by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man.
I have planted, Paul has watered, but God gave the increase.
So then, neither is he that planteth anything,
neither is he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one,
and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
For we are laborers together with God, year God's husbandry, year God's building.
According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder,
I have laid the foundation and another building thereon,
but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon.
For an other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble,
every man's work shall be manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by
fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he hath build thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by
fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God him shall God destroy for the temple of God is holy
which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this
world let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God for it is written he taketh the wise in their own craftiness and again the Lord knoweth the
thoughts of the wise that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men for all things are yours
whether paul or paulos or sephus or the world or life or death or things present or things to come
all are yours and you're Christ and Christ is God's. Let's pray dear Lord God just thank you for
this time we have this evening Lord to hear the preaching of your word Lord just please give us
ears to hear the message that's prepared tonight for us Lord and please bless Pastor Mahia and
fill me with your spirit as he preaches your word unto us Lord we pray this all in Jesus name amen.
Okay we're in first Corinthians chapter three and verse number 12 says now if any man built upon
this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work shall be made manifest
for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's
work of what sort it is. This evening I want to preach on the subject of gold silver and precious
stones gold silver and precious stones. I want to talk a little bit about the rewards that we're
going to get in the millennial reign for the service of God. Now one of the reasons I'm
preaching this tonight is because of the fact that I was inspired. I went to a funeral yesterday
and someone who I knew from my old church passed away. I believe he had some sort of
heart complications about a month ago or so and he ended up dying and we went to his funeral
yesterday because we'd known him for quite some time. His family invited us, my wife and I,
to go be a part of the funeral to honor his life and I was really encouraged by a lot of the stuff
that they were saying about him and it really inspired me and it caused me to be reminded
of the importance of just living for God, living for Christ, serving God all the days of your life
and some of the testimonies were mainly from his daughters and his son-in-law and of course his
wife but they all basically described him as being someone who just loved winning souls to Christ,
he loved spreading the word of God, he lived with eternity in mind. He was just constantly thinking
about meeting the Lord and they gave various examples of this. They were talking about how
you know the dad would clean out the daughter's car and it was filled with trash or whatever
and then you know he'd go in there clean it out and then when she'd go back in there all the trash
was taken out but he would conveniently leave some tracks there along with the new testament and
remind them go soul winning go and preach the gospel. He would always tell them to make sure
they're actively trying to win their neighbors to the Lord and his name was Bobby and you know
when I was there at my old church he was just an incredible encouragement to me. I knew he had a
good walk with God and that he loved the Lord but even prior to me going there he had already done
some exploits. He was in jail in Saudi Arabia for you know being a part of a church out there
and he had gone to jail there because he wasn't willing to renounce his faith and so he had suffered
persecution but the main thing that they would talk about when it comes to their dad and their
husband is how much he loved souls. Well the day that he ended up going into the hospital he was
actually at work and his co-worker who's not saved you know was kind of helping him and assisting him
to get into the ambulance and she said that she heard him and of course she's not saved she's not
a Christian but she heard him pray and say Lord if this is my time I'm ready to go I'm ready to go
and it was the day that he ended up dying. He actually died on his birthday and you know
one of the greatest testaments of his life in my opinion are his daughters. His daughters gave some
incredible testimonies of their father's life and some challenges to people in this regard.
You know they're talking about the fact that he had gone to jail for his faith and one of them said
hey you know you're not being thrown in jail uh you know for your beliefs so you have no excuse
you should be in church right and another one said you know a lot of you were surprised because
you know you saw my dad on Sunday he was there on Sunday he was singing the hymns he was
participating in the service and you were surprised that he died because he looked so healthy on Sunday
and she said I think God had a reason why because he wanted to show us that that even if you seem
healthy one day you can be hospitalized the next but what you did for the Lord is what will count
and she basically finished off by finished off by saying like hey you know go to church because it
could be your last service right win souls to Christ because it could be your last soul that
you went to Christ obey the Lord read the Bible because it could be your last time reading the
Bible and it kind of gave me a perspective of you know making sure that you love the brethren too
why because this could be the last time you see them you know we're obviously a very young church
and we are healthy as far as I know you know we're healthy we're vibrant we have a lot of life in us
but quite frankly this could be someone's last service we don't know and that is the brevity
of life and one of the things that they said about their dad is that he would always say
you know life is short so you got to make sure you're serving God you know life is but a vapor
you got to make sure you're serving God life is short make sure that you're serving God
and they ended up singing a special and it was actually called gold silver and precious stones
just highlighting the fact that what we do for Christ is what counts and I think something like
this is important to talk about every once in a while only because of the fact that you know we
get so busy with so much so many other responsibilities we have families we're married
you know we're working we have so many things to do in this world sometimes the service of God is
like on the back burner we don't think about the most important things but you know reminding
ourselves that death is just like one step away sometimes helps us to remind us that we need to
make sure that we're doing all that we can today right we need to make sure that we're serving the
Lord today at whatever capacity we can because once we die it's over with and at the end of the
day you know I'm not necessarily afraid to die I think the greatest fear that I possess as a Christian
is like have I done enough for the Lord by the time I die I want to make sure that I that I've
done enough service for God I want to make sure that I've won enough souls to Christ that I've
spread the word of God as much as I can that I love my church members that I spread righteousness
and led people to righteous things that's the only thing I'm afraid of sometimes is just wondering
like man I don't want to it's not that I don't want to die because I want to go home to be
with the Lord like anybody else does you know we want to be be in the presence of God we want to
be in eternity the thing that I fear the most is like man but am I ready though have I done
enough for the Lord have I served God enough and I think that's something that we should all think
about okay again we can get busy doing this that and the other but we need to recognize that
eternity is real heaven is real and yes you could die and you know I hope you're saved by the way
right and as far as I know 99 percent of the people in here are saved they believed on the Lord
but you know there might be someone who doesn't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they're
saved and you have other things to worry about if that's you you know you have hell to worry about
but if you already know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're saved what you should be concerned
with is the gold silver and precious stones making sure that you're doing something significant
for the kingdom of God so that you can earn a reward when you get to heaven and look folks
obviously we know that you know if we're saved we're going to heaven no matter what we do or
don't do right if we don't if we choose not to serve God you're still going to heaven
because you believed on the Lord if you choose not to do any works you're still saved because
it's not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us
but quite frankly a lot of people are going to be going to heaven and into the millennial reign
which is nothing in their spiritual bank because they did nothing for the Lord and I hope that's
not you I hope that you being in a church like this would be motivated and incentivized to serve
the Lord today don't wait till next week don't wait to go soul winning until next week don't wait
to start being faithful to church next week do it now because quite frankly our life is but a vapor
we're not promised tomorrow and you know we want to make sure we give it our best while we are here
now let's give some context here in verse number 12 oh let me say one last thing before before we
read the verse so you know we're at this funeral and they're honoring brother Bobby and it was
very touching it was very inspiring to me they had his table laid out of his bible and all his
notes that he wrote in his bible his soul-winning bible you know just all his accomplishments and
the guy was like an architect so he's very successful in this world but very little was
spent talking about those earthly successes though the majority of the time was spent talking about
like his spiritual successes he had and that was great so afterwards there was this fellowship you
know he's Filipino so Filipinos they like to eat you know what i mean they like to eat food and
stuff like that and you know i'm talking about brother chevy right brother chevy so you know
we're we're we're hanging out we're eating and of course i know a lot of people at that church and
so you know we're about to leave and there's a lady in the church who has cancer and we've
known her for many years and she has terminal cancer she's gonna die she's gonna die and as
i'm walking out she walks right next to me and she just kind of grabs me by the arm and i'm like oh
hey and i and i give her a hug and she's like man it's so good to see you and of course she
looks completely different because she has terminal cancer and i'm like it's really good
to see you too and she looks at me and she's like you know i'm next right it's like i'm next
you know my initial response wanted to be like don't say that but but then i looked into the
eyes of the person who has already made peace with death i'd say that to her she knows she's
gonna die we know she's gonna die so what did you say i just looked back at her and i just gazed
into her eyes and i said are you ready and she looked back she said oh i'm ready i'm ready to go
i'm ready and this lady very faithful throughout her life served the lord one souls to christ i mean
just good things can only be said about this person regarding their service for god
and i stared into the eyes of someone who's just ready to go and it made me think like man am i
ready go like this person's ready to go and i want to ask you that are you ready to go
if today was your last service if today was the last moment if this was your last sermon you're
going to hear if today was the last gospel presentation that you would give to someone
could you say beyond a shadow of a doubt like i'm ready to go you know i don't know if i can say
that of myself and the only reason i want to keep living obviously i want to spend more time with
my wife i want to see my kids grow up i want to see my grandkids i want to spend time with you
love my church but honestly the the biggest reason why i want to live for years on end
is i want to keep serving god i want to keep serving the lord i want to keep winning souls
to christ i want to push people more to the truth that's what i want to do and so you know it was
always it was very a sobering thought that response that she gave me she's like i'm next
and yes i'm ready to go i don't know if i have that boldness yet and i don't really know if i
have that boldness look at verse 12 it says now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver
precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare
it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is
"If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward." Now,
the foundation that's being referred to in verse 12 is the foundation of our faith in Jesus Christ.
Meaning that in order for us to do anything of any eternal significance, you got to make sure
that you're saved first, right? That's the foundation. Now, why is that important to even
address? Well, because of the fact that there's plenty of people out there who are serving God,
but they're not saved. They're serving God. They think that they're proclaiming the word of God.
They think they're making a difference for eternity, but nothing is being done because
they're not even saved. And let me give you a clear example of this. Matthew chapter seven,
you have a guy specifically saying, you know, have not I cast out devils and prophesied in thy name
and in thy name have done many wonderful works and I will profess them to them. Depart from me. Ye
that work iniquity. I never knew you. You know why that person was going to go to hell? It's
because of the fact that he wasn't saved because of the fact that he had not believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ despite the fact that he performed exorcisms. He did many wonderful works. He
prophesied in the name of God but yet despite all that he's still going to hell. You know what that
shows me? It shows me that person did not have the right foundation. What is the right foundation?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house, right? That you can't lose
your salvation. The salvation is by grace through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
Bible says that now that we have that foundation, now that we're saved, it's time to build upon it.
It's time to build a spiritual house. But the reality is this, is that some people build with
wood, hay, and stubble. Others build with gold, silver, and precious stones. Those who build with
wood, hay, and stubble, what's going to happen in the millennial reign at the judgment seat of Christ?
The works are going to be tried. You know what's going to happen? They're just going to light up.
They're just going to burn up and they will not receive a reward. But it says in verse 14,
if any man's work abide, which he has built there upon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's
work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
So the Bible is telling us here, it's going to give us a glimpse into eternity. It's giving us
a glimpse into the judgment seat of Christ at the millennial reign, which chronologically takes
place, you know, at the inauguration of the millennial reign after the battle of Armageddon.
Prior to all of the battle of Gog and Magog and the white throne judgment, thousand years prior to
that, you have the judgment seat of Christ. And what the Bible seems to indicate is that we will
all stand before the judgment seat and we don't exactly know how it's going to look. But according
to the Bible, we're going to bring our works unto the Lord. There is a supernatural fire there and
we will place our works upon that fire. And if it burns up, you're left with nothing. You get nothing.
Right. That's basically what it's referring to. So it's just like, next, you go up, you're like,
like, Oh, you wasted your life. Okay. Well, hey, at least you're safe. Get so as by fire.
Right now. Thank God for that person because of the fact that at least they're saved,
but they get nothing. And you might think to yourself, yeah, but you know, at least they're
safe. And it's very much true. Amen. And praise God for that. But when you see everyone else getting
gold, silver, precious stones, and you got wood, hay and stuff, what's going to mean something.
Whereas there's others who are going to bring their works. They're going to try them in the fire.
And what is it going to produce? Gold, silver, precious stones. And what's going to happen?
Well done, my good and faithful servant. Here's your reward. We'll talk about what those rewards
are in just a bit. Verse 16 tells us, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the
spirit of God dwelleth in you. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the
temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." So the Bible seems to indicate here that the works
that we do require this body. In other words, the works that we do, the way we serve God is with our
body, with the temple of God. Turn with me if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians
chapter number 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 is giving us a glimpse into the judgment seat of Christ,
which should not be mixed up with the white-throne judgment. The white-throne judgment is a judgment
for the unsaved, not to determine whether they're saved or not, but to essentially, you know,
confirm their damnation. These are people who are already in hell. They are extracted out of hell.
The book is thrown at them and they're relocated to the lake of fire. We see this in Revelation
chapter 20. The judgment seat of Christ is for believers only. It's to determine what type of
reward, if any, a Christian will receive. Second Corinthians chapter five and verse number eight says, "We
are confident," I say, "willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him." And I want you to
notice verse 10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive
the things done in His body, according to that He has done, whether it be good or bad." So we can see
that this works in conjunction with first Corinthians chapter three, because first
Corinthians three says that we are the temple of God, asserting that we serve God with our bodies.
And it specifically says here that we will receive those things that are done in our body, whether
it be good or whether it be bad. What is the good and bad referring to? Gold, silver, precious stones,
wood hand stubble. Okay. Go to Colossians chapter three, Colossians chapter number three, if you
would Colossians chapter three, talking about the judgment seat of Christ and what this entails is
happens at the inauguration of the millennial reign. Our works will be tried. The works that
we do with our body, the service of God that we accomplish this side of eternity will be tried.
And quite frankly, you know, there's a lot of Christians out there that are just spinning
their wheels. They think that they're serving God. They think that they're accomplishing things for
the Lord. But quite frankly, it's not really producing anything. It's going to burn at the
judgment seat of Christ. Look at Colossians 3 23. It says whatsoever you do, do it heartily
as to the Lord and not into men, knowing that of the Lord, ye shall receive the reward of
the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. Now we're going to get into the specifics of
what we have to do in order to earn these rewards. But if you're ever confused, if you're ever just
like, man, I don't know exactly what I have to do to earn rewards at the millennial reign of Christ.
Well, just here's a safe way to just approach this. Whatsoever you do, do it as unto the Lord,
and ye shall receive a reward. Right? It's like the command, you know, if you love your neighbor,
you fulfill the whole law. It's like, oh man, what parts of the law should I fulfill? Just
love your neighbor. And by default, you end up fulfilling the entire law. So what the Bible's
telling us here is that we shouldn't compartmentalize God. We should obviously just serve God all the
time. So this shows us that, you know, the mom, the wife who stays at home to serve her husband
and serve her kids gets rewarded too. Even though she doesn't have all the hours in the day to go
out and preach the gospel and be a part of missions trips, she's still earning rewards as long as what
she's doing is as unto the Lord, hardly as unto the Lord. This is a great thing about serving God,
folks, is that you can earn rewards doing anything, obviously, as long as we strive lawfully,
right, according to the word of God, but we can earn rewards in any type of activity that we do
as long as we do it as unto the Lord. If you love your husband as unto the Lord, you get a reward.
If you raise your children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord, you earn a reward. And,
you know, I joke about this, but it's absolutely true. You know, that cup of water that Moriarty
brings up, bro's stacking the chips. Bro's earning a major reward, you know what I mean?
Because he puts ice in it too. Because the Bible talks about a cold cup of water,
you know what I mean? And he's discovered the life hack there, you know? And here's the thing,
it's like Moriarty's not doing it because he's trying to be a blessing here. He's not like,
"Oh, my pastor's thirsty." He's just like, "As unto the Lord." He's like, "As unto the Lord,
as unto the Lord." You say, "Well, isn't that not a righteous motive?" No, if it's unto the Lord,
it's a righteous motive, you know what I mean? The point that I'm making here is that no matter
what you do, as long as it's unto the Lord, if you fulfill your biblical role in life,
hey, you can earn rewards just working at your job, as long as you do it as unto the Lord.
If you are not a dishonest individual, you're serving your boss, even if you're earning a
paycheck according to the Bible, you could also earn eternal rewards if you do it as unto the
Lord. Why? Verse 24 says, "Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance,
for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath
done. And there is no respect to persons." Of course, what this is referring to is the fact
that if you choose to sin and do wrong to the Lord, not to the Lord, but just in any arena of life,
according to the Bible, you're going to receive the consequence of your actions here in this world.
The point being is that God recompenses his people for good or for bad. Okay. So the Bible seems to
indicate that there are various ways to earn these rewards at the judgment seat of Christ.
Now, let me read to you from Matthew chapter 10. Turn with me if you would go to Luke chapter 14,
Luke chapter 14. I already mentioned this, but you know, supporting the man of God gets you rewarded.
Matthew 10 41 says, he that received it, the prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive
a prophet's reward. And he that received it, the righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall
receive a righteous man's reward. Matthew chapter 16 and verse 27 says, for the son of man shall
come in the glory of his father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to
his works. So we see here that we get two types of rewards, one of which is at the resurrection.
Okay, look at Luke chapter 14 and verse 12. It says, then said he also to him that bade him,
when thou makest a dinner or supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen,
nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee.
But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shall be
blessed, for they cannot recompense thee. So what does the Bible tell us here? You know,
you should think about this when you're choosing to serve someone else. Here's a good way to do it.
Try to give to someone who can't give back to you, okay? And obviously, this is a virtuous thing to
do, but it's actually spiritually wise to do as well, because what the Bible's saying here is that
if you lend to someone, if you help someone who can't pay you back, who can't recompense you,
because they're not necessarily in the same financial state that you're in, it says in
verse 14, "For thou shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." The Bible's saying here,
if someone can't pay you back this side of eternity, but you did it as unto the Lord,
God will pay you back at the resurrection. Which is incredible if you think about it.
So, you know, God's keeping the receipts. He's keeping track of everything. Like, "Oh, man,
this guy bought this guy a meal. Oh, man, this guy, you know, was a blessing to this individual
financially. Oh, they gave him these possessions. Oh, this person gave of his time here." He's
keeping track of everything. And the Bible says that if you don't get recompense for those things
here in this world, God will recompense you at the resurrection. But it's very important to note
here that it talks about the resurrection of the just. Now chronologically, when does this take
place? It actually takes place three and a half years into Daniel 70th week. Because three and
a half years in, you have the abomination of desolation. And then 75 days thereafter,
you have the rapture taking place. Well, the rapture is synonymous with the resurrection.
And what is the resurrection? It's when we receive our resurrected bodies and we go home to be with
the Lord. And so shall we ever be with him, right? Well, that resurrected body is part of the reward.
So this is not referring to the gold, silver, precious stones. Okay. It's very important to
note that there's a distinct difference between the two. The resurrected body is its own reward.
Now, all Christians are going to receive a resurrected body. But according to first
Corinthians 15 some will receive a greater resurrected body than others. Okay and we will
get all into it but first Corinthians 15 talks about the fact that one will shine brighter than
others. Okay so the quality of that resurrected body will be given to you as a recompense for
the service that you've done here in this world. Okay now go with me if you would go to Revelation
chapter 2 Revelation chapter 2 Revelation chapter 2 if you would. So there seems to be two types of
rewards you have the resurrected body which everyone receives for believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ. The difference is some will receive a higher caliber of a resurrected body than others
and no I'm not talking about someone's going to get washboard abs someone's going to get you know
I don't know what you think you know blue eyes no you're not going to get long hair if you're bald
you know I'm not talking about things like that. The resurrected body is just referring to the
brightness the glory in which the resurrected body is brought up okay and so you can read that in
first Corinthians chapter 15 but the second thing that we were rewarded for is that God honors us
by ruling and reigning with Christ. Now this is the biggest thing here okay because this is the
major reward that the Bible seems to highlight the most is ruling and reigning with Jesus Christ.
Now why is this important well because of the fact that a lot of Christians today people just in
general like to exercise lordship over people like to be in charge they want to be someone of great
importance and that's not necessarily a bad thing it's just bad if you do it in an unrighteous
manner and in fact according to the Bible we need to follow a biblical formula in order to become
great right and what God is saying here is that part of the reward that you receive for serving
God is that the Lord will honor you at the judgment seat of Christ with power and authority
in other words you will rule and reign with him in that thousand year period you will finally be
the mayor that you want to be you know you maga people will actually you know if you actually do
it right you know what I mean although maybe you maga people will just burn your works will burn
at the judgment seat of Christ but you know you could get you could be the governor become the
mayor you become a magistrate of some sorts because of the works that you did what the Bible is
teaching us here is that we need to look forward to that millennial reign and recognize that our
greatness isn't necessary something that we'll receive here it's something that will be recompensed
unto us in the millennial reign look at Revelation 2 26 it says he that overcometh and keepeth my
works unto the end to him will I give power over the nations to overcome means to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ according to 1st John chapter 5 but it says so if someone is saved and they keep
the works of God until the end meaning you serve God to the end God will give you power what's
another word for power authority over the nations he says in verse 27 and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of my
father the Bible says so what is the Bible telling us here well God's trying to motivate us to serve
him until the very end why because part of the recompense that we receive is authority over
nations now obviously the Bible is not explicit on how this is going to work right you know I
remember my father-in-law used to say like I want to serve God to the very end because I want to be
the mayor of Long Beach in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ and I felt like he said that jokingly
but I but I feel like he was actually serious about it you know like he's just like I'm he
goes I don't care about what's going on in politics or whatever I just want to make sure that I'm the
mayor in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ that's what I'm striving for and although it was said
like tongue-in-cheek I feel like there is some truth to it and again we don't know exactly how
that's going to work right I just know that when I get to the judgment seat of Christ I hope I have
a couple cities that I can rule over I hope that God will honor me with the opportunity to be able
to do so in that millennial reign go to chapter 20 revelation chapter 20 if you would revelation
chapter 20 so what the bible seems to indicate here is that in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ
there's going to be status there's going to be people who are greater than others there's going
to be people who are very important and people who are not to be as important or let me put it
to you this way there's going to be people who are at least in the kingdom of God think about that
and that's straight out of the bible meaning that you will be of very little importance
in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ if you choose not to serve God and you choose to live a
life of disobedience and sin the bible says oh you'll be saved but you'll be the least in the
kingdom of God you'll get an alley that you can sweep up or something okay you'll take over after
the the street sweepers and just mop the floors you're like oh man that sounds a little disrespectful
i mean the bible literally says least in the kingdom of God meaning that you will have no
status no importance and keep in mind folks that we as Christians according to the bible are the
off scouring of this world meaning that we're not important in this world not in the eyes of the
world we're important to God of course but we don't have no level of importance to the people
of this world they don't really care about Christians they don't care about what Christians
believe we are the off scouring of this world but in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ we will
uphold the most important offices during that particular time look at Revelation 20 and verse
four this is talking about the millennial reign it says I saw thrones and they sat upon them
and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness
of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not worshiped the beast neither his image neither
had received the mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ
a thousand years and the key words that I want you to notice there are thrones judgment is given
unto them and it says that they live and reign with Christ for a thousand years what is the
implication here the implication is that the thrones that are being established here are the
thrones of the saints and this is why revelation chapter one describes believers as being priests
and kings in Christ right why are we kings well because according to revelation chapter 20 we
will be sitting on these thrones judging the world and of course reigning with Jesus Christ
now I can get into the specifics as far as what this actually looks like you know this could
potentially be referring to the fact that when we are ruling in reign with Christ in the millennial
reign we are judging people according to the laws of God right because the bible talks about that
we're going to rule with a rod of iron the rod of iron is not just a podcast it's actually referring
to strictness right zero tolerance and so the rod of iron is referring to the fact that you know
everyone on the epstein file will be prosecuted right they will be prosecuted executed speedily
there's no like well we don't need to bring out the doj you know and have them lie to everybody
and you know make excuses as to why the names are redacted the rod of iron refers to the fact that
you've committed a crime worthy of death you know off with his head bring up the next person you
know that's what the rod of iron is referring to okay jesus christ is ruling with the rod of iron
but so are the people who he has instituted as being the rulers in that world they're also
ruling with strictness zero tolerance that's what it's referring to so they are establishing judgment
they are giving judgments to people because you got to keep in mind that during this millennial reign
you not only have believers throughout the world you have unregenerated people throughout this
time as well people who are not saved or maybe people who get saved but they don't have their
resurrected bodies so people are being born into the millennial reign they're dying in the millennial
reign we are essentially organizing the world during this particular time he says in verse five
but the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished this is the first
resurrection blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death
hath no power but they shall be priest of god and of christ and shall reign with him a thousand years
so the implication here is that they're priests we're priests because what's the what's the
obligation of the priest of the old testament to teach the word of god so we're in the millennial
reign teaching the word of god but we're also operating as kings because we're distributing
judgment as well and and so forth go to go to matthew chapter 20 matthew chapter 20 if you
wouldn't matthew chapter 20 i'm going to read you from matthew chapter 9 and verse 19 says
whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so he shall be
called the least in the kingdom of heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall
be called great in the kingdom of heaven so here's a good reality check for all of us
make sure you are instructing people teaching people encouraging people to keep the commandments
of god why because if you're a little compromiser if you're someone who's constantly making excuses
for the bible the controversial verses of the word of god if you're not admonishing people to serve
god you're going to be least in the kingdom of god that's what the bible says because it demonstrates
that you're ashamed of god's word and it demonstrates that you're afraid of what people
might think of you whereas the bible is telling us here if you want to be the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven you better make sure that you're doing and teaching the commandments of god and
look this doesn't this isn't just referring to pastors this is referring to you as well hey dads
this is referring to you as well right because you are teaching your children you are teaching
your spouse you have a sphere of influence and if you are causing your family and those in your
sphere of influence to compromise on the word of god you shall be least in the kingdom of god that's
what the bible says Matthew chapter 20 verse 25 it says in verse 25 but Jesus called him unto him
and said ye know that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are
great exercise authority upon them but it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great
among you let him be your minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant
even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom
for many this is the formula god is saying if you want to be great don't waste being great on being
great in this world be a servant be someone who serves others be someone who serves god
so that you can be chief you can be great you can exercise quote unquote lordship in the millennial
reign okay go to second timothy chapter 2 second timothy chapter 2 second timothy chapter 2 and
then we're going to go to first thessalonians chapter 2 second timothy chapter 2 so what is
the bible telling us here it's telling us that rewards are distributed through the resurrected
body but they're also distributed through authority the honor of ruling and reigning
with jesus christ and it's kind of crazy for me to think about the fact that there's millions and
millions of christians who don't know this a lot of people out there they have no idea this concept
exists in the bible you know they'll go to church every once in a while maybe they'll read the bible
every once in a while but they have no idea what they're missing out on right i mean here is a great
pool of opportunity to be able to earn a substantial reward when we get into the millennia millennial
reign of jesus christ because the bible says that we shall all stand before the judgment seat of
christ and the bible seems to indicate here that a lot of people don't know about this if if a lot
of people know about this we've had more we would have more people serving god there would be more
people preaching the gospel there'd be more people actually active in their local new testament
church first corinthians 924 you're in second timothy chapter 2 first corinthians 924 says no
ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receive at the price so run that ye may obtain
and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things and i want you to listen
now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown but we an incorruptible what is the bible saying here
you know you have these guys online these people in the world who discipline themselves they work
hard at what they do but at the end of the day their laurel crown is going to fade it's going
to be destroyed it is a corruptible crown that will not last forever people work for trophies
they work for the acclamations of this world but that all fades a grammy fades who wants a grammy
anyways it's a stupid record thing all that stuff fades these are the rewards of this world that
don't mean anything and the bible's saying here look don't disregard discipline keep under your
body bring it into subjection why because we're striving for an incorruptible crown and i feel
like what the apostle paul is saying here is like don't let the world out discipline you for their
corruptible crown when we actually are working for an incorruptible crown we should be as
disciplined if not even more in the things of god knowing full well that the reward that we will
receive will never fade away it'll never be destroyed it'll never wax old moth and rust
will never corrupt it we need to make sure that we keep that in mind and you know it's important
for us to recognize how important it is to just be disciplined in the christian life right as people
out there you know don't let the crack hit outwork you right don't let the drug addict outwork you
make sure that you by any means necessary serve god okay discipline yourself keep under your body
be in church read the bible every single day win souls to christ why because you are striving for
the incorruptible crown second timothy 2 and verse 4 says no man that warth entangleeth himself with
the affairs of this life that he may please him who has chosen him chosen him to be a soldier
and if any man also strive for masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully so obviously
the bible is telling us here that if you want a reward you just got to make sure you do it according
to the word of god right you have to strive lawfully if you want to earn this reward go to first
Thessalonians chapter two first Thessalonians chapter two here so again the reward is to rule
in the ring with christ it is the resurrected body we should be disciplined in order to strive for it
we need to make sure that we're doing it according to the word of god and this is why it's important
folks to just read the bible to know what god requires of you to make sure you're not spinning
your wheels now what is the greatest way to earn the gold silver and the precious stones because
why does god even label these rewards as gold silver precious stones to begin with
well think about a crown possesses gold silver and precious stones right so it's obviously the
elements that make up the crowns that we're going to receive now how do we get it well first and
foremost we get it by soul winning and i know that's something that we talk about a lot in
our church but it's true okay absolutely true we know we get it through just serving god at any
capacity but one of the clearest ways that the bible lays out for us to earn a reward
to earn a crown more specifically is by winning souls to christ okay look at first tessalonians
2 verse 19 it says for what is our hope or joy and i want you to notice this or crown of rejoicing
are not even ye in the presence of our lord jesus christ at his coming for ye are our glory and joy
the bible says so the apostle paul is describing the people that he's one into christ as his crown
and folks that's exactly what our converts are to us as well okay the bible says in philippians
chapter 4 verse 1 therefore my brethren dearly beloved and long for my joy and crown so stand
fast in the lord my dearly beloved prophecy 11 verse 30 says the fruit of the righteous is a tree
of life and he that win its souls is wise let me just say this regarding soul winning preaching the
gospel getting people saved you know we got to know what we're talking about here okay a lot of
churches out there they want to talk about evangelism they want to talk about winning souls to christ but
they have no idea what they're doing or don't know what they're doing you know oh yeah i know of a
church that that wins souls to christ oh you mean ray comfort ray comfort doesn't win anybody ray
comfort preaches a false gospel says you have to repent of your sin and live in holiness in order
to be saved you know talking his works aren't going to burn he's going to burn okay and you
know there's churches that are probably well-meaning that love jesus christ that believe in the right
salvation but they don't have a systematic way of preaching the gospel and let me just remind
everyone today tonight preaching the gospel is not just handing out of track it's not preaching the
gospel you want to hand them out of track is it's you handing out a track it's giving literature to
someone that's what jehovah's witnesses do you're not really making a difference with that it's
important for us to realize that because you know unfortunately over the last couple of decades
fundamental baptists have dropped the ball in this area where they have you know relinquished the
the preaching to other groups even though they're preaching a false gospel and all they do is just
hand out tracks a door hanger and they equate that to preaching the gospel that's not preaching the
gospel preaching the gospel is you opening your mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the
gospel and you know what let me just say this preaching the gospel is not just telling people
that god loves you i was able to preach the gospel to thousands of people it's just like what did you
say i told him that jesus loves them that's not the gospel the gospel is the death bearer and
resurrection of jesus christ and you know what yeah god commanded his love toward us and that
while we were yet sinners christ died for us but did you tell him what to do with that information
right you know most people know that god loves them because they already have some some liberal
tell them that it's like common knowledge what do you do with that information we have to talk about
the fact that they're sinners deserving of hell the fact that jesus christ died on the cross to
pay for our sins past present and future small sins big sins and then he resurrected on the
third day to save us and then if we believe on the lord jesus christ we got to use the biblical
terminology here if we believe on the lord jesus christ we can have eternal life and that eternal
life cannot be lost we have to talk about eternal security right you say why are you making such a
big deal about this because the reward is big you know there's a lot of people that think they're
getting that crown of rejoicing but they're not getting anything because they're not getting
anybody saved it's important for us to recognize how to actually preach the gospel to open our
mouths boldly to quote scripture to lead people to the foot of the cross using the word of god
quoting the verses you know aiding people and calling upon the name of the lord and look folks
in this church we believe in the sinner's prayer by the way do you believe in the sinner's prayer
yeah i do yeah you know me asking god to save me and i'm a sinner yeah i guess that's a sinner's
prayer that's what it is what is the sinner's prayer it's a sinner asking god to save him
no i just think if you tell someone to repeat a prayer you know you're giving them a false hope
that they're saved and all this stuff no you're giving them a false sense of hope that they're
saved if you're teaching a workspace salvation get it that people criticize the sinner's prayer
and you know what sometimes it's it's it's you know it's for a right reason because of the fact
that there's people out there that are causing people to just pray a prayer with absolutely
no explanation of the gospel and i don't agree with that either i believe the sinner's prayer
should be followed up or should follow a clear presentation of the gospel where you're interacting
with someone you're asking them questions you're seeing if they understand eternal security you're
showing them verses from the bible and you show them romans 10 9 that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the lord jesus and believe in thine heart that god have raised them from the dead
thou shalt be saved what is the sinner's prayer to confess with your mouth the lord jesus
to call upon the name of the lord to be saved right what am i talking about here if you want
to earn a crown of rejoicing you better be doing it right what better way to learn than you know
coming next sunday and getting a part of the soul winning program and part of the soul winning
training to refine your sword to help you be a better preacher of the gospel so you can earn
the reward and we take over anaheim in the millennial reign okay or wherever you want to
go la or something but riverside corona bible says in daniel 12 verse 2 and they that be wise
shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars
forever and ever and look you know going back to the funeral from yesterday i was encouraged by
that hearing about this guy and he's in his 60s he's he was just constantly thinking about winning
souls to christ and he would always tell his daughters like make sure you follow up on your
converts did you follow up on them did you follow up on them and he's like anytime he would uh
speak to a new client he would ask them hey are you 100 sure that if you die today do you go to
heaven i mean obviously this guy's thinking about souls you know sometimes it's hard to think about
souls all the time right but when you are when you when you keep under your body though when you
discipline yourself you know it becomes a part of your life and one sure way to help you to
earn this crown of rejoicing is by what just recognizing there is a reward for doing this
it'll motivate you to go out and preach the gospel even when you don't feel like it it'll
motivate you to preach to people when you don't feel like it why because there's a reward that
you're going to receive at the judgment seat of christ and let me just say this you know it's
important for us to be thorough in our gospel presentation as well okay now look let me just
spend a little bit of time on this okay i'm gonna do it whether you love me or not but let me just
say this you know obviously there's sometimes people can spend just too much time you know the
genesis to revelation people is like bro you got them lost they were this close now they're lost
again they're you know it's just most of the time is people just want to flex their biblical
knowledge on people and so they just want to spend a large amount of time just talking about
you know we need to be simplistic when we preach the gospel give them enough information for them
to know what's going on and then you know close close it out okay but i do agree that we should
be thorough and what do i mean by thorough meaning that you know you should cover all
the steps clearly being a sinner and look i think in my opinion the point about being a sinner is
just super easy okay we don't you don't have to go the right comfort route and just just destroy
them like you're an adulterer and a full naked you know just just you've broken every single
commandment like bro i get it who's ever keep it the whole law you defend one point is guilty of
all most people that i meet at the door when i say you know you got to recognize they're your
sinner they're like oh yeah i'm a sinner you know we don't need to keep driving that point
thereafter right like for all of a sudden come short of the glory of god you're like yep i'm
a sinner i mean i've even run into people they start listing their sins like all right bro you
know i gotta get all right we don't i gotta know all the you know too much info you know what i mean
but you know i will say though that we need to be thorough we can't breeze over hell we need to
talk about hell talk about eternal security you know go over the pertinent verses that explain
what it means to believe on the lord jesus christ gotta be thorough and part of being
thorough is just asking questions as well and let me just say this for our church because this is
very important okay and i think this is something that we struggle with a lot because you know our
church is so disciplined and just memorizing a script so they can learn how to preach the gospel
they sometimes they don't learn how to read people's body language so they're just like
and they just want to get over their presentation you know you got to kind of interact with people
and i know that's gonna throw your off throw you off on your little script or whatever but you know
what the gospel presentation should come just like naturally and you gotta here here's a good here's
a good tip does that make sense to you you understand what i mean by that and you know what if
they're just like don't be like okay next point like learn how to read body language and let me
say this learn how to read body language if they're not interested i've been with soul
owners where it's just like man this person is just not interested they zoned out a long time ago
and they're not really even listening they're just standing there because they want to be polite
and the soul owner is just like and then also and then also and this is what the bible says
and i'm thinking to myself like we need to move on because this person has tuned out they're not
listening we need to make sure that we understand body language folks you know if a girl's not
interested you should know that she's not interested right i'm trying i'm trying to use you know you
see you guys know what i'm talking about you know what i'm talking about yeah i know you know you
know if a girl's not interested you did the body language to tell you that we know the same thing
with the soul when you're out there souling if a dude's just just like not paying attention he's
like hey what's up bro yeah yeah you know this is what i i don't want to waste my time when i'm out
there you know what i do i was just like all right well let me just leave you that if you have any
questions all information's right there god bless you we'll see you we'll see you later you know and
i walk away he's like yeah but you could have gotten no that person was not interested i'm not
trying to cast my pearls before swine give not that which is wholly unto the dogs don't waste
your time make sure you're using your time wisely learn body language right but be thorough be
thorough make sure you're explaining things and let me just i know we got the soulening training
next week but let me just give some more tips shall we you know don't be rude at the door either
hey you want to listen hey you want to get saved or not i'm not exaggerating by the way hey you want
to get saved or not they're like what all right he he don't want it you know that you want the
gospel or not it's like i'm just like appalled look i'm rude when i'm behind the pulpit because
i'm preaching to my church and i'm preaching the word of god but when i approach a door i approach
with meekness and fear i'm freaking mr rogers when i go to the door you know other than the vans you
know what i mean i'm there with the little i'm just trying to be like the sweetest old man ever
when i'm at the door i am i'm not i'm not there to flex on anybody i mean souls are hanging in the
balance you know and even if they're rude to me i'm not just like well forget you and you know i've
had my moments but just in general though i had a couple flare-ups but in general i do my best to
be as kind and me to the person because i care about those about their soul okay the bible says in second john
nine whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of christ hath not god i'm sorry verse
eight says look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have raw but that we receive
a full reward and i do believe that john is referring to thoroughness here you know he wants
he wants to know that they're actually saved right and this is why we have a culture in our church
of checking on people if they're saved not people have been coming already i'm talking about visitors
that come we approach them are you 100 sure that if you die today you go to heaven we try to give
them the gospel if they're not sure and we try to be as thorough as we possibly can we're not
flexing on people we're just concerned for your soul okay and so it's important for us to realize
that if we're going to be rewarded at the judgment seat of christ the greatest way that you can do
this is by winning people to the lord getting people safe learning how to be a preacher of
the gospel go with me if you would to second timothy chapter four second timothy chapter four
second timothy chapter four don't be rude let me just spend some more time don't be rude at the
door and let me also say this you know if you're new to our church and you're a new soul winner
don't act like you know everything when i say new i'm talking about you've been coming for like
the last year that's a new soul winner to me still don't act like you know everything don't
try to correct people allow your team leader to correct you be humble don't be contentious and
also let me just say this don't be the sort of that like nobody wants to go with you get what
i'm saying don't be the person who's just like i love someone but please don't put me with john
michael i'm just kidding john michael all right let's use john michael you messed up you're in
the front you know please don't put me with john michael like i just i love it's just like but
this guy is just like oh person look as enjoyable as you should be at the door with someone you
should also be an enjoyable soul-winning partner as well where when you get paired with someone
it's just like oh cool like i love going with this guy he's funny he knows how to carry on
the conversation we make good memories together you shouldn't be just just this arrogant prideful
just pompous individual when you're out there okay be someone who people enjoy going with
make it like a memorable thing don't be someone who's just constantly interrupting
and this is by the way this is why we call it a silent partner let me explain to you what a silent
partner does when we're at the door stay silent mute if you have to that means when you're at
the door one person is talking the other person doesn't one person is presenting the gospel the
other person does not interrupt for any reason whatsoever unless it's a brand new soul winner
he's just like can you jump in then you jump in but look folks we're not tag team soul winning here
like you know you're just hey look what i do obviously if i'm going with someone you know
i'll give you an example okay you know my son right now he's learning how to preach the gospel
he's learning how to go soul winning and and he told me he's like dad i want to work on my
introductions this time i'm like okay you know you do the introduction and then you hand them off to
me okay and i'm the pastor of the church so like i could become very critical when someone is
speaking at the door and i could just be like what he really means is this you know but you know
my son was at the door he knocked on the door the person came out and he's like hi i'm from
first works baptist church you know just want to give you this invite to our church he's like do
you go to church anywhere and the guy's like yeah i go to some christian church you know down the
street or something and and then my son said like well the bible says more important than going to
church which obviously it doesn't say that you know the bible says that more important to go to
church just know where you're gonna know um know where you the bible and he was just you know he
was kind of struggling and my natural inclination is just to be like what he means is you know just
kind of shove him out the way or whatever let me take over from here son you know i got it from here
but i just i just stood and the guy was just like staring at my son the whole time he's just like
bro it's patient okay but my son's like more important more and i'm thinking to myself like
get it out it's like knowing where you're gonna go when you die you know and the guy's like actually
i don't and he's like well we can show you can i can we spend some time and just show you what
the bible says about that and the guy's like sure he's like dad and he just handed it off and the
guy ended up getting saved you know but here's the thing like that's an extreme example right
where my son was just like he wasn't stuttering but he was just he's struggling a little bit this
is his first time right but you know what even even at that moment i still didn't interrupt him
i still wasn't like what i get for letting you know just like just getting on him or something
you know i wasn't i just let him because you know he's got to learn he's got to learn and i just
stood there behind him and i'm just listening to him and the guy just listening to him and you know
what the guy ended up getting saved so look folks if i could do that to my nine-year-old you can do
it to your soul-winning partner who's a grown adult unless your partner looks at you and says
can you just jump in real quick because i'm kind of struggling then jump in but you know what you're
not the soul-winning guru in our church just wait and you know what after you're done if if you know
if he says like hey you should've jumped in you just say you know what pastor says we shouldn't
jump in and interrupt or whatever and so if you want me to just look at me you know hand it off
to me and i'll do it next time because because here's the thing folks again we don't want tag
team soul-winning we there's a couple years ago who came to visit our church they're not members
of our church they came to visit our church and they had this entire like i'm skippy i'm so and
so you know and just like and we're here you know they would have this entire it's like a newlywed
couple who's doing this no gimmicks we're there to present the gospel your soul winning partner
is a silent partner he's there to be silent she's there to be silent and to pray not out loud just
you know quietly lord please open the heart of this person so that they can receive the gospel
and you know what you're attentive if your soul winning partner needs you he can look at you she
can look at you and say can you jump in and you jump right in okay anyways i don't want to steal
my thunder for next week but this is important amen the second crown we see the crown obviously
and the crown of of soul winning the fact that you can earn a reward by getting people saved but
then the bible talks about the crown of righteousness and i personally believe that the
crown of righteousness is synonymous with the crown of life okay in times past i used to kind
of separate the two but i do believe that these are actually one and the same look at second
tippity four six it says for i am now ready to be offered and the time of my departures at hand
i have fought a good fight i've finished my course i've kept the faith henceforth there is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day
and not to me only but into all them also that love his appearing now turn one three if you would
to revelation chapter two again go to revelation chapter two here we have the crown being referred
to as the crown of righteousness and the apostle paul says that it's given to those who love his
appearing but he's he's addressing it in the context of him being offered like he's ready to die
he's ready to meet the lord and then he says henceforth is there laid up for me a crown of
righteousness okay now you're in revelation too i'm going to reach you from james chapter one
in verse 12 it says blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall
receive a crown of life which the lord has promised to them that love him so the crown of life in
james chapter one seems to indicate that it's given to those who love him the crown of righteousness
in second timothy is given to those who love his appearing and they're both tied into what enduring
until the end right look at revelation two verse eight unto the angel of the church at smirna right
these things say the first and the last which was dead and is alive i know thy works in tribulation
and poverty but thou art rich i know the blasphemy of them which say they are jews and are not but
are of the synagogue of satan fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold the devil
shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried and ye shall have tribulation in ten days
be thou faithful unto death and i will give thee a crown of life so revelation two describes this
crown as the crown of life james one describes it as a crown of life it's synonymous with loving
is appearing loving god but also enduring and here we see that it's given to those who are
faithful unto death i submit to you that the crown of life is given to those who just finish their
christian life all the way until the end whether you're killed or not whether you're martyred or
not because quite frankly this people used to say well the crown of life is only given to martyrs
but not everyone's going to be a martyr the crown of life is just given to anybody who endures the
christian life all the way to the end you're like well that's like easy though compared to like the
martyr oh actually it's not it's actually not easy to serve god to the very end there's plenty
of christians who have served god for decades and just quit that's a fact and you know what i dare
say that there are many of you in here god forbid that we would be included in that that are not
going to finish they're not going to finish they're not going to finish strong god forbid that should
happen but you know what the law of number says that many will not finish to the very end and
because of that they will not receive a crown of life that crown of righteousness some people like oh
man my dream is just to be a martyr you know and just to die for my faith well let's let's get you
living for your faith first let's get you dying daily first let's get you to be a living sacrifice
first because let's just be honest i think it's actually easier to die for our faith because once
we die this is done we're going home but living for our faith is a different story because we have
to die daily we have to like be a living sacrifice wholly acceptable into god we have to crucify the
flesh every single day and we got to do that every single day of our lives until we die
the bible says that the person who endures into the very end gets the crown of life look at
uh revelation chapter 3 if you would revelation chapter 3 by the way fun fact here later on in
revelation chapter 2 or i'm sorry in act chapter 7 we have the martyrdom of steven right steven is
one of the first deacons in act chapter 7 he's preaching the word of god against the jews the
jews end up killing him well steven means crown it's actually his name actually literally means
crown so it's kind of it's it's it's uh interesting that his name means crown he's essentially like
the first martyr as well he's a martyr he was faithful unto death therefore crown received a
crown in other words right look at revelation chapter three in verse number nine it says behold
i will make them of the synagogue of satan which say they are jews and are not but do lie
behold i will make them to come and worship before thy fee and to know that i have loved thee
because i was kept the word of my patience i will also keep thee from the hour of temptation which
shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth behold i come quickly hold
that fast which thou hast that no man take thy what is saying like you need to be steadfast
unmovable always abounding in the work of the lord because if people cause you to get out of church
get out of the will of god to get out of serving god that's like someone taking your crown so look
don't be offended from the preaching don't allow some offense in church to get you out of church
don't allow some bitterness or some grudge or something that happened to you in church to get
you out of serving god because basically that equates to being robbed of your crown and i
promise you there's people out there who just stopped going to church because they're bitter
angry they're upset they don't like their pastor they were bitter at someone in the church and
instead of actually reconciling that situation instead of actually forgiving forgetting and just
being kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as god for christ's sake has
forgiven you they get out of church and guess what someone just took their crown i don't want
anybody to take my crown so you know what offend me i'm not leaving i'm not leaving i'm gonna keep
serving god i'm gonna keep doing what i'm doing and you know what lord willing and i know the lord
is willing but hopefully i just stick this out into the end because i don't want anybody to take
my crown okay and you should think that way you know when you're discouraged you're like oh i'm
not gonna go back to church i just don't like this and it's just so hard okay then just just give me
your crown then go ahead and turn in your crown then because that's basically what you're doing
you're relinquishing your crown of life your crown of righteousness the last crown is the
crown of glory and i'm not going to spend too much time on this first peter chapter five talks
about the elders who are rulings referring to the pastors and it says in verse four of first peter
chapter five when the chief shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not
away so this is a specific crown designated for pastors excuse me for pastors and of course we
see that they have to feed the flock of god and fulfill the obligations that are laid out here
but apparently there's an important crown given to those who pastor the church to the very end
with these particular qualifications in first peter chapter five what is the point of the sermon
the point of the sermon is this you know it's it's great and it's enjoyable to serve god but
sometimes it's not and when it's not you need to remember that there's a reward waiting for you
okay you know we have to just be reminded of eternity and quite frankly lord willing you know
we will all be here by the end of the year but it's possible that some of us might not be here
you know and with that in mind you need to make sure that you recognize like man i need to give
it my all like today i need to like serve god today i need to make sure that i'm like doing my
best to win souls to christ today or learn to win souls to christ doing my best to teach my family
i'm doing my best to serve in my church i'm doing my best to just honor god with my life because
life is but a vapor you could be gone and you know what once once you're dead it's clock out
time you know the night cometh when no man can work you know when the night is is when you die
you know for my friend brother bobby it was it's clock out time night came you know he finished
his shift this is over he's in heaven right now he's praising god you know he is seeing everything
that his pastors have taught him about heaven about eternity everything that he lived up for
it's like it's there now but you know one thing i could say about brother bobby he was ready
don't waste your life and i think this is an important message especially for your young
people don't waste it make sure you're serving god give it your all and you know what if you're in
your 20s spend your 20s just just serving god as hard as you can you won't regret it you know spend
your strength serving god spend your talents serving the lord spend your resources serving god
just give it your all don't wait until you're 30 don't wait until you're 40 or 50 or 60 to
serve god do it now remember your creator in the days of your because quite frankly guess what
40s is not promised to you neither is your 30s tomorrow isn't even promised this could be very
well my last sermon never know and so let's serve god let's pray father we thank you so much for
your word pray that lord you to help us to live with with eternity in mind help us to earn these
rewards lord and we know the the reward is with you and you're coming to give to every man
according as his work shall be lord thank you for the saints who went home to be with the lord lord
this this this year and those who have finished their course i pray that you'd help us to finish
strong as well bless us lord help us as your people to make preaching the gospel a priority
in our lives to serve god to serve our families our spouses our children our brothers and sisters
in christ to seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and i pray that you'd help us to be
more eternally minded this week in jesus name we pray amen please turn your song books to song
number 63 song number 63 what a day that will be number 63 all together nice and strong in that
that first verse.
♪ There is God ♪
♪ Shall come ♪
Missed.