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.

All right, welcome to uh this is day two for me, Daily Blade. Uh again, my name is Pastor Josh Howerton from a church called Lake Point in the Dallas area. I'm incredibly honored to be hosting uh this with you as a guest uh for the next couple days. Um, yesterday we started in 1 Corinthians 16, 13, and 14. And uh yesterday we talked about what it means for a man of God to be watchful. Um today we're gonna talk about the next thing. So let me read the verse and then let me talk about what we're gonna talk about today. Uh the verse says that we're working through this week. It says, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, let all that you do be done in love. Okay. So let yesterday we did be watchful. Today um I want to talk about what it means for us as men of God to stand firm. Okay, now uh one of the things that that this really drives into that um that I've noticed in my life is Romans chapter 12, it gives us a command as people of God. It says, Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that you may able to may be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Now, a lot of times, um, especially in Greek, when they're writing, they're writing in like word pictures, and we won't always get it. So there's something in that verse a lot of times we'll miss. When he says, do not be conformed, but be transformed, when he says, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world. The word pattern in the Greek that it was originally written in, oftentimes that word pattern, it was like a mold. Like if somebody was like uh, you know, a potter or something like that, they would stick the clay in the mold and they would press it down to try to try to conform it into the shape of the mold. And what the apostle Paul is saying to us is that, hey guys, the world that you live in, the Bible says that Satan is the god of this world. The world that you live in is largely controlled by our enemy, and that large aspects of this world are going to press on you and put pressure on you to be conformed into the patterns of this evil world. So, like the media, the education system, the algorithms of our social media things, everything around you, these things are like present on you to be conformed into a reverse image of Jesus. They're reverse discipling you. So when the apostle Paul says to men in 1 Corinthians 16, 13, he says, Hey man, stand firm. Essentially, what he's saying is, I want you to resist the influences and impulses that this entire world are pressing down on your life. So, like, man, I just want to remind us that God is good and his word is good. Okay. In fact, I just like want to remind us that God has a plan to bless your life, man of God, and Satan has a plan to curse your life. And God's plan to bless your life is in his word, and Satan's plan to curse your life is in the world. And ultimately, you get to choose which plan you're on. Are you on God's plan to bless your life by obeying and believing his word? Or are you on Satan's plan to curse your life by obeying and believing what the world says? Now, the question is how are we going to stand firm? And uh, for podcast listeners who haven't heard me preach, years ago, I tell people this all the time, years ago, I'm a preacher, and so I decided every preacher needs a preacher. And so I started listening of every pastor in America. I chose Joby Martin. And so every Monday I make my coffee, open my Bible, and I listen to Pastor Joby. So I'm about to give you some repackaged Joby Martin. So how we do that is through the Holy Spirit. Now, here's what's really interesting. When the New Testament uses, talks about the Holy Spirit, very frequently the Greek word that he uses is paraclete. It calls the Holy Spirit a paraclete. And I've heard Joby say this before, and it's like actually like super helpful. It's easy to remember. That the way that you remember what the Holy Spirit's a paraclete is it's like he's he's like a paraclete. He's like, man, if if you're in a football game, if you're if you're in a baseball game, he's like a paracleats. Is it like it helps you grip the ground? And what's that help you do? It helps you stand firm. So, like, I want you to think about if you were, if you're wearing the wrong shoes in the wrong situation, you're in big trouble. Like, if you're trying to play O-line and you've got a pair of cowboy boots on instead of a paracleats, you're gonna get pushed around everywhere. Why? Because you you you need a paraclete. You need a paracleatch. And what the Holy Spirit does, the power of the Holy Spirit is he empowers us. The Spirit of God empowers the people of God through the word of God as a paraclete, he empowers us to stand firm, to take our stand against the enemy and his fiery darts and his lies. Now, I'm gonna give an example of what this looks like, and then I just want to make it practical for us before we go on our day, is I want to give a warning that men of God, we should be standing, but we should not be stubborn. We should be able to stand firm, and whenever we are convinced from the word of God that something's true, it's like, man, you can bring all the hell against me and I ain't budget. But we should also be men of humility, of Christlikeness, men with thick skins but tender hearts. We're standing, but we're not stubborn. And so I just want to warn you that man, we want to be the type of guys that when the word of God speaks to us or when a man of God speaks to us and brings a word of encouragement or correction to us, we don't become stubborn people and then chalk it up in our heads, oh, actually, I'm standing firm. Well, no, man, actually you're just stubborn. So we want to be standing firm, but we don't want to be stubborn. Now, let me give an example of what this looks like. One of my favorites from all church history for our church nerds here. And then I want to apply it and then we're gonna go on our day. One of my favorite stories, one of my favorite dudes in all church history is Martin Luther. Martin Luther was the guy that nailed the 95 These to the castle door at Wittenberg, started the Protestant Reformation in uh, I think it was uh 1499, if I remember right. 1499. Later in Martin Luther, which by the way was like super dangerous because the Catholic Church like was in control of not just the Catholic Church, but a lot of government powers. And at that time, the Catholic Church like wielded the sword of the government and could it, you know, could and frequently did levy death penalties. So when Martin Luther's doing the Protestant Reformation, what he's doing is uh he gets summoned to something that was called the the the, I think it's pronounced Diet of Verms, is what it was like a council in 1521. And so the whole Catholic Church is there and they put him on trial, and they're asking him to recount. They're like demanding upon threat of death. And and Martin Luther was aware of people who had been executed by the Roman Catholic Church at that time because of their quote unquote heresy, uh, disobedience to the teachings of the Catholic Church. And they were asking him to recant his teachings on things like indulgences and papal authority, sacraments and clerical abuses, stuff like that. And they asked him to recant, and he knew that he could he could be killed if he didn't bend the knee and kind of go along with what they wanted him to say, do and say. Martin Luther, as a man of courage and conviction, is recorded as saying to these people that he knew could kill him, and I'm gonna quote him. He said, Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the scriptures or by clear reason, for I do not trust either in the Pope or in counsels alone, since since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves, he said, My conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and I will not recount anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen. Amen. What he did right there is that was a man of God who chose to stand firm. Now you and me, we are probably not today, I mean this could happen in our lifetimes, but we are probably not today gonna get put on trial by people who have the power of a death penalty and and ask to recant. But every single day, either in orthodoxy, which means right belief, or in orthopraxy, which means righteous practice, pressure is being exerted on you and on me to cave and to wander into either error or sin. And what we're gonna do today is we're gonna be men of God who choose not to do that. We're gonna be watchful, we're gonna be aware of it, and we are going to stand firm in our faith. And we're gonna bend our knee to the Lordship of Jesus today, and we walk in loving submission to our Lord because He lovingly submitted Himself to a cross and he purchased us. And I just want to say this right before I record this podcast, I was praying for what I say, and there are some there are some men who you are listening to this, and there's been temptation and pressure that's been exerted on you for weeks or months, and you have been like this close, and if you could see me, like my two fingers are like a millimeter apart, you are this close to your will caving and you making a decision to fall into sin that could ruin your life, relationships, marriage, relationship with your kids, whatever it is. I just want to urge you by the love of the Father and the power of the Spirit today, you man of God, you that's not you, that's not who you are. Today, you're gonna be a man that stands firm in the faith.

Amen. Let's go on our day. 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.