Legacy | Sara Vargas

Welcome to Union Houston, what an honor to have you guys with us. You know, Union Houston exists to connect people of God to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Regardless of your past, your pain, your struggles, your doubts, Jesus loves you just as you are. But He loves you enough not to keep you where you are. He wants you transformed from the inside out. Those watching us online and on the Pando app, welcome as well. This message is just as much for you as it is for us. And so I hope you find yourself being blessed today. Well, we are in our final sixth week of seeds. Can you believe it? How's it been going? Yeah. Awesome. We've spent the last few months focused on spiritual growth through the principle of the seed. Emphasizing potential, momentum, intentionality, and patience. We've said every week, tomorrow starts today. But today, we're going to say, legacy starts today. Say, legacy starts today. Well, we've talked about seeds, we've talked about soil, and even trees. Did you know that trees and related term, seeds, branches, roots, are mentioned over 1,000 times in the Bible? Starting from the very beginning in Genesis with the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And concluding in Revelation with the restoration of the tree of life. Trees are the bookends of the Bible from beginning to end. And as we've talked about in this series, a tree is symbolic of spiritual maturity. Because seeds are the potential. We read the parable of the sower, that God's word is the seed that is sown into the ground. And spiritual maturity depends on the condition of the heart's soil. A mature heart acts as fertile ground where the seed takes root, matures, and eventually produces abundant spiritual fruit.

We all want that. And roots, they're stability. In Jeremiah 17, 7 through 8, it says, Like a tree planted by the waters that send out its roots towards the stream. It does not fear when heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. Even if you feel like you're in a season of drought right now, God's going to bring you out and you will still bear fruit. One who trusts completely in God is compared to a tree with roots stretching out towards a river. A mature believer relies on hidden spiritual resources, remaining emotionally and steady without giving in to anxiety or fear during when hardship comes and droughts come. And today we are focusing on the trees because trees display fruitfulness. Jesus, he uses a vineyard to emphasize that believers are the branches and that he is the vine. And true spiritual maturity and the resulting fruits such as love, patience, kindness, joy are impossible to fake and manipulate when you are in constant prayer and alignment with God. This fruit, it's our legacy. It's the lasting impact of our lives. The goal for every seed is to be fruit that remains. So if you'll stand with me so we can read the reading of the gospel John together. We're going to be in John 15, 1 through 4 and 16 as well. And Jesus says, I am the true vine and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. While every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. clean because of the word I've spoken to you. Remain in me as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. And so that whatever you ask in my name, the Father will give you. And so Lord, we pray right now, Father God, that this word, that it fall on people's hearts today, Father God. Lord, that they have ears to hear what you wanna hear from them, Father God. I remove myself, Lord. I am just a willing vessel. I submit myself to you, Holy Spirit. During our time together, Lord, I ask right now that you begin to plant new seed, good seed, Lord. As you show the people things that need to be uprooted, changed, Father God, so that they can bear the fruit that you desire from each and every one of them. And it's in Jesus' mighty name we pray, amen. And amen, and you may be seated. Amen. So your legacy is the fruit that will remain. It's what will last. You see, every person has a legacy that they're going to be leaving. And their legacy is what they plant right now. And every day, whether you realize it or not,

you're planting something. And so let's start by defining what legacy really is. It is anything that's handed down from one generation to the next, anything. Legally, it's a gift of money or personal property left to someone in a will. Professionally and culturally, it describes the long-lasting impact, values, or reputation an individual achieves during their lifetime. But today we're talking about spiritual legacy, the most important legacy of all. You see, most people think of legacy as something that you start thinking about as you get older. Some think of it more as, you know, what are you going to leave behind financially, the house, the money? And that actually becomes the primary focus in life, money and what you're tangibly leaving behind. So how does your spiritual legacy actually start today? The seeds you're planting, the roots you're growing, the trees that are producing fruit will be handed down to the next generation. And as we have learned from the previous weeks, the things that we pass down can be unhealthy or healthy. Destructive or productive. Dysfunctional or stable. The issues that you're currently dealing with and don't want to pass on to future generations, guess what? You have the power and the authority

to break free from them today. So maybe we need to start by changing our mindsets about legacy. Because legacy is actually an impartation. And what do I mean by that? You know, teaching just informs, but impartation transforms. So if you're living in the moment, your mindset says, I'm aiming at how culture defines success. I'm so focused on today, I can't think about my legacy that I'm leaving. I react to what happens instead of creating intentional moments. I assume it will just happen. There's plenty of time later, I'll worry about that when I'm in my 60s or 70s. I'm working to leave a tangible financial assets and that's enough. But see, a spiritual legacy mindset says, I'm aiming at how the Bible defines success. I don't wait. I think about my legacy now, no matter how old I am. I create intentional relational moments towards my legacy. I partner with God, I plant seeds and trust that he will grow them. I'm remaining in him to grow fruits and I'm working to leave a spiritually healthy family. Family, you see your legacy is the fruit that lasts.

So today I urge you to examine what is growing on your tree and we always have to go back and deal with some things in order to move forward. You know, we use the family tree to refer to a visual representation of our family line. Your generations, they perfectly mirror a tree's natural growth pattern. A single hidden root system grows up an ancestral base and it grows upward and it expands into a complex branches and leaves. And this network of branches and leaves represents our ancestors and it gets very complex. You know, most of us can say we know of or have met our grandparents. Some even got to meet their great grandparents. So let's just say you knew of your great grandparents, that's four generations. So that means we have eight grandparents. But watch this, if we go back 10 generations and that's roughly only 250 years ago, we have 4,096 grandparents. That is 4,096 people in our family from different cultures, countries, religions, values, beliefs, not to mention all the hardship that they endured, the trauma and that's all part of it. It's absolutely impossible to know the extent of your family history. Even with genealogy and DNA testing, that only gives us the basic information.

It does not give us any indication of past sin, of doubt, an ungodly belief systems, of hereditary mental and physical illnesses. Sin and its effects may descend through family lines and they need to be broken off. You may not know the extent of your family history, but you can see patterns. Patterns of habits, patterns of addictions, of anger, of bitterness, of poverty, of unbelief, things that seem to repeat from one generation to the next. But the good news of the gospel is that with God, cycles can be broken and new beginnings are possible. You know, first we have to recognize the pattern. The first step is taking an honest reflection. It's time to prayerfully examine your family history and your own life. Look for the recurring themes, whether it's cycles of unforgiveness, destructive behaviors, addictions, anger, divorce, secrecy in families, we all have that. Any way of thinking that does not honor God. You know, sometimes these patterns are obvious and other times they may be subtle. Woven into the fabric of family stories or responses to pain. You might see a history of broken relationships, rejection, repeated financial struggles, always feeling stuck or in spiritual complacency. Ask God for wisdom and insight

to see what may have been normalized over generations, but needs to be brought into his light. Remember, a tree hidden with disease in its roots, problems unacknowledged will continue to affect the health of the whole tree. And this is why it's so important to end the cycles that have been continuing on for generation after generation. You know, recognition is not about blame. It's about allowing God to reveal the truth so that healing can begin. I've seen many times that people actually don't wanna do the work of the healing because they think it's dishonoring to the family members to bring it up. The Bible, it does instruct us to honor our father and mother, but it does not say to honor their past pain and trauma. And you have the power to heal the future generations. So of course the devil's gonna plant lies in your mind to keep your children bound to the same suffering. But patterns and cycles can be stopped and reversed into blessings. I feel like I need to give you guys a powerful visual on this, girls, if you just wanna come on up. And the reason is, is because sometimes we just don't even think about the things that we are carrying on our backs, the cycles and the patterns that we're bringing into our family. We don't even think about it. And so I have my daughters here.

They really wanna be up here, by the way. But you know, I was just thinking about my own maternal and paternal lines, completely opposites. And I was just thinking about my paternal line. God bless them, they're from Louisiana. I do love Louisiana, but there's a lot of things that we have to deal with in Louisiana. We've got poverty, we've got people stuck. We've got a spirit of religion. We've got voodoo, we've got hoodoo, we've got curses, we've got hexes. We've got all that type of magic going on that has to be broken off of our family lines. And then I think about my maternal family line and how they've got some serious mental things going on. They have the depression, they have the anxiety, they have the schizophrenia, they have the rejection, they have the abandonment, they have the controlling spirit. They have unforgiveness. And then I actually think about my husband, Pastor Rod's line and we go some of the same things and more. Addiction, anger, fear, rejection, a lot of pain in that family, a lot of destruction in that family, a lot of broken families, people dying early, people dying of diseases or heart problems early, young men falling dead before the age of 40. We have adultery on his family line. So much pain. So much pain comes through our family lines

and if we don't take a moment to ask the Holy Spirit to address those things, what ends up happening is that when we have children, we then end up trapping them in the same cycle. We end up holding them back from their destiny. But with Jesus, with Jesus, we have the opportunity to heal what has been broken, to break off what has been following us for years. We have the authority to say no more. I break that off of me in Jesus' name. My family's bloodline is covered in the name of Jesus. I don't wanna live like this anymore. I want my children and their children to be blessed. Woo! Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Good, good. Because These kids, they take on our baggage when we're not healed. We give birth to an innocent child in this broken world and they take on our ancestors' sins and trauma. There is an urgency here, an urgency to step up and say no more. Because generational curses are passed down, but when you make Jesus the center of your life and the center of your family, he not only redeems our lives, but the whole bloodline down generations to come. Paul says in Galatians, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law.

By becoming a curse for us, it is written, cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. You see, the reason I put the cross between us and our children is that we can't actually nail ourselves, be crucified on a cross because Jesus already did that for us. We are forgiven. Woo! But our flesh that gives birth to sin can only be dealt with on the cross. And it symbolizes our participation in changing our spiritual legacy. So how do we break free? That's the question. First, we have to confess and repent because God calls us to bring our struggles into the light. Confession is an act of humility and honesty, naming both personal sins and generational patterns before God and trusting him with the truth of our brokenness. Pastor Rod always says, you can't heal what is not revealed. Yes. That's why I meant secrecy earlier because families are great at keeping secrets. And you know, you don't find out these things until the aunt or uncle passes away, grandma passes away, and all of a sudden you find out, oh, wow, I have a whole nother family I didn't know about.

Secrets. Secrets. This might mean that you need to be very specific in prayer about what you've recognized. Naming particular attitudes, behaviors, family tendencies, and asking for God's forgiveness and cleansing. I know what you're saying, but I didn't do those things. You didn't. But the devil doesn't play fair. He does not play fair. And he is gonna use any avenue to continue this dysfunctional cycle for his benefit. You see, repentance, it's more than a feeling of regret. It is actually a heartfelt decision to turn away from old patterns and just walk in a new direction. Sometimes this may also seek the forgiveness from those that we've hurt or involving trusted spiritual friends and mentors for prayer and accountability. The promise of John 1, 9 says, if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us. From all unrighteousness. Listen, I know there are some things that you have seen, that you have done, that your daddy did. I know there are some things that you have locked away deep down in your heart. And you say, I will never say those things.

Yep, that's where the enemy wants you. Don't ever bring that to the light. But that is exactly what the scripture says. Confess, put it out into the atmosphere so that the Lord can heal it. Just as a gardener prunes away diseased branches to restore a tree. or lays acts to bitter roots. Confession and repentance allow God to remove what is unhealthy in us so that our life can flourish. And then you've got to claim your new identity in Christ. Through faith in Jesus, we are made new creations. Second Corinthians. The old does not have to define the new. God gives you a completely new identity. Beloved, forgiven, redeemed, and empowered. And it may take time for your life to fully express and reflect this reality, but your spiritual DNA has been changed by Christ's work on the cross. Just as a grafted branch is joined into a healthy tree and begins to draw new life, so are you joined to Christ. You are no longer defined by generational patterns, past failures, family history. Instead, you are called to embrace your identity as a child of God, trusting that his spirit in you enables new attitudes, actions, and desires. Claiming your new identity means reminding yourself daily of God's truth that you are free, you are loved, and you are able to bear new fruit. Surround yourselves with reminders of who God says you are

through scripture, community, worship. Let this new identity shape your choices. So that the story of your life reflects the grace and power of Jesus. Lasting change comes as you surrender daily to God's leading and surround yourself with people who can encourage and challenge you. Because accountability and support makes the journey possible. That's the reason we're always pushing you to serve, join a connect group, serve on a team. We don't say that just to say that. We say that because that is our fruit. That is why we are who we are today. It works, guys. We're not just saying something to say something. We want it to transform you as well. That's where you meet people who will walk with you on this journey. And then we have to plant seeds for the future, guys. That's why we're here. Begin new patterns for the generations to come. Just as a tree's fruit contains seeds for the future, your life can become a source of blessing for those who come after you. Walk in forgiveness even when it's difficult so that bitterness does not take root in your family line. Pursue healthy relationships and break cycles of conflict by seeking reconciliation, understanding, and grace. You have to model faithfulness in your daily walk with God

so that the next generation knows what it's like to seek and trust God. Listen, more than ever, these kids today, these young people today, they wanna see your fruit and your action. You will not gain trust or honor from them if you're a super Christian in public and a different person at home. Be intentional about the spiritual seeds that you plant. Share your testimony. Teach and encourage younger family members. Invest time and prayer in your children, your grandchildren, or your spiritual sons and daughters. Just start somewhere. You guys haven't ever read the Bible together as a family? Yeah, the first time it's gonna seem weird, but you know what? You gather everybody at the table, and you say, we're reading the Bible together as a family from now until on. Guess what, kids? You hold me accountable. That's how it works. This is why we're all so excited to have World Vision with us next week as we're partnering with them. It's another way for us to extend our branches and express and model God's love to the world, beyond the walls of this church. It's important to note that the seeds that you plant

may not bear fruit immediately, but in God's timing, they can grow. into a legacy of freedom and faith for generations to come. When I think of family trees, the big, beautiful sequoia tree comes to mind. I don't know if you've ever seen one of these in person, but it's one of the largest trees. It can grow up to 300 feet tall. This large tree goes from a seed, the size of a flake of oatmeal. They have a massive root system of 150 feet in all directions. And they stay upright by intertwining their roots with neighboring sequoias, holding each other up against strong winds. I mean, that sounds like community. And this is what I love. This tree is built for survival because the bark, it grows up to two feet thick and it's considered fireproof. The tree, it never dies of old age. Listen to this. It'll continue to grow as long as it stands. The main way that it dies is toppling over from root damage. So if they are not connected with their community, they're gonna topple over and die. But here's the thing. The main way that these seeds are released is by heat, wildfire heat.

I feel like some of you are in this place right now. You feel the heat and the burn of being tested and you're resisting because it's painful. You don't like it. But listen to me. Faith and character must go through a purifying fire to reach their highest potential. You have got to submit to this process so that your seeds can actually drop and begin to grow. And in time, bear good fruits. Listen, I'll tell you about this burn. I'll tell you about this uncomfortableness that was spoken into my own life. You know, my parents have both passed on and I had one grandma still alive, the sweetest grandma, the sweetest praying grandma you ever knew. But she passed away about a month ago and she would have celebrated her 95th birthday this week, 95 years old. And you know, in that moment when I got the call that she had passed away, which we were expecting, she had told the Lord, Lord, take me, I'm ready. You know, at 95, you can tell God when you're ready to go, you know? But I just felt this, I felt this fire burning inside of me. What is this?

What is this unsettling? But the reality of it is, is that this 94-year-old four-foot grandma of mine was the spiritual leader of my family line. And it got passed on to her and it got passed on to me. And I was like, wait a minute, I'm only 50 years old. I don't want the responsibility of the family line. And then I felt the Holy Spirit pressing so hard on me. And he just said, if not you, who? Listen, I love my family, but I don't think there's anybody in my family that's gonna step up and that's gonna make such a ruckus and break off generational curses. I don't think there's a family member that is gonna contend for the generations of this family. And so, although it's scary, but I also, in my grandma, I saw the character that she had. She taught me how to pray when I was two years old. She imparted that into me. I would see her pray for two hours, the first thing that she got up in the morning. And I was like, my gosh, who prays for two hours? And then I met Ms. Amy. I saw my grandma's fruit. My grandma was praying for Pastor Rod when he was in addiction.

I've seen the fruits of my grandma's prayers. I say that because, yeah, who wants that responsibility to take on the spiritual leadership of your home, of your family? Family line, but god is saying if not you then who? Isaiah 59 21 says As for me, this is my covenant with them says the lord my spirit Is upon you And my words that I have put in your mouth Shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouth of your offspring or out of the mouth of your children's offspring Says the lord from this time forth Today Not in 10 years. Not when you hit 70 from this time today And forevermore You are not bound to the past with god With god you can become a new branch on your family tree a new branch That bears fruit of hope healing and righteousness You can plant healthy seeds that will be your spiritual legacy For generations to come Band you can make your way back up here I know this was a lot to take in a lot to digest. I hope you were taking notes But in a moment i'm going to pray And i'm going to pray that the lord revealed to you some of these cycles and patterns that need to be broken off today Yeah We start today

And so i'm going to have a very hopefully a very large prayer team join me up here in the front as I pray But I feel like this is a timely word I feel like there is an urgency in the body of christ That we've got so comfortable just coming to church and sitting, you know Sitting in service for a couple of hours and we feel like that's that's enough to feed our soul But I feel like the lord is pressing upon all of us to do the real work That it takes to cleanse our bloodline to get right to to be able to mend your history Because some of you guys are just so bound by the past of things you haven't even done and So I invite you today to break free from that will you stand with me today? Lord I just I just humbly come to you and thank you today lord That you have presented this opportunity for us to find freedom today lord And holy spirit I yield to you right now father god and I ask right now that you speak To your people today right now in the name of jesus father god that you bring to the forefront you bring to light You bring the things out of darkness that's holding them back and I ask you bring them to light right now in the name of jesus Because they can be exposed And we can begin the process of healing right I feel in my spirit right now That there are some of you right now that have A spirit of poverty over your life You make good money, but you don't know where it goes You set a budget and you always go over you never have money you can never move forward You can never get a better job. You're always stuck in financial poverty So if that's you right now, I ask you right now just boldly don't look around the room just come forward right now So that you can receive Prayer right now if you need The cycle of poverty to be broken off of your life right now in the name of jesus

Come on up to the front and get prayer right now in the name of jesus Right So god right now We're calling off poverty from our lives right now in the name of jesus I say break break break right now. We're breaking off the spirit of poverty Right now in the name of Jesus, Lord, I ask Father God that you begin to bring blessings over our lives right now in the name of Jesus, Father God, blessings, blessings, Father God, we, we break off poverty right now, we go back 10 generations right now in the name of Jesus, and we break, break, break, break it off right now in the name of Jesus, Father God, we thank you. Poverty be gone in the name of Jesus, poverty be gone in the name of Jesus, we speak blessings over their life, Father God, blessings, we speak wisdom over finances, Father God, we speak generosity right now in the name of Jesus, we speak generosity, Father God, pray in agreement, raise your voices right now in the name of Jesus, anything else right now, reveal to us, Lord, reveal to us right now that needs to be broken off, our family line, Father God, reveal it right now, we say break, break, break, we turn away, we repent right now in the name of Jesus, we repent from our ancestors' sins right now and we break them off in the name of Jesus, they have no place in our life, we're praising the cross in front of us right now in the name of Jesus, we praise the cross in front of us right now in the name of Jesus, we break off these generational curses right now in the name of Jesus, pride, you gotta go, anger, you gotta go right now in the name of Jesus, Lord, lust be gone in the name of Jesus right now, lust be gone in the name of Jesus, Father God, I ask right now, bring to the light what the darkness has been trying to hide, Father God, depression and anxiety right now, we break it off of you right now in the name of Jesus, addiction right now in the name of Jesus, we break it off of you for now and forevermore, right now and forevermore, addiction be gone, we break it off in the name of Jesus, yes, God, thank you, God, thank you, God, refresh your people, fill them up, Lord, blessings, prosperity, Lord, good fruit all the days of their lives, cleansing God, thank you, God, thank you for this time, in Jesus' mighty name. Come on, church, give God praise for the word of the Lord that has gone forth. How many have the testimony that rain came, wind blew, but my house is built on you? I'm safe with the Lord, come on, firm foundation. Well, hey, in this moment in time, David, bring it down really quick, really quick, really quick, and then we're going to dismiss. But in a room like this, I don't want to be remiss to say if somebody needs to make a decision to say yes to Jesus, salvation, the decision for salvation is today. So if you can just close your eyes, just you and God, just give me a couple of seconds in the room today. If you said it in this room, I haven't made a decision to say yes to him, now is the time. I'm going to count to three, and you're going to allow yourself to say, yes, I want to make Jesus my Lord and Savior. One, he's transforming your life. He's allowing you to uproot things that lead you in the wrong direction. Two, he wants to guide you to his promises that are yes and amen. He wants to lead you to purpose in the fullness of life. Three, if that's you, come on, raise your hand in the room. I need to know, I need to know. I believe today, if that is you today, say this prayer with me. Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. I make you the Lord of my life.

Thank you for giving me life again. Let me be guided by you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, church. Today is a day of salvation. The angels rejoice in heaven when we make a decision for Jesus. Hey, I want to know if that's you. I want to know in the lobby at the Connections Point area, we have a free gift for you, free Bible, clear next steps. We have Connectors 101 happening. You can exit this side. Until then, prayer partners will continue to be up here for prayer. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he shine his face upon you. May he be gracious to you. May he give you peace and show you favor. God bless you. I'm going to camp. I'm going to camp. ♪♪