It's in the internal things, not the external. It's how can I place value on my family? What can I do?
So laughing together, having fun together. I remember we made a conscious decision for a season to have no television. What do you do with no TV? Well, every Friday night I'd cook fish and chips - couldn't afford to buy them, so I cooked them myself. We wrapped them all up, like you'd by them from town, so they'd look the same as anyone else; and we had an area in our lounge which was a big one with a bay window.
So every Friday night was family time, and there was acting. We'd act out Bible stories, and there were puppets, and all kinds of things like that.
It was part of building family experiences together. You don't need a lot of money to have a lot of fun. It's all in making the best with what you have, and making the focus on the togetherness; not on whether you've got something, or not got something; and then affirming the value and uniqueness of every child.
You actually speak into their heart their value, and so we're doing that now with our grandchildren. We're intentionally building a legacy of memories and experiences with grandchildren. Why? Because at the end of our life we want them to have known us, caught our heart, and been able to have an ability to speak into their lives and help them.
You can be intentional about leaving a legacy. Jesus wants us to leave a legacy!
4) Finally, the legacy of faith - and this is the one that really counts.
Psalm 111:10 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
The fear of the Lord... The greatest legacy you can leave is the legacy of how you walked with God; whether you were a person of faith, or just religious.
A religious person comes to church on Sunday, makes the kids all go to Sunday school; but there's no substance in their life, relationship with God - and kids see the hypocrisy quickly, and that's why they turn off God.
People turn off God because what they see is very religious, and lacking being authentic - so be authentic in your faith. Cultivate your own life with God. Cultivate your walk with God. Cultivate a passionate life with God, because when you do that, you'll leave a legacy that nothing else can substitute for - your legacy with God.
What is your prayer life? How do you handle prayer? Kids will watch this in your life. Do you pray? They watch you praying.
My kids would hear me praying, because you can't pray out loud the way we pray - in strong prayer, so people don't hear you. When people hear you pray, they hear your heart for God. They hear how you pray; and learn how you pray. Often in homes, we don't hear prayer at all.
How do you worship? Do you engage in worship? Do your family see you engaging with God, and absolutely being a lover of God?
What about the word of God, the Bible - do they see you engaging in the word of God, and sharing the things that you have learnt?
Your family watch how you handle people, how you treat people, how you talk about people. Those are the kinds of things that leave a legacy.
One of the things when I went to Joys family was, I noticed that Joys mum seemed to gather up all kinds of unusual people, and she just loved them all - and I see it's a legacy. It's a legacy, just to show kindness to people, that perhaps were having a struggle in life - and that's a legacy that's been passed from Joy's mother to Joy - and she carries that. She loves people, and so she's always helping people, all kinds of people. It's a legacy passed on.