Bless Our Families | Pastor Darren Palmer | Faith Church

All right. Well, we're in Genesis chapter 12,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

and I'm here in Genesis 12 because in my devotions

this morning, the Lord scrapped the message that

I was going to preach, which was on prayer. I

was going to finish our prayer and fasting teaching

on prayer and fasting. Imagine that. Because

God has been speaking to me and showing me things

throughout this week, and I was going to relay

those to you. I will hold that message from Acts

Acts 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 and different places in the Word of

God that call the church to prayer. Let me just

give one point from that message. I believe that

the single greatest verse for the church today

is in Matthew chapter 6. And it's right before

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Jesus teaches us the Lord's Prayer. And He says

this, and what the Father sees in secret, He

will reward openly. And Jesus is calling all

of us To personal, private, secret prayer. Now

I love what happens when we gather because gathering

is key as well. And it's part of the word that

we gather together often. But that personal,

private, secret place prayer, by and large, by

believers, is neglected. And the Lord is calling

you and I to personal prayer time. And so I'm

going to preach that message at a later date.

Take that and run with it. Meditate in Matthew

6. There's a lot in Matthew 6, but the portion

on prayer. Say, God, help me apply this to my

life. Because discipleship is not about just

knowing that Matthew 6 is in there and that the

Lord's Prayer is there. Discipleship is about

actually applying it to your life and doing it.

Amen? Disciples do. Amen? Amen. Now, this morning

early, I was reading, and a series of scriptures

just flooded my heart. And I noticed this morning

as we were praying that the sign that many of

you flock to, in fact, there were more people

at this sign during that five or seven minutes

of prayer, there were more people at this sign

than any other sign. What sign do you think it

was? Family. The sign right down here. Family.

And God began to speak to me this morning from

this passage about family. Now this is the call.

At this point his name is Abram. It was later

changed to Abraham. Father Abraham. How many

of you have heard of Father Abraham? And so he

is the first patriarch of the nation of Israel.

The people of Israel. God made a covenant with

Abraham. Abram at this point. And in Genesis

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12, this is what the Lord spoke to Abram.

Get out of your country, from your family, and

from your father's house. And go to a land that

I will show you. I will make you a great nation.

I will bless you and make your name great. I

will bless those who bless you and I will curse

him who curses you. And in you, all the families

of the earth shall be blessed. I want to read

that last line one more time. And in you, all

the families of the earth shall be blessed. Hallelujah.

Now this covenant that God made with Abram, so

what did Abram do? So Abram departed and he went

just as the Lord had commanded and he obeyed

God. And because he obeyed God, God did what

he said he would do. Now, just as a side note,

our blessing of the nation of Israel is important.

It does not mean that everything that Israel

does is right. It does not mean that every decision

that Netanyahu and the people of Israel make

is godly or good. It doesn't mean that. It doesn't

mean that you have to personally agree with everything

that the nation of Israel does. But the nation

of Israel is God's chosen people. And the greatest

blessing of Israel, the gift that God gave to

us, as we're going to see as I preach through

this message, is that our Messiah, Jesus, came

through the nation of Israel. And so God gave

Abram a blessing. At this point, he was childless.

He had no children of his own. And God showed

him, spoke to him, In you, all the families of

the earth shall be blessed. Now, how many of

you are part of a family? Now, your family might

be, it just might be messed up. Some of you are

laughing because if you don't laugh, you'll cry.

Our families can get crazy. Our families can

be broken. You are part of a family that you

did not choose. I didn't choose my mom and dad.

You didn't choose yours. I didn't choose my brothers

and sisters. I have one sister. Sister. I didn't

choose them. The only one I chose that's in my

family is my wife. We wanted children, but we

didn't even choose them. God chose them. God

gave us kids. We don't choose the family that

we're a part of. And for some of you, when I

say that word family, it just automatically brings

a lot of pain because it's messed up. The promise

is still for your family. And in you, all the

families of the earth shall be blessed. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Are you with me so far? All the families

of the earth shall be blessed. Three other times,

God spoke a similar promise to Abraham. he substituted

the word family with nations. Three other times

God met with Abraham and said, in you all the

nations of the earth shall be blessed. There

was another time when God met with Abraham's

grandson, Jacob, in a dream. And God spoke to

Jacob in Genesis 28, 14 and said the same thing.

And said, also your descendants shall be as the

dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to

the west and the east, to the north and the south.

And in you and in your seed, all the families

of the earth shall be blessed. Hallelujah. And

so there's this promise. All the families of

the earth shall be blessed. We need to be convinced

of this. That God wants to bless my family. You

need to be convinced of that. I need to be convinced

of that. That God wants to bless my family. And

so let's all say that together. God wants to

bless my family. There are several stories in

the Scriptures where God does not just bless

individuals, but where God blesses entire families.

And I began to think about that this morning,

where God blessed Zacchaeus. And you remember

when Jesus came, if you know the story where

Jesus came to Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus was notable

in the New Testament because he was a short man

and he could not see through the crowd. And so

he climbed a tree so that he could see Jesus

in the crowd. And Jesus saw Zacchaeus climb the

tree just so he could see him. And Jesus made

a beeline for Zacchaeus and said, I'm coming

to you. house. And the Bible says in Luke 19,

9, that salvation has come to you, that salvation

has come to your house. I love that. I love that.

Later on in the book of Acts, after Jesus had

ascended and Peter was given a dream by God,

that he was not supposed to call unclean that

which God had made clean. And then he was led

to the household of Cornelius. And Cornelius,

the unique thing about Cornelius is that he was

not from the land of Israel. He was not a Jew.

He was a Gentile like most of us in the room.

And normally, Peter never would have... even

talked to a Gentile, but God wanted to break

down the wall between Jews and Gentiles, because

salvation was not just for Jews. Salvation was

also for Gentiles. And so Peter preached the

message. Everybody that was there, which was

Cornelius's family, Cornelius's servants, all

the people that worked in Cornelius's house,

everybody that was there gave the their life

to Jesus, got filled with the Holy Spirit, and

Peter was stunned that God would love the Gentiles

too. And Cornelius and his whole household came

to God. Wouldn't it be awesome if your whole

household came to the Lord? Wouldn't it be awesome

if your whole household came to the Lord? Now,

there's one more that I want to turn to in Acts

Acts 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16. If you can turn there. Now, Paul,

in Acts 16, Paul and Silas were put in jail for

preaching the word, which is common today around

the world. We live in a bubble called America.

But around the world, people are being jailed

and killed for their faith in Jesus Christ, even

today. Paul and Silas were jailed for preaching

the good news of Jesus Christ. And verse 25,

let's pick it up there. At midnight they were

praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners

were listening to them and suddenly there was

a great earthquake so that the foundation of

the prison were shaken and immediately all the

doors were opened and everyone's chains were

loosed and the keeper of the prison, awakening

from sleep and seeing the prison doors opened,

Supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword,

and was about to kill himself. Because he knew

what would happen to him if his bosses found

out that the prisoners escaped on his watch.

He would be tortured and killed. But Paul called

with a loud voice. Saying, do yourself no harm

for we are all here. Can I just say another aside

here for a moment? Just because a door opens

doesn't mean you should walk through it. The

angel opened up the door. But Paul and Silas

had a check in their heart. No. We've got to

stay right here. And the prison guard woke up,

was about to kill himself, and Paul screamed

out, don't do it. We are all here. I just find

this story stunning. And the prison guard called

for a light, ran in and fell down trembling before

Paul and Silas. He brought them out. Now they

can walk through the door. He brought them out

and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? What

must I do to give my life to the Lord? You've

got something that I need and I want what you

have. So they said to him, believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your

household. They spoke the word of the Lord to

him and to all who were in his house. And he

took them the same hour of the night and washed

their stripes. And so now this guard that had

participated in beating them, that had participated

in putting them in the prison, now he's washing

their wounds and bringing healing to them. Salvation

has come to his house. And immediately he...

and all his family were baptized. Isn't that

an awesome story? God wants every single one

of your family members to be saved. I've got

family members that are not saved. Most of you.

have family members that are not saved. Most

of you, your salvation did not happen like this.

You came alone. But God wants to bless entire

families. I believe there are families out there,

families out there that need the Lord, that are

ripe. When Peter preached the first message,

they asked the same question, what must we do?

And Peter said, repent and let every one of you

be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

for the remission of sin and you shall receive

the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is

to you, your children, and to all who are afar

off, as many as the Lord our God will call. You

see, the blessing of Abraham was fulfilled in

Jesus Christ, where salvation would be open to

every family. God is in the business of turning

around families. So what should I do, Pastor?

The first thing that you need to do is this.

Follow Jesus with your whole heart, even if your

family does not. I want to read a tough scripture

now. Matthew 10, verse 34. Jesus said this, Do

Matthew 10:34

not think that I came to bring peace on the earth.

I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For

I have come to set a man against his father,

a daughter against her mother, a daughter -in

-law against her mother -in -law, and a man's

enemies will be those of his own household. He

who loves father or mother more than me is not

worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more

than me is not worthy of me. He who does not

take his cross and follow after me is not worthy

of me. He who finds his life will lose it, but

he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

This is a tough scripture. What Jesus was saying

is that he has got to have first place in your

life. And again, around the world, In fact, in

the religion of Islam, if one converts to Christianity,

they are cut off from their family. Well, do

you think that it's God's will for that person

to come to Christ? Absolutely. Islam is a demonic

religion leading people astray. The fastest growing

religion in America right now. Drawing people

away from God. And Jesus said this, you might

have to pay a high price to follow me. But if

you will pay the price, God will begin to work.

And he will begin to move. Friend, the best thing

that you can do for your family, even if your

family does not understand you, even if they

don't get it, even if they don't see, the best

thing that you can do is follow Jesus with your

whole heart, even if your family does not. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. I have seen again and again and again

couples Backslide together. And so I believe

that God wants couples to walk together in unity.

Amen? I believe that God wants couples to be

one in Christ. Hallelujah. But I'm telling you

this. I said this a couple of months ago and

I'll say it again today. That if I stray from

Jesus, my wife is not going to follow me. And

if she strays from Jesus, I am not going to follow

her. I am not going to use my family as an excuse

to stray from God. I have a son right now that

we're believing for God to get a hold of his

heart and get a hold of his life. We love him

incredibly. But I will not compromise the truth

of God's word for my son. I cannot do that. I

cannot do that. The best thing that you can do

is without compromise, devote your life wholly

to Jesus. The second thing that you need to do

is kind of like it. And that is this. Get rid

of that secret sin. Go with me to Acts chapter

Acts 3 · chapter mention

3. And Peter and John are preaching. Peter again.

And they had just seen the man at the gate beautiful

healed. And they were explaining what had happened

at that healing. May the church have to explain

healing again as God does incredible things in

our midst. And listen to what Peter says in verse

19. Repent therefore and be converted that your

sins might be blotted out so that times of refreshing

might come from the Lord, from the presence of

the Lord. And that he might send Jesus Christ

who was preached to you before. whom heaven must

receive until the times of restoration of all

things, which God has spoken by the mouth of

his holy prophets since the world began. And

then he goes on, and then verse 25 says, you

are sons of the prophets, and the covenant which

God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham,

this is where the message comes full circle,

saying to Abraham, and in your seed, all the

families of the earth shall be blessed. To you

first, God having raised up His servant Jesus,

sent Him to bless you in turning every one of

you From your iniquities. Turning every one of

you from your iniquities. So the blessing of

God. Is opposed. To that secret sin. And that

secret sin. Is opposed. To the blessing of God.

Jesus wants to bless your family. But you've

got to get rid of that secret sin. Jesus didn't

die on the cross so that you could continue in

your sin and just be forgiven every Sunday and

live. Continue to live however you want. He shed

his blood on Calvary not only to forgive you,

but to set you free from it. So that it no longer

has dominion in your life. We've got to confess

that thing. And we've got to get it out of our

heart. The greatest harm a father brings to a

family is when he refuses to turn from secret

sin. But the greatest blessing a father gives

to his family is when he humbles himself before

the Lord and says, God, I'm following you with

my whole heart. And please, it's not about perfection.

Because I've been walking with Jesus for 39 years.

This summer it will be 40 years that I've been

walking with Jesus. And last week, last week,

God brought conviction to my heart about a sin.

And I'll tell you what it was. I read of a pastor

who had fallen. And was removed from the ministry.

And in the back of my heart, I was feeling good

about myself. Because I've not done that. And

the Holy Spirit convicted me of that wickedness.

Because it's not because of my own goodness that

I am what I am. It is only because of the grace

of God. And I had to confess that thing before

the Lord. The greatest thing I can do for my

family, for my church family, is to walk uprightly.

And it doesn't mean perfection, but it does mean

this. To respond to the conviction of the Holy

Spirit. And it means that I am walking with Christ.

And so I repented of that thing and I said, God,

forgive me. Wash me and cleanse me. And get that

thing out of my heart. Peter. Coupled the blessing

that God spoke to Abraham with repentance from

iniquity. And I want to call. Not because you're

bad or I'm bad. You know, the Holy Spirit doesn't

convict me of those things because I'm bad. He

convicts me of those things because He wants

to make me more like Jesus. And so I don't say

that, I don't preach this part of the message

to declare people that are bad and I want them

to feel horrible. No, I want you to feel drawn

to the Lord and to say, God, God, have your way

in my heart and in my life. Amen. God, I'm doing

my best to follow you. I know I've got a long

way to go. But God, I want you to have your way

in my life. And when you convict me, and when

you speak to my heart, I want to respond. A teachable

and moldable heart. If you want the blessing

of God to come on your family, have a teachable

and moldable heart. Hallelujah. Glory to God.

And then the third thing is from Malachi chapter

Malachi 4 · chapter mention

4. Malachi chapter 4. And this is the last verse

Malachi 4 · chapter mention

of the Old Testament before Jesus came on the

scene, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It's about

300 years. between Malachi and the coming of

Jesus. And this is what Malachi prophesied in

verse 5 of Malachi 4. Behold, I will send you

Elijah the prophet. That was John the Baptist.

Before the coming of the great and dreadful day

of the Lord, this is the judgment of God. And

he will turn the hearts of the fathers. to the

children, and the hearts of the children to their

fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with

a curse. Do you know when we are praying for

end time harvest, I believe that many people

are about to come into the kingdom of God. I

believe that many people are going to turn to

Jesus for salvation. And some of you are seeing

that in your lives. You know of people who are

getting hungry for God. Hallelujah. I talked

with a young man yesterday who has known his

whole life that God has been knocking on the

door of his heart and is saying, I'm trying to

respond to God in my life. And there are many

people that are like that. And they don't really

know what to do, but God is knocking on the door

of their heart. One thing that happens when you

meet the Lord is that your heart turns to your

heavenly Father. And the book of Romans chapter

Romans 8 · chapter mention

8 says that when you come to Christ, that your

heart will cry out, Abba. Father. And in response

to that, as your heart turns to your heavenly

Father, guess what happens? Your heart begins

to turn in a new way to your family. Where before

you could only think evil about your family,

but now your heart is getting healed. God is

healing all the hurt and the pain of your past,

and now you're suddenly having thoughts that

you didn't have before of affection and love

for your family. It is not always natural for

the hearts of children to turn to their fathers.

It's not natural because of what that father

might represent. But can I tell you this? It's

supernatural. It doesn't mean that you're agreeing

with everything that your father does. It doesn't

mean that you like everything your father represents.

It doesn't mean that you appreciate the past

that you've had in your life. You might have

walked through some hard things, but you have

a heavenly father that is healing your heart.

And you're beginning to have different emotions

and different affections. And you're beginning

to forgive people in your family. Woo! The heart

of the father who's been separated from his kids.

My kids have cut me off. And part of it might

be my own heart. Oh, but... You've given your

life to Jesus. And your father has begun to heal

you. And you're beginning to repent of your own

iniquity towards your kids. And you're starting

to have feelings again. That you didn't have

before. And your heart. Is turning towards your

sons and daughters. Do you know what this is?

This is revival. This is the moving of God's

spirit. And you begin to pray differently. And

you begin to say, God, I don't deserve it. But

would you give me a relationship with my kids

again? Would you give me an opportunity because

there's no way they'll listen to me right now?

But would you somehow open the door for us to

just even talk again? And the hearts of the fathers

turn to the children. And the hearts of the children

turn to the fathers. And God heals a family.

This is what he does. I believe in 2026. that

some of your families are going to turn around.

I believe that in this year, some of your kids,

God is going to answer your prayer. I believe

that God is going to move mightily in our messed

up families. I want to close with a verse I've

been meditating in. I shared it at the funeral

for Catherine's sister yesterday, the celebration

of life. And I want to close with 1 Peter 4 and

verse 7. And I want you to think about society.

I want you to think about what's been happening

in the news, in Minneapolis. In Portland, in

hard places. It has been crazy, hasn't it? And

then we hear the words of Peter. 1 Peter 4, 7.

But the end of all things is at hand. How many

of you can sense that? The end of all things

is at hand. And so then he gives some instruction.

What should we do now that we know that, now

that we see that? We're reading the end of all

things in the news every day. Therefore, be serious

and watchful in your prayers. And then verse

8. And above all things. Everybody say all things.

Above all things. Have fervent love for one another.

For love will cover a multitude of sins. Whoo!

Hallelujah. Do you know what the news is trying

to steal from you? Your love for people. Do you

know how the world responds right now? If you

don't agree with me, get out of my life. That's

what the world does. Friends, that's not Jesus.

They do that to their own families. If you don't

agree with me, get out of my life. That's not

the response of the believer. You be careful.

You be careful as you watch the news. You be

careful that you filter it well because if you

don't, it will harden your heart. It will harden

your heart and you will not be able to love people

that do not agree with you. But Peter... commands

us, Peter's in my message a lot, and here's in

his letter that he's written here, 1 Peter chapter

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

4 and verse 7, he commands us that in these end

times, we need to do something above everything,

and that is this, guard our ability to love one

another. Guard our ability to love one another.

What did Jesus say? They will know that you are

my disciples because you go to church on Sunday.

No. Now that's important, but that's not what

Jesus said. They will know you are my disciples

because you sing so beautifully. They will know

that you are my disciples because you love one

another. Love one another. If your relationship

to God does not affect the people around you,

what are we doing? For your family member just

might cover a multitude of sins. Just might cause

them to want what you have. Just might bring

them near. Hallelujah. We have a prayer wall

back here in the corner. You see if you turn

your head and look, you see things stuck to it.

Those are prayer requests from people in our

church. We call that our prayer circle, that

carpet back there. My wife posted a prayer need

on there. Last night I was back there just praying

over the needs in this body. You can write the

name of your family member on a card, and they're

going to get prayed over. You can write a need

on that card. In fact, Kathy's going to be back

there after the service to help you if you want

a card and you want to write down a prayer need.

You can do that. The body will be praying for

you. God spoke to Abraham and said, in you all

the families of the earth will be blessed. And

I want to remind God of that every day as I pray

over my sons and daughters, as I allow Him to

work in me. Have your way, God. That's why I

sang that song this morning because I knew what

I would be preaching about. That song said that...

The enemy has no authority in my family. Because

God has designed my family for blessing. Amen?

Amen. How many of you would say, I want this

to be a part of my family? Just lift up your

hand. Oh, come on. I feel like God wants to do

something right now. Most of you raised your

hand. Because you know the hidden parts of your

family that you won't tell anybody. And you want

God to do a work. You know that you can't straighten

it out because if you could, it would be straightened

out already. You need God to do it. You need

God to do it. There's Goliaths in your family.

You need God to help you slay. David didn't do

that on his own. He came in the name of the Lord

God of Israel. There's healing in brokenness.

And here's what I want you to stand for. Don't

stand yet. Here's what I want you to stand for.

If you have a conviction in your heart, that

God really will work in your family. I want you

to take a moment. I don't want you to just respond.

I want you to take a moment. And if you have

a conviction that in 2026, God will really work

in my family, then I want you to respond by standing.

In faith. Because this is not an empty promise.

This is the whole reason Jesus came. To bring

families near to him. Sons and daughters, moms

and dads. All of it. Healing. And restoration.

He is working. He is moving. Hallelujah. Father,

I just ask that you would put faith in the hearts

of your people. Grandparents. Believing for their

grandsons and granddaughters. People here believing

for their moms and dads. People here believing

for their sons and daughters and spouses. God,

I am declaring over this house that 2026 is a

year of healing for the family. Blessing for

the family. In Jesus' mighty name.