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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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Day four in John 21, one of the most famous of the resurrection passages, beginning in verse 18. Again, jesus and Peter are sitting by the fire. They've just had breakfast together. Essentially, jesus has just reinstated Peter. He asked him three times do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Peter understands exactly what Jesus is doing. Jesus has recreated the scene here and he is giving him an opportunity to do something about those three times where he denied him. And so, after this, you would think after Peter says Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you. Jesus would say all right. Well, listen here, buddy, it is cotton candy and Cadillacs and smooth sailing from here on. But that's not the way it goes, because that's not the way life goes. Verse 18,. Jesus says to Peter truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you were old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. And after saying this, jesus says to Peter follow me.

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Church history tells us that the way Peter died, is that Peter becomes one of the most bold evangelists in the world. That Peter in Acts, chapter 2, is going to stand on the southern steps and he is going to look at the very people that had the power to kill him because they did kill Jesus and he is going to say God sent the author of life and you murdered him, repent and be baptized. 3,000 people are going to get saved on that day. Later, peter is going to stand in front of the Sanhedrin and he is going to say to them after they say hey, listen, man, you can heal people. You just got to stop talking about Jesus. And Peter is going to say you got to decide what is right for you. But as for me, I cannot stop speaking about what I have seen and heard. Peter is going to preach the gospel in Jerusalem over and over and over and eventually Peter is going to be arrested and put on trial. And Jesus told him when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you. In other words, right now you can do what you want, but there will come a day, if you decide to follow me and that somebody else is going to dress you in some prison garb and they are going to stretch your hands out on a cross.

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And church history tells us that Jesus tells Peter this years, before Peter ever dies. And yet Peter is faithful to his Lord and his Savior because he had a firsthand eyewitness experience with his resurrected Lord. And later in Peter's life he is arrested, he's put on trial and he's sentenced to crucifixion. But on his way to the cross it is recorded that the apostle Peter says I am not worthy to die in the same way that my Lord and savior died. And so his killer said that's fine. So they turned his cross upside down and the apostle Peter, who at one point wasn't even brave enough to admit that he knew who Jesus was before a servant girl, now is so filled with the courage and the power that comes with the indwelling Holy Spirit and because he has had breakfast with the resurrected Christ, now he is hanging upside down on a cross giving his life for the sake of the gospel.

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And so Jesus says this. He says the reason I'm telling you this is to show by what kind of death you're going to glorify God. And after that, even though Jesus knows that if Peter follows Jesus, that it is going to end in a gruesome death. For Peter, what Jesus is saying is it would be better for you to follow me and die broke and upside down in pain on a cross with your blood dripping out. It would be better for you to die a young man with me than for you to live a long, prosperous, rich life and to die without me and spend an eternity separated from me. You see, here's what is just true. We don't follow Jesus because he makes our life better. We follow Jesus because he is better than life. Jesus is not a means to an end, jesus is the end. So, no matter what it costs, no matter how much pain we go through, no matter what we are to follow Jesus, because Jesus is the prize.

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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.