In his sermon titled 'Six Indispensable Pathways for a Father and a Son,' Scott Brown outlines a biblical vision for cultivating strong relationships between fathers and sons. He emphasizes six key pathways: delighting, walking together, teaching, working together, talking, and humbling. Drawing from various biblical passages, Brown highlights how cultural forces often drive fathers and sons apart, contrasting this with biblical teachings that encourage closeness and collaboration. He argues that fathers should prioritize their spiritual and relational duties towards their sons, including delighting in them, walking alongside them in life, diligently teaching them God's Word, working together on meaningful tasks, engaging in deep conversations, and modeling humility. Brown uses the biblical relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ as a guiding pattern for earthly father-son relationships, emphasizing the importance of co-laboring and shared delight. He also shares personal anecdotes to illustrate how these principles can be applied in real life, encouraging fathers to invest spiritually in their children, which transcends material wealth.

I'd like to try to cast a biblical vision for fathers and sons using six indispensable pathways for a father and son, six indispensable pathways for a father and a son. And all of this really is based on many things that the Bible says about fathers and sons, and particularly, my son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways. But the calling of a father and a son and not just sons, but with all of the children, is a great calling. And in order to do it in the way that the Bible has prescribed. It means that you have to set many normal things aside that other men are doing.

It means that the task is greater than you think and you shift the responsibilities of your life to focus and prioritize on the things that God has established. And remember you have eternal souls in your hands and God has given you his word for how you should deal with those eternal souls and one of the very interesting things about the things that the Bible says about fathers and sons and you can pick this up in Ephesians 6 Psalm 78 Psalm 145 Deuteronomy 6 all of the all of the the fatherhood and sonship Passages they drive a father and a son together all of them do that if you read them carefully you'll see that God is driving fathers and sons together. And it's very interesting to notice that because in our culture, everything is pushing fathers and sons away from one another. All the institutions, the entertainment industry, the sports industry is almost always driving father and sons away from one another. And you have so many enemies of the task of fatherhood that are always barking at your door, walking instead of with your father, walking with peers, walking with games, walking with your internet connection, walking in laziness, which we're talking about quite a bit at this conference.

You know, It was Jeremiah who said, do not learn the ways of the Gentiles. Don't walk in the ways of the Gentiles. And when you think about fatherhood, the ways of the Gentiles has completely overtaken the duties of fatherhood in our culture. And what Christians must do is to stand against the tide, to be rebels in that sense, rebels against a corrupt culture. And so when you're establishing biblical family life, you actually become a rebel.

You become a distinctive oddball in the culture. And if a man's not willing to do that, he's not really willing to follow the Lord, because The Lord calls a man to something that's so distinctively different than the rest of the world that that man stands out and as a result he might receive criticism. So I want to give you six indispensable ways, pathways for a father and a son and the first is Encapsulated in one word delighting Delighting and I want to take this from Proverbs 30 or Proverbs 8 verses 30 and 31, where we find this picture of the Father and the Son in eternity past. And you read this, then I was beside him as a master craftsman. I, the Lord Jesus Christ, was beside my father as a master craftsman and I was daily his delight rejoicing always before him rejoicing in his in his inhabited world and my delight was with the sons of men." The very first glimpse of the Father and the Son in eternity past is a Son who is delighting in His Father and a father who is delighting in his son Even if you go back to Genesis chapter 1 you'll find That the Bible begins with a story of a father and a son working together and what are they doing?

They are co-laboring in creating all that there is. And here you have a son is a craftsman who co-labors with his father. And they together are co-creators. And the father is the grand architect and the designer of creation and redemption. And he stands at the apex of all of history and yet the son is the one who brings his father's plans to completion and you see the their beautiful work in the the galaxies and the stars and the oceans and the mountains and the rocks and the glaciers and the animals and the rivers and all these kinds of things.

And tonight you probably will even go out and to see this beautiful night and you'll see the northern lights the the father and the son are the creators of these these marvelous things and that's why the Lord Jesus he talked about his father in John 5 verse 17. He said, my father has been working until now, and I have been working. This is actually a pattern for fathers and sons in the world. And you notice in creation the mechanical elements, the elements of beauty, and together they create infinite complexity in the universe. And it's so beautiful.

And so in eternity past, the Lord Jesus Christ is collaborating with his father. And then when the Lord Jesus comes to earth, He's working for His Father as a craftsman, as a carpenter. Most likely, they were building homes. The language that's used indicates that they were building things together. And so in the incarnation, the the Son is given work to do by his Father.

In real life, Jesus's father was given work to do by his earthly father. And I think this makes it very clear that God has established a pattern that fathers would deploy their sons in work and would work alongside them in the very same way that you see these things happening. The father is sharing his work with his son. Here's what I want to drive to. What kind of work do you need to give to your son?

What kind of work are you doing with your son? Are you laboring together? Are you are you operating in according to the same pattern as God the Father and God the Son the Lord Jesus Christ who are always always working together always creating always co-laboring always manufacturing something of value and You find the Lord Jesus Christ in the way that he worked and this is this is applicable for every son here what did Jesus Christ say I delight to do your will oh my father and your laws within my heart This is the way that a son is designed to operate, to delight, to do the will of the Father. Sons, I hope you're listening to me. Do you delight to do the will of your Father?

God has made you to be the most productive and the most useful in the world by actually delighting to do the will of your Father. I know that sons from time to time slip out of delight, but when they do, they need to understand what has happened to them. They've fallen into sin. Jesus said, I do nothing unless I see my Father doing it. I say nothing unless I hear my Father saying it.

And so, the first pathway, the first indispensable pathway for a father and a son is that the father and the son are delighting in one another. And I just want to ask you, is that true of you? Has delight been dimmed in some way? Well, if it has, it's not the end of the story. But this is something to work together toward, that if a son has lost delight, he should make his way back.

I'm issuing an exhortation to you sons if you've lost your delight in doing the will of your father. It was God that gave you a father. He gave you the father that you needed. The second indispensable pathway for fathers and sons is walking together, walking together. Deuteronomy 6, 4 through 9 makes this very clear.

The admonition is to fathers to make sure that something happens in their lives. It is a father that must assure that something happens with his son. He says, you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down and When you rise up you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontless between your eyes You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." The second indispensable pathway of a father and a son is walking together. Everything is pulling fathers and sons apart. And what you have here is a father who is walking with his children when he sits in his house, when he walks by the way, when he lies down, and when he rises up.

And you have to understand how comprehensive a life together that is that you God in his providence has given you a son that you might be with him and you might walk with him and and and and what is that father doing He is saturating his family with the Word of God. So walking, walking with your son. There are typically two different ways of education, two different philosophies of education. The Greek philosophy of education is to pour facts into your head. The Hebrew philosophy of education is that you walk together and you teach and you do it personally and you do it everywhere in every part of your life.

It isn't a classroom where facts are being poured into your head. It's a life of walking together through all the different things in life. And the third way of a father and a son is teaching. He says in Deuteronomy 6-7, you shall teach them diligently to your children. And this has to do with the responsibility that every father has he is a teacher and we live in a world where so many men they don't see themselves as teachers but God appointed all men all fathers as teachers and you might say well I'm not a very good teacher.

I'm sorry you've been appointed to be a teacher. God commanded you to be a teacher, So you need to start teaching. Well, I wasn't educated as a teacher. It doesn't matter. God has called you to be a teacher.

He has not called you to do something that you can't do. He hasn't called you to do something that you're not equipped to do. He's called you to do something that you can do, to be a teacher. And I would just like to ask you fathers, are you as diligent as you ought to be in the teaching of your children? Have you let it slide?

Maybe you started out and have had seasons of life where you've been very diligent in teaching. Have you fallen away from it? Well, it's not the end of the story. There's always time to ratchet up the energy and the focus of teaching. And of course, the greatest tool of teaching is the Word of God.

One of the things that I've observed over the past 20 years is that there actually has been a revival in our land for men who are teaching their sons and their daughters. I remember It was just over 20 years ago. I was in a room with 700 men and I asked them how many of you ever had your father read the Bible to you ever? I was very careful. How many of you ever had your father read the Bible.

And there were 15 hands that went up. In other words, almost no one in the room had a father who read the Bible to them. But that's not true today. It's not true in this gathering here. It's not true in hundreds of churches that I know about, because actually there has been a revival movement of fathers.

But that's not done, because a father always needs to be re-revived, and because a father always needs to be re-revived and because a father always needs to get back on track in the things that he's been called to do. But God has given his Word as a teaching tool and I want to ask you how's it going? Is it something that you used to do? Well maybe it's something that you do what you used to do from now on. The fourth way of a father and son, the fourth indispensable way of a father and son is working together.

The biblical pattern for fathers and sons is they work together and that they, as I introduced in an earlier point, they have tangible, they have tangible things that they are, that they are doing together. You know, Working together as a father and son is one of the most powerful things you'll ever do for your son. It changes a boy when he works with his father. When my son was eight and nine years old, I strapped him to my side and I took him everywhere I went and his mother gave me his books and said he's yours and so we walked together and we worked together and We did not play We worked and we worked long days together. And one of the great tragedies of our world today is that boys are lost in games instead of working with their fathers.

And I think that it's very helpful that we understand how contrary to the Word of God it is for a boy or a man to spend their lives playing games. None of our heroes of the faith were playing games. We don't see Abraham playing games. We don't see Moses playing games. We don't see Jesus Christ playing games.

And I'm not here to say that it's sinful to ever play a game, but we're not living in a culture where this is a small thing. We're living in a culture where it's saturated with games. And So it's really important that Christians as they establish Christian culture. They move away from a from a world of games And they move into a world of accomplishment and taking dominion like these brothers Have been speaking about It's very important that a son has his gaze upon his father, that he has his eyes upon his father. This is very difficult for a boy.

And when I strapped my son, David, to my side when he was very young, I found that it was sometimes difficult for him to focus on me and the men that I was talking to. And I tried to explain to him why this was so important. And I made an acronym to help him to understand what I was doing and the acronym is from the word power. Power P Stands for proximity the very best place for you my son David is to be with me not other silly little boys proximity second observation PO observation I wanted him to be making observations in the conversations that I was in and I would take him everywhere if I was going to talk to a banker or real estate agent or an attorney or a tenant or anybody like that I had him with me. I wanted him to be making observations and when we were done I would ask him what he observed, what kind of man did he think that we were with, what did he learn, what did he hear.

The letter W, wisdom. I wanted him to be gaining wisdom when he was standing beside me, that he would be listening for things that were wise, and I would ask him about them. Then the letter E, eye contact. I wanted him to be able to look men in the eye. And when a man is talking, he's looking at that man in the eye.

When another man is talking in the group, he's looking at that man in the eye. I wanted him to understand, to honor and respect the men that are talking. And then finally, relationship. I wanted him to have relationships with with godly men. I wanted him to know my friends.

I wanted him to know what made them tick and what was interesting to them and what he might learn from them. So I created this acronym, Power, P-O-W-E-R, proximity, observation, wisdom, eye contact, and relationship. And that was all to create an environment of taking dominion and an environment of work. And then the fifth way of a father and son is talking. This comes out of Psalm 78 verses 2 through 7 where Asaph sets an example for fathers and he says, I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old he's he's demonstrating the the work of a father who is talking to his son and then he is speaking of this of God's strength and his marvelous works that he has done.

And he does it for a purpose so that his son will set his hope in God. Because every son will set his hope somewhere. It's a father's design to help his son to set his hope in God through the conversations that they have. And then finally the sixth way, the six indispensable path for a father and a son is characterized in the word by humbling, by humbling yourselves. And I want to draw from Ephesians chapter 6, 1 through 4, where The Apostle Paul tells children to obey their parents in the Lord, for this is right, to honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.

And so these child raising commands are designed to drive fathers and sons together. When the Bible tells a son, honor your father, he's driving his son toward his... He's driving a boy toward his father and in verse 4 in Ephesians chapter 6 The word is to fathers and fathers do not exasperate your children do not provoke your children to wrath But bring them up in the training in the admonition of the Lord that drives a father toward the son so in Ephesians 6 1 through 4 the father and the son are pushed together, and the son is driven to honor his father, to be close to his father, not distant, not running away from him, and the father as well, not discouraging his son, not exasperating his son. And this is so critical. These two greatest dangers in the life of a father and a son is dishonor.

Dishonor of a son toward a father and dishonor of a father toward a son. Because it goes against everything that God wants to do in the life of a father and the son to to drive them together and there and you might think about the the relational commands in the Bible the one another's in the Bible all of those are designed to drive people together and that's exactly what God wants to do with you as as fathers and sons. Now it's so important that a son walks beside his father and a father walks beside his son. And it's very important that fathers and sons work together. It's very important that they talk together.

And I want to tell you a story that some of you might know. When my son David was turning 13, we went away for a week to plan the next five years of his life. And we went to a cabin in Virginia, and it was actually an old slave quarters, and we went and that had been rehabbed. And we spent a whole week there, and we'd spent that week there to plan out what we were going to do in the next five years. What books were we going to read?

You know, what men were we going to be close to? What places do we want to go? What things do we want to build? We lined out all these things and I told David, I said, David, I want us to picture, picture you're in the future. You're 18 and you're looking, you're looking back at the corridor of time.

What did we do? What did we accomplish? What did taking dominion actually look like what scripture did we memorize? What did we do and so that was the whole proposition and so he was 13 at that time we were just packing up and getting ready to go and My son said to me. He said Papa.

There's just one more thing. I want to put down in the plant. I Said what is it? He said I I want to have a house built free and clear by the time I'm 18 and I didn't really know what to say, but I'll tell you what I did say. I said, David, don't get wrapped around 18.

Because I don't really know anybody who's done that. I said, but here's what I know. If we write something down, there's this gravitational force toward it. So I said, let's write it down and let's start making little steps in that direction. And so there were different things that happened.

And of course, his house is standing right over there. And, while David's friends were out riding four-wheelers and playing on their Game Boys and scrolling, and scrolling through their, their phones. David was buying sheetrock and toilets and we were working together and we were building a house together. And David, he got married and he moved his, he moved the girl of his dreams into that house right before he turned 19. But that happened because his son honored his father.

A son listened to his father and walked with his father. And you know, Scott Brown and David Brown are not the perfect father and son. I can guarantee you that. But I will tell you that God honors sons who honor their fathers and he also honors fathers who delight to work with their sons. So I want to leave with you these six indispensable pathways for a father and a son and I'll read them to you.

First of all, delighting. Delighting in one another, second, walking with one another, third, teaching, fourth, working, fifth, talking, and sixth, humbling. You know, I want to tell you one more story. A couple of years ago, one of my dear friends died. And about 18 years before that, He started hearing some of us talking about fathers and sons walking together.

And he had a big corporate job with the Toyota Corporation. He came to the conclusion after hearing Deuteronomy 6 and things like that, where fathers should be walking with their sons. He realized that the way that his economic life was structured he wasn't able to do that. And some of us were running around saying you know if your life doesn't look like this You got a few need to figure out how to make your life look like this You got to start taking steps in that direction Maybe you can't do it all at once but you need to start taking steps in that direction because these are like biblical commands and so he he quit his job at Toyota and he started mowing lawns and working with his kids. And that just continued on and They prospered.

It was very hard at the beginning. But this man, he did walk with his children. And he did open his Bible. And he opened it every day. And he centered his life around this small, Yet most important thing that God gave him his family And I went to his funeral and all of his kids Walked up to that podium and They would quote long sections of scripture That their dad taught them when they were little long sections of scripture Because this was a man who saturated his home with the Word of God.

And they were so happy that they had a dad like that. And they never really had a lot of money. Did it matter? Did it matter at all? No.

It did not matter at all. What that man did is he placed the most significant investment in the hearts of his children, and that is the Word of God, by delighting in them, walking with them, working with them, and talking with them. God blesses his own ways, and I'm just here to encourage you to really go for it. Would you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your ways.

We thank you that you've told us how to live. And you've given us these precious families by your own wisdom. I pray, oh God, that you would drive these fathers and sons together in loving and delighting collaboration and work and all the things that you have for them. I pray that you would break down any barriers even this weekend and bless them. Amen.