Sid Roth - How You Can Receive the Most Rewards in Eternity!
Sid Roth: Hello. Sid Roth here. Welcome to my world where it's naturally supernatural. What you do with Jesus determines where you spend eternity. Many know this. Most know this. But what you do with this little temporary thing called life now determines how you spend eternity. There is something that is a mystery that should not be a mystery. It's called Academy Rewards, not Awards, Academy Rewards Night, or the believer's judgment. Imperative, you understand it, and you are about to know the truth. I have to tell you, I've been looking so forward to talking with John Bevere. Every believer understands that if they repent and believe in Jesus they're going to go to Heaven.
John Bevere: Correct.
Sid Roth: But the most misunderstood thing is this thing called the believer's judgment. Explain that.
John Bevere: Well first of all, it's an elementary doctrine, elementary teaching of Jesus Christ. Hebrews, Chapter 6 tells us that. Now what do you get in elementary school? How to read, write, add or subtract. Can you imagine building your college education not knowing how to read, write, add or subtract.
Sid Roth: It would be difficult.
John Bevere: It would be really difficult. Well we're trying to build our Christian lives without an elementary teaching of Jesus Christ. It's called the judgment seat of Christ and that is where Jesus will examine us as believers. Now we will not be judged for our sins because the blood of Jesus has eradicated sin. We're going to be judged by how we lived this life as believers. Paul, writing to the Corinthian Church said this, he said, "We make it our goal whether present or absent". So we know he's talking to believers because an unbeliever when they're absent from the body, they're not present with the Lord. So he's talking only to believers. He said, "We make it our goal whether present or absent to be well pleased into him". Because we are all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may give an account of the things he's done in the body, whether good or bad. This is Second Corinthians 5:9-10. So all of us believers, Jesus is going to stand before us and he's going to examine our lives. Now when people hear judgment they get really scared, Sid, because what they think of is they think of condemnation. However, the Greek word for judgment, 90 percent of the time it appears in the New Testament, is the Greek word "krino", which simply means a decision resulting from an investigation. So an investigation is going to be made and he's going to make decisions over our life. Now they're called eternal judgments, so let's substitute decision for judgment. They're going to be eternal decisions. So in other words, once he..
Sid Roth: Now wait, eternal decision means no point of reversal.
John Bevere: There will be no alterations, no changes, no revising. They will stand forever. So and this is what's really amazing. First Corinthians 4:5 tells us not only is he going to judge our works and our words, he's going to judge or motives, the secret motives of our heart and our thoughts. He's going to exam it all and that which we have built on if it is eternal we'll receive rewards. If we built our lives on the temporal, we will suffer the loss of getting rewards. And so what that tells me is this. What we do with the cross determines where we're going to spend eternity, Heaven or Hell. Most Christians know that. However, the way we live as believers determines how we're going to spend all eternity. That's riveting.
Sid Roth: As a brand new Jewish believer in the Messiah, John, I had a dream that I think about often. It was a dream from God and in this dream it was, now don't laugh, it was, I call the dream Academy Rewards, not Awards, Academy Rewards Night because that's where I was. I was at Academy Rewards Night in Heaven and there's a big crowded auditorium. And you know like the have at Academy Awards Night they have a big envelope and someone rips it open. And the winner is, I was so full of myself, John, as a brand new believer. I came into the charismatic movement. I was a disciple. What do you expect? And they made a big deal out of me because Jewish believers were not that many at the time I became a believer. Now I was seated there and there was a very old woman. I happen to notice her, John. Little old woman, tiny, seated in the front row. And I am sure my name is coming out on that thing.
Man: You're not going to believe this. Elizabeth!
Sid Roth: And guess who won? That little old lady. How could she win? And then I heard a voice and it was the voice of God. And this is what God said to me: That could have been you".
John Bevere: I believe that.
Sid Roth: That's a sobering thing and my life is driven by eternity because of that.
John Bevere: It has. It has to be. I was just down in Brazil and I was speaking to 14,000 pastors and leaders in this auditorium. And the passion of these people was mind blowing. Well the next day I'm out at lunch with the senior leaders of this organization and the first riveting thing that I heard was that there was over 300,000 people in their churches. Male Pastor: We have over 300,000 people in our churches.
John Bevere: Wow that's amazing. Male Pastor: Yes, we started over 16 years ago with just one family.
John Bevere: Wait a minute. Sixteen years and you have over 300,000 people in your churches? Female Pastor: Yes, that's right.
John Bevere: How do you build churches, over 300,000 of them, in 16 years? Male Pastor: We teach our believers about eternal rewards and eternal judgment. John, I've been to America. You Americans do not teach on this. Because of this, you in America only have a 70 to 80-year perspective. We have an eternal perspective.
John Bevere: Sid, when you have an eternal perspective, when you realize how you're living your life now determines the quality of life you're going to have forever and ever in Heaven, you're going to endure things you wouldn't necessarily endure. You're going to see things differently. Your vision is going to be different. You're going to pursue things you wouldn't necessarily pursue because James writes in his book, he says, "This life is a vapor". James 4:14. If James was alive I do not believe he would have written it that way. I believe he would have said, if he was alive today, he would have written, "This life is zero". What we do in this zero time determines how we're going to spend eternity.
Sid Roth: How are you going to spend eternity? You will be amazed what rewards are based on. It's different than what you think. We'll talk about that when we come back.
Sid Roth: John, you're teaching on eternity, on the judgment seat of Messiah, so impacted you, you actually had a compulsion to teach on this from God for an entire year.
John Bevere: I did. You know, the Lord said I want you teaching this everywhere you go because it's an elementary principle, teaching of Jesus Christ, and yet, I'm not hearing it taught, Sid. I'm just not. And so believers are trying to build their lives off of what we need to be strong Christians. You know, it's interesting. You know what C.S. Lewis wrote? C.S. Lewis wrote this in "Mere Christianity", he said, "If you will read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world they have become so ineffective in this one". He nailed our society today. He nailed our church today in America. And this is what the pastor in Brazil was talking to me about. You know, the Apostle John, I have so much respect for him. I mean, they can't martyr the guy. They put him in a boiling vat of oil, pull him out, he's praising God, so they put him on this deserted island. Then he gets the Book of Revelation. I mean, he's a rock star. Okay. So he's in his 90s when he pens these words. Second John, Verse 8, he said, "See to it that you don't lose what we've worked so hard to achieve".
Sid Roth: You don't hear that preached too much, what you just said. Go ahead.
John Bevere: I know. So here's this father in the faith, grandfather in the faith and then he says this, in Second John 8. He says, "But see to it that you receive a full reward". Now of course he's talking about the judgment seat, what we're talking about right here. But the thing that caught my attention is the word "full". For John to specifically say, "See that you receive a FULL reward," means what? That means there's a partial reward scenario and there's a no reward scenario. Now isn't it interesting, he doesn't say, live in such a way that you're going to get a partial reward. Why doesn't he say that? Because God our Father wants us to receive the full reward. You know, as a father of four sons, there's nothing that gives me greater joy than rewarding my son, but as a wise father, I will not reward my children unless they deserve it or earn it, and so because that rewards give initiative. That's the way we are. That's the way God created it. And yet the more rewards we get, the more we get to throw them at Jesus' feet and it changes the way we live throughout eternity. So David says, in Psalm 139, and it's so important that we read this, he said, "You saw me". This is Psalm 139, Verse 16 from the New Living Translation. "You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book". So God wrote a book about every one of us before we were born. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. So God laid out every moment of our life in that book. Do you remember in Daniel where he says, "At the judgment he's going to open up the books," plural.
Sid Roth: Yes.
John Bevere: What books? The book he wrote about our life. And so what God is going to do is say, let me see how I wrote about your life and let's see how you lived your life. So in regard to our callings at the judgment seat, we will not be judged according to what we did, rather we'll be judged in the light of what we were called to do. You know, we had a woman who was a pastor for 30 years and I spoke on this at a huge conference in Australia. She was at the hotel and she walked up to my office manager in Sydney, Australia, and she said to him...
Woman: He's not serious about what he said tonight, is he?
Man: Well yeah, he is serious. Why are you so upset?
Woman: Well I had this vivid dream that I was pastoring in the Philippines. All my life I felt that's what I was called to do and I've been at this church for years.
John Bevere: Well do you know we found out one year later she turned that church over to her associate. She's in the Philippines having the time of her life. You know, I could go on and on and tell stories.
Sid Roth: Is it too late for somewhat like that woman you just described to fulfill their call?
John Bevere: Absolutely not. Smith Wigglesworth started his ministry in his 50s. He was a plumber up to his 50s, but then he got on with the call of God in his life and he's one of the greatest apostles in the 20th century. So I don't care if you're 60 years old, I don't care if you're five years old, it's not too late to begin in what God has called you to do.
Sid Roth: All right. But there's even a bigger question, John.
John Bevere: Yes sir.
Sid Roth: What if you don't know what you, you didn't have a dream like that? I want to find out how we can know what our call is when we come back.
Sid Roth: Okay. We settled it. We settled that it's never too late.
John Bevere: Absolutely.
Sid Roth: Whatever your age. I've got to tell you this, John. I am 76 years of age and do you know I am just walking into my destiny. So give me a break if you're 50 or 60. You know what I'm saying?
John Bevere: Come on. I love it.
Sid Roth: All right. So how does, the big question really that people are asking as they're watching us is how do I know my call?
John Bevere: Okay. So first of all, I've got to get, I want everybody on the same page. God has a calling on your life whether it's ministry or whether you are called to the marketplace, or whether you're called to be a stay home mom and raise up champions. There is a Divine calling on your life. Every one of us have it and God prepared that calling for your life before you were born. Let me give you an example of another one that's just mind blowing. I had dinner. This man wanted to have dinner with me last year. Well he's a Navy SEAL instructor. Okay. That's the elite of the elite when you're an instructor. He went to two years of Bible school, was in his third year of internship, got accused of sleeping with a girl in the church. They threw him out, took away everything from him. He said, "John, three years of work gone". He said, "My relationship with Jesus was superficial. He said, "I was saved, but it was superficial". He said, "When I lost everything after three years of work, I started seeking God like I had never sought him before". And he said, "God spoke to me and I've called you to the military, not to ministry". He said, "So I went to the Army, I went to the Air Force, I went to the Marines". He said, "Nothing". He said, "I went to the Navy, the last one. The recruiter has gone everything. Nothing. Just flat". So the recruiter in desperation brings out the special things. He starts reading down the special assignments and he gets to the word "SEALS" and he goes, "That's it. That's what I'm supposed to do". And the guy goes, "No, no, no, no. Only .1 percent of them ever make it All of us flunked out of it. And he goes, "I don't care. That's what I'm supposed to do". Well what a recruiter didn't know and he didn't know is he didn't know how to swim. Secondly, he had such narrow ear openings they had to put tubes in his ears when he was a child. So if he went and had a little bit of water in his ears he was in excruciating pain.
Sid Roth: He couldn't be a SEAL. It was impossible.
John Bevere: He taught himself how to swim. He kept praying for God to heal his ears. He finally went two feet, five feet, ten feet, he was fine. The whole story is amazing. But he told me stories of combat that night at dinner, and which literally caused the hair on my arm to stand up. I mean, his phone called his parents when they were getting their truck blow up and the parents prayed. I could go and on, and on with other stories. Anyway, how do we know our calling?
Sid Roth: Give us some tips.
John Bevere: There's three very strong points made in Scripture on how we find out our calling. Number one, we seek God earnestly. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 that "God rewards those who diligently seek him in faith". It does not say he rewards those who casually seek him in wonder and doubt. When I got saved I was heading, I was going to head to Harvard and get my M.B.A. with my engineering degree from Purdue, and I was going to become a corporate manager, and I was going to marry a pretty girl, take three vacations a year, and pay my tithes. That would be my way of serving God. But I knew there was something not right. And I remember my Thanksgiving vacation my senior year. All my fraternity brothers went home. I told my mom I'm not coming home for Thanksgiving. And I fasted those four days, and I said, God, I got to know what you put me on this earth to do. And as a result of that fast, the last thing I wanted to do was to be in ministry. I wanted nothing to do with ministry. But God showed me clearly, I've called you to preach. What are you going to do about it? And I remember surrendering in that fraternity, and I said, God, I'll do it. The second way you find your calling is you get planted in the House of God. You get planted.
Sid Roth: Today, more and more people are saying church isn't relevant to me, I don't need to go unless you're a part of the body.
John Bevere: Right. God says, "Those who are planted," Psalm 90, "Those who are planted in the House of God shall flourish in the courts of our God". The courts of our God would be the judgment seat of Christ. So let me put it to you this way. If I have a peach seed, I may not know that's a peach seed. How do I find out what it is? Plant it in the ground. It will grow up to what it was created to be. Hello, if I plant a peach seed I don't get a cotton bush. I get a peach tree. When we're planted in the House of God we flourish into what we're created to do, whether it's in the marketplace, whether it's staying at home as a mom, whether it's in the medical field, whether it's in government, whether it's in ministry, that's where we flourish in the courts of our God. And the third way to know our calling is to avoid entanglements. Why are many called and why are only few chosen? We're all called. Every one watching us is called. Why are only a few end up fulfilling their destiny? Because only few will put aside the entanglements, security, money and relationships are the three biggest, to fulfill our destiny. If you look at Moses, Moses was one of the greatest pastors we've ever seen. He had over three million in his congregation, but he only had two guys in his whole church fulfill their destiny.
Sid Roth: I want the full reward. You want the full reward. Would you pray a supernatural prayer right now that we have the full reward.
John Bevere: Father, I pray for every single person watching right now under the sound of my voice, I ask that the Holy Spirit would literally come into the living room, the office. No matter where these men and women are watching, or children, I'm asking that your presence would come. And I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for clarity to come to you, for direction to come to you. Before you were born God created you and also placed a calling upon your life. I speak that calling forth. I command in the name of Jesus for the revelation of that calling to come forth in your life and in Jesus' name I pray, Father, for every person that they would lay aside the hindrances, the entanglements that they would plant themselves in the local church and that they would seek you diligently. And as they do, Father, reveal to them why they've put on this earth that they might make their eternity much more precious in your eyes, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Sid Roth: And I say at Academy Rewards Night you will get a full reward.
John Bevere: Amen.