 The enemy is more subtle than we realize, much more deceptive than we realize. And I want you to remember that I made that statement. Because as we look to the Scripture and begin to see the reality of how these spiritual dynamics work, you're going to notice that several of the things that you believe surrounding this topic were actually keeping you in bondage. Jesus said, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. What does that mean? That means that all spiritual bondage is rooted in spiritual deception. And that if you're not free yet, it means that there's a lie that you still believe. If you're not free yet, there's a truth that you've not yet embraced. If it's the truth that sets you free and you're still bound, then there's a truth that you need to come to terms with in your life. Because many times we embrace truths intellectually. But we don't become immersed in those truths. We don't allow those truths to permeate every aspect of our being. We don't allow ourselves to see and experience the full implications of what those truths are speaking to us. And so what begins to happen is there's this development of layers of deception and confusion and torment. And we become wrapped up in a very complex web of flesh and demonic deception. To the point where our lives become hindered, our spiritual growth becomes hindered, our peace becomes hindered, our joy becomes hindered. The lack of peace, the lack of joy, the lack of clarity, the lack of love, these are all signs to us that we are somehow wrapped up in a spiritual bondage. The life of the believer is meant to be one of victory. The life of the believer is meant to be one of dominion, power and authority. We know that here. Why then does it seem like many Christians do not walk in that? Why then are many believers still bound? You see, in a very subtle way, many have embraced this idea that spiritual struggles, spiritual bondage, are just a part of the Christian life and they're not. Now this is not a message of condemnation. This is a message of encouragement. I pray that the Holy Spirit would use the truth of His word today to call us to higher places in the Spirit that we might know what's available to us. God did not create you to live in depression. God did not create you to live in anxiety. God did not create you to live with torment. God did not create you to live in spiritual defeat yet many of us identify with those very things. And we embrace them as a part of who we are. And we say things like, nothing good ever happens for me. Or it's one struggle after the other. Or why does it seem like God never answers my prayers? Or why does it always seem like I'm just going through it? And then even a form of spiritual pride, remember I told you, the enemy is far more deceptive than we realize. Even a very subtle form of spiritual pride becomes developed around these areas. And we say things like, well you know I'm always struggling because the enemy knows I'm a threat. I'm just always going, oh just defeated, one defeat after another, one defeat after another. Well the devil must be really afraid of me. I'm thinking if he's so afraid of you, why does he keep attacking you? Now please don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that your life will be absolutely ideal. I'm not saying that the life of the believer doesn't include trials and tribulation and tragedy and temptation. We will face hardships, but don't confuse hardships for defeat. On the exterior, in this world, in this life, the things around you will sometimes go wrong. You will lose loved ones. You will experience heartache. Your car will occasionally break down. Your finances may go up and down. Life is unpredictable. I'm not talking about a life free of trial and tragedy. That's not what I mean when I say spiritual victory. I'm talking about inner stability, inner peace, joy and love, despite what happens on the outside. So believers are to walk with this inner strength. I watched a man dance and worship and praise God in front of his daughter's casket at her funeral. And some of us think we're under a curse if our car breaks down. I saw it. And he did the same thing just a few years later in front of his wife's casket. And do you know what he said at the beginning of that funeral? I'll never forget it. It turned my theology upside down. I watched this man stand up in front of a congregation of people, in front of his daughter's casket. And he lifted his hands, released a shout of praise and said, Father, we celebrate your will concerning us. Whoa. Whoa. And then he began to talk about the goodness of God. And then he began to talk about how he has the victory and how he's not defeated. He made statements based on scripture like weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. He said, yes, I cried last night, but I got my joy back this morning. And he and his family began to dance around the building. Do you know what most believers would have done in that situation? I'd like to think that I would respond that way. I'm not so sure if I'm there yet, to be honest with you. Most believers would perceive it. Yes, it's okay to have heartache. Yes, that's part of it. So again, don't hear what I'm not saying. But to somehow perceive that as, oh, the enemy has me is just its ignorance of what the Bible teaches. And so I want to show you what the Bible says about curses. And then we're going to talk about this idea of generational curses. And I want to challenge us and I come to you, the body of Christ in humility. And I want to submit to you that we change the way we talk about this idea of generational curses. I'm going to show you from scripture. First, we're going to let's reestablish a foundation. It is true that the enemy attacks people generationally. That's a fact. So don't think that I'm, I'm ignoring that reality. But I want to shift with scripture the way we think about these things, because once you shift your thinking on it, you will never again deal with the generational curse. I'm telling you, once I applied these truths and came to believe it, I can't even remember the last time that I was able to say, oh, that's a curse, or that's a spiritual attack that's negatively affecting me has not happened since I've embraced these truths. This is not hyperbole. I'm not saying this to get clicks and views, but I truly believe that if you will apply and accept what I want to give to you here today, you will never again deal with what we call generational curses, ever, not, not, not once, because it's almost become a part of our lifestyle. And then we say things like, well, you know, I'm praying that that curse be broken. And I'm thinking how many prayers will it take? Got quiet in here, but let's continue. Now, a curse simply put is to curse is to speak evil of, to speak against, to declare something negative. So whether or not you realize it, many of you have used curses. When you use your words to speak negatively of someone, when you use your words to wish harm upon someone, when you use your words and, and those words carry upon them the intention of ill will for another individual. This is what it means to curse. Another form of cursing is to slander and to gossip. You're, you're speaking against an individual when you wish evil upon someone. That's cursing. Another thing to consider about a curse in scripture, that's an angle that's often kind of just glossed over, is that to curse someone also is to reject them. When you reject someone, it's a form of a curse. It's to disown. That's their curse. Well, that one is cursed. What does that mean? They're forsaken. They're abandoned. They have to see it at its root, what it means, not just the hexes that witches and warlocks play some people. A curse at its very base is simply the speaking of negativity or of ill will or of ill intention or to reject or to disown, biblically speaking. This is what it means to curse. Now I want you to say this and I want you to say it with boldness. Say, God calls me blessed. I want you to write that in the comment section. Say it one more time here. God calls me blessed. Do you believe that? Here's what the Bible says about curses. Go now to Genesis 3. We'll read just one verse from this. You'll get the gist of it. Genesis 3 14. This is the first curse. And surprisingly, it's not a curse that came from Satan. Nor is it a curse that came from a demonic being. It was spoken by God himself. Genesis 3 14. Then the Lord said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. So God speaks this curse over the serpent and of course he also cursed the ground. He speaks curses over Adam and Eve. There are curses that then immediately come to pass. Why? Because God has creative power in his words. We'll talk more about that in a moment. The power of words. Then we see Cain's curse. Genesis 4 10-12. But the Lord said, what have you done? Listen, your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are cursed and what? Banished. You see there the tie-in with a curse and rejection. Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother's blood. No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work. From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth. So Cain's curse came with several things. It was banishment. It was the inability to harvest from the ground and it was homelessness. He was wandering now with nowhere to go. And then we see a curse against Abraham's enemies. Genesis 12-3, go there. So we just read Genesis 3-14, the curse against the serpent. Of course you can read the rest of that context for the curse against Adam and Eve. We see Cain's curse in Genesis 4. Genesis 12 verse 3. I will bless those who bless you and curse those, watch this now, look at how the new living translation puts it. And curse those who treat you with contempt. That's another way to phrase a curse. To treat someone with contempt, I will curse those who curse you or treat you with contempt. All the families on the earth will be blessed through you. Now notice here so far that all of these curses come from God himself. Go now to Exodus 21. Here we see, described a punishment for those children who would curse their parents. This is found in Exodus chapter 21 verse 17. And he that cursed his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. Now here that word curse in the original language, the definition is to be slight or literally to insult or to trifle. So a child then in the book of Exodus who the book of Exodus condemns a child who would speak against and insult their parents. And that insult is a form of cursing. So again it's bigger than just the witch and warlock speaking these strange words over you to cause negative things in your life. Biblically speaking, a curse is simply to speak with ill intention. Now many times when you see the word curse the definition is actually if you look it up in the original language all throughout the Old Testament. Many times when you see the word curse it more often than not means to insult or to blaspheme in the case of insulting God. Think about the patriarchs who would curse their sons. In the Old Testament a patriarch would bless their first born son with the right hand of blessing. And so by definition when they would pass down their influence to their first born this is their wealth, their reputation, their livestock, their land, the family authority, all of that was given to the first born and it was done ritualistically to the placing and the blessing of the right hand. And so those who did not get this who were rejected from that birth right were considered cursed. Now this was in their authority to do to give and to withhold what had been given to them. It was almost like a legal proceeding like a will and so to be left out of the will so to speak was to be cursed. Now in this particular instance this is not like a magical hex over them it's simply to be rejected for the birth right. Genesis 2737 says Isaac said to Esau I have made Jacob your master and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants. I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain and wine what is left for me to give to you my son. That blessing already passed. There was some spiritual significance of course but this again is primarily the handing down of that position of the patriarch of the family. Now notice that curses had creative power when they were spoken by God. Now here is where many of us become confused when we think of curses being spoken over us. I'm going to show you why a curse has power in a moment because we cannot deny that many believers experience the battle with curses when someone places something on them maybe a controlling I know of controlling pastors who would curse their members when they left. I don't know if you call those pastors a warlock but that's what they would do and here's just a side note this isn't in my notes if any pastor or spiritual leader ever tells you that you can't fulfill the will of God without them run from them because you definitely can't fulfill the will of God with them. That's control that's manipulation and I'm going to tell you why those things have power in a moment because no doubt we do struggle with something there's a battle with something and I'm going to show you what that actually is and why that has power. Remember I told you and again I emphasize the enemy is much more deceptive than we realize. So a curse remember this a curse only holds as much power as the one who speaks it when you look at the curses that God pronounced they had immediate creative effects the same way that he created he formed all of existence as we know it with words and he caused reality to come into existence when he spoke why because his words have creative power now God has creative power as we saw demonstrated in Genesis we have this creative power only when we speak according to God's will watch this John 14 13-14 you can ask anything in my name and I will do it so that the son can bring glory to the father yes ask me for anything in my name and I will do it what does it mean to do something in the name of Jesus it's not just the pronunciation of his name otherwise the seven sons of Sceva would have had better results when trying to cast out those demons it's not just the use of the name Jesus it's actually walking in that name and in the authority of that name what does that mean to pray in the name of Jesus is to pray in alignment with his authority and to pray in the name of Jesus is to pray according to his will so then when we repeat what God has said there's creative power that's why we see miracles that's why we see healing that's why we see the supernatural manifestations of God's power when we pray God's will in the name of Jesus but aside from speaking according to God's will you and I do not have creative power we have cultivating power and this shift right here if we can understand this difference everything really starts to make sense because think about what it would be like if everyone did in fact have creative power behind their words whether you like to admit it or not there'd be some of your loved ones who'd no longer be with us at this point you speak in anger I wish you would just you know and then they're gone thank God we don't have creative power in our words or you're driving on the highway and you want another lane many of you would be in prison for duplicating dollar bills because you would be speaking those into existence if we're watching a sporting event and I'm on one side you're on the other and we're both speaking and declaring that we're going to win so we're left with contradictions and we're left with really having to face reality when we believe something like that now let me show you what the Bible says Proverbs 18 21 the tongue can bring death or life those who love the talk will reap the consequences I'm not saying there's no power in words I'm saying we don't have creative power in our words it's born of superstition when we say things like that and if we're not careful just like old wives tales get passed down from generation to generation and just accept it as true so we have certain beliefs in Christianity that we pass down from one person to another and it's repeated so often so many times through sermons we've just kind of accepted certain things without ever asking what would the Bible say about that I remember I was praying for a woman and she was at the altar believing for her healing I laid my hands on her prayed and I asked her I said ma'am what are you believing God to do she says I'm believing God to heal my eye I said amen what's wrong with your eye she said nothing is wrong with my eye I said ma'am so what do you want me to pray for please pray for my eye I said ok what's wrong with your eye nothing is wrong with my eye I kid you not I was trying to get to the bottom of what on earth she was asking me it was about 15 minutes in it dawned on me she believes that if she says it it's true or something like that and she says I don't want to speak it into existence or somebody says oh I'm getting an itch in my throat I think I might be getting it don't speak that into existence it's superstition guys it's superstition and then they'll point back to this verse well life and death are in the power of tongue yes there is power in the tongue to encourage or discourage to speak the truth or to deceive to say something that will uplift or say something that will tear down to say something accurate or inaccurate wise or unwise comfort or affliction we speak all these things through the power of our words but this is not the same thing as creative power that's God's alone and only when we align with His will then we walk in that same creative power why? because legally now I can pray these things because whatever God promised I can pray and so it's aligning with His word now that causes my words to have creative power our words on their own do not have creative power only when we speak in alignment with the word do they have creative power and we should thank God for that look at what happens when God speaks a curse Deuteronomy 28 20 the Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion and frustration in everything you do until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning me here's another example actually go to Matthew chapter 11 I'm going to read verses 12 to 14 and then we're going to skip down to verse 20 so Matthew 11 verse 12 the next morning as they were leaving Bethany Jesus was hungry he noticed the fig tree and full leaf a little way off so he went over to see if he could find any figs but there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit then Jesus said to the tree may no one ever eat your fruit again and the disciples heard him say it now jump down to verse 20 look at what happens after he speaks that curse over the fig tree next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up Peter remember what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed look Rabbi the fig tree you cursed has withered and died now notice the fig tree had withered from the roots up meaning it died the moment Jesus cursed it it just took a while for that to become apparent Numbers chapter 22 verse 41 let me show you what happens did you know there's an instance in the Bible that reveals what happens when someone tries to curse God's people outside of his will like a very specific reference in scripture do you want to see what happens go to Numbers Numbers 22 verse 41 the next morning Bala took Bala and Bala took Bala to the top of B'moth Bail from there he could see some of the people of Israel spread out below him now go to Numbers 23 I'm going to read verses 1 through 12 several verses here the king of Bala said to King then Bala said to King Bala excuse me build me seven altars here and prepare seven young bulls and seven rams for me to sacrifice Bala followed his instructions and the two of them sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each altar then Bala said to Bala stand here by your burnt offerings and I will go to see if the Lord will respond to me then I will tell you whatever he reveals to me so Bala went alone to the top of a bare hill and God met him there Bala said to him I have prepared seven altars and have sacrificed a young bull for the king of Bala then he said go back to Bala and give him my message so Bala returned and found the king standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab verse 7 of Numbers 23 this was the message Bala delivered Bala summoned me to come from a ram the king of Moab brought me here from the eastern hills come he said curse Jacob for me curse Israel's doom verse 8 but how can I curse those whom God has not cursed how can I condemn those who the Lord has not condemned I see them from the cliff tops I watch them from the hills I see a people who live by themselves set apart from other nations who can count Jacob's descendants as numerous as does who can count even a fourth of Israel's people let me die like the righteous in my life and like theirs then king Bala demanded of Bala what have you done to me I brought you to curse my enemies instead you have blessed them but Bala replied I will speak only the message that the Lord puts in my mouth I will speak only the message that the Lord puts in my mouth so here we see an example of not just a wicked king but also a servant of God so the next time a so-called prophet wants to prophelai and tell you that they're going to curse you say Bala couldn't do it neither can you now if we go to Deuteronomy this is interesting go to Deuteronomy 23 4-5 and I want you to notice here that the scripture is absolutely clear that you need God's approval before you can cause that creative curse to come on someone number or Deuteronomy 23 4-5 it's talking about the same instance actually you just read verse 5 but the Lord your God refused to listen to Bala he turned the intended curse into a blessing because the Lord your God loves you he turned the intended curse into a blessing so if every curse that's spoken against you becomes a blessing we should celebrate when people speak these things against us because they can do no harm everything you speak against me is just going to get turned into a blessing you think you're cursing me you're actually blessing me your intentions are bad but God's intentions for me are good so anything you speak will be turned to blessing now remember that a curse is to insult to speak against or to wish evil upon the difference between when a man or a woman speaks a curse and when God speaks a curse the difference is creative power so then we look to this idea of generational curses the question being can we be cursed today let's look at some New Testament examples of curses and what about this notion of legal rights now I want to say this with gentleness and love because I know that nothing that is being taught concerning this idea of legal rights it's not being taught with ill intention I think often that we see and I wasn't asking you to play I was just nodding at you sorry I think I can be confusing to read sometimes this idea of legal rights it's coming from a good place and there's pure motive behind it and there are many believers who sincerely believe these things and so I by no means am questioning anyone's spirituality I'm not questioning anyone's motives I'm not questioning anyone's intelligence all of us believe things from time to time just don't quite line up with the word myself included I've taught that I've had to correct like for instance I used to teach that if you don't testify about your healing you could lose it I didn't realize how wrong that was I just repeated it because many of the greats who'd gone before me taught the same thing and then I'd studied it and I realized oh I was wrong there and I have to correct that and sometimes the Holy Spirit will do that for us right he corrects us so we have to be careful because if we just dismiss everyone who disagrees with us by saying things like well you just haven't studied or you don't know what I know or because in doing so we're basically saying no one can ever correct us because only the people we agree with are right and so we have to be careful about this now legal rights let me be clear if you live in sin and compromise you will suffer consequences that's a fact if you live in sin and compromise if you open demonic doors you will suffer consequences for that you play with the Ouija board there will be consequences you mess around with the occult there will be consequences you go on sinning in some secret sin there will be consequences that's a fact I am not dismissing that and I'm not saying that's not a reality the question becomes when we compromise and when we open these doors what can the enemy do so this idea of a curse or a hex over you I'm gonna show you what the Bible says about that at a moment but when you compromise what you're doing is you're making yourself more susceptible or weaker against the temptation the torment and the deception of the enemy when you sin when you compromise you make yourself weaker spiritually speaking and now you're more likely to give in to temptation you're more likely to believe the lies of the enemy and you will receive mental torment that's just a part of what happens from the consequence of sin but you have to remember that when people speak curses against you those effects can only go so far and here's why we have to be broken from this idea because I receive messages I am not exaggerating my staff can tell you by the hundreds daily of people saying I'm under a curse please break it off of me please help remove this curse from my life and I ask them well what are you living right they say I'm living right okay have you repented of all sin I've repented of all sin okay are you praying reading yes I'm praying I'm reading and yet it seems that many Christians who walk in victory and who live like they should still come under something that kind of weighs on them so what is that how exactly does that work remember the devil is more deceptive than we realize but let's look at the New Testament Romans 3 22 what is your legal standing we are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ and this is true for everyone who believes no matter who we are so how are we saved it's by faith how are we saved how are we saved faith and it's by faith that we become the righteousness of God in Christ righteousness is the result of justification justification is a legal standing so even the believer who makes a mistake is still righteous in God's eyes now this is not a license to sin because those who are truly saved will disdain sin and do their best to turn from it watch this Romans 4 3 for the scriptures tell us Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because of his faith Romans 3 24 yet God in his grace freely makes us right in his sight he did this to Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins so again I'm not saying that there are no consequences for wrongdoing what I am saying is that does not change your legal standing before God Galatians 3 13 Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law when he was hung on the cross he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing wow for it is written in the scriptures cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree whatever curse that may have come on you though this is not a license to sin though this is not an invitation to compromise you can rest assured that even as you make mistakes not with the intention of continuing in your mistakes we are not talking about abusing his grace that even there the curse was placed on Christ Romans 9 3 tells us what it means to be cursed in the New Testament sense very specific here Romans 9 3 for my people my Jewish brothers and sisters I would be willing to be forever cursed cut off from Christ if that would save them what is a curse in the New Testament it's to be cut off from Christ what was a curse in the Old Testament it was to have God speak against you now let me ask you something if God speaks a curse who can undo it only God if God speaks a curse no man can do it no prayer can do it no special ritual can do it if God has cursed someone they need help additionally others who curse us don't have the power to undo what God has spoken if God is saying blessed blessed blessed blessed and someone else is declaring cursed cursed cursed cursed whose words have more power it's God's now look at this one more example of a curse and then I want to answer the question why is it that we seem to have this heaviness sometimes and what are we actually battling with there I'm going to show you just how tricky the enemy is Galatians 1, 8-9 let God's curse fall on anyone including us or even an angel from heaven who preaches a different kind of good news than the one we preach to you I say again what we have said before if anyone preaches any other good news than the one you welcome let that person be cursed whose curse is this though it's God's so the New Testament references to curses have everything to do with what God pronounces over those who are enemies of the gospel scary stuff there now why does it seem that sometimes these curses do work because you cannot you cannot just dismiss the reality that there are many believers who are walking around with this heaviness on them that they just can't break well when the enemy speaks something against you or when an individual speaks something against you the power of that curse is in your belief of that curse I'll give you an example I wrote about this in my book that's being released in June called Holy Spirit The Bondage Breaker I suffered severely for years with anxiety to the point that I was having several panic attacks a day for years and very few people knew about that now something I learned about the power of fear I could be going about my day perfectly fine just happy as could be I read an article about say a young man my age having a heart attack suddenly I would begin to feel all the symptoms described in that article I kid you not I had many trips to the ER where they told me nothing's wrong with you go home and I'm standing there going I can't feel my left arm they said that's in your head and they would examine me I'm unable to move my hand because fear is a projection like a shadow that's cast by a small object overhead the things we fear can appear much bigger and more powerful than they actually are and the enemy's great deception is that he has power over you here's what I mean when I say the enemy's more deceptive than we realize because we embrace this idea of his power that's not even biblical and we attach it to all of our teachings on spiritual warfare and the enemy just kind of slips that in there and we just let it be without ever asking is this biblical oh it's so quiet in here this idea of the enemy being able to curse you just is not biblical the curse itself here's how witchcraft works is manipulation witchcraft is based on fear witchcraft the power of incantation is in your belief in that power I've seen it happen several times I've talked to several pastors who were rejected by their denomination or rejected by their leadership and the pastor spoke curses over them once they believed that they were cursed they saw everything negative that happened to them in that curse and it wasn't just something negative happening it was there's the curse there's the curse guys I'm telling you they came to the point where they weren't eating, they weren't sleeping they were losing weight, they were stressed their marriage was being affected their relationship with their children they had a heaviness and anxiety and I remember sitting with one pastor in particular who had this heaviness anxiety, it wasn't eating, it wasn't sleeping everything bad was happening it was overwhelming and we sat down for about 20 minutes I walked them through this teaching and once he realized he said oh my goodness the enemy has no power of mess and no he doesn't I said he goes it's because I believed in the lie that he does I said that's right, the moment he came to believe that it lifted off of him immediately and he did not deal with it ever since I have not dealt with that weighty power of the enemy people say you must get a lot of spiritual attack, we have a lot of people who try people say well you know your ministry is growing brother David, new levels, new devils I say there's no devil that can walk on my level when I'm walking in the presence of the Holy Ghost and people say well that's arrogance, you have to be you have to be vigilant, I say that's right you do have to be vigilant but not paranoid I am vigilant, I am aware he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall, that's biblical but so long as you're walking with the Holy Spirit if God be for you who can be against you Deuteronomy chapter 5 and I'll be closing in about 15 minutes 15 to 20 minutes, is this blessing you this morning Deuteronomy chapter 5 verses 9 to 10 this is where this idea of generational curses comes in, now I'm gonna explain this in a moment, it is true the enemy attacks people generationally like my great great grandfather was a warlock from Zacatecas, Mexico and he was known to be calling down fire from heaven, I don't know how true that is but people would say, and my great great grandfather would call down fire, people would see fireballs come and they would come to him from all over the region to have him place curses on people and to heal the sick but it was through demonic power people don't know this about my family I don't talk about this because I don't think it's necessary all the time but it's in this context I think you should know that my family came and was rescued from the occult and so it was the power of the Holy Ghost that set us free, but watch this now so I know that the enemy does return generationally to see who he can have that's a fact, you can't ignore that now watch this, Deuteronomy 5, 9 through 10 you must not bow down to them or worship them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods now watch this, who's this talking who's talking here who's curse is about to be pronounced okay, he said I lay the sins of the parents upon their children the entire family is affected even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me but I will lavish and failing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands now this is God pronouncing judgment against the nation of Israel for their waywardness and their worship of the idols of the surrounding pagan nations the reason that one generation would affect the other is because whenever Israel would commit idolatry whenever they would fall into false worship God would make them slaves to the surrounding nations so then their children would be born into that slavery that's all that's meant here when the bible talks about that generational that generational harm if someone's in poverty and their child is born in poverty that poverty will affect them until they start making decisions for themselves and so in the same way that's what's being described in the book of Deuteronomy but watch this now, Ezekiel 1820 the person who sins is the one who will die the child will not be punished for the parent's sins and the parent will not be punished for the child's sins righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness that's God who says that now watch this, there are three reasons why curses seem to work number one this is actually four, the first one I gave you is the most powerful, it's the deception of the enemy if he can get you to believe that you're under his power you'll begin to fill and act like you are now watch this number one people don't understand the difference between a consequence and a curse now demons do strategize generationally so they study and they look and they say if alcoholism worked on the grandfather and it worked on the father surely it will work on the grandchild they understand genetics they understand cultural upbringing they understand social dynamics and they say okay let's tempt the grandson with alcoholism and so they are tempting that person to act according to the patterns of their former generations but let me ask you something if the grandson chooses to reject that temptation what power does the enemy have so it's not as though there's a demon waiting in the delivery room like okay here I go and as soon as the baby is born it jumps into the baby because that's how we visualize it the generational spirit it's like just waiting okay once that birth certificate is signed the last name is final I can jump into that baby and now it has to be an alcoholic no this is where I want to challenge the body of Christ I think a better way to describe these things is not generational curses because a curse implies you bear no responsibility for what results I say we start calling it generational attacks that produce generational consequence the enemy will attack them just the same but it's up to them to respond with godliness or with disobedience people talk often about their family bloodline I understand the enemy will strategize against you according to your family bloodline but don't forget this the blood of Jesus is more powerful than your family bloodline next we don't understand correlation and causation so consequence versus curse and people also don't understand correlation versus causation I talked to people who were practicing witches and warlocks and they tell me oh I'm going to place a curse on you I say really are you now they say yes we did it to one pastor and we cursed him and he fell into sin and I thought interesting so it was completely not his fault when he fell they said no I said well then what did your curse have to do with it you see there was this thing I used to do as a kid with my brother we would try to say when the light would turn green we would sit there in the back seat the light is red we'd say it's going to turn green now it's going to turn green now it's going to turn green now it's going to turn green now and then when it turned green see I called it that was all me I called it this is what witches and warlocks do against the people of God I'm going to curse you now and then anything goes wrong it's the curse are you starting to see the lies of the enemy exposed here this morning now remember they do have power but the power is that the emotional and mental torment that results when you believe it so consequence versus curse we need to understand that correlation versus causation because by nature we are pattern seeking creatures and then third and final and I want to end with this point we need to understand the difference between chaos and a curse because many of us face one thing after another and wonder what on earth is happening and the problem is if you're going through trials you can make your trials much worse if instead of rejoicing in the opportunity for the perfection of your faith like the bible says you're constantly fretting about what you think the enemy has over you and you add to your suffering by not seeing your trials in the right perspective I don't publish everything I'm very private I rarely speak at churches rarely speak at conferences we do these events and I broadcast online other than that people don't know much about me and I just kind of like to keep things private that way but you wouldn't have any idea what my family and I went through these last couple years you'd have no idea some of the things including my daughter being sick and nobody knows that and we don't talk about that much because I'm not trying to use my daughter's suffering for leverage on social media okay but in those instances she's fine now praise God but there was a couple of severe things that was kind of one thing after another that was really rough in those situations I just realized that this is a part of life I didn't fret and go Lord what are you doing why are you letting the enemy win now this isn't to celebrate how I went through the trials I only was able to go through the trials like that because the Holy Spirit gave me the grace and if it wasn't for him I'd be a thousand pieces on the floor John 16 33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows but take heart because I have overcome the world Psalm 3419 many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord deliver with him out of them all Romans chapter 8 verse 35 can anything separate us from Christ's love does it mean he no longer loves us remember what does it mean to be cursed to be rejected does it mean he's rejected us does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with life as the scriptures say for your sake we are killed every day we are being slaughtered like sheep no despite all these overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us the chaos does not mean I'm cursed even in the chaos 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 23 Paul the apostle talks about the many afflictions that he suffered are they servants of Christ I know I sound like a madman but I have served him far more I have worked harder been put in prison more often been whipped times without number and face death again and again five different times the Jewish leaders gave me 39 lashes did Paul say I'm being given over to the enemy did Paul say because of my office the enemy is succeeding in his attacks against me did Paul say I'm abandoned did Paul say I'm outside the will of God did Paul say I have to break something over my life no five different times the Jewish leaders gave me 39 lashes three times I was beaten with rods once I was stone, three times I was shipwrecked three times his boat crashed we get one flat tire and we freak out once I spent a whole night in a day adrift at sea I have traveled on many long journeys I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers I have faced danger from my own people the Jews as well as the Gentiles I have faced danger in the cities in the deserts and on the seas and I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not I have worked hard and long enduring many sleepless nights I've been hungry and thirsty and have gone without food I have shivered in the cold without enough clothing to keep me warm then besides all this I have the daily burden of my concern who is weak without my feeling that weakness who is let astray and I do not burn with anger if I must boast I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am now I'm not saying that what you're suffering with isn't real I'm saying that you have to stop giving the enemy the power to make you suffer by believing in his authority that way whatever you're facing you may look at your trials and be tempted to say oh this is proof reject me this is proof I'm cursed this is proof that nothing good ever happens to me this is proof that something along the lines of my freedom has not been granted and we have to stop imagining that God hides our freedom behind demonic mysteries or in ancient secrets of generations past God does not hide your freedom in that way waiting for you to unlock some secret before he'll finally move in power in your life know my friend it's even in these trials that we have victory because victory is in my spirit two more verses then we're going to pray James chapter one two more portions of scripture I should say dear brothers and sisters when troubles of any kind come your way consider it an opportunity for great joy for you know that when your faith is tested your endurance has a chance to grow so let it grow for when your endurance is fully developed you will be perfect and complete needing nothing first Peter 1 6 so be truly glad there is wonderful joy ahead even though you must endure many trials for a little while I'm not defeated I'm victorious I'm not rejected I'm accepted I'm not living in darkness I'm living in the light I'm not cursed God calls me blessed and whom God calls blessed you cannot curse I want you to stand to your feet right now all over this room I want you to place your hands over your head right now we're going to break the power of the curse what's the curse the curse is your belief in that power we're going to break the power of that belief you've come into agreement with the enemy's words far too long say this father in the name of Jesus thank you that I'm a heavenly being thank you I am victorious thank you that you call me blessed now father I lay my hands on my head and I pray right now that you would bring me peace as I believe your truth in Jesus name amen now I want you to say this with boldness I'm free say it again I'm free I'm free say the devil has no power say it again the devil has no power over me do you believe that believing the lie that he has power over you the moment you stop seeing your trials as proof that God is against you you start seeing them for what they are opportunities to perfect and mature your faith my friend you're going to walk in victory you're going to walk in peace like that man at his daughters funeral you're going to dance in the face of tragedy you're going to worship in the face of worry you're going to praise God in the midst of the chaos I want you now to sing this song and let it be your declaration and don't you ever forget it when the enemy tries to start pulling you to old ways of thinking you rebuke them and say the Lord rebukes you you resist the temptation to go back to that old thinking do you sense that freedom now that's what I'm talking about that's yours hands lifted let's sing it out walk in that victory it's the fight to believe that truth it's the fight to believe that truth when the enemy tries to convince you otherwise you say no no no no no I believe his word his word is truth you may be seated in just about five minutes or so we're going to release the prophetic voices who will come and minister to God I'm very excited about that by the way there are few things I enjoy more than watching people receive prophetic words I don't know what it is I just love seeing people get prophesied over but I do before we bring them out need to take the offering to help support the work that's going on here in the ministry let's have the ushers come forward we'll do this swiftly so that we can move on to that second portion of the service we are so thankful for your support of what God is doing through this ministry you know one of the things I've been talking about lately is the fact that so many believers spend so much on other things than the kingdom of God they spend I think what was the average now it might be more now I think it's like $20 a month for Netflix another $15 a month for Spotify $10 a month for Apple Music $30 a month for a gym pass that probably maybe isn't used all as often as it should be $60 a month on average for coffee like just for the drinks no don't lie to yourself it's probably about that we spend things on entertainment we spend resources on streaming platforms and memberships and monthly services and there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself my question is are you also supporting the kingdom and if we ever have to say no to the kingdom what is it that we're not giving up in the world and so I'm asking you attending here are you watching online to give your very best to support this ministry some of you can become monthly supporters some of you can give a single donation whatever you do one time or monthly it all counts and I'll tell you what you're supporting you're supporting the Holy Spirit school online which helps to train people in teachings on the Holy Spirit and ministry and so forth it's absolutely free and we can offer that for free because it's donor supported you're supporting the events that we host like this all around the world and we want to continue to host events like this all around the world but we have to cover the costs and then you support the live streams you support the studio you support the staff and administration that needs to happen in order for us to continue to do the work and so I want to ask you to do something generous this morning and whenever you're watching this it may be evening morning watching the replay I want to ask you to do something generous so that the needs of the kingdom might be met take care of God's house and I know he'll take care of yours and so those of you in attendance here there's a QR code on that envelope would you do me a favor and scan that QR code with your phone when you scan the QR code with your phone it's going to show you where we are with covering the cost for this event we want to continue to cover these costs so that we can continue to host these events we don't charge registration we don't want anyone ever to be turned away from hearing the gospel because of finance we offer these events for free parking is free everything's free and we do that because freely we receive so freely we give but there are still expenses that need to go into hosting something like this and so I want to ask you to look at that need to click on that QR code and to look at the need and see where we are with our fundraising just to cover this weekend of ministry and there's a breakdown there showing you where all the expenses go so you can see where your support goes but I'm asking those of you who can maybe there are a few business owners or successful people in terms of finance and you can take a significant amount off of that need I would ask you to pour resources into this ministry so that we can continue to win the soul of a generation we are focused on spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit all around the world through events and media our focus is clear the work we do is with excellence we are good stewards of the resources God places into this ministry and we want to continue to see this ministry grow and expand we want to continue to see the kingdom of God expand for the sake of souls for the sake of the lost for the sake of those who need deliverance and healing I'm asking you to support you watching online there's a link on the screen that you can use to give whether you're watching live or on the replay it's significant you online a simple gift of $25 if everyone who sees this just gave $25 we could cover all of the event expenses and those of you here again pray about what you might do to support this event and even after this event is long gone and it's done it's in the past those of you watching online should know that the ministry is continuing and your support will just go to the general expenses that we have as a ministry but I'm asking this to you of you my brothers and sisters because I believe in soul winning I believe in world evangelism I believe that there's work to be done we look at what's happening in our world and it can be frustrating it can be disheartening but I want you to know the light of the gospel is going forth lives are being transformed this is working it's working and so I need you to get behind it so as the people continue to fill out their envelopes I'll just read some of the gifts that we have coming in online I can see some of the gifts even online I think a few people at random I know that's not why you do it but I think it's good to at least honor as best as we're able to as many as we can I see several gifts coming in from online thank you so much my goodness generous people you are Moses, Ariana Leslie Secret that's a great name Patty unless they're an anonymous giver Eddie Mark Elvira Naomi Carolina Tiffany thank you Maria thank you Jack many many many people giving online right now but I'm going to ask you here those of you watching online just do your very best do your very best we might continue to see the work happen is everyone good on filling out their envelopes does anyone need more time good then we'll pray we thank you for the opportunity to be a blessing to your kingdom and Lord I pray that you would cause resources to come into those hands of those who are generously giving I pray Lord that you would increase them and bless them prosper them in all their ways as they've put the kingdom first I pray Lord you would cause all these things to be added unto them Lord what they're doing for this vision I pray you would cause others to do for their vision what they're doing for this ministry I pray Lord you would cause others to do for their ministry Lord what they're giving out of their business I pray you would bless that and bless their business Lord what they're giving out of their personal finance I pray you would bless their home with an increase in finances Lord we thank you that you are the God who gives you are the God who prospers his people help us to never lose sight of that prosperity for the sake of your kingdom we love you we honor you we bless you in the mighty name of Jesus we pray and everybody said amen