Welcome And Scripture On Temptation

Chris Grainger 1:14

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, this is going to be a different episode, okay? But before we get to the topic, let's look at our scripture because we always like to start every episode with God's word. And as 1 Corinthians 10, 12 and 13 this week says, Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation is overcome, overtaking you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond which you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you'll be able to endure it. So, guys, that's scripture this week, this whole week we kind of talked about. I'm just a guy who's battling temptation and facing temptation. So hopefully you've encouraged by the messages. Let God's word encourage you more than anything I'll ever say, guys. So just remember that first and foremost. Go back and listen to the podcast episodes this week, and then head over to the linewithin.us and join the daily SKO. That's a free way to engage with us. I'd love to encourage you each and every day. Every Monday we have a prayer meeting. Guys, we have lots and lots of ways we try to serve you, and even on the Bible app, which by the way is how me and my mentor got connected with through God's word.

Why We’re Recording Mentor Talks

Chris Grainger 2:32

So as I mentioned, fellas, to start with, this is gonna be different. This is not a member spotlight. This is not a uh a guest interview. This I'm calling these just ask my mentor. And my mentor is Buck Jacobs. And so I'm asking him in these episodes, we're just gonna come in, we're just gonna sit down and talk. Buck is very gracious because about every it used to be every week, and now it's about every other week. We get together for an hour to an hour and a half, and he just pours into me. And I'm like, Buck, these are so helpful. I think we should do this and record them from time to time because it cut it not everybody has a mentor in their life. And he agreed, so we're gonna try them out, guys. We'd like to hear what you guys think about it. But this is just just gonna be me and Buck talking, and I think that uh, you know, every conversation I always leave sharper. And I think if you guys hang around and listen, you'll leave sharper too. So, Buck, how you doing this morning, man?

Buck Jacobs 3:23

I'm doing great, Chris. It's real honor to be with you, and I'm uh just happy to be here. Um just finished a call with a bunch of guys are just getting started and trying to build their career. Excuse me, we got some kind of pollen going around down here.

Chris Grainger 3:42

It's the South. That's the way it is.

Buck Jacobs 3:44

It's the South. Amen. I love it. I love it. Anyway, I'm just ready to talk and uh offer myself if uh I can be used to be helpful to anybody. That will be the win. It's not uh trying to build something for me. It's all about those of you who come to talk to us today. So we just we just step into it and see what God

The Discipleship Gap For Men

Buck Jacobs 4:08

brings.

Chris Grainger 4:09

Amen to that. And I know one thing we've talked about a lot is you know, and and both of us are plugged into churches. We we're we've served, we've we've done the we've done everything, but we've all both of us have also recognized there's just a it's a big gap, it seems to be, at times around true discipleship, man-to-man discipleship inside the church. And I think that's one of the reasons why we're trying to have some of these conversations.

Buck Jacobs 4:35

Well, you know, I've been a Christian for over a little over 50 years, and I've been in church almost every Sunday uh during that time, and been Wednesday night uh meetings and men's meetings and stuff. And my uh my personality and my gifting is a little unusual. God's given me kind of the ability to look into organizations and sense what's good about them and what's not so good about them. Okay. I mean, that's how I've made a living, that's how I've supported my family, is trying to help people that want to build businesses or have businesses that they need to bring some correction to or some improvement improvement to. And uh, you know, when I became a Christian um in 1973, that's so long ago I can't I can't hardly remember it. 1900s the Bible was carved in cement. That's right. But when I became a Christian, I just never of course I brought the whole package into the into the church and but dedicated to God. Yeah. And as I grew in Christ over the earlier years, hopefully I'm still growing, but about the first 15 years, we moved a few times so I had to be a part of different churches and different men's ministries and so forth. And I just began to think and sense, you know, something's wrong. Something's wrong. I uh I didn't get saved till I was 35, and I had the opportunity uh during those first 35 years to taste most everything the world offers us. Sure. Um as a businessman and just as a uh husband and so forth, and I failed at most of it because I just didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know how to be a husband. Later I found out what a Christian husband should be like, I'm embarrassed because I was I was like a caveman compared to being a Christian. And so as we went along over the years, my natural gifting kicked in. And I think, you know, as I sensed the weaknesses and strengths of the church, I was really kind of disappointed to see that number one, I don't think the church as a whole is really doing very well. It's not really as healthy and as powerful a part of our daily life and our community and our country as as what it has to offer. Um the power of God's in the church. It's not the same in any other organization. It's power as individuals gathered together in church. That power is magnified if it's released properly. Uh but I just and I didn't have any answers back then, but I just said there's something wrong. You know, the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ is the greatest gift that's ever been given to man. And it's free to every man, and it's available to every man, at least in the United States. Um, and so as a sales guy, I'm thinking, well, what a deal. I've got the greatest gift I may have got. I can give it to anyone who will accept it freely, you know, and but but we're not going anywhere. The church is sort of static in the last few years. It's sometimes it shrinks a little bit, sometimes it it grows just a little bit. Right. Overall, I would say it's losing membership, and I can't understand it. I couldn't understand. How can that be? We got this great, great gift, and we're not very effective at giving it away. So then I say, well, why aren't we giving it away? What's what's holding us back? You start looking for things and so forth.

Equipping Saints Versus Sermon Consumption

Buck Jacobs 8:42

And all along I'm reading the Bible every day and doing the quiet time every day and studying this, studying that I I read and I see how the ch the church has been deceived, I think, in a couple of really important ways. You know, we know we have a we have an enemy, the devil, right, and he's doing everything he can, everything he can't, to hold the church back, and if not to kill it, at least to slow it down. So he he he's attacked us where we're weak. And uh in one of the areas is in the in the uh uh the submission to scripture, the absorption of scripture, learning the scripture, but not only knowing it, but uh submitting to it in our lives based on what it says. And so in one basic area, going back to how we started, in Ephesians 4, 11, and 12, it enumerates the what we call the office gifts this guy's given to the church. Evangelist, uh pastor, teacher, a prophet, and um one other guy I can't remember who it is right now. But there's four office gifts that are given to the church. Ephesians 4, 11, and 12. You can read those if you want to, Chris. It's uh but it's it's uh it's so pivotal, and what I have in my heart is it's a given to the church. Right.

Chris Grainger 10:16

Yeah, prophet evangel, evangelist, pastor, teacher. Yep, I just yep.

Buck Jacobs 10:22

And there's one more. I don't know, apostles, right? Yeah, yeah, pastor teachers collected as one gift. Yep. And uh anyway, um and it says for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. Right. You know, the saints, that's those of us who sit in the pews uh every week and they are gifted, they're called to equip us to do the work of ministry. And so I saw it, I started to ask myself every week when I leave church, well, how did that equip me to do the work of ministry? Yeah, I'll tell you most of the time they had nothing to do with me or doing the work of ministry. Yeah. There was uh uh topical churches and uh sermons and so forth, but they and some of them were good. I learned a lot of information, but the information wasn't what I was needing to be equipped to do the works of ministry.

Chris Grainger 11:22

Right. And um A lot of secret-friendly type stuff.

Buck Jacobs 11:26

Yeah, it's just and I I see the devil just snuck that in. And we live, and I uh I now I'm sure there are different churches, and I want everybody to know. Uh I tend to make broad statements, and probably they're a little overstated. But you understand I'm a sales guy, and that's what we do. No, I just I tend to speak broadly, and I but I know there are churches that are fine, churches that are following the word and are equipping their members. I just haven't ever been into one, and I'd love to find one. Anyway, uh found myself asking the question, well, why is that? And I had to look back and had to say, well, the pastors that I meet were trained somewhere, and most of them trained somewhere called a s a seminary. Yeah. So it must be that the seminaries aren't teaching them that they need to equip their men to be, you know, uh ministers of the gospel. Right. The works of the gospel. I was in a church one time, a big church, in a small area, very from the eyes of the typical uh evaluation, a very successful church.

A Pastor’s View Of Who Does Ministry

Buck Jacobs 12:43

A church of fifteen hundred people and a town of ten thousand, you know.

Chris Grainger 12:48

Wow, that's a big church, yeah.

Buck Jacobs 12:50

That's a big church. And uh, but the pastor uh wasn't teaching the equipping the saints for the work of ministry. And I asked him, I said, Well, Pastor, uh, do you realize that when we come to church on Sunday, there's eight hundred to a thousand people in the audience? He says, Yes. And I said, they are eight hundred and thirty people who are there to be equipped to do the work of ministry. Do you see them that way? He said, not really. We do the work of ministry, we got a staff, you know, we got a staff and a few elders. With the the the other church officers, they're the ones that are supposed to do the ministry. And I say, Well, how many of them do you have in the church? And he's thinking, you know, I said, Well, maybe ten or fifteen, maybe twenty.

Chris Grainger 13:43

I think they say less than twenty, probably. Yeah.

Buck Jacobs 13:45

You know. And I said, so then that leaves seven hundred and eighty people with nothing to do. All you gotta do is kick a lamb under the chin and give them give them some feel-good stuff, right? And make make sure you got a really loud and really professional praise team, because that's what people really want to see. That's right. I found that out when I asked him, well, why do we have such a loud and uh professional praise scene? He said, Well, Buck, he said, that's what the people today want to hear. And I said, Well, okay, you mean the unbelievers? He said, Yeah. I said, Well, out of your 800 people that are there every week, how many of them do you think are unsaved, unbelievers? He said, Well, I don't know, maybe five or six. I said, So you play that music and you leave the doors of the church open, you're hoping some unbelievers will drive by in a convertible and they'll hear that music and they'll say, That's the church I've been looking for. I'm gonna go there because they got that music. I said, Hell, how's it working for you? And he was a friend of mine, so we could talk at that level. I said, You realize what you're telling me today is you're directing most of your your church budget and energy towards five or six people a week of 800. Right. And you're gonna you I guess maybe that's because you're gonna do the work of ministry and you can't handle them any more than that. I said, and in reality, this church is sitting here on a gold mine. You got 800 people, uh, 780 of them aren't involved in direct ministry now. What if we could recruit another 5% of those people that take the gospel into the world? That'd be another 40. And we train them and send them out, and they bring up behind them another 40. What if we started doing church that way for a while? Yeah. He said, Well, I don't know how to do that. And I said, Well, then that's that's why. And of course, he doesn't, he's a graduate of a good of a good well-reputed some seminary, so they didn't teach him how to do it. No. So that's that's some of the things that I think we want to look at. The the needs of the church for spreading the gospel, bringing the kingdom of God to earth, the needs of the people of the church for equipment for the works of the ministry, plus all the other problems they have with life.

Real Life Training The Church Skips

Buck Jacobs 16:26

You know, there's an awful lot, tremendous problem with different kinds of addictions in the country today. Right. Everything from pornography to hard drugs, um, to just wasting time. And um how is the church dealing with that? I would say not very successfully because all those negative things are growing. Well, the church isn't so how well do churches teach people about picking a mate? Right. How many how many churches do you know have a uh training class for maybe certain kids at twelve years old when they start to notice one another or whatever they think? Yeah. Here's how you here's how you train yourself uh to select a mate. Here's how you train you're trained to be a husband, a wife, a parent. And in order to do that, how many of them teach people how to make a budget? A few. There's a couple of financial ministries out there. There's a few, but not near enough because the money problems that people have are legendary, etc., etc. So instead of focusing the church on the real purpose of the church, which is church, was to equip the saints for the for work, a ministry and equip the people for real life, we're telling stories, uh, telling jokes and so forth in church. So we're we're not whatever we're doing is not working very well.

Chris Grainger 17:57

Yeah. No, I think the evil one's just lulling lulling us to sleep, you know, and that's the problem. I mean, I feel like we we go there to uh what's the old saying? We we comfort the the uh we're we're not convicting the comforter, we're comforting the convicted. I mean, and we're mixing it up because we've turned this whole thing into just this country club type of environment. And and and versus a hospital. Like, no, this this is this should be that, but it's just it it's it's definitely shifted there. And you mentioned, you know, how do you how do you court, how do you date, how do you I didn't have any of that teaching, any of that training. I figured it out the hard way and I did it wrong, quite frankly. And you know, and now you now the world's just like, well, you're supposed to get together, you're supposed to, you're supposed to be able to sleep together before you get married. You definitely need to live together before you get married, just to make sure that that you guys are compatible, and and that's okay. And if it doesn't work out, that's okay. You can break up and then try it again. I'm just like, what in the wild of sports is going on here? Like, no, we need to have some biblical teaching on this for guys to understand, and that's not it. That is not the way, but it just that stuff gets brushed over, you know, and and I'm just uh so I'm so thankful that we're gonna be able to have some of these topics that we're gonna dive into because it is it's desperately needed for men.

Purity And The World Inside Church

Buck Jacobs 19:22

I agree, and we can't we can't really move the church forward unless we're doing it God's way, and God's God's way is purity, sexual purity, uh, purity of mind, purity of our relationships, and pornography doesn't fit in there, alcohol abuse doesn't sit into fit in there. In fact, smoking doesn't fit in there so much, and there we we like we want to be like the world. What we I listened to A.W. Tozier years ago, and he said, Well, we've said we want to uh uh take bring the church into the world, but what we've actually done is we brought the world into the church. Yeah. And I think that's exactly right. Right. So many of the churches you go to, people come in in shorts and flip-flops and you know, just any any look in any way they want to. Right. Well, I know God doesn't judge us based on what we wear in our clothes, but we generally show our respect for him the way we dress when we're coming to media. Yeah. I mean, if I'm gonna go to my banker and ask for a loan, I don't go in and short some flip-flops.

Chris Grainger 20:34

Right. Well, the reverence is gone. It's uh it's just it's so been diminished now. And and to your point, the worship, some of it's like we're singing like Jesus is our boyfriend versus Jesus is our Lord. Like, wait a minute, wait a minute now. We we mixed this thing up here, you know. So I just I don't know. I think it's definitely time to course correct. And and to your point, on these guys who are graduating, graduating and being called to ministry, I think that's a great call to be called a full-time ministry, but something's gotta change how we're equipping them. It's just so many of them now. It's like it's like we're we'll feel like we're building our own little forts and our own little silos, and I gotta do all I can to protect and make sure that we're hitting our numbers to meet our budget and do all that. So I want to make sure that the message that's going out is not gonna stomp on too many toes. And it's funny because when you when I get called to come in and share a message, a little old lady came up to me last time. She was like, I didn't know I needed to wear steel toes to your sermon. I'm like, I'm sorry, but that's just uh I just deliver it. So, you know, I didn't write it. Yeah, amen.

Every Christian Is Full-Time Ministry

Buck Jacobs 21:40

Well, the first step we can take is to never ever ever say the words full-time ministry.

Chris Grainger 21:47

There you go. There you go.

Buck Jacobs 21:49

Every believer is called to a full-time ministry.

Chris Grainger 21:52

Ambassadors.

Buck Jacobs 21:54

Yeah, ambassadors for Christ. Whether you're a young married woman or an old saint, or whether you're driving a train or a truck or working in a plant, it does not matter what the location is, the vocation is always the same.

Chris Grainger 22:10

That's right.

Buck Jacobs 22:11

God designed us to do certain kinds of ministry, and he did that. Let's talk about the word. The word says in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10. Yeah. Or we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works. We're not going to get saved by works, but we're converted created to do the works of God. Um we're saved, we're created to do good works, which God created, prepared for us beforehand. Beforehand, that's right. That we should walk in them. And if you say God did something beforehand, you're you're talking about before when time began, because when God spoke and being night started, that's when time started. But that was after, that was at the moment of creation that He spoke. After that, every human being Is equipped to be able to do specific works that God wants them to do. And that's the works that we're to walk in. They have, we have, every one of us, in our treasure chest of gifts and talents, abilities, education, we have the ability to do the ministry that we're designed to do. Right. We may not be challenged to do it. We may need more training in some ways to do it. But what but it's there. It's in us. And so to find out what those gifts are and where we're supposed to apply them. And then to do them every day of our lives, that doesn't mean you're actively doing them, but you're engaged with it every day through the through the whole course of our lives, is what we're designed to do while we're here on earth.

Chris Grainger 24:07

Right. And the point she just brought up about the spiritual gift gifts book. I mean, that's something that I don't see any churches doing. If you come in, it'd be really it'd be a cool exercise to do of a spiritual gift assessment or some type of understanding because it would be no good if someone's gifted in in music to put them teaching, you know. I mean, but we gotta find, I feel like we gotta understand what the gifts are to be able to use them in those different areas and not just in the church building. Okay, how do you use that when you actually leave because you are the church? Yeah.

Buck Jacobs 24:45

Yeah, you learn about them and you get to practice and self build up your skills in the church, but that's always designed to take out into the world. Right. The world sees a difference in us when we are walking in the spirit, applying the gifts of the spirit, and seeing the fruit of the spirit. That's what the world will be attracted to. But there's not much of it, not much will be shown. Yeah.

Spiritual Gifts And Missing Power

Buck Jacobs 25:11

So in fact, I had a conversation last week with a good friend, and uh, we were talking about sort of this topic, and we talked about the uh self-assessment test we were able to identify what your spiritual gifts are. And um he uh sent me an example of one that he dropped he got from online resources. Uh-huh. And it's a big long two, two and a half page story of what spiritual gifts are. And in all of that, the gifts of prophecy, the gifts of speaking in tongues and interpreting speaking in tongues, what weren't even mentioned.

Chris Grainger 25:53

Really? They just left off.

Buck Jacobs 25:55

Yeah, it's just left out. And that's the biggest part of either the evangelical church does not recognize or practice those gifts, they call them sign gifts. And the th the teaching is that they die died out uh about 90 years after Christ, last disappointment, which probably would have been John out in the end, um, that he didn't because the gifts weren't needed anymore. Right. I don't understand how anybody that understands God's purposes and looks at what's going on in the world can see the gifts of prophecy and healing and casting out demons, and all the sign gifts aren't needed. Because Lord, look what's going on. There's wars and rumors of wars, there's earthquakes in various places, there's governments that are about to fall into communist control, including our own, and that's atheists. That's all uh that's a um philosophy that is atheistic. Right. I can't imagine God looking down from heaven and saying, isn't that cool? My kids are all gonna try this uh communism stuff. It's failed every time anybody's ever tried it. Lots of people get killed and hurt, but if they want to play with that stuff, and I'll just step aside and let it go. I don't think that's that whole big fast god.

Politics Culture Pressure And Bold Faith

Chris Grainger 27:23

No. I also think one of our our episodes we do, Buck, we need to talk about uh politics in the church as well, you know, because there's so many things happening right now with the Democratic Socialists of America, and so much of these things I just see, particularly in the Baptist church, and again, I'm in a Baptist church. I see so many of them that don't want to touch politics with a 10-foot pole, but these are the same guys that don't want to touch sex with a 10-foot pole either. So it's like, look, we got to talk about the things that are really important and and meaningful because these we're getting fed a bunch of lies everywhere out there right now.

Buck Jacobs 28:00

Right. And that part of the church is also the part that denies the function of the gifts of the spirit of prophecy and casting out demons. They don't they say that ended, that isn't that isn't fair. And so I've heard that they have even forbidden professors in their primary teaching school to speak about the signed gifts or to associate with people who claim to prop to practice them. So they can get away with it. So and that's that's you know, it is a lot in many ways, that's where the power of God is made visible to unbelievers. Right. Is when those gifts of healing, casting out demons. What did Jesus do while he was here in his active ministry? Most of what he did was preach the gospel, proclaim the kingdom of heaven, heal the sick, cast out demons.

Chris Grainger 29:01

That's right.

Buck Jacobs 29:02

And he did it. And and and the disciples, when he sent them out to ministry, they did it too. Yeah. But there and there's nowhere in the Bible where it says those gifts are temporary and they're gonna end. Right. Except one passage where someone was talking about heaven and they said the gifts won't be needed in heaven. Right. We don't need to need to prophesy in heaven.

Chris Grainger 29:31

That's right. We'll we'll be in gl in a state of glory at that point. That's right. Oh man. I think these are gonna be some really useful conversations, book, that are hopefully gonna help guys in their walk. And because I mean, you know, as a young, I mean again, our audience is definitely men, and it's for men out there, there's just not a lot of the resources like that are willing to touch on the the true hard areas. So I'm excited about these book.

Buck Jacobs 29:59

Yeah, amen. Well, I've been uh I was made aware of them early on as a as a new baby Christian. I'd never heard of any of it, and uh saw in action and uh saw people get saved in us. I don't know if there was a demon there or any I couldn't see him. Yeah. That person, that person was definitely set free. Yeah. You know, so you see those things, and you have to make an evaluation for yourself, was that real or not? And there was no way I could deny what I was seeing and experiencing in my own life. Right. And uh so the the it's it's all real, and there's a there's a strategy behind trying to eliminate it from the church. If it could be a limit, why was it ever there in the first place? It isn't needed today in the 21st century. Why did that need it in the first century? Right. Is there less deni demonic activity now than there was back then? I don't think we have to look at the society very long to say, man, it's everywhere.

Chris Grainger 31:11

Everywhere.

Buck Jacobs 31:12

Yeah.

Chris Grainger 31:12

And the boundaries and the standards just keep getting pushed further and further back, and look what's been allowed, you know, in the church now and being. And if you're not accepting of these things, you're a bigot or a racist or whatever it may be, there's so many terms out there, and it's like, wait a minute now. I'm just standing on the word. I remember Phil Robertson's book. He he got in trouble. I don't know if you it was probably about 10 years ago. Uh he got in trouble for it was a comment against homosexuality, but it was out of God's words. And it's just it was directly, he quoted a Bible verse, and it took him like a week for the for the media to realize that he was just quoting a Bible verse, you know. But it's just like at some point, either we stand on the word of God or we just run with the flow. And if we run the flow, we know where that's headed.

Buck Jacobs 32:01

It's it's it's in it's no good for sure, and and all kinds of studies prove that living with faith is more healthy, it produces uh healthier relationships and help produces healthier, uh healthier and product more productive workers. Right. And yet people turn their back on it because it's not really being taught properly to them.

Chris Grainger 32:27

Yeah. And I mean, I and for you guys listened out of Mary, if you if you really truly align your marriage and do it the way God's in his design that under the covenant of marriage, everything's just gonna be better. I mean, your relationship with your wife's gonna be better, your intimacy, your sex life, your communication, everything improves. I mean, I'm speaking firsthand, and I know Buff, you'll you'll you can you can back me on this one, but when we try to do it out, I have so many guys that come to me, and we probably need to make this an episode, and they're trying to get uh you know relationship advice and they're not married and they're sleeping together, or they're or they are married and they're looking at pornography and all these different things, and they're like, Man, I'm just struggling. I'm just like, are you really, bro? I don't know you are struggling. Like, I think you're just giving out giving into the sin temptation because you're struggling, it'd be a different conversation right now. And I think guys, man, we've got to hear that more, you know?

Buck Jacobs 33:23

Amen. Amen. You know, maybe what I think as we talk about going on with this kind of a conversation, you're gonna start by um identifying what good behavior

What Good Christian Growth Looks Like

Buck Jacobs 33:36

looks like.

Chris Grainger 33:37

There you go. You know, they they say that's right.

Buck Jacobs 33:41

Yeah. Yeah, when they uh cre train uh people to work in the uh treasury department, uh they never show them uh a counterfeit. Right. They never never show them a counterfeit coin or double bill, they show them a real one, and they have to learn that so well that a counterfeit is just obvious.

Chris Grainger 34:04

It just stands out.

Buck Jacobs 34:05

That's right. And maybe if we could talk about well, what is good performance like? What does it mean to be a good Christian man or try to be? And we can we can draw some some broad uh guidelines too. For instance, there's no such thing as a perfect Christian. Right. He's already got been crucified and gone back to heaven. He's the only one out of all the men that ever lived, had lived a perfect, sinless Christian life. So if any of us think that's what we're supposed to do, that's bad thinking.

Chris Grainger 34:41

That's right.

Buck Jacobs 34:42

We're supposed to try to act like him, you know, to be conform to his image, but he's not the one that ever did it perfect. So that means that if I'm a group of guys, it doesn't matter if it's ten of us, ten thousand of us, I'm a sinner associating with sinners. Right. Trying to get rid of the sin that strowns me and sticks to me so forth. And so nobody's perfect, but everybody can try. It's like watching a golf tournament. Right now, there's a golfer named Scotty Scheffler, he's a number one in the world. There's only one of him. Everybody else is trying to be like him, but he's the only one right now. Right. And think of us trying to understand we don't want to get into uh legalism. If you do this, you don't do that. That's not the uh that's not the answer. It's do you know the Holy Spirit? Does he live in you? Does he guide you in the decisions you make? You read the Bible, do you read the Bible for information or for confirmation? You want to be conformed. Right. Or do you want to be informed? And uh so that we can deal with some of those basic issues that build a foundation for leading a a good true Christian life.

Chris Grainger 36:05

Amen. Amen. Well, Buck, I'm excited about these. Uh I think we'll if you're good with it, we'll call that right there for this one. And then, guys, you just need to keep listening when Buck comes back, and we're just gonna keep unraveling this and unpacking this because I think it's gonna be a a lot of value to you guys in the future. So, Buck, you go with with with leaving it right here?

Buck Jacobs 36:28

Well, what?

Chris Grainger 36:29

You good with leaving it right here for this one?

Buck Jacobs 36:31

Oh yeah, sure. I am. It's such a big topic that you can't begin to cover in one or two. We just really want to talk about those basic elements that are principally true and on which you can construct a life that's pleasing to God. With his help and guidance, if we live on this foundation, we can construct a life that's pleasing to God. And part of that is gonna be getting convicted of what we're doing. That's right. That doesn't please God, and then confessing it, accepting forgiveness, and repenting and moving forward. Those kinds of things will all flow together.

Chris Grainger 37:12

Amen. Amen. Well, Buck, this has been a I knew it was gonna be fun. I didn't know where it was gonna land, but I think it landed in a good spot. And uh, we always do on our Friday episodes, though, we always like to do a couple jokes for our guys, Buck, just to get it because we do want to end a little bit light.

Dad Jokes Question Of The Week

Chris Grainger 37:27

And you are dad, you're a granddad, you are you're not a great, are you a great grandfather?

Buck Jacobs 37:32

Can't great grandfather, yeah.

Chris Grainger 37:33

Yeah, that's right. So you you you're you can judge these very well because you have you you're a great you know, grandfather. You have that that great in front of it. So these are a couple of dad jokes for you, Buck. Uh so first one was which bird has the worst manners? Do you know which bird has the worst manners, Buck?

Buck Jacobs 37:51

No, I don't.

Chris Grainger 37:52

Mocking birds.

Buck Jacobs 37:57

That's right. That's terrible.

Chris Grainger 38:00

All right, how about this one? Uh, this is uh I only have two. How about this one? What's a flea's favorite way to travel? You know a flea, like like on a dog?

Buck Jacobs 38:09

Mm-hmm. Well, there's probably one of them. It's on a dog.

Chris Grainger 38:14

Well, his best way to his favorite way to travel is itch hiking. That's terrible. Oh my gracious. I can't believe I said that one. So anyway, there it's there, I got Buck a little laugh.

Buck Jacobs 38:26

Well, I'm gonna try to bring one next time.

Chris Grainger 38:29

You bring one next time. There you go. There you go. All right, guys. Well, look, the question of the week this week is what compromises have you been excusing instead of confronting? I mean, Buck and I kind of talked about some of this stuff today. So look, you remember, you know, when we start rationalizing and trying to compromise, you know, that's that's usually a path headed towards destruction because when you rationalize, you're trying to make rationalize. Just remember that, fellas. That's the easy way to remember it. So other than that, guys, uh, I'm excited for these. Thank you again, Buck. I really appreciate you and your time today, buddy.

Buck Jacobs 39:01

That's my pleasure. That's my pleasure. I think maybe, Chris, we broadened it out too much today. So we're gonna fix everything and cover everything and explain. I think we'd be best served. We just say one or two things each time and talk about what does good performance look like, and what is not so good, and what are some things you can do if you're caught in up some of these that aren't so helpful to get out of it. One thing you can know we're doing this because we love you and we love the Lord. Right. And we see his kingdom come and his will be done on earth as is in heaven for your sake and ours. Amen. Just God bless you till next time.

Chris Grainger 39:42

Amen,

Closing Thanks Reviews And Resources

Chris Grainger 39:42

guys. Thank you so much, guys, for listening. Give us a ring review, head over to the lionwithin.us for all our resources, and we'll see you next time. Just keep on leasing the lion within.

Marriage Support Group Invitation

Chris Grainger 39:54

Let's just say it out loud. Marriage is one of the greatest gifts that God can give a man, and one of the most consistent places where we can feel unsure of what we're doing. Even the strongest marriages have moments where you look at your wife and you think, you know what? I love you. I'm so committed to you. But right now I have no idea what I should do next. And that's why we launched something new, Inside the Lion within this community. It's our very first support group, and it's for husbands, and we're calling it committed and occasionally confused. This isn't just a place for men in crisis. So if you're there, hey, you're welcome. This is for any man who refuses to coast and wants to take his marriage from good to great. So inside, you'll find an active chat and a feed, an honest conversation, and brotherhood that says, hey, you're not alone. We've been there. Let's bring this to God and grow. And we're also doing a monthly couples night where your wife is invited because we're not letting the world set the agenda for our homes. Now, if you want access to this support group, it's very simple. Go to the lionwithin.us and join the lion's den. Okay, that's the lionwithin.us. Start your 30 day free trial of the Lion Stand community, and boom, you have instant access to the committed and occasionally confused support group. We'll see you inside the day.