 Amen, amen. This is a season of hope. This is a season where we celebrate giving. We celebrate hope. Hope is a beautiful thing You know, we many times talk about hope as Christians, you know, that we're gonna have a breakthrough next year We're gonna get married next year. You know, every kid is dying to become a teenager When he becomes a teenager, he's dying to go to college When he goes to college, he is dying to get a career. When he gets a career He's dying to get a wife or a husband and when you get a husband or the wife You're dying to have a family. When you get a family, you're dying for them to move on to college When you're empty-nester, you are dying so you can get retired and when you get retired you actually die And you never really lived See, hope is not something that you're just constantly looking forward to something next season in your life And this is where you're going to now really be fulfilled as a Christian Our hope, ultimate hope, is the greatest, the blessed hope, is the hope that we are gonna live forever In a place that has no sickness, and has no pain, and has no taxes, and has no political dramas That has no conflicts, that has none of this stuff. Can somebody say amen? Statistically, on Friday your happiness increases by 10% Because the weekend is coming and most suicides happen on Monday. Why? Because a week is coming You know, I remember when my family purchased tickets to when we were immigrated as refugees to the United States and in the year 1999 December 6th. Those two months before we came to the United States were the happiest months of my Ukraine life Problems were still there. There were still political issues there There were still financial problems in Ukraine, but my life was changed Why? Because hope causes the problems to turn from mountains to molehills It reduces that. There's something about that anticipation Many people get discouraged because they focus on what they're going through instead of where they're going to Where you are headed Your place, your future is so much brighter than whatever you're going through and whatever you went through in life Can somebody say amen? And that place is heaven I know you may say well, it's Christmas You know, I don't want to think about heaven. That's the problem Many people think about heaven during funerals. The problem is the person Who is dead doesn't need to think about that no more. And I don't want us to think about that hope During someone's funeral. God didn't create hope of heaven to be a spare tire You pull out on the funerals. God wanted to be a transmission that fuels and motivates you every single day That whatever you're going through things will get better in your life But even if they don't let three Hebrew boys told the king all great king our God we serve is faithful He is great to deliver us, but even if he doesn't all great King to your gods We will not bow and your idols we will not worship because somebody say amen We will do something today a little bit different in the last few weeks we've been in this series about Jesus ultimately dissecting Christian belief and Doctrine right in front of you in front of the envelopes. There is this little brochure, and I want you to pull it out right now as a as a church There's foundational beliefs that we have as a church and many times people wonder what do we believe and So you will be able actually to take this home as a hunger generation age G belongs to a G Hungry generation belongs to the assemblies of God Denomination let me tell you just a little just few minutes of a little theology slash Denomination background about our church. So you will be aware of that assemblies of God is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world it has 384,000 ministers and it's in two hundred twelve countries and it has sixty seven point nine million members in that denomination and our church since the beginning belonged to that denomination I That denomination has sixteen foundational beliefs that assemblies of God and we That are part of the assemblies of God believe in these are not all the beliefs But these are just sixteen basic Foundations in the last few weeks actually whether you realize it or not. We actually touched most of them We touched the Jesus is our savior. We touched on the communion and the baptism of the Holy Spirit We touched also on Identification number nine We touched also on number eleven a little bit earlier and on healing last Sunday And so I want you to open to page 14 and the doctrine 13 Page 14 and the doctrine 13 and we'll go back to school for just two minutes I know that this is typically not discussed in churches or in services But once in a while I think it's good to refresh our memory on some of the things that we believe as Christians and as followers of Jesus Christ Doctrine 13 our future is anchored in blessed hope all Christians who have died will one day rise from their graves and meet the Lord in the air Christians who have not yet died will be raptured or caught up with them to be with the Lord then Christians of all ages will live with God forever The scriptural truth of the Lord soon return is the blessed hope and then it gives us the verses and then explains the Significance of this doctrine something you can read at home doctrine 14 Christ will rule the earth for a millennium The second coming of Jesus includes the rapture of all Christians Which is our blessed hope followed by the visible return of Christ with his saints to reign on the earth for a thousand years This millennial a thousand year reign will bring the salvation of Israel as a nation and establish Universal peace and that's something we as Christians believe is that we will be cut up in heaven to meet Jesus Well, we are going to spend some time with him there. There will be the supper the supper of the lamb Emerge supper of the lamb we will receive our rewards And then we'll be coming back with Jesus to reign and to rule on this earth for 1,000 years Satan will be captured and during those thousand years after the thousand years Satan will be released And then he will entice the world against Jesus Jesus is gonna smite him dead and then There will be new heaven and new earth created and we will live with God forever 15 doctrine there will be a final judgment for all There will be a final judgment in which the wicked dead those who have died without accepting Christ's salvation Will be raised and judged according to the way they lived Anyone whose name is not found in the book of life Together with the devil and his angels the beast and the false prophet will be sent to everlasting Punishment in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone Which is the second death and the last doctrine that we believe is a foundational doctrine 16 I want you to flip the page Christians will enjoy the new heavens and new earth In keeping with God's promise. We are looking forward to a new heaven and new earth where righteousness Dwells new heaven means God is gonna also give a facelift or a renovation to the current heaven. He's in and He's gonna give a complete new facelift to the earth that we have today And so it's gonna be completely new the new heavens It's gonna be a new season a new new thing and we are really looking forward to death So when you're watching CNN or Fox or whatever you are watching, I want you to remember. This is where everything is headed to It's gonna get worse and worse and worse But for you and I who are following Jesus Christ things are gonna get better and better Can somebody say amen and somebody say amen? The scripture that I want to read this morning will be from Romans chapter 14 verse 12 But why do you judge your brother or why do you show contempt for your brother for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ? Second Corinthians 5 tense as the following for we must all Appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive things done in the body according to what he has done Whether good or bad. I want you to see this the similarity in words judgment seat of Christ This is referring to us as Christians when we die or when we get Raptured and we go to heaven We will be judged and our judge will be Jesus Christ Jesus will be our judge now many times this is presented in a negative in a negative version or in a negative view But the original word the Greek word for the judgment in this two verses The original word what it means is Bama And it was actually a place during Olympics that people who participated in the Olympics would come to this Elevated place where the judges would give them awards and trophies It wasn't a courtroom where you get a ticket or a penalty It was a reward place where you would get a reward for competing in Olympics So the Bible is saying that as a Christian when you die you will step on the scales Not so Jesus can rebuke you punish you But so Jesus can give us rewards and our words for competing in the life and in the faith that we lived for him So Jesus is our judge not the judge in the sense that he gives us Penalties and rebukes but the judge in the sense that he gives us rewards and he will give us awards as our judge For living for him can somebody say amen So I know the moment I mentioned the judgment something like man This is a bad way to do a Christmas service and stuff so but you got to always hang in there Okay, because the gospel is a good news Amen our conception of judgment is always negative But in original Greek the word Bama, which is actually a elevated place where athletes would receive rewards It was not where criminals would get their punishment sentence. It's not the same word now salvation is a gift I want you to remember distinction between salvation and Rewards salvation is a gift of rewards are heavenly treasures Salvation is God's grace of rewards are our works Salvation is eternal life rewards are crowns possessions and roles of service in heaven crowns There's different crowns that people will receive in heaven number two is possessions means people can receive and will receive Possessions in heaven Jesus says store your treasures in heaven meaning you actually will get not only crowns You can have certain possessions. I'm not sure they have iPhone or Android there or Tesla cars But there's some kind of a way where different people will have different possessions not everyone in heaven will be the same Remember that people who believe in Jesus Christ will all get to heaven But in heaven all of us are gonna be different Why because the way you live your life here on earth will determine the way you're going to be the kind of treasures the kind of crowns and the kind of Roles of service you're going to heaven heaven the Bible uses the parable of the talents by saying that people who were faithful with few Talents were entrusted with different roles or different positions of responsibility Your time in here now is just a test. It's just a like an apprenticeship It's like an internship where you are being prepared for your eternal role in eternity in heaven That's why you have to take your time and your work and your service very seriously because in heaven you will spend forever time Because somebody say amen. I want to go through this quickly The five crowns that the Bible mentions and These crowns are for different acts of service. The first crown is the imperishable crown in first Corinthians 9 24 It says do you not know the dose who run in the race all run But one receives the price or run in such a way that you may obtain it for everyone who competes for a price is Temperable in all things and they do it to obtain perishable crown But we for imperishable crown that this crown will be given to people who lived discipline and sacrificial lives Imperishable crown so when you live a disciplined life through fasting when you live a life of sacrifice through giving God says there will be imperishable crown the second crown scripture mentions is the crown of rejoicing first to Salonians 2 19 it says for what is our hope our joy or crown of rejoicing is it? Not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming Paul is saying that people that we went to Christ actually in heaven when we evangelize or when we witness This will be a crown of rejoicing. This is not just fuzzy feelings in your heart This will actually be a crown that will be placed on you when you lead other people to Jesus Christ So for some of you who want to receive this crown next next two weeks. I want you to bring people to God Because somebody say amen The third crown is the crown of righteousness second Timothy 4 8 Finally there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give me on that day I want you to see how Paul refers to Jesus as a judge But not in a sense that he would judge me for my bad. He's saying he would judge me for my good Because Jesus our judge will judge us to reward us not to rebuke us and Paul is saying Jesus The righteous judge will give me on that day and not only to me, but to all those who loved his Appealing so this crown the crown of righteousness will be given to people who love Jesus Who love his appealing who have intimacy with God for those people, you know who have this deep Affection affection for the Lord for his word God will give them a crown for loving him The fourth crown is the crown of glory first Peter chapter 5 verse 4 And when the chief shepherd appears you will receive a crown of glory that does not fade away This refers to people who occupy leadership positions in the church from leading kids church or serving in The area that shepherds other people from kids to toddlers to adults home group leaders pastors evangelists Apostles there will be a special crown that will be given by the chief shepherd the pastor Jesus who will give to Servants in the local church. It will be called the crown of glory Sign up for kids church for the crown of glory Everyone serving in nursery is gonna have not only free coffee every Sunday But in heaven will get a crown of glory because somebody say man Thank you Jesus The crown number five that Bible mentions is revelation chapter 2 verse 10 Do not fear any of the things which are about you are about to suffer Indeed the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested But you will have tribulation 10 days beat faithful till death and I will give you a crown of life this crown crown of life is given to people who remain faithful and positive in the midst of tribulation persecution and hardships in life Life gets really difficult for them But they remain faithful to God instead of taking you know an easy way and maybe go and drinking or using drugs or Disconnecting from people. They say no, I'm gonna still be a church even if my life is hard I'm gonna still give even if I'm struggling financially I'm gonna still love my family even if they're not loving me back I will be faithful till death and God says you know what for your faithfulness. I will give you a crown of life So we see crowns that God will give us and these crowns are not gonna be handed to you because you showed up in church These crowns are gonna be handed to you because you did something for God You don't earn salvation by doing something for God, but Jesus says I will give you a reward as a judge Jesus is the judge who gives rewards or words Acculate accolades and all kinds of good things when we die the beautiful part is these things do not fade away They don't perish. They will last with you forever. I want you to read together with me one more verse first Corinthians chapter 3 verse 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold silver and precious stones wood hay and straw Each one's work will become clear for that day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test Each one's work of what sort it is if anyone's work which he has built on indoors He will receive a reward if anyone's work is burned He will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved yet as through the fire This is Paul describes that when we will face that judgment Everything we build means meaning everything we do with our life will be tested by fire Some theologians agree that the fire will be actually the eyes of Jesus since they are like fire Jesus will take your whole life and go with his eyes like a scanner Shh and everything that was built with pure motives everything that was selfish everything that was just for you We'll quickly turn into ashes, but things you did for other people Your tides your offerings picking somebody up Serving serving in jail serving on the mission trips helping someone going out of your way These things will quickly remain and based on these things Jesus will now give you eternal reward I want you to see the comparison here. We will have a little chart There's gold silver and precious stones and on the other scale is wood hay and straw Gold silver and precious stones. The first difference is they're always found underground Wood hay and straw are found on the ground. These ones are not visible to a human eye These ones are visible to a human eye. Is your life something that people always see or The things that you have are things that people don't see if you do everything you do That's good only to get the applause and recognition of man You might be building something that people give you a reward on earth, but in heaven it will be just ashes Because heaven doesn't just reward your good deeds. It looks at the motives these deeds came from gold silver and precious stones the second difference is they are actually small in size and I think it needs to be this one used to be swapped and then wood hay and straw is large in size Wood hay and straw always comes in big big Sizes gold silver and precious stones come in small sizes gold silver and precious stones are expensive and every engaged man knows that Wood hay and straw are cheap compared to gold silver and precious stones Gold silver and precious stones are also rare Wood hay and straw are common if you need some wood we have them by a garbage can right there. You can pick it up free of charge Wood hay and straw is you put fire through it and it turns to ashes you put fire through gold silver and precious stones They become more precious They become purified instead of destroyed So let me ask you a question Because every Christian in here is in one of these categories You're either wood hay and straw or you go silver and precious stones is your life self-absorbed You're living your life in self pity. Are you living a life that everybody owes you? You're always offended you always cranky always moody You're living your life always selfish instead of sacrificial you it's not about other people. It's about you with the victim mentality I hope somebody helps me instead of living with the victor mentality. I hope I can be a blessing to someone else You can draw the applause and even the attention of people today on this earth But your life on earth at best will be 70 anything above is bonus But in there you will stand before Jesus and he will look at your fancy good Life in your own eyes and he will go with his eyes What will remain out of it because remember his eyes can see the motives His eyes can look beneath what people see and what people don't and he doesn't need to check your Instagram to know your heart Because somebody say amen We will live on this earth not for very long. We will live in heaven forever. I Love traveling Couldn't believe I would say this years ago. I enjoy traveling. I enjoy staying in hotels But a hotel is not a home During Thanksgiving we traveled all day and The whole day we were in the airports and it was one of the weirdest Thanksgiving that we have had But in the evening a family that picked us up from from Florida. They put us in the choices hotel For one night. It was the best hotel. I stayed in in the United States And if you can roll a little clip of 15 seconds This was the view The view was toward the ocean It was 12th floor The rooms were so beautiful the towel. I mean it was so soft. I wanted to try to eat it so beautiful The in the toilet they didn't have napkins that of paper They had napkins that were of cloth this very very soft cloth I like when I say it I see that could feel it. It was so beautiful The food was delicious in the restaurant It was so so glorious you walk out from the balcony and you see the ocean it was beautiful There's one thing about a hotel is that you can't fully unpack You don't settle there because it's not your home The earth is your hotel Don't unpack Because by the time you do so You need to get your bags together Your home is not here Your home is in heaven Don't look forward to retirement only because it won't last very long and Not only something that you have to look forward to is heaven But you have to prepare for it by living for it right now and Whatever you do on this earth, you can't take it with you to heaven. It will be useless The only thing that you can have in heaven is what you churn To by serving God in my pocket. I have euros One time I went to Europe and they have a different currency there Two euros, but you can't buy anything with these in the United States They're useless the only way to use euros in America is to transfer them is to change them Exchange them for American dollars everything you work for on this earth. You can't take it with you to heaven Your car your degree your accolades Your money nothing can be taken with you to heaven unless you can exchange it on this earth By leveraging it and using it for the kingdom of God You can take your big account with you But if you take those funds and you begin to build orphanages and you begin to support the kingdom of God or support the poor You transfer these instead of dying with all the money in your casket You come to heaven like Martin Luther said he said I want to die poor. So when I step into heaven I'm the wealthiest man there It's okay if you're poor here what will be not good is if you pour there You will say well, I'll be rich because I'm in heaven. Oh, don't don't get super excited about that You will be there because you saved but listen. What did you do with your finances? Because if you make five jesus a month and five dollars go in the offering basket not a lot of stuff is being transferred It's like that story of a man who went to heaven and Saint Peter took him through the streets and show him Beautiful big mentions and at the end of the street showed him his cabin And he says this is where you're gonna live and the man was so upset. He says Saint Peter I thought that the Bible says everybody gets a mention. He said where did you get that? Jesus says he has mentions. He didn't say you're gonna live in them He says why am I not gonna live in a mention? He says listen, man. We did the best we could with material you sent What are you sending ahead of you? Every time you serve every time you volunteer every time you write a check every time you pick somebody up Every time you give your smile your time your treasure your time Guess what you are doing. You're not just trying to preserve your life You are trying to invest your life into the kingdom of God and you will benefit from it in eternity It's somebody say a man in the conclusion I want to tell you that the other things not just in eternity, but even on this earth that you will benefit from by serving When you help others you're helping yourself It's been proven that serving serving and living for other people can help you live longer a research has shown That these kind of activities like serving can improve health in many ways by lengthening your lifespan Volunteers show an improved ability to manage stress and shave off disease as well as reduced rates of depression and increased Sense of life satisfaction when they are performed on a regular basis This might be because volunteering evaluates Loneliness and enhances our social lives factors which will significantly affect our long-term health Not only helping and living for other people allows us to receive a reward in heaven Science has proven you will actually live longer on earth by helping other people cut back on vitamins increase volunteering Vitamins the best vitamin you can take is stop being selfish and start serving Don't be self-absorbed volunteer in the homeless shelter You will see how much your happiness will increase and you will no longer compel yourself with some people who have really beautiful filters on Instagram a Second beautiful part about serving others is the serving is contagious One study has found that people are more likely to perform feats of generosity after observing another person do the same This effect can ripple through the community inspiring dozen of individuals to make a difference I remember many years ago hearing a pastor who gave 60 cars It created a dream in me Not that somebody will give me a car that's weak. I don't have to have faith for that I just need to be broke I Wanted to have a dream that requires me to have faith and I said God I want to be able to give one car away and Years years later. We were able to do that as of today We were able to give five cars away, but the beautiful part is not that the beautiful part is I meet people now throughout churches in the United States Who when they heard my testimony gave to sometimes three cars already? There's many people now because see it creates a domino effect when you start living for other people People who see you get connected with that. It's contagious serving is contagious And if there is a flu that's going around I'll rather have my generosity and your and my Serving that goes around and impacts other people Number three number three serving others makes us happy one team of psychologists track 2,000 people over five year period and found that Americans who describe themselves as very happy Volunteered at least five to six hours every single month Americans who found themselves being very happy were not the ones who had the boat Vacation and the retirement plan. They were the ones who served from five to six hours a month You want to increase your happiness? Put away the liquor Sign up to serve Serve others do something that doesn't involve you benefiting from it and you will see how happiness will increase in your life It's like that family of many many of our people in their generation are very self-absorbed This one guy came to a pastor because pastor's wife was very generous in her finances He meets with her and he says that there's a family in our community The father died the mother died and nine kids are left without provision Nine kids are going to be on the streets because they have no way to pay their house payment their apartment payment and The wife of the pastor looked at this man and she says that's really terrible, but who are you? He says oh, I am their landlord means you come and help them, but I don't want to help them. That's how many people live Be the answer be somebody else's miracle And lastly is serving attracts miracles according to one study people who suffered from chronicle pain Tried working as peer volunteers as a result They experienced a reduction in their symptoms one piece of research Founder older individuals who volunteered for at least 200 hours a year decreased their risk of hypertension by 40% Hypertension diabetes Will decrease by 40% this is science. This is not the Bible by volunteering 200 hours a year Teenagers who serve have better grades and better self-image studies show the volunteering enhances individuals overall sense of purpose and identity See, this is not just about reward in heaven. It's about miracles on earth. There is health benefits There is financial benefits. There is relationship benefits There is benefits of living your life for other people living your life for helping other people You begin to see miracles in your life one man that comes to my mind is is Edder, he's the one that takes pictures every Sunday here and At one time I remember error during the end of the year He came to my house with few bags of clothes and I said what are these and he says I just came He says the Lord prompted on my heart because he was giving financially to other ministries and other causes And he says I don't have any more finances to give but God prompted on his heart to give clothes So he went to his wardrobe and as you know, it is very stylish and he is very nice clothes So he quickly went through his wardrobe and he's like I'll give the clothes that I don't wear To people that are his size and so the woman he went to his closet the Lord prompted him He says no, no, no, I want you to give the clothes that are the best and leave the clothes you don't wear for yourself So he took the best clothes He took our money watch and came to my house and he had three other houses to visit and he says I just want to bless you I don't know why he was trying to give me clothes. Maybe he was trying to say something But as you know, I don't care about clothes like to buy myself clothes He gave me really beautiful clothes and I said I can't accept this. This is not right I can't afford my own clothes. He said I know but he says I need to grow in generosity I need to follow also your pattern how you give I want to give that to God started to bless at his business. Some of you see now. He travels in tri-cities papers He ends up his pictures end up now in so many places This year their family, you know had a second child and they needed a bigger car and One day Eder went to work and he bought nice shoes new shoes and his co-worker didn't have good shoes He took off his shoes during work and gave his shoes to a co-worker and end up barefoot My aunt actually saw him barefoot at the gas station thought it was a joke But he gave his shoes away little did he know is the next day He was supposed to sign papers for a car. They were trying to get a car. He brought four thousand dollars for down payment It was getting a car. That's about fourteen thousand dollars The car dealership of the guys who live who work here at the church and who serve at the church They felt prompted by God not knowing all of these sacrifices to give him the car. That's worth fourteen thousand for four You experienced miracles Even last Friday the two people who were blessed with the car You know those people you see their life people who serve attract miracles You can be this person who is and please forgive me small-minded whose dream is I hope somebody gives me something That's that's okay, but really to do that you have to be in need Raise your dream higher Maybe you're in the place today you need something, but I want you to dream say God I hope you gave me to a place where I can bless somebody what I can be a blessing to somebody I need a miracle, but God what I really want is I want to be a miracle to someone else One of the greatest benefits of serving in the kingdom of God. It's not only what's waiting for us in heaven It's the fact that on this earth you get a chance to witness Miracles in people's lives the first miracle Jesus did was the water was turned into wine But guess who saw that the servants only the servants have a chance to participate in how the miracle happens I remember this week we mean my wife went for lunch and there's a couple that comes to our church Was there during lunch and we joined them as we were there. I remember that young man when last year He came as a firefighter. He gave his life to Jesus right here at the altar And he tells me he says Vlad we were fighting with my wife every single day every single day He says I'm not exaggerating every single day We fought he said we were this close to divorce and then somebody recommended us to go to your church We came on the first service. He got saved and his wife says this during lunch She says if we wouldn't be for that service, he said we would never be sitting like this together He says and it's been one year. I don't remember last time we fought. He said our life is completely changed Miracle of serving I remember a young lady who sits right now here with her husband when she came on Sunday morning at the Time living in sin with her boyfriend. She gave her life to Jesus in here and God started to work in her life Eventually her boyfriend gave her life to Jesus. They got married. I facilitated their wedding and this week we were meeting and and she Said something she said I had I Not seen my dad for 13 years and I had a hate toward my dad because he left us He said every time I hear you guys praying for compassion I said God melt my heart toward my dad and during one of the prayers She said I felt this love came over me. That was not natural. It was supernatural for my dad Everybody knew in her family that she couldn't stand her dad She says after that a miracle happened. She's like lad. It was a miracle She got a chance for the first time in 13 years meet her dad and she says and now I have she's like I have supernatural love in my heart for my dad Guys, this is what happens when we saw I Want us to pray today that during this holidays God will give us a generous heart That will give us a serving heart God will give us something that will live for eternity But we'll also experience miracles here on earth and somebody say me. I want you to rise to your feet Hi there if you're like me and you like to click on things go ahead and click right here and Subscribe to our YouTube channel in this way We'll be able to send the content to you directly and each week you'll stay updated with the things that we post Thank you so much for watching and have a wonderful day You