Inheritance – Destiny
Corporate inheritance of the church and – Joshua Generation.
Individual inheritance.
Destiny, birthright, calling, purpose.
Redemptive gift – designed to fulfil.
Identity – Sonship.
Journey from the slavery of childhood and infancy to the maturity of sonship.
Who am I? – My identity.
How am I made? – Redemptive gift.
What am I made for? – Destiny or birthright.
Journey, quest, adventure of discovery – opposition.
The battle to possess leads to intimacy with God.
Rom 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. It is my destiny to be His son.
Do I feel, think, act like His son?
If not, why not?
We all start out as slaves.
All born into slavery; we are all orphans spiritually.
Orphans rejected, expelled and sold into slavery in garden.
Born into slavery – family heritage influences us.
Wounded soul and spirit asleep.
Eph 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Rom 6:16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
Whose slave, are you?
Who is your master?
One brings life; one brings death.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, (YOU) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:16 For God so greatly loved and dearly prized (YOU) that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son,
Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Gal 4:4 God sent him (Jesus) to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
How awesome! What love!
Redeemed from slavery by Jesus.
Bought back from slavery, given a new home and a family.
We are adopted as sons into the family of the King.
We are royalty – princes and princesses.
Regardless of history or background.
Born again into a new family with a new identity.
We have a new heavenly home and are a home of God.
New heavenly citizenship.
New (yet eternal) identity and purpose.
Sonship with a relationship with the father.
John 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. 20 In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
Have a new home and are a new home.
Rom 5:5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
Rom 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, ordistress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God;
1 John 4:16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
John 1:12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
Rom 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So, you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.
Gal 4:7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
Eph 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
God the Father sent Jesus “to redeem those who were in bondage to sin.”
Buy us back from the slavery of sin.
Set us free from slavery but it doesn’t stop there.
We are then adopted into His royal family, becoming heirs.
Acceptance, adoption, access, attachment, affirmation, approval.
Slaves or orphans struggle with the fear of trusting, therefore live a life of independence.
Many fail to be sons because of fear.
Can’t trust because of past experience.
Fear of being hurt, rejected, disappointed, failing, losing control.
Salvation does not make us slaves (servile followers of a tyrannical God). Rather, this great salvation makes us sons (grateful followers of a loving Father).
The source of our redemption and adoption originated in the loving, sovereign plan of God the Father.
To be liberated as a slave is great! But then to be adopted as a son and made a co-heir of the Father’s entire estate is astounding!
The shift from slave to son language is remarkable.
By virtue of our adoption our whole relationship to God has radically changed.
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Some people adopt people from other countries, races, colors etc.
In spite of great love there can still be a sense of not belonging, not fitting.
When we are adopted by God it is like we have found home- our eternal home but…
John 10:10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
The enemy the father of lies wants to remind us of our past, our history to rob us of our present and futures.
Gal 4:8 However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?
Religion enslaves us.
Relationship releases and empowers us.
Do we serve for our relationship?
Do we serve from our relationship?
Answer determines if we are free or still in bondage.
Who has given us our identity?
Who has labelled us?
Parents, siblings, friends?
Authority figures?
Society?
How do we label ourselves?
Who are we agreeing with?
Where do we get our identity from?
What we do – work etc.?
Relationships – being a father, mother, husband, wife, friend?
Gangs, clubs etc.?
Culture?
Too often, people base their identities on what they do (from their jobs to their roles in relationships), defining themselves by those pursuits. But by doing so, they significantly limit their lives.
The truth is that God intends for all people to find their identity in Christ.
If you’re a Christian, your identity encompasses all the abundance of being a beloved child of God.
Spirit must grow to overrule the soul.
Live in truth – identity and revelation of who am I and why am I here.
Start living our lives fully in Christ, keeping in mind that:
You are saved from punishment.
You are reconciled.
You are accepted.
You are adopted.
You are a saint not a sinner.
You are blessed.
You have a spiritual identity – son and heir.
By virtue of our adoption, we have been given:
A new name (son, no longer slave)
A new legal standing/status (accepted, no longer alienated or condemned).
A new family-relationship (Father, no longer Judge).
A new image, the image of Christ.
Knowing our identity is key to knowing and fulfilling our destiny.
Experientially knowing who we are.
If you don’t know who you are how can you know what belongs to you and what you are called to do?
Mal 4:5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. 6 He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
Curse on the land is Fatherlessness.
Elijah represents fathering anointing: turn hearts back to God, our real Father.
John 15:9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Testimony of knowing the Father heart of God by experience.
Natural Dad – no love, no affection, no affirmation, no approval, no encouragement, no fathering.
No relationship with God as Father.
Baptized in the Spirit – liquid love – called to a purpose.
First hug in worship – intimacy.
Revelation of the truth that God was not like my earthly father.
Ministry – posed sham picture – chose to forgive and release – hugged him.
Release of pain and emotion.
My first heavenly encounter: fun on His knee.
Heavenly encounter where my Father wound was removed.
Intimacy restored.
Healed wounds from -60 to 0
What about the + 100?
Fathering revealed – free to be me.
Love languages of our Father.
Helping people to find and fulfil their destinies.
Free to know God.
Free to see our destiny.
Free to be who God created us to be.
Free to do what God prepared for us.
Free to go where God calls us to go.
Do you feel like you don’t belong?
Do you feel like you don’t fit anywhere?
Do you still feel like an orphan?
Do you feel like no one loves you?
Do you still feel rejected?
Father God wants you to feel His love and acceptance today.
1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God.
1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
1 John 3:1 See what [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us, that we should [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God!
1 John 3:1 What marvellous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it – we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are.
Intimacy with Father God.
Prodigal son and father is a story of reconciliation and restoration of relationship.
Not a slave or servant but a son – full sonship rights and responsibility restored.
Love of the Father meets you today in a hug.