You've Been Lied To About Heaven.

here's the thing that everybody needs to understand not just Sinners are going to experience judgment Christians are going to experience judgment yeah everybody just went ah freaking out don't freak out reason is is cuz why is this really serious the world lives for them now whereas the believer lives for the Eternal stop think about this that means everybody's not entering Heaven the same way how can I ultimately make this count that's what God's going to judge you and it's not just for Ministry leaders only is for everyone I'm going to throw a wrench into this

whole thing let's let's do it okay so now hey everyone welcome to the jamb podcast I actually say it without flinching Ard you go you did great I am joined by my son Arden B it's so good to have you Arden it's good to be on it's an honor yeah it's it's an honor anytime to be able to share the word of God I've I've had that honor for a lot of years it's been about 40 40 years had honor and it never gets old yeah you guys never have lost the sight of that too

no it's so exciting my favorite book to read in the world is the is the Bible now ardan I'm so excited about today and and let me say this please please everybody please rate review And subscribe to this podcast it really helps get the word of God out there this this this podcast is timeless Truth for changing times and I would say we are living in rapidly Changing Times but here's what we're going to talk about on this podcast all right how can you secure a grand entrance into heaven how do you know the Bible

actually talks about this how can we secure a grand entrance into the kingdom of heaven and I have news for you it's not about earning it's about effort yeah I love it that's and that's hard we talked about that previously of earning versus effort because sometimes people confuse those two things to get they do they say hey I am I you know Grace has Set Me Free from all all effort no that's not true Grace has set you free from trying to earn a relationship with God but it hasn't set you free from effort and

that's what Peter makes so Crystal Clear if you don't exert the effort okay let let's just let me let me just put it to you this way uh well actually let let's I'll I'll put it to you in just a minute we are reading out of second Peter chapter 1 I don't know how many podcasts we've done and we still aren't even out of chapter 1 however let's just do a quick summation Peter is telling us he opens up and he gives us the summary hey you get more grace in your Christian walk in other

words it's not intravenously given and that's the most you'll ever get Grace can be given to you how do we get it we get it by knowing god now this in knowing god it gives us the word he's given us his promises so that we can know him and in knowing him that gives gives us the dun miss or power for living a Godly life yeah so here's here's my challenge here here's our challenge excuse me let me say it like that here's our challenge today we teach that the grace of God frees us from

the penalty of sin but we don't teach as much about the fact that the grace of God frees us from what will destroy us the bondage of what will destroy us sin is what destroys a person yeah okay let's just be honest okay sin sounds very religious to a lot of people today but it is the very things that God wants to deliver you from because it destroys you and breaks intimacy with him so then Peter says okay now that you've got this Measure of Faith that God's given every single believer you got to make

this grow and you make it grow by adding these seven things that we talked about in the last podcast let's quickly go through it moral Excellence right knowledge self-control perseverance then we have the fear of the Lord y we we have kindness brotherly kindness and then we have love love yep so now let's get to the point okay and and if if we do these things now now now I want to get back to what we were saying all right in doing these things we're exerting effort okay now I want to ask you a question

you're married you've been married for six years yeah do you exert effort to have a better marriage every day does it earn you the marriage no doesn't make me any more married okay so you're just as married yeah whether you exert effort or not correct but what does the effort do it makes my marriage more rich and more more happy more fun uh more lifegiving a lot that it does to my marriage makes my wife happy right a lot of things okay so we don't exert effort to earn a relationship with God no we exert

effort because we want to be closer to God yep we want to have a rich life with him now this is what people need to understand Peter is saying you got to exert effort yeah you can't just int God doesn't just intravenously put this into you and just say there you are you've got to work it out and Paul in his letter Paul writes the same thing he says work out your salvation with fear and trembling so he's too is talking about the fear of the Lord as Peter was talking about the fear of the

Lord all right so now I want to move right into what's the result of exerting this effort Peter goes on to say in verse 8 of chapter 1 the more you grow like this the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ so productivity and usefulness actually very similar words but he uses both yeah and I've actually read the commentaries the commentaries even say Peter chose two words that literally are like synonyms but what I find interesting is the New Living Translation hits it from the positive angle but

all most of the other translations go from more of the negative angle because the ESV the English Standard Version says for if these qualities are yours and are increasing they will keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ so the new living says hey you do this and you're going to be productive and you're going to be useful right the ESV the new King James they Amplified many of them say hey these qualities are yours and they're increasing they will keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in your

knowledge yeah now which one is more accurate actually the commentators say the second one the negative aspect actually okay but it doesn't matter because they're they're saying the same thing they're just two different sides of a coin right all right now listen to this but those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind yeah okay stop right there just stop shortsighted blind forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins which in my mind when I first hear that that just feels like a spat on the face like it just feels

like you forgot what was done for you like if you don't take what was done for you and apply effort to it you've forgotten what was even done for you you'll forget if you don't exert the effort to grow in godliness in these seven things you'll you'll end up becoming blind and shortsighted what he's saying and you're going to forget now what happens if you forget that you've been delivered from your sins you become proud yeah and what is pride pride is what opens us up to destruction because Pride those that are proud get blindsided

yeah if you look at the armor of God it's all forward- facing but the glory of the Lord's our rear guard Isaiah 58 right now God says I'll share my glory with nobody when you enter into Pride you enter into touching God's glory now what happens your Blind Side is open people that are in Pride never see the destruction that's coming they get blindsided by it they they I I've talked to ministers that have fallen and they said I I didn't see it coming it snuck up on me I didn't I wasn't aware of it

okay so now let's go to the fact that you're shortsighted all right I'm going to talk about this and then you and I need to have conversation this is taken right um from a commentary a person who fails to develop these seven these Seven Virtues is so shortsighted that they cannot see either the past or the future yeah okay okay so focused on the present oh my gosh that they cannot see the depth of sin they were forgiven of and they can't see the future judgment that they're going to face oh man so you you

you you you lose sight of both yeah all right now why is this really serious because the Bible tells us the foundational teaching of Jesus Christ is repentance from dead works and the last one is eternal judgments now now we're going to talk about this on this program okay in the ancient world I'm I'm continuing to read from from a um a Bible commentary in the ancient world one significant duty of a client towards his or her Patron was the remance of past benefits received from the patron so in other words this was their duty

to never forget how kind their Patron or I should say their leader their um Master their lord was to them they they on purpose constantly remembered okay I wouldn't have the meals I have I wouldn't have the roof over my head the shelter had my Patron not been kind to me yeah all right now one of the commentary said this makes them vulnerable to the teachers of chapter 2 the false teachers of chapter 2 which is going to be one day we're going to get to it okay we're gonna make it to chapter two okay

we will do it uh but so now here's what we need to talk about all right let's talk about what it means to be blind let's talk about what it means to be shortsighted Jesus is constantly saying to him him who has ears to hear Let Him hear to him who has eyes to see let him see okay the Bible talks about their eyes they have closed their ears they have shut their heart right the Bible says Paul said May the eyes of your understanding be enlightened so that you might know what is the hope

of your calling the Bible says oh taste and see see that the Lord is good okay I don't see any longer the goodness of God I now start seeing God more the way the world Sees God I now start seeing God is why aren't you doing this for me why aren't you doing because I'm shortsighted and I'm I'm focused on right now yeah so literally I put myself into a tunnel and I cannot see what's coming I cannot see what I've came from yeah and now I'm in danger because the world lives for the now

whereas the believer lives for the Eternal yeah God has put eternity in our hearts and literally what we do is we close up our hearts and and we and we shut ourselves off to seeing life from an eternal perspective can I say this too is we don't talk about that because I think a lot of people I I know and and I'm not saying this as a disservice to the church but when I hear a message on eternity it sticks out to me but yet it's talked about so much within the Bible and it's what

we are all going to reps and so we just don't talk about it and so a lot of people are not aware about it in terms of their focus in terms of how they're living their life which you talk so much about living your life with an internal perspective that changes everything that understands of you fully being aware of what has been done for you and what you are going towards so this is something that we've got to talk about more within the church hey everybody spiritual growth doesn't happen by accident that's why we here

at messenger International are passionate about equipping you with resources to help you grow in your relationship with God one tool we hope you'll take advantage of is our free messenger X app inside messenger X you'll get access to dozens of fulllength courses sermons audiobooks and more all available to you at no cost whatever your goals whether you're looking to discover your calling develop deeper intimacy with God find Freedom or improve your relationships you'll find resources on messenger that will help you get there download Messenger X today create your free account and dive in now back

to the [Music] podcast well you know when you live with an eternal perspective you live differently yeah if um I always say this and this is a good way of saying it if I if I go to a wedding reception there's a whole table filled with desserts and cake if I have a one- day perspective I'm eating every dessert on that table if if I have a one year yeah if I have a one year perspective I'm I'm eating one or zero why because I don't want an upset stomach tomorrow I don't want 10 pounds

of fat fat on my body next week and I don't want compromis long-term Health yeah I mean ardan I remember when I was in my 20s I was walking into my fraternity and I had never heard a health food teacher in my entire life and the spirit of God said your body's my temple take care of it and the thought came to me if I had a Ferrari would I put dirty gas or recycled oil in it would the car still run yes but I would what I it wouldn't run to its Peak Performance and

I would shorten its life so now people live when they live for the right now they live differently than if they live with the Eternal perspective when you're blind you can't see the Eternal perspective see this is this is a a cause and effect thing that can really be devastating and so he said I'm going to keep reading he said so dear brothers and sisters work hard there we go work hard again exert the effort to prove that you really are among those God has called This is verse 10 and chosen do these things and

you'll never fall away what a promise what a promises right other translations say you'll never stumble either one I'm all for this never fall away never stumble now you're going to notice in Chapter 2 we start talking about all these false teachers they at one time had a relationship yep most many of them one time had a relationship I'm going to prove it when we get there okay so they stumbled they fell away yeah why because they didn't de Vel these Godly virtues they didn't exert the effort okay all right so now um I want

to go to verse 11 then God will get here here's here's what we're talking about in this program then God will give you a grand entrance gosh into the Eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now just stop and think about this that means everybody's not entering Heaven the same way oh my goodness I I I I I I this this just literally if you get this today folks folks your life's going to change okay if you do these things you'll receive a rich welcome this is another translation you'll receive a rich welcome

into the Eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ okay one of the commentaries said this he said it's a picture of a Victor returning to his home city after the Olympic Games and being received with a triumphant welcome W so think about when the guys came back from World War II way way back right there was a big parade on Fifth Avenue in New York right it was a jub jubilant celebration when somebody wins the Super Bowl the city has a big big grand entrance for the athletes when they come back they're at

the plane they're celebrating then they have a parade okay this is what he's talking about here so now brings me back to a vision I had about eight years ago I had a very Vivid Vision ardan I was in prayer and I will never forget this as long as I live I saw a massive City and in the center of that massive city was high up elevated like these stairs went up almost like Washington DC when you walk up the stairs to go to the uh the um Supreme Court the Supreme Court these stairs were

going up and on this at the top was seated of Jesus and I saw these soldiers marching in the streets of heaven and they were bringing Jesus his rewards so they were bringing the souls they were bringing what he because his inheritance is Souls right and this Army was powerful and I saw myriads of people on the sidewalks cheering the Army and there were many many many many more people on the sidewalks than there were soldiers and the Holy Spirit asked me a question in that Vision he said do you want to be one of

the people on the sidewalks yeah or do you want to be one of the soldiers bringing me my My Rewards MH and I said God I want to be one of those soldiers yeah this is exactly what Peter's talking about mhm there's going to be a lot in other words everybody's not entering into eternity the same well can you talk about eternity like because that's the thing like I said people aren't talking about eternity so a lot of people have a lot of questions about it so can you break that down a little bit and

why we don't talk about it so Paul the Apostle is speaking to a Corinthian Church who's very carnal very worldly very much like the American Church yeah and Paul tells him in chapter 3 he says but whoever is building on the foundation what's foundation born again I've been born again my Foundation is the lordship of Jesus whoever is building on the foundation must be very careful this is why we're doing this podcast yeah not just careful very careful that's 1 Corinthians 3:10 anyone who builds on that Foundation may use a variety of materials gold silver

Jewel Wood hay or straw okay what is gold silver and jewels that's doing things by the spirit of God being led by the spirit in obedience to the spirit what's wood hay or straw I'm doing things to gain favor gain popularity gain notoriety I want to be I want my Instagram followers to go past 500,000 there are things that will die with you right that's my I love that say it again there things that will die with you okay yeah that's the wood hay and straw okay so you've got gold silver jewels you got wood

ha and straw gold silver jewels I'm building for the Eternal I'm building people's lives I'm I'm seeking to to be kind to people to build people to speak truth to people to even confront people when they're doing what's damaging to them by saying hey this sexual perverted lifestyle that's contrary to the word of God that you're living is going to destroy you this fact that you think you can choose your gender listen God made them male and female man didn't make them male and female God made them male and female you choosing to be a

different gender than the way God made you this will un end up ultimately destroying you it's not good for you God doesn't want this for you he loves you okay that's that's building for the Eternal MH okay B building for the now means oh you want to be a a zebra go ahead and be a zebra you want to be a dog oh yeah you can be a dog here I'll get you a doggy bowl and you can and I just want to firm you in being a dog okay that's not loving somebody no that's

not building for the Eternal that's building for the right now yeah is what it is all right so we have a choice but on Judgment Day fire will reveal what kind of work each Builder has done now what's fire fire God says in Jeremiah 23: 29 is not my word of fire yeah Jesus said in John 12:48 the word that I have spoken will judge you on that day the word of God is a fire and the word of God is what's going to be the standard of Judgment at the Judgment seat okay so now

God's going to examine our motives he's going to examine our thoughts our intentions our wordss our words and our works I'm going to show this in a second he's going to examine all that the judgment and he's going to examine it with the fire of his word mhm and if you put fire under wood hay and straw poof it's gone forever you put fire under Gold Silver and jewels it purifies them them okay so now if the work so in other words if my life the work the what I my motives for living what I

did if the work survives that Builder and God always calls you and I builders in scripture I mean that's just except the Lord build the house they who build build in vain the stone which the builders rejected became the chief's Cornerstone God looks us at us as Builders why cuz we're building his his eternal home y we're building Zion the city in which he's going to dwell in forever and ever it's made out of Living Stones bricks and those living bricks are human beings Jesus is the cheap Cornerstone but Peter says in his first book

but you as living stones we're the living stones that are being built up on the Eternal home that God's going dwell in forever and ever I mean how exciting God's going to dwell Among Us he's going to live in us and dwell Among Us literally we are going to be a part of his house oh my gosh it's amazing okay if that work survives can I can I say this really quick because I love how excited you're getting about it and I think that's like the misunderstanding that people get is they're like whoa I don't

want to think about eternity like that I don't want to go there like that's death like I don't I don't fully understand it and and to them it's something that's like it's more based rather than I I look at what you're saying when you have this understanding of what eternity is what God is having waiting for you you have an excitement about you and so eternity doesn't become a scary thing it becomes a thing I can't wait like I'm living in anticipation for what God has for me waiting in there you know when you live

that way Arden you know what you see yourself as a temporary resident here yeah that's the way all the heroes of Faith were they saw themselves as pilgrims Pilgrim means I'm a temporary residence I got a job to do here in other words I meet guys on airplanes all the time right they're flying to a city you want to know what they're flying to that City to do to do work okay so I see guys that are like I've seen literally Builders pull their tools on first class on an airplane domestically they're flying to another

city because they're part of their specialist in an area and they're building this building right and they're doing it for like three weeks right but they can't wait to get home that's not their home I got a job to do over there in Kansas City but I live in Atlanta mhm so I I met them on Atlanta getting on the plane they didn't look very they they they weren't really ecstatic because they were leaving their wife their kids okay they're a pilgrim in Kansas City their home is in Atlanta okay A True Believer my home

is his throne my home is where he is my home is a city whose Builder and maker is God yeah this this is where I'm doing my job this isn't my home yeah but yet somebody who's shortsighted lives as if this is my home MH yeah I mean it's amazing anyway if the work survives the Builder will receive a reward oh gosh that's just amazing now listen to this but if the work is burned up the Builder now we're talking about the Builder yeah will suffer great loss not just loss great loss the Builder will

be saved in other words they're going to heaven yeah but they're going to be on the sidewalk mhm the Builder will be saved but like someone barely escaping through walls of flames that's what Paul says about Christians now I want everybody to think about this can you imagine the day you retire you know Americans we we we we we build for retirement right which I'll never retire as long as I'm here I got a job to do retirement for me is like hey I'm I'm with Jesus in heaven okay but that's not retirement either because

we're going to be building galaxies and all that with him it's going to be a blast but anyway um I I just look at this is is like crazy I mean people listen to this the Christian will suffer great loss the Christian will be saved they will go to heaven but like somebody barely escaping Flames now I want you guys to imagine the day you retire social security goes bankrupt so you have no social security all all you put your work into for 40 years is gone yeah uh your bank account your banks close their

doors you lose every bit of your savings every bit of your checking uh your house burns to the ground you escape with just the shirt on your back now in America we can't relate to this cuz we got some kind of government program that will bail that person out or insurance policy mhm that's not the way it was in Paul's time if this happens in Paul's time you lose everything you worked your worked for for your life your your house burns to the ground you don't have any government programs yeah so there's actually people and

I I've been to countries let me tell you something if their house burns down and they lose everything they've worked for they have nothing they lose everything they lose everything yeah there's no government programs in these countries I've been to mhm this is the language that Paul uses on how some Christians are going to enter into eternity mhm the Christian will be saved the Builder will be saved but like somebody barely escaping then you look at the Builder receive a reward yet Peter comes and says a grand and glorious entrance I'll never forget and I

just keep having this come up so I'm going to say it because some people are going to freak but there was a great great man of God in our in the 20th century that I knew personally this man he's in the Billy Graham category okay and he wasn't Billy Graham but he was in the Billy Graham category he's that well known uh his son was beside his bed when he went mhm and he said John God opened my eyes and I saw two of the most highly decorated Angels come and take my dad out of

his body he said John those those angels were so so awesome looking and he said they literally now I can only imagine the entrance that this man got because he lived his life for Jesus yeah now you can be a school teacher and get that kind of entrance you can be a stay-at-home mom and get that kind of entrance yeah because you took care of those kids that God told you to and you men you were a witness to the people in your neighborhood you'll get that granted you prayed when God woke you up in

the middle of the night to pray for something you'll get that grand and glorious entrance because you developed those seven things yeah because you exerted effort to develop in moral Excellence knowledge self control right and I want to applaud everybody that's listening to the podcast you wouldn't be listening to this podcast if you didn't want knowledge yeah if you didn't want to develop right self-control perseverance the fear of the Lord kindness loving and and and love you developed in that you get a grand entrance as opposed to being somebody getting an entrance where you barely

escaped y the fire and you came through the fire yeah yeah you said something too that's really really important that I want people to understand is you said said it doesn't have to be Ministry like you don't have to be full-time Ministry to receive the grand entrance and I think that's what people will confuse is that they're like well my life doesn't matter as much like and and you always talk about this I remember when you shared this with us you always talked about as the talents that were given to the different servants and understanding

that each Talent was or each servant was given a measure of talent what they did with that Talent was ultimately what was the deciding Factor on if they were good and faithful but if they sat on that Talent then they're what Wicked and lazy and I've seen some people Christians being like Oh just like it's just I can ease through life and I go through things and I can be patient and I can it's like no you if you have an eternal perspective there is not time to waste that doesn't mean that you're comparing yourself

to other people and thinking oh they're further gone but no it's seeing what it is that is been given to you the T the giftings what is in your hand right now of how can I ultimately make this count like how can I UST the students that have been given to me how can I entrust them and pour into them and use the talents that have been given to me on a internal perspective that's what God's going to judge you on he's not going to judge you by how many uh how many nations did you

preach in if you're a school teacher and I think that's what people got to get that understanding is they've been given these specific talents and it's not just for Ministry leaders only it is for everyone you know what really changed my life is when I was in Hawaii and and and and our partner said hey there's a Navy SEAL instructor that wants to meet with you yeah and I'll never forget this as long as I live we sat down at the restaurant in Hawaii and there was eight of us at the table and I just

turned to him and said what's your story and for the next two hours my jaw dropped MH I'd never heard he he said John I I I'm Jewish and yet I'm born again u i you know I'm I'm I'm a messian Jew and he said um I always thought that I love Jesus so much I always thought the only way I could serve him was going into Ministry I went in Ministry for 2 years third years was in turning for a church got accused of lying or sleeping with a girl in the youth group he

said I never slept with her but I got thrown out all my papers taken away everything lost after three years of work and he said I I sought God like I'd never saw him before and God said I didn't call you to Ministry I called you to military so the gifts he had you said were given talents the talent he was given was to be absolute crazy amazing Warrior mhm in the Navy Seals he started telling me about his missions how he got in he couldn't even swim because he had he he he he tubes

in defective ears that he was born with they had to put tubes in he said if I got a couple drops of water in my ear I was excruciating pain I said what' you do he said I I just ured the pain and said God I I I every day I believe God to heal my ears and one day I went down 5et 10 feet no pain he said God totally healed my ears and then went started telling me about the missions he was on and how God miraculously delivered him MH and I'm sitting there

with my jaw dropped and and I don't want to skip over because some of those things were incredible of like the correlation of what was happening with his mom and his satellite phone turned itself on with no pre-programmed numbers called his mom during a a a trap that he was in a crossfire she was just so happened she was in her morning women's Bible study when he's in the middle of the night over in Afghanistan being shot at and they all start praying for their protection hear gunfire he said I literally felt Bullets whizzed by

my head we got in we got the two Taliban we got out and none of us got killed not a single one yeah but then they had translators with them or people that did die and he said he okay that's a different M that was didn't he tell his mom he said next time pray for they were training Iraqi soldiers to be uh special ops and all these and it happened again and they and they prayed for everyone and everyone got out like just and that's the thing too the satellite phone like I sorry I

love this story cuz the satellite phone has no preprogramed numbers in it and it calls his mom's cell phone they're in a battle and it calls his mom's phone yes and she's in a prayer meeting like if God's not working through that situation then like what is going on so so if he if he goes through Ministry yeah Jesus is going to look at him and say I called you to be a Navy steel instructor yeah why did you Pastor that church M so you know yeah we we have been giving a we have callings

on our life you know Ephesians 289 and 10 is something that I wish people would read a little more carefully for we've been saved by grace now we talk about this all the time saved by grace not of Works lest any man should boast for we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God pre-ordained in advance that we would walk in oh my goodness there's a calling on you Arden that God saw before you were even formed in your mother's womb in Lisa's womb God said I know exactly what I've

called him to do and you all you have to do is seek him to walk in it and when you walk in it your giftings will be what gives you the ability to supernaturally do what he's called you to do I don't care if it's stay home mom I don't care if it's a public school teacher I don't care if it's a surgeon I don't care if you're a an oral surgeon it doesn't matter God has called you yeah and I want to I want to reassure people because sometimes then they can get into this

momentet of well what am I called to do Bible says the righteous steps of a man are ordered of the lord well and also I'm I'm going to say this practically because I want I know that if you go to messenger X you download Messenger X we have a course and the title of the course is called and it's 10 lessons on this very thing and that's we teach how to find out what you're called to do in this life now we um I want to read something that CS Lewis wrote he said if you

read history you find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next it is since Christians have ceased thinking of the other world that they become so ineffective in this one so what CS Lewis is saying is you become a better Pilgrim if you're focused on the city that we're going to whereas I hear people say oh don't be so Heavenly minded that you're no earthly good that's exactly opposite of what CF Lewis says CS Lewis says when you're Heavenly minded you do become more

effective in this Earth so wow here the thing that everybody needs to understand not just Sinners are going to experience judgment Christians are going to experience judgment yeah now is there multiple judgments there's two major well there's actually multiple you're right there's the Judgment of angels there's the Judgment of Nations there's the Judgment of Christians and there's the Judgment of unbelievers okay so yes there's multiple judgments okay and the Bible says that we in the church are going to judge Angels we're going to judge angels on how they served us oh my gosh that's crazy

when you think about it okay so anyway so um here's the deal Christians are going through judgment now I'm going to tell you why everybody just went ah freaking out don't freak out you don't need to freak out the reason is is because judgment is misunderstood the Greek word is Crea now when we hear the word judgment where our mind goes today is condemnation that's not what the word judgment means the word judgment is the Greek word Crea which means a decision for or against after an investigation yeah so in essence what it's what it's

saying saying is Jesus is going to do an investigation on how we lived as Christians and he's going to make decisions let me read it 2 Corinthians 5'8 Paul said we are confident yes very well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord so we know he's only talking about Christians here because when an unbeliever is absent from the body they're in hell that's not a mean statement that's just a statement of fact verse n therefore we now who's we we are Christians because these are the people are

going to be present when the with the Lord when they're absent from their body therefore we make it goal whether present or absent to be well pleasing to him now I want to bring you guys back to when you were in high school mhm I was getting a little concerned because Mom and I were leaving so much we were traveling and I was like I got to talk to my boys and make sure they're not resenting God and I said to them I said guys do you believe that your mom and dad traveling do you

believe it's God taking us away from you or you believe that it's God giving you the chance to sew your mom and dad into the lives of countless others and just to clarify was when Addison was in high school not me okay but you all agreed and you said we believe it's our part of the ministry of sewing you and Mom into the lives of countless others and I said just for that one statement just for that attitude all of you are going to get credit for every soul we reach yeah if you had the

attitude I resent this God's taken my mom and dad away I said you would have lost credit for every single soul yeah I I said that because I remember as a young younger boy getting upset with our babysitters cuz they were like oh you're you're acting out just cuz you miss your parents and i''ll be like no I don't miss my parents like and not in like a mean way but like I didn't want them to go to you guys and say oh they miss you too much and this is like maybe not good that

because I didn't want you guys to stop traveling because I knew like what you guys were doing was purposeful and we did not see it as you were being taken away but we were sending you and I didn't want it to come across that like oh I'm acting out because I miss my parents and I want them to come back because I was really felt like I was involved in the reward that was happening not just felt but I I am involved in the reward and so I didn't want our babysitter to tell you guys

wrong and so I was like no I don't miss him and it's not at a negative way that until today that's that's amazing but it wasn't in a negative way it was just I I understood the gravity of what you guys were doing and I felt so much a part of it and so I didn't want to have the wrong heart behind that and so that that was really a pivotal moment but not only does it bless you in the life to come because godliness is profitable not only in this life but in the life

to come it is profitable in this life I look at you now you're you're you're an accomplished author your book is out there it's been out there for a few years um it's on Amazon it's called redefined guys if you haven't gotten it it's an outstanding book it's great book for if you have kids or young young adults that are navigating this world I look at you you stand up and you speak the gospel you're leading an entire team you're the lead guy here in in our Franklin Office Tennessee I mean so there's rewards that

are coming for you keeping that attitude because I've seen ministers kids that they're really struggling right now why because maybe it had to do with their attitude yeah so we must all right so therefore we make it our aim whether present or as absent okay so now wait a minute I'm not done yet so when you guys were sitting around that table I I looked at him and I said before I said that statement I made this statement I said guys you can't do anything to cause your mom and I to love you anymore than

we love you and I said you can't do a thing to make us love you any less than we love you and and I remember you all just like okay then I said but you are in charge of how pleased we are with you and you were like what I said no that's your that's your category not ours and this is what Paul's saying God loves you unconditionally you can't do thing to make him not love you but you're in charge of how pleased he is with you that's why Paul said we make it our

goal to be well pleasing to him why next verse for we we as those who are absent from the body are present with the Lord for we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he's done whether good or bad whoa bad yes that word bad another translation would be worthless what's worthless spending 50 hours on social media a week unless you're called to be in the social media world to do that I'm talking about just letting yourself veg out on

on social media instead of spending time in the word of God instead of spending time building other people's lives your neighbors lives your friends lives the your family's lives can I ask this I I've had mornings where I have shortened my time in the word because I was on my phone and every single time I walk away from it and I was like that was a waste of a morning like I never think that was a great like that helped out it was a good balance it's like that was a waste of a morning and

that is something and and this is something I would love to challenge everyone this the 24-hour challenge like for people to really understand this is that if I told you your next 24 hours of your life is dependent like on your eternity so how you live in this next 24 hours your house your your family your neighborhood whatever it is everything is dependent on 24 hours how are you going to live that next 24 hours there is going to be so much purpose like and there's not going to be a single you might not sleep

like there's not going to be a single moment within that 24 hours that you are going to see as is meaningless or doesn't matter it doesn't count or I can't fill it with something and yet the Bible says this life is a vapor yeah meaning it's nothing it's nothing compared to Eternity it's compared to Eternity so you know what's interesting is in Hebrews it says says that at that judgment seat it it's actually it's called Eternal judgments so let let's put the word decision they're Eternal decisions so Jesus is going to make decisions over our

lives based off of what we did in this Vapor life that are going to stand forever there's never because they're Eternal decisions there's never going to be any changes MH so what you just said the house you live in the people you work with the job you do for etern is going to be determined by what you do in this Vapor life yeah okay so and that's what this is saying okay so again wait hang on I want to send out this reminder again because we talked about this in the very beginning and I know

people could start getting into this this feel we're talking about effort we're not talking about earning right like even you talking about the Judgment there's multiple judgment there is the believer's judgment and then there's also like I want to focus on there's salvation right right and and so making sure that people understand the difference the difference is this what we do with the cross determines whether we're going to spend in h Heaven or Hell forever right that's been decided that's been decided the way we live as Believers determines how we're going to spend etne now

I'm going to throw a wrench into this whole thing let's let's do it okay so now everybody's sitting there going to go oh my gosh I'm gonna work I'm gonna work I'm gonna work I'm gonna work wait a minute one of God's commands is to take Sabbath yeah so that means you could work nonstop take no rest and now you're disobeying God now you're going to end up in other words everything I do is with purpose yeah when I'm on a golf course it's this is going to make me more effective when I get behind

the mic and preach or when I get in the Bible and study yeah when I play pickle ball this is going to do the same thing okay so I'm looking I'm I'm looking at my week and I'm going okay where's my Sabbath because Sabbath is actually not just rest Sabbath is Trust mhm yeah God I believe you're going to bless me doing nothing because you told me to do nothing because you rested on the seventh day I am going to take a Sabbath now some people take Sabbath days in the New Testament Paul said some

take Sabbath periods some people take sabbaths as far as three weeks or a month or what what whatever you you we are commanded to rest because that brings us into a balance MH so I want to make sure everybody gets that before go oh my go every single day it's got to be filled with something it's like there is purpose within you know I actually every once in a while I enjoy five minutes looking at reals on Instagram I I think there is room for that I love watching the whales I like seeing Italy cuz

I subscribe to Italy you know it's got Sardinia it's got all malfie Coast which you know Italy is my favorite country and because I'm I'm Italian and when I go there I feel like I'm kind of going home because that the the jeans are in me right when I drink of the olive oil some people eat olive oil I drink it but anyway you know I I I enjoy that but you know it's like I'll go you know I've been doing this for five minutes I I think maybe the longest I've scrolled and looked at

reals maybe 10 minutes because I'm like you know what I've had enough rest you're doing good time to get back time time to get back you know and so um you know even when I'm in the gym you know I'm like you know what I want to I want to do something that's going to refresh me and I'll go to YouTube and I'll find a good message by minut Min I know and trust sometimes by a minister I don't know I say I want to listen to this I just want to hear what's being said

and and it refreshes me spiritually while I'm being built up physically I'm I'm trying to budget every bit of my time this is why I eat healthy yeah because I want to be strong when I'm 85 as I was when I was 35 and so anyway um this is how we get a grand and glorious entrance into the Eternal Kingdom of our Lord and avor Jesus Christ and I'm going to I'm going to say this in closing I wrote a book called driven by eternity this book has been one of the most read books of

any of the 24 books that God has had me write I've had more people telling me tell me that their life was completely totally radically changed after reading that book if this podcast really really touched you I want to encourage you to get the book driven by eternity and there's actually an a story inside that book called affabel and it's an allegory that shows Eternal rewards and judgment and we actually produced it in Hollywood and it was almost 20 years ago we did this but people still love it today and that's on messenger X the

uh book is on messenger X I believe it may not be you can get it at Amazon or you can get it our website but affabel is on messenger X the actual Hollywood production and it's two and half hours long it's like listening to a movie you don't watch it you listen to it it's got all the sound effects the beautiful score done by one of Disney's top ones so anyway I want to encourage everybody to get that and I want to say to everybody till next time this has been the jir podcast with Arden

bav and John bav