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 .
Romans , chapter 12 , verse 1 says this I appeal to you therefore , brothers , by the mercies of God , to present your bodies as a living sacrifice , holy and acceptable to God , which is your spiritual worship .
Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world , but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that , by testing , you may discern what is the will of God , what is good and acceptable and perfect . You may be asking yourself why do we need to know the Bible ? Why do we need to know what the Bible means ?
Why do we need to be in the Bible every single day ? And a big part of the reason Paul discusses here in Romans , chapter 12 . You see , the reality is this Maybe you put your faith in Jesus a long time ago , and I don't know if you realize this , but do any of you still struggle with sin ?
Do any of you still struggle with some of the same struggles that you had 20 years ago ? Do any of you feel like you'd be further along in the sanctification process than you are ? Well , me too . Let me tell you why , Because when Jesus saved you , he gave you a brand new heart .
Ezekiel says that he removed our heart of stone and he gave us a heart of flesh . He gave us his heart . So he gives us a new heart , a heart for him , and he actually restores our soul so that we will live with him forever . But you know what we do not get ? The moment we put our faith in Jesus , we don't get a new mind .
We still have the same mind that we had up to the point of salvation . This means we still have the same characteristics that we've had . This means we're still a result of the birth order that we were birthed into .
We are still a result of the culture that was influencing us when we were raised , and so we don't have a new mind , but we do have a new heart . Well , what does that mean ? Well , therefore , the things that we think influences the thing that we do .
And so , with that in mind , the apostle Paul says so don't be conformed to the pattern of this world , but be transformed . How , Paul ? By the renewing of your mind . Do you know how you renew something ? In order to renew something , you take off the old and you put on the new .
If you're going to renew the paint on your truck , you take off the old paint , you put on the new . If you're going to renew your floors . You're going to sand down your floors , take off the old and then you put on the new stain . And so he says do not be conformed to the pattern of this world . That word conformed is a building term .
It means that if you've ever poured concrete , you make a form , you pour the concrete into the form and it takes the form that you built . This world wants to form you in a certain way that is out of step with the way God wants to form you . God wants to form you into the image and likeness of his son , and yet we live in a world that lies to us .
We live in a world that tells us to do sex and status and security and safety all a certain way , and it's not the right way , it's not God's way , and yet we have God's word . And so what we must do on a daily basis is not be conformed to the pattern of this world , but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind .
We take off our old patterns of thinking and instead we replace it with the truth of God's word . In fact , if you look in Matthew , chapter four , Jesus is being tempted by the devil himself , and the devil tempts him with the lust of the eyes , the lust of the flesh and the pride of life .
And every single time , the way Jesus responds is simply this he says it is written and then he quotes a Bible verse . What is he doing ? He is not being conformed to the temptation of the devil , but he is being transformed by lining himself up with the truth of the Word of God . Here is the one thing I want you to take away .
What area in your life , where is one area in your life Could be status , could be sex , could be stuff , could be money , could be power , could be applause ? Where is one area in your life where you know that you have been conformed to the pattern of this world and now it is time for you to be transformed by the way God says you're supposed to live ?
Go and find that way .
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 .