September 15, 2025 • 20 mins
Have you ever faced a moment when your strength wasn't enough? When life knocked you down so hard that independence was no longer an option? That's exactly where I found myself after a devastating farm accident left me with three ankle fractures and a dislocated foot.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Land Within Us, a podcast serving
Christian men who are hungry tobe the leaders God intended you
to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas.
Spiritual kickoff time.
Who's excited?
I know I am.
Let's go, all right.
So the scripture this weekEcclesiastes, 4th chapter, 10th
verse.
For if either of them falls,the one will lift up his
(00:25):
companion.
But woe to the one who fallswhen there is not another to
lift him up.
And that verse hits a littlebit too close to home right now,
fellas, I'm going to be honestwith you, but we're going to
unpack that.
I'm going to tell you why, andhopefully we're going to find
ways to simplify and apply thisto our life.
Okay, now, if you enjoy thespiritual kickoff episode every
(00:46):
week, just as a reminder, we dothis Monday through Friday
within the Lion Within us, so goto the lionwithinus.
We also offer this up for free,guys.
We're not asking for a dime,just go check it out.
If you want a little reflectionevery morning, start those
around 8, 15 Eastern.
You can jump on it, live withme.
And if you can't make the live,don't worry, the videos are
(01:07):
right there within the app.
All this is for free, I'mtelling you, there's no reason
to not start your dailyspiritual kickoff experience
right now.
So DelionWithinus is how youget started with that today.
So we need to first understandwhere is the book of
Ecclesiastes?
Because he did his OldTestament books, I'm like where
in the world is this?
So this was actually prettyeasy to find.
Usually guys can find Psalmsand Proverbs because they're
(01:31):
right there in the middle ofyour Bible.
You get the Psalms first andyou get the Proverbs next.
Right after Proverbs is whereyou find Ecclesiastes.
Okay, if you hit Song ofSolomon, you went a little bit
too far, just back up.
So that's where you're going tofind it at.
And the reason this verse is sohard for me to write on right
now and to think about andreflect on is because I am
sitting right here at thismoment of recording with a
(01:53):
broken ankle Three fractures itwas dislocated.
I had an accident here on ourfarm this past Saturday Really
messed my ankle up, actuallydislocated.
It was like my foot was likejelly inside my boot Working on
a tree just a freak accident ona tree.
And so, yeah, this is a verydifficult season of pain right
(02:15):
now.
I'm actually headed intosurgery next Wednesday, now at
the time of this recording, sopreferably when this comes out,
all that will be behind me.
Hopefully I'll be well down thepath of recovery, but sitting
here right now I'm in a fairamount of pain.
I'm in a dark place mentally.
When you have an ankle, whenyou get taken away the ability
(02:37):
to walk and you have a farm andfour children and all the
responsibilities there, it'sstressful and I have my good
moments and my bad moments.
But when I look at verses likethis, it really hits home,
because I did have someone topick me up.
My wife is right there.
(02:58):
She is right there, the love ofmy life, and she's there.
And the people that wereworking, the paramedics and the
ambulance, they were there.
And the doctors and the nursesnot everybody was there and we
have to surround ourselves withpeople because when we get hurt,
fellows, one thing, one seat,one trials of life really hit.
You gotta be surrounded and wecan't stand alone.
(03:22):
And I'm telling you, uh,falling is never part of the
plan, but falling doggone, ithappens, it happens and if you
like, anything like me, askingfor help ain't easy, it just
ain't.
I mean, I pride myself withbeing like a capable, strong,
dependable guy, and I'm the guythat other guys call when they
need some.
(03:43):
You know what I'm saying.
If they need something moved,or they need something cut down,
or they need some grass cut,I'm there.
But this weekend, one slip, oneslip, broken ankle.
All the projects on the farmstopped, all the daily work that
I do stopped, and now simpletasks are out of my control.
(04:06):
And suddenly this dude whothrives on being self-reliant.
I'm going to do this.
I'm having to stop.
I'm having to lean hard on mywife, on my family and on others
.
I'll be straight up with you,boys.
I don't like it.
It's uncomfortable to me and Ifeel like I'm a burden all the
(04:27):
time.
If you've ever been in a seasonlike this, maybe you can relate
.
This is new territory for you,boy.
Okay.
And then verses like this,though, bring me some
encouragement, because thatstrength isn't always just
standing on my own, because God,if I go back to the things that
I read and study and teach inthis Bible, god does not design
(04:50):
us for isolation.
He didn't.
He didn't want me to be a lonewolf, no matter how hard I
doggone, try to be one from timeto time.
No, from the beginning.
He wired us directly forcommunity, he wired us for
connection and he wired us to bedependent upon each other.
And this is not a weak point,fellas.
I mean I got to get this rightin my brain too, and I had a
(05:12):
choice.
And when that thing broke, Imean I immediately knew, like
crap, this is not good.
It's not good.
So I could resist in thatmoment and just stew in it and
make life hard for everybody,just be pissed off all the time,
or I could accept the season asa reminder that God's put
(05:33):
people on my path for a reason.
And I've fallen right now and Ineed it them to pick me up.
And let's just be real for asecond, guys, every single one
of us falls eventually.
It may not be.
Preferably you ain't gonnabreak an ankle like I have.
We all fall physically at somepoint.
We fall emotionally, we allfall spiritually.
(05:54):
Life just has a way of knockingus down and the question is not
around if, but the question iswhen, bro, when and when that
moment comes, who's going tolift you up?
Who is?
And I'm telling you, if you'rehearing this and, like you, hate
(06:17):
asking for help.
I feel you, bro.
I feel you, but hear me, yourwillingness to ask for help is
not a sign of weakness.
It is an opportunity.
It's an opportunity for you todeepen your relationship with
others.
It's an opportunity for you toexperience humility, which I
needed it.
This is an opportunity for youto see the body of Christ at
work.
It's unreal when you reframe it, and I'm having to learn this
(06:38):
part myself too.
We can't rob others of theopportunity, of the blessing to
serve you.
Okay, so if you're a strong guywho's always showing up for
others, you may not know howloved you are until life forces
you to lean on others.
And I'm telling you, fellas,this is what I'm walking through
at this exact moment.
And the truth is I don't knowhow long I'm going to be
(07:01):
sidelined.
I mean, they gave me some ideas.
I mean I'm hopeful.
Within you know, 10 or 12 weeks, I'll be kind of back up doing
my thing, and within you knowfour or five, six months,
hopefully, you know, runningback on the trail again.
But for right now, I do knowone thing my wife, my family,
they're stepping in and I cancount on them and I'm not going
(07:24):
to I, because I know this is areason God has given me this as
a gift, and this gift isprimarily showing me that life
is not meant to be done alone,period.
So my encouragement to you guysif you are in a season of help
where you need some help, askman, ask, receive that help, be
(07:46):
grateful for that help.
It's not failure to ask for it,it's faith.
And maybe today you need toreach out to somebody that you
trust and tell them what youneed help with.
I mean, it may not be physicalhelp, it may just be emotionally
or spiritually.
You need some help.
You got a Bible verse you can'tfigure out.
I need some help with it.
Right, but give them the chanceto lift you up, because real
(08:09):
strength is found in community,not isolation, fellas.
So that's my encouragement toyou.
I mean, and the question for theweek, this week we want to
think about at the lion issimple Is it hard for you to ask
for help when you need it?
If that answer is yes, like itis for me, you are not the Lone
Ranger.
You're not.
It's okay that it's hard.
(08:31):
It's not okay to just put inthe back burner and not do
anything about it.
Ask the hard questions.
That's what we're meant to doso.
Look, if you listen to the lionlong enough, you know every
spiritual kickoff episode.
What we try to do is simplytake a moment to praise our
(08:52):
Savior for what he did for us.
Now, I know not everybodylistening to the line is a
Christian.
Most of you are, but noteverybody.
So there may be a listener outthere right now who has never
surrendered their life to theLordship of Jesus Christ.
And they're sitting there like,well, this Christian stuff,
you're curious about what it'sall about.
I just want you to know thatGod, at the very beginning, when
(09:14):
he created everything, therewas a perfect design.
It was incredible.
It was absolutely awesome, bythe way.
And when he made the first man,by the way, his name was Adam.
He formed him with his handsand then he breathed directly
into Adam's nostrils the breathof life.
Then it says Adam sat up andwas face to face with his
creator and we're made in theimage of God.
(09:34):
So, like when you look in themirror and you see this jacked
up version of you, that is notwhat God sees.
You're made in his image.
And for Adam it was incredible.
It was.
It was amazing.
Things were perfect for liketwo pages, bro.
And then sin entered and thatseparated us from God.
That's all it is.
Sin entered and that separatedus from God.
That's all it is.
Sin simply is anything thatseparates us from God, period.
(09:58):
So we have a holy and righteousGod and then we have us.
There's a gap there, boy.
There's a gap right between whohe is and who we are.
And the question is okay, whatare we going to do about it?
And this is where most peopleget jacked up.
They try to fill that gap withthings to this world like yeah,
good works and just helpingpeople and giving to charities
(10:20):
and going to church and readingbibles and praying and just
being a good person, like bro.
If I I hear this one more time,it's like I think I just gotta
be a good person, get intoheaven.
I'm like, well, that's a goodthought there, buttercup, but
I'm sorry, hell is full of goodpeople, it just is.
It has nothing to do with yourworks directly.
No, what we need is someone tocome in and do for us what we
(10:43):
can't do for ourselves, becausewe can't pay for the penalty of
sin, because the penalty of sinis death.
You can't pay it.
So, so if we can't pay it, ifwe can't work our way to a right
standing with God, then what dowe do?
We need a savior.
That's where Jesus comes intothe scene, who left heaven on a
rescue mission for us directly,was born of a virgin, fulfilled
all the prophecies, did all theteachings and the miracles and
(11:05):
all the incredible things thatJesus did, but the most
incredible was when he willinglywent to the cross to pay the
penalty for our sins.
And, bro, you are a sinner.
Let's just get this right firstand foremost.
Like you ain't just some dudewho just made a few mistakes.
No, bro, you're a sinner.
You need a savior.
(11:25):
And Jesus is like I got it.
He wants you to cross.
And they crucified him and hedied.
He didn't faint or fall asleepor pass out or none of that
silly stuff.
He died on the cross.
They took him off that crossand they put him into a tomb.
Okay, they wrapped him up, puthim in a tomb.
(11:45):
That's what you do to deadpeople.
That ain't what you do topeople who fall asleep.
And that's where he lay forthree days.
And the fundamental differencebetween Christianity and the
rest of these religions outthere in the world is the people
who started these otherreligions.
They're still dead.
They gone.
They ain't coming back.
(12:09):
Jesus, though, it was like hechecked into an Airbnb for three
days and he had a checkout date.
I'm out of here.
He overcame death.
He defeated death.
That is who we serve.
He rose.
Do you get?
How big a deal that is Like.
The fear of death is likeprobably the number one fear in
the world.
Ever.
People are afraid of dying.
(12:30):
What was christ?
He beat that.
He beat.
It couldn't hold him down, andthat's who we put trust in,
that's we put hope in.
And he tells us like look bro,follow me.
I am the way, the truth in thelife.
No one's gonna come to heavenexcept through me.
There was no other name underheaven that's been given to my
(12:52):
men by which we must be saved.
Like Jesus, you're it.
Once you start recognizing that,it's like whoa, jesus is the
only way.
Now I want you to do good stuff.
I want you to help people andbe a good person and kind and
gentle and all the things right.
But that comes after you getthe heart relationship right
(13:13):
with the Lord and admittingyou're a sinner, believing that
he is the Son of God andconfessing him as Lord and
Savior.
That's where it starts.
Once you confess him as Lordand Savior and the Holy Spirit
comes and dwells, at that pointthe real work can begin and
that's when it gets fun.
I'm telling you people who saybeing a Christian is not fun,
they ain't doing it right.
(13:33):
They just must be screwing itup is all I can tell you.
But there's nothing.
I'll put it this way.
It's not going to be easy, butit is so much better and there's
going to be so much joy thatcomes in your life and peace
that comes in your life becauseyou're walking with him.
(13:53):
I'm sitting right here in a boot.
I got crutches to my leftoutside the screen here.
That's how I get around rightnow.
And you know what?
I still got joy.
I ain't very happy right now,but I still got joy because I
have Christ in my heart and Iknow he's teaching.
He's taking me through this fora reason to teach me something.
I just got to listen.
That's the truth that we canhang our hats on.
(14:17):
So if you've never acceptedChrist as your Lord and Savior
and you're listening to the lionright now, I don't know why
you're listening.
I just know you are.
I'm very thankful that you are,and I just want to encourage
you, to send a word ofencouragement to hopefully
brighten up your day and alsoencourage you to, right now,
surrender your life to theLordship of Jesus Christ and
confess him as Lord and savior,and I'll do it with you.
(14:39):
I'll pray with you right now.
Well, chris, I can't do that.
Listen to a podcast Are youkidding me?
Why not, bro?
You ain't got to be at thefront row of a church to do this
.
I can't do this.
I'm on treadmill, why not?
You can walk and pray.
Just don't close your eyes.
That'd be ill-advised Whereveryou are.
If the Holy Spirit is nudgingyou right now, stop resisting.
(15:00):
It's time to lean in and takethe first step on your
discipleship journey.
So, father, just praying forthat one listener, just one who
recognizes that they havecompletely, completely missed
the mark with you.
I pray that you hear theirprayer as they are just
confessing.
They're calling out to you tocome into their life to be their
Lord and Savior, and I'm sothankful that you hear their
(15:22):
prayer.
I pray you put people in theirpath.
That's going to help them,that's going to guide them,
that's going to direct them andjust welcome them into this
brand new first step in theirdiscipleship journey.
We love you, lord, we praiseyou.
Jesus, it's in your name.
We pray Amen, all right, solook, you just accepted Christ.
Touch down, let's go.
Okay, hit me up, chris, atthelionwithinus.
(15:42):
That's my email address.
Okay, I'm going to send you abunch of free resources to kind
of get you going on yourdiscipleship journey and also
just want to connect with you.
If you want to have aconversation, if you need help,
if you have questions, if youwant to like, what do you look
for in a church?
I'm here, I'm ready to serve,I'm ready to talk.
Send me an email, we'll make ithappen, okay.
So, guys, this week's episodesare going to be great.
(16:05):
The guest is a returning guest.
He's out of Florida, fellas,absolutely Just an incredible
man.
Really unpacked a lot arounddifficult seasons in life.
Again, I'm going to anextremely difficult season right
now, so the timing wasprovidential, I guess you could
say, so far as this conversationwith him.
So if you are in a difficultseason in life, you don't want
(16:27):
to miss the next episode, and ifyou know guys who are going
through some difficult trialsright now, share out this
episode, share out thisspiritual kickoff episode,
because it may be theencouragement that they need, or
it may be that the potentialdoor opener, that you need to
have a deeper conversation.
I don't know, never know howspirit's going to move, but I
know it's not going to moveuntil you take some action.
(16:49):
Okay, you got to do your parttoo.
Okay, until you take someaction.
Okay, you got to do your parttoo, okay.
All right, fellas, thank youfor listening.
If you want to support whatwe're doing at the Lion Within
the lionwithinus, slash donateis a super easy way to start
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If you want to take part in ourdaily spiritual kickoff or our
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That can be found at thelionwithinus as well.
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(17:11):
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Or you can just slashleadership and go directly to
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We have a structured process.
There's a whole program aroundour leadership masterminds.
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, okay, so get connected in allthose different areas.
(17:33):
On the.
From that standpoint, fellas,you can open the Bible app as
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Please, if you haven'tdownloaded the Bible app yet,
download the Bible app.
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(17:54):
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Okay, all right, guys, get afterit.
Have a great, great day.
(18:14):
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It's going to be incredible Ifyou would give us a rating and
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That would help as well.
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(18:37):
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(19:39):
yourself what happens when irontruly sharpens iron.
Welcome to the Land Within Us, a podcast serving
Christian men who are hungry tobe the leaders God intended you
to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas.
Spiritual kickoff time.
Who's excited?
I know I am.
Let's go, all right.
So the scripture this weekEcclesiastes, 4th chapter, 10th
verse.
For if either of them falls,the one will lift up his
(00:25):
companion.
But woe to the one who fallswhen there is not another to
lift him up.
And that verse hits a littlebit too close to home right now,
fellas, I'm going to be honestwith you, but we're going to
unpack that.
I'm going to tell you why, andhopefully we're going to find
ways to simplify and apply thisto our life.
Okay, now, if you enjoy thespiritual kickoff episode every
(00:46):
week, just as a reminder, we dothis Monday through Friday
within the Lion Within us, so goto the lionwithinus.
We also offer this up for free,guys.
We're not asking for a dime,just go check it out.
If you want a little reflectionevery morning, start those
around 8, 15 Eastern.
You can jump on it, live withme.
And if you can't make the live,don't worry, the videos are
(01:07):
right there within the app.
All this is for free, I'mtelling you, there's no reason
to not start your dailyspiritual kickoff experience
right now.
So DelionWithinus is how youget started with that today.
So we need to first understandwhere is the book of
Ecclesiastes?
Because he did his OldTestament books, I'm like where
in the world is this?
So this was actually prettyeasy to find.
Usually guys can find Psalmsand Proverbs because they're
(01:31):
right there in the middle ofyour Bible.
You get the Psalms first andyou get the Proverbs next.
Right after Proverbs is whereyou find Ecclesiastes.
Okay, if you hit Song ofSolomon, you went a little bit
too far, just back up.
So that's where you're going tofind it at.
And the reason this verse is sohard for me to write on right
now and to think about andreflect on is because I am
sitting right here at thismoment of recording with a
(01:53):
broken ankle Three fractures itwas dislocated.
I had an accident here on ourfarm this past Saturday Really
messed my ankle up, actuallydislocated.
It was like my foot was likejelly inside my boot Working on
a tree just a freak accident ona tree.
And so, yeah, this is a verydifficult season of pain right
(02:15):
now.
I'm actually headed intosurgery next Wednesday, now at
the time of this recording, sopreferably when this comes out,
all that will be behind me.
Hopefully I'll be well down thepath of recovery, but sitting
here right now I'm in a fairamount of pain.
I'm in a dark place mentally.
When you have an ankle, whenyou get taken away the ability
(02:37):
to walk and you have a farm andfour children and all the
responsibilities there, it'sstressful and I have my good
moments and my bad moments.
But when I look at verses likethis, it really hits home,
because I did have someone topick me up.
My wife is right there.
(02:58):
She is right there, the love ofmy life, and she's there.
And the people that wereworking, the paramedics and the
ambulance, they were there.
And the doctors and the nursesnot everybody was there and we
have to surround ourselves withpeople because when we get hurt,
fellows, one thing, one seat,one trials of life really hit.
You gotta be surrounded and wecan't stand alone.
(03:22):
And I'm telling you, uh,falling is never part of the
plan, but falling doggone, ithappens, it happens and if you
like, anything like me, askingfor help ain't easy, it just
ain't.
I mean, I pride myself withbeing like a capable, strong,
dependable guy, and I'm the guythat other guys call when they
need some.
(03:43):
You know what I'm saying.
If they need something moved,or they need something cut down,
or they need some grass cut,I'm there.
But this weekend, one slip, oneslip, broken ankle.
All the projects on the farmstopped, all the daily work that
I do stopped, and now simpletasks are out of my control.
(04:06):
And suddenly this dude whothrives on being self-reliant.
I'm going to do this.
I'm having to stop.
I'm having to lean hard on mywife, on my family and on others
.
I'll be straight up with you,boys.
I don't like it.
It's uncomfortable to me and Ifeel like I'm a burden all the
(04:27):
time.
If you've ever been in a seasonlike this, maybe you can relate
.
This is new territory for you,boy.
Okay.
And then verses like this,though, bring me some
encouragement, because thatstrength isn't always just
standing on my own, because God,if I go back to the things that
I read and study and teach inthis Bible, god does not design
(04:50):
us for isolation.
He didn't.
He didn't want me to be a lonewolf, no matter how hard I
doggone, try to be one from timeto time.
No, from the beginning.
He wired us directly forcommunity, he wired us for
connection and he wired us to bedependent upon each other.
And this is not a weak point,fellas.
I mean I got to get this rightin my brain too, and I had a
(05:12):
choice.
And when that thing broke, Imean I immediately knew, like
crap, this is not good.
It's not good.
So I could resist in thatmoment and just stew in it and
make life hard for everybody,just be pissed off all the time,
or I could accept the season asa reminder that God's put
(05:33):
people on my path for a reason.
And I've fallen right now and Ineed it them to pick me up.
And let's just be real for asecond, guys, every single one
of us falls eventually.
It may not be.
Preferably you ain't gonnabreak an ankle like I have.
We all fall physically at somepoint.
We fall emotionally, we allfall spiritually.
(05:54):
Life just has a way of knockingus down and the question is not
around if, but the question iswhen, bro, when and when that
moment comes, who's going tolift you up?
Who is?
And I'm telling you, if you'rehearing this and, like you, hate
(06:17):
asking for help.
I feel you, bro.
I feel you, but hear me, yourwillingness to ask for help is
not a sign of weakness.
It is an opportunity.
It's an opportunity for you todeepen your relationship with
others.
It's an opportunity for you toexperience humility, which I
needed it.
This is an opportunity for youto see the body of Christ at
work.
It's unreal when you reframe it, and I'm having to learn this
(06:38):
part myself too.
We can't rob others of theopportunity, of the blessing to
serve you.
Okay, so if you're a strong guywho's always showing up for
others, you may not know howloved you are until life forces
you to lean on others.
And I'm telling you, fellas,this is what I'm walking through
at this exact moment.
And the truth is I don't knowhow long I'm going to be
(07:01):
sidelined.
I mean, they gave me some ideas.
I mean I'm hopeful.
Within you know, 10 or 12 weeks, I'll be kind of back up doing
my thing, and within you knowfour or five, six months,
hopefully, you know, runningback on the trail again.
But for right now, I do knowone thing my wife, my family,
they're stepping in and I cancount on them and I'm not going
(07:24):
to I, because I know this is areason God has given me this as
a gift, and this gift isprimarily showing me that life
is not meant to be done alone,period.
So my encouragement to you guysif you are in a season of help
where you need some help, askman, ask, receive that help, be
(07:46):
grateful for that help.
It's not failure to ask for it,it's faith.
And maybe today you need toreach out to somebody that you
trust and tell them what youneed help with.
I mean, it may not be physicalhelp, it may just be emotionally
or spiritually.
You need some help.
You got a Bible verse you can'tfigure out.
I need some help with it.
Right, but give them the chanceto lift you up, because real
(08:09):
strength is found in community,not isolation, fellas.
So that's my encouragement toyou.
I mean, and the question for theweek, this week we want to
think about at the lion issimple Is it hard for you to ask
for help when you need it?
If that answer is yes, like itis for me, you are not the Lone
Ranger.
You're not.
It's okay that it's hard.
(08:31):
It's not okay to just put inthe back burner and not do
anything about it.
Ask the hard questions.
That's what we're meant to doso.
Look, if you listen to the lionlong enough, you know every
spiritual kickoff episode.
What we try to do is simplytake a moment to praise our
(08:52):
Savior for what he did for us.
Now, I know not everybodylistening to the line is a
Christian.
Most of you are, but noteverybody.
So there may be a listener outthere right now who has never
surrendered their life to theLordship of Jesus Christ.
And they're sitting there like,well, this Christian stuff,
you're curious about what it'sall about.
I just want you to know thatGod, at the very beginning, when
(09:14):
he created everything, therewas a perfect design.
It was incredible.
It was absolutely awesome, bythe way.
And when he made the first man,by the way, his name was Adam.
He formed him with his handsand then he breathed directly
into Adam's nostrils the breathof life.
Then it says Adam sat up andwas face to face with his
creator and we're made in theimage of God.
(09:34):
So, like when you look in themirror and you see this jacked
up version of you, that is notwhat God sees.
You're made in his image.
And for Adam it was incredible.
It was.
It was amazing.
Things were perfect for liketwo pages, bro.
And then sin entered and thatseparated us from God.
That's all it is.
Sin entered and that separatedus from God.
That's all it is.
Sin simply is anything thatseparates us from God, period.
(09:58):
So we have a holy and righteousGod and then we have us.
There's a gap there, boy.
There's a gap right between whohe is and who we are.
And the question is okay, whatare we going to do about it?
And this is where most peopleget jacked up.
They try to fill that gap withthings to this world like yeah,
good works and just helpingpeople and giving to charities
(10:20):
and going to church and readingbibles and praying and just
being a good person, like bro.
If I I hear this one more time,it's like I think I just gotta
be a good person, get intoheaven.
I'm like, well, that's a goodthought there, buttercup, but
I'm sorry, hell is full of goodpeople, it just is.
It has nothing to do with yourworks directly.
No, what we need is someone tocome in and do for us what we
(10:43):
can't do for ourselves, becausewe can't pay for the penalty of
sin, because the penalty of sinis death.
You can't pay it.
So, so if we can't pay it, ifwe can't work our way to a right
standing with God, then what dowe do?
We need a savior.
That's where Jesus comes intothe scene, who left heaven on a
rescue mission for us directly,was born of a virgin, fulfilled
all the prophecies, did all theteachings and the miracles and
(11:05):
all the incredible things thatJesus did, but the most
incredible was when he willinglywent to the cross to pay the
penalty for our sins.
And, bro, you are a sinner.
Let's just get this right firstand foremost.
Like you ain't just some dudewho just made a few mistakes.
No, bro, you're a sinner.
You need a savior.
(11:25):
And Jesus is like I got it.
He wants you to cross.
And they crucified him and hedied.
He didn't faint or fall asleepor pass out or none of that
silly stuff.
He died on the cross.
They took him off that crossand they put him into a tomb.
Okay, they wrapped him up, puthim in a tomb.
(11:45):
That's what you do to deadpeople.
That ain't what you do topeople who fall asleep.
And that's where he lay forthree days.
And the fundamental differencebetween Christianity and the
rest of these religions outthere in the world is the people
who started these otherreligions.
They're still dead.
They gone.
They ain't coming back.
(12:09):
Jesus, though, it was like hechecked into an Airbnb for three
days and he had a checkout date.
I'm out of here.
He overcame death.
He defeated death.
That is who we serve.
He rose.
Do you get?
How big a deal that is Like.
The fear of death is likeprobably the number one fear in
the world.
Ever.
People are afraid of dying.
(12:30):
What was christ?
He beat that.
He beat.
It couldn't hold him down, andthat's who we put trust in,
that's we put hope in.
And he tells us like look bro,follow me.
I am the way, the truth in thelife.
No one's gonna come to heavenexcept through me.
There was no other name underheaven that's been given to my
(12:52):
men by which we must be saved.
Like Jesus, you're it.
Once you start recognizing that,it's like whoa, jesus is the
only way.
Now I want you to do good stuff.
I want you to help people andbe a good person and kind and
gentle and all the things right.
But that comes after you getthe heart relationship right
(13:13):
with the Lord and admittingyou're a sinner, believing that
he is the Son of God andconfessing him as Lord and
Savior.
That's where it starts.
Once you confess him as Lordand Savior and the Holy Spirit
comes and dwells, at that pointthe real work can begin and
that's when it gets fun.
I'm telling you people who saybeing a Christian is not fun,
they ain't doing it right.
(13:33):
They just must be screwing itup is all I can tell you.
But there's nothing.
I'll put it this way.
It's not going to be easy, butit is so much better and there's
going to be so much joy thatcomes in your life and peace
that comes in your life becauseyou're walking with him.
(13:53):
I'm sitting right here in a boot.
I got crutches to my leftoutside the screen here.
That's how I get around rightnow.
And you know what?
I still got joy.
I ain't very happy right now,but I still got joy because I
have Christ in my heart and Iknow he's teaching.
He's taking me through this fora reason to teach me something.
I just got to listen.
That's the truth that we canhang our hats on.
(14:17):
So if you've never acceptedChrist as your Lord and Savior
and you're listening to the lionright now, I don't know why
you're listening.
I just know you are.
I'm very thankful that you are,and I just want to encourage
you, to send a word ofencouragement to hopefully
brighten up your day and alsoencourage you to, right now,
surrender your life to theLordship of Jesus Christ and
confess him as Lord and savior,and I'll do it with you.
(14:39):
I'll pray with you right now.
Well, chris, I can't do that.
Listen to a podcast Are youkidding me?
Why not, bro?
You ain't got to be at thefront row of a church to do this
.
I can't do this.
I'm on treadmill, why not?
You can walk and pray.
Just don't close your eyes.
That'd be ill-advised Whereveryou are.
If the Holy Spirit is nudgingyou right now, stop resisting.
(15:00):
It's time to lean in and takethe first step on your
discipleship journey.
So, father, just praying forthat one listener, just one who
recognizes that they havecompletely, completely missed
the mark with you.
I pray that you hear theirprayer as they are just
confessing.
They're calling out to you tocome into their life to be their
Lord and Savior, and I'm sothankful that you hear their
(15:22):
prayer.
I pray you put people in theirpath.
That's going to help them,that's going to guide them,
that's going to direct them andjust welcome them into this
brand new first step in theirdiscipleship journey.
We love you, lord, we praiseyou.
Jesus, it's in your name.
We pray Amen, all right, solook, you just accepted Christ.
Touch down, let's go.
Okay, hit me up, chris, atthelionwithinus.
(15:42):
That's my email address.
Okay, I'm going to send you abunch of free resources to kind
of get you going on yourdiscipleship journey and also
just want to connect with you.
If you want to have aconversation, if you need help,
if you have questions, if youwant to like, what do you look
for in a church?
I'm here, I'm ready to serve,I'm ready to talk.
Send me an email, we'll make ithappen, okay.
So, guys, this week's episodesare going to be great.
(16:05):
The guest is a returning guest.
He's out of Florida, fellas,absolutely Just an incredible
man.
Really unpacked a lot arounddifficult seasons in life.
Again, I'm going to anextremely difficult season right
now, so the timing wasprovidential, I guess you could
say, so far as this conversationwith him.
So if you are in a difficultseason in life, you don't want
(16:27):
to miss the next episode, and ifyou know guys who are going
through some difficult trialsright now, share out this
episode, share out thisspiritual kickoff episode,
because it may be theencouragement that they need, or
it may be that the potentialdoor opener, that you need to
have a deeper conversation.
I don't know, never know howspirit's going to move, but I
know it's not going to moveuntil you take some action.
(16:49):
Okay, you got to do your parttoo.
Okay, until you take someaction.
Okay, you got to do your parttoo, okay.
All right, fellas, thank youfor listening.
If you want to support whatwe're doing at the Lion Within
the lionwithinus, slash donateis a super easy way to start
with that.
If you want to take part in ourdaily spiritual kickoff or our
community, that's two easy waysto get started.
That can be found at thelionwithinus as well.
If you're interested insubmitting an application for
(17:11):
the leadership mastermind, thatcan be found at the main site as
well.
Or you can just slashleadership and go directly to
that page and, again, thesegroups meet every other week.
We have a very in-depth.
We have a structured process.
There's a whole program aroundour leadership masterminds.
Go check that out atthelinewithinus slash leadership
, okay, so get connected in allthose different areas.
(17:33):
On the.
From that standpoint, fellas,you can open the Bible app as
well.
Please, if you haven'tdownloaded the Bible app yet,
download the Bible app.
We have tons and tons and tonsof Bible studies or or reading
plans I think it's what theycall them on the Bible app, and
you may be encouraged, guys.
I seem like all over thecountry, all over the world,
(17:54):
actually are loving thesestudies.
We're getting feedback on theway that it's impacting them.
So if you want to see whatthey're all about, download the
Bible app, search for the LionWithin Us, follow the page and
then from there, you'll benotified every time we release
new content on the Bible app.
Okay, all right, guys, get afterit.
Have a great, great day.
(18:14):
Look forward to seeing you onour meat episode this week.
I'm telling you you're notgoing to want to miss it.
It's going to be incredible Ifyou would give us a rating and
review.
That would help as well.
And again, thelionwithinus ishow you get connected with us
moving forward.
All right, guys, thanks forlistening to the Spiritual
Kickoff.
You know it's coming right.
Keep unleashing the lion within.
I've got something big to share.
(18:37):
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 and a
world that demands strength butoffers no place to rest.
We see it, we've lived it, andthat's exactly why we built our
(18:58):
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
(19:18):
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 the lion withinus andjoin the community and see for
(19:39):
yourself what happens when irontruly sharpens iron.
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