Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders and God intends you to be. I’m your host, Chris Granger. Let’s jump in. All right, boys. This is your spiritual kickoff for the week, and I hope you’re excited to be here. I know I am. This is a verse that I just, I love.

It’s one that should resonate with all you guys listening for sure. And it’s in the book of First Corinthians. It’s chapter 16. We’re just gonna look at one verse this week. Verse 13. Usually 13 and 14 run together. And I’m gonna talk about 14 a little bit, but 13 is the one I want you to think about this week.

It’s very simple. Be on the alert, stand firm into faith. Act like men be. That’s the whole verse right there, guys. We’re going, we’re gonna break this one down. We’re gonna have some fun doing it together. So hopefully, if you’re ready, let’s jump into it. So first of all, we need to know where is First Corinthians?

So you need to go to your gospels, Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. Then you get to Ax, then you get to Romans, and then you get to first and second Corinthians. There you go. So right after Romans, You’ll find First Corinthians, if you get the second Corinthians, just back up one, it’s very simple. There you go.

So that’s, that’s where we’re gonna be at. So this is the end, the very end. This is the last chapter. And this is talking to about a charge that men should adhere to in our daily walk. Okay. And we’re gonna break this down piece by piece cuz I just think there’s no better way to, to learn scripture than let’s just look at it and let’s see, see what it says and let’s see what the spirit’s gonna reveal.

As we move together. So the first thing it says is first be on the alert. Okay? It says A Christian leader. You need to know what’s going on. You do. You can’t just bury your head in the sand, fellas, because that is not gonna serve you well. Just because you don’t know something doesn’t excuse you from being responsible for it.

You need to know your state of affairs and what’s going on in your surroundings. Okay? And I’m talking about your local surrounding. As well as your, your local government politics, just in general, you need to understand cuz there’s so, like many things that are happening that are going to impact you.

Okay? And, and, and if you’re not ready for it, if you don’t know what’s coming, you’re not gonna be able to, uh, defend yourself or to be able to take that stance, what you ne that you know, you need to. So just think about it, right? Like this, and Bible talks about it here. If someone’s gonna break into your house in the middle of the.

They gonna come tonight. If you knew right now that somebody’s gonna break in your house tonight, what would you do? What would you do? I know what I do. We’d be on the alert. I’d be ready. I think you what you guys would be too. And this should be our mindset, okay? It has to be our mindset. You need to be on the alert and stay committed to doing this.

We have to. Cause if, if you’re, if you’re committed to being on the alert, you’re gonna be able to respond. Instead of react and too many men, we’re just reacting. We don’t need to be reacting. We need to be responding. Take, and that’s pro responding is what? Being proactive. That’s what it’s all about. Guys.

Let’s be proactive. Let’s be ready. The only way you can be proactive, you gotta be on the alert. Okay? Be on the alert guys. Now what is the second thing that, that Paul is calling out right here. Stand firm in the. Stand firm in the faith. And that doesn’t mean just when everything is going good or you around other believers.

Okay? This says stand firm in the faith. And we’re talking about all the time, guys, all the time, fair weather, Christianity. It’s not what we’re called to do. That’s, that’s, that’s not it. Anybody can, can go along with the flow and, and be with fellow believers and just, just reading the word when you’re with fellow Christians, that’s not.

But standing with Jesus is going to lead to persecution. It’s going to, and if you’re not feeling that persecution from time to time, or if you’ve never felt it, I’ve got a question for you as to, can the world tell a difference between you as a believer and a nonbeliever? Okay. Because if they can’t, they can’t, then that may be telling you how your walk is actually coming across to the.

Okay. Because to stand firm in something means that there’s going to be resistance. There’s going to be resistance. Or else you wouldn’t have to stand firm. You could just, you could just stand, no, it says stand firm. There’s going to be resistance. And for many guys, this turns ’em away. Because they want a life of east.

They want the, the easy road. Hit that. Remember the, the commercial, I don’t even remember what company it is. Had the easy button hit the easy button. One of those office commercials, one of those office supply stores. Jesus didn’t say we’d have an easy button. There is no such thing. There’s definitely a better button though.

It’s better, a whole lot better walking with him and than it is without him. And you know. You’re going to have these seasons where we can take some rest and we don’t, we’re not gonna be hammered on all the time. And look, when that happens, I totally get it. Let’s glorify God in those moments. Serve and glorify him.

But ultimately, we are called to stand firm, whatever that, whatever end, whatever we’re doing, stand firm into faith, and that means standing firm on the word of. Guys that needs to be driving you today, how often do you at work? Maybe you’re at work right now, maybe you’re working out at the gym. Does anybody at that gym stop your workout for two for five seconds and look around?

Does anybody at that gym know or have any reason to know that you’re a believer now? If they don’t, what are you going to do right now? What can you do right now to show the love of God others and to stand firm in? I know, I know it’s hard guys. Sharing our faith with others can be intimidating, but that is what we’re called to do.

Stand firm. No, you’re going to face persecution. Maybe you just need to, to spot the next person you see in the gym. I, I’m sticking on this gym theme. Maybe you need to, you know, spot them. Say, ask them if they need a spot and then say, Hey, I’ll have something I’d love to share with you and just share your.

You don’t have to share everything about the Bible, but just share, man. Man, I’ve had some things happen in my life lately and I can’t explain it. Oh, and I just wanted to share it with you. I met this guy. I’ve, I’ve, I read, I’ve read this, uh, this, the Bible, and I’ve come to know Jesus and I, I just like to talk to you about it.

You don’t have to make it this big deal, but you do need to stand affirmative faith. Now, what’s the third thing that Paul calls us to act like men. Okay. Act like. A lot of times you can go to scripture as well that’s talking about protecting and providing right and presiding as well. But that doesn’t mean okay, we’re just gonna go along.

Go along with the flow when things don’t align in God’s work. No. To be a man means to be bold. We have to be bold. And it takes courage to be a, to be a man in today’s world. Look, I and I get it, it gets harder and harder and harder every day. You get the whole word, uh, toxic masculinity thrown around all the.

I’m gonna tell you right now, take that word toxic, toxic out, and put in the word healthy cuz we do need healthy masculinity right now, particularly in the church, but in our homes, in our businesses, right? Careers, in our finances, in our, the way we steward. We need some healthy masculinity leading this and that is men behaving like, Okay.

Now, when you look at churches, the reason so many churches have deferred to women and have so many women in, in leadership positions is why? Cause the men have just backed away and the women have stepped up. And the only way, the only way we’re gonna flip that is men need to start flipping that and to lean in and taking those leadership roles and actually showing up and doing.

Because it’s not their responsibility to fulfill that. Now, is there roles for women in churches? Absolutely. Don’t mist twist what I’m saying. What I’m, what I’m ultimately saying is we need more men in these churches standing up, leaning in and doing the work God’s calling ’em to do. And not just in the church, but mainly at home and at work in the world.

Cuz the church is the people. So guess what? It ain’t a. So if you’re out in the world and you’re a believer, you are the church you are. And if, if you have a son at home, it’s your job to teach him how to be a man. Look, I’ve, I’ve recently been, been blessed. If you’ve listened to a podcast for a while, you know, I have three daughters and I have a son, my son, and right now, at the time of this recording, he just turned two months and my wife.

I love her more, more than anything out Jesus is, is number one, and then it’s her. She’s right below Jesus. Okay? There’s one thing that she cannot do. She cannot teach my son how to be a man. Now, here’s something I can’t do. I cannot teach my daughters how to be a woman. Okay? I can show them what to look for in a, in a man.

So far as teaching them the true how to be a woman, I can’t do it. And she is not qualified to teach my son how to be a man. And we both recognize that. And it’s not fair for me to ask her to teach him to be a man. It’s not fair for me to ask her to teach my girls how to, to, for, for her to ask me how to teach the girls how to be a woman.

That, that would make, it makes no sense. So we need to step up and do what we’re called to do, act like men, and let’s start acting like men at. And teaching our young men how to be men, and showing our daughters what it looks like to be a Christian man. And you can start that very easily by loving your wife.

That’s it. Loving her. Now be strong. So we talked about be on alert, stand firm to faith, act like men. And the last thing Paul points to is being strong. Now, does this mean that you should be able to bench 300 pounds? No. Now if you can touchdown hallelu. You know, you’re on a a killer workout program, maybe share that with us and we’ll put that out there for the line within us.

But seriously, to me, right, it points to the trials in life that are going to come, okay? It’s going to come. You’re either in a trial, coming outta one, or getting ready to go into one. That’s the three. That’s it. So it’s just not for the faint of heart. Heart here, guys. This is not for the faint of heart.

You know, if you read this, This, this, and you’re just trying to take as a physical attribute, you’re totally missing the point. You’re totally missing the point. But you do need to take care of yourselves to prepare for the battle that you’re going to face. You’re going to face the battles, and if you’re going to face it, you better be strong.

You better be strong, and no one’s going to going to take that responsibility and build up your strength for you. You have to do that on your. So be on the alert, stand firm with faith. Act like men be strong. The last verse, you know, I didn’t, I I, I never read this verse without reading the next verse. It actually says, let all that you do be done in love.

That’s verse 14. Love love’s what it’s all about, fellas. Right? And that’s what Jesus showed us firsthand. And love. When I, when I, when I talk about this and I, when try to teach this, make sure people are very, I’m very clear on this. This is not feely stuff, man. Love is an action. It’s a verb, and that’s the greatest way we can show true masculinity to others.

It’s by showing love. That means doing the things that are hard voice. You have to, but rest assured that’s what we’re called to do as. We have to do that. We have to lean into it. We don’t need to look for those opportunities that God gives us to do the hard things, to share the love of God with others, and that’s going to draw more and more to him.

You wanna make an impact in your church? Find ways to connect with men outside of just a peace center and sing some, some songs you need to find stuff to do. Actually serve together sweat work. Talk about real issues. Talk about the stuff that we talk about here. Talk about pornography, talk about abortion, talk about money and how to be a better steward.

Talk about, um, look how to be a better dad and how you’re, how you, how you’re a workaholic. All those things. Lean into those types of topics and talk about that, and not just talk about it. Go to God’s word and let God’s word guide you and have. Impactful discussions that way. And then get out and serve, serve others, and, and, and, and do this thing called life together with, with other believers.

And at the same time, sharing that love with others to bring them into the church and to be the hands of feet of Jesus. So guys, be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men be. Do all that as you unleash the lion within. That’s what it’s about, fellas. That’s what it’s about. So the question that I want you talk to, think about this week, okay.

Cause we’re gonna be talking to a guy about marriage and, and, and how he was thought, what that, what masculinity would look like in his marriage, and ultimately how sexual sin robbed him of so many things in his marriage. And I went back to the fruit of spirit and I was, I was praying through. Question. I want you to think about what does faithfulness look like in your marriage?

Because we’re gonna act like, man, we’re gonna be strong on all that stuff. Well, that starts with having a good, a godly marriage. So what does faithfulness look like in your marriage? Because that is a fruit of spirit. Guys, I need to remember that. So, you know, every week for a spiritual kickoff, we’re gonna take a a, just a brief minute here.

Just if you’ve never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, your. You’ve listened to this thing, this, to this little podcast, and you’re like, you know what? I, I wanna know more. I will just encourage you right now, email me support at the line with Dan us. I’ll jump on a one-on-one call with you, and I will share the gospel.

But as a, as an overview, I need you to know a couple things. That we are all sinners and the sinners sins, anything that separates you from God, and, and we all have sin. We all fall short of glory of God. You need to admit. You need to understand that you’re not a cupcake, you’re not a snowflake, you’re not a skittle, you’re a center in need of a savior.

That’s the bottom line. You gotta get that first. That’s gotta come in that head first. You need to understand that your kindergarten teacher is wrong. No, you are a sinner and there’s only one way you gotta have a savior. You can’t nice your way out of this thing, boys. You can’t just be a good guy. Help old ladies cross the road, change flat tires for people who, who are.

You know, uh, buy groceries or cut grass. None of that. None of that. Now, while all those things are good, they’re important, they’re not gonna earn your salvation. You cannot earn your salvation. So you have to admit that you’re a sin. He need to believe that this guy, we talk about Jesus. He is the son of God.

He came on a rescue mission. His rescue mission was for you. If you’re listening to this, Jesus came and died for. He came and died for me. He came and died for you. He came and died for the whole world. It doesn’t say, uh, God says on so. So that one person. No, the whole world. He so loved the world that he sent his son.

And if you believe in him, you have eternal life. God, you have to believe with that, with all your heart, that Jesus is God. He is it. There is no other way to heaven except through. So he died on the cross. He paid the penalty for our sins. Three days later, he rose. Now he sits at the right hand of the Father, and there’s no other way to heaven except through him.

That’s it, guys, that you have to believe in Jesus. Then you have to confess him as Lord. And I’m not talking about just con, just confessing him as, you know what? I just don’t wanna go to hell. No, you confess him as Lord of your life. And once you confess Him as Lord, and and, and give and confess and give him everyth.

He’s gonna send you the Holy Spirit. I’d like to call that the line with them. We have that within us right now, and at that point, you’ll be walking with him and you’re gonna be convicted. His spirit’s gonna show you the past you should take. You’re gonna have, like we talked about today, be able to be on alerts.

Stand affirmative faith, act like men and be strong. You let everything you do be done in love because you have the Holy Spirit guid in you guys. And that is what it’s all about. So if you just accepted Christ as your Savior, welcome to the team. Welcome to the. I’m not gonna tell you it’s gonna get easy.

In fact, it’s probably gonna get a little harder. That’s why I wanna help you. So send me an email support at the line within us. I’m gonna send you some resources. I wanna jump on a phone call with you. I just want to put a arm around you and just give you a virtual hug and say, Hey, we love you here for you.

I get ready for the battle. I’m gonna show you what armor you need to put on. Yes, we have armor guys, and I’m also show you what your offensive weapon is. So if you wanna know more about the armor and the offensive weapon, send me an email support at the line with the N Us. All fellows will get after it this week, join the community.

I don’t know how much more can talk about, but the community is where it’s happening. I’m telling you, every week we have guys growing closer together. We have guys leaning in. We have guys supporting each other. We have events every day. We go live during daily s. So if you’re having a trouble, trouble reading the Bible, we’ll I’ll do it for you every day.

I’ll go live, read scripture, share God’s word, and share just what it means to me. And we have guys jump on that every day and, and, and just be part of that. And we have our lion lunches where we just get together and have lunch together and, and literally talk about anything in the world. We have bible study, couple of ’em happening every week so you can find a Bible study that works for you and your.

We have a form with all different types of topics that guys are just, they’re just sharing all the time. The community is incredible. It’s not one of these where you get in and you try to go there for good. Uh, you know what I’m going here for, for, for, for good help. Like Facebook. Maybe you wanna go to Facebook, you’ll go to a Facebook group.

Then next thing you know or Instagram, next thing you know, uh, things are popping up in your feed that you shouldn’t be looking at. That does not happen in our community. If it’s in our. It is, it is one, it’s wholesome. It’s from fellow believers and it’s talking about things that’s gonna help us grow as Christian men.

That’s it. There’s no other distractions, guys. Cause the distractions get in there, you know, we’re going do, we’re going, we’re going to get ’em out cuz we are able to control that environment because we want that environment to be a place where guys can grow together. So guys, if this sounds great, you know, we have our, as me, anything where we haven’t, guests from the pre, from the show come in and they, you can hop on a call with.

And literally ask him questions that you, I know you have. So all this, all of it is within our community. Connect with me on a regular basis, guys. I’m in the community every day helping, answering questions, connecting guys, connecting businesses and ideas together, guys, that’s what it’s all about. So the only we can do it is be in a community.

So the line with n. Join our community. It’s a 30 day free trial. Check it out. There’s nothing to lose. If you don’t like it, bounce out seriously. But you have nothing to lose. Jump into the community at the line within us. Start your free trial. Come to an event or two, see if it serves you well, and if it does, I pray you continue to just be part of us as we move forward.

Help you be the leader God intends you to be. So guys, get after it. Come back on Wednesday. You’re gonna really like this conversation on Wednesday, this conversation, this. It’s got a powerful story. I know it’s gonna be, make an impact. If you’ve ever struggled with, uh, sexual sin and any kind, particularly in what, within your marriage though, this is gonna serve you well.

It’s gonna give you some hope, it’s gonna give you some encouragement. It’s gonna give you some ideas to how you can overcome or hedge that off in the future. So it does not have to be a part of your walk because Satan wants your marriage to. I in the line within us and the Holy Spirit primarily. He’s the driver.

He wants your marriages to flourish. That’s why we talk about these things. So there you go. Be on the alert. Stand affirmative faith. Act like men. Be strong. I’ll see you guys the next episode. Don’t forget to unleash the lion with them.

What if you could connect with other Christian. Grow in your faith. Have resources to help you be the leader God intends you to be. Have live events where you can ask questions and get in the moment answers and be connected to guys 24 7 when you need ’em the most. Does it sound too good to be true?

What’s not? That is what we’ve built within the lion within us community. I’m telling you guys, this is an unbelievable opportu. Jump in, check us out. We have weekly events that are happening all the time. We have lion lunches. We have our Bible study. We have boot camps that are happening. We have, uh, ask me anything events every month where you get a chance to ask questions directly from guests.

From the show. Guys, it’s access that you cannot get anywhere else. This community is growing. It’s getting bigger and bigger, and it’s being, it’s growing closer together as it grows as. It’s amazing to see how these guys lean in, support, serve, love, encourage, challenge each other on a daily basis. So guys, if you want a chance just to check it out, hop over to the lion within us, get a 30 day free trial.

Just see what it’s like and you may find what you’ve been looking for. That encouragement, that support, that brotherhood is right here at the click of your finger. I’ll see. Inside the den.