Living in Heaven’s Entrance

Living in Heaven's Entrance Principles of Your Inheritance PSA 16:5, You, O LORD, are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. 6] The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. Psa 16: NLT 5 Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine. 6 The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance! 1 Peter 2:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceed-ingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We take a lot for granted today because we've been blessed to live in a great and free country. We've received provision, education, protection and shelter from our families, and encouagement from our friends.. We've been living inside a bubble of blessing. And that is a good thing as long as we understand that all this is mostly the result of inheritance. When I taught about Men of Steel on Father's Day, I reflected on my father, grandfathers, mother and those who came before me. I not sure when I first realized that I've been living in inheritance but I know it now, and have for a long time. What has always been amazing to realize is that people are not very different in terms of their dreams and desires. Mostly all parents want the same things for their children; a fruitful, healthy, purposeful and successful life. Standing among people who lack the things I've always had is troubling to me. Visiting and serv-ing people in desperate conditions makes me thankful for my inheritance and blessings. Some conditions stand out in mind: 1) Taking food to a family in the middle of winter who were using a barbeque grill for heat. Seeing children in Lagos, Nigeria living off the streets or disabled peo-ple scooting around on boards. I don't share this to make you feel sad or guilty, just to remind you that little of what you have today is really because of you. Today, we're going to talk about living in Heaven's Entrance. This is not only a “feel good” mes-sage, but a call to live better so that we help our children and other people to live better. “Feel good” messages are very popular because a lot of people feel bad. I think what we sometimes lack is perspective on God's plan and design, not only for ourselves, but for all people. And we are responsible to walk in God's plan and design, so that we can share it, or export it, to others. We can't share what we don't have. All of the virtues and promises made in 1 Peter 2:2-8 are possible because of a provision that's been made for us: Diligence, faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance godliness, kindness, and love are gifts of grace to us. We didn't create these blessings. We inherit them. We have the opportunity to experience and live in that inheritance. We have an inheritance TODAY. We are living in the entrance to heaven! We need to walk within the boundaries of our blessing so that we, as God's church, will be in a position to receive all people. NUM 33:54 'And you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheri-tance; there everyone's inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit ac-cording to the tribes of your fathers. 55] But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. Romans 8:16 ,The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. God gives all of us an inheritance through Jesus Christ. It comes to us through our families, through our understanding of God's kingdom, our worldview, and through our personal faith in God. We should be focused on receiving and living in all that God has given us. There is not good rea-son to live below our inheritance and privileges in Christ. Why should your inheritance go to waste. Something that has your name on it belongs to you and you alone. You need it because you need to share it and pass it on. The Lord is your inheritance. He maintains your lot, or your part of the inheritance. This is so important that the Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesian church led with this truth: Eph 1:18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, You are living in the entrance to heaven! Look and live like it! A. We live under the Abrahamic Blessing Galatians 3:14, He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. GEN 12:1 , Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. 2] I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3] I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 1. Bless your family 2. Bless you 3. Bless others through you 4. Bless those who bless you 5. Curse those who curse you Notice that the blessing was not activated until the obedience was fulfilled. You may not have a rich relative to leave a material inheritance in the future, but you have God who is rich in all things and provides today!