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. Alright, fellas, it is your spiritual kickoff for the week. I’m excited. Let’s get going. Let’s dive right in. We’re gonna be looking in the book of second Corinthians chapter five.

Verse 17. Okay, chapter five, verse 17. It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone. The new is here. Love it. Love it. So this is kind of our New Year’s. a week that we’re gonna be talking about some things for the, the upcoming new year. It is just around the corner.

And with a new year, might as well go a New Testament, right? So there you go. That’s a, that’s a, a free dad joke for you to get going, right? So first of all, we need to understand where is Second Corinthians? Okay? So go, go to your New Testament, go pastor your gospel. It’s Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. Then you’ll get to acts, then you get to Romans, and then after Romans you’ll have first and second Corinthians.

Beautiful scripture out here, particularly as we’re thinking about starting our new year. Uh, and it’s a great reminder that we are a new creation. Now, some of your, your versions may say new creatures, right? So that’s a, that’s a different way to think about it. We are created, we are cre, we are created here.

in the image of God, cuz it automatically made me think of the Imago Day Remi reminding us that we are made in his image. And how awesome is that? He made us in his image. So we’re, we’re not just, just some thought up thing, we are made in the image of God. So this part right here in Second Corinthians is a part of Paul’s letter as addressing the love of Christ.

and how that love should control us. He’s emphasizing for that, for those who put their hope and trust in Jesus, we no longer live for ourselves, but who we live for, we live for him. And that’s what we’re trying to, to really need to understand cuz essentially we’re dying to ourselves and choosing to walk with him that that’s, that’s crazy to think of, right?

Think about dying to yourself and what does that mean? , I’m just going to submit everything to Christ. Now we’re giving that free will, right? And we understand that we’re giving that free will. And once we recognize what Jesus did for us and accept him as a savior, this verse literally tells us right here, it tells us word for word, that our old self is gone.

or passed away. I mean, he is outta here and the new one is here. That that should bring so much comfort to anybody out there. Particularly if you’re struggling. And you know what? I’m not good enough. I have all these things about I’m not smart enough. I’m not str, I don’t know enough scripture. I don’t know this and that, all this stuff, well first of all, all that’s from Satan.

Therefore they’re now is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. We need to remember that and just understand we are new creation. With him. Now, does that mean we’re never gonna screw up? Absolutely. No. We’re all we we’re gonna screw up. Why? Because we’re sinners. We’re gonna screw up, but we’re saved by his grace.

And if we lean into the Holy Spirit right here, and listen, you’re gonna find him speaking and he’s going to guide you, and he’s going show you his ways and he’s gonna talk to you, he’s going to give you that, that little nudge. When you know you need to do something, you need to do it. He’s going to nudge you in the right way.

Right? So how do you. How do you hear God’s voice? You get in his word and you spend time in prayer. You meditate on his word. You listen to P to sermons and preaching, and then you have community with fellow believers, and you do all that things. You’re just surrounding. You’re just engulfing and surrounding yourself with him.

And the more and more you do that you’re gonna just gonna be growing each and every day. That new creature he’s talking about is gonna be growing and growing and getting strong. And, and that, that’s, that’s for me, that’s the cool part. I mean, if you just dive into the deep end, your, your, your new body is going to re uh, reveal more to us as we go.

We just gotta get into it, right? And it says further down in the scripture if you keep reading, uh, and second Corinthians and keep going. It talks about, Ambassador, and that was interesting to me. I was reading this one and just preparing for your spiritual kickoff. And, and when you think of about an ambassador for me, I think of someone who’s very distinguished.

They’re a representative, right. Uh, and they just, they, they, they have this light about ’em where they just, they are representing something that they’re very proud of. You know, think about an ambassador for another country, right? They’re very proud of the country that they came from, and that’s who we are.

We are ambassadors for Christ. And that should impact everything that we do. If, if you’re an ambassador for Christ, that should impact everything and your testimony is going, is gonna reflect, are you walking that out or not? You know, that’s the good or the bad, right? So if, if you’re walking with Christ and you can lay your head on your pill at night with that assurance that the Holy Spirit is going to guide you, he’s going to give you the direct.

Now the question is, are you going to be obedient to what he’s telling you? And, and, and that right there, that’s between you and God. You’re gonna have to work on that, that that’s that sanctification and constantly getting better. Okay. And it, but the new, but when, what we need to understand is we’re ambassador, he ambassadors, he’s caught us to that.

So you’re an ambassador for Christ. Hey, accept it. Lean into it. Let’s be those ambassadors and here’s some, here’s some something else to consider. You know, we don’t have to wait or work for. We just have to su simply surrender to him. And if we surrender to him that new creation is not only just gonna survive, that new creation is going to thrive, it’s gonna be awesome.

It really is gonna be awesome. And that’s how you start the new year. Fellas going into the new. You need to be thinking about that new creation. What can I be doing every day to show that new creations come, that old guy’s gone and a new one is here? And I mean, not just a new year, but a new day every day.

You should be thinking about that because we’re on the winning team. I’m so tired of the Christians playing the game. I feel like we’re, feel like we’re playing on the losing team. We’re not. We’re all the waiting. So let’s let, let’s start this new Year, right? Let’s get off on the right foot. Let’s understand what we’ve been called to do.

We are those ambassadors. We need to lean into that. That’s not a bad thing, you know? That’s a, I get it. That’s a big responsibility. It’s a big responsibility. Every time I cut this mic off and we go live and we’re, and we’re talking, uh, about Christ, and I’m holding his word in my lap right here, it’s a big responsibility.

I don’t take it light. At all. There’s a lot of prep and I’m trying to be the best ambassador that I can for God. Now, do all, do I always get it right? No. I have plenty of moments where I don’t get it right and I fall short, but also know by his grace that he forgives me. I just gotta keep getting up and showing up and giving him my best each and every day and just, and with that hunger to know him more.

So how much are we in? Are you in his. You know, do you have that hunger to be in its word? Do you have that hunger to have that relationship with him? Do you feel like when he, when you pray, you know you’re praying to some, someone who, who’s far off and maybe they hear it, maybe they don’t. Or do you pray like he’s your father with a conversation?

God won’t a relationship with you if you’re in Christ, that new creation is here. It’s in you right now. That old is. So no matter what you think you’ve done, you know how bad you are or, or anything like that. Just, just get those thoughts out. That’s, that’s all from Satan. That’s all in your past. The new is here and that, my friends, that’s what we need to understand.

That’s what we need to lean into. That’s how we unleashed the line within like never before. Okay, so guys, I, I, hopefully this scripture that’s the start, this scripture for the new year. Was was on my heart. I wanted to share it with you. It’s beautiful scripture, obviously in second Corinthians. And just, I, I, hopefully there’s, you guys can take this going into this week, the last week of the year with our new year starting here very soon, and lean in and actually apply this to your life.

So we’re gonna be talking about this week on our, on our Meet episode. Come back on, we. Is our environment cuz we, there’s all sorts of New Year’s resolutions and, and people have all these new year goals and all this and that. I wanna talk about our environment that we’re in and how that affects our mindset, particularly when it comes to serving him.

Okay? So the question I want you to think about this week is how does your environment affect your mindset? That’s what we’ll be talking about. So again, be thinking through that. Your environment, you’re around when you’re, when you’re spending your time within the. Where do you at? Do you have the distractions constantly pulling at you or can you devote that time to him?

Now, if you’re new to the lion within us on the spiritual kickoffs, we’re gonna take an opportunity at, at the end of each one of these to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Cause maybe you just found in his podcast, but by happenstance that somebody just just sent it to you and all of a sudden you just clicked on it.

You’re trying to figure out what this, this line within this thing is all. And next thing you know, you, you’re hearing us talk about Christ and Jesus and all this, and, and, and you’re wondering, but you don’t know. Well, it’s very simple. Okay. Jesus is the way to heaven. He’s it. There’s only one way and it’s through him.

So, quick story. So we just passed Christmas. Uh, Christmas is behind us now, but the story of Christmas is, you know, He, he loved so much that he sent his one son down to us. And that was the story of Christmas. That, that’s, we celebrated Christmases as his birth. And then so we had God with us right there, Emmanuel, right there with us on Earth.

And why did he do that? Because we’re sinners and there was nothing we can do to work our way into heaven. So you may be thinking, you know what, Chris? Man, I’m a good guy. I do a lot of good things. I, I, I volunteer, I help people, you know. Maybe you run a business and you have people working for you. All that stuff’s great.

All that stuff’s great. I’m gonna tell you one thing. Hell is full of good guys. That’s just reality. Hell is full of ’em. It’s full of good guys with good intentions, right? The, the, the trick to salvation, it’s surrender. I’ve been hearing a lot of guys talk lately about that’s the hard part. When if, if, if you make it hard, you have to surrender to him.

First of all, we need to understand that we’re sinners. We have to understand that we have a, we’re a sin, we have sinful natures. We are born sinners. That’s just the way we are. When sin entered the world, it entered the world for all of us, not just, not just people in prison for all of us. So, yes, even me, even you we’re all sinner.

Your, your, your kindergarten teacher was, Right. You’re, you’re not a cupcake, you’re not a snowflake, you’re not a skittle. You are a sinner in need of a savior, and that is, we need to remember that, okay? Then once we, we admit that we need to believe that Jesus is the son of God, and I’m talking about really believe in your heart that he is the son of God, and then you have to confess to Ms.

Lord, you know what? I don’t. I’m tired of doing this my way. I’m gonna do it your way. Jesus. Please come into my heart. Please come into my life. Show me. I, I, I just wanna surrender to you. I wanna acknowledge you as Lord, Lord, for everything that I do, and just follow you. And the scripture tells us when that happens, the holy Spirit’s gonna come.

That’s the lion within we’re talking about here. And that’s what it’s all about. Because that then you, when you get that little tug pulling at you, okay, should I do this or, or should I not do this? And, and you have that conviction, that’s the Holy Spirit guiding you at that. So if you just prayed that prayer, I’d love to hear from you and simply to put our arms around you, congratulate you, welcome you to the brotherhood, and also give you some resources cuz you just entered a battlefield.

Okay? So I saved that towards the end. Cuz, , you probably needed to know that, but you were in the battle before. You just didn’t realize it. You were on the wrong team. Now you’re on the winning team. And what’s your own Christ? You know, the battles will come. You know, it’s not gonna be easy. Jesus didn’t say it was just gonna be easy.

What? I mean, this is persecution is going to come, it’s going, it’s going to get real. We want to help, you, want to give you some resources, want to come alongside and definitely just wanna pray with you. So hopefully if you, if you accept the criteria, shoot us, uh, an email at support at the lion within us.

Love to hear from you. So guys, hopefully you enjoyed this spiritual kickoff as this just the last spiritual kickoff of 2020. I will be having our, our, our get back to our guest episodes and things like that next week. But, uh, I want you to have this mindset going into 2023, this, this new year’s week of remembering that we are new creation, right?

That old is gone, that new is here, and let’s lean into that. So hopefully you enjoyed this. Share it with someone else that would, that would, that would mean a lot. Uh, give us a rating and review. That would mean a lot. And then the big thing this. This is our last week to join the line within US community and to get the Founders Coalition special pricing.

So I really encourage you go check that out. Go to her website, the line within us, you’ll find all sorts of links on the main page on ways to join our community. Try it. It’s a 30 day free trial. Just check it out, see if you like it. There’s literally nothing to lose there. And see if you can, if you see value within the community, cause we’re, we’re doing live events, we’re doing, uh, ask me anything events.

We have lion lunches, we have bible study guys. There’s a form that’s constantly with fee with guys who are, who are pointing. Uh, their issues, the, the things they’re working on, the encouragement we have our mastermind group. There’s just, there’s a lot happening. Okay. , there’s a lot happening in the community and it’s all there to serve the Christian men who, who want to be the leaders that God intends ’em to be.

So check it out. Want you to be able to, to take advantage of the founders coalition pricing. Jump in on that, that pricing level will, will go away January 1st. It is going away. So you guys are, the time is clicking by very quickly. So hopefully I’ll see you in there. Uh, again, lion within us to check that out.

So thank you guys for a spiritual kickoff. Come back on Wednesday. I’m gonna be having, it’s another solo episode. I’m gonna be walking through a really. Uh, a rule that I’ve put that I’ve applied to my life, that is bringing some peace and some clarity to me that I think it may help you as well. And it’s a really good one to think about going into the new year.

So guys, I pray you have a great day. Get after it. Come back. Remember, share this out and keep unleashing the lion within.

Most men know what it’s like to do life in a back end and feel isolated on the. We believe every man needs a community to help them become the men they were created to be more than just a website or podcast. We are a community of Christian men who are committed to supporting and encouraging one another on our journey, become the best versions of ourselves.

We are men who have fought the good fight and come out victorious. The lion within us is here to help you stop feeling lost, defeated, and. Instead, find community and connection with other men that will help you achieve your goals. Live a life of purpose and be the leader God intends you to be. Visit the lion within us to join the new Growing Lion Den community today.