Preparation for eternity

Preparing for eternity

We live in a world that is so conscious of what we look like, how much money we have, what job we have, what Car we drive, what brand of clothes we wear
Where we were educated, which school our children attend,
We spend our lives preparing for tomorrow, next week, next year
Retirement, which is wise
But how often do we think about spending time preparing for eternity ?
We spend on average perhaps 70 -80 years in this life
We will live for eternity, yet we give it the least amount of thought and attention.
Gods ultimate desire is for all men to be saved, and to reward us according to the life we have lived on this planet called earth.
Hebrews 11 : 6
God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
We receive some reward in this life, but we receive full reward in eternity.
Preparation for eternity ?
The life which we live here now, is what determines the kind of life you will live in eternity.
Example
If God said to you, the way you live tomorrow, Monday, the next 24 hours, is going to determine how your life will be for the next 50 years.
How will you live tomorrow?
Joy, singing, fighting faith, Pursuing God, Declaring and living victory
Or sighing, moaning, complaining, negative attitude, defeated.
Think about the fact that the way we live this life will determine the way we live our lives in eternity
How long is eternity?
The cross determines where we will spend it
Our lives determine how we will spend it.
Jesus in Mathew 5 ; 12
Rejoice and be glad for Great is your reward in heaven.
This does not mean that we now serve God for reward
We serve out of love and Commission, the rewards come automatically
How will our reward be given to us?
One day, all Christians
will all stand before the Judgment seat
2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive the things done through the body, according to that which he has done, whether good or bad.

This judgment is not one of condemnation for believers
It is a judgment of assessment.

Judgment for sin has already taken place
We should know that all mankind has sinned, all have been judged, all have been already found guilty.
The punishment for the crime is eternal death, separation from God, everlasting torment and punishment.

Those who have been to the cross, and repented have been forgiven, declared innocent and free of that judgment.

So the judgment which we will attend is to determine our Reward
John the Apostle
90 year old man
2 John 1:8
He exhorts encourages us to make sure that we don’t destroy what we have worked for So that we may receive full reward.
If full reward is available, then surely partial reward, or no reward are also possibilities.
Here is how it works
All of us are called to be builders, Kingdom builders
We all have specific roles, Gifts, talents, etc

They have all been given to us by God
God has given us free will to use them as we choose

We can use them for our glory, building our kingdom temporal earthly selfish gratification.

Or we can use them for Gods glory, which brings eternal reward for us and Glory to our father.

God has a perfect plan

Psalm 139 : 15-16 Message
You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;  all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared  before I’d even lived one day.

Ephesians 2 : 10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

Before we were born
God wrote the book of Berniece, Sharon, Topher, Helen, Miah, Marcel
Ting ting, Mark, etc….
Your own personalized book.

In it, he wrote his plan for our lives,
His big ideas for us,
Where he would send us
How many souls we are meant to harvest,
Nations we would influence
People you would nurture and disciple
Businesses you would establish
All of these would be precious stones, gold and silver.

The selfish fleshly earthly worldly gratification would be Wood, hay and stubble

1 Corinthians 3 : 12-15

And if anyone builds on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, each one's work shall be revealed. For the Day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try each one's work as to what kind it is. If anyone's work which he built remains, he shall receive a reward. If anyone's work shall be burned up, he shall suffer loss. But he shall be saved, yet so as by fire.

Gold, silver, precious stones, wood hay, stubble

Three Gold, silver, precious stones refined by fire

Three wood hay, stubble are consumed by fire,

So fire will test our work,
That fire will be the word written in our book and spoken by God to us
Our calling, gifting, talents will be the measure used to test us against.

Jeremiah 23 : 29
Is not my word like fire

On that day

1 Corinthians 4 : 5
So don't judge anyone now. The time for judging will be when the Lord comes. He will shine light on everything that is now hidden in darkness. He will make known the secret purposes of our hearts. Then the praise each person should get will come from God.

Our words, thoughts, motives and works will be judged.

God will open the book and read our life mission to us
Whatever we have done, will be compared with what was written.

Example
Lets say that everything we have done is put into a big bag and is weighed on a scale.

My life’s work weighs 100 kg
Sharon’s 150 kg
Tophers 300 kg
Nicks 30 kg.

God says
I will pay 1 billion RMB for every kilogram which survives the fire
We all get to throw our works bag on the fire

Once the fire has consumed the wood, hay stubble
Richard Final result 20 kgs
Sharon’s 22 kg
Tophers 5Kg
Nicks 28 kg.

Topher was the heaviest of all, but his final reward is the least
Nick was the lightest of all, but his final reward is the largest of all.

Tophers bag was filled mostly with wood hay stubble
Nicks was filled with gold silver precious jewels.

Topher gets 5 billion
Nick get 28 Billion.

What to do ?

Ephesians 5 : 10
Find out what pleases the Lord

Stop living for tomorrow, or next year, or retirement
Start living for eternity

1 Corinthians 9 : 24
Surely you know that many runners take part in a race, but only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize.

Remember Jesus words
Mathew 5 : 12
Great is your reward in heaven