Imparting a Legacy
A MESSAGE BY JOHN MORGAN
A legacy is not just something we leave for people, but something we leave in people.
1 Kings 2:1-16
In 1 Kings 2, God takes Elijah up to heaven, and Elijah leaves Elisha his mantle, his spirit and his legacy. To get the full story, however, we need to look at the backstory. Without understanding someone or something’s back story, you will often times miss the full story.
You have to get the back story in order to get the full story.
1 Kings 19:9-10
Two significant mountains:
Mount Carmel – otherwise known as Garden Land, a symbol for fruitfulness, success, or the Mountain of ME
Mount Horeb – otherwise known as Mount Sinai, the Mountain of the Lord, and the Mountain of WE. Mount Horeb is the mountain where God gave his vision to Moses for the Israelites. This mountain is about greater significance, about legacy.
At first, Elijah is experiencing unbelievable success and fruitfulness, and it is in this time that Elijah believes his success is all about him. We get so caught up in what we believe to be true, that we miss what God is trying to tell us. We focus so much on what we do individually, that we miss the bigger picture of how God wants us to use our success for the greater good. God will instruct us to do things that we may not always understand, but He will lead us down the path of significance after we have found our success.
In God's economy, being significant is far greater than being successful.
Do you want Joshua success or Moses significance?
Most people say they want to be a Joshua because he's the one who led the Israelites into the Promise Land. In worldly terms, he was successful. In God's economy, however, significance is far greater than success. Significance means that our successes live beyond us.
God wants us to take the success he gives us and make it significant. Success is all about what happens to you, but He blesses us so we can be a blessing. He wants to create a brand new normal with you - to raise the bar. He wants you to leave a legacy. When you impart your knowledge and your success to others, then the person who takes up your mantle can go beyond what you even thought possible!
He blesses us so we can be a blessing.
Judges 2
Judges 2 shows us what happens when one generation fails to pass along the knowledge and work of God before they die: the legacy and work dies along with them. But God is always raising up a new generation and a new standard. Jesus said “Greater works will you do than these”, (John 14:12). We must take the miracles that He gives us and multiply them.
Was Jesus successful or significant?
When we view Jesus as simply successful, we take away his significance. Jesus wants us to exceed what He did on Earth, and to continue to do more with what He has given us.
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish.
Impart a legacy to your family, church and the world around you
The way we model church and its significance to our children is far more important than just going to church. Impart respect and honor for the church, and your family will do the same. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish.
Final thoughts
When Elijah goes up to heaven, his spirit comes onto Elisha. If the spirit that’s on you were to come onto someone else, would they be better for it? Your desire should be to leave others around you better than they were before. If we consume everything and take our success only for ourselves, we will be judged. God wants us to leave a legacy, and He wants us to create a new normal, so that the platform we create will grow to be bigger for the next generation to come.
PRAYER:
God I thank you for the people that you’ve placed in my life. I thank you for those that came before me and laid a foundation for me. I pray that you touch my life and that I am able to build upon that foundation. I pray that my life holds significance for your glory, and that the legacy that I build on Earth is for building your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name. Amen!