December 9, 2025 • 7 mins
We explore how “Graves” by KB and Brandon Lake expands the boundaries of worship while staying anchored in Scripture. From Ezekiel’s dry bones to Paul’s letters, we trace the thread of regeneration and why men need songs that preach resurrection into daily life.
• expanding worship beyond a single genre
• brief history of rap’s place in Christian music
• breakdown of “Graves” structure and lyrics
• Ezekiel 37 and the image of dry bones
• Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2 on new life
• Jesus and the necessity of being born again
• practical takeaways for building a broader worship habit
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
Want to connect? Email communication@coe22.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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 theChristians' 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 back, guys.
This week on The Daily Blade,I'm introducing you all to some
music that you may not haveconsidered to be worship music
before.
Again, a lot of guys just don'tlike contemporary worship music,
but worshiping God through songis not optional.
So I just want to expand thecategory of worship music for
you.
Yesterday we looked at the songOn My Knees by the country
gospel band Red Clay Strays.
(00:40):
And today we're looking at thesong Graves by the hip-hop
artist KB, featuring BrandonLake.
So just a quick side note (00:46):
of all the genres of music that
took the longest time to comearound into the Christian world,
rap probably took the longest.
So I actually grew up in an areawhere almost everyone listened
to rap and hip-hop.
And when I became a Christian inthe early 2000s, I tried to find
some solid, God-fearing,gospel-centered rap artists.
And I mean, yikes, it was prettyslim pickings at the time.
(01:07):
And luckily, now there are a lotof rappers that would fall into
the solid category.
So I'm thankful for that.
And KB is certainly one of thoseguys.
So the song actually starts offwith Brandon Lake singing part
of his song, Graves intoGardens.
And Brandon Lake is probably thedominant hegemon in the
contemporary Christian space.
But the dude is just crazytalented as a performer and a
songwriter.
(01:28):
So it's a very subtle andsubdued beginning of the song by
Brandon Lake.
The lyrics are you turn gravesinto gardens, you turn pain into
promise, you bring beauty fromashes.
Where we go, I'll stand by you.
Only you take me.
And that's the first 20 secondsof the song.
And then the beat drops, andthen KB comes in, and what
(01:49):
follows is just high energy.
It's a high energy rap anthem,essentially.
And KB's first line finishesBrandon Lake's last one.
So we so we have here BrandonLake saying, Only you take me.
And then KB says, Out of thegrave.
Again, the name of the song isGraves.
And just here in the intro, theentire image is a God that
(02:09):
regenerates, you know, a Godthat transforms.
I mean, this is right out ofEzekiel 37, the Valley of Dry
Bones passage.
And it's such a powerfulpassage.
I wanted to cut it down, but I'mactually going to read a good
chunk of it here.
So I'm going to read Ezekiel 37,verses 1 through 14.
The hand of the Lord was uponme, and he brought me out in the
spirit of the Lord and set medown in the middle of the
(02:29):
valley.
It was full of bones, and he ledme around among them, and
behold, there were very many onthe surface of the valley, and
behold, they were very dry.
And he said to me, Son of man,can these bones live?
And I answered, O Lord God, youknow.
Then he said to me, Prophesyover these bones and say to
them, O dry bones, hear the wordof the Lord.
(02:50):
Thus says the Lord God to thesebones, Behold, I will cause
breath to enter you, and youshall live, and I will lay
sinews upon you, and will causeflesh to come upon you, and
cover you with skin, and putbreath in you, and you shall
live, and you shall know that Iam the Lord.
So I prophesied as I wascommanded, and I prophesied that
there was a sound, and behold, arattling, and the bones came
(03:12):
together, bone to its bone, andI looked, and behold, there were
sinews on them, and flesh hadcome upon them, and skin had
covered them, but there was nobreath in them.
Then he said to me, Prophesy tothe breath, prophesy, son of
man, and say to the breath, Thussays the Lord God, Come from the
four winds, O breath, and breathbreathe on these slain, that
(03:35):
they may live.
So I prophesied as he commandedme, and the breath came into
them, and they lived and stoodon their feet, an exceedingly
great army.
Then he said to me, Son of man,these bones are the whole house
of Israel.
Behold, they say, our bones aredried up, and our hope is lost,
we are indeed cut off.
Therefore prophesy and say tothem, Thus says the Lord,
(03:57):
behold, I will open your gravesand raise you from your graves,
O my people, and I will bringyou into the land of Israel, and
you shall sho you shall knowthat I am the Lord when I open
your graves and raise you fromyour graves, O my people.
And I will put my spirit withinyou, and you shall live, and I
will place you in your own land.
Then you shall know that I amthe Lord, I have spoken, and I
(04:19):
will do it, declares the Lord.
I mean, goodness gracious, thatis just powerful, powerful stuff
from that passage.
And then we get to the end ofKB's chorus.
Yeah, dead man, dead man, deadman brought me back to life.
Who yeah, dead man, dead man,dead man, now I'm living twice.
And guys, you know, the lyricsthere, the the capital T truth
therein is referenced all overthe Bible.
(04:41):
We're just gonna look at a fewplaces.
So Ephesians 2, verses 1 through6.
And you were dead in thetreadpass trespasses and sins in
which you once walked, followingthe course of this world,
following the prince of thepower of the air, the spirit
that is now at work in the sonsof disobedience, among whom all
we have lived in the passions ofour flesh, carrying out the
desires of the flesh in themind, and were by nature
(05:04):
children of wrath, like the restof mankind.
But God being rich in mercy,became the great love that which
he loved us, even when we weredead in our trespasses, made us
alive together with Christ.
By grace you have been saved,and raised us up with him, and
seated us with him in theheavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Then we see in Paul's letter tothe church in Colossae, this is
(05:25):
Colossians two, verses thirteenthrough fifteen, and you who
were dead in your treadtrespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh,God made alive together with
him, having forgiven us all ourtrespasses by canceling the
record of death that stoodagainst us with its legal
demands.
This he set aside, nailing it tothe cross.
He disarmed the rulers andauthorities and put them to open
(05:47):
shame by triumphing over them inhim.
And just one more.
This is Jesus talking to thePharisee Nicodemus, as recorded
in John chapter three.
This man Nicodemus came to Jesusby night and said to him, Rabbi,
we know that you are a teachercome from God, for no one can do
these signs that you do unlessGod is with him.
Jesus answered him, Truly, trulyI say to you, unless one is born
(06:11):
again, he cannot see the kingdomof God.
And men, that's the key.
It's really everything.
We were dead in our trespassesand sins, but God snatched us
from death.
And Jesus died willingly on thecross at Golgotha so that we
could have a chance to be bornagain, only this time in Christ.
(06:32):
Man, that's just good stuffthere.
So, guys, check out the songGraves by KB featuring Brandon
Lake.
Come back tomorrow where we'llhighlight a worship song from a
ska punk band.
SPEAKER_00 (06:43):
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.
Welcome to the Daily Blade.
The word of God is described asthe sword of the spirit, the
primary spiritual weapon in theChristians' 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 back, guys.
This week on The Daily Blade,I'm introducing you all to some
music that you may not haveconsidered to be worship music
before.
Again, a lot of guys just don'tlike contemporary worship music,
but worshiping God through songis not optional.
So I just want to expand thecategory of worship music for
you.
Yesterday we looked at the songOn My Knees by the country
gospel band Red Clay Strays.
(00:40):
And today we're looking at thesong Graves by the hip-hop
artist KB, featuring BrandonLake.
So just a quick side note (00:46):
of all the genres of music that
took the longest time to comearound into the Christian world,
rap probably took the longest.
So I actually grew up in an areawhere almost everyone listened
to rap and hip-hop.
And when I became a Christian inthe early 2000s, I tried to find
some solid, God-fearing,gospel-centered rap artists.
And I mean, yikes, it was prettyslim pickings at the time.
(01:07):
And luckily, now there are a lotof rappers that would fall into
the solid category.
So I'm thankful for that.
And KB is certainly one of thoseguys.
So the song actually starts offwith Brandon Lake singing part
of his song, Graves intoGardens.
And Brandon Lake is probably thedominant hegemon in the
contemporary Christian space.
But the dude is just crazytalented as a performer and a
songwriter.
(01:28):
So it's a very subtle andsubdued beginning of the song by
Brandon Lake.
The lyrics are you turn gravesinto gardens, you turn pain into
promise, you bring beauty fromashes.
Where we go, I'll stand by you.
Only you take me.
And that's the first 20 secondsof the song.
And then the beat drops, andthen KB comes in, and what
(01:49):
follows is just high energy.
It's a high energy rap anthem,essentially.
And KB's first line finishesBrandon Lake's last one.
So we so we have here BrandonLake saying, Only you take me.
And then KB says, Out of thegrave.
Again, the name of the song isGraves.
And just here in the intro, theentire image is a God that
(02:09):
regenerates, you know, a Godthat transforms.
I mean, this is right out ofEzekiel 37, the Valley of Dry
Bones passage.
And it's such a powerfulpassage.
I wanted to cut it down, but I'mactually going to read a good
chunk of it here.
So I'm going to read Ezekiel 37,verses 1 through 14.
The hand of the Lord was uponme, and he brought me out in the
spirit of the Lord and set medown in the middle of the
(02:29):
valley.
It was full of bones, and he ledme around among them, and
behold, there were very many onthe surface of the valley, and
behold, they were very dry.
And he said to me, Son of man,can these bones live?
And I answered, O Lord God, youknow.
Then he said to me, Prophesyover these bones and say to
them, O dry bones, hear the wordof the Lord.
(02:50):
Thus says the Lord God to thesebones, Behold, I will cause
breath to enter you, and youshall live, and I will lay
sinews upon you, and will causeflesh to come upon you, and
cover you with skin, and putbreath in you, and you shall
live, and you shall know that Iam the Lord.
So I prophesied as I wascommanded, and I prophesied that
there was a sound, and behold, arattling, and the bones came
(03:12):
together, bone to its bone, andI looked, and behold, there were
sinews on them, and flesh hadcome upon them, and skin had
covered them, but there was nobreath in them.
Then he said to me, Prophesy tothe breath, prophesy, son of
man, and say to the breath, Thussays the Lord God, Come from the
four winds, O breath, and breathbreathe on these slain, that
(03:35):
they may live.
So I prophesied as he commandedme, and the breath came into
them, and they lived and stoodon their feet, an exceedingly
great army.
Then he said to me, Son of man,these bones are the whole house
of Israel.
Behold, they say, our bones aredried up, and our hope is lost,
we are indeed cut off.
Therefore prophesy and say tothem, Thus says the Lord,
(03:57):
behold, I will open your gravesand raise you from your graves,
O my people, and I will bringyou into the land of Israel, and
you shall sho you shall knowthat I am the Lord when I open
your graves and raise you fromyour graves, O my people.
And I will put my spirit withinyou, and you shall live, and I
will place you in your own land.
Then you shall know that I amthe Lord, I have spoken, and I
(04:19):
will do it, declares the Lord.
I mean, goodness gracious, thatis just powerful, powerful stuff
from that passage.
And then we get to the end ofKB's chorus.
Yeah, dead man, dead man, deadman brought me back to life.
Who yeah, dead man, dead man,dead man, now I'm living twice.
And guys, you know, the lyricsthere, the the capital T truth
therein is referenced all overthe Bible.
(04:41):
We're just gonna look at a fewplaces.
So Ephesians 2, verses 1 through6.
And you were dead in thetreadpass trespasses and sins in
which you once walked, followingthe course of this world,
following the prince of thepower of the air, the spirit
that is now at work in the sonsof disobedience, among whom all
we have lived in the passions ofour flesh, carrying out the
desires of the flesh in themind, and were by nature
(05:04):
children of wrath, like the restof mankind.
But God being rich in mercy,became the great love that which
he loved us, even when we weredead in our trespasses, made us
alive together with Christ.
By grace you have been saved,and raised us up with him, and
seated us with him in theheavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Then we see in Paul's letter tothe church in Colossae, this is
(05:25):
Colossians two, verses thirteenthrough fifteen, and you who
were dead in your treadtrespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh,God made alive together with
him, having forgiven us all ourtrespasses by canceling the
record of death that stoodagainst us with its legal
demands.
This he set aside, nailing it tothe cross.
He disarmed the rulers andauthorities and put them to open
(05:47):
shame by triumphing over them inhim.
And just one more.
This is Jesus talking to thePharisee Nicodemus, as recorded
in John chapter three.
This man Nicodemus came to Jesusby night and said to him, Rabbi,
we know that you are a teachercome from God, for no one can do
these signs that you do unlessGod is with him.
Jesus answered him, Truly, trulyI say to you, unless one is born
(06:11):
again, he cannot see the kingdomof God.
And men, that's the key.
It's really everything.
We were dead in our trespassesand sins, but God snatched us
from death.
And Jesus died willingly on thecross at Golgotha so that we
could have a chance to be bornagain, only this time in Christ.
(06:32):
Man, that's just good stuffthere.
So, guys, check out the songGraves by KB featuring Brandon
Lake.
Come back tomorrow where we'llhighlight a worship song from a
ska punk band.
SPEAKER_00 (06:43):
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.
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