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.

Welcome back, everyone. All week this week, we've been looking at some of my favorite quotes and highlights from Joby's new book, Out Now, called Stand Firm and Act Like Men, becoming the man you were created to be instead of who the world says you are. And we'll be digging into the scriptural truths therein. So believe it or not, I'm about to give you another quote, another one of my favorite quotes from the introduction of the book. I'm just gonna tell you guys the introduction and chapter one of the book are absolutely money. So, you know, it kind of makes sense, and I'm pulling all these quotes. So here's another quote from the intro. The church, historically, at least in the last 40 or 50 years, has not helped very much when it comes to defining manhood. Do you know why most churches don't have a lot of men in them? Because in a lot of churches, the common message is hey, to be a Christian man, you really need to be more like women. And so let me just tell you this to be a Christian, to be a follower of Jesus Christ, does not mean that you have to check your testicles at the door. That's right. I said it. Now, guys, if that quote offends you, I'm going to encourage you to find a new daily podcast to listen to because it's going to get worse, not better, for you. We're not here to make you feel comfortable. We're here to get after it and to increase your appetite for God's word. And we don't have time to wax poetic. We've only got, you know, five minutes a day for you guys, right? So I've talked about this topic actually a lot in my career. A way I've described it is that most churches might as well have a blinking neon sign outside of their buildings that says, Men, this is not for you. Because this is what you'll experience inside. It's a building that's mainly filled with women. The men in the building may as well be women. So these are the kinds of men that would, you know, never hurt a fly and certainly would never say anything abrasive or offensive, but they will touch you a lot while they talk to you for some reason. Uh the songs that they sing are in a key that most men can't hit. There aren't parts where you hear male voices, and the lyrics seem like a love letter that you would expect to see sent from one gay lover to another. All the volunteer opportunities only have women's interests and wiring in mind. And yeah, the lead pastor, he's definitely not a man that you would follow as an example, much less follow into battle. And some churches even have female lead pastors, which should give you a pretty good idea that that church doesn't actually take the Bible seriously or they just like to pick and choose the parts that they'll actually obey. So most churches may not be tailor-made for you, but I just got to tell you guys, Jesus' bride, the greater church, needs men. Do you know how I know that to be true? Because the gospel of Jesus Christ does not turn manly men into effeminate pansies. It is the truth that saves us from eternal damnation, the capital T truth, and the sanctification process thereafter transforms us into legitimately strong, meek, self-controlled, and sacrificial servant warriors. And I'm about to rapid fire a bunch of scripture at you to prove my point and to show you that there are pillars of legitimate biblical manhood all throughout the Bible. And keep in mind that these mandates are specifically given to men, not to both men and women, not to just women, but just to men. I would highly recommend you go back and read some of the larger passages later, but for now, let's just get into it. One pillar is that our identity as men was created, not cultivated. Genesis 127. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them. So our manhood isn't a social construct or some sort of cultural creation. God made us this way by design and for a purpose, his purpose. Another pillar is that we are called to cultivate and take dominion. Genesis 128, and God said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And then Genesis 215, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. So we weren't made to sit around and just pursue selfish hobbies, we were built for more. Another pillar is that we are called to protect. So Nehemiah 4, so just side note, I absolutely just love the book of Nehemiah. There's so many great nuggets for men in that book, but Nehemiah 4, verse 14, this is Nehemiah talking, and I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes. So yes, we are called to be physical protectors. Another pillar is that we are called to be providers. So this is actually a haunting scripture, but first Timothy five, verse eight, but if anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for members of his household, he is denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. So yikes, that's a pretty serious call. And even though I could do a bunch more, I'll just give you guys one more pillar for today. We are called to be the heads of our households. Ephesians 5, verse 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. So we are to submit to God, we are to love our wives in a sacrificial way, our wives are to submit to us, and our children are to obey us. So a solid biblical church worth its salt is not going to demand that men tone it down or just relax a little bit. They are going to encourage us to continually step into the role that God has established for men. They are going to lead us in the ways of Christ. They're going to disciple us in the biblical ways of manhood and continually point us to the will of our Father. We'll see you back here tomorrow as we wrap up the week.

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.