I am going to start a message called: Living with an Eternal Perspective (part 1).
Today through the word of God I want to help and equip you to live the rest of your life victoriously and without fear, How ? Living in the light of Eternity !
We need to have the right vision of eternity.
The way you live on this earth today depends on the vision of what you have for eternity.
Why we need to live now in light of eternity?
1- Because life is short
“You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a vapour (mist) that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
James 4:14
Your life is a vapour ! It will soon pass!
If today was the last day of your life, how would you feel standing before the Lord Jesus? He knows everything about my life! He knows all about your life!
As you know , Life here is short, and many people are departing to eternity every day ! Children, youth, young couples die every day!
Dying is not the problem! But, are you prepared to stand before Jesus after death ?
2- You have an appointment with death
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,”
Hebrews 9:27
Everyone of us is destined to die once and after that , we are going to face God and the judgment ! One day everyone of us will face death !
Every one has just one chance in this life !
The bible says no one will return , but after death you will be judged according to how you lived here !
“For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.” 2 Corinthians 5:10
I wonder how the moment we stand before Jesus is going to be!
I know many people don’t like to think about it ! But one day we are going to face Jesus Christ !
I’m excited for that day , I live each day of my life waiting for this day !
Everything I do is thinking of that day and we need to live in light of eternity
All we need to do is to change our perspective!
I know we have to live in a real world, we have to work , to study , to pay our bills , but We need to live with our feet here but with our minds on eternity.
1 “If you were raised from death with Christ. So live for what is in heaven, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Think only about what is up there, not what is here on earth. 3 Your old self has died, and your new life is kept with Christ in God. 4 Yes, Christ is now your life, and when he comes again, you will share in his glory.” Colossians 3:1-4
Bible says if you were raised from death (or if you are born again) , seek the things that are above , set your eyes on the reality of heaven , think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth , set your hearts and your mind on eternity.
Shift what you are looking at !
God is saying to us : make the life to come bigger than the life we are now living .
If we make the life to come bigger than the life we are now living, we will live better in this life. Where we look will determine how we live
When the eternal spiritual perspective infiltrates our thinking, it affects our daily earthly walk.
Football players know they can be tested at any time for steroids, and because they know that, the conscious ones stay off steroids.
They deal with things differently because they know the day is coming when they will be tested. Even if they don’t know when it will happen.
We don’t know the day the Lord will come , and also you don’t know the day you will depart to eternity but we must live in light of that time when that day does come.
Those who live in light of eternity are doing more for the kingdom of God and they are taking good care of their spiritual life !
So in your personal life , you must walk differently , in your family life, in your church life , when giving your contribution to the kingdom of God. You need to reflect your faith in your job, in your school and in the community.
So we have to live in light of that day , today, we need to get ready for that day , today !
We need to grow higher an deeper in developing Eternal perspective
And the time to be prepared for that day is Now !
Everything you do on this Earth – is going to bring you Reward or Regret on eternity.
That day when you see Jesus , what is gonna bring you Reward or Regret ?
The bible says : There will be rewards for those who were faithful.
Many will have regret : it depends on how you spent your time ! Many are wasting their time , they don’t have time for praying , reading the bible , coming to the meetings , to visit a person in need , to talk about Jesus , to have time with God.
You may think that day before God : I’m glad ! I have watched over 10,000 movies !
I watched all the seasons of Star Trek , game of thrones , the walking dead, Dr. house, Arrow, Lost, breaking bad …… I played a lot of video games : CrossFire , Candy Crush Saga , Fortnight, Fifa 16, 17 ,18 .
What’s that going to bring you on that day ? Regret – I wasted my time !
This is what the Bible says : Your eternity is determined by your lifestyle in those few years!
One day we will all have to face death and we have to be accountable to God for how we have lived here ! And After death there will be no second chance!
No one will have a second Chance! There will be no time to repent! Repentance must be right now , in life, not in the eternity!
I have come to the conclusion that God’s intention for us is to spend most of our time here getting ready for there !
Everything you do in this Earth – Will bring you either Reward or Regret
Everything you do on this earth, how you have lived – will determine the reward that you are going to receive or the big regret you’re going to have for wasting the opportunity that God has given you!
The Bible says you are eternal! You will never end, you will stay a few short years on Earth , and Eternity in somewhere else
How you do live this small part of your life – determines how you will live the rest of your eternity ! Millions and millions of years and forever!
Let’s see how Jesus taught his disciples about eternity
“Don’t save treasures for yourselves here on earth. Moths and rust will destroy them. And thieves can break into your house and steal them. Instead, save your treasures in heaven, where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. Your heart will be where your treasure is.” Matthew 6:19-21
Jesus taught his disciples to live a life here thinking about eternity!
Jesus said : save , store your treasures in heaven !
If your heart is on this earth , your treasure and reward will be here.
But If you invest in the kingdom of God, you are going to have a treasure in heaven.
Invest in people — People in your life are more important than your money and the only thing you are going to bring to heaven is people !
You need to have a radical shift in your expectation which will create a radical shift in our behaviour and transform other lives.
You need to have more expectation for eternity!
The greater your expectation is of Heaven and of eternity the better life you will have on earth . The lower your expectation is of heaven the worse your life will be on earth.
Because Expectations affect Behaviour !
If you really want to live life on earth in the way it ought to be lived you must learn to live it with eternity in mind .
Many of us live in defeat and sorrow because of our poor expectations about eternity.
“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”
1 Corinthians 15:19
Our hope cannot be in this life , if so , we are the most miserable, pitiable people!
Eternity is the cornerstone of the Christian life ! But today you can find many teachings on the internet and TV where pastors and leaders are teaching people how to be prosperous, how to have a good life on earth, how to make money , etc
Jesus teachings was always preparing his disciples for eternity
““Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”
John 14:1-3
Don’t be troubled , trust in God , your home is not here , there is a house waiting for you !
You will always be with me !
It’s important that we as followers of Jesus live with eternity in mind !
Your life is 70 to 80 years first, and forever after that!
This is really not that long when you think about eternity…
So it’s important for us that we realised we need to live with eternity in mind.
We are all going to get to the end of our life and stand before Him and all I want to hear Him say is : Good Job , well done faithful servant !
Because of that we have to live with eternity in mind !
The decision that you make today affects eternity.
Where you are looking at today affects eternity.
So I want to encourage you ,You need to have your eyes fixated on eternity with Jesus. Jesus taught that if we don’t receive the reward here , that is okay because it will come on eternity
“22 What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. 23 When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. ”
Luke 6:22-23
Jesus said : what blessings await you when people hate , mock and curse you because you are a follower of Jesus!
Not only be happy but leap for joy ! Get super excited now because you will be rewarded in eternity !
Can you see how your expectations affect your behaviour !
What the enemy does is to make this world seem bigger and the World to come seem smaller to our eyes.
So I can go after my own lusts , my own lifestyle, the way I want to do and to live.
My life and your life now is a preparation for that day when we will stand before the Lord.
If we live in light of that day our expectation will transform our behaviour , if we live with eternity in mind you will live a life that pleases God. If we life in light of eternity we are not going to be afraid of death.
Eternity will give us victory in time!
I want you to enter Heaven with celebration
I want us to enter Glory with our hands raised high.
May God help us to live with an eternal perspective.