Inheritance
INHERITANCE
INHERITANCE
Author Guardian
Psalm 16,
Inheritance
O what a great thing to turn and to seek the God of the ages, the Father of lights, the
unchanging immutable God, the unimaginable unchanging unfaultering undescribable God.
What an inheritance and grand thing to turn to Him who is a refuge and Rock and shelter
and strength and strong tower, and sanctuary and haven...for all who need His shadow of
security.
What a great thing to be able to go to the Lord in times of distress and trouble,
Our Father God who will never change ...who never alters..for there is no shadow
of turning with Him ....in other words our heavenly Father who is the Father of Lights
James 1:17 ..does,nt change like the shifting shadows of the sun and moon.
King James Bible..........James 1
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
EPHESIANS CHAPTER 4
8 Wherefore he saith, When he aascended up on high, he led captivity captive,
and gave gifts unto men.
EPHESIANS CHAPTER 4
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they
lie in wait to deceive;
There is no shadow of turning with Him, He does not say one thing and do another.
He does not promise something and then not fulfil His promise, He does not let us down.
Unlike an earthly mother or father who try as they may cannot always keep their promises,
unlike an earthly mother or father who say one thing and may do another, unlike our very
selfs who say one thing and yet our actions do not match our words.
Father God is perfect in every way and yet He is not separate from us ...as if He would
be better than us and think Himself too good for us....He is in us and He knows us better
than we know ourselves.
His nature and very being is love, for God so loved the world that He gave His only
beloved Son that if ___________ may not perish but have ever lasting life.
In Him we live and move and have our being, and in us He lives.....
He is the unchanging God who does not falter or sway or change His promises to us.
God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.
Hebrews 6:18
Numbers 23:19 "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he
should repent."
Ezekiel 24:14 "I the Lord have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I
will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent."
Exodus 32:14 "And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people."
Jonah 3:10 ". . . and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto
them; and he did it not."
Jer. 18:7-10 --
If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and
destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not
inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a
nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and
does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
Aha what is this ? lets discuss this now...does God relent and change His mind ??
We have seen that God does not falter, He does not turn ...He does not lie, He does not
change !!
Do the peoples bring evil on themselves by their actions or does God allow disaster to
fall ..?
It says " inflict on it the disaster I had planned " ?
And yet we seem to see that God in His love calls out to nations and to individuals to
turn to Him and seek His refuge and in His love He does not want them to perish.
He wnats them to come to a saving knowledge of His grace and love and yet we see in
scripture time and time again where God calls out to nations to turn and peoples to turn
and individuals to turn and it seems as though God has changed His mind !!
Nineveh was going to be destroyed by God and God sent a servant to declare to the nation
to repent...that is to turn from their ways and follow Gods will for their lifes ...
We know that Nineveh did turn away from its self and to God and that the nation was saved
at that time from its destruction and so it seems that God changed His mind and did not
destroy Niniveh and its people.
And yet God knew that the poeple of Niniveh would change their ways and turn to God and
seek refuge in the shadow of His wing ( in other words to seek refuge and comfort in Him )
God did not actually change His mind ....the people changed their minds !!
Malachi 3:6 "For I am the Lord; I change not."
You see we are not to be like the shifting shadows and lean with every wind of doctrine,
because God never changes ,He is the imutable God who does not shift nor change nor lie.
His promises to us remain the same ,,, however we may change He does not and yet this
is relationship and God knows what we are like and although it may seem as if God has
changed in fact it is us who have changed.
God has foreknowledge and see's far beyond our own insight and understanding.
And so we turn to Psalm 16 and we read.............
Psalm 16 (New International Version)
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing."
3 As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made [e] known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Lord God in Jesus name you are our Rock and refuge a very pleasant help in times
of trouble, a sanctuary, a haven , a refuge,a shelter, a shadow of comfort and security.
We can rest in safety and know Your inheritance and security, for in you we inherit not
just in the future but we inherit now and our cup of blessing overflows, although we may
not always recognise what happens as blessing...we thankyou Lord that all things are in
your control as we rest in you because the work is finished as it was at the beginning
of time and as it was on the Cross.
It is finished and you are ongoing in your endless work to mould us and shape us and
complete and fulfil all your purposes and plans.
We inherit all that is in you now and all that will be as we the Bride of Christ prepare
for your coming.
We run to you as the prodigal Son and we share not just in the inheritance now but in the
future inheritance In Jesus name amen.
Now you may not agree with me or you may agree with me during the messages we have here,
but the simple fact is that I am learning the same as anyone else and I simply bring a
message, that message I believe is a message given and passed on.
These messages as I like to call them or " bible studies " are sometimes thought provoking
and sometimes meant to " make people think " to " stir up" and hopefully let us....that is
me and anyone who listens and takes in the message look deeper into scripture and find the
true meanings and delve deeper into Gods word.
That is the reason and that is the purpose behind these studies ....that the Holy Spirit
will bring to memory those things when we need them and will stir us up to action.
And putting aside our slight differences in theology we seek to draw nearer to God and
to hear Him speak...
And so we look to this message .
David went to the Lord for refuge, he says " you are my Master " and Godly people in the
land are his true heroes...
Not superman or that famous person on tv or that man who owns a hundred homes, but David
goes to the Lord for refuge and seeks God ... His shadow of security...his hiding place,
He seeks God above all else ..the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills...
He looks to true Godly men as his heroes...David rests in safety, he rests in His rest.
Lets look to the prodigal Son ....yes I typed the " prodigal Son " ( capital S )
The prodigal Son could be seen as Jesus and also the prodigal son could be seen as any
one of us...
Seen as Jesus ? what ?
Jesus never wanted His inheritance now ? He never went to live a life for himself or feed
with the swine ?
Well no He did'nt but He left his place in glory which was a big sacrifice !!
He came to earth to dwell with man and woman and He mixed with the jew and the gentile..
He ate with sinners and with gluttons and with tax collectors and jew and gentile alike.
Then when the right time came He went back to His Father and His inheritance !!
I wonder what Jesus inherited ?
And the firstborn of a multitude ..
Or did Jesus already have His inheritance ?
On one level we can say the prodigal son is all mankind. As Paul says, "All men have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
This story of the prodigal son can also be seen as all of us and me included .
But we can also look deeper and go deeper into this story and see it as Jesus Himself
"For our sakes God made him who did not know sin to be sin, so that in him we might
become the very holiness of God."
You see Jesus walks with us on our Journey beside us !!
I wonder if the elder brother of the prodigal was a pharisee ?
Luke 15:32
Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should
make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was
lost, and is found.
Lets look at the story of the prodigal son or Son..
Luke 15:11-32 (New International Version)
11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his
father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between
them.
13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant
country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything,
there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
15So he
went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields
to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating,
but no one gave him anything.
17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to
spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and
say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
19I am no longer
worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and
went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with
compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no
longer worthy to be called your son.[a]'
22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him.
Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill
it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again;
he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard
music and dancing.
26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf
because he has him back safe and sound.'
28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and
pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been
slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young
goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
30But when this son of yours who has
squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
31" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is
alive again; he was lost and is found.' "
Mt 13:45-46
Parable of the Pearl of Great Price
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls,
who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he
had and bought it.
Never cast your pearls before swine.........
MAT 7:6
Jesus came to serve and not to be served although He was the King...
He came as a servant...and He came not as a judge but as a servant and a messenger of the
good news to proclaim liberty and freedon for those captive, He will come back to Judge.
"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw pearls before swine, lest they
trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." (Matthew 7:6).
Interesting is'nt it that the place where the demon possesed man was delivered was near
a gentile village ? and the gentiles of that area asked Him to leave ?
Interesting is'nt it that the pigs were cast into the sea ?>
Interesting is'nt it when we look at this scripture.....
Acts 10-11:18
And we see Peters vision and we see salvation for jew and gentile alike
Matthew 15:24-28
Clean and Unclean
24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
25The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
26He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
27"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their
masters' table."
28Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her
daughter was healed from that very hour.
Interesting is'nt it that this morning while in fellowship at Church...the person leading
the communion service took some bread and tossed it under the table as a symbolic act ?
No one had ever done that before in a communion service that I had ever been too anyway
and yet after typing this message last night ...this morning the person leading put
bread under the table...
Interesting is'nt it that Jesus feeds the five thousand first on the western side of the
river Jordan, in an area that was mainly Jewish..in Matthew 14:13 ..after this Jesus
speaks to the woman in Matthew 15:24-28 and says 27"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the
dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
Now we go onto the feeding of the four
thousand which takes place on the Eastern side of the Jordan which was a gentile area,
Here in the story of the prodigal Son we can see the story of many a person who has
gone their own way and then returned to God, Jew or Gentile,slave or free, woman or man,
Here in the story of the prodigal Son we can also see that Jesus is beside us all the
way and indeed at times He carries us...
You mean Jesus was with me even when I was leading a life of rebellion ? worse than the
sin of witchcarft ? He was right beside me even when I did'nt know Him ?
Well tell me this !! did you only become a child of God after salvation or were you
always a child of God ?
The story of the prodigal Son can also be seen as the story of the shepherd going to find
the lost sheep or of the man looking for the pearl of great price...?
Ooo what ? Jesus is the pearl surely ? or is'nt the pearl the Kingdom of God ?
mm well how much do you think you are worth to Jesus ? maybe you could turn that parable
around and se yourself as the lost coin ? and see Jesus as the person who picks up the
person at the wayside !! or should I say " The Church "
You see these parables can be turned around ....!! this is about relationship....
Do you think Jesus would try to find you if you were lost ?
Do you think you would try to find a pearl or a talent in the ground ?
Are you still with me ?
Do you think when you leave home and go on the rebellion journey of self and worshipping
others who are following " other gods " and not the " true Godly people " that David
speaks of in Psalms 16,, that you see the journey like .............this........
You leave home and walk away from God and God becomes distant in the background until He
goes out of sight and then ............... nope
Thats the way our minds think......now look at it this way..........
You go out the door and walk away from God and He is still with you and .............
Psalm 139 (New International Version)
5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Jesus the one and only Son of the Father goes out to seek and save the lost and lives
and moves and dwells and talks and walks with sinners ( not pharisees who follow Him )
He see's into mens and womens hearts ( the women at the well ) and He speaks into
peoples lifes... He dines with them and washes their feet, those hands that flung stars
into space that bore our sin washed the disciples feet !! that they might go out with
shod feet to go and tell the good news of the Kingdom...
And Jesus mixes with people and then when the time comes He returns to His Father and the
sacrifice is made and the banquet is layed ready .
What an inheritance !!! we can rest assured that His promises are true.
Galatians 4:7
Therefore, you are no longer a slave (bond servant) but a son: and if a son, then
[it follows that you are] an heir by the aid of God, through Christ
Galatians 4:1
Now what I mean is that as long as the inheritor (heir) is a child and under age,
he does not differ from a slave, although he is master of all the estate.
John 1:12
But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God...
18 - By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and
understand the hope to which He has called you and how rich is His glorious inheritance
in the saints (His set-apart ones)
(Romans 8:17).
"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that
we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together"
By faith we have become Abraham's seed and therefore heirs of God. "And if ye be
Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise"
(Galatians 3:29).
"Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if
a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7).
David sinned many times during his lifes, David made many mistakes, David failed, David
went the way of the prodigal son and worshipped false gods, David walked the wrong way at
times, and the Shepherd of the sheep went after Him, as if He had ever left David ?
David was a man after Gods own heart and he knew where the pearl was, He knew where His
treasure was... and when he lay by the wayside....Jesus picked him up.
David repented...in other words David turned around and went back on the right path, and
David sought a clean heart, a right Spirit, he wanted and needed Gods prescence and the
security and shelter of Gods wing...His shadow...
David sought sanctuary and refuge in God many times and returned to His Fathers Kingdom.
Lets pray
Lord God thankyou for the shadow of your wing and that there is no shadow of turning with
you, you never turn away from us, because you turned away from Jesus on the Cross...
He bore our sin that you might look upon us as right before you, once we have turned to
you and sought your refuge and the pearl of great price you welcome us home into your
heart and you lavishly pour upon us your salvation grace.
Lord Jesus the blood shed was the final sacrifice once and for all and there is power
wonder working power in the precious blood of the Lamb, you wash us clean and make us
right again that we might walk into your Fathers House where there are many rooms and
you wg=ho never leave us nor forsake us were there all the time waiting and watching
for our return
You were their Lord God all the time speaking to your Son as He walked in flesh with mere
mortal man and woman ...you Lord God the immutable one are capable of breaking down every
barrier that separates and bring about a paradigm of change in the hearts of people
Lord bring your shekinah glory to fall upon those who rest in you and let the shadow of
your wing hide us from the evil one In Jesus name amen
You see it seemed as if God at this moment had changed His mind ...Matthew 15:24-28
24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." ?
But the day Jesus fed the four thousand Gentile population seemed to be after meeting the women and granting her request to heal her daughter ..it seemed He had changed His mind ?
But that day was written in Gods book long before it ever happened
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