Jentezen Franklin - How to Build a Godly Inheritance for Your Family - Part 1
Everybody in this room, everybody in every room sing: "We are standing on holy ground. And I know that there are angels all around. Let us praise Jesus now. We are standing in his presence. We are standing in his presence. We are standing in his presence on holy ground". Hallelujah to the lamb of God. Hallelujah to the lamb of God. Hallelujah to the lamb of God. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. We used to sing an old song that went like this. "I love Him, I love Him. Because He first loved me. And purchased my salvation on Calvary". I feel like singing it one more time. I'm not getting nothing out of, I'm not singing it to you. "I love Him, I love Him". Give me a bass drum. "Because He first loved me. And purchased my salvation on Calvary". Woo! Hallelujah! If you're saved and you know it, shout a praise to God. Hallelujah! Lord! Thank You Jesus. Praise the Lord. I'm happy in Jesus today, you can be seated.
1 Kings 21: "And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria. And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, ‘Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near next to my house and for it I will give you for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to you, I'll give you its worth in money.' But Naboth said to Ahab, ‘The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you.'"
That's what I wanna preach about. I wanna talk about that mighty, mighty covenant blessing for families of the spiritual inheritance that God has for each and every one of us. The story is centered around a man named Naboth. Naboth appears in this chapter, but his origin goes back for generations of faith. His father, his father's father, his father's father's father's father's father's father's father's fathers goes all the way literally back to Abraham. His name in Hebrew, Naboth, means to sprout or to be fruitful.
This is not the first time we hear of his family for we know Biblically it tells us that he is from the tribe of Manasseh. Manasseh was the son of a man named Joseph. Joseph was the man who had such family crisis that it seemed impossible for his family to ever be put together. You remember it was Joseph's brothers that tried to kill him, that lied, that threw him in a pit and sent him into Egypt and sold him as a slave. His own family did that to him and it was Joseph who at the end of the story looks at the same family members that had hurt him so bad and then comes the famous 50-20 rule that every family person under the sound of my voice must get the spirit of in your soul lest Satan devour and destroy your family. He looked at his family, he didn't just address this to anybody out there. He looked at the family members that had done him wrong and deeply, deeply hurt him. ‘Caused him to rot in a prison for 13 years ultimately they ‘caused it for 13 years for a crime he did not commit.
Went through hell because of them and he looked at them and said in Genesis 50:20 he says, "You meant it, family, for my evil but God meant it for my good". We must learn to say that in family crisis. We must learn to understand that the enemy is out, Satan is out to disconnect us from our own family. He wants family to hate one another, to not speak to one another. To have nothing to do with one another because he knows the family is linked to the inheritance and the spiritual blessings of God that wanna overtake you. We must learn to get the spirit of Joseph to say to family members, "I see beyond flesh and blood, I do not war with flesh and blood. I see that you meant it for my evil, but God means it for my good", Genesis 49.
So Joseph already had to win a battle in his family and when he did, the blessing kept flowing to his son named Manasseh who became one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Interesting, this is powerful now. Joseph's father was a man named Jacob. Jacob was on his deathbed in Genesis 49, and he calls Joseph in. He called all of his sons in, and he says over Joseph, a prophetic word that was different from the words that he gave his other sons. This is what he said, he said, "Joseph," as he laid hands and prayed his last prayer over one of his sons. He said, "You shall be a fruitful vine". In other words, "There's something in you son that is going to cause you to possess property, possess land and when you touch it the world will call it a green thumb. It has nothing to do with a green thumb, this is a gifting that will come into your family. I pronounce it over you by the moving of the Holy Spirit in me, you are receiving an inheritance and it will be passed from you to your son Manasseh and from Manasseh to another to another to another".
And then we get to this man in 1 Kings 21 named Naboth whose name was not picked out of a hat of many names. He was given the name because it was in the family and his name is Naboth which means to sprout or to be fruitful and this 21st chapter starts out talking about the fact that he had such a fruitful vineyard that the king's palace butted up against his property even though the kings property was so much more fancy and so much more beautiful and taken care of. And servants and everybody, taken care of every detail. The Bible said that the king looked out and saw his vineyard and how prosperous that vineyard and he said, "I want that. That is better than all my money can buy. All my wealth, all my power, I don't have that kind of fruitfulness. I want that". And he became the envy of the king.
There are blessings that can be carried from generation to generation, there's no question about it. And when we need to pass them on, that's what blessed me. It's when it was passed on from generation all the way down and it's not by accident. Don't let your godly inheritance die, we must not allow the enemy to disconnect us from our own family. Satan wants to disconnect families. Get parents to not speak to children. Get children to not speak to parents. Divide husbands and wives. Disconnect them and destroy their godly inheritance. Some blessings should never die. Prayer should never die in a family, prayers never die.
The Bible says clearly that every tear that's shed in prayer, every tear is shed in worship, every prayer that's prayed God bottles them up in heaven. It says that and they're stored up sometimes for generation after generation and they are some blessings that should never die. Worship should never die. It should keep going and be passed from generation to generation. Worshipping together as a family in God's house on Sunday should never end, it should never ever have a generation that doesn't show up. It ought to happen, it's critical to the family. Giving and tithing and honoring God in financial giving. It should never end, it should never stop in a family.
The reason I'm blessed is I had a daddy and a grandaddy and grandaddies and Sherice had grandparents and people for generations they tithed. I do have an advantage. I do have, I believe that God it... did you know that the Bible said God gave credit to a guy named Levi, one of the 12 tribes. Gave credit to Levi because Abraham paid tithes and God gave credit generations later to a kid named, it was in Levi's genes. Blessing was in his genes. Some blessings should never die. Prayer, giving, worship. Cooking. Cooking. Cooking. Cooking should be passed on. Sports should be passed on. Music should be passed on. Preaching should be passed on. Business ability, entrepreneurship, dreaming, all of that it should be passed on. Kindness should be passed on. Transmit it to the children, pass it on. Make sure you're passing something on.
The only reason God has given you children is to perpetuate the kingdom of God on the earth. He did not give you children to dress ‘em up so they would be cute. He gave you children so the kingdom of God would continue for another generation and another generation. Pass it on and don't let your godly inheritance die. He didn't give you sons and daughters just to have them. Naboth was fruitful because it was passed down as his spiritual inheritance. It was prophesied, it was passed down and when the king looked at his vineyard and became envious of it, he didn't know that there was more to it that than just a good gardener. It was the fact that God had given that land to that family, God had said I'll prosper what your hand touches and it became fruitful and so powerful and so multiplied and was so beautiful in the king's eyes that he thought, "I've gotta have it".
The Bible says he could not sleep, he would toss and turn and walk to the window and see that property even though he had all the hills that he could see in every direction. And everything that he owned was so much greater, but he said, "I'll buy it from you. I'm offering you money. I'm offering you wealth like I'll give you another farm that's got thousands of acres more. You'll be such a big deal, I'll do this and I'll do that". And I love this great, great lesson that Naboth had in his response. Listen to his words again, "God forbid that I should sell out what my father has handed own to me". That verse moves me. I guess what I'm trying to preach to you is, it's in the family and something in you has to say, "I've got to get it in my kids. I've got to, I can't allow bickering spirits. I can't allow rivalries, I can't allow mess to get in here and mess this family up ‘cause the enemy uses that stuff to disconnect family from family so the blessing cannot be received".
Guard your inheritance. Maintain your inheritance. Wake up. It's in the family and the Bible said that Naboth was killed by King Ahab because his wife Jezebel said, "Why are you worried about it? Just go kill him and take it". And God got so upset when somebody touched the family inheritance that He had blessed that family with. That He had poured into that family that the scripture said that God used a prophet to prophesy, and the prophet said, "The dogs will lick up your blood because you messed with a godly inheritance". The dogs. "They won't even be able to open your coffin when I get through with you, dogs", you read the story of how he and Jezebel died. It's horrible. The Bible said they were attacked by wild dogs and the dogs ate them and there was nothing left but their hands, their feet and their head. You don't wanna show that, keep the coffin closed.
Brothers and sisters, you better not miss with the inheritance and anointing that's on a family. When God lays His hand on a family and blesses a family it is a powerful thing and God takes note of the enemies of that inheritance. Maintain your godly inheritance. Everybody shout the word inheritance. When we're connected, one can put 1,000 to flight. But two in a family can put 10,000 to flight. God wants families to hold it together. He wants marriages to hold it together. He wants dads and moms and grandparents and families and aunts to hold it together to the amount that you hold it together will determine the amount of blessing that can come onto your life.
That's why forgiveness is not an option. What you meant, come on now, I'm preaching today. What you meant for my evil, I see your little tactic Satan, I know. I don't fall for it. What you meant for my evil, dad who left and wasn't there. What you meant for my evil, God meant it for my good. I refuse to hate you, I refuse to be bitter against you. When you do God says, "Everything's in check, open up the heavens and send the blessing". And Jezebel set up Naboth, sent two false witnesses and killed his sons too.
Listen to me. The law said that if Naboth died it would go to his sons. It was a male dominated society, and it would go to his sons but the scripture said that not only did Jezebel have assassins kill Naboth and his wife, but killed his two sons. It was a decisive attempt of Satan to destroy the generational blessing. It went all the way back from Manasseh to Joseph to Jacob and then ultimately to Naboth and now Satan is attacking that family with such hatred, with such vengeance that he's saying, "I'm going to stop this generational blessing at this generation. I'm gonna kill Naboth the fruitful one and I'mma kill his children, his two sons too and that'll end it and Ahab will take over the property". And God said, "Oh, no you will not". Naboth died before he would give it up. It was too precious.