Love The Brotherhood

But we exhorted one another and we made it. And it's good to be here. Be together and enjoy these sharing times when people share.

I think that's, I've heard of this one group. I don't even know where they're at. But I think they spend like, more like close to an hour just doing that.

That's a major part of their service. Everyone is more like 1 Corinthians 14. Everyone comes with a song, a doctrine.

But I'm glad how we have it. We have time for that. Anyhow, I think we'll continue here with Ephesians 5. That's where I've been going.

Ephesians chapter 5. Last time we talked about, look what the Lord has for us here in the verses 15 through 20. And about redeeming the time, not wasting it. Just yesterday we were talking about, someone challenged us with a thought already.

Every 15 minutes you spend extra in bed, just the snooze button, whatever, just procrastinating. No, just 15 minutes a day. Add that up in 10 years.

Just that, an amazing amount of time that would be lost. I was just thinking about some of these things as a recap of last time. Talking about redeeming the time and not wasting it.

Being not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. And to speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord.

We talked about the music and different thoughts about that. It's good that Brother Eli shared that. The more we meditate, the more we engraft, it becomes part of us.

The psalms we sing, it says we actually should be bringing the Word of God into our very being, even with our singing. So, we'll continue today in verse 21. Maybe I'll read from 21 to 24.

Maybe I could have a young man just read those four verses for us. Any volunteer, a young man to read? Okay. Yes, Father in Heaven, we do thank You for Your Word.

Lord, thank You for this practical part of it also. It is part of Your Kingdom, building Your Kingdom, Lord. And we thank You that Your Word is inspired.

It has been breathed. One is God breathed. It's Your living Word.

And we want to just bow before You this morning and accept Your Word to us. As we read this letter, we read it as a letter from home, Lord. Thank You for remembering us today.

We just ask that You would speak to each one of us, Lord. Speak to my heart, first of all. Help me to just understand more Your way, Lord, that I can know Your heart, Lord.

Help us have open hearts to want to know more of You and experience the life of Christ in a deeper way. Protect those that are out and about today, people that are in the service mode, clearing the roads. Thank You for those men that make it possible for us to be on the road.

And I just pray You keep them this time. Many people are not here today. Just be with them.

Maybe some will be traveling later on. Those that couldn't be here, would You just meet with each one. Those that are sick, Lord, I pray You touch their bodies and restore them in Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, some of this part of Scripture gets pretty practical. And I've been thinking about talking to the wives today, the ladies.

But I'm not sure we'll get that far. It's not that I'm waiting until my wife is here. But as I looked at this, I just looked at that first verse there in 21.

It says, "...submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." This is something that in our day and age, people hear the word submit, obey, and so forth. It's just like... It would be interesting. Every one of us would have a glass heart.

We'd just see inside what happens when those words come into our hearing. Because I know when I was a young person sitting where a lot of you are, depending on how that was talked about, something rose up inside that heart that just kind of blocked that off and didn't care for that. And it's maybe not a favorite subject, and I'll just give you a secret.

I really don't like it that much either, you know. But as we see it from God's perspective, it's a beautiful thing, and it's a tool that will help us in life. "...submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." And I thought it would be probably good for us as husbands especially to hear this first before we'll be talking to the wives, Lord willing, sometime.

Because I have heard this passage, passages similar to this. Men use it, I'd say, as a club with their wives. They say, the Bible says, okay, the Bible says.

Well, it does say that. But first of all, I believe it's good for us as men, as leaders in the home, to open our hearts, first of all, to this aspect of submitting ourselves one to another. It is almost the epitome of hypocrisy to expect just a complete fulfillment of these verses in our wives if we ourselves have never experienced that ourselves as husbands.

And we're really no place to lead our wives if we've never really lived that out, is how I feel, what I've experienced. And I'll just share this. When I see one of my children struggling with something, the Lord has brought this to my mind.

But the first thing I do is I try to check my own heart. And probably, or there's a good chance I might be resisting the Lord in some area that causes them to struggle. I believe there's a direct influence.

It can be. Maybe not always. My wife is struggling or has a little bit of a struggle in that.

I believe, first of all, it's good for us to check our own hearts. Are we clear before God? Are we where we need to be? I know there's many people in our day and age that they choose not to associate themselves with a brotherhood anywhere. They are willing to chart their own course, but they're very sure of where they want their wife and their children to be at.

But they themselves will not want to participate themselves in the same experience, what they're expecting of their families. I think there's something wrong with that. I don't think that's right.

So I just want to encourage us today, and it might not go that long, for us to submit ourselves one to another. I don't want this to be a harsh word, but we see it as from Jesus. His life was a life of submission.

We heard it last Sunday. He said at Brother Jerry's message, I can do nothing of myself. Whatever I see my father, whatever I hear from my father, that's what I do.

He gave himself unto the Father. That translated into a life of serving others. So what I see as submission is I open myself to the needs of others, especially the needs of others.

And that's what Jesus' life was full of that. I should have Brother Jerry come and draw this again. I think I'll just use that.

This is a good one up here. You're a better artist than I am. But I was meditating about what you shared, and I think this is just interesting.

We can just continue here. We have God, Christ, and we have some space, and then man. And man tends to, we just tend to, like it was shared, we like to drift towards fences.

Try to have something. We can see, like I heard this morning, we tend more to go for the visible. To put those in between here, like cardinals and popes and ecclesiastical orders somehow.

But no, we are kings and priests. The Lord has made us kings and priests. But he had these cute little six figures down here.

And we don't have that. Jesus said, all ye are brethren. Don't call any man your father.

All ye are brethren. And one is your master, even Christ. But I would just like to propose to you, you might not agree, but I really believe the invisible, the invisible we talk about.

Invisible, God uses the visible to prove the invisible. I believe it does. Just this morning, we all stood and we said, forgive us our debts.

Forgive us our debts. God, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. I think there is a connection there with that we just can't separate the vertical versus the horizontal.

So I'd like to just briefly look at that this morning. I believe the Lord proves our vertical by our horizontal. I hear it quite a bit, well maybe we'll come to that later.

But I'd just like to, if we could open our hearts to this reality. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. We're really asking the Lord, Lord make this relationship like this one here, or vice versa.

The Lord says, basically I won't do this one. If you want an open heaven, if we talk about an open heaven, I'll give you the same quality here as you have right here. And so, yeah, we don't have, we don't believe in, you know, lording it over people, and that's wrong.

But I believe, I hope you do too, that there's a place for brotherhood. That there's a place somewhere this verse like committing yourselves one to another needs to happen somewhere. If not, we have to remove some scriptures.

But that is really, I believe, where the visible is proved on the visible plane. 1 John 4, 20. Listen to this verse.

Very, very common verse. It says, verse 20 here, 1 John, If a man say, I love God. If I love God.

Yes, it's God and I. My God and I is just that's as far as it goes. I love God, but hates His brother. He's a liar.

For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, the visible. How can he love God, the invisible? If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen.

How can he love God whom he hath not seen? I think we need to be pretty careful. Very careful about who we say is not a brother. We need to be very careful with that.

So it's a pretty wide scope that we need to have. We need to be willing to submit one to another. It might not just be people in here.

It could be someone else that has a need like Jesus. He submitted himself to the need of others. He submitted himself to people that were very unlovely.

So I'd like to look at a couple of scriptures there about Jesus' testimony. And I think Brother Jerry will be coming across them in the near future. In John 7, Jesus says, He says, I am not come of myself.

And also in the same chapter 7, He says, My doctrine is not mine, but Him that sent me. In chapter 5, He says, I can of myself do nothing. And also in the same chapter it says, The Son can do nothing of Himself.

So Christ has placed Himself under God. He said, I can do nothing myself. He was living out submission on the earth.

He was living out submission to God the Father, to the Lord. I believe Brother John shared a message here recently on Lordship. Lordship of Jesus Christ.

I wasn't here, but I would expect this is what he's bringing out. We cannot just have Jesus as a good luck charm. But it's like I've heard the saying already, If He's not Lord of all, He's not Lord at all.

I think that's what Jesus was living out. Given that example of submission. Young boys, all of us, especially young men, young boys.

Luke 2. Let's just see how Jesus, at the age of 12, how He lived this out. Luke 2, verse 51. Well, we know the story.

I'll start in verse 47. He was left behind by the parents. They had gone home with their company of probably relatives and extended family.

And all of a sudden they realized Jesus was missing. They were actually a couple days journey. So they went back.

And this is what Jesus was doing. All that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. Because He was there helping with the discussion with the teachers, the scribes.

And when they saw Him, His parents, they were amazed. His mother said unto Him, Son, why hast Thou just dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And He said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wish ye not that I must be about my father's business? To be under God the Father was an important thing for Him to be.

But this is how He responded to earthly parents. And they understood not the saying which He spake unto them. And He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them.

But His mother kept all these sayings in her heart. Even though He was God, He was the Son of God, He went down and came to Nazareth, that lowly town not on the map hardly, and was subject unto His parents. But verse 52 says, And then Jesus increased in wisdom and stature in favor with God and man.

And if you can do better than I did at a young age, that you just gladly, cheerfully take instruction from your parents, others that are giving you a wise counsel, you will increase in wisdom and stature and favor a lot quicker than if you're resisting that, if you're just closing your heart to that. So I just encourage us all to have that heart of wanting to put myself under. It's probably like the story you've heard.

I've heard it many times, and I think it's good to recount it about two mountain goats, or these mountain sheep, that on these narrow pathways on the side of a mountain on the cliff, they come, they come head on. And one has to make way for the other. There's not room to pass.

And supposedly this has been observed that, what do they do? Instead of fighting it out, one, see who's the strongest, send the other one down the cliff. The one just went down on all, lay down and let the other one walk across him, then they both were able to continue. He submitted himself.

That's what the word submit means, submission. It just means to bring under, just put yourself under. Words that are not very pleasant these days, it's not something you hear, especially when you're out and preaching, you lift up the banner of a woman's role, like we'll come to later in a couple weeks, Lord willing.

But you talk about submission, a woman's role, it really comes out pretty quick that I'm a goat, that I'm not going to bow. I remember hearing a testimony of, this was some years ago, I think we were, I'm not sure where we were at, maybe Kentucky, we were just passing through, we visited a church and a family was there, giving their testimony, conversion testimony there, wanted to be part of the fellowship. I'm not sure even where they're from, but I mean they grew up on the streets, and this lady was talking about when her turn was, that first time she ever heard the Scripture about that wives should be in submission to the husband, she just thought, you've got to be kidding.

This is so foreign, so foreign to her upbringing, her thought process. And it's surrounding us in our society, this young generation of, especially the college age, is you've got to be kidding, that's basically what's being lived out. You've got to be kidding and I'm not going to bow, that's really what's being lived out.

But sad to say that those dear young people, if they would realize the blessing, the freedom they would have in cheerful submission, in a Godly way, it actually brings freedom, it brings liberty. It brings liberty to your heart and it brings liberty to a heart that has that submissive heart, wants to learn. Whoever is above them, among them, will give them liberty a whole lot quicker than if they're always stuck and resisting.

That's what I find. If my children are wanting to please and they go beyond even what they know our expectations are, we're there trying to just keep blessing them. But if we sense in a stubborn, you know, rebellious spirit, we know, hey, there's something that needs to be dealt with and probably brings in more of a narrowing their way and restriction until we know that there's something happening inside.

So let's be like a wise goat. Let's just bow our heart in. There's a verse in 1 Peter 2, just this phrase says, love the brotherhood.

Love the brotherhood. Love this part. Now there's many people say, well, just love God.

Just myself personally, I just love God. I love God. It just doesn't matter.

I'm not there. I'm sorry. I can't be with the Scripture we have.

I just can't be there. That's just myself and I and the Lord. We have our sweet time together.

We really need that time. The Lord and I. But we're called together. Love the brotherhood.

The word love is that divine love from the root word of agape. There's basically three words translated into Greek, into love. It's eros, the phileo, which is more the brotherly love.

But this one is the agape. It's actually agapeo. It's very closely connected.

It means it's the divine love that we actually have to make a choice. We choose to love. If someone is good to me, I can have the brotherly love.

It's just back and forth. Jesus even said, what thank have ye, if you just, I'll use that term of the mouth. What thank have you, if you're just kind to those that are kind to you.

But the real love is when you're kind to those that are not kind to you. And sometimes, it will take a specific choice to love the brotherhood and those that are among them. I just want to lift that up.

It's a choice. It's a matter of choice. Love the brotherhood.

It would be agapeo, the fraternity. The brotherhood means it's a close-knit group of men or people that have knit themselves together. They're in for the common cause.

It's a choice that we make. Let not our hearts despise a brotherhood. Let's open our hearts to love the brotherhood.

And by the way, the brotherhood can be bigger than just what is here. I want us not to think that we're just confined to within a certain set of walls. But especially where we're committed to, on a consistent level, I think that's where we really need to plug in and love this brotherhood and see it as something that is special to the Lord, is valuable to the Lord, is His heritage.

And God, it is special to the Lord. He loves it. So, Peter gives that exhortation.

Love the brotherhood. Agapeo, the fraternity. It's a choice.

I just want to ask. I want to ask a question. I want to ask myself a question.

So, in light of the brotherhood, is my opinion, there's times when my opinion, is it more important than the brotherhood? Am I, by myself, more important than everyone else? I just wanted to ask myself that question. Is my opinion so important that I don't have time for my brother? That's what the others are thinking. I just like to open and stretch myself a bit.

I know my way of thinking, sometimes my approach here might stretch you more in an uncomfortable way. I'm sorry for that. But then again, I think we need to be open to some of these thoughts also from this angle.

The importance of brotherhood. How is brotherhood connected with being subject? I think there's a lot of connection there. How can we truly have an active brotherhood if we're not actively living this out? Sometimes, being a subject just means to be quiet.

The one way to come to the place of one accord is to employ or exercise this principle of subjection. Maybe we can turn to the book of Acts. The term one accord comes across there quite a few times.

Acts 1, we know how Jesus, when He ascended, they were standing there looking, just gazing up into heaven. The twelve, or the eleven, actually eleven. They looked so long until an angel showed up and said, how long? It's time to get to work.

Go back to Jerusalem. So they did. And verse 13 says, when they would come in, they went up into an upper room where both Peter and James and John and Andrew and Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew and James, the son of Alphaeus and Simon, the lotus, and Judas, the brother of James.

So here we have the eleven. And these all continued with one accord. Let's look at that term there.

One accord. And it means unanimous. If you look that up in the Greek, it's unanimous.

They were all together. They had agreed. They were in agreement.

In prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And then when Peter rose up and he gave a teaching about Judas that fell away. And verse 22 says, beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

And then they had the ordination of Matthias was ordained added to the number there. Then verse 1 of chapter 2 says, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Now I know it is very important that we have this experience, each one of us, to have experience with the Lord and to have the Holy Spirit come into our lives.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit. But I find it interesting that God did not do that. Just one here, one there.

He waited. It was important for them to have this full number here, down here, before He poured out His Holy Spirit. It is important for the Lord to see that they were down here together, the full number, in one accord.

And then He poured out the Holy Spirit. And I do not believe that just that one accord is just some mystical thing that just happens without any effort. I believe it is very practical.

Those things happen in a very horizontal, practical way, in a visible way, when sometimes things are going to be presented that I do not agree with. That I do not agree with. But I have to remember there are other brothers there.

How can I serve? I think that is how we would like to look at being subject is as a type of serving. Subjecting is serving. What kind of needs are we trying to take care of? And the need was for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

It was just common sense. Let us subject ourselves to this need. Whatever it takes to be of one accord.

And it says that they were of one accord. They had been praying and seeking the Lord and then the Holy Spirit came. Then we go to the last part of this chapter.

Chapter 2 of Acts. Here is some of the fruit that came out of that. Peter had a powerful sermon there to the extent that many were converted.

They were walking then in that power. That whole company was walking, moving in that power of the Holy Spirit. In one accord, verse 42, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.

They, plural, in apostles' doctrine. And these others that have been converted. There are 3,000 plus.

Fellowship and breaking of bread and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul. Remember the verse there in Philippians says that we should submit ourselves one to none.

Fear of God. Fear of God. Fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

And all that believed were together and had all things common. Brotherhood. Love the brotherhood.

Sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need. I thank you, Brother David, for that reminder this morning. What do people really see down there? What do they see? Jesus says that if we love one another, if we really love that brotherhood, all men will know that we are His disciples.

If we are doing it as a brotherhood, there's a beautiful thing of being out on the streets together. It's not just a coincidence. It's just not a chance that Brother John overheard that remark.

I think that should be the testimony that we want to... The brotherhood testimony that we're putting out there. In the fear of God, verse 46 says, And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Daily gain they were experiencing. But do you think any of that would have happened if there would not have been a subjecting one another for the need of the hour? I don't think that would have happened being of one accord. There's quite a few here in Acts.

Acts 4, verse 23. After they had healed Peter and John and healed that man they were called before the Sanhedrin. And being let go, verse 23, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.

When they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, Thou art God. See, these things drew them together. It started drawing them into suffering as a group.

As a witness, it drew them into suffering and just bonded them tighter and tighter. It was easy to be subject one to another during those times. I remember, I think there was an old bishop years ago that had been serving during the time of the Great Depression.

He said it was easy to lead the people back then. Because they didn't have all this stuff. And I think there's a connection.

The more stuff we have, the more independent we become, the more independent we become in our thinking also. Like, I preach at Brother David's charity. We share Christ, but what really do people see? What are we presenting with our life? This is what we've got to offer in Christ.

Is that really? There are people in inner cities that are people born here in America that are going embracing Islam. They're going with a full garb. They're wanting something.

They don't want this. People are looking and they don't want something half-way. So, why do we want to just present do this and you'll get to heaven.

Just believe in the Lord and it doesn't really matter what you believe. I believe really there's people that really want something substantial, something that's real. I think the only way to really do it in a sustainable way is we have a strong brotherhood view of how God wants the kingdom to be expressed.

I'm not against your individual. I think that needs to be in place. Everyone needs to do that.

But if it doesn't lead us together, is there just something natural? Really seeking the Lord, walking with Him just naturally wants you to be together. That's something that I believe is birthed by the Holy Spirit. They were in one accord there.

But then in Acts 15, as the church grew, 15 they had that big discussion. It says in verse 1, certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others should go to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.

So here they had one of the first big disputes we read about. Amongst them down there, verse 11 says, this is what Peter, Paul was preaching, what he shared. No, this is Peter I guess.

It says, We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they. Then all the multitude kept silent and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul. This was Paul here.

Declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. Verse 13, After they held their peace, James answered saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me. So there's times when for that church to prosper, for that to go on, some people just needed to hold their peace.

There's just times, that's part of this brotherhood life of being in one accord. Part of it is sometimes I just have to be quiet. Is it not what it's saying? That's what I see.

It's very practical. It doesn't seem very spiritual. But it's just what it says.

Some of them needed just to keep silence. Kept silence. They held their peace.

And then, verse 22, After their discussion, it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, named Judas, named Barabbas and Silas, chief men among the brethren. And they wrote letters by them after this man of the apostles and elders and brethren, sent greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words.

And the words they were troubling with, this was like a transition time from the old covenant to the new. They didn't always agree. What all comes across and what stays.

But here they had this clear teaching from and Peter had the example also, experience of Cornelius that God is not respective of persons. He is open for the Gentiles. We don't need to add the law of Moses.

We don't need to add circumcision. Although they added, they had a few things they wrote them of what they shouldn't do. Verse 24 says, Ye must be circumcised and keep the law to whom we gave no such commandment.

Here their writing says, We did not give the Gentiles this commandment. Then it says, It seemed good unto us being assembled with one accord to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul. Now this phrase here, It seemed good unto us being assembled with one accord.

Probably if we would have sat there and heard some of those dissensions and disputations and probably arguments. But I've heard already that in the Jewish culture they can get very loud and animated. They prove their point.

They push their point. It says, They were assembled with one accord. The outcome was a going forth.

They came to a conclusion. So it was one accord even if it might have sounded pretty loud for a bit. But this one accord, I just want to submit to you this probably would not, I don't believe it would have happened if not some of them who just held their peace and were silent.

Now I'm not advocating that we don't speak out. But there's times when if we're simply walking with the Lord like we profess to do, we can kind of sense where I believe the Holy Spirit wants to take this. When it leads into holiness, into righteousness.

But I'll just throw this out carefully. I think for the jury that's been here a long time, what happened here, Simeon gave his testimony then James kind of drew a conclusion. And James seemed to be kind of the presiding elder there if you do some studies.

So I think it's just probably right if Brother Jerry then has, this is what it seems to me, might be just good for us to even though we might not all see it the same way, maybe just be silent. Maybe that's said too much. But I see that principle here.

Unless, you know, Brother Jerry, you're way off the rock or can we play with you? And I know he'd be open to that. I think there's a principle here to loving the brotherhood. I've honestly, in my journey through life and different areas and churches, I'll just say it like this.

There often seems to be pockets of individuals here that are, no matter what is decided here, always not quite agree with it. Always need to have, just let you know that maybe I'm not against it, but let you know that I'm different. I'm willing to step outside here and give you a voice that I'm willing to stand alone.

I would just want to encourage it that we don't go that route. I don't believe we are. I don't think we want to either.

I just want to lift up, love the brotherhood. And the major building block in this is to submit and subject one to another. And this is, again, a good way.

And we can just not separate that from the idea of service, serving, and the attitude of serving. What big event, as we heard this morning, what issues on the table that needs to be served that we can best serve in a God-honoring way as a brotherhood. Jesus made Himself subject to the needs of others.

I think in Romans 15, it says, Christ, or even Christ, please, not Himself. And who has more of a following than Jesus Christ? Why do we gladly submit ourselves to the Lord Jesus? The more we know Him, it's not hard to submit to the Lord Jesus. I don't believe, for me it's a joy to love the Lord and to follow Him.

It's not because He came as a servant. Now, your view of Muhammad is a lot different. I hope it is.

Most of the others are viewed more as a dictator. You know, you mess up and you're done. But not with the Lord Jesus.

He came as a servant. He pleased not Himself. That is the heart that we need to have as husbands.

If we want to take the rest of that Ephesians 5 and go home with, okay, this is what the preacher said, life, you know. Well, if we need to do that, we're not even anywhere close where we need to be ourselves yet. It's what I see in my own heart and in Scriptures here.

For even Christ, please, not Himself. Listen to this Scripture in 1 Corinthians about Christ. In the chapter about the resurrection.

It says here in verse 24, Then come at the end when He shall, Then come at the end when He shall, Christ, have delivered up the kingdom to God. The whole kingdom to God. Even the Father.

When He, Christ, shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. That includes all the demonic forces. Satan.

Everything will be under Christ. For He must reign. Christ must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He has put all things under His feet. God has put everything under Christ's feet.

But when He said all things are put under Him, when God said all things are put under Christ, it is manifest that He has accepted that God did not put Himself under Christ. Which is put all things under Him. And when all things, all things here shall be subject or shall be subdued unto Him, to Christ, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him.

That put all things under Him. That God may be all in all. Christ really never moves Him.

They are the Godhead, three in one, but that really stays. That's what I see here. That principle of Christ putting Himself under, that is where He has His power.

If He removed Himself from that, we'd be up the creek. There's no hope for us. That was Satan's intent and design with a temptation to get Himself out from under God's authority.

Do things on your own way. Be willing to step outside. You've got the power.

You've got every right. You're God. He could have done that.

He stayed right there. Whenever Satan came, what did he do? Christ just went right back up to God. It is written.

Three times, it is written. It is written. Three times out of the book of Deuteronomy.

It is written. And defeated the enemy. 1 Peter 5. I'll read a few verses there.

Here it's talking about verse 1. The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also the partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, just like Christ did, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Verse 5 says, Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. I really think this context is not talking so much about church leadership, per se, as just older people. Although, maybe generally, I think elders, older people, should be leading out, giving direction, not just ordained ones, is my view on this.

It says, Likewise, ye younger. It's clearly an age order here. Submit yourselves unto the elder.

Ye, all of you, but here it says, Ye, all of you, be subject one to another. It mirrors what we read there in Ephesians. All of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility.

It is pretty hard to exercise a true submission without this clothing. This cloth of humility. For God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

So on the one hand, here we have submission, subjection, humility, and God on your side. On the other hand, we have rebellion and pride and God against you. It's our choice.

All of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. I know this is probably not very well received by everyone, but I think it's true.

I just want to ask you to think about it. We hear a lot about walking the Spirit. We need to.

Walking the Spirit will affect this direction also, not just like this. About God and myself. I just want to throw a caution out.

If that is all we hear, but people have no room for brotherhood experience, I just put a caution out there. If it's just myself and no room for others. If it excludes the brotherhood, I just think that we should open our hearts to also the Lord using the Holy Spirit through others, through brothers.

And with that thought, I've noticed this already. Maybe I don't see this correctly, but you help me. There's a lot of books in our bookshelves.

Me included. Good books that have been written over the last probably 200 years. And I could name you some very common authors in our land and Europe.

They're very good exhorting you to close walk with God. Very deep thoughts. And we need that.

But I find amongst a lot of them there's not much said about the brotherhood, loving the brotherhood. Think about that. Don't I see it right? Or maybe that's just my supposing.

I could name you. I don't really want to do a lot of naming, but there's some. And books I would endorse.

I'd say good to get your life in tune with the Lord. I'd say we've been pretty weak in our democracy probably is what has affected it. This brotherhood experience also of submission.

Submitting ourselves one to another in the fear of God. I believe God can move with individuals. He does.

But I believe He moves individuals to want to move together as a company, as a fraternity, as a close-knit group. Just in closing here, I just want to read a passage here in 1 Corinthians. Maybe lift up this example for us.

1 Corinthians 16, it says, Verse 14. Chapter 16 says, Let all your things be done with charity. I beseech you, brethren.

You know the house of Stephanas that is the first fruit of Achaia and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. I wish I could have been there to see that active family and what they were doing. Then it says, That ye submit yourselves unto such and to everyone that helpeth with us and laboreth.

Here we have people I believe that were living out the example of Jesus. Serving needs. Just looking for needs.

Always serving. And it says, Those are the people you need to submit to. Submit yourselves unto people that are doing that.

Brother John or whoever, please send out the hotline. Hey, we're going to Columbus. Can I just encourage you to submit yourselves to that.

Those that have addicted themselves to that part of the ministry. Those are things that we need. I'm talking about submission to.

It's not something, OK, now you've got to do so and so. That's really neither right nor wrong. But these are things they were active in the ministry of serving the Lord, serving one another, serving others.

And that's the thing that we want to start submitting ourselves to in a deeper way. And I think that will bring a love for the brotherhood. In closing here, I just want all of us to love the brotherhood.

Love the fraternity, the people together moving in the same direction. I'm not wanting to discourage anyone that is on a journey and might not be quite at that place. I just want us to open our hearts to that, that we are called.

We are called together. The Holy Spirit came to a company, to a brotherhood. I believe the Holy Spirit still wants to work to a brotherhood.

I believe He wants to send out labors. So let's be like a house of Stephanas. That we're addicted to the ministry.

We're just basically doing what Jesus did. He was addicted to ministry when He was here. He was under God the Father.

And it's not hard to submit to someone that is serving. You just want to join up with Him. Submission is not even submission if it's something we gladly are doing.

But just that very word says that it's something we have to work on occasionally. That's how I find it. Everything that's decided, everything that comes my way is just a natural fit in my plans.

It wouldn't even be submission. But that very word submit would give indication that there are times when I don't feel like it and my feelings have to just be quiet, be silent like it says. And I'd be a servant to what will benefit another's desires and wishes.

Okay. I'll probably stretch a few of us myself. But that's what the Lord has shown me as I looked at that verse.

I thought it's important for us, especially as husbands, as fathers, before we go into the next session about why submitting ourselves to your own husbands. Yeah. We're supposed to be a reflection of Christ.

So we really, I'd say, legally can't take those scriptures and go home and tell my wife, Okay, now. Okay, listen up, honey. I've got some news for you here.

We do that by our lifestyle. By a servant leadership. Okay.

Okay. I'll open it up.