Breaking the Family Curse: Why God Chose You | Family Matters | Apostle Mike Signorelli

The truth is, we're coming up on Christmas, and you're about to

spend Christmas with people that you love deeply but can barely

stand, and you're going home to a war zone with wrapping paper.

Come on.

And you got the relative, you know, who can basically ruin a holiday

with one sentence.

Am I the only one?

You got the parent who still talks to you like you're 14 years

old.

Got this sibling who hasn't apologized in 10 years but still

expects hugs and selfies like nothing ever happened.

And under all of that is one question that almost no one is asking

out loud.

But I'm going to be that guy that just says it out loud.

God, if you're good, why did you put me in this family?

Can somebody say, well, if you're good, why did you put me in

this family?

And so here's where we're going.

Number one, why your family is so dysfunctional.

Number two, what God's designed for a godly, spirit filled

family actually is according to the scriptures.

And number three, you know why God put you in the middle of your

family?

Because there is a reason for that.

And how you become the breaker instead of the next victim for everything

that got handed down.

You know, if you lean in and you stay all the way till the end

of this message, you're gonna the things in your family differently

and you're gonna understand your assignment in your family.

So I want you to open your Bibles now to Genesis.

Genesis is not just the beginning of the world.

Genesis is the beginning of gender, marriage, sex, family, parents,

grandparents, inheritance and legacy.

I mean, Genesis shows two things at the same time.

God's design for family and how fast human beings can wreck it.

So in inherit your freedom, I talk about how if you trace just

three generations, you are connected to 14 people whose choices

are shaping your life right now.

I mean, every time a grandfather actually chose unforgiveness,

it echoed down into you.

Every time even a great grandmother chose addiction, it left

a mark on you that traveled down.

Every time someone chooses rage, poverty, thinking, or control,

it gets woven into what I call your generational genetics.

And we're talking spiritually, not just physically.

There's something that people call the actual five generation rule

that I write about in my book.

I mean, one life of faithfulness or one life of rebellion

can echo three, four, or even five generations down the line.

And you see families like Jonathan Edwards line, it's filled

with preachers and professors and leaders.

And then you got families like Max Juke's line.

That's Marked by crime, poverty, and addiction.

And you see that.

So why is your family so dysfunctional?

Let me tell you.

Because your story did not actually start with you.

You are living in the compounded interest of decisions

that you didn't make.

But dysfunction is not the only thing that passes down God.

Gifts and callings passed down, too, because the mantle never

dies with the man.

And so there can be generational blessings.

And even if they messed up, you can actually break the curse

through the blood of Jesus and receive a blessing that they were

supposed to receive.

How many of you actually believe that with me today.

Come on, let me hear you out there.

Don't be quiet on me.

Come on.

So Genesis, chapter four.

Now, it shows different lines developing different abilities.

And this blew me away as I was in a deep study for my book about

generational patterns and cycles.

So if you look at verse, chapter 21, it says, his brother's

name was Jubal.

He was the father of all those who play the lyre and the pipe.

This is the 21st verse.

So one branch of the family becomes musical, and then another

becomes skilled with livestock and agriculture.

Then another branch becomes pioneers in bronze and iron.

That means that the same bloodline that carried addiction

may also carry entrepreneurial gifting.

The same line that carried rage may also carry prophetic passion.

I mean, the enemy does not waste time attacking what he knows

has no future.

He attacks what carries destiny.

Come on.

Why does it feel like all hell breaks loose around marriage and

kids?

Kids?

I'm going to tell you.

Because Satan hates family more than you hate your family.

Chat, group chat.

Come on.

When you're single, the battle's real.

Come on.

Single people.

But when you marry, warfare is going to begin to escalate.

When you have kids, it goes to the next level.

Because now the enemy can hit three and four generations at the

same time.

So for those of you with families, you got to understand the

enemy's not just attacking you.

He's attacking the bloodline and trying to multiply his efforts.

I feel a grace on this message right now.

Y' all need to share this with somebody so they can get this word,

because people don't talk about this in the church enough.

You know, the Bible tells you that this is not just how people

are.

This is actually spiritual war.

As a matter of fact, when you go all the way to Ephesians, chapter

Ephesians 6:12

6, verse 12, it says, for we do not wrestle against your aunties,

your cousin, your brother, your grandma.

I know that it feels like you do, but you are warring against rulers

against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the

present darkness.

Does anybody believe that?

Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

I mean, that means that your fight is not ultimately with your

mother in law, with your ex, with your dad, or even with your

sibling.

The real fight is with unseen powers that would love to keep your

family bound up forever.

And so in the book I talk about this obvious assault on the

family because you see broken homes, you see fatherlessness, you

see single moms, they're totally overloaded right now and

overwhelmed kids, starving not just for food, but they're starving

for love, they're starving for blessing.

You know, I was at my friend Mark's house and he lives in Manhattan

and he's a Jewish brother.

And he actually had me come over to his house for Shabbat.

And it was a wonderful experience.

And we begin to go through the rituals that they do.

And Shabbat obviously being Friday evening.

And the Jewish people say, we're gonna take a 24 hour Sabbath

and we're gonna rest and refrain from work.

But there was a powerful moment where he said, okay, Mike,

I want you to get up now and I want you to place your hands on the

heads of your daughters.

And so I had Bella there and I had Everly there, and then he placed

his hand on the heads of his children and he said, now what we

do is we bless our children and we pray over our children.

And this is an ancient prayer.

And he began to pray that prayer that his dad prayed and his

grandfather prayed and his great grandfather and great great

grandfather.

And I just, I couldn't help but to cry because as I was standing

in Mark's home and I laid my hand on my daughter's head and Lord,

I'm the first one to ever pray for my children.

My daddy didn't pray for me and my grandfather didn't pray for

him, and my great grandfather didn't pray for him.

But Lord, it stops with me.

And Lord, I know that I'm not a Jew, but Jesus, you were a Jew

who actually died so the Gentiles could get grafted in.

And I'm one of those wild olive branches that got grafted into

the tree.

Now, come on, are there any Gentiles who are thankful for Jesus?

And I said that same blessing for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and

that same covenant.

God, you've established it with me through the blood of Jesus.

And I just begin to pray for my daughters.

You know, there's kids though that are just craving for the blessing

of a dad.

The Prayers of a dad.

Come on, let me tell you.

One in three children in America, they're born to unmarried

parents.

It's not a judgment, it's a fact.

About half of children will live in a single parent home at some

point.

That means 50% of the thousands of people that are watching

me right now came from broken homes.

I was the product of that.

Millions of kids are food insecure and they have a toxic relationship

with food because of the trauma in the home.

And listen, you can't solve this with one person in Washington,

in the government trying to solve it.

We mobilize like crazy over physical hunger.

Oh, we gotta feed the poor.

And we do that at B1 Church.

But we often ignore the fact that kids are starving for a father's

blessing, a mother's presence, and a united home.

That's why it brought me to tears when I heard that this sermon

series has already caused at least two marriages to be restored.

Now, not every story can have that ending, and sometimes even divorce

is justifiable.

We know this.

But Satan's strategy is very simple.

Confuse gender, mock marriage.

Replace covenant with convenience.

Turn sex into recreational sport instead of a covenantal glue.

Normalize divorce as a reset button instead, instead of a wound

that bleeds through generations.

And if he can break your home, he can break your heart.

And if he can break your heart long enough, he'll eventually stop.

You'll stop believing that God is a father who loves you.

And this is what many of you come from.

This is not just a personality clash with people in your family.

This is spiritual warfare against demons that are trying to

sabotage what the destiny that you have within your life and your

family's life.

Now, let's contrast that with God's actual design, though, because

the world's blueprint for family sounds like this.

Well, I'm gonna do what feels good.

And if it's hard, I'm just gonna walk away.

You know, kids are the center of the home.

Whoever screams the loudest runs this house.

Extended family gets more loyalty than my own spouse.

That's the way the world's doing it.

But God's blueprint in Genesis and the rest of scripture is one

man, one woman before God in covenant, filled with the Holy Spirit,

raising children who know that they're loved, that they're being

disciplined, and they're sent on assignment.

I mean, Genesis, chapter 2, verse 24 and 25, it's very clear.

Genesis 2:24

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold

fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh and the man

and his wife were both naked and not ashamed.

And come on, you've heard that scripture before.

I mean, that's the order.

Leave cleave, become one.

A huge part of the breakdown today is that we have reversed God's

order of priority.

According to scripture.

I mean, God's order is God first, then marriage, and then children,

then extended family.

And in many homes, the functional order is children at the

center, marriage on the side, God for the emergencies, and extended

relatives as dictators.

Oh, come on.

I'm getting all up in your family mess right now.

Am I right?

I mean, you see it every day.

Every decision revolves around the kids scheduling, the kids preferences,

the kids moods, how they feel.

Mom and dad, they never have date nights, they never pray together,

they never talk deeply unless it's about logistics or bills.

Come on.

And when children become the center of the home, I mean, listen,

marriages start to fall apart.

And I know some of you don't believe that, but deep down inside,

you know it's true.

And when your son's travel team and your daughter's activities

get more passion than the covenant of marriage, your family

is out of order.

I mean, I'm telling you this as a father in the faith and somebody

that's read this book and knows that God did not design your

home to be a child centered kingdom.

He designed it to be a God centered covenant where children

are loved, children are disciplined, which, by the way, is

a form of love.

Can I get an amen from some parents in the chat right now?

And they're launched into their purpose.

And the reason why I have to say this is because I go out into

public and I see the parents that are afraid to discipline their

children.

Oh, you know, little Timmy, you know, he's real.

He has a lot of preferences, and he's really.

It's like, no, no, listen, what he needs is discipline.

And how I know that is I didn't have a dad, and my mom said,

I'm gonna be your dad and your mom and I'm gonna discipline you.

And I think I turned out all right.

And discipline is also a form of love.

I mean, we're disciplined by God.

His love comes in the form of a yes, but it also comes in the form

of a no.

Can I get an amen on that?

And so in my book, inherit your freedom, I talk about Naboth's

vineyard.

And when you go to Kings, chapter 21, and it's verse three,

this is what it says.

But Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbid That I should give you

the inheritance of my fathers.

You know, we talk about the Ahab spirit, the Jezebel spirit,

this demonic spirit.

Well, it's very simple.

Ahab was not disciplined.

Ahab wanted what he didn't fight for what he didn't work for.

Ahab, listen, he wanted to get it without having to earn it.

This is the story of Ahab.

This is the what happens is when you don't discipline your kids,

when your kids don't have to earn it, when your kids just get

what they haven't been disciplined for, they can end up

receiving an Ahab spirit.

And so literally it says, the Lord forbid that I should give you

the inheritance of my fathers.

Now, Naboth's vineyard, it wasn't just real estate.

It was a multi generational inheritance.

It was land that was cultivated by the discipline and

the hard work of his fathers for generations.

And King Ahab offers to buy it and give him another field.

And Nabal's like, no, no, no.

Because the vineyard is my father's inheritance.

And some of you are trading your vineyard for a vegetable garden.

You're trading God's best for mediocrity.

And you cannot compromise.

How you exit is how you enter.

And you may have compromised this year, but you're ending this

year, not compromising.

And you're gonna step into the new year saying, God, I will not

trade a godly marriage for temporary attention.

Come on.

I'm not trading a praying home for endless activities but no altar.

I'm not trading purity for secret addiction.

I'm not trading children's spiritual inheritance for we had

Christmas morning but never saw revival in the living room.

Can somebody just put their hands together if you're not gonna

compromise coming into this.

Yeah.

I feel some anointing upon this message right now.

God's design is not keep the kids entertained.

Here's an iPad.

God's design is raise arrows that fly further than I ever could

into the enemy's camp.

I mean, Psalm 127, verses 30.

It's verses three through five.

It says this.

You cannot deny what I'm saying right now.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit

of the womb, A reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior are

the children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.

He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies at

the gate.

Look at it for yourself in Psalm 127.

Children are not the center, they are arrows.

And arrows are meant to be aimed.

And Released.

That's what you do with arrows.

You aim them and you release them.

I'm aiming Bella and I'm releasing her.

I'm aiming Everly and I'm releasing her.

Now when you go to Matthew chapter one, I'm gonna bring this

all together.

I hope you're flowing with me.

We're going deep into the scriptures.

Most people skip this chapter because it has a word, Begats.

Begats.

But this is Jesus family Christian Christmas photo.

And because you're seeing now his design, this is no filter on

that photo.

And you know, you look back the old family photos and you see

the people who passed away, and you see people who have your

eyes, your ears, your hair.

And you see that now Jesus lineage is captured in Matthew chapter

one.

Let me go there.

Cause I wanna show you something that I saw that I could

not unsee.

Matthew chapter 1, verses 1 through 3 basically says this.

Matthew 1:1–3

It's the book of the genealogy of Jesus, the son of David, the son

of Abraham.

Now, the only way that Jesus could legitimately be the Messiah

is if he was of the line of David.

And so this has to be established.

The genealogy was the way of confirming to a Jewish audience that

he was in fact the Messiah.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob,

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

of Perez and Zerah, by Tamar and Perez the father of Hezron, and

Hezron the father of Ram.

And you're probably like, what does that have to do with anything

you just said?

And I'm confused.

Stay with me.

This genealogy includes names that would have been so deeply scandalous

in the first century, 2,000 years ago, when they heard this,

I mean, they literally would have been gasping in the audience

with just the names being mentioned.

I'm gonna give you just four of them.

Cause you heard the word Tamar.

Tamar marries Judah's son, he dies.

She's left childless.

According to custom, she should have given another son to,

you know, carry on the line.

But she's neglected, so she disguises herself as a prostitute,

sleeps with her father in law, becomes pregnant with twins, and

then when Judah finds out she's pregnant, he wants her punished

until he realizes that he's actually the father.

You talk about some Maury Povich, Ricki Lake, some crazy Oprah

Winfrey level stuff.

This is messy.

And God actually says, leave her name in the Messiah's family

line.

All right, we're going somewhere with this Rahab.

Second, Rahab is a Canaanite, a Gentile A prostitute.

In Joshua, chapter two, she hides Israelite spies, lies to protect

them, and then is spared when Jericho falls.

She becomes part of Israel.

Okay.

She's a Gentile.

Keep that in mind.

Marries into the covenant people of God and ends up in Jesus

genealogy.

And In Hebrews chapter 11, she is literally listed as a hero of

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

faith, y'.

All.

This should be so encouraging to all of us with a past, because

every sinner has a past, but guess what?

They also have a future through Jesus.

Come on.

Every saint has a past, but we've also got a future through Jesus.

Let's look at Ruth.

Ruth is a Moabite from a nation that Israel was not supposed

to even marry.

She's widowed, poor.

She clings to her mother in law, Naomi, which kind of, to be

honest with you, might have been a little codependent.

And through her loyalty and faith, God crafts her into Israel.

I mean, she marries Boaz and becomes the great grandmother of

King David.

And then you got Bathsheba and y' all know her name, nasty.

2 Samuel 11 tells the story.

You know it.

She sleeps with David, sleeps with her.

He has her husband killed and the first child that they have together

through that, I mean, let's just call it what it was.

Adulterous relationship.

This stuff you ain't hearing at your other church.

By the way, whenever you think that you messed up and you're like,

God, it's irreparable God.

I just.

I can't believe I've done all these heinous things.

Why don't you just start reading your Bible a little bit more?

You're gonna be comforted by how much the legends and faith scre

and how bad they screwed up.

I'll tell you what, no matter how deep and how dark you think your

story is, there's somebody in the Bible who did worse than you.

But God took them even higher.

And God is no respecter of persons.

And if God did it for them, he'll do it for you if you stay available

and willing.

Come on.

Does anybody believe what I'm saying right now?

You know, God basically chooses the son of their.

Their later son that their relation.

Think about what I'm saying.

David and Bathsheba's relationship was initiated by adultery.

Their first child dies, and then later they have another child

named Solomon that God not only chooses to be king, but to continue

the line that leads to Jesus and to even build the temple in Israel.

So you can't tell me that God.

Oh, I.

There's somebody listening right now that.

That A woman that's listening right now that their child was the

product of adultery.

And you've been beating yourself up over it, and you've been.

You've been feeling shame and condemnation.

But I'm here to remind you of what God did with Solomon.

And if God did it with Solomon, your kid might be a prophetic

Solomon as well.

God will take your biggest mistakes and use them for his greatest

glory through your mistakes.

Does anybody know what I'm talking about?

Man, there's something different about this sermon, y'.

All.

I hope you're getting these notes.

There's something different about this one.

I mean, listen, Matthew doesn't hide any of this.

This is how I know that Jesus is the Messiah.

Because Matthew, chapter one, verses 15 and 16, says you've got

Eliad, the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan

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

the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the

Christ.

So if you put it in modern language now.

So I'm gonna help y' all out.

Jesus family tree is wild.

It's complicated, it's scandalous, and it's generationally

messy.

Why is that good news for all of us?

Because it proves your family scandal does not cancel your Savior's

plan.

God uses broken people and broken families to birth breakthrough.

Come on and listen.

In the book, I say, what if I told you that your genealogy has

been awaiting your arrival?

I mean, that you have been born with a purpose and you've been

born with a task.

Matthew, chapter one, verse 17.

Just follow it.

So all the generations from Abraham to David was 14 generations.

And from David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations.

And from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, 14 generations.

That's Matthew, chapter one, verse 17.

And it's probably not hidden, but let me break this down for you,

because it's such a deep, prophetic biblical revelation that

cannot be ignored.

This is such a crazy, prophetic word.

That's three sets of 14, six sets of seven.

When Jesus arrives, it's like the seventh seven, which means that

Jesus is the ultimate Sabbath rest.

Generations of striving, generations of failure, generations

of trying to fix the family by human efforts.

And then Jesus shows up and says, I am the rest your family has

never been able to find.

I'm the rest they couldn't find in alcohol.

I'm the rest they couldn't find in opiates.

I'm the rest they couldn't find in sex.

I'm the Rest that they couldn't find in dead religion.

I am the rest that your family's never been able to find.

He doesn't just change your life individually.

He changes the meaning of your whole family story.

So let's answer this question.

If my family is this dysfunctional, why did God put me

here?

Listen, I've thought that question many times.

Why couldn't I just had a good father?

Why couldn't I just have a normal family?

Why did I have to move all the time?

Why was there so much brokenness?

Why was there so much arguing?

Why was everybody always fighting each other?

Listen.

Because somebody in your bloodline had to be first.

In my story, I'm the son of an absent father with a criminal record

in addiction.

I didn't grow up seeing his face every day.

I didn't have him teaching me how to shave, how to work, how to

be a husband, how to be a loving father.

And years later, I became a father.

I held my newborn daughter, Bella, and I felt a love that I had

never experienced before.

I went home from the hospital and suddenly had a realization.

My father probably never felt this for me.

I collapsed on the bathroom floor in tears and vomit, wrestling

with a lifetime of father wounds that all came crashing in

in a moment.

And later, alcohol got a grip on me.

My wife left with my daughter.

I came home to an empty house, realizing I was about to repeat my

father's story.

And my daughter would grow up without me, the same way that I grew

up without my dad.

I knew the Bible at that point.

I had been brought into ministry as a pastor before all this

went down.

And so how did the devil succeed in getting me to the same

destination by a different road?

I mean, that's how the devil will work.

He's got a GPS coordinate, and he's gonna get you to that same cycle

by a different means.

And it's crazy to think about.

Cause I thought to myself for years, I'll never be like my dad.

And what happens is every time I go to church, that demonic GPS

says rerouting.

I said, I'll never abuse my wife.

I'll never fight her like that.

And I'm going to be a real man.

And then the GPS says rerouting.

And the devil will do anything and everything he can to get you

to the same pattern, the same cycle, the same repetition.

Even if he's got to take you another road.

I mean, that was the moment that I understood.

If I don't let God break this in me, my daughter will bleed from

wounds that I never let God heal.

Every family has that moment.

Every generation has the opportunity for a breaker.

So when I was writing inherit your freedom, I started to outline

a process to step into that breaker role number one.

I said, you need to confess what runs in your family.

Because for me, I knew I was confessing the word of God, but I

had never confessed what runs in my family.

And I begin to teach people in my book to make two columns.

One column with the negative behaviors and patterns that you've

inherited and another column with the opposite, the good patterns

that you inherited.

The redeemed version.

God is calling you to.

Because as I begin to think about my family, I villainized my

father.

But there were many good traits from him too.

So I had to ask God, show me what those things are.

Because blessings can come through the bloodline, not just curses.

And you know, lust becomes covenant love and true intimacy basically

can be exchanged in that moment.

Poverty becomes generational wealth.

There's like a redeeming of it and true stewardship addiction becomes

basically being addicted to the right things.

Being addicted to your calling, your creativity, your serving

your control actually can turn into trust.

Profanity can become prophecy.

Does anybody believe that?

I mean, abandonment can become adoption.

And you reach out for other people.

So, you know, here's the thing.

Right now, even as you're listening to me, name it in your

mind.

Name it in your mind.

Everybody watching online, everybody in the room.

It's divorce, rage, witchcraft or the occult, porn addiction, alcohol.

I mean, religion without power.

Some of you have that anxiety, fear, poverty, emotional shutdown.

You cannot cast out what you keep protecting.

God cannot heal what you refuse to reveal.

Number two, repent and renounce.

Stop being hospitable to what's killing you.

You know, in the book I talk about how the Holy spirit confronted

me about counterfeit comforts, things like worry and comfort eating.

You know, I just couldn't stop eating because it felt normal.

I mean, those things ran into my family.

This is how they survived.

But demons and destructive patterns, they.

They often feel like this, they feel familiar because we've

had these, they've had these long term leases in your family line

and you've gotta make the decision.

I will not be the halfway where demons walk into my kid's life.

I'm not gonna be the conduit.

And you know, that's what repentance and renouncing is really

doing, is I'm not gonna be the bridge between demons.

And it's when you say with your mouth, this stops with me.

Whew I feel the anointing all over this number three I write about.

You need to learn how to rebuild and protect your vineyard.

Bring Naboth back into your mind.

His vineyard was his father's inheritance.

And Ahab tried to.

He offered alternative land.

Naboth said, you know, the Lord forbid that I should give you

the inheritance of my fathers.

In other words, he was forbidding it.

And so this Christmas, some of you are being offered trades by the

enemy.

Trade your sobriety just for one drink at the family party.

Trade your purity for just one DM to make you feel better.

Trade your consistency in church for just one season where

you take a break.

Trade your children's spiritual legacy for just one holiday

where we stop being, you know, the serious ones.

No.

No.

You are the one who says, no deal.

No deal.

I forbid this.

This vineyard stays in my family.

You're not just breaking curses.

You're now starting the blessings.

Come on.

Is there anybody who's like, I'm ready.

I've been breaking curses.

Now I'm about to start the blessings.

That's what I feel for this new year.

For many of you, you've been tested.

Now you're about to be blessed.

You went through.

You've been stretch.

Now you're about to be blessed.

Your kids and your grandkids, they're going to inherit prayers

that they never prayed, but you bathed them in those prayers

in the midnight hour.

Come on.

Favor that they didn't earn, but you earned it because you came

out of that test pure as gold.

Freedom that they didn't fight for because you decided to be the

first one to say yes to God at this level so that they can go to

a higher level.

Come on.

Somebody shout unto God with me.

I feel the presence of God all over this right now.

Hey, do this.

Everybody jump to your feet with me right now.

Come on.

We're about to end this thing.

Cause I feel anointing all over this.

Come on.

In my book, inherit your freedom.

I have everybody take a challenge, and we're gonna do this

challenge.

It's gonna feel awkward, but sometimes you gotta do something

different to get something different.

And the Lord told me to have all of V1 Church and everybody watching

online begin to do this with me.

Why?

Because I'm gonna actually.

I'm gonna put something in the spirit realm right now that you can

reference back to y'.

All.

I just got back from Israel, and as I was teaching through Israel,

all the locations preparing for this next year, we're doing a

huge series called Journey with Jesus.

And I want you to lock in for it.

Three months with Jesus going fully in depth.

But I was in Jerusalem, and I was on the Mount of Olives, and I

begin to look down, and there's a Jewish graveyard.

And upon the Jewish cause, these are like these.

Basically, their caskets are above, you know, the ground, and

they're like these stone features.

And upon each, the top of each one were all these little rocks.

Little rocks.

And it reminded me that one of the traditions of the Jewish people

is they put a stone in a place for remembrance.

This is what Joshua did when they came into the Promised Land.

He said, let's all pile up a big pile of stones so that when the

future generations, they look and they say, what are those stones?

What do they mean?

They represent God's faithfulness.

There was a great victory that was won here.

And so right now we're gonna do something like that, and we're

gonna.

This is gonna be different because we're gonna put a stone here

for remembrance so that your children could say, what does that

mean?

What was happening?

And you tell them, oh, what this represents is this represents

a picture of what's possible, where God has taken me.

And so I'm going to challenge you in a few moments.

And we're about to pray after we do this.

And this might be weird, but the Lord told me to do something

different today because, you know, for me, I can't take a picture

with my family.

Most of my family on my father's side have passed away, and

they're gone.

I can't take a picture with them.

Some of you are mourning the family members that aren't here this

year.

But see, there's another family.

We have a spiritual family.

And there's many of you that you don't like.

The way that you look, you don't like your weight, you don't

like your face.

I know I struggle with those things myself.

I've had a lot of issues with my personal view of myself.

But sometimes you gotta put a stone there for remembrance, to say,

we may not have fully arrived yet.

But listen, I'm not where I used to be.

Come on.

God is not done with me.

And he who began a good work in me will see it through until completion.

Baby, I may not be in Egypt anymore.

Thank God I'm not in Egypt.

But I also may still be in the wilderness.

But sometimes, before you get to the Promised Land, you gotta put

a stone in the wilderness so that people can mark what God has

done.

So right now I'm helping you get to your next journey because

we're gonna put a stone here for remembrance.

And in a few moments, I'm gonna ask that every single one of

you at all seven campuses and even those of you watching online,

take a picture of yourself as a memorial to say, on this day, God

began to set something in motion.

And then you're gonna compare it back a year from now.

You're gonna look at how God.

How far God took you.

You know, this is a before picture.

Before the breakthrough, before the blessing, before the favor,

before the marriage, before the reconciliation, before the supernatural

healing in your body, before every demon leaves your home.

Before.

This is a before picture.

And we're gonna do that right now.

Come on.

So take out your phone.

Turn that camera on yourself.

As a matter of fact, I'm gonna do it while you do it.

And on the count of three, I want you to get it ready.

Come on.

Not for Instagram, but for your grandchildren.

Come on.

I'm gonna post this online.

Cause I feel some grace all over this.

Are you all ready?

Come on.

Take your phones.

This is our Christmas family photo together.

And we are gonna make a memorial and say, this is my before

picture.

Cause I know help is on the way.

I know that financial breakthrough is on the way.

This is my before picture.

Before I move into the house, before I get the lease, before I

sign the papers.

Come on.

This is it.

Because I am that one that my family line has been waiting for.

I am that one.

I am the breaker in my family.

Come on.

Hold that phone.

Get ready.

I'm gonna count to three, and we're gonna take this picture.

One, two, three.

Come on.

Come on.

Take that picture.

Now, when you look at that picture, a year from now, this is

what you're going to actually begin to say.

And I'm prophesying this over each and every one of you.

That was the day that our bloodline changed.

Some of you are at your lowest point right now.

You're battling addiction right now.

Your marriage is hanging on by a thread right now.

Your kids are far from God right now.

Take the picture anyways.

Because this version of you is not the final version of you.

Now, come on.

If you're comfortable, I want you to do this.

Put your hand on your heart.

Put your hand on your heart right now, because the Holy Spirit

is beginning to encourage you.

And I'm about to pray.

And we're gonna pray together.

And then we're gonna worship into this next level.

Come on.

Say this with me, Father.

Come on.

Say it boldly now.

Say it as loud as you can.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I confess the sins that run in my

family.

I confess the patterns of addiction.

I confess the patterns of rage, the patterns of fear, the patterns

of perversion, the patterns of poverty, the patterns of witchcraft,

the patterns of religion without power.

I repent for partnering with them.

I renounce every spirit behind them.

By the blood of Jesus, I break every generational curse.

I refuse to trade my vineyard for a moment of pleasure, for a moment

of comfort, for a moment of approval.

Come on, say this with me.

I receive your design for my family.

Make my home spirit filled.

Use me as the breaker so my children and grandchildren inherit

freedom.

Come on now, let's say this and let's get as wild as we can when

we say this.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Come on now, let out a shout and a roar across this nation right

now.

Come on.

Serve notice on the devil.

Come on, shout unto God if you believe it.

Hallelujah.

Come on now, look at me.

Look at me.

Everybody look at me right now.

Come on, just look at me real quick.

Look at me.

You didn't choose your family, but God chose you for your family.

And when he chose you for that family, he was not punishing you,

he was trusting you.

You are not just from your family in Christ Jesus.

You are for your family.

You're their curse breaker.

You're their intercessor.

You're their first chapter of a brand new story.

And I know it hasn't been easy.

I know it's been hard.

But it's going to be worth it when you see God do what only he

can do through you.

Come on, let's just begin to worship right now.

Lift up your voices unto God.

Come on, worship curse breakers, let's go.