Claiming Our Inheritance

“Claiming Our Inheritance”

(Eph 1:13-14 NIV) And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, {14} who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

(Eph 1:18 NIV) I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

I. Paul speaks here of an inheritance

A. Did you know that when Jesus died on the cross, He left you in His will?

1. Did you know that as God’s child, you have bequeathed to you certain possessions which are rightfully yours

2. As a matter of fact, the Holy Spirit was given as a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance

B. This inheritance is so profound, that Paul prays for the saints in Ephesus that God would open the eyes of their understanding in order to see the riches of his glorious inheritance

1. And the reason he prays this prayer is because too often people don’t realize what God has given them

2. So many folks are living far below their God potential

II. If we only understood what God has for us as His children

A. God has an inheritance that He wants you to receive

1. It’s a place of deeper fulfillment than you have ever known before

2. It’s a place of greater intimacy with the Lord

3. It’s a place of prosperity in your spirit, in your soul and in your body

4. In many ways it is like the Promised Land that God had given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…

5. God had given the children of Israel the land,… but in between the promised inheritance there was a 400 year captivity, 40 years of wilderness, and obstacles to overcome in order to live it out

6. The children of Israel were delivered from their Egyptian bondage by the awesome power of God

7. They were led through the wilderness by God’s divine presence in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night

8. And now, they stood at the threshold of their promised inheritance

B. God told His people…

(Deu 1:8) "'See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers; to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; to give to them and their descendants after them.'"

C. I believe, just like the children of Israel… there is a promised inheritance for each of you individually… for your family… and for our church

1. Some folks have been in a wilderness for a long time… and you are now on the threshold … the borders of your promised inheritance

D. This is certainly true of our church…

1. We have come to a border…

2. We are at the Jordan river… and God is saying go in and possess the land

3. We are at the bottom of the mountain, and God is saying go up and take the mountain

4. The challenge is great…

5. In our own strength we will utterly fail

6. However God is with us and He is able to do what we cannot do

7. I believe God is saying to you individually, to your family, to our church, “go in and possess the land”

E. God has an inheritance for all of us to go in and possess

1. an inheritance in our relationship with Him

2. a fruitful place in our marriages

3. a prosperous place in our business

4. peace in our souls

5. freedom from sin’s bondage’s

6. wholeness in every arena of our lives

F. Just like the children of Israel who stood that day on the threshold of their inheritance, there are some who will go in and possess it, and there are others who will not

1. Some will rise up, and determine that they want all God has for them and their families, and the community…

2. They will persevere to overcome every obstacle that would attempt to hinder

3. Others will walk back and wander in the wilderness…

4. What is it that makes some go in and possess the land… and others be driven back to wander in the wilderness?

G. This morning I want to look at someone who understood what it meant to have a promised inheritance… and to have obstacles in between himself and his inheritance..

H. God had told the children of Israel that He had given the land to them, and there was one man who believed and went for it… His name was Caleb