Real Men – Like Father, Like Son (Genesis 12,20,26)

– Welcome to Guys’ Night Out, amen? Good to see you guys. Thank you for joining us. If you’re new, you’re in the right place, at the right time, with the best guys. And so, we’re going through the book of Genesis on weekends, and the way we do it at Real Men’s, little bit of a pivot and a leadership lecture for the guys. And so, I just wanna say, it’s a real honor to be here with you men. I’m here ’cause you matter, your marriage matters, your kids matter, your grandkids matter, your job matters, your ministry matters, your legacy matters, and we’re honored to have you men. And so, what we’re doing as we’re heading through the book of Genesis, we’re spending a considerable amount of time getting to know a guy named Abraham. He’s one of the most significant men in the history of the world, and what we’re getting to see is decades of his life and also decisions with his family. And so Genesis becomes for us a case study and it’s a particularly unique gift to men. We get to look at a guy’s life, kind of like a biographical sketch. Okay, he made this decision, and then years later, these were the implications or complications, positive and negative, and then he had kids and grandkids, and how did his decisions affect them? And we’re starting to think generationally and in terms of lineage and legacy. So today we’re gonna talk about, “like father, like son.” And it’s an old adage, this phrase, “like father, like son.” They could trace it back to the 1300s and it was an old English proverb. It first made it into writing in the 1600s. But we all know it. Like father, like son. How many of you guys, you could just tell who the dad is by, look at the boy, look at the dad. You’re like, “I know who that kid is,” right? And so, oftentimes, we’re just a lot like our dad. And sometimes that could be a good thing, sometimes that could be a bad thing. It all depends on kind of what our dad was like. And Abraham is known as the father. His name literally means, father. So we’re gonna look at two scenes in the life of father Abraham, and then a life scene for his son, where he does the same thing as his dad. So, we’ll just jump right in. Genesis 12, we’re gonna move through the story of Abraham. 11 through 17. “When he, Abraham, was about to enter Egypt,” we looked at this some weeks ago. Famine hits. They’re going to Egypt. “He said to Sarai, his wife, “I know that you are beautiful in appearance.” She’s older at this point. She’s probably in her 70s. “And when the Egyptians see you, “they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ “Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.” So, honey, I got this really great idea. I know you love me. You’d hate to see me suffer. So how about we do this? You “say you’re my sister, that it may go well with me.” Is it gonna go well with the wife? No, you’re gonna join a cult leader and be part of a harem, but good news, honey, I’ll be fine. What a guy. “That my life may be spared for you sake. “When Abram entered Egypt, “the Egyptians saw that she was very beautiful. “When the princess of Pharaoh saw her, “they praised her to Pharaoh. “And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.” But right before they consummated the relationship, “the Lord afflicted Pharaoh’s household with plagues “because of Sarai, Abraham’s wife.” So here’s the deal. They’re going into a new country, and here’s what happens with Abraham. Every time he makes a decision in faith, it goes good. When he makes a decision in fear, it goes bad. How many of you guys have lived long enough to know that these are the two places that decisions are made from. Fear, I’m scared, so I’m gonna make a defensive reactionary decision, or faith, I’m gonna make an active wise decision. Here, he’s going into Egypt. What’s he motivated by faith or fear? Fear. Did God tell him to go to Egypt? Nope. Did God tell him to lie? Nope. Did God tell him to tell his wife to pretend that she’s the sister? Nope. Did God tell him to give his wife away? Nope. All bad idea, all Abraham’s idea.

When you and I live in fear, not in faith, and we make decisions in moments of fear instead of faith, we never find the will of God. So his decision is this. I’m gonna tell a lie, and I’m gonna have my wife join me in this, and what’s really interesting, how many of your wives would not do what Sarah did, and go along with your plan? How many of your wives would stab you in the liver? How many of your wives, if you’re like, “Hey, baby, I got a plan. “There’s this cult leader named Pharaoh. “He’s got this kingdom. “He’s got a whole harem. “I think you’re gonna need to join it, “so that I don’t have a rough day.” How many of your wives would be like, “You’re gonna have a rough day right now.” All right? Don’t be afraid of him, be afraid of me. How many of you, your wives would not go along? And it’s just interesting. He is a leader, but there are occasions, even as a leader, that we can make a bad decision or go a bad direction, and some of us, our wives will support us even when we’re wrong, even when we’re wrong. And so Sarah’s a gal. She’s like, “Okay, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll lie,” which you know, she shouldn’t be lying. “And we’re gonna con this man, “and I’ll leave you “and I’ll go become his wife and join a harem.” And this is unbelievable, and God told him, “You’re gonna have a son. “The son is gonna be the father of the nation of Israel. “Through the nation of Israel, “is gonna come Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” So there’s a lot hanging on him keeping his wife. Like we don’t get Jesus unless you actually keep your wife. So please, keep your wife. And the other thing is, too is… Somebody said it in our staff Bibles study today, it was adorable little teenage girl. She’s like, “Well maybe Sarah was sick of him,” you know, and just was like, “You’re gonna give me away? “Great, least he has a house. “We’re camping.” So either way, is this a good idea or a bad idea to give your wife away to another man, to join a harem and a cult? A good idea or bad idea? It’s a bad idea. If you’re like, “I don’t know,” then you need marriage counseling, ’cause you’re not in a good place. You’re not in a healthy place. How many of you, if you did this to your wife once, gave her away, God had to bring plagues to the guy who got her, before they slept together, you got your wife back, You would not… How many of you would try and not do this again? Amen. How many of you, your wives would remind you not to do this again? He’s gonna do it again, because he’s a man and we’re stupid. And we do the same thing over and over and over. And if your wife is like, “Why do you do that?” Well, it’s in the Bible. That’s just how we are. So here we go. Genesis 20, 1 through 4, 15 through 16, father Abraham again. So some years later, “Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb “and live between Kadesh and Shur.” Did God tell him to move? No. Earlier God told him to move. And then when he went to Egypt, God, didn’t tell him to go. Here God didn’t tell him to go. Again, he’s just operating out of fear. “And he’s sojourned in Gerar. “Abraham said to Sarah his wife, “said of Sarah his wife. ‘She is my sister.’ It’s the old, she’s my sister routine. “And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah,” took Abraham’s wife. How many of you, if you thought this was a good idea, as soon as the guy walked away with your wife, you’d realized this was a really bad idea? “But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and behold and said to him, quote, “behold, you’re a dead man.” I love God’s subtlety. And he just it’s like, I mean, if I took God out and said, Tony Soprano said, “behold, you are a dead man.” It just kinda reads the same, “because the woman you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” Don’t take a married woman. Now Abimelech had not approached her. Hadn’t slept with her yet. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people?” Abimelech is not a believer, but he’s actually got more character. “And Abimelech said, behold, my land is before you, “dwell where it pleases you. “To Sarah he said, behold, I’ve given your” put a quote, “brother,” don’t

you know what to call this guy, your husband brother, what kind of Kentucky family is this? I don’t even know how, I don’t know how the oak chart works. Your family tree has no branches. I don’t know what’s going on in this crazy family. “I’ve given your brother a thousand pieces of silver.” That’s like eight, $10,000,000. “It is a sign of your innocence “in the eyes of all who are with you, “and before everyone you are vindicated.” So again, second time, God didn’t tell him to go, he goes. As he’s entering into this new land that God didn’t call him to, he’s scared. The big idea is this. If God tells you to go, go, if he doesn’t, if he doesn’t tell you to go, don’t go. And Abraham here is responding to all of his circumstances while there’s a economic downturn and there’s trouble in the market. And so he’s anxious, but he’s not hearing from God. He’s just responding to all the circumstances and he’s operating in fear. First time gives his wife away, before she sleeps with another guy God intervenes, brings him back. Years later, he’s going to a place that God didn’t call him to. He’s gonna give his wife away again. He does. Before the next guy sleeps her, God gets involved, gives that guy a dream, “you’re a dead man.” You better send her back. How many of you at this point… You see this as a pattern, right? I mean, how many of you, how many of you just reading this are like, gosh, that’s just, does he seem stupid? Just be honest. But if you looked at our life, like if God wrote an honest account of our life, how many of us have done something dumb, then done it again? Right, some of you it’s called the weekend, right? You’re like, it wasn’t a good idea, but I did it again. Now, what’s really interesting is, I’m gonna jump forward to Genesis chapter 26. What eventually happens, he gets his wife back. They have a kid named Isaac, which means laughter, ’cause God gets the last laugh. Isaac grows up, gets married. And guess what he does, same thing. Here we go. Like father, like son, Genesis 26, six through nine, “Isaac settled in Gerar,” that’s Abraham’s son with Sarah. After he got Sarah back. “When the men of the place asked about his wife, “he said ‘she is my sister.'” This is the craziest family. “For he,” what? “He feared.” He’s making a decision out of what? Fear. Every time we make a fear based decision, it’s a bad decision, okay. “He feared to say, ‘my wife’ thinking, “‘less than men of the place “should kill me because of Rebekah.'” And let me just say this. If you have a beautiful wife and you’re going to a place that they think that you’re gonna, they’re gonna kill you to take your wife, maybe just don’t go there. Amen. Like, well babe, we’re gonna go there and they’re gonna want to kill me. She’s like, well then let’s not go there. That would be like an option. “Because she was attractive in appearance. “When he had been there a long time, “Abimelech king of the Philistines “looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing “with Rebekah his wife.” So they’re on date night, ’cause they’re still married. The king sees this. “So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “behold, she is your wife. “How then could you say, ‘she is my sister?'” Again, the unbelievers are honest and have more integrity than the believers. Isaac said to him, “because I thought, “‘lest I die because of her.'” In both occasion, the father and the son, they have fear. and what they’re fearful of, they’re going to suffer. And in that moment they have a decision, either I’m gonna suffer, or my wife’s gonna suffer. What’s the decision they come to? Bad day for you sweetheart. You’re gonna suffer. It says in Genesis 20, we’ll get into it coming up this weekend. That, it gives us a little more information that this was actually an agreement that Abraham and Sarah had for their whole marriage. They had an agreement for their entire marriage, when we go somewhere, if it seems dangerous, you lie and say you’re my sister and I’ll lie and say, that you’re my sister. The point is this. They have what I would call an inner vow. A covenant is where you make a promise to the Lord. An inner vow is

where two people come together and they’re like, okay, let’s pledge to one another, that this is what we’re gonna say or do. And it’s not godly and it’s not right, but it’s the rules that govern this marriage relationship. Sometimes married couples make crazy rules. They cover up for one another. They lie together. They conspire together. Well, you don’t tell my boss and I won’t tell your mom. And all this intrigue in on hell, and it’s really an inner vow that’s controlling this family. And what happens is, it controls their whole marriage and then they hand it to their son. So that’s what I want to talk about. I wanna talk about this question. Why are sons like their fathers? Why do we see even our family, let’s say our parents or even our grandparents, or our dad or our grandad, you’re like they did something totally stupid, and my family’s still doing that. How many of you, there’s some stuff in your family history, as you look at it, you’re like, those were really bad ideas and decisions, but we keep doing it? Like that generation was all drunk and we’re still drinking. That generation ran around on their wife and we’re still running around on our wives. That generation was really violent with their kids and we’re still violent with their kids.
I mean, those men in our family, they were just crooks and thieves and criminals and dishonest and you couldn’t trust them, and it’s still going. And there are patterns that we’re gonna see throughout Genesis, where just because a man dies, doesn’t mean the behavior dies, it gets passed on to the next generation. This story with Abraham and Isaac is a classic one. Here’s some reasons why we’re like our fathers. Genetically, we inherit a lot of who we are from our dad. This can be good, if your dad’s a world class athlete, congratulations. If your dad has some genetic weakness, you inherit that. For some of us, it’s a appearance. Some of you look and sound like your dad. I mean literally look and sound like your dad. Genetically as well, it predisposes us towards some things. Some of you, genetically, your family really is more vulnerable to alcoholism and you just need to be very careful, because some people can have a drink and it’s not a problem. In your family, one drink, it becomes a real problem. For some of you, you know, food, it becomes a situation. If you don’t watch your diet, you have a lot of sickness and illness. Genetically, we inherit a lot from our dads. In addition, naively, when we’re kids, we assume that adults know what they’re doing, right? How many of you, when you were a kid, you met an adult and they’d, they’d tell you something, you’re like, well, that must be true. Or they tell you what to do and you assume, well, then I need to do that, ’cause that’s what, you know, adults know what they’re doing. And then how many of you reached a point where you became an adult, you’re like, yeah, we have no idea what we’re doing. One of the ways, you know, you’ve grown into adulthood, you realize that adults don’t know what they’re doing. When you’re a little kid, if somebody’s six foot tall and tells you to do something, you assume that’s the right thing to do. So a lot of the patterns and behaviors in our life when we’re growing up, we just assume as kids like the adults are telling us the facts and they know what to do. And if they’re telling us something to do, that’s probably the right thing to do. If we don’t get to the point of adulthood, not way out of bitterness, that we’re just sort of attacking and critiquing, but out of wisdom, we’re discerning and evaluating like, okay, was that the home I grew up in? The way my dad behaved, maybe he was present, maybe he was absent. Maybe he was withdrawn. Maybe he was aggressive. Maybe he was loud. Maybe he was quiet and passive. The environment that I grew up in, was that healthy? Was that good? Was that wise? What were the strengths? What were the weaknesses? In addition, the reason that we’re like our dads, practically, when we’re growing up, we just unconsciously adopt a whole bunch of things,

completely unaware, right? How many of you grew up in a home where everybody was, or a lot of people were musical? Like they could sing and play instruments. Any of you grew up in that home? And you tend to have the ability to sing and play instruments. You’re like, well, how’d you learn that? You’re like, I don’t know. Just the home I grew up in, it was very musical. I just picked it up. How many of you, you grew up in a home that was a lot of sports and athletics and you’re a pretty good athlete? You’re like, well, how’d you learn that? You’re like, I don’t know. We just, our family was just kind of jocks. That’s just kind of what we did. How many of you grew up in a home where, you know, a lot of time was in the kitchen and meal prep and big feast and holidays and you’re good in the kitchen? You’re like, I can cook. I, you know, I know what to do in the kitchen. You’re like, how’d you figure that out? And you’re like, I don’t know. You grow up in an environment and you unconsciously just pick up a lot of skills, a lot of perspective, a lot of habits and it’s unconscious awareness. And if you’re unconscious of it, when you get older, you just unconsciously continue it. Now that could be a really good thing, or it could be a really bad thing. if every time, you know, your dad got stressed, he got drunk. You just screw up and you just assume, well, that’s what happens, when you get stressed, you pour a drink. Then when you’re 15, 16, you get stressed, you pour a drink. Now that becomes normal for you. And you’re carrying forward the bad generational behavior. If every time your dad got really stressed, he would go for a prayer walk and talk to the Lord and get time with the Holy Spirit, you’re like, well, I guess that’s normal. That’s what… And then you do that, at 15 or 16 when you’re stressed,
now you’re also carrying forth the generational pattern and habit. But a lot of it’s unconscious. How many of you weren’t even aware of all the things that you picked up unconsciously in your family, until you got married and then you’re with your wife, and you’re like, you just assumed your family was like every other family? And then your wife was like, she’s like, why do you do that? You’re like, well, why do you do that? Your wife’s like, you’re weird. You’re like, no, you’re weird. No, you’re both weird. That’s welcome to marriage. Right now You figure it out. But you don’t understand how much you unconsciously pick up, until you get married and you realize their family was totally different than yours. And you’ve gotta start to evaluate the pros and the cons from your background. In addition, generationally, what happens is when you grow up in a family or a household and your parents are modeling, then there’s pressure for you to do the same. And sometimes there can be generational pressure. So for example, let’s say you’re in a home that has, you know, the grandparents are involved and the parents are involved, but let’s say they’re not very healthy, and they have some bad habits. Maybe they got some family secrets. Maybe they got some inner vows. Maybe there’s some real unhealth. But then as the kid growing up, the parents pressure you to keep the family secret or to do the family way. And then the grandparents who started it, all of this, they then reinforce it by putting additional pressure on the parents and on the grandchildren. So now what you’ve got is generations of pressure on a kid. Hey, that’s the family secret. Don’t tell the family secret. Hey, I know that’s not very good, but hey, just, you know, family’s family, blood thicker than water. Don’t tell anybody, keep that to yourself. Hey, you know, and there’s some family rules and some inner vows that get established. Conversely, it could be a very positive thing. Grandma and grandpa love and serve the Lord. Mom and dad serve the Lord. So then there’s this environment of encouragement for the kid to grow up and love and serve the Lord. These influences are not negative. It all depends on who is the one doing the influencing and forming. Somehow for Isaac

growing up, because here’s a big idea, in Genesis 12, when Abraham gave his wife away, was Isaac even born? Nope. In Genesis 20, when Abraham almost gave his wife away again, was Isaac even born? Nope. By Genesis 26, Isaac gives his wife away, but he wasn’t there the two times that his dad tried. So either this was a pattern that continued in their family and he saw it happen later. Or mom and dad told the story. Yeah, we had a little rule in our family. We had a little inner vow for our marriage. And that is when we travel, if your dad gets in danger, we’d lie and pretend, I’m the sister. Son takes that, tells his wife, hey, in my family, we got this little rule, this coping mechanism, this inner vow, that if I ever get in trouble, we got our little secret, we tell a lie. that is that you’re my sister, and I give you away to another man. I’m sure the wife is like, what are you talking about? He’s like, no, no, this is how we do it in my family. Okay, now as we… How many of us looking at Abraham’s family, this seems crazy to you? How many of you are a dad, and you’re looking at it as the father of a daughter, and it’s very clear to you, this is a terrible idea? Here’s the big idea. It doesn’t seem so crazy to Isaac, ’cause this was his family and this is the way it always was. You and I, we don’t have his family. We didn’t grow up seeing this happen, hearing this defended, understanding this covered. So we look at it and we’re like, well, this is a terrible idea. It’s crazy. What are we talking about? There are things in your life and my life, that are just as crazy. But we don’t see them, because they’re part of the way we were raised. It’s the family of origin. This is what we were taught since we were kids or what was modeled to us, what was modeled to us. It’s part of what Genesis allows us to do, is to pull back and say, okay, let me look at this family and this man who’s the leader and head of this family Let me, okay, good, bad, positive, negative. Now let me take the Bible and look at my family. Where are the things in my family that are just as crazy, but they don’t seem crazy to me, because they seem normal, ’cause that’s the household I grew up in. That’s the parents I had. That’s the family I had. Let me say this too, biologically, one of the reasons that fathers are like sons, this is fascinating to me and this might unlock some very significant insight for you men. So what they say is that, there can be a thing that brain scientists would call, generational trauma. Now brain science is sort of in its early stages, it’s early. Before example, in the 1960s, there was a counseling center that was opened in New York for trauma. Almost all of the first clients were the grandchildren and great grandchildren of the Holocaust. But here’s the strange thing. These kids never lived in Germany. Their family that lived through the Holocaust and were Jewish, they escaped to New York and these kids were born in America, but they show up at the counseling center for trauma, because they were raised in homes where their parents and grandparents told them all the Holocaust stories. And it became generational trauma. Not that the kids were in the concentration camps, but their family was. And emotionally the concentration camp was brought to their home through storytelling. And now, what the brain scientists have found, if there’s significant trauma in your family history, it can lay dormant for generations, until it’s triggered. I’ll give you an example. Let’s say you have a family. Let’s say the men in your family for generations were alcoholics, alcoholics or drug addicts, pick your choice. And then it stops. One generation, no addiction, next generation, no addiction. Next generation, no addiction. Next generation, drugs or alcohol, triggered right back to addiction. And the cycle picks back up of family addiction. What they’re saying is, that trauma can biologically be passed on to your children with hardwiring neuro processing in the brain. And the result is, if you grew up in an angry and violent home, maybe your kid isn’t angry or violent, but

there is a predisposition in the hardwiring of your grandchild to become that way, and if they’re triggered, they could revert back. But this is really sort of mind blowing, because the Bible talks about blessing and cursing. It’s one of the great themes of Genesis. 80 times, Genesis talks about blessing, the converses cursing. And the point is this. If the decisions we make and the experiences we have are blessings, we can be literally seeing God neurologically hardwire generations for blessing and wisdom. If we are cursing our families, we could be neurologically hardwiring our children and grandchildren to be cursed and broken for generations. This is why the Bible talks about God blessing for generations. That sometimes even brokenness and trauma, can be passed on generationally with biochemistry and neurological pathways in the brain, as can wisdom, health, blessing, and life in the Spirit. And this explains why, sometimes you’ll see generations of a family that make really traumatic decisions, like, one generate… You’re like alcoholism, incest, sexual abuse, corruption, destruction, and it just keeps going. And you would look at it, you would go, why doesn’t one generation just hit the brakes and stay they, this is, let’s just stop, and let’s do something different. This isn’t working. All of these factors work together. These environmental factors, these biological genetic factors, these brain hardwiring factors, these family of origin systems, pressure from parents and grandparents, positive and negative. In addition, the reason that fathers are like sons, spiritually, we can be battling the same demons and generational curses. Some of you, your dad just literally had a demonic fight on his hands, and so did his dad. So do you. It’s like the same demon shows up for every generation. For some of you, it’s gonna be sexual. Some of you it’s gonna be, you know, anger and volatility. Some of you it’s gonna be passivity and cowardice. Some of you it’s gonna be greed. Some of you it’s gonna be addiction. We we’ve all got our thing. And what’s really sort of fascinating is, you can see one generation battle, their demons, you grow up in that environment, and you even think to yourself, I’m not gonna be like that. I’m not gonna say that when I grow up to my kid, I’m not gonna do that when I grow up, then you grow up and you’re like, good night, I’m saying and doing the same thing my dad did. How many of you, how many of you let’s be honest? How many of you be like, you got a kid, you don’t know what to say. So you say something, you’re like, that’s what my dad said, and I hated it. And I just said it, cause I didn’t know what else to say. And I did what my dad did, ’cause I didn’t know what else to do. Some of us are battling the same demons and they go from generation to generation. But it, the good news is, covenantally, it is possible that as trauma is passed on, so is healing. As brokenness is passed on, so is wholeness. As foolishness is passed on, so is wisdom. As cursing is passed on, so is blessing. As life in the flesh is passed on, so can be life in the spirit. As addiction can be passed on, so can sobriety. And so for God’s men, sometimes we just think, man, I’m so trapped in this cycle that I’ve inherited from my father. And God would tell you, you got another father. You got another father. He can give you new heart, new nature, give you the Holy Spirit, give you forgiveness for whatever you’ve done. Let you forgive and not be, you know, marked by bitterness. For those who have failed you or harmed you, he can give you new neurological pathways. He can give you new desires and new wisdom, and new power through the Holy Spirit. He can give you a new life in Christ. He can give you a new legacy for generations. And so the father like son, oftentimes it’s used in a pejorative or a negative way. And what I want to tell you, it all depends on who your father is. Amen? And even if you didn’t have a great earthly father, you have a perfect heavenly father. And so there’s an opportunity to

reset the legacy for your family. Abraham is a man of faith. He is a believer. His son is a believer, but somehow this pattern in their family didn’t get fixed. This, we’re gonna lie, and I’m gonna put my wife in harm’s way, so that I don’t have to suffer. He failed twice that we know about. His son Isaac failed once that we know about. It becomes this generational pattern. What I don’t want do, I don’t want us to become embittered against our fathers. The first thing you learn when you become a father is, it’s hard, okay? And if you grew up and you had a little bitterness against your dad and then you become a dad, you’re like, being a dad’s a lot harder than I thought. And so, we wanna give grace to our fathers, but we also wanna evaluate our fathers and ask, okay, what have I inherited that was really good? And I want to continue that. What have I inherited that was not good? And that needs to stop, ’cause I don’t wanna pass that on. And if there’s patterns and habits in our family for generations, as there was for Abraham, the question is, okay, where does this stop, and where do we reset and do some things differently? Do some things differently. So this will be the discussion questions and time for prayer. Number one, what are some good things you picked up from your dad? Good things. Like my dad, he’s gonna be here in a few weeks. I look forward to you meeting him if you haven’t. My dad growing up, he worked. My dad worked. He hung sheetrock till he broke his back to feed five kids. I appreciate the work ethic of my dad. My dad would not steal money. My dad would not have any way of getting money that was not integrous. I appreciate the work ethic of my dad. What are some good things you picked up from your dad, okay? What are some not so good things you picked up from your dad? You’re like, yeah, that’s kind of been my family for a while. And by God’s grace, I don’t want to hand that off to my kids or grandkids. And then lastly, how can we pray for you? And so again guys, the goal is not bitterness. The goal is clarity, wisdom, discernment. This is a gift, I need to receive this. This was not a gift, I need to set this aside, ’cause I don’t wanna pass it on. And let me say, the younger you are and the quicker you get a sense of reality and can move toward a healthy future, the better your life will be. And the better the life of your children and grandchildren will be. It’s never too late to start. But let me just tell you this. If you got bad habits in place, you’re inheriting things from your extended family, your father, your grandfather, and you’ve already put it in your kids, it’s more work to take it out. You could take it out, but it needs to be taken out. If you’re a single guy and it’s in you, just get it out of you, before you hand it to someone else. Amen. Father, I pray for the conversations around the table. I thank you that we have a heavenly father who is perfect, who loves us, who forgives us. God, I thank you, that father like son can be a beautiful thing, because you are our heavenly father and we want to be good sons. We wanna be your sons. We want to carry forth your integrity and your ethic. We wanna carry forth your character. And God, we can all look at someone else’s life, as we have Abraham and Isaac and say, that’s a foolish pattern in that family. But God, then we can look at our own family and say, we got some foolish patterns too. We can even look at our own immediate family and that we have some foolish patterns in our own household. God, I pray that this wouldn’t be a time of condemnation, but of instruction, that this wouldn’t be a conversation of bitterness, but of clarity. And Lord God, everything that we receive from our fathers that is good, help us to thank them and be grateful. and to pass that on. Anything that’s not so good, make us aware in the spirit, give us clarity. What are the things that we’re saying and doing, that are a lot like our dad or our grandpa, but aren’t like our heavenly father? And father, I just pray for grace on these conversations and

these men. And I pray for our kids and our grandkids. And God, we just look at the decision of Abraham and Isaac, they could have given away their wife, their whole family, their entire legacy. God, sometimes the decisions we make as men, they’re massive for our family. So help us have wisdom, I pray, in Jesus’ good name. Amen.