For Men | Chase Your Thumos | 2 Samuel 23:20 | Benaiah: A Valiant Man

In this episode of The Daily Rebel For Men, we dive into one of the most legendary stories in Scripture: the account of Benaiah chasing a lion into a pit on a snowy day (2 Samuel 23:20). While most men spend their lives running from danger, Benaiah ran toward it. Why? Because kingdom men understand something culture has forgotten: comfort never creates calling.

We live in a generation of tamed men—men built for battle but settling for comfort, distraction, passivity, and spiritual boredom. Men with the heart of a lion but the habits of a house cat. Deep down, many men know they were made for more, but instead of pursuing purpose, they medicate their restlessness with screens, entertainment, lust, pride, isolation, and endless distraction.

The Greeks called that fire inside a man thumos—holy aggression, righteous courage, and the God-given drive to take responsibility, fight for what matters, and live for something bigger than yourself. This episode is a wake-up call to unleash that fire and stop living caged by comfort.

In this episode:

1. Run Toward Responsibility — Boys ask, "What's easiest for me?" Men ask, "What's needed from me?" Purpose often shows up disguised as responsibility.

2. Your Pit May Be Your Preparation — God often does His deepest work in dark places. The pit may not be punishment; it may be preparation.

3. Unleash Your Faith Relentlessly — Untamed faith doesn't wait for perfect conditions. Faith moves when God speaks, even on snowy days.

Most men want God's promises until His process becomes uncomfortable. Most men want influence while avoiding responsibility. But kingdom men don't sit back and ask, "Who's going to do something?" They step forward and say, "By the grace of God, send me."

And ultimately, Benaiah points us to Jesus. Benaiah stepped into a pit with a lion. Jesus stepped into our pit of sin, shame, and death. The cross was not passive love—it was aggressive grace. Jesus fought for us, bled for us, and rose for us so we could become fully alive in Him.

Kill passivity. Chase responsibility. Unleash your faith.

Because you weren't saved to survive life.

You were saved to storm hell's gates.

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Transcript

Welcome \\ Rebel For Men Mission

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Welcome to the Daily Rebel, Saturday bonus edition, from men who are done playing games with a faith and ready to live it for real. No excuses, no hiding, no fluff. Just truth that hits your life where it actually counts. Because your faith isn't proven by what you say, it's proven by how you show up and live. So step up, man. Let's lock in and let's get to work. Yo, what's good, man? Uh, so last week we wrapped up the final series episode on Jonah. And so there are five Saturdays in May. So I wanted to wrap up by giving y'all uh this episode from a talk I did recently um at a men's event called Keep Pointing Up. Um, president is Carrie Seymour. Um, and actually, the this episode is going to be on that talk. Uh, I I I I was praying about okay, what could be the fifth Saturday of May? And I believe it's this. And if you if you want to title it or anything, it's just really called Chase Your Thumos or Chase Your Thomas. Um, so

The Lion In The Cage

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a while back, I was walking through a zoo. Um I was with I was on vacation with the family. This was probably end of February, and I came up on the lion exhibit, and I just stood there watching him. And not because he was impressive, but because honestly, he looked depressed. Like the lion, the king of the jungle that we nicknamed him, was laid out on a fake rock under artificial shade. Um, he's he would get up every now and then, walk a few lazy circles, drink some water, somebody handed him, eat meat, somebody threw at him, and then go right back to sleep. And I remember thinking this: that something inside of me was bothered by this fact that the lion was alive, but he wasn't living. Lions weren't made for cages, lions were made for the wild. That lion was born with instincts he'll never use, power he'll never unleash, roar, a roar nobody will fear, a hunt he'll never chase, and he'll die safe, but he'll never fulfill his purpose. And the more I watched that lion, the more I realized that's how a lot of men are

Why So Many Men Feel Spiritually Bored

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living. Man, they sleep, eat, work, scroll, repeat, tame, they're domesticated, domesticated, and spiritually bored. And we've got men built for battle, settling for comfort. Men built to lead, set, but settling for passivity, men built to protect, but settling for distraction. Men with who should have the heart of a lion and a roar within their chest, but have the habits of a house cat. And here's the danger. When a man loses his God-given fire, he'll start medicating his boredom with addiction, lust, anger, pride, isolation, and compromise. Because deep down, every man knows this. I was made for more than this. The Greeks had a word for that fire in a man's soul,

What Is Thumos? The Fire Inside a Man

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and they called it thumos, thumos, thumos, if you pronounce it that way. Thumos is this holy aggression, that righteous fire, this untamed courage to rise up, take responsibility, and fight for what matters, and to live for something bigger than ourselves. It's the part of a man that refuses to stay asleep. And I and I want to tell you this there's a lion in you. And that's not that Brandon Lake lion that talks about it coming out of you during worship. No, there's a lion that didn't just want to sing out loud with your hands raised. I'm talking to you men, for you guys that scream at football players all the time but can't lift your hands in worship. Listen, I want to tell you there's a lion in you. You've been sitting in your cage too long, you've been playing it safe for too long, you've been living passive too long, watching everybody else chase purpose while you're calling uh sits dormant. But but

God Did Not Call Us To Survive Life, But To Step Into the Fight

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God did not create you to survive life, he created you to step into the fight. I love what Mark Batterson always says is that he didn't call you to a safe life, he called you to be dangerous because we got to stop assuming that our whole purpose in life is to arrive safely at death. But God called you to unleash untamed faith, to go chase lions, to live dangerous obedience, to build, protect, lead, and pray bold prayers, to walk with holy fire. Here's why. Because the kingdom of God does not need more bored men, it needs burning

The Kingdom of God Wants Burning Men

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men. And that's why I love the story in 2 Samuel chapter 23. There's been about three pastors over my lifetime that I've heard teach this text. And again, I there's nothing new under the sun, but this text always hits me when it comes to men. It says

Benaiah and the Lion in the Pit

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this Beneah or Binaya, son of Jehodah, was a violent, was a valiant warrior uh from Kebzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down two Moab's best men, two of Moab's best men, and he also went down on a uh into a pit on a snowy day, and he killed a lion. So let me ask you this what kind of man sees a lion on the snowy day and decides to climb into the pit? Beniah, which I need to understand about him, he was born under a spiritual leader's home. We call him a valiant warrior, a man of valor because he was a he was taught to be a warrior. He was from a place called Kabzeo, which was actually, man, like the projects, it wasn't really good. It was a beat-up town. He came from rugged upbringing, but still had spiritual influences. And the text says he performed great exploits. And not only that, he tells us that he struck down two of Moab's best men and then went into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. But what you need to know about Biniah is that he became he was one of David's King David's mighty men. Um, and Biniah was one of the 30. He was not one of his top three, but David saw his exploits. He knew his rap sheet and his resume, and he put him as his bodyguard. I mean, wouldn't you? And so this text right here is what I want to camp out on. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. Listen, the whole story sounds backwards, doesn't it? Usually the lion chases the man. This man is chasing the lion. If we saw a lion right now, how I'm telling you right now, we I would jump out the window and I would run and sound like a little two-year-old girl waiting to free and save my life. Some of us really, man, we a wasp comes in our garages and we don't swat it, we run. I've literally seen six foot five tight ends run from a wasp. They can get hit and beat up all week, but they can't take a sting. Now imagine a lion. Not a normal man. This dude, Bene Yah, understood something most men forget that comfort never creates

Comfort Never Creates Calling

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calling. It never does. Right now, I want to give you three challenges from Benia's

Three Challenges

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life if you're really going to unleash the line within and walk in your God-given purpose. Uh, look at the text. It says this he first of all, he chased a lion. So, number one, man, listen to me,

1. Run To Responsibility By Fighting for a Cause Bigger Than Yourself

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and you and you you remember this back when we talked about in Jonah, is you need to run towards responsibility to fight for a cause that is bigger than yourself. Run toward responsibility to fight for a cause bigger than yourself. Remember, Ben Eye chased a lion. And could we be honest? Ben-Yah probably didn't kill that lion because he was bored looking for an adrenaline rush. That lion was an apex predator, meaning if somebody didn't deal with it, eventually that lion was going to destroy somebody else. But here's what we need to think about. This is not in the text, but one can assume that maybe this lion was threatening shepherds. Maybe it was killing sheep. Maybe families in the village kept hearing that roar at night, wondering who's next. We don't know those details. But what we do know is this is that somebody had to face that lion. And Benayah decided, why not me? Men, that is biblical

Boys Avoid Responsibility, Men Embrace It

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manhood. Real men don't live only for themselves. Real men fight for people in a cause bigger than ourselves. You see, boys ask what's easiest, men ask what's needed. That's why Benaya ran toward responsibility, even if it risked his life, because there was a cause bigger than himself. That's Thumas, that holy fire, that God-given drive to protect, build, lead, serve, sacrifice, and stand in the gap when everybody else backs away. And maybe the reason so many men feel empty is because they've spent their whole lives living for themselves. Because

A Man Becomes Most Alive When He Finds a Cause Worth Bleeding For

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a man becomes most alive when he finds a cause worth bleeding for. And most men spend their lives avoiding hard things. Conversations, leadership, repentance, commitment, responsibility. We avoid hard conversations like their IRS audits. Some men would rather switch churches than apologize for something they said or was said to them or whatever. Rather ghost people than communicate. A lot of times we'd rather numb out than pray. Or we buy another toy than deal with our soul. You need another truck and you need another boat just to get it just to get our minds numb. We got men with fantasy football lineups more organized in their prayer life. Ooh, boy, somebody just got knocked in the mouth. See, that's not strength though, that's distraction. Kingdom men move towards what God put in front of them. Adam's first sin wasn't aggression, it was passivity. The serpent talks, Eve eats, and Adam stands there

Passive Men Have Been Wrecking Homes Since Genesis 3

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silent. But passive men have been wrecking homes since Genesis 3. Somebody has to step up. Somebody has to pray first. Somebody needs to repent and lead first. Why not you, man? A lot of us men are waiting on purpose while ignoring responsibility. But purpose usually shows up disguised as responsibility, yo. So listen, there are lines attacking marriages. You keep giving your phones to your early, you know, kids or your you know, young kids or teenagers young, and you just say go to your room, you're you're putting a line in the room. Lions are attacking our purity, lines are attacking truth, lines are attacking the next generation by telling them that the the that the the definition of man and woman are um man just relative and that the the you know it here's the the problem with that is the truth is that God got to design it, so let him define it. I mean we're literally in a truth war right now. What are you gonna do? You're gonna step up? Are you gonna ask who's gonna do something? No, no, no. Kingdom men, we say by the grace of God, send me because I'm gonna fight for truth. I remember there was a video that came out recently of a I have no idea what's AI generated or not, but my brother told me a real story about his his dad literally standing in the gap uh for his daughter being in a bathroom when a transgender man try to walk in. That's fighting for a cause bigger than yourself because you want to protect. And that that might that might offend some of y'all. That might that might jack with your theology, but I just want y'all to know, man, God writes the blueprint, we don't. Listen,

Little Acts of Obedience Build Dangerous Men of God

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little acts of obedience build dangerous men of God. The text says then he went down into a pit. So your pit, number

2. Your Pit Is Often The Place Of Your Purpose

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two, write this down. Your pit is often the place of your purpose. Pits are uncomfortable, pits are hidden. Nobody applauds pit seasons, but God does his deepest work in dark places. David had a cave, Elijah had a cave, Joseph had a prison, Jonah had a fish, Jesus had a wilderness, and Beniah had a pit with a lion. Some of you are frustrated because your life feels like a pit season. But what if the pit isn't punishment?

Why God Uses Cave, Pit, and Wilderness Seasons

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What if it's preparation? What if God is calling you to build grit? What if he's trying to develop prayer in you, dependence in you, courage in you? What if he's calling? I mean, I also I saw a video one day of a man letting his girlfriend get attacked and robbed, and he just sat there like an idiot. Like step in the game and protect your woman. That's what I'm talking about. If a man is willing to stand between a transgender dude going into a girl's bathroom, if a dude is not willing to step in while his girlfriend is getting beat up, what are we doing? We gotta wake up and get more courageous, y'all. We gotta get a little more gritty. But here's the deal, we don't want that pit, do we? But here's the deal everybody

We All Want Resurrection Power, But Not Crucifixion Process

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wants resurrection power, nobody wants crucifixion process. But there are some things God can only develop in caves, valleys, and pits. And here's what I've learned a tame lion avoids pits. An untamed lion uses pits for

Don't Waste Your Pit

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training. Don't waste your pit. And in the text it says he chased him on a snowy day. Number

3. Untamed Faith Doesn't Wait for Perfect Conditions

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three, untamed faith doesn't wait for perfect conditions. So why does the Bible include that detail? Because snow changes everything. Bad footing, cold weather, low visibility, limited visibility. Conditions weren't ideal. Now listen, I remember in uh in January of 2025 in Louisiana, man, we we experienced snow mageddon and it became a wintry wonderland for us at our house. But I know the entire city shut down. You know, three it sometimes feels like three snowflakes and black ice can shut everything down. But some of y'all, some of us called into work because our driveway looked a little slippery. You know, Benny I killed a lion on a snowy day. We canceled our plans because our windshield was frosty. Like that's typical. But I'm not judging because some of us drive in the snow like newborn giraffes trying to walk for the first time. Anyway, my point is this if we can't handle

If We Cant Handle Inconvenience We Won't Handle Calling

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inconvenience, we'll never handle calling. Listen, I don't know what your purpose is, man, but God wants you to find that thumos. Purpose usually shows up in uncomfortable conditions. Most men are waiting for the perfect time to obey God. I'll lead when I feel ready. I'll pray when life calms down. I'll start when I have more confidence. I'll surrender later.

Why Delayed Obedience is Still Disobedience

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But listen, delayed obedience is still disobedience. Faith doesn't wait for comfort. Faith moves when God speaks. Listen, I want you to hear this. Write this down. Some of the greatest moments in your life will happen in inconvenience seasons on snowy days, hard seasons under pressure, when you feel unqualified. That's where real faith is born. Because courage is not the absence of fear, it's obedience in the presence of fear. Let me tell y'all

The Enemy Loves Tame Men

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something. The enemy loves tame men. Men who won't pray dangerous prayers, men who don't disciple their kids, men who don't fight sin, men that don't storm hell's gates. Tame men are easy to entertain. Give you another screen, another subscription, another distraction, another highlight reel of somebody else living the life he wishes he had. And before long, listen, man, a man who was created to storm hell's gates is arguing with strangers on Facebook at 11:30 p.m. in basketball shorts with barbecue stains on him. That's not kingdom purpose, y'all. That's captivity with Wi-Fi. But when a man becomes fully surrendered to Jesus, fully alive in his calling, fully engaged in the mission, hell trembles. That's why Satan works overtime to sedate men, to distract them, entertain them. Because if a man never realizes who God created him to be, he becomes dangerous to darkness. If a man, let me rephrase that. If

If A Man Ever Realize Who God has Created Him to Be He Becomes Dangerous to Darkness

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a man ever realizes who God created him to be, he becomes dangerous to darkness. You hear that? You want to be intimidating to the enemy? Many of y'all chased a line into a pit. Jesus stepped into our pit,

Gospel Shift: Jesus Stepped Into Our Pit

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our pit of sin, shame, and death. He didn't run away from the cross, he moved toward it. Listen, the cross was not passive love, it was aggressive grace. He fought for you, bled for you, rose for you. So you don't have to spend your life in trapped cages. You can become fully alive. And I want you to know, speaking of it being a snowy day, I want you to know that the

The Mission of God Doesn't Stop Just Because You Are In A Mess

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mission of God to make disciples as a man, it doesn't stop just because you're in a mess. There's purpose in your bones, there's calling in your life, and there's still fight in your spirit. So here's what you need to do. Number one,

Kill Passivity, Chase Responsibility, Unleash Faith

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you need to kill passivity. Adam's first failure wasn't aggression, it was silence. Number two, chase responsibility. Calling usually locks like looks like responsibility before it looks like influence. And number three, unleash your faith relentlessly this week. Pray bold, lead your home, start the ministry, confess sin, make the call, step into that purpose that you've been avoiding. You weren't saved to

You Weren't Saved to Survive Life You Were Meant to Storm Hell's Gates

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survive life, dudes. You were saved to storm hell's gates. If I could be real, like, you know, I you know, over the years I've I've had to ask myself a harder question. Am I living for the applause of people or for the applause of nail-scarred hands? It's a question that Mark Batterson had in his book, Play the Man. You know, I've had people, uh, you know, I want you to hear this. But if if you live for people for public approval, you'll eventually silence the very fire God put inside of you. I've I've had people tell me over the years as a preacher, you know, you're too loud, you're too aggressive, you need to calm down, tone it down, get quieter. And respectfully, my response is no. So you're too quiet. You get louder because eternity's on the line, man. Families are falling apart, men are addicted, kids are confused, truth is under attack, and the enemy is devouring passive men every single day. I don't have time

I Don't Have Time to Play Church When Hell is Playing for Keeps

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to play church while hell plays for keeps. I'd rather be a lone wolf for a season in the wilderness than a lion slowly dying in a cage. I preach passionately because of the passion of the Christ. I record podcasts because I want to disciple anybody willing to listen. I travel this nation this preach because I want to call out and call up men and students who believe the lies of the enemy. And I refuse to conform to who culture wants me to be because I want to start knowing who the creator formed me to be. That's thumos. That's holy fire, that's untamed faith, that's righteous aggression submitted to the Spirit of God. And men, it's time to wake up. Wake up and pray again, wake up and lead again, wake up and fight again, and wake up and burn again. Because the

Final Charge: The World Needs Awakened Men

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world does not need more silent men, it needs more awakened men. So you need to find that thumos. You need to find that thumos. Men, I love you. Next week, we're gonna kick off an eight-week series, and you're gonna have to wait till next Saturday to find out what it is. I hope that keeps you on your heels. It's gonna be awesome. I've already recorded some episodes on it, uh, but I believe it's gonna wake you up. So, men, love you. Go chase that thumos. Be a leader. Amen. That's your daily

Outro - Go Live It!

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rebel Saturday edition for the men. Now go live it, lead yourself well. Don't keep it to yourself because Redeem Rebels, we don't just profess faith, we prove it. If you want to equip other men and grow their faith, share this with them, but leave a five star review, and we'll see you next time on the Saturday bonus edition of the Daily Rebel for the Men.