“Looking Beyond Our Lives”

By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. 
- Hebrews 11:22

Our greatest contributions often come from investing in the lives of others.

“It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 
- Matthew 20:26-28

Our vision develops best when it includes the next generation.

And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 
- Genesis 50:24-25

And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” 
- Hosea 2:2

Our legacy is best established when it includes the next generation.

But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” 
- Exodus 13:18-19

As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph. 
- Joshua 24:32-33

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 
- John 12:24-25

"Blessing Beyond Circumstances"

20 By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.
- Hebrews 11:20-21 (ESV)

1. Blessing Beyond Generations

22  A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.
- Proverbs 13:22 (ESV)

2. Our Legacy Includes Physical and Spiritual Sons and Daughters

3. Faith That Blesses Beyond any Circumstance

31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
- Genesis 11:31-32 (ESV)

4. Blessing are Passed to Generations Through Obedience

20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb…”
- Genesis 25:20-24 (ESV)

23 I only gave them this command: ‘Obey me and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do all that I command, and good things will happen to you.’
- Jeremiah 7:23 (ESV)

"Young Enough to Change the World"

1. God is a trans-generational God

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
“This is my name forever,
    the name you shall call me
    from generation to generation.
- Exodus 3:14-15

2. Recognize the Harvest of Young People

13/30 Window - Most open to the gospel

3. Identify the strengths of our young people

4. Cultivate their growth

5. Don’t discount God’s purpose and destiny for the young people 

“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    and your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams;
- Acts 2:17 

39 And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.
- Deuteronomy 1:39

David (Goliath at age 12-15, King at age 30)

David was a teenager when he killed lions, bears, Goliath!

33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”
- 1 Samuel 17:33 (ESV) 

6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 7 But the Lord said to me, 
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
- Jeremiah 1:6-7 (ESV)

3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images.
- 2 Chronicles 34:3 (ESV)