A failure of no small measure: legacy-less life

As the saying says: "Kung anong puno, siya ring bunga"


What a person leaves behind is called:
4 Kinds: 

1. Legacy - "sasadyain" to be left behind. Coming from the word [Legate].
2. Heritage - sum total of your life you have left behind.
3. Bequest - whoever will benefit has been identified.
4. Patrimony -  An endowment or estate belonging to an institution, especially a church.

Every believer is expected to leave behind a spiritual legacy without which the one who passed away is viewed as a failure and the one left behind will more likely be a failure also. [until God intervenes]

A generation that did not leave a legacy will lead means the failure of the succeeding generation which is attributed to this legacy-less generation.

The passage comes from: 

Judges 2:1-23

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Judges 2

Israel Rebuked

 ¹ Now the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, ² and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not ^[a]obeyed Me; what is this you have done? ³ Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will ^[b]become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’” ⁴ When the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵ So they named that place ^[c]Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the LORD.

Joshua Dies

 ⁶ When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. ⁷ The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who^[d]survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel. ⁸ Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred and ten. ⁹ And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰ All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.

Israel Serves Baals

 ¹¹ Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and ^[e]served the Baals, ¹² and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger. ¹³ So they forsook the LORD andserved Baal and the Ashtaroth. ¹⁴ The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. ¹⁵ Wherever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken and as the LORD had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.

 ¹⁶ Then the LORD raised up judges ^[f]who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. ¹⁷ Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do as their fathers. ¹⁸ When the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. ¹⁹ But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. ²⁰ So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, ²¹ I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, ²² in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk in it as their fathers ^[g]did, or not.” ²³ So the LORD allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

Given are the three kinds of generation from the past lessons:
First Generation: The Exodus Generation
Second Generation: The crossing of the Joshua Generation AKA as the generation of conquerors.
Third Generation: The suffering and plundered generation - the generation mentioned in Judges 2:10


What were the failures of the legacy-less generation:

1. The failure of the parents in their lack of total dependence of God (Bochim - weeping situation). 
   - They converted their Gilgal (God's will) to Bochim (A place of weeping)
   - This could be synonymous to managing our lives on our own.
   - Parents behavior affect children.
2. The failure to transmit their faith to their children.
   - The next generation were not taught the right worship.
   - God was no longer part of their daily practice.
3. Failure to maintain a shepherd guarded community
   - A time when judges were appointed after Joshua's death (who was their spiritual shepherd)
   The next generation did not know what the Lord had done.
   - there was no more shepherding
   - in our time, our generation do not want pastors but are more willing to watch a preaching. They do not want to be led.
   
   This is WRONG and will only lead to suffering!

One thing Pastor Doy said was children should not be pulled to church by their parents it is a voluntary attitude for the youth to bring themselves to church and be knowledgeable of the legacy that our early Christians had left. Parents must not have partial dependence on God, it is essential that to influence their young to be completely dependent with God they should show their devotion to their spiritual community and definitely their complete and undivided dependence to God.

Now the question is: What is the legacy that you will leave behind for children?

Be blessed!

Koinonia

Acts 2:42

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁴² They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.


My first blog entry of the series of preachings from the Sunday services. I'd love to share my thoughts and my understandings while at the same time having people to react and correct me. This acts also as a record of all my learnings a journal if you will. :)


Last Sunday Pastor Doy preached on a topic that I feel is being strongly promoted in the church (which is Bread from Heaven Christian Fellowship) and this was the importance of Koinonia and one that has to be avoided was the 2nd generation syndrome which meant the loss of koinonia among the 2nd generation of worshipers and leaders. As defined it was this event in history of the Christian church where the next generation of Christians were bringing other ideas into the church that they gain from the world  that brought negative effects and gave them a different perspective altogether and because of this they lose this important part of Christian living which is having constant fellowship with your families or with your brothers and sisters in faith which in effect loses connection with the church and not being able to serve faithfully. 


This preaching is taken from 1 John and it was emphasized that churches nowadays neglect the idea that 1st generation worshipers and leaders forget to pass down their experience with God that the 2nd generation may also experience that same grace; be able to transmit that same level of faith that the church does not fall apart and parts of the congregation strays away. It is then essential that we ask ourselves 3 questions to check ourselves if we really are acquiring the 2nd generation syndrome.


1. What is it that you are not doing that is increasing the power and presence of sin in your life?


As a Christian or maybe as a Sunday goer what have you been doing consistently that is keeping you apart from God. What is it that you are not doing or what is it that you neglect that instead of doing the Lord's work or instructions you are stuck with all this earthly obligations and activities. We all know they perish and will mean nothing in the end why do we insist to live a life of complacency and compromise that the power and presence of sin is dominating you in every aspect.  


The answer is found in 1 John 1:5-7 saying that:
 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

God Is Light

 ⁵ This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; ⁷ but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.


In my notes it says: Our sins have already been forgiven but through fellowship we decrease the power of sin.
Logically the more time we spend with our counselors and peers from church through Bible studies or even a simple dinner or just hanging out we put ourselves in a better place. Not only do we avoid evil but we enrich ourselves with God's Word and we enjoy more of God's blessings and presence when we are with the right people. The power of fellowship and communion is so important that if we continue as individuals we might just stray away and join wrong company.


2. What is it that you love that reduces the love of God the Father in you? 


So what is it that's occupying you more now than God. What's keeping you from loving God that you spend more time in this object or activity?


Well an answer for this has to be 1 John 2:15 which states: 
¹⁵ Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.


Again this is related to what mentioned awhile ago about how this earth is passing away. Why do we set our eyes on the world that is temporary and is only the creation when we can look up to what is eternal who is the Creator of all things. All material things and all earthly thing for that matter will pass away and will have no significance to what you really are destined for. To be consumed by greed, the pride of life, and all the lust of the flesh is to live without purpose.  What we have now we can not take in the after life. At the same time we cannot say that because life is short we make the most out of this world and forget that we have a higher being to serve. It is to say we love this world more than the Father and if this culture is brought to the church then we lose our touch with God. We indulge on something we only are supposed to appreciate and be thankful for and forget that we are to soak ourselves with God.


3. What are the specific steps that I should take to purify myself with God?


So what steps are necessary to rid yourself of all this evil and neglect?


The verse is taken from 1 John 3:1-4 which say: 

Children of God Love One Another

 ¹ See ^[a]how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ² Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when Heappears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. ³ And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. ⁴ Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.


In my notes its says:
a. Have gratitude for the fact that God made me His own
b. Accept that sometimes my friends will not take me as their own
c. Purify myself through obedience with the specific will of God


I think what Pastor Doy gave is pretty self explanatory. To thank God that we(all those who have accepted Him as Lord and Savior) are called His children. That when He comes we will look like Him and that we have represented Him well here on earth. And because of this people will reject us, our own friends that do not understand us will reject us just the same as Jesus was put to shame and rejected when He was here on earth. We need to understand that we are different and we are citizens of heaven that we live a different lifestyle and we do not live a life of compromise. Meaning we are obedient to God's will. We will stand to follow God's will no matter how this world will test us and through this we are purified and we bring a pleasant aroma towards heaven.


As part of the youth/young adults and the 2nd generation as part of a Joshua Generation koinonia will be essential in keeping this church together. We are able to increase in number and the congregation gets to grow in harmony. What a sight it would be that friends and families with the church leaders maintain fellowship and studying the Word as one. Breaking bread, comforting one another and uplifting those in need, singing songs of worship are examples of fellowship that we can do. It would be great that the church would be consistent with this practice that in the future it may also be passed on to the next generation of worshipers and leaders.