Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of eternal rewards in his sermon '7 Types of Eternal Rewards,' explaining that our choices and actions in this life directly impact the rewards we will receive in the age to come. He highlights that Jesus spoke extensively about these rewards, which include various forms of glory, authority, and praise from God, and that they are based on our heart responses rather than our abilities. Bickle encourages believers to consider their daily decisions and acts of righteousness, as these will be recognized and rewarded by God, ultimately leading to a deeper communion with Him. He reassures that every small act of service and humility matters and will be remembered, urging listeners to live with an eternal perspective.

Wow, that is so good. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Father, we ask you in the name of Jesus, we ask you for the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Father, we ask you for living understanding to come and inspire our spirit even now in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, today I'm going to finish a part four of a series on eternal rewards and we're going to be focusing on seven different types of eternal rewards that the Bible talks about. Now, there's more than seven. There's quite a list that I don't have time to cover in one session, but I clustered a few together and you could lay it out in several different ways, but there's quite a few. Jesus talked more about eternal rewards than any other person in the Bible. Of course, he knew more about them, but he also knew the value of them in a way nobody else did. And the passage of Scripture where there are more, there's more information on eternal rewards than any other is by the lips of Jesus in Revelation chapter 2 and 3. That's just a quick review of what we covered in the last session on this. Paragraph A, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Paul said, each one of us will receive his own reward. And incidentally, these rewards go on forever and forever. They never diminish, which is amazing. And they will receive their own reward according to their own labor or their life choices. If anyone builds upon this foundation and that, of course, that's the foundation of the free gift of salvation that Jesus provides for us at the cross. If they build upon the foundation of the free gift of salvation with gold, silver, precious stones, but also we can build on that foundation with wood, hay and straw. And what happens actually is some of what we do is gold, silver, precious stones, and some of what we do is wood, hay and straw. So it's not usually all one or the other, but it's a mixture of those. Verse 13, Paul goes on to say, each one's work, their life work, which is comprised of a, you know, multitudes of small life decisions or decisions, just daily decisions of how we use our time and money, the words we speak, etc. Each one's life work will become clear. The truth about us will be made known. It will be revealed by fire. The fire of God on the last day at the judgment seat of Christ will test everyone's work, not just the overall life work, but the individual deeds done that comprise the bigger story of our life work. The fire will reveal what sort of work our deeds are. Are they gold, silver, precious stones? Or were the things we did wood, hay and stubble? Or a combination of them, which is typically the case. Verse 14, if anyone's work, which he is built upon the foundation of the free gift of salvation, if it endures the fire, the fire of Jesus's eyes on the last day, that person will receive a reward. So Paul talks about each believer standing before the judgment seat of Christ. Paragraph a here. And we will give an account to him for what he gave to us. But it's at the judgment seat that we receive rewards. And the primary emphasis of the doctrine of the judgment seat, the primary meaning and emphasis is a place of reward. It's meant to be good news, not bad news. The fact that what we do matters today. The little things that we do that we even forget about, he remembers and he rewards us forever. That means every single day of our life has meaning. Because we can do things, simple acts of righteousness, simple acts of humility, words of kindness, sowing money, little bits of money, even just our effort, our energy to say no to sin and to say yes, to be helpful to people because we love the Lord. Those little acts are remembered by the Lord. That means our hours, the hours of our day. They're important. They matter. They last forever. What a glorious reality. That which we have done that's sinful. We ask for forgiveness. It's forgotten forever. The Lord, he completely forgets it. And it says he will not remember it. He won't bring it into the relationship with us in the age to come. It won't be a part of our profile and our relationship with him if we confess it and renounce it. So what a glorious deal. Only our deeds that we did, meaning to be well. Now, when we find out some of those deeds, they're not rewarded. Maybe we thought they would be, but they were not. But many will be. And the things that were wrong that we repented of, they'll never be brought up again. What a glorious day. Now, some people receive the end of year bonus. You know, and sometimes it's a huge surprise. You know, they get a certain amount of money. They, wow, I never would have believed it. Beloved, we have a end of life bonus coming. And it is, this is real. And it is going to shock some of you in a most glorious way. The Lord has planned things far beyond what we imagine in terms of him expressing how he feels about the way that we loved him. Look at paragraph B. Now, rewards, what are rewards about? There's a lot of misunderstanding about the subject of rewards. First and foremost, eternal rewards are about Jesus expressing the way he feels about the way we loved him. Jesus is making known how he felt about the way you lived. Some people think, well, I'm not really interested in rewards. That's not a subject I think that much about, which I would challenge that mindset. That's a non-biblical mindset. Rewards are a very important part of our future. And they say, well, I don't really care that much about it because their picture, their perspective of rewards is they're going to get a reward so they can kind of strut around in front of people or be over people and boss them around. And they go, I'm not really interested in strutting in front of people, you know, or bossing anyone around. I don't really care. I'm happy just with eternity. That's not the biblical view of rewards. We're not motivated to get rewards so we can show them off. That's not the core reason he gives them. He gives them because he wants to openly express the way he feels about the way we loved him. Now, when I talk about the way we loved him, I don't mean just that we were fervent in a worship service, that we sang to him with real focus and intensity. Though that's good. That's not what I'm talking about. The way that we love him is manifest in our life choices. I mean, the little choices. 99.9% of our godly choices and godly works are very small. Very small, but they matter. There's only a few big ones in our entire life. When the Lord says he rewards us for our works, those are kind words. Those are serving in out of the way places and ways or even that have to be out of the way, but small acts of servants, of service. It's humbling ourself instead of holding our ground in pride, speaking a certain kinds of words instead of other kinds of words. Those are all a part of our works. And again, 99.9% of the works that we're rewarded for are very small, but he remembers them. And that's what makes our life so powerful. Well, paragraph B, he wants to express the way he feels about the way we loved him. That's one of the primary reasons for rewards. Another point about rewards is that rewards are about our proximity to Jesus in the age to come and our ability to be with him where he is doing what he's doing. God has given him the mandate to rule the nations and I want to be a part of what is precious to him. So I'm not looking for a reward so I can show somebody else I was better than them. I want a reward because I want to receive what Jesus feels and I want to be working closely with him in what he's doing. Another reason for rewards is that Jesus who is, his name is our righteousness. In Jeremiah 23, verse 5 and 6, that's his name. The righteous one, it is impossible that he who is righteous, that he would not vindicate every trace of righteousness that happens in your life. He loves righteousness so much that he wants to make a point out of every single movement of righteousness that you've had in your life. That's how much he loves righteousness. And he is the truth. This man, his name is the truth. Jesus, I am the way, the truth. He wants to openly manifest the truth about the way you've loved him. All of the seeds of our righteous deeds, they're little, they're just little acts. All the seeds of our love, our little expressions of love, they will be brought to full open manifestation in that day because Jesus wants the full truth to be known. And so that's what rewards are about. Matthew chapter 25, verse 21, Jesus is talking in the parable, he says, I will make you ruler over many things. And then he will say, enter into the joy of the Lord. Some people say, well, I don't really care about rewards. I think you will. I think you will have joy. You will enjoy your rewards more than you might think. Jesus said you would enter into joy when that reward is given. He pays so well. I mean, Jesus pays us so well for doing so little. It is absolutely remarkable. Well, of course, he can afford to. He is the wealthiest man in existence. He is the kindest man and he is the most generous. He's not only kind, he's actually generous. He wants to give back. You know, the verse in second Corinthians chapter nine, verse seven, Paul said, God loves a cheerful giver. Well, let me tell you who God is. God is a man. And this man who is fully God, fully man, he is a cheerful giver. And he not only loves it when you are a cheerful giver, he is the ultimate cheerful giver. And on that last day, you will stand before him and he will have a smile on his face with cheerfulness, just overpaying us according to our mindset, giving us so much more for what we did that we could ever imagine. It is worth it, what we're doing today. Our effort to say no to sin, our effort to serve, even though nobody appreciates it or nobody sees it. Beloved, it is worth it. It is worth it more than we could ever imagine. Because the judge is a cheerful giver. The one that judges us is a happy giver. And he has, he can afford to give big amounts. Because that's how much he has. Paragraph C, Matthew chapter 5 verse 19. Jesus talked about there would be those in the kingdom that would be called least. They're in the kingdom. They're born again. They live in the new Jerusalem in the age to come. And there will be those that are called great. Amongst the redeemed family, the family of God, there will be a large spectrum of different positions and even different experiences in that city in the age to come. They will be called least and they will be called greatest. In the age to come, though all of them are born again, they all have resurrected bodies. They all have the free gift of salvation. My point is, it really does matter what we do in this life. Because even though the things we do are such little things, little attitude adjustments of humility, little acts of service, little sowing of finances, and sometimes it's large, but mostly they're little things. They really do matter to the Lord. Because he doesn't reward us based on our ability. He rewards us based on our heart responses. Matter of fact, so often it's the act, it's the exact reversal. The people that are called great in this age, I believe many will be called least in the age to come. I mean even in the body of Christ I'm talking about specifically because often those that are great in this age, they lose their way in the heart response realm. They are so preoccupied managing their greatness, whether it's finances or political power or notoriety or whatever it is. They have, they're so preoccupied managing their greatness at this age, they lose their way on managing their heart responses. But in the age to come, people that were completely least, that had no abilities that were outstanding at all, in anybody else's opinion, they can be great in the age to come. Now it is possible for someone great in this age to be great in the age to come. It's just more challenging. It's hard for a rich man to enter in because he's so preoccupied with all that he has in his hands in this age. But Jesus said there will be a large range and diversity of positions and status even within the family of God, just like it is in this age. That same principle will be true in the age to come. But the judgment seat is the great equalizer. It's the Jesus's eyes of fire looking at heart responses, not looking at abilities. That's what he measures everything by. So every one of us have an opportunity to be great in the age to come. Nobody has to know you. You don't have to have any great ability, no great position. You have to have a determination to be steadfast in servanthood and in choosing righteousness. And when we fail and repent, which we all fail, he says, I will forget it. I won't bring it into the relationship with us. I will only remember the good that you will carry with you in the age to come. I won't remember that which you have confessed. Paragraph D, 1 Corinthians 15. Now, Paul tells us there's a many different measures of glory in the in the age to come in our resurrected life. Now, 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is talking about specifically in context, the resurrected body. Now, we will all receive a physical, material, supernatural resurrected body. Meaning in the age to come, your body will be as physical and material as your body is right now. But it will have the added dimensions of supernatural abilities. But it is real. You won't just be kind of a kind of an invisible spirit, you know, that that has doesn't have physical substance to it. So Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, he's describing the resurrected body. And this is a very significant point he makes in verse 41. He said, there's one glory of the sun. There's another glory of the stars. For one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. There are billions of stars, many more than that in the whole, you know, known universe, billions and billions. There are not two stars that are exactly the same. And in the age to come, there was very possibly several billion people will be in in the family of God in the age to come. There will be no two believers that will have the same measure of glory. Paul said, as one star differs from another star in glory, even though there's so many, there are not two that are identical. So also is the resurrection of the dead. Now he's talking about the resurrected body, but the principle is it goes beyond just a different measure of glory in our resurrected body. There will be a different measure of glory in clothing, in our dwelling places, the mansions, in our assignments, our place of authority, crowns, and on and on. This principle of diversity of glory in many arenas of our life is, that's what Paul is saying. And it's all related to our heart responses to him in this age. Well, we'll look at the first reward. And again, we're only looking at seven. And you could, the list could be far larger than this, but we only have a limited time. I just want to give you a snapshot. The Bible says a lot more about rewards than a lot of folks think. They just kind of think, well, we'll take care of it when we get there. And I don't think that's the right approach. I want to know what God wanted me to know about rewards. And I want to get them fixed in my understanding because it changes the way I think about my future. Now I think about my future. I'm talking about 500 years from now, my future. I think about 10 years from now. Yes, but I've spent a lot of time in my years in the Lord thinking about my life in the age to come. Because beloved, I assure you, you will have a life in the age to come. You will be there and it will be real. And you will have a work assignment and you will have a certain amount of reward. And it really matters related to what you do now. I want to encourage you, ask the Holy Spirit to stir up your holy imagination. Not that you can think in great detail about the age to come, but in broad strokes, there's a little bit of framework of truth the scripture has given us. So we can understand some of the broad strokes of what it might look like in the age to come. And I make decisions today consciously thinking about my job description in the age to come. And the Bible affirms that mindset. That's why I lay hold of that. And I want to encourage you to do it. I want you to think often about it. Not, you know, you've heard the phrase, that guy's so heavenly minded, he's no earthly good. I've never met that person. I've met spacey people, but they're not heavenly minded. There's another word. I wouldn't call that heavenly minded. There's something else. There's another term you should use. There's several terms. I've never met a person that's heavenly minded that is not practically useful to the earth. But if we don't think rightly about heaven, we will never think about heaven. And most believers I know rarely think about heaven because they don't think rightly about it. Meaning they think of it mostly as just kind of a vague, kind of floating on a cloud, playing a guitar or a harp on a cloud, you know, every couple thousand years passing by a friend. Hey, bro, how you doing? Going good. Love God. Bless you. A thousand years from now. That's not a, if you think about heaven that way, you will rarely think about heaven. We will be on the earth. Heaven is coming down to the earth. We will have real physical material bodies, real work assignments and real diversity of the glory of God. And we will really interact with each other. We will teach people and we'll be taught and we'll have friendships and friendships will grow. We'll have new friendships and our friendships will be diverse. Some will be deeper than others. There'll be many people you don't know in the age to come and you will get to know them as time goes by. When you get your resurrected body, you don't get a, you know, a computer chip of omniscience. You know, now you have your resurrected body. Now you have all information. It doesn't work that way. You will still learn and you will teach and be taught. And it will be true, not just in truth, but also in terms of relating to people. And there's many dimensions about our life in the age to come that we are supposed to be thinking on some of these and living our life in the light of them. Well, reward number one, and I'll just give a minute on each one of these, resurrected bodies. There will be a different, every single one of us will have a different measure of glory in our bodies. Our bodies, the scripture makes clear, but the verses I won't look at them right now just for time's sake. But our physical bodies in the age to come will shine like stars. They will have the glory of God. There will be a luminary dimension to our physical bodies. Jesus's face shone like the sun. And here in paragraph B, our body will be like his body. Now he will have a greater measure of glory, but in principle, we will have the same capacities. A lesser glory in them, a lesser ability in them, but we will have the same kind of functions and capacities in our body that he has in his. It says in Philippians 3, 21, we will be conformed our body to his. Now he will have the ultimate measure of glory in every one of these capacities. And we will have a lesser measure and a diverse measure. But your face, some of you, your face will shine far more than others. And the very body and your clothing will have a dimension of glory in it. Some angels are far more bright and glorious in their presence. I mean, in their physical presence than other angels are. And the same will be true of the saints. Top of page two. The second reward. The area of our garments. Now our heavenly garments, we will wear our heavenly garments. They will express our dedication to the Lord during this life. And they will express Jesus's feelings about the way we loved him in this life. Our garments will express that. Now here in natural, in our, this natural life, garments, there are so many messages that are related to garments. There are garments for many different occasions in life. And there will be many different occasions, many diverse settings in the age to come in your life. You won't just be in a worship service for millions of years and that's all that you do. You'll be actively involved in ruling the earth in your sphere of authority that Jesus gives you. And you'll be dynamically involved with many, many people doing many things. And there will be garments for all different occasions, in my opinion. I believe that from the things I've studied here in the scripture, that the garments will be diverse. Because here in the natural, in our natural life, there are garments for different occasions. And they, some of those garments express our personalities. Meaning you choose what you want according to what your personality is like. And clothing is a very powerful part of a person's personality. Other settings, you don't get to choose. It's a formal setting. And somebody else, maybe it's in a military setting or a political setting or something like that. And they choose the garment for you. But it's a garment appropriate to that very setting. Paragraph B. Well, first I'll read Revelation 19.8. This is on the wedding day. Revelation 19 is describing the wedding day. To her, that's the bride of Christ. It was granted that she would be arrayed in fine linen. Clean and bright. The garments we have will be bright. Again, there's a dimension of the glory of God. Like angels, some are very bright in their garments. Like the Lord, He appeared sometime with bright garments. And other times, He would veil His glory. But notice this. These garments are the righteous acts of the saints. Meaning there's the gift of righteousness that we get at salvation. It's free. We get the initial garment that signifies that we have received the robe of righteousness, the gift of righteousness. That's free. You don't do anything to earn it. Jesus did that for us. But in addition to that, there are garments that are the result of the individual vigil righteous acts of believers. And again, your righteous acts, 99.9% of them are very small acts. Again, they're acting in humility instead of pride in a situation. Speaking words that are right instead of words that are wrong. I'm talking about in terms of words of loving and instead of words that are angry and proud. It's what we do with our money, our time, our energies. Those are all acts of righteousness. They're very small acts, but those individual acts of righteousness will be figured into the garments you wear on the wedding day. Now on the wedding day, I assume as any bride I've ever met, they always look their best on their wedding day. My assumption is that whatever acts of righteousness have been exchanged for heavenly garments, people were all the bride corporately, the whole body of Christ were the bride of Christ. Everybody will dress to their very best on their wedding day. And so the clothing will be different because our acts of righteousness are all different in everyone's life. Paragraph B, I believe there will be various degrees of brightness. Some will be brighter than others. I believe there'll be many types of clothing with unique design and fabrics and color and fragrance. Because the promise of receiving clothing, Jesus gave us that promise. And the only way that we could make sense of that promise was understanding how we related to clothing in this age. And as we understood what clothing meant to us in many different contexts of life in this age, only in that context, we could then be motivated by clothing in the age to come. And so my point being, as I believe intrinsic to these rewards, that the definition of the rewards are anchored in how we generally define things like clothing and crowns and places of authority. It's how we understand them in this life. They give us the clues and the tip off to what they will be like in the age to come. Because Jesus gave us these promises of rewards to motivate us. And if we couldn't make sense of what those rewards meant, then how could it motivate us? And again, we look at our natural life, and there's corresponding details to these rewards to how they will be given. I mean, how we will relate to those rewards in the age to come. And clothing is just one of them. And again, clothing will express not only our devotion to the Lord. It's what he feels about the way we live. But also clothing will express our personality in the age to come, just like it does in this age. I believe you'll have a far bigger wardrobe than you do now. Some people, they kind of read the Bible casually, and they notice the white robe. And they imagine for billions of years, they will just wear that big white t-shirt for the rest of their life. And that's it. It's a pretty one. It's a good one. But that's it. It's like Jesus made the city filled with gardens and rivers, and the palaces are made of jewels. And the whole city, the foundation stones, diamonds and rubies. And then like, oh no, I forgot about the dress code. Oh, all I thought about was just everybody wearing the same for billions of years. No, not a chance. His creativity and power and personality and the diversity of what's in him will be expressed in clothing like it is in the gardens, the rivers, the food, the mansions, and all the other dimensions of splendor in the New Jerusalem. Clothing will be included in that diverse manifestation of his splendor. Paragraph D. Now you'll notice in Exodus chapter 28 that the Lord spoke and gave directions for the clothing of the priest. And it says in Exodus 28 verse 2, that you are to make holy garments for Aaron. He's the head priest, the high priest. But here's the point I want you to catch. Make garments for glory and for beauty. These garments would signify Aaron's position. That's the glory dimension. They would signify the dignity and the honor that he had in the community of God. So they were garments to signify rank. That's the issue of glory. But they were not only for glory. They were made to signify, I mean, to express beauty. Not just to signify rank, but to express beauty. When Aaron wore the garments, everybody in the camp of Israel knew he was the high priest. They were clear what position he had by the garments he wore. And of course, that's the point of uniforms in many different arenas of life in this age. But they didn't only know the rank he had. They knew it was an expression of beauty. They went, wow. And there were many facets of the priest's clothing in Exodus 28. And there's many colors. It's not just white. There's many colors. Here's my point. God is the one who thought of the dress and all that was involved for the high priest and the priest. God thought of it, not Moses. It wasn't Moses coming and saying, hey God, have you ever thought about having a special clothing for the priest? And the Lord says, hey, good idea. Never thought about that. Yeah, yeah, I'll get back to you. That's a great idea. I'll think on that for a while. Now, that's not how it happened. My point, it was 100% God's idea. Why? Because details like this are in God's heart. He cares about garments that show forth glory and beauty with all kinds of diverse colors, as well as the different types of clothing that are signified here. And I don't believe Exodus 28 is a comprehensive list of all the colors and clothing. I believe Exodus 28 is giving us insight that this is what God's personality is like related to clothing. Then we look at the city itself. It has so many different colors of those precious stones and gems that who thought of a city with all of these colors? Well, God did. That's the same one who is arranging our approach to dress in the age to come. So I believe there's great diversity in this. Number three reward. The authority to reign or our function, our work assignment. Now, every work assignment will have intrinsic to it a sphere of authority. Now, some will be kings. They'll be over nations. There will be nations in the age to come in the Millennial Kingdom. Some, I'm talking about resurrected believers with resurrected bodies. They will be over nations. Others will be over cities. Some five cities, some 10 cities, and others will be subunits of the city. Just like in our city here in Kansas City, there's many subunits of authority within the governmental structure of our city. Many layers of authority. But every single job has a measure of authority. The guy that runs the hot dog stand, he's done over the city, but he's over that four by four and his equipment. That little piece of real estate, that's his little area, and he sells the hot dogs and determines how much and when, and when he's available and he's not. That's his realm of authority. But it really is real. Every believer will have an assignment and therefore a realm of authority in governing the earth, even if it's their little hot dog stand. Although it won't be a hot dog stand, I don't think. That would be news. But whatever sphere they have, and many believers will have very small spheres, but it will be truly a part of reigning in the earth, just like somebody in their work job right now. They are reigning in society to that degree that their hot dog stand prospers. And so there'll be many different layers, is my point, many different levels of authority. So when you read this verse in Revelation 5.10, that we'll reign upon the earth, don't imagine that all, you know, that the several billion saints potentially, I mean, nobody knows the number, but there could be several billion in the age to come. They won't all be kings. There are not several billion nations. I mean, there's not enough nations for everyone to be a king. And there's not several billion cities. Not everybody will be over city. But they will all reign in some regard being over some sphere of responsibility. So I have a number of verses here that just kind of lay out that general idea. There's much in the Bible about this. Now, the essence of reigning, of ruling, because there's quite a few verses that say we will judge and we will reign. We will judge and reign, which are really the same thing. Because reigning, a significant part of reigning is making decisions is which is the same as judging. Intrinsic or the very essence of reigning is decision-making. We will make decisions, real decisions in the age to come that will determine the quality of life for others. Our decisions will actually enhance things. When we make decisions, we will go for it and things will get better. That's part of reigning, real decision-making and real impact. It says we will judge. Again, judging and reigning are really two sides of one coin. We will evaluate past actions. We will determine future action plans. We will decide, in part, the people we want involved in that sphere of responsibility that God has given us. Some people kind of imagine, well, when they reign, they don't think much about it. They think, well, I guess I'll just... They kind of imagine themselves in kind of a robotic kind of mode. They're just in this automatic pilot robot mode and that they have a decision to make and it's given to them from headquarters and they just simply get the, you know, the fax machine, so to speak. They get the memo, they read it and do it. No, that's not how Jesus rules through us in this age. He doesn't just give us a memo and we repeat the memo. Even in our ministries now and our responsibilities, Jesus wants our deep involved decision-making. He wants our partnership involved. He wants our personalities expressed. The various facets of our personality are expressed in righteous decisions that we make in this age that are pleasing to the Lord. So the Lord says, I want you to do this, but I want you to do it through the way I made you. And so in the age to come, it's not like we're waiting for a memo and we in a robotic state, we just simply repeat it. But there will be a dynamic interaction with the Lord where we really are involved in real decision-making like we are now. And that brings great joy to the Lord. I mean, he could do it all himself. The issue isn't that he lacks the ability to do it all himself or the time. He has plenty of power, plenty of wisdom, plenty of time is that he has desire for relationship. So he actually wants to involve you. He wants you to think and feel and decide together in relationship with him for the sphere that you have responsibility over. Top of page three. Our work assignment won't just be about making an impact and enhancing the quality of life for others or just the quality of life in the city or on the earth. Again, we're really going to be involved. It's the dominion mandate given in the Garden of Eden. That dominion mandate's eternal. We will be working together with the Lord to bring his dominion forth. We will be under that mandate for billions and billions and billions of years. And our decisions will really matter. Your job description 500 years from now will be real. And it really will be the fruit of what you're doing today. And I encourage you, think about it. It's a good thing to think about. Again, I can't get the great details of what I'll do. But I think about it. I go, Lord, I'm in my internship right now. My 70-year internship on the earth. 80 years due to strength is what Psalm 90 says. You know, most people get their 60, 70, 80 years on the earth. That's their internship. And their biggest ministry assignment is in the age to come. We're all in an internship. Billy Graham is still an intern. And I realize Billy's filled up, you know, a couple hundred stadiums. But he's still an intern. His bigger assignment and more, not necessarily more important. But the one that has is a bigger scope is actually his next assignment on the earth with the resurrected body. But more than just impacting people, paragraph B here, our work assignment will bring us into close proximity with Jesus. Meaning I don't just want the excitement of having relevant work. It's not about being over people in your work assignment. It's about the relevance. We crave relevance. We long to do something that's relevant, that matters. And our work assignment will give expression to that desire for relevance. And we will have relevance forever. We will do things that matter forever. We won't sit around idly just waiting till the next worship set. We will be actively participating in bringing God's dominion to the whole created order. And we don't have a lot of details in the Bible about that. But the fact of it is clear in the scripture. Well, more than just relevance and something that's important to do. Our work will bring us into close proximity to Jesus. Now, Jesus in his earthly ministry, he had an inner circle. And in that inner circle, he had 12. Then within the 12, he had 3. And then even beyond the 12, he had 70 that would still be in his inner circle. That 70, they had close proximity to him. Then there was the multitudes. Even in the age to come, some of you will work closer in proximity to the Lord than others will. We will all have equal access to his heart to worship him and to receive from him. But we will have different work assignments just like them. Because Jesus wants to fill the earth with the glory of God. You know, I don't know what I'm going to do the age to come. But, you know, everybody wants to be in Jerusalem. And that's the city of choice. But I have a second choice. I go, Lord, you know, I don't know if that's going to work out. But if it doesn't work out, I want to at least be involved in IHOP in Kansas City in the age to come. I want to build. I will be a part with others. Build the house of prayer. I don't know if you get to choose. But I just offered it to the Lord. And he made smiles. It looked like a lot of handouts already. I don't know if any, very many of them will make it through or if any of them will. But I'm, you know, got them ready. I'm a Sadman doing IHOP for years. And that's, you know, you don't really know what your assignment is going to be. But it's something you ought to care about. So though we can't know the details. And that was just a bit of humor there. That I was not a theological point I just made about Kansas City and IHOP. But we can't know the details. But we know it's ruling. We know it's reigning. We know it matters. We know it changes things. And we know it's working together with him. Look at this verse in Revelation 321 here under paragraph B. Jesus said to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me. That's the phrase on my throne. We will be ruling with him. I want to be in some of those staff meetings with him. I don't know how this works. But I know that every meeting he has, it won't be three billion people all showing up in the room discussing what he's going to do in every part of the earth. He is actually going to meet with people. We're going to rule with him in partnership. I want to be in some of those meetings with him. I don't know what number I imagine. But I want to be in some of those where he's talking. And he looks over at us and says, OK, I gave you involvement in this part of the earth. What have you done? And what are you thinking? And we will give our answer to him. And there will be a dialogue. And he will say, here's what you ought to think down these lines as well. Oh, good idea, Jesus. You smile and give us a wink. It says, yeah, you go with that. You won't go wrong. And you're on the right path. Go now, exercise dominion and bring back a report to me later. I want to be in some of those meetings. And so do you. I want to be with the Lord, close to him and those kind of things. Paragraph C. Jesus promised the apostles they would rule related to their obedience. And you can read the passage there. But their government, their responsibility was because they gave all. Now, a lot of people have a theory of giving all. I gave all to Jesus. It's all his. But Jesus never, ever gets his hands on it. They have this big bank account. It's all the Lord's, but the Lord never actually gets to use it. It's not just bank accounts. It's all it's time, energy, resource. A lot of folks have a theory that it's all the Lord's. But in practicality, it isn't. It doesn't actually come out that way. But when we really leave it all, there really is a corresponding assignment in the age to come related to an aggressive abandonment in our obedience to the Lord of this age. Paragraph D. Some will have greater authority than others. Some will be over nations, some cities, five cities, some 10 cities, some a part of a city, some a part of the part of the city. It's all will be as diverse as there are people. And again, I'm assuming there'll be a several billion saints in the age to come. Reward number four crowns. We will all not everybody will have a crown. A crown is not the same thing as the gift of eternal life. Some folks have mixed that up. They go, oh, when I step in the age to come, I'll get my crown, meaning I will have eternal life in a resurrected body. And crowns are not synonymous with eternal life. There are two types of crowns. And you can read this on your own just for time's sake. I'll just mention it. There's two types of crowns. Paragraph B. There's the diadem, which is the crown of a ruler, like a political leader. That's a sphere of authority. But there's also a different kind of crown in the New Testament. It's the Stephanos. That's the crown of the athlete. It's like the wreath they received at the Olympic Games or in today's terms, the gold medal. So there is a crown that the athlete gets the gold medal. And there's the crown that the ruler, the political leader gets the king of a nation. Very different types of crowns. Now, we earn them the same way by living in obedience and humility and servanthood. But these are two complete different dimensions of crowns. Paragraph D. James 1. James talks about the man who endures. James 1 verse 12. Blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved. When the Lord is approved, the Lord says, you've done it. You've pressed through that temptation. He will receive the crown of life promised to those who love him. Now, this word crown is not the diadem, the ruler over a city or nation. This is the crown of the wreath in the Olympic Games, meaning like the gold medal crown type thing. That we are running a race. And the race that we're running, we're not competing against each other. We're what we're racing against is the powers of darkness encroaching in our life and stealing from us. Our race is measured in terms of our response to resist darkness and to embrace light. That's where our race is. I'm not competing with you. I'm competing with my own flesh between two options of the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. And here's what James says. There's a man, blessed is the man, he endures temptation. He endures it. Now, what does it mean endure temptation? Well, when you say no to temptation, a minute later, it comes back. You thought, wait a second. I said no. Temptation says, I don't care that you said no. I'm coming back again. Well, okay. Second time, no. A minute later, knock it on the door, raging. No. What is it? You don't understand about no. Temptation doesn't understand anything about no. Comes back again, again, again, again, again, year after year after year. And, and James says to the person that endures it, meaning that continually resist the pressure of temptation year by year. They keep putting the effort. No, no. They receive this crown. This is not a crown that's given to every boarding and believer because they have the gift of eternal life. This is beloved. It matters that we say no to lust. And there's more kinds of lust than just physical ones. There are other, there are several types of lust of the Bible by saying no to temptation and by sticking with it. Yes, we fail sometimes and we repent and the Lord forgives us and he takes it off our record. But there's a persistent resistance that's called enduring temptation. Beloved, it's worth it what you do in the secret place of your life that nobody's looking at. Because if you constantly push back against it, the Lord says, I will give you a crown because I know you only did it because you love me and everybody won't have a crown. You know, you, you hear at the funeral and lots of funerals have really bad theology. Old brother, so-and-so, you know, he's going to receive his crown and he's going to hear well faith, well done, good, faithful, not, no crown and no well faithful, not a chance. But every funeral I've ever gone to, the guy says that about the guy there. I don't, it doesn't work that way. Now, my point is, and I'm not trying to like pick on the guy, you know, in the grave. I don't want people buying into that because that's just rhetoric. That's not real. Not that. I don't know how many, but I got a feeling that crowns are more rare than plentiful in that, in that age. It's the people that stayed with it for years saying no to the flesh. It matters though. Nobody else sees you. He sees you and he knows you're doing it because you love him. Fifth reward, our communion with the Lord. There will be top of page four. I'll just say these last three very brief. You could kind of read them on your own and the subjects are so big. Anyway, I mean, there's huge subjects. Every one of us, we will have equal access to worship Jesus because the gift of righteousness, he will open his heart. We'll worship him, but we will all have very capacity to understand and communicate with him. Meaning just like believers in this age, there are some believers that are so close to the Lord and there's other believers, their spiritual life. They have a very small capacity. Both of them have the free gift of righteousness, but their ability to communicate with the Lord as a very different level. The same will be true in the age to come. Revelation 3, 12, he says to overcomers. Now he's talking to the church, to the ones that press through the things that he was challenging them right there in, in, in that church at Philadelphia, there in flip and revelation 3, 12, he goes, if you will overcome, I will write my name on you and my father's name, which means for God to write God's name on you, it doesn't mean I will claim ownership of you. He will claim ownership of every morning and believer. That means when God writes his name on a person, that means he gives that person the ability to understand God's heart and God's mind. It's the spirit of revelation is what it's talking about. It's the spirit of revelation. Paragraph B, Jesus said, if you press through and obey, I'll give you the morning star. What's the morning star? Well, in chapter 22, he says, I'm the morning star. In other words, if you press in, I will give you a greater capacity to receive the light of the glory of who I am. You will understand and feel and give yourself back to me in a higher capacity because that you've obeyed. That's part of your reward. Reward number six, praise from God. This is my favorite of all. But every believer will receive a certain amount of affirmation and praise from God. Says in first Corinthians four, verse five, the Lord will come. He will reveal the counsels of the heart. Then he will give affirmation to each person. It will come from God. God will verbalize. Jesus will verbalize as well as give clothing and mansions and crowns and etc. He will also verbalize praises. Verbal. He will verbalize how he feels about the way you lived. Says in first Peter one, that the genuineness of your faith of your response to God will result in praise. You will be praised, not worship, not praise in that sense of the word. But praise in terms of affirmed by God. Paragraph B revelation three, five. When Jesus tells the church at, at Sardis there, I, he says, you, you, the problems he was challenging them with. He says, I will confess your name before the father and the angels. Now to confess our name. It doesn't mean that we go through the, you know, the heavenly passport gate one time. And he says, Bill Smith enter. Okay. I confess your name. He's not talking about making a kind of a technical declaration at a passport office that you're in or out. He's talking about much more than that because our confession or our testimony, it's what we believe. If he's, he's talking about, I will tell the story of your love for me. I will tell the storyline that you lived out. I will tell back when you were 20 and 30 and 40. And that day when things were tough, you chose me and nobody saw it. It moved me. I'm going to tell that story. Now, each of us have loved ones, friends and family members that we like to tell a story about various ones about their virtue. And it's not like you tell the story once you tell it over and over. There are stories that I have from other people's lives of their virtue. I tell the story over and over and over, and I tell it to them and I tell it to others. And why do, why will Jesus do this? Because the story moves him. That's why, just like you tell the story because it moves you. There will be times that the Lord will confess your name. Meaning he will tell your story. Father, let me tell you about Bill. Let me tell you. And the father obviously knows it already, but Jesus feels it. It moves him. And then he's going to look over the angels. In a different context entirely, he's working with the angels. He goes, you know that guy you're working with? Let me tell you about him. The sort of thing that we do, Jesus is going to do. I mean, when we hear somebody's story, it moves us. We want other people to know. That same sort of thing is going on. And then number seven. Again, there's far more categories than seven. Jesus said, lay up treasures in heaven. There are so many verses about laying up treasures for heaven. In heaven, these are real. These are not figurative. This is real. There will be real treasure in heaven for real. Jesus said, Revelation 3.18. I don't have it on here. His last word to the church, to the seven churches. His last word to the church in history. Of him speaking directly in terms of a message. He said, I advise you to get gold. I advise you to get it. We're talking about the wealthiest man that's ever walked the earth. Advising you to get gold for the age to come. He taught on it many times. Many believers don't pay much attention to it. But I tell you, it's real. Our wealth will vary in the age to come. It matters to work hard now for wealth 10 years from now. Everybody understands that. When a person works hard today, and they get the benefits of their wealth in 10 or 20 years. People say, that's a wise man or a wise woman. It's the same principle. Beloved, it really matters. I've told people for years. I want to be wealthy. I just don't mind waiting until the age to come. And if God gives me wealth in this age, I want to invest it in his kingdom. Because the exchange rate is so high right now. I want to take wealth now, invest it into the age to come. I want wealth forever. I am really into wealth. I committed to live a simple lifestyle over 30 years ago. And so I've had many people over the years say, well, you know what? Are you afraid of money? I go, no. Truth is, I love wealth. I just want it forever. And the exchange rate's so high right now. I'm going to use my decisions now, get gold forever. Because I'm really into gold. Amen. Let's stand. It is all worth it. Let's stand. It is all worth it. Beloved, it's worth saying no to sin. It's worth investing ourselves in ways that nobody else even cares that you're pouring yourself out. You're serving them and they only criticize you. Don't worry about it. The Lord sees it. It all registers for that great day. Father, we say yes to you. We say that we love you. Lord, we want the wealth in the age to come. We want it. I'm going to invite people to respond to this. And you can respond. You want to come up forward to receive prayer? Or maybe you just want to come up just for privacy's sake. You just want to be alone for a few minutes with the folks around you. You want to just talk to the Lord. I tell you, the Lord says again, his last message to the church was I advise you to get wealth. I advise you to get gold. If you want to pray about that right now, I'm going to invite you to come up. If you have a need, physical need, or a need in your life. You want somebody to join you in prayer with, go ahead and come on up. And we will stand with you and ask the Lord for the release of his goodness in your life. Beloved, it's all worth it. It's worth it to endure temptation to say no to it. It matters. It matters. Jesus, we say yes to you. Here I am, Lord. I say yes to you. Beloved, it's not too late to start. You say I'm 50, 60, 70, 80, 90. Beloved, spend the last few years going for this.