In this audio message, Bill Brown explains that it is important for fathers to encourage their sons not to neglect the local church. If a son views the church lightly, fathers should remind them that Christ purchased the Church with His own blood. A high price was paid.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NKJV) - "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

Every son needs to hear his father say, Son, never neglect the local church. 1 Timothy 3.15 I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Ephesians 3 21, To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Chapter 16 The Church Triumphant When people handle precious things with disregard or speak of important things with a casual air it shows that something is wrong.

You wouldn't handle a Stradivarius violin like you would a chainsaw and you wouldn't handle a newborn baby like you would a football. Different treatments are required based on the nature and valuation of the object. If a boy would be tempted to take the church lightly and make her a sideline in his life, he should remember that Christ purchased the church with his own blood. He calls her his bride, Acts 2017, Ephesians 5 22. The highest price was paid.

The church is precious to God. The amazing analogy of a marriage is given showing us that the church is important to him. This high valuation with blood and tender designation, bride, ought to make the church a high priority for all boys. I once asked a Marine who fought on Iwo Jima if he had any recollections of men rising up as true spiritual leaders. His answer was simply no.

Most books on the battle have very little to say about this aspect of what occurred. Even so, Iwo Jima may have been the launching pad for more prayers per square mile than anywhere else in the world in February and March, 1945. The 100, 000 troops engaged in the battle were facing such horrific circumstances that they had no choice but to cry out to God in prayer. As Paul reminds us in Romans 1, all men know God because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

This is not to say that these prayers were uttered by genuine believers, for many of those men were faithless, yet they prayed in desperation. Where there is violence and insecurity and threats to life, there is almost always a certain brand of sensitivity to eternal things. However, even though it must have been a place of prayer, there seemed to be a marked godlessness about it. As is true of most war books or documentaries it is hard to find anything that specifically documents the presence of the church or how the gospel made its appearance through the lives of true believers. The same is true of the Battle of Iwo Jima but there's always more than meets the eye.

For example, if you go to the National Archives to look at original pictures of the battle, there is a special section called religion. There you will find hundreds of pictures that document at least the outward appearances of religious life on Iwo Jima, of men clinging to expressions of spiritual things. We've already discussed the outworkings of their religion in the lives of Bill Brown, Bill Henderson on Iwo Jima. But there are other stories too. A Marine from the 4th Division, by the name of Cornelius Vanderbriggen Jr.

Wrote dozens of letters documenting his personal work as an evangelist and disciple maker as he did his duty in the hospitals of the Pacific War. He was a prayer warrior and evangelist. When Iwo Jima's wounded were brought to Guam, he ministered to them. He prayed, led them in the singing of hymns, and brought them together for Bible study and unshamedly challenged them to repent and believe in the gospel of Christ. He heard many testimonies of the grace of God.

He writes, and we rejoice, that others have come to call him wonderful too because of all that God has wrought these past few weeks as a consequence of Iwo Jima. Vanderbragen saw firsthand how the terrors of Iwo Jima were used by the Lord to bring salvation to many of the men who served there. He recalls it this way, to the world and to many brave fighting men, Iwo Jima will always be remembered with a sense of horror as the barren volcanic isle where upwards of 20, 000 courageous Marines were killed or wounded. Hell's Acre is the name that the world has given it, Yet there is a sequel which should be told of how some of Ewo's casualties burned and shell-shocked and racked with pain, though they were, came to know the living God as a consequence of their experiences. Consequence of their experiences, for God by grace used Iwo's terror to help bring them to his Son, Christ Jesus, the Savior of the world.

Thus for them Hell's acre has become the very threshold of life eternal. Not only did the experience on Iwo Jima become a theater for life eternal, it also exposed the strength of faith. Virtually all the wounded from Iwo Jima told of the unspeakable terror and how frightened they had been. One lad and his team spoke of the peace they had experienced in battle, the peace that is given in every circumstance to those who are trusting the living God. Had he not said, Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day, these Christian boys agreed that God had kept his word.

He writes further of God's work through his people in the Pacific. One boy reported when I was in my foxhole at Iwo Jima, text declared, I prayed to God plenty but it wasn't until two days ago that I found what I have always been looking for. I know now what it means to be a Christian, and I thank God tonight that Christ died for my sins on Calvary. Now I belong to the Lord and I know that he will never leave me." Son should be well prepared for a long, fruitful life among God's people wherever they might be. This preparation begins with their understanding of the importance of the church in the world and their responsibilities as part of it.

The church is explained in some of the most amazing images the bride of Christ the family of God a building a body pause A father must, number one, express God's role in his church. Every son ought to be aware that the living God is always at work in every inch of the planet to bring people to himself, and he uses members of his church to do so. No matter how barren the spiritual landscape looks on the surface, God's people are there. There's no place or situation that is out of his reach no matter how bad the circumstances might be. Evil may have been called Hell's acre but it was under the watchful care of heaven.

There were many who were brought into the peace of Jesus Christ through the repentance of their hearts and forgiveness of their sins on the battlefield of Iwo Jima. Peace like a river was brought to many in the confusions and desolations of this war. Even though the popular books and movies do not cover this aspect of the battle, the work of Jesus Christ in the hearts of men were the most important and the most powerful thing that were happening there. The church was alive on Iwo Jima even though there were many harsh forces seemingly obscuring it. Fathers must tell their sons, explain how the church body functions.

A father should make his son aware that prayers from the church will be poured out for him if he invests in her people. In America, prayers were constantly being raised on behalf of our boys on Iwo. There were fervent and faithful prayers offered up by the true church of Jesus Christ. They brought their prayers before the throne of God and He heard the voice of their cries. Even though Iwo Jima was a terrible experience, God heard those prayers and answered them according to His grace and power and everlasting kindness.

Many were redeemed by His blood and received a righteousness which was not theirs. It is interesting that in such a godless place men were still encouraged to pray before great battles, before each mission my father would go to the chaplain's tent to pray. From all appearances and from many of the testimonies I have heard, the representatives of the true Church of Jesus Christ on Iwo Jima seemed to be subdued, but the truth is there were prayers offered and angels deployed and the church was there on the beaches of Iwo Jima. In some ways, Iwo was a mirror of normal life. For some of the men, spiritual concerns were either non-existent or thought to be irrelevant.

To others it was merely a perfunctory service that simply covered the bases. For others it was out of raw fear that they came to religious services. Finally, there were a few, for the road is narrow, who were true worshippers of God, representatives of the true church. This is how we will always be in the world. Christians will be a minority in the midst of a mass of unconverted humanity.

These different dispositions are no different than what we find in peacetime. Yet the truth is that the Church is the pillar and support of the truth, making her the center around which history revolves. Fathers must, number three, exhort him to love the church wherever he goes. These are things I believe a father should communicate to his son about the church as he goes off as he goes off to make his way in the world. Look prior to correction, prioritize love covenant.

Look, you're part of the bride of Christ. Always look for her sons and daughters in the same way the Apostle Paul sought for them. When he sailed into Tyre, Acts 21, He looked for God's people and found them. They spent a week together and ended their time talking and praying and worshiping together. In Acts 21, Paul called for the elders of the Ephesian church from Miletus, a two-day journey.

They knelt and wept and prayed and then pardoned. Prioritize your part of a global family. That should be a high priority for you. Commit yourself to your spiritual brothers and sisters. Jesus was told that his brothers and sisters were waiting outside for him, and he answered, quote, Who is my mother?

Who are my brothers? And he stretched out his hand toward his disciples and said, Here are my mother and my brothers, for whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Wherever you go, make the church and relationship with God's people your priority. Make a lifelong commitment to pouring out your love and energy for the church. Pattern your life around the Apostle Paul who poured himself out as a drink offering.

Love the church is imperfect, yet worthy of our love because Christ has made her worthy. We are charged to follow His example of commitment to her and to obey His command to feed His sheep. In spite of her imperfection, Christ still calls the church his bride. Covenant make a covenant with a local church. This means you make it your pattern to Stand with the members of the visible church wherever you are.

Two are better than one. Stand together whether you are on the battlefield or here at home in your community. Whenever you move to a new community, make it your aim to be a major part of a local church. Find a church and be devoted to her members in brotherly love and service. Don't make a half-hearted relationship with her.

Devote yourself to a life of faithful service to the church by engaging the energies of your life for her prosperity. Here is a sample church covenant that expresses the things I believe we should prepare our sons to fulfill. This is a membership covenant of a church of which I am part, having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God to repent, believe, and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and profess our allegiance to Him having been baptized in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we do now in the presence of God angels and disassembly most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ, Acts 2.38. We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and by the aid of the Holy Spirit to walk together in Christian love. We will seek the salvation of our kindred, acquaintances and strangers who have not repented for saving faith in Christ, to be in prayer for the spiritual awakening of the lost in our community, and to be faithful witnesses of the gospel, both here and to the remotest part of the earth.

We will strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort to promote its prosperity and spirituality, to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline and doctrines, and to submit to its leaders as they are faithful to Christ. We will contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the Church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations. We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, nor neglect to pray for ourselves and others nor avoid the meetings of the church established by the elders. We will also maintain family and private devotions to educate our children in the Christian faith and demonstrate the love of Christ in all of our household relationships. We will watch over one another in brotherly love, to remember one another in prayer, to aid one another in sickness and distress, to walk circumspectly in the world, to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements and exemplary in our deportment.

We will strive to avoid all scriptural prohibitions such as tattling, backbiting, and unrighteous anger to seek God's help in abstaining from abusive drugs, food, drink, illicit material and practices which bring harm to the body or jeopardize our own or another's faith. We will cultivate Christian sympathy and feeling and courtesy and speech to refrain from speaking evil of one another, to be slow to take offense, to think the best of one another, and always ready for biblical reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay, so far as it depends on us. We will, if necessary, to submit to biblically defined and regulated church discipline for the purpose of reconciliation with God and man. We will, when we move from this place, if possible, unite with the church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant. How do you help a boy love the church?

First, you as a father must love her yourself. If you take her lightly then your son will follow suit. Second, you must take him to church, not send him. Take him, walk beside him, coach him to love the church with his time, with his resources. Third, never lose faith in God's ability to glorify Himself through the church.

No church is perfect and yet still He glorifies Himself through her imperfect members and ministries. Fathers also must say fourth never gossip about the members of the church or unrighteously criticize her leaders. Fifth don't separate yourself from the church and don't pretend that having church alone with your family is a legitimate expression of the church. If a boy would be tempted to take the church lightly and make her a sideline in his life, he should remember that Christ purchased the church with His own blood and that she is a bride. Christ loved the church to the end and he has done so in order that we would follow his example to be devoted to her in brotherly love all the days of our lives until he comes again.

Son, never neglect the local church.