Isolation is Destroying Men: Biblical Brotherhood Ep.1

Most men have guys around them. But very few have brotherhood.

Not the surface level kind. Not guys you joke with, watch games with, or text once in a while.

We’re talking about something deeper. Something some men have never actually experienced.

In this first episode of our new series Biblical Brotherhood, we break down what real brotherhood looks like—according to God’s design. What it is. What it isn’t. And why so many men feel alone even when they’re not.

Because the truth is... You can’t become the man you’re called to be in isolation.

We talk about:

• Why most “friendships” fall short
• The difference between being known and just being around people
• What biblical brotherhood actually requires
• Why it’s uncomfortable—and why that’s the point

This is about adding the right men to your life... and the right kind of relationships.

If you’ve ever felt like something’s missing—this is it.

#BiblicalBrotherhood #christianmen #mensministry #ironsharpensiron #christianpodcast #menofgod 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

One of the central keys to walking in biblical manhood is also one of its most overlooked and neglected ones, much to the downfall of millions and millions of men in leadership, throughout society, over families. But what is it? And what does God want us to know about it? And most of all, what happens when we engage it? I'm Duncan Brannan. Welcome to Three in the Fire. A merry, merry welcome to you. Thanks for joining us on the journey. We think you're going to have a lot of fun. We sure do when we do this. But please, before I forget, be sure to like, share, and subscribe so that you can stay in touch, stay up to date on everything that is coming your way because we do. We've got some great stuff coming your way. Joining me once again here in the fiery furnace, though, of course. If I'm racked, then I guess that would make this guy Shaq, Josh Davis. Welcome back, brother. Good morning. Good morning, Duncan. Hey, and that would make this other guy here, I guess, here with us. That would make him Benny, a Bendigo. Max Morter. How are you, sir?

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Good, man. Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Awesome. Awesome. Well, guys, as you know, we just wrapped this series on biblical manhood. Okay. Really, really great set of messages that we want you guys out there. Please be sure and check these out. You don't want to miss it. I did a couple. Josh did a couple. Max did a couple. It was a battle royal, a tag team extravaganza. And then we had that big blowout episode where we talked about all the takeaways in that seventh round. So great stuff there. But I thought it would be good to follow that up with something else, because in every one of these podcasts, every one of these episodes, we want to solve a problem, right? We want to get to the root of some type of problem that we struggle with as believers and provide the biblical solution, the God solution. And I think I thought it would just be a really great idea if we followed the manhood series with a series of messages that would help guys walk in it by talking about biblical brotherhood, okay, biblical friendships. And to start us off, I thought this would kind of be a good way for us. I wanted to pose a question with you guys, a statement really, and then and get your take on it. Do you think it's true? Do you think it's false? And give me a little of background for reason why, as to why you think that, okay? So here's the proposition I make. Most men lead lives of isolation. Okay. Their friendships, their practiced concept of brotherhood. Predominantly it's it's limited to small talk, okay, to chit chat, worldly issues, trivial matters, uh, you know, some politics might get thrown in there every once in a while or something, but it's sports and things like that. Or guys are spending a lot of time talking about their own dreams, their own ambitions, their own goals, things, things that they want to do or have done. So they never prioritize, most don't prioritize manly relationships and build these deep, enduring bonds that God really wants us to have. Thoughts here. I'll pitch it to you, Max, first. True or false? Do you think it's true or do you think it's false?

SPEAKER_03 3:51

100% true. Uh men um have a reluctance on opening up and having a real relationship with another guy. There are some uh some hesitancies because of the perception. The guy doesn't want to feel like he has uh he has weakened his stance in the eye of the other guy. If he extends a hand of friendship and goes deeper, then the other guy might not be able to receive that because he's he's not prepared for a relationship. And so there's this danger zone that I'm gonna be perceived as weird or worse yet, for the lack of a better term, gay, because I'm I'm trying to connect with another guy. And our society has painted us into that corner, and I think real men figure out how to get out, and guys who are struggling stay in that corner.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Okay. Josh, what are your thoughts here? True, false, why?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Yeah, I think it's absolutely true. And I think a lot of, you know, we just talked about uh manhood, and a lot of the the message of the world that it's that it sends to men is that you've got to do this alone. Um, that there's gonna be nobody there to help you, that they're you know, it's all on you, you've got to do it all. It's this lone wolf mentality. Um and uh and then the constant comparison, you know, uh of social media and like that. We only see the best highlights of everybody's life, and so we think, um, well, you know, I've got a I've gotta, you know, there's there's something wrong with me, uh, and and I'm not gonna let anyone know that there's something wrong with me because I don't have it all figured out. And so you've got all these guys, you know, that are think the other ones got it figured out, and so they're not gonna, they're not gonna share their you know, any weaknesses because they wanna have this image that I've got it figured out. And so it's just this mess, you know, yeah that that the world sends, uh the culture sends uh men when the reality is um we we deep down we desire um have close relationships with guys that that know us, know us well, um, and that can encourage us and speak life into us. We desire that. Um, you know, when when we sit around uh the campfire um with other men, that we desire that. We we we want that. Um, but we're too afraid to go there, I think.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Okay, good. So so there's there's our takes basically in general, and and I'm in agreement with y'all's with y'all's reasonings there behind it, and and and thanks for for helping color it a little bit for the guys. Um so we've got we've got kind of our take on it. Let's talk about God's take now on it in in scripture. Uh first place that I wanted to go is Proverbs 18, 1. The wisest man in the world, okay, that guy who who penned the Proverbs for us, good old wise King Solomon. He had something really important to say that I think kicks us off as we begin to explore the problem, okay? The problem, the barrier to experiencing and walking in biblical brotherhood. Listen to what he says here, Proverbs 18:1. He says, Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire and breaks out against all sound judgment. I'll say it again. Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire and breaks out against all sound judgment. Now, none of that to me sounded good. None of that sounds like a good idea, but I want to start breaking this verse down here little by little, kind of do a little bit of a word study here. Uh, and I'll I'll tell those of uh those of our listeners who might be new to the Christian faith, maybe new to your Bible study, and you've never looked at at the original biblical languages. Just a little thing for y'all here, real quick. The Bible's written in three languages: the Old Testament, first 39 books, written in ancient Hebrew or classical or biblical Hebrew, it's called. That's Genesis to Malachi, that's written in Hebrew. Then you got the other half of the Bible, 27 books of the New Testament, that's written in Koine Greek, and then there's just a little bit of Aramaic in both of those. So there's three biblical languages. And I mention that just because whenever we start talking about the definitions of biblical words, we want to find out how God defined it. And he defined it using these languages that he told the apostles and prophets to give it to us in. So the first word that we're looking at here is isolate, this verb isolate that Solomon throws out us. Whoever isolates himself, and it's this Hebrew verb parad. And basically it means to separate, to divide or scatter. Has two meanings here, but this is the first one separate, divide, or scatter. So the first idea he's throwing out to us is that once upon a time there was a whole thing here, and then it got divided. Then it got broken apart. So there's already something wrong. There was a whole, now it's a half of something that it's really intended by God to be. So there's that part. Now, the other part, when when I was looking at it and preparing to talk about this, it really blew me away. I had not seen this before. The other half of the definition means to dislocate. Literally, think of a dislocated hip or a shoulder. It literally means dislocated or out of joint. Something's out of joint. So I don't know if you, Josh, you had some football back in your days. Max, I know you did. I did when I was in a kid on up to junior high and so forth. If you've ever seen a dislocated shoulder, it is not pretty. And the guy who gets it ain't in a world of world of fun. No. He's usually screaming, it's bad. And and that shoulder, that arm ain't gonna work. It will not work, it is out of socket. And so now we're talking about something that has this original place intended for it, but it's not in there. So it's not gonna function. It's not gonna work as God intended. No part of this definition is good. None of it. And what God is is really saying to us is that the man who isolates himself, he says, You're like a dislocated shoulder. Life just ain't gonna work for you this way. I I had something different in mind. Now, Solomon he takes it one step further and he attaches a motive to it also. He says, There's a reason we do this. We were talking about some of those earlier, okay? Here's the fundamental thing that Solomon throws out whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire. Okay? Yikes. Solomon says, Well, you're making it about you, not about God. It ain't God's way of doing things. This is it, you're seeking to please yourself. You're seeking to do your own thing, to kind of go your own way. God don't have anything to do with this thing. Now, maybe you've experienced some bad things in life, separation. Maybe you've experienced a betrayal from another guy. So that could be an underlying motive, certainly. That could be in the picture. You're kind of afraid of opening yourself up and making yourself vulnerable. I get that, God gets that. No, but Jesus was betrayed. He understands that. But he says, you we've got to press past that and get back to God's plan for it. The other thing that he says here, um, the other verb that I want to get to is breaks out. He says, Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire, and he breaks out against all sound judgment. Whenever you ever I hear breakout, I think of like a prison break, some busting out of a wall. And the Hebrew word here, another word, it's it's it's one more that has a double meaning. The first part of it, it literally means to be stubborn, to be proud, to be obstinate, to be quarrelsome, you're pushing back. And so God says if we're doing this as guys, if we're isolating ourselves, he says you're being stubborn, you're being proud here, you're you're being quarrelsome with how I want to do things. And it also means to expose or lay something bare. So God's saying the second part, the bad, the other bad part of this thing is that it leaves us vulnerable and open to the the the devices of our own nature, to the hostilities of a fallen world. Hostile world don't love Christianity, they don't love Jesus, and of course, to the enemy and his temptations. So nothing in this picture is is good so far. Any any thoughts you guys want to want to throw in here?

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Yeah, I'd like to say that the No, go ahead, Josh.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Um, I just think about um, well, one, um, scripture says, you know, the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

And lions, lions are looking for um the animal that is isolated and alone. Um and you know, so when you when you've if you've ever watched a uh a nature documentary um and you see how how those animals hunt, they're trying to to uh get their prey away from the pack. Um and so uh, you know, that's if if you allow yourself to become isolated, like you, like you just pointed out, I mean, the very definition of that word um is exposed, yeah. Exposure. And so you are exposed like like an animal, and then the enemy is going to attack you and he is gonna devour you. Um and so it's just it's amazing how you know when you dig deep, when you dig into the the definition of those words, um, just how true, true they really are when you connect it to the reality of the world and the reality of you know, the way that lions do hunt and the way that the enemy does hunt and the way that it does affect us. And so um, you know, I just I think the way you uncovered that word is really powerful to the just the reality of uh life and and manhood. You want to tag that, Max? Oh, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

The uh the definition when you're thinking of the bit over here.

SPEAKER_03 14:25

Yeah. Let me have some of that. You know, when you were talking about stubborn and defiant, that is typically You really identified with that, didn't you? Yes, exactly. I I see myself there. But I I think that is the plight of almost every man, our unwillingness to to take correction, right? And really the isolation position is a easier position, right? I don't have to contend with anybody's opinion. I'm not gonna compare myself with anybody. If if I'm doing that, then I can talk myself into or out of anything. There's no conflict there. It is lonely, right? There's loneliness every day, but it is the easier way, and I'm I'm gonna throw this out there that the easier way in this case is trying to find um trying to find an easy way to make it so not have to put up with the threat of change. If I'm associated like I'm associated with you guys, um I I may say something and you hear something in what I say, and you bring me, you you you ask about it, right? You might hold me accountable to what I said. But if I'm not associated with anybody, I say what I want to say, I can think what I want to think. Nobody's gonna try to speak anything into me. And I can I deceive myself, or I let myself be deceived into thinking that, like what Josh was saying earlier, hey, I'm my own man. Man, I am the lone wolf out here. And and I began to think that that is the position of power. And truly, I am setting myself up to get picked off, to get shot, to get attacked, because that is how the enemy works. Yeah. I deceive myself into thinking this is just what a man does. And there is no greater pile of manure than that, because that is not that's not where strength for men come from. It comes from the pact, it comes from being connected, this isolation. Solomon, of course, nails it perfectly, right? I'm making the choice to be by myself because I believe it is it's a sign of my weakness because I don't want to get better. That's I'm gonna go out there and on the limb and say that.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Well, and go ahead, Josh. Yeah, Duncan, I I I think you're probably gonna talk about David here in a little bit, but this just makes me think about um in 2 Samuel 11, we have the story of David and Bathsheba, and it starts, it starts, it says, in the spring of the year when kings go to battle, right? David's David sent his he sent Joab and he sent his men to battle, but David stayed in Jerusalem.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Wait, wait, wait, he isolated himself?

SPEAKER_00 17:18

He isolated himself, he stayed in Jerusalem.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

He broke out against all sound judgment? Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

That's what it sounds like. Yeah, and then and then he he sends his men away, these men um that uh that are his top men, the men that he probably lives life with and probably and have influence in his life in terms of what they say carries weight with David. Yeah, um, he sends these men away, so David's not isolated, he stays in Jerusalem, and the very next thing that happens is he sees Bathsheba and he gives into his lusts and his desires.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Worst scandal. Or the second worst scandal of his of his kingship. So yeah, and I love the way Solomon crowned it for us here in Proverbs 18.1. He says, the guy who does this, he breaks out against all sound judgment. In other words, he says, You're crazy if you do this. A sane person, a God-thinking person, the spirit of a sound mind does not do this. There's there's something better. So let's let's dig a little further now. Let's I want to trace this now all the way back to the beginning. Let's go back to the Genesis creation for a second. Okay. You remember the Genesis creation, Genesis 1, we've got the six-day account there, okay, of God creating the heavens and the earth, everything in them, light, water, animals, sea creatures, day, night, all of these things. He creates these things. And then he makes a series of statements at the end of each creation day. Scripture says, and God saw that it was good. God stepped back, he looks at the work, the end of the work for that day. Now he does this. There's six times he does it. Genesis 1, 4, uh, 10, 12, 18, 21, and 25. Hike, hike. Okay. So six times he does this. Then he does it again one more time. And it's it's that that last day, that sixth creation day. He's just finished making man, crowning of his creation, crowning point. And it's like he's like an artist stepping back from the canvas, looking at the finished painting, and says, And God saw everything he had made, and behold, it was very good. So a total of seven times, any coinketings there, I don't think so. Seven times in Genesis 1, God uses the word good to describe his creation. Now, what's so interesting to me as we dive into Genesis 2, Genesis 1, it's kind of a 50,000 kind of foot view. God kind of looking down, and we're just getting kind of a quick panorama of each creation day. Genesis 2, it's like he zooms in. He wants to zoom in on day six, and he wants to talk about this thing he he made called man. And for the first time as he's looking at his creation in Genesis 2, 18, he looks and says, you know what? This part is not good. That's not, hmm, that that's not good. I I don't like that. And I'm like, immediately I'm like, okay, now wait a second. You said seven times all this was good. And if he says something's not good, now I want to know, okay, let's talk about what good means first of all. What does God mean when he says, when he says good? So the the Hebrew word here is taub, T-O-W-B. Tob, and I looked at this definition, I went, well, I guess that covers it. It means beneficial, beautiful, best, bountiful, cheerful, at ease, favor, gracious, joyful, loving, merry, pleasant, precious, prosperity, wealth, welfare, and sweet. I was like, I think that pretty much covers the definition of good. So God looks each thing, He separates light and darkness, and He goes, that's sweet. That's bountiful, that's good. Gets all the way up to man, and he goes, Man, man, that he's really good, isn't he? Prosper, prosperous, blessed, welfare, well, all these things describes it as good. So I'm pretty convinced that God knows what he's talking about when he says good. Then he gets here and he says, now that's not good. And the one thing that he says not is not good in Genesis 2.18 says, Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. It is not Tau, it is not blessed, it is not bountiful, it is not best, it is not beautiful, it is not favorable, it is not for his welfare, it will not lead to prosperity, none of those things. It's not joyful, it's not merry. None of that is good for him. Nothing there. So the rest of the statement is he says, Okay, I'll make a helper fit for him. And I'll touch on that here in just a second. I'll make a helper fit for him because that's the woman. But he says in verse 18, only time he said something about his creation, it's not good. Now then something interesting happens in the text because in verse 19, this is when he starts bringing all the animals for Adam to name. So he's just said, this is not good. Now let's bring these animals for Adam to name. And Adam names all the animals. And at the end of that, in verse 20, it says that, but for Adam, there was not a helper found for him. So here's what I think God's doing. God looks at it. God already knows this is not good that the man should be alone. But he wants man to know it. And so he starts bringing all of the paired off animals. He starts bringing all the all the little animal families to him. And he's saying, What do you think about that? Oh, that's cool. And I'll call this one and I'll call that one. And Adam gets through this process and he's like, Where's where's my what? Well, that's not good. And God's like, you're right. That's not good. Let's do something about it. And so, immediate context, we know he creates the woman. So, yeah, the Azerconegdo, that's that's the immediate thing. But what I'm saying here is that God had more in view. And in Genesis 1.28, that's where he said, you guys, to Adam and Eve, because they're in Genesis 1 also, not just in Genesis 2. They're both there. Genesis 2 just is just the zoom in. But he looks there and he says, Now you guys be fruitful and multiply, replenish and subdue the earth. So right there is the whole view of there's going to be family. There's going to be kids one day, aunts, uncles, cousins, all these people. So there's already a picture of brotherhood that's right there, married within the whole, the whole understanding of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. God has this in mind. So this is what he wants. He wants us to have this thing, says it's not good if we don't. But the other reason that I know that God was talking about brotherhood is because of what he says somewhere else. And it's Psalm 133. In Psalm 133, the Bible's most quintessential passage on brotherhood, it's the definitive one in all of the text. This is what he says there. He says, How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. He starts talking about brotherhood, and the first word he uses to describe it is the same word that he used when he made everything in the very beginning. He's talking about brotherhood, and he says, This is good. This is good too. I made it, and I want you to have this also. Thoughts you guys want to throw in there.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Well, you know, I think uh it's interesting uh in Genesis 2.18 when God finally says something is not good, uh and and like you pointed out, he says it's not good that man be alone. Um he got God points out something, he he points that out before he even identifies sin. So before before sin even enters the picture, God says that isolation is not good. That's good. And so that should tell us something, you know. And uh and I think so. I think that's huge that that that's identified before before the other stuff. And then uh two, just when you when you're talking about in in the very next verse in 19, when he starts bringing the animals to man or to to ad. Um it just makes me think of of how many guys sit around and be like, all I need is my dog, you know. I just need my dog, I don't need anybody else. You know, we still we still think that way, you know. Um and the dog is dog is a is a a great pet, um, but it's not it's not a suitable um uh person that you know it's not a person, it's not it's not gonna work. Yeah. He can't do this.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

Right, right, yeah. It it seems to me that uh the enemy's strategy here is pretty consistent, that he has jumbled up uh and again deceived us on uh first of all, what what is good in relationship with the woman, right? And we we have jacked that up, and I'm sure there'll be uh future podcast episodes about that. But he's done that same thing with brotherhood in the sense that it is something really good for us. God said it, right? Psalm 133. That that unity is good and that his blessings flow in that unity. But we we don't have an understanding of what that truly means, or we fear it uh for some reason because we're we we don't understand it. And it's like you know, putting on uh a jacket and putting your your legs through the you know the armholes and trying to wear the jacket that way. It's we're trying to wear brotherhood in a way that it was never intended to be worn, ever. And so it's so since it doesn't fit right or it's weird, then we we avoid it instead of realizing maybe it's me that's trying to put it on wrong, and realizing that this is something that is good and benefits us. It draws us together, makes us stronger, it keeps us from being deceived and defeated by the enemy. So of course he's gonna keep us from trying to understand what it is because it empowers us against him. So the the idea of brotherhood is generally it's taken to the extreme. It is either eliminated from a guy's life and he's got his dog. That's a good one, Josh. Or it is he is inundated, he takes it too far, and everybody's his brother, right? He's a brother to everybody, and he he dilutes it instead of understanding the power of creating relationship with the the the guys who are closest to him. Um I I I see us just wearing it in the wrong way, is basically the point I want to make with that.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

I what I think is so beautiful about this, and I don't want to miss this point before we kind of press a little further into Psalm 133, is the process that God brought Adam through to show this to him. You know, we talk about positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, and this would be an example of positive reinforcement. God already has already learned the lesson, as you know, he doesn't learn. God already knows, he already knows the answer. He wants Adam to learn this lesson too. He wants Adam to see it the way he sees it that this is also not good for him. And so he he brings all the animals, he walks him through this process. And as I was looking at that, I was thinking about how many times is God trying to get to get into our heads as guys. If we're doing life alone, how many processes does he walk us through or have to walk us through before it finally does the six-inch miracle, goes from head to heart, and we go, you know what? This is not good how I've been doing life. I agree with you, God, this is a bad idea. I'm laid bare, I'm exposed, and I'm I'm fighting against your plan for how you wanted it from the very beginning. Whoa, I want to do an about face right now. You know, Adam, you know, right here in this instance at least, he gets to learn the lesson the good way. But oftentimes guys have to learn the lesson the hard way too. We that you know, it might be end up in a public humiliation of some sort, some fall from leadership or something like that, some moral failure in our marriage or something like that. And why? Because we were doing life alone, and it never had to be that way. Right. I just I think that's such an important part of this picture that God's trying to paint for us and help drive home the why that he's really, really wants us to learn here. But jumping back at Psalm 133 for a second, okay? I want to talk about just the occasion, the background for it just for a second. Uh, because context is is everything. It really helps color the picture for us. And the context, most scholars agree about Psalm 133, is that the context is is it's the reunification of Israel at David's coronation. David is David has just been crowned king, and all Israel has finally come together. So preceding this, preceding this, we had the death of Saul and the death of Jonathan. David's best friend in life, Jonathan, he died. Okay. Saul wasn't so much of a friend. Chuck and spears at him and all of that. Okay. But we had the death of Saul and Jonathan, and we had, the scripture says in 2 Samuel chapters uh you know 1 through 4, there, it says that there's been a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. So there literally has been a bloody civil war going on for several years now, and it is brother against brother. Men are isolated, house against house, father against son. It's nasty. And then, boom, comes the miracle. David's crowned as king, kingdom's unified, and David on that occasion writes Psalm. You know what? We need a celebratory song. So we remember this moment, and he writes Psalm 133. That's the background for it. The other part of the background is that loss of Jonathan, who was his best friend. And go down that list in scripture starting at 1 Samuel 18, and it tells us this was the guy whose soul was knit to David's. They were just tight. Jonathan loved him as his own soul. He's and first time he meets him, he strips himself of his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belts, and hands all of this to David, saying, Man, I love you. I'm gonna cover you, I'm gonna protect you. And here's a symbol of it right here. And then he makes covenant with him. He says, Show me the steadfast love of the Lord that I may not die, and don't cut off the steadfast love of the Lord from my house forever. So this is that guy. Those two things are the surrounding context for him writing Psalm 133 and saying, Man, how good it is when there is biblical brotherhood going on. It's it's beautiful. We could stop right there and and and and and and be done, but the other two things that he throws in on us is this description, kind of really what is the result, the outworking of brotherhood that really finishes out the why for us here. He says how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. And then, verse two, he says, it's like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on Aaron's beard, running down on the collar of his robes. So, first thing he says, he says it's like anointing oil. And then he says it's like the dew on Mount Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion, and there the Lord has commanded the blessing life forevermore. So there's these really two vivid word pictures. First, anointing oil, and the second, the dew of Mount Hermon. Now, the thing he says about the anointing oil, the first thing that jumps out to me is he doesn't just say it's about the anointing oil, he throws somebody's name in the picture. He says, Aaron. He says it's like the oil running down Aaron's beard, down Aaron's collar. Now, we know Aaron, he's the first high priest. Only one guy, only one guy in the whole layout of Israel and the priesthood, only one guy could go into the Holy of Holies. That was the high priest. Aaron's the first of that order, of the Levitical priesthood. He's the only guy who gets to go in there year, and it's only once a year, but he gets to go in there. And so what I believe God's communicating to us here is he says, this anointing oil, he says, listen, he said, this thing, when you start doing this brotherhood, it's like that oil that's flowing down Aaron. It and what comes with it, the same thing that came with Aaron, it's empowerment, it's intimacy with God. God says he's gonna show up and he's gonna get all over this thing. And you can't even contain it. It's gonna flow down your beard, it's gonna get on your collar, it'll get all over the whole body. If we walk in brotherhood, he says there's gonna be an outflowing of that in every part of our life and for those around us. That's huge. The other side of that is the dew on Mount Hermon. And I love this. He says it's like the dew on Mount Hermon. Now, Mount Hermon is located in the northern part of Israel. So if we're looking at a world map today, we're talking about modern-day uh the Lebanese and Syrian border, okay? Mount Hermon, that's where it's located. And Mount Hermon's known for its snowfall and this dew that collects there. And then you've got the rest of Israel, you've got these dry and arid regions. Were it not for Mount Hermon, everything would be a desert and you couldn't do much. But because of the dew that falls on Mount Hermon, because of the snowfall, the land gets regularly watered. It gets refreshed so that it becomes vegetative, productive, and life starts springing up. So he looks at us as guys and he says, Is your life dry? Does it feel like you're walking in a desert? I've got something really good for you. Would you like a cup? It will refresh you. It will bless you. It will nourish and strengthen you. And your life doesn't have to be a doggone desert anymore. Take a sip of this and see if you don't like it. See if I don't command the blessing on that.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

What do you think?

SPEAKER_03 36:33

I think that it it is a that comparison uh goes back uh to some of the definition of truly what what manhood is all about, where we as men have been placed in a strategic place in the family and in society that that we that we we we are the the head. We are um God's plan starts with the man, and that in this particular case, especially the example there with Mount Herman, that because of our if we're positioned correctly, then the thing that comes from our life and the thing that comes from the actions, as as long as we stay centered on God, is going to nourish those people around us. We see that in families, we certainly see that in churches, we see that in society, that as goes the man, so goes the family, so goes the church. And if the man is isolated and the man has has put himself off someplace and separated himself out, then there's the the rest of the people that are aren't getting blessed, they're not getting fed the dew from Mount Vermon is not affecting the family, the church, and society, our communities. Um I think it is uh important, and maybe this is uh uh premature, but that it's important to determine that that solitude is not the same as isolation. Solitude is a great distinction. Great spiritual practice, right? But just because I need solitude, and just because Christ found ways to to put himself in solitude, he he was not isolating himself. He was being that blessing to those men around him and to those people around him. And so if if if I desire solitude, that's not the same as me isolating myself off from benefiting those people around me. I just um I think that that imagery there, Duncan, from Psalm 133 is so powerful.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

Josh?

SPEAKER_00 38:51

Um Yeah, you know, I just think uh, you know, you you just mentioned something, Max, about um uh about how we benefit others. Um and I just think that that that is so true, you know, when we talk about um brotherhood and and uh fellowship and and just everything we're talking about, right? It's not just about what we ourselves receive from those relationships. They're they're great, they're obviously great, and we do receive receive a lot from those. We're talking about all that we receive and the benefits and what God says that we will receive. But at the same time, when we live in those relationships, it's also about what we can give others. Yes. And um, and when we live in those relationships, um we we are positioning ourselves to use the gifts and talents that God's blessed us with. And we're act we're exercising scripture in James 1, where it says, be doers of the word, not hearers hearers only. We're we're positioning ourselves to be a doer of the word. We can we can offer comfort to our friends when they need comfort. In 2 Corinthians, it says God's a God of all comfort who comforts us in any affliction so that we can then comfort others. And so uh we're we're in a position where we can where we can do that. Um we're in a position where we can hear God's voice um and then speak what we hear to our friends and to build them up and encourage them. So it's not just about um what we're what we're gonna receive from those relationships, um, but it really is also um uh what we can give in those relationships too.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

One of the scriptures that jumped out to me during during this study, guys, was uh Psalm 68, verses 5 and 6. It says, father of the fatherless, a protector of orphans and widows is God in his holy habitation. So he he's talking about isolated people right here. Father of the fatherless, there's the orphan, and the protector of widows, there's there's the the the lost wife. It could be a husband who's lost his wife, wife who lost her husband, whatever. But this is God in his holy habitation. But verse six, listen to what he says. God settles the solitary in a home. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity. I think I heard that word earlier somewhere in what we were talking about. But the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land, a desert land. There it is, right there. And notice that he says God settles. Another version says God sets. Think about that dislocated bone once again. Guys, what we are saying here is this we've identified the problem, it's isolation. The cure is spiritual brotherhood, and the promise is that God's blessing gets all over this, all over you, all over your life, if you'll start to honestly engage in it. That's our challenge to you coming out of this episode. And that's what we're going to continue to talk about in this series. Now you've got the why. Next episode, we are going to be talking about the what. So, everybody, thanks so much for joining us here today on Three in the Fire. I'm Duncan Brandon for my friends, my amigos here, Josh, Davis, Max, my warder. Guys, super job chasing it here today. Everybody, please like, share, and subscribe. Share this with another brother, another sister who needs to hear this message. Help us get the word out about what's going on at Three in the Fire. We'll talk to y'all soon. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out there. Hey, before you go, if this blessed you, if this has spoken to you, please give us a like below. Click that little thumbs up right there. Share and subscribe. We need you guys to help us get the word out about what's going on here at Three in the Fire.