What to Do When the Enemy Attacks Your Family | Luke DiBenedetto | 7 Hills Church

Let's look at God's word today. Genesis one, I'll get there in just a moment. We're here to talk about the home team, right? The most vital relationships. And I think family looks different for all of us. Maybe you're married, maybe you're single, maybe you're believing for a future spouse, praying again that God would send that right person in. Maybe you are a student, maybe you're parenting, grandparenting. Maybe for you, family looks different. It's blended or maybe your family is grieving, going through a difficult time right now. Maybe your family is thriving or maybe you're still hoping and believing for that promise of a child. I believe that this message is for you today and my prayer has been that it will lead you to the hope found in Jesus. I think there's no better place to look than the beginning. So Genesis one and verse one, in the beginning God created. Love that, that alone will preach. Just, there's no big bang, there's no snap and then there was something from nothing. That's why they teach in school that the theory of evolution, that's why they call it a theory, because it ain't true. In the beginning, God created. He's the alpha, the omega.

He has no beginning, he has no end. All right, I'm gonna preach. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, let there be light and there was light. God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and there was morning the first day. Now let's jump to chapter two, verses seven and eight. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being. Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed. Lord Jesus, I thank you for your word. I thank you that you are speaking to us today. Holy Spirit, I ask that these would be your words, not mine and might we leave here changed by the power of your word. And all God's people said, amen. So Genesis chapters one and two are different views of the same event. Genesis chapter one is a 30,000 foot view of the creation account. Genesis chapter two takes a much more close up and personal look. In chapter one, God creates mankind in his image. That word there is the Hebrew word bara,

meaning to create something and bring it newly into existence. Chapter two says that God formed man. This is the Hebrew word yastar, which means shaping him. This implies that God's hand was on his life and involved. In chapter one, it's man's mission, right? Be fruitful, multiply, replenish, take dominion, subdue. Chapter two, God takes mankind and puts them in the garden of Eden. And scripture gives us many details about this garden that he puts Adam and Eve in. It's specifically says that it's in the east, more than likely located east in the direction of Israel. It was beautiful, it was abundant. There were fruit giving plants. There were two trees placed at the center of the garden. There was a river flowing through the garden. That is how it was all watered. And that river was divided into four other rivers, creating a boundary around Eden. So Eden was a marked off area with boundaries. Many theologians and historians have studied this text and believe that based on that description, Eden was actually a circle. A circle created by God and equipped with boundaries. All of this happening, of course, that I just explained between chapters one and two. And then of course, chapter three comes along and the fall turns everything upside down on its head. That's the serpent that has invaded this circle

that God created and thus the fall. Since the beginning of time, the enemy has been invading and attacking God's circle. At one point or another in our lives, we all will have our circle of those whom we love invaded. T.F. Tenney was quoted by saying that when you lose someone close to you, your circle of love has been invaded. Many of you are here today and you know exactly what that feels like. Maybe for you, it was through the loss of a parent or the loss of a spouse or the loss of a child. Maybe it was loss of family through divorce. Could be betrayal through abuse or addiction, dysfunction, or maybe even in this season of... doubt that you'll ever start a family of your own one day. But once your circle of love is invaded, you know it, you feel it, because that's the enemy's goal after all, is it not to steal, to kill, and to destroy. When I look at what so many of you are facing, I don't know all of your stories, but I've had the opportunity after Miracle Sunday to pray with hundreds of different families, and our team, I think over 800 requests came in on Miracle Sunday alone, and our hearts broke as a team, because hearing the stories of what you're facing, what you're going through, marriages that are on the brink of divorce,

you're believing for your child to come back home, to find freedom from addiction, young people just yearning for an environment to go home to that isn't stressful, and that isn't filled with anger and torment, but as I hear all of these stories, and I see what so many of you are going through, I see the enemy at work, I see that tactic, because he's not a creator, he can't invent new ways of doing things, his goal is still the same, to steal, to kill, and to destroy. He wants to wreak havoc on something beautiful that God has created. God creates this beautiful circle called Eden, and what does he wanna do, destroy it. God created the family unit, and it's a beautiful thing, family's a beautiful thing. It hurts my heart that for so many of you that idea of family doesn't seem beautiful. Can I tell you, God created it to be beautiful, and the enemy seeks to destroy it, to cause pain and confusion and hurt. He finds any entry point he can to bring that confusion into the family unit, and many of you are here today having experienced that invasion in your circle of whom you love from the enemy, but I wanna encourage you in Proverbs 6 and verse 31,

describing the thief, that if the thief is caught, he must repay sevenfold. I wanna tell you today, you're gonna catch the thief today, and God, through his victory and power, is going to cause the enemy to repay what he's stolen from you and your family, in Jesus' name. We can find hope and healing and restoration today by looking at God's intention for the family. I wanna talk to you today on this idea, restoring the family circle, or restoring your family circle. Genesis 1 says that in the beginning, the earth was formless and empty. Another way you could say that is it was chaotic. There was chaos. When something is without order, it is chaotic, and God exercises force over the chaos to create this circle in Eden. Force must be exerted to bring order over chaos. A circle of love is not formed by accident. You don't stumble upon a healthy family. You don't stumble upon intentionality. No, it takes great planning and strategy. So God creates this circle with great detail, great intentionality. He plants a garden, and then God, inside of this circle, remember, there's boundaries around the circle. Inside of this circle, God instills order. So God creates Eden.

He creates boundaries around Eden. There were the four rivers. Outside of Eden, there was still chaos, not that there was anything bad. The world was good, but there was still chaos. There were still untamed elements outside of that circle. So in the circle, God walks with man. God talks with man. God gives him clear assignment. God gives him a mission. He's planted there. He tells him this mission is to be fruitful, to multiply, to replenish, to have dominion, and to subdue. These are not just five attributes describing the same thing. These are five unique assignments that God gives mankind. This is the pattern God gives mankind for there to be order in the circle. The instruction given to mankind was that if you follow these instructions, this order that's created in Eden will eventually expand to the uttermost parts of the earth. That was the mission. So God gives Adam these wonderful instructions. Be fruitful, right? All the married folk love that one. Multiply, multiply. Raise up a godly seed in the earth. Replenish, right? We can't just be takers in life.

We have to give and give back. Take dominion, lead, govern, right? But there's one I think so many of us skip over. And that's the word subdue. Dominion and subdue are not interchangeable. They have unique meanings. To subdue, it's the Hebrew word kibosh, which implies an effort to tame something. It requires effort to bring in order. So though the earth was good, there were still untamed elements that needed order, right? What does God tell Adam? He is to name all of the creatures, give order to it. So the bottom line here is to subdue something is to lean into something that does not have order, something chaotic, and bring order to it. Dominion is the Hebrew word rada, which means to govern or provide leadership. This is the point. You cannot lead something that you have not first brought order to. You cannot lead something that's chaotic. You cannot govern chaos. You cannot lead confusion. So looking at this idea to subdue is to bring order. So inside this circle, and I'm going somewhere with all this, inside this circle, there's order. Outside, there's chaos trying to invade and overtake. So what did the serpent do?

Outside that circle, enters the circle, infiltrates and invades, and brings chaos, disruption, confusion, did God really say, brings sin into the place that God was establishing order? So the result of that was what? God had to take mankind and remove them from that circle where there was order, and now there's chaos. And that's the world you and I live in, this fallen, broken world because of sin. So my question to you and even to myself is what do we do when our family circle is invaded by the enemy? What do we do? Well, the mission has not changed that God set in the garden. It's the same, but the pattern or the order of those instructions has changed. Here's what I mean. You can no longer start with fruitfulness. You can't start with multiplication, why? Because you cannot bring fruitfulness from confusion. You don't want to multiply fear and multiply pain because you just increase the amount of it. So you cannot start in that same order. No, the pattern has changed. You have to start by subduing the chaos. This is what God did in Genesis one, and this is what I'm gonna go through very quickly

in looking at this text. The first thing he did was subdue it. And this is what I love about this text we're gonna go through is I found it so well paralleled with the story of Job. I want you to think about Job. He has this family circle. Everything's going for him. His career's going well, his health is going well, marriage good, kids good. And in a moment, he loses everything. He loses his wealth, he loses his career, he loses his children, a horrible loss. He loses his health. He kept his wife, which just tells you how bad she must have been. That's a joke. Gentlemen, eyes forward. Do not look over. Bad timing, bad timing. But Job is one of the most heartbreaking stories of loss. And yet Job tells us that you can get that hedge of protection back from your family. You can take back what the enemy's stolen for you. So it does not matter what the enemy's stolen from you. You can get that hedge of protection back up around your family circle. So three principles to see restoration when your family circle has been invaded. Number one, you have to be able to take back

what your family circle has been invaded. Number one, you need to understand the principle of presence. Genesis one and verse two says, the Spirit of the Lord was hovering over the earth that was formless. He was hovering over the chaos. He didn't run from it. He didn't stick his head in the sand. He didn't try to get away from it. No, no, no, he drew close over the face of the waters. He drew close to the face with the chaos itself. See, when we experience something chaotic in our families or confusing or painful, our tendency is to withdraw because it's dark and it's painful. Our tendency is to pull back. And all chaos needs to thrive is absence. You have to show up. You have to be present. Our tendency is to remain in heaven. He said, no, I will go to where the people are. He embodied presence itself. That's why one of his names is Emmanuel, God with us. Because if you're gonna bring order to something that's out of order, you have to be. present, but most of us struggle with this principle, right? Because we don't want chaos, we want Eden. I don't understand why my family can't just be good. I don't understand why I can't just be fine. I don't understand why my spouse just can't be,

fill in the blank, I don't understand. Be careful though. I don't understand why my kids are, I don't understand. And we withdraw, we hide, or maybe even you remain present physically, but we withdraw emotionally, we withdraw mentally, we medicate, we numb, try to just make it through your days instead of enjoying your days. The presence principle is not neutral because we are in a fight for our families. You realize this, it's not an option whether or not you're going to be in a fight, it's an option whether or not you're going to fight. Ephesians six and verse 12, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood. So there's a struggle you're in regardless, but it's not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Can I tell you, your spouse is not the problem. Your kids are not the problem. Your parents are not the problem. They are not the problem. The problem is the problem and the problem is the enemy. We're not fighting with flesh and blood. We're fighting against spiritual forces of evil. Their only goal is to destroy your family.

And how does the enemy do it? He invades that circle and gets you to turn on each other, doesn't he? What'd he do with Adam and Eve? Well, God, it was the woman you gave me. Well, God, it was that little snake. What you doing talking to a snake anyway? What you doing? We'll never bring order by being absent. You know, something that Savannah and I say when we have a loud disagreement is, she's insensi, I can say that. Hi, baby. But we have this statement that will always center us and it'll ground us and it'll take one of us to say it, but it's, hey, we're on the same team. We're on the same team. And when we say that, it brings light to the fact that you're not the problem, I'm not the problem, the kids are the problem. No, no. The problem is the problem. But when we realize we're on the same team, man, all God needs is two or more to join together and there he'll bind his word. Oh, come on. You gotta be present in your walk with God so that you're equipped to fight the good fight of faith. You gotta be present with your family so that you can link arms as a family

and fight back the forces of hell. Aren't you grateful that God is present with us, that he never leaves us, he never forsakes us? It is impossible that our family circles will not be invaded in the very first step toward restoration is being present. So I need you to ask yourself this question or better yet, ask the Holy Spirit, Lord, are there areas of my life where I've been withdrawn? Maybe I'm physically present, but I'm not really present. God, show me those areas. Have I pulled back? I think practical application looks like, man, when you're with your family, why don't you turn your phone off for a few hours a day? Be present, have conversation around the dinner table, go on walks, do things together, be present at home. I'll sometimes have to just take a minute in the car because I get home, I just solved 10 problems at work, I got 10 more problems waiting for me and I'll carry that stress sometimes. I need to take a minute and say, God, help me leave this year so I can be the dad, so I can be the husband because my kids, my wife, they don't deserve to carry that weight with me. So be present, be present, enjoy that time with your family. I think being present looks like being intentional. Spouses, what if you went out of your way to do something kind for your spouse today?

Be intentionally kind, young people, be intentionally kind to your parents today. Be intentionally kind. Yeah, I heard somebody say like, oh, my husband stopped holding the door for me. Well, I heard it said like this, that if you ever see a man opening the car door for his wife, he either got a new car or he got a new wife. And, why don't you just surprise your spouse today? Praise the Lord. Number two, you and I need to understand, if we wanna see restoration in the family circle, we need to understand the principle of conversation. God showed up, he was present and then God said. I love that one of the first attributes we get about our God is that he is the God who speaks. He spoke then, he's still speaking today. That's why people will sit in a message like this and say, I felt like you were preaching right to me. He says, yeah, because God took that word and brought it right to your heart in that time of need. He's speaking to you. But for chaos to thrive, it needs both absence and silence. There's power in our words. God's word says that the tongue has the power of life and death. Those who love it will eat its fruit, Proverbs 18.21. You cannot subdue what you do not talk to. You cannot bring order to what you refuse to address.

And where there is chaos, ultimately somebody has stopped showing up and somebody has stopped talking. Any area of my life where I remain silent will remain chaotic. You have to talk. You have to be vulnerable. You have to have conversation. You have to really, really talk. If you wanna see restoration in the family circle, there must be presence and there must be conversation. Now just some practical questions you could maybe ask a spouse, ask your children or ask maybe yourself or ask your parents even. Ready, watch this. What can I do to better serve you? And every spouse said, man, I hope they're listening to this. Now I think how we ought to approach scripture is when Jesus was talking at the last supper, he says to his disciples, one of you will betray me tonight. And every one of them said, Lord, is it me? And I think that's the attitude we always need to approach God's scripture and messages like this and say, Lord, is it me that you're speaking to? What in this message do you wanna speak to me? That's the lens we need to talk to. Not God change them, but before God will ever change them, you have to pray, God, would you change me first? So ask somebody, what can I do to better serve you?

Ready? Young people, ask your parents this question today. I'm challenging you, you ready? How can I honor you better? What ways am I showing you dishonor? And you know what? Don't grit your teeth. And don't, but, but, no, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Let that question humble you. Parents also, why don't you ask that same question to your kids? Because I don't know about you, there've been some times where I raised my voice and I have to go back to jail and he's three years old and I say, hey, daddy was wrong, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry. Show honor, show honor. Another question, one of the best leaders in my life asked me this question almost every time I talked to him. What do you want me to stop doing, start doing, or continue doing? It's a great question to ask a spouse or a family member. With G, we'll sit down and we'll just say, hey man, talk to me about your day. And I know a lot of the things that he did already. It doesn't matter, I wanna hear his voice. I want him to know dad's interested in what you're doing. I'm interested in the things that you're interested in. I'm interested in the fact that you wanted

to go on a bike ride yesterday and your bike got a flat tire and then you decided to run and then you went to the park and took your mom there and then you had to make her carry you for half of it. Like I love that, it's also hilarious, like that's funny. So talk to me, talk to me about your day. I'd encourage you parents, man, why don't you let the last thing you do before your kids go to bed, go in there, sit on the edge of their bed, ask them about their day, even if you know all the details, conversation. And then lastly, if we wanna see restoration in the family, we need to understand the principle of connection. This is so big. Because the goal of closeness and conversation is to connect, for there to be connection. God draws close, he speaks, but this last principle to seeing restoration is when God said it's in this, he said, let there be light and the light was good. What he did by drawing close, what he did by speaking, it produced something that was good. See, connection requires a desire for there to be light. Many hear a message and say, well, Luke, I showed up, I talked and it just, we didn't connect. So I don't wanna show up, I'm tired of talking, I've had this conversation, I don't know how many times. I think so often, I've been guilty of this, we focus on the negative, focus on the problem, I'm like, what needs to change? How this changes or else, but we have to find the positive.

We have to find the light, so God did, he showed up. And you notice something? God didn't get rid of the darkness, he gave it a name. He said, I'm gonna call this darkness night and I'm gonna find the light and separate it from the darkness, I'm gonna call that day. He took the darkness and he simply turned the light on. Can I tell you, in your own life, in your family, don't just curse the darkness. Speak to the light. Build your spouse up. Build your children up. Honor your parents. Honor those around you. Build them up. Find the light. Find the light. Don't just focus on the problem of what needs to change. No. Speak life. There's life in the power of the tongue. There's life. Young person, you're single and you're still believing for your future spouse. Stop speaking death over yourself. I'm always going to be alone. I'm never going to find. That is a demonic prophecy you're speaking. Stop speaking. Speak life.

God, you're preparing me for the right spouse. Thank you that you have somebody for me. Speak life. Don't speak death over yourself. Speak life over your children. Build your children up. Build your spouse up. Not saying there's still not darkness there, but find the light anyway. I heard it said like this, whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're right. At some point, you have to focus on the good and bring the light up. Matthew 5 and verse 9, Jesus tells us, blessed are the peacemakers. Not the peace finders, not the peace stumble uponers. No, you have to manufacture peace. You got to make it by saying, I choose to see the light. Even in the darkness, I love this part. God said in the darkness, he's going to create a lesser light called the moon and some other smaller lights called stars and they'll be in the sky. Even in the darkness, if you can simply look up, you'll always find the light. And today, maybe your family circle has been attacked and invaded by the enemy. You're grieving, trying to figure out what's next. Another year of it seems like unanswered prayers, marriage at the end right now, and this is your saving grace today is praying for that child that's lost, young people going home to a family that's broken. I don't know where you're at, but can I challenge you today to just look up. If you get your eyes on your father in heaven, you'll see the light. It's not that the darkness is gone. No, it's still there and there's still things we got to deal with and grow, but you can begin to bring order by letting that light in.