Welcome to the Line Within Us, a podcast sermon, Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders they’re predestined to be. I’m your host, Chris Grainger. Let’s jump in, right guys. Spiritual kick off for this week. So happy to have you here. We’re gonna be digging into some great scripture this morning.

Okay? We’re talking about Ephesians chapter six, verses 10 through 12. Okay? 10 through 12 and and Ephesians six. Finally, be strong in the Lord in his mighty. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil. Schemes for our struggle is not against fleshed and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil and the realms.

Guys, that’s a powerful scripture right here this week, and, and I love Ephesians. My Ephesians isn’t my Bible. I have sitting right here with me. It is just marked all. I can still read it, thankfully, but it’s a lot of underlining, a lot of highlighting, a lot of notes in the margins. Guys. There’s just so much to be to, to be gained from the book of Ephesians.

But first of all, on our spiritual kickoffs, we need to know where Ephesians is, right? We gotta know where this stuff is, guys. We’re not taking anything for, for granted here. So go to your gospels as a reminder, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That’s your gospels. Then you have acts, then you have Romans, then you have first and second Corinthians, Galatians.

They need hit to Ephesians. Okay? Now, Ephesians is only six chapters long. Okay? Shock. Full of wisdom. I’m telling you guys, this is a, a chapter, this is a book of the Bible. Do not want to ignore. Paul gives a lot of insight here. Okay, so we’re at now. Right now what y’all want you to think about, think about the clothes that you’re wearing.

You know, what, what are you wearing right now? And you may be feeling good about you wearing, maybe you wearing a suit or maybe you got some, some khakis on, or maybe you’re chilling out and you’re, you’re headed in a swimsuit, you’re. To the pool or something like that. Question I got for you is whatever you’re wearing, are you ready for a battle?

Are you ready for a battle? Because as Christians and as men, we face battles every day. We’re gonna unpack some scripture here. We’re going, we’re gonna see what it looks like, prepare for what to come. Cause we need to be prepared. So when just starting off, right, out right at the. We need to understand without him, we are weak.

We are weak. Our strength comes through him alone, and he wants us to know where our source of strengths come from. I mean, God, he wants us to know that He wants us to, to, to, to go to him, to clean to him. Okay, And so how, how many guys out there feel like it’s all on. You gotta do it. You gotta do it. You gotta do it by your strength, your way, your will.

You just got push through, you got bootstrap. You gotta pull ’em up, pull ’em tight. Let’s get it, let’s go. That’s how we, That’s how so many guys think, But true strength. True strength. It’s not found in a bench press, you know? Or how much weight you can move or how big a truck you got, But it’s all in God’s word.

There’s mighty power there. Mighty power in his. And what he provides us when we rely on him is unbelievable. It’s unreal. If we would just take the time to recognize that he’s in charge and that’s lean into him. So then as you move into scripture and you look at verse 11, put on the full armor of God so that you’ll be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

All right, Armor, what do you think of when you hear that word? You know, maybe soldiers, you know, police officers, maybe even some, some of you guys probably think of medieval times, right? Like nights, the, the night in shining armor, right? Every piece of armor, whether if you’re, you’re a Navy seal or, or, or a knight back in the day, every piece of armor has a purpose.

Okay? There’s nothing flashy. You don’t want anything flashy cuz it’s battle. And a battle. It’s not about being flashy. A battle is. Battle is about. Surviving. That’s what it’s about. So then the second part, you talk about knowing your enemy. Knowing your enemy. So recent wars are hard because it can be hard to distinguish the enemy from everybody else.

That’s exactly what we’re facing. It can be so hard. I’ve read so many books on navy seals and, you know, different, different army things and, and that, that are happening. You know, when you fight these, these wars overseas, And that’s the hard part in a lot of these, these fights is because you’re going into these towns and you can’t tell what the enemy is and what the enemy’s not, right.

It’s not like, you know, old, old wars where, you know, the, the red coats. You could see, okay, those boys were wearing red coats. They need to fight those guys. I like that It’s blending. It’s blending in and think about back in the day when you growing up Cowboys and Indians, right? One was the Cowboys one, one Indians, and you’d fight, I don’t even know kids play that anymore, but I, I know growing up we did, he always knew what side you’re on, right?

That is, that’s not it. And it’s so frustrating. Cause here’s the deal. The enemy can, you know, field trade, your inner inner circle, and before you know it, you have an all out infiltration from within taking place. I want you to think about the Trojan horse on steroids, guys. I mean, it is really serious.

That’s how crafty that Satan is. He’s crafty, he’s gone over, He’s gonna do all he can to get in and to have influence on you. And we don’t have to put up with it. We don’t have to put up with it at all. So all the different ways of attack are coming to us. You know, if you keep reading here in verse. It says, take up the full on regards that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and you have done everything to stand firm.

Okay, so those attacks are coming. We gotta look at the different faces of the enemy. And there’s all one common thread. They are all of the world. You know, we are called to the heavenly realm that as Paul’s telling us here, but while we are here, we’re gonna face these enemies. And the scary part is they can sneak.

They can even look like religion guys. Okay. Thank Prosperity Gospel, right? Or water down gospel. Okay. Remember this when, when I talked to Pastor Jovi, it just stuck with me and I I, and again, I listened to him every week, probably two or three sermons a week. I continued getting fed just cause I feel like he, he feeds me spiritually, uh, in a way that, that I need.

And he told, The Bible named the gospel is offensive. You know, it is. He also in inside God’s word tells us we need to test the spirits. We need to test it. You know, Satan wants to penetrate the heaven realms, but he’s relegated to hell. You know, he’s not getting there, so he wants to pull you away from Jesus or keep the wool over your eyes so that you can’t see the truth.

That’s it. Or maybe he’s just pulling the wool over your eyes. I was talking to a gentleman just last night. Well, I’m thinking about it. This guy does great. He’s got a great business. He’s an entrepreneur. He’s crushing it. He doesn’t struggle with sexual sins. No pornography has a beautiful wife, awesome kids.

He struggles Satan is, is pulling at him and attacking him. Busy. Because he knows he can keep this man busy. He’s not gonna do what he needs to do to serve the kingdom, right? So anything he can do to pull that wool over his eyes and to keep us anything from not looking for Jesus or not seeking God’s will, that’s what he is gonna do.

Don’t fall for it. Don’t fall for it. It starts with standing strong in the Lord. Roots yourself there. I mean, really. Dig in deep and you’ll be able to. You will. But if you gotta root yourself, how do you do it? You spend time with him every day. Read Noah’s word, ask for wisdom, ask for discernment. Ask for just guidance and direction.

Cuz you, we need it guys. If we’re going, if we’re gonna win this battle, we gotta have it. Cause culture today, it’s gonna do all they can to beat us. Now it’s going, it’s going. It’s gonna hammer us. Scripture tells us. We can stand strong and know that you can be victorious. Guys, this is powerful scripture here.

I I I wanna read it one more time. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might put on the full armor of God that you’ll be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Our struggle was not against the flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world for forces of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wick.

In the heavenly places, guys recognize the truth as Paul is speaking to us here, I wanna make sure that you are ready. Is your armor being tested? Does your, do you even, do you know where your armor’s at? Or if you have your armor on, has it ever been put to, to the battle before or does it look brand new?

When I get to heaven, I want my armor to just be like, I want God to look at me and say that. He was working because it needs to be scuffed up and scarred up. Maybe even smelled bad, right? I mean, I don’t want that armor to just be so p so used because while we’re here, you get one chance to fight guys.

One chance there’s no mulligans. So lean in, put on that armor. Stay firm. So guys, what you can expect this week, I’m gonna have an amazing guess and I’m talking about the guys. He, he’s going. Bring the rain. Okay, Now we’re gonna be talking about what to expect about being a powerful man that sharpens your dead edge.

That’s right. Your dead edge. So you have to come back on Wednesday cuz I’m not gonna tell you anymore. But tell you what guys. This guy he brings, he brings so much wisdom and insight, tips, practical tips. There’s even an offer coming up that, that I didn’t see coming guys. It’s gonna be incredible. So come back on Wednesday and check that.

The question I want you to think about this week is you head into your week, How can patients create powerful dads? So how can patients create powerful dads? That was a hard question for me to even write cuz I struggle with patience and somewhere my, my wife is listening to this spiritual kickoff and she just said An amen out driving honey, I love you.

Cause you, you do you put up with, with. I’m not the most patient man. I fully admit that, but it’s also something that I’m really trying to work on. Particularly, we have three daughters in the house. I don’t want them to always think of their dad as this guy who come, who is, who’s from ogre, or raises his voice, who’s always upset or mad.

You don’t want that need to have the fruit of spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, general is self-control. They need to see that in their. And their father and their daddy, and then their husband. So guys, how can patients create power for death? Think about that this week. Okay?

Now again, share this out with, with other lions out there. Share it out with your church. Share it out with your men’s group. Share it out with your small groups. Share it out with your son at school. Just share, Give us a rating and review that makes big difference. Go to the line within.us. We got resources there.

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Go check it out. Go hook up the line within us and, and put a, a line within a, uh, decal on the back of your truck or your car, you know, represent, show. So be part. If you wanna be a donor, that’d be awesome. Consider being a donor. All that stuff is on the line within dot. That’s the line with N Us. Check that out.

Be sure to check out our affiliates. We really got some really cool things going on there as well. Guys, I pray you come back Wednesday. I’m telling you, you’re not gonna be disappointed. This is gonna be a great conversation. This is one that you’re gonna wanna bring. Bring some here. Here’s your warning.

Bring a notepad and something right with, Okay. Cause you’re gonna be taking notes. Okay. This guy, he brings practical ways to sharpen our dad’s. Guys, I pray you have a great week. Make sure you go study this Ephesians six this week. Get this for Rooted in your heart. Now get out there and unleash the lion with that.

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