Family Barricade

family boundaries

Micah 1:2–7 ESV

2 Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. 3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. 4 And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place. 5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? 6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations. 7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste, for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

Introduction

Maybe sing a little: we are family, I got all my people with me

Family is everything! Family is a core foundational and necessary component of our wellbeing. Andre Maurois says: “without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold.” We all have a need for family. Every family dynamic is different. Families come in all shapes, sizes, colors and Complexities. Your family is different from mine, our problems are not the same as yours. No matter how great or how grave the family situation is, when it comes to family: the great philosopher Gee Moneyin the movie New jack city coined “we all we got.” All the hiccups and hang ups, heartache and heartbreak; we all we got.

We see family played out in our favorite shows and movies where different elements are discussed. Family Matters had a different spin and storyline than 227. Family matters is about a middle class family who has a house in Chicago, 227 a middle class family living in an apartment in DC. Good Times “struggling” was different than the Jeffersons “Success”. Temporary layoff- Good times struggling and surviving Good times. The Jeffersons moving on up to the East side. In the end, they show us the reality of family being one of God’s greatest masterpieces; yet these masterpieces are flawed and filled with error. This month we have coined this series a Hot mess! We want to dive into the issues of the masterpiece of family; and work on things that will allow us to move from Success to significance. One of the ways we can do it is by working on family boundaries. There has to be: - physical, emotional, time, intellectual, and material boundaries set up so we can thrive in life. We need boundaries to help protect what’s important to us. Since boundaries protect the things that are important to us, Set them up!

Call out the Problems: Our Status (where we are) 1:2

Micah 1:2–4 ESV

2 Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. 3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. 4 And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.

Many of us know what the issues are in the family, we don’t call them out. We gossip about it to other family. We try to keep it quiet ( I want you to know but. . you ain’t here that from me). We cover it up, find ways to escape the reality that there is a problem. Why do we feel we have to cover it up? Why can’t we address what’s going on now, in order to correct the path of the future!

Micah calls out the problem of his people and the surrounding nations. He doesn’t hide. He doesn’t whisper. Micah calls out, takes a stand and declares: “Hear all you people, Pay attention all you Nations; God is not pleased with what you are doing. Destruction is on the way!

If we are honest, our families are struggling because we are not honest with ourselves about what’s really going on.

The problems:

Drugs and substance ABUSE

Gang activity

Sexual Abuse

Promiscuity

Mental wellness concerns

Depression and anxiety

Our families need to know so they can prepare down the road.

Something as simple as knowing your health status.

Illustration: Daniel and sickle cell trait. Essential we found out after he was born that he and any of our kids will have the trait. With trait they can live their lives, they will be ok. But when they fall in love and want to move forward; we have to tell them about what 2 individuals with the trait produces. Their child will have the Sickle cell disease.

We got to sound off the alarm on what is really going on.

In the midst of all the turmoil Micah has to speak judgement against; we see him remind himself of God’s presence and His power. He sings psalm

This verse also has Micah call out to God- the psalm is a reminder of God’s presence, power. You may be seating here today and your family is in a bad place, it may seem like all hope is lost.

(drive it) But you need to remind yourself that God can do anything. He can do anything but fail. You got to remind yourself that greater is he that is in you than He in the world.

We have come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in his holy word. He never failed me yet. The old songs help you to remember Power of God.

It could have been me , outdoors with no food and no clothes, all along without a friend or just another number with a tragic end. But you didn’t see fit to let none of these things be, every day by you power you keep on keeping me. Thank you lord for all you’ve done for me!

Micah sings songs to remind him of God’s presence and power.

Call out the problem, next Cancel the Perversion

Cancel the Perversion: Our Symbols (what we love)

micah 1:5-7 “5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? 6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations. 7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste, for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.”

Micah specifically calls out the problem; he addresses the heart of the matter: our Symbols of pride and joy. It’s the public and private sins. The sins of the house of Israel. The high places should have been taken down. Israel’s sins were so bad it caused Samaria to stumble, then Judah, and Jerusalem. The sin of the family had a domino effect on their surrounding friends and family.

Micah says the carved images, the idols have weighed you down. God told in times past to let them go, the Lord said cancel the idols; you let them stick around and now judgement is coming.

We live in the era of cancel culture, but most of the time we are focused on canceling the wrong thing. We love to hold on to stuff we need to let go! We love to be entangled with systems and substances that weigh us down. The are some things we need to cancel for our physical health. (there are lifestyle changes we need to address.) There are some things we need to cancel for our financial situation. (add a budget and secondary streams of income.) We need to have a cancel culture rally for the things holding us down. There are some weights and burdens that are keeping us on the ground, preventing us from flying to the next level.

Illustration: Planes

I love planes, I love to fly and years ago I set out to learn how to fly airplanes. I am fascinated about how airplanes operate. One of the things I learned, depending on certain situations; pilots have to know when and how to dump fuel out of planes. Fuel is what the plane needs to power up to fly; but sometimes that same fuel can be the cause of the aircraft not making it to its destination. Because of this the pilot starts fuel dumping. The fuel is not worth me missing my destination... so the pilot dumps it.

(drive it) People of God there is some fuel you have been holding on to that you need to let go of to get to the next level:

That relationship was fuel last season, but it needs to be dumped in this season

The Job fuel. . the career fuel. . person. . activities. . financial

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:1 says to lay aside every weight and sin that easily entangles us!

To get out of the Hot Mess. . Call out the Problem, Cancel the Perversion, lastly Communicate the plan

Communicate the plan: Our Worship (what we need)

micah 1:8-9 “8 For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches. 9 For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.”

The word of prophecy goes forth, every word the Lord has given to Micah has been spoken. Micah’s response- Lament and wail, fasting and prayer. He is overwhelmed for his people, and he goes into a form of worship. He didn’t start the blame game; he took ownership and said I will worship. No matter how bad, no matter the pending ruin, worship is Micah’s response.

When problems are happening within the family, who do you run to? What do you turn to? Unfortunately, many turn to the systems of this world. The worlds solutions to cure what only God can. Many turn to political systems, others turn to their political party. Some people turn to their degrees and accolades; others turn to their common sense. Some who think they are smart turn to their investment portfolios.

(drive it) Some put their hope in Horses and chariots but as for me, I will put my trust in the Lord!

Is that anyone’s testimony? That your hope is in the Lord. I can go to the Rock, when everything else fails. . I can go to the rock!

I don’t know about you, But I am glad God gave me the ability to worship. He gave me a mind and a will to worship. And I love what the song writer said- No matter what you are going through, He says you can praise your way through! It may look daunting, but you can praise your way through. I know it’s rough, but you can praise your way through. I know the odds are stacked against you, but you can praise your way through. Is there anybody who knows that you can praise you way through?!

You had to call on the Lord in the midnight hour, and it was praise not your medicine. . it was your praise and not the self help book. . it was you praise not the neighbors that got you through the midnight hour.

I’m glad I got my worship, I’m glad I got my praise. . because praise is what I do after all I’m going through. I’m gonna praise, I’m going to lift Him up.

Evie and her seizures: she kept having them. . and doctors did not understand why. It would happen out nowhere. I was teaching Noon Bible study, I get the call that she was having another seizure. Erika was out of town, I was 25 miles away. I couldn’t see my baby. I had to drive to the hospital. And I was singing about the Balm in Gilead. . I was singing

I feel like praising Him, I feel like lifting him up. For the Lord is good and his mercy endure forever. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised.

Why ?

The Gospel close.