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 .
Speaker 2All right , guys . So this week we're doing a series of episodes called yeah , that's Not what that Means and so I'm going over five of the most common , misapplied and misunderstood scriptures in all of the biblical
canon . So yesterday I talked about Luke 17 , verses 1 and 2 , and the fact that Jesus was not referring to children when he said little ones , but referring to childlike disciples . So sorry , I had to burst some of your millstone bubbles yesterday , but I'm back at it today . And I'm had to burst some of your millstone bubbles yesterday , but I'm back at it today and I'm here to ruin all of your high school weight room
PRs . Okay , so let's go to the fourth chapter of the Apostle Paul's letter to the church in Philippi . I'll be reading Philippians 4.13 in the New King James Version , and I can already hear some of you getting ready to quote it . So quote it with me . I can do all things through Christ , who strengthens me . Okay Now , when I was early in my Christian walk , remember when I was talking about going to the salt cellar and seeing all these different gear and all this stuff with scripture on it ?
Speaker 2This verse is on everything right , it is on Bible cases and on coffee mugs and t-shirts and all kinds of stuff . And you see this scripture on high school weight rooms , football locker rooms ,
all over the South , all over the Bible Belt I mean Oklahoma , we're the belt buckle of the Bible Belt and we have the most tornadoes . I don't know if that's connected in any way , but I digress . And that verse is really clung to by a lot of people that are , you know , trying to do anything , from getting straight A's or climbing the corporate ladder or getting that next job or whatever the thing is . But , in a nutshell , the fundamental misunderstanding of these words from the apostle Paul is that this verse is about personal empowerment so that we can experience success in life in general , regardless of what we do . And yeah , that's not what that means , because , in its correct context , paul is telling us that we need to be content in all circumstances and that we must remain obedient regardless of trials or successes . Okay , so we come to this understanding by starting a few verses before verse 13 . So let me read Philippians four , 10 through 13 in the new King James but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now , at last , your care for me has flourished again , though you surely did care , but you lacked opportunity . Not that I speak in regard to need , for I have learned , in whatever state I am , to be content . Okay , and man , if anyone can understand the need for godly contentment , regardless of abounding or suffering need , it's Paul .
Speaker 2So if we go to some of Paul's highlights , as Saul , you know , he was a
Jew from the tribe of Benjamin . He was a Pharisee of Pharisees . He was a Roman citizen , which had tremendous privilege attached to it . He was educated in Jerusalem under Gamaliel and he was a very well-respected teacher . He experienced conversion to Christianity right . So that's a huge deal . And he was a leader in the early church . But also I mean we just kind of need to give his whole baseball card here as a Christian missionary . He was beaten , he was stoned , he was shipwrecked , he was snakebit , he was imprisoned . I mean , he was betrayed by people that were close to him . Yeah , he had some sort of thorn in the flesh that he constantly was praying for God to remove from him , but for whatever reason , god wouldn't do that .
Speaker 2So if anyone gets it , guys , paul gets it . And for a lot of you you've experienced something similar . You've had these tremendous highs . You know this , you know top of the resume , amazingness . And then you've had these horrible , awful , sinful , dark lows . But does Paul give us this , you know , stoicism-based dictate that we are to somehow summon the strength to endure from somewhere deep inside of the recesses of ourselves , you know , to find this inner grit to get us through . No , paul's not claiming to have personal strength like that . However , he tells us where the strength we are supposed to rely on comes from from Christ living in us .
Speaker 2Let's go to Galatians 2 , verse 20 . I'll read it in the ESV I have been crucified with Christ . It is no longer I who live , but Christ who lives in me , and the life I now live in the flesh . I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me . Again , for some of you it's like , okay , I'm just going to say this verse and then I'm going to get up under the bar and this is going to be my bench press , pr and it's all those types of things , and I guess , however , you want to motivate yourself , okay , go for it . But again , you just can't take scripture out of context and use it for whatever purposes that you want to willy-nilly . So it's not about this verse , is not about increasing our capacity for strength . It's about us stepping aside so that the strength of Christ
can abound in us . Okay , guys , come back here tomorrow , where we are going to take the prosperity gospel to the woodshed . Come back here tomorrow , where we are going to take the prosperity gospel to the woodshed .
Speaker 1Thank 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 .