Welcome And Scripture Of The Week

Chris Grainger 1:02

Welcome to the line 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 right into it. Okay. So the scripture of the week this week is Matthew 25, verse 21. So 2521, his master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. I'll put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. Man, that's awesome verse right there, guys. We're going to take a look at that. We're going to see how we can simplify and apply that to our life. And as a reminder, guys, Monday through Friday, we do this at the line within us. It's called the daily spiritual kickoff. It's our way to serve you. This is our way to encourage you. It's our way to walk with you. So they saw it's all free, guys. It's our way to give back to you first and foremost. We want to do that for you. We have daily teachings, Monday through Friday, like right now, at the time of this recording, we're working through the book of John. Okay. And it's just, we just work verse by verse through the Bible. That's it. We don't take away, we don't add. We just work verse by verse. And then we help you simplify and apply it to your life. That's what it's all about. Also gives you access to our prayer request space. So if you have areas that you need prayer over in your life, let us know. We want to be intentional about praying for you. And on top of that, every Monday, we have a prayer warrior huddle. We do this every Monday. This is our way to serve and to encourage and to come alongside with you in the battle. Okay. And if you're in the continental U.S., we also give you a free gift. So if you join the Daily SKO, you get to daily teachings, you get to prayer request

Daily SKO And Prayer Support

Chris Grainger 2:31

space, you get to weekly prayer huddle, and you get a free gift if you're in continental U.S. I mean, it's it's a win-win-win-win-win. I think that was like four or five wins right there, right? So anyway, guys, thelionwithin.us is where you find all that on it. Okay, so just go check it out, get started today. Now, this scripture right here, the book of Matthew, we don't want to assume anything. So where's where is the book of Matthew? What's in your New Testament? Okay, so if you get to your New Testament, open up the first gospel you get to is Matthew. If you get to Mark, you went a little bit too far, you went to Malachi, just keep going. Okay, so that's where you're gonna find it. And one of the fascinating things about Jesus' teaching style is how often he uses parables. Okay, because he those parables are revealing deeper spiritual truths. Like, think about what a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, right? That's the that's how I always remember it. And rather than simply giving direct commands or like some deep theological lecture, Jesus taught through stories because they they forced people to wrestle with what he was saying. And for me, I found that those that are willing to lean in and listen carefully, they would find incredible wisdom beneath the

Why Jesus Teaches In Parables

Chris Grainger 3:41

service. Okay, again, earthly story, heavenly meaning. And this is what's going on in Matthew 25. You get to one of those moments because Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the kingdom of heaven and his eventual return and what faithful stewardship looks like while we wait, right? So you get to the parable, it's called the parable of the talents, is what most times you're gonna see, and talents just a form of money. Uh, and it and it's not ultimately about money management or financial financial success, uh, the way it's often framed. I get it, but it's more about responsibility, faithfulness, and trust. And particularly when we do what what God's placed in front of us, right? When he gives what we do with what God has put into our hands, okay? So in this story, or what's going on, this this parable, this master is entrusting different amounts of talents. Okay, and the talents are just different levels of money, okay? And talent was a whole lot of money, okay? And and these three servants, he was he was giving this to them before he went on a journey. Okay, he was going to go on a journey. So this one guy receives five, then this next guy gets two, and this other guy gets one. And the the five-talent guy multiplies what he's given. Okay? I mean, multiplication there. And then the two-talent guy does the same thing. He multiplied it, he's multiplied, he's going, he's

The Parable Of The Talents

Chris Grainger 5:06

putting that money to work because he knows that's what God's called him to do. God's called him to be a good steward of that. But then the one-talent guy does something. Very interesting. He buries it. He buries it out of fear. And and it made me think like, that's a lot of work to do. A talent was a lot of money. This won't like digging a hole and putting a mason jar in the backyard. No, this would have been like you need a bulldozer to dig this size hole to bury this amount of money. And so it really bothered me. And then I started thinking about you know, the five-talent guy, and for some reason, and always in my mind, I elevated that five-talent guy. And I kind of coveted him. I wanted to be the five-talent guy. And if I'm being honest, um I think part of me assumed it was better, it was a better position because it shows me that God, that He's entrusting me with more, right? And I just equate that to more influence and more opportunities and more reach, more responsibility, right? I I read the parable as I believed the five-talent guy was uh a greater level of significance. And I mean, I don't know if that resonates or not, but that's how I felt for a long time. But the older, the older I'm getting, the more birthday candles I have on birthday cake, I think I missed a point. I really think I missed a point. Because what stands out is not how much each servant received, but rather what they did with what they were given. See what I'm saying right there? Uh because something incredible happens uh that the text shows us that I overlooked for years. The master gives the same affirmation to both the five-talent guy and the two-talent guy. I mean, Matthew 25, 21 says, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. And then in 23, the same phrase is repeated with the guy who had two talents. And that challenged me. Because the kingdom economy, guys, from what scripture is showing me here, operates differently than the world's economy. Because the world tells us bigger is better, right? More is better. You got to have more followers, more money, more influence, more recognition, more opportunities. It goes on and on and on and on, right? We're conditioned to believe that significance is tied to accumulation. But man, Jesus seems far more interested in faithfulness than comparison. And I just I think there's a guy out there that needs to hear that. Because the two-talent guy never complains.

The Two-Talent Cure For Comparison

Chris Grainger 7:55

Right, he doesn't complain like where's my other three at? No, he didn't throw a pity party because the five-talent guy got more. He never questioned fairness, did he? He just took what the master gave him and he diligently stewarded it. And that convicts me to a big degree. And hopefully it does to you. Because if I'm honest, there have been seasons where I have spent more energy chasing the that three more talents than faithfully stewarding the two talents that God's already put in my hands. Because I'm looking ahead instead of looking around. I desire more while undervaluing what was already sitting in front of me. And I don't know if that if if if you're picking up what I'm putting down, but that this is this is incredibly important for us today. Because this is the danger, this is a mindset uh that that can really cause us to it's subtle, but it can cause us to struggle and to stumble. Because the enemy, here's the reality, guys, he loves convincing us that what we have is not enough. He just does. And he wants us to believe that our current assignment lacks significance. He wants to believe, he wants us to believe rather, that we would finally matter if we only had a little bit more resources, a little bit more visibility or opportunities. Oh man, if I could just have a little more influence, man, I I can make a difference. And I'm gonna tell you what, discontentment, clearly, that's that quietly grows when we start becoming obsessed with what it was given to someone else, and we start coveting that, that's when that discontentment. But the two talent for each servant reminds us, guys, that that comparison doesn't serve us at all, right? It's the thief of joy, and this requires diligence, it w it requires contentment and trust. And maybe that's one of the greatest lessons buried inside this parable. Because God is not asking me to steward someone else's assignment, right? He's asking me to faithfully steward mine, and that changes everything because suddenly, guys, if we start thinking that way, the focus shifts away from chasing more and and toward instead of just chasing more, towards honoring God with what he's already given. Like, think about your marriage and your children, your responsibilities, your work, your gifts, all that stuff, the time he's given you, right? That's important. That's what's most important. Faithfulness is not measured by how much we possess compared to someone else's. It's measured by what we do with what God's given us. And maybe that's why this two-talent thing has been hitting me more and more, because this is not about entitlement or comparison or resentment or even making excuses. It's just faithfulness, man. It's it's quiet faithfulness in a culture that we live in today that is obsessed, I mean obsessed with bigger, louder, more. This type of contentment, it's just rare. But I'm beginning to think that this is the kind of heart posture that Jesus was pointing us toward all the law. And my prayer is just by trying to, you know, what, 10 minutes here, trying to simplify and apply one verse, you see that and put the mirror up right now. Okay, we've gone through the story, we've gone through the the unpacking, but now's the time to put the mirror up. Where has this been a struggle for you? I'm gonna be honest, I'm coming to the realization, guys, because I get I get a unique opportunity, I get to talk to a lot of just incredible people, amazingly successful people, and it can be hard when you're talking to these incredibly incredibly successful people to think that the work that I'm doing doesn't matter. And like, you know, uh when you start comparing social media and all those those junk type of metrics, like, man, like is this really is this the end? Is this all that you know it just starts taking away? But I'm starting to start to think about, you know what, maybe I'm just a two-talent guy. And that's good. It doesn't matter the amount of the talents that he's given you.

Put The Mirror Up Today

Chris Grainger 12:34

It's how do we steward it? And I'm just leaning into that more, you know, and and I'm looking at look, this is not flipped overnight, so I still struggle with some of this, right? But still at the end of the day, focusing on what God has given and what he has called me to, how he is using the light within us, how he is using the Bible app and all these different things that that he's blessed, he's just blessed us with, and how it is serving guys and encouraging guys. I'm like, okay, so we're gonna keep laying into that. And that's my encouragement to you, just keep laying into it. Because he may not be called like to do you know just this really outbound type of things, but you you maybe just be called to be to be faithfully diligent in this in the faithful things that he's called you to, right? And there is something powerful when a man takes steps of obedience to what God has called him to do. I just want to encourage you with that. I just want to encourage you with this word, and I want to encourage you also if you're listening to the Lion with Dennis and you don't have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, like today's the day, bud. Like for some reason you're here and you're listening. I don't know why. Maybe you're just curious and you you you landed on this podcast, you like lions, and you thought this was about zoos or something. I don't know, but you've made it this far through the pod. Maybe you haven't changed it for some reason. But I know one thing if you don't have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you haven't surrendered your life to him, you're missing the greatest opportunity to understand the scriptures like this to disagree. The Holy Spirit guide and directs me. When I unpack these spiritual kickoff episodes, this is not Chris's opinion. This is what this spirit is revealing to me, and I want to share that with you. But if you don't have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, you're actually walking around blind. You have blinders on, and you're blind to the sin that's in our life. So I just want you to know one thing, God, if you're listening, like you may look in the mirror, see this jacked up, flawed-up dude.

The Gospel And Surrender To Christ

Chris Grainger 14:15

What God sees is an image-bearer because we're made in the image of God, and that is who you are. And you can't change that, you can't refute that. You may see you may try to push it off or to to to uh to to refute it or disbelieve it. But look, I can't just tell you the truth, you're made in the image of God, and I want you to walk into that in that trueness, in that truth, and understanding of who you are, and then also recognize that yes, you do have sin in your life. You know, we're not just struggling. No, we have sin in our life, and sin is anything that separates us from God. And we all have this, we all fall short of the glory of God. And the scripture tells us that directly, and it's a result of the fall. I mean, that's what happened when Eve ate the fruit because Adam didn't do his job as a man, and they were separated from God. That created a separation. Now, if we have a holy and righteous God, then we have us as just these sinners here on earth. And most dudes think that to get to God, we just got to be good. We just got to just like just gotta be a good person. Like it's it's it's all about how I show up, how I maybe I don't cut, you know, don't don't cuss too much and all that stuff. I'm telling you, buddy, that will absolutely exhaust you. And the problem is, is our standard of what good. Because if we put our standard of good, the standard is God, and none of us stack up to that. I mean, you may be good compared to your neighbor, okay? You may be good, okay? But compared to a holy and righteous God, every every one of us falls short. We just do. Okay, so we have this gap between a holy and righteous God and us, and we're trying to overcome it with these good works in our life. It doesn't work because that's works-based righteousness, and you can't earn a right standing with God. So, you know, it leads us to a point, to a decision, to an understanding at some point like, what in the wide world of sports am I supposed to do? If I can't overcome this sin in my life for myself, what do I, where do I go? Like, do I have to write a check for it or something? Or like, it's like, and I'm like, no, stop, stop it. No, you don't need someone to coach you up or to for you to build you up. No, what you need is for somebody to come and do for you, but you can't do for yourself, i.e., you need a savior. You need a savior. And that's the story. This is what happened when Jesus left uh heaven on a rescue mission for us. And this is why Jesus is so important, guys. Because he left heaven knowing, knowing what was going to cost him. And that was everything. I mean, the first thing John the Baptist says here's the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world. The Lamb of God. You know what they did with lambs back then? They slayed them twice a day. So that's what they did. That's how they they they killed the lambs to for because of their blood covered as a payment for sin. And so Jesus comes from heaven knowing that he was going to go to the cross. So you can't think about Bethlehem without thinking about Calvary. They just they can't be separated. And I don't know about you, but would you leave on a mission today if you knew it was going to cost you everything? Like you knew you weren't going to come back, you were going to die. Would you do it? Probably 10 out of 10 of us would say, no, I don't want to do that. We want to live. Not Jesus. He came, he lived a perfect life for us that ultimately led him to the cross to pay the penalty the penalty for our sins, that something that we couldn't pay for ourselves. And this is Jesus. This is this is actually happened. So he died on the cross. He didn't faint or fall asleep or pass out. No, he died on the cross. So they take him, they wrap him up, they lay him in a tomb. It's like, okay, then if the story ends there, like what are we celebrating here? Like, okay, so this guy died. You're right. If it ended right there, it'd just be like a sad story. We'd still be, you know, wearing black to uh church on Sundays because we'd be attending a funeral. But that wasn't a funeral for Christ. It was a three days, like more like an Airbnb weekend, and he came back to life. He rose, he defeated death. And that's what we celebrate as Christians, as men. We understand this to be true. Jesus is alive. We have a risen Savior. The tomb is empty, boys. There ain't nothing there anymore. And this is who we have to put our faith and our hope and our trust in. So at some point, you gotta make a decision. Who is Jesus going to be to you? You can't get in on coattails of your mama or your wife or your children or grandpa or daddy. It don't work that way. This is every man's individual decision of who what faith, what does that mean to him, and who is he gonna submit his life to? And you can submit it to yourself and go, man, I'm just gonna do my things my way. I'm just gonna do the best I can. I'm just gonna bootstrap it and I got this. Good luck. Good luck. At some point, you're gonna hit it where you ain't got this. And you're gonna need something. You're gonna need something that no one here on earth can give for you. Because the reality is, every single one of us are living in the dash. We are. Between the day we were born and the day we leave here. And we never know the day we're gonna leave here. And I'm not gonna try to scare you to death. I'm just gonna tell you, we just don't know, bro. We don't know. I tell you one thing. Whenever my day comes, I fully know where I'm going. Fully. And I believe that with all of my being. I will be with Christ. I'm gonna be with my little daughter who's up there waiting for me right now. Can't wait to see her. Right now, in this dash, every day I'm gonna take steps of obedience to do what he's called me to do. That means starting the line within us and helping you in your discipleship journey. But until you surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, you're missing out, bro. You're missing out. And it starts with him, first of all, just hey, I'm a sinner. I totally get it. I get it. I'm tired of faking it. I am a sinner needing a savior. And I believe that Jesus is the Messiah. I believe Jesus is who he says he is. If you can just have that level of truth and conversation, those two things, man, you'll come a long way. But then it comes down to the third most important part: confessing him as Lord and Savior for your life. And not just Lord and Savior of a Sunday in the morning for an hour, but of your entire life. How you manage your finances, how your marriage, your parenting, your work, your career, everything, everything, your health, it all comes down to surrendering and submitting to Christ as Lord. And look, this is a big decision, but this is one you can make right now. And you can make this decision right now, listening to the Line Within Us podcast wherever you are. This is not reserved just to be sitting in a church in a pupil on a Sunday morning. Are you kidding me? No. The Holy Spirit is ready right now. And I'm just going to make up a simple offer. If you're listening to the Line Within Us, you've never surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and you're understanding the gospel, what I just presented to you, more than you ever had before, then why don't you take the step of obedience that God's calling you to and confess Him as Lord and Savior? You can do it right now, and I'll pray with you. So, Father, that one listener, I don't know who they are. I just know one thing you do. You know everything about them. You know every hair on their head because you knit them together in their mother's womb. They are fearfully and wonderfully made. I pray, Lord, that they know this. They recognize this to be true. And I pray, God, as they take, uh as they're praying right now and they're inviting you into their life, they recognize that they are sinner in need of a savior. They're recognizing, Lord, that you are the Messiah, that you are who you say you are, and they're confessing you as Lord of your life. And Lord, they don't have it all together, but that's okay. None of us do. But when we have you, we have it all. We have all we need. So I'm just praying for that one person right now. Pray you just put your arms around them. I pray they feel your presence. I pray for them as they start the discipleship journey and that you put people on their path that's going to help them, God. Just help them and not be a stumbling block. We love you so, so much. And we praise you in Christ's name. Amen. So look, if you discuss that to Christ, like, let's go, Bo. Like, let's go for real. Send me an email. Send me an email first and foremost. I got some stuff I want to send you. I got some, I got some scriptures, I got some additional resources that we just want to send your way just to help you get started with your discipleship journey. That's it. I'm just going to give it to you. Okay. So you don't have to give me a long explanation. Just let me know that you listen to the SKO and that you surrender your life to Christ. I'm going to send you an email. I'm going to send these resources over to you. Okay. So it's Chris at the LionWithin.us. Just send me an email. I want to hear from you. And then if you need help getting plugged into a good, God-centered Bible-teaching, gospel-believing church. Guys, we've got guys all over the country. So if you're in the continental U.S., we've likely got a guy, some guys that can help you get plugged in or at least know what to look for, okay? We're not going to have all the answers. I'm not going to sit here and pretend that we do. But we will we have the things that we

Next Steps After Saying Yes

Chris Grainger 23:12

know are important. We want to help you with that, okay? So again, send me an email, connect with me, love to hear from you. And uh hopefully that will be an encouragement to you. Question of the week this week, guys, is where are you chasing more instead of storing what God has already provided? I'm telling you guys, this is a big deal. A big deal. So hopefully you're gonna be encouraged by this week's podcast. Again, Bible app, all our resources there. Uh guys, we have a great conversation coming up on Wednesday from a gentleman who started a wonderful company. They're doing tremendous things. So I think you're gonna be encouraged by that. I definitely was. I had a I was really looking forward to it. It was a it was a good conversation. So hopefully that you'll find some encouragement in that as well. But I would just uh ask you to go to the linewithin.us, fellas. Go check us out there. The Daily SKO, the Lions Den, Leadership Mastermind, all the ways that we're trying to serve, the Bible app, as I mentioned several times. We have another announcement coming up very soon on that. We're gonna be super pumped about not ready to let that cat out that bag yet. But guys, we just have so many ways we're trying to serve. And I'm just gonna ask you straight up, if you like the line within us, if you enjoy the podcast, then support us. Just

Question Of The Week And Support

Chris Grainger 24:16

support us. It could look like maybe just join the line stand and just be let that be your monthly support. Or maybe you just want to be a monthly donor. We need your help, guys. We need your help. So the linewithin.us, where you'll find our information, or you can just do the linewithin.us slash donate, be a regular supporter of what we do, okay? All right, guys. That's it for now. Thanks for hanging out with us. Give us a rating and review if you don't mind. That would be really just incredibly helpful if you would do that. Particularly on Apple, that would be awesome. If you give us some guests, would give us some ratings and reviews, that would be wonderful. Other than that, we'll see you next time. Have a great day. 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 thelionwithin.usbook or search for unleashing the lion within directly on Amazon. So there's no pressure

Book Resource And Audible Option

Chris Grainger 25:49

here, just a resource that many guys are finding helpful. So grab the format that fits and take your next step.