Sermon # 13 - Strengthen Your Family Series

We read in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “Besides, God is able to make every blessing of yours overflow for you, so that in every situation you will always have all you need for any good work.” (ISV)

The Lord wants us make every blessing overflow in our lives, and He is able to lead us to that place of overflowing abundance. We studied the life of Joseph and saw that when Joseph was in a place of abundance in Egypt, his father and brothers were in a situation of want in the land of Canaan.

In Genesis 41:57, we read that, “People came to Egypt from all over the world to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.” (GNB)

People from all over came to Joseph for grain because the famine was so severe all over the world. The Lord had in the earlier years had revealed these things to Joseph so that all of Egypt were well prepared for the famine and had grain in abundance with no lack whatsoever.

Sometimes we may have this overflowing blessings in many areas of our lives, but find that this is lacking in our relationships in the family.

We read in Genesis 37:33-35, “He recognized it and said, "Yes, it is his! Some wild animal has killed him. My son Joseph has been torn to pieces!" Jacob tore his clothes in sorrow and put on sackcloth. He mourned for his son a long time. All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, "I will go down to the world of the dead still mourning for my son." So he continued to mourn for his son Joseph.” (GNB)

While Jacob mourned for his son Joseph for many long years thinking that he was dead, we see that Joseph was in Egypt living like a prince. For more than 21 years Jacob believed the lies that was fabricated by his sons not knowing that his son Joseph was alive and well. This mourning of Jacob we can say was unwarranted. If you want to know where this weeping began we need to go back into the life of Jacob and will realize that it began when Jacob was a young man in his father’s house.

Often the problems in a family are coming down generations. Many families have all the wealth and all the comforts, but there is no sound relationship between family members.

We read in Genesis 25:28, “Isaac preferred Esau, because he enjoyed eating the animals Esau killed, but Rebecca preferred Jacob.” (GNB)

Isaac and Rebecca had two children Esau and Jacob. In their family while the father favored the eldest son Esau, the mother favored the younger son Jacob. The father loved Esau because he was a good hunter, and used to bring home good game meat which he also cooked deliciously. Rebecca on the other hand loved Jacob because he was a home bird who probably did favors for his mother.

Many children these days spend much time outside their homes, and sadly their parents are not even aware of their whereabouts. This is truly not a safe situation for any family.

There are three problems in this family.

Firstly, Isaac failed in his duty as the head of the family. Isaac should have loved Rebecca more than he loved his son Esau.

Every man who is a husband should realize that God has appointed you to be the head of your family. If you do not fulfill your responsibility as the head, there will certainly be problems. Also as the head of the home, the husband has a responsibility and command from God to love his wife. Many husbands leave the entire responsibility of running the family to their wives. There are also those who don’t support the home financially, but let the wife take on the entire burden.

Secondly, Rebecca did not submit herself to her husband Isaac.

Every woman who is a wife has the command from the Lord that they should be obedient to their husbands. While the man must fulfill his role in the home, so also the wife should do what is her responsibility.

Thirdly, the sons Esau and Jacob did not honor both the parents.

Children are given the command to honor their parents which means that every child should honor the father and mother equally without differentiation.

In many homes we have this issue where the mother will favor one child, and the father will favor the other child, and you can be certain that this will lead to problems in the family. We can have all the wealth and many houses too, but if we do not raise our children in a godly way, we have failed miserably. Our God is a God of generations, and hence it is our duty to raise godly children.