast, you go to your next podcast, right? You listen to you. Like put this to work, put scripture to work. Be wise in how you're going to act, right? Make the most out of every opportunity. Let that conversation be full of grace and full of and seasoned with salt so that you can know how to answer everyone who's going to come to you today. God's going to bring them to you. Just don't walk away from it. And guys, we're going to have a wonderful conversation. I'm so excited for the guest. I'm not going to tell you who it is. It's going to be one of the biggest guests we've ever had if I line within us. I'm super excited, I'm super pumped, honored, blessed, all the words, right? So check the next episode out. And for this one, guys, if you like it, give us a rating and review. Now look, I'm going to start talking about this more and more. For you guys that listen on Spotify, thank you first and foremost. We're trying to put the videos up on Spotify now. And Spotify is a it's a great partner for sure, but that platform is growing for us. We'd love for you to comment. So comment on the show. We will answer the comments. I promise you. We will respond to the comments. This is a big deal for us. The more comments we get, the more it drives to out the spot, the Spotify algorithm, and the more guys that this is going to get in front of. It's all about getting the message in front of other people. So please like it, share it, comment on it, all the stuff on Spotify. Other platforms, maybe you listen on YouTube. Hey, comment on that as well. That helps YouTube. If you're not subscribed to our YouTube channel, please do that. We drop these Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week on our YouTube channel. We'd love for you to do that. And we also drop shorts every day on the YouTube channel. That would be an encouragement to you. So please check those two, those couple resources out. Guys, we got more and more stuff that's happening at The Lion all the time. Speaking events and opportunities to engage and live events, and obviously the Lion's Den, the leadership mastermind, all the cool stuff we got going on right there. We have the 501c3 nonprofit setup. We have all these cool things that are happening at the Lion Within Us, fellas. We love your support. So thelionwithin.us, just head over there. Just head to the website, check it out. If you like the lion, maybe you want to grab a hat or a shirt or something like that. We got lots of cool merch out there, fellas. It's all hopefully you'll be encouraged by it. It would have mean the world to us if you would just take some time to check it out, okay? So, fellas, have a great day. We'll see you next time. Thanks for hanging out. And uh, you know it's coming, right? 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, uh, and it also

Next Steps And Ways To Connect

Chris Grainger 28:34

has a powerful PDF that you can pull up whenever you need, especially when things get off, because they're gonna 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 right the ship when life starts to pull you off a course. So if you're ready, get access today at the lionwithin.uslash guides. That's the lionwithin.us slash guides. And start unleashing the line within at home by leading your marriage through prayer.