Chris Grainger
Host
00:03
Welcome to the Lion With Ennis, 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 spiritual kickoff time. I hope you’re excited to be here. I know I am, so let’s dig into the word together. So we are going to be in the book of 2 Corinthians okay, chapter four. Looking at one verse. Verse four says to God, that’s little G, the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Guys, this is a powerful verse, right here. I’m so looking forward to unpacking this one with you and, hopefully, all of us growing a little bit closer to Christ as we work through this together.
00:47
First thing we need to understand is where is 2 Corinthians right? We need to know the basics so you can get your New Testament. Okay, and your New Testament starts with Matthew, mark, luke and John that’s called the Gospels. Then you have the book Acts. Then you have the book of Romans. After that you get to 1st and 2nd Corinthians okay, so these are letters that Paul wrote First, 2 Corinthians.
01:06
I spent a lot of time reading these and going through these within our community here recently, and this is a powerful verse right here. It is a very powerful verse because it shows how the evil want to tax us. He uses tactics to bring more and more people to him instead of Christ. He’s out there and we need to understand that. The God of this age and that’s a little G God, remember that guy. It’s a little G God, not the big G. That’s Satan. He’s real. Fellas, satanic forces they’re real. Demons are real, and denying that stuff is what keeps you in the blind. That’s it.
01:44
And I want you to think about that word blind for just for one second. Okay, how does that affect people in real life? If someone’s blind, they need what? They need some assistance, because they’d be putting themselves in the harm’s way on a consistent basis. Right, you see the blind people also walking with the seeing eye dogs or they have the sticks. They don’t walk into things. They need some assistance because the blind man is just out there walking along and he has nothing to assist him with. There’s so many dangerous things that can happen. We all heard the story the blind lean, the blind. Right, it’s out there. That’s when somebody doesn’t know what they’re doing. He’s trying to show someone else how to do. It happens all the time, so it’s just crazy to think about that.
02:23
The thing is before we accept Christ as our Savior, all of us, every single one of us, are spiritually blind and the evil one. He’s going to use all his tools possible to keep you in the dark. He just is, and he has several tools he uses very effectively the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. I want you to sit back and think about this for a minute. We are conditioned to look out for ourselves at all times. We just are right. We want what we want. It doesn’t matter who’s in a way or what we have to do to get it. We want what we want.
02:56
The world tells us that our happiness is the most important thing and none should get away of that right. Well, the world’s wrong. It’s absolutely wrong, because happiness is tied to your circumstances. Happiness is tied to happenings. How quickly do these things flee away from us? Even if you absolutely have a wonderful day, you get the best news of your life. Tomorrow, it’s going to be kind of remember how it was on Christmas morning. You go and you unwrap your presents. You’d be so excited. You have that joy and you’d be playing with your toys. And then what, 30 minutes, an hour later, you’re done playing with them, right? You know what I’m talking about. You’ve seen your kids do this. You know what I’m talking about that happiness fleece. It goes, it moves away from all of us guys. I’m telling you, this is what we had to be careful. That’s the evil one. He’s going to use these tools to pull us away, to keep us away from God, because the world’s going to tell you if it feels good, then we need to do more of it, no matter what it costs, period.
03:58
I did a quick little research for this episode and just looked at some of the dark things in this world. Did you know that the pornography industry is around $97 billion? I didn’t say million, I said billion, with a B? You hear numbers like that and I don’t know for me which is with my brain. It’s hard for me to even wrap my head around that. You know of what that dollar amount looks like and you see that, and you know that they tax it to evil. Or is that’s real? And he is blinding so many people, so many people, and you can see that it’s a very dark industry. And what is that industry attacking? Well, it’s attacking marriage, absolutely marriage, straight up. It’s ripping so many relationships apart. It’s it’s impacting the way men view themselves and view healthy intimacy relationships. It’s just blinding them.
04:52
Did you look at stuff like the pro-choice movement? Right, and we see evil working. Yet right there we know that God never makes a mistake. There are tons of surprise parents that I get that 100%. But there are no surprise babies Yet we’ve normalized it. And he reads when you read the stat statistics around abortions, it just it shakes me to the core. It’s like are you kidding me? What is going on here? Every one of these children are fearfully and wonderfully made. There are no mistakes. God does not make mistakes.
05:21
And then we talked about the new, the movie nefarious guys. We had Sean Patrick Flannery on the show. He talked about that movie in depth that exposed the darkness. It’s such a great way, right. And they talked about and from from abortion standpoint. Remember, we talked about a little bit in that in that episode. If you haven’t seen that movie yet, go see it.
05:42
There’s a countdown To the moment where that actual abortion happens, in the, in the characters, why? And the characters, girlfriend and man. What he said? He said you know what Demons are rejoicing at that moment and the carpenter, who is Jesus, is weeping. I’m telling you, fellas, people, it’s all around this.
06:04
I know this is very direct and we and we, we, we try to really just speak true to you on the line with innocent May turn some of you guys off. The reality is we’re dealing with darkness. People around us are blind. The world’s a dark place. Bad things pull so many people from God. But then when I read verses like this, I have hope the light of the gospel changes everything. The way you come back darkness is with what Light? That’s how you come back darkness. The way that you do that is you, as you walk around and you walk out, being a Christ follower Every day. That means being distinguished through different fellas Than the world and mixing in, not blending in.
06:49
Go back to the episode where he had David Minamon. Okay, he told me this, but the analogy that I use probably every week now it’s the chocolate chip analogy. He says be the chocolate chip in the cookie dough of culture. And that’s spot-on, because if you’re out there and you’re just blending in with everyone. You just blending, blending, blending. You’re just. You’re gonna get caught up in the trap. You need to mix in. There should be a distinguishable difference between you as a believer and everyone else around you.
07:17
And and think about that, with a chocolate chip cookie, you have the. You have the milk, the eggs, the sugar, the flour, all the stuff that makes up the dough. Then you have the chocolate chips and the chocolate chips are the best part. The chocolate chips mix in. You can see them distinguishly right, and guess what? They’re the best part of the cookie the milk, the eggs, all the other ingredients. You can’t tell that stuff because it’s all together.
07:41
That’s what our challenge needs to be. We need to be that light in that darkness. So we, if we mix in and we’re intentional about spraying the light of the gospel, that’s impact is gonna be absolutely incredible. But that takes a couple things. It takes intentionality and it takes courage. And and it’s hard to stand on the truth it really is when it seems like the entire world is going in another direction.
08:05
However, you may be the one person that God uses right now to save someone from eternity separated from him. So the question is are you gonna take any action or you go do anything about it Right here? I want you to think about this for a second. I was putting the notes together for this SK of this came to mind Right now today. If you saw a blind person walking towards a cliff, okay, what would you do? What would you do? They’re blind, they’re walking towards the cliff. They don’t have any stick, any dog, nothing. They’re just walking towards the cliff. I’ve got every single one of you guys out there would bust your butt to save I mean bust your butt. You would do all you could to get to them, run, jump, or here you have to go through, you have to knock down to get out the way You’re going to get to them because you want to save them. Then what’s stopping you from busting your butt to save those around you from entering the gates of hell one day?
09:07
That same sense of urgency that we, that we see when that guy is blind, getting ready to walk off a cliff, needs to be here right now when we see people who are blind to the evil one. You have that. You have the ability, guys. You, you can see now. You have the ability to see the attacks. Use your tools. Use your tools, be the light. Spread the good news of the gospel. Love on others, lead with love. Let others see the glory of Christ that dwells in you, guys. That’s how you unleash a line with them. That’s it. You take action, you don’t sit out by. You be intentional, you spread the good news of the gospel and you love on others.
09:50
And fellas, if we have more guys out there doing this and actually walking this stuff out, not just on a Sunday. Anybody can be all churchy on a Sunday. This ain’t about being a church. This is about being a Christian and walking out the gospel. That’s what this scripture right here. That’s what description and second Corinthians four four is all about. They cannot see those blind people can’t see a lighter gospel. But we can, we can. Therefore, we need to be pointing as many people as we can to him. Use your testimony. You hear me talk about you all the time, guys. Nobody can refute your testimony. So use that for good, lead with love and point people to the gospel.
10:35
So the question I want you to think about this week what is blinding you from experiencing his grace? Because if you’re supposedly a Christian and you can’t feel the joy or the love from God. Something’s blinding you, fellas. Maybe there’s something that needs to be exposed to the light. Just get it out there and at that moment you’ll feel the love of Christ just pouring over you, in that moment. So if something is blinding you from experiencing his grace, you need to go ahead and take some action Now. If you’ve never accepted Christ as your savior, I’m so glad you’re here with us. I’m so glad because the only reason you’d be listening to the line with this is that you’re either a believer or you’re curious. If you’re curious, that means the Holy Spirit is kind of nudging you. So here’s what I want to make sure you understand what is the gospel?
11:24
The gospel that we’re talking about here is it starts at the gospel of Jesus Christ, but it starts with understanding that you are a sinner. You are, you’re just a sinner in need of a savior. You’ve nothing you can do. There is no work you can do to overcome the sin that you have in you. We all are born with a sinful nature and a simple heart. We just are. Even my little baby boy. He is born in a sinful nature. Me, me, me, my, my, my. That is it Right. So we understand that there’s nothing you can do and I wish I could, I had better news to tell you, guys, that there was this beautiful path that you could take and this, this, this 12 check you just check these boxes here. It doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t work that way. You just need to admit that you are a sinner. There’s nothing that you can do that can overcome that.
12:10
Okay, that means, second thing, you need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Okay, he is not just a prophet or teacher or somebody who’s a good magician. No, so Jesus is the Son of God. He descended from heaven. He walked with us. He was born of a virgin, guys. He paid the ultimate penalty for our sins when he pushed and on Calvary, when he was crucified for you, he was thinking about you. When he was on that cross, his blood ran for you. He died for you. Then he laid him in a tomb Guess what? He just rented that thing, because three days later he rose. He rose and this is who we serve, guys. This is who we worship A risen Savior, not a dead man. A risen Savior. And he ascended to heaven, guys.
13:00
So if you have to believe that in your heart. I mean truly, truly believe all that in your heart. And when you do and you make the decision this is the inflection point, don’t miss this you have to confess him as Lord. There’s one thing to just to have something as knowledge head knowledge it’s another thing to move from your head to your heart. When you move from your head to your heart and you confess Jesus as Lord and say Lord, I can’t do this, I can’t do this on my own. I’ve tried my way. My way is terrible. It’s not working. I need you. At that moment the Holy Spirit is gonna come. It’s gonna give you a new heart. The scales are gonna fall off your eyes. You won’t see the darkness. You’ll be able to see With the spiritual eyes. From now on, you have that Holy Spirit guiding you, convicting you, showing you the way, showing you his way. Man, at that moment everything changes.
13:57
So if you’ve never accepted Christ as your Savior, today’s your day. You’re here for some reason. You have made it this far through the podcast for a reason. I know something’s tugging at you. I’m here to tell you you have salvation waiting. All you have to do is surrender. So for that man or woman who’s listening right now. I want to pray for you. So, father, just thank you so much for the opportunity to spread the goodness of the gospel through the podcast called the lion within us. I just pray, lord, that whoever’s listening right now, that one person who is ready to submit to you, I pray that you hear their prayer, you hear their request. I pray that you just pour out your blessing upon them. I pray they feel the peace that passes all understanding at this moment, god, and I’m so thankful that that they made this decision, the most important decision they’ll ever make in their life To surrender and to follow you. I pray you guide, direct them in this moment. You just put people around them that will help them grow. I pray all this according your will, in Jesus name. Amen.
14:54
All right now, if you just accept the Christ as your Savior, I want you to do one thing. I want you to send me an email right now. Support at the lion within us, because I’m gonna hook you up with a bunch of Our stuff, resources. I want to get you ready for the battle. I’m gonna give you our Bible study. I’m gonna give you some of our guides. I just want to get you ready. It’s gonna give it to you Because you are, you’re entering the battlefield and a soldier would not go in the battle without his armor Well, without his equipment. You need to have it, and I want to help you at least get started. Also want to help you get plugged into a local church, the lion within us. We’re not your church. We are a great supplement For your church, but we are not your church. You need a local body believers. Okay, again, support at the lion within that us. Send me an email, look for to hear from you.
15:38
Okay, now, if I want to highly encourage you, guys, obviously, come back to our next episode on Wednesday. This is a big one. One of my buddies he’s been on the show before he’s coming back. He’s gonna be talking about a new movie that’s coming out, guys, that you do not want to miss. I am telling you what he unpacks. This movie is incredible. It’s gonna be impactful. It’s another faith, another faith film, guys, but it’s gonna make a big impact in the lives of so many people. I’m so excited to get this one out there, particularly for for for guys who liked outdoors, like hunting, just like being in nature. This film is for you. So come back on Wednesday. Check out this episode. I think you’re gonna really like that.
16:21
So you like this spiritual kickoff? Hey, we do spiritual kickoffs every day inside our community money through Friday. Every morning, we go live, we read scripture, we give a little boost, we get pumped up, we get armed up and geared up for our day. So that was something you would enjoy. Go to the lion within that us. Join our spiritual kickoff program.
16:40
Okay, maybe you want to join our community, be part of our formal community where we’re meeting every day. It’s like a buffet you get to pick and choose what you want to come to. Maybe you’re interested in mastermind. Maybe you want to look at our leadership coalition program. Guys, there are so many resources we have for you and ways to help you grow to be the leader God intends you to be. But you can’t just be a podcast listener. You got to take actions and go to the lion within that us. Don’t forget to be the lion within that us, looking forward to seeing you there. Remember, you can send an email support at the lion within that us. We answer those emails. Love to hear from you guys. So looking forward to having you here on the next episode. Have a great day. Remember to second Corinthians four four get out, spread the light of the gospel, be the hands of be the Jesus and keep unleashing the lion within.
17:31
Are you enjoying the weekly spiritual kickoff? If so, we are now offering a way to participate in our live, daily spiritual kickoffs that happen Monday through Friday in our community. This is your chance to chat with me directly and Other members of our community, to dive into scripture and to leave with practical ways to simplify and apply God’s word to your daily walk. And here’s the best part you get all of this for just five dollars a month. So, for what most people pay for breakfast meal, you can join us on this journey of spiritual growth and leadership, which will always lead you full. Our community is dedicated to supporting each other and pushing forward in our faith. Come join me in the lion’s den and become the leader God intends you to be. Sign up now at the lion within that us and let’s start this journey together. Remember it’s only five dollars a month for this amazing opportunity. So visit the lion within that us so you don’t miss out.