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, men. Welcome back to the Daily Blade. This week, um, I want to do a deep dive in the traits of a godly friend. Kyle and I spend an inordinate amount of time talking about your need for mat carriers or your need for foxhole brothers. And again, we cannot emphasize it enough. But what I want to spend time on this week is what do your Mac carriers or what do your foxhole brothers need from you? Like, what do you need to provide to be the kind of Mac carrier for them that they need? That's where we're gonna go. So today we're just gonna look at one verse. First Corinthians chapter 11, verse 1. The apostle Paul says this. He says, Be imitators of me as I am of Christ. Another version, I think it's the NIV, says, Follow me as I follow Christ. Let me say this. Can you say that amongst your Mac carriers and your foxhole brothers? Could you look at the group of men that you're doing life with, that you love, that you've asked to hold you accountable and you're gonna hold them accountable? And can you actually say, Boys, what I want you to do is I want you to imitate me as I imitate Christ? Let me ask you this way. Do you live a life worth following? Well, one of the best things that you can do for your friends is get real serious about your walk with Jesus so that you could say this. I'm not saying that you're perfect, but that you are pursuing a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus. If your friends did the same things that you do, would that be a good thing or a bad thing? You see, most of the time discipleship is caught, not taught. Now, there is obviously a significant place in the life of the disciple of learning the scriptures, okay? Because it is the thing that guides you in the way that we ought to live. But if you'll notice, there's not a lot of occasions where Jesus sits down with the disciples and like open up the text and tells them what it means. It was way more they saw him do ministry, they saw the way he treated people, they heard him preach sermons for sure, but a lot of discipleship is caught, not taught. Now, my old football coach used to say this to me all the time: Show me your friends and I will show you your future. Okay? Well, listen, is that good news for men who call you their friends? So, how are you doing at life? I like to measure my life based on the Shema. When a lawyer asked Jesus what the greatest commandment in all the Bible was, he quotes Deuteronomy chapter six, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. So, in regards to your heart, is your life worth following in your relationships, in your marriage, your relationship with your kids, relationships with your friends, are those things stable or rocky? How about in your soul? How was your walk with the Lord? Now, don't assess that based on how you feel right now, but what are the spiritual practices that you participate in that are worth emulating? What are you doing to cultivate your walk with Jesus that he may produce fruit in you? In regards to your mind, is your mind set on Christ and the things above, or is your mind mostly filled with worldly garbage? Are you mentally fit or are you fragile? What describes your mentality? Is it faith and prayer or is it fear and worry? And we're supposed to love the Lord our God with all of our strength. So let me ask you this: are you strong? Are you physically fit? Are you financially fit? Are you vocationally fit? The reason I bring this up is again, Kyle and I talk about this all the time. You are not fighting for you alone. You you've heard us talking about 300s, you've heard us talking about the failings where the men would join their shields together side by side. And the reason that you need the man to be the man that God has called you to be is because other men are counting on you. So what changes in your life do you need to make, not just for your benefit and not just for your family's benefit, which is very, very important, but what changes in your life do you need to make for the sake of the brothers on your right and on your left? I dare you to spend some serious time this week praying. God, what areas in my life do I need to make significant changes in, heart, soul, mind, or strength, in order that I might rightly look at the men around me, not say I'm perfect, but I am pursuing Jesus as he pursues me, and that I could say, be an imitator of me as I am of Christ.

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.