(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Good morning. Let's take your song book to song number 429. Song number 429. Hawk the Herald Angel. Angels sing. Song number 429. Hawk the Herald Angel. Hawk the Herald Angel. Angels sing. Glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild. God and sinners reconciled. Joyful all ye nations rise. Join the triumph of the skies. Let the deadly host proclaim. Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hawk the Herald Angel sing. Glory to the newborn King. Christ by highest heaven born. Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold Him come. Offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh on Godhead's sea. Hail regarded deity. Please ascend with men to dwell. Jesus our Emmanuel. Hawk the Herald Angel sing. Glory to the newborn King. Hail the devil Prince of Peace. Hail the Son of Righteousness. Light and blind to all He brings. Christ with healing in His face. Proud He lays His glory high. Born death and blue for mankind. Born to praise the sons of earth. Born to share the second birth. Hawk the Herald Angel sing. Glory to the newborn King. Come desire the nation's God. Praise to God thy humble home. Rise above the talk'ring sea. Cruising us the serpent's hand. Adam's likeness now in vain. Send thy image in its place. Send an Adam from above. Reinstall us in thy love. Hawk the Herald Angel sing. Glory to the newborn King. Song number 420. There's a song in the air. There's a star in the sky. There's a mother's deep prayer. And the babies so cry. And the star ranges high. While the beautiful sing. For the nature of grand flood and cradles are clean. There's a trombone of joy. For the wonderful birth. For the virgin sweet boy. Is the Lord of the earth. But his courage is far. While the beautiful sing. For the nature of grand flood and cradles are clean. In the light of death's star. By the ages in birth. And the storm from afar. As time over the room. That we have his of faith. In the beautiful sing. In the homes of the nations. Where Jesus is King. Rejoice in the vine. And we echo the song. That comes out through the night. Of the heaven we walk. I shout to the lovely. The angel may bring. And we greet him his way. Our Savior and King. All right, good morning, everyone. Thanks for being here. As we hand out the bulletins, we'll go through the announcements together. First of all, you can see that we opened up the new side of our auditorium here. And so we're still kind of getting settled into that area. But you can see how everything came out really well. We have a lot more space now to expand and keep on bringing people in. And in the new year, we're really going to fill this place up. Amen. Now on the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 630. And Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in Jeremiah 36. We have the soul winning times listed below. As well as salvations, baptisms, and offering totals. Across the page, we have the church yearbooks in. And we've ordered enough for everyone to receive one per household. All right? So we're just going to give out one per household. So let me just have some men come up and help out with distributing these. They're going to come down through the aisles and make sure that everybody gets one. So make sure that you get one. If they don't get you one, you know, raise your hand and wave at them. And we just want to do one per household and get these all out the door to make sure that there's enough for everyone. So as those yearbooks are being handed out, you're going to look at those after the service, right? Not while I'm preaching. If my sermon gets a little boring, you're going to be just leaping through the yearbook. But anyway, below that, we've got the details on the cookie bake-off. This is an activity that we're going to be doing on next Sunday night. Christmas actually falls on a Sunday. So we're going to have our normal morning and evening services. We don't cancel church services for the birth of Christ, right? And then on Sunday night after the service, we're going to have cookies and hot cocoa. And there's also going to be a contest for the best Christmas cookies. So we want everybody who can to bring homemade Christmas cookies. And we'll have a fun little contest. We'll eat the cookies, we'll drink the hot cocoa, and enjoy Christmas together. That's a pretty good service to invite people to as visitors on that Sunday night, because a lot of people have plans for Christmas morning, maybe afternoon, but they may not have anything going on in the evening, and they want to keep riding that Christmas wave, you know? They don't want it to be over yet, right? Tell them, hey, there's one more place to go, you know, 6.30 down at Faith Forward Baptist. We're going to have a preaching on the Christmas story, and we're going to have cookies and hot cocoa. So that's a pretty good service to bring visitors to next Sunday night. On the back, we've got the note about Christmas caroling. This is tomorrow night. So don't forget, it's already here. Tomorrow night at 5.30, who's planning on participating with this? All right, so just show up here at 5.30, and we'll break into a couple of teams. The teams are going to be big, like about 20 people plus. So you don't have to be shy or anything. You can fade to the back if you're shy. We're going to go door-to-door Christmas caroling. Meet here at 5.30. We'll get you organized and sent out. And to prepare for that, you can start learning the songs, Joy to the World and Oh Come All Ye Faithful, getting those down. Also, we still have some of the Christmas music CDs left that we made, the congregational-style singing of 16 Christmas hymns. Those are back on the shelf. Everything is free back there. If anybody tries to sell you something back there, it's a fraud, all right, because we never sell anything. It's all free. DVDs, CDs, flash drives, music CDs, everything back on that shelf is free to a good home. So go ahead and take those and enjoy them. There's a few left. Below that, we've got the Bible memory passage. We're working on memorizing the whole chapter of Psalm 46. Who's working on memorizing this? Put up your hand, nice and high. All right, very good. Just a couple more weeks to go. And then below that, we have the wedding announcement for Caleb and Jenny. That wedding is coming up on January 7th. Be sure to RSVP if you're planning on coming. And everyone is invited, okay? We're not just saying that. We really want everybody to come that can come. It's a great time of fellowship and edification for the whole church at these weddings. And so there's going to be a reception and a wedding and everything like that. That's about it for announcements. One more announcement. Not this Wednesday night, but next Wednesday night, there's going to be a meeting for all those who help clean the church. So if you are one who helps clean the church already, or if you are one who would like to get involved and volunteer to help clean the church, that's going to be not this Wednesday night, but next Wednesday night, okay? And that's going to be right after the service over in this area. There will be some refreshments and a meeting organizing those who want to help out with cleaning. So if you're already doing it, or if you want to get involved helping out with some of the cleaning, be sure to be at that meeting. A week from Wednesday, put it in your calendar or however you organize things. And we'll remind you about it again as it gets closer. Yes? The Monday night soul winning will be canceled due to the heroin. Okay, so this Monday night's soul winning time, okay, now does that go for, what about your soul winning? Okay, so Charlie Jeffrey's soul winning time in North Phoenix is still on, okay? So if you want to go soul winning tomorrow night, Brother Baker's time is going to be canceled due to the caroling, but Brother Jeffrey's time is still available up at the North Phoenix location on Cactus off the I-17. All right, let's go ahead and introduce our first time visitors. If you're here for the first time, we just want to quickly get your name and where you're from. So go ahead and stand. If it's your first time, we'll just quickly get your name and where you're from. Yes, sir? Kenton from Atlanta. Kenton from Atlanta. Great to have you. Yes? Kevin from Tennessee. All right, great to have your brother. Very good. And then in the back. Anthony, my wife, Ashley. I'm three boys from Clarksville, Tennessee. All right, great to have you from Tennessee. Yes? I'm Jocelyn from San Antonio. Good to have Jocelyn from San Antonio. I met you at one of the soul winning marathons, right? Which one was it? Boston. Boston, right. Yes? Dane from Corpus Christi, Tennessee. All right, great to have you all the way from Corpus Christi. Anybody else here for the first time today? Did I miss anybody? Help me out? All right, very good. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Song number 220. Song number 220. I'm sorry, 230. Song number 230. Heavenly Sunlight. Song number 230. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Heavenly Sunlight. Alright, this time we'll go ahead and pass our offering plates around and as the plates go around let's turn our Bibles to Revelation chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22 and my wife mentioned to me that I guess there was in the past that cleaning meeting had tentatively been at 530 today. So some people thought that it was going to be today at 530. It's not going to be. no meeting today at 5.30, it's a week from Wednesday night, just to make that really clear because there was a little bit of confusion about that because it had tentatively been on a different time. Revelation chapter 22, and as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. You can follow along silently with Brother Garrett as he reads revelation chapter 22, starting in verse number 1. Revelation chapter 22, the Bible reads, and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. There shall be no night there, and they need no candle, nor the light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessest he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I, John, saw these things and heard them, and when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous let him be righteous still, and he that is holy let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. And the spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hear say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto him these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the prophecy, words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifies these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Brother Craig, would you please pray for us? My brother God, as we open up our year, let us all be satisfied by the preaching. Amen. Amen. Revelation 22, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is there in verse number 12 where the Bible reads, And behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. And the title of the sermon this morning is rewards for serving Christ, rewards for serving Christ. Now, if you would turn to John chapter four, first of all, John chapter four, and here's what we're going to talk about this morning in the sermon. Number one, why will we be rewarded? Number two, how do we earn rewards? Number three, when do we receive these rewards? And number four, what will these rewards be? Look at John chapter four. Let's start with the first question. Why will we be rewarded? Why would God reward us? Why would Jesus Christ reward us? He's already done so much for us and what we do for him is so small in comparison. Why do we deserve to get a reward? Why would we get that? Well, look down at your Bible at John chapter four verse 34. The Bible reads, Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Say not either four months, yet four months, and then cometh harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. So everyone should probably know the famous verse. At least 99% of us probably know the famous verse in Romans 6 23 that says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's one of the most famous verses in the Bible. And also when we give the gospel to someone, when we win them to Christ, that's one of the main verses that we would show people. That's one of the staples of the Romans road. And so a lot of people know that verse for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So we see from that verse that eternal life itself is not a wage. It's not a reward. It's not something that we earn. It's actually given to us as a free gift. Now death is something that we earn. The wages of sin is death. We earn that punishment of death and hell, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So if our salvation is a free gift, that means we don't have to pay for it. We don't have to work for it. We don't have to earn it in any way. Now look down at your Bible there in John 4 36. It says he that reapeth receiveth wages. Now if we get the context here about the fields being white unto harvest, what he's talking about is lost souls. They need to be saved, right? Seeds need to be planted. Those seeds need to be watered, and then God's going to give that increase when a harvest of souls is brought to the Lord. When a person is one to Christ, that's the reaping that takes place. The Bible says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. Well, the Bible says that those reapers he that reapeth he that goeth out and and wins people to Christ. The Bible says that he receiveth wages and gatherth fruit unto life eternal. You see, once we're saved, we have eternal life. Jesus said verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. So we've already received that gift of eternal life. We will live forever. Jesus said whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. But we have the opportunity while on this earth to work for the Lord and receive wages and gather fruit unto eternal life. The, you know, the wages are not eternal life, the gift of God's eternal life, but the wages are rewards that we earn unto eternal life. You see, if I were to go out and physically farm some land, I'm going to gather fruit and I'm going to earn wages, but none of that's going to go with me onto the next life, is it? That's just going to be for temporary life here on this earth. If I go out and make money, if I bring in crops, I can enjoy those now in this life, but I can't take any of it with me. But when we go out and win souls unto the Lord, when we go out and work hard for the Lord, we can actually gather fruit unto life eternal and receive wages that will last forever. The Bible says lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal for where your treasure is there where your heart be also. So the Bible is clear that we can't take anything with us. We brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead. As the saying goes, you can gather fruit unto life eternal by doing spiritual works for the Lord, but why will we be rewarded? Here's the answer. Why? Because salvation is a free gift and if salvation is a free gift, the works that we do for the Lord are not somehow paying off that debt of salvation. See, God doesn't want us to take any credit for our salvation. He will not share his glory with another. Jesus gets all the glory for salvation. Salvation is a totally free gift. Now, if somebody gave me a free gift, right? And then I went over to their house and did some work for them. And then I said, okay, here's the bill for the work that I've done. And they said, well, wait a minute. I already gave you that gift. Remember? Wouldn't that make it seem like the gift wasn't really a gift at that point? See, God just wants to make it really clear that this is a free gift. So he says, not only am I giving you salvation as a totally free gift purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ, purchased by his death, burial and resurrection, but then if you do work for me after that, just to make sure you don't think that you had any part in earning your salvation either before, during or after, I'm going to give you wages for that. I'm going to reward you for that. Just to make sure you realize that the works you did after salvation had nothing to do with your salvation. You see, you don't work to get saved. You don't work to stay saved. It's not of works, lest any man should boast. That's why we're going to be rewarded because God pays his workers. And the free gift is totally separate from that. God pays his workers. Okay, so how do we earn rewards? Go if you would to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter number 10. How do we earn these rewards? I want to be rewarded. I'd like to get in on this wage program where I can gather fruit unto eternal life and have wages up in heaven that will never be moth eaten or corrupted. They'll never be stolen or taken away from me. You know, I'd like to earn some treasures in heaven. So how do we earn rewards? Well, there are actually a lot of different ways, according to the Bible, that we can earn rewards. Now, obviously, the first most obvious is through winning souls to Christ because that's what we just saw in John chapter 4, right? Winning souls to Christ. That's a major way that we can earn rewards, but it's not the only way that we can earn rewards. That's number one. But number two, we can actually earn rewards by serving those who preach and who go soul winning. Look, if you would, at Matthew 10 verse 40. Jesus, as he sent them out to go and preach and teach two by two in the villages, he said in verse 40, he that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. So it's not just the prophet who receives reward. It's also the one who receives the prophet. He can receive a prophet's reward. And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. So the Bible specifically talks about people being rewarded for basically receiving them. And if you get the context, it's talking about having them come in your house and eat a meal with you. You know, taking care of their needs, giving them hospitality basically, giving them water to drink, giving them food to eat, giving them a place to rest. He said you will receive a reward for that. Go to Mark chapter 9 and you'll see something very similar in Mark chapter number 9. So this could also be encouraging for those busy wives and mothers as well who don't have as much time to do as much soul winning as the men might do. Now listen, let me make this very clear. I believe that soul winning is for everybody, including women and children. Man, woman, boy and girl. In Acts chapter 2, that great chapter where so many people are saved when they're preaching the gospel to all the people who've come to the day of Pentecost, you know, it says that the women were there as well. And he said your men and women shall prophesy and the young men and the handmaidens, the spirit will be poured upon them and that they would prophesy and preach the gospel. Paul said help those women which labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life. So there are lots of examples in the Bible where soul winning is not just for men, it's for women, it's for all ages, young and old, to share the gospel, to preach the gospel to every creature. But obviously there are some people who have to stay by the stuff and hold down the fort in the sense that they have to, you know, raise the children, they have to cook the meals, they have to take care of the house. They're not going to have as much time as the men would if they're in that situation, right? If you think about a pastor, obviously, you know, I'm serving God the whole time in the sense of doing a lot of preaching, a lot of soul winning, whereas my wife does go soul winning but she also has to keep my operation going. She's got to keep me fed and keep my clothes clean and keep the house going and raise my kids and do everything else. So it's not that God's just going to say to her, well, sorry, the only rewards for soul winning. See, if you're part of that support crew, there's a reward for that. There's a blessing for feeding and housing and clothing and watering the soul winners. That's part of the the team right there. Also, even amongst men, different men are going to have more time to serve God in the capacity of preaching and soul winning than others. You know, some men might work 80 hours a week. Another single dude might have like a 25 hour a week job, no wife, no kids. Yeah, he's got a lot more time to get out there and do the soul winning and that's great. He can go out and do the soul winning and earn rewards. But, you know, God doesn't just reward us for soul winning. He actually rewards us for a lot of different works that we do as Christians, a lot of things that we do. Go, if you would, to Mark 9 41 where I had you turn. It says, for whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. So serving the servants of Christ also does earn a reward. Go, if you would, to Matthew chapter five, Matthew chapter number five. Now, I do believe that every single person should be involved in soul winning with whatever ability they have, whatever time they do have to carve out some time. I do believe that it's a good thing for perhaps a husband to watch the kids so that his wife can get out and do a little bit of soul winning. Okay. And I do that for my wife. If she wants to go out soul winning, then I would stay home, watch the kids, let her do that. And you say, well, what's the difference, pastor? Why don't you just go out and do the soul winning, you know, and just have her be the always at home with the kids. Well, because I want her to also enjoy the blessing of doing the soul winning herself. And I want her to also stay in practice on soul winning and be good at soul winning. Why? Because she has all kinds of connections in her life with different homeschool moms that she's friends with, food co-ops, different social circles that she runs in. And I want her to be an effective soul winner so that when she's in those circles, she can win somebody Christ. Well, here's how you get good at soul winning by going out and doing it. You know, so you don't want to get out of that habit and you don't want to get rusty on your soul winning because you're only given the gospel once a month or once every six months. So I do believe it's important to get the women, to get the children involved out. So my teenage children, you know, they go soul winning and they love it and they're winning souls to Christ. But here's the thing about that though. You know, we don't want to sit there and look down on somebody because they're not doing as much soul winning because they have a different life situation. You can't expect the mother of nine to do the same soul winning as the single. It just doesn't make any sense. And you know what? God's not going to penalize the mother of six or the mother of nine or the mother of a newborn that she has to stay home and suckle. God's not going to penalize her for obeying him and being fruitful and multiplying and being a blessing to her husband and raising the children and being a homemaker. You know what? That's God's work too. That's God's work too. Now we all want to preach the gospel because that's something that we can all be involved in, but we don't want to get into the trap of thinking that's the only way that we serve the Lord. And I've seen people fall into this trap where they will literally neglect family, neglect other responsibilities, neglect their secular job. Even as men neglect being a breadwinner because, Oh, I got to go out and serve the Lord. But wait a minute, God's called us to do all these different things and soul winning is one of them. And I do think it's the most important and it's the main thing, but it's not the only thing. I mean, I remember when I was in Bible college preacher getting up and saying, this guy got up and preached and said that we shouldn't have too many kids because it's going to hold us back from all the soul winning we could be doing or whatever, but that's very foolish. And it's leaning upon your own understanding instead of trusting in the Lord. Okay. Because if I and my wife can raise godly children, and if we get raised 10 of them, then they can do 10 times as much as one person could do. Cause there's 10 of them. So if we would actually follow God's plan and raise up a next generation, then the works will continue even after we're dead and gone. So don't downplay the role of motherhood. Don't downplay the role of being a father and a parent. You know, we need to make sure that we stay balanced in our Christian lives and don't just go overboard saying all that matters is soul winning. You know, that's the only reward. Well, is that biblical? No. The Bible says that if you serve and water and feed and receive the preachers and the prophets of the Lord and the servants of God, there's a reward for that as well. What else is there a reward for? Well, according to the Bible, not only is there a reward for soul winning, not only is there a reward for those, for serving those and being a support crew to those who do the work of the Lord and the soul winning and the preaching, but also there's a reward for enduring persecution. Look at Matthew five verse 11 and look, all of these points are all very biblically based. I just went to the Bible and just looked up, okay, what do you get rewards for? And that's what I'm preaching this morning. What I found, not like I made a list of things and said, all right, let's see if the Bible will back this up. You know, we got to go to the Bible and figure out what the answers are. And that's what I'm giving you this morning. Matthew five 11 says this blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. So here is a reward for being reviled. That's when people would verbally criticize you. You get a reward for being persecuted and you get a reward for being lied about when men will say all manner of evil against you falsely for Christ's sake. If they lie about you because you're a Christian, because you're serving the Lord, your reward is great in heaven. Go ahead and turn to Philippians chapter four. While you're turning there, I'll give you another scripture that promises a reward to those who are persecuted. Revelation 2 10 says fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and you shall have tribulation 10 days. Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life. That's a promise of reward to those who are faithful unto death, those who go to prison, those who are persecuted. But not only that, number four, there is a reward for those who give God will reward those who give. Look at Philippians chapter four. We're going to look at a few different kinds of giving. Philippians chapter four, verse 15 says, now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only for even in Thessalonica, ye sent once and again unto my necessity, not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. Now that right there says that if we give unto someone who is preaching the gospel, winning souls, if we give unto them that their fruit will abound to our account, meaning that we will receive a partial reward for the fruit that they want to the Lord. See, the Bible is telling us number one will be rewarded for gathering the harvest ourselves and being a soul winner. Number two will be rewarded for serving those who serve Christ and being that support crew of their physical earthly needs. Number three, we will receive a reward also for enduring persecution. Number four will receive a reward for giving, right? Giving to those who do the work of the Lord, providing the financial and physical means and that's pretty similar to point two about giving them water, giving them food, receiving them into your house and so forth, but also just giving unto them, sending them money. He says you will also have fruit abounding to your account. Not only that, but look what the Bible says in verse 18, but I have all in abound. I am full having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. So when we see the Philippians generously giving unto the Apostle Paul and his preaching and soul winning ministry, when they gave to him, not only did they get fruit abounding to their account, but then they also get a promise from God that says that God would supply all their need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Go to Luke chapter six. I'm going to show you another kind of giving. So the first kind of giving that we saw was giving unto the work of the Lord, giving unto a preacher, a missionary, a prophet, a soul winner. Okay, but also we are rewarded for giving unto the poor, for relieving the poor, forgiving to meet the needs of people who are down on their luck, that don't have the money to provide their needs. Look at Luke chapter six verse 34. The Bible says, And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. You know, the bank will do that. But love ye your enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the highest. For he is kind unto the unthankful, unto the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Go to Matthew chapter six. So when we lend unto people that aren't going to pay us back, when we give unto the poor, the Bible says, He that pitieth the poor, he that giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord, and that God will pay them back. Paraphrasing that. But when we give unto people that are going through hard times, when we give alms to the poor, when we show mercy unto those that are suffering, there's a reward for that, the Bible says. That the reward will be of our Father in heaven. Our reward will be great. Look at Matthew six one. Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly. So how do we receive rewards? Not only by giving to the work of the Lord, but also if we would give alms. Now alms is not the same as tithing, or giving to the church, or giving an offering to a missionary, or supporting a preacher or a soul winner. That's not what alms means. Alms is when you give to the poor. That's what it means consistently if you study the Bible. This is a separate issue, giving to the poor. When we give to the poor, the Bible should not let our left hand know what our right hand doeth. Because if we make a big show of it, if we do our righteousnesses to be seen of men, whether it's praying, fasting, or alms, those three things are covered in this passage, we have no reward of our Father which is in heaven. Now he doesn't say you'll get a partial reward. He didn't say, well, you'll lose some of the reward, but you'll still get something. No, no, no. In order to earn this reward for giving to the poor, it has to be done secretly. It cannot be done openly. Now a lot of people will twist this and say that when you give to church, that has to be done secretly. That is not taught in the Bible. They'll say, oh, any kind of tithes or offering, giving to the church, giving to missions, that should all be done secretly. That's unbiblical, actually, because in the Bible, in the early church, many times they walked and laid it at the apostles' feet. That's not exactly secretive. The Bible says when you give alms, you do it in secret. So some churches have criticized, you know, the passing of the plate and said, well, hey, you know, you're passing the plate. No, no, no. That's unbiblical. If you want, you can come lay it up here. I think passing the plate works better. But the point is, it's not too open to pass a plate. Passing the plate is less open than walking up and putting it in a box. And some churches do that, where you walk up and put it in a box. Everybody lines up and puts it in the box, you know. But the point being, you don't want to confuse these two things. There's giving to church and there's giving to the poor, and they both give a reward. But you know what I've noticed a lot about people who give to the poor? They like to brag about it. Not because they care for the poor, but because they're like Judas. They're thieves and liars and frauds. See, many people pretend to care for the poor. Judas pretended to care about the poor. And the Bible told us that Judas Iscari did not care for the poor, but that rather, he had the bag and held what was there in. You see, you have a lot of people out there that are these multi-millionaire types, and they do all this charity. Look, they have no reward. Because they're constantly bragging about it and talking about everything they're doing. And many times they have very evil intentions. Many times the money that's donated lines their pockets, and very little of it even makes it to the poor. And many of these foundations will give 90% of it to their own pockets and their own salaries and their own workers. And a small percentage of it actually makes it to Africa or wherever. You know, Bono is notorious for this with his one foundation, supposedly doing all this great work in Africa. Millions and millions donated to his charity. 97% of it goes to just his and the people around him's salary. 3% of it goes to Africa when people donate. 97% goes to his. And all they do over there is just tell people, hey, you can still screw around and not get AIDS. Here's the tools to do so. That's wicked. You want to end AIDS? The Bible teaches that people need to be pure and get married and keep the only unto him or her so long as they both shall live. And if one man and one woman get married for life, you wouldn't have AIDS spreading all over the place. They need to be taught what we need in Africa are a bunch of hellfire and damnation preachers preaching against fornication and adultery and sodomy. Okay, that'll get things under control. When you have people losing their virginity as teenagers and going around, sleeping around, that's where all this disease is coming from. And Bono doesn't want to address that because he's a liar and a fraud and he's wicked, that's why. Bono, so you know, is the lead singer of U2. All right, one of the most popular rock bands of all time. But he's real big on this stuff, okay. So the point is, when we give alms, and look, I'm all for giving alms, you know, when people need help. Now, I'm not forgiving money to drug addicts. I'm not forgiving money to lazy people who are refusing to work. The Bible talks about the right, what was that? You used to be a priest, how does the verse go? The righteous considerth the... Yeah, here, quote it real loud, into the mic. The righteous considerth the cause of the poor, but the wicked... He doesn't want to know it, is that right? Considerth not to know it, is that what you had at the first? Yeah, put him on the spot there. Yeah, the righteous man considerth the cause of the poor. The wicked man, you know, he doesn't desire to know it. He doesn't want to know it. Everybody's looking up on their smartphone, trying to get the exact wording on that. But the point is, you know, yeah, we should consider the cause of the poor. Yeah, we should want to help the poor, but not just blindly hand money to every derelict, who's lazy, who's on drugs, who doesn't want to work, because the Bible says if man will not work, neither should he eat. And also, when we're doing alms, the Bible says that we should do good unto all men, but especially unto those that are of the household of faith. And when you see the Apostle Paul taking up collections for the poor, he says, I was doing it for the poor saints at Jerusalem. Right? So we should always strive to help our brothers and sisters in Christ first. You know, if you know of a saved believer who needs help, helping them is a priority. But when we do it, we shouldn't make a big show out of it. Sometimes we need to just do it anonymously. You know what I mean? Where we just leave it for them, send it to them, and make it anonymous. And don't let anybody know who it was from. Or if we give it to them directly, let them know, hey, don't tell anybody about this. This is just for you. And we don't go around brag about it. We don't sound a trumpet about it. Giving is another way to receive award. Whether we give to the Lord's work, or whether we give unto the legitimately poor and in need, those who are handicapped, those who are poor, those who are experiencing a hard time. But let's move on. Number five. Go to First Corinthians chapter three. First Corinthians chapter three. Quick review. What do we get rewarded for? Soul winning. Serving those who do the preaching and soul winning, their physical needs, being that support crew. Enduring persecution. Giving. And also, fifthly, any work, any work that we do for the Lord, we receive a reward. Any work. Because the Bible says in Colossians 3 23, whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. So any good works that we do, any good works we do, besides those that we just specifically outlined, any good deeds that we do as Christians, any good works that we do, whether unto the Lord or unto men, we receive a reward for that. Look at First Corinthians 3 11. For 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 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 had 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 is by fire. So in this scripture, we see once again, that even if you do no works for the Lord, even if all your works are burned up, even if they're all wood, hay, and stubble, yet he himself shall be saved. It's possible to be saved without doing the work. People say, well, if you're really saved, you'll do all these works. Well, what about this guy? Everything was wood, hay, and stubble. What did he do? He suffered loss of what? Reward, because the Bible says, if any man's work abide which he had built there upon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. So what's the opposite of receiving a reward? Suffering loss. Loss of what? A reward. Yet he himself shall be saved. Isn't that great? He's still going to be saved. Yet so is by fire. Now go, if you would, to 2 John. Right before Revelation, you have those couple of little tiny books there. 2 and 3 John and Jude. Go to 2 John, verse 8. So we'll receive a reward for any work that we do for the Lord. The works that we do for the Lord, they get us a reward. Notice there's no reward for the best dressed. Right? Is there? Most popular. And the most popular preacher award goes to... There's no reward for the most popular. There's no reward for the best looking. There's no reward for the best dressed. There's no reward for the most friendly. No, it's the reward for the work that you do. The work that you do. Whether that be soul winning, whether that be being a support crew, and feeding and watering the soul winners, and clothing and raising them, whether that be giving financially to the work of the Lord, or any work that we do. Even if we go to our secular job and work hard, and provide the needs of our family, and we work hard as unto the Lord. The Bible says there's a reward for that. You got to work to get the reward. But not only that, the last point I want to make is that we also get a reward for the work that our converts do for the Lord. I believe that not only do we get a reward for the work that we do for the Lord, but that if we actually win someone to the Lord, or train them up in the work of the Lord and teach them to win souls, you know that's fruit that also abounds to our account. Here's why I say that. Look at this interesting verse in verse 8 of 2nd John. It says, look to yourselves. Now he's warning people that he's writing to. A lot of false doctrine was coming at him, and he's worried that they could get sucked into this stuff. So he says, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. He's saying, look, I've invested a lot of time and energy into you, and I want you to stay with this stuff because I want to receive a full reward. Okay, now let me move on to the next point. So we've looked at why do we get rewarded. We've looked at what do we have to do to earn the rewards, right? Lot of different ways that we can earn rewards. Primarily soul winning, but also being the support crew, any other works that we do, giving, enduring persecution, etc. But number three, when, when will we receive these rewards? When do we get paid? When's payday? Okay, go to Mark chapter 10. Let's start there. Mark chapter 10. When is the spiritual payday? Now the answer to this question is twofold. Because we will receive rewards now in this life. And then we will also receive rewards at the judgment seat of Christ. Okay, but, and I'm going to go into specifically when those rewards are given. Exactly when. So the answer is twofold. Number one, we receive them now in this life. We do get rewards even now. Even in this life we're rewarded for doing things. And then we're also looking for that heavenly reward, that eternal reward. I'm going to show you exactly when those rewards are doled out. But look first at Mark chapter 10 verse 28. It says, then Peter began to say unto him, lo, we have left all and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, verily I say unto you, there is no man that has left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospels, but he shall receive a hundredfold, watch this, now in this time. Do you see that? Now in this time, houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions. See, that's what the health and wealth prosperity gospel preacher on TV forgot to tell you. He left out that little prepositional phrase with persecutions. He's just telling you it's all going to be great. It's all going to be a bed of roses. He forgot to tell you about the persecutions. And in the world to come, eternal life, but many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first. So not only are there eternal rewards, but there are also rewards in this life. Now what's interesting in this scripture, when he specifically says, you'll receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brethren, sisters and mothers and children and lands and persecutions, what's left out from the list in verse 29? Wives. He's not going to give you a hundred wives. Sorry, Joseph Smith. Sorry, Brigham Young. You know, sorry, cult leaders of this world. You know, he's not going to give you a hundred wives, but you say, well, Pastor Anderson, how could he give me a hundred houses? How's he going to give me a hundred brothers and sisters, hundred mothers, hundred children, hundred lands? How's he going to give me all that if I give up those things? How does that work? Well, let me explain to you how it can work. He could give you a hundred houses because you'll be received into a hundred houses. You'll have hundreds of brothers and sisters in Christ. You know, if your physical brothers and sisters forsake you, you got all kinds of spiritual brothers and sisters in this church, other churches, every Christian who is a born again child of God is your brother, is your sister. Jesus said, who is my mother and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brethren. So the elder women are as mothers unto you. The fellow believers are brothers and sisters. He says, hey, a hundred fold now houses. You'll have a hundred people that would take you into their home. Say, wow, but I don't own it. But the point is, though, everything on this earth is temporary. Everything on this earth is fleeting. You can't really hold on to anything. Even the house you own, you have to pay property tax every year to take it away from you. The point is, everything on this earth is borrowed. Everything is just for a season. Everything is temporal. But he says, look, you'll have houses. You'll have brothers. You'll have sisters. You'll have mothers. You'll have children. Why? Because every person that you win unto Christ is your spiritual son or daughter. That's why Paul called Timothy my son in the faith, Onesimus, my son in the faith, Titus, my son in the faith. You'll have children. You'll have lands, right? All kinds of places to go and people to see and people to know. God is going to bless you. You say, well, that's not what I wanted. I wanted to own a hundred houses. But the thing about that is, though, that the people who actually work for God, the people who actually love the Lord, even earn this reward, they don't want to own a hundred houses. Anybody who's willing to give up everything for Christ, because they're saying, because Peter says, well, we gave up everything for you, Lord. The type of person who's willing to give up everything for Christ doesn't desire to own a hundred houses. He doesn't desire a hundred mothers. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, he does. The point is the person who's willing to give up everything, the person who's willing to give up everything, they have their eye on spiritual things. So they're not going to be disappointed to find out that the brothers and sisters that they gain are spiritual brothers and sisters. That the houses that they gain are houses that will receive them and feed them and take them in, because they are their brothers and sisters in Christ, because they're their friends in the gospel, lands. If you've left these things for the gospel, you'll gain better and greater. God's going to bless you, even in this life. You don't just have to wait until you get to heaven to receive the rewards. There are a lot of rewards in this life where you'll be, you'll be happy and blessed in this life because of all the wonderful people that God brings into your life, all the wonderful houses that you'll get to dwell in and all the wonderful lands that you'll visit and see and enjoy. You don't have to own something to enjoy it anyway. Okay, go to Matthew chapter 19 and we'll see a parallel passage. Matthew chapter 19, we'll see the parallel passage of this same teaching. He says it a little bit differently in Matthew 19 verse 27. Then answered Peter and said to him, Behold, we've forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have there for? And Jesus said to him, Verily, I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration. Now the regeneration is another word for resurrection, coming back to life. When the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel and everyone that have forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive 100 fold and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first. So when we read this passage here and he talks about this, we see a couple of things here. We see, first of all, the same thing we saw from Mark that you'll receive some of the reward in this life. But we also find out what one of the other rewards will be, which is we find out that they would actually reign with Christ. He said the son of man is going to sit on the throne of his glory and that the 12 disciples, the 12 apostles who had given up everything and followed him would sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Now this is not the current nation of Israel because the current nation of Israel is not 12 tribes. It's just white people that say we're Jews and then there's Palestinians and that's it. But in the resurrection, in the regeneration, in the millennium, remember God's going to raise the dead and all the 12 tribes will be back and all the believers in Christ and all the saved from all the ages will be resurrected and rule and reign on this earth. The 12 apostles whose bodies are in the grave right now will be resurrected and they will sit on 12 thrones and they will judge the 12 tribes of Israel. So that is starting to give us an idea of a future reward, not an earthly reward now where God blesses us with friends and loved ones and houses and lands, but that rather there's a future reward of having authority with Christ, of ruling with Christ. These 12 apostles, they get to rule over a lot of people because they were major servants of God that gave up everything. They're going to sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Now go if you would to Matthew 25. Matthew 25. So the question that we're answering now, we've already talked about why do we get rewards? We've talked about how we earn the rewards. Now we're talking about when. When do we get the rewards? I showed you so far that you get some of it in this life. God blesses you in this life with all kinds of amazing blessings and friendships and loved ones. See the things that really matter in life aren't money and things, it's the people and the experiences and the relationships that we have and the work that we can do for the Lord. You know, those are the things that really matter to the servant of Christ. He's not really interested in being the next Donald Trump or the next Kiyosaki or what's that got Robert Kiyosaki, rich dad, poor dad or whatever. You know, that's not the goal to a servant of Christ. You know, servant of Christ is not interested in earthly wealth and riches because Jesus said to forsake those things and to follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness, and not to seek to be rich, but only to have our physical needs met. So when, when do we get it? Well, so far these are the answers. Now we get something and then we get something in the regeneration. That's the time we've received so far, but he got that. Everybody remember that in the regeneration, he talked about a reward, right? In the resurrection, there's a reward. Now look at Matthew 25 verse 31 when the son of man shall come in his glory. Matthew 25 verse 31 when the son of man should come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he shall sit upon the throne of his glory. Now isn't that the same thing he told them? He said the son of man will sit upon the throne of his glory and you'll sit on 12 thrones. That's when they got that reward. Verse 32 before him shall be gathered all nations. He shall separate them one from the other as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats and he shall say, set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was in hungered and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came unto me. Now this is also a list of things you could do to earn rewards, right? Then shall the righteous answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hungered and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in or naked and clothed thee? When saw we thee sicker in prison and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you, and as much as you've done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. This goes back to the point of giving a cup of cold water unto one of these little ones, right? Receiving a prophet in the name of a prophet, receiving a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, giving a cup of cold water unto that he who is soul winning or preaching the word of God, feeding, receiving into your house, giving lodging, giving food, giving water. These receive rewards. When are these rewards given? Well, the Bible is talking about here when Jesus is sitting on the throne of his glory, millennial reign of Christ, he's setting up his kingdom. He doles out the rewards for these things. Here's the proof. Go to Revelation 11, Revelation chapter 11. Revelation 11, if you, if you study the book of Revelation, if you know the book of Revelation, well, uh, Revelation chapter 11 deals with the seventh trumpet being blown, being sounded. Okay. Because of course, in the book of Revelation, we have a series of seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials. Well, the seven trumpets have to do with God's wrath where he's turning water into blood. He sent in a meteor basically to crash into the earth. He's turning water into wormwood. He's scorching men with great heat. There are all these horrible cataclysms that are happening. Locusts from hell and everything else. Well, at the end of all that, when the seventh trumpet is sounded, that's when he sets up his kingdom on this earth, the millennial reign of Christ. And there's a very famous verse in Revelation 11 that says the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. That's where the famous Christmas song of the Hallelujah chorus, you hear it a lot this time of year, the kingdoms of this world, you know, it goes through all that. Why? That's when the antichrist and all the wicked rulers of this world are put down and the kingdoms of our Lord are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And he begins that thousand year reign, the millennial reign. That's what we see. That's the context of this chapter. You can read the whole chapter on your own, but look at verse 18. And the nations were angry and thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets and to the saints and then that fear thy name small and great and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. So in verse 15, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. In verse 18, he says the time has come to reward the prophets, to reward the saints, to reward them that fear God's name, small and great. So when does the reward come? The reward comes at the beginning of the millennium. That's when the reward comes right as the millennium is beginning. Okay. After the resurrection has already taken place, after God's poured out his wrath, there's already been the rapture, there's already been God pouring out his wrath, seventh trumpet, we're ready to start the millennium. That's when Jesus sits on the throne of his glory. That's when the time has come to reward the servants of God. It's all very consistent. Okay. So lastly this, what will the rewards be? Go to Revelation chapter 2. You're already in chapter 11. Go back to chapter 2. Why will we be rewarded? Why? Because God pays his workers, that's why. And the gift of salvation is totally separate from that. How do we earn rewards? Soul winning, working for God, serving the servants of Christ, giving all the different ways. Relieving the afflicted. Number, uh, and then number three was, what was number three? Let me turn the page here. Lots of pages. Number three, when do we receive them? Well, we talked about you. You get some of it now. You get a lot of blessings now. The rest of it you receive at the beginning of the millennium. You know, from a eschatological standpoint, you'll get them at the beginning of the millennium at that seventh trumpet sounding. So lastly, what are the rewards? What do we get? What is the reward that we're getting? Well, we already talked about what we get in this life. We get all the blessings, the joy, the brothers and sisters in Christ, the friends, the family, the loved ones. That's what we get in this life. But what do we get at that judgment seat of Christ? What's the reward that we get at that beginning of the millennial kingdom? Look at Revelation 2 26. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end. This is not just the one who overcomes. It's also the one who keeps the works unto the end. This is the worker for the Lord. To him will I give power over the nations. 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. This is exactly the same as what he told the apostles. He said you'll sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Here he says you'll have power over the nations. You'll rule them with a rod of iron. Go if you would to Daniel chapter 12. Daniel chapter number 12. Daniel in the Old Testament. Daniel chapter 12. And then we're going to go to 1 Corinthians 15. So if you can get your finger in both places. Daniel 12 and 1 Corinthians 15. Then I want you to take your left thumb. No, I'm just kidding. That's it. Just a finger in Daniel 12 and a finger in 1 Corinthians 15. What are the rewards going to be? Well, it's clear in the Bible. In many scriptures, we don't have time to look at them all. There are many that talk about the aspect of ruling and reigning with Christ. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. Those who work hard and serve Christ are going to rule and reign with him. Remember that famous parable of the talents where he tells the one guy who did the best job? Be thou over ten cities. Because in the book of Luke, he turns his one talent into ten talents. He said be thou over ten cities. Another guy turned the one talent into five talents. He said be thou over five cities. Okay. So the rewards that we get. You say, well, it's crowns. But what do crowns represent? What is a crown? It represents authority. If somebody's wearing a crown, it means that they're the what? The king, right? King wears a crown. See, the crowns that we get, it's not just a Burger King crown where you just wear it for fun or wear it as an ornament. This isn't a princess tiara that you wear in a parade or something. The crowns that we receive, they actually mean something. They actually signify authority where he says, you'll be over ten cities, you'll be over five cities, you'll be over two cities, you'll be over the nations, you'll be over the twelve tribes. You know, he's going to give authority to his servants. And some people who've done a lot of work for the Lord are going to be over ten cities. Somebody else might be like, be thou over this block. Be thou over this high-rise building. You know, the point is you're going to receive authority based upon what you did. So that's the primary reward that we see coming up in Scripture over and over again, is that you get to reign with him. You get to rule with him. God gives you greater responsibility. Think about it, your job. If you do a good job, what do you get? If you're in a big company, what do you get? You get more responsibility. You get more authority. You get a bigger office. You get people that you tell them what to do. You get people serving you. That's what you get when you climb the ladder, isn't it? Well, it's the same thing in God's economy, that when you serve the Lord, you get rewarded with authority, with power. Okay? He'll give you power over the nations. He'll give you authority over a city, a town, a village, a hamlet, a back alley, whatever. Depending on what you did. So, where did I have you turn? Daniel and 1 Corinthians? Okay, so here's another reward. It's not just the authority that we get at the judgment seat of Christ. The Bible says in Daniel chapter 12 verse 2, Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 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. So the Bible says that if we're wise, we will shine as the brightness of the firmament. And what did the Bible say? The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. And then he says, They that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. So again, it's not just a reward for winning souls, also just turning people to righteousness. I mean, if we can take a guy who's already saved and turn him to righteousness, get him living for God, help him get the sin out of his life, you know, get him working, get him in church, get him serving the Lord, there's a reward for that, obviously. So if we do those types of things, we will shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Go to 1 Corinthians 15. Now, if that were the only verse in the Bible that said that, we might say to ourselves, you know what, that could be just a little bit just poetic or figurative, not important, just, you know, God's just throwing it out there as some poetic language. But when we compare that scripture with 1 Corinthians 15, it takes on a great significance. Look at 1 Corinthians 15, which is the resurrection chapter, and we're talking about rewards that we get in the resurrection, right? So look at 1 Corinthians 15, verse 40. There are also celestial bodies. Now, celestial is just a fancy way of saying heavenly, and bodies terrestrial, which terrestrial is just a fancy way of saying earthly. So he's saying there are heavenly bodies, there are earthly bodies. Celestial bodies and vice-terrestrials. Notice there's no telestial, as the Mormons and Mesa would have us to believe with their false cult. They claim that there's the telestial. No, and they're like, yeah, it's right there in 1 Corinthians 15. No, no, no. There's the celestial and the terrestrial. There's no telestial realm, okay? I'm sorry, that had nothing to do with the sermon. Let me, I'm going to try to stay focused here. Rabbit trail. There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. Now, let me just stop right there. The word glory in the Bible, when we think of glory, we only think of it in a metaphorical sense. We only think of it as meaning like glory, but not literal glory. When the Bible talks about glory, it also has a literal meaning of shine or brightness. The glory of the sun is how bright the sun is. The glory of the stars, how bright they are. The glory of the moon is its brightness. That's what we're talking about here. So that's why he says that heavenly bodies have a certain glory or brightness, and that earthly bodies actually have some brightness. Tell this to the flat earthers, by the way. Hello, is anybody home? Planets. Planets in the Bible. Terrestrial bodies. Okay. The earth has brightness. If we were to go out into outer space and look at the earth, would it shine? And that's quite biblical, isn't it? Because the Bible here talks about, we have a terrestrial bodies, plural. Okay. And we have celestial bodies, and they have different glory. The shine of the sun, the glory of the sun is different than the glory or shine of the earth, isn't it? And the glory of the stars is different. Some stars are brighter than others. We look up at the sky, they're not the same brightness. Some are very bright. Some are dim. They all vary in glory. Well, the Bible says that if we turn many to righteousness, we will shine as the stars forever and ever. Just as the stars vary in glory, vary in brightness, so shall we in the resurrection. Keep reading. There's one glory of the sun, verse 41, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for one star differth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. So you can't sit there and say, well, in the resurrection, we're all going to be equal. It's going to be a communist utopia egalitarian dream. No. God said, behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. And then he says that in the resurrection, there's going to be varying levels of glory. And one guy is going to be over 10 cities. Another guy is going to be over five. Another guy is going to be over two. Another guy is going to be over whole nations and whole tribes. So the Bible says here, so also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It's raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. So in the resurrection, you say, what's the reward? Why does it matter what I do? Well, there are a lot of reasons why it matters what you do. But one of them is that your reward is based on what you do. And that reward can be summed up as this. When we're talking about the future reward, power and glory and authority. That's what the Bible says. Now, some people would scoff at that and say, you know, that doesn't sound right. Oh, OK. Well, I guess we'll just forget what the Bible says and just ask you what you think sounds right for a reward. You know what I mean? We can't lean on our own understanding. What did God say the reward is? God said the reward is power over the nations. God said the reward is to be over cities, to be over tribes, to be over nations. God said the reward is glory. It's glory. So who are we to argue with that and say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no glory. But here's the thing. God will glorify us. The Bible says that we will be glorified together with him. Now, here's the thing. Obviously, we want to be humble. So some people might look at this and get confused and say, wait a minute, I thought we're supposed to be humble. I thought God gets all the glory. But wait a minute. Here's the thing. We're supposed to be humble. But here's what the Bible says. Listen carefully. It says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. So doesn't the Bible tell us that we will be exalted in due time? See, it's wrong for us to have glory now. No glory for us now. But in the resurrection, when it's God's timing, God will glorify us at that point. See, we're not to lift up ourselves to glorify ourselves to seek glory. Look, the people who seek glory in this life and the people who have glory in this life are wicked people. The humble, the meek, we wait on the Lord, humbly, quietly serve him, and then we're exalted in due time. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Whosoever exalted themselves shall be abased, but whosoever humbleth himself shall be exalted. So don't tell me that we're not going to be exalted in the resurrection because that's false. Plenty of verses tell us that God will exalt us. God will give us glory. We will be glorified together with Christ. Obviously, he is supreme. Obviously, we're going to throw the crowns at his feet and say to him, he's the final authority. We're only ruling and reigning under him in his administration, but he is the final authority. So it's not that we're in some kind of a position competing with Christ. You know who's responsible for everyone who's ever been saved? Christ. No one's been saved without Jesus Christ. No one can be saved without Jesus. That's why Jesus is so bright in his glorified body. He's shining so bright that his brightness is the sun, and people are blinded by it. Remember that? When John, for example, he said it's so bright it's like the sun, and he fell at his feet as dead. Jesus has maximum brightness because he's responsible for all the salvations. But those of us that are the stars, as it were, are going to have varying degrees of brightness, varying degrees of glory, varying degrees of power and authority based upon the works that we did in this life. You know, I want to go for some maximum wattage, right? You know, I don't know how this works, but, you know, I don't want to be I don't want to be so dim. It's like, is that bulb even on? Right. I don't want to be like a fluorescent that's burning out. A lot of buzzing, but not a lot of light coming out of it. You know, we want to be we want to shine like the stars. And you know what's funny? What does the world call the people that they glorify? What do they call them? Stars, right? The Hollywood star. Yeah, fallen stars. Wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. But, you know, they call them the stars, right? But, you know, in God's in God's view, though, you know, the stars are the ones who are doing the soul winning, the ones who are working hard and serving him, the ones who are turning many people to righteousness, the ones who are involved in the work of the church and involved in serving God. Those are the real stars. Then they're going to shine forever. Not like these stars that are going to be forgotten about. Even in the next generation, they'll be forgotten. I mean, we don't know. We don't care about the stars of the thirties and forties, my generation. We don't even know who many of them are. And 50 years from now, a lot of today's big stars are going to be meaningless. But those who turn many to righteousness will shine as the stars forever and ever. When people are not saved, when you talk to unsaved people, they'll often ask you this question. Well, if salvation is not based on what we do. And if we can't lose our salvation, then why would anybody serve God? You've been asked that question. Probably everybody. Well, then why even do it? Why even go to church? Why even serve God? Well, here's four reasons. Number one, because I don't want to be chastened by God. I don't want to be a weapon from God because he is from the Lord loveth. He chasing it then scourges every son and we receive it. Number two is because just because I'm saved, I want to get other people saved. That's a reason to serve God right there. Because you know what? I only care about myself. No, I want to spend my life reaching other people, right? Number three is because I love Jesus. And the Bible says, if you love me, keep my commandments. So another good reason to obey him is not out of fear of hell, not even out of fear of discipline, but just because you love him. You want to, you want to do what's right. But number four, to earn rewards. To earn wages. That's a pretty good reason to serve God. Now look, any of those four reasons is a great reason to serve God. When you put all four of them together, it really doesn't make any sense to do anything else with your life than to focus your life on primarily serving Jesus Christ. When you put all those reasons together, it's a no brainer. And any glory that we get in this life is, is, is just short-lived. It's empty. But the glory that we share with Christ endures forever. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your graciousness and in giving us rewards. You didn't have to do that, Lord. You could have just said, well, you know, I bought your salvation. So, you know, you owe me everything. Get to work. But Lord, you've been so gracious as to, to give us wages and to give us rewards and to let us be glorified with you, even though you're the only one who deserves all the glory. You're gracious enough to actually allow us to be glorified with you, Lord, and to be exalted with you on that day, Lord. Thank you for the power and authority that we can earn. Help us all to be zealous of spiritual gifts and zealous of rewards. And I pray that this sermon would motivate everyone to do a good job in every area of life, serving you, going soul winning, serving their family so that their family can serve you, giving unto the work of the Lord, giving unto the poor, just all the different things that we could do to earn rewards. Help us to do our best and to preach your word. And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Song number 197. Song number 197. Singing, I go. Song number 197. Singing, I go. Singing, I go. Singing, I go. Singing, I go. Amen. Singing, I go.