Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of living with the awareness of the Judgment Seat of Christ, where every believer will be evaluated based on their life choices and dedication to God. He shares a profound personal experience at age 23, where he was confronted by Jesus about the potential waste of his life despite being saved. Bickle urges believers to seek a life of radical obedience and to measure their dedication against the Word of God rather than the standards of the world. He stresses that the most important aspect of life is how we will be evaluated by Christ, encouraging a focus on eternal rewards rather than temporary accolades. Ultimately, he calls for a commitment to live fully for God, knowing that our actions today have eternal significance.

Page 15, we won't cover all the notes as always, but just reference a few of the points. We'll go for a while, take a break, come back, and we'll do the next session as well. And then tonight, Matt Gilman will lead worship, and then our own beloved Lou Engle, he'll be speaking the Word of the Lord. Lou and his family landed here about four or five years ago, and I tell you, they have strengthened us, and they are such a joy. Anyway, I'll talk about that later, but I love Louster. I call him Louster. I love him. He's my brother. Okay, to business here. Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus. We ask you for the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Father, we ask you for living understanding. We ask you to come and mark our hearts now, in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Page 15, I'd like to turn all the house lights on, if you would, so that we can follow along with the notes. I want to start by telling you a profound experience that rocked my young life when I was 23 years old. I'm 55 now, so this was over 30 years ago. I went to bed one night. I'd never had a supernatural encounter with the Lord. I've had several in the last 30 years. I went to bed one night and had a visionary experience. And in this experience, I was on my knees, and I was looking into the face of Jesus. Now, this was very perplexing to me, because I didn't know what had happened and how I got there. I felt like I was wide awake. It didn't seem like a dream. I was kind of touching myself and going, where am I? I was looking the Lord eye to eye. And I was perplexed because of the serious look that He had upon His face. And He looked at me, and He said, you're saved, but your life was wasted. And I'm kneeling. I'm saved, but my life was wasted. And I begin to protest in my thinking. I didn't say it out loud, but I was thinking, this is a mistake. You have the wrong person. Because at age 23, I was real devoted to the Lord. I was committed to fasting and prayer. I was going hard after God. And I said to myself, not out loud, I was looking Him in the eye the whole time. Can't be true. Can't be right. You have the wrong person. Then the thought rose up into in me by the Holy Spirit. And this thought was this. It is impossible. It is impossible to manipulate the man Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit gave me this thought, because I was trying to tell Jesus, no, you've got the wrong man. It's a mistake. But I tell you one thing. There is no way you will be able to convince Jesus of anything other than the truth on the day when you stand before Him. No information will change His evaluation and what He's thinking on the last day. It's the greatest appointment in your entire life. It is yet in the future. I'm going to say that again. The greatest appointment in your entire life is yet in your future. It's the day when you and the Lord meet eye to eye, and whatever He is thinking, that moment is the most important thing about your life right now. Well, anyway, I'm kneeling, and I'm thinking, impossible, wrong, wrong. And this thought rose up in me by the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to manipulate the man Christ Jesus. You will never change His opinion. So I cried out, can I have a second chance? Can I have a second chance? Then the Holy Spirit gave me the verse, Hebrews 9, verse 27. It's appointed unto man once to die, then the judgment. I understood that I only have one chance on the earth, like every one of us. We only have one opportunity, and then we die, and then the evaluation. The judgment means the evaluation. The judgment isn't always negative. It means the truth about our life comes to light. So I cried out, can I have another chance? And the Holy Spirit put in me, no. It's appointed unto man once. You get one time on the earth. So I'm weeping. I mean, I am under such pain of regret. I'm weeping before Him, and suddenly this visionary experience lifts. I'm not in my bed. I went to bed that night, but I'm over on the floor, kneeling, weeping in the same position I was in this visionary experience. And I'm wondering, how did I get over here? I went to bed over there. Tears are flowing. My t-shirt is wet from the tears. The pain of regret I felt was the most painful experience I've ever had in my life, and this was over 30 years ago. I can remember this experience like it was yesterday. I think of this experience, not every day, that would be exaggerated, but I think of this experience many, many, many times throughout the months and the years. Often I think of this, and I picture myself looking into that man's eyes, and what that man will say to me on that day, fully God, fully man, Christ Jesus, is the most important thing about my life right now. It's not how big the conference is. It's not how good the ministry goes. It's not who likes me or who doesn't like me. The most important thing about my life and your life is what is in his mind on that day when you stand before him. Well, now I'm confused. I'm kneeling on the floor. Again, I went to bed in my bed, but now I'm kneeling like the visionary experience. I still don't know how I got over there. And I'm kneeling, and I'm saying, Lord, I don't get what's happening. I love you. I'm saved, but my life is wasted. I love you. I don't know. And then the Holy Spirit makes me understand the point of this visionary experience. He let me feel the pain, and I want to underline the word pain of regret, that I would feel on that day if I lived what is commonly understood as a life of dedication according to the standards of the Western church. He let me understand this, that if you accept what is normally called dedication, and that's the only thing that you do in your relationship to me, instead of what the Word of God describes as dedication, you will stand before Jesus, and you will have this sentence spoken over you, saved, but your life was wasted. So the Holy Spirit was wooing me. Number two, paragraph number two, it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul says it clearly. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12, he says, if you measure yourself, look at the middle of the verse, they measured themselves by themselves. Then he went on to say at the end of the verse, you lack wisdom. Beloved, don't be content to be more dedicated than the other guy, you know, in your fellowship group or whatever, in your ministry. Only be content with dedication as much as the Word of God describes what dedication is. I don't want to be more dedicated than you, I want to be dedicated according to what the Word of God declares. Because in the Western church, there's a whole lot of us that walk around under the image of dedication, but we're not obeying the Word of God with all of our heart, as the Word of God teaches, and the Lord was telling me, don't buy into what is commonly called dedication, get your measurement from the Word of God itself. I've had people over the years, after that experience, it rocked my life. I determined I was going to go as far as God would, whatever God would give the human spirit at this age, I wanted it. I wanted the power to obey. I said, God, I don't want to know how little I can do to be saved, I want to know how much power you will give me to be dedicated. I want to give my strength to obedience. I want to give my strength, my money, my time to prayer, fasting, holiness, servanthood, sacrifice, help me go as far as you will help a human go in this age. A lot of people have the entirely wrong question. They ask the question, can I still do this and be saved? The question is, how little can they do and stay in the kingdom? Beloved, that is entirely the wrong question. The right question is, how far will you let me go in my extravagant obedience? How much power will you give me to give everything back to you? And so I was before the Lord, 23 years old. This experience shocked my life. It shocked my life. And I said, Lord, I don't know how long I will live. That was 32 years ago. I had that experience. I go, I will never forget this because in a minute, whether it's a year or 50 years, in a minute, I'm going to be standing before you one day, face to face. And whatever he's thinking about me is the most important thing about my life. And it's the most important thing about your life. I'll tell you what I fear more than anything in life. I have a number of fears. But the thing I fear most is regret. I fear having regret on the last day more than any other thing. If I stand before him and have regret, it is the most painful tragedy a believer can experience. I mean, we're not in the lake of fire. We're in the kingdom of God. But the pain of regret, knowing in that day how much he gave us and how little we responded to him and our life was wasted, though we were saved. And I determined, Lord, I'm going all the way. And I remember I began to seek the Lord more diligently. I made a commitment to give my money, my time, my energy, et cetera, et cetera. And I remember some of the older preachers. I was 23. I was a pastor. I was a young pastor. And the old guys in their 30s and 40s, they were the old guys back then, they would come to me and say, Mike, you better settle down. You don't have to be so intense. And I said, I have no intention of settling down. They said, well, if you don't settle down, you're praying too hard. You're fasting too much. You're giving too much. You're pouring out too much. They said, you're going to burn out. I said, I would rather burn out than rust out. I mean it. Well, that was 32 years ago. And I've been told by many a pastor to slow down. And it's 32 years later, and I'm not even close to burnt out. They missed it. They missed it. And I would say this. I mean, I didn't mean it to be smart Alec, but it's a little smart Alec, now that I'm older. I would look at them, because I was told this many times. You don't have to be so intense. Chill out. And I go, I don't want to chill out. I don't want to grow up and be like you. I meant it. I would look at these 30, 40, 50-year-old pastors. They didn't have a prayer life. They didn't have a deep history in God. They didn't weep before God when they read the Word of God. I go, I don't want to be like that. I want a vibrant spirit. I want to be alive in God when I'm 50. Beloved, many of you are 22, 23. You can make that same resolve. And here's the smart Alec thing I would tell them. Besides, I don't want to be like you. And I shouldn't have said that. But I felt zeal in my heart. I felt bothered by people constantly trying to tell me to give less to God. Because they were worried that somehow it would hurt me if I gave everything to Him. Beloved, I didn't give everything to Him. When I look back, I wish I would have gone harder. But I have no regrets about whatever I left behind in my pursuit in my 20s and 30s and 40s. And I want to assure you, young people, you will have no regrets in your 50s if you give everything in your 20s. You will be glad you did it. You will be glad. But here's what I would tell them. I would say, if you could assure me that where I'm going, the judgment seat of Christ, where I stand before Jesus, if you can assure me that on that day, your vote will count about my life, then I'll listen to you. But if your vote doesn't count over my life on that day, I'm not listening to you. That's a little smart, Alec. Because we want to have a teachable spirit. We want to have a humble spirit. But I want to tell you this. There are many in the body of Christ that will use every Bible verse imaginable and every bit of logic imaginable to talk you out of your dedication. And they're really just affirming their own life of compromise and passivity. They feel bad because of the way you're living. And they want to talk you into living like they live, so you're both comfortable together. And I tell you, you may be saved, but your life will be wasted at the end of your life when you stand before the Lord. I'm talking about the fear of the Lord right now. I'm talking about carrying in your spirit the absolute certainty you will meet Him eye to eye one day. And that is all that's going to matter about your life. He's not going to ask me, how big was the IHOP conference? Well, in 2010, we had 28,000 registered. Lord, isn't that great? See, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about how big your conferences were. I'm talking about how big your heart was. I'm talking about the response you gave to me. How big was that? But Lord, we had 28,000 registered for the conference. That means nothing to me, He will say on that day. I want to know about your responsiveness in the secret place of your life where no one was looking. I began to pray back in those days. I began to pray, Lord, shock me now. Don't shock me then. Beloved, I urge you to pray that prayer. Ask the Lord to shock you now. If there's areas of disobedience or passivity, tell Him to shock you now. Don't wait till then. I don't want to be shocked then. I want to be shocked now. And sometimes over the years, the Lord would visit me through the Word. I don't mean a supernatural encounter per se, but in the Word, and say, I want more of your time and your heart and your energy. I want greater humility. I want a greater giving of your heart. And I'd say, Lord, He says, I'm telling you if you do, you won't regret it. And again, if you look to the right and to the left, there's plenty of believers that will talk you out of that logic. Don't listen to them, because their vote doesn't count about your life where you're going on that day. Like I told them, if your vote counts, I'll listen to you. If your vote doesn't count, I'm going harder in my dedication. I'm talking to 20 year olds right now about dedication. I'm talking about setting your heart in a way that no devil in hell or no man on the earth, religious or irreligious, no person can talk you out of a life of dedication and radical obedience to the Lord. That's what I'm talking about. Paragraph C, Romans 14, verse 10, look at this. We shall all stand, every single believer, this is only believers, we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Now, unbelievers don't stand at the judgment seat of Christ. Unbelievers, they stand before the great white throne and they go to the lake of fire. The judgment seat of Christ is the interesting term judgment seat, because when we hear judgment, we go, oh no. But judgment means evaluation. The judgment seat in the ancient world was an actual term that was used in the Roman society. It was a very common term. And the judgment seat was the place at the Olympic Games, or the equivalent of the Olympic Games, where the judge gave what we would call the gold medal, the silver medal, the bronze medal, they gave the trophies to the athletes. The judgment seat was not a place of penalty, it was a place of reward. So take the word judgment and put, it's the payback, it's the reward time, it's when the Lord expresses to you how he felt about the way you loved him while you were on the earth. It's not a place of negative. It's not a place of punishment. There is an intrinsic punishment, or negative I'd rather say, it's the loss of potential reward. There isn't a direct punishment, it's only the knowledge that we could have had more if we would have been more responsive. So it's the coming up short of what could have been ours is where the pain would be. But it's not negative besides that, that's a huge negative, but it's not the lake of fire, it's not penalty in that kind of sense. Paul said each one of us will give an account to the Lord. Did you know that you will give an account to Jesus for what he gave to you? Now the good news is this, he's given each one of us certain capacities and abilities, certain capacities and abilities. Physically, emotionally, mentally, financially, life circumstances, some of you have greater emotional ability, mental abilities than others. Now here's the good news, he's not going to evaluate you on abilities you don't have. Meaning I know some people that are so in pain over what they don't have. I'm not smart enough to be a Bible teacher. I'm not, my emotions aren't stable enough to be this or that. I'm not strong enough and they are so in pain over what they don't have that they don't actually use what they do have. They fret and they're in anguish, why didn't you give me more? And beloved, here's the good news, the judgment seat of Christ is the great equalizer. The person with the least amount of gift, if they have a great responsiveness, they can have a far greater reward than the person with a great gift. Paragraph D, the judgment seat of Christ is a place where we receive rewards, I already said that. It's not a place of penalty. The only penalty is the lack of potential reward we could have received. Paragraph E, now somebody says, I've heard this through many years, I've taught on the judgment seat of Christ since that experience for 32 years. It's been a subject I'm very, very interested in because I know I'm going there. You're going there, it's the greatest appointment in your life, it's yet to come. You will stand before a man, he is a king. The good news, he's a bridegroom king. He loves you, but he really, really wants to talk to you about how you loved him back. So I've heard over the years that I've taught on the judgment seat of Christ, 30 plus years, I've had many people say, I don't care about rewards. I said, well, I think that you don't understand them, that's why you don't care about them. If you understood rewards, you would care about them. Interesting, Jesus taught more on rewards than any other man in the Bible. Are you telling me that Jesus missed it by teaching us and motivating us by rewards? I tell you, Jesus did not miss it. What are rewards? Well, number one, paragraph E, rewards is Jesus expressing the way he feels about the way you loved him. There's many types of rewards, and in chapter 5 of the conference notes, I list—we're not going to get to that, but it's just notes for your own reading—I list a whole bunch of rewards. It's not comprehensive. There's a massive amount in the Bible on this subject. Many types of rewards, but at the core, rewards are Jesus expressing to you how he feels about the way you loved him. That's what rewards really are. Secondly, rewards are about you working in close proximity with him in the age to come. I don't want a reward so I can have something superior over you. Some people think rewards are so they can strut around and show other people how much more power they have. No, that view of rewards is wrong. I agree. We don't want those kind of rewards. Those aren't the kind of rewards that he's giving, but when he rewards us more, it will be related to working more closely with him in closer proximity and closer relationship to him in the age to come, based on our responsiveness in this age. It's not about being over people. It's about being closer to him. It's not about being superior to others. It's about Jesus expressing to you how he felt about the way you loved him, because he has a very precise record of your entire life from the day you were born again. I want to live in a way where I stand before the Lord and he gives me a crown. The Bible, there's nine verses in the New Testament about receiving crowns. Crowns are not synonymous with salvation. Every believer does not get a crown. I don't want to go into that right now. That's for another day, but I'm living, like Paul said, to receive a crown. He was already saved when he said that. He wasn't trying to get saved. The crown that Jesus will put on the heads of some believers will be a statement about how Jesus feels about the way they loved him while they were on the earth, and they will have that crown forever and forever and forever. Beloved, I want that crown, and I believe most believers will not end up with that crown. I don't know. Maybe most. I don't know the percentage. I'm thinking it's more rare than common, but I don't know for sure. I want it, though. I'm going to stand before him, and I want him to walk over to me. He says, Mike, you loved me hard with all of your heart. You were weak. You were broken, but you kept signing back up to obey me and to pursue me. Here's how I feel about the way you lived, and he puts this trophy, this expression of love, on my head, a crown. That's the dream of my future. I dream about this. I don't mean dream in the night. Daydream about it. I go, I want this. I want this. I want these rewards. I want to be near you, and we will all have access to his heart in eternity, but many of you will be closer to the Lord than others. That's another subject for another day. On our website, I have a number of teachings on this. I'm not going to go through them all, but this is a vast subject that most believers are completely ignorant of, and it's the most important subject of their entire life. Paragraph F. We are saved by a free gift because of Jesus' work. You cannot earn your salvation. It's a free gift because of His work, but you're rewarded based on your works. Your entrance into heaven is because of what He did. Your place in heaven is because of what you do. I will say that again. You must get this clear. Your entrance into the eternal city, into heaven, your entrance into it is based on what He did on the cross. Your place in the city, your function in the city, is based on what you did while on the earth after your salvation. People have this confusion about works. I hear it all the time. There's more confusion about where works fit. People say the common phrase, and it's half true and it's half false. They go, I'm not into works. I go, well, it depends on what you mean by that statement. No, brother, I'm into grace. I'm not into works. I go, if you mean you're not trying to earn your salvation, that's a true statement. If you mean you have no value in what you do related to your place in the age to come, you're greatly deceived and mistaken. Your works really do matter. They don't gain you an entrance into the city, but they do determine your role in the city. And I tell you one thing for sure. You will never manipulate the man Christ Jesus. There is nothing you will tell him on that day that will change the truth about what he knows about the way we responded to him on the earth. I'm not talking about our weakness. We all have profound weakness. Our weakness does not get in the way. It really doesn't. Because if we repent of our weakness and we chase hard after him and we fell again, we repent, we chase hard, we fell again, repent, we can push delete, delete, delete, and it's gone. Because when we fail, we really repent. We don't fake repent. We really repent and we war against the area that made us stumble. And that is a good work in his sight. That really matters. That really matters. It's within the reach of every one of you to be rewarded in a profound way in the age to come. It's not based on how big your ministry is, how good your ministry is, how great your abilities are. It's based on one thing. Your heart responses according to the abilities he gave you. Look what Jesus said about works. Matthew 16 verse 27. This is Jesus talking. He says, the Son of Man will come. That's the second coming. And when he comes, this is Jesus. Now, how many of you know Jesus has really good doctrine? I mean, Jesus really understands salvation by faith really well. Good Bible teacher. Here's what he said. He will reward each person according to works. He says, you get in the city for free, but I will reward you based on your works. Then later in the book of Revelation, Jesus appears to John the apostle. In the book of Revelation, he says the same thing. He said, I am coming. Revelation 22.12. My reward is with me. He's talking about the second coming when you read the context. And I will give to every one of you according to works. Let me tell you this. Jesus thinks your works are really important. And this confused statement that's half true and half false, I'm not into works. Beloved, it matters what you mean by that statement. You better be into works if you're talking about the way you respond to God after your salvation. And you better not be into works if you're talking about the way you receive the free gift. So when somebody says that, I've heard that a hundred times over the years, I'm not into works. Ask them, what do you mean exactly by that statement? Because you may have good doctrine, but with a seat of error as well. Jesus thinks good works are important. Top of page 17. You're not rewarded, page 17, according to your life vision. You're not rewarded according to your plans. You're rewarded according to your follow-through, your good works. Here's what I mean by that. I meet young people all the time, and old people. They have a fiery life vision. I'm gonna change the world, go deep in God, be a man or woman of prayer, move in the Spirit, confront devils, change cities. I mean, wow, wow, wow. Their life vision, it's awesome. On life vision, give them an A+. I go, what's your plan? Oh, I'm gonna, all of my money is gonna be God's. All of my time is gonna be God's. I'm gonna be a servant. I'm gonna go deep in the Word. I'm gonna grow in prayer. I'm gonna grow in love. Whoa, good plan. Cool. A plus on vision, A plus on plan. Jesus doesn't reward us based on our plan. He loves us, and part of that is our intention. Our intentions matter. I mean, our intentions, even though they're failed, they do bring joy to the Lord that we have right intentions, but they don't bring rewards. Your right intentions causes Him to enjoy you, but He will not reward you based on intention. He rewards based on follow-through works. He says, Mike, I love your heart. I love relating to you, but only what you actually do is going to show up in the age to come as a reward. So, I've been very careful, not careful enough, but I've been pretty careful over the years. I want to follow through, and I don't mean follow through when you're watching me. It's easy to follow through when people are watching me. I mean when nobody's watching but His eyes. I want to follow through. I want to follow through. He's watching. He's writing it in His book. He rewards us based on deeds, what we do, not what we plan to do. I have known, I've been a pastor for 35 years, right at 35 years, and I know many people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, they plan to do well. Now they're in their 40s and 50s and 60s. They didn't follow through. They were just plans. They didn't do anything with. I know thousands of them. I go, God, I don't want to be like that. Beloved, most of you are in your 20s. You're at the age where you could have a life filled with responsiveness, even in your weakness. Failure, you repent, you sign back up and war against your sin, and I tell you, you will find follow-through surely in the days to come and the areas you're stumbling in if you stay with it. Don't give up. Don't give in, and you will find breakthrough in time. Stay with it. Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 9 to 11, paragraph H. Paul made one of the most dynamic statements about his life, and I want you to follow Paul's logic. Follow his logic here in Second Corinthians 5, 9 to 11. This is one of the most important statements that Paul talks about his life, his heart. He opens his heart, and he says, I'll let you know what motivates me now. He said in verse 9, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Jesus. Why? Verse 10, because we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Each one of us will receive, the idea is a reward, for the things that are actually done with our body. Our words count as things done with our body. Our words and our body, they are, our words are considered deeds and actions. Again, it's not something you plan to do. It's what you actually did with your body. Verse 11, look at this. Knowing this, Paul said, I have the terror of the Lord. I feel the fear of God. It didn't, he didn't mean he was afraid of God in a negative sense. He goes, this is the most awesome, terrifying responsibility to know that what I do each day actually is remembered forever. He goes, this really gets a hold of me. It fills my heart with the fear of the Lord, the terror of the Lord. He said, in knowing this, I persuade other people. Beloved, I am persuading you about this, because I believe this is the most solemn day of your life. I believe this about my life. It's the most solemn day. I feel the fear of the Lord. Therefore, I'm talking, I'm wanting to talk you into it. When this truth touches you, you will want to talk your loved ones into this. Paul said, this isn't enough. It's not enough for me that I know it. I want to tell others. I want to convince other human beings how important this solemn day is in their life. Then Paul goes on to say a most remarkable statement. He goes, for we are well known to God. That was the key to Paul's life right there. We are well known to God. What Paul was saying is, he says, I'm very aware that God is aware of everything I am doing. He sees the desire of my heart. He sees every little act of obedience. He sees it. Not one small act of obedience is overlooked by God. Not even one. He says, I'm well known. Beloved, you could give somebody a cup of cold water, and no man will ever see it, but God will see it. It's well known by God. This motivated Paul. He goes, that God sees when I say no to lust, and temptation, and bitterness, and pride, and nobody sees it. God sees it. I know that he knows, and I know that it moves him, and I know that he will reward me on the last day by expressing his love. No, his enthusiasm. By the way, I loved him. So let's break this down just for a few moments, then we'll take a break and come back and look at this subject in a different light in the next session. Paul says, we make it our aim to be well pleasing. Beloved, what is the aim of your life? When Paul said, my aim, he meant the primary dream of his life. Now every human being has a primary dream. It's the dream that's bigger than all the other dreams. Now we don't only have one dream. We have many dreams. We have dreams. We picture the future, and we picture it related to our finances, our ministry, our relationships. We have many facets of what we dream about for the future. Those are good. But there's one dream that is above all the other dreams. Now most people, the primary dream, the thing they daydream about is getting more money, getting a bigger ministry, falling in love, and having a great marriage. Those are all cool things. Good ministry is cool. Having money is cool. Being in love is cool. Those are great things. But I want to tell you this. If that's the primary dream of your life, if that's what you've made as the primary aim of your life, your life, you're going to end up with all kinds of confusion in your life spiritually. They must be secondary. Husbands, you will love your wives far better if you, if Jesus is number one in your life. Ladies, get a man that loves Jesus more than he loves you, and he will love you more than he does now. I assure you. You won't lose anything if he's on fire for God. He will actually love you far better. And men, the same thing with the ladies. Get a woman that loves Jesus more than she loves you, and she will love you more than she does now. I assure you that's how it works. Paul said it's my primary dream to be well-pleasing. To be well-pleasing, let's put another word for the first commandment to be first. The thing that's most pleasing to God is when we love God with all of our heart. He, Jesus said that's the first thing. That's the great thing. That's what God wants most. He wants that more than a big ministry. He wants that more than big money. He wants you to have a big heart to love him with all of your heart. That's what he wants most. Paul said that's my number one dream in my life. It's my aim. I made it my aim. There was a time in my young life, in my early days, where I decided every young man, every young woman, and many of you are in that time of your life right now, I had to decide what is the primary dream of my life. And many fiery young men, they choose a powerful ministry. That's their primary dream. Let me tell you, that will trick you. That will backfire on you if that's your primary dream. That will bruise you and burn you out more than you know. It will betray you. Sometimes they pick a prosperous business. Prosperity is good. Others pick relationships. Those are good. I urge you to make it your aim. It's a decision that you make that nobody else can make. Only you can make it. And it's a paradigm shift, which means it's a whole shift in the way you picture your life. There's a time in my life, in my early 20s, late teens, early 20s, I did it several times, where I begin to picture my future differently. Instead of picturing my future related to money and ministry and marriage and friends, I begin to picture my future under the anointing to love God with all of my heart. That became the predominant picture in my mind when I looked at my 40s and 50s and 60s. Will I have the anointing to love God with all of my heart? That became my primary daydream. I still want a successful ministry. I want a good marriage. I want financial blessing. I want health. I want all of those things. And the Lord has blessed me in those arenas. But they're not the number one picture of my life. They're not the way I picture my future, even today. I urge you, even before we leave today, that some of you would shift the dream of your heart and make it different. Because Paul said, we make it our aim. God won't make you do this. Nobody else can do this for you. Only you can decide what the number one dream of your life is. Paul said, it's to be well-pleasing, to walk in the first commandment. That's what that means in New Testament language. Paragraph J. Now he tells us why. He says, I want to be well-pleasing. Look at, again, just you're reading your notes, 2 Corinthians 5, 9. We want to be well-pleasing. Why? Because we must stand before the Lord and give an account to Him. Paul said, I want to be well-pleasing. I love Him. But I know that it will matter one day I will stand before Him. And there's no way to avoid this solemn appointment in my life. It is foolishness to think somehow this day will not come. It really will come. He said, because of that, I'm going to stand before the judge that gives out the gold medals. I'm going to stand before the judge who gives the gold, silver. He's not talking about a negative judgment. He's talking about the place of reward here. Beloved, I want the rewards where Jesus expresses the way He feels about the way that I loved Him. Verse 11. I mean, yeah, verse 11. Verse 11. He says, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade man because we are well-known to God. Look at paragraph L. We are well-known to God. Paul knew that God's eyes were on him. Paul knew that God cared about even the smallest efforts that he was making to love Him. Beloved, God knows you well. He watches. You're laying on your bed at night, and you're crying out to obey Him in a greater way. He sees that. That moves Him. He sees you say, you know what? I'm going to make ministry, and money, and marriage, and everything else second. I'm going to make the anointing to walk in the first commandment first. He sees that, and it moves Him, and He writes that in His book. Paragraph M. Which applause and which audience are we living before? It is most natural for us to live before the audience of men. If the cool people like us, we get better jobs, more money. We get bigger opportunities. We have cool friends. If the big guys like us, we go forward. So it's our natural tendency to live before the eyes of men, whether it's leaders in the church, leaders in the community, leaders in the family. We want men and women to go, wow, you're awesome. And what Jesus taught, He said, you can really get off track living mostly before the audience of man. Live before the audience of His eyes. Live for the applause of that man, Christ Jesus, because I tell you, you will stand before Him one day, and when He applauds you on that day, and He rewards you at that reward seat, that judgment seat, that reward will last forever. Here in Matthew 6, you can read it on your own. Jesus encouraged us to live a life of charitable deeds, but He said, don't do it as before men. Do it before the eyes of God, and if you do it before God's eyes, He will reward you forever. Paragraph N. Now Moses, let's look at Hebrews 11. Moses was a very radical, obedient man of God. His obedience was radical. He resisted sin. He embraced hardship because of obedience. Why? Hebrews 11 tells us, Moses, choosing rather to suffer affliction, rather than to enjoy the pleasure of sin, how did Moses resist sin? It tells us here in verse 26, he looked to the reward because he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. Moses locked into a vision of Him who is invisible was watching him. Moses said, nobody else knows that you're watching me because they can't see you, but I know you're watching me. You're invisible, but I know you're watching me, and you're rewarding me, and he made the most radical decisions, and he endured difficulty in his obedience because he saw Him who is invisible. Here's my question. Can you see Him who is invisible? His name is Jesus. Well, a little bit. We have to see Him to some degree, I mean by the eyes of our spirit, I mean by faith, in order to be saved, but beloved, it's not enough for me to just see Him enough to be saved. I want to see Him enough to endure and to press into holiness and obey God. I want to see Him that clearly. The Word of God makes it clear. He will open the eyes of your spirit. I want to see that He's looking at me. Paul said, I'm well known to God. God's gazing on me all the time, and Paul wasn't saying that in a negative way. He was saying, this is exciting, because when nobody notices my obedience, He does. When nobody sees me say yes to purity and no to lust, He does, and it moves Him, and He remembers it. Beloved, we need to see Him who is unseen. Let's go down to paragraph Q here, top of page, on page 19. So, just another moment or two, then we're going to take a break and come back, look at the, the next set of notes. We're going to stay on the same subject, but we're going to bring it to another, a different, go a different direction with it, and if this subject is new to you, and you want more on this, again on our website, we have a number of teachings on this, and it's absolutely free, and again, our copyright's the right to copy. It's yours. Make handouts of your own. Make your own Bible studies, and teach these things. Change them any way that you want. Use any part of it, word for word, or change any part of it you want. It's yours. If you are bold enough to speak it, it's yours. You own it. That's our policy. Here it is. Hebrews 6, verse 10. God is not so unjust to forget any of the work or any of the labor of love which you have shown towards His name, and that you have ministered to the saints. Here's what the writer of Hebrews is saying. God will never forget one single act of service or obedience that you have done to somebody else because you love Him. You could give somebody a cup of cold water, and they may not even know why you were motivated to do it, because you love Jesus. You want to serve whoever. Maybe you give money. You give time. You give words of encouragement. The work is inconvenient. The work is hard. The work is unnoticed by man, but you do it because you know you love Him, and Jesus said this, or the Word of God says this, God will not forget even one small deed you do because you love Jesus in the way you serve other people. I can help a friend and encourage him when my body's tired. It's inconvenient, and I love Jesus, and therefore I want to love this person, and they may not even appreciate what I'm doing, but Jesus nods. He says, Mike, I'll remember this. We'll talk about this again in the age to come, and he writes it in his book. I mean, I forget about it, but he doesn't. He charges himself with injustice. He goes, you could call me an unjust God if I forget one single deed you've ever done. If I don't write it in my book, you can charge me with injustice on the last day. I assure you, he will remember every single deed you do. Paragraph R. This is the only time. I love this statement here. Paragraph R. This is the only time in your eternal existence where the exchange rate is so high. Right now, you can give Jesus time and money, and it turns out into, it turns its exchange to eternal gold. Beloved, the exchange rate will never be higher than it is now, and the age to come for billions of years, we can give ourselves to him, but we will never get a greater reward than when we give ourselves to him now. This is the time to cash in. You can speak words of blessing. You can press into God. You can give your money to the kingdom. You can serve people, even though they are not grateful for it, and you look up and you say, I'm doing it for you. Before your eyes, beloved, the exchange rate is awesome because he pays so well when we do so little. This is the time to cash in. This is the time to get rich. I'm not joking. I remember telling our young people at IHOP, I said, I committed to live a simple lifestyle 30 plus years ago. I committed to give as much money as I could to the kingdom, and for 30 years, 40, 35 years, I've had people tell me, you have to take more money. I go, no. They say, well, you're into poverty. I says, now you really got me wrong because they didn't know about my judgment seat experience when I was 23. I go, you got me all wrong. I said, the truth is, I really love money. I love riches. They go, you do? I go, yeah. I just want them forever. You just want them for a few decades. I want them forever. I mean it. That's not a joke. I go, you're content with a big house now, and big houses could be in the will of God for sure, but I said, I want a big one forever, and I mean it. I'll invite you over. I said, I'm really into big everything, but I want it forever. I mean it. This is not a joke. I am sober about this. I want to be great. I want to be rich. I want to be powerful. I want to be close to Jesus for billions of years, so I'm willing to go without a lot of things right now. I believe this stuff. I really believe it. I charge you to believe it. It's in the Bible. Well, let's end with that. Let's stand. For more free downloads from Mike Bickle, please visit mikebickle.org.