Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Good morning, everybody. It's great to be with you from New Zealand. How many know where New Zealand is? Raise your hand.
Oh, that's better than the last church we were in in Gloucester. Only about a third of them put their hand up. So you're 50%.
Shame on the other 50% of you who've never bothered to Google where New Zealand is. Come on. One of the greatest nations on the planet. Most beautiful nations on the planet. And England ain't too bad, by the way. It's pretty cool as well. So we're thrilled to be here.
Love Mike and Amy and love Mark and Nita, who unfortunately can't be here today because they're not well. But it's great to be with you. And we've just had a ball yesterday in the prophetic seminar. We had a great first service, and we just want to share something with you. We hope and pray will greatly encourage and strengthen your faith.
That's the motivation of our hearts. We always love to seek to encourage and strengthen God's people on their journey in the Lord. So Greta's going to share a prophetic word that God has given her for a few minutes, and I will come back afterwards.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Well, we are delighted to be here, and we have absolutely loved being with you so far. And I know we always start feeling sad when we have to leave. It just seems too quick.
Well, this word that I want to share is called stars and seed. In God's prophetic timeline, stars and seeds are connected because stars are prophetic signs of harvest.
And this word also gives a very brief glimpse of God's grand plan over thousands of years. And it helps us understand where we are now on God's prophetic timeline and what we should do. So we will do some giant leaps through history.
Now, it all started in November last year as I was doing my daily Bible reading from Matthew 13. And here Jesus told a parable, actually a story of a farmer saying, scattering seed. And verse eight leapt out at me.
It says that the seed that fell on good soil yielded a hundredfold crop.
And straight away, I sensed Jesus say, this is the time of the hundredfold harvest.
Scatter your seed.
And I believe this is a word for his church.
Now, that very same day, I was seeing stars everywhere.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: And.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: And here are just a few examples.
A carpet of star flowers on our front lawn on the left, a starfish decoration and star card. That picture on the right.
Then a promotion of the Starlight Cafe.
That photo on that side. And then I got an email that showed a photo of A chandelier in a new airport lounge. And. And underneath was the caption under the stars.
And then in a TV program, a scene from a planetarium showing thousands of stars. Countless stars really stood out to me.
And during the following week, while I was running, I usually go early in the morning when it's pitch dark.
I kept noticing the morning star and there were many other examples of stars besides these.
So when I asked the Holy Spirit, lord, why are you highlighting stars? A specific scripture instantly came to mind about Abraham, a major ancestor of Jesus the Messiah.
Now just to recap a few ancestors, Jesus is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whom God renamed Israel. Another descendant is King David.
There's a long list you can read through in the Bible. And then the final one is, is Joseph, the husband of Mary?
Now God prophesied a promise to Abraham when he was still Abraham, way back in Genesis 15:5. And this is what we read. The Lord took Abram outside and he said, look up into the sky and count the stars.
That's how many descendants you will have.
Isn't that incredible?
Now God not only repeated the promise to Abraham when he became Abraham, but also to Isaac and Jacob and descendants of David too. Now here's the specific scripture coming up that the Holy Spirit highlighted to me. This is the Lord speaking.
I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.
I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky. That's another version.
Now the Lord partially fulfilled this prophecy in creating the nation of Israel just from one man, Abraham.
But there was much more to come. God also prophesied another promise to Abraham.
All nations will be blessed through you.
And how did God do this? Well, in Isaiah 42, God prophesied a number of things about Jesus, his chosen servant. And in verse 6 he said, I, the Lord will give you to my people Israel as a symbol of my covenant with them, and you will be a light to guide the nations.
So here God was revealing that at the first coming of Jesus as Saviour of the world, his gift of salvation would be extended beyond the Jewish people to the nations.
And then if we fast forward post resurrection, this all unfolded after the resurrection of Jesus back to heaven. And we see that while the first post resurrection gospel message was preached in Jerusalem on Pentecost Day to fellow Jews, that the people of Israel. And while the first churches comprised Jews, soon the Lord showed Peter in a vision that the Gospel was for the Gentiles too, and that he accepts from every nation the one who fears him. And does what is right.
And we know that Gentiles refers to all non Jewish nations and tribes.
The Apostle Paul said this. I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone that believes. First to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
And later on Paul explained to the Ephesians. He said that you know, we Jews were the first to trust in Christ. And now you Gentiles also have heard the truth, the good news that God saves you.
And then he further explained to them that through his sacrifice on the cross, Christ united Jews and Gentiles.
Jesus created in himself one new people from the two groups.
Now all who put their faith in Christ, from every nation, people, tribe and tongue belong to God's family. And we are all recipients of God's promises and blessings. This is the love and grace and mercy of God.
Then if we fast forward to today.
Abraham, the father of faith does have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky today.
But there are many more to come into the kingdom of God before the second coming of Jesus. The Lord wants to multiply the number of descendants.
We are living in the last days when God will completely fulfill his prophetic promise to Abraham.
That's why he calls each one of us to co partner with him to ensure that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached as a testimony to all nations.
We must scatter our seed.
And why is this significant? Because there's a series of events that are still to take place. Because God's word says that when the full number of Gentiles come in to the kingdom, come to Jesus, then all Israel will be saved too.
Then the end will come and Jesus returns and he ushers in this glorious new world that we can look forward to.
Now remember I mentioned I was noticing the morning star?
Well, way back 1400 years ago BC in numbers 2417, Balaam blessed Israel and prophesied this.
I see him, but not here. And now I perceive him, perceive him. But far in the distant future a star will rise from Jacob, a scepter from Israel.
Who is The Star?
Revelation 22:16 Jesus declares, I Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.
I am the root and the offspring of David. I am the bright morning star.
And after this are the very final recorded words of Jesus where he says, yes, I am coming soon for the third time. So there is an urgency. We are living in the last days.
So how do we respond to all of this?
Well, here are some ways. Number one, be thankful you know we gentiles have so much to be thankful for.
For our Jewish Messiah, Jesus.
Our Bible, written by Jewish authors. The living word of God. This written word that is alive and active. And God instructs us in his word to honor Israel and to bless her and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Number two.
Have stars in your eyes.
That phrase means it refers to people who are in love.
Stay in love with our bright morning star. Keep your eyes on Jesus no matter what's going on in the world. Be filled with awe and wonder as you worship him and behold his beauty and glory.
Number three. See God's vision.
God sees stars. Abraham saw stars. And as his sons and daughters, we must see the stars. We must see all Abraham's descendants, as numerous as the stars in the sky. In other words, the full number of God's children coming into his kingdom. Let this be our vision. God doesn't want anyone to die and go to an eternal life hell. He wants all to be saved.
Number four. Keep praying. The power of prayer. Keep praying for people to be saved and become descendants of Abraham.
Pray specifically for those in your life who don't yet know Jesus.
Pray prophetically for peoples and nations as the Holy Spirit leads you and what he places in your heart.
Believe God. Have faith like Abraham that God will fulfill his prophetic promises and finally scatter your seed. This is the time of the hundredfold harvest.
Several weeks ago, I sensed the Holy Spirit repeatedly say to me, the soil is ready now. There are many ways we can scatter our seeds to bring this multiplied harvest.
We can give to missions. We can share good news as opportunities arise in our daily lives. We can do acts of kindness, etc. You know, Jesus is passionate about mission and he wants all nations for his inheritance, including the United Kingdom. And we can actually hasten the day that Jesus returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. If we keep scattering the seed and co partnering with heaven in his kingdom. Coming fully. Amen.
[00:12:43] Speaker A: Thanks, sweetheart. Great word.
And can I give someone that?
Thank you. Thanks, Mike. That's awesome. Well, my exciting topic is you don't need to fear Judgment Day if.
Yeah, how many really love hearing messages about Judgment Day? Well, tough. You're going to hear one. Nobody put their hand up, Mike. It's strange. Yeah, not a single person. All right, that's quite interesting. Hey, we're going to share that. Got some books down the back. We really love to bring our books because long after we've gone, they can keep ministering to you. And this book, Hope how to find the Gateway to a better future.
Based on the scripture Hosea 2:15, I will transform the the valley of trouble into a gateway of hope.
All of us get into valleys of trouble at different times in our lives. And look, if you're not on one at the moment, cheer up. It will come sooner or later. But the thing is, we don't want to get stuck there. We want to make sure that we know how valleys of trouble get transformed into gateways of hope. This book is full of stories and teaching that will inspire you and cause you to overflow with hope. We need to give hope away to a world that has lost it. And so that's a real key topic. I'd love to give that copy away. Anyone like a free copy? Yes, sir. I see you. Come and get it. Here you go.
And good on you. That's great. Bless you.
Okay.
This book, how to pray and change your world, God across the earth, is really stirring the church to pray as never before in history. The church has only ever advanced on its knees. And when nations pray, God does stuff.
And so 15,000 of these have been given away. In Mongolia, they translated. Another 6,000 have been given away in Russia. It's been translated into Russian. The stories are, it's lighting a fire of prayer and people that read it. So whether you're just beginning your prayer journey, this will really help you become strong in prayer or wherever you're at on your prayer journey, this will just take you to another level. And this young lady sitting on the front row. Yes. Your husband needs this book because God is going to light a fire in his heart in this next 12 months, and he's not going to know himself, and that book will help him. So please pass that on. All right. That is cool.
All right, I'll promo the other book shortly.
The first prophecy I ever received over my life as a young man, part of it said, you will help prepare people for eternity.
And more and more as I've gone on, it's just gripped me that people need to be ready because sometimes eternity can come knocking on the door a lot sooner than you think. After my first wife, Jane passed away and it was late 2007, I was going through the grieving process. And a couple of months into that, I was asked to go and speak to the senior students of Elam College, which was part of the Elam Church out of East Auckland that I was part of at that time. And so as I asked the Lord what I should share with them, I felt the Lord say, just share about Jane's death. And how you're coping with the grief of loss. I thought, these kids are not going to want to know that. But it wouldn't leave me. So I went there and I shared that with the kids. And then I ended up praying for a bunch of them. And there was one young man, he was slightly disabled, with a bit of cerebral palsy. And I remember praying over him. I said, listen, when you get to heaven, you're going to be perfect. And when you get your resurrection body, you're going to be perfect. And I went home from that time thinking, man, I don't know if that was the right stuff to be sharing and should I have prayed that over that kid?
And then sadly, some weeks later, six of those students plus one of their teachers were dead.
They had gone on a school camp, they'd gone out on the river, there'd been a lot of rain, and they were in a raft. And their flash flood came down the river and it drowned six of them. And their teacher and the whole nation knew about it. The church conducted itself was an incredible witness in the time of huge suffering and a first lesson. Don't ever second guess what the Holy Spirit tells you to do. He knew B Eternity can sometimes come knocking a lot sooner than you. And I think you may not get 70, 80, 90, 100 years. Jesus might come sooner than that. You might get a full lifespan. You may not. The thing is, we need to be ready, and many believers lack a basic understanding of these.
Hebrews 6, 1, 2 says, Let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ, the importance of repenting from evil deeds and faith in God. You don't need further instruction about baptism, which is water baptism and baptism in the Holy Spirit, the laying on of hands. And here it is, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. This should be basic 101 information that every Christian, from being a young believer right through to older, we should understand. And yet there's such ignorance around that topic. Basically, when Jesus comes back, the dead get raised, everybody good and bad, righteous, unrighteous, and there's a judgment that takes place.
And a day of justice is coming where God will right every wrong that's being committed on planet earth. And people might get away with things in this world, but God's justice will ultimately find.
Romans 2, 5, 8 says, there's going to come a day of judgment when God will judge all people according to what they have done.
He will give eternal life to those who persist in doing what is good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and practice evil deeds. For those who reject Christ on that day that he comes back, their sins will condemn them to a judgment of eternal separation from God's love and grace.
And judgment day for them will be to determine their level of punishment in hell.
Some believers struggle with that thought because we understand God is a loving father. He's merciful, he's compassionate, he is pure love. Jesus is a.
And we struggle to have a concept of how God will separate people eternally from him. But we need to understand that that is what the Bible says. And A.W. tozer, a famous American teacher, said this. The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly drug for the consciences of millions. And if you believe God is too kind to punish you. And I will not be gripped with the fire of mission to reach lost people in our lives, to pray for them, that they'll come to know Jesus, to reach out in whatever way God leads us. If we don't understand that, we will be lukewarm in passion in terms of reaching lost people. That's why we must pray fervently and we must do all that we can to see people in our world come to know Jesus Christ. For those that have accepted Christ in this life, judgment day for them will be to determine their level of reward. It's very different.
John 5. 24.
Excuse me. Jesus says, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come or she does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. This seems to contradict the Apostle Paul who said, we'll all face the judgment day and stand before God, but we need to understand that Jesus is talking about something different. He's talking about the judgment of salvation here. That when you receive Jesus Christ into your life in this world, you have passed from death to life. You will not come into a judgment to determine your destiny. Heaven or hell, that is decided on earth when you have faith in the Savior.
We love your beautiful nation. You just have stunning scenery. And on the days off that we get, we love to go and explore the countryside. And a couple of years ago, we went to this beautiful little town called Bradford upon Avon. Anyone ever been there? It's a great little town, lovely. And it's got this amazing tea room. There's a picture of it coming up. And this building was built in 1502. As you can tell by the, the up and downness of it. And the tea rooms, I think has been open since Victorian times. So we go into this tea room and we order our tea and cake. And we're sitting up the top story and I'm looking at the hand hewn beams that somebody 500 years ago cut by hand. Just the atmosphere. We don't have anything that old in New Zealand, you know, like our buildings are a couple of hundred years old at the most. And it was just so atmospheric. And when we'd finished our tea and cake, I said to Greta, sweetheart, let's just go out and get a photo of you in front of the building. So we wander out and I take this photo and then the owner of the tea room comes out and she's rather irate. She says, have you paid?
And I thought, oh no, I forgot to pay. I was carried away by the enthusiasm. So I very embarrassedly went in and I almost, I felt like I. Oh, I almost said I was from Australia, but I thought, she'll understand then. But because we gotta love our Aussie cousins, I didn't say that. So I paid. But listen, the fact of the matter is, on Judgment day, God will ask every human being, have you paid?
Have you paid the price for your sin?
Because until that price is paid, you don't get to enter in to heaven. You don't get to enter in to the eternal life that God has. And we won't say on that day, oh no, Lord, I haven't paid. We'll say, father, Jesus has paid for me. I have believed in Jesus. He died on a cross for me. He shed his blood for me. So because I believed in him, I don't come into a judgment to determine my destiny, heaven or hell. That is decided here and now. Because the moment you believe in Jesus Christ and you turn to him, he gives you power to become a child of God. He washes you from your sin. He removes it, he erases the record of it out of the record books in heaven. He declares you righteous. He declares you a son and daughter of God. Not because you're perfect, not because of your religious performance, but because of your faith in Jesus. Come on, that's so cool.
It's like Evangelist J. John says, with Jesus, we have an endless hope. Without Jesus we have a hopeless end.
Only J. John could say something like that.
Next slide. You know, believers don't face a judgment of salvation.
We face a judgment of service.
The judgment of salvation depends on faith that you and I have in this life. To believe that Jesus died for us.
And if we do, then our sins are forgiven. The judgment of service on Judgment day depends on faithfulness.
How faithful have we been to follow the Lord and do his work since we came to know him? Romans 14:10 12 says, Remember, Paul says, we'll all stand before the judgment seat of God. Yes, each one of us will give a personal account to God.
And that shouldn't scare us because Jesus has promised Jude 24 now to him who was able to keep us from falling and present us without blemish before the presence of his glory. With rejoicing, he is able to make sure that day for you and me is a day of joy. 1 Corinthians 4:5.
Paul again says, therefore judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time, each will receive their praise from God. Bit of a scary verse. I used to read it years ago and thought, oh boy, Judgment Day is gonna. All the secret things I've done. It's all gonna be on some big video screen for everyone to see.
And then I realized as I've gone on that actually this will not be about God exposing sin and secret things that I've. Because, see, it can't be in two places at once. All our sin is on the cross of Jesus Christ. And on Judgment Day, if you have held onto Jesus all your life, it will not be brought up. But I believe this verse is talking about the secret things that you and I have that are good and that we've done in the service of the Lord. I think this is talking about the pure motives you had. And even though you did something with a pure motive, someone else misunderstood you and judged you for it. And you thought, well, I didn't mean that at all. And your motives. And God will expose that your motive was pure. Because the key to understanding that verse is the last phrase. At that time, each will receive what? Their punishment? No, their praise from God. That judgment is about God exposing the secret things you and I did for him so that he might reward them. And in Matthew 6, Jesus says, When you fast in secret, pray in secret, give in secret, my Father will reward you openly. And there's a measure of that that happens in this life. But I tell you what, Judgment Day is going to be very public, and God will publicly reward you and me for all the secret things that we did. You didn't put it on a social media post. You didn't write a.
You didn't get your name in a book. You didn't get on TV like some people do. And God bless them if they have that platform. But there's so many hundreds of millions of Christians across the earth that are doing things for Jesus every day. And nobody sees it. Because on Earth, we notice celebrities, but heaven notices servants. And I tell you what, Heaven is noticing servants of God throughout the earth that are just doing things out of love for Jesus, not out of love for fame or reclaim or anything like that.
I need a drink of water. Turn to your neighbor and say, you have amazing hair while I do that.
All right, don't get carried away.
And for those who don't have hair, you will in the resurrection, it will be fine. You'll have a lovely, healthy crop of hair in your resurrection body. So don't be dismayed.
Let's see how Judgment Day works for believers. 1 Corinthians 3, 11, 15.
No one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have, Jesus Christ.
Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials. Gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on Judgment Day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. If the work survives, the builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved. But like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames, Paul is talking about the analogy of building a house. And he's saying, basically, Jesus is the only foundation you can build on. You can't build your life on wealth or money or fame or beauty. All of that stuff fades away. The only foundation that is going to last not only in this life, but in the one to come is the foundation of Jesus Christ. He is the foundation. He is the one that you and I to build our lives on. But Paul warns us, the Bible warns us, make sure you build with the right materials. Because there's two types of materials in that scripture.
One is a group that are fireproof.
That's gold, silver, and jewels. And the other are flammable. If you can have the next slide, please.
And the flammable stuff that gets burned up in the fire is the wood, hay, and the straw.
And the question is, well, what are the gold, silver, and precious stones? Because those are the things that last.
The worthless things. The wood, hay, and straw that we do will get burned up.
And even the tiniest thing done in love for Jesus will get rewarded. It'll come out as gold. Matthew 10:42. Jesus said, if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the Least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded. And the extreme worst case is that somebody, their whole life's work gets burned up, yet they're still saved. So they scrape into eternity and they'll have a resurrection body and they'll live in the new world and they'll live eternally in the presence of God. But sadly, they won't get the reward and the responsibilities in the new world that Father wanted to give them because they lived carelessly. And you'd have to live really, really carelessly to not get any reward. Right? I mean, even if you do a small thing in love that's going to be rewarded.
So gold and silver and jewels, those will remain after they're tested by fire. What are those things?
Well, the Bible hints in 1 Corinthians 13:13, it says, Three things will last forever. Faith, hope, and love.
The Bible becomes much clearer in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, where Paul says, we remember before God our Father, your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
God will reward works of faith. When he asks you to do something and it's tough and it looks impossible, yet you believe and you do it anyway. And you exercise faith. Faith attracts heaven. Faith is fragrance to God. Hebrews 11:6. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. But whoever would draw near to God and believes that he exists, he will reward those who seek Him. He loves faith. And when you exercise faith for a miracle, when you exercise just simple faith that day to day, you wake up and you live for Jesus. Even if depression is knocking on your door, even if discouragement's knocking on your door, even if you're battling some terrible thing and you just want out of this world, yet you endure in faith and you keep going in faith. That is a work that is pleasing to God.
And then your labor prompted by love.
Listen, life on earth can be hard labor raising kids, there's labor building a great marriage, labor doing whatever work God has called you to do, labor staying true to Jesus, being strong in prayer and in the Word, there's labor. What motivates your labor? Love. If it's guilt and duty and obligation, you'll never do it. But when it's love for him, you're motivated by love. You keep laboring, you keep going. Why? Because you love Him. God will reward you. That's gold to Him. That's silver. That's precious stones.
And then you're enduring in hope. Jesus said, here on earth you will have many trials and Sorrows. How many of you are here on Earth this morning? Raise your hand.
Okay, 80% of you. That's really good.
I didn't see you raise your hand. Sophie, are you here on Earth? Sorry.
Yeah, I can see it now. That's good. All right. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
If you're here on Earth, you're going to have trials and sorrows at some point and maybe many occasions in our lives. And the thing that'll get you through is hope.
Enduring in hope. My first wife, Jane, she was British. She came out to New Zealand. We fell in love. She never came back here because I snatched her and married her. But she had Ms. For 30 years, and for 20 years she was in a wheelchair. And it just got worse and worse and worse. She had the worst type of it. I tell you what, that was endurance.
She kept smiling right to the day she died.
And the only reason we endured was hope. The hope that God would bring something good out of this terrible trial. Well, she got promoted to heaven, where she's glorious. I got the most beautiful second wife in my life that I could ask for. I just got so blessed. It was worth enduring in hope.
Come on, endure in hope.
I reckon on Judgment Day, some of the things we thought were really great are going to go up in smoke. And some of the things we thought, oh, I don't think that worked well, might turn out to be gold. You Never know. Mark 10:31. Humility is a great key. Many who are greatest now will be the least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.
That gives us all a bit of hope, doesn't it?
You might not feel very important in the kingdom of God. Well, you keep loving Jesus. You keep serving him. I want to tell you, you're going to be one of the greatest then. And you know, on Judgment Day, there's no jealousy.
You will not think, oh, they got a bigger reward than me. They'll go, yay. They got a great reward. They deserved it. I am so thrilled for them.
We will celebrate each other's rewards.
Jesus said that to the faithful. He's going to say, well done, good and faithful servant.
Not well done, good and famous servant.
I haven't got time to go into all the nuances of judgment and resurrection, but we have a book down there called Life Beyond Death for the Departed. It's our story of losing our spouses. God bringing us together, navigating us through grief. But the bulk of the book is about what happened to the person that dies. What heaven, like all the stuff about resurrection, judgment. Do please check that out. Love to give that copy away. Anyone like a free copy? There you go. Coming at you. Catch. Well done. Well caught.
If you were disappointed, how many were disappointed you didn't get a free copy? Just go and buy one. Your disappointment will evaporate. There you go. It's like someone will be there at the end.
Cheeky kiwi. All right.
The judgment of believers is really Father's prize giving ceremony for his children.
When I was writing that chapter on the judgment of believers, I said, lord, what is this about? He says, it's my prize giving ceremony for my kids.
How many have been to a school prize giving ceremony? How many of you won a prize? That's cool. How many of you just watched everyone else get a prize?
Yeah, there's most of you. Okay, well, listen, you're all going to get a prize on Father's prize giving ceremony. He's going to find something to reward you in if you endure in faith and hope and love.
You know, I think that I once said to the Lord, lord, how come you want to reward us? Being saved is reward enough. I mean, to have my sins forgiven, to be raised from the dead and given a resurrection body, to be allowed into the new world that God creates and live with him eternally, Isn't that enough reward? And yet I feel like the father said, well, I just want to reward my kids even more. He is so extravagant. He is so generous. He wants to reward us for the service that we do for him. What should our response be to this? It should be that we should run a good race. I want to close by telling you a story about a little horse called Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit was a horse that raced in America in the 1930s, and America and the rest of the world was gripped by the Great Depression. You talk about economic downturn now, it was a million times worse.
And this little horse, sports commentators rode him off because he looked ungainly, was a bit squat. And they said, oh, that horse will never win anything. Well, he surprised them. He won race after race after race.
And then there was a horse racer, a race racing, a horse called War Admiral from the East. And the owner of War Admiral said, all right, I'm gonna fix the Seabiscuit. And he challenged the owner of Seabiscuit to a race.
Well, let's have a photo of the two horses coming up.
That's Seabiscuit on the left, and that's War Admiral on the right.
You can tell by the size of the jockeys War Admiral is a pretty stunning looking horse.
He's tall, he's muscular. Look at Seabiscuit. A little bit short, a little bit dumpy, a little bit squat.
If you were betting on horses, which I hope you don't, who would you put your money on?
I reckon I'd put mine on War Admiral. Well, race day came and there were, excuse me, millions of Americans that listened in on radio because Seabiscuit had become the champion of the little man. And so many people in America were suffering in the Depression and that little horse gave them hope.
Thousands crowded the racetrack to watch the race. The horses set off. They ran, excuse me, neck and neck till the home straight. And in the home straight, Seabiscuit took off and he won that race by four lengths. That is a huge victory in horse talk. Some races they win by a nose or a leg. Four lengths, Seabiscuit. And one of Seabiscuit's jockeys later said, oh, gosh, Seabiscuit made a rear admiral out of War Admiral. I love that.
Why do I tell that story?
As I look around the room and as I look at myself, I don't see many War Admirals here, but I see a lot of Seabiscuits.
We're all a little bit misshapen through the fall.
We've come to Jesus, but we've still got imperfections. We're still a little bit like that short horse. But I want to tell you, you have a champion in you. His name is Jesus. He lives in you. By the power of the Holy Spirit, and he is committed that you will run a good race and you will win your race. You will cross that finish line. You will not fall by the wayside if you keep loving Jesus. So run in order to win, be like the Apostle Paul who said in 1 Corinthians 9, 24, 26, you must run in such a way that all athletes practice strict self control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So run straight to the goal, with purpose in every step.
I mean, I admire sports people. They train, they sacrifice, they discipline, they win their races. They may get a medal, a gold or silver or bronze. They may get some trophy. But you know what? They put it on their mantelpiece and it gathers dust. And we honor them for it. But let me tell you, you and I are not running to win a prize that gathers dust. We are running to win a prize that will be eternal. You will wear that reward throughout eternity. I'm telling you, you know, in the Crimean war of the 1850s, where the European nations fought Russia and won that war. The Queen Victoria noticed soldiers that were courageous and faithful in the British Army. And she told the army, I want you to take those captured Russian cannons and I want you to make a little cross out of the middle of those cannons. And I want to award this Cross for courage, bravery and victory on the battlefield. And so, from that time on, the Victoria Cross has been awarded to this very day for any soldier in the British Commonwealth that shows bravery and courage and faithfulness to their own country and their own nation. And the thing of it, those soldiers wear the Victoria Cross, but I tell you, they're wearing the name of a queen on their chest. And you and I are going to go through eternity wearing a reward that has the name of a king on it. His name is Jesus. And any reward you and I get, I tell you, it will reflect his glory and honor all the days of eternity.
I want to run a good race just to please him.
I want to run a good race to just on Judgment Day, see him smile at me.
If I can just see him smile, that'll be enough.
I want to run a good race because he deserves it.
He's worthy of it.
In all eternity, I won't be walking around with a badge of rewards saying, look how great I was on planet Earth. I'll be walking around with a badge of reward that says, look how great Jesus was in my life.
