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 of the week. I’m excited to have you here. I know you’re excited to be here. Let’s jump right into God’s word together.

So we’re gonna be in the book of Deuteronomy this week, okay? Deuteronomy chapter six. We’re gonna look at one verse, verse seven. Okay. And press them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at, when you sit at home and when you walk along the road. When you lie down and when you get up. Okay, so that’s Deuteronomy six.

Chap, uh, verse seven. Now, first of all, we need understand where’s Deuteronomy? We don’t talk about Deuteronomy a lot. Okay? It’s actually the fifth book of the Bible. So you have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers, then you get to Deuteronomy. Okay? Now, little trivia to get us going for a spiritual kickoff to today cuz I’m in kind of, kind of worked up this morning, guys.

I’m excited for it. I’m recording this in the morning actually, so I’m ready to go. So where, where, who wrote Deutero? Moses. Hey, uh, Moses wrote this. It was around 14, 10 bc Okay, so the word itself, Deuteronomy means second law. Okay? That’s it. Second law. And this verse, I love this verse because it’s part of what’s called the

Okay, now Pastor Jovi Martin did a big series, big series on the Shama and taught so much around that. So there, there’s so much to unpack with that. But the Shama basically is, is verses beginning verse four and five here of chapter six. So let’s just read that real quick here. Oli Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Guys. Powerful, powerful scripture right there. Now, it may sound familiar to you, okay? Cuz verse five, that’s a direct quote that Jesus uses back in Matthew 22, verse 37. Yes. That’s when he’s being asked by the Pharisees, Hey, which is the greatest commandment of the law, and he, he just lays it out.

Jesus will word for word, you shall love the Lord, you, God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mike. He lays that. Then he talks about love your neighbor as yourself. Okay. And I think he put the, the first one first for a reason. That vertical relationship, that’s what’s you with? God? He wants a relationship.

Okay. And that’s what guys we need to understand. And then he talks about the horizontal relationship, that horizontal relationship with others. Okay, so you first you have that vertical relationship. With God and in that horizontal relationship with others, and as a Christian man, that’s what I’m looking at here.

That’s what really jumps out to me. This verse, verse seven, and press them on dear children. Okay? That’s that horizontal relationship, okay? That we have to teach our children what it’s like to live a Christian. Okay. That’s what, that’s what we’re be talking about, living in Christ. And they need the most to understand the most basic relationships here, guys, is what your relationship is with Jesus.

They need to see this and this, this verse, it explains it. So beautiful. Cause it talk. It talks about the words when you’re at home. Okay? It says, it says, talk about them when you sit at home. Okay? How often when you, when you think about this, how often are you having spiritual conversations at home? I mean, really spiritual conversations where you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re getting past the surface level stuff and you’re actually having a conversation that matters.

How often is that happening at home? Because for, for most guys, it doesn’t happen. It just, just be honest guys. Just not something that we do. It’s not something that we, that we’re just, that, that’s just native to our houses. So how often is that happening? And I’m not talking about either just like a podcast playing in your house or some music playing in your house, but you as the.

Sitting down talking about these items directly, okay? Because your house, your home, wherever you’re, wherever you live, needs to be saturated. And I need saturated with the Holy Spirit. And the only way that’s gonna happen, fellas, is you have to invite him in. You have to invite him in, and then you gotta talk about him.

If you’re excited about something, you’re gonna talk about it, right? You are, you’re just gonna talk about it. It’s gonna come out in your conversations, okay? And, and if you, if you, uh, understand that when we lean into this and when we start talking about it, things are gonna start to change, okay? And I get it.

When you come home, you feel like you just, you should just be able to relax. And for the most, We can, right? But a Christian home, you need to understand one thing. You’re gonna be under attack. Under attack. Your home is gonna be under attack. Everyone in your home is gonna be under attack. And the only way, the only way to fight back is with the Holy Spirit and God’s word.

That’s it. So, hey, get practical in this. Put a Bible in every room. Literally put a Bible on every room, including the bathroom. So when you go to, when you have to go to the restroom. I’m pretty sure 100% of your listeners out there, you definitely have to go to the restroom every day instead of pulling the phone out and, and flipping through Instagram or, or Twitter or Snapchat or Facebook or whatever that wasteless social media is.

Or maybe a game, maybe you’re, you’re, you’re somebody like me who just sits there and plays tomb blasts all the time. Look, instead of that, pull the Bible out. Just sit there and read some scripture. It’s a great. Just to, just to get, just get into words. So look, have that stuff out. Have scripture references all over your house.

That’s okay. It’s cool. There are a lot of really good ones. The key is understanding what’s actually their context is, right? I can do all things through Christ, through Christ who strengths as me. That sounds great, but do you really understand the context there? So put that, put those scriptures around your house, right?

And then most importantly, let your children hear. Hear you talk about the importance of God in your life. All the time. All the time, right? So they need to be hearing that guys. I mean, seriously, this needs to be just part of who you are. It should get you fired up. Now, second part is verse talks about when you walk along the road.

Now we don’t really walk around along the road that much anymore. Maybe if you’re doing some service work, you’re out there, you’re cleaning the ditches and things like that. Hey, I hear you. So we’re, we’re walking down along the road. I totally get that. But for. When I hear this walk along road, it talks about that’s when we’re out in public, right?

That’s when we’re out in the world, right? Because it’s easy, guys, I totally get it. It’s easy to put on a good front, a fake you and look good on Sunday morning in a church pew. I’m just gonna say it. It is easier to do that. I’ve been there doing that myself. It takes, it takes something else to actually get out there and be real and be the light in this world.

Because remember, the church is just a building, right? That’s that building’s just a structure. You aren’t a church itself. You are. When you’re out in public. Let people see that light. Let people see ’em. Do they see that fruit? Do they see the love? Do they see the joy? Patience. Do they see that? I have to.

This is someone, one convicts me. Patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Do they see that in you? Because how can you expect your children to follow along or your wife to, to, to, to, if you’re ex expected to lead her, if they don’t see the fruit in you. It’s something I have to work with my kids all the time around kindness and goodness and just, and gentleness cuz you know, I’m raising three ladies and a and my little, my little boy, he’s not old enough yet, but I’m have to teach him these things and I’m not trying to teach ’em to be nice.

That’s not a fruit of spirit. I, I am trying to teach ’em to be kind. That’s a big difference between those two. But the only way they’re gonna see that they have to see me doing it and I have to impress it upon them the way scripture tells us. Right. First of all, love the Lord your God. All your heart sin on all your heart, your mind and soul.

That’s it. They need to see their father, how important God is, and then love your neighborhood yourself right Now, when scripture also talks about when you lie down, when you get up, okay? So when he, when he, when he talks about when you lie down, maybe you’re having str, you’re, you’re struggling to get some rest.

I talk to a lot of guys, a lot of ’em struggle with sleep. Okay? Hey, one thing you can. Let’s just start talking to your father. When you’re lying down, talk to him. He wants to hear from you, so talk to him. He wants that relationship and invite him into your life, right? And then you can rest easily. Trust me, I rest a lot easily just knowing that he’s with me.

Cuz you know what? When I’m sl lying down and I’m sleeping, I don’t know what’s going on. But God does right? And if he, and if he blesses you, and if you’re listening to this, he blessed you today. And how do I know that? Cuz you woke. Right. You woke up, the alarm clock went off. That’s how you know that God’s not done with you.

So if he blesses you with today, give him praise for it. Give him praise cuz That’s all we have guys, is today. That’s all we have right now is today. You know, every day is, remember this, every day is your chance to live for. And to truly live and show them what it looks like to be a follower of Christ, don’t waste that day.

Each day is that chance to teach ’em, to impress on them the things that matter most. And loving God. Guys, that’s gotta be a top of the list. And I get it. Everybody, we like to make plans and that stuff’s cool. I’m a plan maker myself, but you gotta remember, that’s just our, our plans. You wanna hear God laugh, just tell him what your plans are.

But you can go through every one of your day when you wake up, the first thing you should do is just praise him for the day. I wake up right now, roll every day. I, I see Becca laying there, and Judah, he’s over there doing his thing. It’s just a blessing each day. Don’t take it for Grant. And we forget that cuz we get so dog on busy and I’m just, I’m, I’m I’m worse than this.

Just like you guys, you get so busy, you get so focused on the things that are to come that you missed the blessings of what here is right here in front of us. And this doesn’t say impress upon your them, upon your cheer on tomorrow. No. This is talking about, this is the present tense all the time. Now. I know it sounds like, Hey man, I’m gonna mess up.

I, I get it. I’m gonna mess up. Say, I’m sorry, and then move forward and just start oppressing these things upon your children. If you keep the, the love of God first and foremost at the center of what you do, I promise you guys, I promise you the spirit will guide you. Now, will you have those moments? Yes. I just had one yesterday.

At the time of this recording yesterday, I did not have a good godly father moment with my children. They broke one of my water jugs. It was not a pretty. It just, things just not go well. And, and I lost my temper. But then I had to understand they needed to hear their father say, I’m sorry. And that was an opportunity to, to just show kindness, gentleness, cuz I was not showing it in that moment.

But then after they saw that, hey, that was a great, great chance just to learn. Then we went to basketball that night and my, my 10 year old, she’s out there hacking Fallon. Uh, she is an all boy lead. She’s out there hooping with them. And I was like, look, you need to have some kindness. You need to understand when you’re on that court, you are still representing Christ.

Show the fruit. You can play hard. I get it. I’m all about playing hard, being competitive. That’s, that’s important. I want, I don’t wanna take that out her from her at all, but I do want her to understand what the fruit looks like and how a, a Christian athlete should behave. And that was just a great opportunity to talk about right here.

Impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk around the road, or maybe when you ride along the road, coming home from that ballgame. So, hey, dads who are out there coaching your kids and you’re riding home, instead of talking about what went wrong on that court or what went wrong on that baseball field, or what went wrong on that football field.

Instead of that and breaking down the, the athletic side, talk about the fruit. Hey, in that moment when that didn’t, when that play didn’t go right, what could you have done differently to show kindness to your teammates, to encourage them to build them up? Start having those types of conversations, start asking those types of questions.

You’ll make a bigger impact with your kids in those moments, and anything you can correct them with from a, from a actual, physical standpoint, the way that they’re played. Okay. So guys, this week I want you to think about this one question. What does living for your kids look like to you? What does living for your kids look like to you?

Think about that because it’s not just, I get it, man. We’re all taking bullets for our kids. I totally get that. But you need to live for ’em. That’s what we’re gonna dig into on our next episode, guys, we’ll dig into that. What does living for them looks like? Now, if you’ve never accepted Christ, if you, if you’ve listening to the line with en you just, you’re getting jacked up.

You, you’re feeling good, but you’ve never actually accepted him as your savior. Guys, today is the day. Today is your opportunity, and it’s a very simple path. First, you just need to admit that you’re a center. That you are a center in need of a savior. That is, Right. There’s there, there’s, we are all, we have all fallen short of the glory of God, and we need a savior, luckily for us prayerfully.

Hallelujah. We have one. His name is Jesus Christ. And he came, he shed his blood on that cross for us. He is the son of God. And then three days after he was crucified for you and for me. He rose. He rose, he overcame death, and now he sits at the right-handed father and no one gets to help sit through him.

That’s it. He’s the only way, he is the way the truth to life. He is it. There’s no other ways. I wish, guys, I could tell you that you could do this X, Y, Z plan. You could eat this, you could serve here and you’d get in, but you can’t do it. You can’t. Nice your way in. The only way, the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ.

Salvation Founds, no other name under heaven has been given a upon man by which we must be saved. Says that Acts for 12. God said it is so important to understand this, okay, so believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Then you, once you do that, you have to confess him as Lord. Gas confessing his Lord. And I mean, I’m talking about Lord over everything.

Everything he is. If you do that, the Holy Spirit, we talk about the lion within will be in you. You’ll have a new heart. You’ll have new eyes. You’ll be out there. You’ll be able to get out and do the work that he has called you to do. You’ll lead your family differently. You’ll lead your work differently.

You’ll lead your finances differently. Guys, there is so much that comes with this, but it starts, starts with surrendering. You have to surrender. That’s where we lose so many guys. But if you’re there, if you feel like, man, I just can’t do this. Life is hard. I totally get it. Life is hard. Sin is in this world.

You can’t do this. I can’t do this. The only way we can do this, it’s with our power of our savior, Jesus Christ. So if you just accepted him as your. Hallelujah. Welcome to the Brotherhood. Now I want you to do me a favor, send me an email at support at the Lion within us. Why? Because I wanna first of all congratulate you, give you a virtual fist bump, give you some prayer, and we’ll send you some resources cuz now you are in the battlefield.

That’s it. You are in the battle and I will hook you up with some resources to help you prepare for the fight cuz you are in a fight, but it’s worth it. The cool part is you are on the winning. Does this mean it’s always gonna be easy for a Christian? No. No. That’s not what it’s all about. But it is important to get out there and do the work he’s called us to do.

So guys, I pray you serves you well. If you enjoy these spiritual care calls, we call ’em the sko. If you enjoy this stuff, guys, Hey, every day during the week, Monday through Friday, I do a live spiritual kickoff. In our community. So I go in, I read scripture, we, we read through different books of the Bible, and then I just share what the Holy Spirit has revealed to me.

It’s just a fun way to start your day. We post those in our community as well, uh, within the line within us. So if you like the sks, hey, you could be getting this type of, uh, uh, being fed this way by, by. Just by joining our community. That’s a cool new way we started doing that. That’s something that new that we’re, that we’re doing, we’ve been doing it for a while.

I love it. It gets me in the word, it challenges me every day just to share, and it just builds up. It builds us all up as we grow. So, man, I if you like the sks again, we, we, we unpack. Uh, usually chapters of the Bible, not just a verse like the a typical SKO O but we just have a lot of fun. Just read, I’ll just read the word, share it and that could be a great way to start your day.

So if you enjoy the Sko O’s, hey, consider joining a community just to, just to be a part of that, you know, if you haven’t given us a rating and review yet, please do that. All that stuff matters, guys. Share the podcast. That’s the thing I haven’t been talking about. Share it with someone. Send that text message.

Hey, talk about it in your small group at church. Talk about it, uh, on your Sunday school class. Okay? Talk about it, uh, with your pastors, whoever, just talk about it with, with the people that, that you feel like you wanna, this could be an easy way to start sharing the gospel with some of your, what? Your, what’s your, your buddies, right?

Because, you know, you know me the way I talk about this stuff. I, I, Prayerfully, I’m relatable to a lot of guys and I’m just a normal guy. So share it with your buddies cuz we have conversations that help any of these guys. And this could be just a, a tool you use to align within us to have a conversation some point down the road, who knows how the spirit’s gonna work, but share it with your friends.

That’s really a, a, a great way to grow. And if you’re ready to take the next. And not to get off the, the, the bench and actually get into the game. Don’t just be a pew setter, but actually be a doer. Come to the community man. Check it out. We give a 30 day free try to for the community for a reason, cuz we believe in it.

It’s growing. The guys in there are leaning in on each other every day. We’re serving each other. We’re helping each other. We’re helping each other grow. The only way you’re gonna do it, fellas, you gotta be in a community. So check it out for 30 days. If you don’t like it, bounce out. That’s fine. By guarantee you, between our, ask me anything.

Live events with our guests, our lion lunches, every week, our Bible study, every week we have boot camps, we have resources like our courses. The form itself, the all the different spaces we have. Hey, you wanna get stronger? We got a strength training place. Hey, you dealing with anxiety? We have an anxiety place.

Hey, you di you wanna be a better dad? We have a a better dad space. Guys. We have different places within the community to serve you where you need it. So take action right now to lion within.us. Click on that 30 day free trial. Get started. I’ll see you inside the. All right guys. Get after it. Come back on Wednesday.

I’m looking forward to sharing this episode with you next on for our meat episode this week. Cause this is really important. It’s about living, living for our family. What does that look like? How can we take it, apply it, make it happen? So get after it. Unleash the lion within

guys out, hear all the time how we are isolated. We’re alone. We don’t feel like we have anybody we can talk to. And I’m here to. We took action. The line within us, we started a community and that thing is awesome. We have events happening all the time, and more importantly, we have guys connecting with each other every day.

And I’m talking about we’re building meaningful relationships, serving each other, accountability, growth, and I know that’s what you’re looking for and it’s done guys all within the community itself. Every week we have lion lunches, we have bible studies, we have, uh, ask me anything events. We guys, this is, we have things, resources that we have built to serve you, to help you be the leader God intends you to be.

We’re offering right now a 30 day free trial. Jump in, check it out for a month. Come to some events, see what it’s like. See if it serves you well. You have nothing to lose at this point. Check it. And I guarantee you guys, once you get in, you’re gonna find the resources that you need to help you keep growing.

Just that encouragement. Sometimes you just need that fellow brother coming alongside that’s just gonna be there and say, I got you, bro. And that’s what we got. We have that and so much more. So go to the line with the us, click on get a 30 day free trial and start today. And guys, I’ll see you inside the den.