October 20, 2025 • 23 mins
A single line can change a life: “Let’s arise and build.” Today we unpack what that call looks like for modern men who feel the weight of work, family, and faith—and want to move from good intentions to godly action. I share why leadership voids never stay empty, how apathy quietly erodes our churches and homes, and what steady, Spirit-led presence can restore when men step forward with humility and courage.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Grainger (00:02):
Welcome to The Line Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
intends you to be.
I'm your host, Chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas, spiritualkickoff time.
Let's go.
I'm telling you, this these aremy favorite.
I absolutely love the spiritualkickoffs.
This week, we're in the book ofNehemiah, and we're going to
really dig into Nehemiah thisweek.
The Wednesday episode is goingto be all about it.
(00:23):
Fellas, this is what it's allabout.
But we're in the secondchapter, the 18th verse, and it
says, And I told them how thehand of my God had been
favorable to me, and also aboutthe king's words, which he had
spoken to me.
Then they said, This is this iskey right here.
Let's arise and build.
So they put their hands to thegood work.
(00:45):
Fellas, that's some greatscripture right there.
And I mean, let's go.
We're going to see how we cansimplify and apply this to our
life.
That's again with the spiritualkickoff episodes every week.
This is what we do.
If you enjoy these, and we feellike you guys do based off our
feet, the feedback we see, Ihighly encourage you.
Go check out thelionwithin.us.
(01:06):
Start your daily spiritualkickoff for free today.
I do this Monday through Fridaywithin our Lion Within is
community, live every morning,reading God's Word, trying to
equip, trying to encourage,trying to just inspire some
guys, just sharing what the HolySpirit reveals to me.
It's a great way.
You can engage with me directlywhen we do this.
And if you miss it, don'tworry.
We put the videos right therein the feed so you get that
(01:29):
every day.
But again, this is we don't putthis anywhere else.
It's not on our YouTube channelor anything anywhere else out
there on social media oranything like that.
It's an intimate way that wetry to encourage guys every day.
So look, the lionwithin.us,start your free daily spiritual
kickoff experience today.
Okay.
So first of all, as we unpackthe scripture, we need to
(01:50):
understand where is the book ofNehemiah.
It can be a little bit tricky.
It's Old Testament.
Most guys do know that, butit's not in uh past like Psalms
and Proverbs and the right.
It's not past that where it'swithin your within your
prophets.
It's actually before, okay?
So you're gonna find Nehemiahbefore Ezra, uh, I'm sorry,
(02:13):
after Ezra and before Esther.
Okay, so that's where you'regonna typically find it in your
Bible.
So if you open your Biblemidway to Psalms, you need to
flip back to the left, okay?
So this just trying to give youa little bit of a of a tip.
So if a pastor ever says openup to Nehemiah, if you remember
that part, maybe that will thatwill help you, okay?
And we love this call righthere in the scripture.
(02:35):
If you look at the scripturedirectly, just rise up and
build, man.
That that is awesome.
Because that's a wake-up call.
I mean, really, that's awake-up call that we cannot just
put to the side whatsoever.
And and and we have to thinkabout it.
When Nehemiah wrote this, itthis was not some poetic thing
like he like he was just tryingto put it together to sound
(02:55):
good.
No.
This was practical, bro.
This was practical.
It was the cry of a guy.
Absolutely.
He saw the devastation aroundhim, and and he was like, you
know what?
I'm doing something about this.
I'm gonna take action.
I'm not gonna make excuses.
You know, he didn't he didn'torganize a little prayer
(03:16):
breakfast or start a visionboard.
No, he rallied people, bro.
He rallied people uh and andand and all around to rebuild
what had been torn down, right?
Crazy part is, they listened.
And we need that type ofleadership again today,
particularly from guys in thechurch.
And I'm not talking out theredirectly to the guys who are
(03:39):
employed by the church.
You boys got your own missionto do for sure.
I'm talking about guys like me,the lay, the layperson dudes
for that that need to startstepping up.
And for decades, if we lookback, you can see it.
You can see it all around it.
Churches slowly startedwatching men fade into the
(04:00):
background.
You know, fewer men startedjoining, even fewer men started
leading.
And it's very clear.
We got more work to do, boys.
We do.
Because where are the men whowill lead their families not
just into the building onSunday, but into the presence of
(04:22):
God each and every day?
Okay?
We're the men that's gonnatrade apathy for action,
passivity for purpose.
I'm telling you guys this is abig, big deal.
And if you look inside thechurch, very commonly we see it.
You see women running theministries, leading the
(04:44):
programs, leading the kids,organizing the prayer nights,
carrying the weight ofdiscipleship.
And I just want to say firstand foremost to go on record,
praise God for and for theirobedience.
Because if it hadn't been forthem, there's no telling what
would have happened.
But it wasn't supposed to betheir solo effort.
Okay, it should not just betheir burden.
(05:06):
We have got to stop vacatingour posts.
And the reality is when we stepback as dudes, the the church
limps along.
Our homes get our suffering,communities just grow darker.
And leadership voids are neverneutral, fellas.
(05:26):
If somebody steps out of aleadership role, somebody else
is gonna step in, period.
So if you abandon your role allaround you, right, then I
guarantee you, confusion andcompromise are gonna gladly move
in and take the place.
And we gotta shift from that.
We absolutely have to shiftfrom that.
It just can't just be somesoft, uh, this sounds like a
(05:47):
good idea.
No, it has to be a bold coursecorrection that is spirit-driven
100%.
And and when we start thinkingabout the context of this
scripture for us today, what dowe need to rebuild?
Well, the this the walls, thebroken walls of Jerusalem,
right, were what Nehemiah wasfocusing on.
But there are places in ourhomes right now, in our
(06:10):
churches, that have crumbled.
And the walls are under attack.
And until we step up into ourdiscipleship journey and take
the reins here, it's gonnacontinue.
And God isn't asking us to justsit there and admire the ruins
and talk about how screwed upstuff is.
Anybody can do that and justtalk about how bad stuff is.
(06:32):
He's calling us to dosomething, to be the rebuilders.
And just like with Nehemiah'sday, this rebuilding starts with
one decision.
And that decision is notsomeday, but right now.
Dog on it right now.
I'm gonna do something.
So I'm gonna give you just acouple practical ideas, just
things to consider, okay?
(06:54):
You can rise up and startbuilding now.
First thing you start doing isleading spiritually in your
house.
Maybe you need to be starting adaily rhythm of prayer with
your with your family and yourkids.
Or how about this?
Open the Bible before you cuton the TV.
I'm telling you, man, you startdoing stuff like that, the
(07:16):
people in your home will startwatching.
Second thing you start thinkingabout is serving at church,
right?
And here's the thing, bro.
Don't wait to be asked.
Just just show up, hold somedoors, join a team, ask, teach,
mentor, discipleship.
You don't need a title, bro.
You need a towel.
Remember that.
And if you're getting thepushback from church leadership
(07:37):
in these areas to serve, findanother church.
Find another church.
I'm telling you, this is a bigarea that I've been struggling
with, and it's something God hasbeen making clearer and clearer
for me.
Now, third thing you do, youbetter bring some, you gotta get
some brothers around you, okay?
You gotta be around some othergodly men.
Iron sharpens iron, but youcan't have that if you only have
(07:58):
one piece of iron, bro.
You can't.
Because you can't.
A lone wolf out there in thisworld we live in becomes a
starving wolf, okay?
And we are not meant to fightalone.
So I've said this over and overand over.
But if you need support here,go to the lionwithin.us.
You can join the dailyspiritual cook off for free.
But if you really want thisbrotherhood, join the community.
If you want to go to the nextlevel of brotherhood, consider
(08:21):
our leadership mastermind, okay?
Now, we also need to take astand for truth, okay?
When we see things happeningaround us, so far as us being
called to rise and build, youbetter start being bold.
We can't just shrink back fromthe hard conversations.
If we see an outrightinjustice, we have to, as men,
(08:42):
stand up.
And that could be in yourworkplace, that could be in your
neighborhood, that could be inyour just your circles of
influence you have around you.
You have to do this humbly forsure, but you have to be
courageous.
And we need more of this.
Because this passivity, thisapathy is absolutely destroying
us.
And then we do need to supportthose in church leadership,
okay?
We need to encourage them, weneed to protect them, but also
(09:04):
come alongside them becausethey're under attack and they
need some godly men in theircorner.
So what we have to do isreclaim that post, fellas.
We have to.
He wired us for responsibility.
You know it's in you.
You can feel it.
He wired us for protection.
Somebody comes and tries tomess with your kids.
What are you gonna do?
You're gonna absolutely dowhatever you have to do to
(09:24):
protect them, right?
He's wired us for leadership,okay?
It's not about beingcontrolling, it's not about
being loud.
It's more about being present,anchored, and spirit-led.
Because you can't just consideryourself a member, right?
No, I'm not just a member.
Bro, you're a builder, you're arestorer, you're a watcher.
(09:47):
And man, the church needs you.
It's waiting for you.
He didn't, Nehemiah, if we golook at what he did, bro.
He didn't do it by himself.
He started with a burden thatthe Lord put on his heart.
He prayed about it, then hecast a division, and then he
called others to rise up andjoin him.
And that call is for us today.
(10:10):
Because the question isn't ifhe's calling, it's it's whether
or not we're listening, boys.
Because he is calling.
So we got to put the excuses tothe side.
We got to start trying to justyou know be passive.
We have to rise up because ourfamily needs us, our church
needs us, the kingdom of Godneeds us, he chooses to work
with us.
And fellas, God has alreadyequipped us.
(10:31):
We just have to lean into it.
So, fellas, look, I know that'sa lot right there, okay?
But God has called you to stepup somewhere and to serve.
So the question this week iswhere is that?
And fellas, if you are braveenough to ask that question, I
guarantee you God's gonna giveyou something.
And it may be something supersmall, it could be something as
(10:53):
small as like uh working theparking team at your church or
the welcoming team at yourchurch, or uh helping in the
nursery at your church.
Oh, I'll be praying for you ifthe Lord calls you to that.
But seriously, he's calling youto something.
(11:13):
Are you gonna listen?
Or are you just gonna say, I'llget to it eventually.
I'm telling you, boys, thatdelayed obedience is still
disobedience.
Don't don't kid yourself for asecond.
We need more guys that aregonna lean in and say, Yep, he's
called me, I'm ready to go.
All right now.
For you guys that arelistening, that have not
(11:37):
surrendered your life to theLordship of Jesus Christ, and
I'm not naive enough to thinkthat everybody listens to the
line is a Christian.
I know most of you are, butsome of you are probably not.
We've got we're we're gettingmore and more listeners now.
Guys are finding our content,which is praise the Lord.
So we're gonna keep stewardingthat well.
So on our spiritual kickoffepisodes, we always end up with
(11:58):
just sharing with you about thegospel.
Because you may have been tochurch or a bunch of times, or
you may have never been tochurch.
Maybe you put you clicked on alion because you like lions.
I don't know, bro, why you'rehere.
But you're here and you'relistening to me right now, at
this moment in your life, and Idon't know when that is, because
that's the crazy part aboutpodcasts.
You can listen to them wheneveryou want to listen to them.
(12:18):
But I know one thing.
God's called me clearly tospeak this to somebody listening
right now, and that is that Godabsolutely loves you.
And there was a perfect designwhen God created everything.
In the beginning, he spokeeverything into existence until
it came to man.
And what did he do?
He formed man with his hands.
You see the difference?
The personal connection andrelationship there?
(12:40):
And then he breathed the breathof life into Adam's nostrils,
and then Adam was set up and wasface to face with his creator,
and we are made in his image.
You are made in his image.
When you look in the mirror,that that jacked up person that
you see in the mirror, that'snot who God sees.
God sees you as an image bearerof him.
That's who he is.
He loves you so much.
He he designed you exactly theway that he wanted.
(13:03):
You may see him as flaws, hesees it as perfection, bro.
And it was great for Adam forlike two pages in the Bible,
okay?
And then sin entered the world.
And then don't get tripped up,man.
Sin is only the only thing, theeasy way to remember sin is
anything that separates us fromGod.
That sin entered the world andthat fractured relationship that
Adam had and Eve had with thecreator.
(13:26):
So now we have a holy andrighteous God, and then we have
us, and there's this massivechasm between us, okay?
And the problem is the world'sgonna tell you, well, you can
close that gap.
All you gotta do is just be agood person, man.
Just help folks out, give alittle bit of money to some
charities, go to church everynow and then.
Like, if you just do enoughgood stuff, bro, when you die
(13:46):
and you get to heaven, they'llsay, Well, let's just look and
say, Oh, well, he did this andthis.
Come on in, buddy.
Come on in.
And I'm here to tell you thatis a lie for the pit of hell.
Because hell is full of gooddudes.
It just is.
It's just full of good dudes.
Now I'm not saying I don't wantyou to do good.
I absolutely want you to dogood.
(14:06):
I just don't want you to thinkthat those good works are going
to count for anything so far aspaying for your salvation,
because it doesn't.
Period.
We can't do it.
We can't earn it on our own.
Okay.
We need not a coach, we need asavior to come in and do for us
what we can't do for ourselves.
And that's where Jesus entersthe scene.
(14:27):
Okay.
So Jesus left heaven on arescue mission for each and
every one of us.
He was born of a virgin,fulfilled all the prophecies,
did all the teachings, all themiracles, did all everything in
your New Testament, Jesus did itall.
He fulfilled it all.
Like this is this isunbelievable that we have
Messiah who come and did for uswhat he did.
But the craziest part is hewillingly went to the cross and
(14:52):
gave up his life for you.
Think about that for a second.
Like I I got four kids and Iwould I would give my life up.
If if one of them, if it's alife or death situation and it's
them or me, I'm gonna go.
I'm I'm taking myself out forthem and and and pray that they
live a live a great life.
(15:13):
Someone else?
I don't know.
You know, I'm not gonnasacrifice myself or someone
else.
Very, you know, you get whatI'm saying.
It's not it's not somethingthat that we inherently think
about doing.
But God loves us so much thathe sent his one and only son.
And bro, when you startthinking about he he sent his
(15:36):
son and knowing that his son wasgonna pay no penalty for our
sin by going to the cross, itblows your dog on mind.
Blows your mind.
And that's what Jesus did forus.
He went to the cross, willinglywent to the cross, was
crucified, pierced for ourtransgressions, and died.
He didn't pass out, he didn'tfaint, he didn't go to sleep.
(15:57):
He died.
They laid him in the cross,they laid him in a tomb.
Okay, so this is what he did toJesus' body.
They laid him in a tomb afterall this.
And then at that point, he'sdead, right?
Story over.
Okay, well, let's just uhpretend like we're going to a
funeral every Sunday becauseJesus is dead.
Like if that's where the storyended, yeah, that would be
(16:17):
pretty sad.
Most religions are like that,okay?
When when they have a founder,at some point, the founder dies,
and guess what?
He they they still dead.
But that's not what we dealwith when we put our faith and
our hope in Jesus Christ,because he overcame death.
You get how big a deal that is?
I don't know about you, but I'mI'm hitching my wagon to the
(16:38):
guy who defeated death.
Because that guy right there,that's somebody I'm following.
And that right now it saysJesus is that's at the right
hand of the Father.
No one comes to the Fatherexcept through him.
He is the way, the truth, andthe life.
There's no other name underheaven that's been given among
men by which we must be saved.
It is Jesus.
He is it.
Oprah's wrong.
There's not multiple paths.
Jesus is the path.
(16:59):
Period.
Okay?
So you can't work your way in.
That's kind of tough.
But you can get in by gracebecause he's given you this,
this, this awesome gift.
It just takes a couple things.
Just recognize it first andforemost that you are a sinner
in need of a savior.
You have to really wrestle andunderstand this, okay?
(17:20):
That I'm pretty jacked up andyeah, I need a savior.
And then you need to recognizeprimarily, not primarily, it has
to be recognized that Jesus isthat savior.
Like he is the Son of God.
Like there's no questions aboutthat in your mind.
And then you have to confessHim as Lord and Savior of your
life.
And at that moment, He movesfrom head knowledge to your
(17:41):
heart.
And the Holy Spirit's gonnacome and dwell.
The scales are gonna fall off,and you're gonna be in the army,
in the Lord's army at thatmoment, ready to serve and do
what God's called you to do.
But it takes a decision likeyou cannot get to heaven on your
mom or your dad, bro.
It don't work that way.
Or your grandma.
It don't work that way.
This is a personal, individualdecision.
Well, Chris, I'm just gonnalive my life, and when I get to
(18:01):
when I get older, I'll do it.
Okay.
Well, how long are you gonnalive, bro?
No one wakes up and saystoday's the day like my life's
gonna run out.
No, you never think that,right?
I mean, it things happen.
I'm not trying to scare you.
I'm just trying to just, hey,things happen.
People drown, people haveaccidents.
It happens all the time.
So don't put off doing thatbusiness with God that you need
(18:25):
to do today, man.
Don't put that off.
So if you if you neversurrender your life to the
Lordship of Jesus Christ, I'mgonna give you an opportunity
right now.
Let's just pray together, rightnow.
And you invite him into yourlife, and then you just wait to
see what the Holy Spirit does.
Then whatever that next thinghe tells you to do, let's just
do it.
So let's pray right now.
(18:46):
Lord, thank you so much forthis opportunity just to share
the gospel.
There's a listener, I don'tknow where they're located,
Lord, but I do you do.
You've known everything aboutthem up to this moment, and you
know that you've been workingworking on them for a long time.
Because I recognize too thatone gospel presentation on the
lion within us is not what savessomeone.
(19:08):
There's there's been seeds thathave been sown in this person's
life that got them to thispoint.
And now for some reason they'rehearing it clearly and they're
ready to respond.
So, Lord, I just pray you to bewith them, guide them, direct
them, put some people in theirlife that's going to encourage
them.
And thank you for thisopportunity to share the good
news with others.
It's in your name we pray.
Amen.
So look, if you just acceptedChrist as your Savior, I want to
(19:29):
hear from you, okay?
Because I want to hook you upwith some free resources to help
you.
You just started a discipleshipjourney, whether you believe it
or you recognize it or not,okay?
So I want to send you someresources to help you get
started with some scriptures,some basic one-on-one stuff that
you just need to have in yourback pocket.
I also want to find out whereyou're at because if you're not
in a church, I want to give yousome ideas on things to look
for.
(19:49):
Not just like like red flags.
I want to give you some greenflags too.
Some what's what are somethings to look for to be
encouraged by if you're ifyou're trying to pick a church
that's gonna really serve youwell as you grow in your
relationship with Christ, okay?
So email me.
That's the easiest at Chris atthelionwithin.us.
You can email me directly.
Just just tell me which podcastyou listen to and that you've
(20:12):
accepted Christ.
Well, I'm gonna send you thoseresources.
I'd love to hop on a call andjust give you give you some
encouragement, pray for you, andwelcome you into the
brotherhood.
All right.
So thank you so much forlistening, guys, again.
Thelionwithin.us is where youfind all of our resources.
Okay, so you can join our dailyspiritual kickoff there.
You can join our communitythere, you can do your
application for the leadershipmastermind there.
(20:34):
You can also find our Biblestudy plans that are on the
Bible app there, fellas.
I'm telling we got tons andtons and tons of those plans.
You can see our live events.
We have a live event everyspring and fall, so you can see
those that are coming out.
So you can plan an opportunityfor you and your fellow uh
buddies to come hang out with uson the farm and do some
shooting, do some do somefishing, do some hiking, do some
(20:54):
good eating, all the fun stuffthat we do on those uh retreats.
Again, all that's found at thelinewithin.us.
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We would absolutely love it.
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So if you could sit, you couldalways go to thelionwithin.us
slash donate and just be asupporter of the show.
(21:17):
All right.
Well, guys, have a great day.
Come back on Wednesday.
I'm telling you, you're gonnareally like this conversation on
Wednesday.
It's gonna be awesome.
It's gonna be great.
This is gonna be a fun one.
We're gonna be digging intoNehemiah at a much deeper level,
and hopefully, you guys aregonna just get a lot out of it.
So have a great day.
Give us a rating review if youdon't mind.
You know what's coming right.
Keep unleashing the lion withthem.
(21:38):
I've got something big toshare.
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, tensionat home, wounds from the past,
and a world that demandsstrength, but offers no place to
(21:59):
rest.
We see it.
We've lived it, and that'sexactly why we built our
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It's a stronghold, a placewhere warriors can find rest,
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And starting now, we're makingit easier than ever to step in.
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(22:21):
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Every man needs a stronghold,and you don't have to fight
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If you've been waiting for theright time to jump in, this is
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(22:41):
Go to thelionwithin.us and jointhe community and see for
yourself what happens when irontruly sharpens iron.
Welcome to The Line Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
intends you to be.
I'm your host, Chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas, spiritualkickoff time.
Let's go.
I'm telling you, this these aremy favorite.
I absolutely love the spiritualkickoffs.
This week, we're in the book ofNehemiah, and we're going to
really dig into Nehemiah thisweek.
The Wednesday episode is goingto be all about it.
(00:23):
Fellas, this is what it's allabout.
But we're in the secondchapter, the 18th verse, and it
says, And I told them how thehand of my God had been
favorable to me, and also aboutthe king's words, which he had
spoken to me.
Then they said, This is this iskey right here.
Let's arise and build.
So they put their hands to thegood work.
(00:45):
Fellas, that's some greatscripture right there.
And I mean, let's go.
We're going to see how we cansimplify and apply this to our
life.
That's again with the spiritualkickoff episodes every week.
This is what we do.
If you enjoy these, and we feellike you guys do based off our
feet, the feedback we see, Ihighly encourage you.
Go check out thelionwithin.us.
(01:06):
Start your daily spiritualkickoff for free today.
I do this Monday through Fridaywithin our Lion Within is
community, live every morning,reading God's Word, trying to
equip, trying to encourage,trying to just inspire some
guys, just sharing what the HolySpirit reveals to me.
It's a great way.
You can engage with me directlywhen we do this.
And if you miss it, don'tworry.
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kickoff experience today.
Okay.
So first of all, as we unpackthe scripture, we need to
(01:50):
understand where is the book ofNehemiah.
It can be a little bit tricky.
It's Old Testament.
Most guys do know that, butit's not in uh past like Psalms
and Proverbs and the right.
It's not past that where it'swithin your within your
prophets.
It's actually before, okay?
So you're gonna find Nehemiahbefore Ezra, uh, I'm sorry,
(02:13):
after Ezra and before Esther.
Okay, so that's where you'regonna typically find it in your
Bible.
So if you open your Biblemidway to Psalms, you need to
flip back to the left, okay?
So this just trying to give youa little bit of a of a tip.
So if a pastor ever says openup to Nehemiah, if you remember
that part, maybe that will thatwill help you, okay?
And we love this call righthere in the scripture.
(02:35):
If you look at the scripturedirectly, just rise up and
build, man.
That that is awesome.
Because that's a wake-up call.
I mean, really, that's awake-up call that we cannot just
put to the side whatsoever.
And and and we have to thinkabout it.
When Nehemiah wrote this, itthis was not some poetic thing
like he like he was just tryingto put it together to sound
(02:55):
good.
No.
This was practical, bro.
This was practical.
It was the cry of a guy.
Absolutely.
He saw the devastation aroundhim, and and he was like, you
know what?
I'm doing something about this.
I'm gonna take action.
I'm not gonna make excuses.
You know, he didn't he didn'torganize a little prayer
(03:16):
breakfast or start a visionboard.
No, he rallied people, bro.
He rallied people uh and andand and all around to rebuild
what had been torn down, right?
Crazy part is, they listened.
And we need that type ofleadership again today,
particularly from guys in thechurch.
And I'm not talking out theredirectly to the guys who are
(03:39):
employed by the church.
You boys got your own missionto do for sure.
I'm talking about guys like me,the lay, the layperson dudes
for that that need to startstepping up.
And for decades, if we lookback, you can see it.
You can see it all around it.
Churches slowly startedwatching men fade into the
(04:00):
background.
You know, fewer men startedjoining, even fewer men started
leading.
And it's very clear.
We got more work to do, boys.
We do.
Because where are the men whowill lead their families not
just into the building onSunday, but into the presence of
(04:22):
God each and every day?
Okay?
We're the men that's gonnatrade apathy for action,
passivity for purpose.
I'm telling you guys this is abig, big deal.
And if you look inside thechurch, very commonly we see it.
You see women running theministries, leading the
(04:44):
programs, leading the kids,organizing the prayer nights,
carrying the weight ofdiscipleship.
And I just want to say firstand foremost to go on record,
praise God for and for theirobedience.
Because if it hadn't been forthem, there's no telling what
would have happened.
But it wasn't supposed to betheir solo effort.
Okay, it should not just betheir burden.
(05:06):
We have got to stop vacatingour posts.
And the reality is when we stepback as dudes, the the church
limps along.
Our homes get our suffering,communities just grow darker.
And leadership voids are neverneutral, fellas.
(05:26):
If somebody steps out of aleadership role, somebody else
is gonna step in, period.
So if you abandon your role allaround you, right, then I
guarantee you, confusion andcompromise are gonna gladly move
in and take the place.
And we gotta shift from that.
We absolutely have to shiftfrom that.
It just can't just be somesoft, uh, this sounds like a
(05:47):
good idea.
No, it has to be a bold coursecorrection that is spirit-driven
100%.
And and when we start thinkingabout the context of this
scripture for us today, what dowe need to rebuild?
Well, the this the walls, thebroken walls of Jerusalem,
right, were what Nehemiah wasfocusing on.
But there are places in ourhomes right now, in our
(06:10):
churches, that have crumbled.
And the walls are under attack.
And until we step up into ourdiscipleship journey and take
the reins here, it's gonnacontinue.
And God isn't asking us to justsit there and admire the ruins
and talk about how screwed upstuff is.
Anybody can do that and justtalk about how bad stuff is.
(06:32):
He's calling us to dosomething, to be the rebuilders.
And just like with Nehemiah'sday, this rebuilding starts with
one decision.
And that decision is notsomeday, but right now.
Dog on it right now.
I'm gonna do something.
So I'm gonna give you just acouple practical ideas, just
things to consider, okay?
(06:54):
You can rise up and startbuilding now.
First thing you start doing isleading spiritually in your
house.
Maybe you need to be starting adaily rhythm of prayer with
your with your family and yourkids.
Or how about this?
Open the Bible before you cuton the TV.
I'm telling you, man, you startdoing stuff like that, the
(07:16):
people in your home will startwatching.
Second thing you start thinkingabout is serving at church,
right?
And here's the thing, bro.
Don't wait to be asked.
Just just show up, hold somedoors, join a team, ask, teach,
mentor, discipleship.
You don't need a title, bro.
You need a towel.
Remember that.
And if you're getting thepushback from church leadership
(07:37):
in these areas to serve, findanother church.
Find another church.
I'm telling you, this is a bigarea that I've been struggling
with, and it's something God hasbeen making clearer and clearer
for me.
Now, third thing you do, youbetter bring some, you gotta get
some brothers around you, okay?
You gotta be around some othergodly men.
Iron sharpens iron, but youcan't have that if you only have
(07:58):
one piece of iron, bro.
You can't.
Because you can't.
A lone wolf out there in thisworld we live in becomes a
starving wolf, okay?
And we are not meant to fightalone.
So I've said this over and overand over.
But if you need support here,go to the lionwithin.us.
You can join the dailyspiritual cook off for free.
But if you really want thisbrotherhood, join the community.
If you want to go to the nextlevel of brotherhood, consider
(08:21):
our leadership mastermind, okay?
Now, we also need to take astand for truth, okay?
When we see things happeningaround us, so far as us being
called to rise and build, youbetter start being bold.
We can't just shrink back fromthe hard conversations.
If we see an outrightinjustice, we have to, as men,
(08:42):
stand up.
And that could be in yourworkplace, that could be in your
neighborhood, that could be inyour just your circles of
influence you have around you.
You have to do this humbly forsure, but you have to be
courageous.
And we need more of this.
Because this passivity, thisapathy is absolutely destroying
us.
And then we do need to supportthose in church leadership,
okay?
We need to encourage them, weneed to protect them, but also
(09:04):
come alongside them becausethey're under attack and they
need some godly men in theircorner.
So what we have to do isreclaim that post, fellas.
We have to.
He wired us for responsibility.
You know it's in you.
You can feel it.
He wired us for protection.
Somebody comes and tries tomess with your kids.
What are you gonna do?
You're gonna absolutely dowhatever you have to do to
(09:24):
protect them, right?
He's wired us for leadership,okay?
It's not about beingcontrolling, it's not about
being loud.
It's more about being present,anchored, and spirit-led.
Because you can't just consideryourself a member, right?
No, I'm not just a member.
Bro, you're a builder, you're arestorer, you're a watcher.
(09:47):
And man, the church needs you.
It's waiting for you.
He didn't, Nehemiah, if we golook at what he did, bro.
He didn't do it by himself.
He started with a burden thatthe Lord put on his heart.
He prayed about it, then hecast a division, and then he
called others to rise up andjoin him.
And that call is for us today.
(10:10):
Because the question isn't ifhe's calling, it's it's whether
or not we're listening, boys.
Because he is calling.
So we got to put the excuses tothe side.
We got to start trying to justyou know be passive.
We have to rise up because ourfamily needs us, our church
needs us, the kingdom of Godneeds us, he chooses to work
with us.
And fellas, God has alreadyequipped us.
(10:31):
We just have to lean into it.
So, fellas, look, I know that'sa lot right there, okay?
But God has called you to stepup somewhere and to serve.
So the question this week iswhere is that?
And fellas, if you are braveenough to ask that question, I
guarantee you God's gonna giveyou something.
And it may be something supersmall, it could be something as
(10:53):
small as like uh working theparking team at your church or
the welcoming team at yourchurch, or uh helping in the
nursery at your church.
Oh, I'll be praying for you ifthe Lord calls you to that.
But seriously, he's calling youto something.
(11:13):
Are you gonna listen?
Or are you just gonna say, I'llget to it eventually.
I'm telling you, boys, thatdelayed obedience is still
disobedience.
Don't don't kid yourself for asecond.
We need more guys that aregonna lean in and say, Yep, he's
called me, I'm ready to go.
All right now.
For you guys that arelistening, that have not
(11:37):
surrendered your life to theLordship of Jesus Christ, and
I'm not naive enough to thinkthat everybody listens to the
line is a Christian.
I know most of you are, butsome of you are probably not.
We've got we're we're gettingmore and more listeners now.
Guys are finding our content,which is praise the Lord.
So we're gonna keep stewardingthat well.
So on our spiritual kickoffepisodes, we always end up with
(11:58):
just sharing with you about thegospel.
Because you may have been tochurch or a bunch of times, or
you may have never been tochurch.
Maybe you put you clicked on alion because you like lions.
I don't know, bro, why you'rehere.
But you're here and you'relistening to me right now, at
this moment in your life, and Idon't know when that is, because
that's the crazy part aboutpodcasts.
You can listen to them wheneveryou want to listen to them.
(12:18):
But I know one thing.
God's called me clearly tospeak this to somebody listening
right now, and that is that Godabsolutely loves you.
And there was a perfect designwhen God created everything.
In the beginning, he spokeeverything into existence until
it came to man.
And what did he do?
He formed man with his hands.
You see the difference?
The personal connection andrelationship there?
(12:40):
And then he breathed the breathof life into Adam's nostrils,
and then Adam was set up and wasface to face with his creator,
and we are made in his image.
You are made in his image.
When you look in the mirror,that that jacked up person that
you see in the mirror, that'snot who God sees.
God sees you as an image bearerof him.
That's who he is.
He loves you so much.
He he designed you exactly theway that he wanted.
(13:03):
You may see him as flaws, hesees it as perfection, bro.
And it was great for Adam forlike two pages in the Bible,
okay?
And then sin entered the world.
And then don't get tripped up,man.
Sin is only the only thing, theeasy way to remember sin is
anything that separates us fromGod.
That sin entered the world andthat fractured relationship that
Adam had and Eve had with thecreator.
(13:26):
So now we have a holy andrighteous God, and then we have
us, and there's this massivechasm between us, okay?
And the problem is the world'sgonna tell you, well, you can
close that gap.
All you gotta do is just be agood person, man.
Just help folks out, give alittle bit of money to some
charities, go to church everynow and then.
Like, if you just do enoughgood stuff, bro, when you die
(13:46):
and you get to heaven, they'llsay, Well, let's just look and
say, Oh, well, he did this andthis.
Come on in, buddy.
Come on in.
And I'm here to tell you thatis a lie for the pit of hell.
Because hell is full of gooddudes.
It just is.
It's just full of good dudes.
Now I'm not saying I don't wantyou to do good.
I absolutely want you to dogood.
(14:06):
I just don't want you to thinkthat those good works are going
to count for anything so far aspaying for your salvation,
because it doesn't.
Period.
We can't do it.
We can't earn it on our own.
Okay.
We need not a coach, we need asavior to come in and do for us
what we can't do for ourselves.
And that's where Jesus entersthe scene.
(14:27):
Okay.
So Jesus left heaven on arescue mission for each and
every one of us.
He was born of a virgin,fulfilled all the prophecies,
did all the teachings, all themiracles, did all everything in
your New Testament, Jesus did itall.
He fulfilled it all.
Like this is this isunbelievable that we have
Messiah who come and did for uswhat he did.
But the craziest part is hewillingly went to the cross and
(14:52):
gave up his life for you.
Think about that for a second.
Like I I got four kids and Iwould I would give my life up.
If if one of them, if it's alife or death situation and it's
them or me, I'm gonna go.
I'm I'm taking myself out forthem and and and pray that they
live a live a great life.
(15:13):
Someone else?
I don't know.
You know, I'm not gonnasacrifice myself or someone
else.
Very, you know, you get whatI'm saying.
It's not it's not somethingthat that we inherently think
about doing.
But God loves us so much thathe sent his one and only son.
And bro, when you startthinking about he he sent his
(15:36):
son and knowing that his son wasgonna pay no penalty for our
sin by going to the cross, itblows your dog on mind.
Blows your mind.
And that's what Jesus did forus.
He went to the cross, willinglywent to the cross, was
crucified, pierced for ourtransgressions, and died.
He didn't pass out, he didn'tfaint, he didn't go to sleep.
(15:57):
He died.
They laid him in the cross,they laid him in a tomb.
Okay, so this is what he did toJesus' body.
They laid him in a tomb afterall this.
And then at that point, he'sdead, right?
Story over.
Okay, well, let's just uhpretend like we're going to a
funeral every Sunday becauseJesus is dead.
Like if that's where the storyended, yeah, that would be
(16:17):
pretty sad.
Most religions are like that,okay?
When when they have a founder,at some point, the founder dies,
and guess what?
He they they still dead.
But that's not what we dealwith when we put our faith and
our hope in Jesus Christ,because he overcame death.
You get how big a deal that is?
I don't know about you, but I'mI'm hitching my wagon to the
(16:38):
guy who defeated death.
Because that guy right there,that's somebody I'm following.
And that right now it saysJesus is that's at the right
hand of the Father.
No one comes to the Fatherexcept through him.
He is the way, the truth, andthe life.
There's no other name underheaven that's been given among
men by which we must be saved.
It is Jesus.
He is it.
Oprah's wrong.
There's not multiple paths.
Jesus is the path.
(16:59):
Period.
Okay?
So you can't work your way in.
That's kind of tough.
But you can get in by gracebecause he's given you this,
this, this awesome gift.
It just takes a couple things.
Just recognize it first andforemost that you are a sinner
in need of a savior.
You have to really wrestle andunderstand this, okay?
(17:20):
That I'm pretty jacked up andyeah, I need a savior.
And then you need to recognizeprimarily, not primarily, it has
to be recognized that Jesus isthat savior.
Like he is the Son of God.
Like there's no questions aboutthat in your mind.
And then you have to confessHim as Lord and Savior of your
life.
And at that moment, He movesfrom head knowledge to your
(17:41):
heart.
And the Holy Spirit's gonnacome and dwell.
The scales are gonna fall off,and you're gonna be in the army,
in the Lord's army at thatmoment, ready to serve and do
what God's called you to do.
But it takes a decision likeyou cannot get to heaven on your
mom or your dad, bro.
It don't work that way.
Or your grandma.
It don't work that way.
This is a personal, individualdecision.
Well, Chris, I'm just gonnalive my life, and when I get to
(18:01):
when I get older, I'll do it.
Okay.
Well, how long are you gonnalive, bro?
No one wakes up and saystoday's the day like my life's
gonna run out.
No, you never think that,right?
I mean, it things happen.
I'm not trying to scare you.
I'm just trying to just, hey,things happen.
People drown, people haveaccidents.
It happens all the time.
So don't put off doing thatbusiness with God that you need
(18:25):
to do today, man.
Don't put that off.
So if you if you neversurrender your life to the
Lordship of Jesus Christ, I'mgonna give you an opportunity
right now.
Let's just pray together, rightnow.
And you invite him into yourlife, and then you just wait to
see what the Holy Spirit does.
Then whatever that next thinghe tells you to do, let's just
do it.
So let's pray right now.
(18:46):
Lord, thank you so much forthis opportunity just to share
the gospel.
There's a listener, I don'tknow where they're located,
Lord, but I do you do.
You've known everything aboutthem up to this moment, and you
know that you've been workingworking on them for a long time.
Because I recognize too thatone gospel presentation on the
lion within us is not what savessomeone.
(19:08):
There's there's been seeds thathave been sown in this person's
life that got them to thispoint.
And now for some reason they'rehearing it clearly and they're
ready to respond.
So, Lord, I just pray you to bewith them, guide them, direct
them, put some people in theirlife that's going to encourage
them.
And thank you for thisopportunity to share the good
news with others.
It's in your name we pray.
Amen.
So look, if you just acceptedChrist as your Savior, I want to
(19:29):
hear from you, okay?
Because I want to hook you upwith some free resources to help
you.
You just started a discipleshipjourney, whether you believe it
or you recognize it or not,okay?
So I want to send you someresources to help you get
started with some scriptures,some basic one-on-one stuff that
you just need to have in yourback pocket.
I also want to find out whereyou're at because if you're not
in a church, I want to give yousome ideas on things to look
for.
(19:49):
Not just like like red flags.
I want to give you some greenflags too.
Some what's what are somethings to look for to be
encouraged by if you're ifyou're trying to pick a church
that's gonna really serve youwell as you grow in your
relationship with Christ, okay?
So email me.
That's the easiest at Chris atthelionwithin.us.
You can email me directly.
Just just tell me which podcastyou listen to and that you've
(20:12):
accepted Christ.
Well, I'm gonna send you thoseresources.
I'd love to hop on a call andjust give you give you some
encouragement, pray for you, andwelcome you into the
brotherhood.
All right.
So thank you so much forlistening, guys, again.
Thelionwithin.us is where youfind all of our resources.
Okay, so you can join our dailyspiritual kickoff there.
You can join our communitythere, you can do your
application for the leadershipmastermind there.
(20:34):
You can also find our Biblestudy plans that are on the
Bible app there, fellas.
I'm telling we got tons andtons and tons of those plans.
You can see our live events.
We have a live event everyspring and fall, so you can see
those that are coming out.
So you can plan an opportunityfor you and your fellow uh
buddies to come hang out with uson the farm and do some
shooting, do some do somefishing, do some hiking, do some
(20:54):
good eating, all the fun stuffthat we do on those uh retreats.
Again, all that's found at thelinewithin.us.
If you want to donate to theshow, if you find that we're
encouraging you each and everyweek and you just you felt led
to support us for what we'redoing, that would be awesome.
We would absolutely love it.
And quite frankly, we need it.
So if you could sit, you couldalways go to thelionwithin.us
slash donate and just be asupporter of the show.
(21:17):
All right.
Well, guys, have a great day.
Come back on Wednesday.
I'm telling you, you're gonnareally like this conversation on
Wednesday.
It's gonna be awesome.
It's gonna be great.
This is gonna be a fun one.
We're gonna be digging intoNehemiah at a much deeper level,
and hopefully, you guys aregonna just get a lot out of it.
So have a great day.
Give us a rating review if youdon't mind.
You know what's coming right.
Keep unleashing the lion withthem.
(21:38):
I've got something big toshare.
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, tensionat home, wounds from the past,
and a world that demandsstrength, but offers no place to
(21:59):
rest.
We see it.
We've lived it, and that'sexactly why we built our
community.
It's a stronghold, a placewhere warriors can find rest,
truth and a band of brothersstanding beside them.
And starting now, we're makingit easier than ever to step in.
We've lowered the barrier tojust $15.99 a month.
That means for less than thecost of a drive-through lunch,
(22:21):
you can join a brotherhoodthat's centered on Christ and
built for growth.
Inside, you'll find access toour daily spiritual kickoffs
every Monday through Friday, ourlion lunches, our Bible
studies, our Friday forgegatherings, all 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.
(22:41):
Go to thelionwithin.us and jointhe community and see for
yourself what happens when irontruly sharpens iron.
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