#206 - Kyle Thompson // He Bows Before He Swings His Sword

We trace a straight line from worship to warfare: bow before you swing. Through Joshua 5, Psalm 95, and examples from David, Nehemiah, and Jesus, we show why true manhood begins with submission to God, not martial skill.

• word of God as the sword of the Spirit 
• the instinct for battle and protection in men 
• submission as the root of true strength 
• Psalm 95 and the posture of worship 
• Joshua 5: encounter with the commander of the Lord’s army 
• Jericho’s fall after reverence and obedience 
• models of bowing before acting: David, Nehemiah, Jesus 
• qualification to wield the sword by yielding to God

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

Chapters

• 0:01 Welcome & The Daily Blade
• 0:22 Stand Firm: Book Highlights
• 0:41 He Bows Before He Swings His Sword
• 1:21 Battle Instinct vs. True Manhood
• 2:06 Submission: The Root of Strength
• 2:36 Worship and Bowing: Psalm 95
• 2:47 Joshua Meets the Commander
• 3:31 Jericho: Reverence Before Victory
• 4:24 Models of Submission: David, Nehemiah, Jesus
• 4:50 Qualified to Wield the Sword
• 5:02 Closing & Call to Action

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The word of God is described as the sword of the spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christians' 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_01: 0:20

Happy hump day, fellas. All week this week, we've been looking at some of my favorite quotes and highlights from Joby's new book out now called Stand Firm and Act Like Men, Becoming the Man You Were Created to Be instead of Who the World Says You Are. And we'll be digging into the scriptural truths therein. Here's another one of my favorite quotes from the introduction of the book. Don't miss this. He bows before he swings his sword. So, like any normal red-blooded young boy, I turned everything I could into a weapon, right? So you may see a stick or a used wrapping paper roll, but what does a little boy see? I mean, he sees a sword, he sees a firearm of some kind, and I'm sure you are all the same way. So, as men, we have the desire for battle in our DNA, something innate. It's deep inside of us. And God is the one that puts that there. A normal functioning male has a deep design to be a warrior and protector. And many of you guys train to make sure that you can pull that off. You do shooting classes so that you can be more proficient with your long guns, your carbines, your pistols. You train jujitsu and kickboxing, you've you've done mental preparation work so that if something does become kinetic, that you respond immediately as opposed to freezing or hesitating. And dude, I am pro all of those things. But as good as those things are, that's not where true manhood begins. That's not where true manhood is rooted. It's not rooted in our martial ability, it's rooted in our submission. Now I know that many of you don't like that word, I don't like it much either, but that doesn't matter. Before we can engage in the battles of life, before we can wield the sword, we must submit to God's authority. Not the authority of man nor our own sense of control, but directly to God the Father. We must bow before we can act. That will give us the humility needed to depend on God. So actually love what King David says in Psalm 95, verses six and seven. Oh come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. So in a posture of worship, we must bow before our Maker. And we don't just do so because it's convenient or because we see God as some sort of a you know cosmic genie. We do so because God demands it, and he's a good dad. We see another example of this in the book of Joshua. So leading up to Joshua chapter 5, we see the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. They enter the covenant at Mount Sinai, they wander in the wilderness for 40 years. Moses, their leader, dies. Then we see God appoint Joshua as their new leader. So the book of Joshua opens with the Israelites at Gilgal, having just crossed the Jordan River. This is around 1400 BC. They're getting ready before the campaign against Jericho. And then we see this recorded in Joshua 6, or we see the campaign for Jericho in Joshua 6. But let's actually go back to Joshua 5, verses 13 through 15. When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said, No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did so. And then as I mentioned in Joshua six, we actually see the battle, we see Jericho fall. But before the battle of Jericho, going back to Joshua five, Joshua encounters the commander of God's army and is told to remove his sandals. So this represents an act of reverence and submission. This is a bowing moment, and it precedes God's miraculous victory. This taught these men to pause and bow before God before acting in strength. And we see this throughout the Bible. So David bowed in submission before he fought and killed Goliath. Nehemiah bowed in submission before acting to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Jesus bowed in submission in the Garden of Gethsemane as he accepted the call for his payment of the sins of mankind on the cross at Golgotha. You see, guys, submission doesn't mean you're weak unless you're submitting to the wrong powers of the wrong people. If you submit to God, his authority, and his will, then and only then are you qualified to wield the sword. Then and only then are you equipped to push back darkness. So submit and then get ready for battle. See you guys back here tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00: 5:09

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.