Leon Fontaine - Heaven's Award Ceremony
The talks multiple times in the New Testament about another judgment not the white throne judgment. This is a judgment for Christians. And it's called the judgment seat of Christ, in the Greek it's the bema seat. Now, everybody gets worried thinking, "Oh, man. I'm going to be judged for it". No. This is a positive judgment. It's like when you go to the Olympics and you go watch figure skating and they see the panel of judges there. They're handing out awards. They're handing out medals. They're going to, they're going to, you know, rate you out of 5 or out of 10 whichever it is and they're there to handout awards. And so when we get to heaven, and then at the end of this age. I'm not sure exactly how and I do not add when the Bible is not clear. It says very clearly that there's going to be an awards ceremony. And that Jesus is going to hand out rewards for every born again believer who worked for the kingdom.
And the Bible says here when you read it, that it needs, and that when He tests our works, He's going to test it for motives. What was your motive in doing it? So you've got to have a motive. It's right. And was it of any value to the kingdom of God, with what did you spend your life doing? Did it actually impact eternity? Or did you live selfishly just for yourself and your pleasures? Which is crazy because when we get to heaven, we're going to have a new heaven, a new earth, and the pleasure and the joy and the stuff we're going to do for eternity, it's going to be so far beyond whatever that your bucket list on this planet is a pathetic, puny, little thing to the joys. They're going to take eternity for God to show us His variety, to show us. And so it says here in the Word that when we stand before Him, that our works are going to be tried. And He talks about, it is no way to, you know, to fudge God.
Oh, God. I mean, come on. Let's talk about this. He knows every motive you've got. Every second that you think. He knows everything. And it says that our works, our works will be tried. And then it says when it survives, you know, the quick test, that then He's handing out awards. So heaven has a reward system. I don't know what it is. It's silent about that. So I'm not going to make anything up other than it's going to be a stunning thing. If you think the Emmy's were amazing. If you think, you know, pick an award ceremony as these people all applaud themselves and bless themselves and vote on themselves in movies and music or whatever. We're going to get to heaven and Jesus is going to look at His church as far as the eye can see the billions of people that'll be in heaven with Him. He's going to say, "Let's just take some time and let's just begin to bless and reward and honour the men and the women".
And, you know, someone will think, "Well," I remember when I first met Sally. We had, we had this conversation. She goes, "Oh, right! We're going to", Sally is very cool with some of the stuff. She goes, "We're going to get to heaven. Oh, you the preacher going to have this huge mansion and me, I'm at home with the kids. We're at a little cottage down the river somewhere". I said, "No one's going to be judged on, on the world's effectiveness but what did God call you to do, and were you faithful". This is going to be the most stunning thing. I think it's going to be some of the most interesting time in heaven, as we all stand and Jesus takes center stage at the bema seat. And He begins to reward and thank His church. I know I'm not perfect but He's not going to look at me and slap me and goes, "You sure messed a lot of times. I'm just sick and tired. Do you know how many times I tried to get you to do this"?
That's not Jesus. He's going to look at you and He's going to say, "Thank you for when you did this. Thank you for your prayer. Thank you for walking those halls when everyone was in church and just keeping all the kids safe. Thank you for cleaning those bathrooms so that as people came in for the first time they would feel welcome and looked after". This, this thing called church is powerful. And so there's a Book of Life, and that's going to be opened at the great white throne judgment. There's the Book of Works. That's going to be opened when we all stand around Jesus at the bema seat. But it's interesting to note that there's a book about you.
Now, don't get all concerned and freaked out that boy, if I mess something, I'm going to be in trouble. No. I believe that Holy Spirit according to God's Word has been sent here to guide you in regards to what He's called you to do. He's here to guide you so that whatever your career is in, whether it's health care, whether it's in sports or music or movies or government. That each of us in this thing called church, His church have gifts and abilities. And if we do our part, and we come together in His church. We can literally impact cities. You know, when the gospel went to a city, it says one person went to that city and great joy hit the city and they grabbed all of their old cult idols and books and piled them so high. That it was tens of thousands of dollars' worth. And they just burned it because they found the one true God. They had found their answer to the fulfillment that only Jesus can bring.
I want to challenge you today. That your life is not getting through a bucket list. When I played football, we had two teams within the team. We had the defensive team. That when the other team had the ball, the defensive team would get out on the field. And then when we had possession of the ball, the offensive team. And when you have the ball and you're on offense, you're going to go score. For some reason church thinks it's always on defense, huddling your little church, with the four walls. The big bad devil, you never know when he's coming. He's coming. He's coming. He's coming. Why is it that most of the church today feels like we're on defense? Dear Jesus, help us. Oh, God, it's gone bad down here.
Okay, first of all, we're on offense. It should be that when you wake up, all those little demons from hell go, "Oh, oh, she's awake now. Everywhere she goes, full alert! Who she's going to talk to? Stop her from talking to anybody". Like, we need to see ourselves differently. But for some reason we've got, and then we have our end-time doctrine which, sorry, my pet peeve. I'll be quick about it. But, oh, Leon. Do you think it's the end times? Of course, according to the Bible before Christ is before time. After Christ is the end times. It's the latter days. We're in the latter days. It's been called the end times for 2000 years. Then you find someone that goes, "Anti-Christ is going to behead you and the beast is going to kill you. And all the Christians are going to run for the mountains". We're going to go like, "What kind of Bible are you reading"?
Whatever your end times doctrine is, it better be that He's coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle, a glorified church. He's coming back for the head and not the tail, above and not beneath. We have such a loser doctrine that is going out amongst the Christians as though, "Yeah, well. I mean, you know how bad the devils getting"? The Bible says where, where the enemy comes in like a flood, God raises a standard against him. What's that? A wee little thing? Oh, a little, you know. No. If the church doesn't quickly determine who it is, we're going to be playing second fiddle losing cities and countries simply because the church won't stand up. And then when we do stand, we go, "Oh, duck". Leon, don't talk about that. You're a preacher. Just shut up. You shouldn't want it. Are you kidding me? Like Leon. Like, shush. Yeah, you go ahead and be quiet and don't defend the people who are being attacked. Now, you're on the list somewhere anyway. So you may as well just stand up and be counted and help out and raise up a country that knows freedom, that knows Jesus.
It's an interesting teaching in the Word of God 'cause Jesus talks about He is building His church. Now, the word church is really abused as well. You know, we think anything that has to do with "Christianity". That, you know, that's a church. But the Bible's very clear that a church is something that is being built. It's not just, you know, maintaining. And that Jesus is building His church. Now, as you dive into the Word of God, someone say, "Well, you know, I'm a part of the, you know, the ecu-universal church. I don't believe in local church and especially not big churches". Yeah, I know. Everybody thinks churches should be tiny, little, don't have too much property or money. Just stay dumb till He comes back and let's not impact the planet. I have an opposite vision. I was raised in a, a type of church denomination where we felt that big churches were evil. And if a church got bigger than about 200, you should divide it in two, put a pastor over both groups. And if it got any bigger than that, it was just the senior pastors ego that was being massaged and all the attacks on a church succeeding.
I wish they had told that in Jerusalem where, I mean, the first day it was like 3.000 men born again. And they tell us that the church at Ephesus and the church at Jerusalem were churches of 50.000 people. But somehow people get this religious mindset that the church shouldn't succeed, shouldn't be successful. Well, how's that been working for us as a country? And so we need to recognize that a local church is a place where Jesus and His presence is, and that we're reaching out to beautiful, wonderful people who just need to know Him. They need to discover Christ, not in the religious way that's attacking them and pointing a bony finger at them. But in a way that lets them know how wonderful and beautifully they've been made, and that God sent His Son to die just so we could have Him back. Why we messed up the gospel so much?
And I want to challenge you, that you are not just called. That when you get to heaven and you read the book with your name on it and it's got all the adventures of your life. You know what else is going to be in that book? The incredible team you should be a part of. Well, you know, Leon, church is church and we just going to go whatever we need that season. Really? Well, the Bible says in Psalms 92, those who are planted in the house of the Lord will bear fruit and flourish right into their old age before they go to be with Jesus.
There is something about the local church that requires us coming together, a loyalty, an honouring one another, that stand shoulder to shoulder. And when winds blow, we don't move because we have a call from Jesus to go into the highways and the byways and to love and to care. And that wherever we go in careers and family, that we reach out in a way that isn't judgmental. Jesus Himself said He didn't come to judge the world. He came to free them. He came to love them. That's why everybody loved Jesus. And so we want to make sure that as a church, and there are no perfect churches. That's why you can attend.
There are no perfect pastors. Just Jesus is perfect. And so we come together and we encourage one another. And, you know, if someone falls down, you don't, boom. Shoot, you're wounded. You reach down. You pick him up and brush him off and say, "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Now, let me help you for a while, like someone helped me for a while". And you keep going as a church. We need to have the church wake up and recognize we've got a nation to reach. We've got wonderful people and we need to disciple them in the truths of the Word of God. So that we rise up and go, "Yeah"!
And I want to just challenge you today. That you understand that the church of Jesus Christ is the only hope for this planet. And so why would we want some defeated, pathetic, little church to attend? Go find something. And if you're not happy here, go. There's something else for you. But we need to find a place where we can roll up our sleeves and use your gifts and abilities with other gifts and abilities and together have such a unique impact. That we begin to impact nations for Jesus Christ. We need to recognize that a church, a local church is a place for the presence of God is, and lives are touched. And people come to know Jesus and they begin to grow in the things of God. And the growth of the knowledge of God's Word will make them better in their, in their careers. Whether it's government. Whether it's in health care. Whether it's an arts, entertainment, education. But whatever it is, that this incredible foundation where the Word of God is being fed to you. And you've got a reason and a purpose for your life will cause you to rise up.
I talked to a lot of people when I speak around this planet, and really successful people who don't know Jesus are the quickest to get depressed. Because they begin to succeed in an amazing way, and then they realize I feel as empty successful as I did unsuccessful. And I thought success in money, career, success in ownership, success in getting the accolades of my peers. That when I was somebody, I'd feel better about myself. But Leon I feel worse. And I usually tell them I know and it gets even more worse. What? You can't fulfill that part of you with any kind of success. Only Jesus, only God can touch this. But yet how come we still get caught up in that? We can get out there and go after money, go after career, go after being somebody. And we've forgotten that your life is so short. And that all the pleasures and the accolades that you get, dude, when you die, they're just going to change the nameplate on your office.
That's it. They're going to hand somebody else your to-do list. Is it really worth given 60 years of your life for? No, I'm saying work good and proved to them that you can do. But don't make that the thing that is your passion. Get up and fall in love all over again with Jesus. And just get up knowing wherever I go, I want to bring His love and His joy. Because we live in a world where people are so tapped out. They're so empty deep on the inside. But our world has taught them, you're not going to get business, careers, or jobs unless you look like you've got it together. So we live in a world where the better you look like you've got it together, the higher and the better the job you get.
I heard someone say, "Being transparent and vulnerable is the key to great success. And when you can fake that, you got it made". But now you can fake out others. But you can't fake yourself out and your own heart will simply stay marinating in this emptiness. That drugs, sex, money, accolades will never fulfill. If they did, then these rockstars who get up and played 80.000 people and people are screaming their name and waving their shirts at them. And they still go to the green room right afterwards and snort a line of cocaine, because they know that they're nowhere near what these people are worshipping and they need God. There's a book in heaven, it's got your name on it. You go ahead and write your own future. And at some point, you're going to realize that I think I should have paid attention to God's Word. I think I should have said, "God guide me, lead me. You have a reason for me being here". And begin to walk out the calls and the purposes for your life.
The Bible says many are called but few are chosen. It doesn't mean that God was having a bad day and so He goes you... everybody's called and we present ourself for choosing. Maybe just present yourself say, "God, here am I, send me. Here am I, use me. Here am I, just someone I can bring Your love to, Your hope to". Or continue to spend the rest of your life looking for a new pleasure. That's the greatest lie. It's okay. Oh, I got three of the ten pleasures going okay in my life. But I guarantee you, if I get the fourth, I'm going to be even happier. And then if I can get the six, dude, I'm going to be rocking. Yeah, by the time you're 79 you're working on number six, and then you realize I'm running out of life, yeah. It was worth serving Jesus.
I just want to say one thing to you. This whole purpose of my message today as I'm showing you where to go and I encourage you to go to the chapters that I have shared with you, to do it and read this for yourself as a believer. That you are here for such a time as this and there is a unique and divine call upon your life. There are billions of people to reach for the kingdom of God. Stop worrying about fame. Stop worrying about, you know, becoming so everyone knows my name. The Bible says pray for the Lord of the harvest. That He would send famous people. No. That He would send laborers into the harvest fields. And that they would begin to reap a harvest. That harvest, every one of them are people who give their life to Christ.
Someone said to me, "Yeah, well, Leon, you get up there and you speak to thousands and millions of people. And so what good am I going to do"? You know, isn't it interesting that all the stories of Jesus are Him ministering to one person. He taught crowds of 4.000 men and a wife and 20 kids. Tens of thousands of people. And we don't have much in those messages, a little bit. But we have clear beautiful stories of how to minister to one person. Like the person caught in adultery that Jesus just says, "Go your way. Where's your accusers"? Like the thief that He went home with, Zacchaeus. And no one could stand him and they were upset Jesus went with him. And then just hanging out with Jesus, he repented and gave everything he'd stolen back, times four to every person he'd ripped off.
If we can just recognize, the creator made you. The creator gifted you. The creator has got a plan for you or not. Take the plan. I challenge you today to just say, "Here I am. I just really need your guidance". And He'll guide you and He'll led you. And John says Holy Spirit will show you things to come. That your footsteps will be guided. John 10 it says Jesus will call you by name and lead you through your entire life. Simply meaning don't worry. That don't freak out about this. Just say, "Here I am, send me".
I talked about the Book of Works, how that God's keeping track of everything we do. And there's a cool verse in the Bible that has kept me going. This Matthew 10:42, says, "Whoever gives one of these little kids just a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward". Heaven is going to be such an amazing place. Even the person that filled this cup with water today and just set it up here. It was recorded in the Book of Works. That guy standing outside all winter parking cars with the ice coming off his beard and mustache. He looks like Santa Claus. Free, just every car he parked was recorded. It's not hard just to turn around and to serve others and to be a blessing to others. And to say, "Jesus, I just want to do this for You". It's going to be interesting one day. I can't wait to party with Jesus at the greatest awards ceremony the universe will ever see, as He begins to honour all of you for everything we've done, to a cup of water.
Father, I pray today. That there be something that happens deep inside of every one of us. That will stop living our lives for ourselves thinking we know how to get happy. But that we would turn to You and just say, "Use me. I present myself for duty. Give my life the purpose that it needs, the joy. So that eternity, I'll have impacted people for eternity".
Every head bowed for just a moment for, for all of those that are here across the auditorium and would say, "Leon, you know, truthfully I'm not sure that, that Jesus is my Lord and Saviour". Well, I'm going to lead this entire place in a prayer. All of us are going to pray it. But for all of you that would say to me, "Leon, could you include me, please, 'cause I need to give my life to Jesus". I would have all of us together could follow me in this prayer that I prayed one time in my life and many of us prayed with these amazing people making this eternal decision. Let's pray out loud confidently. It goes like this. Just say:
Dear God. I give You my life. Thank You for sending Jesus. He died in my place. He took my sin and He qualified me to be in Your family. I accept. In Jesus' name, amen.