Welcome And Verse Of Week

Chris Grainger 1:27

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. Alright, guys, this is your fun Friday member spotlight. I'm super excited to get into it with our member, but you don't get to meet them quite quite yet. Our verse of the week this week is 1 John chapter 4, verse 1. It says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Because many false prophets have gone out into the world. So guys, this whole week we unpacked that verse at length in the spiritual kickoff episode. We talked about some pretty interesting things on our Wednesday episode this week as well, so far as UFOs and God and what does all that look like. So go listen to those episodes, fellas, if you will. And then check out the daily spiritual kickoff at the Lion Within Us, guys. That's our way we try to serve you Monday through Friday with just encouragement directly from God's Word. It gives you access to our prayer request space as well. And then outside of that, if you're in the continental U.S., we'd love to send you a free gift just for just for playing along, if you will. So guys, the lionwithin.us is where you find all that. So super excited to welcome in our members. So guys, to give a warm welcome to Jim Barnhart. Jim, how are you doing today, man?

Jim Barnhart 2:40

I'm doing great. Um glad to be here.

Chris Grainger 2:42

Thank you. Absolutely, buddy. Absolutely.

Childhood Abandonment And Survival

Chris Grainger 2:44

Well, we love just to kind of start the conversations with how did you come to know the Lord? Give us a little bit about your testimony.

Jim Barnhart 2:53

It was a long story. I I need to start when I was five years old. Okay. When I was five years old, my two sisters were four years old and two years old, and my parents decided to divorce.

Chris Grainger 3:07

Um man, at that young age.

Jim Barnhart 3:09

Yeah. So my dad split to California, who nobody knows where. And my mother was uh a waitress and uh high school education. She couldn't take care of three little kids and herself, and she heard that there was uh not too many miles away a children's home, kind of like an orphanage, and uh took us there, didn't explain anything about what she was doing, but just took us there and basically dropped us off to be raised there.

Chris Grainger 3:44

Man.

Jim Barnhart 3:45

And uh so When you were five. Yes, five years old. And uh I didn't know what was going on, uh, but that's that was life, and I was just trying to figure out what's going on and how to how to cope. Um but we got through it. Uh it was uh a uh church-sponsored home, and uh so we had food to eat, clothes to wear, uh, you know, we're taken care of, but we didn't get the the personal, the I guess emotional, um, caring how to how to relate or those those kind of things. But we all our physical needs were taken care of. Right. Bus to public school, that kind of thing.

Chris Grainger 4:35

And uh so then we were there uh uh for ten years when uh so your sisters you you and your sisters were never separated, right?

Jim Barnhart 4:46

Well, they lived in the same children's home, but the girls lived in one section and the boys in another. And then I wanted to see them at mealtime.

Chris Grainger 4:55

Yeah.

Jim Barnhart 4:56

Uh the ladies there said, Oh, we're not gonna put you together because you'll just talk instead of eating and we can't have that. So we didn't get a chance to see each other very much, and we a little bit, but not much at all at mealtime. Um and then when I was after we were there a few years, our mother um remarried, and when I was 15 years old, uh they decided to that they wanted to move to Florida, and so they got us kids out of the children's home and uh took us to Florida, and that was a horrible, horrible lifestyle. Her husband was a bully and a liar, and my mother would never stick up for us, never, you know. Anyway, we got through that, and then 18 years old, get out of high

Navy Structure And A Restless Season

Jim Barnhart 5:50

school, and I said, I need to go somewhere, and uh I joined the U.S. Navy. Okay. And uh I like the Navy. Um got to go a lot of places all over the world, and they uh they gave me structure, clarity. If you do this, we'll uh recommend you for promotion. Uh if you don't, we're not gonna do that. So I could handle that and it worked quite well.

Chris Grainger 6:17

Um you ever in Norfolk by chance?

Jim Barnhart 6:20

I was stationed in Norfolk, yes.

Chris Grainger 6:22

Okay, I went to school with Owen Dominions. I had a lot of Navy buddies, so thank you for your service, by the way.

Jim Barnhart 6:27

We're at the what they call the DNS Piers, destroyer and submarine piers.

Chris Grainger 6:32

Yeah.

Jim Barnhart 6:33

Yeah. And uh yeah, I remember Norfolk well and also Portsmouth, right across the river there.

Chris Grainger 6:39

P Town.

Jim Barnhart 6:40

Yeah. So uh then when I got out of the Navy, I decided to stay in the reserve so I could get a part-time income and I was going to college, um, part-time job. Yeah, decided now I'm finally going to be able to enjoy life. I could never I always wanted to get a car in high school and be able to take a girl out on a date, and it just roadblocks in front of me. I I thought about having a part-time job, I'd be able to do it, but no, it just they used some of my money to support the family, anyway, support the family. So then I decided, okay, I'm on my own now, and I really enjoyed uh meeting the girls and and and just having a ball, making up for uh less time than I had before. Uh really, really um just enjoying it. I some guys were addicted to maybe booze, but I was addicted to girls, and uh just just enjoying that. And uh then a few years later, I met this girl, blonde hair, blue eyes, beautiful figure, and we got married. She was 18 years old. I was a little older than that. Um our marriage lasted three years. Um neither one of us knew anything about marriage or really about love, that kind of thing. Um and we just uh I guess I wasn't uh the best husband. I don't know. I I picked up a couple bad habits from my stepfather that I didn't like, but somehow it I was being less than kind sometimes.

Chris Grainger 8:29

Yeah.

Jim Barnhart 8:30

Um and then after we parted, uh we have we had a daughter that was uh year and a half old, and uh so for the most part uh their daughter lived with her, but I got to be with her a lot, and uh 11 years old. Um I went to while I was in high school, I went to a church, but it was uh on Sunday only, to the my two sisters and I. But it was one of those watered-down churches. It was about uh God loves you and we love you too, and everybody be good and have a good time, and be sure to come to the uh potluck dinner this weekend. But there was never any mention about um accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and I didn't even know what that was all about, I had no idea. Um so I I do remember going to church quite a bit with my daughter when she was young. At 11 years old, she accepted the Lord through Sunday school and things like that. It was a big deal, but I still didn't do it myself. I didn't really get the concept, I guess you'd say, not completely. And then um I was taking a college class where I was given an assignment. We were supposed to write up an autobiography of our life up until today, and then talk about what are your plans and goals for the future of your life and how are you going to uh obtain those goals. So I wrote it up, but it had to be typed up, double spaced, perfect, uh, like a term paper, and I had no ability to do that, but in lay in town was a woman that advertised that she would type those kind of papers for students and so on. So I went and saw her and uh she typed it up beautifully for me, and uh so I paid her, and before I left, she says, Have you got a few minutes I'd like to sit down and talk to you? And I said, Okay, fine. So I sat there for about 15 or 20 minutes, and she starts telling me all about Jesus, and uh um started telling me about the gospel story, about being saved, and um that got my attention, and uh she asked me to accept the Lord at that moment, and I told her, you know, that's a really, really good idea, and I'm gonna do that someday, but I'm not ready to do that now. I didn't want to give up sleeping with my girlfriend for one thing, and I w I started thinking about all of the things I was going to have to give up. Nothing about was I gaining anything.

Chris Grainger 11:25

Sure.

Jim Barnhart 11:26

And uh so I but I promised her someday I will do that. But one thing she did impress upon me is was that God loves you, and uh I think my perspective changed a lot. Instead of just caring about myself, I started caring more about other people. And uh if I met a a new girl, well I was I was falling in love with him. I mean and so um uh so then what was the next step I was gonna tell you about? Um I had kind of a little outline here.

Marriage Strain Lust And Real Surrender

Jim Barnhart 12:09

Oh then then uh then I um was going to church uh and uh it was a Presbyterian church. We got married in it. I married my I met my wife at a Wendy's restaurant, um, and uh she was telling me she had two teenage sons at home, and uh, but I was crazy about her. We dated for two or three years, and we got much closer. I certainly got much closer to her than I did anybody ever before. Other relationships were more on the surface type relationships, but we were getting deep and down talking about real feelings or deep emotions and so on. And uh I remember her ask she she knew my background. She said, at any point ever in your life do you think that anybody ever loved you? Then I thought for a minute and I said, Well, I I I don't think so. And she said, Well, would you would you like to have that in your life? Uh be a part of a family. I said, Yeah, I never got a chance to do that. Yeah. Pardon me.

Chris Grainger 13:29

I was just agreeing, I was I'm just following along, yes sir.

Jim Barnhart 13:33

Okay, so um anyway, um I asked her to marry me, and we did get married. And uh it was great. She's a smart woman, really very intuitive. Um retired uh well, she was nursing a RN nurse, now retired nurse. And um I guess I I guess I I didn't do the service after the sale as good as I should have. Um we got along good, but it it wasn't as perfect as uh I thought but I didn't really uh didn't really know how to make it better. And um then I started watching some porn now and then. And uh at first I I felt really ashamed when I did it. Uh I can't do this anymore, but then a few months would go by and I would do it again. Um and I knew it was wrong, but uh a part of me just kind of like to do it. And uh and then uh I got involved with a a really good church that that uh really preached the whole Bible and and it was it was terrific. Got very involved with the church and people, everything wonderful. My wife is Catholic, she always went to the Catholic church. Um but my wife said to me, You don't really know me, you don't seem to listen to me very well. And I said, I think I do. She says, No, you really don't. And uh so I was trying to learn how to understand what she was telling me. Um I didn't understand some of that, and uh and I had kind of a negative attitude on a lot of things, and I I didn't like that part of myself. I said I need to be more positive. Um and then uh earlier this year uh I remembered watching a a porn something on porn and I was praying afterwards uh said God just please take this away from me. I I'm not strong enough to just stop doing this on my own. And uh so he did. He he did take it away from me. What my wife caught me watching porn and then I felt horrible, um guilty, and uh but that worked. I never watched it ever again, and I have no desire to and never will. So yeah, he answered my prayer that way. Uh I'm completely hundred percent past that. Um now I'm uh now I'm I I've become a man, learn how to be do what God tells me to do, not some kid or something. And I remember a pastor talking uh a month or two before that happened at church, the pastor was talking about lust and someone, and he said, if any of you are secretly think you're doing something like that, he says, the dime the time will come where you will be found out. Don't know when it'll happen, but that that day will come someday. And then it did come. Uh so now I have just uh I I was a Sunday only Christian, and that doesn't work being Sunday only. Um and then I tried, well, Sunday and a little bit more and no, that that didn't cut it. But finally I learned to surrender and uh and that changed everything.

Chris Grainger 17:43

Amen to that.

Jim Barnhart 17:44

So and so I I accepted the Lord and uh it's just it's a whole new way of a whole completely better, different way of life now.

Chris Grainger 17:57

Amen. And how long ago was that?

Jim Barnhart 18:02

Uh that was actually several uh uh I think about uh about ten years ago. Um but even even though I was saved, I still thought a little porn once in a while, well nobody's perfect and uh and uh I I can handle this. Uh you know, it it'll be okay. Someday I'm gonna give it up and and I keep praying for God to take it away from me. But in the meantime, a little now and then I c I can deal with that. But I couldn't. I couldn't. So but now, man, I I I wouldn't uh you couldn't pay me to watch it, you know? I'm I'm

How He Found The Lion Within

Jim Barnhart 18:44

done.

Chris Grainger 18:45

There you go. I'm curious, Jim, how did you find the lion? What what what what crossed your path to get you connected with what we do?

Jim Barnhart 18:54

Well, I think I was on the Bible app, and uh I was on there for quite a long time and and I saw the plans that they had, the study plans, and uh I ran across one of the lions plans, uh went through the plan, and then at the end of the last plan, uh there was a link I think to click on to uh learn more about it, and uh and so I I clicked on it and and it asked for your email address. I gave it to them, and then you emailed me, said something to me, I forgot exactly how you, but you answered me and said, uh, answer me back, tell me something. I've and I thought, okay, this is probably some big organization with 10,000 people, and I'll never hear from this guy again. I don't know who Chris is, but I couldn't believe it. The next day I'm getting an email back, you answered me. And uh I said, wow, how cool is that? So uh uh I ended up looking in to see what the Lion Within was all about, and uh said, I need to be part of this organization because uh I'm I'm like so many guys that uh it's just trying to just the guy trying to get better, trying to follow the Lord. And I need this, I need this because I'm in a small group of church with five other guys, and and we're close, but of the of the five other guys, one of them is uh talks about his struggle with alcohol, but the other four all seem to all have their act together and and uh don't have any problems, and uh and I and I knew I had this hidden problem.

Chris Grainger 20:48

Yeah.

Jim Barnhart 20:48

And so it was good to be it is still, I'm with those guys still today, but I knew that there's more to that. And when I saw the lion within and other guys, all these guys struggling with all kind of things, and uh I said this is where I need to be. And now that I've been in uh in the lion for uh a few months, well, two months, I'm finding that I can help some of these guys I've been working at, and I've tried to help some of these guys as they're struggling, and so it uh it it's fantastic. I I I can't say enough about your organization.

Chris Grainger 21:32

Well, God's got his hand on it for sure. I mean, he and you're you're seeing it firsthand. I mean, maybe share with no, don't go into details, but share, it's pretty I'm I'm I'm blown away how guys are so transparent at the lion, right? Because you go to church, as you mentioned, you had four four of your your guys in your small group, and they got it all together. They're not we know they don't, they have things, they just don't want to bring it up. But at the lion, it's almost like when guys come in, they see that level of transparency and rawness that other guys are just bringing, whether it's their marriages and shambles or pornography or or financial stresses and issues, and and they're openly talking about it, and it seems like that's just uh it breeds more and more of that authenticity from others. I'm not sure if that's what you're seeing or not.

Jim Barnhart 22:20

Yeah, absolutely. I see that, and I I've never seen an organization that could be like that. And uh at first I was kind of shy, I don't know, let me just kind of observe and uh see how this is. I I d I didn't didn't feel comfortable at first saying much of anything, uh but then uh then I started saying this is a genuine thing here, and uh so then I started uh feeling more comfortable with myself. But uh yeah, it's there's no place like that. So this is this fits so many people.

Chris Grainger 22:57

It really does. It really I mean it's God is God's moving in a pretty unique way, and and it's it's been a blessing, and you're leaning in. I mean, you're you're hopping into one of our mastermind groups. I know you guys are just getting started, so that's gonna be an exciting journey for you. And and uh so yeah, I mean, so far, what do you think's been the the biggest impact? Again, you haven't been at the line very long, but what do you think's been the biggest impact on you to uh so far to date?

Jim Barnhart 23:23

Well um I knew I had to spend more time in something related to God, whether it be uh being reading in the Word or uh listening to uh pastors. I listen to our pastor plus uh uh Judy Martin a lot. Uh Joby is is fantastic. And uh and then and in in I listen to the SKO as much as I can. Love that. It just gives me more time. Now I'm spending three to four hours a day in in some type of uh biblical message of some types and let's go. Before I was I was doing Sunday mornings.

Chris Grainger 24:06

Right.

Jim Barnhart 24:06

That's that's not cutting it. So uh and now the more that I am uh transforming my mind to being focused on things of God instead of things of the world man life's just getting so much better and right now I'm working on rebuilding my my trust and my respect with my wife um and we're still getting there but she's uh she didn't go anywhere and she's watching me and and seeing um are you the real deal or have you just giving me some lip service here so but I'm focused on it and I'm never turning back and uh the lion has a lot to do with that really it does. I I'm on there every day and uh I love it.

Chris Grainger 24:57

Amen brother amen. Well I mean there there may be a guy listening Jim who is on the fence maybe he's listened to the podcast for a while or followed us on the Bible app and maybe they're just they're tuning in to the podcast for the first time and they haven't taken a step to check out the lion whether it's the daily spiritual kickoff or the lion's den or applying for a mastermind or maybe coming to one of our live events what would be your message to that guy if he's if he's maybe new or been sitting on the on the sidelines what would be your encouragement to him well I think if you're struggling in any way trying to be a better man um this is the place to be so many of us are are are like that and it's the place to be because you can open up about your difficulties and Chris and so many people here are anxious to walk with you help you and uh a huge big support group so this is where you need to be and if you're not in it you're missing out you're really missing out. Amen brother

Dad Jokes Weekly Question And Wrap

Chris Grainger 26:01

amen Jim it's been just an honor to have you on and hearing your testimony and definitely praying you know many blessings for you moving forward with the lion for sure brother thank you very much well hey Jim before we wrap up today you know our book of the week guys is UFOs and God we talked about that so go get a copy of that one and I got a couple of dad jokes I want to run by you Jim all right all right so these came from John Murray so Jonathan Murray he's one of our members he's been a he's had a member spotlight out there as well he sent me these two so the first one is why don't football players wear glasses do you know why uh no I don't what's a contact sport there you go there you go all right so that's that one and the next one is why can't dinosaurs clap their hands they don't have hands well because they're extinct so there you go so which one do you like best man number one or number two I think number one yeah I'm I'm with you I'm with you I like I like the football joke there fellas so look guys we have these dad jokes every week at the lion you know why don't football players wear glasses as a contact sport and why can't dinosaurs clap their hands because they're extinct and what we do every Friday we put them in there as a poll and then you get to vote on it in the lion's den and the great part is you can pick on the guys who vote wrong. So I mean we we we highly promote picking on the guys that vote wrong I mean I kid because I care but that's you guys know what I'm talking about. But but Jim uh those those dad jokes are a lot of fun uh we definitely love them every week and then our question of a week is do you tend to test the truth or chase distractions? So just be thinking about that guys are you testing what God's really uh putting in front of you or are you chasing distractions of this world we have to be super careful not to chase those distractions. So Jim it's been an honor as always brother to chat with you and to have you on anything else you'd like to share before we wrap up today no I I um I can't think of anything additional but uh thank you for giving me the opportunity to uh tell you my story and and uh I'm still gonna be in the in this in the lion every day I love it. Amen brother amen well guys thank thank you thanks again thank you again to Jim and if you want to connect with Jim and other guys just like him head over to the linewithin.us fellas I mean you got what are you waiting on? The daily spiritual kickoff is free 100% free we give that away because we just want to walk with you and then maybe you want to consider stepping in it's a great a lot of guys jump into the lines den just to support the ministry. It's a great way to support the ministry each and every month because it takes a lot of work a lot of resources to do this day in and day out as many Bible plans as we have on the Bible app all the resources the speaking events by the way fellas go to the linewithin.us slash events you'll see all the events that we have lined up I'm getting asked more and more to come support and serve men's groups across the country it's been crazy. So so we've made a commitment we're going to do as many as we can so if you're interested in that you can send us an email at support at the linewithin.us let us know what your speaking requirements are what you're thinking about and we'll connect with you and see if we can get you if we can serve we'd love to step in and serve we're working on 2027 right now we're booked out for 2026 so we're working on next year right now so hit us up guys we'd love to talk to you other than that give us the rating review share this stuff out uh particularly how awesome Jim was so share that share his conversation out with others and now guys we love to connect with you in the lion stand. So have a great day get after it and just keep unleashing line within if you like me you

Book Promo And Final Call

Chris Grainger 29:44

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. The book is also available in audible version so you can listen on the go. So if this sounds interesting check out the lion within dot us slash book or search for unleashing the lion within directly on Amazon. So there's no pressure here just a resource that many guys are finding helpful. So grab the format that fits and take your next step.