The Judgement Seat of Christ

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and the light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

I'm so glad you're here.

My name's Ryan.

And before we dive into the sermon today and continue, actually finish up our series called Eternal, Living in Light of Eternity.

I just want to highlight something that's really important for us as a church family.

This Sunday, this Sunday, this Wednesday rather, we're doing something called Vision Night.

Now, we're celebrating our birthday in a few weeks, 14 years.

Something that I I've sense, my wife sense, we as a leadership sense, that year 14, what God's doing in our church now has that same sense of importance and historicness.

I don't know if that's a word about historicity, but that is a word.

For us as a church.

And what we want to do is take a time as a church to pause, to look, and to see what God is doing, talk about where He's leading and where we're headed.

So uh if you got your phones, would you take them out and would you scan this QR code that's at about right behind me?

Would you join us?

Uh if you you call Awakening Home, you're part of you're spiritually fed here, you would say, Man, this is where uh I'm growing.

We want you here.

This is a family event.

We have kid care.

If you have teenagers, high schoolers, we want you there in the room.

Junior hires, uh, we want you in the room.

Scan it, sign up for it.

Don't miss it.

This Wednesday, 7 o'clock at Central Christian.

Okay, so we're excited for that and look forward to being with you on Wednesday.

Don't miss it.

Did I say don't miss it?

Okay, don't miss it.

All right, today we're continuing our series on um on eternal living in the light of eternity, and have our dear friend of awakening, longtime friend, uh, and such an encourager, Dr.

Charlie self, with us.

Um, so grateful for him, his leadership.

Yeah, uh, we love Dr.

Charlie.

And uh if you're new to him, you haven't heard of him before, uh he's a historian, a theologian, he's got lots of degrees from Berkeley and UCSC and the like.

Um, he's a pastor, professor, uh, he's an encourager of the church, and God is using them in significant ways all over the country.

Uh, and just looking forward to what he has.

He's got a great word for us today.

So, would you give a warm awakening welcome?

Hey, good morning, awakening family.

Thanks for letting me be part of this celebration.

What a great, great day.

Just this last week, I've been in touch with students from around the world and different leaders, so I just have to say bonjour, buenos dias, bon dia, bonosera.

And then if you're Dutch, you say me doch and you gargle your G's.

But uh aren't you glad we are part of a global family?

And we're part of something God's doing that's just amazing around the world.

And I am so happy to be with you.

It is always coming home to come to awakening.

And uh, if you have a Bible, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

We'll be in there in just a moment.

And uh, am I the only one that's noticed the online world of self-promotion and unearned confidence?

I didn't know you can make a living eating food online.

Now, by the way, we all peek at it.

I'm not condemning that.

I think it's fascinating to see what kind of dishes people cook up around the world and things, but we live in a world where brand, an image, is so much more important than the unseen hard work that goes into sustaining our world.

Images and likes are always in view.

But you know, in this series we're in, and we finished today, we've been looking at a complete life in a completely different lens, but looking at it in light of eternity, and looking at it not in light of public acclaim or self-promotion, but looking at it from a different lens.

We've been discovering that Christian service is a thank you for grace with good works done from a pure heart for the glory of God and the good of others.

This I love the story of Zacchaeus' repentance, right?

That rapacious tax collector makes things right.

And what a contrast to the guy who kept building the bigger barns for all that he's accumulating.

Or the rich young ruler, and Jesus certainly doesn't despise the legitimate creation of wealth or doing well in business, but the rich young ruler unwilling to yield his sovereignty to the sovereignty of Jesus.

We want to live in light of eternity together.

And so a few years ago, I wish it was just a few, it was actually 38 years ago, I had the privilege of being on an archaeological study tour in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Rome, and some cities in Greece.

And it was so humbling and amazing.

I took all kinds of Polaroid pictures that are all kind of curled in an album somewhere now, and about a hundred pages of notes of all these sites.

It was so much fun.

But in the city of Corinth, I was particularly spiritually and emotionally moved, as in the middle of the ruins, you saw this large stone platform, and it was called the Bama or judgment seat, where the Roman governor would come and adjudicate cases.

And it's in the middle of town, so hundreds of people could see what was going on, and that's why St.

Paul told the Corinthians, hey, it's not a good idea to take each other to court in front of a watching world.

Why don't you guys learn how to mediate your disputes in the church?

But the this same Bama was also the place where the Torah was read, and the cantors or worship leaders led the prayers and songs in the Jewish synagogue, the high platform.

And so both in the synagogue and in the pagan environment of Corinth, there were these judgment seats.

And this is used as an image by the biblical writers that describes God's evaluation of our Christian service.

And here's sort of the thesis I want us to keep in mind as we uh go into God's word.

And I'm gonna share a lot of scripture if that's okay.

Is it okay to use the Bible?

Well, hopefully well.

So we're gonna share a lot of scriptures and then try to extract some practical insights for our hearts and minds as we go about serving Christ with a pure heart.

But believers stand before the Lord one day, not for condemnation, but for evaluation and reward.

Scripture teaches us that every servant's work is going to be tested.

And just as there are eternal consequences to our faith, there are eternal consequences to the works we do in the service of Jesus.

So in 1 Corinthians 3, the Corinthians have been a rather contentious group of people.

By the way, there was a theologian that said, if you want to know the gospel, read Romans.

If you want to see a church that's figuring it out, read 1 Corinthians, and then after you're really humbled, read 2 Corinthians.

And 1 Corinthians, these folks are just all over the place, and they were arguing about their favorite apostle, they're arguing about their favorite view of things, and Paul says, let's get this, let's get things back in order.

Let's get back to the cross, let's get back to a glimpse of eternity.

And so Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.

In other words, folks, don't argue over your favorite personality.

God's the one using people in your life.

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow.

The one who plants and the one who waters has one purpose, that they each be rewarded according to their labor.

And so he's trying to, he's humbling this contentious community and saying, hey, let's get a perspective here.

Apollos and myself and Peter and others were servants of God to see the life of Christ grow in you.

And then he goes on and says, No, no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light.

It'll be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work.

If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.

If it's burned up, the builder will suffer loss, yet will be saved, even though only as one escaping through the flames.

I remember looking at that judgment seat, reading this scripture, and I made a decision.

This is 1978.

Yes, leisure suits were still in, and unfortunately, people like disco.

I don't understand it, but they did.

Long time ago.

But I remember saying, Lord, I want to have something to offer you, and I want a really small bonfire.

I really want you to be pleased with how I've served you in this life.

And then a few years later, Paul addresses the same thing in Romans 14.

Why do you judge your brother or sister?

Why do you treat them with contempt?

For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.

It is written, As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me, every tongue will acknowledge God.

So then each of us will give an account of ourselves before God.

And so there is, remember, as Christians, and if and if you're newer to the faith, our salvation, our eternal destiny, will never be about our good works or about what we bring to God.

It's a gift, as we'll see from the scriptures in just a moment, it's a gift of grace.

But as those who've received his grace, for those who have eternal hope, as we all share if we love Christ, we then offer our lives as a thank you to God.

Second Corinthians 4 5 puts it this way Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time.

Wait until the Lord comes.

He'll bring to light what is hidden in darkness, will expose the motives of the heart.

At that time each will receive their praise from God.

And here in the second epistle, he's tenderhearted toward his friends and saying, We need to think about eternity.

And so he goes on in the same chapter.

So we make it our goal to please him that is Christ, whether we are at home in the body or away from it, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

And St.

John joins this Pauline chorus, and he says in 2 John 1:8, watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what you've worked for, but win a full reward.

2 John 1:8

So as we think about eternity, one day we're going to stand before the Lord, and what we've done in service of Him, not only in the church, but all that we've said and done will be evaluated.

And the good news is, the good news is that what we do today in every area of our life has amazing, positive impact forever.

And some of the things we've done or may do, some of those are just gonna vanish.

Some things we thought were so important won't be as important to our Lord.

So there's a little bit of sobriety here, but there's also joy.

Joy of knowing we're gonna be with Him and with believers forever, and also a little bit of reverence that we might offer ourselves to Him.

So I'd like to share a few insights with you, just practical insights from these scriptures that I hope will be encouraging as we take next steps in our faith.

The first insight is this: our salvation is always and forever only by the grace of God through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What makes the Christian faith different from every other philosophy and religious system in the world is that God has done all the heavy lifting through Jesus Christ.

God created us, and though we rebelled against him, God has pursued us.

God in Jesus Christ forever became one of us.

And he took the penalty for our sins, he took all of our sorrows, he took all of our sicknesses, he took all of our unanswered questions on the cross.

And on the third day after that moment, he rose again, assuring us that there's triumph over death.

And he's given us the Holy Spirit as a down payment of that eternal future, and we can begin to walk in a new identity.

We can begin to walk in a new life today.

Can I get an amen?

What a beautiful gift he's given.

I love John 3, 17.

Yes, God so loved the world he gave his only son, but John 3, 17 says, for Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

I love the book of Romans, both in chapter 3 and chapter 5.

We are justified, we're made right with God through what Jesus did on the cross.

We don't need to do religious activity, we don't need to bring sacrifices, we don't need to harm our bodies, we don't need to do anything that would give us any merit at all.

Jesus did it all on the cross for us, and we're saved by that grace.

Maybe some of us in the hearing of my voice today, maybe you've been on the edges of really following Jesus.

Or maybe you've been a follower, but it's become a little stale, or life has brought some difficulties and there's some challenges.

Today is your day to just once again allow the Lord's love to immerse you and overtake you.

Allow the Lord's love to assure you and to make you certain that you belong to Him.

And it's really, I'm gonna I'm gonna share this prayer with eyes open.

And if it's your prayer, you can just follow along with me.

But today is a special day for some.

And it's this simple.

Lord, I believe you died for my sins and you rose from the dead.

Forgive my selfishness and sins and make me a new creation by your grace.

I turn from living life on my own terms and confess that you're the king of my life.

In Jesus' name.

That's our salvation.

It's that simple and it's that hard.

It's yielding our sovereignty to his.

It's accepting a free gift we could never earn.

By the way, when we stand before the Lord one day, we already started some rehearsal this morning for the worship choruses.

We're gonna sing forever.

How many of you know when we get in heaven, we're not gonna say, worthy is Charlie for all of his religious efforts?

It's gonna be worthy as the Lamb who was slain for our salvation.

It won't be worthy as this institution or worthy as this great leader for all that they did, though they may have done great works.

It will always and forever be worthy is the Lamb.

Worthy is Jesus.

And now, as people that no longer face condemnation, the rap sheet is gone.

There's nothing in the way of us enjoying the Lord.

Here's the second insight.

We're now called to live lives of holy love as a thank you for grace.

Everything we do as Christians is a thank you.

There are people who aren't yet Christians that live very good lives, that have good moral codes.

I have no judgment or no negativity toward others.

But folks, what makes our life different in following the ways of Jesus is not only the moral standards, not only some of the principles, it's the motivation and disposition of our hearts.

We're doing this as a thank you.

In Romans 12, Paul says, I urge you by the mercies of God, verses 1 and 2, present your body a living sacrifice.

He just got rid of religion.

Eugene Peterson paraphrased it better than I could in the message.

He said, Give God your everyday walking around life.

Give it as an offering to God.

In the book of Ephesians, Paul says in chapter four, verse one, he says, Hey, you've been brought into this great salvation.

Start living up to your new identity.

You see, the Lord crowns us as his co-heirs.

He declares as his betrothed bride.

He declares us his friends and his fellow workers.

He gives us a new identity as new creations, and then we learn to live like it.

Colossians chapter 3 does the same thing, verse 17 and following.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all for the glory of God.

Not only in the church, and by the way, please make our friends busy and sign up and say yes to getting engaged.

Get involved.

Bring your passions, bring your talents, bring your availability, get involved.

But you see, this whatever you do isn't only within awakening church.

It includes Tuesday morning's work.

I almost said tomorrow morning, but we actually get it off, don't we?

But it includes Tuesday's work.

It includes all that we do, seen and unseen parents.

It includes those unbelievable diapers you've got to change.

I'll never forget being a dad for the first time.

And Kathy was busy and it was my turn.

And I looked at this little bundle of joy and said, You are you are just a gift from God.

And how can this little gift do what you do sometimes?

And now my gifts are in their 30s and 40s.

Serving God and doing well.

Folks, our life is a thank you.

In Ephesians 2.10, Paul goes even deeper.

We are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance.

Now we all have general things we do as Christians.

We're all supposed to share our faith and take time for God, be faithful if we're married, to be faithful to God as we go about the work in the world.

But we also have assigned good works.

We also have specific things we get to walk in.

We're each a masterpiece.

The word handiwork here means a work of art.

I'm married to an artist, so I understand what a work of art is as she labors over her canvases and creates amazing beauty for the world.

And her love language is the giving of gifts.

She's up till 2 a.m.

on Christmas morning finishing handmade gifts for family members.

It's just, by the way, when I find her a gift she likes, it is a glorious moment.

When Charlie finds a gift that Kathy likes, I just want to assure you.

We're prepared for good work.

Now, I happen to know that my good works before God do not include singing opera at the Met.

You really don't want to hear me sing.

I make a joyful noise to the Lord.

And in 1973, I was an all league guard in basketball.

And in 1974, I rode the bench.

So my future does not include the NBA.

It's okay.

I have other works assigned to me.

I have other things God asked me to.

Do, and then others of you get to sing opera at the Met or be in the NBA.

God has good works for us.

But here's the third insight: the works that earn an eternal reward are those done for Christ with pure motives.

You see, the difference between the gold and the silver and the precious stones and the wood, hay, and straw that's burned may not be the actual deed itself, but may be the reason we do what we do.

I like what Max Lucato says.

You can be certain you won't regret any sacrifice you made for God's kingdom.

The hours of service for Christ, you won't regret them.

The money you gave, you'd give it a thousand times over.

He's speaking about when we stand before Christ.

The times you help the poor and love the lost, you'll do it again.

You change the diapers, fix the cars, prepare the lessons, repair the roofs.

One look into the faces of the ones you love, and you'll do it all again.

When we have eternity in mind, we want to have pure motives behind what we do.

Um I didn't share this in the first service, but I I remembered an incident from about 30 years ago, and I was teaching undergraduates, and um I was I woke up just full of energy.

Man, I'm just gonna give it to them today.

I was just so excited.

It was gonna be a great performance.

And the Holy Spirit, and when I say I hear God speak to me, you understand when God puts something in your heart and mind that you can't shake.

And he said, Charlie, I just want to remind you that your gift of teaching doesn't exist unless there are students who want to learn, and your goal is their growth, not your performance.

And I collapsed in a puddle of tears and I said, Lord, but I'm so excited.

He goes, take that excitement, but make sure it changes them.

It's not about you.

And our life can be reshaped when we think of the glory of God and the good of others.

Randy Alcorn puts it another way.

Live now the way you will one day wish you would have.

Don't postpone obedience, holiness, purity, drawing close to God and serving others.

Wow, I love that.

And then Gerhard Furdy, a theologian from the last century, God's grace liberates us to love our neighbor from the heart.

The good works that bring rewards will be the ones we've forgotten all about.

They were done unselfishly.

Here's what's really cool.

When we offer our daily lives to the Lord and we serve him with a pure heart at work, school, family, neighborhood, volunteering, here in the church, beyond whatever we're doing, when we offer it to him, we we go and we offer it for the good of others we're serving.

Because remember, if if you're in business, all good business is service in the end.

Yes, you have to have money left over at the end, you've got to pay the bills, you've got shareholders, but in the end, all good work is service.

For profit, nonprofit, religious, non-religious.

Whatever we're doing, when we offer it to Him, it reverberates beyond this age and brings an eternal reward.

Our tears of intercessory prayer, lament, and praise are recorded by God.

Some of the good works we offer are the ones no one sees because they're offered in the secret place of prayer.

Forgiving others, and then giving our gifts, large and small, with pure hearts, advances the mission of God.

Our obedience and resilience under persecution and pressure to compromise brings a great reward as well.

Now, friends, as Christians, we do face indifference and hostility at times in our world.

But we have millions of our brothers and sisters around the world that literally have their lives on the line right now, and they would, and they're willingly saying, Jesus is Lord.

Jesus is Lord.

And the writer of the Hebrews says that brings great reward.

As we offer ourselves to Him, everything changes.

An older Christian writer from the 19th century, Samuel Hoyt, he said, I want you to think about the judgment seat of Christ and compare it to a commencement ceremony.

At graduation, there might be a little disappointment, and that one could have done better work or gotten better grades.

But I think he's right here, don't you?

But the overwhelming feeling of a graduation is one of celebration.

How many of you know at graduation you were glad to be done and moving on?

And that's what the judgment seat of Christ will be like.

There'll be moments of evaluation, and the overwhelming feeling will be joy.

Charlie, here's what you did for me.

Here's what is lasting.

Enter into your eternal assignment.

Enter into your destiny fully.

There will be a bit of sobriety, but there will be overwhelming joy as we stand before the Lord.

So the fourth insight I'd like to share is this that we're partners in God's kingdom, and God's kingdom economy, and the expansion of Christ's reign happens four ways.

I want to zero in for a minute on our finances.

Unapologetically, since they belong to God as do every other facet of our life.

The first way God continues his kingdom work, and we shared about it this morning already, and that's the consistent, sacrificial giving of God's people.

Can we just praise God that every gift, large and small, matters to him?

And when it's given with a pure heart, it lasts forever.

Your giving has helped so many people hear the truth about Christ and make a decision to follow him.

And we're going to have more people in heaven because people have faithfully prayed and given and sacrificed.

And so we want to praise God for that.

Another part of giving throughout history has been large gifts bestowed by generous believers.

You know, in Acts chapter 4, we have the first endowment in the church.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

The Apostle Barnabas, friend of later friend of St.

Paul, sells some real estate and brings the money to the apostles, and they set up a fund so they can take care of the widows, take care of the poor.

Later in Acts chapter 6, they're going to get some godly administrators for that fund.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

And so praise God, praise God for Christian universities that people give to the endowments and for church projects that people help them get fulfilled.

So generous gifts by those God has blessed, we should rejoice in those things.

And the key to those giving such gifts is that they're given for the glory of God, the advancement of his kingdom, whether they're known publicly or privately isn't as important as the heart behind it, and then the stewardship of that moment done well.

Praise God.

I love the fact that the church in Europe, if you want proof of this, you can go to Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

The church in Europe was started in the home of a businesswoman named Lydia.

She came from Turkey, but she had a home in Philippi.

And of course, Turkey and today Greece are right next to each other, but the foothold for the church in Europe started with a woman's prayer meeting and Lydia opening her home.

And she later went on and helped to supervise churches and plant other churches.

And God used her generosity, her hospitality, her love for Jesus to advance the mission.

Well, another category are the fruits of enterprise.

Sometimes God's people, both inside and outside of churches, sometimes they start new enterprises, start new businesses, create new technology.

The Benedictine monasteries created water wheel technology that transformed the agriculture of Western Europe in the 6th and 7th century.

During some very difficult times, as the Western Empire had collapsed and different tribes and kings were competing, the Church of Jesus Christ offered hospitality, care for the poor.

The collection of writings.

And not only those spiritual activities, not only the activities of charity, they actually helped to create enterprises that would change the economy.

And so we have the same thing with Methodist entrepreneurs in the Industrial Revolution.

If you've heard of Wedgwood, China or Cadbury Chocolate, these were godly families that created a way to both bless the world with their products, but also provide thousands of jobs and change the economy of the church for good.

And then sometimes God gives a fourth method, and that's surprising gifts from outside the church.

You know, it's fascinating.

As the Israelites are leaving Egypt, they're so glad to see them go, the Egyptians just pour on the gifts to them.

Okay, we're done with the judgment here, go.

And those gifts were later used to build the beautiful tabernacle.

But I have a couple of stories I hope you'll enjoy.

These things aren't just theoretical.

One pastor I know in New York, he was a pastor of a church at a crossroads community.

Large, diverse cultural place, just a great place.

God was working.

They had a food pantry.

Once a week they would open it up and help people in the neighborhood.

And then COVID hit.

Do we all have a little bit of a little bit of a memory of when COVID hit?

And COVID hit, and it was a difficult moment.

And as they were praying, the pastor and the elders, the Holy Spirit said, open up your food pantry every day.

And the pastor, and this is how he recounts it, so you understand I'm not uh suggesting audible dialogue, but the pastor said, Uh Lord, I know you know everything, but if we open it, if we open it every day, we're gonna be out of food in a week.

And the Lord just said, Open it.

So they did.

First day, second day, third day, pastor went back to the Lord and said, Lord, uh, you are aware that we're almost out of food.

And one of the neighbors popped in.

They'd been witnessing to him for years.

He was a cheerful gentleman, but had never come to Christ yet, hadn't had visited the church a couple of times.

He said, Hey, can I help out?

I just notice you're opening up.

Is there anything I can do to help?

And the pastor just in the midst of all the busyness said, Well, we've got volunteer teams here, and if you'd like to, you know, give some food or give a donation, that's great.

Here's and it was just cheerful, but he was busy and went about his life.

And the next day came the pastor came into his office and there was an envelope on the desk.

And that envelope funded the food pantry for a year, five days a week.

With a little note, you're doing so much good for the community.

I want to be a small help.

I hope this helps.

By the way, that church went on to stop start jobs, job, and skills classes.

They're now managing three million dollars of outside grants, baptizing more people than ever, and changing the economy of the neighborhood.

And the catalyst was a gift from the outside.

Another friend, one of my students, pastoring in the Midwest, they were building a modest, a modest sanctuary, and uh they were growing, and so they were building, and in their case, they wanted to build kind of cash and carry, so they paused the building and put up a little banner saying, Pardon our dust.

We only want to owe love to the community.

And um they just went about doing what they could do and praising God.

And one of the businessmen in town came to the pastor and said, I saw your sign.

What do you need to finish the building?

And the pastor said, Well, you know, you wouldn't, you know, he was just so careful.

He just said, Hey, um, you know, we'd love any donations of time or labor and things, you know, we're we're gonna be okay.

And the man insisted.

He said, Well,$150,000.

So he said, Thanks so much, I appreciate that.

A couple days later, you guessed it already.

Pastor came into the church and there was a check for$150,000 with a note, you're so important to the community, I wanted to help you finish your sanctuary.

By the way, that man later came to Christ before he passed away.

But God used an outside benefactor as a miracle to help the mission go forward.

Friends, whether it's a simple gift, whether it's the giving of our time and our talents, offering our daily lives, we need to thank the Lord for our salvation.

We need to offer ourselves to Him.

C.

S.

Lewis was once asked, how much should we give?

And in typical C.

S.

Lewis fashion, if that's a new name to you, he was a great British writer of the last century.

He said, I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give.

I'm afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.

And what he basically went on to say was, hey, it it will cost you something to be generous.

But when it's offered to Christ and offered without regard to public acclaim, there's an eternal reward that's extraordinary.

I believe, I believe today that God wants us to offer our whole lives as a thank you to Him.

He wants us to live our lives in light of eternity.

Not only that moment of evaluation, but the fact that there's a deep connection between the good work we do today for God and others, and the eternal work we will do one day, forever and ever.

By the way, just want to let you know ahead of time, the great work we're gonna do in the future will not have high taxation or bad bosses, but will be the fulfillment of every gift and grace that God has given us.

Awakening, let's make eternal investments, knowing that what we do now populates the new heavens and new earth, connects deeply with our worship and work now and forever.

Would you join me in prayer?

The worship team's gonna come and lead a response to the Lord.

Our pastor is going to come and bless us as we get ready to both have some moments of rest and then go out in the world and do his work.

Would you join me in prayer?

Gracious and loving God, today, together as a church family, we open our hands and our hearts and we offer our lives afresh to you.

Here we are, Lord.

Take our thoughts and our feelings, take our work and our family, take our leisure and our prayer, Lord, take our volunteering.

Lord, here are our Venmo accounts, our Zell accounts, our checkbooks.

They're yours too.

Show us how to manage them well, how to be generous and wise.

But Lord, we offer you again our lives as a thank you for your grace, and we ask in Jesus' name that you would work in us so that all we do can bring joy to you and good to others.

And Lord, one day when we stand before you, we want to have lasting fruit and a smile on your face, and we thank you it starts today as you affirm us as your children, encourage us to use our gifts for you, and then use us quietly, secretly, maybe publicly, to give you glory.

So, Lord, we surrender again to you in Jesus' name.

Would you say amen with me?

Would you stand in the presence of God?

Let's join with the team and let's offer our praises to Him as a first thank you to the Lord.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

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