Break Free, Be Free, Stay Free

“Break free – Be free – Stay Free!”

Opening Illustration: From Blue Fish TV Stories, “Andrew’s Story” – bad home environment

Thesis: How can I break free from the generational sins and curses of my family? What can I do to stop the dysfunctional behavior of my family’s generational sins and curses over my life and my future children’s lives?

There are four passages in the OT that speak of God "visiting the iniquity of the fathers unto the third and fourth generations of those who hate God":

Exodus 20:4-6: 4“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven

above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5You shall not bow down to them

or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for

the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but

showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my

commandments.

Exodus 34:4-10: 4So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 6And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” 8Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9“O Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes,” he said, “then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.” 10Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world.

Numbers 14:18: 18‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.’

Deuteronomy 5:8-10: 8“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in

heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9You shall not bow down

to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the

children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate

me, 10but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my

commandments.

Introduction:

Generational curses and sins are real and they can be broken over our lives and over our future families lives. I know because God did it in my life and He will do the same for you tonight!

InPlainsite.org notes this about our subject: The Generational curse referred to in the preceding passage (passages) is not God cursing a person, but the negative behavior patterns passed down to succeeding generations…A person’s spirit carries uncounted numbers of scars that exist because of their family’s self-destructive habits. Yet they repeat those exact self-destructive patterns believing they’ll reap a different harvest. Of course they never do and so the pain continues unabated.

Let’s take a moment to truly understand what a generational curse and or sin looks like.

The following thoughts come from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles: “A generational curse is defined as ‘family bondage’ passed down from one generation to the next, says Rev. Dr. Sheron Patterson, senior pastor of Highland Hills United Methodist Church in Dallas. "Many families are unaware that they are caught up in generational curses because it is so normal and natural to them,’ she explains. "It’s not until they get counseling or they really look at the outside world that they see their world is warped and wicked and sometimes twisted.’ Negative patterns of behavior that could be considered generational curses are physical abuse, sexual abuse, substance abuse, and alcoholism. ‘It’s a problem that has the family bound up,’ says Patterson. ‘Whether it’s teen pregnancy and grandmama was a teen mama and mama was one and you’re one and you never married the father. That’s the frostily being bound up in a very negative situation. And it seems natural and normal to them.’ Divorce could also be considered a generational curse, says Patterson. ‘People whose parents had multiple divorces and then you have multiple divorces. People who just can’t stay together and just can’t be marriage material.’ Patterson says that people imitate what they see, which oftentimes makes a generational cruse a ‘learned behavior.’ ‘I think one generation may fall into a bad habit or negative situation and they were never able to pull themselves out of it and they wind up making it internalized into the family system and the ones that follow them just follow that pattern.’…Negative patterns of behavior that are perpetuated, says Johnson, are often taught.”