Leaving a Lasting Legacy

Happy Fathers Day…

A recent Craiglist ad gained internet fame after a group of friends in their twenties posted a request for a "generic" dad needed to barbecue burgers and hot dogs at an outdoor party.

The ad listed several "dad-like" activities as desirable, including "grilling hamburgers and hotdogs … refer[ing] to all attendees as 'Big Guy,' 'Chief,' 'Sport,' 'Champ,' etc." and "talk[ing] about dad things, like lawnmowers, building your own deck, Jimmy Buffet, etc." Additional requirements included a minimum of 18 years' experience as a father, 10 years' experience grilling, and a preferred name of Bill, Randy, or Dave.

After the ad went viral, the group of organizers said that their new hope was to have Bill Murray respond to the ad.

We are in a series of sermons entitled, “Mentored” today we are going to be talking about, “Leaving a lasting legacy.” I can’t think of a better topic to preach on Father’s day —

What do we mean by leaving a lasting legacy?

The word Legacy is a fascinating word because it not only speak to the future… but it also speaks to something beyond us.. something that will outlast us.

the American Philosopher William James said...

“The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” —William James

Legacy is about what am I going to leave behind…what can I do with my life that will outlast my life. The book of...

Proverbs 13:22 ESV

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.

We often think about our life impact as being somewhere out there in world some place - We talk about leaving our mark in the world… what we often thinking about is a Careers and success.. the work place.

My grand Dad was influential man in his day… His picture still sits on the wall in the board of directors room in the tobacco auction floors in Harare… He was an influential leader… in the agricultural sector.. he is in a number of books and publications… but over time these things will be forgotten… Teddy Bridges won’t mean much to anyone… but as his grandson… I still think about him and his influence… I didn’t know him as business man he was just my grandpa.. I called him gramps.. and he loved spending time with us kids… He taught me kindness… he loved to music and jokes....

I believe that the real legacy is not in the board room but in the home..

The greatest impact we will ever make is in the four walls of your home…and the sooner we think about our legacy the better..… To be honest the parenting window is short and so it will go along way to think about this in practical way.

Each of us at different parenting stages…

Four parenting stages:

some of us are at:

Stage 1 teaching love and discipline.

The purpose at the love and discipline stage is to teach that actions have consequences, both good and bad… They are loved but there are consequences… if you stick your fingers in the socket you are going to get shocked or put your head through a fence your head is going to get stuck… this happens more than you think ----

Stage 2 (5-12) - Training Stage

In this stage, kids have learned about right and wrong in the home but now they are going to school and seeing how other kids act. At this stage a parent becomes more of a trainer, teaching kids how to interact in the world while not losing sight of the values taught at home… What you learn quickly is not everyone is going to have the same values…

Stage 3 (13-18) Coaching -

In this stage, kids are forming their own identity and how they want their peers to perceive them. They desire more independence from mom and dad – which is a natural part of growing up and moving toward independence.

The purpose at the coaching stage is to release your kids to establish their own biblical convictions.

Stage 4: Friendship (ages 18+)

In this phase, your kids have likely moved out on their own. The active parenting stage is over and your kids must take full responsibility for their choices.

The purpose at the friendship stage is to release your kids to be mature, responsible adults

The parenting window is short...we only a few years to transfer our values while our kids are under your roof, and it’ll still require input from you. ---

Every Stage we are thinking the values that are going stick and make maximum impact.

The most affective way to teach, train, coach and friendship… is through leading by example.. and learning how to “mentor in the Home.”

We have been in the book of 2 Chronicles over the past few weeks.. and one of the best ways to learn is through examples… by making comparisons and contrasts.

This is what the Chronicler does in the book of 2 Chronicles… Every King in Judah is compared with King David … a leader whose life was marked with love for Jahweh the God of Israel and for worshiping God… Either King was moving towards God and worship or away from God and worship....

There is a Stark contrast between the Northern Kingdom and southern Kingdom.

The kings of Israel in the Northern Kingdom all followed a legacy of kings who had turn from God of Israel and turned to idolatry … and the Southern Kingdom of Judah has sequence of good kings and bad kings…

The good Kings were those who dealt with high places of worship and tore down the idols of Baal worship...

We learn from the Kings of Judah is that “as the leader goes --- so the kingdom goes.”

Solomon started well but didn’t end to well… His heart was turned by his foreign wives to idolatry… Solomon lost heart and lost compassion and lost his influence. Unfortunately it impacted the next generation.

Rehoboam took all the bad habits of his father and continued to rule with a divided heart.. He hardened his heart towards the Northern Tribes an this led to Israel being divided in to two kingdom. Israel and Judah… Rehoboams son… King Asa was the next in line..

King Asa…He tried to also lead in the middle — He didn’t stand for anything and the result is that he fell for everything..

He tried to serve both theGod of Israel and still hold on to all the idols…

In the OT we have immediate Divine retribution… God judges men and their actions.. Asa ends up getting really sick --- and what is amazing is that AS that he still refused to seek the Lord… His feet literally shriveled up with disease.. the Bible says. YET EVEN IN HIS DISEASE HE DID NOT SEEK THE LORD.

Then you get to King Jehoshaphat… He is one of Judah’s finest rulers. No one did more to educate the people of God that his man and that is why he is known as Judahs great teachers… Judah’s great teacher King… the second phase of his life… He makes the mistake of making alliance with the King Ahab the king of Israel that nearly brings the whole nation to ruin..

WE learn from Jehoshaphat lesson on how to build a life that is going to leave a legacy… ..

T/S Jehoshaphat modeled that the best way to

1. Deal with Threats is through Strengthening

Before 9/11 we didn’t really think about safety that much… Air travel was much easier… but 9/11 was a wake up call for us in this nation — we realized that we have enemies in the world… That we have threats in the world… We would be blind as Christians if we didn’t recognize that we are in a spiritual battle… One of the threats are within our homes… is passing on a legacy of faith.

A major research project called the

National Study of Youth and Religion

found the following three factors - - that contributed to youth continuing in their faith..

1. The young person's parents practiced the faith in the home and in daily life, not just in public-church settings.

2. The young person had at least one significant adult mentor or friend, other than parents, who practiced the faith seriously.

3. The young person had at least one significant spiritual experience before the age of 17.

In other words, teenagers are most likely to retain their Christian faith into adulthood if they have had a meaningful and healthy relationship with their parents, a faithful Christian mentor outside of the family, and with God himself.

Faith has to lived out in the home...

no program, camp, mission trip, youth group, worship style, musical trend, Sunday school, church reform, updated pastoral style, modernization, or even catechetical class will make a statistically significant difference.

Further, to retain their faith into adulthood young people need to experience God's grace for themselves.

The best way to be a mentor--- it is simply living out the principles of the scripture... … we need need have both theology… this body of knowledge of who God is and what his like... (knowing who God is) and practical theology…how does that translate into everyday life… Jesus modeled faith… John describes his relationship with Jesus as word of God... not in facts.... but relationally…

I think that the most uncomfortable place to live in …is in the middle… we are there but we not fully engaged… we going through the motions without…drinking the poison..

We learn from Jehosophat How to model Faith..

2 Chronicles 17:1–5 ESV

Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place and strengthened himself against Israel. He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had captured. The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor.

1. The first Action is He Strengthened himself against Judah..

He strengthened the nation of Judah in order to face the threat of Israel. The northern Kingdom had abandoned the worship of Jahweh.. true God of Israel and poised as a threat…

What he did with the threat is he fortified the cities of Judah...

It is interesting language used in our text… He strengthened himself against the threat.” He starts with personal pronoun...

“STRENGTHEN YOURSELF AGAINST THE THREAT”

Faith is like a muscle --- we can grow in faith. Like any healthy growth --- we move from immaturity to maturity....

Colossians 2:6–7 ESV

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

What makes Christianity powerful… is that we haven’t bought into the philosophy of Christ… We have the recieved the gospel which is really the teaching of Christ… but it doesn’t stop with the gospel we have received the person of Christ....Christ indwells the believer… two metophors here — that of a tree… we have roots in Christ… organic growth.. then there is that of a building --- that ARCHTECHIAL mechanical…

sinking the roots of faith into the soil of Christian truth. The other calls to mind building on the foundation of faith.

Even though these are completly different… together they make a powerful point.

Both of these kinds of growth are taking simultaneously in the believers life.. we grow from … place of being… in Christ....inner spirtual growth… Building speaks of intentional growth.. becoming like Christ… Being and Becoming… its Romans 12:1-2 being transformed into the likeness of Christ… The Goal is or result is being establisheed in the faith.. Notice that we become Established in Christ...

The answer to threats is to … Strengthen and fortify… There is always going to be threats to spiritual life… distractions from reading the word and spending time with God..

There are going to be threats to a marriage.. to a family.. to a local church… How do we combat threats…through being intentional..

- We WORK on our marriages…

- As a church we WORK on our Unity...

- Build a stronger family WORK on relationships

We build on what we have received… “As you receied Christs .... continue.”

2. Jehosophat Changed the Narrative of the Story.

Jehosopat had seen the life of his father Asa and the mistakes he had made and he was determined not to go the same way.. He took the cities that his father Asa had captured and

Fortified Cities --- he built on the good foundations.... What is good… what was positive…

It is easy to get stuck on the past.... everyone of us has experience some sort of difficulty in life.. What do we do with REGRETS??

Students from Strayer University set up a chalkboard on the sidewalk near Lieutenant Petrosino Square in New York City for one day. At the top of the board was written, "Write your biggest regret." They provided a supply of colored chalk and set up a video camera to record people writing on the board.

The chalkboard attracted many people walking by and was soon filled to overflowing with written regrets that were poignant and thought-provoking.

Burning bridges

Never speaking up

Not being a good husband

Should have spent more time with family

Staying in my comfort zone

Not saying "I love you"

Never applying to med school

Not making the most of every day

Not being a better friend

As the board filled up with so many different stories, they noticed that almost all of these regrets had one thing in common. Nearly all of them involved the word "not." They were about chances not taken. They were about words not spoken. They were about dreams never pursued.

But then they gave these same people an eraser and wrote "Clean Slate" at the top of the chalkboard. As she erased her regret one young woman had tears in her eyes as she said, "I feel hopeful. It means that there are possibilities."

There are some of us that have grown up in homes where we maybe didn’t have a father who was a good role model…There is a lesson here about Jehasophat is that he went back to a time of Spiritual examples..

Walked in the the ways of His Father David -

Sought God and followed the word..

Did not follow the practices of Israel… Jehosophat stregthened himself against Israel…

Result is that God established His Kingdom… He will establish you… Here is THE THING God will establish you.

Jehoshaphat modeled that

Jehosophat led from the place of courage… He was courageous in the ways of the Lord..

One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, "Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?"

The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. "I can't, Dear," she said, "I have to sleep with your daddy."

A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: "The big sissy.

“Courage is the ablilithy to do something that Frighten us”

Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of fear.

Johosphat had couage in the ways of the LORD.

2 Chronicles 17:6–9 ESV

His heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord. And furthermore, he took the high places and the Asherim out of Judah. In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and with these Levites, the priests Elishama and Jehoram. And they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the Lord with them. They went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

Jehosophat led from the place of courage… He was couageous in the ways of the Lord..

It takes courage bringing spiritual reform to Judah

Jeshosophat removed the High Places - these were the places of worship

When you start dealing with “sacred cows” - dealing with traditions… you are going to get push back…

Things that ought not to be idols have become idols… we have allowed attitudes…

Jehosophat models multiplys his affectiveness by raising up lay teaches to teach people the word.. It only takes one generation to drop the ball.. people forgetting the law — need teaches..

How does a church have impact? When we multiply leaders…

Can the church impact culture?

Fear of the Lord fell upon all the Kingdoms of the lands around Judah.. and no one dared to oppose Judah…

T/sJehoshaphat modeled that--

3. The best way to handle a mistake is to respond with Humility

Jesoshphat makes an alliance with Ahab the King of Israel… What makes this strange is that Jehoshaphat was fully aware of the preceeding half century of warfare over the territory between the two kingdoms and sufficiently concerned about the powerful Ahab to his north so as to take the precaution of fortifying his borders

So, he spends the first part of his reign protecting his cities from Israel - and then he makes an alliance with the King through having his son marry a woman of Israel..

Here is the problem -- Israel has completely forsaken the God of Israel… and this is going to influence descisions in the future… this one desicion almost proved to be doing the undoing of Israel..

King Ahab saw this alience as an opportunity go to war…

Disregard for Prophecy … finds prophets prophecy what King wants to hear... When Jehosphat make Alies with Ahab --- it is going to cause problems… Ahab kept of looking for prophets that were going to agree with him…he actually condemns the prophet Miciah because he always is so negative… always disagreed with him…in fact he would rather listen to the lying prophets

Ahab Disguises himself in battle and still dies..

Leaving a LEGACY DOESN’T MEAN WE ARE PERFECT… IT MEANS WE ARE OPEN TO COURSE CORRECTION

Jehoshaphat returns to the Lord

2 Chronicles 19:4 ESV

Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem. And he went out again among the people, from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

CONCLUSION.

In August 2006, Fox News featured a television special titled “Can Rick Warren Change the World?” Throughout the show, reporters interviewed Warren about his bestselling book The Purpose Driven Life, his ministry at Saddleback Church, and his leadership in the church growth movement.

They also spotlighted his attempts to move beyond the boundaries of this country with a global network of churches to revolutionize the way we tackle what he believes are the five biggest problems facing the world today: poverty, disease, illiteracy, spiritual emptiness, and egocentric leadership.

As the interview progressed, a nagging question seemed to taint the ambitious pastor’s hopes and plans: Can it really work? Can one man—or one church, or one network, or one nation—really heal all of the hurts of the world?

Warren did not shy away from questions. At the end of the interview, he offered four words to be written on his tombstone: “At least he tried.”

—“Can Rick Warren Change the World?” FoxNews.com (August 20, 2006)