FAMILY/FRIENDS  

Synopsis of Bible Study 01.13.21 

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III 

1. INTRODUCTION  

1. When you think about this Family and Friends, you have to think of God as a Master Artist. When an artist does a masterpiece, it reveals a lot about who the artist is. When you look things like galaxy or humanity, it reveals a lot about God and who he is. Having said that, when you look at humanity, you can see that it reveals a lot about how God feels about family.  

2. THE FAMILY IS A MASTERPIECE OF GOD’S CREATION  

1. Genesis 1:27-28 NKJV  
   So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  

1. God takes the idea of family serious. We are products of our family unit. We are products of the homes and environment we were raised in. Out of these homes and environments comes our values and beliefs.  

3. A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE ON FAMILY  

• Functionalism – The family performs functions for society. 

1. The Primary Unit for Socializing Children – The primary unit provides social identity for your kids. How your children become has a lot to do with what the environment is like in the home. 

2. Practical and Emotional Support – This controls how we are affirmed. It is the things that is poured in us. For example, “The thought that I can accomplish anything” or “No weapons formed against me will prosper” or “I have as much chance at this as anyone else”  

3. Social Identity – With family, children are given their Social Class. Our family has a huge role in our development. The devil says to himself, if he attacks our family and friendships, he can affect not just us, but generations up the road. For example, if your kids grow up seeing violence and dysfunction, this is what they know and this is what they will pass down. 

1. Families and Social Interaction – God creates us in his image. The essence of who you are is God. We were made in the image of God. 

2. This image of God should be what people see in us. God imagined what we should become when he created us, but family can affect what we really become. 

4. GOD’S CHARACTER IS REVEALED THROUGH FAMILY  

1. What Is God’s Character?  

1. Exodus 34:6-7 NKJV  
   And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” – This is the first description of God’s attributes found in the bible.  

2. The core of God is rooted in love and generosity. What upsets God is sin, but He is angry only out of love for us. 

2. Characteristics of God: 

1. Compassion- God had compassion for the children of Israel. When I understand the compassion of God, it brings me to another understanding about how I should feel about family. 

2. Grace – The grace that God bestows on me is what I don’t deserve. God blesses us even when we don’t deserve it. We must in turn give grace to our family. 

3. Slow to anger – God doesn’t stay angry long. He doesn’t hold a grudge. You have to ask yourself, is what I’m angry about worth holding on to? 

1. Fight for Family Not with Family – The family is under attack like never before. 

2. Building from Brokenness – You have to know the power of building from brokenness. Remember all the times when God was protecting what the enemy was trying to attack. Remember Hannah wanted a child so bad, but she couldn’t have one. She was broken. In the end, God blessed her with a child. There is nothing so broken that God can’t fix it.  

1. This is a season of restoration. You’ve got to be willing to fight for this thing. You have to know that the love of God will help you overcome anything.  

2. God has great plans for your family. You can’t let the enemy have the final say.  

3. You are a child’s first example of the love of God. If this is true, how do our kids view God. You have to be the example. Don’t drop your kids off at church and leave.  

5. WE EXPERIENCE GOD’S LOVE THROUGH FAMILY  

1. Proverbs 1:8 NKJV  
   My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother; – Pay attention! Some people’s work ethic comes from their family. The ways people interact with each other comes from what they learn from their family.  

1. When kids always retaliate, this is behavior learned from home.  

2. De-escalation strategies come from home. 

2. Luke 2:51-52 NKJV  
   Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. – Families are our support emotionally too. 

6. WE WERE CREATED FOR GODLY FRIENDSHIPS  

Genesis 2:18 NKJV  
And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” – God didn’t intend for us to be in isolation 

Proverbs 18:24 NKJV  
A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. – Real friends will be with you through all the seasons of your life. 

1. Self-Sacrificing – Good friendships never loose consistency. They are willing to sacrifice for the friendship.  

1. If you look at Jesus’ example of how he loved us and how he was there for us, you would treat your family differently. 

2. Fruit Bearing – No one wants to be in a non-productive situation. Before you reproduce, make sure you are producing fruit. Otherwise you produce a generation that produces nothing.  

7. CHARACTERISTICS OF A TRUE FRIEND  

1. Trustworthy – A true friend can be trusted, they understand confidentiality, they build you up, they are loving, and they have your back.  

2. Loving – You need somebody that loves you enough to tell you the truth. 

3. Open – They love you enough to tell you the truth. 

4. Respectful – They can listen without interrupting.  

5. Servant – They are willing to give up themselves to serve a larger purpose. 

6. Speaker of Truth – They are not afraid to tell you the truth.  

1. Proverbs 9:8 NKJV  
   Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. – If they can’t tell you that you are wrong, then you weren’t friends anyway. – They ought to be able to rebuke you, because they love you.  

7. Positive – Relationships need positive people. In Genesis 3, Adam is out of place and as a result, Eve is seduced by the Satan. This resulted in both Adam and Eve getting kicked out of the garden.  

8. Conclusion 

1. Cain killed Abel because of the disorder in the family unit.  

2. The decisions you make today, impact your sons and your daughters.  

3. You have to win the fight. Don’t go into the marriage if you not willing to fight for it. 

1. God brings couples together for a reason. This thing is bigger than we are.  

2. What relationships in your life, did the Devil disrupt, that was supposed to lead to something great? 

4. Families are not perfect, because you are not, but they are worth fighting for.  

5. In a story in the bible, a Father brings his son to Jesus that had a spirit in him that would throw him in water and in fire to try and destroy the boy. The Father bought his son to Jesus, because the disciples couldn’t help him.  

1. Jesus asks how long he had been like this and his Father says, “Since he was a child”. The son is dealing with something that wasn’t dealt with in his early life, which means the same flaw that allowed the spirit to come into the son, may be found inside the father too. This is the reason the father asks for Jesus to help them both and not just the son.  

2. Family effects more than just ourselves.