#404 - Joby Martin // Mat Carriers - The Daily Blade: Joby Martin & Kyle Thompson

Summary4 min read

Podcast Summary: The Daily Blade #404 - Joby Martin // Mat Carriers
Release Date: July 20, 2026
Hosts: Joby Martin & Kyle Thompson

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the importance of deep, authentic male friendships in the Christian life, drawing inspiration from Philippians 1:7-9. Pastor Joby Martin explores the concept of "mat carriers"—faithful companions who support, serve, and suffer alongside one another in pursuit of the gospel. Joby reflects on the Apostle Paul's affectionate relationship with the church at Philippi, discussing the biblical blueprint for growing meaningful brotherhood rooted in shared mission and prayer.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Context: Walking Through Philippians

[00:20] Joby introduces the ongoing format: verse-by-verse exploration of Philippians, alternating with Kyle Thompson's series topics.
Joby praises Kyle’s recent episodes for their creativity and focus on spiritual warfare and Christian history.

2. Scriptural Foundation—Philippians 1:7-9

[00:54] Joby reads Paul's words:

"It is right for me... to feel this way about you all. Because I hold you in my heart. For you were all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness how I yearn for you with all affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more."
Joby highlights Paul's tone of affection and the strength of spiritual brotherhood exemplified.

3. The Concept of "Mat Carriers"

[01:53]
- "Mac carriers" (Joby’s pronunciation of "mat carriers") are men who are in your spiritual "foxhole"—close friends who carry burdens together.
- Joby stresses: This topic is repeated because it's biblically central, not just trendy.
- Modern men often lack these deep bonds:
  
  "Do you have friends that feel this way about you? And if not, why not?" —Joby [02:00]

4. The Relational Blueprint from Paul

[02:30]
- Male friendships grow not by just talking but by serving and suffering together.
  
  "Feelings are not bad. Feelings are just not enough."
- Real connection is “shoulder to shoulder, not face to face”—deepened through shared purpose and challenges for God’s kingdom.

5. Growing and Finding Deep Brotherhood

[03:19]
- The practical steps for building these relationships:
  1. Serve and Suffer Together: Engage in challenging, gospel-centered work.
  2. Pray For, Over, and With Each Other: Encourage and cover each other in prayer.
  3. Be the Friend You Seek: Take initiative—deputize your companions as your mat carriers.
- Joby shares a real example: his friend Josh Alberton asking for prayer before appearing on a major podcast. Joby insists on praying over him in real time, not just about him:
  
  "Praying over is probably more important than just praying for." —Joby [04:57]

6. Actionable Encouragement

[05:30]
- Every Christian man should seek out mat carriers and, just as importantly, be one for others.
- Joby encourages listeners to put themselves in environments where this kind of brotherhood develops:
  
  "If you are involved in a Bible teaching, Jesus loving church, you are surrounded with these kinds of men... Step one to find these kind of men in your life is be this kind of friend to somebody else."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

[01:55] “The reason we talk about [mat carriers] all the time, one is cause it's so very important. And secondly, I'm only gonna talk about it as much as the Bible talks about it.” —Joby Martin
[02:46] "Men grow in these kinds of friendship is that we serve together and we suffer together and we pray for one another. ...It's not so much face to face. It's a lot more shoulder to shoulder with a common cause."
[04:45] “When you suffer together, when you serve together, and when you make supplication for your brothers, this is the guts of how men develop these kinds of relationships." —Joby Martin

Important Segment Timestamps

00:20 – Introduction to the episode structure & praise for Kyle’s parallel series.
00:54 – Reading of Philippians 1:7-9—foundational scripture for the episode.
01:53 – Defining “mat carriers” and Joby’s personal reflections on brotherhood.
02:30 – How real male friendships grow—through action, not just words.
03:45 – Practical steps to finding and becoming a mat carrier.
04:40 – Story about praying over a friend before a big event.
05:30 – Call to action: Be and seek out mat carriers through church and intentional friendship.

Tone & Language

Joby's manner is conversational, earnest, and practical—mixing humor (“Never once have I said, 'Kyle, I yearn for you.'”) with biblical seriousness. The episode’s focus is on actionable encouragement, framed by scriptural authority and personal testimony.

Takeaway

This episode challenges Christian men to pursue deep, resilient friendships modeled after Paul’s relationship with the Philippians—through service, shared hardship, and prayer. It encourages listeners not to seek these relationships passively but to inhabit them by serving as mat carriers to others.

“Be these kind of men. Find these kind of men. Amen.” —Joby Martin [05:37]

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Transcript5 lines

[00:01]
A
Welcome to the Daily Blade. The word of God is described as the sword of the spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's 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.
[00:21]
B
All right. Welcome back to the Daily Blade. As I've told you before, I'm just walking through the book of Philippians verse by verse. I have no long, no idea how long it's going to take. I also do want to say though, I kind of love the one, two punch going on with the Daily Blade right now. I've loved Kyle's stuff couple few weeks ago when he's walking through some of the heroes of the Crusades. As I am recording this, he is walking through really God's sovereignty over Satan in the scripture. I love that. That takes a lot of preparation, a lot of creativity, a lot of spirit inspired imagination. And so you're going to get a week of that and then just kind of verse by verse through the Bible. And so I hope you're into it. If so, please let us know. I'm up to Philippians chapter one, verse seven. Again, this is Paul writing to the church who is in Christ at Philippi 1:7 and following says this. It is right for me, that's Paul, to feel this way about you all. Because I hold you in my heart. For you were all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness how I yearn for you with all affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more. All right, gentlemen, we're gonna talk about it once again. Mac carriers, I know we talk about it all the time, but the reason we talk about it all the time, one is cause it's so very important. And secondly, I'm only gonna talk about it as much as the Bible talks about it. And over and over and over what you are going to see is that to live this Christian life, we need each other. And what you see here is that the Apostle Paul has a deep and abiding relationship with the people in Philippi. These are not just people that he's seen once, but he has an affection for them. Now let me ask you this. Do you have an affection for the men in your life, the brothers in your life, the.
[02:18]
A
The.
[02:19]
B
The foxhole members of your life, the Mac carriers of your life? Now, feelings are not bad. Feelings are just not enough. And so do you have friends that feel this way about you? Now, this language might not be the kind of language that we use today. I love Kyle so much. We talk on the phone, I don't know, every week or other week we pray for one another. Never once have I said, kyle, I yearn for you. You know, that's kind of not the kind of language I would use. But do you have friends that feel this way about you? And if not, why not? Because this should be the normative in the Christian life that you grow these kind of relationships that accompany these sort of heart feelings with friends that you serve with and suffer with. Notice how these relationships were born. He says, I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. Why? Because of both in my imprisonment and defense and confirmation of the gospels, you were partakers with me in the grace. Let me tell you how men grow relationships. Kyle's talked about this about a million times, and I appreciate it so much. You know, if your church says, hey, you need to join a man's group, because what we're going to do is sit in a circle and we're going to love on each other. I don't love that kind of. What does that mean? Man, that's weird. All right? But the way that men grow in these kinds of friendship is that we serve together and we suffer together and we pray for one another. This is what he's saying. He's saying that we grow. I have grown with you through my imprisonment and defense and confirmation of the gospel. That means we serve the king to God together. We learned how to suffer together. And this is how men grow in relationship together. It's not so much face to face. It's a lot more shoulder to shoulder with a common cause. And the common cause of the Apostle Paul in the church of Philippi was the gospel. And Paul is going to pray for his friends. Let me ask you, do you pray for your friends? And I don't mean pray about. I mean pray for them. One of the prayers that God loves to answer is this. Dear God, would you please send me some friends like this, some mat carriers. That's a prayer that God wants to say yes to. And the reality is, is if you are involved in a Bible teaching, Jesus loving church, you are surrounded with these kinds of men. Step one to find these kind of men in your life is be this kind of friend to somebody else. Go put your arm around somebody and say, hey, bro, let's serve together. Let's go do hard things together. And then step two, if you believe them to be a Mac carrier in your life, tell them, deputize them. And then step three is pray for, pray over and pray with one another. One of my dear friends, Josh Alberton, reached out to me yesterday and he's going on a really, really big podcast, big national, one of the most famous ones. And he says, hey brother, will you pray for me? I'm going on this podcast and I just want to make sure that Jesus is glorified. And so I texted him back, I said, when you get two minutes, call me, because praying over is probably more important than just praying for. And so he gave me a call and I just prayed over him. And I'm telling you, when you suffer together, when you serve together, and when you make supplication for your brothers, this is the guts of how men develop these kinds of relationships, where you can be partakers of the grace together through suffering, through serving, for the confirmation of the gospel. Be these kind of men. Find these kind of men. Amen.
[05:47]
A
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.