Are you honoring your father?

In this audio, Scott Brown speaks of the importance for men to honor their father's and how he has sought to honor his father. He says when a society neglects to honor their fathers, it is the beginning of their downward decent. By honoring our fathers we honor GOD and glorify His name throughout the earth.

Journey to Honor My Father. This book is the result of a journey to give glory to God by honoring my father. Some years ago I started asking my father questions about his life and every answer increased my hunger to know more. So I sent my daughter Kelly to be with him to interview him and get his stories recorded for his great grandchildren. When I was a boy, my father would tell me only a very few brief stories about his time in World War II, but that would be enough to get me started thinking about that mythical island, Iwo Jima.

Back then he wouldn't say much, but I still heard about foxholes, Mt. Suribachi, P-51 Mustangs, explosions and flamethrowers. That has all changed now. He shares freely, and just when we start thinking we've heard it all, he tells another story we've never heard before. Now that I'm older, I understand how powerful a father's stories are.

They have had a surprising effect on every member of my family. Those stories have spread out and affected the community in which I live, and they've even spread around the world. My daughter Kelly's devotion to the spiritual legacy of our household led her to chronicle the stories of my father's life in order to identify the key evidences of the providence of God in our family history. She wanted to leave a legacy of honor toward God for all He had done through the stories of His kindness toward our family. The result was three years of research and then a 20, 000 mile trip from North Carolina with my father and my daughter Kelly and my son David.

After that my daughter Kelly completed writing her book about her grandfather entitled, Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer. A generation passing from the scene. When I realized that the men of the World War II generation were passing away, I determined to take steps to honor them before they had completely passed from the scene. One of the steps I took was to hold a Memorial Day celebration on our farm. I invited veterans from the community who would come and share their stories of the providence of God to whomever would listen.

That annual Memorial Day picnic now draws hundreds of people who want to hear the stories. I wanted to cast a vision for children honoring their parents and for fathers telling their stories to the next generation. Doug Phillips, who has been a regular part of the Memorial Day program and a tremendous inspiration for sons honoring their fathers, has stated it this way, not only to train fellow believers to honor their fathers and fathers to better disciple their sons, but also to touch the hearts of the unbelieving world with a creative but uncompromising gospel message of hope to the nation that will honor the Lord and thus secure their own providential protection by embracing the spirit of the fifth commandment. God has promised that it will be well with us and that we will live long in the land that the Lord gives to us if we honor our fathers. In my mind, this first command with a promise is the single best antidote to terrorism, foreign attacks, and division from within.

A nation that rightly honors fathers, honors God." Exodus 20 verse 12 makes it clear that God's covenantal promise is extended to individuals and nations who honor their fathers. When we honor our fathers, it is well with us and we will live long in the land. Throughout scripture, God communicates a methodology for sons honoring their fathers. Deuteronomy 32 7 reveals that God commands sons to interview their fathers. Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations.

Ask your father and he will show you the elders and they will tell you. Job chapter 8 verse 15 issues a warning that one generation must actively seek the wisdom of the past generation or be judged. It reads, For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers. We are but of yesterday, and nothing because our days upon the earth are a shadow. Shall they not teach thee and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag grow without water? Whilst it is yet in his greenness and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb. So are the paths of all that forget God." Well, sons have a duty to search after the truth by inquiring of their fathers. Scripture requires it.

The Lessons of our fathers help us to define manhood, they help us to grow up, to go further than our own fathers did. These lessons give us context, meaning, and direction. If sons do not search for the lessons of their fathers, they will suffer a loss of roots and will more easily wither. But when God touches the hearts of fathers, He can establish a spiritual dynasty that tends to prepare a people for a multi-generational victory. Scripture is filled with admonitions and examples of this.

In Psalm 78, the Lord challenges fathers to teach the next four generations of the mighty name of God so that their sons will be strong in the land. In Psalm 71 verses 17 and 18, God appeals to the call of the Lord upon the hearts of fathers. In Psalm 44 verses 1 through 7, God speaks of the confidence and the comfort sons receive from learning of God's providence from their fathers. Micah 4.6 clarifies the importance of the unity of fathers and sons that creates a people prepared for the Lord. It makes clear that the absence of this unity opens the door for the judgment of God.

As the World War II generation fades away, we have a tremendous opportunity and obligation to honor the men who lived in that era. Doug Phillips states that, quote, the loss of the stories is not only a national loss but it is also a personal loss and family loss. Ultimately it is a loss for humanity to forget the mighty deeds of God." The Bible makes it clear that if sons do not honor their fathers, it will not go well with them. Ephesians 6, 1-4. In each generation we have an opportunity to rise up and give honor.

I hope this book will be an encouragement to take on this important responsibility. Psalm 44 1-7 says, We have heard with our ears, O God. Our fathers have told us the deeds you did in their days. In the days of old, you drove out the nations with your hand, but then you planted. You afflicted the peoples and cast them out.

For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them. But it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them. You are my King, O God, command victories for Jacob. Through You we will push down our enemies, Through your name we will trample those who rise up against us, for I will not trust in my bow, nor shall my sword save me. But you have saved us from our enemies, and have put to shame those who hated us.

In God we boast all day long and praise your name forever. Selah