TD Jakes - Unlocking Your Inheritance
So Paul says in Acts 20 he’s getting ready to lead them, and he said, «I commend you to God; I turn you over to God.» He’s been teaching for three years. He ceased not to intercede for them, to pray for them with tears both day and night. And now, the time of his departure is at hand. He’s not getting ready to die; he’s getting ready to leave. He said, «I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up.»
That’s what the word of God does when you study it, when you learn it, when you read it, when you can regurgitate it, and most importantly, when you can understand it. I’d rather you understand it than be able to quote it. It is able to build you up and give you—there it is, take it! He’s offering it to you right now. He’s offering it to you right now. Here, «Here’s my peace, not the peace of the world. Here’s my joy, here’s my abundance, here’s my provision—Jehovah Jireh, I’m your provider.»
Here it is; I’m offering to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. It is the word that is able to build you up. It is the word of God that is able to build you up. It’s not there to make you dance. You might dance, but God is not giving you the word for you to dance; He’s giving you the word to build you up, to do construction on your life, and sometimes reconstruction on your life. That’s what the word does; it reconstructs what was torn down. It reconstructs; it’s able to build you up. You need to be built up—get in the word! Your faith needs to be built up—get in the word! Your confidence needs to be built up—get in the word!
Your power needs to be built up—get in the word! The word, He said, is able to bear you up! It is the word which gives you an inheritance in Christ. It unlocks the inheritance for you; it unlocks the inheritance for you; it unlocks the inheritance for you! Why do you think that we call it the New Testament? Have you ever noticed on a will it’s called the last will and testament? In other words, whoever has willed this to you, this is their testimony toward you; this is their will toward you. This is the last will and testament.
So when somebody dies, you go to the lawyer’s office, and he pulls out the will and he reads you the last will and testament. This—that’s what this is. This is the new testament; the last will and testament is offered up to you. It’s offered up to you, and it’s more than a book. It’s more than a book! For instance, if you go to the lawyer’s office, he pulls out the paperwork; he reads the last will and testament. The last will and testament is written, but it’s not the written part that is what you inherit; it is what is written that unlocks what you inherit. So if I will my children the house and he’s reading the document, and he says, «He willed you the house,» they don’t walk out with the paper without understanding that it is through the paper that they gain access to the house.
We have run off with the book, but we’re not getting what the book says belongs to us! So Jesus, when He dies—Jesus, when He’s preparing to die at the last supper—He says that the new testament is in His blood. «Hey, eat the bread; do this in remembrance. This is my body that was broken for you. Take, drink of the cup; this is the new testament in my blood.»
New testament in His blood! What does that mean? Hebrews clears it up and makes it quite clear: it says that the testament is not enforced until the testator dies. I have things willed to my children right now; they can’t have them. You know why? I’m not dead! When I die, it will be theirs because the testament is not enforced until the testator dies. When Jesus died, everything God willed to me became accessible by His grace. You are not just a church member! You are not just a Christian—a Baptist, a Methodist, a Catholic, a Presbyterian, the Church of God, Church of God in Christ! No, no, no, no, no! It’s deeper than that. You are an heir of salvation!
All of those other names I just named—we can date when that started, most of them in the last few hundred years! But 2,000 years ago, He finished His will and testament and willed it to you! And the more you study the word, and the more serious you get into the word of God, the more you begin to find out what’s yours. If you don’t study the word of God, you’re going to be like the old lady in the hood who’s doing without things, and the testament is hanging on the wall, and she won’t read it. This is why Bible class is important, because it helps to illuminate God’s grace in your life, that you might grow thereby, that you might be strengthened thereby, that you might move into the things of God!
Illumination! Illuminate! Shine a light on it so I can see it! Make me understand who I am in Christ Jesus. We spend most of our time wrestling with who we were and almost none of our time walking in who we are. We spend most of our energies praying about where we were—we were aliens, aliens, and without God in this world! Didn’t you just hear what I read to you in Ephesians? But you who were far off are now drawn nigh! He has adopted you into the family! When are you gonna cry, «Abba, Daddy! I’m in the family!» and rest in the blessed assurance that you belong to Him?
And rest in the fact that He provides for His children—that things like healing and prosperity and peace and joy and love and promotion are just the children’s bread! It is coming to you because of your relationship with Him! Now, because of your relationship with Him, every blessing emanates out of that relationship with God. So it’s not that you are to chase the blessing, but the blesser! Not the healing, but the healer! Not the prosperity, but the one who wills you to prosper, because it is only because of your relationship with the giver that you become a recipient.