August 25, 2025 • 14 mins
Struggling with the weight of spiritual leadership in your home? You're not alone. This raw, honest episode tackles the uncomfortable truth many Christian fathers face: we've unknowingly outsourced our most important leadership role.
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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, this is yourspiritual kickoff episode.
Let's get into it, okay.
So scripture of the week.
This week is the book of 2Timothy, the first chapter, the
fifth verse.
It says For I am mindful of thesincere faith within you which
(00:24):
first dwelled in yourgrandmother, lois, and your
mother, eunice, and I am surethat it is in you as well.
I love that verse.
How about let's just get rightinto it, ok?
So again, spiritual kickoff,what it's all about.
Simplify and apply God's wordto our life.
And if you enjoy these we knowlots of you guys do.
(00:46):
Monday through Friday, we do amodified version of the
spiritual kickoff in our LionWithin Us community.
It's all completely free.
We just love to give this away.
It's exclusive content.
We don't post anywhere else.
It doesn't go on YouTube or anyof that other junk.
We stay right there within theLion Within Us.
So head over right now tothelionwithinus and start your
(01:07):
daily spiritual kickoff for free.
If you can't make the live feed, it's all good.
We post those videos thereevery day.
So their money through Friday.
You'll get that little boostyou need and I trust me, it's so
much better than anythingyou're going to find at
Starbucks, I promise.
All right, so let's get into ourscripture.
So where is the book of 2Timothy?
Well, if I'm going to be a joke, kind of a dad joke, well,
(01:28):
that's before, right after 1Timothy, of course, but
seriously, it's in your NewTestament, towards the back,
right before the book of Titus,you'll find Timothy.
Okay, two books.
And this week we're going to betalking all about parenting,
all about being kids and raisingkids and trying not to go crazy
raising kids.
So I actually wrote a Devo forthe Bible app and it's done very
(01:54):
well, and I said you know what?
This is a message that we needto share with our podcast
listeners as well, becausehopefully they'll find some
encouragement in it.
So when we look at this verse,something really struck me when
I think through the first,probably decade of my life being
a father.
(02:14):
Okay, I unknowingly outsourcedthe role of the spiritual leader
.
I did, I didn't even realize itat the time Because in my mind,
you know, I was doing what Iwas supposed to do.
I was, I didn't even realize itat the time because in my mind,
you know, I was doing what Iwas supposed to do.
I was taking my family tochurch pretty regularly and I
just assumed that checking thatyou know that box on every
(02:35):
Sunday, that was my job.
I fulfilled my duty to lead myfamily in the faith.
But, man, that was some flawedmindset.
When I look back and I reallythink about it now.
And our children's pastor, man,that dude was incredible.
Shout out to Scott, you wereawesome, bro.
But even on the best weeks mykids only saw him one, two,
(02:59):
maybe three hours most.
So that's a whole lot of timein the week when someone else
was setting the example.
And then that's when it hit methat someone was me, bro.
That hits hard.
And I, for the longest time, Ibought into the lie that
(03:20):
spiritual leadership wasreserved for these quote unquote
qualified people.
You know what I'm talking aboutGuys who go to seminary, the
full time missionaries, the menwith these advanced theology
degrees.
And I was just a regular dad.
I was trying to juggle life,trying to keep my head above
water, trying to keep my headabove water, and so there was no
(03:40):
way right that I was a possiblecandidate for leading anyone
spiritually At least that's whatI told myself.
And God had other plans, though, because the conviction he
started putting in my life wasreal, and he started to reveal
(04:05):
this small truth to me.
And that small truth was if Iwould just be willing to take
small, consistent steps ofobedience, he's going to meet me
.
He's going to meet me, and thenso I did.
I started taking my owndiscipleship journey steps, and
my kids started noticing, and Idiscovered, by taking these
(04:29):
steps, the real root of myhesitation.
To start with, it was fear.
I was afraid that my kids wouldsee how much I didn't know
about the Bible, or worse, I wasafraid how much they would see
how little of it I was actuallyliving out, because there was a
(04:50):
disconnect from who I was onSunday and who I was the rest of
the week and man.
That was very uncomfortable todeal with and to confront, and
I'm telling you, I see it moreand more and more and more
people I talk to.
That's why so many kids raisedin Christian homes Unfortunately
(05:12):
, we'll walk away from the faithone day Because they hear the
grace preached on Sunday, right,but they witness hypocrisy the
rest of the week and one daythey start thinking well, it was
never real to start with.
You can't blame them, and I'lltell you that realization for me
is a wake-up call, andhopefully it is for you, and I
couldn't pass the buck anylonger.
(05:34):
I had to stop pretending.
I had to start leading, eventhough it was very imperfect, it
wasn't always right, but it wassincere, and it started clunky,
y'all Clunky, because prayingout loud was as scary to me as
public speaking Right, and Idoubted myself a lot.
(05:57):
Now I was just reminded thatGod doesn't call to qualify, he
qualifies to call.
And so from there I juststarted taking these little,
small steps of obedience,starting to pray together,
starting to read these littledevotions together.
Naturally, there would becomequestions.
They would ask that I didn'tknow, I didn't have an answer.
(06:20):
So what do we do?
You research it, you figure itout, and then, over time,
something starts to change.
You start seeing their faithtake root, as mine was growing
alongside it and maybe you'redead out there and you're
listening right now and youstart to break out in a sweat
(06:44):
Around the thought of leadingyour family spiritually.
I just want you to know, brother, you can do this.
You can, not because you'reperfect, because nobody is, but
because God is faithful, he'sfaithful, he doesn't need your
perfection is.
But because God is faithful,he's faithful.
He doesn't need your perfection, bro, he just needs your
obedience.
And your kids don't need aspiritual superhero.
(07:04):
They need a dad who's sincere,who is present and who is
willing to grow.
So, yeah, the church is apartner.
Don't misinterpret what I'msaying.
But you are the leader.
You are the leader.
If you take this step withhumility and courage, you're
(07:28):
giving your chance for yourfaith to become a living legacy,
and that could echo forgenerations, bro.
So I just encourage you to keepleaning into it, just like we
see here in the second Timothyverse.
I mean, look, look how, how it'sall tied to the steps.
Now, in this case it was forthe matriarch side of the family
, but I'm sure it's in you aswell.
(07:49):
It's in you, fellas.
The question you got to askyourself it really ask yourself
is who truly leads the spiritualdirection of your home right
now?
Because I'm going to tell you,if the answer is anybody outside
, a man in the mirror.
We got some work to do doesn'tmean you're bad, just means we
(08:12):
got some work to do, and that'swhat we're trying to do with you
, trying to hopefully help yousee this week, on the episodes
of the Lion Within Us, is youcan do this, brother.
I'm just a guy raising kids too, so I'm trying to come
alongside and help you along theway.
And look, the greatest guide forraising kids is the Bible
(08:35):
period, and the greatest way tounderstand the Bible is the Holy
Spirit, and if you don't havethe Holy Spirit, then you're
missing an opportunity to learn.
So that starts by surrenderingyour life to the Lordship of
Jesus.
And if you've never done thatbefore and you're listening to
the line, because this issomething about kids popped up
and you were checking it out hey, I want to encourage you.
(08:57):
Take some time.
Think about what God's tryingto show you right now.
Recognize that he had a perfectdesign.
Recognize that Jesus is the oneand only true path to salvation
.
He's it.
There's no other way.
Unfortunately, oprah was wrong.
(09:17):
And then also recognize thatyou need a Savior.
You don't need someone to helpmake you better.
You need someone to do for youwhat you can't do for yourself,
and that's exactly what Jesusoffers us.
So if you've never surrenderedyour life to the Lordship of
Christ and you're listening tothe line right now and you're
excited.
Maybe you've got some kids atthe house and you're trying to
(09:39):
figure your stuff out.
Buddy, the best thing, by farthe best advice I can give you
is to stop doing it your way andstart doing it His.
If you're going to do it His,you have to follow Him.
So I'd love to pray with you.
I'd love to just invite you him.
So I'd love to pray with you.
I'd love to just invite you.
If you haven't surrendered yourlife to Christ, just do it
(10:00):
right now.
So, father, just thank you somuch for this chance just to
share your word and as well asthe good news with people out
there listening.
So I just pray, father, thatduring this time for that one
listener who is struggling, thatthey recognize their need for a
Savior, they recognize that youare it, and I pray you just put
your hand on them, guide them,direct them, give them the peace
(10:23):
that passes all understandingand then, lord, just be with
them as they begin to walk theirpersonal discipleship journey.
It's in your name we pray, amen, all right, so look, if you
just surrendered your life toChrist, I want to hear from you,
chris, at thelinewithinus,shoot me an email.
I want to hook you up with somefree stuff as well as just give
you some encouragement alongthe way.
Just a touchdown so happy foryou and this week again digging
(10:48):
into the whole idea of raisingkids.
What does that look like?
Why is that important?
So you head over tothelionwithinus, because we have
all of our devotions, all ourresources are there.
Thelionwithinus is our website.
You can check all that stuffout.
The Daily Spiritual Kickoff.
Again, if you like stuff likethis, monday through Friday
Monday through Friday, we do itin our community or our
(11:09):
community.
Just join that directly.
It's a great way to connect,have a bunch of fellowship.
But if you're looking for thattrue discipleship iron,
sharpening iron, our leadershipmasterminds is where it's at
fellas, hands down, hands down,so proud and just excited for
(11:30):
how that is helping men.
One thing that's missing is you, bro.
So go check it out.
Let me know if you have anyquestions.
Again, thealignwithinus iswhere you found all that.
So come back on WednesdayLooking forward to unpacking
this idea further as we just tryto help you be the leader of
your family that God intends youto be.
So get out there, have a greatday.
We keep unleashing the lionwithin.
I've got something big to share.
(11:52):
We're making a major shiftbecause we know the battle is
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.
We see it, we've lived it, andthat's exactly why we built our
(12:13):
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
can join a brotherhood that'scentered on Christ and built for
(12:33):
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 strongholdand 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
(12:54):
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, this is yourspiritual kickoff episode.
Let's get into it, okay.
So scripture of the week.
This week is the book of 2Timothy, the first chapter, the
fifth verse.
It says For I am mindful of thesincere faith within you which
(00:24):
first dwelled in yourgrandmother, lois, and your
mother, eunice, and I am surethat it is in you as well.
I love that verse.
How about let's just get rightinto it, ok?
So again, spiritual kickoff,what it's all about.
Simplify and apply God's wordto our life.
And if you enjoy these we knowlots of you guys do.
(00:46):
Monday through Friday, we do amodified version of the
spiritual kickoff in our LionWithin Us community.
It's all completely free.
We just love to give this away.
It's exclusive content.
We don't post anywhere else.
It doesn't go on YouTube or anyof that other junk.
We stay right there within theLion Within Us.
So head over right now tothelionwithinus and start your
(01:07):
daily spiritual kickoff for free.
If you can't make the live feed, it's all good.
We post those videos thereevery day.
So their money through Friday.
You'll get that little boostyou need and I trust me, it's so
much better than anythingyou're going to find at
Starbucks, I promise.
All right, so let's get into ourscripture.
So where is the book of 2Timothy?
Well, if I'm going to be a joke, kind of a dad joke, well,
(01:28):
that's before, right after 1Timothy, of course, but
seriously, it's in your NewTestament, towards the back,
right before the book of Titus,you'll find Timothy.
Okay, two books.
And this week we're going to betalking all about parenting,
all about being kids and raisingkids and trying not to go crazy
raising kids.
So I actually wrote a Devo forthe Bible app and it's done very
(01:54):
well, and I said you know what?
This is a message that we needto share with our podcast
listeners as well, becausehopefully they'll find some
encouragement in it.
So when we look at this verse,something really struck me when
I think through the first,probably decade of my life being
a father.
(02:14):
Okay, I unknowingly outsourcedthe role of the spiritual leader
.
I did, I didn't even realize itat the time Because in my mind,
you know, I was doing what Iwas supposed to do.
I was, I didn't even realize itat the time because in my mind,
you know, I was doing what Iwas supposed to do.
I was taking my family tochurch pretty regularly and I
just assumed that checking thatyou know that box on every
(02:35):
Sunday, that was my job.
I fulfilled my duty to lead myfamily in the faith.
But, man, that was some flawedmindset.
When I look back and I reallythink about it now.
And our children's pastor, man,that dude was incredible.
Shout out to Scott, you wereawesome, bro.
But even on the best weeks mykids only saw him one, two,
(02:59):
maybe three hours most.
So that's a whole lot of timein the week when someone else
was setting the example.
And then that's when it hit methat someone was me, bro.
That hits hard.
And I, for the longest time, Ibought into the lie that
(03:20):
spiritual leadership wasreserved for these quote unquote
qualified people.
You know what I'm talking aboutGuys who go to seminary, the
full time missionaries, the menwith these advanced theology
degrees.
And I was just a regular dad.
I was trying to juggle life,trying to keep my head above
water, trying to keep my headabove water, and so there was no
(03:40):
way right that I was a possiblecandidate for leading anyone
spiritually At least that's whatI told myself.
And God had other plans, though, because the conviction he
started putting in my life wasreal, and he started to reveal
(04:05):
this small truth to me.
And that small truth was if Iwould just be willing to take
small, consistent steps ofobedience, he's going to meet me
.
He's going to meet me, and thenso I did.
I started taking my owndiscipleship journey steps, and
my kids started noticing, and Idiscovered, by taking these
(04:29):
steps, the real root of myhesitation.
To start with, it was fear.
I was afraid that my kids wouldsee how much I didn't know
about the Bible, or worse, I wasafraid how much they would see
how little of it I was actuallyliving out, because there was a
(04:50):
disconnect from who I was onSunday and who I was the rest of
the week and man.
That was very uncomfortable todeal with and to confront, and
I'm telling you, I see it moreand more and more and more
people I talk to.
That's why so many kids raisedin Christian homes Unfortunately
(05:12):
, we'll walk away from the faithone day Because they hear the
grace preached on Sunday, right,but they witness hypocrisy the
rest of the week and one daythey start thinking well, it was
never real to start with.
You can't blame them, and I'lltell you that realization for me
is a wake-up call, andhopefully it is for you, and I
couldn't pass the buck anylonger.
(05:34):
I had to stop pretending.
I had to start leading, eventhough it was very imperfect, it
wasn't always right, but it wassincere, and it started clunky,
y'all Clunky, because prayingout loud was as scary to me as
public speaking Right, and Idoubted myself a lot.
(05:57):
Now I was just reminded thatGod doesn't call to qualify, he
qualifies to call.
And so from there I juststarted taking these little,
small steps of obedience,starting to pray together,
starting to read these littledevotions together.
Naturally, there would becomequestions.
They would ask that I didn'tknow, I didn't have an answer.
(06:20):
So what do we do?
You research it, you figure itout, and then, over time,
something starts to change.
You start seeing their faithtake root, as mine was growing
alongside it and maybe you'redead out there and you're
listening right now and youstart to break out in a sweat
(06:44):
Around the thought of leadingyour family spiritually.
I just want you to know, brother, you can do this.
You can, not because you'reperfect, because nobody is, but
because God is faithful, he'sfaithful, he doesn't need your
perfection is.
But because God is faithful,he's faithful.
He doesn't need your perfection, bro, he just needs your
obedience.
And your kids don't need aspiritual superhero.
(07:04):
They need a dad who's sincere,who is present and who is
willing to grow.
So, yeah, the church is apartner.
Don't misinterpret what I'msaying.
But you are the leader.
You are the leader.
If you take this step withhumility and courage, you're
(07:28):
giving your chance for yourfaith to become a living legacy,
and that could echo forgenerations, bro.
So I just encourage you to keepleaning into it, just like we
see here in the second Timothyverse.
I mean, look, look how, how it'sall tied to the steps.
Now, in this case it was forthe matriarch side of the family
, but I'm sure it's in you aswell.
(07:49):
It's in you, fellas.
The question you got to askyourself it really ask yourself
is who truly leads the spiritualdirection of your home right
now?
Because I'm going to tell you,if the answer is anybody outside
, a man in the mirror.
We got some work to do doesn'tmean you're bad, just means we
(08:12):
got some work to do, and that'swhat we're trying to do with you
, trying to hopefully help yousee this week, on the episodes
of the Lion Within Us, is youcan do this, brother.
I'm just a guy raising kids too, so I'm trying to come
alongside and help you along theway.
And look, the greatest guide forraising kids is the Bible
(08:35):
period, and the greatest way tounderstand the Bible is the Holy
Spirit, and if you don't havethe Holy Spirit, then you're
missing an opportunity to learn.
So that starts by surrenderingyour life to the Lordship of
Jesus.
And if you've never done thatbefore and you're listening to
the line, because this issomething about kids popped up
and you were checking it out hey, I want to encourage you.
(08:57):
Take some time.
Think about what God's tryingto show you right now.
Recognize that he had a perfectdesign.
Recognize that Jesus is the oneand only true path to salvation
.
He's it.
There's no other way.
Unfortunately, oprah was wrong.
(09:17):
And then also recognize thatyou need a Savior.
You don't need someone to helpmake you better.
You need someone to do for youwhat you can't do for yourself,
and that's exactly what Jesusoffers us.
So if you've never surrenderedyour life to the Lordship of
Christ and you're listening tothe line right now and you're
excited.
Maybe you've got some kids atthe house and you're trying to
(09:39):
figure your stuff out.
Buddy, the best thing, by farthe best advice I can give you
is to stop doing it your way andstart doing it His.
If you're going to do it His,you have to follow Him.
So I'd love to pray with you.
I'd love to just invite you him.
So I'd love to pray with you.
I'd love to just invite you.
If you haven't surrendered yourlife to Christ, just do it
(10:00):
right now.
So, father, just thank you somuch for this chance just to
share your word and as well asthe good news with people out
there listening.
So I just pray, father, thatduring this time for that one
listener who is struggling, thatthey recognize their need for a
Savior, they recognize that youare it, and I pray you just put
your hand on them, guide them,direct them, give them the peace
(10:23):
that passes all understandingand then, lord, just be with
them as they begin to walk theirpersonal discipleship journey.
It's in your name we pray, amen, all right, so look, if you
just surrendered your life toChrist, I want to hear from you,
chris, at thelinewithinus,shoot me an email.
I want to hook you up with somefree stuff as well as just give
you some encouragement alongthe way.
Just a touchdown so happy foryou and this week again digging
(10:48):
into the whole idea of raisingkids.
What does that look like?
Why is that important?
So you head over tothelionwithinus, because we have
all of our devotions, all ourresources are there.
Thelionwithinus is our website.
You can check all that stuffout.
The Daily Spiritual Kickoff.
Again, if you like stuff likethis, monday through Friday
Monday through Friday, we do itin our community or our
(11:09):
community.
Just join that directly.
It's a great way to connect,have a bunch of fellowship.
But if you're looking for thattrue discipleship iron,
sharpening iron, our leadershipmasterminds is where it's at
fellas, hands down, hands down,so proud and just excited for
(11:30):
how that is helping men.
One thing that's missing is you, bro.
So go check it out.
Let me know if you have anyquestions.
Again, thealignwithinus iswhere you found all that.
So come back on WednesdayLooking forward to unpacking
this idea further as we just tryto help you be the leader of
your family that God intends youto be.
So get out there, have a greatday.
We keep unleashing the lionwithin.
I've got something big to share.
(11:52):
We're making a major shiftbecause we know the battle is
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.
We see it, we've lived it, andthat's exactly why we built our
(12:13):
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
can join a brotherhood that'scentered on Christ and built for
(12:33):
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 strongholdand 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
(12:54):
yourself what happens when irontruly sharpens iron.
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