Heavenly Rewards

Introduction/ Testimony

I first give honor to God My Father and Jesus The Christ, my Savior. To any Minister’s that may be in the pews, the Deacons and Trustees, and to all the children of God that He has gathered together in this place in person or online, to hear His word. I don’t take this assignment for-granted because I know its no coincidence that any of us is here. It’s all because of the all knowing, all powerful, the Creator of the universe and sustainer of everything in it. It all exist because of God. So I greet you all in our Lord Jesus Christ. First I want to begin by giving a bit of information about myself.

Sisters and Brothers in Christ, I am Robert Cameron Swanson Sr. A Servant of God and a Slave for Jesus Christ. I was born in iniquity and shaped in sin, to the parents God gave me in Atlanta, Ga. on the west-side. I was a wretch but Christ loved me so much that He took on all the sin I do, did and will do in the future so I can be free from it and able to be in right relationship with God the Father and Men. It took me a while to realize my true identity and now that I have, I want to make sure everyone I meet know their identity. My entire identity which means anything, is my identity in Christ. I am Who He says I am and so are you. Many believers have not realized their Identity in Christ yet. I am righteous because Jesus declared I am based on what He did and not what I did. Being in right relationship with God gives believers the ability to call God, Abba Father and are regenerated into a new creation becoming a Kingdom Citizen. Now lets get into the text and receive a word from God.

Heavenly Reward

Acts 20:24 “24 But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.”

Let us Pray, Lord, I ask you to open our eyes and enhance our understanding so that we can grasp what you want us to learn today. I also ask you to enable us, by your spirit, to apply truths we learn to our daily life, and be guided moment by moment by your word. We thank you in Jesus’ name and all His children said Amen.

Sisters and Brothers, When God created the universe He created man in His own image. God gave us the ability to have all His attributes such as the ability to Love, to forgive and have compassion, to be patient and long-suffering as well as faithfulness. And Just as God desires and deserves all the Glory, we all like to receive recognition and rewards. We are motivated by incentives. Here’s the thing, can I tell you something for free? God’s word makes exciting promises to those who walk in His way. Some of these benefits are available in this lifetime such as fulfillment, joy, and good favor. Other rewards will be bestowed once we are in heaven.

As we hear this word from God, I ask you to ask yourself, Why did you get saved. I got saved to keep from going to hell. I didn’t want to burn and I am sure many others did not either.

God created us all with a purpose and in the beginning, when He created Adam and Eve, he placed them in the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was the residence of Adam and Eve, our first parents in their state of purity and blessedness. The word Eden in the Hebrew denotes “pleasure” or “delight” It was a place or state of great happiness, and unspoiled paradise. God loved them so much and created them to fellowship and have a relationship With Him. Picture this with me if you will, They could do anything in the world they wanted to and eat anything they wanted. They could eat all the peaches, plums, pineapples and fellowship with and give God glory. In fact they only had ONE RULE. Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God tells us in Genesis 2:8–9 of the message bible, “Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.” You ever wonder why they over looked the Tree-of-Life? Satan. Satan distracted them and God being all knowing, still had a plan for the creation He said was, Very Good.

God’s love for us caused Him to have mercy so God devised a plan. He became flesh as His son, JESUS lived amongst man to bring salvation to those that believes He lived, died on the cross, and on the third day, God raised His son from the dead, would receive the free gift of salvation. We cannot earn this free gift nor do we deserve it.

Before accepting the free gift of salvation, We are separated from God because of all the sin that we had on us. I need you to Imagine again with me if you will. A lot of children playing in the mud. They are all covered with mud all over them. Then a man comes dressed in All white. White from head to toe. Then all the children start throwing all their dirt and mud on Him. Now He is all covered in their dirt. The dirt represents sin, and the man in white covered in all their mud and dirt, is Jesus. That’s why Mark said in Mark 15:34 of the Message bible, “The darkness lasted three hours. At three o’clock, Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Its because at that time for the first time Jesus was separated from His Father as we are before the free gift of salvation. Jesus too all sin Past, present and future sins with Him to the cross.

Sister’s and Brother’s I am here to remind you, we don’t have a sin problem. If anyone open their eyes and find themselves in hell, it won’t be because of sin. The only way anyone will find themselves in hell is because they refuse God’s free gift of salvation.

After Adam and Eve fell for the enemy’s trick, they died spiritually and everyone after them is born spiritually dead. They are what we call a natural man. God is a spirit and as a natural man, spiritual things are foolish to them. 1 Corinthians 2:14–16 of the message translation says, “The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.”

Sisters and Brothers, the moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and savior, our spirit comes alive. That is, we become born again by the Spirit of God. At that moment a transformation takes place. We become a new creature and regenerated into the Body of Christ. At that moment, the Holy Spirit comes in and seal you spirit until the day of completion or when Jesus returns. Ephesians 1:13-14 of the NKJV tell us "In Him you trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. This is to ensure we have Eternal Life. John 17:3 says, “3 And this is the real and eternal life: That they know you, The one and only true God, And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.” When we believe and know Christ, eternity begins with Him at that moment and You’ve Been Set Free! If you’ve ever been in debt (or known someone who has), you know the impact it has on a person. When you’re in debt, your money, time, or resources aren’t your own—they’re continuously being taken from you, and often with interest. No one wants to be enslaved to a lender, and yet every one of us has owed a debt we could never pay off.  The ancient Greek word for “sin” means “to miss the mark.” It was originally used to describe an archer’s arrow that didn’t hit the center target. In archery, it didn’t matter whether your arrow was close to the mark or far from it. If you didn’t hit the center, you lost. In Scripture, the “mark” is the standard God asks us to aim for but we all miss it. We miss it when we choose selfishness over humility, and anger over gentleness. We miss it when we lie, cheat, steal, slander, complain, and gossip. We miss it when we tear people down, and disobey God’s command to love others. Sin prevents us from becoming the people God created us to be. Our physical bodies are mortal and from the day we enter the world, it is headed back to the dust. The problem with sin is it give the devil access to our body. But the good news is: Jesus saved each of us by sacrificing Himself for our mistakes. We couldn’t pay off our debt of sin in a million lifetimes, but He freed us from it in one moment. And because He paid our debt, He wants us to live as free people. When we pursue anything that separates us from God’s Spirit, whether through legalistic actions or lawless decisions, we act like Jesus hasn’t set us free. But when we choose to love others like Jesus loved us, it shows we value Jesus’ sacrifice and want to embrace the freedom He bought for us.  So how do we live free? I’m glad you asked.

We accept that what Jesus did was enough for us, and then we commit to loving Him. As our love for God grows, His Spirit helps us unconditionally love others. The more we love, the more we embrace our freedom and because of God’s love, nothing can take our freedom away.

Rewards and Crowns

God created us in His image and likeness. God is a spirit and satan is a spirit as well. Neither spirit has a body. God is all powerful and can do anything He wants. God don’t need us, His plan will go on with or without us. The enemy is a spirit as well but he can do nothing without a body to posses or influence to do it. If you are not a believer, the enemy can posses you, But unbelievers can’t be possessed. However, satan can influence believers to do his bidding and it can look the same as an unbeliever that’s possessed by him. This is why it is so important to learn who you are, what you have and what you can do IN Christ. There are three categories of man. You are either a natural man, which is spiritual dead not able to understand spiritual things. You are a Carnal man which is a babe in Christ and spiritually immature, or you are where God wants us to be, spiritually mature. We have to grow in Christ and learn what our purpose is as a Kingdom citizen. As I stated earlier, God is a Spirit and is in the spirit realm and as kingdom citizens, God has given us everything we need to be successful and if we renew our mind to the mind of Christ, which came into us the moment we accepted Jesus as our savior, we can be led by the spirit which leads to life and not the flesh which leads to death. We have the same power that raise Jesus from the dead. We must learn to work in the spiritual realm by doing as Paul tells us in Romans 12:2–3 he says"do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We renew our minds by studying God’s word and staying in His presence. We can learn our purpose in His presence and How much better His rewards are than the worlds rewards. Just as Kids are incentive motivated, so are adults. God’s word makes exciting promises to those that walk in His way.

Some of the benefits of walking in the spirit are available in this lifetime. So many believers miss out because they are chasing earthly rewards such as recognition, money and material things. Many get saved just to keep from going to hell but God saved you to be His hands and feet to bring His kingdom to earth, which in turn he reward His children.

As followers of Christ, we need never to fear Judgement. Romans 8:1 states, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law if sin and death. We are justified by our belief in Jesus Christ and His finished work. We are not righteous in and of ourselves. That is part of our identity IN CHRIST.

Sisters and Brothers, to help us understand heavenly, divine rewards, God describes several crowns in His word. Do you truly believe God’s word? We say we believe yet, we spend so much time chasing rewards that are only temporary. No reward we receive from the world last forever. I was a die-hard Falcons fan and I followed them faithfully until I started developing my personal relationship with Jesus. I learned in 2016, I’m sure some of you may know what i’m talking about, When the Falcons found a way to loose the super bowl, just as they have let me down most of my life, I was hurt and disgusted with them. All my life I had been waiting for them to win a super-bowl. But Romans 8:28 reminded me that we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. The Holy Spirit told me I was on a winning team but was missing out following losers. But it don’t matter what team on earth you follow, when they win a championship they enjoy it for a moment and then have to do it all over again. Jesus did it once for all, now That’s a winner and I want to follow Him. Because of what He did, believers are declared Righteous.

The First Crown God promises believers is the Crown of Life. This Crown is granted to believers who stand firm and endure trails. James 1:12 states, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the Crown of Life.” God even gives us the ability to endure through the Holy Spirit, but we must renew our minds and allow Gods word strengthen us by daily spending time in His presence and casting our cares on Him as He tells us too. If you believe God will get you through anything the enemy place in from of you.

The second reward is called “Imperishable Crown” it is given to those whose great desire is to walk obediently before God. 1 Corinthians 9:24–27 tells us, “ Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” I came tell you, If you really spend time in the presence of God, you will see how good He is and His goodness makes us want to do good, so we can please Him. The thing is, God don’t want us to do in on our own, He gave us a helper and want us to depend on Him. The Christian race is a cycle of Repentance and restoration. Everyday we wake up God mercies are renewed and we have the opportunity to experience God’s grace to confess our sins, to be restored so we can partner with Him again to bring His Kingdom to earth. We are able to do this as long as we believe our righteousness in In Christ and not our selves. We can be self-righteous. That’s prideful and God don’t like pride. The 3rd reward we can earn is the Crown of righteousness for longing for Christ’s appearing and living righteously through Him. In 2 Timothy 4:6–8, Paul tells us, “For l am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Lastly as I get ready to Close, The 4th Reward is the Crown of glory to those that share God’s word with others. 1 Peter 5:2–4 tells us to Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Don’t miss out on your rewards. If we walk in the Spirit, we will glorify God and show those we come into contact with what it’s like to be in the presence of God. Scripture also tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:14–16 “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.

In conclusion, the supreme reward is for us to manifest God’s glory throughout eternity. We will experience Joy in His presence for ever, but we dont have to wait, we can start today by serving God obediently and humbly.

Everything we do should be done for the glory of God. Get in His presence and word and renew your mind from worldly thinking, chasing rewards that don last.

The doors of the Church is open. If the things that was said in God’s word today seems Foolish to you, and you don’t know Jesus for the remission of your sins, now it the time to receive the free gift of salvation.

Romans 3:23 states, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

Romans 5:8 tells us that God commandeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 6:23 says for the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God don’t want any to perish so He tells us in Romans 10:9-10, That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that HGod raised Him from the dead, thou shall be saved.

If you don’t have a church home Pastor Long would Love to welcome you into His flock and Shepard you to find your purpose in God’s Kingdom, is there one?