Fight for the BIBLE!!!

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Welcome back to the Iron Saints Podcast with your host, Dan Willis.

Good morning, saints, and welcome back. It is a new day and we are at the end of a week. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Uh, for those of you who are new to the podcast, we do a daily devotional here, 15 minutes in scripture with some prayer, anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes, uh, depending on how much we dive in. It's just enough to, uh, Allowing the men who have crazy busy lives to take a moment of pause with God during their day. That's the hope. We are currently working through the Book of Luke. If you're one of those men that likes to have order and go start to finish on something, all the episodes are there for you from Luke one all the way through to where we are now, which is Luke nine. Yeah, it's taken us thirty eight episodes to get to Luke nine, but we are going to continue going through it. Yesterday we tackled Herod and the. Feeding of the 5,000 and what that looked like for us. So if you missed that episode, you can go back and just catch that as well. But today we're going to move forward. We're going to have some confessions. We're going to have some prophecy, and we're going to have some foretelling. We're going to have some instruction from Christ as well tacked on to the end there. So let's get down to it, guys, and grab your Bible real quick if you don't have one handy. Okay, so today's reading is from Luke chapter nine, verse eighteen through to we'll go to twenty-seven. As always, guys, if you are driving, you're commuting, you don't have a Bible handy, I completely understand. I'll be reading the entire passage out loud. I read from the ESV. Everybody's got their own favorite translation and paraphrase. For me, this is the one that I prefer. If you guys want to read along, I highly encourage that. It's always great to be able to crack open the word and follow along. Take notes in your own Bible. So let's get down to it. Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, who do the crowds say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist. But others say Elijah, and others that one of the prophets of old has risen. Then he said to them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered, the Christ of God. He strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the 3rd day be raised. And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever's ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there's some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. So that first passage from, you know, 18 to 20 where he's asking them, okay, who do you say I am? Those responses should seem fairly familiar for those of us who have been walking through Luke 9 together because those are the exact issues that Herod was wrestling with not too long ago, just before the feeding of the 5,000. That's exactly the 3 characters that Herod had been arguing about. You know, is he John? Is he one of the prophets? Is he Elijah? Who is this guy? But Peter, without knowing the answer, without any inclination or prodding from Jesus, the Holy Spirit moves him to just say, you're the Christ, you're the Messiah, you're the deliverer. You are the one who was prophesied to come to do it all. And Jesus, as he does in many instances when he wants something shared for a specific group and not given to the mobs and masses yet, he charges them and commands them. So these 2 words are military words that are actually used in the Greek of strict, strict orders. Do not tell this to anyone. The Son of Man must suffer many things. So this is him just telling them ahead of time, this is going to happen, guys. So this is prophecy here. Christ is foretelling his death. He's saying it's necessary, it has to come. He's giving them some details about who's going to do it, and he's also giving them some details about don't worry so much about it because on the 3rd day I'm coming back. But the big one here today is the take up your cross and follow me. So this passage is one of the more highly quoted passages from scripture, even in secular places. You see it pop up in music, you see it in movies. Yeah, I think there was an R. Kelly video, music video that had this in it. But that whole, for what does a prophet of If he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself. The interesting part for me with this though is the part that follows afterwards. For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there's some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. The shame over the words That seems like an odd thing, especially given how much we, we in this day and age put our backing behind a political figure. And the political figure we, we like to make whatever political figure we choose to be what they're going to be. If we're voting for them, they're the greatest guy in the world. If we're not voting for them, they're complete scumbags. But Jesus here is taking a different approach. He's saying, you know, it's not about my celebrity. It's not about my hype. It's not about all the babies I kissed and the dead people I I raised and the sick people I healed and the demons I drove out. He goes to a very different place. Anyone who's ashamed of me and of my words, his teachings, the scripture. And this is a very, very real thing in society right now where one of the best things that Satan likes to do is have people come at the Bible. Oh, you're a Christian? Well, the Bible's all make-believe at this point. It's a complete fabrication. It's a complete fallacy. You might as well go read a comic book because it's all made up. And really standing on scripture has been something that has just slid and slid and slid and slid where we see all kinds of things to try to be used as a tool of evangelism where you've got AI running over the Bible and turning it into ebonics or Gen Z language. And paraphrases can have a purpose and a place, I suppose, but standing on God's word when people come after it and degrade it and tear it down of it being misogynistic or racist or homophobic or The word has preceded them. All of those concepts, all of those ideas. And those ideas aren't new to this society, despite the arrogance that our culture has. All of those ideas existed in Rome. All of those ideas existed in Babylon, in Assyria, in Moab, in Egypt. Those ideas are not new as much as current culture would like you to think they are. And so the word has stood the test of time. It has stood through cultures that have both risen and fallen. Some of the greatest cultures the world has ever seen, the word remains. It is steadfast, it is true. And while it may not fit the current dialogue of the time, it has the absolute authority to speak into the world. And it's not something that needs our defense. He's not saying to defend the scriptures, but he's saying for those who are ashamed of my words, You've been given an absolute blessing and gift that God has spoken to you and given you clear instruction, concise instruction, a clear view of what is right and what is wrong, what you can do to come closer to him, to build a relationship with him. That is a blessing. If you're ashamed of that, that's a big problem. But if you stand, if you speak well, if you, if you Acknowledge Christ and acknowledge the validity of the Word of God publicly. It is going to be to your blessing and your benefit. So I suppose my challenge for you guys today is for those of you that are standing firmly on the Word of God and would speak out boldly for those that would try to tear it apart, good, good on you. Make sure that you always do that as Peter had mentioned in his epistles, to always be prepared to give witness, but with mercy and compassion and grace, right? Don't go out there with a sledgehammer swinging away because that's also not exactly the way Way to go here. But definitely make a point, guys. If you hear people that are tearing down the Word, heck, even this, oh, what are you listening to? Oh, I listen to a podcast every morning that just goes through a little bit of the Bible, and people scoff at that. Okay, they can scoff at me all they want. That's great. But the Bible itself, if that's where that jest and jeering is headed, I, I would really ask you today that you take some time and be convicted. Would you stand for the word? Yes, standing for Jesus is important. Absolutely. Standing for his word is just as important. He puts them side by side here. One is not greater than the other. The two come hand in hand. His teachings and himself both have merit. Both have value. Both have different purposes. Christ in the body has the purpose of salvation through his death and resurrection. But his words, his teachings, his commandments are what you do after you You realize that salvation, that realization of salvation in your life, in your walk, in your journey is going to require some understanding of, okay, so what now? What do I do? And this goes for both sides of the coin, guys. If you're Arminian or if you're Reformed in your theology, either of those, either of those. Whether you believed that you were saved before creation, you were crafted as a wonderful masterpiece, or you believe that you came to your salvation in your walk, I'm not going to get into the nuances of that. But I am going to say that regardless of either situation, of either system of doctrine that you believe, the reality is if you aren't standing for Christ and you're not standing for his teachings, you're not standing for him. The two are one. Two sides of the same coin. They're part of a whole. You have to do it. So I'm going to convict you today. Somebody sees you reading your Bible, do you do you kind of tuck it away, or do you stand strong? I would encourage you to stand strong. Okay, guys, let me pray for you before we head out into the weekend. I am going to do another episode tomorrow. I have been wrestling with an idea of doing an interview of a man. A man of faith on Saturdays, but I haven't come to that conclusion yet. And if I do come to that conclusion, it will likely take a few weeks to build up a bit of a catalog of them because those take a little bit longer to record. You've got to schedule meetings and whatever else. So if that's something you guys are interested in hearing, please, please let me know in the comments or on social media. All that stuff's in the description. Just let me know what your thoughts are on that. If you would rather we just keep going through the scriptures, or rather you would hear from prominent Christian men about their life, their walk, and how Christ is living. in them. But let's get down to this here. Lord, thank you so much for the men that are taking the time to listen to the podcast. I actually could care less about the podcast and care more about the fact that I get to sit down and I've seen it. I've seen so many men coming with prayer requests, reading the scriptures, giving feedback. That's the thing, Lord. It's you and it's your teaching and that the podcast is just a means. It's 15 minutes that men can sit down and clear their heads and come to your word. That's what's important, Lord. And that's— it's so exciting to see. It's so exciting to see thousands of men who have taken the time to listen and to engage the Word and to pray. I just pray that the relationships that are growing with you, Lord, the Scriptures, the amazing things that people are learning, I just pray that that would grow, Lord, that it would ignite a fire and those men would become strong in the faith, that they would be strong for themselves, They'd be strong for their families. They would be strong for their wives. They'd be strong for their work. Pray for those that are suffering in their marriage, Lord. Pray that both sides of the marriages would be blessed, that the man would love as Christ loved the church, and the woman would respect her husband as the church respects Christ. I pray for those who are struggling for work, Lord. I lift them up to you that they would find a way. A way to provide. Men of faith that are struggling to find work is a challenge for sure, Lord, but at the same time, you call us to toil, you call us to sweat, and you call us to work. So I pray that those men would find the ability to do that wherever they may be. I lift up those that are facing illness, either for themselves or their loved ones. You are the great healer. I pray healing over those families, Lord. In your name we pray. Amen. Have a great day, guys, and I will catch you tomorrow. Later.

Thank you for listening to the Iron Saints Podcast. If you are looking to share your prayer requests, check the description for social media or email to contact the show. Blessings on you all until next time.