The Legacy We Leave

All right.

Well, uh, man, it's such a um great, great morning to have all of you with us.

It's great to um kind of move, uh, conclude our summer and and to celebrate uh a child and to uh and today really to bl we want to bless um our families, bless the next generation.

And so we come to the end of this series.

Um by the way, my name's Russ, and I'm one of the pastors here, and and so I want to just say welcome to all of you on behalf of our church.

Um we're we're finishing up a series today on the life of Moses.

And uh and so it's a great day.

Whether you've whether you've this is the first Sunday you've been here for this series, it gives you something to kind of maybe look forward to uh if you wanted to go back and listen or or or catch up.

Uh but but we'll hopefully we'll also kind of really encapsulate the whole series as we finish it here.

Um I came across a story um uh in the 17th century there was a man known, a leader of France, Louis XIV, and he he kind of called himself the Sun King.

He he believed he was a deity.

And so he ruled France for 72 years, the longest reign of any monarch in European history.

His court was the most magnificent in Europe.

Um his legend is actually about his hair, how great and big his hair was.

His hair alone was so legendary that it practically deserved its own throne.

And so even in death, Louis wanted to remind people of how great he was.

He believed he was a deity.

He actually was a god and and that he was divine in nature, and that's how he led.

But he led uh cruelly, he led uh in a in a dictatorial way, he he led as uh in a in a dark way.

And so uh it but even in his death, Louis planned ahead to remind people of how great his he was in his own right.

He planned his own funeral at Notre Dame's Cathedral.

He ordered the entire cathedral uh to be completely dark except for one single candle burning above his golden coffin.

Now, what do you think that was a symbol of?

That he was the light.

He was the light, that this he was the center of the universe.

He called himself the sun king.

Everything revolved around him.

But before the chaplain spoke, before the priest spoke, the priest reached up and he snuffed out that candle.

And he let out a declaration.

Only God is great.

Only God is great.

And those words thundered through the crowd.

And it was a reminder: no matter how powerful, how wealthy, or how impressive you can become in your own human greatness, it's only God's greatness that endures forever.

And so we live in a world, church, listen to me.

We live in a world that's obsessed with leaving a legacy.

And legacy is not a bad thing, legacy is a good thing, but legacy in itself can become an idol in a sort of way.

And so Louis had become uh he had become obsessed with his greatness.

And so the great bishop wanted to make sure that the people knew after he'd stopped breathing, it was only about God.

And so the question is just what people will say about us, is whether our lives will point in a direction that points to our Creator, that points to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

And I think of King Louis determined that even in death that he wanted to be remembered for his greatness, but yet before his body was ever laid in the ground, before the candle above his coffin finished flickering, his so-called greatness was already fading.

And so now most of us would never dare call ourselves great out loud.

But but we buy into what the culture imposes upon us.

And here's what I do know almost every person that I know wants their life to count.

I don't think we we all wake up, or that any of us wake up intentionally thinking, I want to just waste my life.

But you can look back, man, over the past 30 years, where have I invested?

And what is the fruit of that investment?

I think about that myself, with parenting and marriage and ministry, and not even being a pastor, but just being somebody that really does love Jesus and wants to live it out.

I know I'm not gonna I'm not gonna be perfect, but but I want to depend on Christ appropriately, singularly.

Here's what we learn in this series as we come to this conclusion is this, that only God is great.

Only God is great, and a faithful life leaves a forever legacy.

A faithful life leaves a forever legacy.

So if if if you weren't haven't been here for this series, let's just do a let's do a quick run through and uh of kind of the high points of the story in the life of Moses.

He's one of the most prominent figures in the whole Bible.

He is an Old Testament picture and representation and symbol of Jesus himself.

And and Jesus would come and bring a new covenant.

Moses brought the original covenant.

Um so there's there's so much more that we could have said and taught on the life of Moses, as we've we've taught this series at least twice, maybe three times in the life of our church.

But but here's the synopsis.

He's born into slavery, he's hidden as a baby, he's raised in Pharaoh or the emperor's palace.

He murdered an Egyptian man.

He spent 40 years in the wilderness thinking his story was over, but this is really where his story was beginning.

God appears to him in the form of a burning bush.

Then God sends Moses to rescue the Hebrew people out of Egypt and out of slavery.

God uses Moses to send 10 plagues upon the nation of Egypt.

He brings the law down Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments, he brings the law that God gave in its purest form.

And then he led the nation in this wandering journey, uh, leading for 40 years, leading a stubborn people.

And so as our story begins, um our story begins this morning as Moses has already led the nation to the edge of the promised land.

Moses stands upon the precipice of uh of what God has called him to do, carrying out this faithful covenant that God gave him.

But as we saw last week, Moses is not going to be able to actually step into the promised land himself.

That's hard for me to come to grips with.

As I look at it from my perspective, it had to be tough for Moses, but he had disobeyed, and sin brings consequences, the wrong thing leads you down a path, and there are consequences to every decision that you make on that path.

And so Moses didn't obey God, and so as Moses is looking out from Mount Nebo across the Dead Sea to the Judean wilderness of the promised land, here's what Moses had to focus on because he knew he's not gonna step into it.

He had to, he, he, he, he saw the promise, even if he didn't step into it.

As Moses looks over the promised land, he sees the promise.

He knows that God is gonna fulfill his promises, even though he personally knows he's not going to step into it.

Now, what does that mean for us?

So let's read Deuteronomy 34, which is which is the next chapter over.

And Deuteronomy is a word that literally means the law, again, to give the law, again, chapter 34, verses 1 through 4.

Then Moses went up to Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak, which is across from Jericho.

And the Lord showed him the whole land from Gilead as far as Dan, all the land of Nephtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah extending to the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev, the Jordan Valley, with Jericho, the city of palms, as far as Zoar.

And then the Lord said to Moses, this is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when he said, when I said, I will give you, I will give it to your descendants.

I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter the land.

Gut punch.

Gut punch.

Man.

Moses has to come to grips with this.

And you catch that?

Moses has led the people this far, and it says he will not enter the land.

Last week we talked about the consequences and what led to that.

But pretty much in a moment of frustration and exhaustion, Moses doesn't respond with the character that God had been teaching him to respond with.

He responds out of anger and a moment of rage and he disobeys.

Instead of speaking to the rock, he strikes the rock twice.

God still brings water.

There's still the fulfillment of God's promise.

But there are consequences that we as individuals, that we as families, that we as uh as a church or community, there's always consequences for our actions.

And so imagine standing on this precipice.

I just I came across this in some of the study.

Uh imagine for a moment that you are Moses and you climb to the mountain slowly.

Your knees ache with every step.

He's not a young man at this point.

Your breath comes harder than it used to.

Your hair, once dark, is streaked with white.

Your hands are rough, callous from years of leading stubborn people through a scorching wilderness.

The wind whips around you at the summit, carrying with it the scent of the Jordan River, the distant sound of life in the valleys below.

And suddenly God opens your eyes, and stretching out before you is a land more beautiful than you ever dared to dream.

Rolling hills and green, vineyards heavy with grapes and the fruit of the land, the cities gleaming in the sun, rivers winding through the valleys like silver, uh like silver thread.

You can almost hear laughter echoing in villages.

You can almost taste the milk and the honey that was promised so long ago.

And for a moment your heart surges with hope, but then God speaks.

This is what Moses hears from his father, from his creator.

This is the land that I promised.

I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.

It's a crushing reality.

After all the desert dust, all the battles, all the tears, you'll not be able to set foot in the land that you've been pointing others to and talking about for 40 years of your life.

Part of you wants to protest, oh, please, God, I've given everything.

But but you stand there and your eyes fill with tears, not just sorrow, but of something deeper.

Peace.

Frustration and peace at the same time?

Sure.

I mean, do you live in this world?

How can we cope unless there is something outside of ourselves that can provide peace?

That can provide.

And so Moses, in the midst of frustration, he I think his heart is warmed because.

Why?

Because he is not just follow the Creator, he knows the Creator.

He's got a relationship.

Somehow he knew that his life had not been wasted.

He had seen miracles that nobody else would see.

He's spoken with God face to face, and he's led an entire nation out of slavery, and although your feet may never touch that soil, your faith has brought a whole generation to its edge.

That's the comforting words that I believe that God probably put in the heart of Moses to know that he, although he disobeyed, although there are consequences, there is a relationship, and God will never forsake those that he has reached out to save, that he has led.

And so I think Moses realized back, quoting, your story was never just about your journey.

It was about God and his people.

It wasn't about your name, but his name.

And so you close your eyes and you rest in the knowledge that God's promises will go on, even if you cannot.

And that's that's sometimes there is there is peace and deep joy and frustration that can exist at the same time.

It's how the Lord can carry us through difficulty, through trials, through, through the pain and loss of a loved one, through a difficult experience yourself.

I mean, we we we we're all guilty of believing and and and putting the American dream sometimes on equal uh setting and equal footing with the promises of God, but can I just encourage you?

I can love America, but I can tell you it is not my God.

I love the freedom that we have, but that's not my God.

Jesus is Lord.

Jesus is Lord over the bad, over the good, over everything.

He is Lord.

And I think Moses knew, I, you know, hey, this is a tough pill to swallow, but my life is about God's relationship with me, not just about a destination.

And we believe, you know, deep down we we want we were tempted by this uh work ethic.

American, just pay your dues, follow the rules.

You know, we deserve to pay off.

We have this sense of entitlement, and the danger is that that that's what we hand to the next generation over and above the fact that Jesus is Lord.

And so sometimes God allows us to be in on fulfillment of his promises.

Sometimes we can do some of the work, but somebody else gets to see the fruit.

And that's just reality.

I may not like it, but man, God is good anyway.

He is a good father.

If he just, if he, if all he does is provide for my salvation, that is worthy of praise and honor.

See, a faithful life doesn't end when we die, it keeps speaking through the people that we've poured into while we were here.

Can I say that again?

A faithful life doesn't end when we die, it keeps speaking through the people we've poured into.

As I was taught that by pastors that invested in me, that your greatest investment in the kingdom of God may not be something you do, it may be somebody you raise.

Or somebody you invest in.

And so Moses' life continued.

And if you're a note taker, here's what we see.

Moses' greatness wasn't in his gains, but in the in the generations he grew.

Moses' greatness wasn't it in his gains, but it was in the generations he grew.

Back at Deuteronomy 34, verses 5 through 9.

Deuteronomy 34:5–9

So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, just as the Lord had said.

The Lord buried him in a valley near Beth Peor in Moab, but to this day no one knows it the exact place.

Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever.

The people of Israel mourned for Moses on the plains of Moab for thirty days until the customary period of mourning was over.

Now Joshua, son of Nun, was the f was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him, so the people of Israel obeyed him, doing just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Now read, read, let's read verse 9 one more time.

You know, and not out loud, but let me read it again.

But I want you to focus.

I want to stop for a second.

Sometimes my attention's fan can can cause me to drift a little bit about this point, maybe in a sermon.

So let's all stop for a second and let's be focused.

Now, Joshua, the son of Noah, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him.

So the people of Israel obeyed him, doing just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

This was God's succession plan for his leadership.

This was God's plan for the next generation to be led.

And so we see and don't have time to go back and look, but the story of the spies, and you had two spies that brought back positive reports, Caleb and Joshua.

But Joshua is the understudy.

He is the one who's come alongside Moses and walked with him.

Isn't it shocking how quickly life moves on?

After, I mean, think of some of the significant moments in your life, good and bad.

And you look back, and man, I can't believe how long it's been since I lost my grandmother.

I can't believe how long it's been since my father passed away.

I can't believe how long it's been since my brother.

Eddie passed away.

1992.

All the way to May 16th, losing my mom.

It seems so far long ago.

But at the same time, it seems like it was yesterday.

And so the point being is this we don't know exactly how God's going to lead us every day of our life, but I know who holds my life in his hands.

And although I may not know how to predict every day in the future, I know where my rest will come from.

Where my hope is anchored.

Joshua 1, verses 1 and 2.

Joshua 1:1

It says, after the death of Moses, the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant.

He said, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them.

Man, what a sobering word.

Moses, my servant, is dead.

Therefore.

Therefore, there's always got to be an after the therefore.

Because therefore, he's talking about what's already been said.

Looking back and looking forward.

And this, the therefore, is God is showing Joshua, has shown Joshua his faithfulness.

He's shown Moses his faithfulness.

Moses has exhibited, for the most of his life, he's exhibited godly leadership in bringing God's people to this point.

After Joshua's time, we read in Judges 2.10, so Joshua leads the people of God into the promised land.

Joshua leads them to see the promises fulfilled, to see the promised land inhabited, to see victory over other nation states, over giants and over cities and over kingdoms.

You look at the whole history of Israel, and you look at the dynasties of David and Solomon, all the way to present day, the role that Israel plays is so significant.

After Joshua's time, we read in Judges 2.10, this is how quick things can change from one generation to the next.

It says, after that, after Joshua's time as a leader, after that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors.

Another generation grew up who neither knew the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.

Now that is heartbreaking.

That is heartbreaking.

Samuel loved God, but his sons didn't take the mantle of service and pick it up.

They did not walk in his ways.

David was a man after God's own heart.

And he saw the division of his children torn apart by sin and rebellion.

And some of that his own.

Outside the Bible, we're aware of churches that once flourished but now have died.

And that is almost a daily conversation that I hear about or talk about is churches.

And listen, you could all listen, you know churches that at one time existed but no longer exist.

I mean, it doesn't take long, it can happen so quickly for God to have his hand on one generation but the next generation drifts away.

Those families had followed in the previous generation, and they'd been involved in ministry and mission.

They'd been involved in their communities, and then at some point, somehow, they became isolated.

And their people begin to diminish and die off or move away, and nobody else comes and is reached.

And the church comes to a point where it doesn't exist.

Moses invested in Joshua for years.

Joshua was there in the beginning.

The Red Sea.

Joshua went up with Moses on Mount Sinai.

Moses brought Joshua to the tent of meeting to experience God's presence firsthand.

Moses, he let Joshua witness moments that nobody else could be a part of.

And what we see in this, we see the early stages of what God desires for discipleship.

And it's for those of us in one generation to make sure the next generation gets to hear the gospel.

We build, we invest.

That's what legacy really is.

It's not about us.

It's not about a particular church.

It is about the name of Jesus.

That is the legacy.

That is the legacy of the last.

I can leave my legacy up to the Lord as long as I make it about Jesus first.

And I know I love Bob Buford, great writer, leader, that has spoken in a generation of leaders, and he writes and he says, he says, My fruit grows on other people's trees.

And I love that.

In a day and age where it's so easy for even religious leaders to make it about them.

You have a leader like this that says, hey, my fruit is about the kingdom.

My fruit is about Jesus.

My fruit is about others.

And so listen to me, parents, our legacy is really about our family.

It's about us that have responsibility to raise up warriors for Jesus, that become heirs in the hands of our Creator.

Teachers, listen, this is one reason we we are so convicted and feel so it's so important to support our schools, to support our school system, to support our educators, to support our principals, to support our faculty members, our educators, support staff, to support them, to support every teacher, every program, every coach.

I look around the room and and and and and and and I've had coaches that have invested in me and said, you know what, Russ?

I mean, let's do the math.

How much time do you have with your kids versus how much time teachers and coaches or other leaders of clubs and activities have with your kids?

Hey, that's that's a good investment, isn't it?

To support.

Man, we've got teachers and faculty on the front lines, and every which way they turn, there's challenges where the enemy wants to sneak in and disrupt.

And I can tell you this, there's a battle.

There's a battle over our kids, there's a battle over their hearts, and there's a battle over their minds.

And one of my friends is Pastor Jason Brett, he says this he says, whoever wants the next generation the most is going to get them.

And whoever is willing to step out and do the work, the hard work of going after them, whatever church is willing to set the stage, to provide an opportunity.

And this is why, this is why God has led us down this path.

And here's a just a brief infomercial for our Four Generation campaign.

It matters.

Why does it matter?

Because we're talking about the advancement of the kingdom forward, making sure that as we move forward in history, that we're bringing our children and their children and their children with us.

That's why we would invest millions of dollars.

We believe that God has called us to be here, to make space, to provide ministries, to create communities, to love our own community, where children can grow up, not just getting an education, not just being fed.

Those are responsibilities we have, but also to know Jesus, where our students, our middle school and high school students, have purpose and identity because they've been invested in.

Their families are strengthened.

And as future leaders, they are equipped and sent out for more ministry and to invest in the next generation.

And so what we've done is we we we've wanted to facilitate the growth that is already coming to this community and facilitate an opportunity to leverage that growth to advance the gospel.

And that you know what?

That deserves more than just one amen.

Come on, church.

And so Moses sacrificed so that Joshua and the younger generations could experience the promises of God.

Moses endured the hardship so the next generation could see heaven on earth.

And so the question is: will we follow Moses' example?

Moses was remembered not just for what he did, but for who he knew.

Just think about that for a second.

His peace and joy, I believe, as he looked over at this promised land that he knew he wouldn't step into, was he's like, Well, I've had the benefit of walking with the Father as he sets the stage for his next miracle.

That's a blessing.

The blessing of God is to know Jesus.

Moses' life is marked by intimacy with the Lord.

And if you read through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, you'll see over 238 times where it says, the Lord spoke to Moses.

Man, I want that.

I want it to be said somewhere at some point where somebody remembers.

Maybe not a name or a title, but just remembers a life or a parent that I had just a conviction about making about Jesus and that the Lord spoke to me because I loved him.

Man, what did we have that said?

It says 238 times the Lord spoke to Moses.

Out of nearly 500 times that phrase is used in the Old Testament, almost half of them are about Moses.

And so that I believe that's a legacy.

So how do we close this series?

How do we close this morning?

Um we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna pray.

And we're gonna pray this morning.

Really, it's it's it's like a child dedication on steroids.

We're gonna we just I want to bless, I want to bless our children this morning.

I want to bless our educators this morning.

I want to bless those that are that have any involvement in the school system.

And so I know most of our kids are over in Kids Grove, but if you if you have children that um that are in our community, and that's gonna that that could be local schools, public schools, private schools, families that home educate, um, would you would you stand up if you've got children that fall in that category?

You've got children that have just graduated into professional life or college, that they're going, some some of your kids are going off to college.

Yeah, if you've got kids, or if you are a faculty member or an educator, would you also stand?

And I want you to look around the room for those of us that aren't standing.

What we're gonna do is we're gonna we're gonna do what Moses did.

We're gonna bless, just as he blessed Joshua and God's people for their next steps.

We want to bless you and we want to pray for you.

We want God's hands to be on your life and in your children's life, and we want God to bless you, whether you are a parent or you are a teacher or you are somehow uh on staff in any way in a school.

If you home educate, we want to bless you.

We want our kids and our children to be blessed and our families to be blessed.

And you know what?

When we when people look, when people see the fruit of this blessing, they'll say, God is great.

Jesus is Lord.

Jesus is worthy of our praise.

Jesus is worthy.

There's something happening.

Revival is taking place.

You got to look beyond the headlines.

You got to listen to what God is doing through stories in churches around the world.

There's a quiet revival, experts call it.

Don't get caught up in everything the headlines say.

There's something deeper going on, and God is at work.

And he will accomplish his will.

So can we can we extend our hands?

Now let me ask you to do this.

If you're not standing, but if you if you if you felt led, if you're standing as well, if you're not standing, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to pray for someone who is standing, and if they're comfortable, I hope they're comfortable.

I want you to just put your hand on a shoulder, or you gotta get closer.

Put your hand on their back, their shoulder.

Hey, listen, don't just do this without thinking about it.

Look around the room and go pray for somebody that the Holy Spirit moves you to pray for.

You may not know their name, you may not have a relationship with them.

Is that weird?

Maybe a little bit, but I'm willing to take a little risk to see what God can do.

Father, God, as we sing this song, Lord, it is an opportunity for us to pray for your blessing, for the blessing of our Creator, for the blessing of our Savior.

God, we desperately want to see the next generation raised up as warriors for Jesus.

We want to see the next generation as arrows in the hands of our God.

We want to see the next generation.

We want their declaration to be Jesus is Lord.

Jesus is Lord.

And Lord, even through the tough experiences of life, the good experiences, the celebrations of life, there is peace and frustration that can exist together because we live in a dark world, but we know that there is a God who is the God that brings light.

And he brings it through his son Jesus.

And those of us that have declared Jesus as Lord, that have repented and believed, we've got this relationship with our Heavenly Father that brings us peace and joy even in the midst of hardship and frustration.

Some of you know, you know this personally.

And so, Father, we bless.

We bless children, we bless families, we bless teachers, educators, administrators.

We pray that you would bless every staff member, support staff, every person who provides a meal for a student, every person who drives and transports kids, Lord, we pray over all of them.

We pray for your blessing.

We pray for generational, curse-breaking, sin-defeating grace.

We pray for your hand to be extended upon us, God, through your power and your grace and your goodness.

It's in Jesus' name.

We pray.

Listen, as we as our as our team leads us, you feel led to go pray for somebody, whether you're seated or standing, it doesn't matter.

You follow God's leadership.