Our Last Will and Testament
Hello and welcome to My Little House of Prayer. I am your host Dayla Smith. I am so glad that you could join me today. Boy, am I ever excited about today’s lesson! This verse could preach forever and never reach its end. So far, we have discussed Ephesians 6:10-14 and verse 18 in the series on Ephesians 6:10-18. Verses 10-11, discussed how vitally important our need is for the full armor of God. That when we join this Christian walk, we are in a battle that belongs to the Lord. Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. In verse 12, we learned what and where the battle lies. That we need a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We need to know to whom we are and to whom we belong. 2 Chronicles 20:15-17 15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.16 To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.Then, in verse 13, we learned about our need to endure to the end. That we are to totally trust in Him who is able to save to the utmost. That after we have done all we know to do, we are to put our trust in Him. Exodus 14:13-14 13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.14 The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Matthew 24:1-15 24 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) This sounds a lot like what is going on in the world today, doesn’t it? Because of a question that was asked, we jumped to verse 18 and learned about leading a prayerful life in verse 18 of chapter 6 in Ephesians, our desperate need to read the word of God on a daily basis and how to read it. Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God., and our need for living a fasted lifestyle and how, according to Isaiah 58. Then, we discussed verse 14. How we are to have on the belt of righteousness and our loins girt about with truth. John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Proverbs 4 :23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
I know, sometimes repetition can get monotonous. But, I am a teacher. That is one of my many gifts the Lord has so graciously given me. But, you have to have a firm foundation on which to build upon. The Lord has taught me that early in my walk. If it bears repeating, pay attention. I want to take a rabbit trail and share an experience with you. My daughter was 4 yrs. old and I was homeschooling her. I was teaching her the alphabet and their sounds. Each day, she would have to go through the earlier letters I had taught on before she could get to the new letter. Well, for a 4 yr. old, this got awfully boring. She would cry. Every morning I would explain to her that I was taking her somewhere. Be patient. You will understand when I am done. We finally finished all the alphabet and then I began to teach her how to spell and read. The first day, when she read her first word, her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. “I can read, mommy!” she squealed with tears in her eyes.” Needless to say, I was crying tears of joy for the joy she had experienced.
You know our heavenly Father feels the same way. I believe this is a word for someone right now. “I know you don’t understand right now. I know some things seem repetitive in your life. I know that what is going on in your life does not make sense right now. But hold on. Keep following Me. I Am taking you somewhere. I Am taking you to a city. Follow Me. It will all make sense when it is said and done.“ You know, when He is teaching us in our walk and it doesn’t make sense till you reach the mountain top of it, and the joy that floods our soul as we exclaim His praises for the victory. At that moment, I want you to picture a Holy, Righteous God with tears in those eyes of fiery love, holding and rejoicing with you.”
So, today we are discussing verse 15 of chapter 6 in Ephesians. 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. When I tell you how excited I am. When I hear this scripture, I hear a song by Casting Crowns, If We Are the Body. (sing chorus) Our feet in scripture speaks of our Christian walk. We either have one or we don’t. There is no middle ground. Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
1 John 3:10-20 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
Our lives are our epitaph. Our eulogy. Our last will and testament. When Jesus walked the earth He never proclaimed who He was. He let His life speak for itself. And, it did. Why else would 12 men leave everything they knew to follow Him? Even to their deaths. It is still speaking to the world today. Why else are there still people who have left everything they knew to follow Him? Even to their deaths. At His death and resurrection, he handed us the baton to finish “The Race”. The bible is His last will and testament. His life was His epitaph. His eulogy. He led by example. He wants us to follow all of His examples. But, we can’t if we do not read it for ourselves. You see, He did not come to do away with the law and the prophets. He came to fulfill them as seen in Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. To show us by example that we could follow God’s laws. And, He came to fulfill all prophecies concerning Him. The law is a law of love. And let me say this, you can not intentionally practice a sin and ask the Lord for forgiveness just so that you don’t have to pay the penalty for that sin. He will not forgive premeditated sin until you truly become broken over that sin and repent. You have to come to Him broken over your sin. And remember in Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We are to prepare for our walk. The word prepare means : to make ready beforehand for some purpose, use, or activity
prepare food for dinner b: to put in a proper state of mind
is prepared to listen 2: to work out the details of : plan in advance
preparing a campaign strategy 3a: to put together : COMPOUND prepare a prescription b: to put into written form prepare a report
intransitive verb: to get ready preparing for a career. So we are to make our feet ready beforehand. The apostle Paul said to be ready in season and out of season.2 Timothy 4:1-4 4 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. So, we are to stay prepared to exhibit peace in any and all situations and circumstances. To Put in a proper state of mind. The battlefield is for our thoughts. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. These are the thoughts we are to think on. Once again, we come back to as soon as our eyes open, we are to focus our thoughts on the Lord and His Name.
To work out the detailsof Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. So, we are to walk in His peace so that we can lead others to Christ properly. The lost are looking for proof of the Christian walk. We are to be that proof. How? By keeping our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He is our peace.
Our feet speak of our walk. If our feet speak of our Christian walk, then we are to walk in the preparation of the Gospel of peace. We are to lead by example. Our lives are our epitaph. Our last will and testament. Jesus showed this example throughout His life. But, I find the truest example of handing over the baton or His last will and testament, is in John 21:15-17 15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. When something is important to you, you stress the importance of it through repetition. I believe what Jesus was really saying right here is ,”Peter if you love me? Feed my lambs and sheep. Take care of those I’m leaving behind. If you love me, show me. Show me by taking care of those that I am leaving behind. By sharing the Gospel.
The Gospel of peace. The Lord has given us a gospel. The word Gospel is often capitalized : the message concerning Christ, the kingdom of God, and salvation B capitalized : one of the first four New Testament books telling of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, when Jesus died upon the cross of calvary and rose again the third day, He left us a last will and testament. The Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Holy Bible. The old and the new testament. Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. So, we are to put on the shoes, put on our walk; of the preparation ,be prepared; of the Gospel of peace; to pass the baton of Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s peace.
If you do not know the Lord Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Let me introduce you to Him. It is real simple. First you must acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of a savior. Ask Him for His forgiveness for all of your sins and call them out to Him. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Then, forgive those who have sinned or transgressed against you. Then, repent. Repent means to change your mind concerning sinful habits. Change your choice making. Let Him influence your choice making decisions as you get in His Holy Word. Ask Him to be Lord over your life. I want to pray this prayer with you. But, this is just another outline. The real work begins after I pray with you.
Lord Jesus, I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Please come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take complete control of my life and help me to walk in Your footsteps daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for saving me and for answering my prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
I want to say welcome to the family of God. If you prayed the prayer of salvation, Please let me know of your decision so that I can pray with you and for you. Let me know of any prayer requests you have. I want to pray with you. Thank you so much for joining me today at My Little House of Prayer. Please join me again next week.
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