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GLM #727 - Daniel Wallace - The Day You'll Never Forget (Week 1-9 Version)
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Second Corinthians 3:17. Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. I didn't make that up. That's the text. Another one. Galatians 5:1. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery, fear, which kind of puts us in bondage. Galatians 5:13. You, my brothers and sisters, you were called to be free. So don't use your freedom to indulge the flesh, your sinful nature, rather serve one another humbly in love. Romans 8:15. The spirit you receive does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear. Again, rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, abba, Father, he's a father. And then this last verse, Romans 8:1. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Now, I'm. I just kind of, you know, shot you with a bunch of verses here about freedom. The reason I'm doing that is because we don't always walk in freedom. We have the flesh that's always accusing, always accusing. Paul talks about in Romans 7, 7 and 8, listening to the flesh. Sarks in Greek. Listening to the flesh. The sinful nature leads to death. It destroys, it just messes with you. The spirit, however, of God leads to life. We're to listen. We are to train ourselves to listen to the spirit and reject the flesh and the voices. You also have the enemy who likes to throw accusations. And the demonic realm's talking trash. And so all this is going on, and we're humans and we're just kind of going through life, and we don't really realize that this is always happening. So that's why we need to meditate on what is true. And then we start to get these accusations and things that are in our brains, like, you're not a good enough mom, or you're a bad dad, or your kids are. All these things. It's like, okay, the skill of faith. If I could summarize, the skill of faith. We don't think about faith as a skill. We think about musical skill. We think about athletic skill. We think, you know, all the music, all these kinds of things. Artistic skills. Do we think about faith as a skill? And I would say that the skill of faith is keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. So no matter what's happening, we keep our eyes on Jesus. That's where we then experience freedom, because we're meditating on what the Word says. And the Spirit of God's in us, and we're giving the Spirit more control and we're yielding. So don't allow yourself to bring back sin with shame and condemnation. I don't know if I don't remember where I said this in a conversation yesterday, but maybe it was last night. I don't remember. I worked for a guy, and he loved to say, you're a sinner, saved by grace. You're a sinner. And I said, you know, can I just challenge you on this one? I have a new identity. I'm a new creation in Christ. When I trust in Jesus, the Spirit indwells in me. I am a saint who struggles with sin, but I am not a cause. The whole emphasis for him was on, you're a sinner. And he just wanted to he just something about it. And I can go into why, from some of his upbringing. I think that played part of that. But we're saints that struggle with sin. But we're children of God. We're beloved of the Lord. He cares about us, and he wants us to walk in freedom, and he wants us to have joy. He wants the fruit of the Spirit that He produces in us if we are yielded to Him. He's not looking for duty. I remember one speaker, one time, way back in the Promise Keepers, way back, and the guy said, we need to serve God out of duty. And I remember thinking, and I was young. I'm like, that ain't right. I don't serve God out of duty. Christ's love. Corinthians says, christ's love compels me. It's the love of Christ that makes me want to confess sin. It's the love of Christ that makes me want to love other people and serve people. It's not out of duty. It's just. It was just off. So there's some text of scripture. I should have pulled them up, but I didn't want to focus on them. But there's one that says that you'll be botching it. Basically, there's a text out there that talks about what you said will be judged, both good and bad. And so there are people out there, and there are pastors out there, and there's teachers out there that have taken that text. And they assume then that when we stand before Jesus. Cause at some point the Lord's either gonna come back and we all get raptured and we go up to heaven and we're with him in his presence, or we die and we're with him in his presence. But I don't know exactly when, but when all the believers are there, the billions and billions of Christians over time are there. We're gonna individually stand before Christ. And the scary part about this is I heard when I was younger that when that happens, my life is gonna be put on a screen, basically. And it's gonna run through all the things I did, good and bad, the things that were done for the Lord and the things that were sins. And Jesus is gonna judge it and everyone's gonna see it. Now, when I ran youth camps in Texas, I had a girl. There was a girl camper, one of my camp counselors and senior counselors. Like, she loves everything we're doing. She loves to sing, she loves to worship, but she just doesn't wanna trust Jesus. So I ended up going, I gotta talk with her. So I go over and we start talking. I think his name is Abigail, if I can still recall. And I go, hey, do you like. I just started asking her questions. And then I go, well, it sounds like you trust. It sounds like you think Jesus is awesome. She's like, yeah. I go, but have you trusted him? Like, you sit in that chair, you trust it to hold you up. Have you trusted Jesus to be your Lord and Savior? She's like. I go, can I ask you what's holding you up? She goes, eh. I just. I don't know. I just don't want to. I go, what are you really thinking? And she goes, if Jesus is going to put my sin on a screen and so everyone in heaven can see all the things I've done wrong and I've sinned, I don't want to go there. I'd rather go to hell. And I was like, that is a lie. That is not true. How diabolical is that to get some of us? And I know there's some of us in this room, probably more of the older ones in here, because that was kind of the Hill five Brimstone. I remember I heard when I was a kid, how diabolical to get us scared for the day we see Jesus. Oh, my word, what a tactic. Now I'm going to show you from scripture what's going to happen. And it is not that there's no shame, there's no punishment, there's no isolation, there's no rebuke because there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. Your sin has been paid for once and for all. As far as the east is from the west, your sin and transgressions have been removed from you. Now does sin still cost us? Yes. Three simple points of sin. Sin never satisfies. So therefore, sin leads to more sin and then sin destroys. So your life, you're still. If you've trusted Christ, you're gonna be with other believers in heaven. But you may screw your life up down here because sin destroys, but that doesn't mean you're not saved. I'm gonna show you. So first off, first point, Christ died for our freedom. We looked at those scriptures, and I had to put some of these in slides because my brain's going all over sometimes. And so I'm just gonna read it. The Bible teaches that all sins, both confessed and unconfessed. And I'm just trying to get this to clarify. Clean some things up here. Confessed and unconfessed sins have been forgiven and atoned for by the work of Christ on the cross so that all believers will never face those sins again. Some of y' all need to take that in because you're living with shame and fear, and the enemy loves it. I can't wait to meet Jesus. He did it all. I'm righteous because he was the one that allowed me to be covered by his blood and by his death and resurrection. It's all because of him. And I'm not talking. We're going to keep going. If God were to punish the believer for sins that Christ has already paid for on the cross, he would be requiring two payments for sins, which would be an unjust act. The idea of sin being brought back up for judgment invalidates the all sufficiency of Christ's death. The cross. And a couple quick verses I pulled was Romans 5:19. For as through one man's disobedience, Adam and the many were made sinners. Even so through the obedience of one person, Jesus Christ, the many were made righteous. Hebrews 10:14. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. So just want that to settle in again. We haven't covered what's gonna happen when we stand before Jesus, which can be pretty awesome. I live for that day. But I just want you to get this and hold to what is true. Now, I did a little more digging. Cause I thought, you know, what might be the questions that people may have. And one of them that I realized that I had, that I hadn't really hammered through was this. And these aren't scriptural text phrases. Okay? These are just how it's put together. And some of the things I was reading. This is helpful. There's two different kinds of forgivenesses. Okay, again, this is me trying to understand it. There's a legal forgiveness. And legal forgiveness is when through faith in Jesus Christ because of what he did, his death, his resurrection, and the fact he's the Son of God, he justifies us and gives us standing before his Father and it's through Christ and it's once and for all. So legally we are saved. We are delivered from the penalty of sin, we're forgiven. Then you have to ask the question. Yeah, well, I was very rude to my wife, or I lied, or I was prideful. That's sin. And then we're told in scripture we should confess our sins one to another. And how does that work? And then that's where I would use the phrase fellowship forgiveness. Again, this is just the category that I was reading that I thought was very helpful. Fellowship forgiveness. When you have unconfessed sin, this relates to fellowship with the Lord in this life. It's not one's relationship or standing with God, but it's basically when we don't confess our sin, we are then basically taking greater control of our lives. The Spirit still indwells us, but we're taking greater control. And we want to do what we want to do. The Lord is always with us. But it does put a barrier our sin. We put a barrier between us and the Lord. Why? Because we want what we want. I still remember one of my camp directors, he had a little four year old daughter, Avery. Avery scared me. She was like this little tank, she just little 4 year old and she'd walk around. And I was like, now. She turned out to be a wonderful adult, but back then she was scary. And we kind of shared the same parenting style and disciplinary style. Anyway, so my buddy, one of my directors, one time she did something like maybe she stabbed her brother, but she had to go to her room and sit on her bed. And then he was going to give her some time to think about it and then he was going to come in and discipline her. Even, you know, little spanking on the watermelon. And we'd call Texas, Texas. That's the bum. But not mad, not angry, but just, you know, consequence for going outside the boundaries of what? Anyway, he goes into her room. She's been sitting there for five minutes. She's on the edge of her bed. He comes in, he goes, avery, do you know what you did? And she looks at him, he told me this. He goes, daddy, I do what I want to do because I love my own self. Never forgot that. I mean, that is Spot on. I do what I want to do because I love my own self. And when we do that, we don't feel the closeness and intimacy with Jesus and His Spirit in us. So unconfessed sin stands as a barrier to fellowship with the Lord and His control over our lives. When we confess our sin, that means that we agree with God concerning our sin and we want to get back where it's under his control. Our lives and not ours. So I just want to give you that because there's two different things going on here. There's a positional, legally forgiven, positionally saved, don't have to fear. And then there's our intimacy and who's controlling the daily activity. Who's sitting on the throne of our hearts on a day to day basis. So anyway, hope that helps. Now, God entrusts us with two things, priorities and stewardship. I mean, this is kind of how I would summarize it. Priorities are our priorities aligned with God's priorities. We're to seek peace and pursue it. Peter says we're to love others, we're to serve others. So are our priorities the Lord's priorities? We will be. We are entrusted with that because these are our lives. God is sovereign and God predestines, he's got control of everything, okay, but he also gives us an uncoerced will. We can choose what we want to do. Now, I don't know how those work together. He's God. He's way bigger than all of us, but he is fully in control. And yet we uncoursed wills. We can do what we want to do. And so he gives us this and he says, okay, I'm going to entrust you to have priorities. Will you take on mine? Now, I found this to be true as well. Creation, us, the created does best when the focus of the created is the Creator. So I'm gonna flourish in my marriage if I live the way my Creator says I should. Love and serve. And we got a tall order, man. Don't be getting into that whole, I'm the head of the family. Yeah, you're the head of the family. Guess what the head of the family does. Like Jesus, you give your life for the church, which is your bride. There's a whole lot on us. So whenever there's a conflict, I just go, okay, what part do I have that I can. I want my priorities to be the Lord's priorities. And that's what he's entrusting us with. Secondly, he entrusts us with stewardship. So we Got priorities and we got stewardship. And how are we going to use our lives? How are we going to use our time, talent, treasure? How are we investing it? And by the way, if you're in a secular job, you're in full time ministry. I've had people come up to me and go, you know, I just want to get into full time ministry. I go, what do you do? I'm an engineer. I go, you're in full time ministry. I was like, God puts us on display with a spotlight on us in our lives. To what? Put him on display? I got a picture. I don't have it with me. Cause I wasn't planning to say this, but anyway. But I got a picture of these different stools on stage and each one has a spotlight. And I go, that's us. Each one of these, this one's my life, this one's Hugh's life. I mean, each of us have our own life. And as Marvin talked about, running in your lane and you know, pass the baton. Well, we each have a lane that we run in in a sprint and it's our life. Don't compare yourself to the person next to you. God gave you your unique personality, your, your skillset, your desire. And so how are we investing our lives and are we being put on display wherever we are, in our jobs, schools, all the things going on, we are put on display to put the Lord on display. And that's where I talk about sloshing Jesus. I just want people to see Jesus in me when I'm going into a crowd on a cruise ship. At first I went on a cruise, I was like, man, this is relaxing. But then I got bored because I'm like, everyone here is just trying to grasp purpose and value of life and every breath. And it's like, so they get the drink package for $84 and they just put it down every day, just chuggin those liquors and scotches and they're miserable. And I remember thinking, lord, am I on this ship for another purpose? Am I here to suck air and eat groceries, as I like to say? Or is there more? And so I started praying, lord, if you want me to tell somebody about you or share or pray with anyone, just let me know, let me know. I'm going to go about eating and eating, but if you want and going to the band. I get embarrassed telling you this, but I actually am the only man that dances alone. I know women can do that. They can go out there and dance all by themselves and they can just dance, you know. And everyone's like, oh, but no man goes out there. No, no, that's weird. But my wife will only dance for so long. And so she's like, you can go dance. I'm like, but I can't. She's like, why? She goes, because men don't do that. She goes, well, why don't you start something new? I'm like, I'll take that as the holy Spirit speaking through you. Little dazz band kicks on a little. Let it whip. Mmm. And in the process, I become free. I'm just dancing, and I'm looking around, and everyone's just watching because no one wants to dance. And they're just staring, and they're drinking and staring, and I just smile at them all. And I just had a good old time. It's like, come on down. And they're, like, looking at me. Then people start coming up to me going, is your wife, like, really important on this ship? Is she the captain? I'm like, what? Is your wife the captain? I go, why? And they're like, well, because, you know, because I'm basically mingling as if I'm like, the program director. But you're not allowed to mingle with customers and guests on a ship. But if you're like, top dog, you can talk to anyone you want and do whatever. And they thought I literally, literally was the husband of the captain. And I'm just talking to everyone, encouraging everyone, smiling at everyone. And I had other people telling me that they thought that I was the program director, but I wasn't getting on stage, though. And I was like, because I'm pulling people in and getting the dance floor filled and going, come on. And I'm just doing what I do, you know, here kind of thing. And then I had people coming up to me and going, you inspire me. I'm like, we're just walking down the hall, you know, whatever. They're like. And then other people go, hey, that's a dancing man. What up? You know? And they're like, oh, you're the happy guy. And I realized the Lord is putting me on display by putting him on display. And I got to. I've been able to pray with people. I've been sharing Jesus with people. It's unbelievable. Right now, I'm praying for a couple in Alberta, Canada. You can pray for Brandon and Kayla. And I just. I told him, and I've never told anyone just to come free, like, totally everything, but. But the Lord told me to do that. And I said, if you get here, it'll be free because they've not seen Jesus in people like this. Not where they're at. It's just not a part of their world. This is foreign. But I thought if they were here, they would be. There'd be a charley horse between their ears. They'd be like, it's like, all y' all just being kind and joyful and all this stuff. And they're like, and there's no alcohol, you know, it's like, you guys are just joyful and it's like, it blows their mind. So anyway, all that's to say, I've had great opportunities. And now if I think I'm gonna go on a cruise, I'm praying months in advance, lord, bring it. Bring the people that you want. Because they'll stare at me. They go, I noticed that you don't drink anything and you're happy all the time. Because I asked the person, thought I inspired them. I asked them questions, found out about them. And then finally I go back to it. I go, so why was it that I inspired you? You're so joyful all the time and you're so kind to everyone and you don't drink and you're just. I just don't. There's just something that you're so happy. And I go, you want to know why? And they're like, yeah. And I tell them, I said, it's because I've done bad things, I've lied, cheated, whatever. But the son of God, Jesus, who's amazing, you got to read about him. He's in a book and there's these. In the middle of the book, there's like these four names that are normal. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And you just start reading them. And I go, he died on a cross. Took away my sin. I'm not going to hell. The Bible I read, he's awesome. And if I'm not going to hell, I don't want anyone else to go to hell. I want people to know Jesus. So I'm just happy. And I go, would you like to know? I'm telling you, it's cruise ship evangelism. It's my calling. It's my calling. So if you see me getting bigger and bigger, you know, I've gone on more and more missionary journeys to the buffets. Oh, man. Okay. You know, I'd say about 60% of the time, I know what's going to come out of my mouth, but I feel like that was the Lord leading. So we'll just keep going. Okay? God will not compare you to others, your priorities, your stewardship. We each have our own lives with different talents, different gifts. Now this is where I want to go. This is. We're going to talk about the judgment seat of Christ. Have you heard that phrase, judgment seat of Christ? This is not the white throne judgment. That's. Don't need to get into it. Judgment seat of Christ is where the believers, all Christians who have trusted Jesus, they will stand before Christ individually. And I want to show you what's gonna happen. And then at the end, I'm gonna actually kind of role play it because I'm visual. I have to picture this. So I've done this numerous times and I still do this for myself. When things get rough, I think about the day I stand before Jesus. I role play it in my mind what it's gonna be like. And then I get jazzed. I mean, I'm just super like infused with excitement because. So let's look at the text. Second Timothy 4, 1, 2. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge. So it does have that word judge. Who will judge the living and the dead. And in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge. Preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season. Correct. Rebuke and encourage. Great patience, careful instruction. Now that word appearing. In the Roman times, back in Jesus day, there would be this glorious appearing. And that would be because Caesar was going to show up, let's say to Ephesus. And they knew it's kind of like the Olympics are coming to la. You know, you're supposed to fix everything. All the streets are going to get cleaned. They're going to sadly move homeless to a different area. And Brazil. Then they put up a wall and put them on the other side. Okay, well, the glorious appearing of Caesar or some of the high ranking sinners, they would clean up the city and there was exciting time because it was the appearing. So we don't usually use that word that way. We don't think about it that way, but this is a big deal. So he's basically using royal language that Jesus. Because they understood, they understood Caesar as a judge. They understood Caesar is royal appearing. They understand Caesar had a kingdom and. But now he's saying Christ is the ultimate king. Christ will appear. Christ has a kingdom. It says, the Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. So again, he's painting this picture that, yeah, you understand the Roman Caesar and all that pomp and all that power and glory for the man Caesar this is going to be for the son of God goes on. He says, now there is in store for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. Again, royal language. There's a crown, an award Jesus will judge. But again, caution, you don't think about a criminal court. Think about an Olympic platform with judges scoring, a gymnast doing the flips or the skater doing the triple salchow. And you know, it's not condemnation, it's commendation. So anyway, by the way, you see that phrase, he'll word to me on that day. That day is something that we don't really think about. But that day is the bama seat day. That's the day we go to the judgment seat. That's the day we stand before Christ. It's that day, you'll see in the scripture, the day or that day. And so the day is the bema seat or the judgment seat of Christ. The bema of Christ. Now, I've been to Israel, I've been to Greece. You go to some of these archaeological digs, you'll see that they have this platform kind of in the middle of the city. They'll have this big platform, kind of like a stage, if you will, in the middle of the town. It's the bema. And if someone was coming that was important, they get the keys to the city, it would be on the bema. And so basically, this bema, it's a platform. Think of an Olympic medalist platform with the stand. That's like a bama. Do you not know that in the race, all runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we will do it. We do it to get a crown that will last forever. Paul uses athletic competition language. They understood the games. The Greco Roman rule, those games. So he's basically saying we are like, unlike these physical athletes. We're in a spiritual contest, if you will. They may be in a physical contest, we're in a spiritual contest. The Greek athlete competes for a perishable award. Believers compete for Christ and to receive an imperishable reward. The judge at the bema presents awards to the victors, and he does not punish or shame the losers. So get the context of this with me. And if there's ever a phrase this is the one I would. I just don't forget. The judgment seat of Christ is about our commendation, not condemnation. It's not about shaming you. It's not punitive. He will not judge believers for sin of any kind, confessed or unconfessed, which we know that from Scripture, that God's justice has already been fully and forever satisfied at the cross by Christ in relation to our sin. Let's keep going. Matthew 16:27. For the son of man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they've done. What word is there he's going to. What reward? That's the context of the judging. Think Olympic, think athletic competition. It's about who has run the race well. And the great thing with the Lord is if you've trusted him, everyone's gonna get a crown because you're anticipating his appearing. That's just that right there. Everyone gets that one. Now, none of this is about works. You don't earn heaven. It's all because of Christ. We just simply trust him and receive him. And then once he indwells us that event of salvation, then we live our life because we want to slosh him onto others, because we just don't want to be selfish. We have a stewardship issue and priorities, and we just want others to know Him. That's why if I have an issue with a neighbor in a conflict with a neighbor, because they want to all of a sudden garden onto our property and they've come across it, I go over there nicely. My eyebrows are up going, hey, yeah, these bushes, these flowers look pretty. I said, the only thing is, it's on our property. I'm trying. Why? Because I could go in there with guns blazing. You're across the property line because if it was reversed, that's how it would be. But I don't want them to then say, that time back in 2026, the director came over and yelled at me, and he just chewed me out from gardening. And I hate everything about him and God. So I don't want that to happen because they need Jesus. And so therefore, I'm going to do all I can to do what I have to in regards to the board of directors and what I'm supposed to be hired to do as the executive. We have property lines, but I'm going to do it as nice as I can. And eyebrows are up because communication is 55% body language, 37% tone of voice. So how you say it versus how you say it. It's how you say it. 8% is actually the words. That's why I could say, phew, I'm gonna kill you, bro. I'm gonna kill you, man. You're so funny. I'm gonna kill you. No one's threatened, but if I go, I'm gonna kill you. You know, it's a totally different. Of course he would take me out pretty quickly. Let's be real, let's keep going. Revelation 22:12 behold, I am coming quickly. Lord says, and my reward is with me to reward each one as his work deserves. Do you get the theme here, the bema seat? It's not a courtroom, a judicial judgment condemning, shaming. It is an Olympic platform in which you, as the Olympians, have trusted Christ. And he's gonna reward you for how you performed in your lane, for what you did on this earth in regards to your priorities and your stewardship. How did you invest your life, time, talent, treasure? Now this is really cool. First Corinthians 3, 12, 13 gives us even a little bit more. It says, if anyone builds on this foundation, and then he gives us six things you can build with, and the foundation is Christ. So if you're gonna build on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, that's a category. Wood, hay, and straw, that's a category. He says, your work will be shown for what it is, because the day the bama will bring it to light, it will be revealed with fire. And the fire will test the quality of each person's work. So if you built your life trying to serve the Lord, you just want people to see Jesus through you. You sacrifice, you serve, you're working with, you're building with gold, silver, costly stones, those are not easily accessible. They have value, they're durable. But if you go out through your life and you're just a selfish, me first pleasure seeker, but you're saved. You trusted the Lord. You're just a baby Christian in a sense. You haven't grown much. You're using wood, hay and straw. You're building with easily accessible equipment. You know, the wood, hay, straw is easy to get, it's cheap, and it burns. So your life, depending on what your motives were. When your life is tested, the fire, what's left? If you walk down the street and you see a house that burned down, you don't know what all was burned because it's burned. There's just ash. And so people aren't going to know what your sin is because it's been paid for. But your life Will be tested. Why? To see what was gold, silver, costly stones, how did you build? And those will withstand the fire and then you'll be rewarded. Goes on to say, oh, by the way, the day gold, silver costs stone would hay straw. Goes on to say, if what we. If what has been built survives, meaning the fire tests it. And if it. Gold, silver, costly stones. If it. If it. Excuse me. If what has been built survives, like gold, silver, costly stones, the builder will receive a reward. Now, this is very important. If it's burned up, he did things out of selfish motives. The builder will suffer a loss of reward, yet will be saved, even though only one escaping through the flames. So there are going to be people. Paul writes the church of Corinth, and he says, brothers, he's talking to Christians, brothers, I cannot address you as spiritual, but mere infants in Christ, you look like unregenerate men. So the Christians in Corinth were doing some really sinful stuff. It was sick. And he's saying, you're Christians, but you look like babies. You don't help. I mean, babies, they're beautiful, but you got to change them, feed them. But I mean, you do it all. They're not helping out. Load the car when you're leaving. Go Lake. And there are people who have been saved, trusted the Lord, and they're infant Christians. And they're going to be in heaven because it's not what you do that gets you there, it's who you've trusted in. But will there be a reward? Not much. Because they didn't build with gold, silver, costly stones. It was all about them. And so they'll be there, but they'll suffer a loss of what they could have had because they weren't good stewards of their lives in regards. So my point here, man's work, our work, human. Our work as humans is not just what we do, but it's our motives for doing it. Now, you're not going to have 100% perfect motive. If I do something good, there's a part of me that goes, oh, I did good. He's like, stop it. And I just tell the Lord, I'm sorry, Lord, but it's kind of like the degree. There's majority of the degree of my motives I try to do. When I do something, I want to just please the Lord. So even speaking, I'm like, I want them to find it me, should I do more funny stuff? I want them to you guys like me and to find it not boring. So you don't. Cause sometimes on this Morning, people can fall asleep. No names. But then I have to stop and I say, lord, it has nothing to do with me. I do want your word to go out. Holy Spirit, I want you to encourage everyone that hears these truths. I want to present it in a way that builds them up and they love you more and serve you. More and more people can come to know you. And as they slosh Jesus on people. So I just tell the Lord, I'm really honest with the Lord. He wants us honest. He sees everything anyway, so I don't need to hide anything. It's wonderful. So it's our motives and we're almost done. Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness. And he'll expose the motives of the heart. And at that time, each will receive their. What's the word? Praise. I didn't change the word. That's in the text. You'll get your praise from God. It blows my mind. I can't do anything good without the Lord. His law of the Lord says in Scripture, law of the Lord is written on our consciences. So a non Christian has hard wiring made in the image of God as a human, that there's some hardwiring of God's word. But what we do is we suppress it, we sear it, we burn it so that we're just numb to it. But then when we trust Christ, which it takes the Holy Spirit to incline us to be interested in the things of God, that's a whole nother talk. And then I trust him. The Holy Spirit comes into me. And then the Holy Spirit gives me power. He gives me conviction, he gives me hope, he gives me joy. And then he gives me strength. And I go out and I do these things to serve the Lord. And the Lord is in me through the Holy Spirit. And I'm actually doing good things. But it's really him doing it. All of this is the Lord doing it. I'm just yielding. I summarize the Christian walk in that word yieldedness. Am I really yielded to do what he asked me to do? And as I do it, then at the end, Jesus is gonna praise me for the things that he basically did through me with his power and his presence, because I trusted Him. But it's all about Him. It's stunning. This blows my mind. He's gonna praise me. Are you kidding? Now we wanna live for the day. And I'm gonna recap real here. And then I'm gonna walk through the scenario how it's I'm gonna just wanna give you the kind of the one man act of what I think's gonna happen. Christ is king, Christ will return, and Christ will reward. Clear in scripture, not about shame, not about condemnation. It's about commendation. The Bayma seat is the day we should be living for and excited about. Now, how's this going to look? Because I'm a visual person. I like to see things. I'm going to kind of just tell you how I think it's going to unfold in a little bit of activity here. The Lord comes back, we're raptured, we're in heaven. Every believer from all of time is there. I mean, and you won't have introvert anxiety. Okay? So all y' all that are introverts going, ah, it doesn't sound good to me. You're not gonna have it. You're gonna be there, and it's just like, you're gonna have this sense of love that just. And billions of Christians, and they're just all around, and some are dressed different than others and weird. And then you see this dude in the toga, and I'm like, what's your name? I am Milo Slavalli. I'm like, oh, wow. Where are you from? I am from Crete. I don't know anyone from Crete. That's awesome. I love Jesus. Oh, I do, too. I do, too. I do. He goes, who are you? I go, I'm Daniel Ambush Wallace and I'm from Michigan. And not originally. I'm a Texan, so sorry. At night or sounding right. Okay, never mind. And then, and then, and then. And he'll say, what era? I'll be like, I didn't think about that. We got Christians from all different times of history. I'll be like, 20, 26. He goes, I am 50 A.D. it's like, you're old. And the thing in heaven, a day is like a thousand years. And a thousand years is like a day. It says. So I don't understand it, but time's going to be, like, fast. But it may be like. So he might have been up there for however many, you know, 50, you know, whatever. 2,000 years, it's going to be that fast. So it's just. You don't have the boredom. You don't have all the. It's just you don't have the uncomfortableness. So, yeah, there are some people that you may not like right now that are Christians, and you're like, I don't want to see them. But in heaven, it'll be Gone. There won't be any sin comparison. There won't be no sadness, no death, no night. It's going to be ultimate and even light. It's not like we're going to have day and night. It's going to be God's glory and radiance is what gives us light. It's an amazing thing. I don't know how it works when it comes to sleep. I don't know if we need to sleep. I do like to sleep, so I'm hoping there's some of that in heaven. I think there probably would be. I'm not sure how I like to eat, so I was glad to see there's gonna be a banquet. Cause I wanna eat now. I don't know what happens when you go, you know, number two, but I don't know if that happens. I'm just saying, is there some things I don't know? But it's gonna be like what we have, we learn in scripture. It's gonna be like, similar to what we have here, but improved. So when Jesus came back and he rose from the dead and he was seen by 400 people, there's times he just appeared. So there's some of this stuff. It's like, well, is he flying or is he just teleporting? I have no idea how that works. And they had fish or something, so it's like, okay. But it's like this new and improved glorified bodies. I have no idea what age that is, but I sure ain't gonna be 60. No offense, but that's where we're getting. But we're gonna have glorified bodies and it's gonna be like. And we're gonna have all the Christians. Okay. Then all of a sudden I'm picturing I'm just doing that because that's kind of Roman. Kind of come to the theater or to the stadium. We'll be like, oh, it's time. Are you ready to see Jesus? And we're like, wow. And everyone's just starting. Oh, we love Jesus. Yes, we do. We love Jesus. I'm like, yeah. And we're just gonna be cheering and we're walking and we're just going up. And I don't understand if there's billions of people house to fit in the stadium. I don't know, do we have special eyes that can see great distances? All I know is we're all gonna gather there and every seat is gonna be filled. Cause the Lord knows you're coming. And then we're all gonna be in this stadium. And. And I don't know how we're. And I'm gonna start. I'm gonna start with goom goong cha, goong goong cha. And we're gonna start going. And we're gonna be doing the way and stuff. And it's gonna go round and around for like 30 years, but it's gonna be that fast. And it's gonna be like, ah. And then. And I'm gonna be like, we love Jesus. We love Jesus. How about you? And then the other side's gonna go, we love Jesus. We're gonna go back and forth and back and forth. It's gonna be like, ah, this is awesome. We're just gonna be like, frothy and just. And if you're again an introvert, Cal going to be amazing. And then I picture. Because we're going to see Jesus face to face. We know that from the text of scripture. And then I picture some big old angel. I picture angels kind of flying around top, looking down at us, going, they're here. Finally. It's like. And then I say, picture this big angel coming with massive, huge staff. Kung, kung, kung. And we're like. And he says, let's get ready to rumble. I'm not saying that doesn't happen. I'm just saying this. I think there's gonna be a lot of laughter and fun. I mean, if we can have funny people on this earth, and all good things are from the Lord. I just think Jesus. If you think Jesus is gonna walk out, I mean, I'm gonna be so glad that you're gonna be shocked. So he's gonna even be like, are you ready? The angel? Are you ready to see the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace? And we're all gonna be like, yes, yes, yes. And we're gonna be going crazy. And the sound's gonna. We're gonna have to have special ears. Cause it'd be deafening. It's just. It's like, ah, we're just gonna be so excited. And he's gonna be saying all the names of Jesus. And we'll be like, yeah, this is how I picture it. And then he's gonna say, here is your Savior, Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. And we're gonna go crazy for like 50 years. But it's gonna be that fast. And it's just gonna be. And then we're looking and there's a curtain down there. We're waiting. And then this is how I see it. This is not biblical. This is how I see it. I see Jesus poking his head out and going, what's up? I see him just going, wah. And then we go crazy. And then he pops out. He goes, ah, so glad you're here. We're like, yeah, we're so glad you're well. It's your house. Okay. Anyway, it's like, it's gonna be awesome. And then he's gonna say, are you ready to be praised for what you have done when you could have done whatever you wanted? You served me. I can't wait to reward you in front of all your brothers and sisters. This is a great moment, a great day. And we're all soop. And he said, let's start. Who do we have? And the angel's like, let's start with Milo Slavalle from Crete 50 AD and Milo Pops up in the stadium. He's like. I'm like, I know Milo. And he pops up, he starts to walk. And all of a sudden, I don't know how this is going to work, but it's going to take a long time to do all that. So I just fixed angel swoops up behind him, picks him up from underneath the arms, picks him up and flies him. And he's like. And everyone's like, milo, Milo, Milo. And then he comes out and he gently sets him down on stage. And Milos there before Jesus. And then the Lord praises each one. And then at some point again, it's not gonna be long. It's not gonna be boring. We're not gonna be falling asleep. It's gonna be like. And then it's gonna be Daniel Wallace from Michigan, but really Texas, 2026 AD and I'll be like, whoa. And then people are like, I'm boy, I love all you guys. And then, oh, hey, buddy. Hey. Give me another circle. Give me another circle. I want to do a yeah, yeah. And I want to go low, and I just want to skim the top of Hugh's head. And then he's going to drop me down. Now, this is where I really. I'm being having fun with this. But this is where it gets real for me. Life is hard, and sometimes people suck and I don't like them. Sometimes people are mean, and sometimes life is harsh. And I have to go here. And this is where I go on the stage. And I just think, what would it feel like? And I'm just picturing what I think Jesus looks like. It's just like. I don't think I'll be standing. I just don't think I'll be able to stand. I'll just be Jesus. I mean, Jesus, his eyes, his smile. And I think I'm gonna be like leaning over, and I think Jesus is gonna just be over there. He's looking at me, and I think he's gonna go, ambush. Oh, my God. Oh, I love you. I love you. I love you. And he's like, are you ready? And I picture him coming beside me, putting his arm around me. And because it talks about testing our lives with fire to see what withstands the test of fire so he can reward what was Gold, silver, costly stones, motives. I picture him with his hand out with my life kind of in some sort of little quick hologram kind of thing, but not really. And then he just. Fire coming out of his mouth. This is how I picture it. And my life starts going. And then when it comes to When I was four and we were in San Antonio, and we would go to. Just down the street was this little gas station quick trip thingy. And that's where we get our nickel candies and stuff. And there was a guy that worked there, and he was rough looking, and I just knew that he didn't know Jesus. And at four years of age, I went to my mom and I said, mom, can we get him a Bible? She's like, who? She's like, the Candyman. She's like, yeah, we can. So she got the old booger green Bible from some of y' all know, the old living Bible. And we wrapped that. I wrapped that thing up. I got to wrap it. And then I went down there. And then for some reason, my mom just let me go in alone. I didn't lay on the carpet. I should have. I licked it. No. So I went in there and I had the Bible. And the guy's there, and I just put it on the counter. Like, what I remember was, that's for you. And then I just walk out. I have no idea, but he might be there and go, that was me. And I'm like, ah. I mean, I have no idea. But the point was my motive. Regardless of the result, the results are on God. My motive was I want him to know Jesus. And I brought him a Bible. And as he's testing my life, I kind of look like a popcorn popper. And all of a sudden, a gem comes out for that event. That's how I see it again. I don't know exactly how this is all gonna work. It's gonna be like. And then that event, pooh gem. And then when I did some other things that were good for the Lord. And there's gold and silver, costly stones, and it's piling up now. It's not because I need the gold, silver, costly stones, that's irrelevant as far as the economy. It's not because I want to be rich or anything. The streets are made of gold. I can get a chisel and ching, ching, ching, ching and get all the gold I want. It's not the gold. It's because of that pile. The height of that pile tells Jesus the height of my love for him in this life. How do you tell Jesus you love him? And we have the chance that this life, when we can choose what we want to do with an uncoursed will, how are we living it? And I live for the day for the highest pile I can get for my life. That said to Jesus, I love you. Jesus love language. We talk about acts of service and words of encouragement and gifts and all that Jesus love language. We know from scripture. Obedience. If you love me, you'll obey me. And I get to tell Jesus how much I loved him on that day. And I can tell him all I want here. And I love you, Lord, but that day is going to be exciting. And so he's going to be testing my life and these jewels. And then we get done, and I want it to be a big old pile. And I want him to look at it and then look at me and go, you love me that much? Thank you. And I'll be like, no, no, thank you. He's like, no, no, thank you. And we go back and forth for like five years. And it's like that fast. It's like, thank you and you're awesome. And he's like, all right, Ambush, you ready for your glorified body? I'm like, oh, yeah. And I think he's going to just put me in front. I'm facing that direction with all the people. And he's going to put his hands on my shoulders from behind and he's go, everyone, this is Daniel Ambush Wallace. And it was like, ambush, my son in who I'm well pleased be glorified. And I'm like, and I don't need to wake up, but I do want to fly back to my seat. Like, what's happening? I'm high fiving people. And then it goes on to you and you and you. That's how I picture it. I live for that day because someday I'm going to stand before Jesus. And the thing is, there is a text in scripture that I didn't quite Understand for a while. And I think I understand it now. It says that there's going to be no sadness in heaven, and yet it says in the Bible that he'll wipe away every tear. And my thinking, this is what I think, I could be wrong. My thinking is there's going to be some Corinthian Christians who look like pagans, who look like unregenerate people that just lived sinfully and just did whatever they wanted and no one really knew they were a Christian and. And they did a few things for the Lord over their lives with good motives for God. But there's just gonna be a handful of jewels on the ground. And I think they're gonna see that. And in that moment they're gonna go, I wasted my life. And I think Jesus at that moment is gonna go, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wipe the tears. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you for trusting me. I'm so glad you're here. Let's get you a glorified body. Yay. Let's hear for, you know, whoever. You see what I'm saying. I just. On that day, I live for that day. I hope you do. I hope you realize he is ready to commend you, to praise you, to reward you. And we do this not because it saves us. We serve him because he saved us. We don't deserve it. It's grace undeserved favor of God. It's all Him. And so I want to live my life now. I hope you want to live your lives and continue to live your lives for his glory, for his name, and so other people can be with us on that day and be praised by Jesus himself. Week one. Someone gave me this and I'm wrapping up. They gave me this little quote. It's from. I'm zooming in here. Salt and light. I don't know what that dot words. Anyway, it's a little statement and I thought it was really good and so I'm gonna end with this. Worshiping God through pain is a gift we offer him only on this side of eternity. I know you gotta stop and look at the COVID kids. Oh, such a good life. Just, you know, sometimes they're like, ho, Dan, would you just drive me around in the barrel train? Give me a sucker and let me just drive. Worshiping God through pain is the gift we. Is a gift we can offer him only on this side of eternity because we won't have pain in heaven. This is our chance Lord, thank you so much for your word. Thank you. That it gives us direction, it gives us hope, it takes out the cobwebs and a confusion of our thinking. There's no shame, there's no punishment our sin, there's no condemnation for us that are in you, Jesus. Romans 8 says so Lord, we thank you, Holy Spirit, thank you for indwelling us. Thank you for counseling us, guiding us, convicting us, strengthening us, encouraging us, settling our anxiety, settling our all those things that are going on. Lord and Father, thank you for this plan that you have. You planned it, Jesus provided it through his death and resurrection and Holy Spirit, you've produced it in us. So Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters here. I pray that you would just encourage them in this. If they have any questions, Lord, I pray that they would ask either someone they trust or me, that they would ask and not leave here wondering, having some doubts on things. Lord, I pray that you would protect them against their own flesh that accuses them and lies to them. Lord, let them hear your spirit and get good at it. And then, Lord, steepen the skill of our faith that we may keep our eyes fixed on you, Jesus, no matter what. And all God's people said amen.