The Honor of God: A Father's Day Conversation with Pastor Grant Castleberry

What is the honor of God? Very important question, my friends, and There's a book by that title by a good friend of mine, Pastor Grant Castleberry. Who's passionate about God's glory? And about preaching the word as a pastor, an author, a radio host. Pastor Grant, it is great to hang out with you a little bit today, brother, as we celebrate the honor of God, as we celebrate Father's with Father's Day fast approaching.

Stu, so great. to come on your show and just so appreciate you, your ministry. our friendship. And looking forward to talking with you. Tell us your passion with this book.

It is a, it's just a, it just hit me different than most books and most book titles. I looked at the title, I looked at the author who I know real well, and I thought, this is kind of cool, but it's, it's a bit different than. A lot of the New kind of in-vogue books out there. Tell us what led you to write this book, brother. Yeah, I think the title isn't necessarily intuitive to just the casual reader.

You know, you see a book, The Honor of God, you're you might ask, how does that affect me? Why should I read that? But I wrote the book because I think there. There's a a hole. In a lot of our Christianity, in the sense that we miss.

The Weightiness of who God is. And that's really what the word honor means. The Hebrew word speaks to God's weightiness. And the way that the scriptures describe our perspective of God is that we're meant to feel. The heaviness of God upon our lives.

We're meant to give him the honor, the respect, the... The Weighty nature that is due to his name. That's how we are meant to live our lives. And I think a lot of that is. Missing, and it's been a theme that has just kind of gripped me for the past 20 years.

And as I've read through the scriptures, I've just gone through and seen over and over and over again. That we are to give God the honor to His name. And when we don't, we actually shame Him and bring shame upon ourselves. And of course, ultimately, this theme of honoring the Lord is fulfilled in the person of Christ. Who honors God perfectly and takes on the shame that we deserve.

At Calvary, he takes on not just our guilt. But he suffers the most Ignoble. you know, death that you could imagine Taking on our shame as well as our guilt.

So I trace that theme of honor through the scriptures, talk about the work of Christ, but then also give practical ways as believers. You know, Paul says in Ephesians 4:1, walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. He says in Romans 12, 1 and 2 to live your lives as living in holy sacrifices Which are good and acceptable and perfect to the Lord.

So we're called to live for His honor. And his glory. And I just flushed that out, you know, through the New Testament. And I know there's a connection to Fathers and Father's Day. I mean, we have such a prominent theme of God as our Father in the Bible.

Pastor Grant, how would you encourage a lot of fathers out there, a lot of folks that maybe don't have fathers, maybe they lost their fathers. You and I are not buying Father's Day cards for our fathers this Father's Day. They're together in heaven. You know, it's a little different, right?

So it's a celebration. They're having a wonderful Father's Day with Heavenly Father, but we're here. on this earth, and it's tough, there's a lot of pain. Can you can you connect can you talk about the honor of God, your new book? And can you give a good exhortation to all the folks in the spirit of Father's Day?

Absolutely. I mean, it's fascinating. You know, the fifth commandment is honor your father and mother. And the Apostle Paul quotes that in Ephesians 6. And he says, you know, remember that that's the first commandment with the promise that you may live long in the land.

And you might ask, well, why would you live long in the land in Israel if you would honor your father and mother? And the connection is that God teaches us to honor father and mother because our fathers and mothers should be teaching us how to honor the Lord. You go back to Deuteronomy 6, and it was the role of the parents, the role of the father primarily to teach the children. When they're lying down, when they're awake, when they're walking on the road. who God is.

and how to live for him.

So the Jewish child was taught at an early age to honor their parents. And in so doing, They would learn to honor the Lord. They would learn to obey the Lord by obeying their parents.

So there's a connection there. And that's why that command to honor our parents, obey our parents, I think is the fifth commandment. You have the first four commandments. that are all about our vertical relationship with the Lord. You know, don't.

Take any other gods before the Lord. Don't take his name in vain. Don't make a graven image. Honor the Sabbath day. And then you have this command to honor your parents.

Our parents teach us how to do those first four commands. And then Horizontally, our parents teach us how to To live with our fellow man.

So it's critically important the role of a parent. And I think if we take a step back and think about what our role is as fathers, that is the connection: you know, there's a reason why God. Jesus teaches us to refer to him as father. And as fathers, we are to model. who God is to our children.

And I mean, that's a weighty responsibility. And we live in a fallen world. None of us do that perfectly. And some of us have fathers that are gone. Others have fathers that abandon them.

Others have fathers that. Possibly abuse them, that type of thing. But all of that, even the negative examples. Point to the reality, I think that longing and that ache that we have to know God as Father, as He really is. Yeah.

And we do have a perfect heavenly father who. Loves us and cares for us, who provides for our needs. And even when we are without a heavenly, without an earthly father, you know, my mom used to quote. all the time that that God is Is the uh the one who cares for the orphan and the widow. And even if you don't have a father who was there for you and you don't have a father to write to this Father's Day, There's a real sense, but if you know the Lord, that God is your father, you've been adopted into his family, and he cares for you.

He loves you like the father that you never had. And for those of us that do have fathers that are alive, that That are pointing us to how our Heavenly Father is rejoicing. That's a blessing, that's a gift, that's something to cherish. And to praise God for and to give Him the glory. Wow.

That's the voice of Pastor Grant Castleberry, who's also the author of a brand new book, The Honor of God, which would make a fantastic gift for. for you to honor your father or in your father's honor, bless someone with it. That's what I think I'll do. I think I'll bless someone who's been a father figure to me with your book, Pastor Grant, and to honor my dad. What a real blessing this book is going to be to many people.

It's a nice little hardback, not too long and an easy read, but full of encouragement. And Pastor Grant also has a wonderful radio program, Unashamed Truth, on a lot of the Truth Network stations, a powerful preacher of God's word. He's also a father, and he gets into that some in the book. Pastor Grant, you mentioned something that really hit me, and that is. How As dads As parents Often Our children Get their perception of God.

their idea of God, their idea of Of the Lord of the faith through us. That's a huge responsibility, but. What an honor that is. Can you talk about that? And to just to parents, maybe even young parents out there that just have kids.

You know, we talked before this show about kids getting us up in the middle of the night, you know? And, you know, and it can be extremely tough. You know, you've got diapers and you're running here and there, and it seems like there's always a catastrophe going on. And yet it is a brilliant picture and it's a brilliant opportunity. to bring His kingdom into that home and to what they see in us is a, you know, ultimately is to point them to the Heavenly Father.

Talk about that a little bit, sir.

Well, I think What you just said is important. Da dum. For a father. the most important thing that you can do. As a parent.

is to model Christ-likeness. It's the most important thing because you can learn all of these parenting strategies. You can do this, you can do that, you can tell your kids to honor the Lord, and you can teach your kids how to do certain things. But if you don't model, biblical manhood, if you don't model Christ likeness All your kids are going to see as hypocrisy.

So it's paramount for Dads, fathers, to model. Christ-likeness, to model what it looks like to have a devotional life, to model. Piety, to model humility, to model courage, because your children are learning. more from watching you than they are from listening to you.

So that means not only your relationship with the Lord. But also your relationship with your wife, your kids are watching, what they're gonna learn about the family. They're going to learn from how you respect your wife, how you lead your wife, and that is going to be the paradigm by which they approach their marriage relationship later on. Bringing your kids to church. And modeling what it means to be a churchman.

is so important. The reason why I am such a churchman today is because after my dad died, my grandfather. was You know, taking me to church Sunday morning, Sunday night. Wednesday night and drilling in me on the way the importance of being in the being in the body of Christ.

So, that example is just huge to nail that. And from there, you start. You teach and you train, but it all flows out of that example of demonstrating what it means to be a godly man. That's such a good word, Pastor. Wishing you a happy Father's Day and all the fathers listening.

And if you're listening to this show in the middle of December, happy Father's Day still because we all, every day is Father's Day, because every day as the Lord's Prayer reminds us, our Father who art in heaven, what a beautiful name that we can, we're no longer slaves of sin and bondage unto death, but we are children adopted by the Father. Romans 8, we call him Ah, the Father. Pastor Grant Castleberry, his book, The Honor of God. Pastor, give a shout out for your local church, those in the eastern part of North Carolina, the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area, looking for a good place to worship. Give a shout out for your church and then tell us how we can get a copy of this new book, The Honor of God.

Absolutely. You know, it's fascinating. My church just merged with another church, Capital Community Church and Christ Baptist have. come together as one church. Right now we don't have a name.

We are no name church, but we're Christ's church. And we're on the On Newton Road and right in the middle of Raleigh.

So, if anyone's looking for a God-centered church, That exalts the gospel of Jesus Christ, that focuses on expository preaching. We would love to have them as part of that body. And the honor of God. Uh I I would just I do think it would be a blessing to you, to your listeners. And um People can obviously buy it on Amazon through Barnes Noble, and then also at my website, unashamedruth.org, and at Ligonier Ministries.

Ligonier is who published it, so it's available through their website as well. Should have top