Welcome To The Daily Blade

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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.

The Myth Of There

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All right, day four of the Daily Blade. Again, leadership lessons that I have learned as the pastor of 1122 over the last 12 years. The fourth one I want to talk about is this be faithful with what he has entrusted to you instead of living for the myth of there. You see, the reality is you are here. That's right. You are here, right here, right now. And that um I learned this from Pastor Britt, that nobody can give you what God has not, but nobody can keep you from what God has for you. And so the key is not to get so enamored with what might be next. It's not to get so enamored with what God may do in your life one day, but to be faithful with what He has entrusted you with right now.

From Intern To Youth Pastor

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You see, when I said yes to God to teach the Bible for a living, I had no idea what was in store. And yet, what I was pumped about is whatever season of ministry God had me in in that time of my life. I mean, my first time that I had uh any responsibility on a church staff, I mean I was an intern at a really great church, and I kind of cut my teeth there, and they let me teach the Bible on Wednesday nights, and that was awesome. And then another church called me to come and be the youth pastor, a part-time youth pastor. And what that means is you work full-time, you get paid part-time. And so I started out with three students. And I was, first of all, I thought, why would you hire a whole person to just teach three kids? But whatever, they did. And I was into it. It was a faithful church. And so I was pumped. And so over the next few weeks, those three students turned into 12 students. And I remember thinking, well, I have hit the lottery. This is, I've hit the Super Bowl because you could change the world with 12 disciples. And I never tried to graduate from that ministry. I never saw that ministry as a stepping stone to what was next. I did my best to just be hyper-focused on what God had called me to right then and right now. And what began to happen as I was faithful with just a little bit, God began to expand my influence and expand my opportunities.

Faithfulness Expands Opportunities

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And one step led to another. And then I found myself here taking a job at Beach Church in Jacksonville. And even when Pastor Jerry asked me to start a service called 1122 that turned into a bunch of services that one day turned into the church of 1122. Never did I imagine that any of the things I had been asked to do were a stepping stone to the next thing. I was just trying to be faithful with what he and had entrusted to me. And when we started 1122 and we had one campus, I was just trying to be faithful to steward what God had allowed me to shepherd, which was one campus. Now it's 18 campuses. Now it's all over the place. And the key is that you've got to be faithful with what God has given you right now. Not even so that God owes you more, but just to be faithful with what he's given you.

David Treats The Pasture As Prep

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A great place to look is the life of King David, because before he was ever king, he was just a little kid that nobody liked, and he was put out in the pasture to shepherd the flock. And here's the key David did not treat the pasture like punishment, but he treated it like preparation. He just became the best shepherd he could possibly be. Again, it was a really, really low job. We'll see this tomorrow because when he shows up on the battlefield to check on his brothers in 1 Samuel 17, his brothers are like, What are you doing here, shepherd boy? You're not you're not worthy to be here. Go back to the pasture. But David was just faithful with what God put right in front of him. And again, he saw the pasture not as punishment, but as preparation. And here's what happened. He became a really good shepherd. That would serve him well one day. He got really good with a sling. That would serve him well one day. He got really good playing the harp. That would serve him well one day. It would put him right beside King Saul. And he got really good at writing songs. Then he would spend time with the Lord and jot these ideas down. And this became what we know as the Psalms. So, let me ask you, in your season of life right now, God is not wasting it because God is not a wasteful God. He is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. So maybe you're even in an internship or in school or in a career or in a job, and you don't think that is your forever future, but God has you there on purpose. So what is God teaching you now? And are you being faithful now? Why in the world would you ever expect God to give you more if you were not faithful with what you have right now? One of the ways

Discipleship And Money Tell The Truth

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I see this play out all the time. The two primary areas are guys coming to me and they say, I think God has called me to plant and grow the biggest church in the world. I'm like, okay, maybe. I hope so. But are you making disciples right now? Because why in the world would God trust you with dozens or hundreds or even thousands of people to shepherd if you are not making disciples right where you are? The other place I see this all the time is finances. Like people all the time, they say, Well, if if one day God would give me a bunch of money, then I would be generous to the kingdom. Well, based on the way you're spending money right now, if you were God, would you give you more money? You see, the key is what we need to do is be faithful with what he has entrusted to you today instead of living for the myth of there.

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Amen.

Share The Show And Stay Sharp

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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.