Columnist L. M. Boyd recently described the amazing good fortune of a man named Jack Wurm. In 1949, Mr. Wurm was broke and out of a job. No job and no money, just like some of us here. One day he was walking along a San Francisco beach when he came across a bottle with a piece of paper in it. As he read the note, he discovered that it was the last will and testament of Daisy Singer Alexander, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune. The note read, “To avoid confusion, I leave my entire estate to the lucky person who finds this bottle and to my attorney, Barry Cohen, share and share alike.”
According to Boyd, the courts accepted the theory that the heiress had written the note 12 years earlier, and had thrown the bottle into the Thames River in London, from where it had drifted across the oceans to the feet of a penniless and jobless Jack Wurm. His chance discovery netted him over 6 million dollars in cash and Singer stock. How would you like to have been making Mr. Wurm’s footprints on that San Francisco beach? What a find!
You know I learned of even a better story of a group of people who received an inheritance. The thing with this inheritance is that it last forever like the win for life lottery where you get so much money every week for the rest of your life, where the man’s six million dollars can be spent. Like the man who received six million dollars the inheritance changed his life temporality. This group of people are changed eternally. Hopefully by now you can see that this group of people is us, Christians.
"Back to the Basics"
Reason: Look at the life a champion boxer, like Rocky 4 when he fought the Russian, if you noticed, when he trained for that fight, it was the basic exercises that made the difference, the Russian had all the fancy equipment, Rocky didn’t have any equipment accept good old fashion sit ups, pushups, and a lot of running.
I believe that if Christians grasp these basic principles and apply them to their lives, they will then reflect God’s glory on earth, which will in turn draw the world to Him.
1. Owning Your Inheritance:
1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Historical Context: Peter the apostle wrote this book in a time when great persecution was taking place, which is the reason why the emphasis of the epistle teaches about proper Christian conduct in the face of persecution towards the church and a future hope in Jesus’ return. Peter wrote the epistle from Rome in 63-64 AD, shortly before he was killed for his faith by the emperor, Nero in 65AD. The majority of the audience were Gentile Christians with the minority being Jewish Christians.
This verse contains a list of rights that we as believers in Christ have inherited for free, but don’t take advantage of :
1. Peter first says that we are a chosen people: before there was anything God chose us. I don’t think your hearing me! Read Ephesians 1:2,11,13.
Ephesians 1: 4 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5. he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will."
11. "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will."
13. "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."
God chose all of us knowing exactly all the mistakes we will make in the beginning of time. Knowing our short comings and sin problems that we will have. He still found it in his heart to adopt us as his children.
Let’s look at a basketball coach, I don’t think he would pick players that he knew would miss more shots than they would make or cause fights and bring disgrace to his team. But the coach would chose players that are not going to miss and bring praise to their team for their good sportsman like conduct. With God it is the opposite the Bible says that he doesn’t show partiality or favoritism. One of my professors says that “God is not a racist, but a gracist.” “He does not discriminate.”
I once heard that "God doesn’t call the qualified, but qualifies the called."
Back in the day when I was younger I grew up in a neighborhood that was contrary to the statement I just made. Basically the majority of the people were black. When we would go to the park to play basketball I would be the only white kid and even though I was better than some of the kids I was still picked dead last.
I learned that God chooses us by looking at how big our hearts can grow, not by the size of the lists of accomplishments we have achieved.
2. Peter says that we are royal priesthood: This is the one that I want to emphasize the most. Listen again; Peter says that we are royal priesthood. The word royal here in the Greek means kingly and regal and is used only here this way one time in the whole Bible. If we can grasp this right I feel that our spiritual climate will stay at a peak, instead of being a bi-polar Christian who is like a roller coaster going from extreme highs and extreme lows.
What does it mean to be royalty? If you are royalty you are highly exalted, you are held at the utmost respect, you have supreme power, to be extremely wealthy, etc. For instance, if the “queen of England” where to walk in this room right now you would all stand up to respect her position of authority.
In our inheritance that God has gifted us with in his eyes believers are placed on a high pedestal, but we live life like were not special and in defeat.
I agree with Joel Osteen, when he says that it is a tragedy to go through life as a child of the King in God’s eyes, yet as a lowly pauper in our own eyes.
There is a story in the Bible about a man named, Mephibosheth. He was the grandson of King Saul and the son of Jonathan. Saul’s son, Jonathan, and David were best friends. They actually entered into a covenant relationship, similar to the ancient covenant of being blood brothers. This means that whatever one had it belonged to the other. So, in the covenant relationship, if something were to happen to one of these two men, the remaining “brother” would be obligated to take care of the other’s family. In battle one day Saul and Jonathan, when word got back to the palace, a servant grabbed Mephibosheth, which is Jonathan’s son and took off running. In the course of the escape the servant tripped and fell. The child became crippled as a result of the fall. The servant brought Mike all the way to a place called Lodebar, which is one of the most poverty stricken, desolate cities in that entire region. This is where Mike lived almost his entire life.
Think about it he was the grandson of the king and he was living in poverty.
David succeeded Saul as King and years later David said to one of his servants, Is there anyone left from the house of Saul that I can show kindness to for Jonathan’s sake? Remember the part of the covenant that Jonathan and David made that if something happen to one of them the other would take care of his family. David said, get him and bring him bak to the palace.
When Mike arrived he must of been fearful because he knew that his grandfather had chased David around trying to kill him. So Mike might of thought that David was going to kill him. David said do not be afraid. I am going to show kindness to you because of who you are, you are the son of Jonathan. David gave him all the land back that was Sauls and said that from this day forward you are to eat at my table as though you are on of my sons. “David treated Mike as ROYALTY!”
“HE WENT FROM A ZERO ,TO A HERO!” When in all reality he was a hero all the time. His life was changed drastically but think about all the years that he lived in those poverty stricken conditions because he didn’t want to own to his inheritance. He knew he was royalty, he even probably knew about the covenant relationship his father and David established. He knew he had rights, why didn’t he just march right to David and tell him what’s up.
Why did Mike settle for mediocrity? Why do Christians settle for mediocrity when we are a child of the King of Kings? Just like Mike, if Christians do not own to their inheritance we will not feel special. We will live a life in a self imposed state of poverty.
I believe that to God each believer is a trophy of his grace. God probably has a huge trophy room with all of our faces plagued to the wall and he is so proud of us.
Pretend that you are all princes and princesses at heart, but disguised as a humans. The reason being is that if a real king on this earth said something almost everybody would believe him, just because who he this is a robot mentality to believe something because you are told to, but God doesn’t want fake or halve hearted robot followers, he wants genuine, authentic worshipers who have a mind of their own.
God has given us a high calling with as much as authority as Jesus had on earth actually since Jesus has gone to the father, Jesus says that we will do great and mightier things then he did when he was on the earth. To put it in perspective, like I just said we are like princes and princesses and we go around feeling like nothing. I believe that we have to treat one another in such a way that this inheritance of being a royal priesthood is the status quo or the standard of how we treat one another in the body of Christ.
3. Peter says we are a holy nation:
a. First, I want to say something abut the word holy. Peter says, " But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 15-16).
Our holiness in life is based on what Christ has done on the cross, so that no one can boast. We are holy as long as Christ is the center of our lives. Our holiness is not contingent on the sins we commit. Like if we sin less we are more holy than if we sin more. Thank God that is not how it works. If that was the case no one would be able to enter into the presence of God because under the old covenant or the law “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). But today our righteous is based on Christ. You see in the O.T. God made covenant after covenant with Israel and they broke then like I broke the law before I got saved, which was a lot. Since Christ has come on the scene, He sustains the covenant. This covenant is unbreakable by humans. Our level of holiness does not effect it. The Bible says, “if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). Like I said before, God knows that we are going to sin that is our nature, Paul says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We are all a work in Progress that will not be perfected or completed until Christ returns (Philippians 1:6).
b. Secondly, we are a nation. Out of the whole world, God decided to use believers in Christ to bring the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth and we sit around being bored out of our minds with nothing to do. We are part of the most significant movement on earth. I wish I had a penny for all the times we say, I am Bored! Let this boredom motivate you to play a role in spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. And I am not saying that each one of us can change the world by ourselves, but we can help by just sharing the message of hope with our next door neighbor or unsaved friend! Let each one reach one and you can make a difference in this world.
4. Peter says we are a people belonging to God: We are owned by God (1 Corinthians 6:20). We are God’s property! So when people pick on us, they are really picking on God. We were made in the image of God!
Joel Osteen says, "We have to see ourselves as God sees us."
You have base your self-image on what God’s word says about you, rather than false standards that your peers create such as the clothes you wear have to be this brand name or you are a dork, the cars you drive, the sports you play, the list can go on and on.
“How you see yourself and how you feel about yourself will have a tremendous impact on how far you go in life” (Your Best life Now 56).
Each one of you are special and significant and of great worth to God. We should all Hold our heads up higher. God loves us no matter what we do. But I know it has to displease Him when we bring each other down. I learned that hurting people hurt people and healed people heal people. Those who treat one another contrary to the way God treats us will get the benefit of the doubt because maybe they don’t yet understand who they are in Christ. I was the same way, but everybody under my voice as of now should take in consideration one another with the utmost respect.
We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people belonging to God.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR RIGHTS AS A CHILD OF GOD, Own your inheritance.
Our inheritance is secured, it is signed sealed and dated with the blood of Christ!
Are u trying to change the world or just your under wear?
-I’ve been through hell and back and I am telling you from experience that our purpose in life is to be the best child of God that we can be. Think about it, it is only because Jesus keeps the covenant on our behalf.
-Owning your inheritance will cause you to experience the abundant life that Jesus has for all of us who are obedient.
-Knowing who you are in Christ will make you a more effective witness.
God called us to receive our inheritance first and service evangelism second. God wants us to be priests who will not only love God with all of our heart, soul strength and mind, but He also wants us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Luke 10:27).
As followers of Christ, we are obligated to an inheritance that mandates us to be an effective witness in all we do.
-How will those that are lost call on God and believe in God and His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ if they have not heard (Romans 10:14)? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
2. Owning Your Responsibility:
Acts 1:8 "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (REVERSAL) Acts 1:8, which is the reversal. They thought that people from other nations were to come to Jerusalem(center of worship because the temple was there) and then they would spread the gospel by bringing it back to their homelands, but Jesus said to go and be my witness.
Be a Witness. I want to emphasis our actions.
Does your lifestyle (the music you listen to, the people you hang out with, the language you use, the clothes you wear, the attitude you have) line up with your faith in Christ?
Are you living for God just on Sunday or everyday?
A lot of people think that they are suppose to make room for witnessing in their life! (So people might say I will not play sports as much this week or go shopping as much) When in all actuality witnessing is essential in the road to becoming a mature Christian, like eating is to stay alive. You need food to live as much as you need to witness to grow.
Understanding the seriousness of this responsibility will change your perspective on how you live your life.
I want you to think of all the people that you encounter each and everyday. Whether you like it or not, you leave your influence every where you go with every one you meet. How you act, what you do when situations arise, shows people what kind of person you are. Since we are talking about influence.
I heard in chapel, “Show me your friends and I will show you your future!”
Each one of us should make it a point that we should be that friend that lifts each other up and not brings each other down.
Everywhere you go and everyone you meet can be used as an opportunity to witness even if you don’t say a word about the gospel. You never know when your actions will make the difference in another persons life!
You all heard, "Actions speak louder than words."
Your witness is more far reaching than you will ever know.
This past week on Dr. Dobson’s Focus On The Family I heard this true story relayed by Dr.Bob Reccord, president of the International Missions Board:
A pastor friend in Texas was in a hurry after work. He had to get to the mall for some items, go to his daughter’s school to pick her up, take her home, get to a Deacons meeting, and then to spend the evening in counseling sessions. Once in the mall, he saw an advertisement on a music store window that said, “2 CD’s for $9.99”. He loved music so much he decided he just had to take advantage of it. He went in and picked up 2 CD’s he really had been wanting, and went to the register to pay for them. He threw down with his money while talking to everyone around him- as pastors do.
Then he picked up his bag and his change and went out of the mall. When he threw the bag in the front seat of his car, he noticed for the first time that the clerk had charged him $1.99 instead of $9.99 for those CD’s. His first thought was that he didn’t have time to go back in to get it fixed. But a small voice kept saying, “You don’t have time not to.”
So, he went back in, stood in the same line until it came his time to talk to the clerk once again. He said, “Look I’m in a hurry. You made a mistake. The sign says $9.99 and you charged me $1.99. Please make this correct so I can get on with what I have to do.”
She said, “Sir, I didn’t make a mistake.”
He said, “Sure you did. There is the sign, here is the receipt. Please make the correction.”
She said, “No, sir, I didn’t make a mistake.”
He said, “What do you mean?!!”
She said, “Can I tell you the rest of the story. Will you let me finish, please?”
He said, “Yes I will.”
She said, “For 17 years I’ve been out of church. Recently, my life has been falling apart and I needed to get back into church. I looked around at what was closest to me. I found the name of the church and I went there Sunday and slipped in and sat on the back row. The pastor that day was speaking on integrity. Sir, it happened to be your church. And when I saw you in my line, I wondered if this was something you preached on Sunday or lived on Monday. And I determined to find out.” Then she said, “Sir, I don’t even know the right questions to ask, but I know that whatever you’ve got I need. “ And then she began to cry. The manager, who happened to be a Christian, stepped in and took over the register, dismissed the pastor and then he led her to the Lord. Do you think she would have ever darkened the doors of a church again if this pastor had not gone back in?
Your witness, even in the everyday events of your life, makes a difference in others lives.
Be a witness, but be yourself. People can spot a phony from a mile away. We have to be Real with the world. You can see this by just watching TV. Today our society is so obsessed with Reality TV Shows. Why because people like to see people be people. People like to see how they will respond in the circumstances they are presented with. You can tell if somebody is fake or real quick on these shows. Nobody likes the people who present a false image of themselves, they are always the ones being voted off or the one who loses. But believers who live in everyday life, which is the real reality that is based on authentic Christianity are the most dangerous in the hands of God.
Matthew 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
In the Greek this is an imperative and it literally says, As we go make disciples. Meaning that where ever you are in life preach the gospel. Paul says to preach the gospel in season and out of season. This implies that we are to preach if we are prepared or not, if we want to or not. We are all called to preach. And I am not talking about just using words. Francis of CeeCee said, “Preach the gospel and if you have to use words.” When called to preach, don’t stop on the way to become a king.”
Three aspects of Witnessing:
1. To be Bold in your witness: (1). You might be saying to yourself that I am crazy, I don’t know what to say. Well I will let you in on a little secret, everything you need to know is in the Bible. Let this motivate you to learn an evangelizing method. There are so many, 4 spiritual laws, the roman road, its in the bible.
(2). You can be bold because of the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the comforter or I would like to call it, the chill pill.
A. Peter denied Christ, but after he received power or the HS he died for Christ, spoke up on the day of Pentecost.
B. You want to hear something real bold, Christ with his last breath used it to witness.
C. Stephen, who was the first Christian to die for his faith, witnessed with his last breath.
2. To be a man or women of Integrity in your witness (LIFE):
A. "Doing the right thing at all times, but especially when no one is around.
Example:. Joseph, he could of got it on with Potiphars wife and no one would of known. But he did not want to jeopardize his witness. Say he did fall into her trap and nobody found out. Do think he would ever be able to witness to her? It would be a real long time before she would ever listen to him about God. Joseph would of ruined his witness.
“Your witness can only take you as far as your integrity lets it” (Bousa).
B. We need to set a standard of Integrity in our lives based on Gods word.
Example: Your in school and you have a lot of tests and the temptation to cheat is there, not you guys other schools, but by looking through God’s word, integrity says no. I once heard from an old wise man, he said, “If You cheat you can get a hundred on the test with me, but a zero with God.”
3. To be available at all times to witness:
-Illustration: (True story) In South America, I think Peru, an evangelist was holding a crusade which lasts a couple days and on the day before the last day of the crusade he said to the audience that he wants each person under the sound of his voice to ask somebody to come to the crusade tomorrow. So this little girl who was 12 was so excited to do this. She thought to herself, the first person that sits next to me when I get on the bus to go home I will ask. She got on the bus and it started to fill up, but nobody sat next to her. When she got home she was so upset because she knew time was running out. So she thought real hard and decided to call the first person she sees when she opened the phone book. She gets the phone book and opens it and calls the first person she points to. She dials the number and the phone rings and rings, and somebody picked up. The little girl froze, she didn’t know what to say, the man on the other line kept saying hello with a negative ring to his voice, so all she could do was to start singing a hymn. She sang the first part of Amazing Grace and then she started to talk to the man. She said her speech about the crusade. The man then started crying and said, Right before you called, my wife and I just poured a lethal amount of poison in our alcohol and we were going to commit suicide because we both lost our jobs, we have no money to pay our bills, and we lost all our will to live, we said if God is real he will stop us. So the people ended up meeting her the next day at the crusade and they got saved and their lives were changed.
Like the little girl, we have to have an open heart and put our faith into action.
As followers of Christ, we have to step out of our comfort zones and make ourselves available to be used at all times to witness so that not one will perish.
John Wesley, who was another church father, said that he "saw the world as his parish"
We should do the same! When you step out of this school, you are entering the mission field and your witness has the power to change the world one soul at a time.
