Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it. —Winston Churchill

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes —Mark Twain

BIG IDEA: Unaddressed dysfunction has the power to destroy future descendants.

Unresolved Sin tends to show up in our sons and daughters.

What happens in one generation tends to repeat itself in the next whether it be alcoholism, addiction, depression, suicide, unstable marriages, unwed pregnancies, mistrust of authority, or unresolved conflict. —Pete Scazzero

Lamentations 5:7
Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities.

Jesus may be in your heart, but grandpa is in your bones —Pete Scazzero

Genesis 37:3 (NLT) —
3 Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe.

Genesis 37:4 (NLT) —
4 But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.

Genesis 37:18–20 (NLT) —
18 When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. 19 “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. 20 “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

*Genesis 37:31–33 (NLT) —
31 Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. 32 They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?” 33 Their father recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!” *

2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline.

2 Corinthians 3:17
For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

How to break generational sins?
1.

Questions to help process generational sins
We must process the past and our families of origin in order to move forward in our discipleship of Christ and break the cycle of generational sin in our lives. Below is a list of questions from the book Emotionally Healthy Discipleship that will help you think through your past.

1. How would you describe each family member (parents, caretakers, grandparents, siblings, etc.) with two or three adjectives?
2. How would you describe your parents’ (or caretakers’) and grandparents’ marriages?
3. How was conflict handled in your extended family over two to three generations? Anger? Gender roles?
4. What were some generational themes (for example, addictions, affairs, losses, abuse, divorce, depression, mental illness, abortions, children born out of wedlock, etc.)?
5. How well did your family do in talking about feelings?
6. How was sexuality talked or not talked about? What were the implied messages?
7. Were there any family “secrets” (such as an unwed pregnancy, incest, or financial scandal)?
8. What was considered “success” in your family?
9. How was money handled? Spirituality? Relationships with extended family?
10. How did your family’s ethnicity, race, culture shape you?
11. Were there any heroes or heroines in the family? Scapegoats? “Losers”? Why?
12. What addictions, if any, existed in the family?
13. What traumatic losses has your family suffered? For example, sudden death, prolonged illness, stillbirth/miscarriage, bankruptcy, or divorce?
14. What additional losses or wounds resulted from those traumatic losses? For example, loss of a nurturing childhood, loss of an emotionally available mother or father, loss of trust, etc.?

*Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Discipleship (pp. 170-171). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. *