June 16, 2025 • 22 mins
Imagine a leadership approach that stands in stark contrast to today's self-promoting culture—one where your character matters more than your resume and God's glory takes precedence over personal recognition. That's exactly what we explore in this spiritual kickoff focused on Habakkuk 2:14.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Grainger (00:03):
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
intends you to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas, spiritualkickoff time.
I'm excited to be here with you, so let's get into it, okay.
So the scripture of the weekthis week is in the book of
Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 14,just one verse.
It says For the earth will befilled with the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord as the waterscover the sea.
(00:24):
All right Now.
So we're going to see how wecan simplify and apply this.
That's the whole point of thespiritual kickoff episodes, guys
.
And again, if you like these,if you like the way we go about
this, monday through Friday,every day, monday through Friday
, in the mornings, I go liveinside our Lion Within Us
community and I share just somebrief encouragement just to get
your day started in the world.
Okay.
So if that sounds likesomething that you would like,
(00:46):
something that you enjoy, headover to thelinewithinus to get
started to plug into that dailyspiritual kickoff.
So if you search dailyspiritual kickoff when you get
to the site, you'll see it rightthere.
Plug in, get started, okay.
And then again, we don't putthat content anywhere else.
It's a one and done dealcontent anywhere else.
It's a one and done deal.
It's exclusive for our membersand guys.
(01:08):
We just want to give that toyou, to bless you with it, okay,
so go check that out atthelinewithinus.
All right, now we need to knowabout.
First of all, we open up theBible and you hear a book like a
backup.
It can get very confusing, okay.
Well, first of all, where is it?
So, just chill out.
It's in the Old Testament.
So it's there.
It's part of your minorprophets, okay, so if you get to
Jonah, then you get to Micah.
You need to get to Nahum.
So you just keep flipping them.
(01:29):
You're flipping over.
Then you get to Habakkuk.
If you get to Zephaniah orHaggai, you went a little bit
too far.
They can be a little bit trickyto find because these easy to
fly by.
So don't beat yourself up ifyou can't find it out the gate.
Okay, that's the main thing.
All right Now.
(01:49):
This verse right here is reallyabout leadership.
Okay, when we put the glory ofthe, of the Lord, first and
foremost.
That's what it's all about,because we're called to lead.
We know that you're, we knowthat You're listening to the
Land with Initiative.
You know we're called to lead,and we're called to lead with
purpose.
We better have some convictionbehind that.
And also we're called, asChristian leaders, to lead with
(02:12):
a high amount of integrity.
Ok, but this isn't just aboutmaking decisions you need to
understand that or guidingpeople.
It's about reflecting God'sglory in all that we do.
And Habakkuk, you know hepaints us this picture here of
the unstoppable expansion ofGod's glory and we have a role
(02:37):
like dude you're listening, lookin the mirror.
You have a role in advancingthat mission and this is
inevitable.
It's going to happen.
So we need to check ourselves.
Are we being aligned to it ornot?
Because he was living, habakkukwas in a time of injustice.
There was some corruption goingon.
There was some spiritualrebellion going on.
Can I get an amen?
Does it sound like he wasliving in 2025?
(02:57):
I mean, let's just be real.
But he was wrestling with Godon these things and on these
things and he was questioninghow long evil would prevail.
And what was god's response?
His glory is going to cover theearth like the water is covered
to see the end of the day.
Nothing is going to stop god'splan, nothing.
And the message that we can takefor this, guys, as leaders, and
the question we start reallyasking ourselves is are we
(03:20):
aligning the way that we show up, particularly with with our
leadership, with his unstoppablemission?
Or here's the tough part tothink about Are we trying to
build our own kingdom?
And I know you say, chris, I'mnot doing that.
Are you Be truthful here, bereal Now.
(03:40):
Every role we have as guys,whether it's serving your spouse
or taking care of your kids, orrunning a business, or being an
employee right or mentoringothers, every one of those roles
, we either contribute tospreading the knowledge of God's
glory or we work against it.
(04:01):
You'll never say that you workagainst him.
But ask yourself thesequestions Do your actions
reflect Christ, even when thepressure gets up?
Okay, it's because it's easy toreflect Christ on Sunday morning
when you're blessed up andhighly.
You know you're prayed up andeveryone's blessed and highly
favored and you're looking good.
Right, you're in a churchsetting.
But when the pressure gets up,are you reflecting Christ?
(04:22):
Do you leave with integritywhen nobody's watching?
I mean, do you when thecamera's off?
If you will, are you takingsteps of integrity in those
moments and are you trying toencourage others to know and
(04:43):
glorify God with the influencethat you have?
And look, we all have differentlevels of influence.
We just do right, but every oneof you has a certain level of
influence, whatever that may be.
And what you need to bethinking about is are you
helping to advance what God'scalling you to do, or are you
trying to prohibit that?
Are you hindering that?
(05:03):
And because the gift ofinfluence is really what
leadership is all about, but howyou use it, it means everything
, because if you're leading withhumility or courage or
obedience, you're contributingto God's greater plan.
Right, not just your personal.
Look at me and try to build upyour LinkedIn profile.
Let's just be real.
So here's here's a couple ofpractical steps, because we want
(05:28):
to try to get really practicalat the line with Dennis from
time to time, to give you guyssome ways to actually take this
meat and potatoes and apply it.
First, you have to anchoryourself in God's word.
You just have to.
You can't reflect somethingthat you don't know.
If it ain't in you, it ain'tcoming out.
Buddy, I have my water jugright here, I shake this thing
up, I take the top off, I pourit out.
Guess what's coming out Water.
Why?
Because water's inside of it.
(05:48):
That's it.
Coke's not coming out, tea'snot coming out, you know,
powerade's not coming out.
Nothing Water comes out of this.
So if you want more of God'sglory to come out of you, then
you have to be filled with histruth.
You have to make that a dailypriority.
I can't make you want to readGod's word, that's something
between you and God.
But I just encourage you,fellows, get in the word every
(06:11):
day.
Now.
The second thing humility overrecognition.
This goes completely againstwhat the world says, because the
world says, like, look at me,I'm important and I'm so
important I need to post aboutit, so the whole world will see
my highlight reel.
And I'm so important I need topost about it, so the whole
world will see my highlight reel.
And I'm telling you, theworldly leadership is seeking
that power.
We, as godly leaders, need toseek service.
(06:33):
We need to reflect Jesus in howwe lead.
The next thing you need toconsider is encouraging others
towards Christ, and this meansat home, first and foremost.
That's your number one mission,field work.
And then in your community, usewhatever influence you have to
point others to God not topromote you.
(06:54):
And if you do that, operatewith integrity, because the nods
of His glory spreads.
It's going to spread like rapidfire when you walk in truth,
honesty and righteousness.
Because your character, fellas,please hear this your character
matters so much more than yourresume.
I'm sure your LinkedIn profileis dope and it's awesome, all
(07:17):
the crazy things that you'vedone in your career Wonderful
None of it matters.
If your character getscompletely thrown out the window
, none of it matters.
And if your character matters,that's going to drive you to
live on mission, because everyday is an opportunity to expand
the kingdom.
It just is.
So the way you work, the wayyou parent, the way you love
your wife, the way you engagewith others should reflect God's
(07:39):
presence in your life.
Because your leadership, guys,think about this please.
It's a piece of a bigger story.
It just is Habakkuk.
He's showing us this BecauseGod's plans are bigger than our
plans, but but he invites us tobe a, to play a role in it.
How cool is that?
No, he wants us to be part ofthat and, as men of faith, we're
(08:03):
supposed to be activeparticipants in this mission.
So really think about that.
Really think about that.
Is your leadership pointingothers to God's glory or
yourself, you know what?
If you can't answer thathonestly towards God's glory
that's okay.
Now what are you going to doabout it?
But at the end of the day, theworld needs more bold, godly men
(08:27):
who will lead with purpose andwith the knowledge that
everything that we do, that weact, all the actions that we
take are honored and glorifyingGod, because he is in charge, he
is reigns right.
So it's time to step up, it'stime to lean in fellas, it's
time to lead well, because thatmission of filling the earth
with the knowledge of his gloryguess what?
Of filling the earth with theknowledge of his glory, guess
(08:48):
what?
It starts with you, it startswith me, it starts with every
Christian man who hassurrendered his life to the
lordship of Christ.
And that is how you simplifyand apply this verse in the back
.
Now, look, all this stuff isgreat, but if you don't have
that personal relationship withJesus, this is such a big deal.
(09:09):
And look, I'm not naive enoughto think that everyone who
listens to the Lion Within Us isa Christian.
Now, I would definitely admitthat the majority of the guys
and girls, but a lot of theladies listen, that you are
Christians and hallelujah,praise the Lord.
But for the ones that aren'tand you're just curious, maybe
you've never heard the truestory of what Christianity is
(09:33):
all about.
And I just want to start withone fundamental truth that I
please I hope you hear me isthat God had a perfect design
when he created the world and heloved it.
He had such a great design inmind that when he made the first
man, that guy's name was Adam,by the way, if you didn't know
(09:53):
he actually formed Adam with hishands and he breathed the
breath of life into his nostrils.
And then, when Adam set up, hewas face to face with God and it
was awesome.
I mean, it was really great.
I mean, you go back to the verybeginning of Genesis, you'll
see this.
The problem is, it went greatfor about a page and a half of
my Bible, because sin enteredthe world and a sin is.
(10:15):
I don't think what sin is isanything that separates us from
God.
Okay, so we had this separationbetween us and a holy and
righteous God, and guess what?
God is holy and righteous andwe are not.
And then, because sin enteredthe world, we start chasing all
these things in the world withmoney and pride and lust and all
these things are just pullingus because we have to make us
feel a certain way, because wedeserve that and ultimately what
(10:40):
we're trying to do, we'retrying to make ourselves gods
right.
And then you even have some guyswho are out there thinking,
well, yes, sin entered, but Ijust need to be a good guy.
Like, if I could just be good,surely when I die and go to
heaven, like they're going tolet me in because you know I'm
good.
I'm sitting there like, lookbro, that's a dangerous, you
know that's a dangerousproposition you're playing with
because, at the end of the day,you know what, how good is good?
(11:03):
Are you going to get up there?
And you missed it by a halfinch because you didn't do this
extra deed.
If you'd have just done thisextra deed Like I know what you
think Like good, in comparison,it's easy to think that we're
good, right, compared to peopleon death row.
We have a prison that's in ourcounty.
Compared to people on death row, it would be easy for me to sit
(11:24):
back and think, oh, look at me,I'm not on death row.
I've never killed anybody, sosurely, compared to them.
I'm good and God's going to letme in on my merits and I'm
sitting here.
No, that's wrong.
That's wrong Because thestandard is wrong.
The standard is not comparingourselves to others.
The standard is comparingourselves to a holy and
righteous God.
And when we do that, guys, weall fall short.
(11:46):
We all fall short of the gloryof God.
We just do fall short.
We all fall short of the gloryof God.
We just do so.
What do we need?
So if we can't cover this onourselves and we can't be
coached up, right, there'snothing.
There's not a coach on thisplanet.
There's tons of coaches outthere and if not a coach on this
planet that can coach you upenough to overcome your sins.
So what do you do?
Well, you need someone to stepin and do for you what you
couldn't do for yourself, andthat's where Jesus enters the
(12:08):
scene.
So he left heaven on a rescuemission for you, for me, for the
entire world.
He was born of a virgin.
He fulfilled all the prophecies, he did the teachings, he did
the miracles, the signs, all thestuff that showed us directly
that he was the Messiah.
But he didn't just stop there,right, he didn't just stop there
.
But he didn't just stop there.
He didn't just stop there.
He went and gave himself up asthe perfect sacrifice for sin,
(12:32):
to the point where theycrucified him on a cross.
And he willingly did this, guys, and this is the mind-blowing
part.
He willingly left heaven, glory, to come down here to do that
for us, for God so loved theworld that he sent his only son.
It's crazy, it's mind-blowing.
I know, and check this out.
He didn't just die on the crossand stay there, no.
(12:54):
So they took him off the cross,they put him in a tomb.
He was dead completely.
He's gone right.
He didn't faint or fall asleep,he's dead.
And then, three days later, herose.
He overcome death.
That is the big differencebetween Christianity, what we
believe to be true, and the restof the religions of the world.
It's because we worship a risenSavior.
(13:16):
He is living, he is aright-handed Father.
Right now, there is no othername under heaven that has been
given among men by which we mustbe saved.
It is Jesus.
He is it.
He is the way, the truth andthe life.
Guys, let's go.
So once you see this, it's likeokay, holy, wow, like Jesus, he
lives right.
So what do you have to do Atthat point?
(13:37):
You have to make a decision.
Are you going to keep doingthings your way through life or
are you going to surrender andsay you know what my way?
It has its moments, butsomething's missing.
And I know something's missingand I know what that thing is.
That thing is Jesus.
So I'm going to surrender mylife to you.
I don't know what you haveplans for me, I just know I'm
(13:59):
going to walk in obedience.
And then there's people outthere who say, okay, if you do
this, it's going to be cupcakesand rainbows and cotton candy
and all this stuff.
No, no, no, no, no.
I'm not telling you that.
It definitely doesn't alwaysget easier, but it does get
better.
It gets better because you havethat relationship with Him.
The Holy Spirit's going to come.
You will have the vision thatyou've never had before and at
(14:22):
that point you start yourdiscipleship journey, and that's
what it's all about.
So if you've wrestled with thisfor a long time, if you can't
definitively look back and saythis is when I surrendered my
life to the Lordship of Jesusand this is when I started
walking with Him, he is Lord ofmy life period.
Today's the day.
Don't put it off, because ifyou have that little gnawing,
(14:43):
that little bit of convictionhappening right now and you're
not taking action, buddy, you'rebeing disobedient to God.
So what we're going to do,we're going to pray right now,
and if you're ready to acceptChrist as your Savior, just pray
with me.
Okay?
You're like Chris, I'm listeningto a podcast.
I can't accept Jesus listeningto a podcast.
Why not?
Who said that?
(15:04):
Who said you had to be sittingin a church pew on a Sunday
morning to accept Christ as yourSavior?
Uh-uh, that's not what I readin the Bible.
No, he is ready, he is callingyou and now is the time to
surrender to the King of Kingsand the Lord of Lords.
So, father, I'm just praying forthat one listener right there
who right now, is ready toaccept you, who is confessing
(15:25):
you as Lord and Savior, whorecognizes that their way is not
working, who recognizes thatthey need a better path.
They need you.
They need you, god, and I prayyou just pour out your peace
that passes all understanding onthem.
Right now they may feel justcompletely wrecked, completely
in shambles, just just at theirwits ends.
They don't know what to say,what to do, where to turn, but
(15:50):
for some reason they're turningto you because you are the
author and perfecter, you're theAlpha and Omega, you're King,
you're sovereign, you're Lord.
So I pray you hear their prayer.
I pray.
They know this, I pray theyjust know this right now and I
pray you just put some people intheir life that's going to help
guide and direct them alongtheir discipleship journey that
starts today.
It's in Jesus' name.
We pray Amen.
All right, so look, if you justaccepted Christ as your Savior,
(16:11):
I want to hear from you.
Okay, so send me an email,chris, at thelionwithanus, I'm
going to hook you up.
We've got a bunch of free typeof downloads, pdfs and things
like that that I want to sendyou to get started.
I also want to definitely tryto get you plugged into a good
gospel believing, gospelpreaching, rather Bible
believing church.
We want to get you connected.
Also, just want to give you avirtual high five.
(16:33):
Just let you know that you arenot in this alone and let's go.
Biggest decision you ever maderight here.
All right, guys.
So look, wednesday episode, meetepisode this week Guys on fire.
Bro, I'm just here to tell youyou're going to love this one.
The guy has a ton of energy.
He's just he.
He a ton of wisdom in hissermon.
First and foremost, a littlesneak peek.
He is out of my the church thatI spend so much time just just
(16:57):
learning and studying from thechurch of 1122.
He hasn't been on the on thepod before, though, so he's a
brand new guest.
I'm so pumped up, so excited.
Pastor Joby actually connectedme with him and it's an honor.
So you guys are going to reallylike this one.
We're going to talk a lot aboutdiscipleship, talk a lot about
walking with Christ.
We're going to talk a lot aboutmen's groups, the stuff that we
know is important to you.
So check it out.
(17:19):
Head over to thelinewithinus.
I talked about that at thebeginning of this episode.
Thelinewithinus is where youget all our resources.
It's where you can join ourcommunity, the Daily Spiritual
Kickoff.
You can join our mastermindgroups.
Guys, that's all the stuff.
That's part within our platform.
That's exclusive, members-onlyexclusive content.
But then you also have theBible app.
So if you're using the Bibleapp from YouVersion, check out
the Lion Within Us, all thedifferent plans we have going on
(17:41):
out there.
We have our weekly roarnewsletter weekly roar
newsletter.
It comes out every Mondaymorning we have our Christian
leader assessment free, easy wayto just to check.
Just check some.
It's kind of like a checkengine, like where are you
stacking up right now?
All that is at thelionwithdenus, all right, guys,
so get after it, have a greatday, look forward to seeing you
here on our next episode andremember, just keep unleashing
(18:02):
the lion within.
I've got something big to share.
We're making a major shiftbecause we know the battle was
real and it's time more men hadaccess to the support they need.
For too long, guys have beentrying to carry the weight alone
pressure at work, tension athome, wounds from the past in a
world that demands strength butoffers no place to rest.
(18:24):
We see it, we've lived it, andthat's exactly why we built our
community.
It's a stronghold, a placewhere warriors can find rest,
truth and a band of brothersstanding beside them.
And starting now, we're makingit easier than ever to step in.
We've lowered the barrier tojust $15.99 a month.
That means, for less than thecost of a drive-thru lunch, you
(18:46):
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If you've been waiting for theright time to jump in, this is
it.
Go to thelionwithinus and jointhe community and see for
(19:10):
yourself what happens when irontruly sharpens iron.
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
intends you to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas, spiritualkickoff time.
I'm excited to be here with you, so let's get into it, okay.
So the scripture of the weekthis week is in the book of
Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 14,just one verse.
It says For the earth will befilled with the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord as the waterscover the sea.
(00:24):
All right Now.
So we're going to see how wecan simplify and apply this.
That's the whole point of thespiritual kickoff episodes, guys
.
And again, if you like these,if you like the way we go about
this, monday through Friday,every day, monday through Friday
, in the mornings, I go liveinside our Lion Within Us
community and I share just somebrief encouragement just to get
your day started in the world.
Okay.
So if that sounds likesomething that you would like,
(00:46):
something that you enjoy, headover to thelinewithinus to get
started to plug into that dailyspiritual kickoff.
So if you search dailyspiritual kickoff when you get
to the site, you'll see it rightthere.
Plug in, get started, okay.
And then again, we don't putthat content anywhere else.
It's a one and done dealcontent anywhere else.
It's a one and done deal.
It's exclusive for our membersand guys.
(01:08):
We just want to give that toyou, to bless you with it, okay,
so go check that out atthelinewithinus.
All right, now we need to knowabout.
First of all, we open up theBible and you hear a book like a
backup.
It can get very confusing, okay.
Well, first of all, where is it?
So, just chill out.
It's in the Old Testament.
So it's there.
It's part of your minorprophets, okay, so if you get to
Jonah, then you get to Micah.
You need to get to Nahum.
So you just keep flipping them.
(01:29):
You're flipping over.
Then you get to Habakkuk.
If you get to Zephaniah orHaggai, you went a little bit
too far.
They can be a little bit trickyto find because these easy to
fly by.
So don't beat yourself up ifyou can't find it out the gate.
Okay, that's the main thing.
All right Now.
(01:49):
This verse right here is reallyabout leadership.
Okay, when we put the glory ofthe, of the Lord, first and
foremost.
That's what it's all about,because we're called to lead.
We know that you're, we knowthat You're listening to the
Land with Initiative.
You know we're called to lead,and we're called to lead with
purpose.
We better have some convictionbehind that.
And also we're called, asChristian leaders, to lead with
(02:12):
a high amount of integrity.
Ok, but this isn't just aboutmaking decisions you need to
understand that or guidingpeople.
It's about reflecting God'sglory in all that we do.
And Habakkuk, you know hepaints us this picture here of
the unstoppable expansion ofGod's glory and we have a role
(02:37):
like dude you're listening, lookin the mirror.
You have a role in advancingthat mission and this is
inevitable.
It's going to happen.
So we need to check ourselves.
Are we being aligned to it ornot?
Because he was living, habakkukwas in a time of injustice.
There was some corruption goingon.
There was some spiritualrebellion going on.
Can I get an amen?
Does it sound like he wasliving in 2025?
(02:57):
I mean, let's just be real.
But he was wrestling with Godon these things and on these
things and he was questioninghow long evil would prevail.
And what was god's response?
His glory is going to cover theearth like the water is covered
to see the end of the day.
Nothing is going to stop god'splan, nothing.
And the message that we can takefor this, guys, as leaders, and
the question we start reallyasking ourselves is are we
(03:20):
aligning the way that we show up, particularly with with our
leadership, with his unstoppablemission?
Or here's the tough part tothink about Are we trying to
build our own kingdom?
And I know you say, chris, I'mnot doing that.
Are you Be truthful here, bereal Now.
(03:40):
Every role we have as guys,whether it's serving your spouse
or taking care of your kids, orrunning a business, or being an
employee right or mentoringothers, every one of those roles
, we either contribute tospreading the knowledge of God's
glory or we work against it.
(04:01):
You'll never say that you workagainst him.
But ask yourself thesequestions Do your actions
reflect Christ, even when thepressure gets up?
Okay, it's because it's easy toreflect Christ on Sunday morning
when you're blessed up andhighly.
You know you're prayed up andeveryone's blessed and highly
favored and you're looking good.
Right, you're in a churchsetting.
But when the pressure gets up,are you reflecting Christ?
(04:22):
Do you leave with integritywhen nobody's watching?
I mean, do you when thecamera's off?
If you will, are you takingsteps of integrity in those
moments and are you trying toencourage others to know and
(04:43):
glorify God with the influencethat you have?
And look, we all have differentlevels of influence.
We just do right, but every oneof you has a certain level of
influence, whatever that may be.
And what you need to bethinking about is are you
helping to advance what God'scalling you to do, or are you
trying to prohibit that?
Are you hindering that?
(05:03):
And because the gift ofinfluence is really what
leadership is all about, but howyou use it, it means everything
, because if you're leading withhumility or courage or
obedience, you're contributingto God's greater plan.
Right, not just your personal.
Look at me and try to build upyour LinkedIn profile.
Let's just be real.
So here's here's a couple ofpractical steps, because we want
(05:28):
to try to get really practicalat the line with Dennis from
time to time, to give you guyssome ways to actually take this
meat and potatoes and apply it.
First, you have to anchoryourself in God's word.
You just have to.
You can't reflect somethingthat you don't know.
If it ain't in you, it ain'tcoming out.
Buddy, I have my water jugright here, I shake this thing
up, I take the top off, I pourit out.
Guess what's coming out Water.
Why?
Because water's inside of it.
(05:48):
That's it.
Coke's not coming out, tea'snot coming out, you know,
powerade's not coming out.
Nothing Water comes out of this.
So if you want more of God'sglory to come out of you, then
you have to be filled with histruth.
You have to make that a dailypriority.
I can't make you want to readGod's word, that's something
between you and God.
But I just encourage you,fellows, get in the word every
(06:11):
day.
Now.
The second thing humility overrecognition.
This goes completely againstwhat the world says, because the
world says, like, look at me,I'm important and I'm so
important I need to post aboutit, so the whole world will see
my highlight reel.
And I'm so important I need topost about it, so the whole
world will see my highlight reel.
And I'm telling you, theworldly leadership is seeking
that power.
We, as godly leaders, need toseek service.
(06:33):
We need to reflect Jesus in howwe lead.
The next thing you need toconsider is encouraging others
towards Christ, and this meansat home, first and foremost.
That's your number one mission,field work.
And then in your community, usewhatever influence you have to
point others to God not topromote you.
(06:54):
And if you do that, operatewith integrity, because the nods
of His glory spreads.
It's going to spread like rapidfire when you walk in truth,
honesty and righteousness.
Because your character, fellas,please hear this your character
matters so much more than yourresume.
I'm sure your LinkedIn profileis dope and it's awesome, all
(07:17):
the crazy things that you'vedone in your career Wonderful
None of it matters.
If your character getscompletely thrown out the window
, none of it matters.
And if your character matters,that's going to drive you to
live on mission, because everyday is an opportunity to expand
the kingdom.
It just is.
So the way you work, the wayyou parent, the way you love
your wife, the way you engagewith others should reflect God's
(07:39):
presence in your life.
Because your leadership, guys,think about this please.
It's a piece of a bigger story.
It just is Habakkuk.
He's showing us this BecauseGod's plans are bigger than our
plans, but but he invites us tobe a, to play a role in it.
How cool is that?
No, he wants us to be part ofthat and, as men of faith, we're
(08:03):
supposed to be activeparticipants in this mission.
So really think about that.
Really think about that.
Is your leadership pointingothers to God's glory or
yourself, you know what?
If you can't answer thathonestly towards God's glory
that's okay.
Now what are you going to doabout it?
But at the end of the day, theworld needs more bold, godly men
(08:27):
who will lead with purpose andwith the knowledge that
everything that we do, that weact, all the actions that we
take are honored and glorifyingGod, because he is in charge, he
is reigns right.
So it's time to step up, it'stime to lean in fellas, it's
time to lead well, because thatmission of filling the earth
with the knowledge of his gloryguess what?
Of filling the earth with theknowledge of his glory, guess
(08:48):
what?
It starts with you, it startswith me, it starts with every
Christian man who hassurrendered his life to the
lordship of Christ.
And that is how you simplifyand apply this verse in the back
.
Now, look, all this stuff isgreat, but if you don't have
that personal relationship withJesus, this is such a big deal.
(09:09):
And look, I'm not naive enoughto think that everyone who
listens to the Lion Within Us isa Christian.
Now, I would definitely admitthat the majority of the guys
and girls, but a lot of theladies listen, that you are
Christians and hallelujah,praise the Lord.
But for the ones that aren'tand you're just curious, maybe
you've never heard the truestory of what Christianity is
(09:33):
all about.
And I just want to start withone fundamental truth that I
please I hope you hear me isthat God had a perfect design
when he created the world and heloved it.
He had such a great design inmind that when he made the first
man, that guy's name was Adam,by the way, if you didn't know
(09:53):
he actually formed Adam with hishands and he breathed the
breath of life into his nostrils.
And then, when Adam set up, hewas face to face with God and it
was awesome.
I mean, it was really great.
I mean, you go back to the verybeginning of Genesis, you'll
see this.
The problem is, it went greatfor about a page and a half of
my Bible, because sin enteredthe world and a sin is.
(10:15):
I don't think what sin is isanything that separates us from
God.
Okay, so we had this separationbetween us and a holy and
righteous God, and guess what?
God is holy and righteous andwe are not.
And then, because sin enteredthe world, we start chasing all
these things in the world withmoney and pride and lust and all
these things are just pullingus because we have to make us
feel a certain way, because wedeserve that and ultimately what
(10:40):
we're trying to do, we'retrying to make ourselves gods
right.
And then you even have some guyswho are out there thinking,
well, yes, sin entered, but Ijust need to be a good guy.
Like, if I could just be good,surely when I die and go to
heaven, like they're going tolet me in because you know I'm
good.
I'm sitting there like, lookbro, that's a dangerous, you
know that's a dangerousproposition you're playing with
because, at the end of the day,you know what, how good is good?
(11:03):
Are you going to get up there?
And you missed it by a halfinch because you didn't do this
extra deed.
If you'd have just done thisextra deed Like I know what you
think Like good, in comparison,it's easy to think that we're
good, right, compared to peopleon death row.
We have a prison that's in ourcounty.
Compared to people on death row, it would be easy for me to sit
(11:24):
back and think, oh, look at me,I'm not on death row.
I've never killed anybody, sosurely, compared to them.
I'm good and God's going to letme in on my merits and I'm
sitting here.
No, that's wrong.
That's wrong Because thestandard is wrong.
The standard is not comparingourselves to others.
The standard is comparingourselves to a holy and
righteous God.
And when we do that, guys, weall fall short.
(11:46):
We all fall short of the gloryof God.
We just do fall short.
We all fall short of the gloryof God.
We just do so.
What do we need?
So if we can't cover this onourselves and we can't be
coached up, right, there'snothing.
There's not a coach on thisplanet.
There's tons of coaches outthere and if not a coach on this
planet that can coach you upenough to overcome your sins.
So what do you do?
Well, you need someone to stepin and do for you what you
couldn't do for yourself, andthat's where Jesus enters the
(12:08):
scene.
So he left heaven on a rescuemission for you, for me, for the
entire world.
He was born of a virgin.
He fulfilled all the prophecies, he did the teachings, he did
the miracles, the signs, all thestuff that showed us directly
that he was the Messiah.
But he didn't just stop there,right, he didn't just stop there
.
But he didn't just stop there.
He didn't just stop there.
He went and gave himself up asthe perfect sacrifice for sin,
(12:32):
to the point where theycrucified him on a cross.
And he willingly did this, guys, and this is the mind-blowing
part.
He willingly left heaven, glory, to come down here to do that
for us, for God so loved theworld that he sent his only son.
It's crazy, it's mind-blowing.
I know, and check this out.
He didn't just die on the crossand stay there, no.
(12:54):
So they took him off the cross,they put him in a tomb.
He was dead completely.
He's gone right.
He didn't faint or fall asleep,he's dead.
And then, three days later, herose.
He overcome death.
That is the big differencebetween Christianity, what we
believe to be true, and the restof the religions of the world.
It's because we worship a risenSavior.
(13:16):
He is living, he is aright-handed Father.
Right now, there is no othername under heaven that has been
given among men by which we mustbe saved.
It is Jesus.
He is it.
He is the way, the truth andthe life.
Guys, let's go.
So once you see this, it's likeokay, holy, wow, like Jesus, he
lives right.
So what do you have to do Atthat point?
(13:37):
You have to make a decision.
Are you going to keep doingthings your way through life or
are you going to surrender andsay you know what my way?
It has its moments, butsomething's missing.
And I know something's missingand I know what that thing is.
That thing is Jesus.
So I'm going to surrender mylife to you.
I don't know what you haveplans for me, I just know I'm
(13:59):
going to walk in obedience.
And then there's people outthere who say, okay, if you do
this, it's going to be cupcakesand rainbows and cotton candy
and all this stuff.
No, no, no, no, no.
I'm not telling you that.
It definitely doesn't alwaysget easier, but it does get
better.
It gets better because you havethat relationship with Him.
The Holy Spirit's going to come.
You will have the vision thatyou've never had before and at
(14:22):
that point you start yourdiscipleship journey, and that's
what it's all about.
So if you've wrestled with thisfor a long time, if you can't
definitively look back and saythis is when I surrendered my
life to the Lordship of Jesusand this is when I started
walking with Him, he is Lord ofmy life period.
Today's the day.
Don't put it off, because ifyou have that little gnawing,
(14:43):
that little bit of convictionhappening right now and you're
not taking action, buddy, you'rebeing disobedient to God.
So what we're going to do,we're going to pray right now,
and if you're ready to acceptChrist as your Savior, just pray
with me.
Okay?
You're like Chris, I'm listeningto a podcast.
I can't accept Jesus listeningto a podcast.
Why not?
Who said that?
(15:04):
Who said you had to be sittingin a church pew on a Sunday
morning to accept Christ as yourSavior?
Uh-uh, that's not what I readin the Bible.
No, he is ready, he is callingyou and now is the time to
surrender to the King of Kingsand the Lord of Lords.
So, father, I'm just praying forthat one listener right there
who right now, is ready toaccept you, who is confessing
(15:25):
you as Lord and Savior, whorecognizes that their way is not
working, who recognizes thatthey need a better path.
They need you.
They need you, god, and I prayyou just pour out your peace
that passes all understanding onthem.
Right now they may feel justcompletely wrecked, completely
in shambles, just just at theirwits ends.
They don't know what to say,what to do, where to turn, but
(15:50):
for some reason they're turningto you because you are the
author and perfecter, you're theAlpha and Omega, you're King,
you're sovereign, you're Lord.
So I pray you hear their prayer.
I pray.
They know this, I pray theyjust know this right now and I
pray you just put some people intheir life that's going to help
guide and direct them alongtheir discipleship journey that
starts today.
It's in Jesus' name.
We pray Amen.
All right, so look, if you justaccepted Christ as your Savior,
(16:11):
I want to hear from you.
Okay, so send me an email,chris, at thelionwithanus, I'm
going to hook you up.
We've got a bunch of free typeof downloads, pdfs and things
like that that I want to sendyou to get started.
I also want to definitely tryto get you plugged into a good
gospel believing, gospelpreaching, rather Bible
believing church.
We want to get you connected.
Also, just want to give you avirtual high five.
(16:33):
Just let you know that you arenot in this alone and let's go.
Biggest decision you ever maderight here.
All right, guys.
So look, wednesday episode, meetepisode this week Guys on fire.
Bro, I'm just here to tell youyou're going to love this one.
The guy has a ton of energy.
He's just he.
He a ton of wisdom in hissermon.
First and foremost, a littlesneak peek.
He is out of my the church thatI spend so much time just just
(16:57):
learning and studying from thechurch of 1122.
He hasn't been on the on thepod before, though, so he's a
brand new guest.
I'm so pumped up, so excited.
Pastor Joby actually connectedme with him and it's an honor.
So you guys are going to reallylike this one.
We're going to talk a lot aboutdiscipleship, talk a lot about
walking with Christ.
We're going to talk a lot aboutmen's groups, the stuff that we
know is important to you.
So check it out.
(17:19):
Head over to thelinewithinus.
I talked about that at thebeginning of this episode.
Thelinewithinus is where youget all our resources.
It's where you can join ourcommunity, the Daily Spiritual
Kickoff.
You can join our mastermindgroups.
Guys, that's all the stuff.
That's part within our platform.
That's exclusive, members-onlyexclusive content.
But then you also have theBible app.
So if you're using the Bibleapp from YouVersion, check out
the Lion Within Us, all thedifferent plans we have going on
(17:41):
out there.
We have our weekly roarnewsletter weekly roar
newsletter.
It comes out every Mondaymorning we have our Christian
leader assessment free, easy wayto just to check.
Just check some.
It's kind of like a checkengine, like where are you
stacking up right now?
All that is at thelionwithdenus, all right, guys,
so get after it, have a greatday, look forward to seeing you
here on our next episode andremember, just keep unleashing
(18:02):
the lion within.
I've got something big to share.
We're making a major shiftbecause we know the battle was
real and it's time more men hadaccess to the support they need.
For too long, guys have beentrying to carry the weight alone
pressure at work, tension athome, wounds from the past in a
world that demands strength butoffers no place to rest.
(18:24):
We see it, we've lived it, andthat's exactly why we built our
community.
It's a stronghold, a placewhere warriors can find rest,
truth and a band of brothersstanding beside them.
And starting now, we're makingit easier than ever to step in.
We've lowered the barrier tojust $15.99 a month.
That means, for less than thecost of a drive-thru lunch, you
(18:46):
can join a brotherhood that'scentered on Christ and built for
growth.
Inside you'll find access toour daily spiritual kickoffs
every Monday through Friday, ourLion Lunches, our Bible Studies
, our Friday Forge Gatheringsall that and so much more.
Every man needs a stronghold,and you don't have to fight
alone.
If you've been waiting for theright time to jump in, this is
it.
Go to thelionwithinus and jointhe community and see for
(19:10):
yourself what happens when irontruly sharpens iron.
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