Main Point:

To have a godly legacy, we must be intentional

I remember when my little family of three moved into our very first house... in the middle
of a pandemic! We were so blessed, so excited to call this little 950ft home ours! Yes,
you heard that square footage right..
An older house that we made a home with lots of cleaning and small remodels here and
there.
This house quickly became a home, and this is where we’re raising our children and
instilling Christ like values. Our home is where we love, we nurture, it's where we correct
and it’s where we’re cultivating a life with legacy and purpose.
I can remember the day when I was reaching under the bathroom sink to get a hot hair
tool and I was poked by something.
Can you guess what? I was poked by weeds!
Weeds that were meant to grow outside and not in my bathroom! The closer I looked,
the more I was horrified! We had a mini bush growing in the back of our bathroom sink!
So many questions raced through my mind, like...how is this even possible?! How can a
type of plant that is so fritle, that can easily rip and be taken out by the roots grow
through concrete, tile and wood?!
So, I did what every strong, brave and courageous wife would’ve done and said,
“Danny!!! Come take care of this!! He comes running in, because I made things sound
way more dramatic than what they were. He says, “wow, that’s gnarly”.
Confused and intrigued with the whole situation I decided to look up in the university of
google how this was even possible. What google explained was that weeds and other
plants can make their way into the inside of a house when they go unattended,
untreated, and unnoticed. The persistence of weather conditions outside like rain,
wind and sunshine make any weeds continue to grow.

The thing is that we have big plans for this little house, we want to one day pay it off and
leave it as part of our children’s inheritance.
To leave them a good inheritance we’ll need to take care of those weeds, treat them and
remove them from the root.
We’ll also need to continue to treat the house so that worse or more severe weeds don’t
make it in, messing with the foundation of our home.
I don’t know if our plans will go through with this house but we will be intentional about
maintaining it.
Just like we have to be intentional about maintaining our physical house we have to
be intentional about cultivating a godly legacy for our children.
Malachi 2:15
Has not the one God made you? You belong to Him in body and spirit. And what does
the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard.
Transition to main points

So what is Legacy?
Living intentionally and growing our children and removing the weeds from their lives
so they can be successful.
It’s through the Old Testament narrative found in 2 Chronicles that we learn about King
Jehoshaphat and how he demonstrated the importance of cultivating a Godly legacy
What does cultivating a godly legacy look like? First we teach the word of God,
second we allow our vulnerabilities for others to rise up and finally by cultivating
a lifestyle of praise.

1. Teach the Word
2 Chronicles 17:9 - In the third year of his reign he sent his officials... 9 They taught
throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the Lord; they went around to
all the towns of Judah and taught the people.

- King Jehoshaphat saw the importance of having the people of his kingdom
educated on the word of the Lord.
- Can you imagine working for the government and your job is to educate every
single town, city and state about God's word? How amazing! And this is what
King Jehoshaphat did.
Something that Danny and I started doing this year is that we teach Benaiah a scripture
a month. I pray about what piece of scripture we should teach him and then I write it
down on his little calendar and every night before going to bed, we recite the bible verse
of the month. I'll try to breakdown what that bible verse is talking about so there’s real
meaning behind what we’re doing.
I’ve also added hand motions to them to help him remember the verse and so most of
the time, it just looks like we're doing La Macarena. But it works for us!
A conversation Danny and I had even before we had kids was that we wanted to raise
our kids to be contributors of the house. Age appropriate contributors. I have yet to get
to Lissette's level where her oldest can make her coffee, but non the less Benaiah
contributes by picking up his toys, putting clothes away, putting dirty dishes in the sink
etc.
Well, not too long ago I was having a really hard few weeks. I couldn’t really seem to
shake off this weird depression I was going through and I remember I came home one
day, and I went straight into my room. As gloomy and downcast as I was, I asked
Benaiah to pray for me. To my complete surprise he says ok mommy, “Thank you Jesus
for mommy, thank you that You have not given her a spirit of fear, but of power and of
love and of a sound mind. Come Holy Spirit and be with my mommy, come Holy Spirit,
come. In Jesus name, amen.”
Danny and I were shocked! And I realized that I had been training Benaiah to be a
contributor with the word of God as well. Not just in the everyday chores.
Deuteronomy 6:7- Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home
and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
And please don’t get me wrong, I don’t go to my 4 year old son and tell him all my
problems and lay my worries on him because that would be inappropriate, but how
many of you know that our kids can see when we’re having a bad day? It’s hard to fake it
when they know us so well.

2. Become Vulnerable
2 Chronicles 20:2- Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming
against you from Edom,[b] from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon
Tamar” 3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast
for all Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed,
they came from every town in Judah to seek Him.
5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of
the Lord in the front of the new courtyard 6 and said:“Lord, the God of our ancestors, are
you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power
and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.
- Remember, all of Judah is gathered together and King Jehoshaphat is praying
this out loud in front of his whole kingdom..
- King Jehoshaphat didn’t just consult with his immediate household or his
officials about this problem, but he called the WHOLE kingdom to come together
and fast.
- We fast forward through his prayer and he ends with a powerful surrender.
12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is
attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
- Here’s what I don’t like saying to my kids besides the word “no”, I don’t like
admitting “I don’t know”. Yet, here’s king Jehoshaphat admitting to his whole
nation, young and old that he has NO IDEA what to do.
13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before
the Lord.
14 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel as he stood in the assembly.
15 He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is
what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army.
For the battle is not yours, but God’s.
- Remember when King Jehoshaphat set officers to teach the word of God? Here’s
an average Joe prophesying to the king! Talk about raising up contributors in his
kingdom!

- There’s something powerful in being vulnerable in front of our children. It teaches them
first hand that we too are figuring things out as we go and usually, allows for some extra
grace.
- Being vulnerable isn’t weakness but rather strength, when it’s done correctly
before God.
- Being vulnerable in front of our children will also give them a front row seat to the
goodness of our God. Our testimony becomes their testimony!
I can remember a time I became vulnerable in front of my family. It was December 27th, two
days after Christmas when my grandmother had passed away. As you can imagine it was a very
difficult Christmas to navigate. I’m usually the type of person that doesn’t like showing emotion
or to cry in front of people, I’ve always felt weak when I do, and I don’t like it. But when I heard
the news about my grandma, instead of going to my bedroom and locking myself in, I decided to
go to my living room- out in the open. I began to mourn over the passing of my grandma. And
Benaiah comes close and asks Danny, “what’s wrong with mommy?” Danny, in a very gentle
and kind way tells Benaiah “Mommy is mourning the loss of Mamafina. Mamafina is now in
heaven with Jesus, she has no more pain and she’s perfect now. But mommy is sad because
she’ll never see her again here on earth.” Then proceeded to tell Benaiah, “let’s pray for mommy
so she can have peace and comfort in her heart.”
After they prayed for me, we all got up and started praising God for the life of my Mamafina.
Our praise broke the atmosphere, and peace was reestablished in our home.

3. Cultivate Praise
2 Chronicles 20: 20 Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out,
Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and the people of Jerusalem! Have
faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be
successful.” 21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the
Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his[c] holiness as they went out at the head of
the army, saying:
“Give thanks to the Lord,
for his love endures forever.”
- Wait a minute, let’s pause here. King Jehoshaphat set worshippers to go before
the battle before it even started to sing praise and give thanksgiving to God. What
an odd thing to do!
- The opposing army must’ve thought, who are these people?! A whole bunch of
hippies singing about love, when we’re about to engage in war!

Let’s keep reading and see what praise did..
22 As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon
and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23 The
Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and
annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy
one another.
- How powerful that establishing PRAISE unto the Lord, won the battle!
- When the tough times come, the first thing the enemy wants to have you do is
complain. When you are deep in complaining, you know what doesn’t come
natural? Praising!
- Years later, in the New Testament, God does it again when Paul and Silas were in
prison.
Acts 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the
prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were
shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were
loosened.
- How powerful that praise can shake the earth! Shake your situation at its core.
- Don’t let the enemy use you as a mouthpiece of complaining, you have too much
praising to do!
- Remember, our kids are watching how we react to difficult situations. Bring them
alongside you and teach them how the battles are won, through PRAISE!
The enemy not only wants to take your praise, he wants to take your whole legacy. He
wants your gifts, talents, your children- he’s reckless (he comes to steal, kill, and
destroy).

Conclusion

We’ve gone through a few ways we can establish a Godly legacy by looking at King
Jehoshaphat's life:
1. Teaching our children God’s word and it will never return void
2. Using our vulnerabilities as teaching opportunities.
3. Establishing praise

There are some real and serious things that want to creep into your home. Some
weeds, like I mentioned earlier- look different from others but they will all have the same
goal. To separate your family at the very foundation of your home.
King Jehoshaphat spends so much time taking out the weeds of his kingdom and the
scripture suggests that his household was left unattended. We see how when his oldest
son reigned in his place he killed off all his brothers and some officials.
2 Chronicles 21:6 (Jehoram)... did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
We don’t want to be so busy building a legacy at work, ministry or on social media that
we forget to tend our own homes.
- Just how it takes maintaining a physical house with taking out those weeds at the
roots and patching up cracks here and there.
- We also need to be diligent about praying and cultivating our God given legacy,
which is our children, and our children’s children.
- Remember how those weeds came in through my bathroom sink? They came in
uninvited, unnoticed, and untreated.
- There are weeds of fear, of anxiety, of depression, you name it- the enemy wants
to push these into your home.
- Can I tell you something you already know? Our kids are worth praying for. Our
legacy is worth knowing the word of God, knowing His promises and knowing the
plans God has for each and every one of us.
- The enemy isn't so much after your calling, he’s not after your career or your
success or even your money. The enemy is after your legacy.
- He’s after your children. The worst thing we can do is pretend we don’t see
what’s going on around us, or even worse, what’s going on within our own
homes.

But there’s hope with Jesus! His word says in
John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will
have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
- That means that there are no weeds, no sin, that can stand against Jesus when
he is invited into the room!

- He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, there is no problem too big or a sin
too great that He can’t take away.
- We need to invite Him to come and clean house!
I want to leave you with this last verse and it’s the one we started with..
Malachi 2:15
Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does
the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard.
I thank God that we have the Holy Spirit, He is our comforter and helper in our time of
need.
Let’s pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the places where we’ve let weeds into our
homes, and ask God to clean house.