Legacy
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
As we close out this year, which I bet we are all excited for, I wanted to look at the idea of legacy.
As we go into the new year, I would like us to have this idea on our hearts… Why? Because what we do in this life truly matters.
Next year, there is a lot of emotions behind it..
Uncertainty
Worry
Anxiety
Sadness
Which makes sense, because this year was something...
I would like us to go into next year, focused not on our circumstances, but focused on how we live for Jesus…
Why?
Because, when all is said and done… When our time has come.. What do you want people to say about you?
Personally, I want to be known for being a man after God’s own heart…
So, today, we’re going to focus on the idea of leaving behind a legacy that points toward Jesus...
Pray
Read
We forgot how short life truly is…
Sometimes we like to think that we are invincible… Well, at least these young people do nowadays..
But, we know how short life is… The Bible warns us about it!
whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Man is like a breath;
His days are like a passing shadow.
because
“All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
My days are like a shadow that lengthens,
And I wither away like grass.
Since we know and understand that life is short, what should that motivate us to do?
I believe that it should motivate us to take our Christianity seriously…
It’s time for us to truly live out God’s Word...
We’re going to be looking at many different scriptures today.
We will be looking at Paul, because he’s a great example of how God works in lives of people..
His life shows us that God can reach those who we think are unreachable…
Too many times, Christians think “Oh, they’re not saved… Look at the way they dress… Or, they can’t be saved, they are terrible people.”
It also shows us that you are never to far from the grace of God.
Paul didn’t let his past define him, instead he let the God change his status… From persecutor to Saint…
Pauls life is just an amazing picture of what the grace and love of God can do...
Main Verse
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Here, we see Paul giving Timothy a hint of his impending death.
He is in a Roman jail, he knows that he’s not getting out..
Scholars believe he is around 60 at this time, and was killed under the reign of Nero… Don’t know if Nero killed Paul personally.. but it was under his rule.
V.7
Paul says something that is just impactful...
I have fought the good fight!
How many of us could actually say that today, if we were on our death bed?
How many of us could boldly proclaim that I did my all for the Gospel?
I wonder if Paul spent time looking back at the influence that he made in all these different areas.
Paul fulfilled the great commission
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
You see this in the letters he has written to all the churches.. You see it in the way he took young Timothy under his wing… He made disciples..
How do we leave a good legacy?
We make disciples
We are called to make disciples… It’s not a suggestion..
We just read in Matthew, Jesus said “GO.”
Not, if you feel like… when you have time…
GO
People think making disciples is hard… but it’s really not. I think people overthink the idea…
Making disciples starts at home..
Parents:
Teach your kids to read
Teach your kids to pray
Teach them what it means to love God
I don’t understand how parents expect their kids to love the word and church, went the parents don’t.
Christianity would look different if parents made Christianity and Church a priority in their lives, and not a secondary thing.
Not saying things would be perfect, of course not… But, it would be looking different.
Students
You can take another student under your wing and so studies together...
You can study with your siblings.
Older People
Titus 2 tells older women to take on the younger ladies and disciple them… Teach them…
You could use this even for older men… Older men come alongside these young guys and teach them how to be a Godly man… How to love their wives… How to work hard.. and all these things..
I believe that discipleship starts once we get out of our comfort zone.
We Seek The Lost
When you read the Gospels, when you read about Paul...
You see Jesus seeking out the lost… You see Paul seeking out the lost...
Look back on your life right now, have you reached, tried to reach those who don’t know Jesus?
Makes me think about the Parable of the Lost Sheep
Luke 15:1-7
This verse speaks about our Good Shepherd going after the one…
Is this not an example for us?
We should be going after those who are lost…
God has reached us… Why can’t we reach out to others?
I know that I fail in this area… I know i’m not the only one.
We go through life and we forget that people have souls...
We forget that people are going to hell if they don’t know Jesus.
We drive to church on Sunday all happy and joyful, but we ignore those that we drive by...
We pray for revival but we don’t want to do anything about it.
Revival won’t happen unless Christians have a revival in their hearts…
We need to ask God to bring those people into our lives to share with them…
If you don’t know what to say, that’s okay… You’ll learn.. You need to be in the Word.
The legacy that you will leave, does it show the importance of reaching the lost?
We Are Selfless
Today, we see Christians who are self-centered.
However, when you look at scriptures you see that Christians are called to be selfless.
Phil 2:4
John 15:12-14
Are you a selfless Christian? Or are you a selfish Christian?
When you die, and people look at your life, would they see a selfless Christian?
Or, do they see someone who has a generous heart?
John gives us a warning in 1 John...
1 John 3:17
If we have the love of God in our lives, we should be selfless people, right?
Of course, we should be wise in the way we handle things…
I think selfish christians give a bad name to Christianity...
Look at Joel Osteen, during the hurricanes they had in Texas, he would not open up the church for those in need… People had to come out against him in order for him too...
Man… It just shows how selfish Christians can be… We have to be careful to not let selfishness consume us.
We love deeply
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Love is the distinguishing mark of Jesus’ disciples...
Are you leaving behind a legacy that shows how to love?
We can have all the knowledge in the world, all the scriptural knowledge, and it’s pointless if you can’t love others.
How can we demonstrate Christian Love? Rick Ezell, Pastor in South Carolina gives us a couple tips..
Love Values the Other Person
Let's not confuse Christian love with its modern counterfeits - lust, sentimentality, and gratification. While love is a wonderful, warm feeling, it is not only a feeling. In fact, according to the Bible, love is primarily an active interest in the well-being of another person. Love acts for the benefit of others. According to William Barclay love "is the spirit in the heart that will never seek anything but the highest good of its fellow man."
Love is Vulnerable to The Other
Love opens up its life to the other person.
Christian love is the most costly investment you will ever make. C. S. Lewis, in The Four Loves, describes the vulnerable nature of love.
"To love is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries. Avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken. Instead, it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.
Love Entails a Cost
It gets its hands dirty. It takes a chance. It goes out on a limb. It takes a gamble. Love makes a statement and leaves a legacy. It does the unexpected, surprising, and stirring. It performs acts that steal the heart and leaves an impression on the soul. Often these acts are never forgotten.
I recently read a moving story about the founder of World Vision, the international Christian relief agency. Bob Pierce had advanced leukemia, but he chose to visit a colleague in Indonesia before he died. As he and others walked together through a small village, they came upon a young girl lying on a bamboo mat next to a river. She was dying of cancer and had only a short time to live.
Bob was indignant. He demanded to know why she wasn't in a clinic. But his friend explained that she was from the jungle and wished to spend her last days next to the river, where it was cool and familiar.
As Bob gazed at her, he felt such compassion that he got down on his knees in the mud, took her hand, and began stroking it. Although she didn't understand him, he prayed for her. Afterwards she looked up and said something, "What did she say? Bob asked his friend.
His friend replied, "She said, 'If I could only sleep again, if I could only sleep again.'" It seemed that her pain was too great to allow her the relief of rest.
Bob began to weep. Then he reached into his pocket and took out his own sleeping pills, the ones his doctor had given him because the pain from his leukemia was too great for him to sleep at night.
He handed the bottle to his friend. "You make sure this young lady gets a good night's sleep," he said, "as long as these pills last."
Bob was ten days away from where he could get his prescription refilled. That meant ten painful and restless nights. That day his love cost him greatly. But even in the midst of his suffering, God infused him with a supernatural sense of satisfaction that he had done the right thing.
I'm not saying that we should constantly abuse ourselves or become passive doormats. But Christian love inevitably carries costs. Even when the cost is high, we can nevertheless count on God to bring fulfillment to His followers. True love always costs. If there is no cost there is no love.
Conclusion:
This upcoming year, we should focus on making disciples, we should focus on reaching the lost, and we should focus on being selfless and loving others.
WE want to leave a legacy for kids, grandkids, younger generations.. We want to leave one that points to God. We can’t do anything that we talked about apart from the power of God.
When all is said and done, I pray that we would live lives that point to Jesus… and others would follow that example.
I’ll finish with this poem by CT Studd.
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,
If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee” – C.T. Studd