Speaker 1: Hello, everybody. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: I'm really glad you're here today. We're continuing our series
Speaker 1: from Psalm twenty three called Living in the Goodness of God.
Speaker 1: It's all about how God's goodness meets you right where
Speaker 1: you are and brings hope even in difficult seasons. And
Speaker 1: right now, here's part three of a message called Heaven,
Speaker 1: God's eternal goodness to you.
Speaker 2: Now, what are we going to do in heaven? Well,
Speaker 2: I can't go into everything, but let me mention three things.
Speaker 2: These are very important things you're definitely gonna do in heaven.
Speaker 2: You might write these down. The first thing that's going
Speaker 2: to happen in heaven is this, We're going to be
Speaker 2: reunited with our loved ones who love the Lord, those
Speaker 2: who love Jesus, who are in the family of God.
Speaker 2: They're all going to be there, and it's gonna be
Speaker 2: one big reunion. Now, as I said, only God's chill
Speaker 2: who love him are going to be in his home
Speaker 2: get to live in his home. But the Bible says
Speaker 2: in First Thesalonians four seventeen, there will be I love
Speaker 2: this in a message paraphrase, he summarizes it, there will
Speaker 2: be one huge family reunion with the Master. Can you
Speaker 2: imagine how emotional that's going to be. You know, the
Speaker 2: more of my family and friends that are on that
Speaker 2: side of death, the dear Heaven becomes to me. My
Speaker 2: mother is in heaven, my father is in heaven. My
Speaker 2: older brother Jim is in heaven. My youngest child, Matthew,
Speaker 2: is in heaven. I have many dear friends over thirty
Speaker 2: eight years in this church who are now on that
Speaker 2: side of death. They're in heaven. And the more of
Speaker 2: my friends who get there, the more dear that becomes
Speaker 2: to me. I don't know. When I was a young person,
Speaker 2: I didn't really think about heaven that much. First, it
Speaker 2: seems so boring the way the world describes it, and
Speaker 2: second it seemed like a long way off. And third
Speaker 2: I didn't have anybody there that I knew. But I
Speaker 2: know a lot of people are in heaven now and
Speaker 2: I can't wait to get there and to be with him.
Speaker 2: And the Bible says there will be one huge family
Speaker 2: reunion with the Master. And by the way, the next
Speaker 2: verse of the Bible underneath that says, so reassure one
Speaker 2: another with these thoughts for encourage each other that when
Speaker 2: somebody dies as a friend of yours and they love
Speaker 2: the Lord, that's not the end. It's a transfer, but
Speaker 2: you're going to see him again. I often want to
Speaker 2: play the game with people. Who would you like to
Speaker 2: talk to? First in heaven? Okay, let's say you go
Speaker 2: say hi to God. You know, you talk to the Lord.
Speaker 2: Who would you like talk to it? Would you like
Speaker 2: to talk to Moses you could? Or Abraham? How about Mary,
Speaker 2: scared young peasant girl who gave birth to Christ? How
Speaker 2: about Joseph? How about the wise men? Who would you
Speaker 2: like to talk to? Or famous people throughout Christian history,
Speaker 2: scientists and leaders that are going to be there. You're
Speaker 2: gonna have all of eternity to talk with them, talk
Speaker 2: to We're going to be reunited with those who love Jesus.
Speaker 2: Second thing we're going to do this isn't important. Second
Speaker 2: thing we're going to do in heaven is we're going
Speaker 2: to be rewarded for our faith and our hope. We're
Speaker 2: going to be rewarded for our faith and our hope
Speaker 2: and our love. Now, Jesus talked about rewards an awful lot.
Speaker 2: Many of his stories, his parables are about the rewards
Speaker 2: you're going to receive in heaven. And the Bible tells
Speaker 2: us that you will be rewarded in heaven and that
Speaker 2: you'll be rewarded for your faith, and you'll be rewarded
Speaker 2: for your hope. You'll be rewarded for your love. You'll
Speaker 2: be rewarded for your service. Jesus that even if you
Speaker 2: give a cup of cold water to a little child,
Speaker 2: and you do it in the name of the Lord,
Speaker 2: you're going to get credit for that in heaven. Now,
Speaker 2: let me explain, salvation in heaven and rewards in heaven
Speaker 2: are two different things. Salvation is by grace. You can't
Speaker 2: earn your salvation. You can't work your way into heaven.
Speaker 2: The only way you'll ever get into heaven is through
Speaker 2: the grace of God. Put your faith in God's forgiveness,
Speaker 2: his goodness, his grace. But the rewards are the things
Speaker 2: that God's going to give back to you for the
Speaker 2: things that you earned, for doing good things in life,
Speaker 2: that you made your life count. You see, you can
Speaker 2: waste your life and a lot of ways to waste it,
Speaker 2: or you can spend your life. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: ways to spend it. Or you can invest your life.
Speaker 2: The greatest use of life is to invest it in
Speaker 2: that which will outlast it, and that's called living in
Speaker 2: light of eternity. I'm going to do a message on
Speaker 2: that later on, but i want you to understand that
Speaker 2: rewards come because of something you did. When you helped someone,
Speaker 2: when you were generous with someone, when you were kind
Speaker 2: to someone, when you were when you shared your faith
Speaker 2: with someone, when you were helpful to someone, or sympathetic
Speaker 2: or empathetic. The Bible says, you're going to be rewarded
Speaker 2: for the things you did because you love Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: because you love God. Let me just show you some verses.
Speaker 2: We'll go through these pretty quick. Up here on the screen.
Speaker 2: John chapter twelve, verse twenty six says this the Father
Speaker 2: will honor and reward anyone who serves me. This is
Speaker 2: in heaven. Did you know that when you get to heaven,
Speaker 2: you're not just going to be there. You're going to
Speaker 2: be honored. You're going to be honored, and you're going
Speaker 2: to be rewarded. Some of you are going to be
Speaker 2: rewarded a lot. Some of you are going to be
Speaker 2: rewarded a little. Because it depends on how serious you
Speaker 2: were about serving Christ. If it was just an offhanded thought,
Speaker 2: you may not have that many rewards. You'll be in
Speaker 2: heaven for ettornity. You'll be glad the rest of eternity.
Speaker 2: But the Bible says you will be honored and you
Speaker 2: will be rewarded for your work in Christ. Let me
Speaker 2: show you some other verses. Hebrews ten thirty five says this,
Speaker 2: do not throw away your confident trust in the Lord,
Speaker 2: no matter what happens. In other words, you're going through
Speaker 2: a tough time, you start having doubts, you start giving up.
Speaker 2: He said, don't throw away your confident trust in the Lord.
Speaker 2: Remember the great reward it will bring you. You're going
Speaker 2: to be rewarded in heaven for the times you wanted
Speaker 2: to give up but didn't. You wanted to give up
Speaker 2: on your marriage, but you didn't. You wanted to give
Speaker 2: up on your job, you didn't. You wanted to give
Speaker 2: up on your faith, but you didn't. You wanted to
Speaker 2: give up on doing the right thing, but you didn't.
Speaker 2: And the Bible says you will be rewarded in heaven
Speaker 2: for your endurance, for your resilience, for your keeping on,
Speaker 2: keeping on your determination, diligence. He says, don't throw away
Speaker 2: your confident trust, remember the great reward it will bring you.
Speaker 2: But the Bible also talks about not just rewards you're
Speaker 2: going to get in heaven, but there's another thing you're
Speaker 2: going to get in heaven, and that is called your inheritance.
Speaker 2: Now you know what inheritance is. It's when parents pass
Speaker 2: on to the next generation possessions or wealth or whatever.
Speaker 2: It could be property, it could be all kinds of things.
Speaker 2: And you have an inheritance, and you inherited from people
Speaker 2: before you, and your father or your mother passes on
Speaker 2: their inheritance to you. Did you know that, because God
Speaker 2: is a good God, that your heavenly Father has an
Speaker 2: inheritance for you in heaven, and that inheritance has been
Speaker 2: building interest for a long long time. Let me show
Speaker 2: you some scriptures, the Bible says in Colotionals three twenty four. No,
Speaker 2: you can know this for a fact, not wish or hope.
Speaker 2: Know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord
Speaker 2: as a reward for serving Christ. Where that's in heaven.
Speaker 2: You're going to be given inheritance as you're a child
Speaker 2: of God, You're a child of the heavenly Father. You're
Speaker 2: in God's family, and God gives an inheritance to his
Speaker 2: children when they finally arrived at the home that he
Speaker 2: created for them. It's created for you. Heaven was created
Speaker 2: for you, and he says, there will be this great herod.
Speaker 2: What kind of inheritance? We'll look at this verse one Peter,
Speaker 2: Chapter one, verse four. God has reserved a priceless inheritance.
Speaker 2: It's bigger than any ira or retirement payout you could
Speaker 2: possibly have here on earth. God has reserved a priceless
Speaker 2: inheritance for his children, and it is kept in heaven
Speaker 2: for you. I don't know if you knew that or not.
Speaker 2: When you get toaven, you're not just going to get there.
Speaker 2: You're going to be honored, you're going to be rewarded,
Speaker 2: and you're going to receive your inheritance based on how
Speaker 2: you lived your life for Christ. Let me show you
Speaker 2: one more Matthew twenty five, verse thirty four. Jesus is speaking.
Speaker 2: He says, come, you, who are blessed by my Father,
Speaker 2: Take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you since the
Speaker 2: creation of the world. Whoa wha wha, wha whah whah.
Speaker 2: Look at that verse closely. God knew before he created
Speaker 2: the universe that he was going to create you. And
Speaker 2: God knew that you would be one of the ones
Speaker 2: who chose to love him, to trust him, to put
Speaker 2: your faith in. God knew that way in and that's
Speaker 2: that's called foreign knowledge. And God planned your inheritance, he says,
Speaker 2: before he even created the world. Friends, that's a long
Speaker 2: time ago. That's eons ago. So your inheritance has been
Speaker 2: collecting interest for a long time. This is the retirement
Speaker 2: package you've never heard of. It is an inheritance that
Speaker 2: has been set aside for you before even he created
Speaker 2: the world. He thought you up, He thought me up,
Speaker 2: He thought us up. God created the universe because he
Speaker 2: wanted a family and he wanted you to be a
Speaker 2: part of that family. And you chose to be a
Speaker 2: part of You got to DoPT it in. You got
Speaker 2: born again in into the family. Why in the world
Speaker 2: would God do that? Why wouldn't God just give you
Speaker 2: good life on earth and just let you die? Boom,
Speaker 2: that's it. It's over. Because God is a good God.
Speaker 2: And as I've said before, no man will ever love
Speaker 2: you like God does. No woman will ever love you
Speaker 2: like God does. He is a good God, and he
Speaker 2: doesn't want to just be good to you for ninety
Speaker 2: or one hundred years on earth. He wants to be
Speaker 2: good for you for all of eternity, because God is
Speaker 2: a good God. So we're going to be reunited with
Speaker 2: those we love. We're going to be rewarded for our
Speaker 2: faith and our hope, and our love and our service.
Speaker 2: And here's the third thing that you're going to do
Speaker 2: in heaven. We're going to be assigned work that we
Speaker 2: enjoy doing. We will be assigned work that we will
Speaker 2: enjoy doing. Because God understands your shape better than you do.
Speaker 2: He knows what makes you pick. He knows what you
Speaker 2: love to do, and what you can't stand and do,
Speaker 2: what turns your crank, and what bores you to tears.
Speaker 2: And you will be given assignments in the Kingdom of God. Now,
Speaker 2: the difference is this isn't going to be frustrating work.
Speaker 2: It's going to be fulfilling work. Matthew twenty five twenty one.
Speaker 2: Jesus tells a parable a story, and he ends with this,
Speaker 2: this is the words of Christ. Well done, good and
Speaker 2: faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. I
Speaker 2: will now put you in charge of any things. Come
Speaker 2: and share your master's happiness. Now, if you're taking notes,
Speaker 2: I want you to circle the phrase put you in charge?
Speaker 2: Would you circle that? I'm want to talk to you
Speaker 2: about that for this minute. It says that when you
Speaker 2: get to heaven, God is going to put you in
Speaker 2: charge of something, but it's going to be based on
Speaker 2: how well you managed what you were giving here on earth.
Speaker 2: He says, if you're faithful in the little that I
Speaker 2: gave you on Earth, I'm going to give you a
Speaker 2: whole lot more to be in charge of in heaven.
Speaker 2: If you were faithful with a little bit of talent
Speaker 2: I gave you here on Earth, I'm going to give
Speaker 2: you more talent in heaven. If you were faithful with
Speaker 2: a little bit of possessions here on Earth, I'm going
Speaker 2: to give you more in heaven. If you were faithful
Speaker 2: a little bit of influence on Earth, I'm going to
Speaker 2: give you more in heaven. If you were faithful with
Speaker 2: a little bit of your time on Earth, I'm going
Speaker 2: to give you more in heaven. If you were faith
Speaker 2: whatever you are a good manager of here on Earth,
Speaker 2: you're gonna get more of in heaven. On the other hand,
Speaker 2: anything you did not manage, well, you're not gonna get
Speaker 2: more of in heaven. This life, friends, is a test.
Speaker 2: You are being tested every day the whole purpose of God.
Speaker 2: Why didn't God just create you and take you to
Speaker 2: heaven in the first place? You ever thought about that?
Speaker 2: If heaven's the ultimate goal, why didn't he just create
Speaker 2: you and automatically take you to heaven? Why does He
Speaker 2: put you here for ninety years? This is a test.
Speaker 2: You need to go back and read. I think it's
Speaker 2: chapter four and purpose driven life. Life is a test,
Speaker 2: a trust, and a temporary assignment. This is not the
Speaker 2: real story. This is only gonna last ninety one hundred years.
Speaker 2: This is the preschool before the real thing begins. This
Speaker 2: is the warm up act. This is the dress rehearsal
Speaker 2: before the real story begins. This is the first lap
Speaker 2: around the race before the actor race begins. This is
Speaker 2: the pre band before the stars come out and do
Speaker 2: the concert. It's a warm up back. That's why this
Speaker 2: is not a perfect world. People always expect heaven to
Speaker 2: be on earth. It's not on earth. Why this is
Speaker 2: the testing ground and God is testing? Will you be
Speaker 2: faithful when it's not easy? Will you obey me when
Speaker 2: it's unpopular. Will you trust me when it looks like
Speaker 2: there's no reason to trust. Will you be faithful with
Speaker 2: your money or do you spend it all on yourself?
Speaker 2: Will you be faithful with your time or do you
Speaker 2: squander it and waste it? Will you be faithful with
Speaker 2: your body, with your health? Will you be faithful with
Speaker 2: your mind? Do you use it for God's glory or
Speaker 2: do you waste it reading trashy novels and watching stupid
Speaker 2: TV shows? How are you using what God has given you?
Speaker 2: God says, If what you use what I gave you
Speaker 2: on earth, you use it, well, then guess what in
Speaker 2: heaven We're going to give you more? And if you've
Speaker 2: been faithful and little, I will put you in charge
Speaker 2: of moreth That's why you're here right now. This is
Speaker 2: a test. Unfortunately, most people in the world are failing it.
Speaker 2: They're living totally for themselves. They're not thinking at all
Speaker 2: about heaven. They're living one hundred percent for the here
Speaker 2: and now. When the here and now is going to
Speaker 2: be over in a matter of minutes compared to the
Speaker 2: trillions of years in eternity. If we took a line
Speaker 2: and stretched a rope from California to Tokyo, and that
Speaker 2: represented all of eternity as a span of line. Your
Speaker 2: life on earth would be less than one little, teeny
Speaker 2: tiny millimeter. It's nothing. It's The Bible calls it a shadow.
Speaker 2: The Bible calls it a breath of air, a moment
Speaker 2: in time. We act like this is all there is. Well,
Speaker 2: you only go around once in life. You better go
Speaker 2: it with gusto. It's true, you only go around once
Speaker 2: in this life. But this is not the end of
Speaker 2: your life. God has long range plans for you. You
Speaker 2: were made to last forever. God made you to last forever,
Speaker 2: not just for one hundred years. And so we're going
Speaker 2: to be given assignments in heaven to do things, and
Speaker 2: you're going to be given and put in charge of
Speaker 2: things depending on how well you manage what you have here. Now, listen,
Speaker 2: he doesn't God doesn't care how much money or wealth
Speaker 2: you've got here on this earth. What he cares about
Speaker 2: is how well you managed what He allowed you to have.
Speaker 2: And God doesn't care whether you've got a lot of
Speaker 2: talent or a little talent here on earth. What he
Speaker 2: cares is did you use what you've got for him,
Speaker 2: and God doesn't care whether you've got a lot of
Speaker 2: energy or little energy. God wants to are you using
Speaker 2: whatever energy you've got in the best way. Your every
Speaker 2: decision you make, of every moment of your day has
Speaker 2: eternal implications, either making an eternity better or not as
Speaker 2: good for you. Now, when it says here, if you've
Speaker 2: been faithful with the few things I gave you on earth,
Speaker 2: I will put you in charge of many things. That
Speaker 2: phrase in charge, the Bible calls this ruling with Christ.
Speaker 2: It also calls it reigning with Christ. And the Bible
Speaker 2: says that God is going to use you to rule
Speaker 2: and reign with him in eternity. His children are going
Speaker 2: to share in the responsibilities. Let me show you some
Speaker 2: verses up here on the screen two Timothy two twelve.
Speaker 2: If we endure hardship for Christ, that means here on
Speaker 2: earth you put up with the crazy looks in the office,
Speaker 2: when you don't listen to the dirty joke, or when
Speaker 2: you don't go get drunk at the party, or when
Speaker 2: you turn down somebody's proposal to have an affair. If
Speaker 2: we endure hardship for Christ, we will also look reign
Speaker 2: with him. But a good God.
Speaker 1: What a special message from Pastor Rick, and now let's
Speaker 1: hear how lives are changing through Daily Hope. Here's Rick
Speaker 1: with a letter from one of our listeners today.
Speaker 2: I want to introduce you to Agatha, who's translating Daily
Speaker 2: Hope into German for her husband. She writes, Pastor Rick,
Speaker 2: your preaching is bringing many souls to God. My husband,
Speaker 2: who is an unbeliever, is drawing closer and closer to
Speaker 2: God every day. I translate what I hear on Daily
Speaker 2: Hope into German because he can't speak and understand English.
Speaker 2: Pastor Rick, your teaching has changed his life and I
Speaker 2: can see his progress and eagerness to follow Jesus. Agatha, Well, Agatha,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for sharing your story with me.
Speaker 2: This is a wonderful story to hear that you're translating
Speaker 2: what you hear on Daily Hope for your husband and
Speaker 2: that he's growing closer to Jesus. I'm so happy for that.
Speaker 2: We're always looking for translators to help us in new
Speaker 2: languages as we take the message of God to more
Speaker 2: people around the world. So you will keep praying for
Speaker 2: your husband and you keep praying for us that God
Speaker 2: allows us to take the good news of God's hope
Speaker 2: all around the world.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you'd like to let Rick know how this
Speaker 1: broadcast has blessed you, he would love it. Please feel
Speaker 1: free to send him an email at Rick at pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com. That's Rick at pastorick dot com. Be sure
Speaker 1: to join us next time as we look into God's
Speaker 1: word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.