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.

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Welcome to the

Lessons From Saul And David

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Daily Blade. I'm John Eldridge, and today is my last day that I have the honor of sitting in for Kyle and Joby. We've been looking at Genesis, we've been looking at David, we've been looking at Saul and Ananias. And I want to review some of the lessons that we've learned. In Saul's conversion, we saw that there's the story that you want to be true, and then there's the story that is true, fellas. And growing up and coming into true discipleship to Jesus is learning to see the difference. In Ananias, we saw that God loves to use ordinary men who simply have developed a friendship with Jesus. In Adam and in the story of Genesis, we saw in the bigger picture how God's plan all along has been to use human partners to help bring order out of chaos. And then yesterday we looked at the story of David and how important it is for men not to lean on their gifting, their toolbox, their style of relating, lean on the things that have worked before because God wants us to wait upon him. He wants us to listen and follow. All

Reading First John On Growth

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right. So today we're going to go to the beautiful John the Beloved, one of the apostles, in his first epistle, first John chapter 2. I am writing to you who are God's children, because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus. I am writing to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. I am writing to you who are young men and women in the faith because you have won your battle with the evil one. And then he repeats it because he really wants them to remember this. So he does it again. I've written to you who are God's children because you know the Father. I've written to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. And I'm writing to you who are young in the faith, you young men and women, because you're strong. And God's word lives in your hearts, and you've won your battle with the evil one.

The Stages Of Spiritual Maturity

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I want to point out here that there are stages in our spiritual development. Okay. We go from being children in the faith to being young men in the faith to being the mature who really know God. And just as there are stages in human development, right? You don't get married when you're eight, shouldn't be a brain surgeon when you're 12. We need to recognize that we are in a process of maturing. God is committed to our maturity. And as we pointed out, part of our maturity is learning to let go of the story that we want to be true so that we can come into alignment with the story that is true. And what's interesting, guys, is that maturity can be characterized as the amount of reality you are willing to accept and rise to. Maturity is the ability to accept the story that actually is true and rise to it. And we saw this for Saul. He had to undergo a massive conversion and a realignment of how he saw everything from the world to the scriptures to God. Okay. And then you see it throughout, you know, the life of all of God's great men. You see it in David's life. There is a maturing process. No, no, David, wait. We're not going to do it that way this time. I want you to follow me in a different way of doing it. Let go your tools, let go your methodology. I want you to learn to hear my voice and walk with me. And this is such a beautiful invitation. Saul will end up becoming, of course, the Apostle Paul. And he will end up talking a great deal about maturity, about coming into maturity in Christ until

Where God Is Asking You To Step Up

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we are all mature, is the way he would say it. And so, one of the ways to think about your life as a man, one of the ways to think about your life with God is where is he maturing you? Where is he asking you to come into alignment with maturity? Is it emotional maturity, maybe at work? Uh, because what gets you upset, fellas, reveals a whole lot about you. And it reveals the story that you're living in. Is it a small story or is it a big story? Is it God's story? Where are you maturing me, Lord? Where are you asking me to step up? Where are you asking me to risk? And sometimes where are you asking me to wait? He is working on particular things within each of us. And so, like David and like Ananias, we say, okay, Lord, what are we working on together? What are you teaching me about love? What are you teaching me about risk? What are you teaching me about being your son and being your partner?

Closing Charge And Share Request

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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.