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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.

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All right, welcome back Day four of the Daily Blade. This week we're in Matthew, chapter 20. All week long we're talking about what it means to be a great man. The fourth characteristic in Matthew, chapter 20, of a great man is a great man serves. A great man serves Matthew 20, 20 and following. I know we read it every week, but you can't go wrong reading the Bible.

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Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons and, kneeling before him, she asked him for something and he said to her what do you want? And she said to him Say that these two sons of mine are to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your kingdom. And Jesus answered you do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? And they said to him we are able. And he said to them you will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and my left is not mine to grant, but it's for those for whom it has been prepared by my father. And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers, verse 25. But Jesus called them and he said you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. Here's what this means. He says that the way the world works is that people in positions of power lord it over them, that people use positional authority to tell people, other people, to get in their place. That the way the Gentiles, the way that the world works is if you're the boss and the reason everybody else exists is to serve you, if you're the boss and the reason everybody else exists is to serve you, if you're the dad, the reason everybody in your house exists is to serve you. That's the way of the world. And the verse 26 says this it shall not be so among you. Well, let me just ask you, bro, is it this way among you? Like, when you walk into your house, does peace walk in with you? When you walk into the boardroom, if you're the boss, does peace walk in with you? You see, the reality is there's a bunch of us that when we walk into the room and everybody kind of puckers up because we're in charge, we kind of like it. And Jesus says it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the son of man came not to be served, but to serve. That's right. So what do you do when you look around and you realize you're the most powerful person in the room? Well, what Jesus did was serve.

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So let me ask you a few questions. Do you lord your authority over others, like, do you point to your name tag and you say see, it says assistant to the general manager. Right here, you do what I say. Are you what you do what I say? Because I said so because of my position as authority? Is that the kind of person you are? Because Jesus says it shall not be so among you?

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Jesus says that if you do this, you're being a practical atheist. And you're saying what do you mean? I'm not an atheist. I go to church, I worship with my hands up, I read my Bible, I'm listening to the Daily Blade and he goes Nate. You might believe those things. You're just acting like a Gentile. He doesn't mean non-Jewish, he means you're acting like somebody that is not submitted and surrendered to God as their father.

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When we lord our authority over others, let me ask you this question. Jesus says that if you want to be great, then you must be a servant. So do you see yourself as a servant that gets to lead, or as a servant leader? You see, we've bastardized this word in the English language man. You see, we, we use the word servant. Jesus calls us to be a servant. We use that word to describe the kind of leader that we want to be. Oh, I'm a servant leader. And jesus is like neat, I told you just to be a servant. You see, everybody's okay with the idea of servant until you get treated like one. If serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you. And jesus sets the, says the ultimate example In John, chapter 13,.

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Jesus, knowing all authority in heaven and earth have been given unto him, he stands up from the table and the Bible says that he shows the disciples the full extent of his love. And he does not preach a sermon, he does not do a miracle. He dresses himself as a servant and he washes his disciples' feet. And then he goes on to say I have set for you an example and you will be blessed if you do likewise. So if you want to be great in the kingdom of heaven, then you serve. A great man dresses himself as a servant and serve. He takes the lowest job, not as a means to an end to get what you want, but just in obedience to Christ, because this is what Christ did for us, and in that obedience is the blessing. In the kingdom of God, a great man serves.

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