#144 - Kyle Thompson // WE WERE BORN FOR BATTLE: 1 Corinthians 16:13

A passionate exploration of how Christian men were born for spiritual battle, inspired by a line from a 2003 Christian metal song. The episode unpacks 1 Corinthians 16:13 to reveal Paul's fourfold command for believers to be watchful, stand firm, act like men, and remain strong.

• Walking billboard for the gospel, jiu-jitsu, eating meat, and Christian metal
• Nostalgic journey through Beloved's 2003 album and their song "Death to Traitors"
• The powerful line "we were born for battle" revealing a truth about Christian masculinity
• Breaking down Paul's commands in 1 Corinthians 16:13
• Being watchful means staying spiritually alert against sin and false teaching
• Standing firm requires planting feet on the foundation of gospel truth
• Acting like men calls for courage, bravery and spiritual maturity
• Being strong comes from relying on God's power, not our own

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.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Daily Blade.
The Word of God is described asthe sword of the Spirit, the
primary spiritual weapon in theChristian's armor against the
forces of evil.
Your hosts are Joby Martin andKyle Thompson, and they stand
ready to equip men for the fight.
Let's sharpen up.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome to a new week of the Daily Blade, so happy to
have you guys here.
So I've told people before thatI'm essentially a walking
billboard for four things One,the gospel of Jesus Christ, two,
jiu-jitsu.
Three, eating meat.
And four, christian metal.
Okay, so a couple of weeks ago,like any normal well-adjusted
Christian man, I was listeningto some very loud, screamy,

(00:42):
angry Jesus music.
Then I got on a little bit ofan old school kick so I landed
on an album that was put out bya Christian metal band on the
metal label Solid State Recordsback in 2003.
It was the album Failure On bya band called Beloved.
So it was the band's onlyfull-length album that they
released on a major Christianlabel, and then the band

(01:02):
essentially disappeared.
You know they popped theirheads above water with an EP and
a few performances here andthere, but for all intents and
purposes, their 2003 album wasthe only art that that band left
for humanity.
So I'm listening to this album,enjoying it, feeling
overwhelming nostalgia.
I can literally see and smellmy senior and high school self
in my stinky bedroom listeningto this album and trying my best

(01:24):
to, you know, do a solo moshpit, and then I get to track
four called Death to Traitors.
So this was a big time fanfavorite because it had a very
intense crowd participation line.
So this band was unique becauseit had two vocalists.
So the clean vocals were doneby their front man and then
their screaming vocals wereactually done by their drummer.
And about three minutes and 30seconds into the song, all of

(01:47):
the instruments except for oneguitar cuts out and the drummer
screams we were born for battle.
Like I can't do it very good,he did it amazing.
And all of you christian metalheads can hear it in your heads
right now.
And if you can't, that meansyou have terrible taste in music
and you need to go listen to itright now.
So, like any self-respectinghuman would do in an obligatory

(02:08):
fashion, I scream that partalong with the drummer and then
continue banging my head, butfor some reason that line kind
of stuck with me for the rest ofthat day.
So not like in a, you know, Ijust can't get this song out of
my head kind of way, but youknow just the line itself.
I was truly pondering it andbecause I'm constantly scanning
the horizon for ideas forUndaunted Life podcast and for

(02:30):
the Daily Blade, I beganthinking about it in the context
of Christian men and withoutbending my mind too much, I was
just reminded that we asChristians, as men, were indeed
born for battle.
Now, you know, battle can takemany forms, but we were born for
battle nonetheless.
So this week on the Daily Blade, I'm going to focus in on

(02:51):
different parts of Scripture.
That will help many of usremember that fact, regardless
of if we act like it or not.
So the first Scripture I'mgoing to cover is 1 Corinthians,
16, 13, and it's this bewatchful, stand firm in the
faith, act like men, be strong.
Now we're running short on timeand Jobie has a men's book
coming out in the next fewmonths.

(03:12):
It's fantastic.
I was able to read it about amonth ago.
It's called Stand Firm and ActLike Men.
So I'm not going to try andtake any of his thunder, but I
do want to point out just a fewthings.
So this verse comes towards theend of the Apostle Paul's first
letter to the church in Corinth.
So the English Standard Versionnames this ending section of
scripture final instructions.
So in a letter that addresses,you know, different factions and

(03:34):
immorality and the resurrectionand other important topics,
this section is his final salvo,if you will, to the members of
this body of the body.
So verse 13 is part of aconcise call for these followers
of Christ to be spirituallyalert and to persevere.
So again, 1 Corinthians 16, 13says be watchful, stand firm in
the faith, act like men, bestrong.

(03:56):
So let's actually break thatdown.
Be watchful, so essentially,don't fall asleep while on watch
.
So remain awake and alert froma spiritual sense.
So this is how you can preventyourself from falling into sin
or falling for false teaching.
Stand firm in the faith.
Basically, plant your feetfirmly onto the foundation of

(04:17):
the capital T truth of thegospel of Jesus Christ.
Anything else will leave you,as Francis Schaeffer would say
it, with your feet firmlyplanted in midair.
Act like men, so conductyourselves courageously, be
brave, be mature.
Don't become enamored with orattracted to every whim or

(04:38):
dictate of culture or baddoctrine.
And then be strong.
So the verb here is actuallypassive, so it's saying that the
strength comes from an externalsource.
So for us as Christians, thismeans that we are to rely on God
and the finished work of Jesuson the cross of Calvary.
Come back tomorrow and we'lldig into another passage of

(05:01):
scripture that tells us we wereborn for battle.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Thank you for listening to today's episode
Before you go.
If you want to help equip othermen for the fight, share this
podcast around and leave us afive-star rating and review.
Stay sharp.