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.

Well, good morning, gentlemen, and uh welcome to This is my fourth day with you as a guest host. My name is Josh Howerton, a pastor in the Dallas area of Church Called Lake Point. It is my incredible honor to open up the word for us at the beginning of the day. And uh what we're doing is we are deep diving, spending five days in this one verse and just Bible nerding on these five commands that God gives men in 1 Corinthians 16. So let me let me read it and let's get into the one we're doing today. The verse says, it says, be watchful, that was day one, stand firm in the faith, that was day two, act like men, or be courageous, that was day three. And then it says, be strong, let all that you do be done in love. Okay, so today I want to talk about, let's like click on it and uh and deep dive on what does he mean when the Bible says to be strong? What's that mean? Well, it's talking about power, and let's do a little theology nerd thing really quick here. Um, one of the most interesting parts, I just want to put yours put yourself in the apostles' shoes. One of the most interesting parts of the whole book of Acts is in Acts 1.8. So um I want you to think about this. So we finish the Gospels, and remember the last thing Jesus says to the apostles at the end of the gospels is great commission. Go into the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and teaching them to obey uh everything that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. So he gives them that that the great commission. All right. So then I want you to imagine this. All right, now you're the apostles, you're at the beginning of the book of Acts, which is the very next thing, and you're going, all right, Jesus, you just said to go out, and we've been with you for three years, and we heard all the sermons, we were in your life group, we saw you all all the miracles and demons cast out and people resurrected and all the things. And so we're ready to go. Okay, you know. And so you would think that Jesus would be like, All right, go get them, boys. Instead of going out, he says, Well, before you go anywhere, he says, I want you to stay in. And then in Acts 1.8, he says, I don't want you to go anywhere. Stay in Jerusalem. And he says, Here's why. Because you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And then only after you've received that power will you be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Now, here's the point that has never stopped shaking me to the core of my soul. What he's saying right there is that, men of God, you gotta stay in before you go out. Because if you go out before you stay in, you don't have any power to go out with. So what the Holy Spirit does is he gives us a supernatural power in our lives to move forward and to 1 Corinthians 16 to be strong. Where does the strength come from? It comes from his power. And I'll I'll be really honest with you. There's a verse in the New Testament where it says that the kingdom of God does not consist of talk but of power. And man, like one of my fears when I look at my life is I don't want to be somebody that settles for a gospel merely of words. I I just this is a different podcast, but I had a radical encounter with the Holy Spirit in 2008. My life was never, ever, ever the same. And I started to understand what it means to like walk with the Holy Spirit and be empowered by the Holy Spirit and and not have a gospel that that just consists of talk, but of power. Let me read you, um let me read you this is one of my favorite quotes is by a Bible teacher named R. T. Kendall. And he's talking about churches, but I'm talking about you, I'm talking about men. R. T. Kendall says, there are word churches and there are spirit churches. There's been a great divorce in the church between word and spirit. And like any divorce, some kids go with the mom and some kids go with the dad. And then he says, revival happens when you bring those two back together. And I would say the same thing for you as a man of God, as you're seeking to be strong. This world needs strong, good men. As you're seeking to be strong, where do we get our strength? Well, some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. And our power comes from him, the Holy Spirit. And in the same way, I'd say there are word men and there are spirit men. And sometimes there's a divorce between word and spirit, but a revival happens in a man's life when he becomes both a word man and a spirit man, because the spirit's where he gets his power to be strong. In fact, I'm gonna give you one example of this, and then I want I want to apply it to us as we move for throughout our day. There's a prayer for more power from the spirit that I've just found it feels like Jesus answers 100% of the time. So, like, I love this so much, man. The apostle Paul just figured out, he figured out that even though he was real, real, real smart, that he was never gonna be clever enough to like, on his own rhetorical power with his words, talk people into Jesus. So it's interesting if you go read First Corinthians, you know, what you got to know about Corinth. Remember, super jacked up church. I preached a sermon series on 1 Corinthians. It was just called Following Jesus and Jacked Up Church. Church full of divisions, dude sleeping with his mother-in-law, there's church members suing each other, there's married people going to prostitutes and thinking that's fine because the blood of Jesus covers everything. People are doing a whole American idol for prophecy in tongues in services, getting drunk on the Lord's Supper. It's like just nuts, nuts. But what you got to remember is Corinth, just like there was like, there are conservative areas of America and progressive areas of America, is the same thing in ancient Rome. There were more conservative, more progressive areas. Corinth was like the progressive capital of Rome. It's like it's a college town. Everybody's young, educated, and single. They're all waking up at the crack of noon, getting drunk on mimosas, making up pronouns. There was like my body, my choice, stickers on the backs, all their camels. And they were deeply, deeply loved by God. And then listen to what the apostle Paul says about how he did his ministry there. Listen really close. He says, For I did not come to you with wiser persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the spirit and power. Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but we trust in the name and in the spirit of the Lord our God. And I would say to you, man of God, you need that same power in your life from the Holy Spirit to be able to be strong. So what Jesus said, and I just want to encourage you to do this as soon as this pod's over, is just take a few minutes. You might be in your car, you might be on lawnmower, you might be on a golf course, wherever it is. I want to encourage you. Jesus said, Now, what man among you, if his son asks for a fish, is going to give him like a stone or a scorpion? And then he said, Man, if if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your kids, then he said, How much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? And can I just tell you something? You know, this happened to me in 2008, and we need this to happen over and over again in our lives as Christians. Is if you will just pause and with a yielded heart say, Father, would you refresh me with a fresh power from your spirit? If you will do that with a yielded heart, to use that power for the glory of God and the good of men, God will answer that prayer 100% of the time. Now, there may be a sin that he calls you to repent of. There may be a forgiveness that he calls you to extend. There may be something in your life you've been avoiding that you know you need to do, and he'll bring that to your mind. But if you will pray with a yielded heart, Father, would you give me more of your Holy Spirit so that I have the power that I need to be strong for your glory and people's good, he will answer that prayer. And so today I would ask you to pray and ask God for a fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit. Why? So that you can be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like a man, and be strong with a power that comes from the Lord. In Jesus' name.

Amen. 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.