by Robert Anthony
April 30th 2024
The Fundamentals for Revival Series
Part Three
“The Return of the Brotherhood II”
I was thinking this morning about all the brothers that have come in and out of my life (and I have had some really awesome brothers!). Considering I have preached in some 40 US States and 15+ nations, considering how many ministries, nonprofits and churches I have been a part of, the fact that I traveled almost full time for 8+ years… I met a lot of (Christian) brothers.
I want to testify that I have seen the position(s) get in the way over and over - well, money and position, I should say.
We tend to look at the world and blame, everyone. We blame the politicians, we blame the rich, we blame the atheists, the nonbelievers, the satanists, the pagans, the muslim’s, the jews, etc.. I remember when Obama was President and the body of Christ was so upset! So many were preaching he would be the antichrist. But we have the power, brothers. WE have the power.
You see, the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us! I don’t know that that same Spirit lived in Obama. Judging by his actions, its hard to believe he was being ruled by the Spirit of God while destroying so many of the foundations of God. But he never had the power. Never. But we have the power.
We blame people who are powerless to change anything (for the good)? What kind of sense does that make. We look at the most worldly, fleshly and rejected by God and waste our time and energy judging them!? If the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us, then we have the power to make changes – and therefore the fault lies almost squarely on us. Sorry if that seems harsh, but we are in fact the Living Breathing, Body of Christ left on the earth.
Now, I don’t want any of you to feel judged or condemned. I’m merely reminding us all, all my brothers, of the actual power we have. But the devil is a chief strategist. He really is. He gets us all fighting among ourselves, competing, envying one another (like Cain envied Abel, until finally he put righteous Abel to death), and worse. His strategy has been rather simple since the beginning – get the armies of God on the earth in confusion, full of offense, separated one from the another and they will be powerless. And it has been working. It has often worked since the very beginning.
The fact is, we never had a chance against him, not without the presence of God ruling in our lives. We have always needed these fruits of God reigning in us, in our Churches, in our families: love, and joy, and peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control. But we, like sheep, all go astray. All of us: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, bishops, elders and deacons… All of us, like sheep, go astray.
How are you, men, going to go to war without a band of brothers? How are you going to stand against this evil, which has veiled the masses, even large numbers among our fellow saints, which has penetrated nearly every power-center of our world today, and fight alone?
But if we would all go to war? Everything would change.
Something quite dramatic changes in men when they are at war. We don’t have time for petty differences, we don’t have time to argue endless debates and waste time in meaningless squabble. Go To War! Suddenly when our lives are on the line, we will quickly figure out how to get along, how be brothers. Ever hear, “There are no atheists in a foxhole”?
It was a surprising bonus, how much easier i found it to remain in the presence of God as a missionary. I didn't expect this as another reward of serving Him. Sleeping in the mid-huts in Africa, on endless flights over never-ending oceans filled with turbulence, bad weather and rough landings, stuck on trains with my pregnant wife in the middle of ex-Soviet Russia while she’s having terrible morning sickness, rarely having much more than enough money for the day in my pocket, in the midst of the battle it was much easier to remain in His presence.
But it’s unbelievably hard to do it alone. When I left the country I practically begged three of my closest brothers: “Come with me!” The first said, “I have debts to pay off,” the second said, “I just started a business and I need to attend to it,” and third said, “I just got engaged and need to start a family…”. I’m pretty sure there is a parable somewhere in the scripture that sounds this way… Hahaha. But I praise God, I was never too much alone, I had true brothers everywhere I went.
In America we are in the belly of the beast. In as much as Rome was very much the beasts headquarters, we have a unique position to be able to hold back the darkness from spreading the world (and overtaking it) from within the USA. But it will take an army. The days of celebrity-superstar, lone-preacher are over. That’s old-fashioned now. Anyone interested in what God is doing upon the earth now will come to the conclusion, Our Father is restoring the brotherhood.
“One will put a thousand to flight but TWO will send the legions fleeing”! Here’s another one, “And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Jesus said, “Two or more of you gathered together…” and I will be in Your midst. He said, “Two or three of you agree on anything in my name, and it shall be done for you.” John 17 He prayed, That we would be One and Agree.
We can not live the reality of this Christian life having another man to rule over us. It’s simply not possible. We can not be ruled and free at the same time. We can not rule them and free them together at the same time. We must choose, brothers, do we want to rule them or to set them free? Jesus set them free. Who are we to subjugate them to ourselves?
There exists a place for (servant) authority in this brotherhood. It’s not complicated or challenging. Both things function together, in the kingdom of God – and God remains The Lord, The Shepherd, The King over all. How did we miss this? “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” And then we try to exalt men and put them over other men? Brothers, it should not be so. Let the Spirit have rule over them – we should serve them and love them…
Jesus is returning for the body but He is returning also for a brotherhood. I can preach on this for hours because it’s everywhere throughout the scriptures. In Revelation, 5 churches get rebuked, 2 churches do not. Of the two churches who do not get a rebuke, one of them is more or less neutral, not incredibly edified but not rebuked either - but one church clearly stands out among the rest: The Church of Philadelphia. “Philo” translated means, “Brotherly Love”. As they say, THAT WILL PREACH!
Jesus is returning for the Church of Brotherly Love.
I hope this truth changes us all.
I hope it penetrates our hearts.
The world is lost, dying, alone and afraid
They need to see the Light of Christ shining thru us
And “They will all know we are Messiah’s, by our love,
One for another…”
Amen.
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