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Thoughts on Leaving a Legacy - Simeon Nenadov

August 19, 2024

Legacy.


A name you throw around, but you rarely think about.


Something bigger than you, but small when you are young and full of doubts.


A thought that haunts you at night, when you realize time is running out.



Something you leave no matter what, even if the world was better without.


Legacy.


I have been thinking about the name and what it means to me. I have always associated the name “Legacy Bible Institute” with the goal of passing down the legacy many of our fathers in the church have left behind: valuing, studying, and teaching the Bible. But as I have thought about my legacy, and what I want to leave behind, it means so much more to me. 


Anyway, what legacy do I want to leave behind? Simeon was a great... He was a faithful... He was a strong... He valued... Simeon studied... He worked as a... He loved his... Simeon’s greatest accomplishment was... He always...


I could sit here forever and think about how I would want to be remembered. Fill in the blanks. I know pretty much exactly what I would want those blanks to say.


But there is a problem... 


If my time on earth was done now, and it was up to me to honestly fill those blanks in, not a single statement about me would be anything close to what I wanted it to be. And that is honestly part of why I am here at Legacy: I want to change, and I know I can only be changed by grace, through faith. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” So a Bible institute must be the best place for me to come change my legacy, right?


But there is an another problem...


Hard as I may try, and as much as I may learn, I will never achieve what I want to do in this life. I am bound by my flesh, and although the Holy Spirit is working in me and changing me each day, the punishment of my sin is still death, but the gift God has promised me is eternal life with Him (Romans 5:12-21). When I am raised to be with Him I will be given a perfect and eternal resurrected body. But in this life, I will never come close to leaving the legacy I wish I could. In Romans 7:18 Paul explains this same feeling, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” I know exactly what I would want those blank spaces to say, but I know I will never be able to make even one of those statements true.


The problem with the legacy I want to leave behind is a deeper issue...


As I considered what I wanted my legacy to be and how I would never come close to it, I realized that I had it all wrong. Even the legacy I wanted, the good things I thought would be nice to leave behind, weren’t right. 


The legacy I wanted to leave behind was about me. I wanted to be remembered as a faithful Christian, who studied the word of God, who loved his family, and who was always there for his brothers. All good things, but even if it was possible to leave behind the legacy I would want (which if I am honest it is impossible), my legacy is not about me. 


As we have been reading the Bible together here at Legacy Bible Institute the last couple of months, one thing has been made clear: It is not about me; it is about God. He saves and He punishes. He gives and He takes away. He loves and He hates. He judges and He justifies. He creates and He destroys. He gives mercy and He gives wrath. He changes lives and He hardens hearts. He redeems and He adopts. He baptizes and He sanctifies. 


Simeon was a wretch, he never really could quit some of those sins. In fact, even if it looked like he was doing good things, his thoughts were continually selfish, prideful, and full of lust. Simeon said he loved God and His Word, but he just couldn’t really seem to live by it. He said he loved his family, but he was quick to get annoyed with them and lash out in anger. But, God loved him. God sacrificed Jesus, His one and only blameless Son for Simeon’s many sins. Jesus suffered the punishment Simeon deserved to suffer in hell. God saved Simeon. God redeemed him. God adopted him. Through the Holy Spirit, God worked on Simeon’s heart, softened it up, and slowly changed him, making him closer and closer to the man he was supposed to be. God picked up Simeon’s many broken pieces, and made something He could use for good. Jesus rose from the dead so that Simeon too could be resurrected and have a perfect eternal life with God. God predestined, called, justified, and glorified Simeon (Romans 8:29). Simeon couldn’t, but God did.


That is the legacy I am leaving behind, and that is the only legacy I want to leave behind.


The best part is, that is a legacy I could have never even thought of or chosen. It is my legacy, but it is only because of God’s great grace. God chose to redeem me, a wicked and wayward child. God did it all to display His amazing love and mercy through me. 


This legacy, my legacy, cannot be changed.


“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:38-39

In the Hallway - Linda Kovacs

August 20, 2024
Have you ever felt like standing in a hallway? Like you would need a direction, a signal, a word or just something or anything that would show you how to move on, what step to take next but nothing seems to happen? I believe that each and everyone of us knows that feeling. And it can get really challenging. Especially when we feel like our time is running out but you feel that God is still waiting and nothing is really changing. It could be a sickness, a difficult marriage, singleness, loss of a job, loss of a loved one, waiting for a child, or just simply a graduation. We have many examples in the Bible that show us similar stories or situations. How about Noah who was building the ark in the desert for approximately 75 years. How about our famous Abraham, how did he wait for his promised son? How about Joseph after his brothers sold him to Egypt or when he was imprisoned? How about Moses who spent 40 years in the desert before God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and then he had to wait another 40 years wandering through the desert towards the promised land? Or how about David whom Saul loved first but later became his enemy and chased him for about 4 years? There are so many more stories in the Bible about someone waiting on God, and not only for a few days but for weeks, months and years. How did these people spend those times of waiting? As we know, not all of them were able to wait faithfully. But we don’t want to raise our fingers to judge them. Rather, how do we deal with the times of waiting? With the times in the hallway where we seem to be alone, where every door seems to be closed and maybe we only glimpse a tiny window if we look up? I believe, that God is using those times for something good. He wants to see, how we react and behave in the hallway. If we get desperate, hopeless and depressed Or, if we look around us to see if there are other people in the hallway waiting just like us, who might need our encouragement, advice, a listening ear or simply a smile. How do we act in the hallways of our lives? A few days ago I had a conversation with someone about the “waiting in a hallway” and he said that sometimes it’s not easy to wait in the hallway. He sees it more as a desert. A plant challenged by drought learns to develop stronger roots. And that this is exactly the case in our spiritual life. Looking back, we see that God meant it well and that we were allowed to grow through our situation. Let us trust in God during the process, during the wait in the hallway and keep in mind that the hallway is just a season, not a destination, which God can and wants to use for our good, if we are willing to follow him and seek his will.

Surrender - Hanna Isakov

August 20, 2024
God has been teaching me so much during my stay here at Legacy, through the study of His Word. One of the most dominant lessons lately has been to surrender my ideas, hopes and dreams to Him. To surrender means to cease resistance and submit to an authority. To surrender, I must trust. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6  I serve the One with ultimate power and authority. Life is not “all gas no breaks” as lots of us young people seem to think sometimes. I have always said that I want whatever God wants for me but how will I know what that is? First, I must truly surrender my deepest hopes and dreams to Him in prayer and display my intent with my actions. I have begun to write my prayers down so that I can look back and praise God for the principles He's taught me and the wrongs He's convicted me of in my everyday habits and practices. Am I intentionally examining myself, my motives? How can I require His guidance while overlooking surrender to the things He has already given me in his word! I am called to be his steward here on earth. Verse 25 of Psalm 73 says: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” I have been asking myself ever since the first weeks of this year, is this verse a reality in my life? Deep down, if I do not get what I am hoping for out of this life, will I still praise Him and be content in Him? Does He fulfill my deepest desires or am I reserving that for something else? Am I experiencing true intimacy with my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ? These are the challenges set before me and I can say, by the grace of God, I will strive to be obedient to the Holy Spirit no matter what my feelings may dictate. This life I have is a gift, I was not brought into this World to fulfill my desires but to shine the Light of the Gospel to those in darkness. Gods' way is best. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20

Life is hard. God is good. - Stephen Weinhardt

August 20, 2024
“Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
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