Sunday Re Cap (8th July 2007)

Breaking the Power of The Past-Part 1
by Ps Samuel Hari

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Read Ex 20:5-6
God punishes the sin of the Fathers to the third and fourth generations. Are there things in the past that are hindering us from fulfilling God's purposes and destiny for our lives?
Like everyone in the human race, we are descendants of Adam and Eve. Their intent after they disobeyed was to shield and defend themselves from God and one another. This aim of protecting ourselves from God and others manifest in different ways-controlling, fixing (repairing, damage control, destructive maintenance), fear, withdrawing, ignoring, denying, pacifying, or in conflict, loneliness, anxiety, frustration, resentment, blaming and more.

Ex: How did our parents/family resolve conflicts? Anger, denial, withdrawal?
“It is impossible to help people break free from their past apart from understanding the families in which they grew up.”

King David & His Family
Three themes surface from generation to generation in David’s family.
Theme 1: Having a Heart for God.
David compromises his relationship with God by committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband. This decision reverberates through his family and nation of Israel for generations. His son Solomon’s heart is described as not fully devoted to God. He mixes worship of the God of Israel with the worship of gods of the nations around him. By the third generation, this decline in spirituality reaches the bottom. Solomon’s son Rehoboam ignores the God of Israel and engages in idolatry and detestable practices of other nations.
Theme 2: Sexual Sin
David collects wives. Commits adultery with Bathsheba. His oldest son Ammon rapes his half sister Tamar and disgraces her forever. Solomon who carries on further the sexual sins of his father by accumulating 700 wives and three hundred concubines. Solomon’s son Rehoboam has 18 wives and 60 concubines. It was an act of rebellion against God’s commandments. (Deut 17:17).
Theme 3: Family Division and sibling rivalry
David had some tension with His brother (1 Sam 16-17). His son Absalom murders Ammon in revenge for raping his sister. The family is divided as a result. Absalom grows bitter and proclaims himself as king, conquering Jerusalem. Solomon’s son Rehoboam carries this pattern even further as his family disintegrates. Finally the once united 12 tribes of Israel split into a northern kingdom with 10 tribes and a southern kingdom with 2 tribes. The split family is eventually carried into exile.
Sin is passed on from generation to generation.
“Unless we grasp the power of the past on who we are in the present, we will inevitably replicate those patterns in relationships inside and outside the church.”

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Their generational blessings reach even down to us. However, their sins and emotional maturity also passed from generation to generation.
Again three patterns emerge:
Pattern 1: Lying
Evident in all four generations and even increases in intensity with every generation. Fearful, Abraham lies twice about Sarah, denying that she’s his wife. Rebecca and Isaac’s life is also dominated by lies and trickery (Gen 27).
Jacob increases the level of manipulation by lying consistently to almost everyone with whom he is in relationship. In fact his very name means “deceiver”. By the 4th generation, 10 of Jacob’s sons fake the death of their younger brother Joseph. They even go through the motions of a wake, funeral and a time of mourning to maintain such a lie.
Pattern 2: Favorite Child
Abraham favors Ishmael, but Sarah wants him removed from the family.
Isaac favors Esau and wants him to receive to receive the powerful family blessings.
Jacob favors Joseph and later Benjamin.
Pattern 3: Sibling Rivalry and Relational cutoff
Isaac and Ishmael-this division and tension continue till today in the Middle East between the Arabs and the Jews.
Esau and Jacob become open enemies once Jacob steals Esau’s blessings.
Finally, Joseph is cut off from his 10 older brothers for most of his adult life.

Conclusion: The sins of the fathers often intensify and remain for generations even when we are believers. We cannot cover up these areas by being “more spiritual”. There are areas of our lives that need to be confronted and dealt with by the power of the Holy Spirit if we are willing to be honest and open. The result is Emotional Maturity, Unity and Breakthrough Living!