Set Your House In Order! | Eagles Nest Church

0:00 well today is the last sermon in the series called taboo we've been talking about things that we should talk about but things that people don't like to talk about especially in church uh we started the series off seven weeks ago we talked about the name of Jesus how many people say God blessed me but when you invoke Jesus's name it hits different and then we talked about mental health how important that is that we have a checkup from the neck up to make sure that we are healthy mentally if you have not heard that sermon and seen the interview that I did

0:46 with a health care professional during that service I highly encourage you to check it out and then we talked about sex uh we talked about sexuality issues we talked about privilege and then we talked about um giving last week very controversial subject especially as it relates to people's past and their past experiences related to tithes and offerings and I did the best that I could to try to demystify some of that so that we could be the best that we can be financially well to today is the last one and I

1:32 promise you that today's subject everybody in here will deal with this particular subject no exceptions I promise you that but it is a subject that a lot of us don't like to talk about so we're going to dig into God's word and we're going to leave today being better and uh and more equipped to do life and to live for Jesus let's pray Lord we thank you we love you we magnify your name this is Holy Ground And We Stand before you today Lord thanking you for bringing us here for waking us up this morning for giving us

2:19 as the old folks used to say our right mind yes we don't take our health for granted we thank you for the air in our lungs we thank thank you that we can praise you with our being so we love you and we thank you for bringing us here this morning now Lord we pray that you will speak to us today but we don't want to just be hearers of your word we want to be doers of your word especially as it relates to this subject father we submit ourselves before you speak to our spirits today speak to our minds mind today our hearts today and transform Us by Your Word May the

3:05 words of my mouth the meditation of my heart Lord may it be acceptable in your sight help me to encourage your people today in jesus' name I pray amen and amen let's give the Lord one more hand clap of Praise Lord you're worthy to be praised well I want you to meet me is one powerful verse we're going to go over a few verses but there's one extremely powerful verse that I want to start off with that is the basis for what we're going to talk about today found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah chapter 36 verse 1 I'm going to

3:54 be reading it from The New American Standard Bible Isaiah chapter 36 verse1 is going to be our foundational passage for today and it simply reads in those days Hezekiah who was a king became mortally ill he was sick and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos came to him and said to him look at this this is what the Lord says set your house in order for you are

4:41 going to die and not live strong words I want to speak to you all today from the subject set your house in order set your house in order I want you to look at your neighbor to the left or to your right and I just want you to ask him this question just say neighbor have you set your house in order you don't have to answer that question okay because some of you have and some of you haven't before I explain what that scripture means and why I chose this particular

5:27 passage I want to read this scripture in three other translations just to give you the the spirit and and the tenor and to make sure you really understand what we're talking about today I want to let the word speak for itself let's look at Isaiah 36:1 again and we're going to look at it from another translation New Century version it says this is what the Lord says this is what Isaiah says make arrangements because you are not going to live but die okay let's look at it in another way this is what the Lord says set your Affairs in

6:14 order for you are going to die you will not recover from this illness let's look at it one more time and the amplify this is what the Lord says set your house in order and prepare a will for you shall die and will not live just so you don't think that I was scouring the Bible for this verse just so you don't think that this is some kind of obscure passage that has no meaning or no relevant I want you to know that this ex this exact Passage

7:00 is also found in 2 Kings 20 verse1 so this story about King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah telling him to set his house in order is also found in Second Kings in this verse I read Jesus used the prophet Isaiah to deliver a somber message to King King Hezekiah his time was near and he needed to prepare for it he needed to ensure that everything was in order before he died now if you read further and I want

7:47 to encourage you to continue to read through that chapter God later extended King hezekiah's life because when King Hezekiah got that message he was so bothered by it and he went to the Lord and he prayed and God later extended his life but that still does not negate the importance of us being spiritually and practically ready for eternity So today we're going to dive into a subject that a lot of us avoid but it is an in evitable part of life and that subject that taboo subject

8:35 is death nobody wants to think about death nobody wants to talk about death yes we're going to talk about the dword death now what's so interesting is as Christians we sing about heaven but yet nobody wants to go there because we because in order to go to heaven we have to die unless the Lord comes and takes us up through the Rapture so we're going to talk about the dword I'm reminded of a doctor who had been frantically trying to reach one of his patients he finally reached the patient he said patient hey I I I got bad news

9:24 for you and I got some even worse news for you which which one would you like first the patient said oh my god there not two good options you got bad news and you got some even worse News patient said give me the bad news first the doctor said we saw your test results and I hate to tell you that you're going to die in two days your test results say that you're going to die you're going to expire in two days the patient he was so shocked he said oh my god well if that's the bad news what is the worst news the doctor said we've been trying to call you for the last 48

10:10 hours that means he was pretty close to death so death y all can be very mysterious some of y'all will get that joke uh tomorrow now I know this is a topic that a lot of us don't like to talk talk about there was a survey done that asked people what things do they fear most I was shocked that the number one phobia or fear that people have is public speaking isn't that interesting speaking in front of crowds um the second one was snakes

10:56 anybody out there I I can I can deal with that that one uh the third one was death people are scared of dying people don't want to talk about dying and I find that pretty interesting death has a way of making us very uncomfortable maybe it's because we don't know when it's going to happen and then we don't know how how it's going to happen and just not knowing can cause some anxiety for instance those parents and those students of appalachi high

11:42 school those parents did not know that their children were not going to come back those teachers and that coach did not know he was not going to come home that if they knew Jesus they were going to wake up in heaven so maybe that's one of the reasons you all that we don't like to talk about this subject is because we don't know how it's going to happen we don't know when it's going to happen and that alone again can just cause some anxiety and cause us to be uncomfortable most of us would rather talk about anything besides death but let me tell you it's inevitable there is a 100% chance that

12:30 all of us are going to experience it so we might as well try to get a little bit more comfortable with it because death is a part of life and the Bible doesn't shy away from talking about death so I just want us to get a little bit more comfortable with it today and to be a little bit better prepared Dr Martin Luther King Jr said it this way look at what he said he said death is the irreducible common denominator of all men it comes to every individual then he goes on to say this kings die and Beggars die rich men die and poor

13:18 people die old people die and young people die in other words death plays no favorites death cuts no deals look at Ecclesiastes chapter 3: 1 and 2 it says there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens a time to be born and a time to die and now let's look at James 4 verse4 very sober in passage it says you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow and we don't for you are just a

14:03 vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away so y'all this life that we live we're just here a little while compared to Eternity it's just a little while and then we vanish away and there might be a few people that remember us years later it depends on how you live so we're going to talk about this today don't ever forget that life is short and that we must make the most of it in every area so the Biblical word

14:49 y'all for death is separation separation that that's kind of what what it means biblically it doesn't mean necessarily the end of all things and you're going to see that in a moment but death means separation what do I mean when I say that well there are two types of death there is a physical death physical death is the separation of the soul and the spirit from the body so when we go to a funeral you're just looking at the body that person their soul and their spirit is what really makes them who they are are if they know Jesus then they are with God you're just looking at their Earthly tent and they have folded

15:38 the tent and they've gone home to their real home when I do funerals I typically make this statement we are not human beings having a spiritual experience we Are Spiritual Beings having a Human Experience did y'all catch that we're not human beings having a spiritual experience we Are Spiritual Beings our spirit that's what makes us who we are our soul our spirit We Are Spiritual Beings that happen to have a human experience so there's a physical death

16:23 it is the separation of the soul and the spirit from the body it still hurts it's still disappointing to see your loved ones or to see anyone who is not here but I want you to know that if they know Christ some of those people wouldn't come back if they could once they experience the presence of God in heaven but then there is a spiritual death what is a spiritual death a spiritual death is the separation of your soul from God we were all born spiritually dead because of the sin of Adam that's why we have to be born

17:10 again so we were all separated from God and that's why Jesus came to reconcile us back to God through the blood that was shed and through his death on the cross and more importantly through his resurrection he defeated it death spiritual death if you are born once you will die twice all of us are born once because we come through our mother's womb but if you are only born once you will die twice physically and spiritually

17:58 if you are born twice you will die once born physically born spiritually but then you only die physically you don't die spiritually did y'all catch that so every Christian should have two birthdays your physical birthday the day that you were born and your spiritual birth day the day that you receive receive Jesus as your lord and savior savior the day that you decided that you were going to follow Jesus and give Jesus your heart your mind your soul everything that you have so y all as a former financial planner and investment

18:45 advisor I am very comfortable talking about death because I had to with a lot of my clients for over 25 years I was also a licensed insur insurance agent most of my advice was stocks bonds mutual funds but I also did some estate planning so I am used to very wealthy people coming and talking to me about their death what they want it to happen with their money their assets so I'm comfortable talking about death but I think it is more important not to just talk about about it but to prepare for it because a lot of us

19:33 aren't prepared for it so I want to talk about how to set your house in order because as Believers we should not fear death we need to prepare for it with confidence a very sobering but a very important subject so I am hoping to today that you will put the words that you're going to hear into action I am hoping today that this weekend over the next few weeks and certainly by the end of the year whatever God is dealing with you about whatever you hear today whatever you are convicted about that you will put it into

20:19 action in Matthew chapter 7 it talks about a wise person and a foolish person it talks about how the storm came and one of them were blown away because they built their house on Sand and the other one was able to withstand the storm because he built his house on a rock but what determined whether they were wise or unwise what determined whether their house was built on a rock or built on Sand was whether or not they did the word of God not heard it because when you read the passage Matthew 7: 24- 27 they both heard the

21:09 same word everybody in here is hearing what I'm going to talk about today the key is whether you're going to do it whether you're going to just be hearer or a doer and a doer is like a person who builds a house on a rock and that's a wise person however a foolish person is a person who hears it and they leave and they do nothing and that is like building your house your your life on Sand so how do you set your house in order I want to give you four quick

21:54 things to think about and to do all right let's jump right into it number one you must face the reality of your mortality have the talk repeat after me say I must have the talk you got to have the talk first you got to have the talk with yourself you got to look in the mirror and you got to say I am not going to live forever in this Earthly tent one of these days days this Earthly tent I'm going to have it's going to be folded up and my soul and my spirit is going to go to heaven you have to come to that reality

22:40 I know it's sobering I know we don't like to think about it but it is reality we're not going to live forever we have to have the talk with ourselves and we need to have the talk with the people who would be most impacted did by our passing our loved ones all right let's jump into it ignoring the topic of death you all doesn't make it disappear y'all know that right not talking about it won't extend your life a single day what's interesting as I said is we sing about

23:25 heaven we talk about heaven we read about heaven nobody wants to go to heaven but as Christians y all we should look at death different than those who don't know Christ the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1121 look at what he says he says for me to live is Christ and to die is gain in other words if I live that's great because I can share Christ with people I can impact this world for Christ I can make a difference but when I die that's a gain that is a promotion and so he goes on to

24:13 say to the the people at Philippi he says sometimes I I'm I'm struggling whether I want to stay here or whether I want to leave because if I stay here I can be with you all and I can do ministry and I can do great things but if I leave I can be with Jesus so Paul says it's a win-win situation for me but we don't look at death that way we should as Christians we look at it as a win lose situation I win if I stay here I lose when I die that is because too many of us have made Earth our home and not heaven as the song used to say this world is not our home we're just a what

24:58 passing through that's why all the stuff you have you should Steward it greatly you should Steward what you have yes you should enjoy the things of God but you got to know that either those things are going to leave you one day or you're going to leave it you can't take it with you I've never seen a U-Haul hooked up to a heurst you don't see funerals where the Hearst is going and they got a U-Haul because you can't take any of that stuff with you so it is very important that you understand that the Apostle Paul wasn't afraid of

25:46 death because he knew death was not the end he knew heaven was far greater so if we can't prepare for our own death how then can we set our house in order the first book I wrote over 20s something years ago I made the statement and it was a cultural statement and this came from 20s something years of working with clients of all ethnic groups but I noticed the difference with some of my white clients versus some of my black clients they all had money or they wouldn't have been working with me but some of my white clients talked about this subject

26:31 at the coffee table some of my black clients didn't talk about it until they were at the coffin in other words there was no planning nobody discussed anything then when they were at the coffin oh my God what are we going to do she's gone he's gone no planning so are you talking about this at the coffee table or at the coffin you don't want your loved ones scrambling and guessing what you would have wanted so you have to have the talk death is one appointment that you

27:16 won't be late for no CP time when it comes to death y'all you won't be late for that I promise you so all I'm saying is is you got to come to grips with your mortality that's okay in fact you all that should motivate you to live your life to the full I mean to give it all you have to write that book to go back to school to reconcile with that person where maybe a relationship is broken I mean you obviously you can't do that with everybody but I'm just saying whatever you need to get right don't take your life for

28:03 granted have that talk with yourself and with others number two very simply don't leave your family empty-handed don't leave your family empty-handed the average black family listen to this passes on zero assets to the Next Generation the average black family zero that means people get nothing no wonder black people cry so hard at funerals cuz we're crying that the person is gone and we crying that they didn't leave us nothing like nothing oh

28:49 nothing and one of the reasons is we don't want to talk about it we don't want to plan for it I don't know about your family but a lot of people in my family they felt like if we talk about it then that means death is going to happen quicker no it doesn't don't leave your family empty-handed other ethnic groups leave Wills too many black people leave bills we live our life with no thought of the Next Generation I just want to tell the truth so one of the greatest acts of love that you can leave your family and this is just one of many things but it

29:35 is to have adequate life insurance life insurance I'm not going to do a financial seminar here but life insurance is more than just a policy it is a way to protect your loved ones lifestyle once you are gone Proverbs 13:22 let's look at it a good person and I hope you are a good person okay what does a good person do leaves an inheritance for their children's children that means your stewardship should impact at least three generations your generation you the next generation your children and then the next generation your grandchildren that's why God often refers to himself

30:22 is I am the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob because God looked at us generationally if you consume everything you have and you eat it up and you spend it up with no thought of the Next Generation that is bad stewardship so not only should we leave a financial Legacy obviously we should leave a spiritual Legacy and I'm all I'm I'm already assuming that is something that you're going to do so don't let your family mourn your loss and struggle financially at the same time they already going to be mourning

31:07 your loss at least hook them up all right if you truly want to set your house in order make sure you have provided for your loved ones after you are gone number three the third way to set your house in order is simply make sure a will is in place a will what I love about a lot of financial terms you all is a lot of financial terms are very biblical um like the official name for a will is your last will and testament even a lot of the words that are in the Bible that talk about

31:53 salvation are Financial words uh um you talk about uh the gift of Salvation it's it's free then you talk about how we are in debt because of our sins and there are just so many words uh that to talk about reconciliation how you have to reconcile your money so the Bible is very practical seven out of 10 Americans listen to this seven out of 10 Americans die without a will it's probably more like eight out of 10 African-Americans if you die without a will in place the state gets to decide

32:38 what happens to your things and your family could spend months if not years in Probate Court instead of weeks it could take that long y'all this is not just about money this is making sure that your wishes are carried out ensuring your loved ones know exactly how to handle things when you're gone update your will if you have one make it clear and take the guesswork out of it or the people you leave behind my mother passed away in January of this year she had everything planned I was the and was the executive of her estate

33:24 still am and it has been easy not only did she plan where she wanted her stuff to go she planned out her whole funeral she told me who she wanted to sing what songs what she wanted to have on in her casket how she wanted her hair done all of that now she lived a long life she was almost 86 years old so many of us think well I'm only 40 I don't even have to go into that kind of detail I probably have a long time to live or I'm 35 or I'm 30 or I'm 55 here's the deal none of us know when our time is coming so some people say well because

34:11 I'm 70 years old I only have a little time and because I'm 30 years old I have a lot of time you don't know that that 70 year old could live 20 more years to 90 and that 30y old could only live five more years so we really don't know how old we are I mean chronologically we can look at numbers but in terms of our time here on Earth you can be 30 years old and be old because you may not have a lot of time left so that's why you all we have to be serious about our spiritual lives our our lives relationally with other people and our financial lives

34:59 so you need to update your will make it clear take the guesswork out of it you don't want your kids fighting over that couch that you didn't even like cuz folks will fight over stuff y'all look at this statement right here about a will I love this the will isn't just a piece of paper it's peace of mind for everyone involved so you'reall all one of the things that takes pressure off of us is us going ahead and doing the planning so we don't have to worry about it anymore and then maybe five years from now you update some things and another five years you update it but one of the reasons y all we worry about all this

35:44 stuff is because we don't have our house in order and we have to set our house in order lastly the final way to set your house in order is don't leave a mess behind organize your business what do I mean by that let's talk about organization most of us in here have a junk drawer okay a junk drawer it's just where you just throw stuff in there and even when you go in the drunk junk drawer you're looking around I know there's an ink pen in here somewhere I know I wrote something on here somewhere where can you imagine after you're gone

36:32 somebody going through your stuff trying to find where your retirement money is where your bank accounts are what your wishes are it's like going through a junk drawer for them and it is always frustrating to do that look at Psalm 90 verse2 I love what it says teach teach us to realize the brevity of life so that we may grow in wisdom so you all when we look at the brevity of life we ought to use wisdom that just means there's some things you don't get involved in because

37:19 you don't have that kind of time there's some people that you may you love them from a distance because because life is short and you want to use wisdom so we have to use wisdom you all a part of wisdom is making sure when we go that our house is in order physically you got to take care of your tent you got to take care of your body you also want to make sure that your house is in order financially and you certainly want to make sure it's in order spiritually so here what am I saying put all your important documents you all in one place so somebody can find them either either on your computer or with a person an attorney or a trusted family member or somewhere in your home let

38:06 your family know where they can find everything they'll need when you are gone thank you praise God for that amen this is just important stuff you all what do I mean find what your bank accounts how about this your passwords I was thinking about that myself I'm like my God I try to use similar passwords but I have known some people who passed away and their wife and their children and this person had a lot of wealth but they were locked out of everything even the telephone because they didn't have the password okay bank accounts passwords

38:52 important contracts and so so on the last thing you want your loved ones to be grieving you you they're going to be grieving so what you don't want is them to be stressed out over how sloppy your Affairs are so in conclusion y'all I knew this was going to be a very sobering message but I thought that this was important because it's important to God and suppose when when that when that prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah he said get your house in order get your Affairs in order I believe that

39:40 is the word of the Lord to us it doesn't mean we're going to say goodbye next month or next week or next year hopefully it will be decades later I believe God wants to give you a long life but that still does not negate our responsibility as stewards none of us know when our time is going to come so setting your house in order is about preparing spiritually physically and financially your assignment this week is to get that

40:28 process going let me say one other thing wives you need to have that talk with your husbands now why do I say that because I'm finding out a lot of married couples they don't have the talk together but the woman is thinking about it why because most men pass away before their wives and many wives are left not having a clue about anything I talked to them all all the time and so next thing you know she finds out that there is nothing there is no insurance there there there are hardly any savings and and and she's put in a bad

41:14 situation and then you're in heaven having a good time okay and she's down here struggling and the first Jo blow that comes and hollers at her next thing you know she's remarried nothing is wrong with that but some of the reason may be because you left her in such a bad financial situation that she needed somebody to come and bail her out don't leave your spouse if you married in that kind of situation let's pray father we thank you for your word the sobering word about death about setting our house in order about not being being afraid whenever our Earthly tent is

42:02 folded up so Lord I'm praying that you will help alleviate the fear of death for us help us to be like the Apostle Paul to live is Christ we want to live because we want to serve you more Christ help us to do that help keep us healthy help keep keep us vibrant help Keep Us Alive Lord so that we can help Advance your kingdom that is our desire but one day we're going to graduate to heaven and that is a gain that's not a loss yes our loved ones will feel like they have lost us but the bottom line is

42:48 this is not our home this is a temporary place so Lord I'm asking you to give us the strength and the uh wisdom to be able to deal with both of those realities the realities that we're called to do something here on Earth how do I know you're called because you're still here if you're still alive and breathing God has called you to do something on Earth but our permanent home is not here help us to deal with those realities and to put the right things in practice with all heads bowed all eyes closed if you have never invited Jesus Christ in your life if you have never given your heart to Jesus

43:33 then you have been born once but you're going to die twice I want to give you the opportunity to change that so if you're out there and you have never committed your life to Christ I'm not trying to scare you but if you woke up tomorrow or if you did not wake up rather tomorrow where would you be well what determines that is what you do with Jesus if you're out there right now with all heads bowed all eyes closed and you're saying Pastor Lee I want to give my heart to Jesus I'm not going to ask you to stand I'm not going to ask you to come forward but I am going to ask you by showing of hands just give me a big wave with your hands up high if you're

44:20 saying Pastor Lee I want to give my heart to Jesus raise your hand if you are online you can put it in the chat and we'll follow up with you anybody anybody so father we thank you for this word I know nobody's going to leave here doing cartwheels today but this is so important help us to set our house in order in Jesus name we pray amen and amen let's give the Lord Praise everybody he's worthy to be praised hey if you did not raise your hand for whatever reason but you want to rededicate your life or give your life to Jesus all you have to do is text this number you text the word next

45:07 neext neext text next to 37746 next to 37746 or immediately after the service some of our leaders will be to my right and to your left and we will uh love to pray for you okay all right well everybody stand please and uh y'all look like y'all just been at a funeral I was trying to make this not seem like a funeral but hey we are alive and well and I think one more time we ought to give God praise just for being alive for being healthy for being able to do his will here on Earth as it is in heaven we're going to

45:54 have our host to come out God bless you all