Leaving A Legacy To Our Neighbor Series

Leave a Legacy for Your Neighbor

To Leave a Legacy for Your Neighbors

Sacrifice for Others (Acts 4:36-37)

Be Slow to Judge Others (Acts 9:26-27;15:36-39)

Spiritually Influence Others (Acts 11:22-24)

Work for the Success of Others (Acts 11:25-26)

Slide 1

Jim -------- Illustration.

A couple of weeks ago, Jim ------ shared about a guy named Joe that he works with that always has a huge smile on his face. Every where he goes and whenever anyone would see him, he would brighten up the room with his huge smile.

Slide 1 Jim asked somebody about it once and they said he was a Christian.

Jim had wanted to talk to Joe and finally the other day, he saw him. Jim was finishing up in the washroom when Joe walked in and Jim said

“Hey, I’ve been looking for you.” I want to ask you a question.

What is the reason for the hope you have inside you and why are you smiling all the time?

Joe responded and asked if he really wanted to know.

Jim said yes and Joe said because he had the peace of Jesus Christ in his heart.

Jim went on to tell Joe about the impact he had on Jim’s life just by being around His big smile and how it convicted him of not taking joy in Christ through some difficult circumstances.

Joe was having an impact and leaving a legacy just by being who he was.

He wasn’t even overtly doing anything to influence other people, just enjoying the goodness of the Lord and letting that come out of Him in living his life.

How are you living your life around others?

Are you being a godly influence on others by the way you live your life?

We have interaction with people every day.

Is the way we are living in front of them leaving a legacy of godliness for them to follow?

I want to take a look at Barnabas today and see the impact he had on those around him and I want us to see the things he did to help leave a legacy to his Neighbors that far surpassed his lifetime.

Slide 2

We will be looking at Several Scriptures in Acts that talk about Barnabas. The first place we will look is in Acts 4:36-37 (p. 773)

Acts 4:36-37

36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Slide 2

We find here that Barnabas’ real name was Joseph but he was known by his nickname which meant Son of Encouragement.

This guy was an encourager so much in the way he lived that his nickname reflected it.

What if the way you acted often became your nickname?

Would we have people being called Bar-Whiner?

Or Bar-Complainer?

Or how about, Bar-Negative Attitude?

Is the most dominant aspect of our life a positive or negative? In Barnabas’ case he was an encourager.

It is those with a dominant positive aspect that will leave a positive legacy that impacts many people.

So, here is this great encourager and what is one of the first things we see him do? We see Him Sacrifice for others. He sold his field and gave the money to the apostles to be used for other people in need.

Slide 3

To Leave a Godly Legacy for Our Neighbors we need to

Sacrifice for Others

Slide 3 Nobody ever left a positive legacy without sacrifice.

Parents sacrifice for kids

Soldiers sacrifice for their country

Neighbors sacrifice for one another.

Jesus told a parable about being a neighbor and it involved personal sacrifice.

Luke 10:30-37 (p. 735)

30 In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ’Look after him,’ he said, ’and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"