Nick Ferreiro - But is a Bridge

Good, it's good to see you guys for those that don't know my name is Nick I am one of the pastors here and and you need a brilliant decision to join us in the house today Because you could be doing just about anything else the weather was not so good on your way into church So you made it anyways anyone got wet in the church this morning. Yeah. Oh, yeah, come on Give yourselves a round of applause. We're proud of you guys. Thank you so much. You're brilliant to join us today What a brilliant decision. It's actually a decision that I believe the Lord will honor Because the scripture tells us that wherever two or three or more are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ there He will be with them And if you look around the room really quick There's quite a few more than two or three of us here today And that's all the indication that I really need to know that because we are here because we are in the house of God The Lord is here with us and that's good news for somebody at church by the glaze today because in the presence of God There's an abundance of peace and joy and power and he gives us the power and he sets us free come on somebody Anyone look over that today. Oh, come on. Are we here at church today? Anyone looking for some freedom? Yeah Good because that's what I do believe the Lord he wants to do It's what his desire is today to set somebody free and that's been my prayer all week long is that God would set someone free specifically someone or or many of us who may struggle a little bit more than normal around this time of the year Obviously, we just crossed out of October now We're in the month of November, which means we've officially transitioned into the holiday season Which is amazing for so many of us. Yeah, one woo. That was sad back there It's a great thing I mean because you know We love spending time with our family and the joy and laughter and and all the blessing that brings to our life But for others of us the holiday season is simply a reminder. Maybe of what you never had or maybe the the difficulties that have transpired in your life or or maybe you just get stressed and anxiety induced around the holiday season Because if you're being honest your family is a little crazy and that's why today I feel like is a good a day as any as we're transitioning into the holiday season to talk about us I'm packed what that actually means for us. So let's do it today. Let's talk about family Let's talk about family because I do believe and know this without a shadow of a doubt no matter what type of family You came from no matter what type of family you were raised in we all have a degree of dysfunction in our family

The reason for that is because our families are made up of flawed broken sinful and dysfunctional individuals So so so no matter if you came from a great family unit or not We all have some dysfunction that needs defining and then addressing if we want the Lord's best not just for our lives but for the lives of those we do life with amen and One of many reasons that I love the Bible is that it's not a book that is irrelevant to my personal life No, the scriptures are actually remarkably relatable and for our purposes in context today It's important to know that the scriptures do not just detail and instruct us in how we should operate in a family unit Though there is some of that in the scripture But it also details the countless lives of very messy dysfunctional and broken family units that we can actually use as cautionary tales of what not to do in a family unit and What I need you to understand today is the Bible is not full of perfect people. It's really not It's actually the exact opposite the Bible is full of highly imperfect people who are still chosen and still loved and still used and still redeemed By a perfect God so from the very beginning of the sermon today what I need you to understand Is that just because you come from a dysfunctional family does not mean dysfunction has to be your story? Just because you may come from a messy family does not mean that that has to be what marks your life No, I believe you can find freedom and redemption today, amen amen Before we continue you probably are wondering what do you know about dysfunctional families? Well, if you knew my story you know just how qualified I actually am to talk about dysfunctional families And for those of us that don't know allow me to briefly give you my resume Let's start with my mom's side of the equation. I was raised by a wonderful single mother Come on. Shout out to all the single moms out there. We're grateful for you. We're so we're so we're better because of you I mean my life is a testament to the power of what the obedience of a single mother can do So I cannot overstate this enough. We love you so much We are here for you as your church family and we are grateful for you. So, thank you. Thank you Thank you, but that being said about my single mother. She is textbook Cuban So for all the Hispanics in the room you're like say no more pastor. We get it Like we'll be praying for you because you need it and I do pray for your boy. My mom is crazy So anyways, she's single mom. It's awesome. I love her, but yeah, she's crazy. That's my mom's side my dad's side of the equation I am one of six kids with five of us having different mothers

So the oldest three of the six, I am the youngest of the oldest three, the oldest three, we were all born within a year and a half timeframe. You do the math on that one, 'cause remember, pregnancy's nine months. Anyways, all that to say, I love, listen, I don't hear me wrong, I love my family, I'm grateful to God for my family, I cherish them, but I'd be lying to you if I said anything other than my family's a little crazy, okay? 'Cause they are, they're crazy, but again, just because you come from a crazy family does not mean you have to live in craziness. I believe my life is a testament, in fact, to that reality, because as a married man with three kids of the same woman, come on, somebody. What I want you to understand is that it might run in your family, but it does not have to run in you. It might run in your family, but it does not have to continue to run in you. And I wanna spend the rest of our time together proving this fact to you. And I wanna do so by giving you an example of a very beautiful, powerful, godly, but very broken family in the scriptures. If you have your Bibles with you, I want you to turn with me to the book of Genesis. That's gonna be our scripture of study today.

We're gonna do a bit of a survey of the book of Genesis, and we're gonna be all over the place, 'cause I think it'll be necessary to adequately study the dynamics of the patriarchal family of the faith, the family of a man named Joseph. Everybody say the word Joseph. Joseph will be our primary character of study, but before we get there, I think it's important to study his family dynamics. So that's what we're gonna do. You've probably heard of God referred to, hello, hi God. You probably refer, he's here in the room, I told you. You've probably heard of God referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's one of his many titles, but this title specifically references the great grandfather, grandfather, and father of this man, Joseph. And God used this family to establish and set the foundation for the lineage of faith that we are still believing in today. So it's a very important family. It's a very influential family, but it's still a family that is not without its familial dysfunction and problems. So let's look at it. Let's start from the very beginning and work our way down through the generation so that we can clearly see what it is that I'm talking about.

So let's start with Abraham. Let's start with the father of the faith. The scriptures tell us that Abraham was married to this woman named Sarah. And they had a fairly good marriage that is up until Genesis chapter 12 rolls around. And Abraham proves to make a decision that was rather peculiar as a husband. And in Genesis chapter number 12, the word of the Lord says this, that there was a famine in the lands, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was so severe. And as he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarah, I know what a beautiful woman you are. So when the Egyptians see you, they will say, this is his wife. Then they will kill me, but let you live. So look at verse 13. So he says, say you are my sister, huh? Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because husbands, can you imagine? Like think about that in your context. You're at a dinner party and you don't want to, I don't know, out yourself about something. You're like, oh, say you're my sister.

Like that's weird. Let's not over-spiritualize the scripture here. Like that is a really strange request. And in this confrontation that Abraham had that he was confronted with a very difficult circumstance, he lied. He lied out of fear for his own life. And as a result, he completely compromised and put his wife in a very compromising and weird position. But Abraham as a husband was supposed to sacrifice for his wife. Supposed to serve his wife. Supposed to support and stand up for his wife. Instead, he operates out of selfishness. Look at the reasons he gave for saying that you must be my sister. Look, he says, so that I will be treated well. So that my life will be spared. It's all about him. But that's not what we're called to do husbands. We're called to sacrifice for our spouses. We're called to serve our spouses. We're called to love like Christ's love. And he died for his spouse. Come on, that's what we're called to do. That's what we're called to do as husbands. But that's not what Abraham did. He lied. And unfortunately, for him, it set in motion this now dysfunction that continues

to perpetuate in the family. 'Cause when you go down to Genesis chapter 26, 14 chapters later, we're introduced to Abraham's son, Isaac. And weirdly enough, he finds himself in a scenario very similar to that of his fathers. And he responds in an almost eerily identical way. Genesis chapter 26, starting in verse number one, it says that there was a famine in the land. How weird. And Isaac went to Abimalek, King of the Philistines, in Garar. Is that how you pronounce any of that? I'm not so sure, but that's what we're gonna say today. And verse seven, skipping down, he says when the men of that place asked Isaac about his wife, he said she is my sister. And because he was afraid to say she is my wife, he thought the men of this place might kill me on account of my wife Rebecca, 'cause she's beautiful. It's almost the exact same thing that happened with Abraham. So when Isaac had been there a long time, Abimalek the King of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife, hello. So Abimalek, hey, come on now. So it's not PG in church today, so your kids go to kids stuff. Okay, so Abimalek summoned Isaac and said, she really is your wife. Why did you say she is my sister? It's actually a great question that I think we should explore. Where did Isaac get this idea to say

that his wife is his sister? Well, it's important to know that by Genesis chapter 26, Abraham had already passed away. So it's not like he could have talked to his father and asked for some advice on how to navigate this circumstance that he found himself in. But in ancient Israel, it isn't also important to know the context. In ancient Israel, the way that they would pass down important information from generation to generation was through carefully conserved oral tradition. So what they would do is they would somehow, some way pass down information and the stories and lineage of the faith, of the things that God was doing amongst his people, they would do through these systematized and carefully and reliably accurate ways of documentation, oftentimes through recounting these stories and one person writing it down. But because everyone could not write and read at that time, most families would have to rely on talking to each other, on sharing the stories of their life's journey and the faith that they carried along the way. So my best guess at how this idea came to his mind is one day he's probably hanging out with his family and Isaac asks his father, "Hey Dad, can you tell us some things about your life?" And he starts recounting all of the things that the Lord had brought him through which inevitably gets him to this moment that he had in Egypt during the famine with his wife Sarah.

So later on, in Isaac's own life, when his father had passed away, when he found himself in an almost identical situation, he thought to himself, "Well, my dad did it. So it must be a viable option for me to do as well." And this right here, Dad's, is why our leadership matters so much. Your kids are not just listening to what you say. They're watching what you do. They're watching how you love your wife. They're watching how you serve your neighbors. They're watching how you prioritize your schedule. They're watching how you steward and sacrifice your time. They're watching how you treat and talk to other people. And this is why we must be incredibly intentional about how we disciple and raise our children because training them up in the Lord will never happen on accident. So come on, men, we need to set a great example for future generations. We need to set a great example for the people that will follow us. So let your kids find you loving your wife. Let your kids find you reading the Bible often. Allow your kids to see you worship the Lord. Allow your kids to see you consistently serve your neighbors. Allow your children to hear you say, "I'm sorry when you've done something wrong." And allow them to hear you forgive when you have been wronged. Let them see you live a life that is obedient

to the scriptures because it could be the difference between future generations being blessed and future generations carrying a burden. (audience applauding) And sadly, sadly for this family that we're studying today, the burden continued. The burden continued to be carried in future generations 'cause if you skip down to Genesis 27, the very next chapter, we learned that Isaac and his wife Rebecca had twin boys. They go by the name of Esau and Jacob. You've probably heard of them in church before. Esau and Jacob. Esau was the older twin and Jacob was the younger twin. And in Genesis chapter 27, Isaac, he's having a conversation with his older son, Esau, about the birthright and blessing that belonged to him. If you don't know what that is, essentially it's the inheritance and encouragement that was specifically reserved for the eldest son of any family. And Esau was getting this pep talk, if you will, from his father about the blessing he was about to receive. And in Genesis 27, verse number five, look at how the dysfunction perpetuates. It says, "Now Rebecca was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt and game and bring it back, Rebecca said to her son, "Jacob, look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau,

"bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die. Now my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you. Go out of the flock and bring me two choice young goats so I can prepare some tasty food for your father." So then take it to your father to eat that he may give you his blessing before he dies. Skipping down to verse 14, so Jacob did that. He went and got them, brought them back to his mother and she prepared some tasty food just the way his father liked it. Then Rebecca took the best clothes of her older son, Esau, which she had in the house and put them on her younger son, Jacob. She covered his hands in the smooth part of his neck with goat skins 'cause Esau was hairy and Jacob was not. Then she handed to her son, Jacob, the tasty food and bread that she had made. Are you seeing what I'm seeing? It's more lying. It's this deception. It's trickery. Jacob, the grandson of Abraham and the father of Joseph at the instruction of his mother, deceives his father into giving him a blessing that belonged to his older brother, Esau. And sadly for Jacob, this deception and lying in trickery would actually go on to mark his life. And he lived much of his life on the run

from his brother, Esau, who despised him after this and lived with a tremendous amount of distress and despair because of it. But despite all the dysfunction he lived in, Jacob still expanded his family. He had 12 sons. The Bible tells us, which fun facts for all the Bible scholars, those 12 sons became the 12 tribes of Israel. Those 12 sons he had, the 11th of which was his favorite son and our protagonists for today, Joseph. But because Joseph was his father's favorite, he was the most loved son from his father, Jacob, his other brothers hated him because of that. Well, one day Joseph, he has this dream. And the dream is that his brothers and his family will all bow down before him, but his fatal flaw was that he shared this with his brothers. And that became the straw that broke the camel's back. Like they were done. They already despised him because he was daddy's favorite, but now you're gonna tell us that we're gonna bow down to you, we're done. So because Joseph shared this dream with his brothers, they were so greatly disturbed by this dream that from that day forward, they sought to bring harm to Joseph. And we actually get to see this play out in Genesis chapter 37. You following with me so far? Okay, Genesis chapter 37, he says, "So Joseph went after his brothers

and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill Joseph. Here comes that dreamer," they said to each other. "Come now, let's kill 'em and throw 'em into one of these cisterns and say a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his cute little dreams." And I don't wanna waste your time, so I'm just gonna paraphrase the next bit here. One of the brothers was like, "Yo, let's not do that, he's our brother. We can't kill this guy." So instead, they decide to throw 'em in a pit. And they throw 'em in that pit, and they plan to just leave him there. But then they see this caravan of foreigners coming by, and they actually decide, you know what? Let's get rid of him once and for all. So they sold him as a slave to this caravan of foreigners and thought to themselves, "We'll never see him again." So in verse number 31, then it says, "Then they got Joseph's robe slaughtered to go and dip the robe in that blood. Then they brought that ornate robe back to their father and said, "Look what we found. Examine it to see whether it's your son's robe or not." And Jacob recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe. Some ferocious animal has devoured him.

Joseph has surely been torn to pieces." Okay, so do you see the pattern at play here? Abraham started out with a lie. Then his son Isaac lied. Then his wife Rebecca lied. Then their son Jacob lied. Then his 11 sons, the brothers of Joseph lied. We tend to read these biblical accounts as isolated instances and events, but when you zoom out and get the macro picture that is being painted here, it's almost as if this very important and influential family kept passing down the same sin and dysfunction from generation to generation to generation to generation. Why? How is that even possible? How is it even possible to continue to perpetuate these patterns that are being passed down over time? Well, I think if we use the case study of Joseph's family, I actually think we see a pretty clear picture here. There was an example that was set, albeit a negative example, but the example was there nonetheless. Abraham lied. He lied. And then the future generations took the example that was set for them as something to reproduce and replicate as opposed to something to resist and reject. So in other words, the repetition of certain dysfunction

that we see in our families is nothing more and oftentimes a result of the indoctrination of sinful patterns that we see and then pick up and then model across different generations. But what I believe the Lord brought you to church today to hear is that just because someone modeled those practices does not mean you have to maintain those practices. Let's make it clear, an example is It's a neutral thing. It's what you do with the example that was set for you that carries real weight. So you can be informed and learned from a bad example just like you can be informed and learned from a good example. But the flip side is also true. You can ignore a good example just like you can ignore a bad example. My point that I'm trying to make is this. The example may have been set for you, but what you do with the example is up to you. [APPLAUSE] But sadly, what so many of us do is we allow the bad examples that have been set for us to mark us in such a way that we then conflate with and come to view as part of our identity. And because we view the bad example as part of our identity, we then pick up these actions and model our own actions after the example that was set for us. So we end up repeating and replicating the very behavior we hated to begin with just because it was modeled for us. And well, Pastor, this is just how my family is.

We're angry. We get anxious. We cheat. We steal. We lie. We drink. God, this is just what we do. This is just how my family operates. Can I tell you today that the Lord Jesus Christ did not bleed, suffer, and die so that you could be subject to continuing the same patterns of sin that you have been stuck in for generations? No. The Lord Jesus suffered, bled, and died for you so that you could be set free. And you could walk in the newness of life made only possible by the very Holy Spirit of God that he promised to send us, who has given us divine power to do what you never thought possible. Change, transformation, and change are made possible by the blood of Jesus Christ. It might run in your family. It might be in your bloodline. But with the blood of Jesus, it stops today. You don't have to keep walking in it. The blood covers it all. I understand that the example was set for you. I understand. I understand that all this stuff has happened and transpired in your life, but you

don't have to be doomed to repeat certain dysfunction. And you don't have to continue to be held captive by what models and examples have been set for you. You can make a decision today to take what has happened to you and not let it dictate the future of your life, but let it inform you of what not to do. And then learn a new set of behaviors as you walk with the Lord. The point that I'm trying to make is this. The repetition of certain sinful patterns in your life is not just because the example was set for you, but it's because those practices were then adopted by you. Now, I'm not sitting here saying that what you went through and what you've gone through and all the difficulty in your life was not sinful. No, I get it was. It was problematic. It was complicated. I understand all of that. Simply what I'm trying to say is that just because what happened to you was bad does not mean you have to continue to live bound by what happened to you. [APPLAUSE] I think it would actually serve us well to be able to differentiate between events and decisions. Let's make it clear. Traffic, getting stuck in traffic, that's an event. But consistently being late for work, that's a decision. I mean, what do you mean-- oh, there was traffic. There's traffic every day on 995.

Stop saying there was traffic. Leave your house 15 minutes earlier for once. Come on, and all the bosses said, amen. And then you show up to work with Starbucks in your hand. Are you kidding me? Get to work on time. Anyways, how about this one? Downloading Instagram. That's an event. But aimlessly doom-scrolling on Instagram for hours when you could be doing something more productive. That's a decision. [APPLAUSE] At some point in our life, we have to stop blaming the event for why we are living a life that we don't like to live anymore. And we have to start taking personal ownership and accountability for the decisions that we have made that have perpetuated our circumstances. [APPLAUSE] But it is so much easier to blame the person that passed it down to you than it is to have self-awareness enough to admit that I may have also adopted that behavior. It is so much easier to blame the person that hurt you than it is to actually admit that you may have some unforgiveness you're dealing with. But I want you to hear me, the offense, that's an event. But the unforgiveness you've been harboring in your heart, that's a decision. And I believe you can be set free from that unforgiveness

marked by bitterness, but you have a decision to make right now. And actually the Lord speaks to this very mindset. He doesn't just speak to it, he rebukes this very mindset. In Ezekiel chapter number 18, he makes it so clear. It says in verse two that he's talking to these people. He's like, what do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel? The parents eat sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. In other words, what they're saying is, well, what our parents did has made the experiences we're living in possible, which by the way, I get that it's true. What parents do do affect children. But what they were saying was, the excuse for why we're living the life that we're living is because of our parents. And look at how the Lord responds in verse number three. In verse number three, he's like, as surely as I live declares the Lord, and by the way, Jesus is alive, as surely as I live declares the sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child both belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die. In other words, the one who makes the decision, not the one who modeled the decision. The one who makes the decision is the one who will reap the consequences. The events are real. They are, I get it. But embedded in every event is a decision that we must make. And God will not hold you accountable for the examples that were set for you and the practices that were modeled for you. He will not hold you accountable for the things that have happened to you. But God will hold you accountable for how you respond to all of those things. So sure, you could just repeat the behavior and then live your life, blaming your family for why you're living the life you are. Or you could heal.

You could get better. You could grow. You could learn and you can even use the things that you have gone through to inspire other people to do the very same thing. What I'm trying to say is events don't define you. Your decisions define you. Events are irrelevant at defining what type of person you are. It's what you do after the event. It's what you do after the divorce. It's what you do after they abandoned you. It's what you do after they stabbed you in the back. It's what you do after they hurt you that actually matters. And let's go back to Joseph because I think we can learn from him today amidst a family of biblical heroes. Joseph must be the one that we pay attention to because despite the example that was set for him, despite the events that transpired in his life, he still chose to honor God. He still chose to live a life of integrity when nobody else in his family did. He still chose to be holy every step of the way. And let's not forget Joseph went through some real stuff. Like if I could just detail the events of his life really quick, of course he was thrown in a pit and then he was sold into slavery and he was sold to a man named Potiphar, actually. So Potiphar, he was a servant of Potiphar in his house but because the favor of God was on Joseph's life, Potiphar actually elevated him into the leadership of his home and he was kind of in charge of all of his affairs. And funny enough, all that really got him was a wrongful accusation of trying to seduce Potiphar's wife, the very woman that was trying to seduce him.

And all that happened in this seduction, all this wrongful accusation, it got him wrongfully imprisoned. So he was thrown in a pit, he was serving as a slave in Potiphar's house and now he's in a prison for something he didn't even do. And then he develops this gift of interpreting dreams and he interprets the dreams of two royal officials that were in the prison with him. And they promised him, "Hey, if this is true, we will get you out of prison." And guess what? It was true. But they forgot about Joseph. So he spent two more years in that prison. So now he's been forgotten about, he's been thrown away, he's been completely dismissed by all of the people in his life, including his family. It wasn't until the Pharaoh of Egypt had this dream that Joseph, they remembered Joseph, oh my gosh, Joseph's the one that can interpret dreams. So they get Joseph out of the prison, he interprets this dream for Pharaoh and it comes to pass. And Joseph is now trusted by Pharaoh and he is elevated into the leadership of Egypt. He's actually made second in all charge of everything of Egypt, which essentially, because Egypt was a superpower, made him second in command of the world. So he's got this massive role now. And what I love about this story is that the famine came again. And part of Joseph's interpretation of the dream was that this famine would come, so they needed to store food and that's exactly what they did. So when everyone else had no food, Egypt had more than enough food for their own people and enough to sell to every neighboring country. So that's what people were doing. when they were coming to Egypt to buy-- would bow down before him well part of the people that were coming from neighboring nations

was Joseph's family and they're standing before this man they don't even recognize as Joseph anymore because it's been decades since they've seen him so they don't even think he's alive anymore and they bow down before him begging for food just like Joseph's dream had said would come to pass you see Joseph went through hell honestly and much of it at the hands of his own family and you can say there was this chain of events that transpired that led Joseph to where he was that he could have used to completely hate his family and blame them for the life that he was living but when confronted with an opportunity to wreak havoc on a family that wreaked so much havoc on him he could have sent them packing with no food ashamed and just completely rebuking them and let them go off to die but instead he responds with one of the most gracious things ever recorded in the scriptures genesis chapter 50 verse number 20 look at what this says Joseph speaking in the face of his family people that have completely mocked him and dismissed him you intended to harm me but but but god intended for good to accomplish what is now being done the saving of many lives are y'all with me i got a couple more minutes okay so many people camp out at you intended to harm me well you know Nick they're the ones that hurt me they're the ones that stabbed me in the back they're the ones that left me they're the ones that showed me the website they're the ones that did this thing to me so no wonder i'm anxious there's no wonder i desire so much control there's no wonder i can't find a job and keep a job it's no wonder i can stay i can't stay married it's because of what they did to me it's because of how they harmed me you know Joseph could have said that too but instead he says you intended to harm me but god intended it for good it's this simple three letter conjunction that connects to completely opposing ideas you intended to harm me god intended good to accomplish the saving of many lives those don't make sense together but the only thing that connects them is the word but this tells me that with the right perspective your butt can be a bridge a bridge hear me a bridge between where you are and where you can be a bridge between unforgiveness and forgiveness a bridge between bitterness and healing a bridge between bondage and freedom a bridge between the life that you're currently experiencing and the life that you have been praying to live one day so many people use butt as an excuse oh i would do that i would live my life according to the

scriptures i would come to church more but i can't because whatever but instead of using it as an excuse what if we use butt as a bridge so so so so you can't change the events in your life you can't change the things that have happened to you you can't change the problems and the pain that you've experienced but you don't have to let those things write the future of your story anymore you don't have to let those things affect the outcome of your life you don't have to let them have the final say in your life anymore you can choose different you can draw a line in the sand today because i know the chain of events that have happened in your life have been problematic and it's led you to the point where you are today but you can make a decision today to say the chain of events will not pass through me the chain of events will not continue in my life i'm going to break the chain today in jesus name i'm going to break the chain for my family for my kids for people who will never know my name for future generations that will never even know about me i'm going to break the chain today by the power of the holy spirit in jesus mighty name is anybody wanting to break the chain today at church by the glades so it may have run in your family that is until it ran into you because you have a perspective that knows nothing that you experience slips through the hands of a sovereign powerful god and he has enough power to bring even beauty from the ashes and rubble that you are experiencing in your life so sure you may have left me but Yeah, you may have abandoned me and left me and you may have hurt me and you may have said I was a mistake and you may have said I was unloved. But my God loved me without condition. He called me His masterpiece. He is fighting the battle for me. He is with me and He's got my back. You may have intended to harm me. But my God intended it for good. To accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives, the pain, the difficulty, the dysfunction, it ends with me. It ends with you. It ends with us by the power of the Holy Spirit in the mighty, magnificent and holy name of Jesus Christ. The chain breaks today. Father, we bless you. Thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you that is clear. Thank you that we don't get to just learn about what we should do, but we get to see that there are people just like us in the Bible. Who are messy and broken, who have made mistakes, but the encouragement for me today is that you still choose and love broken vessels. You will still use people who have made mistakes and God help us to be wise today to learn from their mistakes, that we don't have to make them. Lord, help us to walk in freedom today. Help us to not live victim to our past anymore, but help us to walk in such a way. God, that is led by your spirit, that is led by your word, that we would walk in the abundance of life that you have promised us. We love you, Lord. It's in Jesus mighty name. We pray as the church said.