What It Will Take To Make Your Family Great

The King's Church International Audio Podcast

God has great plans for you and your family. God can do more IN your family, FOR your family and THROUGH your family than you can imagine. A family that knows God and chooses to serve Him wholeheartedly has exponential potential to influence not only churches and communities but also nations and generations for good and for God.

We live in a world today that is so self-centred, and even Christians and churches can become very me-centred. The idea that families matter is constantly ridiculed as old fashioned, yet it is the very break up of families that is at the root of so many problems in society, whether in the form of depression, crime, or social and economic disadvantages.

Of course, God loves each individual and has personal blessings and plans for each one of us. But we must understand how much the Bible focuses on a much bigger picture of building the best families and family lines in every generation, even in the face of so much previous family dysfunction and trouble.

The God of the Bible is often known as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because He is a God who made great family promises to them and to their descendants: promises that also apply to us when we follow Jesus. Galatians 3:29 says: ‘If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.’ So, what does this mean for your family, whether you are a two parent or one parent or even a no parent family?

1. Your family can be blessed in every generation (Genesis 12:1-2; Genesis 17:6-8; Genesis 26:24; Genesis 28:12-14; Genesis 20; Genesis 26:7; Matthew 1)

2. Your family must choose to serve God in in every generation (Genesis 15:5-6; Genesis 17:1,9; Hebrews 11:21; Genesis 26:4-5; Deuteronomy 6:4-7; Joshua 24:15)

3. Your family can be a great blessing in every generation (Genesis 12:2; Genesis 28:14; Nehemiah 3:12; Ezra 1:5)

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1. Your family can be blessed in every generation. The first and foundational book of the Bible is Genesis where we read of God making and repeating His promises of continued family blessing to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 12:1-2; Genesis 17:6-8; Genesis 26:24; Genesis 28:12-14). In short God wants to bless your family no matter how much trouble or dysfunction there has been in your family. If you doubt this, consider some of the problems encountered in Abraham’s family and line. Abraham was willing to risk other men sleeping with his wife to save his own life (Genesis 20:2) and his son Isaac did the same (Genesis 26:7). Also, Abraham’s wife Sarah told her husband he should sleep with the family maid to have a surrogate child for her, then Isaac’s wife deceived him so that her favourite son would get his blessing, and the deceived son Esau was so made he vowed to kill his brother Jacob. Jacob fled for his life and proceeded to deceive pretty much everyone he came in contact with. Two of his sons killed the man who had raped their sister and then wiped out all the men of his town. Ten of Jacob’s 12 sons were so jealous of their brother Joseph that they beat him up and sold as a slave. Violence, sexual sin, lying and cheating - this was what this family was like. Yet God had mercy on this family. God helped and blessed this family. From this family Joseph grew up to save his family and nation and many other nations from a great famine. From this family came Israel’s greatest King, David, who himself was an adulterer and murderer, and if you read Matthew 1 you will see that it was from this family that One came who would bless all families on earth: the Messiah Jesus Christ. This tells us that God can rescue and restore any family. God can raise up great and godly leaders even if the rest of the family is far from God. There is hope for you. There is hope for your family. It’s not too late. It’s not too far gone. Even in families which have been dysfunctional for generations, God can suddenly raise up great leaders like Joseph and Josiah in Abraham’s family line. Also the Bible shows that although you may have come from a far from Christian family, and you may have messed up yourself, God can get you married into a line of blessing. This is what happened with Rahab the former prostitute and Ruth from a family of idol worshippers.

2. Your family must choose to serve God in in every generation. God wants to bless families but each family needs to be shaped by those who choose to follow the Lord (Genesis 15:5-6; Genesis 17:1,9). This means that we must believe God’s word. You need to believe as Abram believed that your family has a destiny. You must live in faith, not fear, for your family, your children and grandchildren, or great grandchildren (Hebrews 11:21). Today there are so many forces at work to pervert, undermine and destroy people, particularly vulnerable children and young people, yet despite all this we must not give way to worry and doubt. For God has another way for us to live, and that is the way of faith. By faith in God’s word, we will see a new generation raised up for God: a generation that will experience great deliverance. Also, you need to live in obedience to God’s word (Genesis 26:4-5). We need to choose to obey God by training our children in the ways of the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-7). Basically, parents, or a parent, have to train and shape children and decide what goes and what doesn’t go in your family even if it is acceptable with other families. When the Israelites were faced with idol worship in Canaan, Joshua made his own position very clear (Joshua 24:15). This was a decision and a determination. If you want your children to be given fully to God, make sure that you lead the way. It is important that children are dedicated to the Lord at an early age. This marks them for God from the beginning of their lives. If you have not done this, you need to do it. As the children grow older renew your vows of dedication as a whole family. Great things can flow from this decision.

3. Your family can be a great blessing in every generation (Genesis 12:2; Genesis 28:14). All through the history of the Israelites, we see that it was through dedicated families that the blessings flowed. Families helped to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 3:12). Families helped rebuild the Temple (Ezra 1:5). Families were at the core of the small group that Christianity was founded on - there were three sets of brothers in the 12 of Jesus: Peter and Andrew, James and John, Matthew and James. Matthew and James may also have been cousins of Jesus. Families have shaped the church and history: the Wesley family in the 18th century; William and Catherine Booth in the 19th century. And families are at the forefront of Christian advance today. God is touching nations through families such as the Castellanos family, the Joel Osteen family, and many others here today. And who knows what God will do when you and your family are fully committed to Him? Today we need more distinctively Christian families. Today choose to believe that God wants to make your family and every family great. For this is how we can strengthen the church and shape the world.