#244 - Kyle Thompson // On My Knees

We widen the lens on worship by looking past radio formulas to find biblical truth in Red Clay Strays’ “On My Knees.” We tie kneeling, anxiety, and gratitude to Psalm 95, Philippians 4, and Ephesians 2, and show how grace, not works, fuels true praise.

• redefining worship beyond contemporary Christian music
• the posture of kneeling as reverence and humility
• honest burdens of bills, anxiety, and temptation
• casting cares on God and praying with thanksgiving
• salvation by grace alone, not works
• gratitude as the engine of worship
• preview of a hip hop worship track tomorrow

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (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 thefight.
Let's sharpen up.

SPEAKER_01 (00:20):
Welcome to a new week of the Daily Blade.
All right, in my last batch, Irefer to a sermon series that
Joby did at the Church of 1122earlier this year called Worship
is War.
So in the series, he looked atthe scriptural truths that could
be found in the lyrics of someof the most famous hymns of all
time.
And so it's very similar to whatwe did on the Daily Blade week
32 in early August of this year.
So that's episodes 154 through158.

(00:42):
But I talked about how when mostpeople in modernity think of
quote-unquote worship music,what they're actually thinking
about is what's calledcontemporary Christian music,
which is just a specific genreof music that you would expect
to hear on any generic Christianradio station.
So just think Christian Top 40or what would be played at some
by some band at some megachurch, right?

(01:03):
So that's what you would expectto hear.
Now, if you like that genre ofmusic, then it works out great
for you.
But if you hear that kind ofmusic and it just doesn't agree
with your kind of artisticpalette, I guess you could say,
then it puts you in a weirdspot.
Again, because that's what mostpeople consider to be worship
music.
Now, as opposed to just pointingat guys and saying that there's

(01:24):
something wrong with them ifthey don't like it or want to
sing that kind of music, I wantto help you guys out.
So what I did in that batch uh aweek ago or so of episodes was
an attempt to broaden yourdefinition of worship music to
include a bunch of differentgenres of music that would not
typically get lumped into thatcategory.
And that was really helpful.
I heard from you guys, it wasreally helpful to many of you.

(01:46):
So I decided to do another runof episodes this week with songs
from different genres where welook at the biblical themes and
truths from the lyrics.
Today we're doing a song calledOn My Knees from the 2024 album
Made by These Moments by one ofmy favorite bands that I've
picked up in the last few years,and that's the country gospel
band Red Clay Strays.
Now, this band has exploded inpopularity in the last couple of

(02:08):
years, and many of their songshave explicit references to God,
Jesus, the Bible.
And if you get some time thisweek, check out some of their
other songs like God Does andWill the Lord Remember Me?
I mean, they're just fantastic.
But let's dig into On My Knees.
So, right from the jump, if youcan listen to this song without
boogieing, then something mightbe broken in your soul.

(02:28):
Okay.
I mean, this is a very danceablesong, even if you're not a big
dancer.
So the song actually starts outwith a chorus.
So I'll read it here.
I'm gonna fall down on my kneesand praise the Lord for bringing
me peace.
I'll lift my hands in hiscompany, for you know I'm
grateful for what he has donefor me.
And guys, you're not in thestudio while I'm recording this,
but I did kind of like start,you know, tapping my foot there

(02:49):
at the very beginning.
But right from the beginning ofthe song, I'm gonna fall down on
my knees.
So this made me think of Psalm95, which the ESV titles the
section, Let us Sing Songs ofPraise.
So Psalm 95, verses six andseven say this: Oh, come, let us
worship and bow down, let uskneel before the Lord our maker,
for he is our God, and we arethe people of his pasture and

(03:12):
the sheep of his hand.
So the posture of our worship isactually a big deal.
And you know, what does kneelingsymbolize?
So it symbolizes reverence, itsymbolizes submission, it
symbolizes humility, and wewould do well to bring that
posture to our worship, right?
And now from verse two of On MyKnees, we have this been barely
making ends meet, and I'm hardlyscraping by, bill stacked on the

(03:35):
table, been messing with mymind.
I'm fighting worldly pleasurelike I never had before.
There's only one thing I canthink to do, because I can't
take no more.
Now, I mean, some of you guyscan taste those words, right?
I mean, some of us have beenthere, right?
I've been down to my last 75bucks as an adult, so I can feel
that, right?
But we can take heart that ourburdens can actually be

(03:58):
transferred to the Lord.
So Psalm 95, 22, cast yourburden on the Lord and He will
sustain you.
He will never permit therighteous to be moved.
In Philippians 4, 6, we see thisdo not be anxious about
anything, but in everything byprayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requestbe made known to God.
So if you're up against it, justremember that while it is a

(04:20):
burden, it can be and should betransferred on to our loving,
benevolent Maker.
Now the end of the chorus, foryou know I'm grateful for what
he has done for me.
So there is gratitude for whatGod did for us, which begs the
question what precisely did hedo for us?
God provided his only son Jesus,part of the Godhead, as a

(04:42):
propitiation, which is a paymentthat satisfies for the sin debt
that we owe him.
And what works must we do inorder to attain that gift?
Nothing.
There are no works.
Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, forby grace you have been saved
through faith.
And this is not your doing, itis the gift of God, not a result

(05:05):
of work, so that no one mayboast.
So what can we do to meritsalvation?
Absolutely nothing.
It's God's gift to give, andwhen he does, we should all be
able to sing, for you know I'mgrateful for what he has done
for me.
Guys, check out On My Knees byRed Clay Strays and come back
here tomorrow where we'llhighlight a worship song from

(05:26):
the hip hop genre.

SPEAKER_00 (05:28):
Thank you for listening to today's episode.
Before you go, if you want tohelp equip other men for the
fight, share this podcast aroundand leave us a five star rating
and review.
Stay sharp.