Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Speaker 2: 0:20

All right, guys. So this week we're doing a series of episodes called yeah, that's Not what that Means and so I'm going over five of the most common, misapplied and misunderstood scriptures in all of the biblical canon. So yesterday I talked about Luke 17, verses 1 and 2, and the fact that Jesus was not referring to children when he said little ones, but referring to childlike disciples. So sorry, I had to burst some of your millstone bubbles yesterday, but I'm back at it today. And I'm had to burst some of your millstone bubbles yesterday, but I'm back at it today and I'm here to ruin all of your high school weight room PRs. Okay, so let's go to the fourth chapter of the Apostle Paul's letter to the church in Philippi. I'll be reading Philippians 4.13 in the New King James Version, and I can already hear some of you getting ready to quote it. So quote it with me. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Okay Now, when I was early in my Christian walk, remember when I was talking about going to the salt cellar and seeing all these different gear and all this stuff with scripture on it?

Speaker 2: 1:12

This verse is on everything right, it is on Bible cases and on coffee mugs and t-shirts and all kinds of stuff. And you see this scripture on high school weight rooms, football locker rooms, all over the South, all over the Bible Belt I mean Oklahoma, we're the belt buckle of the Bible Belt and we have the most tornadoes. I don't know if that's connected in any way, but I digress. And that verse is really clung to by a lot of people that are, you know, trying to do anything, from getting straight A's or climbing the corporate ladder or getting that next job or whatever the thing is. But, in a nutshell, the fundamental misunderstanding of these words from the apostle Paul is that this verse is about personal empowerment so that we can experience success in life in general, regardless of what we do. And yeah, that's not what that means, because, in its correct context, paul is telling us that we need to be content in all circumstances and that we must remain obedient regardless of trials or successes. Okay, so we come to this understanding by starting a few verses before verse 13. So let me read Philippians four, 10 through 13 in the new King James but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now, at last, your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. Okay, and man, if anyone can understand the need for godly contentment, regardless of abounding or suffering need, it's Paul.

Speaker 2: 2:50

So if we go to some of Paul's highlights, as Saul, you know, he was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was a Roman citizen, which had tremendous privilege attached to it. He was educated in Jerusalem under Gamaliel and he was a very well-respected teacher. He experienced conversion to Christianity right. So that's a huge deal. And he was a leader in the early church. But also I mean we just kind of need to give his whole baseball card here as a Christian missionary. He was beaten, he was stoned, he was shipwrecked, he was snakebit, he was imprisoned. I mean, he was betrayed by people that were close to him. Yeah, he had some sort of thorn in the flesh that he constantly was praying for God to remove from him, but for whatever reason, god wouldn't do that.

Speaker 2: 3:34

So if anyone gets it, guys, paul gets it. And for a lot of you you've experienced something similar. You've had these tremendous highs. You know this, you know top of the resume, amazingness. And then you've had these horrible, awful, sinful, dark lows. But does Paul give us this, you know, stoicism-based dictate that we are to somehow summon the strength to endure from somewhere deep inside of the recesses of ourselves, you know, to find this inner grit to get us through. No, paul's not claiming to have personal strength like that. However, he tells us where the strength we are supposed to rely on comes from from Christ living in us.

Speaker 2: 4:14

Let's go to Galatians 2, verse 20. I'll read it in the ESV I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Again, for some of you it's like, okay, I'm just going to say this verse and then I'm going to get up under the bar and this is going to be my bench press, pr and it's all those types of things, and I guess, however, you want to motivate yourself, okay, go for it. But again, you just can't take scripture out of context and use it for whatever purposes that you want to willy-nilly. So it's not about this verse, is not about increasing our capacity for strength. It's about us stepping aside so that the strength of Christ can abound in us. Okay, guys, come back here tomorrow, where we are going to take the prosperity gospel to the woodshed. Come back here tomorrow, where we are going to take the prosperity gospel to the woodshed.

Speaker 1: 5:06

Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.