Advent: Week 4

Good morning, Welcome to Church at the Crossing, and Merry Christmas.

My name is Andrew. If we haven't met, I'm so

glad that you're here. If you're visiting, if this is

your first time, welcome, I want to invite you to

pray with me before we open God's Word today.

Let's pray.

Father, God, thank you for your grace and your presence. God,

thank you for the hope that we have because of Christmas,

that you lovingly willingly gave us your one and only son,

so that we may be saved, that we may be forgiven,

that we may have hope and an eternal future. And

so God, today we've come expectant to receive more from you,

to receive from your word. And so God, with that,

we asked that you would silence any distraction in our

hearts and minds, that for.

These next few moments, God, you would.

Calm any worry or concern that is weighing on us,

and that you would draw our focus and our attention

to your word. We pray all of this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

I don't know about you, but during the holidays and Christmas,

I like watching Christmas movies or Christmas shows and wherever

you're streaming your shows and movies. Have you noticed that

recently there's now this little tiny button that comes up

on the screen that says skip intro or skip recap

and you can just jump right into the next episode.

I love that button.

Or if you're watching a movie, don't you skip through

the opening credits to get to the first scene. Or

think about if you read a book. When you open

a book, let's be honest, how many of us really

read the author's preface or how many of us really

read the introduction to the book. I mean, at best

maybe we skim it, but we really skip over that.

Why because it's boring? You know, it's full of Oh

I gotta thank my editor. I want to thank my publisher.

I couldn't have done it without them. Blah blah blah

blah blah. Well, today we are going to look at

a passage of the Bible that's considered one of the

most boring passages in all of the Bible. I'm talking

about Matthew Chapter one, verses one through sixteen. These verses

contain the genealogy of Jesus. And if you've ever skipped

over this passage, I don't blame you.

I've done it myself. Although this passage.

Appears boring, I promise you that there is deeply spiritual

and powerful truth and a message in these verses for us.

And so we're gonna read verses one through sixteen together.

It's gonna take some concentration, but I.

Believe that you've got what it takes.

It's gonna take there's some focus, but I believe you

can do this. So follow along on the screen as

I read these first sixteen verses. This is the genealogy

of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son

of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac the

father of Jacob. Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

Judah the father of Perez and Zarha, whose mother was Tamar.

Perez the father of Hesron, Hesran, the father of ram Ram,

the father of aminidab Aminidab the father of Nashon. Nashon

the father of Salmon. Salmon the father of Boaz, whose

mother was Raehab bo As, the father of Obed, whose

mother was Ruth. Obed the father of Jesse and Jesse,

the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon,

whose mother had been Uriah's wife. Solomon the father of

Rio Boham Rioboam the father of Abijah. Abijah the father

of Aesah and Aesaw, the father of Jehosephat. Jehosephat the

father of Joram. Jehoram, the father of Usiah. Josiah, the

father of Jotham. Jotham, the father of ahaz A Has

the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah the father of Manassa. Manassa

the father of ammon. Amon, the father of Josiah and Josiah,

the father of Jaconai and his brothers at the time

of the exile to Babylon. After the exile to Babylon,

Jaconiah was the father of shil Til. Shiel Til the

father of Zerubable Rubable, the father of a bee Hood

a bee Hood, the father of Eliacum Eliakcum, the father

of azor Azor, the father of Zadok. Zadok, the father

of a King Akeem, the father of eli Hood elli Hood,

the father of Eliezar. Eliezar the father of Mathon. Mathan

the father of Jacob and Jacob, the father of Joseph,

the husband of Mary and Mary was the mother of Jesus,

who is called the Messiah. Would you give yourselves around

of applause.

For making it through. And if anybody fell asleep, we

can we can wake them up. See what I mean.

It seems boring, But let me tell you why these

verses matter. This is what we're gonna spend the rest

of our time today. A few reasons why these verses

are powerful. In these verses matter. Number one, Matthew Chapter

one honors the women in Jesus's family. If you notice

in those sixteen verses, all of the names are men

except for five mothers. There's Tamar, Ruth, Rayhab, Bathsheba, and Mary,

who is the mother of Jesus.

And this was a deliberate.

Decision on Matthew's part to honor these five women, to

honor their faith. And so, in order to understand the

significance of Jesus's genealogy, let me share some ancient Jewish

customs and traditions. For example, ancient Jewish culture considered men

more prominently than women. In that culture, a woman was

only as valuable as her man, that was either her

husband or her father if she was not married.

Men were the dominant landowners.

In an agrarian society like this, you needed to own

land to survive. You needed to grow crops, you needed

to raise livestock. You need to be a property owner

if you were going to survive in this culture.

And so a woman needed her man.

She was only as valuable or could only survive as

the man she was connected to. Secondly, a Jewish genealogy

recorded primarily men, not women, and so Matthew's inclusion of

these five mothers is a little bit unusual. Bible scholar

Michael Wilkins rights, women are not usually included in Old

Testament genealogies, for dissent was normally traced through men as

the head of the family. When women were included, there

was usually some particular reason. So Matthew including these five

mothers in this genealogy was a deliberate decision.

It was not an accident.

It was an intentional choice to communicate something, to honor

the women, to honor their faith, to honor their legacy

in the life of Jesus. So the first reason that

Matthew Chapter one matters is that it honors the women. Secondly,

Matthew Chapter one teaches us that Jesus not only came

for sinners, he also came from sinners.

I first heard this from.

Mac Owen, a teacher at a national conference for Celebrate Recovery,

who said that Jesus came from sinners.

When we look at the.

Life of Jesus, we know that his mission was to

come for sinners.

His death on the cross paid the price for our.

Sins so that we could be forgiven, so that we

could be rescued and redeemed.

That's why he came.

That was his purpose was to save us and rescue us.

And even though Jesus lived a sinless life, when you

look at his family line, his family is full of

sinful people. There are wicked people, there are broken people,

there are weak people.

In the line of Jesus.

At best, some of the people in his family line

are dysfunctional, and at worst they are downright evil. For example,

we see Matthew chapter one refers to King David. In

verse six, we read and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been

Uriah's wife.

Euryah's wife was named Bathsheba.

And if you don't know the story of David in Bathsheba,

it is a tragic, sad story of abuse and lust

and murder.

See Uriah and David were friends.

They had been in battle together, they were loyal to

each other. And one day Uriah was on the battle line,

fighting to defend the country and protect Israel. Meanwhile, David

was back home in his palace, and David took Euryah's

wife for himself. We read in Second Samuel, then David

sent messengers to get her.

She came to him and he slept with her.

The woman conceived and sent word to David saying I

am pregnant. So this scandal compounds from a mistake from

lust to an unplanned pregnancy. And I want you to

notice in this text and Second Samuel, it says that

David sent messengers to get her. This was not a

love affair, This was not a romantic fling. This was

an abuse of power. This was unrestrained lust. This was corruption,

and David tried to cover it up. So he brought

your Iyah home from battle. And David had hoped that

if Uriah came home and he spent time with his wife,

then timeline things would sync up and it would seem

like the baby born would be Uriah's child.

But the cover up didn't work, and.

So David continued to scheme, and he conspired to have

Uriah killed in battle. And even though David had plausible deniability,

soldiers die in battle all the time, he had orchestrated

Eurya's death, and it was effectively murder. And David took

your Ya's wife for himself. Jesus came from sinners. This

is the story of Jesus's family. This is in his genealogy.

This corruption, this broken this dysfunction. Michael Wilkins writes, there is,

in other words, no pattern of righteousness in the lineage

of Jesus. Adulterous, prostitutes, heroes, and gentiles are all found

in the genealogy. We see that wicked kings father good kings,

and good king's father wicked kings. There is dysfunction in

Jesus's genealogy. There's brokenness, there's corruption, there's scandal. Notice in

our text, verse three, it mentions Judah, the father of

Perez and Ziha, whose mother was Tamar. The story of

Tamar and Judah is found in Genesis thirty eight. Tamar

was Judah's daughter in law. See what I mean it's

already scandalous. Tamar was married to Judah's son, but her

husband died when he was young. Now, to understand the

story of Judah and Tamar, let me describe a Jewish

tradition called kinsman redeemer. So the kinsman redeemer was a

tradition kinsman means blood relative or family member. Remember, women

did not own property. They weren't landowners. And you needed land,

you needed to grow crops.

You need to raise livestock in that culture.

And so when a woman's husband died young, his property

did not go to his widow. His property reverted back

to his family, his brothers, or his father. And so

this widow was left without income, without property. But the

kinsman redeemer was a tradition that provided that the closest

male relative of the widow's deceased husband, usually a brother,

could redeem the property. Often would marry the widow and

have children with her to redeem the deceased husband's family

legacy and property. And so Tamar is a widow and

she needs a kinsman redeemer. Well, it just so happens

her deceased husband's brother is too young to marry.

He's just a boy. We read in Genesis thirty eight.

Judah then said to his daughter in law, Tamar, live

as a widow in your father's household until my son

Sheila grows up.

Well, this seems normal. Boy's too young, go grow up.

However, what Judah does here is extremely dishonoring to the

widow Tamar. You see, he sends her back to her

family of origin, instead of being a good father in law,

instead of protecting and providing for her, instead of bringing

her into his home and redeem it her property, her

husband's property, he kicks her out, and he disgraces her

and dishonors her, and then he never keeps his promise

to give her his next son in marriage, and so

Tamar never marries. Disgraced, deceived, Tamar eventually takes matters into

her own hands. And what happens next in this story

is messed up and weird and in the Bible. One day,

Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute and she meets Judah,

her father in law, on the road, and Judah does

not recognize her because in that culture, a prostitute would

veil her face unrecognizable and so unknowingly, Judah hires his

daughter in law for sex.

I told you, it's messed up, it's weird, and it's

in the Bible.

And as payment, Judah gives Tamar some very personal possessions.

He gives her his seal and his staff. In our

modern this this is how they conducted business. The seal

was your business transaction. Your staff was your personal possession.

And so for us that would be like giving somebody

your driver's license, or your social Security number, or the

pin number to your debit card.

It was very personal.

And so what happens next we read in Genesis thirty eight.

About three months later, Judah was told, your daughter in law,

Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result, she

is now pregnant.

Judah said, bring her out and have her burned a death.

As she was being brought out, she sent a message

to her father in law, I am pregnant by the

man who owns these, and she added, see if you

recognize who's seal and cord and staff these are. I

told you, it's messed up, it's weird, it's it's icky,

and it's in the family of Jesus. This scandal, this manipulation,

this dysfunction is in the family of origin of Jesus. Now,

I don't know about you, but when I read some

of this in Jesus's family, it makes me feel a

little bit better about the family I come from. Or

there may be some of us who read this and say, oh, really,

that's it.

You haven't seen my family.

Can we all agree that there is no such thing

as a perfect family. Can we agree that we've all

got our challenges, We've all got our struggles, that our

families have dynamics. Some of us come from even very

dysfunctional families. You've heard me share before that I come

from a family with divorced parents, and Christmas time was

especially dysfunctional and stressful in our family. My parents had

very strict custody arrangements around the holidays, and in addition

to the regular stress that comes with the holidays, it

got more complicated because my brother, my little brother's birthday

is on December twenty third, and my dad's birthday is

on December twenty fifth, So it got more complicated.

And my parents had.

Agreed that on odd number years we would spend my

brother and I would spend Christmas Day with one parent.

On even number of years we would spend Christmas Day

with the other parent, and there was a strict transfer

of custody at ten pm on Christmas Eve night, so

it was very, very complex. And I remember one Christmas

where Christmas Eve came and the deadline came and my

brother and I did not want to go with the

other parent. We wanted to stay with one parent for

Christmas Day, and there was a standoff in the doorway

of the house. There was arguing and tears and hurt feelings.

I mean, it was just a mess. It was ugly,

it was dysfunctional. There's no such thing as a perfect family.

Our families, our backgrounds have dynamics, dysfunction and struggles. We've

got that one family member that we just hope doesn't

ruin Christmas this year. Or there's that one subject that

everyone knows is off limits and you don't bring it up.

If you bring it up, it's like throwing a grenade

right in the middle of the room. There's difficulties, conflict, friction,

and the holidays can amplify the dysfunction of families.

But I want to encourage you because Jesus.

Knows all about family dysfunction, because Jesus came from a

family line that was dysfunctional and broken. I want to

tell you something else I learned from mac Owen, and

that is that there is dysfunction in the blood line,

but there is healing in the blood. In the blood

line of Jesus, there is scandal, there's manipulation, there's deception,

there's abuse. There is brokenness in the blood line of Jesus.

But the blood of Jesus brings healing. The shed blood

of Jesus brings hope and restoration and forgiveness and transformation.

When you think about the family you come from, where

do you see brokenness dysfunction? What are you not proud

of in your family of origin? Is it some generational

sin that keeps repeating itself, the stories of manipulation or

deception or betrayal.

Is it a secret or.

Something that feels embarrassing, like a unplanned pregnancy or a

scandal of divorce, an arrest report, an addiction issue like

David and Bathsheba. Is there an example of abuse in

your family? Perhaps you were abused by somebody you trusted,

or somebody you loved and cared about, was abused by

somebody that you trusted for someone listening. Right now, you

find yourself stuck in an unhealthy, codependent, toxic relationship. I

want to tell you that Jesus comes from a dysfunctional family,

but there is healing in his blood. When he died

on the cross, he paid the price for all of

our sin, all of our brokenness. He absorbed all of

our sorrow, all of our grief on the cross. He

paid the price so that we can be healed. Isaiah

fifty three says he was pierced for our transgressions. He

was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us

peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Jesus came to redeem you from family dysfunction. He came

to redeem you from brokenness, from the sin, from the trauma.

All the things that you've been affected, all the things

that you've suffered.

Jesus brings healing.

Ephesians one tells us in him we have redemption through

his blood, the forgiveness of sin. The blood of Jesus

redeems us from sin. There is no sin too great,

no no pain too deep, no trauma too old that

the blood of Jesus cannot cover and make clean. There's

dysfunction in the blood line, but there is healing in

the blood.

My own family of origin has stories of dysfunction.

Divorce goes back to my parents and to my grandparents.

My dad grew up without knowing his biological father.

His biological father walked out.

When my dad was born, and my dad was raised

by his mom and his adoptive dad, and it wasn't

until my dad was in his forties that he actually

met his biological father for the first time. Shortly before

that man passed away and my dad learned that he

had a half brother and a half.

Sister for the first time.

I mean, it got really complex, and the dysfunction continues

through the generations. I was a teenager when my parents

got divorced, and the dysfunction of going back and forth

from mom's house to dad's house and packing a suitcase,

and the custody battles in court and family counseling sessions

that were painful. And I remember when my dad got

remarried and I was angry and I boycotted the wedding

and I treated my step mom very cruelly, and the

dynamics of now having step siblings and their other side

of If you're a part of a blended family, you

know the challenges and the complexity that comes with that.

And in some of that dysfunction, I was angry. I

lied to my parents. I stole money from my parents

in a weird way of trying to make myself feel

better about getting.

Back at them.

And in that brokenness is where I fell into an

addiction to pornography.

That became a spiritual prison. Like it was just very dysfunctional.

But I stand here today to tell you that there

is dysfunction in the bloodline, but there is healing in

the blood. The blood of Jesus has changed my life.

The blood of Jesus has forgiven me. The blood of

Jesus has transformed me and has transformed my family. Today,

I have authentic, healthy relationships with all of my parents.

All of my parents are now following Jesus faith. And

of course we've got scars. Of course we've got some

painful memories, but we are healed and we are moving forward,

all because of the blood of Jesus.

There's dysfunction in the bloodline, but there is healing in

the blood.

So how do we heal from dysfunction and brokenness. Often

in a dysfunctional family system, each person plays a role

in the system, whether they know it or not. They're

playing a role, sometimes like an actor's in a movie

or a play, playing a role. And you can dive

down the journey of family systems theory. But there are

some roles that we all are familiar with, Like there's

the family member.

Who is the peace at all costs.

That's the role they're playing, and they'll do whatever it takes,

absorbing the conflict, absorbing the hurt to keep peace, or

even manipulating or lying to keep things from spilling over.

You've got the stubborn my way or the highway bully,

that ransom ray. You've got the firstborn child with the

pressure to achieve and succeed.

You've got the black sheep, you know, the troublemaker.

And there's that one relative that is predictably unpredictable.

You know, you don't know which version you're gonna get.

And all these roles are in the family system that

keeps it dysfunctional.

So how do we heal? Well, First, you have to

name it, don't ignore it. You gotta name it. You

gotta call it for what it is.

You got to see it, and that may even mean

taking an honest look at yourself and say, what is

my role in this?

What is my part? What what do I own here?

You gotta name it, don't don't don't minimize dysfunction. Don't

just brush it off as a as a personality werk

or oh that's that's just a bad temper. Oh that

was just you know, a bad habit. No, don't minimize it.

Bring it to the.

Recently, my son got an upgrade in his bedroom. He

has a big boy bed now. He loves his big

boy bed. And but this bed is special. It's unique

because this bedframe was my childhood bed as a boy,

and before that it was my dad's childhood bedframe. So

this this bedframe has been in our family. We've passed

it down from father to son. It's something that we've

passed down through the generations. Families pass good things through

the generations. Likewise, dysfunction can be passed down through the generations.

Brokenness, sin coping mechanisms can get passed down.

Learn behaviors, unhealthy habits can get passed down. Even addiction

can get passed down. Abuse can get passed down. Through

the generations. Research has shown fifty three percent of children

of parents with an alcohol used to order misused alcohol.

Children of abused mothers are six times more likely to

abuse drugs and alcohol. Boys who witnessed abuse of their

mothers are ten times more likely to abuse their female

partners as adults, and girls whose fathers left home before

they were five years old are eight times more likely

to become pregnant as adolescents.

We got to recognize the dysfunction. We gotta name it.

And here's what I want to tell you that these

are statistics, these are facts. But there is healing in

the blood of Jesus, and his blood, his redemption, his

hope has the power to keep you and your family

from being another statistic. There's healing in his blood. But

it starts with naming it. Don't ignore it, don't minimize it.

We gotta name it. And then we got to turn

it over. Don't hold on to it. We got to

turn it over. We got to bring it to Jesus.

Years ago, as a youth paser, I knew a teenager

named Jimmy, and Jimmy had some dysfunction in his home.

His dad really wasn't in the picture. His mom had

different guys in and out of her life. And Jimmy

came to our youth program one Sunday night, I think

it was during December.

It was the holidays.

We were having like a Christmas party, and that night

Jimmy told me a terrifying story about the dysfunction in

his home. He said, Andrew, last night, my mom's boyfriend.

He likes to drink a lot, and when he drinks,

he gets angry, He gets.

Loud and sometimes physical.

And Jimmy said, last night he was drunk and I

sat in my bedroom with the door closed, holding onto

my shotgun in case he came through the door.

I was shocked. It stunned me. It broke my heart.

And of course our team did the right thing to

make sure that Jimmy had a safe to stay that

night and contact with the authorities so they could investigate

and make sure things were safe. As extreme as that

story is, every single one of us has something in

common with Jimmy. Jimmy was holding on to a shotgun

to cope with the dysfunction in his family. What are

you holding onto as a coping mechanism? What are you

holding on to to guard yourself, to defend yourself, to

protect yourself.

What are you hiding behind? Self?

Medicating an addiction, a codependent relationship, a toxic relationship, the

holes in the dry wall from an outburst? What are

you holding on to? We have to let it go.

We have to turn it over to Jesus.

We have to bring his healing, his change into our

lives in our tech. In Matthew chapter one, we read

about another mother in Jesus's storyline. Because sometimes there are

things we are holding on to that keep us stuck

in dysfunction and brokenness. Other times it seems like there

are things holding onto us.

There's something in the past.

That's holding onto us, or there's some situation that's holding

onto us. And in verse five we read Salmon, the

father of Boaz, whose mother was Rayhab. Matthew Chapter one

is the only place in the Bible that.

Does not mention Rayhab's job title.

It's the only place that doesn't include Rahab's job description.

Joshua two, we read a prostitute named Rahab. This was

her job description. Rayhab's name was attached to this sin.

This label was holding on to Rahab. This label hung

over her and followed her around, and I wonder if

there's a label that's been holding on to you. It

may not be the label prostitute, but something that hurts you,

that stings when you hear it.

Something simple like.

Foster child, step parent, divorcee, addict, the sting or the

scandal of terms like adultery, a fair were labels like

bankrupt or unemployed can bring a sting.

Is there a situation that's been holding on to you?

There's something that you just hope nobody of the family

gathering will ask you about that situation because it's holding

on to you. Turn it over, don't hold on to it,

and celebrate recovery.

We're guided by the eight Principles, and principal.

Number five says, voluntarily submit to every change God wants

me to make in my life, and humbly asked him

to remove my character defects. You see, Rahab had this

label that was hanging over her, this label that was

holding on to her, but that's not what defined her legacy.

When the Israelites came into the Promised Land, Rehab gave

aid to Israelites spies, and she gave her life to God.

That's why we read in James chapter two was not

even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did

when she gave lodging to the spies. We remember this

prostitute as righteous because her life was changed and she

obeyed God. That is her legacy. Her faith is her legacy.

She changed and she's a part of the lineage of Jesus.

So what change do you have to make?

What do you have to turn over to Jesus to

make a change. Your faith can be your legacy. You

following Jesus. You surrendering to Jesus can rewrite the trajectory

of your family for generations. Turn it over, don't hold

on to it. And when you turn it over, you're

gonna have to turn it over again. You're gonna have

to turn it over again and again and again. Healing

is not a one and done sort of thing. Healing

happens through a process. Healing happens through repeatedly surrendering and

giving it over to Jesus. Generational things, dysfunctional things take

time and intentionality to surrender.

Again and again and celebrate recovery.

Principal number six says, evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness

to those who have hurt me and make amends for

harm I've done to others, except when to do so

would to harm them or others.

If you need to forgive someone, forgiveness is.

Not always a one time decision, because you'll make that

decision to forgive, and then the next time time you

may see that person, some of those feelings come back

up again.

You got to choose to forgive again. Next time you

hear their name.

And that resentment comes back, and you gotta choose again again,

turn it over again and again.

In our text, we read that Rayhab married and Rayhab

had a son.

Verse five continues, Salmon the father of Boas, whose mother

was Rayhab, bo As the father of Obed, whose mother

was Ruth.

Let's talk about Ruth for a moment.

Before Ruth ever knew bo As, Ruth was happily married

to a young man, and that young man died young,

and so Ruth became a widow. Now, Ruth's deceased husband

was Jewish, and Ruth was a gentile. She was a Moabite,

a non Jew. Now remember a kinsman redeemer. Ruth needed

a kinsman redeemer.

She was a widow. She didn't own property, she didn't

own land. She didn't have a source of income.

She needed someone from her deceased husband's family, a redeemer,

a relative to step in to provide and protect for.

Her, to redeem the land so that she could survive.

However, because Ruth was a gentile and non jew, it

made it very unlikely that a Jewish relative would want

to take on her responsibility. In fact, there was a

Jewish relative who who was in line to redeem the

property and to redeem Ruth, but when he found out

that that Ruth was a gentile, he wanted nothing to

do with it. In Ruth four verse six, we read

the guardian redeemer said, I cannot redeem it because I

might endanger my own estate. He didn't want the scandal.

He didn't want the risk of marrying a gentile. See,

Ruth was unwanted. Have you felt unwanted, perhaps in the

family that you come from. Is this underlying on spoken

feeling that you have that you are unwanted? Or this

holiday season you may feel lonely because the loved ones

passed away, or you live alone, or because of some

family dysfunction, you've.

Been excluded this holiday.

Someone listening may even feel like the in law who's

just never been fully accepted into the family. You feel

kind of on the outside, like Ruth, an outcast, unwanted.

That's how Ruth's story started, but it's not how her

story ended. Although she was unwanted, God provided for her.

God provided a man named Boaz, who fell in love

with her, who married her, who redeemed her and defended her.

And I love what Boas says in Ruth chapter four.

He says, I've also acquired Ruth the Moabite Malhon's widow

as my wife, in order to maintain the name of

the dead with his property, so that his name will

not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today,

you are witnesses, and the elders and all the people

of the gates said, we are witnesses. May the Lord

make the woman who is coming into your home like

Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel.

May you have standing in Ephritha and be famous in Bethlehem.

So Boas stands up for Ruth, he redeems her, he

protects her. And she noticed that last sentence. Notice where

Boas and Ruth lived. They lived in a little town

called Bethlehem, which brings us back to the Christmas story.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. These are Jesus's ancestors. This

is the family that Jesus comes from. The good, the bad,

and the ugly, the flawed and the broken, and the dysfunctional.

And just as Boas redeemed Ruth, Jesus has redeemed us.

Jesus is the great Kinsman redeemer. If your faith is

in Jesus, then he has the power to redeem you

from brokenness and sin. If you've trusted him as your savior,

believe that he died for your sins and rose from

the dead three days later. He redeems you from anything

in your past, anything that you're ashamed of. He is

your redeemer. That's why Pesians One says, in him we

have redemption through his blood. There is dysfunction in the bloodline,

but there is healing in the blood today. Where do

you need the healing of Jesus? Where does your family

need the healing of Jesus? Where does your heart, your

soul need a healing touch from Jesus.

Today?

I'm grateful that we are going to receive communion in

a few moments, because today we've said that there is

dysfunction in the bloodline, but there is healing in the blood.

And when we receive communion, when we receive these elements,

we celebrate that Jesus shed his blood. We celebrate that

there is power and healing in his blood to transform

our lives. And before we receive these elements, I want

to share one more scripture from Hebrews chapter twelve. Now,

out of all the scriptures we've read today, would you

read this one and remember this one and take this

one with you. It says you have come to Jesus,

the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled.

Blood that speaks a better word.

I'm here to tell somebody today that the blood of

Jesus speaks a better word over your life, That the

blood of Jesus declares a better word over your family,

That the blood of Jesus declares a better word over

your future, over your children, over your marriage. That the

blood of Jesus is better than the worst thing that

is ever happened to you, the worst thing that you

regret doing in your life.

As we prepare to.

Take communion, I want to invite you to stand right

now with me, and I want to declare over us

today the better word, that the blood of Jesus is greater,

that the blood of Jesus is greater than family dysfunction.

The blood of Jesus is greater than sin. The blood

of Jesus is greater than addiction. The blood of Jesus

is greater than a parent who walked out.

The blood of Jesus is greater than a loved one

who passed untimely.

The blood of Jesus is greater than your deepest shame,

your biggest mistake. The blood of Jesus is greater than

generational curses that have traveled on through the generations.

The blood of Jesus is greater and better.

And we declare that today because there is healing in

the blood. And so let's turn our hearts and minds

and prayers. We prepare to receive these elements. Father, God,

we come to you and we celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus.

And right now, God, we take a pause a moment.

If there's any sin to confess to you, if there's

anything that we need to ask for your forgiveness or

turn over to you, God, we do so right now

in this moment of silence, Father God, Today we claim

the promise of scripture. Verse John one nine tells us

that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and

just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God,

Today we believe that there is healing in the blood.

We thank you for the death and resurrection of Jesus.

And his name. We pray Amen, We're gonna