OUR INHERITANCE IN CHRIST / PASTOR NEIL HOPPER

Let's open the will and see what our inheritance is in Christ. 

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Transcript

Speaker 0:01

Welcome to the Christian Lake Christian Center Podcast. Our church exists to see lives transformed through a relationship with Jesus. We pray this message helps you continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. You can find us online at clcc.church.

Speaker 1 0:22

I want to take just a few minutes and I want to talk to you today about your inheritance in Christ. We all have an inheritance in Christ. And if you don't know what your inheritance is, and if you're unsure what God has for you and what the Bible says, then you won't understand what Christ died for and the inheritance. It's the reason he gave us what's called a last will and testament. Any of you ever received anything as an inheritance? You got something as an inheritance. Amen. Right back there. We got a little small inheritance. We got some. Anybody got a little bit of an inheritance? Maybe a big one? I don't know. Here's what you need to know is that you didn't receive your inheritance when you died. You received your inheritance when he died. And there's an inheritance that we have in Christ that people like E. W. Kenyon said, we haven't even opened up the wheel. We haven't even fully understood all that God has for us. Because we have what's called a last will and testament. So once you go down and the wheel is probated, which means there's a legal side to the gospel. Not legal as in being a legalist, not legal as in Ten Commandments legal, but there is a legal side to the gospel. And here's why that's important. Because you have to be justified by faith. That's a legal thing. Otherwise, you're not justified, and that would make you a sinner. That would still make you uh that would make you out in the world living your own life. But once you come into Christ, once you have stepped over into him and he's stepped into you, now I'm in him and he's in me, and I have to understand by opening the book exactly what I have in him and what's available to me. And if you spend your life praying for things that he's already said you could have, you will be a frustrated believer. Some of the most frustrated people in church this morning are people who are frustrated because they're believing for something that they think they don't have and they haven't accessed by faith what Christ has already died for them to have. And so if you understand our inheritance in Christ, then you'll understand where I'm I'm headed this morning. So yeah, I just it's been just brewing in my spirit, just over and over, just been meditating on this for a number of days, and I shared some of this on Wednesday night. And uh I'll start with this story. There's a story about uh the great D.L. Moody, the great preacher D.L. Moody. And at one point in D.L. Moody's life, uh, his house burned down and he lost everything. He lost everything. And uh some of the people who were standing around with uh with Brother Moody after he had lost everything, they said, Brother Moody, I guess you feel terrible. You've lost everything. He said, Oh no, I haven't lost everything. I haven't lost everything. And they said, Well, you must have some money stuck back somewhere or a bank account or something we don't know about because we didn't know you had any money. And he flipped his Bible over to Romans chapter 21 and verse 7, and he read this verse He that overcometh shall inherit all things. And I will be his God, and he and he shall be my son. Now we know the person who ultimately overcame all things and is overcoming, has overcome and will always be the ultimate overcomer, his name is Jesus. And we exalt him, but we are in him. If you go into the New Testament and you were to just begin to think about all of the verses that talk about us being in Christ, I'm in him. And because I'm in him and because I understand what God has for me, see, inheritance it comes by birthright. You the reason we say you have to be born again is because you were born into a new family. The reason you have an inheritance in him is because you were born again into a completely different family. In fact, the the New Testament calls it adoption unto sons. You've been adopted as a son, you are a part of the family. If any of you know anything about adoption, and I know some of you do, um, once you legally adopt a son or a daughter, they are just as much an heir as the rest of the children. They're legally just as much an heir as the rest of the children. And so I'll start with this, and you have to understand this. We were born again into a different family. I have a birthright. You remember a guy named Esau sold his birthright. So he sold his birthright. But uh today I want to look at it from a couple of perspectives. First of all, I believe that one of the things that we have missed in modern Christianity is that we haven't passed down an inheritance to our children and our children's children. Now, a good man leaves an inheritance for his children and his children's children, and I think we've done okay financially where that is concerned. There's not anybody in here, whether you can give your kids hundreds of thousands or millions, or you can just give them what little you have been able to save and a house that you bought or whatever. You want to pass that down. But I also want you to understand that there is a spiritual inheritance. We don't just have a natural inheritance, we have a spiritual inheritance that we got. First of all, whether you know it or not, you got an inheritance called life. Life. Try that over here. So we talked last week, Romans chapter 8 says, therefore now no condemnation, then which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, for the law of the spirit of life, not the law of condemnation, not the law of sin and death, but what did we inherit? You inherited life. In fact, we call it eternal life. And I've told y'all many times, I came up in this church years ago, the life preachers used to come. There were men and women who came here and taught the word and preached the word. We called them life preachers because they wasn't accepting no death, no kind of way. They was going to walk in life. Now, many of them went by the way of the grave. Having said that, I know some of those who have who lived life to the fullest into their 80s and into their 90s. They were life preachers and they believed that life was their inheritance. They believed that we walk, that there is a spirit of life. Look at your neighbor and say, you have a spirit of life. We are overcomers and we have a spirit of life. For the law of the spirit of life. See, I'm still a life preacher. I'm okay if you have life to the, you know, so I inherit some of it now and I get some of it later to the fool. But what I'm concerned is is there are Christians who are not living out all that God has for them right now. You have access. I'll say it this way. If your rich uncle left you a million, and nobody told you about it, you didn't know. You didn't know your uncle, you didn't, you barely even knew him, but he he knew you and knew you were a part of the family, and he decided he was going to leave you a million. Well, first of all, until you have read the will and it's been probated, you probably wouldn't even know that unless you communicate with whoever said rich uncle is. You wouldn't even know. So you you have you had this inheritance, but you don't know anything about it. So you don't have what? You don't have access to it. You you have it, it's yours, and I'm afraid a lot of people haven't opened up their Bibles and read the inheritance that they already have, and they're waiting on another day. So let me just take some scripture for a minute and talk to you uh from uh a couple of perspectives. First of all, go with me to the book of Luke, and I I'll I'll take it a step further than where we went on on Wednesday. So if you were to go to where I need to be, if you were to go to Luke chapter 15, here's where I started. There are two brothers. In fact, I to understand the context of what we're talking about here in Luke chapter 15, in Luke 15, there is a lost sheep, there's a lost coin, and there's a lost son. There are three things that have been lost. We don't have time to get into all three of those things and what they represent and what they mean. What we do have time for is we do have time to look at two brothers. Now, I would make the argument after I've looked at it for a few weeks now, I would make the argument that the older brother represents the law and the younger brother represents grace. You get to live out of either one of those. And in fact, I would even make the argument that sometimes you're a little more older brother than younger brother. You're a little more stay-at-home brother and be mad than you are little brother who takes his and runs off and lives, spends all of his living in what they call riotous living, right? So you understand anytime you see two things in Scripture like that, oftentimes those two things represent the two different covenants. One's old covenant, one is law. I don't I have to earn it, I've got to stay here, I've got to do Father's will, I'm gonna stay right here, and then there's the other brother that understands he wants his now, and he's gonna take it and leave. And so let's pick up the story in the let's go to um, let's see, where do I want to go? I want to go to Luke 15, but I want to go down to verse 11. Can we go to 11, please? Thank you, Miss Sheila. Thank you. A certain man had two sons. So we're talking about two sons here. We focus on the prodigal son, but we will focus on the inheritance first, and then we'll talk about the second son later. So a certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion. Give me the portion of the goods that falleth to me. And what did the father do? He divided unto them his living. He divided to the two sons his living. I want you to understand what he just said was, I want my inheritance and I want it now. I want what's coming to me and I want it now. In some circles, they would teach you that what he actually was saying was, I wish you were dead so I could get my money. I wish you were already dead so I could have what's coming to me. And so, as terrible as that is, so the deal is, do I wait? And this is something you have to figure out this morning by faith, do I wait for it all to the day I get to heaven? Or do I believe that he has an inheritance in Christ and I inherit much of that now? In fact, much of that should be things we're walking in now. Will I get the full reward one day when I get to heaven? Of course. When you die, you do, um, are we okay? You do want to go to heaven if the Lord tarries. You do want to be in heaven. Am I right? You're gonna get a full reward when you're there. But because we're here, let's talk about today. Let's talk about what's yours already. So he said, he says to the Father, I want my inheritance. And you know what? I think it with a right spirit, that's still an okay ask. But here's what he said in that culture. He said, I wish you were dead. So I want, this is what he said. He said, I want what you provide, but I don't want you. I prefer your possessions over your presence. There's the church for the most part. We have preferred, we have preferred what he could do for us, and when we sing, I just want to be with you, just want to be with you. King of glory. Feel this place. Just want to be with you. Or you have the other spirit that says, I want what's mine, so I can do what I want to. He's rejecting relationship, but he wants what's his. That can never work in the life of a believer. Everything we believe flows out of relationship. It all flows out of relationship. And so you can say, I want what you have, but I don't want you. Told this story many times. I have to tell it again. My friend from many, many years ago preached next door, and she had a 15-year-old daughter, and she tells the story about buying a brand new pair of white tennis shoes. And she said, I sent my daughter off to school the first week with brand new white tennis shoes. And of course, at 15, she found her forever love, as you might imagine. She was so in love. She said she started writing his name on everything. She said, I came home one afternoon, and my daughter had written his name all over those white shoes. She said, it was on her book covers, it was on everything. She said that girl was putting that boy's name on everything she had. It was on her blue jeans, it was on her books, it was on everything. And Connie McCarley tells the story. She said, I went into her room and opened the door one day, and I said, You know what? I don't know if you love him, but I know you love his name. And she said, There's a lot of you that love his name. You love what he can do for you, you love the provisions that he can give, you love the blessings, but you really don't want that relationship with the Father. You haven't taken that next step because everything we have is relational. We have preached for years here that it's not a religion, it's a relationship. Always has been, and it always will be. If you want the blessing, you have to be willing to abide. So many want the blessing without abiding. John chapter 15 talks about abiding in Christ. We want the inheritance, but we don't want the intimacy. Number two, our inheritance is always rooted in our sonship. They only get this because they're sons. And if you don't know that you are no longer a slave, but a son, I came here this morning to announce to you and to remind some of you that you are a son of the living God. In fact, the Bible says this you are an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Now, here's what you this makes religious people mad. You get the same thing Jesus gets. I can't be a joint heir and not get the same thing that he gets. If I'm a joint heir, I get the same inheritance that he gets. Just let that sink in for a minute. Like, how where does that stop? I legally have a right to everything he suffered, bled, and died, and rose again for me to have. I legally have a right. I have a right because of the relationship, because I've been born into a family. That's what being born again and taking on a new name is all about. So look at this. Romans chapter 8, verses 16 and 17 says this. Romans chapter 8, verses 16 and 17 says, the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirits, with our spirit, that we are children of God. Verse 17, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. There's more, I'm convinced that there's more than that God wants to do. And there's more for us to pass down. Thank God, if we could, I want you to just go with me and think about this. To my knowledge, every great revival that we've had in history, it didn't continue. Not because people weren't stirred up and woo, it's a revival. It's because that the spirit of that thing wasn't passed down and the next generation didn't inherit. And so what happens is, is we have one generation that experiences a great move of God. It could be healing revivals, it could be just revival where we see many souls come into the kingdom and all that. But we what happens is, is, is we don't pass that same spirit, that same hunger. See, I still have a hunger for passing something down to the next generation that is powerful, that is life-sustaining. Some of you will remember a number of years ago, uh, my sons are 29 and 30 now, but I begin to be concerned because I've been in this church so long, we had great moves of God. We had revivals and outpourings, we had healings, and God did good things. But I realized there was a point that my sons had been raised in the church, and I wanted them to have a real experience with God. I'm not talking about, you know, I'm not talking about they weren't saved. Both of my sons were born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit. But I'm talking about one of those moments, one of those real experiences with God, and I knew they were getting ready to go up to Dr. Hiles' place and Pastor Lisa's place in West Virginia where they had gone for youth camp. And youth camp was so powerful for my kids, for Krissa, for some of the other kids that were around here back in the day. They had, I mean, transformational experiences. So I said in my mind, I'm gonna start praying because I knew summertime was coming. And it was about this time of year. I said, I'm gonna start praying and fasting. That we we we know they're born again, right? So your sons and daughters may be born again. I want them, praise God they're born again. That's the first step. Got to be saved, right? Got to be born again. Secondly, I wanted my kids to have a, I mean, Holy Ghost experience. I mean, I want them to be filled to overflowing. I wanted them to experience an outpouring of God where I'm not talking about Pentecostal nonsense. I'm talking about something that's genuine. And I begin to fast and pray, God give them, and I I I won't be there. So it ain't gonna be tied to mama and daddy. While they're there, give them an I mean, pour out your spirit, not just on mine, but on every kid there, so that they have a genuine experience. I want to see them have an inheritance that they begin to walk in now, and then when their kids come along, I don't have grandkids yet, but they the one of the, y'all keep praying. Keep praying. We, you know. But when the grandkids come along, I want to see the anointing that's on me, the blessing that's on Lori, the blessing that's on our family. I want to see it transferred to my children, listen, and my children's children. I believe we have a right. We have an inheritance, we have something that God has given us, and it can grow. Do you know what happens? Some of you will know this. You know what happens with financial wealth when you put it in a 401k or you begin to. What happens, Jeff? Now all of a sudden, what you're gonna give your kids, your children, and your children's children isn't just it isn't just a few little hundred dollars. Now they have something so that they have generational wealth. They have generational money. Think about this. We live in a culture, whoo, I gotta slow down because as you can see, we live in a culture where even buying a starter home is almost impossible these days. Right? Think about an inheritance where it's not just you see, I'm taking both sides. We have a spiritual inheritance. If I can't pass anything else down to my children, I want them to have that. But I would like for them to have both, and I think it's possible. So, what am I here to say? I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told the people Wednesday night. You have every right to believe God for generational blessing, generational this inheritance that comes on you that you pass down through generations. You pass down. Um so one generation testifies to another and to another, and hopefully it grows. See, but in our spiritual inheritance, because I know I'm going between the two, but stay with me. So, in our spiritual experience, I want them to experience more of God's glory, more of God's power, more of God's anointing. I want them to walk in a greater anointing than their dad ever thought. I want them to see revival in a way and refreshing and renewal and outpouring and a moving of God's spirit. You are aware that the next generation needs a move of God. You are aware that our children's children need to experience. You are aware that your grandkids, if you're not praying and fasting for anybody else, pray and fast for your children's children, that they will see an outpouring in this nation and around the world. Right? There has to be this thing. So I'm gonna have to hurry because I knew I was gonna run out of time, but this is such a big topic. Um, you only can cover so much at one time. But let's just, I'm gonna go back and uh let's look at a couple of things here. First of all, Galatians 4, 7 says, Therefore, you are no longer slaves, but you're a son. And if you're a son, then an heir through God, through the gracious act of God in Christ. You don't earn inheritance, you're born into it. It's the reason you have to be born again. So this younger brother, this younger son, he did not become a son the day he returned. He was always a son. He was always a son. And when we begin to mismanage our inheritance, as this guy did, if we want to take that route and say, hey, in um in verse 13 of Luke chapter 15, the Bible says he went out and he wasted his substance on riotous living. The issue wasn't receiving an inheritance early, the issue was knowing how to handle everything that God has given you and trying to handle what God has given you outside of a relationship with him. It's the reason I tell you over and over, your relationship with him touches every other relationship in your life. The way you handle career, the way you handle money, the way you handle family, the way you handle daily life, the way your relationship with him touches every, you cannot, do you know people who exclude God from Monday morning? Like there, I have a, y'all know Billy, my friend Billy Williams, who was here with us for so many years and worked at the station, he used to tell me, he would laugh and say, Neil, I don't think you get the fact that some people's Sunday morning Christianity don't carry over to their Monday morning business deals. And I was like, How can it not? How can it not? And he said, Well, in my family, it did, you know, whatever you needed to do to make some money, you just did it. So what happened on Sunday morning didn't affect their Monday morning. That's handling the blessing of God, that's handling what God has given you outside of a relationship with Him. That relationship, you have to make Him Lord of all. He's Lord of all. Amen. So here's the thing God is not afraid to bless you. But the concern is blessing will either do one or two things to you. It will either anchor you or separate you. It'll anchor you or it'll separate you. Poverty, here's what poverty will do, and this is the this is why I have to stay on the financial side of it. Poverty doesn't make you humble, it makes you angry. I'll try that over here. Poverty don't make you, it makes, you know, so it's it's not you're gonna get a Corvette Lyrijet in a house by the lake, but I'll tell you what, I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging bread. I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging bread. You have a right to a blessing if you are in right relationship with him, you should expect a blessing. You should expect him to pour out blessing on your life. So poverty reveals forgotten identity, and here's how I know that. If you know this story, then here's what you know. So this younger son takes everything he has and he goes into a far country and he connects with somebody he shouldn't be connected with, and he ends up, here's a Jewish boy feeding hogs. And he's he's so hungry, he says, Well, I tell you what, I may just eat the husk. I think I'm gonna eat some of this hog food. Right? You do know Jewish people like the real kosher, they don't do the hog thing, right? We sure are sorry for them. Had pork chops this week, they were amazing. Amen. So here's the deal poverty will make you mad, right? It it that's the reason I say there has to be a blessing that comes with it. Doesn't mean you don't have to go to work, doesn't mean that you don't have to do the right things, doesn't mean it it what it means is if you're walking in God's will, doing what he tells you to do, and just being obedient to what the Spirit of God shows you to do, you have every right to believe that his blessing is gonna come on you because here's what happens. You know when this guy comes to himself, poverty reveals identity, a wrong one. And here's how I know when he gets into that pig, when he's in that pig pen, he says, I'm going back to my daddy's house. He said, I'm gonna go to my daddy's house. He comes to when the Bible says, and when he came to himself, when he recognized he was living out of a false identity, he really he realizes uh this is not God's best for me. Amen. Anybody say, anybody say, man, I I don't know. I mean, look, it's okay. Whatever you believe, what you're believing for, it's okay for you to believe for more. Here's one thing that I had to stop getting irritated about. God had to deal with me about this. Sometimes we get angry at preachers and they're on TV. And listen, I heard Gloria Copeland say this. I don't, I'm, I'm not touting the Copelands or any such thing. You may not like them, but I did hear her say this one day. She said, I don't know why people are mad at me. She said, Everything I got, I got by inheritance. I didn't steal any money from anybody. She said, I got what I got through inheritance. In other words, God blessed me with it. She said, Don't be mad at me, because God blessed me with it. Now you could say, well, you know, you can give all kinds of things. Well, they, you know, they were teaching people wrong doctrine, all those things. Look, I'm not going to get into all that. I don't, if I don't give to them, I ain't going to judge them. Right? I'm just, I that's the way I'm about most preachers. I'm not going to be critical. First of all, I don't know them. Never met them. But one thing I do know is you have a right to be blessed. You may never have, you, you, listen. If you struggle with finances, you have every right to believe and pray. Every seed I've sown, every gift I've ever given, you have a right to call it forth in Jesus' name. You have a right if you are a seed sower, a giver, a tither, if you if you've been generous, listen, you have every right to believe that every seed you have ever sown, declare it out of your mouth. Lord, I thank you that every seed I've ever sown will bring forth, and I will receive a harvest. What does the enemy come to steal in Malachi? He comes to steal our harvest. He comes to steal our harvest. So you may not get the Corvette, the Lyard, in the house by the lake. But you definitely won't be begging bread, I can promise you that. So the Bible says, when he came to himself, this guy goes off, spends his money, connects with the wrong people. I don't even have time to talk about connecting with the wrong people. He goes to a far country, according to Luke chapter 15. If you go back and read the story, he goes to a far country. And I'm covering so much ground this morning that's so much good stuff in there. And the Bible says he's connected with the wrong people. You know what happens to our young people and we older people, when we connect with the wrong people, we end up with the wrong identity. Do you know why you don't let your teenagers do just any old thing and believe any old thing and connect with any old body? Is because people will tell them things that are not true. They are not, listen, your 16-year-old don't need to be listening to another 15 and 16-year-old to tell them about what their future is and what they need to be doing. I mean, you do understand, we listened to Ben Dr. Ben Carson Friday night. We were there listening to him, and everybody knows this, it's pretty common knowledge. Your prefrontal cortex has not fully developed till you're in your 20s. Till you're in your 20s. He said, as a neurosurgeon, he said, your brain starts developing, and then after you're born, the reason a kid sleeps 22 hours a day is the brain is developing so swiftly that the baby has to sleep 22 hours a day. And he said that continues all the way up into your 20s. And now we've got high school kids telling other high school kids how they ought to be living their life and what they ought to do. This guy went down and he went into a far country and connected with the wrong people. Say amen. The silence is deafening. It's still true. You one of the things we did with our boys too is I wanted to know who's going to be everywhere. And let me talk to somebody's daddy. Uh has nothing to do with their mama. Thank God for that. I want to talk to their daddy. You know, I want to know what's going on. And if it was just a single mom's home, I would say, I need to talk to their mama. We need to know who's going to be there, who's going to be coming and going, what y'all are going to be doing. Every minute. Now look, I'm sure they probably got off into some nonsense at some point, but they were going to have to work hard to do it. Listen to me. That's how you get you better do your kids that way. Yes. They probably got off into some nonsense, but they had to sneak and do a lot to get around because I was going to make sure we were going to make sure we knew every little thing. This guy goes to a far country and connects with the wrong people. And listen, he ends up partly because of his own crazy decisions and partly because of the people he connects with. A Jewish boy ends up feeding pigs. He ends up doing something he was never gifted, called, and anointed to do. Some of you are still feeding pigs when you've got an inheritance that you need to lay claim to in Christ. Amen. Yeah. And you know what? This boy, at least he has the sense to turn around at the end of the day and say, I ain't staying in no, I'm not staying in no pig pen. Here's, here's, and I promise I'm trying to close, but I'm not going to miss this. He says when he finally comes to himself, you know what I believe coming to yourself is? It's when the Holy Ghost begins to open your eyes and you begin to see, I am living below my privileges. Right? I'm living below my privileges. Y'all remember when the little credit card would always say membership has its privileges. Membership in the body of Christ as a part of the family of God has its privileges. You remember that commercial, don't you? Get you American Express because membership has its privileges. Well, they don't even, American Express can't even touch what we have in Christ. They can't even understand what we have in Christ Jesus. So you remember what happened? He he returns to his right identity, but because of humility, what he thinks is humility, he says, I'm going back to my daddy's house. I'm going back to my father's house. And when he sees him, when the father sees him a long way off, he brings out a robe, a ring, and some shoes. And what does he say? He says, I'm going to go back because the sir, I'll be a servant because a servant has better than what I have right now. I'll just go back. And in humility, he says, I'm going to go back and be a servant. Here's the thing I need you to see, because I don't have time to preach all of this. Here's the deal. We are sons, but we are servants. We're sons with sandals. We're sons with sandals. Servants were barefooted. Sons had sandals. Look what he brings him in verses 22 through 24, and here's where we were close. He says, Bring forth the best robe. So 22 through 24. I'm sorry to throw one on you like that. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe. The Father's not mad at you. Amen. He's not mad at you that you went off and did some nonsense. He's not. He says to the servants, bring forth the best robe, put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. And bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry. For this, my son, he's always been a son, but he said he walked away from the house. He said, I thought he was dead. My son was dead, and he's alive again. He was lost and is found, and they began to be merry. Three things he gives him, and he wants to give it to you. One of the first things you have in Christ is righteousness. And he puts a robe of righteousness on him. I don't know if he's still muddy from the pig pen. I don't know. He brings him a ring which is authority. I'm still convinced some of you don't open your mouth and use the authority that you have in Christ. You have authority. And thirdly, you have sonship. Servants were barefooted. Sons had sandals. He said, Bring this boy some shoes. Wouldn't you love to have a t-shirt? I'm a son with sandals. Here's what I want you to understand. I wish I had time to take all three of these and talk a lot about those. First of all, the reason I've been hitting condemnation so hard lately, and no condemnation, no condemnation, no condemnation, is because you're sons and daughters of Christ. And the Bible says if you Romans chapter 8 talks about if you're led by the Spirit, then are you sons? So we need to be led by the Spirit, right? We're not talking about just living out of our flesh. We're talking about living out of our spirit. This is inheritance begins here, knowing who you are, knowing your identity. So he's given us righteousness. That's the first thing. Life and righteousness is the first thing you inherit. You didn't earn your righteousness. He said he's gonna give us what? Eternal life, newness of life. That's what he gives us in Christ. Secondly, if you look at what he said here, is he said, I'm gonna give him a ring so that when he goes into town and everybody sees him, he's gonna, if they see that ring, they're gonna know, oh, I know his daddy, they got money. He can get what he wants down here. All he has to do is stamp that ring. His daddy's gonna take care of it. He's got authority. That ring's gonna represent authority. I heard something this week, and I'll close with this because I think it's fitting. I promise I'll close the computer because this is so rich, it's so good. Um I heard a story, uh, it was uh John Bevere told a story uh of a preacher friend of his years ago that God gave him, I forget if he gave him a dream or a vision, but he said, in, I believe it was a vision, he said, in the vision, this this preacher that I know, he said, uh he was communing with the Lord. He said, he he had, he said, I could just, it was just, he could see Jesus, and they were just having a great communion time. And he said, then all of a sudden there was a demonic spirit that came in. He could see him in the vision. It was like a vision. And he said, the minute, listen, the minute this thing came in, the minute he came in, he said, I couldn't hear Jesus anymore. He said, I could see his mouth moving, I could see him talking, but the minute this spirit came in, couldn't hear him at all. And he said, he started saying, Lord, why can't I hear you? Lord, what is going on? And he said, the Holy Spirit revealed to him, he said, Why don't you use the authority that I've given you and tell that thing to get out of here? Amen. You got to use the authority that he's given you. Now that applies to a lot of areas of life, but use the authority that you have as a believer in Christ. And sometimes you just have, we don't, I don't get up rope-doping and fighting the devil every day, but some of you need to understand when you are under spiritual attack, it's time for you to stand up and begin to use the authority, take the word, take the authority that you have and tell him, get yourself up off out of here, and stop bothering me in Jesus' name. I command you to go in Jesus' name. That's that's the authority that you have in Christ. Amen. Would you stand on your feet? So it's a really deep subject, and we haven't even gotten into some of the things that I'd like to cover. But one of the things I do know is I want to see God do more. I think we barely scratched the surface of what our current inheritance is. I think we barely scratched the surface of what God has for us and what He's already given us. I remind you of a couple things. First of all, if you're not experiencing everything He's given to you, the Bible says He's Already given you all things that pertain to what? All things that pertain to life and godliness. Not going to give them to you one day. We've already got those as an inheritance. Everything you need is already in there. Everything you need is already in there. Now we may have to stir it up. We may have to learn some things. We may have to go soon. But he said, I've already given you all things that pertain to life and godliness. I couldn't teach you anything better this morning. I want you to experience life and godliness. I don't want you to just have godliness and not have plenty for life. I want you to have life and godliness. It is my job to say to you, we have life. And there's still a place for us to live in his godliness, holiness. I'm not talking about taking you back to legalism, but I am saying there's a place for us to walk in the righteousness of God, for us to be sensitive to his spirit, and to just obey what he tells us to do. If this morning you've been, you've been, you identify way more with the pig pen, I'm just telling you, the father's sitting on the porch waiting on you to come home. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. The way I see that picture in Luke chapter 15 is the Father sits on the, he's got a big front porch, and he's just, scripture says he saw him a long way off, afar off. How can you see something afar off if you ain't waiting on him? The Father's just waiting on you to come back and say, I'm getting it, I'm pushing everything out of the way. I'm coming back where I need to be, and he's just waiting. And when the moment you turn, the moment you come, you come with a servant's heart. But the reality is you will always be a son. If you've walked away, come back to the Father's house. Come back to not only his house, but come back to the Father most importantly. Can we pray together? You bow your heads. Father, we thank you for your word. Pray in the name of Jesus for every single person here that they would walk in all that you have for them. We love you, our heart is for you. We want not only your presence, but we thank you for presence. We thank you for gifts, anointings. We thank you, Lord, for just being you. I thank you, Lord, for spirit revelations, understanding being awakened. In Jesus' mighty name, I thank you that understandings are being awakened this morning in all of our lives. And right now in the name of Jesus, we claim our inheritance. Open up your mouth and say, I claim my inheritance. Open up your mouth and say, I claim my inheritance. I claim my inheritance. I thank you for blessing and increase. I thank you, Lord, for signs, wonders, and miracles. I thank you for pouring out your spirit on us. I thank you, Lord, that we are joint.

Speaker 47:24

We pray this podcast has been a blessing. For more information about Cedar Lady Christian Center, you can find us online at CLCC. Our Sunday service begins at ten thirty a.m. And Wednesday evening begins at seven thirty a.