The Necessity For Godly Fathers-2(2023)

The NECESSITY For GODLY FATHERS-II—Malachi 4:5-6(:4-6)

Attention/Need:

Dad’s Surprise

A mother & a daughter are shopping in the mall, when the mother eyes an expensive fur coat.

The mother turns to her daughter & says, “This year, I think that I’m going to buy my own present. That way you won’t have any pressure on you & dad to come up with an idea for me.”

The daughter nods in agreement before the mother continues.

“And that fur coat is exactly what I want.”

The daughter protests, “But mom, Some poor, helpless creature has to suffer so that you can have this.”

•Mom replies,“Don't worry honey, your father won't get the bill for a couple of weeks.”

Fathers, you may think yourselves to be ‘poor, helpless creatures’ sometimes, even in your own families!...

But the biblical testimony is that Godly Fathers are absolutely necessary for a family to be what God wants it to be.

Godly fathers are a vital part of God’s design!!

The prophet Malachi linked the importance of godly fathers to a positive outcome for mankind’s very existence.

Godly fathers are vital to our existence.

What makes godly fathers so vital for our existence?

3 validations that godly fathers are vital for our very existence.

Previously we found that...

1—Godly Fathers are vital as Those Who...

REMEMBER GOD’s WORD & WILL(4:4)

Today we’ll explore the truth that...

2—Godly Fathers are also vital as Those Who...

APPLY WHAT THEY REMEMBER(4:5)

:5—“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great & dreadful day of the LORD.”

YHWH God promises to “send” “Elijah the prophet”, sometime “before” the last days. Or rather send a person ‘in the prophetic style & function’ of “Elijah.” This “Elijah’s” overall purpose will be to warn Israel of the immediate approach of “the great & dreadful day of the LORD”(See :6).

Lk. 1:16-17—““And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.””

Luke 1:76-79—shortly after the birth of John the Baptist’, his father, Zacharias, prophesies of his son,—“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness & the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

OT prophecies fulfilled from: Mal. 3:1; 4:5; Jer. 31:34; 33:8; Isa. 9:2-6; Isa. 11:1-2; Jer. 23:5-6.

Jesus directly equated the coming of “Elijah” with the ministry of ‘John the Baptist.’

•So this prophecy of Malachi is a warning signal to God’s people, that ‘the last “day” will not “come” until God FIRST brings warning to His people, thru His “prophet.”

Regarding the appearance of “Elijah”...

Jn. 1:19-27—“Now this is the testimony of John[the Baptist], when the Jews sent priests & Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, & did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,”’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”[Isa. 40:3] Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. “It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.””

•Mat. 11:7-15—“As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, & more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’[Mal. 3:1] “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, & the violent take it by force. For all the prophets & the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”