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 back to this Christmas edition of the Daily Blade, the five ways to help you be a winner at Christmas. Today's the final one, and it is the most important one. Whatever you do, don't miss Jesus. And I know that sounds cliche, and I'm a pastor, and I'm supposed to say it, but I'm just telling you the whole thing is about Jesus. And we live in a world that will get you distracted from what this whole thing is about. Matthew chapter 2, the Bible says, Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men or magi from the east came to Jerusalem. By the way, this was probably a result of Daniel back during the exile. Verse 2, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him. You see, the magi were looking for the promised Messiah in the stars. And when Herod, King Herod, when he heard of this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born, and they told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it was written by the prophet. By the way, they're going to look in the Bible. The best place to find Jesus, by the way, is in the Bible. And here's what the quote O you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. And then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. That was a lie. He didn't want to do it. He actually wanted to kill him. Verse 9 And after listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, by the way, notice not a manger. The Magi weren't actually at the manger scene. They showed up a couple of years later at the house. They saw the child, and again, not a baby wrapped in swallowing clothes. Jesus was probably a little bit less than two years old at this point, but that's not the point. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were actually foreshadows of who Jesus is, prophet, priest, and king. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Now, Herod, who is the king, he's going to have, he's going to put out a decree that all the boys, two years old and under would be murdered or killed. Why? Because he was threatened by this promised king. Now here's what I want you to get. I don't think you're trying to kill Jesus. But Herod had access. He was the king of the area. Herod had access to the scribes. Herod had access to the Bible scholars. Herod had access in Jerusalem. He's king over Jerusalem and other areas. And he has access to everything that he needs in order to welcome in the Messiah, and he misses him. And the reason that he misses who Jesus is is because he could not get his eyes off himself. The wise men had no access to the scripture. Maybe what Daniel had taught them back in the back during the Babylonian period when Daniel was in exile. That may be how these people even knew that a Messiah was coming. But they don't miss Jesus because they were looking for him. They were looking for him in the stars. They were looking for him. So this Christmas season, if you want to win, keep your eyes focused on Jesus. Pray. Read your Bible. Go to church. Aim your family at Jesus. Now, that doesn't mean that you can't do the Santa Claus stuff and watch all the movies. And I'm going to give you a great example of how to not miss Jesus at Christmas. My friend Josh Howerton puts out all kinds of social media content, and I'm not sure where he got this from, but he just put out a post talking about how Home Alone is a Christian movie. And the only reason I'm pointing this out is because if you look for Jesus, you'll find him. If you keep your eyes focused on Jesus, the author, the perfecter of your faith, you will find him, even in our silly man-made Christmas traditions. You see, he read this from somebody else that Home Alone is a Christian movie. When Kevin goes to church, as soon as he walks in, oh holy night is being sung. He encounters the Christ figure, old man Marley. By the way, the first time he ever sees old man Marley, do you remember what he's doing? He's literally salting the earth, and he is the Christ figure. If you look closely, old man Marley has a bandage on his hand. He is pierced in his hands. That Kevin makes a confession to Marley. There is a repentance that he is going to go home and do something different from now on. And at the end of the movie, Kevin cannot defeat the wet bandits by himself. He needs a savior. He needs someone to do for him what he cannot do for himself. Is this true? Is this movie a Christian movie? I don't care. That's not the point. The point is this: don't miss Jesus. You lead your family and yourself to do whatever it takes to keep your eyes focused on not just the trappings of Christmas, but the Savior who was born a baby in a manger.

I hope you win this Christmas. 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.