Home Improvement 4 – Inheritance

God wants you to build, fix, & maintain your home. God also wants us to leave behind an inheritance.
Many people are not thinking about the next generation, but God is always thinking about the next generation. We need to think more about the life we are living and will hand down as an inheritance.

Are you living a life worth inheriting?

Home Improvement

I’m not even sure that our video editing team really understood that this sermon series has nothing to do with Tim Allen.
Welcome to Redemption Church! My name is Chris Fluitt and I welcome everyone in the room and everyone online. We are in the final week of our sermon series Home Improvement. The bumper videos in this series have been terrible, but the truth in God’s word has been life changing.
We have talked about building, fixing, & and maintaining you your home. If you missed any of the previous weeks you should go check them out at redemption-church.com.
Today I want to talk to you about the very spiritual topic of inheritance.
Inheritance

We have talked about building the home. Are you just building it for you?
We have talked about fixing the home. Are you just building it for you or will others be effected?
We have talked about maintaining the home. Are you just watching out for your investment, or perhaps are you hoping to one day pass this home on to the next generation?

What is an inheritance? Inheritance is the transmission of goods to another generation.
A lot of things can be left as an inheritance.

Houses and land are often left.
Many mothers hand down jewelry as inheritance.
Money in a bank account is something that can be left behind as inheritance.

Do you have anything that has been handed down to you from previous generations? We want to hear about it. Text our anonymous line – 214 856 0550.
Anonymous Text Line

Our family has a hand held telescope from the 1800s that has been handed down from previous generations. I look forward to passing it down one day.
Sometimes the value of an inherited object is just the knowledge that someone before you held it. I don’t have much need of a handheld telescope, but I still hold this object as very valuable, because of the history behind it.
Inheritance
Inheritance is a biblical idea that we need to practice.
Inheritance is rooted in the past

We see this idea all throughout the Bible. There are multiple locations in scripture where long lists of genealogies are given. Adam begat Seth, Seth begat Enos, Enos begat Kenan… We know the lineage from Adam to Jesus. It is in Luke 3.
The past is important and needs to be remembered.
You may read through Chronicles and get bored at reading these difficult to pronounce names.
You may think, why is it important that you remember this person?… But you are missing the point.
It is not important that you remember them… what is important is that God remembers them!
Every person listed is someone God knows. God intimately knows every one of them, and loved them.
The past is important to God. Is it important to you?
Unknown Grave

I am blessed that our family has our own cemetery. There are many graves from the 1800s buried there, and many of them are unknown graves. I remember as a teenager walking through that graveyard and stopping to consider an unknown grave. I said to myself “It is so sad that nobody remembers who this person was. Everyone who knew this person is gone…”
I felt goose bumps when I felt God tell me “I still remember them. I still know them.”

If everyone on the face of the planet forgets you, you are still remembered by God.
If everyone who knows you is no longer around, you are still known by God.
And being buried in an known or an “unknown” grave is not nearly as important as being buried with Christ!
If you are buried with Christ you will rise again!

The past is important to God. He is just as present in the past as He is in the present and in the future! God doesn’t live inside the scope of time.
The past is important to God. Perhaps we, -living in the year 2018, we should care more about the past than we do.
Inheritance is rooted in the past but looks forward to the future.

Inheritance is a gift from the past going to support future effort.
You better believe this is a biblical idea. All the patriarchs left blessing and inheritance to the next generation.
Old Father Abraham left behind a blessing and inheritance for the young Isaac. This gift helped him build his life.
Isaac left inheritance to his sons Jacob & Esau. Jacob left inheritance & blessing to his 12 sons. These 12 sons became a nation.
The gift of an inheritance from a previous generation propels the next generation further. Inheritance is rooted in the past but looks forward to the future.
Proverbs 13:22 (NIV2011) A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children
Not just an inheritance for your children, but your children’s children; your grand-children.
God wants us to be forward looking. He wants us to be working for the future and not just the present.
God wants you to look further. God wants you to think generationally. God is calling you to do more than receive blessing, He is calling you to be a blessing.
Are you leaving behind an inheritance?

Our society hardly ever looks past the present. We earn our paycheck and then immediately consume it. 2 weeks, worth of work, gone- with none of it saved for the future.
An inheritance is rooted in the past, but looks past the present, and toward the future.

How you spend your money will affect the inheritance you leave to the next generation.
How you spend your time will affect the inheritance you leave to the next generation.
How you prioritize will affect the inheritance you leave to the next generation.

We are living in a time when fewer in the next generation will receive an inheritance from the current generation. The majority will not be ready for retirement, much less leaving an inheritance. It is because we are not looking forward.
Inheritance is more than money.

You can leave behind knowledge to the next generation.
You can leave behind good habits and a model of good character to the next generation.
You can leave behind your faith to the next generation.

You are leaving behind an inheritance!

The father that never thought about his kid’s future… that father did leave behind an inheritance. Those kids grew up with the heritage of diminished self-worth. They are likely to pass that inheritance onward.
The mother that was too busy with her phone… that mother did leave behind an inheritance. The next generation received a heritage of apathy and procrastination. They are likely to pass the inheritance onward.
The family that never went to church, opened their bible, or prayed to God… they did leave behind an inheritance. The next generation received a heritage of carnality and zero spirituality. They are likely to pass the inheritance onward.

The person with the terrible temper is leaving an inheritance.
The person with a tendency to gossip and tear others down is leaving an inheritance.
The person who is lazy and unmotivated is leaving behind an inheritance.
The person who is abusive is leaving behind an inheritance.
The person who is materialistic and greedy is leaving behind an inheritance.
The unforgiving person is leaving behind a legacy.

The question is not “will you leave behind an inheritance” the question is “what inheritance will you leave behind?”
Single person I am talking to you. You right now are leaving behind an inheritance. Married couple that is never planning on having children, I am talking to you as well. You are right now storing up an inheritance for the next generation.
Spiritual Inheritance

Inheritance is more than just tangible and taxable goods. We often overlook the power of a spiritual inheritance.
In 1 Kings we see the Kingdom of Israel go transition from King David, to Solomon, to Rhehoboam.
This is David talking to his son Solomon.
1 Kings 2:2 (NIV2011) “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man,
1 Kings 2:3 (NIV2011) and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go
1 Kings 2:4 (NIV2011) and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’
Solomon received more than a throne and a crown from his father David. Solomon received the promise of God from a previous generation. David handed his son a Spiritual Inheritance.
Solomon didn’t do anything to receive this inheritance. This inheritance was rooted in the past but looked forward to the future.
Fast forward to the end of Solomon’s life. A man named Jeroboam is approached by the prophet Ahijah in 1 Kings 11. This is the word of prophecy.
1 Kings 11:31 (NIV2011) …‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes.
1 Kings 11:32 (NIV2011) But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe.
1 Kings 11:33 (NIV2011) I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.
1 Kings 11:34 (NIV2011) “‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees.
Rehoboam received the throne and crown of his father Solomon, but he also received a spiritual inheritance.
In the next chapter Rehoboam loses 10 of the 12 tribes to Jeroboam. The Kingdom of Israel is split in two. When you read chapter 12 there are some bad decisions that Rehoboam makes. You could point to Rehoboam’s pride and receiving the wrong counsel as being the reasons why he lost 10 of the 12 tribes… But the real cause was the spiritual inheritance of his father Solomon.
Understand this. Rehoboam experienced loss because of a previous generation’s actions.
God said “I am tearing the kingdom out of Solomon’s hands.” It looked like God was tearing the kingdom out of Rehoboam’s hands… but that is not how God sees things. The kingdom was torn from Solomon’s hands and that inheritance was given to Solomon’s son.
Your actions right now could cause God to rip blessings out of the hands of a future generation.
You can leave behind an inheritance that doesn’t build, but divides. Solomon should have left behind an inheritance that built up Israel, but instead out of disobedience left and inheritance that divided Israel.
Poor Rehoboam, he didn’t deserve this, yet he received it.
But why was Rehoboam allowed to keep the throne at all? Scripture says the son was punished because of his father Solomon, but it also says that God kept him on the throne because of his grandfather David.
1 Kings 11:32 (NIV2011) But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe.
Rehoboam sat on the throne because of David. Rehoboam sat on the throne of David because of the spiritual inheritance of David.
Oh where would Rehoboam be without a David?!
Oh where would we be without a spiritual inheritance!?
Don’t you know that when God sees you he also sees beyond you?

When God sees you, He also sees your mom that never stopped praying.
When God sees you, He also sees your father who was faithful.
When God sees you, He also sees promises he made to your patriarch that others have forgotten.
When God sees you, He also sees the inheritance of righteousness from your grand-mother.

God wants to bless you today… but not because of you. Because of the Spiritual Inheritance that has been handed to you.
When I look at my past I see a heritage that has been handed to me. I know that God is not using me today simply because of me.

When I look ahead to the future generations I see some sons that need to receive a Spiritual Inheritance of righteousness, faith, joy, and the Supernatural.
A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children. Lord let me leave behind a Spiritual Inheritance that reaches past me… that reaches past my children… and reaches multiple generations.
Psalm 102:18 (NIV2011) Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
I am not just preaching for you today. I am preaching for a future generation.
I am not just praying for us today. I am praying for a future generation.
I am not just worshipping for us today. I am praising God for a future generation. THAT A PEOPLE NOT YET CREATED MAY PRAISE THE LORD.
Are you building a life worth inheriting?

Come build a life worth inheriting today.