Though We May Die, Our Legacy Will Continue to Speak-2

Hebrews 11:4 NASB 2020

4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested to be righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

I preached from this verse a few weeks ago, on September 12, as we were remembering the 20th anniversary of an event that we as a nation SAID we would never forget (I wonder!).

At that time I said I would come back to it because I only touched on one of the many things God wanted to say to us through this verse.

What I preached on that Sunday morning was that we will leave a legacy.

The example of our LIVES will continue to speak even after the body is gone.

I asked us to consider What kind of legacy we will leave behind.

I spoke about the legacy of evil that the terrorists left that crashed passenger airliners into the World Trade Center towers, into the Pentagon and probably would have crashed into the White House.

Except for the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 who left a legacy of courage, bravery and true heroism.

Their efforts saved the people at the White House at the cost of their own lives.

What provoked this sermon series was the Lord speaking through songs that I had heard a couple of weeks before that September 12.

God speaks in many ways!

He speaks through the Holy Spirit.

He speaks in quiet seasons of prayer.

He speaks through His Word, the Bible.

He speaks through others — He could even use a donkey, I mean a preacher.

On rare occasions He speaks through angels.

This particular time, he spoke through music — through a couple of songs.

I was listening to the radio as I drove to the church from my house.

I was listening to the Satellite Southern Gospel station — I’m trying to broaden my musical tastes.

Let me take a moment to encourage us to remember:

Philippians 4:8 NLT

8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

What we listen to, what we read, what we watch — matters!

With what are we filling our brain and heart?

A devotional that I refer to all the time, Missionary God, Missionary Bible, by AG missionary Dick Brogdan, said:

In his Friday, August 20 devotion, he says:

I finished a one-year fast from reading or viewing world news. It was a tonic to my soul that had become weary with the globally ubiquitous violence and wickedness. I discovered that when an event was significant enough, someone informed me. To some degree, I will engage again, but how sweet to read God’s promises about how this ends instead:

His glory everywhere to every nation and every people. In that news, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Hab 3:18).

By the way, have I been too subtle about that devotional?

Do you understand that I am endorsing it and encouraging you to pick up a copy and let it challenge you?

If Jesus doesn’t come first, a new year is just around the corner.

This devotional will not only rock your world, but it will help you read through the Bible in one year — which will also rock your world.

But anyway, I was listening to the radio.

I started out listening to Southern Gospel and heard a song by the Mark Trammell Quartet, Go Ask Moses, where the chorus says:

Go ask Moses how it feels when God says I'll depend on you Go ask Moses how a bush on fire will make you lose your shoes Go ask Moses how it feels to watch as the mighty Red Sea closes If you need another witness from another time and place If you need a testimony of God's power and his grace If you need to be reminded that God always makes a way I'll give you a name, Go ask Moses

As I listened to this song, the Holy Spirit reminded me of our text.

It doesn’t speak of the testimony of Moses but rather, of Caleb.

So, our text this morning gives us another name besides the well-known name of Moses, it tells us to consider the legacy of Caleb.

Who though he is long, long dead — he still speaks to us of:

What it means to leave a Legacy

Of faith

Of righteousness

Of offerings made to God

Of sacrifice

While I was pondering this I switched to the satellite CCM station and heard a new song by Olivia Lane called The Woman at the Well. Its chorus says:

Cause tonight I feel just like The woman at the well Wondering how someone could love me When I can’t love myself But you want me as I am and that sounds crazy I guess maybe that’s why grace is so amazing

That made me think about the legacy of the unnamed woman at the well where Jesus stopped and asked for a drink of water.

I guess the Lord really wanted me to think of her legacy, too.

Because later I read an article by Darlene Zschech on

Living with an Eternal Perspective

August 17, 2021 Worship Leader Magazine

She says:

We all know the story of “The Woman at the Well”—the woman Jesus spoke to as they had a conversation about truthful worship.

The account of where He found her as a society outcast, and where through His heart of love for her, He broke down the chains around her heart which had held her captive for so long.

But interestingly, in verse 5 we find the story beginning in a city of Samaria called Sychar, near where Jacob (father of the famous multi-colored-coat wearing Joseph) had built this well.

It was here, all these years later, that Jesus, weary from His journey, sat by the well.

He sat to rest and then prepared to refresh Himself with water from the well.

And He started His conversation with the nameless woman…

Think about this:

long before this miracle-filled scenario came to be, around the 12th century B.C. Jacob and his men did the hard work of digging, preparing, and finding the water source to establish a deep well that would bring literal refreshment to those coming long after their days were over—even to Jesus Himself.

I am sure at the time, Jacob would never have realized that the good work he was doing for his family and the communities around would become the backdrop for one of the most important conversations in the Bible.

I find it amazing…that this is where the worship discussions start to flow.

ANY decision you make today has some sort of effect on your future.

Most of the time, it feels like the small decisions we make every day will have little-to-no effect on our lives, but all those small moments put together make up something far greater that will always have its expression in our future.

[And not just OUR future, but the future of others.]

Here is the beautiful ending to this story.

This woman had made SO many poor decisions in her life and yet here came Jesus, always the same, always forgiving and restoring, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

This woman’s life ended up impacting a whole city, and it all started at a well, dug SO long before this moment by someone living a life that was about much more than himself and impacting so many people for eternity.

We’ve all made poor decisions in our lives—I certainly have made my fair share. So what do we do?

Remember an eternal perspective. Understand that the love of God is not fickle or unsure, and His grace is robust and deep.

The Father is always ready to welcome us home and set us straight…because our lives matter, our decisions matter.

He desires us to walk this Kingdom life out with Him, as His love impacts us at the core of our being—in turn impacting those around us.

Zschech goes on to say: And one last thought: living with an eternal perspective will also change the way you view suffering.

[We were JUST talking about that Wednesday night!

Here is a truth NO one wants to hear: Suffering CAN be a part of God’s will for our life.

1 Peter 4:19 NASB95

19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.

Suffering “according to the will of God” means suffering for the witness of Jesus — NOT suffering because we are a jerk.

Zschech encourages us to take an eternal perspective on suffering.

What does that look like? What does an “Eternal Perspective” look like?

Romans 8:18 NASB95

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Is that how we are living our lives?

Is that how we view suffering?

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. C.S. Lewis

So, yes, here is yet another message about our legacy.

That our lives will speak even after we are gone.

The Holy Spirit wants that emphasis given again this morning.

Its NOT too late to leave a legacy that exalts Jesus.

This past week I was speaking to a church planter about our church.

About that we have a lot of retirees in this church.

He talked about how retirees in the church he pastors came alongside his sons and mentored them in the the things of Jesus.

They paid for the privilege to do this by hiring the boys to do chores like raking leaves.

And then talked to them about living for Jesus.

What about us?

Will our lives speak of Jesus?

Will they tell of His great love?

That we gave our all for Him?

Prayer