To Listen ‘Open Message from Title’ and click on Listen Now or To Save: Right Click and ‘Save Target as’ When you get up out of bed in the morning, what do you get up for? Is it to just exist for that day or are there things you are planning ahead for, things that get you motivated, get you going? Have you ever asked yourself; “Am I only living for what I can see today, that which will soon disappear or am I living with eternity in sight? 2 Pet. 3:10-13 If we truly lived with this view would our lives be different each day then they are now? As we have gone through this series I have tried to lay out a clear perspective of the promises of God for a productive and fulfilling life in eternity. The fact that God desires to bless us, reward us, for all the little things we do for Him here and now, when we get to heaven to be with Him for eternity. If we are living just for what we can see, feel and touch now then we are truly living a shallow existence with no hope for what lay ahead for us in eternity. Even though there is no visible proof there is more to live for there than there could ever be here in the visible. 2 Cor. 4:16–18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. It will take faith for us to get up everyday and focus on the unseen, striving to build our rewards there for what we do here in the visible. Knowing that it is not about the here and now. Do you ever feel like what you are doing here doesn’t matter and it is all for nothing because you don’t see any effects or results, fruit, from it? Missionary couple sailing home after 40 yrs in the field. I know there are times when we wonder why we struggle so hard to make a difference and it seems like nothing we do matters. One problem we have as people is that we want instant gratification for what we have done or are doing. We want to see results now, immediate consequences for our good choices or sacrificial service. If we don’t see them we figure that since there are no temporal results there probably are not eternal ones either. All this makes us just want to give up, throw in the towel and quit. Kids come up and plant seeds in pots. We need to understand that even though we may not see any results or consequences here from what we do today for the Lord, He does not miss anything we do for Him here, nothing goes unnoticed by Him. Turn to Malachi passage. There was a group of folks who were dedicated to the Lord, who taught the Word and lived out its truths in their lives but saw little result from what they did. It even seemed that those who were evil were getting more out of life than the devout did. How frustrated they felt for their effort and sacrifice. Mal. 3:13-18 God tells them He is paying attention and that He cares about them and what they are doing, so much so, that He orders a book of remembrance to be written in heaven so that they will be rewarded in heaven for all they have done for the Lord here on earth. God cares about all we do for Him and others out of love and promises to reward us for those deeds. What a picture of God’s love and fairness. Even though things may look bleak now there will be a day in the future when Jesus will open His book of remembrance and the truth of His generosity, faithfulness and justice will be evident to all. No act of service in His name will have gone unnoticed or unrewarded. Rev. 22:12. The message that closed out the OT is the same message that closes out the NT. The last section of the Bible is a promise to His church that He is paying attention to all we do for Him and nothing is getting past Him. He is not just saying that He is coming quickly to establish His kingdom but that He is coming to reward those who belong to Him, His people, those who have given a lifetime of service to Him. They have served because they believed what He said and lived to please Him, people who chose to be faithful to Him no matter what the earthly results might have been. God is watching and taking notes of all who love Him and serve Him, no matter how insignificant it may seem to us, He promises to reward us for our faithfulness and is anxious to do so. So, have we chosen to get up each day and live for the Lord, striving to build our lives around His promises of love and faithfulness to us here and then there in eternity? Life changes when we get married. Doing so we will find we have different priorities than before, we have reordered our lives in how we handle money, how we manage our time, develop our abilities, all with a new sense of urgency to be right before the Lord, living to please Him above all others. Now we are striving for the “well done good and faithful servant” when we get there. We are not alone in that pursuit either. There are countless others who have laid their all down at the cross, giving all to Christ for His purposes. R.G. LeTourneau He along with many others chose to live for the eternal and not the earthly. They believed and lived as citizens of heaven. What about us today? Is God asking us to make the life changing decision to live as citizens of heaven now? How would you describe heaven? When Jesus was preparing to leave this earth He told His disciples about a place He was going; John 14:2–3 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. If you think about all the ways Jesus could have described heaven, would this have been what you would have thought He would say? What about the streets of gold, the legions of angels, and the thrones which will be set up there or even the size of the city itself. No, Jesus speaks of heaven as home, His home and our home with Him. The place He is preparing for us and from which He will come to retrieve us to share it with Him. Phil. 3, Paul speaks of all the things that he could boast about but the one thing he looks forward to the most is when Jesus will return and change him and take him home, his heavenly home, vs 20-21. It was his deep longing to be in heaven with his Lord, vs 12-14. This thought was the reason he rose up everyday, the thing that shaped his values and ordered his use of his time, talent and treasure. Over the past 9 weeks we have studied about the promises of God to reward us for all the little things we do for Him in love. These are the promises we can look forward to each day we live our lives here, knowing that what we do here for Him will be noticed there. When we choose to live for eternity, today, we can look forward to a wonderful home coming when we enter into eternity to be with the Lord, forever. At that moment when we enter, all of the angels and the saints will pause for us. Heaven will be still and quiet as we stand before the Lord and hear Him say, “Well done good and faithful servant.” Then heaven will ring out with celebration as Jesus puts a crown upon our heads and presents us with our rewards for faithful service on the earth. Thanks for the opportunity! That will be our moment to bless God because we valued what Jesus did for us and that we gave our hearts and lives to Him as well. It will be the most wonderful day of our eternal lives when the invisible becomes visible. 1 Cor. 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. Then all we have strived to serve the Lord in will be recognized as our devotion to Him and His sacrifice and love for us. This will be the day when we say to ourselves that everyday we rose from our rest and determined to live for the Lord was all worth it. Benediction: 2 Thess. 1:11–12 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
