Chris Grainger
Host
00:03
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. Spiritual kickoff time. I’m excited to have you here. We’re ready to start another week. We’re ready to dive into God’s words. Let’s look right. Today We’re going to be in the book of Colossians.
00:20
Okay, colossians, chapter three, looking at one verse, verse 17. It says whatever you do and word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God, the Father. Guys, i love this verse, absolutely love this verse. Colossians is a fun book to read as well. It’s only four chapters in Colossians.
00:42
The first thing we need to understand is where is Colossians? We need to know our Bible. Right, so it’s in the New Testament. It is buried, though, because it’s buried in the middle of a lot of Paul’s letters. So it’s one of the easiest ways that I can find to find this one. Just go to the Gospels Matthew, mark, luke and John, flip on past Acts and Romans, then you’ll start getting to these other letters. Right, you get to get past Romans, you’ll get first and second Corinthians, then you’ll get to Galatians, ephesians, philippians, and then you get to Colossians. Okay, so it’s again in my Bible. It’s only I’m looking right here right now, guys It’s only like maybe four pages total, so it’s not a big one. If you have extra large print, maybe you have like a five or six page one. A small print you may only have like two pages for Colossians, but that’s where you’ll find it. This is Paul’s letter to the church at Colossi and it was written during his first prison imprisonment.
01:30
Okay, so in this section of Colossians, what Paul is laying out is characteristics of our calling as believers. Now he starts off by laying out what do we need to start putting aside? And he has a list here. It’s not an easy list to hear, fellas. I’m gonna tell you straight up. He talks about putting aside anger, put aside wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, lying. Now, when you hear those things, right, i know what comes to your mind, guys. He’s laying out things just 2,000 years ago. That sounds like he could be writing stuff right now. Right, it’s just true. Look around you. You see it happening all around us each and every day, guys. It is all around us.
02:15
Now, the key is how often are you seeing any of these things in yourself. This is where we gotta check ourselves, guys, because it’s easy to just have this view where we’re seeing the worst in others, versus ever putting that mirror and looking internally and seeing for ourselves. And I know anger for me and for many others, that’s something that we struggle with, right, and it’s down that slope of anger that we find ourselves spiraling out of control, fellas. So when you start getting angry, you don’t really start thinking correctly. You know you just get off, and when you get off, you end up hurting people that you don’t mean to hurt, and it’s usually the people that are closest to us. Let’s just really think about that for a second. I know for me, a lot of times when I get angry, the one I hurt the most is my wife, and I don’t mean to. I have to find myself going back to her all the time apologizing. But we have to be careful here.
03:13
Paul is laying this out. These things are something that can take us down and we can hurt others and we need to be aware of them. And Paul, what he does in this writing in Colossians again, go back and just read the whole book. You can read, you can seriously read Colossians in one sitting, guys. But see, he’s just from the things to be aware of to things we need to start thinking about, like attributes that we should strive towards.
03:35
Now let’s look at that list. Okay, because that’s an important list to understand too Kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness Okay. Now, that list is not an easy list to hear either, fellas. If you’re like me, i totally get it. It’s hard to see that list and, like man, i got to do all those things And it’s even harder to see that stuff in the world. Let’s just be real with this. Okay, i totally know what that you guys are thinking right now, because I don’t see a lot of this in the world we live in right now.
04:07
Go to any social media out there We’re going to talk about that in a minute too, the importance of social media and protecting the words we say. But you just go out there and look and see what’s being posted. It’s so much negativity, so much anger, wrath, malice, all these things. Right, very little of these positive attributes, very little. Kindness is no such thing anymore. Very rarely do you see kindness, right, humility, it’s just something out there Again.
04:32
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. It’s something that We need to have more of, particularly with our from a leadership standpoint, but it’s something I don’t know what the answer is to teach guys this other than you just have to continually make them aware, and that’s just a. This is an area of sanctification, of growth that we have to think about, but I want to start talking about one right here, with the gentleness, because I know, with my house, where I live, you know gentleness and patience. These are constant areas of spiritual growth that God is working on me. I don’t know about you, fellas, because it’s easier for me to snap on others Usually it’s the ones closest to me and just lose my cool right, And I know I’m not alone.
05:13
You know, maybe somebody you’re listening to this right now and you lost your cool on somebody that you, that one of your loved ones today, and you’re just feeling so small and you feel like man. I can’t believe I did that again. I can’t believe I snapped on them. If they would just listen, right, well, i wish they would just do this, and I totally get it, i know. I know you have to.
05:32
We have to listen, though. We have to listen to God’s word. So in this case is where we snap and we don’t do what we should do. We’re not acting the way that God wants us to do. What do we need to do? Turn to His word, turn to His word and we need to see how we can simplify and apply the the Bible to our walk. So just do that right here, with this one verse today, guys, and we’re gonna see that whatever we do and word or deeds, we should do it all in Jesus’s name. Okay, let’s break it down because, again, this scripture is very important to just understand. It’s a very simple verse whatever you do and word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to Him, to God the Father. Let’s break this down. We see that Paul specifically calls out our words. Now you may be thinking that this just applies to what we say. Okay, well, that’s true. That’s what Paul primarily was talking about.
06:26
Communication shifted a whole lot in the last 2000 years. Think about the rise of the digital world that we live in right now. Think about how you’re listening to me. You’re most likely on the device, maybe Apple, spotify or these different podcast players. Maybe you’re watching on YouTube. Our YouTube presence is growing, so I know a lot more of you guys are watching this on YouTube. Thank you for that and, by the way, if you’re not subscribed to our YouTube channel, you’re missing out. We put a lot of great content out there, but the world has shifted. Text message, sms, direct messaging, email, okay, and you have all these different ways. People are even communicating now with emojis and memes. You know, there’s just so many different ways to communicate. And then you have social media, and social media is impacting so many of us and, as Christian men, we have to be aware of the words that we use in all forms of communication.
07:19
I am telling you, fellas, before you hit sin, you need to think. You need to think. You need to say, okay, is this going to honor and glorify God? because that former communication, it is important. It is important, so you may have to you know what. You may actually need to type it out. I’ve heard people do this. Go ahead and type out that reply. It’s gonna make you feel better just to type it out. And then do this right here for me Delete it, just delete it. Okay, it’s not worth putting that person on blast or trying to justify yourself or try or try to elevate or make your point, because it’s not gonna do anything, it’s not gonna honor the worst by God.
07:55
Now, this isn’t in all cases. So take this stuff, guys, and you have to learn and apply, because if you do need to take a Stance on something, yes, sometimes you do have to be strong and firm in your writing. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m talking about when you see someone do a political post and you don’t like their point of view and you start blasting them. That doesn’t do any good, right? Or if you see somebody who they don’t align with your, with your moral morals or your values, and you’re trying to go out there, you just blast them on social media. That’s not gonna do any good. You’re never gonna save anybody or to Christ or point him to Christ, but by responding in anger. It’s just not gonna happen. Okay, so don’t go past down this path.
08:32
Your words matter, guys. I’m telling you, the words matter so much, particularly for us Christian men. The words we say matter. How we say them matters, fellows, think about that. Your tone is important. This came up in our couples night back a few months ago. Tone is important. How we say stuff matters.
08:51
And the problem with the, with the written communication. Fellas, just a riff on this for a minute the way you say something, the way you mean to say something, doesn’t come across, because your tone gets lost. In written communication It just does. So you could be writing something and you could totally be innocent and thinking that this is a pretty standard formal communication, and the other, the person receiving the message, could totally misinterpret it and think that you know You’re mad at them or you’re being rude or you’re being angry and that’s not what you meant at all. And then, heaven help me if you actually do start sending all caps. We all know the older folks out there is so still send the all caps text messages. You’re like why are you yelling at me? Stop yelling at me. So you just have to be careful. People, i’m telling you be careful, because words matter and you never know how people can receive the communication, particularly in the digital format.
09:44
And this is what Paul’s telling us right here. Whatever you do in word, do in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to him, to God, the Father, so as all your words obviously the ones we speak, but also the other ways we communicate Are they glorifying God? now Let’s transition here. Okay, we’re not just gonna talk about words. He also talks about, Ah, the deeds. So let’s think about the deeds, the deeds, the deeds that matters. This is not pointing right here to any work space, righteousness or anything like that, fellas. That’s not we’re talking about, but it’s highlighting the fact that we are called to work and that work that we do should be glorifying God period.
10:24
So let me ask you a question When are you on the clock for God? Okay, maybe are you on the clock when you at work. How about when you’re on the way home? How about one year at the ball field, or at church, or on a mission trip, or at the grocery store, or in traffic, or at a restaurant, or have at your bedroom? Here’s you got.
10:44
I hope you guys are getting my point. God doesn’t have a time clock. We are always on duty Period. This doesn’t mean we always had to be perfect, no, but it does mean that, whatever we do, we should be doing it to strut, and we should be striving To do these things to honor and glorify him. Okay, i’m telling you, fellas, your actions matter. Words are important, for sure, but actions matter.
11:11
Remember what I say, guys There’s more than there’s more to talk and talk like with your kids and things like that, and don’t think of there’s ever a minute where you can just you know what. I’m just gonna be up, all about me. I’m not gonna worry about honor and glorifying God. You know he’s not watching me. Nope, he’s with you all the time, fellas. All the time. That means even when those moments when you’re in your sin, he is with you. I know a lot of you guys I talk with and I deal with it throughout our community and through others that are struggling with sexual purity and Just the world of pornography and how that’s impacting so many Christian men. I’m a seri tell you, fellas, he’s here, he’s in those moments too.
11:50
You got to make sure that we’re not, that we’re honoring, glorifying him and whatever we do, and the things that we’re doing are pulling us away from God. We got to reach out and get help to stop that, to stop doing those things and move towards him. And maybe it’s your friends, maybe it’s the people you’re spending your time with. Are they pulling you further away from God Or are they pointing you to him? Because, guys, if you hang out with with other stuff, with other men that are pulling you closer to God. Guess what? You’re just gonna actually get closer to God. You are, but if you’re hanging out with a group that does not have the same values that you have as a Christian man, that are, they are gonna pull you away.
12:28
Now You may say, well, i just want to evangelize them, i want to bring them closer to God. I totally get that. You should probably do that. But you need to have another group of men that that are still pulling you closer, because you got to have someone that’s pulling you closer to God. Our deeds matter, okay. So, fellas, i’m just trying to.
12:47
I’m just really trying to break this one, this one verse down very simply for you. You don’t have to be perfect, but whatever you do, you try to glorify him. If you do that, if you give him all the things right here It says in this verse if you give him all the things, at that point you’re gonna start feeling what we mean when I say unleash the line with them. You know it’s not just a tagline, fellas. Oh, unleashing the line within is something that we can actually experience each and every day, when we share the good news of the gospel with others and we point other to Jesus to Jesus Christ, and, and, and, and the love he has for them, and salvation awaits. Man, you can totally do this. You just got, takes a action. So here’s what I want you to think about this week.
13:29
The question about for the week this week is how has technology influenced the way you engage with your faith? I Think about that for a second technology, this change so much. Remember, smartphones have only been out for a little over a decade And how much they have changed the whole way we live our life, the way the world sees things, the way that we respond, communication, meetings I mean it’s unreal. How much has changed in a little over a decade. How has it changed the way you engage your faith? It should remember, if you’re listening to the line within us, it’s changed. It’s changed the way you engage your faith right now, because you’re listening to a podcast Serving Christian men.
14:09
So obviously this is prayer, prayerfully. This is things that are that are building you up and drawing you closer to God. But how many of those things do we actually have each and every day? How many sermons do you listen to outside of your Sunday sermon? What if you get, if you go to church on a Sunday. Are you? are you constantly being poured into With the word or with the world? You have to be careful here, because if you’re constantly important to with the world, when you hear the word, sometimes it just it’s not gonna stick Because you too infiltrated with the world. So you gotta get that stuff out, you gotta put those manners up and you gotta be committed to growing closer to him. If you do that, whatever you do in word, indeed, oh, you’re gonna do that in the name of the Lord Jesus and you’ll give him all the things. You got it fellas now For our spiritual kickoff.
14:58
You guys know, if you listen to the line within us, i know there are a lot of listeners out there who are not believers. We even have community members in our community who are not believers. They’re just there, they’re wanting to know more. So I’m also gonna give you a very brief Introduction to who Jesus is and what he can do for you, because if you’re out there trying to do this thing called life by yourself, i feel so sorry for you. I really do. I care about you, i love you and I want to help you, and the best thing, the only thing I know to do to help you is To point you to Jesus, and this first starts with admitting that you’re a sinner. You just need to admit that you’re a sinner in need of a savior. You guys say this every week We’re not a, we’re not a sinner in the life coach. Nope, you know, we’re a sinner in need of a savior.
15:45
And Once you understand that that you are a sinner, you have to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he wasn’t just a prophet, he wasn’t just a good guy, he wasn’t just a teacher. No, he was a son of God. And he, he came from heaven, he lived here on earth, he taught us, he showed us, he showed us the path to him. Then he went to the cross. He paid the penalty for our sin, this and when he died on that cross, that you believe somehow, somehow, that blood that ran counted for you And he was thinking about you in that moment. And then, three days after, he went in that tomb, he overcame death And now he says, right hander, father, and we know he is it. he is the only way, he’s the way, the truth in life. Guys, he is it.
16:26
You need to confess him as board, and it can be very simple. It doesn’t have to be super complex. It can just be in this moment, right now, where you confessed that you know what I’ve been trying to do. This thing call life too long. I get this verse right here Colossians 3 17.
16:40
I know I need to start doing things to glorify him. I know it’s not me that I’m just gonna surrender to him. If you are ready to surrender with him, i’m gonna pray here in a minute. We’re gonna pray a prayer salvation. We’re gonna point you to him and I pray, if that’s where you are, that you stop whatever you’re doing. You want to try me on your listen to this And you’re ready to accept Jesus, your savior? stop, slow down the treadmill. Then let’s go to him in prayer right now, because I know there is someone out there listening who is ready to accept him as their Savior. So, father God, i just come to you right now. For whoever is listening right now, who is ready to accept you as their Lord and Savior, i just pray that you be with that person, that you wrap your arms around him, that you let them feel your presence. I just pray, god, that the Holy Spirit comes upon them right now, in this moment, and gives them a peace that passes all understanding, father, and I just pray that you get this person connected with others that can help them grow in their faith. Father, God, i am so thankful for the decision that they made and we know that heaven is rejoicing right now for that one person who just confessed to you as Lord. We pray all this according to your will in Jesus’ precious name. Amen. Now, that was you. You just accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Hallelujah, praise the Lord. That is what we do. This is why we do this.
17:58
I want you to send me an email, support at thelineworthinus. That’s support at thelineworthinus. I’m going to send you some free stuff. I’m going to send you 10 scriptures you need to have. I’m going to send you a Bible study for free. I want to actually try to get on a Zoom call with you and just give you a virtual fist bump, talk to you, try to prepare you for the battle that you just entered. Okay, because now the scales are off. You’re in the battlefield. I want to arm you up and get you ready for the fight, because you’re not going to be in a fight And we’re here to support you, we’re here to serve you. So, again, send me an email there Again, if you like the daily, if you like the spiritual kickoff rather, we do a spiritual kickoff every day within our community I’m talking about money through Friday.
18:35
Every morning we do it. I do it live. We read God’s word together. The guys can chat with me. It’s all a feature within our community And, guys, we have a ton of fun with this. So maybe you don’t know how to read God’s word every day or it seems too intimidating. Hey, deal with a bunch of other guys. It’s a very simple way And if you can’t make the live, don’t worry about it. We post it in our community So at some point throughout the day you can go watch it. It’s a very easy way to just get into the word every day to get some encouragement.
19:07
We have a scripture every week that we always work through. We have the scriptures that we’re reading together, that we do a deeper dive into, and, guys, it’s just a great way to grow spiritually with other men And it’s a very simple way. You can do it right there on your phone. You can. I have guys that they join on their drive to work. They’re all over the place. So if you’re interested in that. Go to the lionwithinus. Join that daily. You can join our community. That’s part of the community experience And we also have a daily spiritual kickoff community where you get just that part of the experience within our community. But highly encourage you guys to check that out Again. Go check out our community period. We have lion lunches. We have a dead workshop that’s going on now. We’re working on a sexual purity workshop. We have two Bible studies that happen every week. We have masterminds. We have business planning sessions. We have a book club within the lion with the others.
19:59
Right now I’m telling you fellas challenges every month. I’m trying to think of it all but I can’t think of it because we have that many things happening each and every day Ways to engage, we have prayer request areas. We have forums. Guys, there’s so many opportunities to grow as a Christian leader. I am telling you that it’s within a community. I’ve seen some incredible things happening within a community but you can’t. You won’t experience anything until you take action. Can we do a 30 day free trial? I won’t give it to you for a month or free, just to try it out and see if it serves you well. So again, the lion within that US is where to go there. Come back Wednesday for our episode on Wednesday. I’m telling you you’re going to really like this conversation. It’s a technology that’s out there that’s really helped to this design, rather to help us in our prayer life. So I’m excited for you guys to hear about this from the, from one of the founders directly looking for that conversation.
20:50
Again, make Colossians 317 one of your. It is written. We’ve got to have so many of those in our, in our, in our, in our life. Guys, i pray this is one of yours. I pray that you, that you take it and apply it and you get out there and you start unleashing the lion within. So, guys, have a great one. Come back, look forward to seeing you again. Ratings, review They all that stuff helps. The main thing is just share this stuff out with other stuff. This episode has helped you open your eyes in ways that to use the Bible and apply it to your life. Hey, share with someone else. That is a great way that you can support the lion within us and what we’re trying to do to get out there and spread the good news of the gospel. So looking forward to seeing you guys here on the next episode.
21:31
Keep staying strong, keep standing firm, keep doing everything you can, in word or deed, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and also keep unleashing the lion within.
21:47
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