Welcome And Scripture Kickoff

Chris Grainger 1:34

Welcome to the Light Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I'm your host, Chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, fellas, spiritual kickoff time. Let's get into it. Okay. So the scripture of the week this week is Acts 20, verse 35. It says this In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak. Remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Beautiful scripture right there, guys. Now we're going to see how we can simplify and apply it to our life. And guys, as a reminder, we do the spiritual kickoff every Monday through Friday at the Lion Within Us. We love to be an encouragement to you. So if you enjoy the spiritual kickoff podcast, I guarantee you're going to love the spiritual kickoffs within the Lion Within Us. They're a little more just off the cuff, right? There's not a lot of fluff or anything like that. It's very direct, it's very raw, but it's it's a lot, it's an encouragement to a lot of guys. And it's been growing by leaps and bounds. We have thousands of guys in that daily SKO right now. So we will definitely want to offer that up to you. It's our free way to just serve you and to encourage you. It also gives you access to our prayer request space where we have a weekly prayer warrior huddle. So if you need prayer or would like to just be part of a prayer group or just just know that your prayers are actually being lifted up, guys, this is what we do. This is how we serve. And this

Daily SKO Invite And Free Gift

Chris Grainger 3:06

we're very intentional about this, okay? Now, also, as an addict, carrot, and bonus, if you will, if you're in the continental U.S. and you join the daily SKO, we'd love to send you a free gift. So when you join, we'll send you a link. You just feel give us your where to where to ship the free gift, and we'll drop that in the mail and get it to you. So the book, plenty and plenty, and plenty of reasons to join. Don't hesitate today, just jump right in, okay? All right, so for this verse right here, it's in the book of Acts, which we need to know where the book of Acts are. We don't want to assume things at the lion. So Acts is in your New Testament. So you're gonna get you know, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to get you your gospels, okay? And then you'll get to the book of Acts. You get to Romans, you went a little bit too far, just back up. So that's where you're gonna find it. This is kind of towards the getting close to the end of Acts right here. And again, there's something powerful, if we think about it, about a man's last words, right? His final charge, if you will, right? And Acts 20, where we find our verse today, captures one of those moments. Now remember who wrote Acts? Luke. Luke wrote Acts, and he's documenting the spread of the early church after Jesus' resurrection. So it's a story of movements, it has a ton of missionary items, and you work Paul's journeys and things like that, and sacrifice. In chapter 20, we find the apostle Paul right here speaking to

Setting Acts 20 In Context

Chris Grainger 4:31

the elders in the church of Ephesus. Okay. And these are men that he poured into, that he walked with, that he loved deeply. I mean, just think about the book of Ephesians and all the things that he was sharing with them there. And he knows at this moment, this is likely the last time that he'll see them. Okay? So Paul does what uh as Christian men, we probably need to do a better job of from time to time. He doesn't waste words. He's just very direct. He reminds them of how he lived with them, right? Not just what he taught, but how he worked, how he served, how he gave, right? There's more is called than taught, right? He's showing them right here. But what he does is so important. He anchors everything with the statement that in it isn't really found anywhere else in the gospel, but it carries unmistakable voice of Jesus. He says, In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, saying, It's more blessed to give than to receive. So, like what Paul's giving us right here, guys, isn't just advice. Paul's a setting, this is the standard. This is it. He's not suggesting generosity as like an add-on to a Christian life, you know, the way we think about it from time to time. He's pointing to it as evidence of a Christian life, right? Of the evidence of Christ working through you and in you. Like he's like his work, his effort, his sacrifice. It all had purpose to help others, especially those who couldn't repay him. There's no quid pro quo in play here right here, right? And that forces us to wrestle with a question. Do we live with that same posture? Do you live with the posture that the Apostle Paul was showing right here? If we're honest, okay, we have to believe that, well, we got to just recognize really, the world pushes a very different narrative, doesn't it? The world tells us what? To take care of ourselves first. Like I got to protect my time, I gotta build my comfort, I gotta earn what's mine. Yo, look, I'm just looking out for me and myself, right? And after that, if I take care of that and I feel secure and what I've done for myself, then I maybe consider helping someone else. But that is not the model that we are given in Scripture.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

And as Christian men, yeah, we're called to something higher. And quite frankly, something harder. A life where our heads are on a swivel because we're always looking for opportunities to serve.

Chris Grainger 7:21

And here's the deal not just looking for opportunities to serve when it's convenient or when it's noticed, right? And we're getting those accolades. Rather, looking for opportunities to serve because that's just a way of living. It's just who we want to be. It requires

Giving As The Christian Standard

Chris Grainger 7:42

intentionality. It means positioning ourselves in a way so that we're able to help when others when the need arises. It means holding our time and our resources and even our energy with the open hands, that open hands mindset, right? Versus that closed fisted mind. Like just think about from a financial standpoint. Closed fist mindset, money can't go out. You got that right, but nothing can come in either, brother. It means choosing to engage when it will look easier to walk away. Or that's someone else's problem to deal with.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

And this is challenging for us, fellas, because giving, think about this. Giving really does cost something. It does.

Chris Grainger 8:33

But Paul is reminding us, because Jesus modeled it perfectly, is that there is a deeper reward on the other side of that cost. Literally, it says right here in this verse, it is more blessed, more blessed to give than to receive. Now, don't mishear this, please. It doesn't mean receiving is wrong. Okay? It doesn't mean it if if maybe you're on the on the end of receiving, and that's okay. That's a blessing, right? And it doesn't mean also that we are to reject help or live in some form of isolation, but it does point to something true at the core of who we are. And that is there's a greater fulfillment. You may even call it, think of think of it as a deeper joy when we're on that giving end. And guys, we've all felt it, right? I know you felt it. That that quiet sense of purpose when you step in and help somebody who's really struggling right now, right? The clarity that comes when you focus, when the focus you have in your life goes off of you and on to others, right? And the alignment you feel when your actions reflect something bigger than you. I know that some of the greatest moments of joy in my life are absolutely hands down when I can help someone else, when I can live the hand, when I can support, even if it's not financially, maybe it's just with encouragement, right? Because we have to take a hard look at the truth of what Jesus showed us here, fellas. Because Jesus didn't just say those words. He lived those words, right? Just think about how he rolled. He gave his time, he gave his attention, he gave his energy, right? And ultimately, he gave what? His life. Gave his life for us so that we can receive salvation. And this is the model, fellas. This is the model. Because if we're serious about becoming the men that God's called us to be, right? We talk about it on the lion all the time, then we have to have something to measure ourselves against. We do. Right?

SPEAKER_01 10:50

And not in a way that's going to lead to condemnation, but in a way that sharpens us, pushes us, makes us better.

Chris Grainger 11:00

So we have to wrestle with some questions. Where are you holding back? Where are you choosing comfort over service? Where are you missing opportunities? Because what we're looking for, fellas, really what scripture is trying to show us right here, I think, who the Holy Spirit showing me, is that we have to recognize this is not just a principle. Like, no, this has to be a posture. This posture is something we have to adopt. And if we if we adopt this posture over time, guess what it becomes? It just becomes our culture. It becomes who we are. It's like in our homes, like what does it look

Open Hands Mindset In Real Life

Chris Grainger 11:36

like? Serve your wife, serve your kids. That should be the norm. Your wife should not be floored if you do a do a uh you know a small gesture for her, right? Like, what are you up to? Are you just trying to get lucky tonight? No, we don't need that type of thinking. Our wives should just know that we are meant, we're here to serve. And same with our kids. Think about your business standpoint. Like, do the people in your business, maybe you have direct reports, or maybe just the work that you do, do they truly know that you value them over the profit?

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Is it seen? Is generosity like truly a giving heart mindset there?

Chris Grainger 12:17

Or is it a tactic? Right? I'm telling you, fellas, uh once generosity becomes a foundation in your business, things are gonna change. Now think about your community, right? What if we become known for not for what we take, but for what we show up and how we give? Brother, I'm telling you, it would change everything. It would have a massive, just a massive impact. And if enough men actually started letting this out, it would change the world. It would. It would change the world. And that's why I think verses like this, they're simply bigger than thinking about them. It's just good advice. For sure, it's good advice. The apostle Paul, I mean, obviously, we're learning from him, Luke wrote it, but just it's great, it's great stuff. Right? It should challenge us to consider this a non-negotiable standard, right? That confronts, refines, and calls us to higher levels. And yes, it is convicting. It definitely is convicting. You may be feeling some conviction right now. That's okay. That conviction could be an invitation. Could be. And that invitation could be to live like him. To live like him. So the question I want to leave you with is where is God prompting you to serve? But maybe you're pumping your brakes. Maybe there's some hesitation. But don't beat yourself up. It's hard. Doing this stuff is hard. But I'm telling you guys, like what if the Holy Spirit's prompting you and you got that opportunity, walk into it. Walk into it. Now, we've mentioned a couple times about the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And one thing we talk about on the Lion on our spiritual kickoff episodes is we just want to make sure goodwill that all our listeners at least know the good news of the gospel and what Jesus did for us. And I'm not naive enough to think that everybody who listens to the Lion, all the numbers are just great. The guys who listen are actually believers. I think for some reason you're here, though. Maybe you're curious, maybe you're trying to explore, maybe you're just learning, you're just in that mode right now of just trying to figure out how far I want to take this spiritual Christian type of walk. And I just want to say thank you. I first of all just want to say that. Thank you for listening, okay? Because you're listening to me talk about scripture in such a way that it can be applied to your life. Because to me, that's where I think so many,

The Gospel And Surrender To Jesus

Chris Grainger 14:58

so many myths. They want to talk about the deeper theological truths and to me and theology matters. Don't get me wrong, theology matters. But application, where the rubber meets the road, this is where guys are looking for. Okay. Now, when it comes to having Jesus as your Lord and Savior, it all starts with the understanding that you were made in the image of God. You were. You're not some mistake. No, you don't have any these flaws that you look in the mirror and see. That that's all from the evil one. He wants to tear you down. But we were made in the image of God. Every single one of us. From the very first man, his name is Adam, by the way. And God breathed the breath of life called the Rua into his nostrils. And Adam set up. Guess who the first person he saw when he set it up? It was God. Looking face to face with him. And Adam was in a garden, and it was awesome and it was incredible. And he's just having time with God, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Until the fall. Until the fall.

Chris Grainger 16:01

Until sin entered. And sin fellas, anything that separates us from God's sin. So don't overcomplicate it. That separated Adam and Eve. They were put out from the garden. So this separation, this gap, this chasm exists, right? And the rest of the Bible, we just were talking about this, is this the sin issue, the sin problem that we have in our life. How do we overcome it? And we try to do all these things and try to be good and try to be helpful and try to be encouraging and all this stuff. And at the end of the day, what we're trying to do is we're trying to earn a right standing with God. And that just doesn't hold water. It's just not right. Because the sin we have in our life, fellas, and every single one of us is a sinner in need of a savior, the penalty of sin is death. There's nothing we can do to overcome it. And this is where guys get really confused because they're like, well, I just gotta be a good person, or I just gotta, you know, just take care of my family, just work a good job, you know, uh, don't uh uh pay my taxes, whatever you think, right? Be a good father, that's a common one I hear. And the issue with this is that we are trying to earn our right standing with our Heavenly Father, and the definition of good is subjective, okay? My definition of good is not the same as yours. For instance, I live pretty close to a federal prison. If I were to compare myself to guys that are on death road for killing people, I may start feeling pretty good about myself. And even take it a little bit, reel it in some. Compare yourself to your neighbor. Well, can you believe Cheryl and M did this? Can you believe so-and-so did that? Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

I'm telling you, Bo, it's very easy to fall into this trap and start comparing ourselves with others. And the problem is the standard's wrong.

Chris Grainger 18:02

The standard's wrong. We're not to compare ourselves with other humans because other humans are we're all sinners in need of a savior. We're supposed to compare ourselves to a holy and righteous God. And when we do that, we should all have the same reaction. Here's the reaction uh oh. Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Like, I I definitely don't stack up to God. I fall short there big time. So it's like, man, compared to you, God, I don't have a chance.

Chris Grainger 18:32

And look, here's the crazy part. When you get to that point in your thinking and understanding, you're so close. You're so close. Because once you recognize that you can't do for you, like you can't overcome your sin in your life, that you need someone to do for you what you can't achieve, that's when things start really clicking. Because what you need, what we all need, is a savior, someone to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. And this is where Jesus enters the scene. And I just want you to know that. So Jesus left heaven on a mission for us, for you, who was born of a virgin, he lived the perfect life. He performed all the miracles and the teachings and the prophecy, he fulfilled the prophecies and all the stuff to prove to us that he was the Messiah. And then, out of just a step of radical love, went to a cross to be crucified, to pay the penalty for our sin with his perfect blood. Jesus never sinned, and his perfect blood ran to cover our sins. This is what it costs. Again, the penalty of sin is death. So Jesus died on the cross. He didn't faint or fall asleep or anything like that. He died on the cross. So then they take Jesus off the cross. Nicodemus and some guys in Joseph, they took him off the cross and they laid him in a tomb, right? And the Jewish tradition was you know, after a few days, you would come back for the purification. This happened all uh around the time of the Sabbath and all this stuff. So what ended up being was he was in the tomb for three days. And on the third day, okay, he rose. And guys, this is the big deal. Like, this is the fundamental difference between Christianity and every other religion out there. We have a risen Savior. He lives. All the other religions, the founders, the people who started, they're still dead. They died. Our Savior rose. The tomb is empty. And he walked and he did some more teachings. He made some more appearances, and he showed us that he is the way, the truth, the life, and no one comes to Father except through him. And there's no other name under heaven that's been given among men by which we must be saved. It is Jesus and Jesus alone. That's it. Right now, he's in he is he is at the right hand of the Father.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Fellas, it comes down to this. Do you believe that you are a sinner? First of all, are you willing to believe that and admit that? And if you are, how are you going to overcome the sin in your life?

Chris Grainger 21:34

And once you finally wrestle with this and recognize that there is nothing you can do to overcome it, it's the next natural place to go is okay, there's nothing I can do to overcome the sin in my life. But I believe in Jesus. I believe he is who he says he is, and I'm going to put my faith in him as my Lord and Savior. And at that moment, everything changes. Everything changes. So the Holy Spirit's going to go, you'll have a new heart, guys. You're talking about a heart transplant without having to go to the hospital. It's kind of crazy when you think about it. But it takes this level of humility to recognize that yes, I am a sinner in need of a savior. Whoa, I do believe, Jesus, you are who you say you are. And I'm going to confess you as Lord of my life. Not just Lord over Sunday for an hour, right? Or Wednesday night for an hour, but Lord over everything. Your finances, your career, your parenting style, your marriage, what happens in your bedroom, what happens in the bathroom. I'm telling you, everywhere, everywhere of your life, he is Lord. It means submitting to him. And God said it's the most freeing thing you will ever do. There's not a step you can take that will bring you the peace that passes all understanding as much as when you surrender to Christ. Surrender to Christ. And that's what I'm imploring you to do. I'm imploring you if you're listening to the line right now, and you've made it this far into the podcast, and you never surrender your life to a lordship of Jesus Christ, I would invite you to just pray this prayer and accept him. Confess him. Call out to him. And it doesn't matter where you're at. You could be on a treadmill, in a car, you know, laying in your bed. I don't know where you're at. At right now. I just know one thing. The Holy Spirit is knocking. He's knocking. And He's using me right now to deliver this message. The question you have to wrestle with, are you just going to put it to the side? Or are you going to hear it and do something about it? And my encouragement is just this that you do something with it. That you, if you've never accepted Jesus right now, take a step to confess Him as the Lord of your life. And I'm willing to pray with you. So, Father, I have one listener. I don't know where they're at or what they're doing, but they know that they are at the end of their road and they don't know which way to turn, but they know one thing. Your way seems to make a whole lot of sense right now. So, Lord, they know they are sinners in need of the Savior. They do. And they believe that you are who you say you are. And Lord, right now they are confessing you as Lord and Savior of their life. And Father, we know it's not going to get easier for them. It's going to the evil ones going to start pushing back. So I just pray a special heads of protection around this one individual that you just give them encouragement, give them hope. Be with them. And Lord, just thank you so much for what you did for us on the cross. We definitely didn't deserve it. But the fact that you went and you did for us what you did blows my mind. We're so thankful. We're so grateful. We love you. We praise you. And we want to welcome this new believer into the kingdom. Thank you so much, God. It's in your name we pray. Amen. All right. So look, if you just confess Jesus, I'd love to hear from you, okay, first and foremost. So send me a message, Chris at theliant.us. Got several resources I just want to send you. Just put in your inbox just to encourage you. I'd love to hop on a call with you just to give you a virtual high five. And also find out where you're where you're living because we need to make sure we want to do all we can to help you get plugged into a good, solid, functioning church, a good healthy church. Okay. There are lots of unhealthy ones. We want to give you some things to think about when looking for a healthy church. All right. Other than that, fellas, share this stuff out. This is how we try to grow the lion. It's all God's doing it all. I mean, his hand's in everything right now at this point. It's his his his fingerprints all over the lion. So share it out with others. Open up the Bible app, fellas, if you don't mind. We love, love, love the Bible app and just being a partner with them. So check out the I'm Just a Guy series. I got my I'm just shirt on right now. So

Reach Out And Get Connected

Chris Grainger 25:59

check all that stuff out, guys. Uh again, the Bible app is just a great way to connect with us. Uh again, thelionwithin.us is our website. Join the daily SKO, check out the Lions Den, put in an application for a leadership mastermind. We have so many different ways we're serving, guys. Go to Amazon, get a copy of Unleashing Your Lion Within, our book. You can get an Audible version as well or ebook version, whatever you'd like to get to do there. So, guys, we have all sorts of ways to get plugged in and get connected, to walk with you, to serve with you. If it would bring any value at offer to have me come to your men's group and help do a talk or do an encouragement or do a workshop, reach out. We'd love, I'd love to hear from you. I'm getting booked for more of those opportunities. Really trying to lean into that a little bit harder as we move forward because I just have a passion for sharing a message that's going to be encouraging, convicting, and helping guys get started on a path that's going to just change their life. Absolutely change their life. So, guys, thanks for listening and for supporting and encouraging. The linewithin.us slash donate is where you can support the show if you want to just help us out each and every month. That would be phenomenal. We would love for you to do that. Uh, we have a lot of big announcements that are in the future that are coming very shortly, guys. So just be uh be attentive. We'll we'll we'll let you know when we're ready to share that stuff. Just my my request right now, I'm just asking for prayer. I'm asking for prayer for strength, for wisdom, for discernment, for for you know ensuring that we're taking the steps down the path that God wants, not something that we want. So, guys, we just we definitely would covet your prayers. We thank you for them. If there's anything that we can do, fellas, to uh to encourage you, to walk with you, join the lion. Just hop into the lion and let us know. Okay. So lionwithin.us is where you find all that, fellas. So thank you so much for hanging out today. It's been an honor to hang with you this morning. So thankful for the for God's word and acts and and Luke for writing in and the Apostle Paul and the Lord and Jesus just for everything he taught us and showed us. So hopefully you're feeling a little bit encouraged now. All right, guys, get after it. Look, next episode is gonna be awesome, absolutely awesome. You're gonna love it. So look forward to sharing this this great testimony with you guys. Other than that, have a great day. Get after it, have a great week as well, and just keep on leashing your line with them. 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 when things

Simple Guide To Pray With Wife

Chris Grainger 29:20

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 thelionwithin.uslash guides. That's the lionwithin.us slash guides. And start unleashing the line within at home by leading your marriage through prayer.