#242 - Joby Martin // Carry The Mat

We call men to move beyond feelings and into decisive action that carries brothers into the presence of Jesus. Drawing from Mark 2, we show how borrowed faith, practical service, and steady courage transform crisis care into real healing.

• the Word as the sword that equips us
• what true brothers need from us
• the Mark 2 model of carrying the mat
• empathy versus sympathy and action
• borrowed faith when hope runs thin
• specific ways to help without being asked
• wise accountability without nitpicking
• a charge to act now and bring friends to Jesus

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Mission
• 0:23 What Brothers Truly Need
• 0:58 The Mark 2 Example
• 2:13 Empathy Versus Action
• 3:20 Borrowed Faith For The Wounded
• 3:36 Don’t Ask, Just Do
• 4:40 Act First, Bring Them To Jesus
• 5:07 Closing And Charge

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christians' 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.

SPEAKER_01: 0:20

All right, welcome back to day four this week of the Daily Blade. We have been talking about what our friends, what our Matt Carriers, what our Foxhole brothers need from us. A big thing, this is where I get the phrase Matt Carrier. They need, your brothers need you to carry them to Jesus and overcome obstacles. You see, some people have all kinds of feelings, some people have great intentions, but what a true brother does is he doesn't come up with excuses of why he can't. He comes up with reasons why he can make this happen. Mark chapter 2, and when Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home, and many were gathered together, and so there was no more room, not even at the door. And Jesus was preaching the word to them, and they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men, and when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic son, your sins are forgiven. So who are you willing to pick up a corner for? Do they know that? Have you let them know if you are ever on the mat, I will be willing to pick up a corner of your mat and do whatever it takes to get you to Jesus? And let me ask you, are the are you the kind of man that makes excuses or makes it happen? Because it is not the critic who counts, but it is a man in the arena. I'm not saying we're gonna get this perfectly, that's not the point. But are you willing to do what it takes to get your brothers to Jesus? And this is huge. These are not just drinking buddies, these are not just golfing buddies, these are not just hunting buddies. These are not, this doesn't just mean you're gonna lend an ear to somebody that's walking through a hard time. Do you know how to actually carry them to Jesus? It's not enough to simply do kind things, but you've got to pick them up and take them to the presence of God. Healing comes in the presence of Jesus. Now, yes, you show up. Yes, you put an arm around them, yes, you weep with those who weep. And then empathy is not enough. Sympathy matters. Empathy means just to feel stuff. Well, feelings are fine, but they're a terrible guide to life. Sympathy is that you feel with them and then we do something about it. Now, don't be a nitpicker. You can't, you know, it would it's not gonna necessarily help to just gripe at the person as to why they're on the mat. Now, based on what I said yesterday, if they're gonna continuously put themselves on the mat because of their own stupid behavior, then you point those things out. But what these men did is they did whatever it takes to find a solution for their friend. And so let me ask you one of the biggest things I see here is is this too. So do you have enough faith for your friend on the mat to borrow? All right. Uh on another podcast I do, uh called Built for More, we were interviewing David Pollock. David Pollock is the sack leader of the University of Georgia Bulldogs, he's an all-American, he's awesome, okay? Famous guy, loves Jesus, he's great. And his wife has been walking through cancer. And one of the things that overwhelmed me in this is at the same time I have a dear friend, a pastor friend of mine that I love dearly and love his family, and he had just lost his 16-year-old son to self-harm. And I was trying to figure out what do I do for my friend? Well, David Pollack said when his wife was diagnosed with cancer and his and his wife was being treated, his friends did not ask him, What can I do for you? Or say this, hey, if you need anything, let me know. Because he said, I don't even know what I need. They just did the things. They didn't wait to be asked, they didn't wait for instruction, because oftentimes the guy on the mat may not even know exactly what he needs. And what he needs for you is to just take action. So after I talked to Pollock about this, I immediately reached out to my team and we just, and instead of worrying about what they needed, I just overwhelmed them with grace. We just sent with everything I could possibly think that I might need if I found myself in that horrendous situation. We just did it. We didn't wait for approval, we didn't take a vote, we just did it. What your friends need from you, what your mat carriers need from you is to actually pick up the mat, pick up the phone, make the phone call, drive over there, and then do the thing. Don't just feel the thing, don't just believe the thing, but do whatever it takes to bring them to Jesus. And be the kind of man that has enough faith that when Jesus looks at your faith, it's enough to cover the brother next to you for whatever season he's going through.

SPEAKER_00: 5:07

We'll see you tomorrow. 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.