Welcome to the Lion 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. It is your spiritual kickoff for the week, and we are at Christmas week. I know you’re excited. Christmas is, is is one week away.

And here we are. We’re going to get our spiritual kickoff started the right way, and we know how we’re gonna do it. Right in scripture. Okay, so this week we’re gonna be in the book of Isaiah. Okay. Isaiah, chapter nine, chapter nine, verse six. For, for to us, a child is born to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful counselor.

Mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace. Beautiful scripture right there. Beautiful scripture. Actually was talking to my wife about which, which scripture should we do for our Christmas episode. And this was one she came up with. Uh, she actually had a little study on this scripture. And quite frankly, guys, that’s where I got my notes at.

So I, what we’re getting ready to go through is, is something that, that came from her. And, uh, I just thought this was a beautiful scripture that we could look at. And together as we get ready for the Christmas season, I know you guys are excited for Christmas. I am. I love this time. So let, is, let, let’s dig in.

First of all, we need to understand where is Isaiah Okay? Again, one-on-one stuff, but we, we don’t wanna skip the basics. So Isaiah is in your Old Testament, so it’s gonna be three books after Proverbs. Okay. So directly, it’s directly after Song of Solomon and it’s right before Jeremiah. So if you got to Jeremiah, you went too far back up.

I it’s, if you song is Solomon flip one more over. It’ll be right there. And this is a prophecy of of, of Isaiah. Love this, this reading through Isaiah, it’s a lot of prophecy here. Got a lot of things. Point to the Messiah to, to Jesus and what ge, what Isaiah uses here are four names. Okay? Four names that describes Jesus.

Now we’re gonna talk about these definitions and look at the adjectives that he used and then, we’ll, let’s think together. The things that God has done in our life that fits with these names. Okay? So this is gonna be kind of fun as we do. It’s a little bit different spiritual kickoff, but that’s okay.

We’re gonna have some fun with it either way. So the very first name he calls him wonderful counselor. Okay, so what is a counselor? Let’s think him through that. That’s a person who counsel, who counsels. It’s a guide, an instructor. A mentor, right? So when you think about a counselor, uh, it’s someone that you’re going to go get advice from.

We have this within, inside our line, our line within us community. We’re, we’re constantly trying to, to, to support and serve each other. And we we’re here. Okay, you have this situation going on, so, so what does this mean? And we’ll just constantly back and forth trying to help each other. But that counselor is that, so think through this year, how has God been a counselor in your.

I’m sure there’s all sorts of things that come up and for me, there’s, there’s, there’s, there’s guidance always. And I tell you what, for, for me, when I think through a counselor, it’s one of those things where I know God sends me certain people and messages when I need them the most. And that council also, right here, God’s word right here in front of me, God’s word, this is the perfect counselor.

If you’re struggling, if you’re having a doubt or questions or anything like, Go to God’s word, spend some time with him in the word, then go to prayer, and that’s where the counselor’s gonna speak, and it’s gonna be a soft voice. Remember, he’s not gonna be yelling at us. Most likely he’s not gonna be yelling at us.

But more than likely that that Holy Spirit’s gonna speak to us very gently, but we have to be committed to staying in the word and connected with him. So just think about that. We have God, we have Jesus, and he is our c. That should bring so much comfort this time of year. The second word, uh, uh, words that he used to call, uh, describe Jesus was what Mighty God.

Mighty is, means powerful, strong, great, um, all powerful, everything. Right? Just think about when you hear it like mighty and you, you picture this strong person or this strong. Piece of steel or things like that, it can’t be broken, right? It’s just, it’s strength and that’s who we serve. A my guy who, who, who knows all Steve is all, here’s all he is mighty, he is overall.

So think through the past year, how has God shown you in your life that he is all powerful? You know, we can’t do this, this thing called life on our own strength. We have to lean on him. So thank. We don’t have a weak guy. We have a mighty guy. Now, the third thing he calls his everlasting father. Okay, so let’s unpack the word everlasting.

So everlasting means never coming to an end. It’s enduring, it’s permanent, right? It keeps going, going and going. Like the energizer bu bunny ain’t got nothing on this, right? It just, it’s, it’s not, it’s nonstop. Nonstop. And, That talks about the personal relationship, right? God wants to have that personal relationship with us.

It’s not just, you know, coming down to all these rules and all these things and worship me. No, he wants to have a relationship with each and every one of his children. And guess what? If you have put your trust in Jesus, you are a child of God. That should bring you tremendous comfort this time of. And not just a child of God when you do things right.

That’s why I love this scripture, this verse right here, it’s everlasting. It doesn’t have a time, time band on it. There’s no start, no stop. It’s no matter what you do, you cannot fall out of the love of your father. And that right there, that, that everlasting father. Should really, if you’re feeling alone right now, if you’re feeling you know this time of year, just for some people, it just sucks.

It sucks. This time of year can really suck. I get it. You have an everlasting father who’s always with you, who cares about you and who will carry you through this season, whatever season you’re in. And I get the holiday season can be tough for a lot of people, cuz sometimes you guess. There are certain people not around a Christmas tree that, that you want to be there.

I totally get that. Totally get that. And all I can tell you right now, there’s the on the only comfort I can give you is that God loves you. He’s with you. You know, there’s nothing that I can say or do or going bring, gonna take away any of your hurt. But I can tell you one thing. We have an everlasting father.

We have that, that wonderful counselor. We have that mighty God. He loves you so much. So right now, if this is a difficult time for you, we’ll lean on him. Now, the fourth thing Isaiah talks about Prince of Peace. Peace. Just think about that word. Old Phil Robertson says this all the time. Peace of mind is the rarest commodity on earth everybody’s searching for, and the only true peace we’ll find is only we have that relationship with Jesus Christ and peace.

The actual definition is a state of tranquility or seren. So when you have that, just wherever that, that makes you feel like that calm, quiet feeling that we have in your life, think about that. Where is that, where is that at for you? Is it, is it in the woods? Is it walking in the woods? Is it, um, with your family?

Is it, maybe it’s just, it’s just riding down the road. You have that tran, that peaceful feeling, right? Well, the only true piece that we’re going to. It’s from Jesus and not, he’s not just, it doesn’t say just peace. He is the prince of peace, the prince. Right? So he, he is the overseer of peace. Of course we have, we know he’s king Jesus, prince of peace.

So look, think about right now and how has God helped you find some peace in a situation? Well just in your life in general over the last year, cuz I’m sure you’ve had some peace over certain things. I get it. There’s, there’s again, there’s, there’s a lot of hurt this time of year. I get totally get that. I think if you look back over the year, you’ll find areas that he has given you peace that comes from him and only him.

So there you go. So you have a wonderful counselor, right? How has God been that counselor in your life? You have mighty God. How has he shown you that? He is all powerful. You have that everlasting. Right. How has God proved that he will never leave you? He’s gonna always be there for you. And in that prince of peace, how has God helped you find peace in a situation that’s in your life or just, or just in general?

Right? How’s he helped you find that peace? So again, guys, go back to this scripture right here, Isaiah nine, verse six. And as you think about this scripture and you go into this Christmas season and the week, Remember a reason why, right? Remember why Jesus came into this reason for, into this world for one reason, right?

See, can save the laws and we’ll have that path salvation to him. We need to remember what he has done for us. It’s so easy. It’s so easy to think it’s all us that we, that we’ve done all this stuff, but we have to understand that it’s from him. So thank him. I mean, thank him. Thank him for. But then thank him for constantly, for the stuff he does for you and your life, cuz the blessings, all the blessings are from him.

The question I want you to think about this week as you going through the week and you head throughout, what are you truly celebrating this Christmas? I really hope that you’re celebrating the, the real reason for the season, and that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, if you’ve never put your trust in Jesus as your.

We do this on every spiritual kickoff, you maybe hear all these things and you’re trying to figure out what is this? What is this dude even talking about? Put your trust in in this Jesus guy telling you, here’s the deal. I’m just gonna be straight up with you on a Christmas episode cuz there’s no other way to go.

Go about it. You are a sinner. If you are listening to this, you are a sinner. Chris, this Mr. Chris here. I’m the chief center. Okay? And look, we all fall short of the glory of God and there’s only one. One way to get to him, and that’s surrendering. You have to surrender to Jesus. You have to, you have to proclaim him as the savior and make him Lord of your life.

It takes a lot. I totally get it. And it’s like, man, I want, I wanna do my own thing. Yep. I know, I know you do. Satan wants you to do your own thing too. When you get, when your number’s called and it doesn’t, the, the mortality rate is 100% you, it is going to happen. Right. Jesus is gonna, We’re gonna go, go see him first.

Are you ready? And if you put your trust in him and you fully surrender, he’s going to sin the Holy Spirit. And at that point, you’re gonna have a new heart. You’ll have the light within, and at that point, you can really lean in and do the work that he’s called you to do. But it starts with admitting that you’re a sinner.

You have to admit that you get it. You can’t nice your way into. I wish you guys could, I really wish there was another way I could tell you, but it’s not so I have to just tell you straight. You can’t ni nice your way in if they admit you’re at sin and you gotta believe that Jesus is the son of God. He it.

There is no other way. I know a lot of people will have all these questions and things like, and questions are good, but at the core of a Christian is. Have to believe he’s the son of God. You have to confess him as Lord. And I’m talking about Lord, not just some dude, when things go bad that I want to just hold, will you help me, Jesus.

No, I’m talking about through the highs and the lows and everything in between. Every day. Pick up your cross and follow me. That’s what he tells us every day. Deny ourselves, follow him, surrender. I know for men that can be hard. I totally. I can tell you one thing, there’s enough pressure on us men right now to lead our families, to lead at work, to lead it home to wherever we’re at.

We’re, we’re called to be leaders to be doing that on our own. Can’t do it. Can’t do it. You’re setting yourself up for failure. Lean in on him and let that, that wonderful counselor, that mighty God, that everlasting father, that prince of peace. Got you. That’s what it’s all about. So hopefully this spiritual kickoff got you going, gives you a little kick in the pants getting this week started.

Highly encourage you guys to go check out, uh, the Lion within.us. That’s our website as you can join our community right there, guys, we have one week left for our initials for our Initial Founders Coalition. So get guys, this is it. This is after this. The, the standard rate’s gonna be the standard rate, but right now you can lock in some tremendous savings.

So go check that out. Really want to see you inside there. There’s a lot of buzz happening inside the community. Live events, ask me anything, events, all sorts of, you know, courses, the content, guys, it’s all there. That’s where we’re at all the time. Lion Lunches, Bible study. We’re, we’re making it happen.

We’re having a lot of fun. Not to mention our mastermind. We have a ton of, of resources that we’re working on to serve. But you can’t get there sitting on the outside. Now, I really appreciate you listening to the podcast. It blows my mind when we look and see how many people listen to our podcast every week.

Just tells me, you know what? I’m just gonna keep doing what God tells me to do. Cause there are people that find value in it. So thank you for that. Now take some action and come join us inside the community. That would be huge. Okay, so at at that point, guys, hope you have a great one. Come. On Wednesday, I’m have a, a pretty fun Christmas episode as well For our meet episode this week.

I’m gonna unpack some traditions and let’s look at some, some light things. Have some things to, uh, hopefully make you guys laugh about and think about. If you don’t mind, please give us a rating and write a review. Five stars, write a review. That makes a big difference as well. Uh, all those little things.

Really help the lion within us continue to grow and reach and get out there and share the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Love you guys. Hope you come back and we’ll see you here on Wednesday. Now you know what to do. Go out. Unleash the lion within.

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