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Tag: legacy

Wikileaks has your files

microphones

Dear Friends,

I have been pondering something the last few days. What if, to your horror, you discovered someone had successfully recorded everything you said in the past week and, to make matters worse, those audio files were now in the hands of Wikileaks? Ten years from now would you be able to run for political office without fear of the recordings being played on the evening news? What if you were going through a divorce? Would you be terrified your spouse’s lawyer would find out about their existence? What if an employee was suing you, or a co-worker, or neighbor? Would you hope these files were deemed inadmissible to the court? What if you were dead and your children wanted to find something that would remind them of the person you were? Would you want them to listen to these files?

If the thought of anyone having a recording of the words said in the week strikes cataclysmic terror to your soul, why? What do you need to change this week about the things you think about and say so you never have to worry about anyone listening to the files?

Paul says in Ephesians 4:29, ” Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Would our talk be consistent with the sage advice of Paul? Are we building people up or tearing them down? Decades from now will our words be a solid foundation on which we have built our life or will it be a foundation of clay that crumbles underneath us?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Moving from Performance to Legacy

Performance, always 100%

We are a performance-driven society. I don’t know of anyone who would argue against that statement. Our high levels of performance are often the product of an inner desire for significance. In short, a legacy. The quest for a legacy is a quest for our lives to have significance and influence long after our deaths. So we pour ourselves into achieving high levels of performance.

Performance alone will not create a legacy. Aaron Hernandez, former tight end of the New England Patriots, had performance. But he lacked in character and relationships. He will spend the rest of his life in prison. Bernie Madoff had performance. But he cheated people of their money and drew his family into his schemes. His son committed suicide and he will spend his life in prison.

No matter who skilled we are, no matter how big of kingdom we build, it will all blow away in the winds of time unless we have P, C, and R. Specifically, Performance x Character x Relationships = Legacy

A legacy is formed when we win in our performance, character and relationships.

Pastor Stephen

We All Need Legacy Moments

Stones in a PileWe all need legacy moments in our lives.

Legacy moments are markers of God’s ongoing faithfulness in the past and promises of continued faithfulness in the future.

In Joshua 4 we read of a legacy moment. For forty years the people of Israel have wandered in the desert, because of their disobedience. The time has finally come for them to break camp and enter the Promised Land. The priests hoist the ark and step into the flood waters of the Jordan River. Before them the waters recede and they step into the middle of the river, on dry ground. Quickly the people cross the river and for the first time their feet touch the soils of the Promised Land. Before the waters return to the flow one more act remains. A legacy moment. Twelve men walk to the middle of the river and pick up twelve large stones. These are brought to camp and set as a maker of remembrance.

“In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.” (Joshua 4:21-24, NIV)

These stones are a reminder of the amazing thing God did the past when they crossed the Jordan River. They are also a reminder that it was not a single act, but it was one act in the line of God’s continuous faithfulness to his people when he led them across the Red Sea. They are a promise for the future. Whatever rivers are barriers might stand in the way of God’s promises they will be moved like the waters of the Red Sea and Jordan River.

We all need legacy moments, reminders of God’s ongoing faithfulness in the past and promises of his continuous faithfulness in the future. We need them because we quickly forget what God has done. These markers stand as a barrier to us when we are tempted to turn around and go back to our old way of life. It is not easy to walk past a legacy marker. They demand we turn back around and continue to press forward in the race that is set before us.

What are your legacy moments? Do you have markers of remembrance?

Pastor Stephen

When generations clash

generations

When generations clash the younger one always wins . . . eventually. It is a simple fact of life and death. Now matter how great the fight put up by the older generation, the younger will always outlive it. So those of us who come before are left with a choice. We can choose to build systems and structures for ourselves or those for the generations that follow. We get to choose whether we will build legacies that must be torn down by the generations that follow us or legacies which are a solid foundation on which they can build.

It’s our choice. What choice are we going to make?

Colonel Dewey’s Palace

Charlie Litchfield/IPTWednesday, March 21, 2012

 

Dear Friends,

In 1903 the Dewey Palace Hotel opened in Nampa, Idaho. Built by the developer and silver mining baron William H. Dewey it was a marvel of elegance more likely found in the big cities of the east than a railroad town of the old west. The structure dominated the skyline of Nampa until 1963 when it was torn down because no one wanted to spend the money necessary to renovate it. The building was built for comfort and beauty but not longevity and this became its demise.

In Joshua chapter 1, God is giving Joshua his charge as he takes leadership of the people of Israel. The final charge to Joshua is to “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (vs. 9). Joshua must lead this people with courage and strength because there will be many enemies, inside and out, who will oppose what lays ahead. Time and time again the people will oppose the changes he is making and instead suggest they should return to the familiar good old days. So Joshua must not be discouraged because the task before him will take longer and be more difficult than he could ever imagine. In fact, the people of Israel would never fully possess the promise land in Joshua’s lifetime.

Leaders, like all people, want quick results. We want people who will follow our vision with enthusiasm. So to get them to follow we are tempted to build grand structures which promote our glory and satisfy the longing for comfort of the people in front of us. All the while we are building a legacy which will be torn down by the next generation who has no desire to invest in our past glory.

Many years ago while I was in college I was riding back to the hotel from District Conference with a legend of faith in the Free Methodist Conference of which I was a part of at the time. His name is Cliff. This man, already well along in his years, told me of a decision he made when he was my age and was trying to change the church but was experiencing opposition from the old guard. He made a promise to himself that when he was the old man he would use his power not to block the changes the next generation was going to inevitably make but would instead use his influence to support what they were doing, even if it made him uncomfortable or he didn’t completely agree with it.

Every generation will change and press against the systems and structures built by the previous. It’s always been this way. We who are part of the generation building the structures today have a choice we get to make. We can choose to build legacy which must be torn down by the next generation or we can choose to build foundations on which the next generation will build upon. We can choose to be a William or a Cliff.

What are you building?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen


Photo Source:  http://www.idahopress.com/app/artwork/beforeafter/46_b_DeweyPalaceHotelNew2.jpg

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