October 6, 2025 • 20 mins
Standing firm feels natural when life is good—bills paid, family happy, everything running smoothly. But what happens when the doctor calls with unexpected news? When your child hits a rebellious streak? When your marriage starts crumbling? Standing firm suddenly feels impossible—and without Christ, it truly is.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving
Christian men who are hungry tobe the leaders God intends you
to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas.
Spiritual kickoff time is myfavorite time of the week.
Fellas, let's get into it.
Okay?
So the scripture of the weekthis week is in the book of
Ephesians, the sixth chapter ofthe 14th verse.
Okay, so Ephesians 6, 14 saysStand firm, therefore, having
(00:27):
belted your waist with the truthand having put on the
breastplate of righteousness.
So, guys, we're going to unpackthis verse and we're going to
see how we can simplify andapply this to our life.
Okay, and again, if you enjoythese and we know lots of you
guys do we do a spiritualkickoff every day, monday
through Friday.
We call our daily spiritualkickoff, or daily SKO if you
will.
That's within our Lion WithinUs community.
(00:47):
We do it completely free.
It's an easy way to getconnected with us.
It's an easy way to get intoour platform as well, just to
kind of see how we serve at theLion Within Us.
So if you enjoy these, I justencourage you head over to the
Lion Within dot US and startyour daily spiritual kickoff
experience.
You're going to have a lot offun with it.
It's going to give you so much,again, nothing to lose.
It's completely free and it'sjust a fun way for us to be an
(01:08):
encouragement to you in yourwalk, All right, so, right here,
this week it's going to be abig week for the Lion Fellows.
By the way, this week I'm notgoing to give you an insight to
who the guest is.
He's just, let's just say he'sgoing to be a repeat guest and
you're not going to bedisappointed.
How about that?
But we see, in Ephesians, righthere, the reason I pulled this
verse is because we talk aboutthis a lot, but we see the call
(01:32):
to that that we ultimately haveto stand firm.
And oops, I forgot something,fellas Before we even get into
this, we need to understand inGod's word where we can find
these books in the Bible.
So, ephesians, it's a littletricky.
So you're going to get intoyour New Testament, okay, then
you'll go past all your Gospels1 and 2 Corinthians, romans, all
(01:53):
the stuff there.
But it comes right afterGalatians and just before
Philippians.
So it can be a little difficultto find in your New Testament,
but that's where you're going tofind it, okay, so it's one of
Paul's epistles, but that'swhere you're going to find it.
And we see right here the callplaced directly on us as
Christian men that we can'tignore To stand firm.
(02:15):
It sounds very bold, it soundsvery strong, it sounds very
resolute.
But does standing firm alwaysfeel natural?
Probably not.
It's easy.
Think about it this way.
I'm recording this right now.
It's at the end of August, 1stof September.
(02:35):
The days are nice.
It's been a lot of nice weatherlately, sun is shining.
Let's just say that things, youknow, things are going well in
life for you.
Let's say your bills are paid,your, your family's smiling, you
and your wife are getting along.
Uh, everybody at the dinnertable, nobody's yelling at each
other.
It's easy to stand firm then.
(02:57):
Let's just be real, okay.
But uh, what about when a stormhits?
Okay, what about when the, uh,the, calls you that news that
you didn't expect?
Or your child hits a rebelliousstreak and they don't want
nothing to do with what you'vegot to say?
Or when your wife comes in andsays she's had enough?
Or what do you do when a treehits you in the back of your leg
(03:22):
and breaks your ankle and youcan't walk anymore and you're
fully reliant on others, it'shard to stand firm right and in
fact, in those moments, standingfirm feels impossible.
And the truth of the matter isit is impossible without Christ,
without Christ, without Christ.
And we see right here inEphesians, paul begins by
(03:48):
anchoring us in the belt oftruth.
Okay, and I think this is asuper important for us.
And if we go back and we startthinking about the Roman times
and the armor that they wore,the belt wasn't just to look
cool, right, it was foundational.
It held everything together.
Right, it gave a soldierconfidence to move without fear
(04:14):
of losing his gear, because ifhe moved and his pants fell down
, or he moved and his swordwasn't where he wanted it to be,
guess what?
He potentially could die.
This is a big deal.
So he had to make sure thatthat belt secured everything in
place.
And for us, our truth cannot befound in our feelings or what
the world tells us it should be,or even our own logic.
(04:36):
Truth has to be rooted in God'sword.
We talk about his truth, notours, because the world's going
to shift, but his truth is firm.
So what we can't afford to do,fellas, at least what I'm
learning, more and older andolder.
I guess we can't keep the Bibleat arm's length.
We can't just pick that thingup on a Sunday, dust it off and
(04:57):
then hopefully that's going tobe enough.
No, if it's his truth thatholds us everything together,
then we better know it, webetter internalize it, we better
walk in it, we better use it,because without his truth you're
like that soldier runningthrough the battlefield and next
thing you know, your pants arearound your ankles and at this
(05:17):
point, buddy, you're done,you're unprepared.
We can't afford to do that.
And then you look at what Pauldoes next.
In this verse he describes thebreastplate of righteousness.
Now, think about what abreastplate does, right.
So again, go back to it.
Like, envision a Roman soldier.
Or think through, like, what'sthe movie 300, right, those
(05:42):
breastplates job was veryimportant.
And what was my primary job?
Well, I want to protect myorgans and primarily my heart.
Okay, I mean, as a soldier youcould take a hit from the arm or
the leg.
Hey, it's got to.
Again.
Ankle got taken out.
You know, I can keep fighting.
I can still, I'm still here,right.
(06:03):
But if that tree, for instance,would hit me in the chest, I'm
done.
This is fatal, and our spiritualenemy knows this.
That's why so many of theseattacks we get are to the heart
right.
The temptations he throws at us, the discouragement that comes
(06:24):
our way, the lies about ourworth and the guilt from our
past, all that stuff are toolsthat he throws at us to get us
distracted, because if he cancorrupt what we desire, he can
manipulate what we do.
See how that works.
All of a sudden, I'm notheading down the path that God
wants me to go down.
I'm going on this other paththat he wants me to go down,
(06:44):
because my heart's beencorrupted.
And that righteousness look,that's a right standing with God
and that means we're going toprotect our heart.
It reminds us that our actionsmatter, that our obedience
matters, that how we livereflects who we serve.
And this doesn't mean we've gotto be perfect guys, don't hear
me.
Please don't take away thatwith this.
(07:04):
Only Christ is perfect.
But it does mean we need topursue that holiness right.
It means we need to guardagainst any compromises that we
have in our path and when wefeed our hearts.
(07:25):
And what we need to remember,rather, is what we feed our
hearts eventually flows into ourwords, into our actions into
our choices and, ultimately, towhat people remember about us.
Right?
So if we're chasing thesetemporary pleasures of the world
, guess what Our actions aregoing to follow.
But if we're locked in onChrist, your actions are going
to point others to him.
See how that works, pat.
How that works.
And this verse is really aboutreadiness, because it assumes
(07:46):
one thing that you're going toface opposition.
Ok, so no soldier is going toput on the armor to just go for
a walk in the park.
What's armor for?
Battle, battle, war.
And life's going to hit us back.
And Jesus told us that thisworld, we're going to have
(08:07):
trouble.
He didn't say you may, he saysyou are going to have trouble.
So it's not a matter of if thebattle comes right.
No, it's whether we're going tobe standing when the battle
comes.
So when that doctor's reportrattles your confidence, will
you anchor yourself in truth orcollapse in despair?
(08:28):
When that son or daughterrebels, are you going to cling
to righteousness and lead withpatience?
Are you going to get pissed offand give in to anger?
If your marriage is slipping,are you going to cower?
Are you going to plant yourfeet firm and fight for her?
(08:48):
And I mean fight with prayer,with humility, with love,
because, I'm telling you, thosemoments is impossible, but we
can be equipped when we lean onhim.
Guys, this is such a big deal.
So one of the subtle lies thatwe're tempted to believe is that
(09:10):
our actions probably don'tmatter that much, you know, and
we'll excuse small compromisesand we start rationalizing
things.
Right, and now we tellourselves that nobody's going to
notice.
Well, it's not that big a deal.
But this verse in Ephesianstells us that our actions do
matter.
They're connected to our heartsand our hearts reveal what we
(09:31):
desire.
So if we desire comfort guesswhat Then your action is going
to take you towards laziness.
If you desire approval guesswhat?
You're going to drift towardscompromise.
But if you desire Christ, youractions are going to display
conviction, courage, integrity.
So we have to stop living as ifthe details in our life don't
count, because they so much theydo, they do matter so much, and
(09:55):
every choice is either drawingus closer to the truth and
righteousness, the right thingwe got, or is pulling us further
and further away.
So I'm telling you this is notsomething we can take from the
sidelines, fellas, this has tobe viewed as a battle cry for
Christian men.
And again, not just when thingsare easy, but when that wind is
howling, when the ground isshaking, look, we have to stand
(10:18):
firm.
It means we have to rejectpassivity.
We absolutely have to rejectthat, because your family needs
you to lead.
We have to refuse compromise,particularly at work, when the
pressures are starting to makeyou want to bend.
We have to be able to speaktruth when lies are more popular
(10:41):
, because speaking truth is notalways easy.
And we have to guard that heart, because that will guarantee
you one thing, fellas, if you'rehearing my voice right now, the
enemy is trying to steal, killand destroy everything good in
your life, and he's not going tostop at anything.
He's not going to stop.
And this again, this is not justabout surviving life storms.
It's about showing the worldwhat it looks like when a man
(11:03):
anchors himself in truth andrighteousness in God's word.
So, tighten that belt up, guardyour heart, plant those feet
and look at the end of the day,when the world pushes, stand
firm.
Now, if you're listening tothis and you've never actually
taken a step to stand withChrist, this is your opportunity
(11:25):
, because, at the end of the day, we need to know that you are
made in his image.
You are and you are an imagebearer of Christ.
So this is God's perfect design.
The problem is, there's thislittle thing called sin.
It's not little, I'm justjoking, but sin separated us
from God.
So we have this gap and wecan't overcome it with the
(11:48):
things that we try to do in thisworld.
Right, we can't work our way todo a right standing with God.
I wish I could tell you that,like, do these five things and
you're good, bro.
Like it doesn't work that way.
No, what we have is a deficiency.
We have a gap that we can is adeficiency.
We have a gap that we can'tfulfill ourselves.
So we need not someone to comein and coach us up to be better.
(12:12):
We need a Savior to come in anddo for us what we can't do for
ourselves.
And this is why we need Jesus,who literally left heaven on a
rescue mission for us.
So we need a Savior.
See the difference there.
And once we recognize we need aSavior, okay then who is a
Savior?
That's Jesus, because he cameand fulfilled all the different
(12:33):
types of prophecies.
He did all the teachings, hedid all the miracles.
He showed us the way he taughtus.
And then he did the ultimatesacrifice, when he went to the
cross for us and paid thepenalty for our sins.
And look, he paid for you, hepaid for me, he paid for the
entire world, because this iswhat Jesus the Savior was sent
(12:55):
to do.
And then they crucified him onthat cross.
So he died for our sins.
And you know what, if the storyends there like, like, why are
you listening to the lion?
Because the story ends there,then jesus is just another dead
guy.
But it doesn't.
Three days later he rose, heovercame death and he's not
(13:16):
right now is sitting at theright hand of the father.
So we recognize that not onlydo we have a saver, a savior, we
have a living savior, and thatis the the the difference, the
thing that matters more thananything else is the
resurrection.
We put our hope and we put ourtrust in Jesus Christ because he
(13:37):
overcame death.
And I don't know about you, butI'm going to follow the guy
that defeated death, and that'ssuch a big deal, so you need to.
At some point you got to askyourself you know about you, but
I'm going to follow the guythat defeated death, and that's
such a big deal, so you need to.
At some point you got to askyourself what are you going to
do If you know that you're asinner?
And that's the first part mostguys struggle with.
(13:58):
But if you recognize that youare a sinner, you have this dark
part about you that you justcannot.
No matter what you do, it'sstill there.
And then you believe that Jesusis the son of God.
Like you start studying, youstart thinking about this and
all of a sudden this makes awhole lot of sense.
Then you got to confess him asLord and savior of your life.
And I'm talking about Lord andsavior of everything, not just
(14:18):
on Sunday mornings at like 10 or11 o'clock, whatever time your
church service is right now.
I'm talking about of yourentire life Monday, tuesday,
wednesday, thursday, friday,saturday, every day, every
moment, your bedroom, theboardroom, the bathroom I mean
everywhere.
Right, you're never going to beanywhere where you're not
underneath his authority.
(14:39):
And that's a good thing,because once you recognize, you
confess him as Lord and Saviorof your life, he sends you the
Holy Spirit that's going todwell you and then that's going
to be able to give you wisdomand discernment and God directs
you, give you conviction topursue him.
But it starts with making thedecision that you surrender your
life to the Lordship of JesusChrist.
And if you've never done that,let's do it today.
(15:00):
Like, don't put off fortomorrow what God's calling you
to do right now.
So I'm ready, I'm going to praywith you right now.
If you're ready to surrenderyour life to Jesus as your Lord
and Savior, let's go.
So, father, just thank you somuch for this opportunity to
share the good news of thegospel.
Rather, for that one listenerwho's at the end of their rope.
(15:20):
They don't know what to do,they don't know where to do,
they don't know where to turn,they don't know where to go.
I pray you hear them right nowand I pray that they know that
they can feel your presence, andI'm so thankful that you sent
Jesus to be our Savior.
So I just pray, as they are nowconfessing him as Lord and
Savior of their life, that youput a little hedge protection
around them to keep them safefrom the attacks that are going
to come, because the evil one isnot happy right now with the
(15:42):
decision that they're making.
And I just pray you just bewith them, guide them, direct
them and thank you so much forthis opportunity to point them
to you.
We love you.
We praise you in Jesus name,amen.
All right, so look, here's thedeal.
You just accepted Christ asyour savior.
Touch, doggone it down.
Let's go.
Send me an email, chris, at thelion within dot U S.
(16:05):
Okay, that's my email address.
I'm gonna hook you up with somefree things.
I should try to get you pluggedin and get you ready.
Uh, I got some scriptures tohelp you get um start with the
battle plan.
We have our Bible study of thelots of areas that we can
support and encourage you with.
And then, mainly, I just wantto just congratulate you and
just come alongside.
If you need help trying to finda church, we'll help you plug
(16:25):
to get in there as well.
Again, the line within us isnot a church, we're just more of
a supplement for you guys.
So you need to be plugged intoa good church.
We want to help you with thatjourney, okay.
So, again, shoot me an email.
I'd love to hear from you.
All right, so the question ofthe week this week with this
(16:48):
book of Ephesians, is are youanchored in God's truth or your
own?
So it's, one of the two isgoing to be true Either I'm
following what I think is trueor I'm following God.
Right, you can't do them bothat the same time.
Right?
They are pulling at oppositeends of each other.
They're definitely not equallyyoked.
Okay, and I'm encouraging youif you find that you're putting
God's truth off to the side moreand more frequently, if you
find that you're putting God'struth off to the side more and
more frequently, repent, turnfrom that and turn back to him.
Okay.
(17:09):
So, guys, hopefully you enjoyedthis.
I encourage you to please cometo our next episode.
Come listen to that, becauseyou're going to really be
encouraged.
This is, again, one of myfavorite guests that we ever
talk to, and his message ispowerful.
His message hits directly tothe heart of men, and his
message is needed right now, ina time such as this.
(17:30):
So, guys, thank you forlistening Again.
The LionWithinus is where youcan connect with us.
Start your daily spiritualkickoff, start your free 30-day
trial of the Lion Within us,community experience, and then,
hey, go ahead and put in yourapplication for a leadership
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That's where it all happens.
Okay, head over to the Bibleapp.
Open that up from YouVersion.
Check out the Lion Within Us.
(17:50):
We have so many I mean tons andtons and tons of Bible reading
plans on the Bible app.
We'd love for you to comealongside and do some of those
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Hey, the book is out.
It's live.
I'm super pumped about it.
Pretty humbled as well.
I'm just excited to get thatout in your hands.
(18:10):
So, thelinewithinus book Findall our resources right there.
You can get a copy for yourself, for your men's group.
I promise you, at least I hopeyou won't be disappointed.
I put a lot of effort into thisbook and I think this is going
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So thelinewithinus book is howyou get your copy of that.
Okay, all right, fellas.
(18:31):
Other than that, thank you somuch for listening.
Thank you so much for hangingout.
Give us a rating and review Ifyou want to support the show.
Thelinewithinus slash donate ishow you can support us there.
Support us there.
Other than that, look forwardto seeing you at our next
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I'm telling you you're notgoing to be disappointed with
this one, fellas.
So thanks for hanging, thanksfor digging into God's word, and
it's time to go out and unleashthe lion within, I've got
(18:53):
something big to share.
We're making a major shiftbecause we know the battle was
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For too long, guys have beentrying to carry the weight alone
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We see it, we've lived it, andthat's exactly why we built our
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Go to thelionwithinus and jointhe community and see for
(19:57):
yourself what happens when irontruly sharpens iron.
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving
Christian men who are hungry tobe the leaders God intends you
to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas.
Spiritual kickoff time is myfavorite time of the week.
Fellas, let's get into it.
Okay?
So the scripture of the weekthis week is in the book of
Ephesians, the sixth chapter ofthe 14th verse.
Okay, so Ephesians 6, 14 saysStand firm, therefore, having
(00:27):
belted your waist with the truthand having put on the
breastplate of righteousness.
So, guys, we're going to unpackthis verse and we're going to
see how we can simplify andapply this to our life.
Okay, and again, if you enjoythese and we know lots of you
guys do we do a spiritualkickoff every day, monday
through Friday.
We call our daily spiritualkickoff, or daily SKO if you
will.
That's within our Lion WithinUs community.
(00:47):
We do it completely free.
It's an easy way to getconnected with us.
It's an easy way to get intoour platform as well, just to
kind of see how we serve at theLion Within Us.
So if you enjoy these, I justencourage you head over to the
Lion Within dot US and startyour daily spiritual kickoff
experience.
You're going to have a lot offun with it.
It's going to give you so much,again, nothing to lose.
It's completely free and it'sjust a fun way for us to be an
(01:08):
encouragement to you in yourwalk, All right, so, right here,
this week it's going to be abig week for the Lion Fellows.
By the way, this week I'm notgoing to give you an insight to
who the guest is.
He's just, let's just say he'sgoing to be a repeat guest and
you're not going to bedisappointed.
How about that?
But we see, in Ephesians, righthere, the reason I pulled this
verse is because we talk aboutthis a lot, but we see the call
(01:32):
to that that we ultimately haveto stand firm.
And oops, I forgot something,fellas Before we even get into
this, we need to understand inGod's word where we can find
these books in the Bible.
So, ephesians, it's a littletricky.
So you're going to get intoyour New Testament, okay, then
you'll go past all your Gospels1 and 2 Corinthians, romans, all
(01:53):
the stuff there.
But it comes right afterGalatians and just before
Philippians.
So it can be a little difficultto find in your New Testament,
but that's where you're going tofind it, okay, so it's one of
Paul's epistles, but that'swhere you're going to find it.
And we see right here the callplaced directly on us as
Christian men that we can'tignore To stand firm.
(02:15):
It sounds very bold, it soundsvery strong, it sounds very
resolute.
But does standing firm alwaysfeel natural?
Probably not.
It's easy.
Think about it this way.
I'm recording this right now.
It's at the end of August, 1stof September.
(02:35):
The days are nice.
It's been a lot of nice weatherlately, sun is shining.
Let's just say that things, youknow, things are going well in
life for you.
Let's say your bills are paid,your, your family's smiling, you
and your wife are getting along.
Uh, everybody at the dinnertable, nobody's yelling at each
other.
It's easy to stand firm then.
(02:57):
Let's just be real, okay.
But uh, what about when a stormhits?
Okay, what about when the, uh,the, calls you that news that
you didn't expect?
Or your child hits a rebelliousstreak and they don't want
nothing to do with what you'vegot to say?
Or when your wife comes in andsays she's had enough?
Or what do you do when a treehits you in the back of your leg
(03:22):
and breaks your ankle and youcan't walk anymore and you're
fully reliant on others, it'shard to stand firm right and in
fact, in those moments, standingfirm feels impossible.
And the truth of the matter isit is impossible without Christ,
without Christ, without Christ.
And we see right here inEphesians, paul begins by
(03:48):
anchoring us in the belt oftruth.
Okay, and I think this is asuper important for us.
And if we go back and we startthinking about the Roman times
and the armor that they wore,the belt wasn't just to look
cool, right, it was foundational.
It held everything together.
Right, it gave a soldierconfidence to move without fear
(04:14):
of losing his gear, because ifhe moved and his pants fell down
, or he moved and his swordwasn't where he wanted it to be,
guess what?
He potentially could die.
This is a big deal.
So he had to make sure thatthat belt secured everything in
place.
And for us, our truth cannot befound in our feelings or what
the world tells us it should be,or even our own logic.
(04:36):
Truth has to be rooted in God'sword.
We talk about his truth, notours, because the world's going
to shift, but his truth is firm.
So what we can't afford to do,fellas, at least what I'm
learning, more and older andolder.
I guess we can't keep the Bibleat arm's length.
We can't just pick that thingup on a Sunday, dust it off and
(04:57):
then hopefully that's going tobe enough.
No, if it's his truth thatholds us everything together,
then we better know it, webetter internalize it, we better
walk in it, we better use it,because without his truth you're
like that soldier runningthrough the battlefield and next
thing you know, your pants arearound your ankles and at this
(05:17):
point, buddy, you're done,you're unprepared.
We can't afford to do that.
And then you look at what Pauldoes next.
In this verse he describes thebreastplate of righteousness.
Now, think about what abreastplate does, right.
So again, go back to it.
Like, envision a Roman soldier.
Or think through, like, what'sthe movie 300, right, those
(05:42):
breastplates job was veryimportant.
And what was my primary job?
Well, I want to protect myorgans and primarily my heart.
Okay, I mean, as a soldier youcould take a hit from the arm or
the leg.
Hey, it's got to.
Again.
Ankle got taken out.
You know, I can keep fighting.
I can still, I'm still here,right.
(06:03):
But if that tree, for instance,would hit me in the chest, I'm
done.
This is fatal, and our spiritualenemy knows this.
That's why so many of theseattacks we get are to the heart
right.
The temptations he throws at us, the discouragement that comes
(06:24):
our way, the lies about ourworth and the guilt from our
past, all that stuff are toolsthat he throws at us to get us
distracted, because if he cancorrupt what we desire, he can
manipulate what we do.
See how that works.
All of a sudden, I'm notheading down the path that God
wants me to go down.
I'm going on this other paththat he wants me to go down,
(06:44):
because my heart's beencorrupted.
And that righteousness look,that's a right standing with God
and that means we're going toprotect our heart.
It reminds us that our actionsmatter, that our obedience
matters, that how we livereflects who we serve.
And this doesn't mean we've gotto be perfect guys, don't hear
me.
Please don't take away thatwith this.
(07:04):
Only Christ is perfect.
But it does mean we need topursue that holiness right.
It means we need to guardagainst any compromises that we
have in our path and when wefeed our hearts.
(07:25):
And what we need to remember,rather, is what we feed our
hearts eventually flows into ourwords, into our actions into
our choices and, ultimately, towhat people remember about us.
Right?
So if we're chasing thesetemporary pleasures of the world
, guess what Our actions aregoing to follow.
But if we're locked in onChrist, your actions are going
to point others to him.
See how that works, pat.
How that works.
And this verse is really aboutreadiness, because it assumes
(07:46):
one thing that you're going toface opposition.
Ok, so no soldier is going toput on the armor to just go for
a walk in the park.
What's armor for?
Battle, battle, war.
And life's going to hit us back.
And Jesus told us that thisworld, we're going to have
(08:07):
trouble.
He didn't say you may, he saysyou are going to have trouble.
So it's not a matter of if thebattle comes right.
No, it's whether we're going tobe standing when the battle
comes.
So when that doctor's reportrattles your confidence, will
you anchor yourself in truth orcollapse in despair?
(08:28):
When that son or daughterrebels, are you going to cling
to righteousness and lead withpatience?
Are you going to get pissed offand give in to anger?
If your marriage is slipping,are you going to cower?
Are you going to plant yourfeet firm and fight for her?
(08:48):
And I mean fight with prayer,with humility, with love,
because, I'm telling you, thosemoments is impossible, but we
can be equipped when we lean onhim.
Guys, this is such a big deal.
So one of the subtle lies thatwe're tempted to believe is that
(09:10):
our actions probably don'tmatter that much, you know, and
we'll excuse small compromisesand we start rationalizing
things.
Right, and now we tellourselves that nobody's going to
notice.
Well, it's not that big a deal.
But this verse in Ephesianstells us that our actions do
matter.
They're connected to our heartsand our hearts reveal what we
(09:31):
desire.
So if we desire comfort guesswhat Then your action is going
to take you towards laziness.
If you desire approval guesswhat?
You're going to drift towardscompromise.
But if you desire Christ, youractions are going to display
conviction, courage, integrity.
So we have to stop living as ifthe details in our life don't
count, because they so much theydo, they do matter so much, and
(09:55):
every choice is either drawingus closer to the truth and
righteousness, the right thingwe got, or is pulling us further
and further away.
So I'm telling you this is notsomething we can take from the
sidelines, fellas, this has tobe viewed as a battle cry for
Christian men.
And again, not just when thingsare easy, but when that wind is
howling, when the ground isshaking, look, we have to stand
(10:18):
firm.
It means we have to rejectpassivity.
We absolutely have to rejectthat, because your family needs
you to lead.
We have to refuse compromise,particularly at work, when the
pressures are starting to makeyou want to bend.
We have to be able to speaktruth when lies are more popular
(10:41):
, because speaking truth is notalways easy.
And we have to guard that heart, because that will guarantee
you one thing, fellas, if you'rehearing my voice right now, the
enemy is trying to steal, killand destroy everything good in
your life, and he's not going tostop at anything.
He's not going to stop.
And this again, this is not justabout surviving life storms.
It's about showing the worldwhat it looks like when a man
(11:03):
anchors himself in truth andrighteousness in God's word.
So, tighten that belt up, guardyour heart, plant those feet
and look at the end of the day,when the world pushes, stand
firm.
Now, if you're listening tothis and you've never actually
taken a step to stand withChrist, this is your opportunity
(11:25):
, because, at the end of the day, we need to know that you are
made in his image.
You are and you are an imagebearer of Christ.
So this is God's perfect design.
The problem is, there's thislittle thing called sin.
It's not little, I'm justjoking, but sin separated us
from God.
So we have this gap and wecan't overcome it with the
(11:48):
things that we try to do in thisworld.
Right, we can't work our way todo a right standing with God.
I wish I could tell you that,like, do these five things and
you're good, bro.
Like it doesn't work that way.
No, what we have is a deficiency.
We have a gap that we can is adeficiency.
We have a gap that we can'tfulfill ourselves.
So we need not someone to comein and coach us up to be better.
(12:12):
We need a Savior to come in anddo for us what we can't do for
ourselves.
And this is why we need Jesus,who literally left heaven on a
rescue mission for us.
So we need a Savior.
See the difference there.
And once we recognize we need aSavior, okay then who is a
Savior?
That's Jesus, because he cameand fulfilled all the different
(12:33):
types of prophecies.
He did all the teachings, hedid all the miracles.
He showed us the way he taughtus.
And then he did the ultimatesacrifice, when he went to the
cross for us and paid thepenalty for our sins.
And look, he paid for you, hepaid for me, he paid for the
entire world, because this iswhat Jesus the Savior was sent
(12:55):
to do.
And then they crucified him onthat cross.
So he died for our sins.
And you know what, if the storyends there like, like, why are
you listening to the lion?
Because the story ends there,then jesus is just another dead
guy.
But it doesn't.
Three days later he rose, heovercame death and he's not
(13:16):
right now is sitting at theright hand of the father.
So we recognize that not onlydo we have a saver, a savior, we
have a living savior, and thatis the the the difference, the
thing that matters more thananything else is the
resurrection.
We put our hope and we put ourtrust in Jesus Christ because he
(13:37):
overcame death.
And I don't know about you, butI'm going to follow the guy
that defeated death, and that'ssuch a big deal, so you need to.
At some point you got to askyourself you know about you, but
I'm going to follow the guythat defeated death, and that's
such a big deal, so you need to.
At some point you got to askyourself what are you going to
do If you know that you're asinner?
And that's the first part mostguys struggle with.
(13:58):
But if you recognize that youare a sinner, you have this dark
part about you that you justcannot.
No matter what you do, it'sstill there.
And then you believe that Jesusis the son of God.
Like you start studying, youstart thinking about this and
all of a sudden this makes awhole lot of sense.
Then you got to confess him asLord and savior of your life.
And I'm talking about Lord andsavior of everything, not just
(14:18):
on Sunday mornings at like 10 or11 o'clock, whatever time your
church service is right now.
I'm talking about of yourentire life Monday, tuesday,
wednesday, thursday, friday,saturday, every day, every
moment, your bedroom, theboardroom, the bathroom I mean
everywhere.
Right, you're never going to beanywhere where you're not
underneath his authority.
(14:39):
And that's a good thing,because once you recognize, you
confess him as Lord and Saviorof your life, he sends you the
Holy Spirit that's going todwell you and then that's going
to be able to give you wisdomand discernment and God directs
you, give you conviction topursue him.
But it starts with making thedecision that you surrender your
life to the Lordship of JesusChrist.
And if you've never done that,let's do it today.
(15:00):
Like, don't put off fortomorrow what God's calling you
to do right now.
So I'm ready, I'm going to praywith you right now.
If you're ready to surrenderyour life to Jesus as your Lord
and Savior, let's go.
So, father, just thank you somuch for this opportunity to
share the good news of thegospel.
Rather, for that one listenerwho's at the end of their rope.
(15:20):
They don't know what to do,they don't know where to do,
they don't know where to turn,they don't know where to go.
I pray you hear them right nowand I pray that they know that
they can feel your presence, andI'm so thankful that you sent
Jesus to be our Savior.
So I just pray, as they are nowconfessing him as Lord and
Savior of their life, that youput a little hedge protection
around them to keep them safefrom the attacks that are going
to come, because the evil one isnot happy right now with the
(15:42):
decision that they're making.
And I just pray you just bewith them, guide them, direct
them and thank you so much forthis opportunity to point them
to you.
We love you.
We praise you in Jesus name,amen.
All right, so look, here's thedeal.
You just accepted Christ asyour savior.
Touch, doggone it down.
Let's go.
Send me an email, chris, at thelion within dot U S.
(16:05):
Okay, that's my email address.
I'm gonna hook you up with somefree things.
I should try to get you pluggedin and get you ready.
Uh, I got some scriptures tohelp you get um start with the
battle plan.
We have our Bible study of thelots of areas that we can
support and encourage you with.
And then, mainly, I just wantto just congratulate you and
just come alongside.
If you need help trying to finda church, we'll help you plug
(16:25):
to get in there as well.
Again, the line within us isnot a church, we're just more of
a supplement for you guys.
So you need to be plugged intoa good church.
We want to help you with thatjourney, okay.
So, again, shoot me an email.
I'd love to hear from you.
All right, so the question ofthe week this week with this
(16:48):
book of Ephesians, is are youanchored in God's truth or your
own?
So it's, one of the two isgoing to be true Either I'm
following what I think is trueor I'm following God.
Right, you can't do them bothat the same time.
Right?
They are pulling at oppositeends of each other.
They're definitely not equallyyoked.
Okay, and I'm encouraging youif you find that you're putting
God's truth off to the side moreand more frequently, if you
find that you're putting God'struth off to the side more and
more frequently, repent, turnfrom that and turn back to him.
Okay.
(17:09):
So, guys, hopefully you enjoyedthis.
I encourage you to please cometo our next episode.
Come listen to that, becauseyou're going to really be
encouraged.
This is, again, one of myfavorite guests that we ever
talk to, and his message ispowerful.
His message hits directly tothe heart of men, and his
message is needed right now, ina time such as this.
(17:30):
So, guys, thank you forlistening Again.
The LionWithinus is where youcan connect with us.
Start your daily spiritualkickoff, start your free 30-day
trial of the Lion Within us,community experience, and then,
hey, go ahead and put in yourapplication for a leadership
mastermind.
That's where it all happens.
Okay, head over to the Bibleapp.
Open that up from YouVersion.
Check out the Lion Within Us.
(17:50):
We have so many I mean tons andtons and tons of Bible reading
plans on the Bible app.
We'd love for you to comealongside and do some of those
with us and then check outthelinewithinus book.
Hey, the book is out.
It's live.
I'm super pumped about it.
Pretty humbled as well.
I'm just excited to get thatout in your hands.
(18:10):
So, thelinewithinus book Findall our resources right there.
You can get a copy for yourself, for your men's group.
I promise you, at least I hopeyou won't be disappointed.
I put a lot of effort into thisbook and I think this is going
to be something that guys aregoing to really enjoy.
So thelinewithinus book is howyou get your copy of that.
Okay, all right, fellas.
(18:31):
Other than that, thank you somuch for listening.
Thank you so much for hangingout.
Give us a rating and review Ifyou want to support the show.
Thelinewithinus slash donate ishow you can support us there.
Support us there.
Other than that, look forwardto seeing you at our next
episode.
I'm telling you you're notgoing to be disappointed with
this one, fellas.
So thanks for hanging, thanksfor digging into God's word, and
it's time to go out and unleashthe lion within, I've got
(18:53):
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.
We see it, we've lived it, andthat's exactly why we built our
(19:15):
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
(19:36):
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
(19:57):
yourself what happens when irontruly sharpens iron.
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