Leaving a Legacy

1. Introduction
   1. As I’ve grown in the grace and knowledge of the Lord over many years since 1981, I’ve learned a lot of things.
   2. One of the things I learned, is that the things I do, not what someone else does, is what will be determined at the judgment seat of Christ. 2nd Corinthians 5:10: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. What I should have done, what I could have done and what I didn’t do at all.
   3. Over the years, I’ve heard how people build other people’s ministries and there’s nothing wrong with that providing that there’s a balance especially when you are a minister.
   4. God has a calling on your life and when you leave this earth, the only legacy you end up with, is someone else’s instead of the ministry God gave you and the call on your life.
   5. We should always encourage others in their gifts and talents, skills, calling and ministries.
   6. But when God has given you a ministry, he expects you to cultivate the one he’s given you. You can’t answer for anyone else but yourself.
   7. Many pastors fall into this situation where they rely on the abilities, and the calling of someone else, rather than the God-breathed calling that he’s instilled upon them.
   8. Too many times I’ve heard throughout the years “this one did this.” “This one said that.”” I’m paraphrasing.” I’m giving my opinions.”
   9. Saints, when it’s all tallied up, and all said and done and God has taken you home, what will matter is what you have done for Him, not what someone else has done.
   10. They will have their rewards and their time with the Lord. They too will be judged on how they conducted their ministries and callings with the people God entrusted them with.
   11. So many pastors, preachers and teachers rely on the sole abilities of someone else’s thinking.
   12. As ministers, we cannot have nothing to say that God has given us that is substantial enough that we too should leave a legacy.

 

 

1. I’m not trying to be critical or judgmental. In the day that we live in there are so many people that have been empowered to do great and mighty things only to have turned to become false teachers, captivating on those who never study God’s Word, pray, or adhere to God’s Word.
2. They come to a conference where these great men and women of God are, and due to the circumstances and the day and age we live in, become as the world,
3. then try to justify God’s Word because the word they are holding in their hands is so watered down, re-written so many times that even Jesus himself couldn’t understand it, believe it or even look at it.
4. It’s almost like a dog returning to its vomit. If God’s word said it you need to believe it. You need to trust in it.
5. You need to get under correct teaching and preaching so that one day you won’t have to look back and say “What have I done with this life?”
6. If you’ve done what God told you to do, you won’t have to repent or even ask that question. You’ll plainly just know. Now let us look into our message today leaving a legacy.

 

2. When I ask you what a legacy is, what’s the first thing you think of?
   1. A believer’s legacy is their testimony that has been passed down to the next generation and remembered long after the person has gone to the Lord.
   2. it is the emotions that people feel when they hear your name, it’s the stories they tell their children as they tuck them into bed,
   3. and it’s the encouragement they receive during tough days as they remember your example, all of which illustrate and illuminate Christ.

 

3. Are you even concerned about leaving a legacy?
   1. The bible has a lot to say about the importance of leaving a legacy. For example, Psalm 112:1-3: Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever. If you are a person that walks with the Lord and fulfills His Calling on your life, your righteousness will be remembered, and will be an example to future generations.

 

 

1. Flipping over to the New Testament, we see these very strong words. 1st Timothy 5:8: but if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. God is our father, and provides for us His Kids. We are created in His Image, and should be providing and leaving a legacy for our families.

 

4. Has God put a call on your life? Are you cultivating it? Are you praying for what he’d have you to do? Not what someone else is telling you to do?
   1. God has a call for every one of our lives, with no exceptions. Jeremiah 29:11-12: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. Do you see how these verses go together? Acknowledge that God has a call on your life. Pray about that calling. Walk in it, and He will bless you.
   2. We all have a calling to go out and reach the lost for Jesus Christ. Luke 14:23: 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 filled. That is the call of God on every Christian’s life.
   3. God’s gifts and callings are irrevocable. He doesn’t take them back. Romans 11:29: For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God created you to serve Him in a particular way. If you’ve walked away from your calling, repent and pick it back up again. He didn’t change His Mind. You are still called.

 

5. Are souls being saved? Are you praying for souls? Are you evangelizing to souls?
   1. As I said earlier, we all are called to reach souls for Jesus Christ. Luke 10:2: Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. The laborers are few, because so many of us are not reaching out and sharing the gospel. Are you witnessing? Are you praying for your loved ones?

 

6. Are you encouraging people to stand to withstand against the wiles of the world that is at enmity with God?
   1. We are called by God to encourage and exhort people to walk close to God. Hebrews 10:23-24: Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: This is one of the reasons we come to church, so we can be taught, equipped, and encouraged in God’s Word. We should encourage one another.
   2. We as Christians need to stand against the wiles of the world and the devil, more and more in these last days. Ephesians 6:11-12: Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We as Christians that are living for, and serving God are engaged in a spiritual battle. Not against people, but spiritual forces set against the kingdom of God.
   3. The world is at enmity with God, and if you are a friend of the world, or are like the world, you are an enemy o God! James 4:4: Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Those are not my words, they are His Words. On the day we put this message together, Mike heard this saying on the radio. “It is hard to find the church in the world today, because there is so much of the world in the church.” We are to stand out and be different from the world, not just like them!
7. Are you seeking God fervently, diligently? Are you committed, motivated, endued with power from on high for witnessing?
   1. We are to seek God fervently, with our whole heart. Jeremiah 29:13: And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. As the song says, the more you seek Him, the more you find Him. The more you find Him, the more you love Him.
   2. Are you committed and motivated, putting Him first in all you do? Psalm 37:4-5: Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. If you are truly endued with the power from on high, it is to be used for witnessing and for service to others. It’s not just for yourself. Be committed and motivated to win souls, and you will be blessed!

 

8. Are you going into nursing homes where it’s not popular? Are you going into assisted living homes where it’s not popular?
   1. Are you going into cancer wards? Are you praying for them?
   2. You say that you have the enduement of power from on high with the evidence of speaking in tongues?
   3. Why are your tongues not there at the cancer wards, in hospice areas, at the hospital? I’ll tell you why.
   4. It’s because it’s not popular. It’s not entertaining enough and there’s nobody watching you do anything except God, and He is watching. 1st Peter 3:12: For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

 

9. Who in the bible who was transformed who at the end of his life left a legacy (OT & NT)
   1. Hebrews 11 is a great place to read about people in the Old Testament who left a legacy. Here are just a couple of them. Hebrews 11:4: By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. The legacy of Abel is still powerful today, because he put God first and offered God his best, not the leftovers. Do you do this?
   2. Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel was obedient and fully trusted in God, and his legacy too lives on today. Hebrews 11:8: By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. Would you step out and go to an unknown land if God told you to? Abraham did. He trusted God completely.
   3. John the Baptist was faithful to the end, to the point of being martyred for his faith in Jesus. Here’s what Jesus had to say about him. John 5:33-35: He sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. Are you a burning and shining light for Jesus? Will you stand for the truth of the gospel even at risk of it costing your life? This was the legacy John left.
   4. The Apostle Paul also left a legacy, and could honestly give this as his testimony. 2nd Timothy 4:7: I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Will this be your legacy and testimony when you are called home?

 

10. Who in the bible started off with a legacy but chose to go a different direction?
    1. Ananias and Sapphira were in the church and started off with the intent to sell their property and give the proceeds to the church. However, they went their own way, holding back a portion, & went home early. Acts 5:4-6: Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. The same fate met his wife Sapphira when she was confronted later on that same day.

 

11. What did Paul have to say about the course and direction that we need to stay?
    1. After devoting an entire chapter to those who left a legacy of faith, Paul gives us this encouragement. Hebrews 12;1: Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Whatever is keeping you from leaving a godly legacy in this life, you need to lay it aside with His Help, and run the race He has called you to run.

 

12. What was the message of Jesus to all of us from beginning to end, from life to death?
    1. The message of Jesus to you and I who know Him is to be His Witnesses! Acts 1:8: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. For you and me, we are to be witnesses to him both in Waterboro, and in all of New England, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. This is His Will for us today.

 

13. Story: Leaving a Legacy
    1. I once heard of a man on his death bed, surrounded by his family, including children and grandchildren.
    2. With his last conscious thoughts and words, he encouraged them to follow the teachings of Jesus.
    3. He explained that he was about to go and be with Jesus; he looked forward to the day when all the followers of Jesus would gather around His throne.
    4. Looking at each one individually, he said, “And I want you and you and you to be there!”
    5. What would you say to your family, your children and grandchildren, if you had the opportunity to speak to them just before your passing?

 

 

1. There are many books and journals available that encourage us to “leave a legacy” for our children and grandchildren by recording favorite stories about our lives, family events, meaningful conversations….
2. But when I asked myself, “What legacy do I want to leave?,” it was clear that I wanted my children to know what I have learned about the teachings of Jesus, His Word, and its truths.
3. Although I might hope for the opportunity to do this in person on my deathbed, I realized that most people are not afforded this accommodation;
4. I should not presume to be one who would be. For me, it was clear that now was the time to collect my most treasured thoughts.
5. How about you? What truths do you value most? How have you communicated them to those you love?
6. If you had only a few sentences left to speak, what would you say? Most likely if you are hearing this, you have more than a few sentences left.
7. Now might be the right time to collect and record your thoughts. But you say, “I am not a Bible scholar, not a recognized teacher of truth, who am I to do this?”
8. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have a story to tell, beginning with how Jesus came into your life.
9. What is your story? How has Jesus made it possible? You have a responsibility to Jesus and to those you love to tell your story.
10. Let’s be about sharing our testimony and living for God every day, so that one day, people will look back and remember the life you lived for Christ.

 

14. Conclusion
    1. Do you understand the message that I’ve given you today?
    2. Does it make you think about who you are, what God made you to be, and have you done anything at all?
    3. If there are regrets now, it’s time we prayed and changed the course before your life comes to a close. What is your legacy?