Ezekiel 18

We declare your Word over his life first.

That is Ezekiel 18:4.

Your Word declares, "Behold, all souls are Mine; the souls of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine." Your Word also declares that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." Lord, we thank you that you are the deliverer.

You are the one who rescues us, and you are all-powerful, and you are almighty.

Empower him to believe those things that are lovely, that are of praise, that are true, and that are of good report.

We declare your word over his life first.

That is Ezekiel 18 and 4.

Your word declares, "Behold, all souls are mine.

It fails.

And he said, "Yes, generational curses are applicable," right? But he says, "Go to my Word." He took me to Ezekiel 18, and he showed me if a, if a, if a wicked man is doing evil but his son decides to do righteous-

Yeah

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He is in the business of breaking cycles, generational sin, generational absence, generational silence, and replacing them with something new.

We're going to Malachi 4, 6, Ezekiel 18, 20, Psalm 27, 10, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, Ephesians 6, 4, and Deuteronomy 6, 6, and 7.

And we're going to walk through Jacob's broken household and Timothy's fatherless upbringing to see how God builds better men out of worse beginnings.

Now, here's the problem.

toward each other

He considers a broken relationship between fathers and children serious enough to name it as the thing standing between a nation and a curse, and serious enough to promise he will personally turn it.

Ezekiel 18 20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son.

It was written to them, and they were accountable for that.

The whole chapter of Ezekiel chapter 18, if you're wondering about personal accountability and responsibility, read Ezekiel 18 and study this.

There was a common thought in the Jewish society that basically anything that children did, it was the parents' fault.

And Ezekiel 18 was written to counter that thought.

help people understand that everybody answers for themselves.

So it says this, the word of the Lord came unto me again saying, what mean ye that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel saying the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge.

If you study that in the rabbinical writings, the author, which is God, used Ezekiel to write to the children of Israel saying, your own writings are wrong.

Because what they were saying is, this was a rabbinical saying.

And it talks about how the leadership of Israel relied on foreign kings and foreign powers to save them from God's coming judgment through Babylon.

And then in Ezekiel 18...

Ezekiel wants to make sure that Israel isn't saying, well, it's the leader's fault for our situation.

It's the leader's fault for not relying on God and relying on other people, and that's why we're being judged.

And in Ezekiel 18, Ezekiel narrows in on the idea of individual responsibility.

It's up to you individuals to turn from your own sin and to turn towards God, because that's where judgment comes from.

And I think that this is a good reminder for us.

It's really easy to blame others for maybe something horrible that's happening to you, to blame your parents for not teaching you the proper things, or for pastors and leaders for steering you in the wrong direction.

And

God makes it clear in Ezekiel 18.20, the soul that sins will die.

And so, you know, it's not like we don't know the offense and the consequence.

We do.