Leave a Legacy of Faith

Hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are going to look at the family of Issachar, Issachar in 1 Chronicles chapter 7. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray. Real quick, we're going to be going through Issachar, but we'll, over the next five days, be looking at the rest of the tribes of Israel. Some of them a little bit longer, some of them a little bit shorter, but I figure, let's just do one family a day to keep this manageable. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for what a good, wonderful, gracious, and kind God you are. Father, we pray that as we read your Word, your Spirit would please teach us. Help us to understand it. Give us, Lord, give us direction for our lives. Give us encouragement for our souls. Teach us, Lord, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's go ahead and pick this up. 1 Chronicles chapter 7.

The sons of Issachar were Tola, Pua, Jashub, and Shimron, four in all.

The sons of Tola were Uzi, Rephiah, Jeriel, Jemai, Jibsam, Shemuel, heads of their father's house.

The sons of Tola were eight men of valor in their generations.

Their number in the days of David was 22,600.

The son of Uzi was Israiah.

The son of Israiah were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, Ishiah.

All five of them were chief men, and with them, by their generations, according to their father's houses, were 36,000 troops ready for war, for they had many wives and sons.

Now, their brethren among all the families of Issachar were mighty men of valor, listed by their genealogies, 87,000 in all.

We need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about?

B, what's the best verse to summarize this?

And C, what do we call the do from this passage?

So, A, what is this about?

Well, this is the family of Issachar.

Remember, we're going through all the different tribes of Israel.

So, Jacob has the 12 tribes of Israel, and this is the tribe of Issachar.

Now, this is a post-exile, post-Nebuchadnezzar, capturing Jerusalem, exiling the people back to Babylon.

And now they've come back after the 70 years of exile, and it's numbering the people.

And here, it's interesting for Issachar, it's giving his four sons, right?

So, that's verse 1, and that's probably what this is, the best verse to underline this would be verse 1.

Although, I might even say the best verse might be verse 5 as well, because that's the interesting part.

Because here, it's specifically pointing out that the family of Issachar were both numerous and mighty warriors.

And so, you find that there were men of valor in their generations.

And then, again, in verse 3, all five of them were chief men.

And then, verse 4, were 36,000 troops ready for war.

And then, again, you find out that they were mighty men of valor in verse 5.

And so, it's Issachar's mighty men of valor, might be what I would write in the margin of my Bible.

So, Issachar has this rich heritage of being these strong men of valor, these troops ready for war.

And so, even though we don't get a lot of information about them in the Old Testament,

that's their reputation coming into 1 Chronicles.

So, what is this about?

This is about the family of Issachar, the mighty men of valor that came from that family.

Leading men, chief men in Israel.

Well, then we have to, I've already done B, what's the best verse?

Verses 1 and possibly verse 5, but maybe you would underline something different.

That's fine, let me know down in the comments.

And now, I'll ask C, calling.

What are we called to do?

Well, I think this is one of those interesting things in life.

Not everyone gets lots of pages in the Bible.

I mean, we read about David all over the place in the Old Testament.

But there's not many of the sons of Issachar.

We don't have big stories of Uzzah.

Uzi was, the son of Uzi was Israhiah.

We don't have any information on Israhiah.

I don't have any information on Michael.

Or Ishiah.

Even though they're chief men.

So, I just want to encourage you.

You may have a reputation that doesn't get written down.

Doesn't get made into huge books of story.

And yet, can leave a legacy.

And people in your family and in your genealogies remember you.

And the place that you had.

And I want to encourage you.

This is where I'm going to go with C, calling Christ.

You have an opportunity in your life.

If you are a Christian.

To leave an outsized influence.

On the generations that are to come.

So, I just want to encourage you.

To go to the Lord.

And seek to leave a legacy.

A faith.

You may never have entire books written about you.

But the Lord will care for you.

And He will use you.

In the building up of the next generations.

And so, what's the legacy you're leaving behind?

Is it that you are a person of character?

That you are a person who your grandchildren will remember?

And say, man.

He really believed in Jesus.

Oh man.

She really showed us the love of Christ.

That these are people of the covenant.

Just like you and me.

How will you be remembered?

Let's pray.

Father, we pray that we may walk worthy of the calling that you have given us.

In Jesus Christ.

Lord, we thank you that you have loved us and cared for us.

Saved us and are sanctifying us.

Lord, we pray that you would please.

Let us be those who are above reproach.

Loving you.

And passing on that blessing.

To our children.

And our children's children.

Lord, please.

Unite us to your Son.

Keep us close to you.

And let us live our lives.

As people of valor.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

May God bless you as you dawn the armor of God.

I'll see you next time.

Bye.