Claiming Our Inheritance

Amen. And while you're standing, I would like to turn to the word of the Lord, to the book of Genesis, and read two verses of scripture in Genesis chapter 13, the story of Abram, whom we know better as Abraham. And I'd like to read God's promises to Abraham because those promises are not just to him and his physical descendants, but they're to us also as people of faith and the spiritual descendants of Abraham. Genesis 13 14 and 15. Genesis 13:14. And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward. For all the land which thou seeest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. I'm preaching today, claiming our inheritance. claiming our inheritance, claiming our spiritual inheritance as sons and daughters of Abraham, who is the father of faith, the father of us all.

You may be seated right now. This is a positive promise of inheritance and growth. I know that it was originally given to Abraham personally and to his immediate descendants that they would inherit the physical land of Canaan. But this promise extends to us in the spiritual realm because God has given to us precious promises of his word. He is not looking for us to inherit merely physical territory, but he's looking for the church to expand. He's looking for the kingdom of God to grow. And we have the promise of endtime apostolic revival. I want us as the United Pentecostal Church International. And as the worldwide apostolic movement, it's time for us to get out of the corner. It's time for us to stand up and claim the inheritance that God is giving this church. It's time to claim our inheritance. Praise God. Praise God. If you consider the story, Abraham and his Lot, his nephew Lot entered into the promised land.

God had blessed them so much their herds grew enormously. And there was conflict between their herdsmen. And so Abraham, the elder statesman, the patriarch, approached his nephew Lot and said, "We don't need to fight. We're brothers. So why don't you choose whatever direction you want to go, and I will choose the opposite. Why don't you choose the land that you want and I will choose what's left? At first, that seems to be the wrong thing to do. Abraham was taking the humble route. He was the elder. In that culture, especially, Lot should have immediately said, "Oh, no, Uncle Abraham, not so. I will let you make the first choice." But Lot missed his queue. Abraham seemingly made a choice that was his to his own detriment because Lot chose the best land of all. Lot chose the wellwatered plains of Sodom. But there is a PS.

What the world thinks is the right way to go is not the right way to go. Because in Sodom there was sin. In Sodom there was pride. In Sodom there was evil. It was not God's will. Let that be a lesson to us that what the world says is the way to success is not what God says is the way to success. The world's way of building a church is not God's way of building a church. The way up is down if we humble ourselves. If we take the humble approach, God will work through us. Notice Abraham's choice was one of humility. It was one of peace. He sought peace. It was one of love. He loved Lot even to his own hurt, seemingly to his detriment. But we also see it was a choice of faith because Abraham put his destiny and his inheritance in God's hands.

Abraham had enough confidence to know it doesn't matter what Lot chooses. It doesn't what matter what others say and do. It doesn't matter the choice the world makes. It doesn't matter what carnal Christian's choice may be. I may just have the leftovers. But when God blesses the leftovers if I will do it God's way, God will be responsible for the increase. I'm talking about claiming an inheritance. I'm not talking about maneuvering and manip manipulating and trying the world's way to grow. I'm talking about the way of faith, which is the true way for an inheritance. Because you notice in the text, it's specifically stated. It's a little bit awkward in the construction of the verse because it begins to talk about what Abraham was going to do. And then it interrupts itself and says after he separated from Lot. The promise of God after he separated from Lot.

God's full promise did not come until after there was the separation. God's full promise did not come until a Abraham made the commitment. He was already a man of God. He was already in the will of God. He already had promises from God. But there is a principle of separation. There is a principle of dedication. If you want to see apostolic revival, you cannot be identical to the world. We cannot be identical to other people who are believers in some measure. But there is a pathway of sanctification. There is a pathway of holiness. There is a pathway of dedication to God. It's inward. It's in our heart. But it's also outward in our behavior, our lifestyle, our speech, our dress. There must be a clear identification of the holiness people of God. That's the inheritance God wants to give us. It's a holiness inheritance. It's a sanctified inheritance.

It's an inheritance of righteousness. Not as the world gives. The politicians can't give it to us. The business world can't give it to us. But God is giving us an inheritance. Oh, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And notice this also. It's not immediately apparent, but think about it. Lot chose the well-watered plains. Now, if you're in Judea and the well-watered plains are already chosen, what does that leave for Abraham? The barren hills of Judea. Seemingly a bad choice for your flocks and your herds. You would much rather have the well-watered plains than the dry, barren Judeian hillside. But notice God's promise. He said, "I will give you all the land you can see." Now, where you're in the plane, you can just see the immediate surroundings, the immediate benefits, the immediate blessings, the immediate rewards. But when you walk up into the hills, it takes some effort.

It takes some consecration. It takes some discipline. It takes some fasting and prayer. But when you get on the hilltop, when you get on the mountaintop, you can see all the territory. You can see the well-watered plains. But you can see more than the well-watered plains. You can see all the land that God wants to give you. Oh, hallelujah. Oh, I see something there. I see a revival that's greater than we thought. I see an inheritance that bigger than what we realized. You see, Abraham's inheritance included those plains, but much more. Abraham's inheritance was greater than he knew ahead of time. It's greater than what he could see when he was making the choice. Now, the devil always paints the best picture up front. If you make the devil's choice, whatever you see is the best it'll ever be. It only goes downhill from there.

But when you choose God's choice, what you're going through right now is the worst it'll ever be. Because the best is yet to come. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. Oh, the inheritance is greater than we can see. The revival is greater than we can realize. Go ahead, climb up on the hillside. Go ahead, trudge up the lonely hill. Go ahead, pray and fast and consecrate and dedicate and God will give you a revival that's greater than what you can see. Oh, hallelujah. I think we ought to praise the Lord right now. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What I'm pointing us toward is not the instant gratification that is taught in our society. Not just push the button and get what you want, but I'm saying follow God's plan of humility.

Follow God's plan of faith. Follow God's plan of separation. Follow God's plan of seeking after him. And you will find in your own personal life, in your church, and in the greater revival of the kingdom of God, you will find an inheritance greater than you can know right now. Greater than you can see right now, greater than you can imagine right now. Our God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. That's our inheritance. You see, the New Testament bears this out. Jesus always goes in front of us. Jesus is always blazing a trail that nobody else can see. Even in his earthly ministry when the disciples had the common prejudice of the time that they disliked the Samaritans because they were of mixed race, mixed culture and mixed theology. But Jesus said, "I must needs go through Samaria." Jesus was not bound by the cultural prejudice of the time.

He was there breaking through those prejudices and saying the very place you don't want to go is where a hungry soul lives. The very place you cannot imagine is the place in which I will bring revival. Jesus is always pushing us to go up the hill. Jesus is always pushing us to go further than what we can think. In John 10, he says, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold." You can't even understand this right now. He said, "But a time will come that the Gentiles also will be part of this worldwide revival." He gave the parable of the great supper in Luke 24. I've been preaching on this just a little bit. I'd like to read a few verses. Luke 14 and 21. So that servant came and showed his lord these things. The point was the master had prepared a supper, invited all his friends.

One by one the friends made excuses. Nobody would come. And so the servant says, "Lord, everybody that you thought about, everybody that you invited, everybody that you expected didn't show up." So the master of the house being angry said to his servant, "Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city. Bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind." He said, "Think bigger than what you're thinking. The revival is outside the little box that you've been thinking about. The inheritance is above and beyond your personal contacts and your personal abilities. Go ahead and think outside the box." The servant came back and said, "It is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room." And the Lord said unto the servant, "Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be full.

Notice may be filled." Notice he says, "Go into the highways. Go into the hedges." You didn't think that there would be people out randomly on the highway that would be invited to the supper. You did not think there'd be people living in the hedges or hiding in the hedges or trudging through the hedges. But go beyond your expectations. The revival that I want to give you is greater and beyond what you can think. You see, Jesus is pushing us for the unforeseen, unexpected inheritance. The apostles, they had great faith, but they could imagine only salvation for the Jews. When Jesus said in Acts 18, to the uttermost part of the earth, they thought Jews in the uttermost part of the earth. Even when the apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 verse 16 and 17 the prophecy of Joel I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and that's an interesting thought because they the crowd saw the speaking in tongues and they said what is this Peter said this speaking in tonesues is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel I will pour out my spirit upon all

flesh if somebody doesn't believe that speaking in tonesues is for today then they must not believe that The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is for today because Peter said this is that and he did say in the last days says God I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. I'm here to tell you the great Holy Spirit revival is for everyone. And that revival includes miracles, signs, and wonders. It includes speaking in tongues as the spirit gives the utterance. Amen. In Acts chapter 2 38, Peter made this classic statement. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to those who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

We understand that far off includes far off in space, far off in time. It includes everyone. But when the apostles heard uttermost parts of the earth, when the apostles preached under anointing, all flesh, when the apostles preached under anointing, all who are a far off, in their own minds, they said all Jewish flesh. All Jewish people who are a far off. All Jewish people who live in the uttermost part of the earth. There may be some today your theological or cultural barrier say, "Oh, that was for another day. Oh, that's for another time. Oh, that's for one race. Oh, that's for one linguistic group. Oh, our local church is just for certain kinds of people." But that is a limitation of your own thinking. The inheritance is not so limited. Jesus always pushes us beyond. The story of Acts is the story as much as it is of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

It's the story of breaking of human barriers so that the Holy Spirit could be poured out as God intended all along. Think about it. Paul was called to Macedonia. I don't have time to go through the very stories but he was looking at Asia. God said go beyond what you're thinking. Let's break into Europe for the first time. He went to Corenth and God spoke to him and said Jesus said I have much people in this s city. Paul you may have thought you are come for a few people but I've got lots of people. Now I want you to think about Corinth. God had many people in the city of Corinth. If you are so upset at the culture that you're despondent about revival, you're right to be upset about the culture, but you're wrong to be limited by your thinking. There was nothing more pagan than the culture of Corinth.

There was nothing more immoral than the culture of Corinth. But God said, "I have a great revival in the midst of an immoral pagan culture. If they could do it in the first century, we can do it in the 21st century." Do not be intimidated by the immorality of the culture. It's time for genuine apostolic Holy Spirit revival in the midst of a pagan culture. Why not claim our inheritance? Don't wait for a Christian culture to come back. Go ahead and claim your inheritance in the midst of Corinth. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And let me tell you this, if you're giving up on the church, Corenth was not your model first apostolic church. Study Corinth. If any one church in our fellowship ho had all the sins listed in Corenth, such as sexual immorality, incest in the leadership, getting drunk at the Lord's supper, misuse of the spiritual gifts, people denying there was even a resurrection, just about any general board I know or any district board I know would say, dysfellowship them right now.

So, if you are getting sick and tired of some who claim to be Christian or Pentecost or apostolic and you just say, "I'm just going to walk away from this." Wait a minute. I believe there is an inheritance. Don't give up on the church. It's time for people who believe in righteousness to bind together and say, "We are the church. We're claiming our inheritance. We're not going to let Cardinal Corinth take our inheritance away. We're going to march into Corenth. We're going to set up an apostolic pastor. And we are going to have apostolic revival. Come on. The church is not perfect, but God is perfect. It's time to get our focus off of the problems of the church and get our focus on the potential of almighty God. Claim your inheritance. Claim your inheritance. The story of Acts is the story of the programmatic expansion of the church geographically, ethnically, socially into all the world.

Think about it. In Acts two, other nations received the Holy Spirit. They were Jewish people from other nations, but it went to other nations. In Acts three, a disabled man was healed. Have you ever thought about that lame man who sat at the temple for years? Day after day, Jesus and the disciples passed him by. Now, with Jesus, he knew what was going to happen. But the disciples, they just missed an opportunity. Here is a man who is apparently overlooked. How many miracles are sitting at the door of our church, overlooked year after year, not because of the limitation of the power of God, but limited by our thinking. Acts 3 says there is revival where you didn't think there was a revival. There is a miracle where you did not think there was a miracle. There is a disabled person that you assume is beyond the reach of the gospel.

But that disabled person is waiting for the right time for a miracle. Acts 8 barriers broke in Samaria of race and theology. Barriers broke with the unic of Ethiopia. race, geography, physical disqualification. The law said he wasn't qualified, but all those barriers were coming down because Jesus always brings us further than we realize. Acts 10, the Gentiles, that means the pagans, that means us, that means everyone. And you can go on through the book of Acts, through Asia, through Greece, through Rome. Rome, the theologic and cultural opposite of Jerusalem. It started in Jerusalem. It continued to Rome. the exact opposite of Jerusalem. There was revival in Jerusalem. There was revival in Rome. I'm saying we need to claim our inheritance. That's the story of the New Testament church. We need to expand our vision. What is the next wave of revival that we do not anticipate?

Where is the limit beyond which we have not gone? It's time to go up to that limit and break it. Now, I'm talking first of all personally, many people here tonight, you know what I'm preaching. But if you've never been baptized with the invocation of the name of Jesus Christ, if you've never received the gift of the Holy Spirit with the initial sign of speaking in tongues, do not be limited by theological, cultural, or traditional barriers. There is no limitation of the spirit. This promise is for you. Where is the revival in your own heart that you have not received yet? Where is the limitation? Where is the barrier? Break through that barrier into apostolic truth. Bake through that barrier into scriptural truth. And every one of us, let's think beyond our limitations. Let's be proactive. Let's think outside the box. You say, "That's scary.

What do you mean? Well, if I could tell you fully, it would be in the box. You're a child of God. You start thinking about it. You know, in a secular sense, we talk about free markets. The way to have growth and innovation is not for somebody on high to give us all the 10 things that we need to do to have an economic boom, but to set people free creatively, individually to come up with what's going to bring an economic boom. I believe we certainly have a clear foundation of apostolic truth and identity. But on that basis, we believe in individual ministers of the gospel and individual churches reaching their own communities, their own ways, their own methods with the diversity and variety. We need diversity in the kingdom of God. Not diversity of our basic lifestyle, not diversity of our basic doctrine, but ability to reach our community.

You know, we who live in North America, we need to think of ourselves as missionaries to our culture. Don't conform to your culture. And don't just play with whatever works in a segment of the culture you're familiar with. And don't try to be a hipster wannabe and try to reach that segment of the culture. You've got to be authentic to people you're trying to reach. But you do so not with what is convenient for you but what is effective in reaching your culture. Now in Austin, we started a number of churches. In recent months, I preached in a variety of the churches in downtown Austin and in central Austin. We started a church in a predominantly African-American neighborhood. We started a church that's Spanish-sp speakaking. We have a church for African immigrants. We have a brand new church that I preached in a couple of weeks ago in the in the actual downtown reaching for the people that live in apartments and condos.

Now, each of those, if you go there, the style of worship will be individual. The style of music will be individual. You go to the African uh uh immigrant service and they're going to have a heavy dose of music and African rhythm and dance and they're going to worship and they're going to praise. You go to those downtown yuppies and they're going to strum an acoustic guitar. But you know what? We're not trying to be fake. We are reaching the actual people that that's their cultural identity. But here's the common denominator. In each of those services, there was a powerful move of the Holy Spirit with people crying in repentance, people receiving the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues. That's how you can know what's happening. Not when you conform to the world's way of doing things, but when you use the vehicles of expression of a culture and you bring them the gospel of Jesus Christ in all its fullness.

So we do need to be open to new methods to a point. Not new doctrine, not new identity, but a diversity at home. We need to think not the preaching method or the preaching style or the vocabulary that I grew up with that makes me feel good, but what communicates to the people that are sitting there? What communicates to the people in the home Bible study? What communicates to the people who have never grown up hearing Pentecostal apostolic language or even reading the King James version of the Bible? How can I speak to them in a language they will understand? If you're a foreign missionary, you learn the language. Well, it's time wherever you are to learn the language, not to change your identity, but learn the language and bring them to apostolic truth. And if you're overseas, you know, there really is, brother How, no foreign missions.

There's world missions. We need world partnership. Brothers and sisters of other countries outside the US and Canada, we need to partner with you. You need to partner with us. Together, we need to win our world for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now I know it's difficult to be a missionary in your culture. It's sacrifice takes giving of time, money, takes release of people. It's inconvenient. But you know, babies are not convenient. I had three babies and now I have one grandson and another grandchild on the way and they're a joy. But when they're born especially, everything they do is a problem. It's a beautiful, wonderful, sweet problem, but they don't do anything constructive. All they do is create problems. But that's growth. That's the face of revival. Praise God. So, let me bring this home. Let's think about it. Where are the unchurched? Where are the people that we don't expect to be saved?

Where are the unforeseen miracles? Where is the inheritance that goes beyond the limit you mentally set for yourself in your church? I challenge every child of God on the local level. Can you teach a Bible study? Could you start a friendship group? Could you participate in an outreach service? Every local pastor, could you start a preaching point? Could you start a daughter work? Is there a neighborhood that's not being reached? Is there an institution? Is there an ethnic group that's underreached or unreached? Is there a suburb? Is there a nearby town? Is there a home missionary? Is there a foreign missionary? We need to go beyond the limitations of our thinking. Are you a full-time pastor? Don't be in maintenance mode. Work yourself out of your existing jobs and train other people to do a lot of that and you reach out and do something nobody else is doing.

You you start an outreach that nobody else is starting. You know, you you open a another work in another town or you supervise a work in another town. Work yourself out of your regular job and you expand your job beyond what you thought. Start writing a new job description. Claim your inheritance. Climb up the mountain and see what nobody else is seeing. Go to the other side of the hill. Everything you see, God will give it to you. But you've got to get high enough to see. You've got to separate yourself from the average, the ordinary, the mundane, so that you can see what God wants you to see. Notice this. Genesis 13. And this excited me when I realized there was more to this passage than what I realized. After that great promise which would have been sufficient in itself. God says, "Okay, Abraham, go to the hill and everything you see you can pl you can claim for yourself."

That's a great inheritance in itself. That's what I've been preaching about. But verse 17, Genesis 13:17, God adds something more. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. Here's my personal interpretation and application. Okay, Abraham, he's on the hill. I see all the plains that Lot claimed for himself. They're really mine. I see all the hills that Lot couldn't see. They're really mine. I see that other valley over there that Lot couldn't see, they're mine. I see that plane over yonder that Lot couldn't see, it's mine. But if for some reason it's not enough. Well, it's up to me how much I want. God says, "Start walking. If what you have is not sufficient, just keep on walking down the road. Just go over the next hill. Everywhere you walk, I will give it to you.

If your horizon is too small, just walk over the hill. There's a new horizon. There's new territory. Your only limitation is how much you're willing to believe, how much you're willing to walk. Your only limitation is what you're willing to believe God for and what you're willing to act on in faith. There is no limit to your inheritance. Keep walking. I say United Pentecostal Church International. I say apostolic movement. I say Christian believers everywhere. Holy Ghost filled, spiritfilled believers. Jesus name believers, whoever you are, keep walking, keep walking, keep marching, keep claiming, claim territory for Jesus' name. There's no limit to what you can claim in Jesus name. I'm speaking to somebody personally in your life. You need victory. And I'm saying if you will get up and walk towards the destination that you believe you need, God will give you every place that you walk.

If you're in bondage, if your family is in a struggle, if you're needing deliverance, if you're needing healing, if you're needing a financial miracle, whatever your need, if your church needs a victory, if you will start walking towards that goal, everywhere you walk, God will give you victory. Even if you cannot see it, God says, "I'll give you beyond what you can see. If you'll keep walking, I will give you every place you walk." What an inheritance. There's no limit but our own thinking and our own ability to act. What's the logical response? The next verse says, "Abram removed his tent." If you catch the vision, you're going to start moving. If you catch the vision, you're not going to stand there and shout and go home and sit down at the same place as before, but you're going to pack your bags. You're going to pick up your tent, and you're going to move to the place that God is telling you to go.

I'm not talking about a geographical move necessarily. I'm talking about moving in the realm of the spirit. I'm talking about moving in the gifts of the spirit. I'm talking about moving in revival. I'm talking about claiming an inheritance. Now, let me just show you a couple things. I'm coming to a close real quickly, but I want to address churches and pastors right now. Let me give you a few simple examples. I could give a thousand examples, but I'm going to show you on the screen and it you're going to have to move pretty fast, but let me give you six examples. Janet Trout, Georgetown, Delaware. She started a home missions church in English. She saw the need for Spanish and started Spanish work. It's still home missions, 65 people. But that's claiming an inheritance. You might say, "But she's a woman." She says, "I'm going to claim my inheritance."

That's a limitation of my thinking, your thinking. She won't mind me saying this, I don't believe, but she's a senior citizen. But for some reason, that's a limitation in other people's thinking. That's not a limitation in her thinking. David Fos right here in Houston, Texas, pastor of a large successful church that celebrated its 80th anniversary. He's got every reason to be content and fully occupied in what he's doing. But recently, he started one daughter work and he started another daughter work. We're talking about a total of perhaps 600 in attendance. You know, David Foss is the senior pastor, but I happen to know that first daughter work he started himself in addition to all his responsibilities as a full-time pastor. He personally led that daughter work service until it could become autonomous and he could turn it over to another pastor. You didn't think full-time pastors drawing a full-time income in a major apostolic church of 80 years of history would personally start a daughter work in a storefront.

But that's a limitation of your thinking. It doesn't limit what God can do. James and Steven Beardsley, Newark, Delaware. Five church plants, total of 435 in attendance. Four other pastors sent out of their church. You know, that's in the Northeast. People don't have revival in the Northeast. You can't hardly plant new churches in the Northeast. That's a limitation of your thinking. But if you just start thinking, I can start a daughter work. I can start an outreach. Lincoln Graham senior New York City, four church plants, total 500. Six other pastors sent out from his church. A great outreach in Nigeria. I don't have time to tell the story, but literally hundreds of preachers and pastors have been baptized in Jesus' name. I think over 1,500 through the original contact of Lincoln Graham and many others. That's inner city. That's New York City. You can't have revival in the inner city.

You can't have revival in New York. That's a limitation of your thinking. Doesn't limit God. Paul Graham, Montreal, Quebec, five daughter works. Total 750 to 800 in attendance. English church, French church, Spanish church, Sri Lankan church. You know, Quebec is the least evangelized area of North America. Majority French-speaking population, the hardest to reach with the gospel message. That's a limitation of your thinking. We're having revival in Quebec because some people didn't know you couldn't have revival there. Raul Arusco. Most of you don't know who he is. I hope you take a look at the picture. Right now, this service is being translated in Spanish streaming in uh live streaming broadcast on the internet. 30,000 outlets. Entire churches are listening in Spanish right now. Raul Arusco, Los Angeles started 10 daughter works in the US. Those 10 daughter works have started eight more daughter works. They've crossed the border because God doesn't know there are borders.

And they've started three daughter works in Mexico. Total of 6,270 people in church. Most of us didn't know that. That was probably the largest United Pentecostal church in North America. But brother Arusco is not looking for awards. He's not looking for ribbons and buttons. Nobody told him you can't build a big church in North America. Nobody told him you can't start a bunch of daughter works. He's got daughter works that are bigger than his mother church. He doesn't seem to care about that. But somehow he broke the barrier of limited thinking and he's claiming an inheritance unless we leave overseas out. I was recently in the country of China, the most populous country in the world. I can't tell you the whole story. We had a seminar, 60 leaders from eight cities. We had to do it in an underground fashion. Change the place of meeting, change the time, cancel the service.

Good thing we canled that service because the police came that night. But since we didn't have a service, they didn't find anything. We stationed people at the door as we came in the area that we were. And we set it up as a music seminar because some of these people are professional musicians. And so the plan was if anybody who did not belong to the group would approach the door, we would instantly start a music practice. They told me I could not use my PowerPoint because that could be incriminating. But they had a music PowerPoint. They had a a girl sitting there on the keyboard. They had the drums set up. They had singers set up to do the scales. La. And so they told me, "Go ahead and start preaching. Go ahead and start teaching. will translate. But if you hear one of the girls at the door start playing the tambourine, that means somebody is coming that we don't know.

You immediately sit down, make yourself invisible, hide your Bible, and we will put up the PowerPoint. We will start playing music and we will have a wonderful music seminar. How would you like to conduct a leadership seminar under those circumstances? Well, of course, being apostolic, nothing will happen. One hour into my seminar, the tambourine plays. I immediately scoot down. We go into a full-blown music session. We have a great time. The interpreter says, "Are you ready to go back to the hotel?" I says, "Well, if y'all are staying, I'll stay." So, they finally gave they talked to the person that was involved. I won't go into the whole story, but they finally neutralized the situation. It wasn't the police. It was somebody else that became aware and was trying to stop it, but they finally convinced them they were harmless. Don't get the police involved.

Everything will be okay. We start it back up. Sure enough, another hour, here comes the tambourine. This time is a little more tense. First time is fun. First time is being persecuted for the gospel. Second time is go to jail, pay a fine, sit there. But we got the all clear on the second one. To make a long story short, we had a great seminar. in the midst of unlikely circumstances where I'm American. I can probably pay a fine and get out of the country and I'm scot-free, but these people's jobs are on the line. These people's income are on the line. Their liberty is on the line. You can't have revival there. We have literally thousands of believers that we're able to count. And we have literally thousands of more believers that we cannot even count. I'm saying the gospel works in every situation.

Don't put limits on what God can do. Another country, I dare not even name the country or the identifying circumstances. I will just say an a totalitarian regime that's not hospitable to Christianity. In fact, legal laws are in place that would prevent anyone from converting to Christianity. But in the midst of that impossible situation where we had no known apostolic contact, one of the target cities or target nations that we had no witness, but some immigrant here in North America was converted, began preaching on the internet and making contact with people of his ethnicity and language group. In the meantime, some preachers started hearing the full gospel message. getting baptized in Jesus' name. Now, there are two to three,000 identified believers baptized in the name of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit in a place where by law they're not supposed to exist. Now, I will say a number of the leaders have been arrested.

Some are even on death row. We need to pray for these believers. There was a recent announcement on statewide media a great danger. The only Jesus people are creating havoc in our country. You know when the devil starts saying these only Jesus believers are a problem. When the devil starts announcing uh to throughout the media be careful those people who really love Jesus who believe in the name of Jesus. Bishop Norwood, that lets me know what you said is coming to pass. That we're chasing the devil out of town. The devil is horrified. The demons are terrified. And Jesus Christ is glorified. One more testimony. I just got an email. I was in Canada few months ago. We prayed for a number of people. I got an email from one of our ministers who said the the the girl that we prayed for, she couldn't walk.

She had a deformity in her legs. The doctor said she would never be able to walk. Brother Bernard, the email said the next day after prayer, she felt to take some steps. And now I'm happy to report to you, she's running everywhere. Why can't we believe in miracles of healing right here in North America? God is not limited. It's our own thinking that's limited. I'm saying it's time to claim our inheritance. I'm asking us to rise together in this auditorium tonight. And I hope I've said something from scripture and from personal testimony to stretch your thinking. Climb up the hill. Separate yourself. Dedicate yourself unto God. Look further than you have ever looked before. And if that's not sufficient, start walking. Walk further than you've ever walked before. It's time for us to claim our inheritance. I believe the Lord is speaking specifically to individuals who need healing and deliverance and the Holy Spirit.

I believe the Lord is speaking specifically to lay leaders who need to be aggressive in outreach. I believe the Lord is speaking specifically to ministers who need a call to start a preaching point, to start an outreach, to need to that God is calling you to start a Bible study, to start a daughter work, calling pastors to plant another work. And I'm making an appeal right now. The first appeal, we need people who will be faithful to the apostolic message to claim our inheritance. We must not blur our identity and just become another entity, another organization, another PR group, another group who's attempting to blend in with the world and house build churches to house people who are part of the world. But we need people who are committed to our message, who take it so seriously. They believe if we bring our message to the world, we will claim an inheritance that God wants us to claim.

And I'm appealing. Number two, for ministry, people who are not satisfied. You might be a full-time pastor drawing a wonderful salary, but God is telling you, you cannot be satisfied with what you are doing. But there is an inheritance beyond what you thought. God is wanting you to launch out and be part of this great inheritance. And then number three, missions. Brother Brother Howell, we need more men and women who will commit themselves. The inheritance is there. The land is before us. If you don't see it, just get on the hill. There's unclaimed territory as far as the eye can see. There's unreached horizons. Keep walking. Oh, if you feel a call to ministry, you need to feel a call to missions. There is work urgently needed in the kingdom of God. There is a harvest unreap. Am I talking to someone? Would you come right now?

If God is challenging you to stretch the limits of your thinking and of your presence and to reach into an inheritance that God wants you to give, I want you to quickly come to the front. We're going to pray with you. Our leaders here are going to work with you.