“Rewards
Come”
By Tom Hanson
October 4th,
2009
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notes in pdf format.
Tom started
out
by reviewing the previous messages in the series:
The battle is the Lord’s, but our fruit
remains. He talked
about being in
foxholes of sickness, mistakes, depression, and even sin; he said that
he
himself had been in each of those foxholes.
God rewards effort, the labor and the
sacrifice and that God is giving
that fruit, even when He’s purging the vine, He’s still bringing fruit.
2
Corinthians 9:6 if
you sow
sparingly, you’ll reap sparingly, but if you reap bountifully…
Galatians
6:7-8 whatsoever
a man sow, that
shall he also reap.
Psalms
68:19 God
daily loadeth us with
benefits.
If
we sow Spiritual things, then we will reap Spiritual rewards. Tom talked briefly about
how his grandma used
to bake cookies, and she would load those on him.
God wants to load us with benefits in much
the same way, but we have to put forth some effort to receive those
rewards.
Revelations
22:12 God
promised to reward each
man according to his work.
That’s the
ultimate reward, so let’s get busy and please the Lord.
He will never leave us nor forsake us. One of the benefits is the
Spirit of God in us.
You might think that you are not worthy, but
God is worthy.
Ecclesiastes
3:1-2 To
every thing there is a
season…
The
season is
our lifetime. This
is our time to
plant. Christ needs
to be our first
option, because God keeps His promises.
Who gives rewards?
Hebrews
11:6 God
is a rewarder…
You
might be satisfied with being a millionaire in God’s Spirit (having a
lot of
Spiritual riches) but God isn’t. He
wants us to have so much more.
James
1:17 every
perfect gift comes from
above…
Matthew
5:45 it
rains on the just and the
unjust…
You
may think of rain as a bad thing, but Israel
is mostly desert, so rain
was very important to them; rain was a blessing.
For us, the rain comes at the right
time. Before we
knew Christ, we were not
sitting on the right side; He was knocking, He was seeking us, He was
making us
aware of His presence. He
made His
mighty sun to rise upon us each day.
What are the rewards?
John
10:10 I
am come that ye might have
life…
One of
the
rewards is a new life.
Psalms
40:1-3 …a
new song…
Psalms
51:10-17 Create
in me a clean heart…
When
they give
someone a heart transplant, they have to try to match the heart to the
patient
very closely so that the patient’s body doesn’t reject the heart. When God gives us clean
hearts, we have to
put our bodies under subjection, so that they won’t reject the new
heart. Still,
things happen, and we may need to ask
for another new heart. God
has an
endless supply of clean hearts.
Why do we get rewards?
Hebrews
6:10 …God
is not unrighteous to
forget your labour of love…
God will
restore
all joy.
John
8:32 And
ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free.
1
Timothy 4:12 let no man despise thy
youth…
Even
when you
are young in the faith, you can still lead others to Christ.
Why
does God
reward us? It is so
that we can be
accountable. Also,
so that we will
continue, understanding that there are greater rewards to come.
Luke
12:16-21 I
will build greater barns
Jesus
told a parable about a man who had more good than his barns could hold,
so he
decided to build greater barns, and then take some rest, living off of
what he
had stored up. We
don’t have that
luxury. We should
not be storing our
rewards, we should be using them for God’s glory; the work of God is
never
complete.
Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd
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