Legacy: Prioritising What Lasts | Ps Ben Moir

We are so glad that you are here. And if

you are new, you probably

We are more than just one church. We are

one church in six locations. We have

churches all the way up from Cairns

right down to Melbourne and all the way

out to the western side of Australia.

Uh and I just want to honor our lead

pastor, Pastor Miles, uh for the

boldness and the courage and the faith

that he has to lead our six locations

and our one church. So, come on, let's

honor our Pastor Miles.

Especially as we are now, we are in a

season of legacy. You've probably seen

that word out in the foyer. The word is

literally behind me. Pastor Jonathan has

said it a couple times. We are in a

season of legacy. But, if you are unsure

what legacy is, legacy is simply this.

It is our once-a-year

offering that is over and above and

separate to our regular tithing. See,

our tithes, uh our regular giving, it

goes towards the function of the church.

You know, making sure that our lights

can stay on, making sure that uh wages

are paid, making sure that our

ministries can function. But, our legacy

offering, our legacy giving, goes

towards pushing the vision of the church

forward that we may leave a legacy for

generations to come, that we may leave

something that we might not see the

fruit in, but the fruit will come in

generations to come. That is what legacy

is all about. And over the past few

weeks, we've been talking about the

different things that uh we are

believing to uh invest into, to give

into over the next 12 months. Uh there

there may have been a legacy booklet on

your seat. If not, please come and see

us after the service. There is a legacy

booklet that we'd love to give to you so

you can see what legacy has done over

the past 12 months and what we're

believing for for the next 12 months.

And when it comes to legacy, we split

legacy into four areas: church,

city,

nation, world. And a few slides will

come on the screen behind me with some

of the things that we're believing for

this year. We want to invest into our

church that our future generations have

a place to worship God and more people

will come to know him for generations to

come. We want to invest into our city

cuz we believe that we want to see a

city changed for Jesus Christ. We want

to invest into our nation that there are

people in the middle of Australia that

do not have a Bible, they've never heard

the name of Jesus, but we want to be the

people that invest and and money, but

people to see lives changed for Jesus

and we want to invest into our world cuz

we know that we are living in a lucky

country, so we want to make sure that we

can supply needs around the world that

God's name may be glorified from Castle

Hill

all the way to Cambodia. I just chose

another C word, but I'm going with it.

Pastor Sanjeev, put it on the legacy.

But this is what legacy is all about. We

want to leave a legacy for people. We

want to

and even after the service, sorry, after

my message, Pastor Sanjeev is going to

come up and he's going to go through

some of the ways that we are believing

for when it comes to missions

specifically that we want to give into

both time and money over the next 12

months because we want to we want to be

a church that transforms our city. And I

always think about this one question, if

our church shut tomorrow,

would our city notice?

If our church shut tomorrow, would just

the people in this room know or would

our city know?

We want to be a church that when if our

church shut, the city would go, "Man, I

wish that church was still open."

I wish that church was still doing what

it did cuz it it transformed the city.

It provided for a city.

That's the kind of church that we want

to be.

And when we read scripture, there's one

man that

is very obviously someone that

transformed a nation.

He transformed a nation almost

single-handedly, and that man is Joseph.

We find him in Genesis 37 all the way to

the end of Genesis.

And so through

through the legacy, we've been talking

about Joseph and how he lived a life

that left a legacy. What did he do? How

did he live that we may live the way he

lived in order to leave a legacy?

In week one, Pastor Miles talked about

it starts with a dream, dreaming for

something bigger and better for the

future. Then last week, Pastor Luke, he

talked about that we can't actually do

it in our own strength. We need to

surrender it all to God that we might

have the dreams from him, and he wants

to work through us, but we can't work

without him.

So we need to surrender our dreams and

our visions to him so that we can rely

fully on him to see a city saved. And

this week we are talking about

prioritizing what lasts. Not going with

the easy, not going with the now, but

how do we invest?

How do we leave a legacy

for something that could last? So that's

what we're going to be talking about

today. So if you've got your Bibles,

turn with me to Genesis 39.

Genesis 39, where we pick up the story

that Joseph had just been sold into

slavery, and he's now living in Egypt

away from his family, away from his

mother, away from his father in a

country that he doesn't know the

language, he doesn't know the culture,

but he's now being a slave in.

So from verse five,

from the time

from the time that Potiphar made Joseph

overseer in his house and over all that

he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptians'

house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of

the Lord was on all that he had in house

and field. So, he left all that he had

in Joseph's charge, and because of him,

he had no concern about anything but the

food he ate.

Must be nice.

Now, Joseph was handsome in form and

appearance.

And after a time, his master's wife cast

her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with

me."

But he refused and said to his master's

wife, "Behold, because of me, my master

has no concern about anything in his

house, and he has put everything that he

has in my charge. He is not greater in

his house than I am, nor has he kept

back anything from me except you,

because you are his wife. How then can I

do this great wickedness and sin against

God?"

And as she spoke to Joseph day after

day,

so this was not a one-time occurrence,

this was something that happened time

and time and time again, Joseph would

not listen to her, to lie beside her, or

to be with her.

In this moment, Joseph had an

opportunity. Do I choose my calling, or

do I choose my comfort? Do I choose my

purpose, the thing that God has set

before me, or do I choose my pleasure?

Do I choose my destiny, or do I walk

into a future of disappointment?

Cuz when it comes to legacy, the

decisions are not always easy. They can

be hard.

So, that's what we're going to talk

about today. And the title of my messy

message is prioritizing what lasts.

So, let's pray.

Lord, we just thank you for this moment

that

we get to come into your word and hear

what you have to say for us in this

moment, in this time. Lord, I pray as I

preach, you tell me what to say, that

it's your words, not my words.

Stop what to be stopped. Translate that

which needs to be translated. And oh

Lord, I pray that nothing falls upon

deaf ears. Holy Spirit, come.

Have your way.

Open our eyes to see and ears to hear.

Lord, speak. For your servants are

listening.

Amen.

So,

in life, we all have decisions that we

need to make.

We all have

things that we need to do. And and but

when we make decisions, they have

consequences.

Right? Like they're like sliding door

moments. You either make the door or you

don't make the door. You choose to walk

through it, you don't choose to do it.

But whatever you do, it has a

consequence, whether you make the

decision or not. Like, do I follow

Google Maps

or do I follow Waze?

Do I go to the cafe every day and order

that coffee or do I be responsible

and make it at home?

I literally have seven different ways to

make coffee at home and I still find a

way to go to the cafe.

But anyway,

a couple of weeks ago, my son,

he he broke his arm.

Uh he broke it good. Like the nurses

were impressed with the break. Like he

like it was floppy kind of thing. It was

crazy. He was a boy. He was outside

and he was doing what kids do and he was

having too much fun and an accident

occurred and he broke his arm. But I had

nothing to do with him breaking his arm.

But the other day I was thinking back on

it and going,

"Man,

just before he went outside to play,

he asked me, 'Dad,

can I play on my Switch?'"

And I was like,

"No.

It's the middle of the day. You have

friends over, I have friends over. Go

outside. Be a child. Go play in the sun.

Famous last words.

And he broke his arm.

And I was thinking about it. Man, if I

just let him play on the switch,

would his arm still be broken?

And I had nothing to do with him

breaking his arm. My decision didn't

cause his break, but it's an interesting

thought that like, man, if I had just

changed my decision,

his arm wouldn't be broken.

But the joke's on me. Now that he has a

broken arm, he can't play outside that

much and he has to play inside. On

where? On his switch.

So, he got there in the end, right?

But when it comes to the decisions that

we need to make,

sometimes they are black and white, yes

and no. But when it comes to legacy,

when it comes to the things of God,

they're a little bit harder than just

yes and no.

They

Are we going to choose the easy way out,

or are we going to choose

the hard way? Are we going to follow our

flesh and live according to the world,

or are we going to follow God

and live according to his kingdom?

And when we read

the book the book of Genesis,

when we read about the life of Joseph,

we see that time and time again Joseph

chose God.

Joseph lived for God. And if you're

unaware, maybe this is your first time

in church or

you just haven't read the story of

Joseph, I'm going to give you the

quickest overview of the life of Joseph.

So, he was one of 12 children, and his

father, he loved him more than the rest,

which obviously made the brothers a

little bit annoyed, as you would. But

then he had a dream. He actually had

multiple dreams that one day his

he would rise to prominence and his

brothers

would bow to him.

Man, that's not something that you want

your brother to be saying to you. Hey,

you know, one day you're going to bow to

me?

This didn't make them less angry. This

obviously made them more angry.

They then threw him in a pit. They sold

him into slavery, convinced

his father that he had died. He then got

sent down to Egypt. He got

bought as a slave in Potiphar's house.

That's the story that we're talking

about today. His wife then made advances

at him time and time again, to which he

said no, and because he said no, he then

got thrown into prison because he said

no,

where he lived for many, many years up

until he caught the eye and ear of the

pharaoh.

Where he raised to the second in command

over the country of Egypt, the nation of

Egypt, and he led a nation through seven

years of famine.

He led a nation through seven years of

famine and he left a legacy.

When we look at the life of Joseph, we

can see that he was called to something

great. In hindsight, we can go, "Yeah,

we can see that he was called to leave a

legacy. We can see that he was called by

God." He was called to power. He was

called to influence. He was called to

something greater than himself.

But his legacy, it affected generation

after generation and it still affects

you and I today.

Because not only did he save a nation,

he also saved his family.

Eventually, his brothers came to Egypt.

They realized who he was. They begged

for his forgiveness, which he gave them,

and then the whole family moved down to

Egypt. And those 12 brothers, that small

family, became the nation of Israel. And

through them,

we have Jesus Christ.

Because of his decision to say no to

sex,

we see a nation created, birthed, and we

now have salvation.

Just maybe,

the lives of millions of people rested

on

Joseph's response

to an invitation for sex.

What would have happened if he had

chosen, "Oh, this is just easier than

saying no" day after day

after day?

Many times in Joseph's life,

he had decisions to make

that would change or could change the

trajectory of his life if he made the

opposing decision.

And when we read this story,

and when I've heard it preached,

you can go, "Man, Joseph was a good boy,

and he didn't have sex."

But that is not the point of this story.

That is a shallow reading of this story.

If you leave here and go, "Man,

that's good for Joseph." No. Joseph just

didn't say no to temptation, no to sin.

He said yes to the calling of God in his

life. He knew what he was called to, and

he said to Potiphar's wife, "Why would I

sin against God and cause this for me to

stumble and not be able to do what he's

called me to?"

That is what this story is about. It's a

story of saying yes to Jesus. It's a

story of saying yes to God.

But up to now, Joseph had just gone

through

trials and tests of pain, being rejected

by his brothers, being sold into

slavery, being sent to a different

nation, but now a new test arrived, and

the test was pleasure and comfort.

Easy choices.

So, what would Joseph choose? Would he

take the easy way out? Would he take the

hard way? Would he choose his calling?

Would he choose his comfort? Would he

choose his purpose? Would he choose his

pleasure?

He chose faithfulness.

Every time.

Doesn't matter how many time that girl

came to him, he said no.

He chose faithfulness even though it

costed him comfort and even though it

caused him pain.

In the end, he ended up in prison.

But, the thing is legacy is built by

people who remain faithful to God's

mission through both pain and pleasure.

Legacy is not something easy to build.

Legacy is hard.

But, just like Joseph, we are called to

build a legacy both individually

and as a church. God has called us to

something greater. Like the Harbor

Bridge, we are called to build something

for future generations that we may not

see the fruit in, but the fruit will

come nevertheless.

So, for us in this church, what is our

mission?

Our mission is simple. In Mark 16:15,

Mark 16:15

Jesus said to them, "Go into all the

world and proclaim the gospel to the

whole creation."

Our mission is to see people come to

know Jesus. It's plain and simple.

That is our mission. And if you look at

our our legacy

uh initiatives, the things that we want

to invest into, every one of them

in both word or deed has something to do

with declaring Jesus over over

something.

That is what we are doing and we are

called to build the kingdom. Will God

build his church? 100%.

He will build his church, but in 2

2 Corinthians 5:18

Corinthians 5:18 it says, "All this is

from God through whom Christ reconciled

us to himself

and

gave us the ministry of reconciliation."

God will build his church 100%, but he

has given us a duty and a task and a

mission that reconciliation would come

through us to others. It says in verse

20, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for

Christ."

Not viewers, we are ambassadors for

Christ.

We are participants in a work. God will

make his appeal through us and we

implore you on his behalf,

"Be reconciled to God." And that is why

every service

every single service will give an

opportunity for people to respond.

And maybe you're here today and you

haven't made a choice to follow Jesus or

maybe you haven't, but you've walked

away. At the end of this service, we're

going to give you an opportunity. I'll

give you an opportunity to respond to

the call of Jesus on your life cuz today

is your day.

God loves you so much and he wants you

reconciled to him. Be reconciled to God.

This is why in our foyer under the cross

it says, "In Sydney as it is in heaven."

We want to see a city saved and

transformed by the power of Jesus. This

is what Legacy is about. If you get to

the end of these four weeks and think,

"Man, this church talks about money a

lot."

You've missed the point and we've missed

our our our responsibility to

communicate that to you.

Legacy it it's about lives changed by

the power of God and a city transforms

by the power of God.

That is what Legacy is about. We are

called to Legacy.

But if we're honest,

if we're honest with ourselves,

sometimes, maybe oftentimes, we do not

respond the way Joseph responded.

We don't respond with taking the hard

way. We respond with taking the easy

way. And I get it.

No one likes being uncomfortable.

But, the thing is, we we like the idea

of legacy.

But, when the pain

for stepping into legacy comes too much,

we abandon the mission. Or when the

temptation of pleasure and comfort comes

too much, we become ineffective

in outworking the mission of God. And

And Jesus, he warns about it in Matthew

13.

In the parable of the sower, it says,

"As for what was sown among thorns, this

is the one who hears the word,

but the cares of the world and the

deceitfulness of riches choke the world

and it proves unfruitful."

We don't like being uncomfortable. I

don't like being uncomfortable. I get

second-hand embarrassment. Right? When

people do things that are embarrassing,

I'm just embarrassed for them, and the

room's uncomfortable, and I don't want

to be there.

Right?

No one likes being uncomfortable. I get

it.

But, how many times has a calling been

derailed because we've chosen flesh over

God?

How many times has a calling been

derailed because we've chosen comfort

over God's call upon our life? And for

you, it might it might not actually be

sin. Right? It might not actually even

be sin that's calling you away from God.

Like, and you're thinking, "Well, if

it's not sin, how bad could it be? Who

is it hurting?" But, the thing is that

it's as simple as taking your eyes off

of the things of God. Taking your eyes

off of him.

Taking your eyes off of legacy, of what

could be to what will be now.

And if I'm honest,

7 months ago as a leadership team, we

had to make a decision.

Will we go to three services or will we

stay with two?

Will we take an uncomfortable step, take

the stretch,

and add another morning service or will

we just stay with two?

And let me tell you,

it would have been far easier to stay

with two services. It would have been

far more comfortable to stay with two

services.

But if we had stayed with two, we would

have taken our eyes off the calling of

God upon this church.

We would not have listened to God and we

would have trusted our flesh cuz it's

just been easier.

1 hour later, I can get up much better.

But we took that step, we made that

decision, we stepped into what God has

called us to, and we know that when we

do that, he will bless us.

And ever since we have gone to three

services, we have seen 280 people, new

people, walk through our doors.

And that does not include kids, and

that's just the people that we know

about that have put in red cards. So, if

you guest here today, please put in a

red card. We want to connect with you

and we want to get to know you.

But not only that, ever since the end of

November last year, we have seen 188

decisions for Jesus Christ.

Because we decided to be uncomfortable.

Because we decided to take a step into

what God has called us to do.

Lives changed is what Legacy is about.

And I believe there are people in this

room today

that you have dreams that God has called

you to, but you've put them on the back

burner.

You've disregarded them, maybe even just

thrown them away cuz like, it's actually

just too hard and I don't want to do it.

But I believe today God's calling you to

dream again.

God today is calling you to follow his

will again.

And I get it. When the going gets tough,

when we face that pain, when we have to

make decisions that reduce our comfort,

how do we live a life

of legacy?

We do what Joseph did.

We hold on to the promises of God.

We see time and time again when Joseph

was faced with something that he held on

to God's promise.

So, as we

as we close today, there are three

promises that I want to go through that

you can hold on to.

That as you step into the call of God on

your life, as you step into maybe a new

season in your life, that there are

three promises that you can hold on to

knowing

that he will be there for you.

Number one,

he will provide our needs.

Legacy always requires sacrifice.

Maybe the sacrifice is time,

maybe it's effort,

maybe it's people,

maybe it's financial,

but whatever it is,

God will provide what you need.

We see it in Matthew 6, seek first the

kingdom of God and his righteousness,

and

all these things will be added unto you.

When Joseph needed self-control

to say no to temptation, God provided.

When Joseph needed grace to forgive his

brothers,

God provided.

When Joseph needed strength and peace to

live in prison, God provided. When

Joseph needed wisdom to lead a nation

through seven years of famine, God

provided. And I've seen the same

provision in my life.

I've I've talked about this before, but

about a year ago,

uh we we put our car into the mechanic

cuz it needed to get fixed,

to which the mechanic returned to us

going, "Hey, you're going to need a new

engine and it's going to cost you more

than $13,000 to fix."

$13,000 that we did not have.

That we had not planned for. $13,000

that we did not know where it was going

to come from.

All we had in that moment

All we had was looking to God.

All we had in that moment was praying

and believing.

We tried to make money work, but we just

like, "No, no, no." In the end, we we

actually just don't have the money. We

need God to come through.

So, what did What did we do?

We sought God.

And I don't want to I

I don't want this next part to make you

think that I believe that God is some

kind of transactional God.

I don't want to make you think that if

you give, he will give more. That is not

who he is.

But I know for us that this time last

year when we gave in our legacy card

we didn't have the money to pay for our

our car to be fixed and we definitely

did not have the money to pay for a

legacy pledge.

But when we gave in that pledge, we

didn't give any money yet. We just gave

it a pledge. We just gave in a card. But

that card was us saying yes to Jesus.

Going, you know, I want to build

something for you. I know our

circumstance may not look

like we can do much right now

but I'm believing in faith that you will

come through.

And within a week, I kid you not, from

the time that we put the legacy card in,

within a week, actually within 5 days

that money miraculously entered into our

bank account.

That is who our God is.

That is who our God is. And you might be

thinking, well, like, awesome for you.

But no, if he's done it for me, I know

he can do it for you. Even after our

first service, I had this

uh this lady come up to me and goes,

"Hey, can I tell you a story?"

Always.

And she said, "There was one time, many,

many years ago,

basically the same thing happened to

her. She prayed, and she also had

miraculously $7,000 given to her

anonymously to be able to fix her car."

This is not a me story, this is a we

story.

This is a story that I know he can do it

for you cuz he's done it for me. He's

done it for her, so he can do it for

you.

Our God will provide every single time.

So, he will provide our needs. Number

two,

he will provide supply his grace.

Through thick and thin, God's grace

God's grace is enough. In 2 Corinthians,

it says, "And God is able to make all

grace abound to you, so that having all

sufficiency in all things at all times,

you may abound in every good work."

You may have walked in here today, and

you may be thinking, "Well, yeah, like

that's well and good for you to say, but

you don't know the mistakes that I've

made."

You don't know where I'm at right now.

There is no way back.

You might be thinking, "I've made too

many wrong decisions.

I don't think God's grace is enough.

I'm way off course. I've hit rock

bottom. I've bitten off more than I can

chew."

But, I want to let you know that God's

grace is enough.

And God's grace is enough, and he can

come into your life in one moment and

turn it around. And you Our God, he is a

God of the impossible. He is a God who

can do miracles. Doesn't matter what you

are, where you're at, he can come into

your life, and he can change your life

forever. Cuz I know I I've made my fair

share of bad decisions. Trust me. I've

made my fair share of mistakes, but God

in his faithfulness has covered them in

his grace.

But not only that, when I've made good,

right decisions, a decision to get

married, a decision to have kids, a

decision to step into being a pastor,

three jobs that I cannot do by myself,

God's grace was enough.

I'm the husband I am because of God,

not because of myself. I'm the father I

am because of God. I'm the pastor I am

because of God, because his grace is

enough.

Whether you're far from him or close to

him, his grace is all that you need.

And number three,

he will satisfy our hearts.

When we sacrifice for the kingdom of

God, we may feel like we lack,

but he can satisfy every single need in

our life.

In Hebrews,

it says, "Keep your life free from love

of money, and be content with what you

have, for he has said this, 'I will

never leave you or

forsake you.'"

Yes,

God is pinpointing money in this

scripture,

because he knows what it can do to us

when we focus on it.

But the question is not whether you will

give or not. That's actually not the

question. The question that we see in

this scripture is, "Do you think God is

enough or not?"

Not, "Do you give?" It's, "Is he enough?

Is he all that you need? Will he supply

the grace that you need? Will he provide

for your needs? Do you truly believe

that, or do you want control over your

life?"

That is what this scripture is talking

about.

And despite everything,

despite what Joseph went through, being

sold into slavery, being rejected by his

family,

being thrown into prison time and time

again, what did Joseph know in Genesis

39?

but the Lord was with

Joseph.

Wherever you're at today, whatever

you're going through,

the Lord is with you.

Whether you're in a valley,

whether you are feeling like you're on

top of the world,

God is with you, and God is for you, and

he will never leave you, and he will

never forsake you.

So, maybe you've made a decision to

follow Jesus before.

God is with you.

But, maybe

you haven't made a decision to follow

Jesus before.

I would encourage you that today is your

day.

Today is the day that you can go, you

know what? I I need this, God.

I need this, Jesus. I need I need My my

life is not looking I I can't control my

life right now. Everything that I do is

just is just making wrong decision after

wrong decision after wrong decision.

But, God can be with you. We just need

to respond. We just need to say yes

to him.

So, if that's you,

if today you're like looking at your

life and you're going, "Man, I'm trying

to do it all myself.

I'm trying to live my life, but it is

just

it's just coming up short every time.

Trying to do it in your own strength and

you're you're worn out. You're tired.

Wherever you're at,

God is enough, and God can be with you.

We just need to say yes to him.

So, if that's you, in a moment I'm going

to give you an opportunity to respond

and say yes to Jesus.

So, with eyes closed across this room,

if that's you this morning,

whether you've

never responded to Jesus before, or

maybe you have, but today you need a

recommit your life. You need to say yes

again. Going, "Ah,

man, I I've just swayed a bit. I've

strayed on my I've I to do it in my own

strength, and I just cannot do it in my

own strength. I need Jesus.

If that's you today,

I'm going to ask you

in a moment on the count of three to to

boldly boldly raise your hand because

God

is a god of second chances.

God is a god who is able to do miracles

cuz he sent his son to die upon the

cross that we could step into a life

reconciled back to him, but we could

step into a life that isn't far from

him, but close to him. Whatever we go

through, he will go through with us.

So, if that's you this morning,

if you need to say yes to Jesus, on the

count of three, I'm going to ask you to

boldly raise your hand. One, God sent

his son

to die for you. Two, Jesus, for the joy

that was set before him, which was you,

he died upon that cross. And three, if

that's you in this room, if you want to

say yes to Jesus this morning, I'm going

to ask you to boldly boldly raise your

hand right now.

Yeah, I see that hand at the back.

Amazing. Come on.

>> [applause]

>> Yeah, I see that hand in the middle as

well. Come on.

Come on, I feel like there's more people

in this room that need to say yes. You

can just throw your hand up and pull it

right back down again.

So good. Yeah, I see that hand as well.

Come on.

>> [applause]

>> So good. Well, come on, church.

We're going to say this prayer together,

and even if even if you haven't slipped

your hand up, we want you to we want you

to say say this again. And maybe even

while we're doing this, you just feel

like I need to say this, throw your hand

up in the air.

But church, we're going to say this

prayer together. Jesus,

thank you

for dying for me.

I give you my life.

I give you my all.

You are my king

and my savior.

And in his mighty name, we all say

amen.