Transcription
Good morning. Well, you picked a picked a great day to come to church today. I think you're going to love what's about to happen. But let's pray.
Father, we're so grateful to be here today in your house with your people about to open your word, but also to talk about this amazing nation that we have a privilege the privilege of being a part of, the United States uh with our incredible spiritual roots. And we pray for America that we will have another great spiritual awakening especially as we're poised to celebrate our 250th birthday. So we commit this uh service to you now. Bless this time that we have in Jesus' name we ask this. Amen.
All right. You can be seated. Well, the reason I said you picked a great day to come to church is because I have my good friend, outstanding author Eric McAis here with me today. And Eric is the author of many books including Bonhaofer uh that many know him for. But he has a brand new book. This is over it's about 600 pages. It's called Revolution, the birth of the greatest nation in the history of the world. And this is a really a story about America. And Eric is here to talk with us about it. Let's welcome Eric as he comes out. There you are. Hello, Eric.
Howdy.
You look You looks just so dapper as always.
You know, whenever you compliment me, I feel like there's an edge. Like you're really insulting me.
And all the smart people, they know. They can tell. They can tell. They tell. Do you see what he did there? Nice to see you.
Nice to see you, Eric. You know, congratulations on your book. I am praising the Lord like crazy. And I mean that. Praising the Lord. Praising the Lord because it's doing very well. It's on the New York Times bestsellers.
Number two.
Yes. On the New York Times list, which is nuts. It's absolutely nuts. I can't I just can't tell you. And and I anybody who know really knows me knows I I say praise Jesus cuz you know, you can do all kinds of stuff and do everything right and it doesn't go anywhere. This is a gift from Jesus. And I hope this reaches uh America with the true story of America which has Jesus at the center inescapably. It is inescapable. And we need to know that. We need to know that this nation is God's idea. That's not just something we say cuz we're Christians. It's true. And that's how all the founders saw it. And when I did the research, it was so unavoidable. I said, "How come I've never really heard this in my life? We need to know this. This is not I'm not making it up. This is everywhere I looked. So, I tried not to make it too much in the book because this is just a book for everybody. But the the the Christian roots of this country are just inescapable. And uh it's going to I think it's going to surprise some people.
Yeah. Starting with George Washington.
Yes. I mean, he played such a key role not just as leading the Continental Armies, not just as our first president, but way back in the French Indian War. He he was at the very roots of what would become the United States.
Well, it's it's so funny because the usually before when I was thinking I going to write a book on the Revolution, I thought, you know, we're going to start at Lexington and Conquered, but you have to tell what happened to lead up to Lexington and Conquered. And the further you go back, the more interesting and crazy it gets. And so my book, you know, I you have to get into the French and Indian War a little bit. And of course, George Washington started that war. He didn't intend to start it,
but he was 21 years old.
When I was 21, I I would I didn't start any wars. What about you?
Not. No,
we were just minding our own business being
There's still time though.
And he start. That's true. That's true. Uh, but no, it's the history. It's so beautiful. And I keep saying too, I wrote this book. every American is indebted to the people who brought this nation into being. Um, and it was it No, that's a fact. And when I say that, I think the least we can do is know the story, know their names, know all the details. So, in writing this book, I said, I just want to tell in in a in a readable way, tell the whole story. And it starts way before 1775, 1776. And all that is very interesting. But the Christian roots, you see it most clearly there. You see figures like John Adams and Samuel Adams and all those figures, the whole idea comes out of the reformation, out of this Puritan theology.
Yes.
And so when people say,
oh, you know, the American Revolution, it all started, it was the started by the French Enlightenment.
Yeah.
That is a ridiculous lie. It's not just sort of not true. It's a preposterous lie, an untruth. And the more I saw this, the more I just got angry. I thought, how have they been pushing this ridiculous secular lie? It's just not true. It doesn't mean you have to be a Christian, but at least acknowledge how it started. And it it's unavoidable. And the more I saw it, the more amazed I was. I said, "People need to know this." Now, again, it's not like the book is about that, but if you read the true history, which is in here, you can't avoid it. Well, there's another George in the story that helps to explain a lot. It's not George Washington.
George Gobble.
George Gobble. No comedian.
Nobody got that joke.
Nobody got that joke. It's a young crowd.
Very dated. Did you get it, Michael? You have to be a little older to get that joke. George Whitfield,
correct?
Is the other George?
Well, it's because of George Whitfield. I always say,
who was George Whitfield? George Whitfield in the 18th century, he was an evangelist on a level that if you understand, if you read my book, If You Can Keep It, I write about him a lot in that book. He was an evangelist that he he he preached so much that he makes the Apostle Paul and Billy Graham look like lazy agnostics. You understand? That's the level. It It's so It's almost unbelievable.
It's It's almost unbelievable. And God used him to create the Great Awakening. Yes. Just an amazing amazing figure in history. And without the Great Awakening, without George Whitfield, yes,
there would have been no American Revolution. Period. End of sentence. That's not like an interpretation. And there's a creepy passage in the book, a Macob moment where he was people looked to him as really almost like the American saint that that he led this. So when they thought of independence, they thought of him, an evangelist. He's an evangelist
and a British one, right? And so there's a moment where Benedict Arnold, this is 1775. I wasn't expecting to go into this, but I'll be quick. In 1775, uh, George Washington sends Benedict Arnold to go through the wilds of Maine to Canada. They thought they could get Canada to join us. Um, and so before Benedict Darnold and his men go on this journey, which is one of the craziest chapters in here, they stop in a church in Newbury Port, Massachusetts. That is the church where many times George Whitfield preached. So it was like one of these candlestick churches of the great awakening. And they hear a sermon. So imagine,00 men who are about to go on this exit. They hear this sermon. And this is, you know, they didn't say, "Well, we can't do that because, you know, we got some Muslims in the group or something." It was just like we're here because God has sent us on this journey and so they hear this powerful message and then Benedict Arnold and his officers ask can we see the grave of George Whitfield. Now Whitfield had preached his last sermon there 5 years before and died a few days later and he was buried in a crypt under this the near where the uh the pulpit was. So they go down into the crypt and they ask, "Can we take the coffin lid off?"
You didn't expect me to go here, did you, Greg? I've heard this story.
You know the story. And they saw his his body had molded to dust, but the cuffs and the collar of his, you know, whatever preachers gown were still in existence and they cut them into pieces and took them as relics,
which is, you know, we don't do stuff like that, do we?
Not anymore. But that is how they revered George Whitfield that he was like the American hero, the American saint that they were going to go, you know, in his name.
And he was an evangelist. And so it it that's one example of how the pure gospel of that you must be born again. You can have a direct a direct relationship with the Lord. That's that that was so central to the thinking of the men involved in the American Revolution. So it's something that's just one example. And speaking of revolution, France had a revolution. Other nations have had revolutions. Theirs didn't turn out so well. Ours did.
And they say you want a revolution.
Yeah, that's a song.
Is it
the Beatles?
Oh, really? I thought it was wings. Um, so
wings revolution. I prefer wings. Yes, that's correct.
I know you do prefer Wings over the Beatles, and I don't like that.
I know. I won't bring it up publicly. Um, I'm sorry I'm cutting you off. I can't stop joking with you. So when you said what you just said, seriously, the revolution, the reason this book is not titled the American Revolution is because I said there's only been one revolution.
Yeah.
In history that succeeded and that's the American Revolution. The French Revolution is a joke. The French Revolution, they said they want the same things. They said they want, you know, egalite, fraternity, liberte. They want all the same things. But what did they do that we did not do? or what did they not do that we did? They didn't want anything to do with God. They killed the king and then they killed the priests and the nuns. They didn't want anything. They wanted to do a secular revolution. It fails totally. Bloodbath. Uh, they kill the king. What do they get? They get a dictator emperor. Bad trade, right? Napoleon. Our revolution. And again, this is explicit. This is the the men involved in our revolution spoke about this. They said, "We want to declare independence from an earthly king, King George III, but we want to declare dependence on the Lord who is our king." Like the Israelites in the Sinai wilderness, God is our king. It's like, is it 1 Samuel 12, I think, where this the thing where Samuel's rebuking them, saying, "You had a you want a king, you want Saul, but you had a king was the Lord your God was your king." So the men involved the revolution understood like, "Yeah, we're going to get rid of an earthly king, but we want to look directly to the Lord as our king." This was explicit. This was not just a couple of Christians in the Continental Congress. They all understood this narrative. Jefferson understood it. Frankly, they all understood this. That's our history. We need to know that our revolution succeeded because the only way people can govern themselves is if they're governed by the Lord. And you know, John Adams said, "We our constitutional is useless. our constitution is useless unless it's for a moral and religious people. That's right.
And they all understood this idea. And if you don't get that idea, like the French didn't get it and the Bolevik Russians didn't get it, the communists don't get it, they kick God out. When you kick God out, good luck and it's going to be a mess and it's always a mess. So the only revolution that ever succeeded was the revolution where they supplanted the earthly king with God, our king. And that's history. That's American history. and all of the figures involved, they understood this. This is not my Christian interpretation of it. They all spoke about it. Samuel Adams gave a famous speech uh the day before they signed the Declaration of Independence and he says, "We have restored the sovereign, capital S." They all understood we're restoring the true sovereign and that's at the heart of American liberty. That is true. That's American history. And again, people don't have to like it, but they have to accept that's those are the facts and we need to know our history.
That's right. You subtitled this the birth of the Yeah. The birth of the greatest nation in the history of the world. Explain why
I actually mean Belgium. I think everybody understands that. I'm referring to Belgium. Um, no. Well, when you say the greatest nation in the history of the world, that's not like we beat our chest and go, "Hey, we're better." It's not about we're not better. We're the same as anybody in the world. But our form of government is unique in the history of the world.
Yes.
It's unique. And we are privileged. We do not deserve to live in a country where we have the liberties we do. People have bled and died so we could have the liberties that most of us take for granted. And we shouldn't take them for granted. And we need to know that what we have here is unique. It is an outrageous gift of God. And it is for God's purposes. It's not for our purposes. It's for God's purposes. And I So when we say the greatest nation in the history of the world, that's true. But it's because it's the first nation in the history of the world where the people who brought this nation into being understood we are bowing to God. That's the only way we can have liberty. And they really did believe it was a reformation theology that this is they called it providential dispensation that God is revealing himself through history. Part of that was the reformation uh and which led to they believe the first nation in the history of the world where we could have reformation puritan Christian values in the nation. And so, uh, I I agree with that. But even if you don't agree with that, you have to understand that's how they saw it. That's what they were doing. They were doing they believed they were about God's business in creating, uh, the United States. And we we need to know that that's how they saw it.
Is that what John Adams meant when he talked about a revolution before the revolution?
Yes. Uh, John Adams said there was a revolution before the revolution. that to me personally.
You know, I was going to say I was going to say he was very old and you were very young, but it happened and we have it on uh videotape. Um, no, I think when he said that uh what what he was really referring to actually is that before the war, I mean the war starts lectin and conquer 1775, but he says before that there was a revolution. And that revolution, he's really talking about what happened from about 1761 to 1775. and I write about it in the book and I hadn't known most of this but he he remembers cuz he was in Boston uh and he talks about how something was stirring. Now it had already been there but it took the British in 17 you know 64 and 1765 they kind of come in and they say we're going to tax you. That kind of brings the conflict because that's when the American colonist like wait a minute um, you know, it's not about the money, it's the principle what right by what right do you tax us? Our rights come from God. We've been governing ourselves since, you know, 1620s, 1630s. Why are you coming here because you got a big gun and you can say pay or, you know, we'll shoot you. Why are we where are we supposed to pay you? So this conflict comes and that's what he calls the revolution before the revolution where all the Americans begin to understand our rights come from God. We already knew that, but now it's being challenged and we have to articulate that and that's what leads to the war we call the revolution. And at the end of the book, I talk about Benjamin Rush writes to John Adams after the revolution, after the war, and he says, "There's a revolution after the revolution." And I believe we're dealing that right now is that we have to know what does it mean to be an American. What are our liberties? What do we mean by liberties? What is God's idea of liberties? And what do the founders mean? It's not just we could do what we want. No, it's these are gifts from God. And we have to understand that. We have to understand how does God want us to preserve those liberties. And that's very important. And that's also why I wrote the book because I said we need we we have an obligation to know our history. It's not for history buffs. This is for every American must know our history. We have an obligation to know our story just as we have an obligation to know the biblical story. Like we we really can't function if we don't know that story. And I really thought there isn't a book that like in one volume tells the whole story. Which is why I wrote this because I said we we need to be able to articulate our story.
Well, we'll talk about that more tonight. We're going to do a live podcast an hour long. There'll even be opportunity for you to ask uh Eric some questions. It'll start at 6:00 p.m. only here at Harvest Orange County. Uh, you have to be here in person. We're not going to stream this. And so this is going to be a fascinating conversation. And Eric's going to sign copies of his new book. What a great Father's Day gift, right? Um, he'll be signing copies of his book after the service here at Harvest Orange County. Eric, thank you for coming and congratulations. Great book. Wonderful.
Bless you.
Well, that's amazing. Well, let's grab our Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 19. Luke 19. That's right after Luke 18, in case you don't know. We're going through the Gospel of Luke together in a series that we're calling the Gospel for Everyone. The title of this message is Don't Waste Your Life. So, birthdays, we have a big one coming up for America, July 4th, 250 years. Now, when you're a kid, you really look forward to birthdays, right? When you get older, you don't look forward to them anymore. Am I right? My wife would say, "Greg, your birthday's coming up. what do you want to do? I said, I want to ignore it. Right? Because, you know, they're just not as much fun as it used to be. You know, basically, you know, you're getting old when the candles on your cake cost more than the cake. Okay? So, but we're celebrating a very important birthday. Uh, when our founding fathers signed that document that we call the Declaration of Independence that said, quote, "We all know it. All men are created equal uh and have been endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When Thomas Jefferson and George Washington and Benjamin Franklin and John Adams and others put pen to paper or maybe I should say cool to parchment and sign their name to that document, that could have been a death warrant. It could have been the end of their lives, but instead it was the beginning of something that had never existed before that we now call the United States of America. After they signed the declaration, Ben Franklin said, quote, "We must all hang together or assuredly we will all hang separately." End quote. But they hung together and they passed this gift on to all of us that we enjoy today. Now we fast forward many years after that and we think of something that Jesus has passed on. A wonderful legacy he's given to us. A treasure he has told us to guard and to share. And we're going to talk about that in the message before us now in the Gospel of Luke. You know, an interesting thing was happening as Jesus gave this parable. uh the people thought that he was going to establish his kingdom then and there. In fact, we read here, excuse me, in Luke chap 19 11, the crowd was listening to everything Jesus said and because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told them a story to correct the impression that the kingdom of God would begin right away. In other words, there was a belief among some because they didn't properly understand the scripture that Jesus who was indeed the Messiah was going to immediately establish an earthly kingdom. In other words, he would dry out drive out the occupying force of Rome and the Jewish people would rule and reign as they had under the glory days of King David. But what they missed was the scripture said before Messiah would establish his kingdom on the earth. that's still in our future. First, he would suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world. So, he had to correct their thinking. And that's what this parable is about. This parable that we're going to look at in just a few moments helps us to understand how we should live in light of the fact that Christ could come back at any time. So, Jesus doesn't answer the question of what we should be doing. Excuse me, he doesn't answer the question of when he is coming. Rather, he answers the question of what should we be doing as we await his coming. 1 John 2:28 says that we should continue in fellowship with Christ so when he returns we'll be full of courage and not shrink back from him and shame. Every Christian should look forward to the return of Jesus. Let me take a quick poll. How many of you look forward to Christ coming back again? Raise your hand. That's that's how you should react. In fact, if you shrink back from the idea, if it alarms you, if it frightens you, that's not a good thing. It should motivate you to live a godly life. Let's just say that someone said the boss is coming down the hallway and you're in your office with your feet up on your desk shooting rubber bands at a coworker. Would you remain in that position? I don't think so. I think you would suddenly look busy. Why? because the boss is there and he or she could terminate you if they wanted to. So you want to be productive. And so as we think Christ could come back at any moment, it should motivate us to live a godly life. And there are certain things we should be doing. As John writes, he that has this hope, that is the hope of Christ's return, they will purify themselves even as he is pure. So let's look now at this parable that Jesus told to show us what we should be doing as we await his return. Luke 19 starting in verse 12. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. Read along with me. We have a a lot of verses to look at. A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then returned. But before he left, he called together 10 of his servants. And he divided among them 10 pounds of silver, saying, "Occupy till I come." But his people hated him and set a delegation after him to say, "We don't want him to be our king." Well, after he was crowned king, he returned, called on the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what their profits were. The first servant said, "Well, master, I invested your money, and I made 10 times the original amount." "Well done," the king explained. "You're a good servant. You've been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of 10 cities for your reward." The next servant reported, "Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount." "Well done," the king said. "You'll be governor over five cities." But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, "Master, I hid your money and I kept it safe, but I was afraid because you're a hard man to deal with, taking what isn't yours and harvesting crops you didn't plant." The king roared, "You wicked servant. Your own words condemn you. If you knew I'm a hard man who takes what isn't mine and harvest crops I didn't plant, then why didn't you might deposit my money in the bank? At least then I could have gotten some interest on it." Then turning to the other standing nearby, the king ordered, take the money from that servant and give it to the one who has 10 pounds. But master, they said, he already has 10. Yes, the king said, and to those who use well what they're given, even more will be given. And from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. As for these enemies of mine who didn't want me to be their king, bring them in and execute them right here in front of me. We'll stop there. What a wild story this is. Okay. So, what is the meaning of it? A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. It's an illustration. Clearly, the nobleman in the story would be Jesus. Uh, the reaction of the people that he came to was rejection. That speaks of the reaction of the general population toward Christ when he came to our earth. The Bible says he came to his own and his own received him not. We are the servants that he gives the money to. So not notice he calls 10 servants together and gives them all the same amount. He gives a pound to each. A pound would be basically three months of pay. So it's a considerable amount of money. Here's a bag of silver where three months of working. Invest this till I come. That's what the word occupy means. It means do business till I come. Invest till I come. Be productive until I come. To occupy till he comes doesn't mean just occupy space or occupy a seat in church. It does not mean we sit around and wait for the rapture and some kind of celestial waiting room flipping through old magazines. It means we're doing business for the king. Now, sometimes people will say, "Well, I'm retired." Well, first of all, okay, congratulations. It means you worked hard. You saved your money. You don't have to go into the office anymore, the work site, or wherever you worked, and now you have a lot of free time to serve the Lord because you never retire from serving the Lord. This is a lifelong occupation, right? I was just back in Texas because all my exes live in Texas. I don't have any exes, but um, but the best chicken on earth is in Texas at Babried Chicken. That's another story. But so I went back to Texas to interview the legendary Chuck Swindoll. And uh, I I think Chuck is maybe the greatest living preacher out there. He He's just always been so faithful to teach God's word in a powerful biblical, contemporary, understandable way. And I've long admired what he does. And and so I did a podcast with him. It's going to be on his podcast platform and on mine as well. There's a picture of the two of us together. Now, um, Chuck is 91 years old and his eyesight is dramatically diminished, but his spiritual insight is stronger than ever. Interestingly, his radio program is called Insight for Living. He was just so full of energy, passion, and vision. It was an absolute pleasure to talk with him. And to me, he's a great example of just serving the Lord. No matter what state you're in, no matter what's going on with you physically, you're still serving the Lord to the very end. Chuck Smith was the same way. Chuck made it to the age of 87 before the Lord called him home. And uh, here's a picture of Chuck and I from a number of years ago. This is a funny picture. So Chuck and I were in Austria. Look at his hat. You can tell we were in Austria. Uh, and we were walking along and I looked up this wall and I saw some berries growing. I said, "Look, Chuck, look at those berries. I wish I could reach them." He said, "Well, why don't I hoist you up on my shoulder?" I'm like, "Okay." I don't think he could have done that later, not because he wasn't strong enough, but because I would have weighed too much and crushed him. But so, I climbed in his shoulder, he lifted me up, and just as I was grabbing the berries, someone took a picture of it. But um, I was sitting with Chuck once and I said, "Chuck, what would an older Chuck say to a younger Chuck?" In other words, what advice would you give yourself? And his response was, "Hold the course." And that's what he did. He held the course to the very end. Another person that comes to mind is Billy Graham. Uh, Billy Graham made it to the age of 99 and uh, he he he did all he could for the kingdom through those years. I was at the Billy Graham training center at the Cove uh with a friend of mine named John and he said, "Would you John said, "Would you introduce me to Billy Graham?" I said, "Sure." Walked over and I said, "Billy, this is my friend John." And John shook Billy's hand and said, "Mr. Graham, I want to just thank you for your years of faithfulness and all the people you reach with the gospel." And Billy's response surprised both of us. Billy said, "I wished I could have done more." What? He did quite a bit actually. Here's a man that preached to more people than any human being I've ever heard of. And in the last years of his life, he wished he had done more. In the same way, we must be about our father's business with every breath we draw in our lungs to our final day on this earth because life is a gift from God and we are to occupy till he comes. Go ahead and applaud. That's your moment. Say, Greg, I didn't really want to applaud. Yeah, but you should have. So, I'm just prompting you, helping you. Billy Graham said, and I quote, "God never meant for us to be spectators. Every believer is called to be on the field, not in the stands." End quote. So, coming back to our story, the master in the parable gives 10 servants one pound each. And we have three categories of people here. and you fit into one of these categories. Number one, we have the highly productive servant. Number two, we have the faithful servant. And thirdly, we have the unfaithful servant. Highly productive, faithful, unfaithful. Let's look at the first two together. The highly productive and the faithful servant both receive the same amount, one pound or a bag of silver coins. And the first guy was able to take one pound of coins and turn it into 10. How he did it, we're not told, but we know people like this. They just get it done. That they're the kind of person that that they're super productive, you know, and and they always surpass your expectations. And then there are other people that get it done, but not to the same level. They're more conservative. They play it safe. You know, some people are setting the world on fire while others are still looking for a match, right? And this first category, no excuses. They just, hey, let's go. And and so let's put it in another illustration. Let's say that you had 10 cars you wanted to sell. So you call 10 people together and you give each car. Okay, sell this car and got the most money for my car and I'll be back later to see what you did. So, the first guy, you come back, he goes, "Yeah, actually, I didn't sell your car, but I did drive it. I put some miles on it. Sorry, I got into a couple of fender benders and the tires are bald and but but here are the keys." It's like, "Hello, that's horrible. You did a horrible job." Second guy says, "Well, you know, I took your car. I sold it and I made a tidy profit. Here you go." Well, good job. Thank you. Third guy says, "Well, I sold your car and with a profit, I bought two more cars. Then I took that profit and bought five more cars. And I took that profit and bought 10 more cars and I opened up a Ferrari dealership with a line around the block. Here's the keys. Okay, that's that guy knows what he's doing. We need to be like that guy. Now, sometimes we confuse two parables. The parable of the talents and the parable of the pounds. We're looking at the parable of the pounds. The parable of the talents is found in Matthew 25 where Jesus said uh a master gave five talents to one servant, two talents to another servant, and finally one talent to another, each according to his own ability. Now, this parable is different. This is more about the gifts or talents God gives to certain people. I mean, let's be honest. Some people are just more talented than other people. Uh, some people are born with a natural musical talent. They just have it from the beginning. Uh, they can sing beautifully. Other people think they have that talent, but they don't. You see them on those shows on television all the time. Some people have a talent for speaking publicly, others do not. Some have a talent for crunching numbers, others don't. Others have natural organizational skills, others don't have that ability. So the idea is you you take it and develop it. Some are natural athletes, some are klutzes, you know. So we we have these abilities, you do cultivate them, you do develop them. And then there are spiritual gifts that God gives. And when God gives you a spiritual gift, you can decide whether or not you're going to develop it. Paul wrote to Timothy and he said, "Stir up the gift that is in you by the laying on of hands." And a better translation would be fan it into full flame. Right? So you take that gift, you develop that gift. So that's the parable of the talents. It's different from person to person. This parable is different. The parable of the pounds basically is saying every person was given the same thing. Everyone given the same thing. So, what one thing do we all have as Christians that we are to do something with? Simple answer, the gospel. We've all been given the gospel. And we've all been called to preach the gospel. Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." Uh, not everyone is called to be an evangelist, but every Christian is called to evangelize. It's a sacred trust given to us by the Lord. Paul spoke of the glorious gospel committed to his trust in 1 Timothy 1:11 and in 1 Thessalonians 2:4 he says we've been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. So it's you've been entrusted with it. You've been blessed with it and you have a responsibility to do something with it just as these people in the story before us were to take those pounds and invest them. Now, I when I was a brand new Christian, I I didn't know much theologically. I I had never spoken before, but I could tell someone what Jesus had done for me. And that's really all evangelism is. It's one beggar telling another beggar where to find food. It's as simple as that. It's making a recommendation. And as a matter of fact, we do it all the time. We're always telling people things that we've discovered. I found the killer burger. I found the ultimate fish taco. I just saw an amazing movie or I just heard a crazy song, a m great song. I want you to hear this song. We naturally share these things that we discover. But when it comes to the gospel, all of a sudden we clam up. All of a sudden, more apprehensive about talking about it. But we should want to tell others. Now, how do we take this gift God has given us? Well, obvious answer number one, to share it. Look for opportunities to share your faith. Let me take a quick poll. How many of you have ever had the privilege of praying with someone to accept Christ? Raise your hand. Beautiful. How many of you have maybe brought a person to church or to a crusade and they accepted Christ as a result? Raise your hand. Okay, good. How many of you have shared your faith in some way, shape, or form in the last month? Raise your hand. Last week, raise your hand. Now, you're just bragging. Some of you want to say it. No, I'm That's fantastic. But there's many ways we can do this. See, only God saves a person. I've never saved anyone anywhere. Remember a story I heard about Billy Graham? He was on a plane flying and uh some man heard that the famed evangelist was on board. This guy had had a lot to drink and he was fully drunk. He says, "I want to meet Billy Graham." And uh some people said, "Don't let Billy meet this guy. I want to meet Billy Graham." He's getting really loud. Finally, they bring him to Billy Graham. I wanted to meet you, Billy. Billy said, "Well, nice to meet you." And the man said, "I'm one of your converts." Billy said, "You must be one of my converts. I don't know if you're one of the Lords. And so, you know, I've never had a convert. I've never converted a single person. Only God does the converting. I'm just a delivery boy. I just share the message. God does the saving. As Paul wrote, "One sws the seed, another waters the seed, another reaps." But we all are in this together. You see, because no one would listen to what I have to say maybe in a crusade if you'd not already done the heavy lifting lifting getting them there. And the way you probably got them there was through your Christian testimony, through your lifestyle, through what you shared with them, through your prayers. So, we're all working together, but we all have a part to play. Another way you can take your pound and multiply it is by investing financially in the preaching of the gospel. It's an interesting statement by Jesus in Luke 16:9 where he says, "I tell you this, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." Isn't that interesting? Use worldly wealth to use your money. He says to gain friends for yourself so when it's gone your worldly wealth you'll be welcomed into eternal dwellings. These friends Jesus speak is speaking of are those that we help lead to Christ. So every dollar you invested in evangelism. You share in the ultimate fruit that comes as a result of that. And this verse would seem to imply that when we get to heaven, we may have around us people we reached with the gospel. Can you imagine the joy of that? You arrive in glory and there's this multitude of people and you say, "Who are these people?" These are people you help bring to Christ through your prayers, through your testimony, through your evangelism, through your giving. These are all connected to you. And that's a great thing to think about because there are going to be rewards given in heaven and we should want those rewards. The Bible talks about a judgment that is coming for every person. Every non-believer is going to be judged and every believer is going to be judged. But the judgments are different. The judgment for non-believers is called the great white throne judgment. That's found in Revelation 20. That's where the book of life comes in. And we read that a person standing before that judgment that books are open plural more than one which are probably a record of everything we've said and done among other things. And then the book is open, the book of life. And if your name is not found written in the book of life, you're cast into the lake of fire. This is for non-believers only. If you end up at this judgment, it's too late. There's no getting out of this. This is a final judgment. I don't even think Christians will be present at the great white throne judgment. And if you worry about that one in particular, I'll tell you how to be sure. You don't have to be there at that at the end of the message. But then there's the judgment for Christians. It's called the judgment seat of Christ. It's mentioned at 2 Corinthians uh 5:10. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body whether good or bad. Paul also talks about this judgment. Every man, every woman's work will be tried by fire to see what sort it is, to see if it's wood, hay, or stubble or gold and silver. So it's it's a judgment of motives. It's a judgment for Christians. So, think of it differently. Instead of a judgment, let's use a different word. We'll call it an awards ceremony, right? This judgment doesn't determine whether or not you'll get to heaven because this judgment actually happens in heaven. So, you're home free, you're good, you're in glory. But now, we're going to eval evaluate your life and see how well you did with this occupy till I come stuff. A and so you'll be rewarded for your faithfulness. Remember Jesus said, "Your father who sees you in secret will one day reward you openly." This is that day. So all of your faithful service to the Lord will not go unnoticed. And uh I don't know how you did competing in life. Some of you maybe were great athletes. Um sometimes I have friends who were athletes and now they have all these problems, medical problems. and yeah, I got this and we're playing football over here and running over here from that. I say, "Yeah, I never did any of that. I don't have any of your injuries, so maybe I took the better path." I don't know. That's what non-athletes like to say to make themselves feel better on their way to eat another doughnut. But um, but maybe you did well in athletics. You know, you you got the gold ribbons or you won first place. I literally remember and I I tried to be an athlete. I was never very successful. I had a lot of purple ribbons as I recall. So I think there's gold for number one, silver for number two, and purple for we acknowledge your existence. Sort of like a participation trophy. Oh, you exist. Here's a purple ribbon. Go now. Um, I also remember in school when I went to school, they would put little stars on your papers. little stars that that they would put. And I remember gold was the best, silver number two, then there was blue. I only had blue stars. Blue stars were the equivalent of a purple ribbon. You exist. You're really a bad student. Okay. So, I don't know how you did in athletic competitions, but here we are now to receive the ultimate rewards. Paul says, "I fought the good fight. I finished the course. I kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which that righteous judge will give to me in that day and not to me only but to all who love is appearing. So for those who have been faithful through life the crown of life uh that is given to them and then there's other crowns other rewards that will be given. Now we probably assume that all the big awards are going to go to all the famous Christians we know. Billy Graham's going to sweep everything. There's nothing left for anyone. Billy Graham got them all. No. No. You're going to be rewarded for faithfulness to the Lord, for faithfulness with what you did with what he gave you. I think that maybe we'll be standing up there and all of a sudden this lady named Ma Finenbinder is getting reward after reward. And Mod Firkinbinder gets it. Who's Mod Finenbinder? I don't I just made the name up, by the way. She's not real. But to me, she's just a picture of that person that kind of was under the radar. While others were out doing a lot of big things, maybe she was in the back room praying while others were accomplishing great things, she was there serving or investing or doing her part faithfully. And the Lord who saw her in secret will reward her openly. And speaking of godly women, uh, some of you know my aunt Willie Jordan and uh, Willie went to be with the Lord yesterday. And uh, so there there's a picture with her and Jonathan. So Willie was married to my uncle Fred and Fred Jordan started a mission in Los Angeles on Skid Row called the Fred Jordan Mission. And he went to be with the Lord a number of years ago. And my aunt Willie carried this mission on. And this was not an easy thing that she did. Uh, it it was with the people who had hit rock bottom in life. Many of them drug addicts, alcoholics, dealing
with other issues. And she would walk those streets, and she would love those people, and she would hug those people, and she would feed those people, and she would share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those people. It was amazing.
And I went up there many years and spoke at her big Thanksgiving event. My son Jonathan went up many, many times as well. And he spoke. In fact, he told me earlier he cut his teeth preaching on Skid Row. And I said, "That's a good place to get started, you know." And, uh, so we just so appreciated Aunt Willie. She was like, kind of like a modern-day Mother Teresa of Skid Row. Like a Deborah type person. This powerful force of nature, godly woman who made all the difference in the world. And the Lord has called her home now, and she's with him. And we thank God for her testimony. Certainly, she lived her life well. And I'm sure the Lord has said to her, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord."
Here's what I don't want to have. I don't want to have a saved soul and a lost life. You know, my soul's saved. I'm in heaven, but I want to have a life that accomplished something for God's glory. And I think of how much time we all waste. I came across this statistic the other day, and I have to say, I was a little surprised by it. Did you know the average American will spend 30 to 40 years of their life consuming media and entertainment? Think about that. That's, that's accurate. The average American will spend 30 to 40 years of their life consuming media and entertainment. You'll spend 15 of those years in front of the television, another six years at least scrolling through social media on smartphones. We check our phones 96 times a day. Right?
Okay. Now, I'm not saying you can't look at your phone. I'm not saying you can't watch television or go to movies, but I'm saying this can become a priority problem. What we do with our time. Jesus said, "Occupy till I come." He didn't say scroll till I come or binge on Netflix till I come. You can still enjoy entertainment, but keep it in its place. Use your hours productively. I can't tell you how important this is because then your life will come to an end. And we don't know when that will be. You know, we may live to a very old age, and we may be called home at middle age or even sooner than that. That's in the Lord's hands.
But then there'll be a memorial service. And as a pastor for over 50 years, I've done many, many funeral services. Now, some are easier. I don't know, know if that's the right word to use, but it is the right word. Maybe easier than others. And that would be just someone lived a godly life, maybe lived a long life. And I can just stand up and say, like I said of Aunt Willie, "Hey, she lived a godly life and she's in heaven." And isn't that the objective for all of us? So that's well done. Well done. Well played. Way to go.
But then there are people I'm asked to do occasionally funeral services for non-believers. Those are very hard. And you know why? Because the great hope I have for a Christian service is to tell everyone they're in heaven right now. And if you believe in Jesus, you'll see them again. But when they're not a believer, what am I supposed to say? I can't give them false hope. I can't say they're in heaven if they never made a profession of faith. So sometimes I'll say something along the lines of, "If this person, we'll pick the name John. If John could be here right now, they would tell you eternity is real and get ready to meet God."
But then I think what's really sad is when I do a service for a believer that effectively did nothing with their life. You know, they just wasted a lot of their life. Listen, at your memorial service, nobody cares about your car collection. They don't care about your stamp collection. They don't care about how beautiful you were or how handsome you were, or how beautiful or handsome you thought you were. They don't care about how many followers you had on social media or how famous you were. They don't care about any of that. We don't even talk about that. Usually, what we're looking for is, oh, maybe some stories from your life that talk about how loving you were, how caring you were, how compassionate you were. We want to tell a story along those lines. And it's sad when I meet family members. I say, "Well, tell me about this person because sometimes I know these folks and sometimes I don't. Tell me about them." And as I talk to friends and family, I can't find any stories like that. It's, that's really hard. Don't, don't have a saved soul and a lost life.
Listen, life goes by so quickly. Every day, God deposits 1,440 precious minutes into your account. You can't get them back once they're spent. What are you doing with those minutes? You have the greatest message the world has ever heard. You've been given your pound, so to speak. You've been given your commission. And Jesus has told you, "Occupy till I come. Invest till I come. Be busy until I come." Don't be in cruise control. You're not retired from serving the Lord. You're called. Everyone's called. And we all have a part to play.
Let me close with this. I mentioned the great white throne judgment. Let me be blunt with you. If you're not a Christian, this is your future. You will stand before God, and the books will be open. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us what's in those books. So, I'll make an educated guess based on other scripture because the Bible does say there's a record of everything we say and do. So, every sin you've committed, every commandment you've broken would be recorded, just in case you want to say, "Well, I, I never really sinned. I was a good person." Actually, you weren't really a very good person at all. And here's proof positive. Maybe another one of those books would be a record of every time you heard the gospel. Because someone might say, "I never knew this. I never knew Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I never knew I needed to ask him into my life. I never heard this before." It's not fair. God will say, "You knew it. And you heard it so many times." And they might have a record of every time you heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And then there's the book of life. If your name's not in there, that's it. How do you get your name in the book of life? By believing in Jesus. By asking him to forgive you of your sin. And when you're, when you do that, your name is written in that book. And you won't be at the great white throne judgment. You'll be spared because Jesus took the judgment you should have faced and I should have faced when he died for us on the cross 2,000 years ago. Right?
The last thing God wants to do is judge people. Jesus summed it up perfectly in John 3:16. Uh, he said, "For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." We know that part. But then he goes on to say, "For God did not send his son into the world to condemn it, but that the world through him might have life." Christ didn't come to condemn us. He came to take the condemnation that should have come upon us upon himself. He died in our place. And as I've said to you before, that's why heaven is only for forgiven people. "Oh, I'm a good person. I'll go to heaven." You're not a good person. You just aren't. "Well, I'm better than the person sitting next to me." That may or may not be true. I don't know. But God doesn't grade on the curve. God grades on the cross. And all have sinned. And all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The only way to get into heaven is to admit you're a sinner, ask Christ to forgive you, and put your faith in him and him alone. Then your name is written in the book of life. And my friend, you're home free. That's the promise of God.
So, I want to close with an invitation because I think I'm probably speaking to somebody right now that this is a little frightening for you to hear these things. And you're thinking, "I, I'm not so sure I'm going to go to heaven now. I thought I was a good person until you made me feel bad about myself." Sorry, telling you the truth. Someone's got to tell you. But here's the thing, there's forgiveness. There's a way out. There's a second chance. But it's only through Christ. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man comes to the Father but by me." He's the only way. And he stands at the door of your life and he knocks. And he says, "If you'll hear his voice and open the door, he'll come in." He didn't stay on that cross. He rose again from the dead bodily three days later. And yes, he's coming back one day, but he's here with us right now. He's in this place. He's in this space. He's here, ready to come into your life. And all that's stopping that from happening is for you to say, "Jesus, come into my life." You see, I can't do that for you. Your parents can't do that for you. Your friend that may have brought you to church can't do that for you. Only you can say, "Jesus, come into my life." And if you haven't done that yet, do it now. So you can know with certainty that you will not face judgment. So you can know with certainty you'll go to heaven when you die.
Let's pray together, and I want to extend an invitation to you to believe in Jesus. Let's all pray. Father, thank you for your word to us. Thank you for the promise of forgiveness through Jesus. And now I pray for every person hearing this message right now, wherever they are. If they don't know you yet, if they don't have a relationship with you yet, let this be the moment they believe and are forgiven of all of their sins. And while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying, maybe you would say, "Greg, I'm not so sure if my name is in that book of life. I'm not so certain that I will go to heaven when I die, but I want to be. I want Jesus to come into my life. I want him to forgive me of my sin. I want a relationship with him. Pray for me." Listen, if you want Jesus to come into your life, if you want him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to go to heaven when you die, wherever you are, would you just lift your hand up and I'm going to pray for you. Raise your hand up where I can see it, and I'll pray for you. God bless you. Raise it up. I'll pray for you today. God bless you wherever you are. Raise your hand up saying, "I need Jesus today. I want my name in his book of life." God bless you. Anybody else? If you haven't raised your hand yet, raise it now. Let me pray for you wherever you are. God bless you, too. God bless you. Some of you are maybe in one of our overflow spaces and I can't see you. Doesn't matter. The Lord sees you. You can raise your hand, too.
Now, you that have raised your hand, I want you to pray this prayer after me. Pray it out loud. This is where you're asking Christ to come into your life. Just pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know you're the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn now from my sin, and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Write my name in your book of life. Thank you, Lord, for hearing this prayer and answering it. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. God bless you.