[SPEAKER_01]: Genesis chapter 26 we're going to start in verse 1 and we're going to read down through first verses 22 and it will be on the screen
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to follow that way, Genesis 26 vs. 1 through 22, it says there was another famine in the land, in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham's time.
[SPEAKER_01]: An Isaac went to a Bimble at King of the Philistines at Gerard.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord appeared to him and said, do not go down to Egypt, live in the land that I tell you about, stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and I will bless you.
[SPEAKER_01]: For I will give all of these lands to you and your offspring.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will give your offspring all of these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by.
[SPEAKER_01]: your offspring.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, how many you believe that for your own families that your children and your children's children come on your grandkids?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, they will be blessed, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, because Abraham listened to my voice, remember we talked about Abraham for the last couple weeks, and he kept my mandate.
[SPEAKER_01]: My commands, my statues, and my instructions.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Isaac settled in Gerard, verse 7.
[SPEAKER_01]: When the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, she is my sister.
[SPEAKER_01]: For he was afraid to say my wife, thinking, the men of the place would kill me on the account of Rebecca for she is a beautiful woman.
[SPEAKER_01]: When Isaac had been there for some time, a Bimbleck King of the Philicines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebecca.
[SPEAKER_01]: a Biblical accent for Isaac and said, so she is really your wife.
[SPEAKER_01]: How could you say she is your sister?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, that's like Jerry Springer happening here or something, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: Man.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so Isaac answered him, well, because I thought I might die on account of her.
[SPEAKER_01]: So basically he's saying, look, my wife is like,
[SPEAKER_01]: super fine okay so because she looks that way i'm going to tell you that she's my sister all right so you can't you know come at me for her right and so then he gets he gets caught you know he gets he gets caught uh caressing her so it so it says right all right first ten then uh a bimblex said
[SPEAKER_01]: What is this you've done to us?
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the people could have easily slept with your wife.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you would have brought guilt on us.
[SPEAKER_01]: So a Bimlek warned all the people with these words.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whoever harms this man or his wife will certainly die.
[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 12, Isaac soared seed in that land.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in the year he reaped, in that year he reaped a hundred times what was shown.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord blessed him and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy.
[SPEAKER_01]: He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were invious of him.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Philistines stopped up all the wells at his father's slaves, had dug in the days of his father, Abraham, filling them with dirt, and a Bimblex said to Isaac, leave us, for you are much too powerful for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 17, so Isaac left there, came to the Valley of Gerard, and lived there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Isaac reopened.
[SPEAKER_01]: The water wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died.
[SPEAKER_01]: He gave them the names of his father had given them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then Isaac slaves dug up, dug up in the valley and found a well of spring water there.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the herdsmen of Gerard quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, the water is ours.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he named the well, quarrel because they quarreled with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he named it hostility.
[SPEAKER_01]: He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it, and he named it open spaces.
[SPEAKER_01]: And said for now, the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I wanted to clear over to you today that the Lord has made room for you and your family and you will be fruitful.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody say amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word today.
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you for teaching us something new.
[SPEAKER_01]: We receive your word and we receive the revelation of your word.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus name, everybody said.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're taking notes this morning, the title of today's message is the blessed family.
[SPEAKER_01]: The blessed family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on.
[SPEAKER_01]: How many you want to have a blessed family?
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on.
[SPEAKER_01]: How many you?
[SPEAKER_01]: How many desire that your family is blessed?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, and I'm not just talking about money, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about blessed in all ways, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And every single way possible, I want my family to be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want my family to prosper.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want what the scripture just said right there, that the Lord would make room for my family, and He will allow my family to be fruitful in the land.
[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, everywhere that we go, everything that we do.
[SPEAKER_01]: do, whatever we put our hand to, it shall be fruitful in the name of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is what it means to have a blessed family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody say amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so you need to know this as we get started today that families really are a big deal to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're a big deal to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we know that God intends for our families to be strong, to be healthy, and to be whole.
[SPEAKER_01]: He really does.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you've been through a lot in your family, maybe you've been through a lot in your marriage, and you've thought, well, how in the world can this relationship or this family or my marriage be strong, healthy, and whole, and I promise you it can with God's help.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he desires that for your family, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And not only that, but he desires that our family is really operate in peace, hello, that they really operate in peace, that they dwell in his presence, and his presence, you will find peace, amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: And that our family's experience, the power of God, himself.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I know a lot of times it can, you know, things can get crazy in the home.
[SPEAKER_01]: Things can get crazy in marriages.
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, whatever it may be with your kids or whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I know that God desires for our homes to be places of peace, where his peace can dwell, where his presence can be there and that we can experience the power of who God is and the power of his Holy Spirit, even in our very families, even in our homes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, because how do you believe that we don't have to just experience that in a church on Sunday mornings?
[SPEAKER_01]: But we can have that in our homes also, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So listen, church, your family may have a past, you know, your family may have a certain reputation, but the good news today is that your family has a future.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your family has a future.
[SPEAKER_01]: you know you may associate yourself with your family based on the past and based on history and based on some things that have taken place or maybe some not so good things and some decisions that have been made maybe you had a rough childhood maybe you didn't have the best you know parents or whatever it may be and that all may be true but that doesn't have to be true for you moving forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: because God desires that you have a good future, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: He says that in Jeremiah 29, 11, we know that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so today, and even in the next few weeks, as we talk about doing it, God's way further, I want to talk about families, I want to talk about kids, I want to even talk about who you allow in your life as far as your friends are concerned, who you would consider friends and acquaintances.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we have to do these things.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to have these relationships done in God's way, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we're not here to talk about the past this morning, but we're here to talk about the future and about the potential that's coming for you and your family, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because here, me, the original intent of God Himself for you and your family and your household is to walk in the blessings of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is his intent, for he calls you and he calls your entire household blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just some people in your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just the ones that have it all together, or have the most money, or the most successful, or whatever, no, but he desires that you and your entire household be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody say hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So now God is not looking, let me tell you for a perfect family.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is no perfect family sitting in this room.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no perfect family sitting in the row.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next to you are across from you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not looking for a perfect family.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he is looking for the people with the junk.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the messed up stuff that we'll say, despite all that we've been through, despite all that we've gone through and that, that we've walked through, all that we used to be, we're blessed and we're moving onward and we're moving up toward Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now we will not allow the strategies or the tactics or the schemes of the enemy, and the attacks that have come against our family to hold us back from literally living a blessed life in the area of our family.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that goes for your marriage that goes for your kids that goes for every area when I say family.
[SPEAKER_01]: God wants you to be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants you to be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants your family to be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just want to just speak something over you today that the Lord gave me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, don't normally do this kind of thing, but I put it in here today.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wrote this out because I want to speak this over you and literally prophesied this over you in your household.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if you'll just literally close your eyes
[SPEAKER_01]: As I was studying this week and my study time was extensive.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was very long.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was longer than normal.
[SPEAKER_01]: Unless I said, you know, are you still still, yeah, I am.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the Lord gave me some specific things for you and your household today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I want a prophesied to clear this over you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want you to have ears to hear and I want you to receive this, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so every enemy that has risen up against your home,
[SPEAKER_01]: Every enemy that has risen up against your family and everything that's connected to you shall not prosper in Jesus' name.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I declare unto you right now that you will be more fruitful in this next season, in the area of your family, then you have ever experienced before.
[SPEAKER_01]: For the word of the Lord and the Lord Himself is more powerful and is greater than any power of darkness.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you just trust the Lord, I prophesy that something good is about to enter into your household.
[SPEAKER_01]: So rise up and shout and let the devil know that your household shall be blessed in the name of Jesus in this next season.
[SPEAKER_01]: in Jesus' name, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, I believe that for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you ought to get excited this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe that for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe that for your families.
[SPEAKER_01]: That no one performed against you shall prosper.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe that.
[SPEAKER_01]: That every voice that tries to rise up against you shall be condemned.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that your family will be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care what it looks like right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it begins today.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It begins today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I'm very thankful that the Bible speaks to the potential of our families.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now even if there's a history or a past that isn't so pleasant, all throughout the world, we see stories of families.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the Bible never dismisses the junk of a family's past.
[SPEAKER_01]: it will talk about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It will address it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But praise God that he uses the junk of the past as a testimony for his glory and his goodness.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you may have a past.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, your family may have a past.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your family may have a reputation, but God will use that for his glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, it won't be used to condemn you or to hold you back to hinder you or to kind of cause some sort of barrier between you and God and what God has for your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, God will use it for his goodness and his glory amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I tell you God's plan for the family?
[SPEAKER_01]: His plan for the family is to walk in total dominion.
[SPEAKER_01]: His plan for your family is to walk in total dominion to replenish the land as we just read about and to multiply.
[SPEAKER_01]: People say, God blessed this nation, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We hear that all time.
[SPEAKER_01]: God blessed this nation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now while I believe that I believe that statement and I believe that statement to be true and I want to declare that myself and that the declaration in and of itself is true, you need to know today that God will not bless a nation without first blessing its
[SPEAKER_01]: We can say all day long, God bless this nation, God bless the USA, God bless this and God bless that.
[SPEAKER_01]: He will not do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: He will not bless that until he has first taken care and blessed the foundation.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the foundation of every nation upon the earth is the family unit.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the foundation.
[SPEAKER_01]: The foundation of this country itself is the family unit.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so before we declare, and we say, God bless this nation or God bless this or God bless that, we better be declaring that over our families first and foremost, because that's where it starts, that's where it starts, because for God to bless the nation, but not address the dysfunction of the home would be a set up for destruction.
[SPEAKER_01]: So for what God wants to do in the nation, and what God wants to do in the world, it's first foundational to the move of God and the power of His presence, and the power of His glory in our fairy homes.
[SPEAKER_01]: God is not gonna touch Washington, DC, and forget to touch your family and your household.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as a matter of fact, right now, as we speak, literally right now this moment,
[SPEAKER_01]: in Washington, D.C., believers that have gathered from all over the country in the 250th year to reclaim this nation back to the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're doing it right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Worship is happening around the clock right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there are people from all over the country that are there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know people that are there personally, that are there and calling the nation and to repentance and worshiping and all these things that are taking place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's all great.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe it and God wants to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to tell you before he even touches Washington, D.C. he wants to touch your house.
[SPEAKER_01]: You should have said amen, a whole lot louder than that.
[SPEAKER_01]: before he tries to touch this leader or that political figure and all that kind of stuff, he wants to touch your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants the minister to the foundation of your family first.
[SPEAKER_01]: This nation, excuse me, doesn't need churches full of dysfunctional people praying for a miracle in their nation without first praying for and having a miracle in their own houses.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe it's going to hit your house.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe it's going to be coming an announcement, not just for the people in your own household, but also to your neighbors in your neighborhood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, if God can deliver me in my wife, then he can do it for you also.
[SPEAKER_01]: If God can save our marriage, he can save your marriage.
[SPEAKER_01]: If God can rescue my kids from the pit that they were in, he can rescue your kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe that today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on now.
[SPEAKER_01]: If God can wreck our kids and wreck our family and bring us into the promised land, then he can do it for you too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, and I believe that for you, and I believe that your household, your very household, will have the reputation of God's goodness, will have the reputation of God's glory, will have the reputation of God's power in His manifestive presence in your very home.
[SPEAKER_01]: So much so that it becomes a light in the be in a beacon, even to your neighborhood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Others will come and come knocking and say, there is something about your property.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't understand it, but there's something about your property.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that reminds me of two, three years ago when we had a shooting that occurred in our neighborhood at the House directly across the street from us.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was three people, or two people got murdered in the House directly across the street from us.
[SPEAKER_01]: and uh... it was a terrible situation it was all over the news made national headlines everything and this guy had a uh... you know automatic weapon he unloaded on the guy that was coming to visit his girlfriend and uh... unloaded you know right there in the driveway in the guy was dead in the driveway and then he uh... he murdered his girlfriend
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he jumped the fence and went through the neighborhood trying to run from police and hide after he had taken down several officers with bullets.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thankfully none of them died.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had officers go down literally in the street, right in front of our house.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he ran and he went off and when the officers got to him after a long search, he took his life, right there in front of him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Three people died that day.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there are still to this day.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are still bullets, bullet holes in our neighbor's houses that are there still from what occurred.
[SPEAKER_01]: From an automatic weapon, I mean, he just out the windows, just firing at officers and all that directly across the street from us.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you look like right at the corner of our neighbor's house to our left, you know, one of the downspouts for the gutters, there's a big old hole.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, right, you can see it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody can see it.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's holes all over the house next to us, the house next to them, the house next to us,
[SPEAKER_01]: And can I tell you, and y'all know this story already, but can I tell you, there was not one bullet that touched our house.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not one bullet.
[SPEAKER_01]: The officers were standing there.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were searching all night for bullets in our yard, for bullets that hit our house.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not one bullet hit our house.
[SPEAKER_01]: The new stations, they were there around the clock.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were outside around the clock for days.
[SPEAKER_01]: and anytime you walked outside all of a sudden they come out of the car is like and we want to talk to you you know and it was it was crazy I remember I talked to I talked to a few of them and one of them said how did you not have any bullets hit your house it was a directly across the street he literally fired that way and I said I'll tell you how I'll tell you exactly why because the blood of Jesus covers this property
[SPEAKER_01]: And no demon in hell and no power of darkness can come against me in my household.
[SPEAKER_01]: We might not be like our neighbors, but I'm okay with that, but we are covered by the blood of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I reminded everybody, all of our neighbors, and we told the story time and time again, of how we were going at that time, all of our neighbors were there.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were at their homes.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how we found out because the lady to the right of us, she called us hysterically.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thinking that we were home knowing that our house would have been the most hit.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was freaking out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't even understand what she was saying on the phone.
[SPEAKER_01]: And she finally got out and told us we were like, what?
[SPEAKER_01]: We pulled up on our cameras and we saw everything that was happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: We saw a guy laying right there in the driveway gone.
[SPEAKER_01]: His head blown off.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we were like, what in the world?
[SPEAKER_01]: We were at the store where we were at Rose's Cafe.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were eating dinner.
[SPEAKER_01]: And our friend Pastor Marcus Richmond from Mississippi was in town that weekend and it was his birthday.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we were gonna celebrate his birthday Sunday after church.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we were gonna have people from the church come over and we were gonna have a party for him and all that kind of thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, we were doing church in our house at that time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And anyways, Maria, my mother-in-law here, she had to come to the house to drop off his birthday cake and put it in our refrigerator in the garage.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's all on camera, she pulls up, types in the code, carries the cake, puts it in the refrigerator, comes out, types in the code, gets in her car, backs up, and goes, and the spirit of God spoke to her and said, go back and pray over the house.
[SPEAKER_01]: So she goes back, pulls into the driveway and prays over the house.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not a long prayer, not extensive.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not for 15 minutes or something.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just a few short minutes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Leaves.
[SPEAKER_01]: As soon as she goes down to the end of the road, that's when the gun fire happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's when everything took place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I say all that to say because that's the kind of covering that God desires, like that's him.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the power and the protection of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And how much he believes in our households, how much he cares about our families, how much he's so desires that we stay in a blessed and prosperous life and that we're protected by him.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is God Himself, and if the Lord cares enough about our, literally, our home, our physical home for us not to be affected by that situation, for us to not even be there when we were supposed to be home, for her to probably still be in the driveway and get absolutely slaughtered in our drive.
[SPEAKER_01]: All of these things when you think about,
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the Lord saying, I've got this household covered.
[SPEAKER_01]: All of these other houses have bullets, but I got this household covered.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what it's like when you live a life of saying, God, this house belongs to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: This family belongs to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: This marriage belongs to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: My children, they belong to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when we truly live that way, and when we truly believe that in surrender our households and our families unto the Lord, in that way, then we see the goodness of God, the blessing of the Lord over our families.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe that, I believe that for all of us today, that is where God wants us to be.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he wants your family to be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody say amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's three keys to leading your family God's way that I want to teach you today, and I really encourage you to take notes this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Take notes because this is important, but in your phone if you have to, whatever you got to do, but it's a simple, it's not complicated, it's not, it's not extravagant, but it's something that we've got to learn and understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Three keys to leading your family God's way, not your way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not your spouse's way, how your parents told you to lead your home?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, God's way, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: And number one is this, is that you have to trust without the details.
[SPEAKER_01]: Trust without the details.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I know we don't like that because we wanna know the details.
[SPEAKER_01]: We wanna know the fine print, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We wanna know, you know,
[SPEAKER_01]: the end from the beginning, you know, we want to have it all laid out before us, but God often has a way of of challenging us and encouraging us in a way that just trust him, trust him even though you don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Trust him, even though it doesn't make sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: Trust him, even though you don't have all the answers or things aren't lining up.
[SPEAKER_01]: But trust without the details, we say, God, I need you to give me this answer.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, just do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes he's saying, I would do that, but in this situation, I just need you to trust.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in your family, he's not going to give you all the details.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not going to give you the 411 on how to do all of the things when it comes to your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just not the way it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this will be silly, but I'm going to say it because this was trusting in God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I had to have the talk with my son, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, man, it's about to be 13, and this is it, because in school, they were starting to talk about things in science, and they let us know, they gave us a warning ahead of time, like, hey, this is coming in a few weeks, and they sent over the slideshow for what they were gonna be teaching in a house, like, oh man, I better say something, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: But I was like, Lord, this is hard.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I don't want to say something that is wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to say something that provokes
[SPEAKER_01]: curiosity in the sense that all of a sudden we have to start dealing with stuff and you know there was a lie in my mind was going a million different ways and I'm like Lord you're just gonna have to give me wisdom on this and it was literally just trusting in him like trusting in him and I know that sounds crazy but it's the reality that I just had a face.
[SPEAKER_01]: the past couple weeks because, well, this is like, I ain't saying nothing to your son.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna talk to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, yeah, of course.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will talk to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what to say, but God will help me.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, Lord, I need you to help me and just give me wisdom and direction.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord showed me this podcast on a Christian podcast on how to have this conversation with your children when they come of the age to have it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I listened to it and I just, like, the piece of God just settled upon my heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: the way that they explained on how to explain things and all that, you know, I just was like, okay, and I went from being like, I'm trying to avoid this to, and I've got peace about this, like the Lord just helped me in that, but it was trusting him, even in that, and then trusting that when I actually set down and had the conversation that, you know, it wasn't going to be
[SPEAKER_01]: weird or whatever, and I told them straight up, I'm like, Gabriel, this is gonna be a super awkward conversation, but we gotta have it, and you're like, what, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, and I had that conversation with him, and the conversation went phenomenal.
[SPEAKER_01]: It went really, really good.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I gave him the opportunity to ask questions,
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever you want to ask and I will answer it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to beat around the bush.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to try to make something up but I will answer honestly.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he asked me some questions that were interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I answered them, I answered them and I didn't hold back.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I walked out of his room that night.
[SPEAKER_01]: I prayed for him, he went to bed.
[SPEAKER_01]: I walked out of his room that night and I said, thank you, Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did it the way you wanted me to do it, God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't do it my way.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did it your way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's learning to just trust in him and everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even when you don't know what to say and you don't have the details, God, I just trust you.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna give me the words to say, you're gonna lead me as I lead my family.
[SPEAKER_01]: So God comes to Isaac in verse 2 that we read, and He tells Him, live in the land that I will tell you about, not live in the land that you already know.
[SPEAKER_01]: no details.
[SPEAKER_01]: He just says, live in the land that I will tell you about.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll tell me about it now, God.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, live in the land that I will tell you about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Stay in this land, he says, and I will be with you, and I will bless you.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Isaac is not given any specifics, but God says, live in the land that I will tell you about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I know that
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible doesn't say that the large strides of a man are ordered by him.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says this in Psalms chapter 37 verse 23, he'll be on the screen.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says the steps, not the big strides, not the long walks, but the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're established by him.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is so encouraging because you don't have to try to figure it all out when it comes to your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to try to figure it all out before something even happens or whatever it may be.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see, church, you just got to trust God with the bits and pieces.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to trust Him in the small steps.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you've got to know that He already knows the destination.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's getting you there literally one step at a time.
[SPEAKER_01]: one step at a time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm thankful for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like when I take even if it's a small step, God's there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he's not looking for us to try to take these big ol' leaps and get into a place in a position where we shouldn't be.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just saying, no, you just take a small step.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll open everything up for you, I will order all of your steps, even the smallest of ones.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when it comes to leading your family and leading your households and leading your marriages and leading your kids, that's the way we do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: One step at a time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the people that try to take big steps and do big things, it ends up falling apart.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he says, I will be in your little steps.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll even be in those little decisions that you have to make.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be in those little conversations that you have to have with your kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be there in all of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you see church, we just gotta trust him with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when it comes to your family, God's not gonna lay out a whole plan for you and give you the beginning and give you the middle and give you the end and include all the details.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's looking for godly people who will lead their homes even when things are hard.
[SPEAKER_01]: even when things don't make sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even when there's disagreements or chaos, you just have to trust God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to trust Him not just for yourself, but you have to trust Him with your kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to trust Him with your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to trust Him with your house.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen church, there's no such thing as leading your family if you can't trust the one who built your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to say it again because I feel like that really needs to hit home for us today.
[SPEAKER_01]: That there is no such thing as leading your family if you can't trust the one who first built your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: He built it, he established it, he created the family unit and he created your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Trust that what he's built is perfect in his sight.
[SPEAKER_01]: Trust that what he's built is going in the right direction, even if you feel like it's not.
[SPEAKER_01]: Trust that God's got your family, taking, he's got it all in place, he's got it all right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even if there's chaos and confusion and all kinds of things happening, and maybe stuff is blowing up in your household at the end of the day God says I've still got your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I saw this coming, I'm not caught off guard by this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a part of the process and it's a part of getting you to the destination that I need to get.
[SPEAKER_01]: You and your family and your household.
[SPEAKER_01]: So there is no pressure in trying to be a perfect family with the perfect home and the perfect this and the perfect that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But there is perfect peace and trusting in the creator of the universe who cares more about your family and your house than you even do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, Samay Samin.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the first one is to trust without the details.
[SPEAKER_01]: When it comes to your family, you not only just need a trust, but you gotta have his wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: You gotta step into his wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not yours once again, but his.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you and your family are gonna go to the next level, if you and your family are gonna go to the next level in this next season that I just declared over you a couple minutes ago, then you need wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: You need wisdom, and hear me, earthly wisdom might help you take a step or two.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Godly wisdom will literally leap you into your next blessed season.
[SPEAKER_01]: Godly wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: And many times, you know, wisdom doesn't come by a loud booming voice of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, this is what I need you to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is how you lead your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Most often, and not, that's not where it's coming from.
[SPEAKER_01]: But sometimes wisdom comes by a heavenly whisper.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not a loud, booming voice, a heavenly whisper.
[SPEAKER_01]: So your ability to hear God's voice and obey him will determine if your house will be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is operational because you can't depend on past wisdom to keep you going.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to depend on fresh right now wisdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Isaac didn't need earthly wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't need earthly direction.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't need earthly answers or whatever it may be.
[SPEAKER_01]: He needed divine wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't go to Egypt like your father did.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that doesn't make sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, you led him there.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, you did this.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, you did that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're telling me not to do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because you're not doing what they did.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're doing what I'm telling you to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care what your parents have told you, and how you lead your home, how you raise your kids, how you do this, how you handle your finances.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, you gotta do things the way God tells you to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You honor your father and mother, we know that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you do things the way God tells you to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ain't nobody can lead your family, the way God can lead your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care how much they love you and care about you and appreciate you and what the very best for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody can lead your household and your family, the way God can.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I don't need anybody's wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need anybody's two cents on how to raise my kids and how to do this and how to do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll listen.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be respectful, but at the end of the day, I need to listen to the wisdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And even if it comes in a whisper and not allowed booming voice, I'm okay with that because I know it's his wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: And his wisdom, the Bible says, leads me into all truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: All truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hear me, different days require different strategies.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the only way you'll succeed in prospering this new heavenly strategy of God is if you first get the wisdom for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember it says this in James chapter one verse five, look at it on the screen says if you don't have wisdom, ask him for wisdom, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So now if any of you lacks wisdom, which I think we all do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes more than we want to admit, come on, are we real people up in here, says he should ask God, who gives to all generously, who gives what generously, wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: He gives it, he gives the wisdom to
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, because people will criticize your judgment all day long, but thank God he doesn't criticize the wisdom that he gives you because it's it's perfect.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it will be given to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you don't have wisdom, ask him for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He'll give you all the wisdom you need, and it will be perfect.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it will all be given to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, I don't know about you church,
[SPEAKER_01]: We need the wisdom of God to have a blessed marriage to raise our kids to do all these things the right way.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got to have his wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need the wisdom of God if you're a husband, you need the wisdom of God to be able to help you nurture your wife.
[SPEAKER_01]: In vice versa, wives, you need the wisdom of God to help do whatever it is God is leading you to do for your husband.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need the wisdom of God to make decisions for our kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who can't make decisions for themselves, so we have to help them.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we need his wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can't just go based off of what we know, or what we think makes sense, or what somebody told us.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got to have the wisdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the wisdom is so important, and the third one is this.
[SPEAKER_01]: The third key into leading your family the way God would have you to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: God's way is this, is to sow into your family, sow into your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you need to trust Him without knowing the details.
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to get His wisdom, literally step by step, we're going to get His wisdom, and then we're going to sow into our families.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, before I get into depth on this one, because I know we're running out of time, is let me say this, that I'm not a prosperity gospel preacher, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't, I don't believe in filling the pockets of preachers while the church is suffering and dying in the place of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I don't believe in that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I do believe that God really wants us to be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants us to prosper, and not just not just financially, but in every way in our life, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: God wants to bless you, and he wants to bless your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what I'm about to say and teach you is not prosperity gospel, but it's what I would call truth gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: The truth of God's Word, not trying to buff it up or steer away from the direction that the Lord spoke it, but just to receive the truth and the revelation of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not a prosperity preacher, but I'm also not a poverty preacher.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't believe that we should be poor and be miserable and all that kind of stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think God intended for us to live that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says actually in the word, give to the poor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, how can I give to the poor if I don't have nothing to give?
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so he wants us to be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, but I also don't believe that he wants us to be big headed.
[SPEAKER_01]: where we've got everything that we could have and some, and we're big headed about it, and we can't give.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then that's a problem, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the Bible says it's more blessed to give than to receive, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so listen, you may not make a lot of money, but the fact that you live in this country actually makes you richer than more than half of the people on this planet.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just the fact that you live here, alone, makes you richer than more than half of the people on the entire face of the planet.
[SPEAKER_01]: You may say, well, that's not what my bank account looks like right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, but you're also not living in a shack with dirt floors, with no electricity, and no running water either.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, so you are way more blessed than what you even think you are.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are way more blessed than what you even know you are.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been into other countries.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been into other parts of the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have seen some crazy things and it challenged me and convicted me when I came home to our nice restaurants and our nice cars and anytime we want, we can go pump up the thing with gas, you know, in our cars and all the kind of things
[SPEAKER_01]: And so to be in a place where you think, oh, God's not blessing me and I don't have a lot and I don't have much to pay my bills and my finances are tight and all that that is living in a poverty mindset and God doesn't want you to be there so even if the numbers are low he wants you to talk like the numbers are high.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants you to act and think like the numbers are high, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we've got to speak things into existence as though they're not sometimes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, and that, especially comes in the area of our finances because sometimes, more often than not, we will be challenged in the area of our finances.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because money is a real thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we got to be careful because the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil.
[SPEAKER_01]: Notice what it does not say.
[SPEAKER_01]: it says the root.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the root of all evil, the love of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's nothing wrong with having money and with being blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not concerned about the person that's blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's concerned about where your heart is when you're blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: The love of money is the root.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we got to be careful that we don't get infatuated with money that it becomes a love and that we step out of a place for our love of God and we're putting money higher than in a place in our life a priority than God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why it's important when we talk about tithing and talking about giving because it's not a matter of if I can or if I want to or if I should or all that kind of stuff it is literally a matter of your own heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you can't tie, because you say I can't, or I don't want to, I don't know how, or whatever, it's a heart check.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then that's when you got to say, God help me in my heart to figure this out, because I want to do what your word says, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm not taking time to talk about tithing, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not what we're talking about this morning, but you need to know that wealth doesn't just start in your wallet.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it doesn't just start in your wallet.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it starts in your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I want to go back and read verses 12 and 13.
[SPEAKER_01]: Genesis 26 verses 12 and 13.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at it on the screen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Isaac soared seed in that land.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a land that he knew nothing about.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a land that he had no details on.
[SPEAKER_01]: No past experience, no knowledge.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he said, I'm gonna so seed into this land.
[SPEAKER_01]: He so'd seed into this land.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in that year, what happened?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he so'd.
[SPEAKER_01]: He reaped a hundred times what was so.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord blessed him and the man became rich.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, he didn't just become rich, but look what happened after that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this is kingdom principles here, this is what the gospel is also about, sewing and reaping.
[SPEAKER_01]: You sew, you reap.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it simple as that?
[SPEAKER_01]: You plant seeds in your garden and your backyard?
[SPEAKER_01]: What's going to happen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Something's going to grow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sewing and reaping.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're like us, you've got no green thumb, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, just the way it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, when Gabriel was really little, Ms. Kathy will tell you, we wanted to plant tomatoes.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wanted to, he wanted tomatoes when he was little, because we did cucumbers and all that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well,
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, we kept noticing that all the tomatoes kept disappearing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it was the dang squirrels that were after the tomatoes.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we finally caught them one day.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we were like, all right, we're going to put that metal thing, that great thing around the deals, so they can't take it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Any more of Gabriel's tomatoes?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Gabriel was just little.
[SPEAKER_01]: No more taking my son's tomatoes.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants a tomato, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: And what'd you dang know, we go out there one day and those stupid squirrels were like all up in the middle Like eating the tomatoes and all that I'm like, no!
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not the way this is supposed to work, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: A Gabriel, Gabriel grew big, I mean giant, this big, I'm not even kidding you, cucumbers and all kinds of stuff And he loved it when he was just a little guy, you know, he'd go out there, Miss Kathy, would take care of him during the day while we were at work and
[SPEAKER_01]: And they'd go out there and they'd play all these vegetables and water these vegetables and do all these things and Gabriel just loved it, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And he enjoyed it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But even from a young age, you understand that when you so seed, something's going to come from that seed, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so my question for us today is, what are we selling into our family?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because something is going to grow from it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Something is going to come up out of the ground.
[SPEAKER_01]: something is going to come to fruition.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it something that's nice, beautiful, edible, enjoyable?
[SPEAKER_01]: What, that benefits our family?
[SPEAKER_01]: Or what comes up out of the ground?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it something that's full of thorns?
[SPEAKER_01]: And thistles and all these kind of messed up, broken nasty things that we don't want nothing to do with.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, whatever you are sewing into your family right now, you will reap a harvest for it later.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what kind of things are you sewing?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want us to be challenged in this today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because even if you don't have the best relationships with your families or your kids or whatever it may be, I want us to think about what we're sewing because what we sew mostly comes out of our mouth.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, hate, you'll repate.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, chaos, you'll get nothing but chaos.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, whatever you name it, it does not matter, whatever you sow, you will reap.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is why most kids who grow up in an addict's home become an addict themselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why most kids who grow up in an alcoholic's home will become an alcoholic later.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not me being negative, it's just truth, because that's all they knew, it was all that was ever shown, that's what they had.
[SPEAKER_01]: Most kids that grow up in a divorced home with multiple moms and multiple dads and all this kind of stuff will more than likely end up being the ones that get divorced themselves too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because that's what they know.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was what was sewn into them.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that doesn't have to be us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We can break the curse.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to today's message.
[SPEAKER_00]: We pray you were inspired, challenged, and marked by the word you heard.
[SPEAKER_00]: If this message blessed you today, we encourage you to subscribe to the Church of the City podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: There you can find more faith-filled messages to uplift you and help you on your journey of faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.
[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.