Leave a Christian Legacy

What Kind of Legacy Are You Leaving?

Peter writes about the prophets of the old Testament preparing the way for the people in the new Testament. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and wrote about the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. They knew that the fulfillment of the prophecies they were writing would not happen in their lifetime but wanted people who would live after them to know Jesus Christ. Here are some examples of Old testament Prophecies: Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53 (NASB95)

Who has believed our message?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,

And like a root out of parched ground;

He has no stately form or majesty

That we should look upon Him,

Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

He was despised and forsaken of men,

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

And like one from whom men hide their face

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted.

But He was pierced through for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,

And by His scourging we are healed.

All of us like sheep have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all

To fall on Him.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He did not open His mouth;

Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,

And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,

So He did not open His mouth.

By oppression and judgment He was taken away;

And as for His generation, who considered

That He was cut off out of the land of the living

For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

His grave was assigned with wicked men,

Yet He was with a rich man in His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

But the Lord was pleased

To crush Him, putting Him to grief;

If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,

He will see His offspring,

He will prolong His days,

And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

As a result of the anguish of His soul,

He will see it and be satisfied;

By His knowledge the Righteous One,

My Servant, will justify the many,

As He will bear their iniquities.

Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,

And He will divide the booty with the strong;

Because He poured out Himself to death,

And was numbered with the transgressors;

Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,

And interceded for the transgressors.

This is a very detailed account of the crucifixion of Jesus.

Psalm 34:20 NASB95

He keeps all his bones, Not one of them is broken.

This is why they did not crush Jesus ankles like the other two criminals

Psalm 22 NASB95

For the choir director; upon Aijeleth Hashshahar. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest. Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them. To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, “Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.” Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts. Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother’s womb. Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots. But You, O Lord, be not far off; O You my help, hasten to my assistance. Deliver my soul from the sword, My only life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth; From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me. I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel. For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard. From You comes my praise in the great assembly; I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him. The afflicted will eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You. For the kingdom is the Lord’s And He rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep his soul alive. Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.

This is David’s Prophecy of the crucifixion of Christ

Just in these two Old Testament Prophecies we see a vivid picture of the suffering Messiah and his eternal glory.

Our Legacy For Christ.

Though we cannot prophesy about the suffering Christ we can tell of His glorious kingship and His second coming. We can tell our children and our grandchildren about how we serve our king Jesus. We must do this in word and deed. Our legacy is left by the life we live. As we live our lives for Jesus it will serve as a witness to the next generation. As we share the gospel it will serve as a legacy to carry on from generation to generation.

What we do in this life is important! It is critical to the next generation because it only takes one generation of not living for and sharing Christ to open the door for evil and men to be lost forever. Judges 2:10

Judges 2:10 NASB95

All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.

It is vital that we share Christ with our children.

We can also tell them about the second coming of Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 NASB95

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

2 Peter 3:10 NASB95

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

John 14:3 NASB95

“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

Revelation 3:11 NASB95

‘I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

Revelation 19:11–16 NASB95

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

The things you talk about, spend money on, and invest resources into will be the legacy you leave. So how do you leave a Godly legacy?

5 Ways To Leave a Godly Legacy

Prepare your minds for action

The way a person prepares their mind for action is 2 Corinthians 10:5

2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB95

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

Philippians 4:8–9 NASB95

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Romans 12:2 NASB95

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

We must control what we allow to enter our minds. We are persuaded by the things that we allow to enter our minds. When they are Godly we will be Godly.

Keep Sober in the Spirit

This means to have and keep a Biblical worldview. We are not to be persuaded by the worlds systems or the ways world of thinking. We must hold to the truths of the Biblical principles. We must train and discipline our hearts to engage the Bible and allow it to have such a controlling factor in our hearts that affects our minds and our actions. This is self-control of your Spirit.

Fix your hope on the grace given at the revelation of Christ

When we see the manifestation of Jesus in our lives, it must serve as a hope of the promises of Christ to be fulfilled. Christ is active in our lives to demonstrate His power so that we can bring Him glory. As we experience the power of God in our lives let us remember that we have a hope in eternal life with Him.

Do not be conformed to your former lusts

This simply means don’t engage in the sins that you engaged in before coming to know Christ. Do not become ensnared and in bondage to the very things that Christ liberated you from. 2 Peter 2:22

2 Peter 2:22 NASB95

It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

We should live in Christ and not in sin.

Be Holy as I Am Holy

The only way to be Holy as Christ is Holy is to surrender your life to Him as your Saviour and King!