Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Your Heavenly Inheritance Matters More Than You Think
Have you ever noticed a particular number following you everywhere? A time on a clock, a receipt total, or a house number that keeps appearing in your life? For my wife Maria, it was 111 – a divine numerical pattern that became God's special way of communicating with her during a season of isolation and fear.
This episode delves into the fascinating world of how God creates unique communication channels with each of His children. Just as every parent-child relationship has its distinct language and patterns, our Heavenly Father crafts personalized ways of speaking to us – whether through nature, Scripture, dreams, or even numbers.
The heart of our discussion centers on Ephesians 1:11 and a profound revelation about spiritual inheritance. While we typically think of inheritance as something we receive, Scripture reveals a beautiful dual reality: not only have we "obtained an inheritance" in Christ, but we ourselves are God's inheritance – His treasured possession whom He has claimed. This revolutionary understanding transforms how we view our relationship with God and our purpose in this world.
Drawing from both personal stories and biblical examples, we explore how recognizing yourself as God's inheritance provides fresh motivation for Christ-like living. You'll hear about divine interventions in both monumental life challenges and seemingly minor moments like finding lost car keys – because when you're God's treasured possession, every aspect of your life matters to Him.
Whether you're curious about biblical numerology, seeking to understand God's purpose for your life, or simply wanting to recognize His presence in your daily experiences, this episode offers fresh perspective on how deeply personal and intentional God's communication can be.
Ready to discover what God might be trying to tell you? Listen now, and then share your own experience of how God uniquely speaks to you in the comments below.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
And we're back again Now, before I continue on, with more teaching and more of an understanding of God's ability to heal us today and why he heals us today, and, even more so, how it works in our life, and more so how it works in our life. But first off, a lot of my listeners may know about this, but there are others out there that haven't, and I'll give you a quick background on it. My wife loves spending time in prayer and when she does this, you know, know, god always reveals things to her, like, um, he shows her flowers, because you know he loves flowers ducks is another thing. That, uh, it is and um, he's constantly showing her about god's love and his beauty and his creation. And in doing this, you know they've got this connection. You know, everybody has their own way of communicating with God and on top of that, everybody has a rather unique connection because it's basically like, okay, those that have got children out there will know what this is like. The way that your children react to their father is different to the way that they react and behave with their mother, and so the same thing is with God. You know we are all his children and he loves us all equally, but every single one of us will have a way that we communicate with God. Now you're probably getting totally lost at the moment, but trust me, it's going to make sense when I I get to where I'm getting all right.
Speaker 1:So many people over years and years being in the ministry have always asked me oh, how do I do this and how does god speak to you and how do I know that he's talking to me? It's a very unique personal thing. There has to be some way that you can get that revelation, knowledge, whether it's through the word of God, whether it's through things that you see on an everyday basis or the way that you actually read the word of God. Everybody has their own unique personality. We are a spirit, soul and body, but the thing is we're all individual. None of us are alike. Even when you look at twins and identical twins and people like that, everybody is different. Everybody is unique because that's the way that God made you. So, in saying that, there is always going to be a unique way that he speaks to you, now to get to where I'm going. Now we go back to say 9-11. Everybody around the world can almost tell themselves, without even thinking about it very long where they were when the Twin Towers were hit in America, and it changed the way that we do things globally.
Speaker 1:Now, when that happened, we were new to Western Australia. We had actually come over from South Australia and a lot of you know my story and my past, but I'm not speaking about that today. But the thing is that when we were over here this is when this happened and it just so happened that it coincided with the only family that we had here in Western Australia was my wife's sister and her husband and our niece husband and our niece, and so it takes time to create relationships and to build things with people. So one of the main reasons we're able to be here is because Maria had that family connection and she's very family-orientated. Now I am Anglo-Saxon, I'm sort of like half English, half Scottish, and we have a certain way of the family dynamics. But if you're Asian or European or come from an ethnic background, you have a very, very close-knit family community and you're in everybody's business and that's the way you love it and you like having family around you and you like having family around you.
Speaker 1:All of a sudden, this happens 911, and at the same time, maria's family that she had here was moving to the country. They were going to Kalgoorlie, and so Maria was all alone, she was isolated and she really just had the kids because I was working all the time. So, yeah, and I'm not saying this is what is supposed to happen, but it's what did happen, you know. So fear came into her life because she was watching and listening to all the news bulletins and everything and everybody was saying, oh, this is what's going to happen, terrorism's happening and all of this. Now my wife is a bit of a clock watcher because that was her job. She needed to be able to do things and have things done at certain time schedules and everything else. And so they're sitting in prayer because we're in the church and it was staff prayer and Maria's always being disturbed because there's so many people that need stuff and she was running the accounting department at that stage. So therefore, she's always alert, she's always aware of the time that's going on around her and she was constantly seeing 911, 911, and she saw this as not something that was good. It sort of brought that trepidation into her body. That was good. It sort of like brought that trepidation into her body and so she's thinking, she's praying to God and she's saying Lord, give me something else. Anything else I don't. You know, I'm not worried about whether it's flowers, whether it's ducks or whether it's different numbers. She wanted something else and all of a sudden, god revealed to her 111,. Right Now, just a little background on that number, because over the last few years, every time my wife looked at a clock or looked at her phone, there was 111. So she's got so many screenshots and so many pictures of 111. And so I explained to her that it's all to do with new beginnings.
Speaker 1:From a biblical perspective, 1-1-1 is fairly significant and it has different connotations in different parts of the Bible. But if you're into biblical numerology, numbers are very important and they're very important to God, and God uses numbers. So you see things like he's using three. Okay, because Jesus went to the cross on the third day. He rose from the dead and, you know, walked among us Forty days. Okay, he walked around for 40 days before he ascended to be at the right hand of the Father. And you can look at it from another perspective. The Israeli people spent 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness. So all of these numbers have significance if you really delve into them, and God likes numbers as well. So he had given my wife 111. And, like I said, it's related to new beginnings.
Speaker 1:But just recently and I don't want to tell her this, but she'll probably hear it on the podcast anyway that I'm starting to get 111 as well. And so what I was doing is I was going through the Bible, and I'm going through every book of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, chapter 1, verse 11. And this one stood out with me quite significantly, and it's Ephesians 1.11, and that's the foundation of my subject today. But if you don't understand its origin, therefore, it's pretty hard for me to start talking about this and then you not actually have any, you know, reference point to look at it. You just think that pastor fuels having an off day and he's gone out there a little on pluto, but not so okay.
Speaker 1:Now ephesians 1 1 says this in him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Now there's a couple of key things to remember in that passage. There alone, right, and that is you've obtained this, so that means you've already got it An inheritance. Now, a lot of people look at an inheritance as being something you get when a family member passes away. So, in other words, something bad has to happen. In other words, something bad has to happen and sometimes you can be the recipient of that bad thing. That's happened.
Speaker 1:But not here, because it also talks about being predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will. We're talking about God here. We have been predestined according to God's purpose in our life. Now, this is fantastic text about the guarantee of our inheritance in Christ, about the guarantee of our inheritance in Christ. But this is an inheritance, is nothing like anything that you can think of in the natural. It's not about endless vacations, golf sessions, going fishing trips. We need to dive into the text and develop our understanding of this inheritance that God is speaking about for every single one of us.
Speaker 1:Now I've given you a little bit of an overview of how this came about with my wife, and so we now believe that God is going to do something quite significant in our life in relation to this 1-1-1. And we have to understand that it is broken down into several parts. First, there is the plan of God. Now, this is what he's talking about. This is what God's plan is for all of us. We must remember that Paul has described an extensive list of blessings we have in Christ.
Speaker 1:Now, if you keep repeating the same phrase in Christ or in him God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing through the sacrifice of Christ at the cross. He has chosen those who are weak and lowly to be his children, chosen those who are weak and lowly to be his children. He is drawing men and women to himself and they are called to receive the adoption as sons and daughters of God. Isn't that a fantastic idea. We are called not to be slaves, but children. Then he explains how God could accept us through the redemption that was paid by the blood of his son. He brought us out of slavery to sin and made us free from condemnation. He united us to him. Ultimately, now we can stand in the presence of God because he has made us holy and blameless through the blood of Christ. That was God's plan from the beginning of time. He bought it through Christ. That was his plan.
Speaker 1:Now, if we go a little deeper in this, we actually come to a rather challenging section of the letter and this text has always I wouldn't say it's confused me, but it's always baffled me a little bit. But I think that if we understand it now it's to do with God's portion. See, verse 11 says this In him we have obtained an inheritance. But the NET translation says it this way in Christ, we too have been claimed as God's own possession. Why would that particular translation put it that way? That particular translation put it that way? Because I mean, I don't want to go into the Greek and the Hebrew, but you need to understand that when you look at the original text, sometimes the way that man interprets the scriptures, even though it's led by the Holy Spirit, has different determinations and it always tries and looks at things from an expanded perspective. That's like reading the New King James Version and then ringing the Amplified you see that words have been added to highlight different aspects of that particular verse.
Speaker 1:So verse 11 means this In Christ we have been appointed by lot, an inheritance. We have been appointed by lot, an inheritance. It is that we have attained that inheritance through an appointment or we have been appointed as God's inheritance. Now, I know it sounds a bit bizarre by saying that we are God's inheritance. But notice what he said to the Israeli people. If you go back into the Old Testament just got to go back there for a little bit look at Deuteronomy 4.20. Okay, but the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of the iron furnace, out of Egypt to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. And if you read a little bit further in Deuteronomy 9, 29, it says this for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you bought out by the great power and by your outstretched arms. See, even in the Old Testament, god is already speaking about us as an inheritance. God created us with a plan and a purpose. Every single one of us has a plan and a purpose and if we want to get a better understanding of what it is, we need to read on a little bit further. Now I know my focus is 1.1.1, and I'll go back to that in a minute.
Speaker 1:But if you look at Ephesians 1.12, it goes on to say this so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be the praise of his glory. God enjoys and appreciates the praise of his creation. When we sing to God. We might doubt that it means anything, but it means so much. Doubt that it means anything, but it means so much. This is another thing that my wife is very in tune with as far as her relationship with the Heavenly Father. She loves praise and worship, and certain songs need to either fire her up and give her this. You know, real incredible understanding of what God is saying to her. You know, and there's songs like, if you look at Elevation Worship, they've got this song out which is called Praise, and it really fires Maria up because we know that he seeks to save men so that God might transform them to bear his image and praise his name. He wants all of the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places to see his wisdom and his goodness of his inheritance. See, we go back there again, back into the inheritance.
Speaker 1:If God did this to make us into something that brings God praise, how could we continue to sin? How could we worship and serve the things of this world? How could we defile ourselves with sexual immorality, temptation, lies, stealing, cheating, holding malice in our hearts, stealing, cheating, holding malice in our hearts. You know, all of these things have to fade away with the knowledge of who God has created us to be. We are his children. He wants us, he treasures us and he loves us, and I love the way that he described, as we describe, god's inheritance. They are a people who hope in Christ. They must be a people who set our hopes on the blessings we have been promised In. Our hope is set on Christ. God will transform us, to resemble us, being more Christ-like, and that will be our aim every day.
Speaker 1:I've spoken about this so many times, about we need to be more Christ-like each and every day. Don't go around telling people that you are a Christian and don't go around telling them the godly life that you live. You have to be a walking, talking, breathing example of Christ who dwells within you. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, but, more importantly, the way that you behave, people will see that and they'll go well. I want to be more like that person.
Speaker 1:You know there was a movie, I think it's called Harry Met Sally, something like that, and it's a bit I mean, it's a little crude, okay, but it's about how someone is showing that they can pretend to you know, to you know, be excited about having a relationship with the other member of the sex. That's the easiest way I can put it. I don't know why I even brought that up, so forget what I said, okay, but what I'm saying is that you can pretend to be something, but eventually you can't help but revert to who you really are, because you know, are you a wolf in sheep's clothing? Are you pretending to be something that you're not See? When you become born again, you should have this desire to change your behavior, the way that you speak, the way that you act, the things that you do in this world, out in society, things like drinking, smoking, swearing, watching movies that are not very, very Christian at all.
Speaker 1:There are so many different ways Christian at all. There are so many different ways and, to be quite honest, I don't want to offend anybody, but the reality of the fact is I mean, if you just look at me, for instance, okay, I wasn't really brought up, I was kicked up, I went to the school of hard knocks. I also served in the military. I went to the school of hard knocks, I also served in the military and worked in the railways and in private security business and all of these environments put you right at the coalface of how the world really is all right. Christians sometimes tend to be in a bit of a bubble and Christians hang around other Christians. There's nothing wrong with having friends that are not born-again Christians and going to church on a regular basis, because you need to be an influence in their life, whether very gently, or whether you feel that you have to do a job to bring that person to a relationship with God.
Speaker 1:The point that I'm making here is that when I become born again, I didn't instantly become a goody-two-shoes Christian. I was still me right, and there's many, many scriptures. I don't want to go through them all now because I want to focus on where I'm at right, which is all about you being an inheritance. You know from God. You know Ephesians 1.11. Read it, look at it in the Amplified, look at it in other versions and reflect on that for a little bit and just look at your own life and you think, well, am I worthy of the inheritance that God has for me? And I'm not speaking just materialistic. Okay, it's a metaphor and, realistically, it's all about the fact that God has brought us here for a reason and we have to look at what that plan and purpose really is for us Jeremiah 29, 11, and there's that 1-1. Again, I know the plans I have for you, the plans to have you in good health, have you prosper right. Have you in good health, have you prosper Right.
Speaker 1:Look at some of the scriptures and dig a little deeper and say why is this scripture saying this? Why is it really focusing on this particular section right here, right now? Section right here, right now. So what I'm saying is that if you look at this, you'll have different numbers, you'll have different scriptures and you'll have different things. I got Habakkuk 3, 18 and 19.
Speaker 1:When God raised me up out of the wheelchair, did not even know that scripture was there. My wife has had this one one, one you know, and I wouldn't say she's obsessed, but the thing is that she focuses so much on this, expecting something to happen. You've got to have that expectation all the time. Expect God to do things in your life, but don't always just look for the big things, because there's lots of little things that he does in your life. It could be a relationship you have formed with a particular person and they have a major influence on your life that you would not necessarily have if you had never met that person. But by the same token, sometimes by just spending time praising and worshipping your Heavenly Father, he reveals things to you, things that you may not necessarily see. Look, they say that sometimes you can't see the trees for the forest. It could be right in front of you, something that God is trying to tell you, or something he's trying to show you, and it's part and parcel of the plan and the purpose that he has for your life.
Speaker 1:What I'm saying is try to look at the scriptures a little bit differently these days. Try and focus on them in such a way that you get this greater revelation, knowledge of who Jesus really is. You know, jesus showed compassion for us, so he suffered great humility, and that sent him to the cross. He reconciled man to God, body and soul. Jesus always moved with compassion. You know. It says in Mark 1, 41,. And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand and touched him and said unto him be thou clean. God wants to talk to you. God wants a relationship that may be different to what you've already got. We need to always be ready for what God's going to do. He's going to move, he's going to shift, he's going to change things, but most times, people are looking for the big things. You know, a big miracle, healing to take place in their life, or a big financial return okay. Or you know, this big promotion they've been praying for for such a long time.
Speaker 1:What about the little things? Have you ever thought like sometimes, when you go into the shops on a Thursday night or a Saturday where it's really, really busy, and you just say, oh Lord, can you get me a car park in the shade or out of the rain? And he provides for you? Or you say, lord, help me find my car keys. I can't remember where I put them. And then all of a sudden you go oh, I remember this once. I've just got to tell you this quickly. And you know, behind every good man is a good woman, right, and that is very, very true, you know, because look at Jesus and then his mother and Mary Magdalene.
Speaker 1:But this is what about me? I'd lost my wallet. We were going out and I'd lost my wallet. I couldn't work out where it was. It was okay because I had Maria with me and she's got her purse and all that sort of stuff, and I had looked everywhere, and I mean everywhere that I could conceivably think that I may have left it or dropped it. And my wife, bless her cotton socks gets there and she goes oh, have you prayed about it? And I'm going, duh, oh, actually, actually no, I hadn't. And I'm saying, oh Lord, help me find my wallet, reveal where it is been hidden and let it be found in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:And then, all of a sudden, within milliseconds, because we're in the car, I pull off the road, I stop and she goes what's going on? I know where my wallet is? And she goes what? And I got out of the car, I went to the boot, opened it up and I had a change of clothes in the boot and the Lord revealed to me that it was in my jeans pocket in the boot of the car. Revealed to me that it was in my jeans pocket in the boot of the car. Without a doubt, that truly happened, right, and that's just showing that he's there for the little things as well as the big things. God is always working in your life. You may not see it, you may not sense it and you may not know what is his plan for you. So just be open to receive and ready to listen to him. Amen. All right then, that's it for now. We'll talk to you next week. God bless for now.
