I'd like you to take your Bibles. I invite you to turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 3 this morning. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. God's system of measurement is much different than ours. We're told in Isaiah chapter 40, Verse 12 it says, God has an amazing system of measurement. Humanly speaking we have our own ways to measure large and incomprehensible items. Logarithmic scales are used to measure vast quantities of information and compress the data into manageable numbers. You've probably heard some of these logarithmic scales used before, such as the Richter scale, right? Each whole number is equal to a tenfold increase and an earthquake's amplitude. So it's taking a large amount of data and putting it in bite-sized chunks that we can comprehend and understand. The decibel scale. A ten decibel increase is equal to a tenfold increase in sound intensity. Maybe you were at a stoplight this morning and you experienced somebody else's decibels. There's the Beaufort scale. This measures wind speed with zero being calm and 12 being hurricane force. This is what the Carolinas have certainly experienced in the last recent days. Then there's the magnitude of stars. A difference of five in magnitude is a hundred-fold increase in brightness of stars as seen from Earth. So these scales are designed to take something that's very complex, very intricate, and put it into something that we can kind of get hold of. But when God measures things, He is God. He is the maker of all. He was the one who said to Abraham, your seed will be as the stars in the sky, as the sand upon the seashore. God can comprehend complex things. Measuring and weighing complexities of an individual Christian's service to God would seem to require our own version of a logarithmic scale. If it were up to us, how would we determine how our service could be measured? How it could be proven success or failure? How would we gather the complex data for service? How could we evaluate our opportunity, our ability, our motivations and success in serving Jesus? What's the defining mark of super service and what is the telltale sign of absolute failure? To do that, look with me in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, we find that God made a furnace. He would determine by fire the success or failure of our Christian service. Read with me beginning at verse 10. That is the idea of an architect. An architect or designer, maybe some would include engineer. for the church Paul's talking about him building the church he said I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon for other foundation can no man lay which is laid which is Jesus Christ verse 12 now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work verse 13 shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work shall abide, which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. Verse 15, if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Let's bow for a moment in prayer. Father, open our eyes to your truth by your Spirit. I pray that our hearts would be settled on the grace that you have provided for us to serve you with our lives in Jesus name. Amen. God uses a furnace. A passage like this for some Christians is terrifying. Maybe it makes you a little bit uncomfortable this morning. Sometimes Christians are misinformed about the judgment seat of Christ. Also known as the Bema seat. They misunderstand God's just judgment for Christian service. What is a reward and what is loss? Are you confused about it? Are you scared about it this morning? As Paul is walking through 1 Corinthians chapter 3, we began with talking about the malnutrition of the saints. They hadn't received the truth that God had intended for them to have. So they were getting milk instead of meat. They weren't growing and maturing as God intended, primarily because of a problem with pride that was being fleshed out in contention in the church. Beginning at verse 5 through verse 9, the passage we read for our scripture reading this morning, he outlines for us the importance of the servants of God. They had made too much of these servants but the Apostle Paul explains them in the context of who God is. He explains in verse 5 that God gave gifts to the church and He was one of those. In fact it tells us that in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 11 that God gifts His church to equip us to ready us for active service and ministry. God gifts the church. But God has also grown the church. It says in verse 6, God gave the increase. You know Paul did some, Apollos did some, but it was God. God is the one who brought the growth. It says it again in verse 7. God, that God gave the increase. But then we also see down in verse nine, the gathering of his church for a purpose. So as the gospel was given, as the word was preached, people heard, they responded, the spirit of God convicted them of sin, and they put their faith and their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what happened? Look at verse nine. For we are laborers together with God. You're God's husbandry, you're God's building. We see this gathering together of believers for God's purpose. Now who's he talking to? He's talking to the church at Corinth. It was a wicked and immoral city, and the church had their own trials. They had their own problems. But Paul speaks out of compassion for them, and he wants them to understand some things. Before he addresses the problems, he's dealing with the nutritional needs. He's also dealing with their comprehension of who the preachers are. Hey, God gives the church with preachers, but it's God that does the work, right? God gave them, and God is the one who will increase the church. Some Christians may be misinformed about the judgment seat of Christ, but make no mistake, God wants you to grow in your knowledge of who He is and how He will judge our service. So, I was going to sum up this morning's message in a simple sentence, it would be this. That which is constructed upon Jesus Christ must be consistent with Jesus Christ. And so as he talks to the Church of Corinth, his desire is for what? For them to understand not only how to evaluate the preacher, but also to evaluate their own lives. Because one day we will all be tried by fire. Our works will be put in the furnace. And what will last? A.W. Pink made the statement, gold, silver, precious stones are of intrinsic value. Whereas wood, hay, and stubble have a natural growth. Rewards are distributed to those whose works withstand the fire test. Those whose works have a natural source will suffer loss. They will be burned. So the foundation is given by God. What is built upon it is either forged by God's grace or it's farmed by man's flesh. And he's going to give us this contrast and help us understand, okay, how can I work in an effective way? How can I serve God with my life? How can I be found a faithful steward of what God has entrusted to me? There's a gold standard, you could say, for Christian service. And he gives it to us in his own testimony. The first thing For our ministry, our service for God to stand the furnace test, number one, it must be for Christ. It's for His glory because we're made for Him. Back in chapter 1 in verse 30, Paul says, Notice this in verse 31, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, Let him glory in the Lord. For our service, for our ministry, our investment in other people for Jesus' sake, for it to last, it must be for God, not for ourselves. It must ultimately be for Him. That isn't to say that the whole time you serve other people you're constantly only thinking about God, but it is to say while you're doing it, that's your motivation. It's for the glory of Jesus Christ. It's for Him. It says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. God made you and he made you for a purpose, that's to bring him glory, to bring himself glory by our life and by our service. Colossians 3.17 says, and whatsoever ye do in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. So that's our motivation is Christ. Our desire is to bring glory to God. You're familiar with 1 Corinthians 10 31. We'll get there eventually. But Paul said, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Let me just stop right there. Sometimes we limit that to just eating and drinking, but there's a little bit more to it. It's the whatsoever you do. In the context, Paul is specifically talking about living a life by which you can share the gospel. In fact, he continues on in verse 33, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many that they might be saved. In other words, I'm allowing myself to live in such a way that I could give the gospel, the gospel could be seen in me, heard from me, and that I'm not hindering the work that God desires to do in the lives of others. And so what is my intention? How do I do that? I live for His glory, not my own. We do it for Christ, but we also serve Christ by Christ. By Christ. In other words, we do it in His power. Paul has already given us his own example. In verse 18, he reminded us, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Paul's desire was that the power of God be evident. That's what he says in Romans chapter 1 in verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it to the Jew first and also to the Greek make no mistake when you and I serve You might be using your physical energy, the sleep that you had last night, or the breakfast you had this morning. You say, well, I'm powering myself. No, make no mistake, when it comes to ministry, we do it in the power of Jesus Christ. The power is made available to us by Jesus' death, His burial, and His resurrection. We have been given the power of God made available to us through the gospel, through Jesus Christ. So we serve for Christ, we serve by Christ. First Corinthians chapter one in verse 27, Paul says, God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. Down in chapter two, verse four, we had learned in my speech, he Paul says, in my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Verse 5, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. So what's the plan? So we serve for God, but we had better serve in the power of God, in the power of Jesus Christ. That's where effective service comes from. You say, what are you talking about, Pastor? We're talking about the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. How will we be evaluated? How will our ministry be measured? Is it for God? Because you and I can do a lot of things for the wrong reason. Sometimes we don't always know what our reasons are. But God knows. He knows why you're doing what you're doing. Are we serving Christ in our own strength? In our own power? So we could be praised afterwards? Are we doing it for us? Or are we doing it for God? Are we doing it in our strength or God's strength? We can be weak for Him. God takes our weakness and He changes it into strength and power. Everybody here, hopefully before God, you say, I'm weak. I hear about a God who can measure the mountains in His hands and all the sands of the earth. He can measure that. I'm blown away by that and I understand how weak, how truly weak I am. If you say, that's not me, I'm strong. I'm tough. You just wait. God will bring you to places in your life. And so many here could give you testimonies and say, yep, that's true. I was strong once too. And then we come across something hard. One day we were visiting Brother Russ. Remember that? We came over and you were in the backyard. And I said, what are you doing? He says, I'm cutting a piece of ironwood. And it was hard to cut, wasn't it? Right? I mean, maybe there was a day when you could just take a little pocket knife and blip that half up. Boy, that was hard. It took three of us. Remember that? You think you're strong today. You think you're spiritually strong today. We're told to take heed lest we fall. Galatians teaches us. The assumption of strength is no guarantee of strength. God brings you and I into circumstances of life routinely to expose to us our faults, our weakness. When Paul said that he was the chief of sinners, he was well aware of his absolute weakness before God. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I was standing at a hospital bed of a man, and he said, for all my life, I was the John Wayne. I was the 10-foot tall cowboy. There he was dying of cancer, and he said, I'm weak. What do you have that you can give me? We gave him the gospel and he trusted Christ. God delights in making us weak so that we can experience his strength. That comes into play in our salvation, but it comes also true in our Christian service. Sometimes we fall flat on our face in our Christian service. I remember just getting to college, I'd done soccer pre-season, and then Labor Day came. And for whatever reason, they gave us the day off of classes. That was so great, Labor Day. And they had some competitions, and one of those was a 100-yard dash. And I thought, oh, this is great. I love to run short distances. That's it, just run short ones. But I love it, and I'll never forget. Lining up, and there's a couple of guys I played soccer with, and these guys were kind of little and scrawny, and I thought, oh, I got this one. You know, they fired a cap gun, and I began running. And for a minute, not really a whole minute, like three seconds, I had the lead. And then all of a sudden, for some reason, there was grass up my nose. My legs just gave out. And that little, tiny, scrawny guy beat us all. Man, was he fast. You know, God sometimes allows us to experience humility to show us how dependent we truly are upon Him. Have you bit the dust recently? Do you have turf in your teeth? By life, by health, by finances, by experiences, by interpersonal relationships, have you found yourself in the dirt? Hey, that's a great place to be, because that's where God can take you and use you. God never raises up mighty men of their own strength to do His great works. His greatest works are done through weak men who are foolish enough to trust Him. So we serve for Christ, by Christ, and then lastly in Christ according to His will. We are led by Him. Look at chapter 2 and verse 13. Now we have not received the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things which are freely given to us of God. Verse 13. Which things also we speak, not the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual." He's talking about the Word of God. God's guidance in our service is His Scriptures. The Word of God is our guide. So not only must we have a motivation, it's for God. Not only am I doing this in the power of Jesus Christ, I know that I'm doing it with Him, because I'm working, I'm serving in accordance to His will. It's not for you and I to come up with grand schemes of how we can serve God of our own intellect. It's for us to submit ourselves to the Word of God. and seek to serve him in a way that pleases him, that will bring him the most glory. We are to be led by him. It's not about my attempts or my assumptions, but my submission to Jesus Christ. So how will I be tested one day? I think those are, by Paul's example, are some valid thoughts. But let's look back at the passage here in 1 Corinthians chapter three. Paul explains in verse 10, according to the grace of God. Paul was able to serve by God's grace. Understand something, you and I serve by the gifting of God. The church at Corinth was a very gifted church. We're going to learn about that in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. They were very gifted, but they were also very immature. So they had gifts that God wanted to use, but they had a wrong understanding of God, and of service, and God's servants. They really were off. But God cared enough for them that He wanted them to understand something. And so He sends them a servant named Paul, who not only gave them the gospel, But he calls himself a master builder here. The idea of perhaps an engineer, maybe an architect, but somebody who is helping by God's leading to establish a church that will bring God glory. And so you say, well, what an arrogant statement. He calls himself the master builder of the church? No, understand, how was he a master builder of the church? He says, according to the grace of God. So it was God that did that. It was God that had saved Paul. It was God who took a man who had been once killing Christians and made him somebody who would preach Christ and train Christians. He says, I've laid a foundation and another buildeth thereon. Let every man take heed how, notice that word there, how, He buildeth thereon. So Christ is the foundation, there's no changing that. And he's speaking specifically of Christians and their service. Verse 11 reminds us, it's only Christ. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He is the only foundation that we can build any successful service on. On the basis of Jesus Christ. So what do we know? We must build for burning. What do we know about this judgment seat of Christ? Well, it's going to be a time of revelation. Some things will be made known. Works will be revealed. That's what it tells us. He says the day shall declare it. It's going to be evident. So our service for God will be on display. All of it. What else do we know? It's going to be a time of revelation, but also a time of evaluation. God will scrutinize our service. Sure, He knows all things, but on that particular day, He will allow us to see this. We will see His evaluation process. So there's going to be a revelation and evaluation, but we also know there's going to be reward. Good works will be rewarded. If you'll go back a few pages to 2 Corinthians 5. A parallel passage to this one is in verse 10 of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We see that good works will be rewarded. It says this, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. By the way, those two words judgment seat have one Greek word, it's the word bima. Okay, that's where we get the idea of the bima seat judgment. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone, everyone, notice every, everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad. Pastor, What about as far as the East is from the West? What about your sins and iniquities will I remember no more? What is he talking about here? The word bad is actually the idea of worthless. And again, this judgment, the same judgment, is speaking of reward. It's an awards ceremony. A BEMA was a race platform. That was the idea. A step or two, like this. I'm standing on a BEMA today, okay? And it was used during the Olympic competitions, athletic games. And judges would stand on the BEMA so they would have an accurate view of what's going on, just like I can see what you're doing right now. Put that phone away. Just kidding. No. In the same way, they were elevated so they'd have an accurate view of the competing athletes, and so they could make an accurate judgment. Their job was to make sure contestants followed the rules. They were to present awards to the winners. The Bema was never a place to reprimand the athletes or punish them in any way. It was a place of testing and reward. In the same way, the Bema of Christ will not be a place of condemnation or censure. for somebody who has never put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. If you die, if you end this life without Jesus Christ, there will be a different judgment for you. It's called the Great White Throne Judgment, and it's described for us in Revelation chapter 20. I pray that no one here will see that judgment. Because Jesus Christ went to the cross so you don't have to. And if you trust and if you believe on him, You will have His forgiveness, and He has taken your punishment. But if you die without Jesus Christ, you will be judged, and you will be punished for all eternity. The judgment we're speaking about here, though, the Bema Seat Judgment, is not a judgment of sinners, it's a judgment of saints. It's a reward ceremony, an award ceremony for Christians. Louis Sperry Schaeffer said this, he says, it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the judgment is unrelated to the problem of sin. That is more for the bestowing of rewards than the rejection of failure. So we have a couple of principles I want you to think about. Let this roll over in your mind a little bit. Number one, we Christians are given grace for service, right? We're saved by grace through faith, but we're also given grace for service. That's described in 1 Corinthians 12, which we'll get to. Your ability to serve God is a gift from God, right? It's a privilege that God gives to us. Whatever supernatural spiritual abilities which you have in Christ, you have gifts. Whatever you have, God gave you. And he's not only given you those gifts, but he's given you the life you are, where you are, the opportunities you have. It's of God's grace. We Christians are given grace for service. Number two, here's the second principle, we will be rewarded according to our response to that grace. To what God has given to me. Not all of us have equal abilities or opportunities. In fact Romans chapter 12 it says in verse 3, 4, I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think himself more highly than he ought to think But to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man, the measure of faith. And so it's our service is by God's grace. And he gives as he wishes to each of us. So I'm not accountable for your service, and you're not accountable for my service. But I am accountable to God. My response to His grace. So here's how it works. God gives you the ability. He gives you the opportunity. He gives you all of those things by His grace. And one day, if you respond rightly to what He does, He'll reward you for it. It's a pretty good deal. I mean, He not only provides, He pays for it, right? He's given you everything you need to be a successful servant of Jesus Christ. That's what Paul's talking to the Corinthians about. This was, as far as I can tell, a highly competitive church. They were looking for opportunities to get ahead, to look better than one another. But Paul reminds them, your testing one day will not be a comparison of you with other believers. It will be a comparison with you and the grace that God has given to you. That's what our testing will reveal. You'll not be judged for what you could never do. You're responsible for what you have received. In Matthew chapter six, we find a couple of instances that Jesus points out to his disciples. Some people were giving gifts and they were doing it really for themselves. There were others who were praying, and they were praying for themselves. And in Matthew 6, verse 4 and verse 6, both of them, Jesus says this, thy father which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly. I think that's a reference here to this bimisi, our ministry. If we're serving for other people, there's no reward there. In fact, Jesus uses that word in Matthew 6. He says, they have the reward. They've got it on earth. But our calling is to an eternal reward. Now back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. We find the word sort. S-O-R-T. At the end of verse 13 it says fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. So that tells us a couple of things. We'll be judged based on our quality not our quantity. It also tells me we will be evaluated not for our busyness but for our motivations. What kind of work am I doing? Is it just a lot of things? Because you could spend a lot of plates and you can live an exhausted Christian life. Martha did that. But Jesus pointed out to her, Mary chose the best. She was sitting at my feet to serve me. It wasn't the problem of the kitchen, it was the problem of the heart. It also tells us that if God tests us by His truth, in fact, it says in Hebrews chapter 4, right? The Word of God, it's like a double-edged sword there. It searches the thoughts and intents of the heart. If God tests us by His truth, doesn't He understand the unspoken desire of our hearts? And there may be some here today, and maybe your experience is that. There's a lot of things I would have liked to have done for the Lord. For whatever reason, you've not been able to. Maybe it was you felt at one time a burden and a calling to go to a mission field, and you prepared for it, longed for it, prayed for it, and that door did not open to you. That's my testimony. Maybe you say, you know, I really would love to have been a Christian school teacher. Maybe there's a man here who says, you know, at one point I really believed God had given me a call to preach, and I had prepared for that. I was looking for that. I wanted to, but circumstances happen. Maybe it was caring for a loved one. Maybe it was a need to take over a family business, or maybe it was some other responsibility. And it just so happened in the providence of God, the very thing you desired to do, you weren't able to do. What do you do with that? I think there's a great example to us that David gives. First Kings 8.18, the Lord speaks to David. David had a desire to do something for God. Now he did a lot for God, but there was something he really longed to do that he wasn't able to do. And the Lord said to David, my father, whereas it was in thine heart to build a house for my name, thou didst well, that it was in thine heart. It seems as though God will reward him. He blessed him for having a desire to do something that God in his sovereign providence did not allow him to do. I think that's true for you and I. There's things that you may desire to do, ways in which you desire to serve God that he may not allow you to. But it's still right to have that desire too. Some look at a passage like this and they'd like to reimagine who God is. Some would like to erase His grace. This is not a judgment for the sins of Christians. It's a judgment of wasted opportunities. So what about the loss? It says, the gold and silver and precious stone, they're going to stay, but the wood, hay, and stubble is going to be burned up. What if that's me? What if one day I stand before God and there is a bunch of the wood, hay, and stubble? Honestly, I think every Christian one day will stand before God and there's gonna be a mixture. You say, what about that? Am I gonna live forever with my head hanging in heaven because of my failure? No! I say, prove it, pastor. What happens to it? Look what it says in verse 15. If any man's work shall be burned. He himself shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Harry Ironside made this statement. He says, but he will bring everything to light which was of self, contrary to the Spirit of Christ, and say all that is just so much lost time. If you had devoted all that time to my glory, I could have rewarded you, but I cannot reward you for that which did not please me, but I tell you what I'm going to do with it. I'm going to burn it up, and you will never hear of it again. For all eternity, there will be nothing left but that which was to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Write this down. What God burns up, he doesn't bring up. The beam of judgment is not the glory of the Christian. It's for the glory of Jesus Christ, the very God who gave you the grace to serve him. His glory will be on display. And by his grace that he has given to you and I, he will reward you for the grace he's given to us. This day is all about Jesus. It's not all about you. God will get the glory. Those wasted works, that wasted time, that self-motivation and service, Satan would like to. He takes a particular delight in finding Christians who live lives of regret. And he pokes, and he pokes, and he pokes. So much so that we can't lift our head. We feel so broken and guilty. We think God could never use me. Hey, that's not my God. That's the devil who's telling you that. My God is the one who gave you grace to be saved. You didn't deserve it, didn't earn it. The only reason you can serve Him today is by His grace. If anything good comes from my life, or your life, or our service, our ministry, from this church, if anything good comes from it, God's gonna get all the glory, because it didn't come from us. We were the mess. We were the sinners. We're the depraved and wicked vile that He loved. He showered us with His love. And He made us useful. He took that clay and remade it and He says, I'm gonna use you. I'm gonna be glorified because it wasn't in you. It was always in me. And He took a particular interest in you and I serving Him. God can do anything, why doesn't He? Why doesn't He do it without us? Why doesn't He do it through His angels? Why does He choose to use us? Because God gets all the more glory when He takes sinners like us, brings us to Himself, enlists us, enables us, empowers us to serve Him. Romans 8-1 reminds us, there is therefore no condemnation. to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." No. Get it? No condemnation. John 5.24, Verily, Verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life. Revelation 22.12 tells us Jesus and behold I come quickly in my reward is with me to give to every man according to his work He's coming he is going to reward our service. It was really his service that we allowed him to do through us So are you serving for by and in Christ? Be sure God will test our service And he will test his servants But please do not forget that God gives grace for the furnace. What God calls you to, he equips you for. And if we rightly respond to his grace, he'll reward you. Corinthian church boy, they were saved. They were truly saved. They were gifted. They were immature. Paul was trying to help them take their eyes off themselves. take their eyes off the servants, the preachers that they had made parties and factions around, take their eyes off themselves, take their eyes off the servants, and put their eyes on Jesus Christ. Service and ministry, though we've been speaking about it in general terms today, is primarily what we're talking about when we talk about service and ministry. We're talking about people. People like us, people who struggle with pride and who say the wrong things. People who are irresponsible and show up late. People who take your seat. We're talking about people. Why do we serve people? Let's—me and Jesus, we're good. Others, eh, yuck. Sometimes it's our heart. Jesus Christ gives us an example by His life. He came to this world out of love for us. Knowing all that we are, would be, He knew that. And he died for us. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Christ laid down his life for us. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul would say this. He says, for the love of Christ constraineth us. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us. Because we thus judge that if one died for all, people, all, then we're all, people, dead. Verse 15, and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. So my motive is for Christ, my ministry is by Christ. It will be one day measured by Jesus Christ. It's His grace. And so our response as God's children, as it was for the church at Corinth, is to simply respond to His grace. If you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, His grace is knocking at the door of your heart today. You're a sinner, desperately in need of a Savior. Nothing you can do can attain heaven, can attain that relationship with God. Nothing you can do can achieve an eternal reward, nothing. It's impossible. His grace is offered to you if you'll, by faith, receive what He did for you. He died, was buried, rose again. If you'll receive Him, He'll give you that grace for nothing. You trust Him. Christian, God's grace is offered to you as well in service. We're to grow in grace in our knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God gives us grace, not just so we can get really godly and enjoy each other and keep ourselves locked in doors. God gives us grace for usefulness and service in this world. Love and service to one another. Love and service to the lost. And as you and I respond to God's grace, our situation, our abilities, our giftedness, whatever we have, as we respond rightly to God's grace, according to the Bible, we'll be rewarded. When we reject His grace, we seek to do it in our own strength, for our own purposes, out of God's will, you won't get rewarded for that. But the things that you did receive, and respond right, and invest, God will be glorified. And you'll be given rewards. And you know what the Bible tells us you're gonna do with those rewards? Give them back to Him. Because that's not about you, it's about Him. Accomplishing His work through Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you for the privilege one day it will be to stand before you and realize the work that you did. We certainly had to respond to it, but we understand while we work hard and we are diligent and we are praying for and eager for you to work, we understand whatever we do is gonna be but by your grace. Help us to respond rightly to it. for the ones who have a vision of heaven, that they'll be sobbing for eternity, living in regret. I pray that you would, by your word, correct their thinking. Help them not to believe the lies about who you are. Help them to trust the grace that saves is the grace that keeps. If there's one who has never trusted you as their Savior, I pray that today, the work that you've been doing in them, even before they came, would accomplish your perfect plan of saving them today. I pray that they would open their hearts by faith, help them to respond to your word, and find forgiveness in you today. In Jesus' name, amen.