Family Legacy Tonight, I know many are thinking about the week ahead – and the family Tradition’s you’ll enjoy during Christmas. Family traditions are great – but even more important, is the family legacy we pass on. A Christian families, we want to help our extended family become GROUNDED in the faith. We want to demonstrate a living and active faith – rather than empty claims… Many people in the world are consumed with what kind of economy we leave for the next generation or what kind of environmental pollution we leave for the next generation – but those categories pale in comparison to the value of SPIRITUAL LEGACY of faithfulness and salvation. One Bible hero who left an amazing Spiritual Legacy was Joshua…

Hope For Our Family’s Future Joshua’s Resolve: Josh. 24:15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, chose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods your fathers served…or the gods of the…land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”.” In the Bible we are taught to look toward the future good of our families. To have hope for the well-being of their souls and to lead them to the Lord. Joshua was fully resolved to bless his family with an solid understanding of God’s commands, and the blessings of the Lord. He made it clear, that his family - indeed his entire household - would walk with God. This is not just a personal commitment on the part of a parent. This is a proclamation full of Hope for his family to remain strong in the God who had given him so much strength throughout his life! But these things don’t happen by accident. We don’t just wake up one day with a family full of joy, life, and prosperity. These families grew in their dedication and devotion to God one step at a time, so that each generation had the benefit of the one before.

Building A Godly Legacy Fear God & Keep His Commandments. (Ps 112:1-2) Respond To Pressing Needs With Compassion. (Titus 3:14) Pray For Open Doors To Serve In God’s Kingdom. (Eph 6:18-20) Guard Your Heart Carefully. (Proverbs 4:23) Teach The Whole Counsel of God. (Acts 20:27) GOD’s COMMANDMENTS: Future Generations depend on the faith you nurture now. Determining to Seek God is the singal greatest thing you can do for your families legacy. As you personally build your relationship with God you not only transform your character into the kind of person you hope your children will grow up to be, but you also become the beneficiary of the wonderful promises that God has made to those who would be a part of the Lord’s Family. God has countless blessings and promises for His people, if we will just give ourselves to His will. This doesn’t mean it will always be easy, but we will always be headed for our eternal home, and God will protect us each step of the way. Determing to Seek & Obey God – includes choosing to FOLLOW HIS BLUEPRINTS. He gives us the MODEL for building a long-lasting Marriage. He gives us the MODEL for traiing our Children. He gives us the MODEL for how to worship. We need to be determined to do things HIS WAY. PRESSING NEEDS: Look out and consider what the world needs. There are millions in false religions. Millions worshipping idols. Millions denying the very existence of God. (Some might say – how can we fix so much. I would tell you – how can we fail to reach at least one – there are millions we can talk to!) PRAY FOR OPEN DOORS: GUARD HEART– Matt 15:18, Proverbs 4:23 If we want our families to enjoy a truly Biblical level of spiritual success, we need to start laying the foundation now. And this begins by considering 3 Things: Consider Your Example. Both the Bible and life teach us that by our example we will pass on both the good and the bad from our character. Even the best families will always pass down some bad examples! Abraham: LYING - Yet, love and commitment to God. Lying about his wife, lying about his wife, and lying to get the birthright. This lying is sadly a part of their legacy. David: LUST - Bathsheba, Solomon’s many wives, and the overwhelming sexual sins of Judah during Rehoboam’s days. (1 Kings 14:21-24) ***But knowing this doesn’t make us give up…it makes us try harder. It reminds us how important it is to give CAREFUL consideration to the example we set in our homes. In the things that we say…in the secret sins we allow in. Do you really want your children repeating your mistakes? Of course not - so as much as is possible conquer them now!

David’s Prayer “Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant. Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord God, have spoken; and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever.” 2 Samuel 7:28-29

Taking The First Step Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” Acts 2:38-39 Phillip - listen all the things you’ve said to today sound nice, but its just not easy to do those things. Its not easy to stop and consider every action I make, and how it will affect my kids 50 years from now. I’m just trying to get through the week. And its not easy to teach my kids everything I want them to know, much less everything in the whole Bible. It feels like they grow up SO FAST! And if the difficulty of this amazing job wasn’t hard enough….Well…I gotta admit - I’m not really sure where to start. Because I look back at the family I grew up in and sure I love my parents and all, but my family did not do this. HOW WILL I EVER get things straightened out!?? Let me tell you - I hear the pain. I know this is not easy…but the great news, is that you don’t have to do all this work alone. Your family can make it, your family can change, your family can be stronger, more loving, and happier - because your family can become a part of GOD’s FAMILY! God has promised that all your sins can be washed away and you can join his family, where you can get the kind of help and the kind of encouragement, and the kind of teaching and training it takes to build a strong spiritual legacy in your home. You are not alone - God’s promise to cleanse you and to help you is calling out for you this morning. Please, take the first step by coming to the Lord today. Do it for Christ, Do it for Heaven, and Do it so that you can share this promise with the next generation. Please, come while we stand and sing.

Leaving A Spiritual Legacy