Welcome to the Line Within Us, a podcast sermon, 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. This’s your spiritual kickoff of the week. I’m excited to have you here. So let’s dig into our scripture. Okay, so we’re gonna be in the book of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah chapter six, looking at one verses week verse 16. This is what the Lord says. Stand by the waters and see and ask for the ancient pass where, where the good way is and walk in it. Then you will find a resting place for your souls. But they said, we will not walk in it. Guys, this is a powerful scripture here.

So let’s unpack this and let’s see how we can simplify and apply this to our. And, and, and move forward today here on the spiritual kickoff. The first thing we need to know, bottom line, where’s Jeremiah? That’s not a book we go to very often. I get it. I get it. Okay. But it’s in the Old Testament. So if you go to Isaiah, most people can find Isaiah as a very, very well known prophet in the Bible.

Right? Go to Isaiah. And it’s right after that. Okay. Now what’s going on here? This is the section of Jeremiah’s prophecy where he’s actually telling the people Ju of Judah, the certainty of God’s judgment. Okay. And they were not hearing all the warnings. Okay. And they were not, they were very much living guys in the way of, I got this.

I got this. Just get out. I’m gonna do it my way. Don’t you worry about it. I, I just, just leave me alone. Okay? So, Jeremiah, he was doing all he could, helped them see the error of their ways, yet their hearts were served, were set on serving themselves. That was it. They did not want to serve God. They wanted to serve themselves.

Guys, if you look around the world right now, just, just look around you. This is every. People want to serve themselves. Very seldom do you find others that truly, truly want to serve others. Right? And we have to remember at the bottom, at the end of the day, his ways is always best. It’s always best. And sometimes it starts.

So if you look at this verse right here, where does it start? It starts by telling us to stand by the ways and see, okay, it says right here in this scripture, this is what the Lord says. Stand by the ways and. Okay, well, how do we do that? First of all, we need to know his ways. You gotta know it first to do it, and to do that, you gotta spend time with him.

You know, I, I love my wife, but I want to know her. You know what? To, to know her. I have to spend time with her so that, that’s, it’s one thing to say, yep, I love her, but no, I have to spend time with her. I need to make that a priority and spend time with her. Same way with God. He wants to know you and hopefully you want to know.

And the only way you can do that is spend time with him. So get in the word, pray, right? Worship all the different ways you can connect with God. Give him those moments, those opportunities to speak to you, okay? And if we don’t make that a priority, we’re, we’re never going to grow. And if you, if we just start looking at our calendars, how often are you making a priority every day to carve out that time of.

Bottom line guys, I know how you work. Cause you work like this. I do the same way that I do. If it gets prioritized, it gets done right. That’s really, that’s really it. Let’s just be real now. So let’s make that a priority. Let’s carve out that time first thing in the morning to be with our father, or that time around lunch, or that time in the minute afternoon or in the evening.

Let’s make sure that it’s a priority and it’s not the first thing that gets dropped like so often it does. We’re not gonna miss a sports event, right? Let’s just be real. We’re not gonna miss that hunting trip. Okay. We’re not gonna miss going to the gym. We’re doing a workout. Maybe some of you guys will, but I know a lot of you guys, it’s a big deal.

We’re, well, we’re not gonna compromise any of those things, but the first thing we’re willing to compromise is our time with our, with our savior guys. We gotta stop. If we’re gonna be the leaders, the God has called us the beat. We gotta stop that. We gotta understanding, you know what? I am making this a priority.

Okay? Now once you. That what you’re, what you’re, what you’re supposed to do, right? The Holy Spirit’s talking to you and he’s giving you that conviction. What does God tell you to do? Right here? It tells you right here. You wh where the, where the good way is walk in it. Have to walk in it. So what does that actually mean?

That means you gotta take some action here, guys. Gotta get going. That means you gotta get up off that. And get to doing some work. And I have one of our members of our community, he talks about all the time, he is not a pew sitter. He’s like, I’m a doer. And I, I can’t stand just sitting in the pew listening.

I, I gotta get up and do some work for the Lord. And this is where really a lot of guys stop. They don’t do this step, you know why? Because it’s hard. It’s scary. People judge others. When you start doing something that’s different, right? When it’s not the norm. When you’re starting to do stuff out the box, when you start leaning into God and just doing it his way and trying his way for a change, it can be scary.

Heck, starting a Christian podcast talking about, uh, how, how to serve Christian men to be the leaders God continue you to be. That’s scary. That’s intimidating. I don’t feel qualified many times to do this, but I keep leaning. I keep growing and that iron sharpens iron. It happens on a, pretty much a daily basis.

Feels like Satan’s constantly throwing those darts, constantly just tr throwing those, those seeds of, of, of doubt and discouragement. Then I got brothers within the line within this community and brothers within my, my own, my own personalized in that are just constantly telling me that, you know, what you are doing, what God caused you to do, just keep doing it, you know, and, and, and if you are consistent with it, if you are just obedient to what he’s calling you to do.

Right here. Walk in. It is what God’s telling you to do. That’s the good way. Walk in it. Okay. Because that’s when the blessings happen, is when is when you stop trying to do everything your way and start leaning into God and his way. So I want you to think right now, that’s your life before Christ. Right.

And maybe if you haven’t accepted Christ and say, we’re gonna talk about that in a little bit how you live right now. Right. It was a, a, it was a lot of finding an easy button back then. Right. And what or what’s in it for me thinking. Go to any business right now. You walk to any business out there right now and you’re gonna see this, you’re gonna see firsthand what it’s talking about.

Where usually it’s, uh, what, what am I, what can I do for themselves and their, my career? Okay? It’s all about me, me and my career. What, how can I take the next step on a corporate ladder? How can I get that next advancement? How can I land that next contract right now? I actually heard a time Ave a, a colleague one time.

I couldn’t believe I heard this. He’s like, you know what, now, now is the time to push down on the throat of that vendor because they made a mistake, but we are not gonna let up. And I was sitting here like, bro, they’re human too. Like seriously, now is the time when they made a mistake and they were, uh, they obviously, they, they, they messed up.

I’m not trying to defend them, but they are human. And that at that point we wanna lean. And just, just pour out condemnation on them. No, that’s not it, man. I mean, what if our savior did that to us? None of us would get in. Right. Right. And we just have to remember guys, his ways, they have to be our ways because they’re instantly more better than anything we can come up with.

Okay. And, and you gotta remember this. You’re wherever you’re at right now, wherever you’re listening to this at. Maybe you are in a church. You work at a church, okay? You would be the exception. Most of you guys are listening to this. You’re not in a church. That is your mission field. Church is where you go to learn, to grow, to get filled up with the word, what the word, for sure.

And, and, and, and to have that, uh, fellowship. That is don’t, not, do not misinterpret me here. Church is very important, but when you leave that church, that is your opportunity to make an impact in the kingdom, right? Okay, and I’m gonna tell you guys, if you do that, if you walk in it, what does the scripture tell you?

Right here? It says, then you will find a resting place for your soul. So this is where it’s gonna happen, guys. You’re going to find that rest. Guys, I know that you’re tired. You know why? Because I’m tired. We all are. Is it possible? Think about this. Is it possible that you’re tired because you’ve been trying to live your way all the time instead of his?

Your way instead of his and for me, that’s when I try, that’s usually when I get war out the fastest. Right? I start trying to do it Chris’ way. I start trying to bootstrap stuff. Just taking on too much. Saying yes, yes, yes. Without ever praying it over anything. Forget that I can actually say the word no or just completely distracted.

Cuz again, Satan’s gonna do all sorts of ways to distract. To distract you. Right. When you do that, you know that’s when we get burned. Okay. And we, and right here, we just need to take this lesson right here. We need to turn from our ways and learn from the Old Testament here, guys. God is speaking to us right here.

Okay? And, and looks what happened to these, to, to the people that Jeremiah was prophesy pro was, was prophesying to, look, look what happened to, what did they say? We will not walk. I’m gonna tell you what fellas, it didn’t turn out well for ’em, okay? It did not turn out well. We have the good news of the gospel and we are saved by that wonderful grace.

Yes, we have the truth right here, but we also have grace. We also have that. So we gotta start walking in this stuff, guys. And we need to be always looking for the opportunity to lean in on God and to take that opportunity to, to, to uh, put his ways into practice. Cuz that’s what’s gonna make the impact on the kingdom guys.

It’s not gonna be, it’s not about head knowledge. It’s about actually taking what God’s word says. Like right here, this one verse, Jeremiah six 16, here’s your challenge for this week. Take this one verse. And see how many times you can actually apply it in your daily walk. How many times can you stand right here by the ways that the what the Lord says and see and actually do it, walk in it, and how many times are you gonna not walk away from it?

Okay? So just challenge yourself. You know what? I see this thing going wrong in this. I’m going to take a stance. Well, maybe you just need to let, uh, some few people know that in, in your circle of influence, that you’re a believer that you actually surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Maybe that’s where you need to start.

Guys. Don’t ever doubt for a second or a second that, that you can’t accomplish, or he’s called you to do. It says right here. You know that, that you gonna find that resting place. You can have that confidence, you can have that assurance. Lean into God’s word. He build that relationship. Let him into your heart and then go out and do what he’s called you to do.

That’s unleashing in line with them guys. That’s what, that’s how you make this happen. So the question I want you to ask yourself this week, do I have what it takes? I know a lot of you guys ask that question all the time. Do I have what it takes, Chris? I mean, yes. Cool. You, you talk about this stuff all the time.

Of course you have confidence in it. I’m gonna tell you what boys, Nope. There are many days, many, many days. Where it’s, it’s, it’s isolation, it’s complete. Um, where Satan is just throwing these nonstop darts, one after the other, after the other. You’re not good enough, you’re not smart enough, you don’t know enough.

All these things, they fly. Me too. The difference is I have a group of men that I can go to and be real with, and that’s important. And then I know they’re, they’re, they’re sharpening me. I’m sharpening them. We’re growing, but I’m gonna tell you right now, if you ever question, do you have what it takes?

Just know that’s from the pits of hell. That’s the evil one trying to throw you off. You have what it takes. Now if you’ve listened to all this and you’re like, what in the world are you guys talking about so far as being accepted by Christ? And so far as, uh, uh, being saved? Like I, I, I don’t know about, maybe I know this.

I know the name Jesus, but I don’t know a whole lot about him. It’s very simple. It’s very simple. All Jesus asked. Is everything. So maybe I lost you right there. But bottom line is, guys, you have to understand that our core, at our core as men, we’re sinners. Okay? And the sinner, anything that separates us from God, we are black hearted sinners in need of a savior.

Bottom line. Okay? We are not mistakes in need of a life coach. We are sinners in need of a, of a savior. Okay? And the, the only. The only way we can can can get this thing right-sided. Okay? There’s nothing we can do to right side it on our own. See, you can’t nice your way in. I wish I could tell you that you could, but you can’t.

Okay. Nice is not a fruit of the spirit, by the way. We’ve talked about that before in alliance, but it’s, you can’t nice your way in, right? You have to completely surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. So you have to believe, you had to believe that Jesus was the son of. Jesus. He was the son of God. He has, he descended from heaven.

He took on one of these bodies that we walk around in. He was a wonderful teacher. He won, performed many miracles, and then he paid the ultimate penalty for our sin. When he died on the cross, he was crucified on that cross of Calvary and his all his blood rant, and he, he died right there. But guess what?

They laid him in a tomb, right? Three days later, three days later, he overcame death. Now when he. He was the perfect sacrifice for sin, okay? And the curtain was split from the top to the bottom. There was nothing left that separates us from from, from God. The old covenants passed. We have the new covenants, so we’re now under grace.

Guys. We’re under grace because the tomb is empty. Okay? And then he ascended to the father and he sits at a right hand of him. Right now, no one gets to heaven to step through him. You have to understand, guys, that he is the only way he is. That’s it. So once you believe that, and I mean truly believe that in your heart, then you have to confess him as Lord.

And I’m not talking about teacher. He’s gotta be Lord, over everything, over your finances, over your marriage, over your career, everything, all the hard stuff. He’s gotta be over it all. And if you confess him as Lord, at that moment, you have a new heart. The Holy Spirit comes. It gives you that, that, that, that insight, that wisdom within, we call it the lion within the spirit.

Is there. And it’s ready, and now the blinders are off. You’ll be ready for the battle that you’re in. You were in a battle before, you just didn’t realize it. So if you just prayed this prayer and you accepted Christ as your savior, welcome to the Brotherhood. Send me an email at Support the line within.us.

I’m serious. Send that email. You know why, first of all, ask. We’re gonna hook up. We’re gonna have a conversation. I’m gonna pray. I just wanna say a prayer over you, and I wanna give you some free resources to help you along the way to get you going, to help you prepare for the battle that you’re in. Give you some scriptures that you can ground yourself in, that you can that, that you can start memorizing to get ready.

Be that leader. And don’t ever question for a second. Don’t ever question for a second that you’re not qualified to be a leader. Every man listening out here, you guys are qualified. Now if you are enjoying the, the spiritual kickoffs, we do these every day and in line within us Monday through Friday. Okay?

So that’s a great way for you right here, every day to get a little bit of spiritual boost to get your day going, right? Okay, so go to the line within us, join the community, check that out. See how the spirit, the daily spiritual kickoff would serve. We also have access to all the things we have within our community.

I’m talking about our, our our, uh, our events. We have our bible study, we have our lion lunches. We have our, as me anything, we have mastermind groups. I’m telling you, man, we have things in here that, that we’re building serve so many men to help them be the leader God intends them to be. We have courses, we have guys.

I’m just, I, I can’t emphasize. How much effort we’re putting at to help these guys grow, and we are seeing phenomenal growth and success and the way we run our challenges every month just to help these guys grow in their marriages and grow physically. County what guys? The only way you’re gonna get access and get a chance to see it is just hop in the community.

We offer a 30 day free trial. Go, go again to the line within us. Start your free trial. See what you think. See how it serves you. See how we can help you grow. Be that leader God intends you to be. So guys, come back on Wednesday. You’re not gonna miss this one, this, this, this, this episode on Wednesday has been work in the works for over a year.

So when I reached out to these guys, when I fir, when we first started the line within. And quite frankly, they just, they said no. They’re like, you know what, uh, we want to kind of, we’re really busy, hit us back in a year. You know what I did? I put a marker on my calendar for one year from that day, and I sent them an email that day and they were kind of taking back like.

Well, this guy’s pretty doggone persistent. I actually used the email they had sent me, so I replied to a one year old email that led to a conversation. What ultimately led to this, to the episode on Wednesday that you guys are gonna get? I’m gonna tell you what, it’s powerful. It’s a wonderful conversation.

It’s very, very deep. It’s gonna give you some insight to help you grow. Guys, I pray you come back, check that out. Be sure to give us a rating and review that helps tremendously share this spiritual kickoff off. If you’ve never spent any time in Jeremiah, you got this one scripture. Now you can go back to this one, refer to it, share this out with other guys.

Come back on Wednesday. Guys, thank you again for taking the time to listen to the, to the line with us. It just means the world to me when you. Show up. You listen, you engage, you give us good feedback. So just thank you again. There’s so many podcasts you can be listening to. That means the world to me that you’re taking time here.

Have a great day. We’ll see you back Wednesday for the meet episode. Get after it. Unleash the lion with that.

Does your men’s group feel stale? Is men’s ministry at your church simply going through the motion? If the answer is yes, the lion within us is ready to give you the kickstart you need to get moving in the right direction. We have a host of topics from marriage. Parenting, finances and leadership that I am delivering myself to help your team start doing the work God has called you to do.

So I’m ready to come serve your groups in person and to get started, visit delion within.us/speaking. That’s the line within.us/speaking. There. You can contact us directly or share the link with your church leader. To get started again, that’s the lion within us slash speaking, and I look forward to helping others unleash the lion within.