Men, our lives are built on our habits.
What we do daily determines our future.
And the lion-hearted man has to develop habits
in his life that harness time.
That's really what habits are.
Habits harness time,
and time is the most important quotient you have
for success in anything you do.
If you're wasting your time,
it may not seem significant for one day.
It may not seem that significant for one week.
But if you keep wasting your time,
you're gonna find yourself in a place of poverty,
a place of destruction.
But if you keep doing little habits,
just little things a lot, they grow.
And when they grow, you start to form a successful life.
You begin to achieve what God's called you to achieve.
And that's why in Proverbs 28, 1, we read,
the wicked flee when no one pursues.
In other words, that person's driven by fear.
They flee because they think someone's pursuing them,
or they're afraid of this or that,
and nobody's even pursuing them,
and they're wasting their life.
But then the rest of the verse says,
but the righteous, those that are not fearful,
those that are walking in truth, are bold as a lion.
And that's what we're building here.
In this series, I want you to know
that you can be lion-hearted.
You're born to be lion-hearted.
God lives in you.
The lion of Judah is in your heart.
You should be lion-hearted and bold.
So I'm giving you what I think are six habits
that can develop that in your life.
Habit number one in the last episode I talked about
was do the first thing first,
and that is seek the kingdom of God first.
And I explained P, B, and J.
Go back and listen to that if you haven't heard that.
Habit number two, be the best you.
Learn to compete against yourself.
Instead of comparing yourself with others,
compete against yourself.
Be yourself.
Be the unique person that God's made you to be.
There's nobody like you.
Nobody has your genetic code.
Nobody has your DNA.
Nobody has exactly the unique gifts, talents,
and skills that you have.
God made you for a purpose.
You probably haven't even discovered that purpose yet.
But if you'll keep pursuing him,
if you'll seek first the kingdom,
if you'll be the best you that God made you to be,
you're gonna find your destiny.
You're gonna discover your purpose here on earth.
Well, here's habit number three.
Habit number three, be a truth seeker.
First thing in the morning,
you're gonna have a truth encounter.
And the truth encounter is with the word of God,
the Bible, opening it up.
But also in other areas of your life,
seek after truth.
COVID was a huge wake-up call for many of us
because we had always been trusting
in the healthcare industry.
We've been trusting in mainstream media
in so many different areas.
And I think COVID, I mean, for many people,
this has been going on for many years,
but I mean, for a lot of people,
we discover just how much we get lied to
and how much everything's about money
instead of our own health.
So be a truth seeker.
Be a truth seeker in healthcare.
Be a truth seeker in science.
Be a truth seeker in your finances.
Be a truth seeker spiritually.
Be a truth seeker as a habit that can bring freedom.
This is what Jesus said in John 8, 31.
Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him,
if you abide in my word, you're my disciples indeed.
And you shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free.
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
A lionhearted man is a man who's walking in truth
and finding freedom.
During COVID, as we discovered more and more
about the virus here around our church
with a lot of very smart people that were around me,
a lot of doctors and nurses and others,
we began to discover that what the media
was telling us about COVID didn't line up
with what science tells us about COVID.
And so if you don't know what the problem is,
your solutions aren't gonna be the best either.
So we began to develop our own protocol for COVID
and healed over 3,000 people in El Paso County,
our county here, of COVID by using our protocol.
Our protocol cost about $16
and the government's protocol was about $3,000.
So guess who was making the money?
Big Pharma.
And we were not in it for the money.
we were in it for healing.
So that's an example of truth that sets you free,
but you gotta be a truth seeker.
It's not gonna just be handed to you.
God gave us a brain, and God gave us eyes,
and God gave us feet, and God gave us the ability
to listen and hear things, and so it's all there
because God wants us to be truth seekers.
He's not gonna spoon feed us.
We have to dig in, dig for the gold.
So habit number three is be a truth seeker.
Habit number four, work out your problems.
A noted clinical psychologist that I quoted earlier
in another message, Jordan Peterson, has said this.
Quote, one way to not have your IQ decrease
as you grow older is physical exercise.
Your brain uses oxygen, and your brain needs to be clean
and well oxygenated.
Physical exercise, anaerobic and aerobic,
staves off IQ decline over a lifetime.
So when I say work out your problems,
some of you have some pretty big problems.
If you're 50 pounds overweight, you have a problem.
If you're eating fast food regularly
and drinking sodas regularly, you have a problem.
If you're constantly sleepy during the day,
you have a problem.
If you get the flu every year, you have a problem.
If you're often sick, you have a lot of problems.
If you can't do some pull-ups or some push-ups,
you have a problem.
If you often have headaches, you got a big problem.
If you get brain fog on a regular basis, you have a problem.
If you can't walk a half a mile, you have a problem.
If you're regularly out of breath, you have a problem.
See what I'm saying?
God wants you to be physically in good shape.
God wants you to buffet your body, not buffet your body.
And so that requires working out.
And so that's why I started probably, gosh, 20 years ago,
but especially the last six months or so
of working out more and more to stay in shape
because I'm getting older.
And I began, I've seen the atrophy that comes with time.
And so I'm more acutely aware
that I need oxygenated brain cells
to keep growing as I grow older.
And that means I need to be working out regularly.
Matter of fact, all the studies show
that when you work out, you have a window
of a couple hours after the workout where you think better,
you memorize better, you have a better outlook
and better expectations.
And so whenever I speak, if I'm traveling somewhere to speak,
I work out, try to work out two hours
before I'm gonna speak either in the hotel
or wherever I'm at.
Recently, I was in Atlanta and I was speaking there
and I was in a guy's home.
And so I went down, he had a room
and just did my pushups and everything there
about two hours before I speak
because that means I'll speak better.
And Tuesday mornings, we have 6 a.m. breakfast for men,
wholehearted men, about 400 guys show up for that.
And I get up at 4.30 and 4.30 to 5.15,
I work out and it makes me a better speaker.
It makes me think better.
I come in with a joyful, positive attitude.
And so eating right, working out, walking, posture,
all of that's so key.
It even releases serotonin.
So when you release serotonin into your bloodstream,
you just have a better sense, a feeling of security,
a feeling of peace, actually a feeling of confidence.
So serotonin being released in your bloodstream
builds confidence and serotonin is released
through working out, exercise, good posture
and not eating crappy food.
So that's a huge habit, men.
It's like, you know, do you wanna put dirt in your gas tank
or do you wanna put pure gas in your gas tank?
Which, how's your truck gonna run?
So it's the same way in our bodies.
If you're putting in crap, if you're putting in fast food,
if you're eating, drinking a lot of soda
and stuff like that, it's like you're putting dirt
into your gas tank and you can't,
why is it my truck won't start?
Why is it there's always red lights
on the dashboard of my truck?
Well, it's because you're being an idiot
and you're putting the wrong kind of fuel in your system.
And we're really tempted here in America.
Like I was telling Liz, you know,
I hardly ever go into the gas station.
I just go get gas and I leave
because I know that inside the gas station
there's no gas.
nothing that I want to eat but anyway I went in there to use the restroom and I
don't know why I did this because I don't normally even care but I did this
time I just looked around and I maybe was because I was thinking about one of
the podcasts I was going to do I looked around I went there is literally nothing
in this gas station that's good for you everything here is crap except for the
Icelandic water and the smart water over in everything else is just terrible and
so think about it that's what people are eating they wouldn't be stocking that
convenience store if people weren't buying it and they're buying it and
we're the most we're the most physically anemic we have more bipolar issues we
have more mental issues we have more cancer and we have more mental illness
than any other nation in the world and yet we're the most affluent so it just
shows you how misguided we are so be lion-hearted men be lion-hearted do the
workouts manage your problems through staying in really really good shape okay
two more I want to give habit number five face shame suffering and failure
you're not going to like this but this is what it is habit number five it's
really important face shame suffering and failure psychology and neuroscience
shows us that people who are willing to face what they fear get stronger and
become more confidence matter of fact I would even say if you have a fear of
heights then you need to start hiking up to high points and facing your fear
if you have a fear of water you should probably get in the water and get over
it if you have a if you're a man and you have a fear of women you need to get to
know some women and build some relationships with them if you're a
woman and you fear men you should be in some relationships with men I'm talking
about in healthy ways well shame rules our life shame is those areas of our
life that we don't want to talk about failures are those kind of things in
our life that we don't want to talk about and oftentimes we carry shame and
we carry these this sense of failure in our heart to such a degree that it makes
us insecure it makes us run from problems because we don't want anybody
to know about that it's hide-and-seek time and when we live that way we never
become wholehearted because half of our heart is in these shame caves and we're
shackled and chained down to the brokenness that's happened in our lives
and guess what everybody listen to me everybody's got shame there's nobody
that doesn't have shame and if anybody tells you do they don't have any shame
in their life it's really got a lot of shame they don't know how to define it
probably they're ignorant of it but shame are those things that humiliate us
those things that we don't want anybody to know about I'm telling you you've got
to face that you've got to face what happened if there was sex abuse in your
background if if you were beaten as a kid if you were talked down upon and
bullied when you're growing up and you carry that you need a place where you
can face that and be vulnerable about it vulnerability breaks the power of shame
let me say that again vulnerability breaks the power of shame I need to do a
whole podcast or broadcast on shame because I can't even touch the surface
of it here but just to say face shame now this is the last habit habit number
six because habit number five and six go together you face shame with habit
number six develop some blood-stained allies you got to have some men in your
life that you can be honest with if I was speaking to women I would say the
same thing you need some women in your life but we need solid relationships
with men we can trust we need men who've been through the bloodied aspects of
this life they've made a lot of mistakes just like you they carry shame just like
you they have failures just like you and they can relate and and they're not
gonna cut and run when they hear your crap and they can go yeah I know what
that's like as I've been there a lion-hearted man has the breakthrough
courage to say look man I have blown it here I treated my ex-wife really bad I
had an affair I've been involved in an abortion whatever it might be that
you're carrying someplace where you can share that confess it and get set free
through prayer and through friendship with other men who aren't going to
judge you. We have enough self-condemnation.
We don't need more heaped on us.
What we need is to be set free.
And Second Corinthians four, which I'm not going to read here,
but Second Corinthians four, you can read it on your own.
Read the whole thing is all about the light shining in the darkness,
the light shining in the darks and breaking the power of shame.
That's what Second Corinthians four is all about.
Read that. Think about that over the next few days.
So those are the habits. Those are the habits of a lionhearted man.
And if you just start with those six and listen,
listen to each one of these episodes again, listen to all of it on lions,
demons, and blood,
and let God begin to make you a lionhearted man,
because what's going to happen is you're going to grow in confidence.
You're going to grow in breakthrough courage.
You're going to have some bloodstained allies and you're going to,
you're going to be transformed. Your life's going to be changed.
So God bless you guys. I entrust this to you.
And I'm excited to, uh, to see what God's going to do in your life.
God bless you.