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.

Great to have y'all back. I hope you've been enjoying the episodes this week, because this week on the Daily Blade, I'm bringing you music you might not normally label as worship. And I know a lot of men aren't into contemporary worship music, but singing to God is not optional. So my goal is to broaden what counts as worship music, at least in your brains. So yesterday we looked at the song Death Defeated by the bluegrass band The Altar Music. And today we're looking at the song Awake and Alive by the rock band Skillet. So I just got to tell you something from the beginning here. I absolutely love the members of the band Skillet. So after the last several years, the lead singer John Cooper and I have become good buddies, and so have uh Seth, uh the guitarist of the band. And I've got to actually spend a lot of time with the band. So John, his wife Corey, the lead guitarist Seth, and their drummer Jen are just some of the most genuine, awesome people that I've met doing this weird job. And look, these guys could be jerks if they wanted to. I mean, they've sold millions and millions of records. They play sold-out shows all over the world, but they are just incredibly humble and accommodating. I've watched them be sweet and patient with fans and arena staff and other bands, and it's it's just great to see. So I just wanted to let you guys know that because sometimes it can be pretty disappointing when you meet the people that you admire and they just, you know, suck as people. And also, one of my favorite things about this band is that every member of the band is legitimately a Christian. And as a band, they are bold about their faith in Christ. And if you've ever seen Skill of Play Live, you know what I mean. John preaches the gospel of Jesus every time they play, regardless of the venue or setting. So today we're going to be looking at their song Awake and Alive, which is off their awake album that they released in 2009. So I actually told John that I wanted to feature one of their songs in this batch of episodes, and this is actually one of the songs that he suggested. So there are a lot of different themes in this song, but one of the biggest ones is spiritual warfare. So let's look at verse one here. I'm at war with the world, and they try to pull me into the dark. I struggle to find my faith as I'm slipping from your arms. And then in verse two, I'm at war with the world because I ain't never gonna sell my soul. I already made up my mind, no matter what, I can't be bought or sold. So simultaneously in these verses, you see the acknowledgement that there is a war going on inside of this person, and there is a legitimate struggle happening, but also a resolve that will keep this person from losing their faith. So one of the features of a fervent Christian life is being at war with the world. So and the world broadly describes anyone or anything, any force really that opposes the will of God Almighty. And remember, we know better than non-Christians that the fight is not against flesh and blood. So Ephesians 6, verse 12, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. And another thing that comes up in these lyrics is that there is a fight for our soul. And you know this to be true, for for some people, their soul is for sale, right? They will certainly trade their eternity for something worldly, and we have to war against that the same way that Jesus did in the wilderness. So, as many of you know, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And there's some, you know, crazy theological implications of that, but we don't have time to unpack that today. But let's look at what is written in Matthew four, starting in verse three. And the tempter came and said to him, Jesus, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. So we have to look at the tactics of Satan and the response from Jesus here. So Satan tempted Jesus with a fix for his physical hunger, and then all the riches of the world. And he even partially used Scripture as a weapon. But Jesus wasn't having any of that. Not only did he rebuff the offers of wealth and comfort, but he rightly and correctly quoted scripture back to the devil. So he fought off the devil with the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And there are many more themes that we could look at with awake and alive, but let's just actually hit the chorus before we wrap. I'm awake, I'm alive, now I know what I believe inside. Now it's my time, I'll do what I cause, I do what I want, because this is my life. Right here, right now, I'll stand my ground and never back down. I know what I believe inside, I'm awake and I'm alive. So awake and alive. So awake represents a spiritual awakening inside of us. So the Apostle Paul says this in Ephesians 5.14, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. So this is actually a call back to Isaiah 26, 51 and 52. And then we have alive, which represents our new life in Christ. So the Apostle Paul says this in Romans 6.4, we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. So the point here is not that baptism saves you because it doesn't, because we are not saved by work, so that no man may boast. But baptism is a public display and declaration of the internal soul-level reality that we have been saved by Christ in our new creation. So, guys, as you expand the horizons of what you consider to be worship music, make sure you get some skilled in your rotation. So come back here tomorrow where we will highlight a worship song from the world of country music.

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.