The Necessity For Godly Fathers-3(2023)

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

Attention:

Adaptation:

The proud father brought home a backyard swing set for his children & immediately started to assemble it with all the neighborhood children anxiously waiting to play on it.

After too long a time of reading the directions, attempting to fit bolt A into slot B, etc., he finally gave up & called upon an old handyman working in a neighboring yard.

The old-timer came over, threw the directions away, & in a short while had the set completely assembled.

The father said, “It's beyond me, how you got it together without even reading instructions.”

The old-timer replied, “To tell the truth, I can't read. And when you can't read, you've got to think!”

We can sometimes get to the point where our lives become confused, simply because we are willing to swap good sense for the sake of legalities.

Fathers, you have surely been in situations requiring you to ‘think’ & ‘use your noggin’, by simply obeying God, rather than to complicate things by heeding even good-intentioned, yet fleshly-driven direction from others!

Need:

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

Yes, Godly Fathers are a vital part of God’s design, even though we are immersed in a world that tells us differently!

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.

But What makes them vital?

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

Previously we found that...

Godly Fathers are vital as Those Who...

1—REMEMBER GOD’s WORD & WILL(4:4)

2. APPLY WHAT THEY REMEMBER(4:5)

Today we’ll explore the truth that...

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

RESCUE The EARTH From YHWH’s CURSE(4:6)

:6—“And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come & strike the earth with a curse.””

The “he” is referring to “Elijah” of verse :5.

The purpose of Elijah’s coming before the great & dreadful Day of the LORD(:5), is to rescue the spiritual well-being of mankind. And God’s plan is to accomplish that by rescuing the spiritual well-being of individuals in individual families.

So the result of Elijah’s ministry, is to have a positive effect upon this world. And that positive effect is deemed necessary by God Himself! Because God is very concerned about the spiritual well-being of everyone.

•2Pet. 3:9—The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Elijah’s arrival will initiate the “turning” of the very “hearts of the fathers” of Israel(the faithful), to their “children” & vice-versa...

•We learned last time that ‘John The Baptist’ fulfilled the arrival of the prophet Elijah, by his operating “in the spirit & power of Elijah”(Lk. 1:17). John the Baptist(‘Elijah’) announced the coming & arrival of ‘Immanuel’—Jesus, ‘God with us.’

The “turning” of “father’s” “hearts” & their “children’s” “hearts” toward one another, will ultimately take place permanently, due to the permanence of salvation that Jesus gained for mankind thru His sacrifice on the Cross!

A “father’s” God-ordained design, as head of his own household, is to live life before his “children” in such a way, as to raise them to be God’s own ‘special treasure’/‘peculiar people’(1Pet. 2:9-10), that are dedicated to Him as their God. Just as YHWH Himself lovingly seeks for all His spiritual children.

The presence of arrogant, self-centered, unbelief(3:13-15) in the world, AND the coming of the Day of YaHWeH to remove that unbelief(4:1), actually hinges upon “fathers” loving their “children” enough to share God’s truth with them.

“Fathers” who love their “children” deeply, look out, NOT ONLY for their “children’s” PHYSICAL well-being, but ALSO for their SPIRITUAL well-being! And the result, eventually effects the spiritual well-being of others.

And in turn, that collateral effect of multiplication, secures the well-being of their nation...And so ultimately progresses globally!

These ‘turned hearts’ represent a MUTUAL respect & love that God—the ‘I Am’—intends & expects to be shared between “fathers” & their “children.”

Without “father’s” attentions upon their own “children” & families, there can be no relief & no stopping the potential of God’s “curse” which will bring about an end to sin in the earth...

*Without godly “fathers”, the entire planet will fall into the unavoidable DESTINY of ‘unrepentant sin’—And that DESTINY earnes ‘destruction’ from God. That ‘destruction’ will then allow God to reign perfectly freely, with perfect love, & having no opposition to the Kingdom of God...

1Cor. 7:13-14—“And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the [godly]wife, & the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the [godly]husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.”