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[ Silence ] [ Music ] [MUSIC] ♪ And can find in song ♪

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♪ The lost feet of his son ♪ ♪ We'll ever hear that glorious word ♪ ♪ And of our father's holy faith ♪ ♪ We will be true to thee, still there ♪

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♪ Of all the sacred wisdoms found ♪ ♪ There still in heart and hands aspire ♪ ♪ A single beat their children's praise ♪ ♪ Will they not hear the night o'er thee ♪

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♪ They will long for the holy day ♪ ♪ We will be true to thee, Jupiter ♪ ♪ May the world know us, we will come ♪ ♪ The freedom for which we all are strong ♪

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♪ And reach the end of the song ♪ ♪ By God He birthed, by God our hearts were strong ♪ ♪ And all our fathers told me true ♪ ♪ We will be true to thee, to God ♪

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- And Naboth said to Ahab, said to Ahab, "The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee." First Kings 21 and 3. The subject of the message, Naboth's Vineyard, Naboth's Vineyard. The Lord forbid it me that I should give the

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inheritance of my father's unto thee. The story of Naboth's Vineyard has for us a meaningful and helpful message concerning life on this planet. Naboth appears here in Scripture as an ordinary man. He is a citizen of the kingdom of

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Israel. He has a vineyard which suggests that he is a productive citizen. In fact the name Naboth means to sprout. It means to be fruitful. It means to be productive. So Naboth as a vineyard keeper engages in planning because vineyards just don't happen. They are the result of planning, hard work,

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disciplined energies. A vineyard is a sign of prosperity. Prophets envision the day of peace, tranquility, when every person is free to sit under his own vine and fig tree and there is none to make him afraid. So in a sense every person dreams of having his or her own vineyard. That spot of ground that you are

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privilege to call your own, place where you can rest and relax and refresh yourself, place where you're free to work toward realizing your vision, your vineyard. The fact that Naboth has a vineyard indicates that he shares his father's vision. It's a case of like father like son. His father before him

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was a vineyard keeper and his father before him was a vineyard keeper and so it had been in the family generation after generation of vineyard keepers upon this same land. Naboth has his vineyard now. He claims the vision of his father's so this was a family vineyard.

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You know parents often have dreams. They have these dreams which they entertain and many times they try to pass these dreams on to their children. We had We had dreams of one of our daughters being a musician. And we had dreams of, I had a dream of being an attorney myself, and a lawyer, and you

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pass these on to your children many times. Sometimes they take these dreams, sometimes they don't. Alex Haley's father was a teacher, and he wanted his son to follow in his steps and distinguish himself as an educator, a lawyer, a doctor, one of the professions.

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But young Ellicks had different plans. He didn't choose to follow in his father's steps. He did not claim the father's dream. He wanted to become a writer and in the course of time he did distinguish himself as a gifted and successful writer. Naboth is considered an ideal son according to custom and

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family expectation. His father had been a vineyard keeper and his father before him, generation after generation as I said. These family values had been passed on and there ought to be some family values that are passed from generation to generation.

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There ought to be some principles that are kept, some standards that are maintained, a reputation that is preserved from generation to generation. Naboth kept the vineyard of his father's. It was a family legacy.

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It was a sacred possession. It just so happened that Naboth's vineyard was located near King Ahab's

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palace in Jezreel. King Ahab had two homes. The capital was in Samaria and he had a palace there and like many leaders of countries he also had another home in Jezreel just as Bush has a place in Texas and he had another place in and Kinnipumpport.

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And he goes to both. Well, the king had his in Samaria and in Jezreel. And they were located just about 30 miles apart. Samaria and Jezreel, just like Austin and San Marcos.

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So here is this vineyard of neighbor situated neighbor situated next to the king's palace. He was in the stream of things, his vineyard near the king's house where crossed the crowded ways of life. And one day King Ahab makes a visit to Jezreel, to his home there, and he goes over to

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talk with Naboth. Well now, I don't need to emphasize the fact that this was quite flattering for the king to come to visit one of his humble subjects. Usually you think of the subjects going up and seeing if they can get an audience with the king. But Ahab chooses to visit Naboth and in this visitation, which is a rather flattering gesture,

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The king says to Naboth, "I wanna make you an offer. "I need this land that you have, Naboth, for a garden. "I wanna plant some herbs,

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and it's situated right next to my property. And I am offering you the possibility of exchanging a piece of ground for your vineyard. Make a suitable exchange.

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He ran that by Mabeth at first. And Naboth said, "No, I don't need to tell you. It takes a lot of courage to say no to the king. King has the power of life and death, but here this ordinary subject."

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Naboth says, "No, no, king." And the king makes another offer. "Well, Naboth, I'm willing to give you the value, the fair market value of this ground in money." "You get, in fact, I suspect that the king was willing to give him a little more than the fair market value."

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Give you the money. And neighbor says, "No, no, King. I, God, God, listen, God forbidded me that I should give you the inheritance of my father's." God, in other words, the reason he's taking this position is God, that the Lord God Almighty

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has so ordained it, that God has spoken that it is the sacred command that is to keep this land. If you read very much in Jewish history, it points up the fact that there in the book of Leviticus, that the land was to stay in the family.

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It was a sacred possession. The tribes were to keep the land that they had. They were not to get rid of it. And even in this practice of goyale, that if a family found that they were about to

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lose the land because of some mortgage creditor and the like, that the next of kin was supposed come in and purchase the land and keep it, pay off the debt, keep it in the family. This is the law of the eternal. There is something that God himself has ordained for me that I just can't, King.

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God forbid it me that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. Now, if we were just to come from that ancient period up to right now, just for a few minutes,

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Can't you hear some people say as soon as their ancestors have gone on, their relatives, their fathers, their parents, and they leave some valuable possessions, they get rid of it? Sell it. Get all you can and be gone. Sell it. Sell it.

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I can hear a course of people today saying, "Nabels, sell it, man. Sell it. Enjoy yourself. Sell it." neighbor says no no even to the king God forbid me that I should give you the

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inheritance of my father's you know everybody ought to have some principles that are not for sale. Everybody. Everybody ought to have some standards that you will not part with for any price. Because you can always be visited by King Ahab. He'll flatter you and come to your home, sit in your living room and make a proposal. You'll always be those opportunities and you need to be wedded to some standards,

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some principles, to a way of life that you will not part with at any price. Any price. Well, because you see, there are always those if you have something of value, there are always those who are seeking to get it,

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to take it from you and you must have the courage to say no. But Labus is one of my heroes in the Old Testament and I go back to him from time to time and I look at him and I sit in his presence and I gain from him such insights Because he says, "I cannot, God forbid it me that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers."

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In other words, he is clinging to what has been passed on to him through the generations, the dreams of his father. Dreams. Clinging to the dreams of your father's dream.

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I know as I grew up, you know, in a very poor family, and one of the dreams that my family had was my mother and father just owning a piece of ground. We, I think in the time I was going through elementary

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and high school, as I've told you many times, we must have moved 10 times. And I can go in Dallas and I can pick out, we rented here for a while, here for a while, and 10 different houses.

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And the dream was to own a little home of their own. And before they died, God blessed them so that we had a little cottage that was built on a little piece of ground. And they were able to live in it and own it before they died and say, "This is ours." And then my mother was the last and she had a little piece of ground in the back where she'd go out in her 80s and chop, work in the garden in her 80s.

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Well, they passed on and the neighborhood has changed now. It's overrun with crime and violence. And the house is still there. And I've spent quite a bit of money trying to keep it there.

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I could have sold it and been gone. But there's just something in me about that little house that belonged to my parents. And the struggle, it comes up over and over again, the struggle they had and how precious it was. And it just unseen that I can just part with it, you know.

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Just because I can get a few dollars from it. And that's the way it was with neighbors. In other words, the father's inheritance. You know many of our parents didn't have much to give us, but they taught us to be honest.

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To be honest! To be genuine! To be what you are! To have a good day! And to engage in not only hard work, but also family solidarity. Harry Truman had just written a new book about his life. When he was president of the United States,

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people laughed at Truman. Said, "Yeah, this man is president of the United States. "He's not even a college graduate. "He's a barbarian," they said, in educational circles.

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"Not even a college graduate." But somehow, he became president, and he's just an ordinary man with certain convictions and courage,

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And more and more, Father, we get away from it, people are getting to realize what a great president he was. Great president. And Pierre Truman says that his daddy taught him never to plant a crooked row of corn.

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Never plant a crooked row of corn. Well, what's the inheritance of our fathers? Inheritance of our fathers means to provide for your family. Be a father, be a husband, provide for your family.

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I can hear my father saying, "Now, boy, you better not bring home anything you can't take care of." That's the blunt way of being able to provide for your family. Don't get into anything you can't take care of.

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Provide for your family. See to it that the basic needs protect your family. This is the inheritance of our fathers. Inheritance of our fathers.

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High sense of self-esteem. That didn't just come with the 60s. That's the part of our heritage. Knowing who we are and having a sense of dignity and devotion to God.

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Well, they would say, "No, no, I'm not going to sell it. I'm not going to part with it. This is a part of the inheritance of my fathers." Well, Ahab is disturbed. He's been refused by this subject of his. You're not going to part with the land. Ahab goes home, goes back to Samaria,

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And he goes into his bedroom, turns his face to the wall, refuses to go in and have dinner. Jezebel, the queen, his wife, comes in and she notices that Ahab has not appeared in the banquet hall. and she goes to his bedroom and she finds him there pouting like some spoiled child.

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What's wrong with you? Why haven't you come to dinner? Well, he tells her the story. I was down to see Naboth and I made a proposal to him

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that he could exchange the land. I'd give him a good piece round for it or he could sell it to me. And he said no to both propositions.

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This is why you're so sad. This is why you're so despondent. Don't worry about that. You're the king.

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You have the authority. Why you're the little subject like neighbors? Watch your plans. Leave it to me.

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So Jezebel goes forth. She has men to cooperate with her in her scheme. high-handed chicanery. They write letters calling the day of honor for Naboth and Naboth is highly honored. And while Naboth is highly honored, she has

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other men arranged to come in and say that Naboth has blasphemed. While the most outstanding thing about Naboth as you look at him is he deserves a special award. He deserves the award for God and country, both God and country. He was faithful, but she says that he is blasphemed, he's God and the king, and

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according to plan he is falsely accused, he's unjustly condemned, he's laid outside the city walls, stoned to death, stoned to death, because he is faithful to the dream of his fathers. Not only in life, but he is faithful in death.

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And while this takes place, the prophet Elijah comes and points a finger of judgment, finger of condemnation, says, "Where dogs lick the blood of neighbor's shells, they lick your blood." The God is in control.

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We see in the palace, we see how vice can work. And we see in Naboth the way real virtue stands up. That when one is good and when you're tested, even in the fire, that you are faithful.

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That there are some things that money cannot buy. And so, Naboth is remembered in history because he was hooked up with life's abiding values. And so every son, every father

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that somehow exemplifies the virtues, those virtues of honesty and hard work and of devotion to God, somehow we are walking in the steps of Naboth.

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and we are being faithful to that which is the highest and best. Yes, Naboth was hooked up with life-abiding values. He had a faith that would not shrink, though pressed by every foe, that would not murmur on the brink of any earthly woe.

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He had faith. We sang earlier in the service that he is a shining example of the faith of our fathers. Faith of our fathers, living faith in spite of dungeon,

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fire and sword, oh how our hearts beat high with joy whenever we hear that joyous word, faith of our fathers. Faith of our fathers. You see the faith of our fathers is faith in thee,

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The Father, the Father who is over all, the Heavenly Father, the one who is the ground of our being and the hope of our striving, yes? Faith in The Father, the Father who is creator, Father who is sustainer, Father who is the Lord of all life.

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in the Father who gives us our daily bread. I'm talking about the one who is eternal and our allegiance, our loyalty, our faithfulness to him is not to be bought, it's not to be sold, it's not to be traded, it is to remain from age to age, from generation to generation, that wherever we find ourselves in this

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struggle on this planet, whenever we be tempted by visitations from King Ahab, whenever we are victims of forces of vice, that somehow we can hold on to our virtue and say, "Father, Father, I stretch my hands to thee, no other help I know, if thou withdraw thyself from me or whither shall I go." The door of the church is open for

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those who would be faithful, would be true to that which is highest and best, to hook up with the eternal, to somehow be a channel that God uses in the manifestation of the good life. We invite you to come. Father I stretch my hands to thee. I invite you to come. The doors open tonight with the family of God here at Ebenezer.

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By letter, by Christian experience. [MUSIC] ♪ I have to be ♪ ♪ Oh, I have ♪

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♪ I know ♪ ♪ May it not ♪ ♪ Be part ♪ ♪ Thy self ♪

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♪ Of me ♪ ♪ O, when ♪ ♪ Thou shalt ♪ ♪ I hope ♪

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[ Music ] ♪ For thee I know ♪ ♪ Peace on earth ♪ ♪ People I do ♪

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♪ I pray ♪ [MUSIC] ♪ O'er me ♪ ♪ The truth ♪

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♪ Came through ♪ ♪ My soul ♪ ♪ From the ♪ ♪ Endless day ♪

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♪ One day ♪ ♪ Of faith ♪ ♪ To thee I lift ♪ ♪ My wish ♪

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♪ Real or ♪ ♪ Ill ♪ ♪ O may I now ♪ ♪ Receive the gift ♪

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♪ I so therefore ♪ ♪ Desire ♪ [INAUDIBLE]