Living From The Center
I. We Are Not the Destination — We Are a Link
Exodus 3:15 – Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’”
• We inherited truth from those before us.
Jude 1:3 – Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was ONCE FOR ALL DELIVERED to the saints.
• We steward it faithfully in our time.
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 – 1Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
• We must pass it to those after us better than when we found it.
1 Corinthians 11:1 – Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.
II. What We Do Today Creates Ripples Beyond Us
Psalm 105:7-8 – 7He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. 8He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, FOR A THOUSAND GENERATIONS.
• Our obedience shapes Future Generations.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 – 6“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
• Our faithfulness alters the Spiritual Trajectory.
Joshua 1:7 – Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
• What we plant may Outlive Us significantly.
Hebrews 11:13 – These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Faithfulness is not measured by what you finish, but by what you advance.
III. If we only live for Our Lifetime, we miss Our Assignment
Psalm 71:17-18 – 17O God, You have taught me from my youth; and to this day I declare Your wondrous works. 18Now also, when I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not forsake me, UNTIL I DECLARE YOUR STRENGTH TO THIS GENERATION, Your power TO EVERYONE WHO IS TO COME.
• Consumer Christianity asks, “What do I get?”
• Kingdom Christianity asks, “What do I pass on?”
• Faith must be Stewarded Deliberately.
Judges 2:10-11 – 10 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another GENERATION arose after them WHO DID NOT KNOW THE LORD NOR THE WORK WHICH HE HAD DONE FOR ISRAEL. 11Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals;
IV. Jesus Modeled Generational Thinking
John 17:17-20 – 17“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. 20I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.”
V. We are Responsible for the Seeds we sow, not the Final Chapter
Hebrews 11:36-40 – 36Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and
goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—38of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the
earth. 39And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
The Important Questions:
1. What Stops with Us?
2. What Begins with Us?
3. What Will We Carry Forward Faithfully?