Word Keeper

So, this is really late, and I’m sorry about that. – I’ll post the Wednesday Worship tomorrow, Thursday.

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Legacy

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Audio

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How will you be remembered? What will your obituary say? Most people don’t get to read their obituary, but Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, had the chance to read what people wrote about him when they thought he was dead. It wasn’t very nice. They called him “the merchant of death.” Nobel did not like what he read and set out to change his legacy. How did he intend to do this? By founding the Nobel Peace Prizes according to his will. Now, most people were probably unaware that the man that the Nobel Peace Prizes are after created dynamite, and that is because he set out to change his legacy.

The past three weeks, we looked at principles from the end of Jesus’ life. The first was to Live Completely. The second was to Love Completely. The third was to Learn Humbly. And now we look at the fourth, to Leave Boldly.

What can you do to leave a legacy on Earth and gain a reward in Heaven? Learn from the example of Jesus during His last year on Earth (Luke 9-18). The key verse is Luke 9:51. …

Jesus started His ministry at age 30 and we think it lasted just three years because of the Passover feasts mentioned by John. The first year was the early Judean ministry, and a year of obscurity where He went into the desert for forty days and then was preaching but He hadn’t yet gathered His disciples. The second year was His great Galilean ministry, where He called His disciples to follow Him and spoke to large crowds and performed many miracles. The third, Jesus know His time is coming when He will crucified. So what does Jesus do? He “resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). … Jesus knew He was going to die in Jerusalem, but He was determined. He did not head straight towards Jerusalem; He took an indirect path to Jerusalem, but was always getting closer to it. He’s zoning in on Jerusalem. … So, what does Jesus do?

1. Invest your life in people.
   1. Make time for growing Christians (Luke 9:10, 18, 28). … In the last year of His ministry, Jesus turned His attention to His disciples; instead of going around, constantly speaking to large groups, He spent more time with His disciples. … When you invest time in growing Christians, you invest in eternity.
   2. Make time for lost people (Luke 15:1-7). … Jesus was criticized by the Pharisees for spending time with tax collectors and sinners. … Spending time with lost people can help bring them to Christ, which should be a priority in our lives. One of the most important things you can ever do is help bring someone to Christ. It’s another investment in eternity.
   3. Make time for Children (Luke 18:15-16). … Quite frankly, today’s children are the future. Spending time with children, guiding them through life, teaching them morals, and just being a good example for them is how we can influence the future of the world. … An investment in the future and in eternity.
   4. Make time for hurting people (Luke 18:35-42). … Jesus’ priority was the spiritual needs of people, but He still had time to help those who were physically challenged.
2. Assign spiritual things a higher priority than physical things (Luke 10:38-42). … Mary listened to Jesus while Martha was worried about everything else. Martha got upset, but Jesus explained that listening to Him was/is more important than all the little things. … How many days did you not check FaceBook this month? Now, how many days did you not read your Bible this month? Yeah, if you’re like me, there’s a big difference between those two numbers. For those of you who don’t do FaceBook, but do sports, how many games of your favorite team (or your team, if you play a sport) have you missed? How many weeks of church have you missed? … When you look at your calendar, your schedule, are you assigning a higher priority to the spiritual or the physical? Are you leaving a legacy that will last?
3. Exchange material resources for spiritual wealth (Luke 16:1-11). … Jesus tells a strange parable. It’s the story of a dishonest man, and Jesus commends him, not for his dishonesty, but for his shrewdness. He used that under his care to gain an advantage for himself. … Jesus says we need to have a pure shrewdness. We should exchange the wealth we gather on Earth to gain rewards in Heaven. … It’s like when you get ready to go to another country and you exchange money of your currency at the airport for money of the currency of wherever you are going. You can’t use the foreign currency where you are now, but you have it for when you get to your destination. … You can’t take worldly wealth with you too Heaven, but you can exchange it for Heavenly rewards by investing in the Kingdom. Many of us don’t have anything that our great-grandparents passed on. So all this stuff we work so hard to obtain on Earth, probably won’t last three generations beyond us. It’s going to be somebody else’s or it’s going to be gone. … If you’re going to lose it all, why not just invest in the Kingdom and receive Heavenly reward in exchange? Leave a legacy on Earth and gain rewards in Heaven by investing in the Kingdom of God.

“One Solitary Life” is an awesome illustration that depicts the life of Jesus and the impact He has had on the entire world.

Jason One Month to Live, religion, Series, Sunday Sermon