Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. Know who you are in Christ, beloved. You're blood-bought.
You are forgiven. You are a child of God. You're an heir of God.
You're a co-heir with Christ, and the curse has been broken off of your life, and you're blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in this series, Increase, as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now available to you for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org, or call 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching.
Here is Alan Wright. So unthinkable to me, but it's just happening all over all the time of parents telling kids statements of doom and of their worthlessness. It passes it along. Sometimes there is spiritual oppression that follows families, just outright spiritual warfare and demonic oppression. Sometimes you need to pray about that, and we'll pray about that with you. So what this second commandment is saying and what the Lord's saying, here's the children, the grandchildren, the great-great-grandchildren are more likely to worship the idols of their forebearers than someone else would be, and God is just as jealous for them as He's jealous for the patriarch or matriarch that started the sin pattern. And here's the thing to be noted though, He says, that it's to the third and the fourth generation.
And this, scholars tell us, is a Hebrew figure of speech. It is an idiom. It doesn't mean that it skips the second generation. It doesn't mean that after the fourth generation, it just magically stops and it never happens in the fifth generation. It's a figure of speech that means it happens plenty, but it's going to expire.
It's kind of like, you know, we use figure of speech all the time. Like we'll say, I'll be there in a couple minutes. Well, we don't mean precisely 120 seconds, and I will be there right at that moment. You might be there in a minute and a half, might be a few minutes. If I say I'm going to be there in a couple minutes, I'd like you to give me at least five.
If my wife says I'll be there in a couple minutes, she'll be there right there in two minutes. Anyway, to the third and fourth generation means it's going to be here for a little while, but it's not going to last. There's going to be an intervention of grace that's going to change it.
But He says, but I see it and I've overseen it that it happens like that. But I chesed this word that I love in the old covenant, the steadfast love of God. It goes on to a thousand generations.
Thousand is a highly symbolic word in the Bible. Ten means complete. It's all there.
Baby's born. He's got all his fingers. Got all 10 of them. All those toes, all 10 of them, right? So 10 means complete and 10 times 10, even more a picture of that. And 10 times 10 times 10, a thousand is just to say, it's all there. It just goes on and on and on. That's what a thousand generations means.
It means it doesn't stop. And God thinks of His love and His blessing as seed that does not stop. He thinks of blessing this that way. This is the way He spoke to Abraham, Genesis 22, 17. By blessing I'll bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. He's seeing the blessing.
He's seeing you when He's talking to Abraham. This is why Peter is preaching not long after Pentecost in Acts chapter 3. He quotes all of this saying of Abraham, 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 and turning every one of you away from your iniquities. He's saying this is the promise that came.
It's come down through all the generations and here it is. So the curse is designed to end. The blessing to keep going and this is the way God thinks about it. It doesn't mean that the curse isn't real. In fact, Paul makes a big point of this in Galatians when he says in Galatians 3, 10, for all who rely on works of the law are under a curse for it's written, curse to be everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law and do them. So to be under law is a futile thing because no one can keep all the law and therefore wherever there's sin there's curse.
This is pretty clear in the scripture. And by that curse means something not just that there is condemnation and judgment against the sin, but that there is a negative forecast and something at work spiritually against us, you see. And all that's incorporated in the idea of curse. And Paul is saying that this is associated with law based mentalities. If you have even one percent of law in your theology of grace, it'll make you think, well, I've got to do something to prove that I'm righteous enough to be loved by God. And it will open up the door to unlimited fear and put you right back under the curse that Jesus came to break. But he goes on to say something that absolutely marvelous in verse 13 of Galatians 3, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
For it is written, cursed is everyone who hanged on a tree. So that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. Jesus Christ came not just to take the punishment that was due our sin, not just to take our sin into His own being, but what Paul is saying is clear. He came to take the curse that's associated with all of that. And when you trust in Christ, what that means, beloved, is that you're not only forgiven of your sin, but it's as if your sin is put upon Jesus on the cross. And the curse that would have come for you because of sin in your life or those who've gone before you is put upon the cross so that you in this great exchange are given forgiveness and blessedness as if you'd lived His righteous life. That's what the Bible teaches. And that's what's so glorious about the gospel.
And what Paul wants to invite the Galatians into here and he invites us into, live like it. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. You're made for more than your span of years on this earth. What might happen if you start taking the long view of your impact? We need to know what matters most to us so we can pass down our values on purpose. In Pastor Alan Wright's brand new six-week video series called Made for More, you'll discover the power of your lasting legacy as he leads you through a simple process to clarify your family core values and God-given purpose in the world. Pastor Alan will also help you dream to imagine your 100-year impact.
The video series is accompanied by a practical study guide with templates and worksheets. You'll also receive the full-length preaching series Increase that exposes the biblical principle of generational blessing. Make your gift to the ministry today and get your Made for More audio video bundle as our thank you for your partnership. Contact us today and discover the power of your lasting legacy. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastoralan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright.
Know it and believe it and live in it. Take every part of it because Paul was intimately acquainted with this. He had received five times the 40 lashes minus one, 39 strikes striping his back. Five times he got punished like this. And they called it 40 minus one because it was theorized that at the 40th, it would kill a person.
It could only take 39. He experienced it five times. And according to scholarly records, in between each of the lashings strike, they would read out the curses that are stated in Deuteronomy 27 and 28 for those who are disobedient under the law. This is the law, the law, the rod of the law. Cursed be you who have made and worship idols. Cursed be you. 39 lashes and curses. He'd experienced it five times.
And he said, don't put yourself under the law. It will beat you and it will curse you. There's grace. Christ came and took all of it. Leaving you, Paul says in Ephesians 1, blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus.
So this is what God has done. He has given you a gift in Jesus that makes it utterly impossible for curse to determine the course of your life because Jesus has taken that curse and therefore it doesn't apply to you anymore. But generational sin patterns can continue until we recognize them and apply the finished work of Jesus and the gospel's power to that, to that area of sin in our lives. So, you know, it's, it's notable when you can recognize something that has gone before you that has affected you. I'll be talking in coming weeks about some of the incredible generational blessing that I now realize I got from my father. But my father, as wonderful as it was, he had some problems. One of which I come to understand looked a whole lot like what it looked like in my life by what I would call shame, which is a desire and a feeling that I've got to do more and be more in order to really be accepted.
And I realize that he had a lot of pressure on him, only child, really smart. And I realized that now that that ideology was going on in his life. And then now I can go back and see it reflected in some of the ways that he, he spoke. And I had no idea until I was in the ministry for some period of time that this even had applied to me. But then I began to recognize it. And the thing about recognizing a generational sin pattern is that you can let it come to a screeching halt in you. And the whole line changes after that.
Right? So that's just one example, but it's like, I know for a fact there was shame thinking that got passed into me by osmosis, by all these complicated ways. But because the gospel of grace came so alive in me, praise be to God, by so much of the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit, that's broken. And my kids don't even know what that is.
They, they wouldn't, they wouldn't, they don't even, honestly, if I talk about what shame is, I don't even think they really even understand what I'm talking about. See, it can just change all line. This is God's plan. And it's all possible through the gift of Jesus Christ.
It's all possible through the gift of Jesus Christ. And sometimes you just got to say, you know, I'm not my father. I'm not my mother.
I'm not my grandmother. I'm, I've got something else. I've got revelation.
I've got something in Jesus. And you could say that today, and we could pray with you that for every single believer, you have the right to renounce generational sin and say that there's no curse that is upon me. There's a very important little verse tucked away in the Proverbs that says in Proverbs 26, two, like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow. So a curse without cause shall not alight. It's like curse is like, it's like it's fluttering around and it's looking for a place to land.
Just like, where can it land? But you who are in Christ, it tries to land, but there's no cause for it because Jesus took the curse. Doesn't apply to you. Can't light, can't light. And if it tries to light, you're like, get off of me.
That doesn't apply to me. I've told you before, some years ago when we were newly married, the phone rang back when all we had were landlines. Anne is our designated in the middle of the night phone answer to her because she has an ability to wake up out of a dead sleep and go, hello? Like she's just so glad you called. If you call me in the middle of the night, the first thing I do is I go, testing, test, test, do I even have a voice if I'm going to say hello?
So she answered the phone in the middle of the night and all I, this is all I hear from my side was, she goes, what? I'm sorry. Excuse me? What? I, I, I, sorry, I can't, I can't hear. Excuse me?
What? On the other end of the thing was an obscene phone call or was doing like some, you know, kind of weird breathing and stuff like that. And finally the guy just goes, can you not hear me? It ruined his whole thing. She didn't even know what was going on.
My little innocent bride, she didn't even, she didn't even know enough to know he was doing something obscene. She just like doesn't connect with me. So in the littlest things, it's like, that doesn't apply to me. It doesn't even apply to me. I can't get on me.
How can I get on me? And I mean the big things, you know, devil try to scare you big time too. I remember some years ago I was in a prayer ministry session with a precious woman who was very, very oppressed and not to weird you out, but it just happened sometimes. And you know, devil's real, right? And, and in the middle of this prayer time, all of a sudden she got this horrible, horrible raging voice and her face contorted. And she started kind of lunging toward me and started spewing out all these horrible demonic threats. And you know, you're going to die. Your children are going to die and all this. And, and it's like, guess, guess what? You know what? It's just a flitting sparrow.
I mean, even though that was big and, and, and like that, it's of no more than the guy on the end of the phone where he's going, what? It's like, that doesn't, that doesn't apply to me at all. Know who you are in Christ, beloved. You're blood bought.
You are forgiven. You are a child of God. You're an heir of God. You're a co-heir with Christ and the curse has been broken off of your life. And you're blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. So do all you can to recognize generational sin patterns and say, Hey, wait a minute. I'm not in a curse. There's something different going to stop now.
That's a worthy pursuit. But don't for a minute think that you got to go back and figure out what happened that God's mad at you because three generations before you, somebody did something wrong and now it's against you and you're no, you're under the blood. Claim it, live it and walk in it because that's God's plan for your life.
The thousand generations that best news ever that not only can you live free from curse and the consequences of generational sin, but that you can become increasingly freed up to live out the blessing. It means that God's goodness is unlimited and the devil's evil is scarce. It's going to run out one day, going to end one day.
That's what a scarce resource is. That thing's going to end one day. God's love is never going to end. It means that love from God can't be stopped and the devil's hate can't last. It means that God's blessing is irrevocable, but the curse is easily broken and it means that your life legacy is not determined by the sins of your forebears, nor is it determined by the sins of your own flesh, but your life's legacy and the blessing that continues through you is shaped by the power and the promises of God. For there's something inside of you that God is releasing into this earth and some of it will sprout right in front of your eyes and some of it might not sprout to 100 years or 200 years from now. But Revelation 14, 13, John said, I heard a voice from heaven saying write this, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed says the Spirit that they may rest from their labors for their deeds will follow them. It means that blessing is chasing after you. It means that even after you're long gone, your deeds, the goodness inside of you, the virtues that God put there, they just keep on going.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. There's something that's just been tumbling around and tumbling around and it might look dry, but you let that thing hit some living water and suddenly, poof! Wow! It turns green, it sprouts, it flowers, and seeds start going everywhere. Life starts emerging everywhere.
Wow! There's something that is tumbling two centuries ago in your family line that you don't even know about, and now you're like wow, how is it? Where did I get that gift? Why did I get that blessing? Because God had preserved it, He coded its DNA, He'd encapsulated it, He'd waited for the right moment because His heart always has been to release it in you and through you. You might just be a tumbleweed tossed around, blown by the arid wind, but beloved, when the water of God, the living water hits you, you are going to flower in an unbelievable, beautiful way.
Curse has an expiration date and blessing does not. That's the plan of God and that's the gospel. Alan Wright, today's good news message, timeless blessing versus temporary curse. It's in our series Increase and Pastor Alan is back with us in the studio in just a moment sharing his parting good news thought for the day.
You're made for more than your span of years on this earth. What might happen if you start taking the long view of your impact? We need to know what matters most to us so we can pass down our values on purpose. In Pastor Alan Wright's brand new six week video series called Made for More, you'll discover the power of your lasting legacy as he leads you through a simple process to clarify your family core values and God given purpose in the world. Pastor Alan will also help you dream to imagine your 100 year impact.
The video series is accompanied by a practical study guide with templates and worksheets. You'll also receive the full length preaching series Increase that exposes the biblical principle of generational blessing. Make your gift to the ministry today and get your Made for More audio video bundle as our thank you for your partnership. Contact us today and discover the power of your lasting legacy. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastoralan.org. Back here in the studio, sharing Pastor Alan's parting good news thought for the day. And as we put the conclusion here, come to the end of this teaching, timeless blessing versus temporary.
I'm sad for it to end because I could, I could listen to this message for a full week. It's a good, it's a good reminder. And maybe even as to good revelation in the first place for some who've never heard this good news. So curse comes to an end. And remember Christians, Proverbs 26, like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow. So a curse without cause shall not alight. This is an important little proverb that's pointed to something that ultimately gets fulfilled in Jesus. If you're in Christ, he took the curse and you received his blessing. So you're not under curse. And therefore our proper stance with this, when we feel cursed and condemned is I'm not cursed, but I'm blessed in Jesus. And therefore I rebuke any sense of condemnation or curse for its impact on my life because I'm blessed in Christ. We recognize generational sin patterns. And that means that we can say, Lord, I don't want to continue that.
And, and we put the blood of Jesus over it and we put the cross between us and that generational sin pattern. And we learn what we can, but the best news ever is that God's love goes on and on and on. And so there's a limit to evil. God's unlimited, but the devil's very limited and God's love can't be stopped.
And the devil's hate can't last. So let's walk in that and live in that live in the power of generational blessing and claim your place of one who set free from generational curse and let the patterns change in you. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.
