What Legacy Will you Leave?
I want to expand on Ernest’s legacy.
I heard about a man this morning. A great man. His son stood in front of us, and spoke of the legacy his father had left behind, the kind of man his father was, and called him to be. His son gave his father’s obituary to our class.
Were we deserving of it?
“Should I stop?” He asked, ” Because, if I continue, you can’t say you’ve never heard. You can’t say no one told you. You will lose excuses to not be excellent men and women.”
We all nodded, holding our breath, on the edge of our seat, wanting more of these keys, more of the wisdom and example this man lived out. Tears in his eyes he continued to tell us. He laughed and he shouted “Ha!” When he spoke of the life that remained in his father before he died.
His Father died this week late into his 90’s, and he never retired. Why would he? He had vision, he had purpose, and where in the bible does it ever speak of retirement in order to live the full life. Don’t get me wrong, be wise, save if need be, but it seems like we are more concerned nowadays with working, so we can quit, than working to leave a legacy.
Ernest James Shearman left a legacy. He never stopped until the very end when when he could whisper, ” I’ve done it. I’ve run the race.”
This is some of the inheritance we were offered today. If you don’t want the responsibility, then I suggest you quit reading, otherwise you will have also waved your right to make excuses.
1.) You must be a person of truth and integrity. Grace only comes on truth, and the truth will set you free. You can’t live a free life without truth.
2.) Live prophetically with authority and breath the prophetic into the people around you. He knew that by living prophetically he was calling out life. He was speaking into existence what was dying to be released. Use your voice to cast vision.
3.) Be someone of uncompromising commitment to the will of God. ” *When you put your hand to the plow do not look back.” “I’m doing this with or without you”, was how Ernest’s relationship with the woman he would later call his wife began. From that auspicious and demanding beginning they were married in 5 months! “Uncompromising commitment” was their mindset- The kingdom of God first. “I believe the uncommitted are unbelievers, and the committed are true followers.”
4.) Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might. Ernest was a man that lived flat out 100% of the time. Don’t ask the question what would you do if you were going to die, but what would you do if you fully came alive? Everything is an act of service to the Lord, because Christ is always with me. So, whether I am scrubbing toilets, giving speeches, spending time with my family, or replying to emails I do the work unto him. Everything can be an act of worship, that’s how you live full. Stay full AND hungry. (Colossians 3:17)
5.) Speaking in tongues keeps you alive. It edifies you. It strengthens your spirit, and your resolve.
6.) Learn practical things. Every man should know how to wield hammer and nails.
7.) Have a value system of generational thinking; it never stops. “When my father, Ernest, first got to Nottingham he was 50 years old and that’s where he STARTED his life’s work. Don’t think you are over the hill at 30 or 40! I can never remember a thought or conversation with my father of retirement. You keep kicking until your last breath. Invest and plan for hard times, but don’t let it be your mindset. Where is that biblically? He built team leadership to sustain and continue in succession.”
Isaiah 40:28-31 ” Do you not know,
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but hose who hope int he Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”
8.) Be a source of life to others. That when people think of you they think of Jesus, they think of sacrifice, of a servants heart, and of how you enhanced their life. The greatest joys always come from giving. Make that your legacy. “Something” is coming off of you all the time, make sure it’s life.
He stopped here and said, ” If you want this legacy, take it. It’s yours. Available to you, but don’t take it unless you’ll expand it. Inheritance and legacy unexpanded are lost. Just like the servant in **Matthew who was given one talent and hid it, he could have multiplied it by ten or more even, and instead he did nothing. Don’t take this and hide it.”
Look around you. There are empty people, hurting people, people dying spiritually, emotionally and physically. Ask them what they need and give it to them. If you have Christ, You are carrying around the source of life they need- give it out. Pay it forward you could say.
When he finished, I took it. I want that kind of legacy; to be that kind of woman. I want to live to work for others and for God’s glory, not work to live for myself, or things that will grow old and perish. I want to work for things that will continue on generation to generation when I’m gone. I want to leave a legacy with the words I write and speak that they would be a life source to anyone who will receive them.
I left class wishing I could have met Ernest James Shearman, and then I realized I just had- he was speaking right in front of me- his legacy at least. And his legacy is already expanding through his son Andrew, his grandchildren, great grand children and all of us “adopties” who get to continue with this inheritance.
And you are included.
You have no more excuses.
Are you in or are you out?
Ernest James Shearman, is the Father of Andrew James Shearman, the founder of G42. He was an amazing man of God that left this earth last week to go to the Father. He is there now with the Saints, crying out with the others who died in the service of Christ, awaiting the kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. His passing is a time not to mourn, because there was nothing left for him to give. He died with all accounts cleared in every sense, and lived a life worthy of being celebrated and passed on for generations to come.
- Luke 9:62
- * Matthew 25:14-30
