The National Center for Family Integrated Churches welcomes Jason Young with the following message entitled Malachi, Father's Hearts Turning Toward Home. It's a joy to be with you all. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father God, we do thank you for this opportunity to gather here together. Father, we thank you for this privilege that we have to know You, Father.

We thank You for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Father, we ask that You give us Your Spirit to understand all that we're hearing today. All of the exegesis of Your Word. The scriptures, Lord God. We ask, Lord, that You'd open the eyes of our heart, that we see good things from Your law, from Your Word, that You'd write them on our hearts, that You'd give father's vision, that You'd give mother's strength, that You'd give children obedience hearts.

Lord God, without You, we can do nothing. So we ask this in Jesus' precious name, Amen. Amen. How many here ever feel like you Just don't fit in Have you ever felt like you don't fit in? Not necessarily here, but you don't fit in.

You're like a round peg in a square hole. How many have ever felt that feeling like you don't fit in? How many of you ever felt that growing up? You know, it's interesting as we talk to people, they often feel like they don't fit in. And especially the men, and especially the sisters, and especially at given points in their life, it's like they just don't feel like they fit in, do they?

They just don't feel like they understand where they are or what they're doing. And there's a whole bunch of reasons as to why specifics, why people don't fit in. They don't understand their place. They don't understand why they're here. They don't understand how things are supposed to work together.

What is their role? What is their place in this world? What is my place in this world? How do I fit in this world? And so we go to God and we say, God, how do I fit in this world?

And we do find answers, but then we come into the church and we say, well, How do I fit in with you? And everyone is a little immature at times and don't exactly know even how to have these relationships that we talk about, let alone in the families and the emotional trauma and the lack of connections that people have grown up with. And it's normative for them not to fit in, not to have deep intimate relationships or know how to sustain deep intimate relationships. But yet they want deep intimate relationships, right? And so people are left kind of just wondering.

Then they wander around, kind of floating around, and maybe if I'm here, or maybe if I'm there, maybe if I go hear this speaker, or maybe if I can move to this state, maybe if I can just get out of California. Or maybe if I can just get out of Phoenix, Arizona, where it's so hot, and I can go somewhere else, or maybe if I can... And it just goes on and on and on and on. Where do you fit in? How does this all work together?

Turn with me to the book of Malachi. The book of Malachi was written in a time of great transition. It was around the year 515, well after the fall of Jerusalem in 586. Malachi's ministry may be set in the post-exilic period after the completion of the temple right around 515. It would have been right around the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

I think it was probably just before it, but it could have been just during it too. It was a time when the remnant had returned, but they were discouraged. God had not yet brought the greatness of the kingdom after the construction and dedication of the temple. The people were in dire straits, suffering from drought and famine. The wicked around them seemed to prosper.

They were struggling to make it all work together. They were wondering, how does this all work together? Why are these things happening to us? They couldn't put the pieces of their life together. It didn't make sense.

And they were discouraged. Can you put the pieces of your life together? Does it make sense? Both in the micro picture of your life and in the macro picture of the generation that you are in. Malachi is going to present us with a burden, an oracle, a vision that defines the problems of His day and ours.

And the people in his generation had one of three responses to this Oracle. Everyone here will have one of three responses to this Oracle. See if you can pick them up. Because the people in Malachi's day couldn't do it either. They didn't get it.

They were blind. He would tell them and they'd be like, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? A little note on the structure of Malachi. This is very interesting.

Malachi is a chiasm. Okay, it's like a, from the Greek word chi, let's use a horseshoe. So it's a horseshoe. So you think about a horseshoe, the Bible often doesn't outline like we do, right? It would say, start with a statement here and have a parallel statement here, then a statement and another parallel statement and bring in a parallel, like a horseshoe.

So you'd have A and A prime, B, B prime, C, C prime, think of a horseshoe with the center point, a turning point, in the book. Malachi is a big chiasm. It's a big horseshoe. So we're going to work through the parallel statements, see the center. OK, that's the structure of the book.

But the punchline, or the real interesting part of Malachi, is that the conclusion hangs all of the definition of that chiastic structure which is the last three verses of Malachi. So that's how we're going to go. We're going to take Malachi, we're going to look at it as to how it addresses the issue in their day, see it as a mirror for our day, And I believe you can use the book of Malachi as a paradigm on how to address these issues and solidify the reunification of life around the sovereign God and his law word So let's look at a letter a number one They didn't understand God's love They didn't get God's love. They're like God says, I have loved you, yet you say. Now look at the yet.

You can circle. Yeah, those are the excuses. Yet. We don't get it. I know you say this, But we don't get it.

I have loved you says the Lord yet you say in what way have you loved us? You ever feel like that What way has God loved me what way has God loved us? God says I've loved you because I chose you. Okay, I know you got pumbled in the discipline during the exile, okay? And so did Esau.

And Esau's struggling to get up, but I tell you what, Esau will not revive because I have not chosen him. He may try to rebuild, but I will knock him down. God's choice results in blessing. And so if you ever stop to think about this fact, that you were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world for those who believe. For those who believe God's choice of you, and there's one great example or command that you do as a result of being chosen.

It's not something that we debate. Well, you can debate it. But I love what Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians. We are bound to give thanks. 2 Thessalonians 2, 12.

We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren. Beloved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ therefore brethren stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught whether by word or by our epistle. Be thankful that you were chosen by God. Be thankful that He chose you from the beginning for salvation and sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. Okay so dealing with God's love.

What about the problem of spiritual leadership? Anyone think there's a problem with leadership in our generation? Do we think there's a problem with elders in our generation? With pastors? Political leaders?

Let's call it leadership. Fathers. Yes. And so God's going to go right after them. He says, you know what?

The reason you guys can't see the problem that you're in is because you are being led by the blind, and the blind are leading the blind. And he goes after them, and he says, consider this, a son, verse 6, a son honors his father, and a servant his mother. If then I am the father, Where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my reverence, says the Lord of hosts. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Yet, and here's another yet, you can circle that. Yet, you say, in what way? What are you talking about? To the priest who despised my name. I'm talking to you now It's like they just gulped and said well What are you talking about?

Yet you say in what way have we despised your name? Well you've not despised your name, and he tells them all the ways that they're despising his name. You are not valuing my sacrifice. You are not giving weight to the sacrifice that I have given you. You offer defiled sacrifice.

You say the temple of the Lord is contempt. In verse 8, when you offer the blind as sacrifice, isn't that not evil? Here they were offering the blind and the lame and the sick. They weren't giving value to the worship of God, to the glorious sacrifice that was talking about earlier that Scott did such a good job of talking about the sacrifice and what that pictured. They weren't giving weight to that.

And so he says, give it to your governor. Would he be pleased with his half-cocked sacrifice? Not at all. You are devaluing my name. And God says, it'd be better if you shut the doors.

Just shut the doors, verse 10. So that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain. I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hands." That's pretty strong words, isn't it? Can we think about the churches? We think about the devaluation of the sacrifice, the devaluation of Christ in our day, the devaluation of the atoning sacrifice that was given for all, once for all, to make satisfaction for our sins as Hebrews goes on and tells us about.

The devaluing of the blood of Jesus Christ? Is the blood of Jesus Christ preached in our churches? It's the blood of Christ where we find forgiveness of sins. And that sacrifice and the gospel is just set off to the side. It's treated as a relic of the past, or it's treated as a way of manipulating our way to get to God.

Take these four steps, drink this pill, spin around and say a prayer. It's devaluing the sacrifice of God. What's very interesting is God tells them, you're devaluing my sacrifice. And here's why. It's because you have no clue, these spiritual leaders have no clue on the grand vision of God, on the grand outworking of the kingdom of God.

And he picks it up in verse 11. From the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. In every place, incense shall be offered in my name and a pure offering. And my name shall be great among the nations says the Lord of hosts. This is something we see from Genesis to Revelation this total encompassing worldwide glory that the king will receive.

When will he receive that? I don't know. How will it happen? I don't know. But we should believe that it will because God says it will.

Amen? And so they've lost sight of that. They've lost sight of that. Verse 12, but you profane it in that you say the table of the Lord is defiled and its fruit its food is contemptible you also say oh what a weariness and you sneer at it says the Lord of hosts and that you bring the stolen the lame the sick thus you bring an offering Shall I accept this from your hands, says the Lord?" Verse 14, "...but cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemish." You know how I think an application of that is? Cursed be the preacher.

Cursed be the Father who has the Word of God, who will not value the Word of God to instruct Him in the value of Christ's sacrifice and just devalues it. That's what they did. They said they had the way of obtaining a proper worship according to the law of God. And they just put it aside And they did what is easy, and they did this goat this sheep. They said it'll be good enough Well worship that is good enough is not good enough for God God requires the best and here's why for I am a great king says the Lord of hosts and my name is to be feared among the nations and you better believe that means God's name is To be feared among his people Letter C next step judgment on the priests judgment on the spiritual leaders and Now Oh priests this command is for you If you will not hear and if you will not Take it to heart to give glory to my name says the Lord of hosts.

I will send a curse upon you and you and I will curse your blessing yes I have cursed them already because you do not take it to heart behold I will rebuke your descendants I will rebuke your seed cuts off their multi-generational blessing right there are we there in America I mean hello How many times does Barna and all these other guys have to tell us, the church is losing their own children. The church is losing three quarters or big numbers, right? Are all those numbers true? God is cutting off the seed of the apostate church. Their children are not following in their ways.

This judgment is upon us. It's upon us now. And for many of us that's been a wake up call hasn't it? I don't want to lose my kids. What is wrong with this situation?

God says, I will rebuke your seed. That's terrifying to me. I will rebuke your seed. And a lot of men, a lot of fathers say, well, I didn't want my seed anyway. They voluntarily sign up for the course.

Hey, I'd like to be cursed, take my seed. This snippet. I don't need it anyway. That is such a curse. That is such a judgment.

God calls that a judgment. We call it freedom in our culture. What does that tell us where we are? And Spread refuse on your faces the refuse of your solemn feast. It's the sacrifices It's the refuse of the sacrifices how many men here cut up animals and eat them Amen, right.

I suggest real men slaughter animals and cook them and eat them. Right? I don't care how you get them. Maybe you shoot them or you grow them or whatever. Right?

And you know, you just slit that animal. What comes out? Pfft. Right? That's what He's talking about.

The refuse. The guts and all that stuff. God says, because you are false, because you're devouring My sacrifice, I'm not only going to cut off your seed, I'm going to take the guts of those sacrifices, I'm going to smear it on your face. It's a pretty graphic picture, isn't it? God gets kind of graphic in his judgments You know people come to me sometime and they say Brother Jason, I don't think God hurts anybody I Don't think God really I had a young man.

God doesn't kill anybody Okay, you believe the Bible yeah, I believe the Bible let's look at some verses all right Let's look at some verses because I think you're missing God brings judgment because they did not because they would not value his sacrifice and they would not fulfill their role. Verse 7, chapter 2, verse 7, for the lips of a priest shall keep knowledge. This is what they were supposed to do. And people should seek the law from his mouth, for He is the messenger of the Lord of hosts, but you have departed from the way and caused Many to stumble at the law you have corrupted the covenant of Levi says the Lord of hosts therefore I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people why why Because you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in the law. You picked and you choose the parts that you would obey.

You picked and you choose the parts that you would listen to. You picked and you choose the parts that you would teach your family. And what you didn't like, you said, I don't want to do that you showed partiality in the law you judge the law and in judging the law you judge the lawgiver a God's love first people. B, spiritual leadership dishonors God. C, judgment on spiritual leadership.

D, D's the center of the horseshoe. D's the abomination. D is the issue that this leads to. Abomination. What was the abomination?

Chapter 2, verse 10. If you know Ezra and Nehemiah, you know what was their issue. It's the same thing. It's the historical context. Have we not all one Father?

Yeah. Has not one God created us? Absolutely. Then why do you deal treacherously with one another? See, they didn't get it.

What are you talking about? And here it is. By profaning the covenant of the fathers, Judah has dealt treacherously and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem for Judah has profaned the Lord's holy institution which he loves." And I'm reading from the New King James, and this is what he did. He has married the daughter of a foreign married pagan women Now why would someone of the covenant marry someone outside the covenant? Why would they do that?

Any reasons and yeah, can you think of any reasons that cord is going to get me? Not used to having cords here. Yeah, we don't need any of that cord there, do we? Thank you. Can you think of any rea- I could think of some reasons.

And my point is this. None of them are good reasons, are they? They're all for personal gain, wealth, lust. People of the Covenant don't marry people outside the Covenant. But this is exactly what they did it was an abomination May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does these things being awake and aware Yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts?

See that yet? You know what they were doing? They were marrying pagan women and then coming and worshiping Yahweh. And this is the second thing that you do. Now as you're marrying pagan women and coming and worshiping Yahweh at the altar, do you think God's going to be pleased with you?

You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying, so He does not regard the offering anymore, nor receive it with goodwill from your hands. Yet you say, for what reason? What have I done? Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously, yet she is your companion, and your wife by covenant. But did he not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit?" Which is an amazing verse.

The two become one as a spiritual activity before God. And why one? Why did God make the two to become one? Because He wants godly seed. Is procreation a part of marriage?

A reason for marriage? You better believe it is. It's like you can hardly say that anymore. Are you kidding me? Oh, it's just for pleasure.

You better believe it's not just for pleasure. It's for pleasure and procreation. He wants godly seed. Amen? Hallelujah?

We love godly seed. Right? We love godly seed. You know what? If two men get together, they can't do that.

We need to preach to the Church of Jesus Christ that the way we don't become like the world is to have godly seed. We must deal with the issues on the street with the Word of God from the pew to the street and take this message out so that all men may know that there is a God and that He has a design and that His design is awesome and splendid and wonderful and good. They didn't see it. Just like in our culture, we don't see it. Take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

For the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce. He hates it. For it covers one's garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously. What was behind the divorce?

Pagan women. Okay? Pagan women. Now, what's our issue? Divorce.

We have divorce, don't we? You know, You've heard the statistics that, you know, divorce rate in the church is the same as in the world or worse. What's behind that? Pornography. Yeah, pornography.

How many 50% of pastors or more view pornography on a regular basis come up to pulpit and preach? Are you kidding me? That's the same thing they did. They married pagan women, and they took their sacrifices, and they went before the Lord. They went before the Lord.

And God says, I am not pleased with your sacrifices. Stop preaching. How can you be a father and lead your family when you're addicted to that stuff? Step number one. I mean, well, gospel is step number one.

You can't do it. You can't. You have to repent. You have to get help. It eats at men.

It destroys the strength of men. It destroys the marriage. It destroys the marriage. Get help. Get freedom.

Don't look. Run. Flee. Don't go near the path. Have wisdom.

I once was there, but now I'm free from it. I am completely free, and I've been free for years, and I am not going back. And I'm going to take as many men with me on that path of victory as I can. That's the center of the horseshoe. Let's go back out now.

Here's the parallel, C, which corresponds to God's judgment on priests. Now we're gonna have God's judgment on everyone. Here's everybody. Everybody's doing this, wearing the Lord with your words, verse 17, and and they said, What are you talking about? In what way have we wearied Him in that you say everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord?

You ever hear people say, yo, it's all good? It's all good? What's all good? It's all good nothing. What's good is good.

And what's evil is evil, but it's not all good. It's all good. How about this one? Where is the God of justice? See, in saying it's all good, you're saying God's not justice.

There's no justice in God. You can do what you want. Everything's relative. It's a free for all. Where is the God of justice?

The God of justice shows up. The God of justice shows up. God's always there. But He shows up in specific ways throughout history, doesn't He? For them it was future.

For us it was in the past, chapter 3. Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, And who can stand when He appears?

For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver, for He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver, that he may offer to the Lord, an offering of righteousness." Amen. That's exactly what Jesus Christ did. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in former years, and I will come near you for judgment and I will be swift against mark the word against God is for righteousness he is against wickedness you know I was thinking it would be fun if you're gonna start a new church. You know all the new churches that put their ads in the newspaper, right?

Oh, we have this, and we have this, and we have this. We got hot dogs, and we got, you know, chocolate mocha of Hoka Boca, right? If I was gonna, here's an idea, Get a whole newspaper ad and say this. We are against sorcerers. We are against adulterers.

We are against perjurers. We are against those who exploit wages, earnings, and widows, and orphans. We are against those who turn away an alien. And we're against everyone who hates God. Because we love righteousness.

Come join our church. Come visit. I think you at least get some attention. That's what God says in his messenger. I am against these things.

And what God's against, we need to be against. Why were, why didn't they get this? Which by the way, the foreigner is to be loved and embraced, isn't he? I know in conservative circles it's often not the way. I mean I'm from Arizona and I'm like, You know what?

I think everybody should obey the law of God, and we should welcome in foreigners. That's what the Bible says. And people look at me like, well, wait a minute, because they put me in a box, right? You know, you're supposed to be conservative. But on this one, the scripture says, He's against those who turn away the alien.

Why? They do not fear me. It's about the fear of God. It's about the fear of the Lord. They do not fear Him.

B prime. Here's B. This is corresponding to B. The people dishonor God. For I am the Lord, I do not change.

The fact that God doesn't change means the application of this is going to be the same for every generation I the Lord do not change therefore you of sons of Jacob are not consumed yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from my ordinances as have not kept them return to me And I will return to you says the Lord, but you say in what way will we return aren't we already walking with God? I thought we were already in the covenant. I thought we were walking with God. I thought we already did all these things. So what do you mean return to God when we're with you?

See, they didn't see it. They didn't understand how displaced they were. They didn't understand the fragmentation of their life or how things work together. So God says this, you're robbing me. You're robbing me.

Yet you have robbed me. Whoa. Robbed me. We robbed God. Now we're talking about materialism.

They valued stuff more than God. Materialism more than God. But you say, and what we have you robbing, tithes and offerings, you are cursed with a curse for you have robbed me. Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.

And try me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that it will not be room enough to receive it." New Old Testament, New Testament principle, same thing. Trust God. Give Him your best. Give Him your first fruits. Give Him your increase.

And he provides seed to the sower. They're robbing God, and I will rebuke the devourer for your sake. You're robbing God. Oh, I don't believe in tithing anymore. You know that's from the old...

Okay fine! Give God 15 percent! Give God 20 percent! Pray about it! Make sure it's more than 10.

Unless you want to go under the law. We don't want to rob God. Yet we're robbing God. In America, the average person, in America, only less than 2% of the average person gives any money to charity. Less than 2%.

OK. There's a variety of statistics out there. I've heard Christians are within larger religious circles, Christians. The closest one I can find to kind of an evangelical group, 25%. So let's say Barnum was right on that one.

25% of Christians give to the Lord on a regular basis, tithes and offerings. That means 75% of people sitting in the church, hearing the gospel preached, are robbing God of tithes and offerings. That means 75% by their lack of faith are secular humanists to the core and would rather worship stuff than worship God. Do we see that? You see that you see how that just invites the curse.

God doesn't have to give the curse we ask for it God please curse me. I'd rather be rich in stuff than in you That's crazy That is absolutely crazy, but that's what they do and that's where we're at. The people complain then. Verse 13, Your words have been harsh against me, says the Lord. Yet you say, In what way have we spoken against you?

And this is what they said, this is what they thought in your heart it's useless to serve God how many ever thought that it's useless to serve God what value is there in serving God look at what everybody else look at the wicked what prophet is there if we kept his ordinances and that we have walked as mourners before the Lord of hosts and now we call the proud blessed for those who do wicked are raised up and they tempt God and go free there's no value in serving God okay we come full circle now We're back to the love of God. Love of God, love of God. Here is the love of God. Verse 16. And those who feared the Lord spoke to one another.

Which group is this? God-fearing people. Okay? So there's three groups. And you just heard a lot of their excuses.

Three groups. How will you respond? There's one group that says this. We will talk about this and we will fear the Lord. And the Lord listened to them.

So a book of remembrance was written before him. For those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name, they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts. On that day I shall make them my jewels or my treasure. I love that. God says they are my treasure.

This is the remnant that returned. But within that remnant that returned, there were those that feared the Lord. God says I love you, You are my treasure. Why? Because they're fearing Yahweh.

They're fearing him. He says, you will be my treasure on the day that I make them my treasure. I will not spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. Look what they will do. Verse 18.

Then they shall again discern. They shall see. They shall understand. They shall be able to put the pieces together and discern between The righteous and the wicked between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve God. Three types of people.

Those who fear God, okay, you see in that verse right there, those who fear God, the righteous. Those who think they serve God but they don't. The self-religious. The self-religious. And those who don't serve Him, the wicked.

The wicked don't need God. Those who think they serve God and don't, and we're talking a lot about externals and things like that. You know why a lot of fathers have an external approach to their parenting and not an internal approach from the gospel? It's because they're not converted. They're not saved and they need the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And when you talk to them, you need to share the gospel with them with the law of God that defines and then pray that God grants them repentance. Because the reason they can't make any heart connection is because they don't have a heart connection with God. Or some of them could be just compromised. They could be saved and compromised. But the word of God will clarify that, won't that?

See, those who fear God can discern that. They can see that. And here's their promise. Verse 4, chapter 4. "...For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud..." Yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.

And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts. They will leave them neither root nor branch, but to you who fear My name, the Son of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you shall go out and grow like a stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts." Okay? Does that sound like an awesome promise or what? What is the promise?

You'll be able to discern good from evil. You'll be able to make traction in conquering the wicked and securing a righteousness on this earth. And God says this, on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts. Okay. Question.

What group are you? Fear God? Self-religious? Are you the wicked? Trust you're not the wicked.

Do you have ears to hear? When will God do this? This is a pivotal question. When will God do this? Because for many of us we're very comfortable in saying, well God did it back then when like Jesus came, right?

That kind of makes sense. We can see the fulfillment of that. Or maybe God did it in Malachi's day, and He did. Ezra and Nehemiah, right? There was a Reformation there.

There was a revival. God did it then. He did it with Christ. Oh, God will do it in the future. In the future.

Sometime in the future. Right? And we debate about that. A pre-post. It's gonna happen.

Let's just put it in the future. What about now? What about now? My prayer is that you believe that God can do it now. Hebrews 3.12, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from a living God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today.

Is it called today still? Remember Deuteronomy? Today, today, today, today. When you obey God, today, right here, right now. This is when you obey God.

If you don't obey God right now, you won't! But you can right here today. These promises are for God's people. They're for us right now today. Well, it is said today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

If you're hearing God's voice, grab it! If you're at this conference and the pieces are coming together, hang on to it! Buy the truth! Do not sell it! Keep it!

So that you can discern between good and evil. So that you can trample on the wicked. And see them uprooted in your sphere of influence. This is the power of the gospel. This is why Jesus Christ the messenger was sent.

To root out these things and to root in righteousness today and in the future today Okay. You got that? You got that? Alright. Here's the cliffhanger.

How does that happen? What does that look like? This is four or five and six chapter four verse four five and six don't fit in the chiastic structure Why they're the climax of the book Here's the motor of the book This is how you have it happen today Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest they come and strike the earth with a curse. Talking a lot about curses here, aren't we?

This is how you show the kingdom's advancement today in our generation. Three things. You remember the Word of God. Remember the law Word of God. Remember Moses.

Remember that God's Word defines God's kingdom and everything that the Word of God says grants the vision for the expansion of kingdom work on earth as it is in heaven. So we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and we call heaven on earth as defined by the law Word of God and the word of God alone. Number one. Number two. We do that in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We do that in the power of the living God. Remember, when God says I send, we should say what? I receive. If God says I want to send this to you right we should say I want to receive it from you Lord so God is gonna said I'm gonna send you something so we say Lord I want to receive it if it's good by your grace and mercy. I don't want to bring your judgment.

Have mercy on me, right? Those who fear in the Lord, hope in His mercy. So we're loved those who fear God, so we hope in His mercy. Luke 1 16, And he will, speaking of John the Baptist, wait I want to get... So he's going to send this.

What is it that he's going to send? He's going to send this blessing. And that blessing is the ability to turn the heart. Turn the heart. Turn the heart of fathers to their children.

And the hearts of children to their fathers and that ends the Old Testament. Four hundred years of silence. What are they to do in those four hundred years? Generation after generation, remember the law of God. Receive what God gives you in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And turn your hearts to your children, and children, turn your hearts to your fathers. And the two, as a father's heart turns to his child, the heart comes back to the Father. One and two. Beautiful. Four hundred years of silence.

Broken by who? John the Baptist. John the Baptist comes on the scene. Zechariah gets this vision. He's in the temple, and he has this message by the angel, Luke 1 16.

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 prepare a people for the Lord in that generation. John the Baptist was the forerunner to prepare the people for the Lord in his generation. And that's exactly what happened. But Zechariah didn't have faith, did he?

He's like, how will I know this? He's like, he was off on the timing. Zechariah, can God do anything? Absolutely. Can you do that?

How will I know this is true? And that just goes right over so many people's heads. They're whoop! How do I know this is true? Hello?

Hello? Are you loved by God? Has He chosen you? Are you obeying His word? Are you showing partiality?

Are you involved in abominable, disgusting behavior before God and then coming to the altar and trying to worship? You're not going to see it. Repent! Trust in the true and living God. But for those who see, this is the essence of what it means to prepare a people for the Lord.

In every generation. You see, Jesus died on the cross, didn't He? He died and He rose again, and He gathered His followers together, and they're like, Lord, Acts 1, will you at this time restore the kingdom? And all of our eschatology, we say, what is it? Jesus said, it's not for you to know.

It's not for you to know, which means we don't know. But this is what we do know you will be my witnesses go witness And what does Jesus do next? He goes up to heaven and the messenger says he's going to come back the way he went away. And they go witness the kingdom. You know how they witnessed the kingdom?

With the gospel. Remembering the law of God. Remembering the word of God. Go therefore into all the world that make disciples, teaching them to observe all things that I command and remember the Bible, remember the scriptures, remember them, obey them. Take what God sends, the power of the Holy Spirit, receive God's power and repent.

Return. Return to God. Return in your heart. And he lays that charge at father's feet I believe this is the key for preparing a people for the Lord in every generation until Jesus comes every generation needs this heart turn Every generation of men need this heart turn. And we desperately need it in this country.

When your heart turns, okay, does everybody know what it means to turn? I'm going to show you. Ready? That's what it means to turn. You're walking one way, you go the other way.

What does your heart need to turn from? You're walking one way and you see the Word of God and the Holy Spirit convicts you and the power of the Spirit will let you turn from to. Amen. And there's your children and you turn to them and you love them and they love you and that prepares the people for the Lord every generation Now We need to understand something When God calls a father to turn his heart to his child, that father has to undo 200 years of apostasy of fathers turning their hearts in the wrong direction. Think about this with me.

Roughly 200 years. And it's still going on today. We're still celebrating the demise of patriarchy. Oh, the first woman judge, the first this. We're still celebrating, Oh, the first this.

We're still going the wrong direction. Because in our nation, it's important to realize we had this blessing on our soil. We're not like other countries that didn't. So we're in a theological context that's different than a nation that never had the gospel. The story of the gospel has come here and in this nation we had fathers hearts turning.

In colonial America men's hearts were turned and they led and they loved their families. Not perfectly yet by any stretch of the imagination but it was their worldview and you know what Everybody knew their place. Everybody in society, by and large, fit in. They had a place. One author wrote, A colonial woman's sense of self-worth found solid confirmation day in and day out as her labors contributed to the prosperity of her family and the good order of society.

Children were seen as a blessing. There was a unified theology that centered everything on God and distributed God's authority equally to the jurisdictions, the family, the church, and the state. Not perfectly, but it was a general worldview. It was assumed. But something began to change.

We won our war for independence. We became independent. And with independence, we became what? Wealthy. We love Deuteronomy 6.

Deuteronomy 6 tells us the problem, the answer. You know, walk along, talk along. What's the bottom half of that chapter say? Beware when you come into the land and you forget God because you have enough stuff. The history of our nation.

There was a walking along, there was a talking along. Then we won our war for independence and we got wealthy, we got prosperous, And we forgot God. So God tested us. He tested us with the Industrial Revolution. It was our national test.

Would we incorporate discipleship principles, and I'm talking at a heart level. I know there's a lot that has to be said there, but I'm just going at it after the heart issue. And the Industrial Revolution, the result was the hearts of fathers turned. And they said, no, we're going to leave. I don't blame the Industrial Revolution as it's the problem of everything.

The heart of every problem is always the problem of the heart. It was the heart of men that left. They left their families. The hearts of men began to turn. And as men turned out of their homes, their hearts turned away.

They turned after the security to not live such a difficult life that they had and Men lost their identity right there and right then around 1800 Growing up 1820s right in that time frame men lost their identity They lost their identity and once they lost their identity. They're going for provision, you know Deuteronomy 7. They didn't destroy the worship forms Deuteronomy 8 men shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Deuteronomy 8 says, don't think. Your power, my power, my strength has done this, right?

But they began to think that. Materialism is set in. Materialism. Chapter 9 of Deuteronomy, my righteousness. And there it is.

Chapter 6, read the end of it. They become self-sufficient. They don't destroy the pagan forms of worship around them, Unitarianism. They settle for my power and my strength. They become prosperous.

They become proud and they become self-righteous. Deuteronomy 6, 7, 8, and 9. And the fragmentation goes crazy. Fragmentation. Everything starts falling out of place.

So, Who steps in to fill the gap? Who do you think steps in to fill the gap? Mom! Mom is going to step in to fill the gap so the mid 1800s saw the rain, saw the beginning of the rain of the Victorian age, the Victorian woman. And this is where it happened.

Now think about it. The 1800s. That's like a long time ago for many of us to think about. That's when women became the functional head of the family. Now the actual head was still confessed it was the husband, but the women became the functional head.

Okay? And she now ruled the family. She ruled the children. And from that perspective, men were seen as irresponsible over their families, and women then were elevated to a moral superiority over men. Let me ask you men, how many believe your wife is superior to you morally?

Most of you guys say no, good. A lot of men say, well yeah, my wife is, she's superior morally to me. I'm a guy, she's a girl. Women are superior morally to men. That idea came through that Victorian period.

And women from that time on were the spiritual, the real spiritual leaders of their families. The seeds of feminism were sown. Men ruled the marketplace and politics. Women ruled the home. And with the home, they also ruled the church.

Because whoever rules the home, rules the church. Books that were once directed to women... I'm sorry, books that were not once directed to men, by 1820 it quadrupled. They were directed to women. Around this time, Horace Mann calls for free public education, and he has an army of women with him.

Walden Haderbrooke said, "...the most prominent place in the church where the power of feminine influence was demonstrated was Protestant Sunday schools." You know what's amazing to me? I'm not that smart. I don't get any of this stuff, it seems, ahead of time. I just read the Bible and try to do what it says, right? But as I look back, and I say, whoa, now I see why we had to get rid of the Sunday schools.

I see why we had to change these things. Because the worldview, when you change the heart and you change the worldview, you change the function. It all fits together. It's all, we're working against the 200-year apostasy of our nation. We really are.

It's amazing. At this point, however, men were on the run. They were on the run, and they sought to fit in somewhere after work. Because men didn't know where to go after work. They didn't fit in the home.

So where do they go? They go to the bar. Men gather in the bar, they gather men's clubs, 1850s, right? Well, what, what, that's what was behind the temperance movement. Why was the temperance movement?

Because the Victorian women, who had the high moral ground, went after their men publicly, and the temperance movement begins, reinforcing the moral superiority of women over men, and the family was further fragmented, the women's suffrage movement then set fire to the structure of the family, and father's hearts were turned. The Victorian age comes to an end. The family is more fragmented than ever. But men were locked into their rebellion, which led the way for modern educators like Dewey, who stated that his vision of society was an organic union of individuals. It's all about the individual, not the family.

God's vision of society is we exist in the context of families, of households. Dewey said, no, it's the individual, and he set the public school system up to destroy Christianity and to fragment everything into oblivion that that hinted of anything of a biblical order you see the curse we're under? That was in the early 1900s. What about today? What's the legacy today?

We have bathroom bills being placed, being pushed through our legislature. Last week, ENDA, Employment Nondiscrimination Act, passed the Senate, calling for employers that are not allowed to discriminate based on sexual orientation. That's where we are as a nation. That's where fragmentation leads. And father's hearts keep turning the wrong direction.

Father's hearts keep going the wrong way. Feminism. The 1900s saw the rise of the feminism. It's hard for me to imagine how that happened. I know how it happened.

Father's hearts were turned the wrong direction. So today we live with the five historic truths of feminism. Christy Burkett wrote a book called The Essence of Feminism. She chronicles many of these points. I'm gonna go over them briefly.

The five historic realities of feminism. Women's suffrage, redefinition of marriage, working women, birth control, and modesty. I'm just gonna give you a two second overview of them. How they affect the men and the women. Ready?

Women's suffrage, meaning there is no headship in the home. Women are responsible for themselves, as are children. That's how it affects the women. For the men, men are not responsible for themselves or their families, maybe themselves, but not their families. That's the woman suffrage movement.

Number two, redefinition of marriage. Women are just as responsible as men in leading the marriage relationship, which means that men are not uniquely responsible to lead their wives in the marriage relationship. So if you believe that, that egalitarian, feministic nonsense, what you're saying is men should not love their wives. That's how my male ears hear that. But no women wants to say, Women don't want to hear that.

They want to be loved by their husbands and be equal with their husbands, and you can't have it that way. And any kind of man who has any kind of honor will not sit there and argue with his wife about it. What does he do? His heart turns. He walks away, and he dies.

He dies. And he just goes away. And feminism takes over. The lies of the devil continue and the family is fragmented. Working women.

Financial independence of women from her family, which means women are responsible to provide for themselves. It doesn't sound that bad, does it? But when you consider this as horrific, it means that men are not responsible. And what does that create? What does that call a man to do?

It calls him to be a playboy, a game boy, a lazy boy. Right? Because they're not responsible. Who told you that? Well, the women want to do this.

Can't open door for them anymore. Women are going to college more than men now, so I'm just going to hang out and play games or die or go to jail. Birth control and demand? Birth control and demand? All forms of birth control, the pill, whatever you want to call it, anything that prohibits that.

It makes women a toy for men's pleasure, a wicked toy. And it makes men playboys. Now birth control is important because birth control makes the egalitarian heresy a reality in our culture. Without birth control, it couldn't have been done. Margaret Sanger knew exactly what she was doing when she introduced birth control.

She says, I'm doing it on purpose to destroy Christianity. She knew that. And we're just like, you talk to a Christian like that? And they're just like, huh? How do we blaspheme your name?

By using birth control. Hello? You cut off your seed. It's supposed to be a judgment and you say it's a blessing. Number five, the sign of the covenant is immodesty.

It's immodesty. It's the outworking of belief. Modesty is an inward perception with an outward reflection. Question. Why do women insist on dressing like men?

Because it's their world view! They think they're equal with men. Men have power and they have comfortable clothes, so I want to have power and have comfortable clothes. And I will compete with men. And I will dress like a man to show that for you.

You know what? I have never met a woman who her clothing did not match her world view. Okay, I shouldn't take that. Most of the time. It does.

Well, I have a trouble with that. Well, I can see that. Modesty is a man's subject. Modesty is a man's subject that he communicates to his wife and his daughters. Amen?

Because men know and women don't. Part of it. Look what the feminists did. Look at the history. It's all there.

So that gets us up to today. That's the rise of feminism in our generation. Now, when a father's heart turns, That churning is a calling from God to overturn all of this heresy. What do you think? To the charge?

You guys up for it? Do you believe it can happen in our generation? Can we go with love, the love of God, the mercy of God, the word of God, take the law, word of God, and define it in everything? Call for the total reunification of society according to God's word by the power of the Holy Spirit, and pray, God, turn our hearts to our children. Because as a father assumes his role as a father, and he goes into his marriage and loves his wife, and turns his heart to his children, He removes that curse from His household for generations to come.

My prayer for you men is that you would be a change agent for the kingdom of God. That our hearts would turn. I pray that all the time. I am a sinful man. I have to pray all the time.

God, turn my heart to my children! I'm selfish! Turn my heart! Turn my heart! Turn my heart!

Fathers, turn your heart. God, Turn our hearts to You, to our children. And we can rebuild. We can see God. Prepare a people.

We can do this by the grace of God. And I conclude with the words of Ezra chapter 10 verse 3. Men, arise. For this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you.

Be of good courage. And do it. They did it in their generation and by God's grace, they'll do it in ours. For more messages, articles, and videos on the subject of conforming the Church and the family to the Word of God, and for more information about the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, where you can search our online network To find family integrated churches in your area, log on to our website ncfic.org. Thank you.