Breaking the Curse
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 11 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Many people see a curse as a foregn force upon their lives.
You have heard people speak of generational curses.
By this they mean that children are cursed as a consequence of their parents, or even granparents.
Now the bible does not directly mention generational curses but it says something else.
7 who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
So many people read this and say: “There! a generational curse!”.
However, the word or even the idea of a curse is not mentioned at all.
What God says is far more nuanced: He says that the “punishment” of the parents are inflicted on the children.
That word punishment is the Hebrew “a-wan”, and it means “the state or condition”.
God is saying that the sins of the parents result in their children growing up in the same state or condition of the parents.
God is not pronouncing a curse, He is explaning a consequence.
Let me ask you a question:
What does the word “normal” mean?
The word normal simply means “According to a predifined standard”.
What is a normal size dog? Well depends on the breed, we need to know the predefined standard if we are going to compare and see normality.
What is a normal size chiawa?
What is a normal sized Great Dane?
Can you see that what is “normal” depends on what the established standard is.
The same is true when it comes to what is “normal” in our families.
Normal is simply the standard that we set. And our children will learn what is “normal” according to our standards.
If swearing is normal in your home - your children will grow up in that same state.
If drunkeness is normal in your home, your children will grow up thinking its normal.
I can testify to this:
Growing up, my parents never ever drank. I have never seen a glass of wine or beear in either of my parents hands ever.
Alchohol was NOT normal in our home. So i never drank, i have never been drunk.
However, both of my parents did smoke, in fcat everyone, my parents, my grannies all smoked.
Having a cigarette between your fingers WAS normal in our house.
Which is why my mom caught me at 5 years old smoking my grans rothmans and why by STD 5 grade 7 i was smoking a pack of 20 a day.
My parents, by their actions, set a standard as to what normal is for me.
THAT is what God is warning us about in exodus 34.
That is what a “generational curse” is.
It is me chooseing to live by the standards set by my parents.
And it is absolutly a choice NOT a destiny.
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
Our parents may have set a standard, but it is still US who choose to remain in that standard.
20 The person who sins will die. A son will not suffer the punishment for the father’s guilt, nor will a father suffer the punishment for the son’s guilt; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.
Notice what this says: A child will not suffer the GUILT of the parents.
And the Parents will not suffer the GUILT of the children.
See that the words “punishment” are in italics? That means that the words are not in the origional text but added by the translators to make the sentence make sense in english.
Our parents may define what is “normal” but we choose to live according to that standard.
That is why the reverse is also true.
I could have ignored the “alchohol” standard set by my parents and listened to friends and started drinking.
I have had many broken parents in my office in tears about their children not knowing why they do what they do because it was an example the parents set.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
We are responcible for our own choices. But we must understand that parents make the roads broad and narrow by the standard they set.
My parents made the road to alchohol abuse very narrow. I could still have gone it, but it would have been more difficult. But my parents made the road to tabacco wide and probibly tarred as well!
I did not have to walk down it, but it was easy to do so.
2 “What do you people mean by using this proverb about the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers eat sour grapes, But it is the children’s teeth that have become blunt’?
God is asking the people why they contine in the patterns set by their parents.
This message has two reciprents:
1: Parents.
Parents you are the ones who tell your children what “normal” is.
You are the ones who decide how broad or narrow the roads to blessing and cring are for your children.
6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he grows older he will not abandon it.
Let me give every parent a piece of solid advice:
Never do anything youself that would make you ashamned if your children did it.
You set the standard to which your children will aspire too.
2: Children, even adults.
Your teeth may be blunt because of what your parents did and the low standard they set.
But God has a word for you:
2 “What do you people mean by using this proverb about the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers eat sour grapes, But it is the children’s teeth that have become blunt’?
3 As I live,” declares the Lord God, “you certainly are not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore.
In other words: God wants to break the cycle.
And indeed He already has, because whatever “curse” your parents left for you:
17 “No weapon that is formed against you will succeed; And you will condemn every tongue that accuses you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.
How do we break the cycle?
The first thing you have to do is learn a new normal.
Ask youself: Is this normal according to God?
What is God’s standard? Not what were my parents standard, what is God’s standard?
15 Therefore, all who are mature, let’s have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that to you as well;
16 however, let’s keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.
God will, througfh scripure, the local church and the Holy Spirit, reveal to you what his standard is - and when He does:
2 Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth.
That word above in Greek i “ano” and it literally means “Above what is normal”.
You have to aim higher than the standard set by your parents.
Ladies: Was your father a lazy bum who hated work and drank with the boys coming homew drunk, verbally abusive?
Set your aim higher and do not date and definitly do not marry a man likr that.
Do not settle for low standard of a man.
Do not settle for a low standard of a woman.
Do not settle for a low standard of faith
Do not settle for a low standard for your children.
Do not settle for a low standard as a parent.
