Get In The Fight

We challenge men to stop spectating and step into the fight, moving from ghost or deserter to warrior through surrender, honesty, and action. Drawing from David and Goliath and the finished work of Jesus, we show how hidden faith forms public courage and how one step today can break lifelong patterns.

• three types of men: ghost, deserter, warrior
• Israel’s fear against Goliath as a mirror of modern passivity
• God chooses availability over perfection
• the hidden place forms holy anger and courage
• Jesus as the greater champion who wins the decisive victory
• what’s at stake for family, church, and legacy

1. NAME IT
   • Identify your status (ghost, deserter, warrior-in-training).
   • Name your Goliath specifically (fear, porn, pride, rejection, greed, etc.).
2. EXPOSE IT
   • Drag it into the light with Jesus and at least one godly man.
   • Confess it clearly; ask for real accountability, not just sympathy.
3. KILL IT
   • Take one costly, concrete step that cuts off its power (change access, patterns, relationships, habits).
   • Repeat daily in the hidden place: Word, prayer, obedience—until that giant falls.

It is time to get in the fight. And if you're listening to this, you are the resistance.

Transcript

Three Men On Every Battlefield

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There are three types of men on every battlefield. Two will destroy you. One will change everything. The question facing you right now is which man are you going to be? Hello, I'm Nick Kupelethus, your host, and welcome to the Kupolethis Podcast, a podcast geared towards men, but for everyone. Welcome to the fight. About a month ago, the men's director at the Victory House spoke an incredible message. And the title of that message was Get in the Fight. And so that is the title of this episode, Get in the Fight. Not think about the fight, not support the fight from a distance, but get in the fight. And ever since he spoke those words, they have been burning in my heart because here is the moment that we live in. Christian men who are close to the fight but refuse to get into the battle, who are watching from a distance but won't engage in the warfare. They can see the enemy, they can tell you what the enemy looks like, describe him, smells like. They have the dust of the battlefield on their clothes and on their face, but they are not fighting. And I want to tell you right now, men, if you're listening to this, it's time to get in the fight. I love the story of David and Goliath. It's one of the coolest stories in the Bible. It's almost timeless. It's crossed generations, different cultures, different people, different even religions talk about David versus Goliath. I love it. But this isn't a story about a boy with a sling. Let me give you a different perspective about this. This is really a story about three types of men on a battlefield. And only really one of them gets into the fight. Let me describe the scene to you. Here in ancient Israel, on one mountain is the people of God in fear, in trepidation. Their leader is King Saul, who has an evil spirit. He's opened the door for evil spirits, and because this evil spirit is ravaging his mind and his heart, the people of God are trembling as cowards on the side of a mountain when they should be victorious. On the other mountain across the valley of Elah is the Philistine army, a war-mongering, hardened people with super technology of the Iron Age, actually, and wanting to wipe out the people of God. They have a champion named Goliath, six foot nine, and morning and night Goliath steps onto the battlefield, mocking the people of God, mocking the God of that people. And he does this over and over and over again. Forty days he does this, morning and night. And Israel, the mighty people of God, who were delivered from Egypt, who conquered through Joshua the promised land, are actually paralyzed in fear and do nothing to stop this champion, this giant, this mocker of all things godly and good, because they rather play it safe and be spectators. They're close to the battle. They can hear it, they can see it. They're armed and positioned in formation, but they are not fighting. And here's what I want to tell you about this is that this is not a story just about ancient Israel, but this is a story that we really can see ourselves in this story. General George Patton said, Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. See, God isn't looking for the perfect man, he's looking for available men. He'll take a weak man who surrendered to him and make him strong. He'll take a fool who's yielded to him and make him wise. He'll put his spirit in a man, and that man goes from coward to more than a conqueror. But first, that man has to surrender all and get off the ridgeline, get off the spectator, get off the bleachers, and say, God, here I am, use me. Let's just talk for a little bit about these three types of men. The first man, I'm gonna call the ghost. He's the casual spectator. He's not even really on the battlefield. He's like back in the camp or he's at home. He's, you know, he's doing his thing. And this reminds me of really so many men, these kind of casual faith spectator type men. It's it's kind of like elevator music. They're it's like in the background, it's playing, but they're not, you know, they're not really paying attention to it. Sometimes the ghost, he has a set of moral standards he kind of loosely agrees with. Sometimes his faith is something that he's in inherited from his parents, or he's forced to believe because of his wife or his girlfriend. It's something that he's picked up along the way, but it hasn't gripped his heart. He's a ghost because he kind of just comes and goes according to his own cadence, his own things. He he might show up at church at Christmas or Easter. It's what we call CEOs, Christmas Christmas Easter only. And listen, I'm glad when people show up, I'll preach the gospel to them every time. But listen, going to church at Christmas or Easter on a special event doesn't save you. Only Jesus will save you. And going to church twice a year at very best, it gives you a little bit of exposure, but it's not gonna transform you. It's not gonna hold you accountable, it's not gonna give you any strength to stand against the enemy. And see, that's the thing about the ghost. The ghost is not worried about church or faith, really, when it comes down to it. He's worried about maybe making money, maybe climbing a corporate ladder, maybe, maybe trying to get a hobby started or go hunting, but it's like, but faith is very low on his priority list. The ghost isn't accountable to anybody. His faith is quote unquote personal. He might gather his family, but he's inconsistent. He might pray for them, but that's even inconsistent. He might read his Bible, but that's even inconsistent. He's not under authority, he's not being discipled, and he's not doing anything for anybody else when it comes to the spiritual realm. Here's the problem with the ghost. The man takes up space. He makes no impact, and he doesn't even really realize that the war is happening. When Goliath steps into the valley and mocks God, the ghost doesn't even hear it. He's not even close enough to be offended. He sort of maybe watches the news and gets mad politically, but nothing happens in his soul. He's not spiritually stirred. He's not, there's not a holy stirring, a holy anger. The ghost lives his entire life without engaging in the battle. He might even just live, die, and never realize that that he has been called to something more. He might not even know, well, given the benefit of the doubt, he has been called to be a mighty warrior. And if that's you, hear me. You don't have to stay a ghost. And if you're listening to this because somebody sent it to you, you need to wake up. The battle is real. Your family needs you, your friends need you, the world needs you, the church needs you, the kingdom of God needs you, and you have been designed for more than this. One of the saddest scriptures in the Bible is when it says, God searched for a man to stand in the gap, but found none. You can't spectate your way into eternity and expect Jesus to say, Well done. Most likely he'll say, I never knew you. The ghost comes and goes, but friend, I'll tell you what, he makes no eternal impact in the lives of others. The second man that we could say maybe is on the side of this mountain is he's actually an active spectator. He's not just a casual spectator, he's an active spectator, and we'll call him the deserter. Because the deserter shows up. He's in formation with the other soldiers, he's on the ridgeline with the army, he's armed, he might even volunteer to do something here and there. He he looks engaged, but the truth is when the fighting starts, he's gone. Deserter mistakes attendance for commitment. He has spiritual activity, but no accountability. He practices faith privately but not communally. He calls himself a leader, but doesn't make hard choices that the leader will make. He doesn't lead his wife, he doesn't lead his kids. He's more like King Ahab in the Bible, sitting in the palace while Jezebel or others are running everything for him there. This reminds me of a story back when I was in eighth grade. Eighth grade basketball game. The other team had just beaten us good. I mean, beaten us good. I don't even remember what the score was, but I just remember being so angry. I was so furious as an eighth grader. I wanted to fight the whole other team. And uh, I probably would have got beat up, but I didn't care. And so I looked at the point guard that was on our team and I said, just follow me, follow me in, follow me into the opposing team's locker room. And I remember opening up the locker room door, my um point guard was right next to me, and I remember standing in front of the whole locker room, and I made this announcement: who wants to fight? They all looked at me, and at this moment I turned to see my teammate who was there. And it was actually pretty funny because all I saw was potentially his back, but it was like I looked over and he was gone. Like the door was closing, and I was standing there by myself, and I looked back at the opposing team, ready to rock and roll. I probably would have got kicked out of school or whatever. I didn't care in that moment. I just was so angry. And the other team kind of looked at me, and then they kind of nervously laughed, and then really nothing happened. Very anticlimactic. But here was the point. I thought this guy was going to be standing with me, but he was a deserter. And I forgive him. Come on, it was eighth grade. And actually, he was probably pretty smart not to get into a fight. Come on, that's the truth. But here's the truth about the deserter the deserter will stand with you right up until it costs him something, and then he's gone. And that's the devastating thing about the deserter. You thought he was with you. You thought you had backup, you thought you were fighting together. But when the bullets start flying or when the sword starts swinging, when the pressure comes, when it gets uncomfortable, when it gets when it gets expensive or it gets risky, it gets hard, the deserter disappears. And the deserter is more dangerous than the ghost because he actually takes up space on the line. He creates a false sense of strength. You think you have this army behind you, but you don't. And I just want to say, even at this point, I thank God that I know so many men that are not the ghost and not the deserter. There's so many good men that I have met and that I run with right now that they are the third kind of man, which I'll talk about in a moment. But here's the thing if you're the deserter, I want to speak right to you. You're not just letting yourself down. You're letting down the men next to you. You're letting down your family, your kids, your church. You're letting people down. And sure, somebody might tell you, no, you're you're doing the right thing. You got to do what you you know, God's called you to do, and yet you're deserting the line. You bailed, and you abandoned the individuals you were supposed to fight next to. See, that's kind of harsh. It's true. It's time to step up. See, in 1 Samuel 17, the army of Israel was standing there. They were armed, they were positioned, they were in formation, they even had the promises of God, the blessing of God, but they were paralyzed by fear. And for 40 days they allowed God to mock Goliath to mock their God, and they did nothing. And I'm gonna just say, I see myself sometimes in the ghost, I see myself sometimes in the deserter, and that time is done. Men, we can't allow the Goliath of this age to mock God any longer. It's time to stand up in prayer and in faith. It is time to not operate in fear any longer, because do you know what's at stake? Everything. Everything's at stake. Future generations are at stake, your marriage is at stake, your kids, your witness, your church, what God is doing on the earth, that's all at stake right here. So we have the ghost, we have the deserter, but it's this third man that thank God I have great men around me. They've taught me about this. So I I hope you have, if you're listening to this or watching this, I hope that you have men in this third category around you. And that's this type of man, the warrior, the participant. See, this is David. And David wasn't a professional soldier, he was a shepherd. He had been back and forth from Bethlehem to the battlefield, the Bible says over and over, bringing food to his brothers. He wasn't famous, he didn't have a big following, he wasn't known. It wasn't like he had a big pocketbook. He wasn't even really known by a lot of people. He was known by his sheep, but but not by the men in the battle, not by the armies of Israel, by his brothers, but his brothers didn't even like him. His brothers were always complaining at him. His brothers were making fun of him. Be like, what are you doing on this battlefield? You're a wuss. Nobody knows you. But here's the thing: God knew him, God saw his faithfulness. See, David had been in the hidden place. And for him, the hidden place was in the fields with the sheep. Maybe the hidden place for you is just in that place of walking with God. Nobody sees, nobody sees that pursuit of God's presence and God's face that you have in your heart, how you cry out to him, and that's okay. You don't need other people to see what you're doing. You just need God to see you. And that was David. He encountered God in the hidden place. This is how he wrote Psalms like Psalm 23, saying, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. How did he know that? He encountered God in the hidden place. When you encounter your Father in heaven, you become a son that reflects his glory. When you're passionate about knowing God, his passion then becomes your passion. When you desire to connect with him, he downloads into your heart and into your life his passions, his heart, his holiness. What does that mean? That means you could be in a hidden place with sheep, fighting bears and lions, nobody sees it, but all of a sudden, God in a moment, in an opportunity, sets you up in front of a nation, in front of a people, and Goliath is mouthing off, and something holy in you rises up. Who is this guy? David said it like this: Who is this uncircumcised Philistine to define the armies of God? David was ticked. Why was he ticked? Because the heart of God was grieved in him. He didn't want to make nice, he didn't want to make an alliance, he didn't want to make a treaty with Goliath. No, no, it was time for Goliath to be destroyed. And I want to tell you that our battle is not against flesh and blood, and God is not looking for us, the people of God, to make a treaty with the enemy, to make allies with the enemy, to make friends with the enemy. He's looking for us by the Spirit of the living God to cast and deliver these things out of our own lives, our families' lives, our region, whatever it might be, there should be a holy anger in us. There should be a compassion and a loving kindness for people, but a holy anger against the devil and against sin, because anyone who confesses the Lord, the Bible says, turns to him. And so David in the hidden place is actually being filled with God's heart. And so when he hears, when he hears Goliath, the anger that he has is actually a holy anger because God's heart had become his heart. David's engagement wasn't about enjoyment. It wasn't about what felt good or made sense strategically. It was about this. God must be glorified in my generation. David takes personal responsibility. He refuses the spectator status. He pushes past his brothers who are mocking him. He pushes past King Saul, who's filled with an evil spirit. He says, I can't fight this. This is my interpretation. I can't fight this battle, King Saul, in your armor, in your spirit. I must fight this in the Holy Spirit, in the way that God has called me to fight this. And so he be steps out from the fearful. And listen, those fearful men on the sidelines, they would ultimately become powerful warriors. They, they, and they actually let's even say this. Here's an observation. They probably were powerful warriors, but fear had gripped them. They needed to be loosed by them, by loosed from fear in order to become that powerful warrior. And that's what happens when men stand up in courage and in strength and in love. It actually shakes others free from their apathy. What did David do? David stepped into the valley, the valley of Elah. The valley of Elah is also known as the valley of the oak tree or the tabyrinth tree. Tabyrinth. And he kills the giant with a sling and then cuts his head off with his own sword. See, David's story doesn't really end there. David's story foreshadows someone greater, because on another day, another man would step out from his brothers and embody what it was to be the perfect warrior. And that other man would step into a valley, not the valley of Elah, but the valley of death. And in that valley wasn't an oak tree or tabyrinth. It was actually a wooden cross, a place called Calvary, the place of the skull. This was Jesus. See, David foreshadowed what Jesus would do. Jesus would step in, he would be the ultimate champion that would fight against death, hell, and the grave. And he didn't just wound the giant, he destroyed the giant. He stepped out into the valley alone. Not because there was no one else to fight, but because no one else could fight. Spectators couldn't do it, deserters couldn't do it. But here's this: even the strongest warriors on earth couldn't do it. It needed someone like Jesus, who was born of a virgin, who lived a sinless life, who was willing to sacrifice and become the atonement of sin for all creation. And Jesus was the only one that could do this. See, man, even in my strongest moments, I still can't do even a little tenth, a little fraction of what Jesus can do. But with Jesus, all things are victorious. And so Jesus stepped into that valley, he battled that giant, he became a curse, he became sin. But three days later, he rose again. Why does this matter? See, Jesus stepped into that valley and became victorious, so you could become victorious. See, you're not stepping out from the crowd in your own strength, you're not facing that giant in your own courage. You're actually following Jesus Christ, the great king and warrior, the victorious warrior who already won the war. You don't have to face that giant alone. Jesus has already conquered that giant. It's not because you're strong, it's not because you're qualified, it's because Jesus is strong and Jesus is the one that qualifies you. His spirit lives in you. Men, God has called us to be warriors and not just think. About the fight, but get in the fight. Think about this in the Bible. Moses had a speech impediment, but God put his words in his mouth. Gay Gideon was hiding in a wine press, but then God called him a mighty warrior and he delivered the nation. David was a son that everyone seemed to forget about, but God used him to slay a giant and become a king. Peter in the New Testament was a coward that ran when things got hard, but God then brought him back, restored him, and he preached to thousands. Paul was a murderer and an evil person, doing things in the name of God that were evil, and yet God got a hold of him and made him one of the most influential, if not the most influential Christians of all time. God takes weak men and foolish men and sinful men and through his spirit of transformation makes them warriors, not because of who they are, but because of who he is. You say, Nick, how do I even get to this point? How do I even grow in this? It's not that hard. It's not that hard. I say that, but we have to make some hard and difficult choices. I get that. But think about these three steps, just three. All right. First, you have to identify what your status is. Are you a ghost? Are you a deserter? Are you a warrior? And you say, Well, I'm a warrior. Then I would just push on that. What are the areas in you that you're like the ghost, you're not really showing up? Or what are the areas in you that you're like the deserter? Like what you know when things get tough, you turn away from God. So you got to identify what's your status? You got to identify. And then here's the thing: you gotta number step two, you gotta name your giant. You gotta name your Goliath. What is that thing that you're really battling? Is it fear? Is it intimidation? Is it rejection? Is it loneliness? Do you idolize things like money, greed, sex, whatever it might be? What is the thing? What is that giant that taunts you? What is that battle that you are avoiding? You have to be able to get specific. Because if you don't get specific, you're not gonna fight the right things. If you don't get specific, you're not gonna be able to really kill that thing. So you have to get specific. What is holding you back? And if you don't name it, you can't destroy it. But once you name it, once you see it, you're like, this thing is going down. And listen, you might find that you have a whole army of giants before you said, My life is a mess. I don't even know what's going on. That's okay. Name those giants one at a time. Because when the first one goes down, you're gonna be like, This is awesome. Maybe I can get the next one. And when the next one goes down, you're gonna be like, This is awesome. And you know what sometimes happens is that when you get a couple of victories under your belt, the other giants run for the hills. Now you might have to catch up, grab them, rip them apart, kill them. But I'll tell you what, giant killers, there's not many of them in the Bible, but the ones that are there are awesome. David was one of them, some of David's men were uh some of them. Um Caleb in the Bible was a giant killer, but they all understood that they knew when they named that giant, they knew that their inheritance and their breakthrough and their blessing was on the other side of it. So identify what like what status you are, name your giant, like what's the thing that you're battling, and two, take at least one step. One step. And maybe that first step for you is is surrender. I gotta surrender to the Lord. But take one step towards killing that thing. Let me give you like a couple steps here that might help you, all right. I know I said take one step, but what's the step that you need to take? It might be surrender to the Lord. Maybe you've done that already. But maybe you're like the ghost. You're not really part of a men's community. You're really not part of a men's ministry. You you are kind of, you know, you're the CEO. You blow in, you blow out. Find a church, they're not perfect, and get connected to men that are there, even if it's just one or two. Get connected. Don't build the ministry around you. Build yourself around others. Or maybe you have to connect with your wife and pray for her more and read your Bible more. But what is the one step that you can take today when you make yourself available to the Lord? God will use you powerfully. It is time to get in the fight. And if you're listening to this, you are the resistance.