Episode Transcript
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Chris Grainger (01:44):
Welcome to the
Lion Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
intends you to be.
I'm your host, Chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas, it'sspiritual kickoff time.
This is a Christmas week aswell, so I'm excited to be here
with you.
Let's get into it, okay?
So the scripture of the week isIsaiah 7 14.
Therefore, the Lord Himself willgive you a sign.
(02:06):
Behold, the virgin will conceiveand give birth to a son, and she
will name him Emmanuel.
All right, guys.
Beautiful verse.
Obviously, right here, Christmasseason.
You guys are excited, I'm sure.
As we unpack this, let's see howwe can simplify and apply this
to our life today.
Again, we do spiritual kickoffsMonday through Friday.
(02:27):
And again, if you're looking,this is the time of year you
guys are thinking about NewYear's resolutions.
And I'm gonna get into the wordmore.
Look, guys, the daily spiritualkickoff.
I'm telling you, just do that.
That's a free thing you can trythis winter, you know, right
here at Christmas season.
Go to the lionwithin.us, clickon that daily spiritual kickoff,
get started today with that,okay?
(02:47):
All right, let's get into theword.
So, where is Isaiah, OldTestament?
Kind of get past your Psalms andyour Proverbs, then you get this
to you know Song of Solomon, andthen that's where you're gonna
find Isaiah right after that,before Jeremiah.
So if you get to Jeremiah, youwent a little bit too far, just
back up a little bit, okay?
So this whole episode, we'rejust gonna be seeing about this
(03:08):
promise fulfilled, right?
I love the whole God with us,right?
So when Isaiah spoke thesewords, think about this.
Crazy.
It's about 700 years before thebirth of Christ.
700 years, like seven centuries,okay, before the manger, before
the shepherds, before the wisemen, uh 700 years.
(03:30):
And and God had already declaredwhat would happen and how it was
going to happen.
And Israel was facing politicaluncertainty, fear, rebellion.
You had this king Ahaz was theguy who ruled Judah at the time,
and he doubted God's promise andlooked to so many human
solutions the way we do, right?
For for what?
(03:51):
For security, okay?
And then all that crazy darkstuff that's happening, God gave
a sign through his prophetIsaiah.
Okay, that hope was coming,baby.
It was coming, and not temporaryvictory, not a political
alliance, no, no, but a savior.
And it's it's a sign like noother sign, fellas.
It talks about the virgin willconceive and give birth to a
(04:13):
son.
So this is not just poetry,okay.
This is revelation givendivinely, right?
A virgin birth, let's just faceit, has never happened before,
has never happened since, right?
It's in it's absolutely, whenyou think about it, it's
impossible by human standards.
And that's exactly the point.
God was declaring that thisrescue would be 100% all his
(04:36):
doing.
Okay, so there's no way that wecould, as humans, uh intervene
here.
There's no way we could takecredit for it.
Only his power could bring forththis miracle.
So when she, the Virgin Mary,conceived by the Holy Spirit
centuries later, this wasfulfilling the prophecy that
Isaiah's talking about righthere.
(04:57):
Okay, not a coincidence.
This was the culmination of aplan written before time began,
fellas.
We have to remember that.
The virgin birth speaks of thepurity and innocence of Christ,
completely born without sin,unstained by the corruption of
the world, right?
And yet he still chose to comeinto it.
(05:17):
Okay, and he didn't come in aslike just this conquering
warrior or big political leader,but very humble as a baby,
dependent, vulnerable, pure.
Just think about babies.
Like they are completelyreliant.
You cannot just leave a newborn,it's not going to survive.
And still, he came and he knewwhat lay ahead.
(05:38):
He knew he was gonna berejected, he knew he was gonna
suffer, he was gonna, he knewthat he was going to the cross.
And I just think the beautifulway Isaiah talks about the child
will be called Emmanuel.
Just think about what thatmeans.
God with us.
It's like this is not somemetaphor, okay?
This is literally, he's thecreator of the universe, stepped
(06:00):
off his throne from heaven andentered into his own creation.
And the same, this is the sameGod, fellas, who spoke galaxies
into existence and he wrappedhimself in flesh and walked with
us.
I'm telling you, it's justcrazy.
He didn't send an angel, hedidn't outsource this to someone
else.
No, he didn't do it.
He came himself, and he livedthe life that we couldn't live,
(06:21):
and he died the death that wedeserve, and he rose again to
give us eternal life.
That's what Christmas is trulyabout.
God with us so that we could bewith him forever.
So, man, don't get crossed up onthe things of like what the
season's all about.
It's so easy with all thecommercialization and all the
different types of money beingtransferred, and it's different
(06:43):
types of uh of events andactivities.
No, bro, God with us.
Because we have to pause andreflect on that reality.
And when we pause and reflect,as hard as it is to do this time
of year, the noise starts tofade away.
Right?
So you got Santa Claus andstockings and Christmas trees
and light bulbs and all thestuff that's out there, right?
(07:04):
And they had their place.
I'm not anti that stuff, butnone of them compared to the
miracle of God becoming man.
Okay, I'm just telling you, itjust doesn't.
Like the Manger wasn't cute,right?
It was radical, bro.
And it wasn't a story.
This is not like recent readinglike uh Chronicles of Narnia or
something like that.
No, this actually happened.
(07:27):
It actually happened, and it wasa supernatural invasion of
grace.
So when you when you look atyour Christmas tree, look, and
you got to guess under it, thatthat's great.
But it's this season is reallyall about what God did for us on
the cross.
Says you gather together, and Ireally want you to gather
together, exchange the gifts,celebrate, have a good time.
(07:49):
But remember the promisefulfilled.
He kept his word right here inIsaiah, 700 years before Christ
came.
He kept his word because hecame.
Here's the crazy part he's stillwith us.
He's still with us.
And if you don't have thatpersonal relationship with
Christ, right, you're missingout on the greatest opportunity
(08:12):
for your life, much less justChristmas season.
But talk about having a more uhpurposeful intent around
Christmas celebration.
There isn't one than having apersonal relationship with Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior.
So we just talked about thevirgin birth and how he came to
be, but like even backing up alittle bit before that, right?
(08:34):
God created this perfect world.
So he did.
And you and man was made, and wewere union.
We had a union with God.
We were made in his image.
It was perfect, and we were inthe garden with him.
Unbelievable on how this works,on how this happens.
And and when we start thinkingabout that, like we're made in
(08:55):
the image of God.
So we look in the the mirror, wemay not see that this this this
uh that we're that we're madelike this.
We we may not see all the, wemay see all the flaws.
That's not what God sees.
But unfortunately, after shortlyafter we were God made us in his
image, sin entered the world.
And that created this chasm andthis gap between us and a holy
(09:17):
and righteous God.
And we can't overcome it on ourown.
Although we try, and wedefinitely try, you know,
there's lots of trying this timeof year in particular, but
nothing's gonna come close thatgap for us.
Because he is holy andrighteous, and we're not.
We're just sinners in need of asavior.
And thankfully, as we justlearned here in Isaiah, right,
we have a Savior.
His name is Jesus, who was bornof the Virgin Mary, who was
(09:40):
fulfilled all the prophecies,who did all the teachings, who
did all the miracles, showed usthe what the path to salvation,
and then went to the cross topay the penalty for our sins.
But it doesn't end there.
Yes, he died on the cross, butthree days later he rose and he
overcame, he defeated death.
And that's what we celebrate, aliving savior.
(10:01):
Just like we're celebrating thebirth of our savior this
Christmas season, this season,rather, we celebrate a living
savior all year round.
And that's the hope we have asChristians, bro.
And if you don't have that thisyear, like what are you waiting
for?
Accept Christ as your Lord andSavior.
Ask him to come into your life.
Admit that you're a sinner andthat you need this, right?
(10:23):
Believe that he is a son of Godand confess him.
So let's just look, if you haveyou've never done this before,
thank you for hanging out andlistening.
But now's the most importanttime of the podcast.
Now's when we're going to giveyou a chance to confess Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior.
And I hope you do.
I really hope you do, becauseit's going to change your life
forever.
So, Lord, one listener, in thisChristmas season, they're
(10:47):
leaning in, they're curious,Lord, and they found this
podcast somehow.
I don't know how.
And they're hearing you andthey're feeling you tug at their
heart.
I pray that they listen to thecall, that they quit being
disobedient and that they followyou, Father, that they confess
you as Lord and Savior.
And I pray it hedge protectionaround them because the evil
one's not going to be happyright now.
But I do know, Lord, that withthis decision, it's going to
(11:10):
change their life.
We love you, Lord.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right.
Look, if you just confess Jesusas your Lord and Savior, I want
to hear from you.
Send me a note, okay, Chris atthe lionwithin.us.
Okay.
That's the easiest way to get intouch.
Love to send you someinformation to get you started
on your discipleship journey,some verses, some resources
(11:31):
we've created.
And also just be able to jump onand pray with you.
I'd love to pray with you andjust try to be an encouragement
to you as you start your walkwith Christ.
Okay.
So look, question of the weekthis week is how are you going
to share the true meaning ofChristmas this year?
Okay, how are you going to doit?
Are you just going to not,right?
And just focus just on theactivities, right?
And the activities are fun.
(11:51):
I want you to have a lot of funwith it, okay?
But I really want you to notmiss the true meaning in the
season.
And hopefully, just hopefully,with this what, 10-minute little
podcast, this is what we areable to share with you today,
okay?
So look, we are going to have aum special Christmas episode.
Okay.
It's going, it's coming out.
It's on our standard meatepisode this week.
So it's going to come out.
It's going to be a little bitdifferent, okay?
(12:13):
Not going to have any guests.
Not going to be a do, I'm notdoing a deep reflection on on
trying to simplify and apply theword.
All I'm going to simply do isshare the word with you.
And hopefully, just that's goingto be a little encouragement to
you during this Christmas week,okay?
Because I know this time of yearcan be challenging for lots of
people.
So if anything, I the only thingI know I can comfort you with is
(12:35):
not from me.
It's from God.
And it's his word.
So that's what we're going to doon the podcast this week.
All right, guys.
So look, thelionwithin.us,that's how you connect with us.
The Bible app.
Connect with us there on theBible app.
Podcast, we're on YouTube,Instagram, all the social stuff,
which we're not very good at,but we have all that stuff out
there, guys.
Connect with us on thoseresources.
(12:56):
Unleashing the Lion Within, ourbook.
Get a copy of that.
And guys, if we can reachencourage you in any way, please
just reach out and let us know.
All right.
Guys, have a great day.
Get after it.
We'll see you next time.
Merry Christmas.
And keep unleashing the lionwithin.
If you're like me, you don'tneed another book just sitting
around collecting dust.
(13:17):
What I enjoy is something tohelp guide me when my feet hit
the ground in the mornings.
And that is why we put togetherUnleashing the Lion Within.
It has honest stories, scriptureyou can apply, and simple steps
to help you lead at home, atwork, and everywhere in between.
So if you've been feeling stuckor scattered lately, you may
(13:39):
find this resource encouraging.
Read a few pages, take one stepand watch what God does with
your obedience.
Hey, and if reading's tough foryou right now, no problem.
The book is also available inAudible version.
So you can listen on the go.
So if this sounds interesting,check out thelionwithin.us slash
(14:01):
book or search for unleashingthe lion within directly on
Amazon.
So there's no pressure here,just a resource that many guys
are finding helpful.
So grab the format that fits andtake your next step.