The recent 50th anniversary celebrations of Pastor Wes’s ministry as a pastor of KCI were a milestone in the history of this church. We were able to look back with great thankfulness and to rejoice at how the Lord has helped him to continue the gospel legacy of his father, Pastor Billy Richards, who started this church over 80 years ago. And now we must look forward to the challenge of each successive generation taking up the baton to develop the legacy that has been received in this church and in this nation. For God’s purposes and promises are for all generations (Psalm 119:90).

From the beginning this was God’s plan for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The blessing of God on these three generations paved the way for generations to come, notably through the 12 tribes of Jacob and the nation of Israel. But each generation must encounter and serve God in their generations. It’s not guaranteed that every succeeding generation will serve the Lord. The fires of revival and Christian influence can go out if not attended to. That has happened time and again in history and in many churches and nations. Many colleges, including universities in the United States, started out as Christian institutions to train young people for ministry and Christian service. Schools like Harvard (Puritan), William and Mary (Anglican), Yale (Congregational), and Princeton (Presbyterian) were created for Christian higher education. The Great Awakening led to the founding of Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth in the mid-eighteenth century. Over time, however, the revival spirit that founded these institutions was lost, and most of these former Christian colleges and universities became secular universities with little or no religious affiliation.

Generational blessings can be lost very quickly if the next generations do not walk in the godly ways of those who have gone before them. After the years of amazing leadership from Moses and Joshua we read these sobering verses in Judges 2:10-12: ‘After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord…. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them.’

Subsequently, we read in Israel’s history of ongoing battles for godly legacy to continue in each generation. Specifically, we are focussing on three Bible Kings: David, his son Solomon and his son Rehoboam, for they serve as a warning and a challenge to us about how much can be lost, as well as gained, in just three generations.

1. David started well and finished well despite his failures (1 Kings 15:5)

2. Solomon started well and finished badly (2 Samuel 7:11-16; 1 Kings 11:1-12)

3. Rehoboam started badly and finished worse (1 Kings 12:12-16; 1 Kings 14:21-24; Revelation 22:16; Luke 1:30-33; Psalm 78:4-7)

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1. David started well and finished well despite his failures. David was just an ordinary shepherd boy, the youngest of eight brothers, seven of whom each seemed more impressive than him. But he was chosen by God to become the great shepherd king who united warring tribes and led Israel to many conquests. He killed a giant who was intimidating a whole nation. He escaped death many times from countless internal and external enemies including Saul, Israel’s first king who became obsessively jealous of him. David was not without his faults. He had times of great depression and shockingly he had killed the innocent husband of a beautiful woman that he had a secret affair with. Yet God loved Him and helped him and forgave him because He knew that David had a heart after God. He loved God, worshipped God, honoured God and depended on God. David’s heart was fully devoted to God (1 Kings 15:5). All his life David stayed humble in his walk with God, even when the prophet Nathan publicly rebuked him. David was a first-generation revivalist of sorts, a rugged and down-to-earth pioneer who had learned to depend on God and trust Him in all circumstances. It is this kind of raw and real relationship with the Lord that will sustain you if you will pick up the baton to keep the fires of God burning in your generation.

2. Solomon started well and finished badly. David had wanted his descendants to follow in the ways of the Lord and the Lord had made some powerful promises to him for his generations (2 Samuel 7:11-16). When David died, Solomon, his son by Bathsheba, began so well when he ascended the throne. He was careful to walk in obedience to the Lord, he built a great temple in Jerusalem and consecrated himself to God with a powerful prayer. He pleased God by asking above all for wisdom, not wealth or long life or the death of his enemies. But as the years passed and the leadership of his father became more distant, Solomon proved not to have the same passionate heart for the Lord that David had. He became proud and unfaithful. He lost his discipline, his focus and his heart especially to lots of women. He became obsessed with sex, pleasure and an easy life (1 Kings 11:1-12). An incredible spiritual decline took place in Solomon’s reign. He didn’t just cool in his relationship with God but he opened the nation to the worship of many detestable false gods. Chemosh and Molek were gods associated with practices involving child sacrifice. And it all came about because Solomon let godly standards slip in his time because his own heart was not right with God. In the UK as in other nations, so much paganism, ungodly practices and social disintegration has come about in our generation because of the spiritual disintegration in the hearts of so many church leaders and their unwillingness to preach and model Christian standards. It’s no use first attacking the sins of society, when repentance needs to start in the church. And in how many Christian homes have Christian parents failed to teach and train their children in the ways of the Lord and have just gone along with children as they have grown up and walked in rebellion to God? If we want to see the continuation of legacy in each succeeding generation then our own hearts must be fully committed to God. We must always take stock of how we are walking with God today not how well we may have done in times past. For as Solomon’s story shows it is possible to have a wonderful heritage, a great beginning. But it’s not enough to start well but end up badly because we have allowed the pleasures of this world to gain our hearts. We must continue faithfully in the ways of the Lord. We must daily seek to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. We must pray with hunger for the Holy Spirit to help us. We must remain as humble and teachable disciples. We must unashamedly share the good news of Jesus. We must serve sacrificially and give generously to prioritise the building the house of the Lord, the church. Let’s never become like Solomon who once was so wise but threw it all away. Don’t let the passing years cool your fire for God.

3. Rehoboam started badly and finished worse. Rehoboam didn’t inherit the best situation, but he still had the opportunity to be a wise and just king. But he preferred to listen to his young contemporaries who talked tough but had none of the wisdom of the older leaders who were trying to help him (1 Kings 12:12-16). And so began a great national division that lasted for centuries with ten of the 12 tribes following Jeroboam and calling their new nation Israel (the northern kingdom) and just two tribes remaining loyal to Rehoboam and calling their nation Judah (the southern kingdom). But even with his much-reduced Kingdom, Rehoboam totally lost his spiritual legacy (1 Kings 14:21-24). Terrible decline in just three generations had taken place because Solomon and Rehoboam did not value or continue their spiritual legacy. Fortunately, despite more bad kings, there were eight good kings in the Kingdom of Judah who were said to have pleased the Lord: Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah (Uzziah), Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah. Through all the contrasting reigns of good and evil however, the Lord remained faithful to His promise to David through Jesus, despite whole generations turning away from God (Revelation 22:16; Luke 1:30-33). The purposes and promises of God can never be stopped but we are called to play our part so that we keep the fires of God burning in each generation. To be faithful to God in our times means that:

- We must love and serve the Lord whole heartedly.

- We must put away all foreign gods and the idols of sex, money, pride, power and position

- We must stay humble and teachable so that this can be reproduced in every generation.

- We must spread the gospel of Jesus far and wide to generations who have not heard it (Psalm 78:4-7).

This is how we will develop the Christian legacy of this church and this nation. Today decide to give everything to taking on the baton to serving God in your generation.