The Family of God

The Family of God

King James Version Chapter 12

47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. 48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? 49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 50 For nwhosoever shall do the will of omy Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

King James Version Chapter 24

15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, mchoose you this day whom ye will serve; whether nthe gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or othe gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: pbut as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

In the reading of

In the reading of we find an erupt statement by Jesus about the hierarchy of the nuclear family and the will of God. Whether we like it or not, today we must still value the will of God above our family. You don’t have to like it, but that is what it means to be Christ like. The Exegetical Summary of Matthew states the following:

An Exegetical Summary of Matthew 1–16 12:46–50

Loyalty to God’s kingship is more important that family ties [NICNT]. The kingdom of God takes precedence over human relationships, including that of family [BECNT, ICC, NAC, WBC]. Jesus is not dissolving family bonds, but rather is putting them in perspective relative to the higher priority of the kingdom of God [BECNT, ICC]. He is not showing disrespect for his mother, but giving priority to doing the will of God his Father [EBC]. Putting the importance of the kingdom above his family would have been shocking in Jesus’ day [CC]. Doing the will of God means believing and following Jesus [CC, NAC]. It means accepting the fact that Jesus’ mighty deeds are an indication that the messianic kingdom has come [NIBC]. Doing the will of his Father is the evidence that they are Jesus’ kin, though it is not what makes them such [EBC].

Follow-up by stating the message!

To clarify, Jesus was not in the business of destroying families. He was in the business of doing the will of God! In fact, if we study the gospels, we will find that Jesus’ nuclear family actually stayed near to him until the day of His death. It’s important to understand, however, that there where places that not even they could go where he was going.

The Bible teaches a strong principle of obedience to God’s will in . adds that those in Israel could choose to serve demons or the Divine. Joshua made a stand by saying, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Who in this place would say: “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Yup, I’ll get a bunch of amens now, but when it comes time for you to stand up against those who push against the will of God, will you still be so eager.

Familiar Separation

You see the elephant in the living room of a household within the Apostolic ranks today is this: familiar spirits typically cling to the family’s bloodline. We don’t want to believe this or even try to understand it, but the overarching occurences in the Bible override our lack of vision in this day. Demonic forces oppressing families do not make them bad people, but at times will call us to a place of separation if we desire to live for God.

To clarify, I am not saying, “run away from your family and don’t show them love!”

Don’t go misquoting me today after service!

I’m simply saying this: those we allow to be our immediate family have a voice in our lives. In the spiritual, one can hear more than just God. This is why we see so many backslide from the Church today. They heeded the voices of satan versus the voice of the Holy Ghost in their life. Well, it’s the same way within the family unit. If you have a series of members who are oppressed by a spirit and are unwilling or refuse to see it, this spiritual entity can use your physical family to get to you. As an Apostolic Pentecostal, it is our duty to take dominion over an area in the spiritual. The enemy fights to that same exact thing.

We must learn how to identify when satan is trying to use our own families against us and PRAY for them. At the same time, we must use God’s wisdom to know when is a good time to set boundaries to grow closer to God.

If you’re constantly battling the enemy, how are you going to hear God on the mount?

Discuss Active Duty Basic Training and why they separate the trainees from their families

King James Version Psalm 18

34  He teacheth my hands to war,

So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

God teaches David not only to fight, but was capable of giving him extraordinary strength! Apply this spiritually!

King James Version Psalm 144

1  Blessed be the LORD †my strength,

aWhich teacheth my hands †to war,

And my fingers ato fight:

Psalm 144:1

In order to heed both of these versus spiritually we have to be alone with God. We must make that time, but most importantly we have to be in the right theater of battle! If your family detracts your ability to war for God, there is most likely an issue there.

The Prophetic Viewpoint of Familiar Separation

God requires certain people in the right places, at the right time, in order to fulfill His will. Let’s look at Abram:

King James Version Chapter 12

12 *Now the aLORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 bAnd I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: cand in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

King James Version Chapter 24

2 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, eYour fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. 3 And fI took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and ggave him Isaac.

From these two versus we know that Abraham left his family, his father’s house, and went to a foreign land that he did not know.

Joshua tells us that his family worshipped idols that were worshipped prior to the flood. In a sense, we see a type of worship that God hated so much that he once destroyed the world. God had to lead Abram out of this in order to give him GROWTH and fulfill his will.

These gods are deemed as Amorite gods…notice that they’re also mentioned in Amos:

King James Version Chapter 5

25  fHave ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

26  But ye have gborne ||the tabernacle of your hMoloch and Chiun your images,

The star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

The Apostolic Study Bible states, “Kaiwan is another name for Chiun which was another name for the Assyrian god Ninutra, god of the planet Saturn. Alternatively, “tabernacle of your Moloch” might instead be translated “Sikkuth your king,” with reference to the proper name of another Assyrian astral deity.

In other words, Israel was importing idols from the surrounding Assyria. These gods had deeper roots, however, and originated from satan himself.

As Israel fought demonic oppression which was normalized by the society then, we do the same today.

Today we fight demons of old, but under a different name:

Alcholism

Bitterness

Addiction

Pride

Perversion

Rebellion

These spirits use methods to destroy families and alter or pervert the will of God in their lives. One must understand that satan is highly skillful at refracting light and altering to his own use. In other-words, he is good at taking what was meant for good and twisting towards his objectives.

The issue is we go about trying to touch the unclean things and correct them without the spirit of God guiding us. It’s not up to us to handle the unclean thing, it’s up to God.

Prayer is key

Love people, but if there not ready to allow God to work on their lives you may have to step back and give them space.

Closing

The church was started by leaving idolatry!