“Then he took him outside and said, “Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You’re going to have a big family, Abram!”"
Genesis 15:5 MSG
“Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face. Then God said to him, “This is my covenant with you: You’ll be the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that ‘I’m making you the father of many nations.’ I’ll make you a father of fathers—I’ll make nations from you, kings will issue from you. I’m establishing my covenant between me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits me to be your God and the God of your descendants. Genesis 17:3-8 MSG
“The angel of GOD spoke from Heaven a second time to Abraham: “I swear— GOD ’s sure word!—because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, I’ll bless you—oh, how I’ll bless you! And I’ll make sure that your children flourish—like stars in the sky! like sand on the beaches! And your descendants will defeat their enemies. All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me.” Genesis 22:15-18 MSG
All of these scriptures speak of legacy, the promise of future generations. In Deuteronomy legacy is referred to as the Seed of Abraham. The New Testament connects us to that promise, referring to all people grafted into the family of Israel and again referred to as the Seed of Abraham. Legacy has always been close to the Father's heart.
In October, Covenant Church celebrated 40 years of ministry and in that celebration, set into action a transition of family legacy. Our Pastor, Mike Hayes, very beautifully handed the ministry to his son, Stephen Hayes. In those 3 days of celebration, Pastor Stephen and his sister, Amie Dockery shared a profound message about their personal legacy as leaders of Covenant Church, and the name of their message was SAND AND STARS.
We were asked to write a song that would help make this declaration as a church family. As a result, he words of this song were born in our hearts....
"On and on, Your love goes on and on
The One who was, and is, and is to come,
We stand in awe and wonder"