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 day four of our deep dive here on the Daily Blade , in Matthew , chapter 14 , verse 22, . And immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds . And after he had dismissed the crowds he went up on the mountain by himself to pray . And when evening came he was there alone . But the boat by this time was a long way from the land , beaten by the waves , for the wind was against them . And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea . But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified and said it is a ghost and they cried out in fear . But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying Take heart , it is , I do not be afraid . And Peter answered him Lord , if it is you , command me to come to you on the water . And Jesus said come on . So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus . And here's our key verse of the day . But when Peter saw the wind he was afraid and beginning to sink . You see , as long as Peter was focused on Jesus , everything was fine . Peter was actually walking on the water , and the Bible does not say how many steps he took , but he is the only person outside of Jesus recorded in the scriptures of walking on the water . And so again , as he's focused on Jesus , he's able to do what Christ called him to do . And then he takes his eyes off of Jesus and he puts his eyes on the wind and on the waves and fear begins to overtake him , because he takes his eyes off of the sovereign king of our circumstances and he fixes his eyes on the circumstances .
Speaker 2So let me ask you this what are the things that take your eyes off of Jesus ? You see , we've got to constantly fix our eyes on Jesus . On day one , I said there's going to be some combination of God's presence , god's people and God's word that help you fix your eyes on Jesus . You got to have a combo in your life of prayer and worship , fellowship and serving , sermons and study . All of these are very important , but it will not be enough .
Speaker 2We also have to cut the things out of our life that take our eyes off of Jesus . Whatever those things are , you must get rid of them ASAP . Hebrews chapter 12 says this . Therefore , since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses . Let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely . Okay , so there are some things that are just weighing us down . They may not be sinful , but they're just stupid , and if they take our eyes off Jesus , it's really , really dumb .
Speaker 2Is Netflix a sin ? Well , I don't know . Maybe it is in and of itself . Depends on what you're watching .
Speaker 2But if you're so consumed by some dumb show but you don't have time to be in God's word , this is something that you've got to cut out of your life . If your hobbies have become , if they've become to consume you and they take your eyes off Jesus , you need to cut these things out , because what it'll do is it will begin to fill you with fear instead of seeing Jesus for who he really is . But he also says there is also sin which clings so closely , and so sin is not to be tampered with , it's not to be tamed , it's not to be petted , sin is to be killed , because you can either be killing sin or it will be killing you . And the reason that you do this , the reason that you lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely , is so that you can run , with endurance , the race that is set before you , and the way that you do that is , you look to Jesus , the founder and perfecter of our faith , and so all of us are on a journey . I mean , this is what it means to follow after Jesus , like we are literally called followers of Jesus .
Speaker 2If we don't have our eyes fixed on Jesus , then we're not going to be able to follow him , and so maybe there are some things in your life that have taken your eyes off of Jesus . You've got to consistently lay aside the stupid things and kill the sinful things so that we can set our eyes on Jesus , the author and the perfecter of our faith . Now , if those things come to mind , I would highly , highly encourage you to share what those things are that take your eyes off of the Lord . Share it with one of your foxhole brothers , one of your Mack carriers , so that that person can love you enough to hold you accountable , to make sure that you are getting rid of any entanglements in your life , so that you can run the race that Christ has marked out for you , keeping your eyes fixed on him , the author and the finisher of your faith .
Speaker 1Amen . Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go . If you wanna help equip other men for the fight , share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review . Stay sharp .