How To Redeem Your Family Name I Jentezen Franklin

0:00 Hello, this is Jensen Franklin, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. Our goal is to provide you with biblically-based teachings that will challenge, inspire, and equip you to live for Jesus. If you haven't already, I'd love for you to go ahead and subscribe today to this podcast so you can get the latest updates from us and you don't ever have to miss a new message. Let's go right into the service. Record it at Free Chapel. I believe it's going to bless you today.

0:33 The thing that I want to bring your attention to as you open your Bibles with me to the book of Numbers chapter 26. Thank you so much. Is Genesis 12 and 3 and out of all the families. I will bless all the families through Israel. All of the families of the earth. shall be blessed because of you. He's referring to Israel. And I want to preach today on how to redeem your family name. I want you to look at this story with me in Numbers 26 and verse 9. And the sons of Eliab, Nemel, and Dathan, and Abiram, This is that Dathan and that Abiram, which were famous in the congregation who strove against Moses. That's what they were famous for, against Aaron in the company of Korah, who was their leader.

1:35 They strove against the Lord. Verse 10, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah. When that company died, what time the fire devoured 250 men and they became a sign. Verse 11 is so powerful. Notwithstanding, the children of Korah died not. The word notwithstanding means in spite of this. In spite of this, the sons lived on.

2:19 This is an amazing text. In spite of the fact that their father, and you can read the whole story, he's referring to Numbers chapter 16. The whole story in great detail is told in Numbers chapter 16. I won't take time to read that this morning. I'm going to preach on this this Sunday and next Sunday, Lord willing, because I have a word from the Lord that I feel is critically important for families. I'm telling you, I believe this in my heart.

2:54 But in number 16, it tells the story of how that not only did Korah and these other men and their sons, all the other men that named four leaders, And all of their sons died with them and their daughters died with them when the earth opened up and fire shot out and consumed them. But it says that they not only lost what they had in their lives, not only did Korah die, his wife die, not only did they lose their cattle, their sheep, their tent, everything they possess, their wealth, their clothes, all consume. 250 families under extreme judgment of God are consumed by fires. The earth swallows them up. and then it says that in spite of this that one word notwithstanding in spite of this these sons of Korah when you read of the sons of Korah they show up again in the Bible in the book of Psalms they wrote 11 chapters of the book of Psalms in songwriting They are the ones who wrote Psalms 47 and 1 that begins, clap your hands, all you people, and shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

4:32 It goes down a few verses, and then it says, and make sure that when you do this, you praise with understanding of where we should have ended up and the miracle that we're experiencing because our father chose to rebel and our mother chose to rebel. Our whole family was swallowed up by flames and sunk and perished. And we should have been part of that judgment of God. It should have fell on our lives, but they separated themselves. they made a choice. They made a choice to say, our family name is not going down like that. If mama doesn't want to praise God and live for God, and if she wants to be bitter against Moses and against Aaron, the high priest, if daddy or grandpa and the whole family cuss and make fun of church and make fun of God and hate those preachers and want to live their life that's in rebellion against God, that's your choice.

5:44 But there were sons of Korah who separated themselves because decisions are distinguishing. When you make a, it's not the way that I need to go and I can't follow in your footsteps, dad. And those sons made such a decision that they pulled themselves away from their own flesh and blood because they knew their dad was bitter. You see, their father was part of the priesthood, but he had what he thought was an insignificant job. You know what his job was? God gave commandment. This is all again in number 16, that they would keep and take care of the brazen altar. And their job was because it was a portable tabernacle. and when the cloud moved, the people had to move.

6:40 And so God gave commandment that the son, Korah and his sons, were to carry the brazen altar. It was to be covered. Listen to this. This is so important. This is so important. The brazen altar, what was that? That's where the sacrifice was laid and split open, and the blood was applied. You can't get to the Ark of the Covenant. And what bothered him was Aaron and his sons, the high priests, were given the responsibility. They got to carry the Ark of the Covenant. And his position seemed so much less than, oh, Aaron and his family. And he got bitter, and he got angry, envious, and jealous. And he said, oh, it's a family thing, because you remember Aaron was Moses' brother. So it's a family thing. And he's mad and he's saying, this isn't fair.

7:33 We have to carry, listen to how the Bible describes the brazen altar when it was to be moved. It was covered with a, I'm quoting right out of the Bible, a purple scarlet cloth. And then beneath the purple scarlet cloth was a badger skin, an old animal skin, a badger skin. It was smelly. If you've ever smelled blood of an animal and it was smelly, it was kind of gross. It had stains. It was covered in a badger skin and you had to get up under the staff and with your sons and kind of like carrying a coffin or something and carry it on your shoulder. And it was, nobody was clapping. Nobody was saying, oh, wow, they were all going crazy when Aaron and his sons were carrying the Ark of the Covenant. Look at that. And it got in his heart to be bitter, to hate the preacher Moses, to hate the preacher Aaron, to curse the ministry. And Moses calls them before him. This is in Numbers 16. And he calls a meeting of the 250. They all, they cause an insurrection and they get to the temple or to the tent of the tabernacle, and they're saying, we're going to take over.

8:59 We're going to get rid of Moses. We're going to get rid of Aaron. We're taking over this whole thing. And Moses asked one question. He said, I want to ask you, Korah, is it, quote, a small thing? Numbers 26 and 7 or 9. Is it a small thing that the God of Israel has chosen you? Have you forgotten where you came from? Is it a small thing to you that you get the privilege of serving in the tabernacle? Is it a small thing to you that you get to take care of the altar of sacrifice? He didn't understand. He thought it was unimportant. He thought it wasn't as glorious. But you can't get to the Ark of the Covenant unless you come through the altar of sacrifice.

9:55 It was a picture of Calvary. That altar of sacrifice is where the blood was shed. Notice the purple colored linen cloth is the purple robe that they tore from Jesus. Notice that the blood was shed all over the place. he was carrying the very image and symbol and type of the cross of Calvary. And yet he had become so egomaniac, such an egomaniac, so full of pride, so full of himself, that he felt like that it was a put down for him to have to do some job that he didn't get any praise and glory. He even made this statement, why does Aaron get to be the priest? I ought to be the priest.

10:49 And that's when Moses said, has it become a small thing? I just want to preach right here. I'm trying my best. Sometimes you think that when you're doing something for the Lord and you're volunteering and you're working, and these people that make ministry happen all around here every time we gather, it may seem like you're unseen and other people see the platform and see what preachers doing and what singers are doing and what all of these are important. We all have our place, but here's the point that I want to make. Hey, Cora, run in your lane. Quit being envious and jealous of somebody else's gift because what you're doing for the Lord is hugely important. He had no idea that he was carrying the blood of sacrifice that would be a type of the blood of Jesus and Calvary. He was carrying the cross on his shoulder and his sons had the privilege. But Moses had to remind him, is it a small thing that you're sitting in church this morning? Is it a small thing that you have not been swallowed up by the fires of hell? Is it a small thing that you are right at free chapel and you shouldn't be a part of the kingdom of God, but he's washed you in the blood and he's cleansed you in the blood and he's pronounced you holy by the blood.

12:18 Has it become a small thing? Is everything about you? That's why when they wrote, clap your hands, all you people, and shout unto God with triumph, they were saying, we were not supposed to be here. Praise with this understanding. Hell should have swallowed us. Hell should have destroyed us. We deserve judgment. But the grace and the mercy seat can only be accessed through the blood of the altar of sacrifice.

12:54 Oh, I need somebody to shout unto God. You were not supposed to be in this service, even in prison. The devil never thought you would find peace and forgiveness and cleansing. But that's the power of the blood. Take a praise break, everybody. And clap your hands and shout. Don't do a little golf clap. But shout like you ought to shout. Is it a little thing to you that your family has been blessed and not cursed? Wow. How dare us just come in here and clap our hands and praise the Lord. No, no, no, no, no. It must never be a little thing. It must be the main thing of our life. Not your money, not your house, not your car, not anything the world can offer. Not your entertainment.

13:52 He must seek first the kingdom and all of these things will be added unto you. Hallelujah. Why do I scream? Did you see me? I was trying to calm down. I was trying to take it down. My mind was saying, keep going down. Keep going down. Hallelujah.

14:18 I know one thing. If it weren't for the Lord, you know the sons of Korah were the ones who started a chant and a response. I learned that this week. I didn't know that. But they're the ones who wrote, had it not been for the Lord. And then they said, now let Israel say, had it not been for the Lord.

14:40 And there's, what do you call it? Call and response. Call and response. So I'm calling and you need to respond. Shout unto God and clap your hands like it's a Pentecost. Hallelujah. The flames almost got me. The flames, I should, I deserved it. But he plucked me out of the fire. Oh, hallelujah. That's worth more than a million dollars. That means more. If you're saved, you're blessed. Come on, praise him just a minute. I don't know if I'll go anywhere. Praise him like he ought to. Do it with understanding of how close. How close are you a big shot now?

15:34 Are you a big Pete that you can't praise the Lord? Something's wrong with you. Lord, let the fire of Holy Ghost, instead of the earth swallowing you up, he opened the windows of heaven and he poured you out his favor, his mercy, his forgiveness and his goodness. Thank you. You're only alive now because angels held the sword of justice back and said, give him one more chance. The blood commands that he be given, she be given one more chance.

16:27 Fentanyl should have killed you. The car wreck should have killed you. The gun should have killed you. I want you to notice something else. Just that word. I could just preach on that word.

16:56 Notwithstanding. Meaning in spite of. In spite of the fact dad didn't want to serve God and granddad was cursing the preacher. and mama and them hated the church and the leaders of the church because that's how they try to get to you because the preachers hurt them or messed up or whatever. Looking unto Jesus. Don't you get your eyes on me. Don't you get to thinking that I'm a saint. But looking unto Jesus.

17:36 I tell you, give me Jesus. If daddy don't want to serve him, I'm going to serve him. Those sons of Korah said, if mama is not going to go to heaven, I'm going to go to heaven. I'm not going to go to hell. I'm not going to let the flames have my babies. And some of you have been raised in sin and raised in... I always have to remind myself that not everybody had the blessing of having a dad saved and filled with the Holy Ghost and a mom saved and filled with the Holy Ghost. I have been blessed. My wife has been blessed with her mother's side. But what I'm saying to you simply is this. our attitude infects other people. And when he got a bitter, angry, mean, ugly attitude, it got in his friends, it got in his family, except for the sons.

18:41 It got in 250 of the famous families in that congregation. because when you start listening to people who are bitter against God, bitter against the church, bitter against preachers, bitter against a spiritual Moses or a spiritual Aaron, you let God take care of them. The Bible said that it'll be greater damnation for the teachers of the gospel. The Bible said no man takes this unto himself. You better understand to whom much is committed, much is required. And so, notwithstanding, the sons, it says this in Numbers 16, the sons of Dathom and Abiram were destroyed with their fathers.

19:41 But the sons of Korah were not. It's a classic case of father's decisions affects the kids. It's a classic case. But here's what I want you to understand. If daddy did it, if mama did it, if everybody in your family did it, it doesn't mean that you have to do it. By the blood and the grace of Jesus Christ, you can redeem your family name. Every family, your family name, Franklin. When you say Franklin, there are images that come up. What are they about? Rockefeller, you just thought money.

20:28 Tiger Woods, you just thought golf. Every family, Smith and whoever you are out there, you need to understand your family name is associated with something. Right choices are wrong choices. and sometimes we need to make up our mind, I'm gonna start a new family tradition. I'm not, I'm sorry, I love you. I can see the sons of Corinth. Dad, I love you, I'm hugging you. Mom, I love you so much, but that life, I can't. I can't be around that bitterness. I can't, I'll come to Christmas and I'll come and I'll call and we'll eat. Let's just have some boundaries and set up some, I'm just giving this, this probably wasn't in there, But let's set up some boundaries of what we can talk about just to get along. Because I'm not going to let you talk about my Moses.

21:20 And I'm not going to let you run down my house and my tabernacle. It means too much to me. I feel God's presence when I get back there with that Ark of the Covenant. And it does something. It holds my marriage together. It holds my mind together. It keeps me free from the flames of hell that I know I would quickly slip into. and every one of you, one day a preacher's gonna stand over your coffin, and your family name is gonna have something attached like a trailer of who you were all about and what you were all about. And I don't want my family name to have any name other than Jesus glorified more than anything else. You may have been raised by a hellion, but you don't have to be one.

22:30 you don't have to keep on those family traditions of alcoholism and drug addiction and prison and all of that you made mistakes there's grace but you can change the shame off of your family name it's not over if you're breathing if you're alive he can take what the devil has cursed and out of you, O Israel, will come a blessing on all the families that will receive the Messiah, Jesus Christ. You don't have to walk in generational curses. Jesus can get in your genetics.

23:15 The Holy Ghost can become your heritage. Whoa! I feel like shouting on that one myself. Whoa! My daddy used to preach, and when he'd really get excited, I just saw him do it in my mind. he would say, whoopee for Jesus. I'd like to hear him scream it. He'd scream it. Whoopee for Jesus. Well, turn to somebody and say, whoopee for Jesus. I got Jesus in my genetics and it's stronger than alcoholism. It's stronger than shame. It's stronger than prostitution. It's stronger than sexual immorality and child abuse and wife beating. It's stronger. Jesus can set you free and he can remove the shame from your family. Hallelujah.

24:11 you can overcome what you came up in. I want to close with this. Hank Williams, I hope they got it up here. Yeah, they got it. Hank Williams Sr. died a country star. He's one of the most famous country stars who ever lived and wrote songs. He wrote songs like, You're cheating, heart. we'll tell on you He wrote this one. Hey, good looking.

24:58 What you got cooking? How about cooking something up for me? Oh, you act like you're little saints with wings. You know that song, you heathen. Down there at the scooting boot dancing last night. It's your little cowboy boots on. There's a tear in my beer. Don't start singing that in the house of God. You're going to get swallowed up. But think about that. 29 years of age had everything gone.

25:49 His son, Hank Williams Jr., wrote a song, and he said, Hank, why do you drink? Hank, why do you roll smoke? Why must you live out the songs that you wrote? Over and over, everybody made my prediction. So if I get stoned, I'm just carrying an old family tradition. I'm proud of my daddy's name, although his kind of music and mine ain't exactly the same. Stop and think it over. Put yourself in my position. If I get stoned and sing all night long, it's a family tradition. so don't ask me. Lordy, I have loved some ladies, and I have loved Jim Bean, and they both tried to kill me in 1973. When the doctor asked me, son, how'd you get in this condition? I said, hey, Sawbones, I'm just carrying on an old family tradition.

27:00 What if we had people who were willing to step away and say, I've seen where that violence goes, that anger goes, that hatred goes, that bitterness between family goes. I've seen it, and I don't want to pass that to my children and my children's children. I don't want our family name to be that.

27:32 Oh, God, help me. I feel this thing that I've shared. You're watching me by television. The enemy's doing everything he can to destroy your family. But I believe the Lord has showed up in your house today or wherever you're watching this. And he's saying you can rename your family name. I'm going to start some new family traditions. Fasting is what this church has started as a new tradition. Prayer and Bible reading and praying over the meal and holding hands and loving and forgiving, calling, going to church.

28:14 Not hit, skip, and miss, but this is our family tradition. You know how they did it? Do you know how the sons of Korah ended up in the book of Psalms? Three ways. they kept worshiping. They kept going to the house of God. It was a priority. It was the center of their life. They would sing, they would worship, and they would serve. They said, Daddy thought it was a little thing. But to us, the biggest thing in our life is not the kind of car we drive or the neighborhood we live in.

29:06 That's all byproducts of hard work in God's favor and God's help. And we thank God for it. We use it. And even though you think it's yours, somebody will be living in it 100 years from now, and it won't be yours. All that really matters is that I can rename my family name. It doesn't have to be addiction. It doesn't have to be shame. It doesn't have to be anger. It doesn't have to be divorce.

29:53 It doesn't have to be abuse. It doesn't have to be, I'm going to go on out on limb. It doesn't have to be poverty. I know the plans I have for you to prosper you. But it only happens when you don't just come into church with your arms folded, but you praise with understanding. I shouldn't even be here. With the family that I came from and the background that I can't. I should not. it's a miracle that I can clap my hands. I did some, hundreds of you didn't have a father ever in your life, but you're a great father. You know what happened? Jesus got in your genetics and he started bending all those tendencies to go that way.

30:50 Oh, can you lift your hands and praise in just a moment? He's the God of our families. And I feel so heavy right now that God wants to rename. How to rename your family. How to remake your family name. It all begins at the very thing Korah rejected, the altar of sacrifice where Jesus, he was torn apart, nailed, and bled and died for your sins of your house and my sins of my house. Thank you for the blood.

31:48 thank you for the blood can you just say thank you for the blood that was Jesus in your genetics thank you for the blood Stand to your feet. No one moving, please. Every campus. I feel led to do something different this morning. If you want this, if you desire this, Thank you. if you want to redeem your family name, maybe the enemy has one of your loved ones so deceived, tightly gripped.

32:39 But you can redeem your family name. All it takes was the sons of Korah, and the name Korah will not be associated with the failure of that family. It is forever praising God and glorifying God in 11 chapters of the book of Psalms. Little scriptures like this. Somebody wrote a song out of it. As the deer panted for the water. Guess who wrote that? The sons of Korah.

33:12 Somebody else wrote a song. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. Guess who wrote that song? the sons of Korah. It says it on the top of your Bible, the sons of Korah, the sons of Korah. You can rename, you can redeem your family name. I really want to say thank you for joining us this week. If you haven't already, make sure you click on the subscription button and leave us a review. It helps this podcast reach even more people when you comment, when you give us your feedback. For more messages and inspirational materials, download the Jensen Franklin app. Or you can head over to jensenfranklin.org. I want to thank all of you who give generously to help us produce weekly content like this to reach the world with the message of Jesus.

34:13 God bless you and we'll see you next time.