Leave A Legacy - Trust Fall SeriesSample

Peter’s Legacy 

Where is your heart in your legacy? What's the last thing that's going to be spoken about you? I don't care if you redo your will. That's not the goal of this devotional. My goal is to remind you of the legacy that you have as a believer. It doesn't have a thing to do with earthly success nor basic morality. My goal has everything to do with the heart of hearts.

Peter says, "I know I'm going to die." He was getting older in his age. Jesus had already told him previously that when he got old, someone would tie him up and take him someplace he didn’t want to go. This meant that he was going to be martyred. 

He knew his time was coming. He could see Nero's persecution and power on the rise. Peter knows he’s going to be martyred, and he says, "I will make every effort…that you may be able to recall these things at any time after my departure." We're still recalling these things after his departure, 2,000 plus years later. It’s absolutely amazing. Peter was killed right after Nero set Rome on fire and blamed the Christians for it.

What is modeled is most remembered. It's not just about what you say. It's what you do. It's how you live. The legacy has to be more than "show up early, stay late, build a great business and be basically moral." It has to be about more. God has a purpose and a spiritual depth for us, and we want to honor Him. 

This is what happened to Peter. He was crucified, and tradition tells us that he asked to be crucified upside down because he didn’t feel worthy of dying the same death as Jesus Christ. So, he was crucified upside down right in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. That's why they call it "St. Peter's Square." That's where he died as a martyr. His bones were buried under St. Peter's Basilica. It's a humongous church right there in Vatican Square. In 1960, they excavated under the church and found the bones of a man who they believe to be Peter.

Here's what Peter did: Peter lived a life as a fisherman and as a leader of the church. He was crucified upside down and his tent was gone. His legacy, however, is his testament to being a witness of who Christ is, and it lives to this day, and it is part of the seeds that are going to change your life. That's a life worth living. That's what I'm calling you to do. Falling into the arms of Jesus and trusting Him to do something through you. It doesn't matter if you’re ever famous. The question is will you be faithful?

For more on this devotional click on the link below

https://houstonsfirst.org/message/part-4-leave-a-legacy