Don't Waste Your Heritage

-It is found in the apostles who were willing to endure severe persecution and death to carry on the message. That takes an uncommon bravery to stand up and say, “You cannot have my heritage!”

-There are powerful lessons that Naboth’s refusal sets up for every one of us:

• The great value that we have to place on our heritage.

• What cost much has to be valued much.

• We cannot give in to the temptation of the times to let our heritage go for a song and dance or a dollar.

• It takes character to stand alone and boldly confront the spirit of Ahab and Jezebel.

• A man can withstand anything if he values his roots.

• In the face of an idolatrous king and nation, he affirmed that there was still a God and His laws were to be honored.

III. CONCLUSION—MY HERITAGE

-With Sis. P_________ imminent home-going, my mind has been drawn back to my own heritage, particularly the one that affects me in a spiritual way.

-I have been handed some incredibly wonderful things in the forty-four years that I have lived. Much of this heritage started back at the old house we had a church in on south Saint Andrews. Then moving to where we are right now; first in the old house and later to our present facilities and soon to be in a new location.

-I am just as aware now perhaps more than ever before that there is an Ahab and Jezebel who would be intent on trying to take my heritage away from me. We all need to develop the mentality that Naboth had, “you can’t have my inheritance!” The only way that our inheritance will be taken away from us is in death.

-Missing from our times is a passion for the things like the old saints once held to in previous years. That must change if the American church is going to prevail. I can remember singing, shouting, weeping, and marching saints! That is all of my past and it needs to continue on into the future. This matter of serving God ought to be the whole pursuit of our life and everything else needs to be lesser priorities! We must get a bull-dog grip on these matters of holiness, righteousness, hunger for revival, and a sense that God wants to do so much more with all of us than what He presently is doing right now!

A. Prayer

-Prayer marked my early years. I can remember the prayers that took place in our home, in the church on Wednesday nights when we all knelt down to pray, and the prolonged altar services where prayer served as a great emptying and refilling place.

-We have to guard that for it is our heritage. Who is going to teach our kids how to pray? We can only teach them by example when they hear us praying!

-There are prayer meetings that we have in the course of our lives and they stand out at particular times as a way of encouragement to us. I will never forget a prayer meeting that I had in a conference in January, 1996. It was a moment that I know now that I heard the voice of God. Not an audible voice but a very clear distinct impression in my spirit.

-I remember another prayer meeting that I had in the winter of 1993 or 1994. I had been invited to preach in _______ by Brother R_____ B______. After the Sunday morning service, we went to my grandmother’s house to eat. After lunch, I went back to the church and I can remember it almost like it was yesterday. I think the temperature was in the upper 20’s or low 30’s and the wind was howling around the building in such a way that you could hear the wind whistling in that little auditorium. This was in the early days before Praise and Worship music had really began to take off and Brother B______ had a cassette tape of Don Moen in a small boom box. I started that tape and in that cold, drafty sanctuary that day, it literally seemed like the God of Heaven showed up to visit with me. All alone I was, but an incredible power and anointing seemed to settle in that day on me. I am thankful for those times.