Summary4 min read

Podcast Summary: The Daily Blade with Joby Martin & Kyle Thompson

Episode: #260 - Joby Martin // If Shepherds Made The Cut, So Do You
Date: December 30, 2025

Overview

In this heartfelt devotional episode, "If Shepherds Made The Cut, So Do You," Pastor Joby Martin focuses on how God uses seemingly insignificant and overlooked people—like the shepherds in Luke 2—to carry out His divine purposes. Through personal anecdotes, scriptural insight, and encouraging exhortation, Joby dismantles misconceptions about who is “qualified” in God’s kingdom, urging listeners to embrace their value and potential in Christ, regardless of their background.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. God’s Unexpected Choices – The Shepherds as an Example

[00:20–01:50]

Joby Martin revisits Luke 2:8, where the angelic announcement of Jesus’s birth goes first to shepherds, not to kings or societal elites.
He challenges sanitized, Western depictions of shepherds in Christian art:

“It was a humbling thing for God himself in Psalm 23 to say that he is our shepherd… Shepherds in the first century were not wise old men… They owned nothing.” — Joby Martin [00:38]
Shepherds’ low social status outlined: young, poor, itinerant, with unreliable reputations. Their testimony was inadmissible in court; some were essentially indentured servants.
The birth announcement’s recipients underscore God’s pattern of choosing the “nobodies, the B team, the JVs, the overlooked, the left outs.”

2. God’s Pattern in Choosing Disciples

[01:50–03:00]

Joby connects the shepherds to Jesus’s selection of His disciples; the original twelve were not spiritual elites but “the leftovers, the rejects, the B team.”

“Jesus walks up to these men and says, drop your nets and follow me… They were not the best of the best… but the leftovers.” — Joby Martin [02:24]
Jewish educational culture: Only the best progressed to become rabbis. The rest went back to family trades. Jesus’s invitation came to those who hadn’t ‘made the cut’ by traditional standards.

3. You Are Not Disqualified

[03:00–04:30]

Joby emphatically reassures listeners: “No matter who you are or what your past is or how much or little you know about the Bible, you were not disqualified from being chosen by God to be an instrument for God.” [03:10]
God desires your heart, soul, mind, and strength; He delights in using unlikely people for His glory.
The theme is stressed: God “chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise” so His glory is evident.

4. Personal Testimony and Overcoming Condemnation

[04:30–05:35]

Joby shares personal experience, admitting to a past that by human judgment might disqualify him from serving God.

“Anybody that knows me… knows that I have done many, many things in my past that should disqualify me from God even loving me. But the only one that speaks that word over me is the devil himself.” [04:44]
He defines the devil’s work as condemnation: “‘Condemned’ as a building term means you were unfit for use.”
He counters this with Romans 8:1: “Therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Encourages listeners not to let their scars or past mistakes define them; only Jesus does.

5. Encouragement for the ‘Left Out’

[05:10–05:35]

To those who feel unqualified, Joby gives assurance:

“If that’s you, you are perfectly positioned to be used as an instrument of God for His glory and your joy. Don’t you ever give up on you because God never has.” [05:28]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the Reality of Shepherds:

“Most of the time they were very young guys. They owned nothing… so despised locally their testimony was not admissible in a court of law.” — Joby Martin [00:38]
On God’s Chosen:

“God finds these shepherds, these nobodies, these B team… and that’s who he likes to use. In fact, God continues to do that.” — Joby Martin [01:20]
On Qualification:

“No matter who you are or what your past is… you were not disqualified from being chosen by God to be an instrument for God.” — Joby Martin [03:10]
On Condemnation and Identity:

“When the enemy whispers to you that you should be defined by your scars, by your past, by your mistakes, then you just remind him that you are defined by the scars of Jesus Christ and nobody gets to tell you who you are. Only Jesus does.” — Joby Martin [05:01]
Closing Exhortation:

“Don’t you ever give up on you because God never has.” — Joby Martin [05:35]

Important Timestamps

00:20 — Start of the main devotional, introduction to the shepherds and their true status
01:50 — Connection to Jesus’s choice of disciples and cultural background
03:00 — Open invitation and reassurance: “You are not disqualified”
04:45 — Personal testimony of past failure and rejection of condemnation
05:10 — Encouragement for “those who feel like the shepherds”—the unqualified

Tone

Earnest, warm, and pastorally encouraging; practical and relatable language
Blends firm biblical truth with candid personal reflection

This summary captures all substantive content from Episode 260, offering both an overview and detailed insight into Joby Martin’s devotional teaching for listeners seeking hope, encouragement, and clarity about their role in God’s story.

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Transcript3 lines

[00:01]
A
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.
[00:21]
B
All right. Welcome back to day two of this post. Christmas Pre New Year, Daily Blade. Again, we're looking at Luke 2 because Christmas isn't over. Christmas changes everything. The second thing I want to look at is this, is that God is in the habit of using nobodies for his kingdom. Verse 8 of Luke 2 says this. And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them. Now here's the thing. Our western Christian bookstores, Bible bookstores and kind of very sub mediocre Christian art has painted a picture of what a shepherd is that is not very close to reality. It was a humbling thing for God himself in Psalm 23 to say that he is our shepherd. It's a humbling thing for Jesus to tell us in John chapter 10 that he is the good shepherd. Because shepherds in the first century were not these wise old men that we see depicted in a lot of art. No, no, no. Most of the time they were very young guys. They owned nothing. That they were so despised locally that their testimony was not admissible in a court of law. Sometimes people would be shepherds because they owed somebody money and they essentially were indentured servants to pay off that bill. Shepherds were a nomadic group of people that they never hunkered down in one place. They did not have a permanent residence or a permanent address. And so they moved from place to place to place. And, and that system of living, just being around a bunch of young guys day and night with little to no accountability in your life often led shepherds to be looked down upon. Here's what I want you to see here, that the angelic host come to announce the birth of the king. And they did not announce it at the royal palace. They did not announce it in the city of Jerusalem. But God finds these shepherds, these nobodies, these B team, these JVs, these overlook, these left outs, and that's who he likes to use. In fact, God continues to do that, that when Jesus chose his 12 disciples, he primarily picked those that nobody else would pick. You see, every little kid would grow up going to Jewish school. They would memorize the first Five books of the Bible. The best of the best would go on to the second round. They would memorize the rest of the Bible. If you failed out, if you did not have what it takes to be a rabbi, then a really good rabbi would come up to you and say, congratulations, you love God and, and you love His Word. But you don't have what it takes to go to the next level. So why don't you go and learn the trade of your Father? Now, maybe you know this if you've been around Bible study for a while, but Jesus is walking along the seashore and he sees two men who are doing what? Fishing? Working for their father. This means they were not the best of the best. They were not the gifted class. They were not the elite, but they were the leftovers. They were the rejects. They were the B team. And Jesus walks up to these men and says, drop your nets and follow me, for I will make you fishers of men. Here's what this means. That no matter who you are or what your past is or how much or little you know about the Bible, that you were not disqualified from being chosen by God to be an instrument for God. You see, I want to make this very clear. God wants you. First of all, he wants all of you. He wants your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength. And then when he brings you into his family, he wants you to choose to use you for his glory. And you are not disqualified. You see, the Bible says that God chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Why, I think it's so that God gets all the glory. Now, let me tell you, I've got empirical evidence of my own life. I mean, God has used me in ways that far exceeded anything that I would ever dream of. And I think a big reason that he does this is simply this, that anybody that knows me or has met me, you know that I have done many, many things in my past that should disqualify me from God, even loving me. But the only one that speaks that word over me is the devil himself. You see, the devil. His primary language is that of condemnation and to be condemned. As a building term, it means that you were unfit for use. But the Bible says in Romans 8:1, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, that not only does God not condemn us because we don't measure up, but he saves us, he loves us, and he deposits his spirit in us to use us to do even more and greater things than Jesus himself did. So when the enemy whispers to you that you should be defined by your scars, by your past, by your mistakes, then you just remind him that you are defined by the scars of Jesus Christ and nobody gets to tell you who you are. Only Jesus does. So maybe you feel like you're one of the shepherds, you don't have a lot to offer. Maybe your past is very embarrassing. Maybe you don't feel like you have this incredible skill set that God could use for his glory. Well I've got really really good news for you. If that's you. You are perfectly positioned to be used as an instrument of God for His glory and and your joy. Don't you ever give up on you because God never has.
[05:40]
A
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.