Ignite with Barry Meguiar Podcast

Barry Meguiar  00:03

Hi everybody. Welcome back to ignite. You know, it’s been said, you can’t take it with you, but, but you can and provide by by 1000 I mean this, this gets really excited. We don’t talk much about rewards in heaven. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a sermon on rewards in heaven, but, but it’s a constant theme throughout Scripture. It’s all over the place. I just think of a couple of scriptures real fast. Second, Corinthians, 510, says we will receive what is new, whether they be good or evil. You know, there’s, there’s three, two different judgment seats. There’s the white throne judgment, and there’s a judgment seat of Christ. You do not want to stand. You don’t want the end of your life stand at the White Throne Judgment, because then you’re going to be as non Christians, non believers who have not accepted Jesus Christ. You’re going to be judged by what you’ve done. You don’t want to go there’s already dwell on that, but that’s that’s a horrible thought, too horrible to even contemplate right now. But then you stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and you’re rewarded for all the things you did do for Christ, you did do for the Lord, that that’s pretty in spite of all the crazy stuff, we get rewarded for all the good stuff we did, all right, that’s pretty special, particularly if you’re an overachiever. I tend to be an overachiever. I’m thinking, I want to get there. I want to get there. I want to get there. I want to I want to have responsibilities. I want to have some, some things to do that are important. In Matthew 2521 says, if you’ve been faithful, over a little on what you’ve done now on the small time we have on Earth, I’ll set you over much. I think I want God to set me over much while I get to heaven. How about you? It’s this imputable law of sowing and reaping. You have this theme. It’s all over where you look, you see it when you start looking for it first. Corinthians, three. I think it’s three. Eight says our wages are given to us according to our labor. Our labor. Are you laboring for God? Are you living every day serving God? Are you living every day being about your father’s business? Are you laboring for yourself and focus on yourself and your own worthy needs? I’m not saying you’re not on your way to heaven, but you’re not going to get rewarded for selling those car wax or whatever else you’re doing. It doesn’t work that way. Some people just say, I just want to get to heaven. No, that’s their goal. I want to get to heaven. Well, that’s that’s good for sure, because it’s eternal and you want to get to heaven. But there’s different levels of heaven. Do you understand that first Corinthians, three scripture? I laugh at it sometimes that some of us will be like We’re escaping through flames. It’s like it describes like there’ll be cinders on our robes. I don’t think that’s how the apostle Paul entered heaven. I think he came into heaven a whole different way. I want to be more like the apostle Paul. You know, First Corinthians, two nine says we can’t even begin to imagine what God has prepared for those of us who love him. Okay, so the key is, Do you love him? We can’t imagine what he has prepared for us, what he has prepared for if we love him. So how do we love him? I’m getting out. This is real basic. This is Bible 101, okay, but let me put the piece together for maybe there’s one or two of you that don’t know this, but he says, Jesus said, If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments. Okay, in Mark 12, he talks about that specifically, when they said, well, so what’s the greatest commandment? You have 10 commandments, or you have hundreds, really, but you have the 10 Commandments, and when you look at the 10, they say, well, so what’s the best what’s the most important? And you know what he said? He said, Love Me with all your heart, mind, soul, all in love, if you’re all in loving God, His love overflow you, and you automatically Love your neighbor as yourself, the two, you can’t be separated. That always, they always go together. But if you love your neighbor as yourself, you’re going to be as concerned for their salvation as you are your own salvation. And that’s when you start moving everybody, every day, closer to Jesus, because everybody’s under your Peruvian, everybody’s under your influence. You have influence. God’s given you influence. What do you do with your influence? Love is defined as salvation. Let me explain this just a moment to you. When God loves you, it’s 1,000% salvation you. He’s loving you to bring you to himself. He’s loving you to bring you to eternity. He made you for eternity. And when he loves you, he’s salvation you, and he’s bringing. You to eternity, and when you love people around you, when you speak to people every, every, every conversation you have, everything comes out of your mouth. He wants a salvation. That message, whether it’s be laughter or sorrow or whatever it is, but it be with the thought of salvation. I just lost a dear friend. I’m weeping over that. I’m grieving over that, but in my voice, you know, there’s joy for him. He’s in heaven. Even in our worst moments, we can bring glory to God, and we can salvation people by by the very fact that we love God, our joy is strong even the midst of our worst times. Okay? First, Corinthians 13 gives us it’s the love chapter, right? And, and it really is appropriate for this message, because it really gives us messages without love, we gain nothing. It lists, you know, I can give to the poor, give all my money away, I can be sacrificial. I can do this as a long list of all these things we can do. And it says, but that means nothing if you’re doing without love, what does that mean? It means nothing if we’re not doing it, to love people into Heaven, to salvation them into heaven. That’s what life’s all about. It’s it’s so simple and it’s so profound. This is what we live for every moment of every day. If you’re not doing that, you’re missing joy now and you’re missing rewards in heaven. I’m not talking about earning your way into heaven. Let me insert this right quick. I will wear Ephesians two nine. That says, you know, it’s not of works, lest any should boast, we can’t earn our way to heaven. Obviously, we cannot be good enough. Being good does not get us into heaven. But we can earn our rewards. We can there are levels in heaven and there’s levels in hell. There are some that are going to be really good people, that are really good people that just refuse accept Jesus Christ, they’ll have a different place in heaven than, say, maybe Charles Manson, and there’s certainly different levels in heaven. And I want to go as far as I can to that direction. I hope you are too. Do you? Do you? Do you just want to get into heaven. No, you want to go to heaven and get ready to have the time of your life. And you’re going to have a time life no matter what. But you get my point. I I’m going to have added responsibility. I want to be charged. I want I want to be challenged. I whatever there is. I want all of it. Okay? So we have, what, 100 years or so on this earth, and for that 100 years, it’s not about selling car wax. I mean, I love my business, don’t get me wrong. I love my business. I’m passionate about shiny cars. I really am. I’ll drive you crazy with my passion for shiny cards, and I love sports and food and places all it’s not that we don’t do that, but But what it sums down to He’s given us 100 years to discover who he is and and make life’s most important decision, do you or do you not accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and your Lord. That’s what it’s all about, and to love Him, and then after you love him, you allow his love to flow through you to others, and you love everybody else around you into heaven. That’s what life’s all about. I’ll end it with this, this word, and it’s a powerful word, and I I already discovered this not too long back, a few months ago, Paul’s talking to the believers in Thessalonica in first, Thessalonians, First Thessalonians. 219, read it. It’s read. So we read about crowns and rewards. Well, I want, I want a crown when I get to heaven. I think we take the crowns and places fear. I’m sure how all that works, but we will be receiving crowns based on what we’ve done on earth. Okay? And he’s saying to the people that he’s led to the Lord in the the baby church Thessalonica. He’s the Can you imagine him saying, There he’s looking at him, and he say, so what will be my reward? What will be my crown when I see Jesus face to face, what will be my reward? And then he finishes by saying, it’s you. It’s you. You’re my reward. God has loved you through me and brought you to him, and you’re going to be in heaven forever, and that’s my reward. The people we lead to Jesus Christ are our reward for eternity. We can take it with us. Wow, see you next time you.