4 weeks helping students heal from family wounds. Since most of us have spent more time with our families than normal over the past year or two, we’ve also probably noticed some areas of our family relationships that need to be restored. In the gospel, we discover that we belong to God’s family first and foremost. And when we see our family relationships through that gospel lens, it’ll influence our ability to forgive, our humility in conflict, and our expectations for what our families provide for us.

Video Messages Included

Week 1 (Colossians 1:2, 11-14 NLT)

Intro: Since you’ve probably spent more time with your family than ever over the past year or two, you’ve probably noticed that some of your family relationships need to be restored.

Truth: Paul highlights for us that, as Christians, our primary family is God’s family, and that that comes with an inheritance. There’s a lot we gain access to as God’s children that can help us navigate our family issues here on earth, but the big picture idea is that we no longer need to look to our flawed earthly families to fulfill our every need. Our family can never do for us what God can do for us, and realizing that will shift the way we interact with our family in healthy ways.

The Point: Don’t put your family where your Father should be

Week 2 (1 Peter 2:24 NLT)

Intro: We’ve all been on both ends of family wounds before—maybe even recently! “Hurt people hurt people,” as the saying goes. And in the aftermath of that vicious cycle of being hurt and then hurting others, one of two things often well up within us: shame or bitterness.

Truth: Fortunately, Jesus gives us the answer to both of those things in the gospel. When Jesus went paid for our sin, He took the blame we often cast on ourselves out of shame. And when He paved the way for the forgiveness of our sins, He began a better cycle for us to operate in than the one bitterness perpetuates. If hurt people hurt people, then forgiven people forgive people.

The Point: We forgive family because Father forgave us

Week 3 (Philippians 2:5-7 NLT)

Intro: Pride is when the universe revolves around you in a good way. Shame is when the universe revolves around you in a bad way. Both are common in the midst of conflict (especially familial conflict), and neither is helpful.

Truth: Fortunately, Jesus modeled an alternative for us when He exemplified humility in giving up His deity and dying for us. Pride is about you. Shame is about you. But humility is about the relationship. And, while it might seem difficult sometimes, and will definitely require help from the Holy Spirit, we’re called as believers to show others the same humility Christ secured our adoption by showing us.

The Point: Humility is the norm in God’s family

Week 4 (Psalm 16:5-11 NLT)

Intro: We want safety, security, and direction. And, for most of us, it feels like those are things we should get from our parents. But that doesn’t always happen, does it? So what do we do with that?

Truth: The psalmist who wrote Psalm 16 was in crisis mode when he declared absolute trust in God. He fully expected God to fully provide him with safety. He fully expected God to fully provide him with security. And he fully expected God to fully provide him with direction in life. And, like the psalmist, we would be better served to look not to imperfect humans as our ultimate source for those things, but to our perfect Father.

The Point: Father provides in full what family provides in part