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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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All right. Welcome back to day three of this week. We made it all the way to Philippians, chapter 1, verses 12 and following. And he says, and I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me and what has happened to the apostle Paul is that he has been imprisoned because of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is why he is in jail. And he looks at his circumstances. That most of us, if we were imprisoned for doing the right thing, we would hire a lawyer, we would fight it, we would complain, we would say, why me, God? Why would you let bad things happen to a good person like me? This is not the stance that the Apostle Paul takes. He says, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Man, you want to talk about having a heavenly perspective that the Apostle Paul is so dedicated to the mission of God that he is more concerned about the goal of the Great Commission than he is concerned about his own comfort. Let me say that again. Paul is so dedicated to the mission of God that he is more concerned about the goal of the Great Commission than he is about the goal of his own comfort. Now, let's be honest. Put the mirror up to your face real quick. Can you say that like, if we audited your life, if we looked at your calendar, your bank account, and your prayer request, what would it reveal? Would your calendar and your bank account and your prayer list reveal that you were more dedicated to the mission of God or the mission of your own comfort? You see, the Great Commission is the most important thing according to Jesus. It is what we have been called to do, to therefore go and make disciples of all the world unto the glory of God, teaching them to obey everything that he has commanded us and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And yet, according to most of our. If we audited our lives according to our time, the money we spend, and the prayers that we pray, most of that revolves around our own comfort. You see, in other letters Paul lets us know, like in the Book of Romans, that Paul wanted to go to Rome, but Paul thought he was going to go to Rome as a preacher. Instead, he goes to Rome as a prisoner. And what Paul realizes in his own life is that what the Holy Spirit led him to write in Romans 8:28 is actually happening in his life. That even though he is a prisoner in a Roman jail, that God is still at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. And Paul, he is saying that he can see at least two ways in which God is at work. Number one, the imperial guard is hearing the gospel. Gospel. And if Paul came as a traveling evangelist, he would have had no influence over the house of the Roman Emperor. But now, because he is chained to the imperial guard, they have no option except to hear the Gospel. And because of Paul's imprisonment, he has access to levels of influence that he never would have had as a traveling evangelist. Which, by the way, I am in the camp that believes that it was the seeds of the Gospel that Paul plants here in the prison. That leaves all the way up to the Emperor himself. In about 300 years from now, Christianity would take over Rome, not by force like the spread of Islam, but the reason that Christianity takes over Rome was by the abounding love of the Gospel. A grassroots effort, but also people in power being swayed to believe and making political choices that paved the way for the advancement of of the Gospel. The other thing that the Apostle Paul sees is that though he is beaten and battered and bruised and he is imprisoned for the name of Christ, it emboldens other people to speak the word without fear. You see, the Apostle Paul was just team Jesus, man. And he was happy to play whatever role Christ had called him to play as long as it advanced the gospel. If it shortened his life, but it advanced the Gospel. The Apostle Paul said, sign me up. Let me ask you, do you have that kind of perspective? Perspective? I dare you this week, man, before you listen to the Daily Blade tomorrow morning, I dare you to audit your life, to look at your time, where you spend your time, look at your calendar, look at your checkbook, and look at your prayer request and just ask yourself honestly, before God, what does this reveal about the priorities in my life?

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Amen. 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.