A Life That Will Be Rewarded

And I just want to welcome again those that are watching online. And I want to welcome everybody who's joining us on the Pando app this morning from all over the country, those that are incarcerated, men and women, along with your families, we welcome you today. I want to talk to you this morning about Awards Day. It's the time of the year where a lot of people are attending different award ceremonies. Could be a kindergarten graduation, could be an athletic banquet.

It could be a graduation ceremony. Could just be Awards Day at your son or your daughter's school. And I think many of us have probably been there where scholarships are being awarded and medals and trophies and certificates, whatnot. I really think there ought to be a trophy for every parent and every grandparent who has sat in a folding metal chair or a hard plastic chair in some gymnasium or some auditorium for hours as your little precious son or daughter walked across a platform and got a certificate. I think you ought to be celebrated for enduring the pain of sitting in those hard plastic chairs.

I've been there. I know what it's like. Been there many, many times have endured those wonderful celebrations. Our youngest graduates from high school this week. Friday morning, we'll attend an award ceremony.

Friday evening, we'll attend graduation. And then in just a few months, we will be officially empty nesters. Crazy.

Hard to believe it's made me reminisce. I haven't shed a tear yet. I have mixed emotions. Like many of you. You're sad.

You can't believe how quickly time has gone. And there's a side of you that just can't get them out the door quick enough.

I understand both sides of the coin, but it has caused me to reminisce this week. And I started thinking back. You know, we have five children, and we've been through, you know, these different stages and seasons and awards ceremonies, and I ran across a few pictures. I didn't get permission from any of my kids.

Just want you to know I'm operating under the premise of I'll get forgiveness rather than permission. I can't even remember what order. But we've got some pictures if you can bring those up, of. I don't know what the first one is. Do we have the pictures back in the back.

Here's Pastor Clay and Pastor Cole, our sons that got the Good Citizenship Award. And I don't know what all those other things are, but it brought back some special memories. Let's see what else we have. Go to the next one. Oh, there's our son, Caden, who's graduating this week, he's on a championship football team, the Bears, several years ago.

What's the next one? There's our daughter, Yaya, graduating from high school. Here's our other daughter, I believe, graduating from nursing school, Haley. And then yours truly. Yours truly, 1981.

That was a section in our senior yearbook called Bows and Beauties.

I didn't come up with a title, can't help it. But I was a senior favorite in our. In our yearbook. And I wanted all of you to see when I actually had a full head of hair.

Back in the day, I got awards and certificates, probably like many of you, for athletics and for academics. And I don't know if I could find any of those now. I don't know if I kept any of them. You know, in the moment, they all seemed really important. They seemed pretty monumental.

But then over time, other things take priority and precedence over, you know, some of those trophies, some of those certificates we got. And just for the next few minutes, I want to talk to you about an awards day coming up for all of us who are followers of Jesus, who are in a relationship with him. I'm going to ask you to stand to honor the word of God this morning. First Corinthians, chapter three. In the 11 o' clock service today, we're going to be honoring 17 graduates.

It's going to be a special time as well. But I want to read these words from the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth. Beginning in verse 11 of chapter 3, Paul writes this. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that we already have. Jesus Christ.

Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials. Gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward.

But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. Interesting. We're gonna unpack this together in just a moment. One other verse that I wanna read to you that we'll also talk about in depth in a moment is out of Luke, chapter 19, verse 13 says this from the King James Version.

And he called his ten servants and delivered them ten pounds. And said unto them, watch these words, occupy till I come. Occupy till I come. Let's make some declarations together very quickly. You ready?

Go. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God, this word is life to my body and health to my bones. I will be a doer of the Word and I am confident of this will complete it. In Jesus name, Amen. You can be seated.

Listen. I am one who self admittedly is quite ignorant when it comes to eschatology, the study of the end times. I was taught from a young age to believe in the Rapture. I was taught from a young age that the end was near. I wasn't alive when this happened.

But after Israel became a state officially in May of 1948, teaching on the end times increased, as did the belief that Christ would return soon. Because obviously that event in May of 1948 was a monumental fulfillment of prophecy. I remember as a young boy, some of you might recall watching a movie in church that was entitled A Thief in the Night. Anybody remember that movie? A Thief in the Night?

I can remember as a young boy watching that movie and running to the altar to confess any and every sin that my little 8 year old brain could think of in the moment. Anything that would keep me from making it to heaven. I was already in ministry in 1988 when a guy by the name of Edgar Wisnett, who was a former NASA engineer and he was a Bible student from Arkansas, wrote a book entitled 88 Reasons that the Rapture Will Happen in 1988.

Anybody remember that book? 88 Reasons sold hundreds of thousands, millions of copies. 88 Reasons why the Rapture Will Happen in, 1988, through studying the Bible using numerology, he gathered 23,000 clues which he used to predict that the Rapture would take place somewhere between September 11th and and September 13th, 1988. Guess what?

He was wrong. A.W. tozer said the essence of Christianity is wrapped up in the expectation of Jesus imminent return.

July 4, 1952, at the age of 34, a lady by the name of Florence Chadwick slipped into the chilly waters of the Pacific Ocean off of the coast of the island of Catalina, attempting to become the first woman that would ever swim the 22 miles between Catalina island and the coast of California. Now she had already become the first woman to swim the English Channel. And she did it not once, but twice, both directions. So on this particular day, July 4, 1952, when she slipped into the icy waters of the Pacific and began swimming, trying to get to the California coast. After 15 hours of swimming.

15 hours, I'd do good to last 15 minutes when it comes to swimming. 15 hours of swimming and this thick fog had set in.

And after 15 hours, she said to those who were in the follow boats. Get me out of the water. And they lifted her out of the water, put her into the boat, and the boat continued moving forward. And they discovered that she was only a half mile from the California coast. And Florence Chadwick said something that I think is so indicative of where so many people are today.

She said this. If only I could have seen the shore, I would have made it. Here's what I believe. I believe there are a lot of people that are alive today who have lost sight of the finish line. I believe there are many people today who really don't think much about the return of Christ.

Many people who don't think much about the Rapture. Some maybe who don't even believe in the Rapture. Let me be clear. This pastor and this church believe in the Rapture. Jesus is coming back for his bride.

Now listen, I know that there are varying views on when that's going to take place. And you can, I believe you can build a strong case for all the different views that the rapture is going to take place before the great tribulation. That's known as pre trib, A pre trib view. And there are many, many strong arguments for pre trib view. There are others who believe that we're going to live through half of the tribulation and midway through the tribulation the raptures are going to take place.

That's known as a mid trib view. And then there's others who believe we're going to live through the entire tribulation, seven years of tribulation. And at the end of that, the rapture will take place. That's called a post trib view. And then there are those that hold to the pan trib view.

We just believe it's all going to pan out in the end.

I just couldn't resist. That's an old joke. I know it's a verges on a dad joke category, but I just couldn't resist. And I knew Pastor Terry would appreciate it and she would love it.

I'm not here today to try to convince you of what view you should have as far as pre trib, mid trib or post trip. But I do want to remind you and emphasize to you today that every single human being will stand before God one day. And we're all going to be judged in two different ways. We're all going to be judged to determine where we will spend eternity. And there's two options, heaven or hell.

We're also going to be judged by on how we will spend eternity. We'll talk about that more in depth in a moment. But some people have taken the posture, the belief that because the Rapture is going to take place, they take things to an extreme. There are people that have sold their homes and they've just said, you know what? Because Jesus is coming back.

Why plan for the future? Because Jesus is coming back. Why should I save money? Why should I invest if he's coming back anyway, if he is going to return at any moment, why should I really have any thought for the future? Obviously, that's an extreme way to live.

It's an extreme view. But those who have eternity in their hearts are often the ones who work the hardest because they know that an awards day is coming and that we will be judged for how we have lived until he returns. Listen to me. Rapture theology is a call to action, not an excuse to sit on the sidelines. I feel like I ought to say that again.

And I'm really questioning and wondering if you're like, are you with me so far on this message? Cause you're just like, super quiet and kind of staring off into the distance like you wish you were on some cruise ship somewhere. I get it. I understand.

But the Rapture theology is a call to action for all of us. It's not an excuse for you to be laissez faire and to just sit on the sidelines and to be inactive in your relationship with the Lord. Luke, chapter 19. And also in Matthew 25, Jesus tells the story. It's a fictitious story, but he's driving home a doctrinal truth about a wealthy man who entrusted bags of silver, bags of money to his servants while he was going away.

And he tells them, occupy until I return. Occupy until I return. Now, the term occupy there is both a military term and a business term. It means to carry on the business of a banker or of a trader. It comes from a Greek word, and I am smart enough to know that there are certain Greek words I should never try to pronounce.

This is one of those cases. But the word occupy comes from a Greek word that gives us the root of where we get our word. Pragmatism. Pragmatism. Pragmatism is simply a practical approach to problems or affairs in the story.

Now Jesus is driving home the fact and the truth that he will return. And until he does, we are to be very pragmatic. In other words, we're to carry on his business like he says in Luke, chapter 2, verse 49. Why does this matter? Some people may say, why does all of this matter?

Why can't I just live my life, do my own thing, mind my own business, tend to my family and just live a good life? Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 10.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each of us may receive what is due for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

All of us, the judgment seat of Christ different than the Great White Throne Judgment. The Great White Throne Judgment will determine if our names are written in the book of life. The Great White Throne Judgment will determine where we will spend eternity. Either in heaven or in hell. But the judgment seat of Christ is different.

That word judgment seat comes from a Greek word, bema B E M A. It refers to a raised platform where the judge of a city would hear cases where he would render decisions and where he would hand out rewards for those who had competed in public games. At the judgment seat in heaven, everything that we've done for the kingdom will be weighed. And I really believe there's going to be many people who are going to wonder, why didn't I do more for the kingdom?

There's a great scene from a movie that's called Schindler's List. If you've ever seen the movie, you probably know what scene I'm talking about before I even mention it. It's a scene towards the end of the movie where Oskar Schindler is being taken into captivity. And just before that, outside of his factory, which he had used to really harbor and hide over 1100 Jews during the Holocaust. And all of these people are gathered outside of his factory that this German businessman named Oskar Schindler had used his factory.

He used what was in his hands as a way to protect over 1100 Jews from being sent to concentration camps. And they're taking him now into captivity. And as he's walking amongst the throngs of people, he begins lamenting over the fact that he could have done more. He sees his car there and he starts calculating in his mind how many more lives his car could have saved had he sold his car. Then he sees a gold lapel pin on his coat.

And he pulls off the pin and he starts calculating. And he says, that could have saved one more life. One more life. I wonder how many of us, as we stand before the bema seat of Christ, are going to be thinking, I could have done more. I should have done more.

I don't think anybody's going to lament over the fact that. That I didn't lower my handicap in my golf game. I doubt seriously anybody's going to lament over the fact that I didn't buy more shoes, I didn't take more vacations. I don't think anybody is going to be lamenting or kicking ourselves that we didn't drive a nicer car. But I do believe a lot of people will be left wondering why we didn't invest more the kingdom, why didn't we see more lives saved?

Now we're going to close. But Paul says in First Corinthians, chapter three, we're all going to build something. He says everybody has a choice of building materials. And he listens. He says, you can build with wood, hay, or straw, or you can build with gold, silver, or precious jewels.

You. You get to decide as the builder, as one who's building legacy, building life, building the kingdom. You get to decide what building materials are you going to use. And Paul goes on to say that the materials that we choose represent the quality of our work. Wood represents work that's done with human wisdom or strength.

Hay represents temporary or superficial actions that lack substance. Straw is cheap. It has no lasting value, and it requires no sacrifice. It's the leftovers from harvest. No effort on our part.

We just take it because it's there. And we try to build something of lasting value with something that has no value.

Gold, however, is valuable. It's enduring. It reflects the glory of God. Silver represents redemption. It retains its value.

Jewels are symbolic of intercession and prayers because of the high priest who wore a breastplate with 12 precious stones representing the different tribes and the intercession that the high priest would give towards those 12 tribes. And the apostle Paul says that there's going to be fires that are going to test our work. One category of those building materials is highly flammable, wood, hay, or straw. And then the other category, gold and silver and precious jewels, is not highly flammable. As a matter of fact, when it's put in the fire, it becomes brighter.

It endures the test. And I just want to remind you today that everything that we do one day is going to be tested.

The Apostle Paul says that if you build with the right materials, what you build is going to last. But if you choose to build with wood, hay, or straw, it's going to be burned up. He says, you'll be saved, but there'll be nothing to show for your life.

I want to ask you two questions this morning. Number one, are you ready for the return of Jesus?

Are you sure of where you're going to spend eternity. The second question is this. Are you occupying until he comes? How are you using your time? Are you building his kingdom?

Leonard Ravenhill said this. Are the things that you're living for worth Christ dying for?

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, Father?

It's going to be a day, going to be a day when we all stand before you, God. We cannot afford to be flippant or casual about the fact that you are going to return. You are coming back for your bride and Lord. I believe your return is very close. Holy Spirit, I'm asking you to probe deep into every heart.

I pray first of all that every person here would be ready for the return of Christ. Ready for eternity. I pray also, God, that we would all examine our hearts. We would examine our lives, we would examine our priorities. We would examine where we invest our time, where we invest our money, how we invest in other people.

And I pray, God, that we today would really commit ourselves to building with materials that will withstand the fires of judgment, move on our hearts. I pray in the mighty name of Jesus.