Devil, You Can’t Have My Vineyard (January 26, 2025)

1 Kings 21:1–4 ~ “Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And after this Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house, and I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money.” But Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And Ahab went into his house vexed and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food.”

This vineyard represents our Holy Spirit, Pentecostal, Biblical Based Heritage. In our Scriptures, we see that Ahab pouted over Naboth’s refusal to relinquish his vineyard. There is a force in the world today, like Ahab, that is inconvenienced by our presence. The devil wants our vineyard so he may plow it under and plant bitter herbs of the world’s system.

There are two reasons that Naboth refused to relinquish his vineyard. FIRST, his forefathers had handed it down to him; second, his children were counting on it for a future. These are the same reasons we must hold onto our Holy Spirit, Pentecostal, Biblical Based Heritage and not relinquish anything to the devil. Too many tears, too many prayers, too much work has been invested into our heritage for us to just let it go. I am also more worried about our kids, teens, young adults and all those who are coming after us to just allow anything to be planted in our vineyard, to destroy our heritage. We must guard!!!

Let’s look back at Ahab’s methods of acquiring Naboth’s vineyard and see the correlation of the devil’s methods.

• Give It to Me
  • Ahab assumed because of his position as king that Naboth would automatically give up the vineyard without a fight.
  • Too many have never entered a battle with the devil because they bowed down to his position
    • They never knew they had another option.
    • You can fight back with the whole armor of God.
  • I will not give away my Holy Spirit, Pentecostal, Biblical Based Heritage. “Devil, You Can’t Have My Vineyard!”

• Sell It to Me
  • Ahab was willing to pay a high price for Naboth’s vineyard so he could plow it under.
  • Satan has paid some people off, has bought some people in your circle, to quieten the Pentecostal Biblical Message.
    • Some have sold out to popularity and prestige.
    • Some people have sold out to the material goods of this world.
  • My Holy Spirit, Pentecostal, Biblical Based Heritage is not for sale. “Devil, You Can’t Have My Vineyard!”

• Trade It to Me
  • Ahab offered to allow Naboth to remain in the vineyard business if he moved to a different place and got it away from his palace.
  • Satan doesn’t really mind if we stay in business as long as we tradeoff for some diluted, arid, less influential brand of Pentecost.
  • In the Church of God, parts of our Heritage began at the Azusa Street Revival (began in 1906). During that revival, there were some prophecies concerning the last days and more specifically, the last day time of Pentecost. These prophecies are being fulfilled today and as a result, the Pentecostal vineyard has been jeopardized. Some of those prophecies, which I have been teaching and preaching to make sure we stay aligned with Biblical Principles, are:
    • There will be an overemphasis on power, rather than righteousness and holiness living.
    • There will be an overemphasis on praise to a God people no longer pray to. (THINK ABOUT IT!)
    • There will be an overemphasis on spiritual gifts, rather than the Lordship of Christ. (With the Lordship of Christ comes the Fruit of the Spirit!)

Deep inside me has been a stirring over the last several years that we are defiantly living in the last days, more especially what some want to be the last days of our Holy Spirit, Pentecostal, Biblical Based Heritage. I know I am not the only Pastor that feels this way either. As a church, we need to take a stand and tell the devil, “Devil, I am not giving, selling, nor trading my Holy Spirit, Pentecostal, Biblical Based Heritage!” We as a church need to rise-up together and say, “Devil, You Can’t Have My Vineyard! Devil, You Can’t Have my Holy Spirit, Pentecostal, Biblical Based Heritage!”

This morning, I want you to take your paper that you wrote those things that you want to throw into the Spiritual Trash Can on:

• Things you are tired of the devil throwing back into your face.
• Things that are a stumbling block in your life.
• Things you are wanting to give to God and NOT take back.

These items are things the devil has tried and quite honestly, we have allowed the devil to place these into our lives to be a stumbling block for us. These items are items have caused us to start giving, selling and trading our Holy Spirit, Pentecostal, Biblical Based Heritage … for these items – Really??? Let’s throw them into the Spiritual Trash Can and take our rightful stand on our Holy Spirit, Pentecostal, Biblical Based Heritage!