"God Has Made Us an Heir" By Brother Parrish Lee February 2nd,
2014 Brother Rick Matzyk came up here and
shared a testimony. Brother , I remember
when we were in Giving honor to God, Who is the Head
of our lives. Giving honor to that great
wonderful Savior, the ever-present and omnipotent.. The one who has never lost a battle and Who
don’t play any games. Giving honor to
that God, whose love, the Bible says, passeth all understanding. Who charges the angels with folly, and the
stars themselves are not pure in His sight.
Giving honor to that God. Giving
honor to Him, Who is our Maker, Creator, our God. Giving honor to our founding pastor, whose
faith and life and family were able to birth the ministry, from the calling
that God laid on his heart. To our pastor
that we have now, and all those who have been in between. Our pastor was here a few weeks ago, and he
was so enlivened by the visit that said several times, “Man, what a great time
that was, just to see the saints.” You
know, you ever visit some relatives you haven’t seen in a while, and, you know,
you’re looking forward to maybe getting a little hug, or hearing a nice comment,
or maybe having something sweet come back, and when they do, it’s like, “Man,
this is better than warm butter on good bread.
This is some good stuff. Yeah.” Giving honor to, as out pastor said, those
who have gone before us. Last, but not
least, giving honor to all of you, who present yourselves every day before God
Almighty, that He might enrich and restore, bless, deliver, save, and heal
those things in our lives. Having said
that, we have several people, saints, we have several people who have asked for
prayer, either through illness, or problems, they’ve just said, “Brothers and
sisters, please pray for me. Lift me up
before the throne. Call on God and call
my name.” As an aside, you can notice,
Brother Jason isn’t here, and his wife, who did the Bible Study, they are both
not here; they are sick with child. They
are both sick, but they saw fit to give a Bible Study. Ain’t that something? “Let us do as much as we can for God.” That is going to be written in the Book. There’s others sick, and we want to keep them
all lifted up before the Lord our God. The theme for the month is, “An Heir
of the Promise.” Our Scripture theme for
the month is: Galatians
4:7 Wherefore thou art no more
a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. That ‘son,’ believe it or not, is gender
inspecific. That includes men and
women. Absolutely. Romans
4:13 For the promise, that he
should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through
the law, but through the righteousness of faith. If we could just bow our heads for
just a moment. Lord God, Almighty, we
come to You right now, first of all, thanking You, because You’ve been the type
of good to us that just overshadows everything in our life. To You we lift up and give honor and praise
and glory. You are magnificent and wonderful
in our sight, Lord. We thank You for all
Your goodness; the goodness here today, but also the goodness that’s been in
our lives up until this very second. For those things that you will take us to, e
thank You for those things. God, we ask,
even now, that You would add a blessing to the reading of Your Word, as You
have said, that it would not return unto You void, but would go to accomplish
that to which You have sent it. Let it
bless and feed and nurture us and bring us into that more perfect and eloquent
walk with You. We give and claim, all in
Jesus’ name, and everyone said, “Amen.” So, God has made us an heir; an
heir, an heir. An heir specifically
means to inherit. So here we are in the
Book of Romans, chapter 4, verse 13, “For the promise, that he should be the
heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but
through the righteousness of faith.” If
we were to turn to the Book of Genesis, where it talks about this: Genesis
15:6 And
he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness. (‘he’ being Abraham.) Now, to give a little background on this,
Abraham was married to Sarai, and God had been speaking to him. He was nearly a hundred years old at this
time. God told him, “You’re going to
have a Son.” Anybody in their nineties,
nearly a hundred, I think they’d be
like, “Whaaaat? What am I going to with
it if I do? A hundred years old, and I’m
about to have a child!” He didn’t say,
“Well, God, why did we wait until this point to have it?” He didn’t say, “God, You sure about this?”
and “How is going to end?” He didn’t question
Him at all. The Bible said he believed
God; and it was counted to him for righteousness. Not only did He tell him he was going to have
a son, but he also told him that his son was going to be the father of many
nations. He said he was going to be a
great people, like the sand of the sea, and as the stars in heaven. He told him, “Look up and count them if you
can, because that’s going to be your lineage, that’s what’s coming from
you.” Not only that, but He told him his
children were going to go through some things.
I find this kind of amazing. He
told him that they were going to go through 400 years of bondage. He told him that before the son was ever
born, that his children were going to go through four hundred years of
bondage. Then He told him that He was
going to deliver them, that His deliverance was going to be coming, that it was
going to be on the way. In all this you
don’t see Abraham questioning God. You
see him simply saying, “The Lord says it, I believe it, and that’s it. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” So, the Bible says, in Romans, that it was
not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. So, the blessing was not so
much, “Hey, you’re going to have a son,” it’s because God promised that he was
going to have a son. Now, this is the
righteousness, here: It was the faith
that Abraham had in what God promised, and not him seeing that he was going to have a son, and that making the
difference. It had to be the
belief. Part I: How Do I Get To Be an Heir? Romans
8:14 For as many as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. If you want to be an heir? You want to be a son or a daughter? Let God lead you. Romans
8:15 For ye have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Help me, Father. Father, Father, minister to me. Show me my benefit. Guide me, direct me. that spirit is not the spirit of fear, “Oh, I
have to be so afraid of God,” but it’s the spirit of adoption, bringing us
close to Him. Bringing us to Him, as
close as a son, as a daughter, as a child; as one that can love in your bosom
itself. How do I get to be an heir? Part II: The Journey of an Heir Galatians 4:1 Now
I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant,
though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time
appointed of the father. Even so we,
when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a
son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Generally, when people have
children, generally, the thought is that he children are going to carry on the
lineage. What you see so often, is that,
if a man has a son, people expect him to carry on the tradition of the son,
and, you know, likewise when they have a daughter, they expect her to carry on,
but they expect them to carry on the tradition of the house, of the household,
of the name. If the name is Johnson, or
Jackson, or Jefferson; they got that name specifically from that father. It’s pretty simple to see, you have John’s
son, Jack’s son, and Jeff’s son. Over
time, it just becomes Jefferson, and Johnson, and Before I go on to the next point, I
have a quick sidebar, here: fathers don’t
get off the hook; just because they sire a child, fathers don’t get off the
hook. It comes with great
responsibility. I’ve got scripture for
that. Fathers are required to provide and
protect their household. That is their edict.
They are given charge, and they are given a portion of God. This whole thing that I heard in the news
about children wanting to get a divorce from their parents; that is not the way
that God set it up. This whole thing
about, when wives say, “Hey, look, let’s have a discussion, because I don’t
think I want to take your whole name; that is not the way that God set it up. This whole thing about—one of the brothers was
telling me that he went to a wedding and they had already worked it out where
the wife said, “I’m not taking your name, I’m keeping my former name.” I’m so glad that I wasn’t there, because I
just would have had to ask them, “Then why are you getting married? Why do it?
Why, why, why?” I’ve got
Scripture for that, too. This whole
thing about husbands being absentee fathers, being a dead-beat dad. People that don’t provide—that is not
the way that God set it up. In the very
beginning, it said that God made the Heavens and the Earth (Genesis 1:1), and
he formed man from the dust of the Earth (Genesis 2:7). So it was just God and Adam at first. So God taught Adam love, about relationships,
about how to act, how to be, and they had this wonderful union thing going on,
and then, when God pulled eve out of Adam, straight out of love. So what was supposed to happen form there?
Adam was supposed to teach Eve and share with her what He got from God. It was supposed to come from God and go
straight across. Then, as they would
rear and raise children, it was supposed to be in that which they learned from
God. The society would be built on the
very structure, on the very foundation of the love of God. That is the way that God had set it up. Anytime we deviate from the love of God,
anytime society does anything contrary to, back from that love of God, it will
cause problems. You see that they had
issues. They keep trying to work it out,
and the issues remain. All that needs to
happen is turning back to God. End of
sidebar. God has made us to be an heir. We have departed from being a servant—we are
no more a servant; we have moved into relationship. Galatians 4:22-29 For
it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond maid, the other by
a freewoman. But he who was of the
bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are
the two covenants: the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage,
which is Agar. For this Agar is mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to So we see here that they had the one
was by the bondwoman which was after the flesh, and the one who was from the
wife, the free woman, who was the one after the promise. Now the Bible says that these were the two
covenants, and the first covenant we all are partakers of. The first covenant we all are; we are all of the
flesh; if you are not of the flesh then you're not here today. If you’re not of the flesh, then I’m not sure
what you are. The other one, the Bible
says, was of the promise. The promise
simply means that you believe God, you obey God, and you follow God. The Bible goes on to say that these two would
war against each other. The one chased
the other, and we know the story. There
was Ishmael and Isaac, and they had to be separated, and then there was Jacob and Esau, and heir
children are still at war today. You
just have to look to the Galatians 4:30-31 Nevertheless
what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of
the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the
bondwoman, but of the free. Apostle Paul makes it, specifically
plain, that we are the children of promise.
If you put your faith in God, you are a child of promise. If you accept His Word, you follow, you obey,
you are a child of promise. You are a
child of the promise. The truth of the
matter is we are all—everyone of the face of the planet—is an heir to something. Everybody is an heir to something. Part III: The Lord Is First To Make Us All Heirs Like Him To put it quite simply, another
problem that exists is that people don't know they are heirs. They don’t know that they are truly to
inherit. They don’t know that there is
an inheritance laid up specifically for them.
God made it for them. People
don’t know that they are heirs. Colossians 1:18 And
he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. Preeminence—in other words, be first
and foremost. He, the Bible says, is the
firstborn from the dead. You could
easily ask, “Well, who’s the second? Who’s the third? Who’s the fourth? Who’s the hundredth? Who’s the thousandth? Who’s the millionth? Who’s the billionth?” If we read in the Book of Revelation, it says
that John saw, after that, he saw a number which was above every number of
people that were arrayed in white (Revelation 7:9-14). He asked him, “Who be these?” Of course, we know that Jesus is the firstborn,
but these are they who have come through great tribulation and have washed
their robes, and they made them white—they made them white!—how? In the blood
of the Lamb. Therefore are they before
God, day and night; always. Can you
imagine how great that’s going to be?
Can you imagine the peace and the joy?
Can you imagine the harmony? Can
you imagine no more sickness, death—a perfect body? Can you imagine being so pristine, no sin
could touch you. Can you imagine being
the presence of God, one hundred percent, all the time? You wouldn’t have to ask for a thing forevermore. Can you imagine the power that God gives to
those who wear those robes? Saints, that’s
a day that I’m looking forward to. God
is good to me, here; He is good to me here, but I am looking forward to a day—I
am looking forward to a day, when I put on my exalted, long, white robe and I
lay down my little weapons, because I ain’t gonna study war no more. I look forward to that day. I look forward to hearing His voice. The Bible says that now we look through a
glass darkly, but then, face to face ( Corinthians 13:12). I look forward to being in that presence; I
look forward to that. Now there is
something that we have to know, saints, there is something that we have to know.
We’re not going to inherit everything. We’re not going to inherit everything,
because our father isn't the father of everything. He’s not the father of lies; that’s somebody
else. He’s not the father of perdition
or jealousy; He’s not the father of spite and hate. He’s not the father of things that take us
away and drag us down; He’s not the father of sin. Our father isn't the father of everything,
so, we are not going to inherit everything, and that’s important to know. That’s important to know. I had the opportunity recently to talk to a
few friends of mine, and what the conversation was about was they were telling
me what they do for fun. They were
telling me that they were going out to certain clubs that they liked, or
whatever. So, I was like, “Oh,
yeah? So what about that is so
intriguing, so interesting, so great?” hey
were telling me, and there happened to be a commercial on TV, and they were
telling me, “Oh, I like to get this drink,” and, “I like to get that
drink.” I said, “What’s the
difference?” They kind of gave me a look,
like, “You don't know this stuff?” They
were going through the whole lost of them.
“If you don’t know, you're
missing out. How can you not know this?” But, see, they asked the wrong guy. I know I had a look of befuddlement on my
face, and it shouldn’t have happened, but it did. They said, “You’re kind of
missing out.” I said, “No, I’m not, that’s
not part of my inheritance. I’m going to
inherit streets of gold and walls of jasper.
I’m going to inherit the presence of the Lord in peace, and I’m going to
inherit, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’ I’m going to inherit that long, white
robe. I’m going to inherit the victory
over the things that are down here.” That
stuff? That junk? That ain’t part of my inheritance. You know, when they—because, before that,
they were talking about other stuff—and, you know, I try and keep my mouth shut
sometimes, but it’s like a fire, shut up in your bones (Jeremiah 20:9). Sometimes you can’t—you’re not trying to—but
you can’t hold it, and I said, “Let me tell you something, I know what sin is. For crying out loud! I know what sin is. I’ve tasted sin; I’ve been in sin. Why do you think I became a Christian? I know what all that stuff is. I might not have been one of the best sinners
out there—thank God!” Thank God! Thank God; I don’t think I could have been
any worse. You know, I was bad enough.
I’ve tasted all that junk! I’ve
tasted not having God in my life! I’ve
tasted being lost! I’ve tasted not
knowing where to get the answers from.
I’ve tasted confusion. I know
what that is. You know what else? I know what longsuffering is, because that’s
what God taught me—He showed it when He had it for me. I know what forbearance is, because that’s what
God had. I know what mercy is; I’ve
tasted that, and I love that taste. I
know what grace—the grace of God—I know what that tastes like; I love that! No, no, no, no, no, this is my
inheritance: The mercy, the joy, the
peace of God! That’s what I’m looking
for! Amen? Amen. Someone might say, “If I am an heir
of God, then I should’ve been rich by now.” Or, “If I am an heir, and I inherit
the things of God, then I shouldn’t have any troubles and problems by now. If I am an heir of God, then where is all the
rest of the stuff that I should get? I
should have more wisdom! I should have
more love! I should have more
knowledge! I should have more faith, if
I am an heir of God! I should have
everything that the Lord Jesus did.”
Well, amen. “So why don’t I have
more in my life?” I’ve asked God that
before, and He had to tell me. You know
why you don’t? There is a certain order
to things—I’ve been privileged to see some of my brothers and sisters with such
a strong anointing of love and compassion, being able to so things that I just
stand there and look and say, “Wow! How,
how did you get that?” You know what I’d
love to be able to do? I’d love to be
able to sing; I’d love that. You know
what God told me? “You’d get a big
head. You’ve got too much pride as it
is! You’ve got too much pride! If I were to give you more, you’d have to get
some humility in your life.” More humility? More humility? I
thought I had enough! Not if I want
that, because, you see, we can have these things in the Lord, but it’s a process.
There is an order to how God brings things to us. Yes, there is a process. So, when I was little, I got a three speed
bike. That was a big deal back then—it
had three speeds!. I don’t think you can
find any bike with only three speeds now—I don’t think they even make them any
more. It was a big deal, then. I was little, and it had big tires on
it. I thought, “Wow! It looks awesome, but I don’t think I can
ride it.” It had training wheels on it,
and I rode it a couple of times, but I had to have some help, because, you see,
I needed to grow. Slowly but surely, I
had some help and I was able to do a little but more and a little bit more. Gradually, I got to the point where I could
get on the bike and get it to stand up without falling and busting my lip. Gradually, I learned how to turn a corner on
the bike. I had to grow. I had to grow to be able to use the bike, and
then the training wheels came off. I was
able to ride the bike, but it was a process.
I couldn’t do it right away.
Sometime later, the next big hurdle for me was to get a car, and learn
how to drive. You can’t just get a car
and learn how to work the car, you’ve got to learn the rules of the road—you’ve
got to do that, too. Having a car, but
not knowing the rules of the road, that spells trouble. Here is a certain order for these things. Is Brother
Bob in here? Yes. So, Bob, when I criticized you for driving the
wrong way down a one-way road, that wasn’t the first time that I’ve gone the
wrong way down a one-way road. When I
was learning how to navigate a car, and I was learning this car, I couldn’t
coordinate the street signs with the traffic lights, and the traffic, on the
side, when I turned to go down a little road, and I was going the wrong way down
a one-way road. I wasn’t at the
point—and, as fate would have it, there was a policeman coming down the other way. Very interesting story that I’ll share some other
time. It was a process; it has to be a
process. You can’t just have everything;
you have to grow to be able to use what God has for you. You have to grow; you have to grow, and God
wants us to grow. God wants us to grow
to have all things. The fact of the matter
is, I’ still growing. I had to learn how
to handle a paycheck; you know, I did what I wanted to do the first couple of
paychecks. Reality started to set
in. It’s not eternal; that paycheck has
limits. I had to know what to do with a
refund check, and I had to now what to do with a budget. Then I had to know how to handle anger. I had to know how to handle my own
longsuffering. I had to grow to be able
to do things for God. My obstacles and
my limitations have to be overcome, so that God can give me more; so that God
can give us more. Part IV: The Heir Has To Be Taught And To Be An
Example To Others You see some of the kingdoms, like
over there in So, these are the instructions by
the Lord to Peter, His disciple: John 21:15-18 So
when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love
thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I
love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my
sheep. He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him
the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all
things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus
saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and
walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch
forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou
wouldest not. Another will gird thee (clothe thee)
and take you places that you wouldn’t want to go yourself. Peter, there’s things here for you to do, and
you wouldn’t want to do, but I’m telling you, if you love Me, feed My sheep,
feed my lambs, feed My young. Give what
I give unto you to them; make sure they’re nurtured, make sure they grow, make
sure they’re taken care of. This isn’t
just for Peter, it’s for all the disciples, for the seventy, for the
two-hundred and forty, the four-hundred, and all down through the ages. That is us, that is our requirement, to feed
the sheep, to love them all. So, lastly, saints, let's just say
this a little plain: if you are having trouble on every hand, that makes you no
less of an heir. If you are having
problems with your house, if you’ve got flooding n your basement, if you’ve got
problems with your home, your wife, your children, your daughter, your husband,
that does not make you any less of an heir.
If you lose your job, it does not make you any less of an heir. If your house burns down, and you find yourself
homeless, that does not make you any less of an heir of God. What ever you go through, it does not make
you any less of an heir, because the Bible says, if an heir, then when the time
appointed of the Father shall come, we shall inherit all prepared for us. That’s not just in heaven, that is here. What is your request of the Lord? We are an heir of God, and God will give us
what we can handle if we ask. Amen. You are an heir. God bless. Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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