Husbands with Spiritual Authority

We are first of all brothers and also husbands, brothers in the church, so we have to remember that in the New Testament, leadership is always by example. We don't, not because of our position, if we are not an example in our life. You know Jesus also led by example.

He said follow me. He submitted to his Heavenly Father every little thing. He says follow me.

So turn to a verse first of all. It's always good to begin with Jesus own example. John chapter 5. I found that in many many churches a lot of brothers have never understood this.

John 5 verse 19. Jesus said truly truly I say to you the Son can do nothing of himself. Of himself means out from himself.

That means I will not initiate anything but if I see the Father doing it, that means the Father prompts me, I do it. Now if we don't understand this principle, how Jesus lived, we will never be what God wants us to be. I'll tell you that.

Again in verse 30. I can do nothing on my own initiative. These are two of the most important verses of how Jesus submitted to the Father and most people have never thought about it.

As I hear my Father, I judge. In other words, Jesus formed an opinion of our people by listening to the Father, not according to his own. He had more intelligence and wisdom than us but he didn't use it.

And my judgment is righteous because I don't seek my own will but the will of him who sent me. Throughout his life till the last time in Gethsemane, even when he was sweating blood, he said father not my will but thine. And there is the secret of Jesus authority and that is the way we can have authority first of all in our home and later on if God gives you that in the church.

It must begin there and that principle which you read in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 9. There's a Roman soldier who came to Jesus and said I am a man under authority. That means I've got a general on top of me. I'm only a captain.

The general on top of me tells me what to do and I jump and do it. And therefore I've got soldiers under me. I tell them to do something and they jump and do it.

I tell them go. They don't think about it. They go.

I tell them come. They come. Why? Because when his general says come, he comes.

When his general says go, he goes. Here is a principle which from my observation of churches and even a lot of churches that you've seen particularly in Babylon in Christianity. They have not understood it at all and today's younger generation particularly in the United States have not understood it and that is the reason.

That's the main reason for the shallowness of Christianity. The shallowness of a lot of preaching. The anointing is not there.

The anointing is a lot of people who speak say they speak in tongues. There's no anointing on their life. It's because they have not understood this principle of authority.

Jesus submitted to authority to the father throughout his life, right? As I said, that's what you see in the last moments in Gethsemane. Even if he's sweating blood, father, I want to do your will. And if we understand that and live by that, then God will back us up.

That's why God backed up Jesus. So you see, we as husbands, you have to exercise authority over your wife, but don't you want God to back you up? If God doesn't back you up, you'll just be a mini tyrant or a compromiser who somehow says, okay, you have one vote and I vote for one vote and things will not go as God wants it. Many husbands are not the head of their home because it will lead to a fight with their wife.

Why are they? Because God is not backing up their authority. That's all. Because they themselves are not being under God's authority.

So this is fundamental principle of being a good husband. And the children grew up rebellious because when they're small, you can force them to obey, but once they've grown up, they don't listen to a father because God is not backing up that man. He's not a man under authority himself.

So you need to ask yourself whether you are under Christ's authority if you want to exercise authority. This is a very, very important principle. The reason is, if you see the origin of sin in this universe, it is not in Eden.

It began millions of years before that when one angel whom God had already appointed as the head, like God has appointed you as the head of your home. There was a long ago, learn a lesson from someone whom God appointed as a head, whom we know as Lucifer. He was a mighty angel, beautiful, full of wisdom, very attractive.

God made him like that. And he had only one problem. He would not submit to God's authority.

That is the origin of sin. Sin did not come with adultery or theft or murder or telling lies. It came because one person would not submit to authority.

Remember that all your life. It has changed my life when I discovered it. I said, Lord, you've given me responsibility over so many churches and I want to exercise the authority in a godly way.

And that's where I made me study the principle of authority in Scripture. And that's how I discovered this. And that's how in all the years before CFC started.

CFC started when I was 35 and I was converted when I was 19 and a half. So 35 and a half. CFC started 16 years before CFC started.

You know what God taught me? He taught me to submit to authority even when the authority misunderstood me. Then the Lord said, keep quiet. If they, when they punished me wrongly, the Lord said, keep quiet.

And God tested me through years. And I said, I'll obey. I'll obey.

I'll obey. And finally, I never knew one day CFC is going to start. I never knew that one day God would give me some authority.

Now when I look back, I see. And I see that that is how God's principle was the same with all of his servants. He first, because when we are broken, then only we can exercise spiritual authority.

Otherwise it will be like the authority of Stalin and Hitler and Putin and all these dictators. That's not the type of authority. If you are, it's not the type of authority a father should exercise or a husband should exercise.

It should be the type of authority Jesus exercised, which is not authority that's imposed from above, but it is accepted from beneath. So that is why I start with this principle. If you want, really want to be a man the way God wants you to be a man on this earth, in your home and in the church.

So if you recognize the origin of sin, rebellion against authority is the origin of sin. Now turn, and you know, particularly when he had everything, Lucifer, he still rebelled. Now you turn to Genesis 3. Sin has always been thought of as Eve disobeyed God, took part of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which they should not have taken part of.

But look at it another way. When, this is the advantage of meditating on scripture. One of the great tragedies I found in believers is they don't meditate.

They read, they know the story, they know the story very well, but they don't learn anything from it because they don't go into the verse. They are superficial. And I tell you, even in this church, I found superficial.

I found it in CFC Bangalore. Superficial. And that's why we don't grow spiritually also.

So I'll tell you what I saw. When Satan, first Genesis 3.1, Satan came to the woman and said, started talking to her. Just one sentence.

As God said, you shall not eat from the tree of the garden. What should the woman have said? Hang on serpent, I've got a head. And it says here, Adam was, see the last part of verse 6, her husband was with her.

He was not in some faraway part, right next next door. They were standing together. Why, when they are standing together, why in the world does a devil speak to Eve? Because he knows.

I got to get her to do the same thing which I did. Make her rebel against the authority God has given over her, her husband. It's the same, the same thing.

He knew that if he fell, he can make her fall if she rebels. So he speaks to her and she should have said, hang on. She should have turned around and said, Adam, you speak to her.

You speak, I'm under you, you speak. If she had said that, the story would have been different. So what was her sin? Failure to submit to authority.

Have any of you seen that in Genesis 3? When you understand the principle of authority, you'll see it. If you don't understand the principle of authority yourself, you won't see it when you read it. And when he suggested, okay, he started the conversation, and she says, eat it.

And she went on into a discussion. And she said, no, we are told not even to... Have you noticed the other thing? God told us not to eat nor touch it. God never said anything about touching.

Here we see the first example of adding to God's Word. Subtracting from God's Word, as we hear of many times, but adding to God's Word also began here. God never said anything about touching it.

He said, don't eat it. So when you're not under authority, you won't even know that you're adding to God's Word. You may think you're doing the right, saying the right thing.

It sounds almost the same. And a lot of people, when they read that, they don't even notice that she violated God's command by adding to it. God said in the law, you shall not add one jot or tittle to it, and you shall not subtract one jot or tittle.

A jot is on top of the I, that dot. He said, don't ever remove even that, and don't add something which is not there. A tittle is the crossing of the T. Don't add or subtract that.

It must be exact. Submission to authority is exact. I remember when I was in the military, and the first time we joined when I was 15 years old, when I went to the Military Academy, and we had to be on parade at 6.30. And if you came there at five seconds after 6.30, we were taught a lesson.

We'll never be late again for the rest of our lives. That while the others were marching, the parade was going on. It never happened to me, but I saw it happen to others.

They'd hold a rifle over their head and run around this huge parade ground for one hour. In his life, he'll never be late again. That is how they taught submission to authority in the military.

So here we see, because God gives freedom, you find so many wives don't submit to authority, so many men don't submit to authorities over them, rebellion in society. It's all because of freedom. So when he started this discussion with Eve, and he said, nothing will happen.

At least then, if she had said, let me consult my authority, she would have been saved. Secondly, what was Adam's fault? When Adam saw this discussion going on, he should have stopped it. He said, Eve, just stop it.

Don't talk to him. I'll talk to him. That is what he should have done in exercising authority.

Again, it's a matter of authority. Adam failed terribly. As soon as he saw the discussion, he should have stopped it.

Do you recognize your position as a husband like that? Or do you let your wife go on doing something, and you sit and watch it? So that's my failure. And then, at the end of it, when God comes and asks him, did you eat, verse 11, from the tree I commanded? Look at this guy. He points the finger at his wife.

This is the first example of finger-pointing, which we read in Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58, the Lord says, stop pointing the finger at others. You've seen that verse in Isaiah 58.

If you want to be like a watered garden, stop pointing the finger at others. It began here. Lord, this woman, I like to draw a picture, I wish I could draw a picture of this Adam pointing at his wife and put it in everybody's home.

I said, this is what happens in so many homes. Finger-pointing. You and the wife pointing the finger at the husband.

And not only that, the worst part is, he points the finger at God in verse 12. You gave me this. See how the spirit of rebellion, once you don't submit to authority, becomes so much that you're even rebelling as God, saying, God, you gave me this woman.

That's what happens finally. If we don't take our position in a humble way, it ends up like that, that our relationship with God itself is broken. So that is why we have to recognize that our functioning properly, even, you know, I believe God wants to give many brothers authority in the church and also in the home.

But it must begin, like the Roman soldier said, I'm a man under authority. That's why, for example, it says in 1 Peter 5, 1 Peter 5, verse 5, you younger men, likewise be subject to your elders. What is this? It's again submission to authority.

And it's specifically speaking to younger people, younger men, to be subject to the elders and clothe yourself with humility toward one another. And if you humble yourself, verse 6, under the mighty hand of God like this, one day he will exalt you. One day he'll give you authority.

But if you don't submit to authority during the time when God puts you somewhere to be under authority, he'll never give you spiritual authority. You can exercise authority like Hitler and Stalin and all exercise. That's not, there are people who exercise authority, pastors and all who say you better do as I say or get out of the church.

That's not it. That's not, Jesus never said like that. It's authority that's respected because God backs it up.

See, we must have an authority that is backed up by God. One day, if God ever gives you a position or responsibility as elders in a church somewhere, if God doesn't back you, you're going to be just like Stalin or Hitler. There are lots of pastors like that.

God must back your authority. The same thing in your home. If God doesn't back you as the husband, as the head of the home, and as a father towards your children, you'll be doing it in a very carnal way.

So please remember this as very, very important. And I believe this is where the failure lies. Many people don't recognize it like a failure of authority, the failure of husbands and fathers in the home.

Now, as I said, Jesus is the example in all this. Let me give you one more example from a church in Thyatira in Revelation 3.18. To the leader of the church in Thyatira is the elder. And angel means messenger.

That means the senior elder in Thyatira. The Son of God says, I know your deeds. Your love, faith, service, perseverance, your deeds of late are greater than at first.

You read verse 19 and you think this is a wonderful church. See what's written there. Your deeds are greater than before.

Your love is greater than before. Your faith is greater than before. Your service is greater than before.

And your perseverance is greater than before. So what a wonderful church. If you heard of an elder brother in a church like this, you'd say it's fantastic.

But unfortunately, there's a but. But you allow this woman, and in the Greek language, woman can be wife also, can be woman or wife. They've translated it as woman.

I translate it as wife. You elder, you tolerate your wife, Jezebel, who claims to be some type of prophetess, to begin to teach. So in other words, here was an elder who was doing so many wonderful things in the church, but he was under the control of his wife who would tell him, I've seen many elders like this, and wife is sort of twisting the screws from behind.

And that's what destroys the church. So you have to be careful that you don't become the slave of your wife. You're not a dictator, but you have to take your God-given position as the head of the house.

And the main thing there, you see, to be the head of the house like Jesus was the head of his disciples. That means you're ready to wash the feet, ready to wash the feet of your wife and do all types of dirty jobs for her, anything. That's right.

Jesus would do any dirty job. But he was the head of his disciples, and they all recognized that. So it's a unique situation where I'm willing to serve like any slave.

Jesus, like a slave, washed the feet of his disciples. So I'm willing to do any dirty job like a slave in a house, but I am the leader. I am the head.

And I will not allow my wife to decide which way, which direction my house is going to go, which direction my children are going to go. I am the one to decide. That's the thing that you must recognize, and you must have God's backing there.

Very, very important. So I believe that God will... See, this is why it says in Hebrews in chapter 13. See, we read in 1 Peter 5, you younger men be subject to the older ones.

In Hebrews 13, it says in verse 17, obey your leaders and submit to them. Again, it's authority. It's a question of authority that's coming in.

Because those leaders are keeping watch over you, your soul, and they have to give an account to God one day. Do you know that elders in a church have to give an account to God one day as to how each member in his church conducted himself? The Lord can ask the elders, did that chap submit to you? Did that brother submit to you? Did that brother submit to you? What is the meaning of verse 17? They have to give an account to God one day and therefore obey your leaders so that you will not suffer grief or let them not do this with sadness. What does it mean that they give a report to God with sadness? Lord, I'm sorry to say this guy didn't submit.

He had a rebellious spirit and he was always questioning the elders and doing that and the other. For that will be unprofitable, not for the elder. That'll be unprofitable for you.

See, there's a great value in meditating on scripture, every word of it. Spend some time in Hebrews 13, 17. I'll tell you from my own experience, I told you how I was very misunderstood once in a church that I was in.

This is long before CFC started, where some people who are jealous of me spread a false story. False story means that I had made a statement. The false story was that I had made a statement which sounded like rebellion against the leader, which is absolutely false.

They misquoted me, they never talked to me and unfortunately, it was not verified. So, I was disciplined by the leader and not allowed to speak, not allowed to preach in churches where I was preaching regularly. And so, here I was in a church where I used to take special meetings in that church and every Sunday I was a preacher.

And because of this misunderstanding, which I was told I'm not to speak. And you know what the Lord told me? Keep your mouth shut. Don't defend yourself.

I said, okay. And don't explain to anybody who asks you. So, Annie and I would sit at the back and people would come to me and say, because they'd heard me speak there every Sunday for years.

And they said, Brother Zach, what happened? I said, okay. The Lord told me to keep quiet. And I sat there for years in total submission to the elders.

I didn't know what was going on. I thought I'd go on like this for I don't know how long. But it lasted about two, three years.

It was like that. It was not just one or two weeks. And I never opened my mouth.

I never got a chance to speak. And I never opened my mouth in self-defense against anybody who asked for a clarification. And then the Lord tested me like that.

And then finally, after five and a half years, it was like Moses in the wilderness. Here he was great, next pharaoh almost in Egypt. And God, as it was said to Moses, I've got a great ministry for you.

But before that, I had to break you and humble you. And he took him to the wilderness for 40 years as a shepherd, not just looking after sheep. Imagine the great pharaoh looking after sheep.

The worst part is not that. The worst part was he had to live in his father-in-law's house for 40 years. Try living in your father-in-law's house for six months.

It's pretty humiliating. That is how God broke the strength of the greatest leader in the Old Testament. And without that brokenness, Moses would never have been the leader that he became.

I never knew all that. I said, Lord, why am I going through all this? But I'll obey you. You told me to keep my mouth shut, never to defend myself, never to speak evil of whoever said anything against me.

I kept quiet. Finally, when CFC began to flourish, then I compared myself with Moses and others. And I said, Lord, now I understand.

But I did not understand. I did not have anybody at that time to guide me in saying, Brother Zach, this is God trying to humble you. But I'll tell you one verse that God showed me.

You see, I had a concordance called a Young's concordance. That is a concordance with which I studied the Bible right from the beginning. And one advantage of the Young's concordance is that if you don't know Hebrew and Greek, you can go to the back of that concordance.

There's no other concordance like that, where you can look at the, you know, a concordance will tell you where this word comes like in your phone. Your phone has a concordance. Where does the word, any word come? Man, woman, submission, anything you can check.

But it will not tell you where the Greek word or the Hebrew word comes. It's a little more complicated to find it. You can do it if you look at the Greek and Hebrew.

But in the Young's concordance, you could find it with going to the back of the Bible. So one day when I was reading Psalm 23 and verse 5, I read there, my cup overflows. Goodness, you have anointed my head with oil, verse 5, and my cup overflows.

So I just looked up the word overflows in that Young's concordance. And it said the Hebrew word is a word called Revaya. I don't know Hebrew.

I Young's concordance said, where else does Revaya come in the Bible, in the Old Testament? Old Testament is Hebrew. And then I discovered that that word comes only in one other place in the entire Old Testament. So I looked it up and that was Psalm 66, where that same word comes in verse 12, a place of abundance.

Cups running over in Psalm 23, this place of abundance in Psalm 66, 12, exactly the same word. So I said this is significant that the Lord used one word only twice in the Old Testament. This is how I studied the Bible.

The Lord used a word only twice in the Old Testament. Then let me find out what it means. Okay, how did God bring verse 12, Psalm 66, 12, bring us to the place of abundance? I went back to verse 10.

Oh God, you have tried us. You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net.

That means you brought us into a place where there is no escape. Locked up in some situation. It could be in your job.

It could be in different situations that come in your life. It could be through sickness. You brought us into a net and you laid an oppressive burden upon our loins.

That could be a sickness sometimes or some other burden and made men ride over our heads. That could be in your office where people take advantage of you. Your boss harasses you and troubles you.

You made men ride over our heads and at the end of it we went through fire and water. That means you are put into flaming fire and taken out and put into the ice cold water and then put it back into the flaming fire in the ice cold water and finally you brought us to the place of revival. What is that? Psalm 23, cups running over.

So that is how rivers of living water flow through us. So that was quite a revelation for me. In John 7, 37, it only says if you come in thirst and you come to me and drink out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water.

Your cups will run over. But it's when I compared these two verses I saw how this cup runs over. That is how Moses became the man of God that he became.

Or take the example of David. When David was about 18-19 years old, Samuel came to him and anointed him and said, you are the king of Israel. But did he become king? 10-11 years he was in the wilderness.

And what happened to him all this while? All these things written here in Psalm 66. He was almost killed many times, running for his life. Once he had to imitate as though he was mad when he was caught by one king.

In order to read that in 1 Samuel chapter 30. And so he escaped that time. He went through so much then God brought him to the place of.

So where a person is going to be chosen by God for some type of unique leadership. And it's quite possible that God may have such a ministry for some of you young folks here. I'll tell you, you'll never get there if you don't learn submission first.

And if you don't learn how to be misunderstood. And, you know, we have such a sense of justice. How can you treat me like this? Justice is not there.

I'll tell you such a man will never be a leader in 100 years. Because that's not how God trains Moses or David, two of the greatest leaders in the Old Testament. How were they trained? Or take Joseph.

Another great example, the age of 17, he was sold as a slave. And what did he do? He was just faithful. Then there he went.

He was falsely accused by Potiphar's wife and put in jail. And he doesn't protest there. He submits.

How do I know he submits? Because the jailer saw such a good behavior in David, that he, in Joseph, that he made him in charge of the prison. Young fellow, 18 years old, being put in charge of the prison when he's completely ill-treated by his brothers and falsely accused by some evil woman. And he does not rebel, does not keep on justifying himself before the jailer.

Hey, I've been put here wrongly. I never touched that woman. And she's just telling false stories about me.

To keep quiet when you're falsely accused, God has taken me through that many times and tested me. Are you willing to keep your mouth shut? Or do you have the spirit of justifying yourself? Joseph did not. What is the result? One day, he had to go through the training in the prison for 12 years, God added time, and brought him out, finally.

So, God has a time for everything. He has a time for you and for me. And when that time is over, he will bring us to that place.

Have you noticed another thing in Genesis? It says here, this is another testing that came to him in Genesis chapter 40. You know the story how Joseph interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker of Pharaoh. And when the cupbearer, Pharaoh, just like Joseph prophesied, it says, Genesis 40 verse 21, the cupbearer was restored to the office.

And Joseph had told the cupbearer, when you are restored to your office, please remember me. But it says in verse 23, the cupbearer completely forgot about Joseph. He did not say a word to Pharaoh about this man who prophesied and told him.

See verse 14, he told him, please keep me in mind, Joseph says, when it goes well with you, please do me a kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison because I'm falsely accused here. And it says in verse 23, the cupbearer did not remember him at all. For how long? Next verse, for two full years.

Why? Because Joseph was only 28 years old. He was not yet ready to be Pharaoh's assistant. God is in control.

And Joseph sits there for two years in the prison. I don't think he was cursing the cupbearer. He submitted and he had a good testimony there the remaining two years.

And at the right time, in a miraculous way, he got into the throne. Throughout the Bible, you read this, how God deals with his servants, how does he prepare them. And that is how he, and you find that is the same thing with the Lord deals with his disciples also.

He allows them to go through failure. Peter was supposed to be the leader of the disciples. How is he trained? He's trained through failure.

He boasts that I can, I'll be true to you. And God says, no, Jesus says, no, you will deny me three times. And he is exposed publicly before the disciples.

Think of this, Peter standing there within all the others. And Jesus says to Peter, you are going to deny me three times before tonight. I thought, why didn't he tell him that privately in his ear? Have you ever thought of this? We would never have known that Peter denied Jesus if Jesus had not said that publicly.

Have you ever thought of that? How would we have known that Peter denied Jesus Christ even once? The only way you know is that Jesus warned him. And if Jesus had not warned him publicly, none of the other disciples would have known. And Peter was standing with those people who were pilots or chief priests, people out there sitting around.

There was no disciple there. He denied him three times and not a single other person heard him. It would not have been recorded in God's word that that happened.

But because Jesus said that publicly, it was recorded. And that is part of Peter's crushing. And because Jesus said it publicly, then Peter told others, yes, I did deny him.

But otherwise, if you have yourself in Peter's place, supposing you had in some place in the situation, you denied the Lord, would you go advertising that to everybody that in so and so situation, I let the Lord down and denied him? No, you would confess it to the Lord and finish with it. You wouldn't tell all your friends and all. I went out there and I denied the Lord.

And Peter would not have said it either. But Jesus publicly humiliated him. And he accepted it.

That made him the man he became. So I want to just using these examples to show you that if you want to be the husband God wants you to be, God may take you through some rough parts. And then when you are there, if you say, Lord, I'll accept it.

I want to be a godly example here. I will not give up the headship of my home, never. But I'm willing to be misunderstood.

I'm willing, for example, if your wife says something, by all means explain to her. But it's very important that we don't have this spirit of self-justification. I have been very, very careful about that for one reason.

Turn with me to Luke 16 and verse 15. Luke 16, 15. You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts.

This justifying yourself in the sight of men is very highly esteemed among men. But the Lord says in verse 15, it is detestable in the sight of God. Now, I did not know that, that when I was misunderstood when I was 30 years old and falsely accused, that I'm supposed to keep quiet.

I'm not to justify myself in the sight of men because it is detestable in the sight of God. If God allows you to be misunderstood, why not accept it? I say, sure. So you are those, he tells the Pharisees in verse 14, you are those, there were two problems with the Pharisees, he tells them.

Number one, verse 14, you are a lover of money. And number two, you justify yourselves before people. Now, who puts these two things in the same category? You would never think that lover of money and justifying yourself in the sight of people are equal sins, but they are.

So you may say, I don't love money, but do you justify yourself before people? It's just the money. And it is detestable in the sight of God to be a lover of money or to justify yourself over in the sight of men. So it's so important for us as men in the home to exercise authority.

Why does the Bible say, Ephesians chapter 6, this is as fathers, we have to understand this. Ephesians 6, children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise so that it may go well with you.

Do you want it to go well with your children? Teach them to honor father and mother. Teach them to respectfully speak to any older person. Never to speak rudely to anyone older than them.

Always be respectful. Why? Because I want it to go well with my children. Obey your parents in the Lord for this.

Why is it that the Lord has given this commandment? It's the only commandment with a promise. It says here the first commandment with a promise. There were 10 commandments.

None of them had a promise. This one has a promise. So that's why it's very important that you teach your children when you become a father to obey you 100% and take it very seriously.

I remember with my children, there were two things. I was very strict with. One was telling lies.

I say, I don't care how long it takes. I'm going to teach you to speak the truth. And secondly, submission to daddy and mommy.

I was very, very strict in that because I wanted it to go well with my children. And it's very easy. It says about Samuel.

He was a great leader, one of the greatest men in the Old Testament. But yet, look at his failure in one Samuel chapter. You know, Samuel appointed his sons as, it doesn't matter if I can't find it, but Samuel appointed his sons as the next prophets.

And it says they were taking bribes. And the people came up to Samuel and said, please don't let your sons be prophet leaders anymore. And he imagined this man, who was the godliest man of his time.

He appointed, I want to try and find that. Is it one of the beginning of one of these chapters? Chapter 8. Yeah, that's right. One Samuel 8.1. Samuel was old.

He appointed his sons judges over Israel. And verse 3, his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside and took bribes. He had only two sons and they both took bribes until the people of Israel came to Samuel and said, we are fed up with them.

Samuel verse 5, you've grown old, but your children are not walking in your ways. Appoint a king for us. So you see, even this great man, he didn't bring up his properly.

Moses, he didn't bring up his children properly. So this can happen. And then that bad name is recorded in scripture.

So it's very important that we bring up our children properly because for their own good. And it also says that a person who cannot bring up his children, 1 Timothy 3.4, if he cannot manage his own household, he cannot have any responsibility in the church. We follow that rule strictly in our CFC churches in India.

There were a couple of people we had to remove from eldership because they did not bring up their children properly. It says, how can a man take care of the church if he cannot manage his own household with three or four children? So this principle, again, it's this principle of authority. You're not able to exercise authority over your own children.

How in the world can you exercise it in a church? So I find that this principle of God backing up my authority, that's the main thing. God must back up my authority as a father in the home. I felt this very strongly because God's given me responsibility over many churches.

And I felt, Lord, I don't want to assert my authority anywhere. But if you back me up by making it manifest in some way that you're backing me up, that's enough for me. I don't want to assert myself and, you know, like pastors take titles like senior pastor and so many things like that.

No, we don't do that. God must back up. So I want to say to all of you, ask the Lord to back you up in your position, in your home as a father and as a husband, that God must back you up, not that you have to assert yourself and say, well, I'm the head of this house.

I've never had to say that in my life. I say, if God doesn't back me up, what's here's my shouting and saying that. Well, I hope that helps you to recognize the importance of submission to authority so that you can exercise authority as a father and as a husband.

Let's pray, Heavenly Father, help us to recognize these principles in your word to learn from the examples and the failures of godly men and to walk in humility all our days. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.